Betterhumans

Women Over 90 More Likely To Have Dementia Than Men

clementlawyer — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:06:00 GMT

Women over 90 are significantly more likely to have dementia than men of the same age, according UC Irvine researchers involved with the 90+ Study, one of the nation's largest studies of dementia and other health factors in the fastest-growing age demographic.

The researchers reviewed an analysis of 911 people enrolled in the 90+ Study. Of those, 45 percent of the women had dementia, as opposed to 28 percent of the men. The analysis did not determine when the subjects first experienced dementia.

The 90-plus age group, or the "oldest old," is the fastest growing segment of the population, according to the U.S. Census. While there are currently nearly 2 million nonagenarians in the U.S. alone, that number is projected to increase to 10 to 12 million by the middle of the century, raising concerns that the current health care system may not be able to accommodate this population. Read More...

Marijuana Has Anti-Inflammatory That Won't Get You High

clementlawyer — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:34:00 GMT

A compound in marijuana may be a potent anti-inflammatory agent that won't get people high, scientists say.

The finding could be a boon to sufferers of arthritis, cirrhosis, and other diseases. Existing drugs can be less effective for some people and can carry side effects, from stomach ulcers to increased risk of heart attacks.

Marijuana supporters have long argued that the plant's active ingredients, known as cannabinoids, are safe and effective treatments for pain, nausea, and other ailments. Read More...

Families with children without a genetic or gestational link to their parents are functioning well

Betterhumans News — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:00:00 GMT

The emotional well-being of families where children lack a genetic or gestational link to one or both of their parents -- where the children have been conceived through surrogacy, egg donation or donor insemination -- has long been a subject of debate. Read more...(read more)

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clementlawyer — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:01:00 GMT

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New Device Measures Astronaut Fatigue, Depression

clementlawyer — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:47:00 GMT

Just when you thought your privacy couldn't be invaded anymore, a team of researchers are working on a device for NASA that would be able to detect brain injury, stress, fatigue and depression.

The brain cap sends weak pulses of near-infrared light into the brain, then analyzes the reflected wavelengths. The results reveals how much oxygen is in the brain's blood, which is a gauge of it's activity (is that why I like to do hand stands?). The psychiatrist who is developing the scanner, Gary Strangman, said that he and others are already using the device on Earth-bound patients.

Now don't get me wrong, I love new science gizmos as much as the next person, but as useful as it would be to know if your captain is alert enough for a complex docking maneuver it just seems like one step closer to that dystopian future all those sci-fi writers were warning us about. We must proceed with caution and utmost care.
Read More...

Taking Vitamins Based on Your Genome

clementlawyer — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:33:00 GMT

Newly discovered genetic variations can impair an enzyme whose malfunction has been linked to birth defects and heart disease--but added nutrients can reverse the effect, according to new research. The findings could signify a step forward for nutrigenomics, a growing field examining how our diet and genes interact to affect our health. Scientists hope that nutrigenomics research will one day help people overcome some of their genetic foibles with personally tailored cocktails of vitamins.

The daily vitamin dosages recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture "are based on studies done 60 years ago, and are based on the assumption that everyone is biochemically the same," says Nick Marini, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the new research in collaboration with Jasper Rine, another Berkeley biologist. "We also think compliance would be better if an individual knew they personally needed more of a particular vitamin."

The human genome codes for approximately 600 enzymes that must interact with vitamins or minerals in order to function properly. Scientists have known for years that some rare and severe metabolic disorders, caused by misspellings in the genes for vitamin-dependant enzymes, can be treated with vitamins. But research linking such genetic variations to more subtle health effects, which might affect a much broader swath of the population, is only just beginning. Read More...

Do we have the technology to build a bionic human?

clementlawyer — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:27:00 GMT

More and more of the body is becoming, if not obsolete, then certainly replaceable. But which of our body parts can be engineered today, and which will we have to make do with?

Building bones

Implants that copy the simple structural job of skeletal tissue are the easiest to build. One UK woman suffering from rheumatoid arthritis was recently left with only two of her original joints after having the rest replaced by metal and plastic alternatives.

Hips, teeth and vertebral discs can all be replaced, and customised to match the patient. A 3D printer can even be used to tailor-make parts within hours for a perfect fit, useful after accidents. One device prints "bone" using a new porous polymer that is nearly as strong as the real thing. Read More...

70-year-old gives birth to twins

clementlawyer — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:23:00 GMT

Defying age, a septugenarian woman has given birth to twins, a male and a female, in a village of Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh.

'We are old. My wife Raj Kali is 70 years and I am 75 years. But god has graced us in such old age and we are happy to have twins,' said Charan Singh, a proud father, who also has two grown-up daughters who, in turn, have six offsprings.

Charan Singh was keen on having a son.

'We have plenty of agriculture land in Doghat village but we did not have any heir to look after us. In our clan, daughters are the 'assets of others'. Parents have to nurture them only to run others' household. In the absence of a son, parents are considered issueless,' Singh told IANS. Read More...

Mother's vitamin D status during pregnancy will affect her baby's dental health

Betterhumans News — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Low maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy may affect primary tooth calcification, leading toenamel defects, which are a risk factor for early-childhood tooth decay. Read more...(read more)

A Prosthesis for Speech; Decoding neural signals for speech may give voice to the voiceless

clementlawyer — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:45:00 GMT

For more than eight years, Erik Ramsey has been trapped in his own body. At 16, Ramsey suffered a brain-stem injury after a car crash, leaving him with a condition known as "locked-in" syndrome. Unlike other forms of paralysis, locked-in patients can still feel sensation, but they cannot move on their own, and they are unable to control the complex vocal muscles required to speak. In Ramsey's case, his eyes are his only means of communication: skyward for yes, downward for no.

Now researchers at Boston University are developing brain-reading computer software that in essence translates thoughts into speech. Combined with a speech synthesizer, such brain-machine interfacing technology has enabled Ramsey to vocalize vowels in real time--a huge step toward recovering full speech for Ramsey and other patients with paralyzing speech disorders. The researchers are presenting their work at the annual Acoustical Society of America meeting in Paris this week.

"The question is, can we get enough information out that produces intelligible speech?" asks Philip Kennedy of Neural Signals, a brain-computer interface developer based in Atlanta. "I think there's a fair shot at this at this point." Read More...

Wine chemical improves health but not longevity

clementlawyer — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:03:00 GMT

Efforts to tinker with the biology of ageing to treat disease and extend lifespan are beginning to resemble the split personalities of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

This week, scientists revealed that giving healthy, middle-aged mice an ingredient found in red wine fends off heart disease, bone loss and muscle atrophy. But the chemical, called resveratrol, doesn't extend the rodent's lifespan as previous work had found in obese mice.

Meanwhile, another study found that eliminating a key ageing protein called SIRT1, production of which is cranked up by resveratrol, protects brain cells from the build up of toxic oxidants – yet the mice die younger than normal mice. Read More...

Omega-3 fatty acid may stop repeat stroke

Betterhumans News — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:42:36 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Eicosapentaenoic acid, or EPA -- the essential omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid abundant in oily fish -- may help protect stroke patients from suffering a second stroke, a Japanese study shows. Read more...(read more)

The World's Longevity Secrets

clementlawyer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:17:00 GMT

It may have seemed like good news when federal officials announced earlier this month that U.S. life expectancy had jumped four months and, for the first time, surpassed 78 years.

But forget about 78. What if someone said that you--not some future generation--should be able to live into your 90s in relatively good health?

In Pictures: The World's Longevity Secrets

That's the premise behind a new National Geographic book, The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest. Partially funded by the National Institute on Aging, explorer Dan Buettner and a team of researchers identified four geographic regions where small groups of people are living particularly long, healthy lives. Blue zones refer to the concentric circles Buettner and his team drew on a world map in blue ink to demarcate the areas with the highest life expectancies, including the Barbagia region of Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; the community of Seventh Day Adventists in Loma Linda, Calif.; and the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. Read More...

Stem cells from umbilical cord used in the treatment of hepatic diseases