Health Related articles updated on daily Basis.

[Night_Hawk]

Curry compound in turmeric may curb diabetes risk

(Reuters) / 30 July 2012

Supplements containing a compound found in curry spice may help prevent diabetes in people at high risk, according to a Thai study.Researchers, whose results were published in the journal Diabetes Care, found that over nine months, a daily dose of curcumin seemed to prevent new cases of diabetes among people with so-called prediabetes - abnormally high blood sugar levels that may progress to full-blown type 2 diabetes.

Curcumin is a compound in turmeric spice. Previous lab research has suggested it can fight inflammation and so-called oxidative damage to body cells. Those two processes are thought to feed a range of diseases, including type 2 diabetes.
“Because of its benefits and safety, we propose that curcumin extract may be used for an intervention therapy for the prediabetes population,” wrote study leader Somlak Chuengsamarn of Srinakharinwirot University in Nakomnayok, Thailand.
The study included 240 Thai adults with prediabetes who were randomly assigned to take either curcumin capsules or a placebo. The ones taking curcumin took six supplement capsules a day, each of which contained 250 milligrams of “curcuminoids”.
After nine months, 19 of the 116 placebo patients had developed type 2 diabetes. That compared with none of the 119 patients taking curcumin.
The researchers found that the supplement seemed to improve the function of beta-cells, which are cells in the pancreas that release the blood sugar-regulating hormone insulin. They speculate that the anti-inflammatory effects of curcumin help protect beta-cells from damage.
But a diabetes expert not involved in the study said it’s still too early for people to head to the health food store for curcumin supplements.
“This looks promising, but there are still a lot of questions,” said Constance Brown-Riggs, a certified diabetes educator and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
The trial lasted only nine months, and it’s already known from longer-lasting, larger trials that lifestyle changes — including calorie-cutting and exercise — can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes in people with prediabetes.
Brown-Riggs added that consumers can’t be sure that a product actually contains the ingredients, or the amount of ingredient, listed on the label.
“If I was talking to a patient about this, I’d say concentrate on eating healthy and overall lifestyle,” she said.

 

[Night_Hawk]

Chemical in plastic bottles aggravates heart risk

(IANS) / 17 August 2012

The presence of high levels of urinary Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical used in plastic products like water bottles and baby feeding bottles, may be linked to narrowing of arteries and risk of heart disease."Our latest study strengthens a growing body of work that suggests that BPA may be adding to known risk factors for heart disease," said David Melzer, professor of epidemiology and public health at Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD) of Exeter University.

A team led by Melzer from the PCMD and University of Cambridge analysed data from 591 patients, who participated in the Metabonomics and Genomics Coronary Artery Disease (MaGiCAD) study in Cambridgeshire, UK, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reports.

Patients were classified into severe, intermediate or normal coronary artery disease (CAD) categories based on narrowing of their coronary arteries, which deliver oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle known as myocardium, according to an Exeter statement.

In all, 385 patients were identified to have severe CAD, 86 intermediate CAD and 120 had normal coronary arteries. The vessels that deliver oxygen-rich blood to the myocardium are known as coronary arteries.

The study shows that the concentration of urinary BPA, a controversial chemical commonly used in food and drink containers, was significantly higher in those with severe CAD compared to those with normal coronary arteries.

Many nations moved to ban BPA from the manufacture of baby's bottles and other feeding equipment, following a PCMD study in September 2008. The BPA is used in polycarbonate plastic products such as refillable drinks containers, compact disks, some plastic eating utensils and many other products in everyday use.

Other studies related to BPA carried out by the same research team have found associations with altered testosterone, suggesting that the chemical may be more active in the body than previously thought.

Tamara Galloway, professor of toxicology and study co-author from Exeter, said: "These results are important because they give us a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the association between BPA and heart disease."

 

[Night_Hawk]

Ginger could help control diabetes

(IANS) / 8 August 2012

SYDNEY - Ginger could help manage high levels of blood sugar which create complications for long-term diabetic patients.A new report reveals the potential power of ginger to control blood glucose by using muscle cells. Ginger extracts were able to increase the uptake of glucose into muscle cells independently of insulin, says Basil Roufogalis, professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, University of Syndey, who led the study.

”This assists in the management of high levels of blood sugar that create complications for long-term diabetic patients, and may allow cells to operate independently of insulin,” says Roufogalis, the journal Planta Medica reports.

”The components responsible for the increase in glucose were gingerols—the major phenolic components of the ginger rhizome. Under normal conditions, blood glucose level is strictly maintained within a narrow range, and skeletal muscle is a major site of glucose clearance in the body,” says Roufogalis, according to a Sydney statement.

The pharmacy researchers extracted whole ginger rhizomes obtained from Buderim Ginger and showed that that one fraction of the extract was the most effective in reproducing the increase in glucose uptake by the whole extract in muscle cells grown in culture.

Analysis by colleagues Colin Duke and Van Tran from Sydney’s Faculty of Pharmacy showed this fraction was rich in gingerols.

 

[Night_Hawk]

Grapefruit juice boosts cancer drugs’ efficacy

(IANS) / 9 August 2012

A glass of grapefruit juice a day could indeed boost the efficacy of cancer drugs, check their side effects and also reduce the cost of the medication, according to a study.Combining the fruit with a specific anti-cancer drug delivered the same benefits as patients would have from taking more than three times of the medication by itself.

University of Chicago researchers said the combination could help patients avoid side effects associated with high doses of the drug and reduce the cost of the medication, the journal Clinical Cancer Research reports.
Grapefruit juice is known to prevent enzymes in the intestine that break down certain drugs, meaning more can enter the blood stream, according to the Daily Mail.
Doctors often tell patients to avoid some fruits when taking particular medications as it can cause serious side-effects or overdose.
Scientists now wanted to see if they could harness this effect. Study leader Ezra Cohen said: “Grapefruit juice, and drugs with a similar mechanism, can significantly increase blood levels of many drugs.”
“But this has long been considered an overdose hazard. Instead, we wanted to see if grapefruit juice can be used in a controlled fashion to increase the availability and efficacy of sirolimus,” added Cohen.
Sirolimus or rapamycin is used to prevent rejection in organ transplantation but is also being tested as a treatment for certain tumours.
The Chicago team showed that patients who drank eight ounces of grapefruit a day increased their sirolimus levels by 350 percent. Certain substances in grapefruit juice are known to stop an enzyme in the small intestine from breaking down some medications.
This allows more of the drug to enter the blood stream, and could at one level cause serious side-effects or accidental overdose.

 

[Night_Hawk]

Red meat could elevate bowel cancer risk

(IANS) / 11 August 2012

LONDON - Your fondness for red meat might increase your chances of developing bowel cancer due to large amounts of iron in it.The new discovery could open the way to new treatments to mop up iron in the bowels of those who develop cells hit by the defective gene called APC.

Mice fed low iron diet remained cancer free even if the gene was defective, but when it functioned normally, high iron levels did no harm.

However, mice with the defective gene given high iron intake were two to three times more likely to develop the disease, the Daily Mail reports.

Owen Sansom, deputy director of the Cancer Research UK Institute, Glasgow, who led the study, said: “We’ve made a huge step in understanding how bowel cancer develops. The APC gene is faulty in around eight out of 10 bowel cancers but until now we haven’t known how this causes the disease.”

”It’s clear that iron is playing a critical role in controlling the development of bowel cancer in people with a faulty APC gene. And, intriguingly, our study shows that even very high levels of iron in the diet don’t cause cancer by itself, but rely on the APC gene,” said Sansom

 

[Night_Hawk]

Sore throat an easy-to-handle ailment

Dr Hussein
Al Kadiri, (ENT specialist, Zulekha Hospital, Sharjah) / 18 August 2012

A sore throat is one of the most common conditions seen by a family General Practitioner (GP). People use the term to describe almost any feeling in throat, from dryness to acute pain. In severe cases this may lead to difficulty in swallowing solids, liquids and occasionally saliva, explained Dr Hussein Al Kadiri, ENT specialist, Zulekha Hospital, Sharjah.About 70 per cent of all sore throat cases are due to viral infection rather than bacterial infection. Symptoms of sore throats vary in children and adults.
In adults it can be an Acute Viral Sore Throat which is an infection of the upper respiratory tract. Viral sore throats are more common during the winter and usually settle after a few days. Symptoms may include runny nose, sneezing hoarseness, dry cough due to chest infection, dullness of hearing and redness of the pharynx, tonsils and roof of the mouth (soft palate).
The treatment for this kind of sore throat is self-care by the individual. Generally the sore throat will clear up on its own. To ease the discomfort it is recommended to use saline gargles, take common painkillers, drink plenty of fluids and take honey and lemon mixtures
Sore throat can be also Recurring Viral Sore Throat. This is when people should go to see their GP. A swab of the throat might be taken to identify the cause of the sore throat. If the results show a bacterial infection, a course of antibiotics is usually prescribed. The antibiotic normally prescribed is Penicillin. Patients allergic to Penicillin are given an alternative antibiotic such as Erythromycin.
Last form of sore throat in adults is called Quinsy (Peritonsillar Abscess), which usually occurs following the spread of a tonsil infection. Pus builds up causing an abscess or ‘Quinsy’ to develop. Symptoms include acute sore throat, inability to swallow saliva resulting in dribbling, swelling in the neck caused by the abscess spreading to the roof of the mouth (soft palate)
Treatment of an early abscess is by antibiotics while a fully developed abscess requires hospital admission where antibiotics are given through a drip (intravenously). It may also be necessary to drain the pus. This is done by making a small incision under local anesthetic.
Sore throats in children are so frequent and can be due to viral infections. Children with a sore throat may also have a runny nose and/or a cough. Taking common painkillers, drinking plenty of fluids, and having plenty of bed rest can ease the discomfort.
[email protected]

 

[Night_Hawk]

Stress, depression can shrink brain

(IANS) / 14 August 2012

WASHINGTON - Don’t take stress or depression lightly, they can actually shrink the brain and contribute to both emotional and mental degradation, according to a US study.Now researchers have discovered one reason why this occurs - a single genetic switch that triggers loss of brain connections in humans and depression in animal models.

The findings show that the genetic switch known as a transcription factor represses the expression of several genes that are necessary for the formation of synaptic connections between brain cells, which in turn could contribute to loss of brain mass, the journal Nature Medicine reports.

”We wanted to test the idea that stress causes a loss of brain synapses (junctions of nerve cells) in humans,” said senior study author Ronald Duman, professor of psychiatry, neurobiology and pharmacology at Yale University.

”We show that circuits normally involved in emotion, as well as cognition, are disrupted when this single transcription factor is activated,” he added.

The research team analysed tissue of depressed and non-depressed patients donated from a brain bank and looked for different patterns of gene activation, according to a statement from Yale.

The brains of patients who had been depressed exhibited lower levels of expression in genes that are required for the function and structure of brain synapses.

 

[TruPakistani]

Stress, depression can shrink brain

(IANS) / 14 August 2012

WASHINGTON - Don’t take stress or depression lightly, they can actually shrink the brain and contribute to both emotional and mental degradation, according to a US study.Now researchers have discovered one reason why this occurs - a single genetic switch that triggers loss of brain connections in humans and depression in animal models.

The findings show that the genetic switch known as a transcription factor represses the expression of several genes that are necessary for the formation of synaptic connections between brain cells, which in turn could contribute to loss of brain mass, the journal Nature Medicine reports.

”We wanted to test the idea that stress causes a loss of brain synapses (junctions of nerve cells) in humans,” said senior study author Ronald Duman, professor of psychiatry, neurobiology and pharmacology at Yale University.

”We show that circuits normally involved in emotion, as well as cognition, are disrupted when this single transcription factor is activated,” he added.

The research team analysed tissue of depressed and non-depressed patients donated from a brain bank and looked for different patterns of gene activation, according to a statement from Yale.

The brains of patients who had been depressed exhibited lower levels of expression in genes that are required for the function and structure of brain synapses.

A very clear example of this is our politicians with shrinked brains.

 

[Mojo-jojo]

Green Tea Can Make Tumors Vanish!

[h=1]STUDY: A Chemical Found In Green Tea Makes Tumors Vanish[/h]

Powerful new anti-cancer drugs based on green tea could soon be developed after scientists found an extract from the beverage could make almost half of tumours vanish. The University of Strathclyde team made 40 per cent of human skin cancer tumours disappear using the compound, in a laboratory study.
Green tea has long been suspected of having anti-cancer properties and the extract, called epigallocatechin gallate, has been investigated before.
However, this is the first time researchers have managed to make it effective at shrinking tumours.
Previous attempts to capitalize on its cancer-fighting properties have failed because scientists used intravenous drips, which failed to deliver enough of the extract to the tumours themselves.
So, the Strathclyde team devised a targeted delivery system, piggy-backing the extract on proteins that carry iron molecules, which cancer tumours vacuum up.
The lab test on one type of human skin cancer showed 40 percent of tumors disappeared after a month of treatment, while an additional 30 percent shrank.
Dr. Christine Dufs, a senior lecturer at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, who led the research, said: These are very encouraging results which we hope could pave the way for new and effective cancer treatments.
When we used our method, the green tea extract reduced the size of many of the tumours every day, in some cases removing them altogether.
"By contrast, the extract had no effect at all when it was delivered by other means, as every one of these tumours continued to grow.
This research could open doors to new treatments for what is still one of the biggest killer diseases in many countries.
She added: I was expecting good results, but not as strong as these.
Dr. Dufs said population studies had previously indicated that green tea had anti-cancer properties, and scientists had since identified the active compound as epigallocatechin gallate.
But the Strathclyde researchers were the first to deliver it in high enough doses for tumours to have an effect.
She explained: The problems with this extract is that when its administered intravenously, it goes everywhere in the body, so when it gets to the tumors its too diluted.
With the targeted delivery system, its taken straight to the tumors without any effect on normal tissue.
Cancer scientists are increasingly using targeted delivery to improve results, relying on the many different "receptors" that tumors have for different biological substances.
In this instance, the scientists used the fact that tumors have receptors for transferrin, a plasma protein which transports iron through the blood.
The results have been published in the journal Nanomedicine.
The ultimate objective was a clinical trial in humans but Dr. Dufs said that was some way off.
We have got to optimize the delivery system and therapeutic effect first, she said.
Dr. Julie Sharp, from Cancer Research UK, said: A few studies have shown that extracts from green tea may have some effect on cancer cells in the lab but this has not yet been backed up by research in humans.
She added: Its far too soon to say if enjoying a cup of green tea has any wider benefits in combating cancer but we know that a healthy balanced diet can help to reduce the risk.


http://www.businessinsider.com/a-chemical-found-in-green-tea-makes-tumors-vanish-study-finds-2012-8

 

[Mr.Restless]

Re: Green Tea Can Make Tumors Vanish!

[/IMG]

[h=2]Green Tea for Weight Loss:[/h]Heat up 8 glasses of water. When it begins to boil, add 6 tsp of green tea and let it simmer on low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. When 6 glasses of the water remains, add:
A stick of cinnamon
1 green cardamom
1 small stick liquorice or 1 tsp of powder
A pinch kalonji
1 clove
Ginger and garlic 1 piece each.
When it begins to boil again, add a few mint leaves and store it in a thermos. Sprinkle a few drops of lemon and brown sugar before drinking. Drink 6 to 8 cups daily.

 

[nuzhatghazali]

Re: Green Tea Can Make Tumors Vanish!

چھ گلاس روزانہ ؟؟؟؟؟....
..ایک آرٹیکل کے مطابق زیادہ گرین ٹی پینے سے لیور بھی ڈیمیج ہو نے کی شاھدتیں موجود ہیں .

 

[Night_Hawk]

Fall risk may rise after cataract surgery

(Reuters) / 19 August 2012

Contrary to some past research, a new study finds that elderly adults who have cataract surgery could face an increased risk of falls and fractures in the next year - at least if they have only one eye done.The increase was seen mostly in patients age 80 and up, and researchers say it’s not clear what factors - related to the surgery or not - might explain the added risk.
A cataract is a clouding of the eye’s lens, usually caused when proteins in the lens condense into clumps with age. Some studies, but not all, have suggested that cataract removal curbs older adults’ risk of falls and bone breaks.
In the new study, researchers looked at records for more than 15,000 Australian adults who’d had a first-time cataract surgery.
Overall, 600 were hospitalized for a fall-related hip fracture or other injury - either during the year before or the year after the eye surgery. And the risk, it turned out, was greater in the year after.
There were 273 hospitalizations in the year before surgery, and 352 in the year after.
When the researchers accounted for some other factors - like a patient’s age and other medical conditions - the risk of hospitalization was 27 percent higher in the year after cataract surgery.
The findings, reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, conflict with a US study published just last month.
That study reviewed Medicare records for one million older Americans with cataracts. It found that those who had cataract surgery had a somewhat lower risk of breaking a bone in the following year, versus those who did not have surgery.
But there are differences in the study groups that may help explain the conflicting findings, according to Lynn B. Meuleners, of Curtin University in Perth, Australia, who led the new study.
For one, she said in an email, her study looked at patients who’d had cataract surgery in only the ‘first eye.’ In Western Australia, where the study was done, people typically wait six months to a year to have their second eye treated, if needed.
Meuleners suspects that may be a factor in the higher fall risk after surgery. If people had ‘lopsided vision’ after single-eye surgery, that might have made them more prone to falls.
‘It may also have been due to wearing old glasses and having poor vision in the corrected eye because of the glasses, and poor vision in the other eye due to cataract,’ Meuleners explained.
‘One would expect better vision if both eyes had successful cataract surgery in a short period of time - generally 2 to 6 weeks,’ Meuleners said. ‘Therefore, ‘both eye’ patients may have lower risk of falls if vision is a risk factor.’
The US Medicare study, she noted, did not look separately at patients who’d had surgery in only one eye or had both eyes done with a short wait in between.
According to the US National Eye Institute, the typical wait time between two cataract surgeries is four to eight weeks.
It seems logical that cataract surgery could prevent some fall-related injuries, since vision problems are considered a risk factor for older people’s falls.
But so far, research findings have been mixed as to whether that’s true.
One reason is that most studies, like the current one and the one in the U.S., have been observational. That means researchers look at medical records or self-reports from people who have undergone cataract surgery, or have not had it, and track their falls and injuries.
That approach has a number of limitations, though, and cannot prove whether cataract surgery, itself, affects the risk of falls and fractures.
Meuleners’ team also lacked data on a number of factors that affect older people’s fall risk - like their medication use, cognitive function and whether they had balance and mobility problems.
She said it’s possible, for instance, that the surgery, or the sedatives used during the procedure, worsened certain health problems for some patients - especially the most elderly - noting that the post-surgery increase in fall risk was largely among patients age 80 and up.
All of those questions warrant further study, Meuleners said.
For now, she recommended that people having cataract surgery talk with their doctors.
‘Elderly patients, in particular those 80 and up having ‘first eye’ surgery, should discuss with their surgeon their visual aids requirements after surgery at the earliest possible time,’ Meuleners said.
She also suggested they discuss whether a sedative is necessary during surgery.
Then there is the question of when to have the second eye done, if needed.
‘One would think that timely second eye surgery would be beneficial,’ Meuleners noted. ‘So careful consideration should be given to wanting (or needing) to postpone second eye surgery.’
In the U.S., it’s estimated that half of people who live to age 80 will develop cataracts or have cataract surgery. More than three million surgeries are done nationally every year, at a cost of $1,500 to $3,000 each.

 

[Night_Hawk]

Weight loss surgery helps prevent diabetes

(Reuters) / 23 August 2012

Treating obese people with weight loss surgery dramatically delays or prevents the onset of type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.‘We saw a marked delay (in the development of diabetes) over 15 years,’ said coauthor Dr. Lars Sjostrom of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. ‘Some of those surgical patients will probably develop diabetes later. But over a lifetime, there will be a large difference.’
Among the 1,658 volunteers who received surgery, mostly stomach stapling, the risk of developing diabetes was about one in 150 per year. The 1,771 people in the control group who received standard care had a risk four times higher: one in 35 per year.
‘Most of the previous studies on bariatric surgery have focused on the remission of diabetes. This study is more about preventing diabetes,’ Ted Adams of the University of Utah, who was not connected with the research, told Reuters Health.
The improvement was seen even though the people who underwent surgery initially had a higher risk of developing diabetes than those in the control group.
‘If anything, the surgery group was a bit heavier and had more risk factors than the control group at the start of the study, and still the outcome at 10 years and 15 years was much more favorable in the surgery group,’ Sjostrom told Reuters Health. ‘It’s favorable in spite of these differences.’
The team, which reported its results in the New England Journal of Medicine, also found that a person’s starting body mass index - a measure of weight versus height - did not predict whether patients would develop type 2 diabetes. Blood sugar levels at the beginning of the study, before surgery, were better indicators.
Sjostrom said a similar effect has been seen in earlier studies looking at the impact of the surgery on rates of heart attack, stroke, cancer prevention and overall mortality.
As a result, ‘it may be time to give less attention to the degree of obesity when patients are selected for bariatric surgery,’ he said.
About 285 million people worldwide have type 2 diabetes and people with severe obesity have the highest risk. More than one third of US adults are obese. About 220,000 people had bariatric surgery in 2009, according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). Surgery costs range from about $11,500 to $26,000.
[h=2]‘IMPRACTICAL AND UNJUSTIFIED’[/h] In a Journal editorial, Dr. Danny Jacobs of Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C., said, ‘it remains impractical and unjustified to contemplate the performance of bariatric surgery in the millions of eligible obese adults.’
But the results may help doctors understand why the various types of surgery work and pick out the best candidates for the operation, he said.
Sjostrom said more studies are needed and a cost analysis of the pros and cons of surgery, now underway, could be published in a year or so.
‘It may turn out that this is very cost-effective,’ he said. ‘You might even save money if you operate on patients with impaired fasting glucose because if you operate on 13 such patients, you prevent diabetes in 10 of them.’
Dr. Jaime Ponce, president of the ASMBS, said the study is more evidence that being overweight is important for the development of diabetes.
‘It means anybody who is overweight, they need to start treatment, although not everyone needs surgery,’ he told Reuters Health. The first step is nutrition counseling, diet, exercise and, possibly, medication. ‘If you fail on all those things, before you get sicker, you need to think about surgery.’
Three patients died within 90 days of their surgery, and between two to five percent each had either lung complications, vomiting, infections, bleeding or a blood clot.
Ponce said the procedure is ‘as safe as gall bladder surgery.’
The link between obesity and diabetes is well documented, and making lifestyle changes or taking weight-reducing drugs can cut the risk of diabetes by 40 to 45 percent.
The new study, part of the larger Swedish Obese Subject study, was designed to see if the surgical weight loss would have the same effect. None of the patients included in the test had diabetes when the project began in 1987.
Participants chose whether or not to have surgery, and enrollment ended in February 2001. Stomach stapling was the most common procedure (69 percent), followed by gastric banding (19 percent) and gastric bypass (12 percent).
In the surgery group, the average weight loss at the 10- and 15-year mark was 20 kilograms, or 44 pounds. The non-surgery group - which received standard care consisting of recommendations for healthier eating and more physical activity - stayed within three kilograms (seven pounds) of their starting weight.
‘This is simply additional information that can help a patient and clinician regarding whether to have the surgery, as they weigh a number of factors,’ said Adams. ‘Preventing diabetes is really a meaningful contribution to the long-term quality of life.’

 

[mrjohn12]

Hi , I am here with some problems related health and I want to get a solution of those problems . I was 75 kg before 8 month and then I reduced it to 58 kg now I am 75 again but I am facing some new problems . I am not feeling good now and I feel always sleepy now . I don't know Its for my over weight or not but I want to be sure what the main cause is . I am now feeling weak . then What I should do ?
learn arabic language

 

[Doctor Mujahid]

Take care of Your Heart

http://pakmag.dk/Health/urdu/Dil.html

 

[Night_Hawk]

Turmeric can soothe gastric inflammation, ulcers

(IANS) / 23 September 2012

Turmeric at the optimum dose is highly effective in soothing gastric inflammation and ulceration, which could be the key to developing new drugs against such stomach disorders, say Indian scientists.Turmeric, which belongs to the ginger family of plants, has been used as an alternative medicine since the last 3,000 years. It is also known to have antiseptic properties.

Curcumin is its major component responsible for the spice’s yellow colour and its therapeutic effects.
“It (curcumin) has been shown to be a good cure for gastric ailments like inflammation and ulceration. While its low doses are not effective, at high doses it might aggravate the situation. But we have come up with the optimum dose at which curcumin is therapeutic,” Snehasikta Swarnakar, senior scientist at Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB)’s Drug Development Diagnostic and Biotechnology Division, who led the research, told IANS.
IICB is an institute under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India’s premier industrial R&D organisation.
Gastric ulceration and inflammation occur as a side effect to indiscriminate use of pain-killers (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs) and also due to stress.
Researcher conducted on rats helped in successfully evaluating the optimum dose. “For rats, the proper dose is around 50 mg per kg of their body weight, which is equivalent to 100 mg per kg of body weight in humans,” said Swarnakar.
The study, published in 2012 in the Anti-oxidants and Redox Signaling Journal, was also the first to shed light on the exact mechanism by which curcumin aids the healing process.
“This is the first study to reveal that the presence of curcumin in the system before or after ulcer development may promote formation of new blood vessels at the site of healing, and restore collagen fibres - the tissue that adds structural strength to body parts,” said co-researcher Nilanjana Maulik of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, US.
NSAIDs like indomethacin breaks up the blood vessel network in the stomach tissues and disrupts the collagen fibres - the tissue responsible for structural strength.
“Curcumin comes to the rescue by regulating the levels of two enzymes involved in the formation of new blood vessels, Swarnakar said.
One of the enzymes - MMP-2 - is a house-keeping enzyme that should be present in the system, and the other - MMP-9 - is inflammatory which is not required in the body.
“Curcumin increases the levels of MMP-2, while simultaneously lowering the MMP-9 level. This balance between the two enzymes is the key to its actions,” Swarnakar said.

 

[Night_Hawk]

Re: Take care of Your Heart

​

 

[iphone5]

Jooroon Ke Dard Ke Liyay Cherry Is Beneficent

 

[Night_Hawk]

Re: Take care of Your Heart

​

 

[Night_Hawk]

Vitamin D not likely to ease severity of cold

(IANS) / 4 October 2012

Vitamin D does not reduce the severity of colds, even for those who received a monthly dose of 100,000 units in a trial, says a study.

The association of Vitamin D deficit and susceptibility to viral respiratory tract infections has been unclear, said the University of Otago study.
David R. Murdoch, University of Otago, New Zealand, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial to examine the effect of Vitamin D supplementation on rate and severity of upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in healthy adults.
The study, conducted between February 2010 and November 2011, included 322 healthy adults in New Zealand, reported the Journal of American Medical Association.
Participants were randomly assigned to receive an initial dose of 200,000 units of oral Vitamin D3, then 200,000 units on month later, then 100,000 units monthly, or placebo administered in an identical dosing regimen, for a total of 18 months, according to an Otago statement.
Researchers found that there was no statistically significant differences in the number of URTIs per participant (average, 3.7 per person in the vitamin D group and 3.8 per person in the placebo group).
The main finding from this study is that a monthly dose of 100,000 IU of Vitamin D3 in healthy adults did not significantly reduce the incidence or severity of URTIs, the study authors wrote.