Health in the News!
Want to Double Your Risk of Blindness?
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) develops after age 50, affecting the central portion of vision. Smoking doubles one’s risk of developing this leading cause of sight loss. “Smoking is the only proven cause of AMD that people can do anything about,” according to Steve Winyard of the AMD Alliance, U.K.
Better Predictors of Breast Cancer Recurrence Found
New research from Stanford University School of Medicine has found that predictions about remaining disease free after five years could be made based on the immune cells of the lymph nodes, rather than whether a node contained tumor cells. In the study they found women could be divided into two groups. The favorable group, with healthy quantities of immune cells (cytotoxic T cells, helper T cells, and dendritic cells) had an 85-90 percent chance of remaining disease-free in five years. However, the group with an unfavorable response had less than a 15 percent chance of remaining disease free after five years. This knowledge can help women make informed decisions about whether or not to consider aggressive therapy.
Another Pearl for Soy
Preliminary research with diabetic rats suggests that soy consumption reduces lipid (fat) production and prevents constant high levels of insulin. Dr. Nimbe Torres, of the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion in Mexico, found that these effects appear to result from increased levels of transcription factor involved in controlling genes in fatty acid breakdown. This research suggests that feeding soy to those with insulin resistance could reduce that resistance, renal damage, and fatty liver, leading to improved quality of life (September 2005, Journal of Lipid Research).
Got Asthma, Get Worms
Studies of children in developing countries have found that they have lower asthma and allergy rates than in developing countries where incidence of asthma is markedly increasing. It is thought that in countries where people are still infested with worms, the immune system responds to control the worm infections, but in developing countries where infestations are less likely the body responds to other common allergens with the response meant for worms. Worms as a new form of treatment? No, but Dr. Padraic Fallon of the Department of Biochemistry at Trinity College, Dublin, is looking at molecules from the worm to treat or prevent disease.
COMPILED BY MARGARET ARTHUR, M.D.
 |
|
 |
|
|
|