One Blog for the Kids!

US approves first heart pump for children

2012-01-04T19:36:00.001-08:00

A new hope... for kids!
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Posted: 18 December 2011

WASHINGTON: The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a first mechanical cardiac assist device for children that can help keep patients alive as they await a transplant.

The EXCOR Pediatric System, made by German company Berlin Heart, can be sized to fit young people from newborns to teenagers.

"This is a step forward, it is the first FDA-approved pulsatile mechanical circulatory support device specifically designed for children," said Susan Cummins, chief pediatric medical officer in the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

"Previous adult heart assist devices were too large to be used in critically ill children to keep them alive while they wait to get a new heart," she added in a statement Friday.

The device was tested on a group of 48 US patients, and was found to improve survival rates for transplant patients compared with the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, the current standard of care, though not FDA approved.

As a whole, a reported 12-17 percent of children and 23 percent of infants die while they await heart transplants, according to the FDA.

- AFP/cc

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
US approves first heart pump for children

Fewer US teens smoke, drink

2012-01-02T20:40:00.001-08:00

With news like this coming from the US, now this is something!
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Posted: 15 December 2011

WASHINGTON: Cigarette and alcohol use by US teenagers are at their lowest point since the mid-1970s, but marijuana use remains steady, according to the findings of a national survey released Wednesday.

Some 18.7 percent of grade 12 high school students, typically aged 17 or 18, reported smoking cigarettes in the latest Monitoring the Future, well down from a peak of 36.5 percent in 1997.

Among eighth-grade pupils, the proportion of smokers was 6.1 percent, down from 21 percent in 1996, the classroom survey of 46,773 students from 400 schools indicated.

"That cigarette use has declined to historically low rates is welcome news, given our concerns that declines have slowed or stalled in recent years," said Nora Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which funded the survey.

Some 63.5 percent of 12th graders and 26.9 percent of eighth graders consumed alcohol in the past year, down from peaks of 74.8 percent in 1997 and 46.8 percent in 1994 respectively.

Binge drinking, defined as five or more drinks in a row in the fortnight prior to taking the survey, saw a five-year decrease, reported by 6.4 percent of eighth graders, 14.7 percent of 10th graders and 21.6 percent of 12th graders.

On the other hand, use of marijuana "remains steady" after some increases in recent years, with 36.4 percent of 12th graders having used it once in the past year, and 6.6 percent on a daily basis.

Some 11.4 percent of 12th graders said they had used synthetic marijuana, known as K2 or spice.

Launched in 1975, Monitoring the Future is among three major surveys sponsored by federal health officials to take stock of substance abuse among American teenagers.

- AFP/wk

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Fewer US teens smoke, drink

Eating fish boosts heart health in young women

2012-01-02T18:05:00.001-08:00

Now this is good to hear, but even better 'to eat'!
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Posted: 06 December 2011

WASHINGTON: Women of childbearing age can reduce their risk of heart problems by regularly eating fish rich in omega 3 fatty acids, said a Danish study out Monday.

The study is the first to examine younger women, age 15-49, and determine whether fish in their diet has a real impact on their current likelihood of heart problems, instead of their longevity.

For instance, "those who rarely or never ate fish had 50 percent more cardiovascular problems over eight years than those who ate fish regularly," the research said.

Women who rarely or never ate fish faced a 90 percent higher risk of heart problems than those who ate fish weekly.

When researchers looked at hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease in three different assessments over a 30 week period, they found it was three times higher among women who did not eat fish.

The findings, published in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association, are based on a Danish study of 49,000 women with a median age of 30 that spanned eight years.

Women were interviewed by phone about their family history, lifestyle and fish consumption, and were tracked over the next eight years.

"We saw a strong association with cardiovascular disease in the women who were still in their late 30s," said Marin Strom, lead researcher and post doctoral fellow at the Centre for Fetal Programming at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"The biggest challenge in getting health messages like this across to younger populations is that usually the benefits may not be evident for 30 or 40 years, but our study shows this is not the case."

Women most commonly reported eating cod, salmon, herring, and mackerel, all of which are high in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, believed to protect against heart and vascular disease.

The study focused exclusively on dietary intake of fish, not supplements with fish oil.

"Women who eat fish should find the results encouraging, but it is important to emphasize that to obtain the greatest benefit from fish and fish oils, women should follow the dietary recommendations to eat fish as a main meal at least twice a week," said Strom.

-AFP/ac

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Eating fish boosts heart health in young women

First artificial windpipe graft a success

2011-12-19T20:28:00.001-08:00

Posted: 24 November 2011

PARIS: The word's first artificial windpipe transplant has been such a success that a second operation has been carried out and a third is being planned, The Lancet reported on Thursday.

Andemariam Teklesenbet Beyene, a 36-year-old Eritrean, is doing well after undergoing the ground-breaking operation in Stockholm in June, it said.

Beyene, a post-graduate geology student currently living in Reykjavik, Iceland, had his trachea removed because of cancer.

It was replaced in a 12-hour operation on June 9 with a synthetic "scaffold" covered with his own stem cells, or precursor cells of windpipe tissue.

"The patient has been doing great for the last four months and has been able to live a normal life," the British journal quoted Tomas Gudbjartsson, a professor at Landspitali University Hospital and University of Iceland in Reykjavik, as saying.

"For the last two months he has been able to focus on his studies and the plan is that he will defend his thesis at the end of this year."

The operation, led by Professor Paolo Macchiarini of Stockholm's Karolinska University Hospital, entailed using 3-D imaging to scan Beyene and then building a glass model of the afflicted section of his windpipe.

The glass was used to shape the artificial scaffold, which was then seeded with stem cells.

Macchiarini has just carried out his second transplant, on a 30-year-old man from Maryland, United States, who also had cancer of the trachea. The scaffold was made from nanofibres and thus "represents a further advance," the Journal quoted Macchiarini as saying.

His team is now hoping to treat a 13-month-old South Korean infant with the same technique.

"We will continue to improve the regenerative medicine approaches for transplanting the windpipe and extend it to the lungs, heart, and oesophagus," said Macchiarini.

It marks a step forward in regenerative medicine, as the organ is tailor-made to the patient, he said.

In addition, artificial organs do not require the long waiting time that usually happens in human donation.

As the stem cells come from the patient himself, this reduces risk of attack by the immune system, which is the case for donated organs whose rejection has to be combatted by taking powerful immunosuppressive drugs.

-AFP/pn

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
First artificial windpipe graft a success

Long-term study proves benefit of statins in heart disease

2011-12-19T19:56:00.001-08:00

A long-term study, now this is something!
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Posted: 23 November 2011

PARIS: Statins safely reduce the risk of cardiovascular illness even years after treatment is stopped, according to a probe into the popular cholesterol-busters published on Wednesday.

Statins work by blocking a liver enzyme that makes fatty molecules which line arterial walls and boost the danger of heart disease and strokes.

With worldwide annual sales of more than 20 billion dollars, the drugs have been dubbed "the aspirin of the 21st century" because of their benefit and wide use.

But lingering questions persist about their long-term safety for the heart, liver and cancer risk.

Researchers at the Heart Protection Study Collaborative Group in Oxford looked at 20,536 patients at risk of cardiovascular disease who were randomly allocated 40mg daily of simvastatins or a dummy look-alike over more than five years.

During this period, those who took the statins saw a reduction in "bad" LDL cholesterol and a 23-per cent reduction in episodes of vascular ill-health compared to the placebo group.

The monitoring of the volunteers continued for a further six years after the trial ended.

The benefits persisted throughout this monitoring period among those volunteers who stopped taking the statins, the investigators found.

In addition, there was no emergence of any health hazard among those who had taken, or were continuing to take, the drugs.

A large number of cancers (nearly 3,500) developed during this follow-up period, but there was no difference in cancer incidence between the statin and placebo groups.

"The persistence of benefit we observed among participants originally allocated simvastatin during the subsequent six-year post-trial period is remarkable," said one of the investigators, Richard Bulbulia.

"In addition, the reliable evidence of safety, with no excess risk of cancer or other major illnesses during over 11 years follow-up, is very reassuring for doctors who prescribe statins and the increasingly large numbers of patients who take them long-term to reduce their risk of vascular disease."

A previous investigation in November 2010 found that long-term use of statins was less risky than thought for people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a common liver ailment.

- AFP/ck

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Long-term study proves benefit of statins in heart disease

Pioneering liver treatment cures British baby

2011-12-19T19:22:00.001-08:00

Another breakthrough, a medical advancement...
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Posted: 16 November 2011

LONDON: British doctors on Tuesday said they had cured a baby boy of a life-threatening liver disease using a pioneering treatment in which cells are injected into the abdomen.

The team from London's King's College Hospital treated eight-month old Iyaad Syed by injecting him with a group of cells, which acted as a temporary
liver while his real organ recovered from damage caused by a virus, BBC reported.

"This is the first time this treatment has been used to treat a child with acute liver failure," said professor Anil Dhawan, a liver specialist at the hospital.

"It's only a few months back when I first saw this child who was so sick requiring support on dialysis and a breathing machine.

"We think we have given him another chance of life and seeing him now six months down the road with nearly normal liver function is remarkable."

Syed would normally have been put on the transplant waiting list when his liver began to fail, but the hope now is that more cases will be cured using the new technique rather than relying on a scarce supply of donor organs.

Doctors injected liver cells which then processed toxins and produced proteins, fulfilling the role of a temporary liver while his own began to recover two weeks later.

The cells were treated with a chemical to prevent them from being destroyed by the youngster's immune system.

Iyaad's father, Jahangeer, called his son "a miracle boy", adding "it is brilliant and we are very proud of him."

The treatment's development now depends on an extensive clinical trial.

Andrew Langford, Chief Executive of the British Liver Trust, told the BBC: "The principle of this new technique is certainly ground-breaking and we would welcome the results of further clinical trials to see if it could become a standard treatment for both adults and children.

"Sadly, we have reached a breaking point with our transplant list in the UK, where approximately 100 people die waiting for a donor liver to become available each year."

-AFP/vl

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Pioneering liver treatment cures British baby

Broken heart fix with stem cells

2011-12-19T18:56:00.001-08:00

Posted: 15 November 2011

PARIS: Stem cells from heart-attack patients helped improve blood-pumping ability and restore vitality in cardiac muscle, according to a small trial published on Monday.

It is the first time patients have been given an infusion of their own
cardiac stem cells in the aim of solving the impact of heart failure rather than simply treating the symptoms of it.

The findings are so promising that the study's chief investigator said a potential "revolution" was in the offing if larger trials succeeded.

Stem cells are infant cells that develop into the specialised tissues of the body.

They have sparked great excitement as they offer hopes of rebuilding organs damaged by disease or accident.

The new study, published online in The Lancet, tested cardiac stem cells on 16 patients who had been left gravely ill as a result of an acute myocardial infarction.

The index used for cardiac health is called the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVFV), which calculates the capacity of the left ventricle to expel blood in the space of a heartbeat.

For a person in normal health, the LVFV is 50 percent or higher.

Among the study patients, though, this had fallen to 40 percent or lower. At such a threshold, shortness of breath and fatigue are chronic and often disabling.

The stem cells were isolated from a coronary artery that had been removed when the patients underwent a coronary bypass.

Within four months of treatment, the LVFV rose by 8.5 percent and after a year by 12 percent - four times what the researchers had expected.

Scans of the patients' hearts also showed a reduction in the area of tissue that had been scarred by the infarction, a discovery that challenges conventional belief that once scarring occurs, heart tissue is permanently dead.

The volunteers also reported a substantial improvement in quality of life, and there were no significant side effects.

Seven patients with similar heart problems were enrolled as "controls", to serve as a comparison. There was no change in their LVFV, in scar tissue or in their quality of life.

"The results are striking," said lead investigator Roberto Bolli of the University of Louisville, Kentucky.

"While we do not know why the improvement occurs, we have no doubt now that 1/8LVFV 3/8 increased and scarring decreased.

"If these results hold up in future studies, I believe this could be the biggest revolution in cardiovascular medicine in my lifetime."

The team is seeking funding to launch a larger, or Phase II, trial - the second in the normal three-phase process of assessing a new treatment for safet and effectiveness.

Previous stem-cell work on heart damage has used cells harvested from bone marrow.

The interest in cardiac stem cells is that they are self-renewing, produce daughter cells and differentiate into all types of cells in the heart.

The results were presented concurrently at a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida.

-AFP/pn

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Broken heart fix with stem cells

Autistic brains are heavier, with more neurons: study

2011-12-14T16:25:00.001-08:00

Posted: 09 November 2011

WASHINGTON: A post-mortem analysis of half a dozen autistic boys showed that their brains were heavier and contained many more neurons than counterparts without the disorder, US researchers said Tuesday.

The study, while small, suggests that brain overgrowth may be occurring in the womb, according to the findings published in the November 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers examined the brains of seven autistic boys, age two to 16, most of whom had died by drowning. The 16-year-old's cause of death was undetermined and one eight-year-old died of muscle cancer.

When they compared them to a control group of six boys without autism who died in accidents, they found that the brains of autistic boys had 67 percent more neurons in the prefrontal cortex and were nearly 18 percent heavier than normal brain weight for age.

"Because cortical neurons are not generated in postnatal life, this pathological increase in neuron numbers in autistic children indicates prenatal causes," the study said.

The researchers suggested that "faulty prenatal cell birth or maintenance may be involved in the development of autism."

The prefrontal cortex is where language and communication is based, as well as behaviors such as mood, attention, and social ability. Typically, autistic children have difficulty in these areas.

However, more research is needed to confirm the link, and to determine if and how brain differences may be tied to the severity of an autistic person's symptoms.

"Factors that normally organize the brain appear to be disrupted," said an accompanying editorial by Janet Lainhart of the University of Utah and Nicholas Lange of the Harvard University Schools of Medicine and Public Health.

Previous studies have suggested that clinical signs of autism tend to coincide with a period of abnormal brain and head growth that usually becomes apparent at nine to 18 months of age, according to the article.

Autism includes a wide spectrum of developmental differences and may range from mild social awkwardness to complete inability to communicate, repetitive movements, sensitivity to certain lights and sounds, and behavioral problems.

As many as one in 110 children is diagnosed with autism. The disorder is three to four times more common in boys than in girls, according to the advocacy group Autism Speaks which helped fund the study.

Other funding came from Cure Autism Now, The Emch Foundation, the Simons Foundation, the Thursday Club Juniors, and the University of California San Diego - National Institutes of Health Autism Center of Excellence.

-AFP/pn

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Autistic brains are heavier, with more neurons: study

Secret to shark health could fight human viruses

2011-11-03T05:31:00.001-07:00

Posted: 20 September 2011

WASHINGTON: Sharks are primitive creatures but their bodies produce a sophisticated substance that shows promise in fighting a range of human viruses from hepatitis to yellow fever, researchers said on Monday.

The compound, called squalamine, was discovered in 1993 but the study in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences is the first to explore its potential use against human viruses.

Researchers tested squalamine - manufactured from dogfish sharks' livers - in lab dishes and in animal subjects and found it could inhibit or control viral infections, and in some cases appeared to cure animals of their ills.

The project began when lead investigator, Michael Zasloff, professor of surgery and paediatrics at Georgetown University Medical Center, sent samples of squalamine to a series of labs around the United States for testing.

Squalamine has been synthesised in a lab since 1995 and is no longer extracted directly from shark tissue.

Tissue cultures showed it could "inhibit the infection of human blood vessel cells by the dengue virus and human liver cells infected with hepatitis B and D," said the study.

Research on animals showed the compound controlled yellow fever, Eastern equine encephalitis virus, and murine cytomegalovirus, a type of herpes virus that afflicts rodents.

"It is clearly a promising drug, and is unlike, in its mechanism of action and chemical structure, any other substance currently being investigated to treat viral infections," said Zasloff.

"We have not yet optimised squalamine dosing in any of the animal models we have studied and as yet we do not know the maximum protective or therapeutic benefit that can be achieved in these systems," he added.

"But we are sufficiently convinced of the promise of squalamine as an antiviral agent that we intend to take this compound into humans."

Squalamine is safe for humans and has been considered a potential tool against cancer and eye diseases, and some clinical trials for those targets are ongoing.

"In several of the early trials squalamine has shown significant and promising activity... in both certain forms of cancer and in diabetic retinopathy," Zasloff told AFP in an email.

Zasloff discovered squalamine in 1993 and is also known for his research on the natural antibiotic properties of frog skin.

- AFP/de

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Secret to shark health could fight human viruses

Dengue fever under attack through smart mosquito control

2011-10-16T03:14:00.001-07:00

Posted: 25 August 2011

PARIS - Scientists say they've found on a new way of controlling dengue fever by weakening populations of mosquitoes carrying the virus which causes the deadly disease.

"The results show we can completely transform local (mosquito) populations in a few months," said Michael Turelli, a biologist at the University of California at Davis. "It's natural selection on steroids."

Dengue which affects between 50 and 100 million people in the tropics and subtropics each year, is caused by four strains of virus that are spread by the mosquito Aedes aegypti.

There is no vaccine, which is why scientists are focussing so intensely on mosquito control.

In 2009, Turelli and others hit on the idea of inserting a naturally-occurring bacterial parasite called Wolbachia to shorten the mosquito's lifespan so that the virus would not have enough time to develop.

After initial setbacks, the team of scientists found a non-virulent strain of Wolbachia in the fruitfly Drosphila.

Introduced into the mosquito, the germ prevented the insect from becoming infected by the dengue virus.

At the same time, the Wolbachia which is a symbiotic bacterium, it was also harmless to the mosquito as it exists by living in harmony with its host.

As it lives inside cells and is maternally inherited, this raises the possibility that after a few generations, the introduced dengue-free mosquitoes eventually outnumber dengue-carrying counterparts.

After long consultations with the government and regulators, the scientists released Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes in two locations in Queensland, Australia, this year.

Early results suggest that the introduced mosquitoes have thrived, and "herald the beginning of a new era in the control of mosquito-borne diseases," said Jason Rasgon, a specialist at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Maryland, in a commentary also carried by Nature.

"The advantage of population-replacement approaches is that, once established, they are self-propagating. And because the mosquito population is simply changed rather than eliminated, effects on the ecosystem should be minimal."

The paper appears in Nature, the weekly British science journal.

- AFP/sf

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Dengue fever under attack through smart mosquito control

NTU scientists achieve bacterium breakthrough

2011-10-16T03:11:00.001-07:00

Posted: 25 August 2011

SINGAPORE: Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have for the first time re-engineered a common bacterium to seek out and kill other dangerous bacteria, to target a superbug which is naturally resistant to a wide range of antibiotics.

The breakthrough could change the way medical treatment is currently done in hospitals, as it targets only harmful bacteria, unlike the existing broad-spectrum antibiotics which kill both good and bad bacteria.

In a media release on Wednesday, NTU said its scientists were able to modify a harmless strain of Escherichia coli - also known as E. coli - found naturally in the human digestive system, to target a superbug which causes infections such as upper respiratory tract infection, gastrointestinal tract infection and urinary tract infection.

The biochemically engineered E. coli, upon detection of the other bacterium, will generate "killing molecules", and then self-destruct to release these molecules to kill the superbug, while remaining harmless to the human body.

The results have generated interest in the biomedical industry, which is looking for ways to combat infection - one of the world's leading causes of death, said NTU.

The researchers, Assistant Professor Matthew Chang and Assistant Professor Poh Chueh Loo from NTU's School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, said the idea for the project came about after they observed that bacteria secrete toxins to kill other bacteria in their bid for survival under adverse competition.

They plan to refine the efficiency of the killing molecules and to find other possible targets, and expect to soon move into animal trials. - TODAY

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
NTU scientists achieve bacterium breakthrough

Anorexic at five

2011-09-12T17:48:00.001-07:00

Are you one of them? Take heed...
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Posted: 01 August 2011

LONDON - Nearly 100 children aged between five and seven in Britain have been treated for anorexia or bulimia in the past three years, according to figures released on Monday.

The statistics show that 197 children aged between five and nine were treated in hospital in England for eating disorders, fuelling campaigners' fears that young children are being influenced by photographs in celebrity magazines.

The figures from 35 hospitals showed 98 children were aged between five and seven at the time of treatment and 99 aged eight or nine. Almost 400 were between the ages of 10 and 12, with more than 1,500 between 13 and 15 years old.

The statistics, released under the Freedom of Information Act, are believed to underestimate the true figures because some state-run hospitals refuse to release any data.

Other hospitals would only release figures for children admitted after they had become dangerously thin, excluding those undergoing psychiatric therapy as outpatients.

The findings come after experts called earlier this year for urgent action to improve the detection of eating disorders in children.

About three in every 100,000 children under 13 in Britain and Ireland have some sort of eating disorder, according to a study conducted by experts from University College London's Institute for Child Health.

Susan Ringwood, chief executive of the eating disorders charity B-eat, said the latest figures reflected "alarming" trends in society, with young children "internalising" messages from magazines which idealise the thinnest figures.

"A number of factors combine to trigger eating disorders. Biology and genetics play a large part in their development, but so do cultural pressures, and body image seems to be influencing younger children much more over the past decade," she said.

Children were receiving "pernicious" messages, Ringwood told the Sunday Telegraph.

"The ideal figure promoted for women is that of a girl, not an adult woman. That can leave girls fearful of puberty, and almost trying to stave it off," she said.

The Department of Health said it was spending US$660 million over the next four years on psychological treatment for eating disorders, including a specific programme for children and young people.

"Early intervention is essential for those with eating disorders," a spokeswoman said.

- AFP/ir

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Anorexic at five

The boy who beat cancer

2011-09-08T22:29:00.001-07:00

By Leong Wai Kit, channelnewsasia.com | Posted: 24 July 2011

SINGAPORE: When Wong Jun Da was diagnosed with cancer at nine years old, the boy knew there was nothing he could do about it – which was why he decided his world must not come crashing down.

"At that age, I do know about cancer and what it means to have cancer," says the acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivor, who is now 16.

"I thought about it for a while, and how it would affect me in future. But after about two minutes, I tried to snap out of it and accept that reality," Jun Da says, recalling his reaction in June 2004 at KK Women's and Children's Hospital.

"Even if I were to cry over it, there is nothing I can do to change that fact," he adds.

Fortunately for Jun Da, doctors did change that fact.

Childhood cancers in S'pore

Every year, about 100 new cases of cancer are reported in Singapore, with ALL being the most common one.

Treatment for ALL include chemotherapy, radiation and in some cases, bone marrow transplants.

The survival rate for children with ALL is at between 70 and 90 per cent, which is "very good", says the Children's Cancer Foundation (CCF).

A dose of determination

Jun Da began chemotherapy in June 2004 but suffered a relapse in September 2005.

He was then put through more intensive treatment, including full-body radiation in 2005 followed by a cord blood transplant in 2006.

To focus on his treatment, Jun Da stopped attending school for two years when he was in primary five.

His mom, Mdm Koh Bee Geok, says: "We didn't hire tutors because Jun Da said he could self-study so we let him do that for two years.

"A few days before his PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination), he was warded for bronchitis and had to sit for the exam in hospital."

But that did not stop Jun Da, who aspires to be an artist, from doing well enough to get into the express stream in Bedok South Secondary School.

Something to smile about

By the time Jun Da was cleared of his cancer in May 2009 - at age 14 – he had already undergone about six surgeries.

Although his treatment was not a bed of roses, Jun Da often tries to find something to smile about.

"I was able to look on the brighter side despite my condition because I think I had some maturity to begin with.

"And I think having cancer didn't kill that optimism but instead, helped me appreciate the things around me.

"For instance, though cancer stopped me from being a child for two years, I gained in other ways, including forming close friendships with nurses and social workers (from CCF)."

These days, Jun Da the survivor has been actively giving back to the community.

Besides doing volunteer work with Make a Wish, an organisation which helps grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions, Jun Da also makes time to share his experience with other children with cancer.

And on Sunday, Jun Da will help out at the CCF's Hair for Hope event at VivoCity, to raise funds for children with cancer.

The CCF, which has served about 1,950 families since 1996, needs about S$3.5 million each year. Donations can be made to the CCF via its website at http://www.ccf.org.sg/sponsors_donors/donate.html

-CNA/wk/ac

Taken from ChannelnewsAsia.com; source article is below:
The boy who beat cancer

Michelle Obama launches attack on US food deserts

2011-09-04T22:03:00.001-07:00

Will this encourage cooking at home?
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Posted: 21 July 2011

WASHINGTON - US First Lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday teamed up with major food retailers to launch an attack on "food deserts" as a key part of the US battle to bring down childhood obesity.

"We can give people all the information and advice in the world about healthy eating and exercise, but if parents can't buy the food they need to prepare those meals because their only options for groceries are the gas station or the local minimart, then all that is just talk," Obama said.

Many US inner cities are "food deserts," or areas where shops selling healthful foods are rare or expensive, and residents, many of them poor, live on cheap processed meals and sugary drinks, which pile on the pounds while providing scant nutritional benefits.

On Wednesday, major food retailers including Wal-Mart, Supervalu supermarkets and Walgreen's, pledged to open more than 1,500 shops over the next five years to sell fresh, nutritious foods in communities throughout the country that are currently underserved.

The fight against "food deserts" is one of the linchpins in Obama's "Let's Move" campaign, launched last year to try to bring down the staggering rate of childhood obesity, which affects one in five children in the United States.

When overweight children are included in the tally, one in three American kids is found to have a weight problem.

"There's a reason why we set a goal that every family in every community in America would have access to fresh, healthy, affordable food," Obama said.

"'Let's Move' is about giving parents real choices about the food their kids are eating.

"If a parent wants to pack a piece of fruit in a child's lunch, if a parent wants to add some lettuce for a salad at dinner, they shouldn't have to take three city buses or pay some expensive taxi to go to another community to make that possible," she added.

"They should have fresh food retailers right in their communities -- places that sell healthy food at reasonable prices so that they can feed their families in the way that they see fit, because when they have those choices, that can have a real, measurable impact on a family's health."

Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, said making healthy food affordable and accessible "is critical if we are to address the issue of childhood obesity.

"Most Americans are startled to know that one in three American children is overweight or obese," she said.

Nearly half of kids with weight problems live in poverty and in neighborhoods with no shops that sell fresh foods, she added.

According to the White House, some 23.5 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, who currently live in "food deserts" would benefit from having a shop selling fresh food in their neighborhood.

The new shops would not only be a step in the right direction in the fight against obesity but would also help to raise people out of poverty by creating tens of thousands of jobs in their communities, Barnes said.

When she launched "Let's Move" last year, Michelle Obama called childhood obesity an "epidemic" and "one of the most serious threats" to US children's futures.

Ending food deserts is just one of the pieces in the First Lady's broader initiative to "solve the problem of childhood obesity in a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight."

The other pillars of "Let's Move" include making American kids more active, improving the quality of school meals, offering kids more safe opportunities to be physically active, and educating them on good nutrition and healthy eating.

-AFP/rt

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Michelle Obama launches attack on US food deserts

Scientists study 'hammock' effect on sleep

2011-09-04T21:21:00.001-07:00

We've used these in the provinces since time immemorial? Only now that the city dwellers are catching up?
----

Posted: 21 June 2011

WASHINGTON: A team of Swiss and French scientists published a study on Monday that suggests the rocking motion of a hammock improves sleep quality and helps people get to sleep faster.

The study included 12 male volunteers who were not habitual nappers but who agreed to try an afternoon snooze on both a stationary bed and a rocking bed while machines scanned their brains, eye and muscle movements.

Women were excluded from the study because the menstrual cycle can have an effect on electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring, the researchers said.

Two of the 12 men had to be left out of the final analysis because one had a malfunctioning EEG and one experienced too much anxiety to fall asleep on the day he was assigned to the stationary bed.

But the remaining 10 subjects fell asleep faster in the rocking bed than they did in the still one and the quality of their 45-minute nap was deeper, said the findings published in the journal Current Biology.

"We observed a faster transition to sleep in each and every subject in the swinging condition, a result that supports the intuitive notion of facilitation of sleep associated with this procedure," said Michel Muhlethaler of the University of Geneva.

"Surprisingly, we also observed a dramatic boosting of certain types of sleep-related (brain wave) oscillations."

A midway sleep stage known as N2, which includes no rapid eye movements and usually makes up about half of a sound period of sleep, was observed to be longer in the hammock-type bed.

"The rocking bed also had a lasting effect on brain activity, increasing slow oscillations and bursts of activity known as sleep spindles. Those effects are consistent with a more synchronised neural activity characteristic of deeper sleep," said the study.

Researchers hope to examine whether the hammock effect would be similar in longer stretches of sleep, and would like to find out if it can be harnessed to help people who suffer from insomnia.

- AFP/de

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Scientists study 'hammock' effect on sleep

Human evolution slower than thought, say scientists

2011-09-04T19:35:00.001-07:00

Maybe this explains why there are more apes and chimps around than expected, especially in the business world...?
-----

Posted: 14 June 2011

PARIS - Humans may be evolving a third as slowly as commonly thought, according to an investigation into genetic changes in two generations of families.

The genetic code comprises six billion nucleotides, or building blocks of DNA, half of which come from each parent.

Until now, the conventional theory among scientists was that parents each contribute between 100 and 200 changes in these nucleotides.

But the new study says that far fewer changes occur. Each parent hands on 30 on average.

"In principle, evolution is happening a third as slowly as previous thought," said Philip Awadalla of the University of Montreal, who led the study by the CARTaGENE group.

The discovery came from a painstaking look at the genomes of two families, each comprising a mother, a father and their child.

The study breaks new ground although its sample size is very small.

If confirmed on a wider scale, it will have a bearing on the chronology of evolution. It would change the way we calculate the number of generations that separate Homo sapiens from a primate forebear who is also the ancestor of the apes.

The study also challenged thinking about whether DNA changes are more likely to be handed on by the father or by the mother.

The mainstream notion is that DNA changes -- known in scientific terms as mutations -- are likelier to be transmitted by the man.

This is because mutations occur during cell division and DNA replication, and thus are much likelier to happen in sperm, for which many millions are made, than in eggs.

In one of the families, 92 percent of the changes were derived from the father.

But in the other family, only 36 percent of the mutations came from the paternal side.

"The mutation rate is extremely variable from individual to individual or...some people have mechanisms that reduce the likelihood of mutations," concluded Awadalla.

This variability could prompt a rethink on predicting the risk of inherited disease, caused by flawed genes bequeathed by one or both parents.

Some individuals might be at risk of misdiagnosis of a genetic disease if they have a higher natural mutation rate than the benchmark rate, he suggested.

-AFP/rt

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Human evolution slower than thought, say scientists

Scientists find genes linked to migraines

2011-08-11T02:23:00.001-07:00

Posted: 14 June 2011

PARIS - Scientists have uncovered a trio of genes tied to migraine headaches, including one in which the link is exclusive to women, according to a study published on Sunday.

Migraines are acutely debilitating headaches - sometimes with an "aura", in which patients have the impression of seeing through frosted glass - that strike up to 20 percent of the population.

Scientists describe the condition, which is three to four times more common in women, as a brain disorder in which neurons, or brain cells, respond abnormally to stimuli.

The precise cause is unknown, but inheritance is thought to play a significant role.

To assess the genetic component, Markus Schuerks of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston coordinated an international sweep of genomes in 23,230 women, 5,122 of whom suffered from migraines.

So-called genome-wide association studies compare differences between individuals across the approximately three billion pairs of basic molecular building blocks found in the human genetic code.

The study, published on Sunday in the British journal Nature Genetics, is the largest to date of its kind. It found variations in three genes that showed up more frequently in migraine patients.

Two of them, known as PRDM16 and TRPM8, were specific to migraines, as opposed to other kinds of headaches.

TRPM8, in addition, was linked to migraines only in women. Earlier studies have shown that the same gene contains the genetic "blueprint" for a pain sensor, in both men and women.

The third suspect gene, LRP1, is involved in sensing the external world and in chemical pathways inside the brain.

"The brain of a person with migraine responds differently to certain stimuli, their nerve cells 'talk' differently to each other," explained Shuerks in an email.

"Many neurotransmitters are involved in this cross-talk and some seem to have a special role in migraines. LRP1 interacts with some of these neurotransmitter pathways and may thus modulate nerve responses that promote or suppress migraine attacks."

None of the genetic variants appeared to be connected specifically to migraines with or without auras.

The findings, published in Nature Genetics, were replicated in two smaller population-based studies, one in the Netherlands and the other in Germany, and in a clinical group followed by the International Headache Genetics Consortium.

"Inheritance of any of the genetic variants alters migraine risk by about 10 to 15 percent," said Schuerks.

The influence of these genes is probably not large enough to be immediately used as a diagnostic tool. But the result "is an advancement of the understanding of migraine biology," he said.

- AFP/al

-----

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Scientists find genes linked to migraines

Smokers are thinner than those who don't smoke

2011-08-11T02:21:00.001-07:00

So is this really the key to controlling obesity? And would you take this 'medicine'?
-----

Posted: 10 June 2011

WASHINGTON: US scientists have figured out exactly how nicotine acts as an appetite suppressant in the brain, a finding that could one day help in the fight against obesity, researchers said on Thursday.

Smokers tend to be thinner than people who don't smoke, and the study led by Yale University and published in the journal Science describes how nicotine activates certain neurons in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus.

Those neurons tell the body when it's had enough to eat, according to senior author Marina Picciotto, a professor of neurobiology and pharmacology at Yale.

"Many people say they won't quit smoking because they'll gain weight. Ultimately, we would like to help people maintain their body weight when they kick the habit and perhaps help non-smokers who are struggling with obesity."

Researchers made the discovery by studying mice, but are hopeful that similar receptors can be isolated in humans, too.

A research scientist in Picciotto's lab was studying nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, which are on the surface of neurons, to see if an experimental drug to treat depression would have any effect.

"He noticed that mice given the drug ate less than those not on the medication," said the study, which led to a wider investigation with researchers at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada and the University of Hawaii.

A series of experiments showed that the drug could turn on a certain nicotine receptor which then told a subset of neurons in the hypothalamus - called pro-opiomelanocortin or POMC cells - that dinner time was over.

The receptor was also independent of the ones that trigger the craving for nicotine in smokers.

"This suggests it is possible to get the effect of appetite suppression without also triggering the brain's reward centres," Picciotto said.

"Identifying this receptor is important for the understanding of the mechanisms related to addiction, weight and smoking."

- AFP/de

-----

Taken from ChannelNewsAsial.com; source article is below:
Smokers are thinner than those who don't smoke

Mosquitoes are suckered in new malaria research

2011-07-28T17:43:00.001-07:00

Just make sure you don't get bitten, not by insects, not by animals, nor even humans! But would you carry dirty clothes?
-----

Posted: 02 June 2011

PARIS - In the biggest lab breakthrough against malaria in years, scientists on Wednesday said they had identified odour molecules that baffle blood-thirsty mosquitoes.

The molecules disrupt carbon-dioxide sensors that alert mosquitoes to exhaled breath, which signals the presence of a human nearby, the team reported.

The work could lead to revolutionary but low-cost chemicals to confuse, deter or trap mosquitoes, it said.

They could be invaluable in poor tropical countries, providing an alternative to DEET, a skin repellent that is expensive, needs repeat applications and is showing worrying signs of resistance.

"These chemicals offer powerful advantages as potential tools for reducing mosquito-human contact and can lead to the development of new generations of insect repellents and lures," said Anandasankar Ray, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of California at Riverside, who led the study.

Traps for mosquitoes already exist, in the form of dry ice, gas cylinders of carbon dioxide or propane combustion.

But these gadgets are too bulky and far too expensive to be used for mosquito control, especially in poor settings.

Future mosquito traps, Ray predicted, could be "highly portable, convenient and easily replenishable."

Malaria claimed 781,000 lives in 2009, according to the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO), which is heading efforts to distribute insecticide-treated mosquito nets and to spray reproduction sites.

About 90 percent of malaria deaths each year occur in Africa and 92 percent of those are children aged under five.

Other mosquito-borne diseases are dengue, which sickens around 50 million people each year, yellow fever, filariasis and West Nile virus.

Building on research on fruitflies, a common laboratory tool, Ray's team looked at three of mosquito species whose females are disease vectors: Anopheles gambiae, Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus.

The odour molecules that they identified disrupt receptor cells for carbon dioxide located in tiny, antennae-like appendages close to the mosquito's mouth.

These receptors are activated by a whiff of carbon dioxide, triggering a signal in the brain that prompts the insect to fly upwind, following the puffs of CO2 until they reach its source. Mosquito also use heat sensors and sight to home in on their meal.

The findings have been tested in a small-scale experiment in Kenya, using huts where alluring plumes of CO2 were released to attract mosquitoes and odour molecules were released to bamboozle them.

Mark Stopfer, a specialist at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), said the results opened up "a promising line of defence."

He added some words of caution, saying that mosquitoes were attracted to other odours in human sweat and skin. In addition, the chemicals that have been tested on insects so far have not yet been tested for safety on humans, he noted.

-AFP/rt

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Mosquitoes are suckered in new malaria research

Implant breakthrough helps paraplegic man stand unaided

2011-06-15T17:51:00.001-07:00

Now, this IS something!
-----

Posted: 20 May 2011

PARIS - In a world first, neurosurgeons in the US said on Friday electrodes implanted in the lower spine had enabled a paraplegic man to stand up unaided, move his legs voluntarily and, with help, walk on a treadmill.

The therapy marks an exciting advance in the quest to overcome crippling injuries of the spinal cord, they said.

"This is a breakthrough," said Susan Harkema, a professor at the Spinal Cord Research Center at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, who led the 11-member team.

"It opens up a huge opportunity to improve the daily functioning of these individuals...but we have a long road ahead."

The work, published online by The Lancet, was carried out on a young volunteer, now aged 25, who had been completely paralysed below the chest after a tragic hit-and-run accident in 2006.

Today, after 26 months of retraining of the leg muscles, followed by the pioneering surgery, the patient can reach a standing position and support his own weight for up to four minutes at a time.

Helped by a harness support and some assistance from a therapist, he can make repeated stepping motions on a treadmill. He can also voluntarily move his toes, ankles, knees and hips on command.

The patient, Rob Summers, said he was ecstatic.

"This procedure has completely changed my life," he said.

"For someone who for four years was unable to even move a toe, to have the freedom and ability to stand on my own is the most amazing feeling."

"To be able to pick up my foot and step down again was unbelievable, but beyond all of that, my sense of wellbeing has changed. My physique and muscle tone has improved greatly, so much that most people don't even believe I am paralysed."

Paralysis comes from damage to the spinal cord down which the brain sends electrical signals along nerve fibres to instruct limb movement.

The research focuses on nerve networks in the lower spine that are relatively autonomous -- they can follow through the commands for weight-bearing and coordinated stepping without input from the brain.

The mechanism works thanks to feedback from nerves in the muscles of the legs and feet that is sent directly to the spinal cord.

It is this sensory input that helps the individual to adjust his balance and speed of movement and level of weight-bearing in response to surfaces and inclines.

"The spinal cord can independently interpret these data and send movement instructions back to the legs -- all without cortical 1/8 cerebral 3/8 involvement," explained Reggie Edgerton, a professor of integrative biology and comparative physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The technique entailed giving Summers 26 months of locomotor training to get his leg muscles used again to the sensation of movement, thus reviving the feedback system.

Surgeons then implanted 16 electrodes in the lumbosacral spinal cord, connecting them to thick nerve bundles that largely control movement of the ankles, hips, knees and toes.

The unit then sends down electrical signals to mimic those sent down the spine by the brain in order to initiate movement.

With Summers, electrostimulation was part of sessions lasting up to 250 minutes.

The success has fired hopes that at least some individuals with spinal paralysis can use a portable stimulation unit to trigger the movements needed to stand up and bear weight.

With the help of a walker, it is hoped, such patients would maintain balance and execute some effective stepping.

There could be even greater secondary benefits, including perhaps the restoration of bladder and sphincter control and sexual response.

But only one person has so far had the treatment, out of five authorised by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Summers, while completely paralysed below the chest, was rated a "B" on the US classification of spinal injury, as he did retain some feeling below the spot where the damage occurred.

So it is unknown whether the procedure will work on "A" patients, who have no sensation below the injury. In addition, Summers is young and was extremely fit before his accident.

Drugs are being developed to heighten the sensitivity and function of the spinal cord neural network, which could further enhance the technique.

-AFP/rt

-----

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Implant breakthrough helps paraplegic man stand unaided

Video gaming teens sleep less, says study

2011-06-10T01:54:00.001-07:00

Kids, take note of this; it is for your own good to stay away, or limit, your videogaming!
-----

Posted: 17 May 2011

WASHINGTON: Teens who play a lot of video games are likely to sleep less than the eight to nine hours a night recommended for the age group, researchers said on Monday.

Speaking via teleconference from the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, researchers said that an analysis of data on 16,000 teens also found that youths who reported sleeping less than seven hours a night did not get enough exercise, which could also impact their health.

And not getting enough sleep is detrimental for all - and has a particularly negative effect on teens, added Caris Fitzgerald, a psychiatry resident at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences who led the study,.

A poor night's sleep can bring on a slew of ill effects, including low energy, poor concentration, moodiness, a greater tendency to act on impulse and more suicidal thoughts.

Yet only 10 percent of US teens get the recommended hours of shut-eye, according to the study, for which Fitzgerald and her fellow researchers analyzed the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention's 2009 Youth Risk Behaviour Survey.

Because teens have "accelerated demands for growth and memory retention, very vital things with regard to the teen in their overall success," getting sufficient sleep is even more important for them, Fitzgerald said.

But they also struggle to do so more than adults.

"When it comes to teens, they have a lot of factors that affect them, from an ever greater quest for independence reflected by later bedtime; to expectations from parents and peers - like texting in the middle of the night," said Fitzgerald.

Teens' circadian rhythms don't help them in their quest for sleep either.

Their body rhythms put them on a schedule where they like to stay up late and sleep in each morning.

"But unfortunately the rest of society is not on that schedule and school is still going to start at 8:00 am," Fitzgerald said.

The researchers were unable to conclude there was a cause-effect relationship between sleep and online gaming or sport, but Fitzgerald pointed to "some evidence that reducing media exposure and increasing physical activity could increase the amount teens sleep."

The study did have one piece of good news for teens: watching television does not appear to affect sleep time.

- AFP/de

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Video gaming teens sleep less, says study

Fat or not, it is not just about BMI

2011-05-03T02:24:00.001-07:00

Image via WikipediaOne of our local news here...
-----

Wednesday April 20, 2011

HEALTH Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai announced on Sunday that effective immediately the body mass index (BMI) of students would be listed on their report cards, and unhealthy foods and drinks would be banned from school canteens.

This was in response to data indicating that around 1.7 million, or 30%, of Malaysians are overweight, with another 30% considered obese.

Obesity is an associated risk factor for many chronic, non-communicable diseases, including diabetes (which is being detected more and more in younger Malaysians), heart disease and hypertension (high blood pressure).

So, will noting down a student’s BMI in his or her report card really help in the battle of the bulge?

Height and weight are already a standard part of our children’s report cards, and BMI – which is weight in kilogrammes divided by the square of height in metres (kg/m²) – is basically just an extension of that information.

Knowing a person’s BMI is helpful in the sense that it is currently accepted as a rough indication of the amount of body fat a person has.

It is by no means a totally accurate estimation. But it is a good enough approximation for most people in the general population.

Of course, just putting a number in the report card is not going to be of much use if there is no accompanying information to help parents and students interpret it.

However, this will not be as simple as the Health Ministry providing the Education Ministry with a single table of BMI measurements with their associated readings – underweight, normal, overweight, and obese – to include in report cards.

According to the US Centre for Disease Control, BMI measurements for children and teenagers are not static, unlike those for adults.

BMI measurements for those between two and 19 years need to have their age and gender taken into account in order to properly reflect their weight status in relation to their growth.

This means that, assuming all the students in one class are of the same age, the BMI table needs to be sorted out by gender for the same class. Similarly, for the whole school.

Which brings up two questions: how much of a school’s budget will have to go towards paying for all the new report cards that will have to be printed for every student.

And, with this in mind, how practical is it to really implement this idea immediately, especially as mid-year exams will be held within the next few weeks?

It is a good idea to raise awareness among parents as to their children’s weight status, but is the cost worth the benefit?

It may help children who are on the borderline of being underweight or overweight, but surely parents can see with their own eyes if their child is quite thin or fat.

Banning soft drinks and food with high sugar content from the school canteen is an excellent idea. However, this is an old issue, one that keeps popping up periodically over the years.

The guidelines from the ministries are there, but let’s face facts. First, canteen operators are business people, and kids love unhealthy foods; and second, enforcement is quite lax.

Our Government is concerned over our growing waistlines no doubt, and there are the committees and policies to prove it.

But all the best policies in the world will not help if there is no strict enforcement, especially when the change is difficult – you try convincing most kids that a piece of fruit is better than fried chicken nuggets!

And as we all know, banning unhealthy food from the school canteen will be fairly useless if students can just run outside the school gate to buy them from streetside vendors.

Controlling one’s diet is also just half the battle.

What about exercise? Physical Education (PE) lessons are always the first to be sacrificed when the exams are near; not to mention that, oftentimes, these lessons are not being taught seriously either.

The Education Ministry policy on this is clear. What we need now is strict enforcement by school heads and teachers, and equally importantly, parents and students to support (not dismiss) PE, as well as the 1Sport, 1Student policy.

At the end of the day, our children’s weight is their and their parents’ responsibility.

Some other ways to help solve this problem could be for parents to ensure that their kids have breakfast before leaving for school (yes, we are aware that it’s almost impossible to wake some kids up, but you are the parent), packing them healthy food for recess, and reducing their allowance so that they do not have the money to spend on junk food in the first place.

But kids just need to be taught right by their families, because once they are in school, what they eat is their own choice.

And enforcing a healthy diet in school will not help if parents are indulging those fast food and high calorie requests regularly

Taken from thestar.com.my; source article is below:
More than just BMI

Too much TV puts children's hearts at risk: study

2011-04-26T01:47:00.001-07:00

Kids, this is something that you should beware of: too much TV!
-----

Posted: 20 April 2011

SYDNEY: Children who spend too much time watching television increase the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes in later life, an Australian study showed on Wednesday.

In what was declared world-first research, the University of Sydney found that six- to seven-year-olds who spent the most time watching television had narrower arteries in the back of their eyes.

This increased their chances of developing heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes when they were older.

"Parents need to get their children up and moving and off the couch," said Dr Bamini Gopinath, the lead author.

The study examined 1,500 six- and seven-year-olds in 34 primary schools in Sydney.

On average, the children studied spent 1.9 hours a day watching television and 36 minutes a day in organised physical activity.

Those with the highest levels of physical activity -- just over an hour or more -- had significantly wider retinal arteries on average than those who spent less than half an hour a day being physically active.

"We found children with a high level of physical activity had a more beneficial microvascular profile compared to those with the lowest levels of physical activity," said Gopinath.

"This suggests unhealthy lifestyle factors may influence microcirculation early in life and increase the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure later in life."

Gopinath, senior research fellow at the Westmead Millennium Institute's Centre for Vision Research, added that excessive screen time leads to less physical activity, unhealthy dietary habits and weight gain.

"Replacing one hour a day of screen time with physical activity could be effective in buffering the effects of sedentary lifestyles on the retinal microvasculature in children," he said.

"Free play should be promoted and schools should have a mandatory two hours a week in physical activity for children."

The study is reported this week in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association.

-AFP/ck

Taken From ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Too much TV puts children's hearts at risk: study

More words, or simply, making new out of the old...?

2011-03-01T21:43:00.001-08:00

Cover via AmazonPublished: Mon 28th Feb, 2011

Scrabble addicts will now have a whole new arsenal of words to choose from after the Oxford English Dictionary has added a bunch of techie favourites.

New words added to the dictionary include: 'clickjacking', 'scareware' (fake anti-virus alert scams) and 'sexting' as well as 'feature phone' and commonly used text-speak acronym 'tbh', according to Techwatch.

Bloggable is apparently defined as "suitable or sufficiently interesting as a topic for a blog," while c'yber-bully', 'bandwidth' and 'trackpad' also get a place in the linguistic bible.

While it used to take ages to get a word into the dictionary as they caught on via word-of-mouth in playgrounds and offices alike, now social media and the internet as a whole has meant new terms spread like wildfire and become more quickly accepted.

Other non-techie terms have also made the grade such as ‘tanorexia' (being addicted to getting a tan) as well as Borat's ‘mankini'.

Going back to the more serious sentry of ‘cyber-bully,' it seems the problem of bullying online as well as the term itself has become more official, as the police will now send warning letters to the parents of children found to be bullying others on Facebook, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The letters will apparently warn the ‘cyber-bullies' they are breaking the law and could therefore be prosecuted, aiming to alert web tormentors of the seriousness of their actions and stop them becoming criminals.

A trial will reportedly begin in the Thames Valley where police will team up with teen volunteers to investigate and deal with reported of bullying on the social network.

PC Dave Thomas told the newspaper: "By alerting their parents to the problem, we are aiming to nip the problem in the bud and prevent it becoming something more serious. Social networkers, whatever their age, often don't think about what they are writing in the same way they would think about what they write in a letter or an email. If we have to investigate Facebook messages as harassment or public order offences and the young person gets charged, it could seriously affect their future."

"While we want them to realise how serious the matter is, we also want to avoid that and keep young people out of the criminal justice system if possible," he reportedly added.

If the trial goes well, the initiative could apparently be rolled out across South East England from May.

Taken from Hexus.net; source article is below:
Oxford English Dictionary embraces techie terms

Are brains shrinking to make us smarter?

2011-02-27T06:34:00.001-08:00

I know that in the individual level, this is true - the billions of cells and full-connection synapses are all there, and in the growing months and years, there is a necessity for much of the cells and synapses to be cut and broken: to give way to learning and strengthening the connections that retain our learning.

And it is observed in the whole human populace as well.

Read on...
-----

Posted: 06 February 2011

WASHINGTON: Human brains have shrunk over the past 30,000 years, puzzling scientists who argue it is not a sign we are growing dumber but that evolution is making the key motor leaner and more efficient.

The average size of modern humans -- the Homo sapiens -- has decreased about 10 percent during that period -- from 1,500 to 1,359 cubic centimetres, the size of a tennis ball.

Women's brains, which are smaller on average than those of men, have experienced an equivalent drop in size.

These measurements were taken using skulls found in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

"I'd called that a major downsizing in an evolutionary eye blink," John Hawks of the University of Michigan told Discover magazine.

But other anthropologists note that brain shrinkage is not very surprising since the stronger and larger we are, the more gray matter we need to control this larger mass.

The Neanderthal, a cousin of the modern human who disappeared about 30 millennia ago for still unknown reasons, was far more massive and had a larger brain.

The Cro-Magnons who left cave paintings of large animals in the monumental Lascaux cave over 17,000 years ago were the Homo sapiens with the biggest brain. They were also stronger than their modern descendants.

Psychology professor David Geary of the University of Missouri said these traits were necessary to survive in a hostile environment.

He has studied the evolution of skull sizes 1.9 million to 10,000 years old as our ancestors and cousins lived in an increasingly complex social environment.

Geary and his colleagues used population density as a measure of social complexity, with the hypothesis that the more humans are living closer together, the greater the exchanges between group, the division of labor and the rich and varied interactions between people.

They found that brain size decreased as population density increased.

"As complex societies emerged, the brain became smaller because people did not have to be as smart to stay alive," Geary told AFP.

But the downsizing does not mean modern humans are dumber than their ancestors -- rather, they simply developed different, more sophisticated forms of intelligence, said Brian Hare, an assistant professor of anthropology at Duke University.

He noted that the same phenomenon can be observed in domestic animals compared to their wild counterparts.

So while huskies may have smaller brains than wolves, they are smarter and more sophisticated because they can understand human communicative gestures, behaving similarly to human children.

"Even though the chimps have a larger brain (than the bonobo, the closest extant relative to humans), and even though a wolf has a much larger brain than dogs, dogs are far more sophisticated, intelligent and flexible, so intelligence is not very well linked to brain size," Hare explained.

He said humans have characteristics from both the bonobo and chimpanzee, which is more aggressive and domineering.

"The chimpanzees are violent because they want power, they try to have control and power over others while bonobos are using violence to prevent one for dominating them," Hare continued.

"Humans are both chimps and bobos in their nature and the question is how can we release more bonobo and less chimp.

"I hope bonobos win... it will be better for everyone," he added.

-AFP/ac

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:Are brains shrinking to make us smarter?

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