ΥΓΕΙΑ health

Maria Dalamagka  Researchers first discovered evidence of a “longevity gene” about 20 years ago. It’s a gene that may increase your life span. There’s a few ways you can turn on this “longevity gene.” One way is by calorie restriction. Researchers found that giving mice a diet with very few calories significantly extended their life spans.1 Later studies found the same was true with a wide range of living creatures from single-celled organisms to plants and animals. The results showed that taking in fewer calories does turn on the longevity gene, and the organisms live longer.2 It wasn’t until recently an explanation was found. Researchers isolated a family of life-protecting genes called sirtuins (silent information protein regulators). Under conditions of severe stress, such as starvation, the sirtuins are turned on. And they transmit signals to every cell in your body to cancel out the effects of aging. This would be a great solution to aging … if starving were an option. ...

Maria Dalamagka  Nearly half of men who undergo surgery for prostate cancer find themselves with greater incontinence problems and less sexual function than they anticipated, according to a new poll. Before the surgery, some men in the study had expected to have better urinary and sexual function a year after the procedure than before it -- a misbelief the researchers say is out of step with reality. As part of the new survey, 152 men undergoing radical prostatectomy filled out a questionnaire before they had surgery but after they had received counseling on the risks of the procedure. The questions asked about their expectations of urinary, bowel and sexual function a year after the surgery. About half of men expected the same function after surgery as before, but 17% anticipated better sexual function after the surgery. On a follow-up survey one year later, just 36% of the men said their expectations for urinary function matched the true outcomes, and 40% said their expectations...

Maria Dalamagka  Older patients with hypertension and coronary artery disease who use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) chronically for pain are at significantly increased risk of cardiovascular events, a new post hoc analysis from the International Verapamil-Trandolapril Study (INVEST) demonstrates [1]. The research is published in the July 2011 issue of the American Journal of Medicine. "We found a significant increase in adverse cardiovascular outcomes, primary driven by an increase in cardiovascular mortality," lead author Dr Anthony A Bavry (University of Florida, Gainesville) told heartwire . "This is not the first study to show there is potential harm with these agents, but I think it further solidifies that concern." He says the observational study, conducted within the hypertension trial INVEST, is particularly relevant to everyday practice because the patients included were typical of those seen in internal-medicine, geriatric, and cardiology ...

Maria Dalamagka The risk for Guillain-Barré syndrome is not increased after use of adjuvanted pandemic influenza (H1N1) 2009 vaccine, but the upper limit does not exclude a potential increase in risk up to 2.7-fold, according to the results of a multinational case-control study reported online July 12 in the BMJ. "A concern with the pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 vaccine was the possible occurrence of neuroimmunological adverse events, including Guillain-Barré syndrome," write Jeanne Dieleman, senior pharmacoepidemiologist from the Department of Medical Informatics at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues. "A more than sevenfold increased risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome was observed with the swine origin influenza A (H1N1) subtype A/NJ/76 vaccine applied in the United States in 1976, when the vaccination campaign had to be discontinued abruptly. Subsequent prospective surveillance studies and retrospective epidemiological stud...

Maria Dalamagka  As we age, most of us will find our short-term memory and ability to process new information “not what it used to be.” This is the cognitive equivalent of creaky knees , an inconvenient reminder that we’re getting older. Dementia, though, is something different. With dementia, multiple areas of thinking are compromised and the deficits are likely to get worse. By definition, dementia means memory and other cognitive areas deteriorate to the point that everyday tasks and decisions become difficult, and sometimes impossible. The causes of dementia are many, but in this country, Alzheimer’s disease is responsible for between 60% and 80% of dementia cases. Are there ways to avoid Alzheimer’s disease? Not according to the 2010 National Institutes of Health conference on preventing Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline. The group’s consensus statement said there is no evidence of “even moderate scientific quality” that nutritional supplements, herbal preparations, d...