Thursday 27 February 2014

Past research has linked passive smoking to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes and even hearing loss. Now, a new study suggests that exposure to secondhand smoke may increase a woman's risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and ectopic pregnancy.
The study findings were recently published online in the journal Tobacco Control - a journal of the BMJ.
In their background information of the study, the researchers note that smoking during pregnancy can increase the risk of miscarriage and birth complications. But they point out that it is unclear as to whether passive smoking can have a similar impact.
To find out, the investigators analyzed data from 80,762 women who were a part of the Women's Health Initiative Observation Study.
All women had been pregnant at least once and had gone through menopause.
Of these women, 5,082 (6.3%) were current smokers, 34,830 were former smokers (smoked more than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime) and 40,850 were never-smokers (had not smoked more than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime).
The women who were never-smokers were split into groups dependent on the levels of secondhand smoke they were exposed to as a child, as an adult at home and as an adult at work.

The longer the exposure to secondhand smoke, the greater the risk

Of all the women in the study, 26,307 (32.6%) reported having a miscarriage at least once, while 3,552 (4.4%) had a stillbirth and 2,033 (2.5%) experienced a tubal ectopic pregnancy.
Women who had ever smoked during their reproductive years were 44% more likely to have a stillborn child, 43% more likely to have an ectopic pregnancy and 16% more likely to miscarry, compared with never-smokers.
However, the researchers found that never-smokers who had been exposed to secondhand smoke also had a significantly higher risk of stillbirth, miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy, compared with never-smokers who had not been exposed to secondhand smoke.
Furthermore, the investigators found that the longer these never-smokers had been exposed to secondhand smoke, the greater their risk.
Women with the highest exposure levels to secondhand smoke included those with more than 10 years exposure as a child, more than 10 years exposure as an adult at home, or more than 10 years exposure as an adult in the workplace.
These women were 61% more likely to have an ectopic pregnancy, 55% more likely to have a stillbirth and 17% more likely to miscarry, compared with never-smokers who had low exposure to secondhand smoke.
The phrase "there's something for everyone" has never been so apt. These 27 "gyms" are changing the way we think about working out by offering a veritable exercise buffet, including new twists on traditional iron pumping, classes that teach you how to rebound off walls, and workouts that involve air-drumming to the beat, practicing yoga on a surfboard, or playing dodgeball in a room of trampolines (to name just a few). Check out the full list below and get inspired to move your body in ways you might've never thought possible.
The 27 Best Alternative Gyms in America

1. Outlaw CrossFit (Alexandria, VA)
Best Combined Training Practices
Outlaw CrossFit
Photo: Outlaw CrossFit
CrossFit ain’t your regular workout, and Outlaw CrossFit ain’t your regular CrossFit gym. In Alexandria, Virginia, this unassuming gym (or “box,” in CF parlance) has performed the unthinkable: It's made CrossFit more badass. Helmed by Rudy Nielsen, the creator of competitive CrossFit training program The Outlaw Way, the training programs might not seem unusual at first glance, but Nielsen is proud to have invented his own system of training that combines the CrossFit template with the theories of champion powerlifter Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell. The result? A complex hybrid of strength, functionality, speed, and intensity that’s led Outlaw to become one of the premier CrossFit gyms on Earth, regularly churning out regionalchampions and athletes that can deadlift more than 500 pounds.
2. AIR Aerial Fitness (multiple locations)
Best Use of Hammocks
AIR Aerial Fitness
Researchers at the Nanoscience Center (NSC) of University of Jyvaskyla in Finland have developed a novel method to study enterovirus structures and their functions. The method will help to obtain new information on trafficking of viruses in cells and tissues as well as on the mechanisms of virus opening inside cells. This new information is important for example for developing new antiviral drugs and vaccines. The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research was funded by the Academy of Finland and the TEKES FiDiPro -project NOVAC (Novel methods for vaccination and virus detection).
Enteroviruses are pathogenic viruses infecting humans. This group consists of polioviruses, coxsackieviruses, echoviruses and rhinoviruses. Enteroviruses are the most common causes of flu, but they also cause serious symptoms such as heart muscle infections and paralysis. Recently, enteroviruses have been linked with chronic diseases such as diabetes.
The infection mechanisms and infectious pathways of enteroviruses are still rather poorly known. Previous studies in the group of Dr. Varpu Marjomäki at the NSC have focused on the cellular factors that are important for the infection caused by selected enteroviruses. The mechanistic understanding of virus opening and the release of the viral genome in cellular structures for starting new virus production is still largely lacking. Furthermore, the knowledge of infectious processes in tissues is hampered by the lack of reliable tools for detecting virus infection.
The newly developed method involves a chemical modification of a known thiol-stabilized gold nanoparticle, the so-called Au102 cluster that was first synthesized and structurally solved by the group of Roger D Kornberg in 2007 and later characterized at NSC by the groups of prof. Hannu Häkkinen and prof. Mika Pettersson in collaboration with Kornberg. The organic thiol surface of the Au102 particles is modified by attaching linker molecules that make a chemical bond to sulfur-containing cysteine residues that are part of the surface structure of the virus. Several tens of gold particles can bind to a single virus, and the binding pattern shows up as dark tags reflecting the overall shape and structure of the virus (see the figure). The gold particles allow for studies on the structural changes of the viruses during their lifespan.
The study showed also that the infectivity of the viruses is not compromised by the attached gold particles which indicates that the labeling method does not interfere with the normal biological functions of viruses inside cells. This facilitates new investigations on the virus structures from samples taken from inside cells during the various phases of the virus infection, and gives possibilities to obtain new information on the mechanisms of virus uncoating (opening and release of the genome). The new method allows also for tracking studies of virus pathways in tissues. This is important for further understanding of acute and chronic symptoms caused by viruses. Finally, the method is expected to be useful for developing of new antiviral vaccines that are based on virus-like particles.
The method was developed at the NSC as a wide cross-disciplinary collaboration between chemists, physicists and biologists. Researchers involved in the work are Tanja Lahtinen, Kirsi Salorinne, Jaakko Koivisto and Mika Pettersson from the Department of Chemistry, Sami Malola from the Department of Physics and Mari Martikainen and Varpu Marjomäki from the Department of Biology and Environmental Science. The research was coordinated by Docent Varpu Marjomäki and the Scientific Director of NSC, professor Hannu Häkkinen.

Monday 24 February 2014

Saturday 15 February 2014


Want Tots Without Allergies? Try Sucking on Their Pacifiers

Study suggests transferring adult bacteria to infants’ mouths through saliva may train immune system to ignore allergens
MONDAY, May 6 (HealthDay News) — A new Swedish study suggests that parents who want to protect their infants from developing allergies should try a simple approach to introducing their children to the wide world of microbes: Just pop their pacifiers into their own mouths before giving them back to their babies.

Although that may sound disgusting or even risky to some, researchers found that the transfer of oral bacteria from adults to infants seems to help train the immune system to ignore germs that don’t pose a threat.

“The immune system’s purpose is to differentiate between harmless and harmful,” said Dr. Ron Ferdman, a pediatric allergist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “If your immune system is not presented with enough microbes, it just defaults to doing harmful attacks against things that are not harmful, like food, cat dander or dust mites.”

A report released last week from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics showed that the number of American children with allergies has increased dramatically in recent years: about 13 percent have skin allergies and 17 percent have respiratory allergies.

The Swedish researchers set out to learn whether very early microbial exposure during the first months of life affects allergy development. They found that children whose parents sucked on their pacifiers to clean them were less likely to have asthma, eczema and sensitivity to allergens than children whose parents did not clean the pacifiers this way.

The authors concluded that parental sucking of their baby’s pacifiers may help decrease the risk of allergy caused by transfer of microbes through the parent’s saliva.

For the study, published online May 6 in the journal Pediatrics, 206 pregnant women in Sweden were initially recruited as participants, and 187 of their infants were included in the research. The scientists sought families with at least one allergic parent to see if they could identify a different immune response in the children.

The researchers studied the transfer of microbes in the parents’ saliva by fingerprinting bacterial DNA in 33 infants’ saliva, of which 21 had parents who sucked on their pacifiers.

A total of 187 babies were followed until the child was 18 months old, and 174 were followed until they were 36 months old. The researchers chose to evaluate the children at those specific points in time because some diseases, such as eczema, develop early in life, said Dr. Bill Hesselmar, an associate professor at Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital, in Gothenberg, Sweden.

Introducing solid foods into an infant’s diet did not seem to affect the study results, Hesselmar said. “We found differences in the oral microbial flora already at 4 months of age, at an age when most children are still on breast milk.”

Ferdman, who was not associated with the research, urged caution in interpreting the results of the study. “It’s a small number of babies studied, so it’s hard to generalize,” he said.

He also expressed concern that results may not be widely applicable because the data were taken solely from Swedish participants, who are not a genetically diverse population.

Other researchers have expressed concern about dirty pacifiers.

Dr. Tom Glass, a professor of forensic sciences, pathology and dental medicine at Oklahoma State University, presented research at the American Society for Clinical Pathology in Boston last November that found a wide range of disease-causing bacteria, fungus and mold on children’s pacifiers. They also found that pacifiers can grow a slimy coating of bacteria called a biofilm that alters the normal bacteria in the children’s mouths, spurring inflammation and potentially increasing the risk of developing gastrointestinal problems or even ear infections.

The value of using a parent’s saliva to clean a dirty pacifier has been known for some time, Glass said. “We have for a long time advocated that if you’re at the Walmart and the baby drops the pacifier, you’re better off putting the pacifier in your mouth [to clean it] because you have immunoglobulin components that fight bacteria in your saliva.”

Glass expressed concern that the researchers did not identify the specific microbes transferred from parents to the pacifiers. “We don’t know what the parents are actually transmitting to the child,” he said.

What should parents do to help prevent allergies in their children? “Babies need to be exposed to the world, and exposure to the normal microbial environment is protective,” Ferdman said. “Breast-feed for at least four to six weeks if you can. Don’t smoke, and don’t expose your children to secondhand smoke.”

Health Tip: Think Before You Eat

Are you really hungry?

Mindless eating can cause the calories to add up quickly, and before you know it your pants are more snug than usual.The American Academy of Family Physicians offers this advice to consider before you start eating:
  • Ask yourself whether you truly are hungry or if you are eating to fulfill another need, such as stress or boredom?
  • Don’t look at some foods as off limits. Instead look at what you eat as part of a healthy diet that includes balance and moderation.
  • Discuss with your doctor a healthy eating plan and the issues of food and weight loss.
  • Use a food and activity journal to monitor your eating habits — including what you eat and when.