http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_archive.jsp?ccid=58 Reader's Digest Asia - Medical Update Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:50:00 -0000 http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6763 Lead researcher Dr Alan Hirsch said the flavour crystals may have made the food more satisfying, so people ate less. The crystals may also have improved the flavour of bland, nutritious foods such as tofu, so people ate more of these healthy foods.While tastant crystals are not commercially available, there are plenty of ways you can boost the flavour of food without boosting the calorie content. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6764 Doctors performed the microsurgery by moving the neuroand shy;Arm and manipulating surgical tool attachments by remote control - and with the help of images delivered via the system’s MRI scanner.The neuroArm was created by Dr Garnette Sutherland - a Calgary Health Region neurosurgeon and professor at the University of Calgary - and his team. The system has the potential to revolutionise all surgery by freeing doctors from the constraints of the human hand. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6765 In an analysis study of almost 14,000 subjects, UK and US researchers found that body-mass index (BMI, a relative measure of body fat) was highest among those with the highest levels of Vital Exhaustion (VE). VE is a psychand shy;oand shy;logicand shy;al state characterised by excessive fatigue along with feelings of irritability and demoralisation. In their study, published in the journal Obesity, the authors write that understanding the relationship between obesity and VE (for example, whether one may lead to the other or whether they may occur together) may help improve the success of treatment for each - and may reduce people’s risk of developing CVD and/or suffering further complications of CVD. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6661 TauRx together with University of Aberdeen developed the novel reatment, which targets aggregates of abnormal fibres of Tau protein forming inside nerve cells in the brain. The drug Rember has the ability to dissolve the aggregates which destroy nerve cells critical for memory and go on to destroy neurons in other parts of the brain as the disease progresses. Results from the phase II clinical trial saw 81 percent reduction in cognitive decline over one year. Brain imaging data showed the drug had its biggest effect in the memory-critical parts of the brain where tangle density is the highest. "We have demonstrated for the first time that it may be possible to arrest the progression of this disease by targeting the tangles which are highly correlated with Alzheimer's," says Dr Seng Shay Way, managing director of TauRx Therapeutics.World Health Organization figures indicate that there'll be more than one billion people aged 65 and over by 2050. Dr Seng estimates that about half of these people will have tau tangles in their brains. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6662 Lazy eye is caused by poor transmission of images from the eye to the brain during early childhood. If it persists in adulthood, it causes poor vision in one eye, poor depth perception and poor motion sensitivity.Using the new therapy, a Beijing study recently found a dramatic improvement after just ten days, with some patients scoring 20/20 vision - and 90 percent of the vision gained was retained a year after the therapy. The next step: devising a therapy that works outside the lab. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6663 In a study of 163 patients, those with low HER-2 levels who received NeuVax injections following surgery, chemotherapy and radiation cut their odds of getting cancer again by half, and none of the women died during the study. The phase III trial of NeuVax will involve more than 700 patients. The vaccine may be available in five years. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6566 In countries like Turkey – where one of the most predictive risk factors of coronary disease is the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol – the success rate of patients achieving target LDL-cholesterol levels was low even in the highest risk groups such as diabetics and coronary disease patients. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6567 Pain relief without drugs . Biofeedback, tai chi, yoga, hypnosis and progressive muscle relaxation may help ease chronic pain, according to a review of studies, mostly on the over-50s. Study author Dr Natalia Morone says these activities may simply distract you from pain, release muscle tension or help you cope with the anger and depression that often accompany chronic aches. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6482 Compared to having none of these genetic variants, researchers write in the New England Journal of Medicine, having four increases the risk of developing prostate cancer by 400 to 500 percent. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6483 and gt;and gt; It fights the blues. A rubdown cuts depression, pain, anxiety, nausea, fatigue and other symptoms in half for cancer patients, according to one study. and gt;and gt; It calms kids. In a small study of children with ADHD, those who got a 20-minute massage twice a week for a month behaved better in school. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6377 So, indulging on occasion may have long-term health benefitsand nbsp;- but, researchers say, only when paired with an otherwise healthy diet and lifestyle. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6378 Subjects with gout were asked to complete online questionnaires about risk factors ex­pe­ri­enced before attacks and during bout-free periods. The results show high temperatures (above 30.5°C) and dew points (over 17°) are linked to an in­creased risk of recurrent attacks. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6379 In their study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Assoand shy;ciation, researchers found that being born preterm contributes to several long-term quality of health issues, including lower reproduction rates and, for preterm women, a higher chance of next-generation preterm births and complications. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6225 Dr David Mischoulon, director of alternative remedy studies of the Depression Clinic and Research Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital, says research suggests that, taken under a doctor's supervision, so-called alternative remedies such as St. John's wort and omega-3 fatty acids may also help, particularly for milder forms of depression. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6226 Dr Wong Sin Yew, an infectious disease consultant in Singapore, says that very young children, the elderly, and the chronically ill are most at risk and should be vaccinated. "These groups are particularly vulnerable to the more serious complications of flu such as pneumonia," he says. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6262 Exposure to bugs puts the immune system into fighting modeand nbsp;- and that's a good thing. Kids with the H. pylori bacterium are half as likely to have asthma as those who don't, according to recent research. Since the invention of antibiotics, this bacterium has been on the decline. The discovery could lead to the development of a preventive treatment. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6263 During breathing, we inhale and exhale more than a thousand types of molecules like carbon dioxide and oxygen; distinct comand shy;binand shy;and shy;ations and amounts in our breath can be signs of specific diseases. The new test, called "optical frequency comb spectrosand shy;copy," works on the basis that molecules vibrate and rotate at discrete frequencies of light, so their presenceand nbsp;- and concenand shy;trationsand nbsp;- in breath can be identified from these frequencies. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6121 Using a tiny glucose (sugar) monitor embedded under the abdominal skin, researchers were able to track the real-time impact of caffeine intake on glucose levels. The study, published in the journal Diabetes Care, revealed that when subjects conand shy;sumed caffeine, average daily glucose levels went up by eight per cent. Caffeine also exaggerated the natural rise in blood glucose after meals, increasing levels by nine, 15 and 26 per cent after breakfast, lunch and dinner, respectively. http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6124 As reported in Archives of Inter­­nal Medicine, researchers used the length of white-blood-cell telomeres - repeated DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes, which pro­gressively shorten over time - to assess biological age. They found subjects who were less active (averaging 16 minutes of physical activity each week)  had shorter telomeres than those who were more act­ive (averaging 199 minutes each week). "The most active subjects had telo­meres the same length as sedentary individuals up to ten years younger." http://www.readersdigest.com.ph/rd/rdhtml/en/magazine/mag_content.jsp?cid=6125 "Very little anthocyanin is absorbed into the bloodstream," says study leader Dr Monica Giusti, "but a large proportion travels through the gastro-intestinal tract, where those tissues absorb the compound."