Public Health
Antibacterial soaps show no health benefits over plain soaps and, in fact, may render some common antibiotics less effective, says a University of Michigan public health professor.
In the first known comprehensive analysis of whether antibacterial soaps work better than plain soaps, Allison Aiello of the U-M School of Public Health and her team found that washing hands with an antibacterial soap was no more effective in preventing infectious illness than plain soap. Moreover, antibacterial soaps at formulations sold to the public do not remove any more bacteria from the hands during washing…
In a study scheduled for publication in the August issue of the American Journal of Chinese Medicine, a team of kinesiologists at the University of Illinois suggest that older adults who adopt an exercise regimen combining Taiji ( western: T'ai Chi) and Qigong may get an extra boost from their annual flu shot.
“We have found that 20 weeks of Taiji can increase the antibody response to influenza vaccine in older adults,” said the study’s lead author Yang Yang, an adjunct professor of kinesiology and community health, and a Taiji master with 30-plus years of experience as a practitioner and…
Heart disease hits people with diabetes twice as often as people without diabetes. In those with diabetes, cardiovascular complications occur at an earlier age and often result in premature death, making heart disease the major killer of diabetic people. But why is heart disease so prevalent among diabetics?
To help answer that question, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been analyzing the fat (lipid) composition of heart tissue from laboratory mice with diabetes. They have found that heart cells of diabetic mice lose an important lipid from cellular…
Many people with long-standing high blood pressure develop heart failure. But some don't. Daniel P. Kelly, M.D., and colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and other institutions are trying to figure out what could explain that difference.
Their latest research reveals that impaired energy production in heart muscle may underlie heart failure in some hypertensive patients. The researchers assert that a molecular factor involved in maintaining the heart's energy supply could become a key to new approaches to prevent or treat heart failure.
The molecular factor, a…
Researchers have identified a new player in the control of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) ( the “good” cholesterol ) that circulates in the bloodstream and reduces heart attack risk.
In the current study, the researchers found that treatments that partially block the activity of liver enzymes called proprotein convertases decreased plasma HDL-C levels in mice. They showed that the metabolic effect of the proprotein convertases depended on yet another factor, an enzyme called endothelial lipase (EL), which breaks down HDL-C. Proprotein convertases normally reduce EL function,…
Even comparatively low levels of air pollution boost the chances of an early death, suggests new research.
The researchers base their findings on long term monitoring of air quality in different electoral wards around Britain during different time periods, and national data on causes of death.
More than 5000 adults aged 30 and above were included in the study.
To assess more closely the impact of pollution on health, they divided the data into four chunks, spanning a total of 16 years each, starting in 1966-70 and ending in 1994-8.
Black smoke and sulphur dioxide were strongly linked to the…
Cows are having a difficult month. They were already implicated as worse for global warming than cars and now it turns out that goats give healthier milk.
According to University of Granada researchers, goat's milk is superior for preventing ferropenic anaemia (iron deficiency) and bone demineralisation (softening of the bones).
The project, conducted by Doctor Javier Díaz Castro and directed by professors Margarita Sánchez Campos, Mª Inmaculada López Aliaga and Mª José Muñoz Alférez, focuses on the comparison between the nutritional properties of goats’ milk and cows’ milk, both with normal…
Limiting and labeling trans fats in food is not enough, according to Walter Willett, an epidemiologist and nutrition professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, who argues to food manufacturers that they should be banned altogether.
Willett was among dozens of speakers on the opening day of the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting & Food Expo here, the world’s largest annual food science forum and exposition.
While some trans fats occur naturally in foods, most are the result of cooking or baking with hydrogenated oils. Those oils provide creamy textures that are enjoyable…
Drinking more than one soft drink daily — whether it’s regular or diet — may be associated with an increase in the risk factors for heart disease.
“We were struck by the fact that it didn’t matter whether it was a diet or regular soda that participants consumed, the association with increased risk was present,” said Ramachandran Vasan, M.D., senior author of the Framingham Heart Study and professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. “In those who drink one or more soft drinks daily, there was an association of an increased risk of developing the metabolic syndrome.”…
It's not often that people are concerned there aren't enough deaths, but it's happening in the UK.
Thanks to lifestyle changes and effective treatments, deaths from coronary heart disease have been steadily falling since the late 1960s, say the authors of a new study in the journal Heart.
But rising trends in obesity and diabetes threaten to halt or even reverse the “hard fought gains” in cutting deaths from heart disease, they warn. And these trends are much more likely to become apparent among younger Britons first, say the authors.
The authors assessed death rates for coronary artery…