Month: April 2008

[amazon_link asins=’B01CWGBNQ4,B013J4KIXW,1530862884,B01J7L8RVG,B011HBWQYS,0736092269,B013FFGQ5E’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’810c136b-231f-11e7-a2f8-91a8500419e1′]

Religiously trying to pump up your muscles to stay lean and maximize your attractiveness? Well, in that case, all your efforts for a pleasing personality can go futile, for a new study has claimed that weight training can make a person bald.

Researchers have discovered that bodybuilders’ testosterone soars after a weights session – and that turns into a toxic substance, which attacks hair follicles.

The study reveals that blokes who lift weights just three times a week for 45 minutes over two years are heading for a premature slaphead.

In the study, scientists found that testosterone levels soared an average 25 per cent after one of the sessions. They returned to normal after 30 minutes when the body converted the male hormone into a chemical called DHT.

But DHT, or dihydrotestosterone, shrinks follicles and roots – so hair grows back thinner each time.

Beefy blokes who had a high-fat diet were found to be at greatest risk of the balding hormones. Women who lifted weights suffered the same side effect.

“We have seen an increase in men in their twenties and thirties who regularly circuit train. There’s no doubt it is often a factor in hair loss,” The Sun quoted hair transplant specialists Rogers Medical Group, as stating.

Sources: The Times Of India

[amazon_link asins=’B01HU65P5G’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’72b981ef-8884-11e7-ae17-1be5852c20f8′]

The monthly discomfort many women see as a curse could pay off some day as Japanese researchers say menstrual blood can be used to repair heart damage.

Scientists obtained menstrual blood from nine women and cultivated it for about a month, focusing on a kind of cell that can act like stem cells.

Some 20% of the cells began beating spontaneously about three days after being put together in vitro with cells from the hearts of rats. The cells from menstrual blood eventually formed sheet-like heart-muscle tissue.

The success rate is 100 times higher than the 0.2-0.3% for stem cells taken from human bone marrow, according to Shunichiro Miyoshi, a cardiologist at Keio University’s school of medicine, who is involved in the research.

Separate in-vivo experiments showed that the condition of rats who had suffered heart attacks improved after they received the cells derived from menstrual blood.

Miyoshi said women may eventually be able to use their own menstrual blood.
“There may be a system in the near future that allows women to use it for their own treatment,” Miyoshi said. Using one’s own blood could solve a major problem in the use of cells – a patient’s immune system rejecting them.

Miyoshi said menstrual blood could be used to build stockpiles of cells which have a variety of matching HLAs, or human leukocyte antigens, a key part of the human immune system.

The cells can be stored for a long time in a tube the size of a finger and cultivated when necessary, he said.

“In proper storage, we would be able to stock up a tremendous count of cells in a small space. If they are not used for 100 years, they could stay there for 200 years or 300 years” waiting for a perfect match, he said.

In a strict sense, the connective cells from menstrual blood cannot be called stem cells, which can turn into any type of cell in the body, Miyoshi said. But they also have high potential to develop into muscle cells, suggesting the blood could in time be used to treat muscular dystrophy, he said.

The study has been conducted by researchers from private Keio University and the National Institute for Child Health and Development.

Sources: The Times Of India

[amazon_link asins=’B000FNM5PU,B007EMYD8M,B0000CFMU7,B00KCUXRLC,B01BZ5U3Y6,B004HQ9GTE,B01E6OLE64,B004MNYB6U,B0000CFN0Y’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’83febc5b-231e-11e7-a2f8-91a8500419e1′]

They may be known for severe health hazards, but food dyes indeed have a positive side- protection against cancer, says a new study.

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

The study was conducted over trout, a species of freshwater fish, which were given carcinogens dibenzopyrene (DBP) or aflatoxin in their feed either with or without food dyes Red 40 or Blue 2, for one month.

The findings revealed that after nine months, trout fed with any of the dyes in combination with aflatoxin showed 50 per cent fewer liver tumours compared to one fed with aflatoxin only.

Moreover, fish given DBP, in combination with Red 40 showed 50 per cent lower incidence of stomach cancer and 40 per cent lower incidence of liver cancer.

“The public perception is that food dyes are bad, but some of them may have good points as well,” New Scientist quoted Gayle Orner at Oregon State University, as saying.

She also said that further studies have to be conducted to understand the mechanism by which these food dyes apply their anti-cancer effect.

The study was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research in San Diego, California, last week

Sources: The Times Of India

Researchers are developing a clearer understanding of why the synthetic estrogens found in many widely-used plastics can cause damage to a developing fetus, fertility problems, and vaginal and breast cancers.

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

Past research has shown that exposure to the synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) alters the expression of HOXA10, a gene necessary for uterine development, while increasing the risk of cancer and pregnancy complications. By studying the DNA of the offspring of 30 pregnant mice injected with DES, researchers found changes in certain regions of the HOXA10 gene that continued beyond the time of development and persisted into adulthood.

This indicates that exposure to DES and similar substances results in lasting genetic memory, known as “imprinting,” which is actually changing the structure of the HOXA10 gene.

Though DES is no longer on the market, pregnant women are frequently exposed to similar substances with estrogen-like properties, such as Bisphenol-A (BPA).
Sources:
Science Daily March 31, 2008
The 2008 Society for Gynecologic Investigation (SGI) Annual Scientific Meeting, San Diego, California, March 26-29, 2008