The Daily Indian

According to the study, which will be published in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), hormonal changes and poor sex life among obese men are related to the degree of obesity and both are improved after gastric bypass surgery.

“Previous studies have found that obesity is correlated to lower sperm count and can be associated with infertility, but we wanted to know if obesity was biologically associated with an unsatisfying sex life, and if so, could it be reversible,” said Dr. Ahmad Hammoud, MD, of the University of Utah and lead author of the study. “Our results show that the answer to both questions may be yes,” he added.

To reach the conclusion, researchers followed 64 men over two years who participated in the Utah Obesity Study, which investigated the two-year morbidity of severely obese men undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery compared to controls.

Researchers measured weight, BMI (body mass index) and reproductive hormone levels of participants at the beginning of the study and once more two years later. Similarly subjects completed a questionnaire designed to assess the impact of weight on quality of life in obese individuals at the onset of the study and again two years later.

“In our study population, we found that lower testosterone levels and diminished ratings for sexual quality of life were correlated with increased BMI,” said Dr. Hammoud. “Subjects who lost weight through bariatric surgery experienced a reduction in estradiol levels, an increase in testosterone levels and an increase in ratings of sexual quality of life,” the expert added.

People who rely on weights to ease lower backache fare much better than those who choose to jog, according to new research.

The study showed a 60 percent improvement for people with chronic backache who took part in a 16-week exercise programme using dumb bells, barbells etc. Conversely, people who do aerobics like jogging, walking on a treadmill or used an elliptical machine to ease backache only experienced a 12 percent relief, said Robert Kell, assistant professor of exercise physiology at the University of Alberta, Augustana Campus. The resistance-training group showed improvements in pain and function of about 60 percent, while those who took aerobic training experienced only a 12 per cent improvement.

“Any activity that makes you feel better is something you should pursue, but the research indicates that we get better pain management results from resistance training.”

The extra benefits stem from using the whole-body approach required in resistance training, Kell believes. “We tried to strengthen the entire body and by doing that, we decreased the fatigue people felt throughout the day. They were better able to perform their activities of daily living,” he said.

Aerobics training generally works just the lower body, he added. Approximately 80 percent of North Americans suffer from lower back pain at some point in their lifetimes, and for 85 percent of them the pain is chronic. Both types of training did provide other fitness benefits, such as lower body fat, the study showed, said an Alberta release.

The findings are scheduled for publication in early 2009 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

During the study, the researchers compared 186 pairs of identical twins and found that shedding pounds could age a woman by an average of four years. Lead researcher Dr Bahaman Guyuron says: “The perceived age of an individual is usually attributed to both genetics and environment in various degrees.”

Since the twins’ genetic make-up was identical, the differences in how old they looked could be attributed solely to external factors and lifestyle. To reach that conclusion, researchers calculated the body mass index (BMI) of each twin. An ideal BMI for an adult is between 18.5 and 25. Anyone with a BMI lower than 18.5 is classed as underweight.

“A BMI higher by four points was found to result in a younger appearance of between two to four years in women over 40 years old,” the Telegraph quoted Guyuron as saying.

“The more fat that is preserved in the face, particularly the cheeks, the more you will preserve the facial proportions of youth,” said Rajiv Grover, Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Secretary of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. “Excessive dieting will give a woman a gaunt appearance by leading to volume loss in the midface (cheeks).

“This volume loss can be compounded by yo-yo dieting, where not only do you create volume loss, but also stretching of the facial supporting ligaments due to repeated facial volume gain and volume loss, which causes deeper nose to mouth lines and jowls,” he added.

Other factors that had an effect on ageing were divorce, smoking, drinking and sunbathing.

There is a growing body of evidence to show that an apple a day can keep not just the doctor away, but breast cancer too. Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed invasive cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women in US, said Rui Hai Liu, Cornell University associate professor of food science.

Recently, Liu reported that fresh apple extracts significantly inhibited the size of mammary tumours in rats — and the more extracts they were given, the greater the inhibition.

“We not only observed that the treated animals had fewer tumours, but the tumours were smaller, less malignant and grew more slowly compared with the tumours in untreated rats,” said Liu, which confirmed the findings of his preliminary study in 2007.
In his latest study, for example, he found that a type of adenocarcinoma — a highly malignant tumour and the main cause of death of breast-cancer patients, as well as of animals with mammary cancer — was evident in 81 percent of tumours in the control animals.

However, it developed in only 57 percent, 50 percent and 23 percent of the rats fed low, middle and high doses of apple extracts (the equivalent of one, three and six apples a day in humans), respectively, during the 24-week study.

“That reflects potent anti-proliferative [rapid decrease] activity,” said Liu. The studies highlight the important role of phytochemicals, known as phenolics or flavonoids, found in apples and other fruits and vegetables. In a study of apple peel, Liu reported on a variety of new phenolic compounds that he discovered that also have “potent antioxidant and anti-proliferative activities” on tumours, said a Cornell release. Recently, Liu’s group also reported the finding that apple phytochemicals inhibit an important inflammation pathway (NFkB) in human breast cancer cells. These findings were published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Researchers at the University of Utah studied more than 300 middle-aged and older couples who had been married more than 20 years. Each couple answered questionnaires about their relationship and mental state and took lab tests.

They found women in marriages with high levels of strife were more prone to depression and metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms such a thick waist, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and abnormal blood sugar that significantly raise the risk of heart disease.

“What we found is that negative aspects of the marriage – a high level of conflict and discord were associated with increased levels of metabolic syndrome for women and not for men,” said Tim Smith of the University of Utah, who is studying marriage quality and heart disease.

“That seemed to be explained by the fact that women in strained marriages also reported more levels of depression,” a known risk factor for heart disease, Smith said in a telephone interview. The study is being presented at a meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Chicago. Smith, who worked on the study with doctoral student Nancy Henry, said a bad marriage was roughly equivalent to leading a sedentary life in terms of raising the risk of metabolic syndrome.

He said the findings represent one of many factors a woman should address to reduce her risk of heart attack. But he said women should tackle other potentially more serious issues first. “It’s silly if someone is a smoker to talk to them about difficulties with their spouse,” he said. “You have to start with the stuff that is most dangerous.”

Using data gathered from a 25-year study of health and development in New Zealand, David M. Fergusson, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand, examined the associations between alcohol abuse and depression.

A sample of 1,055 participants born in 1977 were assessed for both conditions at ages 17 to 18, 20 to 21 and 24 to 25 years and also asked questions about lifestyle and demographic factors. At ages 17 to 18, 19.4 per cent of the participants met criteria for alcohol problems and 18.2 per cent for major depression; at ages 20 to 21, 22.4 per cent had alcohol disorders and 18.2 per cent major depression; and at age 24 to 25, 13.6 per cent met alcohol disorder criteria and 13.8 per cent had major depression.

At all ages, alcohol abuse or dependence was associated with an increased risk of major depression-those who fulfilled criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence were 1.9 times more likely to also fulfill criteria for major depression. Three models were tested to fit the data-one in which major depression and alcohol abuse disorders had a reciprocal association within time, a second in which alcohol disorders caused major depression and a third in which major depression caused alcohol disorders.

“This analysis suggested that the best-fitting model was one in which there was a unidirectional association from alcohol abuse or dependence to major depression but no reverse effect from major depression to alcohol abuse or dependence,” the authors said.
“The underlying mechanisms that give rise to such an association are unclear; however, it has been proposed that this link may arise from genetic processes in which the use of alcohol acts to trigger genetic markers that increase the risk of major depression. “In addition, further research suggests that alcohol’s depressant characteristics may lead to periods of depressed affect among those with alcohol abuse or dependence,” they added. The causal links also may include an increased risk of depression due to stressful life circumstances brought by alcohol problems, including social, financial and legal issues.
“However, further research is required to elucidate the nature of the possible links between alcohol use and major depression,” the authors said.

Individuals from low-income, minority backgrounds with chronic low back pain (CLBP) may be more affected due to disparities in access to treatment.

Although many CLBP patients seek relief from complementary therapies such as yoga, use of these approaches are less common among minorities and individuals with lower incomes or less education.

For the study, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center recruited adults with CLBP from two community health centers that serve racially diverse, low-income neighbourhoods of Boston.

They were randomly assigned to either a standardized 12-week series of hatha yoga classes or standard treatment including doctor’s visits and medications.

As part of the trial, the researchers asked participants to report their average pain intensity for the previous week, how their function is limited due to back pain, and how much pain medication they are taking.

The yoga group participated in 12 weekly 75-minute classes that included postures, breathing techniques, and meditation.

Classes were taught by a team of registered yoga teachers and were limited to eight participants. Home practice for 30 minutes daily was strongly encouraged. Participants were provided with an audio CD of the class, a handbook describing and depicting the exercises, a yoga mat, strap, and block. Pain scores for the yoga participants decreased by one-third compared to the control group, which decreased by only 5 percent. Whereas pain medication use in the control group did not change, yoga participants’ use of pain medicines decreased by 80 percent.

Large numbers of fast food restaurants in an area can push up the stroke risk by up to 13 per cent, according to the New Scientist study of one Texas city.

However, this doesn’t imply mean that their burgers, French fries and fried chicken cause stroke, says Lewis Morgenstern, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor who presented the study at the International Stroke Conference in San Diego, California.

Rather, fast food could be an indicator for other factors that lead to poor health, such as lack of exercise or poor air quality.

To reach the conclusion, the research team recorded all 1,247 strokes that occurred in Nueces County, Texas between 2000 and mid-2003.His team split the city into 64 neighbourhoods with roughly the same population, based on census data.

From analysis, researchers found that people living in neighbourhoods with an average of 33 fast food restaurants suffered 13 percent more strokes than people who lived near just 12 fast food joints.Each additional McDonalds, Burger King or Taco Bell upped the risk of stroke by about 1 percent.

It shows that adolescents with parental-set bedtimes of midnight or later were 24 percent more likely to suffer from depression and 20 percent more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those with parental-set bedtimes set for 10 p.m. or earlier.

Those who reported sleeping five or fewer hours per night were 71 percent more likely to suffer from depression and 48 percent more likely to think about committing suicide than those who reported eight hours of sleep.

Also, participants who reported that they “usually get enough sleep” were significantly less likely to suffer from depression and suicidal ideation.

James E. Gangwisch, assistant professor at the Columbia University Medical Centre (CUMC), who led the study, said the results strengthen the argument that short sleep duration could play a role in a person’s history of depression.

“Our results are consistent with the theory that inadequate sleep is a risk factor for depression, working with other risk and protective factors through multiple possible causal pathways to the development of this mood disorder,” said Gangwisch.

“Adequate quality sleep could, therefore, be a preventive measure against depression and a treatment for the disease,” added Gangwisch, according to a CUMC release.

Data were collected from 15,659 adolescents and their parents who had participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a school-based, nationally representative, probability-based sample of US students in grades seven to 12 in 1994 to 1996.

In a report, which appears in ACS Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers have stated that blueberries, one of the richest sources of healthful antioxidants and other so-called phytochemicals , improve memory. They said the study, which involved scientists from the University of Cincinnati, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Canadian department of agriculture, establishes a basis for comprehensive human clinical trials to determine whether blueberries really deserve their growing reputation as a memory enhancer.

Robert Krikorian and colleagues point out that previous studies in laboratory animals suggest that eating blueberries may help boost memory in the aged. In the study, one group of volunteers in their 70s with early memory decline drank the equivalent of 2-2 l/2 cups of a commercially available blueberry juice every day for two months. A control group drank a beverage without blueberry juice.

The blueberry juice group showed significant improvement on learning and memory tests, the scientists say. “These preliminary memory findings are encouraging and suggest that consistent supplementation with blueberries may offer an approach to forestall or mitigate neurodegeneration,” said the report.