Body of Wealth

At last there comes up some solution for preventing a kid from having a life long addiction of smoking. Some serious research has been done by the scientists at the University of Utah; regarding the characteristic of being a life long smoker. The researchers have taken DNA samples of about 2,827 smokers. They made a vivid study over the changes in the genetic code called single nucleotide polymorphisms. This is something that is very much a part of nicotine addiction and that leads to a life long smoking practice. This research justifies the point that kids who have picked up smoking before 17 years of age are more into this addiction than those who have had it after 17.

I don’t usually prefer taking medicines for minor ailments because I fear their side-effects. But things may get better with Roy Curtiss and his fellow researchers of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, who are developing a new type of self-destructible vaccine that leaves none of its spin-off once it slinks into human body. It was a unique experiment as when they made Salmonella bacteria lug a little piece of Streptococcus pneumonia into the bodies of mice, the bacteria broke open and died, though with an antigen. While it has been a success with bacteria, it’s still to be tested on viruses, fungal contagions and parasites. Well, further experiments would tell if it’s safe and doesn’t cause any diseases or problems. Certainly, we need to wait to see when they would offer it for humans.

Source: Reuters

Many dreams of being a father have been made true by the process of replenishing ‘nurse-maid’ Sertoli cells; by researchers in Australia. The initiatives taken by researchers like Dr. Sarah Meachem, of Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research in Victoria and Professor Richard Sharpe, of the Medical Research Council’s human reproductive sciences unit in Edinburgh have discovered that the ‘nurse-maid’ Sertoli cells in the testes are sometimes absent in men; depriving them from being a father.

It seems now you can eliminate the risk of giving birth to babies with breast cancer genes. The technique, called preimplantation diagnosis (PGD), is used to screen human embryos for breast cancer genes called BRCA-1 and BRCA 2. The screening is conducted on In Vitro fertilized embryos. The embryos without the defective genes are identified and implanted in the womb of the mother. In this way the mother conceives a baby free from the breast cancer causing gene. PGD proved to be a very successful method in eliminating the occurrence of genetically inherited breast cancer from the lineage of a couple from London. They produced 11 embryos. Screening tests were conducted on the embryos by removing a single cell when they were three days old.

Viagra, the drug which has changed the lives of lots of men and their women is under the limelight again. It is now debated whether this drug can boost the athletic ability of aspiring sportspersons. Most of us know a drug called paracetamol; it is commonly used for fever and decreases the body temperature. What happens if the same drug is taken by a normal person? Well, it has no effect! These drugs work only on a diseased body. It is the same with sildenafil (Viagra). It is a drug which dilates the blood vessels and allows more blood to certain body parts, which are not functioning optimally. Consequently, only those men who suffer from erectile dysfunction are most benefited by this drug. All others who take in this drug, even though they have a normal body function, may feel potentiated only due to the placebo effect. These second category men are ones who require a little psychological boost for their activities.

A paraglider fails to control his chute and falls to the ground. The lower bones of his leg came through the knee and thighs. The man should have been screaming with pain or fainted from it. But no! Danny Penman had learnt hypnotism before and he psyched himself to believe that he was in a garden of flowers. He felt no pain after that.

This is a true tale. Hypnotism can be used as anaesthesia! Many doctors in Europe are using it. The benefits are obvious. It is cheap and it has no side effects. Some doctors use a local aesthetic while cutting the skin during surgery and nothing more. The patients are hypnotized during the operation and feel no pain.

Parents are always panicky about the right kind of diet for their children and select the perfect one based on the nutritive qualities that provide strength and boost mental growth. Medical journals are scanned to get the healthiest food options which are immediately included in the diet. It is this fad that has got the parents to include more of oily fishes in the children’s diet to help increase their memory and fare better in examinations.

However, for a change this inclusion is actually nutritious and tasty. Fish, especially the oily one is said to be high in the Omega-3 fatty acids that provide the body with the essential antioxidants that slow up the ageing process and boost memory. The sale of Omega-3 capsules has seen a major surge in the recent years which can be attributed to the increased awareness about its role in memory enhancement. But the parents have found a cheaper and more organic alternative to these capsules in the oily fishes which is its main source.

Cosmetic surgery, also known as plastic surgery, is the method of remolding the original physical features to acquire a look that is approved and appreciated by the society. The surgery was earlier recommended for those suffering with major burns or deformities to correct their looks, however, with time people have started using it to enhance their looks the way they want.

According to a new study published by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the predicted number of people going under the knife would be well over 55 millions by 2015. This amounts to approximately one cosmetic surgery for every five Americans, including children. The most favored surgeries for women are breast augmentations, liposuctions and eyelid enhancements while that for men are liposuctions, eyelid enhancements and nose reshaping. In the non surgical category, however, Botox remains the favorite for both the genders.

For many of us, the day begins with a steaming cup of coffee. We get over our sleep hangovers and get geared for the day after tasting that special caffeine ambrosia. But now a research published in the June 25th issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry implies that one can get over the stress caused due to lack of sleep by just smelling coffee!

Vitamin D which has made its importance felt in our lives by the role it plays in strengthening our bones has now, according to a research, been credited as being the key to longer life. A research conducted has linked low Vitamin D levels with deaths from heart attacks and other diseases, thus making the significance of Vitamin D more evident in our lives. Patients with lowest levels of Vitamin D are found to be two times more likely to die from any cause within eight years than those with highest levels.

The link between low vitamin levels and diseases is strongest in the case of heart related ailments. But this doesn’t mean you put up your glares and go sunbathing or start popping Vitamin D pills. Huge doses of Vitamin D are dangerous and being in the sunshine for too long can cause skin cancer. Besides, daily exposure to sunshine provides enough doses of the vitamin. In some cases like ageing, extreme physical activity and other lifestyle factors can cause Vitamin D levels in the body to decrease.

It is amazing, but it is a fact. Scientists have come up with a wonder drug that can create a kind of confidence in a human and can spread the sense of love and care within his mind and body.
According to Professor Zak, a professor of neuroscience at California’s Claremont Graduate University,

We’ve seen that it makes you care about the other person. It also increases your generosity towards that person. That’s why (the hormone) facilitates social interaction.

Avian influenza is a disease caused by the H5N1 virus amongst birds and poultry. It has claimed the life of many birds which had to be culled due to infection. The virus causing this disease in birds on mutation infects human and can prove to be fatal. Figures show that while it has affected only 385 people around the world, 243 have been killed by the deadly virus. According to expert’s warnings a bird flu pandemic is already on the cards but their research shows that there is not enough preparation for combating the same.
Speaking on the issue based on research, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Julie Gerberding said

We are a long way from being fully prepared. We do not have a vaccine that will provide universal protection. We don’t have surveillance in every country. We don’t have control of the virus in animal reservoirs.

A new clue to the cause of Alzheimer’s disease (brain disorder named for German physician Alois Alzheimer in 1906) seems to have been discovered by a team led by Dr. Ganesh M. Shankar and Dr. Dennis J. Selkoe of Harvard Medical School. Scientists long have been of the opinion that the brains of people inflicted with this memory-robbing form of dementia are jumbled with a plaque (these build up between nerve cells) made up of beta-amyloid and with tau (tangles are twisted fibers of a protein called tau).

Ageing is often related to degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, but now a breakthrough is achieved in the research for treating these. Scientists have found a way of giving old and tired muscles, responsible for degeneration, a new lease of life.

An experiment was conducted on mice by tweaking its biochemical signals to increase the ability of its stem cells to restore the youthful vigor. Conducted by the University of California, Berkeley the study was published in the journal Nature. The study stated that adult stem cells play an important role in helping to repair the mature and differentiated cells which constitutes the body’s tissues. It identified two key regulatory pathways that could control the working of the adult stem cells thus, tricking them into making the repair work faster. The experiment revived the muscle tissue in the old mice making it as vigorous as its younger counterparts. This will also solve the ethical question in the use of stem cells derived from embryos as they make use of the individual’s own stem cells. According to one of the researcher Dr Morgan Carlson,

We are one step closer to having a point of intervention where we can rejuvenate the body’s own stem cells so we don’t have to suffer from some of the debilitating diseases associated with ageing.

The research now aims at finding the cell regeneration capacity of the young to adjust it when older, thus, avoiding muscle degeneration in older age.

Via: BBC

Image Credit: Wellcome

Science and technology not only makes and improves one’s style of living but now it would also make you more beautiful and young. No doubt hair are the best and most precious feature of our personality and premature baldness is the biggest curse. But thanks to the newly devised technique, known as ‘follicular cell implantation’ by which one can just relax and regain their lustrous hair. The technique works by cloning the remaining hair in the laboratory to provide a limitless supply of an individual’s hair to replace the loss caused due to burns, cancer treatment or simply the onset of age. This amazing work being carried out by a British team and being backed by a £1.9 million government grant would be available to patients within five years. This would provide the patients with a torture free and less expensive treatment to preserve their seductive looks. The latest results of the Phase II trial, presented at a conference of leading hair replacement surgeons in Rome, revealed that the technique increases hair count in at least two thirds of patients after six months and four out of five if the scalp is stimulated beforehand through gentle abrasions that encourage hair growth.