MOTHERS-SLEEP

New mothers get enough sleep, just not good sleep-study

NEW YORK

It may come as news to new parents but a US study has found that mothers do get enough sleep in their babies' first few months -- it's just not good quality.

Researchers from West Virginia University in Morgantown followed a group of new mothers and found, on average, the women got just over 7 hours of sleep a night during their

babies' first four months.

That amount is generally what is recommended for adults, and, based on past studies, more than the average American gets.

But the study found that sleep is also frequently disrupted with the women typically being awake for a total of two hours a night which was worrying as sleep problems and exhaustion may

contribute to postpartum depression and impact work performance.

August 2010

HEART-DRUG

STOCKHOLM

Japanese drugmaker Eisai's experimental blood clot preventer E5555 may have the potential to reduce heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths without increased serious

bleeding risks, Japanese researchers said.

Two Phase II clinical trials presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress today showed that while there was a trend towards increased bleeding as the dose of E5555 increased, serious bleeding risks were not significantly higher.

MIGRAINE GENE

LONDON
An international scientific team has identified for the first time a genetic risk factor associated with common migraines and say their research could open the way for new treatments to prevent migraine attacks. Researchers who looked at genetic data from 50,000 people from Finland, Germany and The Netherlands found that patients with a certain DNA variant affecting regulation of a particular brain chemical have a greater risk of developing migraines. The results suggest that a buildup of that chemical, called glutamate, may play a role in the mechanism of migraines.
August 2010

Heart

STOCKHOLM
Giving patients with a history of heart attacks a margarine enriched with omega-3 oils in addition to standard drugs appears to make no difference to their chances of having a repeat attack. A 40-month study of more than 4,800 patients showed taking low doses of omega-3 fatty acids in margarine did not significantly reduce rates of serious heart attacks and other cardiovascular events, Dutch researchers.
August 2010

Cancer

LONDON
Rates of oesophageal cancer in men have risen by 50 per cent in Britain in a generation, an increase that is probably being driven in part by growing rates of obesity and poor diet, scientists said .
August 2010

Cancer

LONDON
Rates of oesophageal cancer in men have risen by 50 per cent in Britain in a generation, an increase that is probably being driven in part by growing rates of obesity and poor diet, scientists said .
August 2010

Insulin-Alzheimer

HONG KONG
People with insulin resistance and type2 diabetes are more likely to develop plaques in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers in Japan.
August 2010

Amphetamines could damage heart artery....

Washigton
Young adults who abuse amphetamines may be more likely to suffer an often fatal tear in the body's mainartery, the aorta, US researchers said. A study of medical records from 31 million people aged 18 to 49 and hospitalized from 1995 to 2007 found that those who had abused amphetamines had triple the odds of aortic dissection, the team at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center said . Amphetamines, often called speed or crank, are widely abused but also legitimately used to treat attention deficit disorder, narcolepsy and other sleep disorders. They can also aid in weight loss. The drugs make the heart beat harder and can raise bloodpressure.
August 2010

Pesticides and attention problems...

Washington
Children whose mothers were exposed to certain types of pesticides while pregnant were more likely to have attention problems as they grew up, US researchers reported today. The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, adds to evidence that organophosphate pesticides can affect the human brain. Researchers at the University of California Berkeley tested pregnant women for evidence that organophosphate pesticides had actually been absorbed by their bodies, and then followed their children as they grew. Women with more chemical traces of the pesticides in their urine while pregnant had children more likely to have symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, at age 5, the researchers found. ''While results of this study are not conclusive, our findingssuggest that prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides mayaffect young children's attention,'' Amy Marks and colleagues wrotein the study, available at http://ehponline.org/article/info:doi/10.1289/ehp.1002234
August 2010

Kidney donation...

London
Kidneys transplanted from victims of heartattacks and other cardiac deaths are just as good as those from brain-dead patients and could offer a valuable extra source of donororgans, British scientists said .The researchers said fears that kidneys from heart deathvictims may be inferior for transplants are unfounded and they should be treated as equal to kidneys from brain-dead donors.
August 2010

Blood Pressure Drugs...

CHICAGO Tests for a blood-pressure regulating hormone called renin may help doctors decide whichblood pressure drugs their patients should take, researchers said.
August 2010

CANCER chemotherapy

HONG KONG An ancient Chinese brew may help reducethe intestinal damage caused by chemotherapy given to colon andrectal cancer patients, according to researchers. To meet growing consumer demands, researchers in the fieldof traditional medicine are trying to prove the efficacy of ancient drugs using Western-style animal tests and humanclinical trials.
The researchers said they fed cancerous mice the Chinese brew after the rodents had been treated with irinotecan, a chemotherapy drug known to be toxic for the gut and a cause of diarrhoea. ''The researchers treated cancerous mice with chemotherapy, which shrank tumors but also caused massive destruction in the intestinal lining of the animals,'' they said.