Dried plums may reduce colon cancer risk

Eating dried plums may reduce colon cancer risk, a new study by Texas A&M suggests.

Colon cancer, also known as bowel cancer, colorectal cancer, is the cancer arising from the inner wall of the large intestine (colon). The abnormal growth of cells may spread to other parts of the body. Blood in the stool, change in bowel movements, weight loss, and feeling exhausted all the time are some of the symptoms of the disease. More than 75-95% of colon cancer patients have little or no genetic risk. Other risk factors are older age, high fat diet, red meat, alcohol, obesity, smoking, and lack of exercise. [Read more Drinking coffee daily may lead to a longer life, new study shows]

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 134,784 people (70,204 men and 64,580 women) were diagnosed with colon cancer in the United States in 2012. 51,516 deaths were reported in 2012 which included 26,866 men and 24,650 women.

In UK, it is the 4^th most common cancer which affected 41,600 people (23,200 men and 18,400 women) in 2011. Colon cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in the UK, claiming the lives of 16,200 people in 2012.

With varying mortality rates across the globe, it is estimated that around 694,000 people died of colon cancer in the world in 2012. [Read more The powerful anti-cancer properties of turmeric]

Lead researcher Dr. Nancy Turner, research professor in the nutrition and food science department of Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas and her team found that dried plums stimulate retention of microbiota, also called gut bacteria – in the colon, which may lower the risk of bowel cancer.

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According to Dr. Turner, scientists have already identified more than 400 individual species of gastro-intestinal bacteria among the trillions which are present in the digestive tract. 

Initial intestinal inflammation and recurrences of the disease seem to be activated by disruptions to the microbiota. 

Evidence also shows that changes in diet can alter the metabolism and composition of colon microbiota.

Phenolic compounds, found in dried plums effect human health in many ways such as, acting as antioxidants that neutralize the free radicals, which can damage DNA.

 The researchers hypothesized that dried plum consumption would promote retention of beneficial microbiota and patterns of microbial metabolism in the colon, which may decrease the risk of bowel cancer.

“Our research explored the potential cancer-protective properties of dried plums using a well-established rat model of colon cancer,” explained Dr. Turner.

They tested the effect of phenolic compounds on rats by feeding the rats either a diet that included dried plums or a control diet. [Read more 7 Foods That Will Help You Lose Weight]

The diets were matched for total calories and macronutrient composition. Intestinal contents and tissues from different segments of the colon of the rats were examined.

They found that the dried plum diet increased the amount of Bacteroidetes and reduced the amount of Firmicutes – 2 major kinds of intestinal bacteria found in the distal colon. However, the proportions were not affected in the proximal colon. On the other hand, the rats that consumed control diet had a lower proportion of Bacteroidetes and higher amount of Firmicutes in the distal colon.

The researchers also discovered that the rats that had consumed dried plums also had a significantly reduced numbers of aberrant crypts, aberrant crypt foci and high-multiplicity aberrant crypt foci compared with the rats with control diet. These aberrant crypt foci indicate the development of cancer. [Read more

The findings suggest that dried plums may reduce colon cancer risk by establishing microbiota compositions in the distal colon.

“From this study we were able to conclude that dried plums did, in fact, appear to promote retention of beneficial microbiota and microbial metabolism throughout the colon, which was associated with a reduced incidence of precancerous lesions,” said Dr. Turner.

She believes that more research is needed, especially in human, to find out if dried plums could play an important role in fighting colon cancer.

This study was funded by the California Dried Plum Board and presented at the 2015 Experimental Biology Conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Long daytime naps may increase risk of diabetes

Sleep is an important part of a healthy life, along with a healthy diet and exercise. Sleep plays an important role in shaping our physical and mental health. Taking a short nap during the day is also considered to be beneficial to health. However, long daytime naps may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a study.

This research led by Dr Tomohide Yamad of University of Tokyo has been presented at the annual meeting of European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Stockholm.

Around 29.1 million people in the United States have diabetes. 90 percent of these patients are suffering from type 2 diabetes. 27.8 percent of the diabetes cases are undiagnosed. Approximately 2.9 million people in the UK have diabetes and this number is expected to go up to 5 million by the year 2025.

Read more Type 2 Diabetes Cure? A Super Low-Calorie Diet May Be The Answer!

Type 2 diabetes was previously known as non-insulin-dependent Diabetes (NIDDM). In type 2 diabetes either the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin which results in insulin resistance. When the body develops insulin resistance it means that the body is producing insulin, but the sensitivity of the insulin is reduced and it is not doing the job properly which results in build-up of glucose in the blood and the cells starve for glucose which is needed for energy.

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Dr. Yamada and his team conducted a meta-analysis to study the link between daytime sleepiness, nap and type 2 diabetes. They searched through articles published in Medline, the Cochrane Library and Web of Science until November, 2014. Out of 683 initial studies, 10 were deemed suitable, involving 261,365 subjects from Asia and the West. Studies on daytime sleepiness came from Sweden, Spain, Finland and Germany, and studies on napping came from USA, China and Germany.

Those who answered ‘yes’ to the question, “Do you have a problem with sleepiness during the daytime?” were considered to be long excessive daytime sleepers. For daytime napping, answering ‘yes’ to questions “Do you take a daytime nap?” or “Do you sleep during the day?” was considered

Those who reported long daytime naps were found to increase their risk of diabetes by 56 percent. Those who reported daytime napping of 60 minutes or more were found to increase their risk of diabetes by 46 percent. However, a short nap of 40 minutes or less didn’t increase the risk – the risk was said to increase sharply after 40 minutes of sleep. [Read more Fresh fruit may be beneficial for people with diabetes, research suggests]

"Daytime napping might be a consequence of night-time sleep disturbance such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA),” the authors said. The condition is responsible for stroke, ischemia, heart disease, and all-cause mortality. It also has some common risk factors with type 2 diabetes, such as age and obesity.  

The authors concluded by saying:

“Excessive daytime sleepiness and taking longer naps were associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, with a short nap not increasing this risk.”

“Entering deep slow-wave sleep and then failing to complete the normal sleep cycle can result in a phenomenon known as sleep inertia, in which a person feels groggy, disoriented, and even sleepier than before napping. Although the mechanisms by which a short nap might decrease the risk of diabetes are still unclear, such duration-dependent differences in the effects of sleep might partly explain our findings.”

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Aspirin can double life expectancy of gastrointestinal cancer patients

A major study has found that daily doses of aspirin can double the life expectancy of patients with cancers affecting the gastrointestinal tract.

Researchers in Netherlands analyzed data from nearly 14,000 patients suffering from a range of cancers, around half of whom were regular aspirin takers.

After a 4-year follow-up period, those who took the anti-inflammatory painkiller were twice as likely to still be alive compared to those who didn’t take aspirin daily.

Factors that influence the survival rate such as, age, gender, stage of cancer, other medical conditions, and treatments were taken into account before the impact of aspirin on survival was identified.

The coordinator of the trial Dr. Martine Frouws believes that the findings could have a great impact on patients and national healthcare system.

“Now we would like to analyze tumor material from these patients to try and discover which ones would benefit from aspirin treatment,” said Frouws from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

“Through studying the characteristics of tumors in patients where aspirin was beneficial, we should be able to identify patients who could profit from such treatment in the future.

Given that aspirin is a cheap, off-patent drug with relatively few side-effects, this will have a great impact on healthcare systems as well as patients,” she said.

Most common types of cancer in these patients were colon, rectum and esophagus.

The researchers are going ahead with a randomized control trial to investigate the survival of elderly bowel cancer patients in the Netherlands by giving them a daily dose of 80mg of aspirin. The effects of aspirin and placebo will be compared in this trial.

Researchers plan to expand the study at a later date that will include gastrointestinal cancer patients, which they hope will provide convincing proof that the aspirin treatment will benefit more patients.
“We have good evidence that the frequent use of aspirin in the population can prevent some cases of colorectal (bowel) cancer, said Prof Peter Naredi, scientific co-chair of the congress.

“Now, Frouws and colleagues show that in over 13,000 patients who were diagnosed with a gastrointestinal cancer, aspirin also improved survival compared with those who did not use it.
“With more and more data to support the beneficial role of aspirin, we must consider whether we should recommend it to a wider public,”

Dr. Martine Frouws presented the findings at the 2015 European Cancer Congress in Vienna.

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Obesity may increase brain tumor risk

A new study has found that obesity may lead to development of some types of brain tumor. The report published in the journal Neurology, suggested that people who are overweight or obese are at an increasing risk of developing a type of brain tumor known as meningioma. According to the study, the risk was said to increase by 54% for obese people and 21% for those who are overweight.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 69% of adults aged 20 and over in the U.S. are either overweight or obese. Obesity is the step after overweight. A study conducted in 2003 showed that obese or overweight adults aged 50 or over, accounted for 14% (in men) and 20% (in women) of all cancer deaths in the U.S. This risk could be avoided by losing only 12 pounds.
Out of approximately 688,000 people living with a primary brain tumor or central nervous system tumor in the United States, 138,000 have benign tumors and 550,000 have malignant tumors.

Read more A bottle of water before meal could help you lose weight 

Meningioma – accounting for about 30 percent of brain tumors, arises from meninges – the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The odds of developing meningioma are about five to eight cases per 100,000 each year. Although most meningiomas are benign (noncancerous), rarely, some are found to be malignant (cancerous). Some meningiomas are in between benign and malignant and are classified as atypical.

Meningiomas are most common in older women. But, males at any age are also at risk. This type of tumour grows slowly, but can be fatal when they grow bigger and interfere with brain functions.
The other type of brain tumor which the study - carried out by Gundula Behrens, PhD. of the University of Regensburg, Germany, focused on is known as Glioma.

About 33 percent of brain tumors are glioma. It got its name from glial cells in the brain where it grows. Glial cells are the tissue that surrounds and supports the brain neurons. These types of tumors are called intrinsic brain tumors because they reside within brain matters and frequently blend with normal brain tissue. [Read more Avoid obesity: Have home-cooked meals, turn off the TV while eating]

Malignant tumors in the brain are very difficult to fight. American Academy of Neurology (AAN) blames prior exposure to brain radiation as the most solid risk factor for developing brain tumor. But for the more than 120 types of brain tumor, the cause is still a mystery.
The study team was led by Gundula Behrens from the University of Regensburg in Germany. She and her team attempted to find out what role did weight and physical activity play on the risk of developing meningioma and glioma.

Read more High-Fat Diet Damages Brain, Affecting Learning And Memory

The team studied the meta-analyses of 18 previous researches that involved Body Mass Index (BMI) and physical activity of 2,982 patients with meningioma and 3,057 patients with glioma.

Study showed that people who were overweight with 25 to 29.9 BMI were 21% more likely to develop meningioma, and people who were obese with a BMI of 30 or over were 54% more likely to develop glioma, compared with people with a healthy body weight and BMI of below 24.9.
The study also showed that people who were very active in physical activities were 27% less likely to develop meningioma than the people with least amount of physical activity.

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“Given the high prevalence of obesity and the unfavorable prognosis for this type of tumor, these findings may be relevant for strategies aimed at reducing the risk of meningioma,” said Behrens.
The researchers didn’t find any relationship between overweight and glioma, which has a similar rate of occurrence as meningioma.
 
Behrens believes that excess weight and increased risk of meningioma might be linked with several biological processes.

Estrogen is known to facilitate the development of meningioma and excess weight entails a higher rate of estrogen production. Excess weight is also linked with high insulin levels which might facilitate the growth of meningioma.

The lead author also pointed out that while the study links excess weight and inadequate exercise with meningioma, it does not prove that this is actually the cause. She thinks that people with meningioma may have lessened their physical activity from the time they were diagnosed with the tumor.

This analysis supports an earlier conclusion drawn in 2008 by a study that said that "the incidence of glioma or meningioma tumors increases with increasing height and increasing BMI."
The 2008 analysis was published in British Journal of Cancer.

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Yoga may improve arthritis symptoms, new study says

A new study found yoga a safe and effective way to improve symptoms of arthritis. Researchers reported that patients who underwent yoga classes for eight weeks experienced improvements in their health and mental state.

Arthritis is a painful joint disorder. Out of more than 100 different types of Arthritis, the most common forms are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. There is no cure for the disease but exercise and lifestyle changes are prescribed to alleviate symptoms.

Arthritis top the list of disability causes in the United States where 52.5 million people suffer from some form of Arthritis.

An estimated 10 million people in the UK has arthritis which is 1 in 5 of the adult population.
Susan J. Bartlett, Ph.D., an adjunct associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins thinks that there is a growing interest in yoga in America where 1 out of 10 people practices the meditative exercise to improve health and fitness. [Read more What causes aging? Can the process be slowed?]

“Yoga may be especially well suited to people with arthritis because it combines physical activity with potent stress management and relaxation techniques, and focuses on respecting limitations that can change from day to day,” said Bartlett.

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Researchers selected 75 people who had either knee osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis – the 2 common types of arthritis. Participants were divided into two groups. One group took part in twice-weekly session of yoga for eight weeks which included a weekly session of practice at home. The other group acted as a control group with wait list. Doctors assessed their physical well being before the start of the study and after it ended. The doctors didn’t have any knowledge about which group the participants belonged to. The patients continued taking their regular arthritis medication throughout the study. [Read more

A 20% improvement in pain, mood and energy levels were reported by participants who performed yoga compared to the participants on a waitlist. These patients also had a 20% improvement in their physical function. These improvements were noticeable even after 9 months of the end of the study.
 “Preliminary evidence suggests yoga may help sedentary individuals with arthritis safely increase physical activity, and improve physical and psychological health and HRQOL [health-related quality of life],” the study team said.

The researchers, in a bid to help doctors in safely recommending yoga, developed a checklist. They said that arthritis patients should talk with doctors about the specific joints that causes inflammation and about medications.

“Find a teacher who asks the right questions about limitations and works closely with you as an individual. Start with gentle yoga classes. Practice acceptance of where you are and what your body can do on any given day,” said Clifton O. Bingham III, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center.

The study results were published in the Journal of Rheumatology

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Brain cells can be controlled by sound waves

Scientists, for the first time used sound waves to control brain cells. The technique, called sonogenetics was developed by the scientists from Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla, California. Scientists successfully used the method on worms when they selectively activated their brain, heart, muscle and other cells by using sound waves.

This new technique has some similarities to the burgeoning field of optogenetics where light is used to control living tissue.

By using same type of low-pressure ultrasound used in medical sonograms, scientists were able to penetrate it through skin and tissue and control certain cells.

In optogenetics, a focused laser is shined on the cells which allow scientists to selectively open the channels. This method is difficult to use on cells deep in the brain since they have to surgically implant a fiber optic cable that reaches the cells. Also, light is scattered by the brain and other tissues.
The scientists decided to look for a less invasive alternative which relied on ultrasound waves for the activation of the cells.

“In contrast to light, low-frequency ultrasound can travel through the body without any scattering,” said Sreekanth Chalasani, a senior author and an assistant professor at the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory in Salk Institute.

“This would enable us to manipulate target cells or tissues that are deep within the body without extensive surgery,”

To use ultrasound, a protein that responds to ultrasound was needed. The team identified TRP-4, a naturally occurring protein in the membranes of invertabrates. When they applied ultrasound, it triggered the gas bubbles to spread into the worm and caused TRP-4 channels to open up and activate the cells. The team was then able to genetically modify the worms by adding TRP-4 neurons and successfully activated them.

The scientists are hoping to use sonogenetics on human as an alternative way to treat Parkinson’s or other neurological diseases where a method called deep brain simulation is used by implanting electrodes in the brain to ease the symptoms of the disease.

“The real prize will be to see whether this could work in a mammalian brain,” said Chalasani. “When we make the leap into therapies for humans, I think we have a better shot with noninvasive sonogenetics approaches than with optogenetics.”

He believes that both optogenetics and sonogenetics approach shows promising results in basic research in cell activation. These methods may also be useful in therapeutics. To effectively and safely use it in humans, the scientists must develop safe ways to deliver light or ultrasound.
Other researchers involved in the study were Stuart Ibsen and Ada Tong of the Salk Institute, Carolyn Schutt and Sadik Esener of the UC, San Diego.

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

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Scientists develop protein patch to repair heart attack damage

Stanford University researchers have created a protein patch that they said would repair heart attack damage. According to a report by Medical News Today, the patch has worked on animal testing when damages on mouse and pig hearts caused by heart attack were reversed by the patch. The patch is said to be available for human clinical trials by 2017.

Each year around 735,000 people in the U.S. have a heart attack. Heart disease claims the lives of 610,000 Americans annually. Around 124,000 people in the UK suffer a heart attack each year.
During a heart attack, muscle cells in the heart die because of lack of oxygen due to reduced blood flow. The damaged heart tissue isn’t easily repaired which may turn into awful scar tissue. Scientists believe that these tissues need to be repaired in order to avoid long-term damage.

There is no treatment available to repair the heart tissue damage. These damaged tissues may lead to abnormal heart beat or even heart failure.

The lead researcher of the study Prof. Ruiz-Lozano and his team focused on developing a treatment that would explain why the cardiomyocytes fail to regenerate.

The researchers studied zebrafish which regenerates its own heart cells using the epicardium that releases more than 300 proteins that activate the replication of the cardiomyocytes.

The team identified a protein called Follistatin-like 1 (FSTL1) in the epicardial tissue that prompted the replication of the cardiomyocytes. In humans, this protein diminishes after a heart attack and that is why damaged heart cells are not easily repaired.

The researchers then created a patch made of acellular collagen and soaked it in the protein FSTL1. Then they attached it to the damaged hearts of pigs and mice that had experienced heart attacks. After two weeks, heart function in these animals improved and it triggered the replication of existing muscle cells which grew new blood vessels.

Prof. Ruiz-Lozano believes that prior to receiving the patch, many of the animals were very sick and would need a heart transplantation. He hopes that the new findings will break the ground for a completely revolutionary treatment for heart disease.

Mark Mercola, a co-author of the study and a professor bioengineering at UCSD described the patch as “clinically viable and “clinically attractive.” Because the patch does not contain any cells, there would be no need for an immunosuppressive medication.

The researchers concluded by saying:

“The data suggest that the loss of epicardial FSTL1 is a maladaptive response to injury, and that its restoration would be an effective way to reverse myocardial death and remodeling following myocardial infarction in humans.”

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