New Delhi, Feb 27 (ANI): Working for over 55 hours a week is linked to heightened depression in women, suggests an observational study published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. Furthermore, the study found that working during weekends is associated with an increased risk in both sexes. Generally, older workers, smokers, and those who earned the least and who had the least job control were more depressed. And this applied to both sexes. Furthermore, women who worked 55 or more hours a week and/or who worked most/every weekend had the worst mental health of all, with significantly more depressive symptoms than women working standard hours. Findings of more depressive symptoms among women working extra long hours might also be explained by the potential double burden experienced by women when their long hours in paid work are added on their time in domestic labour. "Previous studies have found that once unpaid housework and caring is accounted for, women work longer than men, on average, and that this has been linked to poorer physical health," they added. The researchers concluded, "Our findings should encourage employers and policy makers to consider interventions aimed at reducing women's burdens without restricting their full participation in the workforce, and at improving psychosocial work conditions.

New Delhi, Feb 26 (ANI): A child's birth has a drastic short-term effect on new mothers' sleep, particularly during the first three months after birth.In the first 3 months after birth mothers slept on average 1 hour less than before pregnancy while fathers sleep duration decreased by approximately 15 minutes. According to study author, Dr Sakari Lemola, "Women tend to experience more sleep disruption than men after the birth of a child reflecting that mothers are still more often in the role of the primary caregiver than fathers." Sleep effects were more pronounced in first-time parents compared with experienced parents. In the first half a year after birth the sleep effects were also somewhat stronger in breastfeeding compared with bottle-feeding mothers. Dr Sakari Lemola, added, "While having children is a major source of joy for most parents it is possible that increased demands and responsibilities associated with the role as a parent lead to shorter sleep and decreased sleep quality even up to 6 years after birth of the first child.”

New Delhi, Feb 25 (ANI): According to a recent study, people with diabetes are more likely to suffer from low backache and neck pain as compared to those without diabetes. The researchers from the University of Sydney found that people with diabetes have a 35 per cent higher risk of experiencing low back pain and 24 per cent higher risk of having neck pain. Their findings, based on meta-analyses of studies that assess the links between diabetes and back or neck pain outcomes, were published in the journal 'PLOS ONE'. Most adults experience low back pain during their lives and almost half suffer neck pain at some stage. Diabetes is an increasingly prevalent chronic condition. An estimated 382 million people live with type 2 diabetes, the most common form form of diabetes. "Diabetes and low back pain and neck pain seem to be somehow connected. We can't say how but these findings suggest further research into the link is warranted," said senior study author Manuela Ferreira. However, the reason behind the pain is not fully established, the researchers stated. The team conducted a meta-analysis and included eight studies. The analysis also showed that Type 2 diabetes and low back pain are linked to obesity and lack of physical activity. "Type 2 diabetes and low back pain both have a strong relationship with obesity and lack of physical activity, so a logical progression of this research might be to examine these factors in more detail. Our analysis adds to the evidence that weight control and physical activity play fundamental roles in health maintenance," Ferreira added. The study also found that diabetes medication could influence pain, possibly via its effect on blood glucose levels, and this connection should also be investigated. It also recommended health care professionals should consider screening for unknown diabetes in patients seeking care for neck pain or low back pain.

New Delhi, Feb 24 (ANI): According to a new pilot study, saffron may work as a promising herbal medicine for treating children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The results of the study were published in the ‘Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology’. ADHD is one of the most common neuropsychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence. The recent study, conducted in children and teens with ADHD, has shown that saffron, which has anti-depressant and memory-enhancing properties, can be as effective at controlling symptoms as methylphenidate, the commonly prescribed drug Ritalin for treating the disease. Saffron, a spice and nutritional supplement in traditional medicine, could be particularly effective for the 30 per cent of patients who do not respond to or cannot tolerate stimulants like methylphenidate, which causes side effects like nausea, stomach ache, decreased appetite, insomnia, and headache. For the study, the researchers tested 54 ADHD patients aged six to 17 years and compared the effects of Crocus sativus L. to methylphenidate over a six-week period. However it showed no significant difference in effectiveness as well as similar frequency of adverse effects.

New Delhi, Feb 22 (ANI): A recent study now has discovered several genes associated with an increased use of alcohol and tobacco. Notably, the use of alcohol and tobacco is closely linked to several diseases, and is a contributing factor in many deaths. The research groups discovered a total of 566 gene variants at 406 different sites in the human genetic material that can be linked to the use of alcohol or tobacco. One hundred fifty of these sites are linked to the use of both tobacco and alcohol. Alcohol consumption was measured in terms of the number of standard alcohol units. Tobacco use was measured in the number of cigarettes per day. The experts reported evidence for the involvement of many natural signalling agents in tobacco and alcohol use, including genes involved in nicotinic, dopaminergic, and glutamatergic neurotransmission which to some extent may provide a biological explanation for why we seek artificial stimuli. The data that was collected came from a number of studies and included different age categories, societies with different attitudes to the use of drugs and different patterns of alcohol and nicotine use. However, results showed that the correlation between genetic risk and the development of different disease categories varied little between the population groups. The research gives new insight into the complexity of genetic and environmental factors that compel some of us to drink and smoke more than others. It is also interesting to note that some of these genes linked to increased use of alcohol, reduce the risk for some diseases.

New Delhi, Feb 21 (ANI): Researchers have now developed a new way to deliver treatment for cartilage regeneration. The study, conducted at Texas A&M University was led by Dr. Akhilesh K. Gaharwar. Gagarwar said the nanoclay-based platform for sustained and prolonged delivery of protein therapeutics has the potential to impact treating osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease that affects nearly 27 million Americans and is caused by breakdown of cartilage that can lead to damage of the underlying bone. According to study experts, one of the greatest challenges with treating osteoarthritis and subsequent joint damage is repairing the damaged tissue, especially as cartilage tissue is difficult to regenerate. One method for repair or regeneration of damaged cartilage tissue is to deliver therapeutic growth factors. Growth factors are a special class of proteins that can aid in tissue repair and regeneration. However, current versions of growth factors break down quickly and require a high dose to achieve a therapeutic potential. Recent clinical studies have demonstrated significant adverse effects to this kind of treatment, including uncontrolled tissue formation and inflammation. The study, published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, sees Gaharwar's lab designing two-dimensional (2D) mineral nanoparticles to deliver growth factors for a prolonged duration to overcome this drawback. These nanoparticles provide a high surface area and dual charged characteristics that allow for easy electrostatic attachment of growth factors. Speaking about it, Gaharwar said, "These nanoparticles could prolong delivery of growth factors to human mesenchymal stem cells, which are commonly utilised in cartilage regeneration."

New Delhi, Feb 21 (ANI): A new study now finds scientists saying that variety in social circle may help a person live longer. Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have found that older adults who spend more time interacting with a wide range of people were more likely to be physically active and had greater emotional well-being. In a paper out today in the Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, researchers found that study participants who interacted more with family members and close friends, as well as acquaintances, casual friends, service providers and strangers were more likely to have higher levels of physical activity, less time spent sitting or lying around, greater positive moods and fewer negative feelings. It is the first study to link social engagement with physical activity throughout the day. The researchers asked study participants about their activities and social encounters every three hours for about a week. Participants also wore electronic devices to monitor their physical activity. Fingerman and the team observed that during the three-hour periods when participants were engaging with a greater variety of social partners, they reported engaging in a greater variety of activities such as leaving the house, walking, talking with others, or shopping. They also engaged in more objectively measured physical activity, and less time being sedentary. This study showed those acquaintances or peripheral ties may encourage older adults to be more physically active, a key factor that has been shown to contribute to physical and emotional health, as well as cognitive ability.

New Delhi, Feb 19 (ANI) : A new study revealed that patients receiving hormone therapy as a part of their gender-transition treatment are at an elevated risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, including strokes, heart attacks and blood clots. "In light of our results, we urge both physicians and transgender individuals to be aware of this increased cardiovascular risk," said study author .Past research has shown that hormone therapy increases cardiovascular risk among people receiving it to alleviate symptoms of menopause, yet research evidence remains scarce on the effects of hormone treatment in people undergoing gender transition . Transgender women, who were receiving hormones as part of their transition had more than twice as many strokes as women and nearly twice as many strokes as men.Transgender men, who received hormones, had a more than three-fold elevation in heart-attack risk compared with women .In previous studies it has been shown that triglyceride and insulin levels, for example, have both increased as a result of estrogen therapy and both are known to promote clogging and inflammation of the blood vessels. Additionally, estrogen therapy can render the blood more prone to clotting, which may explain the higher rate of strokes and blood clots observed in transgender women, the authors said.The rise in heart attack risk observed in transgender men receiving testosterone may be explained partly by the hormone's tendency to make the blood stickier.

New Delhi, Feb 17 (ANI): According to a recent study, alcohol intoxication at an early age among adolescents has been identified as a primary risk for alcohol dependence among youth and young adults. As part of the study, researchers begun to identify these circumstances by examining relationships between early age of first intoxication (less than 15 years), drinking in different contexts such as one's own home, at friends' homes, or outdoor settings, and problems that arise in those contexts. The scientists looked at data from 405 adolescent drinkers (15-18 years old) from 24 midsized California cities in 2013 and 2014. They focused upon measures of age of first intoxication, frequencies of drinking at restaurants, bars/nightclubs, outdoor places, and homes and problems occurred during or after drinking in these places. They assessed whether there were certain contexts associated with early age of intoxication and greater numbers of problems.The authors found that, about 1/3 of adolescent drinkers’ experienced first intoxication by age 15, about 1/3 experienced it after age 15 years, and about 1/3 had used alcohol but never to intoxication. Drinkers reported drinking most frequently in homes, followed by outdoor settings, and then restaurants, and bars or nightclubs. More specifically, early age of first intoxication was: Highly associated with drinking at outdoor settings, but not at other contexts including in homes. Associated with increased numbers of problems related to drinking in restaurants, outdoor settings, and homes (e.g., getting into a verbal argument or a physical fight, risky sex, driving after drinking alcohol). Knowing the contexts most closely associated with early onset drinking allows us to develop effective prevention efforts toward those aspects of youth drinking environments. As co-author, Dr. Lipperman-Kreda, says, the results of the current study clearly suggest the importance of considering the contribution of contexts to alcohol early initiation and problems to inform the development of preventive interventions specific to contexts.

New Delhi, Feb 16 (ANI): Scientists have now found a genetic variant in people of African descent that significantly increases a smoker's preference for cigarettes containing menthol, a flavour additive. According to scientists, the variant of the MRGPRX4 gene is five to eight times more frequent among smokers who use menthol cigarettes than other smokers, according to an international group of researchers supported by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. The study is the first to look across all genes to identify genetic vulnerability to menthol cigarettes. According to the FDA, nearly 20 million people in the United States smoke menthol cigarettes, which are particularly popular among African-American smokers and teen smokers. In the U.S., 86 per cent of African-American smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared to less than 30 per cent of smokers of European descent. In addition, menthol cigarettes may be harder to quit than other cigarettes. Although not originally the focus of the study, researchers also uncovered clues as to how menthol may reduce the irritation and harshness of smoking cigarettes. The research team, led by Dennis Drayna, conducted detailed genetic analyses on 1,300 adults. The researchers report that 5 to 8 per cent of the African-American study participants had the gene variant. Drayna added that while the gene variant can't explain all of the increased use of menthol cigarettes by African-Americans, the findings indicate that this variant is a potentially important factor that underlies the preference for menthol cigarettes in the population.

New Delhi, Feb 15 (ANI): Now, a new study published on Wednesday says that a reversible, drug-free anti-platelet therapy could reduce the risk of blood clots and potentially prevent cancer metastasis. The therapeutic approach involves modifying human platelets to create "decoys" that are still capable of binding to some cells but will not aggregate or carry out the other normal platelet functions, including chemical signaling associated with the clotting process. Speaking about it, lead author Anne-Laure Papa said, "The reversibility and immediate onset of action are major advantages of our platelet decoys, and we envision them to be useful in hospital-based situations." Papa added, "The therapy could prevent clotting in high-risk patients just before they undergo surgery, or be given to cancer patients alongside chemotherapy to prevent existing tumors from spreading." While platelets play a vital role in halting bleeding and help protecting against minor and life-threatening bleedings, hyperactive platelets can also contribute to various disorders, including severe blood clots, heart disease and cancer. While several anti-platelet drugs fight clots, their effects are not easily reversible, leaving patients vulnerable if they develop unexpected severe bleeding or are in need of an emergency surgical procedure. Platelets also play an important part in cancer metastasis by binding to tumour cells and protecting them both from the body's immune system and shear stress as they circulate in the bloodstream. They may also help the cancer cells exit through blood vessels and seed distant tissues during the process of metastasis. In their journey towards creating decoy platelets, the research team used a detergent treatment and centrifugation to strip natural human platelets of their inner structures and remove their basic activation and aggregation abilities. These decoy platelets became about one-third the size of a regular platelet while retaining a majority of adhesion receptors on their surface. This allows them to bind to other cells in the bloodstream, such as cancer cells, but not become active during the blood clotting process. The researchers, led by Dr. Papa and Donald E. Ingber, first examined how the decoys might impede the formation of blood clots. The team injected the decoys into a micro fluidic blood-vessel-mimicking device and observed how the decoys reacted to various platelet-stimulating chemicals. They found the decoys did not show typical clotting behaviours, and when added to human blood within the device, the normal platelets showed a reduced ability to aggregate and create a clot by binding to the vessel's walls. Furthermore, the researchers quickly reversed the effects of the decoys on normal platelets by introducing fresh platelets into the blood. Dr Papa said, "Our ability to reverse the platelet inhibiting effects with a simple reintroduction of normal platelets is very encouraging as currently available anti-platelet agents are often difficult to reverse in emergency settings such as severe bleeding." Based on the key role platelets play in supporting cancer metastasis in the bloodstream, the team sought to target circulating tumour cells with their cellular approach. The decoy platelets were able to compete with normal platelets when binding to cancer cells and were effective in preventing cancer cell extrusion out of a vasculature-emulating micro fluidic chip model. Furthermore, in a model of metastasis, there was a significant reduction in the burden of established metastatic tumours when cancer cells were introduced simultaneously with platelets and decoys.

New Delhi, Feb 14 (ANI): Physicists have now found a method to quickly identify single antibiotic-resistant bacteria cells that are the agents of tuberculosis. The new method helps find the bacteria and evaluate their resistance to antibiotics without damaging the biological material. The study was carried out at the Immanuel Kant Baltic State University and the results of the first trial of the method were published in Data in Brief. A team of researchers from Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University together with their colleagues from Saint-Petersburg State Research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology and Saint-Petersburg State University suggested using Raman scattering spectrography to quickly analyse bacterial cells. This method helps identify the composition and structure of the studied material based on the scattering of laser radiation with certain wavelength by its sample. Spectroscopy is a non-invasive method, i.e. the material under study is not subject to any mechanical impact or destruction. To obtain information about the structure of the cells belonging to different strains, the scientists pointed the laser beam at different bacteria during the spectroscopy procedure. The cells of different strains appeared to scatter the light differently because resistance to antibiotics occurs, among other things, due to changes in the composition of bacterial cell wall components. Spectroscopy helped identify differences in the cell walls of drug-resistance and drug-sensitive bacteria.

New Delhi, Feb 12 (ANI): A new study now finds that the quality of a person's marriage could be affected by their genes. The study was conducted at Binghamton University, State University of New York. A research team, led by Richard Mattson evaluated whether different genotypes of the Oxytocin Receptor gene (OXTR) influenced how partners support one another, which is a key determinant of overall marital quality. OXTR was targeted because it is related to the regulation and release of oxytocin, which is a hormone associated with feeling of love and attachment. Oxytocin also appears to be relevant to social cognition and a wide range of social behaviour. Speaking about the study, Mattson said that while prior research has hinted that marital quality is, at least partially, impacted by genetic factors, and that oxytocin may be relevant to social support -- a critical aspect of intimate partnerships, his study is the first to provide evidence that variation on specific genes related to oxytocin functioning impact overall marital quality. The research team recruited 79 couples and asked each partner individually to come up with an issue to discuss involving something they identify as their most salient personal problem that was not related to their partner or partner's family (e.g., problems at work). They discussed each topic for 10 minutes, recorded it and later coded the conversations to see how support was provided and received by each partner. Couples were also asked to separately respond to several questionnaires, including the index of perceived quality of support during the prior interaction, and saliva samples for genotyping were taken at the end of the study session.The team's findings highlight that particular genes may impact marital quality by influencing important relational processes, but that context shapes when particular genotypes are more or less beneficial to the marriage.

New Delhi, Feb 11 (ANI): It is no secret that adolescents who identify as LGBTQ often face victimisation and bullying because of their sexual and/or gender identity. A recent study suggests that high percentages of LGBTQ youth are also teased and bullied because of their body weight. The study, published in Pediatric Obesity has suggested that across sexual identities, 44-70 per cent of LGBTQ teens reported weight-based teasing from family members, 41-57 per cent reported weight-based teasing from peers, and as many as 44 per cent reported weight-based teasing from both family members and peers. Furthermore, approximately one in four teens reported these experiences at school, and body weight was the third most common reason that these adolescents indicated they were teased or treated badly (behind sexual orientation and gender identity). Adolescent obesity rates currently reach 20 per cent in the United States, and weight-based victimisation has become a widespread form of mistreatment experienced by youth. This victimization has harmful health consequences, including increased risk for depression, low self-esteem, suicidal ideation, poor body image, disordered eating, harmful weight control behaviors, and lower levels of physical activity. Although there is mounting evidence of weight-based victimisation in youth, there has been little attention to this issue in LGBTQ adolescents, despite their high prevalence of overweight and obesity and increased risk for victimisation.

New Delhi, Feb 09 (ANI): A new study now has identified a measurable indicator that could prove instrumental in the fight against HIV. George Mason University's Yuntao Wu focused on Cofilin, a key protein that regulates cells to mobilise and fight against infection. In an HIV-infected patient, cofilin dysfunction is a key factor in helper T cell defects, according to the research recently published in the journal Science Advances. Helper T cells augment the body's immune response by recognising the presence of a foreign antigen and then helping the immune system mount a response. Wu and his team found that patients with HIV have "significantly lower" levels of cofilin phosphorylation--which provides a control of cofilin's activity with the addition of a phosphate--than healthy patients. Cofilin is a key protein that helps cells generates the driving force for migration. Proper cofilin phosphorylation is needed for cells to move in and out of tissues. Their findings suggest that a lasting immune control to HIV isn't likely to come from antiretroviral therapy alone because it is not sufficient to repair the cofilin damage caused by HIV and to restore normal T cell migration in and out of tissues. However, the researchers found that by stimulating the T cells with additional therapeutics, such as the a4ß7 integrin antibody, they could modulate the levels of cofilin activity needed to restore T cell mobility. The remedy has shown lasting effects in immune control of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), the simian form of the AIDS virus, in a monkey trial, but it has not showed the same results in HIV-infected human patients.

New Delhi, Feb 06 (ANI): While many might agree that ice-cream binge can sooth your soul during a rough phase in your life, a recent study suggests that weight loss, nutrient boosting and fat reduction diets can reduce the symptoms of depression. In a new study published in Psychosomatic Medicine, a team of researchers brought together all existing data from clinical trials of diets for mental health conditions. The research provides convincing evidence that dietary improvement significantly reduces symptoms of depression, even in people without diagnosed depressive disorders. “The overall evidence for the effects of diet on mood and mental well-being had up to now yet to be assessed. But our recent meta-analysis has done just that; showing that adopting a healthier diet can boost peoples' mood. However, it has no clear effects on anxiety,” said Joseph Firth, lead researcher of the study. The study found that all types of dietary improvement appeared to have equal effects on mental health, with weight-loss, fat reduction or nutrient-improving diets all having similar benefits for depressive symptoms. Dietary improvement suggests that highly-specific or specialised diets are unnecessary for average individual. Eating more nutrient-dense meals which are high in fibre, while cutting back on fast-foods & refined sugars appears to be sufficient for avoiding the potentially negative psychological effects of a 'junk food' diet,” he asserted.

New Delhi, Feb 05 (ANI): A study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has identified, in mice, a process that may prevent antibody-mediated rejection in lung transplants and lead to the development of therapies to treat this form of rejection. One particularly deadly form of rejection -- called antibody-mediated rejection -- remains difficult to diagnose after a lung transplant and is mostly unreceptive to available treatments. This process has been observed in more than 10 per cent of lung transplant recipients and occurs when a type of white blood cell, called B cells, from the recipient produces antibodies against the donor lung. The study is published February 1 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. The researchers found that giving mice immunosuppressive drugs at the time of transplant helped the lungs to survive and induced the growth of lymph node-like structures within the lung grafts. They discovered that these newly induced structures contained Foxp3-expressing T cells, a cell population that can dampen immune responses. The researchers noted that antibody-mediated rejection after lung transplantation occurs when B cells mingle with T cells in the donor lung. This co-mingling between B and T cells is prevented by Foxp3-expressing T cells. This suggests a treatment may be developed that interrupts the interaction so the two cell types cannot find each other.

New Delhi, Feb 03 (ANI): An international team of researchers is harnessing the immune system to reveal new clues that may help in efforts to produce an HIV vaccine. SFU professor Mark Brockman and co-authors from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa have identified a connection between infection control and how well antiviral T cells respond to diverse HIV sequences. According to Brockman, HIV adapts to the human immune system by altering its sequences to evade helpful antiviral T cells. Brockman’s team has developed new laboratory-based methods for identifying antiviral T cells and assessing their ability to recongnise diverse HIV sequences. Since HIV is highly diverse and evolves constantly during untreated infection, the peptide antigen sequence also changes. Matching T cells against the HLA variants and HIV peptide antigens expressed in an individual is a critical step in the routine research process. The study demonstrates that individual T cells differ widely in their ability to recognize peptide variants and suggests that these differences may be clinically significant in the context of a diverse or rapidly evolving pathogen such as HIV.

New Delhi, Feb 02 (ANI): A new study now finds that mindfulness meditation is a promising option for easing chronic pain. The research, based on a pooled analysis of available data was published online in the journal Evidence-Based Mental Health on Thursday. The findings indicate that mindfulness meditation can lessen the severity and impact on daily life of chronic pain as well as the accompanying distress. The researchers say that the study is important because the most widely used psychological technique for treating chronic pain is cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT. Mindfulness is a type of meditation focusing on the moment to moment awareness of thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and the immediate environment. The stress reduction element aims to help those affected develop ways of coping more effectively with their pain. The study, conducted with nearly 2,000 people found that there were no important differences between either of the two techniques.

New Delhi, Feb 02 (ANI): In response to Facebook's practice of paying users to give access to their device usage through an app, Apple expressed its angst in its own way; by disabling the company from distributing the controversial 'Research App'. Apple also appears to have stopped Facebook from distributing all apps associated with its enterprise developer programme, Recode reported. The app was found to be in violation of Apple's App Store guidelines. The company allows developers to publish certain apps for their own employees but not to the public due to their excessive control on the user data. Facebook clearly abused the guidelines to distribute the Research App to gain usage data through non-employees. With Apple's restrictions, all the special versions of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp that Facebook employees use to test will not work on iPhones. It also means other internal Facebook apps aren't working on iOS, including Workplace. Apple broke down Facebook internally. The company confirmed that its internal apps have been impacted by the decision and it is working with the iPhone maker to resolve the issue.

New Delhi, Feb 1 (ANI): There is no good evidence to support the idea that eating breakfast promotes weight loss or that skipping breakfast leads to weight gain, finds a review published in The BMJ on Thursday. Study shows that daily calorie intake is higher in people eating breakfast and that skipping breakfast does not cause greater appetite later in the day. Study further say that their review questions the popular recommendation that eating breakfast can help with weight control. While previous studies have suggested that eating breakfast is linked with maintaining a healthy weight, a team from Monash University in Melbourne analysed the effect of regularly eating breakfast on weight change and daily energy intake and found that total daily energy intake was higher in groups who ate breakfast compared with those who skipped it (an average of 260 more calories consumed in a day) regardless of their usual breakfast habits. The results of the study showed that those who skipped breakfast were on average 0.44 kg lighter. However, the effect of breakfast on weight did not differ between people with normal weight and those who were overweight. While previous studies have suggested that eating breakfast may help with weight loss because of the efficient burning of calories early in the day preventing overeating later on, reviewers found no significant difference in metabolic rates between breakfast eaters and skippers. Furthermore, despite common belief, skipping breakfast was not linked to people feeling hungrier in the afternoon.

New Delhi, Jan 31 (ANI): Vitamin D may help in promoting greater insulin sensitivity, thus lowering glucose levels and lowering the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a new study. While the benefits of vitamin D in promoting bone health are already well known, the new study examines how vitamin D intake lowers the risk of developing diabetes. The results of the study were published in ‘Menopause: The Journal of the North American Menopause Society.’ Other recent studies have shown a clear relationship between vitamin D and glycemic control, suggesting that vitamin D increases insulin sensitivity and improves pancreatic beta-cell function. In this study involving 680 Brazilian women aged 35 to 74 years, the goal was to evaluate the possible association between vitamin D deficiency and increased glycemia. Of the women interviewed, 24 (3.5 per cent) reported using vitamin D supplements. Vitamin D supplementation was found to be negatively associated with high glucose levels. Habitual exposure to the sun also provided the same association, demonstrating that vitamin D deficiencies are associated with high blood glucose levels. Study results appear in the article “Higher serum levels of vitamin D are associated with lower blood glucose levels.” “Although a causal relationship has not been proven, low levels of vitamin D may play a significant role in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Vitamin D supplementation may help improve blood sugar control, but intervention studies are still needed,” said Dr JoAnn Pinkerton, NAMS executive director.

New Delhi, Jan 30 (ANI): A new study has highlighted several of the positive health effects of short duration, high-intensity resistance exercise training programme in overweight men. According to the study, a six-week programme consisting of three 15 minute sessions per week dramatically improves insulin sensitivity, as well as muscle size and strength in men. According to the study, short-duration bouts of exercise to exhaustion are just as effective in improving insulin sensitivity (how sensitive the body is to the effects of the hormone, insulin) as longer duration (45 minutes) resistance exercise sessions. Such short sessions might be more appealing and attainable in a world where time is a frequently cited barrier to physical activity. Notably, when insulin sensitivity decreases (as in Type II diabetes), blood sugars rise, which in the short-term can lead to feelings of fatigue, but over time is related to complications including heart disease and stroke.

New Delhi, Jan 29 (ANI): A research paper now suggests that a new type of sensor could lead to artificial skin that someday helps burn victims 'feel' and safeguards others. The University of Connecticut researchers suggests the same in a paper in Advanced Materials. According to the study, the skin's ability to perceive pressure, heat, cold, and vibration is a critical safety function that most people take for granted. But burn victims, those with prosthetic limbs, and others who have lost skin sensitivity for one reason or another, can't take it for granted, and often injure themselves unintentionally. Chemists Islam Mosa from UConn, and James Rusling from UConn and UConn Health, along with University of Toronto engineer Abdelsalam Ahmed, wanted to create a sensor that can mimic the sensing properties of skin. Such a sensor would need to be able to detect pressure, temperature, and vibration. But perhaps it could do other things too, the researchers thought. Mosa and his colleagues created such a sensor with a silicone tube wrapped in copper wire and filled with a special fluid made of tiny particles of iron oxide just one billionth of a meter long, called nanoparticles. The nanoparticles rub around the inside of the silicone tube and create an electric current. The copper wire surrounding the silicone tube picks up the current as a signal. When this tube is bumped by something experiencing pressure, the nanoparticles move and the electric signal changes. Sound waves also create waves in the nanoparticle fluid and the electric signal changes in a different way than when the tube is bumped. The researchers found that magnetic fields alter the signal too, in a way distinct from pressure or sound waves. Even a person moving around while carrying the sensor changes the electrical current, and the team found they could distinguish between the electrical signals caused by walking, running, jumping, and swimming. Mosa and his colleagues hope it could help burn victims "feel" again, and perhaps act as an early warning for workers exposed to dangerously high magnetic fields. Because the rubber exterior is completely sealed and waterproof, it could also serve as a wearable monitor to alert parents if their child fell into deep water in a pool, for example. The team has yet to test the sensor for its response to heat and cold, but they suspect it will work for those as well. The next step is to make the sensor in a flat configuration, more like skin, and see if it still works.

New Delhi, Jan 28 (ANI): A new study conducted in China finds that eating an egg a day may lower risk of cardiovascular disease. The study found that daily egg eaters had an 18 per cent lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, reported CNN. Earlier doctors would warn patients against eating too many eggs, believing that despite containing high-quality protein and other positive nutritional components, they also have high amounts of cholesterol, which was thought might be harmful. Over nearly nine years, the research team tracked this select group. They focused on major coronary events during the study.

New Delhi, Jan 27 (ANI): According to a recent study, work pressures inclined women to weight gain. During the study, researchers saw that high job demands played a part in women’s weight gain while for men there was no association between high demands and weight gain. The results of the study showed that respondents with less control in their work more frequently gained weight. This applied to men and women alike. Researchers think that decrease in weight can be achieved through identification of groups susceptible to stress.