Body

Washington D.C., April 26, 2012 – In a study published in the May 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, led by Mr. Sven Sandin, of the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden and King's College London, researchers analyzed past studies to investigate possible associations between maternal age and autism. While much research has been done to identify potential genetic causes of autism, this analysis suggests that non-heritable and environmental factors may also play a role in children's risk for autism.

Yoghurt has been valued for centuries for its health-promoting effects. These effects are thought to be mediated by the lactic acid bacteria typically contained in yoghurt. Evidence from recent scientific studies show that some bacterial strains actually have a probiotic effect and can thus prevent disease. A team of biologists and nutrition scientists working with Prof. Dirk Haller from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) has now discovered the mechanisms at work behind this protective effect (Cell Host & Microbe).

Gut flora, otherwise knows as gut microbiota, are the bacteria that live in our digestive tract. There are roughly one thousand different species of bacteria, that are nourished partly by what we eat. Each person has their own specific gut flora and metabolism and these differ according to our dietary habits. Previous studies in mice have shown that a high-fat diet is capable of causing an imbalance in the gut flora, thus causing metabolic diseases such as diabetes or obesity.

CLEVELAND – Researchers from University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have published new findings that mammography remains beneficial for women in their 40s. According to a study published in the May issue of American Journal of Roentgenology, women between ages 40 and 49 who underwent routine screening mammography were diagnosed at earlier stages with smaller tumors than symptomatic women needing diagnostic workup.

A recent study conducted by Northwestern Medicine® researchers published in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, reveals that patients with an abnormal heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation (A-fib) who are undergoing cardiac surgery, have a lower long-term survival rate compared with patients who are in sinus rhythm, which is the normal beating of the heart. The data also suggests that when surgeons successfully treat A-fib during the previously planned cardiac surgery, the patients' survival rate levels out and becomes the same as someone who never had A-fib.

A group of Chinese and Australian scientists, including CSIRO, have developed a handheld, battery-powered plasma-producing device that can rid skin of bacteria in an instant.The handheld plasma flashlight could be used in ambulance emergency calls, natural disaster sites, military combat operations and many other instances where treatment is required in remote locations.

Details of the plasma flashlight have been released today (5 April 2012) in a study published by the Institute of Physics Publishing's Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics.

Consumption of resistant starch leads to positive changes in the bowel and could protect against genetic damage implicated in bowel cancer.

Western diets are typically low in fibre and have been linked with a higher incidence of bowel cancer. Even though Australians eat more dietary fibre than many other western countries, bowel cancer is still the second most commonly reported cancer in Australia with 30 new cases diagnosed every day.Dr David Topping, from CSIRO's Food Futures Flagship, said this is referred to as 'the Australian paradox'.

Despite widespread belief to the contrary, as few as 6 percent of women experience cancer-related persistent fatigue a year after undergoing treatment for breast cancer, a new study has found.

Prolonged and disabling fatigue is a common side-effect of many cancer treatments, with large numbers of women reporting that cancer-related fatigue persists for many months after treatment ends. Some studies put the figure as high as 50 percent.

City centre residents who took part in a study were almost twice as likely to suffer from coronary artery calcification (CAC), which can lead to heart disease, than people who lived in less polluted urban and rural areas, according to research published in the May issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine.

Researchers spoke to 1,225 men and women aged 50 and 60 years of age, including 251 (20%) who lived in the centres of major Danish cities.

Ottawa, Ontario (April 23, 2012) – Weight training at a lower intensity but with more repetitions may be as effective for building muscle as lifting heavy weights says a new opinion piece in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Generation X adults prepare an average of 10 meals a week, and eat out or buy fast food an average of three times a week, according to a University of Michigan report that details the role food plays in the lives of Americans born between 1961 and 1981.

GenX men are surprisingly involved in shopping for food and cooking, the report shows. They go grocery shopping more than once a week, on average, and cook an average of about eight meals a week—much more often than their fathers did.

Some sharks deserve a blood curdling reputation, but not the diminutive smalleye pigmy shark (Squaliolus aliae). Reaching a maximum length of only 22cm, the tiny animals are more likely to be on someone else's menu. Silhouetted against weak light penetrating from the surface, the tiny sharks should be most at risk from predators approaching from below. However, Julien Claes from Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, explains that the minute sharks have evolved a handy trick.

Scientists from The Danish Stem Cell Center (DanStem) at the University of Copenhagen and Hagedorn Research Institute have gained new insight into the signaling paths that control the body's insulin production. This is important knowledge with respect to their final goal: the conversion of stem cells into insulin-producing beta cells that can be implanted into patients who need them. The research results have just been published in the well-respected journal PNAS.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Millions of smoking-related deaths could still be prevented by 2030 if the World Health Organization smoking reduction policy is applied immediately worldwide, say University of Michigan researchers.

Further, the number of smokers could have been reduced by 34 percent had the WHO policy been implemented globally in 2010. Researchers developed two sets of projections predicting smoking outcomes from 2010 to 2020 and then again to 2030, with or without the implementation of the smoking reduction policy.

[The potential impact of smoking control policies on future global smoking trends Online First doi 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050147]

The global prevalence of cigarette smoking among adults is set to fall by just 1.7 percentage points by 2030 if governments do not do more to intervene, finds research published online in Tobacco Control.

But if World Health Organization (WHO) measures are adopted, global prevalence would fall from just under 24% in 2010 to just over 13% by 2030, predict the researchers.