By Nia Elyca J. Rabadam
Anger and stress can trigger sudden death
Heart patients need to learn how to manage anger and stress; if they want to live longer.
Clinical data abound indicating that these emotions are linked with cardiovascular events. Researchers explain that anger and stress could trigger adverse electrical changes in the heart, which can predict future arrhythmias in some patients.
The study published in the Journal of American College of Cardiology, may demonstrate a link between mental stress and sudden cardiac arrest.
According to Dr. Rachel Lampert, study author and associate professor at Yale University School of Medicine, the study is relevant to people who have established cardiovascular disease.
Researchers looked at 62 patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. The patients were asked to describe a time in the previous two weeks when they felt aggravated, and were prompted with questions to describe the moment vividly. Researchers looked at the hearts electrical stability through T-wave alternans.
During the anger recall protocol, the group as a whole showed an increase in electrical stability. Dr. Lampert explained.
The researchers then compared the top quartile those who showed the most instability with the others in the group and found that the ones with the highest instability were 10 times more likely to experience an arrhythmia sometime in the next three years.
Perhaps if we treat them with something like stress or anger management, we may decrease the likelihood of arrhythmias, Dr. Lampert said.
Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/24/anger.heart/
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Alcohol linked to cancer risk in women
Alcohol is believed to have beneficial effects if taken in moderation; but women may have to watch out. A study suggests that women who drink as little as one alcoholic beverage a day might have a significantly higher cancer risk than women who don’t drink at all.
Researchers followed more than 1.2 million middle-aged women for an average of seven years. The women were participants in the ongoing Million Women Study in the United Kingdom.
It was found out that those who drank alcohol and consumed an average of one drink a day has a higher overall cancer risk, especially for cancers of the breast, liver, rectum, mouth, throat, and esophagus.
The link between alcohol and breast cancer has been extensively researched and reported on, but the study is among the first to link low-to-moderate alcohol consumption to other cancers in women.
Cancer epidemiologist and study researcher, Naomi Allen, DPhil said that there were no minimum levels of alcohol consumption that could be considered to be without risk.
Source:
http://women.webmd.com/news/20090224/alcohol-linked-to-cancer-risk-in-women
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Antibody treatment found for bird flu and influenza
US Researchers have found antibodies that can prevent the fulminant course of the dreaded Avian or bird flu virus (H5N1 strain), feared to be the cause of the next global pandemic. As a bonus, the antibodies are also effective against seasonal strains of influenza.
We were funded by the National Institutes of Health specifically to develop a therapy against bird flu, said Wayne Marasco, an associate professor at medicine in the department of cancer immunology and AIDS at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
The surprising part of the story is that along the way we discovered that the antibodies we developed not only worked very efficiently against the bird flu but also worked very effectively against the seasonal flu strains, Marasco added.
Marasco further described the ingenious trick used by the influenza virus to deflect the human immune system. He explained, The influenza virus has a very clever decoy. Its coat protein looks like a lollipop. Your immune system is really directed against the globular head of the lollipop because its there in large supply, but that’s the part that the virus can change easily. This is the reason why we end up having to get seasonal vaccinations.
All of the vaccines are directed against the globular head. However our vaccine is directed against the lollipop stick, which actually contains the machinery that allows the virus to enter the cells. He reported.
Source:
http://www.thetechherald.com/article php/200909/3036/Breakthrough-made-in-search-for-bird-flu-and-influenza-treatment
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Vitamin D levels inversely linked with URTI
According to the results of a secondary analysis of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels are inversely associated with recent upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), particularly in those with chronic respiratory tract diseases.
Recent studies suggest a role for vitamin D in innate immunity, including the prevention of respiratory tract infections (RTIs), said Adit A. Ginde, MD, MPH, from University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine in Aurora, and colleagues. We hypothesize that serum 25(OH)D levels are inversely associated with recent URTI.
The investigators conducted a probability survey of the US population performed between 1988 and 1994 and evaluated the association between 25(OH)D levels and recent URTI in 18,883 participants, twelve years or older, both with and without adjustment for demographic and clinical factors including season, body mass index, smoking history, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Limitations of the study include inability to make casual inference, primary outcome of recent URTI based on self-report, and serum samples collected at only one point in time.
The study authors concluded that although 25(OH)D levels less than 30 ng/ml and URTI were higher in winter seasons, the inverse association was present throughout the year. Individuals with respiratory tract diseases such as asthma who have low serum 25(OH)D levels may be even susceptible to RTI. Vitamin D supplementation may reduce the incidence of URTI and exacerbations of respiratory tract diseases.
Source:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/588670
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Drug reduces prostate cancer risk in middle-age men
Prostate cancer, though established as a slow-growing, slow-spreading type of malignancy, looms as a constant threat among middle-aged and elderly men.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Urological Association stated that taking finasteride, a drug that is already widely used to treat male pattern baldness and benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) can reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer by as much as 25-30 percent.
The recommendation was based from a large study of 18, 882 healthy men which showed that those taking finasteride had a lower risk of developing prostate cancer than those taking placebo.
Howard L. Parnes, chief of the prostate and urologic cancer research group in the Division of Cancer Prevention at National Cancer Institute, said the guidelines should encourage men who are regularly getting screened for prostate cancer to talk with their doctors and learn how finasteride might benefit them.
Finasteride is a synthetic antiandrogen which acts by inhibiting type II 5-alpha reductase, the enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone. It is used as a treatment in BPH in low doses, and prostate cancer in higher doses. It is also indicated for use in combination with doxazosin therapy to reduce the risk for symptomatic progression of BPH. Additionally, it is registered in many countries for androgenetic alopecia (male-pattern baldness).
Finasteride was approved initially in 1992 as Proscar, a treatment for prostate enlargement, but the sponsor had studied 1 mg of finasteride and demonstrated hair growth in male pattern hair loss. On December 22, 1997, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved finasteride to treat male pattern hair loss.
Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2009/02/24/AR2009022402934.html
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German forensic study finds cause of sudden cardiac death
The Department of Forensic Medicine of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany concluded in their study that in about 10 percent of cases, sudden cardiac death in young people is due to a cardiac gene defect.
Sudden cardiac death is defined as unexpected death occurring rapidly usually within one hour of the onset of symptoms in persons who had previously seemed to be healthy. It is one of the most frequent causes of death in Europe.
Each year, about 100,000 people die of sudden cardiac death in Germany alone. Although sudden cardiac death mostly affects older people, five to 15 percent of cases are in young people who had previously been asymptomatic.
Most cases of sudden cardiac death can be explained by cardiovascular changes. However, in 10 to 30 percent of cases, no cause of death can be established, even after a postmortem.
Genetically linked diseases of cardiac ion channels are responsible for at least a third of these deaths. As the ion channels are involved in stimulation and conduction in the heart, malfunction can cause cardiac arrythmias, which may lead to ventricular fibrillation.
Sources:
Cardiac Gene Defects Can Cause Sudden Cardiac Death in Young People. Deutsches  rzteblatt International, 2009; 106(4): 41-7 DOI:10.3238/arztebl.2009.0041
http://dx.doi.org/10.3238 arztebl.2009.0041
Adapted from materials provided by http://www.aerzteblatt-international.de Deutsches Aerzteblatt International
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090129131659.htm
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Forensic DNA lab employs small scale automation
The availability of small, automated instruments has made automation more affordable, easier to use, simpler to implement, and has also uncovered a host of additional benefits, said forensic scientist Anthony J. Tambasco and colleagues in their article published in Forensic Magazine.
According to the authors, in this approach, it is important to ensure that the automation involved is simple to use, easy to implement and integrates with the workflow of the laboratories. In addition, laboratories need to consider how much time and effort are required to validate an automated system and how likely the lab is to include it in their sample processing workflow.
The Maxwell 16 is one of the easy-automated instruments used by The Mansfield, Ohio Division of Police, Forensic Science Laboratory DNA Section. It is an instrument used to easily extract genomic DNA, using only a few button presses.
Other instruments are the Qiagen EZ, Advanced EZ1 and the Invitrogen iPrep, which are magnetic particle handlers with multichannel pipetting capability. These instruments all have chemistries supplied in pre-filled and sealed cartridges.
The EZ1 can accommodate from one to six samples per automated run, while the iPrep can process from one to 13 samples per run. These instruments use pipette tips to move the magnetic particles from well to well. In each successive well tip mixing of the purification, resin is used to bind DNA and wash the resin.
Magnetic capture of the resin on the inside surface of the pipette tip is used to hold the resin in tip for movement of the sample to the next well. Finally, the genomic DNA is eluted in a tube containing a user-defined amount of elution buffer that was placed in the tube by the instrument.
Tambasco and colleagues further said that these instruments are an effective way for both small and large laboratories to automate sample extraction. The simplicity of running these instruments makes them likely to be used by forensic specialists and be easily integrated into their laboratory workflow.
Source:
http://www.forensicmag.com/articles.asp?pid=261
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New forensic technique to help solve decade-old case
Visualizing fingerprints may be the shortest and simplest way to describe a new technique that will be used by the Bristol Police Department to help solve a decade-old murder case in Bristol, Connecticut.
The police department, in collaboration with Dr. John Bond, who pioneered the said technique, will be probing into the murder of a businessman who was shot in the bedroom of his own home. Dr. Bond is the scientific support manager at Northamptonshire Police and honorary research fellow at the University of Leicester Forensic Research Centre.
The technique will enable scientists to visualize fingerprints on metals, such as bullet casings, even after the print itself has been removed. Dr. Bond, along with his colleagues conducted a study into the way fingerprints can corrode metal surfaces.
This new method will be utilized to help shed some light on the unresolved murder of Bristol businessman, Louis LaFontaine, who was found shot to death in his Connecticut home in 1998.
According to Detective Garrie Dormand, Dr. Bonds procedure is a tremendous advancement in forensic science, and has the potential to be a valuable tool in many criminal investigations.
Detectives have logged countless hours into this investigation since 1998, and have developed a great deal of information on the facts and circumstances surrounding the murder of Mr. LaFontaine. Fingerprint evidence on a shell casing would certainly bring us much closer to identifying Mr. LaFontaine’s killer.
Sources:
http://www.sciencedaily.comreleases/2009/01/090115092701.htm
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3D scanning used as forensic tool
Forensic experts in the United States (US) and anthropologists at the Smithsonian Institute are pioneering the use of three dimensional (3D) scanning technology to solve challenging mysteries in forensics.
Digital 3D Scanners allow authorized professionals to gain quick access to the information they need, regardless of location. There is software that analyzes and compares 3D models that can provide hard data which can be used to convince juries and experts alike. To gain these benefits, the physical shape must somehow be digitally captured.
This kind of scanning bridges the gap between physical and digital, capturing highly detailed and accurate 3D models of physical objects
In forensics, there are two types of 3D scanners that will be used to help solve cases. Crime scene scanners capture a large overview map of a crime scene. This overview map is helpful in understanding the relative position of objects. New close up 3D scanners capture individual objects in full color and high resolution 3D.
Most 3D scanners today use lasers to measure 3D information. A laser stripe or dot is moved across a target and is photographed by a camera at a slight angle to the laser source. This kind of scanner is important in forensics today as it is non-contact, meaning it does not touch or affect the original physical sample.
The US is home to some of the best known and most comprehensive forensics research facilities in the world. This kind of equipment can contribute to crack tough forensic cases.
Source:
http://www.forensicmag.com/articles.asp?pid=266
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NAS calls for standardized handling of crime evidence
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is expected to release a report that scrutinizes the way forensic evidence is analyzed and used by law enforcement agencies.
According to the New York Times, the report claims that analyses like blood spatter, hair samples, and fingerprinting are often handled by poorly trained technicians who then exaggerate the accuracy of their methods in court.
The New York Times also reported that NAS found that forensics suffer from a reliance on outmoded and untested theories by analysts who often have no background in science, statistics, or other empirical disciplines.
This is not a judicial ruling; it is not a law, Michael J. Saks, a psychology and law professor at Arizona State University, said of the new report. But it will be used by others who will make law or will argue cases.
The report has a wide variety of applications. For example, judges could use it to raise the bar for certain types of forensic evidence. On the other hand, lawyers could use it to discredit forensic procedures and expert witnesses in court.
DNA was a shock to police culture and created an alternative scientific model, which promoted standardization, transparency and a higher level of precision, said Paul Giannelli, a forensic science expert at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, who presented his research to the National Academy.
My hope is that this report will provide an objective and unbiased perspective of the critical needs of our crime labs, Senator Richard C. Shelby, Republican of Alabama, told the New York Times.
The report most controversial recommendation is the establishment of a federal agency to finance research and training and promote universal standards in forensic science, a discipline that spans anthropology, biology, chemistry, physics, medicine, and law. The report also calls for tougher regulation of crime laboratories, said the Times.
Source:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/feb/07/improving-forensic-science/
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Health authorities from the Philippine Heart Association (PHA), the Department of Health, World Health Organization, and the Heart Foundation of the Philippines urged the public to respect your bodies, don’t push it to the limits to prevent heart disease. They also called for healthy lifestyle modification to avoid risk factors for heart disease like high blood pressure (BP), diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity, stress, and smoking. 
