Media Health Issue

Archive for August, 2010

Anti-smoking campaigners have received a boost after new figures showed that the introduction of the smoking ban has significantly reduced the number of heart attacks in Britain.

The study is the first to examine the possible effects on public health that the smoking ban has since it was introduced in 2007.

The data showed that in the year following its introduction, there were 1,200 fewer heart attacks. That makes a total drop of 2.4%. The reduction has not only saved lived but has benefited the public purse, saving the NHS almost £8.4 million pounds.

The team begind the study, from the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath, believe that the measure has saved nearly 200 lives. Though they admit that the number of prevented deaths is fairly small, they believe that it is an important step forward.

Anna Gilmore, the study leader, said, “Given the large number of heart attacks in this country each year, even a relatively small reduction has important public health benefits. This study provides further evidence of the benefits of smoke-free legislation.”

The news will doubtless delight NHS health professionals, who have been endeavouring to encourage more Brits to quit smoking. They were particularly eager to encourage people to use the momentum of the ban to make a quit attempt, offering assistance from counselling to Champix to gums and patches.

Studies have repeatedly shown that people who seek assistance in their smoking cessation, whether that is psychological support or medical tools like Champix, are considerably more likely to succeed. Initially, the ban did prompt attempts to quit smoking but this does seem to be levelling off slightly.

Smoking cessation therapies are widely promoted by GPs and there have been national advertising campaigns to highlight the health benefits of giving up, some which have focused on the benefits to others.

It is thought that second-hand smoke, even a small amount, can immediately cause the blood to thicken. Other changes are prompted in the blood vessels, which when combined with the thickening of the blood can lead to heart attack-triggering blood clots.

Dr. Gilmore’s team examined data on emergency patients aged over 18 who were admitted to hospital between July 2002 and September 2008. They made adjustments to take into account factors other than the ban that could have influenced the number of admissions, such as seasonal temperate and the size of the population.

The study has been greeted very positively by the British Heart Foundation, whose spokeswoman Betty McBride said, “It’s brilliant news that an average three fewer people a day are admitted to hospital suffering a heart attack.

“What’s more, we’ll see more benefits in future because heart attacks aren’t the only way that tobacco smoke harms the heart.”

Scientists have announced that they have discovered a new chemical which could help people curb their desire to binge eat and indulge in fatty treats outside of mealtimes, such as while watching a film or after the pub.

The team, from the University of Manchester and the University of Mainz in Germany have been conducting tests on rats to see whether the chemical hemopressin, produced in the rodent’s brain and affecting the cannaboid receptor CB1 in the brain, which controls appetite and satiety.

They discovered that hemopressin acts in a similar way to the now-banned slimming drug rimonabant, by making those animals take it less desirous of food.

The team took various groups of rats, some whom were of a normal weight and some who had been genetically engineered to be either obese or lacking in a functioning CB1 receptor. The mice were all housed in similar conditions and were fed the same amount of food at fixed times.

The team discovered that the rats who were given the medication experienced rapid weight loss,  which lasted for at least 12 hours after they stopped taking the medication. This was true for both the obese and normal mice, though those with a repressed CB1 receptor did not respond.

In their conclusion, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, team concluded that hemopressin was a naturally occurring appetite suppressant.

Over the past few years appetite suppressants have become the holy grail of weight loss. Many patients have reported finding medications such as Reductil effective aids to weight loss, but the only two appetite suppressants to gain approval from regulators, Reductil and Acomplia, were eventually banned.

Dieters often identify food cravings and the inability to stop binging as the key to their failure to follow a weight loss program strictly, making the suppression of appetite key in the fight to tackle obesity.

While medication is unlikely to lead to rapid weight loss, health care professionals do agree that when used as a part of a weight loss plan, it could have the potential to significantly increase the number of pounds a dieter loses.

This means that any new studies into weight loss is always greeted with interest and a fair amount of hope, but the truth is that the journey from trials on animals to approval for use by humans is a long and very uncertain one.

While this new study may or may not end up with the development of a new slimming pill as the result, it is certainly true that as we understand more about the human brain and its relationship to food, appetite and obesity, we will stand a far better chance of beating the obesity epidemic.

By all this, the masks are transformed into allies excellent daily cleaning of the skin, strengthen the work that the simple cleaning sometimes leave insufficient.

Logically according to the type of skin, the mask that you must use. If your skin is greasy and very bright, with the pores blocked, then you have a type of skin – oily and need a special mask for your complexion. A very good choice for complexion fat is the next mask:

Complexion fat

Ingredients:

The clear of an egg
The juice of a lemon and oats

Preparation:

Mix the ingredients with oats enough to form a creamy paste. Apply across the face, with the exception of the area of the eyes and lips, by about 20 minutes.

Rinse thoroughly with warm water and then with water or cold to close.

So the researchers saw similar results in women, in both countries both for the high, as the low ends of the spectrum evaluated.

This prevalence of low intake as regards to fruits and vegetables increases with age and the decline in income, as evaluated on the results surprised Moore, as the surveys of the United States and other developed countries show that the intake of fruits and vegetables increases with age.

“The majority of people regardless of the country in which they live, simply do not conform to the guidelines recommended as appropriate to the consumption of fruit and vegetables,” said the co-author Justin Hall, a graduate student of the Queen’s University.

“Some countries seem to be better off than others, in relative terms but the overall prevalence of low consumption of fruit and vegetables is very high throughout the world.” Read the rest of this entry »

Scientist’s show that their are have links between the drug addiction and the addiction to fast-food. Currently the investigations in connection with this issue have become deeper and the new research indicates that the junk food is linked to the addiction to cocaine and heroin, at least in animals.

The researchers showed that the center of pleasure in the brain of the rats was on stimulated by the fast-food, taking the same effect of cocaine in the addicts.

Eventually, the centers of pleasure are so saturated that each see need more and more quantities of junk food to feel normal, according to Paul H. Kenny, professor of molecular therapies of Scripps Research Institute.

During 40 days was studied three groups of rats, the first only gave him healthy foods, the second group only ate a limited amount of junk food, and the third group could eat the amount that I would like to foods rich in fat and calories, this group, obviously, became obese. Read the rest of this entry »