A fall in uptake of the MMR vaccine means the UK has lost its measles-free status.

Exercise is good medicine for depression, researchers report.

“The evidence of the use of physical activity and exercise for the management of depression is substantial and growing fast,” said study authors Felipe Barretto Schuch, from Federal University of Santa Maria in Brazil, and Brendon Stubbs, from King’s College London.

“Despite this substantial evidence, the incorporation of exercise as a key component in treatment is often inconstant and often given a low priority,” they added.

In the review, the researchers analysed 49 studies that included a total of nearly 267 000 people and concluded that physical activity reduces the risk of depression by 17%, after adjustment for other factors.

They also examined another 25 studies that included a total of nearly 1 500 people with depression and found that physical activity had a “very large and significant antidepressant effect”, according to the report.

But the researchers noted that exercise may not provide equally effective treatment for all people with depression, because a large number of biological, clinical, psychological and social factors affect their response to exercise therapy.

Knowing this might help match “the right patient for the right treatment,” Schuch and Stubbs wrote.

The findings were published in the August issue of the journal Current Sports Medicine Reports.

Most treatments for depression focus on antidepressant medications and psychotherapy. While both can be effective, they also have significant limitations, according to the researchers. Only about half of people taking antidepressants will have a clinically significant response, and not all patients respond to psychotherapy.

There “is growing recognition that lifestyle behaviors, such as physical activity and exercise, partially contribute to the risk of developing depression and can be useful strategies for treating depression, reducing depressive symptoms, improving quality of life, and improving health outcomes,” Schuch and Stubbs said in a journal news release.

How physical activity may help treat depression is not clear, but possible explanations include effects on inflammation, oxidative stress, and brain cell regeneration (particularly in the hippocampus), the researchers said

^{Image credit: iStock}

Many people can recite the major risk factors for heart disease, the stuff of posters, public service ads and dire warnings: smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, lack of exercise.

But what about these? Air pollution, loneliness, lack of green space, lack of sleep and stress.

They’re elements of our lives, often interconnected, that also affect cardiovascular health.

“You can’t control some of these things, so maybe we don’t think about them enough,” said Dr Amit Khera, director of the Preventive Cardiology Program at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “They can directly affect us, but also contribute to some of those major risk factors.”

Take air pollution, for example. Many studies have shown that dirty air is a health hazard, especially for the elderly or people with underlying cardiovascular problems.

“We know that the particulate matter in air when absorbed in the lungs causes inflammation that’s immediately reflected in the cardiovascular system,” said Dr Donald Lloyd-Jones, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “That has direct toxic effects.”

In the short term, vulnerable people are urged to stay indoors or wear masks when the air quality is particularly bad. A recent study in Denmark showed the benefits of exercising outdoors to prevent heart attacks outweighed the risks of air pollution, while a US-based study published in January in the American Heart Association journal Circulation indicated a heart-healthy Mediterranean diet can mitigate some of the damage caused by air pollution.

But in the long term, Khera said, “We need to be aware of air pollution so we can advocate for policies that control it because it affects our health.”

The same is true for green space, which studies suggest is important to heart health because of its connection to physical activity, good eating habits and mental well-being.

“Communities without green spaces may have food deserts (a term for areas without access to fresh, healthy food) and social problems,” Khera said. “If you don’t feel safe, you may be less inclined to do physical activity.

“If people live in a tough environment, you can’t just tell them to move to a new neighbourhood,” he said, “People need to be empowered to make communities better.”

Vicious cycle

Lloyd-Jones said stress and social isolation, which can affect heart health, are hard to measure and define – and to treat.

“There does seem to be an important mind-body connection,” he said. “It’s just hard to know how to intervene effectively. It’s easy to say we should all reduce stress, but obviously it’s hard to do.”

People suffering the psychological effects of stress and loneliness, Lloyd-Jones said, tend to smoke and drink more, have worse eating and sleeping habits, are less physically active and even less likely to take their medication as prescribed.

“All that catalyses and facilitates the bad things about those other risk factors and amplifies them,” he said. “It becomes a vicious cycle. The social determinants of health fit into the broader picture we’re trying to understand more about.”

Of all peripheral risk factors that may not make the posters and pamphlets, Lloyd-Jones said sleep may be the most significant.

“Good sleep hygiene is incredibly important,” he said. “Lack of sleep or poor sleep drives risk for higher blood pressure, poor eating habits, weight problems and atrial fibrillation (a potentially dangerous irregular heartbeat), especially if you have sleep apnea (interrupted breathing during sleep). Poor sleep hygiene can undermine everything.”

A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in January found that getting less than six hours of sleep a night was associated with plaque buildup in the arteries, the underlying cause of cardiovascular disease.

In all, the lesser-known risk factors may be harder to gauge than the straightforward numbers for weight, blood pressure and cholesterol. But, Lloyd-Jones said, they form an important part of heart-health assessments for doctors and patients.

“All of these really form such an important context around the physiologic measures we work on with the patient,” he said. “We ignore them at our peril.”

^{Image credit: iStock}

Urinary tract infections (UTI) is one of the most common infectious diseases worldwide and targets women exponentially more often than men – due to a shorter urethra. One in 5 women experiences a UTI at least once in their lifetime and many have several recurrences every year.  If left untreated, there may be serious implications such as kidney damage.

Now, research led by the University of Queensland has found that bacteria can reside in the intestine for very long periods, despite antibiotic treatments, and cause recurring UTIs.

This discovery means that UTI sufferers could expect more effective, tailored treatment in the future to eliminate the bacteria.

The study, published in Nature Communications, was performed in collaboration with researchers from the University of Utah and followed a long-term recurrent UTI sufferer. The researchers used genetic analysis to find out the source of the infection in a woman who had been suffering from UTIs for 45 years.

The problem of antibiotic resistance

The study was based on just one 82-year-old patient who had been suffering from chronic UTIs for 45 years after undergoing vaginal hysterectomy in 1971. The longest period she could recall being UTI-free was a short nine months, said Professor Mark Schembri from UQ’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences.

During that time her doctors prescribed stronger and stronger antibiotics, but the bacteria had been able to survive the treatment.

Chronic UTIs are a major burden on global healthcare, said Schembri, and the problem is magnified by an increase in antibiotic resistance. “Antibiotic treatments can sometimes just stop working on these patients, with dire results.”

‘Infections originated from a common reservoir’

The bacteria – E. coli – were isolated from the patient’s urine during her repeat infections so that researchers could determine the DNA sequence. E. coli is a type of bacteria that normally live in our intestines, but sometimes get into the urinary tract. They are the cause behind up to 90% of UTIs.

After tests were done, researchers found that exactly the same E. coli bacteria were present in her intestine and urinary tract, causing the recurring UTIs. 

According to UQ’s Dr Brian Forde, who is also the study’s first author, a faecal sample from a patient suffering from a UTI can determine if the infecting strain also resides in the intestine. This is done by combining bacterial culture with genome sequencing technology. The DNA of E. coli was therefore recovered from her faecal samples and sequenced.

It was found that the E. coli were the same as those that caused the recurrent UTI, meaning her intestine was the source of the infections.

“This was proof – her infections did indeed originate from a common reservoir,” said UQ’s Associate Professor Scott Beatson.

Tailor-designed, more effective treatment

“We now know that bacteria can reside in the intestine for very long periods and cause recurring UTIs, despite antibiotic treatment,” said Beatson.

In light of the findings, future treatment should therefore consider not only using antibiotics that will solely treat the UTI in the bladder, but also eliminate the infection reservoir in the intestine that seeds the recurrent infection in the bladder, he added.

If the same strain keeps being identified, Forde explained that tailored treatment to eliminate the bacteria from not just the patient’s urine, but also the intestinal reservoir, could be designed.

“We predict a treatment like this would lead to reduced incidences of recurring UTI in patients suffering from this debilitating, chronic disease for which there is currently no effective cure,” added Schembri.

^{Image: iStock}

Compiled by Zakiyah Ebrahim

Eduard Pernkopf created an “atlas” of anatomy by dissecting the bodies of Nazi political prisoners.

Keith Castle was the first UK heart recipient to live for more than five years afterwards.

Japanese scientists are shedding new light on the importance of light-sensing cells in the retina that process visual information. The researchers isolated the functions of melanopsin cells and demonstrated their crucial role in the perception of visual environment. This ushers in a new understanding of the biology of the eye and how visual information is processed.

Measles cases nearly tripled globally during the first seven months of the year compared to the same period in 2018, the World Health Organization said, amid growing concern over public resistance to the vaccine.

So far this year, 364 808 measles cases were reported around the world, compared to 129 239 cases during the first seven months a year earlier.

Highly contagious

These numbers are “the highest (registered) since 2006”, WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva.

The numbers are especially worrying since only about one in 10 actual measles cases are believed to be reported worldwide, according to the WHO.

Measles, which is highly contagious, can be entirely prevented through a two-dose vaccine, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has in recent months sounded the alarm over vaccination rates.

Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Ukraine registered the highest number of cases, WHO said.

In Madagascar, which registered around 127 500 cases during the first half of this year alone, numbers have meanwhile dropped considerably in recent months following an emergency national vaccination campaign, the UN health agency stressed.

Highest number in 25 years

Measles cases have soared worldwide, with the African region seeing a 900% jump in cases year-on-year, while cases rose 230% in the western Pacific.

Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sudan, South Sudan and Thailand have all seen major outbreaks of the disease.

The United States has meanwhile registered 1 164 cases so far this year, compared to 372 for all of 2018 and the highest number on record in a quarter century.

And in the European region, nearly 90 000 cases have been registered this year – well above the 84 462 cases registered last year.

Measles – an airborne infection causing fever, coughing and rashes that can be deadly in rare cases – had been officially eliminated in many countries with advanced healthcare systems.

Various reasons for non-vaccination

But the so-called anti-vax movement – driven by fraudulent claims linking the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella, and a risk of autism in children – has gained traction.

WHO pointed out that the reasons for people not being vaccinated vary significantly between communities and countries, with a lack of access to quality healthcare or vaccination services hindering some from getting the jabs, while others are led astray by “misinformation about vaccines, or low awareness about the need to vaccinate”.

The measles vaccine is a “safe and highly effective vaccine”, the WHO stressed in a statement, urging “everyone to ensure their measles vaccinations are up to date”.

Uneven vaccination coverage and gaps and disparities between communities, geographic areas, and among age-groups have allowed measles to flourish even in countries with high national vaccine rates, WHO warned.

“When enough people who are not immune are exposed to measles, it can very quickly spread,” it said.

^{Image credit: iStock}

Have you ever wanted to lose weight in a specific area? Like, take away this belly fat, but for all that is good, leave my boobs and butt alone! We’ve all wished for slimmer midsections, thighs or arms, but is it even possible to lose weight in one specific area?

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no, there’s no solid scientific evidence to suggest that you can burn wobbly bits on specific areas of your body.

READ MORE: 3 Practical Habit Changes That’ll Help You Lose Weight

“It’s not possible to lose weight in one specific area, so doing 100 crunches will definitely not reduce belly fat. You have to work the entire body to reduce body fat and eating plays a major role in burning said fat,” says trainer and Women’s Health Next Fitness Star, Nomawothi Bafana. “If you do tricep dips, you will shape your triceps slightly, but it honestly will not make a major difference if your body fat is high.”

To understand why targeted fat loss — also called “spot reduction — isn’t possible, we have to understand how fat loss works.

READ MORE: Your Weight Loss Struggles Might Be Genetic, According To Experts

How fat loss works

In a nutshell… it boils down to science.

The fat in our blood is found in the form of triglycerides. Whenever we consume food, our bodies store any calories that aren’t used into triglycerides. Later, hormones release triglycerides for energy between meals. These triglycerides are then broken down into fatty acids and glycerol, which then enter your blood cells.

When exercising, the fatty acids and glycerol from anywhere in your body are used as fuel, not just the body part you’re working on. So, while you can target certain muscle groups, targeting fat loss in a certain area is not realistic.

READ MORE: How To Deal With Loose Skin After Extreme Weight Loss

So, how do I lose fat then?

Since no amount of crunches and sit-ups would burn through just your belly fat, how exactly do you lose weight? The best way to do this is a combination of healthy eating and exercise. Yep, no short cuts or magic formula, just good ol’ hard work.

So instead of doing just 100 crunches a day, aim to do 150 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise a week and mix in some strength training to help with muscle composition.

When it comes to eating, try to find a good balance. There are plenty of weight-loss methods, from intermittent fasting, keto and paleo (the list goes on), so find what works for you. Whatever eating plan you choose, just remember it’s important to give your body adequate calories and nutrients. Good ‘fat-burning’ foods to add to your shopping basket are:

• Nut butters. These are packed with healthy fat, fibre, and protein, which is a great combo to keep you energised and satisfied.
• Eggs. Another great source of protein (six grams) and healthy fats (five grams).
• Avocados. They’re an excellent source of potassium, which helps reduce water retention and bloat.
• Grapefruit. They’re low in calories and make an excellent snack.
• Quinoa. Not only will the super grain satisfy any carb cravings, but it is also a good source of protein.

Just aim to burn more calories than you consume, and your body fat should start decreasing.

^{This article was originally published on www.womenshealthsa.co.za}

^{Image credit: iStock}

Chandré Davids

Erectile dysfunction (ED) or impotence can cause distress due to the fact that men cannot maintain or get an erection in order to satisfy both partners during sex.

ED is not uncommon and can be caused by stress, health issues or emotional difficulties, which may need to be dealt with by a professional. Now, a study has also linked erectile dysfunction to lower productivity at work and a lower quality of life.

The study, published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice studied more than 52 000 men, with ages ranging from 40 to 70 in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Erectile dysfunction prevalence was 49.7% overall, with Italy having the highest rate with 54.7%. Results also revealed that:

• 7.1% of men with ED reported significantly higher rates of absence from work, versus 3.2% of men without ED.
• 22.5% of men with ED had higher rates of working while they were sick, versus 10.1% of men without ED.
• 24.8% of men with ED reported higher rates of work productivity impairment, versus 11.2% of men without ED.
• 28.6% of men had higher activity impairment, versus 14.5% of men without ED.

Tarek Hassan, senior author said, “Stemming from eight countries, the global coverage of the data also suggests that this issue is pervasive across geographies.” Co-author Wing Yu Tang added: “This study shows that ED remains a prevalent concern, one that impacts work productivity and absenteeism.”

^{Image credit: iStock}

Deeanne Daniels