People with alcohol problems in England are less than half as likely to receive the right help as those in Scotland and Wales, research suggests.
England failing to tackle alcohol ‘epidemic’, say researchers
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Category Archives: Mind Building
Breast cancer screening review announced as demand grows
The Scottish government says the review will address how the programme meets growing demand.
Katie Dunlop Was ‘Really Upset’ By This Photo of Herself—But She Posted It Anyway
Katie Dunlop is inspirational for many reasons—a big one being that she's extremely relatable. The personal trainer and creator of Love Sweat Fitness (LSF)will be the first to tell you that she's struggled with her weight, dealt with a debilitating illness, and she's even been real about just not being a morning person.
Now, the fitness influencer is showing a vulnerable side of herself that you've likely never seen.
Yesterday, Dunlop posted a cute photo of herself showing off her booty, wearing bikini bottoms and a pink bomber jacket emblazoned with the letters "LSF". To her 360,000 followers, the photo looked like any of her other bright, colorful posts. But Dunlop almost didn't share this particular photo.
"I almost deleted this picture," she wrote alongside the shot. "One, because I'm not one to post major booty shots, but really because my immediate reaction was, 'OMG that is not my butt.'"
Dunlop said she has a million photos of her booty that make her feel confident—but this one hit a nerve. "The lighting and everything highlights every single dimple, stretch mark, and weird line from my shorts I was wearing and it was like looking at my butt under a microscope," she wrote. "I NEVER photoshop photos. I throw on a lighting filter and call it a day, so the good butt views and the bad are all real, this one was just REALLY upsetting at first."
RELATED: 9 Body Positive 10-Year Challenge Posts That Will Leave You Feeling Inspired
Continuing her post, Dunlop wrote that she always wants to be "an example of strength" for her followers. "But oftentimes strength is not in the physical as much as it's in the emotional," she shared.
That's what inspired her to post the photo, regardless of how it made her feel. "This is me being raw, real, and totally vulnerable," she wrote. "Sharing what I might consider one of the worst photos of me, but also one that reminds me of every step, struggle, and accomplishment that I've made throughout my journey."
Dunlop reminded her followers that even though she's lost 45 pounds, it doesn't mean she has the "perfect body, free of cellulite or stretch marks."
RELATED: These '10-Year Challenge' Fitness Transformations Prove Everyone Starts Somewhere
"We are all unique and our bodies are all completely different so you need to know it's not just something reserved for someone with a few pounds to lose," she wrote.
By sharing this raw and unedited side of herself, she hopes to show her fans what it means to be strong both on the inside and out.
"I honestly never think twice about the stretch marks on my butt or boobs or the cellulite that is there because I know I am working my butt off every day and living my best life," she wrote. "Those marks don't define me. They don't define my progress. And they absolutely don't define my abilities as a trainer."
It can be hard to love your shape when you're bombarded with "perfect" images on Instagram all day. But in the words of Dunlop, it's time to start "embracing beautiful bodies and all their 'flaws' because without them we would not be the people we are today."
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This article originally appeared on Shape.com
Emily Skye Shares Photos of Her Bloated Belly: ‘It’s Normal for Your Body to Fluctuate’
Fitness influencer Emily Skye took to Instagram on Monday to reassure her followers that bloating can happen to anyone.
In a candid post, she shared side-by-side images of herself at the gym, showing the affect of changes in her diet.
“Only a couple of days apart!! How crazy is it how drastically your body can change from day to day!,” she began her long caption on Instagram. “I deviated a little from what I normally eat which keeps my stomach happy and this is what’s happened!!”
RELATED: How Emily Skye's Pregnancy Transformation Taught Her to Ignore Negative Comments
The trainer, 34, went on to tell her followers that it’s normal for bodies to change from one day to the next, especially with variances in activity and food.
“I just wanted to share this as most of you know I like to show you me at my best & at my worst so you know it’s normal for your body to fluctuate like this!!,” she added.
Skye advised that while the “occasional bloat” is normal, anyone experiencing extended bloating should see a specialist in gut health who can determine the cause and help alleviate some of the discomfort.
“However, (as you might have seen in tonight’s stories) if you’re constantly bloating it’s important you get checked out by a Doctor who specialises in gut health so you can get to the bottom of the cause! 
,” the trainer wrote.
Skye also said she wasn’t feeling as energetic as usual.
“I’m holding so much fluid all over my body. I feel like I’m at least a size or two bigger than usual,” she told her followers on her Stories. “I feel lethargic. I don’t feel as strong or energetic or as happy, so it just proves that your gut really is linked to your mental health.”
“Don’t stress about the occasional bloat – it is totally normal so try not to beat yourself up about it as most of us get bloated from time to time!,” she wrote. “It can be hard sometimes (believe me I know) but try to love yourself through the good and the bad. It’s something I am consistently working on doing too. Sending love to you all. 
.”
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This article originally appeared on People.com
Health24.com | Why a few days of formula after birth won’t harm breastfed babies
If your newborn is breastfeeding and losing weight, will feeding them formula do any harm?
Though doctors have long advised against it, a new study suggests giving baby both formula and the breast is OK.
Early, limited formula
Researchers said the answer depends on how long a mother intends to breastfeed and it needs to be balanced against the risks newborns face when their weight is dropping more than normal.
“Counselling that implies all formula is harmful would be inaccurate and may be detrimental to long-term breastfeeding success,” said the study’s first author Dr Valerie Flaherman. She is a paediatrician at the University of California, San Francisco.
“Our study’s results show that early, limited formula may have significant benefits as well as risks for subsequent breastfeeding duration,” she added in a university news release.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that mothers exclusively breastfeed until their babies reach six months of age, then continue while transitioning to solid food at 12 months.
But when a breastfed newborn loses more weight than normal in the first days of life, many parents wonder if they should supplement mother’s milk with formula.
Mixed results
The new study tracked the feeding habits of 164 babies born at one hospital in California and one in Pennsylvania.
All were breastfed between day one and day three of life, and all were of above-average weight. Half the mothers also gave them syringe-fed formula for two to five days. The others continued to breastfeed exclusively.
Investigators then tracked mothers and babies to see whether mixing in formula for a few days to combat weight loss affected breastfeeding rates down the road.
The results were mixed. By six months of age, infants who received formula at birth were just as likely to be breastfed as those who hadn’t. But the formula-fed group was less likely to still be breastfeeding at 12 months, the study found.
Altered attitudes toward breastfeeding
That’s not surprising. About one-third of US babies breastfeed at 12 months, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The results suggest that using early, limited formula may not have a negative impact on infants, but it may alter maternal attitudes toward breastfeeding,” Flaherman said.
If formula is used during the first few days after birth to tackle weight loss or dehydration, she added, “it should be discontinued as soon as possible, since ongoing use at one week of age indicates a mother is at high risk of early breastfeeding cessation.”
Flaherman and her colleagues reported their findings in JAMA Pediatrics.
Image credit: iStock
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Health24.com | 10 ways to make yourself poop first thing in the morning
Let’s look on the bright side: Of all the digestive issues out there, constipation isn’t necessarily the worst thing your stomach could do to you. But that still doesn’t make it pleasurable, and you deserve real relief.
Luckily, there are a few ways you can speed things up, if, say you’re heading out for a morning run or have a long car ride ahead of you. The best part: Most are totally natural things you likely do every day anyway—and they’re doctor-recommended methods for how to make yourself poop.
Try one of these 10 tricks the next time you’re feeling more backed up than usual, and are hunting for answers for how to relieve constipation fast.
1. Load up on foods with fibre.
Fibre-rich foods with a high water content, such as raw carrots, apples with the skin or peel on, and avocados, are all great sources of fibre to help get things moving, says Dr Christine Lee, a gastroenterologist at the Cleveland Clinic.
“When consumed, these foods create an osmotic gradient,” says Dr Lee—that means they force more water to be pulled into the colon during digestion, which then helps ease and prevent constipation by helping things flow a little more smoothly.
READ MORE: 8 Natural Laxatives That Actually Work To Relieve Constipation
2. Or, take a fibre supplement.
You can get the same effects from a psyllium husk fibre supplement, says Dr Lee. Look for a daily supplemental dose of 6 to 9 grams of fibre, which are available over the counter.
Just remember: Eating a nutritious diet (which should naturally include some natural fibre found in food) is key, even if you decide to take a fibre supplement. You can’t just add a spoonful of a supplement to your bottle of cola and expect your digestive system to work properly.
3. Drink some coffee — preferably *hot.*
This is often the first idea that comes to mind if faced with the dilemma of how to make yourself poop. Warm beverages in general, particularly a hot cup of coffee or tea, in the morning, can help to get things moving, says Dr Lee.
But coffee, in particular, is a must for anyone looking for how to poop immediately in the morning (especially runners, Dr Lee notes, as it’s much more convenient to empty your stomach before you hit the pavement). The heat from the coffee can stimulate movement, but the coffee itself and its high levels of caffeine are also “known to stimulate colon motility,” says Dr Lee.
Coffee can work warm or cold. But other cold caffeinated beverages like iced tea or caffeinated sodas won’t have the same effect.
READ MORE: This Is What Happens To Your Body When You Hold In Your Poop
4. Get a little exercise in.
Ever been in the middle of a run when you needed a bathroom—STAT? You’re not alone. That’s because “hiking, walking on uneven grounds, jogging, and biking can all increase your metabolism, which in turn increases intestinal motility,” says Dr Lee.
Also important: If you’ve been busier than usual and have gotten into an exercise dry spell (and you’re noticing some bathroom issues) it might be a clue as to why you’re not pooping as much as you’d like. Making sure to incorporate even short regular workouts into your routine could be the secret solution you need, she says.
5. Try massaging your perineum — no, really.
A technique in which you massage your perineum (the stretch of skin that separates the vagina from your anus), by pushing repeatedly on the skin with your index and pointer finger, can help to ease constipation because of the pressure points contained in that area, according to a 2015 study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. (Similarly, massaging the same area can help promote down-there relaxation during childbirth to prevent tearing, per the study.)
In the study, participants who massaged the area to promote bowel movements experienced improved bowel function, compared to the group that didn’t do the hands-on technique. Also: 82 percent of those who did use the technique said they’d continue to use it long after the study was over. While more research is needed, it’s definitely worth a try the next time you’re backed up and at your wit’s end trying to figure out how to make yourself poop.
READ MORE: Are You Really Getting Enough Fibre In Your Diet?
6. Try an over-the-counter laxative.
Polyethylene glycol 3350 is made up of compounds that are not digestible and not absorbable — which means they cause a diarrheal effect, says Dr Lee.
At lower doses, it can help prevent constipation, and at higher doses, it can induce diarrhoea. So you can adjust the dose you take if you want to get things moving just slightly without them getting disastrous, she says.
7. Or try a prescription laxative if things get really bad.
Lee also recommends talking to your doctor about trying prescription laxatives if none of the other methods have worked. “Prescription drugs are effective, but they can be expensive, so they should generally be left as a last resort after you’ve tried these other methods,” she says.
Another downside of laxative medications: Your body can get used to them, so eventually you might not be able to go poop without them if you use them too often.
8. Try squatting over the toilet when you think you might be ready to go.
The squatting position can be mimicked by putting a stool under your feet to raise your knees up, says Dr Peyton Berookim, a gastroenterologist and director of the Gastroenterology Institute of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Squatting modifies the anatomy by relaxing the muscles in that area while also elevating the part of your colon that makes for easier emptying of the bowel. “The closer you are to a full squat, the easier it will be to poop,” he says.
9. Give yourself a belly rub.
No really—applying moderate pressure and massaging your abdomen in a clockwise direction can help you move your bowels, says Dr Berookim. Colonic massage has been shown to improve constipation, he says.
This can be performed by applying moderate pressure along the horseshoe shape of the colon in your right lower quadrant. Then continue moving up to the rib cage, across the stomach and underneath the ribs to your left lower quadrant, which is the point where stool is emptied.
10. Make sure you’re properly hydrated.
“One of the most common causes of constipation is dehydration,” Dr Berookim says. “When the body is poorly hydrated, it will compensate by withdrawing water from the large intestine (colon) resulting in hard stools.”
A good rule of thumb is to drink 30ml of water for every 1 kilo of your body weight, he says.
This article was originally published on www.womenshealthsa.co.za
Image credit: iStock
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Globally, more than 11 million years of healthy life lost due to childhood cancer in 2017
While the number of new cancer cases in children and adolescents (aged 0-19 years) is relatively low at around 416,500 globally in 2017, treatment-related ill-health and disability and fatal cancer are estimated to cause around 11.5 million years of healthy life lost globally every year, according to the first Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) to assess childhood and adolescent cancer burden in 195 countries in 2017, published in The Lancet Oncology journal.
Children in the poorest countries face a disproportionately high cancer burden — contributing over 82% of the global childhood cancer burden — equivalent to almost 9.5 million years of healthy life lost in 2017. Most (97%) of this global burden is related to premature death, with around 3% due to impaired quality of life.
For the first time, researchers provide a complete picture of the global and regional burden of childhood cancer beyond incidence, mortality, and survival. The study estimates the number of years of healthy life that children and adolescents with cancer have lost due to illness, disability, and premature death — a measurement known as disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). One DALY is equivalent to one year of healthy life lost. However, disability in childhood cancer survivors was limited to the first 10 years after cancer diagnosis, rather than across the whole life course, so the global burden of DALYs associated with childhood cancer is probably underestimated, researchers say.
“By assessing the global burden of childhood cancer through the lens of disability-adjusted life-years, we can more comprehensively understand the devastating impact of cancer on children globally,” says Dr Lisa Force from St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the USA, who led the research in collaboration with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. “Our findings are an important first step in establishing that childhood cancer has a role in frameworks that address global oncology and global child health.”
Children with cancer who live in high-income countries tend to have good survival, with around 80% surviving 5 years after diagnosis. But these improvements have not translated to most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where survival is approximately 35-40%, but some estimates suggest it could be as 20%. Around 90% of children at risk of developing cancer live in LMICs.
“Improving childhood cancer survival will require considerable planning by policy makers to ensure well-functioning health systems capable of early diagnosis and treatment,” says Dr Force. “Estimating the years of healthy life children have lost due to cancer allows policy makers to compare the lifelong implications of childhood cancer with other diseases, potentially helping them determine the most effective way to spend limited resources and identify high-impact cancer-control planning decisions.”
In the study, global and regional estimates were analysed using socio-demographic Index (SDI), a measure based on rates of education, fertility, and income. Countries with high SDI have high levels of income and education and low fertility, whereas countries with low SDI have low levels of income and education and high fertility.
The study reveals striking inequities in childhood cancer burden between high and low SDI countries (table). High and high-middle SDI countries accounted for about 35% (147,300) of new cases of childhood cancer in 2017, but only 18% of DALYs (around 2 million years of healthy life lost), whereas low-middle and low SDI countries with 38% of global incidence (159,600 new cases) accounted for 60% of DALYs (almost 7 million years of healthy life lost).
Moreover, the research finds that childhood cancers are a major cause of global disease burden compared with both adult cancers and other childhood diseases. In 2017, childhood cancers were the sixth leading cause of years of healthy life lost out of all cancers globally (11.5 million), only lower than the burden from adult cancers of the lung (41 million), liver (21 million), stomach (19 million), colon (19 million), and breast (18 million). In low and middle SDI countries, childhood cancers were the leading cause of DALYs, higher than the burden attributable to any single adult cancer type.
The study puts the annual toll of childhood cancer at over 11.5 million years of healthy life lost in 2017. This compares with around 37 million years of healthy life lost globally due to malaria, and 7.6 million from tuberculosis. In 2017, childhood cancer was among the top four biggest contributors to the burden of general diseases of childhood in middle and high-middle SDI countries, ranking higher than malaria and HIV/AIDS.
While four of the five countries with the highest childhood cancer burden were in Asia and Oceania (India, China, Pakistan, and Indonesia), the USA had the sixth largest burden in 2017, and sub-Saharan Africa had the biggest DALY burden for more childhood cancer types than any other region.
Cancers of the blood (leukemias) were the main contributors to overall DALYs, accounting for 34% of the total childhood cancer burden worldwide, followed by brain and nervous system cancers (18%). In 2017, the proportion of both leukemia and brain cancer burden differed by almost 3 times between regions. The proportional burden of leukemias was highest in central and Andean Latin America (49% of all childhood cancers) and the greatest absolute burden was in south Asia (954,000 DALYs).
The authors highlight the fact that mechanisms for addressing cancer burden in adults, which focus on risk-reduction strategies and screening interventions, are not as relevant to childhood cancers given that childhood cancers generally progress rapidly, are not amenable to screening programmes which aim to identify pre-cancerous growths, and are fatal without swift diagnosis and treatment. This emphasizes the crucial role early diagnosis and treatment will play in order to reduce the global burden of childhood cancer.
Despite these important findings, the methodology used to estimate childhood cancer burden has several limitations that need to be addressed, say the authors. While the study uses the best available data, predictions are constrained by a lack of high-quality cancer data, particularly in developing countries — highlighting the need to expand the quality and quantity of population-based cancer registration systems and to include data from paediatric-specific cancer registries. They also note that the current anatomical site-based system of reporting adult cancer leaves over 26% of the childhood cancer burden (3 million DALYs) linked to cancers that are uncategorised, a challenging category for policy, financial, and clinical decision making.
In an accompanying editorial, the editors of The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal write: “The universal language of data offers a substantial opportunity to those fighting the global burden of childhood cancer. Analysis of the DALY burden by individual country and cancer subtype shows the significant need for investment in data capture. Quality data collection and standardised reporting are crucial early strides towards better care provision for children with cancer in LMICs. Capture of national childhood cancer data can guide investments in training of specialists to ensure earlier diagnoses, providing equitable access to medicines, reducing deaths, and improving survivorship care and quality of life.”
Writing in a linked Comment, Charles Stiller from Public Health England, UK, discusses what can be done to mitigate or even reduce the global burden of childhood and adolescent cancer. He writes: “Early diagnosis can bring substantial reduction in mortality and long-term morbidity. Although gains from early diagnosis should be greatest in lower-resource countries, where too many cases are diagnosed at a late stage, they should be felt even in affluent countries, notably for people with low-grade brain tumours, survivors of which bear a considerable burden of disability. For the benefits of early diagnosis to be fully realised worldwide, it must be accompanied by improved diagnostic and treatment facilities with universal access. International collaboration will be an essential component of the necessary capacity building. It is to be hoped that the present study will help to stimulate the necessary improvements, and future iterations can monitor their success.”
Artificial cells that can sense and respond to their environment
Imperial College London scientists have created artificial cells that mimic biological cells by responding to a chemical change in their surroundings.
The artificial cells could be used to sense changes in the body and respond by releasing drug molecules, or to sense and remove harmful metals in the environment.
Responding to chemical changes is a crucial function of biological cells. For example, cells can respond to chemicals by creating certain proteins, boosting energy production, or self-destructing. Chemicals are also used by cells to communicate with each other and coordinate a response or send a signal, such as a pain impulse.
However, in natural cells these chemical responses can be very complex, involving multiple steps. This makes them difficult to engineer, for example if researchers wanted to make natural cells produce something useful, like a drug molecule.
Instead, the Imperial researchers are creating artificial cells that mimic these chemical responses in a much simpler way, allowing them to be more easily engineered.
Now, the team have created the first artificial cells that can sense and respond to an external chemical signal through activation of an artificial signalling pathway. They created cells that sense calcium ions and respond by fluorescing (glowing). Their results are published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
First author James Hindley, from the Department of Chemistry at Imperial, said: “These systems could be developed for use across biotechnology. For example, we could envisage creating artificial cells that can sense cancer markers and synthesise a drug within the body, or artificial cells that can sense dangerous heavy metals in the environment and release selective sponges to clean them up.”
The team created an artificial cell that has smaller cells (‘vesicles’) inside. The edge of the cell is formed of a membrane that contains pores, which allow calcium ions to enter. Inside the cell, the calcium ions activate enzymes that cause the vesicles to release particles that fluoresce.
James added: “Biology has evolved to be robust by using complex metabolic and regulatory networks. This can make editing cells difficult, as many existing chemical response pathways are extremely complicated to copy or engineer.
“Instead, we created a truncated version of a pathway found in nature, using artificial cells and elements from different natural systems to make a shorter, more efficient pathway that produces the same results.”
The researchers’ system is simpler because it doesn’t need to account for many of the things cells need to get around in natural systems — such as by-products that are toxic to the cell.
Within the system, the membrane pores and the enzymes activated by calcium are from existing biological systems — the enzyme is taken from bee venom for example — but they would not be found in the same environment in nature.
The researchers say this is the strength of using artificial cells to create chemical responses — they can more easily mix elements found apart in nature than they can add an external element into an existing biological system.
Advances from chemistry and nanotechnology can also be integrated, creating systems and pathways difficult to engineer in biology.
Co-author Professor Oscar Ces, from the Department of Chemistry at Imperial, said: “The plug-and-play aspect of our system means researchers can take elements from across nature to create new chemical pathways designed with specific aims in mind.
“Our template system is also easy to set up and can be used to quickly test any new combination of elements researchers come up with.”
Story Source:
Materials provided by Imperial College London. Original written by Hayley Dunning. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
