There are many organizations monitoring endangered species such as elephants and tigers, but what about the millions of other species on the planet — ones that most people have never heard of or don’t think about? How do scientists assess the threat level of, say, the plicate rocksnail, Caribbean spiny lobster or Torrey pine tree?

Our prehistoric Earth, bombarded with asteroids and lightening, rife with bubbling geothermal pools, may not seem hospitable today. But somewhere in the chemical chaos of our early planet, life did form. How? For decades, scientists have attempted to create miniature replicas of infant Earth in the lab. There, they hunt for the primordial ingredients that created the essential building blocks for life.

The hearts of women who snore appear to become damaged more quickly than those of men who “saw lumber” at night, a new study suggests.

Evaluating nearly 4 500 British adults who underwent cardiac imaging, researchers also learned that obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) may be vastly underdiagnosed among snorers.

This finding surprised study author Dr Adrian Curta, who heads cardiac imaging at Munich University Hospital in Germany.

Serious health conditions

“A further surprise was the different manifestation of disease according to gender,” Curta said. “Females show different alterations in cardiac [measures]. A possible reason for this could be that women with OSA are more vulnerable to cardiac alterations.”

Loud snoring is a hallmark of obstructive sleep apnoea, which affects between 3 and 7% of adults in the United States, according to the US National Institutes of Health. Also characterised by brief periods where breathing stops, often followed by gasping for air, sleep apnoea is becoming recognised as a contributor to serious health conditions, such as high blood pressure, heart disease and poor blood sugar metabolism.

Sleep apnoea treatment depends on the cause. Treatments include surgery to open narrowed upper airways or using a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine while sleeping.

Curta and his colleagues evaluated data from the UK Biobank, which follows the health and well-being of 500 000 volunteers. The researchers looked at data from nearly 4 500 participants who underwent cardiac imaging. These study volunteers were split into three groups: 38 with obstructive sleep apnoea; 1 919 who reported snoring; and 2 536 without OSA or snoring.

In both men and women, those with sleep apnoea and snoring tended to have larger left ventricles of the heart, meaning the walls were enlarged and the heart was working harder to pump, Curta said.

But when the snoring group was compared to the unaffected group, a more significant difference was found in the size of the left ventricle among women compared to men. These cardiac changes in self-reported snorers suggest earlier heart impairment in women and could point to undiagnosed sleep apnoea, he said.

Better prevention needed

The findings suggest the transition from snoring to obstructive sleep apnoea is an evolving process linked to a potentially dangerous enlargement of the left ventricle. But the research did not prove that sleep apnoea causes heart changes, only that an association exists between the two.

Curta noted that researchers are still uncertain why snoring would remodel women’s hearts more quickly than men’s. More research needs to be done to understand this process, he said.

“The most important clinical implication is that we need better prevention for OSA, such as a broader information programme,” Curta said. “Individuals with snoring should ask someone to observe them during sleep if they show periods of breathing cessation.”

Those who do stop breathing while sleeping should undergo a sleep study to determine how advanced their sleep apnoea is and the proper treatment, Curta said.

Underreported and underdiagnosed

Dr Tetyana Kendzerska is a sleep physician at Ottawa Hospital Sleep Center in Canada, and wasn’t involved in the new research. Since obesity is a known contributor to snoring and sleep apnoea, Kendzerska said losing excess weight is encouraged for those with snoring or sleep apnoea.

“We know that men and women report different symptoms for OSA, and as a result, obstructive sleep apnoea is seriously underreported and underdiagnosed in women,” she said.

“Given that potential cardiovascular risk associated with sleep apnoea may be greater in women than in men, first we need to identify women with sleep apnoea [by] increasing awareness among health care professionals,” Kendzerska added.

The research was to be presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, in Chicago. Research presented at meetings typically hasn’t been peer-reviewed or published, and results are considered preliminary.

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Partners of new and expectant mothers will be offered support with postnatal depression by NHS England.

A freeze-dried polio vaccine that could be used in locations without refrigeration might help doctors conquer the disease, researchers report.

For the study, scientists freeze-dried the injectable vaccine into a powder and kept it at room temperature for four weeks. They then rehydrated it and injected it into mice, giving them full protection against the polio virus, which can cause lifelong paralysis and disability.

Polio close to eradication

“Stabilization is not rocket science, so most academics don’t pay much attention to this field,” said study first author, Woo-Jin Shin, a fellow in the department of molecular microbiology and immunology at the University of Southern California.

“However, no matter how wonderful a drug or vaccine is, if it isn’t stable enough to be transported, it doesn’t do anyone much good,” Shin noted in a university news release.

Polio is a highly infectious disease that’s close to being eradicated, with just 22 reported cases worldwide in 2017. But young children are at risk in countries where refrigeration for vaccines may not be widely available.

The University of Southern California study was published in the journal mBio.

The researchers hope that a foundation or company will take over the project to pay for human clinical trials that could lead to approval of the freeze-dried vaccine.

It should be noted, however, that research with animals often fails to produce similar results in humans.

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Bed-wetting is a condition we associate with childhood. Waking up with soaked sheets is unpleasant and, quite frankly, embarrassing when you’re an adult. But there are people who experience this after a few too many drinks the night before.

The National Association For Continence (NAFC) shares the story of Eric* (43) who woke up realising that he had wet his bed. He felt shocked and embarrassed and had no idea why this would happen to him as an adult.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a once-off event – it happened a couple of times a month for a few months before he started analysing the situation. He then realised that there was a pattern – it seems that the bed-wetting occurred every time after he’d had a couple of beers while out playing poker. Eric is not a heavy drinker, but wanted the problem to stop. He switched to water and things started to improve.

This problem isn’t as shocking and uncommon as it sounds. Many people experience incontinence, and according to the NAFC, almost 5 million adult American experience bed-wetting. Since there is a lack of extensive research on the number of South Africans who suffer from urinary incontinence, let alone those who experience bed-wetting, we might not even be aware of the existence of such a problem. 

The condition is called nocturnal enuresis. While this type of involuntary passing of urine doesn’t fall under stress incontinence or urge incontinence (which occurs when there is pressure or a constant fullness of the bladder), it’s a form of incontinence that is triggered especially by alcohol consumption in adults.

The link between alcohol and your bladder

Alcohol doesn’t only contribute to the problem of nocturnal enuresis, but can also trigger urinary stress incontinence or urinary urge incontinence. Alcohol itself doesn’t cause incontinence, but it affects the bodily mechanisms which play a part in controlling the bladder.  

There are a couple of reasons why alcohol can trigger incontinence and potentially cause bed-wetting:

1. Alcohol suppresses the anti-diuretic hormone

This hormone signals the kidneys to stop producing more urine when the bladder is full. Alcohol limits the production of this hormone and your body starts producing more urine than it should, according to urologist Dr James Ulchaker from the Cleveland Clinic.

Involuntary urination occurs because you are sleeping too soundly to realise that you need to go to the toilet. 

2. Alcohol irritates the bladder

In people with urinary stress incontinence or urinary urge incontinence, alcoholic beverages can irritate the bladder, causing leakage.

The reason alcohol irritates the bladder is because of its diuretic effect. It draws water from the body, causing you to become dehydrated. Dehydration causes more concentrated urine, which causes irritation.

3. Alcohol affects the body’s ability to physically hold urine

The detrusor muscle, which forms part of the wall of the bladder, contracts and relaxes in order to empty out or hold urine. When the bladder becomes full too quickly, it loses its ability to control the detrusor muscle, causing distention of the bladder and subsequent leakage.

4. Alcohol causes fluids to build up faster

According to Dr Ulchaker, drinking a lot of alcohol can increase the amount of fluid in your bladder when you go to bed. If you are prone to incontinence under normal circumstances, alcohol will make it worse.

5. Caffeine also plays a role

When you drink alcoholic beverages that also contain caffeine (mixing spirits with certain soft drinks or energy drinks), you’re aggravating an already overactive bladder.

Manage incontinence

Suffering from incontinence doesn’t mean you have to put your social life on hold. Here are things you can do to control your incontinence:

• Limit how much you drink and allow plenty of time between your last drink and bedtime.
• Avoid any sugary or caffeinated beverages which can irritate the bladder. 
• Incorporate daily pelvic floor exercises in your routine.
• Avoid drinking to the point of blacking out.
• Set an alarm if you are worried about involuntary urination.
• If you cut down on alcohol and the problem persists, see your doctor.

^{*Name has been changed to protect identity.}

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Researchers seeking the elusive fountain of youth are shining the spotlight on protein.

Eating more protein may reduce seniors’ risk of disability and help them remain independent longer, a new British study suggests.

Dietary protein slows the age-related loss of muscle mass, helping to preserve the ability to do everyday tasks, the researchers said.

Less likely to become disabled

“Our findings support current thinking about increasing the recommended daily intake of protein to maintain active and healthy ageing,” said principal author Nuno Mendonca, of Newcastle University.

His team analysed data from more than 700 people in two UK cities who turned 85 in 2006. More than one-quarter (28%) had protein intakes below the recommended dietary allowance.

Over five years of follow-up, the participants who ate more protein at the study’s start were less likely to become disabled than those who ate less protein, the study found.

The findings were published recently in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Older adults should eat about 1g of protein for every kg of body weight, Mendonca said in a journal news release.

That means someone weighing 72.5kg would require about 58g of protein a day. A 100g serving of chicken contains about 31g of protein, he said.

Good sources of protein include meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, lentils and other beans, nuts, tofu and quinoa.

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Bacteria in the nose could be the answer to battling the common cold, research suggests.

How a family spent thousands of pounds on care after being let down by the health and care system.

It’s bad enough dealing with your period once a month – the cramps, the mood swings, the ruined underwear… But twice?

As it turns out, getting your period twice in one month isn’t all that abnormal. “The average cycle should occur every 21 to 35 days and last anywhere from two to seven days,” explains Dr Lakeisha Richardson, an obstetrician-gynaecologist based in Greenville, Mississippi.

So if you’re on the shorter end of that spectrum, that math could easily translate into getting your period twice in one month. And about 40 to 60% of women will have some irregular periods throughout their lives, she says.

But if you’re part of that (pretty unlucky) group, know this: “Irregular bleeding can have different implications depending on age, medical history and family history,” says Dr Alyssa Dweck, an obstetrician-gynaecologist and author of The Complete A to Z for Your V. “So it’s important to seek ob-gyn guidance if you have persistent, recurrent, or worrisome bleeding habits.”

Even though most of the reasons are totally benign, seeing your doctor can help identify the cause. Here’s what might be going on – and what to do to get your cycle back on track.

1. You forgot to take your birth control.

Duh, right? “Missing birth control pills or forgetting your contraception injection will always cause irregular bleeding,” says Dr Richardson. “Anytime you fail to take a birth control method correctly, you will bleed because you have an abrupt withdrawal of hormones.” This kind of bleeding, though, is not an emergency. “

If you resume your birth control by following the instructions, the bleeding will subside, she says. Just make sure to use a backup method of birth control to prevent pregnancy until your next period.

Read more: 11 reasons why your period is suddenly lasting forever

2. You’re pregnant.

I know: Pregnancy means missed periods. But “believe it or not, some women will bleed irregularly if they are pregnant,” says Dr Dweck. Spotting during pregnancy is very common, especially in the first trimester, and can occur for a number of reasons, including after heavy exercise or sex, or due to polyps (benign lesions that can grow inside the uterus or cervix and bleed spontaneously), says Dr Richardson.

Obviously, this can be ruled out with a simple pregnancy test. But try not to wait too long: Dr Christine Masterson, chief of the women and children’s service line at Summit Medical Group in New Jersey, warns that ectopic pregnancies (i.e. when an egg implants outside the uterus) may also cause irregular bleeding and can turn into a life-threatening emergency if left untreated.

3. You have uterine polyps or fibroids.

Uterine issues like polyps or fibroids – benign lesions or tumours that can grow in the uterus – are very common and may be related to hormonal issues. “Uterine polyps can cause bleeding in between periods,” says Dr Dweck, especially if they are touched, like during sex, and “fibroids can cause pain, back pain, abdominal bloating, anaemia, pain with intercourse and spontaneous bleeding because they’re not associated with the menstrual cycle,” explains Dr Richardson.

Head to your obstetric-gynaecologist for an ultrasound, a uterine biopsy or a hysteroscopy (a scope that looks into the uterus). “Removal of the growths is usually curative and ensures that there are no other causes of irregular bleeding,” she says.

4. You have an infection down there.

Vaginal and cervical infections are incredibly annoying for a number of reasons, not least of all that they can cause bleeding outside of your period. “Inflammation or infection of the cervix with bacteria such as bacterial vaginosis or trichomoniasis can cause irregular bleeding,” says Dr Richardson.

“Infections should be treated immediately, because research has shown that sexually transmitted disease such as trichomoniasis increases your risk of contracting HIV and other STDs,” she says.

Read more: Is there a way to make your period come faster?

5. Your thyroid isn’t working properly.

An underactive or overactive thyroid gland can cause your period to come twice in one month. “The thyroid gland is regulated by hormones produced and regulated in the same area of the brain – the pituitary and hypothalamus – as the hormones that control menstruation and ovulation,” explains Dr Dweck. “When one is off, the other might be affected.”

This is diagnosed with a blood test and typically treated with medication.

6. You have PCOS.

Polycystic ovarian syndrome is a hormone imbalance that affects between eight and 20% of women, according to the National Institutes of Health. “It’s a result of less frequent ovulation or the lack of ovulation, leading to an imbalance of oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone,” Dr Dweck explains. “One of many symptoms includes irregular bleeding.”

Other commonly associated symptoms include acne, difficulty maintaining weight, hair growth in places typical to men (like the upper lip or chin) and fertility issues, she says. If you think there’s a chance you have PCOS, schedule an appointment with your doc to be evaluated.

7. You have precancerous or cancerous cells.

When found in either the uterus and cervix, precancerous and cancerous cells can cause irregular bleeding. “Suffice it to say, a tumour growing on the cervix or uterus can bleed erratically,” says Dr Dweck. One study even found that irregular periods are more likely to lead to ovarian cancer, so early detection is key.

These are diagnosed with an ultrasound and uterine biopsy, and a pap smear and cervix biopsies, respectively, so if you’ve ruled out other causes, get to an obstetric-gynaecologist STAT.

Read more: This explains why you get clots in your period blood

8. You’re seriously stressed out.

High levels of stress can cause either more frequent periods or completely missed ones, says Dr Masterson, because the hormones that trigger your ovaries to ovulate every month originate in the brain (you know, the same place where stress starts).

Basically, when you’re swamped at work or worrying about relationship drama (especially if it’s causing you to get less sleep at night), those hormones can misfire and affect your cycle in negative ways. If you know you’ve been mentally stretched to the limit lately, consider doing some yoga or meditation exercises, or talking to someone who can help manage your stress. You’ll be surprised how much it can help your mind and body, says Dr Masterson.

9. You’ve been travelling recently.

If you get back from a holiday and find an earlier-than-expected period welcoming you home, you might be able to blame said holiday on your irregular bleeding. Depending on how far from home you went, excessive travelling can disrupt your period.

“Interfering with your circadian rhythms, like changing time zones or working night shifts, can cause changes in the hormones that trigger your cycle,” says Dr Masterson. As long as the travel was a one-time thing, this should resolve on its own. If you work the night shift regularly, though, irregular periods might be your new normal.

10. You’re in the early stages of menopause.

Perimenopause, which can start as early as your mid-thirties, can cause irregular periods, including ones that are more frequent and heavier than usual, says Dr Masterson.

There’s not much you can do here (you’ve got to let nature run its course), but there are ways to ease the overall effects of perimenopause, like medications or other therapies, if your gynaecologist has confirmed that’s what’s happening.

Read more: What every woman should know about using scented tampons and pads

11. You’ve gained a lot of weight.

Rapid weight gain or loss and excessive amounts of exercise can also affect the hormones that stimulate ovulation, changing the typical pattern of your cycle.

“Usually if you are doing extreme exercise or have gotten underweight, your body turns off the ovulatory process – it thinks it’s in a famine situation and that’s not a great time to have a baby,” Dr Masterson explains. “But if you’ve become extremely overweight, you might see irregular bleeding happening more or less frequently than normal.”

If you think your weight might be to blame for your irregular periods, check in with your doctor – it’s possible that there are external factors, like a medical condition or new medication, contributing to your weight gain that would be worth looking into.

^{This article was originally published on www.womenshealthmag.com}

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