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Clear & Simple faulty digital pregnancy tests recalled
More than 58,000 Clear & Simple tests are being recalled after some were wrongly testing positive.
Health24.com | Women with lower testosterone levels at higher risk of incontinence
The hormone testosterone is seen as the “male” hormone. However, while testosterone may belong to the class of male hormones called androgens, women’s ovaries produce both oestrogen and testosterone.
These hormones need to be in balance in order to achieve optimum wellbeing.
Testosterone in the female body is responsible for:
- Producing new blood cells
- Maintaining a healthy sex drive
- Influencing follicle-stimulating hormones that affect fertility.
Recent research has linked ow testosterone levels in females with urinary incontinence. A study involving 2 123 women showed that the women with the lowest amounts of testosterone had a 48% increased chance of stress incontinence and a 65% higher chance of mixed incontinence (a combination of stress and urge incontinence) than women with higher levels of testosterone.
These findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association last year. While the connection between low testosterone and urinary incontinence still needs more research, it is a strong connection and can provide an avenue for treatment. All of this serves to highlight the role of testosterone levels in women.
What is the link between testosterone and incontinence?
According to Dr Michelle Kim from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who was part of the study, testosterone levels might be a factor in the prevention of pelvic floor atrophy, which can ultimately lead to incontinence.
According to Dr Kim, androgens such as testosterone have an anabolic effect on skeletal muscles and have been shown to strengthen the muscle structure of the pelvic floor.
Healthy hormone balance can keep incontinence at bay
While low testosterone levels are linked to incontinence, oestrogen also plays a role in keeping the pelvic floor strong and supple. According to The Simon Foundation for Continence, stress incontinence is commonly experienced as a result of loss of tissue strength caused by declining oestrogen levels.
Do you have low testosterone levels?
As we tend to associate testosterone with men, it’s unusual to focus on low testosterone levels as a cause of possible medical problems in women. Here are some signs of low testosterone levels:
- Sluggishness and fatigue
- Low sex drive
- Vaginal dryness
- Weight gain
- Trouble sleeping
If you suspect you may have a hormonal imbalance or reduced levels of testosterone, consult your doctor, who will check for problems with your pituitary gland or ovaries, or who will confirm whether you are nearing menopause, which causes a natural depletion of testosterone and oestrogen levels.
Image credit: iStock
Health24.com | WATCH: Couple re-enacts first meeting 50 years ago as part of Parkinson’s treatment
Ron and his wife Renee re-enact scenes from the 1954 movie Brief Encounter to entertain residents at Ron’s care home as part of their reminiscence therapy programme, but more for the fact that it’s beneficial to him, because it also stirs up fond memories of times gone by, like when the couple first met.
Ron has Parkinson’s disease, which Health24 describes as the loss of cells of the brain or spinal cord, which over time leads to dysfunction and disability. Both he and his wife are believed to be over 80 years old.
The organisation adds that, along with Parkinson’s Disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and Alzheimer’s disease are all examples of neurodegenerative disorders.
Using simple gestures
The facility’s reminiscence therapy programme aims to use all five senses to help the elderly, especially those with neurodegenerative disorders, recall memories of past moments.
According to ElderCare Alliance, simple gestures– conversations, songs, photos, stories – could help develop more positive feelings, and minimise feelings of agitation, boredom, depression and stress.
Ron stays in the care home and Renee comes to visit him every day. As time went on, many at the care home came to learn about Renee and Ron’s relationship and romance over the years, which lead to the couple taking part in the programme.
The home’s manager, Michelle Wray, said that these performances can be of great comfort to the residents and evokes pleasant memories of their lives.
Back pain and the placebo effect: ‘I’ll keep taking the pills’
Jim had been relying on morphine to cope with his back pain – but it turned out a dummy pill worked just as well.
Health24.com | 3 new genes linked to chronic back pain
New research pinpoints three genes responsible for skeletal development that appear to be connected to chronic back pain.
The study authors said their findings could shed new light on the biological factors involved in the development of the condition and lead to new treatments for back pain, which is the leading cause of disability around the world.
For the study, an international team of researchers conducted a genome-wide association to search for gene variants associated with back pain. The study involved 158 000 adults of European ancestry. Of these participants, more than 29 000 suffered from chronic back pain.
The scientists identified three new genetic variants linked to chronic back pain. The SOX5 gene, which is involved in nearly all phases of embryonic development, had the strongest link to the condition.
Previous animal studies have shown that deactivation of this variant is linked to defects in cartilage and skeleton formation in mice.
The study also showed that another gene, which has been associated with intervertebral disc herniation (commonly called a slipped disc), was also linked to back pain. The researchers also identified a third gene involved in spinal cord development, which could affect the risk for back pain due to its influence on pain sensation.
The findings were published September 27 in the journal PLOS Genetics.
“The results of our genome-wide association study point to multiple pathways that may influence risk for chronic back pain,” said study leader Dr Pradeep Suri, of the US Department of Veterans Affairs in Seattle.
“Chronic back pain is linked to changes in mood, and the role of the central nervous system in the transition from acute to chronic back pain is well-recognised,” he said in a journal news release.
“However, the top two genetic variants we identified suggest causes implicating the peripheral structures, such as the spine,” Suri added.
“We expect that further large-scale genetic studies will reveal the importance of both peripheral and central contributors to the complex experience of chronic back pain.
Image credit: iStock
Second Brit dies after ‘Brazilian butt lift’ surgery
A Brazilian butt lift is a cosmetic procedure in which fat is injected into the buttocks.
New 3D-printed cement paste gets stronger when it cracks — just like structures in nature
What if the inherent weaknesses of a material actually made houses and buildings stronger during wildfires and earthquakes?
Purdue University researchers have 3D-printed cement paste, a key ingredient of the concrete and mortar used to build various elements of infrastructure, that gets tougher under pressure like the shells of arthropods such as lobsters and beetles. The technique could eventually contribute to more resilient structures during natural disasters.
“Nature has to deal with weaknesses to survive, so we are using the ‘built-in’ weaknesses of cement-based materials to increase their toughness,” said Jan Olek, a professor in Purdue’s Lyles School of Civil Engineering.
The idea would be to use designs inspired by arthropod shells to control how damage spreads between the printed layers of a material, like trying to break a bunch of uncooked spaghetti noodles as opposed to a single noodle.
“The exoskeletons of arthropods have crack propagation and toughening mechanisms that we can reproduce in 3D-printed cement paste,” said Pablo Zavattieri, Purdue professor of civil engineering.
3D-printed cement-based materials — such as cement paste, mortar and concrete — would give engineers more control over design and performance, but technicalities have stood in the way of scaling them up.
Purdue engineers are the first to use 3D printing to create bioinspired structures using cement paste, as shown in a published paper and the frontispiece for an upcoming print issue of the journal Advanced Materials.
“3D printing has removed the need for creating a mold for each type of design, so that we can achieve these unique properties of cement-based materials that were not possible before,” said Jeffrey Youngblood, Purdue professor of materials engineering.
The team is also using micro-CT scans to better understand the behavior of hardened 3D-printed cement-based materials and take advantage of their weak characteristics, such as pore regions found at the “interfaces” between the printed layers, which promote cracking. This finding was recently presented at the 1st RILEM International Conference on Concrete and Digital Fabrication.
“3D printing cement-based materials provides control over their structure, which can lead to the creation of more damage and flaw-tolerant structural elements like beams or columns,” said Mohamadreza “Reza” Moini, a Purdue Ph.D. candidate of civil engineering.
The team was initially inspired by the mantis shrimp, which conquers its prey with a “dactyl club” appendage that grows tougher on impact through twisting cracks that dissipate energy and prevent the club from falling apart.
Some of the bioinspired cement paste elements designed and fabricated by the team using 3D printing techniques include the “honeycomb,” “compliant” and “Bouligand” designs, called “architectures.”
Each of these architectures allowed for new behaviors in a 3D-printed element once hardened. The Bouligand architecture, for example, takes advantage of weak interfaces to make a material more crack-resistant, whereas the compliant architecture makes cement-based elements act like a spring, even though they are made of brittle material.
The team plans to explore other ways that cement-based elements could be designed for building more resilient structures.
The work was funded by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. CMMI 1562927).
Watch a YouTube video at https://youtu.be/Q0MvUdZoejk.
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Fathers’ postnatal hormone levels predict later caregiving
Much has been written about what happens to mothers hormonally during pregnancy and after, but what about fathers?
In a first-of-its-kind study, University of Notre Dame Assistant Professor of Anthropology Lee Gettler and lead author Patty Kuo, visiting assistant professor of psychology, focused on how dads’ biology around the birth of their children relates to their parenting down the road. They partnered with Notre Dame psychologists and Memorial Hospital of South Bend to analyze testosterone and cortisol in 298 men on the first two days of their newborns’ lives.
“Studies like this give us an understanding of the value of having the dad present at birth and engaging with the baby,” said Gettler. “What we see in the special days around birth is that dads’ hormones — how much dads are producing overall and how their hormones quickly change when they hold their newborns — are linked to what fathers are doing months later. This relates to how men establish bonds with their newborns as well as with their partners and how they will co-parent.”
The large number of participants allowed Gettler and Kuo to examine how hormonal changes affect both new fathers and experienced ones. Their research, published this month in the journal Hormones and Behavior, demonstrated that dads whose cortisol levels were elevated while they held their newborns on the day of their birth — either skin-to-skin or clothed — were more likely to be involved with indirect care and play with their infants in the first months of their lives.
They also tested men’s testosterone on the day of birth and found that fathers’ later caregiving did not differ based on those levels. However, if dads’ testosterone was lower on the second day of the infants’ lives, fathers were more involved in care. These findings align with existing studies, including Gettler’s leading research.
Labor and delivery nurses at Memorial collected saliva samples from participating dads who held their babies approximately an hour after birth. A UNICEF/WHO baby-friendly hospital that encourages skin-to-skin contact between parents and newborns, Memorial is not affiliated with a university. However, Memorial labor and delivery nurses were excited to partner with Gettler and Kuo because their study aligns with the nurses’ goal to encourage interaction between fathers and their newborns.
A follow-up survey completed by 180 of the original participants gave Gettler and Kuo insight into the level of care fathers invested in the first four months of their newborns’ lives.
Cortisol is sometimes referred to as the “stress hormone,” but this study and others show that elevated cortisol is not always harmful, but helpful.
“We tend to think of cortisol as a ‘bad’ hormone, but babies do require a lot of care and you do need to be vigilant,” Kuo said. “We think that elevated cortisol is a sort of orienting response that can help the body prepare for child care.”
It’s not surprising that cortisol level in dads is high on the day of birth. And, as long as it’s not chronically elevated, it can have benefits, Gettler explained. Some data show that this is beneficial in moms as well, since it could make moms more prone to being responsive to their babies’ cues signaling hunger or illness, for example.
“When we were approached by Dr. Gettler to help in his study, we had no idea it would end up taking two years and 1,600 tubes of saliva,” said Patricia De Stefano, manager of the Memorial Childbirth Unit. “Our nurses are very passionate about the involvement of dads in the birth process and were willing to do whatever it took to help children have more involvement with their fathers. We were so thrilled to participate in the study.”
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Materials provided by University of Notre Dame. Original written by Colleen Sharkey. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Health24.com | 3 win chemistry Nobel; Findings led to best-selling drug
Three researchers who “harnessed the power of evolution” to produce enzymes and antibodies that have led to a best-selling drug and biofuels won the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday.
Frances Arnold of the California Institute of Technology was awarded half of the more than $1m prize, while the other half was shared by George Smith of the University of Missouri and Gregory Winter of the MRC molecular biology lab in Cambridge, England.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which chose the winners, said Arnold, 62, conducted the first directed evolution of enzymes, whose uses include “more environmentally friendly manufacturing of chemical substances such as pharmaceuticals and the production of renewable fuels.”
Arnold was only the fifth woman to win a chemistry Nobel since the prizes began in 1901.
Smith, 77, developed a method to evolve new proteins and Winter, 67, used the method to evolve antibodies, which are disease-fighting proteins in the blood.
The first pharmaceutical based on Winter’s work was approved for use in 2002 and is employed to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel diseases, the academy said. The chemical name of the drug is adalimumab, which has several trade names including Humira, one of the top-selling drugs in the world.
The Swedish academy said the winners “harnessed the power of evolution,” meaning they made evolution of proteins happen in their labs.
By introducing genetic mutations, they created wide varieties of the proteins, and then selected for those that worked best for the tasks they wanted to achieve. This was a much faster version of the process that drives the evolution of organisms in the natural world.
Proteins designed by Arnold “do these really off-the-wall things in record time,” said Matt Hartings, an associate chemistry professor at American University. “Her work is incredible.”
He said Arnold’s development of an enzyme that can promote chemical reactions involving silicon was also a startling accomplishment, “completely bonkers.”
Dr Wayne Marasco of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston said the lab technique developed by Smith and Winter was “revolutionary… and it’s used today, every day.”
‘You won!’
Smith, meanwhile, credited others for the work that led to his breakthrough.
“Very few research breakthroughs are novel. Virtually all of them build on what went on before. It’s happenstance. That was certainly the case with my work,” he told The Associated Press.
He said he learned of the prize in a pre-dawn phone call from Stockholm.
“It’s a standard joke that someone with a Swedish accent calls and says ‘You won!’ But there was so much static on the line, I knew it wasn’t any of my friends,” he said.
Arnold, reached by telephone at an airport in Dallas, said she expects to see an increasing number of female Nobel chemistry laureates in the coming years.
“I predict we will see many more Nobel chemistry prizes for women,” said Arnold.
She learned she had won when she was “unceremoniously woken up” at 04:00. in her hotel room in Dallas.
“The phone rang and I was certain it was one of my kids or some emergency, but it wasn’t. First I was stunned, like somebody hit me over the head with something, and then I started to wake up,” she said.
Winter also ran into phone problems, compounded by what he said was brain-fuzz from a feast at Trinity College Cambridge the night before.
“This operator had a Swedish accent,” he told a news conference. “It reminded me of my bank ringing up and telling me I had some dodgy transaction on my account.”
There will be another party shortly in Cambridge. Winter said lab colleagues told him later in the day that more than $3 600 worth of Champagne had been ordered before asking “can we have your credit card please?”
American Chemical Society President Peter Dorhout praised the Nobel winners, saying they “used chemistry to accelerate the evolution of natural biological molecules that act as the critical machinery for living organisms.
“The breakthroughs from these researchers enable that to occur thousands of times faster than nature to improve medicines, fuels and other products,” he said.
Winter said an encounter with a cancer patient early in his career made him realise the importance of his work.
The woman was receiving his then-experimental antibody treatment. Even though Winter didn’t know whether it would work, the patient was grateful for whatever extra time the treatment would give her to spend with her husband.
Winter says he realized afterward there was a “moral imperative” to ensure “what was produced could be used for public benefit.”
Experts said the winners’ discoveries also had an ecological benefit.
“If you can harness enzymes for your own purposes, this is often more environmentally friendly than using heavy metals or toxic substances to make your chemicals,” said Johan Aqvist, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
In other Nobel prizes this year, the medicine prize went on Monday to James Allison of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Tasuku Honjo of Kyoto University, who learned how to release the brakes that cancer can put on immune systems, helping doctors fight many advanced-stage cancer tumors.
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