Healthwise

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NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE WORLD OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH

We should all be delighted at the advances now being made by scientists, researchers and the medical profession. For 2011 we continue to highlight some of the latest developments in health and medicine. 

 

Cancer benefits from sun

Research in Canada shows that spending an average of three hours a day exposed to sunlight could reduce the risk of breast cancer by up to 50 per cent.

The study, undertaken at the University of Toronto, involved more than 6000 women and the results showed that for women in their forties and fifties who had at least 21 hours a week of exposure to the sun’s UV rays, the risk of developing cancer fell by 26 per cent. For women over 60, the risk was halved.

Drug free calming for dementia

A DVD is available that is said to calm agitated and distressed dementia sufferers. The DVD, called A Sense of Calm, was developed by Peter Higgins after he saw the calming experience of a sensory room in a local care facility.

The sensory room offered treatment involving coloured light, soothing sounds and other aspects to calm patients, and Peter has tried to recreate the experience through a DVD that can be used at home. It includes music played at 60 beats a minute to imitate a slow heart beat with gentle repetition to promote alpha brain waves. More information on www.asenseofcalm.com

Live to 90

An American doctor and past president of the American Heart Association has devised seven key steps to help people live to 90 or even 100.

He says the key steps are exercise, good diet, avoid smoking, knowing and controlling cholesterol levels, knowing and controlling blood pressure, achieving and maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding or managing diabetes.

Dr Clyde Yancy, now professor of medicine and chief of cardiology at the Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, says achieving these seven simple lifestyle factors gives people a 90 per cent chance of living to the age of 90.

Cinnamon extract for Alzheimer’s

Tests on mice and fruit flies have indicated that the use of an extract from cinnamon could help stave off Alzheimer’s and even result in a cure.

Scientists at Tel Aviv University believe the extract can break up amyloid fibres that build up in the brain and also kill neurons associated with Alzheimer’s. More research is being undertaken.

The foundations of memory

A research team, led by Yingzi Lin, a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at America’s MIT, has identified a main controller of memory in the brain.

When you experience a new event, the brain encodes a memory of it by altering its neuron connections. The MIT neuroscientists have identified what they believe could be the master gene that controls this entire process. This is helping to reveal the molecular base of memory formation and might also help pinpoint the exact locations of memories in the brain, leading to further understanding of memory development and possibly, long term, help for those with memory impairments.

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