Monthly Archives: July 2013

Health, Medical, Research, Science

Obesity and the risk of having brittle bones…

RESEARCH AT HARVARD OVERTURNS TRADITIONAL THINKING

According to recent research, being very overweight could put you at risk of brittle bones.

Up until now scientists had thought that carrying a few extra pounds helped to protect bones and prevent fractures.

The researchers believe that instead of protecting bones, the extra fat triggers the formation of cells called osteoclasts which gradually wear them down. They also suspect that if large amounts of fat are stored within the bone it inhibits the production of new bone tissue.

Scientists had assumed that being obese protected bones as fat cells release the hormone oestrogen. This is known to encourage bones to absorb the mineral calcium from the diet, which makes them stronger.

But in the past few years a growing number of studies have dispelled this theory by showing that very overweight adults tend to have thinner bones and a lower bone density.

This latest study by academics at Harvard University in Boston has suggested a cause by claiming that high levels of fat in the bones gradually wear them down.

The research-lead on this study at Harvard Medical School, associate professor Miriam Bredella, said:

… Obesity was once thought to be protective against bone loss. We have found that this is not true. Bone marrow fat makes bones weak. If you have a spine that’s filled with fat, it’s not going to be as strong.

Her study – first published in the journal Radiology – looked at the bones and fat deposits of 106 obese men and women. The researchers used a type of scan called proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure fat in the bone marrow, muscles and liver.

They found that adults with the most fat in their liver and muscles also had the highest levels of fat in their bone marrow, which increases the risk of osteoporosis.

More than three million people in Britain suffer from the disease for which there is no cure.

And in further developments, children as young as eight are showing signs of high blood pressure due to obesity.

Campaigners say these children are putting themselves at high risk of strokes, heart attacks and liver disease in adulthood and should watch their weight and salt intake.

Harvard academics looked at blood pressure readings, weights and diets of 8,300 children aged eight to 17 surveyed between 1999 and 2008. They compared their average results with those of a group of 3,200 similar-aged children who were studied from 1988 to 1994.

Girls in the most recent group were 53 per cent more likely to have higher than normal blood pressure. Some 12.6 per cent had higher than normal readings compared to 8.2 per cent of those surveyed earlier.

The proportion of boys with higher blood pressure rose from 15.8 per cent to 19.2 per cent, an increase of 21 per cent.

British scientists expect the US results would prove to be similar here as so many children are now obese.

A statement issued by the British Heart Foundation, said:

… It’s a real concern to see raised levels at such a young age. Unhealthy habits formed in childhood can be hard to shake off.

Standard
China, Foreign Affairs, Government, Japan, Military, Russia, United States

Russian war games in a show of strength…

RUSSIA FLEXES ITS MILITARY MUSCLES

RUSSIA has just started the biggest military exercises since the Soviet era, involving 160,000 troops and about 5,000 tanks across Siberia and the far eastern region in a massive show of strength.

Throughout this week dozens of Russian Pacific Fleet ships and around 130 combat aircraft will take part in military manoeuvres. Part of those drills will be on Sakhalin Island in the Pacific, where thousands of troops have been ferried and airlifted from the mainland.

Russia’s deputy defence minister, Anatoly Antonov, has made clear and assured foreign military attachés that the exercises are not directed against any particular nation, though some military analysts believe the show of force is aimed at China and Japan.

A retired officer of the Russian military’s general staff, Konstantin Sivkov, gave an interview to the daily newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta and briefed that the Sakhalin part of the manoeuvres are intended to simulate a response to a hypothetical attack by Japanese and US forces.

Russia and Japan are currently in dispute over a group of Pacific islands, which Russia calls the Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories.

Russia tanks move across Sakhalin Island during military exercises seen by many as a warning to China and Japan.

Russia tanks move across Sakhalin Island during military exercises seen by many as a warning to China and Japan.

Mr Antonov said that Russia had warned its neighbours about the exercise before it started, and provided particularly detailed information to China, in line with an agreement that envisages a mutual exchange of data about military activities along their 2,700-mile border.

The Cold War-era rivals have forged what they have described as a ‘strategic partnership’ since the 1991 Soviet Union collapse, developing close political, economic and military ties in a shared aspiration to counter US power around the world.

Russia has supplied sophisticated weapons to China, and the neighbours have conducted joint military drills, most recently a naval exercise in the Sea of Japan earlier this month.

But many in Russia have felt increasingly uneasy about the growing might of China.

Russia and China had territorial disputes for centuries. Relations between Communist China and the Soviet Union ruptured in the 1960s, and the two fought a brief border conflict in 1969. It wasn’t until 2004 that Moscow and Beijing signed a new border treaty, which saw Russia yielding control over several islands in the Amur River. Some in Russia’s sparsely populated far east feared that the concessions might tempt China’s resolve or by teasing its appetite.

Alexander Khramchikhin, an independent Moscow-based military analyst, said the massive exercise held in the areas along the border with China was clearly aimed at Beijing. He said: ‘It’s quite obvious that the land part of the exercise is directed at China, while sea and island part of it is aimed at Japan.’

Mr Khramchikhin, who recently posted an article online portraying a grim picture of Russia being routed in a surprise Chinese attack, said that the war games along their shared border was intended to discourage China from harbouring expansionist plots. In his article, Mr Khramchikhin wrote: ‘China may now think that Russia has finally become more aware of what could happen.’

The manoeuvres are part of recent efforts to boost the military’s mobility and combat readiness after years of post-Soviet decline, but they have far exceeded previous drills in both numbers and territorial scope.

As part of the war games, held across several time zones, some army units have been deployed to areas thousands of miles away from their bases. Paratroopers have been flown across Russia in long-range transport aircraft, and some units were ferried to Sakhalin under escort of navy ships and fighter jets.

A decade of post-Soviet economic meltdown has crippled Russia’s military capability, with a lack of funds for building and maintaining equipment, and mass draft-dodging of soldiers due to corruption and bullying.

The Kremlin responded to weaknesses revealed in a brief conflict with Georgia in 2008 by launching reforms intended to turn the bloated military into a more modern, agile and rapid reaction force.

The government has also unveiled an ambitious arms modernisation programme, though this has come under attack by a number of analysts describing the proposals as ‘clearly insufficient’.

Standard
Health, Medical, Research, Science

A drug used for treating diabetes could cut risk of developing dementia…

METFORMIN

A drug used to treat diabetes could cut the risk of developing dementia by 20 per cent, a research study has found.

Around 15,000 people aged over 55 diagnosed with the type 2 form of the disease were given the drug metformin over a period of five years.

But when scientists looked back over medical records they found the drug also reduced the chance of those with diabetes developing dementia.

Metformin, one of the most common forms of treatments for diabetes, makes the body more sensitive to insulin, which diabetes sufferers cannot naturally produce.

About 800,000 people in the UK suffer from a form of dementia, with more than half being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

The Alzheimer’s Society in the UK said the study results were ‘positive news’ because diabetics are twice as likely to develop dementia as those who don’t have it. The Society has said that whilst this study is encouraging it is still not sure exactly how metformin works with regards to dementia. But it added:

… What is becoming increasingly apparent is the role of insulin in the brain and the way it can regulate the brains behaviour.

Clinical trials are now underway to test metformin as a therapy for both dementia and mild cognitive impairment.

The study by scientists at Kaiser Permanente was presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International conference in Boston earlier this week.

A statement issued by the Alzheimer’s Society said that due to the ‘huge cost’ of developing treatments ‘from scratch’ it was important to explore whether existing drugs could also treat dementia.

Standard