entire Web this site home > current health & longevity news health & longevity news archive Bio-News: Health and Longevity Deep breathing 'cuts stress as much as massage' (Mar 16, 2010) Massage is no more effective at cutting anxiety than deep breathing and soothing music, say US researchers. The study of 68 people, reported in Depression and Anxiety, showed anxiety symptoms were halved for those given 10 massage sessions over three months. But those given relaxation therapy, which is much cheaper, improved by the same amount. Read more. Source: BBC Brain scans 'can distinguish memories', say scientists (Mar 11, 2010) Scientists say they have been able to tell which past event a person is recalling using a brain scan. The University College London researchers showed people film clips and were able to predict which ones they were subsequently thinking about. The research, published in Current Biology, provides insight into how memories are recorded. Read more. Source: BBC Azerbaijan's long lifers 'a dying breed' (Mar 7, 2010) The famously long-lived people of the Talysh Mountains are now said to be dying younger, reports the BBC's Tom Esslemont from Azerbaijan. A shaft of pale sunlight provides welcome warmth in Mahbuba Fatullaeva's bedroom. At the age of 112, she prefers to recline against a set of fluffy pillows than to sit up and give an interview. Read more. Source: BBC Nap 'boosts' brain learning power (Feb 24, 2010) A nap during the day improves the brain's ability to absorb new information, US scientists claim. Volunteers who slept for 90 minutes during the day did better at cognitive tests than those who were kept awake. Results of the University of California at Berkeley study involving 39 healthy adults were presented at a conference. Read more. Source: BBC Singing 'rewires' damaged brain (Feb 21, 2010) Teaching stroke patients to sing "rewires" their brains, helping them recover their speech, say scientists. By singing, patients use a different area of the brain from the area involved in speech. If a person's "speech center" is damaged by a stroke, they can learn to use their "singing center" instead. Read more. Source: BBC Scientists show lifespan is linked to DNA (Feb 8, 2010) Scientists have isolated a gene sequence that appears to determine how fast our bodies age, the first time a link between DNA and human lifespan has been found. The discovery could have a profound impact on public health and raises the best hope yet for drugs that prevent the biological wear and tear behind common age-related conditions such as heart disease and certain cancers. Read more. Source: The Guardian Vegetative state patients can respond to questions (Feb 4, 2010) Scientists have been able to reach into the mind of a brain-damaged man and communicate with his thoughts. The research, carried out at in the UK and in Belgium, involved a new brain scanning method. Awareness was detected in three other patients previously diagnosed as being in a vegetative state. Read more. Source: BBC Scientists crack 'entire genetic code' of cancer (Dec 18, 2009) Scientists have unlocked the entire genetic code of two of the most common cancers – skin and lung – a move they say could revolutionise cancer care. Not only will the cancer maps pave the way for blood tests to spot tumours far earlier, they will also yield new drug targets, says the Wellcome Trust team. Scientists around the globe are now working to catalogue all the genes that go wrong in many types of human cancer. Read more. Source: BBC People who look young for their age 'live longer' (Dec 14, 2009) People blessed with youthful faces are more likely to live to a ripe old age than those who look more than their years, work shows. Danish scientists say appearance alone can predict survival, after they studied 387 pairs of twins. The researchers asked nurses, trainee teachers and peers to guess the age of the twins from mug shots. Read more. Source: BBC Mutant genes 'key to long life' (Nov 16, 2009) There is a clear link between living to 100 and inheriting a hyperactive version of an enzyme that prevents cells from ageing, researchers say. Scientists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the US say centenarian Ashkenazi Jews have this mutant gene. They found that 86 very old people and their children had higher levels of telomerase which protects the DNA. Read more. Source: BBC Depression link to processed food (Nov 2, 2009) Eating a diet high in processed food increases the risk of depression, research suggests. What is more, people who ate plenty of vegetables, fruit and fish actually had a lower risk of depression, the University College London team found. Data on diet among 3,500 middle-aged civil servants was compared with depression five years later, the British Journal of Psychiatry reported. Read more. Source: BBC Curry spice 'kills cancer cells' (Oct 28, 2009) An extract found in the bright yellow curry spice turmeric can kill off cancer cells, scientists have shown. The chemical – curcumin – has long been thought to have healing powers and is already being tested as a treatment for arthritis and even dementia. Now tests by a team at the Cork Cancer Research Centre show it can destroy gullet cancer cells in the lab. Read more. Source: BBC Science to 'stop age clock at 50' (Oct 20, 2009) Centenarians with the bodies of 50-year-olds will one day be a realistic possibility, say scientists. Half of babies now born in the UK will reach 100, thanks to higher living standards, but our bodies are wearing out at the same rate. To achieve "50 active years after 50", experts at Leeds University are spending £50m over five years looking at innovative solutions. Read more. Source: BBC Learning to juggle grows brain networks for good (Oct 12, 2009) Juggling boosts the connections between different parts of the brain by tweaking the architecture of the brain's "white matter" – a finding that could lead to new therapies for people with brain injuries. Jan Scholz and his colleagues at the University of Oxford found that people learning to juggle grew more white matter in a part of the parietal lobe – an area involved in connecting what we see to how we move. Read more. Source: New Scientist Educated women 'aid long life' (Oct 6, 2009) A well-educated woman positively influences both her own and her partner's chances of a long life, Swedish research suggests. A man whose partner had only a school education has a 25% greater risk of dying early than if she had had a university education, it suggests. The authors say educated women may be more likely to understand the various health messages their families needed. Read more. Source: BBC Med-style diet 'can battle blues' (Oct 6, 2009) The Mediterranean diet, already thought to protect against heart disease and cancer, may also help to prevent depression, Spanish researchers say. They found depression was more than 30% less likely to develop in people who followed a diet high in vegetables, fruit and cereals, and low in red meat. They studied 10,094 healthy adults over four years, the Journal of the American Medical Association reports. Read more. Source: BBC Half of babies 'will live to 100' (Oct 2, 2009) More than half of babies now born in the UK and other wealthy nations will live to 100 years, researchers say. The study, published in The Lancet journal, also says the extra years are spent with less serious disability. Data from more than 30 developed countries shows that since 1950 the probability of surviving past 80 years of age has doubled for both sexes. Read more. Source: BBC Melon compound 'reduces stress' (Sep 17, 2009) Scientists may have uncovered a natural way to combat stress – eat a melon. The key ingredient is an enzyme called superoxide dismutase, thought to have beneficial antioxidant properties which prevent damage to the body's tissues. Volunteers given a capsule containing the enzyme reported fewer symptoms of stress and fatigue than those given a dummy capsule. Read more. Source: BBC Alzheimer's research links three genes to disease (Sep 7, 2009) Scientists have discovered a trio of genetic mutations that account for nearly 100,000 cases of Alzheimer's disease in Britain today. Three genes that protect the brain from damage and ensure neurons work properly were found to be impaired in many patients with the disease, in the largest genetic study of the condition yet. Read more. Source: The Guardian Moderate drinking 'boosts bones' (Aug 17, 2009) Women who drink moderate amounts of beer may be strengthening their bones, according to Spanish researchers. Their study of almost 1,700 women, published in the journal Nutrition, found bone density was better in regular drinkers than non-drinkers. But the team added that plant hormones in the beer rather than the alcohol may be responsible for the effects. Read more. Source: BBC Beetroot juice 'boosts stamina' (Aug 7, 2009) Drinking beetroot juice boosts stamina and could help people exercise for up to 16% longer, a UK study suggests. A University of Exeter team found nitrate contained in the vegetable leads to a reduction in oxygen uptake – making exercise less tiring. The small Journal of Applied Physiology study suggests the effect is greater than that which can be achieved by regular training. Read more. Source: BBC Replacement teeth grown in mice (Aug 5, 2009) Researchers in Japan have successfully grown replacement teeth in mice, according to a report in PNAS journal. Tissue containing the cells and instructions for building a tooth was transplanted into the jawbones of mice. They report that these tissue "germs" regularly grew into fully functional teeth with a hardness comparable to that of the natural variety. Read more. Source: BBC Dairy for children 'extends life' (Jul 28, 2009) Children who eat plenty of dairy foods such as milk and cheese can expect to live longer, a study suggests. Some 4,374 UK children from a 1930s study were traced 65 years later by researchers in Bristol and Queensland. They found those who had had high dairy and calcium intakes as children had been protected against stroke and other causes of death, journal Heart reports. Read more. Source: BBC Proof mounts on restricted diet (Jul 10, 2009) Cutting calories may delay the ageing process and reduce the risk of disease, a long-term study of monkeys suggests. The benefits of calorie restriction are well documented in animals, but now the results have been replicated in a close relative of man over a lengthy period. Over 20 years, monkeys whose diets were not restricted were nearly three times more likely to have died than those whose calories were counted. Read more. Source: BBC Coffee 'may reverse Alzheimer's' (Jul 6, 2009) Drinking five cups of coffee a day could reverse memory problems seen in Alzheimer's disease, US scientists say. The Florida research, carried out on mice, also suggested caffeine hampered the production of the protein plaques which are the hallmark of the disease. Previous research has also suggested a protective effect from caffeine. Read more. Source: BBC Vegetarians 'avoid more cancers' (Jul 2, 2009) Vegetarians are generally less likely than meat eaters to develop cancer but this does not apply to all forms of the disease, a major study has found. The study involving 60,000 people found those who followed a vegetarian diet developed notably fewer cancers of the blood, bladder and stomach. But the apparently protective effect of vegetarian did not seem to stretch to bowel cancer, a major killer. Read more. Source: BBC home | bio-news archive BACK TO TOP

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