keep calm and don’t stress
Maternal stress has been linked to a number of negative outcomes for women and their infants, including some developmental and behavioural problems. Now, increasing stress level has been linked to the development of asthma. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found out that stress among pregnant mice — even a single bout — led to an increased risk of allergy-induced asthma in their offspring. They found that high concentrations of stress hormones (corticosterone or CORT) in the mother can cross the placenta and increase fetal CORT levels, potentially leading to a higher vulnerability to asthma and allergies.
Bacteria aid in intestinal lining
Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that bacteria that aid in digestion help keep the intestinal lining intact. The findings, reported online in the journal Immunity, could yield new therapies for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and a wide range of other disorders. “By adding probiotics in the form of IPA-producing bacteria to the intestine or by administering IPA directly, we may be able to prevent or treat IBD and other inflammatory disorders that occur when the intestinal epithelium has been compromised,” said Sridhar Mani, MD, co-corresponding author of the paper. The research involved the intestinal microbiome, which contains some 100 trillion bacteria.
Pesticide DDT linked to slow metabolism
Exposure of pregnant mice to the pesticide DDT is linked to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and related conditions in female offspring later in life, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis. The study, published online in the journal PlOS ONE, is the first to show that developmental exposure to DDT increases the risk of females later developing metabolic syndrome. “As mammals, we have to regulate our body temperature in order to live,” la Merrill said. “We found that DDT reduced female mice's ability to generate heat. If you're not generating as much heat as the next guy, instead of burning calories, you're storing them.”
Take note of the time
A study shows heart attack patients who arrive at the hospital during weeknights, weekends and holidays have a 13 per cent increased risk of dying compared with those arriving on regular business hours. This new research has been carried out in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. “Slower door-to-balloon times for people who arrived at the hospital during off hours is likely due to staffing. In the middle of the night, the hospital catheterisation lab where angioplasty and other artery-opening procedures are performed is closed,” said Jorge Saucedo, MD, lead author of the study.
Vaccine for dust-mite allergies
Researchers at the University of Iowa have developed a vaccine that can combat dust-mite allergies by naturally switching the body's immune response. In animal tests, the nano-sized vaccine package lowered lung inflammation by 83 per cent, according to the paper, published in the AAPS (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists). “Our research explores a novel approach to treating mite allergy in which specially-encapsulated miniscule particles are administered with sequences of bacterial DNA that direct the immune system to suppress allergic immune responses,” says Peter Thorne of UI.