End of week round-up
A while back I blogged about the Science of beauty products and I asked about the biology of grey hairs. And my fellow Indy Science Bloggers The Beauty Brains answered:
Why Do Gray Hairs Look And Feel Different?:
They explain about the two different types of melanin - eumelanin and pheomelanin - and how they are responsible for hair color. Apparently the the melanin producing cells - melanocytes - stop making melanin as we get older. Apparently no one knows how to make it stop either! And they just seem to feel more kinky and unruly - but are actually the same but just stand out more because they are a different color.
Another fellow Indy Science Bloggers - robot guy - was just interviewed by Kilimanjaro magazine! In the interview he talks about astronomy and rocketry and how he was influenced by science fiction. He also talks about how special of a place is the Earth is and how we need to “be stewards of our planet, for there is really no other planet close by suited to our needs”.
February 22, 2007
Odds and Ends - (2/22)
( Due to continuing neck/back problems - I’m going to have to write posts for a while that are a little more eclectic and shorter.)
A study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows that when women having amniocentesis are given local anesthesia such as lidocaine there is no statistically significant difference in the amount of pain they experience during the procedure.
The Journal of Clinical Oncology presents a paper with evidence that the side effects of breast cancer therapy can very quite a bit depending upon the women’s age.
I bet most people have heard this already - a baby born after 21 weeks and six days of pregnancy at only
9.5 inches long and less than 10 ounces this past October will be going home soon! She is possibly the most premature baby to ever survive.
Not related to just women’s health, but still interesting is a paper in American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology showing that the way doctors dress doesn’t influence how professional or competent people perceive them to be - or how satisfied they are with their care. Personally, I know I don’t care how they dress but I think that if they are too dressed up it makes them seem less human or caring. And I guess this means that House has an excuse now not to wear a lab coat!
February 20, 2007
New cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines for women
(I’ve been having ergonomic problems again and have not been able to post too much.)
The American Heart Association just released new guidelines for women to help prevent cardiovascular disease. The emphasis of the updated guidelines is on long term, lifetime risk reduction not just short term reduction.
The recommendations include the reduction of alcohol consumption and sodium intake, controling weight and increasing physical activity.
The physical activity levels recommended for women trying to lose weight or keep it off are to exercise at an intensity level to that of brisk walking for a minimum of 60 to 90 minutes a day - everyday! While I don’t doubt that that is a good idea I do doubt that most women would have time for that. After working 8+ hours a day, driving back and forth to work, cooking and other household work and possibly taking care of children - how many women really have time to exercise an hour or and hour and a half each day? (How many men have that much time to exercise either?)
It is also recommended that women stop smoking and eat more fruits and vegetables - that’s nothing new or surprising either. Reducing saturated fat intake to less than 7% of calories shouldn’t be terribly difficult for most women, but eating fish 2 or more times a week could be hard when you also have to balance that with not eating fish high in mercury.
A new thing included is recommending women take aspirin on a regular basis if they are over 65. Also, keeping LDL cholesterol levels to less than 70 mg/dL in women who are very high-risk is recommended.
Considering that the chance of a women dying from cardiovascular disease during her lifetime is almost 1 in 3 - it is very important that women be aware of what they can do to keep themselves healthier. I wonder how realistic these guidelines are though and how many women will really follow them?
(Technorati Tags: cardiovascular, heart, cholesterol, exercise, aspirin)
February 14, 2007
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
For Valentine’s Day The Beauty Brains are having a 7 part countdown to Valentine’s Day.
In The Color Of Love they discuss the where the red dye originally came from. In Love Chemistry you can read about the effects of the hormone oxytocin and how it results in us feeling love and trust towards others. Also learn about Self Cleaning Lingerie and find out whether or not candy is bad for your skin. Go to their site to see today’s post for Valentine’s Day!
Looking for something charitable to do for Valentine’s Day? Consider donating to The Great American Condom Campaign. Their mission is to “reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections by engaging and educating Americans about critical public and personal health issues related to condom use”. Rachel explains more about what they do here. (I wish they had a buttom or banner we could place on our sites to help promote condom use.)
Anyway, have a happy - and safe - Valentine’s Day!
February 12, 2007
Breast cancer - genes, tests and drugs
A team led by Angela Cox of Sheffield University Medical School in the UK recently published in Nature Genetics the discovery of a gene that appears to decrease the chance of getting breast cancer in women of European descent by around 13%. The utilized data collected from 14 studies involving around 33,000 women. The gene is called CASP8 and is a member of the cysteine-aspartic acid protease family of genes also known as caspases. Caspases are involved in apoptosis, which is the programmed death of certain cells. Many cancers involve mutations in genes that are involved with apoptosis resulting in cancerous cells remaining alive despite having mutations that should have resulted in their dying through apoptosis.
Recently the FDA approved a test that can help predict whether or not women who have had breast cancer before are likely to have it return. The test is called MammaPrint and uses a sample from the person’s breast cancer. DNA from the sample is then analyzed and the activity of about 70 different genes are measured.
A report in Cancer finds that some newer breast cancer drugs called aromatase inhibitors are safer and have less side effects than tamoxifen and their users tend to live longer. They only for women who are post-menopausal however. Aromatase inhibitors block the activity of the enzyme aromatase thereby preventing the conversion of androgens into estrogens.
(Technorati Tags: breast cancer, apoptosis, cancer, tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors)
February 9, 2007
Indy Science Blogs favorites
Emily at The Antidote blogged earlier this year about a topic that has been of great interest to me for a long time - open access to scientific journals. As Americans our taxes pay for lots of research to be done - but we don’t have access to the results of that research. The results get published in journals that are really too expensive for most people to subscribe to - many are hundreds of dollars a year. The only ones who then end up with access are people at universities or large corporations that can afford an institutional subscription rate. That leaves most people without access to the results of research that we have paid for. What can we do about this? I don’t know, I need to learn more about the details of what’s involved. If/when I find out something, I’ll be sure to post it on this blog.
Barry Leiba at Staring at Empty Pages wrote last week about a really frightening report of the UK - only about 5% of reported rapes result in convictions. He then goes through each of the arguments many men use as an excuse for rape - read it - we need more men like him to make it clear to other men that rape is not an acceptable behavior.
One man is killed for teaching girls, another for giving a patient an abortion, an 8 year old girl is sold as a concubine - what do all these cases have in common? Read the The Rational Fool’s post on the Root of Evil II.
In other science news Michael White of Adaptive Complexity updates us on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. There is now so much evidence that people are responsible for climate change that anyone who still tries to say otherwise just looks stupid. He explains it much better than me though.
(Technorati Tags: research, open access)
February 8, 2007
Kids and obesity
A number of studies have came out recently about health issues in overweight kids. One, from the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons points out the risk of foot damage. Kid’s feet don’t become developed completely until they are in their teens - for boys this is from 15 to 17 years old and for girls, 14 or 15. If too much weight and stress is on their feet it can lead to foot structure problems such as arches flattening and the growth plate of the heel becoming inflamed.
According to the Journal of the National Medical Association kids, like adults who are obese, may risk more complications from surgery such as breathing problems, airway obstruction and needing more anti-nausea medication.
Earlier this year the Journal of Pediatrics published a study showing that even girls as young as 9 have sometimes developed problems that put them at higher risk for heart disease. This includes higher blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
A report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine collected data on the eating habits and activity levels of over 800 adolescents. The behaviors they analyzed were 1) amount of physical activity, 2) number of servings of fruits and vegetables, 3) % of calories from fat and 4) time spent watching televsion.
The results were somewhat shocking! Over half didn’t engage in 60 or more minutes of activity each day, only 12% ate 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables, just 32% got less 30% of calories from fat and around 30% watched more than 2 hours of TV a day. Only 2% did all four healthy things. And in addition, there was some evidence the behavior of the kids was related to the behavior of their parents.
I’m not sure if I really meet all those guidelines either - but I’ve been working on it. I don’t quite get an average of 60 minutes of exercise each day, but I’m working on it. I’m a little short on the fruits and vegetables thing too, but most days I watch less than 2 hours of TV - plus when I watch it is usually while I’m exercising.
I will definitely make sure my behavior is better by the time I’m a parent. One of the best ways to get kids to live a healthy lifestyle is to set a good example as parents.
February 6, 2007
Prenatal health
According to a report in The Lancet there is now a potential new test to check for genetic abnormalities like Down’s syndrome. Currently testing for these types of things involves using chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis. This new test is non-invasive and analyzes DNA from the fetus taken from the mother’s blood samples. More trials and testing will need to be done with it before it will be approved for medical care.
In the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine there is a paper presenting evidence that women taking antidepressants, such as SSRI’s like Prozac and Zoloft, while pregnant doesn’t have an effect on the behavior of the child later on. Four year old children were observed and no statistically significant behavior differences were seen. However, the mother’s moods and stress levels seemed to have an effect on the kids behavior and development.
Drinking alcohol while pregnant - especially during the first two months when many women don’t know they are pregnant - can result in birth defects, can negatively effect normal development of the nervous system and cause fetal alcohol syndrome. In a study published in American Journal of Preventive Medicine over 800 women who drank often and didn’t use reliable birth control were placed randomly into either a group to get counseling or not. It was found that even 5 short sessions with a counselor were enough to reduce their drinking and get them to use birth control.
(Technorati Tags: pregnancy, antidepressants, Prozac, Zoloft, alcohol)
February 5, 2007
Lung health in women and children
Recently in The Lancet a paper was published that presents evidence that kids who live with 500 yards of a highway have less lung function as an adult. The study collected data from over 3000 kids in southern California for a period of 8 years. Air pollution from traffic apparently keeps their lungs from developing properly. Decreased lung functioning at a younger age increases the chances of respiratory and cardiovascular disease later on in life.
Another report in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that the risk of heart disease such as strokes and heart attacks is greatly increased in women who are exposed to fine particulate air pollution. This type of pollution is made of very tiny particles and comes from the burning of fossil fuels. It is not yet known how these particles result in such problems but it may be due to them causing inflammation in the blood vessels and the lungs - which could then lead to the build up of fatty deposits in the arteries.
Data from a paper in Lung Cancer suggests that more money and effort should be put into research in lung cancer in women. More women die from lung cancer than other types of cancer such as breast, ovarian and uterine. Due to smoking being more common in men and women in the past, men’s rate of lung cancer was higher, but now it is increasing in women. It is believed that women might be more susceptible to carcinogens in smoke from tobacco than men are. In the past more lung cancer research was focused on just men. It is now also known that women respond to treatment for lung cancer differently from men. Clearly, much more research needs to be completed to fully understand lung disease in women and how if differs from men.
February 2, 2007
Science of beauty products
Today I want to introduce you to a blog of a couple of my fellow Indy Science Bloggers - The Beauty Brains. They are both professional cosmetic chemists who have more than 30 years of experience with cosmetics. They blog about all sorts of topics concerning beauty products and the science behind them. For example they have posts about hair, skin, make-up and much more.
Today I spent some time reading about sunscreens on their blog. I do a lot of gardening in the summer so I am out in the sun quite a bit. I want to minimize the effect the sun has on my skin - age spots and wrinkles as well as reduce my chance of getting skin cancer.
One post answers the question of what is a good sunscreen. They explain the differences between UVA and UVB light and the damage done by both. They also talk about the difference between physical and chemical UV blockers.
In another post they mention that antioxidants in sunscreen may actually have some antiaging properties. I never would have thought that. I just figured it was something made up to get people to buy a product!
They also discuss issues surrounding which sunscreens are available in the US compared to Europe. Its partly due to regulatory and legal issues because in the US sunscreens have to approved by the FDA.
It looks like when summer gets here this year I will have to put a little more thought into what sunscreen I buy this time!
Here’s a question I have for the Beauty Brains - you mentioned on your site that grey hair looks grey because it has lost its melanin, which gives hair its pigment. What’s the biology involved with that? What actually causes hair to lose its melanin? And is there anything we can do to slow the process down? And why do my grey hairs seem more kinky and unruly compared to the rest of my hair?
(Technorati Tags: cosmetics, antioxidants, sunscreen, melanin, wrinkles, grey hair, cancer)
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