New 'wonder pill' offers hope for asthmatics

Warding off asthma may soon be as simple as popping a pill, suggests a recent study.
The first new asthma pill for nearly 20 years has the power to significantly reduce the severity of the condition, the University of Leicester research found.
"This new drug could be a game changer for future treatment of asthma," said lead researcher Chris Brightling. 

Fevipiprant (QAW039) significantly decreased the symptoms of asthma, improved lung function, reduced inflammation and repaired the lining of airways.
The drug is currently being evaluated in late stage clinical trials for efficacy in patients with severe asthma, according to ClinTrials.gov.
A total of 61 people took part in the research. One group was given 225mg of the drug twice a day for 12 weeks and the other participants were assigned to a placebo group. Fevipiprant and the placebo were added to the medications the participants were already taking.
The study was designed primarily to examine the effects on inflammation in the airway by measuring the sputum eosinophil count.
The sputum eosinophil is an inflammation measurement of a white blood cell that increases in asthma and is used to assess the severity of this condition.
People who do not have asthma have a percentage of less than one and those with moderate-to-severe asthma typically have a reading of about five percent.
The rate in people with moderate-to-severe asthma taking the medication was reduced from an average of 5.4 percent to 1.1 percent over 12 weeks, according to the study.
Brightling noted: "A unique feature of this study was how it included measurements of symptoms, lung function using breathing tests, sampling of the airway wall and CT scans of the chest to give a complete picture of how the new drug works. Most treatments might improve some of these features of disease, but with Fevipiprant improvements were seen with all of the types of tests."
He added, "We already know that using treatments to target eosinophilic airway inflammation can substantially reduce asthma attacks. This new treatment, Fevipiprant, could likewise help to stop preventable asthma attacks, reduce hospital admissions and improve day-to-day symptoms- making it a 'game changer' for future treatment."

Gaye Stokes from Grantham in Lincolnshire has had severe asthma for 16 years. She took part in the trial and was part of the Fevipiprant group.
The 54-year-old said: "I knew straight away that I had been given the drug. I felt like a completely different person. I had more get up and go, I was less wheezy and for the first time in years I felt really, really well. For me, it felt like a complete wonder drug and I can't wait for it to be available because I really think it could make a huge difference to me."
After the 12 week trial and Gaye stopped receiving the drug, she said her health started to "go downhill again very quickly." 

 Future treatment of human disease will increasingly move from a 'one size fits all' approach to one of tailoring the treatment to the individual patient.

The study is published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal. 

ps- waiting eagerly for this wonder drug to hit the market, as many like me can benefit from it !  as only asthmatics know what it is like to get breathless due to severe attacks, when we literally gasp for breath and feel choked.

 
 this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.
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Omega-3 fatty acids key to super heart health

Significantly higher consumption of omega-3 fatty acids among middle-aged Japanese men appears to impart a protective factor that wards off heart disease, a study has revealed.

"Previous studies investigated substantially lower intake of omega-3 fatty acids than what people in Japan actually get through their diet. Our study indicates that the level of omega-3 fatty acids consumed must be higher than previously thought to impart substantial protection," said Akira Sekikawa, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health.

Marine-derived omega-3 fatty acids in fish, especially oily fish as well as in squid and krill, may help to reduce inflammation and slow the formation of fatty plaques in arteries.

Researchers partnered with scientists in Japan, Hawaii and Philadelphia to follow nearly 300 men for five years.

They tracked multiple factors that affect cardiovascular health, including cigarette smoking, cholesterol levels, alcohol consumption, diabetes and high blood pressure.

After accounting the risk factors for heart disease, US men had three times the incidence of coronary artery calcification as compared to Japanese men.

Meanwhile, the levels of marine-derived omega-3 fatty acid in the blood were more than 100 per cent higher in the Japanese men.

The average dietary intake of fish by people living in Japan is nearly 100 grams each day.

The average American eats about 7 to 13 grams of fish a day, or about one serving a week.

"I am not encouraging Americans to start consuming massive amounts of fish, which may have harmful contaminants such as mercury in their flesh," added Sekikawa.

It is worthwhile to take another look at the effect of marine-derived omega-3 fatty acids on heart disease particularly when consumed at higher rates than previously investigated, suggested the study published in the journal Heart.

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Maternal exercise benefits newborn brain development

Though pregnant women are advised to consult their doctor before beginning an exercise program, researchers  have found that expectant mothers who exercise at least 20 minutes three times per week could be giving their child a head-start, cerebrally speaking.

"Our research indicates that exercise during pregnancy enhances the newborn child's brain development," says a  Prof. 

He notes that comparable results have been found in animal studies, but theirs is the first trial in humans to show the link between exercise during pregnancy and benefits for the brains of newborns.

Prof. , who also helped conduct the research, notes: "Given that exercise has been demonstrated to be beneficial for the adult's brain, we hypothesized that it could also be beneficial for the unborn child through the mother's actions."

To conduct their research, the team randomly assigned women starting at the beginning of their second trimester to either an exercise group or a sedentary group.

The women in the exercise group completed at least 20 minutes of moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise that resulted in at least a slight shortness of breath three times per week, while the women in the sedentary group did not exercise.

'Mature cerebral activation'

After the births of the newborns, the researchers analysed their brain activity between the ages of 8 to 12 days. They used electroencephalography, allowing them to record the electrical activity of the newborns' brains.

The team placed 124 soft electrodes on each infant's head and then waited for each baby to fall asleep in his or her mother's lap, after which they measured "auditory memory" via the brain's "unconscious response" to both repeated and new sounds.

other researches who also conducted the research, reveals their findings: "Our results show that the babies born from the mothers who were physically active have a more mature cerebral activation, suggesting that their brains developed more rapidly."

The researchers note that although in the recent past, obstetricians told pregnant women to mostly rest for 9 months, it is now commonly known that inactivity can create health risks.

"While being sedentary increases the risks of suffering complications during pregnancy," says Prof. "being active can ease post-partum recovery, make pregnancy more comfortable and reduce the risk of obesity in the children."

Hopes for public health interventions

Prof. says he hopes their results will "guide public health interventions and research on brain plasticity." He adds that they are "optimistic that this will encourage women to change their health habits, given that the simple act of exercising during pregnancy could make a difference for their child's future."

He told Medical News Today that the "advanced cerebral maturation" the researchers observed in newborns of active mothers "could imply that babies acquire speech more rapidly, and the same could be true for their motor development." He noted that this could also help with their "intellectual and social development"

The team is continuing to assess the children's cognitive, motor and language development at 1-year-old, in order to determine if these brain differences remain over longer periods of time.

Mothers who exercise will gain additional benefits, as it was recently reported that new findings revealed exercise may ward off Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. 

ps- this is only for information, always consult you physician before having any particular food/ medication/exercise/other remedies.

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Why burgers and biscuits can make you depressed - but eating fruit and veg can ward off the blues

Middle aged men whose diet is loaded with junk food - such as processed meat and sugary drinks - are at greater risk from depression, according to a new study.

However, researchers found eating plenty of fruit and vegetables wards off the blues.

A study of more than 2,000 men found a healthy diet reduced their risk of developing the mental illness which affects almost a fifth of adults.

And shedding the pounds by improving diet and exercising more was associated with fewer cases of the condition.

Nutritionist  said: 'The study reinforces the hypothesis a healthy diet has potential not only in the warding off of depression, but also in its prevention.'

Patients with depression often eat poorly and consume fewer nutrients, but it has been unclear whether diet is linked with the risk in healthy people.

The new study found those who ate most vegetables, fruits, berries, whole grains, poultry, fish and low fat cheese suffered less symptoms and a lower risk of the condition during 13 years of follow up.

Increased intake of folate found in vegetables, fruits, berries, whole grains, meat and liver also had a beneficial effect, along with greater coffee consumption.

And participation in a three year lifestyle intervention programme involving a separate group of 140 middle aged men and women improved depression scores, with slimmer bodies leading to fewer symptoms.

But a junk food diet characterised by eating a lot of sausages, processed meats, sugary drinks, desserts and snacks, manufactured foods and baked or processed potatoes was associated with an increase in cases.

Contrary to some earlier observations, vitamin B12 intake, tea drinking and total caffeine intake were not related to the risk of depression in this study.

Depression is one of the leading health challenges in the world and its effects on public health, economics and quality of life are enormous.

Not only treatment of depression, but also prevention of depression needs new approaches. Diet and other lifestyle factors may be one possibility.

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Cinnamon may prevent Alzheimer's according to a study.

The common baking spice cinnamon may hold the key to delaying the onset of - or warding off - the effects of Alzheimer's disease, scientists have found.

Scientists  found that two compounds in cinnamon - cinnamaldehyde and epicatechin - show some promise in the effort to fight the disease.

According to them, the compounds have been shown to prevent the development of the filamentous "tangles" found in the brain cells that characterise Alzheimer's.

Responsible for the assembly of micro-tubules in a cell, a protein called tau plays a large role in the structure of the neurons, as well as their function.

"The problem with tau in Alzheimer's is that it starts aggregating," said  a researcher.

When for the protein does not bind properly to the microtubules that form the cell's structure, it has a tendency to clump together, she explained, forming insoluble fibres in the neuron.

The older we get the more susceptible we are to these twists and tangles, Alzheimer's patients develop them more often and in larger amounts.

The use of cinnamaldehyde, the compound responsible for the bright, sweet smell of cinnamon, has proven effective in preventing the tau knots.

By protecting tau from oxidative stress, the compound, an oil, could inhibit the protein's aggregation. To do this, cinnamaldehyde binds to two residues of an amino acid called cysteine on the tau protein.

The cysteine residues are vulnerable to modifications, a factor that contributes to the development of Alzheimer's.
Previous research indicates that there is a high correlation between Type 2 diabetes and the incidence of Alzheimer's disease.
The elevated glucose levels typical of diabetes lead to the overproduction of reactive oxygen species, resulting in oxidative stress, which is a common factor in both diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

Other research has shown cinnamon's beneficial effects in managing blood glucose and other problems associated with diabetes.

"Since tau is vulnerable to oxidative stress, this study then asks whether Alzheimer's disease could benefit from cinnamon, especially looking at the potential of small compounds," said a researcher.

Although this research shows promise, a researcher said, they are "still a long way from knowing whether this will work in human beings."

The researchers caution against ingesting more than the typical amounts of cinnamon already used in cooking.