News Articles for Man Chester Interview 10.2.10

8/8/2019 News Articles for Man Chester Interview 10.2.10

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Sweet-toothed children 'may have

depression'

While most children like sweets, those with an extra-

sweet tooth may be depressed or at higher risk of future alcohol problems, researchers say.

The US team report in the journal Addiction that certain

children are especially drawn to very sweet tastes.

These were children who had a close relative with an

alcohol problem or who themselves had symptoms of depression.

But it is unclear if the preference for the very sweet is

down to genuine chemical differences or upbringing.

The researchers say sweet taste and alcohol trigger many of the same reward circuits in the

brain.

Lead author Julie Mennella said: "We know that sweettaste is rewarding to all kids and makes them feel good.

"In addition, certain groups of children may be

especially attracted to the intense sweetness due to their underlying biology."

Experts say alcoholics tend to have a sweet tooth.

But the link is less clear in children. Other US researchers have shown that a preference for

the sweetest drinks was found in the ones undergoing growth spurts.

In the latest study, the scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center asked 300 children

aged five to 12, of whom half had a family member with alcohol dependency, to taste fivesweet water drinks containing different amounts of sugar.

The children were asked to say which tasted the best and were also asked questions to check

for depressive symptoms.

A quarter had symptoms that the researchers believed suggested they might be depressed.

Sweet tooth

Liking for intense sweetness was greatest in the 37 children who had both a family history of

alcoholism and reported depressive symptoms.

Sweets may boost 'reward'

chemicals in the brain, experts

believe

It may be that even higher

levels of sweetness are needed to

make depressed children feel

better

Lead researcher Julie Mennella

The taste difference may be

explained by differences like



These children preferred the drink containing the mostsugar - 24% sucrose, which is equivalent to about 14

teaspoons of sugar in a cup of water and more than twicethe level of sweetness in a typical cola.

This was a third more intense than the sweetness level preferred by the other children.

The researchers then decided to test whether the children's taste difference had any impact on

their reaction to pain or discomfort - past studies have suggested sweets may help act as

analgesics as well as mood lifters.

They found non-depressed children were able to tolerate keeping their hands in very coldwater for longer if they had a sugar hit.

However, the extra sugar did nothing to the depressed children's pain threshold.

Cardiff University's Professor Tim Jacob, an expert in smell and taste, said the findings were

interesting, but that it was hard to make firm conclusions or generalisations from one study

alone.

He said the findings could be down to brain chemistry, but might also be explained by

behaviour and upbringing.

"While it is true that sweet things activate reward circuits in the brain, the problem is that

sweets and sugar are addictive, because the activation of these reward circuits causes opioidrelease, and with time more is needed to achieve the same effect.

"But the taste difference may be explained by differences like parental control over sweet

consumption."

Patients with amygdala injury 'unafraid' to

gamble

Californian scientists think they may have discovered

the part of the brain which makes people fear losing

money.

The study, reported in Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences, looked at two patients who had

damaged their amygdala, deep within the brain.

These patients were less worried about financial losses

than the normal volunteers they were compared with.

The scientists say this could translate to how people

make decisions in fields ranging from politics to game shows.

parental control over sweet

consumption

Taste expert Professor Tim Jacob

The amygdala is associated with

fear



'Loss aversion' describes the avoidance of choices which can lead to losses, even whenaccompanied by equal or much larger gains.

Game behaviour

Lead author, Dr Benedetto De Martino, explains: "Imagine you're on Who Wants to Be a

Millionaire.

"You've just answered the £500,000 question correctly

and have moved on to the final question.

"You're down to your 50:50 lifeline but don't know theanswer.

"If you get it right, you'll win £1 million; if you get it wrong, you'll drop back to £32,000.

"The vast majority of people would take the 'loss averse option' and walk away with

£500,000."

This study, carried out by scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), set

out to find out if the amygdala plays a role in causing loss aversion.

It looked at two women who had a rare condition which produced lesions on their amygdalae

but no other brain damage.

The lesions prevented them from perceiving, recognising or feeling fear.

The two women were each matched with six control volunteers who had similar age, income

and education.

Gambles

The participants were offered a series of gambles to test whether the chance of losing moneyaffected their willingness to gamble.

The study found that healthy volunteers would only opt

to gamble if the potential gains were one and a half to

two times the size of the potential losses.

But the patients whose amygdalae were damaged would

play even if there was a much poorer ratio between gains

and losses, and one sometimes played even if the potential loss was greater than the potential gain.

The authors say that a fully functioning amygdala appears to make people more cautious, and

afraid of losing money.

"It may be that the amygdala controls a very general biological mechanism for inhibitingrisky behaviour when outcomes are potentially negative, such as the monetary loss aversion

This is a novel and exciting

study.

John Aggleton, Professor of

Psychology at Cardiff University

It may be that the amygdala

controls a very general biological

mechanism for inhibiting risky

behaviour when outcomes are

potentially negative

Dr Benedetto De Martino,University College, London



which shapes our everyday financial decisions," said Dr Benedetto De Martino, who iscurrently a visiting researcher at University College, London.

He pointed out that loss aversion has been shown in many settings including high stakes

game show decisions, financial markets, politics, and also in monkey behaviour.

It probably derives from "a basic evolutionary defence mechanism", he said.

He added that it was helpful to understand its basic biological mechanisms so that

policymakers could design policies to address it.

'Elegant experiment'

John Aggleton, Professor of Psychology at Cardiff University, said:

"This is a novel and exciting study. The authors conducted a very elegant and neat

experiment.

"The amygdala is an area of the brain that is important for normal emotional responses and

for how we perceive our environment.

"It plays a subtle role in helping people to learn the attributes of good things and bad things.

"Most people have been found to have a bias against losses, but this study shows very clearly

that when the amygdala is damaged, this "loss aversion" disappears."

Exercise 'cuts risk of developing painful

gallstones'Doing lots of exercise drastically cuts the risk of

developing painful gallstones, UK researchers have

found.

Gallstones are common but only 30% of cases have

symptoms and complications.

A University of East Anglia study of 25,000 men and

women found those who were the most active had a 70%

reduced risk of those complaints.

The team, writing in the European Journal of

Gastroenterology and Hepatology, said one reason might be reduced cholesterol levels in the

bile.

They said exercise also raised levels of "good" cholesterol and help improves movement

through the gut, all of which could contribute to thelowered risk.

Gallstones are common but some

go undetected

If everyone was to achieve



Those taking part in the study were split into four groupsdepending on how much exercise they did and the

researchers found that those who did moderate amountsof exercise also had a lower risk of painful symptoms

from gallstones than those who were the most inactive.

They worked out that if everyone increased the amountof exercise they did by one category 17% of gallstones that need medical treatment could be

prevented.

Using the same data the researchers had previously discovered that drinking a moderate

amount of alcohol is protective against gallstones.

Consuming two units a day cuts the chance of developing gallstones by a third, the earlier study showed.

Cholesterol

Gallstones form in the gallbladder from bile and are generally made up of hardened

cholesterol.

It is thought that around one in three women and one in six men get gallstones at some point

in their life but they are more common in older adults.

Other factors which increase the chances of themforming include pregnancy, obesity, rapid weight loss

and some medications.

Many people who have gallstones may never know they

have them but for some they cause severe pain,inflammation and infection and jaundice.

And almost 50,000 people have to have their

gallbladders removed every year in the UK.

Study leader Dr Paul Banim, a clinical lecturer at theUniversity of East Anglia and a specialist registrar in

gastroenterology said: "It is difficult to prove a link between lifestyle and disease but we weren't surprised to

see these results.

"If everyone was to achieve the impossible and do the same amount of exercise as those inthe most active category, gallstones could be reduced by 70%."

Dr Charlie Murray, secretary of the British Society of Gastroenterology, said the study

seemed to show a direct protective effect of higher levels of exercise.

"The study does not however tell us how much exercise is effective in prevention of

gallstones as this would require specific recording of exercise activity, nor the mechanism bywhich exercise is protective.

the impossible and do the same

amount of exercise as those in

the most active category,

gallstones could be reduced by

70%

Dr Paul Banim, study leader

ACTIVITY LEVELS

Inactive - sedentary job, no

exercise

Moderately inactive - sedentary

ob plus 30 min exercise daily or

standing job but no exercise

Moderately active - sedentary job

plus 1h exercise daily, standing job plus 30 min exercise or physical

obActive - Sedentary job plus more

than 1h exercise daily, standingob plus more than 30 min

exercise, or physical job with someexercise



"It does however demonstrate that as with the prevention of many disease processes, exerciseimproves your chances of staying healthy."

Unplanned pregnancy warning to older

women over 35Experts fear older women are ditching contraception in the mistaken belief that they

cannot get pregnant past a certain age.

The Family Planning Association (FPA) believes the message on infertility and age has gone"too far".

Although fertility does wane, women can still get pregnant well into their thirties, forties and

even fifties.

Abortion rates for women aged 40 to 44 match those for the under 16s, figures for England

and Wales show.

In 2008, both of these groups had an abortion rate of

four per 1,000 women.

There are many reasons why some women opt for an

abortion - including birth abnormalities in the baby,which are more common when the mothers are older.

But FPA says its anecdotal evidence suggests some of

the abortions are because women wrongly assumed they

could not get pregnant because they were too old.

Aimed at women aged 35 and over, the FPA's new campaign 'Conceivable?' reminds women

to stay vigilant about unplanned pregnancy and to keep using contraception until after the

menopause if they do not wish to become pregnant.

Chief executive of the FPA Julie Bentley said: "Whilst the message about fertility decliningwith age is an important one, it is often overplayed, alongside disproportionate messaging

about unplanned teenage pregnancies.

"It sends an inaccurate message to women and society that only the young fall pregnant andis leading older women to believe their fertility has gone long before it actually has."

Once is enough

She said women should realise it is entirely conceivable that just one night of unprotected sex

in your late 30s, 40s and even 50s can end in an unplanned pregnancy.

"Our helpline receives calls from such women, shocked this has happened to them.

"They thought their age would protect them from becoming pregnant."

Whilst the message about

fertility declining with age is an

important one, it is often

overplayed

FPA Chief Executive Julie Bentley

Readers' comments



She said in general all methods of contraception weresuitable for the over-35s.

Women aged 30 to 34 continue to have the highest

fertility rate - 113.1 live births per 1,000 women.

But the rate among women aged 40 and over has morethan doubled since 1988, from 5.1 to 12.6 per 1,000

women, and there were more than 26,000 live births to

women in this age group in 2008, figures from the Office

for National Statistics show.

Emily James of Marie Stopes International said: "Many

older women facing an unplanned pregnancy arecompletely shocked to find themselves in this position - many assume that their irregular

periods are due to menopause, and are surprised to learn that they are in fact pregnant.

"It is vital that women of all ages are provided with the information, support and advice they

need when deciding whether or not to continue with an unplanned pregnancy."

Genes reveal 'biological

ageing'

Gene variants that might show how fast people's

bodies are actually ageing have been pinpointed byscientists.

Researchers from the University of Leicester and KingsCollege London say the finding could help spot people at

higher risk of age-related illnesses.

People carrying the variant had differences in the

"biological clock" within all their cells.

The British Heart Foundation said the findings could offer a clue to ways of preventing heart

disease.

While doctors know that as people age they are more at risk from diseases such asAlzheimer's, Parkinson's and heart disease, some people fall prey to these at an earlier age

than expected.

Telomeres

One theory suggests that biological timers called "telomeres", part of the chromosomes in

every cell that carry genetic code, may be a factor in this.

Age alone is not a contraceptive,

experts warn

Telomeres at the end of

chromosomes shorten with age

What our study suggests isthat some people are genetically



From birth, every time a cell divides, the telomeres getshorter and there is some evidence that people with

shorter telomeres, either because they diminish morequickly or because they were born with shorter versions,

may be at higher risk from age-related illness.

The researchers say in the journal, Nature Genetics, that they looked at more than 500,000genetic variations across the entire human genome to see which variants cropped up more

frequently in people known to have shorter telomeres.

They eventually located a number of variants located near a gene called TERC which, in

people carrying them, seemed to be equivalent to an extra three or four years of "biological

ageing".

Bad lifestyles

Professor Tim Spector, from King's College London, said: "What our study suggests is that

some people are genetically programmed to age at a faster rate.

"Alternatively, genetically susceptible people may age even faster when exposed to proven

'bad' environments for telomeres such as smoking, obesity or lack of exercise - and end up

several years biologically older or succumbing to more age-related diseases."

Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, which

part-funded the study, said it was not yet clear whether telomeres did contribute to anincreased risk of disease.

He said: "Understanding how our cells age is an important step in our quest for better ways to

prevent and treat heart disease.

"Perhaps in the future one of the ways we try to reduce the risk of, or treat, heart diseasewould be to use an 'anti-ageing' approach for our arteries."

Premature birth gene clue

found

DNA differences which appear to affect the risk of

giving birth early have been found by US scientists.

The US National Institutes of Health study found thevariants in both babies and mothers, a US conference was

told.

It is thought they may play a role in controlling immune

responses which could theoretically trigger labour if they

become too powerful.

programmed to age at a faster

rate

Professor Tim Spector, King's

College London

Identifying mothers is vital



Premature birth - which accounts for 7% of UK births - is one of the biggest threats to a baby's future health.

The causes of premature birth are poorly understood,

although infections and other medical complications are

blamed in some cases.

The study looked at 700 DNA variants in 190 genes in

women who delivered early, and those who carried their

baby to term.

The cord blood of the babies was also tested for these variations.

They narrowed the search down to a handful of gene variations found more often in thewomen who gave birth prematurely, and their babies.

In particular, babies who carried a DNA variant in the gene for the "Interleukin 6 receptor"

were more likely to be born early.

This was a good candidate gene because Interleukin 6 is produced by cells in response to

infection and is involved in inflammation.

High levels of Interleukin 6 in the amniotic fluid and foetal blood have been linked to theonset of premature labour.

Baby threat

Dr Roberto Romero, who led the study, said: "Our hypothesis is that the mother and/or the

foetus signal the onset of preterm labour when the environment inside the uterus is

unfavourable and threatens the survival of the maternal-foetal pair.

"When there is an infection in the uterus, the onset of premature labour appears to have

survival value - it would allow the mother to rid herself of infected tissue and preserve her

ability to have future pregnancies."

The chief executive of charity Bliss, Andy Cole, welcomed the study results.

"In England alone, 54,000 babies are born prematurely each year, a third of these for no

known reason," he said.

"The development of a reliable test for identifying these mothers is vital in ensuring our most

vulnerable babies have the best possible outcomes."

Artificial pancreas hope for children with

diabetes

The development of a

reliable test for identifying these

mothers is vital in ensuring our

most vulnerable babies have thebest possible outcomes

Andy Cole, Bliss



Scientists in Cambridge have shown that an

"artificial pancreas" can be used to regulate blood

sugar in children with Type 1 diabetes.

A trial found that combining a "real time" sensor

measuring glucose levels with a pump that delivers

insulin can boost overnight blood sugar control.

The Lancet study showed the device significantly cut the

risk of blood sugar levels dropping dangerously low.

Experts said the results were an important "stepforward".

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic, life threatening condition, in which the pancreas does not

produce insulin - the hormone that regulates blood sugar levels.

In total, 17 children and teenagers with Type 1 diabetes

took part in the study over 54 nights in hospital.

Individually, the glucose monitoring system and the

insulin pump used in the study are both already widelyused and commercially available.

But in order to turn them into a "closed loop" system

which monitors the patient's condition and deliverstreatment accordingly, the researchers developed a

sophisticated algorithm to calculate the appropriate amount of insulin to deliver based on the

real-time glucose readings.

They then measured how well the artificial pancreas system controlled glucose levels

compared with the children's regular continuous pump, which delivers insulin at preselected

rates.

Low blood sugar

Testing was done in different circumstances - for example on nights when the children wentto bed after eating a large evening meal, which can lead to 'insulin stacking' or having done

early evening exercise - both of which can increase the risk of low blood sugar episodesknown as hypoglycaemic attacks or "hypos".

Insulin injections are currently the

mainstay of type 1 diabetes

treatment

We need to redouble our

efforts to move the artificial

pancreas from a concept in the

clinic to a reality in the home of

children and adults with Type 1

diabetes

Karen Addington, Juvenile

Diabetes Research Foundation

'Pump has been really liberating'



Overall, the results showed the artificial pancreas kept blood glucose levels in the normal range for 60% of the

time, compared with 40% for the continuous pump.

And the artificial pancreas halved the time that blood

glucose levels fell below 3.9mmol/l - the level considered

as mild hypoglycaemia.

It also prevented blood glucose falling below 3.0mmol/l,

which is defined as significant hypoglycaemia, compared

with nine hypoglycaemia events in the control groups.

Study leader Dr Roman Hovorka said: "This is the first

randomised study showing the potential benefit of theartificial pancreas system overnight using commercially-

available sensors and pumps.

"Our study provides a stepping stone for testing the system at home."

Karen Addington, chief executive of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, who funded the

research said the study provided "proof of principle" of an artificial pancreas.

"We need to redouble our efforts to move the artificial pancreas from a concept in the clinicto a reality in the home of children and adults with type 1 diabetes."

Dr Victoria King, research manager at leading health charity Diabetes UK, said: "This is an

important step forward in managing overnight blood glucose levels as well as in the eventualdevelopment of a full 'artificial pancreas' which could vastly improve the quality of life for

people with type 1 diabetes and reduce the risk of the associated complications."

1 - Continuous glucose sensor

monitors blood sugar level

2 - Data transmitted for the

computer program to work out

insulin dose

3 - Insulin pump delivers the

dose

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News Articles for Man Chester Interview 10.2.10