16 June 2010

Blood pressure drugs known as angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) increase the risk of cancer, new research has found. The drugs increased the risk of cancer by 11 per cent overall, but by as much as 25 per cent for lung cancer. ARBs achieve annual worldwide sales of $25bn, and doctors write out around 82 million prescriptions for an ARB drug, such as Diovan, Cozaar, Hyzaar, Atacand and Avapro.

The drugs are also taken for heart failure, kidney disease in diabetics, and to reduce cardio-vascular risk. The drug's manufacturers are worried that sales may be hit by the research, which has been carried out by the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The study is the first to associate ARBs with cancer.

(Source: Lancet Oncology, 2010; doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(10)70106-6).

16 June 2010

A simple smell test could tell you if you're likely to develop Parkinson's disease, which affects motor skills as we age. A reduction of our sense of smell is one of the early signals that we may develop the disease later on. Researchers who have developed the test hope that it might encourage more therapies to treat it in its earlier stages.

Currently there is no cure for Parkinson's, which affects motor skills, speech, mood and behaviour, and which gets progressively worse as we get older. Researchers from the University of Tubingen in Germany, who have developed the test, say that this gives doctors the ability to detect Parkinson's at a far earlier phase when anti-Parkinsonian drugs might be more effective, and slow the disease's progress.
(Source: Proceedings of the European Society of Human Genetics, June 13, 2010).

16 June 2010

Some of the worst effects of Alzheimer's disease can be improved just by drinking two glasses of apple juice a day. The juice has had a dramatic effect on one group of Alzheimer's patients, new research has discovered. Just two 4-oz glasses of the drink every day for a month produced a big improvement in levels of anxiety, agitation and delusion.

Overall, caregivers noted that the juice improved behavioural and psychotic symptoms by 27 per cent. Several studies have now demonstrated that fruit and vegetable juices, and nutritional and vitamin supplements, can delay the progress of Alzheimer's disease and dementia, and can be just as effective as drugs, and without the nasty side effects, say researchers.
(Source: American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, 2010; 25: 367).

If you are still undecided whether to sign up for that meditation class, perhaps this piece of research news may do the trick. A study published in the April 2 issue of Consciousness and Cognition found that 20 minutes of meditation each day can improve cognitive skills in as short as four days.

The research involved 63 students randomly split into two groups. Researchers trained one group on mindfulness meditation while the other group listened to J.R.R. Tolkein's fantasy novel, The Hobbit. Before and after the experiment, students from both groups were assessed on their mood and cognitive functions, including memory, concentration and visual attention.

A total of 49 students completed the experiment. All of them reported an improvement in mood, but only students in the meditation group fared a noticeable improvement in cognitive abilities. They scored consistently higher averages than those in the listening group on all tests.

"Simply stated, the profound improvements that we found after just four days of meditation training -- are really surprising," said Fadel Zeidan, a post-doctoral researcher at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and a former doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where the research was conducted. "It goes to show that the mind is, in fact, easily changeable and highly influenced, especially by meditation."

In one particular test called the "computer adaptive n-back task", the meditation group did as much as ten times better than the control group. This test required participants to remember whether a stimulus had been shown two steps earlier in a sequence. Every correct answer will speed up the next stimulus, increasing the difficulty of the test. The group briefly trained in meditation scored an average of ten consecutive correct answers compared to the listening group`s one.

"The meditation group did especially better on all the cognitive tests that were timed," Zeidan noted. "In tasks where participants had to process information under time constraints causing stress, the group briefly trained in mindfulness performed significantly better."

The study author, however, admitted that more brain imaging studies are required to confirm the brain power boost seen in the study.

"But this seems to be strong evidence for the idea that we may be able to modify our own minds to improve our cognitive processing -- most importantly in the ability to sustain attention and vigilance -- within a week's time."

The meditation training given to the students was administered by an experienced facilitator. Adapted from a Buddhist meditation practice, the training required participants to relax and focus on their breaths. When distracting thoughts arose, participants were told to acknowledge them and gently bring their attention back to their breathing. On top of the mindfulness meditation, students also received other training to enhance their awareness and concentration.

Does this study imply that four days of meditation are all one needs to improve cognitive skills permanently? No, said the study author. "This kind of training seems to prepare the mind for activity, but it's not necessarily permanent," Zeidan cautioned. "This doesn't mean that you meditate for four days and you're done -- you need to keep practicing."

The findings of this study coincide with similar research done in 2007 that investigated the effects of short-term meditation on attention and mood (see Source #3). In that study, 40 Chinese students were given five days of 20-minute integrative body-mind training and exhibited higher concentration, better mood, lesser stress and higher immunity.

Sources:
1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...
2. http://www.publicrelations.uncc.edu...
3. http://www.pnas.org/content/104/43/...