The study, conducted by researchers from the Centre for Social Evolution at the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, is based on more than 750,000 births in Denmark, with follow-up data on children’s hospital diagnoses for up to 27 years.
“It has been known for some time now that pregnancy-induced hypertension can lead to more serious toxic conditions (preeclampsia), but it has puzzled biologists why such a medical condition that can be quite dangerous for both mother and child has not previously been removed by natural selection in our stoneage ancestors,” said Professor Jacobus Boomsma, Director of the Centre for Social Evolution and coordinator of the study.
“However, evolutionary theory also emphasizes that paradoxes of this kind can be due to genetic parent-offspring conflicts, so we set out to test whether we could find statistical evidence for that type of explanation,” he stated.
The results clearly indicate that mothers with minor increases in blood pressure in the first trimester of pregnancy have babies that enjoy generally better health than children of mothers who never get a hypertension diagnosis during pregnancy.
The difference was between 10 and 40 per cent fewer diagnoses across all disease categories during the 27 years of available follow-up data, a result that has never been documented before.
However, when hypertension continues or starts later in pregnancy, this advantage shifts to a ca. 10 percent disadvantage in terms of an increased risk of acquiring a diagnosis in the Danish public health data bases.
Child mortality during the first year of life showed the same trend. In spite of this risk being very low in Denmark, no children of mothers with early pregnancy-induced hypertension died, whereas the mortality risk of children born to mothers with hypertension late in pregnancy was above average.
Parent-offspring-conflict theory maintains that father-genes in the placenta will have a tendency to ”demand” a somewhat higher level of nutrition for the fetus than serves the interests of mother-genes. It argues that father genes that somehow manage to enhance maternal blood pressure will likely be met by maternal genes compensating this challenge.
oth types of genes are 50/50 represented and thus likely to find a ”negotiated” balance while creating an optimally functioning placenta. However, when the pull of paternal genes cannot quite be managed by maternal counterbalances, there is a risk of elevated blood pressure to develop and persist, leading to late occurring pregnancy complications and compromised offspring health.
The results obtained are consistent with the idea that some deep fundamental conflicts lay buried in our genes right from the moment of conception. Imprinted genes are prime suspects for mediating such conflicts as they ”remember” which parent they come from.
“Molecular biologists have recently found many such genes in mice and man, and they are particularly expressed in the placenta as the theory predicts. Our study therefore suggests that further research to test whether different patterns of pregnancy-induced hypertension are indeed related to paternal or maternal imprints would be highly worthwhile,” said PhD student Birgitte Hollegaard, who did the analyses together with EU Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow Sean Byars.
The authors of the study hope these results will help build bridges between their evolutionary inspired public health analyses and established clinical praxis.
“Ultimately we are not only interested in the fundamental science aspects of genome level reproductive conflicts, but also in seeing some of these findings being made more directly useful, for example by adjusting pregnancy monitoring schemes to take long term risks for offspring health into account,” Jacobus Boomsma concluded.
]]>Those aspiring to get fit can ditch the gym and get in the sack for a steamy romp, according to a new guide.
The manual offers “turn-on” tips for the bedroom involving sex t0ys, quickies and even “pirate fantasies”, the Sun reported.
The Let’s Talk About Sex — Shades of Pleasure campaign by NHS Dumfries and Galloway even claims that having regular sexual intercourse can cut stress levels and even fight heart disease and cancer.
It adds: “An órgasm a day keeps the doctor away as it lowers blood pressure, provides exercise, releases tension and reduces pain.”
]]>Recently my friend was found to be HIV positive . He was very sick at the point of being unconscious. The Doctor asked me if he could do the test of which I agreed. It came out P+ and suggested that I buy Meal In A Glass (medicine). I did that and he recovered very quickly.
He is not yet on drug (ARV).
How do I tell him since looking at his lifestyle, it is questionable.
Please help me save my friend.
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The condition of a man of Lusaka’s Garden Compound who has been nursing deep wounds after undergoing an operation at University Teaching Hospital-UTH- has worsened.
Prior to his operation, 42 year old Justine Masheka was suffering from gastritis.
On Friday UTH called back Mr. Masheka following complaints from the man’s family alleging negligence on the part of the hospital management.
]]>1. Go for sauna
This time, instead of the usual manicure and pedicure, go for sauna. Saunas are not only a way to detox but they also help you get over a cold quicker by opening your sinus passages and helping you breathe easily. Moreover, they can also reduce the occurrence of colds.
2. Plug in a humidifier
Dry air is a downer and in many cases an ideal environment for a virus to thrive. To combat an arid environment or an illness, plug in a humidifier and you’ll certainly feel better.
3. Get kissing
While you may not wish to lock lips with your loved one when he/she has cold, but do not miss any opportunity to pucker up when you both are healthy. When you and your partner swap spit, you’re exposing yourself to each other’s germs, which helps strengthen your immunity.
4. Listen to some tunes
The benefits of music are beyond your imagination. It reduces stress, improves memory and also boosts immunity. So if you just considered music as sound, it’s time you change your opinion and start listening to music that really moves you.
5. Gargle
Your mother or grandmother must have surely advised you to gargle with salt water to ease the pain of a sore throat sometime or the other, but yes, it works. Studies say that gargling with tap water a few times a day keeps cold miles away.
]]>If you want to have a baby in 2013, try these tips to have the best chance.
Try to keep your cool
Sperm develops best in cool surroundings. Men who sit with computers on their laps can have reduced fertility levels. Men should also avoid long, hot baths. One study found that switching to cool showers increases sperm production by five times. Also, swap tight pants for roomier boxer shorts.
Soak up the sunshine
Sunlight boosts fertility in both men and women by increasing levels of Vitamin D. Studies have found Vitamin D increases levels of the female sex hormones progesterone and oestrogen, which regulate periods and make conception more likely. It also boosts sperm count.
Take time to relax
Stress can have a huge impact on female fertility. It can also slow male sperm production and lower libido.
Eat more dairy
Women, who eat one serving of full-fat dairy a day, reduce their risk of infertility by more than a quarter, a study found. Dairy fat helps the ovaries work well.
Try popping a multivitamin
Research showed taking a daily prenatal vitamin — containing key nutrients for conception like folic acid, Vitamin B12 and selenium — could more than double pregnancy chances.
Stub out the ciggies
Male smokers are 50% more likely to be impotent and have lower sperm counts. Female smokers have a 30% lower fertility rate than non-smokers. Smoking can also prevent embryo implantation in the uterus.
Think before drinking
If you’re trying to get pregnant, it’s a good idea for you and your partner to drink less alcohol. Drinking too much has been found to impair ovulation and sperm production.
Use a phone app
Free apps like Period Diary, Fertility Friend and Menstrual Calendar work out when you’re at your most fertile from your daily body temperature and the dates of your period.
Get the point
Try acupuncture to stimulate specific points on the body. It’s thought it may help control ovulation and increase blood flow to the uterus, and therefore improve the chances of a fertilised egg implanting.
Have sex!
Chances of conception rise from 15% for couples having sex once a week to 50% for couples having sex three to four times a week. Sex keeps sperm healthy. Its quality falls if it’s retained in the body for more than three days.
Know your window
For baby success, you need to have sex during your most fertile time of the month. In an average 28-day cycle, this usually falls between day 10 and day 17.
Lose weight
Body fat produces oestrogen, which confuses the body’s ovulation cycle. Overweight women often have less regular periods than women who weigh less. Losing just 5% of your body weight can boost conception chances by about a fifth.
But don’t get skinny
Being underweight can switch off your body’s ability to reproduce eggs, as it senses there isn’t enough fat to sustain a healthy pregnancy.
Cut down on carbs
Some experts believe a diet high in refined carbohydrates, like white bread, pasta and biscuits, can affect conception. These foods raise blood sugar quickly, causing an insulin surge that can impair fertility.
Say no to drugs
Recreational drugs, such as cocaine and marijuana, have been found to lower sperm counts and increase abnormal sperm, while female drug users can face ovulation problems.
Eat more oily fish
Some studies show omega-3s, which are found in oily fish, such as salmon and in linseed, may reduce risk of miscarriage and improve sperm quality. These essential fats are crucial for healthy hormone functioning, but many of us don’t get enough.
Kick the caffeine
Research has shown that just one cup of coffee per day could halve your chances of conception. Experts say caffeine may reduce the activity of the Fallopian tube muscles, which carry the eggs from the ovaries.
Cut out painkillers
Some over-the-counter pills, such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, can affect conception if taken around the time of ovulation. They may suppress hormones called prostaglandins, which help release eggs into the Fallopian tube.
Drink more water
If you don’t drink enough water, the reproductive system will lose out as the body ensures that the more vital organs receive what they need first. Water creates plump egg follicles and a strong blood supply to the womb lining. Plus, if you’re dehydrated, your cervical fluid — the stuff that helps the sperm find the egg — will be sluggish.
Be a cleaning queen
Women who do the housework, gardening or other forms of moderate exercise are three times more likely to conceive through IVF than those with sedentary lives, according to new research. Exercise stops the body from producing excessive insulin, which is thought to harm development of healthy eggs.
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A mother of two from West Sussex, who suffered from migraines that left her bed ridden for days at a time for almost 20 years, discovered that munching on a banana every couple of hours was a miracle cure.
Lisa Poyner, 38, from Worthing, told the Daily Express that she doesn’t like bananas very much, but eating every couple of hours is the only thing that helps her lead a normal life.
She said that she had been prescribedall kinds of medication before, but nothing ever worked as well eating bananas every couple of hours.
Poyner said that bananas are handy as they’re healthy, and good sustenance, so if she feels an attack is about to strike, she just grabs one straight away.
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If you’re suffering from a headache, retiring to bed may be the best solution.Sex can cure head pain, according to scientists – and venturing between the sheets may even be more effective than heading to the medicine cabinet.More than half of migraine sufferers who had sex during an attack experienced an improvement in symptoms, the researchers found, and one in five was left without any pain at all.
One theory is that sex works by triggering the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, which act on the central nervous system to reduce or eliminate the headache.
‘Our results show that sexual activity during a migraine attack might relieve or even stop an attack in some cases, and that sexual activity in the presence of headache is not an unusual behaviour,’ the researchers said.
‘Sex can abort migraine and cluster headache attacks, and sexual activity is used by some patients as acute headache treatment.’
It has long been thought that sex can trigger headaches.
But in the new study, reported in Cephalalgia, the journal of the International Headache Society, a team of neurologists investigated whether there was any substance to anecdotal accounts that it could actually ease symptoms of migraine and cluster, or one-sided, headaches.
In the study at the University of Munster in Germany, neurologists collected data on 400 patients with the two types of headache who had been treated over a two-year period.
They found that 33 per cent had made love during a headache. Of those, 60 per cent of migraine patients and 36 per cent of men and women with cluster headaches had an improvement in symptoms.
‘In total, 42.7 per cent of all migraine patients experienced at least 50 per cent relief, a response rate as high as in studies on acute medication,’ said the researchers.
Consultant neurologist Dr Nick Silver, of the NHS Walton Centre for Neuroscience and Neurosurgery in Liverpool, said: ‘This is a preliminary study, limiting conclusions that can be reached.
‘We can now say, however, that the excuse of “not tonight, I have a headache” may not be taken seriously by all sexual partners.’
Researchers say there are a number of possible explanations for the findings, including the release of painkilling endorphins during sex and changes in blood pressure that occur.
Scans have also shown that the hypothalamus region of the brain is active during a cluster headache, and the same area shows activity during orgasm.
Doctors have made a landmark breakthrough in the treatment of HIV after they ‘cured’ a baby with the virus.
The baby girl had been infected by her mother who was diagnosed as HIV positive during labour.
Because of the high infection risk, the baby was given an accelerated programme of medication.
She received three standard HIV drugs instead of the usual one when she was just 30-hours old.
This appears to have blasted the virus into remission and prevented it from taking root in the baby’s cells.
Now two-years-old, the girl from Mississipi is in remission with blood tests showing no signs that the virus is present. This is known as a ‘functional cure.’
Experts say the groundbreaking development paves the way for other children to be treated before the virus takes hold.
Last night at a major AIDS meeting in Atlanta, the case was declared a major landmark in the battle to find a cure for the disease.
Study leader Dr Deborah Persaud, of Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre in Baltimore, said the toddler is now free from the potentially fatal disease.
Dr Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said: ‘You could call this about as close to a cure, if not a cure, that we’ve seen.’
He added that the child, which is only the second patient ever recorded to have been ‘cured’ of AIDS, ‘opens up a lot of doors’ for the treatment of other children born with HIV.
The child’s mother was rushed to a rural emergency room in July 2010 in advanced labour and tests showed she was HIV positive.
Because the mother had not had any treatment, doctors knew the child was at high risk of infection.
Normally, they would have given the newborn a low dose of the medication nevirapine in the hope that it would prevent the HIV from taking hold.
However the small hospital didn’t have the right kind of liquid to give the treatment and so she was rushed to specialist centre run by Dr Hannah Gay, a paediatric HIV specialist at the University of Mississipi.
Because of her high risk, Dr Gay put the infant on a cocktail of three HIV-fighting drugs – the typical nevirapine alongside zidovudine (also known as AZT), lamivudine – when she was just 30 hours old.
Dr Gay explained that because the baby’s mother didn’t know she had the virus her baby did not get the prenatal care normally given to babies at high-risk of inheriting the disease.
She said: ‘I just felt like this baby was at higher-than-normal risk, and deserved our best shot.’
The child responded well up to the age of 18 months, when the family temporarily stopped attending the hospital and stopped treatment, researchers said.
When they returned several months later, remarkably, Dr Gay’s standard tests detected no virus in the child’s blood.
A battery of super-sensitive tests at half a dozen laboratories also found no sign of the virus’ return. There were only some remnants of genetic material that don’t appear able to replicate.
Because there is no detectible virus in the child’s blood, the team has advised that she not be given antiretroviral therapy, whose goal is to block the virus from replicating in the blood. Instead, she will be monitored closely.
She said: ‘We can’t promise to cure babies who are infected. We can promise to prevent the vast majority of transmissions if the moms are tested during every pregnancy.’
Two years after beginning the treatment and tests have shown no virus in the child’s blood, it has now been off medication for almost a year with no further signs of infection.
There is no guarantee that the baby will remain disease free, but early signs do look positive.
Experts believe that giving such an intense dose of HIV drugs so quickly apparently knocked out HIV in the baby’s blood before it could form hideouts in the body.
Those so-called reservoirs of dormant cells usually rapidly reinfect anyone who stops medication, said Dr. Deborah Persaud of John Hopkins Children’s Center.
She led the investigation that deemed the child ‘functionally cured,’ meaning in long-term remission even if all traces of the virus haven’t been completely eradicated.
Dr Gay added: ‘I just check for the virus and keep praying that it stays gone.’
The mother’s HIV is being controlled with medication and she is ‘quite excited for her child,’ she added.
The only other person considered cured of the AIDS virus underwent a very different – a bone marrow transplant from a special donor who was naturally resistant to HIV.
Timothy Ray Brown of San Francisco has not needed HIV medications in the five years since that transplant.
Daily mail.co.uk
]]>The evidence comes from detailed brain scans of 12 infants born prematurely.
At just 28 weeks’ gestation, the babies appeared to discriminate between different syllables like “ga” and “ba” as well as male and female voices.
Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the French team said it was unlikely the babies’ experience outside the womb would have affected their findings.
The research lends support to the idea that babies develop language skills while still in the womb in response to their parents’ voices.
Experts already know that babies are able to hear noises in the womb – the ear and the auditory part of the brain that allow this are formed by around 23 weeks’ gestation.
But it is still debated whether humans are born with an innate ability to process speech or whether this is something acquired through learning after birth.
The authors of the study in PNAS say environmental factors are undoubtedly important, but based on their findings they believe linguistic processes are innate.
Dr Fabrice Wallois and colleagues say: “Our results demonstrate that the human brain, at the very onset of the establishment of a cortical circuit for auditory perception, already discriminates subtle differences in speech syllables.”
But they add that this “does not challenge the fact that experience is also crucial for their fine tuning and for learning the specific properties of the native language”.
Their brain scan study was carried out in the first few days following birth, so it is possible that the noises and sounds the newborns encountered in their new environment outside of the womb may have triggered rapid development. However, the researchers doubt this.
Prof Sophie Scott, an expert in speech perception at University College London, said the findings supported and added to current knowledge.
“We know that babies hear can hear their mother’s voice in the womb and pick up on the pitch and rhythm.
“And they use this information – newborn babies are soothed by their mother’s voice from the minute they are born.”
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