Funny photo : rebranded local gin (ogogoro)

When something is banned in Africa, people rebrand it and continue selling it...

This is just 'OGOGORO' with a 'killer' name...

LoL ... Drink and die .. REST IN PEACE

Fifa world ranking 09/07/15 : top 20 men

From the list..
Argentina is still @ the no1 spot...
Algeria is the only African country on the top 20 list...

Drop your comments ...

Diabetes affects the brain

Having Type 2 diabetes is associated with greater impairment of blood flow to the brain and a sharper decline in mental acuity compared with nondiabetic people of similar age and health status, even over a two-year period, researchers report.

The study, published in Neurology , included 40 people whose average age was 66, half of whom had been in long-term  for Type 2 diabetes. All were tested at the start of the study and then two years later with M.R.I. scans, various blood tests and several tests of cognitive ability.

At the end of two years, people with diabetes had greater declines in gray matter volume, composite scores on mental tests, and in rates of blood flow to the brain than those in the control group. They also had greater increases in blood measures of inflammation. Among the group with diabetes, those with more severe declines in cerebral blood flow had correspondingly greater declines on tests of mental skills.

“There is currently no treatment for cognitive decline in diabetes,” said the lead author, Dr. Vera Novak, an associate professor of neurology at Harvard. “Even tighter glycemic control did not improve things. We are doing a new trial to assess whether injecting insulin into the brain through the nose could improve cognitive function or slow down cognitive decline.”

diabetes could be inherited - Researchers

Children born to fathers with diabetes are around five times more at risk of developing type 1 diabetes as those without it.

Those with mothers with type 1 diabetes have three times the risk, while the offspring of mothers with type 2 diabetes have almost double the chance.

A study, which looked at more than 1.2 million children in Sweden, also found that mothers who were overweight or obese in early pregnancy increased the risk of children developing type 1 diabetes - even if neither parent had the condition.

Researchers said better public health strategies are needed to encourage mothers-to-be to keep to a healthy weight, as type 1 diabetes in children becomes more prevalent all over the world. The latest National Pediatric Diabetes Audit revealed there were 1,000 more children suffering from diabetes reported in England and Wales last year.

In the Swedish study, a high body mass index was associated with a 33 per cent increased risk of type 1 diabetes in offspring of parents without diabetes when compared with maternal BMI in the normal range.

It added that maternal obesity within the three months only increased the risk of diabetes in the children of parents without diabetes, causing no 'extra' risk in the offspring of parents with diabetes, suggesting that heredity for type 1 diabetes is the strongest risk factor of the two for development of type 1 diabetes.

'This population-based study from Sweden demonstrates significantly increased risks of type 1 diabetes in offspring of both mothers and fathers with diabetes and regardless of parental migration background,' the authors concluded.
'The highest risks were noted in offspring of mothers and fathers with type 1 diabetes.

'Furthermore, maternal overweight and obesity in early pregnancy was associated with increased risk of type 1 diabetes in the offspring of parents without diabetes.

'Therefore prevention of overweight and obesity in women of reproductive age - currently increasing in all countries - may contribute to a decreased incidence of type 1 diabetes.'

The research, led by Associate Professor Tahereh Moradi, of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, is published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes).

Early HIV treatment : key to survival

The risk of death or serious illness was halved in HIV-positive people who received immediate treatment, according to a trial with global implications.

The trial's interim results were so clear-cut that the international study, co-ordinated by the Kirby Institute at UNSW, has been terminated ahead of schedule.

Receiving immediate antiretroviral therapy (ART) was proved to be clinically superior to a generally recommended approach.

This involves deferring treatment until CD4 cells, the key immune cells targeted by HIV, dropped, from the healthy range of above 500, to 350 cells or less per microlitre of blood.

The recommended threshold should be scrapped and everyone with HIV infection should be treated, the Institute's Professor Sean Emery told a media briefing.

The Strategic Timing of AntiRetriviral Treatment (START) study involved 4685 HIV-positive people, from 35 countries, whose CD4 count was above 500 cells.

They were randomly allocated to receive treatment immediately or when their CD4 count dropped to around 350 cells and, on average, were followed up over three years.

Overall 127 people died or became ill with Aids or other serious illnesses such as cancer or liver disease, with 41 of those having received immediate treatment and 86 deferred treatment.

'These findings have global implications for the treatment of people living with HIV,' Prof Emery said.

'As a result of this trial, we now know that treatment at all stages of disease extends survival and prevents serious disease complications in people with HIV infection.'

Previous studies have shown a reduced risk of HIV transmission among people on ART.


AAP


Know your HIV status, the earlier, the better...

smoking causes 50% of total major cancer deaths

Smoking was responsible for nearly half of deaths due to certain types of cancers in the US in 2011.

About 48.5 per cent of nearly 346,000 deaths attributed to one of the 12 types of cancer known to be caused by smoking were due to cigarette use, according to the study published online in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The large number of deaths comes despite concerted efforts to reduce cigarette use across the US.

'Continued progress in reducing cancer mortality, as well as deaths from many other serious diseases, will require more comprehensive tobacco control, including targeted cessation support,' the report concluded.

Smoking prevalence has dropped in the US from 23.2 per cent in 2000 to 18.1 per cent in 2012, researchers said.

Of the lung, bronchus and trachea cancer deaths studied, some 80 per cent were attributed to smoking.

About 77 per cent of larynx cancer deaths studied were connected to smoking, the study said.

The researchers noted limitations in their data, including lack of racial diversity and that non-cigarette tobacco exposure was not included.

Live healthy!

New Adidas sport shoe made from recycled ocean waste

Sportwear brand Adidas has launched a prototype shoe with an upper made entirely from yarns and filaments produced using plastic salvaged from the ocean.

See pictures below...

diabetes + heart disease = early death

Ever heard of the term diabetic heart disease?

The term "diabetic heart disease" (DHD) refers to heart disease that develops in people who have diabetes.

Diabetic heart disease

People suffering from both diabetes and heart disease are at a greater early death risk than people with just one condition or no disease, a study said. After analysing more than 135,000 deaths that occurred during prolonged follow-up of almost 1.2 million participants, researchers from the University of Cambridge found that an individual in his/her 60s having both the conditions has an average reduction in life expectancy of about 15 years.”

A combination of diabetes and heart disease is associated with a substantially lower life expectancy,” said Emanuele Di Angelantonio from the department of public health and primary care in a paper that appeared in the journal of the American Medical Association.

At the age of 60 years, men with any two of the conditions would on average have 12 years of reduced life expectancy.

Men with three conditions – diabetes, stroke and heart attack (cardiometabolic diseases) – would have 14 years of reduced life expectancy.
For women at the age of 60 years, the corresponding estimates were 13 years and 16 years of reduced life expectancy.

The figures were even more dramatic for patients at a younger age.At the age of 40 years, men with all three cardiometabolic conditions would on average have 23 years of reduced life expectancy and for women, the corresponding estimate was 20 years.”Our results highlight the importance of preventing heart disease and stroke among patients with diabetes, and likewise averting diabetes amongst heart disease patients,” said professor John Danesh, study co-author. Measures aimed at reducing diabetes and heart disease among this group could have a dramatic impact on their lives, the study said.

The following conditions could increase the risk of heart disease ;

- high blood pressure
- abnormal cholesterol and high triglycerides
- lack of exercise 
- poorly controlled blood sugars
- smoking
- obesity

Live healthy!

DIGITAL AMNESIA: smartphone kills memory

Over use of smartphones and internet can lead to "digital amnesia," says a new survey.

Your smartphone is destroying your memory

Over use of smartphones and internet can lead to “digital amnesia,” says a new survey.

According to the survey conducted by global software security group Kaspersky Lab, most of us nowadays do not think about recalling information using our memory and resort to search engines looking for quick answers.

Many users in the survey of 1,000 people were so dependent on their devices that they were worried at the thought of losing them, WTNH Connecticut News reported.

Nearly 91 per cent of the people said they use internet as an online extension of their brain. Almost half of them said their smartphone serves as their memory.

Many adults could not remember important phone numbers of family members and friends. The survey also showed that people are not doing much to protect their information online.

Less than a third of the people surveyed put security precautions on their devices.

EBOLA: Suspected dead dog, tests negative for Ebola Virus

A dead dog, suspected of being responsible for the reoccurrence of the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia, tested negative for the virus, officials said Tuesday, according to Reuters. The report comes after a review panel declared that the United Nation’s World Health Organization (WHO) did not act quickly enough on the latest Ebola outbreak.

Two new cases of the Ebola virus, which has killed 11,000 people so far, mostly in West Africa, were also confirmed in Liberia on Tuesday. The virus does not have a vaccine or a medicine yet.

Local residents reportedly believed that the first victim of Ebola since the country was declared free of the virus shared a dog meat meal with his neighbors. The man died on June 28, Reuters reported. However, researchers who tested the carcass of the dog found that it was not infected with the virus.
"I learned today the result was negative, but we have to be careful because the remains are in bad condition and the test is designed for humans," a health official in Liberia said, according to Reuters, adding: "Even if that dog had anything, finding it now will be difficult because of the time lapse. We are trying to do everything to find the source."

The first victim of the latest spread was identified as 17-year-old Abraham Memaigar, who does not have a history of visiting any of the affected areas. Two other people in Liberia, who tested positive for the virus, were hospitalized and five cases have been confirmed so far in the new outbreak, Reuters reported .
An independent report by a panel, commissioned by the WHO, said that the organization needed an urgent overhaul .

“The Ebola crisis not only exposed organizational failings in the functioning of WHO, but it also demonstrated shortcomings in the International Health Regulations,” the report said Tuesday, adding: “WHO must re-establish its pre-eminence as the guardian of global public health; this will require significant changes throughout WHO.”