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London:
A new study, published in the medical
journal 'Science' has revealed that one third of all the species of
amphibians in the world, including frogs, toads and salamanders, are
facing the danger of becoming extinct in the next 100 years, due to
a cataclysmic environmental disaster. The study, which was conducted
by 500 scientists and is called the Global Amphibian Assessment,' says
that the fact is scarier than we seem to realise, as these amphibians
are indictors of a disastrous environmental catastrophe in the future,
reports The Telegraph. The scientist explain that amphibians will be
the first ones to get affected because they have very sensitive skins
but sooner or later even humans will have to face up to the environmental
changes. It was found that of all 5,743 known amphibian species, 1,856
or 32 per cent are threatened with extinction, as opposed to 12 per
cent of all bird species and 23 per cent of all mammal species that
are threatened. The researchers, however, were not able to explain exactly
what the cause for their extinction would be or how it can be stopped.
"Amphibians are one of nature's best indicators of overall environmental
health, their catastrophic decline serves as a warning that we are in
a period of significant environmental degradation," the report quoted
Russell Mittermeier, president of US-based Conservation International
(CI), as saying. New group of asexuals emerging (Go To Top) London:
Madonna prefers reading a book to a romp in the bed, Marilyn Monroe
finds it 'wrong' and Andy Warhol declared it "the biggest nothing of
all time". Welcome to the world of asexuals! According to a report in
the New Scientist, having sex is no longer an item on the most desired
list of the human population, and a sizable minority of people reportedly
have absolutely no interest in sex, leading to the emergence of a group
entitled as "asexuals". "I suspect there have always been people who
haven't been interested in sex and I would think that is related to
attitudes in their family during childhood. The amount of sexual imagery
all around us now could also have a reverse effect," the Daily Mail
quoted Christine Northam, a relationship counsellor with Relate, as
saying. Dr. Anthony Bogaert, a psychologist at Brock University in St.Catherines,
Canada, recently analysed the responses of 18,000 people, and found
that one percent agreed with the statement: "I have never felt sexually
attracted to anyone at all." Researchers believe that some asexuals
may have extremely low sex drives, but others may have normal levels
but are simply not attracted to others. Some, however, still want to
form close and lasting emotional bonds with other people and may even
want to have children by using IVF to avoid having physical contact.
The report says that recent studies suggest that far from being just
a handful of loners, the number of asexuals may be almost as large as
the gay community. Faster growth rate increases breast cancer risk in women (Go To Top) London:
Women who have a faster growth rate are at an increased risk of
being exposed to breast cancer, a new research has revealed. The study,
published in The New England Journal of Medicine, reveals that women
who were tall and thin by the age of 14 and those who weighed a lot
at birth, were more likely to develop breast cancer. Researchers in
Copenhagen studied the height and weight measurements taken from 117,415
girls and found that high birth weight, rapid growth around the time
of mammary gland development, being tall and having low body-mass-index
during adolescence were independent risk factors for breast cancer.
"An association between the risk of breast cancer and the rate of growth
during adolescence has been suggested previously, but these new data
are the most convincing," Karin Michels and Walter Willett of Harvard
University write in an editorial in the Journal. Yapping on your mobile can give you brain tumours (Go To Top) Sydney:
It might be very convenient to talk your heart out on your cell
phone, but too much yapping on the cell can give you acoustic neuroma,
a rare benign tumour along a nerve on the side of the head. A preliminary
study conducted by Ahlbom and Maria Feychting, professors at the Karolinska
Institutet in Stockholm,has linked mobile usage to an increased risk
of brain tumours though they admit that detail research needs to be
conducted in the field. Though more relevant studies on people have
found no evidence that the phones pose a health risk, researchers have
said that since children's brains are developing, it may be best for
youngsters to avoid using mobiles for long periods. The researchers
questioned 150 patients already diagnosed with acoustic neuroma, that
takes several years to grow before being diagnosed, and 600 who did
not have it, about their mobile phone use.All 750 subjects admitted
using mobile phones for at least 10 years. "At the time the study was
conducted, only analogue mobile phones had been in use for more than
10 years and therefore we cannot determine if the results are confined
to use of analogue phones or if the results would be similar after long-term
use of digital phones," the researchers have said. They found that the
risk of developing a tumour was almost double for those who started
to use phones before their diagnosis and it was almost four times higher
on the side of the head where the phone was held, they added. Scientists discover fourth form of life in Bradford (Go To Top) London:
Scientists have identified a new, strange form of life at Bradford
and the genetic analysis has revealed that the organism is so unlike
anything else seen by scientists that it should perhaps be placed in
its own category of living things. According to The Telegraph, the "giant
virus", has been called the Mimivirus, or "mimicking microbe", because
it was first mistaken for a bacterium, inhabits amoebae and is more
than twice as big as any other virus so far found. Two research teams
in the Marseille School of Medicine, led by Didier Raoult and Jean-Michel
Claverie, studied the genetic code of the organism and found that it
contained a number of genes, which were previously thought to belong
only to more complex life forms. Another unique feature of this virus
is that it also contains genes for DNA repair enzymes and other proteins,
all typically thought to be trademarks of cellular organisms. The scientists
believe that the Mimivirus, which so far has only been found in Bradford
, appears to represent a new family of "nucleocytoplasmic" large DNA
viruses that emerged with the first life on Earth some four billion
years ago and might form a fourth domain of life following the other
three domains of life which are ,the eukaryotes, which have cells that
contain a nucleus, and the prokaryotes, unicellular organisms that are
divided into the bacteria and archaea. "For the first time we have enough
genetic information to conclude that there is a fourth domain of life.
If this is true, this is revolutionary," Raoult was quoted as saying. The more frequent the sex, the better the sperm (Go To Top) Sydney:
Fertility experts have claimed that frequent ejaculation improves
sperm quality, and that the more frequent the sex, the better the chances
of conception. Sydney IVF clinician and reproductive medicine specialist
Dr David Greening said it now appears that abstinence can actually be
detrimental to sperm production. "There's no doubt that there's increased
DNA damage to sperm with abstinence, and the quicker you get the sperm
out, the less damage there is," The Daily Telegraph quoted Greening
as saying. "I would say the idea that abstinence improves your sperm
count is probably completely wrong, and that before and around the time
of fertility couples trying to conceive should be having as much sex
as they can. Every day for four or five days would be much better than
every second or third day which is quite common in the modern world,"
he added. Greening thought of the idea to test the effect of frequent
ejaculation on sperm after treating a couple, who had tried everything
else without luck. "I just thought it up one night, and they went away
and got pregnant after 32 failed goes at IVF. It's an alternative to
IVF because IVF will fail if you've got significant DNA damage," explained
Greening. Greening and colleagues also asked 42 men to ejaculate every
day for seven days, and then compared the quality of their sperm with
samples taken at the beginning of the trial. The results showed that
the amount of DNA damage halved in all but five, with no impact on sperm
count or movement. "I think it's exciting, no-one's really worked out
a way to improve DNA damage prior to this," concluded Greening. 'Apple shaped' women are more prone to diabetes! (Go To Top) London:
Maintaining a tiny waist may have more benefits than just giving
you an hour glass figure, as a new study by researchers at the Birmingham
University has found that women with big waists, also called 'apple
shaped' women, are more prone to type two diabetes. The researchers
are now indicating that waist size is a more accurate way of predicting
diabetes risk than weight, reports The Telegraph. The study, which is
to be presented at a National Obesity Forum conference in London, says
that women whose waist is bigger than 34 inches are at a very high risk
of getting diabetes, whereas for men it is 40 inches. The study explains
that this is because fat cells around the stomach secrete chemicals
that can damage the insulin mechanism that controls blood sugars, thereby
raising the risk of diabetes and of heart disease. "Waist measurements
can predict the risks of Type Two diabetes and heart disease more accurately
than weight. Even a lower waist measurement of 37in in men and 32in
in women may significantly raise the risk," the report quoted Anthony
Barret, the author of the study as saying. Aspirin can help keep prostate cancer at bay (Go To Top) Washington:
A regular dose of aspirin or any other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs (NSAIDs) can considerably reduce the risk of developing various
cancers, including prostate cancer in men, a new study has revealed.
"NSAIDs have been associated with reductions in the risk of developing
various gastrointestinal cancers and improvement in their treatment
outcomes," Khanh H. Nguyen, the study's lead author,said. "However,
any impact NSAIDs may have on treatment for prostate cancer has been
unclear. We wanted to see if patients who used these drugs regularly
before their diagnosis and treatment gained any benefit," he added.
Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Centre compared the outcomes of long
term treatments for prostrate cancer in men using NSAIDs regularly with
those who did not take NSAIDs and found that men who consumed aspirin
and other drugs not only had less chances of a second cancer but also
lived longer. NSAID use was also found to be an independent predictor
for improved overall survival in men diagnosed with prostrate cancer
even after taking other factors like age, Gleason score and radiation
dose in to consideration. "Pretreatment NSAID use was associated with
significant delays in distant metastases, decreased rates of second
cancers and improvement in overall survival. Our data suggest a potential
benefit of NSAIDs in managing prostate cancer, Nguyen added. |
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