Herbal Health Spot

A new study has shown that it takes just 15 cigarettes to increase the risk of developing lung cancer. The research team led by Peter Campbell of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge insists that the new discovery may lead to new drugs that target the specific changes to the gene that helps to trigger the disease

The study suggests that a person may develop one mutation for every 15 cigarettes smoked. Using new DNA sequencing technology called “massively parallel sequencing,” the researchers cracked the entire cell genome and found more than 23,000 mutations that the tumour cells had acquired. The mutations were linked with exposure to the toxins found in cigarette smoke and had accumulated over the lifetime.

“The profile of mutations we observed [in the lung-cancer patient] is exactly that expected from tobacco, suggesting that the majority of the 23,000 we found are caused by the cocktail of chemicals found in cigarettes,” the Independent quoted Campbell as saying.

“On the basis of average estimates, we can say that one mutation is fixed in the genome for every 15 cigarettes smoked,” he added. Similarly, the study conducted on patient with skin cancer showed that malignant skin cells contained changes that resulted from exposure to ultraviolet light.

“With these genome sequences, we have been able to explore deep into the past of each tumour, uncovering with remarkable clarity the imprints of these environmental mutagens [mutation-causing agents] on DNA, which occurred years before the tumour became apparent,” said Professor Mike Stratton at the Sanger Institute.

Drinking more than four cups of a favourite beverage daily can cut the risk of developing type-2 diabetes by up to 40 percent, says a new study. People who consumed three to four cups of coffee a day had one-quarter lower risk of developing diabetes compared to non-coffee drinkers, said study leader Rachel Huxley, associate professor at The George Institute.

“The reduction in risk of developing diabetes was even greater, up to 40 percent, in those drinking more than six cups per day,” she said. “Interestingly, similar reductions in risk were observed for tea and decaffeinated beverages suggesting that any diabetes-sparing effect is not driven primarily through caffeine as previously thought,” Huxley added.

The study was based on the data from 18 previously completed research studies, providing a patient pool of 457,922 individuals. Results were consistent irrespective of variations in preparation, such as filtered versus unfiltered, cup size, cup strength and the addition of milk or sugar, said a George Institute release.

“Although it is too early to advocate for increased consumption of these beverages, identifying the active components of these beverages would potentially open up new therapeutic pathways for the primary prevention of diabetes,” Huxley said. Globally, there are approximately 250 million people with diabetes and that number is estimated to increase by 65 percent to reach 380 million in 2025.

In the biggest clinical trial to date, a group of scientists have found gene therapy to be a safe and beneficial option for HIV patients.

Ronald Mitsuyasu, of the University of California, Los Angeles, headed the trial for testing gene therapy against HIV.

“To our knowledge, our study was the first randomised, controlled study performed with gene therapy in HIV,” New Scientist magazine quoted him as saying.

For the trial, patients temporarily stopped their usual regime of anti-retroviral treatment (ART), in order to see whether gene therapy would prove effective or not.

Half the 74 patients received the treatment, and half a placebo.

Despite the fact that gene therapy didn”t work as well as ART, virus concentrations in blood were on average about a third lower in recipients of the treatment as compared to controls who received a placebo.

Besides, recipients had higher numbers of CD4+ white blood cells, the type that is attacked by the virus.

“It provides proof of concept and early indications are that, with more refinement, this approach may be a viable one for controlling HIV directly in people without the need for continuous HIV medication,” said Mitsuyasu.

He added: “From a scientific standpoint, it represents a new and potentially important and long-lasting way of controlling diseases.”

The researchers took blood samples from patients and isolated CD34+ stem cells, which can mature into many types of white blood cell, including the CD4+ cells attacked by HIV.

After that, they used a harmless virus to load the stem cells with an extra gene that makes a ribozyme – a pair of molecular “scissors” targeted at the virus.

It was found that the patients with more altered cells had comparatively correspondingly lower levels of virus and marginally more CD4+ cells.

But, there was a decrease in the number of altered cells towards the end of the 100-day “break” from ART treatment, which was quite opposite of what was expected.

“Work is ongoing to develop better and more effective ways of performing gene insertion and allowing these genes to be better expressed in patients for longer periods of time,” said Mitsuyasu.

The altered stem cells might have worked better if existing stem cells from the bone marrow had all been destroyed prior to the therapy, as in earlier mouse experiments, allowing the altered cells to take over in the empty bone marrow.

Hello friends, hope all are fine here i am going to tell some useful beauty tips for Men. In general , there is so many beauty guide lines and beauty for Women. But you can see some rare resources for Men. I just list some great tips for men to keep there face clean.

• Make Sandalwood paste with correct combination with cool water, then apply gently on your face. After 30 minutes, wash your face with clean water.
• Oil Facial is a kind of facial, which clean up your face gently. But you should use this facial more frequently. You can use coconut  oil for this Herbal facial.

These two are really very effective and will yield good result. So friends, just try out the above tips to keep your face clean and shine.