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Posted by Norlyn Golez
Coffee has a compound that could lower the damage to your eyesight and prevent blindness often caused by aging, glaucoma, and diabetes, according to a study.
Raw coffee contains 1% caffeine, but it has 7% to 9% chlorogenic acid (CLA), which is a strong antioxidant. When tested on mice, it lowers the effect of retinal degeneration. This is based on a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
The retina requires a high level of oxygen, which puts it at risk of experiencing oxidative stress. If it does not get enough oxygen, it will be exposed to free radicals, which could cause blindness.
During the research, which was funded by The Korea Institute of Science and Technology, the mice were exposed to nitric oxide, which led them to experience free radicals and oxidative stress. Eventually, the mice showed signs of retinal degeneration. However, those which were treated with CLA before they were treated with nitric oxide showed no signs of retinal damage a...
Posted by Norlyn Golez
A new study has shown that pig hearts may be a viable replacement in human patients. Researchers were able to successfully transplant a pigs heart into baboon which has now survived for over a year.
This new progress in cross-breeding transplants may be a step closer to find another source of hearts for humans who need organ transplants. Each year approximately 3,000 Americans are in need of a heart transplant. Unfortunately there are typically only 2,000 hearts are available each year, the use of pig hearts could help close this gap.
Patients who could not wait for a human heart face using an artificial heart, which are far from perfect and often pose risks to the humans because of possible infection, power issues, haemolysis or clotting.
Organs transplanted from other animals into primates used to last only for about six months before the new host rejects them.
The option of using an animal organ for transplants was long proposed. However, the problem is in the way the ho...
Posted by Norlyn Golez
Laughter is the best cure for age-related memory loss, according to a new study.
Stress has a negative impact on health. But more than that, it also makes the body more susceptible to allergies and the brain more at risk to mental illness.
If you forgot where your keys are, laugh it off and try to remember where you left them. Humor can help boost the short-term memory of older adults.
The research was conducted by a research team from California’s Loma Linda University and headed by Dr. Gurinder Singh Bains. There were 20 normal older adults in good health who were asked to watch a funny video for 20 minutes straight without any distraction. On the other hand, a control group was simply asked to sit calmly without any video. A test was performed afterwards and saliva samples were tested for stress hormones.
The study found out that those who laughed for 20 minutes because of the video had better scores during the test. The saliva test also showed that the level of co...
Posted by Norlyn Golez
People who are underweight are in more danger than obese people, according to a study.
Researchers concluded that extremely underweight people have double the risk of dying, based on 50 studies that were previously conducted on the subject.
Health campaigns have been so far focused on obesity, but it is also a must to ensure that there are campaigns aimed to prevent underweight problems among adults and fetuses alike. The anti-obesity campaign should be staged in a way that it would not lead to underweight problems.
The dangers of being underweight were the subject of a study that was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health.
The study was conducted on people who were monitored for five years or more. Their BMI and its relationship to fatalities were analyzed.
Dr. Joel Ray, the head of the research team, also studied how weight among stillborns and newborns are related to their death.
They found out that underweight people of any age with a BMI of 18...