Lifeboat Foundation

It’s true that dogs demand a lot from their owners—but they also offer a lot in return.

Are you on the fence about getting a dog? Worried that he’ll pee on the carpet or chew the furniture? Well, he might—at least at first. But he’ll also add so much joy and love to your life. And the benefits of having a dog don’t stop at him being adorable and snuggly; according to a growing body of science, dogs can be good for your physical and mental health, too. Here’s what the research has to say:

There’s no sugar coating it—diabetes is shaping up to become one of the greatest health challenges in modern times. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in eleven individuals suffers from diabetes, and the condition was the direct cause of 1.6 million deaths in 2016, based on the latest publicly available data. WHO has since designated diabetes as one of four priority noncommunicable diseases (alongside cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases) to be addressed by global health authorities.

Closer to home, more than 400,000 Singaporeans live with the diagnosis of diabetes, says the Ministry of Health. This constitutes ten percent of the local disease burden. Meanwhile, a separate study by the National University of Singapore projected that by 2050, Singapore would be home to one million diabetics if current trends continue. Wary of the insidious consequences of unchecked chronic illness, Singapore’s Health Minister Gan Kim Yong declared a “war on diabetes,” calling for a concerted national effort to prevent disease onset and better manage disease symptoms.

P53 is the most famous cancer gene, not least because it’s involved in causing over 50% of all cancers. When a cell loses its p53 gene—when the gene becomes mutated—it unleashes many processes that lead to the uncontrolled cell growth and refusal to die, which are hallmarks of cancer growth. But there are some cancers, like kidney cancer, that that had few p53 mutations. In order to understand whether the inactivation of the p53 pathway might contribute to kidney cancer development, Haifang Yang, Ph.D., a researcher with the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center—Jefferson Health probed kidney cancer’s genes for interactions with p53.

Earlier work found that PBRM1—the second most mutated gene in kidney cancer—could interact with p53. However, other researchers were unable to definitively show that it was truly an important mechanism in kidney cancer.

Rather than looking at the p53 protein itself, first author Weijia Cai a postdoc in Dr. Yang’s lab and other collaborators looked at an activated version of p53, one that is studded with an additional chemical marker—an acetyl group—at many specific spots.

Many health experts are looking at feeding the bacteria in our gut things like pre-biotics and probiotics, but health experts suggest we should consider the fungi even viruses that live in our gut or microbiome in order to thrive.

Probiotic supplements and probiotic-rich foods have become popular natural treatments for a number of health conditions. This article reviews how probiotics may help treat diarrhea.

The answer is essentially yes … in the short term.

If you’re an apparently healthy person who wants to learn about your genetic disease risks, you can send a saliva sample and a hundred bucks or so to an array-based direct-to-consumer genetic testing company and get some trait information and selected health risks, plus details about your genetic ancestry. But as the direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies themselves will tell you, this is only a fraction of the medical value that may be hidden in your genome. Many of the experts in both ancestry and medical genomics will suggest that since consumer facing genomics are not as comprehensive as those meeting medical standards, it is quite OK for consumers to pay for these products out of their own pockets.

Continue reading “Is Preventive Genomics Elitist?” »

According to a study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology brushing your teeth frequently is linked to a lower risk of atrial fibrillation and heart failure.

Poor oral hygiene leads to bacteria in the blood which causes inflammation in the body based on previous research; inflammation increases the risk of atrial fibrillation and heart failure and this study examined the connection between oral hygiene and occurrence of these conditions.

161,286 participants between the ages of 40–79 with no history of heart failure or atrial fibrillation who were part of the Korean National Health Insurance System were enrolled in this study; participants had a routine medical exam between 2003–2004 and information on weight, height, lifestyle, illnesses, lab tests, oral health, and oral hygiene behaviors was collected.

The evolutionary history of humans explains why physical activity is important for brain health.

By: David A. Raichlen