Indians are growing taller

Syed Akbar
Hyderabad: Indians are growing taller at a much slower pace
than people in European countries. According to city scientists, men in
India have turned taller by 0.50 cm and women by 0.22 cm in the last
10 years. This is in contrast to the decadal secular increase in height in
Europe by one centimetre for men and 0.70 cm for women.

A research study by the clinical division of the city-based National
Institute of Nutrition has revealed that the average height of adult men
and women in the country is 165 cm and 152 cm respectively. The NIN
team comprising Dr Raja Sriswan Mamidi, Dr Bharati Kulkarni and Dr
Abhishek Singh has gone through the anthropometric data of around
70,000 men and about 1.19 lakh women in the age group of 20 to 49
years to arrive at the finding.

Given the fact that India has made impressive progress on the
economic and health front, the average increase in height of Indians
should have been much more. "The secular increase in height has been
modest in India in spite of impressive economic growth," the scientists
noted.

An interesting finding by the NIN team was that people who consumed
milk daily had put in more height. The team also found some difference
in the height of people living in different States and linked the regional
differences to the varying quantum of milk consumed.

The scientists noted that milk consumption helped both men and
women in gaining height, though the increase in height was a littler
more in men. This shows that dietary intake also influences the overall
increase in the height of both men and women.

The NIN's is the first study on adult height and associated secular
trends in relation to socio-economic factors based on a nationally
representative sample.

Unraveling the mysteries of dreams: Scientists say dreaming helps in removing painful memories

Dreams seemed to help ease the painful memories, the study suggested

Scientists have used scans to shed more light on how the brain deals with the memory of unpleasant or traumatic events during sleep.

The University of California, Berkeley team showed emotional images to volunteers, then scanned them several hours later as they saw them again.

Those allowed to sleep in between showed less activity in the areas of the brain linked to emotion.

Instead, the part of the brain linked to rational thought was more active.

The study, published in the journal Current Biology, said it showed the links between dreams and memory.

Most people have to deal with traumatic events at some point in their lives, and, for some, these can produce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), leaving them emotionally disturbed long after the event itself.

There is significant evidence that the 20% of sleep in which we dream, also called REM sleep, plays a role in the processing of recent memories, and researchers believe that better understanding of this could eventually help PTSD patients.

The researchers recruited 35 volunteers, splitting them into two groups.

After showing them 150 images designed to provoke an emotional reaction, half were allowed a good night's sleep.

While inside an MRI scanner to map blood flow in the brain - a good way to work out which regions are most active - the volunteers were shown the images a second time.

Those who had slept properly had less activity in the amygdala, a part of the brain associated with heightened emotions, and more activity in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region linked to more rational thinking.

The non-sleepers reported a far more emotional response to seeing the pictures again.

The scientists believe that chemical changes in the brain during REM sleep may help explain how the body makes this change.

Dr Matthew Walker, who led the study, said: "We know that during REM sleep there is a sharp decrease in norepinephrine, a brain chemical associated with stress.

"By reprocessing previous emotional experiences in this neurochemically safe environment of low norepinephrine during REM sleep, we wake up the next day, and those experiences have been softened in their emotional strength.

"We feel better about them, we feel we can cope."

Consultant clinical psychologist Dr Roderick Orner said that although sleep was believed by many to play a crucial role in the processing of traumatic memories, there were likely to be many other factors at work in PTSD patients.

He said: "In cases of more severe trauma, it may be just too difficult for the patient to process it during sleep, especially if the event has had a significant impact on that person's day to day life."

How much paracetamol is good for health? Beware of overdose, warn researchers

Taking slightly too much paracetamol day after day can be fatal, experts have warned.

A dangerous dose might just be a few pills too many taken regularly over days, weeks or months, they said, according to a report by the BBC.

Researchers at Edinburgh University saw 161 cases of "staggered overdose" at its hospital over a 16-year period.

People taking tablets for chronic pain might not realise they were taking too many or recognise symptoms of overdose and liver injury, they said.

The researchers told the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology that this life-threatening condition could be easily missed by doctors and patients.

Doctors may not initially spot the problem because blood tests will not show the staggeringly high levels of paracetamol seen with a conventional overdose, where someone may have swallowed several packets of the drug.

Patients who have taken a staggered overdose tend to fare worse than those who have taken a large overdose, the study suggests.

Dr Kenneth Simpson and colleagues looked at the medical records of 663 patients who had been referred with paracetamol-induced liver injury to the Scottish Liver Transplantation Unit at the university hospital.

The 161 who had taken a staggered overdose were more likely to develop liver and brain problems and need kidney dialysis or help with their breathing. They were also more likely to die of their complications.

Dr Simpson said: "They haven't taken the sort of single-moment, one-off massive overdoses taken by people who try to commit suicide, but over time the damage builds up, and the effect can be fatal."

Professor Roger Knaggs of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society said patients should heed the warning.

----------------------------

Recommended dose

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 * Take paracetamol as directed on the packet or patient information leaflet that comes with the medicine

* Each tablet usually contains 500mg

* Adults can take 1-2 tablets of paracetamol 4-6 hourly, up to four times a day

* This means you should not take more than 8 tablets (4g) in a 24-hour period

* If you accidentally take an extra dose of paracetamol, you should miss out the next dose so that you do not take more than the recommended maximum dose for a 24-hour period.

"If people experience pain and paracetamol doesn't help, rather than thinking a 'top up' dose may work, they should consult their pharmacist for alternative pain control or referral to someone who can help with the cause of the pain.

"The message is clear: if you take more paracetamol than is recommended, you won't improve your pain control but you may seriously damage your health.

"At this time of year people should also take care with combination cold and flu products which may have paracetamol as one of the ingredients. It's easy to take more than intended, so if in doubt consult your pharmacist."

Meanwhile, researchers at King's College London and Lund University in Sweden say they have discovered precisely how paracetamol works in the body. It is via a protein on nerve cells called TRPA1, says Nature Communications.

Now that they understand this principal mechanism, scientists can start to look for molecules that work in the same way to effectively relieve pain, but are less toxic and will not lead to serious complications following overdose.

Diet shapes human jaw bones

Diet has shaped human jaw bones; a result that could help explain why many people suffer with overcrowded teeth, according to a report by the BBC.

The study has shown that jaws grew shorter and broader as humans took on a more pastoral lifestyle.

Before this, developing mandibles were probably strengthened to give hunter-gatherers greater bite force.

The results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This is a fascinating study which challenges the common perception that there has been little recent change in the morphology of humans," said anthropologist Jay Stock from the University of Cambridge.

Many scientists have suggested that the range of skull shapes that exist within our species is the result of exposure to different climates, while others have argued that chance played more of a role in creating the diversity we see in people's profiles.

The new data, collected from over 300 skulls, across 11 populations, shows that jaws shortened and widened as humans moved from hunting and gathering to a more sedentary way of life.

The link between jaw morphology and diet held true irrespective of where people came from in the world, explained anthropologist Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel from the University of Kent.

Concurrently crooked

It would be tempting to conclude that this is evidence for concurrent evolutionary change - where jaw bones have evolve to be shorter and broader multiple, independent times, she told BBC News.

But the sole author of the paper suggested that the changes in human skulls are more likely driven by the decreasing bite forces required to chew the processed foods eaten once humans switch to growing different types of cereals, milking and herding animals about 10,000 years ago.

"As you are growing up... the amount that you are chewing, and the pressure that your chewing muscles and bone [are] under, will affect the way that the lower jaw is growing," explained Dr von Cramon-Taubadel.

She thinks that the shorter jaws of farmers meant that they have less space for their teeth relative to hunter-gatherers, whose jaws are longer.

Teeth-pulling tale

"I have had four of my pre-molars pulled and that is the only reason that my teeth fit in my mouth," said Dr von Cramon-Taubadel.

Ever since that time, she has wondered why so many people suffer with teeth-crowding.

"I think that's the reason why this result resonates with people," she said.

Dr Stock added: "[The finding] is particularly important in that it demonstrates that variation that we find in the modern human skeletal system is not solely driven by population history and genetics."

These results fit with previous evidence of both a reduction in tooth and body size as humans moved to a more pastoral way of life.

It also helps explain why studies of captive primates have shown that animals tend to have more problems with teeth misalignment than wild individuals.

Further evidence comes from experimental studies that show that hyraxes - rotund, short-tailed rabbit-like creatures - have smaller jaws when fed on soft food compared to those fed on their normal diet.

Novel TB molecule discovered by Institute of Life Sciences team

Syed Akbar

Hyderabad: A group of city scientists has discovered a novel lead molecule that could effectively kill the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, while another group has found that the TB strains circulating in Hyderabad and other parts of Andhra Pradesh are of “ancestral” type and, thus, relatively less damaging in nature.

Two teams from the Institute of Life Sciences, an associate institute of the University of Hyderabad, have achieved considerable success in understanding the mechanism of the TB pathogen, particularly why there have been no institutionalised outbreaks of TB in India despite high infection burden, illiteracy, crowding, poverty and not so good hygienic practices.

The novel molecule has shown promising results in the laboratory tests and could emerge as a source of new drug to fight tuberculosis, which is turning resistant to a number of drugs. The anti-TB molecule has successfully killed TB bacterium in test tube studies.

The bacterial strains that cause tuberculosis are broadly divided into “ancestral” and “modern” strains. The strains circulating in India are largely of ancestral type. So far, there have been no studies on the types of strains present in TB patients in Hyderabad or other parts of AP. The University of Hyderabad scientists, led by Dr Niyaz Ahmed, associate professor at the Department of Biotechnology, and their collaborators from the Bhagwan Mahavir Medical Research Centre, have made a pioneering attempt to understand the TB pathogen in this part of the world.

“Significant presence of the ancestral type bacteria in the TB patients from AP assumes importance as M. tuberculosis belonging to the ancestral lineage could show reduced transmission as well as ability to acquire drug resistance as compared to other lineages. This perhaps explains why the Indian population has never suffered institutionalised TB outbreaks as seen in some other parts of the world where ancestral type bacteria are not so prevalent,” said Dr Niyaz Ahmed.

The distribution of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypes in India has been characterised by widespread prevalence of ancestral lineages in the south, and the modern forms predominating in the north of India. The pattern was, however, not clearly known in the south-central region such as Hyderabad and the rest of AP where the prevalence of both tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is one of the highest in the country.

Moreover, this area has been the hotspot of TB vaccine trials. Correct baseline understanding of the prevalent bacterial types would prevent vaccine escape by any novel strains.

Natural way of beating occupation stress

Syed Akbar
Hyderabad:  As stress is now increasingly blamed on spurt in
cardiac and brain problems, Indian nutritionists have found a natural
way of beating stress, particularly the one linked to occupation.
Drink 200 ml of lime juice or milk or eat a banana everyday for three
months and your occupational stress level will come down by 40 per
cent, they suggest.

Stress is a psychological and physiological response to the events
that upset one’s personal balance. Consuming select foods will not
only help in busting the stress to a large extent, but also improve
the iron content in the blood.

Nutritionists R Usharani and UK Lakshmi from the department of food
science and nutrition, Avinashlingam Institute for Home Science and
Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore, in their presentation at the
city-based National Institute of Nutrition pointed out that a person
with a stress score of 230 (on the occupational stress index) would
lose as much as 99.9 score by drinking about 200 ml of lime juice
everyday. The score will come down by 73 if the person takes 200 ml of
milk daily. The result in case of eating a banana a day is lower of
the score by 98 points.

The researchers selected four groups of women employed in an industry
and their occupational stress index was measured at 230. The group
that had the lime juice gained the maximum benefit, followed by those
who ate banana. Those who consumed milk daily too successfully busted
their stress levels, but to a lesser extent. The dietary supplement
was given to the groups for 90 days. At the end of the study, the
stress levels were measured. Those who did not consume any of these
three foods had elevated stress levels. The haemoglobin content
increased, making them less anaemic.

“Haemoglobin levels of all the groups, which had taken milk, lime
juice or banana, had increased. In case of lime juice, the increase in
iron content in the blood was by 1.3 grams per decilitre. The figures
for those who had milk and banana are one gram and 1.1 gram per
deciliter respectively. Incidentally, those who did not have any of
these foods showed a significant reduction in their haemoglobin
levels,” they said.