Can we say, ASPIRIN THE WONDER DRUG… yet?

It’s NO secret that aspirin is my favourite drug! - Australian Scientists Probe Aspirins Role in Cancer Treatment + www.cankler.com.au/wiki-aspirin - since it’s discovery by Arthur Eichengrün in the 1880s, this wonder of nature has been a cure-all. Aspirin has been in and out of vogue since the early 20th century, now thankfully, it’s back in.

Back in February we looked at new work by researchers from Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, who said that they had made an important discovery about how cancer spreads. A 2010 article published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology had previously suggested that aspirin may reduce the risk of death from breast cancer.

Scientists have known for years that common drugs like aspirin can help cancer patients, but they weren’t sure why. Peter Mac researchers have now found a link between drugs like aspirin and the ability for cancer tumours to spread in the body  :: Read the full article »»»»

Chinese Herb Offers Cure For Alcoholics

Researchers at the University of California – UCLA –  are investigating a 500-year-old Chinese hangover cure in the hope they can put its properties into a pill to help alcoholics and stave off hangovers. Alcoholism is a huge problem globally, killing 2.5 million people each year according to the World Health Organization. There has been serious research recently looking for drugs that stop people drinking, or at least encourage them to drink less.

In an article published in the latest issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, they describe how dihydromyricetin blocks the action of alcohol on the brain and neurons and also reduces voluntary alcohol consumption, with no major side effects, in an early study with rats. Only an estimated 13 percent of people identified as having an alcohol use disorder receive medical treatment, partly due to a lack of effective medications without major side effects. Read the full article »»»»

Depressed? Female? Have a Coffee!

We’ve been waiting for this discovery for years, patiently sipping away at our cuppa with the hopeful thought that it might one day be of benefit, we’re halfway there. Women who drink four cups of coffee a day are 20 per cent less likely to become depressed than women who rarely drink coffee. Caffeine is the most widely used central nervous system stimulant in the glaxy, 80 percent of consumption is in the form of coffee. Previous research, including one prospective study among men, has suggested an association between coffee consumption and depression risk. Because depression is a chronic and recurrent condition that affects twice as many women as men, including approximately one of every five U.S. women during their lifetime, “identification of risk factors for depression among women and the development of new preventive strategies are, therefore, a public health priority”  Researchers sought to examine whether, in women, consumption of caffeine or certain caffeinated beverages is associated with the risk of depression. They studied 50,739 U.S. women from 1996 through 2006. V★P  READ MORE

Hardwired Optimism

“In two or three hundred years life on earth will be unimaginably beautiful, astounding. Man needs such a life and if it hasn’t yet appeared, he should begin to anticipate it, wait for it, dream about it, prepare for it” - Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. In a study, published in Current Biology, researchers have confirmed an important role for dopamine in how human expectations are formed and how people make complex decisions. It also contributes to an understanding of how pleasure expectation can go awry. The study has found human beings are hard-wired to be optimistic, even in the face of a darker reality. Scientists led by Dr Tali Sharot at the University College London studied a group of people who were told they were likely to experience something bad. The results found most people stayed highly optimistic. And the researchers say the study shows why people are often foolhardy, naive or overly ambitious. The research team examined estimated pleasure of future events before and after the administration of a drug called L-DOPA which is known to enhance dopamine function in the brain and is commonly used to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease. M★S READ MORE

UVA Radiation Causes DNA Damage

There is new evidence that the sun’s UV rays are even more damaging than previously thought. The sun emits two kinds of UV rays to the earth’s surface: UVA and UVB. It had been thought that those rays do not damage the deeper layers of the skin as much as they damage the top layers. New research from Kings College London has found that is the case for UVB rays, but not for UVA rays. The study has found UVA rays are more carcinogenic than previously realised – a finding scientists say underscores how important it is to limit exposure to the sun and to tanning studios. The kind of damage they saw in UVA exposed skin has been shown in other studies to lead to skin cancer. UVA causes these changes at a larger incidence than has been expected or predicted, researchers say. The findings make it even more important, experts say, for people to regularly use broad spectrum sun protection, from hats, sun-protective clothing, and sunscreen. That isn’t always an easy task since the sun protection factor (SPF) listed on sunscreen labels only measures how well the product blocks UVB, not UVA. M★D READ MORE

Researchers Reverse Diabetes

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have restored normal blood sugar metabolism in diabetic mice using a compound the body makes naturally. The finding suggests that it may one day be possible for people to take the compound in pill form to treat or even prevent type 2 diabetes. The naturally occurring enzyme, Nicotinamide Mononucleotide  - NMN – plays an important role in how cells use energy. Researcher Shin-ichiro Imai says this discovery holds promise for people because the mechanisms that NMN influences are largely the same in mice and humans.Consuming a high fat diet and aging are contributors to diabetes. The researchers say a fatty diet and aging is also associated with lower levels of nicotinamide mononucleotide, slowing the body’s production of NAD leads to abnormal metabolic conditions such as diabetes. NAD could not be given to the mice directly because of toxic effects. But after administering NMN, levels of NAD rise and the diabetic mice show dramatically improved responses to glucose. In some cases, they return to normal. M★C READ MORE