A combination of vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12 and folic acid might protect women against age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, a new study finds.
Women taking this trio of vitamins in amounts well beyond the recommended daily doses were one-third less likely to develop macular degeneration than were people taking placebos, researchers report in the Feb. 23 Archives of Internal Medicine.
Cigarette smoking is known to increase a person’s likelihood of developing macular degeneration. Other than not smoking, there is little a person can do to limit risk, says study coauthor William Christen, an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “This is the first trial to suggest a benefit” from vitamin B and folic acid, he says. “I’d like to see it corroborated in other populations.”
Christen and his colleagues analyzed data collected as part of a large trial originally designed to test the effects of other vitamins on women with heart problems. In 1998, researchers selected 5,205 women in the trial who didn’t have macular degeneration and were willing to take part in a test of B-6, B-12 and folic acid — also called folate and vitamin B-9. Half of the women were randomly assigned to get these supplements; the others received placebo pills. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Most of the women were overweight. Their average age was 63. The women in both groups provided information about their vision by responding to annual questionnaires in the mail. All were permitted to take multivitamins with B-6, B-12 and folate up to, but not exceeding, recommended daily allowances. Those getting the B-6, B-12 and folate pills received many times that amount.
http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.ORG
Whenever a participant reported that she’d been diagnosed with macular degeneration, scientists contacted the woman’s eye doctor and elicited a report.
After 7.3 years of follow-up, those reports had turned up 82 cases of age-related macular degeneration among women taking placebos and only 55 cases in the women getting the vitamin supplements.
While an explanation for the apparent protection from macular degeneration remains unknown, it is known that folate, B-6 and B-12 can drive down blood concentrations of homocysteine, a compound suspected of damaging blood vessels. Researchers have tried to finger homocysteine in heart disease, but studies have failed to show a heart benefit from reducing homocysteine levels.
Age-related macular degeneration is also a vascular ailment — resulting from a disruption of proper blood flow to the macula, a part of the retina. It may be that the tiny vessels in the eye are more vulnerable to high homocysteine than the larger coronary arteries are.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire “But this is speculation, not a hard hypothesis,” Christen says.
http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.ORG
While the homocysteine connection remains unproven, the new findings might draw more resources toward work examining the compound’s role in macular degeneration, says study coauthor Emily Chew, an ophthalmologist at the National Eye Institute in Bethesda, Md. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
"Increased homocysteine levels have been shown in many studies involving age-related macular degeneration," says ophthalmologist Sibel Kadayifcilar of Hacettepe University Medical School in Ankara, Turkey. "However, we still don't know whether homocysteine is causative or only a marker." Meanwhile, other research shows that a vitamin B-12 deficiency is a risk factor for macular degeneration.
Combined, these lines of evidence suggest that elderly people with a shortage of these B vitamins or folate should take supplements, Kadayifcilar says.
Showing posts with label Louis J. Sheehan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Louis J. Sheehan. Show all posts
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Saturday, August 30, 2008
grandparents
A memorable senior moment may have occurred toward the end of the Stone Age. Around 30,000 years ago, the number of people surviving long enough to become grandparents dramatically increased, altering the social landscape and provoking major cultural innovations, according to two anthropologists.
Their analysis of fossil teeth from human ancestors indicates that Homo sapiens from the late Stone Age—but not Neandertals or other members of our evolutionary family—exhibited a sharp rise in the population of individuals older than 30 years. Data from hunter-gatherer groups today suggest that among prehistoric H. sapiens, women first bore children at about age 15 and would have become grandmothers at around age 30, say Rachel Caspari of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Sang-Hee Lee of the University of California, Riverside। http://louis-j-sheehan.info
Caspari and Lee theorize that prehistoric grandparents sparked growth among Stone Age populations by caring for grandkids. The resulting larger populations developed complex social systems, the researchers suspect, which fostered the explosion of artwork and ornamentation, such as that discovered previously by archaeologists.
"Increased longevity came late in human evolution and may explain the big time lag between the origins of modern human biology [at least 200,000 years ago] and modern human behavior," Caspari says.
The new report appears in an upcoming Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Caspari and Lee studied the fossil teeth of 768 adults from four groups in the human evolutionary family: australopithecines that lived from 3 million to 1.5 million years ago, early Homo species dating to between 1.5 million and 250,000 years ago, Neandertals from 130,000 to 30,000 years ago, and H. sapiens that lived from 30,000 to 18,000 years ago.
For each group, the researchers measured wear on fossil samples of children's molars and then estimated the rate at which further wear would occur through adulthood. Armed with that information, they divided each group of adults' teeth into those from individuals age 15 to 30 and age 30 or more.
Young adults greatly outnumbered older adults in australopithecines, early Homo, and Neandertals. A turnaround occurred in late–Stone Age H. sapiens; the investigators tallied about two old adults for every young adult.
A team led by anthropologist Kristen Hawkes of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City previously theorized that as far back as 2 million years ago, females began to routinely live long enough to reach menopause। Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Hawkes says that she's "flabbergasted" at Caspari and Lee's results। It's hard to know whether the fossil teeth in their study represent actual proportions of old and young adults in the four groups, Hawkes cautions. http://louis-j-sheehan.info
Caspari and Lee's results are "probably valid," remarks anatomist Jay Kelley of the University of Illinois in Chicago। Other analyses of brain size and tooth development in human ancestors indicate that, contrary to Hawkes' view, extended life spans emerged no earlier than roughly 400,000 years ago, Kelley says. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Saturday, August 23, 2008
gene
Two closely watched companies that offer consumers information about their genes have received licenses that will allow them to continue to do business in California, a state official said Tuesday.
The licenses, granted to Navigenics and 23andMe, should help defuse a controversy that began in June when the California Department of Public Health sent “cease and desist” letters to the two companies and 11 others that offer genetic testing directly to consumers.
The letters said that companies could not solicit customers from California without receiving a license from the state to operate as a laboratory. And they said that doctors had to be involved in ordering genetic tests.
The letters were the most recent sign of concern that regulators at both the state and federal level are becoming increasingly concerned about the accuracy and validity of tests being sold through the Internet.
But the state’s action also sparked concern that overregulation could stifle a promising new industry. The media coverage of the action seemed to catch the state off-guard. Both sides appeared eager to resolve the issue.
“I think we’re very satisfied that they have met the California requirements for licensure,” Kathleen J। Billingsley, a senior official in the California public health department, said in an interview Tuesday. http://louis-j-sheehan.biz
Navigenics and 23andMe attracted the most focus of the companies receiving the letters. Both are based in California’s Silicon Valley and both offer services, costing from $1,000 to $2,500, that scan a person’s whole genome, providing a variety of information about the risk of various diseases. Google is a backer of 23andMe, and one of the company’s founders, Anne Wojcicki, is married to a Google co-founder, Sergey Brin.
The companies had argued that they were not offering medical testing but rather personal genetic information services, and that consumers had a right to information from their own DNA. The companies also said they did not need a license because the actual testing of the DNA samples was being done by outside laboratories that did have licenses.
But the two companies do their own interpretation of the raw genetic data. Now, after reviewing the procedures used by the companies, the state is satisfied that the companies’ interpretation is based on the scientific literature, Ms. Billingsley said.
Ms. Billingsley said the companies also satisfied the requirement for a doctor to be involved. Navigenics already was paying a physician to review customer orders and now it appears that 23andMe might be doing something similar.
Linda Avey, a founder of 23andMe, declined to say on Tuesday what the company was doing regarding doctors. She said the company wanted to assure customers first that their privacy was being protected.
Mari Baker, chief executive of Navigenics, said she was satisfied with the outcome.
“It’s a situation that in the end everyone wins,” she said. “In the end the state moved really quickly through this process. They were incredibly responsive.”
DeCode Genetics, an Iceland-based company that offers a similar gene-scanning service to consumers, has also applied for a license, and the state has asked it for more information, Ms. Billingsley said.
She said four of the companies that received the letters in June had agreed not to solicit California customers, and the rest were either applying for licenses or talking to the state agency.
Both sides agreed that regulations would continue to be reviewed. “We wanted to try to work within the existing regulations but we think there will be an ongoing discussion of regulations in this new space,” Ms. Avey of 23andMe said.
Ms। Billingsley, who is deputy director of the state’s Center for Health Care Quality, said the department would continue to review its approach “to make sure that the state’s requirements and our standards keep up with changing technology.” http://louis-j-sheehan.biz
New York State also has taken action against at least 31 genetic testing companies, saying they cannot solicit business from New York residents.
Ms. Baker of Navigenics said a resolution with New York did not seem imminent. “We do think in the end this needs to be regulated at the federal level rather than as a patchwork of state regulations,” she said.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
savonarola Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire http://louis1j1sheehan1.blogspot.com
Lorenzo's court included artists such as Piero and Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Michelangelo Buonarroti who were involved in the 15th century Renaissance. Although he did not commission many works himself, he helped them secure commissions from other patrons. Michelangelo lived with Lorenzo and his family for several years, dining at the family table and attending meetings of the Neo-Platonic Academy.
Lorenzo was an artist himself, writing poetry in his native Tuscan. In his poetry he celebrates life even while—particularly in his later works—acknowledging with melancholy the fragility and instability of the human condition. Love, feasts and light dominate his verse.
Cosimo had started the collection of books which became the Medici Library (also called the Laurentian Library) and Lorenzo expanded it. http://louis1j1sheehan1.blogspot.comLorenzo's agents retrieved from the East large numbers of classical works, and he employed a large workshop to copy his books and disseminate their content across Europe. He supported the development of humanism through his circle of scholarly friends who studied Greek philosophers, and attempted to merge the ideas of Plato with Christianity; among this group were the philosophers Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.
[edit] Later years
A posthumous portrait of Lorenzo by Giorgio Vasari
A posthumous portrait of Lorenzo by Giorgio Vasari
During his tenure, several branches of the family bank collapsed because of bad loans, and, in later years, he got into financial difficulties and resorted to mis-appropriating trust and state funds.
Toward the end of Lorenzo's life, Florence came under the spell of Savonarola, who believed Christians had strayed too far into Greco-Roman culture. Lorenzo played a role in bringing Savonarola to Florence.
Lorenzo de' Medici died during the night of April 8th/9th, 1492, at the long-time family villa of Careggi (Florentine reckoning considers days to begin at sunset, so his death date is the 9th in that reckoning). Savonarola visited Lorenzo on his death bed. The rumor that Savonarola damned Lorenzo on his deathbed has been refuted by Roberto Ridolfi in his book, Vita di Girolamo Savonarola. Letters written by witnesses to Lorenzo's death report Lorenzo died a consoled man, on account of the blessing Savonarola gave him. As Lorenzo died, the tower of the church of Santa Reparata was allegedly struck by lightning. He and his brother Giuliano are buried in a chapel designed by Michelangelo, the New Sacristy; it is located adjacent to the north transept of the Church of San Lorenzo and is reached by passing through the main Capella di Medici; the chapel is ornamented with famous sculptures, and some of the original working drawings of Michelangelo can still be distinguished on two of the walls. http://louis1j1sheehan1.blogspot.com
He died at the dawn of "the age of exploration"; Christopher Columbus would reach the "New World" only six months later. With his death, the center of the Renaissance shifted from Florence to Rome, where it would remain for the next century and beyond.
Lorenzo was an artist himself, writing poetry in his native Tuscan. In his poetry he celebrates life even while—particularly in his later works—acknowledging with melancholy the fragility and instability of the human condition. Love, feasts and light dominate his verse.
Cosimo had started the collection of books which became the Medici Library (also called the Laurentian Library) and Lorenzo expanded it. http://louis1j1sheehan1.blogspot.comLorenzo's agents retrieved from the East large numbers of classical works, and he employed a large workshop to copy his books and disseminate their content across Europe. He supported the development of humanism through his circle of scholarly friends who studied Greek philosophers, and attempted to merge the ideas of Plato with Christianity; among this group were the philosophers Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.
[edit] Later years
A posthumous portrait of Lorenzo by Giorgio Vasari
A posthumous portrait of Lorenzo by Giorgio Vasari
During his tenure, several branches of the family bank collapsed because of bad loans, and, in later years, he got into financial difficulties and resorted to mis-appropriating trust and state funds.
Toward the end of Lorenzo's life, Florence came under the spell of Savonarola, who believed Christians had strayed too far into Greco-Roman culture. Lorenzo played a role in bringing Savonarola to Florence.
Lorenzo de' Medici died during the night of April 8th/9th, 1492, at the long-time family villa of Careggi (Florentine reckoning considers days to begin at sunset, so his death date is the 9th in that reckoning). Savonarola visited Lorenzo on his death bed. The rumor that Savonarola damned Lorenzo on his deathbed has been refuted by Roberto Ridolfi in his book, Vita di Girolamo Savonarola. Letters written by witnesses to Lorenzo's death report Lorenzo died a consoled man, on account of the blessing Savonarola gave him. As Lorenzo died, the tower of the church of Santa Reparata was allegedly struck by lightning. He and his brother Giuliano are buried in a chapel designed by Michelangelo, the New Sacristy; it is located adjacent to the north transept of the Church of San Lorenzo and is reached by passing through the main Capella di Medici; the chapel is ornamented with famous sculptures, and some of the original working drawings of Michelangelo can still be distinguished on two of the walls. http://louis1j1sheehan1.blogspot.com
He died at the dawn of "the age of exploration"; Christopher Columbus would reach the "New World" only six months later. With his death, the center of the Renaissance shifted from Florence to Rome, where it would remain for the next century and beyond.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
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