The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| What bad weather does to your blood pressure Posted: 25 May 2013 08:05 AM PDT  A new British study finds that dreary weather can spike your blood pressure. — shutterstock.compicNEW YORK, May 25 — Here's good motivation to go ahead and book that holiday somewhere warm: a new Scottish study finds that cold, rainy weather can raise your blood pressure. Researchers from Glasgow University say that blood pressure varies with temperature, since blood vessels near the surface can narrow in cold weather to conserve heat, which increases blood pressure. Fluctuations in blood presssure can put added stress on your body and increase your risk for heart problems, the researchers said. The study involved assessing over 169,000 blood pressure measurements in 16,010 patients who attended the Glasgow Blood Pressure Clinic between 1970 and 2011. Each patient's blood pressure measured at every clinic visit was mapped to prevailing weather conditions in the area on that day and the response of blood pressure to weather determined. Data showed half of the patients were sensitive to drops in temperature, such as those that occur between summer and winter. A drop of around 10 degrees Celsius led to an increase in blood pressure of between 3mm and 6mm of mercury. While that may not seem like much, "every millimeter counts," said lead researcher Sandosh Padmanabhan, in terms of increased risk for heart attacks and strokes. The team found that on average the person's blood pressure drops 2 percent each year if weather is similar on the two clinic visits. However, if the temperature between consecutive visits fell from the highest quartile to the lowest quartile, then the patients' blood pressure rose by 2.1 percent. Lack of sunshine and rain had similar effects, increasing blood pressure as well. — AFP-Relaxnews |
| Concept flu vaccine may protect against many strains Posted: 25 May 2013 02:19 AM PDT  A new concept flu vaccine has been created to protect against various strains. — AFP picPARIS, May 25 — Scientists unveiled a concept vaccine against flu Wednesday they said may protect against various strains with a single jab. Tested in ferrets, considered good human models, the synthetic vaccine uses nanotechnology to attack parts of the influenza virus that different strains have in common, they wrote in the journal Nature. "It provides a basis for development of universal influenza vaccines and for more rapid generation of vaccines during new outbreaks," study-co-author Gary Nabel of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Maryland told AFP. Human trials have yet to be done, but the team was encouraged by the extra safety of the vaccine, which doesn't need to be manufactured from viruses in chicken eggs in the lab, as is the case for seasonal vaccines against flu strains often carried by birds. It is also much faster to make. The new design incorporates the protein ferritin, fused genetically with hemagglutinin (HA) -- a protein found on the surface of the influenza virus. The fusion results in a microscopic nanoparticle with eight protruding spikes that forms the basis for the vaccine antigen, which is what spurs the immune response. Lab animals given the vaccine were protected not only against the strain of H1N1 influenza from which the HA was derived, but a broader range of strains of the constantly mutating influenza virus. "The novel vaccine concept works by stimulating antibodies that hitch themselves to the parts of the influenza virus that stay consistent across different strains," said a NIAID statement. The immune response was also stronger than with existing vaccines. NIAID called the concept "an important step forward in the quest to develop a universal influenza vaccine -- one that would protect against most or all influenza strains without the need for an annual vaccination." — AFP-Relaxnews |
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