Antioxidant Levels Key to Prostate Cancer Risk in Some Men

Antioxidant levels key to prostate cancer risk in some men

Greater levels of selenium, vitamin E and the tomato carotenoid lycopene have been shown to reduce prostate cancer in one out of every four Caucasian males, or those who inherit a specific genetic variation that is particularly sensitive to oxidative stress, say US researchers.



Conversely, if carriers of this genetic variant have low levels of these vitamins and minerals, their risk of aggressive prostate increases substantially, as great as 10-fold, over those who maintain higher levels of these nutrients, they write in today’s issue of Cancer Research.



"This large prospective study provides further evidence that oxidative stress may be one of the important mechanisms for prostate cancer development and progression, and adequate intake of antioxidants, such as selenium, lycopene and vitamin E, may help prevent prostate cancer," said Dr Haojie Li, a researcher at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.



The new findings are based on an analysis of 567 men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1982 and 1995, and 764 cancer-free men from the Physicians Health Study.



The initial goal of this study was to assess the effect of aspirin and beta-carotene on men's health. Li’s team decided to check for variants of the gene that codes for manganese superoxide dismutatase (MnSOD), an important enzyme that works as an antioxidant in human cells to defend against disease.



The MnSOD gene is passed from parents to offspring in one of three forms: VV, VA or AA.



"Compared with men with the MnSOD VV or VA genotype, people with the AA genotype seem to be more sensitive to the antioxidant status," said Li. "Men with the AA genotype are more susceptible to prostate cancer if their antioxidant levels are low."



The study's results found that a quarter of the men in the study carried the MnSOD AA genotype, half carried the VA genotype, and the remaining quarter carried the VV genotype.



The results indicated that the VA and VV men were at equivalent risk for developing prostate cancer across all levels of antioxidants in their blood.



But compared to MnSOD VV or VA carriers in the lowest quartile of selenium levels, MnSOD AA males had an 89 per cent greater risk for developing aggressive prostate cancer if they had low blood levels of the mineral.



On the other hand, MnSOD AA carriers with high selenium – those men in the highest quartile – had a 65 per cent lower risk than the MnSOD VV or VA males who maintained low levels of selenium.



"The levels of selenium in the highest quartile of these men are not abnormally high," Li said. "Our range is neither extremely high nor extremely low."



While similar trends were observed for lycopene and vitamin E when tested independently, the contrast in relative risk was most pronounced for the men who had high blood levels for all three antioxidants combined, said the researchers.



"Among men with the MnSOD AA genotype, we observed a 10-fold difference in risk for aggressive prostate cancer, when comparing men with high versus low levels of antioxidants combined,"said Li. "In contrast, among men with the VV or VA genotype, the prostate cancer risk was only weakly altered by these antioxidant levels."



"Our study, as well as many other epidemiological studies, encourages dietary intake of nutrients such as lycopene from tomato products, or supplements for vitamin E and selenium to reduce risk of prostate cancer," said Li.



Prostate cancer is one of the biggest cancer killers in industrial countries and affects more than 500,000 men worldwide every year. This number is expected to increase with the ageing population.



Similar interactions between dietary antioxidants and the variations in the MnSOD gene have previously been linked to risk for breast cancer.



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Cause of irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome is
believed to be due to  the abnormal function (dysfunction) of the
muscles of the organs of the  gastrointestinal tract or the nerves
controlling the organs. The nervous control  of the gastrointestinal
tract, however, is complex. A system of nerves runs the  entire length
of the gastrointestinal tract from the esophagus to the anus in  the
muscular walls of the organs. These nerves communicate with other
nerves  that travel to and from the spinal cord. Nerves within the
spinal cord, in turn,  travel to and from the brain. (The
gastrointestinal tract is exceeded in the  numbers of nerves it
contains only by the spinal cord and brain.) Thus, the  abnormal
function of the nervous system in IBS may occur in a gastrointestinal
muscular organ, the spinal cord, or the brain.



The nervous system that  controls the gastrointestinal organs, as with
most other organs, contains both  sensory and motor nerves. The sensory
nerves continuously sense what is  happening within the organ and relay
this information to nerves in the organ's  wall. From there,
information can be relayed to the spinal cord and brain. The
information is received and processed in the organ's wall, the spinal
cord, or  the brain. Then, based on this sensory input and the way the
input is processed,  commands (responses) are sent to the organ over
the motor nerves. Two of the  most common motor responses in the
intestine are contraction or relaxation of  the muscle of the organ and
secretion of fluid and/or mucus into the organ.



As already mentioned, abnormal function of the nerves of the
gastrointestinal organs, at least theoretically, might occur in the
organ,  spinal cord, or brain. Moreover, the abnormalities might occur
in the sensory  nerves, the motor nerves, or at processing centers in
the intestine, spinal  cord, or brain. Some researchers argue that the
cause of functional diseases is  abnormalities in the function of the
sensory nerves. For example, normal  activities, such as stretching of
the small intestine by food, may give rise to  abnormal sensory signals
that are sent to the spinal cord and brain, where they  are perceived
as pain.
Other researchers argue that the cause of  functional
diseases is abnormalities in the function of the motor nerves. For
example, abnormal commands through the motor nerves might produce a
painful  spasm (contraction) of the muscles. Still others argue that
abnormally  functioning processing centers are responsible for
functional diseases because  they misinterpret normal sensations or
send abnormal commands to the organ. In  fact, some functional diseases
may be due to sensory dysfunction, motor  dysfunction, or both sensory
and motor dysfunction. Still others may be due to  abnormalities within
the processing centers One area that is receiving a great  deal of
scientific attention is the potential role of gas produced by
intestinal  bacteria in patients with IBS. Studies have demonstrated
that patients with IBS  produce larger amounts of gas than individuals
without IBS, and the gas may be  retained longer in the small
intestine. Among patients with IBS, abdominal size  increases over the
day, reaching a maximum in the evening and returning to  baseline by
the following morning. In individuals without IBS, there is no
increase in abdominal size during the day. 
There has been a great deal  of controversy over the role that poor
digestion and/or absorption of dietary  sugars may play in aggravating
the symptoms of IBS. Poor digestion of lactose,  the sugar in milk, is
very common as is poor absorption of fructose, a sweetener  found in
many processed foods. Poor digestion or absorption of these sugars
could aggravate the symptoms of IBS since unabsorbed sugars often
cause  increased formation of gas.



Although these abnormalities in production  and transport of gas could
give rise to some of the symptoms of IBS, much more  work will need to
be done before the role of intestinal gas in IBS is  clear.

Dietary fat in healthy individuals causes food as well as gas to  move
more slowly through the stomach and small intestine. Some patients with
IBS  may even respond to dietary fat in an exaggerated fashion with
greater slowing.  Thus, dietary fat could--and probably does--aggravate
the symptoms of IBS.

Sleep Apnea

Chronic snoring cures



During normal breathing, air passes through the throat on its way to the lungs. The air travels past the soft palate, uvula, tonsils, and tongue. When a person is awake, the muscles in the back of the throat tighten to hold these structures in place preventing them from collapsing into the airway. During sleep, these structures can fall into the airway causing snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.



Sleep apnea is characterized by loud snroing and distrubed or interruped sleep patterns. Sleep apnea can have serious consequences including cardiac problems. Frequently patients will awaken in the morning with a headache. If they become sleep deprived they may feel sleeppy all day, and may fall asleep while driving in the car.



Sleep apnea is diagnosed by a sleep study. During a sleep study, the patient's breathing patterns, heart rhythim and brain waves are monitored.



If it is found that sleep apnea is present, most doctors recommend the use of CPAP. CPAP is a breathing device worn during sleep to help keep the airway open. In some situations surgery is recommended. The uvulopalatopharyngoplasty with or without tonsillectomy are surgical procedurs designed to open the airway. In rare situations, a tracheostomy is necessary. These are procedures designed to circumvent this sleep related collapse of these structures.



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Blood Pressure

Blood pressure

Blood pressure (strictly speaking: vascular pressure) refers to the force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels, and constitutes one of the principal vital signs. The pressure of the circulating blood decreases as blood moves through arteries, arterioles, capillaries, and veins; the term blood pressure generally refers to arterial pressure, i.e., the pressure in the larger arteries, arteries being the blood vessels which take blood away from the heart. Arterial pressure is most commonly measured via a sphygmomanometer, which uses the height of a column of mercury to reflect the circulating pressure (see Non-invasive measurement). Although many modern vascular pressure devices no longer use mercury, vascular pressure values are still universally reported in millimetres of mercury (mmHg).The systolic arterial pressure is defined as the peak pressure in the arteries, which occurs near the beginning of the cardiac cycle; the diastolic arterial pressure is the lowest pressure (at the resting phase of the cardiac cycle). The average pressure throughout the cardiac cycle is reported as mean arterial pressure; the pulse pressure reflects the difference between the maximum and minimum pressures measured.Typical values for a resting, healthy adult human are approximately 120 mmHg (16 kPa) systolic and 80 mmHg (11 kPa) diastolic (written as 120/80 mmHg, and spoken as "one twenty over eighty") with large individual variations. These measures of arterial pressure are not static, but undergo natural variations from one heartbeat to another and throughout the day (in a circadian rhythm); they also change in response to stress, nutritional factors, drugs, or disease. Hypertension refers to arterial pressure being abnormally high, as opposed to hypotension, when it is abnormally low. Along with body temperature, blood pressure measurements are the most commonly measured physiological parameters.For more information visit: http://www.hypercet.com