May 2019

14 May 2019
HEALTH
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Drugs show promise in stroke, dementia prevention
London : Two drugs, in use for treating
heart disease and angina, have
shown promise in an early trial in preventing
stroke and dementia caused by
damage to small blood vessels in the
brain.
The drugs — cilostazol and isosorbide
mononitrate — were tested in a
group of patients in Britain. The results
published in the journal
EclinicalMedicine showed that patients
tolerated the drugs, with no serious sideeffects,
even when they were given in
full doses or in combination with other
medicines.
“The results of this trial show promise
for treating a common cause of
stroke and the most common cause of
vascular dementia, since currently there
Cyclone Fani
likely to turn
‘very severe’
Visakhapatnam : Cyclone Fani,
currently over the southeast Bay of
Bengal and the adjoining East
Equatorial Indian Ocean, is likely to
intensify into a “very severe cyclonic
storm” on Monday, the Indian
Meteorological Department (IMD)
said on Sunday.
Fani is centred about 750 km eastsoutheast
of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka),
1,080 km southeast of Chennai and
1,260 km south-southeast of
Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
“It is very likely to intensify into a
‘Severe Cyclonic Storm’ during the
next 12 hours and into a ‘Very Severe
Cyclonic Storm’ during the subsequent
24 hours. It is very likely to move
north-westwards till April 30 and
thereafter recurve north-eastwards
gradually,” the IMD said in a bulletin.
The Met officials said the cyclone
may come 200 to 300 km close to the
Andhra coast before changing its
course to head towards the coasts of
Odisha and Bangladesh.
Under the impact of the cyclone,
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are
likely to receive heavy rains on April
30 and May 1.
The Met office has forecast thunderstorm
with heavy rain and gusty
winds with the speed of 40-50 kmph at
isolated places in all coastal Andhra
districts.
Authorities has issued warnings at
the Visakhapatnam, Machilipatnam,
Krishnapatnam and Nizampatnam
ports.
are no effective treatments. Further trials
are underway,” said lead researcher
Joanna Wardlaw, Professor at
University of Edinburgh in Britain.
Damage to small blood vessels in
brain is responsible for around a quarter
of strokes. It is also a common cause of
memory problems and dementia. At
present, the only way to reduce risk of
the disease is by controlling blood pressure
and cholesterol, stopping smoking
and managing symptoms of diabetes.
For the study, researchers recruited
57 patients who had experienced stroke
caused by damaged small blood vessels,
known as a lacunar stroke. They took
the two medicines either individually or
in combination for up to nine weeks, in
addition to usual treatments aimed at
MELBOURNE : Indulging in high-calorie
‘comfort’ foods when you are stressed can lead to
more weight gain than usual, scientists say.
Researchers from the Garvan Institute of
Medical Research in Australia discovered a molecular
pathway in the brain, controlled by insulin,
which drives the additional weight gain.
Using an animal model, the team showed that a
high-calorie diet when combined with stress resulted
in more weight gain than the same diet caused in
a stress-free environment. “This study indicates
that we have to be much more conscious about
what we’re eating when we’re stressed, to avoid a
faster development of obesity,” said Herbert
Herzog, who led the study.
Some individuals eat less when they’re stressed,
but most will increase their food intake—and crucially,
the intake of calorie-dense food high in sugar
and fat. To understand what controls this ‘stress
eating’, the team investigated different areas of the
brain in mice. While food intake is mainly controlled
by a part of the brain called the hypothalamus,
another part of the brain—the amygdala—processes
emotional responses, including anxiety. “Our study
showed that when stressed over an extended period
and high calorie food was available, mice became
obese more quickly than those that consumed the
same high fat food in a stress-free environment,” said
Kenny Chi Kin Ip, lead author of the study published
in the journal Cell Metabolism.
At the centre of this weight gain, the scientists discovered,
was a molecule called NPY, which the brain
preventing further strokes.
They completed health questionnaires
and had regular blood pressure
checks, blood tests and brain scans. The
findings suggest the drugs are safe for
use in stroke patients, taken alone or in
combination, at least in the short term.
There were also signs that the treatment
helped improve blood vessel function
in the arms and brain, and may
improve thinking skills, but researchers
stressed further studies to test this.
Experts believe the findings pave the
way for larger studies to check if the
treatment can prevent brain damage and
reduce risk of stroke and vascular
dementia. A larger study, called LACI-
2, is underway, said a statement from
University of Edinburgh.
Comfort food leads to more
weight gain during stress
Sydney, Eating too much high-calorie food is
anyway bad for health but under stress, sugary
and high-fat diet can lead to more weight gain
than in normal situations, says a study.
During an experiment on mice, the team discovered
that a high-calorie diet when combined
with stress resulted in more weight gain than the
same diet caused in a stress-free environment.
“This study indicates that we have to be much
more conscious about what we’re eating when
we’re stressed, to avoid a faster development of
obesity,” said Professor Herbert Herzog said,
Head of the Eating Disorders laboratory at the
Garvan Institute of Medical Research in New
South Wales (NSW). According to the findings
published in the journal-Cell Metabolism, some
individuals eat less when they are stressed but
most will increase their food intake — and crucially,
produces naturally in response to stress to stimulate
eating in humans as well as mice. “We discovered that
when we switched off the production of NPY in the
amygdala weight gain was reduced. Without NPY, the
weight gain on a high-fat diet with stress was the same
as weight gain in the stress-free environment,” said Ip.
“This shows a clear link between stress, obesity
and NPY,” he said. To understand what might control
the NPY boost under stress, the scientists analysed the
nerve cells that produced NPY in the amygdala and
found they had receptors, or ‘docking stations’, for
the intake of calorie-dense food high in sugar and fat.
insulin—one of the hormones
which control our food intake.
Under normal conditions, the body
produces insulin just after a meal,
which helps cells absorb glucose
from the blood and sends a ‘stop
eating’ signal to the hypothalamus
feeding centre of the brain.
In the study, the scientists discovered
that chronic stress alone
raised the blood insulin levels only
slightly, but in combination with a
high-calorie diet, the insulin levels
were 10 times higher than mice that
were stress-free and received a normal
diet.
The study showed that these prolonged,
high levels of insulin in the
amygdala caused the nerve cells to
become desensitised to insulin,
which stopped them from detecting
insulin altogether. In turn, these desensitised nerve
cells boosted their NPY levels, which both promoted
eating and reduced the bodies’ normal response to
burn energy through heat, the study showed.
“Our findings revealed a vicious cycle, where
chronic, high insulin levels driven by stress and a
high-calorie diet promoted more and more eating,”
said Herzog. “This really reinforced the idea that
while it’s bad to eat junk food, eating high-calorie
foods under stress is a double whammy that drives
obesity,” he added.
Eating comfort food in stress will add extra kilos
To understand what controls this ‘stress eating’,
the researchers investigated different areas of the
brain in mice. While food intake is mainly controlled
by a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, another
part of the brain — the amygdala — processes
emotional responses, including anxiety.
The scientists discovered that chronic stress alone
raised the blood insulin levels only slightly but in
combination with a high-calorie diet, the insulin levels
were 10 times higher than mice that were stressfree
and received a normal diet.
“We were surprised that insulin had such a significant
impact on the amygdala,” said Professor
Herzog. “It’s becoming more and more clear that
insulin doesn’t only impact peripheral regions of the
body but that it regulates functions in the brain.
We’re hoping to explore these effects further in
future,” Herzog added.