16-09-2022 The Asian Independent

18 16-09-2022 to 30-09-2022 NEWS
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Early life changes in diet,
lifestyle, environment triggering
several cancers: Study
Evidence suggests an aetiological role of risk factor
exposures in early life and young adulthood
New Delhi : The drastic early-life
changes in teens and young adults regarding
diet, lifestyle, obesity, environment and the
microbiome have led to a "genuine increase"
in the incidence of early-onset forms of several
cancers globally, a new Nature research
has warned.
Over the past several decades, the incidence
of early-onset cancers, often defined
as cancers diagnosed in adults less than 50
years of age, in the breast, colorectum,
endometrium, oesophagus, extra-hepatic
bile duct, gallbladder, head and neck, kidney,
liver, bone marrow, pancreas, prostate,
stomach and thyroid has increased in multiple
countries.
Evidence suggests an aetiological role of
risk factor exposures in early life and young
adulthood," said the global study published
in the journal Nature Reviews Clinical
Oncology, led by researchers at Harvard TH
Chan School of Public Health, Boston.
Since the mid-20th century, substantial
multi-generational changes in the exposome
have occurred (including changes in diet,
lifestyle, obesity, environment and the
microbiome, all of which might interact with
genomic and/or genetic susceptibilities).
The incidence of cancers of various organs
diagnosed in adults less than 50 years of age
has been rising in many parts of the world
since the 1990s. "The early-onset cancer epidemic
might be one manifestation of
increasing trends in the development of
many chronic diseases in young and future
generations," the researchers wrote. They
emphasised that raising awareness of the
early-onset cancer epidemic and improving
the early-life environment should be our
immediate goals. "These are likely to reduce
the burden of both early-onset and lateronset
cancers," they added. To study earlylife
exposures and their implications for
multiple cancer types will require prospective
cohort studies with dedicated bio-banking
and data collection technologies, the
research noted.
19-year-old in Brazil
gives birth to twins
from 2 different fathers
The girl from Minerios gave birth to
twins nine months after having sex with
two men on the same day
Chandigarh : A 19-year-old teenager from
Brazil has claimed that she has given birth to
twins with different biological fathers in an
extremely rare case. This ‘one-in-a-million’ case
has stunned doctors worldwide. The girl from
Minerios in Goias gave birth to twins nine
months after having sex with two men on the
same day. After giving birth, she took a paternity
test because she wanted to confirm who the
father was, reported the Daily Mail. After the
DNA test, she found that only one of her kids
showed positive for the DNA test while the other
one did not. “I remembered that I had had sex
with another man and called him to take the test,
which was positive. I was surprised by the
results. I didn’t know this could happen and the
babies are very similar.” She said in a conversation
with her local media. Though the phenomenon
is extremely rare, it is not entirely impossible.
This is called heteroparental superfecundation
scientifically. “It is possible to happen when
two eggs from the same mother are fertilized by
different men. The babies share the mother’s
genetic material, but they grow in different placentas,”
Dr Tulio Jorge Franco, the woman’s
physician, told local news outlet Globo.
The National Library of Medicine explains
that this case occurs when a second ovary
released during the same menstrual cycle is additionally
fertilised by the sperm cells of a different
man in separate intercourse. The babies are
now 16 months old and the young mum said one
of the fathers help take care of them.
High BP may speed up bone ageing, says study
New York : A team of
researchers has discovered that high
blood pressure may lead to bone
loss and osteoporosis-related bone
damage. In lab studies on rats, they
found that when compared to the
young mice without hypertension,
the young mice with induced hypertension
had a significant 24 per cent
reduction in bone volume fraction.
They also suffered from an 18
per cent reduction in the thickness
of the sponge-like trabecular bone
located at the end of long bones,
such as femurs and the spinal column,
and a 34 per cent reduction in
estimated failure force, which is the
ability of bones to withstand different
types of force.
"In contrast, the older mice who
were given the angiotensin-II infusion
did not exhibit similar bone
loss. High blood pressure and
osteoporosis are common diseases
affecting people and some can have
both simultaneously.
"Bone marrow is where both new
bone and new immune cells are produced.
We suspect that more proinflammatory
immune cells in the
bone marrow may be leading to
damage of the bone and making it
weaker," said Elizabeth Maria
Hennen, from Vanderbilt University
in Nashville, Tennessee, the US.
"By understanding how hypertension
contributes to osteoporosis,
we may be able to reduce the risk of
osteoporosis and better protect people
later in life from having fragility
fractures and a lower quality of
life," she added. The researchers
compared young mice (equivalent
human age 20-30) with induced
hypertension to older mice (equivalent
human age 47-56) without
hypertension to understand the relationship
between hypertension and
bone ageing, according to the study
presented in American Heart
Association's Hypertension
Scientific Sessions 2022 conference.
"Twelve young rats and 11
older rats were given angiotensin
II– a hormone that leads to high
blood pressure for six weeks," the
researchers said.
"Two other control groups of 13
young mice and 9 old mice received
a buffer solution that did not
include angiotensin II, and these
mice did not develop high blood
pressure," they added After six
weeks, the bones of rats from all
four groups were analysed using
micro-computed tomography, an
advanced imaging technique.