Smokers may have more sleep problems

 Smokers may get fewer hours of sleep and have a less restful slumber than non-smokers, a new study suggests.

German researchers found that of nearly 1,100 smokers they surveyed, 17 percent got less than six hours of sleep each night and 28 percent reported "disturbed" sleep quality.

That compared with rates of seven percent and 19 percent, respectively, among more than 1,200 non-smokers. The findings cannot prove that smoking directly impairs sleep. Smokers may have other habits that could affect their shut-eye - such as staying up late to watch TV or getting little exercise, said lead researcher Dr. Stefan Cohrs, of Charite Berlin medical school in Germany.

But there is also reason to believe smoking is to blame - namely, the stimulating effects of nicotine, Cohrs told Reuters Health in an email.

There have also been studies showing that smokers' sleep improves after they quit the habit, according to Cohrs. "If you smoke and you do suffer from sleep problems, it is another good reason to quit smoking," Cohrs said.

Poor sleep quality may not only make your waking hours tougher: Some studies have also linked habitually poor sleep to health problems like obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

The new study, which appears in the journal Addiction Biology, included 1,071 smokers and 1,243 non-smokers who were free of mental health disorders - since those conditions may make a person both more likely to smoke and more vulnerable to sleep problems.

The researchers used a standard questionnaire that gauges sleep quality. Overall, more than one-quarter of smokers had a score that landed them in the category of "disturbed" sleep.

That means they had a "high probability" of having insomnia, according to Cohrs.

Many things can affect sleep quality. Cohrs' team was able to account for some of those factors, like age, weight and alcohol abuse. And smoking was still linked to poorer sleep quality.

It's still possible there are other things about smokers that impair their sleep. But Cohrs thinks the most likely culprit is nicotine.

Of course, there are already plenty of established reasons to kick the smoking habit. But the prospect of better sleep could offer people more motivation, Cohrs noted.

SOURCE: bit.ly/TOrYx0 Addiction Biology, online August 23, 2012.

Tomado de Reuters health

Reducing the Side Effects of Treatment for Prostate Cancer

New research published in BioMed Central's open access journalBMC Medicine reassessing clinical data from trials, which investigate ways of treating side effects of therapy for prostate cancer, finds that tamoxifen, an anti-estrogen used to treat breast cancer, is also able to suppress gynecomastia and breast pain in men.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men and early treatment is usually very successful. Androgen-suppression therapy is often used to slow down progression of advanced disease. However, unwanted side effects of anti-androgen treatment, such as breast enlargement, can stop men from seeking treatment for their cancer.

Testosterone can drive the growth of prostate cancer and anti-androgens are used to inhibit prostate cancer growth by preventing testosterone from binding to androgen receptors. But receptors in cells within the testes are also blocked and start to make more testosterone to compensate. Some of this extra testosterone is converted into estrogen which is responsible for development of breast tissue and other breast events. Anti-estrogens work by jamming the estrogen receptor, while aromatase inhibitors prevent the conversion of testosterone into estrogen.

A collaboration between the German Cochrane Center and University Clinic Erlangen combined data from four independent clinical trials each looking at the management of breast events (during treatment for prostate cancer) with tamoxifen.

A meta-analysis of all four trials showed that tamoxifen reduced the risk of both gynecomastia and breast pain at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of treatment compared to men who received no treatment. Overall, treatment with tamoxifen was more successful in reducing breast symptoms than treatment with an aromatase inhibitor (anastrazole) or radiotherapy.

Although there is no long term data available, few of the men treated with tamoxifen, either as preventative or therapeutic treatment, stopped taking their medication during their year of treatment. There were also no significant adverse effects.

Dr Frank Kunath, who led this study explained, "Not all men will suffer gynecomastia during anti-androgen therapy. However, if men know that there is a successful option for reducing the breast symptoms associated with treatment for prostate cancer they may be more likely to see their doctor when symptoms of cancer first appear, and consequently reduce the number of unnecessary deaths."

BioMed Central Limited. "Reducing the side effects of treatment for prostate cancer."ScienceDaily, 24 Aug. 2012. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Obesity linked to coronary artery calcification in patients without diabetes

     Coronary artery calcification was linked to obesity, but not impaired fasting glucose, according to results from a community-based study of the offspring and third-generation cohorts of the initial Framingham Heart Study.

     “In the US population, approximately one in three nondiabetic adults has impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and one in three has obesity. IFG is known to be related to all components of the metabolic syndrome, including strong associations with obesity,” researchers wrote.

     Using multidetector computed tomography in 3,054 patients (mean age of 50 years; 49% women; 29% impaired fasting glucose [IFG] and 25% obese), researchers compared the coronary artery calcification (CAC) of patients with normal fasting glucose and IFG. Comparisons were also completed on the CAC of patients with and without obesity. Researchers aimed to determine if CAC differences were independent of important confounders.

Martin K. Rutter, MD, from the cardiovascular research group within the School of Biomedicine at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and colleagues said the relationships of IFG and obesity to CAC in the general population has been ambiguous until now.

“Although this is cross-sectional observational data, our work may have public health implications because it has suggested the possible importance of targeting obesity over IFG for preventing subclinical atherosclerosis in the general population,” the researchers wrote.

Data confirmed that high CAC was significantly related to IFG in an age- and sex-adjusted model (OR=1.4; 95% CI, 1.1–1.7), and after additional adjustments for obesity, high CAC still showed a relation to IFG (OR=1.3; 95% CI, 1–1.6).

However, IFG was not associated with high CAC in multivariable-adjusted models before (OR=1.2; 95% CI, 0.9–1.4) or after adjustment for obesity, they wrote.

Moreover, obesity was linked to higher CAC in age- and sex-adjusted models (OR=1.6; 95% CI, 1.3–2.0) and in multivariable models, including IFG (OR=1.4; 95% CI, 1.1–1.7), according to data.

Finally, researchers used a spline regression model to explore the nonlinear relationships linking CAC with BMI, fasting glucose and waist circumference.

“This suggested that there is a J-shaped multivariable-adjusted relationship between BMI and CAC with significant nonlinearity in the nonobese BMI range.”

Despite consistent evidence for improved risk prediction by CAC, Rutter and colleagues said that CHD screening using CAC currently is not recommended to improve clinical outcomes.

Rutter M. Diabetes Care. 2012; doi: 10.2337/dc11-1950.

Tomado de: healio.com

Podcast: Semen's Secret, Antibiotic Weight Gain, and More

Podcast: Semen's Secret, Antibiotic Weight Gain, and More - ScienceNOW






Tomado de ScienceNOW.com