Canadians paralysed after drinking carrot juice
Carrot juice which was withdrawn from the market late last month is thought to be responsible for the illness of two Canadians who are paralyzed and are severely ill in hospital.
According to public health officials the Toronto residents drank carrot juice that has since tested positive for a botulism toxin.
The juice is said to be the same carrot juice which was recalled late in September and was one of the three brands recalled.
Head growth in infancy tied to later intelligence
Head growth in fetal life and infancy is associated with later intelligence, new research hints. Moreover, catch-up increases do not appear to compensate for poor early growth.
“Brain growth in early life may be important in determining not only the level of peak cognitive function attained but also whether such function is preserved in old age,” the study team writes in the journal Pediatrics. “Older people with a larger head circumference tend to perform better on tests of cognitive function and may have reduced risks of cognitive decline and of Alzheimer’s disease.”
Several studies in children have shown that those with larger brains, measured with imaging studies or as head circumference, tend to score higher on tests of cognitive function. Similar associations have been found in adults.
Drinking Cola bad for women’s bones
If the latest research is to be believed women who drink cola on a regular basis are putting themselves at an increased risk of developing osteoporosis.
The researchers from Tufts University in Boston, say they have found that drinking cola was linked with low bone mineral density in women, regardless of their age or calcium intake.
Professor Katherine Tucker, director of the Epidemiology and Dietary Assessment Program at the University and her colleagues conducted a study of 2,500 people which compared information from dietary questionnaires with bone mineral density measurements at the spine and three different hip sites.
Fitness and Childhood IQ Indicators of Cognitive Ability in Old Age
How well your mind works in old age depends on physical fitness and your IQ score as a child, according to a study published in the October 10, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
In determining whether physical fitness is associated with more successful cognitive aging, the study examined 460 men and women who had been participants of the Scottish Mental Survey of 1932. The participants were tested using the same cognitive test at age 11 and age 79.
Results show physical fitness contributed more than three percent of the differences in cognitive ability in old age after accounting for participant’s test scores at age 11. Physical fitness is defined by time to walk six meters, grip strength and lung function.
Its time to let kids play
According to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) it is important that children are allowed to have free and unstructured play to help them achieve important milestones in their lives and to ensure future well being.
The authors have written the report because they are concerned that for many children free play and unscheduled time is being threatened by many aspects of modern society and family life and they fear that many parents have forgotten or do not understand how important free play is for children.
The report says such free play helps them with their social, emotional and cognitive development as well as helping them to manage stress and become resilient.
Genetic mutation doubles breast cancer risk-study
British researchers said they had found a new genetic mutation that doubled the risk of breast cancer in women who carry it.
The gene, called BRIP1, helps to repair damaged DNA—like some of the other known breast cancer genes, researchers reported in this week’s issue of the journal Nature Genetics.
And, as with the BRCA2 breast cancer gene, certain mutations in BRIP1 may cause a blood disease called Fanconi anemia, reported Dr. Nazneen Rahman of the Institute of Cancer Research, in Sutton, Britain and colleagues.
