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DNA blood test can help rule out Down's syndrome among high-risk pregnancies

A particular blood test could mean that 98% of invasive procedures could be avoided, say the authors of a British medical journal. The test uses the latest DNA technology to analyse genetic components in the mother's blood that indicate whether the foetus has Down's syndrome.

Down's syndrome, or trisomy 21, occurs in around 1 in 800 births and older women are at higher risk. Women in high risk groups tend to undergo a combination of scans and hormone level tests in order to determine if they need to have an invasive test, such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling. The latter tests take samples of genetic material from the foetus but they carry a 1% risk of miscarriage and are therefore reserved for high risk pregnancies. Invasive testing still takes place in 3 to 5% of pregnant women in the UK.

The research team, led by Professor Dennis Lo from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, used the most up-to-date DNA technology to test the blood samples from 753 pregnant women (all were at high risk of having a baby with Down's) based in Hong Kong, the UK and the Netherlands. 86 of the women were found to be carrying a foetus with Down's syndrome.

The results show that the test is highly accurate in detecting Down's syndrome in unborn babies and does not give false negative results. The authors conclude that the blood test could be used to rule out Down's syndrome accurately among high-risk pregnancies before amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling is considered. In this way the number of women requiring invasive procedures can be reduced.

Source: BMJ-British Medical Journal - 12 January 2011 Africa Medical

Study shows adolescents who were breastfed at birth have stronger leg muscles

Breast feeding newborn babies has a lot of advantages in the short and in the long-term for babies. A recent study has confirmed that adolescents who are breastfed at birth have stronger leg muscles than those who received artificial milk.

Enrique García Artero, the principal author of the study and researcher at the University of Granada, pointed out that, "Our objective was to analyse the relationship between the duration of breastfeeding babies and their physical condition in adolescence". The results suggest further beneficial effects and provide support to breast feeding as superior to any other type of feeding".

The authors asked the parents of 2567 adolescents about the type of feeding their children received at birth and the time this lasted. The adolescents also carried out physical tests in order to evaluate several abilities such as aerobic capacities and their muscular strength. The paper, which was published in the Journal of Nutrition, shows that the adolescents who were breastfed as babies have stronger leg muscles than those who were not breastfed. Moreover, muscular leg strength was greater in those who had been breastfed for a longer period of time. This type of feeding (exclusively or in combination with other types of food) is associated with a better performance in horizontal jumping by boys and girls regardless of morphological factors such as fat mass, height of the adolescent or the amount of muscle.

Adolescents who were breastfed from three to five months, or for more than six months had half the risk of low performance in the jump exercise when compared with those who had never been breastfed. García Artero stressed that, "Until now, no studies have examined the association between breastfeeding and future muscular aptitude". "However, our results concur with the observations made as regards other neonatal factors, such as weight at birth, are positively related to better muscular condition during adolescence".

"If all children were exclusively breastfed from birth, it would be possible to save approximately 1.5 million lives". This was stated by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which pointed out that breastfeeding is the "perfect feed" exclusively during the first six months of life and additionally over two years. As regards the newborn, the advantages in the first years of life include immunological protection against allergies, skin diseases, obesity and diabetes, as well as a guarantee of the growth, development and intelligence of the baby. The benefits also substantially involve the woman: reduction of post-birth haemorrhage, anaemia, maternity mortality, and the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and it strengthens the affective link between mother and child. "Let's forget about the money saved by not buying other types of milk and baby bottles", says García Artero.

Source: University of Granada - 6 January 2011 - Africa Medical

SA: HIV stalls progress on MDGs

The HIV/AIDS epidemic is severely hampering South Africa's ability to achieve several Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Nearly 800 South Africans died every day from AIDS-related illnesses in 2009 and more than 1110 became newly infected daily, according to the South African Health Review (SAHR) 2010, which reveals the immense challenges in achieving the eight goals set by the United Nations (UN) in 2000. The country has not achieved the goal of universal access to ARV treatment for all those who need it by 2010, despite having by far the largest antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programme in the world, and will struggle to achieve the MDG of halting and reversing the spread of HIV and tuberculosis (TB) by 2015.

Source: 12 January 2011 - Health 24

Taking more steps every day can help ward off diabetes
 
Simply taking more steps every day not only helps ward off obesity but also reduces the risk of diabetes, finds a study published on bmj.com.

While several studies have shown that physical activity reduces body mass index (BMI) and insulin resistance - an early stage in the development of diabetes - this is the first study to estimate the effects of long-term changes in daily step count on insulin sensitivity. A popular guideline is to take 10,000 steps every day, though a more recent recommendation is 3,000 steps, five days a week. The research, by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, involved 592 middle-aged adults who took part in a national study to map diabetes levels across Australia between 2000 and 2005. At the start of the study, participants completed a detailed diet and lifestyle questionnaire and underwent a thorough health examination. They were also given a pedometer and instructed how to use it. Participants were monitored again five years later.

Other lifestyle factors, such as diet, alcohol and smoking were taken into account. A higher daily step count over five years was associated with a lower BMI , lower waist to hip ratio and better insulin sensitivity. These associations were independent of dietary energy intake and appeared to be largely due to a change in adiposity (fatness) over the five years, say the authors. The authors estimate that, in their setting, a sedentary person who takes a very low number of daily steps but who was able to change behaviour over five years to meet the popular 10,000 daily step guideline would have a threefold improvement in insulin sensitivity compared with a similar person who increased his or her steps to meet the more recent recommendation of 3,000 steps for five days a week.

They conclude: "These findings, confirming an independent beneficial role of higher daily step count on body mass index, waist to hip ratio and insulin sensitivity, provide further support to promote higher physical activity levels among middle-aged adults."

Source: EurekAlert - January 2011