IN BRIEF (Page 19)
Smoking damages sperm
Men should quit smoking prior to conception, otherwise they risk damaging their unborn child, as smoking causes sperm mutations, Germany's pneumology and respiratory society has concluded.
"By smoking men risk the possible transfer of altered genes to their offspring and this can result in potential congenital damage," the organization's Professor Dieter Koehler says.
Men who want to become fathers must also allow adequate time between quitting and conception. The longer a man has smoked, the higher the number of mutations in his sperm.
BP lowered by avoiding salt
Avoiding pre-salted foods and not adding salt results in a modest but statistically significant reduction in blood pressure, studies suggest. A modest reduction in dietary salt, measured by sodium content in the urine, of about 35 percent, leads to a lowered daytime blood pressure of 12.1 mm Hg systolic and 6.8 mm Hg diastolic, in patients with high blood pressure not taking anti-hypertensive medications, reports Dr Javad Kojuri.
Women suffering from stress
The more psychosocial stressors a person faces in daily life, the greater their heart disease risk is, and the relationship is particularly strong for women, a new study shows. Women were also more likely to report a higher number of such stressors, Dr Rebecca Thurston of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Dr Laura D. Kubzansky of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston found. "Women more often experienced these clustered risk factors as opposed to men," Thurston says.
Breathe in and out
Controlled exercise and special breathing exercises can help patients suffering from pulmonary hypertension.
With pulmonary hypertension, lungs take in too little oxygen, meaning patients lose their breath and tire more easily. Constriction of the lung's blood vessels increases pressure on the lungs, which means more work for the heart. Patients need to take care not to over-exert themselves.
Medicines that reduce the pressure on the heart have helped a lot of pulmonary hypertension patients. But the training can improve their lives that much more.
It's important that patients keep taking their medicine properly and don't overdo it when trying out their new fitness and breathing regimes, says the German Self Help Organization for Pulmonary Hypertension, in a study.
Child obesity factor found
Mothers who breast feed and have high levels of a protein secreted by lipids in their milk may be increasing the risk that their child will be overweight, German researchers report. Dr Maria Weyermann of The German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and her colleagues found that a child's likelihood of being overweight by age 2 rose with the amount of adiponectin in his or her mother's milk.
Agencies
(China Daily 11/21/2007 page19)
