Checkup for Friday May 16
A weekly round-up of news affecting your health
By National Medical Writer Clifford Fram
BIRTH ASPHYXIA PATCH
A skin patch designed to combat jetlag could help prevent death and disability among babies who are deprived of oxygen at birth.
The melatonin patches, commonly used in the US for jetlag, might reduce brain cell death when used after birth asphyxia has occurred, according to a Monash University study.
Four million babies a year suffer a lack of oxygen during birth worldwide, mostly in developing countries.
The figure in Australia is around 1200, resulting in more than 100 deaths and around 250 cases of cerebral palsy, epilepsy or vision and hearing loss.
Monash University PhD student James Aridas hopes to start human trials of the patches in India in 2015.
"We're hoping that we can reduce mortality rates in newborns and improve the quality of life for children who go on to develop conditions such as cerebral palsy."
Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain.
It helps neutralise free radicals released after birth asphyxia.
"There is an important window of time after birth when our treatment can potentially reduce permanent brain injury," says Mr Aridas.
LESS IS MORE
Two large meals a day are better than six small ones with the same total calories for controlling weight and blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes.
Eating only breakfast and lunch reduced body weight, liver fat content and fasting glucose, according to a study published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.
The study assessed 54 patients aged 30 to 70, all on oral diabetes drugs and on a restricted-calorie diet.
All participants lost weight. However, they did better when they were on a 12-week program allowing two meals a day compared with the 12 weeks when they ate six meals a day.
EXERCISE OVERDOSE
Overdosing on high-intensity exercise may increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke in those with existing heart disease.
A study in the journal Heart shows that those who exercise least are most at risk. But those who work out hardest are next in line.
Those who exercise regularly at moderate intensity do best, according to the 10-year study.
BABY POWER
Grannies who look after their grandchildren for a limited amount time each week have better brain power than those who don't.
A University of Melbourne study shows they have superior memory and faster cognitive speed.
But this this is reversed if they are exhausted by five or more days a week of childcare.
NEW CANCER HEAD
The Australian Cancer Research Foundation has appointed scientist and businessman Dr Ian Brown as chief executive.
Dr Brown, an associate professor at Flinders University in Adelaide, is a former CEO at ASX-listed Clover Corporation.
Dr Brown succeeds David Brettell, who is retiring.
