Human Trials On HIV Vaccine To Begin Soon

As part of global efforts to tackle the spread of HIV, a human trial of an experimental HIV vaccine, is set to begin in the second half of 2019. According to the findings of a new study published  in the journal; ‘Nature Medicine,’ part of the aims of the human trial was to refine the vaccine, boost its potency and ultimately produce a version that’s suitable for testing in people. According to researchers at the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which conducted the study, the vaccine, in an earlier study protected animals from dozens of strains of HIV.
The vaccine targeted a vulnerable site on HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and triggered antibody production in mice, guinea pigs and monkeys, they noted in the study led by Peter Kwong and Dr. John Mascola, of the NIAID Vaccine Research Centre.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (a subgroup of retrovirus) that causes HIV infection and over time, the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). While HIV kills or damages the body’s immune system cells, AIDS is the most advanced stage of the infection. HIV continues to be a major global public health issue. In 2016, an estimated 36.7 million people were living with HIV (including 1.8 million children).

Since the start of the epidemic, an estimated 78 million people had become infected with HIV and 35 million people had died of AIDS-related illnesses, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In 2016 alone, one million people died of AIDS-related illnesses. The vast majority of people living with HIV were located in low and middle income countries, with an estimated 25.5 million living in sub-Saharan Africa. Also, Nigeria currently ranks the second largest with HIV epidemic in the world, with 3.4 million living with the virus. Similarly, it has the highest cases of HIV-positive children in the world.
However, the ‘Newsmax- Health’ quoted NIAID Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, as saying the scientists in the new study, used their detailed knowledge of the structure of HIV to find an unusual site of vulnerability on the virus and design a novel and potentially powerful vaccine. “This elegant study is a potentially important step forward in the ongoing quest to develop a safe and effective HIV vaccine,” he added

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Hypertension: New Devices Promise More Accurate Readings

Experts from the University College London have urged medical doctors to scrap old methods of measuring blood pressure as thousands of hypertensive patients were being missed. They are therefore urging doctors to switch to a new technique whereby patients were sent home with portable devices which are worn for 24 hours. The portable devices or ambulatory blood pressure monitors (ABMPs) provides 50 per cent more accurate readings and could predict whether patients would die from heart disease. These are the findings of a new study, published in the ‘New England Journal of Medicine.’
The devices measure blood pressure at 20 to 30 minute intervals for a period of 24 hours when patients go about their daily routines. “For this reason they are far more accurate as many patients with high blood pressure have normal readings when sat in a chair,” reported the ‘mailonline’.
The researchers asserted that readings from the new wearable device have shown that this was far more effective than GPs taking a one-off reading with an inflatable cuff.The researchers found that almost a fifth of adults with normal blood pressure readings using the traditional method actually had high blood pressure. Such patients that were classified as having ‘masked’ high blood pressure – were ordinarily sent away without treatment. High blood pressure or hypertension is a condition in which pressure in the blood vessels is higher than it should be. Normal blood pressure is 120/80. However, new guidelines stated that blood pressure between 120/80 and 129/80 is elevated, and 130/80 is high.

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How Y Chromosome Protects The Blood Against Leukaemia

Scientists said a gene specific to the male-only Y chromosome, had been found to protect against the development of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and other cancers.
According to findings of a new study published in ‘Nature Genetics,’ the study could lead to new lines of research for new treatments for AML.

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow and and leads to life-threatening infections and bleeding.

AML is not a single disease. It is the name given to a group of leukaemias that develop in the myeloid cell line in the bone marrow. Myeloid cells are red blood cells, platelets and all white blood cells excluding lymphocytes.
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread to other parts of the body.
Mainstream treatments for the condition have remained unchanged for decades and just 20 per cent of patients survive for five years or more after diagnosis.
This development therefore raises hope the high death rate from AML may reduce as the new line of treatment that may be produced would advance health care in the treatment of the condition.
Reacting to the study findings, the researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge said the discovery of this new role changes the way the Y chromosome is viewed and improves understanding of how AML and other cancers develop.

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Why Six Hours Work A Day Leads To A Better Workplace Performance

A six-hour working day results in happier and healthier employees. It also leads to a higher quality of welfare services and a more sustainable and equal labour market. Despite what some news reports may have indicated, these are the findings from Sweden’s trial of six-hour working days.
A shorter working day is often portrayed as a utopian dream that would be too costly to realise, much as previous work reforms were portrayed in the past. But what if working less is the key to a more sustainable working life?

A shorter working day is not a utopian dream. Rather it fits nicely as a policy tool to create a more sustainable working life and labour market

For the past two years the Swedish city of Gothenburg has undertaken a trial of a six-hour working day at a care home for elderly people. The aim was to find out how it would impact on health and life quality for assistant nurses, as well as the broader socioeconomic benefits and the possibility of creating jobs.
The preliminary results show that a shorter working day lowered sick leave by 10%. Also, the perceived health of the care workers increased considerably in relation to stress and alertness. This was especially apparent in child-caring age groups. Having longer to recuperate and spend time with family is evidently an important factor in creating a sustainable work-life balance.

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Residents in the care home also felt they were getting better care and more time with the nurses. In interviews they described staff as more alert and happier. Social activities dramatically increased too, meaning that the higher level of alertness is being put to good use by the staff.
Employing more care workers amounts to approximately a 20% increase in costs; a staggering amount at first glance. But unemployment, poor working conditions, early retirement and sick leave are hugely expensive to society. But some of the cost of employing the new care workers is offset by lower payments from the social security system, and the net increase in cost drops to approximately 10%. It is worth noticing that the calculation still doesn’t take into account any long-term effects, which are sure to lower the total even further.
In wider Swedish society sick leave has increased considerably in the care sector in recent years. Caring for children and elderly people is work predominantly carried out by women. It is also an area that doesn’t benefit in the same way as many male-dominated sectors do from automation and technology. Care work is heavy-duty, face-to-face labour, tiring for both the mind and body. Little has changed over time for care workers, except one thing: the economic constraints have grown tighter. The six-hour working day project indicates that an improvement in working conditions has a clear impact on the quality of care.

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In many European countries, policy makers struggle to increase women’s participation in the labour market without a decrease in the birthrate. The demands of working life impose heavily on family life, and these have proved hard to reconcile in many countries. The experiences of this project show that women with children benefit most from a shorter working day. Creating a more sustainable working life where there is time to both recuperate and help your children with their homework is one way to both increase parents’ access to work and alleviate some of the discriminatory factors that still make women the main provider of unpaid work.
Increasing labour market participation is not only about creating a more equal labour market but a more sustainable one. The retirement age is a fixed point in many countries. But in physically demanding professions such as construction or care, working until you’re 65 represents a greater challenge. And working until 67 or beyond seems more like a joke than reality. Early retirement is not only an economic problem for society but a devastating blow for individuals who risk having to spend their old age in poverty. More flexible working hours can help with this.

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A shorter working day is not a utopian dream. Rather it is a policy tool in a reform agenda to create a more sustainable working life and labour market. Given the attention in international media this small pilot project in Gothenburg has received, it is clear that it’s an issue that attracts broad interest. This shouldn’t be neglected but met with a serious debate on the benefits of working less but better.

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Mothers With More Children Have Higher Heart Attack Risk

According to a recent study funded by British Health Foundation, a woman with more children has a greater risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure.
This was part of the findings of a new study of over 8,000 white and African-American women in the United States, aged between 45 and 64.
The study was one of the issues to be presented at the British Cardiovascular Society Conference taking place in Manchester, England, from Monday, June 4 to Wednesday, June 6.

Citing a study from the University of Cambridge, London Daily Telegraph reported that having five or more kids was associated with a 40 per cent increased risk of a serious heart disease in the next 30 years, compared with having one or two children.

Cardiovascular disease includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as heart attack).
Researchers found that for mothers with more children, the risk of stroke was 25 per cent higher and the chance of heart failure was 17 per cent higher than women with fewer kids.
The lead researcher, Dr. Clare Oliver-Williams said: “We all know it is hard to take care of your health when you have children, but hopefully, this research can help show how important it is.”
The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation while the study examined data from over 8,000 white and African-American women.

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High Carbohydrate Diets Could Hasten Menopause

Scientists from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom (UK) have said that diet high in carbohydrates could bring on an earlier menopause.
According to a new research published in the ‘Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health,’ eating lots of carbohydrate foods such as pasta and rice, was associated with reaching menopause one-and-a-half years earlier than the average age of 51, when most women develop it.
On the contrary, the study also found that a diet rich in oily fish, peas and beans may delay natural menopause. However, many other factors, including genes, influence the timing of menopause, experts said.
Menopause is defined as the absence of menstrual periods for 12 months. It is the time in a woman’s life when the function of the ovaries ceases. The process of menopause does not occur overnight, but rather a gradual process. This so-called perimenopausal transition period is a different experience for each woman.
Hot flushes were the most common symptom of the menopause. Other common symptoms include night sweats, sleeplessness, vaginal dryness, irritated skin, more frequent urinary incontinence and urinary tract infections, low mood and a reduced interest in sex.
The new study found that a diet high in legumes, which includes peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas, delayed menopause by one-and-a-half years, on average.
“Eating lots of refined carbs, particularly rice and pasta, was linked to menopause coming earlier by one-and-a-half years.”
Explaining the findings of the observational study, the researchers said legumes contain antioxidants, which might preserve menstruation for longer.
Similarly, Omega-3 fatty acids, which were in oily fish, also stimulate antioxidant capacity in the body.
The researchers further stated that refined carbohydrates boost the risk of insulin resistance, which could interfere with sex hormone activity and boost oestrogen levels. “This might increase the number of menstrual cycles leading to the egg supply running out faster,” ‘Health & Wellness’ reported.
Study co-author, Janet Cade, a professor of nutritional epidemiology, affirmed that the age at which menopause begins could have serious health implications for some women.

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