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'Safe' stem cell therapy may help stroke recovery
Conclusion This study provides evidence that a new technique using a patient's own stem cells to aid the recovery from severe ischaemic stoke is feasible and appears to be safe. It was not designed to test whether the technique was better than doing nothing or better than other types of care or treatment. The authors are perfectly clear that this "proof-of-concept study was not designed with a control group or powered to be able to detect efficacy". This means we cannot be sure that the improvements seen in the five patients were caused by the stem cell treatment. They could have occurred anyway as part of the na...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 11, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Genetics/stem cells Heart/lungs Source Type: news

Long-term daily drinking linked to stiffening of the arteries in men
Conclusion This prospective cohort study aimed to look at the relationship between long-term alcohol patterns and stiffness of the arteries as a potential indicator of cardiovascular health. The researchers found men who were stable heavy drinkers had stiffer arteries compared with stable moderate drinkers. Male former drinkers also had increasingly stiffer arteries over the following four to five years compared with consistent moderate drinkers. There were no significant findings seen for women at all. But this study does have limitations: This type of study is not able to prove drinking causes stiffness of the arter...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 21, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Food/diet Source Type: news

'Dying of heartache?' Heart problems linked to bereavement
Conclusion The study found that people were more likely to have AF for the first time in the weeks immediately after a bereavement, but that this raised risk does not last. Despite the headlines, this does not mean that anyone who's had a bereavement is at immediate risk of "dying of a broken heart". Atrial fibrillation is treatable and not usually life-threatening. Because this was an observational study, we cannot rule out the possibility that factors such as family history of atrial fibrillation or lifestyle factors could have affected the results, although the researcher's conclusion that this is a small poss...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 6, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Mental health Source Type: news

Do epilepsy and migraine share a genetic link?
Conclusion This paper suggests there is a link between the number of close relatives with a seizure disorder and the likelihood that an individual with epilepsy will also suffer from migraines with aura. However, it seems that the researchers were only interested in what they term ‘additional’ family members, and did not take into account the fact that to be eligible for this study at least two siblings or a parent and child both had to suffer from epilepsy. There seems to be the possibility that if, for example, four members of a family were enrolled in the study but the family had no further affected members, all me...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 7, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Genetics/stem cells Source Type: news

Heart disease risk 'higher in men who skip breakfast'
Conclusion This large cohort study of middle-aged and older male American health professionals has found that eating breakfast and not eating after going to bed are associated with a lower risk of coronary heart disease. As this was a cohort study, it cannot prove cause and effect, as it is not possible to exclude the possibility that there are other factors responsible for any of the associations seen.  The results remained the same when researchers adjusted for diet, demographic factors and activity level, but were no longer significant if the researchers adjusted for obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol level...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 23, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Food/diet Source Type: news

Being bilingual may slow the onset of dementia
Conclusion This consecutive series of people treated at a specialist dementia clinic in India found that people with dementia who are bilingual developed dementia later than people who were monolingual. It is highly plausible that activities engaged in over a lifetime that increase our cognitive ability – such as understanding two or more languages – may have a protective effect against cognitive decline. However, this study cannot prove that being bilingual is directly protective against developing dementia. This study only characterised differences within a group of people who all developed dementia, rather than loo...
Source: NHS News Feed - November 8, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Neurology Older people Source Type: news

Test could give two-year warning for Alzheimer's
Conclusion The researchers suggest that Alzheimer's disease can be predicted with an accuracy of 87.5% when thinning of the cortex in the right anterior cingulated gyrus is seen on MRI, alongside test results suggesting problems with recall and recognition. This research does not indicate a new "test", as MRI and psychological testing are standard procedures when investigating the signs and symptoms of dementia. What is novel in this approach is looking at a specific combination of results as a potential way of predicting which people with MCI may develop Alzheimer's disease. While this form of testing would be b...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 9, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Source Type: news

Cannabis linked to brain differences in the young
Conclusion This study found differences between young recreational cannabis users and non-users in the volume and structure of the nucleus accumbens and amygdala, which have a role in the brain’s reward system, pleasure response, emotion and decision making. However, as this was only a cross sectional study taking one-off brain scans of cannabis users and non-users, it cannot prove that cannabis use was the cause of any of the differences seen. It is not known whether cannabis use could have caused these changes in regular users.   Or conversely whether the cannabis users in this study had this brain structure to sta...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 16, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Mental health Neurology Source Type: news

NICE: 'Obese should be prescribed slimming clubs'
“GPs told to prescribe £100 slimming courses for millions of obese patients,” the Daily Mail reports. The news is based on new guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) that aim to encourage sustainable weight loss in the obese; “lose a little, and keep it off”. The guidance is mainly aimed at commissioners (who plan and agree which services will be provided in the NHS and monitor them), health professionals and groups who provide lifestyle weight management programmes. The recommendations may also be of interest to members of the public, including people who are overweight or o...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 28, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Food/diet Obesity QA articles Source Type: news

Claims magnetic brain stimulation helps memory
ConclusionIn this study, TMS was found to improve performance on the associative memory test by more than 20%, whereas sham stimulation had no significant effect.TMS also increased connectivity between specific cortical (grey-matter) regions of the brain and the hippocampus.This interesting research increases our knowledge of how memory works. However, it was a very small trial with only 16 participants. It is also unclear whether electromagnetic stimulation would be effective for people with memory disorders such as dementia. The media has reported that the researchers are now planning to study the effect of TMS on people...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 29, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Source Type: news

No such thing as baby brain, study argues
Conclusion The researchers conclude that although the pregnant women reported memory problems, these did not show up on their tests. However, this does not take into account their pre-pregnancy ability. The women may have performed better before they got pregnant, which is why they are now reporting memory problems. None of these women were tested before they got pregnant, which is the major limitation of the study. The researchers say that because there were a similar number of students in each group, the women in the control group was a good enough representation of how the pregnant women would have performed pre-pregna...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 8, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Mental health Neurology Pregnancy/child Source Type: news

New brain diet 'slows mental decline'
ConclusionThis observational study aimed to investigate the relationship between the MIND diet and its protective properties for mental decline in an older population. The study has several strengths, including the large sample size, long observational period of up to nine years, regular annual assessment of cognitive functions, and comprehensive assessment of diet. However, one of the main limitations is that this type of study cannot show cause and effect – it can only show an association between the diet and slower mental decline. There may be other unmeasured factors that account for the results, such as genetics, ...
Source: NHS News Feed - August 6, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Neurology Source Type: news