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HEATH & SCIENCE
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Cancer survivors may be at risk for memory problems emory problems are common among people who have a history of cancer, new research reveals. In fact, cancer survivors are 40 percent more likely than those who haven’t had cancer to experience the kind of memory impairmentcalled “cancer-related cognitive dysfunction”-that compromises their ability to function on a daily basis, the study authors reported.
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“One of the most important parts of cancer treatment is management of symptoms, such as impairments in attention, memory and fatigue, in order to improve a patient’s quality of life,” Pascal Jean-Pierre, an assistant professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in a news release from the American Association
for Cancer Research. “This study suggests these memory issues are more common than had been recognized before, and should be assessed in all patients with a history of cancer,” he added. Jean-Pierre stressed that the findings, drawn from a nationwide sampling of cancer patients, suggest “that memory impairment in cancer patients is a national problem that we must pay special attention to.” Jean-Pierre and his associates
were scheduled to present their observations Friday at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities, in Miami. To assess a possible memory-cancer connection, the study authors analyzed data taken from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which was conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From the more than 9,800
Americans polled, just over 1,300 (all 40 years of age and up) said they had a history of battling cancer. Fourteen percent of the cancer survivors said they experienced difficulties with memory or periods of confusion, compared with just 8 percent of those who never had a cancer diagnosis. “The findings indicate that cancer is, therefore, a key independent predictor of memory problems
in the sample studied,” Jean-Pierre said. Jean-Pierre suggested that memory trouble is not necessarily always a lingering side effect from cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy. “These memory issues can be related to treatment, such as chemotherapy, radiation and hormone therapies,” he said, “or to the tumor biology itself, which could change brain chemistry and neurobehavioral function.”— HealthDay
China hopes ‘eco-city’ will prove a model alternative Ambitious plan covers 30 square kilometers for now TIANJ IN: At a construction site in northern China, a billboard boasts of a “liveable city” w here residents can drink tap w ater, travel on clean energy public transport and enjoy acres of parkland. For now, the ambitious “ecocity” covering 30 square kilometers (11.6 square miles) of non-arable salt pans and former fishing villages has more cranes than w ind turbines and w ill not be finished for at least another decade. But its developers hope the
settlement near the port city of Tianjin w ill serve as an ultra-efficient alternative to ill-planned and heavily polluting mega-cities not only elsew here in the country, but around the w orld. “We hope to influence our neighbors,” sa id Goh Chye Boon, chief executive of Sino-Singa pore Tia njin Eco-City Investment & Development Co. “With the right ingredients, w ith the right eco mindset, I think together w e can change the environment.”
TIANJIN: A truck drives into the site of an “eco-city” which is now under construction near the port city of Tianjin in northeastern China on September 15, 2010. — AFP
Wildlife claws back in Singapore, with help SINGAPORE: Sharon Chan peered through a pair of binoculars and zoomed in on hundreds of birds feeding on crustaceans and invertebrates at a wildlife sanctuary on Singapore’s northern coast. “Those are plovers because their bills are very short,” explained Chan, the assistant director at the 130hectare (321-acre) Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, separated by a narrow waterway from Malaysia’s bustling city of Johor Bahru. Nearby, a White-breasted Waterhen foraged for food and further away herons and egrets could be seen scouring for a meal. A blue, red and yellow Stockbird Kingfisher flew past and a sudden splash in the water drew attention to a 2.8metre (nine-foot) crocodile swimming near a mangrove swamp. With a land area smaller than that of New York City, Singapore has made deliberate, painstaking efforts
to preserve the concrete jungle’s last few natural habitats, and the results are encouraging. On the eastern side of Singapore, cyclists on an islet called Pulau Ubin can run into wild boar-some with their young-roaming through the foliage. In nearby Pasir Ris a mangrove patch exists under the shadow of public housing towers and patient visitors can be rewarded with a sighting of massed fireflies. Sungei Buloh’s waters teem with fish, monkeys abound at the Bukit Timah nature reserve, and there is a diving spot off a small island called Pulau Hantu. A growing population-currently at five million people-and a redhot economy are driving the need for more housing developments and industries but Singapore is striving to conserve its rich biodiversity. Visitors to Orchard Road, the main shopping belt lined
with malls and skyscrapers, would be surprised to hear that the city is well-endowed with plant and animal species, says Lena Chan, deputy director at the National Biodiversity Centre of the National Parks Board. Located in the midst of the IndoMalayan rainforest, equatorial Singapore is home to more than 2,000 plant species, 57 mammal species, 98 reptile species and 25 amphibian species, she told AFP. It also hosts about 370 bird species and more than 280 species of butterfly. More than 250 species of hard coral-or one third of the global totalare found in Singapore waters despite the country being one of the world’s busiest ports, she added. By comparison, the much bigger Great Barrier Reef in Australia has over 400 species of hard coral and Brazil has only 30, Chan said. “So if you count per unit
CAPE TOWN: Africa Penguins rest during cold weather on the outskirts of the city of Cape Town, South Africa yesterday. African Penguin Awareness Day is celebrated throughout the world zoos and aquariums by hosting educational and awareness activities. —AP
area, then we’re very rich in biodiversity compared to other countries,” she said. With a land area of only 710 square kilometres (284 square miles), Singapore has made sure that greenery dots its urban landscape. About 10 percent of the land is allocated to parks and legally protected nature reserves, while the greening of city streets and pathways that connect various parks is an ongoing effort, the parks board said. Even insects are looked after. “Dragonflies must have a watery environment, so they need ponds,” said Chan. “What we do is we either create a pond, or if there are ponds around we will then plant plants that are suitable for dragonflies.”Orchard Road might soon host a butterfly sanctuary if a new project succeeds. Each tree planted along roads and park connectors also has a purpose. “You have tall trees, you have shorter trees, you have trees that haveberries because birds feed on berries,” Chan said. “And then you find that some of our roadsides have tree canopies that link upthey form as a kind of shelter for birds to fly across, insects to fly across and for small mammals to cross.” Wong Tuan Wah, the parks board’s director for conservation, said nothing happens by chance in Singapore’s conservation plans, including transforming drainage canals to make them look like rivers with plants on both banks. “We want to bring the experience of nature to the city.” One heartening success story is the return of the Oriental Pied Hornbill to Singapore in 1994 after it disappeared in the mid1800s. Two hornbills reappeared on Pulau Ubin and their numbers have now grown to around 60 thanks to conservation efforts, which included building artificial nest boxes on trees carpeting the islet located just off Changi Airport, one of Asia’s busiest transport hubs. —AFP
The governments of China and Singapore have combined their expertise and finances to develop the future city, which has a planned population of 350,000 and includes schools, medical facilities and business districts. Foreign companies such as Japan’s Hitachi and Dutch electronics giant Philips will provide green technology for the development, where buildings will be insulated and have double-glazed windows to increase energy efficiency. Nearly two-thirds of household waste will be recycled and 20 percent of the city’s power will come from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar- with the rest coming from other sources such as highly polluting coal. Treated sewage will be channelled into a lake which will supplement water supplies for local communities. “Eco-cities are needed because China is facing a huge challenge of pollution,” said Hiroaki Suzuki, a top specialist in the Finance, Economic and Urban Department of the World Bank, which is assisting on the project. “China’s serious pollution problems do not mean that it cannot develop an eco-city.” Top leaders in Beijing also hope the project will serve as a model for a long-term solution to the country’s ballooning urban population, which is putting enormous pressure on already strained water and energy resources. China is undergoing an unprecedented urbanisation process as hundreds of millions of people have headed to fast-growing metropolitan areas since the nation’s economy embarked on a fast-paced growth track more than 30 years ago. To handle the massive influx of people, China may need to invest up to 3.6 trillion dollars in urban infrastructure by 2020, state media said last month, citing a report by the state think-tank China Development Research Foundation. Greenpeace supports the development of “eco-cities” as a way to handle urban overcrowding, which it says could prevent China from curbing its world-leading carbon emissions and meeting its ambitious energy targets. “It’s a really good idea because that is where change has to happen,” Yang Ailun, climate and energy campaign manager for the environmental watchdog in China, told AFP. But Yang cautioned it was very difficult for Beijing to develop truly low-carbon cities when there was no clear definition of the term and the country was still developing. China has already broken ground on a separate ecologically friendly settlement that has yet to been finished. In 2005, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed the two countries could collaborate on building the world’s first so-called “eco-city” Dongtan, near Shanghai. The “city of the future” was meant to be showcased at this year’s World Expo in Shanghai but the settlement remains in the planning stages. Plans for dozens of other low-carbon “ecocities” and towns are springing up around the country, as developers rush to cash in on the green movement and government authorities seek to attract foreign investors to their regions. —AFP
KAROO: This photo supplied by Halls, Gericke and Hofmeyr (HGH) Pharmaceuticals and taken Sept 18, 2009 shows the indigenous plant, sceletium tortuosum, in Karoo in South Africa. —AP
S Africa to research mood-lifting plant JOHANNESBURG: For hundreds of years, indigenous South Africans have chewed a plant they say reduces stress, relieves hunger, sedates and elevates moods. Now they have a license to study and market it, and plan to sell it over-the-counter worldwide. Researchers say the plant, called sceletium tortuosum, has great potential and could also help boost the local economy. Still, the American pharmaceutical company working on the project says it doesn’t know whether the plant has been approved by US regulators or how soon it may be available to consumers. On Friday, South Africa’s environmental minister traveled to the country’s arid southwest where the plant is found to celebrate the issuing of the first license of an indigenous plant to the South African company HGH Pharmaceuticals. HGH has not registered the product, which they will market as a dietary supplement, in any country, as the company is still compiling scientific and technical data, said Nigel Gericke, director of research at HGH. “We’re positioning (the product) for everyday people who are having a stressful time in the office, feeling a bit of social anxiety, tension or in a low mood,” Gericke said. The plant , known within South Africa as Kanna, Channa or Kougoed , has been used by the San people to reduce hunger, thirst and fatigue and is said to have sedative, hypnotic and mood-elevating effects. It is commonly chewed, but also can be made into tea or smoked. Ben-Erik Van Wyk, a professor of botany and plant biotechnology at the University of
Johannesburg, said he’s extensively researched the plant and found no ill effects or evidence of dependency. Van Wyk, who has worked with a researcher at the company that will be marketing it but is not involved in the project, said he hopes the plant may draw attention to the wisdom of the ancient San people, sometimes referred to as Bushmen. When chewed, the plant gives a slight head rush, which is similar to the effect of smoking a cigarette, Van Wyk said. “It’s a product with huge potential,” he said. “Anyone who has chewed it and has experienced the sensation of the plant definitely knows there’s something happening.” “So often traditional remedies are looked down upon as old-fashioned and outdated,” Van Wyk added. “If this product becomes a huge success, the culture will become more respected and better known.” Gericke first read about the plant in 1985 while paging through a botanical book in a public library in Australia. When he returned home to South Africa, he and a psychiatrist visited regions of the San people to research doses and side effects. HGH has an agreement with Morristown, New Jersey-based P.L. Thomas & Co, which plans to launch the product in 2011, said spokeswoman Paula Nurnberger. It may be some time before consumers get a chance to try a pill containing the plant’s extracts, which they hope to market over-the-counter as Zembrin. Nurnberger said she does not know whether the product has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. — AP
in the news Early humans lived in PNG highlands 50,000 years ago
Central Florida in Orlando.
Study hints multivitamins aid w omen’s heart health
HONG KONG: Archeologists have uncovered evidence suggesting that early humans braved cold temperatures to occupy highlands in Papua New Guinea 50,000 years ago in search of food. Working on five archeological sites about 2,000 meters above sea level, researchers from Papua New Guinea, Australiaand New Zealand found charred nut shells from the pandanus tree and stone tools which carbon dated back to 50,000 years ago.
NEW YORK: Taking multivitamins may help women without cardiovascular disease to ward off a heart attack, new research shows. But vitamin pills seemed to have less of an effect in women with heart disease, Dr. Susanne Rautiainen of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and her colleagues found.
J ust-right planet that can support life detected
New depression guidelines favor tailored treatment
WASHINGTON: It is not too hot and not too cold, and astronomers believe that a new planet detected outside our solar system may have a temperature that is just right to support life. The planet orbits a red dwarf star called Gliese581 and appears to be three times the mass of the Earth, the team at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington said on Wednesday.
CHICAGO: New depression treatments favor a tailored approach and include recommendations for the use of shock therapy and other alternatives, including exercise when people fail to get relief from drugs. The guidelines, issued on Friday by the American Psychiatric Association, are the first update on depression treatment in more than a decade.
Russian firm unveils plan for space hotel
NEW YORK: Older adults with moderate kidney disease may require screening for hearing loss, according to the authors of a new study. In the study, of adults aged 50 years and older, 54 percent of people with moderate kidney disease had some extent of hearing loss, while 30 percent of those with the disease suffered severe hearing loss.
MOSCOW: The lead Russian contractor for the International Space Station (ISS) says it plans to build the first hotel in space to cash in on a growing market for private tourism, a senior executive said on Thursday. Energia, part owned by the Russian state, wants investors for a private space station that would house up to seven people and serve as a hotel, said Alexander Derechin, the company’s deputy chief designer.
NASA show dow n looms as shuttle w orkers face layoffs FLORIDA: With more than 1,500 space shuttle workers facing layoffs this week, legislators say they will take a final shot at passing a blueprint for the US human space program before adjourning ahead of the November 2 congressional elections. “We’re teetering right on the edge,” US Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said on Monday at a space policy symposium at the University of
Moderate kidney disease linked to hearing loss
Low -income men show more high-risk prostate tumors NEW YORK: Low-income men treated for prostate cancer are likelier to have a more aggressive disease at diagnosis compared with their better-off counterparts, a study at one US public hospital suggests. Researchers found that compared with prostate cancer patients seen at US academic medical centers and private practices, an elevated rate of higher risk prostate cancer was seen among men treated at San Francisco General Hospital-a publicly funded “safetynet” hospital that primarily serves the low-income and uninsured.