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Since the early 2000s, researchers have noticed a troubling new trend in female development: Girls are entering puberty — developing breasts, pubic hair and getting their period — at younger ages. So, what’s driving the trend? Some researchers have long suspected that hormone-manipulating chemicals are the culprit. But these chemicals aren’t necessarily coming from contaminated water or dangerous environments. Instead, they’re found in products we use every day, including shampoo, makeup and nearly every kind of toiletry. [12 Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals & Their Health Effects] Now, a new study, published Dec. 3 in the journal Human Reproduction, supports the possibility that the chemicals in these personal-care products are advancing the onset of puberty. In the study, public health researchers tracked a group of pregnant women and their children for 13 years, periodically measuring the concentrations of three groups of chemicals in the participants’ urine. Their findings indicate that the odds governing whether a girl enters puberty earlier — which can have both physical and mental health effects — could be shifted even before children are born. In other words, a pregnant woman’s chemical exposure could play a role. Indeed, the researchers suspected that chemical exposure in utero could influence the onset of puberty years after the infant’s birth, said study author Kim Harley, a public health researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. But because so many women have detectable amounts of these chemicals in their bodies, the question wasn’t whether or not someone was exposed to the chemicals, but rather how much they were exposed to them, Harley told Live Science. In the study, the researchers looked at three kinds of so-called hormone disruptors — chemicals that interfere with the body’s hormone system. The groups included phthalates, which are found in fragrances; parabens, which are preservatives used in cosmetics; and phenols, which, during the study period, was used in antimicrobial soaps. The study found that women with higher concentrations of one type of phthalate in their urine during pregnancy gave birth to girls who went on to develop pubic hair earlier than girls born to women with lower concentrations of the chemical in their urine. Similarly, women with high concentrations of phenol in their urine during pregnancy gave birth to girls who went on to begin menstruating sooner. When the researchers looked at the girls on their own, they found that nine-year-olds with higher paraben concentrations in their urine entered all three stages of puberty earlier those with lower concentrations. [7 Ways Pregnant Women Affect Babies] Generally, the researchers found, the greater the exposure, the earlier the onset of puberty. For example, each doubling in maternal phthalate levels was associated with the early onset of the growth of pubic hair by about 1.3 months. This shift may not seem like a big change. But there are multiple hormone-disrupting chemicals acting at once, and “it all adds up,” said Karin Michels, a professor and chair of the department of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved with the study. Michels has conducted similar research, which also found that these chemicals appear to hasten puberty. And even a small change in puberty timing can increase the risk of certain cancers, Harley said; earlier periods are a risk factor for both breast cancer and ovarian cancer. There’s also the concern that too-young development could be challenging to cope with. “Developing early can put a lot of strain on girls that are physically looking mature but mentally still children — it changes the way they’re treated in society,” Harley said. Still, Harley said, “We need more research to make sure what we found is real and not chance and holds out in other populations.” For example, a majority of the women and girls in the study lived below the poverty line and the women worked in agriculture, where they could be exposed to a range of other chemicals. Harley said future studies plan to address pesticide exposure, but there isn’t research showing that exposure to agriculture pesticides changes how hormone disruptors behave in the body, and most of the research on how pesticides impact development was done on chemicals that have now been almost completely phased out, such as DDT. Michels, however, said that, based on her own research, lower-income individuals are generally exposed to more of these hormone-disrupting chemicals than others and are also more likely to be obese — which is known to shift puberty into an earlier start. Harley acknowledged this influence, too: Over half of the pregnant mothers and children in her study were overweight, Harley said, though her group accounted for that in their analysis. As the research continues, consumers can mostly opt out of using these chemicals, Harley noted. The easiest to avoid is the phenol called triclosan, which now appears in only one brand of toothpaste. Shoppers can also look for products that are advertised as being “paraben-free”, but phthalates will be harder to avoid, since they’re often included in trade-secret scents, and companies don’t always have to disclose phthalates as an ingredient, she said. There also needs to be a boost in education efforts, Michels said. And not just on these chemicals, but the effects of all chemical exposures as well as the effects of childhood obesity: Mothers try to do their best by their children, Michels said, but sometimes, it’s a matter of having the right information. As she pointed out, “Protecting children, from time of conception or even prior, is very important because they don’t take charge of it themselves.” The post Some Chemicals in Toiletries May Result in Early Puberty appeared first on Society For The Deaf. from http://www.societyforthedeaf.org/2019/01/some-chemicals-in-toiletries-may-result-in-early-puberty/ Researchers have discovered a curious difference between the DNA from cancer cells and that from healthy cells, and this finding could lead to a new blood test for cancer. The difference? Cancer DNA has a rather strong affinity for gold, according to a new study. This feature appears to be common to cancer DNA in general, regardless of the type of cancer, the researchers said. Taking advantage of this finding, the researchers designed a new test that uses gold nanoparticles to detect cancer. The gold particles change color depending on whether or not cancer DNA is present. The result was a simple and fast test that could detect cancer in just 10 minutes, according to the study, published today (Dec. 4) in the journal Nature Communications. “You can detect it by eye — it’s as simple as that,” study senior author Matt Trau, a professor and senior group leader at the University of Queensland’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, said in a statement. However, the work is preliminary, and much more research is needed before this test could be useful for patients, outside experts told Live Science. The new study focused on the “epigenome,” or chemical modifications to DNA that turn genes “on” or “off.” These modifications do not change the DNA sequence, but instead affect how cells “read” genes. One example of an epigenetic change is DNA methylation, the addition of a methyl group, or a “chemical cap,” to part of the DNA molecule. This modification prevents certain genes from being expressed. Previous research has shown that the pattern of DNA methylation in cancer cells differs from that in healthy cells. Specifically, cancer DNA has clusters of methyl groups at specific locations and almost no methylation elsewhere, while normal DNA’s methyl groups are more evenly spread out across the entire genome. The researchers called this methylation pattern the “methylation landscape,” or “methylscape.” And though this “methylscape” could serve as a biomarker for cancer, researchers didn’t have a good way to detect it. So, rather than focus on the methylation itself, the researchers in the new study looked at what the methylation did to the overall structure and chemical properties of the cancer DNA. The investigators found that the methylscape of cancer DNA causes DNA fragments to fold up into 3D “nanostructures” that have an affinity for gold. In contrast, normal DNA folds in a somewhat different way, which does not result in such a strong affinity for gold, the researchers said. So, the researchers developed a test that exploits this ability of cancer DNA to stick to gold. If cancer DNA is present, the gold nanoparticles will turn a different color than if cancer DNA is not present. The test can use “circulating free DNA,” or DNA released into the blood from cancer or healthy cells. The researchers have tested their technology on about 200 samples from cancer patients and healthy people, finding that the test was up to 90 percent accurate in detecting cancer. Dr. Jeffrey Weber, the deputy director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center at New York University’s Langone Health, called the new study “great science” and applauded the idea of looking for a way to detect the cancer DNA methylscape. However, Weber, who was not involved in the study, said the work is “just the beginning.” He added that larger studies are needed to evaluate the accuracy of the test, as well as whether it could be useful for patients, compared with existing tests. “It’s going to be a lot of work to turn this sort of [test] into a real, clinically useful [test],” Weber told Live Science. Joyce Ohm, an associate professor of oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, agreed that the work is “an exciting potential advance” in looking for a general epigenetic biomarker for cancer. But she added that the study was “very proof of principle at this point.” Currently, the test detects only the presence of cancer, not the type of cancer. It’s also unclear exactly how high the levels of cancer DNA need to be in order for the test to work, which would affect how early in the course of the disease the test could be used, the researchers said. In its current form, the test would be less applicable as a screening test, given that it cannot detect types of cancer, Ohm told Live Science. But if the technique is further developed, perhaps the most immediate potential application would be monitoring existing cancer patients for disease recurrence, she said. The researchers acknowledged that their test needs further study, “but it looks really interesting as an incredibly simple ‘universal marker’ of cancer,” Trau said in the statement. It’s also attractive “as a very accessible and inexpensive technology that does not require complicated lab-based equipment like DNA sequencing,” he said. The post Researchers have discovered a difference between the DNA from cancer and healthy cells appeared first on Society For The Deaf. from http://www.societyforthedeaf.org/2019/01/researchers-have-discovered-a-difference-between-the-dna-from-cancer-and-healthy-cells/ A women’s chiropractic procedure to manipulate her neck may have inadvertently led doctors to discover a large cyst in her brain that had likely been there for decades. The 22-year-old woman went to the emergency room after experiencing headaches, dizziness and blurred vision for about three months, according to a new report of the case, published online Oct. 5 in The Journal of Emergency Medicine. Her symptoms began right after she had “cervical spine manipulation,” a common chiropractic procedure to treat neck and back pain, as well as other conditions. (In addition to chiropractors, other health practitioners may perform cervical spine manipulation, including physical therapists and osteopathic doctors. In the woman’s case, it’s unclear who performed the procedure.) [10 Surprising Facts About the Brain] Because the woman’s symptoms began immediately after the cervical spine manipulation, doctors were concerned she may have experienced a complication from the procedure, according to the report. For example, the procedure has been linked to tears in the arteries in the neck, as well as stroke, according to a study published in 2013 in the journal PLOS ONE. But imaging of the woman’s neck showed her blood vessels appeared normal. However, a CT scan of her brain showed a large cyst near the front, left side of her head. Specifically, the woman had an arachnoid cyst, a sac filled with cerebrospinal fluid in one of the membranes that covers the brain and spinal cord. These cysts are usually congenital, meaning people have them when they are born. Most people with arachnoid cysts don’t have any symptoms; if symptoms do occur, they typically show up in childhood, according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD). The new report is the first to link the onset of symptoms from arachnoid cysts with cervical spine manipulation, the authors said. However, the report can’t prove that the cervical spine manipulation caused or triggered symptoms from the arachnoid cyst. Instead, it suggests only a possible association between them, said the lead author of the report, Dr. Scott McAninch, an emergency medicine physician at the Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Temple, Texas. The goal of the report is to “make other providers around the world aware of the possible association between cervical manipulation [and arachnoid cysts], so that any future cases may be identified,” McAninch told Live Science. More cases would suggest a stronger link between the two, McAninch said. McAninch said his intent is not to criticize cervical spine manipulation, as he supports fair analysis of the procedure’s effectiveness in treating symptoms. Instead, it is “to identify a possible unforeseen complication of a practice so that provider and patients can understand [the] risks [and] benefits of said practice, allowing them to make a more informed decision about treatment options,” McAninch said. Most arachnoid cysts don’t change in size, and treatment for the cyst may not be necessary if a patient does not have symptoms, according to NORD. But since the woman had symptoms, it was recommended that she undergo surgery that involves opening the cyst to allow the fluid to drain out, McAninch said. After the surgery, the women’s symptoms mostly disappeared, the report said. The post A Woman’s Symptoms After Visiting Chiropractic Revealed a Brain Cyst appeared first on Society For The Deaf. from http://www.societyforthedeaf.org/2019/01/a-womans-symptoms-after-visiting-chiropractic-revealed-a-brain-cyst/ A common virus that typically causes only mild symptoms in adults might lead to heart defects in developing human fetuses, a recent study finds. Previous research has suggested that the virus, called coxsackievirus B, may be linked to miscarriages in early pregnancy. But many questions remained about the specific threat the virus poses to developing fetuses. (Another form of the virus, called coxsackievirus A, causes hand, foot and mouth disease). The new findings, presented last month at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions annual meeting, suggest that coxsackievirus B infection in pregnant women may be linked with heart defects in fetuses. “Because it’s such a common virus and it’s known to have effects on adults, [we thought] it could be problematic in fetal stages, too,” said lead study author Vipul Sharma, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. (In adults, coxsackievirus B symptoms are typically mild, though in rare cases the infection has been linked to more severe symptoms, such as myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscles, Sharma noted.) To learn about the effects in fetuses, the researchers started in mice. In the first part of their study, they infected pregnant mice with one strain of the virus at different doses and at different points in fetal development correlating to human pregnancy. [9 Uncommon Conditions That Pregnancy May Bring] They found that 60 percent of the infected mice had fetuses that developed a heart defect, the most common defect being a form of ventricular septal defect. In humans, this defect is among the most common types, and it is characterized by a hole in the septum — the wall that separates the left side of the heart from the right. The septum protects deoxygenated blood from mixing with oxygenated blood, but if the hole is big enough, mixing occurs, and the body may not get enough oxygenated blood, Sharma told Live Science. The team found that the timing of infection was also important, and the risk of developing heart defects was highest if the pregnant mice were infected at a time corresponding to “early pregnancy” in humans. The coxsackievirus works by binding to the Coxsackie-Adenovirus Receptor (CAR), which is found at high levels in mice fetuses’ hearts and brains, Sharma said. And though the presence of this receptor gives the virus free reign to infect the body, without it, studies have shown that mouse fetuses don’t survive, Sharma said. It’s unclear what this receptor does in their bodies, but it’s thought to be important for binding cells together in development, he added. Next, Sharma and his team looked at which genes were turned on or off following the infection in mice. They hypothesized that the virus leads to heart defects by turning on genes that increase levels of proteins that diminish the ability of heart cells to multiply and grow. Still, this research was done in mice, and though Sharma thinks much of these results could be translated to humans, “humans are a bit more complex than mice — and obviously, our mice are in a controlled environment, but humans, they are not,” he said. But to show that these mouse experiments could have a clinical significance, the researchers also looked at humans. In the second part of the experiment, the team recruited 270 pregnant women and took blood samples at various times of their pregnancy to see if the women had antibodies to fight the virus in their blood. (The presence of antibodies would mean that the woman had had an infection with the virus.) When the women gave birth, the researchers found that those who had babies with heart defects also had elevated levels of these antibodies during their pregnancy, Sharma said. Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, who was not involved in the study, said that “it makes a lot of biological sense that this virus could be involved in congenital heart disease.” That’s because the virus sometimes causes heart infections in children and adults, and the receptor that the virus needs is present in the fetal heart, he said. However, although the mouse study suggests a possible cause-and-effect relationship, more data is needed on humans, Adalja told Live Science. Because coxsackieviruses are so common, a lot of people probably have antibodies against the viruses in their blood. Researchers need more data on the levels of these antibodies and whether they appear more frequently in pregnant women who have children with birth defects than those who don’t “to kind of try and prove that this is actually causitive,” he said. Their work is ongoing, and Sharma said that he hopes they can eventually figure out more details of the mechanism behind the pathway that leads from infection to heart defects in mice, so that they can then try to find this pathway (if it exists) in humans. (Currently, the findings only show an association between coxsackievirus B infection during pregnancy and heart defects in fetuses; they do not show cause and effect.) As for pregnant women, Sharma recommends caution. People can get this infection through contaminated food, for example. “Wash your hands [before eating], and if you eat [something], try to wash it before you eat properly — just be a little bit more aware of your hygiene,” Sharma said. The findings have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. The post A Virus May Be Connected to Heart Problems in Fetuses appeared first on Society For The Deaf. from http://www.societyforthedeaf.org/2019/01/a-virus-may-be-connected-to-heart-problems-in-fetuses/
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