A new study has found that berries seem to promote autophagy, the brain`s natural housekeeping mechanism, thereby reducing the toxic accumulation.

The protective effect of berries against inflammation has been documented in many studies. Diets supplemented with blueberries and strawberries have also been shown to improve behaviour and cognitive functions in stressed young rats.

To evaluate the protective effects of berries on brain function, specifically the ability of the brain to clear toxic accumulation, researchers from the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and University of Maryland Baltimore County recently fed rats a berry diet for 2 months and then looked at their brains after irradiation, a model for accelerated aging.

All of the rats were fed berries 2 months prior to radiation and then divided into two groups- one was evaluated after 36 hours of radiation and the other after 30 days.

"After 30 days on the same berry diet, the rats experienced significant protection against radiation compared to control," said investigator Shibu Poulose, PhD.

"We saw significant benefits to diets with both of the berries, and speculate it is due to the phytonutrients present," he noted.

The researchers looked at neurochemical changes in the brain, in particular what is known as autophagy, which can regulate the synthesis, degradation and recycling of cellular components. It is also the way in which the brain clears toxic accumulations.

"Most diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer`s and Parkinson`s have shown an increased amount of toxic protein. Berries seem to promote autophagy, the brain`s natural housekeeping mechanism, thereby reducing the toxic accumulation," said Poulose.

The researchers are currently conducting a human study in older people ages 60-75.

"We have a lot of animal work that suggests these compounds will protect the aged brain and reverse some of behavioral deficits. We are hoping it will translate to human studies as well," said Dr. Barbara Shukitt-Hale, the lead investigator conducting the human study.

Living a healthy lifestyle not only protect against heart disease and stroke, it also helps keep Alzheimer`s at bay, according to a new research.

Swedish scientists have found that the risk of dementia has declined over the past 20 years, in contrast to what had been assumed.

And they put it down to lower rates of heart disease, which results from people living more healthily and keeping fit and active.

A balanced diet, being careful about weight, stopping smoking and keeping blood pressure normal have been shown to bolster the brain.

Studies have found risk factors for heart disease in middle age speed up decline of brain function in older adults. They also showed medicines such as statins and aspirin taken for heart conditions could be key to slashing dementia rates.

The latest research from Sweden - published in the journal Neurology - offers hope that drugs with a proven safety record could be used to stave off and treat the brain disease.

Patients could routinely be given them to protect long-term against Alzheimer`s.

Chengxuan Qiu of the Ageing Research Centre, established by the Karolinska Institute and Stockholm University, said that health check-ups and cardiovascular disease prevention have improved significantly, and they now see results of this improvement reflected in the risk of developing dementia.

But the centre`s director Laura Fratiglioni warned that the reduction of dementia risk is a positive phenomenon, but it is important to remember that the number of people with dementia will continue to rise along with the increase in life expectancy.

Many people believe that smoking tobacco through a hookah is less harmful than smoking cigarettes.

But in a new study at UC San Francisco, researchers measuring chemicals in the blood and urine have concluded that hookah smoke contains a different - but still harmful - mix of toxins.
UCSF research chemist Peyton Jacob III, PhD, and UCSF tobacco researcher Neal Benowitz, MD, both based at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, said hookah use exposes smokers to higher levels of carbon monoxide, especially hazardous to those with heart or respiratory conditions, and to higher levels of benzene, long associated with leukemia risk.

"People want to know if it is a lesser health risk if they switch from cigarettes to smoking a water pipe on a daily basis. We found that water-pipe smoking is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking, nor is it likely to be an effective harm-reduction strategy," Jacob said.

And compared to non-smokers, Benowitz said, "If you are smoking from a hookah daily, you are likely to be at increased risk for cancer."

Jacob said, "In addition to delivering toxic substances from the charcoal and tobacco, the heat causes chemical reactions in the mixture which produce toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Some PAHs are highly carcinogenic and can cause lung cancer."

Intake of nicotine, the addictive component of tobacco, was less with water pipe use.

The findings are published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Removing the foreskin causes a significant shift in the bacterial community or microbiome of the penis, a new study has revealed.

Male circumcision reduces the abundance of bacteria living on the penis and might help explain why circumcision offers men some protection against HIV, according to a study led by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).
This international collaboration focused on 156 men in Rakai, Uganda - part of the world`s largest randomized-controlled trial on male circumcision.

Researchers showed that men who were circumcised as part of the study had 33.3 percent less bacteria on their penis than those who remained uncircumcised one year after the study began.

Researchers further showed that the decrease was primarily found in 12 types of bacteria, most of which were intolerant to oxygen.

Past studies have shown that circumcision reduces female-to-male HIV transmission, among other benefits.

This study suggests a possible mechanism for HIV protection - the shift in the number and type of bacteria living on the penis.

Further studies will have to be done to demonstrate that a change in the penis microbiome can help reduce the risk of HIV transmission, according to the authors.

At the same time, understanding the mechanisms that underlie the benefits of male circumcision could help to identify new intervention strategies for decreasing HIV transmission, especially for populations with high HIV prevalence and in places where male circumcision is culturally less acceptable, the study says.

"We know that male circumcision can prevent HIV and other diseases in heterosexual men, but it is important to know why," Dr. Lance Price, the Director of TGen Center for Microbiomics and Human Health and the study`s senior author said.

"We think that these dramatic changes in the penis microbiome may explain, at least in part, why male circumcision is protective," he said.

The study is published online in the journal mBio.

UC San Francisco scientists have revealed that specific DNA once dismissed as junk plays an important role in brain development and might be involved in several devastating neurological diseases.

Their discovery in mice is likely to further fuel a recent scramble by researchers to identify roles for long-neglected bits of DNA within the genomes of mice and humans alike.

While researchers have been busy exploring the roles of proteins encoded by the genes identified in various genome projects, most DNA is not in genes. This so-called junk DNA has largely been pushed aside and neglected in the wake of genomic gene discoveries, the UCSF scientists said.

In their own research, the UCSF team studies molecules called long noncoding RNA (lncRNA, often pronounced as "link" RNA), which are made from DNA templates in the same way as RNA from genes.

"The function of these mysterious RNA molecules in the brain is only beginning to be discovered," said Daniel Lim, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurological surgery, a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF, and the senior author of the study.

Alexander Ramos, a student enrolled in the MD/PhD program at UCSF and first author of the study, conducted extensive computational analysis to establish guilt by association, linking lncRNAs within cells to the activation of genes.

Ramos looked specifically at patterns associated with particular developmental pathways or with the progression of certain diseases. He found an association between a set of 88 long noncoding RNAs and Huntington`s disease, a deadly neurodegenerative disorder. He also found weaker associations between specific groups of long noncoding RNAs and Alzheimer`s disease, convulsive seizures, major depressive disorder and various cancers.

Unlike messenger RNA, which is transcribed from the DNA in genes and guides the production of proteins, lncRNA molecules do not carry the blueprints for proteins. Because of this fact, they were long thought to not influence a cell`s fate or actions.

Nonetheless, lncRNAs also are transcribed from DNA in the same way as messenger RNA, and they, too, consist of unique sequences of nucleic acid building blocks.

Evidence indicates that lncRNAs can tether structural proteins to the DNA-containing chromosomes, and in so doing indirectly affect gene activation and cellular physiology without altering the genetic code. In other words, within the cell, lncRNA molecules act "epigenetically" - beyond genes - not through changes in DNA.

The brain cells that the scientists focused on the most give rise to various cell types of the central nervous system. They are found in a region of the brain called the subventricular zone, which directly overlies the striatum. This is the part of the brain where neurons are destroyed in Huntington`s disease, a condition triggered by a single genetic defect.

Ramos combined several advanced techniques for sequencing and analyzing DNA and RNA to identify where certain chemical changes happen to the chromosomes, and to identify lncRNAs on specific cell types found within the central nervous system. The research revealed roughly 2,000 such molecules that had not previously been described, out of about 9,000 thought to exist in mammals ranging from mice to humans.

In fact, the researchers generated far too much data to explore on their own. The UCSF scientists created a website through which their data can be used by others who want to study the role of lncRNAs in development and disease.

The study was published online in the journal Cell Stem Cell.