Stroke survivors can have a speedy recovery, with a fit and better quality of life with regular brisk walks, researchers suggest.

A three-month study found outdoor walking three times a week boosted endurance and resting heart rate, the BBC reported.

Those taking part were able to walk independently or with a cane but researchers said many stroke survivors lack energy and fear falling.

A stroke charity said other exercises could help those unable to walk.

It is not the first time researchers have looked at the impact of low-stress exercise on stroke recovery, but previous studies tested exercise equipment such as treadmills or stationery bikes.

A team from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica wanted to assess exercise that could be done by anyone anywhere.

Although the results of this study are not surprising, it is good to see that walking alone can have such positive effects on quality of life."

They devised a walking programme in the community where participants initially walked supervised along a 15-minute route three times a week, building up over 12 weeks to 30 minutes.

Among 128 men and women who took part in the study, those who took up walking had a 16.7 percent improved quality of life due to better physical health compared with patients who had usual care with therapeutic massage.

The walkers could also get 17.6 percent further in a six-minute walking endurance test.

Researchers found that those in the massage-only group had a 6.7 percent higher resting heart rate after three months.

Study leader Dr Carron Gordon, a lecturer in physical therapy, said: "Walking is a great way to get active after a stroke. It`s familiar, inexpensive, and it`s something people could very easily get into."

She added that after a stroke, many people lack energy and are afraid of falling while walking and withdraw from meaningful activities like shopping and visiting friends and family.

The average age of those taking part was 64 and had a stroke between six and 24 months before starting the exercise programme.

Dr Gordon said the results were applicable to any population as long as their stroke had left them able to walk and, over time, family and friends could go for walks with them rather than relying on an instructor.
Dr Clare Walton, research communications officer at the Stroke Association, said exercise after a stroke can help boost both physical and mental recovery.

The findings are published in the journal Stroke.

Cornell University researchers have discovered a likely origin of epithelial ovarian cancer (ovarian carcinoma), one of the leading causes of cancer death among women.

Pinpointing where this cancer originates has been difficult because 70 percent of patients are in advanced stages of disease by the time it is detected. Because the origin of ovarian carcinoma development is unknown, early diagnostic tests have so far been unsuccessful.

Some epithelial cancers are known to occur in transitional zones between two types of epithelium (layers of tissue that line the body and organs and form glands), while others originate in epithelial tissue stem cells. All organs have the capacity for regeneration, which is done by adult stem cells located in areas of each organ called stem cell niches.

With this knowledge, the researchers discovered a novel stem cell niche for the ovarian surface epithelium in mice and showed that ovarian carcinoma preferentially originates from stem cells found in that niche, according to the study.

This stem cell niche lies in a transitional area known as the hilum region, a layer of cells that links the ovary to the rest of the body.

"We now know where these cells are located in mice, so we can look in humans in those areas," said Alexander Nikitin, professor of pathology, leader of the Cornell Stem Cell Program and the paper`s senior author. Andrea Flesken-Nikitin, a postdoctoral researcher in Nikitin`s lab, is the paper`s lead author.

The findings also provide a guide for scientists to look for stem cell niches and sources of cancer in other transitional zones in other organs, Nikitin added.

The researchers proved that stem cells from the hilum region were highly prone to ovarian carcinoma, using the most current genetic research techniques.

The researchers first found that cells in the hilum region express a known marker for stem cells, called ALDH1. They then isolated ALDH1 positive cells, sequenced their genetic profiles and found many markers previously reported for stem cells in other organs.

One of these markers, LGR5, has been studied for intestinal stem cells by other researchers who have bred special mice and developed an advanced method that uses a fluorescent protein to follow stem cells. The gene encoding the fluorescent protein is passed down from a stem cell to each generation of daughter cells, thereby marking the lineage.

The technique "allows you to see the fate of stem cells over time," said Nikitin. Using the method on the hilum cells, "we showed that cells from the hilum area spread around the whole ovary."

Finally, the researchers microdissected ovary and hilum cells, inactivated two tumor suppressor genes p53 and Rb1, whose pathways are commonly altered in human aggressive ovarian carcinoma, and injected cells into the abdominal cavity of mice. Very few tumors developed in the mice injected with ovary cells, but almost all of the mice injected with hilum cells died after developing aggressive, metastasizing cancers that were similar to human ovarian carcinomas.

In future work, the researchers will look for stem cells and sources of cancer in transitional zones in the human ovary and other organs, such as the stomach, rectum and uterine cervix.

The discovery was reported in the journal Nature.

People who suffer from insomnia have an increased risk of developing heart failure, according to a new study.

The study followed 54,279 people between the ages of 20-89 for an average of more than 11 years, and found that those who suffered from three symptoms of insomnia had a more than three-fold increased risk of developing heart failure compared to those with no insomnia symptoms.
Dr Lars Laugsand, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Public Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, said: "We related heart failure risk to three major insomnia symptoms including trouble falling asleep, problems staying asleep, and not waking up feeling refreshed in the morning.

In our study, we found that persons suffering from insomnia have increased risk of having heart failure. Those reporting suffering from all three insomnia symptoms simultaneously were at considerably higher risk than those who had no symptoms or only one or two symptoms."

However, he stressed that although the study shows that insomnia is linked to an increased risk of heart failure, it does not show that it causes it.

Dr Laugsand and his colleagues collected data from men and women enrolled in the Nord-Trondelag Health study (HUNT) between 1995 and 1997 and who were free from heart failure when they joined. Heart failure is a condition in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood around the body at the right pressure. It usually occurs because the heart muscle has become too weak or stiff to work properly. The researchers followed the study participants until 2008, by which time there had been a total of 1412 cases of heart failure.

When participants joined the study they were asked whether they had difficulty going to sleep and staying asleep, with the possible answers being "never", "occasionally", "often" and "almost every night". They were also asked how often they woke up in the morning not feeling refreshed (non-restorative sleep): "never, few times a year", "one to two times per month", "once a week", "more than once a week".

After adjusting for factors that could affect the results, such as age, sex, marital status, education, shift work, blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, body mass index, physical activity, smoking, alcohol, any previous heart attack, depression and anxiety, the researchers found that having difficulties going to sleep and staying asleep almost every night, and having non-restorative sleep more than once a week were associated with an increased risk of heart failure when compared with people who never or rarely suffered from these symptoms.

When they looked at the number of symptoms, the researchers found a statistically significant three-fold (353 percent) increased risk of heart failure for people who had all three insomnia symptoms, compared to those with none, after adjusting for most confounding factors apart from depression and anxiety.

When they adjusted their findings to include depression and anxiety, the risk was still significant, with a slightly more than four-fold risk (425 percent) of heart failure.

The study was recently published in the European Heart Journal.

Waking up too early and having problems settling back to sleep may have a negative impact on the heart, a study shows

People who have trouble drifting off to sleep may be at increased risk of heart failure, researchers say.

The study, published in the European Heart Journal, followed more than 50,000 people for 11 years.

Scientists found those who suffered several nights of poor sleep were more likely to develop the condition, in which the heart fails to pump properly.

Experts say further research is needed to see if a lack of sleep causes heart failure or the link is more complex.

Scientists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology looked at more than 50,000 people aged between 20 and 89. At the beginning of the study, none of them were known to have heart failure.

In this condition the muscles of the heart are often too out of shape to do their job properly - they may be too weak or too stiff to pump blood around the body at the right pressure.

More than 750,000 people in the UK have heart failure and for the majority there is no cure.

People with the disorder may feel increasingly breathless and exhausted.

And as heart failure worsens, it can be difficult to get a full night's rest - but the Norwegian study is one of few to investigate whether poor sleepers without the condition are at risk of getting it in later life.
'Stress hormones'

During the research, the participants were asked whether they had any difficulties getting to sleep or staying asleep and whether they felt fully restored after a night's slumber.

People who had trouble falling asleep and remaining asleep each night were three times more likely to develop heart failure than those who reported no trouble sleeping.

Those who experienced substandard sleep that failed to leave them fully refreshed were also at risk.

And this link between a bad night's sleep and heart failure remained true despite researchers taking smoking, obesity and other well known triggers of insomnia and heart problems into account.

The researchers say it is unclear exactly why poor sleep and heart failure are associated in this way.

Dr Laugsand, lead author of the study, said: "We don't know whether insomnia truly causes heart failure. But if it does, the good thing is it is a potentially treatable condition.

"So evaluating sleep problems might provide additional information in the prevention of heart failure."

He suggests the lack of sleep may provoke harmful responses in the body.

"When you have insomnia your body releases stress hormones which in turn may effect the heart in a negative way," he said..

The same team of researchers have previously reported a link between people prone to insomnia and heart attacks.
'Unpleasant condition'

And diabetes, depression and poor brain function have all been linked to missing restful hours in bed.

Dr Tim Chico, senior clinical lecturer at the University of Sheffield said: "This is an association study - it links insomnia to heart failure, but does not prove that insomnia causes heart failure or vice versa. Studies like this raise interesting suggestions that need further work to examine.

"Insomnia is a very unpleasant condition, but there are effective lifestyle changes that can reduce it, such as weight loss and exercise.

"Luckily many of the things that reduce the chance of heart failure also reduce insomnia - good diet, exercise, weight loss and not smoking."

June Davison, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This research shows a link between insomnia and your heart, but this doesn't mean sleepless nights cause heart failure.

"It's well known that getting enough sleep is vital for your mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.

"Trouble drifting off can be helped by taking a warm bath to relax, or avoiding caffeine and heavy meals too close to the end of the day.

"If lack of sleep is becoming a problem and affecting your daily life, have a chat with your GP."

Botulinum toxin could have an enormous potential in treatment of inflammatory skin diseases like psoriasis and eczema, researchers have claimed.

Erin Gilbert, MD, PhD, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist and assistant professor of dermatology at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, New York, explained that a quandary in dermatology is the widespread use of steroids in treating inflammatory skin diseases.

While very little is known about the interaction between blood vessels and nerves in the skin, dermatologists are optimistic that the new research exploring how botulinum toxin type A can influence this interaction could lead to a new therapy for chronic inflammatory skin conditions.

Psoriasis is a chronic skin condition and is one of the most prevalent autoimmune diseases.

One animal-model study conducted by Gilbert in collaboration with Nicole L. Ward, PhD, at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, found promising results using botulinum toxin type A to target psoriasis. In this mouse-model psoriasis study, Gilbert and Ward showed that botulinum toxin injections improved the clinical appearance of psoriasis and decreased the presence of specific cells in the affected skin of the mouse, while also reducing the number of blood vessels and their adjacent nerves.

The decreased number of blood vessels within the affected skin of the treated mice illustrates the role of nerves and blood vessels in perpetuating the appearance of an inflammatory skin disease, like psoriasis.

Eczema is another chronic inflammatory skin condition marked by dry, itchy skin. Atopic dermatitis - the most common form of eczema - affects millions of people, including an estimated six to 10 percent of children.

Early research suggests that there could be a role for botulinum toxin in combating itch by better understanding the interaction of the vascular system in inflammatory skin conditions.

Injections of botulinum toxin could promote wound healing following a burn injury.

In rheumatology, the toxin can help treat painful blood vessel conditions like Raynaud`s disease and scleroderma.

In instances where scleroderma affected the fingertips, injections of botulinum toxin has shown to almost immediately reduce pain.