Women who eat more soya-based foods than average have a lesser risk for certain cancers in the ovaries and the lining of the uterus.

The uterine lining cancers - also known as endometrial cancer - and the ovarian cancer are all known to be affected by hormones such as estrogen, which are mimicked by compounds in soya. While some soya compounds that act like estrogen are linked to a higher rate of breast cancer, studies have suggested the opposite for endometrial and ovarian cancer.

To look into the associations of soya-based food and the risk of endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer, researchers reviewed seven studies on the same subject. The studies included more than 169,000 women, of whom 3,516 had one of the two cancers. Most of the studies evaluated the intake of soy or soy components from foods such as legumes, soy curd, or soy protein.

It was observed that the risk of developing endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer was 40 percent lower among women who ate the highest amounts of soya-based foods.

The results hint towards protective effects of soy intake on the risk for endocrine-related gynaecological cancers. However, additional larger prospective studies are needed to further confirm the above findings.

Getting the correct balance of proteins in our diet may be more important for healthy ageing than reducing calories, new research funded by the Wellcome Trust and Research into Ageing suggests.

The research may help explain why 'dietary restriction' (also known as calorie restriction) - reducing food intake whilst maintaining sufficient quantities of vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients - appears to have health benefits. In many organisms, such as the fruit fly (drosophila), mice, rats and the Rhesus monkey, these benefits include living longer. Evidence suggests that dietary restriction can have health benefits for humans, too, though it is unclear whether it can increase longevity.

Dietary restriction can have a potentially negative side effect, however: diminished fertility. For example, the female fruit fly reproduces less frequently on a low calorie diet and its litter size is reduced, though its reproductive span lasts longer. This is believed to be an evolutionary trait: in times of famine, essential nutrients are diverted away from reproduction and towards survival.

To understand whether the health benefits of dietary restriction stem from a reduction in specific nutrients or in calorie intake in general, researchers at the Institute of Healthy Ageing, UCL (University College London), measured the effects of manipulating the diet of female fruit flies. The results of the study are published today in the journal Nature.

The fruit flies were fed a diet of yeast, sugar and water, but with differing amounts of key nutrients, such as vitamins, lipids and amino acids. The researchers found that varying the amount of amino acids in the mixture affected lifespan and fertility; varying the amount of the other nutrients had little or no effect.

In fact, when the researchers studied the effect further, they found that levels of a particular amino acid known as methionine were crucial to maximising lifespan without decreasing fertility. Adding methionine to a low calorie diet boosted fertility without reducing lifespan; likewise, reducing methionine content in a high calorie diet prolonged lifespan. Previous studies have also shown that reducing the intake of methionine in rodents can help extend lifespan.

"By carefully manipulating the balance of amino acids in the diet, we have been able to maximise both lifespan and fertility," explains Dr Matthew Piper, one of the study authors. "This indicates that it is possible to extend lifespan without wholesale dietary restriction and without the unfortunate consequence of lowering reproductive capacity."

Amino acids are the building blocks of life as they form the basis of proteins. Methionine is one of the most important amino acids at it is essential to the formation of all proteins. Whilst proteins are formed naturally in the body, we also consume proteins from many different food types, including meat and dairy products, soy-derived food such as tofu, and pulses. The relative abundance of methionine differs depending on the food type in question; it occurs in naturally high levels in foods such as sesame seeds, Brazil nuts, wheat germ, fish and meats.

"In the past, we have tended to think that the amount of protein is what is important to our diet," says Dr Piper. "We've shown here that in flies - and this is likely to be the case for other organisms - the balance of amino acids in the diet can affect health later in life. If this is the case for humans, then the type of protein will be more important.

"It's not as simple as saying 'eat less nuts' or 'eat more nuts' to live longer - it's about getting the protein balance right, a factor that might be particularly important for high protein diets, such as the Atkins diet or body builders' protein supplements."

Because the effects of dietary restriction on lifespan appears to be evolutionarily conserved - occurring in organisms from yeast to monkeys - scientists believe that the mechanisms may also be conserved. This opens up the possibility of using these organisms as models to study how dietary restriction works.

Although the human genome has around four times the number of genes as the fruit fly genome, there is a close relationship between many of these genes. Since it is easy to create mutants and carry out experiments on fruit flies, the functions of many fly genes have been established and newly discovered human genes can often be matched against their fly counterparts. Therefore, even though the fruit fly does not on the surface resemble humans, many findings about its basic biology can be interpreted for human biology.

In what seems to be an alarming situation for the national health, India ranks highest in the list of Tuberculosis (TB) inflicted countries worldwide, as unveiled by the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Wednesday.

With an estimated 3.8 million cases recorded in 2008, India continues to be the highest tuberculosis burden country in the world, the ministry said.

Further stating the facts, the ministry marked that more than 5,000 Indians develop tuberculosis every day and nearly 1,000 people die, which results in two deaths every three minutes.

The facts were presented at a three-day seminar on 'Emerging Trends in the Diagnosis & Experimental Chemotherapy of Tuberculosis', jointly organized by National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali; department of pharmaceuticals, Government of India; and Harvard School of Public Health, United States.

High social cost, lack of drugs: major issues
The grim situation doesn't end here. In India, prevalence of the disease is accompanied with a devastating social cost, which accounts for nearly $3 billion per year.

Lack of proper potential drugs for TB treatment is another big hurdle. No new drug has been introduced over the last 30 years, and the drugs which are available have their own drawbacks.

"The presently used drugs are all fraught with several drawbacks, and have to be administered over six months or more. This usually leads to non-compliance and results in the emergence of drug-resistant strains," said Ashok Kumar, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, at NIPER, Mohali, on Wednesday.

Kumar noted that given the grim situation, only excessive government aid and public initiative could control the situation.

Tuberculosis, the deadly infectious disease
Tuberculosis (TB) is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by intracellular bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans. It usually attacks the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body, states Wikipedia.

It spreads through air when the infected persons cough, sneeze or spit. Most infections in humans are asymptomatic, latent infections. About one in ten latent infections eventually progresses to active disease, which, if left untreated, kills more than half of its victims.

Symptoms of the disease include a chronic cough with blood-tinged sputum [Also called phlegm; mucous from the lungs] , fever, night sweats, and weight loss.

Taking aspirin can significantly reduce the risk of sight loss, says a
Aspirin new research.

In the study, scientists found that people who took the pill every other day saw their risk of developing age-related macular degeneration reducing.

Boffins believe they have found an association between the condition and heart disease. Both share some risk factors such as smoking and high blood pressure, reports The Daily Express .

A report in the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, looked at how two heart-disease treatments, a low dose of aspirin and statins, which lower cholesterol, could affect the sight condition.

The 10-year study discovered that the risk of developing it was reduced by 18 per cent in women who took low-dose aspirin. Statins did not cut the risk.

Researchers looked at the records for 39,421 women enrolled in a decade-long women's health study at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

Lead researcher William Christen said: "Although our study found no large benefit from low-dose aspirin, the possible modest protective effect we did find warrants further study.

"If future studies confirm our findings, it could be important to make the public aware of this benefit."

Vaccines for H1N1 flu could be available in the country by the end of the month following approvals for human clinical trials by two multinational drug makers, GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) and Baxter International Inc.

Among Indian vaccine makers, only Zydus Cadila has submitted the protocol to the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), the country's regulator, to conduct trials of its vaccine candidate.

However, others such as Novartis, one of the first to get the US drug regulator's approval and Sanofi Pasteur have not yet applied, to the Indian regulator to test their H1N1 vaccines on the Indian population.

"India will get a minimum of four million doses in this season itself, so the vaccine should be available by the end of December," said Surinder Singh, DCGI. "Vaccine makers will conduct bridging studies in about 200-300 subjects to find out how the vaccine behaves in the Indian population."

Human clinical trials, or in this case bridging studies, are a prerequisite for any company wanting to sell drugs in India. A bridging study is a supplemental study performed in the new region to provide clinical data on efficacy, safety, dosage, and dose regimen. The Indian government has fast-tracked regulatory approvals for H1N1 vaccines to make them available to high-risk populations by the end of the year. Singh added that the main concern is that the vaccine should not have any adverse effects on the Indian population since any vaccine will provide some degree of protection.

Initially, the vaccine will be procured by the government for health workers who are at high risk of acquiring the H1N1 virus.

While Baxter declined to comment on the specifics of its vaccine, directing all questions to the national health authority, a spokesperson for the company confirmed that a bridging study would be conducted in India.

Responding to a query on the subject, a spokesperson from GSK India said: "GSK India along with other companies are in discussion with the government of India on the modalities of the introduction of the vaccine in India and procurement."

A Zydus Cadila spokesperson declined to comment, saying there was no information to share with the media.

There was no response from Novartis and Sanofi to questions seeking comments for this story at the time of going to press.

On 24 November, answering a question in the Rajya Sabha, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had said that three Indian manufacturers are being supported by the government to manufacture the H1N1 vaccine. These are Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech and Panacea Biotech.

Previously, the minister had said indigenous vaccines would be ready by March or April next year, leaving a large percentage of the population at a high risk of infection from the second wave of the H1N1 influenza expected in winter. Delhi has already seen a rise in the number of cases over the last 10 days. On 29 November, 60 cases of H1N1 reported in Delhi. Up till this date a total of 18,007 cases reported in India and 573 deaths. The Indian government has procured 40 million capsules and 400,000 bottles of antiviral oseltamivir to treat infections. The sale of the drug is also approved through restricted channels.