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Fathers as well as mothers can experience post-natal depression -- and it is linked to emotional problems for their teenage daughters, new research has found. Almost one in 20 new fathers suffered depression in the weeks after their child was born, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry and co-authored by Professor Paul Ramchandani of the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. The research, based on a sample of more than 3,000 families in Bristol, UK, also identified a link between post-natal depression in men and depression in their daughters as they reached adulthood. At 18, girls whose fathers had experienced depression after their birth were themselves at greater risk of the condition, researchers found. The "small but significant" increased risk applied only to daughters; sons were not affected. One reason for this "handing on" effect could be that post-natal depression in fathers is sometim...

We know a good meal can stimulate the release of the feel-good hormone dopamine, and now a study in humans from the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in Germany suggests that dopamine release in the brain occurs at two different times: at the time the food is first ingested and another once the food reaches the stomach. The work appears December 27 in the journal Cell Metabolism . "With the help of a new positron emission tomography (PET) technique we developed, we were not only able to find the two peaks of dopamine release, but we could also identify the specific brain regions that were associated with these releases," says senior author Marc Tittgemeyer (@tittgemeyer), head of the Institute's Translational Neurocircuitry Group. "While the first release occurred in brain regions associated with reward and sensory perception, the post-ingestive release involved additional regions related to higher cognit...

IMAGE:  This graphical abstract shows that in abdominally obese people, exercise-mediated loss of visceral adipose tissue mass requires IL-6 receptor signaling. view more  Credit: Wedell-Neergaard, Lehrskov, and Christensen, et al. / Cell Metabolism Some of you may have made a New Year's resolution to hit the gym to tackle that annoying belly fat. But have you ever wondered how physical activity produces this desired effect? A signaling molecule called interleukin-6 plays a critical role in this process, researchers report December 27 in the journal Cell Metabolism . As expected, a 12-week intervention consisting of bicycle exercise decreased visceral abdominal fat in obese adults. But remarkably, this effect was abolished in participants who were also treated with tocilizumab, a drug that blocks interleukin-6 signaling and is currently approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthrit...

IMAGE:  Visual Abstract view more  Credit: Rebholz Highlight In a study of African-American men and women with normal kidney function, a pattern of higher collective consumption of soda, sweetened fruit drinks, and water was associated with a higher risk of developing kidney disease. Washington, DC (December 27, 2018) -- Higher collective consumption of sweetened fruit drinks, soda, and water was associated with a higher likelihood of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) in a community-based study of African-American adults in Mississippi. The findings, which appear in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), contribute to the growing body of evidence pointing to the negative health consequences of consuming sugar-sweetened beverages. Certain beverages may affect kidney health, but study results have been inconsistent. To provide more clarity, Casey Rebholz PhD, MS...

Poor diet and lack of exercise are associated with cancer development, but the underlying biology is not well understood. Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) could offer a biological link to help us understand how certain lifestyle behaviors increase cancer risk or lessen the likelihood that an anti-cancer therapy will be effective. AGE accumulation is the natural and unavoidable result of the breakdown of nutrients, sugars and fats. AGE levels, however, can be increased by the consumption of processed foods high in sugar and fat. Certain cooking techniques, such as grilling, searing and frying, also increase AGE formation. High AGE levels could prevent patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer from responding to tamoxifen therapy, suggest preclinical findings reported by researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in a recent issue of Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. The MUSC team was led by David P. Turner, Ph.D., an assistant...

Youth Football Ways to reduce head impacts in youth football Jonathan Kantrowitzat Health News Report - 5 minutes ago The high head impact and concussion rates in football are of increasing concern, especially for younger players. Recent research has shown that limiting contact in football practice can reduce the number of head impacts. But what is the correct formula to lessen exposure while still developing the skills necessary to safely play the game? To find out, researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine, a part of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, conducted a study that compared head impact exposure (HIE) in practice drills among six youth football teams and evaluated the effect of ind... more �     Head impacts, changes in eye function in high school football players Jonathan Kantrowitzat Health News Report - 22 hours ago Head impacts in youth sports, even when they don't cause symptoms of concussion, are a public health concern because these so-called subconcus...

The high head impact and concussion rates in football are of increasing concern, especially for younger players. Recent research has shown that limiting contact in football practice can reduce the number of head impacts. But what is the correct formula to lessen exposure while still developing the skills necessary to safely play the game? To find out, researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine, a part of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, conducted a study that compared head impact exposure (HIE) in practice drills among six youth football teams and evaluated the effect of individual team practice methods on HIE. The findings are published in the Dec. 21 online edition of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics . In the study, the researchers collected on-field head impact data from athletes age 10 to 13 on six North Carolina youth football teams during all practices in one season. Video was recorded and analyzed to verify and assign impact severity to specific dr...

Eat your spinach in the form of a smoothie or juice - this is the best way to obtain the antioxidant lutein, according to research from Link�ping University, Sweden. High levels of lutein are found in dark green vegetables, and researchers at the university have compared different ways of preparing fresh spinach in order to maximise the levels of lutein in finished food. The findings are published in the journal Food Chemistry . Many people with atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries) have low-grade, chronic inflammation that can be measured in the blood. This inflammation is linked to an increased risk of myocardial infarction. A research group at Link�ping University previously studied the role of the antioxidant lutein. This is a natural fat-soluble pigment found in plants, particularly in dark green vegetables. The researchers showed in their last study that lutein can dampen inflammation in immune cells from patients with coronary artery disease. They also showed...

  For those who have already had a heart attack or a stroke, the combination of statins and Mediterranean Diet appears to be the most effective choice to reduce the risk of mortality, especially from cardiovascular causes. It is the result of an Italian study conducted at the I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy on over 1,000 adults recruited in the Moli-sani Study, published in the International Journal of Cardiology . The traditional Mediterranean diet is rich in fruit, vegetables, legumes, cereals, olive oil, wine in moderation, fish and low in meat and dairy products "We found - Marialaura Bonaccio, epidemiologist at the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention and first author of the study says - that statins and Mediterranean Diet together were more effective, as compared to one or the other considered separately, in reducing the risk of cardiovascular mortality. Likely, a Mediterranean diet facilitated the beneficial ef...

A scientist from James Cook University in Australia has found sports compression stockings are so effective they might be considered performance enhancers for soccer players. Associate Professor Anthony Leicht from JCU's Sport and Exercise Science discipline took part in a study that measured the fatigue levels of female soccer players with and without the tight-fitting stockings, which are designed to apply pressure to the lower legs and enhance blood circulation. "We found that compression stocking use during an amateur female soccer match positively influenced agility and lower limb muscular endurance following the match," he said. "The benefits were clearly higher with the compression stockings than with regular socks. They confirmed that there is a protective effect with compression stockings that may be crucial for performance in soccer matches." Dr Leicht said the study showed that the stockings wer...