Health abstracts 27 August 2007

Doctors should look at the family history of hose with high cholesterol in order to track down those with the familial hypercholesterol gene(FH).

50% of men with this gene will die before they reach 50 years old, and 30% of women with the gene will die before 60.

There are an estimated 110,000 people with this gene.

Those with the gene ideally shouldn't smoke and have an appropiate diet.

Statins may also be prescribed.

A fifth of Ayurvedic medicines avaible on the internet contain arsenic ,lead or mercury, according to reseachers who analysed randomly chosen 193 products from various websites and tested them for metals.

A new drug called Lucentis has been approved for use to prevent people with age-related wet macular degeneration.

It could save the NHS a lot of money long term because suffiers need a lot of expensive care.

An aspirin a day may keep ill health at bay

Researchers have calculated the ideal age for a daily dose of aspirin to reduce the risk of heart attacks,heart disease and strokes which cause 208,000 deaths a year in the UK.
It is 47 for males and 57 for females.

Aspirin can also reduce the risk of dementia.

2.5 million-years-old mastodon found in Romania

A 2.5 million-year-old skeleton of a mastodon was found by miners at a coal mine in a village called Racosul de Sus approxiately 100 miles northwest of Bucharest.
About 90% of tthe skeleton was intact,digging it out of the ground will take about 2 months.

It will then be displayed in the Baraolt museum after research has been done on the remains.

Seaweed gel could save heart attack victims

A gel made from seaweed ,including kelp, is injected in liquid form via the groin into the part of the heart where the heart attack has occured,its helps to build a scaffold in the affected area preventing further damage.

If new human trials are successful, the product could be avaible by 2011, possibly saving as many as 20,000 lives a year.

Vitamin C jabs reduced tumour growth

Studies are going to be carried out to see if cancer patients should be given vitamin C along with normal drugs after research suggested vitamin C jabs dramatically increase survival levels.

High doses of Vitamin C injected into the bloodstream of mice reduced aggressive brain,ovarian and pancreatic tumour growth by between 41-53%..

However,it may not be a panacea.