Lanzan en Inglaterra un videojuego dirigido por la orina

La sociedad actual es adicta a las nuevas tecnologías y cada día aparecen en el mercado nuevos gadgets dirigidos a los usos más variados. En este sentido, las compañías de videojuegos suelen destacar entre las más originales a la hora de innovar y aportar nuevas ideas.
La compañía británica Captive Media acaba de dar un paso adelante, en cuanto a innovación se refiere, con su último invento. Se trata de un videojuego activado con la orina que se situará en los urinarios de bares y discotecas. En palabras de los ingenieros que han llevado a cabo el proyecto, Mark Melford y Gordon MacSween, el invento aprovecha "los 55 segundos con más potencial de mercado", que es el tiempo medio que un hombre adulto tarda en realizar sus necesidades.
El sistema consiste en unos sensores colocados en la paredes del urinario sensibles a la presión y dirección de la orina. Todo ello conectado a una pantalla LCD de 12 pulgadas que proyecta un videojuego, el cual se dirige durante la micción.
Según Captive Media es "el primer sistema interactivo de juego dirigido por la orina del mundo". Es precisamente la interactividad uno de los aspectos más interesantes que ofrece el sistema. Tras jugar una partida en uno de estos urinarios, el usuario tiene la posibilidad de enviar su puntuación a Twitter. Las mejores puntuaciones conformarán un ranking que podrá consultarse online y que se irá actualizando al instante.
Los primeros urinarios dotados con el original videojuego ya están colocados en el bar The Exhibit de Londres y se espera que en 2012 se instalarán en varios bares de todo el Reino Unido.

A new study suggests that a neurotransmitter might improve the treatment of cancer

Doses of a neurotransmitter might offer a way to boost the effectiveness ofanticancer drugs and radiation therapy, according to a new study led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center -- Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. Using animal models of human breast and prostate cancers, the researchers found that injections of the neurotransmitter dopamine can improve blood flow to tumors and improve delivery of an anticancer drug, doubling the amount of the drug in tumors and increasing its effectiveness. The increasedblood flow also raised tumor oxygen levels, a condition that typically improves the effectiveness of both chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
The study also found that dopamine plays an important role in maintaining the structure of normal blood vessels, and that it does this by working through the D2 dopamine receptor, which is present in normal blood-vessel cells called endothelial cells and pericytes. Dopamine was absent in tumor blood-vessel cells.
The findings are published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Our study indicates a use for dopamine in the treatment of cancer and perhaps other disorders in which normalizing abnormal and dysfunctional blood vessels might improve therapeutic responses," says principal investigator Dr. Sujit Basu, associate professor of pathology and a researcher in the OSUCCC -- James Experimental Therapeutics Program.
"Since dopamine and related agents are already used in the clinic for other disorders, these comparatively inexpensive drugs might be applied to the treatment of cancer to increase the therapeutic responses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy," he says.
The blood vessels that develop inside tumors are structurally abnormal, chaotic and leaky and do a poor job of supplying blood to the tumor, Basu notes. This hinders the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents, and it leaves tumors oxygen deprived. This oxygen deprivation makes tumor cells resistant to chemotherapy and radiation.
Basu and his colleagues found that the dopamine treatment normalizes the structure of abnormal tumor blood vessels, indicating an important role for a neurotransmitter in the remodeling of blood vessels. Other key findings include the following:
The tumor tissue used in the study showed the absence of dopamine.
After dopamine treatment, tumor blood vessels in both cases resembled normal vessels in regard to leakiness and architecture. Pretreatment with a dopamine receptor antagonist negated this effect.
Subcutaneous human colon tumors in mice treated with dopamine and the chemotherapeutic drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) accumulated twice the amount of 5-FU as tumors in mice treated with the drug only, and the tumors were less than one-third the size of tumors in mice treated with 5-FU only.
"Overall, our findings suggest that the normalization of tumor blood vessels using the neurotransmitter dopamine might be an important approach for improving therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of cancer patients," Basu says.
Funding from the National Cancer Institute, U.S. Department of Defense Grant mainly supported this research; a grant from the American Heart Association partially supported one of the investigators.

**Source: Ohio State University Medical Center

La UE crea un comité para estudiar las enfermedades raras en red

Las enfermedades raras son las que afectan a menos de cinco personas por cada 100.000 habitantes. Y en sanidad, el número también hace la fuerza. La UE, consciente de ello, ha constituido un comité de 17 Estados miembros (entre ellos, España), los más activos y con más medios, para trabajar en redes de investigación en estas patologías, que además siempre son crónicas.
Con ello se pretende paliar uno de los aspectos negativos de estas dolencias. No se trata solo de que muchas tengan causas genéticas (el 80% de ellas) poco estudiadas o desconocidas, sino que la falta de una masa crítica de pacientes actúa en su contra: cuesta hacer ensayos, no interesan a los laboratorios y los médicos no están acostumbrados a verlas, por lo que las diagnostican tarde. Y aquí es donde un trabajo en red puede aportar soluciones.
"Se habla de que se creen centros de investigación por toda Europa, tal vez unos más especializados en unas enfermedades y otros en procesos diferentes. Y que siempre toda esa información estuviese circulando para favorecer a todos, sin fronteras. Otro tanto con los hospitales o universidades, incluso con la industria farmacéutica cuando colabora con nosotros en el tema de medicamentos huérfanos", afirmó Paola Testori-Goggi, directora de la Comisión de Enfermedades Raras en la UE.

-Sin abordaje
En la literatura médica universal se han descrito de 6.000 a 7.000 enfermedades raras y se estima entre 4.000 y 5.000 el número de ellas que carecen de abordaje terapéutico específico y curativo, salvo de tratamiento sintomático para paliar algunos síntomas. Se calcula que 30 millones de europeos están afectados por todo el conjunto de las enfermedades raras, considerando que el número máximo admitido para cada una de ellas sería inferior a 185.000 pacientes. En España esta última cifra se reduciría a 20.000.
España lidera uno de los proyectos de investigación más destacados, ENERCA 3. Para su director, Juan Luis Vives, jefe de Hematología del hospital Clínico de Barcelona, "el ENERCA 3 se encuentra en su tercera fase, después de que los 1 y 2 se desarrollaran entre 2002 y 2008". Está centrado en el estudio de anemias raras, como la talasemia, y participan 18 países y 90 expertos.

**Publicado en "EL PAIS"p

Young women may reduce heart disease risk eating fish with omega 3 fatty acids

Young women may reduce their risk of developing cardiovascular disease simply by eating more fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, researchers reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. In the first population-based study in women of childbearing age, those who rarely or never ate fish had 50 percent more cardiovascular problems over eight years than those who ate fish regularly. Compared to women who ate fish high in omega-3 weekly, the risk was 90 percent higher for those who rarely or never ate fish.
Researchers used a Danish nationwide population based pregnancy cohort to examine whether or not eating more fish might reduce cardiovascular disease risk in the young women.
About 49,000 women, 15-49 years old, median age of just under 30 years in early pregnancy -- were interviewed by telephone or answered food frequency questionnaires about how much, what types and how often they ate fish, as well as lifestyle and family history questions.
Researchers recorded 577 cardiovascular events during the eight-year period, including five cardiovascular deaths in women without any prior diagnosis of the disease. In all, 328 events were due to hypertensive disease, 146 from cerebrovascular disease, and 103 from ischemic heart disease.
Inpatient and outpatient admission for cardiovascular disease was much more common among women who reported eating little or no fish. In three different assessments over a 30-week period, women who never ate fish had a three-fold higher disease risk compared to women who ate fish every week.
"To our knowledge this is the first study of this size to focus exclusively on women of childbearing age," said Marin Strøm, Ph.D., lead researcher and post doctoral fellow at the Centre for Fetal Programming, at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark. "The biggest challenge in getting health messages like this across to younger populations is that usually the benefits may not be evident for 30 or 40 years, but our study shows this is not the case. We saw a strong association with cardiovascular disease in the women who were still in their late 30's."
Fish oil contains long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are believed to protect against heart and vascular disease. Few women in the study took fish oil supplements, so these were excluded from the analyses and the results were based on the dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids, not intake from supplements.
Most previous studies that found cardiovascular benefits of omega-3 fatty acids have focused on men, according to Strøm.
"Men and women share many cardiovascular risk factors, but some studies have shown that there might also be gender differences. For example, inflammation, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels may have a more negative influence among women," Strom said.
Even women who ate fish only a couple of times a month benefitted. "Women who eat fish should find the results encouraging, but it is important to emphasize that to obtain the greatest benefit from fish and fish oils, women should follow the dietary recommendations to eat fish as a main meal at least twice a week," she said.
The most common fish consumed by women in the study were cod, salmon, herring, and mackerel.
"Our study shows that for younger women, eating fish is very important for overall health, and even though we found cardio-protective effects at relatively modest dietary levels, higher levels may yield additional benefits," Strøm said.

**Source: American Heart Association

El humo ambiental es especialmente perjudicial durante la infancia

Un 42% de los niños está expuesto diaria u ocasionalmente al tabaco, debido a que hasta un 11% de las madres y un 26% de los padres fuma en el domicilio. Así lo muestra un estudio elaborado por investigadores portugueses y del que se hace eco en España la Sociedad Española de Neumología y Cirugía Torácica (SEPAR).
La investigación, publicada en el último número de la revista 'Prevención del Tabaquismo', demuestra que un número significativo de niños siguen expuestos al humo en su hogar, pese a la evidencia de que el humo ambiental del tabaco es perjudicial para la salud en todas las fases de la vida, y especialmente en la infancia.
Los resultados de este estudio portugués revelan que un 1% de las madres y el 37% de los padres son fumadores diarios. Y, al menos, el 14% relata que una de las personas con las que convive (padre, madre, hermano u otro) fuma diariamente en casa, mientras que el 28% que lo hace ocasionalmente.
"El consumo de tabaco en el domicilio es un factor de riesgo para que los hijos sean fumadores posteriormente", señala el coordinador del Área de Tabaquismo de SEPAR, el doctor Carlos Jiménez, quien recuerda que la exposición pasiva provoca tos, ronquera, disnea, mayor riesgo de infecciones agudas (bronquitis y neumonía) e infecciones respiratorias de repetición, como inducción y exacerbación de asma.
"Es fundamental mantener la labor divulgadora sobre los daños del tabaco, la necesidad de continuar las campañas de sensibilización social y de impulsar políticas deshabituación tabáquica dado que las cifras de prevalencia de EPOC y cáncer de pulmón son elevadas y siguen creciendo", añade.
Aunque sólo un 1,7% de los alumnos tiene pensado fumar en un futuro, eso demuestra que aún no se ha ganado la batalla al tabaco, ya que la media de edad de los encuestados es de 9,14 años, una edad muy precoz para pensar en fumar.
Según datos de la SEPAR, los niños empiezan a fumar a los 13 años y a los 14 lo hacen de forma habitual. Por este motivo, su presidente, el doctor Juan Ruiz Manzano, advierte de que "es importante concienciar a los adultos sobre los perjuicios del tabaco y disuadir a los niños de un consumo precoz".
El Foro Autonómico de Tabaquismo que lidera la Sociedad Española de Neumología y Cirugía Torácica reunió a expertos neumólogos de las todas las sociedades científicas autonómicas el pasado 26 de noviembre para analizar la situación actual de la prevención y tratamiento del tabaquismo en España. Allí, se mostraron a favor de seguir trabajando en la misma dirección y que cualquier flexibilización de la ley ahora podría suponer un retroceso.
"Desde SEPAR y el Foro Autonómico del Tabaquismo siempre estaremos dispuestos a apoyar cualquier iniciativa en este sentido y nos ponemos a disposición de la nueva Administración para seguir colaborando en la prevención y tratamiento del tabaquismo", concluye su presidente.

*AGENCIAS

Post-partum psychiatric episodes linked with increased risk of developing bipolar affective disorder

Experiencing a psychiatric episode within the first 30 days post-partum appears to be associated with an increased risk of developing bipolar affective disorder, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Childbirth has an important influence on the onset and course of bipolar affective disorder, and studies have shown that episodes of post-partum psychosis are often best considered as presentations of bipolar affective disorder occurring at a time of dramatic psychological and physiological change," the authors write as background information in the article. "It is also clear, however, that a high number of women with the new onset of a psychiatric disorder in the immediate post-partum period do not receive a diagnosis of bipolar disorder."
Trine Munk-Olsen, Ph.D., of the National Centre for Register-Based Research, Arhus University, Arhus, Denmark, and colleagues collected data on 120,378 women born in Denmark from 1950 to 1991 who were alive in 2006 and had a history of a first-time psychiatric contact with any type of psychiatric disorder (admission or outpatient contact) with any type of psychiatric disorder excluding bipolar affective disorder. Each woman was followed up with individually from the day of discharge, with data collected on inpatient or outpatient psychiatric contacts during the follow-up period.
A total of 2,870 of these women had their initial psychiatric contact within the first year after delivery of their first child. During follow-up, 3,062 of the 120,378 women received diagnoses of bipolar affective disorder, of which 132 had their initial psychiatric contact 0 to 12 months post-partum. After adjusting for first diagnosis and family history of psychiatric illness, conversion rates to bipolar disorder were significantly predicted by the timing of initial psychiatric contact. The authors found a significantly higher conversion rate to bipolar affective disorder in women having their initial contact within the first post-partum month. Additionally, the authors found evidence that the severity of the initial post-partum psychiatric episode may be important, as inpatient admissions were associated with a higher conversion rate than were outpatient contacts.
Fifteen years after initial contact, 13.87 percent of women with onset in the immediate post-partum period (0 to 30 days) had converted to bipolar disorder, 4.69 percent of women with later onset (31 to 365 days post-partum) and 4.04 percent of women with onset at other points had converted to bipolar disorder. Additionally, an extended analysis showed that 18.98 percent of women with onset in the immediate post-partum period had converted to bipolar disorder within 22 years after initial psychiatric contact. Conversely, 6.51 percent of women with later post-partum onset and 5.43 percent of women with onset at other points had converted to bipolar disorder after 22 years.
"The present study confirms the well-established link between childbirth and bipolar affective disorder and specifically adds to this field of research by demonstrating that initial psychiatric contact within the first 30 days post-partum significantly predicted conversion to bipolar affective disorder during the follow-up period," the authors conclude. "Results indicate that the presentation of mental illness in the early post-partum period is a marker of possible underlying bipolarity."

**Source: JAMA and Archives Journals

State laws mandating P.E., recess linked with increased in-school physical activity among children

State and school district-level policies mandating minimum requirements for in-school physical education and recess time are associated with increased odds of schools in those states and districts meeting physical activity recommendations for students, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Children spend the majority of their waking hours in school, thus schools are important locations to focus obesity prevention activities, such as increasing physical activity opportunities," the authors write as background information in the article. "The national recommendation for school physical education [PE] -- endorsed by the National Association of Sports and Physical Education (NASPE) and the American Heart Association -- is that elementary school students be offered at least 150 minutes/week of PE. However, fewer than 20 percent of third grade students in the United States were offered this amount during the 2007-2008 school year."
Sandy J. Slater, Ph.D., and colleagues with the University of Illinois at Chicago, examined the association between state and local school district-level policies requiring or recommending minimum requirements for in-school physical activity and the odds that elementary schools within those states and districts meet the levels of physical activity recommended, with an emphasis on physical education and recess. The authors collected data on existing state PE and recess-related laws and collected data at the local school level through mail-back surveys that included questions on the number of days per week and number of minutes for which PE class was scheduled during a typical week for a third grade student. The study sample included 47 states, 690 districts and 1,761 schools, during the 2006-2007 through 2008-2009 school years.
The authors found that approximately 70 percent of schools included in the analysis offered at least 20 minutes of daily recess, and 17.9 percent offered 150 minutes/week of physical education. The majority of states (83 percent) offered no daily recess law and less than half offered some kind of law addressing the recommended 150 minutes/week of physical education. The authors found that the odds of schools meeting the NASPE recommendation for physical activity increased if they were located in states or school districts having a law requiring 150 minutes/week of physical education.
Schools in states with policies encouraging daily recess had higher odds of having 20 minutes of recess daily, however district policies were not significantly associated with school-level recess practices. The authors also found that adequate physical education time was inversely associated with recess, with schools offering at least 150 minutes/week of physical education being 50 percent less likely to meet recommendations on recess time. Additionally, schools with students of predominantly white race/ethnicity were more likely than all other racial/ethnic groups to have daily recess, and schools with the highest number of students receiving free or reduced-cost lunch were less likely to have 20 minutes of recess daily.
"Our results show that mandating only increased physical education or recess time does not result in more overall physical activity as schools and/or districts appear to compensate for any increased physical activity in one area by decreasing other physical activity opportunities," the authors conclude. "By mandating physical education or recess, policy makers can effectively increase school-based physical activity opportunities for youth."

**Source: JAMA and Archives Journals