PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Teenagers with a low muscular strength have a higher risk of dying early form heart disease

2013-01-10
(Press-News.org) Teenagers with a low muscular strength have a 30% higher risk of committing suicide before the age of 55 years, and a 65% higher risk of developing psychiatric diseases such as depression of schizophrenia. In addition, a low muscular strength during childhood and adolescence is a strong predictor of early death –i.e. before 55 years of age– from cardiovascular disease. A low muscular strength is as powerful a predictor as obesity and high blood pressure.

This was the conclusion drawn in a study recently published in the Medical Journal –a world-leading medical journal– by researchers at the University of Granada (Spain), the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm (Sweden) and the University of Helskinki (Finland).

To carry out this study, the authors took a large sample of more than one million (1,142,599) Sweden male teenagers aged between 16 and 19 years, who were followed-up for a 24-month period.

Strength: An indicator of Health Status

Previous studies have demonstrated that muscular strength level during childhood and adolescence is a strong indicator of health status at these ages, and it is associated with disease risk factors in adulthood. Specifically, muscular strength is a powerful predictor of early mortality.

According to the principal researcher of this study, Francisco B. Ortega –a research at the School of Sports Sciences at the University of Granada and Karolinska Institutet– muscular strength can be measured through such simple tests as the grip strength test (handgrip dynamometric force) or the leg extension test (alternatively, jumping with the feet together).

The results of this study have many potential applications since we provide reference charts that can be used at school, sports and clinic centers to identify abnormally low strength in individuals, Professor Ortega states. Once they are identified, these individuals should be encouraged to participate in physical exercise programs to improve their fitness status and muscular strength to prevent the development of diseases in the future.

### References: Ortega FB, Silventoinen K, Tynelius P, Rasmussen F. Muscular strength in male adolescents and premature death: cohort study of one million participants. British Medical Journal. 2012;345(e7279. END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Declining access to electroconvulsive therapy: A clinical choice or an economic one?

2013-01-10
Philadelphia, PA, January 10, 2013 – Horrific images from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest notwithstanding, modern electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) remains one of the safest and most effective antidepressant treatments, particularly for patients who do not tolerate antidepressant medications or depression symptoms that have failed to respond to antidepressant medications. Since its introduction in the 1930s, ECT has evolved into a more refined, but more expensive and extensively regulated clinical procedure. Each treatment involves the assembly of a multidisciplinary clinical ...

Study shows that human hearts generate new cells after birth

2013-01-10
Boston, Mass. — Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have found, for the first time that young humans (infants, children and adolescents) are capable of generating new heart muscle cells. These findings refute the long-held belief that the human heart grows after birth exclusively by enlargement of existing cells, and raise the possibility that scientists could stimulate production of new cells to repair injured hearts. Findings of the study, "Cardiomyocyte proliferation contributes to post-natal heart growth in young humans," were published in Proceedings of the ...

Researchers identify a new gene with a key role in obesity and diabetes

2013-01-10
Scientists observed that blocking the expression of the gene TRIP-Br2 in mice protects them against obesity and insulin resistance. The study shows that the gene modulates fat storage by regulating energy expenditure and lipolysis, the process which transforms fat into lipids for the body's energy consumption. If the gene expression is blocked, the mice increase their lipolysis and their energy expenditure, thus reducing their obesity. Obesity is the result of an alteration in the processes that regulate food absorption and energy production. This alteration tips the ...

A jumble of exotic stars

2013-01-10
This new infrared image from ESO's VISTA telescope shows the globular cluster 47 Tucanae in striking detail. This cluster contains millions of stars, and there are many nestled at its core that are exotic and display unusual properties. Studying objects within clusters like 47 Tucanae may help us to understand how these oddballs form and interact. This image is very sharp and deep due to the size, sensitivity, and location of VISTA, which is sited at ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile. Globular clusters are vast, spherical clouds of old stars bound together by gravity. ...

Rhythms in the brain help give a sense of location, study shows

2013-01-10
Research at the University of Edinburgh tracked electrical signals in the part of the brain linked to spatial awareness. The study could help us understand how, if we know a room, we can go into it with our eyes shut and find our way around. This is closely related to the way we map out how to get from one place to another Scientists found that brain cells, which code location through increases in electrical activity, do not do so by talking directly to each other. Instead, they can only send each other signals through cells that are known to reduce electrical activity. This ...

Government funding for 'super-material'

2013-01-10
Royal Holloway is among a select group of top universities to receive £21.5 million in government funding to explore commercial uses for graphene. Announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne just after Christmas, the funding will focus attention on the so-called 'super-material' graphene, one of the thinnest, strongest and most conductive materials known to man. The project at Royal Holloway will focus on using graphene to develop new equipment that can operate at high frequencies. This could include devices useful for security purposes, which can ...

Limiting polyunsaturated fatty acid levels in pregnancy may influence body fat of children

2013-01-10
Southampton researchers have demonstrated that mothers who have higher levels of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which are found in cooking oils and nuts, during pregnancy have fatter children. The study, carried out by the Medical Research Council (MRC) Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, assessed the fat and muscle mass of 293 boys and girls at four and six years, who are part of the Southampton Women's Survey (SWS), a large prospective mother-offspring cohort. Their assessments were compared to the concentrations of PUFAs which were ...

Southampton scientist develops strongest, lightest glass nanofibres in the world

Southampton scientist develops strongest, lightest glass nanofibres in the world
2013-01-10
The University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) is pioneering research into developing the strongest silica nanofibres in the world. Globally the quest has been on to find ultrahigh strength composites, leading ORC scientists to investigate light, ultrahigh strength nanowires that are not compromised by defects. Historically, carbon nanotubes were the strongest material available, but high strengths could only be measured in very short samples just a few microns long, providing little practical value. Now research by ORC Principal Research Fellow ...

Solving puzzles without a picture

2013-01-10
One of the most difficult problems in the field of genomics is assembling relatively short "reads" of DNA into complete chromosomes. In a new paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences an interdisciplinary group of genome and computer scientists has solved this problem, creating an algorithm that can rapidly create "virtual chromosomes" with no prior information about how the genome is organized. The powerful DNA sequencing methods developed about 15 years ago, known as next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, create thousands of short fragments. ...

Marriage linked to better survival in middle age

2013-01-10
Could marriage, and associated companionship, be one key to a longer life? According to new research, not having a permanent partner, or spouse, during midlife is linked to a higher risk of premature death during those midlife years. The work, by Dr. Ilene Siegler and colleagues from Duke University Medical Center in the US, is published online in Springer's journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine. Survival through middle age to become elderly is expected; therefore understanding who does not survive to become elderly and why is important. Siegler and colleagues looked ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

The Biodiversity Data Journal launches its own data portal on GBIF

Do firefighters face a higher brain cancer risk associated with gene mutations caused by chemical exposure?

Less than half of parents think they have accurate information about bird flu

Common approaches for assessing business impact on biodiversity are powerful, but often insufficient for strategy design

Can a joke make science more trustworthy?

Hiring strategies

Growing consumption of the American eel may lead to it being critically endangered like its European counterpart

KIST develops high-performance sensor based on two-dimensional semiconductor

New study links sleep debt and night shifts to increased infection risk among nurses

Megalodon’s body size and form uncover why certain aquatic vertebrates can achieve gigantism

A longer, sleeker super predator: Megalodon’s true form

Walking, moving more may lower risk of cardiovascular death for women with cancer history

Intracortical neural interfaces: Advancing technologies for freely moving animals

Post-LLM era: New horizons for AI with knowledge, collaboration, and co-evolution

“Sloshing” from celestial collisions solves mystery of how galactic clusters stay hot

Children poisoned by the synthetic opioid, fentanyl, has risen in the U.S. – eight years of national data shows

USC researchers observe mice may have a form of first aid

VUMC to develop AI technology for therapeutic antibody discovery

Unlocking the hidden proteome: The role of coding circular RNA in cancer

Advancing lung cancer treatment: Understanding the differences between LUAD and LUSC

Study reveals widening heart disease disparities in the US

The role of ubiquitination in cancer stem cell regulation

New insights into LSD1: a key regulator in disease pathogenesis

Vanderbilt lung transplant establishes new record

Revolutionizing cancer treatment: targeting EZH2 for a new era of precision medicine

Metasurface technology offers a compact way to generate multiphoton entanglement

Effort seeks to increase cancer-gene testing in primary care

Acoustofluidics-based method facilitates intracellular nanoparticle delivery

Sulfur bacteria team up to break down organic substances in the seabed

Stretching spider silk makes it stronger

[Press-News.org] Teenagers with a low muscular strength have a higher risk of dying early form heart disease