What Are Pigmentation Disorders?

Pigmentation disorders are conditions that affect the color (pigment) of your skin, hair, or eyes, primarily caused by an imbalance of melanin — the natural pigment produced by specialized skin cells called melanocytes.

These disorders result in either too much melanin (hyperpigmentation) or too little (hypopigmentation or depigmentation), leading to uneven skin tone or discolored patches.

Causes of Pigmentation Disorders

Common Pigmentation Disorders

1. Hyperpigmentation (Too Much Pigment)

This results in dark spots or patches on the skin.

Melasma

• Brown or gray-brown patches
• Common on cheeks, forehead, upper lip
• Triggered by hormones and sunlight

Post-Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation (PIH)

• Dark spots after acne, burns, cuts, or rashes
• More common in darker skin tones

Sunspots (Solar Lentigines)

• Also called age spots or liver spots
• Caused by years of UV exposure

2. Hypopigmentation (Too Little Pigment)

This leads to light or white patches of skin.

Vitiligo

• Autoimmune disorder where melanocytes are destroyed
• Appears as white patches that can spread
• Can affect skin, hair, and mucous membranes

Albinism

• Genetic condition — complete or partial lack of melanin
• Affects skin, hair, and eyes
• Increased risk of sunburn and vision problems

Tinea Versicolor

• Fungal infection that disrupts pigment
• Causes light or dark patches, often on back or chest

Pityriasis Alba

• Affects children and teens
• Light, scaly patches on face, arms, neck
• Usually resolves on its own

Diagnosis

A dermatologist may:

• Use a Wood’s lamp (UV light tool) to examine skin changes
• Conduct a biopsy if needed
• Review medical history and medication use
• Perform blood tests (for autoimmune diseases or hormone imbalances)

Treatment Options by Condition

A. Treatments for Hyperpigmentation

Avoid skin-lightening products with mercury or illegal steroids — especially common in unregulated creams.

B. Treatments for Hypopigmentation

Importance of Sun Protection in All Cases

UV radiation worsens both hyper- and hypopigmentation. Regardless of your skin condition:

• Always wear SPF 30 or higher
• Choose mineral sunscreens (zinc oxide, titanium dioxide)
• Reapply every 2–3 hours, especially outdoors
• Wear hats, sunglasses, and protective clothing

Natural Remedies: Are They Effective?

Natural ingredients like licorice root, green tea extract, aloe vera, and turmeric may have mild pigment-regulating effects — but they work slowly and results vary.

Use only dermatologist-approved natural products to avoid irritation or worsening pigmentation.

Psychological Impact and Support

Pigmentation disorders — especially vitiligo, melasma, and albinism — can affect self-esteem and mental health.

What Helps:

• Support groups and counseling
• Camouflage cosmetics (color-correcting makeup)
• Talking to a dermatologist about realistic treatment goals

Summary Table: Common Conditions & Treatments

Final Tips for Managing Pigmentation

1. Consistency is key — even the best creams take 8–12 weeks.
2. Sun protection is non-negotiable.
3. See a dermatologist early — avoid self-medication.
4. Track your triggers (sun, stress, hormones).
5. Focus on skin health over perfection.

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Source – https://tristateobserver.com/

Otoplasty: Introduction

• Otoplasty, also known as cosmetic ear surgery, is a procedure for changing position, shape, or size of the ears. It involves surgical reshaping of the pinna or outer ear in order to improve its appearance or to correct defects, if any.

• The procedure is more common during childhood but also can be performed at any age after the ears have reached their full size. It can also be done at the age of three.
• Otoplasty can be used to correct he defects that are present in the ear structure at the time of birth. The procedure can treat macrotia, a condition having overly large ears and protruding ears
• Scarring, asymmetry in ear placement, changes in skin sensation, problems with stitches, and overcorrection are various risk associated with otoplasty

Key Drivers and Restraints of Global Otoplasty Market

• Increase in awareness about appearance of the ear among the youth; rise in adoption of cosmetic surgeries; and increase in prevalence of congenital ear deformities such as hemifacial microsomi, Treacher Collins syndrome, and others drive the global otoplasty market
• Increase in cases of trauma to the external ear resulting from blasts, puncture, and damage due to blunt objects are projected to drive the global market during the forecast period
• Furthermore, increase in influence of cosmetic surgery; psychological impact of appearance, looks, and beauty on young generation; and increase in screening for deformities at birth are projected to boost the growth of the market during the forecast period

Ear Augmentation Segment to Account for Major Share of Global Otoplasty Market

• In terms of type of fittings, the global otoplasty market can be classified into ear augmentation, ear reduction, and ear pin back
• The ear augmentation segment is anticipated to dominate the global market during the forecast period, owing to increase in demand for otoplasty for ear augmentation to improve appearance and rise in number of ear surgeons offering otoplasty under reconstructive surgery

Surgical Segment to Capture Major Share of Global Market

• Based on technique, the global otoplasty market can be categorized into surgical and non-surgical. The surgical segment is further divided into anti-helical fold manipulation, conchal alteration, and correction of earlobe prominence. The non-surgical segment is bifurcated into tissue molding and others.
• The surgical segment is expected to account for major share of the global otoplasty market by 2027. This can be attributed to growing number of patients preferring cosmetic surgery for ear augmentation and rise in availability of surgical augmentation of ear.

North America to Dominate Global Otoplasty Market

• In terms of region, the global otoplasty market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is projected to dominate the global otoplasty market during the forecast period.
• Increase in prevalence of congenital ear deformity and increase in number of cosmetic surgical procedures is anticipated to drive the market in North America
• As per the Plastic Surgery Statistics Report, 22,884 otoplasty procedures were conducted in the U.S. in 2018. Out of these, 13,289 procedures were performed on female patients.

Key Players Operating in Global Otoplasty Market

The global otoplasty market is highly fragmented, with a large number of domestic players accounting for major market share. Key players operating in the global otoplasty market include:

• Allergan (AbbVie Inc.)
• Invotec International, Inc.
• Sklar Surgical Instruments
• EarBuddies
• Phoenix Medical Systems Pvt. Ltd.

Global Otoplasty Market: Research Scope

Global Otoplasty Market, by Otoplasty Type

• Ear Augmentation
• Ear Reduction
• Ear Pin Back

Global Otoplasty Market, by Technique

• SurgicalAnti-helical Fold Manipulation
• Conchal Alteration
• Correction Of Earlobe Prominence
• Non-surgicalTissue Molding
• Others

Global Otoplasty Market, by Age Distribution

• 13-19
• 20-29
• 30-39
• 40-54
• 55 and Above

Global Otoplasty Market, by Gender

• Male
• Female

Global Otoplasty Market, by End-user

• Hospitals & Clinics
• Ambulatory Surgical Centers
• Academic & Research Institutes
• Others

Global Otoplasty Market, by Region

• North AmericaU.S.
• Canada
• EuropeGermany
• France
• U.K.
• Italy
• Spain
• Rest of Europe
• Asia PacificChina
• Japan
• India
• Australia & New Zealand
• Rest of Asia Pacific
• Latin AmericaBrazil
• Mexico
• Rest of Latin America
• Middle East & AfricaGCC Countries
• South Africa
• Rest of Middle East & Africa

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New research shows adding a filter and improving the fit makes a cloth mask work even better.

Is it time to upgrade your mask?

By now most of us have settled on a preferred cloth mask to protect ourselves and others from coronavirus. But new research shows that a few simple upgrades in fabric, filters and fit are likely to provide even more protection.

Linsey Marr, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech and one of the world’s leading aerosol scientists, led the research, which tested 11 different mask materials. The findings confirmed what other labs have found: You don’t need a gold-standard N95 medical mask to stay safe from coronavirus. The right cloth mask, properly fitted, does a good job of filtering viral particles of the size most likely to cause infection.

But Dr. Marr and her colleagues found that small improvements to your mask can go a long way toward improving how well the mask protects you and others from potential infectious particles. They found that:

Three layers are better than two. The best mask has two tightly woven layers of outer material with a filter material sandwiched in the middle, Dr. Marr said. You can use surgical mask material or even a piece of a vacuum bag as a filter between two pieces of fabric. Coffee filters are an option, but can be less breathable. If you like your two-layer mask, you can just wear it over a surgical mask when you want added protection. A well-fitting fabric mask with a third filter layer can stop 74 to 90 percent of risky particles, the researchers found.

Flexible material is better. Stiff material creates gaps. Look for a mask made of tightly woven flexible material that contours to your face. Masks with wire that can be molded around the nose also fit better by closing gaps where air can escape out and seep in.

Ties are better than ear loops. Masks that tie around your head fit better and can be more comfortable. Ear loop masks can leave bigger gaps around your face and cause ears to become sore with longer use.

Face shields should be used with a mask. Face shields alone offered little to no protection. Although the clear plastic shield is impermeable, air seeps out and comes in around the edges of the shield. “It was the worst of everything,” said Jin Pan, a civil and environmental engineering Ph.D. student who was a co-author of the study. A face shield combined with a mask offers added protection, particularly for the eyes.

A well-fitted mask protects the wearer. Dr. Marr and her colleagues tested cloth masks for how well they protected others (outward protection) as well as the wearer (inward protection). Although masks are most efficient at filtering outgoing germs, they do stop incoming germs at nearly the same rate in most cases, the researchers found. Masks that did a poor job protecting the wearer were those made of stiffer materials and those worn loosely and with gaps around the edges.

A recent study from Denmark suggested that masks don’t protect the wearer, but Dr. Marr noted that in that study, many people weren’t using masks properly. “Fewer than half wore them as instructed,” Dr. Marr said. Although Dr. Marr’s findings come from a lab, rather than the real world, she said her group’s latest research should offer reassurance to people who wear well-fitted masks that they are getting additional protection from other people’s germs.

The research should also reassure people about the benefits of cloth masks, Dr. Marr said. She noted that masks can’t do “100 percent of the work,” and it’s important to combine mask wearing with other measures, like hand-washing and restricting social contacts.

“Something is better than nothing,” Dr. Marr said. “Even the simplest cloth mask of one layer of material blocks half or more of aerosols we think are important to transmission. If you go to a tighter weave and more layers, you’ll get even better performance.”

The Virginia Tech study was published online and has not yet been peer reviewed.

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Global Liposuction Surgical Pumps Market, Global Liposuction Surgical Pumps Market 2020, Global Liposuction Surgical Pumps Market Growth, Global Liposuction Surgical Pumps Market Scope, Global Liposuction Surgical Pumps Market Trends

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This report gives a historical overview of the market trends, growth, revenue, capacity, cost structure, and key driver’s analysis. The report focuses on global Liposuction Surgical Pumps market trends, future forecasts, growth opportunities, key end-user industries, and market players. Also, the report splits market segmentation by type and by applications to fully and deeply research and reveal market profile and prospects. It also includes the evaluation of the global industry players and their market scope. The report emphasizes fundamental synopsis of the global industry, embracing categorizations, applications, explanations, and manufacturing chain structure.

NOTE: Our analysts monitoring the situation across the globe explains that the market will generate remunerative prospects for producers post COVID-19 crisis. The report aims to provide an additional illustration of the latest scenario, economic slowdown, and COVID-19 impact on the overall industry.

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The report gives a look at the recent developments and their innovations in the global Liposuction Surgical Pumps market. The report presents the basic overview of the industry which includes the definition, manufacturing along with its applications. The report mainly comprises the recent marketing factors and analyzes the market performance to fuel the profitability and productivity of the industry. The report enhances its focus on the estimates of market development trends of the global market.

The market report mainly contains the following manufacturers: HK Surgical, Medco Manufacturing, MicroAire Surgical Instruments, Nouvag AG, Medela, MD Resource, Jaccell Medic, Eurosurgical, Anand Medicaids Private Limited, Möller Medical, Euromi, CA-MI

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Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share, and growth opportunity in these key regions, covering: North America (United States, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Australia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)

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• This report gives investigation toward changing serious elements
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New research shows that electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) can help smokers quit smoking cigarettes, according to an editorial in JAMA by Nancy Rigotti, MD, director of the Tobacco Research and Treatment Center at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Nearly a half million Americans die each year from tobacco-related diseases such as lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes and emphysema, which makes smoking the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Most smokers want to stop, and more than half try to quit each year, but only five to seven percent are able to abstain long term. Using treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) increases the likelihood of success, but many smokers who use these therapies still struggle to remain tobacco free, says Rigotti, who is also a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Rigotti sees a promising role for e-cigarettes as a new option to help smokers quit. E-cigarettes are handheld devices filled with a liquid that usually contains nicotine and flavorings. The device heats the liquid to produce an aerosol that’s inhaled, or “vaped.” The devices appeal to smokers trying to quit because they mimic the experience of smoking while providing nicotine to avoid withdrawal symptoms.

Since e-cigarettes don’t burn tobacco, users don’t inhale toxin-filled smoke, as with conventional cigarettes. While not harmless, using e-cigarettes is likely far less dangerous than continuing to smoke conventional cigarettes. Skeptics note that e-cigarettes are not approved medicine for smoking cessation. Rigotti counters that there’s an urgent need for evidence showing that e-cigarettes are safe and effective at helping smokers quit.

In October, Rigotti and several colleagues published a review of 50 studies, which included 12,430 adult smokers, that evaluated e-cigarettes as smoking-cessation aids in the prestigious Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Overall, Rigotti and her coauthors found increasing evidence that e-cigarettes containing nicotine are more effective at helping smokers quit for at least six months than nicotine-replacement therapy (such as skin patches and chewing gum), nicotine-free e-cigarettes and behavioral counseling.

Rigotti’s editorial appears in an issue of JAMA that also features a new study of e-cigarettes, which found that abstinence from smoking after three months was higher among participants using the devices than those who only received counseling. “We need more randomized trials because there is still a lot we don’t know,” says Rigotti. In particular, she calls for studies of new-generation “pod-type” e-cigarettes (the JUUL brand is one example), which deliver nicotine faster and in higher doses than the older devices studied in the JAMA article. She also calls for comparing e-cigarettes with other FDA-approved smoking cessation medications and for more research on the health effects of long-term use of e-cigarettes.

For now, FDA-approved therapies should be the first choice for patients who need to stop smoking, says Rigotti. “But what do you say to a smoker who has tried those treatments and failed? Or who isn’t willing to try them?” In that case, Rigotti believes it’s reasonable to discuss the potential benefits and harms of e-cigarettes with the patient. “In the debate about e-cigarettes,” she says, “we need to remember that there are millions of smokers who need help and could benefit.”

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Perry N. Halkitis, dean of Biostatistics and Urban-Global Public Health in the Rutgers School of Public Health, will receive the Hyacinth Award from the Hyacinth Foundation, according to a press release.

The award, meant to honor those who have been advocating for people living with HIV, will be given to Halkitis at the Hyacinth Foundation’s 35th Anniversary Virtual Celebration next Saturday, according to the press release. He said he dedicates his award to the memory of five important people in his life that he lost to HIV during the first two decades of the epidemic.

“Receiving this award means the world to me,” Halkitis said. “I have been doing HIV behavioral research, education, advocacy (and) activism for almost all of my adult life.”

For three decades, Halkitis has researched the intersection between HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, drug abuse and mental health burden as well as the biological, behavioral, psychosocial and structural factors that predispose the LGBTQ population to these health disparities, among others, according to his website.

Halkitis’s work also focuses on translating this knowledge into interventions to reduce these disparities, such as delivering health care services to gay men within their communities, according to the Rutgers School of Public Health website. His work is being enacted in large urban centers in the U.S., including Newark, New Jersey.

Halkitis is the founder and director of the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior and Prevention Studies, a training site for the next generation of scholars seeking to improve the health of the LGTBQ community, according to the Rutgers School of Public Health website.

“People who are living with HIV are not just a vessel for HIV,” Halkitis said. “They are complex organisms who have complex lives, and so we have to attend to all aspects of their lives if we’re really going to help bring an end to AIDS, and also to prevent further infections.”

He said he has doubts that the U.S. can bring an end to AIDS by 2025 despite the federal administration’s efforts because medications alone are not enough, and discriminatory laws need to change due to their function in perpetuating HIV. Halkitis said he will continue to do work on HIV until the U.S. brings an end to the disease.

“I am dedicated to fighting this disease,” he said. “I am dedicated to fighting the discrimination that HIV positive people face. I am dedicated to advocating for policies that helped us to prevent the further spread of HIV. I think any good public health researcher, any strong public health researcher, has to also be an advocate and an activist because politics and public health are intimately tied to each other.”

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TUESDAY, Nov. 3, 2020 (HealthDay News) — People struggling with obesity fared poorly during the COVID-19 lockdowns earlier this year, with their weight-control plans flying off the rails as they coped with the stress of the global pandemic, two new studies report.

The post Lockdowns Made Taming Obesity Even Tougher, Research Shows appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Adhering to the wildly popular keto diet has been correlated with added strain on the kidneys and cardiac arrhythmia, and a new, small study links going keto with possible consequences on another vital body system: the bones. The study, published in late January in Frontiers in Endocrinology, is the first to look into whether the high-fat, low-carb diet might also adversely affect bone health.

The study only involved 30 people, all of whom were about to start vigorous training for upcoming competitions in race walking. Researchers found more significant signs of bone breakdown in the athletes who followed a keto diet for three and a half weeks, compared to those who continued to simply eat their regular, more balanced diet. That doesn’t necessarily mean that eating virtually zero carbs weakens the bones; researchers didn’t examine bone density, and further study is needed. But Louise Burke, one of the study’s lead authors, told the New York Times that researchers believe the low availability of carbs on keto may very well affect bone metabolism.

Doctors and researchers across disciplines have long decried the keto diet, especially over the past few years, as its popularity as a quick way to lose weight surged. Following the diet correctly involves getting as much as 90 percent of one’s daily calories from fats, which is meant to send the body into a semi-starvation state known as “ketosis.” The idea is that, while in ketosis, ketoers burn through reserved fat stores for energy, rather than churning through readily available carbs. That can (and does) help people drop pounds, but it’s also extremely unsustainable, and appears to come with a whole mess of health issues.

The only known medical use for keto is treating epilepsy in children; it’s also been useful for helping regulate blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. But just because a diet is doctor-approved for specific situations doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to use it “off-label” for weight loss without physician guidance. If your goal is to lose fat, there are plenty of other ways to do that without rotting vital body systems, and almost all of them are far less annoying.

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Stem cells responsible for repairing the womb following menstruation can also promote endometriosis and endometrial cancer if they become dysfunctional, researchers have found.

Such malfunctioning stem cells also can reduce the chances of success for women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF), the study shows.

The researchers’ findings were reported in “Endometrial Axin2+ Cells Drive Epithelial Homeostasis, Regeneration, and Cancer following Oncogenic Transformation,” a study published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Using a technique called in vivo lineage tracing in female mice, investigators from the Hunter Medical Research Institute in Australia and their colleagues discovered that stem cells located at the base of special glands found throughout the inner lining of the womb (endometrium) are responsible for replenishing the endometrial tissue that is lost during menstruation.

In vivo lineage tracing is a technique that allows scientists to label and follow specific cells inside an organism. In so doing, the team discovered these stem cells contained high levels of a gene called Axin 2, which has been found to be active in cell types from other highly regenerative tissues.

When the researchers specifically destroyed Axin 2-positive stem cells in the wombs of female mice, they found the endometrium was no longer able to repair itself and became highly dysfunctional. Moreover, when investigators introduced cancer-associated mutations into these stem cells, the cells started to malfunction and to fuel the development of endometrial cancer.

“What we are able to show is that if you cause mutations in these cells, you get endometrial cancer,” Pradeep Tanwar, PhD, lead researcher and senior author of the study, said in a news story.

“What we now hypothesise is that when women have endometriosis, what they have is an expansion of these mutated cells. These cells end up going into the abdominal cavity. Because they are so highly regenerative — because these are the cells that are repairing the uterus in each cycle — they start making uterine-like tissues in the abdominal cavity — which is what endometriosis is,” said Tanwar, also an associate professor at the Hunter Medical Research Institute.

Tanwar also believes the malfunction of these stem cells could be the reason why women undergoing fertility treatments fail to conceive.

“Some women have repeated failed IVF cycles because their endometrium is too thin, and the embryos cannot implant,” he said. “We now know that these cells in these women are going to be defective, and that is why the repair is not happening properly,” he said.

The Hunter researchers spent seven years “exhaustively testing” their findings, Tanwar said. He said they collected and banked gynecological tissue samples from hundreds of women treated at the center.

Given the wide implications of these findings, many scientists around the globe have reached out to congratulate the team on their discovery, he said.

“There have been so many questions about these conditions, and this has given us a framework to start addressing those, and — hopefully — come up with some answers,” Tanwar said.

“There is huge potential in the study, and there is huge potential in what we are doing. This cell is affecting many of these gynaecological diseases, which are mainly uterine based,” he added.

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Can obesity cause aortic stenosis? A new mendelian randomization study argues yes, although experts also assert that the influence of the multiple comorbidities that generally come along with a greater degree of adiposity cannot be ruled out.

“This means that when you have obese people that maybe have shortness of breath, you should be thinking more that they could have aortic valve stenosis, something that could be treated rather than waiting until they get heart failure,” senior author Børge Grønne Nordestgaard, MD, DMSc (Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark), told TCTMD. He added that since no causal link has been established before between obesity and aortic valve stenosis, many physicians might mistakenly think a symptom like shortness of breath, especially when accompanied by several other issues, might simply be a result of their obesity.

“I’m sure many doctors could do better to just put the stethoscope at the heart and listen to it,” Nordestgaard suggested.

Commenting for TCTMD, Marc Dweck, MD, PhD (University of Edinburgh, Scotland), who is not a geneticist but whose research has looked at multimodality imaging of cardiovascular diseases, including aortic stenosis, cautioned that causation is hard to prove.

“It just strikes me that this story is much more complicated than ‘I’ve got a gene. I’m going to get fat. I’m definitely going to get aortic stenosis.’ There’s a lot of off-target confounders in my mind that potentially pollute that supposedly causal link,” he explained. Comorbidities like hypertension and diabetes could play a role, but so too could “the fact that obese patients [are] probably more likely to see a doctor, they’re more likely for someone to listen to their chest, [and] they’re therefore more likely to be diagnosed with aortic stenosis.”

Risk factors associated with incidence of aortic stenosis “aren’t necessarily” the same as those associated with disease progression, with new treatments being dependent on research in the latter field, Dweck continued. “Should I recommend to all my patients with aortic stenosis that they lose weight? Yes, of course, but that’s more because of the other health benefits of losing weight rather than the fact that I think it’s going to slow the progression of their aortic stenosis.”

Allele Scoring

For the study, published in the January 21, 2020, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Morten Kaltoft, MD, along with Nordestgaard and Anne Langsted, MD, PhD (all Copenhagen University Hospital), included 108,211 adults enrolled in the Copenhagen General Population Study between 2003 and 2015. All participants had measurements of body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio, and waist circumference as well as information on five genetic variants known to be associated with obesity. The researchers created an unweighted allele score of 0 to 10 by counting the number of alleles associated with BMI increase, with scores categorized as 0 to 3 (9%), 4 (19%), 5 to 6 (52%), and 7 to 10 (20%).

Over a median follow-up period of 8.7 years, 1,215 patients had incident aortic valve stenosis and 467 underwent aortic valve replacement (either SAVR or TAVR). Compared with those with an allele score of 0-3, patients with scores of 4 (HR 1.3; 95% CI 1.0-1.7), 5 to 6 (HR 1.4; 95% CI 1.1-1.8), and 7 to 10 (HR 1.6; 95% CI 1.3-2.1) were significantly more likely to have aortic stenosis after adjustment for age and sex.

Additionally, the adjusted causal risk ratio based on the allele score was 1.52 (95% CI 1.23-1.87) for aortic stenosis and 1.49 (95% CI 1.07-2.08) for AVR per 1 kg/m2 increase in BMI. The corresponding hazard ratios were 1.06 (95% CI 1.05-1.08) and 1.06 (95% CI 1.03-1.08).

In sensitivity analyses, the association between higher BMI and greater risk for aortic stenosis was observed among those with the highest waist circumference (men ≥ 101 cm; women ≥ 88 cm) but not among those in with the lowest measurements (P for interaction = 0.07).

“Our causal, genetic findings are novel,” the researchers write. They note that the mechanism behind the link could either be “due to structural changes of the heart or metabolic changes of the obese body,” say but future research will be required to clarify.

“Further investigation of metabolic and atherogenic alterations in the obese body would reveal unknown causal pathways, potentially leading to a treatable trait in this complex disease, with the long-term goal of preventing aortic valve stenosis,” Kaltoft and colleagues conclude. “Although most of the obesity impact on aortic valve stenosis that can be explained is accounted for by the genetic score, this does not preclude potential benefit of intervention.”

Progression Over Incidence

“With aortic stenosis, we don’t have any [preventive] treatments, so any study that improves our understanding of why people develop aortic stenosis is of value and of importance and is moving the field forward,” Dweck commented. However, because the findings demonstrate incidence of aortic stenosis and not progression, he said, “it’s not telling us about actually what we really want to know. . . . We need studies with serial echocardiograms, relating that to obesity, to really tease out that question.”

Specifically, to “establish causality in my mind, you’d need to do a trial where you get people to lose weight and it [shows that] losing weight slows the progression of aortic stenosis. Then I would be convinced completely,” he said.

In an accompanying editorial, Cécile Oury, PhD (University of Liège Hospital, Belgium), and colleagues write that “a major limitation of mendelian randomization relates to possible pleiotropic effects of the genetic variants used, ie, single genetic variants can affect multiple phenotypic traits, which means that this approach may not necessarily provide a proof of causality.” However, they note, the study’s use of allele scoring “contributes to overcome this potential bias, which greatly strengthens their findings.”

Ultimately, these findings “will likely be the basis for other studies intended to refine the causal link between body fat and aortic stenosis risk in populations of various genetic ancestries,” the editorialists conclude.

Dweck agreed on the need for future research in this field. “Establishing the link between obesity and disease progression is crucial,” he said. “You want to see studies where [for] people that were overweight, does their aortic stenosis progress more quickly than people who are less overweight? That’s step one. Step two is: can you slow disease progression in aortic stenosis by losing weight? . . . This is the whole point of looking at the pathogenesis of it, and I think we’re quite a long way from recommending that.”

This study provides added evidence that obesity is linked with an increased incidence of aortic stenosis, Dweck concluded. “That’s an important observation. So, of course, I think it’s probably fair to say that if you avoid being obese, you’re probably less likely to develop aortic stenosis. But to me the more interesting question relates [to] progression. And there are probably stronger reasons for not becoming obese than worrying about your valve.”

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The latest ISD Scotland statistics show that more than a one in five children (22 per cent) in primary one in Scotland were found to be at risk of being overweight or obese.

Professor Linda Bauld, Cancer Research UK’s prevention expert, based at the University of Edinburgh, described the figures as “shocking”.

She added: “Obesity is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer after smoking, so tackling this is crucial if we’re to improve the health of future generations.”

As well as the cancer risk, overweight and obesity in childhood is associated with a wide range of other health problems such heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, emotional distress and mental health difficulties.

In addition, overweight and obese children are at risk of remaining overweight or obese as adults.

Since 2001/02, the overall proportion of P1 children who are at risk of overweight or obesity has remained fairly constant.

However, there are now substantial inequalities in child unhealthy weight across Scotland.

Since 2001/02, the proportion of P1 children at risk of overweight or obesity has increased in the most deprived areas but decreased in the least deprived areas.

Children living in more deprived areas were more than twice as likely to be at risk of obesity than children living in the least deprived areas.

Boys in P1 are slightly less likely than girls to have a healthy weight.

Professor Bauld believes there were step that should be taken to tackle overweight and obesity in children.

“The Scottish Government has a role to play here,” she said.

“It must ensure planned legislation to restrict junk food promotions is introduced and passed before the next Scottish Parliament elections.

“Our shopping environment has a big influence on what we buy with special offers and multibuys on junk food powerfully persuading us to stock up on unhealthy items.”

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The American Heart Association has published new research warning that people who work overtime at the office are at greater risk of developing a deadly type of high blood pressure that doesn’t typically manifest in the doctor’s office. Referred to as masked or ‘hidden’ high blood pressure, the condition may remain untreated due to the difficulty in detecting it.

High blood pressure is a dangerous health condition that, if left untreated, may result in a number of other health problems, including everything from heart disease to vision problems, kidney disease, vascular damage, and more. In order to treat high blood pressure, also called hypertension, it must first be detected, of course.

According to a new study published by the American Heart Association, white-collar workers who worked 49 or more hours per week were 70-percent likely to suffer from masked high blood pressure compared to people who work fewer than 35 hours per week.

This hidden type of high blood pressure is hard to detect because it is elevated while the person is at work but tends to return to normal by the time the individual goes to the doctor’s office. If left untreated for a long period of time, the hypertension may cause other chronic health conditions.

As well, these overtime workers were also 66-percent more likely to suffer from sustained high blood pressure, which means the readings stay high even when the person isn’t working. This type of high blood pressure is arguably worse because it remains high all day and night, but it is easier to treat simply because it is easier for a doctor to detect it.

Overtime that involved fewer hours at 41 to 48 per week was associated with a 42-percent greater risk of developing sustained high blood pressure in office workers and a 54-percent greater chance of developing masked hypertension. This elevated risk persisted despite other risk factors for high blood pressure, including smoking, BMI, and more.

The study found a number of work factors that may influence one’s odds of developing masked or sustained high blood pressure, including having low authority in the work place, high demands from superiors, and potentially other daily realities that weren’t identified. The findings were based on a five-year study that took place in three ‘waves,’ according to the American Heart Association.

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New research has shown that focussing on ways to eradicate infected cells may not be necessary for a functional cure for AIDS. In a study focusing on a subset of HIV-positive individuals who can live with the virus without needing treatment, the researchers found that these people’s lymphocytes suppress the virus but do not kill off infected cells.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden and the University of Pennsylvania, US.

HIV infection typically leads to a loss of CD4+ T cells, a type of white blood cells that together with the CD8+ T cells attack and destroy infections. The fewer CD4+ T cells a person has, the worse the symptoms. But fewer than 1 percent of HIV-positive people have stable CD4+ T cell counts and undetectable HIV viremia and are thus able to live with the virus without therapy. This group, known as elite controllers, has more effective CD8+ T cells than most HIV-positive people.

To find out how the CD8+ T cells of elite controllers keep the HIV virus from replicating and progressing to AIDS, the researchers collected blood samples and lymph node tissue biopsies of 51 HIV-positive individuals, including 12 elite controllers.

Using single-cell RNA sequencing analyses, the researchers found that elite controllers had more HIV-specific CD8+ T cells in their lymphoid tissue than the others but that these were so-called non-cytolytic cells, meaning they didn’t kill off infected cells.

Instead, these CD8+ T cells of elite controllers had a distinct transcriptional profile and were able to suppress HIV replication through an enhanced ribosomal function, meaning they were better at translating proteins from amino acids. This led to the production of more and a greater variety of cytokines (small protein molecules that are important in cell communication) and boosted the cells’ polyfunctionality.

“These findings go against the paradigm of HIV control that focuses on killing off infected cells to find a cure,” says Marcus Buggert, Assistant Professor at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge, at Karolinska Institutet. “While these strategies may still work, our research supports a model in which viral suppression rather than viral eradication can, in fact, serve as a functional cure.”

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The link between aspirin intake and a lower cancer risk is not a new discovery. But, a recent US study found that aspirin could also protect overweight people from colon cancer.

The link first appeared in 2012, in a research paper that analyzed over 100 studies. The paper published in The Lancet journal showed that “the regular intake of Aspirin could reduce the risk of many types of cancer.”

Three years later, another research paper published in the Annals of Oncology journal found that people aged 50 to 65 who consumed Aspirin over 10 years showed a relatively lower risk of cancer – 7 percent in women and 9 percent in men.

However, the recent study published in the American Medical Association journal in December, said aspirin should be taken three times a week, and found that protective effect appears particularly pronounced among people who are overweight.

According to the study authors, low-dose aspirin reduced overall cancer death risk by 15 percent and all-cause death by 19 percent among more than 146,000 people who participated in a cancer screening trial conducted between 1993 and 2008.

Overweight folks also experienced a marked decline in their risk of death from gastrointestinal cancer (28 percent) and colon cancer (34 percent).

In a report published on the institute’s website on December 4, Researcher Holli Loomans-Kropp, a cancer prevention fellow with the US National Cancer Institute, said: “Our primary focus was really on colorectal cancer deaths, since there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that aspirin use may lower risk of gastrointestinal deaths.”

The study results support the standing recommendation of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), which says people 50 to 59 should take low-dose aspirin to prevent colon cancer if they’re not at increased risk for bleeding.

Daily aspirin use as a preventive health measure has become controversial over the past few years, however.

Remarkably, the new study recommended people to take Aspirin three times a week to avoid the negative effects underscored in another US study, which found that excessive intake of aspirin could cause ulcers. The former study carried out by researchers at Harvard University examined data by the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) in 2017, and found that over half of the US population, aged 70 years and above, who didn’t suffer from heart diseases or strokes (around 10 million people), take Aspirin on daily bases to prevent cardiovascular diseases.

In their study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal in July, the researchers recommended doctors to ask their patients about their aspirin intake.

Dr. Ali Ezz al-Arab, liver cancer consultant, said people should consult their physician before adopting the new recommendations and taking aspirin three times a week.

“A person should undergo an upper GI endoscopy to determine whether he suffers from gastritis or not, as aspirin intake by people with gastritis could cause ulcers,” Ezz al-Arab told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Commenting on the new findings, the liver cancer consultant said: “Overweight people are more likely to develop colon cancer, so they are the most benefiting from the recommendations of this new study.”

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