Healthy

Why obesity increases cancer risk

A new discovery could explain why obese people are more likely to develop cancer, scientists say. A type of cell the body uses to destroy cancerous tissue gets clogged by fat and stops working, the team, from Trinity College Dublin, found.

Obesity is the biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK after smoking, Cancer Research UK says. And more than one in 20 cancer cases - about 22,800 cases each year in the UK - are caused by excess body weight. Experts already suspected fat sent signals to the body that could both damage cells, leading to cancer, and increase the number of them.

Now, the Trinity scientists have been able to show, in Nature Immunology journal, how the body's cancer-fighting cells get clogged by fat. And they hope to be able to find drug treatments that could restore these "natural killer" cells' fighting abilities.

'Lose some weight'

Prof Lydia Lynch said: "A compound that can block the fat uptake by natural killer cells might help. "We tried it in the lab and found it allowed them to kill again.

"But arguably a better way would be to lose some weight - because that is healthier for you anyway." Dr Leo Carlin, from the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, said: "Although we know that obesity increases the risk of 13 different types of cancer, we still don't fully understand the mechanisms underlying the link.

"This study reveals how fat molecules prevent immune cells from properly positioning their tumour-killing machinery, and provides new avenues to investigate treatments. "A lot of research focuses on how tumours grow in order to find metabolic targets to stop them, so this is a reminder that we should consider the metabolism of immune cells too."

Health care! Are Ghanaians in Germany doing the right thing?

Four years ago a publication was made Ghanaians living in Hamburg, Germany demanding answers from authorities about the rampant death of their countrymen. Years have passed but the toll of such deaths has neither ceased nor decreased. It is clear that death is inevitable but the frequency and circumstance is what is worrying.

It is upon this back drop that a discussion on that topic was held on the health show hosted by Effya on TopAfric radio and was covered by the NDR Das. This could be a huge step to drawing the attention of the right authorities to come to the aid of the Ghanaian community.

Within the public sphere the theory such as doctors intentionally killing their victims is purported to be one of the causes of such deaths.

During the radio discussion the following factors were enumerated to be possibly contributing to such premature death; Irresponsible self medication, unhealthy and sedentary life styles, physical inactivity, under utilisation of the health care system, religious and cultural beliefs and practices, ignorance and lack of information, double and quadruple jobs to cater for families and acquisitions of properties back home, genetics, environment etc.

Recommendations to counteracting the problem will be to negate the above enumerated possible causes.

As public Health scientists we see the issue as public health emergency which threatens the human security within the Ghanaian community in Hamburg. An anecdotal evidence of the issue at stake could be true but not enough deal with the problem.

To a achieve the desired result, a holistic approach is needed hence an urgent need for scientific research that encompasses needs assessments , data collection, analysis and findings to draw and implement a comprehensive public health intervention which is participatory and culturally tailored to mitigate the problem.

The negative impacts of the continuous premature death of Ghanaians cannot be overemphasised. It affects the families and society at large as well as the economy here in Germany and Ghana. For this reason we would like to call on stakeholders to support the worthy course by funding such project. We are looking up to the Ghana Embassy, German Health ministry and other such interested institutions to heed to this call so as to ensure that such premature deaths would be a thing of the past through the implementation of public health interventions.
Ghanaians dying premature in Hamburg!!!

Aileen Ashe (Public Health scientist and language and culture mediator)
Ursula D’Almeida (pharmacist and Public Health Scientist)

Nanny Beats Child Mercilessly

"55-years-old woman" was helping one family from Krasnoyarsk for few years, looking after their two children. In 2012 the third child was born in the family, and the parents again used her services, for several hours a day, leaving her with the youngest son.

One day the mother came home and paid attention that the baby was crying a lot and laid in the rocking chair face down which was unusual.

So they decided to place a hidden camera in the living room just to see what exactly was going on when the child was in the woman’s care. When they saw the video, they couldn’t hold back their tears and immediately had the woman arrested.

When they asked the nanny why she treated the baby inhumanely, the nanny answered that parents spoiled the child, he cried too much and wanted to be carried all the time.

Female Greek Athlete Makes Racist Comment Towards Africans

LONDON – Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou was banished from the Olympic Games on Wednesday after making racist comments and expressing right-wing sentiments on Twitter.

Papachristou was scheduled to fly to London next week from her training base in Athens when the Hellenic Olympic Committee – Greek’s Olympic federation – made the decision to expel her from the team. Papachristou, 23, made a racist and tasteless comment on her Twitter account, @papaxristoutj, that highlighted the number of African immigrants in Greece. “With so many Africans in Greece … at least the West Nile mosquitos will eat homemade food!!!,” Papachristou wrote. She also reposted a comment from controversial Greek politician Ilias Kasidiaris, who has strongly criticized his government’s “soft” immigration policy.

The West Nile virus was first discovered in Uganda, but cases have recently been found during the European summer. Papachristou’s tweet was met with a flood of angry responses, but she didn’t respond until Wednesday, when it became clear she might lose her spot in the Olympics. “I would like to express my heartfelt apologies for the unfortunate and tasteless joke I published on my personal Twitter account,” she said. “I am very sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered, since I never wanted to offend anyone, or to encroach human rights.”

By then, it was too late. Greek Olympic chiefs consulted with senior members of the Greek parliament, including aides to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, before making their decision. Part of the reason for the expulsion was to punish Papachristou for her actions, but the decision was also made in hopes of avoiding a backlash from anti-racism protestors at the Games. The financial crisis gripping Greece – where strict austerity measures have affected the lives of millions – has forced the country to rely heavily on corporate sponsorship to fund its Olympic program. Officials feared that contributors may rethink their commitment if Papachristou remained on the team.

“There is never a good time for something like this to happen,” one source with knowledge of the decision told Yahoo! Sports. “But this is especially a bad time. Action had to happen. To not act would have been negligent and place Greece in a very negative light.” Greek officials later released an official statement announcing Papchristou would be placed "outside the Olympic team for statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement."

Yahoo