Researchers have discovered 11 new DNA sequence variants in genes that are capable of influencing high blood pressure and heart disease.

Identifying the new genes contributes to our growing understanding of the biology of blood pressure and, researchers believe, will eventually influence the development of new treatments. More immediately the study highlights opportunities to investigate the use of existing drugs for cardiovascular diseases.

The study examined the DNA of 87,736 individuals to discover genetic variants associated with blood pressure traits. Validation of these sequence variants was performed in a further 68,368 individuals. This analysis led to the identification of 11 new genes.

Patricia Munroe, Professor of Molecular Medicine at Queen Mary University of London, said that discovering these new genetic variants provides vital insight into how the body regulates blood pressure.

She said that with further research, they are hopeful it could lead to the development of new treatments for treating blood pressure and heart disease – a leading cause of death worldwide.

A new study has found that sitting with legs crossed at the knee can bump up blood pressure.

Leg crossing increased systolic blood pressure nearly 7 percent and diastolic by 2 percent, ABC News reported.

Stephen T. Sinatra, MD, FACC, a Connecticut-based cardiologist and author of The Great Cholesterol Myth said that frequent crossing of the legs also puts stress on the hip joints and can cause pooling of blood in the legs when the veins are compressed.

This could predispose you to inflammation of the veins of the lower legs and possibly a blood clot, he said.

Dr. Sinatra advises to avoid crossing your legs for longer than 10 to 15 minutes, and to get up and walk around every half hour or so.

New York: Here is some good news for your eyes as researchers have suggested that daily consumption of multi-vitamin supplements can help lower cataract risk in men.

Cataract is an eye disease in which the normally clear lens of the eyes becomes cloudy, leading to a decrease in one’s vision. It occurs mainly related to age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The research conducted by scientists at Harvard Medical School involved 14,641 US male doctors age 50 and older.

This sample of 14,641 male doctors was then divided into two groups. Half of them were given a common daily multivitamin, as well as vitamin C, vitamin E and beta carotene supplements and the other half took a placebo.

The findings suggested that those in the multivitamin group had lower risk of developing cataract.

However, the researchers feel that this finding needs to be examined further in other trials of multivitamin pills in both men and women.

A new study has revealed that feeling extreme loneliness can increase an older person’s chances of premature death by 14 percent.

The study by John Cacioppo, professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, and his colleagues shows that the impact of loneliness on premature death is nearly as strong as the impact of disadvantaged socioeconomic status, which they found increases the chances of dying early by 19 percent.

A 2010 meta-analysis showed that loneliness has twice the impact on early death as does obesity, he said.

The researchers looked at dramatic differences in the rate of decline in physical and mental health as people age.

Cacioppo and colleagues have examined the role of satisfying relationships on older people to develop their resilience, the ability to bounce back after adversity and grow from stresses in life.

The consequences to health are dramatic, as feeling isolated from others can disrupt sleep, elevate blood pressure, increase morning rises in the stress hormone cortisol, alter gene expression in immune cells, and increase depression and lower overall subjective well-being.

Cacioppo, one of the nation’s leading experts on loneliness, said older people can avoid the consequences of loneliness by staying in touch with former co-workers, taking part in family traditions, and sharing good times with family and friends – all of which gives older adults a chance to connect others about whom they care and who care about them.

The study was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual meeting in Chicago.

Former Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Josephine Anenih, has suggested the castration of rapists to serve as a deterrent to people with such tendencies.

Anenih told the press in Abuja on Thursday that rapists should not only be given life sentence but be castrated, considering the gravity of the offence.

“The sanction for rape is too mild for the gravity of the offence. We are working on that to see whether we can amend the law on sanction for the crime.

“I will suggest something even more than life imprisonment. I will suggest castration.

“It is not difficult to prove rape as most people believe; the problem with tackling rape cases is that people are not diligent enough,’’ she said.

She called on women to break the culture of silence, report and follow up such cases to a logical conclusion

New research shows that after 10 years of intensified campaigns against malaria 184-million people in Africa still live in moderate to high-risk areas. While the number is high, it’s down from nearly 220-million in 2000 when anti-malaria efforts began to increase.

The findings are based on thousands of community-based surveys in 44 African countries and territories. These are places where malaria has been endemic.

Dr. Abdisalan Noor, co-leader of the team that conducted the research, said, “What we are looking at, first of all, is to try and estimate the level of infection with malaria in African communities. This doesn’t necessarily mean the number of people who die of malaria, but the proportion of people who are likely to carry the most virulent type of the malaria parasite. That’s Plasmodium falciparum.”

Noor and co-leader Professor Robert Snow are with the Kenya Medical Research Institute-Wellcome Trust Research Program. The team also included researchers from Oxford University and the World Health Organization.

The study reflects the effects of the Roll Back Malaria campaign and other programs. The campaign brought together many multi-lateral, private and non-governmental organizations. The goal was to cut in half the number of deaths from malaria by 2010. It had a shaky start and was criticized in its early years for a lack of progress.

“The positive news is there has been reduction in 40 of the 44 African countries for which we were able to estimate change. There has been some reduction in the proportion of people who are likely to be affected with the falciparum parasite. About 218-million people in 2010 lived in areas where transmission – malaria transmission – had dropped by at least one level of endemicity.

The recent signing into law of the Lagos State public place smoking bill by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola has drawn commendation from the British American Tobacco Nigeria.

The BATN is known to have opposed strict regulation of tobacco business and smoking culture in Nigeria for decades.

However, the tobacco multinational through its Director of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs in West Africa, Mr. Freddy Messanvi, said that the Lagos State government has shown a good example of how to create a balanced and effective law.

According to Messanvi, the process leading to the signing of the bill into law was a transparent one that gave consideration to all relevant views.

He reiterated earlier position of the company on the new law saying “the bill itself was neither excessive nor discriminatory.”

Messanvi said he hoped that there will be adequate sensitisation of all Lagosians especially those who trade in tobacco or who will enforce the laws. “For laws to be effective, it must be enforced in a just manner as this is the only way it can achieve its intent,” he explained.

The law prohibits residents of the state from smoking in public places such as libraries, museum, public toilets, schools, hospital, day-care centres, public transportation and restaurants among others.

Section 12 of the 16-section law also instructs owners of public places to place signs with the inscription; ‘No Smoking’ or symbols as part of enlightenment for smokers and would-be violators of the law.

Approximately 1000 people get infected with HIV daily in South Africa. High as this may seem, the figure has decreased by more than 50% since 1999. This is according to the latest South Africa Survey, published by the South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR) in Johannesburg last week.

In 1999 there were 646,806 new infections, the equivalent of 1 772 a day. By 2013, new infections had decreased to 321,300, the equivalent of 880 a day.

The data was sourced from the ASSA2008 AIDS and Demographic Model published by the Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA).

Ms Lerato Moloi, head of research at the IRR, attributed the decrease in new HIV infections to a number of interventions including awareness programmes, condom distribution, and male circumcision. ‘The Department of Health (DoH) distributed almost 400 million condoms, both male and female, in 2011/12. It is quite important that the condoms are not only distributed but also used. It is therefore quite encouraging that the National HIV Communication Survey, published by the DoH, shows that condom use at first sex went up from 18% to 66% between 1996 and 2012.

This is an important indicator because those who use condoms at first sex are more likely to use them throughout their lives’, Ms Moloi said.

In addition, the DoH has embarked on a campaign to circumcise as many men as possible through the public health system as research has shown that this can reduce men’s risk of contracting HIV by up to 76%.

Circumcision is expected to prevent one million new infections in South Africa by 2025.