A weekly round-up of news affecting your health
WEIGHTLIFTING AND KIDNEY DISEASE
People with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who don't require dialysis are being encouraged to include resistance training to their exercise programs.
A University of Leicester study found lifting weights can provide significant health benefits to patients suffering from kidney disease.
The published findings showed non-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients who conducted both aerobic exercise and combined exercise for 12 weeks, three times a week experienced significant increases in strength, leg muscle size and cardiorespiratory fitness.
While positive changes were seen in patients just doing aerobic exercise - such as treadmill walking, cycling and rowing - the addition of resistance exercise, such as weightlifting, led to greater increases in muscle mass, nine per cent compared to five cent.
A greater improvement in strength was also recorded, 49 per cent improvement compared to 17 per cent than aerobic exercise alone.
Lead researcher, Dr Tom Wilkinson said there had been limited research on the effects of exercise in CKD patients and a lack of knowledge on what exercise is most beneficial.
"Our study shows that both aerobic exercises and strength exercises are important in CKD patients in keeping muscles strong and healthy and can be combined successfully and safely," he said.
KIDNEY DONATION
New data shows women are much more likely to donate a kidney than receive one.
Released by the International Society of Nephrology for World Kidney Day, marked this week, the figures show 36 per cent of women that are clinically suitable go on to donate a kidney to their husband.
However, only seven per cent of clinically suitable men go on to donate a kidney for their wife.
"Although it is hard to pinpoint a specific reason for higher numbers of wives being donors than husbands, the evidence suggests women are motivated by reasons such as altruism and the desire to help their family continue to survive," said ISN immediate Past President Professor Adeera Levin, a Professor of Medicine at the University of British Colombia, Vancouver.
GASTRO
If you've had a bad bout of the stomach flu while on a cruise, you can probably blame the crew, according to the findings of US research.
Norovirus causes gastroenteritis, a disease of the stomach and intestines,and is highly contagious.
Researchers at Arizona State University used a computer-based model to track a past norovirus outbreak on a cruise ship.
The modelling, published in journal Royal Society Open Science, suggests crew members are an important reservoir of infection from cruise-to-cruise, with afflicted crew infecting newly boarded passengers in subsequent cruises.
The researchers said isolating the unwell did not appear to help much and hand washing was the most effective way of halting the spread of infection.
ECZEMA
With winter approaching it's important that people remember to moisturise their skin to avoid a flare-up of eczema, experts say.
A Danish study, published this week in the British Journal of Dermatology, shed new light on why many people experience eczema and dry skin during the colder months of the year.
In tests of skin on 80 adults, researchers found the levels of filaggrin - a protein that helps maintain the skin's barrier function - changed between winter and summer on the cheeks and hands.
Changes were also seen regarding the texture of corneocytes, cells in the outermost part of the skin's epidermis.
Essentially what has been shown is that skin cells shrink and this causes the surface of the skin to change, explained senior author Dr Jacob Thyssen at the University of Copenhagen.
"The clinical message to individuals are that they should protect their skin with emollients in the winter and sunscreen in the summer," he said.
