Kidney Stones Mystery Solved and boozing in movies impacts alcohol use in Adolescents

Truth or Lie-Bollywood boozing impacts alcohol use among Indian adolescents

Alcohol use in Bollywood movies is directly influencing the drinking habits of India’s adolescents, according to a new study presented today at the World Congress of Cardiology in Dubai. Overall 10 per cent of the students (aged between 12-16 years) surveyed in the study had already tried alcohol. But students that had been most exposed to alcohol use in Bollywood movies were found to be 2.78 times more likely to have tried alcohol as compared with those who were least exposed. Even when adjustments were made for demographic variables, social influences and characteristics of child and parenting, students were found to be 1.49 times more likely to have tried alcohol if they had been highly exposed to alcohol use in Bollywood films as compared to those who were least exposed.

“These results show that exposure to alcohol use depictions in Bollywood films is directly associated with alcohol use among young people in India,” said Dr. G.P. Nazar, Health Related Information Dissemination Against Youth (HIRDAY). “While alcohol advertising is banned in all Indian media and scenes that justify or glorify drinking are not allowed in Bollywood films, there is no dedicated health legislation that prohibits the depiction of alcohol in these films and there is a clear need for an immediate alcohol control policy”.

Study design

The study set out to determine two things – firstly if India’s adolescents were exposed to alcohol use in Bollywood films and secondly if this exposure was associated with their own alcohol use.

Fifty-nine popular Bollywood movies were coded to record the number of alcohol use occurrences and 3,956 adolescents were then asked if they had seen these movies. Students were grouped according to their exposure to alcohol use occurrences in these movies. They were then asked about their alcohol consumption status. Students in the fourth quartile – i.e. the quarter than had seen the greatest number of alcohol use occurrences in these movies – were found to be 2.78 times more likely to have tried alcohol compared with those students in the first quartile of exposure.

Alcohol and cardiovascular disease

Drinking too much alcohol increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). It can raise blood pressure, increase the presence of some fats in the blood stream, and increase calorie intake, which in turn leads to overweight and obesity. One of the key characteristics of the hazardous pattern of drinking is the presence of heavy drinking occasions, defined as consumption of 60 or more grams of pure alcohol per day. Hazardous and harmful drinking results in 2.5 million deaths, each year, globally, of these 14 per cent are due to CVD and diabetes. High levels of alcohol consumption and binge drinking are associated with increased risk of CVD and harmful use of alcohol damages the heart muscle, increases the risk of stroke and promotes cardiac arrhythmia.(Source- World Congress of Cardiology).

Very nice research-The Mystery Of Kidney Stones Solved

What are Kidney stones?

They are usually comprised of a compound called calcium oxalate, are the result of a build-up of dissolved minerals on the inner lining of the kidneys. These deposits can grow to the size of a golf ball while maintaining a sharp, crystalline structure. They may be small and pass unnoticed out of the urinary tract, but they may also cause extreme pain upon exiting. Kidney stones that remain inside the body can lead to many conditions, including severe pain and ureter (the tube connecting the kidney and bladder) blockage that obstructs the path urine uses to leave the body.

 

Now, new research by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis provides evidence to explain why some people are more prone to develop the condition than others. Their discovery opens the door to finding effective drug treatments and a test that could assess a person's risk of kidney stones.  "Now, we finally have a more complete picture detailing why some people develop kidney stones and others do not," says senior author Jianghui Hou, PhD, assistant professor of medicine. "With this information, we can begin to think about better treatments and ways to determine a person's risk of the condition, which typically increases with age." The research, in mice, is now available online in the EMBO Journal, published by the European Molecular Biology Organization.

Because kidneys function the same way in mice as in humans, the new findings can help scientists understand the root causes of kidney stones in patients. The mouse model used in the study can also serve as a platform for the preclinical testing of novel treatments for the condition, the researchers say. Most kidney stones form when the urine becomes too concentrated, allowing minerals like calcium to crystallize and stick together. Diet plays a role in the condition - not drinking enough water or eating too much salt (which binds to calcium) also increases the risk of stones.

But genes are partly to blame. A common genetic variation in a gene called claudin-14 recently has been linked to a substantial increase in risk - roughly 65 percent - of getting kidney stones. In the new study, the researchers have shown how alterations in the gene's activity influence the development of stones.

Typically, the claudin-14 gene is not active in the kidney. The new research shows that its expression is dampened by two snippets of RNA, a sister molecule of DNA, that essentially silence the gene. When claudin-14 is idled, the kidney's filtering system works like it's supposed to. Essential minerals in the blood like calcium and magnesium pass through the kidneys and are reabsorbed back into the blood, where they are transported to cells to carry out basic functions of life. But when people eat a diet high in calcium or salt and don't drink enough water, the small RNA molecules release their hold on claudin 14. An increase in the gene's activity prevents calcium from re-entering the blood, the study shows. Hou and his team have found that claudin-14 blocks calcium from entering passageways called tight junctions in cells that line the kidney and separate blood from urine. Without a way back to the bloodstream, excess calcium goes into the urine. Too much calcium in the urine can lead to stones in the kidneys or bladder. Intense pain develops when a large stone gets stuck in the bladder, ureter or urethra and blocks the flow of urine. Hou's research supports the theory that people with a common variation in claudin-14 lose the ability to regulate the gene's activity, increasing the risk of kidney stones.

He is optimistic, however, that drugs could be developed to target the short stretches of RNA that are intimately linked to claudin 14. Drugs that mimic these so-called microRNAs could keep the activity of claudin-14 in check and reduce the likelihood that stones would form.

Also, it may one day be possible to develop a diagnostic test to measure levels of the claudin-14 protein excreted in urine. Elevated levels would indicate an increased risk of stones, and people could take steps to prevent stones by modifying their diet.

"Many genes likely play a role in the formation of kidney stones," Hou says. "But this study gives us a better idea of the way one of the major players work. Now that we understand the physiology of the condition, we can start to think about better treatments or even ways to prevent stones from developing in the first place." (source- EMBO Journal)