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Stretching may ease women’s depression and menopause symptoms

(This June 30th story was refiled to fix link at the bottom of the story) By Reyna Gobel (Reuters Health) – Stretching just 10 minutes a day might help ease menopause and depression symptoms in middle-aged women, a small study suggests. “Light-intensity exercises such as stretching have not been previously evaluated for its impact on menopausal and depressive symptoms,” lead researcher Yuko Kai told Reuters Health by email. Forty Japanese women, ages 40 to 61 years, participated in the study at the Physical Fitness Research Institute, Meiji Yasuda Life Foundation of Health and Welfare in Tokyo.

Roche therapy helps 24 percent of untreated bladder cancer patients: study

A newly approved immunotherapy from Roche Holding proved effective as an initial treatment for some patients with advanced bladder cancer, according to data presented on Sunday. Results of the mid-stage trial could help make the case that the drug, Tecentriq, should become the first option therapy of choice for patients with metastatic bladder cancer, according to a researcher leading the study. Known chemically as atezolizumab, Tecentriq last month won U.S. approval for bladder cancer that had progressed following chemotherapy, becoming the first new drug for the disease in 30 years.

Scientists using smartphone app warn of ‘global sleep crisis’

Social pressures are forcing people to cut back on their sleep, contributing to a “global sleep crisis,” according to a new study based on research collected through a smartphone app. It enabled scientists from the University of Michigan to track sleep patterns around the world — gathering data about how age, gender and the amount of natural light to which people are exposed affect sleep patterns in 100 countries — and better understand how cultural pressures can override biological rhythms. “The effects of society on sleep remain largely unquantified,” says the study published Friday in the journal Science Advances.

Kenya’s 2007/8 post-election violence still haunts journalists, study says

By Katy Migiro NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Kenyan journalists who reported on their country's worst outbreak of inter-ethnic violence, which killed more than 1,000 people following a disputed 2007 election, remain traumatized, researchers said on Friday. The Royal Society of Medicine said it was the first major study of the emotional well-being of journalists covering violent events in Africa, although half of the continent's countries are either at war or have recently experienced it. “Post election violence was experienced firsthand as neighbor turned on neighbor, communities were destroyed and the media in some cases became the focus of mob rage,” said the study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Open.

One million Africans a year catch malaria from dam mosquitoes: study

By Katy Migiro NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – One million Africans will catch malaria this year because they live near a large dam and, at a time of booming dam construction on the continent, greater efforts must be made to protect people from the killer disease, a study said on Friday. Almost 80 major new dams are due to be built in sub-Saharan Africa over the next few years, leading to an additional 56,000 malaria cases a year, the study in Malaria Journal predicted. “While dams clearly bring many benefits — contributing to economic growth, poverty alleviation and food security — adverse malaria impacts need to be addressed or they will undermine the sustainability of Africa’s drive for development,” the paper's lead author, Solomon Kibret of Australia's University of New England, said in a statement.

Dementia may be stabilising in some countries: study

The occurrence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease may have stabilised in some wealthy nations, according to a study released Friday. A review of data from Sweden, the Netherlands, Britain and Spain showed the percentage of the population with dementia — the umbrella term for neurodegenerative diseases of the brain — holding steady, along with the number of new cases, said the study, published in The Lancet Neurology. Researchers led by Carol Brayne, a professor at the Cambridge Institute of Public Health and the University of Cambridge, compared dementia occurrence in old people across two time periods spanning the last several decades.

Raise minimum age to buy cigarettes to decrease use: U.S. study

By Yasmeen Abutaleb NEW YORK (Reuters) – Raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21 or 25 years old would significantly reduce their use and tobacco-related illnesses in the United States, a study published Thursday found, suggesting that states and local authorities should consider passing such laws. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which sponsored the report, cannot increase the minimum age to buy tobacco in the country from 18, but states and local authorities can do so. The report was presented to the FDA on Tuesday, said Richard Bonnie, chair of the report committee. Among people who smoked daily, 90 percent had tried their first cigarette before the age of 19 while the remaining 10 percent had tried tobacco products by 26, the study found.

Hormone drugs boost ovarian cancer risk by 40%

Menopausal women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) boost the risk of ovarian cancer by 40 percent, even if they take the treatment only for a few years, a study said Friday. The probe marks the widest-ever analysis of the risk of ovarian cancer from HRT, a treatment whose use declined when its safety was questioned a dozen years ago. Researchers publishing in The Lancet carried out an overview of 52 published studies, covering nearly 21,500 women in North America, Europe and Australia who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. “For women who take HRT for five years from around age 50, there will be about one extra ovarian cancer for every 1,000 users, and one extra ovarian cancer death for every 1,700 users,” said Richard Peto, a University of Oxford professor who co-authored the study.