Briefly speaking

Night shift & cancer risk for women

Women who work in night shifts may be at a significantly higher risk of breast, skin and stomach cancers, scientists have warned. Since breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer among women worldwide, most previous meta-analyses have focused on understanding the association between female night shift workers and breast cancer risk, but the conclusions have been inconsistent. To build upon previous studies, researchers from Sichuan University in China analysed whether long-term night shift work in women was associated with risk for nearly a dozen types of cancer. They performed a meta-analysis using data from 61 articles comprising 114,628 cancer cases and 3,909,152 participants from North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The articles consisted of 26 cohort studies, 24 case-control studies, and 11 nested case-control studies. These studies were analysed for an association between long-term night shift work and risk of 11 types of cancer.

Paracetamol affects fertility: study

Women who consume paracetamol during pregnancy, widely used to reduce a high fever or relieve pain, may increase the risk of damaging the fertility of their daughters, warns a new study. Scientists from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland found that human ovaries exposed to paracetamol for a week in laboratories lost up to 40 per cent of their egg cells. If this effect occurs in the womb, it could mean baby girls exposed to the common drug end up being born with fewer eggs. This would give them fewer years in which they could become pregnant and lead to an early menopause. It may be because both paracetamol and ibuprofen interferes with a hormone called prostaglandin E2.

Sauna baths reduce hypertension

Suffering from hypertension? Taking a sauna bath of 30 minutes may help reduce BP levels, according to a study. The study showed that immediately after 30 minutes of sauna bathing, participants’ mean systolic BP (the top number) reduced from 137 mmHg to 130 mmHg, and their diastolic (the bottom number) blood pressure from 82 mmHg to 75 mmHg. Their systolic BP remained lower even after 30 minutes of sauna bathing. Further, researchers observed an increase of vascular compliance, while also increasing heart rate similarly to medium-intensity exercise. This study demonstrates that sauna bathing for 30 minutes has beneficial effects on arterial stiffness, BP, and some blood-based biomarkers, said the researchers, led by Jari Laukkanen, Professor and Cardiologist at the University of Eastern Finland.