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Daily Mirror
5 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
BBC doctor says you should send a text message this week
Dr Rangan Chatterjee, who is known for many TV and radio appearances, has shared his five tips online which can help improve your health, happiness and wellbeing in just 31 days BBC's own health guru, Dr Rangan Chatterjee, advises folks to adopt five straightforward practices this month that do not require drastic lifestyle overhauls. Dr Chatterjee, who can be found doling out tips on his Instagram handle @drchatterjee, encourages his followers to embrace "small" changes for a significant impact. The doctor is celebrated as the voice behind Europe's most popular wellness podcast 'Feel Better, Live More', a bestselling author with 5 Sunday Times chart-toppers and the familiar face from BBC's 'Doctor In The House'. He's thrown a challenge to his audience, asking "what's one small shift you could commit to this month?" while reminding them that major transformations are not a necessity right off the bat, reports Surrey Live. Dr Chatterjee shares wisdom saying, "You don't need to change everything at once. In fact, it's the small, consistent actions that add up to the biggest results over time." But what are these slight modifications he's talking about? Let's dive into the advice straight from the doctor's mouth: Set yourself a fitness challenge or target for summer Start reading a new book Aim to eat one meal a day outdoors Have a conversation with a stranger, even if its short Send a text three times per week to tell someone how much they mean to you Starting with expressing your love more often can work wonders; not only might it decrease stress levels, but it can also enhance your immune functionality and contribute to better mental wellbeing. Getting fresh air is also high on Dr Chatterjee's list of recommendations – and he is certainly not alone in this call to nature. Harvard Health experts back the outdoor push, saying: "Research has shown that spending regular time outdoors is linked with multiple health benefits: decreased stress and anxiety, improved cognitive function, better sleep, and a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer." The target for outdoor exposure should be roughly 1,000 hours yearly or approximately 2.5 hours each day, a concept known as the 1,000 Hours Outside challenge, which champions the importance of connecting with nature. There's no need to exert yourself too much, as Harvard experts confirm that something as laid-back as enjoying time outdoors with pals could contribute to your wellbeing - so you can forget about daily marathons. Harvard says: "You don't need to do an outside activity every day. The focus is on helping you be mindful about getting outdoors. Any time spent outside counts toward your 1,000 hours. For example, take a neighbourhood walk, visit a city park, go for a hike, or sit around a bonfire with friends."
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Mysterious interstellar object caught on camera as scientist says it could be an alien spacecraft
A mysterious interstellar object hurtling through the solar system has been caught on camera for the first time. First spotted by on July 1, scientists from around the world have now confirmed that this unexpected visitor has travelled through space from a distant star. Officially titled 3I/ATLAS, the rare interloper is 12 miles (20km) long and hurtling towards the sun at 135,000 miles per hour. Now, using a powerful telescope in Hawaii, the European Space Agency (ESA) has captured the first video of 3I/ATLAS as it journeys through space. The short video shows that the object is extremely bright, which means it is either many times larger than any other interstellar object or has another source of illumination. Most experts agree that this extra illumination is caused by the fact that 3I/ATLAS is an active comet, producing a glowing 'coma' of ice and gas as it approaches the sun. However, one Harvard professor claims that the light might not be able to be explained by natural means. Professor Avi Loeb, a physicist at Harvard University, told MailOnline: 'If it is not a comet, then its large brightness would be a big surprise and potentially signal a non-natural origin, perhaps from artificial light.' 3I/ATLAS was detected as a faint speck of light by NASA's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope. Since then, professional and amateur astronomers around the world have scrambled to gather more data. Scientists quickly combed older data to find observations of the object that had previously been missed, in a process called precovery. Combining these with hundreds of new observations, scientists were able to officially confirm that 3I/ATLAS is an interstellar object. Currently 420 million miles (670 million kilometres) away from Earth, 3I/ATLAS's trajectory and incredible speed mean it must be passing through our solar system after being ejected by its own star. NASA predicts that it will reach its closest point to the sun on October 30, at a distance of 130 million miles (210 million km) - passing just within the orbit of Mars. Thankfully, the object poses no threat to Earth and will pass harmlessly at around 150 million miles (240 million km) away at its closest point. This is only the third time that scientists have managed to spot an interstellar object passing through the solar system. The first interstellar object was Oumuamua in 2017, followed by Borisov in 2019. When Oumuamua was first detected, certain irregularities in its spin and velocity prompted Professor Loeb and his co-author, Dr Shmuel Bialy, to suggest that it could be alien in origin. Professor Loeb said: 'Oumuamua exhibited a large non-gravitational acceleration which was anomalous given its lack of evaporation.' Similarly, Professor Loeb now suggests that 3I/ATLAS could be a similar type of alien craft. While experts say there is no evidence to support this idea, some researchers say we can't rule out the possibility just yet. Professor Michael Garrett, Director of Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics said: 'More observations are definitely needed.' Asked whether the object could be an alien craft, Professor Garret responded: 'Who knows - it could be - that's why it will be important to make as many different measurements as possible to test all hypotheses. 'It's unlikely that it is, but that doesn't mean to say we shouldn't check. We don't know much about these interstellar objects, so we learn more each time we encounter one.' However, Professor Garret added that there is currently no evidence the object is alien in nature, and it is more likely to be 'an icy body that has escaped from another planetary system and wandered by the solar system by chance'. Currently, the overwhelming majority of evidence points to the fact that 3I/ATLAS is a comet. This is because astronomers have spotted a nebulous envelope of gas and dust known as a coma surrounding the object as it is heated by the sun. Based on these observations, both NASA and ESA are now confident enough to confirm that 3I/ATLAS is an interstellar comet. Dr Mark Norris, an astronomer from the University Of Central Lancashire, said: 'If there's a coma, it by definition is a comet, because this means that it is outgassing. 'This thing is still quite far from the sun, so you can expect, therefore, as it gets closer, you should get a bigger cloud of material; and that should become clear as we get more observations going forward.' However, by the time the comet reaches its closest point to the Earth, it will be hidden behind the sun, so astronomers will need to wait until it reemerges in December to catch the best observations.
Medical News Today
14 hours ago
- Medical News Today
Radiotherapy for breast cancer linked to lower Alzheimer's risk
A cohort study led by researchers from Samsung Medical Center in South Korea examined the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in breast cancer survivors. The scientists compared the prevalence of Alzheimer's to the different methods of cancer treatment and also to a group of healthy women. The researchers found that breast cancer survivors treated with radiation therapy had an 8% reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's in the short term. Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women, and according to the American Cancer Society, women have a one in eight chance of developing it at some point. At the same time, Alzheimer's disease is another public health challenge. According to the Alzheimer's Association, it affects an estimated seven million people in the United States researchers noted that a common concern with cancer treatments is that they may cause long-term cognitive side effects, so they explored whether breast cancer treatments impact the chances of developing Alzheimer's. The researchers published their findings in JAMA Network for breast cancer: Is there a link with Alzheimer's risk? Breast cancer has a 5-year relative survival rate of 91%. Treatment depends on whether the cancer is localized or has metastasized (spread beyond the breast). Localized breast cancer is easier to treat, while metastatic breast cancer is more challenging and requires more aggressive ways doctors treat breast cancer include: surgery such as a lumpectomy or mastectomy radiation therapy (also known as radiotherapy)hormone (endocrine) therapytargeted early-stage breast cancer often involves radiation therapy as part of the treatment. Around 70% of women with breast cancer have radiation therapy, and approximately 40% receive chemotherapy. These cancer treatments can cause some serious side effects; radiation therapy can cause hair loss, fatigue, and cognitive impairment. Some side effects of chemotherapy include fatigue, neuropathy, and cognitive changes (chemo brain). The scientists involved in the new study utilized data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service to examine Alzheimer's risk in breast cancer survivors. They included a group of around 70,000 breast cancer survivors and a control group of around 180,000 women. The participants underwent cancer surgery and treatment between 2010 and 2016; the researchers used an average of 7 years of follow-up data for the breast cancer survivors. The most common cancer treatment for the group was radiation, which 71.7% of the group received. More than half of the women received chemotherapy drugs, and nearly half received hormone treatments. Radiotherapy linked to lower short-term Alzheimer's riskDuring the follow-up period, 1,229 women in the breast cancer group received an Alzheimer's diagnosis. When compared to the control group, women who had undergone breast cancer treatment showed an 8% lower risk of developing Alzheimer's. This risk reduction was most pronounced among women who underwent radiation therapy, which made the researchers believe that radiation may have been responsible for the lowered risk of Alzheimer' the scientists observed that this protective effect went away with time. 'Based on these findings, we hypothesize that the risk of [Alzheimer's dementia] could be lowered shortly after cancer treatment but may equalize as the survival period increases,' the authors radiation therapy showed a potential protective benefit, the study found no significant impact on Alzheimer's risk from other authors emphasize the need for further research, noting that the maximum follow-up period in this study was just 11 years, which was potentially too short to fully understand the long-term relationship between breast cancer treatments and Alzheimer's might radiotherapy protect cognitive health?Jon Stewart Hao Dy, MD, a board-certified neurologist affiliated with the Philippines Neurological Association, told Medical News Today that he did not find the study findings surprising. Dy, who was not involved in the current study, told us that:'When a patient is diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoes the necessary evidence-based treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, they are likely to receive adequate and prompt treatment to control their other comorbidities and to prevent the long-term risk of chemotherapy-induced cognitive dysfunction.'He also touched on why radiation therapy may have provided short-term benefit against developing Alzheimer's. 'The biological mechanisms behind this lower short-term risk are the potential of radiotherapy to reduce astrogliosis and microgliosis and have anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects,' explained said that people who are looking to reduce their long-term risk of developing Alzheimer's should focus on controlling vascular risk factors such as blood pressure and Bashir, MD, a board-certified neurologist at AICA Orthopedics, likewise not involved in the study, told MNT that the findings indicating that radiation potentially provided short-term benefit were 'fascinating.''While the results are preliminary and warrant cautious interpretation, they open the door to meaningful hypotheses about underlying mechanisms,' said suggested that radiation therapy might influence the immune system or interfere with the formation of amyloid plaques, both of which are associated with Alzheimer's pathology.'Additionally, estrogen plays a complex role in both cancer biology and neurodegeneration,' shared Bashir. 'Lowering estrogen levels through hormone therapy may, paradoxically, reduce Alzheimer's risk in some patients.'Bashir emphasized that more long-term research is needed in this area. 'This study is encouraging in that it challenges assumptions and suggests that certain cancer-related treatments may influence dementia risk in unexpected ways,' said Bashir. 'More longitudinal research will be critical in clarifying these associations.'
