Thursday, 20 June 2013
Half of Singapore men at risk of bone disease: Study
SINGAPORE — One in two Singaporean men could be at risk of developing bone-related diseases, such as osteoporosis, says a study conducted by Fonterra, a New Zealand-based dairy company.
The report is based on bone health checks done by Fonterra, which conducted 15 million scans in Asia over three years.
The numbers show that 47 per cent of Singaporean men are in the “at risk” group, in line with the regional average for Asian men.
In Malaysia and the Philippines, nearly 40 per cent of men are at risk, while 52 per cent of men in Indonesia are at risk.
Doctors said the findings are not “completely surprising”.
They said that there has been an upward trend in osteoporosis cases in developed countries over the years, and Singapore is now catching up.
Osteoporosis specialist Dr Alvin Ng , rom The Endocrine Clinic at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, said there is a Vitamin D deficiency globally, and this could be because people living in urbanised environments lead relatively sedentary lifestyles.
Vitamin D is produced by the body when exposed to sunlight. Having sufficient levels of Vitamin D and calcium is known to contribute to good bone health.
Osteoporosis is known as a “silent disease”, as most people do not know they have it until they feel the first fracture.
What is worrying is the lack of awareness of this disease among men, as osteoporosis has generally been associated with women.
Dr Ng said: “I think women are generally more prone to sit still, and the prevalence of women having osteoporosis is much higher, but we think that the awareness is very disparate between the two populations. But men do get more severe complications and higher mortality when they sustain a fragility fracture from osteoporosis, so in that way, we think that there’s still an equal kind of impetus for us to reach out to men to make sure that they become more aware of this situation.”
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Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Acceleration, not speed, key to cheetah’s success: Study
WASHINGTON — Everyone knows cheetahs are blazingly fast. Now new research illustrates how their acceleration and nimble zigzagging leave other animals in the dust and scientists in awe.
Researchers first determined that cheetahs can run twice as fast as Olympian Usain Bolt on a straightaway. Then they measured the energy a cheetah muscle produces compared to body size and calculated the same for Bolt, the sprinter.
They found the cheetah had four times the crucial kick power of the Olympian.
That power to rapidly accelerate — not just speed alone — is the key to the cheetah’s hunting success, said study lead author, Dr Alan Wilson, a professor of locomotive biomechanics at the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London.
“Capturing prey seems to come down to manoeuvring,” he said. “It’s all the zigzagging, ducking and diving.”
Mr Wilson and colleagues put specialized GPS tracking collars on five of these animals in Botswana, Africa.
They clocked cheetahs topping out at 58mph (93.3kmh) — slightly less than the 65mph measured for a cheetah once in 1965. Wilson said most hunts were done at more moderate speeds of 30mph, but with amazing starts, stops and turns.
The way cheetahs pivoted and turned while sprinting was amazing, he said. A cheetah can bank at a 50-degree angle in a high-speed turn, while a motorcycle can do maybe 45 degrees, Mr Wilson said.
“If you are trying to catch something, the faster you go, the harder it is to turn,” he said.
Mr David Carrier, a University of Utah biology professor who wasn’t part of the study, said one of the amazing things about the research is that it focuses on an ability of cheetahs that many people overlook.
They are too fixated on the sheer speed of this fastest animal on the planet, he said.
Almost as important, Mr Carrier said, was the new tracking method — using existing technology in new ways.
“Technically this is a big step forward,” he said. “These guys have completely changed the standard for how we monitor locomotive performance in the field.” AP
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