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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2013 HEALTH & SCIENCE Outdoor exercisers can reap unexpected benefits by moving indoors NEW YORK: Road runners and cyclists chance to supplement their workout vary your workout every single day: to Gregory Chertok, a New Jersey-based cles are surprised and effectiveness is may dread moving their exercise rou- with cross-training, group fitness classes focus on speed, or to add intervals, or sport and exercise psychology consult- enhanced. “Physiologically the body tines indoors as winter approaches but or even workout DVDs. hills.” ant for the American College of Sports responds,” he said. fitness experts say it could be an oppor- “Runners and cyclists often spend lit- And your route is not limited to your Medicine, suggests a gradual approach. In the social setting of a gym, he tunity to fine-tune a familiar routine or a tle time on strength training,” Matthews neighborhood. Suzanne Bowen, a “They may want to dedicate one or added the lone outdoor runner can lim- chance to discover new skills. Jessica explained. “But we know it is a critical Panama City Beach, Florida-based fit- two of their workouts per week to ber up his social skills. “There are great Matthews, a California-based yoga component to enhance what you do ness expert, has always trained indoors. indoors, in order to slowly adjust,” he benefits to solitary exercise: it’s medita- instructor and exercise physiologist with and do it safely.” “Whether dealing with heat or cold, you said. “It takes some of the trauma away.” tive. It’s a chance to ruminate and an the American Council on Exercise, said Outdoor runners who shun indoor have to find something you like to do He said perspective management, or the opportunity for alone time,” he said. “But road cyclists, racers and runners trickle training, she added, could be missing an indoors, something you’re comfortable ability to view events as neither good there are also benefits of working out in into yoga classes. opportunity to fine-tune their regimen with,” said Bowen, the creator of online nor bad but neutral, is among the most a social setting.” Chertok said adopting a “The cold weather might have forced on a treadmill. “Many hear the word streaming fitness classes and the powerful tools in both general and flexible lifestyle in sports or exercise can them indoors but they discovered treadmill and say, ‘No,’” she said. “But “Tighten Tone and Stretch” fitness DVD. sports psychotherapy. lead to benefits in other areas. “The skill something,” said Matthews, adding that with a treadmill you have at your finger- For exercisers married to their out- When we’re forced to engage in new of emotional flexibility is very transfer- a change in the weather can offer be a tips the ability to tailor, customize and door routines who feel forced inside, workouts, Chertok explained, the mus- able,” he added.—Reuters Childhood cancer survivors face heart risks soon after treatment DALLAS: Children who survive cancer treat- completion of their patients’ cancer therapy,” hood obesity. It may be that damage caused by ment face increased heart health risk and said Dengel, a professor at the University of chemotherapy cannot be reversed, Dengel should take measures soon after life-saving Minnesota. said. “I really don’t think it’s the cancer per se, therapy to reduce the risk of serious problems Researchers used measures of the brachial it’s the treatment” that is causing the problems, later in life, according to research presented at and carotid arteries to test artery stiffness, Dengel added. A pilot study has begun in a major medical meeting. The five-year survival thickness and function of 319 Americans ages 9 which childhood cancer survivors will be given rate from childhood cancer has soared from 58 to 18 who had survived leukemia or other can- cholesterol lowering statins after puberty to percent in 1975 to 1977, to 83 percent in the cers, and compared the findings to 208 siblings see if that can reduce the risk of future heart period from 2003 to 2009. not diagnosed with cancer. Signs of premature problems. “It may serve them better to be more While earlier research had shown that child- heart disease, demonstrated by a decline in aggressive,” Dengel said. hood cancer survivors face heart disease and artery function, was more prevalent among The study did have limitations, researchers other potentially serious health problems those children and teenagers who had survived noted. Because of differences in cancer treat- decades after treatment, a new study found cancer, researchers found. ments, they were unable to attribute changes that chemotherapy takes a toll on artery health Childhood leukemia survivors had a 9 per- in arterial health to any particular chemothera- while survivors are still children, leaving them cent decrease in arterial health after complet- py. In addition, most of the children in the vulnerable to premature atherosclerosis and ing chemotherapy compared with the non-can- study were white, so the findings were not nec- heart disease. cer group. “Given the increased risk, children essarily applicable to other racial or ethnic “We may need to start the clock earlier mon- who survive cancer should make lifestyle groups. itoring these children,” said Donald Dengel, changes to lower their cardiovascular risk,” Children in the study, which was funded by lead author of the study presented on Sunday Dengel said. Such changes would include a the National Institutes of Health and other at the American Heart Association scientific heart-healthy diet and regular exercise. research groups, had survived at least five years meeting in Dallas. “Healthcare providers who However, more studies would be needed to since their initial cancer diagnosis, researchers FRANCE: European grey wolves are pictured in the†animal†park of Sainte-Croix, in are managing chemotherapy-treated child- assess whether blood vessel health can be said. They said it was the first such study to look this December 12, 2012, file photo in Rhodes.—AFP hood cancer survivors need to monitor cardio- improved by lifestyle changes in these sur- at heart health of childhood cancer survivors vascular risk factors immediately following vivors as has been shown in studies of child- while they were still children.—Reuters Modern dogs descended from European wolves Largest study widens rice, WASHINGTON: If your dog could talk, he China. “If you are looking for the origins might have a European accent. A new of dogs and you only have samples from arsenic link in Bangladesh study out Thursday comparing DNA from Europe, then of course it must be modern canines to ancient fossils sug- Europe,” he told AFP. Savolainen said that gests that today’s pets descended from much like the “Out of Africa” theory that PARIS: An unprecedented probe into high levels say watchdogs. The toxic element occurs in could also have implications for other parts of now-extinct populations of wolves in says humans originated in Africa and of arsenic in Bangladesh’s groundwater water naturally-the problem is that tens of mil- the world where there can be relatively high lev- Europe. Man’s earliest best friends likely migrated elsewhere, dog history follows strengthens suspicions that eating rice boosts lions of rural dwellers are exposed to it through els of arsenic in rice, said the authors. Parts of scavenged bones from scrap piles left an “Out of south China” scheme. “You see exposure to the poison, scientists said yesterday. shallow wells drilled in Cambodia, China, India and Vietnam fall into this Samples provided by 18,470 volunteers living in the 1970s in “access-to-water” programs. category. Haris’s team previously found a link behind by hunter-gatherers, said the several branches that are unique among report by international researchers in the an arsenic-contaminated district showed that Most investigations have focused on the risk between arsenic and rice consumption among a dogs in south China and you don’t see those who ate large amounts of rice had higher from drinking water, but there is now widening small number of Bangladeshis who lived in journal Science. The bolder the wolf, the them anywhere else,” he said. Asked more he would be able to eat and the levels of arsenic in their urine than those who interest in whether the poison can also be Britain. The new paper takes the exploration far- about the criticism from China theorists, ate little rice, they said. In addition, the big rice- passed on in rice, through irrigated fields. ther, as it draws on a much wider sample of peo- more loyal to humans he would become. Thalmann countered that his team used eaters also had more symptoms of arsenic toxici- The study was conducted in the district of ple living in Bangladesh itself. Scientists now believe this process of more complete DNA sequencing and ty, such as skin lesions. Araihazar, Dhaka state. Arsenic levels in the local Research carried out among 417 villagers in domestication likely began as many as older samples that show Europe was The paper, published in the peer-reviewed rice were not determined in the study, although India’s West Bengal, published last July, found 19,000 to 32,000 years ago. indeed the place where it all began. journal PLOS One, is the biggest-ever probe into contamination of the area’s water is well known. signatures of genetic damage in urinary-tract “All modern dogs have a very close Still, the matter is far from settled, whether arsenic-tainted groundwater in There are nearly 6,000 wells in an area of just 25 cells. The signatures, called micronuclei, are tiny relationship to ancient dogs or wolves Thalmann told AFP.

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