A round up of health news of interest for Masters athletes

Brain or brawn: which is the first to go?
That's the questions researchers wanted to know -- is muscle deterioration as we age the cause for running times to edge up? Or is it the signals from the brain and the synapses that are slowing down, causing muscles to get the signal more slowly or not as precisely? The Neurobiology of Aging Journal recently released a study that points the finger at the brain. With age, the myelin sheaths that coat the nerves of the brain degrade, which causes a slowing of electrical impulse time. And it seems that the time for the slowing to start is age 40, right where most Masters age groups begin. What can you do about it? While researchers say more research is needed, there are a few things: brain health is benefited by keeping active and by keeping blood pressure, cholesterol levels and blood sugar within the normal range. And physical and mental activity may also induce myelin repair.

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Telomerase -- the fountain of youth?
An enzyme called telomerase has been found to repair and increase the length of the DNA protein that codes for the lifespan of your body's cells. The protein, called telomere, caps the end of every DNA strand and can vary in length. Short telomeres have been associated with increased disease risk and premature mortality. Long telomeres usually mean healthy cells. Biotech firms are researching how to isolate and administer telomerase, in the race to bring products to market. Yet, a recent study published in the November issue of The Lancet Oncology shows that positive lifestyle habits -- specifically, exercising 30 minutes a day, eating a low-fat, low-sugar diet, decreasing stress levels, using relaxation techniques and taking vitamins and fish oils - also increase the amount of telomerase in the body.

The rise of drug-resistant staph infections.
It seems like only a cut or scratch, but it could be a portal of entry to a mighty foe -- MRSA (pronounced "mersa"). It's been in the news that more athletes are suffering from methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. Professional football players such as Junior Seau have been hospitalized with the bug. These are community acquired cases, as opposed to those picked up in a health-care facility. Hospitals are known petri dishes, and were once the usual source of HA-MRSA -- or heathcare-acquired MRSA. Now it's CA-MRSA, or community-acquired version, that has been on the rise since the 1990s. Now these virulent strains are spreading rapidly via locker rooms and contact sports. What can you do to avoid getting a strain of staph that's hard to eliminate?

Here are some suggestions:

• Wipe down gym equipment before using it.
• If you have an open sore, skip the hot tub or whirlpool. Chlorine kills many microbes, but not everything.
• Don't share towels and make sure yours is clean and dry. Get out of sweaty clothes and shower as soon as you are able.
• Cover any cuts or scrapes when doing yoga with shared mats, participating in contact sports, or using public exercise equipment. Change the dressing often and wash your hands before and after.
• Wash your hands often.
• If you have a breach in your first line of immunity - your skin - and it is red, warm, painful, with drainage or pus, and you have chills, fever, headache, body aches, get professional medical attention.

A cut isn't necessarily the cure
A study published in September in "The New England Journal of Medicine" compared the outcome of patients who had arthroscopic knee surgery with those who managed the condition with medications and physical therapy. Both groups of patients with arthritis of the knee joint fared about the same. Interestingly, this recent study says the same thing a study published in 2002 did. Yet, many orthopedic surgeons still recommend arthroscopic surgery. If you are recommended surgery, ask your surgeon about these studies and why cutting is the best way to relieve your pain.

Do statins cut PSA levels, too?
Cholesterol lowering drugs, also known as statins, seem to also lower men's PSA levels. It's not clear whether this drop occurs because the drugs stop prostate cancer growth or simply interfere with the PSA test. Yet, this new discovery will be studied further. Researchers at Duke University noted that men who took statins were less likely to develop prostate cancer, but the correlation hadn't been studied before. The study was published last month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.