One known cause of SCD is Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a disease in which the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick, making it harder for the heart to pump blood. HCM often goes undetected and is the most common cause of sudden death in athletes. SCD can also occur in people who are born with coronary arteries that are abnormally connected to the heart. During exercise, these arteries may become compressed and unable provide proper blood flow to the heart.

However, with the lack of telltale symptoms and limited availability of diagnostic tests to detect SCD, predicting who is at risk is largely dependent upon genetics. An international team of researchers including members from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Technical University in Munich as well as others have now identified 10 common variants of genes that alter QT interval, or the timing of the contraction of the heart, that may help to pinpoint predisposition for sudden cardiac death. The study has recently been published in Nature Genetics.

Among the other genes identified, several had been suspected. However, according to Dan Arking, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, “almost half were surprising new genes that no one would have guessed as being involved in cardiac biology.” Arking also stated, “It really does open up a new world of investigation because these are genes that would have never come up if we had only focused on a list of known candidate genes.”

 lost 30 pounds in three months. If you wanted to know how I did it, and how I intend on maintaining my current weight, then these 50 weight loss tips are for you. I’m not an expert, but I do speak from experience. If it helps you attain your own weight loss goals, then I’m happy to have helped (if only to serve as a reinforcement of knowledge you already possess). Most of this, I learned on my own or through close friends and family members. Ponzi’s been a great help through the entire process, being a model partner in the weight loss process. Feel free to add your own tips to this list, too! If someone wants to help me extend these points into a full-on eBook, I’m all ears.

1. Dietary control and exercise. It’s true what they say – all you need to do is watch what you eat, and expend more energy than you consume. It’s really that simple. You can quit reading this list now, you now know everything you need to know and didn’t need to fork over $500 for the privilege of me telling you the secret of losing weight. You don’t need to read a 4,000 page book, you don’t have to buy a tape series, you don’t need to stay up late at night to watch infomercials to understand this basic premise. It’s 100% true.
2. Change your lifestyle. If you’re calling this a “diet,” then you’re going to gain all the weight back (and more) within a few months of losing it. Diets do not work. Diets are temporary. When you change your dietary lifestyle, however, you’re changing your habits – and you’re putting yourself on track for long-term / continued success and weight maintenance. Don’t ever tell anybody you’re on a diet – ever. I’m speaking from experience, here – a reformed low-carber. Worked out well for a while, but ultimately failed because my entire lifestyle didn’t change (permanently).

The waiting game—to have children at an older age—may have some unintended and unwanted consequences. Having a baby sooner, for men, rather than later can make a difference in your child’s IQ. While there are factors that may interfere with having children at the most opportune ages, such as not having a partner, fertility problems, not having the funds, or not being emotionally and mentally ready for a child, there seems to be some setbacks for men who are older when they have children.

For some couples, starting a family in their twenties or thirties isn’t possible for one reason or another. In today’s world, it actually seems there is a growing number of  young adults graduating high school and going on to college, focusing more on their careers than a family, and many couples are opting to start a family later in life, especially compared to earlier generations. Being educated helps couples to provide better lives for a family, and waiting to be truly ready for the responsibility of a family is very important. However, there seems to be evidence that fathers who wait until later in life to have children, run a risk of their children having slightly lower IQs than those born to younger fathers.

In previous studies, there have been links made between older fathers and certain health problems, such as birth defects, autism, and schizophrenia, which leads many scientist and doctors to recommend having children earlier in life, and with the newly released study showing lower IQ’s there may be new ammunition to speed up family plans. However, McGrath notes, “The significance of the effect linking paternal age and child cognition is small compared to many other socio-cultural factors—for example good prenatal nutrition, good nutrition for the offspring, good education, nurturing home life, excellent teaching and school opportunities”