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Australian researchers on Wednesday said they have found a simple way to detect the early signs of cognitive decline.

Australian National University (ANU) scientists used a computer- based test which could accurately predict who, during middle-age, already had warning signs for dementia.

"Although we cannot be certain that these middle-aged people will go on to get dementia, the results are important for several reasons," Professor David Bunce from the ANU's Center for Mental Health Research told ABC Science on Wednesday.

"First, the study is one of the first to show that lesions in areas of the brain that deteriorate in dementia are present in some adults aged in their 40s.

"Second, although the presence of the lesions was confirmed through Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, we were able to predict those persons who had them through very simple-to- administer tests."

The research took in almost 430 men and women, aged 44 to 48 and many based in the Canberra area of Australia, and less than 10 percent were found to have the lesions.

Prof. Bunce said the research was in "early days" and the work would need to be replicated, but the research suggested a simple way to highlight those at higher lifetime risk of developing dementia.

It was very low cost and could be performed during a standard doctor's check-up.

The research is published in the journal PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science-ONE).

With a diverse landscape and a martial arts tradition rooted in tai chi, Niumulin has everything to calm the mind and soul. Wei Tian and Hu Meidong report

Niumulin offers a quiet getaway with its pristine, primitive forests, just an hour's drive from Yongchun county, East China's Fujian province. The forest is not only a refuge from the hustle and bustle of urban life, with barely touched subtropical bio-diversity; but also allows exploration of a well-preserved local culture, whose high point is Wing Chun kungfu.

Niumulin has a diverse landscape ranging from subtropical rainforest to broad leaf forest. But the most impressive sight is still provided by the plant that has become a symbol of China - bamboo groves.

The classic fight scene in the bamboo forest in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon captures the look of Niumulin in all its glory.

The only difference being, instead of kungfu masters flying through the bamboo reeds, you have monkeys - hundreds of them.

Walking along a stone lined path, snaking its way in the shadows of Niumulin, you can see warning signs everywhere. One of them reads: "Do not tease the monkeys, they are not interested in flirting, they only believe in the law of the jungle."

But of the group of monkeys we encountered, only one jumped down and grabbed the cookie in my hand, the others simply ignored us.
"The monkeys here are much more polite and civilized than those I have encountered in Emei Mountain in Sichuan province," our guide said.

Niumulin is one of the few relatively undisturbed tourist destinations of China.

As a national scenic spot, Yongchun county forest has had a logging ban since 1958, and is one of Fujian's best virgin forests, on a par with the better-known Xishuangbanna of Yunnan province.

Locals believe the name Yongchun, which means "everlasting spring", has blessed them with prosperity and longevity. But they also know the place would not be what it is today had local officials not chosen a development road less traveled.

"Unlike some of our neighboring counties that have pursued industrial development, we have focused on protecting our natural resources and cultural legacy," says local official Xu Chunhui.

Eco-tourism is expected to become a pillar industry of the county, employing half-a-million people, according to Xu.

"Being a tour guide may not make as much as working in mining or manufacturing, but at least we do not have to worry about accidents and poisoning, with the added advantage of getting a good mountain-climbing workout every day," our guide said.

Yongchun is also the cradle of Wing Chun kungfu.

It is said this kungfu genre, made famous by the hit movie Ip Man, originated in a local kungfu skill known as the White Crane style.

Like many other Chinese martial arts, White Crane emphasizes tai chi, a Chinese exercise system that uses slow, smooth body movements to relax the mind and body, and requires a peaceful environment. The forests surrounding the county offer a natural arena for this martial arts.

South Shaolin Temple, in Quanzhou city, is just a two-hour drive from Niumulin, and is as famous as its Northern counterpart in Henan province, only smaller and less commercialized. But the kungfu here is no less dazzling, and includes some long forgotten skills such as "walking on water".

Yongchun's melodious Nanyin music is another major draw. The songs sung in the southern Fujian dialect, go back more than 1,000 years and in 2009, were included in UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.

Young men who are obese may have a lower sperm count than their normal-weight counterparts, a new study suggests.

The findings, reported in the journal Fertility and Sterility, add to evidence tying obesity to relatively poorer quality sperm.

A number of recent studies have found that compared with leaner men, obese men tend to have lower sperm counts, fewer rapidly mobile sperm and fewer progressively motile sperm, which refers to sperm that swim forward in a straight line rather than moving about aimlessly.

But age is a "confounding" factor in examining the relationship between obesity and sperm quality. Older men tend to have lower sperm quality than younger men, and they also tend to have more body fat.

However, among the more than 2,000 men in the current study, obese men between the ages of 20 and 30 generally had a lower sperm count than normal-weight men in the same age group.

What all of this might mean for an obese younger man's chances of becoming a father is unclear. Studies have so far come to conflicting conclusions as to whether obesity actually impairs a man's fertility.

And these latest findings do not reveal whether the difference in sperm count between obese and normal-weight men would be enough to also make a difference in their fertility, according to lead researcher Dr. Uwe Paasch, of the University of Leipzig in Germany.

For their study, Paasch and his colleagues used information from a database on men who had come to their fertility clinic for a semen analysis between 1999 and 2005. The 2,157 men included in the study were 30 years old, on average, and had no known infertility problems.

Overall, obese men had a relatively lower average sperm count than normal-weight men, but were still within what's considered the normal range. That range is between 20 and 150 million per milliliter of semen, according to the National Institutes of Health.

In an email, Paasch told Reuters Health that "we do not know in detail" whether the difference in sperm count between obese and lean men would affect their fertility. But, he added that the relationship between weight and sperm count offers young men another reason to try to maintain a normal weight.

It is not entirely clear why obesity is related to sperm quality. Some studies have found that obese men tend to have altered levels of testosterone and other reproductive hormones compared with thinner men. In this study, though, hormone levels correlated with age, but not with body weight.

In other research, Paasch noted, he and his colleagues have found that high levels of body fat are associated with changes in the collection of proteins that allow sperm to survive and function.

The current study had a number of limitations, including the fact that the men were patients at a fertility clinic rather than a sample from the general population.

The researchers also point out that weight categories were based on body mass index, or BMI, a measure of weight in relation to height. The problem is that BMI does not precisely reflect a person's level of body fat.

Other studies have suggested that body fat, and abdominal fat in particular, is more closely related to sex-hormone levels than is BMI.