Health & WellnessS


Hourglass

Genetic Test Could Pinpoint When Women Will Go Through the Menopause

Richard Alleyne
The Telegraph, UK
Sun, 17 Oct 2010 18:01 UTC
several, women
© AlamyThe test will eventually be able to predict within five years when women will go through menopause
Women could soon be able to take a genetic test in their twenties which will predict how long they can delay having children, a new study suggests.

Researchers have found a group of genes that are linked to when women go through the menopause and so the age when they will stop being fertile.

It is hoped the test, which will cost around £50, will be available within a decade and be eventually able to predict within five years when women will go through the change.

"The ultimate goal is one day be able to predict when someone is going through the menopause," said the study leader Dr Anna Murray from the University of Exeter Peninsula Medical School.

"It is estimated that a woman's ability to conceive decreases on average 10 years before she starts the menopause.
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Alarm Clock

Moisturising Creams "Can Thin Skin and Make Eczema Worse"

Jenny Hope
Daily Mail, UK
Tue, 19 Oct 2010 03:32 UTC
Image
© Press AssociationManda Tsang demonstrates the research process using a probe on the skin while Professor Richard Guy looks on. They found some ointments thin the skin
Using moisturising cream to treat eczema could actually make the condition worse, scientists claimed today.

Research from Bath University claims well-known high street branded creams can aid skin irritation.

Instead, sufferers of the painful skin condition should use oil-based treatments, the scientists said.

The university study found ointments such as aqueous cream BP reduces the thickness of healthy skin over a period of four weeks.

Originally used as a wash product, the cream is currently the most widely prescribed moisturiser for the treatment of dry skin conditions.

It is used to moisturise the skin, improving flexibility and preventing cracking in the protective outer layer, called the stratum corneum.

However, the cream contains a detergent, called sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), which can increase the permeability of the skin barrier and cause irritation.

The study found that when healthy volunteers applied the cream to their forearms daily for a period of four weeks, the thickness of the stratum corneum was reduced by more than 10 per cent.
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Alarm Clock

The Miracle Mineral Solution cure that could make you very sick

Andrew Penman
Mirror.co.uk
Thu, 14 Oct 2010 04:46 UTC
Image
© UnknownJim Humble
Meet Jim Humble, a "bishop" who reckons that he can cure the sick - by getting them to drink bleach.

For around £10 you can buy a bottle of Miracle Mineral Solution online. According to Humble's website, it has helped treat everything from malaria to cancer, HIV, baldness, Parkinson's disease, arthritis, tape worms and allergic reactions to cats.

There's just one snag, as the Food Standards Agency warns: "Miracle Mineral Solution is a 28% sodium chlorite solution which is equivalent to industrial-strength bleach."

The watchdog says it can cause severe nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea and if the solution is diluted less than instructed, it could cause damage to the gut and red blood cells, potentially resulting in respiratory failure.

That warning came about after a campaign by a remarkable 15-year-old from Cardiff.
Rhys Morgan suffers from Crohn's disease, which attacks the gut, and found the "miracle" cure being plugged on a Crohn's disease online forum.

It was, he says, "pseudo-scientific nonsense" and authorities in other countries including the USA were urging sufferers to throw it away.
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Alarm Clock

We put some of Jim Humble's claims about MMS to two of Wales' leading health experts

Clare Hutchinson
Walesonline.co.uk
Mon, 18 Oct 2010 04:39 UTC
CLAIM: MMS cures HIV. Jim Humble claims it cured "96- 97%" of a test group of 500 people with HIV in Malawi.

VERDICT: Hefin Davies of the Food Standards Agency: "We are not aware of any research that shows MMS is effective in treating HIV, or in fact in any other condition it is claimed to cure."

CLAIM: The claim that MMS cures HIV cannot be proved to be right or wrong because "you can't prove that a person has no HIV virus in their body".

VERDICT: Catherine Moore, a virologist at Public Health Wales: "This is not true because people with HIV can be and routinely are tested for the virus using molecular tests that show evidence of viral genes in the blood."

Comment: For more information concerning Jim Humble and MMS claims, see this Sott link:

The Debate between HealthWyze.org and Jim Humble about whether M.M.S. is a Fraud

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Alarm Clock

Bleachgate: How boy's campaign against Miracle Mineral Solution went worldwide

Clare Hutchinson
Walesonline.co.uk
Mon, 18 Oct 2010 04:27 UTC
When a Welsh schoolboy tweeted a warning about a so-called 'miracle drug' that was in fact industrial bleach, he had little idea his message would be taken worldwide. Clare Hutchinson reports

When schoolboy Rhys Morgan was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, a chronic condition that causes inflammation of the digestive tract, he turned to the one place he knew for help.

The 15-year-old computer obsessive switched on his laptop and began browsing the internet.

Like many others who are given such life-changing news, Rhys was desperate for answers and to find the right medication that might make his condition bearable.

That was when he found out about MMS, also known as Miracle Mineral Solution.

"I was on the Crohn's forum, which is a site for people with Crohn's to talk to each other, and saw mention of this substance MMS," said Rhys, as he sat on his sofa at home in Cyncoed, Cardiff, with his mum Dawn by his side.

"It was being discussed on the forum and someone was saying they had a sore throat since taking it. Someone else, who was often pushing it on the site, kept saying 'keep taking it, you will get better'.

"A few days later the original person came back and said 'look, I can hardly swallow my spit now, it is that sore' and, once again, the guy just said to take more.

"I was thinking 'this can't be right'."

Comment: For more information regarding MMS, see this Sott link:

FDA Warns Consumers of Serious Harm from Drinking Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS)

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Stop

Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation (VIDEO)


Fluoride Action Network
Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:06 UTC
This professionally-produced 28-minute documentary presents a powerful indictment of the fluoridation program and features a Nobel Laureate in medicine, three scientists from the National Research Council's landmark review on fluoride, practicing dentists, medical doctors, as well as leading researchers in the field. If fluoride is so roundly condemned, why is it added to water supplies the world over?


Comment: For further information on the dangers of fluoride, readers may want to read the following articles:

Poisoned Water

Fluorine Compounds Make you Stupid - Why is the Government not merely allowing, but promoting them?

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Health

Homes 'filled with toxins that make us sick'

Alys Francis
ninemsn
Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:49 UTC
Our homes and the products we fill them with are making us chronically sick, according to an Australian expert in natural medicine and building biology.

Household cleaning products, plastic food containers and baby bottles are causing a rise in maladies such as infertility, diabetes and obesity, says Nicole Bijlsma, founder of the Australian College of Environmental Studies.

Ms Bijlsma is calling for the offending products to be stripped from supermarket shelves - although this view puts her at odds with toxicology experts.

Ms Bijlsma warns our houses themselves are also to blame, with mould, toxic-laden dust and electro-magnetic fields also leading to chronic illnesses such as reoccurring colds and flues and even leukemia, she claims.

She said that in her 21 years working as a naturopath she has treated numerous patients suffering ailments such as the flu, insomnia and weight gain - and often found that the patient's house was the cause.
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Health

Bisphenol A (BPA) Declared Toxic by Canada


CBC News
Wed, 13 Oct 2010 05:56 UTC
BPA Cans
© Jim Young/ReutersBPA is found in food cans and some plastic containers.
Bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical used to make some hard plastic containers and toys, has formally been declared a toxic substance by Canadian authorities.

The federal government added BPA to Canada's toxic substances list on Wednesday.

"We are continuing our leadership on this issue and Canadians can rest assured that we are working hard to monitor and manage bisphenol A," Environment Minister Jim Prentice said in a statement.

BPA, also found in resins that coat the interior of food cans to prevent corrosion, has been shown to mimic the hormone estrogen and does not occur naturally in the environment.

In August, Statistics Canada reported that measurable levels of BPA were found in the urine of 91 per cent of Canadians aged six to 79.
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Family

Mutant gene discovery in Jews may stop brain damage

Judy Siegel-Itzkovich
The Jerusalem Post
Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:59 UTC
BGU research finds gene in Jews of Moroccan and Iraqi origin that may cause serious mental retardation, epilepsy beginning at infancy.

A mutant gene carried by one out of 40 Jews of Moroccan and Iraqi ancestries that - if found in both parents - may cause serious mental retardation and epilepsy beginning at infancy, has been discovered by a Ben- Gurion University of the Negev team.

As the disease is both severe and common, testing for these mutations will probably soon become a routine prenatal genetic screening test in these two populations so that future cases can be prevented, by carriers either not marrying each other or having children together, or by abortion or pre-genetic diagnosis to choose healthy embryos for in-vitro fertilization.
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Health

FDA warns of fractures with osteoporosis drugs

Matthew Perone
Associated Press
Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:32 UTC
Government health officials warned doctors and patients Wednesday about an increased risk of thigh fractures with a widely used group of bone-strengthening drugs.

The Food and Drug Administration said patients taking bisphosphonate drugs such as Fosamax and Boniva appear more likely to suffer a rare type of fracture of the femur. The fractures occurred just below the hip joint and make up less than 1 percent of all femur fractures.

"We know from clinical trials that these drugs do prevent the common osteoporosis fractures," said Dr. Sandra Kweder, FDA's deputy director for new drugs. "The fractures we're talking about today are very unusual and rare."

In more than half the cases reported to the FDA, patients experienced pain or aching of the groin before the fracture.

It's unclear whether the drugs directly trigger the problem, but the FDA said it is updating the drugs' labels about the potential risk. Drugmakers will also be required to distribute pamphlets about the risks to patients.

Bisphosphonates work by slowing the loss of bone cells that lead to osteoporosis. Prescription drugs in that class include Merck & Co.'s Fosamax and Roche's Boniva, as well as Warner Chilcott's Actonel and Atelvia and Novartis' Reclast.
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