Health & WellnessS


Attention

Most Virulent Strain of E.coli Ever Seen Contains DNA Sequences from Plague Bacteria

Veronika Hackenbroch, Samiha Shafy & Frank Thadeusz
Der Spiegel
Tue, 31 May 2011 00:00 UTC
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© dapdHelge Karch, the director of the Robert Koch Institute's EHEC consulting laboratory at the Münster University Hospital in western Germany, has been analysing the genetic makeup of the bacteria in the hope of finding clues.
Germany's E. coli epidemic, which has killed as many as 15 people so far, has alarmed doctors, who have never seen such an aggressive intestinal bacteria before. Epidemiologists are desperately searching for the origin of the deadly bacteria.

The eeriest thing of all, according to Rolf Stahl, is the way patients change. "Their awareness becomes blurred, they have problems finding words and they don't quite know where they are," says Stahl. And then there is this surprising aggressiveness. "We are dealing with a completely new clinical picture," he notes.

Stahl, a 62-year-old kidney specialist, has been the head of the Third Medical Clinic and Polyclinic at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) for almost 18 years. "But none of us doctors has ever experienced anything quite like this," he says. His staff has been working around the clock for the last week or so. "We decide at short notice who can go and get some sleep."

The bacterium that is currently terrifying the country is an enterohemorrhagic strain of the bacterium Escherichia coli (EHEC), a close relative of harmless intestinal bacteria, but one that produces the dangerous Shiga toxin. All it takes is about 100 bacteria -- which isn't much in the world of bacteria, which are normally counted by the millions -- to become infected. After an incubation period of two to 10 days, patients experience watery or bloody diarrhea.

Comment: What if all this focus on cucumbers and vegetables is a distraction from something far worse?

New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection

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Cheeseburger

No More Food Pyramid: Nutritional Icon Is Now a Plate

Kim Carollo
ABC News
Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
Food plate icon
The food pyramid that represented a healthy diet for almost 20 years now gives way to a food plate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today.

First lady Michelle Obama, Surgeon General Regina Benjamin and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack unveiled the new icon. It's called MyPlate, and it has four colored sections representing fruits, vegetables, grains and proteins. Next to the plate is a smaller circle representing dairy products.

"MyPlate is a truly simple, powerful visual cue to help people adopt healthy eating habits at meal times," said Vilsack.

On MyPlate's website, the USDA emphasizes several important nutrition messages: eat smaller portions, make at least half the plate fruits and vegetables and avoid sugary drinks.

Nutrition experts believe a plate is a good choice.

"It answers the simple question, 'What should my plate look like at any given meal?'" said Baltimore nutritionist Monica Reinagel.
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Ambulance

Killer Germ: First Outbreak of "Rare" Microbe - Speculation that Cucumbers from Spain Were the Culprit Has Been Discarded


Univision.com
Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:11 UTC
The strain of a lethal bacteria that has killed 18 people in Europe is "very rare" and had never been seen in an outbreak form before, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday.

"This strain isolated from cases in the infection outbreak in Germany has never been seen in an outbreak before," Gregory Hartl, the WHO spokesman, said.

"It has been seen in sporadic cases and is very rare," he added.

The European Union's watchdog for disease prevention said Thursday that lab tests had identified the strain of a lethal E. coli germ that had caused an amplifying food scare.

In a statement, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said the "causative agent" was a member of a group of bacterial strains called Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, or STEC.

Eighteen people have been killed in Europe -- 17 of them in Germany and one in Sweden -- and more than 2,000 have fallen sick from the bug since Germany first sounded the alarm on May 22, according to a toll compiled by AFP on Thursday from national health authorities.
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Ambulance

E coli Outbreak: WHO Says Bacterium is a New Strain

Maev Kennedy
The Guardian, UK
Thu, 02 Jun 2011 06:12 UTC
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World Health Organisation says fatal E coli is a mutant blend of two different varieties and has never been seen before

A new and more virulent strain of the E coli bacterium caused the outbreak that has killed 17 people and left more than 1,500 ill across Europe, the World Health Organisation has announced.

Hilde Kruse, a food safety expert at the WHO, told the Associated Press it was "a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before ... [its characteristics] make it more virulent and toxin-producing".

According to the Health Protection Agency three British nationals have been infected as well as four Germans in the UK. All are believed to have caught it in Germany. Three are believed to have developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome, a rare and severe kidney complication that destroys red blood cells and can affect the central nervous system.

The HPA has said it is working with the Food Standards Agency and there is no evidence of suspect produce being distributed in the UK.
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No Entry

Russia bans European vegetables over infection risk


Russia Today
Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:00 UTC

As German doctors are looking for the source of the deadly bacterial intestinal disease, Russia has decided to ban the import of all fresh vegetables from Europe.

The temporary ban imposed Thursday enhances the previous regulation, which only covered cucumbers imported from Spain and Germany. Cucumbers were believed to be behind the pathogenic strain of E. Coli, but the assumption was later proved wrong.

The ban will be in force for as long as is necessary to protect Russian residents from the poisoning risk, Russia's sanitary regulator said. The initial import restriction was imposed on Monday.

The European Commission deems the ban of all vegetables "disproportionate" and is to send an official request to clarify the situation to the Russian watchdog in a matter of days, said a spokesman for the EU Commissioner for public health, John Dalli.
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Beaker

The Dirty Truth About High Fructose Corn Syrup...


Natural Health Sherpa
Wed, 01 Jun 2011 23:42 UTC
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© highfructosecornsyrup.org
Editor's Note: Today's article is a guest post from Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, also known as The Rogue Nutritionist, a nationally known expert on weight loss and nutrition.

I am in awe of the recent TV commercials where two mothers are talking and one questions the other about serving some sweetened fruit punch to her kids. The first mother says, "That stuff's got high fructose corn syrup in it, and you know what they say about that."

To which the second mother replies, "What? That it's natural and made from corn? And that in moderation, it's perfectly fine?"

Clever commercial. And utterly misleading.

Comment: For a more in depth look at how misleading High Fructose Corn Syrup advertisements can be read the following articles explaining why renaming this toxic substance 'Corn Sugar' is downright deceptive:

How Sweet It Isn't! Cutting Through the Hype and Deception of High Fructose Corn Syrup
More Hype: Corn Syrup Producers Want Sweeter Name: Corn Sugar
Corn Syrup May Get a New Name...Nice Try
Don't Sugar-Coat High-Fructose Corn Syrup
The High Fructose Corn Syrup Monopoly is Finally Cracking

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Attention

Just what the doctor ordered: Pill could erase painful memories

Linda Carroll
MSNBC
Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:42 UTC
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© Unknown
What if you could take a pill and erase painful memories? Most of us would probably choose not to lose parts of our past, but for those with post-traumatic stress disorder, such a pill might bring welcome relief.

In a study that sounds very much like a scene from the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, researchers have shown that the right medication might actually help rub out wrenching remembrances.

For the new study, researchers rounded up 33 university students and asked them to watch a video presentation that told the story of a little girl who has a horrible accident while visiting with her grandparents. While the girl and her grandfather are constructing a birdhouse, one of the little girl's hands gets caught in a saw. One of the pictures shown to the study volunteers is of her mangled hand.

Though the girl's hand is eventually saved at the hospital and the story ends fine, the presentation is tough to sit through and tends to cause viewers emotional distress, explains the study's lead author Marie-France Marin, a doctoral student at The Center for Studies on Human Stress at the University of Montreal. "It's not fun to watch," she says. "It induces a lot of emotion."
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Attention

Genetically Engineered Food Alters Our Digestive Systems!


Alliance for Natural Health
Tue, 31 May 2011 13:22 UTC
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© Alliance for Natural Health
Genetically Engineered organisms actually become part of the bacteria in our digestive tracts and reproduce continuously inside us. But the USDA now wants to to remove all controls from GE corn and cotton!

There are no human clinical trials of genetically engineered foods. The only published human feeding experiment revealed that genetic material inserted into GE soy transfers into the DNA of bacteria living inside our intestines and continues to function. Even after we stop eating GE foods, we may still have the GE proteins produced continuously inside us.

As the Institute for Responsible Technology has noted, the genetic engineering process creates massive collateral damage, causing mutations in hundreds or thousands of locations throughout the plant's DNA. Natural genes can be deleted or permanently turned on or off, and hundreds may change their behavior. Even the inserted gene can be damaged or rearranged, and may create proteins that can trigger allergies or promote disease.
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Heart

Courageous British Mum Says Smoking During Her Pregnancy Helped Make Her Baby Stronger


Yahoo! News
Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
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© Bancroft Media
A young mother who smoked 15 - 20 cigarettes a day during pregnancy claimed it helped to make her baby stronger.

Charlie Wilcox, 20, from Rainham, Kent, was warned that smoking while pregnant restricted the amount of oxygen available to her unborn baby. However, she believed that this would make her unborn baby's heart work harder.

Appearing on BBC3's Misbehaving Mums To Be, she said: It's making the baby use its heart on its own in the first place, so that when it comes out, its going to be able to do those things by itself.

"Where's the proof that it's so bad to smoke?

When pregnant, tests showed that the levels of carbon monoxide in Ms Wilcox's blood were six times higher than those considered safe.

Comment: Notice how the article is loaded with statements of fact. But like Charlie, we find ourselves asking, where's the proof?

Lies, Damned Lies & 400,000 Smoking-related Deaths: Cooking the Data in the Fascists' Anti-Smoking Crusade

Smoking Helps Protect Against Lung Cancer

Health Benefits of Smoking Tobacco

Nicotine and Autism: Another study demonstrates nicotine's neurological benefits

Warning: Nicotine Seriously Improves Health

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Cell Phone

WHO Warns of Possible Link Between Cell Phone Use, Brain Cancer Risk

Bob Brown
CIO
Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:00 UTC
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© UnknownExtra! Extra! WHO finally figures out what has been known since the 80's!
The World Health Organization (WHO) has determined that radiation from cell phones can possibly increase brain cancer risk - a change in thinking for an organization that previously has denied evidence of any such link.

The decision is based on the judgment of a group of 31 scientists from 14 countries including the United States who reviewed a collection of the latest research while in France earlier this month.

The decision is sobering considering there are some 5 billion cell phones in use now.

"The WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified radio-frequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans... based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer1, associated with wireless phone use," WHO reports.

WHO recommends that users limit their exposure to such radiation if possible, though also said more research is needed to verify an absolute link between cell phone use and cancer (the scientists also studied occupation exposure to radar and microwaves as well as environmental exposure to radio, TV and wireless communications signals.

Comment: What if the title were: "WHO says there IS a Link Between Cell Phone Use and Brain Cancer" without all the Possible, sort of, maybe, kind of, risky or could be?

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