Health & WellnessS

Bizarro Earth

India two-faced baby's family refuses special care



two faced indian baby
©Reuters
A girl born with two faces rests in her relative's lap at Saini village

The family of an Indian baby born with two faces has refused special medical treatment for the infant, saying she is the incarnation of a Hindu goddess.

Bulb

Getting forgetful? Then blueberries may hold the key

If you are getting forgetful as you get older, then a research team from the University of Reading and the Peninsula Medical School in the Southwest of England may have good news for you.

If you are getting forgetful as you get older, then a research team from the University of Reading and the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England may have good news for you.

They have found that phytochemical-rich foods, such as blueberries, are effective at reversing age-related deficits in memory, according to a study soon to be published in the science journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine. The researchers working at the Schools of Food Biosciences and Psychology in Reading and the Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter supplemented a regular diet with blueberries over a 12-week period, and found that improvements in spatial working memory tasks emerged within three weeks and continued throughout the period of the study.

Wine

Wine may protect against dementia

There may be constituents in wine that protect against dementia. This is shown in research from the Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

The findings are based on 1,458 women who were included in the so-called Population Study of Women from 1968. When they were examined by physicians they were asked to report how often they drank wine, beer, and liquor by selecting from seven categories on a scale from 'never' to 'daily.' The researchers know nothing about how much they drank on each occasion, or how correct the estimates were. For each beverage the women reported having drunk more than once a month, they were classified as a consumer of that particular beverage.

Thirty-four years after the first study, 162 women had been diagnosed with dementia. The results show that among those women who reported that they drank wine a considerably lower proportion suffered from dementia, whereas this correlation was not found among those who had reported that they regularly drank beer or liquor.

Sherlock

Impairments in Language Development Can Be Detected in Infants as Young as Three Months

Uncover how the brains of infants distinguish differences in sounds and it may become possible to correct language problems even before children start to speak, sparing them the difficulties that come from struggling with language.

New studies conducted by Professor of Neuroscience April Benasich and her Infancy Studies Laboratory at Rutgers University in Newark are revealing new and exciting clues about how infant brains begin to acquire language and paving the way for correcting language difficulties at a time when the brain is most able to change.

Benasich and her lab were the first to determine that how efficiently a baby processes differences between rapidly occurring sounds is the best predictor of future language problems. Using methods developed by Benasich and her lab, it can be determined as early as three to six months whether a baby will struggle with language development.

Magnify

Virginia health officials investigate brain disorder

Richmond, Va. - State health officials are investigating a possible case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare brain disorder.

Magic Wand

Cleaning 'improves mental health'

Working up a sweat while performing household chores may not just improve the cleanliness of your home, but your mental health too, a survey suggests. Just 20 minutes of sustained exercise a week - from cleaning to jogging - can impact upon depression, the British Journal of Sports Medicine study found.

Smiley

Europe-wide food colour ban call

A food safety watchdog has called for a Europe-wide ban on six artificial food colourings after research found a link with hyperactivity in children. A total ban on the use of the colours would have to be agreed by the EU.

So the Foods Standard Agency wants UK ministers to push for voluntary removal of the colours by next year. In September 2007, a UK study reported children behaved impulsively and lost concentration after consuming a drink containing additives.

X

Aspartame Can Mess Up Your Body and Brain

The artificial sweetener aspartame is a food ingredient that is perhaps the most controversial of all: Its manufacturers and official bodies claim it's safe, but a stack of anecdotal evidence and a fair degree of science says it's not.

equal
©Louise Valentine/The Epoch Times
Equal is one brand of aspartame

Comment: Read also: Does Aspartame Cause Human Brain Cancer? (Hint: Yes!)


Question

4 get cancer from teen's donated organs

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - Alex Koehne had a love for life, and always wanted to help people.

So when his parents were told that their 15-year-old son was dying of bacterial meningitis, the couple didn't hesitate in donating his organs to desperately ill transplant recipients.

Health

Video: How You Have Been Fooled By Good and Bad Cholesterol

Dr. Ron Rosedale talks about common cholesterol myths, and exposes the deceptions and misconceptions that most people have been told.