Health & WellnessS


Attention

CDC: Death Count 82 for 'Choking Game'

Atlanta, Georgia - At least 82 youths have died from the so-called "choking game," according to the first government count of fatalities from the tragic fad.

In the game, children use dog leashes or bungee cords wrapped around their necks or other means to temporarily cut blood flow to their head. The goal is a dreamlike, floating-in-space feeling when blood rushes back into the brain.

Monkey Wrench

CDC: Gulf Coast Trailers Have Toxic Air

Atlanta, Georgia - U.S. health officials are urging that Gulf Coast hurricane victims be moved out of their government-issued trailers as quickly as possible after tests found toxic levels of formaldehyde fumes.


People

Hierarchy Games: When people feel powerful, they ignore new opinions, study finds

Don't bother trying to persuade your boss of a new idea while he's feeling the power of his position - new research suggests he's not listening to you.

"Powerful people have confidence in what they are thinking. Whether their thoughts are positive or negative toward an idea, that position is going to be hard to change," said Richard Petty, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at Ohio State University.

Bulb

Pepper may help disfiguring skin condition: study

Black pepper could lead to better treatments for a disfiguring skin condition that affects about 1 percent of the world's population, British researchers said on Thursday.

A team at King's College London showed in a study of mice that piperine -- the compound that gives black pepper its spicy, pungent flavor -- and its synthetic derivatives helped stimulate pigmentation in the skin of people with vitiligo.

Question

US: Military Eyeing Mysterious Deaths

The Army's top doctor, noting the drug overdose death of actor Heath Ledger, said Thursday the military is investigating a series of suspected similar deaths among wounded and injured soldiers.

Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker, the Army's surgeon general, said there has been "a series, a sequence of deaths" in the new, so-called "warrior transition units." Those are special units set up last year to give sick, injured and war-wounded troops coordinated medical care, financial advice, legal help and other services as they transition toward either a return to uniform or back into civilian life.

Question

Report: Troops Transmitted Mysterious Bacteria That Has Killed 7 And Affected Military And Civilians Alike

Troops arriving home from Iraq and Afghanistan have been carrying a mysterious, deadly bacteria, according to a new magazine report.

Doctors have linked the bacterium acinetobacter baumannii to at least seven deaths, as well as to loss of limbs and other severe ailments, according to the report, which found the bacterium has spread quickly since the war in Afghanistan began in the fall of 2001.


Coffee

The Origin of Sex: Cosmic Solution to Ancient Mystery

Comets and asteroids have been blamed for a lot of things before. Shaping Earth. Jumpstarting life. Wiping out dinosaurs. Even possibly altering human evolution.

But never sex.

Roughly 1 billion years after the first organisms romped in the hay, the origin of sex remains one of biology's greatest mysteries. Scientists can't say exactly why we do it, or what triggered those initial terrestrial flirtations. Before sex, life seemed to manage fine by employing asexual reproduction -- the cloning of offspring without the help of a partner.

Magnify

Government Suppresses Major Public Health Report

The public has been denied important information on the link between pollution and health problems including lung, colon and breast cancer.

The Center for Public Integrity, a public interest investigative journalism organization, has obtained copies of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study of environmental and health data in eight Great Lakes states that was scheduled for publication in July 2007. The report, which pointed to elevated rates of lung, colon, and breast cancer; low birth weight; and infant mortality in several of the geographical areas of concern has not yet been made public.


Comment: While suppression of the link between pollution and lung cancer has taken place, there has been an undeclared war on smoking, which has been accused of causing all kinds of ills, not least lung cancer.

See this article for the real story about smoking and why it is being outlawed.


Comment:
If you have injury, that implies liability. Liability, of course, implies damages, legal processes, and costs of remedial action. The governments, frankly, in both countries are so heavily aligned with, particularly, the chemical industry, that the word amongst the bureaucracies is that they really do not want any evidence of effect or injury to be allowed out there."
Right there you have the reason why smoking has been blamed. They have put the responsibility on the smokers for the failing health of the population, rather than where it belongs, namely governments and the corporate chemical industry.


Einstein

Study: Your Brain Works Like the Internet

Your brain functions a lot like the Internet or a network of friends, scientists said Tuesday.

Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the activity in peoples' brains and how different regions connect. They conclude the human brain can be visualized as a complex interacting network that relies on nodes to efficiently convey information from place to place.

Heart

Love More Powerful than Sex, Study Claims

Sex and romance may seem inextricably linked, but the human brain clearly distinguishes between the two, according to a new study. The upshot: Love is the more powerful emotion.

The results of brain scans speak to longstanding questions of whether the pursuit of love and sex are different emotional endeavors or whether romance is just warmed over sexual arousal.