Health & WellnessS


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Broccoli May Help Protect Against Respiratory Conditions Like Asthma

Rachel Champeau
Medical News Today
Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:00 UTC
Here's another reason to eat your broccoli: UCLA researchers report that a naturally occurring compound found in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables may help protect against respiratory inflammation that causes conditions like asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Published in the March edition of the journal Clinical Immunology, the research shows that sulforaphane, a chemical in broccoli, triggers an increase of antioxidant enzymes in the human airway that offers protection against the onslaught of free radicals that we breathe in every day in polluted air, pollen, diesel exhaust and tobacco smoke. A supercharged form of oxygen, free radicals can cause oxidative tissue damage, which leads to inflammation and respiratory conditions like asthma.

"This is one of the first studies showing that broccoli sprouts - a readily available food source - offered potent biologic effects in stimulating an antioxidant response in humans," said Dr. Marc Riedl, the study's principal investigator and an assistant professor of clinical immunology and allergy at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
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Family

Having Parents with Bipolar Disorder Associated with Increased Risk of Psychiatric Disorders


Medical News Today
Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:00 UTC
Children and teens of parents with bipolar disorder appear to have an increased risk of early-onset bipolar disorder, mood disorders and anxiety disorders, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

As many as 60 percent of patients with bipolar disorder experience symptoms before age 21, according to background information in the article. Identifying the condition early may improve long-term outcomes, potentially preventing high psychosocial and medical costs. Having family members with bipolar disorder is the best predictor of whether an individual will go on to develop the condition, the authors note. "Therefore, carefully evaluating and prospectively following the psychopathology of offspring of parents with bipolar disorder and comparing them with offspring of parents with and without non-bipolar disorder psychopathology, are critical for identifying the early clinical presentation of bipolar disorder," they write.
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Heart

Let's not look upon the demise of our financial base as a bad thing

nil illegitimi carborundum
twasmeanttobe.blogspot.com
Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:07 UTC
One week on, and we are now beginning to hear predictions of even less growth, and the likely length of the depression increasing.

It's a little unfortunate that the only people who can get a word into the newspapers or onto the television, are in fact prime candidates for being helped by the men in white coats.

All they succeed in doing is causing confusion amongst those of us who are in the process of evolving into a more sensible human being.

The old "modern" paradigm has lived its life - bring on the new paradigm.
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Two Distinct Molecular Pathways Can Make Regulatory Immune Cells


PhysOrg
Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:00 UTC
Finding a way to bypass the molecular events involved in autoimmunity - where the body's immune system mounts a self-directed attack - could lead to new treatments for autoimmune disorders and chronic infections. A study published in this week's issue of PLoS Biology describes genetic evidence that two distinct molecular pathways control the formation of regulatory T cells (Treg), a cell type vitally important in limiting undesirable immune responses.

Treg cells are like the peace-keepers of the immune defence system - they limit the actions of effector T cells, the foot-soldiers of the body. If the body lacks sufficient numbers of Treg cells, it loses the ability to tone down immune responses once invading pathogens are cleared. In addition, the body is unable to suppress T cell responses that recognize and target the body itself. The latter can lead to autoimmunity, which can destroy vital tissues and organs.

Under normal healthy conditions, the majority of Treg cells are derived from an organ called the thymus. New work from researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and The Scripps Research Institute in California, shows that if a gene called Carma1 isn't expressed normally, Treg development is impaired in the thymus. Mutations in Carma1 can result in a failure of the thymus to produce Treg cells, said senior investigator Kasper Hoebe, Ph.D., a researcher at Cincinnati.
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Alarm Clock

Can sleep deprivation be the cause of mental illness?

Fiona Macdonald-Smith
The Telegraph
Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:53 UTC
Insomnia
© Getty
New research from scientists suggests that sleep deprivation can actually drive you mad.

"The first thing I knew about it was from the woman downstairs, who was banging on the door of our flat and asking about the water pouring through her ceiling. I went into the bathroom, and saw that the bath was overflowing. I'd forgotten to turn it off, and, even worse, had no recollection of ever running it," says Louise, a copywriter and mother of two, who has been an insomniac since the age of seven.

You would normally put Louise's erratic behaviour down to a case of extreme forgetfullness due to lack of sleep, rather than a sign of mental illness, but a recent article in the New Scientist now raises the possibility that insomnia could actually cause mental illness.
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Hourglass

Memories of historic events stonger than personal moments


The Telegraph
Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:05 UTC
Apollo 11
© Associated Press
Britons remember key events in recent history with greater clarity than certain significant moments in their own personal lives, research suggests.

A larger proportion of adults were able to recall in vivid detail the news of the 9/11 terror attacks than could describe the birth of their first child, the study found.

A survey commissioned to mark the launch of UKTV's new history channel Yesterday asked 300 people to recall exact details of 32 personal and historical memories, ranging from their first kiss to the death of Princess Diana.

The results suggested shocking events of national or international importance could overshadow memories of personal events.

News of the World Trade Centre attacks topped the list of historic memories ingrained in the mind, with 82% of respondents recalling the events in detail, compared with just 65 per cent who could picture the birth of their first newborn to the same level.

Comment: No doubt the Powers That Be are using their manipulated stories of events through the media to truly shape our perception of reality.

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People

US: Washington To Allow Assisted Suicide For Terminally Ill Patients


ChattahBox
Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:28 UTC
In a new controversial law, Washington is set to become the first US state to elect the 'dignity death' clause, where patients with less then six months to live can request lethal doses of medication from doctors.

While the law, which is set to take effect this Thursday, will allow doctors to give patents lethal medical doses to end their life, they are not required to participate. Because of the sensitive nature of the issue, pharmacists and doctors can refuse such methods, which constitute as assisted suicide.

But Dr. Tom Preston, who is a part of the Compassion and Choices group that lobbied for the law, says that over time more doctors may find themselves more comfortable with the notion.
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Padlock

Flashback Psychopathic criminals are more likely to be released from prison than non-psychopaths


BBC
Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:40 UTC
Psychopathic criminals are more likely to be released from prison than non-psychopaths, even though they are more likely to re-offend, a study suggests.

The Canadian research says psychopaths can charm and deceive prison staff and parole boards.

Psychopathy, a severe form of personality disorder, is characterised by superficial charm, pathological lying and a lack of remorse.

UK expert said psychologists were now on psychopaths' parole boards.
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People

US: Cash-strapped women sell their eggs


Reuters
Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:38 UTC
Drawn by payments of up to $10 000 (about R103 000) an increasing number of women are offering to sell their eggs at US fertility clinics as a way to make money amid the financial crisis.

Nicole Hodges, a 23-year-old actress in New York City who has been out of work since November, says she has decided to sell her eggs because she desperately needs cash.

"I'm still paying off college. I have credit card bills and, you know, rent in New York is so expensive," Hodges, who has been accepted as donor and is waiting to be chosen by a couple, told Reuters Television.
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Alarm Clock

A "Conspiracy of Silence" in Texas

Erica C Barnett
Shakesville
Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:45 UTC
A new study of sex education in Texas (via RHReality Check) by the Texas Freedom Network reveals just what our federal abstinence-only dollars have been paying for. Texas spends far more on abstinence-only programs, $18 million in 2007, than any other state.

What those dollars have produced, according to TFN's study, is "generations of sexually illiterate young people" fed "grossly distorted or simply wrong" information "at a time of high rates of teen pregnancy and STDs." (And teen sex, period: According to the TFN's report, kids in Texas are having more sex--and more unsafe sex--than kids in the US as a whole.)
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