Health & WellnessS


Health

Reactor shutdowns cause global shortage of isotopes for medical scans

Jeremy Laurance
The Independent
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:28 UTC
A global shortage of radioactive imaging agents vital to the diagnosis of cancer and other diseases threatens to delay treatment for hundreds of patients in Britain.

Specialists warned yesterday that UK hospitals are receiving less than half the expected supplies of medical isotopes used in heart and bone scans and some cancer detection procedures, and the situation is expected to worsen over the coming weeks. The isotopes are used in more than 80 per cent of routine nuclear imaging tests used to diagnose disease. Professor Alan Perkins, honorary secretary of the British Nuclear Medicine Society, said: "The expected number of people who will be affected is quite difficult to determine ... but we are certainly talking about hundreds. The procedures include cardiac blood-flow imaging, bone scanning for secondary tumours, lymph-node detection in breast cancer cases and renal function monitoring, which is commonly done in children.
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Ambulance

Tanzania: Mysterious disease kills six in Mbinga


Daily News
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:19 UTC
Six pupils of Makatane Primary School at Mbangamama Ward, Mbinga District in Ruvuma Region, died on Tuesday of a mysterious disease.

Reports from Mbinga said that about 20 pupils and some adults have been hospitalized at Mbinga District Hospital, after falling sick.
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Health

Flashback Brain Mechanism Can Turn Off Trauma of Bad Memories


US News and World Report
Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:50 UTC
The brain mechanism that turns off traumatic feelings associated with bad memories has been identified by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, who said their finding may lead to the development of new drugs to treat panic disorders.

When a person suffers a traumatic experience, environmental cues often become associated with the bad experience. Subsequent exposure to the same cues can cause fear or even panic attacks, according to study author Rainer Reinscheid, an associate professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences.

The UCI team, along with colleagues from the University of Muenster in Germany, found that a protein called neuropeptide S (NPS) eliminates traumatic responses to bad memories by working on a group of neurons inside the amygdala, the brain region where negative memories are stored.
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Info

How Salmonella Bacteria Contaminate Salad Leaves


Science Daily
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:18 UTC
How Salmonella bacteria can cause food poisoning by attaching to salad leaves is revealed in new research presented September 3 at the 21st International ICFMH Symposium 'Food Micro 2008' conference in Aberdeen.

The new study shows how some Salmonella bacteria use the long stringy appendages they normally use to help them 'swim' and move about to attach themselves to salad leaves and other vegetables, causing contamination and a health risk.

Image
©iStockphoto/Angel Rodriguez
Professor Frankel believes that as people eat more salads in an effort to be healthy, cases of Salmonella from salad leaves will increase.

Food poisoning from Salmonella and E. coli is commonly associated with eating contaminated bovine or chicken products, as the pathogens live in the guts of cows and the guts and egg-ducts of chickens, and contamination of meat can occur during the slaughtering process.

However, some recent outbreaks of food poisoning have been associated with contaminated salad or vegetable products, and more specifically, pre-bagged salads. For example, in 2007 a Salmonella outbreak in the UK was traced back to imported basil, and an E. coli outbreak in the USA in 2006 was traced to contaminated pre-packed baby spinach.
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Health

Toxic Plastics: Bisphenol A Linked To Metabolic Syndrome In Human Tissue


Science Daily
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:05 UTC
New research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) implicates the primary chemical used to produce hard plastics - bisphenol A (BPA) - as a risk factor for metabolic syndrome and its consequences.

Image
©University of Cincinnati
Polycarbonate plastic bottles like these contain bisphenol A.

In a laboratory study, using fresh human fat tissues, the UC team found that BPA suppresses a key hormone, adiponectin, which is responsible for regulating insulin sensitivity in the body and puts people at a substantially higher risk for metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a combination of risk factors that include lower responsiveness to insulin and higher blood levels of sugar and lipids. According to the American Heart Association, about 25 percent of Americans have metabolic syndrome. Left untreated, the disorder can lead to life-threatening health problems such as coronary artery disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

Nira Ben-Jonathan, PhD, and her team are the first to report scientific evidence on the health effects of BPA at environmentally relevant doses equal to "average" human exposure. Previous studies have primarily focused on animal studies and high doses of BPA.

They report their findings in the Aug. 14, 2008, online edition of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. This scientific data comes just before a key Federal Drug Administration meeting about the safety of the chemical in consumer products scheduled for Sept. 16, 2008.
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Info

Flashback Different Cultures, Similar Perceptions: Stereotyping of Western European Business Leaders


catalyst.org
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:05 UTC
Different Cultures, Similar Perceptions: Stereotyping of Western European Business Leaders, a study conducted by Catalyst and researchers from the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, examined a major barrier to women's advancement in business: Gender stereotypes - generalizations we make about the characteristics of women and men.
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Pills

Groups team up to fight HIV

Janelle Frost
MyrtleBeachOnline.com
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:39 UTC
Rape victims get assistance with medicine, follow-up treatment
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Roses

Court just says no -- again -- to genetically modified alfalfa

Jordan Lite
Scientific American
Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:12 UTC


Alfalfa GM
©Daniel Loiselle

We know you're just dying to taste that delectable genetically modified alfalfa, but you'll have to wait: an appeals court today ruled that the feds must review the potential environmental effects of the biotech seeds before farmers can plant them.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals forces the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue an environmental impact statement on Roundup Ready alfalfa seeds, which are made by ag giant Monsanto and would be planted exclusively by Forage Genetics International.
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People

Why Soy Is NOT the Health Food You Think it Is


Mercola.com
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:33 UTC
Soy is no health food. In fact, it's bad for your body, your thyroid, and your child's development, as Kaayla T. Daniel, PHD, CCN, explains in this exclusive video interview.

Dr. Daniel earned her PhD in Nutritional Sciences and Anti-Aging Therapies from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, was board certified as a clinical nutritionist (CCN) by the International and American Association of Clinical Nutritionists in Dallas and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

As a clinical nutritionist, she specializes in digestive disorders, women's reproductive health issues, infertility, and recovery from vegetarian and soy-based diets.
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Health

Participating In Religion May Make Adolescents From Certain Races More Depressed


Science Daily
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:00 UTC
One of the few studies to look at the effects of religious participation on the mental health of minorities suggests that for some of them, religion may actually be contributing to adolescent depression.

Previous research has shown that teens who are active in religious services are depressed less often because it provides these adolescents with social support and a sense of belonging.

But new research has found that this does not hold true for all adolescents, particularly for minorities and some females. The study found that white and African-American adolescents generally had fewer symptoms of depressive at high levels of religious participation. But for some Latino and Asian-American adolescents, attending church more often was actually affecting their mood in a negative way.
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