Health & Wellness
Joseph Brownstein
ABCNewsTue, 09 Feb 2010 03:00 UTC
© Getty Images
A superior anterolateral view of the head showing an example of a brain clot in the frontal lobe of the left cerebral hemisphere.
A new study reveals that adhering to the Mediterranean diet may help seniors avoid strokes, and ultimately dementia.
The diet, which has made headlines in recent years for its heart and dietary benefits, was shown in a new study to reduce strokes in the brain -- visible on MRI scans. Recent evidence has suggested that these strokes can reduce cognitive function in later years.
The Mediterranean diet has a number of incarnations, but focuses heavily on whole grains, fruits and vegetables, olive oil and nuts, while eliminating meats and many of the fats in a conventional American diet.
Neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and their colleagues have tied the human aversion to losing money to a specific structure in the brain - the amygdala.
The finding, described in the latest online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), offers insight into economic behavior, and also into the role of the brain's amygdalae, two almond-shaped clusters of tissue located in the medial temporal lobes. The amygdala registers rapid emotional reactions and is implicated in depression, anxiety, and autism.
The research team that made these findings consists of Benedetto de Martino, a Caltech visiting researcher from University College London and first author on the study; Colin Camerer, the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics; and Ralph Adolphs, the Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and professor of biology.
The details surrounding the emergence and evolution of religion have not been clearly established and remain a source of much debate among scholars. Now, an article published by Cell Press in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences on February 8 brings a new understanding to this long-standing discussion by exploring the fascinating link between morality and religion.
There is no doubt that spiritual experiences and religion, which are ubiquitous across cultures and time and associated exclusively with humans, are ultimately based in the brain. However, there are many unanswered questions about how and why these behaviors originated and how they may have been shaped during evolution.
"Some scholars claim that religion evolved as an adaptation to solve the problem of cooperation among genetically unrelated individuals, while others propose that religion emerged as a by-product of pre-existing cognitive capacities," explains study co-author Dr. Ilkka Pyysiainen from the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. Although there is some support for both, these alternative proposals have been difficult to investigate.
Study finds people with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis face highest risk during flare-ups
People with inflammatory bowel disease are at an increased risk of developing blood clots, and this risk is highest during a flare-up, researchers report online February 9 in the Lancet. Although hospitalized IBD patients have been known to have problems with clotting, the new study finds a surprisingly high risk in people dealing with an episode outside the hospital setting.
IBD includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Although medication can bring IBD under control and keep it in remission temporarily, relapses of the disease are common and can debilitate a person. Patients often require steroid medication to knock back inflammation that causes the abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting and blood in the stool that mark the condition.
In the new study, Matthew Grainge and his colleagues at the University of Nottingham in England analyzed medical records dating from 1987 to 2001 of more than 13,000 IBD patients and a control group of 71,000 people who didn't have IBD. People in both groups were in their mid-40s on average and had comparable weights and smoking histories, factors that also influence blood clot formation.
© Getty Images
A 14-year study of 60,000 people in Singapore
found that those who consume two or more sweetened soft drinks per week have an
87 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer.
Published in the journal
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, the study was led by Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota who said, "The high levels of sugar in soft drinks may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth."
Nearly 38,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the United States each year, and over 34,000 die from the disease each year. This research points to what may be the common culprit of all those preventable deaths: Sugary soft drink consumption.
While doctors are prescribing expensive drugs that can have devastating side effects to slow the progress of Alzheimer's, new research shows it might be possible to prevent the onset of this cruel disease by something as simple, inexpensive, and safe as a dose of marine oil every day during our younger years.
In the US, as many as 5.3 million people live with Alzheimer's. That number is predicted to double every 20 years.(1) The latest medical thinking is that the escalating rate of Alzheimer's disease has its roots in chronic inflammation that's a result of the modern diet deficient in omega 3 fatty acids.
The first symptoms of Alzheimer's generally appear after age 60. Such symptoms include memory problems, loss of motor control, and problems with one's sense of smell. But according to the National Institute on Aging, the damage that eventually turns into Alzheimer's disease can begin to occur 20 years before the first symptoms appear. It makes sense, therefore, to do whatever one can to prevent the process from beginning. The good news is that a substance found in nature could offer the best new hope for prevention.
In late January, the
New York Times published a startling and groundbreaking series of reports by investigative reporter Walt Bogdanich who has uncovered case after case of people who suffered devastating consequences -- including horrendously painful, torture-like deaths -- because of medical mistakes related to radiation treatment. In response to these articles, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) just
issued a statement saying the group and its members "deeply regret that these events have occurred, and we continue to work hard to reduce the likelihood of similar events in the future."
Nowhere in the statement does the AAPM acknowledge specifically what events they are talking about -- and they do not even mention the almost incomprehensible human suffering connected to these unnamed "events". Instead, the AAPM is clearly most interested in pacifying the public so they won't be worried about the dangers associated with medical radiation.
As the statement puts it, the AAPM "seeks to reassure the public on the safety of radiation therapy, which is safely and effectively used to treat hundreds of thousands of people with cancer and other diseases every year in the United States. Medical physicists in hospitals and clinics across the United States are board-certified professionals who play a key role in assuring quality during these treatments."
In a gathering of vitamin D researchers recently held in Toronto, Dr. Cedric Garland delivered a blockbuster announcement: Breast cancer can be virtually "eradicated" by raising vitamin D levels.
Vitamin D is "the cure" for breast cancer that the cancer industry ridiculously claims to be searching for. The cure already exists! But the breast cancer industry simply refuses to acknowledge any "cure" that doesn't involve mammography, chemotherapy or high-profit pharmaceuticals.
Vitamin D is finally gaining some of the recognition it deserves as a miraculous anti-cancer nutrient. It is the solution for cancer prevention. It could save hundreds of thousands of lives each year in the U.S. alone. Even Dr. Andrew Weil recently raised his recommendation of vitamin D to 2,000 IU per day.
Taking a high daily dose of vitamin D during pregnancy can significantly reduce a woman's risk of giving birth prematurely, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Medical University of Charleston, South Carolina, and funded by the National Institutes of Health.
"I'm telling every pregnant mother I see to take 4,000 IUs and every nursing mother to take 6,400 IUs of vitamin D a day," said researcher Bruce Hollis. "I think it is medical malpractice for obstetricians not to know what the vitamin D level of their patients is. This study will put them on notice."
Pregnant women in the United Kingdom and the United States are currently advised to take 400 IU of vitamin D per day.
Sharon Begley
NewsweekMon, 08 Feb 2010 16:06 UTC
Paralyzing the "frown" muscles also inhibits the ability to understand anger and sadness.
And here I thought my Botoxed friends were happy, mellow, and sweet-tempered because a couple of injections of a neurotoxin had eliminated their frown lines, knocked years off their apparent age, and made them no longer look "tired and unapproachable," as the company's Web site cheerfully puts it. (If someone starts selling makeup named "Unapproachable," send me a case. But I digress.) But no! According to an amusing little study, by paralyzing the frown muscles that ordinarily are engaged when we feel angry, Botox short-circuits the emotion itself.
