Health & Wellness

Half of UK population had swine flu during pandemic... and many didn't even REALISE it

Fiona Macrae
The Daily Mail, UK
Thu, 09 Jun 2011 06:27 UTC

Almost half of the population caught swine flu during the pandemic - although many didn't realise it, research shows.

Blood taken from 1,600 Britons after the 2009/10 H1N1 outbreak revealed that 44 per cent tested positive for the virus.

While some of these had been vaccinated or had caught a similar infection many years earlier, most had caught swine flu, say the Edinburgh University researchers.

Extrapolated across the country, this means that 20 times more people had swine flu than previously thought - even if it was so mild that many didn't realise it.

However, this doesn't mean that the outbreak, which killed almost 500 Britons when it first struck, was not serious.

Wrinkles Can Predict Woman's Bone Break Risk: Study

Breitbart
Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:34 UTC

© AFP
Wrinkles on a woman's face may be able to predict how likely she is to suffer from bone fractures, according to a US study.

Wrinkles on a woman's face may be able to predict how likely she is to suffer from bone fractures, according to a new US study.

That's because the level of proteins in the skin and bones are linked, so if a woman's face and neck are severely wrinkled, she faces a higher risk of bone breakage due to bone density loss, said Yale University researchers.

Researchers examined 114 early post-menopausal women, whose last menstrual period was within three years, as part of an ongoing clinical trial at numerous sites in the United States.

They measured the women's skin at 11 locations on the face and neck, both visually and using a device known as a durometer to assess how rigid the skin was on the forehead and cheek.

Bone mass and density were measured with a portable ultrasound and X-ray.

"We found that deepening and worsening skin wrinkles are related to lower bone density among the study participants," said Lubna Pal, associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Yale School of Medicine.

Comment: Having adequate levels of Vitamin D would be helpful in preventing bone loss. See: Vitamin D Deficiency Unquestionably Linked to Bone Fractures.

Sugary Drinks Can Dull Taste Buds

RedOrbit
Sat, 11 Jun 2011 08:55 UTC

According to a new study, drinking two sugary drinks a day can dull the taste buds and lead to cravings for high-calorie foods.

The research suggests that within a month those who drink sugary beverages are left with a dulled sensitivity of sweet tastes.

This leads to an increased preference for high-calorie and sugar-laden foods, which creates a "vicious cycle" as consumers look for their next treat.

Those who do not have a sweet tooth are particularly at risk of developing one after drinking sugary beverages.

Experts who carried out the research at the universities of Bristol and Bangor were surprise at how tastes could be dulled by exposure to sweet drinks.

Lucy Donaldson, of the University of Bristol, said: "We have known for some time that the way we perceive different tastes can change under different circumstances. Finding that two sweet drinks a day over a short time can dramatically change taste was a real surprise."

The people rated their perception and enjoyment of sweet and salty tastes. The obese participants tended to rate identical drinks as less sweet than the lean ones did.

The Bilingual Advantage

Claudia Dreifus
The New York Times
Mon, 30 May 2011 07:33 UTC

A cognitive neuroscientist, Ellen Bialystok has spent almost 40 years learning about how bilingualism sharpens the mind. Her good news: Among other benefits, the regular use of two languages appears to delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease symptoms. Dr. Bialystok, 62, a distinguished research professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, was awarded a $100,000 Killam Prize last year for her contributions to social science. We spoke for two hours in a Washington hotel room in February and again, more recently, by telephone. An edited version of the two conversations follows.

Q. How did you begin studying bilingualism?

A. You know, I didn't start trying to find out whether bilingualism was bad or good. I did my doctorate in psychology: on how children acquire language. When I finished graduate school, in 1976, there was a job shortage in Canada for Ph.D.'s. The only position I found was with a research project studying second language acquisition in school children. It wasn't my area. But it was close enough.

As a psychologist, I brought neuroscience questions to the study, like "How does the acquisition of a second language change thought?" It was these types of questions that naturally led to the bilingualism research. The way research works is, it takes you down a road. You then follow that road.

Germany: Sprouts Did Cause Deadly E. coli Outbreak

David Rising and Kirsten Grieshaber
MSNBC
Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:24 UTC

Investigation tracked bacteria to farm even though tests were negative for deadly strain

German vegetable sprouts caused the E. coli outbreak that has killed 31 people and sickened more than 3,000, investigators announced Friday after tracking the bacteria from patients in hospital beds to restaurants and then farm fields.

Reinhard Burger, president of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's national disease control center, said the pattern of the outbreak had produced enough evidence to draw that conclusion even though no tests of sprouts from an organic farm in Lower Saxony had come back positive for the E. coli strain behind the outbreak.

"In this way, it was possible to narrow down epidemiologically the cause of the outbreak of the illness to the consumption of sprouts," Burger said at a press conference with the heads of Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment and Federal Office for Consumer Protection. "It is the sprouts."

The breakthrough came after a task force from the three institutes linked separate clusters of patients who had fallen sick to 26 restaurants and cafeterias that had received produce from the organic farm.

Early Indications of Parkinson's Disease Revealed in Dream Sleep

University of Copenhagen
Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:00 UTC

During a large-scale study of the socioeconomic costs of this neurodegenerative disease, Danish researchers, some from the University of Copenhagen, discovered that very early symptoms of Parkinson's disease may be revealed in dream or REM sleep.

Parkinson's disease is a brain disease best known for the trembling it causes. It is an incurable, chronic disease and gradually affects the muscles and mental capacity, seriously afflicting the lives if the patient and his or her immediate relatives.

"In the study we saw that eight years before diagnosis, Parkinson's sufferers exhibited work and health indications that something was wrong," says Poul Jennum, professor of clinical neurophysiology at the Center for Healthy Ageing, University of Copenhagen, and the Sleep Centre at Glostrup Hospital.

Among the very early symptoms is the sleep disorder RBD, or REM sleep behaviour disorder. REM is a particular stage of sleep in which we dream, and our eyes flicker rapidly behind our eyelids, hence the term REM, or Rapid Eye Movement. To prevent us from actually acting out our dreams the body usually shuts down our muscle movement during REM sleep, but in RBD it is still active, and REM sleepers with RBD display a range of behaviours from simple arm and leg spasms to kicking, shouting, seizing or jumping out of bed.

Schoolyard bullies more likely to abuse partners: study

Reuters
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:16 UTC

Association stronger than things like having been abused as a kid, study shows

U.S. scientists have found that boys who are bullies in the schoolyard are at increased risk of abusing their partner later in life.

According to the study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the link provides a potential avenue for curbing domestic violence, which affects about a fourth of American women.

"We need to do a far better job at recognizing bullying in schools, particularly the harassment of girls by boys," psychologist Jay Silverman, who led the research, told Reuters Health. "For adolescents, the school context is very much a practice ground for behaviors as adults."
Silverman, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, acknowledged that the new work can't tease out cause and effect. But, he added, the link is surprisingly strong and warrants further study.

US: Medication side effects, injuries up dramatically

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:10 UTC

The number of people treated in U.S. hospitals for illnesses and injuries from taking medicines jumped 52 percent between 2004 and 2008 - from 1.2 million to 1.9 million - according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. These medication side effects and injuries resulted from taking or being given the wrong medicine or dosage.

Roundup Birth Defects: Regulators Knew World's Best-Selling Herbicide Caused Problems, New Report Finds

Lucia Graves
The Huffington Post
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:59 UTC

Industry regulators have known for years that Roundup, the world's best-selling herbicide produced by U.S. company Monsanto, causes birth defects, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The report, Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark? found regulators knew as long ago as 1980 that glyphosate, the chemical on which Roundup is based, can cause birth defects in laboratory animals.

But despite such warnings, and although the European Commission has known that glyphosate causes malformations since at least 2002, the information was not made public.

3 reasons why coconut milk may not be your friend

Chris Kresser
Thehealthyskeptic.com
Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:26 UTC

Coconut milk is often a staple fat source for those following a Paleo diet. From a nutritional perspective, it's an excellent choice. It's high in saturated fatty acids and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), which are both easily burned as fuel by the body. MCTs are particularly beneficial in that they don't require bile acids for digestion, and they're directly shunted to the liver via the portal vein.

Coconut milk and fruit can be a great snack for Paleo folks, and coconut milk smoothies make a great Paleo breakfast choice - especially in the summer.

So what could be wrong with coconut milk? Here are three things to consider.