Health & WellnessS


Health

Grapes And Grape Extracts May Lower Cardiovascular Disease Risk


Science Daily
Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:26 UTC
A growing body of research data suggests that consuming foods rich in polyphenols from grapes, including red wine, helps reduce the risk of heart disease, according to a review article in the November issue of Nutrition Research.

"Consumption of grape and grape extracts and/or grape products such as red wine may be beneficial in preventing the development of chronic degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular disease," write Wayne R. Leifert, Ph.D., and Mahinda Y. Abeywardena, Ph.D., of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Adelaide, Australia.
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Health

Persistent Bacterial Infection Exploits Killing Machinery Of Immune Cells


Science Daily
Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:55 UTC
A new study reveals an important and newly discovered pathway used by disease-causing bacteria to evade the host immune system and survive and grow within the very cells meant to destroy them. This discovery may lead to new treatments and vaccines for tuberculosis (TB) and certain other chronic bacterial and parasitic infections.

The research is the work of the laboratories headed by Peter Murray, Ph.D., at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., and Thomas Wynn, Ph.D., of the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases at NIAID.

Clearing the body of disease-causing bacteria is the job of specialized white blood cells called macrophages. The word "macrophage" means "big eater" in Latin and that is just what these cells are--they gobble up cell debris, infected cells and disease-causing bacteria found in the body. To help them digest and destroy what they eat, macrophages make compounds that in most cases kill pathogens. One of these chemicals is the free radical nitric oxide (NO).
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Arrow Up

New diabetes rate up 90 percent in past decade in US

Will Dunham
Reuters
Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:03 UTC
The rate of new cases of diabetes soared by about 90 percent in the United States in the past decade, fueled by growing obesity and sedentary lifestyles, U.S. health officials said on Thursday. Diabetes experts said the findings show there is no end in sight to the diabetes epidemic.

Newly diagnosed cases of diabetes rose to 9.1 per 1,000 people annually between 2005 to 2007, up from 4.8 per 1,000 from 1995 to 1997, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The most common form of diabetes, type 2 diabetes, is closely linked to obesity and has become increasingly common in recent decades as more people become obese. An estimated 90 percent to 95 percent of the new cases are type 2 diabetes as opposed to type 1 diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes.

The report, based on data from 33 states, also detailed regional variations, showing -- as other studies also have -- that the problem is most acute in the southern United States.
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Bell

Melamine already in global food chain: experts

Gillian Wong
Associated Press
Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:03 UTC
Beijing - First it was baby milk formula. Then, dairy-based products from yogurt to chocolate.

Now chicken eggs have been contaminated with melamine, and an admission by state-run media that the industrial chemical is regularly added to animal feed in China is fueling fears the problem could be more widespread, affecting fish, meat and who knows what else.

Peter Dingle, a toxicity expert at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, said, however, that aside from the tainted baby formula that killed at least four Chinese infants and left 54,000 children hospitalized just over a month ago, it is unlikely humans will get sick from melamine.

The amount of the chemical in a few servings of bacon, for instance, would simply be too low, he said.
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Document

Scientists Identify Machinery That Helps Make Memories


Science Daily
Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:14 UTC
A major puzzle for neurobiologists is how the brain can modify one microscopic connection, or synapse, at a time in a brain cell and not affect the thousands of other connections nearby. Plasticity, the ability of the brain to precisely rearrange the connections between its nerve cells, is the framework for learning and forming memories.
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Video

Gonna eat your Halloween candy this year? Think again!


YouTube and Wikipedia
Fri, 31 Oct 2008 23:51 UTC
Candida 3
Candida albicans is a diploid fungus (a form of yeast), which is capable of sexual reproduction but not of meiosis, and a causal agent of opportunistic oral and genital infections in humans.

Systemic fungal infections (fungemias) have emerged as important causes of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients (e.g., AIDS, cancer chemotherapy, organ or bone marrow transplantation).

In addition, hospital-related infections in patients not previously considered at risk (e.g. patients in an intensive care unit) have become a cause of major health concern.

Comment: For more information about Candida albicans, its effects on the human health - and methods of treatment, please read the following threads on our discussion forum.

Candida - The Silent Epidemic
Anti-Candida, Inflammation, Heavy Metals Detox and Diet
The Magnesium Miracle

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Family

Best of the Web: Petty Tyrants: The Pathological Relationship: Here, There, Everywhere!

Harrison Koehli
The Institute for Relational Harm Reduction
Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:17 UTC
Corporate Psychopaths
© CNN.com
Psycho girlfriends. Toxic boyfriends. The pathological relationship. We've all heard about it or experienced it for ourselves. Even if we're not familiar with its various names or the psychological explanations behind it, we're not surprised when we hear that a friend or family member is in a physically or emotionally abusive relationship. Whether it's a girl insulted and humiliated by her boyfriend, or a man whose wife leaves him, takes his money, their kids, and his reputation after a painful divorce, these pathological relationships still seem to be a natural part of our daily experience. The pain and hopeless cycles of these relationships remind us that pathology in relationships is all too common.

Luckily there is a growing body of research on these all-too-familiar dynamics, and therapists trained in dealing with them. Sandra Brown's How To Spot a Dangerous Man and Women Who Love Psychopaths; Martha Stout's The Myth of Sanity and The Sociopath Next Door; and Robin Stern's The Gaslight Effect. These and other essential materials bring an important body of knowledge to those who need it most. Because without such knowledge, we are like Goldilocks entering a dark and unknown forest, blind to the dangers of charming yet cunning predators.
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Coffee

Warm hands may mean warm heart

Denise Gellene
Los Angeles Times
Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:29 UTC
Looking to improve your romantic odds? Get your date a cup of steaming coffee.

That's the implication of a new study from researchers who wanted to see if there was any connection between physical and emotional heat. To their surprise, they found that people who held a cup of hot coffee for 10 to 25 seconds warmed up to a stranger. Holding a cup of iced coffee had the opposite effect.

If you want to make a good impression, advised University of Colorado psychologist and study author Lawrence Williams, a cup of fresh coffee "may bias the situation in your favor."
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People

Can You Guess a Person's Politics by Their Personality? Psychologist Team Says Yes

Maria Luisa Tucker
AlterNet
Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:19 UTC
blue red states
A blue state/red state map of Democrats versus Republicans is strikingly similar to a blue/red map that was done based on regional personality traits.
A map illustrating regional personality differences across America is surprisingly similar to the red state/blue state map of the nation.

If your office is a mess, you're known as a chatty Cathy, and you consider yourself hard to scare, then chances are, you will be voting for Obama in six days. But your neighbor, an optimistic clean freak who prides himself on the fact that he has woken up at 5 a.m. every day for the last 10 years, is a likely McCainiac.
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Health

UN report: Bird flu pushed back, pandemic threat remains

Patrick Worsnip
Reuters
Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:30 UTC
International efforts have pushed back the spread of bird flu this year, but the risk of a global influenza pandemic killing millions is as great as ever, the United Nations and World Bank reported on Tuesday.

Most countries now have plans to combat a pandemic, but many of the plans are defective, said the report, issued ahead of a bird flu conference due to be attended by ministers from some 60 countries in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from October 24-26.

The report, fourth in a series since a bird flu scare swept the globe three years ago, followed a new World Bank estimate that a severe flu pandemic could cost $3 trillion and result in a drop of nearly 5 percent in world gross domestic product.
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