The industrial chemical, bisphenol A - BPA - has been making news in recent months over its connection to a wide variety of adverse health events, a worrisome issue given the chemical's overwhelming ubiquity.

We have long noted that BPA has been connected to increased risks of brain, reproductive, cardiac, and immune system diseases and disorders; problems with liver function testing; interruptions in chemotherapy treatment; and links with serious health problems. Studies have overwhelmingly found BPA to have negative effects at doses lower than current FDA standards; retention in the body longer than was previously believed; leeching into liquids being held in containers regardless of the containers' temperature; and longer lasting damage, which some feel can be passed to future generations.

Now, the Washington Post is reporting that high levels of exposure to BPA seems to be linked to erectile dysfunction and other sexual problems in males, citing a study published today. The government-funded study appears in the journal Human Reproduction and is, said the Washington Post, the first of its kind to look at the connection between BPA and the human male reproductive system; prior studies looked at rodent reactions to the chemical.

Probiotics are good for much more than simply enhancing intestinal health and improving digestion; they're also very effective at preventing candida albicans (as you'll see below).

Here you'll find a healthy collection of explanations, supporting quotes and testimonials about the use of probiotics to help prevent or reverse candida. These are compiled from some of the top health authors in the world. Enjoy this knowledge and feel free to share this link with others who may benefit from this information.

Eliminating Candida with Probiotics

Allison Tannis, author of Probiotic Rescue: How You can use Probiotics to Fight Cholesterol, Cancer, Superbugs, Digestive Complaints and More:

Everyone's body is host to Candida (Candida albicans). Candida is a type of yeast. Candida is normally kept under control by good health and probiotics. However, Candida overgrowth can occur when the system is challenged or altered. The use of antibiotics can reduce the ability of probiotics to keep Candida at bay. Also, the overconsumption of yeast-feeding foods such as simple carbohydrates, sugars, peanuts, alcohol and milk products can encourage Candida growth.

In other words, probiotic bacteria are effective in controlling Candida in the mouth, a problem of particular concern for the elderly. The exact mechanism by which probiotics inhibit Candida growth is not fully understood to date. Some suggest the ability of probiotics to produce hydrogen peroxide plays a role; however, in vivo studies suggest that probiotics might prevent Candida growth through multiple mechanisms.

There are few women who have never had a yeast infection, which is an overgrowth of Candida albicans that is found in the mouth, the intestines, and the vagina. A Candida overgrowth causes vaginal itching, redness, white cottage-cheese-like vaginal discharge, and may cause painful intercourse. Normal beneficial bacteria in the gut and vagina (also called probiotics) inhibit Candida. A Candida over-growth is primarily caused by taking antibiotics that kill both beneficial and harmful bacteria and by pH imbalances in the vagina.

Antibiotic use changes the bacteria in the vagina and thus promotes the growth of Candida. Antibiotic use reduces the presence of all bacteria, including the beneficial probiotics in the vagina such as Lactobacillus. Antibiotic use causes the vaginal probiotic population to shrink. Then the pH of the vagina increases, due to no lactic acid coming from Lactobacilli to keep it low, and Candida is no longer restricted. Candida can colonize and flourish in such an environment.

Researchers at Uppsala University, in collaboration with colleagues in Sweden and abroad, have identified an entirely new mechanism by which a specific protein in the body inhibits formation of new blood vessels. Inhibiting the formation of new blood vessels is an important aspect of, for example, cancer treatment. The study is published in the November issue of the journal Molecular Cancer Research.

Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, is strictly regulated by a number of molecules that serve to either promote or inhibit the process. Certain diseases are characterised by excessive or insufficient angiogenesis. The rapid growth of tumors, for example, is conditioned on the formation of new blood vessels to supply oxygen and nutrients, which explains why angiogenesis is accelerated in cancer patients.

"At present, there are five approved drugs for inhibiting formation of new blood vessels," says research fellow Anna-Karin Olsson of the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology at Uppsala University, who headed the study. "All of these medications work in a similar way, by influencing the function of one of the agents that promotes angiogenesis. A problem with the medications is that the body develops resistance to them as treatment progresses. Improved knowledge about which molecules promote or inhibit the formation of blood vessels in the body, and the mechanisms by which they operate, is accordingly a research goal."

Americans do not believe they know much about depression, but are highly aware of the risks of not receiving care, according to a survey released today by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

See full survey results here.

The survey provides a "three dimensional" measurement of responses from members of the general public who do not know anyone with depression, caregivers of adults diagnosed with depression and adults actually living with the illness.

- Seventy-one percent of the public sample said they are not familiar with depression, but 68 percent or more know specific consequences that can come from not receiving treatment-including suicide (84 percent).

- Sixty-two percent believe they know some symptoms of depression, but 39 percent said they do not know many or any at all.

It is well known that fear memories are permanent. However, a recent paper in Science, evaluated by three Faculty Members for F1000, reports an extraordinary finding that supports the use of a drug to control recollections of traumatic incidents.

The researchers demonstrated that, in mice, proteins known as extracellular matrix chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans form 'neural nets' in the brain that protect against the erasure of memory. They also reported that, when these mice were given a drug called chondroitinase ABC, fear memories were more likely to disappear than for those mice in the control group.

This finding has important therapeutic implications for sufferers of anxiety disorders, as it could allow doctors to erase the memories of patients who have had extremely traumatic experiences, such as survivors of war.

In his review for F1000 Medicine, David P. Wolfer said, "The identification of cellular mechanisms that ... control the stability of fear memories is extremely important for the development of new and better therapies for anxiety disorders."

Hours of analysing snoring sounds have paid off for a group of researchers from The University of Queensland and Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Led by Dr Udantha Abeyratne from the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, the team has developed a non-invasive way of diagnosing Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).

Caused by the collapse of the upper air passage during sleep, OSA is Australia's most common sleep disorder, affecting approximately 800,000 people.

Common symptoms include snoring, waking suddenly and daytime sleepiness and, if left untreated, it can lead to stroke, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

"OSA has snoring as the earliest symptom; almost all patients snore," Dr Abeyratne said.

"We have developed several techniques to diagnose OSA using snoring sounds alone.

Most health conscious people know of the positive effects on digestion from using probiotic supplements. Many take probiotic supplements after using antibiotics to replace the good intestinal flora bacteria indiscriminately killed during antibiotic use.

This practice is so well known that MD's have begun recommending probiotics during and after antibiotics.

But there is new evidence that probiotic benefits go beyond that. One area of investigative research is building the immune system's resistance to allergies that affect the skin. An obvious example of a skin's allergic reaction is eczema, which tends occur often with infants.

A recent Dutch study gathered over 150 pregnant women with allergic disease histories in their families. During the last six weeks of pregnancy, they were given either three strains of probiotics or an inactive placebo pill. Neither they nor the doctors knew which was which.

A diet high in fructose increases the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension), according to a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego, California. The findings suggest that cutting back on processed foods and beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may help prevent hypertension.

Over the last 200 years, the rate of fructose intake has directly paralleled the increasing rate of obesity, which has increased sharply in the last 20 years since the introduction of HFCS. Today, Americans consume 30% more fructose than 20 years ago and up to four times more than 100 years ago, when obesity rates were less than 5%. While this increase mirrors the dramatic rise in the prevalence of hypertension, studies have been inconsistent in linking excess fructose in the diet to hypertension.

Diana Jalal, MD (University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center), and her colleagues studied the issue in a large representative population of US adults. They examined 4,528 adults 18 years of age or older with no prior history of hypertension. Fructose intake was calculated based on a dietary questionnaire, and foods such as fruit juices, soft drinks, bakery products, and candy were included. Dr. Jalal's team found that people who ate or drank more than 74 grams per day of fructose (2.5 sugary soft drinks per day) increased their risk of developing hypertension. Specifically, a diet of more than 74 grams per day of fructose led to a 28%, 36%, and 87% higher risk for blood pressure levels of 135/85, 140/90, and 160/100 mmHg, respectively. (A normal blood pressure reading is below 120/80 mmHg.)

Although often seen as an inconsequential feature of digital technologies, one's self-representation, or avatar, in a virtual environment can affect the user's thoughts, according to research by a University of Texas at Austin communication professor.

In the first study to use avatars to prime negative responses in a desktop virtual setting, Jorge Peña, assistant professor in the College of Communication, demonstrated that the subtext of an avatar's appearance can simultaneously prime negative (or anti-social) thoughts and inhibit positive (or pro-social) thoughts inconsistent with the avatar's appearance. All of this while study participants remained unaware they had been primed. The study, co-written with Cornell University Professor Jeffrey T. Hancock and University of Texas at Austin graduate student Nicholas A. Merola, appears in the December 2009 issue of Communication Research.

In two separate experiments, research participants were randomly assigned a dark- or white-cloaked avatar, or to avatars wearing physician or Ku Klux Klan-like uniforms or a transparent avatar. The participants were assigned tasks including writing a story about a picture, or playing a video game on a virtual team and then coming to consensus on how to deal with infractions.

Stress related to school pressure and family finances has a greater impact on young people than parents believe, according to a new national survey released by the American Psychological Association (APA). Building on past research indicating that stress is a top health concern for U.S. teens between 9th and 12th grade, psychologists say that if they don't learn healthy ways to manage that stress now, it could have serious long-term health implications.

Teens and tweens were more likely than parents to say that their stress had increased in the last year. Nearly half (45 percent) of teens ages 13-17 said that they worried more this year, but only 28 percent of parents think their teen's stress increased, and while a quarter (26 percent) of tweens ages 8-12 said they worried more this year, only 17 percent of parents believed their tween's stress had increased. Similarly, only 2-5 percent of parents rate their child's stress as extreme (an 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale) when 14 percent of tweens and 28 percent of teens say they worry a lot or a great deal.

"It's clear that parents do not fully appreciate the impact that stress is having on their kids," says psychologist Katherine C. Nordal, Ph.D., APA's executive director for professional practice. "What we're seeing with stress is in line with existing research about parents' perception of their kids' engagement in risky behaviors. Parents often under report drug use, depression and sexual activity in their children. Now it appears the same may be true for stress."