A previously unknown poisonous mushroom is the culprit in scores of mysterious deaths in China, according to a team of Chinese researchers who reported their findings in the German journal Angewandte Chemie (Applied Chemistry).

Over the past 30 years, more than 260 otherwise perfectly healthy people in the south-western Chinese province of Yunnan have died suddenly and for no apparent reason. The phenomenon, termed "sudden unexplained death," usually occurs during the rainy season from June to August at locations between 1,800 and 2,400 metres above sea level.

In 2005, epidemiological studies suggested that eating mushrooms could be a risk factor. Subsequent studies confirmed the suspicion that consumption of a previously unknown type of mushroom, named Trogia venenata Zhu L. Yang after its discoverer, was responsible for the deaths.

Jaroslav Flegr is no kook. And yet, for years, he suspected his mind had been taken over by parasites that had invaded his brain. So the prolific biologist took his science-fiction hunch into the lab. What he's now discovering will startle you. Could tiny organisms carried by house cats be creeping into our brains, causing everything from car wrecks to schizophrenia?

Dr. Raymond Silkman has a private practice in holistic dentistry and orthodontics in West Los Angeles, California. This article is based on his presentation at the 6th annual conference of the Weston A. Price Foundation in 2005

Cranial & Dental Impacts on Total Health

The widely held model of orthodontics, which considers developmental problems in the jaws and head to be genetic in origin, never made sense to me. Since they are wedded to the genetic model, orthodontists dealing with crowded teeth end up treating the condition with tooth extraction in a majority of the cases. Even though I did not resort to pulling teeth in my practice, and I was using appliances to widen the jaws and getting the craniums to look as they should, I still could not come up with the answer as to why my patients looked the way they did. I couldn't believe that the Creator had given them a terrible blueprint --it just did not make sense. In four years of college education, four years of dental school education and almost three years of post-graduate orthodontic training, students never hear a mention of Dr. Price, so they never learn the true reasons for these malformations. I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of very knowledgeable doctors in various fields of allopathic and alternative healthcare who still do not know about Dr. Price and his critical findings.

These knowledgeable doctors have not stared in awe at the beautiful facial development that Price captured in the photographs he took of primitive peoples throughout the globe and in so doing was able to answer this most important question: What do humans look like in health? And how have humans been able to carry on throughout history and populate such varied geographical and physical environments on the earth without our modern machines and tools?

The answer that Dr. Price was able to illuminate came through his photographs of beautiful, healthy human beings with magnificent physical form and mental development, living in harmony with their environments.

A doctor working to determine what is causing more than a dozen teenage girls to experience uncontrollable tics announced all the girls he has seen have tested positive for infections that could mean they are suffering from Pediatric Acute Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS, formerly known as PANDAS.)


Dr. Rosario Trifiletti made his announcement on the Dr. Drew Show on the cable network HLN.

"I can tell you that they are testing positive for, each one is testing positive either for streptococcas or mycoplasma, which are known triggers of the PANDAS/ PANS Syndrome," said Trifiletti.

Trifeletti was called for a second opinion by parents in LeRoy who aren't satisfied with the initial diagnosis, conversion disorder, given by the doctors at DENT Neurological in Amherst.

Childhood abuse and maltreatment can shrink important parts of the brain, a new study of adults suggests.

Reduced brain volume in parts of the hippocampus could help to explain why childhood problems often lead to later psychiatric disorders, such as depression, drug addiction and other mental health problems, the researchers say. This link could help researchers find better ways to treat survivors of childhood abuse.

"These results may provide one explanation for why childhood abuse has been identified with an increased risk for drug abuse or psychosis," study researcher Martin Teicher, of Harvard University, told LiveScience. "Now that one can look at these sub-regions [in the brain], we can get a better idea of what treatments are helping."

There's a story doing the rounds again, about how Monsanto, one of the world's largest profiteers of genetically engineered (GE) food, banned GE food from its own corporate canteens!

Monsanto had its pants pulled down by Friends of the Earth in 1999, who revealed that the company was refusing to serve to its own staff the very same GE food that it incessantly foists upon impoverished nations on the premise that it will save populations from starvation. Although it has never been proved, Monsanto constantly claims that GE food is harmless - so why wasn't it serving it in its own office?

In one canteen, run by external provider, Sutcliffe Catering, a notice read that a decision has been taken to remove, as far as practicable, GE soya and maize from all food products served in the canteen. "We have taken the above steps to ensure that you, the customer, can feel confident in the food we serve", the provider said.

The ancient Chinese exercise of tai chi improved balance and lowered the risk of falls in a study of people with Parkinson's disease.

Symptoms of the brain disorder include tremors and stiff, jerky movements that can affect walking and other activities. Medications and surgery can help, and doctors often recommend exercise or physical therapy.

Tai chi (ty-CHEE'), with its slow, graceful movements, has been shown to improve strength and aid stability in older people, and has been studied for a number of ailments. In the latest study, led by Fuzhong Li of the Oregon Research Institute in Eugene, tai chi was tested in 195 people with mild-to-moderate Parkinson's.

Antibiotics are not only breeding illness among the population, but are also so vastly over-prescribed that it is costing the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) the equivalent of over 10 and a half million dollars per year. According to new research, doctors are dishing out more than 1.6 million unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions for common ailments such as sinusitis and acute coughs. The result: an unnecessary and massive financial hit.

Conducted by researchers from Cardiff University and led by Professor Chris Butler, the two-year study worked with 68 GP practices in Wales. Finding that antibiotics were needlessly given to patients without effect, doctors were provided data that could limit the massive prescription count. Given data regarding antibiotic prescribing methods and resistance data, the researchers concluded that even a 5.5% reduction in antibiotic prescribing could save over $1,000 per individual practice - and cut over 2 million dollars per year in worthless antibiotic prescriptions.

Widespread Prescriptions, Massive Adverse Reaction

The high volume of antibiotic prescriptions - deemed needless or not - are heavily contributing to the illnesses many individuals are facing on a daily basis. This has to do with how antibiotics impact not only the 'bad' bacteria that could be making you sick, but also the 'good' bacteria that actually prevent illness and maintain gut health. Of course destroying the bad bacteria is good, but the negative effect on your gut health that results from antibiotics is quite serious. Your gut is a central function of the immune system, and when compromised your body's "security system" begins to weaken.

Toronto: Spanking children can cause long-term developmental damage and may even lower a child's IQ, according to a new Canadian analysis that seeks to shift the ethical debate over corporal punishment into the medical sphere.

The study, published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, reached its conclusion after examining 20 years of published research on the issue. The authors say the medical finding have been largely overlooked and overshadowed by concerns that parents should have the right to determine how their children are disciplined.

While spanking is certainly not as widespread as it was 20 years ago, many still cling to the practice and see prohibiting spanking as limiting the rights of parents.

That point of view highlights the difficulty in changing hearts and minds on the issue, despite a mountain of accumulated evidence showing the damage physical punishment can have on a child, says Joan Durant, a professor at University of Manitoba and one of the authors of the study.

"We're really past the point of calling this a controversy. That's a word that's used and I don't know why, because in the research there really is no controversy," she said in an interview.

While personal matters such as family problems and living situations might cause the most stress for women, new research shows it's on-the-job issues that cause men the most anxiety.

A study by Polaris Marketing Research regarding sources of stress revealed that men were more likely to say work issues were causing them angst, while women were significantly more likely to cite financial issues, lack of time, family problems, living situation and relationship issues.

While both men and women cited watching television as their top way to relieve stress, their other unwinding tricks varied.

According to the research, women are more likely to sleep, listen to music, surf the Internet, socialize, pray, read a book, write in a journal or eat their favorite comfort foods, while men were more likely to play video games, exercise and have a drink to help relax.