Health & WellnessS

Bomb

Propaganda! The Genetics of Nicotine Addiction

Researchers at the University of Iowa have identified certain genetic profiles that may be linked to a person's risk for developing nicotine addiction and other psychological behaviors. Using a genome-wide scan, scientists analyzed blood samples from smokers versus nonsmokers and found similar genetic patterns among smokers that may one day be used as a genetic test to determine who may be more vulnerable to nicotine addiction.

Comment: On the other hand, there is Aliens Don't Like to Eat People Who Smoke!


Magic Wand

Nanocosmetics: Buyer Beware

There's a lovely jar of night cream that's been sitting on my dresser for a month. According to the salesperson who spent a half-hour on the phone with me extolling its virtues, the cream will dig up the gunk that's clogging my pores, soak up excess oil, and "teach" my cells to make less of it.

Sounds fantastic, doesn't it? Too bad I'm too scared to use it.

Attention

Sleep Disorders Can Impair Children's IQs As Much As Lead Exposure

Three decades ago, medical investigators began sounding the alarm about how lead exposure causes IQ deficits in children. Today, researchers at the University of Virginia Health System say children with sleep disorders can face similar risks of intellectual impairment.

UVa researchers have been studying sleep disturbances in children with enlarged tonsils and adenoids for the past seven years. In a recent study, they discovered that youngsters who snore nightly scored significantly lower on vocabulary tests than those who snore less often.

"Vocabulary scores are known to be the best single predictor of a child's IQ and the strongest predictor of academic success," explains Dr. Paul M. Suratt, a pulmonologist who directs the UVa Sleep Laboratory.

Laptop

Office workers 'risk blood clots'

Workers who spend excessive amounts of time at their desk could be putting their lives at risk, research suggests.
The Medical Research Institute in New Zealand found they may have a higher risk of developing potentially fatal blood clots.

The researchers found a third of patients admitted to hospital with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) were office workers who spent hours at a computer.

The study will be published in the New Zealand Medical Journal.


Comment: I wonder why the article makes the point that it is the people sitting at their desks in front of the computer who are at risk. Why not the people sitting infront of the TV or the playstation?


Stop

GMO corn causes liver, kidney problems in rats: study

Paris - Environmental group Greenpeace launched a fresh attack on genetically modified maize developed by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto, saying on Tuesday that rats fed on one version developed liver and kidney problems.

Greenpeace said a study it had commissioned that was published in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Technology showed rats fed for 90 days on Monsanto's MON863 maize showed "signs of toxicity" in the liver and kidneys.

Attention

New Girl Scout Cookies Still Have Trans Fats

Yet who Knows the Truth and Calls it a Lie, is a Criminal." -
In "Galileo Galilei" by Berthold Brecht (1898-1956)
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Despite all the public uproar about trans fats that's pushed American cities to ban them along with fast-food restaurant chains, Girl Scout cookies still have them, even after changes to their recipes.


Attention

Underestimation: A Third Of Gulf War Veterans Have Mental Health Difficulties

A new US study has found that nearly a third of Gulf war veterans treated by Veterans Affairs (VA) between 2001 and 2005 returned from Iraq or Afghanistan with mental health difficulties.

The study is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the San Francisco VA Medical Center reviewed data collected on 103,788 veterans, half of whom were National Guard or Reserves.

Just over half of the veterans were under the age of 30, with females numbering 13 per cent and minorities around 33 per cent.

Dr Karen H. Seal and colleagues assessed the types of of mental health and psychosocial problems reported in the vets using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-9) clinical modification system designed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Magic Wand

Poll: Most U.S. women not sleeping enough

A typical night for Deborah Wischow means waking up three hours after an early bedtime and waiting to see if sleep will return.

"You're not asleep, but you're not really awake," said Wischow, a Minneapolis resident who has struggled to maintain sound sleep for the past few years.

Wischow, 49, is one of many American women who are stressed out and sleep-deprived due to poor time management, according to a study released recently by the National Sleep Foundation.

Sixty percent of all women surveyed reported getting a good night's sleep only a couple of times a week, and 46 percent said they had a problem sleeping most nights.

This sleepless existence has gripped women of all ages and walks of life. The women also reported falling asleep at work and relying on caffeinated beverages during the day to stay awake. The survey results contain a 3.1 percent margin of error and were collected from 1003 people between ages 18-64 who where surveyed over the phone.

Light Saber

Study shows why exercise boosts brainpower

Exercise boosts brainpower by building new brain cells in a brain region linked with memory and memory loss, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

Tests on mice showed they grew new brain cells in a brain region called the dentate gyrus, a part of the hippocampus that is known to be affected in the age-related memory decline that begins around age 30 for most humans.

The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging scans to help document the process in mice -- and then used MRIs to look at the brains of people before and after exercise.

They found the same patterns, which suggests that people also grow new brain cells when they exercise.

Wolf

Russian scientists considering animal-to-human transplants

Russian specialists are studying the possibility of animal-to-human transplants, organ cloning and the creation of hybrid organs, a leading researcher said Monday.

"We are currently working on the possibility of xenotransplantation - i.e., transplantation of organs from animals to humans. We are also studying the possibility of cloning organs and creating hybrid organs. But until we have some definitive results, we cannot disclose any details," said Valery Shumakov, director of the Russian Scientific Research Institute of Transplantation and Artificial Organs.