Health & WellnessS


Magic Wand

Chemical clue sheds light on winter depression

The brains of people with seasonal depression may be too efficient at bundling away a key chemical, a new study suggests.

The finding in people with (SAD) backs the prevailing theory about the biochemical causes of depression, and could give clues into new ways to treat the condition.

The prevailing theory of depression is that affected people do not have enough of certain neurotransmitters called monoamines - serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine - in the spaces between neurons. Most modern antidepressants work by blocking the absorption of these neurotransmitters back into the cell.

Syringe

Flashback Doctor Calls for Truth on Vaccines

Vaccinating our children is a routine part of protecting them from illness in childhood - but a new book queries whether it is worth the risk.Dr Andrew Wakefield, who challenged the safety of the MMR vaccine because of fears over a possible link to autism, is currently fighting to save his career, meanwhile the Government insists vaccines are essential and save millions of lives.

The result is that many parents are anxious and confused about the best course of action.

And now another doctor, Dr Richard Halvorsen, raises his concerns - warning that the Government "misleads us about vaccines".

Syringe

Jenny McCarthy: MMR shot caused son's autism

She's no Andrew Wakefield, but it will be interesting to see what happens to measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rates in the U.S. now that actress Jenny McCarthy has suggested the MMR vaccine--which does not contain the mercury preservative thimerosal--may have caused her son Evan's regressive autism.

Syringe

Flashback New Study Shows Declining Autism Cases Tied to Removal of Mercury From Vaccines

Take Action! Two Unrelated Government Databases Show Same Downward Trend in Autism Cases

Click Here [pdf]to Read the study/see below to TAKE ACTION:

Thimerosal-Containing Study Shows Decline in Neurodevelopmental Disorders After Removal of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines

New study published today (3/1/06) shows that the rate of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs) in children has decreased following removal of thimerosal, a preservative containing the neurotoxin mercury, from American childhood vaccines.

Attention

Flashback Early fears about MMR in secret papers

The Urabe MMR vaccine has been linked to cases of encephalitis

Question

New York Sues Merck Over Vioxx

New York state and New York City have jointly sued Merck & Co. for allegedly concealing safety information about Vioxx, joining a half-dozen states that have sued the drug maker since it withdrew the painkiller three years ago amid concerns about dangerous side effects.

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Health

The virtues of Vitamin D: It's time we saw the light

It may not be the first supplement to be called a "wonder vitamin", but it is one of the few to have lived up to the name. Last week, the biggest review of the role of vitamin D in health found that people who took supplements of the vitamin for six years reduced their risk of dying from all causes.

Bulb

Shocks as learning reinforcement: How the brain handles surprise, good and bad

Whether it's a mugger or a friend who jumps out of the bushes, you're still surprised. But your response - to flee or to hug - must be very different. Now, researchers have begun to distinguish the circuitry in the brain's emotion center that processes surprise from the circuitry that processes the aversive or reward "valence" of a stimulus.

C. Daniel Salzman and colleagues published their findings in the September 20, 2007 issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press.

Magic Wand

New understanding of basic units of memory

A molecular "recycling plant" permits nerve cells in the brain to carry out two seemingly contradictory functions - changeable enough to record new experiences, yet permanent enough to maintain these memories over time.

The discovery of this molecular recycling plant, detailed in a study appearing early online Sept. 19 in the journal Neuron, provides new insights into how the basic units of learning and memory function. Individual memories are "burned onto" hundreds of receptors that are constantly in motion around nerve synapses - gaps between individual nerve cells crucial for signals to travel throughout the brain.

Health

Common abdominal pain may be due to a potentially treatable newly recognized inflammatory reaction

As many as one in four people in westernized countries experience pain or discomfort in their upper abdomen, and physicians have almost nothing to offer except anti-acid medicines, which usually don't work. Now, in a small but novel study, researchers have found evidence that an abnormal amount of inflammatory cells populates the upper intestine of affected individuals, which suggests a fresh way of understanding the common complaint.

The study, published in the September issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology and conducted by researchers in the U.S., Sweden, England, and Australia, may also point to innovative methods to treat the condition and eliminate discomfort.