Heidi Ledford
NatureWed, 18 Jul 2007 07:32 UTC
Getting sick often means getting tired too. Now researchers have tracked down how the chemical responsible for such drowsiness works.
The culprit is a small protein called tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), named for its anti-tumour properties. This compound was known to trigger inflammation in response to infection and some chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. And it was known to be linked - somehow - to fatigue. Cancer patients treated with TNF-alpha sometimes report severe lethargy, for example. And patients with a sleep disorder called sleep apnea sometimes report less daytime sleepiness after receiving a drug that interferes with TNF-alpha.
But precisely how the protein was affecting sleep habits was unclear.
A 13-year-old boy fatally stabbed his brother with a steak knife after the 16-year-old refused to turn over a video game controller, authorities said.
Comment: Still think video games are harmless to your mental health?
U.S.-based babyfood company Gerber is recalling around half a million packs of organic rice and oatmeal cereal because of a risk babies might choke on the product, a spokesman said on Monday.
America used to be the tallest country in the world.
From the days of the Founding Fathers through the Industrial Revolution and two world wars, Americans literally towered over people of other nations.
But America's predominance in height has faded. Americans reached a height plateau after World War II, gradually falling behind nations around the world.
Comment: There is no doubt the US is falling behind or below standard in many areas. When a pathocracy is in place, the lives of a countries citizens are worth less than nothing. In the case of the US, cannon fodder and mindless machines are the goal.
Andrew Leonard
SalonMon, 16 Jul 2007 21:35 UTC
The efforts of the chemical industry to combat findings that a ubiquitous synthetic chemical (traces of which can be found in the urine of just about every living human being in the United States ) might cause developmental and reproductive defects in humans, even when ingested in low doses, are not surprising. But there is one aspect to this story that is quite eye-opening.
There appears to be evidence that the damage done by bisphenol A during embryonic development may be scrambling the signals that fat cells normally receive during prenatal and neonatal development. After the initial distortion, the affected fat cells never work properly again. Affected animals are unable to properly metabolize their normal diets, leading to obesity. And guess what? The introduction of bisphenol A into the human environment in significant quantities tracks pretty closely, in timing, to the advent of the so-called obesity epidemic in the United States.
ANIMon, 16 Jul 2007 12:38 UTC
A study has revealed that high consumption of foods like white rice, pasta and bread, which have high-glycemic-index, increase the chances of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
However, whole-wheat versions of rice, pasta and bread are examples of foods that have a low-glycemic-index. These foods are often considered higher quality carbohydrates because they are associated with a slower and less dramatic rise and fall of blood sugar.
AMD it is the leading cause of central vision loss (blindness) and in the United States.
Allen Taylor, PhD, director of the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University, and colleagues said that AMD link and vision loss may be connected to the quality of carbohydrates an individual consumes.
AFPMon, 16 Jul 2007 12:28 UTC
A Polish baby came into the world under the influence of alcohol because his mother was drunk during labour, police said Friday.
Tests 12 hours after the boy's birth revealed a level of 1.2 grammes of alcohol per 1,000 grammes of blood - the equivalent of a bottle of wine or two litres of beer for an adult drinker.
In comparison, blood-alcohol limit for drivers in Poland is 0.2 grammes.
The baby was in intensive care on Friday, and although he was in a stable condition, doctors said they feared his brain could have suffered lasting damage.
An over reliance on technology is leading to a dumbing down of the nation's brain power, according a study published today.
In a society flooded with mobile phones, Blackberry devices and computers of various shapes and sizes, a quarter of all Britons do not know their own landline number while as little as a third can recall more than three birthdays of their immediate family.
Mary Vance
AlterNetMon, 09 Jul 2007 15:49 UTC
Is a staple of healthy diets in America making us sick?
Consumers often abandon products when other social groups adopt them. Teens want to distinguish themselves from their parents. Jocks want to separate themselves from geeks. Rich Brits stopped buying Burberry once it became the brand of choice for soccer hooligans and Shanghai urbanites avoid the Volkswagen model that is preferred by the suburban nouveau riche. Yet, the same teens who wouldn't be caught dead wearing the same jeans as their parents have no problem using the same brand of detergent. A new study by Stanford researchers explores why some products are used by people to differentiate themselves from certain social groups.
"Prior work on individual drives for differentiation tells us a lot about who is more likely to prefer unique products or when people might be more likely to prefer them," write Jonah Berger and Chip Heath (Stanford University) in the August issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. "But these approaches have less to say about where people diverge, or why people diverge more in certain domains."
Comment: Still think video games are harmless to your mental health?