Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), sometimes referred to a 'functional bowl disorder' (FBD) is characterised by symptoms such as abdominal bloating and discomfort, and constipation and/or diarrhoea. Its cause is often said to be unknown. However, in practice I find two approaches to be generally effective in combating the symptoms of IBS. These are:

1. Identification and elimination of food triggers.

2. Correction of any underling imbalance there may be in the 'ecosystem' within the gut.

You can read more about this here and here.

It is possible that any food can trigger IBS symptoms, but my experience in practice is that wheat is the number 1 offender. Now, sometimes wheat sensitivity is caused by a sensitivity to a protein found in wheat (as well as oats, rye and barley) known as gluten. In conventional medicine, gluten sensitivity is a recognised conditions that goes by the name of coeliac disease. This can be tested for using blood tests and biopsy of the lining of the small bowel.

New research suggests that 7 out of 10 children in the US have low levels of vitamin, nudging millions of them toward higher risk of bone disease, high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease.

The study was led by Dr Michal L. Melamed, assistant professor of medicine and of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York, and is published in the 3 August online issue of Pediatrics.

Melamed, who has written a lot of scientific papers on the importance of vitamin D, told the media that:

"Several small studies had found a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in specific populations, but no one had examined this issue nationwide."

Transposons are mobile genetic elements found in the hereditary material of humans and other organisms. They can replicate and the new copies can insert at novel sites in the genome. Because this threatens the whole organism, molecular mechanisms have evolved which can repress transposon activity. Professor Klaus Förstemann of the Gene Center of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich and a team of researchers working with the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster have now uncovered a new type of cellular defence that acts against DNA sequences present in high copy numbers inside the cell, even if they have not integrated into the genome. Small molecules of RNA (a class of nucleic acid closely related to the genetic material DNA) play the central role. "Transposons are genomic parasites, so to speak", says Förstemann. "If they are allowed to proliferate, the genome can become unstable or cancers can develop. We now want to find out whether mammalian cells possess this newly discovered defence mechanism and to elucidate precisely how it works." (EMBO Journal online, 30 July 2009.)

Transposons constitute a significant fraction of the genomes of most higher organisms. Indeed, it is estimated that these mobile elements, which include one or more genes, make up as much as half of the genetic material. "This demonstrates", says Förstemann, "that it is not always possible to tame these "selfish" genetic elements, although highly efficient mechanisms of defence have evolved. For instance, in the germ cells, which are required for reproduction, the system of so-called piRNAs ensures that transposon activity is inhibited - but only if these RNAs are transmitted from the mother. Disruption of this system usually leads to a drastic reduction in the fertility of the progeny.

There is probably no more dreaded and feared disease than memory-destroying and life-robbing Alzheimer's. According to the National Institute on Aging (NIA), as many as 2.4 to 4.5 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and, as Baby Boomers age, those numbers are expected to soar. Unfortunately, despite millions spent on research and the development of drugs to delay or help symptoms, the bottom line is nothing works to truly prevent, stop or heal the disease. At least, nothing from Big Pharma.

The National Institutes of Health's NIA web site does list some natural strategies -- a nutritious diet, exercise, social engagement, and mentally stimulating pursuits -- which may prevent or delay AD. But now there's new and stunning research that strongly suggests a substance found in nature offers another a way to fight Alzheimer's and maybe even reverse its effects: caffeine.

In experiments with lab mice especially bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, University of South Florida (USF) researchers at the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center ADRC gave the aged animals the equivalent of the caffeine in five cups of coffee a day. The results? Their severe memory impairment was reversed.

In a groundbreaking new study, researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have demonstrated that heart cells are able to regenerate themselves, overturning the conventional wisdom that the body cannot replace damaged heart cells.

Researchers immediately hailed the study as providing new hope for prevention and treatment of diseased hearts.

"I think this will be one of the most important papers in cardiovascular medicine in years," said Dr. Charles Murry, a heart researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle. "It helps settle a longstanding controversy about whether the human heart has any ability to regenerate itself."

Unlike most cells in the body, heart cells mostly stop reproducing themselves relatively early in life. When injured, the heart tends to simply scar, rather than replacing damaged tissue the way other organs do. For decades, scientists assumed that the heart was simply incapable of natural regeneration.

A cup of hot cocoa may not do much to cool you down from the summer swelter, but it may cool down your blood pressure. According to a new report filed in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, hypertensive rats fed a moderate dose of powdered chocolate dropped their systolic blood pressure rates by an average of 50 mmHg after a single dose. The cocoa content was 70 percent.

The study's specimens were mice, some with normal blood pressure, others with high blood pressure. The rats were grouped in a fashion so that rats with normal blood pressure and high blood pressure received one of a range of cocoa doses (as low as 50 milligrams to as much as 600 milligrams of cocoa powder).

While the researchers did not observe any noticeable differences in blood pressure readings among the rats with normal blood pressure, the hypertensive rats that received 300 milligrams of cocoa powder had a systolic blood pressure reading that dropped 60 mmHg four hours after the dose.

Severe stomach cramps, nightmares, hallucinations, diarrhoea, strange behaviour, suicide, and death, these are all known side effects that have been linked with the antiviral drug Tamiflu, over the recent months. Despite being aware of the harm Tamiflu can cause however, this drug is regularly offered to patients displaying symptoms of Swine Flu.

TAMIFLU in the Askapatient database: There are 259 ratings for the drug. This website makes extremely disturbing reading.

Amyloid protein deposits in the brain play a role in disrupting the memory formation process long before a person shows symptoms of the memory impairment of Alzheimer's disease, a new study contends.

Previous research had suggested that clumps of amyloid protein, which damage neurons and are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease, begin appearing many years before Alzheimer's symptoms appear. But the link between the deposits and memory impairment had not been clearly demonstrated in humans.

In the new study, which appears in the July 30 issue of Neuron, U.S. researchers used medical imaging to examine the brains of older people who did not have significant memory impairment.

This case, reported in the UK Daily Mail, reminds me of that of Ken McElroy, recounted by Harry N Maclean in his book, 'In Broad Daylight'. Although the boy concerned is only 12 years old, his future 'career', based on his life up to now, will probably be very similar to McElroy's. He lives on a council housing estate in Hull, UK. 'Asbo' is an acronym for 'Anti-social behaviour order'.

The full report can be found here: 'Satan's child? He's just a little devil,' says mother of a one-boy crime wave.

Here's a few excerpts from the article:

Eight o'clock in the evening, and all is surprisingly calm in the home of Sonny Grainger, the 12-year- old who this week was labelled a 'one-boy wave of terror'.

You might expect that as his newly imposed curfew kicks in - the tag on his ankle ensures he is confined to the house until 7am - a child who prefers to spend evenings riding stolen motorbikes, starting fires and throwing stones at passers-by would be climbing the walls.

Instead, he sits quietly on the sofa, eating toast and watching The Bill until, at 8.45pm, with a kiss for his devoted mum, the 'tyrant' of Hull's Boothferry Estate retires to bed.

In the eyes of his neighbours, who have endured the campaign of violence, vandalism, theft and arson that earned him an Asbo and a reputation for excessive thuggery, he is nothing but a little hooligan whose mother has failed in her basic duty.

But to Nadine West - who admits that, prior to the Asbo [Anti-social behaviour order], she often didn't know his whereabouts from the moment he left the house after school until he had been rounded up by the police - he is a seriously misunderstood little boy.

Though even she has referred to her son - with brutal candour - as 'Satan's child', she insists his problem isn't a lack of discipline, but a psychiatric condition called ODD, or oppositional defiant disorder.

'He was diagnosed last October by experts, not by me,' she says. 'So when I hear people saying all these things about him - that he's got no respect for authority, that he's got anger management issues, that he's out of control - they don't make me think he's a bad kid, they just underline the symptoms of his condition.

'I think: "Yeah, he's got ODD. Now give us the help that we need." '

Among psychiatrists, ODD is a recognised condition, thought to affect between one and 16 per cent of school-age children, and Sonny seems to fit the profile.

Those affected are consistently surly, uncooperative, defiant and hostile towards authority figures.

They throw tantrums, they argue, they do the opposite of whatever is asked of them, they have an explosive temper and an inclination to seek revenge whenever they feel slighted.

Children whose mothers had morning sickness during pregnancy may go on to have sharper minds than their peers, a small study suggests.

Researchers found that among 121 Canadian children between the ages of 3 and 7, those whose mothers had suffered morning sickness scored higher, on average, on certain tests of IQ, memory and language skills.

In addition, mothers' use of the drug diclectin -- prescribed in Canada for morning sickness -- did not diminish the effects. In fact, children whose mothers had used the medication showed the highest average scores on certain tests.