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Supporting others brings healing to cancer survivors


Science Daily
Wed, 27 Nov 2013 11:30 UTC
helping hand
A new study finds that survivors of hematopoietic stem cell transplant, an aggressive treatment for blood cancers, benefited from a two-part peer support process the authors call expressive helping.

The process includes first writing for oneself in emotionally expressive ways about the trauma of the cancer and transplant experience, followed by peer helping, which includes writing as if speaking to a person ready to undergo the transplant procedure about the survivor's experience while offering advice and encouragement.

Christine Rini, PhD, research associate professor of health behavior at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, led the study.

Benefits of receiving peer support when in ill health are recognized widely. Although fewer studies have focused upon the effect of an ill person's giving support to a peer, prior research has established that cancer survivors who help others face treatment experience a range of psychosocial and health-related benefits as a result of peer helping. The current study shows that the survivor's preceding the helping with emotionally expressive writing about his or her own experiences increases the health benefits to the survivor.
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Smoking

Brain Researchers: Smoking increases intelligence

Klaus K
Den Gule Negl
Mon, 03 Dec 2012 00:00 UTC
Einstein smoking
Quitting smoking results in a decrease in brain activity, says professor.

Positive effects of nicotine on the brain's performance is now confirmed by the Danish nicotine research at the Panum Institute in Copenhagen. We can now add another piece to the puzzle which clearly shows that smoking increases the intelligence. According to an interview with brain scientist, Professor Albert Gjedde in Ekstra Bladet.

Albert Gjedde, along with two colleagues started with nicotine tests, according to Gjedde clearly shows that if a heavy smoker suddenly stops smoking, then it bears negative consequences on his brain activity.

"The energy metabolism of oxygen in the brain decreases. This means, that one's thinking capacity is also decreased. But if you start smoking again, so does the energy sales at the usual level, "he says. Albert Gjedde explains in the interview that a number of now concluded studies that smoking increases intelligence:
"If you have to explain the concept of intelligence, it is in fact the ability to make sensible choices - to anticipate future challenges. And this is where nicotine can help"
he told the newspaper. Gjedde also refers to the Swedish professor of genetic developmental biology, Klas Kullander, who found that nicotine promotes learning and memory: "Nicotine affects receptors in the memory center. You simply get better at organizing his memory. ", said Gjedde.

Comment: Let's All Light Up!

5 Health Benefits of Smoking

Nicotine Lessens Symptoms Of Depression In Nonsmokers

Nicotine helps Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Patients

      Read More...
Pills

Top ten legal drugs linked to violence

Maia Szalavitz
Time
Tue, 07 Jun 2011 09:13 UTC
Image
When people consider the connections between drugs and violence, what typically comes to mind are illegal drugs like crack cocaine. However, certain medications - most notably, some antidepressants like Prozac - have also been linked to increase risk for violent, even homicidal behavior.

A new study from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices published in the journal PloS One and based on data from the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System has identified 31 drugs that are disproportionately linked with reports of violent behavior towards others.

Please note that this does not necessarily mean that these drugs cause violent behavior. For example, in the case of opioid pain medications like Oxycontin, people with a prior history of violent behavior may seek drugs in order to sustain an addiction, which they support via predatory crime. In the case of antipsychotics, the drugs may be given in an attempt to reduce violence by people suffering from schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders - so the drugs here might not be causing violence, but could be linked with it because they're used to try to stop it.

Nonetheless, when one particular drug in a class of nonaddictive drugs used to treat the same problem stands out, that suggests caution: unless the drug is being used to treat radically different groups of people, that drug may actually be the problem. Researchers calculated a ratio of risk for each drug compared to the others in the database, adjusting for various relevant factors that could create misleading comparisons. Here are the top ten offenders:

Comment: Why even try to quit smoking when nicotine has proved to be anti-inflammatory and healing. See Nicotine Found To Protect Against Parkinson's-like Brain Damage and Warning: Nicotine Seriously Improves Health.

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Alarm Clock

GMO linked to gluten disorders plaguing 18 million Americans - report


RT
Tue, 26 Nov 2013 22:05 UTC
gmo corn
© AFP / Khaled Desouki
Genetically modified foods such as soy and corn may be responsible for a number of gluten-related maladies including intestinal disorders now plaguing 18 million Americans, according to a new report released on Tuesday.

The report was released by the Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT), and cites authoritative data from the US Department of Agriculture, US Environmental Protection Agency records, medical journal reviews as well as international research.

"Gluten sensitivity can range in severity from mild discomfort, such as gas and bloating, to celiac disease, a serious autoimmune condition that can, if undiagnosed, result in a 4-fold increase in death," said Jeffrey M. Smith, executive director of IRT in a statement released on their website.

Smith cited how a "possible environmental trigger may be the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to the American food supply, which occurred in the mid-1990s," describing the nine GM crops currently on the market.

In soy, corn, cotton (oil), canola (oil), sugar from sugar beets, zucchini, yellow squash, Hawaiian papaya, and alfalfa, "Bt-toxin, glyphosate, and other components of GMOs, are linked to five conditions that may either initiate or exacerbate gluten-related disorders," according to Smith.

It's the BT-toxin in genetically modified foods which kills insects by "puncturing holes in their cells." The toxin is present in 'every kernel' of Bt-corn and survives human digestion, with a 2012 study confirming that it punctures holes in human cells as well.
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Health

School climate key to preventing bullying


Science Daily
Tue, 26 Nov 2013 09:19 UTC
bullying

Research has shown that students involved in bullying experience more mental health difficulties and display higher levels of cognitive distortions.
To effectively prevent bullying schools need to understand positive school climate, use reliable measures to evaluate school climate and use effective prevention and intervention programs to improve the climate, a recent paper co-authored by a University of California, Riverside assistant professor found.

Cixin Wang, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education, co-authored the article, "The Critical Role of School Climate in Effective Bullying Prevention," with Brandi Berry and Susan M. Swearer, both of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It was published in the journal Theory Into Practice.

"Bullying is a very complex problem," Wang said. "With this research, we're really trying to provide school personnel with some proven steps to address the problem."

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in reducing bullying behavior by school personnel, parents and students. However, educators have remained challenged about how to assess the factors that cause bullying and select evidence-based prevention and intervention programs.
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Health

Alzheimer's, vascular changes in the neck


Science Daily
Tue, 26 Nov 2013 09:05 UTC
Studies on Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia have long focused on what's happening inside the brain. Now an international research team studying Alzheimer's and mild cognitive impairment is reporting potentially significant findings on a vascular abnormality outside the brain.

The finding has potential implications for a better understanding of Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders associated with aging.

The pilot study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease Nov. 8 online ahead of print by researchers from the University at Buffalo, the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom and National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine in Taiwan. The authors caution that the study is small and that the results must be validated in larger, future studies.

They studied a hemodynamic abnormality in the internal jugular veins called jugular venous reflux or JVR. It occurs when the pressure gradient reverses the direction of blood flow in the veins, causing blood to leak backwards into the brain.
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Ambulance

The end of antibiotics: Superbug strikes babies in OZ hospitals

Julia Medew
The Age
Mon, 25 Nov 2013 18:40 UTC
Image

Doctors are urgently trying to contain a potentially fatal superbug that has been found in 21 of the state's most vulnerable babies at Monash Medical Centre and Casey Hospital in Melbourne's south-east.

There are also fears that the antibiotic-resistant bacterium - vancomycin resistant enterococcus, or VRE - may have travelled with one baby to another hospital in Melbourne. This hospital has not yet been identified.

The head of infection control for Monash Health, Dr Rhonda Stuart, said 21 babies at the Monash Medical Centre and Casey Hospital special care and intensive care units had tested positive for VRE in recent weeks.

VRE is a bacterium that can colonise the gut and remain harmless for healthy people. However, it can cause serious infections in people with weakened immune systems, particularly cancer, transplant and kidney dialysis patients.

As its name suggests, VRE is resistant to vancomycin, an anti-biotic that is used to treat serious infections.
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Syringe

Sanofi sued in France over Gardasil vaccine


Reuters
Mon, 25 Nov 2013 12:15 UTC
Image
A French teenager has filed a lawsuit against French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur and France's health regulators, her lawyer said on Sunday, over side-effects they say were caused by the Gardasil anti-cervical cancer vaccine.

The lawsuit filed on Friday in Bobigny outside Paris says Sanofi and health regulators violated "obvious safety obligations and breached the principles of precaution and prevention."

The plaintiff's lawyer, Jean-Christophe Coubris, who is based in Bordeaux, said his now 18-year-old client was 15 when she received two injections of Gardasil, which is made by Merck and sold in Europe by Sanofi.

Within months she was hospitalized for multiple sclerosis, he said.

"She temporarily lost her sight and the use of her legs," Coubris said in a statement.

Comment: In fact, Gardasil is proving to be the most deadly vaccine in the market today:

Teenage Girls Develop Degenerative Muscle Diseases After HPV Vaccine Injections
Gardasil Destroys Girl's Ovaries: Research on Ovaries Never Considered
Gardasil Researcher Speaks Out
New Worries About Gardasil Safety
Two More Girls Die After Receiving Gardasil Cervical Cancer Vaccine
Uncovered FDA Documents Reveal 26 More Gardasil Deaths
Institute of Medicine Admits Vaccine Dangers After Review8 more deaths connected to HPV vaccine: Adverse reactions from Gardasil number in thousands

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Smoking

UK medical industry launches compulsory anti-smoking and anti-fat indoctrination program in Wales

Julia McWatt
Wales Online
Mon, 25 Nov 2013 11:06 UTC
Image
Patients in Cardiff or the Vale of Glamorgan who smoke or are obese will be required to attend intervention courses before having non-emergency surgery from the end of this week.

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board says its optimising outcomes policy, which was approved by the board in July, is designed to support patients live healthier lifestyles and improve their chances of surviving surgery and recovery times.

Under the scheme, any patient listed for elective surgery who smokes or has a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more will have to be offered, accept and complete smoking cessation or weight management support programmes before being put on the waiting list.

Around 2% of adults in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan are thought to have a BMI of more than 40 and 21% smoke.

The Health Board said a test phase for the policy, run with 10 GP practices in the area, proved a success and paved the way for the approach to be adopted across the region from December 1.

Comment: They're launching an "optimising outcomes policy"? What bland, neutral-sounding newspeak for what is in fact propaganda of the worst kind, especially because it will lead to more disease, not less.

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Syringe

Dreading pain can be more disabling than the pain itself


Science Daily
Thu, 21 Nov 2013 00:00 UTC
Image
© diego cervo / Fotolia
Faced with inevitable pain, most people would choose to get it out of the way as soon as possible, according to a new study

Faced with inevitable pain, most people would choose to get it out of the way as soon as possible, according to a new study.

Researchers from the Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) at Imperial College London and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL asked 35 volunteers to choose between electric shocks of different intensity occurring at different times.

They found that most people chose to hasten the pain, and would even accept more severe pain to avoid having to wait for it. A smaller proportion preferred to put it off into the future.
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