Health & WellnessS


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Demand grows for hogs that are raised humanely outdoors

Stephanie Strom
New York Times
Mon, 20 Jan 2014 13:43 UTC
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© Karsten Moran for The New York TimesCraig and Sophie Meili raise pigs in a pasture on their family farm in Amenia, N.Y., not in barns or in the confinement stalls used in large-scale industrial settings.
Shushan, New York - Turn down the road to Flying Pigs Farm here, and two or three of Michael Yezzi's pigs are probably standing in the middle of it.

"They're the welcoming committee," Mr. Yezzi explained recently.

These particular pigs, three Gloucestershire Old Spots that could easily find work in Hollywood, had exploited a fault in the electrically wired fence and gone exploring. "I'm sure you've heard that pigs are very smart," said Mr. Yezzi, a lawyer turned farmer. His farm is about 20 miles east of Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

For the last four or five decades, spotting lone pigs in a field was almost as rare as finding a hen's tooth. But Mr. Yezzi is one of an increasing number of farmers raising pigs on hoof, in contrast to the barns and confinement stalls used in large scale industrial settings.
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Green Light

Here's how Vladimir Putin stays in shape

Benjamin Bell
ABC News
Sun, 19 Jan 2014 09:07 UTC
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© Unknown
Russian President Vladimir Putin, known for showcasing his physicality, often without a shirt, offered up details of his personal fitness routine and diet regimen in an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos just weeks before the opening of the Olympic Games in Sochi next month.

The Russian leader, 61, said there is no silver bullet for staying in shape, but consistency is key.

"How does one control weight? By not overeating. How does one stay in shape? One plays sports. There are no magic pills here," Putin said during an interview for "This Week."

"I spend a little time every day to play sports. Last night, I was skiing here until 1:30 in the morning. I hit the gym this morning. I swim almost every day, a thousand meters," he said in an interview conducted Friday in Sochi.

During the interview, Putin invoked a Russian saying when describing his approach to fitness.

"You know there's a Russian saying: 'grain by grain, and a hen fills her belly,'" he said.
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Comet 2

Madagascar faces plague epidemic

Mary Boland
Irish Times
Tue, 21 Jan 2014 16:34 UTC
Experts warn former French colony faces Black Death epidemic unless it slows spread of rodent-borne disease
Madagascar black death
© Stephane de Sakutin/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesA young boy carries a tank to collect water in Antananarivo in Madagascar. Malagasy officials announced last month that the city’s coffers were empty and there was no funding for rubbish collection. Refuse has been piling up, encouraging the growth of the rodent population.
The director of Toliara jail in southwest Madagascar is wary of giving a wrong impression. "Sure we have rats, but lots of places do," says Serge Idriss Hasambarana. "We catch maybe 10 or so a month. Maybe more. The Pasteur Institute gave us traps."

Some 600 prisoners are held here in four cramped cells, a situation Hasambarana insists he is powerless to change. "Look around," he says, pointing to the crumbling walls and peeling paint of his sparse office and adjacent buildings. "This place was built by the French, and it hasn't been touched since. We need a lot of improvements around here but we don't get any money for it."

Comment: For a different perspective on the nature of the Black Death, read and consider the following SOTT Focus research:

New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection

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Comet

Bubonic plague outbreak in Madagascar leaves 32 dead and 100 quarantined in prison

Steve White
Mirror
Mon, 20 Jan 2014 16:24 UTC
Black Death burial
© PABlack death: Workmen uncover a 14th century 'plague pit' burial ground in London earlier this year
The disease wiped out a third of Europe in the 14th Century and has returned to parts of Africa and Asia in recent years

Bubonic plague, which 700 years ago wiped out a third of Europe, has broken out on Madagascar.

At least 32 people on the East African island have died from the 'Black Death' with another 100 suspected cases. Surviving victims are being held in a prison.

The disease is spread by fleas carried by rats. If left untreated, it is fatal within 24 hours.

Comment: For a different perspective on the nature of the Black Death, read and consider the following SOTT Focus research:

New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection

Read More...
Pills

Danish doctor offers ten myths about psychotropic drugs

Pete Calautti
Design&Trend
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 13:18 UTC
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© Reuters/Shannon StapletonPsychotropic drugs are causing more harm than good, especially in children
Dr. Peter Gotzsche has created a controversy and sparked criticism over what he sees as a damaging over-prescription of drugs by psychiatrists.

Gotzsche recently compiled a list of ten common myths held not only by the general public, but also trained psychiatrists concerning the safety of psychotropic drugs, and the rationale for their use.

As an internist, Gotzsche remarked that since he was outside of the political orthodoxy of the world of psychiatric medicine, he was free to express what he believed to be the sentiments of many psychiatrists who must remain quiet in their objections for fear of hurting their careers.

1. Mental diseases are caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain

"We have no idea about which interplay of psychosocial conditions, biochemical processes, receptors and neural pathways that lead to mental disorders and the theories that patients with depression lack serotonin and that patients with schizophrenia have too much dopamine have long been refuted."

2. It's easy to go off antidepressants any time you want to

Here, Gotzsche points to drug trails involving agoraphobics and people suffering from panic disorder, whom were not depressed. Fifty percent of the patients found it difficult to come off antidepressants even though they were gradually reducing their doses. It could not be that the patients saw their depression returning, as they were not depressed to begin with.
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Briefcase

Sitting at work for hours can be as unhealthy as smoking


CBS News
Fri, 24 Jan 2014 09:32 UTC
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© Boagworld.com
Take a stand for your health - literally.

Doctors are urging the millions of people who work at a desk all day to stand up or walk around the office.

As CBS 2′s Dr. Max Gomez reported, our couch-potato lifestyle is killing us at about the same rate as smoking.

And it's not just sitting around at home; it's also our sit-for-hours workdays that are part of an unhealthy sedentary lifestyle.

"Sitting is probably killing me," said Linda Caufield, of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Caufiled is right. A number of studies have shown that prolonged sitting is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer and even early death.

"Smoking certainly is a major cardiovascular risk factor, and sitting can be equivalent in many cases," said Dr. David Coven, a cardiologist at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center. "The fact of being sedentary causes factors to happen in the body that are very detrimental."

A recent study shows levels of physical activity and lower levels of sitting time were positively associated with excellent health and quality of life.

Comment: MU study finds that sitting may increase risk of disease

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Ambulance

Three Aborigine boys airlifted to hospital after circumcision ritual goes horrifically wrong and they are left sitting in 'pools of blood'

Bernard O'shea
Source
Thu, 23 Jan 2014 06:11 UTC
  • Three boys airlifted to hospital after disastrous initiation ceremony
  • Ambulance driver finds his grandson sitting in pool of blood
  • No medical staff from local clinic were in attendance at the ritual
  • NT Police investigate after complaints to child abuse taskforce
Borroloola, 700km away in the Gulf of Carpentaria
© UnknownBorroloola, 700km away in the Gulf of Carpentaria, where the young boys had the ceremony performed
Three teenage boys have been hospitalised following a circumcision ceremony in the Northern Territory that went disastrously wrong.

The boys were evacuated to Darwin from a remote community near Borroloola, 700km away in the Gulf of Carpentaria, after suffering severe cuts during the ceremony. The incident has sparked anger and debate in the community over safety procedures surrounding indigenous initiation ceremonies.

One of the boys who was airlifted to hospital, Bryce Miller, 17, said when he was circumcised the cut was so bad that 'heaps' of blood poured out.
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Magnify

Superbugs are breeding, spreading drug-resistant genes at water treatment plants

L.J. Devon
Natural News
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 17:40 UTC
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What role does the current overuse of antibiotics play in encouraging the spread of new and invasive super bugs?

Why are water treatment facilities spreading super bugs even after the water has been treated?

Is chlorine an effective water disinfectant?

Experts are beginning to ponder these questions as water treatment plants are routinely found to be ineffective. New lab results show that specific infectious superbugs can now spread drug-resistant genes at water treatment plants.
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Fish

Fish oil could help prevent Alzheimer's and also give you a bigger brain

Jenny Hope
Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 09:17 UTC
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Eating more fish could give you a bigger brain and greater protection against diseases including Alzheimer's
  • Research shows people with higher levels of the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil may also have larger brain volumes in old age
  • This would be the equivalent to preserving one or two years of brain health
Eating more fish could give you a bigger brain - and greater protection against diseases such as Alzheimer's, claim researchers.

They found people with higher levels of the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil may also have larger brain volumes in old age.

This would be the equivalent to preserving one to two years of brain health, says a new study published in the journal Neurology.
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Bacon

Scientists use discovery that humans can sniff out good fats to trick them into eating evil fats


ScienceDaily.com
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 03:51 UTC
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© rufar/FotoliaNew research from the Monell Center reveals humans can use the sense of smell to detect dietary fat in food.
New research from the Monell Center reveals humans can use the sense of smell to detect dietary fat in food. As food smell almost always is detected before taste, the findings identify one of the first sensory qualities that signals whether a food contains fat. Innovative methods using odor to make low-fat foods more palatable could someday aid public health efforts to reduce dietary fat intake.


Comment: The reason why we can sniff out good fats is because saturated fat is essential for health and well-being!

With one hand, 'scientists' tell us that saturated animal fats are evil for us, and with the other they're going to try and trick us into believing that the really evil fats are the good ones.

Diabolical!


"The human sense of smell is far better at guiding us through our everyday lives than we give it credit for," said senior author Johan Lundström, PhD, a cognitive neuroscientist at Monell. "That we have the ability to detect and discriminate minute differences in the fat content of our food suggests that this ability must have had considerable evolutionary importance."
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