Health & WellnessS


Arrow Down

Ill After Using Toxic Skin Product in Durban


Health24
Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:05 UTC
Toxic Product
© INLSATim Houston, environmental manager at the municipalitys health unit, said the Skintocare product is toxic to many organs in the body, and in severe cases, after a long period of ingestion, could result in death.
City authorities in Durban have issued a warning to customers who bought an over-the-counter skincare product after eight people were hospitalised.

The Daily News reported that officials were now looking for other customers of the ayurvedic product Skintocare, which is imported from India and available from homeopaths and health shops.

Durban officials found the product contained high levels of lead.

Most of the patients were teenage girls and taking the product in capsule form for treatment of acne and skin blemishes.

Product is toxic

"The product overall is toxic to many organs in the body, including the heart, nervous system and bones. In severe cases, after a long period of ingestion, it leads to seizures, comas and sudden death," said Tim Houston from the eThekwini Municipality's health unit.

Some of the consumers were tracked down by the unit, using a distribution list from the importer of the product.

Manufacturer Bacfo Pharmaceuticals has recalled the product but residual products may still be on the market.

Shops have been ordered to remove the product from shelves. People who have been using the product have been told to see their doctor immediately.

Symptoms of lead poisoning are non-specific and people could have toxic levels in their blood and not even know about it.
Read More...
Bulb

Brain filter for clear information transmission is key for memory formation


ScienceDaily
Thu, 06 Sep 2012 00:00 UTC
Tiny nerve cell
© C. MüllerSchematic representation of a tiny nerve cell prolongation (dendrite) that processes exhibitory and inhibitory signals.
Every activity in the brain involves the transfer of signals between neurons. Frequently, as many as one thousand signals rain down on a single neuron simultaneously. To ensure that precise signals are delivered, the brain possesses a sophisticated inhibitory system. Stefan Remy and colleagues at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the University Bonn have illuminated how this system works.

"The system acts like a filter, only letting the most important impulses pass," explains Remy. "This produces the targeted neuronal patterns that are indispensible for long-term memory storage."

How does this refined control system work? How can inhibitory signals produce precise output signals? This was the question investigated by Remy and his colleagues. Scientists have known for some time that this inhibitory system is crucial for the learning process. For instance, newest research has shown that this system breaks down in Alzheimer's patients. Remy and his team investigated the nerve cells of the hippocampus, a region of the brain that plays a crucial role in memory formation.
Read More...
Magnify

Stanford Scientists Shockingly Reckless on Health Risk and Organics

Frances Moore Lappe
readersupportednews.org
Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:51 UTC
Image
© Kid's LifeConsumption of organic foods reduces exposure to pesticide residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
I first heard about a new Stanford "study" downplaying the value of organics when this blog headline cried out from my inbox: "Expensive organic food isn't healthier and no safer than produce grown with pesticides, finds biggest study of its kind."

What?

Does the actual study say this?

No, but authors of the study - "Are Organic Foods Safer or Healthier Than Conventional Alternatives? A Systematic Review" - surely are responsible for its misinterpretation and more. Their study actually reports that ¨Consumption of organic foods may reduce exposure to pesticide residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria."

The authors' tentative wording - "may reduce" - belies their own data: The report's opening statement says the tested organic produce carried a 30 percent lower risk of exposure to pesticide residues. And, the report itself also says that "detectable pesticide residues were found in 7% of organic produce samples...and 38% of conventional produce samples." Isn't that's a greater than 80% exposure reduction?

In any case, the Stanford report's unorthodox measure "makes little practical or clinical sense," notes Charles Benbrook - formerly Executive Director, Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences: What people "should be concerned about [is]... not just the number of [pesticide] residues they are exposed to" but the "health risk they face." Benbrook notes "a 94% reduction in health risk" from pesticides when eating organic foods.
Read More...
Stop

Diagnostic Radiation Before Age 30 May Increase Breast Cancer Risk


Science Daily
Thu, 06 Sep 2012 00:00 UTC
mammography clinic
© n/a
Women carrying a mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes (which control the suppression of breast and ovarian cancer) who have undergone diagnostic radiation to the chest before the age of 30 are more likely to develop breast cancer than those who carry the gene mutation but who have not been exposed, a study published on bmj.com today reveals.

The BMJ published a commentary in August which argued that a breast cancer charity was using misleading statistics to persuade women to undergo mammography, concluding that charities should stop generating false hope and that women need and deserve the facts instead.

Exposure to radiation is an established risk factor for breast cancer in the general population. Some studies have suggested that women with a mutated BRCA1/2 gene may have increased radiation sensitivity because BRCA1 and BRCA2 are the genes involved in the repair of DNA breaks, which can be caused by radiation. The benefit from mammographic screening in young BRCA1/2 mutation carriers may therefore not outweigh the radiation risk. Some countries have even gone as far as recommending that women avoid mammographic screening before the age of 30 but results of studies have been inconsistent.
Read More...
Arrow Up

Study Finds BPA Actually Changes Your Brain

Lisa Garber
Natural Society
Sat, 08 Sep 2012 17:40 UTC
Brain Changes
© Natural Society
Researchers at North Carolina State University found that bisphenol-A (BPA) exposure in early life stages can actually cause gene expression changes. These effects are seen in a part of the brain called the amygdala, which can lead to increased levels of anxiety. What may surprise you is that soy - which has been accused of mimicking estrogen, as has BPA - prevented the behavioral changes.

BPA and Genetic Changes

Lead author of the study as published in the journal PLOS ONE, Dr. Heather Patisaul is an NC State associate professor of biology. For the research, she and other researchers divided rats into four groups:
  • Group I was fed only soy.
  • Group II was fed a soy-free diet.
  • Group III was fed only soy ad exposed to BPA.
  • Group IV was fed a soy-free diet and exposed to BPA.
Rats exposed to BPA were given low doses during gestation, lactation, and throughout puberty. When administered blood tests, the rats dosed with BPA showed levels comparable to those found in humans. The same was true of rats fed a soy diet, which displayed comparable levels of genistein the estrogen-mimicking chemical much abhorred in soy.

Group IV - rats fed no soy and exposed to BPA - showed markedly higher levels of anxiety than the other groups. Their genes had changed, specifically where expressed in the amygdala (a region of the brain that deals with responses to fear and stress, also associated with behavior). The affected genes - estrogen receptor beta and melanocortin receptor 4 - both deal with the process of releasing oxytocin, a hormone and neurotransmitter linked to social behavior. Researchers therefore believe that the increased anxiety must have to do with BPA's ability to change the oxytocin/vasopressin signaling pathway.

The abstract of the study states:
"Early life exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA), a component of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, alters sociosexual behavior in numerous species including humans. The present study focused on the ontogeny of these behavioral effects beginning in adolescence and assessed the underlying molecular changes in the amygdala."
Read More...
Arrow Down

GSK to Develop Traditional Chinese Medicine

Wang Hongyi
China Daily
Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:42 UTC
Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline will open a new research unit in China to look at traditional Chinese medicine.

According to the company, Innovative TCM will be one of GSK's R&D programs in China, aiming to transform TCM from an experience-based practice to evidence-based medicines through innovation and differentiation.

"Traditional chinese medicine is a well-established system of medical practice developed through thousands of years of empirical testing and refinement of herbal mixtures, and relies generally on clinical experience," said Zang Jingwu, senior vice president and head of R&D China.

"Western medicines, on the other hand, are generally target-based small molecules or biologics, and their approvals for clinical use are based on clinical evidence of safety and efficacy by staged clinical trials," he said.

He said the newly formed unit is working with academic TCM experts in China to develop new TCM products for the benefits of patients in China and the rest of the world.

The strategy is to integrate the existing TCM knowledge of diseases with modern drug discovery technology and clinical trial methodology.

"We are developing novel therapeutic TCM mixtures as prescription medicines through innovative extraction methods and combinations, and we use clinical data/evidence to differentiate from existing TCM products on the market," he said.

The company's R&D China center was founded in 2007 with a focus on neurosciences. So far, the center has developed into a fully integrated global R&D organization in China to deliver medicine globally and for China.
Read More...
Health

Even the Very Elderly and Frail Can Benefit from Exercise


ScienceDaily
Sat, 08 Sep 2012 16:09 UTC
A study carried out by Dr. Louis Bherer, PhD (Psychology), Laboratory Director and Researcher at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (IUGM), an institution affiliated with Université de Montréal, has shown that all seniors, even those considered frail, can enjoy the benefits of exercise in terms of their physical and cognitive faculties and quality of life and that these benefits appear after only three months.

This discovery is excellent news, as increased life expectancy has also increased the number of frail seniors in our communities. In geriatrics, frailness is characterized by decreased functional reserves in an individual, which increases vulnerability to stressors and the risk of adverse health effects. Frailty is associated with a higher risk of falls, hospitalizations, cognitive decline and psychological distress. Currently, 7% of seniors aged 65 to 74, 18% of those aged 75 to 84, and 37% of seniors over the age of 85 are considered frail.
Read More...
Health

Rare Autoimmune Disease Attacks People of Asian Descent


ScienceDaily
Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:00 UTC
There has been an outbreak of an adult-onset immunodeficiency syndrome in Southeast Asia. The autoimmune disease causes AIDS-like symptoms but is not associated with HIV and is not contagious.

The disease causes patients' bodies to produce antibodies that attack their own immune systems. Dr. Sarah Browne, a clinical investigator at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH and the lead author on the study, says that we all have molecules and proteins that tell different immune cells when to start fighting infection. A large number of the patients studied with serious opportunistic infections make an antibody that blocks the function of one of these molecules. The molecule is called interferon-gamma. Without functioning interferon-gamma, people become more susceptible to certain types of infections -- infections people with working immune systems normally don't get. Interferon-gamma is a protein that helps the body fight off infections. In those diagnosed, the immune system has begun treating interferon-gamma as an enemy and makes an autoantibody against it, thus making it an autoimmune condition.
Read More...
Health

Immune Cell Death Safeguards Against Autoimmune Disease


ScienceDaily
Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:55 UTC
Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have discovered that a pair of molecules work together to kill so-called 'self-reactive' immune cells that are programmed to attack the body's own organs. The finding is helping to explain how autoimmune diseases develop.

Image
© The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, AustraliaDr Daniel Gray and colleagues have discovered that immune cell death is an important safeguard against autoimmune diseases.
Dr Daniel Gray and colleagues from the institute's Molecular Genetics of Cancer division and the University of Ballarat discovered that the absence of two related proteins, called Puma and Bim, led to self-reactive immune cells accumulating and attacking many different body organs, causing illness. The research is published online today in the journal Immunity.

Autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis, develop when immune cells launch an attack on the body's own cells, destroying important body organs or structures. Around one in 20 Australians is affected by autoimmune conditions, most of which are chronic illnesses with no cure.

Puma and Bim are so-called 'BH3-only' proteins that make cells die by a process called apoptosis. Defects in apoptosis proteins have been linked to many human diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.
Read More...
Health

Master Gene Affects Neurons That Govern Breathing at Birth and in Adulthood


ScienceDaily
Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:47 UTC
When mice are born lacking the master gene Atoh1, none breathe well and all die in the newborn period. Why and how this occurs could provide new answers about sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), but the solution has remained elusive until now.

Research led by Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital demonstrates that when the gene is lacking in a special population of neurons called RTN (retrotrapezoid nucleus), roughly half the young mice die at birth. Those who survive are less likely to respond to excess levels of carbon dioxide as adults. A report of their work appears online in the journal Neuron.

"The death of mice at birth clued us in that Atoh1 must be needed for the function of some neurons critical for neonatal breathing, so we set out to define these neurons," said Dr. Huda Zoghbi, senior author of the report and director of the Neurological Research Institute and a professor of molecular and human genetics, neuroscience, neurology and pediatrics at BCM. Zoghbi is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
Read More...