Health & WellnessS


Bulb

The Truth About Disease - What it is and What Causes it

Capt. Randall
Greenmedinfo.com
Thu, 02 Aug 2012 10:16 UTC
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© Unknown
Does the common use of the word "disease" bypass critical reasoning to effectively mislead scientific thought? Modern medicine describes hundreds of individual "diseases." Each "disease" is generally named for a group of symptoms and the area of the body affected. Many are suffixed by -itis, meaning inflammation of... like tonsill-itis or arthr-itis. And interestingly, recent studies are finding inflammation involved in virtually all of them. Does this terminology serve to pigeonhole distinct "diseases" and distract us from seeing the big picture of inflammation as the disease? Have we been looking at secondary pathologies and opportunistic microbes, and treating them at symptom-level... instead of addressing a common root cause? Is there some imaginary partition that separates human health from chemistry, physics and cell biology?

Whether inflammation is acute like appendicitis or chronic like atherosclerosis and obesity, an immune response is taking place. In-flam-mation literally means "on fire" and is classically marked by the Latin: rubor, tumor, calor and dolor - or redness, swelling, heat and pain - so we know from those words that oxidation is at work.
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Syringe

Vaccine Fails to Protect Against Whooping Cough


Medical XPress
Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
girl with whooping cough
© n/a
Queensland research shows that a resurgence of whooping cough in babies has arisen due to the lack of effectiveness of the current vaccine.

The joint study found that children vaccinated against whooping cough with the current vaccine, were three times more likely to develop the highly contagious respiratory infection than children who received an earlier version of the vaccine.

The University of Queensland, Queensland Children's Medical Research Institute (QCMRI) and the Royal Children's Hospital findings were published overnight in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Although known to be safer than its predecessor, results from the study conducted by QCMRI researcher Dr Sarah Sheridan showed the current vaccine is less effective.

Comment: Much research has shown that aside from the side effects, the vaccines do not protect against whooping cough. In San Diego County it was discovered that nearly two out of three people who got whooping cough were immunized.

Pertussis: Investigating An Epidemic
US: The California Whooping Cough Cover Up
Vaccines Have Serious Side Effects - The Institute of Medicine Says So!

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Health

Allergies? Your Sneeze Is a Biological Response to the Nose's 'Blue Screen of Death'


ScienceDaily
Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:33 UTC
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© drubig-photo / FotoliaNew research suggests that sneezing is the body's natural reboot.
New research suggests that sneezing is the body's natural reboot and that patients with disorders of the nose such as sinusitis can't reboot, explaining why they sneeze more often than others.

Who would have thought that our noses and Microsoft Windows' infamous blue screen of death could have something in common? But that's the case being made by a new research report appearing online in The FASEB Journal. Specifically, scientists now know exactly why we sneeze, what sneezing should accomplish, and what happens when sneezing does not work properly. Much like a temperamental computer, our noses require a "reboot" when overwhelmed, and this biological reboot is triggered by the pressure force of a sneeze. When a sneeze works properly, it resets the environment within nasal passages so "bad" particles breathed in through the nose can be trapped. The sneeze is accomplished by biochemical signals that regulate the beating of cilia (microscopic hairs) on the cells that line our nasal cavities.

"While sinusitis rarely leads to death, it has a tremendous impact on quality of life, with the majority of symptoms coming from poor clearance of mucus," said Noam A. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "By understanding the process by which patients with sinusitis do not clear mucus from their nose and sinuses, we can try to develop new strategies to compensate for their poor mucus clearance and improve their quality of life."
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Health

Concussions and Head Impacts May Accelerate Brain Aging


ScienceDaily
Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:25 UTC
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© Steven BroglioThe photos compare images of two brains, one with and without head injury. The red areas indicates electrical activity in response to the task researchers asked study participants to perform, and non-injured brains show more red, thus more electrical activity during the task.
Concussions and even lesser head impacts may speed up the brain's natural aging process by causing signaling pathways in the brain to break down more quickly than they would in someone who has never suffered a brain injury or concussion.

Researchers from the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology and the U-M Health System looked at college students with and without a history of concussion and found changes in gait, balance and in the brain's electrical activity, specifically attention and impulse control, said Steven Broglio, assistant professor of kinesiology and director of the Neurotrauma Research Laboratory.

The declines were present in the brain injury group up to six years after injury, though the differences between the study groups were very subtle, and outwardly all of the participants looked and acted the same.
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Health

Dementia: Autoantibodies Damage Blood Vessels in the Brain


ScienceDaily
Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:17 UTC
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© MR Angiography / MDCBlood Vessels in the Brain Antibodies damage blood vessels in the brain of rats (see arrow in image B). Eight months after the rats were administered an antibody against a surface protein (alpha1-adrenergic receptor) in the vascular cells, the blood vessels are hardly recognizable, because the blood flow has been interrupted. Image A shows the blood vessels (white) in the brain of healthy animals with no antibodies. These findings are important for understanding the pathogenesis and progression of Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.
The presence of specific autoantibodies of the immune system is associated with blood vessel damage in the brain. These findings were made by Marion Bimmler, a graduate engineer of medical laboratory diagnostics at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Dr. Peter Karczewski of the biotech company E.R.D.E.-AAK-Diagnostik GmbH in studies on a rat model. The researchers' results suggest that autoimmune mechanisms play a significant role in the pathogenesis and progression of Alzheimer's and vascular dementia.

Antibodies are the defense molecules of the body's immune system against foreign invaders. If the antibodies cease to distinguish between "foreign" and "self," they attack the cells of the own body, and are thus referred to as autoantibodies. These can trigger autoimmune diseases. Using MR angiography and other methods, Marion Bimmler and her colleagues have now shown that the autoantibodies bind to specific surface proteins (alpha1 andrenergic receptors) of vascular cells and thereby damage the blood vessels of the brain. The reason: The autoantibodies generate a continual stimulation of the receptor and at the same time trigger an increase in intracellular calcium ion levels. As a result, the blood vessel walls thicken, and blood flow to the brain is disturbed.
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Health

Two Viruses Link to Prostate Cancer: High-Risk Human Papilloma Virus Found With Epstein Barr Virus


ScienceDaily
Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:11 UTC
Two common viruses known to be associated with human cancers are both present -- and may even be collaborating with each other -- in most male prostate cancers, a new study suggests.

The research involved examination of 100 specimens of normal, malignant and benign prostate samples from Australian men.

It revealed that both the human papilloma virus (HPV) and Epstein Barr virus (EBV) were present in more than half of the malignant cancers, as well as in a high proportion of benign and normal prostate samples.

Details of the study, led by Associate Professor Noel Whitaker and Professor James Lawson, of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, are published in the journal The Prostate.

The research team included other UNSW researchers and colleagues from the Department of Forensic Medicine Sydney South West Area Health Service and at Douglass, Hanly, Moir Pathology.
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Health

Poor Mental Health Linked to Reduced Life Expectancy


ScienceDaily
Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:06 UTC
People with mental health problems have a lower life expectancy, according to a large-scale population based study published July 31 in the British Medical Journal. The findings may prompt further research into the way doctors treat patients with even mild psychological problems.

A team of researchers from UCL (University College London) and the University of Edinburgh analysed data from over 68,000 adults aged 35 years and over who took part in the Health Survey for England from 1994 to 2004.

Participants in the study had been evaluated for mental health problems using a recognised scale ranging from no symptoms to severe symptoms of depression and anxiety. The team then looked to see whether people who reported these symptoms during the study were more likely to have died over an 8 year period. They also examined whether there was an association with death from cardiovascular disease, cancer or from external causes of death.

Their results reveal that people who experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression had a lower life expectancy than those without any such symptoms. Even people with minor symptoms of mental health problems seemed to have a higher risk of death from several major causes, including cardiovascular disease.
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Health

Molecular Link Between Circadian Clock Disturbances and Inflammatory Diseases Discovered


ScienceDaily
Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:01 UTC
Scientists have known for some time that throwing off the body's circadian rhythm can negatively affect body chemistry. In fact, workers whose sleep-wake cycles are disrupted by night shifts are more susceptible to chronic inflammatory diseases such as diabetes, obesity and cancer.

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have now found a possible molecular link between circadian rhythm disturbances and an increased inflammatory response. In a study published July 9 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Salk team found that the absence of a key circadian clock component called cryptochrome (CRY) leads to the activation of a signaling system that elevates levels of inflammatory molecules in the body.

"There is compelling evidence that low-grade, constant inflammation could be the underlying cause of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity and cancer," says senior author Inder Verma, a professor in Salk's Laboratory of Genetics and the Irwin and Joan Jacobs Chair in Exemplary Life Science. "Our results strongly indicate that an arrhythmic clock system, induced by the absence of CRY proteins, alone is sufficient to increase the stress level of cells, leading to the constant expression of inflammatory proteins and causing low-grade, chronic inflammation."
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Chalkboard

Gene Network Restores Cystic Fibrosis Protein Function


ScienceDaily
Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:55 UTC
Researchers at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine have discovered a genetic process that can restore function to a defective protein, which is the most common cause of cystic fibrosis (CF).

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease caused by mutations in a gene that adversely affect its protein product. In its correct form and cellular location, this protein, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), functions as a channel for ions to move across cell membranes, and is critical for maintaining cellular salt and water balance.

The most common CF-causing genetic mutation, known as delta F508, disrupts the process whereby the CFTR protein is folded into its correct shape and shipped to the membranes of cells that line the airways and other organs. Most of the defective CFTR protein is misprocessed and gets degraded. The lack of normal CFTR ion channels leads to numerous problems, including lung infection and inflammation, the major causes of disease and death in cystic fibrosis.
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2 + 2 = 4

Overconsumption and the Myth of Hunger

mark Sisson
marksdailyapple.com
Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:32 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Hunger largely comes down to perceived energy and/or nutrient insufficiency. Your body thinks that it needs more calories and more energy, and hunger sets in to get you to eat the food that contains those nutrients. Now, if perception matches up well with reality - if you truly do need more nutrients - things are good. You need some food, you eat some food, and you stop when you've had enough. In this situation, listening to your body is a good idea. That's what all those Primal people (including me) are talking about when they tell you to "just listen to your body, maaaaaaan," because for those people, it truly is that simple. Eliminating the excess carbs, the refined sugar, the grains, and the processed seed oils while adhering to the other Primal laws regarding exercise, sleep, stress, sun, and all the rest was enough to right the ship.
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