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Fish Oil Seems to Help Cancer Patients Preserve Muscle


Health Day News
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 19:31 UTC
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© crossfitmaximus.com
Supplements also stave off malnutrition caused by chemo, small Texas study shows.

Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy may be able to avoid the accompanying muscle loss and malnutrition by taking fish oil supplements that contain omega-3 fatty acids, new research suggests.

The finding is based on a small study involving just 40 lung cancer patients. Nevertheless, it raises hope that a simple, noninvasive intervention might go a long way towards countering the fatigue, poorer prognosis and impaired quality of life that can result from chemo-induced muscle mass loss.

"Fish oil may prevent loss of weight and muscle by interfering with some of the pathways that are altered in advanced cancer," study author Dr. Vera Mazurak, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, said in a news release. "This holds great promise, because currently there is no effective treatment for cancer-related malnutrition."
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Pills

Should Children Be On These Medications?

Martha Rosenberg
Huffington Post
Sat, 26 Feb 2011 18:38 UTC
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© 5magazine.wordpress.com
Millions of kids today are on meds for conduct disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, mood disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, mixed manias, social phobia and of course ADHD .

But according to new data from IMS health in a Wall Street Journal article, just as many kids are being treated for non-psychiatric conditions that are often "adult diseases."

Since 2001, high blood pressure meds for kids have risen 17 percent, respiratory meds 42 percent, diabetes meds 150 percent and heartburn/GERD meds 147 percent. Fifty percent of pediatricians also prescribe kids insomnia drugs according to an article in the journal Pediatrics.

Comment: To learn more about the current 'over medicating' of children read the following articles:

American Kids are the Most Medicated in the World
The Over-Prescribing of Psychoactive Drugs to Children: A Scourge of Our Times
Two-Year-Old Toddlers Being Dosed Up with Antipsychotic Drugs
Prescriptions for teens and young adults on the rise
More Children on Drugs Than Ever: Chronic Prescriptions Increase Dramatically

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Sherlock

Toxic or Not? Researchers are Studying the Dangers of Ordinary Household Chemicals

Karen Weintraub
Boston.com
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 17:37 UTC
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© unknown
Dr. Ana Soto won't use plastic in the microwave.

R. Thomas Zoeller uses an iPhone application that flags products with potentially dangerous chemicals to help him make wise choices at the grocery store.

Dr. Perry E. Sheffield washes her hands often - as much to get rid of potentially dangerous chemicals as germs.

It's nearly impossible to prove scientifically that certain diseases are caused by household chemicals, such as bisphenol-A, phthalates, and flame retardants, which are found in everything from kitchen cleaners to baby creams, carpeting to tin cans.

But as research accumulates about their potential dangers, and rates of diseases that are plausibly caused by these chemicals rise, these three scientists are anxious enough to make changes in their own homes.

"Effectively, we're conducting experiments on our population,'' said Sheffield, an assistant professor of preventive medicine and pediatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
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Alarm Clock

Toxic Sleep: The Silent Epidemic


PRNewswire
Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:02 UTC
beauty sleep
© unknown
Grotty old beds could be behind a growing epidemic of 'toxic sleep'.

A new Sleep Council survey* for National Bed Month (March) shows nearly half of us are getting just six hours sleep or less a night. And an alarming four out of five people complain of disturbed or inadequate - or 'toxic' - sleep.

The solution could be shockingly simple. According to the Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA), a bed may have deteriorated by as much as 70% from its 'as new' state after 10 years.
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Attention

Passengers At 3 U.S. Airports Exposed To Measles Bacteria


Smart About Health
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 12:43 UTC
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© Unknown
It has been confirmed that passengers at 3 major U.S. airports have been exposed to bacteria from the measles disease.

The Airports that were impacted include the Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., the Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado, as well as the Albuquerque International Airport in New Mexico.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed that a woman infected with the measles traveled from Europe through these three different airports.
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Syringe

DIA Travelers Warned Of Possible Measles Exposure


CBS Denver
Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:01 UTC
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© Credit: CBSDenver International Airport Main Terminal
Denver International Airport is warning travelers and employees that they may have been exposed to measles. The exposure would have happened on Tuesday, Feb. 22.

According to the Department of Public Health and Environment, a person with measles arrived at DIA, Gate C39 at about 9 p.m. That person remained in the area for several hours.

People who were working or traveling through Concourse C at DIA on Tuesday after 9 p.m. should monitor themselves for any early symptoms of measles, especially fever, from March 1 to March 12.

People who develop a fever should contact their health care provider or their local or state health department. People with symptoms should not go to child care, school, work or out in public, as they might have the early symptoms of measles and might be contagious. People with these symptoms should call their doctor to inform the office about their symptoms before showing up in the waiting room.

Measles is a very contagious viral disease which is easily spread through coughing, sneezing and secretions from the mouth. The measles virus may remain in the air for a couple of hours. Measles develops seven to 18 days after exposure.

Early symptoms of measles are fever, runny nose, cough and red, watery eyes. Usually, one to four days after the early symptoms, a red rash appears on the face and spreads to the rest of the body. A person with measles is contagious beginning four days before the rash appears.
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Health

SOTT Focus: Health Claims and Corporate Hubris

Doug DiPasquale
Sott.net
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 15:43 UTC
[Ed: Note: This article appeared exclusively in Issue 12 of Sott.net's The Dot Connector Magazine. Get your copy today!]

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At the beginning of 2009, the non-profit public interest group The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) brought a class action lawsuit against the Coca Cola Company for making a range of claims about its product 'VitaminWater' that go beyond those allowed by the Food and Drug Administration. The beverage company stands accused of selling what amounts to little more than sugar, artificial colouring and water and promoting it as something that can boost immunity, give energy and reduce risk of disease.

Stephen Gardner, director of the litigation for public interest group said it best: "It truly shocks the conscience that a company like Coke would try to keep customers by selling them a soft drink and telling them it's a vitamin."

Over a year later, as the case came to trial, the lawyers defending VitaminWater shocked anyone who was paying attention by making the statement that, despite the product's claims, "no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking VitaminWater was a healthy beverage."

To clarify, the product's name contains the word "Vitamin", an essential compound fundamental to the proper functioning of the human body, and "Water", an equally essential component of the human body, a lack of which leads to quick death. Advertisements for the beverage depict professional athletes at the top of their game sincerely stating that they drink the beverage daily. Flavours of the beverage have names like "Energy", "Focus" and "Power C". Yet, according to those representing the company, believing this product is good for you is unreasonable.
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Green Light

US: DEA to legalize marijuana only for 'Big Pharma,' NORML claims

Eric W. Dolan
The Raw Story
Wed, 23 Feb 2011 07:33 UTC
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© Wikimedia Commons
A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) proposal to reclassify the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana as a Schedule III substance would allow pharmaceutical companies to market the drug while still penalizing common recreational use, according to marijuana law reform advocates.

The main psychoactive chemical in marijuana, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is currently a Schedule I substance within the US Controlled Substances Act, the most restrictive schedule with the greatest criminal penalties.

In November 2010, the DEA proposed reclassifying dronabinol, a synthetic THC, as a Schedule III substance, which would place it among substances such as hydrocodone and allow it to be dispensed with a written or oral prescription.

"The DEA's intent is to expand the federal government's schedule III listing to include pharmaceutical products containing naturally derived formations of THC while simultaneously maintain existing criminal prohibitions on the plant itself," Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), wrote at AlterNet.

With its proposal, the DEA is responding to the demands of large pharmaceutical companies, he claimed.

Marijuana plants and THC extracts would remain illegal under the proposal, but companies would be able to purchase THC from a government-licensed provider to develop pharmaceutical products.
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Health

The Brain And Alcohol: Still a Mystery


Winnipeg Free Press
Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:00 UTC
Mushy Brain
© Dr. Sterling ClarrenIn very extreme cases, a brain affected by alcohol can look almost mushy.

The brain is still a big scientific mystery, and the effects of alcohol on a developing brain are even murkier.

Scientists say alcohol alters how individual brain cells operate and how entire regions of the brain function.

It reduces the density of grey and white matter and shrinks the brain itself. In very extreme cases, the brain looks almost mushy.

As pediatrician and FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) expert Sterling Clarren likes to say, "The big, important message is that alcohol does not affect a small piece of the brain. It affects everything.

Alcohol is a teratogen, a substance that causes birth defects.

TERATO: from the Greek meaning monster

GEN: from the Greek meaning make

TERATOGEN: monster-maker

Alcohol can shrink the corpus callosum, a thick band of fibres in the brain's core that connects the right and left hemispheres, the logical and emotional halves of the brain.

If your corpus callosum is stunted, it's difficult for the two sides of the brain to talk to each other, resulting in problems storing and retrieving information, paying attention and problem-solving. Some people with severe FASD don't have a corpus callosum at all.
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Health

Australia: Whooping Cough Epidemic Hits Coast

Bianca Clare
Sunshine Coast Daily
Sat, 26 Feb 2011 12:47 UTC
girl with whooping cough
© n/a
The Sunshine Coast is in the midst of a whooping cough epidemic with an average of three new cases presenting every day this year.

Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, can cause cold-like symptoms for adults but is fatal for about one in 200 babies infected.

New Queensland Health figures show a total of 169 cases has been diagnosed by doctors since January 1.

Of these, 39 cases were in children aged under five and four were in children less than one year old. A record breaking 83 cases were diagnosed in December and 111 cases in November.

These figures come as the State Government yesterday announced the free whooping cough vaccination program would be extended.
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