Health & WellnessS


Health

The Cure-All Properties of Ginger

Meredith Melnick
Healthlandtime.com
Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:56 UTC
Image
© moodboard/Corbis
Ginger is a well-known home remedy for pregnant women, patients undergoing chemotherapy, and travelers with weak stomachs, who all use the root to curb nausea. But now a new study in The Journal of Pain finds that two types of chemical compounds found in ginger - gingerols and phenols - can be used as an analgesic as well.

To treat muscle pain, 74 healthy adults regularly took 2 g of either cooked or raw ginger, or a placebo each day for 11 days. They all participated in the same series of exercises, which were aimed at creating inflammation and muscle pain in and around the elbow, and were then evaluated by researchers from the department of kinesiology at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Ga.
Read More...
Arrow Up

GUMC Researchers: Vitamin D Protects Against Obesity-induced Endometrial Cancer


Eurekalert.org
Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:28 UTC
The study in mice suggest that vitamin D supplementation is a good idea for high risk women

Washington, D.C. - Findings from an animal study suggest that obese women can reduce their increased risk of endometrial disease if they take vitamin D supplements, say researchers at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The scientists report in Cancer Prevention Research published online today that 25 percent of obese mice fed a vitamin D supplemented diet developed endometrial cancer, while 67 percent of obese mice not treated with the vitamin developed cancer. They also report that vitamin D offered no protective effects for normal weight mice; whether or not they used the vitamin, about 60 percent of these mice developed cancer.
Read More...
Red Flag

Corn Gluten Damages Celiac Patients


Gluten Free Society
Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:10 UTC
Image
© unknown
Many gluten free products use corn as an assumed safe grain substitute. Are you buying into this myth?

A Study published in the journal Gut identified that corn gluten caused an inflammatory reaction in patients with celiac disease.

"The observation that corn gluten challenge induced an abnormal NO reaction in some of our patients with CD is intriguing as maize is considered safe and is recommended as the substitute cereal in a gluten free diet."

Source:

Gut. 2005; 54:769-774.
Read More...
Video

Lead in the Environment: No Safe Dose


Harvard SPH
Mon, 13 Sep 2010 06:55 UTC

Lead in the Environment: No Safe Dose from Harvard SPH on Vimeo.
Read More...
Attention

Number of cases of anthrax in Bangladesh rises to nearly 600 in a month

Robert Herriman,
Examiner.com
Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:47 UTC
anthracis
© CDCTypical appearance of B. anthracis on agar
According to Bangladesh's Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) the total number of cases of cutaneous anthrax has reached 589 since the first case appeared in Sirajganj on August 18.

In the past 24 hours alone, the IEDCR has reported 4 new cases in the Meherpur and Narayangonj districts.

Since the anthrax cases have occurred in 12 of the 64 districts in the country, the Bangladeshi government had announced a red alert in the country as is trying to coordinate anthrax prevention and treatment in all 64 districts.

Anthrax is caused by the bacterium, Bacillus anthracis. This spore forming bacteria can survive in the environment for years because of its ability to resist heat, cold, drying, etc. this is usually the infectious stage of anthrax.

Anthrax is a pathogen in livestock and wild animals. Some of the more common herbivores are cattle, sheep, goats, horses, camels and deers.

It infects humans primarily through occupational or incidental exposure with infected animals or their skins.
Read More...
Question

MRSA in Meat: Why No Recall?

David Kirby
Huffington Post
Tue, 21 Sep 2010 20:26 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Next week, Congress will hold hearings on the recent recall of more than half a billion eggs infected with salmonella - all of them from two factory farms in Iowa.

That recall, though voluntary, was essential: Salmonella can make you very sick, though if treated on time, it is rarely fatal.

But that's not the case for MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), or drug-resistant staff infection. In 2005, U.S. hospitals treated more than 278,000 MRSA cases. Nearly 100,000 people faced life threatening illness and 18,650 died: 50 percent more than the number of AIDS death that year.

This evolving superbug sprang from the overuse of antibiotics - not only in hospital settings, but also in animal agriculture, which consumes an estimated 70 percent of all antibiotics sold in this country. Most of those drugs are given at low dose to promote animal growth and prevent disease, a practice that encourages the emergence of multi-drug resistant bacteria.
Read More...
Red Flag

Study: Human Exposure to BPA 'Grossly Underestimated'

Gayathri Vaidyanathan
New York Times
Mon, 20 Sep 2010 20:15 UTC
Americans are likely to be exposed at higher levels than previously thought to bisphenol A, a compound that mimics hormones important to human development and is found in more than 90 percent of people in the United States, according to new research.

U.S. EPA says it is OK for humans to take in up to 50 micrograms of BPA per kilogram of body weight each day. The new study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, suggests that we are exposed to at least eight times that amount every day.

"Our data raise grave concern that regulatory agencies have grossly underestimated current human exposure levels," states the study.

The study also gives the first experimental support that some BPA is likely cleared at similar rates in mice, monkeys and humans, making it possible to extrapolate health studies in mice to humans.
Read More...
Question

Surprise: FDA Panel Unable to Reach Conclusion on Genetically Modified Salmon

Kim Carollo
ABC
Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:59 UTC
gmo salmon
© Getty ImagesA crate of salmon. U.S. health officials are set to rule on whether a faster-growing, genetically engineered fish is safe to eat. Their decision could put the first genetically altered animal food on American consumers' dinner plates.

After two days of hearings, several members of an 11-member advisory panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found that there are not yet sufficient data to determine that a genetic modification that enables salmon to grow twice as quickly is safe for the affected fish or for consumers.

The panel, made up of outside experts, did not vote or make a recommendation on whether to approve these fish for human consumption, after holding today's public hearing to determine whether genetic engineering is safe for the fish; whether the fish are safe to eat; whether the fish actually do grow faster; and the potential environmental impacts the production of these fish could pose.

AquaBounty Technologies, the company that hoped to get the modification approved, faced considerable criticism from a number of consumer and scientific advocacy organizations at the hearings.

The genetically altered salmon eggs include a growth hormone gene that cause them to reach full size in about half the time it takes regular salmon to reach the same size.
Read More...
Sun

Chronic Pain: Does Vitamin D Help?

Gina Shaw
WebMD
Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:24 UTC
Not getting enough vitamin D in your system may be linked to chronic pain.

Over the past 10 years, several researchers have found an association between extremely low vitamin D levels and chronic, general pain that doesn't respond to treatment.

Many Americans are running low on vitamin D. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2009 showed that vitamin D levels have plummeted among all U.S. ages, races, and ethnic groups over the past two decades.

But does not having enough vitamin D cause pain? That's not yet clear. But here's what you need to know about vitamin D and chronic pain.
Read More...
Health

When Brain Damage Makes You Sound Foreign

Elizabeth Landau
CNN.com
Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:55 UTC
Image
© Thinkstock
You may have dabbled with a foreign accent just for fun, or for a performance of some kind. But in very rare cases, a person's voice takes on a dramatically different sound without his or her permission, and the original accent may be totally lost.

The phenomenon is called "Foreign Accent Syndrome," and it's gotten a lot of attention recently.

There are only believed to be about 60 people in the world with foreign accent syndrome. It happens when brain injuries such as stroke lead a patient's speech pattern to change.

One woman with the condition is Kay Russell from Bishops Cleeve, England. The BBC reported that in January, Kay Russell woke up with a French-sounding accent after a severe migraine.
Read More...