Health & WellnessS


Bulb

Happiness hormone needed for mothers


United Press International
Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:04 UTC
Lack of the "happiness hormone" serotonin in the brain causes impaired maternal behavior in mice, researchers in Germany said.

Researchers Dr. Natalia Alenina, Dana Kikic and Michael Bader of the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch said that they also found that the presence of serotonin in the brain is not crucial for the survival of the animals.
Read More...
Magic Wand

Honey, I Killed the Superbug

John Stapleton
The Australian
Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:04 UTC
Australian researchers have been astonished to discover a cure-all right under their noses -- a honey sold in health food shops as a natural medicine.

Far from being an obscure health food with dubious healing qualities, new research has shown the honey kills every type of bacteria scientists have thrown at it, including the antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" plaguing hospitals and killing patients around the world.
Read More...
Sun

Longer Life with Mediterranean Diet


ScienceDaily.com
Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:50 UTC
Mediterranean Diet
© iStockphotoEating more vegetables, fruits, nuts, pulses and olive oil, and drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, while not consuming a lot of meat or excessive amounts of alcohol is linked to people living longer.
Some food groups in the Mediterranean diet are more important than others in promoting health and longer life according to new research published on the British Medical Journal website.

Eating more vegetables, fruits, nuts, pulses and olive oil, and drinking moderate amounts of alcohol, while not consuming a lot of meat or excessive amounts of alcohol is linked to people living longer.

Comment: See also:

Why Andorrans live longer - Exercise, Good Food and They Smoke!

A blog about the Mediterranean Diet

Wikipedia entry about the Mediterranean Diet

Read More...
Info

Migraine Aura Linked to Brain Lesions: Study

Andrew Stern
Reuters
Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:32 UTC
Chiago - Migraine headaches suffered by one in 10 women may inflict long-term damage to a part of the brain important to coordination and the senses, researchers said on Tuesday.

Lesions in the brain's cerebellum were prevalent in nearly one-quarter of older women who were afflicted in middle age by migraine headaches that were accompanied by an "aura," they said.
Read More...
Magnify

Uh-oh, Cheerios


Washington Times
Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:08 UTC
The latest verdict from the Food and Drug Administration is that Cheerios is a drug. Parents, then, must be drug pushers.

The FDA sent a warning to Cheerios maker General Mills Inc. that it is in serious violation of federal rules.

"Based on claims made on your product's label, we have determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug because the product is intended for use in the prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease" the FDA letter said. "[Cheerios] may not be legally marketed with the above claims in the United States without an approved new drug application."
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

New York, California and Oregon log high toxin rates


United Press International
Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:42 UTC
People living in New York, Oregon and California have the greatest risk of developing cancer from breathing toxic chemicals, an analysis indicates.

In the biggest analysis ever of the U.S. air quality, the Environmental Protection Agency determined nearly 2.2 million people lived in neighborhoods where airborne toxins have raised the cancer risk to levels considered unacceptable, USA Today reported Wednesday.

The results of the EPA's National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment found generally higher cancer risks around major cities such as New York and Los Angeles, but some of the riskier counties also included rural areas of Mississippi and Kentucky, the newspaper said.
Read More...
Syringe

Video: Swine Flu Propaganda in 1976

Dianequiose-4
Daily Motion
Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:52 UTC
CBS " 60 MINUTES" documentary on the swine flu epidemic-that-never-was of 1976 in the U.S. It went on air only once and was never shown again.


Read More...
Attention

Roundup weed killer kills human cells. Study intensifies debate over 'inert' ingredients

Crystal Gammon
Environmental Health News
Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:45 UTC
Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup's inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells.

The new findings intensify a debate about so-called "inerts" - the solvents, preservatives, surfactants and other substances that manufacturers add to pesticides. Nearly 4,000 inert ingredients are approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Glyphosate, Roundup's active ingredient, is the most widely used herbicide in the United States. About 100 million pounds are applied to U.S. farms and lawns every year, according to the EPA.
Read More...
Family

Flashback Think having children will make you happy?

Nattavudh Powdthavee
The Psychologist
Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:59 UTC
Think again, suggests Nattavudh Powdthavee - you're experiencing a focusing illusion

Like many other young couples our age, my long-term girlfriend and I are thinking about starting a family of our own. Two things are currently on our to-do list. First is to get married. And second is to have two children, hopefully one boy and one girl. So far, the case for marriage looks good - there is a huge hit in happiness for both husband and wife in the year of marriage that tends to last for many years afterwards (see, for example, Lucas et al., 2003). The case for having children, on the other hand, does not look so wonderful.

Over the past few decades, social scientists like me have found consistent evidence that there is an almost zero association between having children and happiness. My analysis in the Journal of Socio-economics (Powdthavee, 2008) is a recent British example of parents and non-parents reporting the same levels of life satisfaction, on average.

But the warnings for prospective parents are even more stark than 'it's not going to make you happier'.
Read More...
Magnify

A Wandering Mind Heads Straight Toward Insight

Robert Lee Hotz
The Wall Street Journal
Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:37 UTC
Researchers Map the Anatomy of the Brain's Breakthrough Moments and Reveal the Payoff of Daydreaming

It happened to Archimedes in the bath. To Descartes it took place in bed while watching flies on his ceiling. And to Newton it occurred in an orchard, when he saw an apple fall. Each had a moment of insight. To Archimedes came a way to calculate density and volume; to Descartes, the idea of coordinate geometry; and to Newton, the law of universal gravity.

In our fables of science and discovery, the crucial role of insight is a cherished theme. To these epiphanies, we owe the concept of alternating electrical current, the discovery of penicillin, and on a less lofty note, the invention of Post-its, ice-cream cones, and Velcro. The burst of mental clarity can be so powerful that, as legend would have it, Archimedes jumped out of his tub and ran naked through the streets, shouting to his startled neighbors: "Eureka! I've got it."

In today's innovation economy, engineers, economists and policy makers are eager to foster creative thinking among knowledge workers. Until recently, these sorts of revelations were too elusive for serious scientific study. Scholars suspect the story of Archimedes isn't even entirely true. Lately, though, researchers have been able to document the brain's behavior during Eureka moments by recording brain-wave patterns and imaging the neural circuits that become active as volunteers struggle to solve anagrams, riddles and other brain teasers.
Read More...