Health & WellnessS


Ambulance

Native American Death Rates Soar As Most People Are Living Longer

Vanessa Ho
Seattle PI
Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:15 UTC
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© Meryl Schenker / P-IHelen Sage, 89, takes a break from an exercise class Tuesday at the Pearl Warren Building in Seattle. The class is offered free through the Seattle Indian Health Board. Tribes are taking steps to improve members’ health.
On the Okanogan plains in northeast Washington, the Colville tribes recently buried a man who died after facing a bleak decision: spend his money on trips into town for dialysis, or buy food for his family.

It was a variant of a fate that has doomed many people on the stark, remote reservation, causing the timber-dependent tribes to increasingly spend their money on burials.

"It's a choice between feeding your family and living," said Andy Joseph Jr., a Colville Confederated Tribes council member. "Our people can't afford to pay for their funeral services."
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Eye 1

Scientists Identify Neural Circuitry Of First Impressions


Science Daily
Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:53 UTC
Neuroscientists at New York University and Harvard University have identified the neural systems involved in forming first impressions of others. The findings, which show how we encode social information and then evaluate it in making these initial judgments, are reported in the most recent issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Making sense of others in a social interaction is not easy - each new person we meet may be a source of ambiguous and complex information. However, when encountering someone for the first time, we are often quick to judge whether we like that person or not. In fact, previous research has shown that people make relatively accurate and persistent evaluations based on rapid observations of even less than half a minute.

The Nature Neuroscience study sought to investigate the brain mechanisms that give rise to impressions formed immediately after meeting a new person. It was conducted in the laboratory of Elizabeth Phelps, an NYU professor of psychology and neuroscience and one of the co-authors. The study's lead author was Daniela Schiller, a post-doctoral fellow in NYU's Department of Psychology and its Center for Neural Science. The other co-authors were: Jonathan Freeman, a former NYU undergraduate who is currently a doctoral candidate at Tufts University; James Mitchell, an assistant professor at Harvard University's Department of Psychology; and James Uleman, a professor in NYU's Department of Psychology.
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Ladybug

White House Lawn Could Be Turned Into A Vegetable Patch


Telegraph.co.uk
Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:09 UTC
Nearly 85,000 people have signed an online petition calling for part of the White House lawn to be turned into a vegetable patch. "The idea is for the Obama family to plant an organic vegetable garden on part of the White House lawn, with the cultivated veggies going to the White House kitchen and any overflow going to feed those in need," Roger Doiron, the man behind the petition, said.

If the Obamas were to plant a garden on the White House grounds, it would have the "inspirational potential" to spawn millions of similar gardens, not only in the United States but around the world, Mr Doiron predicted.
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Health

A step closer to reading the mind


British Broadcasting Corporation
Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:01 UTC
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Activity in the hippocampus was monitored
Scientists say for the first time they have understood someone's thoughts by looking at what their brain is doing.

The hippocampus is widely known to be integral to memory, but researchers say they now see just how images are stored and recalled in this part of the brain.

Wellcome Trust scientists trained four participants to recognise several virtual reality environments.

Discernible patterns in brain activity then signalled where they were, they wrote in the journal Current Biology.

Neurons in the hippocampus, also known as "place cells", activate when we move around to tell us where we are.
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Roses

Farmers Markets' New Harvest: Campus Customers

Mary MacVean
Los Angeles Times
Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:33 UTC
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© Ken HivelySnack Time: Farmers markets are appearing on many campuses, including USC.
A growing number of colleges are finding that campus farmers markets are a great fit, tapping into students' interest in sustaining the planet with an appealing combination of food, music and lots of people hanging out.

The idea is to be "better environmental stewards, to put a focus on where our food comes from, who grows it, how it gets to our plates," said Kevin Chang, a student leader of the Trojan Fresh Market, a monthly market of farm foods and other products on McCarthy Quad at USC.
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Light Saber

Dealing With Stress

Kenneth Briggs
OpEdNews.com
Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:44 UTC
There are some simple steps people can take to protect their mental health:

1] Take a problem solving approach:
Sit down and list your problems and some possible solutions. Weigh pros and cons, and once you have some possible solutions, break them into manageable chunks. This process not only can produce concrete answers, but offers a sense of organization and control at a time that may feel chaotic and confusing.

2] Shift your thinking:
Review the skills and strengths that have helped you rise to challenges in the past. You can rely on those abilities again now.
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HAL9000

Flashback 'GM Seed Spread' Warning

Alex Kirby
BBC News
Sun, 13 Oct 2002 18:13 UTC
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GM confrontation: Feelings run high over possible risks
Proposals to change controls on seeds could seriously harm wildlife, say UK Government advisers.

The proposals, drawn up by the European Commission, would set limits on the genetically modified (GM) material allowed in conventional seed batches.

The advisers say the limits proposed are far too high and could adversely affect farmland species.

They fear the emergence of GM "super weeds" resistant to normal herbicide doses.
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Magic Wand

Salt is 'natural mood-booster'


BBC News
Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:59 UTC
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© PictureNation
Scientists suggest we may add extra salt to our food because it boosts our mood, even though we know too much is bad for us.

University of Iowa researchers writing in Psychology and Behavior say salt may act as a natural antidepressant.

Tests on rats found those with a salt deficiency shied away from activities they normally enjoyed - a sign of depression.

But experts warn eating too much salt is linked to high blood pressure.
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Health

Spotless Mind? Fear Memories In Humans Weakened With Beta-blocker Propranolol


Science Daily
Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:26 UTC
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© Credit: iStockphoto/Dane WirtzfeldScientists have successfully weakened fearful memories in human volunteers.

ScienceDaily - A team of Dutch researchers led by Merel Kindt has successfully reduced the fear response. They weakened fear memories in human volunteers by administering the beta-blocker propranolol. Interestingly, the fear response does not return over the course of time.

The findings were published in the March 2009 issue of Nature Neuroscience.

Until recently, it was assumed that the fear memory could not be deleted. However, Kindt's team has demonstrated that changes can indeed be effected in the emotional memory of human beings.
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Ambulance

West African meningitis outbreak kills 931


The Times of India
Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:47 UTC
A meningitis outbreak has killed 931 people in four West African countries since January, with most deaths occurring in the continent's most populous nation Nigeria, the United Nations said.

"Four countries of West Africa are affected with a total of 13,516 cases and 931 deaths," the UN children's agency UNICEF said.

"Nigeria is the most affected with 9,086 cases and 562 deaths. Niger reports 2,620 cases and 113 deaths. Burkina Faso reports 1,756 cases and 250 deaths. Mali reports 54 cases and six deaths."
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