Health & WellnessS


Health

Mouse brains suggest Ritalin is addictive


New Scientist
Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:04 UTC
Take Ritalin for fun and you run the risk of addiction. That's if the drug causes the same chemical and structural changes in human brains as it does in mice.

Ritalin is prescribed to children with hyperactivity disorders, but many American teenagers also take it without a prescription to boost academic performance, or for pleasure.

When Yonk Kim and his colleagues at the Rockefeller University in New York gave mice the drug for a fortnight, a greater number of spiny neurons formed in the nucleus accumbens, a brain region stimulated by all addictive drugs (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: link). "These changes in neuronal structure and brain chemistry are known to be associated with the process of drug addiction," warns Kim.
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Light Saber

Flashback Omega-3 fats found to improve the psychological wellbeing of menopausal women

Dr. John Briffa
Drbriffa Blog
Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:38 UTC
Women who are in the throes of menopause can experience a range of debilitating symptoms which can be psychological (e.g. anxiety and/or depression) and/or physical (e.g. hot flushes and night sweats) in nature. Standard conventional medical treatment for the menopause is centered around hormone replacement therapy (HRT). However, concerns about the safety of HRT (it's linked with an increased risk of breast cancer, for instance) and some doubts about just how effective it is for quelling menopausal symptoms has led many women to seek alternatives.
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Syringe

New Worries About Gardasil Safety

Sharyl Attkisson
CBS
Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:31 UTC
Gabby Swank was a straight-A student and cheerleader.

But that was before she became very ill following the standard dose of three Gardasil vaccinations, Attkisson reports.

You know the commercial. It showed teenage girls saying "I want to be one less" who gets the HPV virus, which is linked to cervical cancer.
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Family

Unnatural Selection: How Far Will Parents Go?

Marlowe Hood
PhysOrg
Sun, 08 Feb 2009 13:06 UTC
Picture this: prospective parents excitedly clicking through an online catalogue, ticking off the optimal mix of traits for their yet-to-be-conceived child.

Blood Serum
© UnknownBlood serum samples in a clinic in Manila.
Will they opt for blue eyes or brown. Perhaps green, for a touch of originality? What colour skin? And do they want a boy or a girl?

Are they aiming for an Olympian athlete, or will they stack the deck in favour of intellectual prowess? Why not both?

For some people, this would be a dream come true. For others, a nightmare of widening inequality touching on eugenics.

For biologists, it raises acute questions about evolution.
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Bulb

Kissing feels so pleasurable due to hormone surge, find scientists

Matthew Moore
Telegraph
Sun, 08 Feb 2009 13:57 UTC
kiss
© GettyCouples who share a passionate kiss this Valentine's Day will enjoy sensations of relaxation.
The reason that kissing feels so pleasurable is that sparks a surge of hormones in our brains, according to new research.

Couples who share a passionate kiss this Valentine's Day will enjoy sensations of relaxation and excitement because of a complex series of chemical processes, as well as their love for their partners.

The study showed that women need more than just a kiss to experience the same chemical high as men - with additional features such as a romantic atmosphere of dimmed lights and mood music also required.

Wendy Hill, professor of psychology at Lafayette College, Pennsylvania began the research to find out why the mundane physical activity of rubbing lips can elicit such a gratifying emotional response.
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Bandaid

Treat Candida with Garlic Supplements

Elizabeth Walling
Natural News
Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:05 UTC
The numerous medical treatments for candida all share one quality: they are ineffective. Prescription drugs for candida often don't work at all, or even if they do, it's generally just a matter of time before the candida flairs up again. If you've been struggling to treat your candida with prescriptions or over-the-counter drugs, it's time to turn to more effective natural remedies such as garlic supplements.

It's the antifungal and antimicrobial properties of garlic that help keep candida at bay. Yeast and garlic simply can't coexist, so regular garlic intake is a highly effective method for controlling candida. Garlic is also known for improving immune system function, which can further help your body fight off candida naturally.
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Bug

Obesity 'Virus' Spreads Like Common Cold, Scientists Say


Fox News
Sun, 08 Feb 2009 02:36 UTC
Obesity can be "caught" as easily as a common cold from other people's coughs, sneezes and dirty hands, scientists said Monday.

The condition has been linked to a highly-infectious virus which causes sniffles and sore throats.

Nikhil Dhurandhar, an associate professor at The Pennington Biomedical Research Center, in Baton Rouge, La., said the virus, known as AD-36, infects the lungs then whisks around the body, forcing fat cells to multiply and also causing sore throats.

"When this virus goes to fat tissue it replicates, making more copies of itself and in the process increases the number of new fat cells, which may explain why the fat tissue expands and why people get fat when they are infected with this virus," Dhurandhar said.
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Evil Rays

Peanut plant knew product was tainted with salmonella


CNN
Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:48 UTC
The Georgia company whose peanut products have been blamed for a nationwide salmonella outbreak shipped some products even though they had tested positive for the bacteria and no other tests indicated they were safe, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

Previously, Peanut Corporation of America had said it shipped products only after subsequent tests on them came back negative. Items made with its peanut products have been linked to more than 500 cases of illness, including eight deaths.

The agency said the company's management told FDA inspectors last month during an inspection of the plant that they shipped products that first had tested positive for salmonella, but only if they later had tested negative.
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Syringe

England: Doctors baffled by mystery illness of Belle Isle girl - MMR Jab Implicated

Katie Baldwin
Beeston Today
Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:20 UTC
Melody Brook
© Unknown
Six months ago Belle Isle youngster Melody Brook was full of life.

Now an illness baffles medics has left the five-year-old struggling to speak, walk, feed herself or even support her head.

Melody has been in hospital for months while doctors try to work out what's wrong.

Her mum Alicia Ellis said: "It's awful and unbelievable. I want her back like she was."

Melody started showing symptoms a few days after having her joint measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination in July.

Comment: If you go to the search function at the top right of this page and type in: "intext: vaccine" without the quotation marks, you will come up with at over 450 articles dealing with vaccines.

Here is just a few to get you started:

Vaccine Court: Hepatitis B Shot Caused MS
Vaccines and Medical Experiments on Children, Minorities, Woman and Inmates
Federal Members of Advisory Committee Block Vaccine-Autism Research, Defy Wishes of Its Own Scientists, Autism Community, and Congress
Vaccinating older people against pneumonia is a 'waste of time'
New Clues to Who Is Susceptible to Autism Via Vaccine Injury
Mystery illness paralyses girl given cervical cancer jab
Gardasil Linked to Seventy-Eight Outbreaks of Genital Warts
Vaccine given to babies increases risk of childhood asthma
Autism Doc's claims led to witch hunt
Stunning New Link Between Vaccines and Autism Rates

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Toys

CPSC Decision to Delay Phthalate, Lead Rules Overturned


NewsInferno
Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:04 UTC
Small businesses have been fighting to have a chemical and toxin ban created to protect America's children overturned. While consumer groups and environmentalists are pushing for the phthalate and lead bans, small businesses have been fighting to keep it off the books, said the LA Times. As we reported earlier, the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) had bowed to the pressure, and had announced it would delay the new rule for a year. But a federal judge has overturned the CPSC decision and ruled that manufacturers and retailers are prohibited from selling children's items containing phthalates and certain lead levels after Tuesday.
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