Health & WellnessS


Life Preserver

Suicide linked to brain changes


BBC News
Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:24 UTC
The brains of people who commit suicide are chemically different to those who die from other causes, a Canadian study has suggested. Researchers analysed brain tissue from 20 dead people and, in those who killed themselves, they found a higher rate of a process that affects behaviour.

Writing in Biological Psychiatry, they said it appeared environmental factors played a part in the changes. And they said the discovery opened up a new avenue of research.
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Health

Study Reveals Factors Of Exceptional Health In Old Age


Science Daily
Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:26 UTC
Elderly people who have a positive outlook, lower stress levels, moderate alcohol consumption, abstention from tobacco, moderate to higher income and no chronic health conditions are more likely to thrive in their old age, according to a study in the October issue of The Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.

The first study of its kind, researchers from Portland State University, the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Oregon Health & Science University, and Statistics Canada surveyed 2,432 older Canadians about their quality of life. The few who maintained excellent health over an entire decade were considered "thrivers." Most previous studies have been based on one-time surveys and have focused on factors that contribute to poor health.

"Important predictors of 'thriving' were the absence of chronic illness, income over $30,000, having never smoked, and drinking alcohol in moderation," said Mark Kaplan, DrPH, lead author and professor of community health at Portland State University. "We also found that people who had a positive outlook and lower stress levels were more likely to thrive in old age."
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Alarm Clock

Mysterious African disease is a new virus - expert


Reuters
Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:39 UTC
WASHINGTON - A mysterious hemorrhagic disease that has killed three people in South Africa and forced others into isolation appears to be a never-before-seen strain of a virus known as an arenavirus, an expert said Monday.
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Key

10 Things the Food Industry Doesn't Want You to Know

Adam Voiland
US News and World Report
Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:11 UTC
Two nutrition experts argue that you can't take marketing campaigns at face value

With America's obesity problem among kids reaching crisis proportions, even junk food makers have started to claim they want to steer children toward more healthful choices. In a study released earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that about 32 percent of children were overweight but not obese, 16 percent were obese, and 11 percent were extremely obese. Food giant PepsiCo, for example, points out on its website that "we can play an important role in helping kids lead healthier lives by offering healthy product choices in schools." The company highlights what it considers its healthier products within various food categories through a "Smart Spot" marketing campaign that features green symbols on packaging. PepsiCo's inclusive criteria--explained here--award spots to foods of dubious nutritional value such as Diet Pepsi, Cap'n Crunch cereal, reduced-fat Doritos, and Cheetos, as well as to more nutritious products such as Quaker Oatmeal and Tropicana Orange Juice.
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Control Panel

Genome Database Will Link Genes, Traits in Public View

Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post
Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:45 UTC
George Church
© Ellen Nakashima -- The Washington Post Photo George Church says his project could tell participants what diseases might lurk in their future.
George Church wants to put his personal genetic blueprint online for all to see -- the sequence of chemical bases that make him who he is, a lanky scientist of Scottish ancestry who has dyslexia, narcolepsy and motion sickness.

And he wants 99,999 other people to follow suit.

The Harvard genetics professor's Personal Genome Project is an attempt to build the only public genomic database that connects genes with diseases. With it, he believes, scientists could correlate more easily many millions of genetic variants with medical and other traits, from asthma to acne, eye color to perfect pitch.
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Attention

Exposure To Low Doses Of Mercury Changes The Way The Arteries Work


Science Daily
Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:20 UTC
An international team of researchers has shown that mercury is another important factor in cardiovascular disease as it changes the way arteries work. One of the possible sources of exposure of humans to mercury is by eating contaminated fish.
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Bomb

West Dublin: Phone mast fears grow as more locals suffer cancer

Geraldine Gittens
Herald.ie
Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:43 UTC
Residents of a West Dublin housing estate, which lies next to a phone mast, are calling on the HSE to conduct a full health assessment in the area after an apparently large number of cancer diagnoses.

Neighbours in St Ronan's Gardens, Neilstown, and leaders of Mast Action Clondalkin (MAC) are continuing to voice their concerns about the mobile phone mast which stands in their local garda station.

"We did a survey of 150 houses and 38 people in those houses had cancer," says Gino Kelly, a member of MAC. "It's a very preliminary study but we went around and asked questions."
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Life Preserver

Flashback Hacking Your Body's Bacteria for Better Health

Brandon Keim
Wired
Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:09 UTC
Modern humans are bacteria-killing machines. We assassinate microbes with hand soap, mouthwash and bathroom cleaners. It feels clean and right.

But some scientists say we're overdoing it. All this killing may actually cause diseases like eczema, irritable bowel syndrome and even diabetes. The answer, they say, is counterintuitive: Feed patients bacteria.

"Probiotics (pills containing bacteria) have resulted in complete elimination of eczema in 80 percent of the people we've treated," says Dr. Joseph E. Pizzorno Jr., a practicing physician and former member of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. Pizzorno says he's used probiotics to treat irritable bowel disease, acne and even premenstrual syndrome. "It's unusual for me to see a patient with a chronic disease that doesn't respond to probiotics."

Comment: This is indeed the tip of the iceberg. For more information you are invited to visit our forum discussion.

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Health

Purple Tomatoes, Rich In Health-Protecting Anthocyanins, Developed With Help Of Snapdragons


Science Daily
Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:28 UTC
Scientists have expressed genes from snapdragon in tomatoes to grow purple tomatoes high in health-protecting anthocyanins.

Anthocyanins are naturally occurring pigments found at particularly high levels in berries such as blackberry, cranberry and chokeberry. Scientists are investigating ways to increase the levels of health-promoting compounds in more commonly eaten fruits and vegetables.
Purple, high anthocyanin tomatoes and red wild-type tomatoes
© John Innes CentrePurple, high anthocyanin tomatoes and red wild-type tomatoes.

"Most people do not eat 5 portions of fruits and vegetables a day, but they can get more benefit from those they do eat if common fruit and veg can be developed that are higher in bioactive compounds," says Prof Cathie Martin from the John Innes Centre.
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Red Flag

Study: Many pesticides in EU may damage human brain

Alister Doyle
Reuters
Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:12 UTC
Many pesticides used in the European Union may damage brain growth in foetuses and young children, according to a study published Friday.

The study urged the European Union to tighten restrictions.

"Toxicity to the brain is not routinely included in testing pesticides," Philippe Grandjean of the Havard School of Public Health and the University of Southern Denmark told Reuters.
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