Health & WellnessS


Health

The Pepperoni Pizza Hypothesis


Science Daily
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:39 UTC
What's the worst that could happen after eating a slice of pepperoni pizza? A little heartburn, for most people.
But for up to a million women in the U.S., enjoying that piece of pizza has painful consequences. They have a chronic bladder condition that causes pelvic pain. Spicy food -- as well as citrus, caffeine, tomatoes and alcohol-- can cause a flare in their symptoms and intensify the pain. It was thought that the spike in their symptoms was triggered when digesting the foods produced chemicals in the urine that irritated the bladder.

However, researchers from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine believe the symptoms -- pain and an urgent need to frequently urinate -- are actually being provoked by a surprise perpetrator. Applying their recent animal study to humans, the scientists believe the colon, irritated by the spicy food, is to blame.
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Bulb

Honey Helps To Heal Wounds, Review Suggests


Science Daily
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:35 UTC
Honey may reduce healing times in patients suffering mild to moderate burn wounds. A systematic review by Cochrane Researchers concluded that honey might be useful as an alternative to traditional wound dressings in treating burns.

"We're treating these results with caution, but it looks like honey can help speed up healing in some burns," says lead researcher Dr Andrew Jull, of the Clinical Trials Research Unit at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Honey has been used in wound treatment since ancient times. The mechanism of action is unclear. While honey may help the body remove dead tissue and provide a favourable environment for the growth of new, healthy tissue, current interest in medicinal honey focuses largely on its antibacterial effects.
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Health

Burn Treatment Cream May Delay Healing


Science Daily
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:31 UTC
A cream commonly used to treat burns may actually delay healing. In addition, despite the wide range of wound dressings available for burns, there is no consensus on the most effective alternative treatment, say Cochrane Researchers who carried out a systematic review of existing data.

Increased understanding of the wound healing process means that there are now a large number of different ways to treat burns. Films, gels, artificial skins and fibre dressings may all help to heal wounds, but doctors still often turn to traditional gauze dressings, as well as silver sulphadiazine (SSD) cream. Healthcare providers have used SSD cream since the 1960s to minimize the risk of burns becoming infected, although concerns have recently been raised about its toxic effects on skin cells.

The Cochrane Team who carried out the research found 26 relevant trials. Although each trial was relatively small they concluded that SSD cream increases the time taken for a wound to heal, as well as increasing the number of dressing applications required.
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Clock

Circadian Clock May Be Critical For Remembering What You Learn


Science Daily
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:26 UTC
The circadian rhythm that quietly pulses inside us all, guiding our daily cycle from sleep to wakefulness and back to sleep again, may be doing much more than just that simple metronomic task, according to Stanford researchers.
Siberian hamsters
© Indiana UniversityWithout circadian rhythms, Siberian hamsters did not recognize things they had investigated before.

Working with Siberian hamsters, biologist Norman Ruby has shown that having a functioning circadian system is critical to the hamsters' ability to remember what they have learned. Without it, he said, "They can't remember anything."

Though not known for their academic prowess, Siberian hamsters nonetheless normally develop what amounts to street smarts about their environment, as do all animals. But hamsters whose circadian system was disabled by a new technique Ruby and his colleagues developed consistently failed to demonstrate the same evidence of remembering their environment as hamsters with normally functioning circadian systems.
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Health

Psychologists Show Experience May Be The Best Teacher For Infants


Science Daily
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:23 UTC
There's a lot of truth in the old proverb "experience is the best teacher," and apparently it even applies to 10-month-old infants.

Researchers have found that infants who had an opportunity to use a plastic cane to get an out-of-reach toy were better able to understand the goal of another person's use of a similar tool than were infants who had previously only watched an adult use a cane to retrieve a toy.
infant reaches for a toy
© University of WashingtonAn infant reaches for a toy after she retrieved it using a cane.

"Acting on the world is one way infants learn about the world, and only recently have there been studies showing that active, hands-on experience is a more effective way of learning than watching. This study indicates that there is a benefit to actual hands-on experience early in human development," said, Jessica Sommerville, a University of Washington assistant professor of psychology and lead author of a study published in the current issue of the journal Developmental Psychology.
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Health

Chronic Kidney Disease Increased Sharply In The United States In Past Decade


Science Daily
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:18 UTC
A 30 percent increase in chronic kidney disease over the past decade has prompted the U.S. Renal Data System (USRDS) to issue for the first time a separate report documenting the magnitude of the disease, which affects an estimated 27 million Americans and accounts for more than 24 percent of Medicare costs.

"NIDDK's annual analysis and publication of data on kidney disease in the United States is essential in quantifying public health trends, guiding funding priorities, and designing targeted kidney research programs," said NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. "The major focus on chronic kidney disease in this year's report acknowledges that this disorder is a growing public health issue deserving of wider public awareness and intensified scientific investigation."

Using data from multiple sources, the USRDS has created a new handbook of information that can be used by researchers, government officials, health program planners, and others to develop research goals, assess public health needs, set program priorities, and inform policymakers and the public. USRDS research depends on collaborations with other agencies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, especially the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Patient registries for other countries also contribute data for analyses.
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Syringe

Major Court Rules That Parents of Children with Autism May Sue Vaccine Makers

Lisa Jo Rudy
about.com: Autism
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:06 UTC
According to an article in Law.com, one major court has ruled that parents of an autistic child may sue vaccine makers based on the theory that thimerosal (a mercury preservative) in vaccines caused their child's autism. Earlier, similar cases in New York and Pennsylvania were denied by courts in those states.
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Info

Mind training helps troops with combat, then PTSD

Kevin Maurer
Associated Press
Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:23 UTC
Camp LeJeune, NC. - The explosion of practice mortars sent Army Spc. Kade Williams into panic attacks, and nightmares plagued his sleep. The ravages of post-traumatic stress had left the veteran of the war in Afghanistan vulnerable, and he was desperate for help.

But sitting silently on the floor with his eyes closed while listening to a soft-spoken instructor tell him to find a focal point by pressing on his lower stomach as guitar music hums in the background? That seemed a bit far-out.

Until he tried it.

"I will be the first one to admit that I was wrong," Williams said.

Warriors have long used such practices to improve concentration and relaxation - dating back more than 1,000 years to the techniques of the samurai. Here at coastal Camp Lejeune, 100 miles inland at the Army's Fort Bragg and at several bases in California, such meditation now comes with a name: Warrior Mind Training.

The course is catching on in military circles as a way not only to treat both post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries, but to improve focus and better prepare soldiers and Marines for the rigors of combat. It can also improve shooting range performance and raise training test scores, said Sarah Ernst, a senior Warrior Mind instructor.
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Smiley

Outcasts quick to spot a fake smile

Misty Harris
Canwest News Service
Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:58 UTC
Smile and the world smiles with you. Fake it and the recently divorced, socially unpopular and romantically rejected will be onto you.

This is the conclusion of a new study that shows people who have been cast off or excluded have an enhanced ability to determine whether the "happy" face before them is genuine or feigned.

Researchers from Miami University found subjects who were manipulated to feel rejection were able to tell a fake smile from a real one roughly 80 per cent of the time, while the odds of doing so among people with a sense of inclusion were only slightly better than chance.
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Palette

Give your brain a workout

Anna van Praagh
Telegraph
Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:12 UTC
Brain workout
Use your brain and it will grow - it really will. This is the message from neuropsychologist Ian Robertson, professor of psychology at Trinity College, Dublin and founding director of the university's Institute of Neuroscience.

For the next 10 weeks, we will be publishing puzzles from his new book Puzzler Brain Trainer 90-Day Workout which he devised to stretch, sharpen and stimulate the brain.
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