Health & WellnessS


Cell Phone

Smartphone addiction creates imbalance in brain


Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 18:23 UTC
Smartphone
© Wired
Researchers have found an imbalance in the brain chemistry of young people addicted to smartphones and the internet, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 46 percent of Americans say they could not live without their smartphones. While this sentiment is clearly hyperbole, more and more people are becoming increasingly dependent on smartphones and other portable electronic devices for news, information, games, and even the occasional phone call.

Along with a growing concern that young people, in particular, may be spending too much time staring into their phones instead of interacting with others, come questions as to the immediate effects on the brain and the possible long-term consequences of such habits.

Hyung Suk Seo, M.D., professor of neuroradiology at Korea University in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues used magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to gain unique insight into the brains of smartphone- and internet-addicted teenagers. MRS is a type of MRI that measures the brain's chemical composition.

The study involved 19 young people (mean age 15.5, 9 males) diagnosed with internet or smartphone addiction and 19 gender- and age-matched healthy controls. Twelve of the addicted youth received nine weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy, modified from a cognitive therapy program for gaming addiction, as part of the study.
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Cheeseburger

Fast food diet linked to 51% higher depression risk


PsyBlog
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 00:01 UTC
mediterranean diet
Depression is linked to eating fast food, like hamburgers and pizzas as well as commercially produced cakes, research finds.

People who eat fast food - when compared to those that eat none - have a 51% higher depression risk, the scientists found.

There is also a so-called 'dose-response effect' for fast food.

Comment: Is it any wonder some Russians have called for American fast food corporations to be registered as foreign agents and mandatory warnings and threatening pictures for fast food packaging? And is it any wonder the US has a seriously worsening epidemic of depression when over a third of children and teens eat fast food daily.

See also:

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People 2

Women twice as likely as men to have asthma


PTI
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 16:35 UTC
woman asthma
© Phanie Sarl/Corbis
Women are twice as likely as men to have asthma, and this gender difference may be caused by the effects of sex hormones on lung cells, a study has found.

Researchers found that testosterone hindered an immune cell linked to asthma symptoms, such as inflammation and mucus production in the lungs.

"When we started this study, we really thought that ovarian hormones would increase inflammation, more so than testosterone making it better," said Dawn Newcomb, from the Vanderbilt University in the US.

"I was surprised to see that testosterone was more important in reducing inflammation," said Newcomb, senior author of the study published in the journal Cell Reports.

Prior studies have found that, before puberty, boys have about 1.5 times higher rate of asthma than girls. That trend reverses after puberty, when women are twice likely to have asthma as men, researchers said.


Comment: Asthma in boys may be just a phase, but for girls it may be there to stay


This pattern continues until women hit menopause, and then the asthma rates in women start to decline.
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Health

Disrupting circadian rhythm of muscle cells could lead to diabetes


Chronobiology
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 07:09 UTC
chronobiology
Maintaining a stable and steady circadian rhythm can be a challenge for many people. Millions of people participate in shift work or work hours that aren't conducive to getting enough sleep at night. In addition, the demands of modern life can make it difficult to eat at regular hours. The result is that 60 million people in the United States alone have trouble sleeping. This sleep disruption has been linked to a variety of chronic diseases, including Type 2 diabetes. A new study on the circadian rhythm of muscle cells suggests they may be an important part of this connection.

The Circadian Rhythm of Muscle Cells

When most people think of circadian timekeepers, they think of the brain. The brain is indeed important in synchronizing our internal clocks as well as perceiving and adapting to external cues. However, every organ system has its own rhythm and its own set of cues for moving clocks forward or backward. Muscle cells are no exception.

Comment: See also:

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Ambulance

Fighting the cognitive health crisis

Mark Sisson
Mark's Daily Apple
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 06:40 UTC
dementia, alzheimer's
If you look at the latest stats, you might assume there's no cognitive health crisis. The overall number of dementia cases are going up, but that's because the aging population is growing. Older folks are living longer than ever before, so there are more people around who can develop dementia. Dementia and Alzheimer's rates are dropping in the Western world. Politicians, those archetypical paragons of cognitive aptitude, are hanging around in office longer than ever. Technology, science, and other fields that require large amounts of cognitive ability are progressing.

But broad trends and large numbers are just statistics. However reassuring they are to public policy analysts, they mean nothing to the individual suffering from cognitive decline. They're too abstract. Your grandpa no longer knowing who you are? That's real. You, personally, don't want to lose your cognitive abilities as you age. You, personally, don't want to see the people you love get Alzheimer's. Individual cases matter to those individuals and their loved ones. And it's still happening more than it should.

Comment: Priceless results considering that the protocol was fairly simple. For supporting evidence on each step of this protocol, read:

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Syringe

High aluminum found in Autism brain tissue that was "pathologically significant"

Robert F. Kennedy and Team
World Mercury Project
Tue, 28 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
Aluminum
New Study Indicates that Widespread Exposure to Aluminum Is Setting the Stage for Catastrophic Neurological Damage

Robert F. Kennedy Note: Dr. Christopher Exley's study is on aluminum in the brains of 10 donors who had autism. They contained some of the highest levels of aluminum ever recorded in human brain, and the aluminum was found in the brain's immune cells, the microglia and the cells which provide support and protection for the neurons, the glia. How does a 15 year old have as much aluminum in his brain as someone who is many decades older who has died of familial Alzheimer's disease? Dr. Exley's findings have shocking implications for today's generation of children who receive 5,000 mcg. of aluminum in vaccines by the age of 18 months and up to 5,250 additional mcg. if all recommended boosters, HPV and meningitis vaccines are administered.

By World Mercury Project Team

Scientists have been aware of aluminum's neurotoxicity for decades. Although aluminum's apologists have tried to shroud the metal's risks in manufactured controversy, a growing number of reports by researchers in the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Israel, the U.S. and elsewhere has furnished substantive evidence linking aluminum to neuropathology, including the epidemics of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Comment: Astrocytes

Research suggests a new role for astrocytes: maintaining the circadian rhythm

Microglial

How Does Microglia Examine Damaged Synapses?

Vaccine

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Heart - Black

VA study finds Vietnam vets may be dying from slow-killing parasite contracted while fighting in SE Asian jungles

Margie Mason and Robin McDowell
Military.com
Wed, 22 Nov 2017 00:00 UTC
vietnam veterans
© AP / Margie Masonn this Oct. 12, 2017 photo, Mike Baughman, center, plays the bass with Sam Gibson, left, on guitar while Ryan Baughman, right, looks on at a cabin in Herald, W.Va.
A half century after serving in Vietnam, hundreds of veterans have a new reason to believe they may be dying from a silent bullet - test results show some men may have been infected by a slow-killing parasite while fighting in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

The Department of Veterans Affairs this spring commissioned a small pilot study to look into the link between liver flukes ingested through raw or undercooked fish and a rare bile duct cancer. It can take decades for symptoms to appear. By then, patients are often in tremendous pain, with just a few months to live.

Of the 50 blood samples submitted, more than 20 percent came back positive or bordering positive for liver fluke antibodies, said Sung-Tae Hong, the tropical medicine specialist who carried out the tests at Seoul National University in South Korea.

Comment: Parasitic microorganisms: Chances are, you've got them

Iodine to the rescue: This life-saving nutrient has excellent antibacterial, anticancer, antiparasitic, antifungal, and antiviral properties:

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Coffee

Moderate coffee consumption linked with lower risks of depression, Parkinson's and dementia


PsyBlog
Tue, 28 Nov 2017 15:54 UTC
flying coffee
Moderate coffee consumption is linked to reduced depression risk and lower levels of Parkinson's and dementia, new research finds.

Not only that, but the review of more than 200 studies found that drinking 3 to 4 cups of coffee a day is linked to many other benefits.

These include lower levels of heart disease, reduced risk of some cancers, diabetes and liver disease.

The study's authors write:
"Coffee consumption was consistently associated with a lower risk of Parkinson's disease, even after adjustment for smoking, and across all categories of exposure.

Decaffeinated coffee was associated with a lower risk of Parkinson's disease, which did not reach significance.

Consumption had a consistent association with lower risk of depression and cognitive disorders, especially for Alzheimer's disease."
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Syringe

Harvard Immunologist: Unvaccinated children pose ZERO risk to anyone and here's why

Dr. Tetyana Obukhanych
Health Impact News
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 06:45 UTC
Tetyana Obukhanych
Tetyana Obukhanych
Dear Legislator:

My name is Tetyana Obukhanych. I hold a PhD in Immunology. I am writing this letter in the hope that it will correct several common misperceptions about vaccines in order to help you formulate a fair and balanced understanding that is supported by accepted vaccine theory and new scientific findings.

Do unvaccinated children pose a higher threat to the public than the vaccinated?

It is often stated that those who choose not to vaccinate their children for reasons of conscience endanger the rest of the public, and this is the rationale behind most of the legislation to end vaccine exemptions currently being considered by federal and state legislators country-wide.

You should be aware that the nature of protection afforded by many modern vaccines - and that includes most of the vaccines recommended by the CDC for children - is not consistent with such a statement.

I have outlined below the recommended vaccines that cannot prevent transmission of disease either because they are not designed to prevent the transmission of infection (rather, they are intended to prevent disease symptoms), or because they are for non-communicable diseases.

People who have not received the vaccines mentioned below pose no higher threat to the general public than those who have, implying that discrimination against non-immunized children in a public school setting may not be warranted.

Comment: See also:

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Smoking

Why the ban on smoking in UK's mental health units is cruel

Erica Crompton
Metro
Mon, 27 Nov 2017 22:43 UTC
smoking man
© Getty
Smoking is now banned in every NHS mental health unit in England, under the terms of the Health Act in 2007.

Now some hospitals in England and Wales, and all hospitals in Scotland, are bringing in a blanket ban so there is no smoking in the grounds at all.

I feel this is cruel and unusual.

For a start, when you stay in a mental health unit - for anywhere from a few days to a number of months - it becomes your home for that period of time. Most people are free to smoke in their own homes, so surely it's unfair that mental health patients - when at their lowest ebb - are prevented from smoking?

The Minister for Mental Health in Scotland, Maureen Watt said at the time: 'Hospitals are places people go to recover from illness, and they shouldn't have to walk through clouds of smoke.'

Comment: Here are some clues as to why so many schizophrenia patients smoke:

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