Health & WellnessS


Brain

Better learning through zinc?


Science Daily
Tue, 21 Mar 2017 11:51 UTC
Zinc regulates the storage and release of neurotransmitters

Zinc
Zinc is a vital micronutrient involved in many cellular processes: For example, in learning and memory processes, it plays a role that is not yet understood. By using nanoelectrochemical measurements, Swedish researchers have made progress toward understanding by demonstrating that zinc influences the release of messenger molecules. As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, zinc changes the number of messenger molecules stored in vesicles and the dynamics of their release from the cell.

When signals are transmitted by synapses, messenger molecules (neurotransmitters) are released from storage chambers (synaptic vesicles) into the synaptic cleft, where they are "recognized" by neighboring nerve cells. This release is based on exocytosis: The vesicle docks at the cell membrane, opens at the point of contact, releases part of its contents to the outside, closes, and separates from the plasma membrane so it can be refilled.

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Pills

Psychologist speaks out: Psychiatry is misleading public about mental disorders

CCHRInt
YouTube
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 17:43 UTC
Human brain diagram
© YouTube/CCHRInt
Dr. Toby Watson, a clinical psychologist is the former Chief Psychologist for the State of Wisconsin Department of Corrections, and the past International Executive Director of the International Society of Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry (ISEPP).

He is an outspoken critic of psychiatric industry's claim that mental disorders are biological or medical conditions despite the fact there are no scientific or medical tests to back up this claim.

He has submitted written testimony and research to the FDA on the dangers of SSRI antidepressants and Electroshock; he has testified before the Congress of Mexico against psychotropic drugging of children and for 15 years has educated the courts and people about the harmful outcomes of psychiatric treatment, including how psychotropic drugs can cause violent and suicidal behavior.

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Pills

18,000 men and boys sue Johnson & Johnson over popular antipsychotic drug giving them breasts

Annabelle Bamforth
The Free Thought Project
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 17:07 UTC
Risperdal gynecomastia
Lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson have markedly increased in 2017, more than 100,000, due to cases of considerable breast enlargement in male patients after taking a potent antipsychotic medicine manufactured by the pharmaceutical giant.

The medicine rooted in these lawsuits is Risperdal, which is an antipsychotic drug most often prescribed for schizophrenia. Since 1994, Risperdal has also been prescribed for issues including bipolar disorder, ADHD and irritability related to autism; the drug was periodically prescribed for children as well.

The list of side effects of Risperdal is extensive, and the most common include vision problems, restlessness, sinus infections, and symptoms of Parkinsons, among others. Less common but more severe effects include high blood sugar, low blood pressure, blood clots, weight gain, and diabetes. One side effect in particular, and the core of these lawsuits against J&J, is enlarged breasts, or gynecomastia.
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Butterfly

European study confirms that access to nature reduces depression and obesity

Arthur Neslen
The Guardian
Tue, 21 Mar 2017 15:19 UTC
woodlands
© Rebecca Cole/AlamyHardcastle Crags, West Yorkshire. The study cites research that 26% of England’s black and minority ethnic populations visit natural environments less than three times a year.
Trees and green spaces are unrecognised healers offering benefits from increases in mental wellbeing to allergy reductions, says report

People living close to trees and green spaces are less likely to be obese, inactive, or dependent on anti-depressants, according to a new report.

Middle-aged Scottish men with homes in deprived but verdant areas were found to have a death rate 16% lower than their more urban counterparts. Pregnant women also received a health boost from a greener environment, recording lower blood pressures and giving birth to larger babies, research in Bradford found.

Overall, nature is an under-recognised healer, the paper says, offering multiple health benefits from allergy reductions to increases in self-esteem and mental wellbeing.

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Sherlock

This major report on GMO safety has just one small problem: Undisclosed conflicts of interest

Tom Philpott
Mother Jones
Sun, 05 Mar 2017 21:58 UTC
GMO conflicts of interest
© mediaphotos/iStock
Researchers allege undisclosed conflicts of interest on a National Academies of Sciences panel.

About a year ago, the prestigious National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine produced a 584-page report assessing the health, environmental, and agronomic impact of genetically modified crops. The conclusion: GMOs have so far proved to be neither a disaster nor a triumph. They haven't been shown to pose a threat to human health, as some critics have argued they do; but they also haven't discernibly raised crop yields, as some boosters insist they have.

Not surprisingly, the report did little to "end the highly polarized dispute over biotech crops," concluded New York Times reporter Andrew Martin in an article just after the report's release. He added that both sides of the debate "pointed approvingly to findings that buttressed their viewpoint and criticized those that did not."

And a new paper, published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS-One, ups the temperature of that long-simmering debate. The authors—Sheldon Krimsky, a professor in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts, and Tim Schwab, a researcher at Food & Water Watch—found that 6 of the 20 scientists who contribute to NASEM's GMO report had ties to the ag-biotech industry that weren't disclosed in the paper. Five of them "had patents or industry research funding" while they served on the committee, and another one "reported receiving industry research funding" a few years before.

Comment: Additional evidence of how critics are shunned when it comes to blatant conflicts of interest regarding GMO's and Big Ag: Biosafety and the 'Seralini affair': Systemic corruption of scienceand regulation

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Red Flag

The unforeseen consequences of banning unvaccinated kids from child care

C Raina MacIntyre
The Conversation
Tue, 14 Mar 2017 23:22 UTC
unvaccinated
The federal government's push for all state and territories to ban unvaccinated children from child care is a coercive measure that may disadvantage working parents and their children, and may have other unintended consequences.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says unifying how different state and territories handle access to child care is needed to boost childhood vaccination rates.


Comment: Pushing mandatory vaccination in Australia: Prime Minister and wife tied to Big Pharma


But there are other ways of achieving this that don't disadvantage working women, in particular.

Another ceorcive measure

"No Jab No Play" follows the much discussed "No Jab No Pay" policy, which makes vaccination a condition for receiving certain government benefits and subsidies.

But there is no evidence that banning unvaccinated children from child care will be any better than excluding them temporarily during an outbreak, which already occurs.

Yes, any measure that causes hardship, inconvenience or financial disadvantage for the target population will raise immunisation rates. If vaccine-hesitant parents cannot go to work because they do not have child care, or if they depend on child care payments or family tax benefits, then they may have no option but to vaccinate their child.

Comment: The pharmaceutical cartel's undue influence on government is stealthily removing the rights of parents to protect their children from the potentially devastating impact of vaccines, despite overwhelming evidence that the vaccines themselves spread disease:

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Beaker

Chemicals are making us sterile and dumb


Alliance for Natural Health
Tue, 21 Mar 2017 21:34 UTC
Sperm
Over the last seventy-five years, men have seen a sharp reduction in reproductive capacity, and evidence suggests that commonly found chemicals are to blame.

If that news isn't stark enough for the future of humankind, these chemicals are also making us dumber.

A recent piece in the New York Times drew attention to an important issue: endocrine-disrupting chemicals in everyday consumer products are killing or disabling sperm and making men sterile.

The numbers are extremely troubling. Scientists say that approximately 90% of sperm in a typical young man are misshapen, meaning they are unable to swim correctly. Additionally, sperm counts have decreased sharply over the last seventy-five years. As one researcher bluntly stated, "Not everyone who wants to reproduce will be able to."

Our grandfathers may not have been able to understand our smart phones, but their ability to produce offspring vastly outpaced our own.

Comment: Endocrine Disruptors: What are they & how you can avoid them

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Pills

Communities in the U.S. are crumbling under an evolving opioid addiction crisis


Medical Express
Sun, 19 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
Opioid pills
Of the 2,900 babies born last year in Cabell County, West Virginia, 500 had to be weaned off of opioid dependence.

In Ohio, counties are renting refrigerated trailers to store the mounting number of bodies of drug overdose victims.

In New Hampshire, hospitals have so many overdose patients they have to treat them in operating rooms and neonatal nurseries.

And in Palm Beach County, Florida, where President Donald Trump spends his weekends, 10 people died of overdoses on Friday alone, likely from a batch of heroin tainted by fentanyl, a powerful, synthetic opioid pain medication.

After a decade and hundreds of thousands of deaths, the US opioid addiction crisis is entering a new phase. With the government finally cracking down on the free flow of prescription pain killers fueling the crisis, addicts are turning to heroin pouring in from Mexico.

And towns, cities and states are being overwhelmed.

Comment: Leading addiction specialist Dr. Gabor Mate explains what is needed to stop the opioid crisis
Getting to the root, though, why is there so much pain which needs to be numbed in our society? This is the big question that when addressed is the only thing which can offer a way out of this crisis.

Maté asserts this epidemic is cultural, not physical, noting that the world we've created is, 'devoid of a deep appreciation of the complexity of addiction and its sources in human experience.'


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Coffee

This popular drink can help reduce Alzheimer's risk up to 86%


PsyBlog
Tue, 21 Mar 2017 14:56 UTC
reading and drinking tea
© Eric Vanden
Drinking tea is linked to a dramatic reduction in the risk of cognitive impairment in older people, new research suggests.

A single daily cup of tea reduces cognitive decline in those over 55 by 50%, the Chinese study found.

Among those with a genetic susceptibility to Alzheimer's, though, this risk reduction increased to 86%.

It did not matter which type of tea people consumed: green, black or oolong.

The only thing that mattered was that the tea was brewed from tea leaves.
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Coffee

Another reason to keep drinking coffee: it enhances the activity of neuroprotective enzymes

Dr Mercola
Mercola.com
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 17:32 UTC
Black Coffee
© Wikimedia Commons
A recent study has revealed even more evidence to indicate coffee has more to offer than just a boost of energy. Caffeine offers much more, actually, as it may help protect against the development of dementia.

Researchers at Indiana University discovered that caffeine and 23 other compounds kick-start an enzyme known as nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyl transferase 2, or NMNAT2, and it's this compound that scientists say may block the effects of neurodegenerative disorders.

Comment: Drinking coffee may not be suitable for everyone, but for many people it has been shown to be beneficial in a variety of ways:

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