Health & WellnessS


Snowflake Cold

Frostbite can occur within minutes: How to take the bite out


Medical Express
Sun, 15 Jan 2017 00:00 UTC
snow, frostbite, extreme cold
Did you know frostbite can occur within minutes?

Keeping fingers and toes warm and dry when you work or play outside is a must in icy weather, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) says.

Frostbite occurs when your tissue freezes and ice crystals form inside cells. As these ice crystals thaw, more damage can occur. Older people and young children are especially vulnerable.

Also at high risk: people with diabetes or other medical conditions that affect circulation and those who take certain medicines, such as beta-blockers, which reduce blood flow to the skin. People who have been previously frostbitten are also more susceptible.

But anyone who doesn't dress warmly enough, stays outside in the cold too long, or gets wet can develop frostbite.

Frostbite occurs as the body shifts blood from the extremities to vital organs at the center of the body to maintain its core temperature. Once blood moves away from the fingers, toes and the nose, these parts may lose feeling and color. In some cases, frostbite damage is irreversible, the AAOS notes.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Telephone

Trump's proposed vaccine commission - an interview with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Meredith Wadman
Science Insider
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 16:20 UTC
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
© Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA silentsecond.com/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an outspoken vaccine critic, said today that he was asked by President-elect Donald Trump to chair a "vaccine safety and scientific integrity" commission. (A Trump spokesperson, however, later said that "no decisions have been made at this time" about such a commission.) Kennedy espouses discredited links between vaccines and neurological disorders, including autism. He has also been harshly critical of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which recommends the childhood vaccine schedule. Scientists and others have fiercely disputed Kennedy's claims.

Science Insider caught up with Kennedy by telephone in an airport flight lounge shortly after he met with Trump in New York City. He made it clear that CDC's vaccine scientists and practices will be a major focus of the commission's work. Excerpts from our interview, which have been edited for brevity and clarity, appear below.

Comment: Also read the interview with Robert F, Kennedy Jr: Mercury, Vaccines and the CDC's Worst Nightmare
For over three decades, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has been one of the world's leading environmental advocates. He is the founder and president of Waterkeeper Alliance, the umbrella group for 300 local waterkeeper organizations, in 34 countries, that track down and sue polluters. Under his leadership, Waterkeeper has grown to become the world's largest clean water advocacy organization.

Around 2005, parents of vaccine-injured children started encountering Kennedy's speeches and writings about the toxic mercury-based preservative thimerosal. They embraced new hope that this environmental champion would finally expose the truth about vaccine injury and win justice for injured children. Kennedy is known for his fierce and relentless brand of environmental activism and his advocacy for transparent government and rigorous science. He is now applying his tenacious energies and sophisticated strategies to exposing the fraud and corruption within the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the pharmaceutical industry. Last month, he launched his new non-profit, the World Mercury Project, with vaccine safety advocates Lyn Redwood and Laura Bono, legends themselves among parents of vaccine-injured children. Autism File executive editor Rita Shreffler spoke with Kennedy about CDC corruption, pharmaceutical industry greed, media malpractice and his vision for the World Mercury Project.


Read More...
Health

More mainstream researchers are admitting that Vitamin C can cure cancer

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 15 Jan 2017 15:58 UTC
vitamin c
© Unknown
Albert Szent-Györgyi discovered the chemical, ascorbic acid, also known as vitamin C, in the 1930s. One of Vitamin C's chief advocates, who won twice the Nobel (Chemistry and Peace), was Linus Pauling. Pauling advocated for high doses of Vitamin C to treat various illnesses, including cancer, but was ridiculed by doctors and scientists alike when he claimed it could help prevent cancer. In fact, an essay entitled "The Dark Side of Linus Pauling's Legacy", written by psychiatrist and anti-quackery advocate Stephen Barrett, M.D., claimed, "Pauling is largely responsible for the widespread misbelief that high doses of vitamin C are effective against colds and other illnesses."

Barrett scoffed at the notion, even going so far as to conclude, "Pauling's megavitamin claims lacked the evidence needed for acceptance by the scientific community, they have been accepted by large numbers of people who lack the scientific expertise to evaluate them." Going even further, Barrett suggested, "Pauling's irrational advice about supplements continues to lead people astray."

Barrett's conclusions about Pauling's claims on Vitamin C now paint an entirely different picture. According to researchers from the University of Iowa, ascorbate, derived from Vitamin C, was successfully observed increasing hydrogen peroxide levels in cancer cells, which in turn had a toxic result with cancer cells, killing the cancer cells in lab rats yet not damaging normal cells in the process. The researchers concluded that Vitamin C might, indeed, be lethal to some cancers.

Comment: How long until the regular use of Vitamin C for cancer moves into the mainstream instead of being relegated to laboratory studies?

Read More...
Bulb

Research confirms Acupuncture is safer & more effective than morphine

Anna Hunt
Waking Times
Thu, 12 Jan 2017 15:47 UTC
Acupuncture
A new study has discovered that acupuncture can be more effective in treating pain than intravenous morphine. In addition, the researchers discovered that acupuncture can work faster in relieving pain and have fewer adverse effects. The study was conducted over a one-year period at the Fattaouma Bourguiba University Hospital in Tunisia. The results were published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

The Side Effects of Morphine Use

Morphine is an opioid pain medication which can have severe adverse effects. These include drowsiness, dizziness, constipation, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, headache, tired feeling, anxiety and mild itching. Other risks associated with morphine use include misuse, abuse and addiction.

In addition, scientific research has shown that prescription opioids may actually worsen chronic pain. It appears that a holistic alternative to treating pain is much-needed in order to mitigate the dangers of conventional pharmaceutical pain treatment.

Now, a groundbreaking study shows that acupuncture is one of these effective holistic alternatives. Considering the study results, it may perhaps be even more effective than morphine.

Comment: Read more about Why acupuncture works:
More than 3 million Americans receive acupuncture each year, and its use is increasing.1 While there are a variety of acupuncture techniques, those typically used in the U.S. incorporate traditions from China, Japan and Korea and involve penetrating your skin with a thin needle at certain points on your body.

The needle is then stimulated by hand or electrically.2 Acupuncture has been in use for thousands of years around the globe, and it has withstood the test of time because it works to safely relieve many common health complaints.

How it works has remained largely a mystery, but last year researchers revealed a biochemical reaction that may be responsible for some of acupuncture's beneficial effects...

It's likely that acupuncture works via a variety of mechanisms. In 2010, for instance, it was found that acupuncture activates pain-suppressing receptors and increased the concentration of the neurotransmitter adenosine in local tissues.5

Adenosine slows down your brain's activity and induces sleepiness. According to a Nature Neuroscience press release:6
" ... [T]he authors propose a model whereby the minor tissue injury caused by rotated needles triggers adenosine release, which, if close enough to pain-transmitting nerves, can lead to the suppression of local pain."


Read More...
Red Flag

'The world's scrapyard for pesticides' - Latin America

Fernanda Sández
buenosairesherald.com
Fri, 30 Dec 2016 15:20 UTC
pesticides
Although agrochemical products, pesticides and genetically modified crops are today part of everyday life for those who live in the countryside, they are relatively new in Argentina. Very few people, apart from environmental activists, question their use. Yet the consequences — in both the short and the long term — of their impact on the health of those living near lands fumigated daily, with products that are forbidden in many countries around the world, are already beginning to emerge.

After years of spralling, obsessive and sometimes overwhelming investigation, journalist Fernanda Sández — in her recent book, La Argentina fumigada — lays bare the links that tie that food industry and agrochemical use to pollution, via insufficient state control, and the increasing numbers of deaths from new diseases as a result of using pesticides.

Conducting her research, Sández visited what she calls "the sprayed small towns" in agricultural provinces such as Entre Ríos, Santa Fe, Chaco and Córdoba, where she listened to alarming testimonies from people struggling in a battle that, as she says, "seems to already be lost but is still worth fighting for."

Comment: Argentina, the country that Monsanto poisoned with agrochemicals

Read More...
Life Preserver

Heal strep throat, sinusitis, & infections with oregano tea

Michelle Toole
Healthy Holistic Living
Wed, 26 Oct 2016 15:13 UTC
oregano tea
Drinking oregano tea has long been a tradition in many parts of the world as a home remedy for a number of different ailments.[1] Oregano contains many important compounds including quercetin, eriocitrin, luteolin-7-O-glucoside, apigenin-7-O-glucoside, luteolin, apigenin, and rosmaric acid.[2]

Oregano is composed of several phytonutrients such as thymol and rosmarinic acid which have demonstrated to be extremely valuable antioxidants. These antioxidants drastically inhibit oxygen-based damages to cells throughout the human body. Many studies showed that oregano has a stronger antioxidant impact in the body than the two synthetic antioxidants regularly added in processed foods, namely BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) and BHA (butylated bydroxyanisole).[3,4]

In a study published in the International Food Journal of Sciences and Nutrition in 2007, it was shown that drinking oregano tea does have antioxidant results as well as resulting in lowered LDL (bad cholesterol) levels.[5]
Read More...
Health

Vague and suspicious: California's vaccine-pushing Senator introduces new bill of rights for children

Vicki Batts
Natural News
Thu, 12 Jan 2017 14:38 UTC
richard pan
California is no stranger to controversy. In February of 2016, Natural News reported on The Golden State's highly debatable approach to enforcing vaccination. California's strict mandatory vaccination laws have been a subject of contention for quite some time now, and it seems that the state is only seeking to grow its power over parents and families.

A new bill, SB-18, has been introduced by Senator Richard Pan, seeking to give the government the right to seize children from their parents if they are making medical decisions that the state feels are "not in the child's best interests."

Dr. Pan, of course, was also behind the state's current mandatory vaccination bill, SB-277. When taking both bills into consideration, one cannot help but wonder if they will be targeting parents who have unvaccinated children, or perhaps those who homeschool their kids. One thing is clear: The state of California is all but trying to outlaw dissent.


Comment: More on SB-277: California vaccine law takes effect - requires vaccinations for all school-aged kids


SB-18 is still in its early stages and will not be enacted until 2022, if it somehow manages to pass. While that may seem far off in the future, it is only a few short years away.
Read More...
Display

Is too much screen time harming the wellbeing of teens?

Sarah Knapton
The Telegraph
Fri, 13 Jan 2017 16:53 UTC
teen screen time
© DADDY COOL - FOTOLIAFears that hours of screen time are bad for health are largely unfounded, says Oxford University
Parents should worry less about the amount of time their children spend using smartphones, computers and playing video games because screen time is actually beneficial, the University of Oxford has concluded.

The rise in technology in the past decade has led to fears that teenagers could be damaging their social skills and mental health by spending increasing amounts of time online or immersed in a virtual world.

Yet when researchers at Oxford University quizzed 120,000 15-year-olds about their wellbeing and compared it to screen time, they found the use of gadgets had a positive impact.

In fact, wellbeing peaked at four hours and 17 minutes of computer use a day before starting to dip again, suggesting devices have a Goldilocks Zone where the amount of screen time is 'just right.' For smartphones the 'sweet spot' was around two hours and one hour 40 minutes for video games.

Comment: The study from the University of Oxford seems rather simplistic! Take note of the following statement: "However the study did not take into account whether physical health was affected by spending too much time staring at screens, or calculate the cumulative effect of using multiple devices." What teen doesn't use multiple devices?

The article also states: "The researchers say that digital connectivity may enhance creativity, communication skills and development and conclude there is little to support fears that spending time on digital devices is harmful. "Previous research has oversimplified the relationship between digital screen time and the mental wellbeing of teenagers," said Dr Andrew Przybylski, of the Oxford Internet Institute.

Some information to consider when talking about screen time and the mental wellbeing of teens:
During his 10 years of clinical research on the subject, Dr. Kardaras discovered while working with teenagers, that they'd found a new form of escape—a new drug, so to speak, in immersive screens. For these kids, "the seductive and addictive pull of the screen has a stronger gravitational pull than real-life experiences. Many prefer the Matrix to the real world," he tells The Fix.

Several brain-imaging studies have backed up his claims, showing gray matter shrinkage or loss of tissue volume for internet/gaming addicts. Quite simply put, kids continuously exposed to tech screens at a young age showed higher rates of substance abuse, stress, poor academics and depression. We all love our gadgets, but limiting them for youngsters makes sense.


Read More...
Magnify

Viruses found in genome important for our brain

Lund University
Science Daily
Thu, 12 Jan 2017 00:00 UTC
brain and genome
© WavebreakMediaMicro / FotoliaRetroviruses incorporated into our DNA may have been important in the development of the human brain.
Over millions of years retroviruses have been incorporated into our human DNA, where they today make up almost 10 per cent of the total genome. A research group has now discovered a mechanism through which these retroviruses may have an impact on gene expression. This means that they may have played a significant role in the development of the human brain as well as in various neurological diseases.

Retroviruses are a special group of viruses including some which are dangerous, such as HIV, while others are believed to be harmless. The viruses studied by Johan Jakobsson and his colleagues in Lund are called endogenous retroviruses (ERV) as they have existed in the human genome for millions of years. They can be found in a part of DNA that was previously considered unimportant, so called junk-DNA -- a notion that researchers have now started to reconsider.

"The genes that control the production of various proteins in the body represent a smaller proportion of our DNA than endogenous retroviruses. They account for approximately 2 per cent, while retroviruses account for 8-10 per cent of the total genome. If it turns out that they are able to influence the production of proteins, this will provide us with a huge new source of information about the human brain," says Johan Jakobsson.

And this is precisely what the researchers discovered. They have determined that several thousands of the retroviruses that have established themselves in our genome may serve as "docking platforms" for a protein called TRIM28. This protein has the ability to "switch off" not only viruses but also the standard genes adjacent to them in the DNA helix, allowing the presence of ERV to affect gene expression.

This switching-off mechanism may behave differently in different people, since retroviruses are a type of genetic material that may end up in different places in the genome. This makes it a possible tool for evolution, and even a possible underlying cause of neurological diseases. In fact, there are studies that indicate a deviating regulation of ERV in several neurological diseases such as ALS, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Read More...
Eye 1

iSee: Researchers develop mental health surveillance app for depressed college students

Nicolas West
Activist Post
Fri, 13 Jan 2017 16:47 UTC
brain phone
Predictive technology is exploding across the virtual landscape. The arrival of Big Data initiatives by government, as well as a massive industry of data brokers is not only putting privacy at risk, but is offering those with access to the information unprecedented ways to micromanage our lives.

Most people now seem resigned to the surveillance of our communications devices, which have become so intertwined with modern efficiency, economics and knowledge that there are real tradeoffs when choosing a fully opt-out lifestyle. Wearable gadgets add a new layer still, and are being bought into at record pace, thus donating the information that isn't already being stolen.

However, it might be our health information that is the most tempting, offering up potentially the most intrusive window yet into our everyday lives.

A group of university researchers studying the rising levels of depression in university students have just released their latest concept for a mental health tracking app called iSee that, in their words, will "enhance counseling services with mobile technology and big data analytics." The system works with students who voluntarily want to have their daily movements tracked in order to provide data that might offer clues to a computer algorithm that can detect if they are experiencing signs of depression. The entire article is posted below with my highlights, but I'd first like to offer some additional background to this type of technology and why it very well could move from voluntary to mandatory over time.

Comment: See also:

Read More...