Health & WellnessS


Attention

New concerns arise about mental health of college students across the country

Dr. Mallika Marshall
CBS Boston
Thu, 25 Aug 2016 05:46 UTC
Students mental health
New concerns arise about the mental health of students on college campuses all across the country.

Dr. Gene Beresin, a psychiatrist and Executive Director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, says 50% to 60% of college students have a psychiatric disorder.

"What I'm including in that is the use of substances, anxiety, depression, problems with relationships, break-ups, academic problems, learning disabilities, attentional problems," says Dr. Beresin. "If you add them all up 50% doesn't seem that high."

Comment: See also: A medical medium speaks about the stages of Epstein-Barr virus and chronic fatigue syndrome

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Heart - Black

Psycho Martin Shkreli: Lifesaving EpiPen a 'bargain' even after 500% price hike


RT
Thu, 25 Aug 2016 06:48 UTC
Martin Shkreli
© Brendan McDermid / ReutersFormer drug executive Martin Shkreli.
The "most hated man in America" has defended a 500 percent price hike of the lifesaving device EpiPen. Martin Shkreli said the emergency allergy treatment was a "bargain" after the price increase, describing it as a commodity akin to an iPhone.

The former Turing CEO defended Mylan Pharmaceuticals, the company that owns EpiPen, in an interview with CBS News. Shkreli claimed Mylan made a measly 8 cents for every dollar they sold and were entitled to reap the benefits when they had a hit product.
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Family

Whiten your teeth safely and naturally

Amanda Menteiro
Collective Evolution
Wed, 24 Aug 2016 20:48 UTC
tooth whitening
Traditional whitening practices have proven to be quite harmful to the longevity of our teeth.

Dental specialist Linda Greenwall has thoroughly investigated the harmful use of teeth whitening treatments, especially ones which include chlorine dioxide, and argues "these chlorine dioxide treatments are advertised as safe for teeth. It is certainly not the case."

It remains difficult for people to find an effective and safe alternative to traditional teeth whitening practices — practices that cause serious and irreversible damage to our tooth's enamel, which is what protects it to begin with. Greenwall explains that chlorine dioxide whitening treatments can cause serious damage, including: etching of teeth, loss of tooth luster, teeth appearing more discolored, teeth absorbing more stains than before (due to loss of protective enamel), teeth feeling rough, and increased sensitivity (sometimes permanent).

Comment: For more on natural dental care listen to this episode of the Health and Wellness Show.

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Pills

Hormone replacement therapy's link to breast cancer has been greatly underestimated

Karen Foster
Prevent Disease
Thu, 25 Aug 2016 20:25 UTC
breast
Women who take a common form of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) are nearly three times as likely to get breast cancer, a major study has found.

Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research in London say the risks of taking the pills have been underestimated for years - and are actually 60 percent higher than thought.

The findings, based on a study of 39,000 British women tracked as they went through the menopause, will re-ignite a 20-year-old debate about the benefits and risks of taking HRT.

The research found women who took the combined form of HRT - which contains both oestrogen and progestogen - were 2.7 times more likely to develop breast cancer over five years than those who did not take the treatment.

Comment: More on the dangers of HRT:

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Cut

Animal model suggests that exposure to frequent social disruption induces structural changes in the brain


Science Daily
Wed, 24 Aug 2016 18:24 UTC
brain neurons
© Nature/ReutersA Princeton University and National Institutes of Health study suggests that our response to stressful situations originates from structural changes in our brain that allows us to adapt to turmoil. Adult rats with disruptions in their social hierarchy produced far fewer new neurons in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for certain types of memory and stress regulation. They also reacted to the disruption by favoring the company of familiar rats. Their behavior manifested six weeks after social disruption, during which time brain-cell growth, or neurogenesis, had decreased by 50 percent. The photo shows adult hippocampal neurons that are less than two weeks old.
People who experience job loss, divorce, death of a loved one or any number of life's upheavals often adopt coping mechanisms to make the situation less traumatic.

While these strategies manifest as behaviors, a Princeton University and National Institutes of Health study suggests that our response to stressful situations originates from structural changes in our brain that allow us to adapt to turmoil.

A study conducted with adult rats showed that the brains of animals faced with disruptions in their social hierarchy produced far fewer new neurons in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for certain types of memory and stress regulation. Rats exhibiting this lack of brain-cell growth, or neurogenesis, reacted to the surrounding upheaval by favoring the company of familiar rats over that of unknown rats, according to a paper published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
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Fire

EpiPen offers 50% discount after 500% price hike, Killary gets the credit?


RT
Thu, 25 Aug 2016 16:50 UTC
Heather Bresch
© Alex Gallardo / ReutersHeather Bresch, chief executive of Mylan, Inc
Makers of the EpiPen auto-injector said they would offer a 50 percent discount after public outrage over a 500-percent price hike. Hillary Clinton was among those calling for the price reduction - and her supporters were quick to give her all the credit.

EpiPen administers a quick dose of epinephrine to counter a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis. The easy-to-use injector is made by West Virginia-based Mylan Pharmaceuticals, which bought the rights to it in 2007. Since then, the price of the EpiPen has skyrocketed, going from $100 to $600.

On Thursday, Mylan announced that it would introduce a savings card that will cover up to $300 of the cost of the EpiPen 2-pack for patients previously paying list price, which "effectively reduces their out-of-pocket cost exposure by 50 [percent]." The company is also increasing the eligibility for its patient assistance program, which will"eliminate out-of-pocket costs for uninsured and under-insured patients and families as well."


Comment: Offering a discount is just a clever way to do damage control, if they actually cared they'd simply reduce the price to something that is reasonable. Killary getting the credit is also patently ridiculous, especially considering the amount of donations she gets from pharmaceutical companies. Heck, Mylan was a donor and partner during the period of extreme price hikes, which means Killary directly benefited from dollars gouged from those hikes.


"We recognize the significant burden on patients from continued, rising insurance premiums and being forced increasingly to pay the full list price for medicines at the pharmacy counter. Patients deserve increased price transparency and affordable care, particularly as the system shifts significant costs to them," Mylan CEO Heather Bresch said in a statement.

Comment: Basically what we have here is Killary using her friends to outrage the public and then pretending to care by advocating for some 'discount offer' which really does nothing but act as a placebo. Even with the discount, the price is still inflated and the profits continue to flow to the 1%

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Health

How to kill fat cells, fix your mitochondria, grow superfoods & much more: An interview with Dr. Mercola

Ben Greenfield
Ben Greenfield Fitness
Thu, 25 Aug 2016 16:37 UTC
Dr Mercola Podcast
© Ben Greenfield Fitness

There are very few people who I consider to be personal mentors, extremely trustworthy individuals in my life who I can look to for fitness, health and longevity advice, or people who I think put out truly "cutting-edge" health information.

Dr. Joseph Mercola is one of those people.

Dr. Mercola is a board certified family physician who had seen tens of thousands of patients before transitioning to a full time internet journalist, as he felt he could help far more people than he could in private practice.

It turns out he was right...because every month he has ten million unique visitors and 80 million unique visitors each year. Mercola.com has been the most visited natural health site for the last 12 years and is now translated into six different languages.
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Health

Plant medicine: Ingredients in essential oils could treat lung and liver conditions caused by air pollution


EurekAlert
Tue, 23 Aug 2016 00:00 UTC
essential oil
Certain ingredients in essential oils made from plants such as cloves, anise, fennel and ylang-ylang could serve as a natural treatment of lung and liver conditions caused by air pollution. This is according to Miriana Kfoury of the Unité de Chimie Environnementale et Interactions sur le Vivant, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale in France and the Lebanese University in Lebanon. She is the lead author of a study in Springer's journal Environmental Chemistry Letters. It is the first of its kind to evaluate the value of using certain essential oil compounds to treat inflammation caused by the fine particles that are typical of hazy, polluted air, and that are known to be carcinogenic.

Plants naturally contain various essential oils that are made up of different compounds. Some of these have been found to have antioxidant value, and to also be able to fight inflammation. A group of organic compounds called phenylpropanoids are found in the essential oils of some plants, and show promise as possible anti-inflammatory substances. Among these are trans-anethole (a flavor component of anise and fennel), estragole (found in basil), eugenol (which occurs in clove bud oil) and isoeugenol (contained in ylang ylang).

Kfoury and her collaborators first collected air pollutant samples containing fine particles in Beirut, Lebanon. In laboratory tests, the samples were then introduced to human cell cultures of normal bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) and cancer derived hepatic cells (HepG2). The fine particle matter was found to induce inflammation in the cells - these started to secrete the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 (substances that are secreted during infections and tissue damage). Cytokin levels normally increase when the body's immune system is fighting a specific infection.

Comment: Essential oils are a gift from nature. Their many uses include the management of stress, improving mood, warding off infections, helping us deal with pain and can even help in the fight against cancer.

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Ambulance

Minor childhood brain injuries increase risk of mental illness and premature death


RT
Wed, 24 Aug 2016 14:40 UTC
childhood head injuries mental health
© Rupak De Chowdhuri / Reuters
Mild childhood brain injuries could lead to mental illness, poor school attainment, unemployment and premature death, according to new research by Oxford University.

Researchers studied more than a million people born since 1973 in Sweden, and followed them to see how head injuries suffered under the age of 25 impacted their lives in coming decades.

They found people suffering even a mild traumatic head injury which left them feeling "dazed or confused" were 60 percent more likely to have died in the studied period than people who had no injury.

They were also 91 percent more likely to have been hospitalized for a psychiatric problem, 55 percent more likely to have done less well in education and 52 percent more likely to have needed disability benefits.

Comment: There is a hidden epidemic of brain injuries. Accidental falls, rough play, and contact sports can lead to brain injuries yet many of the symptoms of mild brain damage may be subtle and initially go unnoticed, gradually gaining momentum until they interfere with everyday life. Symptoms can come six months, two years, or 10 years after injury, and patients are not aware that more issues can follow.

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Health

Stress inducing lengthy commutes are widening waistlines, potentially shortening lives

Paul Gallagher
iNews
Wed, 24 Aug 2016 00:00 UTC
commuting effects health
© Justin Tallis/AFP/GettyCommuting adds an average of 767 calories to travellers' diets each week, due to eating and drinking while on the move.
The annual public transport and petrol rises are bad enough but now commuters have even more problems to worry about.

Commuting adds an average of more than 700 calories - the equivalent of more than three Big Macs or five cans of coke - to people's diets every week, according to a new report.

"For an increasing number of us commuting is having a damaging effect on our health and well-being." Shirley Cramer, RSPH Chief Executive The study by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) found that travelling to and from work by rail, bus or car is associated with stress, higher blood pressure and an increased body mass index as it reduces the time available for healthy activities such as exercising, cooking and sleeping.

Comment: While the time most people have available for getting adequate exercise is shrinking, scientists have found that even minimal exercise can be beneficial:

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