Basil was recently shown to reduce swelling and inflammation in arthritic patients by about 73 percent, which is on par with commonly used drugs for arthritis. The researcher who presented the results at The British Pharmacology Conference said they were going to begin studying the properties of basil to determine the active compounds which could be made into drugs. This is in contrast to just encouraging people to eat more fresh, organic basil. Many people however, see the logic in simply consuming more basil on a regular basis, while forgoing toxic drugs.
Basil actively inhibits the same enzyme that anti-inflammatory drugs do, including Ibuprofen and Tylenol. Except you won't fall over dead from eating too much basil, as was recently publicized is what often happens from consuming too much Tylenol. And really, if taking a bit more than the recommended amount of Tylenol is causing liver damage and killing people, wouldn't you say that taking any is too much?
Arthritic or not, basil contains many valuable properties, as most herbs do. The problem is, most people just don't eat enough herbs or make them a key component of at least one meal each day.
Health & Wellness
© PhysOrg
The study by Gil Luria and Sara Rosenblum from the University of Haifa in Israel, tested 34 volunteers, who were each asked to write two stories using a system called ComPET (Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool), which comprises a piece of paper positioned on a computer tablet and a wireless electronic pen with a pressure-sensitive tip. Using the system, the subjects wrote one paragraph about a true memory, and one that was made up.
The researchers analyzed the writing and discovered that in the untrue paragraphs the subjects on average pressed down harder on the paper and made significantly longer strokes and taller letters than in the true paragraphs. The differences were not visible to the eye, but were detectable by computer analysis. There were no differences in writing speed.
© iStockphoto/Sebchandler
LATENT LEARNING?: If some vegetative patients can be shown to acquire conditional learning, should their status be reevaluated?
LATENT LEARNING?: If some vegetative patients can be shown to acquire conditional learning, should their status be reevaluated?
In patients who have survived severe brain damage, judging the level of actual awareness has proved a difficult process. And the prognosis can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.
New research suggests that some vegetative patients are capable of simple learning - a sign of consciousness in many who had failed other traditional cognitive tests. The findings are presented in a paper today in Nature Neuroscience.
To decide whether patients are in a minimally conscious state (MCS), in which there is some evidence of perception, or intentional movement or have sunk into a vegetative state (VS), where there is neither, doctors have traditionally used a battery of tests and observations, many of which require some subjective interpretation, such as deciding whether a patient's movements are purposeful - to indicate a sullied feeding tube, for example - or just random.
We have all been led to believe that cholesterol is bad and that lowering it is good. Because of extensive pharmaceutical marketing to both doctors and patients we think that using statin drugs is proven to work to lower the risk of heart attacks and death.
But on what scientific evidence is this based, what does that evidence really show?
Roger Williams once said something that is very applicable to how we commonly view the benefits of statins. "There are liars, damn liars, and statisticians."
But on what scientific evidence is this based, what does that evidence really show?
Roger Williams once said something that is very applicable to how we commonly view the benefits of statins. "There are liars, damn liars, and statisticians."
© Vancouver Sun
Nicky Phillips, shown in her Richmond neighbourhood, has never thought of herself as anything but a woman, yet a genetic test would show she is a man.
Nicky Phillips, shown in her Richmond neighbourhood, has never thought of herself as anything but a woman, yet a genetic test would show she is a man.
Nicky Phillips never thought of herself as anything but a girl.
As a child, growing up in the 1940s and '50s, she wore little-girl dresses, shiny shoes, and bobby socks. When she got a bit older, she started to wear lipstick and pearls and fuss about her hair.
Puberty brought with it the same uncertainty and awkwardness it brings most young women. But in Phillips's case, her body wasn't changing in the same ways it was for other girls.
© BBC News
Seeing anger where it does not exist can lead to trouble.
Seeing anger where it does not exist can lead to trouble.
A Japanese study of 24 young offenders found they mistook facial expressions of disgust for anger more often than their peers.
In Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health journal, the researchers said this might lead them to see a situation as more hostile than it was.
One UK expert said the ability to read facial expressions was "fundamental".
The team showed photos of faces expressing six basic emotions to 24 incarcerated young men and the same number of youths who had not been in trouble with the law.
We are faced with making decisions all the time. Often, we carefully deliberate the pros and cons of our choices, taking into consideration past experiences in similar situations before making a final decision. However, a new study suggests that cognitive stress, such as distraction, can influence this balanced, logical approach to decision making.
Psychologists Jane Raymond and Jennifer L. O'Brien of Bangor University in the United Kingdom wanted to investigate how cognitive stress affects rational decision making. In this study, participants played a simple gambling game in which they earned money by deciding between stimuli in this case, two pictures of different faces. Once their selection was made, it was immediately clear if they had won, lost, or broken even. Each face was always associated with the same outcome throughout this task. In the next stage of the experiment, the volunteers were shown each face individually and had to indicate whether they had seen those faces before. Sometimes volunteers were distracted during this task while other times they were not.
Psychologists Jane Raymond and Jennifer L. O'Brien of Bangor University in the United Kingdom wanted to investigate how cognitive stress affects rational decision making. In this study, participants played a simple gambling game in which they earned money by deciding between stimuli in this case, two pictures of different faces. Once their selection was made, it was immediately clear if they had won, lost, or broken even. Each face was always associated with the same outcome throughout this task. In the next stage of the experiment, the volunteers were shown each face individually and had to indicate whether they had seen those faces before. Sometimes volunteers were distracted during this task while other times they were not.
Atlanta- One in three teenage girls have rolled up their sleeves for a vaccine against cervical cancer, but vaccination rates vary dramatically between states, according to a federal report released Thursday.
The highest rates were in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, where more than half of girls ages 13 through 17 got at least one dose of the three-shot vaccination. The lowest rates were in Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina, where fewer than 20 percent got at least one shot.
The highest rates were in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, where more than half of girls ages 13 through 17 got at least one dose of the three-shot vaccination. The lowest rates were in Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina, where fewer than 20 percent got at least one shot.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a malignant disease of the bone marrow, is the most common cancer diagnosed in children. In fact, nearly one third of all pediatric cancers are cases of ALL. Although this form of cancer can be cured in many cases, in the worst case scenarios the cancer crowds out normal cells in the bone marrow, metastasizes to other organs and takes the lives of about 15 percent of the youngsters it attacks. What triggers so many kids, usually between the ages of three and seven, to develop this cancer in the first place? A new study just published in the August issue of the journal Therapeutic Drug Monitoring raises the suspicion that commonly used household pesticides are the cause.
Previous studies in agricultural areas of the US have shown strong associations between pesticides and childhood cancers but this is the first research conducted in a large, urban area to look at the connection. The study, conducted between January of 2005 and January of 2008, involved 41 pairs of children with ALL and their mothers and a control group of 41 matched pairs of healthy children and their mothers. The volunteer research subjects were all from Lombardi and Children's National Medical Center and lived in the Washington metropolitan area.
Previous studies in agricultural areas of the US have shown strong associations between pesticides and childhood cancers but this is the first research conducted in a large, urban area to look at the connection. The study, conducted between January of 2005 and January of 2008, involved 41 pairs of children with ALL and their mothers and a control group of 41 matched pairs of healthy children and their mothers. The volunteer research subjects were all from Lombardi and Children's National Medical Center and lived in the Washington metropolitan area.
Sodas and obesity have become a hot topic, but the topic is focused on raising taxes on sodas by about 12 cents in effort to reduce consumption and therefore reduce obesity rates. If we're going to get serious about obesity, why not get rid of sodas all together, instead of just finding new ways to raise money for the government? While we're at it, why not get rid of fast foods and other processed and chemical-ridden foods too? Obesity rates would plummet, and so too, would disease rates. You'd be surprised at how simple some solutions are.
The thought might scare the businesses involved in making these products, and their elimination, or complete product line restructuring, would certainly change the nature of our economy and even our society. But isn't it a little disturbing that so much of the economy is based on creating things that make people sick and contaminated with chemicals? And when did we become so afraid of change in a positive direction, anyway? All change, even positive change, requires us to move a little outside our comfort zone.
Seriously, something's wrong with a world where the majority of foods in a mainstream grocery store promote disease. Same goes for most restaurant choices. To eat healthily, by true definitions of consuming largely natural, unprocessed and non-chemically tainted foods, you have to go out of your way. So, why is it that tainted foods have become the norm and mainstream health care ignores this fact?
The thought might scare the businesses involved in making these products, and their elimination, or complete product line restructuring, would certainly change the nature of our economy and even our society. But isn't it a little disturbing that so much of the economy is based on creating things that make people sick and contaminated with chemicals? And when did we become so afraid of change in a positive direction, anyway? All change, even positive change, requires us to move a little outside our comfort zone.
Seriously, something's wrong with a world where the majority of foods in a mainstream grocery store promote disease. Same goes for most restaurant choices. To eat healthily, by true definitions of consuming largely natural, unprocessed and non-chemically tainted foods, you have to go out of your way. So, why is it that tainted foods have become the norm and mainstream health care ignores this fact?
