Health & WellnessS


Ambulance

Flashback New lethal superbug found in Scottish hospitals


Scotsman
Mon, 07 Aug 2006 12:00 UTC
A VIRTUALLY untreatable new superbug has been found in Scotland for the first time after causing death and panic in hospitals in the US and England.

Eleven patients have tested positive for the presence of multi-antibiotic-resistant Acinetobacter, which - unlike MRSA - can only be treated with one medicine.

Health chiefs believe the new superbug is now present throughout Scotland and it is only a matter of time before it mutates into a particularly deadly form which does not respond to any known antibiotic.
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Red Flag

Mystery virus puzzles health officials; kills more than 300 people, most of them children


Hindustan Times
Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:18 UTC
HEALTH DEPARTMENT officials are a puzzled lot these days as identification of the mysterious virus, which has killed over 300 people and infected around 1,800 people mostly children, remains a distant dream. The virus continues to be on the prowl in eastern and western Uttar Pradesh even eight months after it started infecting people.
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Health

Possible Physical Origin Of Alzheimer's Disease


Science Daily
Wed, 24 Oct 2007 01:53 UTC
For some time, scientists have blamed Alzheimer's disease on a small molecule called amyloid beta protein (A beta) that leaves large gummy deposits in the brain. Recent studies suggest that these A beta proteins stick together to form floating toxic clumps that kill brain cells. Now, UCLA scientists have identified a tiny loop in A beta as the likely culprit behind the adhesion process.

©University of California
Amyloid Protein Loop. Broken red lines indicate a loop in the amyloid B-protein that enables it to attach to other proteins and form clumps that kill brain cells.
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Attention

Scientists discover how gold eases pain of arthritis


Duke University Medical Center
Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:17 UTC
Scientists at Duke University Medical Center may have solved the mystery surrounding the healing properties of gold - a discovery they say may renew interest in gold salts as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.

Comment: HMGB1 is an interesting little molecule that likes to get involved in all sorts of DNA-related processes.

National Center for Biotechnology Information has more information here but allow us to cite a few examples:
- DNA repair
- anti-apoptosis (which means preventing pre-programmed cell death)
- establishment and maintenance of the basic structure of chromosomes
- receptor signal transduction

Do we really want to inhibit such a helpful molecule?

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Info

Social stress + darkness = increased anxiety


Elsevier
Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:13 UTC
Just in time for Halloween, researchers are releasing new data that show darkness increases the impact of social stress, in an article scheduled for publication in the November 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry. As children and adults alike gear up for the anticipation and excitement of this "spooky" holiday, this study lends a further understanding to our inherent fear of the dark.

Grillon and colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health sought to examine whether stress increases unconditioned fear in humans. To do this, they measured the startle reflex of healthy volunteers in either light or dark conditions, and after either a socially stressful situation of public speaking, or after a period of relaxation. The startle response is a sensitive tool for measuring anxiety levels, and in this study, was measured when volunteers were presented with white noise stimuli via headphones. The authors found that the startle response was boosted when the volunteers were in complete darkness, and this effect was more pronounced after the stressor.
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Arrow Up

Ideal weight varies across cultures, but body image dissatisfaction pervades


Temple University
Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:11 UTC
Different cultures have different standards and norms for appropriate body size and shape, which can effect how children perceive their body image. Some cultures celebrate a fuller body shape more than others, but researchers at the Center for Obesity Research and Education (CORE) at Temple University have found that an overweight or obese child can still be unhappy with his or her body, despite acceptance from within their ethnic group.

"This unhappiness is yet another consequence of childhood obesity," said Gary Foster, Ph.D., director of CORE and president-elect of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. "These data illustrate when treating overweight children, it's important to attend the psychological consequences that excess weight confers, no matter what the ethnic group."
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Coffee

Broccoli Sprout-Derived Extract Protects Against Ultraviolet Radiation


Space Travel
Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:56 UTC
A team of Johns Hopkins scientists reports in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that humans can be protected against the damaging effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation - the most abundant cancer-causing agent in our environment - by topical application of an extract of broccoli sprouts. The results in human volunteers, backed by parallel evidence obtained in mice, show that the degree of skin redness (erythema) caused by UV rays, which is an accurate index of the inflammation and cell damage caused by UV radiation, is markedly reduced in extract-treated skin.

©Unknown
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People

Alzheimer's memory loss faster among well-educated

Will Dunham
Reuters
Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:39 UTC
Having more years of formal education delays the memory loss linked to Alzheimer's disease, but once the condition begins to take hold, better-educated people decline more rapidly, researchers said on Monday.

Their study, published in the journal Neurology, tracked memory loss in a group of elderly people from New York City's Bronx borough before they were diagnosed with Alzheimer's or another form of old-age dementia.
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Cut

More Women Getting Double Mastectomies

Lauran Neergaard
Associated Press
Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:07 UTC
WASHINGTON - More women who have cancer in only one breast are getting both breasts removed, says research that found the trend more than doubled in just six years. It's still a rare option: Most breast cancer in this country is treated by lumpectomy, removing just the tumor while saving the breast.
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Attention

Flashback Candy incident raises concerns

Shan Juan
China Daily
Mon, 08 Oct 2007 20:40 UTC
China - The government is deeply concerned by reports that some Filipino students have fallen ill after eating Chinese-made milk candies, the spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce said.

Comment: Formaldehyde is widely recognized as a human carcinogen while aspartame, which metabolizes into formaldehyde in the human body, is still considered safe for consumption.

Diet Coke anyone?

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