Health & WellnessS


Health

US: Mystery illness plagues sausage factory


WTVD
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:45 UTC
The plant on Jones Sausage Road in Garner, North Carolina is the only place in the country that makes the popular beef jerky Slim Jim snack food.

Worker Tanica West claims that she and other employees are having eye problems. West told reporter Steve Daniels that sometimes she can't see for a couple of hours at a time and she's frustrated because the company hasn't been able to figure out what's causing it.

"[It's] a tingling under the eyelids, the bottom lids, and you start blinking a lot, and it feels like you are developing a slight, a little film, under the eyelid," West told Daniels.
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Cookie

31 Million pounds of peanut products recalled


The Associated Press
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:17 UTC
Washington - Federal health officials say the salmonella recall now involves about 31 million pounds of peanut butter and peanut paste.

That's a whole lot of peanut butter.

But consider this: The nonprofit National Peanut Board says Americans eat 700 million pounds of the gooey treat every year.
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Magnify

Genetic Interactions Are The Key To Understanding Complex Traits


PhysOrg
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:13 UTC
Collecting Yeast
© Washington University

Washington University graduate student Kim Lorenz collects yeast samples from Pennsylvania oak trees as part of a project to analyze how genes interact to produce complex traits.
In recent years, genetic studies have uncovered hundreds of DNA variations linked to common diseases, such as cancer or diabetes, raising the prospect that scientists can gauge disease risk based on information in an individual's genome. But the variations identified to date only account for a small percentage - typically one to three percent - of the overall genetic risk of any common disease.

This disappointment has led geneticist Barak Cohen, Ph.D., of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, to suggest that scientists need to get a better handle on the ways genes interact to influence disease risk.

"For diseases that are major health problems, many different genetic variants combine to affect an individual's risk," says Cohen. "The problem is that we as scientists are really lousy at predicting how these variations interact to determine whether an individual is likely to develop a common disease or respond to a particular drug."

This reality begs the question: Is it possible to tease apart a complex genetic trait to reveal the precise genetic variations that have combined to produce it? Yes, Cohen and his group report in the Jan. 23 issue of Science. If the research can be replicated, it suggests that scientists need better statistical models and other tools to understand genetic interactions.
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Heart

Mind Out of Balance, Body Out of Balance


PhysOrg
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:00 UTC
Many of the 40 million American adults who suffer from anxiety disorders also have problems with balance. As increasing numbers of children are diagnosed with anxiety, Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered that the link between balance and anxiety can be assessed at an early age - and that something can be done about it before it becomes a problem.

Dr. Orit Bart at Tel Aviv University's School of Health Professions, and her colleagues, have found that a simple course of physical treatment for balance problems can also resolve anxiety issues in children. Her work offers new hope for normal social and emotional development for children with both disorders.
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Family

Infants Draw on Past to Interpret Present, Understand Other People's Behavior


PhysOrg
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:43 UTC
The old real estate maxim "location, location, location" also plays a role in how infants learn to understand the ambiguous actions and behavior of other people.

University of Washington psychologists have learned that 10-month-old infants use their prior exposure and understanding of familiar actions by a person to unravel novel actions. However, this ability is limited by the location in which the new action is performed.

"Infants' understanding of and exposure to familiar actions can boost their understanding of ambiguous action sequences. Their ability to draw on the past to interpret the present represents an important advance in their developing understanding of other people's behavior," said Jessica Sommerville, a UW assistant professor of psychology who is also affiliated with the university's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences.

Although the research was conducted on infants, she believes the findings apply across all ages.
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Health

New Antiviral Protein Discovered In Human Body


Science Daily
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:28 UTC
The Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (CeMM) announces the discovery of a new molecular sensor in human cells capable of recognizing infecting viruses and transmitting an alarm signal to the body. The study, directed by the center's director Giulio Superti-Furga, appears January 22 in the online advanced publication route of the journal Nature Immunology.

The newly discovered protein, termed AIM2, patrols the inside of human immune cells and when it encounters a DNA that is suspicious, possibly coming from an intruding virus or bacterium, triggers the secretion of the signaling protein Interleukin-1. This proinflammatory molecule activates an anti-invasion alarm program throughout the entire body. It is one of the main causes of fever and a central mediator of autoimmune disease. Thus, the study identified a new centerpiece of the human's defense arsenal against pathogens.
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Inflammation Worsens Danger due to Atherosclerosis


PhysOrg
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:31 UTC
Current research suggests that inflammation increases the risk of plaque rupture in atherosclerosis. The related report by Ovchinnikova et al, "T cell activation leads to reduced collagen maturation in atherosclerotic plaques of ApoE-deficient- mice," appears in the February 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology.

Atherosclerosis is a disease of arterial blood vessels where fats, cholesterol, blood cells, and fibers form hardened plaques on the artery wall. These plaques restrict blood flow to tissues such as the heart and brain by narrowing the artery. Atherosclerosis can be caused by high blood pressure, high fat and high cholesterol diets, smoking, and diabetes. People with atherosclerotic plaques often show no symptoms for decades.

Atherosclerotic plaques consist of lipid cores covered by collagen fiber caps. These plaques can suddenly rupture, resulting in blood clots that completely block blood flow and lead to heart attack or stroke in otherwise healthy individuals. One potential cause of plaque rupture is the thinning of the collagen fiber cap covering the plaque.
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Chart Pie

Autism Screening Tops Obama's Medical To-Do List

Nancy Shute
U.S. News and World Report
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:26 UTC
Autism tops Barack Obama's medical to-do list, according to the new president's website. Whitehouse.gov launched at 12:01 pm yesterday, even before the new president had taken his oath of office on the Capitol's West Front.
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Gear

Anti-Smoking Propaganda! 'Third-hand smoke' is the contamination that remains after smoke is gone

Riham Feshir
Park Rapids Enterprise
Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:51 UTC
Ever sniffed a smoker's coat, hair or car and felt the toxic air down your lungs?

That's "third-hand" smoke.

A new study conducted by a team of medical researchers and published in the journal Pediatrics, reports there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco, even its invisible toxins.

Comment: Don't worry about the mercury in vaccines. Don't worry about the toxins in what they want us to call food. Don't worry about the poisons in our water, soft drinks, and the list goes on.

Blame the smokers.

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Evil Rays

Bill Gates, others pledge $630 million to beat polio

Will Dunham
Reuters
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:47 UTC
Washington - An infusion of more than $630 million spearheaded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is intended to help finish the job of eradicating the crippling disease polio, officials said on Wednesday.

The Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rotary International charity joined with the governments of Britain and Germany to commit the money over the next five years to support child immunization.

An international effort has cut polio cases by 99 percent in 10 years -- a drop from more than 350,000 cases in 1998 to about 1,600 in 2008.
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