Doctors have long recognized a link between alcoholism and anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Those who drink heavily are at increased risk for traumatic events like car accidents and domestic violence, but that only partially explains the connection. New research using mice reveals heavy alcohol use actually rewires brain circuitry, making it harder for alcoholics to recover psychologically following a traumatic experience.

"There's a whole spectrum to how people react to a traumatic event," said study author Thomas Kash, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. "It's the recovery that we're looking at - the ability to say 'this is not dangerous anymore.' Basically, our research shows that chronic exposure to alcohol can cause a deficit with regard to how our cognitive brain centers control our emotional brain centers."

The study, which was published online on Sept. 2, 2012 by the journal Nature Neuroscience, was conducted by scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and UNC's Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies.

"A history of heavy alcohol abuse could impair a critical mechanism for recovering from a trauma, and in doing so put people at greater risk for PTSD," said NIAAA scientist Andrew Holmes, PhD, the study's senior author. "The next step will be to test whether our preclinical findings translate to patients currently suffering from comorbid PTSD and alcohol abuse. If it does, then this could lead to new thinking about how we can better treat these serious medical conditions."

The German company that developed a drug which resulted in thousands of congenital birth defects in the 1950s and 1960s issued their first ever apology on Friday, but those impacted by the medication's side-effects say that the statement was too long in coming and fell short of making amends for the harm caused.

The drug in question, a sedative known as thalidomide that was marketed as a treatment for morning sickness in pregnant women, was manufactured by the Gruenenthal Group of Aachen, Germany, according to Frank Jordans of the Associated Press (AP).

However, the medication, which was sold under the brand name of Contergan in Germany, resulted in a wave of birth defects, leaving thousands of infants with shortened arms and legs, or no limbs whatsoever, upon birth. Reuters reporter Annika Breidthardt said that an estimated 10,000 children were affected.

Speaking during a ceremony unveiling a commemorative statue at the city of Stolberg on Friday, Gruenethal Chief Executive Harald Stock said that he and his company wanted "to take this opportunity to express our deep regret over the consequences of Contergan and our deep sympathy for the victims, their mothers and families."

"We also ask for forgiveness for not reaching out to you from human to human for almost 50 years," he added. "We ask that you see our long speechlessness as a sign of the silent shock that your fate has caused us."

A new type of geranium, genetically engineered to be long-lived and lack pollen, offers the promise of sneeze-free plants for allergy sufferers.

Researchers in Spain have used a genetically modified bacterium to "infect" geraniums, creating plants that are not able to spread allergens nor reproduce with wild plants - a handy modification to prevent so-called "transgenic" plants from contaminating natural stock, said study researcher Luis Cañas, a scientist at the Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP) in Spain.

"These biotechnological approaches could be used in other ornamental or crop species," Cañas told LiveScience.

The researchers chose to modify Pelargonium plants, flowering shrubs known colloquially as geraniums or storkbills.

These plants have long been selectively bred for traits such as colorful flowers, but Cañas and his colleagues wanted to bestow long life on the plants. They also wanted to make them sterile, removing their ability to produce pollen.

"The lack of pollen not only is great for hay fever sufferers, but also prevents accidental release of the transgenes into the environment," Cañas said.

GMO foods could make it worse.

Testosterone deficiency is a serious health issue. It can lead to loss of stamina and lean muscle mass, reduced libido in both men and women, anxiety, depression, and cognitive decline. Growing research also suggests low testosterone levels might be linked to insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes.

Many of the herbicides and pesticides used in conventional farming are "environmental estrogens." This means that their molecules mimic the activity of the human hormone estrogen, too much of which is not good for men or women; it also affects testosterone levels. Now GMO crops have likely exacerbated this problem. According to a recent animal study published in the journal Toxicology in Vitro, glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup, Monsanto's widely used pesticide) often leaves a residue on Roundup Ready crops - and this can affect testosterone levels and men's sperm counts. It is actually toxic to testicle cells, and significantly lowers testosterone synthesis.

In addition, GMOs themselves may cause infertility. In a brand new Russian study on hamsters, scientists observed that consumption of GM soybeans tended to slow their sexual maturation process and completely eliminated their ability to reproduce within just a few generations. An Austrian study uncovered similar infertility in third-generation mice that consumed GM corn.

A growing body of clinical research now indicates that the cholesterol-lowering class of drugs known as statins, is associated with over 300 adverse health effects -- research boldly flying in the face of national health policy, medical insurance premium guidelines, statin drug manufacturer advertising claims, and the general sentiment of the public, with approximately 1 in every 4 adult Americans over 45 currently using these drugs to "prevent heart disease."

The Cholesterol Myth

For well over 40 years, statin drugs have successfully concretized a century-old myth about the primary cause of heart disease: namely, that cholesterol "causes" plaque build up in the arteries, ultimately leading to obstruction of blood flow, and subsequent morbidity and mortality.

Indeed, the medical establishment and drug companies have been singing the praises of this "cholesterol myth," to the tune of 25 billion dollars in statin drug sales, annually.

While it is true that oxidized low-density lipoprotein is found within the atheromatous plaque that is found in damaged arteries, it is less likely a cause than an effect of heart disease. The underlying damage to the lining of the artery, which could be infectious, chemical, stress and/or nutritionally-related, comes before the immune response that results in plaque buildup there. Blaming LDL cholesterol for causing heart disease, is like blaming the scab for the injury that caused it to form, or, like blaming the band-aid for the scab it is covering -- this is, after all, the inborn and fatal flaw of allopathic medicine which focuses only on symptoms of disease, which it then -- fool-heartedly -- attempts to suppress by any chemical means necessary.

A renowned UK professor is calling for all people over 50 to get on statins - cholesterol lowering and heart disease drugs like Lipitor and Crestor. Actually, Sir Rory Collins wants healthy and younger people on them too and wishes that "safety watchdogs" would stop accentuating the side effects.

Not only does this call come after more negative resulting studies on statin drugs, but this isn't the first time a strong suggestion has been issued. Not too long ago an AMA mouthpiece suggested adding them to the water supply! And he wasn't the first one to want them in our drinking water. Mainstream media quickly jumped on the bandwagon to echo such a "Communist plot." A strong call to make that change appears in a video here. Before that, the American Journal of Cardiology wanted statins added as condiments with fast food items - to conveniently continue eating heart-damaging foods. They already are added into polypills automatically given to people who reach mid-life.

The CDC already reported that approximately one in four people over age 45 take statins compared with one in 50 as of just 15 years ago. Another widely published study implored the same "everyone over 50 on statins, healthy or not" message back in May. As early as 2008, doctors were wanting children as young as eight on them - wow, they really want us on these pills! Is this how a Brave New World begins?

A decade and a half after farmers began planting the first genetically engineered (GE) crops, the future is clear. The scientists who pioneered genetic engineering thought of themselves as environmentalists, creating products that could reduce pesticide use. Instead, they have simply perpetuated the same "pesticide treadmill" as their pesticide-peddling counterparts resulting in the application of a greater volume of ever more toxic pesticides.

The "pesticide treadmill" occurs when insects "become resistant to the effects of pesticides, requiring farms to adopt new and more potent poisons, to which pests eventually become resistant." DDT was greeted as a war hero when it was used to combat malarial mosquitoes in World War II, but only a few years after it was introduced in agriculture, the pests evolved resistance. Farmers needed a new pesticide, perhaps a more toxic pesticide. For decades that followed, chemical companies introduced pesticide after pesticide, so farmers had no shortage of poisons. If one fails, use another. Never mind the myriad of other options available to prevent or combat pest problems, like attracting or releasing beneficial organisms that eat the pests or simply fostering healthy soil so your plants are healthy enough to defend themselves.

GMOs -- genetically modified organisms -- have now gone down the same path. In the early years of genetic engineering, biotech companies tried creating a number of products with different traits, like a tomato that stays ripe or a variety of canola that produced a different kind of oil. But only two types of GMOs really took off commercially -- Roundup Ready crops and Bt crops. Roundup Ready crops are engineered so they can survive being sprayed by glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's herbicide Roundup. A farmer can spray an entire field with Roundup herbicide, killing only the weeds. Bt crops produce an insecticidal protein derived from a naturally occurring soil bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), in every cell of the plant. Biotech giants like Monsanto create, patent, and sell the seeds for these two types of GMOs.

But after less than two decades on the market, these crops have also joined the pesticide treadmill as pests have begun to develop resistance to them.

Just a few decades ago, it was completely common to go to the dentist with a cavity or two and leave with several silver-colored fillings. And while these fillings were frequently referred to as "silver," dental professionals were referring to the color, and certainly not the contents. Those fillings are mercury, and they are highly toxic. Now, about half of American dentists are mercury-free and the general population is starting to take note on the dangers of the dental amalgam mercury fillings in their mouths.

Mercury Fillings to be Banned Due to Health Hazards

The European Commission has paved the way, in recent weeks, for phasing out dental mercury, but it seems the United States is not ready.

According to the Commission:

Mercury and most of its compounds are highly toxic to humans, animals and ecosystems. High doses can be fatal to humans, but even relatively low doses can seriously affect the nervous system and have been linked with possible harmful effects on the cardiovascular, immune and reproductive systems.

Despite these devastating effects, even the E.U. stops short of mentioning the specific dangers of mercury fillings, instead focusing on the dangers of mercury in general.

But, if mercury can cause these problems when ingested, couldn't it also cause problems as it sits in your mouth, potentially giving off vapors when damaged and leeching into your foods and saliva?

Scientists' discovery of an important step in the body's process for healing wounds may lead to a new way of treating inflammation.

A study published today in Current Biology details how an international team of researchers led by Monash University's Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) discovered the mechanism, which shuts down the signal triggering the body's initial inflammatory response to injury.

When the body suffers a wound or abrasion, white blood cells, or leukocytes, travel to the site of the injury to protect the tissue from infection and start repairing the damage. However, this period of inflammation need only be temporary. If the body allows the inflammatory stage to continue for too long, the next phase of healing is compromised.

Previous research identified the initial signal that calls the leukocytes to the site of the injury, but how this early signal was switched off, letting the leukocytes know that they were no longer urgently needed, was unknown. The latest findings show that an enzyme called myeloperoxidase is the key to this process.

Antibiotics given to the animals that provide the key ingredient for certain kinds of pepperoni or salami may have an unforeseen consequence: weakening helpful bacteria and allowing dangerous ones to thrive.

Fermented sausages are made by inoculating meat with bacteria that produce lactic acid, which kills pathogenic bacteria in the meat. But in a new study, scientists from the University of Copenhagen and University College Cork found that antibiotics commonly given to livestock inhibited the fermentation activity in five of six commercial starter cultures of the helpful bacteria used in sausage making.

The scientists also made experimental sausages inoculated with E. coli or Salmonella bacteria. They found that sausages with antibiotic residue had disruptions in their fermentation process and high levels of the pathogenic bugs, the researchers wrote in a paper appearing in the journal mBio on Tuesday.

"At low concentrations and at regulatory levels set by authorities, we could see that the lactic acid bacteria are more susceptible to the antibiotics than the pathogens are," senior author and University of Copenhagen researcher Hanne Ingmer said in a statement Tuesday. "So basically, we can have a situation where residual antibiotics in the meat can prevent or reduce fermentation by the lactic acid bacteria, but these concentrations do not effect survival or even multiplication of pathogens."

About 80 percent of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are given to farm animals. The federal government has recently moved to restrict this practice, which leads to the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria that are threats to humans. In April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a new rule requiring farmers and ranchers to get a prescription for their antibiotics from a veterinarian.