Clipmarks | wildcat's 'health' clips

Herbal remedy reduces obesity and heart disease?

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:50:11 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

With unprecedented levels of obesity across the Western world, and incidence of associated heart disease, cancer and diabetes rising, there is a major drive to find new treatments. Scientists from Germany have recently discovered that extracts of a traditional herbal remedy derived from Tabebuia impetiginosa can act to delay the absorption of dietary fat in animal models.

They believe that the extract could be incorporated into a food supplement which may not only reduce obesity, but also lessen the risk of development of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. Dr Nils Roos from the Max Rubner Institute will present the results on Monday 7th July at the Society for Experimental Biology's Annual Meeting in Marseille.

Dr Roos and his team have shown that Tabebuia extract can reduce levels of triglycerides, a breakdown product of fat, in rats after they have been fed a fatty meal. "This result shows the extract may have a potential use in treating obesity," he observes.

Tags: health, obesity, diabetes, herbal remedy, heart disease

Healthy lifestyle triggers genetic changes

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:32:22 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: back on diet and exercise..

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Comprehensive lifestyle changes including a better diet and more exercise can lead not only to a better physique, but also to swift and dramatic changes at the genetic level, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

In a small study, the researchers tracked 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who decided against conventional medical treatment such as surgery and radiation or hormone therapy.

The men underwent three months of major lifestyle changes, including eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and soy products, moderate exercise such as walking for half an hour a day, and an hour of daily stress management methods such as meditation.

As expected, they lost weight, lowered their blood pressure and saw other health improvements. But the researchers found more profound changes when they compared prostate biopsies taken before and after the lifestyle changes.

Tags: health, lifestyle, genetics

Absinthe

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:49:07 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Wormwood (in French, absinthe; in German, Wermut) is an herb with a perennial root system from which arise branched, firm, leafy stems that are almost woody at the base and reach a height of two to three feet. Its flowers are tiny, greenish-yellow and globular, and its indented leaves have a silvery-gray sheen. The species was cultivated from the Middle Ages to the early part of the 20th century.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Evidence of the pale-green liqueur’s toxicity eventually extinguished the fin-de-siècle infatuation with absinthe. The drink’s history began, however, long before the 19th century

Vincent van Gogh shot himself on the afternoon of July 27, 1890, in Auvers-sur-Oise, France; he died in the early morning two days later. Paul F. Gachet, the doctor who attended van Gogh during the last two months of his life, planted a thuja tree on the artist’s grave. The gesture was probably inspired by van Gogh’s admiration of thuja trees and his inclusion of their flamelike images in some of his Auvers paintings.

Gachet’s choice of a grave ornament was unwittingly pathetic. The thuja tree is a classical source of the chemical thujone, a constituent and indeed the toxic principle of the alcoholic drink known as absinthe. There is good evidence to indicate that van Gogh was addicted to absinthe, that his psychosis was exacerbated by thujone and that his fits with hallucinations contributed to his suicide.

Tags: absinthe, history, health, mind, science

10 Ways You Can Improve Earth's Health

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:52:26 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

The scientific and political arguments surrounding the health of our planet can make the whole topic seem beyond the grasp of the individual. How fast is the climate changing? Exactly what effect to humans have? And what will the government do about it?

How we treat Earth also involves trillions of little decisions by billions of individuals.

That in mind, on this Earth Day, LiveScience presents 10 ideas for saving energy and otherwise cutting down on your impact on the planet. The list was compiled by the Earth Day Network organization and republished here with permission.

1. Change light bulbs

Highly efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) last for years, use a quarter of the energy of regular bulbs and actually produce more light.

2. Drive differently, or drive a different vehicle

3. Control your temperature

4. Tame the refrigerator monster

5. Twist some knobs

6. Plant smartly

7. Invest in green energy

8. Go organic

9. Buy recycled

10. Be a minimalist

Tags: earth, health, environment, minimalism

The Science of Siesta

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:03:51 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Research Finds That Napping Improves Brain Functioning..

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Let’s hear it for siesta time. What better news than to hear that taking midday naps are good for your grey matter? Companies that want smarter employees should let them take 90 minute midday nap-time. Researchers at the University of Haifa in cooperation with the Sleep Laboratory at the Sheba Medical Center and researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Montreal recently concluded that a daytime nap changes the course of consolidation in the brain in several positive ways. This research mirrors several other recent studies with similar conclusions.

A ninety-minute daytime nap helps speed up the process of long term memory consolidation

"We still don't know the exact mechanism of the memory process that occurs during sleep, but the results of this research suggest the possibility that it is possible to speed up memory consolidation, and in the future, we may be able to do it artificially,"

What? Artificially? Why do scientist hate REAL sleep so much?

Tags: sleep, napping, health

An 'attractive' man-machine interface

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:45:43 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: physorg.com

Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have developed a new “nanobiotechnology” that enables magnetic control of events at the cellular level. They describe the technology, which could lead to finely-tuned but noninvasive treatments for disease, in the January issue of Nature Nanotechnology (published online January 3).

The technology could lead to non-invasive ways of controlling drug release or physiologic processes such as heart rhythms and muscle contractions, says Ingber, the study’s senior investigator. More importantly, it represents the first time magnetism has been used to harness specific cellular signaling systems normally used by hormones or other natural molecules.

“This technology allows us to control the behavior of living cells through magnetic forces rather than chemicals or hormones,”

Tags: health, drug release, medicine

The acid test

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:19:30 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: "It may be that we can use LSD to answer questions like: what is a religious experience? What is consciousness? What is sense of self? What stops us spending a whole afternoon looking at one leaf on a tree?" McGregor adds

Clip Source: www.cosmosmagazine.com

It's been banned for 35 years, but some scientists argue that a comeback for the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs is overdue. Is there a place for LSD in medicine today?

Cycling home from the Sandoz Pharmaceutical Laboratories in 1943, the Swiss biochemist Albert Hofmann found himself on the trip of his life. The familiar route had unexpectedly been transformed into an undulating boulevard like a Salvador Dali painting, fringed by buildings that yawned and rippled, "as if seen in a curved mirror".

This was not a fantastical dream, but the result of a rather unorthodox experiment. Five years earlier, in a search for novel therapeutic agents to treat migraines, Hofmann had combined an ergot alkaloid, lysergic acid, with a diethylamine building block to create the 25th molecule in a series of lysergic acid compounds. At the time, pharmacological assessment of the new molecule, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), had revealed nothing of interest.

Tags: health, mind, albert hofman, altered states, lsd, therapeutic use

Quality of Sleep = Memory storage

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 10:57:23 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: the Belgian study shows that getting a good night’s sleep the night after learning a new fact has a direct impact on the transfer process between the hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex.

Clip Source: physorg.com

Quality of Sleep Determines Where the Brain Stores Memories

As time passes, our memories are transferred to different parts of the brain in order to ideally store our past experiences. While scientists have known that sleep plays an important role in helping consolidate memories, a new study investigates the role of sleep a step further, and shows how one night of sleep can lead to changes in brain activity six months after an event has occurred.

Their research shows that a good night’s sleep after learning word pairs enhances memory processing in the hippocampus, and also induces information transfer between the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). This transfer serves to consolidate memories, helping new memories become stable and immune to interfering stimuli.

Our work shows how the development of a trace left by new memories depends on sleep

This is the first time we could confirm in humans a number of predictions based on animal research.

Tags: brain, mind, memory, sleep, science, health

Men Carry Breast Cancer Genes, Too

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 10:42:34 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: The great equalizer...

Clip Source: physorg.com

(AP) -- Doctors are encouraging a new group of people to consider getting tested for genes that raise the risk of breast cancer: men. Male relatives of women with such genes often do not realize that they, too, may carry them, and face greater odds of developing male breast cancer, as well as prostate, pancreatic and skin cancer, new research suggests.

"Everyone thinks of breast and ovarian cancer and just assumes it's all women. They don't even realize these genes can be inherited from the father's side of the family," said Dr. Mary Daly of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

After seeing breast cancer in several male patients who did not know they were at risk, Daly conducted a small study, which was presented Friday at a conference in Texas. She now is trying to convince more fathers, sons and brothers of women with the genes to get tested.

"Very few of them want to," she said.

Tags: men, breast cancer, health, genetics, medicine

Fit and fat—Or lazy and thin?

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:59:15 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Is it healthier to be fit and fat—Or lazy and thin?

Are you a thin couch potato? Think that because you're slim, you don't have to work out? Wrong. A new study shows that you have a better shot of living longer if you're plump but fit rather than if you're normal weight (or a twig) but don't exercise

They assessed fitness based on a treadmill exercise test and corpulence by a combo of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and percentage of body fat. Those in the lowest fifth in terms of fitness (patients who fared poorly on the treadmill) had a death rate four times higher than participants ranked in the top fifth for fitness. "We observed that fit individuals who were obese had a lower risk of all-cause mortality than did unfit normal weight or lean, individuals

It may be possible to reduce all-cause death rates among older adults, including those who are obese, by promoting regular physical activity

Tags: fitness, obesity, fat, exercise, health

Infant Male Circumcision An Abuse Of The Rights Of The Child?

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 11:21:40 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

ScienceDaily (Dec. 8, 2007) — Circumcision is one of the commonest surgical procedures performed on males. Opponents argue that infant circumcision can cause both physical and psychological harm, while recent evidence shows that circumcision is medically beneficial. Two doctors debate the issue in an article in the British Medical Journal.

There is now rarely a therapeutic indication for infant circumcision, yet ritual (non-therapeutic) male circumcision continues unchecked throughout the world, long after female circumcision, facial scarification, and other ritual forms of infant abuse have been made illegal, writes Geoff Hinchley, a consultant at Barnet & Chase Farm NHS Trust.

The law and principles pertaining to child protection should apply equally to both sexes, so why do society and the medical profession collude with this unnecessary mutilating practise? he asks.

Tags: male, health, rights, circumcision, abuse?

Antibacterial chemical disrupts hormone activities

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 10:49:46 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: physorg.com

A new UC Davis study shows that a common antibacterial chemical added to bath soaps can alter hormonal activity in rats and in human cells in the laboratory—and does so by a previously unreported mechanism.

The findings come as an increasing number of studies – of both lab animals and humans – are revealing that some synthetic chemicals in household products can cause health problems by interfering with normal hormone action.

Called endocrine disruptors, or endocrine disrupting substances (EDS), such chemicals have been linked in animal studies to a variety of problems, including cancer, reproductive failure and developmental anomalies.

“This finding may eventually lead to an explanation for some rises in some previously described reproductive problems that have been difficult to understand,” said one author, Bill Lasley, a UC Davis expert on reproductive toxicology and professor emeritus of veterinary medicine. More analyses of antibacterials and endocrine effects are planned, he said.

Tags: antibacterial, hormones, health

A Jurassic Park or Salvation?

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 11:34:35 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Bringing Ancient Human Viruses Back to Life: A Jurassic Park or Salvation?

When the mapping of the human genome was completed in 2003, researchers discovered a shocking fact: our bodies are littered with the shards of retroviruses, fragments of the chemical code from which all genetic material is made. This discovery has created a new discipline, paleovirology, which seeks to better understand the impact of modern diseases by studying the genetic history of ancient viruses.

Highly infectious viral diseases -including the Plague, yellow fever, measles, smallpox and he Spanish Flu, which killed 50 million people at the end of the First World War, moving from one cell to the next, transforming each new host into a factory that makes even more virus. In this way, one infected cell soon becomes billion -that die when the host dies.

After resurrecting the virus, the team placed it in human cells and found that their creation did indeed insert itself into the DNA of those cells

Tags: science, virus, dna, genetics, paleovirology, health, disease

"Eat your vegetables!"

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 10:50:34 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: broccoli sprouts -- and black raspberries

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Diet And Cancer Prevention: New Evidence For The Protective Effects Of Fruits And Veggies

ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2007) — The age-old refrain, "Eat your vegetables!" gets scientific support as researchers present the latest findings on cancer prevention at the American Association for Cancer Research's Sixth Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention.

Researchers present new data that demonstrate how diets full of raw vegetables --particularly broccoli sprouts -- and black raspberries could prevent or slow the growth of some common forms of cancer.

Black raspberries modulate markers of oxidative stress in patients with Barrett's esophagus

Black raspberries may protect against esophageal cancer by reducing oxidative stress in patients with Barrett's esophagus (BE), a pre-cancerous condition that usually arises due to gastroesophageal reflux disease, report researchers at The Ohio State University.

Tags: vegetables, health, cancer, diet

Herbal extract found to increase lifespan

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:22:38 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Rhodiola rosea, also known as the golden root, grows in cold climates at high altitudes and has been used by Scandinavians and Russians for centuries for its anti-stress qualities. The herb is thought to have anti-oxidative properties and has been widely studied.

Clip Source: physorg.com

The herbal extract of a yellow-flowered mountain plant indigenous to the Arctic regions of Europe and Asia increased the lifespan of fruit fly populations, according to a University of California, Irvine study.

Flies that ate a diet rich with Rhodiola rosea, an herbal supplement long used for its purported stress-relief effects, lived on an average of 10 percent longer than fly groups that didn’t eat the herb. Study results appear in the online version of Rejuvenation Research.

“Although this study does not present clinical evidence that Rhodiola can extend human life, the finding that it does extend the lifespan of a model organism, combined with its known health benefits in humans, make this herb a promising candidate for further anti-aging research,” said Mahtab Jafari, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences and study leader. “Our results reveal that Rhodiola is worthy of continued study, and we are now investigating why this herb works to increase lifespan.”

Tags: herbs, longevity, health, rhodiola