Bio Necklace Far Infrared Rays

Too Much Sleep Triggers Migraines

2010-07-06T05:53:00.000-07:00

About 12% of the population, or 36 million Americans, suffer from migraine headaches, according to the AHS.

Although most people with migraines have one or two attacks a month or less, about 3% of the population has chronic migraines, which occur at least 15 days each month.

Dodick says understanding the molecular pathways that trigger migraines or cause occasional migraines to become chronic could lead to better drugs to treat or prevent them.

Although getting enough sleep is important for people with migraines, having a sleep routine is even more critical, he says.

Just as too little sleep can trigger migraine headaches, so can too much sleep at one time.

"That's why 'Saturday morning' migraines are so common," he says. "If someone with migraines who gets up during the week at 6 a.m. sleeps in on Saturday, this can cause a migraine."

The same is true for irregular afternoon naps or any disruption in the regular sleep pattern.

"Sleep routine is very important," Dodick says. "People with migraines need to go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time every day. If they get up at 6 a.m. during the week they need to do the same thing on Saturday and Sunday."

SOURCES: American Headache Society 52nd Annual Scientific Meeting, Los Angeles, June 24-27, 2010.

Paul L. Dunham, PhD, Missouri State University, Center for Biomedical & Life Sciences, Springfield, Mo.

David Dodick, MD, president, American Headache Society; professor of neurology, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix.

News release, American Headache Society.

12 Mouthwatering Meatless Meals

2010-07-02T17:48:00.000-07:00

Meat-free, but flavor-packed

Looking for a way to save money? Meatless meals are less expensive, and plant-based diets may reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. These 12 vegetarian recipes will wow your taste buds without hurting your wallet.

Ravioli With Tomatoes, White Beans, and Escarole

This recipe combines Mediterranean spices and white beans to get a protein-packed pasta.

Ingredients: Four-cheese ravioli, great Northern beans, diced tomatoes, basil, oregano, red pepper, fresh escarole or spinach, grated Asiago cheese

Calories: 329

source: www.health.com

Obesity Rates Jump in 28 States

2010-07-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

Americans are continuing to get fat, with obesity rates nudging upwards in 28 states over the past year, a new report shows.

“More than two-thirds of states now have adult obesity rates above 25 percent,” Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health, said during a Tuesday news conference. “Back in 1991, not that long ago, not a single state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. There’s been a dramatic change in a relatively short period.”

“Obesity is one of the biggest public health crises in the country,” Levi added. “Rising rates of obesity over past decades is one of the major factors behind skyrocketing health care costs in the U.S., one-quarter of which are related to obesity.”

Mississippi weighed in for the sixth year in a row as the fattest state, with 33.8 percent of its adults obese, while Alabama and Tennessee tied for second (31.6 percent). The other top 10, also concentrated in the south, were West Virginia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas, South Carolina and Michigan tying with North Carolina for 10th place (29.4 percent).

Michigan was the only state in the top 11 not in the South, an anomaly perhaps explained by the state’s economy.

“Michigan certainly has been very hard hit, not just in the recent recession, but in the last decade or so,” Levi explained.

And, as the report also shows, income is a major driver of the obesity epidemic. More than 35 percent of adults bringing in less than $15,000 a year were obese, vs. only 24.5 percent in the over-$50,000 income bracket.

The healthiest states in terms of weight were congregated in the Northeast and West. Colorado (19.1 percent) came in first, followed by Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Vermont, Rhode Island, Utah, Montana and New Jersey. The District of Columbia was the only region to experience a decline in obesity rates.

In addition to geographic and economic differences, this year’s report also focused on racial and ethnic disparities, finding that blacks and Latinos bear the brunt of the obesity problem. Blacks and Latinos outweighed whites in at least 40 states plus D.C.

“Just over 30 percent of African-Americans and nearly 40 percent of Latino children are overweight versus 29 percent of white children,” Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and chief executive officer of PolicyLink, said during the teleconference.

As with adults, this puts them at higher risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease.

Racial/ethnic differences are closely intertwined with economic inequalities.

“The link between poverty, race and obesity is undeniable,” Glover Blackwell said. “For example, Mississippi, the poorest state in nation with an African-American population of more than 37 percent, has the highest obesity rate of any state and highest proportion of obese children.”

Poor and minority neighborhoods lack safe streets and parks in which to exercise and many are also so-called “food deserts.”

“Twenty-three million African-Americans do not have access to a grocery store within a mile of where they live, and only 8 percent of African-Americans live in a census tract with a grocery store,” Glover Blackwell said.

A poll on childhood obesity included in this year’s report found that 16.4 percent of children aged 10 to 17 are obese and 18.2 percent are overweight. Although the rates are troubling, the trend may have stabilized, the report said.

But the issue is at least getting on the radar, with 80 percent of Americans saying they believe “childhood obesity is a significant and growing challenge for the country.”

Some glimmers of hope have also appeared on the horizon, including “three major developments at the federal level,” Dr. James Marks, senior vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said during the teleconference. “This includes First Lady Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move’ program; health care legislation that includes support for obesity-related projects; and many states and communities have mandated nutritional standards for school meals and snacks as well as foods sold in schools.”

“In the last few years, promising programs and policies have increased exponentially, but our response as a nation has yet to fully match magnitude of problem,” Levi said.

The report was co-authored by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

More information

The Trust for America’s Health has the full report.

SOURCES: June 29, 2010, teleconference with: Jeff Levi, Ph.D., executive director, Trust for America’s Health; James Marks, M.D., senior vice president, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and chief executive officer, PolicyLink; F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2010

Save our environment with green biofuel technology

2010-03-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

People are now continuously searching for green and clean coal biofuel technology. A good news come from N-Viro International which support this green technology. They convert various types of waste into beneficial alternative fuel products. Their coal clean fuel product of course will help us to save our green environment.

Enviro owns patented technologies to convert various types of waste into beneficial alternative fuel products. Waste-to-energy is the process of creating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the incineration of waste source. waste to energy is a form of energy recovery. Most WtE processes produce electricity directly through combustion, or produce a combustible fuel commodity, such as methane, methanol, ethanol or synthetic fuels.

Some alternative energy companies are now developing new ways to recycle waste by generating electricity from landfill waste and pollution. To reduce more pollution, we may use opportunity fuels. This is any type of fuel that is not widely used, but has the potential to be an economically viable source of power generation.

Watch this video to get more information about renewable energy from Enviro Technology

Why We Must Reduce Health Care Costs

2010-03-25T09:47:00.001-07:00

Health care costs continue to rise, with no end in sight. But many people aren't aware of what accounts for those costs and where the money goes. However, such awareness is key to finding ways to bring costs down.

Where does the money go?

Here are the major categories of health care costs in the U.S. as reported in 2007:
* Hospitals: 32%
* Health insurance administration and profits: 13%
* Medications: 10%
* Physician income: 9%
* Physician expenses: 7%
* Clinical laboratory services: 5%

Private health insurance

The overhead costs and profits of private health insurance is just one of the reasons for my disappointment that a health reform bill, now being considered in Congress, will likely have no type of public insurance option. In contrast to these large costs for private insurance, administrative overhead for Medicare is only about three percent. Of course, anyone who has tried to deal with private insurance companies can express plenty of other objections about them. It is evident that their total attention is to bottom line profit rather than to any real interest in providing for the health of their policy holders.

New medications and increasing longevity

Scientific advances have led to the availability of many new medications that may prolong life or at least reduce suffering. Medications are likely to become an even larger fraction of the health care budget because of their high development costs, the extraordinary effectiveness of some, and the increasing longevity of individuals. Although many patients take these largely insurance-covered costs in stride, they still contribute significantly to the overall cost of health care.

Nonetheless, some savings are possible. If physicians were more aware of the costs of drugs, they might be able to prescribe equally effective, less costly alternatives. Physicians tend to prescribe the newest drug for high blood pressure, for example, even though it is more expensive and no more effective than earlier medications. Not infrequently a physician may acquiesce to a patient's request to get a drug they have heard about in a television ad-for example, the highly touted Plavix which is far more expensive and not necessarily any better than aspirin in many situations.

Physician income reasonable

It seems reasonable to me that we physicians share about nine percent of the pie. Although physician incomes have not fallen, studies show that on average they need to spend more working time to maintain such incomes. However, what is not evident from the nine percent figure is the unfair discrepancy in reimbursements, which pay big bucks to specialists for procedures and far less to the internist or general practitioner who carries out the evaluation and long term management of patients. Interventive cardiologists may deny it, but it's easy to understand how their income from an angioplasty procedure may lead them to recommend it even though angioplasty prolongs life no more than non-invasive medical treatment in people with stable coronary heart disease.

Physician expenses and insurance claims

Physician expenses include obvious things such as rent and salaries for a receptionist and nurse, but physicians also spent 10 to 15 percent of their gross income for billing and collection, preparing a variety of insurance forms (often requiring hiring an additional person), and an average of three hours a week on the phone or corresponding with insurance claims adjusters. The cumulative cost of the time physicians spend in these interactions with insurers is estimated at $23 to $31 billion annually. The costly and time consuming tasks of paperwork and completing multiple insurance forms weigh heavily in physician dissatisfaction and early retirements.

Laboratory tests... more to come

The rising number of laboratory tests ordered by physicians continue to be of concern to both the medical community and the public.

Prevention of Specific Infectious Diseases

2008-05-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

Description:
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a rod-shaped bacterium that can cause disseminated disease but is most frequently associated with chronic pneumonia. Transmission occurs when a contagious patient coughs, spreading the bacilli through the airborne route to a person sharing the same air space. The exposed person may acquire latent infection (sometimes abbreviated LTBI) or, depending on host factors, tuberculosis disease. Both conditions can usually be treated successfully with medications (1).

Multi-drug resistant or MDR-TB is TB resistant to at least two of the most effective drugs, isoniazid and rifampin (also called first-line drugs). XDR-TB is resistant to at least these two drugs and three of the six second-line drugs used to treat MDR-TB.

Occurrence

In many other countries, tuberculosis is much more common than in the United States, and it is an increasingly serious public health problem (2). Although MDR-TB occurs globally, it appears to be rare compared to drug-sensitive TB. XDR-TB is of particular concern among HIV-infected or other immunocompromised persons (see Maps 4-13, 4-14).
Risk for Travelers

To become infected, a person usually has to spend a relatively long time in a closed environment where the air was contaminated by a person with untreated tuberculosis who was coughing and who had numerous M. tuberculosis organisms (or tubercle bacilli) in secretions from the lungs or larynx. Infection is generally transmitted through the air; therefore, there is virtually no danger of its being spread by dishes, linens, and other items that are touched, or by most food products. However, it can be transmitted through unpasteurized milk or milk products (e.g., some cheeses) obtained from infected cattle (1). Documented sites of XDR-TB include crowded hospitals, prisons, homeless shelters, and other settings where susceptible persons come in contact with infected persons with TB disease.

Travelers who anticipate possible prolonged exposure to tuberculosis (e.g., those who could be expected to come in contact routinely with hospital, prison, or homeless shelter populations) should be advised to have a tuberculin skin test or QuantiFERON TB-Gold test (QFT-G) before leaving the United States (1,3). If the result is negative, they should have a repeat test approximately 8-10 weeks after returning (4,5). Because persons with HIV infection are more likely to have an impaired response to the test, travelers should be advised to inform their physicians about their HIV status. Except for travelers with impaired immunity, travelers who have already been infected are unlikely to be reinfected (1).

Travelers who anticipate repeated travel with possible prolonged exposure or an extended stay over a period of years in an endemic country should be advised to have a baseline two-step tuberculin test or a single-step QFT-G (4). If the baseline test is negative, annual screening would identify recent infection, which should prompt medical evaluation to exclude disease and treatment for latent infection.

CDC and state and local health departments have published the results of six investigations of possible tuberculosis transmission on commercial aircraft. In these six instances, a passenger or a member of a flight crew traveled on commercial airplanes while contagious with tuberculosis. In all six instances, the airlines were unaware that the passengers or crew members had tuberculosis. In two of the instances, CDC concluded that tuberculosis was probably transmitted to others on the airplane. The findings suggested that the risk of tuberculosis transmission from an infectious person to others on an airplane was greater on long flights (8 hours or more). The risk of exposure to tuberculosis was higher for passengers and flight crew members sitting or working near an infectious person because they were more likely to inhale droplets containing M. tuberculosis bacteria (6).

Based on these studies and findings, WHO issued recommendations to prevent the transmission of tuberculosis in aircraft and to guide potential investigations. The risk of tuberculosis transmission on an airplane does not appear to be greater than in any other enclosed space. To prevent the possibility of exposure to tuberculosis on airplanes, CDC and WHO recommend that persons known to have infectious tuberculosis travel by private transportation (that is, not by commercial airplanes or other commercial carriers), if travel is required. CDC and WHO have issued guidelines for notifying passengers who might have been exposed to tuberculosis aboard airplanes (6). Passengers concerned about possible exposure to tuberculosis should be advised to see their primary health-care provider for evaluation.

read more http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/yellowBookCh4-TB.aspx

The Power of Positive Reinforcement

2008-05-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

When you're faced with a challenge, a little positive self-talk goes a long way. Learn how to find your own success mantra.

Studies back up the benefits of positive self-talk: Research suggests that consistently replacing negative thoughts with optimistic ones may improve your outlook, reduce stress and lift your self-esteem. Here's how to come up with a motivating personal mantra you can rely on again and again:

1. First, envision your ideal life, then come up with an encouraging phrase that makes it sound as if what you desire is already a reality. Instead of "I hope tomorrow is better," try "I believe that tomorrow will be a better day."

2. Repeat your mantra whenever you start to badmouth yourself ("I'm such a loser!"). You'll retrain your brain to focus on the positive, not the negative. Share your successful mantras on our Happiness forum.

3. Can't think of a mantra that doesn't make you feel silly? Try one of these:

"I choose to love and appreciate myself and others."
"I am grateful for the good and wonder in my life."
"I can make healthy choices and be the architect of my future."
"I forgive my flaws and celebrate my strengths."

Source: http://health.yahoo.com/

Treatment of Tuberculosis

2008-05-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

The recommendations in this document are intended to guide the treatment of tuberculosis in settings where mycobacterial cultures, drug susceptibility testing, radiographic facilities, and second-line drugs are routinely available. In areas where these resources are not available, the recommendations provided by the World Health Organization, the International Union against Tuberculosis, or national tuberculosis control programs should be followed.

What's New In This Document

* The responsibility for successful treatment is clearly assigned to the public health program or private provider, not to the patient.
* It is strongly recommended that the initial treatment strategy utilize patient-centered case management with an adherence plan that emphasizes direct observation of therapy.
* Recommended treatment regimens are rated according to the strength of the evidence supporting their use. Where possible, other interventions are also rated.
* Emphasis is placed on the importance of obtaining sputum cultures at the time of completion of the initial phase of treatment in order to identify patients at increased risk of relapse.
* Extended treatment is recommended for patients with drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis who have cavitation noted on the initial chest film and who have positive sputum cultures at the time 2 months of treatment is completed.
* The roles of rifabutin, rifapentine, and the fluoroquinolones are discussed and a regimen with rifapentine in a once-a-week continuation phase for selected patients is described.
* Practical aspects of therapy, including drug administration, use of fixed-dose combination preparations, monitoring and management of adverse effects, and drug interactions are discussed.
* Treatment completion is defined by number of doses ingested, as well as the duration of treatment administration.
* Special treatment situations, including human immunodeficiency virus infection, tuberculosis in children, extrapulmonary tuberculosis, culture-negative tuberculosis, pregnancy and breastfeeding, hepatic disease and renal disease are discussed in detail.
* The management of tuberculosis caused by drug-resistant organisms is updated.
* These recommendations are compared with those of the WHO and the IUATLD and the DOTS strategy is described.
* The current status of research to improve treatment is reviewed.

read more http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5211a1.htm

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2008-05-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

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Lessons in Home Cooking

2008-03-29T23:19:00.000-07:00

The most healthful meal is the one you cook at home. But for those of us skilled at the art of takeout, the idea of cooking in our kitchens is daunting. Who has time after a busy day to shop, chop, prepare and cook?

The Times’s food writer Mark Bittman always makes cooking look easy as author of the weekly Minimalist column and his new blog Bitten. He’s also the author of several cookbooks, including “How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food.'’ I recently spoke with Mark about the how-to’s of home cooking, his favorite ingredients and a lot about beans.

Why do you think so many people find it tough to cook regularly at home?

I think there are a couple of lost generations. In the years after the war it became less and less popular to cook and more and more common to do things conveniently. Especially people born after 1960 or after, when reentering the workforce and using canned and frozen microwave stuff — they just didn’t see their mothers cooking.

For those of us who want to cook more, what’s your advice for getting started?

I would say start with a decent cookbook. Pick something you really like, and make the effort to be successful; you want positive reinforcement. Read the recipe carefully, set aside the time and make sure you’ve got the ingredients and the equipment and really walk yourself through it. What takes you two hours the first time may only take 15 minutes the third time.

What supplies should I always have in my kitchen? Are there any special pots or pans I need?

In “How To Cook Everything,” there are lists of what you need for your pantry and a list of the equipment. You can start with three or four pans, a couple different utensils. And you can start with 10 or 15 ingredients. The list includes pasta and rice, canned beans and tomatoes, spices, olive oil, eggs and butter, long-keeping vegetables like onions, potatoes and garlic and canned stock. You have to start with the right ingredients, and you have to invest a little money and a fair amount of time.

But that is usually the problem for most people. They say they don’t have time to cook. I know I often don’t.

Well, whatever it takes to get food on the table, you have to do something. I’m not saying calling the Chinese takeout guy is harder than cooking. But all things considered, it’s not that much different. Yesterday morning I woke up and cooked beans while getting ready to come to work. I got home really late, like at 7:45 p.m. I reheated the beans, washed some lettuce and broiled a piece of fish. I had stuff on the table in 15 minutes. People say, “I have no time.” It’s like exercise: you have to want to do it.

For me the worst part of cooking is shopping for groceries and figuring what ingredients I need for a meal.

These days I cook a lot of things that are already in the house. I eat a lot of eggs, vegetables, beans and pasta. A lot of people think cooking is complicated. But this is the thing. Once you learn what you’re doing you realize it’s not. As I said, I woke up yesterday and made beans. Even if you take a can of beans and throw it in a pot with cherry tomatoes (you don’t even have to cut them up), some garlic and olive oil — there’s nothing wrong with that. Broil a piece of fish, wash some lettuce, and you have a fine meal. If your kids don’t like fish, then use shrimp or a piece of meat. I’ve gotten so used to cooking simply I almost never do anything else. Even when people come over for dinner — they get the same things I cook for myself. If I made what I just described to you and you were coming over for dinner, you’d probably think, “He cooked. How nice.'’ People worry about this too much.

How many different types of meals should we know how to make? Is variety important?

Whatever makes you happy. If you know how to broil a piece of fish or meat, if you know how to make a stir-fry and a couple pasta dishes and maybe a rice dish, and if you know how to deal with beans and make a salad, at that point you are well on your way.

When you are cooking, do you ask yourself whether it’s healthy, or do you just want it to taste good?

I always thought if you were aware of what you were putting in your mouth you’re not going to eat badly. Nobody can cook what they cook in fast-food joints and restaurants, in general, because you just don’t have the same ingredients. But if you looked at what it means to put a half a cup of butter in a dish, you would just look and say, “I’m going to use less.'’ When you cook yourself, you just don’t put the same kind of crappy things in there that people put in food that is prepared for you.

Do you have a favorite ingredient?

I go through an awful lot of olive oil, a stunning amount. I’m eating a lot of legumes.

You’ve talked a lot about beans. How do you cook them? Don’t you have to soak them?

You don’t have to soak them, but it makes it faster if you do. If you soak small dried beans overnight, I wager you could get them most of the way cooked by the time you and your daughter got out of the house in the morning. There’s a lot of stuff you can start and stop in the morning, especially beans and grains.

I have to confess, I’m not much of a bean eater. Maybe I need to start. Why are you such a fan?

It’s the flavor, the satisfaction, the non-meatness, the high-fiberness. When you get into cooking you start to see the subtle differences among things. At first I didn’t know anything about fish, then I learned 50 species, and then it mattered if it was bay scallops or sea scallops or pink scallops. That’s where I’m at these days with vegetables and legumes. I didn’t pay much attention to cooking them for most of my adult life, and now I’m starting to understand the subtle differences.

Okay, so what beans should we all be trying?

Chickpeas are the best. Now I’m into these huge beans called gigantes. You eat three of them and it’s like you had a small potato. But you can take a pound of chickpeas, cook them on a Saturday and stick them in the refrigerator tossed with olive oil, and you can eat them all week long.

Do you have a particular food indulgence?

I have a lot of friends in the food business, so I get my share of treats. At home it’s almost like I’m happy with pretty much everything I cook. It’s not that it’s so great. It’s the knowledge that I put something together, it’s simple and I put something on the table and there we are, sitting and eating it. It’s something I’ve loved doing for a long time, and I’m still into it.

Pizza for Breakfast? Yes!

2008-03-22T04:34:00.000-07:00

I know what you're thinking: pizza? For breakfast? But the truth is that you can crack open last night's leftovers in the a.m. if you want to.

I know lots of women who skip breakfast, and they have a ton of different excuses for doing it. Some say they don't have time, others think they're "saving" calories by eliminating a meal, still others just don't like breakfast food.

But the bottom line is, eating in the morning is crucial when you're trying to trim down. "Eating just about anything in the range of 300 to 400 calories would be better than nothing at all," says SELF contributor Katherine Brooking, R.D., who developed the super-easy eating plan for this year's SELF Challenge. And even pizza can be healthy if it's thin-crust, loaded with veggies, and you stick to one slice.

Breakfast is one meal I never miss (my favorite morning combo includes Fage nonfat yogurt topped with fresh fruit and low-carb granola, yum!), and the same goes for most weight loss success stories.

Research shows that eating breakfast revs up your metabolism, keeps you from overeating later in the day and may even help sleekify your abs. Researchers at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles found that breakfast skippers have bigger tummies than those who regularly have a morning meal.

So eat something in the morning, anything. I know plenty of pals who end up forgoing it altogether to have just coffee or cola. I say, try heating up last night's leftovers-it may sound crazy, but if it works for you, do it!

Bonus: I find if I tell myself, "You can always eat it tomorrow," I put away the leftovers instead of eating more that night. Try it...you may save yourself some prebedtime calories. And watch your body reap the fat-burning benefits. What are your favorite breakfast foods?

Source: http://health.yahoo.com

The Easiest Diet Secret

2008-03-22T04:32:00.000-07:00

Produce, especially the veggie variety, is a dieter’s best friend. When people eat veggies with a meal, they consume a full 20 percent fewer calories overall — and still feel satisfied afterward, a study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals.

I know that all that chopping and cooking feels like a drag, but it’s easier than you think to work in five cups of the fresh stuff a day.

At breakfast, have a fruit “smush” made with a medley of fresh berries and yogurt (the lean protein fills me up). Then, at lunch, have a great big salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, peas or whatever your favorite veggies are. Add grilled chicken or another lean protein to hold off afternoon hunger.

Start dinner with a veggie-packed soup, like minestrone, and make a side dish that you love (I’m a big fan of steamed spinach with a little salt). I also love ratatouille (especially in summer), but if you don’t have time for that, heat up some frozen veggies and sprinkle them with Parmesan or lemon juice for an easy, delicious, healthy side. My favorite brand of frozen veggies is from Cascadian Farm.

Source: health.yahoo.com

Telling smokers "age" of lungs helps them quit

2008-03-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

Smokers are more likely to kick the habit if they are told how "old" their lungs are, a British study found on Friday.

The concept of lung age -- measured by comparing a smoker's lungs to the age of a healthy person whose lungs function the same -- has helped patients better understand how smoking damages health, researchers had already found.

But that information is also effective in convincing smokers to quit, said Gary Parkes, a family physician in Hertfordshire outside London, who led the study published in the British Medical Journal.

"Telling smokers their lung age significantly improves the likelihood of them quitting smoking," Parkes and his colleagues wrote.

Smoking kills about four million people each year, according to the World Health Organization. Tobacco is highly addictive and the leading preventable cause of both cancer and heart disease.

The study in five general medical practices outside London involved 561 long-term smokers older than 35 and began with a simple test to record the volume and rate at which the volunteers exhaled air from the lungs.

One group received no detailed information about their results while the other people were given their lung age, shown a diagram of how smoking ages the lungs and told that quitting would slow the rate of damage.

Everyone was also strongly encouraged to quit and offered help to do so. One year later, saliva tests showed that 13 percent of the smokers told their lung age had quit while only 6 percent of people in the other group had stopped.

"Anybody who had good, understandable information seemed more inclined to give up," Parkes said. "The reason may be people had dreaded the worst and realized it was still worthwhile giving up."

The study counters research showing such health information does not prod them to quit and underscores the benefits of early screening because 16 percent of the people in the study had undiagnosed emphysema, Parkes said.

Giving people this kind of information could represent a cheap and easy way to get people to stop smoking and reduce smoking-related health problems that are putting pressure on health systems to treat.

"The cost, if you like, is certainly within the economic framework of a good deal," Parkes said.

Reuters
(Reporting by Michael Kahn; editing by Maggie Fox and Philippa Fletcher)

Popcorn ingredient causes lung disease: U.S. study

2008-03-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

A chemical used to give butter flavor to popcorn can damage the lungs and airways of mice, U.S. government experts reported on Thursday.

Tests on mice show that diacetyl, a component of artificial butter flavoring, can cause a condition known as lymphocytic bronchiolitis, said the team at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health.

The condition can lead to obliterative bronchiolitis -- or "popcorn lung" -- a rare and debilitating disease seen in workers at microwave popcorn packaging plants and at least one consumer.

At least two microwave popcorn makers -- ConAgra Foods Inc and Weaver Popcorn Co Inc -- have said recently they would stop using diacetyl.

Laboratory mice made to inhale diacetyl vapors for three months developed lymphocytic bronchiolitis, the NIEHS team said.

"This is one of the first studies to evaluate the respiratory toxicity of diacetyl at levels relevant to human health," Daniel Morgan at NIEHS, whose team led the study, said in a statement.

Writing in the journal Toxicological Sciences, the researchers said findings suggest that workplace exposure to diacetyl contributes to the development of obliterative bronchiolitis.

The hard-to-treat condition causes vague symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath, and steadily worsens, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Congress has been working on a bill to order quick action by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to limit exposure to diacetyl. The House of Representatives passed a bill last year but the Senate has not acted.

The Food and Drug Administration said last September it was investigating a report of a man who came down with the life-threatening disease after eating several bags of butter-flavored microwave popcorn each day.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Will Dunham and John O'Callaghan)

Copy Right Reuters

Psychological scars: the hidden legacy of Iraq

2008-03-16T21:05:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (AFP) - Suicides, family breakups, depression and social stigma are just some of the hidden legacies of the Iraq war among the more than one million US troops who have served in the campaign.

While nearly 4,000 American troops have been killed in the war and more than 29,000 have been wounded, those who escape physical injury still stand a high chance of developing psychological scars that may stay with them for life.

Some have watched comrades die or witnessed unspeakable carnage, while others may have found it hard to come to terms with the trauma of killing.

A report last month focused on the psychological toll on troops from the 10th Mountain Division based in New York state, one of the most deployed brigades in the US Army since the September 11 attacks of 2001.

The study, by the group Veterans for America, found that the mental health care provided for soldiers did not meet the psychological burden they had suffered during repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Sooner or later, and likely sooner, we're going to hit the wall and something will have to change," said Bobby Muller, the founder of Veterans for America and a former Marine paralyzed while serving in Vietnam in 1969.

The report criticized a Pentagon policy of extending tours of duty from 12 to 15 months and insufficient time between deployments to recuperate as key factors in the high level of mental problems among returning US troops.

On its most recent deployment, the 10th Mountain Division's second brigade combat team lost 52 troops killed in action, while a further 270 were wounded, out of a total troop strength of around 3,500 soldiers.

The figures reveal the unit's soldiers to be five times more likely to be killed in action than the average soldier serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the report -- a major psychological stress on the troops.

The study found troops in the unit reported low morale, spousal abuse and attempted suicides. And yet, troops had to wait up to two months for an appointment with a mental health expert once they returned, it said.

A separate report by the Army released earlier this month found that soldiers on their third or fourth combat deployment were at particular risk of suffering mental health problems.

Major General Gale Pollock, the Army's deputy surgeon general, said the results simply "show the effects of a long war."

A similar report by the Army's Mental Health Advisory Team released in 2007 found that 28 percent of soldiers who had been in high-intensity combat were experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, or acute stress.

It also found that the percentage of soldiers with severe stress, emotional, alcohol or family problems had risen more than 85 percent since the invasion of Iraq five years ago.

In January, the Army said suicide rates had soared over the past three years, attributing the rise to strains on family relationships.

"I think it's a marker of the stress on the force," said Colonel Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatric consultant to the army's surgeon general.

According to the figures, more than 2,000 soldiers tried to take their own lives or injure themselves in 2006, compared to about 375 in 2002.

Yet another study by the Defense Department in June last year found that more than one third of active Army personnel who returned from combat experienced some degree of mental health problems.

However, according to some campaigners, the numbers could under-state the true scale of psychological problems, given that some troops are reluctant to admit to trauma, for fear of being stigmatized or overlooked for promotion.

Veterans for America said it considered that military commanders also wielded too much influence in the treatment of psychological problems.

In response to that report, the military at Fort Drum, the home of the 10th Mountain Division, acknowledged some shortcomings while characterizing elements of the study as misrepresenting the true picture.

"While we've made great strides this year to increase our mental health provider capacity, we acknowledge the shortage of mental health providers, not just here but across America," unit commander Major General Michael Oates said.

"We welcome the opinions of outside interest groups, but we're more interested in well-researched solutions to these problems," spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Paul Swiergosz added in a statement.

Copy Right AFP. By James Hossack - Sun Mar 16.

Lifestyle and Cholesterol Levels

2008-03-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

When is it time to use medication for high cholesterol, and what are the best choices?

For elevated triglycerides, I suggest a three-month commitment to reduce the sugar and simple starches in your diet. This means lowering consumption of foods like potatoes, white rice, pasta, and baked goods, and replacing them with smaller quantities of whole grains like brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, and bright-colored vegetables and fruits.

It also means cutting down on sugary drinks, like soda. If that doesn't lower your triglycerides below 150 mg/dl, it's time to think about medications-and that's in addition to your dietary modifications, not instead!

Niacin, one of the B vitamins, is an effective and appealing treatment for many people concerned about high triglycerides, because it is a fairly natural approach. Over-the-counter forms of niacin are usually not strong enough, so a high-dose prescription version is usually used.

The only problem is that such high doses often cause redness and sweating in the face and upper chest (called a flushing reaction). Using a slow-release form of niacin and taking some aspirin before each dose sometimes helps.

Fibrates are also useful for lowering triglycerides. The two most widely used are gemfibrozil and fenofibrate. The most common side effect is upset stomach, but most people aren't too bothered by that. Rarely, the fibrates can cause irritation of the liver, which gets better quickly when the medicine is stopped.

Statins also lower triglyceride levels, but not nearly as well as niacin and fibrates.

If a high LDL is your main problem, you should reduce your dietary fat intake. If that's not good enough after three months, then I suggest taking a statin.

There are several to choose from, and your doctor can help select the best one for you. Many people know that they have to avoid grapefruit when taking a statin, but there is one exception-pravastatin is not affected by grapefruit, although it is one of the weaker statins.

The most common side effects are irritation of the liver or muscles, but these problems happen to less than 1 in 1,000 people taking a statin, and resolve promptly when you stop taking it.

One of the most exciting things about statins is that, besides lowering your LDL level, they also appear to directly reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. The specific reason for this is not yet understood. It is not known if any other methods of lowering cholesterol have the same kind of additional protective benefit.

If a statin plus dietary change still doesn't get you to your LDL goal, you might benefit from adding ezetemibe. This medicine blocks absorption of LDL cholesterol from your intestines.

It doesn't have much effect when used by itself, but ezetemibe is very powerful in combination with a statin, and almost never causes any side effects.

A few other medicines are occasionally prescribed to lower cholesterol, but these four (niacin, fibrates, statins and ezetimibe) are among the best and the most commonly used.

There are a few natural products advertised to lower cholesterol. The FDA issued a warning in August 2007 that two of the most common, red rice yeast and policosanol, often contain a cholesterol-lowering drug, lovastatin, as the main active ingredient. So you may be fooling yourself if you think these are safer than a prescribed statin just because they are "natural".

Garlic, fish oil, and a variety of other products are sometimes advertised as lowering cholesterol, too. My general attitude is that if an alternative product or natural substance is truly harmless, I have no objection to giving it a try. But always work with your doctor to monitor whether such products are really working and to make sure they aren't causing any side effects.

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© 2007 Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. This article from Johns Hopkins University is provided as a service by Yahoo. All materials are produced independently by Johns Hopkins University, which is solely responsible for its content.

Pessimism Deadly for Heart Patients?

2008-03-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

Outlook Affects Survival, Study Shows, So Look on the Bright Side

Keeping a positive attitude is good for your health, and if you are a heart patient it just may save your life, new research suggests.

A study of patients with heart disease followed for six to 10 years found that those with pessimistic beliefs about their recovery were twice as likely to die during that timeframe as those who felt more optimistic.

The research was presented this week in Baltimore at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, a group dedicated to the research of the interaction between the mind and body.

"This study is one of the first to examine how a patient's attitude toward their disease affects their health over the long term, and ultimately their survival," says lead researcher John C. Barefoot, PhD.
Mind and Body Connection

Barefoot, Redford B. Williams, MD, and colleagues from Duke University Medical Center conducted psychological assessments on 2,825 patients hospitalized for heart disease.

The patients were asked to describe their expectations about their ability to recover from their illness and regain a normal life.

During six to 10 years of follow-up, 978 of the patients died, with 66% dying of heart disease.

Patient expectations about their disease course were highly related to survival, with patients who had the most pessimistic views dying at twice the rate of those who were most optimistic.

After controlling for factors that could influence survival, including disease severity, functional status, and depression, the death rate among the most pessimistic patients was still 30% higher than the most optimistic, Williams tells WebMD.

"Negative outlook was an independent predictor of poor outcomes," he says. "And there seems to be something protective about having a more optimistic attitude that makes you feel that you are going to be OK."

He says patients with positive expectations may be more likely to make lifestyle changes and follow treatment regimens prescribed by their doctors.
The Impact of Stress

Another possible explanation is that positive thoughts may lessen the damaging effects of stress on the body.

A separate study presented by the Duke researchers at the Baltimore meeting examined this theory.

Researchers conducted personality profiles on 327 healthy people to determine if they were more inclined to exhibit positive or negative emotions. They then conducted tests designed to assess the study participants' physiological responses to stress.

People identified as being more positive were found to have significantly lower increases in blood pressure during stress than people who were negative.

They also had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol within 30 minutes of waking — a time in which levels tend to be high.

"It's not just that negative emotions are harmful," lead researcher Beverly H. Brummett, PhD, tells WebMD. "There seems to be something about the experience of having more positive emotions. They seem to act as a buffer against bad health outcomes."

Brummett says interventions like meditation, behavioral therapy, and regular exercise may help people with naturally gloomy dispositions change their outlook.

But cardiologist Donald LaVan, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, is not so sure.

LaVan, who is a spokesman for the American Heart Association, tells WebMD that very soon after the introduction of heart bypass surgery, cardiologists began to recognize that more optimistic patients fared better in terms of recovery and even survival.

This recognition led to the advent of the Zipper Club, a volunteer group made up of former heart surgery patients who help current patients deal with the emotional aspects of their illness.

LaVan says studies like the ones presented at the Baltimore meeting help advance the understanding of how emotions affect health.

"The conclusions are not too surprising, but the question becomes, 'Can you do anything to change someone's attitude?'" he says. "Maybe you can to some degree, but my clinical experience tells me that if a patient is walking around with a big black cloud over his head there's not much you can do about it."

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SOURCES: American Psychosomatic Society annual meeting, March 12, 2008, Baltimore. John C. Barefoot, PhD, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. Redford B. Williams, MD, division head, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. Beverly H. Brummett, PhD, research professor, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. Donald LaVan, MD, spokesman, American Heart Association; clinical associate professor of medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

© 2008 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.

Breast Cancer Gene Ringleader Found

2008-03-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

Gene, Called SATB1, Orders Other Breast Cancer Genes Into Action and Dims Anticancer Genes.

Breast cancer experts have a new prime suspect among breast cancer genes, and that finding could lead to new breast cancer treatments.

The breast cancer gene in question, called SATB1, bosses other breast cancer genes and hushes anticancer genes.

The result: breast cancer grows and spreads aggressively when SATB1 is active. And when SATB2 is silenced, breast tumors slow down.

Those findings come from lab experiments done in test tubes and mice; further studies are needed in people.

To put SATB1's influence in perspective, the new lab tests show that switching off SATB1 affected more than 1,000 genes.

The researchers report that SATB1 isn't just active in advanced breast cancer; it may also be on the prowl in early-stage breast tumors, before cancer spreads from the breast to nearby lymph nodes.

In addition to being a potential target for new breast cancer treatments, SATB1 might predict the odds that early-stage breast cancer will spread, according to the researchers.

They included Hye-Jung Han, PhD, and Terumi Kohwi-Shigematsu, PhD, of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.

The study appears in the March 13 edition of Nature.

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By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News

What's a Normal Blood Pressure?

2008-03-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

A wealth of information is available about blood pressure, and sometimes the most important points get lost or confused. Although we often hear announcements in the press about new or revised blood-pressure guidelines, the basic facts haven't really changed much over the past several decades.

Blood pressure is measured by two numbers. The systolic pressure (the "top" number) is the highest pressure inside your arteries, measured at the moment when your heart is contracting.

It's the active part of a heartbeat. In contrast, the diastolic pressure (the "bottom" number) is the lowest pressure in your arteries, measured while your heart is relaxing between beats.

Experts have long debated whether the systolic or diastolic pressure is more important for health. The current evidence suggests that the systolic is a little more important, but the simple answer is that both numbers matter.

Let's review some of the basic facts about blood pressure.

Normal blood pressure is 120/80 or below. I'm often asked, "What is a normal blood pressure for my age?" The answer is much simpler than most people realize: Less than 120/80. While it's true that blood pressure tends to rise with age, that's no reason to feel complacent: Such a rise will always carry with it an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, and other complications of high blood pressure (hypertension).

Blood pressure normally varies throughout the day, often by 40 points or more. Exercise and stress are especially likely to increase it, while relaxation and sleep will usually lower it. Standing up or talking, for example, can increase blood pressure by 10 or more points. Even simply worrying about blood pressure will increase it. If your blood pressure is only high when you're exercising or when you're at the doctor's office, that's okay. But if it's high even part of the time in routine situations, that is abnormal and deserves treatment.

High blood pressure is anything above 120/80. However, mild elevations beyond those numbers only slightly increase the risk of significant health problems. We generally don't prescribe medication to bring down blood pressure until the systolic reaches 140 or the diastolic reaches 90. The exception is for people with diabetes or impaired kidney function, in whom we use medication for anything above 130/80. That's because people with diabetes and kidney disease are already at higher risk for heart attack and stroke.

Treating high blood pressure takes more than just medication. If your blood pressure is ever above 120/80, you can improve your overall health by lowering it, even if you don't need medication. Losing weight, exercising regularly, and limiting your sodium (salt) and alcohol intakes are proven ways of reducing blood pressure. Such treatments don't cost any money and the only side effect is likely to be improved health!

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© 2007 Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. This article from Johns Hopkins University is provided as a service by Yahoo. All materials are produced independently by Johns Hopkins University, which is solely responsible for its content.

Pet Allergies: Making It Work

2008-03-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

With a few changes you can keep your companion animal -- and manage your pet allergies, too.

Do pet allergies have you wheezing and sneezing -- again? Well, there are over 132 million good reasons for that.

That's the number of cats and dogs living in U.S. homes as of 2002, says the American Veterinary Medical Association. And while these four-legged friends are by far the most common companion animals in America, they aren't the only creatures behind the exasperating symptoms of pet allergies.

The Cause of Pet Allergies: Protein

You'll find pet dander on just about every warm and fuzzy critter we bring in to our homes: from cats and dogs, to birds, hamsters, and ferrets. And just about anything with dander has the potential to bring susceptible people down with a suite of allergy symptoms, says allergist Asriani Chiu, MD.

But it's not a pet's hair, or even the flaky, dandruff-like dander itself, that causes allergies. Instead "it's a specific protein in the dander that people are allergic to," says Chiu, associate professor of pediatrics and medicine (allergy/immunology) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "With any allergy, from hay fever to peanut allergies, it's always a protein in the substance that you're reacting to."

Pet allergy-producing proteins -- called allergens -- are also found in your pet's urine and saliva. Add to this the fact that these proteins are tiny, easily airborne, and ubiquitous, and it explains why some people can develop pet allergy symptoms simply by walking into an empty room.

What are the most common symptoms of pet allergies? "I get a stuffy nose and runny eyes, very much like seasonal allergies," says Anthony Herrig, an Oregon web developer with cat allergies. Other symptoms can range from mild -- itchy throat, nasal congestion, and sneezing -- to a more severe, asthma-like response, including coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
Why Pet Allergies Hit You

Usually, not everyone in a family or household is allergic to pets. Just as you have your mom's smile or dad's laugh, you may have inherited your family's genetic predisposition to allergies. Add to this a higher risk of developing allergies to pets if you have other allergies or asthma, and it's clear why you may be alone in your congestion. What's not clear just yet, says Chiu, is why one person can have mild symptoms, while another is laid low with an acute, asthma-like response.

Fortunately, there's a lot you can do to manage pet allergies -- no matter how they affect you. But before you try the following tips, it's a good idea to make sure you really are allergic to dander. If you're not positive you are allergic to dogs, cats, or other pets, visit an allergist, who can help identify which specific allergen is triggering your symptoms.
Tips to Help You Cope With Allergies and Pets

Though the best way to find relief from allergies is to avoid exposure to what you're allergic to, you can have your precious pets and live well, too. Allergists and pet allergy sufferers offer these tips:

Pet Allergies Tip 1: Change Your Environment

* Keep Your Bedroom Pet-Free. Something as simple as making your bedroom a pet-free sanctuary "can significantly decrease levels of allergens" in that space, says Alan Goldsobel, MD, a spokesman for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Goldsobel also suggest switching to special bedding designed to be less permeable to allergens.
* Consider a HEPA Filter . HEPA filters remove tiny airborne pollutants, like dust mites, pollen, and pet dander, from the air you breathe. "Dander is so airy and light that HEPA filters can filter it out of the air," reducing your exposure, Chiu tells WebMD. Within a given area stand-alone filters are typically more effective than a whole-house HEPA system, Chiu adds. As for those air de-ionizers/purifiers often hawked on late-night infomercials, they may make allergies worse by releasing harmful ozone gas.
* Learn to Love Housework. "I try to vacuum the bedroom frequently and change furnace filters to reduce the dander in the air," says Herrig. Other allergy sufferers tackle pet allergies by shampooing rugs regularly, changing people and pet bedding frequently, wiping down walls where pets rub, and dusting often. And to reduce the number of places where allergens can build up, Goldsobel suggests converting to hard-surface floor and minimizing the amount of upholstered furniture in your home

Pet Allergies Tip 2: Change Yourself

* Wash Your Hands . Some people bathe their companion animals in an effort to reduce pet dander, but this approach is "very transient" Goldsobel tells WebMD. While washing does decrease the amount of shed allergens, the effect lasts mere days -- while the cat's bad mood may last far longer! More effective is giving yourself a scrub by washing hands and face frequently.
* Mediate With Medication. Over-the-counter allergy medications, such as antihistamines, can relieve mild allergy symptoms like nasal congestion and itchy eyes, but they won't help asthma-type symptoms, such as wheezing and chest tightness. Talk to your primary care physician or an allergist if you think you'll benefit from prescription allergy medication.
* Consider Allergy Shots. If you know you'll be around pets long-term -- for example, your young kids have a new puppy -- you might want to consider allergy shots. These shots are also called allergy vaccines. Allergy shots help you develop protective antibodies so that you won't have an allergic reaction when exposed to an allergen. Allergy shots require patience, however. It can take almost a year of weekly injections before you convert to monthly maintenance doses, then another 3-5 years of monthly shots before you no longer have allergy symptoms -- and need no more medication.
* Understand Your Environment. No matter how religiously you clean, you'll still be exposed to dander. Pet allergens are "sticky," making it easy for people to carry them on their clothes. This explains why you'll find them in places that have no pets, such as schools, workplaces, and pet-free homes.
* Expand Your Definition of "Pet." If, after Fido or Fifi have passed on, you still crave a pet's companionship, think creatures without feathers or fur. Allergy experts recommend turtles, geckos, lizards, snakes, fish -- even tarantulas.

Finally, "don't give up hope," says Anthony Herrig. With a few lifestyle changes and a little help, you can enjoy pets all your life!

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By Wendy C. Fries
WebMD Feature

How to Recognize an Asthma Attack

2008-03-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

An asthma attack is a sudden worsening of asthma symptoms caused by the tightening of muscles around your airways (bronchospasm). During the attack, the lining of the airways becomes swollen or inflamed and more and thicker mucus than normal is produced. All of these factors -- bronchospasm, inflammation, and mucus production -- cause symptoms such as difficulty breathing, wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and difficulty performing normal daily activities. Other symptoms of an asthma attack include:

* Severe wheezing when breathing both in and out
* Coughing that won't stop
* Very rapid breathing
* Chest pain or pressure
* Tightened neck and chest muscles, called retractions
* Difficulty talking
* Feelings of anxiety or panic
* Pale, sweaty face
* Blue lips or fingernails
* Or worsening symptoms despite use of your medications

Some people with asthma may go for extended periods without having any symptoms, interrupted by periodic worsening of their symptoms, due to exposure to asthma triggers or perhaps from over doing it during exercise.

Mild asthma attacks are generally more common. Usually, the airways open up within a few minutes to a few hours after treatment. Severe attacks are less common but last longer and require immediate medical help. It is important to recognize and treat even mild symptoms to help you prevent severe episodes and keep asthma under control.

What Happens If an Asthma Attack Goes Untreated?

Without immediate treatment, your breathing will become more labored, and wheezing may get louder. If you use a peak flow meter at this time, your personal best reading will probably be reduced.

As your lungs continue to tighten, you will be unable to use the peak flow meter at all. Gradually, your lungs will tighten so much that there is not enough air movement to produce wheezing. This is sometimes called the "silent chest," and it is a dangerous sign. You need to be transported to a hospital immediately. Unfortunately, some people interpret the disappearance of wheezing as a sign of improvement and fail to get prompt emergency care.

If you do not receive adequate treatment, you will eventually be unable to speak and will develop a bluish coloring around your lips. This color change, known as "cyanosis," means you have less and less oxygen in your blood. Without immediate aggressive treatment in an intensive care unit, you will lose consciousness and eventually die.

How Do I Recognize the Early Signs of An Attack?

Early warning signs are changes that happen just before or at the very beginning of an asthma attack. These changes start before the well-known symptoms of asthma and are the earliest signs that your asthma is worsening.

In general, these signs are not severe enough to stop you from going about your daily activities. But by recognizing these signs, you can stop an asthma attack or prevent one from getting worse.

Early warning signs include:

* Frequent cough, especially at night
* Reduced peak flow meter readings
* Losing your breath easily or shortness of breath
* Feeling very tired or weak when exercising
* Wheezing or coughing after exercise
* Feeling tired, easily upset, grouchy or moody
* Decreases or changes in lung function as measured on a peak flow meter
* Signs of a cold, or allergies (sneezing, runny nose, cough, nasal congestion, sore throat and headache)
* Trouble sleeping

The severity of an asthma attack can escalate rapidly, so it's important to treat these symptoms immediately once you recognize them.

What Do I Do If I Have An Asthma Attack?

If you are experiencing an asthma attack and your symptoms do not improve after following your asthma action plan contact your doctor and follow the "Red Zone" or emergency instructions immediately. You need medical attention right away.

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Reviewed by the doctors at The Cleveland Clinic Department of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine.

Skin Cancer: Some Burning Facts

2008-03-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

While you are still trying to avoid the cold, it's a good a time to think about skin cancer protection and screening as summertime approaches.

Your total lifetime sun exposure increases your risk for melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma.

Melanoma is the most worrisome skin cancer, because it can spread (metastasize) very early, when the mole is still small. Squamous cell and basal cell skin cancers can also cause harm, but do all of their damage locally (without spreading to other parts of the body), so the severity is related to the size of the lesion you can see.

Here are the most important risk factors for skin cancer that you should consider:

Your sun exposure. This is your biggest risk and includes anything from severe sunburns to years of deep tanning without ever burning.

Your family history. If two or more of your relatives (especially parents and siblings) had skin cancer, especially if they had it at a young age, you're almost certainly at increased risk. If you come from a long line of sun worshippers who never get skin cancer, you might be one of the lucky ones who is more resistant. But I still suggest you be careful around the sun, just in case.

Your skin type. Fair and light colored skin increases your risk.

Prevention is straightforward: Use quality sunscreen that blocks both UVA and UVB and has an SPF rating of at least 15 (higher for fair skin or more intense exposure). Reapply the sunscreen frequently (at least every two hours), especially after swimming. There are many high-tech clothes these days that look and feel cool while protecting you from the sun. A hat helps to protect the top of your head and your face, and sunglasses are important, too. Even on cloudy days, sun exposure can be significant, especially between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Watch for moles and lesions that are growing, bleeding, itching or becoming painful, because they could be skin cancer. Those symptoms, however, can occur with many other skin conditions that are not so worrisome. Remember the ABCD warning signs of melanoma:

Asymmetry. One part of the mole looks different than the rest.

Border. An irregular border is more concerning than a smooth one.

Color. Multiple shades of brown and black in a single mole can be a warning sign. Some melanomas are pure black, but they occasionally can be red, blue, or other colors.

Diameter. Larger than ¼ inch (6 mm).

Ask your doctor or a dermatologist about any suspicious moles. If you limit sun exposure and check your skin regularly, you can minimize your risk and get any problems treated quickly, before they cause you any real trouble.

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© 2007 Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. This article from Johns Hopkins University is provided as a service by Yahoo. All materials are produced independently by Johns Hopkins University, which is solely responsible for its content.

Sex Infections Found in Quarter of Teenage Girls

2008-03-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

The first national study of four common sexually transmitted diseases among girls and young women has found that one in four are infected with at least one of the diseases, federal health officials reported Tuesday.

Nearly half the African-Americans in the study of teenagers ages 14 to 19 were infected with at least one of the diseases monitored in the study — human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis, a common parasite.

The 50 percent figure compared with 20 percent of white teenagers, health officials and researchers said at a news conference at a scientific meeting in Chicago.

The two most common sexually transmitted diseases, or S.T.D.’s, among all the participants tested were HPV, at 18 percent, and chlamydia, at 4 percent, according to the analysis, part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Each disease can be serious in its own way. HPV, for example, can cause cancer and genital warts.

Among the infected women, 15 percent had more than one of the diseases.

Women may be unaware they are infected. But the diseases, which are infections caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites, can produce acute symptoms like irritating vaginal discharge, painful pelvic inflammatory disease and potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy. The infections can also lead to longterm ailments like infertility and cervical cancer.

The survey tested for specific HPV strains linked to genital warts and cervical cancer.

Officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the findings underscored the need to strengthen screening, vaccination and other prevention measures for the diseases, which are among the highest public health priorities.

About 19 million new sexually transmitted infections occur each year among all age groups in the United States.

“High S.T.D. infection rates among young women, particularly young African-American women, are clear signs that we must continue developing ways to reach those most at risk,” said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr., who directs the centers’ division of S.T.D. prevention.

The president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Cecile Richards, said the new findings “emphasize the need for real comprehensive sex education.”

“The national policy of promoting abstinence-only programs is a $1.5 billion failure,” Ms. Richards said, “and teenage girls are paying the real price.”

Although earlier annual surveys have tested for a single sexually transmitted disease in a specified population, this is the first time the national study has collected data on all the most common sexual diseases in adolescent women at the same time. It is also the first time the study measured human papillomavirus.

Dr. Douglas said that because the new survey was based on direct testing, it was more reliable than analyses derived from data that doctors and clinics sent to the diseases center through state and local health departments.

“What we found is alarming,” said Dr. Sara Forhan, a researcher at the centers and the lead author of the study.

Dr. Forhan added that the study showed “how fast the S.T.D. prevalence appears.”

“Far too many young women are at risk for the serious health effects of untreated S.T.D.’s, ” she said.

The centers conducts the annual study, which asks a representative sample of the household population a wide range of health questions. The analysis was based on information collected in the 2003-4 survey.

Extrapolating from the findings, Dr. Forhan said 3.2 million teenage women were infected with at least one of the four diseases.

The 838 participants in the study were chosen at random with standard statistical techniques. Of the women asked, 96 percent agreed to submit vaginal swabs for testing.

The findings and specific treatment recommendations were available to the participants calling a password-protected telephone line. Three reminders were sent to participants who did not call.

Health officials recommend treatment for all sex partners of individuals diagnosed with curable sexually transmitted diseases. One promising approach to reach that goal is for doctors who treat infected women to provide or prescribe the same treatment for their partners, Dr. Douglas said. The goal is to encourage men who may not have a physician or who have no symptoms and may be reluctant to seek care to be treated without a doctor’s visit.

He also urged infected women to be retested three months after treatment to detect possible reinfection and to treat it.

Dr. Forhan said she did not know how many participants received their test results.

Federal health officials recommend annual screening tests to detect chlamydia for sexually active women younger than 25. The disease agency also recommends that women ages 11 to 26 be fully vaccinated against HPV.

The Food and Drug Administration has said in a report that latex condoms are “highly effective” at preventing infection by chlamydia, trichomoniasis, H.I.V., gonorrhea and hepatitis B.

The agency noted that condoms seemed less effective against genital herpes and syphilis. Protection against human papillomavirus “is partial at best,” the report said. [nytimes.com]

A Heart Device Is Found Vulnerable to Hacker Attacks

2008-03-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

To the long list of objects vulnerable to attack by computer hackers, add the human heart.

The threat seems largely theoretical. But a team of computer security researchers plans to report Wednesday that it had been able to gain wireless access to a combination heart defibrillator and pacemaker.

They were able to reprogram it to shut down and to deliver jolts of electricity that would potentially be fatal — if the device had been in a person. In this case, the researcher were hacking into a device in a laboratory.

The researchers said they had also been able to glean personal patient data by eavesdropping on signals from the tiny wireless radio that Medtronic, the device’s maker, had embedded in the implant as a way to let doctors monitor and adjust it without surgery.

The report, to published at www.secure-medicine.org, makes clear that the hundreds of thousands of people in this country with implanted defibrillators or pacemakers to regulate their damaged hearts — they include Vice President Dick Cheney — have no need yet to fear hackers. The experiment required more than $30,000 worth of lab equipment and a sustained effort by a team of specialists from the University of Washington and the University of Massachusetts to interpret the data gathered from the implant’s signals. And the device the researchers tested, a combination defibrillator and pacemaker called the Maximo, was placed within two inches of the test gear.

Defibrillators shock hearts that are beating chaotically and dangerously back into normal rhythms. Pacemakers use gentle stimulation to slow or speed up the heart. Federal regulators said no security breaches of such medical implants had ever been reported to them.

The researchers said they chose Medtronic’s Maximo because they considered the device typical of many implants with wireless communications features. Radios have been used in implants for decades to enable doctors to test them during office visits. But device makers have begun designing them to connect to the Internet, which allows doctors to monitor patients from remote locations.

The researchers said the test results suggested that too little attention was being paid to security in the growing number of medical implants being equipped with communications capabilities.

“The risks to patients now are very low, but I worry that they could increase in the future,” said Tadayoshi Kohno, a lead researcher on the project at the University of Washington, who has studied vulnerability to hacking of networked computers and voting machines.

The paper summarizing the research is called “Pacemakers and Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators: Software Radio Attacks and Zero-Power Defenses.” The last part refers to defensive possibilities the researchers outlined that they say would enhance security without draining an implant’s battery. They include methods for warning a patient of tampering or requiring that an incoming signal be authenticated, using energy harvested from the incoming signals.

But Mr. Kohno and Kevin Fu, who led the University of Massachusetts arm of the project, said they had not tried to test the defenses in an actual implant or to learn if anyone trying to use them might run afoul of existing patent claims.

Another participant in the project, Dr. William H. Maisel, a cardiologist who is director of the Medical Device Safety Institute at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said that the results had been shared last month with the F.D.A., but not with Medtronic.

“We feel this is an industry-wide issue best handled by the F.D.A.,” Dr. Maisel said.

The F.D.A. had already begun stepping up scrutiny of radio devices in implants. But the agency’s focus has been primarily on whether unintentional interference from other equipment might compromise the safety or reliability of the radio-equipped medical implants. In a document published in January, the agency included security in a list of concerns about wireless technology that device makers needed to address.

Medtronic, the industry leader in cardiac regulating implants, said Tuesday that it welcomed the chance to look at security issues with doctors, regulators and researchers, adding that it had never encountered illegal or unauthorized hacking of its devices that have telemetry, or wireless control, capabilities.

“To our knowledge there has not been a single reported incident of such an event in more than 30 years of device telemetry use, which includes millions of implants worldwide,” a Medtronic spokesman, Robert Clark, said. Mr. Clark added that newer implants with longer transmission ranges than Maximo also had enhanced security.

Boston Scientific, whose Guidant division ranks second behind Medtronic, said its implants “incorporate encryption and security technologies designed to mitigate these risks.”

St. Jude Medical, the third major defibrillator company, said it used “proprietary techniques” to protect the security of its implants and had not heard of any unauthorized or illegal manipulation of them.

Dr. Maisel urged that patients not be alarmed by the discussion of security flaws. “Patients who have the devices are far better off having these devices than not having them,” he said. “If I needed a defibrillator, I’d ask for one with wireless technology.” [nytimes.com]

McDonald's 4-Year-Old Burger

2008-03-07T06:11:00.000-08:00

Diet.com Author and Obesity Activist Julia Havey has been aging a McDonalds cheeseburger for 4 years. Find out what happens to this old burger? Fast food cheeseburgers age better than most humans. The French Fries still look fresh and vibrant. Sarah, Diet.com Host, also guest stars

Eat Breakfast, Weigh Less!

2008-03-07T06:08:00.000-08:00

It’s been pounded into our brains: Eat fewer calories if you want to lose weight. Not rocket science – right?

Then why is skipping breakfast (and potentially saving 300-400 calories each day) being associated with weight gain?

According to a recent article in the International Business Times, American teens who skipped breakfast ended up weighing 5 pounds heavier than teens who started their day with a morning meal.

Diet surveys were given to 2,216 middle and high school students from Minnesota from 1998 to 1999 and again from 2003 and 2004.

Like toast, an interesting finding popped up: “Girls were initially more likely than boys to skip breakfast. During the five years, the researchers found an almost 17 percent decrease in the number of boys who ate breakfast. At the end of the study, 18.9 percent of the boys missed the meal versus 13.8 percent of the girls.”

I’m not convinced by this study that the teenage boys or girls skip that morning meal in an effort to reduce calories and lose weight.

What I think is a more common problem is that teenagers, like many adults, are rushed in the morning. Many eat extra calories in the evening, from dinnertime and onward and as a consequence, they awaken without a morning appetite.

And in the five years of this study, we’ve certainly seen a rise in the availability of snack foods along with a rise in the stress level of many teens. Facts that may be interrelated.

Teens are also not getting enough sleep. Getting more zzzz’s is probably higher on their to-do list, than waking earlier so they can eat a healthy breakfast.

Skipping breakfast can easily set people up for starting their day feeling sluggish; this doesn’t encourage individuals to take the stairs instead of the elevator or park their car farther away in an effort to burn more calories. It also makes people more vulnerable to food temptations at work and at home.

An important take-home message here is this: when you consume your calories is as important as the type and number of calories you gobble.

Also, how you start your day can set you up for either failure or success.

Source: www.diet.com

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2008-03-05T10:06:00.000-08:00

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New Food Formula: Tastes Fine, Kills Worms

2008-03-04T07:02:00.000-08:00

Parasitic worms infect at least 290 million people, a number that could be reduced by adequate sanitation that separates sewage from human contact.

Kraft Foods, the conglomerate built on macaroni and cheese, is working on a new and unusual product line — food that is not only tasty, but kills intestinal worms.

It is not intended for sale in the United States, but is aimed at rural Asia, Africa and Latin America, where worms leave millions of children lethargic, dangerously anemic and, sometimes, passing blood.

The food is in the early development stage, and a spokeswoman said the company was not ready to say whether it would be a cheese, a pasta, a granola bar or something else. But it will incorporate deworming chemicals developed by TyraTech, a company in Melbourne, Fla., that makes safe pesticides.

The pesticides, explained R. Douglas Armstrong, chief executive of TyraTech, are derived from plant oils. He would not name the plants, but compared the idea to the power of citronella to repel mosquitoes.

The oils attach to three olfactory and central nervous system receptors found only in invertebrates. When overstimulated, Dr. Armstrong said, those receptors produce unstoppable cascades of impulses in the nervous systems of insects or worms, repelling or killing them.

Dr. Armstrong compared it to ringing a doorbell so incessantly that it finally triggers a heart attack. Because vertebrates, including humans, lack these receptors, the oils are harmless to them.

They have been tested on mice, which are also vertebrates. Five days of treatment cleared them of dwarf tapeworms, TyraTech said. Tests on humans have not been done, so it is not clear what the prospective delicacies will taste like, said Sarah Delea, a spokeswoman for Kraft.

Dr. Armstrong said that different blends would work and that taste could be removed, masked with food flavors or coated with microencapsulization, as is done with medicine.

Plant oils’ killing power was discovered by accident, he added.

Essam Enan, a biochemist who is now the chief scientific officer for TyraTech, was formerly a cancer researcher studying the oils at the University of California, Davis, which is in the hot Sacramento Valley, when there was a power failure.

“Pretty soon, the other labs in the building began to close down for the day,” Dr. Armstrong said. “They had opened their windows. But there were too many flies and bugs, and it was too hot to close them.”

“But there were no bugs in Essam’s lab,” he continued. “Then he found some dead flies. That’s when he began to appreciate the potency.”

Dr. Frank O. Richards Jr., a parasitologist at the Carter Center in Atlanta, said he found the idea of a worm-killing food “interesting but not convincing yet.”

He would want to see proof, he said, that it worked on roundworms, which are metabolically different from tapeworms and much more common. And he would want proof that it killed worms, rather than just irritating them enough to make them migrate to other organs.

“We’re always interested in new worm drugs, because there isn’t a lot of research into them,” he said. “But a lot in this remains to be looked at.”

Although worm killing is a new angle for Kraft, Ms. Delea said, the manufacturer does reformulate some foods to be used in poor countries to improve health.

For example, she said, the Tang drink it sells in Asia and Latin America has extra vitamins. And the Eden brand cheese it sells in the Philippines is fortified with iodine. Iodine deficiency is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation, and it also leads to stunting and goiters.

Credits:
Author: DONALD G. McNEIL Jr., published at nytimes.com

Hair could help diagnose breast cancer

2008-03-04T03:25:00.000-08:00

Scientists spot distinctive pattern in X-rays of hair from cancer patients

Hair from women with breast cancer can be distinguished from hair obtained from women without the disease, researchers in Australia report.

When hair is exposed to X-rays, the radiation is diffracted in a distinctive pattern by the alpha-keratin that forms hair, the researchers explain in the International Journal of Cancer. Dr. Gary L. Corino and Dr. Peter W. French, based at Fermiscan Ltd in Sydney, used the technique to look at samples of hair from 13 patients diagnosed with breast cancer and 20 healthy subjects.

Hair was cut as close to the skin as possible to obtain samples of the most recent hair growth. The investigators "successfully and consistently generated the basic alpha-keratin X-ray diffraction pattern in every hair sample."

Hair from the breast cancer patients produced the same features "with the only difference being the superimposition of a new feature." This was a distinctive low-intensity ring.

This ring sign was fairly accurate in identifying breast cancer. It missed one of the breast cancer patients, and showed up as a false-positive in three of the healthy subject.

The researchers went on to study a length of hair representing 6 months' growth from a breast cancer patient whose hair fell out following chemotherapy. X-ray diffraction at three points along the hair showed clear evidence of the ring at the position furthest from the hair root, a fainter ring at the middle point, and complete absence of the ring close to the root.

"This progressive reduction in the intensity of the ring appears to correlate with the patient's course of treatment and possibly indicates the eradication of the cancer as a result of that treatment," Corino and French suggest.

As for the reason for the ring pattern, they suggest it may represent "incorporation of extraneous lipid material into the fiber as a result of the presence of a tumor." It may also be that the disease affects hair follicles in some way.

Further testing is needed to establish the accuracy of this methodology as a diagnostic test for breast cancer, they conclude.

Copyright 2008 Reuters.

Hormone therapy skews mammogram results

2008-03-04T03:07:00.000-08:00

Study: Even short-term use can make detecting breast cancer more difficult

CHICAGO - Women on hormone replacement therapy have only a slightly higher risk of developing breast cancer, but there are much greater chances they will experience the worry of abnormal mammograms or may undergo an avoidable breast biopsy, researchers said on Monday.

Mammograms and biopsy exams were also found to be less reliable at detecting breast cancer among women taking hormones, which counteract symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness.

Originally, the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study involving 16,608 women aged 50 to 79 found breast cancer incidence among women taking the hormones estrogen and progestin projected to an additional one in 1,000 cases compared to women taking an inert placebo.

“What this data does is emphasize that yes, the breast cancer risk is still there, but more importantly, instead of that low number of one in 1,000 getting breast cancer, one in 10 women are told they had an abnormal mammogram they’ll have to deal with, and probably even more importantly, one in 25 women will have an otherwise avoidable breast biopsy,” Dr. Rowan Chlebowski at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center said in a telephone interview.

“Both of those less reliably found cancer,” he added.

Previous research has shown hormone replacement therapy increases breast tissue density, which can make detection of cancerous tumors more difficult, although the current study did not examine this factor.

Since the original findings of increased cancer risk, doctors generally have urged women opting for hormone therapy to use it at the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible time.

Roughly 25 million U.S. prescriptions for hormone therapy are written yearly, Chlebowski said.

The pharmaceutical company Wyeth said in a statement the study’s findings did not change what is already known about the breast cancer risk from hormone replacement therapy.

“These findings represent a concern for post-menopausal women who are considering hormone therapy,” Chlebowski said in a statement. “They should take the results of this study into consideration and consult with their physicians before undergoing even short-term hormone therapy.”

In the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 35 percent of women taking hormones had mammograms with abnormal results compared to 23 percent of women taking a placebo. An abnormal test can create emotional as well as financial hardships, the study noted.

Ten percent of women taking hormones had breast biopsies ordered by their doctors, compared to 6 percent of women taking a placebo.

During the 5-1/2 years of the study, there were 199 breast cancers found in the hormone group and 150 in the placebo group. Women taking hormones had more advanced cancers yet biopsies ordered by their doctors had a lower rate of diagnosis — 15 percent in the hormone group versus 20 percent in the placebo group.

“(A year) after discontinuation (of the therapy) ... the adverse effects on mammogram and breast biopsy performance were seen even in younger women in the fifth decade of life, so the finding may impact women just entering menopause as well,” Chlebowski said.

Copyright 2008 Reuters.

Vaccine protects against prostate cancer in mice

2008-03-04T03:01:00.000-08:00

2 shots stopped disease in rodents with pre-cancerous legions, study says

NEW YORK - An experimental vaccine can provide long-term protection against prostate cancer in mice genetically predisposed to the disease, new research indicates.

"By early vaccination, we have basically given these mice life-long protection against a disease they were destined to have," senior investigator Dr. W. Martin Kast, from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said in a statement.

"This has never been done before and, with further research, could represent a paradigm shift in the management of human prostate cancer."

The vaccine stimulates an immune response against PSCA, which stands for prostate stem cell antigen. PSCA is a good vaccine target because it is overly expressed in prostate cancer, but displays limited expression in other tissues, the investigators note.

In the new study reported in the journal Cancer Research, the investigators administered a PSCA-based vaccine to mice made prone to prostate cancer. The animals were 8 weeks old and already had pre-cancerous prostate lesions.

Vaccination was associated with a robust immune response. At 12 months, 90 percent of the vaccinated mice were still alive, while all of the control animals had either died or had large tumors.

Human studies are needed to confirm the safety and efficacy of this vaccine strategy. "We feel this is a very promising approach. With just two shots, the vaccine will prime immune cells to be on the lookout for any cell that over-expresses PSCA."

*Copyright 2008 Reuters.

The Ultimate Anti-Aging Vitamin

2008-03-04T02:55:00.000-08:00

Vitamin C can fend off heart disease, cancer, memory loss—and wrinkles. Here’s how to make it work for you.

Remember when vitamin C was hailed as the best, and maybe only, cold remedy? Then it became the Rodney Dangerfield of vitamins: It didn’t get any respect. The nutrient’s glory days of curing scurvy-riddled sailors via juicy citrus fruit seemed to be the only thing keeping its reputation afloat, particularly after a massive research review found C to be virtually useless for fighting colds. But don’t believe it. The truth is that scientists have taken a fresh look at C—and have found lots of new ways it can help you stay healthy and look and feel younger. Here’s the latest on what C can really do for you.

Prevent wrinkles
You can’t pick up a beauty product these days without the label touting its antioxidants. There’s a good reason: Antioxidants—like vitamin C—help turn back the clock. An October 2007 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who ate foods rich in vitamin C had fewer wrinkles and less age-related dry skin than those whose diets contained only small amounts of the vitamin. C helps form collagen, which smooths fine lines and wrinkles, according to Patricia Farris, MD, clinical assistant professor of dermatology at Tulane University in New Orleans.

The key seems to be C’s ability to fight free radicals, a by-product of cell metabolism in your body. Free radicals are thought to attack proteins, fats, and DNA—and break down collagen. C also seems to guard against ultraviolet rays from the sun, which can lead to freckles and a mottled complexion. “Vitamin C does some repair and firming on the skin,” Farris says.

What to do now: Use a topical vitamin C treatment daily after you wash your face and before you slather on moisturizer or sunscreen so it penetrates the skin. Farris recommends La Roche-Posay Active C facial moisturizer or SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic topical antioxidant treatment.

Protect your heart
Experts continue to argue about whether antioxidants like vitamin C can prevent heart disease. But some of the evidence is highly persuasive. When Finnish researchers looked at studies involving nearly 300,000 people over 10 years, they found that taking more than 700 milligrams of C supplements daily reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease by 25 percent. And a recent study from Harvard Uni-versity researchers hints that women who take a combo of 500 milligrams of vitamin C daily and 600 IU of vitamin E (another antioxidant) can cut their risk of stroke by 30 percent. It’s possible that people who take vitamin supplements simply have healthier lifestyles than those who don’t, which could explain this finding. It’s also possible, experts say, that C enhances the functioning of endothelial cells (which line the inside of all blood vessels), slowing artery clogging and lowering blood pressure.

What to do now: Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, which are full of vitamin C as well as other healthy nutrients, and consider taking C and E supplements. Experts say there are essentially no risks, but first check with your doctor.

Keep cancer at bay
A diet full of vitamin C–rich fruits and vegetables isn’t just good for your heart, it may also lower your risks of bladder, esophagus, stomach, and lung cancers. Even though more research is needed to find out which compounds in fruits and veggies do the trick, researchers say the association is strong. Someday, C may also be used to treat cancer. High levels of C given intravenously seem to be toxic to cancer cells (studies on vitamin C taken orally showed no effect on cancerous cells). Intravenous C appears to trigger the formation of hydrogen peroxide, which kills some cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed, says lead study author Mark Levine, MD, chief of the molecular and clinical nutrition section and senior staff physician at the National Institutes of Health. Levine says doctors at the University of Kansas Medical School and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia are trying this therapy on cancer patients.

What to do now: “Strive for five or more fruits and vegetables daily, in a rainbow of colors,” Levine says. “It’s where the most benefit is.

Boost brain power
Pairing vitamins C and E is smart for another reason: It may lessen your Alzheimer’s risks by as much as 64 percent, according to research in the Archives of Neurology. Just 500 milligrams of C and 400 IU of E appear to be enough. The brain’s high fat content makes it especially vulnerable to free radicals, but these antioxidants may act as shields, says study author Peter Zandi, PhD, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Some studies suggest that vitamin E does its job reducing free radicals in the body, but then its capacity is depleted,” Zandi says. “Vitamin C may recharge E.”

What to do now: Try taking C and E supplements, and talk to your doc about your risks for Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Save your eyesight
Vitamin C can’t prevent the need for reading glasses around age 45. But anti-oxidants, including C, help prevent one of the leading causes of blindness: age-related macular degeneration (AMD). More than 3.5 million Americans are thought to be in the early stages, and the disease strikes more women than men. A major clinical trial sponsored by the National Eye Institute showed that a daily supplement of 500 milligrams of vitamin C, 400 IU of vitamin E, 15 milligrams of beta-carotene, 80 milligrams of zinc, and 2 milligrams of copper reduced the risk of moderate or severe AMD-related vision loss by up to 25 percent. The antioxidants neutralize damage to the retina caused by, you guessed it, free radicals.

What to do now: If you’re at high risk for AMD (you’re overweight or have a family history), check to see if your multi-vitamin contains the study’s amounts of C, E, beta-carotene/vitamin A, zinc, and copper. Chances are, its C and E levels fall short, but additional supplements will do the job. (Caveat: Don’t follow this advice if you smoke; this level of beta-carotene may up your lung-cancer risks.)

Help you live longer
You’ve probably heard that green tea boosts the body’s defenses against toxins. That’s important because toxins are thought to contribute to cancer, heart attack, stroke, and lots of other maladies. In fact, one to two cups a day may reduce a woman’s risk of dying by about 20 per-cent, Japanese researchers say. What’s the vitamin C connection? Citrus juices (lemon, lime, orange) may supercharge the immunity-boosting power of green tea. A new Purdue University study found that mixing citrus juice with green tea allowed 80 percent of the tea’s anti-oxidants to stick around after simulated digestion, making the pairing healthier than thought, says study author Mario G. Ferruzzi, PhD, assistant professor in Purdue’s department of food and nutrition.

What to do now: Add at least an ounce of citrus juice to your green tea—or try Tazo Lemon Green iced tea or SoBe Green Tea 3G. Both drinks are stocked with vitamin C.

This article written by by Rachel Grumman, published at health.com

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The Language of Autism

2008-03-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

Are people with autism trapped in their own world? Or are the rest of us just trapped in ours?

After seeing 27-year-old Amanda Baggs, featured in this month’s Wired magazine, you may rethink your views of the so-called “normal” world. Ms. Baggs, who lives in Burlington, Vt., is autistic and doesn’t speak. But she has become an Internet sensation as a result of an unusual video she created called “In My Language.'’

For the first three minutes of the video, she rocks, flaps her hands, waves a piece of paper, buries her face in a book and runs her fingers repeatedly across a computer keyboard, all while humming a haunting two-note tune.

Then, the words “A Translation” appear on the screen.

Although Ms. Baggs doesn’t speak, she types 120 words a minute. Using a synthesized voice generated by a software application, Ms. Baggs types out what is going on inside her head. The movement, the noise, the repetitive behaviors are all part of Ms. Baggs’ own “native” language, she says via her computerized voice. It’s a language that allows her to have a “constant conversation” with her surroundings.

My language is not about designing words or even visual symbols for people to interpret. It is about being in a constant conversation with every aspect of my environment, reacting physically to all parts of my surroundings.

Far from being purposeless, the way that I move is an ongoing response to what is around me….The way I naturally think and respond to things looks and feels so different from standard concepts or even visualization that some people do not consider it thought at all. But it is a way of thinking in its own right.

Ms. Baggs does far more than give us a vivid glimpse into her mind. Her video is a clarion call on behalf of people with cognitive disabilities whose way of communicating isn’t understood by the rest of the world. As the story in Wired points out, Ms. Baggs is at the forefront of a nascent civil rights movement on behalf of people with autism.

“I remember in ‘99, seeing a number of gay pride Web sites,'’ she tells the magazine. “I envied how many there were and wished there was something like that for autism. Now there is.”

Watching Ms. Baggs rock and flap is to see a person most of us would define as disabled. And that’s why the impact of the computerized voice and her cogent argument on behalf of people with autism is so powerful.

In the end I want you to know that this has not been intended as a voyeuristic freak show where you get to look at the bizarre workings of the autistic mind. It is meant as a strong statement on the existence and value of many different kinds of thinking and interaction in the world….Only when the many shapes of personhood are recognized will justice and human rights be possible.

Update: To read more about the autism activism movement, see “How About Not ‘Curing’ Us, Some Autistics Are Pleading,” which appeared in the Times in 2004. To read the story, click here.

Study Finds Death Risk From Anemia Drugs

2008-03-03T10:08:00.001-08:00

Widely used anemia drugs sold by Amgen and Johnson & Johnson raise the risk of death among cancer patients by about 10 percent, according to a new analysis of previous clinical trials that is to be published Wednesday.

The study is the first compilation of clinical trial data — called a meta-analysis — to show a statistically significant increase in the risk of death from the drugs, said Dr. Charles L. Bennett, a professor at Northwestern University and its lead author.

The Food and Drug Administration is planning to convene an advisory committee on March 13 to discuss whether to impose further restrictions on the use of the drugs, Aranesp from Amgen and Procrit from Johnson & Johnson, with cancer patients.

The Amgen drug Epogen, which is the same as Procrit but is aimed at kidney dialysis patients, will not be directly affected by the discussions.

Amgen said the study, being published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, provided little new information. “What he observes is the risks that we’ve already talked about that are in the label,” said Roger Perlmutter, Amgen’s executive vice president for research and development.

The F.D.A. ordered stronger warnings on the drugs’ labels last year, after a flurry of studies suggested that the products, if used too aggressively, could worsen cancer conditions or hasten death. And Medicare sharply restricted reimbursement for the drugs when used to treat anemia caused by cancer chemotherapy.

Sales of Aranesp, Amgen’s best-selling product, declined to $3.6 billion last year from $4.1 billion in 2006.

One option that analysts expect to be discussed at the meeting in March would be to bar the use of the drugs for specific types of cancer, like breast cancer and head and neck cancer. Another would be to delay treatment with the drugs until patients became more anemic than the current threshold, a change that would more closely match the Medicare reimbursement policy.

A third option, which many analysts say is unlikely, would be for the F.D.A. to no longer authorize the drugs’ use in treating anemia caused by chemotherapy. The drugs would still be allowed to treat anemia caused by kidney disease.

Jim Birchenough, an analyst with Lehman Brothers, estimated in a report on Monday that rescinding approval for chemotherapy-induced anemia would reduce Amgen’s sales of Aranesp by $1 billion a year. A change in the label to match the Medicare policy would cut them by $300 million.

The new analysis on death risk, which could play into the discussions on March 13, combines data from 51 clinical trials involving 13,611 patients. The study also found a 57 percent increase in the risk of blood clots in veins, a known side effect of the drugs.

Dr. Bennett, an oncologist and hematologist, said he did not think that the higher risk of death came from those blood clots. Rather, he said, there is evidence that the drugs, which are synthetic forms of a natural hormone called erythropoietin, directly stimulate the growth and spread of tumors. Amgen scientists dispute that explanation.

Procrit, which Johnson & Johnson sells under license from Amgen, was approved for treatment of cancer patients in 1993, and Aranesp in 2002, based on their ability to reduce the need for blood transfusions. But the studies on which the approvals were based were not large and long enough to measure the effect on patients’ longevity.

As a result, efforts have been made to pool the results of many smaller trials to look for safety problems.

A meta-analysis published in 2004 by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international research group, found that patients who were given the drugs tended to live longer.

But in recent years, some new clinical trials, aimed at showing that using the drugs at higher doses than indicated on the label would improve survival, found the opposite. As those studies were added to the compilations, the safety balance appeared to shift.

A meta-analysis published in 2006 by the Cochrane Collaboration found an 8 percent higher risk of death among users of the drugs, but the result just missed being statistically significant. The analysis being published Wednesday adds some more recent studies and reaches statistical significance.

That still leaves unclear whether the drugs are dangerous if used at the levels indicated on the label, a question that bedeviled an F.D.A. advisory committee last year and is likely to do so again in March.

“We didn’t ask the right questions for 15 years,” Dr. Bennett said.

-------------------------
By ANDREW POLLACK, published at Newyorktimes.com

Conflict on the Menu

2008-02-23T21:34:00.000-08:00

New York City’s new rules for menu labels at chain restaurants have set off a food fight among the nation’s obesity experts.

French fries at a McDonald’s. A new rule would force many New York restaurants to post calorie information in noticeable places.

Most support the theory of the city’s health commissioner that forcing chain restaurants to list the calories alongside menu items — flagging that a Double Whopper With Cheese has 990 calories, for example — will make patrons think twice about ordering one. The rules are set to take effect at the end of March.

There is a countertheory, however, set forth by Dr. David B. Allison, the incoming president of the Obesity Society, a leading organization of obesity doctors and scientists. An affidavit he recently submitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has ignited a controversy within his organization.

In the filing, Dr. Allison argues that the new rules could backfire — whether by adding to the forbidden-fruit allure of high-calorie foods or by sending patrons away hungry enough that they will later gorge themselves even more.

“What harms (if any) might result” from the new rules? Dr. Allison wrote in the court filing. “That is difficult to predict.”

It might be only a scientific debate among nutrition experts, except for the fact that Dr. Allison was paid to write the document on behalf of the New York State Restaurant Association, which is suing to block the new rules.

Dr. Allison’s role in the debate has angered some members of the Obesity Society, setting off an e-mail fury since word of his court filing began to circulate. Some have pointed to Dr. Allison’s other industry ties, which have included advisory roles for Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods and Frito-Lay.

Many of the group’s 1,800 members are “completely mad that a president-elect of the Obesity Society, an organization that cares about obesity and cares about healthy eating, wants to hold back information from people that helps them make healthy choices,” said Dr. Barry M. Popkin, a member of the organization, who is director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Dr. Popkin has filed his own affidavit in the lawsuit, defending the city’s menu labeling plan.

The controversy highlights unresolved issues in the obesity field about industry ties and conflicts of interest, said Dr. Kelly D. Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. “The field is incapable of policing itself,” Dr. Brownell said.

Spurred by Dr. Allison’s affidavit, the obesity group released a statement on Tuesday supporting calorie labeling on menus. “The Obesity Society believes that more information on the caloric content of restaurant servings, not less, is in the interests of consumers,” said the statement by the society, which is based in Silver Spring, Md.

Dr. Allison, a professor of biostatistics and nutrition at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, is scheduled to start a one-year term as president of the Obesity Society in October. He has defended his affidavit. In a telephone interview, he said he did not take a position for or against menu labeling in the document but merely presented the scientific evidence that the labeling might deter over-eating but might not and, in fact, might be harmful.

He also defended his work for the restaurant industry, but would not disclose how much he was paid for his efforts.

“I’m happy to be involved in the pursuit for truth,” Dr. Allison said. “Sometimes, when I’m involved in the pursuit for truth, I’m hired by the Federal Trade Commission. Sometimes I help them. Sometimes I help a group like the restaurant industry. I’m honored that people think my opinion is sufficiently valued and expert.”

The executive vice president for the restaurant association’s metropolitan New York chapters, E. Charles Hunt, said that Dr. Allison was retained by the association’s lawyers. “Obviously, a lot of it was in favor of our position,” Mr. Hunt said, “although he didn’t come right out and say that.”

Dr. Allison’s 33-page affidavit cites a study that found that dieters who were distracted while eating and presented with information that food was high in calories were more likely to overeat.

“To the extent that many NY diners consume food from restaurants while in a state of distraction or performing distracting tasks,” he writes, “we might hypothesize that the belief that the food is especially high in calories would trigger disinhibited increased consumption.”

He also says that for some people, the deterrent of a high-calorie label might be short-lived and end up making them even hungrier and likely to eat even more later — “inadvertently encouraging patrons to consume lower-calorie foods that subsequently lead to greater total caloric intake because of poor satiating efficiency of the smaller calorie loads.”

Dr. Allison was quoted advancing similar arguments in 2006 during a breakfast meeting sponsored by Coca-Cola at an international conference of obesity experts in Sydney.

Dr. Allison, who disclosed at the meeting that he was a consultant to Coca-Cola on obesity issues, warned that policies to restrict certain foods might backfire, citing research showing that birds put on weight when food is scarce, according to a newsletter article about the conference.

The new labeling rules by New York City’s Board of Health have support from a cross section of organizations, including consumer groups like Public Citizen and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, as well as doctor groups like the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association.

While some chains already post calorie information on posters, fliers or on the Internet, public health officials argue that people may change their ordering habits or restaurants might change their menus if calorie labeling is more conspicuous.

The New York rule would require that chains with 15 or more restaurants nationally, including fast-food restaurants, put the information on their menus or menu boards.

This is the city’s second attempt to adopt such regulations. A judge struck down a menu-labeling plan last year, saying the law needed to be reworded. It has since been revised to comply with the judge’s order.

Similar requirements have been adopted in King County, Wash., which includes Seattle, and are under consideration by 21 other state and local governments.

New York’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, likened Dr. Allison’s claims to an argument that the world is flat.

“We don’t have 100 percent proof that it’s going to work, but we have a reasonable expectation it will be successful,” Dr. Frieden said.

“When places have to put ‘2,700 calories’ next to an appetizer,” Dr. Frieden said, “they might not have a 2,700-calorie appetizer anymore.”

*This article written by STEPHANIE SAUL, published at newyorktimes.com

Cutting Cholesterol, an Uphill Battle

2008-02-23T21:23:00.000-08:00

The HDLs, the so-called good cholesterol that protects against heart disease, were also high at 69, so that was good. My triglycerides, at 95, were well within the normal range of zero to 149. The VLDLs, also a potentially harmful form, measured 19, again within the normal range of 5 to 49.

But the LDLs, the bad guys that deposit plaque on artery walls, were 134 — “high” since they should be under 100 if I want to maintain a healthy cardiovascular system.

My doctor wasn’t too concerned because my blood pressure is low, I eat a healthful diet and I exercise every day for 60 to 90 minutes and run up and down scores of steps. Still, I decided to cut out cheese, lose a few pounds and return in three months for another test, this time after an all-night fast.

So in early March, three pounds lighter and taking a daily supplement of plant stanols, which are supposed to lower cholesterol, I had a second test. But now my total cholesterol had risen to 236 and the LDLs were up to 159.

Still, my doctor was not as alarmed as I was. My father and his father and his father’s brother had heart attacks in their 50s, and my father and grandfather died of their second attacks at 71. I was 65. Were my days going to be numbered by a surprise coronary or stroke? Not if I could help it.

Now it was time to further limit red meat (though I never ate it often and always lean), stick to low-fat ice cream, eat even more fish, increase my fiber intake and add fish oils to my growing list of supplements. But the latest test, in early June, was even more of a shock: total cholesterol, 248, and LDLs, 171.

My doctor’s conclusion: “Your body is spewing out cholesterol and nothing you do to your diet is likely to stop it.” I was not inclined to become a total vegetarian to see if that would help. The time had come to try a statin, one of the miraculously effective cholesterol-lowering drugs.

By studying the effects of statins in thousands of people who already had heart disease or were likely to develop it, researchers finally proved that lowering total and LDL cholesterol in people at risk was both health-saving and life-saving. I’ll know by fall if the low-dose statin I now take nightly will do the trick, or if I’ll need a higher dose. [See Fall Update, below.]

Lifestyle Changes

Americans tend to turn far too quickly to drugs to solve their health problems. Drugs should be the last resort, if there are reasonable measures people can take first to control a problem. And there are dozens of such measures that, individually or together, can help to lower LDLs.

High LDL cholesterol is an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease, and lowering it by 60 milligrams can reduce coronary events like heart attacks, angina and sudden death by 50 percent after only two years, experts from Oregon Health and Sciences University wrote recently in The Journal of Family Practice.

The Oregon specialists, Dr. Elizabeth Powers, Dr. John Saultz and Andrew Hamilton, recommended that doctors start with lifestyle modifications when a patient has high LDLs. And Dr. Vincent Lo of French Camp, Calif., suggested that the patient’s culture, preferences and practical issues like cost and availability be considered. Not everyone can afford to join a gym, and a traveling salesman may have a hard time sticking to a low-fat, calorie-controlled diet.

These are the measures that have been found to work, based on randomized, controlled clinical trials, the gold standard of clinical research.

Alcohol. Consuming one or two drinks a day can lower LDLs by 4 to 10 milligrams. Red wine is considered most effective. For those who cannot drink alcohol, purple grape juice may be a reasonable, albeit less effective, substitute.

Exercise. Aerobic exercise, like brisk walking, jogging, cycling and lap swimming, can reduce LDLs by 3 to 16 milligrams and raise the good HDLs. Consistency is important. Aerobic activities should be performed at least five times a week for maximum benefit.

Weight loss. When achieved through diet and exercise, weight loss can reduce LDL levels by as much as 42 milligrams. When achieved through drug therapy, weight loss has been associated with an LDL drop of 10 to 31 milligrams.

Yoga and tai chi. These forms of exercise, which are accessible to just about everyone who can walk, even the elderly, have reduced LDLs by 20 to 26 milligrams when done for 12 to 14 weeks.

Smoking. An analysis of several studies found that LDL cholesterol was 1.7 percent higher in smokers, but two smoking cessation studies found little or no difference. In any case, smoking is a strong independent risk factor for heart disease and sudden coronary death, so it is best avoided.

Modifying Your Diet

About 85 percent of the cholesterol in your blood is made in your body. The remaining 15 percent comes from food. But by reducing dietary sources of saturated fats and cholesterol and increasing consumption of cholesterol-fighting foods and drink, you can usually lower the amount of harmful cholesterol in your blood. My college roommate, for example, recently adopted a mostly vegetarian-and-fish diet, minus cheese but with occasional meat and chicken, and lowered her total cholesterol from 240 to 160 milligrams.

There are exceptions, of course, and I happen to be one of them. Still, I intend to continue to follow a heart-healthy diet, because that will enhance the effectiveness of the medication I’m taking.

Start by switching to low-fat and nonfat dairy products, like skim milk and, if you can stand it, fat-free cheese. Substitute sorbet, sherbet or fruit ices for ice cream, or choose ice milk or ice cream with half the fat.

For protein, choose fish and shellfish, poultry without the skin and lean meats, all prepared with low-fat recipes. Eat more dried beans and peas (cooked, of course), soy products like tofu, and nuts like walnuts and almonds. Grains should be mostly or entirely whole — 100 percent whole wheat bread and cereals made from whole wheat or oats, brown rice, bulgur and the like. Oats and oatmeal are rich in soluble fiber, which lowers cholesterol.

Pile on the vegetables and fruits. Especially helpful are those high in fiber like Brussels sprouts, cabbage, spinach, carrots, blueberries, oranges and apples.

Cook with canola or olive oil, and use margarine made from plant stanols.

And enjoy a glass of wine with dinner.

Equally important are the foods to limit or avoid: organ meats like liver, egg yolks, most fried and fast foods, doughnuts and pastries, full-fat cheeses and ice cream, processed meats like salami, bacon and other fatty cuts of pork, and untrimmed red meats.

Fall Update

The low-dose statin I’d been taking did the trick. After four months of taking 10 mg a day of Lipitor, my total cholesterol went from 248 to 159. The bad cholesterol, or LDL, went from 171 to 84. My good cholesterol also went up slightly. My ratio of total cholesterol to good cholesterol has me living forever!

This article written by By JANE E. BRODY, published at newyorktimes.com

Surgical Treatment for Diabetes

2008-02-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

Evidence is accumulating that the best treatment for Type 2 diabetes related to obesity may well be the most drastic: stomach-shrinking surgery, perhaps accompanied by intestinal rearrangements. That such extreme remedies would even be considered is a measure of how intractable the intertwined epidemics of obesity and diabetes have become in the United States.

Diabetes of all types is a vicious disease that kills some 73,000 Americans each year, making it the fifth-leading cause of death in this country. It is characterized by an inability to produce or use insulin, with the result that blood glucose levels soar, damaging the kidneys, blood vessels in the eyes and nerves in the feet.

There is no cure, only the hope that it can be controlled by strict dieting, drugs and a lifetime of careful living. Unfortunately, many patients are unable to comply with the onerous regimen, pounds lost are ultimately regained and legions of patients suffer heart attacks, blindness, kidney failure or foot amputations.

Against that discouraging backdrop, a new study by Australian researchers, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, seems to promise extraordinary results, albeit with many caveats about the preliminary nature of the findings in a relatively small group of patients who had mild cases of the disease.

The study involved 60 patients who were obese and had recently developed Type 2 diabetes, by far the most prevalent kind. Half were given conventional treatments, including diet, exercise and medicines. The rest got conventional treatment plus surgery in which a band is placed around the stomach to constrict its size and limit eating.

In almost three-quarters of those who had surgery, all signs of diabetes disappeared. Only 13 percent of those given conventional therapy had complete remissions. The difference was because of weight loss. Patients in the medically treated group lost only 1.7 percent of their weight, on average. Those in the surgically treated group lost 20.7 percent. There were no serious complications from the minimally invasive procedure.

Other studies have shown that gastric bypass surgery, a riskier operation in which the stomach is stapled and the intestinal tract rearranged, is even more effective, achieving remission in a matter of days or weeks, well before substantial weight loss has occurred. This is apparently because the operation causes metabolic changes that lower blood glucose levels beyond what weight loss alone can accomplish.

Some experts predict that surgery will become a common treatment for diabetes in coming years. Before that happens, it will be essential to see how patients fare over an extended period and get a better fix on which patients are most likely to benefit from costly surgeries that always bear some risk.

Source: nytimes

Do Cellphones Affect Fertility?

2008-02-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

I wanted to ask a question I asked my science teacher today. Is it true that for boys who carry their phones in the pocket, it can cause problems with their sperm?

It sounds like an urban myth, but there is some limited data to suggest that cellphones can affect male fertility. In fact, last month a study in the medical journal Fertility & Sterility examined the cellphone use of 361 men at a fertility clinic. The results showed that the more men used cellphones, the lower the count, quality and motility of their sperm.

In October, the same medical journal reported on an animal study from Milwaukee researchers who found that rats exposed to six hours of daily cellular phone emissions for 18 weeks had a significantly higher incidence of sperm cell death than rats not exposed to such emissions. The study authors said the results suggest that carrying cellphones near reproductive organs could negatively affect male fertility.

However, as a review last fall in Reproductive Biomedicine Online points out, there simply isn’t enough quality research to know whether the effects seen in animal studies or observational data are meaningful. Even if cellphones do affect sperm quality and motility, is it enough to have a meaningful impact on a man’s fertility?

There are some global concerns about declining male fertility in industrialized countries, but issues like pollutants, exposure to chemicals and smoking are likely far more worrisome culprits than cellphones. If I had a teenage son, I think I would try to limit his cellphone use for broader reasons than worries about his future fertility. I would hope my teenager would be active enough in sports and school that his time spent on the phone would be minimal.

Source: nytimes

Stem Cell Therapy Controls Diabetes in Mice

2008-02-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

Scientists reported Wednesday that they were able to control diabetes in mice by harnessing human embryonic stem cells. The work raised the prospect that the embryonic cells might one day be used to provide insulin-producing replacement cells to treat the disease in people.

The scientists, at the biotechnology company Novocell, turned the stem cells into cells that produced insulin in the mice. Those cells kept blood sugar in check after the mice’s own insulin-producing cells were destroyed.

“For those who say there is not much evidence that embryonic stem cells can cure diabetes, there you go,” said Dr. Camillo Ricordi, director of the diabetes research institute at the University of Miami, who was not involved in the research.

Still, a small number of the mice developed tumors, and some experts said the cells might not be well characterized enough for use in people. In any event, Novocell said it would be several years before any human tests could begin.

Doctors are already experimenting with transplants of insulin-producing islet cells from cadavers for patients with type 1 diabetes, a disease which destroys a person’s own islet cells. In some cases, the transplant recipients have not needed daily injections of insulin, at least for a while.

But there are too few donors to provide cell replacement to more than a small percentage of diabetics. Embryonic stem cells, which can potentially be turned into any type of cell in the body, could potentially be a source of islet cells.

Novocell, which is based in San Diego, reported in 2006 that they had turned human embryonic stem cells into insulin-producing cells in culture dishes, something others have also reported doing. But Novocell’s cells did not vary insulin production in response to glucose, a key requirement for implantation.

In the latest work, published online Wednesday by Nature Biotechnology, the researchers got assistance from the mice themselves. Instead of implanting the insulin-producing cells into mice, they implanted precursor cells that were one step short of developing into insulin-producing cells.

The mice’s bodies apparently provided the proper signals to turn the implanted cells into functioning insulin-producing cells in about 90 days.

When the scientists used a toxin to destroy the mice’s own islet cells, the animals that had received the human cells continued to produce insulin and control their blood sugar while mice without the implants quickly became diabetic. After about 100 days, the scientists then removed the implanted cells from the mice that had them, and blood sugar levels shot up.

“This for the first time validates that you can use human embryonic stem cells to produce fully functional human islets,” said Emmanuel E. Baetge, the chief scientific officer of Novocell and senior author of the report.

But Dr. Mark A Magnuson, a professor at Vanderbilt University and director of its stem cell biology center, said the Food and Drug Administration might not allow the transplant into people of cellular material that would have to “mature” in the body.

“Would this happen reproducibly in different people, and would it be the same in all transplant sites?” Dr. Magnuson said in an e-mail message. “If it wasn’t totally predictable, could there be adverse effects, such as tumors?”

Indeed, in the Novocell experiment, 7 of the 105 mice with the implants developed teratomas, a sort of tumor. Dr. Baetje said Novocell probably could have reduced or eliminated the teratomas if it had purified the cells before implanting them.

Dr. Ricordi of the University of Miami said he was somewhat concerned by signs that the implanted cells cut glucose levels too much, which itself can be dangerous.

This article written by Andrew Pollack, published at nytimes

Medical Career Training

2008-02-11T15:21:00.000-08:00

Do you know that one of the fastest growing areas of employment today is the field of medical careers. As more people become aware of health in general, and show concern for the state of their own current and future health, the demand for professionals in this field increases.

However, the field of medicine is not limited to conventional medical occupations such as nurses and physicians. There is also an increased interest in the field of alternative, or holistic medicine, especially as people are tending to turn away from traditional methods of healing. The increased costs of medicine and treatments, as well as safety concerns, are bringing people back to ancient and older forms, as well as Eastern methods of medicine and healing such as acupuncture, herbology, and Ayurvedic medicine.

This is why I inform you the profil of Medical-Career-Training.com. This site was designed to provide visitors with the most comprehensive information available on Medical Training programs nationwide. You can find any information on career options for individuals looking to work in the medical field, as well as the degrees available and course offerings at leading institutions. Medical career Training now also offered you to join ultrasound technician school, you can learn more about ultra sound tech.

See what it takes to be a nurse , a healthcare administrator , or an x-ray technician and you could also check out some featured articles , that would be valuable insights into specific industries and topics. Whether you're just starting out in the medical industry, researching the latest medical trends or looking to further your professional career, Medical-Career-Training.com connects you to the information you need to be successful!

For more information, you can check out ultrasound technician school

Questions and Answers

2007-11-21T15:11:00.000-08:00

1. What is Bio-Ceramic? (batu is stone)

Bio-Ceramic is the product which is made from of various kind of ceramic mixed with mineral oxides likes Silica Oxide (SiO2), Aluminum Oxide (AI202) and etc. The mixture of these materials will emit FIR (far-infrared rays)

2. How is Bio-Ceramic made?

Bio-ceramic is made from 26 kind of ceramic with various mineral oxides and heated together at 1600 degrees centigrade and left to cool down. After it has cooled down, this bio-ceramic will be capable emitting FIR (far-infrared rays)

3. What is Far-infrared Rays?

Far-infrared rays is part of the sunlight spectrum which is invisible to the naked eye. It also known as Biogenetic rays (between 6 to 14 microns). Biogenetics rays has been proven by scientists to promote the growth and health of living cells especially in plants, animals and human beings.

4. What is the effect of Far-infrared rays?

FIR cause resonance with water molecules. It ionize and activates water molecules in our cells and blood thus improving our blood circulation and health condition. The human body contains more than 70% water (H2O) by weight.

5. What is the effect of Far-infra-red rays on our human body?

Activates water molecules in our body

Improve oxygen level in our body

Warming and eliminating fats, chemicals and toxins from our blood and thus smoothening the flow of blood.

Elimination of other waste from the body

Reducing the acidic level in our body

Improve nervous system.

Other usefulness;
Improve perspiration system

Prevention of bacteria growth

Softening of hard water

Relieving of pain

Purification of water

Eliminates bad odour

Maintain warmth and better sleep

Enhance and maintain freshness

Purification of air h) Beauty care

Improve strength and health

Speed up repair of body cells

Balance of the acid level in our body

Normalization of blood cholesterol

Prevent mould

Help plants to grow better

6. Is there any guarantee of the effectiveness after using product?

The company or anybody will not guarantee anybody the effectiveness after using our product. Even doctor could not guarantee their patients about their medicines. However, what needs to be explained is the scientific proof regarding its efficacy in prevention and healing process. Testimonies are also very useful from people who have used our products.

7. Will people be addicted to using our products?

There is no scientific evidence to prove that our product are addictive.

8. Is there any limit for using our products?

There is no age limit for using our products. In facts, FIR is needs from the day you were born until old age.

9. Is there any side-effects after using this products?

There is no side-effects after using our products, but they may be cases of users experiencing what we call “healing crisis”

10. What is the “healing crisis” ?

Healing crisis is when our body experiences the process of toxin discharge. This may be followed by pains to our body. In such case, it is advised to continue usage. In cases where serious pains occur, stop using temporarily and then continue use afterwards.

11. Is there are possibility that we do not feel anything using these products?

In fact, the effects feel by users will vary depending on our health needs. If we do not feel anything by using these products, our bodies may be healthier than others. However, in such case, usage of these product on the long run will benefit us and act as a preventive measure.

12. How long does it take to fell the effects?

Time taken to feel the effects will very depending on the one’s body health. Our experiences shows that of our users felt the effects during the short span of time.

13. Is there any testimony that will prove the effectiveness?

Indeed, there are a lot of testimonies from users all over the country. Testimonies can be obtained in written form or by word of mouth from people who have used our product.

Medical Research

2007-11-21T14:33:00.000-08:00

Medical Research
In Vivo. 2000 Mar-Apr;14(2):321-6. Related Articles, Links

Effects of far-infrared ray on reproduction, growth, behavior and some physiological parameters in mice.

Udagawa Y, Nagasawa H.

Experimental Animal Research Laboratory, Meiji University, Kanagawa, Japan.
The effects of chronic exposure to far-infrared ray (FIR) on reproduction, growth, behavior, survival time and some related parameters were examined in SHN mice. The reproductive parameters differed slightly between the females on the normal racks and those on the FIR racks, which emitted FIR from the ceiling. The age and body weight on the day of vaginal opening was lower in the experimental mice born and maintained on the FIR rack than in the control on the normal rack. In both sexes, the levels of urinary components in the experimental group was significantly higher than the control at 6-7 months of age. Spontaneous motor activity of females during the light and dark phases were higher and lower, respectively, in the experimental group than the control. The survival rate was significantly higher in the experimental group than the control.

These findings suggest that FIR has ‘normalization effects’ on the organisms.

J Cosmet Sci. 2002 May-Jun;53(3):175-84. Related Articles, Links

Investigation of jewelry powders radiating far-infrared rays and the biological effects on human skin.

Yoo BH, Park CM, Oh TJ, Han SH, Kang HH, Chang IS.

Skin Research Institute, Pacific Corp. / R & D Center, 314-1, Bora-ri Kiheung-eup, Yongin-si, Kyounggi-do, Korea 449-900.

Far-infrared rays have certain kinds of effects on the human body, especially on skin, blood circulation, and skin cell vitalizing. Some jewelry powders radiate far-infrared rays. Jade has powerful far-infrared ray radiation, and tourmaline has pyroelectric and piezoelectric properties and radiated far-infrared rays. The jewelry powders (fine powdered jade and tourmaline powders) were screened by far-infrared rays for radiation properties and tested for the effects of far-infrared rays on the human skin by temperature observation using an infrared thermal analyzer.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

In another study done by Hideyoshi Toyokawa and others in Japan using rats, published in the Experimental Biology and Medicine, showed that the FIR can improve wound healing significantly.

Otto Warburg was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1944 for research concerning photosynthesis in connection with the chemotherapeutics of cancer and the use of x-rays. His subsequent research showed that far infrared (the heat radiation of the Sun) impacts cancer.

Dr. Masao Nakamura of the O & P Medical Clinic in Japan has reported great success with the use of far infrared treatment for: whiplash, rheumatism, insomnia, menopause, sciatica, acne, shoulder stiffness, arthritis, ear diseases, gastroenteritis problems. …

Dr. Toshiko Yamazaki, MD - author of “The Science of “Far-Infrared Therapies” - has extensively researched the uses of Far Infrared Therapy for natural body healing.

Doctor's Speech

2007-11-21T14:29:00.000-08:00

FIR DOCTOR’S SPEECH: PROFESSOR LI DONG QI:

Professor Li Dong Qi is a leading exponent and authority in the field of Far Infrared Ray Technology and Bio-ceramics, with over forty long years of original research done in this area. She is currently the leading Pioneer Consultant for all FIR and Bio-ceramic related technologies and applications.

Among the many situations and facets we come across in our entire life time, good or bad, there are certain inevitable issues or rather realities, such as confrontation with various ailments, death and the inevitable ageing process. All these are a part and parcel of nature and life that goes around it, hence it is necessary to confront them with a positive attitude of the mind. None of us wish to be involved with any of the ailments that befall upon us. Nevertheless, we need to be on our guard and take adequate measures to prevent interaction with such ailments, complying with the old Chinese saying “You can own everything but health.”

The most important thing that all of us desire in life is to have a sound good health, without which no other cherished desires can be achieved. There are two ways of maintaining good health. One is to foster the five natural elements of nature and use them to counter the onset of any ailment. The other is to protect one self with various tonics and medication leading to a lot of inherent side effects, creating other ailments in the process.

Between the two, the former method of prevention is most desirable to contain all types of sickness from attacking our bodies. Among the known preventive methods, one can avoid illness by vaccination, ensuring proper hygiene and cleanliness in our daily lives, taking firm measures to create a clean environment to live in and taking adequate precautionary measures for the intake of clean and healthy food as well as fresh water.

It is also necessary, that apart from adhering to these norms, we need to also abstain from unhealthy habits. It is matter of paramount importance for all of us to be aware of the ground realities of this polluted world and be conscious enough to consume healthy food, which will in turn strengthen our bodies by providing increasing body resistance and immunity against diseases. Consumption of proper healthy food would enhance and strengthen the physical functions of various parts of our body, which would provide us the much-needed immunity to fight all illnesses. In addition to this, we also need to maintain a natural balance of our ecology by proper disposal of waste through biodegradable technologies.

Coming from the ages, through evolution, man has made a wonderful progress in the development of Science and Technology. Using all the resources available in the natural environment and over a period of time, we have begun to exploit these resources to a point, where the very benefits have now turned into potential sources of human extinction. We are the ones who are continuously destroying our own living environment without realising the same.

As already stated earlier, the five essential ingredients that constitute a healthy lively ambience for man to live in i.e., air, fire, soil, water and sunlight, have in today’s context been misused to the core. The time has now come for people to realise this self made grave folly and learn to coexist in harmony with the natural environment and create necessary steps to stop and reverse the ecological imbalance.

Looking back 50 years in time, one can confidently say that the highest incidence of fatal diseases like malaria, polio, smallpox, plague, cholera, jaundice etc, had afflicted mankind to such an extent, that it drove them to counter these ailments through the development of modern science and technology, eventually containing and eliminating such dreaded diseases.
Nevertheless, in our fight against eradicating all fatal diseases, we are still confronted with the dreaded Cancer and Aids. Today’s survey shows that these devastating diseases thrive on account of environmental pollution as well as on account of massive doses of acidic based food items.

As is known to all, the Sun is the only planet which has not been polluted and it is a known fact that, all life form in this planet exist on account of the Far Infrared Rays emanating from the Sun. This life giving force constituting almost 80% of the Sun’s rays is so very essential to our existence.

The advancement of Science and Technology has taken its toll, in systematically but slowly destroying the Ozone layer, which used to protect the harmful rays of the Sun like X-Rays, Cosmic Rays, Ultraviolet Rays, from reaching us, thus preventing dangerous ailments like Skin Cancer to proliferate. As a result of this uncontrolled misuse of natural resources for technological advancement, the depletion of the Ozone layer has caused people to avoid sunlight almost totally, live and work indoors with minimum outdoor activity.

Today’s lifestyle across the globe, are in stalk contrast to those lived by our ancestors. It is a known fact, that our ancestors worked and lived directly under the Sun for their livelihood, thereby building a greater body resistance when compared to us. They were comfortable in drinking water drawn from rivers, pools and lakes, which were not polluted as compared to the present day scenario. This contrast is mainly attributable to our careless attitude and regard for the environment, which we live in, while making technological advancements for a better living. This has resulted in us creating a situation akin to plants in a greenhouse, unexposed to the environment around us. We have voluntarily confined ourselves in a modern greenhouse avoiding sunlight to the maximum.

It is an irony of technological advancements, that we have now embarked upon finding alternatives more as a mode of escape rather than facing the self made natural onslaught and making attempts to reverse the same. To cite an example, we feel comfortable to stay indoors in order to avoid the harmful effects emanating from the Sun’s X-Rays and Ultra-violet Rays. We make attempts to avoid consuming food, grown from soil which is laden with fertilisers, pesticides and other chemicals including man made waste, by developing and eating “Safe food – Green food”. With regard to natural water which is undoubtedly polluted the world over, with industrial waste and other pollutants, we have found methods of filtering, sterilising, purifying this polluted water and transforming it into pure distilled water and ionised water.

Such being the state of affairs of our so-called technologically advanced world, it has now become a luxury to live a natural healthy life, where the quest for longevity is but a paradox. We have voluntarily brought ourselves into a vicious circle from which there is apparently no get away. Under these circumstances, in order for us to sustain and live a good healthy life, amidst all these man made dangers, we need to tap into the goodness of present day health products, which are reliable to the extent of strengthening our body in terms of resistance and immunity, to confront and take on the various diseases effectively. This along with adequate exercise and proper nutritional intake could perhaps lead us to lead a healthier life style.
In today’s market, there are umpteen different types of health products catering to the needs and uses of different strata of society. To the best of our knowledge the most effective amongst such health products are those which are constituted and developed with Far Infrared Ray technology. It is but most natural and logical for all of us to accept that, the innovations emanating from this State of the Art FIR Technology has no side effects on the human body, as it is essentially the goodness of the Sun that is absorbed into our bodies, creating a healthy outlook for oneself.

During my 40 plus years of scientific research in the field of Far Infrared Ray Technology, I have always worked towards discovering Rays for reducing the incidence of diseases and methods to deal with illnesses through a natural process. In my years of experience in the field of alternative medical research, I have identified many factors in our natural environment, which contribute to harming the human body, factors that are beyond our control. However, on the other hand, I have also discovered that there are other positive factors, which can restore the human health to large degree. This has been made possible from the huge source of power generated from the Sun that is so beneficial to mankind and known as Far Infrared Rays.

An attempt has been made by me to explain the benefits of using Far Infrared Ray technology products using bio-ceramics as the medium based on my research in this field of Science. I am confident that the reader will find the contents of this book more interesting and resourceful in terms of gaining knowledge in a totally lesser known field. It is for you to use these products in its supportive therapy capacity, side by side along with the prescribed medication, in your quest to seek relief from modern day ailments.

Health - A Cause for concern:

The fundamental prerequisite for sustenance of all life form in this planet is the judicial use of the primary natural elements like air, soil, water, fire and sunlight by mankind. If this happens, the human race can coexist with the natural environment in harmony, but the facts speak otherwise, what with the growing deterioration of the environment day by day, our existence in this planet will soon become a question mark. Out of the five prime elements, only sunlight remains in its purest form. Here again on account of large scale industrialisation, the ozone layer protecting this planet and all its co-habitants, is slowly being eroded by the day causing the harmful rays of the Sun like ultraviolet rays to penetrate the protective layer and cause harm to all life forms.

As a consequence of this unabated global industrialisation, people refrain from exposing themselves to sunlight, for fear of getting skin cancer. This has resulted in us changing our work habitat, by confining ourselves to an indoor air-conditioned environment, thereby cutting out exposure to Sun almost totally.

On account of this in-exposure to sunlight, the normal functioning of the human body takes a beating. The blood circulation in the body slowly goes down, which in-turn reduces our metabolic rate and this has a cascading effect on the functions of all other internal organs. As a result, the human body becomes absolutely weak in terms of immunity and resistance and finally gives way to permitting various ailments and diseases to enter into the human body.

Defining Health:

We all know that good health provides the foundation for an individual to live much longer life. Healthy bodies are full with vigour and vitality. Whereas, unhealthy bodies give way to prolonged exhaustion and overall weakness throughout ones life. Hence it goes without saying, that all of us need to maintain good health and protect our body from the onslaught of various ailments.

In pursuit of finding ways and means of preserving good health, man has evolved right from times immemorial, effective methods for preserving health with resources from nature playing a dominant role. However, all the various methods and doctrines evolved during the ages, are partially successful on account of limitations in Science.

Certain sections of society are carried away by the claims made by some health care products and they tend to believe that these products are the answers to treat all diseases. The fact however, is that most of the time these beliefs turn into disbelief. Then there are certain people who out-rightly reject the idea of consulting a medical doctor when they fall sick, since they believe that the health care products available in the market will alleviate them from their sickness. The continued advertisements of such health care products in various media with claims of banishing all diseases totally finds acceptance amongst the people who tend to take shelter from the hard reality. Such claims are more dangerous and misleading and it is always advisable and necessary to consult a medical doctor when one falls sick.

All health products can by no such stretch of imagination be termed as a medicine. Further, they cannot be consumed / used in the garb of a medicine, or even as a substitute to medicine. Today’s health products can only function as a supportive therapy, by nourishing the human body back to good health, in conjunction with prescribed medication. The purpose of consuming and using health products should be to primarily strengthen our bodies, increase the resistance and immunity levels to counter all ailments and diseases. In this process, the consumer or user can have a healthier and stronger physically fit body.

Products such as Ginseng, Spirulina, are indeed effective in their respective areas and should be consumed by one and all in general for better immunity and body resistance. However, if they are used to treat patients in their role as a supportive therapy, they should be consumed in accordance to the individual needs and ailments of each patient, as advised by a medical doctor, in addition to other prescribed medicines.

It is a known fact that people of different age groups, has varying requirements and standards of health and there cannot be a uniform health code for everyone to practice. It is a natural desire for all human beings, to aspire for good health without falling sick and to retard the ageing process. There are innumerable methods and measures adopted by different strata of society, to keep them healthy. The most common method adopted by one and all is exercising the various parts of the human body, both physically and mentally. Other methods generally used are following a strict balanced diet, in keeping with the individual work functions and having the will power to discard unhealthy habits. In addition to these conventional methods, we have an array of health products to suit different needs and requirements of individuals.

The advent of Bioceramics and Far Infrared Ray Technology has provided a multifaceted wide range of products, which are beneficial to mankind. These products essentially bring you the Goodness of the Sun, encapsulated in the form of bio-ceramics, embedded in fabric of daily wear / use. The bio-ceramics, on contact with human body heat at normal body temperature of 36.9 deg.C, produces Far Infrared Rays (FIR), which is so very beneficial for the sustenance of all life form on this planet.

The major benefits of FIR to the human body are as under:

It helps to maintain blood flow.

It helps to improve the bloods’ Oxygen content.

It helps to improve metabolism efficiency.

It helps to maintain blood pH.

It helps to retard the ageing process.

As already stated earlier all these products conforms to supportive therapy only, for the well being of the human body and should be used in addition to the prescribed medicines recommended by your doctor, in case of an ailment. These products are neither a medicine nor an alternative to medicine and we do not claim preventive and / or curative properties / benefits by usage of these products.

What is Far Infrared Rays

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What Is Far Infrared Rays?

What is far infrared? And how does it affect us?

I must admit when I first heard about “far infrared therapy”, I was somewhat skeptical. I mean how can you believe in something you can’t see, right? So I wasn’t sure what all the “buzz” was about until I starting reading medical studies and listening to testimonials from people who have benefited greatly from this natural remedy.

Vital Rays

How is it, light rays below the level of human sight can be of such great benefit to our bodies? At the time, I had no idea just how vital far infrared rays are for all of us. Until I spent a number of years investigating the science of this miraculous biogenetic energy and it’s amazing connection to our health and well being.

Imagine, specific wavelengths of infrared light working in unison with your molecular make-up to stimulate and improve your health, emotionally and physically.

Electromagnetic Spectrum

As you probably already know, the electromagnetic spectrum of light consists of visible rays and invisible rays. In fact, the visible spectrum of light to the human eye is only a small fraction of entire range of light energy rays.

From the chart above, you can see what I’m talking about. The infrared spectrum is just below visible (red) light and is divided into three (3) ranges of Near, Medium and Far Infrared Rays.

Physical Characteristic of FIR

Far infrared rays are photons of light energy radiating within a specific measurement of wavelengths from 4 to 1,000 micron respectively. Although, far infrared is invisible to the human eye it can be felt. Many skeptics are somewhat astonished to discover a warm soothing feeling when they try on bio ceramic of bio-necklace therapy.

Upon being absorbed by the soft tissues of your body, FIR (6-14microns) appears to be most resonant with cell tissues and harmonizes with your own life-force energy. This natural process known as “resonance absorption” produces warmth and stimulates your metabolism. Making these wavelengths of light maybe just as important as vitamins and minerals to the body's proper functioning.

Resonance Absorption

Natural far infrared rays emitted and reflected from bio-necklace therapy are of the same intrinsic vibration frequency as the cellular makeup of your hands. That’s why these “vital rays” of light energy are so easily absorbed deep into the soft tissues of muscles and joints. This natural process is known as "resonance-absorption.”

Far Infrared Light, Therapy Of The Future?

Far infrared is proving to be a factor in strengthening the body's resistance to infectious diseases, increasing the oxygen capacity of the blood, and improving stress tolerance. Exposure to FIR increases lymphocytes and neutrophils, and reduces the frequency of colds and respiratory infections.

Anti-Aging Factor

Far infrared light stimulates the production of cell tissue and rapidly promotes the regeneration of skin and blood tissue in areas exposed to it’s healing rays. It speeds cellular metabolic rates by stimulating the activity of mitochondria, and triggering enzyme activity. Helping to flush toxins and reduce pain and swelling.

Far Infrared Benefits The Whole Body

Regular exposure to far infrared rays is similar to physical exercise in its effects on the body. Improving the balance of blood pressure, blood sugar, and an increase in oxygen and nutrients in your cells. Resulting in increased muscle strength, vitality and mental stability.

Natural wavelengths of far infrared light, for example, are essential for bone growth as well as preventing osteoporosis, regulating hormonal functions and boosting your immune system.

Beyond Exercise And Nutrition

Far infrared light affects the hormonal balance of the body, in levels of:

Melatonin: hormone derived from serotonin, produced by the pineal gland plays a role in sleep, aging, and reproduction;
Cortisone: naturally occurring steroid hormone, primarily in carbohydrate metabolism and is used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, adrenal insufficiency, certain allergies, and gout.
Testosterone: white crystalline steroid hormone, most potent naturally occurring androgen.

Similar to Photosynthesis

You need to think of the affects of far infrared photons of light to a process similar to the photosynthesis process in plants FIR is converted by the body into electrochemical impulses and sent to the pineal and pituitary glands, which in turn produce healthy hormones that are sent through the central nervous system to all the cells of your body. Thus, light is essential to the functioning of our entire endocrine system.

FIR and Blood Flow

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When the normally smooth, firm linings of the arteries become thickened and roughened by deposits of fat, fibrin, calcium and cellular debris, it will lessen the arteries ability to expand and contract and slows the blood movement through narrowed channels. These conditions make it easier for blood clots to form, blocking the arteries and stopping blood flow completely.

Our body temperature is normally at 36°C to 37°C. When we exercise, blood flow increases, increase in blood flow results in increase in the metabolic rate. Increase in metabolic rate paves the way for ejecting body waste & toxins through sweat. In this process, the body waste is being eliminated, and proper food nutrient ingested to supplement our body, which becomes vital for longevity. It is also a fact that materials like clothing can keep our body warm but it does not emit FIR for absorption - only fabrics that contain bioceramic, materials have the properties if worn and used on a long term basis on our body, will one achieve optimum health benefits

Why do we say that 4-16 micron is the Bio-Genetic Rays? The basis is on usage, research on living things coupled with FIR. Temperature of every living thing including animals and plants is normally within the range 0°C to 50°C . The ability to absorb electromagnetic waves is also within this range and this wavelength is between 8-12 microns, the external emission rate of the human body. It is within the frequency range of 4 - 16 micron. Extensive biological research has shown that FIR wavelengths between 4 - 16 micron are beneficial to human body and consequently known as the physiological rays or Bio-Genetic Rays.

There are many medical specialist and researchers who have determined that our body can quickly react to absorb the distal infrared. The distal infrared causes the water molecules in the body to vibrate and then it causes heat reaction through resonant absorption; and the heat causes the temperature under the skin to increase, resulting in expansion of capillaries to promote blood circulation and eliminate obstacles that hinder metabolism; and the tissues get activated to result in the formation of enzyme.

The water molecules in the body is likewise changed into micro-molecules, and would get rid of toxic and body waste and make the water more active to increase metabolic rate. Apart from this, 4 -16 micron FIR in the blood stream is able to neutralise blood toxicity and smoothen the wall of arteries, capillaries and veins.

A research conducted by Japanese Medical Professor (Tanji) on white mice with cancer cells showed that the application of FIR (Bio-Genetic Rays) could also help to convert the cancer cells back to normal healthy cells. That is why the Bio-Genetic Rays is so amazing.

What people say about Bio Nacklace FIR

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These following story are really based on the speakers experiences.

Testimonials from Health Care Professional across the USA and Canada

Paul Newton, DC - Filosofi Chiropractic, Nepean, ON.
"I am a chiropractor, specifically a Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) Practitioner. For the past few years Dr. Donald Epstein, founder of NSA has been promoting the Chi Machine as a way to enhance the nervous systems wellness. I finally tried one this year and was impressed with how it moved my spine. I was even more impressed by the energy rush afterwards. My machine is on its way and I can't wait to share it with my patients!"

Dr. James Morales, D.C. - Dr. Susan Duve, D.C., F.I.A.M.A., N.D., Acupuncture, Chiropratic, Medical, Rehab, Wellness, Edinburg, TX.

"We have used "The Chi Machine" and "The Hot House" for 5 years now. Our patients love them. They have proven to be very valuable therapeutic devices."

Lori Lamothe - Allergist, Eatonville, WA.
"Staff and clients use the Chi machine at our office. We have had extremely positive results, such as weight loss and reduction of headaches!"

Pat Malone - Registered Aromatherapist, Registered Reflexologist, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada.
"Aromatherapy is the therapeutic use of essential oils. Part of the training includes full body lymphatic drainage massage. This is not always done in a consultation/ treatment which could be making up a product blend for a specific condition such as aches and pains, headaches, depression, arthritis, insomnia etc. I anticipate using the chi machine for 2-5 minutes in any of these consultations and explaining how the treatment can help them".

Nora El Gammal - Registered Aromatherapist, Registered Reflexologist, Markham, Ontario.
"My name is Nora, Canadian Natural Health Practitioner, Aromatherapist, Reflexologist and founder of Kyphi Aromatherapy Inc. I was first introduced to the Chi Machine through my colleague and my reflexology therapist, Pat Malone. While on my first few minutes on the machine I immediately enjoyed the vibration that came through my body and into my head. I was particularly conscious of its movement in my stomach area. With a weak colon, I felt this must be quite beneficial. With my poor blood circulation in general the last few minutes and after the time ended I was certain I had my blood moving all over my body. I particularly loved the great sensation when the machine stopped and the final moments of relaxation ran through my body. I loved it! With little time for exercise at the gym I knew this was my answer. I purchased the Chi Machine for myself, my family and my clients who will experience the chi after my regular treatments for the final touch of relaxation. I urge everyone to give the Chi Machine a few moments of their time and experience the benefits. Thank you Pat for introducing me to this wonderful experience!"

Gayla Erickson - QXCI-SCIO Biofeedback Technician.
"When test results show low energy flow through the spinal column, I recommend my clients borrow/rent a Chi Machine. Normally they end up purchasing it. If their immune system is poor or they have digestive or circulatory problems, I recommend the Far Infrared HotHouse."

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS

ASTHMA

Betty Dawkins 66yrs, Yoga Teacher/Health Consultant UK - Lifelong asthmatic.
I have a story to tell, which up until recent months could not have been imagined and I can only credit the success to my 'Chi' machine. I took delivery of my machine at the beginning of December 2000 and because of Christmas New Year celebrations I did not use it very often, I was too busy! It was the beginning of January 2001 that I started to use my Chi machine daily. They say that hind sight is twenty-twenty vision (seeing clearly - as it is) and that the really wise develop hind sight in the moment that they are in. I wasted the whole of the first month by not using it daily, but am now wise in this matter! Using the machine 15 minutes daily and with 'top ups' if required.

Since I was 5yrs old, or thereabouts I have suffered with asthma. Over many years have had to take various medical drugs to keep that asthma in a calm state. Sometimes I had to take more drugs than others, depending on my health status.

I have been seriously interested in health and well being for over twenty five years. I have practiced and taught yoga for that length of time. This certainly kept my breathing calm and benefited my health and well being, as a general rule. I work with people from all walks if life and all ages and have enjoyed sharing what I know and seeing the positive results in their lives. During the past five years or so, I began to study the food supplement scene and now have my supplement regime and safe personal care products routine. Again there was some improvement in my breathing and general health. You can see that I really take care of myself and love sharing my knowledge and experience with other people.

After using the Chi machine for only six weeks my drug dependence went down to every third day or so. Twelve months on using my wonderful Chi machine, it is so noticeable how very clear my breathing is. Sometimes, I can't even remember how long it is since I last used my drugs!!! Here I am, my body getting older (like every one else on the planet) and my drug dependency dropping away. Defies what I have ever been told about chronic conditions!

I know about Chi energy and I know how to boost it through my yoga, but since the Chi machine, more energy! My complexion has always been good and is even better, my health in general is much better, no colds or flu. At the time of writing this, lots and lots of people with the flu, (as usual at this time of the year), here in England. I am 'bright eyed and bushy tailed' and I've never been a slouch!. Thanks to my Chi machine my husband and I are enjoying better health and energy levels (his is another very good story).

In my professional life I only promote that which I know, has integrity, and very importantly works. I happily promote and sell Chi machines through my 'Healthy Routes' business. My business is growing and more people are enjoying better health and well being, through using their Chi machines daily. Some are so impressed with their own results, that they now have their own part-time business.. So it's good news all the way! THANK YOU - 23rd January 2002

P.S. 22nd April 2002 - it is now 9 weeks since I have taken any drugs at all for my asthma. This has never happened before in over 40 years!!!

DIABETS

Sandra.
I would recommend The Chi Machine in a heartbeat. For 5 months I had been in constant pain in my lower back. I have had this problem for 25 years on and off but it was finally getting serious. After spending just 10 minutes on the machine I had 5 - 6 hours pain free. The next day I bought one and I wouldn't give it back if I got a double refund.

It's only been 13 days since I purchased my Chi Machine and I have not had any significant back pain during that time. If the muscles start feeling a little tight I use the machine right away and I am fine. I have lost 10 pounds and my feet have stopped swelling. I have Type 2 diabetes and poor circulation was causing my feet to swell anytime I stood or walked for more than 15 or 20 minutes. That problem seems to be a thing of the past.

David G. 55 years old.
I am 55 years old, married to my wonderful wife and have two wonderful sons. I have been self-employed all my life, except for the time I was in the service. I'm also a diabetic Type B for over 10 years. I went through the same problems as most diabetics do, lack of circulation in the left leg, neuropathy cramping of the muscles in the legs and feet. The feet are the worst when they cramp up in the arch of the foot, you have never felt such pain in your life.

In the fall of 1998, I scratched the front of the right leg on a rose bush while cleaning up the yard. This little scratch became infected even though I cleaned and disinfected it. It wouldn't heal; it just kept getting more and more infected. When it seemed to me that it wasn't healing, I went to a doctor. The diagnosis was to further treat it with some different antibiotic cream. This went on for 4 months, i returned to the doctor everyday to have the bandages removed and cleaned. When he felt he couldn't do anything more for me, he recommended me to the diabetics wound center in Minneapolis.

This is a year later, the wound got bigger and it went into the bone and started to smell. The doctor told me that they did all they could for me, advised me that the next step would be to amputate the leg. Of course I didn't want that to happen. They continued to call the house for me to make an appointment to go to the hospital. I decided I didn't want to go through all that. Soon after there was a turn of events. My wife and I were introduced to The Chi Machine.

I first looked at the machine and wasn't very impressed. I started using the machine - on the 7th day my leg started itching. This might not sound like much to you, but I haven't had feeling in my right leg for a long time. I unwrapped the wound and saw that it was all scabbed over and had started to heal. It is now a year later and my leg is all healed and I have no more cramps in my feet. As far as I am concerned, the chi machine saved my life and gave me back the life I wanted to live.

Jerry Winford - Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
I first received information on The Chi Machine this summer in Toronto at the People in Motion 99 trade show where I picked up a flyer entitled 'The Amazing Chi Machine'. Upon returning to Calgary, I decided to use the Internet to see if there was any additional info there to support the claims from the flyer. Although I found supporting information from the Internet, I was still skeptical so I made a few calls and received enough direct info from users and dealers that I decided to order one. I felt at this point that I really had nothing to lose, as there was a money back guarantee. If I were not satisfied I would just return the product and get my money back.

The main reason I wanted to try The Chi Machine was due to reports of diabetics having great results, particularly with neuropathy and foot pain. Before starting sessions with The Sun Ancon Chi Machine I was experiencing severe pain in both my legs and feet. The pain was so intense at times it would straighten me right out for several seconds at a crack. The toes on both my feet were always numb and I had a stubborn sore close to the quick of the nail on one toe of the left foot which would not heal despite regular bathing and application of various ointments and even natural essential oils. Worst of all I knew things were getting progressively worse as I could feel the effects of the neuropathy creeping up both legs towards my knees. It was starting to appear in my fingers as well. Frankly, I was worried because I had other problems too, which could all be attributed to the diabetes.

After my first session on The Chi Machine I noticed immediately that the uneasy feeling in the very pit of my gut that I had been experiencing every waking moment of the day (probably stress from worrying about falling apart), had disappeared. After a week I noticed the pain in my legs and feet had all but disappeared. So had the creeping neuropathy between my knees and ankles. In the first week some other wonderful things happened.

That sore toe healed right up. Two other sores in the middle of my back, which I had been suffering for months, healed. Stomach and Intestinal gas, which caused discomfort a few hours after meals, had also disappeared. My bowel movements went from strained and irregular to normal. The Chi Machine is not the Red Cross but it sure brought relief!

By the end of the second week I was sleeping fitfully right through the night instead of the usual turning and tossing like a cork on the ocean. Consequently, I felt more vigorous than I had in years. The neuropathy in my hands was all gone too.

It is now the end of week three and I have the feeling back in every single toe on both feet. The right foot is better than the left one but I can pick up marbles with either foot now. I can sense hot and cold in every toe as well. What is most incredible is that my medication seems to be working as my sugars have been consistently within the normal range for days now. This is a real coup for me! I did not intend to lose weight, but I have dropped 3 pounds!

The Chi machine has far exceeded my expectations! I recommend it to everyone, if for no other reason but to relieve stress and to get that warm fuzzy feeling. I am asking: What have you got to lose besides your stress, your lack of energy, your sleepless nights, your worry, your pain, your lack of energy, your sleepless nights, your indigestion and irregularity, your poor immune system response?

I know that a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still, however, You should try the Chi Machine - You will be so pleased that you did!

Bob Rice, 66yrs, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 2006
My name is Dr. Bob Rice. I am 66 years old and I have type 2 diabetes and neuropathy in both feet. The neuropathy was driving me crazy. When I would go anywhere with my wife my feet would turn numb. Nothing seemed to help. One day a friend told me about the Chi Machine and thought it might help. I read all the information on this web site and decided to get one.

Within 3 days the numbness was almost completely gone. Not only that but my blood sugar is coming down and my blood pressure dropped 30 points. I also lost 3 pounds. In one week. Now I am telling all my friends that have health problems that they need one of these machines.

CANCER

Bob Bosch, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The Chi Machine and HotHouse have helped me combat cancer. Two years ago i had a biopsy. It was prostrate cancer. Three months later i had my prostate removed. One year later my PSA was up. I undertook 34 radiation treatments. Three months later my PSA count was higher. The doctor said i had two years to live. There was nothing they could do for me.

My brother came over with The Chi Machine and a HotHouse. He also introduced me to a friend of his who was getting good results from both machines. I purchased both machines in July 2000. I changed my diet and used the HotHouse one hour per day. The Chi Machine i used for 10 minutes per day for the first week. The second week i used the HotHouse twice a day for one hour each time and The Chi Machine 10 minutes twice a day.

I noticed a big change in my health in about 10 days. On July 17th, 2000 i had a hormone shot. On October 3rd, 2000 my PSA test showed 0, No CANCER!!! The Chi Machine and the Far Infrared HotHouse gave me a second chance for life!!! I feel great and will continue to use both machines every day.

Product and Price

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Price valid since 1 JUNI 2006
BIO NECKLACE SET
(Rp 1.290.000) IDR or $140 with EGold or Paypal

It expands blood vessels and promote blood circulation
It activates cells and accelerates metabolism
It activates water molecules, strengthens body organs and immunizes the body against diseases
It promote the function of lymph nodes and prevents the occurance of disease such as parolitis
Register No. ID 0 009 601 - D
Trade Mark on Direktorat Jenderal Hak Kekayaan Intelektual Departemen Kehakiman dan HAM Republik Indonesia(HAKI). Beware with fake product, in fact on the market many product look like same but very different on quality that can not to be responsibility.

We provide two ways to make payment:

- by bank transfer

You should call me by phone or mail or chat with me via Meebo or YM before making any payment.
Make sure that the account name is same with me.
Be careful if you find someone who admit as agent/reseller or BioFir
I do not guarantee the originality of Biofir if you buy the product from another agen.

- by E-gold

e-gold is an electronic currency, issued by e-gold Ltd., a Nevis corporation, 100% backed at all times by gold bullion in allocated storage. e-gold is integrated into an account based payment system that empowers people to use gold as money. Click here to get assistance to open your egold account.

The amouny you should pay is $140 (this price still can be changed at anytime. If you have been ready to buy, please contact me here

What is Bio necklace Infrared?

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The Bio Necklace Infrared (Bio FIR energy) is a functional necklace which is coated by FIR (far infrared rays) and negative ions in the FIR generation system. The Bio Necklace Infrared has several kinds of functions to human-beings which can improve blood circulation, relieve the pain, and improve vitality.

What is Bio Energy(Bio Far Infrared Ray)?

The complete spectrum of sunlight consists of visible and invisible rays. the visible rays are red, orange, yellow, green, indigo blue and violet in colors (known as rainbow colors). The invisible rays are Ultra Violet, X-rays, Gamma, cosmic Microwave, Long Wave, Electrical Wave and Infrared. Electromagnetic waves between visible light and the microwave are called infrared waves. The wave length of infrared waves range from 0.76 micron to 1,000 microns. The ranges of Near, Medium and Far Infrared Rays are 0.76 to 1.5micron, 1.5 to 4 micron, and 4 to 1,000 micron respectively. Far Infrared Rays (FIR) is transfer by radiation and penetrate deep into the human body and the material that was activated by through resonate FIR and it’s original wave. Our body organism is composed of more than 70% water and a lot of proteins. since vibrating wave band length of molecular movement of organic matter is identified to band of wavelength of FIR, molecular movement of organic matter is therefore activated.

Effectiveness of FIR(Bio Energy)

Improve blood circulation
Improve vitality
Relieve the stress and pain of our body active
Metabolism in tissues and cells
Improve mental strength
Intercept electromagnet wave
Reducing the acidic level in our body
Elimination of other waste from the body
Improve oxygen level in our body
Normalization of blood cholesterol
Enhance and maintain freshness

What is the Negative Ion?
(Vitamin in the Air = a negative ion). The ion is the invisible particle which has the electricity and the positive ion is the particle which has the positive electricity, the negative ion is the particle which has then negative electricity. There is a negative ion with carbonic acid gas, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, etc in the atmosphere and especially, the negative ion is very active because it is the drifting particle. This flourishing activity swells up with vitality in our life and health and act as the source of energy, so the negative ion is commonly “Vitamin in the Air”.

Where is the Negative Ion generated in?

The negative ion generates in the forests of the beach and delivery to the body by breathing and through the skin of person, so it increases the metabolism of the body and improve immunity of a human body. From ancient times, there are many cases of the recovery of patients with the chromic diseases in the forest or rural life, it is because the active of a negative ion occupies a large portion. * A forest insulting remark chapter to have a lot of pine tree * A waterfall(a negative ion mostly generates)

The well made garden
Waving ocean
The valley and river with high speed flowing water.

The negative ion and health of a human body. (”If negative ions are full of cells, you will be health”) If the positive ion is increased the negative ion is decreased, the operation of a cell membrane is not active well, so all physiological function and metabolism of the body become worse and it may be cause of diseases. If blood is acidified the resisting force of all kinds of pathogenic bacteria decreases and the operation of the autonomy nerve, that control and innards, by nutritious supplying problem becomes worse.

Contact Me

2007-11-20T11:05:00.000-08:00

Muhamad Sulhanudin (Udin)
:: English Department of Faculty of Letters
Diponegoro University, Semarang
Central Java, Indonesia
50241

Phone (624) 70234343, HP: +628885403082
email: udinbiofir@yahoo.com

(YM!: udinbiofir@yahoo.com)

egold number: 3312974