The study found that certain neighborhoods in Fulton County, Ga.-which includes Atlanta-have an incidence of cardiac arrest two to three times higher than other parts of the county and fewer bystanders who attempt to perform CPR. Surprisingly, these findings remained across time, meaning that, year after year, residents of these neighborhoods were at the highest risk for a cardiac arrest event, and had the lowest rates of bystander CPR in Fulton County. These neighborhoods tend to have lower median household incomes, more Black residents, and lower education levels.
“These findings have national public health indications. They show that it is time to change our thinking on how and where we conduct CPR training if we are ever going to change the dismal rate of survival from cardiac arrest,” said Comilla Sasson, M.D., M.S., lead author of, “Small Area Variations in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Does the Neighborhood Matter?” who conducted the study as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Michigan. “Nine out of 10 people die from a cardiac arrest event. This number can and must change.”
In Fulton County, if rates of CPR performed by bystanders were improved to the level achieved by the highest performing parts of the county, an additional 355 people could receive CPR. This could save an additional 15 lives each year in Fulton County alone.
CPR training often targets young, healthy volunteers who are least likely to encounter an individual in cardiac arrest. However, using Sasson’s method, a public health surveillance registry based on that of the CDC can be used to design targeted interventions in the neighborhoods that need CPR training the most. Boosting bystander CPR rates in the United States from the current average of 27 percent to 56 percent could save an additional 1,500 lives per year.
Each year, in the United States, nearly 300,000 patients experience cardiac arrest—the sudden, abrupt loss of heart function—while outside of the hospital. Heart disease is the most common cause of cardiac arrest, but other factors such as drowning, choking, electrocution and trauma can cause cardiac arrest.
An earlier study by Sasson in the 2009 journal Circulation found that the nation’s survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has been at a standstill at 7.6 percent for nearly 30 years. Because most incidences of cardiac arrest occur outside a hospital and are often witnessed by bystanders, efforts to improve survival should focus on the prompt delivery of medical interventions such as the delivery of CPR.

“To improve cardiac survival rates that have been stagnant for 30 years, CPR training should be more basic and available to the people who are most likely to witness someone experiencing cardiac arrest,” Sasson said. “Health care resources are extremely limited. To make improvements, we need to understand where and how best to make change.”
For this study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers analyzed emergency medical services (EMS) and 911 call data from the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival Rates (CARES), which was used to identify areas with higher incidences of cardiac arrest and low rates of bystander CPR. CARES is an EMS Web-based registry for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. Census information was used to approximate neighborhoods. The study is believed to be the first to show relative stability in the incidence of cardiac arrest within census tracts from year to year.
Sasson is preparing to take action to improve cardiac survival with education and outreach efforts in the 30 U.S. cities that constitute the CARES Study Group. They are spread across the United States and include cities such as: Anchorage, Alaska; Austin, Texas; Boston, Mass.; Columbus, Ohio; Denver, Colo.; Honolulu, Hawaii; Houston, Texas; San Diego, Calif.; Sioux Falls, Idaho; and Wake County, N.C.

Made possible by Shantell Kirkendoll, University of Michigan Health System

Results published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences show that a sticky gel composed of polyethylene glycol and a polycarbonate of dihydroxyacetone (MPEG-pDHA) may help to seal wounds created by surgery.
Procedures to remove cancerous breast tissue, for example, often leave a hollow space that fills with seroma fluid that must typically be drained by a temporary implanted drain. “This is an unpleasant side effect of surgery that is often unavoidable,” explains Dr. Jason Spector, co-author of the study and plastic surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
The gel could potentially be used in all different reconstructive surgeries to prevent seroma formation. “The new substance would act to glue together the hole left behind to prevent seroma buildup,” says Dr. Spector.
DHA is a compound that sticks to compounds in biological tissues, called amines. The sticky properties of DHA are what allows sunless tanner to adhere to the skin without being wiped off. However, it is biodegradable and water soluble as well, which means that the compound does not stay tacked onto the body’s tissues forever. Currently used “bio-glues” are made from animal products and take a long time to degrade in the body — both factors that raise the risk of infection.
“DHA is a compound that is naturally produced in the body,” explains Dr. David Putnam, the study’s senior author and a biomedical engineer from Cornell University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. “The glue is broken down, or metabolized, and then safely removed by the body.”
Dr. Putnam’s lab and his collaborators work to create safe, synthetic compounds from chemicals found in nature. DHA is an intermediary compound produced during the metabolism of glucose, a sugar used by the body for fuel.

To create the new compound, MPEG-pDHA, Dr. Putnam and his lab first bound the single molecule monomer of DHA, which is highly reactive, to a protecting group molecule, making it stable enough to manipulate. This allowed the engineers to bind the monomers together to form a polymer, or chain of molecules, along with MPEG. Doing so allows the polymer gel to be injected through a syringe.
“Making a polymer from DHA has eluded chemical engineers for about 20 years,” says Dr. Putnam.
Now in gel form, the compound has the ability to stick tissues together, preventing the pocket from filling with seroma fluid, like an internal Band-Aid, explains Dr. Putnam. The researchers found that the gel prevented or significantly lowered seroma formation or fluid buildup in rats that had breast tissue removed.
“The next step would be to test the gel on larger animals and then in clinical trials in human surgical cases,” says Dr. Spector.
Previous results, published by Drs. Putnam and Spector, in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, showed that the gel also prevented bleeding in a rat liver.
“This is another aspect of the compound that would be greatly beneficial if proven to be applicable in humans,” says Dr. Spector. “The gel could speed the healing and decrease bleeding within the body.”

Source: Andrew Klein, New York – Presbyterian Hospital

Natural S-equol, a novel soy germ-based compound, is very likely the primary ingredient for reducing hot flushes in the dietary supplement SE5-OH, which is under development for reduction of menopause symptoms, according to pre-clinical efficacy data from studies using an animal model presented at the Experimental Biology (EB) 2010 annual meeting. SE5-OH is in advanced studies in menopausal women, and peer-reviewed reports have previously documented that postmenopausal Japanese women receiving SE5-OH containing Natural S-equol significantly reduced the frequency of their hot flushes compared to women in the same study receiving a placebo (P=0.0092).

“Recent clinical trials have documented the benefits of SE5-OH containing Natural S-equol for relief of hot flushes in U.S. and Japanese women. SE5-OH containing Natural S-equol is made by the fermentation of soy, and our new data strongly suggest that it is the Natural S-equol in SE5-OH that may be responsible for the beneficial effects on menopausal symptoms,” said Belinda H. Jenks, Ph.D., director of Scientific Affairs & Nutrition Education at Pharmavite LLC.

Pharmavite LLC, the makers of NatureMade® vitamins and minerals and a subsidiary of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., is studying in clinical trials SE5-OH containing Natural S-equol in supplement form for the management of menopausal symptoms. Saga Nutraceuticals Research Institute of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. developed the ingredient and has an ongoing research program to study SE5-OH containing Natural S-equol. Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., supported the research and data presented at the Experimental Biology annual meeting, and complete reports of the data from the study will be submitted for peer-review publication.

Soybeans contain a naturally occurring compound called daidzein that certain bacteria living within the human digestive tract can metabolize, or convert, into S-equol [7-hydroxy-3-(4'-hydroxyphenyl)-chroman]. Not everyone can produce S-equol after soy consumption, as the production depends on the types of bacteria present in the large intestine and may be influenced by the amount of soy consumed. About 50 percent of Asians and 20 to 30 percent of North Americans and Europeans, who in general consume less soy than Asians, have the ability to produce equol. Studies in Japan have documented an association between milder menopausal symptoms in equol producers as compared to non-producers.

Natural S-Equol in SE5-OH thought to be a critical component in reducing hot flushes

Investigators consider Natural S-Equol in SE5-OH to be the primary component in SE5-OH to reduce hot flushes based on measurement of modeled hot flushes in an animal study. The study also measured two reproductive hormones, estradiol (E2) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), as well as uterine weight in healthy female rats from which the ovaries had been surgically removed to simulate menopause and those that underwent a sham surgery, in which their ovaries were not removed, to account for the effects from the stress of the surgery. Treatments included SE5-OH containing Natural S-equol, purified Natural S-equol, a placebo and a conjugated estrogen, a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms due to menopause. Animal menopause studies commonly use conjugated estrogen as a comparison treatment to examine the efficacy of new potential treatments for the reduction of menopausal symptoms including hot flushes. All treatments began three days after the rats’ surgery and lasted for 38 days.

The study used a recognized validated animal model that simulates hot flush symptoms women can experience during menopause and post-menopause. The animal model involves measuring changes in the average temperatures of the rats’ tails, known as tail skin temperature (TST). In the study, rats underwent TST measures prior to ovary-removal or the sham surgery and then at weeks three, four and five after surgery during the treatment period. The average TST of a female rat is about 27 degrees Celsius (C), (about 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit). After ovary-removal surgery, the average TST increases for approximately seven weeks, resembling the human symptoms of hot flushes that temporarily occur after estrogen withdrawal because of menopause, and then cease with the time. A hot flush includes an intense sensation of heat along with the body’s activation of ways to dissipate heat, including the dilatation of skin blood vessels and sweating.

Daily doses of SE5-OH containing 11.7 milligrams (mg) per kilogram(kg) of body weight of Natural S-equol and of 11.7 mg/kg purified Natural S-equol were equally effective in suppressing the elevation of TST induced by the ovary-removal surgery. Both groups of rats had average TSTs significant below that of the rats receiving ovary-removal surgery and placebo, (27.1, 27.1 and 27.5 C, respectively at week three, P<0.05). Also, the rats receiving the conjugated estrogen drug as well as rats receiving placebo after sham surgery had significant suppression of average TST compared to that of rats receiving a placebo after ovary-removal surgery, (26.6, 26.9 and 27.5 C, respectively at week three, P<0.05). The significant differences in average TSTs between groups also occurred at weeks four and five.

SE5-OH containing Natural S-equol and purified Natural S-equol had no effects on the average levels of the two reproductive hormones E2 and FSH. E2 is the primary naturally occurring estrogen in women and is formed primarily in the ovary. FSH stimulates production of eggs and E2 during the first half of the menstrual cycle. Specifically, the rats receiving SE5-OH containing Natural S-equol, purified Natural S-equol and placebo after ovary-removal surgery had E2 levels of 14, 12 and 11 nanograms (ng) per milliliter (ml) of plasma respectively at the end of the study. Rats receiving conjugated estrogen drug or placebo after sham surgery had respective E2 levels of 4,016 and 44 ng/ml, both significantly different from the rats who received placebo after ovary-removal surgery, P<0.05 for both. FSH measures were 0.93, 0.91 and 0.81 ng/ml for rats receiving, respectively, SE5-OH containing Natural S-equol, purified Natural S-equol or placebo after ovary-removal surgery. Rats receiving conjugated estrogen drug, or placebo after sham surgery, had respective FSH levels of 0.39 and 0.04 ng/ml, both significantly different from rats who received placebo after ovary-removal surgery, p<0.05 for both.

The average weight of the rats’ uteruses did not differ between those who received SE5-OH containing Natural S-equol or purified Natural S-equol, 0.13 and 0.14 grams, respectively. The average weight of the rats receiving placebo after ovary-removal surgery was 0.12 grams. In contrast, rats receiving conjugated estrogen drug had dramatically greater average uterine weights due to its estrogenic effects, 0.61grams. The rats receiving placebo after sham surgery also had larger average uterine weights, 0.55 grams.

How SE5-OH is made

SE5-OH for the study was created under current Good Manufacturing Practices using the equol-producing lactic acid bacterial strain Lactococcus 20-92 in a patented and proprietary process by the Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The patented fermentation process converts daidzein, a naturally occurring compound in soy germ, to Natural S-equol, steadily increasing the concentration of Natural S-equol until reaching a maximum concentration at 72 to 96 hours and decreasing daidzein by 95 percent. Following fermentation, the SE5-OH powder undergoes a sterilization process using heat denaturation that deactivates the bacteria. The process is designed to produce a product rich in Natural S-equol that can be used as a nutraceutical ingredient.

Source: Porter Novelli
Image Courtesy kalidoskopika

The coronary artery calcium score (CACS; determined by use of computed tomography by measuring buildup of calcium in plaque on the walls of the arteries of the heart) has been shown in large prospective studies to be associated with the risk of future cardiovascular events. However, the extent to which adding CACS to traditional coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors improves classification of risk is unclear, according to background information in the article.

Tamar S. Polonsky, M.D., of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, and colleagues conducted a study to determine whether adding CACS to a prediction model based on traditional risk factors improves classification of risk. CACS was measured by computed tomography (a type of imaging method) in 6,814 participants from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a population-based cohort without known cardiovascular disease.

Recruitment of participants began in July 2000, with follow-up through May 2008. Five-year risk estimates for new CHD were categorized as 0 percent to less than 3 percent, 3 percent to less than 10 percent, and 10 percent or more using hazards models. Model 1 incorporated age, race/ethnicity, sex, tobacco use, antihypertensive medication use, systolic blood pressure and total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol measurements. Model 2 used these risk factors plus CACS. The researchers calculated the net reclassification improvement using model 2 vs. model 1.

Among a final group of 5,878 individuals, there were 209 CHD events during a median (midpoint) follow-up of 5.8 years, of which 122 were major events (heart attack, death from CHD, or resuscitated cardiac arrest). The researchers found that model 2 resulted in significant improvements in risk prediction compared with model 1. In model 1, 69 percent of the cohort was classified in the highest or lowest risk categories compared with 77 percent in model 2. With the addition of CACS to the model, an additional 23 percent of those who experienced events were reclassified as high risk and an additional 13 percent of those who did not experience events were reclassified as low risk. Among intermediate-risk individuals, 16 percent were reclassified as high risk while 39 percent were classified as low risk.

“The results of this study demonstrate that when CACS is added to traditional risk factors, it results in a significant improvement in the classification of risk for the prediction of CHD events in an asymptomatic population-based sample of men and women drawn from 4 U.S. racial/ethnic groups,” the authors write. “Incorporation of an individual’s CACS leads to a more refined estimation of future risk of CHD events than traditional risk factors alone.”

“The results provide encouragement for moving to the next stage of evaluation to assess the use of CACS on clinical outcomes.”

Editorial: What Makes a Good Predictor? — The Evidence Applied to Coronary Artery Calcium Score

John P. A. Ioannidis, M.D., of the University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece, and Ioanna Tzoulaki, Ph.D., of the Imperial College of Medicine, London, write that despite the exemplary nature of the study by Polonsky et al, determining whether CACS should be used routinely still requires testing in a randomized intervention trial.

“Thus, the authors have not yet demonstrated that the added accuracy in risk stratification can actually aid clinicians in better treating patients or improving their clinical outcomes. Therefore, their findings, no matter how promising, do not suffice to recommend this marker for widespread routine use. Moreover, cost and harms may be major issues. Computed tomography costs $200 to $600 and routine implementation at the population level can be very expensive. The lifetime excess cancer risk due to radiation exposure from a single examination at age 40 years is 9 cancers per 100,000 men and 28 cancers per 100,000 women. This risk should be taken into account in formal risk-benefit analyses.”"All of these aspects require careful weighting. The evidence to date suggests that while CACS is a promising tool, the verdict is not in yet as to whether it is ready for routine use, and much more is still left to do.”

Source: JAMA & Archives For The Media

References: Tamar S. Polonsky; Robyn L. McClelland; Neal W. Jorgensen; Diane E. Bild; Gregory L. Burke; Alan D. Guerci; Philip Greenland. Coronary Artery Calcium Score and Risk Classification for Coronary Heart Disease Prediction. JAMA, 2010; 303 (16): 1610-1616 John P. A. Ioannidis; Ioanna Tzoulaki. What Makes a Good Predictor?: The Evidence Applied to Coronary Artery Calcium Score. JAMA, 2010; 303 (16): 1646-1647

A semi-submersible drilling platform called the Deepwater Horizon located about 50 miles southeast of the Mississippi Delta experienced a fire and explosion at approximately 11 p.m. CDT on April 20. Subsequently, oil began spilling out into the Gulf of Mexico and efforts to contain the spill continue today. NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellite imagery has captured the spill in between cloudy days.

NOAA used data from the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument from the Terra satellite on April 26, 27 and 29 to capture the extent of the oil spill, which measured 600-square-miles. The MODIS instrument flies aboard both the Terra and Aqua satellites.In the satellite image from April 27 at 12:05 p.m. CDT the MODIS image showed that the oil slick was continuing to emanate from the spill location. Individual slicks lay just north of 29 degrees and zero minutes north, where they have been noted in the days before. Oil had spread further east and the edge of the slick passed 87 degrees and 30 minutes west compared to the MODIS image taken on April 26. The April 26 satellite image came from NASA’s Aqua satellite.

On April 29, the MODIS image on the Terra satellite captured a natural-color image of the oil slick just off the Louisiana coast. The oil slick appeared as dull gray interlocking comma shapes, one opaque and the other nearly transparent. The northwestern tip of the oil slick almost touches the Mississippi Delta.

Deepwater Horizon had more than120 crew aboard and contained an estimated to 17,000 barrels of oil (700,000 gallons) of number two fuel oil or marine diesel fuel.

Today, April 30, NOAA declared the Deepwater Horizon incident “a Spill of National Significance (SONS).” A SONS is defined as, “a spill that, due to its severity, size, location, actual or potential impact on the public health and welfare or the environment, or the necessary response effort, is so complex that it requires extraordinary coordination of federal, state, local, and responsible party resources to contain and clean up the discharge” and allows greater federal involvement. NOAA’s estimated release rate of oil spilling into the Gulf is estimated at 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) per day based on surface observations and reports of a newly discovered leak in the damaged piping on the sea floor.

NOAA reported on April 29 that dispersants are still being aggressively applied to the oil spill and over 100,000 gallons have been applied. NOAA’s test burn late yesterday was successful and approximately 100 barrels of oil were burned in about 45 minutes. NOAA is flying planes over the area and using NASA satellite imagery from the Terra and Aqua satellites to monitor the spill.

Image Courtesy: NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/goddard

“When a recent documentary about U.S. Latinos featured two teen mothers in a 90-minute program, the Latino students in my classes thought it was an unbalanced portrayal of their community—and they were right!” said Marcela Raffaelli, a U of I professor of human and community development and co-author of a recently published chapter on Latino teen sexuality.

National surveys do show that Latino young people as a group are less likely than their non-Latino peers to use condoms and birth control and are more likely to become pregnant and have a child. But these statistics hide a much more complicated picture, she said.

For one thing, Latinos represent more than 20 different groups, and they live in very different situations in the United States.

“For example, Cuban immigrants who moved to the United States when Castro came to power tended to be very wealthy, and they created an entrepreneurial, successful enclave in Miami. Compare them with Central American immigrants who may be refugees from a civil war in the 1980s. Language, religion, and some aspects of culture are apt to be the same, but socioeconomic status is probably very different, and that’s a big predictor of early sexual activity and teen pregnancy,” Raffaelli said.

When you adjust for socioeconomic status and other demographic factors, the difference in adolescent sexual behavior between Latinos and other groups largely disappears.

Attempts to understand sexuality among Latino teens are also complicated in that researchers don’t have the data to draw conclusions about how cultural factors influence sexuality. “People talk a lot about Latino culture and sexuality, but they typically don’t measure cultural variables, such as adherence to cultural norms and attitudes, in their studies,” she said.

So what do we know about Latino sexuality and risk taking among teenagers? For one thing, no one really knows how much the traditional gender role attributes of machismo and marianismo—idealizing the Virgin Mary—actually influence today’s Latino adolescents.

“In traditional Latin cultures, machismo dictates that men be virile and strong and provide for their family. In the United States, when we say macho, often we mean someone’s a male chauvinist, but in most Latin cultures, this idea encompasses such positive behavior as being responsible for your family and taking care of your household,” she said.

The female ideal of marianismo includes being self-sacrificing, pure, and silent. But the researcher emphasized that few studies have tried to measure the extent to which Latinos adhere to these traditional gender roles and whether cultural beliefs are linked to sexual behavior.

“Also, most research on Latino gender roles and sexuality doesn’t take into account that Latin cultures have changed tremendously over the last 20 years as a result of globalization, migration, and changing norms,” she added.

Immigrant status also plays a role in teens’ sexual risk taking. “For first-generation Latinos, recent immigration seems to be a protective factor. Families tend to bring the practices they had in their home country, and over time there’s a shift as they become acculturated. For girls, being an immigrant is protective because Latin American countries are typically more conservative about sexuality than the United States is,” she said.

For boys, the opposite pattern may be true because in many Latin American countries men have more freedom to explore their sexuality. In the United States, they might shift to a more conservative pattern, she said.

Scholars in multiple disciplines have described a pattern called the “immigrant paradox” in which immigrants have better outcomes than their U.S.-born counterparts despite their more challenging situations.

“First-generation teens do better in school, get into less trouble, have fewer early pregnancies, and so on, but by the second or third generation, that protective effect dissipates. A lot of immigrant families have tremendous optimism. They think, our life here is difficult, but we’re here to improve our children’s chances and, besides, things may be worse back home,” she said.

“By the third generation, things often look very different—maybe because of discrimination, bad schools, or socioeconomic factors,” she said.

Raffaelli said that she and other researchers are working to update what is known about American Latino families. “Cultural ideals provide general guidelines, but we need recent research to tell us whether people believe in these ideals and how much those beliefs affect behavior,” she said.

Raffaeli and co-author Maria I. Iturbide of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln wrote the chapter “Sexuality and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Latino Adolescents and Young Adults” for the Handbook of U.S. Latino Psychology.

References:
Picklesimer P. “Are Latino teens sexual risk takers? It’s complicated, researcher says.” February 18, 2010. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Raffaelli M, Iturbide M. Sexuality and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Latino Adolescents and Young Adults. Handbook of U.S. Latino Psychology: Developmental and Community-Based Perspectives July 24, 2009;23:399-414

Photo by veeforvioleta

“Engineering blood vessels for bypass surgery, promoting the formation of new blood vessels or regenerating new skin tissue using stem cells obtained from the most accessible source — hair follicles — is a real possibility,” said Stelios T. Andreadis, Ph.D., co-author of the paper in Cardiovascular Research and associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Researchers from other institutions previously had shown that hair follicles contain stem cells.

In the current paper, the UB researchers demonstrate that stem cells isolated from sheep hair follicles contain the smooth muscle cells that grow new vasculature. The group recently produced data showing that stem cells from human hair follicles also differentiate into contractile smooth muscle cells.

“We have demonstrated that engineered blood vessels prepared with smooth muscle progenitor cells from hair follicles are capable of dilating and constricting, critical properties that make them ideal for engineering cardiovascular tissue regeneration,” said Andreadis.

In addition to growing new skin for burn victims, cells from hair follicles could potentially be used to engineer vascular grafts and possibly regenerate cardiac tissues for patients with heart problems.

Since smooth muscle cells comprise the muscle of numerous tissues and organs, including the bladder, abdominal cavity and gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts, this new, accessible source of cells may make possible future treatments that allow for the regeneration of these damaged organs as well.

Andreadis and his colleagues previously engineered functional and implantable blood vessels with smooth muscle and endothelial cells originating from bone-marrow mesenchymal stem cells.

A key advantage of mesenchymal cells is that they typically do not trigger an immune reaction when transplanted, he said.

“Preliminary experiments in our laboratory suggest an exciting possibility — that stem cells from hair follicles may be similar to bone-marrow mesenchymal cells,” Andreadis said.

“The best case scenario is that from this one very accessible and highly proliferative source of stem cells, we will be able to obtain multiple different cell types that can be used for a broad range of applications in regenerative medicine,” he said.

Co-authors on the paper are Jin Yu Liu, Ph.D., research assistant professor, and Hao Fan Peng, a doctoral candidate, both in the UB Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

The work was funded by the John R. Oishei Foundation of Buffalo. Previous work by Andreadis has been funded by UB’s Integrative Research and Creative Activities Fund in the UB Office of the Vice President for Research.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system that is its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB’s more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.

Sources:

John R. Oishei Foundation
Contact: Ellen Goldbaum
goldbaum@buffalo.edu
716-645-5000 x1415
University at Buffalo

An international team that included scientists from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today reported it has identified six more genetic variants involved in type 2 diabetes, boosting to 16 the total number of genetic risk factors associated with increased risk of the disease. None of the genetic variants uncovered by the new study had previously been suspected of playing a role in type 2 diabetes. Intriguingly, the new variant most strongly associated with type 2 diabetes also was recently implicated in a very different condition: prostate cancer.

The unprecedented analysis, published today in the advance online edition of Nature Genetics, combined genetic data from more than 70,000 people. The work was carried out through the collaborative efforts of more than 90 researchers at more than 40 centers in Europe and North America.

“None of the genes we have found was previously on the radar screen of diabetes researchers,” said one of the paper’s senior authors, Mark McCarthy, M.D., of the University of Oxford in England. “Each of these genes, therefore, provides new clues to the processes that go wrong when diabetes develops, and each provides an opportunity for the generation of new approaches for treating or preventing this condition.”

When considered individually, the genetic variants discovered to date account for only small differences in the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. But researchers say when all of the variants are analyzed together, some significant differences in risk are likely to emerge. “By combining information from the large number of genes now implicated in diabetes risk, it may be possible to use genetic tools to identify people at unusually high or low risk of diabetes. However, until we know how to use this information to prompt beneficial changes in people’s treatment or lifestyle, widespread genetic testing would be premature,” said another senior author, David Altshuler, M.D., Ph.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard in Cambridge, Mass.

Type 2 diabetes affects more than 200 million people worldwide, including nearly 21 million people in the United States. Previously known as adult-onset, or non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), type 2 diabetes usually appears after age 40, often in overweight, sedentary people. However, a growing number of younger people — and even children — are developing the disease.

Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke in U.S. adults, as well as the most common cause of blindness, kidney failure and amputations not related to trauma. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by the resistance of target tissues to respond to insulin, which controls glucose levels in the blood; and a gradual failure of insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas.

“These new variants, along with other recent genetic findings, provide a window into disease causation that may be our best hope for the next generation of therapeutics. By pinpointing particular pathways involved in diabetes risk, these discoveries can empower new approaches to understanding environmental influences and to the development of new, more precisely targeted drugs,” said NHGRI Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., who is a co-author of the study. Dr. Collins’ laboratory is a participant in the FINRISK 2002 and Finland-United States Investigation of NIDDM Genetics (FUSION), which were among the studies that contributed data to the new analysis. FUSION is funded by NHGRI’s Division of Intramural Research and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).

Researchers said more work is needed to understand the impact of their discovery that a genetic variant called JAZF1 appears to be involved in diabetes as well as prostate cancer. One of the study’s lead authors, Eleftheria Zeggini, Ph.D., of the University of Oxford, said, “This is now the second example of a gene which affects both type 2 diabetes and prostate cancer. We don’t yet know what the connections are, but this may have important implications for the future design of drugs for both of these conditions.”

Sources:
The research was conducted by the DIAbetes Genetics Replication And Meta-analysis (DIAGRAM) consortium, which brought together many groups active in the field of diabetes research. In the Nature Genetics paper, DIAGRAM researchers combined the data from three previously published genome-wide association studies in an effort to boost the statistical power of their searches — an approach that scientists refer to as meta-analysis. The strategy paid off, enabling researchers to identify six genetic variants associated with type 2 diabetes that had gone undetected in the smaller, individual studies.

For more information about genome-wide association studies, go to www.genome.gov/20019523. For more information about diabetes, go to http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/overview/index.htm.

NHGRI is one of 27 institutes and centers at NIH, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The NHGRI Division of Intramural Research develops and implements technology to understand, diagnose and treat genomic and genetic diseases. For more, visit www.genome.gov.

NIDDK, part of NIH, conducts and supports research on diabetes; endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition, and obesity; and kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases. Spanning the full spectrum of medicine and afflicting people of all ages and ethnic groups, these diseases encompass some of the most common, severe, and disabling conditions affecting Americans. For more information about NIDDK and its programs, see www.niddk.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) – The Nation’s Medical Research Agency – includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

Results of a randomized clinical trial using 200 micrograms of selenium alone showed that 55 percent more cases of type 2 diabetes developed among participants randomized to receive selenium than in those who received a placebo pill.

Results will appear in print in the August 2007 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine and were posted online on July 10.

Self-reported diagnosis of type 2 diabetes was a secondary endpoint in a clinical trial designed to test the benefit of selenium supplementation in prevention of non-melanoma skin cancer in areas in the Eastern U.S. where selenium levels are lower than the national average. Selenium is a trace mineral that is an essential component of proteins involved in antioxidant activity.

Saverio Stranges, M.D., Ph.D., first author on the diabetes prevention study, conducted the analysis while at UB, in cooperation with colleagues from Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He now is affiliated with the Clinical Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UK. Stranges said the findings are very interesting, but should be considered cautiously.

“Among participants taking selenium supplementation, those who had the highest levels of selenium in their circulation at the beginning of the study had the highest risk of developing type 2 diabetes over the average 7.7 years of follow-up,” he said, “and the increase in risk is unlikely to be a result of chance.

“However, in the general population, very few people, if any, take selenium supplements only, every day, for nearly eight years, so we can’t be sure that these findings apply to the public at large.

“Perhaps the more important message is that a large proportion of the U.S. population, about 50 percent, takes multivitamins, even though there is no evidence that taking multivitamins helps prevent chronic disease among healthy people. In this country, we can get all the antioxidants we need in fruits and vegetables, but it’s easier to take a vitamin than to eat a more healthy diet.”

The selenium and diabetes study involved 1,202 people who did not have type 2 diabetes when they entered the cancer clinical trial at Roswell Park. Participants had been recruited for the main study between 1983 and 1991, and they were involved for an average of 7.7 years. The supplementation study was completed in February 1996.

Analysis for this diabetes study involved data from 600 persons who had taken selenium and 602 who were randomized to receive placebo pills. Results showed that 97 participants developed type 2 diabetes during the study period, 58 in the selenium group and 39 in the placebo group. There was no difference in the findings when age, sex, smoking status and body mass index were included in the analysis.

“At the moment we don’t know what mechanism or mechanisms account for this finding,” said Stranges. “We have very little understanding of the possible biological pathways involved. In addition, our findings need to be replicated in larger clinical trials before conclusive evidence can be drawn on whether high doses of selenium supplements increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, as our study suggests.

“With selenium, which is a trace element, it may be the case that a little bit is essential, but more can cause detrimental effects, at least in well-nourished populations such as the U.S. It’s possible that taking extra selenium overcomes the natural balance. Perhaps excess selenium has a negative effect on the endocrine system.”

Source: University at Buffalo

The factors associated with poor short-term recovery from knee surgery appear to be different than those found to mar long-term outcome from the same surgery, according to new research released today at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine at the Telus Convention Center (July 12-15).

“We found that women showed poorer short-term recovery than men in the first year following arthroscopic meniscal tear removal surgery, and people with osteoarthritis also did not do as well as others,” says principal investigator Peter Fabricant, BS, a medical student at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. “The factors associated with a poorer long-term outcome, such as larger tear size, greater amount of tissue removed, advanced patient age, and higher Body Mass Index, are not the same as those we can associate with short-term surgical recovery.”

The meniscus is the shock-absorbing tissue that cushions the knee joint preventing the bones from rubbing. Tears in this tissue can cause pain and loss of function. In arthroscopic partial meniscectomy, the surgeon inserts small surgical instruments and a camera through tiny incisions in the knee to remove torn tissue. An estimated 636,000 arthroscopic knee procedures are performed annually, according to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.

Fabricant and colleagues at Yale University studied 126 patients who underwent arthroscopic partial meniscectomy to assess the impact of obesity, age, gender, amount of tissue removed, and degenerative joint changes on short-term recovery. They found that being female and the extent of osteoarthritis were associated with a less-than-optimal first-year recovery.

Other studies have shown that advanced age, obesity, and the amount of meniscal tissue removed all negatively affect long-term outcome from arthroscopic meniscal repair. “In our study these variables did not affect short-term recovery. Conversely, gender and osteoarthritis appear to play a role in short-term recovery, as they have been shown to do in the long-term,” Fabricant comments.

The current medical literature only offers research findings on long-term outcomes following arthroscopic meniscal repair. “We couldn’t find anything in the literature to predict recovery during the first year,” explains Fabricant. “Physicians need to be able to discuss with patients how long it might be before they can return to optimal function levels in work and activities of daily living.”

Fabricant and colleagues suggest that severe osteoarthritis in the knee may be a contraindication to surgery. “Arthritis may be a marker for a degenerated knee, which may not be able to recover as well as a healthy, non-arthritic knee,” Fabricant says.

Osteoarthritis may also be a marker for worse overall knee function in general. Patients with severe osteoarthritis already have loss of cartilage and soft tissue. Further tissue removal appears to have minimal impact on patient knee pain and function during the year following surgery.

The investigators say that it is unclear exactly how female gender complicates surgical recovery. Fabricant notes that there are gender differences both in surgical outcome and possibly in the biomechanics resulting in how the knee was initially injured. Even before surgery, women typically reported more knee pain and decreased knee function compared to men.

Source: American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine

I’m pretty careful with the articles I write in this blog, citing sources whenever applicable. And I believe so should everybody else, especially professionals in the medical field. I didn’t see any MD attached to her name. Dietitian? Nutritionist, maybe? Her website mentions nothing but a cute slogan, “I am the picture and message of prevention…” Uh, if preventing me from getting fat is this eye-soring, sorry, ma’am, I’ll pass.

Sure, you don’t need to be an MS or have a PhD to call someone fat, as much as Rachel Ray needs no measuring cups, miraculously eyeballing all her fluid ingredients to concoct a fabulous 30-minute meal (not that I have anything against RR). However, this video clip is such a hair-pulling moment.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Granted, I’ve never watched American Idol since the Fantasia times, I rarely watch TV nowadays. Where was she during Reuben Studdard’s artery-clogging performance? Jordin’s probably fat, but DEFINITELY NOT obese.

Now, she’s also asserting that Jordin is at greater risk of diabetes, heart disease – greater than who? You can’t get any more fallacious and bigoted by saying someone who looks fat is at greater risk of diabetes than say, someone who looks normal but nourishes himself everyday with Big Macs and Taco Bell Burritos smothered in grease but never gets fat (ectomorphism).

I think it’s time to change NAAO‘s Philosophy. “Anything for publicity. You know the drill.” Outrageous! How’s that?

I am suffering from diabetes [sic].
Is rice ok for diabetes?
How do I measure it?

Thank you for asking, Sheik. You have at least three options to choose from. In my opinion, using the Glycemic Index (GI) is a simple tool to determine the type of rice that is best not only for people with diabetes, but also for individuals suffering from glucose intolerance, a symptom often overlooked that precedes a number of medical conditions including inflammatory diseases. To refresh your memory, GI measures how rapid carbohydrates affect the blood glucose (sugar) levels, within two hours of intake. Think of it as a ranking system for carbs; the lower the value, the lesser effect on glucose levels. If you have a very selective palate, may I recommend that you skip to the last choice, Basmati rice, otherwise, if you are after the best type for regulating glucose levels, not so much the taste, kindly continue to the next paragraph.

Brown Rice

Brown rice is a whole grain, hulled type of rice. It was traditionally used during the mid 1900s by the impoverished, it was the staple food in the early war era in Asia.

Brown rice is naturally more nutritious than white rice. What sets brown rice apart from white rice is the outer layer or the grain’s bran. If you remove the brown rice’s bran, you’ll have white rice (the endosperm part of a whole grain). The oil between the bran, and the endosperm is rich in Vitamin E, so consequently this nutritious micronutrient is likewise taken away from the refined white rice. Because of the bran’s high fiber content, brown rice has a rough nutty texture and somewhat bland taste compared to white rice. For the same reason, it is also used by the elderly and the ill to treat constipation.

However, thank goodness for technology and the effort exerted by rice researchers, we can enjoy some of the benefits we get from brown rice with white rice. Rice companies choose to overcompensate by putting back the stripped nutrients in white rice, fortifying their product with vitamins. Still, brown rice is a better source of fiber than white rice (but if only for fiber that you eat rice, taking Psyllium husks is the best bang for buck option, like Metamucil; although if you take fiber to clean the gut, Magnesium Oxide with Germanium is actually the most ideal route, but that’s another topic).

Bottom Line
Brown rice tastes horrible relative to white rice, has a Glycemic Index of 50 to 87, and more expensive due to low demand.

Parboiled (Converted) Rice

Parboiled rice (boiled in water for a short time) is a type of white rice that has been boiled in the husk, precooked, before being dried again. It is actually prepared from brown rice that has been soaked, steamed under pressure to force water-soluble nutrients into the starchy endosperm, then re-dried and eventually milled. For this reason, it is also called Converted Rice, converting brown rice to white without stripping off its nutrients. Parboiling makes rice easier to process by hand, improves its nutritional profile, and changes its texture. This method drives nutrients, especially thiamine, from the bran into the grain, so that parboiled white rice is nutritionally similar to brown rice. The practice of parboiling rice is more than two thousand years old, and may have started in the Persian Gulf. Today, it is the preferred rice of many in the southern parts of the Indian Subcontinent.

Since parboiled rice comes in many varieties, its Glycemic Index ranges from as low as 27 (Bangladeshi BR16) to 87 (Sungold brand, low-amylose). Uncle Ben’s®, a common brand of parboiled rice in the United States, has a GI of 68 per 150 grams of serving which has a 10 minute cooking time. Interestingly, the second Uncle Ben’s variety with a longer cooking time of 20 minutes, has a higher GI, 75, in the same amount of serving. More at the home of Glycemic Index

Bottom Line:
Decent taste, cooking takes longer than regular white rice but yields the lowest glycemic index, 27 – 87

White Basmati Rice

White Basmati Rice. It’s colored because earlier we cooked purple rice in the same casserole. And no, it’s not sweet LOL.

A native product of the Himalayan region and once again a common export product of the Indian Subcontinent, Basmati is probably my favorite among the three. It is a delicious long-grain rice that has a firm texture, and grows even longer and wider as they cook. Its aromatic flavour may be attributed to the locals’ cultivation practice, aging the rice for a year after harvesting. It is also available in brown.

White Basmati has a medium Glycemic Index. The microwaveable Uncle Ben’s Express® brand has a 57 GI, while an Indian Basmati exported to the UK has a 69 GI. These varieties are best served with piping hot meat with thick mild to spicy sauce.

Bottom Line:
Best tasting, fast cooking time, GI index between 57 and 69.

Verdict

I would suggest that you go for either Basmati or Parboiled rice. Whichever is available in your local grocery should determine your decision. If both are in stock, then consult the Glycemic Index directory to compare specific brands and varieties. If you plan to include this in your regular diet, you may also consider buying in bulk to save money. Bulk Basmati Rice and bulk parboiled rice are available online and directly to the manufacturing companies.

Playing for Keeps

The goal is simple: through a “guidance” about regulation of “CAM” which they conveniently define as “Complementary and Alternative Medicine” the FDA hopes to serve the interests of Big Pharma by eliminating all CAM practices and products. ALL of them.

Here’s how this deadly game is played:

1. By using the term “Medicine” rather than “Modality” for CAM practices, the FDA sets the stage so that anyone who is not a licensed physician is breaking the law by using these modalities since they are therefore “practicing medicine without a license.”

2. By using the term “treatment” rather than therapy, the FDA limits those who can perform these practices to licensed physicians and, again, anyone who is not a licensed physician is breaking the law by using these modalities since only licensed practitioners can treat. So people using these modalities are therefore “practicing medicine without a license.”

3. By using the term “Medicine” and “treatment” instead of “Modalities” and “therapy”, all substances, including vitamins, minerals, herbs, co-factors, etc., automatically become untested drugs since they are being used to prevent, treat, mitigate, or cure disease states. Such use can only legally take place with FDA approved drugs.

Here’s How We Protect CAM Practices

Practitioners & Products

Numbers. Sheer volume of response. Nothing more and nothing less. NOW is the time to act.

Provide your signature and comments to the FED BEFORE April 30, 2007 deadline

That is the link which allows you to send a comment directly to the FDA about their deadly “Guidance.” Will it matter? Yes, if millions of people respond. Here is what you need to do NOW if you value your freedom:

1. Click on the link and add your name to the letter. When you click “Send” it will be electronically delivered to the FDA docket site and posted.

2. Write a brief note, including the link, and mail it to everyone you can, or forward this message on to your entire contact list.

3. Please send the email to the companies which make the vitamins, minerals, and herbs you use to ask them to send it out to their entire mailing list.

4. Impress upon the people you contact that we are facing a virulent and highly organized assault on ALL natural products and procedures because they do not feed the pharmaceutical coffers that their help is crucial.

Ask them to lend their to the health foundation battle which threatens their right to make their own health choices.

Source: Steve Bhaerman

Perhaps everybody will agree if I say everybody wants to stay young and beautiful. Well, pretty good guess I may say but that’s the truth. Everybody just hate aging and even seeing signs of it.

We resort to medications, treatment options and even cosmetics in order to combat and halt aging. Scientists today have identified a compound (resveratrol) that stimulates sirtuin a gene that promotes youthfullness, and inhibits the body’s predestination to aging and such compound is found in red wines and skins of grapes. More readings on voaNEWS.com.

Reading on the news today, it shows that New York City could be the first State to radically ban the use of transfats in cooking and other food preparation activities.

It was shown that the consumption of trans fat may contribute to clogging of the arteries which results to various types cardiovascular diseases leading to heart attack.

Transfats are created through the addition of hydrogen to a vegetable oil. This activity increases the possibility of producing more dangerous types of cholesterol that are hazardous to health.

NewsScientists has the news. Check it out.

Yoga

Yoga is an exercise system that helps the body maintain body and mind balance. This type of exercise improves breathing and if you ever had experienced such, you can experience a relatively high degree of flexibility and tolerance to stress.

I have tried attending several sessions of Yoga and it was fun! It creates an entirely different you and I would say that it even improved my posture and added some centimetres to my extremities and torso.

Yoga increases the stretching capacity of your muscles and bones so it is but proper to note that Yoga can help tone and muscle development of your back and other parts of the body and helps add a permanent inch/es to your height.

To sum it up, Yoga increases height due to three things:

1. Stretches muscles and helps them stay strong
2. Helps lengthen the bone of the upper and lower limbs
3. Stretching may help add an inch between spine disks due to repeated
stretching and decompression

America may be one of the countries where sleeping is valued. The demands of everyday work and social commitments have taken toll on Americans’ sleeping habit. The following are just some of the reasons why getting the recommended hours of sleep has been hard to get.

• Work demands
• Shifting work schedules
• Existing sleeping problems
• Pathological Worrying, etc.
• Eating habits, etc.

While the above causes might not be the case for some people who are experiencing such condition, there will always be some people who will get susceptible to developing pathological sleeping problems.

The body can only endure much so following just simple recommendations below will put you out of this possible health danger.

• Follow regular sleeping patters, sleep and get up at the same time
of the night/day daily
• Do not do other stuff in bed other than sleeping and sex
• Eating lightly before sleeping will help you relax and fall asleep
• Keep room lighting at a level comfortable for sleeping (dim is
recommended)

The American Journal of Epidemiology provided writings about the long-term benefits of regular intake of multivitamins. The study offered a big proof of protection against colon cancer and other cancer illnesses of the digestive system.

Just this morning while taking my groceries I was able to speak to someone who happens to be a cancer survivor. During the course of the conversation, she mentioned that it was her poor eating habits and stressful career which brought her body more susceptible to developing cancer. Sad but true.

We can now see a big proof as to why diet and receiving complete nutrition, including multivitamins can save you from the devastating effects of cancer and other illnesses.

All in all, below are the ways to an effective eating lifestyle:

1. Reducing animal food product consumption, including fat
2. Eat healthy food stuffs like fruits and vegetables (especially, leafy ones)
3. Drinking fluids (potable water) and juices
4. Enough rest
5. Multivitamin Intake

It was revealed that black Americans are frequently more prone to complications. Moreover, tumors having drug resistance features were also observed to develop.

According to the head of the cancer research team at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, it shows that there are a lot of convincing clues that supports the direct relationship between race and the likelihood of one developing cancer in the future.

Another important fact is that most cancers which develops among black women turns out to be more aggressive and hard to cure (due to the presence of drug resistance tumors).

More detailed information is found at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre website.

Cancer is just one of the horrors of today’s health. According to the latest records of the American Cancer Society, it shows that 27% of the cause of death in the United States is brought about by one type of cancer and people may develop any of its types during their lives. This alarming statistics cancer currently provides genuinely deserves immediate attention.

Being physically healthy does not guarantee you to be free from getting cancer but you should rather check on the type of lifestyle you live in order to make sure that you are not making yourself more susceptible to cancers. Below are lifestyles that kick you off from increasing individual cancer risk.

1. Exercise and Avoiding Too Much Stress
2. Avoiding Vices such as cigarette and tobacco smoking
3. Eating highly nutritious food rich in fiber, vitamins and, minerals such as fruits and vegetables
4. Taking Vitamin Supplements
5. Taking Enough Rest

Also, regular checkups with cancer experts is just one of the things that you can do in order to reduce the possibility of acquiring cancer. WholeHealthMD lists more of this stuff so you may go check that out.

There’s no secret to a long and youthful life but a right, balanced, and disciplined diet. While dieting is the language of people who seeks for a lean body mass, it must be emphasized that proper dieting coupled with the right amount and kinds of food to take are important to starting off with your strategic life to a better health.

Although we are all aware of the dangers of maintaining a risky diet (that is, unchecked by a dietitian) and those that maintains what we call “cheesecake diet’’ it must be admitted that it’s hard to change some eating habit that puts you more into greater health risk.

Below are just some of the fine-tuning health tips that may help you fire up your way to a healthy lifestyle. It’s easier to remember.

5 Cs to Health

1. Cut on Cholesterol Consumption
2. Cut on Refined Sugars
3. Cut on Instant Foodstuffs
4. Cut on Sleeplessness Abuse
5. Cut on Vices

I am a bit surprised by the news today regarding whitebread having a close association with cancer incidence among people who consumes them. The research is based on a study published in the International Journal of Cancer.

The research also aims to promote the consumption of whole grains and vegetables in order to avoid the horrors of Kidney cancers (Renal Cell Carcinoma). Its surprising to know that most foodstuff that we regularly eat unknowingly jeopardizes our health.

In the study, it shows that among the 6000 recorded case of renal cell carcinoma, more than 80% of them were found out to have consumed more than 5 slices of whitebread a day while the remaining population were recorded to have approximately consumed 1 and a half slices per day. Moreover, the study confirms that the former are twice more likely to develop kidney cancer within their lifetime than those who consumes less.

More of this information can be found in this site

1. Scientists and experts believe that the color blue is actually an appetite suppressant, while the colors red and yellow are appetite enhancers. This may be the reason behind the absence of blue and the excess of yellows and reds in restaurant logos, signage, even decorations and interior. Surrounding yourself in blue especially during meal times may help suppress hunger resulting to less food consumption. Serve food in blue plates, cover you table with a blue table cloth, add touches of blue in your dinning area, whichever works.
2. Another practical weight loss strategy is to downsize your dinner plates. Dinner plates commonly measure 10 to 14 inches, instead of using these, we can serve our food in salad plates that measure about 7 to 9 inches wide. Scientists and researchers believe that the less food served, the less food you eat. Smaller plates equal smaller servings = lesser food consumption.

Serving food on plates rather than putting them in separate bowls is another practical way of losing weight. This is helpful in controlling food consumption since once you finish your plate, there are not bowls to reach into for seconds or thirds.

Hanging a mirror opposite to where you are seated while eating has been proven to decrease food consumption by as much as 30%. Seeing yourself in the mirror while eating is a constant reminder of your weight loss goals and inner standards.

Heart disease, diabetes, strokes, high blood pressure, and certain cancers are some of the risks and illnesses associated to obesity or being overweight. The fear of having such intensifies people’s drive to lose weight.

When one wishes to slim down, they take on stringent measures like significantly decreasing their calorie consumption or increasing exercise or sports activities to burn more calories. Although these may work, people must also be aware that most diets and quick weight loss strategies may promote an unhealthy and imbalanced way of shedding extra poundage. Rather, proper weight loss techniques must be integrated to one’s daily routine. This would not only make slimming healthier, it also makes it more practical and cost-effective.

The cardinal rule in proper weight loss programs that can be done daily is to increase vegetable and fruit intake and lessen meat intake (more fiber, less fat) along with increased physical activity. Physical activity need not be in a gym or in a sports center but in doing daily tasks such as walking farther to the office, taking the stairs rather than the elevator, and the like.

The ways of losing weight may be proper but have we ever wondered about the motivations behind losing all this weight? If dieters are trying to shed off pounds to alleviate risks of illnesses, good! Who wants to be unhealthy in the first place? But more and more dieters are in it for the supposed satisfaction they get when they look at their slim selves in the mirror, which a lot take too far.

However, people must be aware that not all fish or seafood is healthy, especially if consumed in large quantities. A lot of fish and seafood contain high amounts of cholesterol and may not be healthy alternatives at all.

Scientists and health experts believe that fish oil derived from herbivorous fish species like mackerel, salmon and sardines contain natural fish oils considered to be natural anti-cholesterol agents. Fish oil contain polyunsaturated fatty acids, more popularly known as omega-3 that lower blood cholesterol levels and improves blood coagulation properties. They are also proven to prevent the risks of heart attacks, depression and some forms of cancer.

DHA (docosahexaenic acid), an essential element found in omega-3 acid is also proven responsible for proper brain functions, supplying adequate serotonins that may inhibit depression, suicidal and violent tendencies. High fish intake is also directly linked to lower risks of age-related memory loss and cognitive function impairments in older people.

The importance of omega-3 also extends to pregnancy and lactation, responsible for the proper development of the fetus’ cerebral cortex and retina. Medical studies show that insufficient omega-3 intake may increase the risks of premature births and low birth rates. 2 things that pregnant mothers often about.

Japanese children who eat more fish are also less likely to acquire asthma, compared to their Western counterparts who rely on meat-based diets. This is reason enough to increase fish intake especially since asthma may be long term and require stringent treatments.

The most celebrated testimonies of natural fish oil are positively related to lessened risks of angina, heart attacks and failures, strokes, atherosclerosis or the hardening of the arteries and other vascular diseases. They help maintain heart elasticity for efficient blood circulation, prevent blood clotting, stabilize heart rhythm and lower blood pressure. Aren’t these suffice to take on fish-rich diets?

Not that am being too commercial or highly advocating of the benefits of natural fish oil, but honestly, its health benefits span far and wide. A huge amount of reliable researches and other literature also point to this direction. Recently, the US National Institute of Health published the Recommended Daily Intakes (RDI) of fatty acids amounting to 650 mg/day. The effects of which are not only beneficial, they are long-lasting as well and will continue to work in our advantages well beyond our retirement years.

Now, shall I say “kampai” (cheers) to natural fish oil and good health?

Whenever my son is given his set of chopsticks, he commonly uses it to poke the food or to spear whatever is on his plate. Because of this, I employ the same technique as my father applied to me (and my chopstick use) with my son, who manages to pick some food using his mommy-made chopsticks.

According to a popular Eastern legend, the idea of using chopsticks originated from cranes, who would eat their food one bite-sized piece at a time using their beaks. Can this be the reason behind the absence of obese or even fat cranes? Properly paced eating? Maybe, maybe not.

Japanese food has been designed to be eaten with chopsticks. They believe that it tastes better that way. Also, most Japanese foods are served in bite-sized pieces or are cooked well to be easily eased apart using chopsticks.

Not all people are adept in using chopsticks. A lot of people usually fumble with the sticks, or hold and use them in a manner that would later render their hands and wrists numb, painful (even cramped) that would eventually cause their stomachs to be quite unsatisfied from not having to eat too much. Yet, using chopsticks is quite easy to master if we remember some basic rules.

First, pick up one chopstick and hold it in between your thumb and the first two fingers (index and middle fingers) of your hand, just like holding a pencil or a pen. This grip is often referred to as the three-digit grasp that allows this chopstick to move. Next, get the other chopstick and place it between your fourth and fifth (ring finger and pinky) fingers. This chopstick will stay still, secured by your index and middle fingers. The first chopstick can now be moved up and down using your thumb and index finger.

It may be easy to use chopsticks to pick up bite-sized pieces of food, but eating rice may prove trickier. It is perfectly acceptable to bring the rice bowl near the mouth while you eat rice. Chopsticks are then used to out rice into the mouth in a flick-like motion.

It may sound really cliché, but even in using chopsticks, practice makes perfect!

If you’re a TV junkie, you might have ran across the Unilever beauty soap line, Dove advertisements featuring “average-looking” commercial models. I say “average-looking” by media standards, to which the majority dictates, I didn’t mean to offend. This line of ads running across the globe is dubbed “Campaign for Real Beauty“.The above version, entitled “Evolution”, was produced in Toronto, Canada, directed by Tim Piper and Yael Staav of Reginald Pike. Tim also conceptualized the whole thing together with Mike Kirkland of world-renowned advertising agency Ogilvy.Amazing how in 1 minute and a quarter they were able to send forth a significant message to an alarming number of people who are so affected by what they see on TV, in their Hollywood idols.

My favorite part is when the video hit the 40-second mark during the photo modification bit, or the more household name “Photoshop”, if I may (hang in there, GIMP). Let’s see, blemish-free skin, check. Wrinkles, gone, check. Collagen lips, easy! Give me some neck! Eyelid-lift, ok. Make them big because small slanty shifty eyes are uber ugly. Big almond-shaped eyes are perfect! And quickly, make her jawline a little softer because I’m dying to shout out loud, “It’s a wrap!”

The Photoshop Cosmetic Surgeon at the Soho Post Production may have been jumping for joy the whole time doing this gig, retouching the poor model, but how sad reality has been. We’re living a lie. From this problem stems a lot of mental disorders and social issues, from social anxiety, low self-esteem to racial media representation.

“70% of girls aged 15 to 17 avoid normal daily activites,” according to an international survey. “90% of all women 15-64 worldwide want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance (with body weight ranking the highest).”

Life is twisted. Everybody wants to be Jessica, Angelina, Charlize, Scarlett, Paris. At the end of the day, you wouldn’t want somebody tell you something similar to what most girls from a prepubescent demographic yell at each other, “You look better in MySpace!”

Japanese food makes use of fresh and healthy ingredients in every meal, be it raw or cooked. Health experts believe that the use of half-cooked or raw fish, rice, fermented soybean paste, tofu and seaweed as basic components in Japanese cooking may be the reason behind better health in Japan. This is further strengthened by the life expectancy rates in Japan, which have been the highest worldwide for more than a decade now.

Looking at the menus at Japanese restaurants will give us an idea of the special nutrition structure that Japanese cuisine has. Japanese diet includes delicious gastronomic fare with low cholesterol content. Since it is primarily fish-based, Japanese cuisine has limited red meat offerings that make it almost free from saturated or bad fat. Instead, they are abundant in seafood, rich in polyunsaturated or good fat. Kombu and nori, seaweeds from warm and cold waters respectively also contribute to the distinct flavor in Japanese cooking. They also contain high amounts of iodine, minerals and microelements for better health.

Vegetables are also a salient part in Japanese cuisine and are prepared in a variety of ways. Mushrooms, carrots, beans, onions and eggplants may be pickled, sautéed, battered then fried (ala tempura), or steamed and eaten with dips. Steamed rice (gohan) or flavored rice with vegetables (kamameshi) makes Japanese meals more filling. Rice also provides the necessary carbohydrates to sustain energy through the day. Wash all these up with Japanese green tea for a guilt-free filling meal!

Good health, wide availability and sumptuous flavor spiced with rich culture: It’s no wonder more and more people are going Japanese, at least during meal times.

Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whose sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives. In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal. As this symbol of human hope spread across the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring. In the spirit of the free hugs campaign, pass this to your friends and HUG A STRANGER!

Aw, the power of hug, uplifting the spirit. It probably does help also that he resembles Jesus. LOL.

For those who need guidance, this is how you hug step-by-step.

What a nice way to promote the Sick Puppies band, too, whose song, “All the Same”, accompanies the video! (Myspace profile)

*hugs* everyone.

First off, if you win, you get bragging rights and fame for being chosen as part of the high-standard Hemingway line of blog themes. You may also receive the Avalonstar shirt by Mr. Veloso you have been longing to flaunt, or maybe a Daring Fireball if you dare, or the crafty shirts from SimpleBits that only genuine geeks may appreciate.

All entries must be submitted no later than September 15th. Once again, read the rules, no html modification allowed.

However, if you are oh, so picky and financially broke with your bum ass (like me), you can also try out and win USD300 here, or free books for the more academic here.

Yeah, you better start brainstorming. Good luck!

A test facility constructed in Yokohama first crushes large amounts of seaweed into a sludge-like state. After using microorganisms to break down this semi-liquid material, the methane gas that results from this process is used as fuel for a gas engine that produces electricity. In the tests to date, one ton of seaweed has been processed per day, allowing the collection of 20 kiloliters of methane gas. In order to boost efficiency, this is blended with natural gas and converted into 10 kilowatts of electricity per hour. At present production levels, this is enough energy to power 20 households, and this energy is currently used to power lighting in offices at the plant, among other things.

[full article here]

Last April, medical optics company Bausch & Lomb issued a worldwide recall of their contacts cleaning solution product ReNu after having linked to worldwide cases of fungal keratitis, a rare eye infection.

As of June 30, the researchers had identified 164 confirmed cases of patients infected with the fungal infection fusarium keratitis. Of those, 94 percent, or 154 patients wore soft contact lenses.

Infected patients came from 33 states and one U.S. territory and about 34 percent of them required a corneal transplant. [CNN]

To date, there have been reported cases dispersed globally, namely in Canada, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Looks like the company isn’t a stranger to litigations and lawsuits.

CEO caught lying

In April 2002, Ronald Zarella, the Chief Executive Office of the company was found to have lied about possessing an MBA from the Stern School of Business. It was found out that he attended the program part time but never in fact graduated. [Wiki]

If you or your loved one is at risk, please perform necessary actions immediately.

Not another Merck case, CDC! FDA! What is going on with the world? Indeed, it is very hard to do business when people’s lives are at stake. Wait, do we have to gamble lives with this crap to begin with? Amuses me every single day.

Westside Organics is a Hayward based company that provides organic delivery service currently around the San Francisco Bay Area. Started by software consultant Ash Sud and his wife Sonia, the couple thought of establishing a business inspired by another organic delivery service five years ago.

Having faith in the future of the organic industry, now a USD14 Billion market and still growing, Ash and Sud jumped into the organic trend and thought of “developing a socially responsible business” which offered customers deliveries of fresh organic produce, time savings, and extra money in their bank accounts. The two had an epiphany one day, brainstormed a business plan and began meeting with farmers and local organic distributors.

Westside Organics website

As their patrons grew at a stellar rate, who are likewise of computer-savvy demographic (in Silicon Valley, who isn’t? ), the founders have finally decided to launch a website for greater reach and accessibility.

The brand new website WestsideOrganics.com is identified by its lime green layout with variable masthead colors that depict the rich and nutritious organic products they offer. Not only does it please the eye but it also provides users a robust back-end shopping cart powered by Java Server Pages. Thanks to the talented bunch at Grapefruit, this wonderful experience has been achieved.

The Romanian-based web development studio was also commissioned to create an entire identity that would embody Westside Organics’ principles, “From the Farm to Your Door”, drive traffic to the website, increase sales and attract media’s attention. The response of the designers was a tower of green leaves, something which is automatically associated with a natural, fresh and healthy feeling.

Not surprisingly, WestSide Organics enjoyed a significant expansion of both its income and customer base. The cute attractive design of the delivery automobiles was noticed by the media folks and its surrounding community. Who wouldn’t want to look at the beetle car with its unique eye-catching leafy aesthetic? Beat that, Xzibit!

So come on, why don’t you try it yourself? Harmful pesticides are a hefty USD8 Billion business. You can be proactive by eating healthy while protecting the very health of our farmers from pesticide poisoning.

The Estée Lauder endorser has decided to develop her own range of organic foods on her vast Gloucestershire estate. Hurley is required to meet organic standards and gain official organic status from the UK Soil Association but has already purchased proper poultry and livestock, in addition to her organic crop .

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. It’s the only place I want to be. When we get our organic status we’re going to farm properly and we’re going to have a herd of cows and proper sheep and proper chickens, and we’re going to have small amounts of Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs. I’ve joined the breeders’ club already and I’m quite excited about it. I would like to go for some kind of organic food production and I plan to do it – maybe something Indian,” the long time advocate of organic lifestyle said.

Hurley, who turned down the Pretty Woman 2 project, has eagerly expressed her passion for this new venture.

“When we get our organic status we’re going to farm properly and we’re going to have a herd of cows and proper sheep and proper chickens, and we’re going to have small amounts of Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs. I’ve joined the breeders’ club already and I’m quite excited about it.”

“I would like to go for some kind of organic food production and I plan to do it – maybe something Indian,” the actress said, who plans to marry Indian millionaire Arun Nayar.

Sources: Asian News International, South Asia India, World Entertainment News Network; Photo courtesy Getty Images through flickr

The study comprising exactly 13,772 acne sufferers aged 13 to 50 showed raised levels of triglyceride lipid esters in about 44 percent of patients with previously normal levels. Overall levels of cholesterol were reported higher for around 31 percent of patients. Abnormal results for liver function and cholesterol levels were more common than previously expected, which stressed the need for a more rigorous control of people taking the drug.

The study also confirmed 11 percent increase in liver enzymes, abnormal liver tests, resulted from taking the drug. However, the aforementioned levels resumed to normal/pretreatment levels in most of the patients months after discontinuing isotretnoin intake.

Currently cited in the drug’s package label, Isotretinoin, marketed in the U.S. by Roche as Accutane, showed higher triglyceride levels in 25 percent of patients. 7 percent showed increased cholesterol levels.

Most acne patients and doctors already knew beforehand of the drug’s complications, which include high liver enzymes, the rare liver damage, and intestinal and esophageal complications.

Patients cost them 10 to USD15 a pill, which they take less than a year if found effective. Most of the time, the drug takes effect only after three courses of isotretinoin. It is considered one of the most effective treatments for severe cystic acne vulgaris. It was also tested as a bioadjuvant therapy for patients with head and neck cancer but significantly failed after phase three of the clinical trial.

Registry Issues

The Food and Drug Administration began requiring dermatologists and their patients to register their use of the drug, a program aimed at stopping pregnancy of isotretinoin patients, eventually preventing birth defects, last 1st of March.

The acne medication, whose manufacturers already incur scrutiny, may also cause brain damage, cleft lip, heart defects in infants if a woman takes it while pregnant or right before pregnancy. For this reason, women are now required to enroll in a rigorous screening program dubbed iPledge.

More than 160,000 patients have registered with iPledge. Female patients require:

1. taking two forms of birth control,
2. pregnancy tests prior to, during and after taking isotretinoin, and
3. furnish the form found on the iPledge Web site.

Prescriptions only last for 30 days and must be filled within seven days of check-up.

Acne sufferers from various acne discussion fora have expressed dismay in the iPledge program, however well-intentioned. They have reported long hours of waiting to get through the iPledge hotline. Several patients have even been unable to access their compulsory iPledge membership accounts, the acne forum members said.

For this reason, an alternative solution to the poorly executed iPledge is being proposed, called the Smart Card. Further testing and experimentation are yet to be performed to determine its efficiency.

The iPledge program is administered by Covance Drug Development Services in partnership with various isotretinoin manufacturers.

Sources
Zane, L. T., et al. Archives of Dermatology, August 2006. A Population-Based Analysis of Laboratory Abnormalities During Isotretinoin Therapy for Acne Vulgaris.
Archives of Dermatology. 2006;142:1055-1057. The Smart Card: An Alternative Solution for the iPledge Program.
The iPledge website on-line https://www.ipledgeprogram.com/
References
Khuri FR, J Natl Cancer Inst. 2006 Apr 5;98(7):426-7. Randomized Phase III Trial of Low-dose Isotretinoin for Prevention of Second Primary Tumors in Stage I and II Head and Neck Cancer Patients.

Win a hefty US$300 for designing a new image that will suit their existing typographic identity.

Hm, looks like there was a previous controversy that was going on. I’m not sure what the whole deal was but for more info, please refer to the official guidelines. Looks at the existing entries by other designers here. Good luck!

No fancy algorithms here yet, it simply tracks how site’s popularity by tallying how much merit it has received from the social bookmarking sites’ respective point systems.

Ugh it’s like high school all over again, we keep popular kids stay popular. And how did healthynerd.com fair? Don’t ask, we’re the new kids on the block who haven’t been picked on yet. Check the site at www.socialmeter.com.

Thanks to treycopeland for the tip.

Since Whole Foods is a natural and organics company, it promotes caring for the environment and saving energy whenever you can. That is why they have decided to accept applications online to save you time and gas.

Look for your respective state and choose the job you want to apply. For example, if you live in the Midwest, you would want to select Texas which will take you to a number of job openings from which you may choose. Confirm if you have selected the correct state from the list.

You shall see a notice that your application has been received at the completion of the online application process. Should your qualifications match the job classification and requirements, you will be contacted. Don’t worry if you didn’t get the job the first time. Try again but don’t be too click-happy applying for multiple jobs at a time. Your application is good for 90 days after submission.

Designed by blubolt, Traineo has followed the, forgive me for saying this, Web 2.0 era of graphical user interface, identified by the apparent usage of large font scales, big icons with a distinctively simple yet elegantly outlined gradient designs with 6 o’clock reflections, and what is web 2.0 without saying “AJAX”!

Beyond the tables and colorful sliding graphs, this sort of mild-myspace + fitness tracker mashup lets you choose a maximum of four people that will serve as your motivators to whom you will announce your weight loss progress. Isn’t that great, shameless plug of your fatties coming off? I think it’s a good idea having people motivate you. It’s like a virtual personal trainer that you get excited logging your weight standing.

I signed-up to test the system, and I’m loving the whole feel to it. It’s fresh, the tools are nifty, it’s not too cluttered like the US version of Amazon. Surfing is fast, they use friendly URLs for non-technical users. They also give out essential articles for users to read, plus an active forum to boast with already 5283 users as I write this post.

What I didn’t like much was that you have to be forwarded to the USDA database to check food calories. It would be nicer if they incorporate the free service of FitDay to their site, where you could log specific foods to your program and specifically see nutrition facts, what micronutrients you are putting into your body.

I’d love to hear what you have to say on this promising site.

At stake are 6 ebook vouchers and 5 copies of either his new book or Web Accessibility and Regulatory Compliance. There are two ways to join:

• Come up with a witty title that can boost sales for for his book, something like “Harry Potter and the Order of the DOM” or “JavaScript, car chases, shootouts, explosions and lovely ladies with healthy bosoms” , use GIMP, photoshop, whatever then upload it to flickr, and tag it newcoverforbeginningjavascript or
• take a photo of yourself and I quote, “presenting the book in a sexy way”. Upload this photo to flickr and tag it javascriptissexy. Easy, isn’t it?

For more info, visit the book’s official site.

Hurry! Contest ends September 8th!

This diet is entirely based on the hormone leptin. Scientific research shows that losing weight is not about carbs or calories. It’s about the hormone leptin (plus other key hormones such as obestatin and ghrelin) and how it works in your body. Leptin is the hormone that sends messages to the brain that we may supress craving and curb our appetites. It was the head of Molecular Genetics Laboratory at the Rockefeller University, Jeffrey Friedman, who paved the way for this breakthrough with the discovery of leptin in 1994. These hormones keep your body fat resistant, once they start working properly.

Leo Who?

I am one of the many who attests to Dr. Galland’s credibility in nutritional medicine. I didn’t know him as one of “America’s Top Doctors“. He published an extensive study on intestinal permeability which I was investigating when I got interested in probiotics. His findings were impeccably well-referenced citing that this condition is not a mere quackery of leaky gut, as it is known in alternative medicine, but a legitimate medical condition that can be treated with nutritional approach.

There is the Rosedale Diet published in 2004 that also talks about leptin and how to use this knowledge to create an effective 21-day diet plan. Galland’s book, however, involves a nutritious hormone-balancing and anti-inflammatory diet to activate the hormones’ regular functions. The book features a three-stage regimen:

1. A fourteen-day starter program that delivers a loss of ten to fourteen pounds in the first two weeks. Inflammation-fighting superfoods work to trigger rapid weight loss and set your hormones straight.
2. A ninety-day plan that builds on the benefits of Stage 1 and delivers a loss of at least five pounds a month. You can enjoy a greater variety of foods while still keeping your hormones working overtime.
3. Sustainable for life, the meal plans in this phase keep your hormones doing their job, even after you reach your target weight, and offer an expanded, flavorful menu.

But I Juggle 3 Jobs a Day!

Well screw you. If you so seriously desire something, you find many ways to grasp it. Otherwise, you find excuses. Just kidding! I know how hard it is to find time for your kids, or your family, what more for yourself.
A few Amazon reviews of the book complain of its impractical nature that brings forth stress and time-consuming food preparations inevitably acquired by working individuals. So may I propose the following adjuvant but equally effective treatments:

1. Cook food enough for the whole week. This way, you could save time by refrigerating your cooked meals or incorporating a vacuum sealer for longer shelf-life. I personally do not suggest using microwave oven for reheating as they strip 97% of the food’s enzymes and micronutrients, thereby only satisfying your palate. You might as well eat junk food all your life if you do so.
2. If you haven’t yet, purchase a mini-grinder, like the Magic Bullet. Easy clean-up, portable, and you will frequently use this thing on your counter top as you will know later.
3. Omega-3! Omega-3! What’s it got to do with obesity? Let me explain. Our bodies do not inherently produce omega-3 so we have to nourish ourselves with sufficient amount of this essential fatty acid. Ever notice anything in all these books? Perricone’s, Rosedale’s, etc.? Omega-3 will address the issue of inflammation, and water retention. It will stimulate the brain to supress food craving. Last April, researchers at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology found that an omega-3 intake higher than omega-6 yields to lower and less active prostaglandin levels, which are responsible for the inflammatory state of the body, one of which is obesity. For your convenience, together with cooking for the week, you may get omega-3 from:
   • EPA/DHA – EPA and DHA are forms of omega-3 from fish oil. Never ever take “fish oil” supplements! Always look for how much EPA and DHA you are getting since most brands labeled “fish oil” don’t have enough amounts of EPA and DHA – which are readily converted by enzymes to a less active prostaglandin to keep you lose weight. Don’t ever get ripped off again. Jarrow is the economical brand in the market with a balanced ratio that is tested for purity, free of PCBs and toxic metals. Take around 2-4 softgels a day, good for roughly two months. (I also buy mine at iHerb. Best online supp shop ever!)
   • Flax seeds – another plant that is rich in omega-3, flax seeds will also move your bowels for its fiber content. If I’m on the go, I simply use my mini-grinder, grind 5 tablespoons a day of flax seeds, and mix a portion of it with water. I first pour some ground flax into my glass with water and swirl the glass because the flax settles fast at the bottom and immediately drink it, pour the remaining flax until I finish all 5 tablespoons of it. It has a nutty taste to it so it won’t be so hard for you, hopefully. You may also mix it with orange juice. I sometimes combine flax seeds with Tropicana orange juice and it really masks the nutty taste. I buy them in bulk at ShopNatural to save in the long run.
   • Purslane or non-grain-fed organic eggs – very rich in omega-3, what a heavenly breakfast this would be.
   • Walnuts! – these are rich in omega-3 too. Instead of munching on crappy food for your snack time, bring these treats at the office and impress your boss with your new found knowledge . You might also want the cheaper route and get the oil instead. Important: Refrigerate flax seeds and walnuts as they easily rancid.
   • Salmon – easiest way to apply #1 is to cook Salmon for the whole week. Make sure it’s the wild non-farmed kind that you’re getting since it’s the one with high omega-3 content. Grill it, sear it, bake it, change it so kids can’t say anything. It’s a little on the expensive side so maybe organic eggs, flax and epa/dha will do most of the trick for you.
   • Udo’s Choice – a pricey but brilliant oil blend.
4. Eat smaller meals evenly spread throughout the day no later than about 4 hours before bed.
5. Reduce grains! Grains = Omega 6! That’s right. Omega-6 and Omega-3 compete with the same enzymes to convert into prostaglandins. You have to maintain a very close and low ratio of these two. Your ancestors were hunters, whether you like it or you like it. If you can’t say bye bye to breads, potatoes, corns, cereals, if you choose to maintain the same omega-6 levels, you have to up the ante for your omega-3 buddies. Take half, if not, as much omega-3 as the amount of omega-6 you’re taking, so if you regularly indulge in breads, pastas, equate this by consuming enough EPA/DHA and ground flaxseeds.
6. Sleep – Get enough sleep.
7. Cheat! – oh yes I do encourage cheating. What’s the beauty of life without chocolates, reeses peanut butter cups, honey, pringles, snickers, jelly beans? A little won’t hurt but don’t abuse it, baby. Store it somewhere high so you don’t see it every time you pass by your kitchen.
8. Lose the coffee. Gradually change your caffeine source to green tea. It might also even lose you a couple more pounds. Remember Matcha?
9. Do it slowly. Don’t shock your body. It’s never healthy. Do it and you’ll experience withdrawal symptoms afterwards.

References
Anti-inflammatory effects of omega 3 fatty acid in fish oil linked to lowering of prostaglandin. 4 April 2006. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

All right he totally got me for a time. I thought the idea originated from him until I’ve realized that it was first conceived almost three decades ago. It’s also probably safe to claim this as a tweaked version of Latin America’s burrito or the Middle East’s shawarma, designed with the consumer in mind.

Then came Konopizza which hails from Italy, and another company which has been hitting the streets of Seoul in Korea.

You still might be wondering, “WTF? Are you kidding me? I don’t eat pizza in a freaking cone.”

The simple concept is to play a little bit, not with a sweet waffle cone but with the same pizza dough, turn it into a cone shape and make it drip-proof. Clean-up is a hassle when eating burgers or subs, but with food in an edible cone, consumers don’t have to complain and worry about any mess!

I still give Chef Adar credit for giving it a different twist apart from the above mentioned companies. He may not be the pioneer but he certainly brought something to the table by having a healthier approach to his product. With many cone options, from the vegetarian Veggiecone to a power protein, Chicone Teriyaki, everybody is happy.

Yet again, Crispy Cones™ uses proprietary dough to which I express a healthy bit of shadiness. Certainly, it’s every food entrepreneur’s nightmare when someone steals your product concepts (it’s ironically not their own to begin with anyway), but if you will provide food with the foundation of promoting health awareness, why would you not disclose your ingredients?

Crispy Cones’s main outlet is located at Northeast L.A. in Arcadia, Ca and has plans of nationwide expansion.

Photo courtesy superlocal

Of all the perks Google has to offer its employees, this one is a personal favorite. Imagine all organic food service all day, free. Ah I’m in heaven.

Jen Fitzpatrick takes you to Googleplex, gives a quck glimpse at Google Café, and encourages women to pursue a career in the Computer Science/IT industry. Be sure not to miss Sergey’s Z coils at the end.

All I need to do now is enhance my programming powers and I’m set

I was doing a research on inflammation a year ago when I stumbled upon Matcha green tea.

What’s good about green tea in general is its ubiquitous bioflavonoid content. Bioflavonoids or simply flavonoids, are phytochemical compounds which have antioxidant benefits. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and catechins are two of the main bioflavonoids found in green tea.

University of Colorado researchers determined the amount of catechins and EGCG found in matcha green tea and compared it with other varieties including Chinese green tea. Results indicated that the concentration of EGCG available from drinking matcha is 137 times greater than the amount of EGCG available from China Green Tips green tea, and at least three times higher than the largest literature value for other green teas.

Matcha, unlike regular green tea sold in health food stores, comes in a fine powdered form that you only need roughly a teaspoon for every serving. It is also not a stranger to most desserts. It is used as an added color and flavor to pastries, cakes and pies. Although Matcha is generally more expensive than other forms of tea, the health benefits are worth every penny as you are about find out why.

So what’s good about drinking green tea again? Well, this is perhaps one of the plants responsible for the “Japanese Paradox” that explains why Japanese people remain the healthiest in the world. Clinical trials reveal that the compounds in green tea are beneficial for a number of reasons namely:

• Flavonoids inhibiting cancer cells
• Reduces excess skin oil (sebum) for its anti-androgenic effects
• Has shown anti-aging benefits with its high ORAC value (Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity, purity test for its antioxidant effects)
• anti-inflammatory effects (arthritis, acne)
• Reduces bad cholesterols LDL and triglyceride levels
• infections

If you aim to be healthy then why not head to the right path altogether?

References
Weiss DJ, Anderton CR. 2003 Sep 5. Determination of catechins in matcha green tea by micellar electrokinetic chromatography. 1011:173-80. J Chromatogr A.

Several in vivo rat, feline, canine, and human studies are documented to prove this. If only you, and several others would spread the word of the latest researches in what nature has to offer, we don’t have to watch rich socialites obliviously spend on insulin injectibles as the poor go blind and clock their deathbed, wait for billion-dollar funded synthetic medications to come up with a cure or join a jogging marathon for a cause we don’t really know much about. Time has come to alleviate yourself and your loved ones from the risk of developing glucose intolerance, eventually diabetes, and costly insulin shots.

Bitter Melon, natural insulin

Bitter gourd, Karela, Karolla, Momordica charantia, balsam pear, whichever floats your boat. They all pertain to the same green long rough textured vine that is bitter in taste, crawling in the tropical regions of the world. Who would have thought that a dirt-cheap less than 5 USD per pound vegetable would be able to regulate sugar levels?

In 1999, a Bangladeshi clinical trial was conducted to examine the effect of Momordica charantia on 100 patients with Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM) or Type 2 Diabetes. The researchers recorded the patients’ sugar levels both without food intake for 12-24 hours and after taking 75g of glucose. They then administered a bitter melon pulp suspension to diabetic patients and 86 out of the 100 responded to the vegetable intake, showing a significant 14% reduction in fasting and post-meal serum glucose levels.

A recent 2004 study at the Devi Ahilya University in India proved to have the same positive effects, where 15 men and women with Type 2 Diabetes between the ages of 52 and 65 took 200mg extracted constituents of bitter melon together with half doses of either Metformin or Glibenclamide or a combination of both. The result was a blood glucose level lower (hypoglycemia) than what patients may acquire from taking full doses of Metformin or Glibenclamide. It was likewise concluded that the vegetable may enhance the hypoglycemic effect of the drugs should they continue to use these prescription drugs. Several rat and hamster trials taking Momordica charantia alone also yielded good results in regulating glucose levels although animal studies may not always hold true in humans.

How Bitter Melon works

There are a myriad of phytochemicals present in bitter melon and at least three different groups of extracted components have been reported to regulate and lower blood glucose levels. These involve glucoside, a steroidal saponin-like substance called charantin; alkaloids called momordicine that supress neural response to sweet taste stimuli; and peptides mimicking the action of animal insulin. As of July 2006, Liva Harinantenaina and a group of Japanese researchers confirmed that the major pure cucurbutanoid compounds of bitter melon possess hypoglycemic effects on blood glucose levels. There is still a lingering obsurity on which of these is most effective, if not all working synergistically. All these may be a perfect addition to your diet much like the next vegetable, or cactus?

Prickly Pear Cactus

If you haven’t looked intently at the Mexican flag, a prickly pear cactus with its red-orange grandiose blossoms is where the eagle at the center is proudly perched on. For centuries, indigenous groups of South America and the southern part of the United States depended on this plant for nourishment. Also called nopal, nopalitos, and nopales, this cactus, of genus Opuntia, is consumed by the Aztec tribe and other locals in various forms to control or even potentially cure Type 2 Diabetes as long ago as the 15th and 16th centuries. Ask your Latin friend, he or she might have stories of the plant’s wonders.

Prickly Pear Mystery

There still lies a big question mark in a pharmacological point of view surrounding the plant’s mechanism on how it plays a role in glucose metabolism. Unlike the chemical constitutents found in bitter melon, whichever constituent found in the cactus that affects the glucose remains unclear.

Alberto Frati-Munari, one of the prickly pear research pioneers, concluded in one of his team’s studies that the number of cactus stems consumed are relevant to having long-term hypoglycemic effects in diabetic patients. He also suggested that the effect of Continue to Page 2

As a briefer for those who may not recognize the site, Rocketboom, a brainchild of Andrew Baron and Amanda Congdon, is an online video journal that features three-minute episodes of Internet matters, politics, pop culture, anything they find of interest, updated weekdays. It started two years ago, and created a big buzz around the blogging network or “blogosphere”. A big portion of Rocketboom’s success may be attributed to its former host.

This blonde beauty who is probably a prettier version of Ann Coulter has made quite a number of admirers across the blogosphere. Indeed, we cannot rule out her juggernaut academic background. But in this male dominated industry that is the Internet media, will Rocketboom have flourished, attracted investors, and garnered mainstream media attention if it were a flamboyant effeminate male host with a lisp in a pink tutu? Not in a million years, I guess. It seems that a lot are still mesmerized by and favour a blue-eyed blonde hair idea of beauty.

Hence, the blonde mirror image replacement? How anti-climactic can you get? That was one bad move, sir Baron. R.I.P. Rocketboom.

First-off I like my milk organic – not induced with synthetic hormones or antibiotics for one. It is also better if the cow source is grass-fed than corn or grain-fed, once again referring to the above mentioned grain study. (Some other health nuts prefer not just organic but also raw milk, one that is not pasteurized, to have the healthy live enzymes still in tact. This may be safe and beneficial if done in a sanitized environment.) I like eating my cereal in a tall glass because it’s more handy, less messy and saves my dishwashing time .

Bulk Nuts, Almonds

I usually add some fresh blueberries to my cereals but I ran out. So I tried grinding up some soaked almonds to mix with my cereals. Chop the almonds enough to match your cereals using a food processor or blender. You would want to soak the raw almonds for roughly 12 hours the day before you consume it. This is done, among other reasons, to neutralize the phytic acid that the nuts naturally have although keeping the phytic acid may be beneficial for those who suffer from excess mineral intake like calcium. Almonds are rich in unsaturated fat (mono) which are good for lowering the evil LDL cholesterol levels. With that said, these oil rich almonds go rancid fast. Prevent this by storing the almonds in the fridge or freezer. Purchased shelled almonds last longer, of course. To save money, you might consider buying almonds and other healthy nuts in bulk. Buy nuts in bulk and store them accordingly.

Try it yourself next time. Adding some honey if your corn flakes are not frosted or not sweet enough to make it more palatable may not hurt. This is a good way to start your day healthy and full of energy. You are what you eat so for the programmers who practice and evangelize clean standards-based coding, fuel your body with the same principle. One step at a time, baby.

Some of the aesthetics are still quite buggy especially in IE browsers versions 6 and below. We will have to perform updates gradually while maintaining the site content, which is what’s most significant. We shall likewise consider modifying the site identity as the supposed green tea cup seemed as though a “toxic waste bin” to more than one person. The orange curvature representing the initials h and n (healthynerd) did not help dissolving this illusion either. Anyway enough about trivial stuff.

May I very well acknowledge headzoo and Lazaryn for the blockquote RegEx filter function. I also appreciate fightingfriends’ pre-emptive “teaser” . Thanks to you and to the rest of the #freenode community.