Tips for Relieving Dry Eyes Naturally

Dry eyes, often referred to as Dry Eye Syndrome, is the most frequent patient complaint to eye doctors. About 33 million Americans in all groups experience varying degrees of dry eye syndromes. Like most eye conditions,

Dry Eye Syndrome is often related to health conditions in the rest of the body. It is commonly associated with dryness of other mucous membranes, interior body surfaces such as joints and brittle nails. It can also be a sign of digestive imbalances or of more serious systemic autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogrens syndrome or lupus erthematosus.

Here are some specific recommendations:

Make sure to eat lots of green leafy vegetables.
Avoid sugar and/or artificial sweeteners:
Consumption of more than 11 teaspoons of sugar a day has been linked to dry eye syndrome (a single can of soda contains approximately 9 teaspoons of sugar. Sugar is hidden throughout processed and refined foods including cereals, ketchup, and salad dressings.
Avoid the toxic fats in commercial red meat, dairy products, fried foods and hydrogenated oils (such as margarine and shortening). These fats interfere with the proper metabolism of essential fatty acids in the body and are indirect causes of dry eye syndrome.
Eat organic or free range whenever possible.
Avoid coffee and smoking.
Avoid hydrogenated and trans fatty acid containing foods (i.e.: margarine, most chips ... read labels).
Drink 8-10 glasses of water a day.

Avoid any foods you may be allergic to.
Try cutting out categories of foods for a week at a time, and see how you feel, or visit an allergist for testing. Typical allergenic foods include nightshades (eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, white potatoes and cucumbers), milk, wheat, and corn (or products with corn in it).

Supplement your diet with a good vitamin that has omega 3 fatty acids in it.

Other Recommendations

Use a humidifier at home and/or at work to keep the air from drying out in the winter.
Remember to blink, especially while working at the computer.
Check your medications for any side effects that may cause dry eyes.
Gently massage upper and lower lids, a couple of times a day to stimulate the tear glands.

Nutritional Recommendations
Supplementing with specific nutrients can help with the tear production including omega-3 fatty acids (such as from flax seed and fish oils), specific omega-6 fatty acids (such as those from Black Current Seed and Borage oils), vitamins A, C, D, E, B6, magnesium.

Other nutrients such as tumeric and lactoferrin may be helpful as well. There are formulas available on the market that contain these nutrients.

Natural eye drops without preservatives can be extremely helpful as well.

Tea 'healthier' drink than water

The researchers recommend people consume three to four cups a day

Drinking three or more cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking plenty of water and may even have extra health benefits, say researchers. The work in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition dispels the common belief that tea dehydrates.

Tea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers, UK nutritionists found.

Experts believe flavonoids are the key ingredient in tea that promote health.

These polyphenol antioxidants are found in many foods and plants, including tea leaves, and have been shown to help prevent cell damage.

Public health nutritionist Dr Carrie Ruxton, and colleagues at Kings College London, looked at published studies on the health effects of tea consumption.

They found clear evidence that drinking three to four cups of tea a day can cut the chances of having a heart attack.

Some studies suggested tea consumption protected against cancer, although this effect was less clear-cut.

Other health benefits seen included protection against tooth plaque and potentially tooth decay, plus bone strengthening.

Dr Ruxton said: "Drinking tea is actually better for you than drinking water. Water is essentially replacing fluid. Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so it's got two things going for it."

Rehydrating

She said it was an urban myth that tea is dehydrating.

"Studies on caffeine have found very high doses dehydrate and everyone assumes that caffeine-containing beverages dehydrate. But even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make, you would still have a net gain of fluid.

"Also, a cup of tea contains fluoride, which is good for the teeth," she added.

There was no evidence that tea consumption was harmful to health. However, research suggests that tea can impair the body's ability to absorb iron from food, meaning people at risk of anaemia should avoid drinking tea around mealtimes.

Dr Ruxton's team found average tea consumption was just under three cups per day.

She said the increasing popularity of soft drinks meant many people were not drinking as much tea as before.

"Tea drinking is most common in older people, the 40 plus age range. In older people, tea sometimes made up about 70% of fluid intake so it is a really important contributor," she said.

Claire Williamson of the British Nutrition Foundation said: "Studies in the laboratory have shown potential health benefits.

"The evidence in humans is not as strong and more studies need to be done. But there are definite potential health benefits from the polyphenols in terms of reducing the risk of diseases such as heart disease and cancers.

"In terms of fluid intake, we recommend 1.5-2 litres per day and that can include tea. Tea is not dehydrating. It is a healthy drink."

The Tea Council provided funding for the work. Dr Ruxton stressed that the work was independent.

Haemophilus Vaccines Recalled

Merck is recalling over a million doses of its Haemophilus influenzae Type B vaccine because of improper sterilization during manufacturing, according to the New York Times.

CDC and FDA officials said there was no public health threat, although the recall may lead to a shortage of the vaccine this year.

The recall affects Pedvaxhib and the combination Haemophilus/hepatitis B vaccine Comvax that were distributed as early as April 2007. Merck says that physicians should not administer vaccines from the recalled lots. Patients who have already received the recalled vaccines should finish their series with an Hib conjugate-containing vaccine not part of this recall. Revaccination is not necessary, Merck says, because the vaccine's efficacy was not affected.

If something is improperly sterilized, then how can it be deemed as safe? If my acupuncture needles were not properly sterilized would I be so bold to proclaim that there is no public health threat? How much iatrogenesis is necessary to be deemed a "public health threat"?

Caesarean births 'may harm lung growth'

Labour may help mature the lungs
Babies born by elective Caesarean section are much more likely to develop breathing problems, a Danish study examining 34,000 deliveries suggests.
Researchers found they were up to four times more likely to have respiratory problems than those born naturally, or by emergency Caesarean section.
The babies may miss out on hormonal and physiological changes during labour which help mature the lungs, they say.

The University of Aarhus study features in the British Medical Journal.

Major operation

Almost a quarter of UK births are now estimated to be Caesarean sections - far above the 10% to 15% rate recommended by the World Health Organization.

A lot of woman are completely unaware of the fact that a planned Caesarean section can negatively impact on their baby
says Dr Maggie Blott Consultant obstetrician
More than half of these were emergency Caesareans, but despite this experts have been calling for measures to reduce numbers of elective Caesareans, warning it is a major operation.

A recent Oxford University study found that women could be four times more likely to die in childbirth if they opted for a Caesarean instead of natural birth.

The Danish team examined data on over 34,000 deliveries, adjusting to take account of factors such as the mother's age, weight, and whether she smoked or drank alcohol during pregnancy

They found that babies born by elective Caesarean section had an increased risk of general respiratory problems.

The risk was higher the earlier the Caesarean was performed.

A nearly fourfold increased risk was found at 37 weeks gestation, a threefold increase in risk at 38 weeks gestation, and a doubling of risk in infants delivered at 39 weeks gestation.

For example, at 37 weeks, 10% of babies delivered by elective Caesarean section developed respiratory problems, compared with 2.8% of infants delivered naturally or by emergency Caesarean section.

At 38 weeks, the proportion was 5.1% of elective Caesarean babies compared with 1.7% of those born naturally or by emergency Caesarean, and at 39 weeks, 2.1% compared with 1.1%.

The risks of serious respiratory problems showed the same pattern.

The researchers conclude that significantly fewer babies would develop breathing problems if elective Caesareans were put off until 39 weeks gestation.

They said: "It is plausible that hormonal and physiological changes associated with labour are necessary for lung maturation in neonates and that these changes may not occur in infants delivered by elective Caesarean sections."

Lung fluid

Dr Maggie Blott, a consultant obstetrician at King's College Hospital, London, said obstetricians in the UK were advised not to carry out elective Caesareans before 39 weeks.

She said part of the problem might be that doctors had to switch support lines to the baby very quickly during a Caesarean, and it was possible that lung fluid is not drained away as well as it should be.

She said: "Some babies do develop transient breathing problems, they usually recover from them, but occasionally a baby can be very sick indeed.

"A lot of woman are completely unaware of the fact that a planned Caesarean section can negatively impact on their baby.

"Any research which reinforces the fact that Caesareans are not necessarily in the best interests of the baby is welcome."

Mervi Jokinen, of the Royal College of Midwives, said Caesarean section rates were too high in the UK.

She said it was a major operation, which had health implications for the mother, as well as the baby.

"The decision to opt for a Caesarean section should not be taken lightly and should be based on good medical grounds," she said.

A New Way to Control Weight?

Scientists Say Just Standing Up May Be as Important as Exercise

By LEE DYE, ABC News

Scientists have found intriguing evidence that one major reason so many people are overweight these days may be as close as the seat of their pants. Literally. According to the researchers, most of us sit too much.

In most cases, exercise alone, according to a team of scientists at the University of Missouri, isn't enough to take off those added pounds. The problem, they say, is that all the stuff we've heard the last few years about weight control left one key factor out of the equation. When we sit, the researchers found, the enzymes that are responsible for burning fat just shut down.

This goes way beyond the common sense assumption that people who sit too much are less active and thus less able to keep their weight under control. It turns out that sitting for hours at a time, as so many of us do in these days of ubiquitous computers and electronic games and 24-hour television, attacks the body in ways that have not been well understood.

The Need to Putter

"It was hard to believe at first," said Marc Hamilton, associate professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia and leader of the research team. He said the team didn't expect to find a strong signal when they began researching what happens to fat when we remain seated. But the effect, both in laboratory animals and humans, turned out to be huge.

The solution, Hamilton said, is to stand up and "putter."

The research was published this month in the peer-reviewed journal Diabetes, and it will be presented by Hamilton's post-doctoral researcher, Theodore Zderic, at the upcoming Second International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health in Amsterdam.

Hamilton is not suggesting that anyone quit exercising. But he says his work shows that exercise alone won't get the job done. We have to pay more attention to what's happening when we aren't in the gym, because the body's ability to dispose of fat virtually shuts down, he says, at least if we're sitting down.

Hamilton recruited a few laboratory rats and pigs, as well as about a dozen human volunteers, including himself, to learn more about the physiological effect of sitting. The lab animals laid the foundation for the research in two different experiments. The animals were injected with a small amount of fat that contained a radioactive tracer so the researchers could determine what happened to the fat.

"What's the fate of that fat?" Hamilton asked during a telephone interview. "Is it burned up by the muscle?"
The radioactive tracer revealed that when the animals were sitting down, the fat did not remain in the blood vessels that pass through the muscles, where it could be burned. Instead, it was captured by the adipose tissue, a type of connective tissue where globules of fat are stored. That tissue is found around organs such as the kidneys, so it's not really where you want to see the fat end up.

The researchers also took a close look at a fat-splitting enzyme, called lipase, that is critical to the body's ability to break down fat.

After the animals remained seated for several hours, "the enzyme was suppressed down to 10 percent of normal," Hamilton said. "It's just virtually shut off."

The results from the animal studies were very convincing, he said, and human experiments were just as compelling. The researchers injected a small needle into the muscles of the human volunteers and extracted a small sample for biopsy. Once again, the enzyme was suppressed while the humans remained seated. That resulted in retention of fat, and it also resulted in lower HDL, the "good cholesterol," and an overall reduction in the metabolic rate.

You Need to Move Those Legs

The implications, Hamilton said, are clear. While much thought has been given to the good effects of regular exercise, scientists have not paid enough attention to what happens during the rest of the time when we may be fairly active but are probably sitting too much. That could help explain the rising tide of obesity, because people tend to sit more these days than they did a half century ago. Not to mention eating too much and getting precious little exercise.

Some might argue that playing video games, or even working at the computer, involves movement of the upper body, especially the hands and arms, so that's not really inactive. But Hamilton counters that arms don't weigh very much, and the big muscles in the human body which are so critical to burning fat are located in our legs and back.

"When we think about the postural muscles that are mostly in the legs and back, these are big, powerful muscles," he said. "We're talking probably 20 pounds of muscle in each leg. That's a lot of muscle that can be engaged in routine activities," including burning fat. But they can't do that without the enzyme that is suppressed while seated.

Much is still not known, including such fundamental issues as how long the effect lasts from getting up and moving around for a while, but Hamilton expects the answers to come fairly soon.

"There is going to be a flood of research on this in the next couple of years, and not just by us," he said. "This has raised the attention of a lot of great scientists around the world who have begun doing their own studies."

In the meantime, he suggests, we do the obvious. Take the time to get up and "putter" for a while. If his research turns out to be on the mark, it could save your life.

Flu Drugs May Cause Dangerous Behavior

GAITHERSBURG, Md. (Nov. 27) - The safety of influenza drugs is under scrutiny as advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday analyzed abnormal psychiatric behavior seen in some patients, especially children.

Medical experts are reviewing cases of patients taking Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Relenza experiencing hallucinations, delirium and other abnormal behavior. In the case of Tamiflu, several cases resulted in erratic behavior, including jumping from buildings, resulting in death.

It's the third time health officials are publicly discussing flu drug safety, originally prompted by reports two years ago of a dozen deaths, including suicide, of children in Japan who had been taking Tamiflu.

Japan in March warned against prescribing Tamiflu to those ages 10 to 19 when more than 100 people, mostly young, showed signs of strange behavior after taking the drug. It also broadened its probe to other flu drugs, Relenza and amantadine, after additional reports of abnormal behavior.

FDA staffers are recommending a stronger label warning for Tamiflu to note patient deaths and suggest close monitoring children for behavioral changes. For Relenza, addition of a warning about hallucinations and delirium is recommended.

Although there is still no evidence of a direct link, the contribution of the drugs cannot be ruled out, FDA safety reviewer Dr. Adrienne Rothstein told the panel, which will vote later on Tuesday on whether to beef up labeling warnings.

Known generically as oseltamivir, Tamiflu is a pill, while Relenza, generically known as zanamivir, is inhaled. Makers of both drugs have stood by their safety, citing no direct evidence of cause and effect.

Two earlier FDA panels found no evidence of a direct link between Tamiflu and the deaths, although the FDA did ultimately update Tamiflu's label to add a caution urging close monitoring of patients for abnormal behavior such as delirium or self- injury. Relenza's label has no such warnings.

About 48 million people have taken Tamiflu worldwide, including 21 million children, since approval in 1999, according to Roche. Relenza is much less widely used, by about 4 million people since its launch in 1999.

The Japanese have adopted the drug much more broadly than the United States, with a large majority of the worldwide use of Tamiflu occurring in Japan.

Tamiflu had lackluster sales as a drug to prevent and treat seasonal flu, but got a second life when it was the first drug to show real efficacy in fighting a strain of bird flu that raised fears of a human pandemic. Since then, Tamiflu has been stockpiled by governments preparing for a potential flu pandemic.

The influenza virus is a major cause of death and illness in the United States. Complications from the viral illness kills about 36,000 people a year in the country, a government expert told the panel. Children and seniors are especially at risk.

Four drugs are approved for influenza, but generics amantadine and rimantadine are no longer recommended for use as many strains of the virus are resistant to them.

Thousands of Kids Get Dud Vaccines

By MELANIE S. WELTE,
AP

DES MOINES, Iowa (Dec. 4) - Every year, thousands of American children go through the tearful, teeth-gritting ordeal of getting their vaccinations, only to be forced to do it all over again. The vaccines were duds, ruined by poor refrigeration.

It is more than a source of distress for parent and child. It is a public health threat, because youngsters given understrength vaccines are unprotected against dangerous diseases. And it accounts for a big part of the $20 million in waste incurred by the federal Vaccines for Children program.

"This is a substantial problem that needs to be addressed through prevention, and when problems are discovered, often times through revaccinations," said Dr. Lance Rodewald, director of immunization services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

By CDC estimates, hundreds of thousands of doses of vaccines against such diseases as flu, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, mumps, measles, chicken pox and the cervical cancer virus are thrown out each year because of poor refrigeration at clinics, hospitals and doctors' offices.

In one recent case in Sioux City, Iowa, more than 1,000 families were notified by letter and telephone that they needed to get their children revaccinated. State officials found that the refrigerator at the clinic that administered the shots repeatedly dropped below freezing over a 17-month period in 2005 and 2006, potentially ruining the vaccines stored there.

"We just didn't notice it," said Dr. Ray Sturdevant, president of the Prairie Pediatrics and Adolescent Clinic.

Poor refrigeration has been blamed for similar problems elsewhere around the country over the past 2 1/2 years:

-- In St. Cloud, Minn., a clinic had to revaccinate 8,600 patients, most of them children.

-- In Lane County, Ore., 500 children and adults had to get another shot.

-- In western Florida, it happened to about 250 kids.

In Sioux City and other cases, the spoilage resulted from a combination of factors: The refrigerator malfunctioned or was not set or maintained at the proper temperature - a problem that can be caused simply by leaving the door open for a while - and the workers responsible for regularly logging the temperature did not seem to recognize when the readings were off.

"We do everything we can to advise and to make people aware that this is very expensive vaccines they're dealing with and we really want to handle it properly and store it properly to prevent these things from happening - but they do," said Charles Alexander, chief of immunization with the Florida Health Department.

Inadequate refrigeration can cause vaccines to lose their potency, although experts say spoiled childhood vaccines are not dangerous in themselves if given to a youngster.

And there are no known cases of children contracting a disease because they had been given a vaccine rendered ineffective by poor refrigeration. But it could happen, and "that's why we're concerned about it," Rodewald said.

Since 2000 the CDC has pushed state health departments to visit clinics and check their refrigerators. Most states require clinics to use refrigerators with reliable thermometers that can be monitored, and staff members must know what to do when temperatures are above or below the proper range, Rodewald said.

Waste costs the $2 billion-a-year federal Vaccines for Children Program about $20 million a year, and the biggest single problem is improper refrigeration, Rodewald said. Other causes: The vaccines expire or were damaged in shipment.

Rodewald had no breakdown of how much in waste is attributable to poor refrigeration. But he emphasized that the losses amount to an extremely small percentage of the childhood vaccine program.

"The childhood program saves $10 billion each year in direct health care costs by preventing disease among children," he said. "Although preventing vaccine wastage is a priority, the amount wasted should be placed in the context of the overall program economic benefits."

Altogether in 2006, there were 32 instances in Iowa in which vaccines were not refrigerated correctly, said Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, state epidemiologist. Quinlisk would not say how many patients were affected, but estimated $750,000 worth of vaccine in the Vaccine for Children Program was wasted.

"We will get months and months and months of vaccine refrigerator logs where the refrigerator is out of the temperature and nobody has done anything except every day mark down it's out of temperature," she said.

In the Minnesota case, the refrigerator was not kept at the proper temperature and there were gaps in documentation, said Jill Marette of the Minnesota Department of Health.

"It's stressful to vaccinate your children in the first place - just the idea of giving them all those shots. Then you have to think about getting revaccinated," Marette said.

Of greatest concern is the chickenpox vaccine. It must be kept frozen at an average temperature of 5 degrees or lower and should be kept in the dark. Children who receive an ineffective vaccine could easily become infected because the disease is fairly common in the U.S.

Dr. Joseph Bocchini, chairman of the Committee on Infectious Diseases with the American Academy of Pediatrics, said his group and others have issued clear recommendations about storing vaccines, and refrigerators can be equipped with alarms that sound when the temperature goes out of range.

Bed Wetting Drug Kils!

WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - U.S. health officials alerted the public on Tuesday about the deaths of two patients who were treated with a prescription drug to control bed-wetting.

The Food and Drug Administration said it was unclear whether the drug, desmopressin, had contributed to the deaths. But the agency said nasal versions were no longer approved for treating bed-wetting and doctors should consider other options.

Desmopressin is sold under the names DDAVP Nasal Spray, DDAVP Rhinal Tube, DDVP, Minirin and Stimate Nasal Spray. Makers include Sanofi-Aventis and several generic companies.

Other forms of the drug "should be used cautiously" in patients at risk of sodium imbalances that can be caused by over-hydration, the FDA said.

The agency reviewed 61 reports of patients treated with desmopressin who developed seizures related to hyponatremia, when sodium is too low. Two of the patients died.

"The direct contribution of desmopressin to the deaths is unclear," the FDA said in a notice posted at www.fda.gov/cder/drug/InfoSheets/HCP/desmopressinHCP.htm. The patients who died were ages 28 and 80, FDA spokeswoman Susan Cruzan said.

Thirty-six seizure reports were associated with intranasal forms of the drug, the FDA said. Those versions should not be used in patients with hyponatremia or a history of the condition, the FDA said.

The agency also said treatment with desmopressin tablets should be stopped during episodes that may trigger extra fluid intake, including fever, recurrent vomiting, diarrhea and vigorous exercise.

Sanofi-Aventis spokeswoman Terri Pedone said the company had removed the bed-wetting use and updated the warnings and other sections in the prescribing instructions for its desmopressin products. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Braden Reddall)

House dust mites are linked to asthma

Untidy beds may keep us healthy

Note: Dreamland Chiropractic Beds has the option for fabrics that kill dust mites, just incase you like being neat and tidy.

Failing to make your bed in the morning may actually help keep you healthy, scientists believe.

Research suggests that while an unmade bed may look scruffy it is also unappealing to house dust mites thought to cause asthma and other allergies.

A Kingston University study discovered the bugs cannot survive in the warm, dry conditions found in an unmade bed.

The average bed could be home to up to 1.5 million house dust mites.

The bugs, which are less than a millimetre long, feed on scales of human skin and produce allergens which are easily inhaled during sleep.

The warm, damp conditions created in an occupied bed are ideal for the creatures, but they are less likely to thrive when moisture is in shorter supply.

'Small glands'


The scientists developed a computer model to track how changes in the home can reduce numbers of dust mites in beds.


Something as simple as leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die
Dr Stephen Pretlove

Researcher Dr Stephen Pretlove said: "We know that mites can only survive by taking in water from the atmosphere using small glands on the outside of their body.

"Something as simple as leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die."

In the next stage of their research, the scientists are putting mite pockets into beds in 36 houses around the United Kingdom to test their computer model and will investigate how people's daily routines affect mite populations.

Building features such as heating, ventilation and insulation will also be altered to monitor how the mites cope.

Dr Pretlove said the research had the potential to reduce the £700m spent treating mite-induced illnesses each year in the UK.

"Our findings could help building designers create healthy homes and healthcare workers point out environments most at risk from mites."

Dr Matt Hallsworth, of the charity Asthma UK, said: 'House-dust mite allergen can be an important trigger for many people with asthma, but is notoriously difficult to avoid."

Professor Andrew Wardlaw, of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology, agreed.

He said: "Mites are very important in asthma and allergy and it would be good if ways were found to modifiy the home so that mite concentrations were reduced.

"It is true that mites need humid conditions to thrive and cannot survive in very dry ( desert like) conditions.

"However, most homes in the UK are sufficiently humid for the mites to do well and I find it hard to believe that simply not making your bed would have any impact on the overall humidity."

Why garlic is good for the heart

The smell may be a healthy sign Researchers have cracked the mystery of why eating garlic can help keep the heart healthy. The key is allicin, which is broken down into the foul-smelling sulphur compounds which taint breath. These compounds react with red blood cells and produce hydrogen sulphide which relaxes the blood vessels, and keeps blood flowing easily. The University of Alabama at Birmingham research appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

However, UK experts warned taking garlic supplements could lead to side effects. Hydrogen sulphide generates a smell of rotten eggs and is used to make stink bombs. But at low concentrations it plays a vital role in helping cells to communicate with each other. And within the blood vessels it stimulates the cells that form the lining to relax, causing the vessels to dilate. This, in turn, reduces blood pressure, allowing the blood to carry more oxygen to essential organs, and reducing pressure on the heart.

The Alabama team bathed rat blood vessels in a bath containing juice from crushed garlic. Striking results This produced striking results - with tension within the vessels reduced by 72%. The researchers also found that red blood cells exposed to minute amounts of juice extracted from supermarket garlic immediately began emitting hydrogen sulphide. Further experiments showed that the chemical reaction took place mainly on the surface of the blood cells. The researchers suggest that hydrogen sulphide production in red blood cells could be used to standardise dietary garlic supplements.

Lead researcher Dr David Kraus said: "Our results suggest garlic in the diet is a very good thing. "Certainly in areas where garlic consumption is high, such as the Mediterranean and the Far East, there is a low incidence of cardiovascular disease." Judy O'Sullivan, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This interesting study suggests that garlic may provide some heart health benefits. "However, there remains insufficient evidence to support the notion of eating garlic as medicine in order to reduce the risk of developing coronary heart disease.

"Having garlic as part of a varied diet is a matter of personal choice. "It is important to note that large amounts in supplement form may interact with blood thinning drugs and could increase the risk of bleeding."

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Appendix Is Useful After All

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP
Posted: 2007-10-08 11:02:55

WASHINGTON - Some scientists think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut.

That's the theory from surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School, published online in a scientific journal this week.

For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors figured it had no function. Surgeons removed them routinely. People live fine without them.

And when infected the appendix can turn deadly. It gets inflamed quickly and some people die if it isn't removed in time. Two years ago, 321,000 Americans were hospitalized with appendicitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria populating the human digestive system, according to the study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. There are more bacteria than human cells in the typical body. Most of it is good and helps digest food.

But sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of useful bacteria. The appendix's job is to reboot the digestive system in that case.

The appendix "acts as a good safe house for bacteria," said Duke surgery professor Bill Parker, a study co-author. The location of the appendix -- just below the normal one-way flow of food and germs in the large intestine in a sort of gut cul-de-sac -- helps support the theory, he said.

Also, the worm-shaped organ outgrowth acts like a bacteria factory, cultivating the good germs, Parker said.

That use is not needed in a modern industrialized society, Parker said. If a person's gut flora dies, they can usually repopulate it easily with germs they pick up from other people, he said. But before dense populations in modern times and during epidemics of cholera that affected a whole region, it wasn't as easy to grow back that bacteria and the appendix came in handy.

In less developed countries, where the appendix may be still useful, the rate of appendicitis is lower than in the U.S., other studies have shown, Parker said.

The appendix, which is about two to four inches long, may be another case of an overly hygienic society triggering an overreaction by the body's immune system, he said.

Even though the appendix seems to have a function, people should still have them removed when they are inflamed because it could turn deadly, Parker said. About 300 to 400 Americans die of appendicitis each year, according to the CDC.

Five scientists not connected with the research said that the Duke theory makes sense and raises interesting questions.

The idea "seems by far the most likely" explanation for the function of the appendix, said Brandeis University biochemistry professor Douglas Theobald. "It makes evolutionary sense."

The theory led Gary Huffnagle, a University of Michigan internal medicine and microbiology professor, to wonder about the value of another body part that is often yanked: "I'll bet eventually we'll find the same sort of thing with the tonsils."

Ozone Shuts Down Immune Response

We already know that exposure to ozone, a major component of urban air pollution, increases cardiovascular and pulmonary hospitalizations, and deaths. Now Duke University Medical Center finds that inhaled pollutants impair the immune system, making mice, at least, more susceptible to subsequent foreign invaders, such as bacteria. This just as the Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing the standards for levels of ozone in the air. The current standard is 85 parts per billion. Many medical groups, including the American Thoracic Society, recommend a stricter standard of 60 parts per billion.

Six die from brain-eating amoeba

Rare organism that lives in lakes entered victims’ bodies through the nose

The Associated Press
Updated: 11:36 a.m. PT Sept 28, 2007

PHOENIX - It sounds like science fiction but it's true: A killer amoeba living in lakes enters the body through the nose and attacks the brain where it feeds until you die.

Even though encounters with the microscopic bug are extraordinarily rare, it's killed six boys and young men this year. The spike in cases has health officials concerned, and they are predicting more cases in the future. "This is definitely something we need to track," said Michael Beach, a specialist in recreational waterborne illnesses for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This is a heat-loving amoeba. As water temperatures go up, it does better," Beach said. "In future decades, as temperatures rise, we'd expect to see more cases."

According to the CDC, the amoeba called Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER-ee-uh FOWL'-erh-eye) killed 23 people in the United States, from 1995 to 2004.

This year health officials noticed a spike with six cases — three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona. The CDC knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since its discovery in Australia in the 1960s. In Arizona, David Evans said nobody knew his son, Aaron, was infected with the amoeba until after the 14-year-old died on Sept. 17. At first, the teen seemed to be suffering from nothing more than a headache. "We didn't know," Evans said. "And here I am: I come home and I'm burying him."

After doing more tests, doctors said Aaron probably picked up the amoeba a week before while swimming in the balmy shallows of Lake Havasu, a popular man-made lake on the Colorado River between Arizona and California. Deadly infection Though infections tend to be found in southern states, Naegleria lives almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even dirty swimming pools, grazing off algae and bacteria in the sediment. Beach said people become infected when they wade through shallow water and stir up the bottom. If someone allows water to shoot up the nose — say, by doing a somersault in chest-deep water — the amoeba can latch onto the olfactory nerve.

The amoeba destroys tissue as it makes its way up into the brain, where it continues the damage, "basically feeding on the brain cells," Beach said. People who are infected tend to complain of a stiff neck, headaches and fevers. In the later stages, they'll show signs of brain damage such as hallucinations and behavioral changes, he said. Once infected, most people have little chance of survival. Some drugs have stopped the amoeba in lab experiments, but people who have been attacked rarely survive, Beach said. "Usually, from initial exposure it's fatal within two weeks," he said.

Researchers still have much to learn about Naegleria. They don't know why, for example, children are more likely to be infected, and boys are more often victims than girls. "Boys tend to have more boisterous activities (in water), but we're not clear," Beach said. Extremely rare In central Florida, authorities started an amoeba phone hotline advising people to avoid warm, standing water and areas with algae blooms.

Texas health officials also have issued warnings. People "seem to think that everything can be made safe, including any river, any creek, but that's just not the case," said Doug McBride, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. Officials in the town of Lake Havasu City are discussing whether to take action. "Some folks think we should be putting up signs. Some people think we should close the lake," city spokesman Charlie Cassens said. Beach cautioned that people shouldn't panic about the dangers of the brain-eating bug.

Cases are still extremely rare considering the number of people swimming in lakes. The easiest way to prevent infection, Beach said, is to use nose clips when swimming or diving in fresh water. "You'd have to have water going way up in your nose to begin with" to be infected, he said. David Evans has tried to learn as much as possible about the amoeba over the past month. But it still doesn't make much sense to him. His family had gone to Lake Havasu countless times. Have people always been in danger? Did city officials know about the amoeba? Can they do anything to kill them off?

Evans lives within eyesight of the lake. Temperatures hover in the triple digits all summer, and like almost everyone else in this desert region, the Evanses look to the lake to cool off. It was on David Evans' birthday Sept. 8 that he brought Aaron, his other two children, and his parents to Lake Havasu. They ate sandwiches and spent a few hours splashing around. "For a week, everything was fine," Evans said. Then Aaron got the headache that wouldn't go away. At the hospital, doctors first suspected meningitis. Aaron was rushed to another hospital in Las Vegas. "He asked me at one time, 'Can I die from this?"' David Evans said. "We said, 'No, no."' On Sept. 17, Aaron stopped breathing as his father held him in his arms. "He was brain dead," Evans said. Only later did doctors and the CDC determine that the boy had been infected with Naegleria.

"My kids won't ever swim on Lake Havasu again," he said.

Heavy exercise miscarriage link

UK Government advice is to stay active in pregnancy
Strenuous exercise early in pregnancy could triple the risk of miscarriage, according to Danish researchers.
The research found jogging, ball games and racket sports all increased the risk - as did more than seven hours of exercise a week.

However, current government advice is to continue exercise, where possible, throughout pregnancy.

And one UK expert took issue with the research, highlighted in New Scientist magazine, arguing running was safe.


While I would say that getting a hockey ball in the stomach is not a good idea, I can't think of any reason why jogging would be harmful
Alison Merry, Blooming Fit

The study was carried out at the University of Southern Denmark, who quizzed more than 90,000 women on their exercise regime, then linked the answers to the outcome of their pregnancies.

Compared with those who did no exercise at all, women who played "high-impact" sports or who exercised for more than seven hours a week were approximately three-and-a-half times more likely to miscarry.

Miscarriage is far rarer later in pregnancy, and after the 18-week mark, the link between exercise and miscarriage disappeared.

The study was originally published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and the authors wrote: "The results of this study suggest that leisure time exercise during pregnancy, and particularly high-impact exercise, is associated with an increased risk of miscarriage in the early stage of pregnancy."

They did concede, however, that the format of the research - asking women to recall what exercise they did during pregnancy - was imperfect.

It also did not allow for the fact that women who later miscarry are far less likely to experience morning sickness, which might be a reason they were able to exercise early in pregnancy.

Keep going

Some forms of exercise did not appear to increase the risk - including swimming, one of the most popular among pregnant women.

The government's official advice is for women to keep up their normal daily physical exercise routine for as long as they feel comfortable.

It suggests that women who were inactive before pregnancy shouldn't embark on a new strenuous fitness regime, but should aim for a little moderate exercise every day.

Alison Merry, a former midwife, runs a firm, Blooming Fit, which designs exercise programmes for pregnant women.

She said that while she would not normally recommend any sport which involved the risk of an impact to the abdomen of a pregnant woman, she was comfortable with the idea of pregnant women continuing to jog or run during early pregnancy.

She said: "The benefits of exercising during pregnancy are clear - it improves the cardiovascular system, and maintains muscle tone.

"While I would say that getting a hockey ball in the stomach is not a good idea, I can't think of any reason why jogging would be harmful."

'Proof still needed' for flu jab

The flu jab is usually available from about October each year
There is not enough evidence to support the effectiveness of immunising older people against flu, fresh research in the US has concluded.
Researchers from George Washington University, Washington DC, say the benefits in reducing deaths among over 70s have been "greatly exaggerated".

The findings echo a controversial 2006 British Medical Journal study.

But the latest study, in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, nonetheless urges vaccination to continue for the moment.

Most rich countries recommend vaccinating the old and the weak against flu annually in time for the winter.

As well as preventing flu, it is also thought to prevent deaths from other underlying chronic conditions.

In many studies, flu-related deaths are considered to be all those above the expected winter baseline. This is known as winter excess mortality.

Researchers from George Washington University, led by Dr Lone Simonson, say that in the US - despite an increase in vaccination coverage from 15% to 65% since 1980 - excess mortality among elderly people actually increased during the 1980s and 1990s.


The effectiveness of this strategy is under debate
Dr Lone Simonson

They also cited an Italian study, which found no decline in flu-related mortality rates, even as vaccine coverage rose from 5% to 65%.

The study also deplored what it saw as a lack of placebo-controlled randomised clinical trials (RCTs) among those over the age of 70.

They accepted that such trials were, however, unlikely as they would involve denying some participants access to a treatment which it is recommended they receive, and as such would not pass ethical review.

As an alternative, the team recommended that future studies should use "more specific endpoints" than just overall winter deaths.

This should include "vaccine effectiveness against the highly-specific outcome of laboratory-confirmed influenza virus, which although labour intensive and expensive, is more likely to obtain more realistic estimates of vaccine efficacy".

But despite its reservations about the quality of the available evidence, the team nonetheless recommended that people over the age of 70 should continue to be vaccinated until better data could be collected.

Trials call

Dr Tom Jefferson, of the Cochrane Library - a body that determines the relative effectiveness of health interventions - welcomed the study, which repeated many of his own assertions made in a paper published a year ago.

Writing in an editorial, he said it was time to carry out a placebo-based trial in which some participants are denied the jab.

"Head-to-head comparisons with other types of influenza vaccine will not allow direct assessment of absolute vaccine effectiveness," he wrote.

"Could governments be courageous and honest enough to reassess their cherished policies?"

It costs about £115m to vaccine the vulnerable against flu in the UK each year.


This study acknowledges that, whilst waiting for an improved evidence base, vaccination with flu vaccine in this group should continue
Department of Health

"The aim of our influenza policy is to protect those who are most at risk of serious illness or death should they develop influenza," a spokesperson for the Department of Health said.

"UK policy is constantly under review to take into consideration all available evidence. This study acknowledges that, whilst waiting for an improved evidence base, vaccination with flu vaccine in this group should continue."

The Royal College of GPs said it endorsed current policy and suggested that the study was lacking.

"There is a widely-held view that many respiratory virus infections cause mild, self-limiting disease and this is true," it said in a statement.

"But it is equally true that the relatively infrequent serious outcomes from this apparently minor illness add up to a major public health problem.

"Routine annual influenza vaccination of the elderly and persons with co-morbidity remains a vital element in this attack."

Fatty liver can be a sign of serious problems to come

Starchy diet 'may damage liver'


A diet rich in potatoes, white bread and white rice may be contributing to a "silent epidemic" of a dangerous liver condition.
"High-glycaemic" foods - rapidly digested by the body - could be causing "fatty liver", increasing the risk of serious illness.

Boston-based researchers, writing in the journal Obesity, found mice fed starchy foods developed the disease.

Those those fed a similar quantity of other foods did not.

One obesity expert said fatty liver in today's children was "a tragedy of the future".

High GI foods:
Mashed potato
White bread
Chips
Some breakfast cereals (eg Cornflakes, Rice Krispies, Coco Pops)
Steamed white rice


Fatty liver is exactly as it sounds - a build-up over time of fat deposits around the organ.

At the time, no ill-effects are felt, but it has been linked with a higher risk of potentially fatal liver failure later in life.

The study, carried out at Boston Children's Hospital, looked at the effect of diets with precisely the same calorific content, but very different ingredients when measured using the glycaemic index (GI).

This is a measure of how quickly the energy in the food is absorbed by the body, producing a rise in blood sugar levels - high GI foods lead to sharper rises in blood sugar, and similar rises in insulin levels, as the body releases the chemical in response.

High GI foods include many breakfast cereals and processed foods such as white bread and white rice.

Low GI foods include unprocessed fruit, nuts, pulses and grains, including rye or granary bread, spaghetti, apples and oranges.

Silent and deadly

After six months on the diet, the mice weighed the same, but those on the high GI diet had twice the normal amount of fat in their bodies, blood and livers.

Fatty liver is going to be one of the tragedies of the future unless we do something about it
Tam Fry, National Obesity Forum

The researchers say that because the processed carbohydrates are absorbed so quickly, they trigger the release of more of the chemical insulin, which tells the body to lay down more fat.

Dr David Ludwig, who led the research, said that the results would also apply to humans, and even children, in whom fatty liver is becoming far more common.

Between a quarter and half of all overweight American children are thought to have the condition, he said.

"This is a silent but dangerous epidemic," he said.

"Just as type 2 diabetes exploded into our consciousness in the 1990s, so we think fatty liver will in the coming decade."

Tam Fry, National Obesity Forum board member and chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, said it was clear that eating a diet rich in high-glycaemic food led to increased fat.

He said: "Fatty liver is going to be one of the tragedies of the future unless we do something about it."

Health warning over 'dangerous' Crocs

By Tom Leonard in New York
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/;jsessionid=GYOQIPSCDMG3VQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0

Crocs, the popular plastic shoes that are reputedly as comfortable as they are ugly, may not be quite so “go-anywhere” as they seem.


Reports are increasing of wearers getting their toes caught in escalators
Reports are increasing around the world of Croc wearers, invariably young children, getting their toes caught in escalators - sometimes with drastic results.

Made of a soft, synthetic resin, Crocs were designed as a boating shoe because of their non-marking, slip-resistant soles.

Their soaring popularity has been fuelled by their appearance on the feet of the likes of George Bush, Jack Nicholson and Kate Middleton.

The Colorado-based company, which only started five years ago, last month reported sales had jumped by 162 per cent, to pounds 110 million, from April to June this year.

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But in Washington DC, the Metro, one of the largest American subway systems, has now put up warning notices about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways.

The posters don’t mention Crocs by name but feature a photo of a crocodile.

A Metro spokesman said that, in the past two years, so-called “shoe entrapments” had gone from being relatively rare to occurring four or five times a week.

In American Girl, an upmarket US toy store chain owned by Mattel, signs warn customers wearing Crocs or flip-flops to use the lifts instead of escalators.

There have also been Croc-related escalator incidents in Singapore and Japan as well as in malls and railway stations across America.

The Japanese government warned its public last week that it had received 39 reports of sandals - mostly Crocs or similar products - getting stuck in escalators between late August and early September.

Most of the reports involved small children, some as young as two.

In Singapore, a two-year-old girl wearing rubber clogs - the brand is unclear - reportedly had her big toe ripped off in an escalator accident last year.

A common pattern is that the accidents occurred because of the brightly-coloured, clog-like shoes’ flexibility and grip, supposedly two of their main selling points.

Some accidents reportedly occurred because the shoes got caught in the “teeth” at the bottom or top of the escalator, or in the crack between the steps and the side of the escalator.

In the US, a three-year-old boy wearing Crocs suffered a deep gash across the top of his toes on an escalator at Atlanta Airport in June.

A spokesman for the airport terminal said it was one of seven shoe entrapments since May, all but two of which involved Crocs.

During the past two years, shoe entrapments in the Washington subway system have gone from being relatively rare to happening four or five times a week during warm months, although none has caused serious injuries, said Dave Lacosse, who oversees the subway’s 588 escalators, the most of any US transit system.

Rory McDermott, four, caught a Croc in an escalator in a suburban Washington shopping mall last month.

His mother, Jodi, managed to yank him free, but the nail on his big toe was almost completely ripped off, causing heavy bleeding.

Mrs McDermott said she initially had no idea what caused the accident until someone at the hospital remarked on Rory’s shoes, prompting her to do an internet search.

She said: “I came home and typed in ’Croc’ and ’escalator,’ and all these stories came up. If I had known, those would never have been worn.”

Kazuo Motoya of Japan’s National Institute of Technology and Evaluation said children may have more escalator accidents because they “bounce around when they stand on escalators, instead of watching where they place their feet".

Crocs says its shoes are “completely safe” and has suggested the accidents are instead due to badly-maintained escalators or people not behaving safely on them.

It said in a statement: “Escalator safety is an issue we take very seriously. In order to stay safe while riding escalators or moving walkways, it’s important to pay attention, especially when stepping onto or off of the escalator or walkway. It’s also important for parents to help young children ride escalators and moving walkways safely."

Crocs said it was working in the US with the Elevator Escalator Safety Foundation on public education initiatives.

However, Barbara Allen, the foundation’s executive director, said that after a Crocs official rang her a year ago about possible cooperation, there had been no further contact and the company had not returned her calls.

Poor quality care for people suffering fractures

The NHS is wasting millions of pounds on poor quality care for people suffering fractures, said a study.

Staff are failing to identify and treat osteoporosis in patients who have had a previous fracture and a postcode lottery exists in accessing care, it said.

It is known that the number of people suffering hip fractures is expected to double by 2050 as the population ages.

At present, more than 310,000 patients attend UK hospitals with "fragility fractures" each year, costing around £2 billion in social and health care.

Most of these people are elderly and around a quarter of the fractures - 75,000 - are hip fractures, typically caused by a fall.

The British Orthopaedic Association and the British Geriatrics Society published a study on fractures with the support of the Royal College of Nursing and the National Osteoporosis Society.

It comes as new research suggests that the once-a-year drug, Aclasta, cuts the number of deaths among patients with fractures caused by osteoporosis.

The drug is expected to receive its license for use in the UK before the end of the year.

The organisations published a guide on best practice and called for fracture patients over the age of 50 to be routinely tested for osteoporosis.

The condition is more common among women, with half of over-50s likely to suffer a related fracture.

Cardiology Kung-Fooie

A high-profile San Diego cardiologist is under CMS investigation for
allegedly hitting a patient several times during a cardiac
catheterization. The physician, Dr. Maurice Buchbinder, is a
controversial figure who's been up against federal authorities before,
last time for using an unapproved device developed by a company in which
he had a financial interest. Buchbinder practices within the Scripps
hospital system, which performs more heart procedures than any other in
the U.S.

Dr. Buchbinder was targeted after lab technicians filed complaints with
state licensing officials alleging that he had struck an unruly patient
several times during a cath procedure done on August 31st. The
complaints triggered the CMS investigation. Scripps has since announced
that Buchbinder has been suspended indefinitely from practicing at any
Scripps facility nationwide.

Tips for Relieving Dry Eyes Naturally

Dry eyes, often referred to as Dry Eye Syndrome, is the most frequent patient complaint to eye doctors. Like most eye conditions, Dry Eye Syndrome is often related to health conditions in the rest of the body. It is commonly associated with dryness of other mucous membranes, interior body surfaces such as joints and brittle nails. It can also be a sign of digestive imbalances or of more serious systemic autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogrens syndrome or lupus erthematosus.

Here are some specific recommendations:

Make sure to eat lots of green leafy vegetables.
Avoid sugar and/or artificial sweeteners: Consumption of more than 11 teaspoons of sugar a day has been linked to dry eye syndrome (a single can of soda contains approximately 9 teaspoons of sugar. Sugar is hidden throughout processed and refined foods including cereals, ketchup, and salad dressings.

Avoid the toxic fats in commercial red meat, dairy products, fried foods and hydrogenated oils (such as margarine and shortening). These fats interfere with the proper metabolism of essential fatty acids in the body and are indirect causes of dry eye syndrome. Eat organic or free range whenever possible.

Avoid coffee and smoking.

Avoid hydrogenated and trans fatty acid containing foods (i.e.: margarine, most chips ... read labels).

Drink 8-10 glasses of water a day.

Avoid any foods you may be allergic to. ry cutting out categories of foods for a week at a time, and see how you feel, or visit an allergist for testing. Typical allergenic foods include nightshades (eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, white potatoes and cucumbers), milk, wheat, and corn (or products with corn in it).

Supplement your diet with a good vitamin that has omega 3 fatty acids in it.

Other Recommendations

Use a humidifier at home and/or at work to keep the air from drying out in the winter.
Remember to blink, especially while working at the computer.
Check your medications for any side effects that may cause dry eyes.
Gently massage upper and lower lids, a couple of times a day to stimulate the tear glands.

Nutritional Recommendations
Supplementing with specific nutrients can help with the tear production including omega-3 fatty acids (such as from flax seed and fish oils), specific omega-6 fatty acids (such as those from Black Current Seed and Borage oils), vitamins A, C, D, E, B6, magnesium. Other nutrients such as tumeric and lactoferrin may be helpful as well. There are formulas available on the market that contain these nutrients.

Natural eye drops without preservatives can be extremely helpful as well.

Common Treatments for Diabetes Destroy the Pancreas and Leads to Worsening

A class of drugs called thiazolidinediones (TZDs), and specifically the brand name drug Avandia, were found to drastically increase the rate of heart attack. Given that 70% of diabetics already die of heart-related complications, an increase in this risk is devastating. The next punch came from an article in the September issue of Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. Researchers confirmed earlier findings that another popular class of diabetic drugs, the sulfonylureas (such as brand name Glyburide), actually kill off the cells in the pancreas that make insulin, virtually ensuring that these patients will end up worsening and needing to inject insulin!!

Article from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/

Sulfonylurea and glinide reduce insulin content, functional expression of KATP channels, and accelerate apoptotic β-cell death in the chronic phase

Abstract

We previously found that chronic exposure to glibenclamide inhibits acute glibenclamide-induced insulin secretion by reducing the number of functional ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channels on the plasma membrane of pancreatic β-cells. In the present study, we compared sulfonylurea-induced and glinide-induced insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells chronically exposed to these widely used oral hypoglycemic agents. Chronic exposure of pancreatic β-cells to sulfonylureas (glibenclamide or tolbutamide) and glinide (nateglinide) similarly impaired their acute effectiveness by reducing the insulin content and the number of functional KATP channels on the plasma membrane. Functional expression of the voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels (VDCCs), ion channels that play a critical role in the KATP channel dependent insulin secretory pathway, was similar to that in drug-untreated cells. Chronic exposure to each of the three agents similarly accelerated apoptotic β-cell death. Thus, reduction of the insulin content, reduction of the number of functional KATP channels on the plasma membrane, and acceleration of apoptotic β-cell death all are involved in impaired insulinotropic agent-induced acute insulin secretion in the chronic phase of sulfonylurea and glinide treatment. These findings help to clarify the mechanism of secondary failure after long-term therapy by these hypoglycemic agents, and should have important clinical implications regarding pharmacotherapy for type 2 diabetes.


Abbreviations: KATP, ATP-sensitive K+; VDCCs, voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels; DMEM, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; KRBB, Krebs–Ringer bicarbonate buffer; RIA, radioimmunoassay; TUNEL, TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling; PBS, phosphate buffered saline; DMSO, dimethylsulfoxide

Akira Takahashia, b, Kazuaki Nagashimaa, , , Akihiro Hamasakia, Naomitsu Kuwamuraa, Yukiko Kawasakia, Hiroki Ikedaa, Yuichiro Yamadaa, Nobuya Inagakia, c and Yutaka Seinoa, d
aDepartment of Diabetes and Clinical Nutrition, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin-Kawahara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan
bNakamura Hospital, Osaka, Japan
cCREST of Japan Science and Technology Cooperation (JST), Kyoto, Japan
dKansai Denryoku Hospital, Osaka, Japan

Mahjong game 'can cause epilepsy'

By Vaudine England
BBC News, Hong Kong


The study said the syndrome affects more men than women
A study by doctors in Hong Kong has concluded that epilepsy can be induced by the Chinese tile game of mahjong.

The findings, published in the Hong Kong Medical Journal, are based on 23 cases of people who suffered mahjong-induced seizures.

The report's four authors, from Hong Kong's Queen Mary Hospital, said the best prevention - and cure - was to avoid playing mahjong.

The study led the doctors to define mahjong epilepsy as a unique syndrome.

Epileptic seizures can be provoked by a wide variety of triggers, but one cause increasingly evident to researchers is the playing - or even watching - of mahjong.

This Chinese tile game, played by four people around a table, can involve gambling and quickly becomes compulsive.

Demanding

The game, which is intensely social and is sometimes played in crowded mahjong parlours, involves the rapid movement of tiles in marathon sessions.

The doctors conclude that the syndrome affects far more men than women; that their average age is 54; and that it can hit sufferers anywhere between one to 11 hours into a mahjong game.

They say the attacks are not just caused by sleep deprivation or gambling stress.

Mahjong is cognitively demanding, drawing on memory, fast calculations, concentration, reasoning and sequencing.

The distinctive design of mahjong tiles, and the sound of the tiles crashing onto the table, may contribute to the syndrome.

The propensity of Chinese people to play mahjong also deserves further study, the doctors say.

What is certain though, is that the only sure way to avoid mahjong epilepsy, is to avoid mahjong which, for many people, is easier said than done.

LIES!: Surgery for Money

Monte Sereno doctor accused of faking patients' need for surgery By Barbara Feder Ostrov Mercury News

On the day of his cancer treatment, 87-year-old Dung Le lay on a table, his frail body sedated as needles loaded with radioactive seeds were inserted into his prostate to destroy the malignant tissue his doctor told him was there.

But Dung Le never had cancer, and his doctor knew it.

Now that doctor, Ali Moayed of Monte Sereno, faces felony charges of battery, elder abuse and fraud for his treatment of Le, in a bizarre case that has deeply unsettled local physicians. Two other men in their 70s, their medical files falsified by Moayed, narrowly escaped the same unnecessary procedure, according to a state medical board investigator's report.

Santa Clara County prosecutors are also investigating whether Moayed - who has pleaded not guilty to the charges - may have harmed 13 other men in a similar scheme.

"He doctored the pathology reports to induce a patient to undergo a procedure that carried a significant risk," said Santa Clara County prosecutor Bill Butler. "The conduct was so egregious, it goes beyond simply medical malpractice."

Sparked by a colleague's discovery of altered lab reports, the unraveling of Moayed's alleged deceptions spanned two years of investigation by several agencies, leading to his arrest in late June.

But the question remains: Why would a prosperous doctor risk his career this way? Was it greed? A misguided sense that he was doing the right thing for his patients?

Free on $500,000 bail but currently barred from practicing medicine, the 41-year-old urologist faces more than seven years in prison and potential civil lawsuits that could bankrupt him.

Moayed did not return phone calls or e-mails from the Mercury News and his attorney declined to comment. Yet hints about Moayed's motivation are found in the normally confidential medical board investigator's report placed in his court file.

Missing report in '05 A missing pathology report proved to be Moayed's undoing. In May 2005, Dr. Abhinand Peddada, a Los Gatos radiation oncologist, was reviewing the medical files of one of Moayed's patients, identified only as "S.B.," 75, who was scheduled for a prostate cancer treatment known as brachytherapy.

The procedure isn't pleasant: It involves sedating the patient, then inserting radioactive seeds the size of rice grains into the prostate to shrink tumors.

As Peddada scrutinized the file to confirm the patient's post-surgery treatment plan, he noticed that a crucial lab report confirming the cancer diagnosis was missing.

He called Moayed's medical office in Los Gatos first, then the lab that had examined a sample of tissue taken from the patient's prostate. Two pathology reports came in. The first one, from the lab, said the patient was cancer-free. The second - from Moayed's office - said the opposite. Peddada suspected that the report from Moayed's office had been altered. S.B.'s procedure was immediately canceled.

Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, where both Peddada and Moayed were on staff, began to investigate. When Peddada, hospital administrators and other physicians reviewed the files of Moayed's other patients, they found that pathology reports for Dung Le and another patient, referred to in medical board documents as "B.T.," 75, were falsified. They were able to cancel B.T.'s upcoming brachytherapy.

But for Dung Le, it was too late.

Hospital findings Good Samaritan officials quickly reported their findings to the state medical board, law enforcement and Los Gatos Community Hospital, where Moayed also was on staff. The medical board and the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office opened investigations.

By August 2005, Moayed, on the advice of his lawyer, had resigned from the medical staffs at both hospitals.

He relinquished his medical license the next month, and his practice was taken over by Dr. Farshad Nowzari, according to the investigator's report. Until this incident, Moayed had never been investigated or disciplined by the state medical board.

Once Moayed stopped practicing medicine, investigators could take their time to build a case. As Peddada dug deeper into Moayed's patients' files, his concerns grew. There were other aspects of Moayed's treatment of cancer patients that were difficult to fathom.

Moayed gave some of his patients hormone injections to prevent their prostate cancer from progressing, but according to their medical files, they didn't appear to show effects of the treatment - almost as if they had been given a placebo, Peddada told investigators.

He called Moayed to ask if he had received "a bad batch" of hormones, the report says. After Moayed got that call, Peddada told investigators, the patients began to show the response to the treatment that should have occurred all along. Peddada declined to speak with the Mercury News.

Much to lose Moayed had a great deal to lose from his apparent deceptions. A 1991 graduate from the University of Cincinnati Medical School, Moayed owns a medical building and lives in a Monte Sereno mansion with an estimated value of more than $3 million.

He admitted to the medical board investigator that he had falsified the reports for three cancer-free patients, inserting lab results from patients who did have cancer.

He said he didn't do it for the money. Each brachytherapy procedure would have netted him only $600 because they are performed alongside a radiation oncologist, he told investigators.

Why, then, would he lie to his patients? The investigative report isn't clear, but Moayed appears to claim that the brachytherapies would help them by preventing future cancers. At least one of his patients had displayed early warning signs, including an elevated PSA (prostate specific antigen) level. Moayed "felt the patients were on the brink of getting cancer and that he wanted to give them a definitive answer," the report says.

"He knows he messed up and that he will no longer be practicing medicine," the investigator wrote in the report. "He stated that there was no justification for what he did."

Moayed said "he was under a lot of stress," logging many after-work hours on his computer instead of spending time with his children, the investigator reported.

Treatment debated In medical circles, the best way to treat prostate cancer is fiercely debated.

The disease afflicts more than 218,000 American men each year, many of them elderly. An estimated 20 percent of American men will be diagnosed with the disease between the ages of 70 and 75, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Once cancer is detected, treatment options range from "watchful waiting" (in which patients are closely monitored but not treated) to hormone or radiation therapy, to surgery.

But an independent doctor who reviewed evidence in the case told medical board investigators that Moayed's apparent conviction that his patients ultimately would develop cancer, based on the early warning signs, simply wasn't valid. Nor should a doctor pursue cancer treatments for a patient whose cancer has not been confirmed, the independent doctor said.

Many doctors believe that elderly patients are more likely to die of other causes, such as heart disease, before they die of prostate cancer. Moayed told the investigator he had "messed up" with only three patients, but local prosecutors and the medical board investigator are examining his treatment of more than a dozen other patients from Los Gatos Community Hospital. Dr. Domenico Manzone, a Los Gatos urologist, told the medical board investigator that Moayed had performed 13 other brachytherapy procedures at the Silicon Valley Urology Center at Los Gatos Community Hospital. But when Manzone reviewed the patients' charts, he found no reports documenting their cancer - only a statement from Moayed that they had the disease, the investigator's report says.

Manzone declined to speak about Moayed. But in an e-mail, he said, "The dedicated and hardworking physicians" of the Silicon Valley Urology Center "deplore the apparent breaches by Ali Moayed of some of the most fundamental principles of our profession."

Hearing not set A date for Moayed's preliminary hearing hasn't been set yet, but the criminal charges against him are the only the start of his legal woes. He could face malpractice lawsuits that wouldn't be subject to California's $250,000 damages cap because of the age of the victims, said prominent San Jose attorney Dick Alexander. If a jury finds him guilty of willful misconduct, the doctor's malpractice insurance would not cover him.

It's unusual, but not unheard of, for prosecutors to file criminal charges against doctors over medical treatment, said David Magnus, a Stanford University medical ethicist. Such cases are typically handled by state medical boards, which can revoke a doctor's license, and in civil courts through malpractice lawsuits.

If the facts of Moayed's case are true, Magnus said, they represent a doctor out of control.

"That kind of blatant paternalism might have been common in this country in the 1940s and 1950s, but it's inappropriate and something that won't be countenanced today," Magnus said. "You can't knowingly, intentionally lie to patients to get them to do what you want."

Drunk on Vit D

Vitamin D intoxication that is associated with the consumption of dietary supplements is reported rarely.1 In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) learned of the following case.

A 58-year-old woman with diabetes mellitus and rheumatoid arthritis began taking a dietary supplement called Solutions IE Ageless Formula II on January 12, 2004. Fatigue, constipation, back pain, forgetfulness, nausea, and vomiting soon developed.

On March 15, 2004, she was hospitalized because her speech was slurred, and a blood glucose reading taken at home was 30 mg per deciliter. On admission, her serum levels were as follows: calcium, more than 3.75 mmol per liter; 25-hydroxyvitamin D, 1171 nmol per liter (normal range, 22 to 135); 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, 305 pmol per liter (normal range, 36 to 144); parathyroid hormone, 12 ng per liter (normal range, 10 to 65); calcitonin, 4.5 ng per liter (normal range, 0 to 4.6); albumin, 31 g per liter; phosphorus, 0.81 mmol per liter; blood urea nitrogen, 18.6 mmol per liter; and creatinine, 265 µmol per liter.

The patient was treated with intravenous normal saline, furosemide, and pamidronate disodium.

On March 19, 2004, while still hospitalized, she was informed by the product distributor of an error in product formulation such that 188,640 IU of vitamin D3 had been added to the daily serving size of six capsules instead of the intended 400 IU.

At discharge on March 24, the patient's serum levels were as follows: calcium, 2.60 mmol per liter; blood urea nitrogen, 10.0 mmol per liter; and creatinine, 221 µmol per liter.

The patient died from a cause unknown to us on January 8, 2005.

Laboratory analysis of the product by the FDA, obtained from one of two lots reportedly overfortified with vitamin D3, revealed 186,906 IU of vitamin D3 in each serving size of six capsules, indicating that the patient had consumed roughly 90 times the recommended safe upper limit of 2000 IU per day.

Long-term daily vitamin D consumption of more than 40,000 IU (1000 µg) is needed to cause hypercalcemia in healthy persons.2

In March 2004, the product distributor announced that during the previous month it had received three complaints from customers who had been hospitalized for hypercalcemia and vitamin D toxicity. The same month, the product manufacturer recalled 1600 bottles of the product.

The case described here underscores the need for the manufacturers of dietary supplements to rigorously monitor levels of ingredients in products and for physicians to be aware of supplements their patients may be taking.

Karl C. Klontz, M.D.
David W. Acheson, M.D.
Food and Drug Administration
College Park, MD 20740

References

Koutkia P, Chen TC, Holick MF. Vitamin D intoxication associated with an over-the-counter supplement. N Engl J Med 2001;345:66-67.
Veith R. Do we really need 100 µg vitamin D/d, and is it safe for all of us? Am J Clin Nutr 2001;74:862-864.

Free Music

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To sample the album: http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/magnacomp-persuasion/

To download your free copy: http://magnatune.com/freemusic
Just insert your email address and they will send you the password and link to download the album. Magnatunes will NEVER give your email address to anyone. They just want to tell you about the great artists they represent.

Here is why you should buy from Magnatunes:http://magnatune.com/info/whynotevil

Why we are Not Evil !

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Give to your friends: We encourage you to give 3 copies of any music you buy to your friends

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Low cholesterol 'link' to cancer

Dr. Green says:
The lie that cholesterol is bad was invented by the pharmaceutical industry to sell statin drugs and make billions of dollars a year off the fear they generate. There has never been a conclusive study to prove the high cholesterol levels causes heart disease. If you are worried about high cholesterol then quit eating carbohydrates. Your cholesterol levels will go to normal within a month.

This is a story from the BBC who print what corporations and the corrupt English govt want them to print. This article is a perfect example of the half-truth method of spin control. A good study comes out, they can't deny it, so they try and change the message with half-truth/half-lie.

BBC
Statins can reduce the risk of having a heart attack
People who significantly cut their cholesterol levels with statins may raise the risk of cancer, a study says.
The study of 40,000 people found those with little of the "bad" cholesterol LDL saw one more cancer case per 1,000 than those with higher levels.

Dr.Green says: That was the truth from a rather large study. Now the lies and spin begin.....

The Boston-based researchers could not say if this was a side-effect of the statin or due to the low cholesterol.

They also write in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that the benefits of statins outweigh the risks.

"The analysis doesn't implicate the statin in increasing the risk of cancer," says lead author Richard Karas of Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. "The demonstrated benefits of statins in lowering the risk of heart disease remain clear.

"However certain aspects of lowering LDL with statins remain controversial and merit further research."

Reservations

Researchers looked at the summary data from 13 trials of people taking statins - a total of 41,173 patients.

These findings do not change the message that the benefits of taking statins greatly outweigh any potential risks
British Heart Foundation

They examined the relationship between low, medium and high doses of statins and rates of newly diagnosed cancer.

Higher rates of the disease - which were not of any type or location - were observed in the group with the lower levels.

The authors noted their findings were particularly important at a time when more and more trials show significant reductions in LDL levels can greatly benefit cardiovascular health.

Cancer Research UK was wary of the study.

Cancer information officer Dr Alison Ross said: "The findings of this study should be treated with caution - it is based on summary data from previous trials and, as the authors point out themselves, it does not prove that low LDL cholesterol levels can increase cancer risk.

"Much more research is needed before any firm conclusions can be made."

The British Heart Foundation said they had long known of a relationship between low cholesterol and cancer.

"While this highlights an association between low levels of LDL and cancer, this is not the same as saying that low LDL or statin use increases the risk of cancer," said June Davison, cardiac nurse.

"There is overwhelming evidence that lowering LDL cholesterol through statins saves lives by preventing heart attacks and strokes. These findings do not change the message that the benefits of taking statins greatly outweigh any potential risks."

Study Finds Low-Fat Diet Won't Stop Cancer or Heart Disease

By GINA KOLATA
The largest study ever to ask whether a low-fat diet reduces the risk of getting cancer or heart disease has found that the diet has no effect.

The $415 million federal study involved nearly 49,000 women ages 50 to 79 who were followed for eight years. In the end, those assigned to a low-fat diet had the same rates of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart attacks and strokes as those who ate whatever they pleased, researchers are reporting today.

"These studies are revolutionary," said Dr. Jules Hirsch, physician in chief emeritus at Rockefeller University in New York City, who has spent a lifetime studying the effects of diets on weight and health. "They should put a stop to this era of thinking that we have all the information we need to change the whole national diet and make everybody healthy."

The study, published in today's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, was not just an ordinary study, said Dr. Michael Thun, who directs epidemiological research for the American Cancer Society. It was so large and so expensive, Dr. Thun said, that it was "the Rolls-Royce of studies." As such, he added, it is likely to be the final word.

The results, the study investigators agreed, do not justify recommending low-fat diets to the public to reduce their heart disease and cancer risk. Given the lack of benefit found in the study, many medical researchers said that the best dietary advice, for now, was to follow federal guidelines for healthy eating, with less saturated and trans fats, more grains, and more fruits and vegetables.

Not everyone was convinced. Some, like Dr. Dean Ornish, a longtime promoter of low-fat diets and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, Calif., said that the women did not reduce their fat to low enough levels or eat enough fruits and vegetables, and that the study, even at eight years, did not give the diets enough time.

Others said that diet could still make a difference, at least with heart disease, if people were to eat the so-called Mediterranean diet, low in saturated fats like butter and high in oils like olive oil. The women in the study reduced all kinds of fat.

The diets studied "had an antique patina," said Dr. Peter Libby, a cardiologist and professor at Harvard Medical School. These days, Dr. Libby said, most people have moved on from the idea of controlling total fat to the idea that people should eat different kinds of fat.
{rest of article abridged]

Dr. Green says:
I edited the rest of the article because it was full of opinions, lies and spin from Big Pharma and Organized medicine. They couldn't bury the truth, that low fat diets are unhealthy, so they tried spin and half-truths in the rest of the article to limit the damage to their profits.

Low fat diets are unhealthy. Look at the king of Low-fat, high carb dieting- Nathan Pritikin. He looked unhealthy, like Dean Ornish, and when he got cancer from his low-fat diet he became depressed and committed suicide. Low fat diets cause depression and studies done recently show that the anti-cancer properties of fruits and veg DON'T WORK WITHOUT FAT IN THE DIET.

People like Dean Ornish have an agenda. No matter what the facts they won't change their mind. He has a vested interest in low-fat so he would rather see the entire world unhealthy from a low-fat diet than promote health through a low-carb, moderate fat and protein diet like Atkins.

The truth is your body needs fat. Your body needs protein. Your body can manufacture all the carbohydrate it needs all by itself. You don't have to eat any. All eating carbohydrates does it raise your insulin, make you fat, give you health disease, stroke, cancer and all the major killers of today. It also makes pharmaceutical companies and organized medicine rich.

Coke* - The Effects

From the ACA member mailing list:

Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets
you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know
why? It was redundant.

* *In The First 10 minutes:* 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system.
(100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately
vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts
the flavor allowing you to keep it down.

* *20 minutes:* Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst.
Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its
hands on into fat. (There’s /plenty /of that at this particular
moment)

* *40 minutes:* Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate,
your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps /more
sugar/ into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your
brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.

* *45 minutes:* Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating
the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same
way heroin works, by the way.

* *>60 minutes:* The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and
zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in
metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and
artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of
calcium.

* *>60 Minutes:* The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play.
(It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate
the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your
bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.

* *>60 minutes:* As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to
have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish.
You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in
the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your
body could have used for things like even having the /ability/ to
hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As
little as two if you’re a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it’ll
make you feel better.