Play Tetris cuts flashbacks in the PTSD

Flashbacks are lively, recurring, intrusive and unwanted mental images of a traumatic experience of the past. You are a sine qua non of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although drugs and cognitive/behavioral interventions are available to treat PTSD, clinicians would prefer to avoid any kind of early intervention that flashback first and foremost the development to use.

Well, apparently researchers at Oxford University have found one. All it takes is remarkable Tetris play. Yes, Tetris!

The team is responsible for the discovery was managed by Emily Holmes. Labeling appears in the November issue of PLoS One. Holmes and colleagues had the human brain has a limited capacity to process memories, and that traumatic is usually complete within 6 hours after the event from storage consolidation following established. Holmes' team also knew that Tetris play the same kind of mental processing as involved in education with flashback. So you thought if you had people play Tetris during this 6 hour window after the traumatic event, could interfere with storage consolidation the traumatic experience. This would in turn reduce or eliminate the flashbacks.

The idea worked like a charm.

The experiment: Holmes' team had 40 topics to see a 12-minute film traumatic injuries and death scenes and then randomised to receive either the classic video game play the group after the movie finished, or sit and do nothing. The groups were similar in age, gender and existing psychological make-up.

Topics in both groups held all flashbacks for a week, follow the use a diary. Then, a formal clinical evaluation and various memory tests subjected.

The scientists observed that Tetris appeared to be topics, such as a"cognitive vaccine" the game played after the movie less flashbacks during follow-up. Amazingly, memory of the film and the associated trauma of the control group was identical Tetris players. They had few flashbacks.

Extra credit: to illuminate the mechanisms behind Tetris positive effects, Holmes Group a follow-up study to compare Tetris with pub quiz in a head-to-head match race, both carried out. The latter game has different mental processing claims as Tetris and it turned out to actually increase the frequency of flashbacks and other PTSD symptoms.

The authors on the hypothesis that discussions and debriefing meetings representing the traditional therapeutic intervention in the immediate (i.e., 6-hour) follow a traumatic experience can actually do more harm than good. This is because these interventions can actually improve storage consolidation of the traumatic event.

Glenn Laffel, MD, PhD, is a successful entrepreneur in health information technology. He blogs about on Pizaazz.

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US health care & U.S. productivity: A dissent

One of the great myths of American society is our lack of a health plan hurts "universal" our competitiveness.  The masters of this chorus are natural, the American automakers.  Years before the trip itself bankrupt and unfriendly weapons of your new owners who used American taxpayers to claim that spent up to $1600 per car for health care.  This was more than spent on steel and multiples of what you spent claimed their foreign competitors.  Also got book, who killed health care you? America's $2 trillion medical problem - and consumer-driven cure (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2007), Harvard Business School Professor Regina Herzlinger claims that these complaints aufgeblasenen (pp. 104-105).

Moreover, not we, Mark Zuckerberg hear complain that Facebook's health care costs prevent him compete against foreign social media companies.  In fact, while complain all Americans about costs the health care system, the argument that our health "System" reduced our competitiveness compared to other countries with "universal" health care is actually quite weak.  In fact, the percentage which all companies that offer health benefits actually increased from 66% in 1999 to 69 percent in 2010, and a larger number of smaller companies have begun health benefits, offer according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

A widely cited metric is far more on health than in other countries as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) spends the United States.  But this measurement can mislead.  It is a relationship, consisting of a numerator and denominator.  Counter - the actual cost of medical care - has grown more slowly in the U.S. than Europe.  Supporters of the Government monopoly Health indicate that Canadian and U.S. health spending as a share of GDP over the same was before the Canadian Government took over health care, but parted starting in 1970, soon after the Government completed their acquisition.  You present this as evidence that the State can control costs better than the private sector.  Real GDP growth in Canada however, dramatically overhauled growth between 1969 and 1987 which means that the denominator of health much faster not grew expenditure per GDP ratio in Canada, which the counter grew much slower, according to research by Professor Brian Ferguson.

Common sense indicates that rich countries will be spending more in health care.  In the business of health: The role of competition, markets and Regulation (Washington, DC: the AEI press, 2006), Robert L. Ohsfeldt and John R. Schneider value that an increase of $1,000 in GDP per person in a $110 increase health care spending, results if the relationship is linear.  If it does something in American health care is seriously wrong, the United States much more than that for each dollar GDP issues. However, it is more likely that Nations increase their health spending at a set rate as GDP until a certain amount of dollars goes.  The international evidence fits the latter hypothesis, that much better: a thousand dollar increase in GDP increased health spending by about 8 percent.  In this case ratchet health spending increased really up as national income.  For example, rising to $31,000 $30,000 per capital GDP, increased health expenditure from $232; But if $41,000 increased GDP per capita of $ 40,000, increased health spending $500.  According to Ohsfeldt and Schneider, this model explains 93 percent of the variation in health expenditure international - much larger explanatory makes than the linear ($ $) model (see 7-8).  Most importantly, are the United States no break at all.

This statement challenges our intuition, however, because it's hard to understand how much more worthy of the United States than in other countries and how much this gives us purchasing power.  Extracts data from the International Labour Organization US GDP per capita is far greater than almost all other Nations, and this is largely due to American productivity.  US GDP per person employed was followed (busy) $65,480, in 2008 by Hong Kong $58,605 and Ireland at $55,986.  Some of this was due to Americans who work longer hours, but mostly it was due to productivity: value produced per hour worked.  Most developed countries produce between 60 and 90 percent of the value of that does the US per hour.  Rate for the four countries which was compared in this analysis France the second most productive with this a productivity 91 percent of the United States.  Germany lagged at 72 percent.

The table below (drawn from a recent analysis) the United States compares four countries whose health systems are often held up as admirable options: Canada Germany France, United Kingdom.  In all these countries, GDP per capita was significantly less than the United States.  More healthcare spent the US per person than comparable countries.  Americans have left after paying for health care, however, much more money.  In fact, we have more income per capita as Germany or France - after the payment for health care - a "bonus" American productivity between $4,500 and $8,400.

American Crusaders for "universal" health care highlight America's uniqueness in this characteristic of the modern welfare state is missing.  Given the benefits of America's productivity, it is perhaps a uniqueness we not should rush to abandon.

John is R. Director of health care studies at Pacific Research Institute, San Francisco, CA.

Written as only someone who has never had health insurance can buy. The article to mention that for as much as it spends the USA 100% of the population as assure not forget * all these other Nations *.

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Tweetcasting @ 2011: health reform implementation, mobile health and patient safety

My crystal ball is a little foggy, so I decided to ask my twitter followers (@ HealthBizBlog) to help compile a list of healthcare predictions for 2011. I've integrated my thoughts with theirs and organized the predictions in four themes:

Transparency will be changing from Buzzword, RealityInformation technology are uneven progress, begins with the biggest breakthroughs in mob's culture of RootHealth patient safety reform implementation will advance despite some ugly battles

Buzzword change transparency in reality.

The health care industry is enormously opaque. Patients and physicians know not the price of medical services while pharmaceutical and medical device makers secret financial agreements maintain doctors.

Much is expected to change in 2011 for the better.

Giovanni Colella, CEO of health care transparency company Castlight health (@ CastlightHealth) predicts "Consumers increases your demands for personalized information on health care costs, quality and convenience and revolves around innovative applications to meet these requirements."

Bright lights are trained on the interaction between industry and doctors.

The affordable care Act calls on pharmaceutical and device companies report payments to doctors from 2013; voluntary reporting will pick up expected next year. In addition, that @ PharmaGossip predicts "PharmaWikiLeaks will become a force for good," relying on a recent leak about Pfizer in Nigeria as an attachment a

Information technology progress is uneven, with the biggest breakthroughs in mobile.

AOL Founder Steve case (@ SteveCase) tells me "Mobile health will be a game changer in health and wellness." I agree that mobile applications and devices to present a great opportunity to prevent and manage chronic disease.

Thanks to the advances in the provider and the patient, Kaiser's Dr. Ted Eytan IT adopts (@ Tedeytan) expressed confidence that "The patient will eventually become a customer of health care."

Meanwhile continue to doctors, hospitals, and providers slow, uneven progress in electronic health record implementation in the quest to meet needs good use funds qualify for federal stimulus. Health IT of experts David Ahern (@ dahern1) says, "EPA vendor consolidation will be the order of the day, above all, how companies discover how difficult it to levels 2 and the meaningful use on your own will be to reach 3."

A culture of patient safety starts walking take.

Beth Israel Deaconess President and CEO Paul levy (@ Paulflevy) writes, "Too many people are still in clinical settings due to a lack of focus in the work in hospitals damaged redesign."

Dennis Ferrill (@ DennisFerrill), CEO of e-learning company GSP provides a way in the future, "we will be a turning point in the culture of patient safety as institutions find significant adverse events occur on your clock while more of their peers take concrete steps forward."  "Under the observable data points are a growing trend support this movement, important mandate and safety training protocols for nursing and physician staff as hospitals gain confidence in their duty to control quality and results."

Since the Vioxx debacle, FDA and patients have reassurance on patient safety, a move wanted in 2011, still after iCardiac technologies CEO Mike Totterman (@ Mtotterman). "Regulatory cardiac safety, reinforce requirements but is compliance with new standards better, new technologies facilitate reliable results in clinical studies."

Health care reform will prevail despite ugly battles.

"Always an optimist I think 2011 is the year that economic recovery takes hold," writes Dr. Bruce Siegel (@ Siegelmd), CEO of the National Association of public hospitals. "This changes the national health care debate is dramatically reinforced like administration leverage." "There is ahead some very ugly battles in the State houses, but overall it's a year of consolidation."  To illustrate, he is a realist, he adds, "Even go Redskins to the Super Bowl!"

I'm a little less sanguine than Dr. seal on the prospects for the accountable Care Act. I expect the Republicans to moderate progress chipping away at the law, although is not in sight. The most recent annual sustainable growth rate (SGR) fix the stopped the automatic cutting Medicare reimbursement rates, insurance funded by crack a little bit of PPACA subsidies. Expect more gambits as, which attempts to delay defund or specific provisions, together with objections to the proposed rules, and continuing Court: the law itself challenges.

December 27, 2010 | Permalink

David - have legality, but the key to this consumer has access to accurate and local cost information; Transparency has localized so that people can respond. Is there a source of local consumers cost information available?

Ned Barnett
Las Vegas

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Human agriculture and the limits of medical research

A Museum of Modern Art exhibit by Michael Burton once proposed that human beings themselves would be the soil for a “future farm:”

Future Farm predicts that the emerging pharmaceutical research in harvesting adult stem cells from fat tissues and its convergence with future nanotechnologies, will bring with it scenarios that reconsider the body as income. We live in a world where industries exist to offer financial rewards for those willing to sell a kidney or produce hair to beautify others. Industries have grown to facilitate transplant tourism as a result of the success of contemporary surgery. And scientific and technological advances continue to bring new possibilities for the practice of farming the body.

This may seem like an overly dramatic or even science-fictionalized description of desperation due to poverty and larger economic trends. But the global economic race to the bottom has now so influenced medical research that Burton’s dark vision is coming closer to realization.

A recent article by Bartlett & Steele and a book by Carl Elliott describe the rise of “contract research organizations” that organize the initial phases of drug trials. Bartlett and Steele choose a provocative metaphor to describe the trend:

To have an effective regulatory system you need a clear chain of command—you need to know who is responsible to whom, all the way up and down the line. There is no effective chain of command in modern American drug testing. Around the time that drugmakers began shifting clinical trials abroad, in the 1990s, they also began to contract out all phases of development and testing, putting them in the hands of for-profit companies.

It used to be that clinical trials were done mostly by academic researchers in universities and teaching hospitals, a system that, however imperfect, generally entailed certain minimum standards. The free market has changed all that. Today it is mainly independent contractors who recruit potential patients both in the U.S. and—increasingly—overseas. They devise the rules for the clinical trials, conduct the trials themselves, prepare reports on the results, ghostwrite technical articles for medical journals, and create promotional campaigns. The people doing the work on the front lines are not independent scientists. They are wage-earning technicians who are paid to gather a certain number of human beings; sometimes sequester and feed them; administer certain chemical inputs; and collect samples of urine and blood at regular intervals. The work looks like agribusiness, not research.

Because of the deference shown to drug companies by the F.D.A.—and also by Congress, which has failed to impose any meaningful regulation—there is no mandatory public record of the results of drug trials conducted in foreign countries. Nor is there any mandatory public oversight of ongoing trials.

Therefore, it is up to journalists like Bartlett & Steele to uncover problems. And they are legion:

The Argentinean province of Santiago del Estero, with a population of nearly a million, is one of the country’s poorest. In 2008 seven babies participating in drug testing in the province suffered what the U.S. clinical-trials community refers to as “an adverse event”: they died. . . . In New Delhi, 49 babies died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences while taking part in clinical trials over a 30-month period. . . . In 2007, residents of a homeless shelter in Grudziadz, Poland, received as little as $2 to take part in a flu-vaccine experiment. The subjects thought they were getting a regular flu shot. They were not. At least 20 of them died.

Bartlett and Steele also discuss problems in research in the US. Exploitation probably should not be a surprise in a country where unpaid prison labor appears to be a strategy to boost productivity. US companies are also driving the “initial stages of distributed human computing that can be directed at mental tasks the way that surplus remote server rackspace or Web hosting can be purchased to accommodate sudden spikes in Internet traffic.” (Such “human intelligence tasks” can be purchased for as little as a penny each on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.) But the slow infiltration of less developed countries’ standards into US drug testing should be a concern for the FDA.

The system also appears to give drug companies a wide latitude to manipulate results, leading to the rise of “rescue countries” that are particularly prone to produce positive results:

One big factor in the shift of clinical trials to foreign countries is a loophole in F.D.A. regulations: if studies in the United States suggest that a drug has no benefit, trials from abroad can often be used in their stead to secure F.D.A. approval. There’s even a term for countries that have shown themselves to be especially amenable when drug companies need positive data fast: they’re called “rescue countries.” Rescue countries came to the aid of Ketek, the first of a new generation of widely heralded antibiotics to treat respiratory-tract infections. . . In 2004—on April Fools’ Day, as it happens—the F.D.A. certified Ketek as safe and effective. The F.D.A.’s decision was based heavily on the results of studies in Hungary, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey. The approval came less than one month after a researcher in the United States was sentenced to 57 months in prison for falsifying her own Ketek data.

Massive global inequalities render populations around the world vulnerable to exploitative testing conditions.

Carl Elliott’s book White Coat, Black Hat covers similar terrain, as well as the conflicts of interest and other issues we’ve addressed at Seton Hall’s health law center. His review of recent books on medical research described a “mild torture economy.” His piece “Guinea Pigging” suggests that “rescue counties” in the US may complement the “rescue countries” of Bartlett and Steele:

This unit was in a university hospital, not a corporate lab, and the staff had a casual attitude toward regulations and procedures. “The Animal House of research units” is what [one research subject] calls it. . . . Although study guidelines called for stringent dietary restrictions, the subjects got so hungry that one of them picked the lock on the food closet. “We got giant boxes of cookies and ran into the lounge and put them in the couch,” Rockwell says. “This one guy was putting them in the ceiling tiles.” Rockwell has little confidence in the data that the study produced. “The most integral part of the study was the diet restriction,” he says, “and we were just gorging ourselves at 2 A.M. on Cheez Doodles.”

Elliott’s litany of poorly controlled or ramshackle studies gives us one more item to add to Dr. John Ioannidis’s many reasons for doubting medical research:

Ioannidis [has] laid out a detailed mathematical proof that, assuming modest levels of researcher bias, typically imperfect research techniques, and the well-known tendency to focus on exciting rather than highly plausible theories, researchers will come up with wrong findings most of the time. Simply put, if you’re attracted to ideas that have a good chance of being wrong, and if you’re motivated to prove them right, and if you have a little wiggle room in how you assemble the evidence, you’ll probably succeed in proving wrong theories right. . . .

When a five-year study of 10,000 people finds that those who take more vitamin X are less likely to get cancer Y, you’d think you have pretty good reason to take more vitamin X . . . But these studies often sharply conflict with one another. Studies have gone back and forth on the cancer-preventing powers of vitamins A, D, and E; on the heart-health benefits of eating fat and carbs; and even on the question of whether being overweight is more likely to extend or shorten your life. How should we choose among these dueling, high-profile nutritional findings? Ioannidis suggests a simple approach: ignore them all.

For starters, he explains, the odds are that in any large database of many nutritional and health factors, there will be a few apparent connections that are in fact merely flukes, not real health effects—it’s a bit like combing through long, random strings of letters and claiming there’s an important message in any words that happen to turn up. But even if a study managed to highlight a genuine health connection to some nutrient, you’re unlikely to benefit much from taking more of it, because we consume thousands of nutrients that act together as a sort of network, and changing intake of just one of them is bound to cause ripples throughout the network that are far too complex for these studies to detect, and that may be as likely to harm you as help you. . . .[S]tudies rarely go on long enough to track the decades-long course of disease and ultimately death. Instead, they track easily measurable health “markers” such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and blood-sugar levels, and meta-experts have shown that changes in these markers often don’t correlate as well with long-term health as we have been led to believe. . . .

And these problems are aside from ubiquitous measurement errors (for example, people habitually misreport their diets in studies), routine misanalysis (researchers rely on complex software capable of juggling results in ways they don’t always understand), and the less common, but serious, problem of outright fraud (which has been revealed, in confidential surveys, to be much more widespread than scientists like to acknowledge). . . .If a study somehow avoids every one of these problems and finds a real connection to long-term changes in health, you’re still not guaranteed to benefit, because studies report average results that typically represent a vast range of individual outcomes. Should you be among the lucky minority that stands to benefit, don’t expect a noticeable improvement in your health, because studies usually detect only modest effects that merely tend to whittle your chances of succumbing to a particular disease from small to somewhat smaller. “The odds that anything useful will survive from any of these studies are poor,” says Ioannidis—dismissing in a breath a good chunk of the research into which we sink about $100 billion a year in the United States alone.

To summarize: Ioannidis casts some doubt on even the best of studies, and Elliott, Bartlett, and Steele show that bad studies may be far more common than we suspect. It’s a troubling set of observations for all concerned. We should at the very least insist on much more systematic monitoring of global drug trials.

This post originally appeared on Health Reform Watch, the web log of the Seton Hall University School of Law.

Frank Pasquale is the Schering-Plough Professor in health care regulation and enforcement at Seton Hall Law School and is the Associate Director of the Center for Health & Pharmaceutical Law & Policy. He has distinguished himself as an internationally recognized scholar in health, intellectual property, and information law and has made numerous academic presentations at universities across North America and at the National Academy of Sciences. A prolific writer, Professor Pasquale’s work has been featured in top law reviews, books, peer-reviewed journals, and online blogs, including Health Reform Watch, of which he is Editor-in-Chief. A frequent media presence, he has appeared in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Financial Times, and on CNN, WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show, and National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation.

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The fine print

Last week the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) has published a position paper entitled
"Challenges in ethics, best practices and supervision of HIT vendors, customers and patients: a report an AMIA special task force."The paper seems a bright light on the alleged contracting practices of the EHR vendors and their infamous "harmless keeping" clauses which means the EPA manufacturer from any liability as a result of software defects, including liability for personal injury and death to entschädigen.Was in plain English is, if a software "Bug" or incompetence causes an adverse event, and if you (or your hospital) with a malpractice suit face the EPA provider named a co-accused in this suit be and not turn around and bring suit against the seller for failure to deliver a properly functioning product.

The AMIA claim the existence of contractual clauses, the prevention of users and buyers from public reporting, paper or even mention bugs, including those that could compromise patient safety. The AMIA report goes to the ethics of both buyers and sellers, participation in such treaties with emphasis on the EPA challenge provider primary responsibility to the shareholders and the bottom line in General.

As expected, the authors call Government Regulation HIT products and processes and suggest that of course, a shared responsibility between vendors and customers should reflect contracts, and while public reporting allows (for certain kinds of software defective or should be required), should be user intellectual property of the seller aware sein.Der interesting part of the report that is rather novel recommendation for ethics education under the suppliers and buyers. Presumably, vendors and their customers the difference between right and wrong informed must be and must be informed that the placement of corporate earnings or personal comfort prior to patient safety is indeed wrong and therefore unethical. From the Windows 7 phone commercials, borrow "Really?"

Contracts with terms such as the above examples of typical HM of goods and services that try to make a "good thing" and buyer's job is to negotiate the terms down, what would a "good deal" for the buyer with the end result will be somewhere in the middle. Ethical considerations in the game would come only when the vendor knowingly proposes, were to sell patients, harms the buyer knowingly committed itself, this information to keep in return for financial concessions from suppliers, and some more vocal opponents will HIT now argue that this is indeed the case. But even then I doubt seriously that such agreements to ignore patient safety for pure financial gain a result of vendors and their customers not to know the difference between right and wrong or missing a thorough training in the field which is ethics. Nothing stops this blatantly predatory behavior shortly from legislation and regulation if it in fact exists, and I doubt that it does.

I would like to submit, there is a need for education but very different nature indeed. Whether the seller and the buyer keep agreed on issues or not, are the faults or defects, damage potential patients can the corporate totem pole creating software developers on the bottom. These are not unethical people and have nothing to gain by cutting corners and endanger people's lives. But just as doctors sometimes make mistakes, programmers do and what here most frustrating is that you even have to make a mistake, to create a clear and present danger in the software.These mostly young and healthy professionals know very little about the practice of medicine and in many cases have no overarching understanding product help to build.Develop expert at the small piece were commissioned, but a few may have dire consequences, the greater the shop and more geographically dispersed by incorrectly sorted list of drugs, for example verursacht.Je insight about, the problem is the greater.It is tempting to argue that EHRs should be designed and built by clinicians as VistA was allegedly here.While clinicians should have a lot in design and in particular the acceptance testing of EHRs entrance, it is not economically (or social), hundreds of doctors sitting in little Cubbies, writing code for a living.Instead EHR vendors should participate in fact, in the training of their employees, including the most junior developers on how medicine practiced running.make don't become experts of Diagnosticians, but it would be great if medical software developers would be required to rotations, implementation and support of the software at customer sites, preferably before allowing take to touch the code (similar to inhabitants).

Success is due to the small things right at tun.zwar there are some ethical captains of industry are involved in questionable contracting practices, the armies of people to do the actual work and create the actual products and large able tell right from wrong are questioned and need no lectures for Ethik.Was you need is to force your training to invest in their employer, you are in the position for someone properly tun.Und I have seen the millions of little things, to know that you really, really want to learn enough young software developers and do the right thing.

Very interessant.Menschen should read this too:

http://www.DRI.org/articles/MedicalLiability/FTD-1007-Brouillard.PDF

I would think this blanket indemnity clauses in court finally be null and void.

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Use the VCs on advice from experts

Current media articles have the use of physicians, scientists and experts from pharmaceutical companies and hedge funds, casting often investigated in an unflattering light. Experts can play a valuable role, but is it a case of caveat emptor - and sometimes for the experts and the Organization, the setting. New products, biotech, medical technology companies trying to promote such as a medical expert perceived objectivity could undermine when financial relationships are clearly not in advance.  Experts, providing information on hedge funds must be careful not to disclose non-public information about publicly traded companies and run into conflict with the insider trading restrictions.

Capitalists rely often personal and business networks to help collect venture investment information to make smart investments in private companies.   Because early-stage venture firm invest in public stocks or independent projects promote work experts with VCs can and VCs work the reputation or objectivity with experts with no risk.

Here is how I and other venture capitalists use external experts:

Personal networks, tend to be by far the most valuable. For example, contact sometimes I one childhood friend, who is now an orthopedic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic. If think CCV is about investing in a product surgery, I would ask his opinion. Its input is good - and it's free advice from a valuable source.

As other VCs I see for the professional guidance within existing portfolio companies. I am currently a project, relating to a software system for gene sequencing, for example, and I have a chief technical officer at a CCV portfolio company, very knowledgeable in this area is consulted.

Sometimes I pay for advice other VCs to do, and it is often the price value. At one point I saw a diabetes-related startup focusing on glucose intolerance and won a diabetic's expert by Abbott Laboratories, who understand the market, competition and what would be required to make this start successful. Ultimately CCV decided against this investment, partially due to make its input. Advice that helps dissuade from an investment venture capitalists to make every bit as valuable as consulting prods gives it because fail more startups ultimately a successful investment.

When to pay a VC for advice, he too cautious, he selects. In particular, people avoid to have skin in the game because you have published work in the area of interest or maybe even a product is what I am considering funding similar to have invented. Information from these people can be biased and therefore dangerous for a portfolio companies.

John Steuart is Managing Director at Claremont Creek Ventures.

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Pesticides, the children in the damage 'world's Salad Bowl'

Locals region Salinas Valley of California call worldwide Salad Bowl. Dole, Naturipe and fresh express all have operations there.

Researchers recruited 600 women underwent a series of tests to measure pesticide levels in their bodies. The women were then followed during pregnancy and her children had their growth, spiritual development, and general health mapped.

According to investigative reporting workshop:

“... [A] t of age 2 children of mothers, the highest level of organophosphate pesticide metabolites in your blood had the worst intellectual development in the group... at age 5, the children gave birth to poor attention span compared to mothers who had lower levels of pesticide metabolites in their urine, had their Mütter were most exposed during pregnancy. "

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Counting America Hochtöner--the feathered ones

Every year, volunteers throughout the Americas grab their notepads and binoculars to take an inventory of local birds for the National Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count. Greg Butcher, Audubon's director of bird conservation, talks about this year's tallies and species to look for.

Copyright © 2010 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

IRA FLATOW, host:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow.

It is the most wonderful time of the year, and to that I mean when birders all over America get out their binoculars and their notebooks and their warm clothing to talk up all the birds they see for Audubon's annual Christmas bird count.

And then we always like to check in on the count at this time of the year to see how the purple finches, the red-breasted nuthatches and all their pals are doing.

And we want to hear what you've seen too. Spotted anything good, or maybe you're a little bit mystified by something you saw fluttering through the trees? Maybe we can help you figure it out. Give us a call. Our number is 1-800-989-8255, 1-800-989-TALK. You can always tweet us @scifri, @-S-C-I-F-R-I.

Joining us now is Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society in Washington. Welcome back.

Mr. GREG BUTCHER (National Audubon Society): Thanks a lot. Hi, Ira, how are you doing?

FLATOW: Hey, how the bird watch going?

Mr. BUTCHER: Oh, it's going great. You must have been doing your homework because red-breasted nuthatches and purple finches are the big news in the East this fall.

FLATOW: No kidding?

Mr. BUTCHER: Yeah.

FLATOW: Wow, tell me about that.

Mr. BUTCHER: Well, those are eruptive species. So some winters we don't see any, and some winters we see a bunch. So this is a relatively good year for both those species.

FLATOW: Any guess why that is?

Mr. BUTCHER: Well, these are birds that sometimes they winter in Canada, if there's a good enough food supply for them. But this year there doesn't seem to be enough seats to keep them all happy in Canada, so they come visit us in the states.

FLATOW: Now, the bird count isn't really a complete census, is it?

Mr. BUTCHER: Well, no. If you think of a complete census, like they did - the Bureau of the Census just did for the country, we don't try to count every bird. It's really just a sample of what's out there every year.

CONAN: And it goes on all over the country, correct?

Mr. BUTCHER: Oh, my goodness, we have more than 2,000 places every year where we count birds, all across the U.S., southern Canada, and most of the Western Hemisphere.

FLATOW: Is it too late to get in on this?

Mr. BUTCHER: Oh, not at all. We go till January 5th. So you can actually go on our website. If you Google Christmas bird count and you can find a location near you. We've got a location finder.

FLATOW: And so what kind of results have you gotten so far this year?

Mr. BUTCHER: Well, the results are we've had some record counts. So it's interesting. Even though where I am in Washington, D.C., it's pretty chilly, it's kind of concentrating the birds. So we've seen some record numbers.

CONAN: Wow, and in any part of the country where you're seeing more than others?

Mr. BUTCHER: Well, basically it's good all across the country, and every state kind of has its own special birds this year.

CONAN: Now, you were just down on a count in Ecuador, right? Tell us about that.

Mr. BUTCHER: Oh, I was on a birder's dream. I couldn't believe it.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. BUTCHER: I went to the number one Christmas bird count in the world. So I got to go to Mindo, Ecuador, and I was within inches of the equator, in the Andes Mountains and in the place where they see more birds on Christmas bird counts than any other place.

FLATOW: Wow. Let's go to the phones, to Darcy(ph) in Kansas City. Hi, Darcy.

DARCY (Caller): Hi, I'm in Kansas City, Kansas. How are you doing, Ira?

FLATOW: Fine.

DARCY: I love your program.

FLATOW: Everything's up to date today, right?

DARCY: Something like that.

FLATOW: Yeah.

DARCY: I put out birdfeeders every winter because I like to see little birds come and get what they need to survive over the season. And, oh, I've seen flickers, a tufted-headed titmouse, various(ph) sparrows, male and female downy woodpeckers. But I've also seen a golden flicker. He's come back.

FLATOW: A golden flicker(ph).

DARCY: Yes.

FLATOW: What does it look like besides being golden? Is it a big bird, small bird?

DARCY: Okay, it's a smaller - it's a little bit bigger than a woodpecker. They have a butter-yellow breast, and the back is kind of tannish gray. And the males have a little orange-reddish cap.

FLATOW: Greg, what do you think of her golden slicker(ph)?

Mr. BUTCHER: Oh, it's a great bird. It actually is a type of woodpecker, and they often will feed on the ground. And it's one of the few birds in North America that will eat ants. And they will come in to birdfeeders.

DARCY: I put up (technical difficulties) for my woodpeckers, and I've got a regular seed feeder.

Mr. BUTCHER: Yup, and the flickers will often come to that suet. So it's a great bird you have. The normal name people use for it is Northern flicker, but in the East they have what they call yellow shafts, and in the West they have red shafts. So what they're seeing in Kansas City is one of the eastern kinds of flickers.

FLATOW: Thanks for the call. Let's go to Rachel(ph) in Huntsville, Alabama. Hi, Rachel.

RACHEL (Caller): Hi.

FLATOW: Hi there.

RACHEL: We saw seagulls, a flock of seagulls, in Huntsville, Alabama.

FLATOW: Wow, they're a little far from home.

RACHEL: Yes, they are. I just wanted to know what you made of that.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. BUTCHER: Ornithologists don't tend to call them seagulls because you can see them anywhere in the country. And what you've probably got in Huntsville, Alabama is ring-billed gulls, because those are the species that like the inland areas more than, say, heron gull or a great black-backed gull, which is more likely to stick close to the sea.

FLATOW: All right, there you have it, Rachel.

RACHEL: Okay, thank you so much.

FLATOW: Have a happy, healthy New Year and Merry Christmas.

RACHEL: Thank you.

FLATOW: Greg, have you noticed with the count any species that used to be very common that people are just not finding anymore?

Mr. BUTCHER: Well, unfortunately, there's quite a few of those. And one of the strangest things happened in the East United States, is in the 1980s we had huge flocks of evening grosbeaks, and now there's almost no flocks of evening grosbeaks, and they're a beautiful yellow and black bird and we used to complain about them every year because they'd come in big numbers and eat up all our sunflower seeds, and now we're complaining because they don't come anymore.

FLATOW: Wow, that's too bad. Let's go to Jennifer(ph) in, well, I think we'll go to Jennifer in Lansing, Michigan. Hi, Jennifer.

JENNIFER (Caller): Hi.

FLATOW: Hi there.

JENNIFER: Well, I've participated in our local Christmas count for, ooh, probably close to 30 years now. I do the same section with a friend of mine every year.

This year, we found that the numbers were actually down overall, except for crows. I was there at sun-up when the flock of crows came out of the woods, and there had to be, oh, probably 4,000-plus.

FLATOW: Wow, that's a lot.

JENNIFER: Yeah.

FLATOW: I'm thinking of "The Birds," that movie.

Mr. BUTCHER: Well, especially in Michigan. You know, 20 years ago, they didn't have that many crows in Michigan, but that's one of the species that's been wintering farther north over the last 20, 30 years.

JENNIFER: Yeah, when I was a kid, crows were pretty uncommon.

FLATOW: Thanks for that report, Jennifer.

JENNIFER: You're welcome.

FLATOW: Let's see if we can get one more quick one in from Phil(ph) in Fort Lauderdale. Hi, Phil.

PHIL (Caller): Yes. I was wanting to report a change in behavior in rather large water birds. I live on a lake where I see white herons (unintelligible) and we see them feeding in the waters and canals frequently. But lately I've noticed them moving into urban areas, where hedgerows and shrubs and bushes - and they seem to stalking some of our small, gnolly lizards.

And I've even observed one, you know, catching them. So in an urban area, these large birds seem to be adapting their feeding habits, much like the little cattle egrets, which are a pasture bird, have done the same thing.

FLATOW: Huh, what do you think of that?

Mr. BUTCHER: Well, that is a first for me because I was thinking, as he was telling the story, that it probably was a cattle egret, because we've seen them do that. They're called cattle egrets, of course, because they follow behind cows and kick up whatever insects or lizards or whatever follow the cows.

And so as the listener said, they came into the urban areas first and started taking advantage of whatever food we had in that area. And we know the great blue heron, you know, will eat almost anything too. So I guess it's not too surprising if a great egret might do so as well.

FLATOW: All right, thanks for the call. Greg, I've got a couple of minutes left. You said your number one birding goal is to see male birds of paradise displaying at a breeding. Like, why is that number one for you?

Mr. BUTCHER: Well, I think the male birds of paradise are sort of the pinnacle of evolution. They're big birds. They have gorgeous colors on them. And then they have real strange long tails or wild feathers. And they can create some of the strangest postures you've ever seen.

So I've been able to see them on David Attenborough's nature shows, but I want to see them out in the wild. And they display to the females in a group. And so they make wild calls and these wild displays.

And when I was down in Mindo, I saw these little miniature birds of paradise. They're called - oh, and they're (unintelligible) as well.

FLATOW: And where would you see, if you wanted to go see these birds of paradise, where would the best shot at seeing them be?

Mr. BUTCHER: Well, the birds of paradise are in New Guinea, primarily.

FLATOW: A-ha.

Mr. BUTCHER: And then the little birds I saw in Mindo were manikins, and they're little tiny birds, and they're not related to birds of paradise, but they also do wild displays (unintelligible). So I got a little mini version of it this winter already.

FLATOW: I got a quick tweet from UrsulaV(ph), who says: The best bird this year was a yellow-billed cuckoo. Pittsboro, North Carolina.

Mr. BUTCHER: Now, that is a very unusual bird in the United States. They breed across the East United States, and some out West as well, but they're almost all gone in the wintertime. So it's a very unusual species to be staying put.

FLATOW: Wow. So we can still use our backyard birdseed feeders to watch for birds too, could we not?

Mr. BUTCHER: Oh, it's a great time for feeding birds because the cold and the snow really brings them into the birdfeeders, and just unbelievable surprises can come into feeders.

A lot of people are feeding hummingbirds in the wintertime, and now along the Gulf of Mexico a number of these hummingbirds are wintering where they used to just stop off on migration.

FLATOW: That's one of my great unsolved mysteries, how to get a hummingbird into my birdfeeder. And I've tried for many years, but...

Mr. BUTCHER: Well, keep at it.

FLATOW: I've grown all the plants - that's another story. We haven't got time for that.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. BUTCHER: It'll work.

FLATOW: Thanks, Greg.

Mr. BUTCHER: Good talking to you, Ira.

FLATOW: Good luck to you. Happy New Year, Happy Holiday.

Mr. BUTCHER: Thanks a lot.

FLATOW: Greg Butcher is director of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society in Washington.

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Scientific American: U.S. pig farms may flu factories

Coming that could next pandemic flu virus from pigs, but are we monitor their health closely enough?

Matthias Rietschel/APN that next pandemic flu virus from pigs could come, but we are tight enough monitoring their health?

Last year's H1N1 pandemic was a wake-up call to many scientists such as unpredictable and dangerous viruses in circulation in the animal world can be if you to humans directly. The outbreak of avian influenza in 2006 was our first idea.

Since then it has lot of talk about monitoring the health of the animals that most potential passed on an influenza virus with pandemic - pigs and birds.

But an article that just released says our pig in Scientific American monitoring is pretty bad. So bad that American pigs farms practical "flu factories," according to author Helen Branswell in global health are reporting to the Harvard University Nieman Fellow.

Why is so relaxed monitoring? The problem, Branswell writes, is that the pork industry reluctant data with human health officials to share. And Branswell says confidential industry pig flu tests results.

An official of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Branswell that so often CDC get a call everyone, if someone swine flu directly from a pig catches. But in General, it is too late for CDC to study. The pigs "often slaughter was gone by the time we were able, find what actually was the exposure," says the official Branswell.

No pure swine flu H1N1, was of course - it had two genes of influenza viruses circulating normally in swine and avian and human influenza genes. But pigs (and birds) remain new pandemic viruses the species most likely to host.

Scientists, especially in Asia, have gotten much better, bird watching, but know far less about viruses that infect a billion that almost domesticated pigs all over the world. And the virus began 12 years ago, people could developing and recombining into new forms, will make much faster than before, withered monitoring a greater priority.

Earlier in this year, the CDC and u.s. Department of agriculture finally have a monitoring system for pigs have discussed for years. But it requires the support of pig producers. And you "have been reluctant to support what many consider to be an offer see by Government to interfere in your Affairs," says Branswell.

Recordings called up the national pork producers Council, industry's take on it. Spokesman Dave Warner recognized that some manufacturers may be unwilling sick pigs reporting because you fear that the Government will put you into quarantine.

NPPC officials say, are proponents of USDA CDC pig control. And say, already to submit many producers of your pigs to the Government to analyze blood samples.

Even if we handle the monitoring in the United States can get sometime soon could be the next just from another country, such as China, H1N1 almost half of the world pigs produced and does even less monitoring.

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Soy brain damage

The claim: Men run tofu food risk (literally) shrink your brain! Says who? Now, do one of the leading or, at least, the loudest in natural health community - who will remain nameless. It is hard to find all components of the modern food chain inspired so much debate or exaggeration as soy. Critics claim, all lead by cancer to severe hormonal disorders in both men and women. On the other hand, offers to mark evidence that suggests that soy by promoter show many of the benefits of hormonal replacement therapy without the well-documented risks. Where is the truth? I maintain the best possible answer in the medical literature is found.

There is an enormous amount of data on the health effects of soy nearby. The majority of the scientific evidence is in the form of animal and in vitro experiments. Manageable and suitable to make more this topic, I decided to omit this information. Everything you read in today's column is based solely on human data.

The kernel of this controversy can be attributed to the April 2000 issue of the journal of the American College of nutrition. A report by the National Institute of aging issued examined the link between tofu consumption and brain function and size in a group of 3,734 older men. The finding was that "higher midlife tofu consumption regardless of cognitive impairment indicators and brain atrophy assigned in late life". These results generated concern of outside researchers specific methodological issues in the study noted, that may have influenced the results. This led to follow up comment that demands "prematurely, issue recommendations on the risk of being the tofu eating" and ", the results should be interpreted more carefully". (1,2,3)

Evidence that seemed to support the conclusions of the original study 2000 new developed in 2008. A group of 719 senior men and women were the topics of ' 08-study. Memory tests and food frequency questionnaires were used to evaluate a possible link between cognitive decline and soy products Tempe, tofu). Tofu with poorer cognitive performance was again linked. But Tempe, a fermented soybean food was independently related "with better memory". The researchers point out that both foods contain high levels of isoflavones or Phytoestrogens. Tempe offers but also a meaningful amount of folic acid that may be partly responsible for the known benefits. (4)

The problem I found at the same time studied this problem is that several other inquiries have come to similar conclusions. For example, a publication in October 2010 issue of the journal brain research discovered, Tempe and tofu actually improves memory in a group of seniors with an average age of 67. Older seniors, 80 years old and up, have the same benefits, but you suffer from or identifiable on the basis of soy intake follow. (5)

Three recent studies, assessment of soy supplements containing concentrated levels of isoflavones reported as positive results. One of the latest, presented in the January 2009 issue of age and ageing revealed, that seniors given 100 mg / day of soy isoflavones higher on various cognitive tests than those achieved a 6 month period received a placebo. Another publication of the same year determined that supplementation with 116 mg of soy isoflavones per day for 12 weeks led to "Advanced cognitive processes that activation are displayed based on estrogen". It is important to note that compatible results in studies reported with older and younger men. (6,7,8)

Soy isoflavones may improve the spatial working memory in healthy men

The so-called "soy brain threat" is far from a problem that is resolved in the minds of many food experts,. It is clear to me that a blanket statement about the harmful effects of soy on male brain can confidently be made at this time. It is but certainly reason for pause on regular tofu consumption in men. More research in this area is called for, to be sure. If it indeed is something neurotoxic soy Quark we need what is to identify. It seems not Phytoestrogens contained therein. So where will this leave us? Overall I think soy foods should be eaten sparingly. The fermented varieties (miso, natto, soy yogurt, Tempe) are also probably better options from view of digestion and may. Soy supplements should be used as only if it is a good reason to do so - in selected cases of hot flashes, Prostate disease, etc.. This is not only a more balanced view than most, but it is also what I recommend my own diet and my clients. (9,10,11,12,13)

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Hot spiced cereal recipe

If on a gluten-free, low carbohydrate diet that you be innovative, have to if you are hoping to have a richly satisfying and varied diet. I fits the consequences of this kind of plan to eat because my health better than any other diet I've ever tried it before. Science, supporting avoiding gluten, a protein in many grains found and restriction played an important role in my decision to inform carbohydrates. Fortunately have I also created and discovered my chosen many recipes and products that help to make diet a pleasure rather than a burden.

Was especially cool in Southern California last week. A rainy morning I had a longing for something soothing and warm start to the day off right. In the days of old, make some traditional oatmeal topped with banana slices and perhaps a drizzle would have meant pure maple syrup. Of course that's about as far current menu plan away from my as you could imagine - a true CARB Fiesta.

I know that I am not the little Carber out there who yearns for hot cereal every now and then. So, if you're like me in this respect, take heart. It is possible to create healthier ingredients natural alternatives to cream of wheat and oat flakes. Today I will give you just as it can be done a foundation recipe that illustrates. For those who look carbohydrate or gluten restricted diet not one, try this alternative BREW anyway. What is shown below healthfully in virtually any type of diet plan integrates and will almost certainly improve your nutrient dense.

Healthy fellow hot spiced cereals
1 Cup unsweetened almond milk *
1/4 Cup almond flour meal
4 Tbsp flax seed powder
3 Tablespoons unsweetened coconut (destroyed)
a pinch of different seasonings to taste *
1 / 2 Tsp vanilla extract bio
1 Dropwise of liquid stevia *
Pinch NutraSalt

* Product use: Blue Diamond almond breeze - unsweetened vanilla taste (cooled variety) * I used organic allspice, nutmeg, ground cloves, cinnamon and ginger. *** Product use: NuNaturals PURE LIQUID alcohol free stevia

Nutrition content: Calories: 470. Protein: 14 G. FAT: 38 grams. Fiber: 14 grams. "Net" carbohydrates: 8 grams.

Start sauce pot over a low heat setting by the casting of almond milk and vanilla extract in a quart size. Add the dried spices to the liquid. Combine the almond flour, flax meal and coconut flakes in the pot. You stirring constantly for the next 3 minutes or so. Put in Add of Stevia and a pinch of salt to taste. Turn the heat the mixture reaches your desired consistency.

The reason why I think this hot cereals is superior best explains found by appealing to several recent studies in the medical literature. My cereals (almonds, coconut and linseed) is shown scientifically: a) lower multiple risk factors for coronary heart disease founded including apolipoprotein B100, LDL ("bad") cholesterol and cholesterol; b) protect against oxidative damage to cholesterol and heart mitochondria. c) systemic inflammation in the form of C - reactive protein to reduce. Taken together point to documented these effects as a highly protective diet formula for anyone concerned about heart disease and stroke. (1,2,3)

When preparing this recipe, I suggest that you spice it so generously as your taste buds allows. The aromatic components in this Court not only taste flavour enhancers or window dressing. For example, allspice, cloves and nutmeg benefits for the health of chemical prevention activity until there too potent free radical potential scavenging. In practice you can protect very well the body from some of the destructive processes, contributing to health threats, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases. This modest recipe is yet another example of how we eat strategically as preventive medicine can use. (4,5,6)

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Best of snacking confusion

Does snacking assist with weight loss or encourage weight gain? At first glance the answer may seem obvious. Many people come to the conclusion that adding a snack or two to your daily schedule surely increases caloric intake and, thereby, contributes to extra pounds. Well, that’s one theory. Another theory is that snacking between meals can help balance blood sugar and stave off overeating in subsequent meals. So which of these competing hypotheses is correct? I’ll give you my two cents on this debate in today’s Healthy Monday tip.

I sometimes feel like a judge presiding over a natural health courtroom. I hear different sides of the same case and I’m left to rule on which argument is the most accurate. In my many years of practice, I’ve determined that the only way to sift through the more prejudicial aspects of health issues is to go directly to the source of the evidence. In my line of work that means reviewing the medical literature myself rather than relying on commentary.

A new US study on snacking was published in the June 16th issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It searched for a link between snack frequency and obesity in an adolescent population. In all, a total of 5,811 boys and girls took part in the evaluation. The results indicate that the kids who snacked most often were less likely classified as overweight or obese. There was also a similar trend with regard to abdominal obesity which is considered a risk factor for blood sugar irregularities such as insulin resistance. (1)

Unfortunately, the issue of snacking and weight gain isn’t quite so straight forward as evidenced by a Spanish trial, also published in June 2010. In this instance, 10,162 university graduates were the test subjects. The researchers tallied snacking habits for an average of 4.6 years using food-frequency questionnaires. The findings here were the exact opposite of the previously mentioned study. The authors discovered a 69% higher risk of developing obesity in “usual snackers”. (2)

The global picture of the proposed snacking/weight link becomes even more inconclusive when two additional studies from Africa and Canada are factored into the equation. The first examined the effects of a “snacking diet” in 1,072 adults living in the small, west African country of Ouagadougou. The findings reveal that there was no relationship between overweight and the participants’ “snacking score”. The second inquiry focused on Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) children. The conclusion of the authors from the University of Montreal determined that “children at risk of overweight” tended to snack on higher calorie foods and did so more frequently than children with a healthy body mass index. The take home message was that, “Differences detected in snack food intake between normal-weight children and children at risk of overweight could explain in part the relationship between food choices and risk of overweight”. (3,4)

US Snacking Statistics Suggest Disconcerting Nutritional Trends

It’s not unusual to find conflicting studies in cases where diverse patient populations are involved. The good news is that the lack of scientific consensus shouldn’t affect your decision about whether to snack or not. Why? Because researchers have given us clear tools about how we can snack healthfully, *if* we feel the need to snack.

The first concept to keep in mind is that you need to eat consciously. Mindless snacking almost certainly leads to poor food choices and improbable weight control. However, there is a simple, two-step approach to snacking that helps almost anyone to do so constructively: 1) compile a list of healthy snacks and take note of what a typical serving size looks like; 2) keep a daily, food diary and review it on a regular basis. Both of these steps connect your body and your brain. This is an essential process that helps educate you from a nutritional and psychological standpoint. One without the other rarely works in the long term. (5)

When putting together a list of healthy snack items, keep in mind what your ultimate goal should be – nourishment. This doesn’t mean that you can’t opt for delicious options. By all means, do so. But in the process, try selecting candidates that also provide good sources of fiber, healthy fat and protein. A few of my favorite snacks include avocado slices wrapped with prosciutto, celery topped with almond butter and deviled eggs. By choosing foods with this type of macro-nutrient profile you’ll likely find that you can snack without increasing your daily caloric intake. Sound too good to be true? According to several studies, this is possible because healthy snacking tends to reduce your caloric intake in subsequent meals. This is a real world way of “having your cake and eating it too”. (6,7,8)

Update: December 2010 - A recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition evaluated the effects of adding two different types of snacks to a typical weight loss diet. The diet in question called for a menu plan that contained 500 fewer calories than what was needed to maintain the starting weights of the participants. Two groups of obese volunteers were assigned to the diet which included one of two afternoon isocaloric snacks: 1) 53 grams of salted pistachios; 2) 56 grams of salted pretzels. The findings of the 12 week study reveal that both variations of the diet successfully promoted weight loss. But the primary reason for the trial in the first place was to determine whether snacking itself would alter the expected reduction in weight caused by a calorie deficit. It didn’t. However there were a few relevant differences between the groups eating the pistachios and the pretzels. The pistachio group lost more weight and also exhibited a meaningful decline in triglyceride levels in comparison to the pretzel group. This provides the latest evidence supporting the use of higher protein/lower carbohydrate snacks, if you decide to snack at all. (9)

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Tomatoes and diabetes

Are you diabetic? I'm not. But I my health care approach, as if I and I think most people should also. By this I do not mean that most popping you drugs that help should begin to manage blood sugar. Far from being removed. Why do that when you can reach most likely healthy glucose control over movement, stress management, and a whole diet? The that's game plan, I to for most of my clients are in favour. However, there is more to diabetic health as easy to support exploitable optimal blood sugar levels. One includes the other pieces of the puzzle oxidative balance in your body to recover. Food or supplementing with foods rich in antioxidants can very well reduce the risk of health hazards that are commonly associated with adult-onset diabetes and beyond.

Tomatoes are a rich source of antioxidant pigments, known as carotenoids. In fact the characteristic red colour is largely brought by a member of the phytochemical family known as lycopene. Several studies spanning decades are notes provide, eat different tomato-based foods significant heart circulation support among men and women with type 2 diabetes can make. This is sensitive to natural interventions the most common variant of disease and the most. (1,2,3)

The current issue of the journal of the neurological of Sciences reported that diabetics with hypertension are 48% rather suffer from age-related cognitive changes than those, are the normotensive. Fortunately shows another publication appears Journal of food sciences and nutrition in the December 2010 edition of the international that so easy can be achieve healthy blood pressure more tomatoes like eating. The latter paper notes that Tomatoes contain nutrients that go the antioxidant Lycopene. You are a good source of beta carotene (provitamin A), folic acid, potassium and vitamin C, E and k. Maybe has that therefore an intervention of the latest 8 week offers a daily dose of 200 grams of raw tomatoes "significant decreases systolic and diastolic blood pressure" resulted in a group of 32 type 2 diabetics. (4,5)

A summary article in the journal current pharmaceutical biotechnology explains that cardiovascular dysfunction is a leading cause of mortality in type 2 diabetics. "Imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNA)" is widely believed to be a contributing factor in the development and progression of this annoying trend. The consumption of cooked tomatoes is a way to the oxidative balance to your favor tip. Researchers from the College of medical sciences and Research Centre in Bhanpur, India have that long-term tomatoes inclusion in diabetics results in higher levels of protective antioxidant enzymes and a lower concentration of lipid peroxidation. (6,7)

Daily tomato juice consumption reduces platelets, aufhäufendes in diabetics 

A further important risk factor for diabetes mellitus is a risk of abnormal blood clotting and subsequent atherothrombotic events. A hostile process according to "plays a crucial role as platelet hyperreactivity" said cardiovascular anomalies. Regularly drink tomato juice may provide a natural and safe means to combat this threat to health. The basis for this statement is a pilot study in the journal of the American Medical Association published. In 250 ml of tomato juice or a placebo over a period received from 3 weeks in middle age men and women with type 2 diabetes. The participants in the tomato juice group end the short process shown a statistically relevant reduction in platelet aggregation. No changes in blood sugar control found in the two study groups. (8,9)

Incorporating tomatoes in your dietary regime is not a panacea for diabetes or any other health condition. Rather, has the key to its value a lot to do, what you offer from a nutritional standpoint. Chief among its attributes is the most tomatoes are relatively low in carbohydrates and rich in fiber and nutrients. They provide some much needed color around the average diet. The most naturally occurring pigments in whole foods protect income effect in the human body. Think purple range of depth Greens in spinach, the intense orange of the Pumpkins or the Kingdom found in wine. The health promoting properties of these foods are partly due to the secondary plant substances that make up the colors make so unique. "Rainbow" style diet is eating a low Glycemic to reduce the risk of diabetes and related Comorbidities one of the most reliable ways. That's the advice I give, and it's the advice I follow me. (10,11,12)

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Year in pills

Writing to setback, Martha Rosenberg lists the drugs made the 2010 Hall of shame.  Here are just a few of you:

CAT and Yasmin

Soon after Bayer pill cat started, started 18 years with blood clots, come down gallbladder diseases, heart attacks and even strokes.

Chantix

Cases possible psychosis, reports of suicidal behaviour and actual suicides, ban the Government pilots, air traffic controllers and interstate truck and bus drivers antismoking of taking this drug.

Ambien

Law enforcement officials say this medication sleep increased accidents from people in a black drive out.

Tamoxifen

It is a life-threatening blood clots, stroke case prevented for each case from breast cancer with tamoxifen or endometrial cancer caused by it.

Lipitor and CRESTOR

All Statins can cause muscle breakdown.  CRESTOR is linked to one of the five most dangerous drugs at a congressional hearing, with the side effect of FDA David Graham named.

Gardasil and Cervarix vaccines

Gardasil HPV vaccine doesnt work for all virus strains require a booster and 56 girls death than of September in the United States alone.

Singulair and Accolate, leukotriene receptor antagonists

This leukotriene receptor antagonists saw never safe. And singulair Merck's best-selling drug is suspected, aggression, hostility, irritability, anxiety producing hallucinations and night terrors in children now.

To see the complete list of dangerous drugs, click on the link below.

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Best of aromatherapy news

The key to feeling more energetic and peaceful may be right in front of your face. Before you go crazy trying to figure it out – take a deep breath. Part of the solution is just breathing deeply. Now combine that action with essential oils derived from flowers, fruit rinds and leaves and you have a powerful natural remedy known as aromatherapy. My health promoting tip of the day is to inhale your way to a better state of mind.

Over the years, many people have adopted the point of view that “real medicine” needs to be unpleasant in order to be effective. On a cursory level this makes perfect sense. Think of all the bitter pills and horrible tasting cough syrups we’ve all endured at one time or another. Even benign-tasting medications often take on negative connotations because of related side effects. It’s really no wonder why we feel the way we do. Fortunately, this preconception is not always accurate.

Stopping to “smell the roses” isn’t just a commentary about how mankind should slow down long enough to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. It also speaks to the sensory stimulation that floral scents confer. The July 2010 issue of the journal Phytomedicine provides a recent illustration of how aromas can directly impact behavior and mood. A group of Brazilian researchers evaluated the psychological effects of an essential oil component, linalool, in mice. Linalool is a volatile monoterpene that is present in many aromatic plant species including citrus fruits and lavender flowers. The mice that inhaled linalool demonstrated a reduction in aggression, anxiety and an increase in social interaction. A separate experiment from May 2010 similarly found “acute anxiolytic activity” of sweet orange essence in agitated rats. (1,2,3,4)

Scientific studies involving animals can yield valuable data. However, human studies are always preferable. Thankfully, there have been several studies of late that have explored the influence of aromatherapy in human subjects.

A trial involving 340 dental patients revealed that disseminating a lavender odor at dental appointments significantly reduced anxiety levels as assessed by objective measures such as a State Trait Anxiety Indicator and a Modified Dental Anxiety Scale. (5)A hybrid form of lavender known as lavandin inhibited anxiety in 150 adult surgical patients. Researchers from United Hospital in St. Paul, MN stated that “lavandin is a simple, low-risk, cost-effective intervention with the potential to improve preoperative outcomes and increase patient satisfaction”. (6)Younger patients appear to respond equally well to essential oil interventions: a) the use of ginger and lavender oil was recently shown to decrease distress in children with and without developmental disabilities; b) the stress levels of 36 female high school students declined after inhaling bergamot oil – a type of orange oil known for its calming properties. Blood pressure, cortisol (a stress hormone) and pulse rate were statistically lower in the students receiving bergamot aromatherapy as compared to the placebo group. (7,8,9)

One trial even discovered positive effects of aromatherapy in elderly patients living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). A combination of lemon and rosemary oil was provided to the study participants in the morning. An essential oil blend consisting of lavender and orange was administered in the evening. Over the course of 28 days, a crossover study was performed in 28 men and women, 17 of whom were diagnosed with AD. All of the study volunteers benefited from the aromatherapy care, but only the patients with AD found significant improvements in a few specific measures of cognitive performance: the Gottfries, Brane, Steen Scale and the Touch Panel-type Dementia Assessment Scale. No side effects were noted during the aromatherapy portion of the trial. (10)

Aromatherapy May Reduce Anxiety and Blood Pressure

You may have noticed that the majority of studies involving aromatherapy tend to evaluate its potential in promoting a more relaxed state of mind. But what about the energy boost I mentioned in the opening paragraph? It’s important to keep in mind that anything that helps you to feel more relaxed has the potential to provide you with more energy. Anxiety and stress are “energy vampires”. The less reactive you are to the stressors in your life, the more energy you’ll have to live life as you please. I like to think of energy levels as a bank account. If you spend less on feeling anxious and stressed out, you’ll have more energy funds to use for other activities.

That said, if you still require more energy then you might have, consider experimenting with jasmine oil. A current study examined the effects of topically applied jasmine oil in 40 healthy volunteers. Those receiving the jasmine therapy exhibited an increase in breathing rate, blood oxygen saturation and diastolic and systolic blood pressure. The men and women also reported feeling more alert and more vigorous on the emotional front. The authors of the experiment concluded that, “our results demonstrated the stimulating/activating effect of jasmine oil and provides evidence for its use in aromatherapy for the relief of depression and uplifting mood in humans”. (11)

There are a number of ways to administer aromatherapy in your daily life. You can find diffusers and inhalers at many health food stores and online. Some people prefer carrying a small bottle of essential oil in a backpack or purse instead. They simply add a drop or two to a tissue and inhale it whenever they feel the need. But before embarking on a serious trial using essential oils, you should first determine how they affect you as an individual. I think beginners should start by experimenting in a controlled and safe environment such as your home. The last thing you want is to feel too relaxed or too stimulated while driving, at school or at work. Please remember than any substance powerful enough to alter your mind-set needs to be treated respectfully.

Update: December 2010 - The term essential hypertension refers to high blood pressure that has no identifiable cause. A paper published in the October 2010 issue of the Journal of the Korean Academy of Nursing reports that a specific blend of aromatic oils may help to address this prevalent condition. Researchers for the St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul, Korea enrolled 42 hypertensive participants in an experiment that assessed the effect of aromatherapy on aortic pulse wave activity, blood pressure and heart rate variability. Half of the group was asked to inhale a blend of aromatic oils consisting of a 2:2:1 ratio of lavender (Lavendula augustifolia), lemon (Citrus limonum) and ylang ylang (Cananga odorata) over a 3 week period. The placebo group was administered an “artificial lemon fragrance” as a comparison model. Both groups were asked to inhale the respective formulas twice-daily for two minute increments. The results of the trial indicate that only the aromatherapy oil group demonstrated noticeable differences in blood pressure and “sympathetic nerve system activity”. The findings suggest that this aromatic blend may be useful in instances of long or short-term stress that might otherwise trigger negative physiological reactions. (12)

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Some vitamins and their properties

Vitamins are of course in a variety of organic food produce including like meat, fish, fruit and vegetables found.  The human body is unfortunately could not be created or such vitamins from our own production.  We must get the right amount of vitamins by a healthy diet; such a diet plan work, maintain a healthy body and lifestyle.

In the fast paced world that we live, it is not always easy to consume the healthiest meals.  Heavy workloads and various other commitments, how do school it almost impossible, sit down at a substantial meal or to consume even our recommended five servings daily fruit and vegetables.

For this exact reason that many of us check investment in vitamin supplements to improve offer our diets to maintain the body with optimal recording these vitamins to a healthy body.

Without certain vitamins we can be many complaints of due to a deficiency in any one vitamin vulnerable.  Certain vitamins, been found to aid in the prevention and treatment of a range of problems such as food, stress, pollution, disease, alcohol, caffeine, drugs and sugar processed.  All the above mentioned complaints can rob your body of B vitamins.

Another need vitamin is urgent vitamin D, this element fat soluble is extremely important for our health and works, in order both to maintain a healthy complexion and the calcium to preserve levels in the blood.
Vitamin C is an another vitamin which should be consumed regularly whether this from other foods, or alternatively a vitamin supplement.  Such a vitamin can help fight the common cold, aid people with anemia and help with the recovery of sports traumas.

Milk thistle supplements are also ideal if you are looking to do a detox. Its antioxidant properties can help protect against damage to the liver.

Visit the online health shop Holland and Barrett today and find all best vitamins, minerals and supplements online.

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How are buy coke and Pepsi from charities

Not long ago, the charity save the children, a group of child health and development projects devoted to, was a strong advocate of soda control.  But that was poured from coke and Pepsi millions of dollars into their coffers.

Save the children rights "corporate donors support us but not press us." Our focus is children not soda tax policy. "

Write to AlterNet, suggests however, Marion Nestle another reason for your change of heart:

"A chance?"  I don't think so.  This is a clear win for companies, baking soda, like Coca Cola's sponsorship of the educational activities which was American Academy of family physicians.  "You can tell these activities do not include bet to give parents not to sodas for your children."

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Fact ' Shrooms send Santa and his reindeer flying?

Hallucinogens mushroom amanita muscaria. Harvard biologist Donald Pfister claimed that both the people and the reindeer eat the mushrooms. "Flying reindeer - are you fly, or are your senses say fly because you hallucinate are?" he says.

Children across the country on Christmas Eve are all nestled snug in their beds to hear the classic poem "The Night Before Christmas." There is a parallel tradition on the Harvard campus in this time of year. Students and faculty to collect the history of Santa Claus and hear the psychedelic mushrooms.

I stumbled across this curious blend of biology and Fable during a winter campus visit to Harvard's Farlow reference library and herbarium a few years ago.

Curator and Biology Professor Donald Pfister greeted me in a majestic room, filled with Vitrines, Folio and portraits. There is even a look in the room, the 1.5 million copies of fungi, algae, lichens, mosses and Liverworts a short tour - no time.

As we prepared to leave, we we turned a corner and there, in one case, glass was an odd choice of artifacts: Christmas decorations shaped as red mushrooms with white spots on you, amanita muscaria, by name. A Santa Claus there, dressed in his traditional red robe with white trim.

While I in this screen enigmatic, Pfister turned to a colleague, Anne Pringle, and mentioned that he planned his annual lecture on the connection between amanita muscaria make – which happens to be - a fungal hallucinogens and Santa.

Flying reindeer or 'Flying' reindeer?

He said that back in 1967 an amateur of scholar named R. Gordon Wasson published a book argued that amanita muscaria was used in ancient ceremonies of shamans in the far East. Other scholars, the then in should be noted that in Siberia, both were the shamans - and the reindeer - known that to eat these fungi. Human and animal alike hallucinates.

You can see the Christmas connections Pfister said.

"This idea [is] berserk to go the reindeer because you amanita muscaria food," said Pfister. "Flying reindeer - are you fly, or are your senses say fly because you hallucinate are?"

See the Christmas decorations here, he said.

"We use — the Western world at least - these have [the] amanita muscaria Christmas decorations or other mushrooms."

And finally, he said, check the color schemes.

"So here is a red mushroom with white spots." "And Santa Claus in red with white trim was dressed."

Add click all and what do you get? Pringle the points connected: "People fly." "The mushroom into a happy personalization named Santa."

She said with a laugh, but the connection between psychedelic mushrooms and the Santa story has gradually even in woven popular culture, at least the popular culture of Mycology, mushroom science.

Each year when Christmas close, Pfister collects students in its introductory Botany class and no doubt with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, tells the story of Santa and the psychedelic mushrooms.

Zoom AP

A copy of 1860 Clement Clarke Moore's poem "A visit from St. Nicholas," starting: "'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the House / no creature was stirring, not even a mouse."

AP of a 1860 copy of Clement Clarke Moore's poem "A visit from St. Nicholas," starting: "'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the House / no creature was stirring, not even a mouse."

The real Santa?

Now, some say that certain stories to wondrous are easy to make this magical season in question. Others have no such contrition, like Ronald Hutton, a history professor at the University of Bristol.

"If you look at the evidence of Siberian shamanism, I've done" Hutton said "see that shamans deal spirits by sled travel, not the rule with reindeer, rarely took the mushrooms to retrieve trances, didnt have red and white clothes."

And not even run around gifts distribute.

"The Santa we know and love, was invented by a New York, it's really true" Hutton said. "It was Clarke Moore, the work of Clement in New York City in 1822 who sanctify a medieval suddenly into a flying, reindeer-drive from the Northern spirit transformed Midwinter."

And Moore, brought to life that true love Santa Claus in his poem, "A visit from St. Nicholas," otherwise known as "The Night Before Christmas."

Science

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