Anti Aging Cream

We are at it again with another sponsored review. Although I am always skeptical of what seem like promises that could never be kept, I do have some confidence that there is a basis of truth in anti aging treatments particularly creams.

Looking deeper at the subjects there is some medical backing for most anti aging creams making me have some confidence they have an ability to make you look younger. Today the site is Methods of Healing Anti Aging Cream.

Currently the web site is offering $50 and $100 promotions off of their products. Their creams offer a money back offer and contain a variety of contents including Shea Butter which is often used to relieve stretch marks and scars as well as Skin Tightener which as its name most surely implies aids in tightening the skin removing sags and renewing your youthful complexion.

For anti aging cream be sure to visit our sponsor.

PHLawFirm.com

We were served up another request for a site review and we were happy to do it. Up this week is PHLawFirm.com. The PH stands for Paglialunga & Harris (a mouthful I know) who are a law firm specializing in serious personal injury and civil rights law. Obviously the personal injury is more pertinent to this blog so we'll focus on that.

The company specializes in cases in Seattle and Washington state. While scanning the site I found they have embraced web 2.0 and run a blog covering some major cases. Some cases they have settled or that are pending include Ortho Evra Birth Control Patch cases, medical malpractice, benzene exposure in sunscreen, a case about dangerous defibrillators.

The site, although not official legal advice, has lots to offer listing what I surmise as nearly all of their major legal cases many of which are medical related and are a good read to learn about some pressing issues in the medical world today. I highly recomend checking the law firm out as a possible legal entity if you reside in the Seattle area but a good medical law encyclopedia for others. Visit PHLawFirm.com.

Cervical Cancer Vaccine Push To Be Stopped

Merck, the drug maker of the new cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil will stop pushing for mandatory vaccination of young girls. Mandatory vaccination programs have been widely criticized, particularly in Texas where such a plan was instituted.

Instead, the drugmaking giant will continue education on the drugs benefits but stop short of pushing it to be mandatory. Here is a blurb from the CNN on the drugs affects:

"The company reaffirmed it continues to expect combined revenue this
year of $2.8 billion to $3.2 billion from its array of vaccines,
including ones to prevent shingles and infections with rotavirus."

Technorati Tags: medical, health, wellness, cancer, cervical+cancer, gardosil, merck, drugs, government, media, news, lobbying, pharmaceuticals

Genetic Autism Links Uncovered

Autism, a still relatively unknown disorder in a world of medical knowledge, is known a little more known. In the biggest Autism and genetics study in history two new genetic links may have been uncovered that cause a child to be at greater risk for the disorder. The study postulated that many more minor factors all contributed to a child having or not having the disorder while it was previously thought that one or a few larger disorders were behind it.

It is the hopes of the entire medical community that by finding out what causes Autism that we will be able to effectively develop a form of treatment for it. A new project has been announced that will hope to map the genetics of the disorder to find what factors affect its presence and severity. This particular study focused on families with two or more children with Autism so gene comparison could determine similar characteristics between the two.

For those unfamiliar with Autism it is not a singular disorder but rather a series of disorders that range in severity from person to person and that are caused or at the very least influenced by genetics and the environment. It occurs in very young children (typically 2-3 years old) and affects 400% more boys than girls. As more research has become available most feel a majority of the causes of Autism-linked traits are indeed genetic, which in turn means they will likely be harder to treat than environmentally linked causes.

[via CNN]

Technorati Tags: medical, medicine, disorders, autism, traits, children, disorder, mental+health, causes, health, wellness, environment, genetics, cures

New Study Indicates Video Games and Surgeons a Good Mix

In an interesting and quirky study, researchers have found that Surgeons who play video games are more skilled and dexterous at performing a specific type of surgery. The study will be published in the February issue of Archives of Surgery and confirms previous reports that playing video games helps hand eye coordination and precision skills. The study focused on the fine laparoscopic surgery.

Perhaps most surprising was that the scores on the test showed video games improved a surgeon's skills more than both training or experience. I think this has been thrown around a lot in recent years that video games do help but, despite the medical field being "cutting edge", gaps still exist, specifically in training and changing tactics. I think this shows that perhaps some sort of new curriculum should be added like a "virtual operation" of sorts where the surgeon must perform surgeries that are harder than real life ones in order to boost their skills.

Of course, researchers may be able to analyze this even further by looking at the types of games the surgeons have played and how that relates, if at all, to the increased scores. Detailed analysis may lead to a recommended set of games for surgeons to play to keep their skills sharp. Here are some raw numbers from the study:

"Out of 33 surgeons from Beth Israel Medical Center in New York that participated in the study, the nine doctors who had at some point played video games at least three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, performed 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better in the test of surgical skills than the 15 surgeons who had never played video games before."

This is one of the few studies that has actually focused on the good behaviors video games can influence and supports previous research on the topic.

[via CNN]

Technorati Tags: medical, surgery, video+games, motor+skills, scores, health, wellness, accuracy, medical+errors

Med News: January 12th, 2007

• Scientists Decode Tiny STD Bug With Huge Genome
• House Set To Vote On Medicare Bill To Negotiate Lower Drug Prices
• Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome: Recurring And Unexplained Episodes Destroy Teeth
• Leading Cause Of US Food-borne Illness Makes Its Own Pathway Through Cells
• How Lifestyle Affects Heart Disease Explored By American Journal Of Lifestyle Medicine From SAGE
• Swishing With Mouthrinse Poses No Harm To Dental Work
• Bilingualism Has Protective Effect In Delaying Onset Of Dementia By Four Years, Canadian Study Shows
• New Molecular Pathway Could Reveal How Cells Stick Together
• Potential 'Off-Switch' For HIV Virus Found By Scientists

Tags: web, medical, news, medicine, health, diet, wellness, healthy, travel, goverment, united states, politics, science, scientists, STD, genome, house, medicare, drugs, vomiting, teeth, heart disease, hiv

Hoodia Diet Pills

Hoodia is a new diet supplement of the market that touts weight loss without dieting. The wikipedia page for hoodia has more about the supplement and its scientific backing and health benefits. Hoodia is the newest supplement to hit the market to suppress appetite but from everything I have read it may have some scientific backing.

Hoodia diet pills are an all natural and safe appetite suppressant with no side effects. Although hoodia pills are largely unproven the fact that they do not have side effects means they can be taken whether they benefit you or not. Overall hoodia appears to be a very promising drug although much more scientific testing and drug trials are needed to either confirm current drugs, make recommendations to improve drugs, or debunk its effects.

Post Traumatic Stress Linked to Heart Disease

A study of combat veterans living in Greater Boston, Massachusetts has found a link between post traumatic stress severity and increased risk of coronary heart disease in older men.

The study is published in the Archives of General Psychiatry and was conducted by scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health with the collaboration of colleagues from Boston and Harvard.

The researchers looked at a total of 1,996 records of men in the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study. The men had completed one of two well-known questionnaires for assessing Post Traumatic Test Disorder (PTSD); one group (944 men) in 1986 and the other (1,002 men) in 1990.

They correlated the results against the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD, fatal and non-fatal heart attack or stroke, and angina) in the two groups up to May 2001.

The two PTSD questionnaires were the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PTSD (35 questions) and the Keane PTSD scale (46 questions).

Overall, the two groups showed low to moderate symptoms of PTSD, but there was a significant association between symptom severity and later onset of CHD - the more severe the symptoms, the greater the risk of CHD later in life.

For every significant step up in symptoms (one standard deviation in the statistical spread of the data) there was a significant increase in CHD risk: 21 per cent if you include angina, 26 per cent if you don't. Also, the results were the same when depressive symptoms were taken into account.

The researchers believe this to be the first study to show a link between PTSD severity and later onset of CHD, regardless of whether the participants are depressed or not.

When we have PTS our body overreacts to things that other people just shrug off or find mildly irritating. For instance a sudden loud noise can provoke an exaggerated startle response with increased heart rate, sweaty palms, shortness of breath and feelings of panic and helplessness.

A person with PTS discharges more adrenalin in the course of a day than a "normal" person. It is thought this increases the wear and tear on the cardiovascular system.

Questionnaire-based tests of PTS assess symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks, headaches and feelings of panic.

An emerging area of PTS is what is becoming known as STSD - or secondary traumatic stress disorder. Some of the helping professionals who provided support for the victims of 9/11, for example, have been diagnosed with this. They were not involved in the tragedy directly, but by being "vicariously" involved, listening to the stories of the victims and empathising with their feelings, they have developed a sort of PTS with some of the same symptoms - nightmares, intrusive thoughts, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.

PTS affects us on a deeply psychological level too - it shakes our innermost beliefs and our sense of self. What we previously thought was a mostly safe world with a few bad things in it suddenly becomes a mostly bad world with very little good in it.

The spiritual impoverishment that comes from such a reversal causes a complete shift in personality. Lively, warm-hearted, charming people become frightened, depressed and moody through PTSD. Our natural inclination is to keep away, to shun and avoid them. But perhaps what they need most is for us to hang in there, not in a gushing do-gooder sense, but with a light touch, a smile and more than the usual degree of acceptance and tolerance.

Written by: Catharine Paddock
Writer: Medical News Today

Tags: web medical news, medical, news, study, stress, post traumatic stress, heart, heart disease

New Substance Reduces Risk of Cavities

A new material for filling teeth that releases hydroxyl ions and a preventive gel with buffering substances can both effectively neutralize the acid produced in tooth plaque, even after being in the mouth for a long period. This has been shown by Anitha Persson at Umeå University in Sweden.

Caries, or tooth decay, both in connection with fillings in adult individuals and in the form of new cavities among the aging population of Sweden, is a growing problem. Preventing caries is one of the chief objectives of dental care today.

Anitha Persson has studied two ways of neutralizing the acid formed in tooth plaque following the ingestion of carbohydrates. This would prevent new caries attacks.

A new material for filling cavities proved to be capable of effectively neutralizing acid production in plaque, even after a long period in the patient’s mouth. Regular application of a fluoride gel containing buffering substances should be able to inhibit caries in elderly patient, unless they suffer from dryness of the mouth.

Swedish Research Council
www.vr.se

Original Article

Tags: health, diet, chemistry, study, substance, cavities, cavity, teeth, dentist, dentistry, news, wellness, prevention, healthy

Study Finds The Air Rich With Bacteria

Want biodiversity? Look no further than the air around you. It could be teeming with more than 1,800 types of bacteria, according to a first-of-its-kind census of airborne microbes recently conducted by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

The team used an innovative DNA test to catalog the bacteria in air samples taken from the Texas cities of San Antonio and Austin. Surprisingly, they found a widely varied bacterial population that rivals the diversity found in soil. They also found naturally occurring relatives of microbes that could be used in bioterrorist attacks - although many of these relatives are harmless.

“Before this study, no one had a sense of the diversity of the microbes in the air,” says lead author Gary Andersen of Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division.

The research, which will be published this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, serves two purposes. It paves the way for regional bacterial censuses that will help a Department of Homeland Security bioterrorism surveillance program differentiate between normal and suspicious fluctuations in airborne pathogens. It will also help scientists establish a baseline of airborne microbes, which they can use to track how climate change affects bacterial populations.

“We want to determine the background levels of airborne pathogens and other microbes because only very limited work has been conducted on cataloging organisms in the air,” says Andersen. “This work underscores how much we don’t know about airborne bacterial populations, or where the bacteria come from.”

In the past, scientists relied on bacterial cultures to determine what microbes are present in an air sample. In this method, the culture media is exposed to the sample, and whatever grows is counted. Unfortunately, this approach leaves out all of the organisms that can’t survive in the culture, which in some cases is as much as 99 percent of the bacteria in a sample.

In this census, however, Andersen and colleagues used a vastly more comprehensive test developed by Todd DeSantis, who is also with Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division. Their DNA microarray probes air samples for a gene involved in making proteins, called 16S rRNA, which is found in all bacteria. The square-shaped microarray, which is called PhyloChip and is roughly the size of a quarter, can detect up to 9,000 different types of this gene, each unique to a different type of bacteria. The microarray is sensitive enough to differentiate among these thousands of gene sequences, meaning it can analyze an air sample and list every type of organism present.

To conduct the study, daily air samples were taken at several locations in San Antonio and Austin over a 17-week period. The samples were sent to Berkeley Lab where they were analyzed by the microarray. It found 1,800 types of bacteria, including some pathogens, wafting in the air over the two cities. This diverse population matches the complexity of soil populations, which is considered to be one of the richest habitats for microbes.

The scientists also sought to determine whether background levels of airborne bacteria change from city to city, or are generally the same throughout a region. To explore this question, they chose Austin and San Antonio because the two cities have similar population densities, elevation and topography, and they are only about 100 kilometers apart. After taking into account these common characteristics, they determined that the two cities shared a similar microbial composition.

“This gives us hope that we can eventually develop a regional airborne microbial census, perhaps even a nationwide or global census,” says Andersen. “This will also help us determine the sources of airborne bacteria. Does it come from nearby farms and water treatment plants, or is it imported by the wind from another state or country?”

The team also determined that location was not as strong a source of microbial variation as time and weather. Specifically, the time of the year during the 17-week testing period was the most significant source of variation, followed by atmospheric conditions. For example, warmer and dryer conditions led to increased amounts of spore-forming bacteria.

“This information may help explain temporal spikes, which is important in bioterror surveillance,” adds Eoin Brodie, also with Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division. “A spike may not be due to a biological attack, but to normal weather fluctuations that draw bacteria up from their natural reservoir.”

In this way, bacterial censuses can help explain whether a pathogen’s presence is natural or indicative of a biological attack. In one example, the team detected relatives of Francisella tularensis, a naturally occurring bacterium that causes tularemia, also known as rabbit fever. This especially potent bacterium is a possible candidate as a bioterror weapon. But it’s also very common. Tularemia has been reported in all U.S. states except Hawaii. This natural background can confound the detection of a terrorist attack and trigger false alarms. The trick is to determine whether the amount of F. tularensis detected in an air sample is in synch with normal levels, or if it’s suspicious.

“Almost all of the bacterial bioterror pathogens are in the environment and in the air naturally, so we need to find their natural backgrounds,” says Andersen.

An airborne bacterial census will also enable scientists to track how climate change impacts the microbial composition of the atmosphere. This process is already occurring. Wind-blown dust and biomass from Africa’s expanding Sahara desert are reaching North America in significant quantities. Recent research links this dust to an increase in asthma cases in the Caribbean.

“We need to determine what’s in the air, so we can determine how climate change affects microbial diversity,” says Andersen. “We found that there are a lot of airborne bacteria, including pathogens, which we did not know are out there.”

“Urban aerosols harbor a diverse and dynamic bacterial population” is published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In addition to Andersen, Brodie and DeSantis, fellow Earth Sciences Division scientists Jordan Moberg, Ingrid Zubietta, and Yvette Piceno contributed to the research. The research was funded by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy.

Contact: Dan Krotz
DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory


Tags: science, health, air, study, Berkeley, bacteria, disease, conditions, microbes, bioterror, sample, terrorism, news