Groonk's Newsmine 2.0: Health Archives

July 25, 2007

BLIND CLICK 14: Fat Map

20 years of USA's growing waistline...with graphics!

(via digg)

Posted by Groonk at 10:15 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

June 01, 2007

Today I Learned: Italian Doctors Grew a Biotech Vagina

Yes, from this day forth DESIGNER VAGINAS is the possibility.

Rome, May 30 - Italian doctors have built the world's first biotech vagina.
So far, two patients lacking vaginas because of a rare malformation have been helped to grow ones, using stem cells taken from their own bodies.

Vaginal tissue was grown from the cells and surgically grafted into the women's groins at Rome's Umberto I university hospital. In the first case, a 28-year-old woman received 0.3 square centimetres of mucous membrane a year ago and has since grown a vagina. She has married and is "in good health," doctors said Wednesday.

Day of wonders, I tell you.

(via ansa, warren ellis)

Posted by Groonk at 12:08 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Science

March 28, 2007

7d's doing a Relay for Life

He's doing it again, in fact. Now don't you feel worthless? he's out there doing things for other people. He's making their world spin a little brighter. And there you are shoving Cheetos in your hole.

Feel guilty yet?

Good.

Now cure that guilt the old fashinoned way...by giving away money.

If you sponsor 7d, YOU will be the ones making some other soul's world spin a little brighter and you won't even have to lift a finger.

That's what some call a win/win situation.

Fill yourself with awesome and win. Sponsor 7d on his Relay for Life for Cancer.

Posted by Groonk at 01:37 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

January 07, 2007

Man Survives 24 Days in 10C Temperature by Hibernating Naturally

Well, damn!

Mitsutaka Uchikoshi went missing on Mt Rokko in western Japan on October 7 after a barbecue with colleagues. Rather than joining them for the return trip by cable car, the 35-year-old decided to walk down the mountain, but lost his way, slipped in a stream and broke his pelvis.
"On the second day, the sun was out, I was in a field, and I felt very comfortable. That's my last memory," he said, shortly before being discharged from Kobe city general hospital on Tuesday. "I must have fallen asleep after that."

When a passing climber found him 24 days later, Mr Uchikoshi's body temperature had fallen to just 22C (72F), he had a barely discernable pulse and he was suffering from multiple organ failure and blood loss.

Doctors who treated Mr Uchikoshi believe he lost consciousness after his fall and that his body's natural survival instincts kicked in, sending him into a state akin to hibernation as the temperature on the mountain dropped as low as 10C.

"He fell into a state similar to hibernation and many of his organs slowed, but his brain was protected," Dr Shinichi Sato, head of the hospital's emergency unit, told reporters. "I believe his brain capacity has recovered 100%."

(via neilgaiman and guardian unlimited)

Posted by Groonk at 04:17 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Just Freaking Neat, Research, Science

August 25, 2006

Plan B: That Second Chance to Avoid a Big Mistake

It's been approved. Finally.

Women may buy the morning-after pill without a prescription - but only with proof they're 18 or older, federal health officials ruled Thursday, capping a contentious three-year effort to ease access to the emergency contraceptive.

Girls 17 and younger still will need a doctor's note to buy the pills, called Plan B, the Food and Drug Administration told manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. (BRL)

The compromise decision is a partial victory for women's advocacy and medical groups that say eliminating sales restrictions could cut in half the nation's 3 million annual unplanned pregnancies. Opponents have argued that wider access could increase promiscuity.

The pills are a concentrated dose of the same drug found in many regular birth-control pills. When a woman takes the pills within 72 hours of unprotected sex, she can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. If she already is pregnant, the pills have no effect.

The earlier it's taken, the more effective Plan B is. But it can be hard to find a doctor to write a prescription in time, especially on weekends and holidays. Hence the push to allow nonprescription sales.

Barr has said it hopes to begin nonprescription sales of Plan B by the end of the year. The pills will be sold only from behind the counter at pharmacies - so the pharmacist can check photo identification - but not at convenience stores or gas stations.

Posted by Groonk at 12:04 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

August 15, 2006

Depleted Uranium is Making US Soldiers Sick

Reed says he unknowingly breathed DU dust while living with his unit in Samawah, Iraq. He was med-evaced out in July 2003, nearly unable to walk because of lightning-strike pains from herniated discs in his spine. Then began a strange series of symptoms he'd never experienced in his previously healthy life.

At Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C, he ran into a buddy from his unit. And another, and another, and in the tedium of hospital life between doctor visits and the dispensing of meds, they began to talk.

"We all had migraines. We all felt sick," Reed says. "The doctors said, 'It's all in your head.' "

Then the medic from their unit showed up. He too, was suffering. That made eight sick soldiers from the 442nd Military Police, an Army National Guard unit made up of mostly cops and correctional officers from the New York area.

But the medic knew something the others didn't. Dutch marines had taken over the abandoned train depot dubbed Camp Smitty, which was surrounded by tank skeletons, unexploded ordnance and shell casings. They'd brought radiation-detection devices. The readings were so hot, the Dutch set up camp in the middle of the desert rather than live in the station ruins.

[...]

There are several studies on how it affects animals, though their results are not, of course, directly applicable to humans. Military research on mice shows that depleted uranium can enter the bloodstream and come to rest in bones, the brain, kidneys and lymph nodes. Other research in rats shows that DU can result in cancerous tumors and genetic mutations, and pass from mother to unborn child, resulting in birth defects.

Iraqi doctors reported significant increases in birth defects and childhood cancers after the 1991 invasion.

Iraqi authorities "found that uranium, which affected the blood cells, had a serious impact on health: The number of cases of leukemia had increased considerably, as had the incidence of fetal deformities," the U.N. reported.

Depleted uranium can also contaminate soil and water, and coat buildings with radioactive dust, which can by carried by wind and sandstorms.

The Department of Defense basically says it's "safe as houses." Maybe they should rephrase that to "safe as a house on fire on all sides."

(via wired news)

It will take years to determine how depleted uranium affected soldiers from this war. After Vietnam, veterans, in numbers that grew with the passage of time, complained of joint aches, night sweats, bloody feces, migraine headaches, unexplained rashes and violent behavior; some developed cancers.

It took more than 25 years for the Pentagon to acknowledge that Agent Orange -- a corrosive defoliant used to melt the jungles of Vietnam and flush out the enemy -- was linked to those sufferings.

It took 40 years for the military to compensate sick World War II vets exposed to massive blasts of radiation during tests of the atomic bomb. In 2002, Congress voted to not let that happen again.

Posted by Groonk at 03:29 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, War

June 26, 2006

Dirty Rats, Healthy Immunity

The clean and tidy rats in the shiny lab get sicker than the rough and tumble rats of the gritty world. More ammo for the hygiene hypothesis theory:

"Your immune system is like the person who lives in the perfect house and has all the food they want, you're going to start worrying about the little things like someone stepping on your flowers," Parker said.

Challenged immune systems -- such as kids who grow up with two or more pets -- don't tend to develop as many allergies, said Dr. Stanley Goldstein, director of Allergy & Asthma Care of Long Island.

(via wired)

Posted by Groonk at 12:41 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Science

June 08, 2006

Tennessee Athletes have Sight Enhancing Contact Lenses

The article originates from Brentwood,Tennessee which is not far from my humble abode. And by not far I mean a 2 hour tour.

When Camille Walters plays soccer, her normally brown eyes have a spooky red tint.

The 15-year-old wears tinted contact lenses that block certain wavelengths of light and help athletes see better. Oh, and they look cool, too.

"It gives me more confidence because you feel intimidating and bigger and stronger, kind of an ego-booster," said Walters, who plays for Father Ryan, a Catholic high school in Nashville, Tennessee.

Walters and a growing number of other athletes are wearing the MaxSight lenses, which were developed jointly by Nike Inc. and contact lens maker Bausch & Lomb Inc.

The lens -- large enough to extend a ring around the iris -- comes in two colors: amber and grey-green.

The amber lens is for fast-moving ball sports, such as tennis, baseball, football or soccer. Grey-green is better for blocking glare for runners or helping a golfer read the contour of the ground.

Professional athletes tested the lenses last year before they were rolled out for general sales.

One athlete claimed it was, "like wearing sunglasses outside."

(via digg)

Posted by Groonk at 02:03 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Science, Technology

The Case of the Laughing Yogi

Posted by Groonk at 12:58 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Health, Video

April 06, 2006

Woman given Seeing Eye-brain device, Calls herself "Robo-chick"

Some call her the bionic woman. Others call her a medical miracle. But Cheri Robertson has given herself another title:

"I just call myself the robo-chick."

Robertson is blind, but this device allows her to see, not with her eyes but with her brain! Fifteen years ago, she lost both of her eyes in a car accident. She was just 19 years old.

[...]

Neurosurgeon Kenneth Smith, M.D., of Saint Louis University School of Medicine, said the procedure is the first to reverse blindness in patients without eyes. "They are really seeing. The brain is getting impulses just like when you and I see."

A camera on the tip of Robertson's glasses sends signals to a computer that's strapped around her waist. The computer then stimulates electrodes in the brain through a cord that attaches to the head. Patients see flashes of light and outlines of objects.

I wonder what could power it?

Hmmmmm.

(via slashdot)

Posted by Groonk at 02:19 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Technology

March 30, 2006

The coming of the birds

California officials expect bird flu to arrive on the U.S. West Coast this summer in what could be the first sign in the United States of the deadly virus, which has already swept from Asia across Europe and down to Africa.

[...]

Officials said the virus was likely to be carried into either the east or west coast of the United States by migrating birds starting their journeys south, either from Alaska on the Pacific Flyway, or the Atlantic Flyway on the other side of North American continent.

They said some 60,000 birds, mostly waterfowl, would begin their migration south from Alaska in mid-August, working their way down through Oregon, Washington and into California.

Although both coasts have set up monitoring systems for any signs of the avian virus "we expect there will be access (to the United States) through Alaska rather than upstate New York," said Ryan Broddrick, director of the California Department of Fish and Game. He did not elaborate.

[...]

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt warned against panic when avian flu hits U.S. shores for the first time, saying it would not inevitably mean the start of a human pandemic.

[...]

But he warned states to lay the groundwork for possible human to human transmission. "There is clearly a lot of buzz (but) I worry there is not enough busy-ness," he said.

(via boingboing)

Posted by Groonk at 11:36 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

January 13, 2006

Nano-battery to power artificial retina

The center will design, model, synthesize, and fabricate nanomedical devices based on natural and synthetic ion transporters — proteins that control ion motion across the membranes of every living cell.

The first task for the center will be to design a class of devices for generating electric power — bio-batteries — for a wide array of implantable devices, starting with an artificial retina that has already been developed at the Doheny Eye Institute at the University of Southern California. The artificial retina and accompanying nanobattery will be used to correct certain types of macular degeneration.

Inching ever so closer to a world filled with Mek.

(via warren ellis)

Posted by Groonk at 06:38 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Nanotech

December 17, 2005

You've got AIDS!

Why not send that video of Peter Griffin singing his "You've got AIDS"(scroll down to download) song via email?

I could get any asshole friend to do that.

I mean, if you're gonna take the time to fuck somebody you can at least take the time, see them in person, and tell them that you truly "fucked" them.

E-mail sent through Web sites launched in Los Angeles and San Francisco is providing people with a free, sometimes anonymous, way to tell their casual sex partners they might have picked up more than they bargained for.

Los Angeles County health officials launched www.inspotla.org this week in a bid to reduce the rapidly rising spread of STDs by encouraging sexually active men and women to get tested.

"This is another opportunity for people to disclose STD exposure to partners because sometimes people don't always have that face-to-face opportunity, or that level of relationship," Karen Mall, director of prevention and testing at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said on Thursday.

"Partner disclosure is where we really have the opportunity to break the chain of HIV infection," Mall said.

(via 7d)

Posted by Groonk at 04:16 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Research, Sex, Technology

December 06, 2005

Changing Pandemics: From SARS to Bird Flu

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two years ago, as fears of a SARS pandemic spread, a San Diego biotech company aided by federal dollars rushed a promising vaccine out of the lab and into human testing.

But when Vical and the government wrap up the 15-person test next year, the drug is expected to end up on the shelf because the dreaded global epidemic never panned out.

Bird flu has now overtaken SARS as the No. 1 feared global death threat. As biotechnology companies suddenly refocus their profit mission to the new threat -- and investors drive stock prices to new highs -- some analysts wonder if these endeavors could face the same fate Vical met with its rapid response to severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

"There are so many unknowables and a lot of hype," said AG Edwards analyst Al Goldman. "The avian flu potential is something that you can't get your arms around because no one knows if -- or when -- a pandemic is going to happen."

The particular bird flu strain that now worries health officials has been around since 1997 and has killed 62 people worldwide since 2003, yet it hasn't acquired the genetic changes it needs to start spreading easily from person to person.

What's more, leading scientists now discount the notion that flu pandemics happen in regular intervals and that the world is overdue for a new one.

(via wired news)

Posted by Groonk at 11:04 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

December 02, 2005

Face / On

Surgeons in France claim to have performed the world’s first face transplant, although not of a whole face. A 38-year-old woman severely disfigured in May by a dog attack received a "partial" triangular graft, consisting of the chin, lips and nose from a dead woman donor.

"Today, the patient is in excellent general condition, and the graft is normal," the surgical team, led by Jean-Michel Dubernard of the Edouard Herriot Hospital in Lyon, said in a statement.

The operation was performed on Sunday 27 November at the University Hospital Centre (CHU) in Amiens, northern France, and the surgical team says further details of the procedure will be issued on 2 December.

The woman’s injuries were so severe that she could scarcely speak or chew. "This type of injury is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to repair by the usual maxillofacial surgical techniques," the statement says.

The breakthrough ends a race between teams in France, the US and Britain to perform the procedure first. "Now they’ve done it, I can breathe a sigh of relief," says Peter Butler, head of a team hoping to perform a similar procedure, but with a whole face, at the Royal Free Hospital in London, UK. "Now, the pressure’s off, which is great."

Heh. All that pressure to make a John Woo film come true.

If this keeps up, the entire world will be nothing but John Woo moments.

Hyperkinetic, choreographed action. Slow motion sequences. "Mexican Standoffs" galore.

You get my meaning.

(via new scientist)

Posted by Groonk at 11:03 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, On the French

November 13, 2005

Scientists have created a HIV Bacteria Barrier

Scientists have genetically modified bacteria living in the human body to produce chemicals that block HIV infection.

Although the research is still at an early stage, they hope it could eventually lead to a practical and cost effective new way to combat the virus.

[...]

Most HIV transmission occurs on the surfaces of the gut and reproductive areas which are normally coated with a layer of bacteria.

The researchers modified one of these bacteria - a form of E.coli - so that it began to secrete proteins that block HIV from infecting its target cells.

When the modified bacteria were introduced in mice, they successfully colonised parts of the lower gut, and were also found in lower concentrations in the vagina.

(via warren ellis)

Posted by Groonk at 10:00 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

October 05, 2005

US Mad Scientists Resurrect the Deadly 1918 Flu

...scientists in the US say they have recreated the influenza virus that killed at least 50 million people in 1918, and they have infected mice with it.

They say the need to understand how flu viruses cause lethal pandemics outweighs any safety risks. But the risks may not be negligible.

The scientists were then heard to cackle wildly as lightning flashed about their dank dungeon laboratory.

(via new scientist)

Posted by Groonk at 02:47 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Science

September 29, 2005

Is the AIDS Virus Weakening?

Keith Alcorn, senior editor at the HIV information charity NAM, said it had been thought that HIV would increase in virulence as it passed through more and more human hosts.

But the latest study suggested the opposite is actually true.

"What appears to be happening is that by the time HIV passes from one person to another, it has already toned down some of its most pathogenic effects in response to its host's immune system," he said.

"So the virus that is passed on is less 'fit' each time.

"This would suggest that over several generations, HIV could become less harmful to its human hosts.

"However, we are still far from that point - HIV is still a life-threatening infection."

(via bbc)

Posted by Groonk at 02:53 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

July 09, 2005

Nutrition Facts & Calorie Counter

There is so much stuff on nutritiondata.com that I don't know where to begin.

The secrets of weight loss....calories burned calculator....a pantry page that helps you keep track of your favorite foods and what they could possibly be doing to you....etc...etc...etc.
-Tons of hella good noise.

(healthiness via b55seddel)

Posted by Groonk at 03:44 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

April 19, 2005

Another Overstatement?

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that packing on too many pounds accounts for 25,814 deaths a year in the United States. As recently as January, the CDC came up with an estimate 14 times higher: 365,000 deaths.
The new analysis found that obesity - being extremely overweight - is indisputably lethal. But like several recent smaller studies, it found that people who are modestly overweight actually have a lower risk of death than those of normal weight.

(via mywaynews)

Posted by Groonk at 08:39 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

April 14, 2005

True Tales of the Cancer Vixen

As usual, The New York Times site makes you register. For those youyou who like to buck thesystem, go to bugmenot.com and get in hassle free.

In a six-page cartoon spread in the current issue of Glamour magazine, Mrs. Marchetto chronicles her 11-month bout with cancer, from the first mammogram to chemotherapy and radiation treatments, in poignant and comical detail. She argues with her mother (whom she dubs "smother"); cries an ocean of tears with a gaggle of best friends; questions God ("Hey you up there, how could you make me a bald, unhealthy, baggage-ridden bride?"); marries her long-time love, Silvano Marchetto, the wonderfully colorful, white-haired owner of Da Silvano; and dabbles in cabala.
[...]

In the cartoon version of her life, Cancer Vixen attends a fund-raiser for a breast cancer book and spots a woman who has covered her smooth pate with a chic silk scarf. "How stylish is that Pucci headwrap," she comments to a friend. "Maybe I should've gotten the heavier chemo."

Her friend warns her not to joke about such things. Moments later, two women with closely cropped hair accost Cancer Vixen, wondering why she still has long blond tresses.

"I-I-I did the lighter chemo," a shrinking Cancer Vixen stammers.

"Change your doctor! Change your protocol!" one woman screams in response.

"You have to be aggressive and bomb the hell out of your body. ...I did," the other adds.

"Some of the moments were not funny when they were actually happening to me," Mrs. Marchetto recalled. "But my mom would be, like, 'Material, material!' "

See a sample of the comic.

Rock on, Cancer Vixen. Rock on.

Posted by Groonk at 02:39 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Art, Health

March 22, 2005

Some Europeans HIV resistant

Only some of them are. Don't you kids go insane looking for crazy, uninhibited european sex.

"Devastating epidemics that swept Europe during the Middle Ages seem to have had an unexpected benefit - leaving 10% of today's Europeans resistant to HIV infection."
[...]

Duncan admits that his theory is difficult to prove. But he argues that the outbreaks are easier to explain if one assumes that plague was passed directly from person to person as a virus, rather than the 'bubonic plague' that was caused by bacteria carried by rats and their fleas. "Rats are absolutely in the clear for Europe," he argues.

(via boingboing)

Posted by Groonk at 03:03 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

March 02, 2005

Death of Optimus Prime...again

http://www.pcacoalition.org/pressroom/2005_optimus.php

I saw the Robot Chicken episode in question.

I'll leave it at that.

Posted by Groonk at 02:21 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

February 14, 2005

Impotent HIV could kill cancer cells

blockquote>US scientists hope to be able to use a harmless form of the Aids virus to seek and destroy cancer cells.

A University of California team found an "impotent" version of HIV, with the disease-causing parts of it removed, tracked down cancer cells in mice.

The next step would be to insert a gene into the virus that would kill the cancer upon contact.

The team told Nature Medicine more safety studies were needed before such a method could be tested in humans.

(via bbc news)

Posted by Groonk at 01:03 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

February 03, 2005

At the push of a button

...be happy.

LOS ANGELES - U.S. regulators have given conditional approval to Cyberonics Inc.�s application to market an implanted device to treat depression, the company said Wednesday.
The VNS Therapy System is a pacemaker-like device that delivers electrical impulses to the brain.

(via 7d)

Posted by Groonk at 05:54 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

January 10, 2005

Gene clue to HIV origin in humans

It appears that only a single change to the human gene is needed to enable it to block HIV infection.
The study, by the National Institute for Medical Research, is published in Current Biology.

The scientists say their work indicates that HIV would not have become established in the human population if mankind carried the same version of the gene found in rhesus monkeys.

Lead researcher Dr Jonathan Stoye said: "This discovery has significant implications for the development of effective gene therapy to combat Aids.

"In theory, it should be possible to take cells from an HIV-infected individual, make them resistant to HIV infection with the modified gene and reintroduce them into the patient. These cells could then block progression to Aids.

"Alternatively we could seek for drugs that activate the human gene against HIV."

[...]

"However, it is important to stress that any therapeutic benefits that may arise from this research are unlikely to be felt for many years.

"This type of gene therapy would involve removing white blood cells from patients, cloning them, and altering their genetic make-up before reintroducing them to the patient on an individual-by-individual basis.

(via warrenellis)

Posted by Groonk at 05:16 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

January 07, 2005

Genes key in HIV defense

The study found that people with more copies of the gene were less likely to develop HIV or full-blown AIDS. And while researchers found that black Americans as a whole had more copies than did whites, this didn't mean that whites were more prone to get the virus: Rather, susceptibility was determined more by how many copies people had in relation to others of the same race.
[...]

In addition, better knowledge about individual genetic defenses against HIV "could be used to make decisions about the tailoring therapy for individual persons," he said.

(via 7d)

Posted by Groonk at 05:19 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

January 05, 2005

Cancer Monthly

The website they developed has to be the best free information site I've come across in some time.

Michael and Rafaele Horwin's 2-year-old son Alexander died of brain cancer in 1999 after doctors administered what they said was the best treatment available. Despite the risk of side effects including infection, heart damage, lung damage, deafness, infertility and a second cancer, just to name a few, they trusted the doctors when they said this was the best option. Alexander's cancer quickly spread through his entire body, and he died four months later. The Horwins were horrified and angry to later discover studies that showed the same chemotherapy had hastened the deaths of hundreds of other children the same age with the same brain cancer.
Had they found this research earlier, they would have made different treatment choices, the Horwins believe. They hope Cancer Monthly, a free site they developed with friends, will help patients compare treatment options and find out whether they improved previous patients' quality of life.

Posted by Groonk at 03:17 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

Rapid Detox

Then one day Peterson was talking to a friend who mentioned a miracle treatment gaining popularity in the Los Angeles area. Doctors were anesthetizing addicts and using an intravenous drug cocktail to induce an almost instantaneous withdrawal from the heroin. Within 24 hours, an addict would be pronounced clean and sober. Peterson borrowed the $15,000 for the procedure from his family, shot up one last time, and headed for Orange County.
"The 12-step program is an outdated 20th-century concept," says Clifford Bernstein, an assistant clinical professor of anesthesiology at UC Irvine and medical director of the Waismann Institute, the nation's leading rapid detox center. "For 70 years, thanks to Alcoholics Anonymous, addicts have been told they're suffering from a spiritual problem. AA assumes that you can talk someone out of their addiction - which is ridiculous. Addiction is a medical problem. If somebody has cancer, you don't try to talk them out of their disease."

...like Lasik eye surgery in the 1990s, rapid detox is making the transition from experimental technique to standard procedure offered nationwide.

Posted by Groonk at 02:51 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

December 13, 2004

Use it or Lose it

The human body is different. As weightlifters know, the more that people use their muscles, the stronger they become. And unused muscles do not remain preserved; neglect causes them to waste away, or atrophy.
It's a remarkable response, one that scientists don't fully understand. Somehow, muscle cells "sense" how they're being used and then remodel themselves to better fit the task. How does this happen? And what exactly is it about exercise that triggers the changes?

Posted by Groonk at 05:15 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

December 09, 2004

Unplug

As technology's influence in the lives of young people becomes ever greater, a few teens and twentysomethings are unplugging - getting away from the Internet and other high-tech gadgets, at least for a while.
It's a backlash, experts say, to being hyper-accessible by e-mail, instant message, cell phone calls and text messages. People are spending more and more time in front of a computer screen or futzing with technological devices. Sometimes, they just need a timeout.

"It's like being lost in space. You get lost in the world of the Internet, games or multiple instant-message chats," says Michelle Weil, co-author of "TechnoStress: Coping with Technology @ Work @ Home @ Play."

She and fellow psychologist Larry Rosen wrote the book after noticing that more people were getting stressed out or fatigued by technologies that are supposed to make life easier.

Dave Greenfield, another psychologist who specializes in high-tech issues, knows the feeling well. He regularly carries a cell phone, a pager, an MP3 player for music, a laptop and a personal digital assistant, otherwise known as a PDA - and says that even he often feels overwhelmed.

"Until technology gets 'stupid simple,' equivalent to turning on a light or a television set, it's going to eat time and energy," Greenfield says. Too often, he says, we're wondering: "Do I have the right adapter? Or the right battery? Or cable?"

Just need a timeout, eh? No shit, Sherlock. That's kinda tough to do when your day job revolves around this bullshit. I mean, timeouts don't pay the bills, now do they?

via 7d

Posted by Groonk at 06:08 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

November 30, 2004

A weird thing, a good thing, and a return to normalcy

The weird:

Doting South Korean parents can preserve their child's umbilical cord in acrylic resin to make a personal seal or even have it gold plated.

In this Confucian society where family values are highly prized, suppliers also offer services for parents to have traditional Korean calligraphy brushes made from their child's hair.

Shim Jae-cheol of U&I Impression said the firm had gold-plated about 80 to 100 umbilical cords a month since starting business in August, with prices ranging from 80,000 won to 100,000 won ($76 to $96). It also offers mail order.

South Korean law allows parents to keep the umbilical cord of their children, although sales to a third party would be illegal.

The good:

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian phone company is offering customers the chance to blacklist numbers before heading out for a night on the town so they can reduce the risk of making any embarrassing, incoherent late-night calls.

A survey of 409 people by Virgin Mobile, a joint venture of The Virgin Group and Optus, found 95 percent made drunk calls.

Of those calls, 30 percent were to ex-partners, 19 percent to current partners, and 36 percent to other people, including their bosses.

Man, imagine how much time that'd save in apologies alone.

The return:

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - For Tirso Furcal, having a sixth finger projecting from one hand and an extra toe on each foot made life in his impoverished country, the Dominican Republic, even more difficult.

The condition made walking painful, caused the stone-polisher frequent injuries and blocked his hopes for better-paying work.

Now, thanks to the generosity of a hospital and surgeons in Jersey City, the extra digits have been removed and Furcal, 41, is healing quickly. Next week, he will return to his wife and three children in his village, Brisas de los Palemeras, a region where several other residents, mainly children, also have extra fingers and toes.

He should be wary of a man named Inigo Montoya.

all links via 7d

Posted by Groonk at 01:19 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Weird

November 02, 2004

The Girl Who Can't feel Pain

"Some people would say that's a good thing. But no, it's not," says Tara Blocker, Ashlyn's mother. "Pain's there for a reason. It lets your body know something's wrong and it needs to be fixed. I'd give anything for her to feel pain."
The untreatable disease also makes Ashlyn incapable of sensing extreme temperatures - hot or cold - disabling her body's ability to cool itself by sweating. Otherwise, her senses are normal.

Ashlyn can feel the texture of nickels and dimes she sorts into piles on her bedroom floor, the heft of the pink backpack she totes to school and the embrace of a hug. She feels hunger cravings for her favorite after-school snack, pickles and strawberry milk.

That's because the genetic mutation that causes CIPA only disrupts the development of the small nerve fibers that carry sensations of pain, heat and cold to the brain.

[...]

Ashlyn's father, a telephone technician, and mother, who holds a degree in physical education, were largely on their own in learning to cope with their daughter's strange indifference to injury.

Many things they couldn't anticipate. Ashlyn's baby teeth posed big problems. She would chew her lips bloody in her sleep, bite through her tongue while eating, and once even stuck a finger in her mouth and stripped flesh from it.

Family photos reveal a series of these self-inflicted injuries. One picture shows Ashlyn in her Christmas dress, hair neatly coifed, with a swollen lip, missing teeth, puffy eye and athletic tape wrapped around her hands to protect them. She smiles like a little boxer who won a prize bout.

What do you want to bet she turns into an adrenaline junkie a la Jakita Wagner.

Back to reality. I wonder how long various governments have been studying this affliction? Especially the military scientists.

via 7d

Posted by Groonk at 01:02 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Research, Science, Weird

October 27, 2004

Matching Donors

MatchingDonors.com helps patients in need of an organ transplant promote themselves and take an active role in the search for an organ. Being one of greater than 80,000 other people in the United States placed on an Organ Transplant Waiting List is only one way in achieving the goal of a transplant. Although it is obviously an important part in the search, patients have only a passive roll when waiting on this national list.

via 7d

Posted by Groonk at 02:01 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

October 15, 2004

HIV in monkeys 'blocked by drug'

Scientists believe they are a step closer to understanding how to block HIV transmission between men and women.
A US and Swiss team used an experimental drug to protect monkeys from their equivalent of the virus.

It appeared to stop transmission across the vagina by binding with a cell surface molecule called CCR5 to prevent the virus infecting other cells.

The authors told journal Science their work was in its early stages and no such drug was yet available for humans.

Posted by Groonk at 05:57 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

September 14, 2004

Moderate drinking can help heart patients

LONDON - Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol can cut further narrowing of the arteries in patients who have had heart surgery, researchers said on Tuesday. The benefits of drinking reasonable amounts of alcohol to reduce the risk of heart disease are well known, but scientists at Heidelberg University in Germany have shown that even after the damage has been done and repaired, alcohol has a protective effect.
In patients who had surgery to open up a blocked artery, alcohol cut the risk of restenosis, or re-narrowing of the treated artery, which occurs in 30-40 percent of patients in the first four months afterwards.

[...]
Forty-two percent of patients in the study who drank little or no alcohol needed a repeat angioplasty, compared to 23 percent in the group who consumed moderate amounts.

Niroomand said, though, that the results should not encourage people to take up or increase their drinking.

Posted by Groonk at 02:09 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

September 08, 2004

It's been linked

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Scientists say they've identified a gene that appears to be linked to both alcoholism and depression, a finding that may one day help identify those at higher risk for the diseases and guide new treatments.
Previous studies of twins and adopted siblings have suggested there likely are genes in common underlying alcoholism and depression, and that the two disorders seem to run in families. But the lead researcher of the new study says this is the first report of a specific gene that seems to increase risk for both disorders.

link via 7d

Posted by Groonk at 08:52 PM | Comments (1) | Ministry of Health

August 31, 2004

8 years later, man's HIV diagnosis is wrong

SAN FRANCISCO Aug. 29, 2004 � A California man who once tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS has learned the diagnosis made eight years ago was mistaken and he never had the disease.
Jim Malone spent years battling depression and losing weight, expecting to die at any time. He attended support group meetings and accepted free meals from an AIDS charity.

Malone's main doctor, Richard Karp, acknowledged the error in an Aug. 4 letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs clinic where Malone was treated. "As his primary care provider, I take full responsibility," the doctor wrote.

Malone, who is gay and has lost friends to AIDS, said he is relieved but angry at his doctor.

Posted by Groonk at 04:19 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Weird

August 04, 2004

Monster page of Restaurant links

The BIG PAGE of Restaurant Links is exactly as advertised.

One huge honking page of restaurant URLs.

He even marked the low carb restaurants with an asterisk(*).

Link via MedicMike

Posted by Groonk at 08:16 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture, Health

July 22, 2004

Listing allergens

WEDNESDAY, July 21 (HealthDayNews) -- Food manufacturers will soon be required to radically change their labeling practices and list ingredients -- and, especially, what allergies they can trigger -- in plain English.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed by voice vote the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act, a bill the Senate previously approved. If the bill clears a conference committee, President Bush is expected to sign it.

"We're ecstatic. This is an outgrowth of work we've been doing for 13 years with the food industry and six years with Congress," said Anne Munoz-Furlong, CEO and founder of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN). "We believe this will make a tremendous difference to Americans with food allergens."

via 7d

Posted by Groonk at 03:50 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

July 21, 2004

Krispy Kreme announces a do-nut flavored drink

I feel all of my fat cells readying themselves for a population explosion.

boingboinged

Posted by Groonk at 03:23 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

July 17, 2004

Transform

Thinking on making my mountain bike transform into a road bike and back again. Looks like it's possible.

Posted by Groonk at 06:46 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

July 07, 2004

Soda is bad for you

An article that states the obvious in a decent fashion.

Many experts will tell you the worldwide rise in obesity matches up nicely to our insatiable thirst for more and more sugared soft drinks.
FACTOID: Twenty years ago teens drank twice as much milk as soda pop. Now they drink twice as much soda pop as milk.

Posted by Groonk at 03:35 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

June 28, 2004

Just do it, eh?

MedicMike shared some workout motivationals. Which in actuality are Nike advertisements. I'll be damned if I don't like them, too.

They don't sway me to buy shoes though.

Why do I run?
They said I was the best high school runner in the last 20 years.

Then they said I was washed up and burned out.

Finished.

I know what I was.
I know what I am.

You know what they're saying now? Me neither.

We especially like that last sentence.

Now if I only had a printer.

Posted by Groonk at 05:50 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Marketing

May 27, 2004

MTV not advertising 'Super-Size Me'

Everybody knows fast-food is bad for you. No reason in trying to hide that fact Mr Corporation.

You are bullshit MTV(Viacom), you know it and everybody else knows it. If you keep pushing fast-food junk on your channel, you won't have any insanely atheletic people left to air on your increasingly lame-ass shows.

Ok, I'm done. Now go read the article.

'Super Size Me' distributors say Viacom unit claims ads disparage fast-food chain; network denies.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Cable network MTV refused to air advertisements for documentary "Super Size Me," a critical look at the health impact of a fast-food-only diet, the film's distributors said Wednesday.

Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films said in a statement the cable TV channel targeted to young audiences told them the ads are "disparaging to fast-food restaurants."

An MTV spokeswoman disputed the claim and said the network was willing to run the commercial but the distributors turned it down. She did not provide details of the negotiations.

[...]

For "Super Size Me," director Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but food from McDonald's restaurants over a 30-day period, and if asked whether he wanted the larger, "supersize" meal, he always said yes.

Over the month, he gains weight and his health declines. Documenting the impact are not only the cameras but also his doctors. Spurlock mixes in various facts and figures about food and dieting as he travels the United States talking to health and food experts in 20 cities.

Posted by Groonk at 12:13 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

May 20, 2004

Tiny, tiny bites

via 7d

An Atlanta company plans to begin selling a dental device that fits in your mouth and forces you to take smaller bites.
It could help you lose weight -- as long as you actually use it when you eat. The gadget isn't permanently attached, so you can leave it out and wolf down big bites anytime you want.

But Scientific Intake believes its DDS System is more palatable than a strict diet or surgery. The company expects to begin selling its devices Wednesday for about $400 apiece.

Posted by Groonk at 10:10 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

May 12, 2004

Quick fix dieting schemes

The 1oz mypetfatTM fat replica works like tying a string around your finger to remind you to THINK before you eat. Hold it in your hand when making food choices and it will make you conscious of the fat you want to get off of your body and the fat that you want to avoid putting on your body.

May 03, 2004

Winslet upset over "I Want a Famous Face"

Winslet says she felt it was her duty to watch the show, but admits within minutes she was "crying in horror." "This girl had collected magazine covers with me on the front," she recalls. "And she was saying, 'I really want to have Kate Winslet's breasts. Just look at how well-shaped they are, pert and soft.' And I thought, No, darling, my breasts don't look like that. I've had two kids. It's a digitally altered image!"
Last year, GQ admitted to airbrushing a cover photo of the fabulously curvaceous Winslet to make her appear leaner. In the interview accompanying the controversial picture, the actress insisted, "I'm certainly not a sex symbol who doesn't eat."

As for MTV's subject, Kate says she doesn't see any post-op resemblance, despite the extreme measures. "I certainly don't have breasts remotely like those she ended up with," says Winslet. "Trust me. She had slabs of her stomach taken out. Liposuction! What the f*** is going on?"

What indeed, Ms Winslet. What indeed.

I like the fact that Winslet is honest about the whole thing. That show is twisted.

via MedicMike

Posted by Groonk at 11:21 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

April 16, 2004

Adult Happy Meals?

This meal ain't that happy.

By DAVE CARPENTER
CHICAGO (AP) - Striving for a healthier image in the age of obesity, McDonald's is rolling out new Happy Meals specially for adults with salad, bottled water and pedometers - and coming soon for the kids, fresh fruit instead of fries.
Now it's up to the patrons of Big Macs and fries to decide how big an appetite they have for a healthier McDonald's, which unveiled its latest low-fat offerings Thursday as part of a new marketing blitz.

"If I want to eat healthy, I'll eat at home," said 33-year-old Chuck Horton as he lunched at a crowded McDonald's in Garrisonville, Va.

I hear ya, man. The food's cheaper at home and, in most cases, better. But even I'm not immune to Mickey D's fries. Their must be some kind of gluttony spell on those things.

via 7d

Posted by Groonk at 09:17 AM | Comments (2) | Ministry of Health

April 14, 2004

The Bedbugs return

Bedbugs are on the increase in many developed countries, including the UK, research has found.

The tiny blood-sucking insects were thought to have been virtually eradicated two decades ago.

But an expert writing for the Institute of Biology believes they may have developed resistance to pesticides.

Since 1995 there has been an unexpected increase in reports of infestation in Britain, the US and other developed countries.

Posted by Groonk at 04:36 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

March 26, 2004

Examining the data

I still think they're looking in the wrong places for answers to the obesity question.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Re-searchers say they've found more evidence of a link be-tween a rapid rise in obesity and a corn product used to sweeten soft drinks and food since the 1970s.
The researchers examined consumption records from the U.S. Department of Agricul-ture for 1967-2000 and com-bined it with previous research and their own analyses.

The data showed an in-crease in the use of high-fruc-tose corn sweeteners in the late 1970s and 1980s "coinciden-tal with the epidemic of obesi-ty," said one of the research-ers, Dr. George A. Bray, a long-time obesity scientist with Lou-isiana State University Sys-tem's Pennington Biomedical Research Center. He noted the research didn't prove a defini-tive link.

Posted by Groonk at 03:04 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

India's Poor Turn to Quacks

This vaguely reminds me of the situation in a America during the mid to late 1800s.

BHOMATAWARA, India � The sturdy little public clinic in this poor, sickly village was locked up one recent afternoon, but that is nothing remarkable. Rampant absenteeism among government doctors and nurses is an open secret across India and much of the developing world, and they virtually never get in trouble for not showing up.
"Sometimes the nurse is here, sometime she's not," said Nagji Lal Pandore, a skinny old man in a saffron turban. "Sometimes she has medicines, sometimes she doesn't. Why take a chance?"

So, like many people here, his family has turned to amateur private "doctors" who have regular hours and plentiful medications to sell.

His daughter-in-law Shanti Bai, 30, went to such a doctor for a fever six months ago. He gave her an injection. The next day, she was dead and her children motherless.

via 7d

Posted by Groonk at 02:57 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

March 13, 2004

FDA asks for better labels

The FDA has stepped up their invovlment, barely.

By Lauran Neergaard The Associated Press * Changing food labels to list calories in larger type, easier to see at a glance, and to list the percentage of consumers' daily allotment of calories a serving of each food brings. The FDA wouldn't say how soon it would propose regulations necessary for that change.
* Making foods like chips and soft drinks, which most people eat all at once even though they contain two or more "servings," list the product's total calories. For example, 20-ounce soft drinks today are labeled as having 2 1/2 servings and 110 calories per serving, requiring consumers to compute total calorie consumption.
The FDA wrote food makers Friday urging that they make that change immediately, although it's not mandatory.

* Urging all restaurants to list calories on menus.
Most of the FDA's recommendations are voluntary, which lets businesses off the hook at the expense of Americans' health, complained Michael Jacobsen of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Posted by Groonk at 07:09 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

March 11, 2004

Hefty price tag

Also be mindful of what your eating.

The Rand report coincides with the release of new data underscoring the human toll of obesity. Poor diet and physical inactivity caused 400,000 deaths in 2000, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday.
Only tobacco use caused more deaths -- 435,000 in 2000. Yet tobacco fatalities rose just 9 percent from 1990, while deaths caused by poor eating and a sedentary lifestyle jumped 33 percent over the same period.

Posted by Groonk at 02:59 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

HIV warnings issued in the South

Be mindful of who you're screwing, kids:

ATLANTA - (AP) -- Federal health officials are urging Southern states to be vigilant for signs of campus HIV outbreaks like the one that recently surprised health officials in North Carolina.
But so far, little has been done. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it doesn't have the money to do widespread testing.

Meanwhile, officials worry that unwitting infected students will spread the AIDS virus across the country when they return to their hometowns during class breaks or after graduation.

Posted by Groonk at 02:56 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health, Sex

March 04, 2004

Go climb a tree

Via 7d:

Tree climbing is gaining followers at a time when other gravity-testing pursuits like rock-wall scaling and mountain climbing have surged in popularity. But while "summiting" a tree involves similar feats�conquering fears and getting a vigorous upper-body workout�Jenkins describes it as a more peaceful experience: man communing with nature as opposed to struggling against it. "You don't have this feeling of being exposed," says Jenkins, who notes that participants are always on-rope, even when they go to bed for the night. "It isn't like being on a cliff or a ledge. It's really calming." Parents frequently go on day climbs with their children. One 81-year-old man did an overnight with his 18-year-old grandson.

It's national and international.

Posted by Groonk at 02:13 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health

March 03, 2004

Worry vs Reality

A few things to think on from 7d:

* We have a greater fear of human-made risks than natural risks (such as radiation from nuclear waste exposure, which is rare, rather than from sun exposure, which is common).
* Voluntary risks such as smoking, poor diet, dangerous forms of recreation are seen as less threatening than risks over which we may not have direct control, such as air pollution or someone else's drunk driving.

* We have a greater fear of risks from unknown or untrusted sources. "Imagine being offered two glasses of clear liquid," Ropeik and Gray write. "One comes from Oprah Winfrey. The other comes from a chemical company. Most people would choose Oprah's, even though they have no facts at all about what's in either glass."

Everyone should watch Bowling for Colombine for a handful of more examples on Americans preconcieved fears being played on by the media at large.

Posted by Groonk at 10:50 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Health