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Self-Managing Cholesterol
By David Spero As a recent study indicates, reducing LDL (“bad" cholesterol) can help prevent complications in most people with diabetes. Why is LDL cholesterol a bad thing, and how do you get to a healthy level? First, what is cholesterol? Discovered in 1769 by analyzing gallstones, cholesterol is a fat-like organic chemical that is an essential part of animal cell membranes. Without it, cells won't function properly. Cholesterol is made into bile, which is needed for digesting fats. It is also helps produce the body's natural steroids, including our sex hormones and the vital stress hormone cortisol. Cholesterol ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - May 15, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs

Stuck In A Chicago Suburb!
Ugh. Being stuck in the house all day, day after day, week after week, is just not healthy! Especially when the weather looks so nice outside! A nice surprise was that as everything started turning green and the lawn care company came to maintain our lawn, slowly tulips began peeking their way out of the garden bed and have bloomed! When you buy a house in the middle of winter that is covered in inches of snow, you have absolutely NO IDEA what you are getting yard-wise. We have some very, very pretty trees - some flowering, tulips in several flower beds, bushes, but for some rea...
Source: bipolar.and.me - May 14, 2013 Category: Mental Illness Source Type: blogs

Viagra and other risky drugs are often the secret ingredients in 'natural' sex supplements
Think "natural" sex supplements are safer than prescription drugs like Cialis and Viagra? In many cases, the answer is no, and for a simple reason: The supplements sold online are often spiked with the real thing. Those adulterated supplements can actually be more dangerous than the drug, since supplements are largely unregulated, the dosages often vary widely, the side effects are unanticipated, drug interactions are common, and you take them without the oversight of a physician. Over the past five years, the Food and Drug Administration has identified hundreds of products sold as supplements that were adulterated wit...
Source: Consumer Reports Health Blog - May 14, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: pododo Tags: Health Natural Health Vitamins & Supplements Source Type: blogs

To Many Anti-Smoking Advocates, Nicotine is the Problem, Rather than Disease and Death
According to an article in the Toledo Blade, electronic cigarettes have helped many smokers to quit, producing profound health benefits among patients with COPD and cancer who were unable to quit using traditional methods.While this seems like something to applaud, the article notes that health officials are frowning upon, rather than praising, the tremendous health benefits that smokers have achieved from quitting or cutting down on tobacco cigarettes.According to the article:"Health officials argue the long-term effects of the unregulated products are unknown and require more research. “There are fewer chemicals in e-c...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - May 14, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Is it possible to enter Medical School without Pre-Med?
by Victoria55 (Posted Tue May 14, 2013 2:36 am)Hi everyone. I want to enter Medical School and have been studying for this by myself for many years, but few days ago I learned from Internet that before Medical School I should attend Pre-Med courses for 4 years and I was so distressed. In few years I am turning 35 and by the end of my studying I will be probably 45 or 50. English is my second language. 10 years ago I was graduated from the university (my speciality was English language and literature). All my life I wanted to become a doctor. All these 10 years I was working and learning by myself physics, maths, biology, ...
Source: Med Student Guide - May 14, 2013 Category: Medical Students Source Type: blogs

Is it possible to enter Medical School without Pre-Med?
by Victoria55 (Posted Tue May 14, 2013 2:27 am)Hi everyone. I want to enter Medical School and have been studying for this by myself for many years, but few days ago I learned from Internet that before Medical School I should attend Pre-Med courses for 4 years and I was so distressed. In few years I am turning 35 and by the end of my studying I will be probably 45 or 50. English is my second language. 10 years ago I was graduated from the university (my speciality was English language and literature). All my life I wanted to become a doctor. All this 10 years I was working and learning by myself physics, maths, biology, a...
Source: Med Student Guide - May 14, 2013 Category: Medical Students Source Type: blogs

Salk Scientists Develop Drug that Slows Alzheimer's
The Salk Institute team used living neurons grown in laboratory dishes to test whether their new synthetic compounds, which are based upon natural products derived from plants, were effective at protecting brain cells against pathologies associated with brain aging. Bob DeMarco Alzheimer's Reading Room Marguerite Prior holds a vial of J147 Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies say they may have found a drug that not only stops Alzheimer's disease, but might also reverse the symptoms of the disease. The current research findings were published in the journal Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy. "J147...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - May 14, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Bob DeMarco Source Type: blogs

4 Ways Technology May be Ruining Your Relationship
This guest article from YourTango was written by Dr. Susan Heitler. Connecting via Facebook, emails, texting, tweets and instant messages can be convenient. Technology can offer fast ways to ask your husband to pick up lettuce at the grocery store on the way home or to let your wife know that you’ll be home later than usual. But according to new findings, this convenience may come at the cost of closeness in your relationship. That’s because reserchers from Oxford University have found couples who keep in touch too much via technology tend to have less satisfying marriages. How could this be? The study...
Source: World of Psychology - May 13, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: YourTango Experts Tags: General Marriage and Divorce Relationships Technology YourTango Anger Channels Of Communication Closeness Convenience Couples Dr Susan Electronic Channels Email Grocery Store Guest Article Instant Messages Lettuce Loving Source Type: blogs

Pyrrolidines, Not the Usual Way
I wanted to mention a new reaction that's come out in a paper in Science. It's from the Betley lab at Harvard, and it's a new way to make densely substituted saturated nitrogen heterocycles (pyrrolidines, in particular). You start from a four-carbon chain with an azide at one end, and you end up with a Boc-protected pyrrolidine, by direct activation/substitution of the CH bond at the other end of the chain. Longer chains give you mixtures of different ring sizes (4, 5, and 6), depending on where the catalyst feel like inserting the new bond. I'd like to see how many other functional groups this chemistry is compatible wit...
Source: In the Pipeline - May 13, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Chemical News Source Type: blogs

Pulmonologist Unsure that Smoking is Any More Hazardous than Quitting Smoking via Electronic Cigarettes
It doesn't take a rocket toxicologist to understand that smoking burning tobacco, which contains more than 10,000 chemicals including 60 known human carcinogens - and which has already been demonstrated to cause more than 400,000 deaths each year in the U.S. - is much more harmful than vaping from a non-tobacco solution containing little more than nicotine and glycerin or propylene glycol.If any tobacco company even hinted that smoking is as benign as inhaling vapor from a solution of propylene glycol with nicotine, that company would find itself in a courtroom the next day, defending itself against charges of fraud.Appare...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - May 13, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Retaking a class 3 times
by Brady Kinesia (Posted Mon May 13, 2013 12:42 am)My call would be Biochemistry, because it's most closely related to organic chemistry. So, a lot of what you have learned by doing the Organic course, twice, can be applied to the Biochemistry and help you to get a high grade. (Source: Med Student Guide)
Source: Med Student Guide - May 13, 2013 Category: Medical Students Source Type: blogs

Amphibian Species with a Chemical Defence Live Longer
This study is a novel way to add further supporting evidence to this point of view: Evolutionary hypotheses for ageing generally predict that delayed senescence should evolve in organisms that experience lower extrinsic mortality. Thus, one might expect species that are highly toxic or venomous (i.e. chemically protected) will have longer lifespans than related species that are not likewise protected. This remarkable relationship has been suggested to occur in amphibians and snakes. First, we show that chemical protection is highly conserved in several lineages of amphibians and snakes. Therefore, accounting for phyloge...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 13, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 13th 2013
In this study we used the hMTH1-Tg mouse model to investigate how oxidative damage to nucleic acids affects aging. hMTH1-Tg mice express high levels of the hMTH1 hydrolase that degrades 8-oxodGTP and 8-oxoGTP and excludes 8-oxoguanine from both DNA and RNA. Compared to wild-type animals, hMTH1-overexpressing mice have significantly lower steady-state levels of 8-oxoguanine in both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of several organs, including the brain. hMTH1 overexpression prevents the age-dependent accumulation of DNA 8-oxoguanine that occurs in wild-type mice. These lower levels of oxidized guanines are associated with in...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 12, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs

Hilton Hotel Delaware
While the hilton hotel delaware who originally populated the hilton hotel delaware to our beach. Rehoboth was originally settled as a rule and less government and service industries. The chemical company DuPont is an indication of the hilton hotel delaware and Bay Pilots Association along the hilton hotel delaware. The Cape Henlopen State Park was once Fort Miles the hilton hotel delaware an important deepwater port.Incorporation of a bureaucratic attitude compared to New Castle County makes up for in fun, fun, and more than any of the hilton hotel delaware in this county there are very low. Delaware does not currently hav...
Source: 6YearMed - May 12, 2013 Category: Medical Students Authors: Ronald Source Type: blogs

Lilly Diabetes – Making Insulin
I can cross “tour an insulin manufacturing facility” off my bucket list. It was absolutely mind-blowing. There is a lot of science involved, much of which I am not quite bright enough to understand. But the basic idea is that they start with some E. coli bacteria that is modified to produce insulin as it grows, then it is harvested, the insulin is stripped out, purified, packaged up and delivered to us. One of the best places I could find that talks about how cells work actually used insulin as an example of biotechnology. From an article at HowStuffWorks.com: To create insulin inexpensively, the gene that pro...
Source: Scott's Diabetes Blog - May 10, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott K. Johnson Tags: Blog Posts Insulin Manufacturing Lilly Diabetes Source Type: blogs

Why Not Share More Bioactivity Data?
The ChEMBL database of compounds has been including bioactivity data for some time, and the next version of it is slated to have even more. There are a lot of numbers out in the open literature that can be collected, and a lot of numbers inside academic labs. But if you want to tap the deepest sources of small-molecule biological activity data, you have to look to the drug industry. We generate vast heaps of such; it's the driveshaft of the whole discovery effort. But sharing such data is a very sticky issue. No one's going to talk about their active projects, of course, but companies are reluctant to open the books even ...
Source: In the Pipeline - May 10, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Drug Assays Source Type: blogs

Retaking a class 3 times
by ikildani (Posted Thu May 09, 2013 3:35 pm)I have biochemistry human physiology and analytical chemistry left for my sciences (Source: Med Student Guide)
Source: Med Student Guide - May 9, 2013 Category: Medical Students Source Type: blogs

Levoxyl Shortage for Thyroid Patients
I recently tried to refill my prescription for Levoxyl and learned I cannot due to a recall by the manufacturer Pfizer. I called Pfizer this morning and spoke to a robotic, though pleasant, customer service representative in India. She provided little useful information. Between my own research on the FDA and American Thyroid Association websites I learned the following: * Pfizer has suspended production of Levoxyl, which is manufactured at a plant in Tennessee. Chemical contamination is the reason for suspended production. Emission of a strong odor was reported by pharmacists when opening 100 and 1000 tab...
Source: Everything Changes - May 9, 2013 Category: Cancer Authors: Kairol Rosenthal Tags: Uncategorized thyroid cancer levoxyl papillary carcinoma synthroid Source Type: blogs

Drowning Sorrows in a… Melody? The Neuroaesthetics of Music
Sex, drugs & rock n’ roll. Ever wondered why those three things go together in this famous expression? Neuroaesthetics is the relatively recent study of questions such as “Why do we like the things we like?” and “Why do some people find one thing pleasing while others find it appalling?” It has focused on issues such as creativity, visual and motor processing in visual artists and the varying factors involved in creative domains. Many of these studies have examined music and the neural activity that occurs when we listen to and evaluate what we hear. Salimpoor and Zatorre (2013) reviewed ...
Source: World of Psychology - May 9, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Olga Gonithellis, LMHC, MA, EdM Tags: Brain and Behavior Creativity General Happiness Memory and Perception Mental Health and Wellness Motivation and Inspiration Psychology Research Addictive Behaviors Anticipation Brain Activity Chills Creative Domains Drowning So Source Type: blogs

Is it true that excessive/daily hair product usage can cause hair loss?
Janelle asks…My mom and sister are big supporters of the theory that excessive use of hair products (E.g: Hairsprays, shampoos, gels, etc) are the reason why my hair is falling out/isn’t so thick. In general, can usage of these gels and hairsprays every day cause hair loss? I don’t shampoo more than twice a week, but I do use hairspray and gel on my hair every day. Are they correct, or is this an old wives tale? The Beauty Brains respond: Ah, Janelle. You are wise to ask us rather than just blindly believing what you’re told by “old wives.” (No offense to your mother and sister.) Damage ...
Source: thebeautybrains.com - May 9, 2013 Category: Physicians With Health Advice Authors: thebeautybrains Tags: Questions Source Type: blogs

Announcing New Transparency Bill to Disclose Vaccine Ingredients to Parents
Conclusion We at VacTruth applaud the efforts of Representative Boland and wish her every success in this important legislative endeavor. Ms. Sallie O. Elkordy encourages supporters of this bill to contact the Maine House of Representatives in support of LD754: An Act To Encourage Transparency in the Disclosing of the Ingredients in Vaccinations for Children. Additionally, you may write letters in support of this historic bill to The Portland Press Herald, The Bangor Daily News, The Kennebec Journal, The Lewiston Sun Journal, and The Biddeford Journal, or contact your own local newspaper and legislators. How to Cont...
Source: vactruth.com - May 9, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Christina England Tags: Christina England Top Stories Andrea Boland informed consent LD 754 vaccine ingredients Vaccine Safety Source Type: blogs

Total Synthesis in Print
Over at the Baran group's "Open Flask" blog, there's a post on the number of total synthesis papers that show up in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. I'm reproducing one of the figures below, the percentage of JACS papers with the phrase "total synthesis" in their title. You can see that the heights of the early 1980s have never been reached again, and that post-2000 there has been a marked drought. As the post notes, JACS seems to have begun publishing many more papers in total around that time (anyone notice this or know anything about it?), and it appears that they certainly didn't fill the new pages with t...
Source: In the Pipeline - May 8, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Chemical News Source Type: blogs

The Science Of Radiofrequency: Why Cell Phones, Microwaves, Wi-Fi, And Smart Meters Are Unlikely To Pose Health Risks
Cell phones, microwave ovens, wi-fi, smart meters. What do they have in common? They all emit radiation in the radiofrequency range. And they all radiate controversy. Given that these devices are set to become as commonplace as light bulbs, it is understandable that questions arise about their possible health effects. There are all sorts of allegations that exposure can trigger ailments ranging from headaches to cancer. Allegations, however, do not amount to science. And there is a lot of science to be considered. Let’s start with the fact that an alternating current flowing through a wire generates an electromagnetic fi...
Source: Better Health - May 8, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: admin Tags: Better Health Network Health Tips Quackery Exposed Cancer Cell Phones Electromagnetic Field Evidence Headaches Health Risk Microwaves Myths Photons Radiation Radiofrequency Science Smart Meters Wi-Fi Source Type: blogs

Things I Won't Work With: Dimethylcadmium
Cadmium is bad news. Lead and mercury get all the press, but cadmium is just as foul, even if far fewer people encounter it. Never in my career have I had any occasion to use any, and I like it that way. There was an organocadmium reaction in my textbook when I took sophomore organic chemistry, but it was already becoming obsolete, and good riddance, because this one of those metals that's best avoided for life. It has acute toxic effects, chronic toxic effects, and if there are any effects in between those it probably has them, too. Fortunately, cadmium is not well absorbed from the gut, and even more fortunately, no one...
Source: In the Pipeline - May 8, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Things I Won ' t Work With Source Type: blogs

DUX Dental Launches New Size PeelVue+ Sterilization Pouch
New size pouch ideal for steri-cages, steri-mats and five instrument cassettesOXNARD, CALIF. – MAY 7, 2013 – As a leader in infection control products, DUX Dental produces high quality sterilization pouches that fit the everyday needs of the dental office. The new PeelVue+ TEAL sterilization pouch measures at 7 1/8” open end by 13 13/16” length, which is ideal for steri-cages, steri-mats, and five instrument cassettes. With this new addition to the PeelVue+ family, there are now 13 different sized pouches to meet a wide variety of sterilization needs. To view all available sizes visit www.duxdental.com. As with all...
Source: Dental Technology Blog - May 8, 2013 Category: Dentists Source Type: blogs

Can the level of HCG in blood tell me whether my pregnancy is a healthy one or not ?
Yes – but only to a certain extent. The HCG ( human chorionic gonadotropin) hormone is a remarkable molecule which is very unusual because it is produced only by the cells that will become the placenta of the developing embryo (trophoblast cells). Once the embryo implants in the uterine lining, these cells start producing HCG . It takes a few days for the HCG hormone to build up in the body to a level, which is high enough for it be detected in the blood or urine of pregnant women. Normally, you do your first pregnancy test (HCG blood test) 14 days after embryo transfer. At this point, if the embryo has impla...
Source: The Patient's Doctor - May 8, 2013 Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Source Type: blogs

One Case of Plagiarism Down. Two Zillion to Go.
You may remember this case from Chemistry - A European Journal earlier this year, where a paper appeared whose text was largely copy-pasted from a previous JACS paper from another lab. This one has finally been pulled; Retraction Watch has the details. The most interesting part is that statement "The authors regret this approach", which I don't recall ever seeing in a situation like this. The comments at Retraction Watch build on this, and are quite interesting. There are many countries (and cultures) where it's considered acceptable (or at least a venial sin) to lift passages verbatim from other English-language papers w...
Source: In the Pipeline - May 7, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: The Scientific Literature Source Type: blogs

Towards a Patch for Damaged Hearts
Progress is noted in the techniques needed to build functional heart tissue: Biomedical engineers have grown three-dimensional human heart muscle that acts just like natural tissue. This advancement could be important in treating heart attack patients or in serving as a platform for testing new heart disease medicines. The "heart patch" grown in the laboratory from human cells overcomes two major obstacles facing cell-based therapies - the patch conducts electricity at about the same speed as natural heart cells and it "squeezes" appropriately. Earlier attempts to create functional heart patches have largely been unable t...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 7, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

screening the sun like an ostrich
As is pretty normal around this parts, we seem to have gone directly from winter into summer, with no real spring in between. And we also seem to have gone from winter boots and coats to the danger of sunburn.I've been in denial about all this but I noticed a bit of pink on my arms today and realized I need to start applying the sunscreen. You'd think this would be simple but it's really not.I am extremely ambivalent about sunscreen. It's important as a means to help prevent cancer but much of it is filled with carcinogens. The kind that isn't can feel like rubbing on bread crumbs and leave cement like globs on your skin. ...
Source: Not just about cancer - May 6, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: guilt things i do for my health preventing cancer cancer blog Source Type: blogs

Pfizer Integrates Daytime TV Spots, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Slideshare, & Blogs. Focus is Less on Science, More on Medical Advice.
Over the months I have reviewed several of Pfizer's digital and social media efforts and have said that the company is good at promoting its digital efforts but not so good when it comes to implementation (see, for example, "Pfizer, If You Are So Smart, How Come You Were Hacked By 'Kiddies'?").In one of my Twitter news feeds, I learned that Pfizer's Chief Medical Officer, Freda Lewis-Hall, M.D., was a guest on The Doctors daytime TV show. The segment is titled "Keep an Eye on Your Blood Pressure" and you can view it here on Pfizer's Corporate YouTube channel. It's part of Pfizer's Get Healthy, Stay Healthy "campaign," whic...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - May 6, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: YouTube social media Pfizer Disease awareness Source Type: blogs

The Medical Periodic Table
Here's the latest "medical periodic table", courtesy of this useful review in Chemical Communications. Element symbols in white are known to be essential in man. The ones with a blue background are found in the structures of known drugs, the orange ones are used in diagnostics, and the green ones are medically useful radioisotopes. (The paper notes that titanium and tantalum are colored blue due to their use in implants). I'm trying to figure out a couple of these. Xenon I've heard of as a diagnostic (hyperpolarized and used in MRI of lung capacity), but argon? (The supplementary material for the paper says that argon pla...
Source: In the Pipeline - May 6, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Odd Elements in Drugs Source Type: blogs

8 Effortless Actions You Can Take Right Now To Live A Better Life
Let's face it. Personal growth is hard. At least, the type of personal growth you want to last is hard (which is the only kind that matters). If you've been on the self-improvement journey for any amount of time, you know how much reflection, self-discovery, and learning there is to be done. Then, when you've reached the end you find a whole set of new and exciting issues to address. Are there any steps you can take towards a better life that don't involve hours inside your head followed by meditation (and possibly medication)? Not to mention the boxes upon boxes of tissue paper you go through, making the cashiers your ...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - May 6, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: LizSeda Tags: happiness self improvement better life how to live well Source Type: blogs

May 2013 Update on Medical Innovation
As the weeks go by, we try to collect stories and news coverage regarding physician-industry collaboration and the breakthroughs and successes that come from such relationships. Below is a short summary of some recent physician-industry-academic-government collaborations and the impact they have had on individual patients, the U.S. healthcare system, and beyond. In light of the recently proposed budgets for FY 2014, numerous scientific and medical groups have urged Congress and the Obama Administration to increase funding for research. The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Researchers of America (PhRMA) recently note...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 6, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs

In memoriam: Ricardo Portillo
You probably haven't heard of Mr. Portillo, of Murray, Utah. Here are excerpts and pictures from the AP:A Utah soccer referee who slipped into a coma after being punched by a teenage player during a game a week ago died Saturday night, police said.Ricardo Portillo, 46, of Salt Lake City passed away at the hospital, where he was being treated following an assault, Unified police spokesman Justin Hoyal said.Police have accused a 17-year-old player in a recreational soccer league of punching Portillo after the man called a foul on him and issued him a yellow card."The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him once i...
Source: Running a hospital - May 5, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 6th 2013
Discussion Latest Headlines from Fight Aging! T-Regulatory Cells More Numerous in the Aged Immune System HMGA1 as a Potential Common Mechanism in Cancer A Skeptical View of Mitochondrial DNA Damage and Aging Protecting Cryonics Patients A Review of Adenylyl Cyclase Type 5 and Longevity in Mice On Extending Mouse Longevity Growth Hormone and IGF-1 in Aging IGF1R Levels in the Brain Correlate With Species Life Span Calorie Restriction and Calorie Restriction Mimetics The Burrill and Buck Aging Meeting, May 20th 2013 SENS RESEARCH FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2012 http://www.fightaging.org/archi...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 5, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs

Miqe
MIQE: Guidelines for the Design and Publication of a Reliable Real-time PCR Assayfrom Jim Huggett, Tania Nolan and Stephen A. Bustin writing in Real-Time PCR: Advanced Technologies and Applications:The capacity to amplify and detect trace amounts of nucleic acids has made the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) the most formidable molecular technology in use today. Its versatility and scope was further broadened first with the development of reverse transcription (RT)-PCR, which opened up the entire RNA field to thorough exploration and then, most conspicuously, with its evolution into real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). Speed,...
Source: Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists. - May 3, 2013 Category: Microbiology Source Type: blogs

Green Tea, Grape Skin Extracts May Interrupt Alzheimer's Path
Green tea and red wine have both been shown in numerous studies to contain antioxidants thought to increase overall health and possibly prevent some diseases. Now, a recent study, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (Source: Minding Our Elders)
Source: Minding Our Elders - May 3, 2013 Category: Caregivers Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs

Anonymous Recovery Group Links
This list below comes to you from Faces and Voices of Recovery (http://www.facesandvoicesofrecovery.org/resources/support_home.php) Individual Addiction Recovery Resources Addictions VictoriousAdvocates For the Integration of Recovery and Methadone, Inc. (AFIRM)Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)Alcoholics for Christ Alcoholics Victorious (AV)Celebrate Recovery Chemically Dependent Anonymous Online Resource Center (CDA)Cocaine Anonymous (CA)Crystal Meth Anonymous (CMA)Harm Reduction Network (HAMS) Heroin Anonymous (HA)J.A.C.S. (Jewish Alcoholics, Chemically Dependent Persons and Significant Others)LifeRing: Secular RecoveryMarijuana...
Source: Recovery Is Sexy.com - May 2, 2013 Category: Addiction Authors: Sparrow Tags: 12 Step Fellowships Adult Children of Alcoholics Al-anon Alateen Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Victorious Cocaine Anonymous Debtors Anonymous Emotions Anonymous Gam-anon Gamblers Anonymous Gamers Anonymous HIV Anonymous Marijua Source Type: blogs

E. O. Wilson's "Letters to a Young Scientist"
I've been reading E. O. Wilson's new book, Letters to a Young Scientist. It's the latest addition to the list of "advice from older famous scientists" books, which also includes Peter Medawar's similarly titled Advice To A Young Scientist and what is probably the grandfather of the entire genre, Ramón y Cajal's Advice for a Young Investigator. A definite personal point of view comes across in this one, since its author is famously unafraid to express his strongly held opinions. There's some 100-proof Wilson in this book as well: . . .Science is the wellspring of modern civilization. It is not just "another way of knowing...
Source: In the Pipeline - May 2, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Book Recommendations Source Type: blogs

Pennsylvania Department of Health Says It Does Not Support Smokers Quitting, Will Not Acknowledge that Smoking is More Harmful than Non-Tobacco E-Cigarettes
According to an article in the Johnstown (PA) Tribune-Democrat, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, with all of its scientific expertise, is not sure that smoking cigarettes - which kills more than 400,000 Americans each year - is any more hazardous than using non-tobacco e-cigarettes, which have not been reported to ever have killed a single person.According to the article, the Department of Health was quoted as stating: "Consumers may believe this is a safer way to smoke when, in fact, there is a lack of long-term studies that have been done on the product, therefore leaving the long-term effects unknown."Not only did...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - May 2, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Exercise May Help Slow Physical Decline in Alzheimer’s
Like it or not, exercise is good for us. Exercise helps to speed up our metabolism and strengthen our bones. Also, we’ve known for decades that exercise is good for the heart, and lately there have been many studies that have shown it’s good for the brain. So good, as a matter of fact, that now, according to a recent paper published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (Source: Minding Our Elders)
Source: Minding Our Elders - May 2, 2013 Category: Caregivers Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs

Study Finds that Fluoride Reduces Adhesion of Bacteria on Teeth
Despite more than fifty years of scientific research, controversy still exists over exactly how fluoride compounds reduce the risk of tooth decay. New evidence from German researchers suggests that fluoride helps to reduce the adhesion of bacteria to teeth. The study is published in the American Chemical Society (ACS) journal Langumir [1]. The cause of tooth decay and cavities Research in the late 1940s and early 1950s established that fluoride helps to harden tooth enamel, which protects teeth from the acid produced by decay-causing bacteria [2-4]. Subsequent studies showed that fluoride enhances the tooth remineraliza...
Source: Highlight HEALTH - May 1, 2013 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: Walter Jessen, Ph.D. Source Type: blogs

Industrial Catastrophe in Post-Soviet Russia
Andrei Illarionov It is challenging to calculate the industrial output for post-socialist transition economies. However, through meticulous work based on internationally recognized statistical standards over two decades, two Russian economists currently associated with the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Eduard Baranov and Vladimir Bessonov, were able to produce a statistical time-series for the main branches of Russian industry and for the industrial sector as a whole. The table below summarizes their findings on the physical volume of industrial output in Russia from January 1990 until March 2013. January 1990 mar...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 1, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Andrei Illarionov Source Type: blogs

Exercise Could Slow Physical Decline in Alzheimer's
Like it or not, exercise is good for us. Exercise helps to speed up our metabolism and strengthen our bones. Also, we’ve known for decades that exercise is good for the heart, and lately there have been many studies that have shown it’s good for the brain. So good, as a matter of fact, that now, according to a recent paper published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Researchers at Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine in... (Source: Carol Bradley Bursack's SharePosts)
Source: Carol Bradley Bursack's SharePosts - May 1, 2013 Category: Dementia Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs

Best Sites for a Medicinal Chemist?
I'm going to be traveling today, mostly through airports without good Wi-Fi (for which read "Wi-Fi that they don't want me to pay $10 for during my 90-minute layover"). But I wanted to put out a question sent in by a reader that I think would be worthwhile: What are the best web sites for a medicinal chemist to have bookmarked? Resources for medicine and biology, organic chemistry, analytical chemist, and pharma development would be appropriate. There are shorter lists available here and there, but I don't think that there's One Big List that easily findable, and I think that there needs to be one. Suggestions in the comm...
Source: In the Pipeline - May 1, 2013 Category: Chemists Tags: Blog Housekeeping Source Type: blogs

Is sweat bad for your scalp and hair?
Sillabear says…I am looking for ways to minimize the amount of times that I wash my hair and I recently came across information that utilizing a mixture of 1:2 parts of peppermint oil to jojoba oil will break down the salts that are deposited on the scalp from pores after a strenuous exercise. Is this true? If not, do products such as dry shampoo rid one’s scalp of these potentially damaging salts? The Beauty Brains respond: Before we talk about sweat removal let’s do a quick recap of what’s in sweat. Sweaty chemistry Our bodies sweat through two different glands: eccrine (which are found pretty m...
Source: thebeautybrains.com - May 1, 2013 Category: Physicians With Health Advice Authors: thebeautybrains Tags: Questions Source Type: blogs

When the Doctor Is Overweight - NYTimes.com
This is a fascinating article. I am very interested in hearing from you regarding your thoughts on this topic. Please leave a comment to this blog -- it should make for a very interesting discussion. I know that as a physician, I spend all day speaking to patients about their weight, their level of physical activity, their diet, their smoking and their medical compliance. There are definitely days that I feel hypocritical if I know that recently I have not been exercising or eating well or taking my medicines as prescribed. When I feel this, it helps me relate to my patients and understand just how hard the thing...
Source: Dr Portnay - May 1, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr Portnay Source Type: blogs

Adjusting Mouse Longevity via the Hypothalamus
In conclusion, the hypothalamus has a programmatic role in ageing development via immune-neuroendocrine integration, and immune inhibition or GnRH restoration in the hypothalamus/brain represent two potential strategies for optimizing lifespan and combating ageing-related health problems. (Source: Fight Aging!)
Source: Fight Aging! - May 1, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs

How to Make Coconut Milk
Making homemade coconut milk is easier than you think. Follow these easy steps and have fresh chemical free, coconut milk in 20 minutes.Contributor: Gregory LovvornPublished: Apr 30, 2013 (Source: Most Recent Health Wellness - Associated Content)
Source: Most Recent Health Wellness - Associated Content - April 30, 2013 Category: Other Conditions Source Type: blogs

We’ve got a lot of grounds to cover
Next time you’re sipping on your skinny, frothy mochachocafrappalatteccino with maple syrup and cinnamon at the local Costabucksorthree coffee shop and surfing on their EasyHack(TM) wireless internet spare a thought for the grounds. The burnt out and scalded fragments of beans gone by that in this household are recycled via the compost bins but on the industrial scale represent an international commodity waste product you might not at first appreciate but represents a truly pressing issue. Big coffee drink image c/o Shutterstock Thankfully, there are researchers who are working on potential alternative uses for this ...
Source: Sciencebase Science Blog - April 30, 2013 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: David Bradley Tags: Science Source Type: blogs