Jumat, 31 Desember 2010
Mom's Voice Plays Special Role in triggering Newborn's Brain
Kamis, 30 Desember 2010
Study: Long Ring Finger in Men Linked to Cancer Risk
Rabu, 29 Desember 2010
Tune into Your Baby’s Health Now
Risk of Epilepsy Measured, May Be Still Higher
Selasa, 28 Desember 2010
Woodland strawberry genome sequenced
8 Benefits of Home Cooking
6 cancer-fighting superfoods
All cruciferous veggies (think cauliflower, cabbage, kale) contain cancer-fighting properties, but broccoli is the only one with a sizable amount of sulforaphane, a particularly potent compound that boosts the body's protective enzymes and flushes out cancer-causing chemicals, says Jed Fahey, ScD. A recent University of Michigan study on mice found that sulforaphane also targets cancer stem cells—those that aid in tumor growth.
Helps fight: breast, liver, lung, prostate, skin, stomach, and bladder cancers
Your Rx: The more broccoli, the better, research suggests—so add it wherever you can, from salads to omelets to the top of your pizza.
All berries are packed with cancer-fighting phytonutrients. But black raspberries, in particular, contain very high concentrations of phytochemicals called anthocyanins, which slow down the growth of premalignant cells and keep new blood vessels from forming (and potentially feeding a cancerous tumor), according to Gary D. Stoner, PhD, a professor of internal medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Helps fight: colon, esophageal, oral, and skin cancers
Your Rx: Stoner uses a concentrated berry powder in his studies but says a half-cup serving of berries a day may help your health, too.
This juicy fruit is the best dietary source of lycopene, a carotenoid that gives tomatoes their red hue, Béliveau says. And that's good news, because lycopene was found to stop endometrial cancer cell growth in a study inNutrition and Cancer. Endometrial cancer causes nearly 8,000 deaths a year.
Helps fight: endometrial, lung, prostate, and stomach cancers
Your Rx: The biggest benefits come from cooked tomatoes (think pasta sauce!), since the heating process increases the amount of lycopene your body is able to absorb.
Their phytosterols (cholesterol-like molecules found in plants) have been shown to block estrogen receptors in breast cancer cells, possibly slowing the cells' growth, says Elaine Hardman, PhD, associate professor at Marshall University School of Medicine in Huntington, West Virginia.
Helps fight: breast and prostate cancers
Your Rx: Munching on an ounce of walnuts a day may yield the best benefits, Hardman's research found.
Phytochemicals in garlic have been found to halt the formation of nitrosamines, carcinogens formed in the stomach (and in the intestines, in certain conditions) when you consume nitrates, a common food preservative, Béliveau says. In fact, the Iowa Women's Health Study found that women with the highest amounts of garlic in their diets had a 50 percent lower risk of certain colon cancers than women who ate the least.
Helps fight: breast, colon, esophageal, and stomach cancers
Your Rx: Chop a clove of fresh, crushed garlic (crushing helps release beneficial enzymes), and sprinkle it into that lycopene-rich tomato sauce while it simmers.
A study out of Michigan State University found that black and navy beans significantly reduced colon cancer incidence in rats, in part because a diet rich in the legumes increased levels of the fatty acid butyrate, which in high concentrations has protective effects against cancer growth. Another study, in the journal Crop Science, found dried beans particularly effective in preventing breast cancer in rats.
Helps fight: breast and colon cancers
Your Rx: Add a serving—a half-cup—of legumes a few times a week (either from a can or dry beans that've been soaked and cooked) to your usual rotation of greens or other veggies.
Senin, 27 Desember 2010
Californians Are Smoking Less and Less
Minggu, 26 Desember 2010
New Hybrid, Precision Heart Procedures to Help Stop Deadly Arrhythmias
New techniques now being used at UCLA allow doctors to more precisely target certain areas of the heart to stop ventricular arrhythmias -- serious abnormal rhythms in the heart's lower chambers -- in high-risk patients.
Generally, arrhythmias can be controlled by medications, and sometimes defibrillators. But a potentially life-threatening, recurrent arrhythmia known as a ventricular tachycardia, which originates in one of the heart's two ventricles, can produce a fast heart beat that requires other interventions, such as catheter ablation, in which the precise focus area of the arrhythmia must be controlled.
Cardiologists will often use catheter ablation once medications and other therapies have failed. The procedure involves the insertion of a tiny, metal-tipped catheter through a vein in the groin or neck to reach the inside of the heart. Prior to the procedure, electrical tests are conducted on the heart to identify and map the exact site of the arrhythmia's origin.
While ablation is usually performed inside the heart, in about 15 to 30 percent of patients with dangerous ventricular tachycardias, the site responsible for the abnormal rhythm is on the heart's outer surface. Normally, this can be addressed by an ablation procedure, performed in a cardiac catheterization lab, in which doctors thread a wire with a metal-tipped catheter inside the body, under the ribcage, to apply heat or cold to the area of the heart's ventricle that is producing the arrhythmia, stopping it.
However, in high-risk patients who have scarring from previous heart surgeries, it is difficult to reach the outside of the heart. To tackle this problem, a team at UCLA has devised a hybrid approach combining catheter ablation with minimally invasive surgical techniques.
"UCLA is at the forefront of developing and using new techniques and approaches to better access a high-risk patient's heart to stop difficult-to-reach, life-threatening arrhythmias," said Dr.. Kalyanam Shivkumar, professor of medicine and radiological sciences and director of the UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center and Electrophysiology Programs.
A study in the November issue of the journal Heart Rhythmreports on UCLA's experience with the two newer surgical methods, used together with catheter ablation, in 14 high-risk patients who had ventricular arrhythmias treated between September 2004 and March 2010.
In order to perform more accurate electrical mapping of the heart and apply precise ablation therapy in hard-to-reach areas in high-risk patients, surgeons used one of two minimally-invasive cardiac surgical techniques to open a small window in the chest to view the heart. Depending on the area of the heart the team needed to access, they used either a procedure called a subxiphoid window or one known as a limited anterior thoracotomy.
The ability to directly visualize the heart and navigate around scar tissue and blood vessels to get closer to the heart's surface, significantly improved accuracy in applying the ablation techniques to stop the arrhythmias.
"These newer, more minimally-invasive procedures offer more treatments for high-risk patients who don't have a lot of options to address a life-threatening arrhythmia, allowing them to avoid potential open heart surgery," Shivkumar said.
The hybrid procedures were performed in the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center adult cardiac catheterization laboratories and involved a collaboration among several UCLA departments, including cardiology, cardiac surgery, anesthesiology, radiology and operating-room administration. Pre-procedure imaging was needed, as well as critical care teams for post-surgical care.
"UCLA is a leader in utilizing these hybrid procedures to meet individual patient care needs. We hope our experiences can help move the field forward," Shivkumar said.
Shivkumar added that his team created new procedural protocols for using technologies such as electrical heart mapping systems and ablation catheters with these new hybrid procedures.
Eating Disorders
Many kids — particularly teens — are concerned about how they look and can feel self-conscious about their bodies. This can be especially true when they are going through puberty, and undergo dramatic physical changes and face new social pressures.
Unfortunately, for a growing proportion of kids and teens, that concern can grow into an obsession that can become an eating disorder. Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa cause dramatic weight fluctuation, interfere with normal daily life, and damage vital body functions.
Parents can help prevent kids from developing an eating disorder by nurturing their self-esteem, and encouraging healthy attitudes about nutrition and appearance. Also, if you are worried that your child may be developing an eating disorder, it's important to intervene and seek proper medical care. This is also true if there is any family history of eating disorders.
About Eating Disorders
Generally, eating disorders involve self-critical, negative thoughts and feelings about body weight and food, and eating habits that disrupt normal body function and daily activities.
While more common among girls, eating disorders can affect boys, too. They're so common in the U.S. that 1 or 2 out of every 100 kids will struggle with one, most commonly anorexia or bulimia. Unfortunately, many kids and teens successfully hide eating disorders from their families for months or even years.
People with anorexia have an extreme fear of weight gain and a distorted view of their body size and shape. As a result, they strive to maintain a very low body weight. Some restrict their food intake by dieting, fasting, or excessive exercise. They hardly eat at all and often try to eat as few calories as possible, frequently obsessing over food intake. The small amount of food they do eat becomes an obsession.
Bulimia is characterized by habitual binge eating and purging. Someone with bulimia may undergo weight fluctuations, but rarely experiences the low weight associated with anorexia. Both disorders can involve compulsive exercise or other forms of purging food they have eaten, such as by self-induced vomiting or laxative use.
Although anorexia and bulimia are very similar, people with anorexia are usually very thin and underweight but those with bulimia may be a normal weight or even overweight. Binge eating disorders, food phobia, and body image disorders are also becoming increasingly common in adolescence.
It's important to remember that eating disorders can easily get out of hand and are difficult habits to break. Eating disorders are serious clinical problems that require professional treatment by doctors, therapists, and nutritionists.
Rabu, 22 Desember 2010
Health Net CA Individual Plans Approved!
A Gluten-free January
Many people are totally unaware of the fact that they react poorly to gluten. Because they've been eating wheat, barley and/or rye products every day for virtually their entire lives, they don't know what their bodies feel like without gluten. In susceptible people, eating gluten is linked to a dizzying array of health problems that stem from an immune reaction to gliadins and other proteins in gluten (1). Are you a susceptible person? How do you know?
The gold standard way to detect a gluten sensitivity is to do a gluten "challenge" after a period of avoidance and see how you feel. People who react poorly to gluten may feel better after a period of avoidance. After a gluten challenge, symptoms can range from digestive upset, to skin symptoms, to fatigue or irritability within minutes to days of the gluten challenge.
With 2011 approaching, why not make your new year's resolution to go gluten-free for a month? A man named Matt Lentzner e-mailed me this week to ask if I would help with his (non-commercial) project, "A Gluten-free January". I said I'd be delighted. Although I don't typically eat much gluten, this January I'm going 100% gluten-free. Are you on board? Read on.
A Message from Matt Lentzner
Hi There.