Wine helps women stay thin
Posted in health on Mar 8th, 2010
Pour me a glass of wine, darling, will you? It’s good for me. And besides, the BBC says that women who drink wine are less likely to gain weight.
It’s a happy news day.
Category Archive for 'health'
Did Altzheimer’s kill Agatha Christie?
Posted in books & lit, health on Feb 21st, 2010
From the University of Toronto Magazine: At a Loss for Words.
Agatha Christie, English literature’s Queen of Crime, may have succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease in her later years. It was never diagnosed by doctors, but now two U of T professors say that a trail of evidence left in her published work leads suspiciously in that [...]
From the Telegraph: Chocolate ‘can help prevent stroke’.
A study of nearly 50,000 people found that those eating chocolate were 22 per cent less likely to suffer a stroke than those that didn’t.
And those who did suffer a stroke but had indulged in chocolate were 46 per cent less likely to die as a result. [continue]
This [...]
From the Beeb: Coffee ‘may reverse Alzheimer’s’.
Drinking five cups of coffee a day could reverse memory problems seen in Alzheimer’s disease, US scientists say. [continue]
Historical anecdote of Jordan’s red soils may offer new antibiotic
Posted in health, history & archaeology on May 25th, 2009
From Science Daily: Historical Anecdote Of Jordan’s Red Soils May Offer New Antibiotic.
Historical anecdotes of the red soils from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan tell of people using the soils to treat skin infections and diaper rash. A multinational group of researchers suggest the healing power may be due to antibiotic-producing bacteria they have found [...]
From the University of Toronto News: Canadian scientists read minds with infrared scan.
Researchers at U of T and Canada’s largest children’s rehabilitation hospital have developed a technique that uses infrared light brain imaging to decode preference — with the goal of ultimately opening the world of choice to children who can’t speak or move.
In a [...]
From the Beeb: Gene could allow lab-grown teeth.
Scientists believe they have found a way to grow teeth in the laboratory, a discovery that could put an end to fillings and dentures.
The US team from Oregon have located the gene responsible for the growth of enamel, the hard outer layer of teeth which cannot grow back [...]
From the Beeb: Hope over peanut allergy ‘cure’.
A group of children with peanut allergies have had their condition effectively cured, doctors believe.
A team from Cambridge’s Addenbrooke’s Hospital exposed four children to peanuts over a six-month period, gradually building up their tolerance.
By the end the children were eating the equivalent of five peanuts a day. [continue]
(Link [...]
Babies know: a little dirt is good for you
Posted in health on Jan 29th, 2009
From the New York Times: Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You.
"What a child is doing when he puts things in his mouth is allowing his immune response to explore his environment," Mary Ruebush, a microbiology and immunology instructor, wrote in her new book, "Why Dirt Is Good" (Kaplan). "Not only does this [...]
Professor pioneers DIY adjustable glasses that do not need an optician
Posted in health on Jan 1st, 2009
From The Guardian: Professor pioneers DIY adjustable glasses that do not need an optician.
Silver has devised a pair of glasses which rely on the principle that the fatter a lens the more powerful it becomes. Inside the device’s tough plastic lenses are two clear circular sacs filled with fluid, each of which is connected to [...]
From abcnews.go.com: Ecuadorean Dwarfs May Unlock Cancer Clues.
Twenty years ago, when Guevara began treating and studying the dwarfs of southern Ecuador, it was because he wanted to help them. But an interesting and quirky pattern started to emerge. He realized that there has never been a single incidence of cancer or diabetes among them.
"I start [...]
Stretching: the truth
Posted in health on Nov 5th, 2008
From the New York Times: Stretching: The Truth.
When Duane Knudson, a professor of kinesiology at California State University, Chico, looks around campus at athletes warming up before practice, he sees one dangerous mistake after another. "They’re stretching, touching their toes. . . . " He sighs. "It’s discouraging."
If you’re like most of us, you were [...]
Egyptian mummies yield earliest evidence of malaria
Posted in DNA, health, history & archaeology on Oct 24th, 2008
From discovery.com: Egyptian Mummies Yield Earliest Evidence of Malaria.
Two Egyptian mummies who died more than 3,500 years ago have provided clear evidence for the earliest known cases of malaria, according to a study presented this week in Naples at an international conference on ancient DNA.
Pathologist Andreas Nerlich and colleagues at the Academic Teaching Hospital München-Bogenhausen [...]
CPR gives “Stayin’ Alive” new life
Posted in health on Oct 18th, 2008
From WebMD.com: CPR Gives “Stayin’ Alive” New Life.
The Bee Gees disco song "Stayin’ Alive" might help people stay alive when they get cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) — if their rescuer knows the 1977 tune.
It turns out that “Stayin Alive” has a beat that’s in sync with the recommended pace for chest compressions given during CPR. So [...]
Better beer: college team creating anticancer brew
Posted in health on Oct 17th, 2008
From Rice University: Better beer: college team creating anticancer brew.
College students often spend their free time thinking about beer, but a group of Rice University students are taking it to the next level. They’re using genetic engineering to create beer that contains resveratrol, a chemical in wine that’s been shown to reduce cancer and heart [...]
From csmonitor.com: A ‘miracle tree’ that could feed sub-Saharan Africa.
As a child growing up in India, I greeted the appearance of one particular vegetable on my plate with exaggerated distaste: tender seedpods from the moringa tree, locally known as "drumsticks." Imagine my surprise when I heard a health worker from sub-Saharan Africa describe this backyard [...]
From the Globe and Mail: The buzz over caffeine: It can help your workout.
THE QUESTION
Will drinking coffee help or hinder my workout?
THE ANSWER
Until 2004, caffeine was a banned substance for elite athletes, who could test positive if they drank as few as three cups of strong coffee. That, one would assume, means it’s a performance [...]
Body exhumed in fight against flu
Posted in health, history & archaeology, science on Sep 16th, 2008
From the BBC: Body exhumed in fight against flu.
The body of an aristocrat who died nearly 90 years ago has been exhumed in the hope that it will help scientists combat a future flu pandemic.
Yorkshire landowner Sir Mark Sykes died in France in 1919 from Spanish flu.
Sir Mark was buried in a lead coffin which [...]
Dancing death
Posted in health, history & archaeology on Sep 12th, 2008
From the Beeb: Dancing death.
Sometime in mid-July 1518, in the city of Strasbourg, a woman stepped into the street and started to dance.
She was still dancing several days later. Within a week about 100 people had been consumed by the same irresistible urge to dance. The authorities were convinced that the afflicted would only recover [...]
Britons may be more vulnerable to Aids due to Roman invasion
Posted in health, history & archaeology on Sep 3rd, 2008
From The Telegraph: Britons may be more vulnerable to Aids due to Roman invasion.
Researchers found that people who live in lands conquered by the Roman army have less protection against HIV than those in countries they never reached.
They say a gene which helps make people less susceptible to HIV occurs in greater frequency in areas [...]
From the Washington Post: In Our Genes, Old Fossils Take On New Roles.
Over the past 15 years, scientists have been comparing the inherited genetic material — the genomes — of dozens of organisms, acquiring a life history of life itself. (…) It turns out that about 8 percent of the human genome is made up [...]
Robo-skeleton lets paralysed walk
Posted in health, technology on Aug 27th, 2008
From the Beeb: Robo-skeleton lets paralysed walk.
A robotic suit is helping people paralysed from the waist down do what was previously considered impossible – stand, walk and climb stairs.
ReWalk users wear a backpack device and braces on their legs and select the activity they want from a remote control wrist band.
Leaning forwards activates body sensors [...]
Solar-powered nanotech-purified air in medieval churches
Posted in art, health, history & archaeology on Aug 22nd, 2008
From Information Week: Solar-Powered Nanotech-Purified Air In Medieval Churches.
The glaziers who created gold-painted stained glass windows for medieval churches in Europe inadvertently developed a solar-powered nanotech air-purification system.
According to Zhu Huai Yong, an associate professor at Queensland University of Technology in Australia, the gold paint used in medieval-era stained glass windows purified the air when [...]
Survivors of 1918 Flu Pandemic Immune 90 Years Later
Posted in health, history & archaeology on Aug 18th, 2008
From the Washington Post: Survivors of 1918 Flu Pandemic Immune 90 Years Later.
People who lived through the 1918 flu pandemic that killed 50 million worldwide are still producing antibodies to the virus 90 years later, researchers report.
"Most people have a notion that elderly people have very weak immunity or they have lost immunity," said lead [...]
Tansy ragwort alert
Posted in BC, animals, birds, insects, etc, health on Aug 14th, 2008
Now here’s a public service announcement. Do you have a weed in your neighbourhood that has cheery yellow flowers about now, like a bunch of miniature yellow daisies? Take a moment to see if it’s tansy ragwort. And if it is, you’ll want to yank it out or cut it so that the plant doesn’t [...]