RSS MAD

Gulf War Syndrome is Real, Scientists Report

A committee of scientists set up by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has reported that 200,000 veterans of the Gulf war of 1990-1991 continue to suffer from Gulf war syndrome, caused by exposure to organophosphate nerve gas, nerve gas remedies and insecticides.

"Gulf War illness is real," the report concludes. "Few veterans have recovered."

However, the committee charges that government research into Gulf war syndrome has plummeted since 2001, while suffering veterans are denied benefits.

The military in various countries has consistently denied that there is a physical basis to Gulf War Syndrome.

Should Cancer Drugs Be Used to Treat Diabetics?

Two common cancer drugs have been shown to both prevent and reverse type 1 diabetes in a mouse model of the disease. The drugs are imatinib (marketed as Gleevec) and sunitinib (marketed as Sutent). Both were found to put type 1 diabetes into remission in 80 percent of the test mice and work permanently in 80 percent of those that go into remission.

So, should they be hailed as a new miracle treatment? I wouldn’t be so hasty. Gleevec, for example, kills heart muscle cells and can cause severe congestive heart failure. If the cure is worse than the disease, this doesn’t seem to be a great benefit.

A better way is to prevent type 1 diabetes in the first place, using natural means like vitamin D.

Simple Change Could Reduce Obesity in U.S. by 20 Percent

According to a new study, a ban on fast food advertisements in the United States could reduce the number of overweight children by as much as 18 percent. In addition, the study reports that eliminating the tax deductibility of television advertising would also result in a reduction of childhood obesity.

The study’s authors found that a ban on fast food television advertisements during children's programming would reduce the number of overweight children ages 3-11 by 18 percent, and would lower the number of overweight adolescents ages 12-18 by 14 percent.

Should the U.S. pursue this path, they would be following Sweden, Norway and Finland, which are thus far the only countries to have banned commercial sponsorship of children's programs.

Research indicates that there is an 80 percent chance an overweight adolescent will be an obese adult. Over 300,000 deaths can be attributed to obesity and weight in the United States every year.

Broccoli Fights Lung Cancer

According to a new study, broccoli appears to lower the risk of lung cancer in smokers and ex-smokers.

A research team studied lung-cancer patients and people without the disease who had similar diets and smoking habits. Among smokers, the protective effect of cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli ranged from a 20 percent reduction in risk to a 55 percent reduction, depending on the type of vegetable consumed and the duration and intensity of smoking.

Raw vegetables were the only kind found to offer protection to current smokers.

How Washington Hospitals Unleashed a MRSA Epidemic

Over the past decade, the number of Washington hospital patients infected with a frightening, antibiotic-resistant germ called MRSA has skyrocketed from about 140 a year to more than 4,700. But these numbers, revealed by a Seattle Times investigation, don't appear in public documents. Washington regulators don't track the germ or its victims, and Washington hospitals do not have to reveal infection rates.

MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is spread by touch or contact. Six out of seven people infected with MRSA contract it at a health-care facility. Many people first learned about the germ in 2007 when the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that invasive MRSA infections claim at least 18,000 lives a year, more than AIDS.

But MRSA has been quietly killing for decades, and the entire time, there has been a simple diagnostic test that could have saved countless lives. However, not a single community hospital in Washington screens every patient for the pathogen.

Google Adds Searching by Voice to iPhone Software

Google researchers have added sophisticated voice recognition technology to the search software for the Apple iPhone. Users of the free application will be able to place the phone to their ear and ask virtually any question. The sound is converted to a digital file and sent to Google’s servers.

The new service is an example of the way Google tries to blend basic computer science research with product engineering. The company has hired many of the best speech recognition researchers in the world to work on the application.

Is the Federal Reserve Collapsing?

This video is an interview with Ron Paul conducted by Robert Kiyosaki adviser Mike Maloney. He explains how money is being created out of thin air, and why this is causing massive repercussions, especially for the middle class.

Scientists React to Political Controversy With Censorship

A sociologist at Rutgers University questioned more than 150 scientists whose work was relevant to a 2003 political clash between several members of Congress, a Christian lobbyist group called the Traditional Values Coalition, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Of the 112 scientists who responded, more than half said they have since self-censored their grant proposals to remove "red flag" words -- such as gay, lesbian, AIDS, needle-exchange or anal sex. Nearly a quarter of respondents said they either modified their studies to seem less controversial or abandoned controversial grant proposals.

At the time of the 2003 debate, members of Congress asked the NIH to explain the medical benefit of 10 government-funded studies some called inappropriate. However, a staffer accidentally sent the NIH a much longer list of 250 proposed "questionable" studies compiled by the Traditional Values Coalition. The NIH Director at that time, Elias Zerhouni, decided to review the full list of studies anyway. While no studies lost their funding because of their inclusion on the list, it is now apparent that scientists did indeed react to the controversy with self-censorship.

What You Need to Know About Farmed Fish

Declining ocean fish stocks have led to a rapid growth in fish farming. But if you think farmed fish are the answer, you might want to take a second look at its effects.

Carnivorous farmed fish are fed on high levels of fish meal and fish oil. In fact, they require a fish biomass input greater than the fish biomass produced. For the ten species of fish most commonly farmed, an average of nearly two kilograms of wild fish is required for every one kilogram of fish raised.

Unfortunately, there is an increase in the production trend of carnivorous fish (such as salmon or shrimp), rather than herbivorous or filter feeder fish. Small pelagic fish, such as herring, sardines and anchovies, mainly provide the fish meal and fish oils used for aquaculture feed, increasing pressures on wild fish.

Numbers of popular species such as cod have plummeted; in the Mediterranean, 12 species of shark are commercially extinct. Swordfish in that area, which should grow as thick as a telephone pole, now must be caught as juveniles and eaten when no bigger than a baseball bat. The fish in the seas surrounding Africa and Asia are also in steep decline.

Chicken -- With a Side of Plastic

Nestle has recalled 900,000 pounds worth of Lean Cuisine brand frozen chicken dinners following reports of small chunks in the meals. The frozen dinners were distributed nationwide, and at least one person has reported an injury.

So far, the blue plastic has been found in three Lean Cuisine dinners -- Cafe Classics Pesto Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta, Spa Cuisine Chicken Mediterranean and Dinnertime Selects Chicken Tuscan.

The USDA considered the blue plastic a potential health threat and has ranked the recall as Class I, which means that there is considered to be a “reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.” Amanda Eamich, spokesperson for the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, noted that, “It could cause injury -- a piece of plastic could cut your mouth, it could scratch your throat.”

Chemicals Banned in Toys but Allowed in Prescription Drugs

Recently, the U.S. Congress enacted a law banning phthalates, which are added to plastics to increase their flexibility, from toys and other children’s products. Europe had earlier taken this same action. Phthalates can cause abnormal reproductive tracts, sperm damage, and reduced testosterone.

Dr. Russ Hauser, a Harvard professor of environmental epidemiology, has called pharmaceuticals “an unrecognized source of potential high exposure (to phthalates).” There are at least 47 different prescription medications that contain phthalates. A thin layer of phthalate-containing polymer coats many timed-release medications.

A case study of a man who took the medication Asacol to treat his inflamed colon found that he was contaminated with 100 times more dibutyl phthalate than had ever been recorded in a human being. The se of phthalates in prescription and over-the-counter medication ignores the potential for high delivered doses of phthalates to vulnerable segments of the population -- including pregnant women and young children

Hunger Skyrockets Among U.S. Children

691,000 children went hungry in America during 2007, and close to one in eight Americans struggled to feed themselves adequately.

The Agriculture Department's annual report on food security showed the number of children who went hungry last year was more than 50 percent higher than the 430,000 in 2006. In fact, it was the largest figure since 716,000 in 1998.

Overall, 36.2 million adults and children struggled to obtain food during the year, up from 35.5 million in 2006. That’s about 12.2 percent of Americans who didn't have the money or assistance to get enough food. Almost a third of those, 11.9 million adults and children, went hungry at some point. That figure has grown by more than 40 percent since 2000.

6 Ways to Reduce Inflammation -- Without a Statin Drug

Experts predict that as a result of the so-called Jupiter study, which seemed to show that the statin drug Crestor lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes in those with high levels of inflammation, will lead to millions of people being put on statin drugs. But the benefits were actually tiny -- about 0.72 percent of the statin takers in the trial had a heart attack or stroke, compared with 1.5 percent of those taking placebos.

Instead of a statin drug that comes with dangerous side effects, try these six measures instead:

1. Stop smoking. Smoking hardens the arteries and increase inflammation. But research shows you can reverse all the damaging effects to your arteries within 10 years of quitting.

2. Think olive oil, fish, and nuts. People who stick with a Mediterranean-style diet based on fruits, vegetables, nuts, and olive oil can lower their levels of inflammation. It works by increasing the amount of foods you eat that are rich in omega-3 fats, which fight inflammation.

3. Get active. Exercise a great way to lower inflammation without any of the side effects associated with medications.

4. Shrink your waist size. If you're a woman with a waist measurement of over 35 inches or a man with a waist of over 40 inches, you probably have high inflammation. Whittling a few inches off the waist by reducing your portions and increasing activity can go a long way toward solving that problem.

5. Get enough sleep. A new study shows that elderly people with high blood pressure who sleep less than 7.5 hours a night have dramatically elevated chances of having a stroke or heart attack. Other research has shown that both too little and too much sleep increases inflammation. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says most adults need between seven and eight hours of sleep each night.

6. Reduce stress. High levels of stress hormones can lead to the release of excess inflammatory chemicals.

Man Builds Noah’s Ark -- To Exact Scale

A replica of the biblical Ark , built by Dutchman Johan Huibers, is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide -- the exact length given in the Bible. It's two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house.

Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold. A contractor by trade, Huibers built the ark of cedar and pine. Huibers did the work mostly with his own hands, using modern tools and with occasional help from his son Roy.

On the uncovered top deck, there will soon be a petting zoo with baby lambs, chickens, goats, and one camel.

Exercise Gives Aging Brains a Boost

A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the mouse brain, and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical that promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells.

Neural stem cells and progenitor cells differentiate into a variety of mature nerve cells that have different functions, a process called neurogenesis. There is evidence that when fewer new stem or progenitor cells are produced in the hippocampus, it can result in impairment of the learning and memory functions. The hippocampus plays an important role in memory and learning.

As expected, the study found that neurogenesis drops off sharply in middle-aged mice, but exercise significantly slows down the loss of new nerve cells. They found that production of neural stem cells improved by approximately 200% compared to the middle-aged mice that did not exercise.

In addition, the survival of new nerve cells increased by 170% and growth by 190% compared to the sedentary middle-aged mice. Exercise also significantly enhanced stem cell production and maturation in the young mice.

Little Things to Help You Succeed in Life

If you listen to popular wisdom, especially as expressed in movies and TV shows, profound change comes from profound events. The reality, though, is somewhat different.

While some people face life-changing events, most of what defines and redefines us as people is not the stuff of big-budget epic movies, but rather the boring, mundane stuff of everyday life.

How can we grab hold of those little things that say so much about who we are -- and use them to move us closer to who we want to be? We have to go through an ongoing process that involves:

Birth Defects Tied to Fertility Techniques

Infants conceived with techniques commonly used in fertility clinics are two to four times more likely to have certain birth defects than are infants conceived naturally, a new study has found.

The defects included heart problems, cleft lip, cleft palate and abnormalities in the esophagus or rectum. But those conditions are rare to begin with, generally occurring no more than once in 700 births, so the overall risk was still low, even after the fertility treatments.

The procedures that increased the risk were so-called assisted reproductive techniques, like in vitro fertilization, which require doctors and technicians to work with eggs and sperm outside the body. The study did not include women who only took fertility drugs and did not have procedures performed.

Women considering fertility treatment should be informed that there might be a risk of birth defects, Dr. Alan R. Fleischman, vice president and medical director of the March of Dimes said, but they need not be “overly concerned.”

FDA Scientists Accuse Agency Officials of Misconduct

Top federal health officials engaged in “serious misconduct” by ignoring concerns of scientists at the Food and Drug Administration and approving for sale unsafe or ineffective medical devices, the scientists have written in a letter to Congress.

The letter to Congress, dated Oct. 14, is part of a growing chorus of dissent from what had long been a tight-lipped agency. In decades past, scientists rarely disagreed publicly with their agency’s decisions, and any concerns they had about important decisions were whispered among veterans.

But increasing scrutiny of the agency on Capitol Hill has coincided with a growing willingness by some scientists to voice their misgivings.

Medical devices include products like cardiac stents, nerve stimulators to relieve depression, imaging equipment and breast implants. It is not clear from the publicly released information which device approvals the scientists questioned.

The letter says that the scientists have documentary evidence that senior agency managers “corrupted the scientific review of medical devices” by ordering experts to change their opinions and conclusions in violation of the law.

Half of U.S. Doctors Plan to Cut Back Work Hours or Quit Medicine Entirely

Primary care doctors in the United States feel overworked and nearly half plan to either cut back on how many patients they see or quit medicine entirely, according to a survey by the Physicians' Foundation.

While 60 percent of 12,000 general practice physicians found they would not recommend medicine as a career, 76 percent of physicians said they are working at "full capacity" or are "overextended and overworked."

More than 90 percent said the time they devote to non-clinical paperwork has increased in the last three years and 63 percent said this has caused them to spend less time with each patient.

Eleven percent said they plan to retire and 13 percent said they plan to seek a job that removes them from active patient care. Twenty percent said they will cut back on patients seen and 10 percent plan to move to part-time work.

The survey adds to building evidence that not enough internal medicine or family practice doctors are trained or practicing in the United States, although there are plenty of specialist physicians.

Statin Drugs: A Call for Caution

Is it time to put cholesterol-lowering statin drugs in every medicine cabinet? Judging by recent headlines, you might think so, as heart researchers reported that millions of healthy people could benefit from taking statins even if they don’t have high cholesterol.

Although many doctors hailed the study, known as Jupiter, as a major breakthrough, a closer look at the research suggests that statins (like Crestor, from AstraZeneca, and Lipitor, from Pfizer) are far from magic pills.

Many doctors who believe in using statins for heart disease say they needn’t be given to healthy patients. Instead, they say, the focus should remain on encouraging healthful behavior and screening for traditional risk factors like high blood pressure and cholesterol.

Because of the way Jupiter’s results were reported, many healthy people are likely to get an exaggerated view of statins’ benefits. While the investigators reported an impressive-sounding 50 percent reduction in the risk of serious heart problems among the statin users, in reality everyone in the study had a low risk to begin with.

I’ve long maintained that statins are one of the most unnecessary and dangerous drugs out there. For the majority of people, taking a statin drug to control your cholesterol levels or protect your heart will likely do far more harm than good.

Simple Methods to Cut Your Cancer Risk by 25 Percent

Regular physical activity can significantly lower a woman's risk of developing cancer, but skimping on sleep can eliminate those gains, a new study has found.

In a long-term study of nearly 6,000 U.S. women, researchers found that those who exercised the most had a 25% lower chance of developing cancer than those who were the least active.

But among younger, physically active women, those who slept less than seven hours a night had a 47% higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer than those who regularly got a good night's rest.

It is not yet known exactly why exercise reduces cancer risks but researchers believe it could be due to the lower body weight, improved immune function and hormone levels associated with regular physical activity.

Insufficient sleep has been linked to high risks of developing a number of conditions including heart disease, obesity and diabetes but, again, researchers have not determined exactly how sleep prevents disease.

Chemotherapy Can do More Harm Than Good

Doctors have been urged to be more cautious in offering cancer treatment to terminally-ill patients as chemotherapy can often do more harm than good, a study suggests.

The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) found that more than four in ten patients who received chemotherapy towards the end of life suffered potentially fatal effects from the drugs, and treatment was “inappropriate” in nearly a fifth of cases.

In a study of more than 600 cancer patients who died within 30 days of receiving treatment, chemotherapy probably caused or hastened death in 27 per cent of cases, the inquiry found.

In only 35 per cent of these cases was care judged to have been good by the inquiry’s advisors, with 49 per cent having room for improvement and 8 per cent receiving less than satisfactory care.

Fluoride Exposure May Contribute to Early Puberty

Up until the 1990s, no research had ever been conducted to determine the impact of fluoride on the pineal gland -- a small gland located between the two hemispheres of the brain that regulates the production of the hormone melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate the onset of puberty and helps protect the body from cell damage caused by free radicals.

It is now known -- thanks to the meticulous research of Dr. Jennifer Luke from the University of Surrey in England -- that the pineal gland is the primary target of fluoride accumulation within the body.

After finding that the pineal gland is a major target for fluoride accumulation in humans, Dr. Luke conducted animal experiments to determine if the accumulated fluoride could impact the functioning of the gland -- particularly the gland's regulation of melatonin.

Luke found that animals treated with fluoride had lower levels of circulating melatonin, as reflected by reduced levels of melatonin metabolites in the animals' urine. This reduced level of circulating melatonin was accompanied -- as might be expected -- by an earlier onset of puberty in the fluoride-treated female animals.

How Sunshine and Vitamin D Can Help You Eliminate Mercury

Accumulating data have provided evidence that vitamin D is involved in brain function. Vitamin D can inhibit the synthesis of inducible nitric oxide synthase and increase glutathione levels, suggesting a role for the hormone in brain detoxification.

The study shows that vitamin D helps remove mercury from your body safely by radically increasing the amount of intracellular glutathione.

Neuroprotective and immunomodulatory effects of this hormone have also been described in several experimental models, indicating the potential value of vitamin D in helping neurodegenerative and neuroimmune diseases. In addition, vitamin D induces glioma cell death, making the hormone of potential interest in the management of brain tumors.

These results reveal previously unsuspected roles for vitamin D in brain function and suggest possible areas of future research.

Is Your Brain Becoming "Googlized?"

Are our brains being rewired by using the Internet? A collection of evidence from recent studies tends to be pointing that way.

In one study by Gary Small, a professor the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, it was found that “emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle aged and older adults,” and that “internet searching engages complicated brain activity, which may help exercise and improve brain function.”

The purpose of the study was to measure the effectiveness of online activity in slowing geriatric cognitive loss, but the more interesting implications come in understanding that the brain of Internet users may be remapping itself.

Studies have shown that our brain has amazing plasticity. We can literally remap entire sections of our cortex to take on new functions.

If we use the Internet frequently, our minds will accommodate by building skills in this area. But this doesn’t imply that we’re getting the virtual version of a frontal lobotomy or, conversely, supercharging our intellect. It just means that we’re using our inherent hardware for new purposes so that we can better keep up with our world. It’s the same flexibility we all come born with, and it’s what makes humans rather remarkable.

Watching TV Might Make You Unhappy

A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as "very happy" spend more time reading and socializing.

Analyzing 30-years’ worth of national data from time use studies and a continuing series of social attitude surveys, the Maryland researchers report that spending time watching television may contribute to viewers' happiness in the moment, with less positive effects in the long run.

According to the study's findings, unhappy people watch an estimated 20 percent more television than very happy people.

GM Crops Threaten Human Fertility and Health Safety

A long-term feeding study commissioned by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety confirms genetically modified (GM) corn seriously affects reproductive health in mice.

Non-GMO advocates, who have warned about this infertility link along with other health risks, now seek an immediate ban of all GM foods and GM crops to protect the health of humankind and the fertility of women around the world.

Feeding mice with genetically modified corn developed by the US-based Monsanto Corporation led to lower fertility and body weight, according to the study conducted by the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna. Lead author of the study Professor Zentek said there was a direct link between the decrease in fertility and the GM diet, and that mice fed with non-GE corn reproduced more efficiently.

Other studies have also found that offspring of rats fed GM soy showed a five-fold increase in mortality, lower birth weights, and the inability to reproduce.

Do Hybrid Cars Pose EMF Health Risks?

A New York Times article published earlier this year raised questions about the health risks of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in hybrid or electric vehicles.

EMFs have been linked to serious health matters, including cancer and a potential risk of leukemia among children, so limiting exposure is in your best interest.

However, a safety report by Stan Hartman, an environmental health consultant in Boulder, CO, specializing in electropollution, found that hybrid vehicles are not a problem for your health.

Learning How to Walk to Reduce Pain

Few of us think we need a course in walking any more than we’d need a course in breathing, but Jonathan FitzGordon, a yoga teacher and owner of Yoga Center of Brooklyn, insists that most Americans don’t have a clue how to step, a problem he first noticed among his yoga students.

“People would enter with terrible posture,” he said. “Then they’d do beautiful yoga, and listen to everything I said about alignment. As soon as class ended, they went straight into the bad posture.”

To help students take their practice into the street, Mr. FitzGordon incorporated walking lessons into his yoga classes, as well as teaching small group and individual sessions. His clients are mostly people who have visited doctors, chiropractors and massage therapists in search of relief for muscle or joint pain.

U.S. Blocks Chinese Milk Products

Federal food safety officials began holding up shipments of food from China that contain milk or milk-derived ingredients in the largest effort to date to keep products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine from reaching U.S. consumers.

The Food and Drug Administration is requiring importers of the halted shipments to test for the chemical, which is used to make plastic and fertilizer but has been added to human and animal food to boost protein readings. The types of products likely to be waylaid are cookies, candies, and other goods made with milk or milk powder.

Since September, FDA officials have recalled several products -- sold mainly in ethnic grocery stores -- due to possible melamine contamination. They chose to take broader measures yesterday based on the results of product testing and on information from food safety officials in other countries.

Will Artificial Diamonds Soon be Cheap, Mass-Produced ... and Perfect?

A team in the US has brought the world one step closer to cheap, mass-produced, perfect diamonds. The improvement also means there is no theoretical limit on the size of diamonds that can be grown in the lab.

A team led by Russell Hemley, of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, makes diamonds by chemical vapour deposition (CVD), where carbon atoms in a gas are deposited on a surface to produce diamond crystals.

The CVD process produces rapid diamond growth, but impurities from the gas are absorbed and the diamonds take on a brownish tint.

These defects can be purged by a costly high-pressure, high-temperature treatment called annealing. However, only relatively small diamonds can be produced this way: the largest so far being a 34-carat yellow diamond about 1 centimeter wide.

Now Hemley and his team have got around the size limit by using microwaves to "cook" their diamonds in a hydrogen plasma at 2200 °C but at low pressure. Diamond size is now limited only by the size of the microwave chamber used.

The improving quality of synthetic diamonds threatens the natural diamond market. While 20 tonnes of natural diamonds are mined annually, some 600 tons of synthetic diamonds are produced each year for industrial use alone.

Dirty Air Kills More People Than Car Crashes in California

Lowering air pollution in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley would save more lives annually than ending all motor vehicle fatalities in the two regions, according to a new study.

The study, which examined the costs of air pollution in two areas with the worst levels in the country, also said meeting federal ozone and fine particulate standards could save $28 billion annually in health care costs, school absences, missed work and lost income potential from premature deaths.

If pollution levels were to improve to federal standards, the study says residents of the two air basins would suffer 3,860 fewer premature deaths, 3,780 fewer nonfatal heart attacks and would miss 470,000 fewer days of work annually. School children would miss more than 1.2 million fewer days of school, a savings of $112 million in caregiver costs. There also would be more than 2 million fewer cases of upper respiratory problems.

Conversation With the Head of One of the Most Innovative Companies on the Planet

In this interview with Google CEO Eric Schmidt, he reveals how the Internet will change the nature of competition, innovation, and company operations.

As Google recently turned 10 years old, some analysts and investors began to say the company was suffering from early signs of maturity. Google’s growth rate, while still brisk, has slowed significantly and is expected to slow more because of the economic slowdown. Mr. Schmidt told The New York Times that Google was better positioned than other advertising companies to survive a recession.

Do Vitamins Protect Against Cancer?

Taking calcium and vitamin D didn't reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to a study of more than 2,000 postmenopausal women published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Researchers randomly assigned women to take either placebos or 1,000 milligrams of calcium and 400 international units of vitamin D daily. Women and their doctors didn't know which pills they were assigned. After seven years, the rate of invasive breast cancer in the two groups was the same.

In their paper, authors say it's possible that the women didn't take the supplements long enough, given that cancer can take decades to develop. Authors note that they also don't know the effect of taking either calcium or vitamin D alone, because women in the study took them together.

Of course, the study also doesn’t reveal the impact of getting calcium from food sources, and vitamin D from the sun, as opposed to from supplements -- or whether the dosages were too low to be effective.

How Much Alcohol is Safe to Drink During Pregnancy?

Lots of expecting mums say they avoid even light drinking, but the latest study indicates that this may be an unnecessary precaution.

Yvonne Kelly and colleagues from University College London analyzed data collected from over 12,000 mothers and children in the UK since 2001. Children whose mothers had one or two alcoholic drinks per week during pregnancy had fewer behavioral and cognitive problems by age 3 than the children of women who abstained completely.

Kelly says that light drinking is unlikely to be physiologically beneficial. Rather, the light drinkers in her study tended to be better educated and have higher incomes than heavy drinkers and abstainers.

However, John Olney, a neuroscientist at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, who has shown that in mice even a small amount of ethanol causes fetal neurons to die off, says it is difficult to detect "anything but massive damage" in people, so low-level harm might go unnoticed.

Conflict of Interest Rampant in Child Drug Prescriptions

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) stated that three Harvard experts whose research contributed to an explosion of antipsychotic drug use in children failed to report a combined $3.2 million in company consulting fees, in violation of Harvard’s rules.

Controversy about promotion of psychotropics in children is breaking out in other states also. New Jersey state assemblyman Michael Coherty wrote to the state department of health on Aug 20, asking about the policy that permitted the NJ Medicaid program to spend $73 million between 2000 and 2007 on antipsychotic drugs for children under the age of 18 although the drugs are not FDA approved for pediatric use. Lawsuits are pending in several states.

Issues include improper marketing and failure to disclose serious side effects, which prompted state programs to overpay for olanzapine (Zyprexa), quetiapine (Seroquel), and risperidone (Risperdal).

Particularly in children, it is not just the drugs prescribed, but the diagnoses that are in question. Six million children have been diagnosed with serious psychiatric disorders warranting drug treatment -- 1 million with bipolar disorder, long believed to occur only in adults.

9 Wonderful Ways to Get Started in the World of Personal Productivity

It’s easy to get lost in the world of personal productivity. It’s a jungle of information and not all of it makes sense. Here you’ll find a few of the blogs and books you should read to get a grip on it all, if you’re serious about getting this part of your life under control.

Blogs

The Little Known Risks of Working From Home

Working from home has its advantages. No need to shower, shave or even dress; traffic jams are minimized to dodging laundry in the hallway; and then there's the Judge Judy break at four.

Yet with such fringe benefits come disadvantages and dangers few employers are taking seriously and few employees understand, such as the stress of working daylong in front of a computer in what could be an ergonomically undesirable setting, injuries from household hazards, expectations of being available around the clock, or working alone without colleague interaction and, dare we imagine, without computer tech support.

Which of Your Household Products Contain Mercury?

The U.S. EPA has concluded that mercury is not a necessary ingredient in a number of consumer products, and subsequently developed a searchable database of products that contain mercury and possible non-mercury alternatives.

Mercury is a commonly known ingredient in many thermometers and thermostats, but it’s also found in batteries, fluorescent lamps and the switches in cars and electronics. It can be used as a corrosion inhibitor along with other heavy metals like lead.

Mercury poses both a health concern and an environmental concern. Because it is colorless and odorless, it is hard to clean up. If a mercury-containing product breaks, it can damage the kidneys and nervous system if inhaled.

HPV Vaccine May Soon be Marketed to Boys

An expensive vaccine aimed at preventing cervical cancer in women has proven successful at preventing a disease in men, according to a new study.

The disease? It's genital warts, a sexually-transmitted problem that is embarrassing and uncomfortable but not life-threatening.

Still, the results are expected to bolster a likely bid by the vaccine's manufacturer — Merck & Co. Inc. — to begin marketing the vaccine to boys, experts said. Merck plans to ask the government for that approval later this year.

This is an obvious and reprehensible attempt to sell more of their ineffective and potentially dangerous Gardasil vaccine. Once you carefully study the evidence you will understand that the boys who receive the proposed Gardasil vaccine will begin to experience side effects, just as their female peers did.

An Innovative Way to Track the Spread of the Flu

There is a new common symptom of the flu, in addition to the usual aches, coughs, fevers and sore throats. Turns out a lot of ailing Americans enter phrases like “flu symptoms” into Google and other search engines before they call their doctors.

That simple act, multiplied across millions of keyboards in homes around the country, has given rise to a new early warning system for fast-spreading flu outbreaks, called Google Flu Trends.

Tests of the new Web tool from Google.org, the company’s philanthropic unit, suggest that it may be able to detect regional outbreaks of the flu a week to 10 days before they are reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The premise behind Google Flu Trends -- what appears to be a fruitful marriage of mob behavior and medicine -- has been validated by an unrelated study indicating that the data collected by Yahoo, Google’s main rival in Internet search, can also help with early detection of the flu.

Is There a Toxic Secret in Victoria's Secret Bras?

Several women have claimed that a popular type of bra from the leading lingerie firm Victoria’s Secret made them ill.

Roberta Ritter, 37, claims: "I had the welts that were very red, hot to the touch, extremely inflamed, blistery. It itched profusely. I couldn't sleep and was waking up itching."

Miss Ritter, from Ohio, filed a lawsuit against Victoria's Secret in May and claims she has been contacted by dozens of women suffering similar symptoms who are now seeking permission to join her in a class-action lawsuit.

Her lawyers said they purchased the same bra types that Miss Ritter had bought and had them laboratory tested. They claim the tests revealed that the bras showed traces of formaldehyde, which is used in the textile industry to make fabrics crease-resistant. The lawyers believe Miss Ritter may be allergic to formaldehyde.

Simple Technique Helps Chocoholics Stop Snacking

A walk of just fifteen minutes in duration can reduce chocolate cravings, according to new research.

Following three days without chocolate, 25 regular chocolate eaters were asked to either complete a 15-minute brisk walk or rest. They then engaged in tasks that would normally induce chocolate cravings, including a mental challenge and opening a chocolate bar.

After exercise, participants reported lower cravings than after rest. Cravings were not only reduced during the walk, but for at least ten minutes afterwards. The exercise also limited increases in cravings in response to the two tasks.

The benefits of exercise in helping people manage dependencies, such as for nicotine and other drugs, have long been recognized.

Obese Kids Have Old Arteries

Obese children can have arteries more representative of someone three decades older.

Researchers used ultrasound to measure the thickness of the inner walls of the carotid arteries, located in the neck, in 70 high-risk children aged 6 to 19. Carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) is a measure of atherosclerosis, or the fatty build-up within the arteries that can eventually choke the vessels and lead to a heart attack or stroke.

On average, participants' "vascular age," meaning the age at which their level of thickening would be normal, was three decades older than their chronological age. Children who were obese and who had high triglyceride levels in the blood were the most likely to have advanced vascular age.

Simple Trick to Increase Your Motivation

In most personal productivity systems, dividing projects and large tasks into the smallest tasks divisible is considered a basic, fundamental concept. These systems say that you should divide a task into individual actions until you get close to a point where you can’t break things down into any further actions. The point is to focus the brain on something small enough to tackle right away.

However, it does have a dangerous side effect -- focusing on individual actions can increase the mental distance between what you’re doing right now and what the end result is meant to be. When the end result, the goal, is obscured, motivation quickly falls.

The problem begins when you feed projects into your system and take actions from several projects to form a daily task list. The context of the list changes from individual projects and over to the general scope of things that need to be achieved in a day. The end result is lost.

It’s important to find a way of looking at each task more as a part of a whole leading to a goal rather than individual tasks that were preset during a weekly review. It will feel a lot less like going through the daily motions of getting things done, and more like working towards a meaningful end.

Lack of Sleep is Bad for Your Heart

People with high blood pressure who get less than the standard amount of sleep may face an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

In a study of more than 1,200 adults with high blood pressure, researchers found that those who slept for less than 7.5 hours each night were more likely to suffer a heart attack, a stroke, or die of cardiac arrest over a 4-year period. At particular risk were those who also failed to have a blood-pressure dip that normally occurs overnight.

In general, men and women who slept for less than 7.5 hours per night had a 68 percent higher risk for cardiovascular complications. Those who suffered from both short sleep and non-dipping blood pressure, however, had a more than four-fold greater chance of heart attack, stroke or cardiac death.

U.S. Gets a 'D' on Premature Birth Report Card

In the first of a planned annual series of Premature Birth Report Cards from the March of Dimes, the U.S. as a whole received a "D" and not a single state earned an "A".

The only state to earn a "B" was Vermont. Eight others earned a "C," 23 states earned a "D," and 18 states plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia got failing grades of "F."

In addition to providing state rankings, the Report Card analyzed several contributing factors and prevention opportunities, including rates of late preterm birth, smoking, and uninsured women of childbearing age. The purpose of the Report Card is to raise public awareness of the growing crisis of preterm birth.

Fast Food is Loaded With This Cheap Ingredient

When you eat a burger and fries from a fast food restaurant, you're ultimately eating corn.

Researchers collected hamburgers, chicken sandwiches and French fries from fast-food chains around the country, and performed chemical analyses to find out the ultimate source of the animal meat and cooking oil that go into those meals.

The findings showed that the cows and chickens that make up fast food sandwiches are fed almost exclusively corn, and that French fries are almost universally cooked in corn oil.

Why Sunlight is the Best Source of Vitamin D

A 2004 study seemed to show that vitamin D in the form of cod liver oil had only a mild effect on reducing upper respiratory tract infections in young children. This result was surprising, considering that it has been known since at least 1926 that vitamin D can significantly reduce respiratory infection, colds, and flu.

In fact, vitamin D plays a pivotal role in the immune system. The explanation likely comes from the fact that vitamin D in cod liver oil does not exist in isolation -- it comes with a high dose of vitamin A.

Vitamin A and vitamin D compete for each others function. For example, even the vitamin A in a single serving of liver can impair vitamin D’s rapid intestinal calcium response.

Unfortunately, Americans tend to consume multivitamins or cod liver oil that contain disproportionately small amounts of vitamin D, but detrimental quantities of vitamin A. One manufacturer sells cod liver oil containing only 3 to 60 IU of vitamin D, but between 3,000 and 6,000 IU of vitamin A.

Sunlight is still the best way to obtain vitamin D -- it is your body’s natural method of creating the substance. But in winter months, sometimes it is not possible to receive enough sunlight. If you do supplement your vitamin D, make sure get it from a good source.