Sleepless Nights

I read in a magazine long time ago that millions of people worldwide are having problems with sleeping. One thing  I know when somebody has problem about sleeping is that,  he or she might have a disorder called  insomnia. I have the same problem  sometimes. I am thankful that, it is getting better and I can already fall asleep better the past days. I guess, this is because of the new job. Everytime I go home, I am already tired and this makes me fall asleep immediately.

Some are also having problems with sleeping because their partners are snoring. With the modern medical methods we are having right now, some disorders and sicknesses are already cured. I am not really an expert about medical issues but I was browsing something about sleep apnea in the internet and I read that cpap masks can help in curing it. This is indeed a very interesting gadget. Why not if it really helps.

Lastly an insomnia, or sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which there is an inability to fall asleep or to stay asleep as long as desired.

Absence in the Blogosphere due to Migraine

Do you have a Migraine? if none, never ever dream from this kind of sickness. It is a terrible one, I tell you. I had again a Migraine last Thursday night until yesterday. I am feeling better last night. Thanks goodness! Now I am kickin' again in the blogosphere..not that much but I am happy to see you here again. Last Friday my migraine went worst because I vomited three times and I felt so tired the whole day. It was really terrible that I want to stay all the time in a dark room with my eyes closed and I don't want to hear any noise even talking to my husband. I want completely a noise-free and light-free environment.

When migraine attacks me, the pain is always in the left side of my head including my left eye. When it is very bad, I always feel that my left eye want to come out. Sometimes after I vomit, I felt better..sometimes not. When it is not too bad, I am only taking pain killers like Ibuprofen before it get worst. Sometimes it works sometimes not. When this happened, I am forced to take migraine tablets but sometimes it also doesn't work. The best remedy when I am totally run out of energy is to have an injection in our house doctor.

I can't give you an exact cause for a migraine, my doctor can't even explained it to me. I had already undergone CT scan twice and I am happy that they found nothing in it. Is it because of hormonal problems, changing of weather? I can tell you sometimes when I smell cigarette smokes, my migraine triggers or when I have my monthly visitor. To give you some information about migraine, I consulted my dear friend online, Wikipedia...so have fun reading! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

What is Migraine?

Migraine is a neurological syndrome characterized by altered bodily perceptions, headaches, and nausea. Physiologically, the migraine headache is a neurological condition more common to women than to men. Etymologically, the French word migraine derives from the Greek hemicrania (half skull) and the Old English megrim (severe headache).

The typical migraine headache is unilateral and pulsating, lasting from 4 to 72 hours; symptoms include nausea, vomiting, photophobia (increased sensitivity to bright light), and hyperacusis (increased sensitivity to noise); approximately one third of people who suffer migraine headache perceive an aura — visual, olfactory — announcing the headache.

(featuring Initial treatment is with analgesics for the head-ache, an anti-emetic for the nausea, and the avoidance of triggering conditions. The cause of migraine headache is unknown; the accepted theory is a disorder of the serotonergic control system, as PET scan has demonstrated the aura coincides with diffusion of cortical depression consequent to increased blood flow (up to 300% greater than baseline). There are migraine headache variants, some originate in the brainstemintercellular transport dysfunction of calcium and potassium ions) and some are genetically disposed. Studies of twins indicate a 60 to 65 per cent genetic influence upon their developing propensity to migraine headache. Moreover, fluctuating hormone levels indicate a migraine relation: 75 percent of adult patients are women, although migraine affects approximately equal numbers of prepubescent boys and girls; propensity to migraine headache is known to disappear during pregnancy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migraine

Are You Wasting Money on Multivitamins?

I guess this is a good start for the week. I just got this post in the Bulletin Board Posted by one of my friends in friendsters. Thanks a lot Merz for sharing this. This only serves as General Information. ...Continue to read if you want to know more. Who knows this might cause you to save some money and avoiding the side effects of taking vitamins...Have a great day to all!!

Date: Monday, 16 February, 2009 3:35 PM
Subject: Multivitamins....a waste??? Important , pls. read...
Message: Are You Wasting Money on Multivitamins?

Advertisements with tantalizing promises of improved health, prevention of cancer and heart disease, and greater energy have lured millions of Americans to spend billions of dollars on the purchase of multivitamins.

An article in the February 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine reported that multivitamin use did not protect the 161,808 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative Study from common forms of cancer, heart attacks, or strokes. And the numbers of deaths during the 8 years of the study were the same in vitamin users as in non-users. Still, it is important to recognize that this was an observational study, not a more meaningful clinical trial. Although these findings apply only to women, other studies have failed to show benefits of multivitamins in older men.

These results are not at all surprising for several reasons. No large study has shown that multivitamins significantly benefit healthy men and women. In addition, for some years physicians prescribed folic acid and vitamins B12 and B6 in the hopes of preventing heart attacks and strokes by lowering blood levels of homocysteine. (High blood levels of homocysteine are associated with an increased risk of coronary and other vascular diseases.) A number of recent studies, however, have shown that, while these vitamins do lower homocysteine levels, they do not prevent heart attacks or strokes.

Many doctors have also prescribed the antioxidants vitamin E and beta-carotene to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Alas, studies have now proven that these supplements are not protective--and may even be harmful.

No one denies that an adequate intake of vitamins is essential; however, vitamins can and should be obtained from eating enough healthy foods rather than from swallowing vitamin supplements.
Then what about vitamins being a great source of energy? Some multivitamin ads do indeed claim that their supplements boost energy; and some professional athletes gobble handfuls of vitamin pills to increase their energy and strength. But researchers proved long ago that energy comes from calories, not vitamins. The highly touted cholesterol-lowering effects of substances added to some multivitamin supplements? Still unproven.

All this is not to say that specific vitamins supplements are never desirable. Vitamins can be valuable in certain situations:

* Folic acid supplements in women who are pregnant or plan to become pregnant can help to prevent serious neural-tube defects that affect the baby's brain and spine.
* Supplements that contain more vitamin D and calcium than is present in regular multivitamin pills can help older men, and especially women, avoid osteoporosis and bone fractures.
* Supplements of vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, zinc, and copper may slow the progression of vision loss in people with early macular degeneration.
And multivitamins are beneficial for some entire groups of people:
* those on a very-low-calorie weight-loss diet
* strict vegetarians
* heavy alcohol drinkers
* individuals who are not getting an adequate diet because they are too sick or too poor--or live by themselves and are unable to prepare proper meals for themselves
I also agree with a comment made by one of the coauthors of the Archives of Internal Medicine article about postmenopausal women mentioned above. An 8-year follow-up period may not be long enough to show that multivitamins protect against cancers that take many years to develop.
All the same, the results of the studies on vitamins so far point to one conclusion: Healthy people who eat enough calories from a varied diet do not benefit from multivitamin supplements.

Genetic basis for some birth defects found

I guess, this is a good info for all women out there especially to all Mother!! keep reading to find it out!! have a great day!!

Genetic basis for some birth defects found
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamax.com

CLEVELAND (UPI) -- U.S. medical researchers report they have determined the genetic basis for some birth defects that affect the development of the heart and head.

A multidisciplinary team led by Case Western Reserve University Professor Gary Landreth discovered a common genetic pathway for a number of birth defects such as abnormal development of the jaw, palate and brain.

The researchers said they developed a mouse model of the disorders by removing a gene, ERK2, responsible for the pathway. The scientists, in collaboration with Dr. William Snider at the University of North Carolina, discovered the mice missing the gene for ERK2 in neural crest cells had developmental defects resembling those of human patients with a deletion that includes that gene.

Landreth, with Case Western Associate Professor Michiko Watanabe, found the mouse hearts had characteristic defects resembling those seen in the patients with ERK2 deletions.

"Given Dr. Watanabe's findings, we determined that we had in fact developed animal models that mimicked the human deletion syndrome," said Landreth. "This work sheds light on how these developmental errors occur."

The research that included Dr. Sulagna Saitta at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

News..News..News...

This is quote interesting..thought of sharing it to you before I delete it in my inbox...
happy Thursday!! Good night..need to go to bed now!!

Details of anthrax investigation revealed
Copyright 2008 by United Press International...arcamax.com

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- A team of U.S. scientists spent nearly seven years working in secret to help crack the 2001 anthrax letter case, the FBI said.

Federal investigators asked scientists from a number of research institutions, including Sandia National Laboratories, to help in the investigation of letters containing bacillus anthracis that were mailed in 2001 to several media organizations and two Democratic U.S. senators -- Tom Daschle of North Dakota and Pat Leahy of Vermont. Five people were killed and 17 people were injured.

Sandia said research by the lab demonstrated to the FBI that the form of bacillus anthracis contained in those letters was not a weaponized form. Investigator Joseph Michael said the information was crucial in ruling out state-sponsored terrorism.

Michael, Paul Kotula and roughly a dozen other researchers examined more than 200 samples over six and one-half years, Sandia said Thursday in a release.

"Sandia's work was the first to actually link the spore material in the New York Post, the Daschle and the Leahy letters," the release said. "The elemental signatures and the locations of these signatures, while not indicating intentional weaponization, did show that the spores were indistinguishable and therefore likely came from the same source. That conclusion was corroborated a few years later by the DNA studies."

Malaysian medicine cuts chemo resistance

MONTREAL (UPI) -- A Canadian, U.S. and Austrian study has discovered a Malaysian folk medication reduces resistance to cancer chemotherapy treatments.

McGill University researchers said the study focused on a class of natural products known as cyclopenta benzofuran flavaglines, or CBFs. Working with mice genetically modified to mimic human leukemias, they found the CBF compound silvestrol can make tumors susceptible to the killing effects of anticancer drugs.

Silvestrol is a natural compound derived from a large genus of trees and shrubs found in Malaysia, South China and some Pacific islands, the scientists said. It's been used in Malaysian folk medicine for generations, but never as a cancer therapy.

The researchers cautioned trials in humans and possible treatments are still many years away.

The results of the study that included Boston University, the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the University of Vienna and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute are published in the June issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamax.com

Heel ultrasound predicts osteoporosis risk

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (UPI) -- An ultrasound exam of the heel may be able to predict if a woman is at heightened risk for fractures due to osteoporosis, Swiss researchers said.

Lead author Dr. Idris Guessous of the Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland said along with certain risk factors -- including age or recent fall -- radiation-free ultrasound of the heel may be used to better select women who need further bone density testing, such as a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry exam.

In the three-year, multi-center study, 6,174 women ages 70 to 85 with no previous formal diagnosis of osteoporosis were screened with heel-bone quantitative ultrasound, a diagnostic test used to assess bone density. Researchers asked about risk factors such as age, history of fractures or a recent fall.

The study, published in the the journal Radiology, showed that 1,464 women, or 23.7 percent, were considered lower risk and 4,710, or 76.3 percent, were considered higher risk.

In the group of higher risk women, 290, or 6.1 percent, developed fractures, whereas 27, or 1.8 percent, of the women in the lower risk group developed fractures. Among the 66 women who developed a hip fracture, 60, or 90 percent, were in the higher risk group.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamax.com

Scientists ID new Alzheimer's disease gene

MANHASSET, N.Y. (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists say they have identified a gene that puts people at risk for developing Alzheimer's disease.

Philippe Marambaud of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and Fabien Campagne of the Weill Medical College at Cornell University said the calcium channel modulator gene holds promise as a potentially new way to treat or even prevent Alzheimer's disease.

They said they found the risk gene called CALHM1 strongly expressed in the hippocampus -- a brain region necessary for learning and memory. The researchers said CALHM1 leads to a partial loss of function, which means less calcium gets into a cell, thereby weakening signals normally regulated by calcium. They determined one of those signals controls the levels of amyloid peptides, the building blocks of the characteristic disease plaques.

Using DNA from deceased U.S. Alzheimer's victims and age-matched controls, along with DNA samples from patients in France, Italy and the United Kingdom, the researchers ran tests on 3,404 samples. They discovered people having the genetic variant had 1.5 times higher risk of developing Alzheimer's.

The study that included French researcher Jean Charles Lambert is detailed in the journal Cell.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamax.com

Scientists find 'nervous wreck' gene

Scientists find 'nervous wreck' gene
MADISON, Wis. (UPI) -- U.S. scientists announced the discovery of a gene they call "nervous wreck" that is essential to the proper development of nerve cells in the fruit fly.

The gene governs the size of a synapse -- the junction between nerve cell endings. University of Wisconsin scientists said the gene prevents synapses from overgrowing by damping the effects of a pro-growth signal. Mutations in a human version of the "nervous wreck" gene have been linked to a severe genetic developmental disability

The 100 billion nerve cells in the human make trillions of synaptic connections to neurons, muscle cells and other cell types. Malfunctions at synapses are believed to be among the many factors leading to various neurological disorders.

Kate O'Connor-Giles, a postdoctoral fellow who led the study, said, "We really need to have a deep understanding of how all the factors involved are working together to develop rational treatments for neurological disorders associated with aberrant synaptic growth."

The researchers say their findings might speed the development of treatments for neurological disorders.

The study appears in the journal Neuron.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamax.com

Study: Oregano oil works as an insecticide

ALGIERS, Algeria (UPI) -- Algerian scientists say they've found oregano oil works as well as synthetic insecticides to combat infestation by a common beetle found in stored cereals.

The researchers say not only does oregano oil work well in fighting infestations of the beetle Rhizoppertha dominica, but it has none of the associated side effects of synthetic insecticides on the environment.

Oregano, a member of the Lamiaceae family of plants, has been known to be a natural insecticide by apparently inhibiting egg laying and larval development. But the researchers said their study marks the first time oregano oil has been looked at as a viable alternative to synthetic insecticides.

Chahrazed Boutekedjiret and colleagues from Algeria's National Polytechnic School identified 18 components in oregano oil that combat pests and found the greater the concentration of the oil used, the more effective it was.

"It is feasible that, in the near future, these natural insecticides will replace synthetic insecticides and add considerably to more environmentally friendly insecticides on a large scale," said Boutekedjiret.

The findings are reported in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamax.com

New moms tested for HIV infection

LONDON (UPI) -- Hundreds of new mothers in Britain are being tested for the HIV virus after learning the doctor who delivered their babies has the deadly virus.

Women who had Caesarean section births at two hospitals in Essex were sent letters urging the tests to determine whether they contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, The Daily Mail reported Friday.

Tracy Cause, 33, from Leigh-on-Sea, said she found it unbelievable that someone working with mothers and babies could be infected with HIV and potentially passed along the virus.

"The letter from the hospital said they were aware it could be upsetting but that doesn't even come close," Cause said.

Basildon Hospital in Essex sent 126 warning letters and 66 were mailed to patients at Southend Hospital.

The doctor worked at both of the hospitals between 2006 and 2007 but reportedly was moved to a "risk free" role, the newspaper said.

Dr. Stephen Morgan, Basildon medical director, said, it was "rare" for an infected healthcare worker to infect a patient.

A Health Protection Agency spokesman said patients were being asked to contact a helpline for a "consultation where they will be offered advice, counseling and a blood test."


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamax.com

Global warming may increase kidney stones

Global warming may increase kidney stones
DALLAS (UPI) -- U.S. urologists say rising global temperatures might lead to an increase in kidney stones.

The study, presented Tuesday in Orlando, Fla., during the 103rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association, shows kidney stone disease, already linked with dehydration in warmer climates, will be exacerbated by global warning.

As a result, scientists said the prevalence of kidney stone disease will increase, along with the costs of treating the condition.

The southern United States is considered "the stone belt" because it has higher incidences of kidney stones. The researchers said rising global temperatures could expand that region with the fraction of the U.S. population living in high-risk stone zones predicted to grow from 40 percent in 2000 to 50 percent by 2050. That could lead to an increase of one to two million lifetime cases of stone disease.

The cost associated with treating kidney stone disease could climb as high as one $1 billion annually by 2050, representing a 10 percent to 20 percent increase over present-day estimates, the researchers said.

The study, led by Dr. Margaret Pearl of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, was reported in the April issue of the Journal of Urology.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamax.com

Change needed in end-of-life dementia care

MILTON KEYNES, England (UPI) -- British researchers say many improvements are needed in the care provided to people in the final stages of dementia.

Open University Professor Jan Draper and Clinical Nurse Specialist Deborah Birch reached that conclusion after reviewing 29 published studies conducted in nine nations during the past 10 years.

"We must act now to stop people with dementia from suffering from protracted, potentially uncomfortable and undignified deaths" said Draper. "Our review has reinforced the importance of providing appropriate palliative care to individuals suffering from end-stage dementia and clearly identified some of the barriers to extending such provision."

The recommendations include: communicating the diagnosis of dementia in a sensitive way; acknowledging the potential influence on treatment decisions on the beliefs and values of members of the healthcare team; and reconsidering aggressive medical treatments that have limited benefits and might cause further discomfort to dying patients.

The review appears in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamax.com

Compound might stop cancer progression

OKLAHOMA CITY (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists say they have discovered a compound that, in laboratory tests, has shown success in preventing cancer.

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center researchers said the compound, which still faces several rounds of clinical trials, successfully stopped normal cells from turning into cancer cells and inhibited the ability of tumors to grow and form blood vessels.

If successful tests continue, researchers eventually hope to create a daily pill that would be taken as a cancer preventive.

"This compound was effective against the 12 types of cancers that it was tested on," said Doris Benbrook, the study's principle investigator. "Even more promising for health care is that it prevents the transformation of normal cells into cancer cells and is therefore now being developed by the National Cancer Institute as a cancer prevention drug."

The synthetic compound directly targets abnormalities in cancer cell components without damaging normal cells, researchers said. The disruption causes cancer cells to die and keeps tumors from forming.

Benbrook and her team have patented the discovery and hope to start clinical trials for the compound within 5 years.


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamx.com

Mammogram, not biopsy, for breast lesions

SEATTLE (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say a woman with benign-looking breast lesions should not get not a biopsy but a follow-up mammogram.

In a study published in American Journal of Roentgenology, researchers said six-month short-interval follow-up diagnostic mammogram had an 83 percent sensitivity rating -- meaning a relatively high proportion of true cancers were being identified, with a low proportion of cases mistakenly deemed benign.

"Because the probability of cancer is so low, we don't want to put the patient through an unnecessary biopsy, which is an invasive procedure that increases both patient anxiety and medical costs," study lead author Erin J. Aiello Bowles of the Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle said in a statement.

The study included 45,007 initial short-interval follow-up mammograms. In the study, 360 women with "probably benign" lesions were diagnosed with breast cancer within six months, and 506 women were diagnosed with cancer within 12 months.

The approximately one out of a 100 probably benign lesions linked to a cancer diagnosis within the year points to a need to monitor these patients, because "we want to detect the cancers as early as possible," Bowles said. After the six-month diagnostic mammograms, follow-ups should continue for the next two to three years "until long-term stability is demonstrated."


Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamax.com

Drug may shrink breast cancers

HOUSTON (UPI) -- A drug that targets cell surface receptors may shrink breast cancer tumors in six weeks, a U.S. scientist reports.

Dr. Angel Rodriguez of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston says the drug -- a tyrosine kinase inhibitor known as lapatinib -- could decrease tumor-causing breast cancer stem cells in women receiving treatment given before primary surgery. Rodriguez and colleagues studied 45 patients with locally advanced breast cancer in which the gene HER-2 was over-expressed.

The patients received lapatinib for six weeks, followed by a combination of weekly trastuzumab and thrice-weekly docetaxel, given over 12 weeks, before primary surgery. Biopsies were performed at the time of diagnosis and also after six weeks of lapatinib and cells from the tumors were obtained and analyzed.

"We saw significant tumor regression after six weeks of single-agent lapatinib," Rodriguez said in a statement. "Bi-dimensional tumor measurements showed a median decrease of minus 60.8 percent." The findings are being presented at the sixth European Breast Cancer Conference in Berlin.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamax.com

Possible genetic link to obesity found

LONDON (UPI) -- British and other scientists say they've discovered a gene sequence that is linked with weight gain and a tendency to develop type 2 diabetes. The researchers say their findings also show the gene sequence is significantly more common in those with Asian Indian rather than European ancestry.

The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, could lead to better ways of treating obesity, researchers said. Scientists from Imperial College London and other international institutions discovered the sequence is associated with a nearly 1-inch expansion in waist circumference, a 4-pound gain in weight, along with a tendency to become resistant to insulin, which can lead to type 2 diabetes.

The sequence is found in 50 percent of the U.K. population. "Until now, we have understood remarkably little about the genetic component of common problems linked with obesity, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes," said Imperial College London Professor Jaspal Kooner, the paper's senior author.

"Finding such a close association between a genetic sequence and significant physical effects is very important, especially when the sequence is found in half the population.? The study is detailed in the journal Nature Genetics.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
arcamax.com