Severe Low Blood Sugar Won’t Harm Brain
By Dr. Matthew Watson
(HealthDay News) -- People with type 1 diabetes don't need to worry that they may have brain function problems in the future if they've had a bout or two of severe hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), a new study suggests.
Researchers found that while serious hypoglycemic episodes did sometimes occur as a result of aggressive diabetes control, those low blood sugar events didn't have any effect on cognitive function.
"Hypoglycemia did not seem to predict the advent of worsening cognitive function," said the study's lead author, Dr. Alan Jacobson, director of the behavioral and mental health research program at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.
"Of course, it goes without saying that hypoglycemia can be a serious problem," he added. "But, if you've had a more severe hypoglycemia event, at least it appears that you don't have to worry that 10 years later you may have trouble doing your job or thinking," he said.
Results of the study were published in the May 3 New England Journal of Medicine. Read more...
iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index’s Shares Changing Hands at Higher Prices on … – Comtex Smartrend
By Dr. Matthew Watson
![]() Live Trading News | iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index's Shares Changing Hands at Higher Prices on ... Comtex Smartrend Shares of iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (AMEX:IBB) are trading up 0.2% to $87.70 today on above average volume. ... Option Activity Alert: Agrium, Geron, iShares MSCI Emerging Markets IndexWall Street Pit ISHARES NASDAQ BIOTECHNOLOGY INDEX'S SHARES CHANGING HANDS AT HIGHER PRICES ON ...Zacks.com |
Desperation Drives Parents to Dubious Autism Treatments (preview)
By Dr. Matthew Watson
When Jim Laidler’s oldest son, Benjamin, was diagnosed with autism, he and his wife started looking for help. “The neurologists were saying, ‘We don’t know what causes autism, and we don’t know what the outcome for your son will be,’” Laidler relates. “No one was saying, ‘Here’s what causes it; here’s what treats it.’”
But when the Laidlers, who live in Portland, Ore., searched the Web, they found dozens of “biomedical” treatments that promised to improve or even cure Benjamin’s inability to talk, interact socially or control his movements. So the parents tried them on their son. They began with vitamin B6 and magnesium, the nutritional supplements dimethylglycine and trimethylglycine, vitamin A, gluten- and casein-free diets, the digestive hormone secretin, and chelation, a drug therapy designed to purge the body of lead and mercury. They applied the purported treatments to Benjamin’s little brother, David, who also was diagnosed with autism. Chelation did not seem to help much. Any effect from secretin was hard to tell. The diets showed promise; the Laidlers hauled special food with them everywhere. And Mom and Dad continued to feed the boys dozens of supplements, calibrating doses up and down with every change in behavior.
Egypt’s AUC launches the Alfi biotechnology fellowship program – Bikya Masr
By Dr. Matthew Watson
![]() Financial Times | Egypt's AUC launches the Alfi biotechnology fellowship program Bikya Masr In addition to covering tuition fees, the scholarship allows students to work as full-time researchers at AUC, supporting the university's biotechnology ... Innovative path for Egypt's entrepreneursFinancial Times |
Cleveland Clinic geneticist elected to Institutes of Medicine – MedCity News
By Dr. Matthew Watson
![]() San Francisco Business Times | Cleveland Clinic geneticist elected to Institutes of Medicine MedCity News Eng joins molecular genetics researcher George Stark, the only other Cleveland Clinic representative elected to the IOM. Eng is the founding director of ... Institute of Medicine Elects Four New Members From PennMedia Newswire (press release) |
How People With Type 2 Diabetes Can Lose Weight, Keep It Off: Study
By Dr. Matthew Watson
(HealthDay News) -- An intensive lifestyle change program helped people with type 2 diabetes lose weight and keep it off, a new study shows.
The program also led to improved control of blood glucose levels and reduced risk factors for cardiovascular disease, both of which are critical in preventing long-term complications caused by diabetes.
The study included 5,145 overweight or obese people, average age 58.7, with type 2 diabetes. About half were assigned to a lifestyle intervention that included diet changes and physical activity designed to achieve a 7 percent weight loss in the first year and maintain it in subsequent years.
The other participants were assigned to a diabetes education and support group that held three sessions a year to discuss diet, exercise and social support.
After four years, the participants in the lifestyle intervention group had lost an average of 6.2 percent of their body weight, compared with 0.9 percent for the diabetes support group. The lifestyle intervention group also had greater improvements in fitness, blood glucose control, blood pressure and levels of "good" HDL cholesterol. Read more...
Herbs Help Treat Diabetes: Bilberry, Gymnema, Ginkgo and Salt Bush
By Dr. Matthew Watson
(NaturalNews) Many herbal remedies are used to treat symptoms of diabetes and have shown results in naturally lowering blood sugar levels. Scientific research is now shedding new light on the mechanisms used since ancient times to treat diabetes with herbs and nutrition.
Diabetes was noted as far back as Ancient Greece. The name comes from two Greek words meaning the siphon and to run through, which describes the diabetic symptom of excess urine. Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, where over twenty three million, almost eight percent of the population, have been diagnosed with the disorder. The number of cases of diabetes doubled from 1990 to 2005 and is expected to double again by 2050. Side effects of diabetes include kidney disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, blindness and hearing loss.
The cause of diabetes is not known but 90% of those with Type 2 diabetes are obese. Most consider that diabetes is triggered by numerous factors, including inheritance, nutrition, obesity, infection, hormonal imbalances, and stress. Read more...
Bacteria May Predict Chances of Colon Cancer
By Dr. Matthew Watson
(HealthDay News) -- Researchers report that germs living in your gut could affect your risk of developing colon cancer.
The findings suggest that signs of the existence of some germs "are more frequently detected in subjects with polyps, early lesions that can develop into cancer, while other bacterial signatures are less frequently observed in such individuals," Tyler Culpepper, a University of Florida researcher, said in a news release.
Culpepper and colleagues studied 91 patients and took biopsy samples from their colons. They analyzed the bacteria in 30 people who had at least one polyp and 30 people who didn't but were of similar age and gender.
Researchers found some bacterial signatures only in those who had polyps and others only in those who didn't. Others were more common in one group or the other.
The findings suggest that future screening tests could aim to detect signs of trouble in the colon by measuring bacteria levels, Culpepper said. Read more...
Colloidal silver to boost immunity and overall health
By Dr. Matthew Watson
This article has some useful information but, of course, cannot openly tell their readers that this is truly valuable so they have to attack it somehow. If you are not taking ACS 200 yourself, maybe you do not believe that it has germ killing powers?
I believe that infections are part of our current health crisis! I believe that it is well proven that we have organisms in the mouth that are difficult to identify and dangerous when they make their way into the systemic circulation, which they ALWAYS manage to do. I hold my ACS 200 in the mouth at least a minute 2-3 times a day. I think that lowering my total body burden of infections is just as useful for optimizing my health as lowering my burden of other toxins, like heavy metals.
Your patients may be confused by this article so take a moment to see it lacks clarity and even contradicts itself. Read more...
Positive Brain Changes Seen After Body-Mind Meditation
By Dr. Matthew Watson
(HealthDay News) -- Positive brain changes take hold after just 11 hours of practicing a form of meditation, the results of a new study suggest.
The study included 45 University of Oregon students who were randomly selected to be in either a study group that did integrative body-mind training (IBMT) or a control group that did relaxation training. IBMT was adapted from traditional Chinese medicine in the 1990s.
A comparison of scans taken of the students' brains before and after the training showed that those in the IBMT group had increased brain connectivity. The changes were strongest in connections involving the anterior cingulate, an area that plays a role in the regulation of emotions and behavior, Yi-Yuan Tang of Dalian University of Technology in China, University of Oregon psychologist Michael I. Posner, and colleagues found.
The boost in brain connectivity began after six hours of IBMT and became more apparent after 11 hours of practice, according to the report published in the Aug. 16-21 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read more...
Memory concentration, loss of memory
Eating meat may cause severe allergic reactions in some people
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Meat allergies may be much more common than previously thought and may even induce potentially fatal anaphylaxis in some people, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Virginia and presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in New Orleans.
The researchers tested three groups of people across the U.S. Southeast with a history of recurrent anaphylaxis without known cause for an immune reaction to alpha-gal, a kind of sugar found in mammal meat.
Although most allergic reactions are caused by proteins, scientists recently discovered that alpha-gal is responsible for anaphylactic reactions to cetuximab, a cancer drug. Further studies revealed that people who experience immune responses to alpha-gal also develop allergic symptoms within three to six hours of eating mammalian meat.
Alpha-gal is not found in the flesh of bird or fish.
The researchers found that between 20 and 50 percent of participants tested positive for allergy to alpha-gal. Overall, 25 of 60 participants (42 percent) showed signs of meat allergy. Read more...
Female Sexual health
FDA needs more info on genetic engineering of salmon – Health Jackal
By Dr. Matthew Watson
![]() Health Jackal | FDA needs more info on genetic engineering of salmon Health Jackal A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel considered Monday whether to support the safety of genetically engineered salmon, but instead suggested ... GMOs & The FDAJustmeans Why is the FDA ready to rubber-stamp GE salmon?Grist Magazine Consumer groups push for label for modified salmonThe Associated Press CNBC -Los Angeles Times -Huffington Post all 1,830 news articles » |
Friday Rant: Genetic Engineering vs. Filthy Offshore Farms — A Fish Story – Spend Matters
By Dr. Matthew Watson
![]() The Star-Ledger - NJ.com (blog) | Friday Rant: Genetic Engineering vs. Filthy Offshore Farms -- A Fish Story Spend Matters ... safe fish farming -- subjected to on-site FDA process inspections -- sounds like a win/win if consumer squeamishness over genetic engineering can be ... Shockingly Simple: AquAdvantage: You can barely taste the genetic engineeringLSU The Reveille Tipping the scales geneticallyBoston Globe Genetically Engineered Salmon: FAQWebMD ABC News -Wall Street Journal -Helium all 453 news articles » |
Genetic Engineering Goes Upstream – The New American
By Dr. Matthew Watson
![]() CBC.ca | Genetic Engineering Goes Upstream The New American Dubbed "Frankenfish" by Alaska Senator Mark Begich, AquaBounty Technologies' salmon are poised to become the first genetically-engineeried (GE) animals to ... Upstream battle for genetically engineered salmonLos Angeles Times Turning gene science into a fishy businessThe Guardian Food Sunday: The Creepy Science Behind Genetically Engineered “Frankenfish ...Firedoglake |
New on DVD: ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street,’ ‘Splice,’ ‘The Karate Kid’ – New York Daily News
By Dr. Matthew Watson
![]() New York Daily News | New on DVD: 'A Nightmare on Elm Street,' 'Splice,' 'The Karate Kid' New York Daily News Given that it stars Sarah Polley and Oscar winner Adrien Brody, we'd like to offer more enthusiasm for "Splice" (R, $28.98), in which genetic engineering ... |
Shrinking US Biotechnology Sector Lost 25% of Companies in Past 3 Years – Bloomberg
By Dr. Matthew Watson
![]() The Star-Ledger - NJ.com | Shrinking US Biotechnology Sector Lost 25% of Companies in Past 3 Years Bloomberg One hundred publicly traded biotechnology companies in the US have been acquired or ceased operations since the ... Why There Are 25% Fewer Public Biotechs Than Three Years AgoMinyanville.com |
National Research Council Rates PhD Programs – Michigan Tech News
By Dr. Matthew Watson
![]() UC Berkeley | National Research Council Rates PhD Programs Michigan Tech News ... giving highest marks to two in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science: forest molecular genetics and biotechnology and forest science. ... UT HEALTH/UT MD ANDERSON BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES DOCTORAL PROGRAMS RANK AMONG BEST ...The Cypress Times National Report Rates Rutgers Graduate Programs Highly in 10 Science and ...News from Rutgers |
Careers in cell therapy & regenerative medicine
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Parkinsonian Power Failure: Neuron Degeneration May Be Caused by a Cellular Energy System Breakdown
By Dr. Matthew Watson
In the past researchers have observed an association between poor mitochondrial function and Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system that impairs speech and motor functions and affects five million people worldwide. A new meta-analysis suggests that low expression levels of 10 related gene sets responsible for mitochondrial machinery play an important role in this disorder--all previously unlinked to Parkinson's. The study, published online today in Science Translational Medicine , further points to a master switch for these gene sets as a potential target of future therapies. [More]
Was Darwin a Punk? A Q&A with Punker-Paleontologist Greg Graffin
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Editor's Note: This is an expanded version of the Q&A that will appear in the November 2010 issue of Scientific American.
Name: Greg Graffin [More]
Greg Graffin - BadReligion - Punk rock - Punk - Shopping