Men who use mobile phones face increased risk of infertility

 

by JENNY HOPE - Last updated at 21:01pm on 23rd October 2006

Phone the doctor: Men who use mobile phones could face increased risk of infertility. Men who use mobile phones could be risking their fertility, warn researchers.

A new study shows a worrying link between poor sperm and the number of hours a day that a man uses his mobile phone.

Those who made calls on a mobile phone for more than four hours a day had the worst sperm counts and the poorest quality sperm, according to results released yesterday at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans.

Doctors believe the damage could be caused by the electromagnetic radiation emitted by handsets or the heat they generate.

The findings suggest millions of men may encounter difficulties in fathering a child due to the widespread use of mobile phones and offers another possible explanation for plummeting fertility levels among British males.

Sperm counts among British men have fallen by 29 per cent over the past decade, a drop which has also been blamed on increasing obesity, smoking, stress, pollution and 'gender-bending' chemicals which disrupt the hormone system.

The latest study backs up previous research which indicated a link between mobile phone use and sperm quality, but it is the biggest and best designed to date.

US researchers in Cleveland and New Orleans, and doctors in Mumbai, India, looked at more than 360 men undergoing checks at a fertility clinic who were classified into three groups according to their sperm count.

Men who used a mobile for more than four hours a day had a 25 per cent lower sperm count than men who never used a mobile.

The men with highest usage also had greater problems with sperm quality, with the swimming ability of sperm - a crucial factor in conception - down by a third.

They had a 50 per cent drop in the number of properly formed sperm, with just one-fifth looking normal under a microscope.

Professor Ashok Agarwal, director of the Reproductive Research Center at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, who led the study, said "Almost a billion people are using cell phones around the world and the number is growing in many countries at 20 to 30 per cent a year.

"In another five years the number is going to double. People use mobile phones without thinking twice what the consequences may be.

"It is just like using a toothbrush but mobiles could be having a devastating effect on fertility. It still has to be proved but it could have a huge impact because mobiles are so much part of our lives."

Altogether 361 men in the study were divided into four groups, with 40 never using a mobile, 107 men using them for less than two hours a day, 100 men using them for two-four hours daily and 114 making calls for four or more hours a day.

The main finding was that on four measures of sperm potency - count, motility, viability and morphology, or appearance - there were significant differences between the groups.

The greater the use of mobile phones, the greater the reduction in each measure. Prof Agarwal said "This was very clear and very significant. Many in the lowest group for sperm count would be below normal as defined by the World Health Organization."

The WHO says a normal sperm count is above 20 million per millilitre of seminal fluid. "There was a significant decrease in the most important measures of sperm health with cell phone use and that should definitely be reflected in a decrease in fertility" he said.

Motility measures the swimming ability of sperm, viability measures whether non-swimming sperm are still alive while morphology is the appearance compared to the norm.

Although the men were seeking fertility treatment at a clinic in Mumbai, not all would have had a problem - it could be their partners, he added.

Prof Agarwal said the most likely mechanism was damage to sperm-making cells in the testes caused by electromagnetic radiation or heat, although a fall in hormone production could also affect sperm motility and sperm DNA.

He said: "These cells in the testes have been shown to be susceptible to electromagnetic waves in previous research in animals.

"Somehow electromagnetic waves may be causing direct damage to these cells and that perhaps causes a decrease in sperm production."

Mobiles may also increase temperature in the groin, if a man was wearing it on a belt or carrying it around in a pocket.

Prof Agarwal said it was too early to advise men trying to start a family about whether they should limit their mobile phone use. He said "We still have a long way to go to prove this but we have just had another study approved."

More than 40 million people in Britain are thought to use mobile phones. Alasdair Philips, director of the consumer pressure group Powerwatch said "It's a plausible link between the amount of time spent using a mobile phone and a possible effect on male fertility.

"The eyes, breasts and testicles are the areas of the body most likely to absorb the energy and many men carry their mobiles attached to their belt."

Sending text messages uses less power than talking but it can be a more intense emission of radiation, especially on trains, he said.

"I've seen men on trains spending two or three hours continually texting with their mobile phones held in their laps, and they press Send in the same position when it starts to seek a signal.

"This needs a considerable amount of power within what is effectively a metal box. We advise people to send a text with their arm outstretched next to the window when traveling on a train" he added.

He said local heating of the groin triggered by a mobile phone might also be involved in affecting sperm quality.

"Sperm is very temperature sensitive as shown by many studies, and a short-term rise in temperature could be responsible" he added.

However, Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said "This is a good quality study but I don’t think it tackles the issue.

"If you’re using your phone for four hours a day, presumably it is out of your pocket for longer. That raises a big question: how is it that testicular damage is supposed to occur?"

He said mobile phone use may be a marker for other lifestyle factors known to affect sperm quality.

"Maybe people who use a phone for four hours a day spend more time sitting in cars, which could mean there’s a heat issue. It could be they are more stressed, or more sedentary and sit about eating junk food getting fat. Those seem to be better explanations than a phone causing the damage at such a great distance" he added.

Men who use mobile phones face increased risk of infertility | the Daily Mail

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ABC News: 50-Pound Face Tumor: One Man's Nightmare

 

By DAN CHILDS
ABC News Medical Unit
Jan. 11, 2008

To see the face of 32-year-old Huang Chuancai is to witness a rare genetic condition in its most terrible form.

Chinese doctors say Huang, of China's southern Hunan province, suffers from a disease known as neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder of the nervous system that primarily affects the development and growth of neural cell tissues.

For many of its sufferers, the disease means abnormal growth of these tissues and, as a result, facial disfigurement. But Huang's case could well be the most extreme case of such disfigurement in the world today.

Before surgical intervention, 50 pounds of tumor tissue had pulled and twisted Huang's face into a distorted form, nearly unrecognizable as human. According to wire reports, doctors found that the heavy mass that droops from his head and face had deformed his backbone, stunting his growth. The tumor had totally covered his left eye, while his left ear hung down to his shoulder, and his right ear and jaw were completely engulfed.

Now, after more than two decades of suffering the horrific advance of his tumor, Huang is recovering from a second round of surgery on Monday to remove the massive growth. The initial operation, which took place last July, was a risky one-and-a-half-hour procedure that removed the largest of Huang's tumors, which weighed about 33 pounds.

While many more operations will be needed to remove all the excess tissue, Huang is reportedly hopeful that the treatments will allow him to lead a more normal life.

"I hope that when my illness is cured, I can go back home and have a nice spring festival with my family," he told Reuters.

Unfortunately, plastic and cosmetic surgeons say, it is highly unlikely that the surgeries will result in a normal appearance.

There is "zero chance of [Huang] looking normal, since the muscles, nerves, eye, bone and sometimes brain can be involved," notes Dr. Henry Kawamoto, clinical professor of plastic surgery at UCLA and director of the university's craniofacial clinic.

"I doubt that this patient will look 'normal' as suggested by [past media coverage]," agrees Park Avenue plastic surgeon Dr. Darrick Antell. "The patient would certainly be substantially better, but the degree of the problem is so large that 'normal' is unlikely in my opinion."

ABC News: 50-Pound Face Tumor: One Man's Nightmare

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Music makes children brainier, more agile, expert stresses

Hamburg, Germany - Not only does it soothe the savage beast, but music also makes unruly children calmer while at the same time honing their facilities for cognitive skills and physical coordination, according to a leading expert. A mother's soft lullaby, granddad's whistling or granny's humming in the kitchen or the dulcet tones of father singing in the shower - all of these seemingly innocuous musical activities serve to help an infant not only in acquiring linguistic skills, but also in learning how human beings interact on a social level.

"Experiments have shown that unborn babies in the womb appear to relax in response to certain music and also that they seem to recognize this music after birth," says Professor Michael Schulte- Markwort, head of child psychology at Hamburg's University Hospital in Germany.

"From the outset, music helps the language centres in the brain to develop so that children who have been exposed to music at an early age tend to learn to speak earlier than those who are born into non- musical homes," he says.

"Music also helps in the development of motor skills while at the same time reducing tension," says Dr Schulte-Markwort.

"Learning the tunes and lyrics to songs also aids in developing memory skills for other tasks," he adds.

Rhythm and dancing also skills young muscles in coordination so that musical children are healthier and better coordinated than children whose parents never teach them to sing and dance and play a simple drum or other instrument.

"Children develop a feel for musical tones and associate certain tone patterns with certain rhythms," he points out.

"As soon as they learn to walk, they also begin to move rhythmically in time to musical stimuli and thus automatically begin to dance. Good and attentive parents naturally encourage their offspring to sing and dance rhythmically," he adds.

"That is why pre-schoolers should engage in games involving rhythmic movement and dancing, games that encourage children to clap in time with the beat or to beat out the rhythm on simple percussion instruments such as bells and chimes and little drums," says Schulte- Markwort.

Age five or six is ideal for teaching children to play a musical instrument because their minds are most receptive to learning the skills involved.

"If they have already been exposed to music and to rudimentary instruments, then at about age five or six they will think of learning to play an instrument as a kind of a game," he says.

"We are not talking about the violin or bassoon, which involve very fine motor skills, and we are also not talking about tedious piano lessons which bore young minds. But instead we are talking about simple flutes and other instruments which produce a melodic sound easily and enjoyably," he says.

"It is important to remember the fun factor. Singing, dancing and playing musical instruments must first and foremost be fun for children," he stresses.

Quoted from http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/159814.html:

Music makes children brainier, more agile, expert stresses : Health

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Brain 'irrelevance filter' found

Scientists believe they have located a new brain area essential for good memory - the "irrelevance filter".

People who are good at remembering things, even with distractions, have more activity in the basal ganglia on brain scans, the Swedish team found.

The work in Nature Neuroscience could help explain why some people are better at remembering things than others.

Clinically, it could also aid the understanding of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The ability to hold information in the mind so that it is immediately accessible is known as working memory.

We use working memory all of the time - for example, when doing a simple maths calculation in our head or recalling a telephone number.

There will be many brain regions that filter irrelevant information, so it is too early to tell if these findings will have a bearing on conditions such as ADHD John Duncan Medical Research Council scientist

Working memory is important because it gives a mental workspace in which we can hold information whilst mentally engaged in other relevant tasks, which is crucial for learning.

Its capacity is limited and seems to vary from person to person.

These variations are not just due to having a larger or smaller memory store, but also due to differences in how effectively irrelevant items are kept out of memory, the Karolinksa Institute researchers believe.

Distracters

Dr Torkel Klingberg and colleague Fiona McNab used a special brain scan called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to track what was happening in the brains of 25 healthy volunteers.

The volunteers were asked to perform a computer-based task that required them to respond to target visual images, with or without distractions.

A noise informed subjects when an upcoming visual display would contain irrelevant distracters along with the targets.

When this cue occurred, neural activity increased in the basal ganglia and the prefrontal cortex before the visual display appeared, suggesting the brain was preparing to "filter out" the upcoming distracters.

Also, greater activity in a specific part of the basal ganglia - the globus pallidus - correlated with less unnecessary storage in another part of the brain, the posterior parietal cortex, which is sensitive to the amount of information held in memory.

The team is currently investigating methods of improving attention and working memory in children with ADHD and monitoring any changes with fMRI.

Medical Research Council scientist John Duncan said: "This is very interesting work and gives a window on important parts of the brain.

"The basal ganglia are very strong candidates for involvement in brain disorders where people have difficulty with attentional control.

"But there will be many brain regions that filter irrelevant information, so it is too early to tell if these findings will have a bearing on conditions such as ADHD."

Quoted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7132829.stm:

BBC NEWS | Health | Brain 'irrelevance filter' found

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IN MAINE SCHOOLS,Sugar intake not yet licked

 

By SUSAN M. COVER
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -- Efforts by the state to rid schools of soda and candy have been successful, but there's evidence that students are finding other ways to get that sugary high.

They've switched to sports drinks and flavored water, some of which can be deceptively high in calories, said Janet Whatley Blum, a University of Southern Maine professor in the Department of Exercise, Health and Sport Sciences.

"It's great they got soda out of schools, but there's still sugar-sweetened beverages in schools," she said Tuesday following a speech at the Augusta Civic Center.

Blum kicked off Tuesday's daylong conference on obesity sponsored by the Maine-Harvard Prevention Research Center. She presented findings from a study conducted at 11 Maine high schools that looked to see what impact a 2005 state rule had on soda and candy in schools.

The rule extends the regulation of "foods of minimal nutritional value" from only the school day to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It applies to schools that participate in the federal meal programs.

And though the rule seeks to regulate candy and soda on school property, local school boards could, and did, carve out exceptions, Blum said.

Some opted to allow soda and candy machines in the teachers' lounge and to allow the sale of those items at events open to the public. Also, school boards can vote to exempt culinary arts programs.

By surveying school food service directors and visiting the schools, Blum found that, although schools pulled soda from their vending machines, other sugar-filled options remain.

In the 11 schools observed, sugar-sweetened beverages accounted for 32 percent of all beverages in vending programs, she said. And candy is still being sold in school stores even though it's not supposed to be, according to the state Department of Education.

For those who work in schools, the transition to healthier offerings wasn't easy.

"The kids whined," said Lori Muzzy, a food service director for the Rangeley Lakes Regional School. "Their parents whined."

Eventually, the whining stopped and Muzzy said she successfully works with vendors to substitute better choices.

In Augusta, Director of School Nutrition Programs Barbara Raymond-Nichols said she wants to be more aggressive in trying to change the way students eat.

"I'm not in favor of banning birthday cakes, but it's time we start getting kids more active and teach them how to select foods," she said.

Adults also need to lead by example, she said.

Which brings us to the teachers lounge, where Blum and her crew snapped pictures of soda machines and vending machines stuffed full of chips, candy bars and other goodies.

They also found baskets of candy on the desks of teachers, guidance counselors and principals.

And then there's the all-you-can-eat pizza, french fry and soda buffet across the street from one of the state's high schools -- Blum didn't say which.

She said it might be time to consider additional steps to fight obesity. And she said the message needs to extend beyond the schoolhouse door and into the home.

"In general, I see schools doing a very good job or moving in that direction, to have kids be in a healthy food environment," she said.

IN MAINE SCHOOLS
Sugar intake not yet licked

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CDC warns of mumps outbreak

 

By Meg Haskell
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 - Bangor Daily News

With confirmed and suspected cases of mumps on the rise in Maine - including a suspected case in an employee at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor - and a much more serious outbreak just across the border in Canada, Maine’s chief public health officer on Monday issued updated recommendations for vaccination against the potentially serious illness.

"Because this outbreak [in Maine] has spread, we are updating vaccination recommendations, especially among children, college and university students and hospital workers,’’ said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, head of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Because of the environments where they live and work, such individuals are most likely to contract and spread the virus, Mills said.

Since September, seven cases of mumps have been confirmed in southern and central Maine, four of them in November alone. The state is awaiting the results of lab tests on as many as two dozen more suspected cases, according to the Maine CDC. The age of the sickened individuals ranges from the late teens to the late 50s.

While the number of cases in Maine may seem insignificant, more than 900 individuals in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, mostly college students, have been sickened with mumps since last winter.

And on Monday, a housekeeper at EMMC was given a preliminary diagnosis of mumps, pending confirmation by laboratory testing. Donna Dunton, director of infection control at EMMC, confirmed Monday evening that the housekeeper has been asked to stay out of work until lab reports of her mumpslike symptoms are complete. The employee is not thought to have been in close enough contact with any patients to have spread the virus, Dunton stressed, and routine infection control measures such as hand washing are likely to have minimized the possibility of transmission.

Mumps is a viral infection of the salivary glands. Symptoms typically include fever, headache, muscle ache, and swelling and tenderness of the glands at the corner of the jaw. Symptoms may last seven to 10 days, and infected individuals are contagious for at least three days before becoming ill and as long as nine days after symptoms appear.

Infection occurs through direct contact with respiratory droplets from the nose or throat, through saliva, coughing, sneezing, sharing drinks, kissing or from contact with any surface that has been contaminated with the virus.

Rarely, mumps infection can lead to meningitis, inflammation of the testicles or ovaries, inflammation of the pancreas, and temporary or permanent hearing loss.

"Although mumps is a virus and is not treatable with antibiotics, the good news is that mumps can be prevented or its impact reduced with vaccine," Mills said.

The MMR vaccine — which protects against mumps, measles and rubella, or "German measles" — is the most common vaccine used to protect against mumps.

The Maine CDC’s updated guidelines are as follows:

ä For students in kindergarten through 12th grade, all vaccine records should be reviewed and updated. For any students who are not current with their MMR vaccines, a letter should be given to the parents notifying them of the mumps outbreak and informing them that if their child remains nonimmunized and the infection is detected in their school, their child will be excluded from school for at least 18 days.

ä For college and university students, all vaccine records should be reviewed and updated. All students should have documentation of two doses of MMR, rather than the previously required one dose. Most students will have had two doses as part of their routine childhood vaccinations, but older "nontraditional" students may be lacking the second dose.

ä Hospital health care workers with direct patient contact should have their vaccine records reviewed and updated. Adequate mumps vaccination for those born in 1957 or later now consists of two doses of MMR, rather than the previously required one dose. Adequate mumps vaccination for those born before 1957 now consists of one dose of MMR, rather than no doses, as previously required.

Besides the additional vaccinations, the Maine CDC also recommends that individuals who become infected should be isolated for nine days after the onset of illness. Those who are not immunized and who are exposed should be isolated for about 18 days after the last known exposure.

Mills acknowledged that compliance with these recommendations may be financially and logistically burdensome for some individuals, institutions and families. The average cost of a mumps vaccine is about $45, she said, but the state is trying to secure supplies of lower-cost vaccine. The Maine CDC can assist institutions with the process of reviewing records, setting up vaccine clinics and obtaining vaccine supplies, she said.

Mills added that the new recommendations are likely to be upgraded to requirements through departmental rule making in the near future.

"While there is no apparent direct connection between people in Maine with confirmed infection and the current outbreak in Canada, it is not surprising that a border state like Maine would see an outbreak," Mills said.

A student health official at the University of Maine was unavailable Monday to comment on how the new recommendations might affect the Orono campus.

At EMMC, Dunton said employee charts have been under review for several months in response to changes in vaccine recommendations from the Maine CDC issued earlier this year. Monday’s announcement, she said, is likely to "step up the pace" of that review, and many employees are likely to be asked to roll up their sleeves.

For information on mumps, visit the Maine CDC’s Web site: www.mainepublichealth.gov.

CDC warns of mumps outbreak

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ADHD Drugs Have No Long Term Benefits

London (ECN) - Ritalin and other drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have no long term effectiveness, according to a new study which will be part of a BBC television special.

A long-term monitoring program involving 600 kids across the United States since the beginning of the 1990s will be shown in a TV program from BBC called 'Panorama' - with some of its results revealed.

Researchers found drugs such as Ritalin and Concerta do work well for short term, but no do offer improvement in a children's behaviour after three years.

The studies co-author from the University of Buffalo Professor William Pelhamsays, says he believes the beneficial impact of medication is exaggerated.

It had been thought that kids would have better outcomes if they were medicated for longer - however, it is not the case, there were no beneficial effects at all.

"I think that we exaggerated the beneficial impact of medication in the first study," Pelham told BBC. "We had thought that children medicated longer would have better outcomes. That didn't happen to be the case. In the short run (medication) will help the child behave better, in the long run it won't. And that information should be made very clear to parents."

The Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD study also found that these drugs may also stunt a child's growth, the BBC reported.

"The children (taking the medication) weren't growing as much as other kids both in terms of their height and in terms of their weight," the studies co-author from the University of Buffalo Professor WilliamPelham told BBC.

Pelham believes that behavioral therapy and Omega-3 should be the first steps in helping a child with ADHD.

 

Quoted from http://www.ecanadanow.com/news/health/adhd-drugs-have-no-long-term-benefits-20071112.html:

eCanadaNow.com - ADHD Drugs Have No Long Term Benefits

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Device created for 'red wine headache'

By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press Writer

Thu Nov 1, 11:02 PM ET

BERKELEY, Calif. - The effects are all too familiar: a fancy dinner, some fine wine and then, a few hours later, a racing heart and a pounding headache. But a device developed by University of California, Berkeley, researchers could help avoid the dreaded "red wine headache."

Chemists working with NASA-funded technology designed to find life on Mars have created a device they say can easily detect chemicals that many scientists believe can turn wine and other beloved indulgences into ingredients for agony.

The chemicals, called biogenic amines, occur naturally in a wide variety of aged, pickled and fermented foods prized by gourmet palates, including wine, chocolate, cheese, olives, nuts and cured meats.

"The food you eat is so unbelievably coupled with your body's chemistry," said Richard Mathies, who described his new technology in an article published Thursday in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

Scientists have nominated several culprits for "red wine headache," including amines like tyramine and histamine, though no conclusions have been reached. Still, many specialists warn headache sufferers away from foods rich in amines, which can also trigger sudden episodes of high blood pressure, heart palpitations and elevated adrenaline levels.

The detector could prove useful to those with amine sensitivity, said Beverly McCabe, a clinical dietitian and co-author of "Handbook of Food-Drug Interactions," a book cited by the article for its descriptions of the effects of amines on the brain.

The prototype — the size of a small briefcase — uses a drop of wine to determine amine levels in five minutes, Mathies said. A startup company he co-founded is working to create a smaller device the size of a personal digital assistant that people could take to restaurants and test their favorite wines.

The researchers found the highest amine levels in red wine and sake and the lowest in beer. For now, the device only works with liquids.

Mathies suggests the device could be used to put amine levels on wine labels.

"We're aware of the consumer demand for information. But that has to be tempered by the manner in which wine is made," said Wendell Lee, general counsel for the Wine Institute, a California industry trade group.

   

Quoted from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071102/ap_on_he_me/wine_test;_ylt=AjejD23s7v4PYcUuF9vW9Xus0NUE:

Device created for 'red wine headache' - Yahoo! News

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Beer after sport 'is good for the body'

By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent

Last Updated: 5:01pmGMT01/11/2007

A beer after playing a game of football, a long run, or a strenuous round of golf can be good for the body, scientists say.
Kevin Pietersen relaxes with a cold beer after a hard game of cricket

In a rare piece of good news for those who like a pint, Spanish researchers say beer can help someone who is dehydrated retain liquid better than water.

Prof Manuel Garzon, of Granada University, also claimed the bubbles in beer help to quench the thirst and that its carbohydrate content can help to replace lost calories.

Prof Garzon asked a group of students to do strenuous exercise in temperatures of around 40ºC (104ºF). Half were given a pint of beer, while the others received the same volume of water.

Prof Garzon, who announced the results at a press conference in Granada beneath a banner declaring "Beer, Sport, Health", said the hydration effect in those who drank beer was "slightly better".

Juan Antonio Corbalan, a cardiologist who worked formerly with Real Madrid football players and Spain's national basketball team, said beer had the perfect profile for re-hydration after sport.

He added that he had long recommended barley drinks to professional sportsmen after exercise.

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Previous studies have shown most alcoholic drinks have a diuretic effect – meaning they increase the amount of liquid lost by the body through urination.

Dr James Betts, an expert on nutrition and metabolism at Bath University, said a moderate amount of beer might be just as good as water at helping the body retain liquid, but that he doubted it could be any better.

Dr Betts said: "If you are dehydrated to start with following exercise, a beer, as opposed to a spirit, probably does not have a high enough concentration of alcohol to induce a diuretic effect."

  

Quoted from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/01/scibeer101.xml:

Beer after sport 'is good for the body' - Telegraph

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Can food really turn you on?

 

By Jane Black , Tango Magazine (www.tangomag.com)

The other day, when I told my boyfriend, Sean, that I was going to be doing a little research on aphrodisiacs, he was surprisingly keen to help out.

"I'll buy the bacon," he said.

"Bacon is not an aphrodisiac," I said.

"Wanna bet?" he challenged.

Sean loves bacon - and, come to think of it, it did seem to put him in the mood for love. (On reflection, I realized that I had unconsciously begun incorporating it into more and more meals, wrapping thin strips around chunks of cod and adding crispy bits to pasta sauces.)

But can food produce sexual desire? Or, to put it another way, do aphrodisiacs actually exist?

Many people think so. An online poll conducted by sex therapist Linda De Villers found that strawberries, ice cream, pasta and whipped cream are the four foods most commonly associated with lust. But according to Martha Hopkins, coauthor of "The New InterCourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook," there are no real aphrodisiacs.

"Still," she laughs, "whatever makes you groan when you eat it counts."

If you think about it, a greasy slab of cured pork belly is no odder than many other foods that have historically been considered aphrodisiacs: asparagus, artichokes, avocados, bananas, black beans, chili peppers, figs, licorice and pine nuts have all been hailed for their ability to arouse desire.

In renaissance Europe, women were forbidden to eat artichokes, which according to legend had been created when the Greek god Zeus transformed a young maiden into the spiky vegetable. As a result, they were prescribed to men to improve their bedroom performance.

Of history's most famous aphrodisiacs, only chocolate and oysters still hold claim to their sensual reputation.

While the physical suggestion of sex may be enough for some, modern research shows that some classic aphrodisiacs can stimulate desire - and increase performance. Oysters, for example, contain high levels of zinc, which has been associated with increased sexual potency in men.

The smell of food, too, can elicit sexual feelings, according to research by Alan Hirsch, the neurological director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. Having noticed that people who lost their sense of smell also had a diminished sexual appetite.

Men responded to all of the aromas. But the top spot went to a blend of pumpkin pie and lavender, which increased blood flow 40 percent of the time. Runners-up were doughnuts with black licorice (31.5 percent) and pumpkin pie with doughnuts (20 percent).

Women, in contrast, responded most to the blend of cucumber and licorice - two traditional aphrodisiacs - and the scent of baby powder. But perhaps more revealing were the three scents that turned women off: cherries, barbecued meat and men's cologne. So much for the thrill of the grill.

In the end, Sean was right. Aphrodisiacs are personal. He loves bacon, while my friend James can't think of anything sexier than Nutella, that thick chocolate-hazelnut spread that is "perfect for feeding each other," he says.

And for "InterCourses" author Hopkins, the sexiest food is grilled asparagus dipped in her French boyfriend's homemade mayonnaise. But, she adds, the greatest turn-on of all is when he cooks, and then does the dishes.

"If you think it's an aphrodisiac, it always works," Hopkins says. So pour the champagne, grill asparagus or feed your true love strawberries.

At my house, we'll be eating heart-shaped waffles and a (hearty) side of bacon.

SunJournal.com - Can food really turn you on?

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Doctors Test Hot Sauce for Pain Relief

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

WASHINGTON (AP) - Devil's Revenge. Spontaneous Combustion. Hot sauces have names like that for a reason. Now scientists are testing if the stuff that makes the sauces so savage can tame the pain of surgery.

Doctors are dripping the chemical that gives chili peppers their fire directly into open wounds during knee replacement and a few other highly painful operations.

Don't try this at home: These experiments use an ultra-purified version of capsaicin to avoid infection - and the volunteers are under anesthesia so they don't scream at the initial burn.

How could something searing possibly soothe? Bite a hot pepper, and after the burn your tongue goes numb. The hope is that bathing surgically exposed nerves in a high enough dose will numb them for weeks, so that patients suffer less pain and require fewer narcotic painkillers as they heal.

"We wanted to exploit this numbness," is how Dr. Eske Aasvang, a pain specialist in Denmark who is testing the substance, puts it.

Chili peppers have been part of folk remedy for centuries, and heat-inducing capsaicin creams are a drugstore staple for aching muscles. But today the spice is hot because of research showing capsaicin targets key pain-sensing cells in a unique way.

California-based Anesiva Inc. (ANSV)'s operating-room experiments aren't the only attempt to harness that burn for more focused pain relief. Harvard University researchers are mixing capsaicin with another anesthetic in hopes of developing epidurals that wouldn't confine women to bed during childbirth, or dental injections that don't numb the whole mouth.

And at the National Institutes of Health, scientists hope early next year to begin testing in advanced cancer patients a capsaicin cousin that is 1,000 times more potent, to see if it can zap their intractable pain.

Nerve cells that sense a type of long-term throbbing pain bear a receptor, or gate, called TRPV1. Capsaicin binds to that receptor and opens it to enter only those pain fibers - and not other nerves responsible for other kinds of pain or other functions such as movement.

These so-called C neurons also sense heat; thus capsaicin's burn. But when TRPV1 opens, it lets extra calcium inside the cells until the nerves become overloaded and shut down. That's the numbness.

"It just required a new outlook about ... stimulation of this receptor" to turn those cellular discoveries into a therapy hunt, says NIH's Dr. Michael Iadarola.

Enter Anesiva's specially purified capsaicin, called Adlea. Experiments are under way involving several hundred patients undergoing various surgeries, including knee and hip replacements. Surgeons drip either Adlea or a dummy solution into the cut muscle and tissue and wait five minutes for it to soak in before stitching up the wound.

Among early results: In a test of 41 men undergoing open hernia repair, capsaicin recipients reported significantly less pain in the first three days after surgery, Aasvang reported this month at a meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

In a pilot U.S. study of 50 knee replacements, the half treated with capsaicin used less morphine in the 48 hours after surgery and reported less pain for two weeks. Ongoing studies are testing larger doses in more patients to see if the effect is real.

There's a huge need for better surgical pain relief, says Dr. Eugene Viscusi, director of acute pain management at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, one of the test sites. Morphine and its relatives, so-called opioid painkillers, are surgery's standby. While they're crucial drugs, they have serious side effects that limit their use.

Specialists are watching the capsaicin research because it promises a one-time dose that works inside the wound, not body-wide, and wouldn't tether patients to an IV when they're starting physical therapy.

"It's in and it's done," Viscusi explains. "You can't abuse it. You can't misuse it."

"There's been an enormous effort to try and develop alternatives to opioids with the same strength but not too much success," adds Dr. Clifford Woolf of Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital. "We think we're moving toward it."

His team is trying a different approach: Standard lidocaine injections numb all the surrounding tissue. Woolf and colleagues slipped lidocaine inside just pain-sensing neurons, by opening them with a tiny dose of capsaicin. Rats given the injections ran around normally while not noticing heat applied to their paws, they reported in the journal Nature this month.

That's years away from trying in people, and would have to be done in a way to avoid even a quick capsaicin burn.

In a third approach, Iadarola and NIH colleagues hope to soon test a capsaicin cousin called resiniferatoxin in advanced cancer patients whose pain no longer is relieved by opioids. Injections into the spinal columns of cancer-riddled dogs did more than temporarily numb - it severed some nerve connections.

 

Quoted from http://apnews.myway.com//article/20071029/D8SJ55H00.html:

My Way News - Doctors Test Hot Sauce for Pain Relief

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Middle School To Offer Birth Control

 

PORTLAND, Maine (GNS/WCSH) -- In a 7-to-2 vote, the Portland School Committee has approved a proposal to offer a full array of birth control options -- including birth control pills -- to students at King Middle School.

At a the meeting Wednesday night, a vast majority of parents spoke out against the proposal.

The plan, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades 6 through 8, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

There are no national figures on how many middle schools, where most students range in age from 11 to 13, provide such services.

Chairman John Coynie voted against it, saying he felt providing the birth control was a parental responsibility. The other no vote came from Ben Meiklejohn, who said the consent form does not clearly define the services being offered.

Opponents cited religious and health objections.
Diane Miller said she felt the plan was against religion and against God. Another opponent, Peter Doyle, said he felt it violated the rights of parents and puts students at risk of cancer because of hormones in the pill.

A supporter, Richard Verrier, said it's not enough to depend on parents to protect their children because there may be students who can't discuss things with their parents.

Condoms have been available since 2002 to King students who have parental permission to be treated at its student health center.

Five of the 134 students who visited King's health center during the 2006-07 school year reported having sexual intercourse, said Amanda Rowe, lead nurse in Portland's school health centers.

The school's principal told the committee the girls would be given an exam, and be warned about the dangers of sex, but their parents would not have to know if they're on the pill.
Parents have to sign a consent form for the students to be treated at the health center, but any treatment the students receive falls under doctor-patient confidentiality.

If two students decided to have consensual sex parents would not be made aware of the situation. However, if a crime is involved the school would contact authorities.

11Alive.com - Middle School To Offer Birth Control

School adds birth control options

 

The School Committee votes to let contraceptives be prescribed to students at King Middle School.

By KELLEY BOUCHARD, Staff Writer October 18, 2007

 

	The Portland School Committee decided Wednesday to make prescription birth control available to students who have parental permission to be treated at King Middle School's health center.
Photos by Doug Jones/Staff Photographer Diane Miller, a Portland resident and former school nurse, said she was “horrified” by the proposal.	The committee's 7-2 vote means King will be the first middle school in Maine to offer a full range of contraception in grades 6 to 8, when students are 11 to 15 years old.

The King Student Health Center, which is operated by the city's Public Health Division, has provided condoms as part of reproductive health care since it opened in 2000.

The proposal to expand birth control options drew national attention and raised local concern about its impact on the rights of parents to oversee their children's health care.

	While students need written parental permission to be treated at Portland's school-based health centers, state law allows them to receive confidential care for reproductive health, mental health and substance abuse issues.
Doug Jones/Staff Photographer Kelley McDaniel, a librarian at King Middle School who supported the measure, said she would have benefited if there had been a school health center when she was molested as a child and raped as a teenager.	Committee member Sarah Thompson, whose daughter is an eighth-grader at King, supported the change even though it made her "uncomfortable."

"I know I've done my job as a parent," Thompson said. "(But there) may be a time when she doesn't feel comfortable coming to me (and) not all these kids have a strong parental advocate at home."

Committee members Rebecca Minnick, Robert O'Brien, Peter Eglinton, Lori Gramlich, Ellen Alcorn and Susan Hopkins also supported the measure. John Coyne, chairman, and Benjamin Meiklejohn voted against the change.

Coyne said he believes social agencies and public schools have distinct roles that have blurred over the years. "At some point there needs to be a clearing of the gray lines," he said.

Meiklejohn said after the meeting that he would have supported the measure if his vote had been necessary to ensure passage.

It's unclear whether prescription birth control will be offered this school year or next, said Lisa Belanger, a nurse practitioner who oversees the student health centers.

When prescription birth control is available, parents will be sent a new enrollment form that clearly states the services offered and related student confidentiality requirements under Maine law, she said.

During the public hearing, nine people spoke against the change, largely because parents wouldn't be notified and because they believe it would encourage adolescents to have sex.

"We are dealing with children," said Diane Miller, a Portland resident who is a former school nurse and now works in a gynecologist's office. "I am just horrified at the suggestion."
Supporters of the change said a small number of King students are sexually active, but they need better access to birth control.

"This isn't encouraging kids to have sex. This is about the kids who are engaging in sexual activity," said Richard Veilleux, whose daughter attends King and who was one of three people who spoke in favor of the proposal.

Five King students, ages 14 and 15, reported having sexual intercourse last year, said Amanda Rowe, head nurse for Portland schools.

In the last four years, Portland's three middle schools reported 17 pregnancies, not counting miscarriages or terminated pregnancies that weren't reported to the school nurse, Rowe said.

The percentage of middle school students in Maine who reported having sexual intercourse dropped from 23 percent in 1997 to 13 percent in 2005, according to the Maine Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

The city's Public Health Division operates health centers at Portland High School, Deering High School, King Middle School, West School special education program, and Reiche and East End community schools, which are elementary schools. They are funded by state money and foundation grants, MaineCare/Medicaid and private health insurance reimbursements, and in-kind contributions of space and services provided by the city.

There are 27 school-based health centers in Maine, 20 of which are funded and overseen by the state, including those in Portland. Maranacook Community School in Readfield, which is a combined middle and high school, has the only school-based health center outside Portland that also provides contraception, Belanger said.

Of 1,700 school-connected health centers in the United States, one in four provides birth control ranging from condoms to prescription contraception, according to the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care.

Of 2,877 students eligible to attend Portland's six health centers last year, 1,261, or 44 percent, were enrolled. The center at King, which has 510 students, enrolled 307 students last year. Belanger said 134 of those students were treated at the center for a total of 266 visits last year.

Contraception would be prescribed after a physical examination by a physician or nurse practitioner and would include follow-up care, Belanger said.

Types of prescription birth control available through the health centers include contraceptive pills, patches or injections, as well as the morning-after pill. Diaphragms and IUDs are not usually prescribed, she said.

King is the only one of Portland's three middle schools with a health center, primarily because it has more students who get free or reduced-price lunch, Belanger said.

Moore and Lincoln middle schools don't have health centers, and their students are ineligible for treatment at the King Student Health Center.

School adds birth control options

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Man blames health drink for unwanted erection

 

29-year-old claims Boost Plus caused condition that required surgery

NEW YORK - A man has sued the maker of the health drink Boost Plus, claiming the vitamin-enriched beverage gave him an erection that would not subside and caused him to be hospitalized.

The lawsuit filed by Christopher Woods of New York said he bought the nutrition beverage made by the pharmaceutical company Novartis AG at a drugstore on June 5, 2004, and drank it.

Woods’ court papers say he woke up the next morning “with an erection that would not subside” and sought treatment that day for the condition, called severe priapism.

They say Woods, 29, underwent surgery for implantation of a Winter shunt, which moves blood from one area to another.

The lawsuit, filed late Monday, says Woods later had problems that required a hospital visit and penile artery embolization, a way of closing blood vessels. Closing off some blood flow prevents engorgement and lessens the likelihood of an erection.

Woods’ lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, names Novartis Consumer Health Inc. as a defendant. A spokeswoman for the company, Brandi Robinson, said Tuesday the company was aware of the lawsuit but does not comment on pending litigation.

Woods’ lawyer did not return telephone calls for comment Tuesday.

Novartis’ Boost Plus Web site describes the drink as “a great tasting, high calorie, nutritionally complete oral supplement for people who require extra energy and protein in a limited volume,” in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.

Man blames health drink for unwanted erection - Men's Health - MSNBC.com

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New Treatment Brings Patients Back From The Dead

PHILADELPHIA Doctors in Philadelphia are testing a revolutionary new treatment that is restoring life and bringing people back from the dead. CBS Station KYW-TV in Philadelphia Medical Reporter Stephanie Stahl has details.

During cardiac arrest, the heart stops beating. It's a trauma alert and people are often declared dead within minutes.

But now doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Hospital are bringing people back from the dead.

Dr. Lance Becker and his team are challenging fate with breakthrough new treatments that could save hundreds of thousands of lives.

61-year-old Bill Bondar is living proof that people can be brought back from the dead.

"I didn't know I died, I didn't feel anything, I still don't believe it," Bill said.

"I looked at his face, and I was looking at a dead man," Bill's wife Monica said.

It happened just after the couple left a jam session. Bill collapsed outside their home, lifeless.

"That was the most frightening thing I ever saw in my life and I knew my husband was gone. He was gone," said Monica.

Paramedics were able to restart his heart, but that's just part of the battle. Cells continue to die, and there can be damage to vital organs like the brain, that could be fatal.

Bill ended up at Penn, where he got the new experimental treatment of chilled saline that's injected.

Cooling pads are then wrapped around a patient. The body temperature is normally 98 degrees, but cooling brings it down to 92 degrees. Doctors keep it there for about 24 hours. This process is called intentional hypothermia.

"It decreases cellular injury when the cells are deprived of oxygen, so with less injury we are able to do a better job of getting people back," said Dr. Becker.

A similar cooling therapy was used on Buffalo Bills football player Kevin Everett, after a devastating spinal cord injury. He's now able to move after getting a quick infusion of cold saline.

But Dr. Becker said the cooling therapy needs to be faster, so they're developing a slushy type saline that contains ice particles. It would be injected into the blood stream to quickly reduce body temperature.

"We really believe that that is going to save lives in a way that we haven't even seen," said Dr. Becker.

"I feel lucky," said Bill.

After being dead for a few minutes back in May, Bill along with Monica are now back to enjoying their boating life, with a whole new perspective.

"Our grasp on life is so tenuous. It's so fragile that it doesn't really matter what you worry about tomorrow because you might not have it. You have to live as if you're going to die tomorrow," said Monica.

Bill now has an internal defibrillator and is taking medications.

The experimental cooling treatment at HUP can only be used on certain patients. But doctors expect it will eventually become a critical standard of care for saving lives.

 

Quoted from http://wcco.com/health/health_story_271115428.html:

wcco.com - New Treatment Brings Patients Back From The Dead

 

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Partying Days Over? Binge Drinking Can Haunt You Years Later

Sept. 28, 2007 (KABC-TV) - Another reason to avoid binge drinking -- we're learning young people who drink heavily run the risk of serious health problems years later.

Watching crazy party scenes in movies like "Animal House" or "Old School" may be a trip down memory lane. But new research suggests what you did then could hurt you now. College students who drink heavily can double their levels of a blood marker call C-reactive protein (CRP).

CRP raises your risk of heart disease. Other research shows drinking heavy amounts of alcohol over time can actually decrease brain volume.

"Even occasional episodes of heavy drinking may be bad for one's health," said Dr. Kenneth Mukamal of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "In our studies, even people who binge drink on occasion seem to have very substantial increased risks of dying, say, after a heart attack."

But not drinking at all isn't the answer, either. Non-drinkers have higher CRP numbers than those who drink a little, bringing new meaning to the message that moderation is key.

So what exactly is a moderate amount? Dr. Mukamal says it's one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men -- as many days a week as you want, and any type of alcoholic beverage.

This raises your good cholesterol levels, helps lower the risk of heart disease and diabetes, serves as a blood thinner, and may actually ward off dementia.

"Light doses, we seem to lower our risk of certain diseases," said Dr. Mukamal. "But clearly, at heavier doses we increase those risks."

Experts also say you won't get any of the health benefits from moderate drinking until you hit your 50s. Until then, just saying no is really the healthiest way to go.

 

Quoted from http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=health&id=5680781:

abc7.com: Partying Days Over? Binge Drinking Can Haunt You Years Later

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Arizona Teen Becomes Sixth Victim This Year of Brain-Eating Amoeba

PHOENIX — It seemed like a headache, nothing more. But when pain killers and a trip to the emergency room didn't fix Aaron Evans, the 14-year-old asked his dad if he was going to die.

"No, no," David Evans remembers saying. "We didn't know. And here I am: I come home and I'm burying him."

What was bothering Aaron was an amoeba, a microscopic organism called Naegleria fowleri that attacks the body through the nasal cavity, quickly eating its way to the brain. The doctors said he probably picked it up a week before while swimming in the balmy shallows of Lake Havasu.

Such attacks are extremely rare, though some health officials have put their communities on high alert, telling people to stay away from warm, standing water.

"This is definitely something we need to track," said Michael Beach, a specialist in recreational water-born illnesses for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This is a heat-loving amoeba. As water temperatures go up, it does better," Beach said. "In future decades, as temperatures rise, we'd expect to see more cases."

According to the CDC, Naegleria infected 23 people from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials say they've noticed a spike in cases, with six Naegleria-related cases so far — all of them fatal.Though infections tend to be found in southern states, Naegleria has been found almost everywhere in lakes, hot springs, even some swimming pools. Still, the CDC knows of only several hundred cases worldwide since its discovery in Australia in the 1960s.

The amoeba typically live in lake bottoms, grazing off algae and bacteria in the sediment. Beach said people become infected when they wade through shallow water and stir up the bottom. If someone allows water to shoot up the nose — say, by doing a cannonball off a cliff — the amoeba can latch onto the person's olfactory nerve.

The amoeba destroys tissue as it makes its way up to the brain.

People who are infected tend to complain of a stiff neck, headaches and fevers, Beach said. In the later stages, they'll show signs of brain damage such as hallucinations and behavioral changes.

Once infected, most people have little chance of survival. Some drugs have been effective stopping the amoeba in lab experiments, but people who have been attacked rarely survive, Beach said.

"Usually, from initial exposure it's fatal within two weeks," Beach said.

Researchers still have much to learn about Naegleria, Beach said. For example, it seems that children are more likely to get infected, and boys are infected more often than girls. Experts don't know why.

"Boys tend to have more boisterous activities [in water], but we're not clear," he said.

In addition to the Arizona case, health officials reported two cases in Texas and three more in central Florida this year. In response, central Florida authorities started an amoeba telephone hot line advising people to avoid warm, standing water, or any areas with obvious algae blooms.

Texas health officials also have issued news releases about the dangers of amoeba attacks and to be cautious around water. People "seem to think that everything can be made safe, including any river, any creek, but that's just not the case," said Doug McBride, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Lake Havasu City officials also are discussing how to deal with rare amoeba attacks in the wake of Aaron Evans' death. "Some folks think we should be putting up signs. Some people think we should close the lake," city spokesman Charlie Cassens said. City leaders haven't yet decided what to do.

Beach warned that people shouldn't panic about the dangers of brain-eating amoeba. Infections are extremely rare when compared with the number of times a year people come into contact with water. And there have been occasional years during the past two decades that experts noticed a similar spike in infections.

The easiest way to prevent infection, Beach said, is to simply plug your nose when swimming or diving in fresh water.

"You'd have to have water going way up in your nose to begin with" to be infected, he said.

David Evans has tried to learn as much as possible about amoebas during the past month. But it still doesn't make much sense. The questions keep swirling around his head. Why now? His family has gone to Lake Havasu countless times without a problem. Have people always been in danger? Did city officials know about amoebas? Can they do anything to kill them off?

"It's been pretty heavy-duty," he said.

Evans lives within eyesight of Lake Havasu, a bulging strip of the Colorado River that separates Arizona from California. Temperatures hover in the triple digits all summer, and like almost everyone else, the Evans family looks to the lake to cool off.

On Sept. 8, he brought Aaron, his two other children and his parents to Lake Havasu to celebrate his birthday. They ate sandwiches and spent a few hours splashing around one of the beaches.

"For a week, everything was fine," he said.

Then Aaron got the headache that wouldn't go away. Evans took him to the hospital, and doctors thought his son was suffering from meningitis. Aaron was rushed to another hospital in Las Vegas.

Evans tried to reassure his son, but he had no idea what was wrong. On Sept. 17, Aaron stopped breathing as David held him in his arms.

"He was brain dead," David said. Only later did doctors realize the boy had been infected with Naegleria.

"My kids won't ever swim on Lake Havasu again."

Arizona Teen Becomes Sixth Victim This Year of Brain-Eating Amoeba

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Mixing Tylenol with Caffeine May Increase the Risk of Liver Damage, Study Finds

Be careful when taking Tylenol, or any other medication containing acetaminophen, while drinking that cup of Joe.

A mix of acetaminophen and caffeine may cause liver damage, especially in heavy caffeine drinkers, according to a preliminary study conducted by the University of Washington in Seattle.

Although previous studies have linked alcohol consumption and use of acetaminophen to liver damage, this is the first study to link caffeine to the danger.

Scientists at the University of Washington found that consuming acetaminophen, one of the main ingredients in many over-the-counter pain-relief medications like Tylenol and some Anacin and Excedrin products, and caffeine can eventually scar the tissue in the liver. The study also found a link between liver damage and prescribed medications that include caffeine and acetaminophen together, often used to treat migraines, arthritis and other painful conditions.

Consumers may want to limit their intake of caffeine, included in coffee and many popular energy drinks, such as Red Bull, while taking acetaminophen, according to researchers.

The Studies

Researchers have found that caffeine can triple the amount of a toxic byproduct, N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine (NAPQI), an enzyme produced while breaking down acetaminophen, which is also responsible for liver damage and failure in most toxic alcohol-acetaminophen interactions.

The most recent research was compiled by testing E. coli bacteria, which is often genetically engineered to represent the human enzyme in the liver that detoxifies most prescription and nonprescription drugs. The bacteria used were exposed to doses, larger than what most individuals would consume in one day, of acetaminophen and caffeine. However, they did not find the exact the toxic limitation of both substances in humans.

In studies using laboratory animals, chemist Sid Nelson, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Washington, found that higher doses of caffeine increased the severity of liver damage in rats with acetaminophen-induced liver damage.

Some patients may be more susceptible to the toxic interaction than others, according to Nelson, including patients who take certain anti-epileptic medications, including carbamazepine and Phenobarbital, or those who take the herbal supplement St. John’s Wort. These products, often used to boost levels of the enzymes that produce the toxic enzyme NAPQI, may be exaggerated if someone is ingesting acetaminophen and caffeine.

More Research Needed

Dr. Steven Lidofsky, director of hepatology and director of gastrointestinal research at the University of Vermont Medical Center and the Fletcher Allen Medical Center in Burlington, Vt. said he doesn’t know if there’s a real link between caffeine and acetaminophen consumption and liver damage since caffeine is often used to slow liver scarring in patients with chronic liver disease. He said the answer may be found in the actual mechanism or initial development of these toxic enzymes and how they affect the liver.

“Off the top of my head, it’s hard to imagine how caffeine might do it,” said Lidofsky. “I have to speculate. Caffeine reduces antioxidants in the liver, somehow affecting levels of CYP2e1, which converts the NAPQI enzyme into a toxin. I’m surprised that caffeine would induce this. In terms of how acetaminophen causes damage and being a toxic metabolite, the things that would promote acetaminophen toxicity are things that inhibit antioxidants in the liver.”

As Dr. Douglas Adler, a gastroenterologist at North Shore Gastroenterology in Skokie, Ill., sipped his afternoon cup of coffee, he said that he’s not sure of the affect caffeine can have on the liver, but he does know that overdoses of acetaminophen alone can kill the liver unless treated quickly with a liver transplant once damaged.

“I have not seen caffeine cause liver damage,” said Adler. “I don’t think Tylenol, for example, if taken as directed, would cause damage, but if you start taking higher doses and more frequently it can lead to liver damage.”

The painkiller was in the news last summer when a University of North Carolina study found that Tylenol, taken for consecutive four days, which is often recommended for some conditions, may put people at risk for liver damage. The scientists added that patients who really need Tylenol should not stop taking the medication and contact their doctor if they had serious concerns.

Of course, alcohol still remains a culprit that initiates liver damage and, coupled with acetaminophen, can be a deadly mix since alcohol can lead to the onset of another damaging enzyme, which produces the NAPQI toxin.

Researchers at the University of Washington are considering using human volunteers for future studies, including one that will study the mechanism of how the toxic interaction occurs between acetaminophen and caffeine.

Quoted from http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,298158,00.html:

FOXNews.com - Mixing Tylenol with Caffeine May Increase the Risk of Liver Damage, Study Finds

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Why are U.S. kids obese? Just look around them

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Tough choices tempt kids at every turn -- whether it is soda in school, junk food ads on TV or the fast-food chain around the corner -- and school policies limiting physical activity only make matters worse, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

This throng of temptations may explain why childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions, they said.

The collection of studies, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, together suggest environmental factors and policies conspire to challenge the health of children in America.

"We have in our schools and communities a perfect storm that will continue to feed the childhood obesity epidemic until we adopt policies that improve the health of our communities and our kids," Frank Chaloupka, an economics professor the University of Illinois at Chicago, said in a statement.

While too many calories and too little exercise explain how children become obese, the research looks at environmental factors that contribute to these behaviors, and suggests policy changes that could make healthy choices easier.

"The environment that they live in matters," said Lisa Powell of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who studied restaurant and food store options in the neighborhoods and food-related television advertising aimed at teens.

She said when people cannot get to supermarkets but instead must rely on the convenience stores that proliferate in many poor neighborhoods, families end up eating less healthy food.

Lower-income neighborhoods also tend to have a higher proportion of fast-food restaurants, and black urban neighborhoods have the highest percentage of fast-food restaurants.

"The general environment around them is not really conducive to a healthy lifestyle," she said. "It is not surprising that we would in turn see an increased likelihood of overweight."

NO SAFE HAVEN

When teens are at home, they see a barrage of advertisements for fast food and sweets, Powell said.

She and colleagues studied more than 200,000 ads on top-rated shows viewed by teens aged 12 to 17 in 2003 and 2004. Powell found more than a quarter of the ads were for fast food, sweets and beverages -- items well within a teen budget.

Overall, fast-food advertising comprised 23 percent of all food-related ads seen by teens.

At school, teens have ready access to high-fat, sugary foods and drinks, according to a study by Lloyd Johnston and colleagues at the University of Michigan.

Johnston found the majority of middle schools (67 percent) and high schools (83 percent) had contracts with a soft-drink company.

While high schools are more likely to offer soft drinks, they are less likely to require physical education, Johnston found in a separate study. While 87 percent of 13- to 14-year- old students surveyed attend schools that require physical education, only 20 percent of 17- to 18-year-olds face physical education requirements.

"Historically, people have thought of obesity in terms of individual willpower, but there is a great abundance of environmental influence that contributes as well," he said in a telephone interview.

"Communities and schools need to be looking at what they are doing and trying to improve it," he said.

 

Quoted from http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2430531820070925?sp=true:

Why are U.S. kids obese? Just look around them | U.S. | Reuters

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Germs taken to space come back deadlier

WASHINGTON - It sounds like the plot for a scary B-movie: Germs go into space on a rocket and come back stronger and deadlier than ever. Except, it really happened.

The germ: Salmonella, best known as a culprit of food poisoning. The trip: Space Shuttle STS-115, September 2006. The reason: Scientists wanted to see how space travel affects germs, so they took some along — carefully wrapped — for the ride. The result: Mice fed the space germs were three times more likely to get sick and died quicker than others fed identical germs that had remained behind on Earth.

"Wherever humans go, microbes go, you can't sterilize humans. Wherever we go, under the oceans or orbiting the earth, the microbes go with us, and it's important that we understand ... how they're going to change," explained Cheryl Nickerson, an associate professor at the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Arizona State University.

Nickerson added, in a telephone interview, that learning more about changes in germs has the potential to lead to novel new countermeasures for infectious disease.

She reports the results of the salmonella study in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers placed identical strains of salmonella in containers and sent one into space aboard the shuttle, while the second was kept on Earth, under similar temperature conditions to the one in space.

After the shuttle returned, mice were given varying oral doses of the salmonella and then were watched.

After 25 days, 40 percent of the mice given the Earth-bound salmonella were still alive, compared with just 10 percent of those dosed with the germs from space. And the researchers found it took about one-third as much of the space germs to kill half the mice, compared with the germs that had been on Earth.

The researchers found 167 genes had changed in the salmonella that went to space.

Why?

"That's the 64 million dollar question," Nickerson said. "We do not know with 100 percent certainty what the mechanism is of space flight that's inducing these changes."

However, they think it's a force called fluid shear.

"Being cultured in microgravity means the force of the liquid passing over the cells is low." The cells "are responding not to microgravity, but indirectly to microgravity in the low fluid shear effects."

"There are areas in the body which are low shear, such as the gastrointestinal tract, where, obviously, salmonella finds itself," she went on. "So, it's clear this is an environment not just relevant to space flight, but to conditions here on Earth, including in the infected host."

She said it is an example of a response to a changed environment.

"These bugs can sense where they are by changes in their environment. The minute they sense a different environment, they change their genetic machinery so they can survive," she said.

The research was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Louisiana Board of Regents, Arizona Proteomics Consortium, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center, National Institutes of Health and the University of Arizona.

 

Quoted from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070924/ap_on_sc/germs_in_space:

Germs taken to space come back deadlier - Yahoo! News

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