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If you get stung by a jelly fish, don’t ask your friend to pee on you. Similarly, reading in the dark won’t make you go blind. For explanations and more interesting body myths, head over to Life Hacker.
Bill Gates is only 56 years old, but he stepped down as the CEO of Microsoft a decade ago. He’d still be the richest man in America if he and his wife Melinda hadn’t been so busy giving money away. And instead of just donating, they did the research to determine how they would get the most bang for the buck. As it turns out, those bucks get a lot of bang when you use them to buy simple vaccines. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has gone through 25 billion dollars to not only get vaccines to children who need them, but to change the way that vaccines are developed, manufactured, and distributed globally.
The results have been equally massive: 3.4 million lives saved from hepatitis B, which causes liver cancer, 1.2 million lives from measles, 560,000 from the Hib bacteria, 474,000 from whooping cough, 140,000 from yellow fever and 30,000 from polio. In the past year the new initiatives have prevented another 8,000 deaths from pneumonia and 1,000 from diarrhea.
“I’ve met mothers who walked eight hours to get their child a vaccine and hoped that it’s there on that day,” Melinda says. On a trip in January to a rural clinic in Kenya she saw four children with pneumonia sharing a single oxygen tube. “They were just sucking breath,” she recalls. But across the clinic the Gates Foundation work showcased a different future: Children lined up to get the new vaccine that would dramatically reduce the risk they would ever get pneumonia.
Read about how they did it at Forbes. Link -via Not Exactly Rocket Science
It goes without saying that smoking is bad for you, but as it turns out, when you smoke can affect just how much of a health impact a cigarette could have on your body. Two new studies have shown that smokers who light up first thing in the morning are more likely to get lung, neck and head cancers than those who wait to take the first puff.
Link Via Geekosystem
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A common experience is to hear faint beat of your own heart, normally after a vigorous workout. However for Stephen Mabbut, the noise of his own eyeballs moving in his head was so loud and audible it was driving him mad. This frightening experience was later attributed to a rare condition, superior canal dehiscence syndrome.
He added, “The first symptoms appeared around 2005. I found if I raised my voice, I’d get a vibration in my head. If I was eating a bag of crisps, the crunching noise drowned out people speaking. Then I found I would be hearing my heartbeat.”
But this year, a CT scan showed a tiny hole in the temporal bone in Mr Mabbutt’s skull, which meant that fluid from the semicircular canals of the inner ear was leaking into his brain and conducting internal sounds.
We use the term “snake oil” for anything promoted as a cure-all that doesn’t work, whether it is medicine or political policy. But back in the 1860s, Chinese immigrants who worked on the Transcontinental Railroad used oil from the Chinese water snake to treat sore muscles, and it worked!
A 2007 story in Scientific American explains that California neurophysiology researcher Richard Kunin made the connection between Chinese water snakes and omega-3 fatty acids in the 1980s.
“Kunin visited San Francisco’s Chinatown to buy such snake oil and analyze it. According to his 1989 analysis published in the Western Journal of Medicine, Chinese water-snake oil contains 20 percent eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), one of the two types of omega-3 fatty acids most readily used by our bodies. Salmon, one of the most popular food sources of omega-3s, contains a maximum of 18 percent EPA, lower than that of snake oil.”
However, it wasn’t until several years after Kunin’s research that American scientists discovered that omega-3s are vital for human metabolism. Not only do they sooth inflammation in muscles and joints, but also, they can help “cognitive function and reduce blood pressure, cholesterol, and even depression.”
So how did “snake oil” come to mean a scam? The rest of the story is at Collectors Weekly. Link -Thanks, Ben!
At 91 years of age most people are relegated to the retirement home, shuffling around in a walker or a motorized scooter. However Charles Eugster started body building at 85 and now feels fit and energized. Great, this makes me feel even better about my beer belly. Link
(Image credit: Gian Paul Lozza for the Guardian)
A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that a useful predictor of how long older adults live is how fast they walk. According to the report, people who walked 1 meter per second (about 2.25 mph) or faster consistently lived longer than others of their age and sex who walked more slowly.
Unfortunately, you can’t reach a ripe old age by changing your walking speed. According to researcher Dr. Stephanie Studenski, a professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh:
“Your body chooses the walking speed that is best for you, and that is your speed, your health indicator,” Studenski said. “And that’s what it really is: an indicator. Going out and walking faster does not necessarily mean you will suddenly live longer. You still need to address the underlying health issues.”
Link | Photo by Flickr user auntjojo used under Creative Commons license
Of all the trolls, the worst is the Choles-troll. He is the central character of this illustrated “bedtime story for adults” at The Museum Of Modern Fiction. Link -Thanks, josef lee!
I think everyone should be generous and help one another as much as possible. To that extent, I’ve always been a big supporter of blood donation. Unfortunately, I’ve found out the hard way that I am one of the handful of people that has adverse reactions to donations and I almost pass out afterward and I find myself weakened for the next few days. Since I can’t donate, I figure I can help motivate the rest of you to help out your fellow man by giving you all the information you’ve ever wanted to know about blood donation.
Image via cbmd [Flickr]
Human blood is made of four main components, plasma, platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells. The 55% of blood is just plasma, which is mostly water, but also contains proteins, immunoglobulins, vitamins and other substances. Blood makes up 7% of your body weight.
All animals have varying numbers of blood types. Cows have a whopping 800 types of blood. Humans have four blood types, A, B, AB, and O and these can be further identified by their RH positive or negative status. Over 70% of Americans are either type O+ or A+.
While you probably already know that type O is the universal donor for red blood cells, most people are unaware that plasma transfusions are the exact opposite and people with type AB blood are universal plasma donors.
Image via Spike55151 [Flickr]
When you donate blood, you generally give around one pint of whole blood per donation, which makes up anywhere from a tenth to a twelfth of your body’s total blood. This is why some people (myself included) feel weak after donation, but most people are fine after blood withdrawal. Most people feel fine within a few hours, but it still takes your body up to three days to replace the donated plasma and up to 59 days for you to recover your red blood cells. That’s why you can only donate every few months.
While most people donate whole blood, there is another option called Apheresis. When you donate just plasma and platelets, this method is used for withdrawal. Basically, your blood is removed from your arm and then passed through a machine that separates out the contents of your blood. The parts of your blood that are being donated are kept separate and the rest of your blood is returned into your body. In most cases, the red blood cells are returned since these take the longest to regenerate. That’s why platelet and plasma donors can donate every three days. While it takes up to ten units of whole blood to make up one whole dose of platelets for a patient, this method can collect at least one whole dose of platelets with each donation.
While blood can be directly transfused from the donor into the patient, this method was largely phased out after WWII and blood donations are usually stored these days. Red blood cells can be stored for up to 42 days and plasma can be stored for a full year. Unfortunately, platelets can only be kept for about a week.
Image via Nemo’s Great Uncle [Flickr]
Blood banks are always looking to get more supply, and there are a number of reasons for this. First, a lot of people need blood. In fact, it is estimated that someone in the U.S. needs a transfusion every two seconds and that one in four Americans will need a transfusion at some point in their life. Secondly, because the majority of blood components have short shelf lives, even if there are enough donations to cover immediate needs, banks ideally want to have enough around in case of a national or local emergency. Lastly, restrictions on blood donors mean that only 38% of all Americans can donate blood at any given time, but only 10% of the population donates blood every year.
Image via ec-jpr [Flickr]
There are a lot of factors to determine someone’s eligibility to donate blood, including age, health, weight, visits to foreign countries, drug use, sexual history and recent body modifications. Donors may pass the pr-escreening tests and still be found ineligible when their blood is tested prior to transfusion. Some people who are deferred are only asked to wait a while before they attempt to donate, while others are told they can never donate. Most people who are deferred can return after a while and the number one reason for deferments is anemia.
The fact that men who have ever had sex with another man are banned from donating for life is a touchy subject in the blood donation world and there are valid arguments on each side of the discussion. Critics of the ban say the decision is based on outdated science and homophobia. They say that because each sample is tested for HIV, the risk is minimal. In 2006, the AABB, the Red Cross and America’s Blood Centers all pushed for a change in the policy, citing a study that suggested that allowing men who have had sex with another man to donate would only result in an additional case of HIV transmission once ever 33 years. They argue that because blood banks are in such desperate need of donations, this risk is worth it. The FDA rejected their proposal, saying the risk was not justified.
Those in favor of the ban point out that a study performed in the UK showed that allowing these men to donate would increase the risk of HIV entering the blood stockpiles by 500% and they argue that even if the ban is modeled to only prevent men who have engaged in homosexual activities in the last twelve months, the number would still increase 60%.
Critics argue that a gay man in a monogamous relationship carries a much lower risk of HIV than an intravenous drug user who has been clean for a year or a promiscuous straight man, both of who would be eligible to donate. The debate seems likely to continue for years, even if the ban is changed.
Image via acroamatic [Flickr]
If you’ve ever donated blood, you’ll notice that one of the inquiries involves lengthy stays in certain third world countries and the UK. If you ever wondered why the UK would be included in the list, it has to do with an untreatable degenerative brain disease known as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. It can be passed by blood and the UK has had such a problem with it that they ban recipients of their own country’s blood donations from donating blood.
Unfortunately, while verbal tests are performed prior to blood donations in all countries, many third-world countries can’t afford to actually test the blood for diseases such as HIV, syphilis and other dangerous illnesses after it is donated. That is why anyone who has received transplants in these countries cannot donate in the U.S. and many other countries.
Image via Christiana Care [Flickr]
If you’re one of those people that always wants to know how something will benefit them, there are a few reasons you should donate blood other than the fact that each donation can save up to three lives. First off, some businesses, including all companies in Italy, give you a paid day off for blood donation. Next, the blood centers will often guarantee you transfusion priorities if you are ever in need of blood. If you need something physical to motivate you though, keep in mind that many blood drives include prize drawings for really cool stuff (the Comic Con blood draw contest is awesome) and blood centers often give away free goodies and food.
If you know you can pass the screening test and that you have clean blood, please donate blood and help save lives.
Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, WHO, New York Times, Web MD, Rue the Day
With today’s obesity epidemic, scientists are working non-stop to better understand weight gain and how to lose the excess pounds. While losing a lot of weight can be a challenge, recent studies have come up with a number of simple tips and tricks that can help you slim down without putting too much of a cramp in your daily routine.
Image via gfrphoto [Flickr]
You probably already know that you’re supposed to drink a lot of water if you’re trying to lose weight, but you might not know just how important water intake is to the cause. Simply drinking two glasses of water (around half a liter) prior to meals can make you think you are fuller and reduce your meal portions. Water can also help you digest. In fact, the average woman eats around 2,000 calories a day, but when she consumes water first, that number drops to around 1,200 calories. Similar decreased calorie consumption was seen in men as well.
Image via Arun Katiyar [Flickr]
Water’s not the only thing you should be drinking. A Tufts University study has shown that drinking three cups of green tea a day can help you lose twice as much weight as you would otherwise. White tea is also beneficial and a German study found that it can help decrease the number of new fat cells you develop while helping you burn off the existing fat cells in your body.
Image via Gezellig-girl.com [Flickr]
Speaking of beverages, if you just have to drink soda, put down your regular Pepsi products and grab some Throwback, which is made with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. While both add on calories, a Princeton University study has shown that corn syrup prompts far more weight gain than sugar does.
Of course, soda isn’t the only source of high fructose corn syrup. It seems to be in everything these days and it can even be hard to avoid. On a personal note, I can tell you that I cut almost all sources of corn syrup out of my diet and I’ve felt a lot healthier afterwards. Most noticeably, the shaking I get between meals if I wait to long to eat is mostly gone when I don’t have corn syrup for a whole week.
Attention hypochondriacs! Thanks to Japan (who else?), you can soon forgo frequent visits to the doctors for health check ups. Instead, simply pee into the "Intelligent Toilet" :
Toto’s engineers developed a receptacle inside the basin to collect the urine for sugar content and temperature checks, and an armband to monitor blood pressure. The readout is displayed on a wall-mounted computer screen.
"With the current model, your data is sent automatically to your personal computer, and then you can email it to your doctor," said Suzuki.
"In the next generation model, the data will be sent automatically to family members or doctors via the Internet," she told AFP.The electronic marvel, called the "Intelligence Toilet", is capable of storing the data of up to five different people and retails for 350,000 to 500,000 yen (about 4,100 to 5,850 dollars) in Japan, she said.
Link | Nerve has a few more pics: Link – Thanks Ben!
Designers Rui Pereira and Hafsteinn Juliusson, have created a collection of dining plates for HAF, that reminds us of the fundamental values of healthy eating.
You already have parents and/or kids telling you how to eat healthy. Now there are dishes that will nag you too?
Link – Via Coudal Partners
With the fear global warming taking over the minds of Americans everywhere, it’s no wonder that bicycles have gone through a renaissance in the last decade. True to form, the bike renaissance comes with a lot of innovations to make our old two-wheeled cycles safer, faster and cooler than ever. Some of these bikes are really futuristic advances, while others are just plain cool, whichever you prefer, there’s plenty to see here.
The Cycle Sol prototype may look a little strange, but its solar-charged battery makes it an inspiring piece of machinery. Soaking up the sun help to charge the battery, which can help push the bike to speeds up to 15 MPH. Its greatest attribute though may be the convenient push you’ll feel when tackling tedious hills. Also a plus, if it is left in the garage or used on a cloudy day, you can still plug it into an outlet to get the full battery charge you need to get moving.
Talk about a bike of the future. This stream-lined prototype incorporates an on-board computer that can help count the calories you burn, play music and serve as an unbreakable lock. It was designed by Gold Medalist Chris Boardman, who believes his creation could be an everyday product within the next twenty years. Similar to the Cycle Sol, this bike will also have a solar-powered battery to help you out when you’re tired of pedaling.
If you’re wondering how a bike computer could incorporate an unbreakable lock, it’s all through the magic of fingerprint identification. Of course, if the bikes are considered valuable enough, then you may run the risk of losing your digit all together when some really motivated thieves approach you –a fate that has already befallen one iPad user.
One of the biggest drawbacks to cycling is the danger inherent with sharing the road with vehicles. The Shweeb individual monorail system eliminates this problem and gives you the safety and serenity only possible in your own personal bubble. The company working to make these mini-monorail systems a part of your daily commute claims they are “a personal, efficient, and cost-effective transport solution with applications for urban commuting, recreational and fitness markets.”
If the classic bicycle design of two wheels in line with your body is just too outdated for you, then perhaps the Di-Cycle’s two side wheels are more your style. Perhaps the coolest advantage of the Di-Cycle though is its ability to operate on both land and water.
The Hyperbike may not ride on water like the Dicycle does, but its massive side wheels are instead designed to help protect you in the event of an accident. Also nice, its design, which includes both feet and hand pedals allows you to travel at speeds up to 50 MPH.
On the other hand, if you’d prefer to sit on your bike sideways while it moves to the front, then perhaps the Sideways Bike is more to your liking. Inspired by snowboarding, this one allows you to sit and pedal while facing sideways and then to look to your left or right while steering. I’d be terrified to ride this next to the road, but maybe that’s just me.
If money is your main concern, then this handy $30 bicycle might be more in your price range. It’s cool, it’s collapsible, it’s recyclable, and not to worry, it is water proof. The inventor claims that one of the biggest advantages though is the fact that it will probably not get stolen. On the downside, it doesn’t go very fast and if you bike regularly, you’ll need to replace it every six months or so.
When you’re looking for something a little more flashy, but just as bare-boned as a cardboard bike, the Nulla minimalist bike is a great choice. It’s spokeless, stylish and light, as it is stripped of all non-essential components. The name Nulla even translates to “nothing” in Italian, which means it’s also a perfect ride for any existentialists out there.
Minimalists who prefer recumbent cycles are likely to find this spokeless cycle, created by designer Mathew Zurlinden, to offer many of the same advantages as the Nulla, only with the critical difference in the rider’s body position.
If you were on your college rowing team or if you are simply much more muscular on the top half of your body, then why not row your bike home? Unlike a regular bicycle, even a standard hand-operated bike, this one is not powered by rotating pedals, but instead through pushing and pulling the handle bars. Using it can burn up to 850 calories per hour and it’s supposedly easier on your joints than a standard bike.
Now it’s your turn readers. I’m sure many of you have seen some cool and crazy bikes in your time. Feel free to share them in the comments. Also, which of these designs would you prefer?
The next time you eat in a restaurant in San Francisco, take a closer look at the bill. You may see a new line item there, a "health" fee to cover employees’ healthcare.
Travel writer Ed Perkins of Chicago Tribune wasn’t amused:
The rationale for this one is to cover the employers’ mandatory contribution to the City’s "Healthy San Francisco" health-coverage system. The charge actually is levied on employers, but at least some restaurants are adding a few dollars or percentage points to each customer’s bill to cover this charge.
The restaurants’ excuse for assessing this charge separately is to let customers know how much they’re paying for employees’ health coverage. That’s the same excuse hotels use when they add "resort" or "housekeeping" fees to unsuspecting guests’ room bills. It’s the same excuse airlines would use to exclude fuel surcharges from their advertised fares if the Department of Transportation would allow them. And it’s sheer nonsense. Employees’ health insurance is no less of a cost of doing business than rent, property taxes, food costs, security services and all the other inputs businesses require to operate. To single out health care for a separate surcharge is unwarranted.
Ever wondered how the body defends against diseases and other attacks? In the following article from the Geeks are Sexy blog, learn the basic philosophy behind the immune system.
We live in a world governed not by the biggest creatures, but by the smallest. Our bodies act as vessels for all that we call “ourselves,” forming a barrier between “out there” and “in here.” While that barrier is not as simple as a wall or a single membrane, the philosophy is made real by a complex defense network called the immune system.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by Geeksaresexy.
January is National Hot Tea Month, and to celebrate, we at Neatorama invite you to brew a cup of your favorite variety and curl up for some good old fashioned facts about one of the most popular beverages in the world — second to only water. Before we begin though, let’s make one thing clear; herbal teas (including South African red teas) are not real teas because they are not made from the Camellia sinensis a.k.a. the tea plant — sorry chamomile fans.
While there really is no consensus on exactly where the earliest tea plants were grown in Asia and how people got the idea to drink it, there are a number of myths concerning how tea originated and why people started drinking it. One story says that a Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma, the founder of Chan Buddhism, was meditating for nine years, at which point, he fell asleep. The story says he was so upset that he cut off his own eyelids, which took root and grew into the first tea plants. Other versions of the story say that Buddha himself was the one who cut his eye lids off and started the first tea plants.
The story of how tea was first consumed says that Emperor Shennong was drinking a bowl of water when leaves from the plant blew into his water. He tried the concoction and was quite happy with the drink’s flavor. Another story says that Shennong was testing the medicinal properties of different herbs and when he discovered an herb was poisonous, he used tea for an antidote.
While the history of the plants and how they started to be consumed as beverages are the stuff of legends, there are certainly a few well documented facts about the brew’s history. The oldest known still cultivated tea plant grows in the Yunnan Province in China, it is estimated to be over 3,200 years old. Records of China’s tea consumption go back all the way to 10th century BC. At one point, bricks of tea were actually used as currency in the realm, particularly in areas that were very rural and devoid of coin currency.
Chinese Buddhist monks introduced the drink to Japan, where it quickly became a favored drink of royalty. Within no time, seeds were imported into the country and cultivation began. Centuries later, tea ceremonies were introduced by Buddhist monks as well, where they slowly evolved into the highly formal tea ceremonies that Japan is known for today. In the sixteenth century, the tea ceremonies played a big role in feudal diplomacy.
Tea wasn’t introduced into Europe until the 17th century, when it was first brought to Amsterdam. Around this period it was introduced to France and Russia where it was quickly made popular in both countries. It’s introduction into English society was perhaps the place that it had the biggest impact though.
By 1750, tea became the national drink of Britain. Unfortunately, Britain developed a need for Chinese goods, but China largely had no use for English goods. For a while, England sent out silver bullion, but it wasn’t long before they began trading opium (grown in India and still illegal in China) for tea. Thus, tea played a major role in the Opium Wars and the treaty for the war actually required the Chinese ship tea to England in exchange for the drug.
At the same time, the Brits decided that they needed to stop being dependant on the Chinese for their supply of tea, so they hired Scottish botanist Robert Fortune to steal a tea plant from China and then cultivate it in India. The plants fared well in this new environment and now India is one of the biggest producers of the plant.
Image via Okinawa Soba [Flickr]
Most people prefer to make tea from tea bags, but tea purists consider the tea from the bags to be far inferior to loose-leaf tea. Part of the reason is that the small bits of leaves used are often just the waste products left behind from loose-leaf tea. Another problem is that more of the leaf’s surface is in contact with the air, allowing it to lose flavor faster. Some people also claim they can taste the flavor of the bag when they drink it this way. Others claim that tea bags are too small to allow the tea to properly diffuse in the water, which is why Lipton released their line of Pyramid Teas to counteract these problems, but many tea aficionados still don’t like them for the other reasons listed above.
Image by Wikipedia user Andre Karwath.
As I said before, real tea is only made from the Camellia sinensis, which means that red tea and other herbal teas don’t make the cut. Even then though, there are still six different varieties of tea, each created by a different processing method. The tea plant’s leaves wilt and oxidize very quickly after it is picked, and each type of tea is made through drying the leaves at a different point of the leaf’s cycle. White tea is wilted and unoxidized. Green tea is unwilted and unoxidized. Yellow tea is unwilted and unoxidized, but allowed to yellow. Oolong tea is wilted, bruised and then partially oxidized. Black tea is wilted and fully oxidized. Post-fermented tea is created by allowing green tea to ferment, it is largely reserved for medicinal purposes and not casual drinking. There’s a cool visualization of the process here.
While each type of tea naturally has its own distinct flavor, most teas you buy at the store have their own flavoring made by mixing different blends together or by adding other flavors to the mix. Some of the more popular tea flavors include:
Source Image by Wikipedia user lateasquirrel.
Tea contains a number of different antioxidants, one of which, catechins, actually makes up 30% of its weight. This antioxidant can help fight tumors. White and green teas contain the most antioxidants. On the other end of the spectrum, black tea has the most caffeine. Caffeine makes up about 3% of black tea’s dry weight, more than even coffee. The reason coffee gives you more of a buzz when you drink it though is that it’s less diluted than tea. Tea also has fluorine, which prevents dental decay.
Studies have shown that tea can help normalize your blood pressure, lower your stress levels, prevent heart disease, reduce depression and prevent diabetes. It also has germicidal properties that help you prevent sickness(which shows just how terrible my immune system is, given that I drink tea daily and still get sick all the time). A study released last year showed that white tea can boost your metabolism, reduce fat cells and help you lose weight. Another study that came out last year showed that drinking tea daily can reduce your chances of having a stroke by as much as 21%.
The tea plant grows year-round and though it prefers tropical and sub-tropical climates, it has survived as far north as England. Only the top one to two inches of a mature plant are used for tea. These parts of the plant are called flushes and the plant grows a new flush every week or so during growing season. The Chinese believe that a higher elevation makes for better tea plants because the plants grow slower, allowing the buds to become more flavorful.
The evergreen plants are sort of like poinsettias, in that those that aren’t properly cultivated will naturally grow into a tree.
Image by Wikipedia user Dave Oceano.
As they say, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” With this calendar, you get an apple every day of the month and it helps you keep up with the days as well. The Serviceplan advertising agency of Munich, Germany created the apple calendar for AOK health insurance. Every month, fill it with 28, 30, or 31 apples and adjust the numbered calendar behind the transparent tube. Then eat one apple each day and see the calendar advance. Too bad the calendars aren’t for sale, but you may see them in AOK branch offices. Link -via bookofjoe
Your mother probably told you time and time again, “Bundle up or you’ll catch a cold!” But how accurate is this statement? After all, our bodies stay close to the same temperature no matter how cold it is outside. What is the real reason people get sick more in the wintertime?
Well to answer that question let’s look at the conventional wisdom. If you ask just about anybody off the street, they’ll tell you that the cold somehow weakens your body (maybe your immune system) and makes you more susceptible to disease. How do they know this? Well their mothers told them, of course!
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geeksaresexy.
Old age in itself is no barrier to fitness. Many people in their 80s and 90s stay fit with regular exercise, and some put many younger folks to shame! Imagine competitive swimming in your 90s.
92yr old Ladislav Nicek has been competing in the annual Winter Swimming Championships in the Vlatva River for over half a century, and has until this point only missed a few events. Up to 70 ‘otuzilci’ (hardy fellows) brave the icy waters in an event which attracts a huge amount of media coverage, a large percentage due to the efforts of Mr. Nicek. He even organises the event every year before jumping in himself.
Nicek is one of five elderly athletes profiled at Vitabits. Link -Thanks, David!
Researchers have taken another look at the famous Whitehall study of over 18,000 middle-aged London men and found that a single measurement of three factors predicted mortality better than any other measures. Those with the three risk factors, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking, had three times the risk of death from cardiovascular problems and a life expectancy that was ten years shorter than those without the three risk factors. The men were examined in 1967-1970 and followed for 38 years. The 4811 surviving subjects were reexamined in 1997.
Dr Robert Clarke (University of Oxford, UK) and colleagues report their findings online September 17, 2009 in BMJ. And when they used more extreme categorization of risk factors, including body-mass index (BMI), diabetes mellitus/glucose intolerance, and employment grade, life expectancy differed by up to 15 years.
Clarke says there has been uncertainty about the limits of life expectancy and the relevance of cardiovascular risk factors for its prediction. “What is unique about this study is the prolonged follow-up; it enables us to put a figure on the life-limiting effects of these risk factors,” he told heartwire.
(image credit: Flickr user Thomas Hawk)
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by 
Many communities have enacted smoking bans in public places, some of which have been in effect for several years. How is that affecting our overall health? According to an analysis of studies, the bans are significantly cutting the rate of heart attacks in those communities.
“By lumping 11 studies together, we have increased the certainty that smoking bans really do reduce the risk of heart attack,” lead author Dr David G Meyers (University of Kansas School of Public Medicine, Kansas City) told heartwire. Meyers and colleagues report their findings online September 21, 2009 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Meyers says there are some additional messages from this review. Although they found, on average, a 17% reduction in AMI, this figure is “deceptive,” he says, because they also showed—in longer-term studies—a 26% decrease in heart attacks per year that the ban had existed. So this proves “the longer a community bans smoking, the greater the effect.” It also appears the people who seem to derive the greatest benefit from the bans are younger and often predominantly female—likely those working in the hospitality and entertainment industry, he says.
(image credit: Flickr user bennylin0724)
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by 
A new study shows that elderly people who are overweight or obese have significantly less brain tissue than those of normal weight. The difference was 4% for overweight people and 8% for the obese in a study of 94 people in their 70s. The volunteers were followed for five years, and anyone who showed cognitive impairment was excluded from the final sample.
“The brains of obese people looked 16 years older than their healthy counterparts while [those of] overweight people looked 8 years older,” said UCLA neuroscientist Paul Thompson, senior author of a study published online in Human Brain Mapping.
Much of the lost tissue was in the frontal and temporal lobe regions of the brain, the seat of decision-making and memory, among other things.
It is not clear whether weight gain caused a reduction in brain tissue, or if a smaller brain contributes to weight gain, or there are other factors contributing to both. Link -via Lifehacker
(image credit: Flickr user erat)
The old ad slogan "Guinness is good for you" may actually be true: a study showed that drinking just over a pint of Guinness at mealtimes may help reduce the blood’s ability to form dangerous clots that may lead to heart attacks.
Drinking lager does not yield the same benefits, experts from University of Wisconsin told a conference in the US.
Guinness were told to stop using the slogan decades ago – and the firm still makes no health claims for the drink.
The Wisconsin team tested the health-giving properties of stout against lager by giving it to dogs who had narrowed arteries similar to those in heart disease.
They found that those given the Guinness had reduced clotting activity in their blood, but not those given lager.
Link (Image: spleeney [Flickr])
Previously on Neatorama: Stories Behind 7 Famous Beer Logos
In 1995, two-year-old Hannah Clark of Mountain Ash, Wales suffered from cardiomyopathy and received a donor heart, which was "piggybacked" onto her original heart and took over its function. For ten years, the donor heart beat in Hannah’s chest, but she was developing tumors and could not continue the immunosuppressive drugs transplant patients must take to counter organ rejection. Since Hannah still had her original heart, doctors decided to disconnect the donor heart. After ten years of not working, her original heart took over pumping blood and functions without medication. Three years later, Hannah is completely recovered.
Professor Peter Weissberg, of the British Heart Foundation, said cardiologists have long wondered whether a heart which is failing because of cardiomyopathy might be able to recover if rested.
“This seems to be exactly what has happened in Hannah’s case in which the donor heart allowed her own heart to take a rest and recover.
“This is an exciting discovery since it proves that, in some instances, a weakened heart has the capacity to recover – if it can be helped.”
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by healthylivinggal83.
Results from a 20 year study on monkeys and their diets show that eating fewer calories can help you live longer. Animals with a restricted diet of 30% were shown to outlive those that were given the freedom to eat what when and how much they wanted. The monkeys also had improved chances of avoiding age related diseases, cancer, diabetes and brain atrophy.
In terms of overall animal health, Weindruch notes, the restricted diet leads to longer lifespan and improved quality of life in old age. “There is a major effect of caloric restriction in increasing survival if you look at deaths due to the diseases of aging,” he says.
The incidence of cancerous tumors and cardiovascular disease in animals on a restricted diet was less than half that seen in animals permitted to eat freely. Remarkably, while diabetes or impaired glucose regulation is common in monkeys that can eat all they want, it has yet to be observed in any animal on a restricted diet. “So far, we’ve seen the complete prevention of diabetes,” says Weindruch.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by coconutnut.
Many people who meditate regularly have better focus and control over their emotions, reduced levels of stress, and
bolstered immune systems, but does meditation do anything to the brain structure itself?
Eileen Luders and colleagues at UCLA used MRI to scan the brains of people who meditate to find out. They examined 44 people (22 control subjects and 22 who had practiced
various forms of meditation) who had practiced an average of 24 years. Meditators showed significantly larger volumes in regions known for regulating emotions.
The researchers found significantly larger cerebral measurements in meditators compared with controls, including larger volumes of the right hippocampus and increased gray matter in the right orbito-frontal cortex, the right thalamus and the left inferior temporal lobe. There were no regions where controls had significantly larger volumes or more gray matter than meditators.
Because these areas of the brain are closely linked to emotion, Luders said, “these might be the neuronal underpinnings that give meditators’ the outstanding ability to regulate their emotions and allow for well-adjusted responses to whatever life throws their way.”
Link – via holeinthedonut
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by baweibel.
As if you need that many reasons to take a snooze.
Studies show that not only will you feel better almost immediately, says Sara Mednick, PhD, a sleep medicine researcher at the University of California at San Diego and author of Take a Nap! Change Your Life, but a daily nap of between 20 and 90 minutes before 4:00 pm will also increase your mental performance, reduce your chances of gaining weight, and make you feel a whole lot more like having sex after dinner than you probably do now. What’s more, it won’t affect your nighttime sleep.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by smellslikepurple.
Yawns? Hiccups? Goosebumps? Shivers? They all happen for a reason. Kimberly Fusaro of Woman’s Day spoke with Eric Plasker, author of The 100 Year Lifestyle to find out why our bodies do peculiar things. Take, for example, hiccups:
If you’ve frequently got a case of the hiccups, try slowing down when you eat and drink, suggests Dr. Plasker. Doing either too quickly causes your stomach to swell; this irritates your diaphragm, which contracts and causes hiccups. You may also get hiccups in emotional situations or if your body experiences a sudden temperature change. In both of these cases, the hiccups are a result of a glitch in your nerve pathways, which is why a sudden scare—which might shake up and reset your nerves—can sometimes end an episode.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ahammel.
While everyone was talking about the swine flu, researchers at the University of North Carolina have found the reason why its far-scarier cousins, the avian flu strains, didn’t become a full-blown pandemic. Turns out, we have our cold noses to thank:
All and all, 248 humans have died from the H5N1 according to WHO data as of January 2009. H5N1, as a strain, infects more species than any previously known flu virus, is deadlier than previous strains, and continues to evolve becoming both more widespread and more deadly. But even still, fears of a pandemic have yet to be realized. Now, researchers might have found the reason: our noses are too cold for the Avian flu. [...]
The difference in temperature, internally, between a human and a bird isn’t all that different – people maintain an internal temperature of about 37 degrees celcius, whereas birds stay a little warmer, around 40 degrees celcius. Researchers from the University of North Carolina wanted to know how these temperature differences might affect avian influenza viruses. They took a avian virus strain, H4N6, and human flu H3N2, and tried to infect human airway epithelial cells – the cells that line our noses and lungs. Both, they found, could infect and replicate quite quickly human airway epthelial cells at 37 degrees celcius, though the avian ones were a little slower in general than the human ones. But when the temperature was dropped to that of our noses – a bit cooler 32 degrees celcius – the avian virus replication slowed to a snail’s pace, 3-5 log units below the human virus’ speed. They tried a different avian strain – H5N3 – and found the same results. So they tried the deadly virus itself, H5N1 isolated from a dead person, and even it fared poorly. It seems that something about avian flu viruses simply can’t function right in cooler temperatures.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by mattphunkadellic.
After putting long hours at work and navigating the treacherous waters of office politics, you’ve finally landed that promotion you’ve been after – but is it good for you?
Not according to this study by economic and psychology researchers at the University of Warwick in England. They found that job promotions can be downright dangerous to your health:
Economics and psychology researchers at the University of Warwick in England found that promotion produces 10% more mental strain and leaves up to 20% less time to visit the doctor in the event of illness.
The team tested the widely held assumption that an improvement in job status leads to better health due to an increased sense of self-worth.
Using data collected in Britain on about 1,000 individual promotions from 1991 to 2005, they found no evidence of improved physical health after promotion. But they did find that people thrust into more senior jobs suffered significantly greater mental strain.
So, would it be an act of compassion for your boss to deny you that promotion?
