Health Pedia

The vapor from electronic cigarettes contains two previously unidentified chemicals that can cause cancer, according to a new study. The new research, published in Environmental Science & Technology , also shows that levels of harmful chemicals vary between e-cigs. Researchers in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory used two different electronic cigarettes and simulated vaping at different battery power settings. Then they analyzed the e-cigs’ vapor. They found that the vaporizers released 31 harmful chemicals, including two possibly cancer-causing compounds that had never been previously found in e-cig vapor. The amount of chemicals produced varied, based on the temperature at which liquids are "vaporized" by the device’s "heating coil." The higher the temperature inside the coil, the higher the amount of chemicals emitted. E-cigs with one heating coil instead of two also released higher chemical levels, probably because two coils better dis...

You can lose weight without starving yourself or drastically restricting your food choices. You can eat reasonable portions and put in reasonable workouts at the gym, and you can shed fat while you do it. How? It all comes down to eating the right combination of foods–foods that will shift your body out of fat-storage mode and into fat-melting mode. Specific vitamins and nutrients can actually help to flip an internal switch that signals cells throughout your body to burn more calories, wasting many of those calories as heat. Without these important nutrients, the opposite happens. Your body holds onto fat. Your metabolism slows and your weight-loss efforts become an exercise in futility. Optimize these critical fat-melting nutrients so you can finally drop those stubborn pounds and keep them off for good. In this way, you can still consume reasonable portions and put in a reasonable amount of exercise. Yes, you still have to watch your portions. Yes, exercise is still ...

Though not receiving front page coverage in the New York Times, like the recent Times article on Adderall discussed on this blog site by Mr. Whitaker, maybe this topic should as well. One of the longest running independent newsletters on prescription drugs just called out Cymbalta (duloxetine). Led by Sidney M. Wolfe, M.D., “Worst Pills, best Pills News” is a trusted resource for physicians and the public who are concerned about unknown problems with medication. Call it the Consumer Reports of medication. Dr. Wolfe is the medical protégé of the renowned consumer advocate and past Presidential candidate, Ralph Nader. In the June, 2016 issue which I just received, Dr. Wolfe starts out with “Do NOT Use” this medication. Now, one of the particular aspects of Cymbalta, which may have been a marketing strategy, is that it was put into a category different than all of the serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Supposedly, it was also an advance form the one previous such medication, Effexor (venlafax...

What are the most addictive drugs? This question seems simple, but the answer depends on whom you ask. From the points of view different researchers, the potential for a drug to be addictive can be judged in terms of the harm it causes, the street value of the drug, the extent to which the drug activates the brain’s dopamine system, how pleasurable people report the drug to be, the degree to which the drug causes withdrawal symptoms, and how easily a person trying the drug will become hooked. HEALTH AND MEDICINE There are other facets to measuring the addictive potential of a drug, too, and there are even researchers who argue that no drug is always addictive. Given the varied view of researchers, then, one way of ranking addictive drugs is to ask expert panels. In 2007, David Nutt and his colleagues asked addiction experts to do exactly that – with some interesting findings. 5. Nicotine Nicotine is the main addictive ingredient of tobacco. When somebody smokes a cigarette, ...

A free smartphone app that will pay people to be physically active launches on Wednesday in Britain, with users given digital "sweatcoins" depending on how many steps they take that can be exchanged for rewards or traded like money It's the latest initiative in an emerging fitness economy that includes all manner of monitoring devices, apps that reward activity with vouchers and even experiments in offering cheap insurance to people who can demonstrate they exercise. Sweatcoin aims to differentiate itself by using complex software to measure movement and location to prevent cheating, and by using the technology behind virtual currency bitcoin to manage transactions. Retailers, health insurers and corporate wellness managers are taking notice, according to Oleg Fomenko, one of the serial, London-based Russian entrepreneurs who founded Sweatcoin. "This whole business is pegged to making movement valuable," he told Reuters. "Eventually, sweatcoin is going to h...

Infecting mosquitoes with a strain of bacteria known as Wolbachia significantly reduced their ability to transmit the Zika virus, Brazilian researchers said on Wednesday, raising hope for this biological method of blocking transmission of the deadly virus. The bacteria has been released in several countries including Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and Vietnam as part of strategies to control dengue, and the new finding shows the method also works with Zika, a close relative of dengue. Zika has been linked with the birth defect microcephaly that has been sweeping through South and Central America and the Caribbean and making its way north to the United States. In February the World Health Organization declared Zika a global health emergency. The connection between Zika and microcephaly came to light last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,100 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. The new study, by researchers at Brazi...

Eating seafood has a number of well-known health benefits. The vitamins and minerals in fish protect against heart disease and stroke and are good for brain development. Now, a new study shows that consuming fish at least once per week, even seafood that contains mercury, lowers the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in some people. Fish is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids that have been linked to good health. Several studies suggest fish consumption wards off dementia. Fish, however, also contains high levels of mercury, a neurotoxin, which researchers have feared could lead to dementia. Brain samples: Investigators at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago analyzed the brain samples of 286 deceased volunteers for mercury, finding those who ate a lot of fish had the highest levels of the metal in their bodies. The study, however, also found that fish consumption, at least once per week, seemed to protect some of the elderly participants from Alzheimer’s. They found higher ...

For middle aged people, too much time on the couch watching television instead of exercising could shrink their brains, according to a new study. Writing in the journal Neurology, researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine found that less fit middle-aged adults saw loss of brain volume after 20 years. “We found a direct correlation in our study between poor fitness and brain volume decades later, which indicates accelerated brain aging,” said study author Nicole Spartano of Boston University School of Medicine. For their study, researchers looked at over 1,500 people from the Framingham Heart Study, or FHS, a project of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Boston University. The subjects were age 40 on average and did not have dementia or heart disease. They were given a treadmill test. Two decades later, researchers looked at the same group, minus any who had developed heart disease or high blood pressure. This group consisted of just over 1,000 people. Eac...

A recent research study focusing on women and men who have lost their spouses has revealed that women get healthier after being recently widowed while their male counterparts are worsened after they lose their life-mates. The research lead by Dr. Caterina Trevisan from U.K.'s Padova University suggests that being married for men is beneficial as there is a woman taking care of his health and other household management. However, the same does not apply to women, the study says, as it brings more stress and makes life harder for the wives, the study says. "€In particular, men who had never married or who were widowed showed a higher risk of frailty than married men, while widowed women had a lower risk of becoming frail than married women," the research says. "Unlike the results seen for male gender, widowed women showed a significantly lower risk of frailty than married women, with a lower incidence of unintentional weight loss or low daily physical activity levels. M...

A recent research study has revealed that those who continue working after they retire live longer compared to those who stop working. The research, conducted between 1992 and 2010 by Oregon University in the United States, found out that among 65 years-old or older, working for a year decreases risk of death by 11 percent. Even those who had health problems had 9 percent less risk of death, compared to those who did not work. Among those who participated in the research, 12 percent of those without any health problems and 25 percent of those with health problems died. "Continuing to work provides people with better social and economic benefits and this makes people live longer," the research Director Chenkai Wu said. Wu added that while people pay attention to the economic benefits of working, they do not acknowledge the health benefits of working. The research focused on 3000 participants who were 65 years old or older. They were divided into 'healthy' and those wit...

Most people don't need to fast overnight before getting their blood drawn for a cholesterol test, according to a group of experts. Cholesterol test results obtained one to six hours after a meal were not significantly different from results obtained after a fast, researchers found. "It could be implemented tomorrow with no problems at all," said lead author Dr. Borge Nordestgaard, of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. "Today, the key players for keeping the fasting procedure are the laboratories drawing the blood. They simply could change the procedure tomorrow, and then nobody would fast anymore. That is what we did in Denmark – and patients, clinicians and laboratories were all happy with the change." Nordestgaard told Reuters Health in an email that doctors essentially just always had patients fast before a cholesterol test. "So people got used to it without questioning the fasting procedure," he said. Typically, blood is drawn for a cholester...

Green Crescent is preparing to host an important international congress that will examine all aspects of technology addiction, which has quickly become one of the most important global issues. The third International Technology Addiction Congress, which will take place on May 3-4, will host expert scientists and examine critical issues on technology and cyber addictions and announce the findings of various research projects. The congress will welcome about 1,200 experts from around the world including scientists, decision-makers, academics, guidance counselors, psychologists and social services employees. The congress will dissect technology addiction, which has been referred to as the most important disease of our time, especially for young people and children. Pathological Internet usage, video game addiction, cellphone addiction, cyberbullying and cybersecurity, social media, online gambling and shopping addiction, safe use of technology and health problems due to these addictions...

After enjoying the weekend resting and taking care of all personal affairs aside from work, people generally find it hard to return to the daily grind of work on Monday morning. Having a "case of the Mondays" may seem laughable but it can bring more problems than you might think. Known as "Monday Syndrome," the most common symptoms are fatigue, dizziness, abdominal distention, shortened attention span and loss of appetite. Erol Özmen of Manisa Celal Bayar University Psychiatry Department said that "Monday Syndrome" can cause depression and anxiety and even cardiovascular disease as it progresses. Özmen said that people with worrisome tendencies are more prone to "Monday Syndrome" and its negative effects. "If measurements are not taken beforehand, the condition may turn into a more serious problem," Özmen further noted. In order to relieve the symptoms of "Monday Syndrome," you may want to try to keep yourself calm as much a...