Pharmacology
A large study may upend our understanding of vitamin E, a vital antioxidant, and ties the increasing consumption of supposedly healthy vitamin E-rich oils such as canola, soybean and corn to the rising incidence of lung inflammation and, possibly, asthma.
The different health effects of vitamin E depend on its form. The form of Vitamin E called gamma-tocopherol in the ubiquitous soybean, corn and canola oils is associated with decreased lung function in humans, the study reports. The other form of Vitamin E, alpha-tocopherol, which is found in olive and sunflower oils, does the…
Is life great or what?
We have all kinds of wonderful choices available to us. Yankees or Mets (better still, neither), Frosted Flakes or Cap'n Crunch, Homeland or The Walking Dead. Awesome.
And now we get to choose between an old artificial sweetener that was perfectly safe and a new one that is perfectly safer.
For more than 30 years, aspartame (aka NutraSweet), has been the target of conspiracy crazies and those who profit from the crazies. Speaking of whom, supplement mogul Crazy Joe Mercola calls aspartame "By far the most dangerous substance added to most foods today."…
People attempting to quit smoking without professional help are approximately 60% more likely to report succeeding if they use e-cigarettes than if they use willpower alone or over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapies such as patches or gum, according to a large survey of smokers in England.
The results were adjusted for a wide range of factors that might influence success at quitting, including age, nicotine dependence, previous quit attempts, and whether quitting was gradual or abrupt.
The paper in Addiction used survey results of 5,863 smokers between 2009 and 2014 who had attempted…
New research does not support claims that fluoridating water adversely affects children's mental development and adult IQ.
The researchers were testing the claim that exposure to levels of fluoride used in community water fluoridation is toxic to the developing brain and can cause IQ deficits. The data used in the American Journal of Public Health article used data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Study, which has followed nearly all aspects of the health and development of around 1,000 people born in Dunedin in 1972-1973 up to age 38.
Lead author Dr Jonathan…
The venom from marine cone snails, used to immobilize prey, contains numerous peptides called conotoxins, some of which can act as painkillers in mammals.
A recent study provides new insight into the mechanisms by which one conotoxin, Vc1.1, inhibits pain. The findings help explain the analgesic powers of this naturally occurring toxin and could eventually lead to the development of synthetic forms of Vc1.1 to treat certain types of neuropathic pain in humans.
Neuropathic pain, a form of chronic pain that occurs in conjunction with injury to—or dysfunction of—the nervous system, can be…
A study of Italians who consume a diet rich in resveratrol — the compound found in red wine, dark chocolate and berries — finds they live no longer than and are just as likely to develop cardiovascular disease or cancer as those who eat a regular diet.
That doesn't mean you should stop being delighted every time a new study affirms the health benefits of something you want to do anyway, like drink red wine or drink coffee or eat chocolate. Some studies have found that consumption of red wine, dark chocolate and berries does reduce inflammation in some people and still appears to protect…
Gamergates look like ordinary workers but inside things are changing: their brains shrink by 25 percent, their ovaries expand to fill their abdomens and their life expectancy jumps from months to years.
Why? Researchers wanted to find out.
So they took some workers from a colony and separated them from their gamergates. These workers effectively formed their own colony and began fighting to establish dominance.
When some of the workers in the new colony (Colony B) began to get the upper hand, they were removed. They found that these dominant ants had begun to produce elevated levels of…
Calcium supplements are widely taken by women for bone health and some studies have suggested that calcium supplements bring with them an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
A new study
examined supplemental calcium use and incident cardiovascular disease in a prospective cohort study of 74,245 women in the Nurses' Health Study. The women did not have cardiovascular disease or cancer at the start of the study. They were followed for 24 years to document risk of developing heart attack and stroke.
Calcium supplement intake was assessed every four years and the results, according to…
After 20 years of grueling research, unimaginably effective drugs to treat hepatitis C are hitting the market. They are so good that cure rates (aka sustained virological response, or SVR)—defined as the absence of detectable hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA six months following cessation of treatment—are approaching 100 percent. Even ten years ago this would have been regarded as science fiction.
These drugs are quite expensive. But, are they worth it?
The fallout from the pricing of these drugs was inevitable, and closely mirrors what happened with HIV/AIDS about 15 years…
Emotions like fear, anger, sadness, and joy are how we know people to adjust to their environment and react flexibly to stress and strain.
They are the vital signs of cognitive processes, physiological reactions, and social behavior. How emotions are processed is linked to structures in the brain, i.e. to what is known as the limbic system. Within this system, researchers believe the amygdala plays a central role – above all it processes negative emotions like anxiety and fear.
If the activity of the amygdala becomes unbalanced, depression and anxiety disorders may develop.
Researchers at…