FDA: Medical Test Radiation Dangerous for Kids

The government is taking steps to help ensure that children who need CT scans and other X-ray-based tests don't get an adult-sized dose of radiation.

Too much radiation from medical testing is a growing concern, especially for children, because it may increase the risk of cancer later in life.

Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration proposed guidelines urging manufacturers to design new scanners to be safer for the youngest, smallest patients — and put new advice on its website to teach parents what to ask about these increasingly common tests.

"We are trying to ensure that patients get the right dose at the right time, and the right exam," FDA physicist Thalia Mills told The Associated Press.

Read more: FDA: Medical Test Radiation Dangerous for Kids
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Some Sunscreens Might Actually Promote Skin Cancer

Millions of people slather on sun screen when they head for the beach or spend extended time outdoors in the summer, in hopes of reducing the risk of skin cancer. But could they actually be increasing the risk?
Researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology believe it's possible.
Zinc oxide, a common ingredient in sunscreens, undergoes a chemical reaction that may release unstable molecules known as free radicals. Free radicals seek to bond with other molecules, but in the process, they can damage cells or the DNA contained within those cells. This in turn could increase the risk of skin cancer.
Dr. Yinfa Ma, Curators’ Teaching Professor of chemistry at Missouri S&T, and his graduate student Qingbo Yangalso found that the longer zinc oxide is exposed to sunlight, the greater the potential damage to human cells.

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Are Shoppers Getting Sick from Their Reusable Shopping Bags?

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It seems like shoppers can't keep up with the ever-changing warnings from studies and researchers. First, customers were told to immediately stop using plastic bags for environmental reasons and use reusable mesh bags. Some localities like Montgomery County, Maryland even charge customers for using plastic, paper, or any other old-school shopping receptacle.
The latest consumer warning, this one from an Oregon research group, suggests that reusable shopping bags can carry and pass along the dreadful and very painful stomach flu virus. It's not the first such warning. In April, a study found that only 15 percent of shoppers routinely wash their reusable shopping bags, thus creating a breeding zone for harmful bacteria.

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10 Powerful Life Lessons to Learn from the Placebo Effect

The relationship between our minds and our bodies is exceedingly complex, and often functions in ways that we simply haven’t yet found a way to understand or explain in purely scientific terms. For decades, studies on the placebo effect have shown that patients who believed they were getting a treatment responded in ways that were similar or the same to those who were actually getting a treatment, showcasing an unexpected level of power of the brain over the body.

While the placebo effect itself is a fascinating topic of study, there are a lot of very practical and perhaps even inspirational lessons that can be taken away from this phenomenon and applied to everyday life. Here are just a few that we think are especially powerful that offer insights into motivation, mindfulness, and even happiness that we can all stand to benefit from.

1. Belief is often more powerful than reality.

   When researchers study the placebo effect, they often find that those who aren’t given a particular treatment improve in many of the same ways as those that are, simply because they believe that they are being treated, not because they’re getting any real medical help. While believing things, even very strongly, doesn’t always cause them to be true, it can have a marked impact on how we see and experience the world, often much more so than things that are regarded as fact. Belief can, in many ways, be a much more powerful force than reality, coloring our perceptions, pushing us forward, and changing what we feel is possible to accomplish.
   
   
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‘Human Body Parts Store’: Lab Growing Synthetic Parts for Transplant

Synthetic windpipe that was transplanted into a patient last year. (Photo: UCL)

Last summer, the first synthetic organ– a windpipe — was grown in laboratory setting and transplanted into a patient. Now, the University College London’s (UCL) Department of Nanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine is taking on another “world first:” growth of a nose.
Warren Pole for the Daily Mail recently got a tour of the lab where he saw the nanotechnology-driven little shop of synthetic human body parts first hand. Led on the tour by Professor Alexander Seifalian, Pole describes seeing a transplant nose and ear growing in “red goo.”
Lab team member Adelola Oseni explains to Pole that while others have tried to tackle synthetic organs before, the material used doesn’t hold shape like those in the “human body parts store.“ Oseni said this nose should hold up because ”it’s an entire nose shape made out of polymer.”
Check out photos of the synthetic parts here.
Here’s more on the material and transplant technology:

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Dental filling of the future kills bacteria and regenerates tooth

The dreaded trip to the dentist to replace a worn-out filling could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a dental breakthrough.
Scientists have used nanotechnology to create the first cavity-filling composite that kills harmful bacteria and regenerates tooth structure lost to decay.

Rather than just limiting decay with conventional fillings, the new material controls harmful bacteria, which co-exist in the natural colony of microorganisms in the mouth.

The tooth hurts: Scientists expect their new type of dental filling to last far longer than the current standard

It also works to remineralise the tooth, said study leader Professor Huakun Xu from Maryland University School of Dentistry.
He said: 'Tooth decay means that the mineral content in the tooth has been dissolved by the organic acids secreted by bacteria residing in biofilms or plaques on the tooth surface.
'These organisms convert carbohydrates to acids that decrease the minerals in the tooth structure.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2139380/Dental-filling-future-kills-bacteria-regenerates-tooth.html#ixzz1u0nG82eT

How red wine prolongs life: Scientists uncover how 'miracle ingredient' boosts body’s cell energy

Scientists claim to have discovered the secret of how an ingredient in red wine could be the key to a longer life.
The ‘miracle ingredient’ resveratrol credited with anti-ageing powers, and the ability to work against cancer, heart disease and obesity, really does boost the body’s supply of cell energy, claim researchers.
But it is only ‘switched on’ in the presence of a gene called SIRT1 that is the key to longevity and energy.
Previous studies have shown the plant compound resveratrol improves the health of mice fed a high-fat diet and increases their lifespan.
But there has been controversy about whether it really does hold back the march of time, with conflicting results from some studies.
Now US scientists say they have solved the mystery and brought closer the prospect of a drug that would give the equivalent health benefits of 8,000 bottles of red wine.
They found the ingredient boosts the activity of mitochondria, the cell’s energy supplier, which is essential for longevity and overall health.
Lead researcher Professor David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School, Boston, said ‘The results were surprisingly clear.
‘Without the mitochondria-boosting gene SIRT1, resveratrol does not work.’ The latest study showed how resveratrol enhances the energy-generating activity of cells via a longevity gene called SIRT1.

But resveratrol only works when a gene called SIRT1 is present - but it's not known if all humans have it

Researchers are already looking at molecules that mimic the effect of resveratrol by targeting SIRT1. Such compounds could form the basis of future drugs that extend disease-free lifespan.
The effect of resveratrol on SIRT1 had been demonstrated in yeast, worms and flies before but never on higher animals.
The experiments involved a new strain of laboratory mouse whose SIRT1 gene can be successfully switched off.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2138174/How-red-wine-prolongs-life-Scientists-uncover-miracle-ingredient-boosts-body-s-cell-energy.html#ixzz1tqMJshnm

Pesticides May Cause Lower Intelligence

When pregnant women are exposed to moderate levels of a common pesticide, their children may experience lasting changes in brain structure linked to lower intelligence, a US study said Monday.

The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined New York City pregnant mothers who were tested for exposure to chlorpyrifos, or CPF, which is widely used for pest control in farms and public spaces. 

The women in the study, which included 369 subjects total, took part prior to 2001 when CPF was banned from household use in the United States, though the chemical continues to be used worldwide in agriculture.

Read more: Pesticides May Cause Lower Intelligence
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Gene test that could predict breast cancer years before it strikes

A genetic test could help predict breast cancer many years before it develops, scientists claim.
Their study shows the risk can double in women whose genes have been changed by exposure to environmental factors such as hormones, radiation, alcohol, smoking and pollution.

The findings could lead to a blood test that will identify those most at risk of breast cancer and other forms of the disease, the researchers say.

Breakthrough? The findings of a new study suggest that women whose genes have been altered by environmental factors carry double the risk of developing breast cancer

In the study, blood samples were taken from 1,380 women of various ages who had not developed breast cancer.

The researchers investigated whether the alteration of a single gene by a process called methylation can predict whether women are at more risk of breast cancer.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2137703/Gene-test-predict-breast-cancer-years-strikes.html#ixzz1tePvlN00

Garlic is 100 times more powerful than two popular antibiotics

A garlic ingredient is 100 times more powerful than two popular antibiotics at fighting one of the leading causes of food poisoning, say scientists.
The compound, diallyl sulphide, is able to pierce a protective 'biofilm' employed by the food bug that makes it hard to destroy.
Tests showed diallyl sulphide was as effective as 100 times bigger doses of the antibiotics erythromycin and ciprofloxacin.
It was also able to work in a fraction of the time taken by the drugs.
The discovery is said to open the door to new treatments for raw and processed meats, and food preparation surfaces.
'This is the first step in developing or thinking about new intervention strategies,' said researcher Dr Michael Konkel, from Washington State University in the US, who has been investigating Campylobacter for 25 years.
'Campylobacter is simply the most common bacterial cause of food-borne illness in the United States and probably the world.'
Symptoms of Campylobacter infection include diarrhoea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever.
The bacteria also trigger nearly a third of cases of a rare paralysing disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Most Campylobacter infections stem from eating raw or undercooked poultry or foods that have been cross-contaminated via dirty surfaces and utensils.
The research is published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Campylobacter infection symptoms include diarrhoea, cramping, abdominal pain and fever

The scientists looked at diallyl sulphide's ability to kill Campylobacter bacteria when they join together to form a slimy biofilm.
This makes the bugs 1,000 times more resistant to antibiotics than free-floating bacterial cells.
The compound easily penetrated the protective film to kill the microbes by targeting a metabolic enzyme.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2137934/How-garlic-prevent-dicky-tummy-Ingredient-100-times-powerful-fighting-food-poisoning-antibiotics.html#ixzz1tePCUOUL