8 Healthy Foods

Final exams are here again and you’ve probably locked yourself in your room or a study cubby surrounded by books, notes, and junk food. There’s something very comforting (and convenient of course) about shoveling chips and candy into your mouth as you try to memorize historic dates, analyze poetry, and go over lectures you don’t remember ever attending. But putting a little bit of thought into what you eat can actually help your brain hold onto that information and keep you sane until your finals are over. Start with these eight foods and see if you don’t start feeling more alert, focused, and able to retain information.

1. Carrot sticks

   High blood sugar is known to impair memory, meaning all those sweets you want to eat while you study could actually be holding you back. Even some salty foods, like pretzels, are high on the glycemic index, meaning they make your blood sugar rise quickly. Instead, reach for snacks with a low glycemic index like carrot sticks. You’ll be able to memorize things more easily and you’ll make your mother happy by eating your vegetables!

2. Acai berries

    

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Hi-tech lithium batteries hidden in remote controls can burn holes in children's throats - and cases have quadrupled in a decade

• Injuries caused by lithium-ion batteries have quadrupled in a decade
• 66% of parents have never heard of dangers
• Most common injuries come from swallowing batteries from remote controls
• Symptoms start off similar to common cold
• Can cause severe injuries or even death

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2144166/The-deadly-poison-hidden-EVERY-home-burn-holes-childrens-throats.html#ixzz1utmRGDH4

Eating fish may reduce risk of Alzheimer's by lowering levels of protein linked to the disease

Eating fish and other foods containing omega-3 fatty acids may lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease, new research suggests.
The oily compounds, which combat inflammation, appear to lower blood levels of a protein linked to Alzheimer's, scientists have found.
Researchers in the US studied 1,219 people over the age of 65 who were free of dementia.

Another reason to eat fish: Scientists have found that omega 3 contained in fish, such as sardines, lower a protein that is linked to Alzheimer's disease

Participants were asked questions about their diet, and had their blood tested for beta-amyloid.
The protein clumps together in the brains of people with Alzheimer's and is one of the key hallmarks of the disease.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2138633/Eating-fish-lower-risk-Alzheimers-disease-lowering-levels-protein-linked-disease.html#ixzz1ulKMuTUp

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
Important: At Risk For A Heart Attack? Find Out Now.

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