Whatever your stance on providing heroin to addicts in a supervised clinic, you might be interested in knowing that a study performed at the Université de Montréal School of Criminology found no link between supervised heroin clinics and crime.
The researcher, Serge Brochu, looked at the Montreal part of the NAOMI project (North American Opiate Medication Initiative). The NAOMI project was established after research showed that drug addicts who don’t respond to traditional treatment would benefit from the injection of pharmaceutical heroin.
The Université de Montréal study found that the NAOMI project did not “foster increased criminal acts, dangerous debris, deviant behavior …read more

Maybe a couple apple juices a day will keep memory decline away?

Previous studies at the Center for Cellular Neurobiology have shown that drinking apple juice helped mice perform better in maze trials and assisted in keeping mice sharp as they aged.
A new study by the same center, published recently in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, reveals that mice receiving two glasses of apple juice per day for one month produced less beta-amyloid — a small protein fragment responsible for forming the senile plaques frequently found in brains of individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers believe these …read more

Hmm, sweet French pine trees… Is that really the answer to the yuck feel of traveling across time zones?
Indeed, pine bark extract was shown to reduce jetlag in passengers by almost 50%.
The study, conducted in Italy at the G. D’Annunzio University and published in the journal of Minerva Cardioangiologica, included 133 passengers taking flights between seven and nine hours long. It used brain CT scans and a scoring system that showed Pycnogenol (pic-noj-en-all) lowered symptoms like fatigue, headaches, insomnia and brain swelling.
Pycnogenol is a natural plant extract that comes exclusively from the bark of the maritime pine growing along the …read more

After you watch a TV show, how do you feel?
I sometimes get the sense I just wasted 30 minutes to an hour or more. However, while I’m watching “The Big Bang Theory” or “Two and a Half Men,” I don’t have to think about anything or solve any problems. Perhaps it’s brain rest. . . . And I do get a few laughs too.
Could I do something more useful with that time? Of course! Will I? Hmmm.
I think I watch TV in moderation enough to be safe. There aren’t many shows I actually like anyway.
But what happens when you have …read more

Sneezing may not be so bad after all!
New research from Cornell University provides evidence that allergies may help prevent certain types of cancer.
According to an article in the December issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology, allergy symptoms could work to prevent cancer by expelling foreign, potentially carcinogenic particles before they have a chance to come in contact with organs. The researchers also found that allergies may also help people know when there’s something in the air which should be avoided.
If allergies help prevent some cancers, is it good to suppress them with meds?
The Cornell researchers believe that more studies …read more

(www.livelywomen.com) — America just got a C- on the Soap and Detergent Association’s Clean Hands Report, which means that we’re not washing our hands enough or at the right times. But is this cause for concern, or just a sneaky attempt by the soap industry to scare us into using, and therefore buying, more soap and soap products?

(www.livelywomen.com) — Whoever came up with these is brilliant, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give him or her any high fives:
Use your genes to grow more muscle
Manipulating genes to block naturally occurring muscle-growth inhibitors could allow athletes to boost their muscle mass. A lot.
Pop a blood-boosting pill
Who wouldn’t love a pill that delivers the same record-breaking benefits of synthetic EPO without the hassle of injections or getting caught?
Clinical trials are under way for a pill that tricks the body into thinking blood-oxygen levels have dropped, causing it to produce more red blood cells, thus improving muscle endurance.
When blood-oxygen …read more

According to a HealthDay article from June of this year, the number of uninsured and underinsured American adults has increased 60% from 2003 to 2007, climbing from 16 million to more than 25 million people. The article reports the results of a study published in the June 10 issue of the journal Health Affairs, saying
Approximately 42 percent of adults aged 19 to 64 years old — 75 million people — were either underinsured or didn’t have health insurance in 2007. That represents an increase of 33 percent since 2003, when the last survey was done, Schoen said.
People who are underinsured …read more

You know that drinking water is healthy, and that drinking bottled water is an easy way to stay hydrated on the go. But what you may not know is that chemicals from plastic bottles may be leeching into your water, and could cause such major health problems as cancers and early-onset puberty.
Environmentalists and the very health conscious have long argued that plastic bottles, or at least the cheap plastic kind, are bad for the environment because of the waste they produce and the resources they require. And increasingly, many have voiced concerns about ingesting chemicals that seep into food and …read more

Reuters reported the results of a recent study published in the British Journal of Cancer suggesting that a certain mushroom long used in Eastern medicine may have anti-tumor effective in not only lung cancer, prostate cancer, and skin cancer, but also breast cancer. And now, they’re beginning to understand why.
Dr Daniel Sliva of the Methodist Research Institute in Indianapolis said the mushroom extract reduced uncontrolled growth of new cancer cells, suppressed their aggressive behaviour and blocked new tumour-feeding blood vessels.
“We’re not yet able to apply this knowledge to modern medicine, but we … hope our study will encourage more researchers …read more