Health is a unity and harmony within the mind, body and spirit which is unique to each person, and is as defined by that person. The level of wellness or health is, in part, determined by the ability to deal with and defend against stress. Health is determined by physiological, psychological, socio-cultural, spiritual, and developmental stage variables.
Older adults at high risk for drug interactions. More attention needed for non-prescription meds. – At least one in 25 older adults, about 2.2 million people in the United States, take multiple drugs in combinations that can produce a harmful drug-drug interaction, and half of these interactions involve a non-prescription medication, researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center report in the Dec. 24/31, 2008, issue of JAMA.
Blind man walking: With no visual awareness, man navigates obstacle course flawlessly – Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that people can successfully navigate an obstacle course even after brain damage has left them with no awareness of the ability to see and no activity in the visual cortex, a region of the brain’s cortex that is primarily responsible for processing visual inputs.
US researchers watched genetic diseases unfolding in the laboratory after finding a way to make large numbers of affected cells. – When neurons started dying in Clive Svendsen’s lab dishes, he couldn’t have been more pleased. The dying cells ? the same type lost in patients with the devastating neurological disease spinal muscular atrophy ? confirmed that the University of Wisconsin-Madison stem cell biologist had recreated the hallmarks of a genetic disorder in the lab, using stem cells derived from a patient.
Breathing life into injured lungs: World-first technique will expand lung donor organ pool – For the first time in the world, transplant surgeons at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network used a new technique to repair an injured donor lung that was unsuitable for transplant, and then successfully transplanted it into a patient.
Flour batch believed linked to Salmonella outbreak in New Zealand, reported by New Zealand Food Safety Authority. – Investigations into the outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium phage type 42 have found one detection of the bacteria in samples of flour taken from the home of one of the affected people.
The Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) in New Zealand ruled that endosulfan would be banned from use as an insecticide on crops and turf. – Endosulfan – a chemical used as an insecticide on crops and turf – use prohibited in New Zealand.
EPA should pursue cumulative risk assessment of phthalates and other chemicals – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should examine whether combined exposures to chemicals known as phthalates could cause adverse health effects in humans, says a new report from the National Research Council.
Cleveland Clinic Performs Country’s First Near-Total Face Transplant – Cleveland Clinic announces that a team of physicians has performed the first near-total face transplant in the United States. An Ohio woman has received America’s first near-total face transplant, it has been reported.
More people with eating disorders could benefit from new psychotherapy – talking therapies – which aim to release them from obsessive feelings. – Wellcome Trust researchers have developed a new form of psychotherapy that has been shown to have the potential to treat more than eight out of ten cases of eating disorders in adults, a study out today reports.
US Government survey shows 38 percent of adults and 12 percent of children use complementary and alternative medicine – Approximately 38 percent of adults in the United States aged 18 years and over and nearly 12 percent of U.S. children aged 17 years and under use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), according to a new nationwide government survey.
Sugar can be addictive, Princeton scientist says. Animal studies show sugar dependence. – Sugar can be an addictive substance, wielding its power over the brains of lab animals in a manner similar to many drugs of abuse, revealed by researchers at the Princeton University, USA.
New genes present drug targets for managing cholesterol and glucose levels – Scientists have identified 12 new genes that are somewhat strange bedfellows: Some link gallstones and blood cholesterol levels, others link melatonin and sleep patterns to small increases in glucose levels and larger jumps in the risk of diabetes.
