Friday, April 20, 2007

Children of War

http://neilyoung.com/

Click on "Living With War Doc"
which goes to the following page :
http://neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/index.html

Near the top of the left column, click on LWW Top 1,680 Songs - Listen Here

Ctrl+f and search for "kemp"
His "Top Ten Stories" is currently at 294
Click on "Top Ten Stories"

This takes you to the MySpace blog of singer/songwriter Kemp Jones :
http://www.myspace.com/kempjones

All of his songs are good. I would say that "Children of War" is great, and deserves to become a classic. Kemp wrote it after seeing a documentary where a child in a war zone said "We children don't need war, we need chocolate".

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Stress causes cancer development

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070411-14050700-bc-us-cancerstress.xml

U.S. medical scientists have discovered the stress hormone epinephrine makes prostate and breast cancer cells resistant to cell death.

Researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine said they are the first to report that emotional stress might contribute to the development of cancer and might also reduce the effectiveness of cancer treatments.


Maybe this is part of the reason African-American and Hispanic women in this country have a higher rate of breast cancer.

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High Levels Of Daily Stress May Result In Lower Risk Of Breast Cancer
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050909221823.htm

High levels of daily stress appear to result in a lower risk ofdeveloping breast cancer for the first time, says a study in this week's British Medical Journal.

But high stress may put women at risk of other serious illnesses warn the researchers, a team from Denmark....

One explanation for the findings may be that sustained levels of high stress may affect oestrogen levels - which, over time, may have an influence on developing breast cancer. But this theory has not been tested, and research in this area so far has mainly been restricted to animals, caution the authors.

Despite the findings, the authors warn that stress-induced changes in hormonal balances are not a healthy response, and continued stress may play a damaging part in other illnesses - particularly heart disease.


Well, here is another factor that appears to lower my risk for this particular problem!

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Animal Research Suggests That Stress May Increase Risk Of Uterine Cancer
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/07/040709081822.htm

Research in monkeys suggests the possibility that stress may increase risk for the most common type of uterine cancer, according to a report from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. The study results also suggest that two drinks a day won't increase breast or endometrial cancer risk for postmenopausal women who don't take estrogen.


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Red Meat Linked To Breast Cancer

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070407174018.htm

Eating red meat increases a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer, according to new research from the University of Leeds.

The findings are most striking for post-menopausal women – those with the highest intake of red meat, the equivalent to one portion a day (more than 57 grams) - run a 56 per cent greater risk of breast cancer than those who eat none.
Women who eat the most processed meat, such as bacon, sausages, ham or pies, run a 64 per cent greater risk of breast cancer than those who eat none.

Researchers at the University’s Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics have been tracking the eating habits and health of more than 35,000 women for the past seven years, and their latest findings are published in the British Journal of Cancer. Earlier findings, widely reported in January, showed that pre-menopausal women who have the greatest intake of fibre have cut their risk of breast cancer in half.


Good thing I'm a vegetarian. It may offset the increased risk I have of breast cancer because I've never been pregnant.

Male Births: Decline In The US And Japan

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070409115759.htm

A study published in this week's online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives reports that during the past thirty years, the number of male births has decreased each year in the U.S. and Japan. In a review of all births in both countries, the University of Pittsburgh-led study found significantly fewer boys being born relative to girls in the U.S. and Japan, and that an increasing proportion of fetuses that die are male. They note that the decline in births is equivalent to 135,000 fewer white males in the U.S. and 127,000 fewer males in Japan over the past three decades and suggest that environmental factors are one explanation for these trends.

... "Given the importance of reproduction for the health of any species, the trends we observed in the U.S. and Japan merit concern," added Dr. Davis. "In light of our findings, more detailed studies should be carried out that examine sex ratio in smaller groups with defined exposures as a potential indicator of environmental contamination."

Herbal Treatment Effective For Recurring Urinary Tract Infections

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070409082433.htm

A common herbal extract available in health food stores can greatly reduce urinary tract infections and could potentially enhance the ability of antibiotics to kill the bacteria that cause 90 percent of infections in the bladder.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center, in a series of experiments in mice, believe they have also discovered why many urinary tract infections in the bladder return even after treatment with antibiotics. They found that some bacteria hide in cells lining the bladder, where they cannot be reached by antibiotics. But they also found that forskolin, an extract from the Indian coleus plant, flushes out hiding colonies of bacteria, making them susceptible to antibiotic treatment.

... Abraham said that a new and effective approach for treating urinary tract infections is needed, because constant antibiotic use has many drawbacks, including high expense, possible liver and kidney damage and the potential for creating strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Getting Dirty May Lift Your Mood

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070402102001.htm

Bacteria found in the soil activated a group of neurons that produce the brain chemical serotonin.

Treatment of mice with a 'friendly' bacteria, normally found in the soil, altered their behavior in a way similar to that produced by antidepressant drugs, reports research published in the latest issue of Neuroscience.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Doctor Contrasts His Care With Patient's

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/03/ap/health/main2640883.shtml

An estimated 112,000 Americans with cancer have no health insurance, according to Physicians for a National Health Program.

And that's only cancer. Among the 45 million Americans who have no health insurance, there are countless people with chronic and developing health problems who are risking the same kind of fate that took Searcy's life.