http://ajkdblog.org/2015/02/05/uric-acid-and-progression-of-kidney-disease/
From the desk of Zedie.
Day: 02/07/2015
Forever young: Meditation might slow the age-related loss of gray matter in the brain — ScienceDaily
B vitamin deficiency will drive you insane – here’s the best food sources
A teenage boy is admitted to a mental hospital. He screams in fear, begging to be saved from the thousands of spiders climbing up the wall – spiders no one else can see.
A middle-aged woman is anemic.
An elderly man is depressed.
A young woman dreads her monthly cycle, knowing she will become moody or angry – mood swings so severe they may jeopardize her relationship or her job.
What do all of these people have in common? They are all suffering from a B vitamin deficiency.
The B vitamins are a group of water-soluble vitamins crucial to many of the metabolic processes in the body. All eight B vitamins, or several of them, are often found together in a particular food- a helpful occurrence since many of the B vitamins work together.
The B vitamins are: B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), B7 (biotin), B9 (folate or folic acid), and B12 (cyanocobalamin).
B vitamins help carbohydrates break down to glucose and they aid in the breakdown of fats and proteins. Without them, we would not have fuel for any tissues in the body. They are absolutely essential for neurotransmitters and nerve tissue. They help our bodies form red blood cells. B9 and B12 are required for normal fetal development during pregnancy.
B vitamin deficiencies run the gamut from decreased energy all the way through to acute psychosis or death. Every bodily function requires B vitamins or the glucose it provides.
The best source of any vitamins is food. B vitamins are found in the following foods.
Foods High In B1
Asparagus, Brussels sprouts, green peas, beet greens, spinach, sweet potatoes, navy beans, black beans, pinto beans, lima beans, kidney beans, lentils, peanuts, unpolished rice, barley, oats, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, watermelon, oranges, and liver.
Foods High In B2
Beet greens, spinach, asparagus, crimini mushrooms, collard greens, sweet potatoes, green peas, eggs, turkey, tempeh, sardines, and tuna.
Foods High In B3
Asparagus, crimini mushrooms, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green peas, tuna, chicken, turkey, salmon, lamb, beef, sardines, shrimp, peanuts, sunflower seeds, brown rice, and barley.
Foods High In B5
Avocado, crimini and shitake mushrooms, sweet potatoes, green peas.
Foods High In B6
Sweet potatoes, potatoes, spinach, cabbage, turnip greens, garlic, winter squash, bok choy, bell peppers, avocado, green peas, tuna, chicken, turkey, beef, salmon, lentils, lima beans, pinto beans, bananas, and sunflower seeds.
Foods High In B7
Sweet potatoes, onions tomatoes, carrots, oats, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, eggs, salmon, and bananas.
Foods High In B9
Asparagus, spinach, turnip greens, broccoli, Romaine lettuce, bok choy, cauliflower, green peas, avocados, leeks, fennel, summer squash, Brussels sprouts, lentils, pinto; garbanzo; black; navy; and kidney beans, papaya, and quinoa.
Foods High In B12
Sardines, salmon, tuna, cod, lamb, shrimp, scallops, beef, yogurt, and milk.
It can be difficult to meet the daily requirement of B12 if you are a vegetarian or vegan, or if you are elderly. It is also more difficult for anyone suffering from digestive diseases that inhibit absorption such as celiac disease.
Conclusion
If you do choose to supplement with B vitamins, it is important to take a full B complex. Taking one or more B vitamin over an extended period of time can cause deficiencies in other B vitamins.
Remember a healthy diet is one that consists of 80% raw, fresh, organic produce – more vegetables than fruits along with healthy omega 3 fats. To properly absorb and assimilate B vitamins, you must have balanced healthy fats in the body and a healthy gut that’s not overrun with Candida. Check out Balance Your Ecosystem.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/048502_b_vitamins_food_sources_mental_health.html#ixzz3WMDQ7STL
Golden Milk: The Healing Drink That Could Change Your Life .
Golden Milk – a warm and pleasant beverage, extremely beneficial for the spine. It helps in restoring “the spinal lubricants” and rinses the salt deposits. It’s useful for hematopoiesis (formation of blood cell division and differentiation of stem cells in the bone marrow), colon, nervous system and bone tissue.
This magic potion can also help you stay young, normalize your entire digestive system as well as having a beneficial effect on the liver. “Golden Milk” can also remove toxins, improve complexion and promote longevity.It’s very effective in arthritis and arthrosis because it increases the joint mobility. This drink is very popular among Russian doctors of alternative medicine.
“Golden Milk” Preparation
First thing’s first, prepare the turmeric paste this way:
- 40 grams of turmeric powder;
- 100-150 ml of water.
Pour the turmeric powder in the water, stir and bring it to a boil. Cook it for 8 minutes, until it thickens. Please note that you should be stirring constantly. If the mixture is too thick, add a little water. It should resemble a thick yogurt.
During this time, prepare the milk:
- 250 ml of milk;
- 2 tablespoons of crude (unrefined), almond oil (optional).
Boil the milk and add almond oil (optional).
Remove from heat and pour into a cup. Add 1 teaspoon of the prepared turmeric paste.
Sweeten with honey to your liking.
The turmeric paste can be prepared in larger quantities and used for a longer period, because in frozen state it can preserve its properties for 40 days. Keep the pasta in the fridge.
Add the finished pasta to the hot milk (tea) per 1 spoon, along with honey and vegetable oil (optional).
“Golden Milk” should be drunk on an empty stomach, preferably in the morning or before going to bed.
Drink it for 40 days. The course of treatment – two times a year, after 40 days.
Please note: People with gall bladder problems should not drink it, as turmeric has a diuretic effect.
What does turmeric treat?
This plant is highly appreciated by modern science as well as traditional medicine. The yellow alkaloid curcumin is the main active ingredient of the plant.
Its healing properties can be explained the hot taste of this plant can kill germs and parasites, destroy mucus deposits, grease, adhesive toxins, stimulate the blood circulation and the complete metabolism.
The bitter taste is the best suitable antidote for poisoning, fever, inflammation, diseases of the blood and skin. It also removes sticky deposits and toxins, sores, fat, sweat, pus, itching, cleans breast milk, uterus and liver.
Monsanto’s Roundup system threatens extinction of monarch butterflies .
Biotechnology conglomerate Monsanto’s glyphosate-based Roundup has become the most common herbicide in American agriculture today, used in tandem with the company’s genetically-engineered Roundup Ready crops.
Since its heavy proliferation began in the 1990s, glyphosate has been a leading killer of 99 percent of milkweed in the Midwest’s corn and soybean fields. Glyphosate-sensitive milkweed plants are the only spots where monarchs lay eggs, as the plant is the only food source for monarch larvae.
According to the Center for Food Safety’s new report, “Monarchs in Peril: Herbicide-Resistant Crops and the Decline of Monarch Butterflies in North America,” these conditions have contributed to a drastic 90-percent drop in population for monarchs in their main habitat, crop fields in the Midwest.
“This report is a wake-up call. This iconic species is on the verge of extinction because of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready crop system,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director for the Center for Food Safety.
“To let the monarch butterfly die out in order to allow Monsanto to sell its signature herbicide for a few more years is simply shameful.”
As Monsanto is on the precipice of receiving US government approval for its next generation of the Roundup Ready system, the report raises the question of how much longer will the monarch survive?
“Milkweed growing in Midwest cropland is essential to the monarch’s continued survival. Without milkweed, we’ll have no monarchs,” said Dr. Martha Crouch, a biologist for the Center for Food Safety and a co-author of the report.
“Very few of us fully understand the ecological impacts of our food system, but we need to pay attention. The decline of the monarch is a stark reminder that the way we farm matters.”
The Center for Food Safety said it was presenting the new report “to Congress today at an expert briefing on the decline of monarchs.”
In December, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said it may designate the monarch as a threatened species under the US Endangered Species Act. The agency review comes in response to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Food Safety, and the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation to list the subspecies of monarch (Danaus plexippus plexippus).
Disregarding their natural beauty, monarch butterflies play an important role in ecology. They carry pollen from plant to plant, helping fruits and flowers to produce new seeds. In their caterpillar stage, they are a food source for birds, mammals, and other insects.
While milkweed can grow away from main cropland, there is an increasingly low amount of habitat that can support monarchs. Herbicide spraying over corn and soybeans fields that dominate the Midwestern Corn Belt leave monarchs to search for milkweed in other areas like roadsides and pastures, according to the report. Monarchs also produce four times more eggs per plant on milkweed growing in a crop field as opposed to milkweed sprouting elsewhere, the Center for Food Safety claimed.
Monarchs are also threatened by global climate change, drought and heat waves, other pesticides, urban sprawl, and logging on their Mexican wintering grounds. Scientists have predicted that the monarch’s entire winter range in Mexico and large parts of its summer range in the states could become unsuitable due to these threats.
The report said that as monarch population sinks, they will likely become more susceptible to remarkable weather events.
The Center for Food Safety listed a host of policy recommendations in the report, including that the US Department of Agriculture should “reject applications to approve new herbicide-resistant crops, and [US Environmental Protection Agency] should deny registrations of herbicides for use on them, unless or until appropriate restrictions are enacted to ameliorate their harms to milkweeds, monarchs and pollinators.”
“Glyphosate is the monarch’s enemy number one. To save this remarkable species, we must quickly boost milkweed populations and curtail the use of herbicide-resistant crop systems,” said Bill Freese, a co-author of the report.
As RT reported last month, the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service approved Monsanto’s new GMO cotton and soybean plants. The company now awaits approval from the Environmental Protection Agency for it latest herbicide – a mix of the formidable chemical dicamba and glyphosate, which the company has developed for use on the newly-approved GMO crops.
The new GMO crops – coupled with the dicamba/glyphosate cocktail – make up what Monsanto has dubbed the ‘Roundup Ready Xtend crop system,’ designed to trump super weeds that have evolved along with its Roundup biocide.
For its part, Monsanto says it is seeking alternatives for the monarch.
“At Monsanto, we’re committed to doing our part to protect these amazing butterflies. That’s why we are collaborating with experts from universities, nonprofits, and government agencies to help the monarch by restoring their habitat in Crop Reserve Program land, on-farm buffer strips, roadsides, utility rights-of way and government-owned land.”
New process allows for stronger, lighter, flexible steel
A trio of researchers with South Korea’s Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology has found a way to create a new low-density steel that is stronger, lighter and more flexible than the conventional steel that is used in so many manufacturing applications. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the team describes the process they used and their hopes that it might replace conventional steel in some applications sometime in the near future.
One of the biggest applications for steel is, of course in making cars, though its dominance has been slipping in recent years as engineers seek to find lighter substitutes. At issue is weight, steel is heavy because it is made mostly out of iron. Adding other lighter metals tends to make it less flexible or weaker. In this new effort, the researchers report that they have found a mix that allows for creating a low-density steel that is stronger and more flexible than much more expensive titanium alloys.
The secret, the team explains, lies in causing new structure shapes to be formed during the heating process and by using the right mix of ingredients. They used the traditional mix of iron, carbon, aluminum and manganese and then added some nickel. The nickel, they found reacted with the aluminum, creating nanometer sized B2 crystals that formed within and between the steel grains during the annealing process. To make sure the crystals were spread evenly among the metal, the team studied samples under an electron microscope. Chemists know that B2 crystals are resistant to shearing, thus steel with such crystals should be extremely strong, and that is what the researchers found when they tested their new alloy.
Annealed microstructure of high-specific-strength steel (HSSS). Fine FeAl-type B2 precipitates form during annealing in between the B2 stringer bands in steel matrix. The specimen was annealed for 15 min at 900 C. Credit: Hansoo Kim
The researchers have already teamed with POSCO, one of the biggest steel makers in the world to see if the new kind of steel they have come up with might be usable in cars or even airplanes. The first step will be to see if the process is scalable, and if so, if it can be used to produce the new low-density steel at a cost that is competitive with conventional steel—the researchers are optimistic because all of the ingredients are low cost metals.
Annealed microstructure of high-specific-strength steel (HSSS). Fine FeAl-type B2 precipitates form during annealing in between the B2 stringer bands in steel matrix. Note that grain boundaries of recrystallized austenite crystals are visible in the image. The specimen was annealed for 15 min at 900 C.
Annealed microstructure of high-specific-strength steel (HSSS). Fine FeAl-type B2 precipitates form during annealing in between the B2 stringer bands in steel matrix. Note that grain boundaries of recrystallized austenite crystals are visible in the image. The specimen was annealed for 15 min at 900 C. Credit: Hansoo Kim
Abstract
Although steel has been the workhorse of the automotive industry since the 1920s, the share by weight of steel and iron in an average light vehicle is now gradually decreasing, from 68.1 per cent in 1995 to 60.1 per cent in 2011 (refs 1, 2). This has been driven by the low strength-to-weight ratio (specific strength) of iron and steel, and the desire to improve such mechanical properties with other materials. Recently, high-aluminium low-density steels have been actively studied as a means of increasing the specific strength of an alloy by reducing its density3, 4, 5. But with increasing aluminium content a problem is encountered: brittle intermetallic compounds can form in the resulting alloys, leading to poor ductility. Here we show that an FeAl-type brittle but hard intermetallic compound (B2) can be effectively used as a strengthening second phase in high-aluminium low-density steel, while alleviating its harmful effect on ductility by controlling its morphology and dispersion. The specific tensile strength and ductility of the developed steel improve on those of the lightest and strongest metallic materials known, titanium alloys. We found that alloying of nickel catalyses the precipitation of nanometre-sized B2 particles in the face-centred cubic matrix of high-aluminium low-density steel during heat treatment of cold-rolled sheet steel. Our results demonstrate how intermetallic compounds can be harnessed in the alloy design of lightweight steels for structural applications and others.
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