MoodINQ programmable tattoo system is a futuristic tattoo technology that has been developed using a skin-safe E ink encapsulated pigment system that lasts a lifetime but can be configured to display any design or no design at all. MoodINQ provides the luxury of getting any tattoo and then magically changing it to another or taking it off depending on one’s will and mood. This technology doesn’t demands ones commitment of permanent ink. It requires an E ink grid, called a canvas to be surgically implanted anywhere on one’s exterior body which acts as a digital picture frame changing from one tattoo image to the next. Once the canvas is implanted, MoodInq Wand is used (after a short healing period of 2-3 days) to display the tattoo by simply moving the wand over the canvas to configure the E Ink capsules in the canvas so as to display the chosen tattoo from the database of over 100,000 tattoo designs or one’s own uploaded designs. The design lasts forever unless changed by using MoodInq Wand or struck by a large electric shock or massive electric current flow (which is quiet rare).
Day: 04/25/2015
Controversial Editorial Claims SSRIs Are Just Industry Hype
One in 10 Americans are on SSRIs, but one expert claims the drug is no better than a sugar pill at treating depression.
Prozac. Zoloft. Paxil. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, are some of the most pervasive drugs in modern medicine, with roughly 10 percent of Americans taking them for depression. (Among middle-aged women, that figure is closer to 25 percent.) But according to a new editorial in The British Medical Journal, there is scant scientific evidence that SSRIs—or for that matter, serotonin—play a major role in depression.
“In the 1990s, no academic could sell a message about lowered serotonin. There was no correlation between serotonin reuptake inhibiting potency and antidepressant efficacy. No one knew if SSRIs raised or lowered serotonin levels; they still don’t know,” writes David Healy, a psychiatrist and professor at the University of Bangor in the U.K. and author of the editorial. “There was no evidence that treatment corrected anything.”
Healy goes on to describe a veritable scramble within the ranks of major drug companies to find some use—any use—for serotonin medications. SSRIs easily beat out the competition, tricyclic antidepressants, and gave rise to prominent brand names like Prozac, which have become cultural icons. Meanwhile, Healy writes, the evidence lagged behind the marketing strategy.
“Does a plausible (but mythical) account of biology and treatment let everyone put aside clinical trial data that show no evidence of lives saved or restored function? Do clinical trial data marketed as evidence of effectiveness make it easier to adopt a mythical account of biology?”
This isn’t Healy’s first time writing in opposition to SSRIs. Back in 2005, he published a controversial study that suggested SSRIs doubled a depressed person’s lifetime risk of suicide. Although more recent studies have called some of Healy’s conclusions into question, exactly how much evidence we have that SSRIs help with depression remains unanswered. In any case, many scientists are now pushing for a combined therapeutic approach to depression—one that involves personalized psychotherapy, along with traditional medications.
But experts are quick to point out that we need more research, both in psychotherapy and SSRIs.
“Some patients respond better to psychotherapy than medication—and vice versa—or prefer one type of treatment over another,” writes Richard A. Friedman, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Cornell University, in a recent article in The New York Times. “We need to learn much more about how various types of psychotherapy compare with medications clinically as well as at the level of the brain.”
Green Wheat – Perfect Source of Energy, Vitamins and Minerals!
If you are looking for something that contains all the necessary vitamins that your body need and all that in a healthy natural product my advise is to try green wheat. Every morning one tea spoon with a small glass of water, juice or tea in a period of three weeks.
Young green wheat is a great natural source of:
– Chlorophyll- the natural pigment of the wheat, that in his chemical structure is similar to hemoglobin which is known for his antioxidants and antibacterial properties.
– Iron: 5 times more than in spinach
– Beta/carotene: 7 times more than in the carrot
– Vitamin C: 7 times more that in the orange
– Vitamin K: 6 times more that in spinach
– Vitamin E: 3 times more that in the almonds
– Phosphoric acid: 2 times more that in spinach
– Calcium: 10 times more that in unprocessed milk
– Magnesium: 2 times more that in fresh soy
– Amino acids: natural source of 18 of 22 amino acids in which 8 are essential, but they are not produced in the human body.
The young green wheat is reach with nutrients and beneficial acts as:
– Natural antioxidant protection
– Natural stimulation
– Help to maintain healthy intestinal flora
– Help with digestion problems
– Assistance in cleaning toxins from the liver, bloodstream and lymphatic system
Tapeworm Drug Effective at Treating MRSA
With the ever persistent threat of bacterial drug-resistance looming like a carrion bird waiting for a meal, scientists are continually on the hunt for new therapeutics to thwart infections like those caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Fortuitously, scientists from Brown University have come across two drug compounds that are already in use to treat human tapeworm infections, which they report in a new study show great promise in stopping MRSA infections.
The findings from this study were published recently in PLOS ONE under an article entitled “Repurposing Salicylanilide Anthelmintic Drugs to Combat Drug Resistant Staphylococcus aureus.”
The Brown researchers screened over 600 drugs for effectiveness against MRSA, using an in vivo assay that cultures live nematode worms infected with the drug-resistant bacteria. The investigators found two compounds niclosamide, which is on World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines, and oxyclozanide, a closely related veterinary drug, were effective at suppressing MRSA cultures. Moreover, both drugs were observed to be as effective as the current last-line clinical treatment, vancomycin.
“Since niclosamide is FDA approved and all of the salicylanilide anthelmintic drugs are already out of patent, they are attractive candidates for drug repurposing and warrant further clinical investigation for treating staphylococcal infections,” explained Rajmohan Rajamuthiah, Ph.D. a postdoctoral scholar in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and first author on the current study.
Dr. Rajamuthiah and his colleagues found that oxyclozanide was more effective at killing MRSA, while niclosamide was more bacteriostatic—effectively suppressing, but not completely eradicating the bacteria. However, the researchers speculate that niclosamide may still provide enough of a kick to keep MRSA at bay while the immune system gets up to speed handling the infection.
While results from the current study are very encouraging and have Dr. Rajamuthiah and his colleagues feeling optimistic, the researchers did point out a caveat that the feel warrants further analysis. Drugs such as oxyclozanide and niclosamide are rapidly cleared by the body and are less effective at diffusing out of the bloodstream and into peripheral tissues, where some MRSA infections could reside.
“The low level of systemic circulation coupled with the rapid elimination profile of niclosamide suggests the necessity for further testing of the potential of niclosamide and oxyclozanide for treating systemic infections,” wrote the scientists. “Further studies should include the evaluation of these compounds in systemic and localized infection models in rodents.”
However, the flipside of the rapid clearance scenario is that drugs may impart very limited toxicity to patients. In order to determine the actual effects of these drugs in mammals, the researchers have planned a series of experiments in rodents to determine the two compounds efficacy and overall toxicity, when used to treat MRSA infections.
“The relatively mild toxicity of oxyclozanide is encouraging based on in vitro tests,” stated Dr. Rajamuthiah. “Since it has never been tested in humans and since it belongs to the same structural family as niclosamide, our findings give strong impetus to using oxyclozanide for further investigations.”
Was this the big earthquake that was predicted in the Himalayas?
“Blind thrust” quakes are ones that do not break the surface, and tend to be more frequent.
The main fault in Nepal marks where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates crash into each other — also known as the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT) fault. Recent studies have shown that this fault has a rich history of evident and not-so-evident quakes, and was ripe for another major one.
In an interview to The Hindu in May 2013, Vinod Kumar Gaur, seismologist with the Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation, had said: “Calculations show that there is sufficient accumulated energy [in the MFT], now to produce an 8 magnitude earthquake. I cannot say when. It may not happen tomorrow, but it could possibly happen sometime this century, or wait longer to produce a much larger one.”
In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience in December 2012, a research team led by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) discovered that massive earthquakes in the range of 8 to 8.5 magnitudes on the Richter scale had left clear ground scars in the central Himalayas
High resolution imagery and dating techniques showed that in 1255 and 1934, two great earthquakes ruptured the surface of the Earth in the Himalayas. The 1934 earthquake broke the surface over a length of more than 150 km.
Other than these “surface rupture” quakes, scientists have also found evidence of multiple “blind thrust” quakes that did not break the surface. These records indicate that the region has a rich history of quakes in the past centuries.
The leading scientist of the NTU study had then said that the existence of such devastating quakes in the past meant that quakes of the same magnitude could happen again in the region in future, especially in areas which have yet to have their surface broken by a temblor.
Surface rupture quakes are not only extremely violent, but also they tend to release most or all of the accumulated strain in the fault. “Blind thrust” quakes are ones that do not break the surface, and tend to be more frequent.
How Dogs Use Human Hormones to Win Affection .
A woman dressed in a kimono holds her pet dog before her coming-of-age-day ceremony in Chiba prefecture in January.
The mutual gaze shared by a dog and its owner triggers the same hormones as loving looks between a mother and child, a Japanese study published Friday in Science magazine shows.
The research said oxytocin levels in both dogs and owners rise when they interact, suggesting they share a bond similar to that of a parent and child. Oxytocin is known to play a role in maternal bonding, and increases when a mother and a child gaze at each other.
A team led by Jichi Medical University’s Miho Nagasawa tested 30 dogs and their owners. The team found that urinary oxytocin concentration levels increased in the dogs and owners who shared mutual gazes and played with each other compared with those who didn’t. The hormone didn’t increase in the same test conducted with wolves and humans.
The team said a sense of bonding operates with a “neural feedback loop.” The level of the hormone increased in a dog when its owner gazed at it and, in turn, the gaze from the dog had the same effect on the owner.
“Nasally administered oxytocin increased gazing behavior in dogs, which in turn increased urinary oxytocin concentrations in owners,” the study also said.
When non-domesticated animals–wolves–were used in the same test, there was no similar rise in the hormone levels.
“This interaction effect is believed to have evolved in both humans and canines during the domestication of dogs,” Dr. Nagasawa told Japan Real Time on Friday.
Dr. Nagasawa said the bonding method is likely a unique feature of the relationship between canines and their owners and not seen in cats or other pets, though no other animals were tested in the experiment.
The new findings on the strong bond between dogs and humans could be applied to a variety of fields, including a better understanding of the role of therapy dogs, she added.
Long-term exposure to air pollution damages brain .
Long-term exposure to air pollution can cause damage to brain structure and impair cognitive function in middle-aged and older adults, scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have found.
Scientists from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine in the US studied more than 900 participants of the Framingham Heart Study.
They found that long-term exposure to air pollution could lead to smaller brain structure and covert brain infarcts, a type of “silent” ischemic stroke resulting from a blockage in the blood vessels supplying the brain.
How Heavy Metal Toxicity Can Ruin Your Health .
To a greater or lesser degree, most of us are contaminated with heavy metals today – some seriously, some without ever knowing it. It is a subject that just doesn’t cross our everyday minds and physicians are often not alert to the possibility of metal exposure such as lead, mercury, and cadmium. In fact, the chronic accumulation of toxic contaminants that may not achieve classic ‘acute toxicity’ thresholds levels receives little attention at all, although it may nevertheless contribute to important adverse health effects. (1)
On the other hand, acute toxicity – which is most often the consequence of occupational exposure – does tend to be recognized, properly diagnosed, and then treated. Acute toxicities arise from sudden exposures to substantial quantities of some metals, and typically these toxins affect multiple organ systems; commonly the GI tract, cardiovascular system, the brain and nervous system, the endocrine system, kidneys, hair, and nails.
Unfortunately, chronic heavy metal toxicity that builds up over longer periods of time often presents with symptomology similar to many other chronic health conditions, therefore may not be immediately recognized or accurately diagnosed by health physicians.
Chronic toxicities are manifested as conditions that develop over extended periods from chronic exposure to relatively low concentrations, for example through conventional cosmetics. Increased cancer risk is a common feature of chronic exposure to certain metals. The exact mechanism of their carcinogenicity is not completely understood, although many cause DNA damage, alter gene function, interfere with innate DNA repair systems, disrupt gene expression, and deregulate cellular functions.(2)
Within the body, heavy metals act as free radicals, causing cellular damage. This results in rapid aging and depletes the body’s natural capacities to heal itself, aggravating disease. Heavy metals slowly accumulate in the kidneys, liver, pancreas, bones, central nervous system and brain where they degrade health without being noticed or diagnosed.
Not all metals are toxic and in fact in trace amounts, some are essential to human biochemical processes. For example, zinc is an important co-factor for several enzymatic reactions in the human body, vitamin B-12 has a cobalt atom at its core, and hemoglobin contains iron. Likewise, copper, manganese, selenium, chromium, and molybdenum are all trace elements, which are important in the human diet. Although these metals are essential to body functions, accumulation past trace amounts may have detrimental effects, should the usual mechanisms of detoxification and elimination be impaired.
Heavy metal poisoning thus means the accumulation of metals in the body past trace amounts. Common examples of metals that are toxic in any amounts are mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic.
The potential for serious health consequences from heavy metal contamination has been documented.(3) Heavy metal intoxications may damage central nervous function, the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal (GI) systems, lungs, kidneys, liver, endocrine glands, and bones (Jang 2011; Adal 2013). Chronic heavy metal exposure has been implicated in several degenerative diseases of these same systems and may increase the risk of some cancers (Galanis 2009; Wu 2012).
Other symptoms of toxic heavy metal poisoning range from skin ailments, intellectual disabilities in children, dementia in adults, central nervous system (CNS) disorders, nerve damage, organ degeneration, kidney (renal) diseases, liver (hepatic) diseases, insomnia, personality changes, emotional instability, depression, panic attacks, memory loss, headaches, vision disturbances, peripheral neuropathy and carpal tunnel syndrome, blood acidity, lack of coordination (ataxia), hardening arteries, encephalopathy or cardiovascular diseases (CVD).(4)
With several toxic metals lacking robust pathways for elimination, or otherwise remaining in the body for a long time, body burdens of some toxic metals are a major detriment to health. (5) There are many ways to detox from heavy metals, chelation therapy being the most common treatment in terms of acute poisoning, but comes with a smorgasbord of detrimental health and side effects.
It is possible to reduce metal toxicity risk through lifestyle choices that diminish the probability of harmful heavy metal uptake, such as dietary measures that promote daily detoxification. Ensuring that the body’s natural metabolic processes are strong will further assist in naturally excreting heavy metals.
Detoxing from heavy metals has strong anti-aging and health enhancing benefits and daily detoxification is a safe way of supporting your body in naturally eliminating contaminants. Addingantioxidants and zeolite to your daily routine will attract and remove heavy metals from the body, assisting in the maintenance of healthy metabolism.
Stay tuned for the next instalment from Marie which will look in detail at common sources of heavy metal exposure, plus ways to support your body’s elimination processes and reduce the effects of heavy metals exposure. In the meantime, check out these previous article by Marie Be…
Resources:
[1] http://www.lef.org/Protocols/Health-Concerns/Heavy-Metal-Detoxification/Page-02
[2] Jang, D. H., and Hoffman, R. S. Heavy metal chelation in neurotoxic exposures. Neurol Cin. 2011;29(3):607–22
[3] Galanis, A., Karapetsas, A., and Sandaltzopoulos, R. Metal-induced carcinogenesis, oxidative stress and hypoxia signalling. Mutat Res. 2009;674(1-2):31–5
[4] ATSDR. Detailed Data Table for the Priority List of Hazardous Substances 2011: 1–20. Available online at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/spl/resources/ATSDR_2011_SPL_Detailed_Data_Table.pd
MIT team’s wireless Vital-Radio could follow breathing, heart rate at home
Homes with the accompanying tag of “smart” are often described as deploying devices that can tell the temperature and air quality as signals of the home’s health status. What about residents’ health status? A team from MIT believe that, as health-monitoring technologies advance, future smart homes will not only monitor the environment but also people’s vital signals such as breathing and heartbeats.
They are taking a bold move in that direction by introducing their Vital-Radio, which is a wireless sensing technology that monitors breathing and heart rate without having to use any body instrumentation. No nasal probes. No special mattresses. No chest bands. Vital-Radio does not require the user to face the device or to be aware of its presence. In fact, they said, Vital-Radio can monitor the vital signs of multiple people simultaneously.
Details of their work are in their paper, “Smart Homes that Monitor Breathing and Heart Rate,” by Fadel Adib, Hongzi Mao, Zachary Kabelac, Dina Katabi and Robert Miller.
The users can be sleeping, or awake. As such, they faced a challenge in working on this technology of any motion in the environment affecting the wireless signal and interfering with the tracking focus. “Past work addresses this challenge by requiring that only one person be present in front of the device and that the person remains still. In contrast, Vital-Radio recognizes that one can address this problem by building on recent technologies that localize users using wireless signals. Specifically, Vital-Radio first localizes each user in the environment, then zooms in on the signal reflected from each user and analyzes variations in his reflection to extract his breathing and heart rate. By isolating a user’s reflection, Vital-Radio also eliminates other sources of interference including noise or extraneous motion in the environment, which may otherwise mask the minute variations due to the user’s vital signs,” they said.
While Vital-Radio can do the job for any healthy person (“Do my breathing and heart rates reflect a healthy lifestyle?”), the device could also support parents concerned about their children (“Does my child breathe normally during sleep?”) or for those caring for the elderly, checking on irregular heartbeats. Healthcare professionals caring for the same could find the information helpful.
“Breathing and heart rate would be interesting in hospitals if you want to monitor people without having things on their body,” said team member Fadel Adib, in New Scientist.
For hardware, they reproduced a FMCW radio designed by past work on wireless localization. FMCW stands for Frequency Modulated Carrier Waves, a radar technique. They said that the device generates a signal that sweeps from 5.46 GHz to 7.25 GHz every 2.5 milliseconds, transmitting sub-mW power. The parameters were chosen so that the system would be compliant with FCC regulations for consumer electronics. The radio connects to a computer over Ethernet. They said that the received signal “is sampled (digitized) and transmitted over the Ethernet to the computer for real-time processing.”
They built a Vital-Radio prototype and validated its capabilities through experiments with 14 subjects. During the tests, participants wore daily attire: shirts, T-shirts, hoodies and jackets of various fabrics. The authors said that “Vital-Radio can indeed capture our vital signs and track them accurately even as they vary.” Across the experiments with multiple subjects, they stated, Vital-Radio’s median accuracy in measuring breathing and heart rate was 99.4% and 99%, respectively.
According to New Scientist, Adib said the team was honing the system to the point where a fetus’s heartbeat inside its mother could be monitored.
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