Day: 11/23/2015

General Anesthesia: 8 Interesting Facts About The Procedure That Puts You To Sleep

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Woman under anesthesia
Learn the surprising facts about the medical mystery of anesthesia, from waking up during surgery to suffering amnesia post-surgery.

If you’ve had surgery, your anesthesiologist has probably told you to count backward from 100 in order to be “put to sleep.” Anesthesia is administered in hospitals, and has been for almost 200 years, to block pain or the memory of pain. But despite its widespread use, doctors still don’t know exactly how it works. While millions of people undergo various surgeries that require pain-numbing medications, there are facts about anesthesia you probably don’t know — but should.

1. Anesthesia causes amnesia.

General anesthesia keeps you relaxed, blocks pain, and may also cause amnesia. A 2012 studypublished in the journal Annals of Neurology found that inhalation anesthetics induced Alzheimer’s-like changes in the brains of adult mice. The drug was toxic to dentate gyru — a type of cell that helps control memory and learning. Although researchers are still unaware of the long-term effects of anesthesia, they do know it takes at least a couple of days before you bounce back from surgery.

2. Older patients exposed to anesthesia face up to a 35% increased risk of dementia.

Older patients can take up to six months to return to normal after receiving anesthesia during surgery, according to a 2013 study. Specifically, patients are more likely to experience a small change in their mental capacity, possibly facing a higher risk of dementia by 35 percent. Researchers believe this may be because anesthesia causes inflammation of neural tissues that lead to postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) and/or Alzheimer’s disease precursors, such as β-amyloid plaques.

3. Frequent exposure to anesthesia during childhood may lead to neurodevelopmental problems.

Children who are exposed to anesthesia once or multiple times for early-life surgeries may be prone to neurodevelopmental problems. A 2012 study published in the journal Pediatrics found that children who underwent anesthetic surgeries before the age of 3 were twice as likely to develop learning disabilities, including long-term language and reasoning deficits, before the age of 10. However, there were no observed differences when it came to behavior, visual tracking, and attention, or fine and gross motor function. This suggests not all cognitive domains are affected by anesthesia the same way.

4. Anesthesia does not actually ‘put to sleep.’

Anesthesiologists often tell their patients they will be “put to sleep,” but the truth is they’re being put in a reversible coma. Researchers found a fully anesthetized brain is not unlike the deeply unconscious, low-brain activity seen in coma patients compared to a person who’s just asleep, according to a 2010 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. These states all represent brain regions that have common circuit mechanisms, such as the cortex — located in the outer edge of the brain — and the thalamus — located at the center of the brain. These regions communicate with each other to determine brain activity in patients under anesthesia.

5. You can wake up during surgery.

Patients under anesthesia can wake up during surgery, also known as “anesthesia awareness.” This rare condition occurs when patients are able to recall their surroundings or an event, such as pressure or pain, related to their surgery while under anesthesia, according to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. However, surgeons do use brain-monitoring devices to measure their patients’ consciousness as a means to reduce the risk of this happening.

6. Some people have a rare allergic reaction to anesthetic agents.

Patients can have a potentially fatal allergic reaction when inhaling anesthesia, known asmalignant hyperthermia, even if they have no previous history of the reaction. MedlinePlusreported that the disease, which is passed down through families, causes a fast rise in body temperature and severe muscle contractions when the patient inhales. Patients may also experience bleeding, dark brown urine, and muscle ache without an obvious cause, among others.

7. Redheads do not require more anesthesia to get numb.

Redheads were previously thought to require higher doses of anesthesia due to having a specific gene called melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R). This gene was believed to decrease a patient’s sensitivity to anesthetics, until a 2012 study published in the journal Anaesthesia and Intensive Care proved otherwise. Researchers found there were no differences in anesthetic administration, POCD pain, nausea and vomiting, or the overall quality of recovery in people with red hair and darker hair.

8. Smokers may need higher doses of anesthesia than non-smokers.

Smokers and people exposed to secondhand smoke may require more anesthesia when undergoing operations. A recent study presented at the 2015 European Society of Anesthesiology meeting in Berlin, Germany found that female smokers required 38 percent more anesthesia than non-smokers, and 17 percent more than passive smokers. Cigarette smoke is known to mess up respiratory function while under anesthesia, which interferes with the patient’s tolerance for pain medication.

New Help for Back Pain .

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Functional restoration uses exercise and psychological therapy to get patients over fear and back to normal life

Melissa Soendergaard of White River Junction, Vt., who had pain and several back injuries, completed her functional-restoration program this month. She started her days with warm-ups, stepping and low-impact aerobics, moving on to strengthening, weight-bearing exercises and endurance training. She was also counseled on emotional stress and coping strategies.
Melissa Soendergaard of White River Junction, Vt., who had pain and several back injuries, completed her functional-restoration program this month. She started her days with warm-ups, stepping and low-impact aerobics, moving on to strengthening, weight-bearing exercises and endurance training. She was also counseled on emotional stress and coping strategies.

Back pain is a top cause of chronic pain in the U.S.

Now, for patients who have been unsuccessful with typical treatments such as surgery and narcotic pain pills, some doctors are trying an innovative approach to help patients cope and heal called functional restoration. The idea is to teach patients to manage back pain, even if it isn’t eliminated, and get them back to work, sports, and other daily tasks and activities.

Patients learn exercises they can do daily to build strength and endurance. A big component is psychological and behavioral counseling to teach coping skills and help them get over the fear of movement that comes with “pain catastrophizing,” which is the tendency to magnify the threat of pain and feel helpless to do anything about it.

Many patients join such programs as a last resort, frustrated by surgeries that didn’t work. After multiple tests, they may never get a firm diagnosis of the cause of their pain, leading to depression and anxiety. And the drugs doctors often prescribe have side effects and risk becoming addictive.

Exercises are created for functional-restoration patients to help restore normal function to their spines. The workouts are tailored to help people manage pain flare-ups and to improve strength and endurance. Participants in the program are also counseled on coping with pain and related emotions. Here is a sample set of exercises customized by Eric Hartmann, DPT/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Sit in a chair with knees spread apart. Bend forward and reach back between your legs, holding the pose for 3 seconds. Repeat 10 times. ENLARGE
Exercises are created for functional-restoration patients to help restore normal function to their spines. The workouts are tailored to help people manage pain flare-ups and to improve strength and endurance. Participants in the program are also counseled on coping with pain and related emotions. Here is a sample set of exercises customized by Eric Hartmann, DPT/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Sit in a chair with knees spread apart. Bend forward and reach back between your legs, holding the pose for 3 seconds. Repeat 10 times. REMIE GEOFFROI FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Another helpful exercise is to lie on your back with knees bent and feet together, rotate legs to the side. Repeat 10 times. ENLARGE
Another helpful exercise is to lie on your back with knees bent and feet together, rotate legs to the side. Repeat 10 times. REMIE GEOFFROI FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Peel yourself up from lying face down, keeping the low back and legs relaxed. Repeat 10 times. ENLARGE
Peel yourself up from lying face down, keeping the low back and legs relaxed. Repeat 10 times.REMIE GEOFFROI FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Stand with your hand against a wall, and slowly stretch your hips toward the wall, the other arm supporting your trunk. Hold for 3 seconds, then relax. Repeat 10 times. ENLARGE
Stand with your hand against a wall, and slowly stretch your hips toward the wall, the other arm supporting your trunk. Hold for 3 seconds, then relax. Repeat 10 times. REMIE GEOFFROI FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Americans spend an estimated $90 billion annually on diagnostic tests, surgery and other treatments, and back pain is also the leading cause of disability for people under 45. Researchers say functional-restoration programs could help reduce such costs and end the cycle of drugs and narcotic medications for many patients.

At Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., the Functional Restoration program offers a three-week boot camp of sorts for chronic back-pain sufferers who have had disabling pain that lasts more than three months. They are often referred to the center after surgery and other treatments have failed or surgery isn’t an option, says Rowland G. Hazard, director of the program and a professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.

Many have tried injections, drugs, chiropractic treatments and acupuncture “but at the end of the day they still have their symptoms back and can’t do the things that are important to them,” Dr. Hazard says. They undergo a medical evaluation to see if the program is safe for them as well as goal-setting interview to determine their personal functional aims.

Sessions take place in a large sunlit room with exercise equipment and floor space for drills, with up to eight patients at a time under the constant supervision of staff including a doctor, occupational and physical therapists, and a nurse practitioner. In addition to strengthening and cardio exercises, there are relaxation exercises to help patients for future pain-flare-ups.

Roy D. Hunter, 60, of Claremont, N.H., was a carpenter and house builder, and had suffered several injuries that left him in terrible pain, including one where he was knocked down by a bull on a farm, resulting in bone and tissue damage. He had four operations on disks in his spine, cortisone injections, anesthetic patches, and has taken the prescription narcotic oxycodone.

Once a high school basketball player who did rigorous farm chores and liked to ski, “40 years later I was on a couch and couldn’t do anything,” he says. He completed the program last Friday. During the three weeks, he says, he learned how to bend, stretch and move properly.

He lifted crates with different weights inside to simulate things he would have to do to return to work. He also was assigned exercises to help strengthen his stomach muscles. The Dartmouth team helped teach him coping skills. He had become afraid to do anything that might trigger pain, Mr. Hunter says. “I still have back pain but I am learning how to dismiss it in my mind and get back to what I could do before.”

Roy D. Hunter, of Claremont, N.H., suffered many back injuries including being knocked down by a bull on a farm. He has had four operations and numerous treatments for pain, including the narcotic oxycodone. He recently completed a functional-restoration program and learned to move correctly, as well as coping skills to help him get back to work without fearing pain. ENLARGE
Roy D. Hunter, of Claremont, N.H., suffered many back injuries including being knocked down by a bull on a farm. He has had four operations and numerous treatments for pain, including the narcotic oxycodone. He recently completed a functional-restoration program and learned to move correctly, as well as coping skills to help him get back to work without fearing pain. PHOTO: MARK WASHBURN/DARTMOUTH-HITCHCOCK

Melissa Soendergaard, 46, of White River Junction, Vt., injured her lower back in February 2012, and was later diagnosed with sciatica, pain along a nerve that extends to the legs from the back. She was injured again last February, and tests suggested other issues including disk degeneration and cracked vertebrae. She tried physical therapy, cortisone injections and medications to no avail, and doctors said surgery wasn’t an option. She says her body “became gradually more deconditioned as I would try to find a position to alleviate the pain and stay in it as long as possible.” She struggled emotionally and gained about 100 lbs.

Different doctors she saw persuaded her to try Dr. Hazard’s program. The group model at first reminded her of “The Biggest Loser” TV series, she says. Soon she came to see the program as “a safe place to find out what I was capable of.”

Ms. Soendergaard, who also completed the program last Friday, started her days with warm-ups, stepping and low-impact aerobics, moving on to strengthening, weight-bearing exercises and endurance training. She and her husband have a business, and in the program she learned how to properly lift things like cases of paper and put them on a shelf. To simulate pushing a vacuum cleaner, she pushed and pulled a sled-like device.

The program staff also taught her how to “separate the mind from the body,” so she can deal with soreness and pain and “acknowledge what’s going on in the body without giving it a lot of power,” she says. “The point is how you live with it because there may not be a fix.”

On average, patients in the Dartmouth program have modest improvement in pain and self-assessed disability over the three weeks “but they make quite dramatic improvements in mood, flexibility, strength and endurance,” tripling their lifting capacity on average, Dr. Hazard says. They come back a week after completion to review a home regimen, are checked again at one and three months, and at a year they are surveyed on their status. Though the hospital doesn’t ask them to stop drugs while on the program, if drugs would interfere with their goals, such as driving a truck, they are asked to stop either before or after completion.

The Dartmouth-Hitchcock program costs about $17,000. It can be covered by insurance, depending on the policy, and the hospital offers assistance programs.

“The key is helping people change the way they think about pain,” from “it’s only going to get worse and there is nothing I can do about it,” to “I have pain, but there are some things I can do about it,” says Kelli Allen, a professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Dr. Allen, who is also a researcher for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Durham, N.C., is conducting a study for the VA to determine if a 12-week home-based physical activity program combined with cognitive behavioral counseling could help older veterans with chronic low back pain restore function, versus physical activity alone.

Well, vegetarians make better lovers and it is scientifically proved!

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Most men still think that eating meat can help them boost their manliness. However, the real fact is that plant based diet is more healthy when you consume it in the right way without missing proteins and other nutrients. Now, let us take a serious look at the benefits of eating plant based foods, especially for men.

Watch the slideshow.URL:http://www.speakingtree.in/slideshow/well-vegetarians-make-better-lovers-and-it-is-scientifically-proved

These 40 Ideas Will Make Your House Super Awesome!

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After a hectic day, we need to go to a place which is relaxing and comfortable. We also want to have a place where our family get the best facilities. That place is called a house. We work hard in our jobs and push our careers, all to collect enough money to make our dream house. However, you need to be wise about spending this hard earned cash. Here is a collection of some wonderful engineering ideas to transform your house. Let us know your favourite in the comments below.

underground garage

Glass Bathtubs

Pirate Ship Bedroom

Solar Roof Tiles

Convertible Couches

Underground Garage

Convertible Ping Pong Table Doors

Cat Transport System

Chandelier to Transform Room Into Forest

Hammock Bed

Stairs With Slide

Stairs With Book Shelves

Storage Space Under Stairs

Kitchen Garden

Spiral Bottle Storage

Backyard Beach

Lawn Cinema

Indoor Treehouse For Kids

Hammock Over Stairs

Swatch Doors

Basement Skateboard Area

Walk-in Pool

Dining Pool Table

Indoor Outdoor Pool

Glass Fire Pit

Fire Pit Tables

Aquarium Bed

Sandbeach Under Table

Catwalk Around House

Indoor Slide

Backyard Office

Balcony Pool

Swing Dining Tables

Kitchen Table Tennis

Infinity Bathroom Floors

Wall That Sings When It Rains (Currently one in Germany)

Brain Connections Predict How Well You Can Pay Attention

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During a 1959 television appearance, Jack Kerouac was asked how long it took him to write his novel On The Road. His response – three weeks – amazed the interviewer and ignited an enduring myth that the book was composed in a marathon of nonstop typing.

Like the Kerouac of legend, some people possess the incredible ability to focus for long periods of time. Others constantly struggle to keep their minds on task. Individuals diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), for example, are often restless and easily distracted. Even people without ADHD may find their minds wandering while trying to concentrate at school or work.

Although the ability to sustain attention varies widely from person to person, characterizing these individual differences has been difficult. Unlike intelligence, which has traditionally been measured (though not without controversy) with pencil-and-paper IQ tests, attentional abilities are not captured by performance on a single test.

In a study recently published in Nature Neuroscience, my colleagues and I set out to identify a new way to measure attention. Like IQ, this measure would serve as a general summary of a complex cognitive ability. But unlike IQ, it would be based on a person’s unique pattern of brain connectivity – that is, synchronous activity observed across distinct parts of their brain. We previously showed that every person’s pattern of brain connectivity is unique — like a fingerprint — and predicts fluid intelligence, or the ability to solve problems in novel situations. Do unique patterns of brain connectivity predict attention, too?

How you’re connected predicts your focus

First we asked 25 volunteers to perform a task while an MRI scanner measured their brain activity. Their instructions were simple: watch a stream of images and press a button when you see cities, but don’t press when you see mountains. Most of the pictures were of cities, with the occasional mountain thrown in unpredictably. It was challenging to maintain focus on the task, which lasted more than 30 minutes. Some people performed very well. But others made frequent errors – either failing to click for a city, or pressing for a mountain by mistake.

Could we relate participants’ accuracy to their patterns of brain connectivity while they responded to the city and mountain pictures? To analyze the brain data, we first divided each person’s brain into 268 distinct regions, a number previously shown to characterize brain function well.

Spheres and lines represent brain and connections

Spheres represent regions of the brain and lines show the connections between them. The size of the spheres corresponds to the number of connections they have. Orange spheres have more connections in the network that predicts better attention, blue spheres have more connections in the network that predicts worse attention, and gray spheres have an approximately equal number of connections in each.

Next, we calculated how “functionally connected” each region was with every other region in the brain. Functional connectivity is the degree to which activity in a pair of regions is synchronous. In other words, activity in two regions with a strong functional connection tends to increase and decrease at the same time, while activity in weakly connected regions is out of sync. A landmark study published in 1995 showed, for example, that there are strong functional connections between regions of the brain’s right and left hemispheres responsible for motor action.

Calculating the functional connections between every pair of regions gave us individual connectivity profiles for each participant in the study. Among these thousands of connections (every person’s connectivity profile contained 35,778!), we identified several hundred that were related to performance on our task – some connections were stronger in people who performed more accurately on the task, and some were stronger in people who performed less accurately.

After careful statistical analysis, we found we could predict how well each subject performed on the task from the strength of his or her functional connections alone. The predictions weren’t perfect, but they were significantly better than a random guess.

What a resting brain can predict about attention

Although it was exciting to see that patterns of brain connectivity could be used to predict attention, we had looked only at data collected during the actual task performance. Our brain activity measurement was just a more complicated, less accurate way to assess performance than the button presses themselves. Why involve the brain data at all?

To be useful, our measure needed to predict attention from brain activity in someone who wasn’t taking an attention test.

For example, what if a person were unable to perform the test for some reason, or we didn’t know the right questions to ask, or we didn’t have time to test them on exactly what we wanted to measure? In such cases, it would be valuable to be able to extract information about a person’s attentional abilities from brain data measured while they were not doing any task at all.

To see whether or not a resting brain carries information about attention, we calculated another set of individual connectivity profiles for each of our participants using data collected while they were simply relaxing in the scanner. Using the same procedure as before, we were again able to predict performance on the attention task. Our predictions were not as accurate as the ones we’d made using brain data collected during task performance, but they were still significantly better than a random guess.

Using any person’s resting connectivity profile – even someone who has never performed any attention task, and never will – we can predict how they would hypothetically perform on the cities and mountains task.

Predicting ADHD using functional connections

Were our results specific to the group of individuals we had tested and the cities/mountains task we’d used, or could they tell us something meaningful about sustained attention in general?

To test this question, we used data from 113 children and adolescents provided by Peking University as part of The ADHD-200 Sample. Some of these children had an official diagnosis of ADHD, with varying degrees of symptom severity. Even some without the diagnosis showed subtle signs of attention problems. For each child – both those with and without the diagnosis – clinicians had arrived at an “ADHD score” on a scale of 18-72 indicating how severe that child’s attention deficit symptoms were. Children in our data set had scores ranging from 18-65.

Using brain connectivity profiles calculated while the children were resting in an MRI scanner, we found that the same functional connections that predicted performance of our adults in New Haven predicted ADHD scores of the children scanned in Beijing. Our statistical models predicted that, if they were given the cities/mountains task, children with few symptoms of ADHD would perform well and children with more symptoms would struggle.

So spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity while individuals are simply resting can predict their ADHD symptoms.

A new “attention score”?

Does this mean that a scientist can put you in a brain scanner and discover how well you pay attention to things? In some sense, yes. Your connectivity profile carries information unique to you, including your attentional abilities.

It’s important to acknowledge that traits like attention and intelligence are multifaceted, so reducing a person’s overall functioning to a single measure risks oversimplification. But measures that summarize a complex process, like IQ for intelligence or gross domestic product for the economy, do provide valuable information. For example, such a measure may help researchers track changes in abilities over time, and may one day help clinicians identify children most likely to benefit from attention training or personalized learning.

One additional benefit of this approach is that, just as multiple biomarkers can be extracted from a single blood sample, multiple predictions can be made from a single connectivity profile. Different connections may tell us different things about an individual. For example, we found that the brain networks that predict ADHD symptoms do not predict IQ, but our group has identified other networks that do predict intelligence.

There’s still a long way to go to before brain connectivity becomes for attention what IQ is for intelligence. But these methods show promise for predicting a wide variety of traits and illuminating the relationship between brain and behavior. Perhaps in the future, a better understanding of the relationship between brain connectivity and attention could be used to inform cognitive training – maybe helping transform all of us into the Kerouac of legend.

Over 100 Scientific Studies Agree: Cannabis Annihilates Cancer

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Considering that up until about 85 years ago, cannabis oil was used around the world to treat a variety of diseases, including cancer, it is not surprising that the phasing out of cannabis to treat illness coincided with the rise of pharmaceutical companies.

Rick Simpson, a medical marijuana activist, is on a crusade to help others heal. He regards cannabis as the most medicinally active plant on the face of the earth, and shared this apparent miracle with others — completely free of charge. He now has thousands of testimonials from those who were healed from ‘incurable’ disease to back up his claims ~ that cannabis annihilates cancer.

Over 100 Scientific Studies Agree - Cannabis Annihilates Cancer

For the naysayers out there who are still not convinced about the effectiveness of cannabis for curing cancer, the astounding healing attributes of the plant are well documented by a wealth of peer-reviewed studies.

Traditional medicinal plant backed by modern medicine

Breast cancer

A study in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics explored the relationship between the use of cannabidiol (CBD) and the subsequent down regulation of breast cancer tumor aggressiveness. The researchers concluded that CBD represents the first nontoxic agent to decrease the aggressiveness of metastic breast cancer cells in vivo.

Several additional studies support these findings, including “Pathways mediating the effects of cannabidiol on the reduction of breast cancer cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis” and “Cannabinoids: a new hope for breast cancer therapy?”

Furthermore, the journal PLoS One reports further evidence of how cannabinoids modulate breast cancer tumor growth and metastasis by inhibiting specific receptors.

Colon cancer

As published in Pharmacological Research:

“Studies on epithelial cells have shown that cannabinoids exert antiproliferative, antimetastatic and apoptotic effects as well as reducing cytokine release and promoting wound healing. In vivo, cannabinoids – via direct or indirect activation of CB(1) and/or CB(2) receptors – exert protective effects in well-established models of intestinal inflammation and colon cancer.”

The team concluded that the administration of cannabinoids “may be a promising strategy to counteract intestinal inflammation and colon cancer.”

Moreover, research in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology established that colon cancer cell lines were strongly affected by cannabinoids.

Leukemia

Cannabis was shown to induce cytotoxicity in leukemia cell lines, according the the journalBlood:

“We have shown that THC is a potent inducer of apoptosis, even at 1 x IC(50) (inhibitory concentration 50%) concentrations and as early as 6 hours after exposure to the drug. These effects were seen in leukemic cell lines (CEM, HEL-92, and HL60) as well as in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.”

It also did not appear that the cannabis was simply aiding other chemo drugs — it was independently bringing about results with the active compound THC responsible for cancer cell death in vitro.

Likewise, a study in the Molecular Pharmacology Journal found that non psychoactive cannabidiol dramatically induced apoptosis (cell death) in leukemia cells. “Together, the results from this study reveal that cannabidiol, acting through CB2 and regulation of Nox4 and p22(phox) expression, may be a novel and highly selective treatment for leukemia.”

Two additional studies, “p38 MAPK is involved in CB2 receptor-induced apoptosis of human leukemia cells” and “Gamma-irradiation enhances apoptosis induced by cannabidiol, a non-psychotropic cannabinoid, in cultured HL-60 myeloblastic leukemia cells“, also demonstrated the effectiveness of cannabis in promoting leukemia cell death.

Immunity

Research published in the paper Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acidsfound that cannabinoid compounds play a vital role in modulating the immune system to improve the outcome of a cancer diagnosis. In short, the team believes “[t]he experimental evidence reviewed in this article argues in favor of the therapeutic potential of these compounds in immune disorders and cancer.”

Moreover, the study Cannabinoids and the immune system confirms that cannabimimetic agents have substantial effects on natural killer cells, thereby providing therapeutic usefulness in reducing tumor growth and the induction of apoptosis. Therefore, cannabis demonstrates a “subtle but significant role in the regulation of immunity and that this role can eventually be exploited in the management of human disease.”

Cervical cancer

Uterine cervical cancer cells are significantly influenced by cannabis as well. Published inGynecologic Oncology, the research team discovered that the compound induced apoptosis in cervical carcinoma (CxCa) cell lines.

Melanoma

The most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma has relatively few options of treatment beyond prevention and early detection. With this in mind, the findings of the study Cannabinoid receptors as novel targets for the treatment of melanoma are of particular note. In animal tests, cannabinoids encouraged cancer cell death, while decreasing growth, proliferation and metastasis of melanoma cells.

Non melanoma skin cancers also respond well to cannabinoids. According to research in theJournal of Clinical Investigation:

“Local administration of [cannabinoids] induced a considerable growth inhibition of malignant tumors generated by inoculation of epidermal tumor cells into nude mice. Cannabinoid-treated tumors showed an increased number of apoptotic cells. This was accompanied by impairment of tumor vascularization, as determined by altered blood vessel morphology and decreased expression of proangiogenic factors (VEGF, placental growth factor, and angiopoietin 2). … These results support a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of skin tumors.”

These are just a few examples — among hundreds — that demonstrate the effectiveness of cannabis in eradicating cancer without adverse side-effects. Additionally, the following documentary explores the history and modern uses of cannabis to heal serious diseases such as cancer, AIDS, Crohn’s disease & more

Ayurvedic Tongue Diagnosis Made Easy

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In Ayurveda, one of the primary investigative tools of practitioners for determining the state of one’s health is tongue diagnosis or evaluation of the tongue. The tongue is the very beginning of the digestive tract, which lumbers on for another 30 feet or so. Since we cannot see much beyond the mouth without some invasive diagnostics, a quick look at the tongue can tell much about the health of your inner digestive skin.

Your inner skin is without a doubt the most important determining factor for your overall health. By inner skin, I mean the epithelium or the skin that lines the digestive tract. Let’s quickly take a look at what healthy inner digestive skin is responsible for:

Tongue Diagnosis Made Easy 2

1. Hosting of trillions of beneficial microbes (1)

2. Where 95% of the serotonin for mood health is derived (2)

3. Where 80% of the immune system is found (3,4)

4. The protective barrier to ward off environmental toxins (5)

5. The delivery of all vitamins, minerals and nutrients (6)

6. Regulates genetic and epigenetic changes to the human genome (7-9)

This is, of course, the extremely short list of why the health of the inner digestive skin is so important. The problem with diagnosing the inner skin is that we cannot see it – or can we? The tongue can give us quick and useful indications about the status of our digestion.

The Perfect Tongue

Before we discuss “the perfect tongue” constitutionally, note that we will all have a tongue that closely reflects our main constitution. For example:

Vata Constitution

  • The tongue will tend to be thinner, smaller, and a bit rough and dry.

Pitta Constitution

  • The tongue will be a bit more red in color, medium in size, and slightly dry.

Kapha Constitution

  • The tongue will be larger, full, possibly light pink, and a bit wet.

Based on the normal variations between body types, a perfect tongue will be:

  1. Pink – not pale, scarlet, or red.
  2. The pinkish color would be consistent across the entire tongue.
  3. You would be able to see small cylindrical taste buds on the entire top surface of the tongue.
  4. It would be not too wet and not too dry – it would be just right!
  5. You would not see any cracks on the tongue.
  6. There would be a very thin white coating of mucus on the tongue.
  7. There would be no teeth marks on the sides of the tongue.

Tongue Diagnosis: Looking For Imbalances

Perhaps most directly seen on the tongue is the health of the epithelium of the stomach. After the food hits the tongue, the next stop is the stomach. Often the quality of the mucus lining of the stomach is reflected on the lining of the tongue.

Tongue Diagnosis Made Easy - Tongue Chart

Movie Star Tongue

When the tongue becomes red, smooth, and moist or wet, I call this a “movie star tongue.” While it might be pretty, it is not a functional tongue, and here is why. When there is irritation or excess acid in the stomach, the tongue will often reflect that by becoming more red. Due to the irritation of the stomach lining and perhaps the upper part of the small intestine, the taste buds will contract as if trying to hide and protect themselves from the irritation. The result is a very smooth tongue that looks like it was sanded down and buffed. Such a tongue will often be moist, which is a reflection of the excess mucus produced in the stomach and small intestine to protect the lining from the irritation.

IBS Tongue

The “irritable bowel” tongue reflects intestinal irritation from stress on the tongue. It can be smooth, wet and pale. The smoothness is because the taste buds are reacting to the stress by contracting or hiding. It is wet because of the reactive mucus production generated as a result of the stress, and its paleness is the result of the stomach eventually stopping the production of stomach acid as a way to protect the intestinal wall from further irritation.

Acid Tongue

The “acid tongue” reflects symptoms like occasional heartburn. When stomach acid builds up in the stomach and begins to move upwards, it can irritate the lining of the stomach, esophagus, mouth, and tongue. The result is a very red, dry, and often smooth tongue.

Boggy Tongue

A “boggy tongue” reflects a digestive fire that has been turned off. This typically results in a pale, wet, coated, and even swollen tongue depending on what the body type is.

Malabsorption Tongue

This tongue generally has scalloping teeth marks along the sides of the tongue. It can also be discolored, where it might be reddish in one area, pale in another, and pink somewhere else.

Stress Tongue

This tongue, which generally afflicts vata and pitta types, will have many small cracks on the tongue. This is not to be confused with a “geographic tongue,” which normally exhibits many cracks. A “stress tongue” is also typically dry and often unsteady.

Spinal Stress or CNS Stress Tongue

Sometimes you will see a deep crack running down the center of the tongue. This often reflects chronic stress in the central nervous system or spinal stress from injury.

Tongue Diagnosis Made Easy - Tongue

Ama Tongue

Ama, in Ayurveda, is the accumulation of improperly digested food that can congest the intestinal tract. An “ama tongue” is when the tongue builds up a thick coating on the entire tongue. If the accumulation of ama is on the back of the tongue, it is generally a build-up of toxins in the large intestine. If it is in the middle of the tongue, it points to a build-up of toxins in the middle of the tongue.

Pale Tongue

A pale tongue suggests that there is a lack of good stomach acid and digestive enzymes needed to properly digest food and deliver the minerals, vitamins and nutrients needed for optimal health. Sometimes this can also be a sign of anemia.

Dry Tongue

For the stomach to produce the acid needed to digest hard-to-digest foods, the stomach requires proper hydration. Proper hydration supports a bicarbonate layer of cells that is 80% water and buffers the acids in the stomach. Without adequate hydration, the stomach will not produce acid and the tongue often becomes very dry and slightly pale.

Wet Tongue

A “wet tongue” can be due to excess kapha (mucus) from a severely irritated stomach lining, intestinal wall, undigested proteins like casein or gluten, or from excessive stress.

Swollen Tongue

A “swollen tongue” may suggest a congested lymphatic system backing up into the cervical lymph nodes, tonsils, adenoids, and tongue. Look for other signs of lymph congestion to confirm this.

Each of these tongue imbalances reflect a certain type of digestive imbalance. Please read the articles in my digestive health article and video archives to address your particular issue, or schedule a personalized Ayurvedic consult so we can dig in deeper.

Caring For Your Tongue

tongue scraper, tongue diagnosis

Tongue scraping is the simple practice of scraping the tongue before brushing the teeth. Studies have shown that this simple technique:

  1. Reduces undesirable bacteria in the mouth that compromise gum, teeth and oral health. (10)
  2. Reduces volatile sulfur compounds (VSC) that are by-products of mouth bacteria linked to bad breath. (11)
  3. Increases the function of taste buds to better taste and digest food. (12)
  4. Changes the environment of the mouth to reduce putrefaction and decrease bacterial load. (13)

Toxins, or ama (as we discussed earlier), collect on the back of the tongue that can cause obstructions in respiration and foul smell. (14)

Copper may be the best metal to use for tongue scraping because the mouth is loaded with both good and not-so-good bacteria. Copper not only seems to be toxic to the bad bacteria, it also provides important enzymes that are needed for the healthy microbes of the mouth to survive. (15,16)

In one study, the antiseptic benefits of copper were so great that, when copper was put in hospital rooms as furnishings, the surface bacteria count on all the surfaces in the hospital room was significantly reduced. (17) Some hospitals are now incorporating copper furnishings as part of their anti-bacterial strategies.

How To Scrape Your Tongue

  1. In the morning, right after you wake up, scrape your tongue. Make it the first thing you do. Even if you wake up in the middle of the night, scraping the tongue followed by a glass of water can reduce accumulating digestive ama (toxins).
  2. With a relaxed tongue, using your U-shaped tongue scraper, gently reach to the back of the tongue and scrape the tongue from back to front. Repeat this 5-10 times, reaching as far back as comfortable, rinsing the scraper after each pass. A slight gag can help bring up some mucus and ama from the back of the throat.
  3. Follow tongue scraping with brushing (with non-fluoride toothpaste), flossing, and a large glass of water.
  4. To complete an Ayurvedic oral hygiene routine, this can be followed by oil pulling – of course, this would require another round of tooth brushing.
  5. Get into the habit of scraping your tongue prior to each brushing.

Is Wi-Fi Killing Trees?

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The health-damaging effects of wireless technology has been a hotly debated topic in scientific circles for years now. Linked with increased stress, brain fog, insomnia, cancer, lower sperm count, Alzheimer’s Disease, behavioral issues and developmental delays, many are questioning the daily use of Wi-Fi, cellphones, tablets, smart meters and other modern ‘necessities.’

For anyone who has first hand experience with electromagnetic sensitivity triggered by these devices, there is little doubt of their negative effect on health, mental clarity and overall well-being. Regrettably, humans aren’t the only ones negatively affected by wireless technology. Researchers in the Netherlands have found electromagnetic pollution can also harm trees.

Silent Damage

When officials in the Dutch city of Alphen aan den Rijn noticed malformations in local trees, they began to question the cause. After viral and bacterial infections were ruled out, researchers turned their attention to studying the effects of radio magnetic radiation on plant life.

According to a study by Wageningen University in the Netherlands, Wi-Fi signals could very well be responsible for the diseased trees, which exhibited bark tears, bleeding and leaves prematurely dying.

The team set out to test their hypothesis by exposing 20 ash trees to varying types of radiation over a period of three months. Trees with closest proximity to Wi-Fi networks suffered from telltale indicators of radiation sickness, including a “lead-like shine” on their leaves, which is caused by the deterioration of outer-cell layers — leading to premature death of the foliage.

The Los Angeles Times reports, “About 70% of all trees in the Netherlands’ urban areas show the same symptoms, compared with only 10% five years ago, the study found.”

The findings aren’t surprising, considering the explosion of Wi-Fi availability and use over the last few years.

The researchers stressed that these tree abnormalities aren’t isolated to the Netherlands — it’s an issue throughout the Western world. And trees in rural or non-urban locations don’t appear to suffer from the same unhealthy fate as their city-dwelling brethren.

After the study was widely circulated by media outlets, enormous backlash prompted the Dutch Antennae Agency to issue the following statement:

“The researcher from Wageningen University indicates that these are initial results and that has not been confirmed in a repeat survey. He warns strongly that there is still no far-reaching conclusions from its results. Based on the information now available, it cannot be concluded that the Wi-Fi radio signals leads to damage to trees or other plants.”

It should be noted the Dutch Antenna Agency “… is a department of Radio communications Agency Netherlands. This is a specialized agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. It has three main tasks: obtain, allocate and protect frequency space.” [Source]

Regardless of the agency’s motivation, it’s not easy to brush aside the findings of the study, especially since other researches have also found Wi-Fi signals harm plant life.

Is Wi-Fi Killing Trees - What Our Cities Would Look Like if Wi-Fi Was Visible
Composed by artist Nickolay Lamm, this is what our cities would look like if WiFi and Cell phone signals were was visible to the human eye.

Wi-Fi and Nature — An Unhealthy Mix

Katie Singer is involved with public policy at the Electromagnetic Radiation Policy Institute, an organization dedicated to fostering a better understanding of the environmental and human biological effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation, as well as extremely low frequencies (ELF) found in power line supplies.

Singer is especially concerned about the effect radio frequency has on our natural environment. She writes in An Electronic Silent Spring:

“In a 2010 paper published in the International Journal of Forestry Research, researcher Katie Haggerty explained that the Earth’s natural radio frequency environment has remained about the same within the lifespan of modern trees. “Before 1800,” Haggerty wrote, “the major components of this environment were broadband radio noise from space (galactic noise), from lightning (atmospheric noise), and a smaller RF component from the sun. …Plants may have evolved” to use these environmental signals, along with visible light in order to regulate their periodic functions. Therefore, they may be sensitive to man-made RF fields. “The background of RF pollution,” Haggerty continued, “is now many times stronger than the naturally occurring RF environment. From the perspective of evolutionary time, the change can be considered sudden and dramatic. …Growth rates of plants and fungi can be increased or decreased by RF exposure. Exposure to RF signals can induce plants to produce more meristems, affect root cell structure, and induce stress response…causing biochemical changes.

Ms. Haggerty went on to describe her study of the influence of RF signals on trembling aspen seedlings. Seedlings that were shielded in a Faraday cage (a metal container that prevents RF radiation from entering) thrived. Seedlings that were exposed to RF signals showed necrotic lesions and abnormal coloring in their leaves.”

Moreover, Singer points out that British biologist Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy is alarmed by the increase in mysterious tree deaths occurring throughout urban areas across Europe. “They also show abnormal photoperiodic responses. Many have cancer-like growths under the bark (phloem nodules). The bark may also split so that the underlying tissues become infected. All of these can be explained as a result of exposure to weak RF fields from mobile phones, their base stations, Wi-Fi and similar sources of weak non-ionizing radiation,” he said. [Source]

If trees are adversely effected by electromagnetic pollution, we need to seriously question how humans and animals can be negatively impacted as well.

The Paris Attacks: What You Need to Consider

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In the late hours of Friday the 13th, 2015, a half a dozen locations in Paris suffered a series of coordinated attacks, reportedly carried out by the Islamic State (IS). 129 people have been killed and over 300 injured in attacks on six locations, which purposely terrorized the mind-state of France, as well as the rest of the world. The entire city of Paris was put onto alert and a total lock-down was authorized. The French President, François Hollande, also locked down the country by declaring a ‘state of emergency’ and initially closing its borders. This is the first time a mandatory curfew has happened in France since 1944. Essentially, it’s martial law.

IS has officially taken ownership of this attack, who of course have been proven to be funded and reinforced by the US (shadow) government.

This all begs the question: Are the Paris attacks another false flag event, as the Charlie Hebdo incident in January of 2015 is suspected to be?

The Paris Attacks: What You Need to Consider

The concern from the conscious community – those who have woken up to the reality that shadow power moguls have infiltrated our governments, media and international bodies with the agenda of instituting a one world government – is that the latest Paris attacks may have been purposely designed and implemented to further their aim. (Please see: 9 Reasons To Question The Paris Terror Attacks.) 

Explains economist, geopolitical analyst and former World Bank employee Peter Koenig in an article for GlobalResearch.ca, Paris under Attack: Was it a False Flag? A Pretext for NATO to Intervene in Syria and the Middle East?…

“France is at war!” exclaimed President Hollande several times… within 12 hours after the attack. He knew the names of the attackers and where they were from, while police was still struggling to put the puzzles together, and news reporting was sketchy, confusing and chaotic. He accused Daesch (the Islamic State) as the perpetrator before anyone claimed responsibility for the attack. That supposed ‘claim’ from ISIS came much later in the course of Saturday morning, the morning after.

France is at war – words reminiscent of George Bush and his clan after 9/11. President Hollande declared a state of emergency not unlike Bush’s state of emergency after 9/11… followed by the new Homeland Security/Patriot Act, [which was] waiting in the drawers to be quickly ratified after 9/11…

Similar rules are in place in France since this blood-soaked Saturday morning – a swat of civil rights suspensions, including searches without warrants, curfew, government control of media, increased surveillance, strict border controls, road blocks and traffic control, suppression of protests and manifestations – and more.

Regardless if this is a solo demonstration by radical extremists or not, it certainly helps to push the plan for a one world government. Coincidentally, the G20 leaders summit commencedimmediately after, putting increased governmental “counter-terrorism” controls at the top of the agenda, with G20 leaders pleading with Vladimir Putin to “change course” in Syria following Russia’s recent military campaign against the American-funded IS coalition.

Known aspects of the increasing exposure of the ‘New World Order’ mission include:

The Paris Attacks - What You Need to Consider

RIP All Past, Present and Future Victims of War.

It’s an absolute tragedy that so many innocent people were lost in Paris over the weekend. Whilst we celebrate their lives, we should also pay respect to the thousands of our fellow man killed every day in war-torn and ideology-torn nations all over the globe, particularly in Africa and the Middle East. In addition, the innocent lives that will be lost in response to these ‘terrorist attacks’ should not escape our compassion either.

That’s why the question “could this be a false flag event?” is so important to ask. It might be or it might not. In any case, it’s a good reminder that this is exactly what the shadow government wants — because it plays into their narrative of a necessary globally-coordinated ‘war on terror’.

To reiterate, as all of us should know by now, Al Qaeda and IS have been funded and assisted by the shadow players that are attempting to institute a global governance. All this is welcomed assistance to those working to institute a centuries-old plan of a one world government in which they secure impenetrable control of the world’s resources and affairs.

The migrant crisis in Europe is of course a purposely designed strategy of this power structure, which has infiltrated Western Governments, taken control of the global central banking system, answ bought out the matrix-media. Not only are they attempting to take control of the power, money and resources of the Middle East, but they also knew that when they destabilized the region and ensured that asylum seekers would be fleeing for their lives, that many extremists would also use it as an opportunity to enter into Europe.

This is what we’ve just experienced in Paris, regardless of whether the recent attacks were a direct operation (like 911) of the shadow government.

Whether it was an orchestrated false flag or not, we should also ask: Why France?

Important information to consider is that they will potentially refuse to sign the TTIP, which is a big no-no as it’s a legal precursor to a global legal framework that ensures a corporate and elitist monopolization of the world’s resources (whilst at the same time restricting personal and community liberty). They are also in the process of recognizing Palestine as a sovereign state, which of course undermines the efforts of the Israeli agenda. Their Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned that it would be a “grave mistake” if they did so. Furthermore, an elite banking dynasty is “facing fraud charges in France” for breaching tax law. These may or may not be coincidences; however, they’re important to note as they’re all counter to the agenda of the shadow players.

Ultimately, we need to dig below the surface of “terrorist attacks”. This is all part of a greater design, and we should capitalize on this opportunity — to educate people on the real geopolitical and elitist agendas, which are purposely omitted from the matrix-media narratives that manipulate the collective consciousness.

Final Thoughts

My thoughts are not just with the families who are effected by the events in Paris, but also those who have and will suffer in the short and long term future because of the escalating war on our planet. We should say NO to war, in all forms, as well as NO to the aristocratic class who secretly govern our affairs whilst hiding in plain sight; the true beneficiaries of terrorism. We need real change in our society, not the perpetuation of dying systems and outdated ideologies by a ruling class that we haven’t elected to govern.

Eight of the Most Inspiring Quotes from Buddha

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The Buddha’s teachings just might be the gold standard in living in the now.

In fact, it is thought that Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha was so unconcerned with dates and chronologies, that very few of his works are dated — there is even uncertainty surrounding his date of birth and the date of his death.

This detached-from-time outlook is very much reflected in ancient Indian teachings. As a culture, they believed it was more important to stress the meaning behind the Buddha’s great philosophies.

Today, many of Buddha’s quotes provide us with a calming sense of direction and meaning. They have a unique ability to inspire creativity, drive passion or encourage new ideas. Here are eight of our all-time favorite quotes that we think will really brighten your Friday. Do you have a favorite?