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News on Health & Science

Pea is Good for Blood Pressure & Kidney

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Researchers have found that proteins in common garden peas can help fight high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease (CKD). CKD patients are actually at highest risk from the cardiovascular complications arising from high blood pressure associated with kidney malfunction.

Peas long have been recognized as healthy, containing protein, dietary fiber and vitamins. The new research focuses on the yellow garden pea, a mainstay pea variety.

Scientists purified a mixture of small proteins called pea protein hydrolysate. When researchers fed small daily doses of the protein mixture to laboratory rats with a severe form of kidney disease, the rats showed a 20 percent drop in blood pressure.

The researchers also report that consumption of the pea extract produced a 30 percent increase in urine production in the diseased rats, bringing their urine to within normal levels.

Sources:
NutraIngredients.com March 24, 2009
American Chemical Society’s 237th National Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah March 22-26, 2009

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News on Health & Science

Scientists Find ‘Pleasure Nerves’

Scientists say they understand more about how the body responds to pleasurable touch.

Mothers use touch to sooth their babies

A team, including scientists from the Unilever company, have identified a class of nerve fibres in the skin which specifically send pleasure messages.

And people had to be stroked at a certain speed – 4-5cm per second – to activate the pleasure sensation.
They say the study, published in Nature Neuroscience, could help understand how touch sustains human relationships.

For many years, scientists have been trying to understand the mechanisms behind how the body experiences pain, and the nerves involved in conveying those messages to the brain.

This is because people can suffer a great deal.

Neuropathy, where the peripheral nervous system is damaged, can be very painful and sometimes the messaging system goes wrong and people feel pain even when there is no cause.
“There are some mechanisms in place that are associated with behaviour and reward which are there to ensure relationships continue “ Says  Professor Francis McGlone
Hairy skin
But the researchers involved in this work were looking to understand the opposite sensation – pleasure.
This research, which also involved experts at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and at the University of North Carolina, recorded nerve responses in 20 people.

They then tested how people responded to having their forearm skin stroked at a range of different speeds.
They identified “C-tactile” nerve fibres as those stimulated when people said a touch had been pleasant.

If the stroke was faster or slower than the optimum speed, the touch was not pleasurable and the nerve fibres were not activated.

The scientists also discovered that the C-tactile nerve fibres are only present on hairy skin, and are not found on the hand.

Professor Francis McGlone, now based at Unilever after an academic career where he carried out research into nerve response, says this is likely to be a deliberate “design”.

“We believe this could be Mother Nature‘s way of ensuring that mixed messages are not sent to the brain when it is in use as a functional tool.”

He said the speed at which people found arm-stroking pleasurable was the same as that which a mother uses to comfort a baby, or couples use to show affection.

Professor McGlone said it was part of the evolutionary mechanism that sustained relationships between adults, or with children.

“Our primary impulse as humans is procreation, but there are some mechanisms in place that are associated with behaviour and reward which are there to ensure relationships continue.”

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Sources: BBC NEWS :April-12. ’09

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Animal Hide, Shell & Others

Haliotidis (Abalone Shell)

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Latin Plant Name: Concha Haliotidis
Pinyin Mandarin Name: Shi Jue Ming

Common English Name: Abalone Shell

Chinese Name:Shi jue ming

Part of Plant Used: Whole shell

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES
Properties: Salty in flavour, cold in nature, it acts on liver channel. It is effective for nourishing Yin and checking exuberance of yang, clearing away the from the liver to improve vision, relieving dizziness due to liver-yang and conjunctival congestion due to liver-heat.
Origin: It is the shell of Halio tis diversicolor Reeve, H. gigantea discus Reeve and H.ovina Chemnitz, family Halio tidae.

Property, taste and attributive meridian.
Salty in taste, cold in property. Enters the liver meridian.
Effects: Calming the liver-yang and checking exuberance of Yang, clearing away heat from the liver to improve vision.

General Usage: To be decocted before adding other ingredients.
Meridians Entered: Liver, Kidneys

Common Medicinal  Usages:
Action:
To subdue hyperactivity of the liver, quench its fire and improve eyesight.

Indications: Headache and dizziness; blurred vision due to nebula, optic atrophy and night blindness.

This herb is used in formulas to treat high blood pressure, eye redness with light sensitivity, blurred vision, glaucoma, cataracts, headaches behind eyes, and spasms (TCM: Liver imbalances with heat symptoms).

Traditional Usages and Functions:
Quells fire and causes Yang to descend; brightens eyes and causes superficial visual obstructions to recede.

Common Formulas Used In : Rehmannia and Dogwood Fruit.
Processing : Required

Cautions in Use; Do not use during pregnancy. Not useful in most cases where there are no heat symptoms.

Click to see ->:Concha Haliotidis (Shi Jue Ming) – Improves Eyesight

Resources:
http://www.acupuncture-and-chinese-medicine.com/haliotidis.html
http://www.fzrm.com/plantextracts/sea-ear_shell_extract.htm
http://www.tcmtreatment.com/herbs/0-shijueming.htm

http://www.enwei.com.cn/b2b_en/page.asp?title=shijueming

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Featured

‘Thyroid Drug Can Hurt Liver, Kill Kids’

A pill used for thyroid disease can cause fatal liver failure in children and should no longer be used to treat them, two doctors warn. Doctors  usually first try either propylthiouracil or methimazole to treat children with Graves’ disease, the most common cause of an overactive thyroid. Other treatments are surgery and radioactive iodine.

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But over the past 60 years, reports have popped up linking the use of propylthiouracil in children to liver failure, sometimes fatal or requiring a liver transplant.

Propylthiouracil, or PTU, is also a primary treatment for adults with Graves’ disease, but there appear to be fewer liver complications in adults, according to Donald R Mattison of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Mattison and Dr Scott A Rivkees of Yale University School of Medicine noticed the problem in children and decided to do some research and publicize the issue to doctors.

They estimate that five to 10 children die each year from complications of the drug, based on reports to the Food and Drug Administration and others, Mattison said in an interview.

In a letter published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine, the doctors urged colleagues not to give propylthiouracil as an initial treatment to children for an overactive thyroid.

Mattison said there are no guidelines for treating Graves’ disease in children, and most doctors don’t know of this danger. Only about 8,000 youngsters have the disease and paediatricians might see only one or two cases in their career.

Methimazole, sold both as a generic and under the brand name Tapazole, also can hurt the liver, but the damage is less severe and causes obvious symptoms. The damage is reversible once use of the drug stops, unlike with propylthiouracil.

Mattison noted methimazole is becoming more popular because it can be taken just once a day, versus two or three times a day for PTU.

Parents should contact their doctor before taking a child off either treatment, he said.

Sources: The Times Of India

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Featured

Our Body Clock Regulates Our Metabolism

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Scientists have discovered that your circadian rhythms regulate the energy levels in your cells. In addition, the proteins involved with circadian rhythms and metabolism are intrinsically linked and dependent upon each other. This finding has far-reaching implications, which could include new ways to treat cancer, diabetes, obesity and a host of related diseases.

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24-hour circadian rhythms govern fundamental physiological functions in almost all organisms. These circadian clocks are the essential time-tracking systems in your body. Disruption of these rhythms can profoundly influence human health.

In a new study, researchers showed that an enzyme protein which is an essential molecular gear of the circadian machinery interacts with a protein that senses cell energy levels and modulates aging and metabolism.

This suggests that proper sleep and diet may help maintain or rebuild the balance between your circadian clock and your metabolism, and could also help explain why lack of rest or disruption of normal sleep patterns can increase hunger, leading to obesity-related illnesses and accelerated aging.

Sources: Science Daily March 19, 2009

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