Docs in Japan have found that “nose-brain direct transport” beats injection for delivering a brain cancer-fighting drug:
Nasal chemotherapy with MTX significantly reduced the tumor weight as compared to nontreatment control and IP group. The strategy to utilize the nose−brain direct transport can be applicable to a new therapeutic system not only for brain tumors but also for other central nervous system disorders such as neurodegenerative diseases.
Photo: James Vaughan/Flickr CC
Stress is bad, unless it’s sex that’s stressing your body.
That’s good stress.
LiveScience reports that scientists believe the effects of stress hormones on the brain “can be overridden if whatever experiences triggered them were pleasant.”
Details from an un-sexy Princeton rat study:
Rodents that only saw females once in two weeks had elevated levels of stress hormones, while the rats that had regular access showed no increase in the hormones. Sexually experienced rodents also proved less anxious than virgins, in that they were quicker to chomp down on food in unfamiliar environs.
via Sex Boosts Brain Growth, Study Suggests | Rat Sex | LiveScience.
They're good for each other. Photo: Felix Montino/Flickr CC
A UC Irvine study recently found that teasing a rat’s whiskers prevents the animal from having a stroke.
And the university’s researchers are extrapolating from their results a possible benefit for humans:
In people, “stimulating the fingers, lips or face in general could all have a similar effect,” says UCI doctoral student Melissa Davis, co-author of the study, which appears in the June issue of PLoS One.
In the animal study, the UCI researchers found that the facial stimulation rerouted blood flow to the brain from blocked arteries.
via UC Irvine Release: Whisker stimulation prevents strokes in rats :: UC Irvine TODAY.
South Boston sunbathers. Photo: Scott LaPierre
Robust markers of apoptosis, Annexin V staining, loss of mitochondrial potential, and increased generation of superoxide were observed when cells were treated with ZnO particulate matter but not when treated with comparable concentration of a soluble Zn salt. Both ZnO samples induced similar mechanisms of toxicity, but there was a statistically significant increase in potency per unit mass with the smaller particles.
Good for her. Photo: Vladimer Shioshvili/Flickr CC
Cancers of the mouth and throat are among the deadliest. But if, like me, you drink coffee by the bucket-full, your chances of developing the disease are 40 percent less that non-coffee drinkers.
“Since coffee is so widely used and there is a relatively high incidence and low survival rate of these forms of cancers, our results have important public health implications that need to be further addressed,” Huntsman Cancer Institute (University of Utah) investigator lead researcher Mia Hashibe said in a release this afternoon.
This news comes on the heels of a report last week that coffee might reduce your risk for diabetes…
In other words, if you’ve been following Dr. Andrew Weil’s snake oil advise, and been feeling superior for not being a coffee drinker, you’ve again been misled by the self-appointed sage of alternative medicine.
U. of Utah's Mia Hashibe makes a startling epidemiological finding. Photo: American Association for Cancer Research
More from the announcement:
Using information from a pooled-analysis of nine studies collected by the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium, participants who were regular coffee drinkers, that is, those who drank an estimated four or more cups a day, compared with those who were non-drinkers, had a 39 percent decreased risk of oral cavity and pharynx cancers combined.
Data on decaffeinated coffee was too sparse for detailed analysis, but indicated no increased risk. Tea intake was not associated with head and neck cancer risk.
The association is more reliable among those who are frequent, regular coffee drinkers, consuming more than four cups of coffee a day.
And scientists at Nagoya University say it’s the caffeine. (Note, this is a finding in mice, not humans.)
Take that Andrew Weil!
Weil is the bearded supplements guru, who is for just about anything, until he’s against it (after the science catches up with him). Ditto for the reverse: He has railed against the evils of coffee and black pepper, for example, based on scant evidence that either is bad for you.
Indeed, the evidence is mounting that coffee is an excellent tonic.
Results of the study:
Effects of Coffee Ingestion on Blood Glucose Concentration and Lipid Metabolism in KK-Ay Mice (Experiment 1)
In experiment 1, 4-week-old KK-Ay mice ingested coffee or water as their drinking water for 5 weeks. The body weight, food intake, and tissue weights are shown in Table 1. The final body weight did not differ between the control and coffee groups. The food intake (on days 11−13 and 25−27) was also not different between these two groups. Coffee ingestion reduced subcutaneous or retroperitoneal fat tissue weight, but did not affect epididymal or mesenteric fat tissue or interscapular BAT weights. The liver weight in the coffee group was significantly lower than that in the control group. As shown in Figure 1A, the blood glucose concentration in the control group gradually increased during the course of the experiment, reaching a maximum of 30.2 ± 1.5 mmol/L. After the second week, the blood glucose concentrations in the coffee groups were significantly lower than the respective values in the control group. Finally, blood glucose concentration in the coffee group (19.6 ± 1.7 mM) exhibited a 30% decrease compared with that in the control group (28.1 ± 1.5 mM) (Figure 1A).
Health nut: Photo: H Anderson/Flickr CC
I knew I’d live to see red meat lose its bad boy image.
Turns out that the problem with the meat we’ve been eating is its toxic load, thanks to giant agribusinesses and our huge appetites.
Behold, the Heretic’s four-point harm reduction plan for meat eaters:
We found that processed meats were associated with higher risk of heart disease and diabetes, and then unprocessed red meats were not.
via Not All Red Meats Are Heart-Unhealthy, Study Says | WBUR.
Should these consumers (present and future) be protected from false advertising claims? Photo: nimbin mardi grass 2009/Flickr CC
With cannabis legalization looking like a real possibility in California this fall, growers are understandably worried that they’ll soon be out of business.
But there’s another group of entrepreneurs — the makers of pot smoking and vaporizing paraphernalia — who might also be in for a rude awakening.
Post-legalization, I expect government regulators to be snuffing out bogus product claims, such as those made by the makers of the Gravity Vortex (excerpt from the product website, below).
The company’s website copy strongly suggests that its bong removes as many harmful particulates as vaporizers (emphases are mine):
The Gravity VORTEX is the world’s first portable gravity smoking device that hits like a gravity bong and is smooth like a vaporizer. Winner of the gold medal at the 2006 High Times Cannabis Cup, the VORTEX is quickly taking the smoking world by storm. Clean, cool and smooth hits that wont hurt your lungs. It is made of high quality polycarbonate, so its virtually indestructible and safe to smoke from (sic).
These are exactly the kinds of claims for legal products that the FDA and other agencies already look for…
In fact, since the maker of the Gravity Vortex, Long Beach, Calif.-based Nine Point Eight Entertainment, claims its product is for “tobacco use only,” it may already be in the sites of someone at FDA, and we just have not heard about it yet.
I plan on tracking this story for a while, so stay tuned.
via Gravity VORTEX: Waterfall smoking experience. Powerful as a gravity bong, smooth as a vaporizer.
Photo: Eneas de Troya/Flickr CC
Air pollution is driving-up the blood pressure of the average urban dweller, German scientists report:
“‘Both, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, are higher in people who live in more polluted areas, even if we take important factors that also influence blood pressure like age, gender, smoking, weight, etc. into account. Blood pressure increases were stronger in women than in men.’”
via Higher Blood Pressure Found in People Living in Urban Areas.
Consumerism doesn't work for everyone. Photo: Ernie/Flickr CC
The latest attacks suggest that middle-aged men are struggling to cope in capitalist China. — MB
Loren Coleman suspects the wave of school killings by older males that horrified the Chinese in April, hasn’t ended:
“I have pointed out that in China and Japan, due to their strict firearms laws, such countries tend to manifest their ‘copycat school violence’ in terms of ‘stabbing’ series. Will this current stabbing spree spread to Japan or other Asian nations?”
The attacks, as Coleman suggests (noting what precipitated the attacks, and how they ended), probably reflect an increase suicidal behavior amongst Chinese men, many of whom are struggling to get ahead within their new, ruthless, economy.
Japan and South Korea already lead much of the world in suicides.
Alas, the most recent World Health Organization data for China is 11 years old.
In 1999, the suicide rate for men over 65 was four-to-five times higher than for their middle-aged cohorts. My bet is that the 40-something set has been closing that gap.
via Twilight Language: 3 Days, 3 Attacks.