Category: heal

There's a reason why nonprofit organizations like La Leche League exist--mothers are receiving increasingly mixed information on whether or not to breast feed their newborn babies.  LLL recently scheduled awareness events throughout the US last August 1-7, as the period marked World Breast Feeding Week.  But it seems every related organization will have to pick up the pace against companies who continue to spread confusion.

According to a report conducted by the Boston University School of Medicine, new mothers tend to leave the hospital with a doctor's recommendation for exclusive breast-feeding for the first 6 months, but also a basket full of free baby formula samples and discount coupons.  Researcher Anne Merewood told Reuters the prevalence of sample formula distribution is "disturbing and incongruous given extensive opposition, but encouraging trends suggest that the practice may be curtailed in the future."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are against the use of manufactured formulas for newborn babies, as are the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the World Health Organization.

With all these heavy weights shouting their disapproval, one would think the problem could almost resolve itself.  While current trends indicate that fewer hospitals are giving away formula samples, it's still estimated that only 11 percent of infants in the US are exclusively breast-fed for 6 months.  The Boston University study indicates that the free formulas undermine natural breast feeding with some sort of believe that babies need more--prevalent advertising in parenting magazines doesn't help the cause either.

Organizations like La Leche League give a voice to a process that does not generate money--sucking the natural milk from the breast of a mother.  The procedure dates back to the dawn of time (I believe) and has secured our evolution of a species up till the 20th Century--the only problem now is that it doesn't stimulate the economy.

For many, the work place can feel like imprisonment--a necessary, inconvenient, and sometimes oppressive sacrifice of freedom to obtain the means of survival.  For at least one employer, however, she sees a potential for the environment to provide a profound sense of fulfillment and in the process generating far more productivity and profits.

Shankari the Alchemist, the world renowned jewelry designer of Talismans of Power by Shankari, pays her employees to meditate for the first hour of every work day.  At eight am her staff meets in a modest sized ballroom with carved stone dragon pillars and timber floors to do nothing except sit, breathe, and clear their minds to focus on the now--yoga and quiet Hindu chants are encouraged as well.

"People who are balanced and happy do great work," says Shankari.  "The first hour of each day is an investment in the quality of the work.  It sets the tone for the rest of the day and the good will created carries into each piece of jewelry and ultimately to the wearer.  This creates a product that not only looks great but it has spiritual integrity as well.  I think consumers really care about that sort of thing.  These days you must walk your talk to be taken seriously."

Talismans of Power jewelry is known for its original, homemade look and feel--there is a certain logic at play for happy workers to create such a product.

Shankari would love to see meditation become more widespread in other work places, but even she has to admit a certain image comes with the practice that doesn't quite jive with western thought systems.  As Andy Puddicombe notes on the corporate news site Management-Issues, "For most people the word meditation conjures up images of shaven-headed monks and nuns sitting in mountain retreats high in the himalayas.  Very few people would associate it with their office or place of work."

But as any practicing Buddhist can tell you, it isn't the place that is sacred, rather the person who makes it so.  People who can find a sense of meaning in their environment and work are bound to treat it more seriously, or if nothing else, they realize the helpful service it provides to another and still perform it well even if they are personally detached.

For any employers considering testing it out in the work place, know this:  at least meditation is cost-free.  As far as I see it, there's nothing to lose in giving it a shot.

Alabama, ranked the second fattest state in the US according to Calorie Lab, Inc., is determined to change its status by becoming the first in the nation to issue a "Fat Tax" to state employees.  Starting January 2011, employees will be required to receive medical screenings for several conditions, including body mass index.  

Those considered obese or who have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or high glucose will have to pay $25 a month more in health insurance--it will affect more than 37,000 Alabama residents.  The state already charges smokers a $24 per month surcharge, and expects to increase it to $25 next month.  

According to the Daily News Los Angeles, the government came up with an idea to encourage weight loss, as well as make some extra "dough in the process."  Whether or not officials are actually concerned about Alabama's health and reputation is up for debate, but there's no denying that the legislature will increase the State's Budget.  

With just over 30% of its population classifying as obese, that means the State would collect $25 for every 1 in 3 employees.  This would total $309,000 per month in dues, meaning $3.7 million annually.

But what exactly does Alabama consider fat?  According to WalletPop.com the standards for "healthy" aren't at all unreasonable--anyone with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or under will avoid paying the monthly fee.  This means that somebody who is 5'9" tall would have to weigh under 240 pounds (A BMI chart can be viewed here). Medically speaking, anyone with a BMI over 30 is considered obese. 

Tax dollars cover the health care of state employees, and such legislature could become more common as a way to cover the increasing costs of medical insurance without angering a large percentage of the voters.  

 Dr. Ken Ng and Dr. Ian Larson from Monash University’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have discovered a new nanoparticle that “protects antioxidants from being destroyed in the gut and ensures a better chance of them being absorbed in the digestive tract.” (Monash University – ENN)

The newly designed nanoparticle, which is one-thousandth the thickness of a human hair, is tiny and sponge-like and used as a protective vehicle for the antioxidants, allowing the body to better absorb them. Researchers from the University are calling it a “nano-sized “trojan horse” particle.” “For catechins - the class of antioxidants under examination and among the most potent dietary antioxidants – only between 0.11 and 1.1 percent of the amount consumed makes it into our blood. If we can improve that rate, the benefits are enormous,” Dr. Ng stated in the report.

Antioxidants are known for neutralizing harmful free radicals that get trapped in the body and other “reactive chemical species.” High-risk individuals, such as those with a poor diet, usually require a larger dose. The problem with previous oral antioxidants is that acid or enzymes in the human body easily destroy them, “with only a small percentage of what it consumed actually being absorbed.” This solution will make those a thing of the past. “Antioxidants sit within this tiny trojan horse, protecting it from attack from digestive juices in the stomach,” Dr. Larson claims in the University report.

The team hopes that by mastering this specific technique, other drugs will soon be able to be processed and better absorbed within the bodily system. Trials of the research project will start in early 2009. And though the experiment is still in its early stages, Dr. Ng hopes to also test placing such nanoparticles into food items, “similar to adding Omega-3 to bread or milk,” the report read. 

Sad news came from Australia recently--the two-month-old humpback whale that was trying to suckle from yachts will be euthanized.

Abandoned baby "Colin," as the Australians nick-named him, continued to swim around the waters of Pittwater Bay until his health degenerated considerably.  Several rescue missions to lore him to the open sea failed, and marine researchers declared euthanasia the most humane solution as the creature appeared to be physically suffering.  He was administered a sedative before being injected several hours later with a lethal dose of drugs.

The final hours surrounding Colin's life proved to be some of the most lively in the country.  While some respected the decision to euthanize, others protested and criticized wildlife officials for not doing enough to feed him.  Reporters were blocked from visiting the Pittwater Inlet via land, and police physically blocked a boat carrying journalists and members of a rescue group.  It was without a doubt the biggest local media invent in the region.

The Associated Press reported that Colin also received a visit from the world famous Aboriginal whale whisperer Bunna Lawrie:

Adorned with feathers on his head and white paint markings on his face, Lawrie reached into the water to stroke Colin while singing a humming, tongue-rolling tune.

But after a few minutes the whale swam away to nuzzle a nearby yacht.

"He's missing the big fellas," said Lawrie, whose visit was broadcast on Channel 10 television.

For a little while, it seems the country greatly united over one heart-wrenching situation facing a single living creature.

According to recent evidence, our teeth and gums shouldn't be seen as somehow separate from the rest of our body.  The fact that we have dentists and doctors that operate on two different areas pounds this notion into our subconscious, but researchers are finding a direct correlation between the health of our mouths and the rest of our bodies.

Several studies over the years have been published detailing the link, suggesting that something like gum disease might be a sort of early warning system, with poor oral health linked to kidney and heart disease, diabetes, preterm labor, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease and even certain types of cancer.  There are still many questions and uncertainty as to how exactly the link works, but Vincent J. Iacono, president of the American Academy of Periodontology shed some perspective in 2005:

"It is like setting up a garbage dump on the edge of a river.  You wouldn't be surprised if the lake downstream ended up polluted with the garbage from the dump."  

In gum disease, the tissue that surrounds the bones supporting the teeth become inflamed or infected.  This often results from the accumulation of bacteria in the plaque under the tissue holding the teeth.  The bacteria then releases toxins that begin to destroy the bone.  Researchers believe they circulate through the blood stream and cause damage in other bodily regions.  

As it is now, doctors and dentists rarely ever cross paths.  Both read separate journals and attend different conferences, but perhaps the two fields will unite closer in the near future.  

World Water Week kicked off in Stockholm Sweden, where sanitation and hygiene took precedence as this year’s themes.

World Water Week was first organized in 1991 and has become an increasingly important forum for finding solutions to the world’s increasing amount of water issues

As water becomes an increasingly scarce resource, the fact that almost half of the world’s population lacks proper toilet facilities becomes a more difficult problem to solve in terms of sanitation and hygiene having a greater impact on public health.

The convention opened this past Monday, kicking off with a meeting entitled "Progress and Prospects on Water: For a Clean and Healthy World," which focuses on the harms that can and will arise from the lack of proper facilities for 2.6 billion people.

"It's not very popular to talk about toilets and excrement and where to go when you are menstruating. This is something that makes people feel uncomfortable," Stephanie Blenckner, spokeswoman for the Stockholm International Water Institute that is organising the event, told the Agence France Presse (AFP).

"Five thousand children die every day of diarrhea because of a lack of hygiene and sanitation and nobody really cares," Blenckner said, stressing that educating decision-makers about these issues was a priority.

Further straining the world’s water supply are many of the same factors that contribute to global warming, including Climate change, soaring population numbers and the rapid economic development of Asia and Africa.

To combat these factors, talks this week will focus on how sanitation, water supply, ecosystem management and economic development can all be coordinated.

Also to be discussed will be mankind’s impact on the environment as well as finding concrete solutions on how to improve human behavior to positively change the water situation.

30 countries, 20% of the world’s population currently face water shortages, a figure that is expected to increase to 30% by 2025, according to the United Nations which has declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation.

Perhaps you've noticed; gasoline is a little bit cheaper lately.  For the first time in weeks (months?) the national average for fuel costs dropped below $4.00 a gallon. In Washington D.C., a prayer group is taking credit for the relief.

According to the BBC, 59-year-old Rocky Twyman started "Pray At The Pump" meetings at gas stations this past April.  Apparently God has a stake in Americans' wallets:  "We don't have anybody else to turn to but God," Mr. Twyman told the BBC.  "We have to turn these problems over to God and not to man."

Twyman has been traveling to gas pumps across the country, bringing and attracting new followers in every town.  It started in D.C.'s working class neighborhood Petworth, where volunteers from the First Seventh Day Adventist Church led him in singing "We shall overcome," but with changing the words to "We'll have lower gas prices."  He said they had some of their best success in St. Louis, Missouri and in Huntsville, Alabama.  In the latter, he said the owner of a station came out and immediately lowered the prices after his group finished praying there.  

Despite reaching to spiritual forces to sustain what could be arguably classified as our nation's "oil addiction," Twyman believes we still need to change our habits by carpooling and learning to organize our day's more efficiently.  

Doctors are being called into question lately concerning the amount of time allotted when removing a deceased patient’s organs. Improving odds of success, but also raising serious ethical questions about organ harvesting, doctors, for example, who wait only “75 seconds after the final heartbeat before removing the hearts of dying newborns” (Gene Emery, Reuters) are being interrogated by people of the medical community.

The cases concerning 2 children who died between May 2004 and May 2007, along with a third case where doctors only waited 3 minutes before decapitating organs from the body, are in a detailed report and a “series of commentaries” in the New England Journal of Medicine. Theses cases are controversial because the recommended time by the Institute of Medicine is 5 minutes, unless the patient has been deemed brain dead. These three cases all included sever brain damage, though none were completely brain dead. However, the quick action doctors did manage to save the lives of 3 other infants. The journal’s executive editor Dr. Gregory Curfman points out the need for infant transplants by writing, “Each year, as many as 50 infants are placed on the waiting list for cardiac transplantation but die while waiting, owing to the lack of a suitable donor heart.”

The longer an “oxygen-starved heart” sits within a warm chest cavity, there is less likelihood the organ can be successfully transplanted. Which is why doctors feel they must make a swift decision on a dying infant’s behalf. Still, there is a thin ethical line surrounding the issue of defining “circulatory death” which determines when the heart has beaten for the last time. Since there has never been a case where the heart has restarted after 60 seconds, doctors waited only 75 seconds in two of the previously mentioned cases, and waited 3 minutes after what appeared to be the last and final heartbeat.

The doctors claim they did everything they felt was necessary before removing the organs for further use. All three cases took as long as 27.5 minutes to decide the inevitability of death, and in all cases the infants were given painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs before life support was removed. Curfman points out that “as a result of their investigational protocol, three babies are now alive.” Had the procedure gone on any longer, all 6 infants would now be dead.

Though some doctors like Dr. James Bernat of Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire and Dr. Robert Veatch of Georgetown University disagree with this consensus and believe harvesting after 75 seconds is hasty. “Removing organs from a patient whose heart not only can be restarted, but also has been or will be restarted in another body, is ending a life by organ removal,” Veatch said in the journal’s report.

In the last few weeks, the Internet has been abuzz with reports that granite countertops may be a health hazard disguised as a luxury item. An article on WebMD.com presents both sides of the argument.

A story in the New York Times detailed the research of Rice University physics professor William Llope, PhD, which found potentially dangerous levels of radiation in some tested samples of granite used in countertops.

New York State Health Department research scientist Michael Kitto, PhD, says only a small fraction of the granite samples he has tested have emitted radon at levels that were over those considered safe.

But he added that a few of his samples showed levels that were high enough to alarm him.

The EPA states, “While radon levels attributable to granite are not typically high, there are simply too many variables to generalize about the potential health risks inside a particular home that has granite countertops.”

The largest source of radon in the home is from the ground. According to one expert, any radon from countertops would diffuse into the air, rather than entering the lungs of inhabitants.

Other experts aren’t so sure. Llope says that all the granite he tested emitted some amount of radiation. He feels that more testing needs to be done before there can be any definitive statement made about whether or not granite is definitely dangerous.

It seems that there a lot of variables when it comes to whether or not granite emits radiation and how much, including where the granite was quarried.

Until more definite results are available, you can test for radon yourself, or just avoid granite altogether for now.