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Archive for the ‘Health News’ Category

After years of speculation about whether the intake of spirits caused the secretion of endorphins, a study by the University of California definitely confirmed.

A study by the University of California (USA) published in Science Translational Medicine have shown for the first time in humans that alcohol releases endorphins. After nearly thirty years of speculation about whether the intake of spirits caused the secretion of these proteins in certain areas of the brain which produces feelings of pleasure that leads to addiction-this definitely confirms university.

“We descubiero that endorphins are released into the nucleus accumbens and orbitofrontal cortex, says researcher Jennifer Mitchell, who adds that this finding will” improve the methods and medications to treat alcohol problems. “

To reach these conclusions, the researchers analyzed brain responses of 13 people with a high consumption of alcohol, and other 12 who did not drink as usual. In all cases, alcohol intake was a release of endorphins, but the feeling was unanimous pleasure only “when endorphins are released in the nucleus accumbens.”

However, when these proteins were released in the orbitofrontal cortex “only positive feelings increased in heavy drinkers.” This indicates that “the brain of alcoholics is modified so that they find most pleasurable consumption of alcohol,” explains Mitchell. Read the rest of this entry »

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a new strategy to protect the liver from damage induced by drugs and improve drug safety. In their report, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, the team reports that the inhibition of cellular communication type can protect against damage caused by toxic drugs to the liver, such as acetaminophen. “Our findings suggest that this therapy could be a clinically viable strategy for treating patients with drug-induced liver damage,” says Dr. Suraj Patel, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, author of the paper, adding that “This work also has the potential to change the way drugs are developed and formulated, which could improve drug safety by getting a lower risk of liver toxicity.”

Develop, approve and prescribe a drug requires that the therapeutic benefits outweigh the potential side effects. Liver toxicity limits the development of many therapeutic compounds, and presents major challenges for clinical medicine and the pharmaceutical industry. The drug-induced liver injury is the most common cause of acute liver failure in the U.S., and is also the most common reason for early withdrawal of certain treatments. Since there are currently no pharmaceutical strategies for the prevention of drug-induced liver injury, treatment options are limited to discontinuing the offending drug, supportive care and liver transplantation for end-stage failure.

Gap junctions (gap junctions) are hollow channels that connect neighboring cells and allow direct intercellular communication between coupled cells. In the heart, these unions propagate electrical activity necessary for contraction, but so far, its role in the liver was poorly defined. Now, this new study has shown that the sets of signals broadcast junctions immune injured liver cells to nearby cells in good condition, extending the general inflammation and injury. Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Loren Borud was born in Minot, North Dakota. He became interested in medicine after finishing high school and he took up two majors in college and graduated with a diploma for Physics and Human Biology. After that he proceeded for his MD at Harvard Medical School. He later on went to UCLA for his residency and did some research for plastic surgery. It was during the 90’s at his stint in Los Angeles where he was a resident for general surgery that he had his first experience assisting on bariatric surgery. That time this type of surgery was only done on patients that are severely morbidly obese because it could lead to several complications then. The doctors had to weigh the benefits and the consequences of the procedure and that time the use of anesthesia was also considered dangerous once done during this type of procedure.

Now, Dr. Loren Borud sees the difference of the procedure done then and how it’s done now. That is because of the continued advances both in the techniques for surgery and also in anesthesia that made it possible for bariatric surgery to be a common procedure done on patients with weight difficulties. In 2003 alone, there had been 100,000 cases of bariatric surgery in the United States and more are done in other countries. For Dr. Borud he specializes in body contouring which is a post bariatric surgery procedure.

The IBS symptoms may not be the same from one individual to the next.  Generally, the symptoms can be divided into three phases, i.e. mild, moderate and severe.  Sometimes even the symptoms experienced by the same person may differ from one day to the next.

The severity of IBS symptoms may be influenced by several factors.  One of the most common factors is associated with food intake.  Many IBS sufferers are not able to digest a lot of different foods that normal people will find no issues whatsoever.  Even the most common foods like onion, flour and sometimes sugar can create severe digestion problems.  Therefore, it is crucial that a thorough diet plan is figured out so that all the troublesome foods can be recognized and eliminated from the safe menu list.

A good way of recognizing the type of foods that can or cannot be consumed is by having a diary.  Every day you must jot down the foods you eat and observe the consequences if there are any.  By doing this you will be able to stay away from eating foods that can trigger the symptoms of IBS.

For example, if you often experience bloating the types of foods that should be avoided are sweeteners and soluble fiber.  This means you can avoid bloating by staying away from soda and alcoholic beverages, coffee and candies.

Everybody who has been infected with cold sore will definitely want to find the most effective cold sore treatment.  The symptoms are discomforting and can cause severe embarrassments.  Cold sores can occur in several parts of the body but the most common ones may occur on the facial area particularly around the mouth.  This infection is also known as fever blister, and the good thing is that it can be treated using the right medication.

If you want any cold sore treatment to become most effective, you need to avoid from eating foods that can trigger its development.  Citrus fruits are among the foods that should be avoided.  This is because citrus fruits contain a specific type of amino acid known as ‘arginine’.  This acid is not only found in citrus fruits but also in chocolates, carbonated beverages, seafood and many types of nuts.  By avoiding these foods you can reduce the frequency of cold sore outbreaks as well as speeding up the healing time.

Salty foods should also be avoided because these foods can make the outbreaks become more painful and itching.  Apart from that avoid caffeinated drinks as well because it potentially increases the number of outbreaks.

The use of cold sore medication has been proven to be effective.  The medication is used topically and it eliminates the cold sore symptoms in just a few days.