Wednesday March 4, 2009
Open Your Eyes to Healthy Eating Habits
Business Wire 03-03-09
ST. LOUIS, Mar 03, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- In honor of March's Save Your Vision Month, the American Optometric Association (AOA) reminds Americans that caring for eyes includes paying attention to nutrition.
Approximately 43 million Americans suffer from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or cataracts, the two leading causes of vision loss and blindness. Based on research from multiple studies, there is a strong correlation between good nutrition and the prevention of these age-related eye diseases. By eating foods rich in key nutrients -- antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin, essential fatty acids, vitamins C and E and the mineral zinc -- you can help protect your eye sight and vision.
Research shows that 30 million (or one out of four) Americans age 40 and older suffer from some level of vision loss. According to the AOA's 2008 American Eye-Q(R) survey, which assesses public knowledge and understanding of a wide range of issues related to eye and visual health, only 29 percent of Americans are coping with vision loss or other eye problems by increasing nutrients for healthy eyes.
Healthy Fruits and Vegetables
Together, the AOA and registered dietician Elizabeth Somer recommend eating a diet with a variety of foods loaded with key nutrients for maintaining and improving eye health, such as lutein (LOO-teen) and zeaxanthin.
The American Eye-Q(R) survey showed that nearly half of all Americans (48 percent) still believe carrots are the best food for eye health. While carrots do contain nutritional value by supplying the provitamin A beta-carotene - which is essential for night vision -spinach and other dark, leafy greens prove to be the healthiest foods for eyes because they naturally contain large amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin.
The AOA, along with nutritional ingredient manufacturers Kemin and DSM, recommend the following foods which contain the key nutrients for eye health:
-- Lutein and zeaxanthin: Colorful fruits and vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, kale, corn, green beans, peas, oranges and tangerines
-- Essential fatty acids: Fatty fish like tuna, salmon, or herring, whole grain foods, chicken and eggs
-- Vitamin C: Fruits and vegetables, including oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, papaya, green peppers and tomatoes
-- Vitamin E: Vegetable oils, such as safflower or corn oil, almonds, pecans, sweet potatoes, and sunflower seeds
-- Zinc: Extra-lean red meat, poultry, liver, shellfish, milk, baked beans, and whole grains
To learn more, please visit http://www.aoa.org Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5908117&lang=en
SOURCE: American Optometric Association
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=7963&Section=Nutrition
Hormone found in fat tissue a paradox
United Press International 03-03-09
CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Mar 3, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- The obese are more apt to suffer from diabetes, heart disease or stroke, but are more likely to survive an attack from those conditions, U.S. researchers say.
University of Illinois scientists Gregory Freund and Christina Sherry say the phenomenon is called the obesity paradox.
"We know that leptin, a hormone secreted by fat tissue, plays a key role in regulating the immune system. When we exposed mice to hypoxia -- simulating an event, such as a heart attack -- leptin triggered the immune system to increase production of an anti-inflammatory molecule, interleukin-1 receptor antagonist," Freund said in a statement.
The researchers then gave non-obese mice leptin injections and they recovered three times faster, Sherry said.
In the study, published in Endocrinology, one group of mice was fed a high-fat diet for 12 weeks, while another group was fed a normal diet. The obese mice recovered from acute hypoxia five times faster than the mice fed normal diets.
In a second experiment, Freund and Sherry examined macrophages -- immune cells -- that were resident in fat tissue from both groups of mice. In mice fed the high-fat diet, there was a very significant increase in interleukin-1 receptor as compared to mice fed the normal diet.
"Our hypothesis is that the macrophages from animals fed the high-fat diet are making more interleukin-1 receptor because they're 'living' in an environment of significantly increased leptin," Sherry said.
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=7964&Section=Disease
Vitamins may help coeliac disease management: Study
Nutraingredients.com, 04-Mar-2009
Daily supplements of B vitamins may improve the overall health of people with coeliac disease by reducing levels of an amino acid linked to heart disease, says a new Dutch study.
A study with 51 adults with coeliac disease and 50 healthy controls found that people taking daily supplements of vitamin B6, folate, and vitamin B12 had significantly lower levels of the amino acid homocysteine, according to findings published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.
Epidemiological studies have reported that increased blood levels of homocysteine may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). It has been suggested that by lowering the levels of homocysteine in the blood with B-vitamins, people could cut the risk of CVD.
“This study demonstrated that patients with celiac disease using B vitamin supplements had lower homocysteine levels than those who did not use B vitamin supplements,” wrote the authors, led by Muhammed Hadithi from VUmc University Medical Center in Amsterdam.
“Second, even if villous atrophy persists, B-vitamin supplements can normalize B6, folate, B12 status, and homocysteine levels.”
People with coeliac disease, an intolerance to gluten in wheat, are reportedly at increased risk of having high levels of the amino acid homocysteine.
Coeliac disease, a condition reported to affect up to 1 per cent of children and 1.2 per cent of adults, according to a study in the BMJ’s Gut journal. Because coeliac disease is a typical example of a malabsorption syndrome, sufferers are at increased risk of various deficiency states, including folate and vitamin B12, said the Dutch researchers. Furthermore, high homocysteine levels, or hyperhomocysteinemia, are significantly more frequent in newly diagnosed coeliac disease patients than healthy controls.
Study details
Hadithi and his co-workers recruited 51 people with coeliac disease and compared them with 50 health people. Coeliac disease patients who used the vitamin supplements had higher serum levels of all three B-vitamins, said the researchers, compared to non-users.
Furthermore, homocysteine levels were significantly lower in patients using vitamin supplements than in patients who did not or healthy controls. And while both B6 and folate were significantly and independently associated with homocysteine levels, no association was observed for B12.
“The consequences of higher homocysteine levels in celiac disease may include an increased tendency to develop occlusive venous and arterial disease,” wrote the researchers. “Although this has been an understudied area, data are emerging that celiac disease confers an increased risk of vascular complications.”
Source: World Journal of Gastroenterology
2009, Volume 15, Issue 8, Pages 955-960
“Effect of B vitamin supplementation on plasma homocysteine levels in celiac disease”
Authors: M. Hadithi, C.J.J. Mulder, F. Stam, J. Azizi, J.B.A. Crusius, A.S. Pena, C.D.A. Stehouwer, Y.M. Smulders
Vitamins-may-help-coeliac-disease-management-Study
Most Canadian kids are omega-3 deficient: study
Nutraingredients.com, 03-Mar-2009
North American children do not receive enough omega-3 in their diets, according to new research which found only 22 percent of young children received adequate amounts of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA.
The researchers from the University of Guelph in Ontario found daily consumption of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) at 38.4mg and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) 54.1mg, in a sample group of 4-8 year-olds.
At these levels only 22 percent of the 41 Canadian children trialed received Institute of Medicine-recommended levels for EPA and DHA.
In comparison, at 1161mg per day, 61 percent of children received adequate alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) levels, a fact the researchers put down to its wider availability in the diet.
“The substantial intake of ALA is not surprising in view of its common occurrence in canola oil, soybean oil, flaxseed, walnuts, and processed foods containing these ingredients as constituents,” the researchers wrote.
But the researchers did not go as far as to say whether, “this apparently low level of longer-chain omega-3 intake results in suboptimal health in this age group.”
Methods and findings
The research, published in the March edition of the Journal of Nutrition, analyzed the dietary patterns of the 41 children over three days, found EPA and DHA was mostly consumed in the form of fish and seafood and represented only seven percent of total omega-3 intake.
Comparison was made with a recent Australian and New Zealand study that found only 51 percent of children met the intake for EPA/DHA and another long-chain omega-3 fatty acid, DPA (docosapentaenoic acid).
With the assistance of parents, they collected data from a typical week day as well as a weekend day in a three-day window.
The researchers said it was the first rigorously obtained evidence demonstrating DHA and EPA deficiencies among Canadian children.
They concluded: “There is an apparent need to create greater awareness of the importance of the long-chain (LC) omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) among both health professionals and the general public as well as the existing gap between actual and recommended intakes from various sources. This gap can be readily filled with an increased consumption of fish/seafood containing DHA/EPA, the increased availability of foods that have been nutritionally enriched with various delivery forms of LC PUFA (DHA/EPA), and the use of supplementation where necessary.”
Source: Journal of Nutrition
Most-Canadian-kids-are-omega-3-deficient-study
Vitamin D often low in kids with kidney disease
Last Updated: 2009-03-03 15:55:54 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Vitamin D deficiency is "rampant" among children with chronic kidney disease, new research shows.
The researchers explain that kids with kidney disease are prone to poor bone development, and vitamin D deficiency is a major underlying cause of the condition.
As reported in the medical journal Pediatrics, Dr. Craig B. Langman and colleagues at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago examined the extent of vitamin D deficiency in children with chronic kidney disease before and after guidelines were put into place targeting this problem.
Rates of outright vitamin D deficiency, ranged from 20 percent to 75 percent between 1987 and 1996, before the guidelines were issued. Among a contemporary group of children tested in 2005 and 2006, the rate of vitamin D deficiency was still 39 percent.
Langman's team found that average vitamin D levels in such children were similar before and after the guidelines.
They say restoring vitamin D levels is crucial for maintaining bone health, growth, and regulation of the immune system, as well as for reducing the risk for cardiovascular disease and of several types of cancer.
SOURCE: Pediatrics, March 2009.
20090303elin027.html
Vaccines as Biological Weapons? Live Avian Flu Virus Placed in Baxter Vaccine Materials Sent to 18 Countries
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) There's a popular medical thriller novel in which a global pandemic is intentionally set off by an evil plot designed to reduce the human population. In the book, a nefarious drug company inserts live avian flu viruses into vaccine materials that are distributed to countries around the world to be injected into patients as "flu shots." Those patients then become carriers for these highly-virulent strains of avian flu which go on to infect the world population and cause widespread death.
There's only one problem with this story: It's not fiction. Or, at least, the part about live avian flu viruses being inserted into vaccine materials isn't fiction. It's happening right now.
Deerfield, Illinois-based pharmaceutical company Baxter International Inc. has just been caught shipping live avian flu viruses mixed with vaccine material to medical distributors in 18 countries. The "mistake" (if you can call it that, see below...) was discovered by the National Microbiology Laboratory in Canada. The World Health Organization was alerted and panic spread throughout the vaccine community as health experts asked the obvious question: How could this have happened?
As published on LifeGen.de (http://www.lifegen.de/newsip/showne...), serious questions like this are being raised:
"Baxter International Inc. in Austria 'unintentionally contaminated samples with the bird flu virus that were used in laboratories in 3 neighbouring countries, raising concern about the potential spread of the deadly disease'. Austria, Germany, Slowenia and the Czech Republic - these are the countries in which labs were hit with dangerous viruses. Not by bioterrorist commandos, but by Baxter. In other words: One of the major global pharmaceutical players seems to have lost control over a virus which is considered by many virologists to be one of the components leading some day to a new pandemic."
Or, put another way, Baxter is acting a whole lot like a biological terrorism organization these days, sending deadly viral samples around the world. If you mail an envelope full of anthrax to your Senator, you get arrested as a terrorist. So why is Baxter -- which mailed samples of a far more deadly viral strain to labs around the world -- getting away with saying, essentially, "Oops?"
But there's a bigger question in all this: How could this company have accidentally mixed LIVE avian flu viruses (both H5N1 and H3N2, the human form) in this vaccine material?
Was the viral contamination intentional?
The shocking answer is that this couldn't have been an accident. Why? Because Baxter International adheres to something called BSL3 (Biosafety Level 3) - a set of laboratory safety protocols that prevent the cross-contamination of materials.
As explained on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosaf...):
"Laboratory personnel have specific training in handling pathogenic and potentially lethal agents, and are supervised by competent scientists who are experienced in working with these agents. This is considered a neutral or warm zone. All procedures involving the manipulation of infectious materials are conducted within biological safety cabinets or other physical containment devices, or by personnel wearing appropriate personal protective clothing and equipment. The laboratory has special engineering and design features."
Under the BSL3 code of conduct, it is impossible for live avian flu viruses to contaminate production vaccine materials that are shipped out to vendors around the world.
This leaves only two possibilities that explain these events:
Possibility #1: Baxter isn't following BSL3 safety guidelines or is so sloppy in following them that it can make monumental mistakes that threaten the safety of the entire human race. And if that's the case, then why are we injecting our children with vaccines made from Baxter's materials?
Possibility #2: A rogue employee (or an evil plot from the top management) is present at Baxter, whereby live avian flu viruses were intentionally placed into the vaccine materials in the hope that such materials might be injected into humans and set off a global bird flu pandemic.
It just so happens that a global bird flu pandemic would sell a LOT of bird flu vaccines. Although some naive people have a hard time believing that corporations would endanger human beings to make money, this is precisely the way corporations now behave in America's ethically-challenged free-market environment. (Remember Enron? Exxon? Merck? DuPont? Monsanto? Need I go on?)
Make no mistake: Spreading bird flu is a clever way to create demand for bird flu vaccines, and we've all seen very clearly how drug companies first market the problem and then "leap to the rescue" by selling the solution. (Disease mongering of ADHD, bipolar disorder, etc.)
Why it all suddenly makes sense
Until today, I would not have personally believed such a story. I personally thought talk of bird flu vaccines being "weaponized" was just alarmist hype. But now, in light of the fact that LIVE bird flu viruses are being openly found in vaccine materials that are distributed around the world, I must admit the evidence is increasingly compelling that something extremely dangerous is afoot.
Baxter, through either its mistakes or its evil intentions, just put the safety of the entire human race at risk. Given all the laboratory protocols put in place to prevent this kind of thing, it is difficult to believe this was just a mistake.
There is some speculation, in fact, that the 1918 influenza pandemic, which killed up to 50 million people worldwide (http://images.google.com/images?hl=...), was intentionally started by injecting servicemen with "experimental" flu vaccines that actually contained live, "weaponized" flu material just like the material being distributed by Baxter today.
Examine the historical record. You'll find that the 1918 flu originated with servicemen. Even more interestingly, it began in multiple cities, simultaneously! There is no single point of origin with the 1918 flu. It appears to have "spontaneously" sprung up across multiple cities all at once, including a military base in Kansas. (Kansas? Yep. So how did it get to Kansas in an era when air traffic was virtually non-existent? Vaccines, of course!)
All those cities and servicemen have one thing in common: Flu shot vaccinations given to them by the military.
If you put the pieces together on this, it's not too difficult to suspect that influenza could potentially be used as a tool of control by governments or drug companies to catalyze outrageous profit-taking or power grabbing agendas. A desperate, infected population will gladly give up anything or pay anything for the promise of being cured.
Or was it just an innocent mistake? Oops!
But for the skeptics who dismiss any such talk of conspiracy theories, let's examine the other possibility: That a global avian flu pandemic was nearly unleashed unintentionally due to the outrageous incompetence of the companies handling these viral strains.
As we just saw, this is a very real possibility. Had this live bird flu virus not been detected, it could have very easily found its way into vaccines that were injected into human beings. And this, in turn, could have unleashed a global avian flu pandemic.
If the drug companies making and handling these materials are so careless, then it seems like it's only a matter of time before something slips through the safety precautions again and gets unleashed into the wild. And that leads to essentially the same scenario: A global pandemic, widespread death, health care failures and a desperate population begging for vaccines.
So either way -- whether it's intentional or not -- you essentially get the same result.
Why a global pandemic is only a matter of time
I am on the record stating that a global pandemic is only a matter of time. The living conditions under which humans have placed themselves (crowded cities, suppressed immune systems, etc.) are ideal for the spread of infectious disease. But I never dreamed drug companies could actually be accelerating the pandemic timeline by contaminating vaccine materials with live avian flu viruses known to be highly infectious to humans. This, it seems, is a whole new cause for concern.
You can believe what you will. Maybe you agree with the nefarious plot theory and you agree that corporations are capable of great evils in their quest for profits. Or perhaps you can't accept that, so you go with the "accidental contamination" theory, in which your beliefs describe a very dangerous world where biohazard safety protocols are insufficient to protect us from all the crazy viral strains being toyed with at drug companies and government labs all across the world.
In either case, the world is not a very safe place when deadly viral strains are placed in the hands of the inept.
We are like children playing God with Mother Nature, rolling the dice in a global game of Viral Roulette where the odds are not in our favor. With companies like Baxter engaged in behaviors that are just begging to see the human race devastated by a global pandemic wipeout, it might be a good time to question the sanity of using viral strains in vaccines in the first place.
Vaccine-pushing scientists are so proud of their vaccines. They think they've conquered Mother Nature. Imagine their surprise when one day they learn they have actually killed 100 million human beings by unleashing a global pandemic.
We came close to it this week. A global pandemic may have just been averted by the thinnest of margins. Yet people go on with their lives, oblivious to what nearly happened.
What's inescapable at this point is the fact that the threat of a pandemic that looms for all of human civilization, and that drug companies may, themselves, be the source of that threat.
http://www.naturalnews.com/z025760.html
Unhappy children 'end up unwell'
Unhappy children are more likely to grow up to become adults who are permanently sick or disabled, a UK study has suggested.
The King's College London-led research looked at over 7,100 people born between 1950 and 1955.
Researchers found those described as "miserable" or "unhappy" by teachers were five times more likely to be off work through ill-health in middle age.
They said these children were also likely to be more prone to depression.
The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, involved thousands of children who grew up in Aberdeen in the 1950s.
Teachers were asked about their temperament and school attendance.
“ Children who are unhappy and disinterested in school often come from households where parents are disinterested and there is a lot of deprivation ”
Alan Maryon Davis, of the UK Faculty of Public Health
Researchers recently tracked down many of the participants - now in middle age - to ask them about their employment status.
Some 392 reported they were unable to work because of permanent disability or ill-health - 5.5% of the total questioned. This could have included those retired through illness and those on incapacity benefit.
A quarter of those whose teachers had reported them as "often appearing miserable, unhappy, tearful or distressed" were permanently sick or disabled.
A quarter of those who complained of aches and pain were also off sick through ill-health.
But those who were off school because of poor physical health were no more likely to end up as adults off work sick.
Factor
Lead researcher Dr Max Henderson said: "We can't say these childhood trends cause the ill-health later in life, but they certainly seem to be a contributing factor.
"Based on previous research, we suspect these groups are more susceptible to depression and anxiety, which of course is a major cause of being off work."
Dr Alan Maryon Davis, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said: "I think there is a common social pattern emerging here.
"Children who are unhappy and disinterested in school often come from households where parents are disinterested and there is a lot of deprivation.
"That leads to them not doing well at school and not doing well at work and falling into this cycle."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7913552.stm
Common Marine Sponges May Provide Super-antibiotics Of The Future
ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 2009) — No matter how sophisticated modern medicine becomes, common ailments like fungal infections can outrun the best of the world's antibiotics. In people with compromised immune systems (like premature babies, AIDS victims or those undergoing chemotherapy for cancer) the risk is very high: contracting a fungal infection can be deadly.
Now Tel Aviv University zoologists are diving deep into the sea to collect unique chemicals — drugs of the future — to beat unnecessary death by fungal infection. And their secret weapon is the common marine sponge.
Prof. Micha Ilan from the Department of Zoology at TAU, who is heading the project, has already identified several alternative antibiotic candidates among the unique compounds that help a sponge fend off predators and infections. He and his graduate students are now identifying, isolating and purifying those that could be the super-antibiotics of the future.
The research group at TAU has found and isolated thousands bacteria and fungi, including a few hundred unique actinobacteria. So far, several tens hold promise as new drugs.
From the Sea to the Lab
"Resistance to antibiotics has become an unbelievably difficult challenge for the medical community," says Prof. Ilan. "Sponges are known for hosting an arsenal of compounds that could work to fight infections. We're now culturing huge amounts of microorganisms, such as actinobacteria, that live in symbiosis with marine sponges."
Marine sponges were recently made famous by the popular Nickelodeon TV cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants, which features a sea sponge who lives in a pineapple beneath the ocean. In real life, sea sponges are animals whose bodies consist of an outer thin layer of cells and an inner mass of cells and skeletal elements. The sedentary creatures don't really have the sort of adventurous life that the cartoon depicts.
Marine sponges can't move. Glued to the seafloor, they must rely on the flow of water through their bodies to collect food and to remove waste. This has led to a unique adaptive response to enemies and competition. Sponges don't have teeth, or shells, but protect themselves by building associations and partnerships with bacteria and fungi. Tel Aviv University is tapping into these relationships — looking at the same chemicals that the sponge uses for defense to fight infection in humans.
Research Combines Several Fields of Study
Drug developers have known for decades about the potential goldmine of pharmaceuticals in the marine environment, particularly among sedentary life like marine sponges.
"One of the major problems is that these novel and natural compounds are found in very small quantities," Prof. Ilan explains. Collecting and extracting such large amounts of these unique chemicals would require huge quantities of animals to be sacrificed, a practice which is not in line with zoological conservationist values. So Prof. Ilan takes cultures from sea sponges with minimal damage to the natural environment. He then grows their symbionts and tests them in a "wet" laboratory. The methods Prof. Ilan has perfected can now be used by other scientists developing pharmaceuticals from marine sponges.
"Our research is unique in that we take both an agricultural and microbiological approach — not found often in the drug discovery community," says Prof. Ilan, whose work is done in collaboration with the School of Chemistry's Prof. Yoel Kashman and Prof. Shmuel Carmeli.
Broccoli May Help Protect Against Respiratory Conditions Like Asthma
ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 2009) — Here's another reason to eat your broccoli: UCLA researchers report that a naturally occurring compound found in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables may help protect against respiratory inflammation that causes conditions like asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Published in the March edition of the journal Clinical Immunology, the research shows that sulforaphane, a chemical in broccoli, triggers an increase of antioxidant enzymes in the human airway that offers protection against the onslaught of free radicals that we breathe in every day in polluted air, pollen, diesel exhaust and tobacco smoke. A supercharged form of oxygen, free radicals can cause oxidative tissue damage, which leads to inflammation and respiratory conditions like asthma.
"This is one of the first studies showing that broccoli sprouts — a readily available food source — offered potent biologic effects in stimulating an antioxidant response in humans," said Dr. Marc Riedl, the study's principal investigator and an assistant professor of clinical immunology and allergy at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
"We found a two- to three-fold increase in antioxidant enzymes in the nasal airway cells of study participants who had eaten a preparation of broccoli sprouts," Riedl said. "This strategy may offer protection against inflammatory processes and could lead to potential treatments for a variety of respiratory conditions."
The UCLA team worked with 65 volunteers who were given varying oral doses of either broccoli or alfalfa sprout preparations for three days. Broccoli sprouts are the richest natural source of sulforaphane; the alfalfa sprouts, which do not contain the compound, served as a placebo.
Rinses of nasal passages were collected at the beginning and end of the study to assess the gene expression of antioxidant enzymes in cells of the upper airways. Researchers found significant increases of antioxidant enzymes at broccoli sprout doses of 100 grams and higher, compared with the placebo group.
The maximum broccoli sprout dosage of 200 grams generated a 101-percent increase of an antioxidant enzyme called GSTP1 and a 199-percent increase of another key enzyme called NQO1.
"A major advantage of sulforaphane is that it appears to increase a broad array of antioxidant enzymes, which may help the compound's effectiveness in blocking the harmful effects of air pollution," Riedl said.
According to the authors, no serious side effects occurred in study participants receiving broccoli sprouts, demonstrating that this may be an effective, safe antioxidant strategy to help reduce the inflammatory impact of free radicals.
Riedl notes that more research needs to be done to examine the benefits of sulforaphane for specific respiratory conditions. It is too early to recommend a particular dosage.
Riedl recommends including broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables as part of a healthy diet.
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Other study authors include Dr. Andrew Saxon of the Hart and Louis Lyon Laboratory, division of clinical immunology and allergy in the department of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and Dr. David Diaz-Sanchez of the human studies division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090302133218.htm
Mediterranean Sea Level Could Rise By Over Two Feet, Global Models Predict
ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 2009) — A Spanish-British research project has come up with three future scenarios for the effects of climate change on the Mediterranean over the next 90 years, using global models from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The conclusions show that ocean temperatures in this area will increase, along with sea levels.
In order to understand and correctly predict risks for the Mediterranean coast, researchers from the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA, a joint centre run by the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and the Spanish National Research Council, CSIC) and the National Oceanography Centre of Southampton in the United Kingdom have analysed simulations based on three scenarios related to climate change and the rise in greenhouse gases. Their goal was to predict the temperature, sea level and salinity of the Mediterranean in the 21st Century.
"The most positive scenario assumes that greenhouse gas concentrations remain constant at their levels in the year 2000, and even in this case climate change still has an impact. The most negative scenario is based on diverse levels of economic development all over the world, with an ongoing increase in greenhouse gas production throughout the 21st Century," Marta Marcos, the study's lead author and a researcher at the UIB, tells SINC.
The study, which has been published recently in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, shows what could happen in the Mediterranean. The models predict that higher concentrations of gases will lead to an increase in temperatures throughout the entire sea.
In the most positive scenario, the changes are least, with temperature increases of less than 1ºC expected to be recorded in the Mediterranean by the end of the 21st Century. The other two scenarios envision an increase in greenhouse gases over coming decades, and foresee an increase in the temperature of the sea of up to 2.5º C. In addition, the results show that the temperature increase will accelerate during the 21st Century.
In the long term, sea levels could alter due to changes in temperature (warming leads to an increase in volume) as well as additional mass. "The level of the whole Mediterranean will rise by between 3cm and 61cm* on average as a result of the effects of warming," says Marcos.
There is "greater uncertainty" in terms of the mass likely to be added as a result of melting ice at the poles and from continental glaciers, and this aspect is not incorporated in the study. The most important area in terms of understanding sea level rise is the coasts, "but it is here that we know least because of the low spatial resolution of the models" the expert adds.
In search of greater clarity
The conclusions of this study are not based on observations, but rather on global climate models that include a whole range of possible future socio-economic scenarios in order to predict what is likely to happen in the Mediterranean. According to the scientists, climatic conditions are going to change greatly, and for this reason it is impossible to make a completely precise prediction of what the future really holds.
In these circumstances, Marta Marcos and Michael Tsimplis say that, aside from temperature changes, the models show that the Mediterranean will also become saltier over the coming century. However, this prediction is also very uncertain because "the variations in salinity in the Mediterranean are controlled by the exchange of water through the Straits of Gibraltar, and this has not been incorporated as an indicator, meaning the related results are not very reliable".
This is due to the fact that IPCC models have very low spatial resolution, which means they can show global processes "reasonably well", but not always regional ones. In particular, the 14km-wide Straits of Gibraltar, which are of key importance in the processes of water exchange between the Mediterranean and Atlantic, are not well reproduced in the models.
The global models are of no use in estimating the impact of sea level rise in coastal areas, because of the high level of regional variability for this factor. The solution would be to use high-resolution, regional climate models to show the Mediterranean straits with greater clarity, as well as the oceanic processes that take place within the ocean's basin and coastal areas.
This is a strategy currently being pursued by European research groups working to predict the effects of climate change at a regional level, and it is expected that the level of uncertainty in predictions will be reduced over the short term. In Spain, IMEDEA is working to produce data on ocean levels in collaboration with the Spanish Port System. Without such resolution in the models "we cannot be sure of the scale of the changes", the researcher concludes.
*61 cm is just over 2 feet Imperial measure.
Marcos et al. Comparison of results of AOGCMs in the Mediterranean Sea during the 21st century. Journal of Geophysical Research, 2008; 113 (c12): C12028 DOI: 10.1029/2008JC004820
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090303084057.htm
Vitamin B And Folic Acid May Reduce Risk Of Age-related Vision Loss
ScienceDaily (Mar. 3, 2009) — Taking a combination of vitamins B6 and B12 and folic acid appears to decrease the risk of age-related macular degeneration in women, according to a report in the February 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of vision loss in older Americans, according to background information in the article. Treatment options exist for those with severe cases of the disease, but the only known prevention method is to avoid smoking. Recent studies have drawn a connection between AMD and blood levels of homocysteine, an amino acid. High levels of homocysteine are associated with dysfunction of the blood vessel lining, whereas treatment with vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and folic acid appears to reduce homocysteine levels and may reverse this blood vessel dysfunction.
William G. Christen, Sc.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues conducted a randomized, double-blind clinical trial involving 5,442 women age 40 and older who already had heart disease or at least three risk factors. Of these, 5,205 did not have AMD at the beginning of the study. In April 1998, these women were randomly assigned to take a placebo or a combination of folic acid (2.5 milligrams per day), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6, 50 milligrams per day) and cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12, 1 milligram per day). Participants continued the therapy through July 2005 and were tracked for the development of AMD through November 2005.
Over an average of 7.3 years of treatment and follow-up, 137 new cases of AMD were documented, including 70 cases that were visually significant (resulting in a visual acuity of 20/30 or worse). Of these, 55 AMD cases, 26 visually significant, occurred in the 2,607 women in the active treatment group, whereas 82 of the 2,598 women in the placebo group developed AMD, 44 cases of which were visually significant. Women taking the supplements had a 34 percent lower risk of any AMD and a 41 percent lower risk of visually significant AMD. "The beneficial effect of treatment began to emerge at approximately two years of follow-up and persisted throughout the trial," the authors write.
"The trial findings reported herein are the strongest evidence to date in support of a possible beneficial effect of folic acid and B vitamin supplements in AMD prevention," the authors write. Because they apply to the early stages of disease development, they appear to represent the first identified way—other than not smoking—to reduce the risk of AMD in individuals at an average risk. "From a public health perspective, this is particularly important because persons with early AMD are at increased risk of developing advanced AMD, the leading cause of severe, irreversible vision loss in older Americans."
Beyond lowering homocysteine levels, potential mechanisms for the effectiveness of B vitamins and folic acid in preventing AMD include antioxidant effects and improved function of blood vessels in the eye, they note.
This study was supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and from the National Eye Institute. Vitamin E and its placebo were provided by the Cognis Corporation. All other agents and their placebos were provided by BASF corporation.
William G. Christen; Robert J. Glynn; Emily Y. Chew; Christine M. Albert; JoAnn E. Manson. Folic Acid, Pyridoxine, and Cyanocobalamin Combination Treatment and Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Women: The Women's Antioxidant and Folic Acid Cardiovascular Study. Archives of Internal Medicine, 2009; 169 (4): 335 DOI: 10.1001/archinternmed.2008.574
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