Cholesterol: What numbers should you aim for?

 

What do your cholesterol numbers mean? A simple blood test called a lipid profile can tell you how much good, bad and total cholesterol you have in your blood, as well as your level of triglycerides, another form of fat in your blood. Your doctor will ask that you go without foods and liquids other than water for nine to 12 hours before the test so that you'll get accurate measurements. In the United States and some other countries, your test results will list cholesterol levels in units called milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) of blood. Canada and most European countries measure cholesterol in millimoles per liter (mmol/L) of blood. Here are some guidelines to help you make sense of the numbers: Total cholesterol (U.S. and some other countries) Total cholesterol* (Canada and most of Europe) *Canadian and European guidelines differ slightly from U.S. guidelines. These conversions are based on U.S. guidelines. Below 200 mg/dL Below 5.2 mmol/L Desirable 200-239 mg/dL 5.2-6.2 mmol/L Borderline high 240 mg/dL and above Above 6.2 mmol/L High LDL cholesterol (U.S. and some other countries) LDL cholesterol* (Canada and most of Europe) *Canadian and European guidelines differ slightly from U.S. guidelines. These conversions are based on U.S. guidelines. Below 70 mg/dL Below 1.8 mmol/L Ideal for people at very high risk of heart disease Below 100 mg/dL Below 2.6 mmol/L Ideal for people at risk of heart disease 100-129 mg/dL 2.6-3.3 mmol/L Near ideal 130-159 mg/dL 3.4-4.1 mmol/L Borderline high 160-189 mg/dL 4.1-4.9 mmol/L High 190 mg/dL and above Above 4.9 mmol/L Very high HDL cholesterol (U.S. and some other countries) HDL cholesterol* (Canada and most of Europe) *Canadian and European guidelines differ slightly from U.S. guidelines. These conversions are based on U.S. guidelines. Below 40 mg/dL (men) Below 50 mg/dL (women) Below 1 mmol/L (men) Below 1.3 mmol/L (women) Poor 40-49 mg/dL (men) 50-59 mg/dL (women) 1-1.3 mmol/L (men) 1.3-1.5 mmol/L (women) Better 60 mg/dL and above Above 1.5 mmol/L Best If it turns out you have high cholesterol, your doctor may prescribe lifestyle changes, such as exercise and a healthy diet, as well as medication, to help control your cholesterol. References See more In-depth

Can you outgrow food allergies?

 

My 4-year-old son is allergic to both peanuts and eggs. Is it possible he will outgrow these allergies as he gets older? Answers from James T C Li, M.D., Ph.D. Eight foods trigger 90 percent of all food allergies. Peanuts and eggs are two of them. The rest are milk, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, soy and wheat. Statistically speaking, there's a good chance he can safely eat eggs as an adult. Children usually outgrow egg and milk allergies as they get older. Unfortunately, it's much less likely for him to outgrow his peanut allergy. By school-age, this allergy is resolved in only 20 percent of children. Peanut consumption remains a common cause of allergic reactions in adults. Your son can outgrow his food allergies if and when his body begins to suppress the production of a protein called immunoglobulin E (IgE). The immune system releases this protein when it mistakenly identifies a food substance, such as peanuts and eggs, as something harmful. IgE suppression is key to gaining tolerance for foods that have previously caused an allergic reaction. There are other factors that can affect the likelihood of your son outgrowing his allergies. These include the severity of his reactions, how many foods he's allergic to, and how old he was when he had his first reaction. Mar. 04, 2014 References Zukiewicz-Sobczak W, et al. Causes, symptoms, and prevention of food allergy. Postepy Dermatologii i Alergologii. 2013;30:113. Keet C. Recognition and management of food-induced anaphylaxis. Pediatric Clinics of North America. 2011;58:377. Sheikh A, et al. Oral immunotherapy for the treatment of peanut allergy: Systematic review of six case series studies. Primary Care Respiratory Journal. 2011;21:41. Immunoglobulin E (IgE). American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. https://www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/conditions-a-to-z-search/immunoglobulin-e-%28ige%29.aspx. Accessed Jan. 24, 2014. Yamashita H, et al. Overcoming food allergy through acquired tolerance conferred by transfer of Tregs in a murine model. Allergy. 2012;67:201. Gupta RS, et al. Factors associated with reported food allergy tolerance among US Children. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. 2013;111:194. Sheikh SZ, et al. Recent advances in the diagnosis and therapy of peanut allergy. Expert Review of Clinical Immunology. 2013;9:551. See more Expert Answers

Air Pollution Down Thanks to California’s Regulation of Diesel Trucks

 

Berkeley Lab air quality scientists measure truck emissions at Port of Oakland and Caldecott Tunnel. Feature Story Julie Chao (510) 486-6491 • December 11, 2014 Chelsea Preble, Rob Harley, and Tom Kirchstetter will be presenting new results from their research on Dec. 17 at the 2014 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco (Moscone South, 1:40 to 6 pm). Ever wonder what’s in the black cloud that emits from some semi trucks that you pass on the freeway? Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) scientist Thomas Kirchstetter knows very precisely what’s in there, having conducted detailed measurements of thousands of heavy-duty trucks over months at a time at two San Francisco Bay Area locations. With a specially outfitted research van equipped with sophisticated monitors for several pollutant types, he and his team are studying emissions levels from diesel trucks to understand and analyze the impact of new control technologies and California air pollution regulations. “We’re measuring a range of pollutants relevant to public health and the environment,” said Kirchstetter, an air quality scientist who also serves as an adjunct professor in UC Berkeley’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “Heavy-duty diesel trucks are major sources of nitrogen oxides, which are a precursor to the formation of ozone and particulate matter (PM) in the atmosphere, and of black carbon PM, which, according to climate scientists, contributes to global warming and regional changes in climate, such as precipitation and snow melting.” Outdoor air pollution is linked to 100,000 premature deaths per year in the United States, according to published studies. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set emissions standards for new engines, most trucks and buses run for several decades, so the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has sought to accelerate emissions reductions with aggressive new regulations in recent years. As a result growing numbers of heavy-duty diesel trucks in California are using two control technologies, a diesel particle filter, which removes most particulate matter, and selective catalytic reduction, which targets emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx). The good news is that these regulations are having their intended effect, Kirchstetter and his collaborators, Rob Harley, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Berkeley, and Phil Martien of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), have found. “At the Port of Oakland, we measured dramatic reductions of nitrogen oxides and black carbon PM, indicating a large degree of success which should translate into local improvements in air quality, especially as more trucks on the road use these technologies,” he said. Between 2009 and 2013, the fraction of trucks at the Port of Oakland equipped with a diesel particle filter increased from 2 to 99 percent, and the median engine age fell from 11 to 6 years. During the same period, the emission factor (or average emission rate) decreased by 76 percent for black carbon and by 53 percent for NOx. The researchers monitored drayage (short distance) trucks at the Port of Oakland in 2009, before a new emissions rule was implemented, in 2011 during the rule’s phase-in, and in 2013, after the rule was implemented. View passing trucks at the Port of Oakland overlaid with real-time measurements of four pollutants in the truck exhaust. California’s program of accelerated vehicle emissions reductions is especially important because fuel consumption is rising, and diesel fuel consumption is growing at an even faster rate than that of gasoline. “These new control technologies on trucks improve air quality despite increases in vehicle miles traveled and fuel consumption,” said Kirchstetter, who has been studying air pollutant emissions and controls in the transport sector for more than 20 years. The technologies come with some trade-offs that the research team is investigating. Selective catalytic reduction can cause some trucks to have increased emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas. With diesel particle filters, the catalytic oxidation process leads to increased tailpipe emission of nitrogen dioxide, NO2, which is a toxic air contaminant and is involved in the formation of ozone. While these were known side effects, the research team is measuring the amounts of these increases. This summer Kirchstetter brought his research van to the Caldecott Tunnel, which connects Oakland to Contra Costa County, to measure emissions from a larger sampling of heavy-duty trucks. On a sunny weekday morning graduate student Chelsea Preble and undergraduate Troy Cados are in the van, having arrived at 6 a.m. to tune the instruments and catch the morning rush hour. The equipment includes an air sampler hanging directly above the right lane, a video camera that records the truck and its license plate as it passes under the sampling location, and state-of-the-art monitors to capture several species of pollutants. “Our measurements are very fast. We measure concentrations at a rate of one or two times a second, which is near real-time,” Preble said. “That allows us to link the emissions profile to the attributes of each passing truck, which we get from its license plate. So our methodology allows us to understand emissions changes associated with technologies.” The team plans to return to the Caldecott next summer and again in 2017 when nearly all heavy-duty trucks will have diesel particle filters installed. CARB’s Truck and Bus Regulation applies to approximately 1 million trucks and buses operating statewide. “Our study is an important verification of the impacts of California’s air quality regulations,” Kirchstetter said. “California tends to lead the way in air quality. The technologies we’re evaluating will eventually dominate truck fleets nationwide, so the significance of our study extends far beyond California and perhaps the USA.”  The research was supported by the California Air Resources Board and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world’s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov. source: www.lbl.gov

Trends in indoor tanning among U.S. high school students

 

While indoor tanning has decreased among high school students, about 20 percent of females engaged in indoor tanning at least once during 2013 and about 10 percent of girls frequently engaged in the practice by using an indoor tanning device 10 or more times during the year, according to a research letter published online by JAMA Dermatology. Indoor tanning increases the risk of skin cancer, especially among frequent users who started tanning at a young age, according to the study background. Gery P. Guy Jr., Ph.D., M.P.H., of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and coauthors estimated indoor tanning trends among high school students using data from the 2009, 2011 and 2013 national Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. Indoor tanning was defined as using a tanning device (e.g., sunlamp, sunbed, tanning booth, excluding a spray-on tan) at least once during the 12 months before each survey period and frequent indoor tanning was using a tanning device more than 10 times during the same period. The surveys included 16,410 students in 2009, 15,425 in 2011 and 13,583 in 2013; overall response rates were 71 percent, 71 percent and 68 percent, respectively. Results indicate 20.2 percent of female high school students engaged in indoor tanning in 2013 and 10.3 percent engaged in frequent indoor tanning. Indoor tanning was most common among non-Hispanic white girls. Among male students, 5.3 percent engaged in indoor tanning and 2 percent engaged in frequent indoor tanning. From 2009 to 2013, tanning decreased among female students (from 25.4 percent to 20.2 percent), among non-Hispanic white girls (from 37.4 percent to 30.7 percent) and among non-Hispanic black male students (from 6.1 percent to 3.2 percent), the results shows. 'These decreases in indoor tanning may be partly attributable to increased awareness of its harms. Despite these reductions, indoor tanning remains common among youth,' the study concludes. Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by The JAMA Network Journals. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Gery P. Guy, Zahava Berkowitz, Sherry Everett Jones, Dawn M. Holman, Erin Garnett, Meg Watson. Trends in Indoor Tanning Among US High School Students, 2009-2013. JAMA Dermatology, 2014; DOI: 10.1001/jamadermatol.2014.4677

First scientific report shows police body-cameras can prevent unacceptable use-of-force

 

Screen capture from a Rialto PD officer's body-worn-camera. As Obama pledges investment in body-worn-camera technology for police officers, researchers say cameras induce 'self-awareness' that can prevent unacceptable uses-of-force seen to have tragic consequences in the US over the past year -- from New York to Ferguson -- but warn that cameras have implications for prosecution and data storage. Researchers from the University of Cambridge's Institute of Criminology (IoC) have now published the first full scientific study of the landmark crime experiment they conducted on policing with body-worn-cameras in Rialto, California in 2012 -- the results of which have been cited by police departments around the world as justification for rolling out this technology. The experiment showed that evidence capture is just one output of body-worn video, and the technology is perhaps most effective at actually preventing escalation during police-public interactions: whether that's abusive behaviour towards police or unnecessary use-of-force by police. The researchers say the knowledge that events are being recorded creates "self-awareness" in all participants during police interactions. This is the critical component that turns body-worn video into a 'preventative treatment': causing individuals to modify their behaviour in response to an awareness of 'third-party' surveillance by cameras acting as a proxy for legal courts -- as well as courts of public opinion -- should unacceptable behaviour take place. During the 12-month Rialto experiment, use-of-force by officers wearing cameras fell by 59% and reports against officers dropped by 87% against the previous year's figures. However, the research team caution that the Rialto experiment is only the first step on a long road of evidence-gathering, and that more needs to be known about the impact of body-worn cameras in policing before departments are "steamrolled" into adopting the technology -- with vital questions remaining about how normalising the provision of digital video as evidence will affect prosecution expectations, as well as the storage technology and policies that will be required for the enormous amount of data captured. President Obama recently promised to spend $263m of federal funds on body-worn-video to try and stem the haemorrhaging legitimacy of US police forces among communities across the United States after the killing of several unarmed black men by police caused nationwide anguish, igniting waves of protest. But some in the US question the merit of camera technology given that the officer responsible for killing Eric Garner -- a 43-year-old black man suffocated during arrest for selling untaxed cigarettes -- was acquitted by a grand jury despite the fact that a bystander filmed the altercation on a mobile phone, with footage showing an illegal 'chokehold' administered on Garner who repeatedly states: "I can't breathe." (A medical examiner ruled the death a homicide). For the Cambridge researchers, the Rialto results show that body-worn-cameras can mitigate the need for such evidence by preventing excessive use-of-force in the first place. Data from the Rialto experiment shows police officers are deterred from unacceptable uses-of-force -- indeed, from using force in general -- by the awareness that an interaction is being filmed; but this 'deterrence' relies on cognition of surveillance. While the evidence provided by the video of Garner's death would suggest a heinous miscarriage of justice, say researchers, the filming itself by a bystander would not generate the self-awareness and consequent behaviour modification during the incident as observed during Rialto's institutionalised camera use. "The 'preventative treatment' of body-worn-video is the combination of the camera plus both the warning and cognition of the fact that the encounter is being filmed. In the tragic case of Eric Garner, police weren't aware of the camera and didn't have to tell the suspect that he, and therefore they, were being filmed," said Dr Barak Ariel, from the Cambridge's IoC, who conducted the crime experiment with Cambridge colleague Dr Alex Sutherland and Rialto police chief Tony Farrar. "With institutionalised body-worn-camera use, an officer is obliged to issue a warning from the start that an encounter is being filmed, impacting the psyche of all involved by conveying a straightforward, pragmatic message: we are all being watched, videotaped and expected to follow the rules," he said. "Police subcultures of illegitimate force responses are likely to be affected by the cameras, because misconduct cannot go undetected -- an external set of behavioural norms is being applied and enforced through the cameras. Police-public encounters become more transparent and the curtain of silence that protects misconduct can more easily be unveiled, which makes misconduct less likely." In Rialto, police use-of-force was 2.5 times higher before the cameras were introduced. The idea behind body-worn-video, in which small high-definition cameras are strapped to a police officers' torso or hat, is that every step of every police-public interaction -- from the mundane to those involving deadly force -- gets recorded to capture the closest approximation of actual events for evidence purposes, with only case-relevant data being stored. In Rialto, an experimental model was defined in which all police shifts over the course of a year were randomly assigned to be either experimental (with camera) or control (without camera), encompassing over 50,000 hours of police-public interactions. The dramatic reduction in both use-of-force incidents and complaints against the police during the experiment led to Rialto PD implementing an initial three-year plan for body-worn cameras. When the police force released the results, they were held up by police departments, media and governments in various nations as the rationale for camera technology to be integrated into policing. Ariel and colleagues are currently replicating the Rialto experiment with over 30 forces across the world, from the West Yorkshire force and Northern Ireland's PSNI in the UK to forces in the United States and Uruguay, and aim to announce new findings at the IoC's Conference for Evidence-Based Policing in July 2015. Early signs match the Rialto success, showing that body-worn-cameras do appear to have significant positive impact on interactions between officers and civilians. However, the researchers caution that more research is required, and urge police forces considering implementing body-worn-cameras to contact them for guidance on setting up similar experiments. "Rialto is but one experiment; before this policy is considered more widely, police forces, governments and researchers should invest further time and effort in replicating these findings," said Dr Sutherland. Body-worn cameras appear to be highly cost-effective: analysis from Rialto showed every dollar spent on the cameras saved about four dollars on complaints litigations, and the technology is becoming ever cheaper. However, the sheer levels of data storage required as the cameras are increasingly adopted has the potential to become crippling. "The velocity and volume of data accumulating in police departments -- even if only a fraction of recorded events turn into 'downloadable' recordings for evidentiary purposes -- will exponentially grow over time," said Ariel. "User licenses, storage space, 'security costs', maintenance and system upgrades can potentially translate into billions of dollars worldwide." And, if body-worn cameras become the norm, what might the cost be when video evidence isn't available? "Historically, courtroom testimonies of response officers have carried tremendous weight, but prevalence of video might lead to reluctance to prosecute when there is no evidence from body-worn-cameras to corroborate the testimony of an officer, or even a victim," said Ariel. "Body-worn-video has the potential to improve police legitimacy and enhance democracy, not least by calming situations on the front line of policing to prevent the pain and damage caused by unnecessary escalations of volatile situations. But there are substantial effects of body-worn-video that can potentially offset the benefits which future research needs to explore."

Twelve new genetic causes of developmental disorders

 

Deciphering Developmental Disorders (DDD), the world's largest, nationwide and genome-wide diagnostic sequencing programme, has discovered 12 new genetic causes of developmental disorders. The project will ultimately analyse data from 12,000 families. This paper describes results from the first 1133 samples, which have increased the proportion of patients that can be diagnosed by 10 per cent. DDD is paving the way for translating advances in genomics into patient care in the NHS by demonstrating the feasibility and affordability of large-scale sequencing and analysis. These capabilities are critical to the Government's Genomics England programme, which aims to sequence 100,000 genomes by 2017. The first results to emerge from a nationwide project to study the genetic causes of rare developmental disorders have revealed 12 causative genes that have never been identified before. The Deciphering Developmental Disorders (DDD) project, the world's largest, nationwide genome-wide diagnostic sequencing programme, sequenced DNA and compared the clinical characteristics of over a thousand children to find the genes responsible for conditions that include intellectual disabilities and congenital heart defects, among others. DDD, which is a collaboration between the NHS and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and is funded by the Department of Health and Wellcome Trust through the Health Innovation Challenge Fund, worked with 180 clinicians from 24 regional genetics services across the UK and the Republic of Ireland to analyse all ~20,000 genes in each of 1133 children with severe disorders so rare and poorly characterised that they cannot be easily diagnosed using standard clinical tests. The benefits of diagnosis include improving clinical management, helping parents obtain support, informing reproductive choice and providing a molecular basis for the disorder, which is the starting point in the search for new treatments. The DDD project works by collecting together clinical information in a database along with the genetic variants from each patient's genome. If patients who share similar symptoms also have variants in common, it helps to narrow down the search for causative mutations across the genome. However, this can be challenging, since the chance of having a particular type of mutation can be as low as one in fifty million. DDD's nationwide secure data-sharing network has made it possible to find and compare these incredibly rare disorders; in fact, for four of the 12 newly identified genes, identical mutations were found in two or more unrelated children living hundreds of miles apart. "Working at enormous scale, both nationwide and genome-wide, is critical in our mission to find diagnoses for these families," explains Dr Helen Firth, an author from the Department of Clinical Genetics at Addenbrooke's Hospital and Clinical Lead for the DDD study. "This project would not have been possible without the nationwide reach of the UK National Health Service, which has enabled us to unite a number of families who live hundreds of miles apart but whose children share equivalent mutations and very similar symptoms." In one example, two unrelated children, both with identical mutations in the gene PCGF2, which is involved in regulating genes important in embryo development, were found to have strikingly similar symptoms and facial features. This constitutes the discovery of a new, distinct dysmorphic syndrome. All of the newly discovered developmental disorders were caused by new, 'de novo', mutations, which are present in the child but are not in their parents' genomes. The DDD project has shown that it is critical to use, where possible, genetic data from parents, most of whom do not have a developmental disorder, to help filter out benign inherited variants and find the cause of their child's condition. "The DDD study has shown how combining genetic sequencing with more traditional strategies for studying patients with very similar symptoms can enable large-scale gene discovery," says Professor Sir John Burn, Professor of Clinical Genetics at Newcastle University. "This data-set becomes more effective with each diagnosis and each newly identified gene." Originally, the DDD project focused on applying array technology to screen genes for deletions or duplications that cause the patient's disorder. However, this strategy enabled researchers to find a diagnosis for only 5 per cent of patients. Improvements in sequencing technology have allowed DDD to use genome-wide 'exome' sequencing that searches through all protein-coding genes for all classes of genetic variants. This approach produces 100 times more data but delivers a diagnosis for 30 per cent of patients. "The success of DDD has provided a valuable test bed for Genomics England," says Professor Mark Caulfield, Chief Scientist for Genomics England. "This research has shown that the Government's commitment to sequencing 100,000 genomes can produce powerful data that will make a real difference to genetic research as well as to clinical diagnostics and treatment." The DDD project, which started in 2010, will ultimately analyse data from 12,000 families. So far 10 per cent of the 12,000 families that will participate in the study have been analysed in detail, but already the discovery of 12 novel genetic causes of developmental disorders has increased the proportion of patients that can be diagnosed by 10 per cent. Nonetheless, some DDD children will not be able to be diagnosed by looking at data from UK patients in isolation, and so to identify similar patients from around the world DDD is sharing limited anonymised genetic and clinical data on these undiagnosed DDD children through the DECIPHER database. Researchers hope that the project will inspire more clinical and research programmes around the world to deposit data in the DECIPHER database to pinpoint more genetic causes of developmental disorders and improve diagnostic rates internationally. "There is a clear moral imperative for both clinical testing laboratories and research studies to share this information globally," says Dr Matt Hurles, senior author and principal investigator on the DDD project. "DDD and DECIPHER have demonstrated that large-scale data sharing can give families the diagnoses they so urgently need; diagnoses that simply cannot be made by looking at the data in isolation." Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: T. W. Fitzgerald, S. S. Gerety, W. D. Jones, M. van Kogelenberg, D. A. King, J. McRae, K. I. Morley, V. Parthiban, S. Al-Turki, K. Ambridge, D. M. Barrett, T. Bayzetinova, S. Clayton, E. L. Coomber, S. Gribble, P. Jones, N. Krishnappa, L. E. Mason, A. Middleton, R. Miller, E. Prigmore, D. Rajan, A. Sifrim, A. R. Tivey, M. Ahmed, N. Akawi, R. Andrews, U. Anjum, H. Archer, R. Armstrong, M. Balasubramanian, R. Banerjee, D. Baralle, P. Batstone, D. Baty, C. Bennett, J. Berg, B. Bernhard, A. P. Bevan, E. Blair, M. Blyth, D. Bohanna, L. Bourdon, D. Bourn, A. Brady, E. Bragin, C. Brewer, L. Brueton, K. Brunstrom, S. J. Bumpstead, D. J. Bunyan, J. Burn, J. Burton, N. Canham, B. Castle, K. Chandler, S. Clasper, J. Clayton-Smith, T. Cole, A. Collins, M. N. Collinson, F. Connell, N. Cooper, H. Cox, L. Cresswell, G. Cross, Y. Crow, M. D’Alessandro, T. Dabir, R. Davidson, S. Davies, J. Dean, C. Deshpande, G. Devlin, A. Dixit, A. Dominiczak, C. Donnelly, D. Donnelly, A. Douglas, A. Duncan, J. Eason, S. Edkins, S. Ellard, P. Ellis, F. Elmslie, K. Evans, S. Everest, T. Fendick, R. Fisher, F. Flinter, N. Foulds, A. Fryer, B. Fu, C. Gardiner, L. Gaunt, N. Ghali, R. Gibbons, S. L. Gomes Pereira, J. Goodship, D. Goudie, E. Gray, P. Greene, L. Greenhalgh, L. Harrison, R. Hawkins, S. Hellens, A. Henderson, E. Hobson, S. Holden, S. Holder, G. Hollingsworth, T. Homfray, M. Humphreys, J. Hurst, S. Ingram, M. Irving, J. Jarvis, L. Jenkins, D. Johnson, D. Jones, E. Jones, D. Josifova, S. Joss, B. Kaemba, S. Kazembe, B. Kerr, U. Kini, E. Kinning, G. Kirby, C. Kirk, E. Kivuva, A. Kraus, D. Kumar, K. Lachlan, W. Lam, A. Lampe, C. Langman, M. Lees, D. Lim, G. Lowther, S. A. Lynch, A. Magee, E. Maher, S. Mansour, K. Marks, K. Martin, U. Maye, E. McCann, V. McConnell, M. McEntagart, R. McGowan, K. McKay, S. McKee, D. J. McMullan, S. McNerlan, S. Mehta, K. Metcalfe, E. Miles, S. Mohammed, T. Montgomery, D. Moore, S. Morgan, A. Morris, J. Morton, H. Mugalaasi, V. Murday, L. Nevitt, R. Newbury-Ecob, A. Norman, R. O’Shea, C. Ogilvie, S. Park, M. J. Parker, C. Patel, J. Paterson, S. Payne, J. Phipps, D. T. Pilz, D. Porteous, N. Pratt, K. Prescott, S. Price, A. Pridham, A. Procter, H. Purnell, N. Ragge, J. Rankin, L. Raymond, D. Rice, L. Robert, E. Roberts, G. Roberts, J. Roberts, P. Roberts, A. Ross, E. Rosser, A. Saggar, S. Samant, R. Sandford, A. Sarkar, S. Schweiger, C. Scott, R. Scott, A. Selby, A. Seller, C. Sequeira, N. Shannon, S. Sharif, C. Shaw-Smith, E. Shearing, D. Shears, I. Simonic, D. Simpkin, R. Singzon, Z. Skitt, A. Smith, B. Smith, K. Smith, S. Smithson, L. Sneddon, M. Splitt, M. Squires, F. Stewart, H. Stewart, M. Suri, V. Sutton, G. J. Swaminathan, E. Sweeney, K. Tatton-Brown, C. Taylor, R. Taylor, M. Tein, I. K. Temple, J. Thomson, J. Tolmie, A. Torokwa, B. Treacy, C. Turner, P. Turnpenny, C. Tysoe, A. Vandersteen, P. Vasudevan, J. Vogt, E. Wakeling, D. Walker, J. Waters, A. Weber, D. Wellesley, M. Whiteford, S. Widaa, S. Wilcox, D. Williams, N. Williams, G. Woods, C. Wragg, M. Wright, F. Yang, M. Yau, N. P. Carter, M. Parker, H. V. Firth, D. R. FitzPatrick, C. F. Wright, J. C. Barrett, M. E. Hurles. Large-scale discovery of novel genetic causes of developmental disorders. Nature, 2014; DOI: 10.1038/nature14135

Positive thinking: Stop negative self-talk to reduce stress

 

Positive thinking helps with stress management and can even improve your health. Practice overcoming negative self-talk with examples provided. Is your glass half-empty or half-full? How you answer this age-old question about positive thinking may reflect your outlook on life, your attitude toward yourself, and whether you're optimistic or pessimistic — and it may even affect your health. Indeed, some studies show that personality traits like optimism and pessimism can affect many areas of your health and well-being. The positive thinking that typically comes with optimism is a key part of effective stress management. And effective stress management is associated with many health benefits. If you tend to be pessimistic, don't despair — you can learn positive thinking skills. Understanding positive thinking and self-talk Positive thinking doesn't mean that you keep your head in the sand and ignore life's less pleasant situations. Positive thinking just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way. You think the best is going to happen, not the worst. Positive thinking often starts with self-talk. Self-talk is the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run through your head. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information. If the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is more likely pessimistic. If your thoughts are mostly positive, you're likely an optimist — someone who practices positive thinking. The health benefits of positive thinking Researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Health benefits that positive thinking may provide include: Increased life span Lower rates of depression Lower levels of distress Greater resistance to the common cold Better psychological and physical well-being Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress It's unclear why people who engage in positive thinking experience these health benefits. One theory is that having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body. It's also thought that positive and optimistic people tend to live healthier lifestyles — they get more physical activity, follow a healthier diet, and don't smoke or drink alcohol in excess. Identifying negative thinking Not sure if your self-talk is positive or negative? Here are some common forms of negative self-talk: Filtering. You magnify the negative aspects of a situation and filter out all of the positive ones. For example, you had a great day at work. You completed your tasks ahead of time and were complimented for doing a speedy and thorough job. That evening, you focus only on your plan to do even more tasks and forget about the compliments you received. Personalizing. When something bad occurs, you automatically blame yourself. For example, you hear that an evening out with friends is canceled, and you assume that the change in plans is because no one wanted to be around you. Catastrophizing. You automatically anticipate the worst. The drive-through coffee shop gets your order wrong and you automatically think that the rest of your day will be a disaster. Polarizing. You see things only as either good or bad. There is no middle ground. You feel that you have to be perfect or you're a total failure. Focusing on positive thinking You can learn to turn negative thinking into positive thinking. The process is simple, but it does take time and practice — you're creating a new habit, after all. Here are some ways to think and behave in a more positive and optimistic way: Identify areas to change. If you want to become more optimistic and engage in more positive thinking, first identify areas of your life that you typically think negatively about, whether it's work, your daily commute or a relationship. You can start small by focusing on one area to approach in a more positive way. Check yourself. Periodically during the day, stop and evaluate what you're thinking. If you find that your thoughts are mainly negative, try to find a way to put a positive spin on them. Be open to humor. Give yourself permission to smile or laugh, especially during difficult times. Seek humor in everyday happenings. When you can laugh at life, you feel less stressed. Follow a healthy lifestyle. Exercise at least three times a week to positively affect mood and reduce stress. Follow a healthy diet to fuel your mind and body. And learn techniques to manage stress. Surround yourself with positive people. Make sure those in your life are positive, supportive people you can depend on to give helpful advice and feedback. Negative people may increase your stress level and make you doubt your ability to manage stress in healthy ways. Practice positive self-talk. Start by following one simple rule: Don't say anything to yourself that you wouldn't say to anyone else. Be gentle and encouraging with yourself. If a negative thought enters your mind, evaluate it rationally and respond with affirmations of what is good about you. Here are some examples of negative self-talk and how you can apply a positive thinking twist to them: Putting positive thinking into practice Negative self-talk Positive thinking I've never done it before. It's an opportunity to learn something new. It's too complicated. I'll tackle it from a different angle. I don't have the resources. Necessity is the mother of invention. I'm too lazy to get this done. I wasn't able to fit it into my schedule, but I can re-examine some priorities. There's no way it will work. I can try to make it work. It's too radical a change. Let's take a chance. No one bothers to communicate with me. I'll see if I can open the channels of communication. I'm not going to get any better at this. I'll give it another try. Practicing positive thinking every day If you tend to have a negative outlook, don't expect to become an optimist overnight. But with practice, eventually your self-talk will contain less self-criticism and more self-acceptance. You may also become less critical of the world around you. When your state of mind is generally optimistic, you're better able to handle everyday stress in a more constructive way. That ability may contribute to the widely observed health benefits of positive thinking. source : www.mayoclinic.org

Scientists zero in on how lung cancer spreads

 

This image shows normal cells (left) compared to when the cell ties are broken down (right). Scientists have taken microscopic images revealing that the protein ties tethering cells together are severed in lung cancer cells -- meaning they can break loose and spread, according to research published in Cell Reports December 24. The researchers at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute discovered that the ties which lash cells together -- controlled by a protein called TIAM1 -- are chopped up when cell maintenance work goes wrong. Healthy cells routinely scrap old cell parts so they can be broken down and used again. But this process spirals out of control in lung cancer cells, which scrap too many TIAM1 ties**. Targeting this recycling process could stop lung cancer from spreading by keeping the cells stuck firmly together. Lead researcher, Dr Angeliki Malliri, at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute at the University of Manchester, said: "This important research shows for the first time how lung cancer cells sever ties with their neighbours and start to spread around the body, by hijacking the cells' recycling process and sending it into overdrive. Targeting this flaw could help stop lung cancer from spreading." There are almost 43,500 new cases of lung cancer in the UK each year. It is the most common cause of cancer deaths and kills more than 35,000 people in the UK each year. Nell Barrie, Cancer Research UK's senior science information manager, said: "Lung cancer causes more than one in five of all cancer deaths in the UK and it's vital that we find effective new treatments to fight the disease and save more lives. "Early-stage research like this is essential to find treatments which could one day block cancer spread -- which would be a game changer. It's also crucial that we find ways to diagnose the disease earlier, when treatment is more likely to be successful and the cancer is less likely to have spread." The University of Manchester, including the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, joined forces with Cancer Research UK and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust to form the Manchester Cancer Research Centre, allowing doctors and scientists to work closely together to turn scientific advances into patient benefits sooner. Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by Cancer Research UK. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Lynsey Vaughan, Chong-Teik Tan, Anna Chapman, Daisuke Nonaka, Natalie A. Mack, Duncan Smith, Richard Booton, Adam F.L. Hurlstone, Angeliki Malliri. HUWE1 Ubiquitylates and Degrades the RAC Activator TIAM1 Promoting Cell-Cell Adhesion Disassembly, Migration, and Invasion. Cell Reports, 2014; DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2014.12.012

10 dicas para empreender e ganhar mais dinheiro

 

Mais dinheiro

Zig Zag House, uma casa com forma única e um belo telhado

 

Zig Zag House, uma casa com forma única e um belo telhado Esta interessante casa, batizada de Zig Zag House, é um projeto dos arquitetos da Ministry of Design. A ideia foi resgatar um pouco o ar romântico dos bangalôs, mas sem abrir mão da modernidade. A casa se ajusta ao terreno triangular e com uma série de manobras ao redor de uma velha árvore a construção ganha uma forma única de zig-zag. As curvas e formas sinuosas da construção criam uma série de espaços intermediários, que oferecem abrigo para diversos elementos da natureza e também melhoram a circulação de ar dentro da casa. A forma singular dá a esta construção uma cara de casa ao mesmo tempo em que se parece com uma escultura abstrata. Quando visto de outras construções da região, que estão em terrenos mais elevados, o telhado da casa, com um belo e verde gramado, é a cereja do bolo. fotos: Edward Hendricks – via Archello fonte: www.limaonagua.com.br