</p><p>The findings published Sunday (Mar 10) in the journal The Lancet suggest that atherosclerosis a form of heart disease wherein calcium deposits narrow the arteries may have been a universal disease in all human societies and not wholly a result of the modern diet.</
#Could an Avocado a Day Keep the Doctor Away? Eating avocados regularly may improve the quality of your diet
and some key heath markers according to a new analysis. After crunching the data from the National Health
a lower risk of metabolic syndrome; and a lower body weight body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.
Metabolic syndrome characterized by a cluster of symptoms raises a person's risk for heart disease. The symptoms include blood pressure higher than 130/85 mmhg;
A person with three or more of these symptoms is diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. The hass supported Avocado Board the study.
The NHANES program of studies regularly assesses the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United states. Researchers calculated diet quality using the USDA's Healthy Eating Index
which has been associated with a lower risk of heart disease. Previous research elsewhere has found an estimated 19 percent reduction in the risk of coronary disease
when the intake of monounsaturated fat is increased by 5 percent the current researchers wrote. Â Avocado eaters also fared well in the weight department.
and possibly reducing the risk of metabolic syndrome in the United states the researchers wrote. Further research is needed to verify this epidemiological data and study the potential association between increased intake of avocados and other dietary components.
Pass it on: Eating avocados may raise good cholesterol levels lower BMI and reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome.
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because fungal infections typically strike in July whether or not their crop is afflicted actually Anderson said.
In each case researchers encountered problems that needed to be overcome with trial and error said Dr. Robert Lanza chief scientific officer at the biotech company Advanced Cell Technology which works on cell therapies
for human diseases and has cloned animals. With mice researchers were able to use thousands of eggs
they've also been heralded for their reported ability to prevent and even treat urinary tract infections. But clinical research attempting to link cranberry consumption to a reduction in urinary tract infections remains somewhat inconsistent.
A 2012 study by a team from Taiwan and the U s. published in the Archives of Internal medicine found that consuming cranberries did seem to prevent urinary tract infections in certain populations
but qualified the findings with a strong word of caution against using the folk remedy as a treatment.
 Most research on the cranberry's effect on infections focuses primarily on its ability to prevent bacteria from attaching to a host cell.
If the bacteria can't stick to bladder cells they can't cause infections. But in recent years researchers at Mcgill University in Montreal have uncovered a new weapon that cranberries have against bacteria.
Bacteria on the move A key factor in a bacterium's ability to infect a host cell is its motility
This is especially the case in bacteria that cause urinary tract infections. Motility is actually a really important factor in infection said Nathalie Tufenkji a chemical engineer at Mcgill University.
It helps the bacteria spread up the urinary tract. It helps them also infect the cells.
Cranberry meets Proteus mirabilis After observing E coli's impaired motility after exposure to cranberries Tufenkji tested the cranberry's effect on another bacteria common to urinary tract infections:
Proteus is this really aggressive swarmer commented Tufenkji which makes it particularly virulent in the urinary tract especially in catheterized patients who already have a high risk of infection.
When patients are catheterized any bacterium present on the catheter can easily swim or swarm its way up the urinary tract to infect bladder cells.
An alternative to antibiotics The two studies show that cranberry powder is able to essentially disable bacteria
When antibiotics are used to treat infections most bacteria are killed but in the process any survivors can become resistant to the antibiotic used against them.
The more often antibiotics are used the more resistant the bacteria can become resulting in dangerous strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Because cranberry powder only disables bacteria the bacteria are given not the chance to grow stronger as they resist antibiotic intervention.
Eventually the disabled bacteria are flushed simply out of the body. As yet it is unclear if the bacteria would eventually develop a resistance to the immobilizing effects of the cranberry
 Cranberry-laced catheters The concentrations of cranberry powder that were effective in disabling E coli
or treat a urinary tract infection. So it is difficult to say that ingesting high volumes of cranberries would have any effect on bacterial motility.
In future research however Tufenkji plans to examine the effects of embedding cranberry powder into catheters themselves.
which cranberry compounds interact with bacteria that affects their potential to cause infection said Camesano.
and chemical analysis shows that the sedimentary rock of the area was melted and mixed together by temperatures consistent with the blast impact of an asteroid about 6 miles (10 km) across striking the Earth at this point.
but instead caused by disease. In fact the first real crop circles didn't appear until the 1970s
In a publication out today in Science a team of researchers in the computational genomics unit at the National institutes of health in Maryland report that Ctenophora are the most ancient multicellular animals.
and ruled out several possible causes for the elk deaths including poachers anthrax lightning strikes epizootic hemorrhagic disease (an often-fatal virus known to affect deer and other ruminants) botulism poisonous plants
Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena We couldn't find anything toxic in their stomachs and no toxic plants on the landscape said Kerry Mower a wildlife disease specialist with New mexico Department of Game
and Fish as quoted by the Santa fe New Mexican newspaper. As news spread some conspiracy-minded folk soon speculated about links to animal mutilations UFOS or even the dreaded Hispanic vampire el chupacabra.
In warm weather blooms of blue-green algae are not uncommon in farm ponds in temperate regions particularly ponds enriched with fertilizer according to a classic toxicology reference book Casarett and Doull's Toxicology:
The Basic Science of Poisons (Mcgraw-hill Professional 2013. Under these conditions one species of alga Anabaena flos-aquae produces a neurotoxin anatoxin-A which depolarizes and blocks acetylcholine receptors causing death in animals that drink the pond water.
And the fast-acting toxin explains the animals'strange sudden deaths. In this case the algae appeared not in ponds
Based on circumstantial evidence the most logical explanation for the elk deaths is that on their way back to the forest after feeding in the grassland the elk drank water from a trough containing toxins created by blue-green algae
The algae-produced neurotoxin is similar to curare the famous toxin found in poison-tipped arrows used by South american indian tribes.
When the researchers looked at specific causes of death they found that people who ate a daily ounce of nuts were 29 percent less likely to die of heart disease 24 percent less likely to die from respiratory disease
and 11 percent less likely to die from cancer according to study published in the Nov 21 issue of the New england Journal of Medicine.
The findings from our study and others suggest a potential benefit of nut consumption for promoting health
and longevity study researcher Dr. Charles Fuchs of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston said in a statement.
and the U s. Food and Drug Administration says that eating 1. 5 ounces of nuts per day may reduce the risk of heart disease.
The researchers analyzed information from more than 76000 female nurses and more than 42000 male physicians from the 1980s to 2010.
or that people who are in poor health to begin with tend to not eat nuts. However people with a history of cancer heart disease or stroke were included not in the study.
The findings support the results of prior research linking nut consumption with a reduced risk of many diseases including heart disease type 2 diabetes and colon cancer.
Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New york who was involved not in the study said the findings reaffirm the known benefits of nuts.
It's really such a powerful thing to know that I can eat nuts as part of my diet
and it can actually have a positive outcome on health Steinbaum told Livescience. It's really such a cardio-protective food.
Once the trap catches a grizzly scientists use a sedative to immobilize the animal. Then they have only an hour to take blood
Despite the inherent danger the research is a critical means of gleaning information about the local grizzly population's health.
That species has been associated with the deadly fungal infection chytridiomycosis which has wiped out amphibian species across the globe.
Besides being at risk of deadly fungal infections frogs salamanders and their relatives are more vulnerable to environmental changes
A forestry expert quoted by the Natural resources Defense Council describes clear cutting as an ecological trauma that has no precedent in nature except for a major volcanic eruption.
but also has negative consequences for medicinal research and local populations who rely on the animals and plants in the forests for hunting and medicine.
Carbon Emissions: Healthy forests help absorb greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions that are caused by human civilization
This can decrease local water quality contributing to poor health in the local population. All of these factors can have adverse effects on local economies.
#Diarrhea: Causes, Symptoms & Treatments As unpleasant as diarrhea is this universal ailment rarely causes serious problems.
Most people have diarrhea once or twice a year according to the Cleveland Clinic. Causes Sometimes referred to as intestinal flu diarrhea is caused usually by a virus in the bowel
and generally lasts two or three days. But the condition characterized by watery stool abdominal cramps
and an urgency for bowel movements has many possible causes which include: Complications The primary complication of diarrhea is caused dehydration by the loss of large amounts of water salt and nutrients.
According to the Mayo Clinic dehydration can lead to other serious conditions such as low blood pressure seizures kidney failure or even death.
Those with ongoing diarrhea should seek medical attention if they experience: Â Diagnosis & Tests Diagnosing diarrhea itself is simple
but doctors may want to determine the condition s cause for those whose symptoms are severe and/or ongoing.
According to the NIH tests include: Treatment & Medications Most cases of diarrhea resolve spontaneously within a few days
and all that is needed is preventing dehydration by replacing lost fluids according to the NIH. In the meantime various over-the-counter medications may help firm the stool and decrease the urgency for bowel movements.
These include loperamide hydrochloride (commonly known as the brand name Imodium AD) bismuth subsalicylate (brand name Pepto-Bismol)
and attapulgite (brand name Kaopectate. These medications however are recommended not for diarrhea caused by bacterial infection
or parasites according to the NIH since organisms will be trapped in the intestines if the diarrhea ceases before they are excreted completely.
The Cleveland Clinic recommends drinking two to three quarts or liters of liquids daily while recovering from diarrhea
While water is fine it does not replace lost salt or nutrients so better choices are broth tea with honey sports drinks
and pulp-free juices. Avoid milk products caffeine alcohol and apple and pear juices since they may worsen diarrhea.
Soft bland foods are recommended as well including bananas plain rice toast crackers boiled potatoes smooth peanut butter cottage cheese noodles and applesauce.
Because yogurt cheese and miso contain probiotics which contain strains of bacteria similar to those in a healthy intestine they are also good choices.
Avoid fatty high-fiber or heavily seasoned foods for several days a
#Did Woman's'Visions'Locate Missing Boy? The search for a missing 11-year-old California boy came to a tragic end recently
when the body of Terry Smith Jr. was found. The boy's mother reported him missing July 7
How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries and Hoaxes Myths and Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking.
#DIY Projects Linked with Lower Risk of Heart attack, Stroke For older adults gardening and do-it-yourself home activities like fixing up the house may cut the risk of heart attack
and stroke a new study from Sweden suggests. In the study adults ages 60 and over who engaged in high levels of home
and garden activities were 27 percent less likely to experience a heart attack or stroke over a 12-year period compared with those who engaged in low levels of these activities.
and garden activities might be as important as recommending regular exercise for older adults the researchers write in the Oct 28 issue of The british Journal of Sports Medicine.
and gardening activities were the cause of the lower risk of heart attack and stroke. In addition the best outcomes were seen among people who did both regular exercise and home and gardening activities.
and gardening activities showed signs of being in better cardiovascular health such as having lower levels of bad cholesterol
During a 12-year follow-up period 476 participants had a heart attack or stroke and 383 died from various causes.
but well-designed clinical trials are needed to determine whether this is true said study researcher Katrina Vickerman a program evaluator at Alere Wellbeing a company that offers services to corporations to help employees improve their health.
 The researchers looked at about 2500 people who called smoking cessation hotlines and followed up with them seven months later.
The Food and Drug Administration however hasn endorsed t e-cigarettes as smoking-cessation aides and in 2010 the agency sent warning letters to companies who marketed e-cigarettes as such.
About one in five adult cigarette smokers had used electronic cigarettes by 2011 up from about one in 10 in 2010 according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Studies have shown levels of chemicals detected in e-cigarettes'vapor are 1000 times lower than in tobacco smoke said Dr. Michael Siegel a professor of community health sciences at the Boston University School
of Public health. If all the other methods have failed for an individual it s a disservice not to offer this other alternative Siegel said regarding
#Do Fast-food Restaurants Fall short on Their Health Claims? Fast-food restaurants are serving healthier options although only marginally so according to a study published last week in the American Journal of Preventive medicine.
You may have known that changes were afoot in the fast-food restaurants most vilified by doctors for serving unhealthy fare.
Mcdonald's Burger king and others now offer salad fruit and skim milk. The new offerings advertised prominently would make one think that a trip to the local burger joint is suddenly heart-healthy and waistline-friendly.
Not quite said Mary Hearst director of public health at St catherine University in St paul Minn. lead author on the report.
Based on the Healthy Eating Index a measure of diet quality that assesses conformance to federal diet guidelines the overall health quality of fast food was poor the researchers found.
At issue for the researchers in part are the health claims that fast-food restaurants make. If they are claiming healthy options they should be able to demonstrate it Hearst said.
So what's a health-conscious consumer to do for lunch aside from packing it? A salad at just about any fast-food chain might not be the answer.
Analyses by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has found that most fast-food salads are not any more healthful than a greasy burger.
when eating at fast-food restaurants said Ulka Agarwal chief medical officer for the Washington D c.-based PCRM a health-advocacy group that also conducts its own research.
Hearst and her co-authors also discussed the positive impact that fast-food restaurants could have on their customers'health.
His column Bad Medicine appears regularly on Livescience i
#Do'Smarter'Dogs Really Suffer More than'Dumber'Mice?(Op-Ed) Marc Bekoff emeritus professor at the University of Colorado Boulder is one of the pioneering cognitive ethologists in the United states a Guggenheim Fellow and cofounder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical
Consequently the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness.
and birds and many other creatures including octopuses also possess these neurological substrates. And we need to keep the door open to the possibility that other vertebrates
Links between psychological health and physical health have long been recognized by researchers. However most research has focused on poor psychological functioning such as how being depressed
or anxious may be bad for health according to lead study author Julia Boehm a research fellow at the Harvard School of Public health.
or having a purpose in life might be good for health. This study is the first of its kind to report a relationship between optimism
Previous studies have shown that high blood levels of antioxidants may be a marker of good health. Antioxidants help keep other molecules in the body from producing free radicals
and contribute to disease. Carotenoids including beta-carotene a pigment found in high levels in orange produce
The results were published in January in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. Because the researchers measured each person s antioxidant and optimism levels only once rather than following them over time it remains unclear
A 2009 study of more than 100000 U s. women published in the journal Circulation found that optimists live longer and healthier lives with fewer cancer-and heart-disease-related deaths.
The current study adds a valuable piece of information to this larger picture about how optimists go about getting healthier said Dr. Hilary Tindle a doctor of internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention a diet rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of cancer
and other chronic diseases reason enough for produce lovers to look on the bright side. Pass it on:
and encourage the growth of toxic algae. In 2002 a plane inadvertently dumped thousands of gallons of fire retardant into the Fall River in Oregon causing the immediate death of roughly 21000 trout whitefish
#Dog Treat Made from Bull Penis May Pose Health Risks When dog owners toss their canine companions a bully stick to chew on they might not be aware that the popular treat could be packed with calories
Tests for bacteria showed that one of the treats contained Clostridium difficile one was contaminated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and seven contained E coli.
and a more extensive study is needed to investigate the widespread contamination rate in bully sticks.
This isn't the first time a pet treat has been linked with contamination. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2010 in the journal Pediatrics that an outbreak of salmonella in 79 people between 2006 and 2008 was caused by contaminated dry pet food.
While the source of the bully sticks is no secret many pet owners don't seem to be aware that the treats are made from the raw penises of bulls
They extracted records of tree fire injuries and fire-related deaths between 1984 and 2005 that occurred after controlled burns by the National park service.
Lots of Animals Self-Medicate The use of medicine can no longer be considered a solely human trait
and prevent infection. And this list runs the gamut with the usual suspects primates chewing on medicinal herbs as well as some more surprising drug-takers such as fruit flies ants
and butterflies a new study finds. Previously scientists thought such behavior was unique to primates
and more intelligent animals where self-medication could be learned and passed on from parents to offspring.
Self-medication in animals is really common more common than previously thought said study author Jaap de Roode a researcher at Emory University in Atlanta.
Drunk fruit flies Medication can be taken either in response to an active infection or to prevent future parasitic attacks of an animal
Fruit flies for example will lay their eggs in more alcoholic fruit (produced by natural fermentation) when parasitic wasps are hanging around said Todd Schlenke an Emory researcher who wasn't involved in the review paper.
The 10 Most Diabolical and Disgusting Parasites Whereas the alcohol can have negative effects on the developing flies it also makes infection less likely.
Ants have also been found to medicate their colonies against infection bringing back chemicals with antifungal properties.
And monarch butterflies fight parasites by laying their eggs in toxic milkweed plants. Helping humans Animal medicine can be useful to humans in a variety of ways.
For instance bees collect plant resins with antifungal and antimicrobial properties and bring it back to their hives to help them fight infection.
Beekeepers have selected against this trait since resin is sticky and hard to work with; this has made likely bees more prone to infection de Roode said.
These medicines could also possibly be used to fight infection in humans or other animals. One chemical in bee resin has been shown to have inhibitory effects against HIV-1 de Roode said.
Another plant eaten as a medicine by primates is now being used as an antiemetic (to treat nausea
and vomiting) in African livestock said Juan Villalba a researcher at Utah State university who wasn't involved in the study.
Villalba's work has shown that animals can benefit when artificial medicines are made available to them to eat when necessary.
A polymer called polyethylene glycol helps sheep handle a diet high in tannins and lambs can learn to eat this medicine from observing their parents doing it Villalba said.
This paper will bring more attention to the idea that medication is an important and common kind of immune response that organisms use in nature Schlenke said.
Email Douglas Main or follow him@Douglas main. Follow us@livescience Facebookâ or Google+.+Article originally on Livescience. com i
#Dwarf Lemurs Hibernate Like Bears The western fat-tailed dwarf lemur was the only primate thought to be a hibernator.
and then cracked open the skulls to access the fatty nutritious energy-rich brains. That might have fueled the body changes seen later in modern-human ancestors such as Homo erectus.
that a crazed maniacal group destroyed their environment by cutting down trees to transport gigantic statues said study co-author Carl Lipo an anthropologist at California State university Long beach.
#Eating Fish During Pregnancy May Lower Anxiety Eating at least some fish during pregnancy may lower women's risk of anxiety a new study suggests.
or oily fish (such as tuna and salmon) were 53 percent more likely to have high levels of anxiety in their third trimester of pregnancy compared with women who ate fish at least once a week.
The researchers also found that among vegetarian women those who had the strictest diets were 25 percent more likely to have compared anxiety with women who followed more flexible vegetarian diets and occasionally consumed fish or meat.
The link between higher fish consumption and lower risk for anxiety may be due to the omega-3 fatty acids in fish the researchers said writing in their study published July 12 in the journal PLOS ONE.
While stress is not uncommon in pregnant women studies have linked high levels of anxiety to babies being born prematurely or with low weight.
We continue to see consistent data from many studies suggesting that omega-3s have an impact on a range of behavioral disorders such as depression anxiety
or schizophrenia said Dr. Ski Chilton professor of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest School of medicine who was involved not in the study.
Because of the demands of a growing fetus pregnant women need higher amounts of nutrients. The lack of fish and meat in a vegetarian diet may explain why vegetarian women in the study tended to experience more anxiety the researchers said.
In this study the vegetarian group did not fare well at all. The fetus's brain is growing dramatically
One group was labeled the health-conscious group and included women who mainly ate fruits salad fish and cereals.
At the 32 weeks of pregnancy the women completed questionnaires and those who scored in the top 15 percent were classified as having high levels of anxiety.
It's not exactly clear how low omega-3s in diet may result in anxiety
and affect how the body responds to psychological stress the researchers said. 5 Ways Your Cells Deal With Stress
While low dietary omega-3s may exacerbate anxiety outside of pregnancy as well as suggested by previous research the effects may be pronounced more during pregnancy.
Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental protection agency. Email Bahar Gholipour or follow her@alterwired. Followâ Livescienceâ@livescience Facebookâ & Google+.
#Eating Peppers May Lower Parkinson's Risk Regularly eating peppers may lower the risk of Parkinson's disease a new study suggests.
People in the study who ate peppers two times per week were 30 percent less likely to develop Parkinson's disease than people who ate peppers less than once a week.
or neurons from the damage associated with Parkinson's. In Parkinson's disease up to 80 percent of the neurons that produce a chemical called dopamine which controls muscle function are damaged according to the National Parkinson Foundation.
A neurodegenerative disease Parkinson's causes a range of symptoms. The hallmark signs are tremors slowness of movement stiffness of the arms legs or trunk and problems with balance.
Approximately 1 million Americans have Parkinson's disease reports the National Parkinson Foundation. Each year 50000 to 60000 new cases are diagnosed in the United states. Â The pepper advantage In the study the researchers looked at 490 people who had been diagnosed newly with Parkinson's disease
and compared them with 644 people who did not have the condition. Participants answered a detailed questionnaire about their lifetime dietary habits and tobacco use.
Just 11 percent of those with the disease and 5 percent of people in the control grouphad a family history of the disease which can raise risk.
People reported how often they ate certain vegetables and their history of tobacco use. The researchers found that not only were associated peppers with a reduced risk of Parkinson's
but also that the more peppers people consumed the greater the apparent benefit. People who ate peppers five to six times a week
or more slashed their Parkinson's risk by about 50 percent compared with those who ate them less than once a week.
Benefits associated with vegetables from the Solanaceae family seemed to be said fairly specific study researcher Susan Searles Nielsen an environmental and occupational health researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle.
While there was some suggestion that tomatoes might also be associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson's it was not clear Searles Nielsen said.
While it is certainly intriguing to think that eating peppers may protect against Parkinson's disease we have to consider that there are other explanations she said.
Dr. Michael Okun national medical director for the National Parkinson Foundation who was involved not in the study called the findings interesting
 It is not clear from this study that family members at risk (those with a family history of Parkinson's) should rush out
and to establish potential benefits in the Parkinson's'at risk'population. Still it can't hurt to include peppers in your diet Searles Nielsen said.
Eating peppers may lower the risk of Parkinson's disease. Follow Myhealthnewsdailyâ on Twitterâ@Myhealth mhnd. We're also onâ Facebookâ &â Google+.
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