Archive for July, 2011

Health Buzz: Olive Oil May Protect Against Stroke

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Study: Olive Oil Lowers Stroke Risk

Drizzling olive oil over your meals could help lower your risk of stroke, new research suggests. Researchers tracked more than 7,600 people ages 65 and older in three French cities, and found that those who regularly used olive oil were 41 percent less likely to have a stroke over the 5-year study period than were never-users, according to findings published in Neurology on Wednesday. Those who benefited the most were "intensive" olive oil users, i.e., they cooked with it and dressed prepared food with it. Past research suggests that olive oil, a staple of Mediterranean diets, helps thwart heart disease and helps control high blood pressure and cholesterol. Exactly why olive oil shields against stroke is unclear, but the researchers speculate it’s because people use it in lieu of its less healthful cousins: butter, coconut oil, and other saturated fats. 

6 Ways to Trick Yourself Into Eating Fruits and Veggies

Some people wrongly assume they don’t like asparagus or cauliflower, when in fact they don’t like the way those foods are often prepared. Many vegetables, among them green beans, carrots, and sweet potatoes, become family favorites when drizzled with a little olive oil and roasted in the oven. And fruits and vegetables can disappear if tucked into dishes the right way. Here are a few tricks from dietitians to get more produce into meals:

1. Use them in sauces, chili, soups, and casseroles. They’re great at camouflaging zucchini, squash, carrots, or corn. Grate and sauté them or pulse them in a food processor until they’re smooth. But they don’t have to be hidden to taste good. Pasta sauces or toppings on meat dishes are other veggie vehicles. Grab a can of butternut squash soup and cook gnocchi in it—it’s "super yummy," says Andrea Giancoli, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. Smother your chicken in ratatouille—an assortment of seasoned, sautéed veggies—or top sea bass with tomatoes, capers, and olives or perhaps a mango salsa.

2. Bake them into muffins, breads, and pies. Yes, you can enjoy pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving relatively guilt-free, so long as it’s not topped with a huge dollop of Cool Whip. Carrot cake, zucchini bread, and banana muffins are a few more possibilities. Many recipes call for applesauce instead of all or some of the butter or oil, and it brings just as much moistness. "It can definitely be an awesome way to get your more nutritious substitutes to replacing high-oil, high-fat baked goods," says Sarah Krieger, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. [Read more: 6 Ways to Trick Yourself Into Eating Fruits and Veggies.]

Use These 8 Foods to Help You Lose Weight

We all know the basic nutrition rules when it comes to safeguarding our health and losing weight. In the words of best-selling nutrition writer Michael Pollan, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Sounds simple, but if you’re interested in maximizing the amount of nutrients you get, you may want to be a little choosy when selecting among various options in each food group. Some fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy products stand out as nutritional superstars, according to the latest research. And they’re also easy on the calorie count to help you shed pounds, fitness blogger Ryan Sullivan writes for U.S. News. Consider incorporating these foods into your daily meal plan:

1. Watermelon. It’s not only delicious, but packs a wallop of antioxidants like vitamins A and C. It also contains lycopene, a plant chemical found in studies to lower your risk of cancer, heart disease and age-related vision loss due to macular degeneration. Just as gratifying: One cup of cubed watermelon contains less than 50 calories, not too damaging for your waistline.

2. Avocado. This extremely versatile fruit can be used in salads, sandwiches, and guacamole. Filled with heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, avocado is a healthful alternative to mayonnaise and can help lower "bad" LDL cholesterol levels. Just watch your portions. One-quarter of a medium-sized avocado contains 65 calories, so you don’t want to overdo it. [Read more: Use These 8 Foods to Help You Lose Weight.]

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Health Buzz: Cancer Deaths Down Overall, but Still High for Some Groups

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Latest U.S. Cancer Stats Released

Nearly 1.6 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and approximately 571,950 of them will be killed by the disease, according to the American Cancer Society’s annual report on cancer incidence and mortality, released today. Cancer remains a leading cause of death in the United States, second only to heart disease. Although the overall cancer death rate has been falling since 1990—down 22.2 percent for men and 13.9 percent for women—disparities still exist among socioeconomic and racial groups, according to the report. In 2007, for example, cancer deaths among the least-educated Americans were more than double those of the most-educated people. Nearly 40 percent of those deaths could have been prevented, the report authors say. "We need to apply what we know to avert unnecessary deaths from cancer," coauthor Elizabeth Ward of the American Cancer Society told CNN. "We need to make sure that all populations and communities have access to this life-saving information. At the same time, we need to continue to do research because we don’t have all the answers yet."

What Causes Cancer? 7 Strange Cancer Claims Explained

Bras, deodorant, and mouthwash­—just a few of the everyday products that have been linked to cancer at some point during the past several decades. Preposterous? Not at the time, and new suspects have been added to the list. Here’s the real story behind a roll call of ordinary household items that have come under scrutiny:

Artificial Sweeteners. The link: Calorie watchers scored a win when diet sodas were introduced in the early 1950s. Then lab studies suggested that the sweetener cyclamate caused bladder cancer in rats, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned its use. Then saccharin, the replacement of choice, was also shown to cause tumors in rats. Although saccharin was never banned, all products containing the sweetener were required to carry a cancer warning on their packaging.

The reality: No evidence has since emerged that either cyclamate, which is used in other countries, or saccharin causes cancer in humans, according to the National Cancer Institute. Although cyclamate is still banned, in 2000 saccharin was taken off the government’s list of possible carcinogens and saccharin products shed the warning label. The sweetener aspartame has come under suspicion, but scientists have found no increased risk of cancer in humans. [Read more: What Causes Cancer? 7 Strange Cancer Claims Explained.]

Cancer Prevention: Rethink Your Diet as Well as Your Smoking

If everyone were to quit smoking today, nearly 450,000 fewer Americans would die annually from smoking-related diseases. Yet even with all the smoking bans across the country, one in five Americans still lights up regularly—a rate that’s plateaued since 2005 after four decades of decline, according to a report issued last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While the smoking-lung cancer connection is an old story, every week, it seems, another headline tells you what you should or shouldn’t eat to avert the "big C". Eat a colorful array of fruits and vegetables to ward off lung cancer, says one recent study; avoid soft drinks if you don’t want to die of pancreatic cancer, warns another. Wine is good for your heart, but may increase your risk of breast cancer, others suggest.

And who wouldn’t be willing to give up the Diet Coke or chardonnay to sidestep the disease we fear most? It you took action based on research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, you might find yourself forgoing hamburgers and chicken wings and embracing soy burgers, tofu, and peanut butter instead. That study found that an Atkins-style diet that emphasized vegetable protein over animal protein lowered the risk of cancer. But all things considered, how much do dietary changes really matter in terms of cancer prevention? "Right after smoking, diet ranks right up there as the No. 2 modifiable risk factor," says Demetrius Albanes, a senior investigator and medical epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute. "Twenty-five percent of cancers can be related back to eating practices." Does that mean we really need to avoid soft drinks if we don’t want to get pancreatic cancer, as was suggested by a study in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention? "I don’t think we can say that," Albanes says. "That particular study from Singapore didn’t control very well for smoking, which is an important risk factor for pancreatic cancer." In other words, it could be that those who down daily six-packs of Fanta are also more likely to light up. [Read more: Cancer Prevention: Rethink Your Diet as Well as Your Smoking.]

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Health Buzz: Portable Pools Pose Drowning Risk

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Report: Small, Inflatable Pools Carry Drowning Risk

Backyard kiddie pools are riskier than many parents realize, a new study suggests. Each year about 20 children drown in these small, portable pools, which are inexpensive, easy to assemble, and not held to any local safety standards. Between 2001 and 2009, 209 children drowned in as little as 2 inches of water, and nearly all were under age 5, according a study published Monday in Pediatrics. While in-ground pool owners must adhere to local safety rules, like having pool covers and four-wall fencing, few parents invest in fences around portable pools. And because kiddie pools are often small and shallow, parents may underestimate the risks. "Children can drown in very small amounts of water," study author Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, told HealthDay. "It only takes a couple of inches and a few minutes."

How to Stay on a Diet to Lose or Maintain Weight

A diet is only as good as your ability to stick to it. Research has found that most plans will help you lose weight, regardless of type—low-fat or low-carb, for example. What counts is whether you can stay on it long-term. And with restaurant meals, dinners with friends, and hot fudge sundaes to tempt you, adherence is an understandable challenge. Here are five tricks for making your diet stick:

1. Gather the troops. You need support, be it from a friend, a group like Overeaters Anonymous, or even an online community. Research suggests those who go it alone are most likely to fall off the wagon. That’s why some diet plans have a formal support component—Weight Watchers connects dieters via weekly meetings, while Jenny Craig members are assigned counselors for advice and encouragement. If you’re not comfortable talking about your weight face-to-face, log online. By signing up for the free program PeerTrainer, for example, dieters can interact and track each others’ weight-loss progress, pose questions, and swap diet and exercise tips. "It’s important to have people who will pick you up when times are tough and cheer you on when you have successes," says registered dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner, author of The Flexitarian Diet. Plus, she adds: "Healthy habits are contagious."

2. Hold yourself accountable. A couple chips here and a few cookie-nibbles there may seem harmless, but mindless munching adds up. Record everything you eat and drink in a food diary. Most of us don’t realize exactly how much we consume, so making conscious notes will put each meal, snack, or splurge into perspective. In a 2008 American Journal of Preventative Medicine study, dieters who kept food diaries for five months lost nearly twice as much weight as their non-journaling peers. Journaling can reveal the problematic cues, triggers, and habits that could be sabotaging your weight-loss efforts. You might notice tendencies to overeat on deadline-heavy days, for example, or discover that your morning frozen coffee packs an extra 400 calories a day. [Read more: How to Stay on a Diet to Lose or Maintain Weight.]

5 Cheap Alternatives to Hiring a Personal Trainer

If you can’t afford a personal trainer—or don’t want one—there are a number of exercise and nutrition resources available on the Internet. For some, the convenience and social support of surfing for fitness guidance online can make it just as effective as working with a trainer in person, fitness blogger Chelsea Bush writes for U.S. News. Here’s a guide for how to use (and not to use) today’s top online fitness tools.

1. Social Media. Benefits: Social networks like Facebook and Twitter make it easy to get quick fitness tips and news updates, and connect with peers who can offer support and accountability as you work toward your goals. "People tend to stay with a program if they feel part of a community, and social media is the perfect vehicle for establishing this," says New York-based trainer Robert Brace. You can "check in" at the gym on Foursquare, a smart phone app that posts your whereabouts to your Facebook and Twitter profiles. Or you can tweet pictures of the healthy salad you made for lunch via apps like Flickr and Twitpic. With devices like the Nike+ SportBand, many are logging their running time and distance and broadcasting these from their social media profiles.

The caveat: While social networks can help you stay plugged in to your fitness program, most trainers say these shouldn’t be your sole source of support. "The great part about social media is that it reaches the masses," says David Kirsch, a New York-based trainer who fires off daily tips via Twitter and Facebook. But therein also lies the downside, which he acknowledges. Most of what you get from social media is advice for the masses, but to be effective, a fitness routine should be tailored to your body and lifestyle, he says. [Read more: 5 Cheap Alternatives to Hiring a Personal Trainer.]

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Health Buzz: Graphic Cigarette Warnings Released

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

One of the FDA's new cigarette health warnings.

Corpses, Cancerous Lungs Will be Stamped on Cigarette Packs

The federal government has unveiled nine graphic images that must appear on all cigarette packs and advertisements by next year—part of a new strategy to convey the dangers of smoking. The images, released Tuesday, include a corpse, a man smoking through a tracheotomy hole in his throat, cancer-riddled lungs, and rotting teeth and gums. Messages like "Warning: Smoking can kill you" and "Warning: Cigarettes cause cancer" are also stamped on the images. Cigarette makers who don’t comply with the new requirement by October 2012 will not be allowed to sell their brands in the United States. The images must cover 50 percent of the front and backside of cigarette packs, as well as the top 20 percent of cigarettes advertisements. Smoking causes 443,000 deaths in the U.S. each year; the new warnings are expected to help 213,000 Americans kick the habit by 2013, the Associated Press reports. "These labels are frank, honest, and powerful depictions of the health risks of smoking," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement to the press.

12 Reasons to Really Quit Smoking

We’ll spare you the lecture. (Seriously, though. Stamp out that butt and flush the pack, already.) Tobacco use, namely cigarette smoking, is the chief cause of preventable death in the U.S. Left unbridled, smoking could kill more than a billion people this century, according to the World Health Organization. The reasons to quit smoking keep amassing—and they’re not all about heart disease, lung cancer, or respiratory problems. Here’s a few downsides you might not have considered.

1. It fogs the mind. Smoking may cloud the mind, according to accumulating research. A 2008 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that smoking in middle age is linked to memory problems and to a slide in reasoning abilities, though these risks appeared lessened for those who’d long quit; this is important, the authors wrote, because other research has shown that people with mild cognitive impairment in midlife develop dementia at an accelerated rate. Their report piggybacks on several focused on the older set: A 2007 analysis of 19 prior studies concluded that elderly smokers face a heightened risk of dementia and cognitive decline, compared with lifelong nonsmokers. And in 2004, researchers reported in Neurology that smoking appeared to hasten cognitive decline in dementia-free elderly smokers, bringing it on several times faster than in their nonsmoking peers.

2. It may bring on diabetes. As if we need any more risk factors for diabetes, an analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that across 25 prior studies, current smokers have a 44 percent greater chance of developing type 2 diabetes than nonsmokers do, and the risk was strongest for those with the heaviest habit, who clocked 20 or more cigarettes per day. In an accompanying editorial, researchers made a striking estimation: That some 12 percent of all type 2 diabetes cases nationwide might be attributable to smoking. [Read more: 12 Reasons to Really Quit Smoking.]

Is It Possible to Be Smoke Free in 30 Days?

By now, it’s almost a cliché to reiterate that smoking is the chief cause of preventable death in the U.S. Yet approximately 46 million Americans are still lighting up, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. News spoke to clinical psychologist Daniel Seidman, director of smoking cessation services at Columbia University Medical Center, about his book Smoke-Free in 30 Days: The Pain-Free, Permanent Way to Quit (Fireside Trade Paperback Original). In it, Seidman draws on his 20-plus years of experience with thousands of patients and walks people through the quitting process—including how to prepare for the "quit day" and how to maintain their success.

The big obstacles to quitting, he said, are numerous: "Really, there are three hurdles people have to get past: the physical, the automated behavior (which is the habit), and emotional belief systems. Most people, when they think about this addiction to smoking, think of it as a physical problem with some element of habit. But I think people really don’t get that for many smokers, making a good emotional adjustment after they quit is the hardest thing. If every time for 20 years you get upset you take a cigarette, that’s going to become very much a part of your emotional repertoire, right? Once you can get [people] to think differently about that emotional belief system, it really helps them move beyond smoking and lose interest in it." [Read more: Is It Possible to Be Smoke Free in 30 Days?]

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Gray Whales Changed Diet During Ice Ages

Monday, July 18th, 2011

A young grey whale watches those watching it. The eye is just below the waterline.

Gray whales survived many cycles of global cooling and warming over the past few million years, likely by exploiting a more varied diet than they do today, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, and Smithsonian Institution paleontologists.

The researchers, who analyzed California gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) responses to climate change over the past 120,000 years, also found evidence to support the idea that the population of gray whales along the Pacific Coast before the arrival of humans was two to four times today’s population, which stands at about 22,000. The whale is considered a conservation success story because protections instituted as early as the 1930s have allowed populations to rebound from fewer than 1,000 individuals in the early 20th century, after less than 75 years of systematic whaling.

"There almost certainly were higher gray whale populations in the past," said evolutionary biologist David Lindberg, a UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology who coauthored the paper with his former student, Nicholas D. Pyenson, now curator of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. The paper appears today (Wednesday, July 6) in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE.

Lindberg and Pyenson suggest that higher populations in the past were possible because gray whales utilized a greater variety of food resources—resources that today’s whales are only now beginning to exploit. According to Lindberg, gray whales were once thought to feed only by suctioning seafloor sediment and filtering out worms and amphipods—so-called benthic organisms. But some whales are now eating herring and krill as well, just like their baleen whale relatives, which include the humpback and the blue.

Some whales are even dropping out of the migratory rat race. One group hangs out year-round off Vancouver Island in Canada, where they chase herring and krill.

"We propose that gray whales survived the disappearance of their primary feeding ground by employing generalist filter-feeding modes, similar to the resident gray whales found between northern Washington State and Vancouver Island," the scientists wrote in their paper.

"A combination of low population numbers and a species migrating between places where humans didn’t bother them gave us the impression that gray whales have a stereotypical migratory and feeding behavior that may not be historically correct," Lindberg said.

The new population numbers accord with a 2007 estimate that the California gray whale population was likely 76,000 to 120,000 before humans began hunting them. That estimate, by Stephen Palumbi of Stanford University and his collaborators, was based on an analysis of gray whale genetic diversity.

The numbers clash, however, with claims by some ecologists that populations of between 15,000 and 20,000 are likely the most that the Pacific Coast—specifically along the whales’ 11,000 kilometer (6,900 mile) migratory route from Baja California to the Bering Sea—could support, today or in the past.

"Our data say that, if the higher estimates are right, gray whales would have made it through the Ice Ages in numbers sufficiently large to avoid bottlenecking," Pyenson said. "If gray whale populations were at the lower levels, they would only have squeaked through the ice ages with populations of hundreds or a few thousand. That would have left bottlenecking evidence in their DNA."

Bottlenecking is when populations drop so low that inbreeding becomes common, decreasing the genetic diversity in the species and making them less able to adapt to environmental change.

The new assessment is good news for gray whales, which appear to have "a lot more evolutionary plasticity than anyone imagined," Lindberg said. This could help them survive the climate change predicted within the next few centuries that is characterized by an expected sea level rise of several meters.

"I suspect the gray whales will be among the winners in the great climate change experiment," Pyenson said.

Lindberg and Pyenson initiated the study several years ago in the face of conflicting and contentious estimates for past gray whale populations. They thought that an understanding of how gray whales adapted to climate change over the past 3 million years, the period called the Pleistocene, might provide insight into how they will adapt to climate change today.

Hydrogen Peroxide Found in Space

Monday, July 18th, 2011

An international team of astronomers made the discovery with the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope (APEX), situated on the 5000-metre-high Chajnantor plateau in the Chilean Andes. They observed a region in our galaxy close to the star Rho Ophiuchi, about 400 light-years away. The region contains very cold (around -250 degrees Celsius), dense clouds of cosmic gas and dust, in which new stars are being born. The clouds are mostly made of hydrogen, but contain traces of other chemicals, and are prime targets for astronomers hunting for molecules in space. Telescopes such as APEX, which make observations of light at millimetre- and submillimetre-wavelengths, are ideal for detecting the signals from these molecules.

Now, the team has found the characteristic signature of light emitted by hydrogen peroxide, coming from part of the Rho Ophiuchi clouds.

"We were really excited to discover the signatures of hydrogen peroxide with APEX. We knew from laboratory experiments which wavelengths to look for, but the amount of hydrogen peroxide in the cloud is just one molecule for every ten billion hydrogen molecules, so the detection required very careful observations," says Per Bergman, astronomer at Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden. Bergman is lead author of the study, which is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a key molecule for both astronomers and chemists. Its formation is closely linked to two other familiar molecules, oxygen and water, which are critical for life. Because much of the water on our planet is thought to have originally formed in space, scientists are keen to understand how it is created.

Hydrogen peroxide is thought to form in space on the surfaces of cosmic dust grains—very fine particles similar to sand and soot—when hydrogen (H) is added to oxygen molecules (O2). A further reaction of the hydrogen peroxide with more hydrogen is one way to produce water (H2O). This new detection of hydrogen peroxide will therefore help astronomers better understand the formation of water in the Universe.

"We don’t understand yet how some of the most important molecules here on Earth are made in space. But our discovery of hydrogen peroxide with APEX seems to be showing us that cosmic dust is the missing ingredient in the process," says Berengere Parise, head of the Emmy Noether research group on star formation and astrochemistry at the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany, and a co-author of the paper.

To work out just how the origins of these important molecules are intertwined will need more observations of Rho Ophiuchi and other star-forming clouds with future telescopes such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)—and help from chemists in laboratories on Earth.

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Small Leaves Thrive in Dry Environments

Monday, July 18th, 2011

The size of leaves can vary by a factor of 1,000 across plant species, but until now, the reason why has remained a mystery. A new study by an international team of scientists led by UCLA life scientists goes a long way toward solving it.

In research federally funded by the National Science Foundation, the biologists found that smaller leaves are structurally and physiologically better adapted to dry soil because of their distinct vein systems.

The research will be published in an upcoming print issue of the journal Plant Physiology and is currently available in the journal’s online edition.

"A hike in dry areas, such as the Santa Monica Mountains, proves that leaves can be small. But if you are in the tropical forest, many leaves are enormous," said Lawren Sack, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and senior author of the research.

This biogeographic trend—smaller leaves in drier areas—may be the best recognized in plant ecology, true at both the local and global scales, but it had evaded direct explanation, Sack said.

Sack and his research team focused on deciphering the meaning of the huge diversity in the patterns of veins across plants. They found that small leaves’ major veins — those you can see with the naked eye—are spaced more closely together and are of greater length, relative to the leaf’s size, than those of larger leaves.

This redundancy of major veins, the researchers say, protects the leaves from the effects of embolism—bubbles that form in their "water pipes" during drought—because it provides alternate routes for water to flow around vein blockages.

"Even with strong drought that forms embolism in the veins, a small leaf maintains function in its vein system and can keep functioning for water transport," Sack said.

"Unlike people, plants don’t seem to have a complex hierarchy of needs—give them sun, water and nutrients, and they will be happy," said Christine Scoffoni, a UCLA doctoral student in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology and lead author of the research. "But when one of these three fundamental resources becomes scarce, the plant will have to find a way to cope with it or die, because there is no escape. Coping with drought can be a strong selective factor on leaf form, especially on size and their venation."

"When we ask our students in plant physiology class why plants need water, their first answer is for growth," Sack said. "They are amazed to learn that the bulk of the water used by a plant is actually to make up for the water lost through transpiration, which would otherwise dry out the leaves. When the leaves open the small pores on their surface, the stomata, to capture carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, water is lost to the dry atmosphere. To stay moist inside, the plants need to replace the water lost by evaporation."

To do this, plants need to maintain the continuity of water in their "pipe delivery system," even as water is being pulled up by the leaves to replace water that has been lost to the air. This places tension on the water in the pipe system, known as the xylem, which runs through the roots and stem and into the leaf veins. And that continuity is challenged by dry soil, Sack explained.

"The less water in the soil, the more the leaves have to pull to get some out, so stronger tension starts building in the plant’s pipes," Scoffoni said. "At a certain level of tension, an air bubble is pulled in from outside, blocking the flow of water. One way for a plant to withstand drought is to tolerate many of these embolisms."

Having more major vein routes by which water can flow around the air bubble provides this ability. Smaller leaves, possessing more major veins spaced closely together in a given square centimeter, have this ability, Sack said.

To test this idea, the UCLA team collaborated with professor Hervé Cochard from France’s University of Clermont-Ferrand and a member of the Institut National de Recherche Agronomique, to construct three-dimensional computer models of leaves’ venation systems. They then simulated the impact of embolism on water transport for leaves of different sizes and vein architectures.

Available Alternatives For Hemorrhoid Treatment Which Are Non Medical

Monday, July 18th, 2011

One hundred percent natural procedures are commonly the most beneficial approach to get for hemorrhoid treatment. Even though you’ll be able to uncover other hemorrhoid treatment procedures, even when your hemorrhoids are extremely painful you can quite often triumph over them employing natural approaches. This post will explore lots of kinds of non-chemical hemorrhoid treatment procedures that are out there.

Witch hazel has been depended on for plenty of decades all around the world to numb the puffiness and itching of hemorrhoids. It is possible to buy it in a store or you can actually formulate an elixer using it. While witch hazel can’t remove hemorrhoids once for all at all it will help you withstand them until you’ll be able to get them cured.

A sitz bath is actually a widely accepted form hemorrhoid treatment. This treatment can both deliver fast relief and if it is repeated on a normal regimen can ordinarily get rid of your hemorrhoids. Fill a tub with really warm water. Add salt, in particular epsom salt. To eradicate germs, which may be exacerbating the health problem and cause infection, add an antiseptic. You ought to rub the sore region.

You may want to think about Butcher’s Broom to assist you with the loss of supply of blood caused by hemorrhoids. Butcher’s Broom has been recognised for plenty of years for healing any problem related to damaged blood vessels so it provides a hemorrhoid treatment. Also you might think about utilizing Horse Chestnut. This option is an old folk treatment method for clotted arteries. Both herbal plants are generally taken orally, ordinarily in a hemorrhoid treatment tea. Ensure that you’re not allergic to Horse Chestnut prior to takiing it.

Being Aware Of Surgical Strategies For Hemorrhoids And Their Effects

Monday, July 18th, 2011

Given that you suspect you might are afflicted with hemorrhoids you’re most certainly attempting to gain knowledge about what your optimum hemorrhoid treatment plans are. As you might have figured, you have various hemorrhoid treatment possibilities . In the event that you are afflicted with hemorrhoids that are not exceedingly harmful you can in many cases get them cured with a variety of varied hemorrhoid treatment home cures. At the same time, if you are afflicted with harmful hemorrhoids, which means, thrombosed hemorrhoids and/or hemorrhoids that have begun to bleed you need to select surgical operations as a hemorrhoid treatment option.

Don’t assume all hemorrhoid treatment surgical operation possibilities are the same. In truth a lot of of them are very uncomfortablel.On top of that they often take quite a while to heal. Thank God, a number of the improved choices usually are not as painful, but yet they’re every bit as productive as a technique to overcome hemorrhoids. If you’ve been looking at surgical operations as a hemorrhoid treatment method then you are most certainly attempting to gain knowledge about what variations of surgical operations are available to you. This content page was posted to provide you an explanation of the many variations of surgical operations that are obtainable to overcome hemorrhoids.

Among the many several forms of hemorrhoid surgical operations you can find, Rubber Band Ligation is among the most widely used. With this kind of medical operation a rubber band around 1/25of an inch is pressed securely upon the root base of the hemorrhoid. The blood vessels that make up hemorrhoid eventually wither and die as the blood flow to them is cutoff. It in most cases takes around a few days for the hemorrhoid to shrink.

A pretty renowned type of surgical operation is laser surgery. In this particular procedure the healthcare professional aims a laser precisely toward the hemorrhoid. The lazer light burns the hemorrhoid off. You shouldn’t have to go to the hospital to undergo this surgical treatment executed because it is an out-patient process. Besides that you shouldn’t need to worry about the normal risks of surgical operations in particular bleeding simply because the lazer cauterizes the resultant injury which efficiently stop the bleeding.

Aanother type of surgery treatment that could be used to get rid of hemorrhoids is known as a Stapled Hemorroidectomy. With this type of a surgical procedure the healthcare professional makes use of a certain type of stapler which staples the hemorrhoid. Primarily this strategy is supposed to alleviate the bleeding.

There exists a type of hemorrhoid treatment that involves finding and then simply stitching up all of the blood vessels that’re supplying blood to the hemorrhoid. As soon as the the flow of blood is stopped the hemorrhoid withers. Within just about a week +/- it mearly drops off. This treatment solution, termed Hemorrhoidal Artery Ligation Operation or HAL is gathering popularity since it is pretty painless.

Every Thing You Must Know About Thrombosed Hemorrhoids

Monday, July 18th, 2011

Thrombosed hemorrhoids are in brief, hemorrhoids in which the problematic veins swell up from blood that is clotted. The description of thrombosis is: the forming of a blood clot inside a artery. This formation slows blood flow through the artery, in so doing constricting the oxygen . In the event that a thrombosed hemorrhoid faces an excess of pressure it will possibly pop. If it does, the anus will start to bleed and here the hemorroid is actually a bleeding hemorrhoid.

At times you can conclude whether or not you’ve got thrombosed hemorrhoids and in certain cases you cannot. If you observe a bluish swelling on your anus it is undoubtedly a thrombosed hemorrhoid. in certain cases you can feel it and observe that it is hard. Usually thrombosed hemorroids induce physical pain and in addition itching.
In many instances hemorrhoids, even thrombosed hemorrhoids are not on your anus. Surprisingly Thrombosed hemorrhoids can actually exist inside your rectum. These types of hemorrhoids are a little more problematic to discover considering they really don’t bring about physical pain and or itching and you are not able to see them.

What you don’t want is a severe case of hemorrhoids that has gotten infected, particularly internal hemorrhoids. Should you have gotten external thrombosed hemorrhoids, you are aware of how very painful they tend to be. . They may just get infected and that would be likely to elevate the illness substantially. All the same, you ought to be able to easily sense infections on your anus and so you can get it cured comparatively effortlessly. Internal infections conversely are hazardous. Not merely are they relatively troublesome to ascertain, they are troublesome to cure. Internal infections can potentially result in blood poisoning which could be fatal.

Just a little bit investigation online for hemorrhoid treatment selections should display a great many distinctive kinds of hemorrhoid treatment tactics. For more problematic ailments you may need to undergo an operation. In most scenarios however, your body can cure the precondition naturally with Just a little of care from you. Personal hygiene, a healthier diet and regular exercising are probably the most valuable hemorrhoid treatment techniques obtainable to cure your hemorrhoids and to assist avert long term hemorrhoids. Be sure you keep your butt nice and clean because that is a hemorrhoid treatment . Use topical antiseptics routinely Consume a lot of fiber, particularly fresh fruits and green vegetables since they have plenty of vitamins in them. Walk several miles daily or persue an activity that demands strenuous physical movement. Drink a lot of fluids but stay clear of alcohol. You can actually apply creams and salves to your anus to assist relieve the discomfort and itching connected to them. Just comprehend that these are temporary relief as opposed to being long term hemorrhoid treatment remedies. Not even an operation is a hemorrhoid treatment that can permanently cure hemorroids. The only way you can conceivably remedy hemorrhoids is by altering your life-style.