Blue Light Destroys Antibiotic-resistant Staph Infection

Two common strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA, were virtually eradicated in the laboratory by exposing them to a wavelength of blue light, in a process called photo-irradiation.

Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections represent an important and increasing public health threat. At present, fewer than 5% of staphylococcal strains are susceptible to penicillin, while approximately 40%-50% of Staph aureus isolated have developed resistance to newer semisynthetic antibiotics such as methicillin as well.

Chukuka S. Enwemeka, Deborah Williams, Sombiri K. Enwemeka, Steve Hollosi, and David Yens from the New York Institute of Technology (Old Westbury, NY) had previously demonstrated that photo-irradiation using 405-nm light destroys MRSA strains grown in culture. In the current study, "Blue 470-nm Light Kills Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Vitro," the authors exposed bacterial colonies of MRSA to various doses of 470-nm light, which emits no UV radiation.

The two MRSA populations studied—the US-300 strain of CA-MRSA and the IS-853 strain of HA-MRSA—represent prominent community-acquired and hospital-acquired strains, respectively.

The authors report that the higher the dose of 470-nm blue light, the more bacteria were killed. High-dose photo-irradiation was able to destroy 90.4% of the US-300 colonies and the IS-853 colonies. The effectiveness of blue light in vitro suggests that it should also be effective in human cases of MRSA infection, and particularly in cutaneous and subcutaneous infections.
"It is inspiring that an inexpensive naturally visible wavelength of light can eradicate two common strains of MRSA. Developing strategies that are capable of destroying MRSA, using mechanisms that would not lead to further antibiotic resistance, is timely and important for us and our patients," says Chukuka S. Enwemeka, PhD, FACSM, Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal and first author of the study.

The article will appear in the April 2009 issue (Volume 27, Number 2) of the peer-reviewed journal Photomedicine and Laser Surgery.

Reference : ScienceDaily (Jan. 31, 2009)

Blood Clot - Please read for Everyone's Safety

STROKE:
My friend sent this to me and encouraged me to post it and spread the word. I agree. If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks.

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a party, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. (they offered to call ambulance) They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm, Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the party. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today.
Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead. It only takes a minute to read this...

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Remember the '3' steps, STR. Read and Learn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions :

S = SMILE – Ask the person to SMILE

T = TALK – Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE coherently. (e.g. 'It is sunny out today')

R = RAISE – Ask the person to RAISE BOTH ARMS

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call the ambulance and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is a "crooked tongue"Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue. If the tongue falls to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.

10 Cosmetic Procedures You Should Avoid

Permanent cosmetics technician Julie Wallace injects ink into the lip of her mother Nancy Wallace in Millbrae, Calif., on Thursday, Feb.14, 2008.
(Newscom)

A recent report suggests that despite worries over an economic downturn, Americans are still spending money on procedures intended to make them look better. The annual report, issued last week by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, showed that the number of cosmetic procedures performed continued its steady rise last year to a total of nearly 12 million.

"The report tells me Americans are devoted to looking and feeling their best," ASPS president Dr. Richard A. D'Amico said in a statement on the report. "High demand continues for less invasive and relatively less expensive procedures, but there were also promising rebounds in some surgical procedures."

No smoking please

Some adds against smoking........

Childhood Cancer Awareness

Cancer is an important cause of mortality in many of the economically developed nations of the world. More than 10% of all deaths in children below 15 years of age are caused by malignant diseases in developed countries. In the developing world, childhood cancers are yet to be recognized as a major pediatric illness due to several other competing causes of death like diarrheal illness and respiratory illness. However, due to considerable reduction in infant and child mortality rates experienced in a few developing countries, it is emerging as a distinct entity to be dealt upon. For instance the infant and child mortality rates in Kerala are considerably below national average and in tune with the increase in the diagnosis of degenerative diseases, childhood cancers are being increasingly diagnosed(3). An attempt is made in this paper to describe the pattern of pediatric cancer seen at Regional Cancer Center, Thiruvananthapuram, which is likely to more often reflect the pattern in the community. In the absence of reliable population registration, hospital statistics in developing countries provide the only available window to observe the disease pattern in the community.

Childhood Abuse Raises Heart Disease Risk

It has been accepted that depression and heart disease are closely linked and that either may be a causal factor in the other. Now an article in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, has dotted the Is and made the link between abuse and heart problems.

The link between adverse childhood experiences and heart disease seems to be forged more by psychological factors than traditional risk factors (smoking parents etc), lead author Dr Maxia Dong, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and colleagues suggest.

Their findings are based on an analysis of survey data from 17,337 adult health plan members collected between 1995 and 1997. Two weeks after their medical history was recorded, the subjects were sent a questionnaire regarding adverse childhood experiences and health-related behaviors from adolescence through adulthood.

Of the 10 types of adverse childhood experiences investigated, 9 were found to increase the risk of heart disease. The increased risks ranged from 1.7-fold for emotional abuse and crime within the household to 1.3-fold for emotional neglect and substance abuse within the household. Strage as it may seem parental marital discord was the only adverse childhood experience not tied to an elevated risk of heart disease.

As one might expect as the number of adverse childhood experiences increased, so did the risk of heart disease. For example, the presence of just one adverse childhood experience had a relatively mild effect on risk, whereas having seven or more nearly quadrupled the risk.

In fact what the study showed was that psychological factors were a more powerful predictor of heart disease than things which we generally associate with cardiac problems with the single exception of obesity.

How Can You Improve Your Mind's Fitness

There are many great ways to make this happen. Remember when we said this fitness plan was going to be fun? Here there are many great ways to improve your emotional and mental fitness through fun methods. Each aspect is unique in itself and in the way that it will help to improve both your physical fitness and your quality of life. Incorporate as many of these things into your life as you can, and you'll see differences in the way that you feel and the way that you see the world.

Your Self Esteem
We'll tackle one of the hardest things to improve right from the beginning: your self esteem. A health self esteem is one that's confident but not overly macho. You should be able to feel confident in the decisions that you make and in the way that your life is moving. Confidence is built on many things including the fact that you have to realize that you do have weaknesses and you do have limits to your abilities. Accept those, work on improving them if you can and then do the best job that you can overall.

In addition, learn how to accept compliments and to take criticism. Getting down on yourself because someone doesn't like the job you did isn't okay.
Although challenging, you need to be able to say, "Hey, I did a good job!" You also need to recognize when it wasn't your best work and realize that it's okay not to be perfect 100 percent of the time. Learn to take criticism positively. If your boss says that the job wasn't good enough, ask what you could have improved on for next time. Then, you set yourself up for success rather than a pint of ice cream!

One way to improve the way that you look and feel about yourself is to take care of your outward appearance. Those that dress well, take care of the way that they look and those that do things for themselves are the most confident people out there. Just putting on a beautiful outfit can make you feel good about yourself.

Build A Social Network
A social network is a very important to your well being, both physically and mentally. Those that have people around them to support them do well in many more aspects of their lives. Let's face, its fun to have people around too! But, how can you build a social network of people that you can rely on?
Make time for those that you already have. Don't assume that they will always be there when you need them, even when you don't pay attention to them otherwise. You should always strive for a lifestyle that's positive with those in your family and your friends. That means taking on the challenges that come up between people, working through them and then letting them go.

Relationships take time and work. If you are married, that relationship alone will be one that you have to work on. Realizing that you aren't always right and making sacrifices for those that need you to can be an important and difficult risk you have to take.

Commit to going out and having fun, whatever way is fun to you, at least one time per week. Getting away or even just finding time to play a board game is essential. This allows your mind to repair damage and it allows you to improve your network of friends.

Don't take friends for granted because they won't be there when you need them the most. In part of that comes the fact that if you want to have family and friends you need to be a friend, too. Giving others support helps them to accomplish their life's needs and it gives you a sense of gratification. You'll feel good about life and your social network.

Managing Stress
Its not easy job, but you have to do it! Stress is one of the largest problems in health today. Stress affects your ability to function properly. It hinders you throughout your life by causing unhealthy living situations, physical risks and puts your entire well being at risk for emotional breakdown.

To help remedy stress, there are many things that you can do. For starters, find an outlet. You need to find something that you love to do. A hobby, a physical activity, or some other thing that really brings you happiness is necessary to have. By doing that activity even after a long and stressful day it can offer you improvement in your health and well being, by relieving stress.

If the situations that you are in provide you with high levels of stress, it is important for you to find solutions to those problems. You need an effective manor for relieving stress and if you can't do so by solving the problem or by letting go of the stress you need to remove yourself from such situations. Stress that is ongoing without any real stopping is a large health risk!

Brain Power!
To improve mental fitness, use your brain power! You don't have to do any type of exercise with your brain physically of course, but mentally you do!
For starters, always keep yourself learning. Learning new things keeps the mind active and that means health. Someone that is learning new things that interests them is likely to continue to having a mental state that's positive and motivated.

You should also use challenges to help power you through your day and your life. Giving yourself the ability to overcome challenges from puzzles to problems in life (yours or others) can help to keep your brain working. Asking questions, getting the answers and working at it helps to improve the brain's function, allowing you to fend off Alzheimer and other conditions like it.