Archive for August 25th, 2012
How Long Do You Want to Live?
August 25th, 2012 | 
Author: 
Since 1900, the life expectancy of Americans has jumped to just shy of 80 from 47 years. This surge comes mostly from improved hygiene and nutrition, but also from new discoveries and interventions: everything from antibiotics and heart bypass surgery to cancer drugs that target and neutralize the impact of specific genetic mutations.
Now scientists studying the intricacies of DNA and other molecular bio-dynamics may be poised to offer even more dramatic boosts to longevity. This comes not from setting out explicitly to conquer aging, which remains controversial in mainstream science, but from researchers developing new drugs and therapies for such maladies of growing old as heart disease and diabetes.
“Aging is the major risk factor for most diseases,” says Felipe Sierra, director of the Division of Aging Biology at the National Institute on Aging. “The National Institutes of Health fund research into understanding the diseases of aging, not life extension, though this could be a side effect.”
Posted in 
Neil Armstrong — One Small Step
U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, who took a giant leap for mankind when he became the first person to walk on the moon, has died at the age of 82, his family said on Saturday.
Armstrong died following complications from heart-bypass surgery he underwent earlier this month, the family said in a statement, just two days after his birthday on August 5.
Saturday Afternoon TV Flashback
The Thin Man (T.V. Series 1958)
Stars Peter Lawford, Phyllis Kirk & Asta
This episode is called the “Robot Client” & guest stars Robby The Robot from the film “Forebidden Planet.”
A [dried] apple a day keeps high cholesterol at bay?
Women who eat dried apple every day for a year see a persistent decrease in their cholesterol levels, according to a new study.
In comparison, women who ate prunes daily maintained steady levels over a year, suggesting that the fruit could keep cholesterol numbers from rising.
"Both apples and dried plum are pretty powerful in keeping the cholesterol at bay," said Bahram Arjmandi, the lead author of the study and the chair of the department of Nutrition, Food, and Exercise Sciences at Florida State University.
While eating fruit seems beneficial, the study could not say whether women's cholesterol would have been any different if they hadn't added the prunes or apples to their diets, because it did not include women who didn't eat one of the fruits.
When belly fat is a worry
Belly fat seems so simple. Eat too many deep-fried mozzarella sticks while thinking about maybe possibly going to the gym someday, and your belly will eventually start growing. Nothing complicated about that.
But there's a lot going on beneath our over-stretched shirts. Scientists say that belly fat is strangely complex and widely misunderstood. If you want to do something about the bulge, you should know that slimming down can be complicated too.
"How you lose fat may be just as important as how much fat you lose," says Dr. Samuel Klein, professor of medicine and nutritional science at Washington University School of Medicine.
Exercise may temporarily ease cigarette cravings
Smokers who are trying to quit might want to take a jog the next time a cigarette craving overtakes them, a new research review suggests.
Looking at 19 past clinical trials, researchers found that a bout of exercise generally helped hopeful quitters tamp down their nicotine cravings. Whether that all translates into a greater chance of quitting, though, is unclear.
Still, the researchers say that if getting on your bike helps you avoid lighting up, do it.
Risky Drugs Widely Used by Seniors
Inappropriate drug prescribing for the elderly is still common, with possible risks in about one in five prescriptions, a Dutch systematic review found.
…the highest rates of inappropriate medication prescription were for propoxyphene (Darvon and others), doxazosin (Cardura), diphenhydramine (Benadryl and others), and amitriptyline (Elavil and others).
Propoxyphene Side Effects — drugs.com
Doxazosin Side Effects — drugs.com
Diphenhydramine Side Effects — drugs.com
Amitriptyline Side Effects — drugs.com