Who doesn’t love eating Oreos? Dunking that little black cookie into a cold glass of milk is delicious! But are Oreos as addictive as cocaine? To read the article, CLICK HERE.
Category: In The News
Affordable Care Act Q&A
Confused about the Affordable Care Act? Have some question? Here’s a great article that has some extensive questions and answers. To read the article, CLICK HERE
Stop Throwing Away Food!
We’ve all been there, we pull out milk, see the ‘use by’ date and dump it sometimes before smelling it. Americans throw away 34 million tons of food every year because of these dates. Food experts are now trying wanting people to reconsider before throwing out their food based on the ‘use by’ date. Rather, use the dates as a guideline. To read more, CLICK HERE.
Tracking Medical Devices
The FDA is now requiring most medical devices to have a unique code that can be tracked. With this new rule it is believed that this will help doctors identify recalled devices in their patients. The new rule will be implemented next year starting with devices that are high-risk, for example, a heart stents. To read more about the new rule, CLICK HERE.
Sugar is Toxic to Your Health
Not only is sugar toxic to your health, but a new study also found that it might even be toxic to your sex life. The University of Utah conducted a study in which scientists examined how sugar affected mice and discovered that the mouse equivalent of just three sugar-filled sodas a day had significant negative impacts on their life span and competition for mates. Sugar-fed males were found less likely to hold territory and reproduce while sugar-fed females died twice as quickly as the control females. It makes you rethink your love of root beer floats, doesn’t it? For more information on the study and its findings, read the full article HERE.
Full Moon May Reduce Sleep
A study done by the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel in Switzerland investigated if full moons really do throw off human sleep cycles. The scientists used 33 healthy volunteers ranged from ages 20 to 74. Each participant slept in a room with no windows so they could not see the moon. As it turns out, the researchers found out that a full moon was associated with a 20-minute reduction of total sleep. They study also found that it took participants longer to fall asleep during and near full moons. For more details on the study and its results, click HERE.
New Malaria Vaccine Proves Viable
A successful clinical trial of a new malaria vaccine was published on August 8th from researchers at the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC). Military.com reported that this is the first time that any clinical trial testing on a potential malaria vaccine produced 100 percent protective efficacy. Forty volunteers participated in the clinical trial from October 2011 until October 2012. To get all the details, read more HERE.
New and Effective Type 1 Diabetes Drug
Did you know as many as 3 million Americans suffer from type 1 diabetes? It’s become quite a popular disease. In a clinical trial, an experimental drug made to block the advance of type 1 diabetes has proved strikingly effective. Tested over a period of two years, patients with relatively good control of their blood sugar levels benefited the most. However, the treatment did not benefit all patients. Some lost half or more of their ability to produce insulin. While some tweaks still need to be made, future improvements could lead to a very effective type 1 diabetes drug. For more information on the study and the drug itself, click HERE.
Could Tylenol Be Dangerous?
Last Thursday the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that acetaminophen can cause rare, but dangerous skin reactions in some people. As one of the most widely used medicines for fever and pain relief, the FDA stated that it will require manufacturers to add warning labels to all prescriptions containing acetaminophen and will work with manufacturers of the over-the-counter drugs to do the same. The painkiller is associated with three skin diseases with symptoms ranging from rash and blisters to extensive tissue damage beneath the skin. Read the full article HERE to learn more about the potential risks and why this has not been made an issue sooner.
False Memories Created by Stimulating Brain Neurons
Researchers at MIT have found how to alter memories by activating neurons in the brain that are associated with memory and update them with new information. Since memories are stored in a particular set of neurons in the brain, understanding how memories are encoded to these specific neurons could be the key to understanding how human memory works as well as how human memory disorders function. Using a mouse, a cage, and a small shock, the MIT researchers may have just discovered how memories are encoded in the brain. For more information, check out the full article HERE.
