Alcohol’s Good for You? Some Scientists Doubt It

Study after study suggests that alcohol in moderation may promote heart health and even ward off diabetes and dementia. The evidence is so plentiful that some experts consider moderate drinking ‚Äî about one drink a day for women, about two for men ‚Äî a central component of a healthy lifestyle. For some scientists, the question will not go away. No study, these critics say, has ever proved a causal relationship between moderate drinking and lower risk of death ‚Äî only that the two often go together. It may be that moderate drinking is just something healthy people tend to do, not something that makes people healthy. Full Story : NYTimes.com….

Laughter Promotes Heart Health & Lowers Blood Pressure

Laughter is not only an effective stress-reliever, but can be heart-healthy, according to research presented today at the American College of Sports Medicine‚Äôs 56th Annual Meeting in Seattle. Two separate studies examined the role of a good laugh as it relates to health. One of the studies took an inverted approach to previous research on the harmful cardiovascular tolls of stress and negative mood. A small group of healthy adults were instructed to watch either a comedy or documentary film, and were monitored for carotid artery activity during the films. Full Story : Theperspective.info…..

World’s 1st pacemaker designed for safe use in MRI machines sold in HK

The first-ever MR-Conditional pacemaker system, named the ” EnRhythm MRI SureScan pacemaker and CapSureFix MRI SureScan pacing leads”, was designed, tested and approved for use with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) under specified scanning conditions. Artificial pacemaker uses electrical impulses, delivered by electrodes contacting the heart muscles, to regulate the beating of the heart.

National Wear Red day

Go red for women today!. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has dedicated the first Friday in February as National Wear Red Day. The focus of this day is to take women’s health to heart by wearing red to show their support for women’s heart disease awareness. In 2002, the NHLBI introduced the Red Dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness. Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America. Wear red to help support heart disease awareness for women!

Down Syndrome In A Dish

Harvard scientists have created stems cells for 10 genetic disorders. These stems cells will allow these researchers to watch the diseases develop in a lab. This new technique could help to find treatments for some of the genetic diseases. Dr. George Daley and his colleagues at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute produced these stem cells by using skin cells and bone marrow from people with diseases such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Down syndrome. The new technique of re-programing cells gives these cells the qualities like embryonic stem cells, which can morph into all kinds of tissue, such as heart, nerve and brain. So researchers can see progression of each diseases in a dish. This technique can help to find a cure by knowing what goes right or wrong in a dish.

Photo Source: www.wellcome.ac.uk

Human Blood Vessels In Mice

Human blood vessels are grown in a mouse for the first time.This could help patients with heart disease. Scientists said that the research was promising, but it could help them to make lab-grown organs, and it can be implanted successfully. The ability to develop capillaries ( network of tiny blood vessels) would be a prize for scientists.

Birth Weight Can Predict Future Health

Boys born small develop poor health later in life, say scientists. But no such problem was seen in low birth weight girls. When they tested child’s response to stress, problem in vascular resistance was observed. Vascular resistance is a property of blood vessels which makes it harder for the blood to be pumped through. This can lead to blood pressure problems in adulthood. After going through public speaking and mental arithmetic test designed to make them nervous, and increase heart-rate, boys who born smaller were more likely to have higher vascular resistance than those born bigger.