What is it about a cup of hot tea that is so … soothing? I happen to think it’s the warmth, but scientists credit a host of naturally occurring compounds in tea that have beneficial health effects.

All tea comes from the same plant: Camellia sinensis. And over the centuries as this plant grew in the sun, it formed chemicals called “polyphenols” to protect it from the elements, according to the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Polyphenols are family to flavonoids – health-promoting antioxidant substances found in many fruits and vegetables.

When the leaves are processed into the various forms of tea, the flavonoid content changes, say researchers. Green tea, for example, contains more simple antioxidant flavonoids while black tea contains more complex varieties.

Green, black and oolong teas are all from the same C. sinensis plant … just processed differently. Green tea is minimally fermented – the process of exposing to air and drying. Black tea is maximally fermented. And oolong tea is somewhere in the middle.

Besides the fact that tea contains zero calories and soothes your soul, here are some other compelling reasons to enjoy a cup of tea:

Curb food cravings. “Afternoon tea” was supposedly started by the 7th Duchess of Bedford (England) to keep her hunger pangs at bay between lunch and dinner.

Lower cholesterol. Tea drinking has shown to help lower “bad” LDL cholesterol levels in some studies. Powerful antioxidant substances in tea are believed to be the reason.

Fight infections. Several compounds have been found in black and green teas that work like antibiotics to fight off the bad bugs that make us sick.

Prevent halitosis (bad breath). Swish with tea to suppress foul mouth odor? Researchers at the University of Illinois found that some of the polyphenols in tea inhibit the growth of bacteria in the mouth that can cause this unpleasant smell.

While it’s fun to talk about sex, most people find it difficult to discuss the health concerns and risks associated with it, even with their own partners. I wanted to look deeper into the very real health issues surrounding sex and how they are being addressed. I sat down and spoke with local public health worker Hannah Stutts to get her views on the impact of STDs in Mecklenburg County, healthy relationships and well…sex!

Currently Stutts serves as Non-Traditional Testing Sites Coordinator for the health department. According to Stutts, the idea of a non-traditional testing site is to bring testing out into the community in places where we might not typically find it; to bring testing anywhere and everywhere. The program is identified as Stopping Mecklenburg’s Acceleration of Syphilis and HIV, also known as SMASH. Currently, Mecklenburg County has the highest rate of syphilis in the state. Through SMASH people are able to access free and confidential HIV and Syphilis testing throughout Mecklenburg County on a regular basis.

So Hannah, tell me a little bit about yourself:

I’m originally a Midwestern girl born in Illinois, but I lived in Madison, Wisc., for most of my life. I moved here in the summer of 2008 and started my job with the health department in August of 2009. Prior to being hired, I was placed with the health department through AmeriCorps National AIDS Fund. My degree is in education, with a minor in women and gender studies. I knew that I wanted to do HIV education and help people understand how to have healthy, safe, sex lives.

Massage helps relieve pain in hurt muscles by sending anti-inflammation messages to muscle cells, Canadian researchers have found.

Athletes have long sought massages to relieve pain and promote revival. Despite reports that long-term massage therapy reduces chronic pain such as back pain, the biological effects of massage on muscles weren’t known.

Massage seemed to blunt muscle pain using the same route that anti-inflammatory pain relievers do.Massage seemed to blunt muscle pain using the same route that anti-inflammatory pain relievers do. (Jack Dempsey/Associated Press)

Now scientists at McMaster University in Hamilton have found proof at the cellular level that massage blunts muscle pain in a similar way to anti-inflammatory pills.

The study in Wednesday’s issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine examined the possessions of massage therapy versus no treatment on the quadricep muscles of 11 young men who were recreationally active.

Scientists studied samples from the men before they exercised to the point of exhaustion, just after and then 2½ hours afterwards.

Massage could also help the elderly, those suffering from musculoskeletal injuries and people with chronic provocative disease, although that idea still needs to be tested, cautioned the study’s lead author, Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky of the pediatrics department at McMaster.

The study does offer proof that massage is a safe and viable option to use in medical practice, he said.

“We know that exercise is a panacea of goodness,” Tarnopolsky said in an interview. “Massage might enhance some of the favourable benefits that we get from exercise.”

When the researchers analyzed the muscle tissue samples for tears and signs of damage in the cells, they found massage seemed to blunt muscle pain using the same route that anti-inflammatory pain relievers do.

What’s more, Tarnopolsky said, the anti-inflammatory signals released by massage also improved the aptitude of muscle cells to make new mitochondria — the furnaces that convert food into energy.

That could explain how massage seems to speed up recovery in athletes with injured muscles, the study’s authors said.

Tarnopolsky, who normally treats muscular dystrophy and mitochondrial disorders, became interested in investigating massage after he tore all of his hamstring muscles while waterskiing. He received massage therapy as part of his physiotherapy following surgery.

The analysis also suggested that one commonly held idea about massage isn’t true: the researchers found no evidence that massage helped clear lactic acid from tired muscles.

None of the researchers knew which leg was massaged except the massage therapist and the leg that was massaged was randomly selected — two experimental steps that add validity to the findings.

The convenience factor of pills, the expense of massages and whether they are covered by provincial health plans are deterrents to greater use of the therapy, Tarnopolsky acknowledged.

“Definitely, [massage] is tiring the muscles out so they can relax and recover,” said Jaqueline Gradish, a personal trainer in Toronto who lifts at least 1,000 pounds a day with her clients.

The study was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Warren Lammert and family.

London – A passionate advocate of home births has died after her own home labour.

Australian campaigner Caroline Lovell, 36, went into cardiac arrest while giving birth to her second daughter, Zahra, at her home.

She was taken to hospital but died the next day. Her daughter survived.

The tragedy, in Melbourne on January 23, will re-ignite debate about the safety of home births.

NHS statistics show that between 2000 and 2008, home births in the UK soared by 54 percent.

Lovell had made preparations for a private midwife to help with the delivery, but unknown complications in the birth caused her heart to stop. By the time paramedics here at her home, she was seriously ill.

The photographer, who leaves at the back her husband Nick, her first daughter Lulu, three, and newborn Zahra, had lobbied the Australian government for extra state support for women who wanted home births.

In 2009 she told a health investigation that midwives who assisted with home births needed proper funding and legal defense, in line with other countries.

Her written surrender warned that “lives will be in threat without proper midwifery assistance” from the state.

She wrote: “On a personal note, I am quite shocked and ashamed that homebirth will no longer be a woman’s free choice in low-risk pregnancies.

“As a homebirthing mother I will have no choice but to have an unassisted birth at home as this is the place I want to birth my children.”

Lovell had spoken of her excitement at her impending arrival.

On October 19, she posted a message on the Facebook site for her massage business that read: “Maternity leave officially started this morning… had a beautiful last night at work and will keep you all posted on my burgeoning growth as a mother to be – second time round.”

The Midwives in Private Practice group said it was the first time they had heard of a mother’s death following a home birth. A spokesman said: “It’s very, very rare.”

A senior midwife told the Mail that a severe haemorrhage was the most likely cause of death, but an inquest has yet to be held.

The Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services in the UK said the tragedy should not put expectant mothers off home births.

Chairman Beverley Lawrence Beech said: “While this is very sad, it is extremely rare – almost unheard of – for women to die during home births.

“Research clearly shows that home births in the UK are no more dangerous than hospital births.

“If anything, it is safer and you are much less likely to have unnecessary medical intervention.”

In the UK, women are provided with NHS midwives if they opt for a home birth.

But in Australia, women are discouraged from giving birth at home and expectant mothers must find a private midwife.

Lawrence Beech said the “medical mafia” in Australia should reconsider their stance and provide “adequate support” for mothers who choose home birth.

Beth Wilson, Health Services Commissioner for the Australian state of Victoria, said she had long held concerns about home births when medical back-up might not be immediately available.

“It’s very sad to hear about this and I know the coroner will conduct a full and thorough investigation,” she said.

Last night, friends paid tribute to Lovell.

One wrote: “This world will miss your beauty, your vibrance and your refreshingly honest and truthful way of living. What a beautiful woman. We will miss you.”

Another said: “Caroline was a beautiful being whose naturalness touched so many. She didn’t know she was special, but we did.

A story from the Daily Mail – 01-02-2012

HOME BIRTHS: THE FACTS

In England, about 1 baby in 50 is born at home and women are usually assisted through labour and birth by a professional such as a midwife.

Many women opt for home births because they prefer a relaxed, familiar environment and would rather avoid a hospital visit.

The safety of home births is a subject of frequent debate and many experts have called for a ban on the birthing technique.

They argue women who give birth outside of a clinical setting put themselves and their newborns at risk.

In many developed countries, home birth declined rapidly over the 20th century, for example in the U.S. home birth declined from 50 per cent in 1938 to fewer than 1 per cent in 1955.

According to the American Pregnancy Association the risks associated with at-home delivery include fetal distress, cord prolapse, hemorrhage and high blood pressure.

New data suggests home births have risen by 29 per cent in the U.S. triggered by the ‘Hollywood influence’, better safety measures and lower costs.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) says abiraterone (also called Zytiga) doesn’t provide enough benefit to give good reason for the price the NHS is being asked to pay.

most important cancer experts said the decision was “disappointing” and a “huge blow” to patients who have very few treatment options left.

Cancer Research UK said the draft decision by Nice, which is still open to consultation, made “no sense” and Nice had second-hand the wrong criteria to judge the drug.

Abiraterone was developed by scientists at the organization of Cancer Research (ICR) and the Royal Marsden in London after the discovery that some prostate cancers can produce their own testosterone.

It works in a new way, by blocking the manufacture of male hormones in all tissues, not just the testes, including both the adrenal glands and the tumours themselves.

A phase III trial, reported last year in the New England Journal of Medicine, concerned 1,195 patients from 13 countries.

All had stopped responding to standard hormone therapies as well as second-line treatments such as chemotherapy drug docetaxil.

It showed that men survived an average of four months longer and suffered far less pain with abiraterone compared to those taking a placebo.

though the average extended continued existence time was four months, some men did much improved, including two who were still alive after starting the action in 2007.

Abiraterone has been regarded as a “success story” for the ICR following more than two decades of work to develop the drug.

Experts said it has not only improved survival for men with prostate cancer but has also changed the way scientists think about the disease.

Nice has lined that although abiraterone is clinically effectual, it is not good value for money for the NHS at the price set by the manufacturer, Janssen.

Researchers created genetically engineered mice with abnormal tau protein in the brain’s entorhinal cortex, the first place the substance shows up in people with Alzheimer’s, according to a paper in the journal PLoS One. From there, they mapped the mouse brains over 22 months as the tau spread across neurons within the organ to other regions.

Tau is one of two abnormal proteins tied to Alzheimer’s. The one more closely associated is beta amyloid, which can be detected using imaging tools. While high levels of beta amyloid can predict risk, the amount of tau found after death correlates more closely with dementia, said Karen Duff, the lead researcher. Knowing the path tau takes in the brain may one day improve treatment, she said.

“There may be an intervention point that might prevent dementia” if scientists can figure out how to stop the tau from spreading, said Duff, who is a professor of pathology at Columbia University Medical Center.

The place where abnormal tau shows up earliest isn’t associated with dementia at all, she said.

Tau also is involved in other kinds of dementia, including frontotemporal lobe dementia, Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body disorder, Duff said. The spread is probably similar even if the abnormal protein arises somewhere else in the brain.
Tau-Amyloid Interaction

It’s not clear from the research how tau and amyloid interact, a question Duffy said she wants to study further.

When tau is normal, it supplies nutrients to nerve cells in the brain. When it is damaged, it becomes tangled and shuts off nutrients, causing the death of brain cells.

Beta amyloid is known to play a role in Alzheimer’s in part because genes that confer higher risks of the illness have to do with amyloid, Duff said. Today’s research suggests that it somehow interacts with the tau that ultimately kills the cells.

“There’s some interaction, and it seems amyloid has its detrimental effects through tau,” Duffy said. “There’s an interaction at a fundamental level we don’t understand yet.”

Closer study of the mouse model, as well as imaging tools that would allow scientists to see tau accumulate in living humans’ brains, would be helpful, she said.

The mice may also prove useful for testing interventions to prevent the spread of the abnormal clumps of protein, she said.

“Mostly we wanted to mimic the early stages of Alzheimer’s, because that could best give us some idea of where we could target therapeutically,” Duff said. “And if we layer on an amyloid model, we may also be able to see interactions.”

TauRX Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a closely held Singaporean drugmaker, is working on an Alzheimer’s treatment based on tau, and agreed in June 2010 to collaborate with German drugmaker Bayer AG to make an imaging test for the tau protein clumps.