7 Natural Ways to Avoid the Flu

Just right, i read this tips from yahoo.com. its very interesting..lets check it out!!!

Credit To Dr. Mao

With cold and flu season around the corner and H1N1 virus still making appearances, it is more important than ever to bolster your immune system this fall and winter. Here are some natural, simple solutions that will help protect you!

1. Chestnuts bolster immunity
In both Asia and the Mediterranean region, chestnuts have been popular for centuries. Chestnuts differ from other nuts with their low fat content and high fiber. They have a mild, sweet taste and a crumbly consistency. An excellent source of potassium, folate, vitamins B6 and C, chestnuts strengthen the kidney-adrenal system and bolster the immune system to fight off the flu and combat infections. This flu season, introduce more chestnuts into your cooking: they are good roasted in the oven, cooked with chicken, lamb, beef, or pork, or in any dish with beans and legumes.

2. Stimulate your thymus
Your thymus is a fist-size gland located behind your sternum in the center of your chest. It plays a critical role in the functioning of the lymphatic and immune systems. It develops over time, reaching peak size when you are in your early 30s, then begins to physically diminish until it shrinks to the size of a pea around age 70. You experience the gland's waning as waning energy in your body.

To support thymus health, the Chinese use astragalus root. Studies show astralagus is an adaptogen, which means it corrects both high and low metabolic imbalances, acts on invaders wherever they attack the body, and promotes overall vitality. The usual dosage is 100 to 150 mg per day in capsules or you can drink astragalus tincture or tea.

Another way to stimulate your thymus is to use acupressure. With your index and middle finger, gently tap against the sternum (midway between the nipples) 50 times, in the morning and evening.

3. Immune-supporting herbs
You can use the following herbs to help strengthen your immune system:

• Ligustrum has undergone much research recently, which has revealed this herb's immune boosting functions. Its actions include increasing white blood cell production, phagocytosis, and T-lymphocyte help cell activities.

• Cherokee Rose is traditionally used to protect the body from external pathogens with its astringent properties. It is also one of the highest natural sources of vitamin C.

• Honeysuckle is a natural anti-microbial herb that has been used for centuries to increase resistance and fight against bacterial, viral, and fungal infections.

You can find these herbs in health food stores, online, and at the offices of acupuncturists and Chinese herbalists.

Or look into a formula that combines all of these herbs in one immune-boosting herbal formula, called "Perpetual Shield."

4. Be healthy with bee products
Royal jelly has long been regarded in Asia as a longevity tonic that enhances energy, virility, and immunity. Rich in vitamins and collagen, royal jelly is used to feed queen bees. An antibacterial protein in the substance, dubbed royalisin, is effective against certain bacteria, including streptococcus and staphylococcus.

Bee propolis is rich in flavonoids that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It also contains terpenoids that possess antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and antiprotozoan agents. Not unlike some prescription antibiotics, propolis prevents bacterial cell division and breaks down the invading organism's cell walls and cytoplasm.

Find royal jelly and bee propolis in enriched honey or in supplement form from herb shops and health food stores.

5. Beta-carotene Builds Immunity
Beta-carotene is a powerful antioxidant that improves immune function and promotes mucous membrane health. In fact, a 1997 study conducted by the Institute of Food Research in the United Kingdom suggested that dietary intake of beta-carotene can enhance cell-mediated immune responses. How to get these beta-benefits this flu season? Eat more orange-colored vegetables, including carrots, winter squash, butternut squash, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and yams. Additionally, these are all an excellent source of Vitamin C, a famous immune support.

6. An all-in-one immunity soup
Cook up a broth of shiitake mushrooms, any kind of seaweed, cabbage, any type of squash, carrots, fresh ginger, oregano, and onion in chicken or vegetable stock. Shiitake mushrooms contain polysaccharides, sterols, and coumarin, as well as vitamins and minerals that increase your immune function. Seaweed cleanses the body, cabbage has ability to increase your body's ability to fight infection, ginger supports healthy digestion, and the remaining ingredients promote general health and well-being.
Eat this soup every other day to build a strong and healthy immune system.

7. Treat Your Body Right
Encourage your body to fight flu and other infections by giving it the care it needs.

• Get at least 7 hours of quality sleep every night. Studies show that your immune system function drops by an average of 60% after just three nights of poor sleep.

• Keep your stress level low with meditation, tai chi, or yoga.

• Dry body brushing daily can activate lymph circulation that is important to clear out toxic debris and stimulate immunity.

• If you feel your immune system has already been compromised and illness is on the way, consider this Cold & Flu elixir, which supports recovery as it boosts your immune system.

I hope you find the ways to build your immunity for a winter free from cold and flu! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

-Dr. Mao

Healthy Forever & Ever

Women More Likely to Avoid Abnormal Babies

Thank You~Lauren Neergaard, Associated Press


Women Look Away

Puzzling new research suggests women have a harder time than men looking at babies with facial birth defects. It's a surprise finding.

Psychiatrists from the Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, who were studying perceptions of beauty, had expected women to spend more time than men cooing over pictures of extra-cute babies. Nope.

Instead, the small study being published Wednesday raises more questions than it can answer.

First the background: The McLean team already had studied men and women looking at photos of adults' faces on a computer screen. The participants rated facial beauty, and could do various keystrokes to watch the photos longer. A keystroke count showed men put three times more effort into watching beautiful women as women put into watching handsome men.

Lead researcher Dr. Igor Elman wondered what else might motivate women. Enter the new baby study.
This time 13 men and 14 women were shown 80 photos of babies, 30 of whom had abnormal facial features such as a cleft palate, Down syndrome or crossed eyes. Participants rated each baby's attractiveness on a scale of zero to 100, and used keystrokes to make the photo stay on the screen longer or disappear faster.

Women pressed the keys 2.5 times more than men to make photos of babies with the facial abnormalities disappear, researchers reported in PLoS One, a journal of the Public Library of Science. That's even though they rated those babies no less attractive than the men had.

"They had this subliminal motivation to get rid of the faces," said Elman, who questions whether "we're designed by nature to invest all the resources into healthy-looking kids."


Both genders spent equal time and effort looking at photos of the normal babies.

The study couldn't explain the gender disparity. Elman noted that previous work has linked child abandonment and neglect to abnormal appearance, and even asked if the finding might challenge the concept of unconditional maternal love.

That's too far-reaching a conclusion, cautioned Dr. Steven Grant of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which funded the study.

The work is part of broader research into how we normally form attachments and what can make those attachments go awry, work that tests if what people say matches what they do.

"Common sense would tell you one thing," Grant said. "This doesn't fit with common sense. It raises a question."

Healthy Forever & Ever

Ten Tips for a Healthy Pregnancy

Thank You Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum

As mothers tend to sacrifice during their lives to meet their children's needs, a mother's body will give up its own essential nutrients to provide health and growth for her developing baby. Unfortunately, the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) is often so nutritionally deficient that even this sacrifice does not guarantee adequate nutrition for the unborn baby.

Fortunately, there are a number of tips that, if followed during pregnancy, can help both baby and mother stay healthy and vital!

Here is my top 10 list for ensuring a healthy pregnancy. It includes recommendations on nutrition, vitamins, minerals and other common-sense tips that can lead to a happier, healthier and more vital pregnancy:

1. Zinc
Inadequate zinc is the most common and problematic deficiency during pregnancy. Zinc is critical for two reasons: proper growth and for developing a healthy immune system for the baby. Studies suggest that inadequate zinc may even cause immune deficiency in the next generation (i.e., your grandchild) as well. Be sure to get at least 15 milligrams per day of zinc in your diet, which can be found in high protein foods such as meat and beans.

2. Folic Acid
Getting enough folic acid is critical both before and during pregnancy to help assure proper growth and to prevent birth defects. It is present in deep green, leafy vegetables. Women should get at least 400 to 800 micrograms per day.

3. Magnesium
Magnesium deficiency is routine in the American diet and can increase the possibility of high blood pressure and seizures during pregnancy, a condition known as eclampsia. To prevent this deficiency, take 200 milligrams of magnesium in the glycinate form daily. Whole grains, green leafy and other vegetables and nuts are good sources of magnesium. Taking the proper amount of magnesium a day also helps to decrease the leg cramps and constipation often experienced during pregnancy. In addition, magnesium is critical for more than 300 other body functions and will generally help you to feel a lot healthier.

4. B Vitamins
These are critical for energy, mental clarity and to prevent depression. B vitamins have also been found to improve pregnancy-related complications such as gestational diabetes. Taking 200 milligrams a day of vitamin B6 can improve the health of those women suffering from this form of diabetes. But please note that only women who develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy should take this high level of B vitamins, and should drop the level of consumption to 100 milligrams per day during the last month. For all other soon-to-be moms, take approximately 25 to 50 milligrams a day of B vitamins and plenty of vitamin B12 for normal nerve function.

5. Fish Oils
The human brain is made predominantly of DHA, an essential fatty acid found in fish oils. Perhaps this is why there is an old wives' tale about fish being brain food. Regardless, DHA deficiency is very common and it is critical that pregnant women get adequate fish oils so that their baby can develop healthy and optimal brain tissue. DHA may also decrease the risk of postpartum depression. Unfortunately, though, the FDA has raised concerns about high mercury levels in the same deep sea fish (salmon and tuna) that have the highest levels of these oils. An excellent alternative for those who'd rather not risk it is to take one half to one tablespoon of Eskimo 3 fish oil. This is a special form of fish oil that actually tastes good (most do not), and has been tested to make sure that it does not have mercury or other problematic compounds.

6. Calcium
Ideally, pregnant women should ingest 1,500 milligrams of calcium per day. It is best to take this at night (it helps with sleep) in the liquid, powdered or chewable form. Many calcium tablets are simply chalk and do not dissolve in the stomach, and therefore are not absorbed properly. Each cup of milk or yogurt contains 400 milligrams of calcium.

7. Iron
Approximately 18 to 36 milligrams of iron per day can be helpful. Interestingly, iron deficiency can sometimes cause infertility. Also, pregnant women who don't get enough iron are at risk for anemia, fatigue, poor memory and decreased immune function.

8. Water
Be sure to drink plenty of water. When pregnant, blood volume can increase about 30 percent and it is easy to become dehydrated. If your mouth or lips are dry, drink more! Adequate salt is also helpful in preventing dehydration (less so if you have problems with fluid retention).

9. Check Your Thyroid
Millions of women suffer from an underactive metabolism, also known as hypothyroidism, which often goes undiagnosed. This results in fatigue, weight gain and simply feeling like you've run out of gas. Hypothyroidism accounts for more than 6 percent of miscarriages and can be cause for learning disabilities in the child. Treating a low thyroid is both safe and easy during pregnancy. The earlier it is treated the better. Either once you start trying to get pregnant, or as soon as you know you're pregnant, take a Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) blood test to check your thyroid. Most doctors do not yet know that the TSH has to be less than three — anything above and you need treatment — so look at the test result yourself (many doctors still use the dangerous and outdated criteria of a TSH over five being abnormal). If you like, you can get a lab requisition for a TSH to take to your lab by visiting www.Vitality101.com (click on "online program" then on "Laboratory Requisition Form"). If you were on thyroid medication before getting pregnant, it is normal to increase the dose during pregnancy (the TSH should be kept between .5 and 2.0). If your doctor is not familiar with the new guidelines, he or she can send an email to the Web site above and a copy of the guidelines will be sent to them.

10. Things for Pregnant Women to Avoid
A few cautions for pregnant women: avoid taking more than 8,000 units of vitamin A per day. And don't partake in anything that can raise your body temperature too high (hot tubs, saunas or steam rooms). These have been implicated as possibly increasing the risk for birth defects. Most pregnant women are also, of course, aware that smoking, drugs and alcohol should all be avoided during pregnancy. Exercise, on the other hand, has been shown to be very beneficial and results in babies and moms that are quite healthy.

Healthy Forever & Ever

Bed Bug Weapon Uses Insect's Own Juice

Thank You; Emily Sohn, Discovery News

Researchers have enlisted a new weapon against bed bugs: their own chemical signals. It's first time scientists have used any insect's alarm pheromones as a method of control.

While the new technique probably won't single-handedly solve anyone's bed bug woes, experts say, the research may add to our arsenal of tools for fighting what has become a disturbing nuisance for a growing number of people.

"To control bed bugs, there's not going to be one easy solution," said Joshua Benoit, an entomologist at Ohio State University in Columbus. "We are trying to encourage people to find new and creative ways to kill bed bugs."

Bed-bug infestations have been on the rise in recent years, Benoit said, probably because people travel so much. All it takes is one pregnant female hopping a ride in a suitcase for a new crop of insects to invade homes and apartment buildings.

The tiny critters don't spread diseases, but a single person can easily get a few hundred bites in one night. Those chomps cause intense itching and even scarring in some people.

So far, there is no ideal way to get rid of bed bugs. Pesticide treatments can be expensive, invasive, toxic, and often ineffective. Already, the insects have developed resistance to some of the most common chemicals used to fight them.

In an effort to get the upper hand, Benoit experimented with alarm pheromones -- the chemicals that bed bugs release when they're disturbed or in danger. In turn, their comrades get excited and start scurrying around.

Benoit and colleagues mixed synthetic versions of bed-bug alarm pheromones with desiccant dust, a pesticide that works by drying insects out. In order to work, the bugs need to run directly through the dust.

The researchers placed varying concentrations of these mixtures in Petri dishes and in small enclosures that contained hiding places for the insects. Then they added bed bugs.

Their results, published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, showed that mixtures of alarm pheromones and desiccant dust killed up to 50 percent more bed bugs than did desiccant dust alone. The idea is that the pheromones get the bugs to move around more, making them more likely to run through the dust, which is relatively non-toxic and inexpensive.

"This is the first study of its kind to use alarm pheromones in this manner," Benoit said, "for any insect."

It's still way too soon to recommend that people run out and buy alarm pheromones (which are synthesized for other purposes, including as food preservatives). Outside the confines of a plastic dish, getting bed bugs to run around like crazy is not necessarily a good thing, said Michael Potter, an urban entomologist at the University of Kentucky, Lexington. Bed bugs are notoriously good at getting behind baseboards, inside walls, and into other cracks and crevices.

"Some might run into the apartment next door," Potter said. "Some might run into inaccessible areas."

In one recent incident in Columbus, Benoit said, bed bugs had infested 23 out of 24 units in an apartment building. Residents had to leave their homes for a week while the building was fumigated. Even then, there was no guarantee that the treatment killed all the bugs.

The incident illustrates how important it is to continue learning more about the inner workings of these pests.

"Any new work on bed bugs," Potter said, "is interesting work."

Healthy Forever & Ever

WHO Declares Swine Flu Pandemic

The World Health Organization told its member nations it was declaring a swine flu pandemic Thursday -- the first global flu pandemic in 41 years as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.

In a statement sent to member countries, WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6 -- its highest alert level -- after holding an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts.

"At this early stage, the pandemic can be characterized globally as being moderate in severity," WHO said in the statement, urging nations not to close borders or restrict travel and trade. "(We) remain in close dialogue with influenza vaccine manufacturers."

Health officials from Scotland, Indonesia and Thailand previously announced the agency would declare a swine flu pandemic -- a global epidemic -- on Thursday after a teleconference with leading flu experts. Officials at U.N. missions in Geneva also said they expected the imminent announcement of a pandemic.

"It is likely in light of sustained community transmission in countries outside of North America -- most notably in Australia -- that level 6 will be declared," Scotland's Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon told Scottish lawmakers, adding it would be Thursday.

Indonesian health minister Siti Fadilah Supari said she had been notified by WHO that "today will be declared to be phase 6."

The last pandemic -- the Hong Kong flu of 1968 -- killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.

Since swine flu first emerged in Mexico and the United States in April, it has spread to 74 countries around the globe.

On Wednesday, WHO reported 27,737 cases including 141 deaths. Most cases are mild and require no treatment, but the fear is that a rash of new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities -- especially in poorer countries.

The long-awaited pandemic announcement is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. It will trigger drug makers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine and prompt governments to devote more money to containing the virus.

In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would spark mass panic.

Panic has already gripped Argentina, where so many people worried about swine flu flooded into hospitals this week that emergency health services have collapsed. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger on it had swine flu. Chile has the most swine flu cases in South America.

In Hong Kong, the government on Thursday ordered all kindergartens and primary schools closed for two weeks after a dozen students tested positive for swine flu.

In Australia, swine flu cases jumped to more than 1,000 on Monday and reached 1,260 by late Wednesday.

WHO says its pandemic announcement would not mean the situation was worsening, since no mutations have been detected in the virus to show it is getting more deadly.

In Edinburgh, Sturgeon told lawmakers that a WHO announcement means countries should immediately activate their pandemic plans.

"A move to level 6 is not a verdict on the severity of the virus," she said. "It simply means that the extent of global spread now fulfills the definition of a pandemic."

Healthy Forever & Ever

Armpits: 'Rain Forests' For Bacteria

Thank You, Lauran Neergaard

Eeeww. There's a zoo full of critters living on your skin -- a bacterial zoo, that is. Consider your underarm a rain forest. Healthy skin is home to a much wider variety of bacteria than scientists ever knew, says the first big census of our co-inhabitants. And that's not a bad thing, said genetics specialist Julia Segre of the National Institutes of Health, who led the research.

Sure they make your sneakers stinky, "but they also keep your skin moist and make sure if you get a wound that (dangerous) bacteria don't enter your bloodstream," she said. "We take a lot for granted in terms of how much they contribute to our health."

People's bodies are ecosystems, believed home to trillions of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that naturally coexist in the skin, the digestive tract and other spots. But scientists don't have a good grasp of which microbes live where, much less which are helpful, even indispensable, in maintaining health.

The NIH's "Human Microbiome Project" aims to change that, recruiting healthy volunteers to learn what microbes they harbor so scientists can compare the healthy with diseases of microbes gone awry -- from acute infections to mysterious conditions like psoriasis or irritable bowel syndrome.

The skin research, published in Friday's edition of the journal Science, is part of that project. Scientists decoded the genes of 112,000 bacteria in samples taken from a mere 20 spots on the skin of 10 people. Those numbers translated into roughly 1,000 strains, or species, of bacteria, Segre said, hundreds more than ever have been found on skin largely because the project used newer genetic techniques to locate them.

Topography matters, a lot, the researchers reported. If a moist, hairy underarm is like a rain forest, the dry inside of the forearm is a desert. They harbor distinctly different bacteria suited to those distinctly different environments. In fact, the bacteria under two unrelated people's underarms are more similar than the bacteria that lives on one person's underarm and forearm.

Mom's advice to wash behind your ears notwithstanding, that spot contained the least diverse bacteria -- 19 species on average. The most diverse spot: the forearm, which averaged 44 species.

How many are supposed to live there? That's not clear yet. Some certainly could be tourists, picked up as we go about our day. When researchers re-checked five of these volunteers a few months later, the bacteria in some spots -- the moist nostril and groin, for example -- proved pretty stable while other spots, including the forearm, had changed quite a bit.

Which are good bugs, and which bad? That depends. A common skin bacteria is Staph epidermidis, found all over the body. Segre said it helps protect us from its nasty cousin, Staph aureus, which about a third of people are thought to carry on the skin or in their nose even if they have no active infection.

But, back to topography, Staph epidermidis itself can harm if it gets under the skin; it's a common trigger of catheter-caused infections.

The research helps lay the groundwork for what doctors really want to know: What's different in the skin of people with diseases such as eczema or psoriasis? Those studies are about to begin, says Dr. Martin Blaser of New York University Langone Medical Center, who is leading one on psoriasis and performed some first-step studies of skin bacteria that helped lead to the NIH's census.

Then there's the scrubbing question, society's antibacterial obsession.

"There's an all-out assault on our normal skin organisms," Blaser noted. "In trying to get rid of the bad guys, are we getting rid of the good guys?"

Segre hopes knowing there are so many bacteria alters how people think about the relationship.

"I'm a mother of two small children; I believe very strongly in sanitation, washing your hands," Segre said. But, "we have to understand that we live in harmony with bacteria and they are part of us as super-organisms ... and not just conceive of bacteria as bad and germs and smelly."

Healthy Forever & Ever

Is a Vitamin Supplement Necessary For your Kids? Spoonful of dietary supplements

thank you Healthkicker Web log

When it comes to your kids and vitamin supplements, you should know that most children do not need extra or supplemental vitamins or minerals. If you base your children’s diet on the food guide pyramid, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, you shouldn’t need to give your child vitamin supplements.

However, it is important to know that of all the age groups, children can be the one that is the hardest to control when it comes to diet. Children don’t understand what it means when something is essential for their bodies, and they are much more prone to being picky eaters or having poor diets. If you child is eating a special diet, they might need more vitamins or minerals. These can include vegetarians, children with allergies, or children that have religions which state certain foods shouldn’t be eaten.

The most important thing for you to keep in mind when it comes to making sure that your child has a healthy diet is to ensure that they are getting the proper amounts of the right kinds of vitamins and minerals. If this isn’t happening because of what they are eating, you either need to change what they are eating, or make sure that they are getting the vitamins in another way. Vitamin supplements can be purchased in kid-friendly shapes and flavors, so it shouldn’t be a problem to have your child take them.

There are several vitamins and minerals that are going to be important for your child to have enough of. These include, especially, iron, which is needed in children to prevent anemia. This usually happens if children aren’t given enough extra iron after they are six months old, which happens often if a baby drinks cow or goat milk instead of formula. Young and adolescent girls are also at a risk of having an iron deficiency.

Another important thing that children need is calcium. This is something that is completely necessary for healthy bones and teeth. If children are drinking milk and eating dairy products, they are probably getting enough calcium, but if they aren’t, you might need to supplement this in their diets.

It is also important that children are getting fluoride. This helps to build healthy teeth. However, it is important that they only get enough fluoride, and not too much, so don’t add to their intake unless your dentist or doctor thinks that you should.

If you don’t think that your child is getting enough vitamins or minerals, you should consult with your doctor to make sure that you can find a good balance and a good children’s multivitamin for them to be taking. However, it is crucial that you realize that a vitamin is not a replacement for food and is not a substitute for a varied diet.

Do you think vitamins are necessary for kids?

Healthy Forever & Ever

Swine Flu-Bound Mexicans Turn to Web

Thank You, Alexandra Olson

Churchgoers celebrate Mass via television. Congressional candidates campaign with real-time speeches on the Web. A magazine promises Internet tours through the real Mexico -- the one with open museums and pyramids. And rock bands plan online concerts.

Swine flu is creating a virtual Mexico.

With school canceled nationwide and many parents forbidding their kids to party, teenagers are logging a lot more time chatting on Facebook, Twittering and downloading music and movies from the Internet. So are many adults, especially after most business and government offices in Mexico City shut down Friday for five days.

Two rock bands are making a go at reaching shut-in fans, announcing a virtual concert for Tuesday. Los Estramboticos, a Mexico City group, and Pastilla, a Latino band from the United States, will perform in a studio and broadcast it online. At least they can get exposure while Mexico's ban on concerts lasts.

"Entrance is free and you can come without a surgical mask or fear of getting diseases," the bands proclaimed in a Web advertisement.

The problem is that even teenagers -- gasp! -- are starting to get bored of the virtual life

"I'm like, sick of it," said Bibiana Perez, 16, a Mexico City high schooler whose daily routine has consisted of morning Facebook chats with her friends, watching movies in the afternoon, and evening Facebook chats with her friends.

"I've started to cook and do things I don't I normally do," she said. "I've never made brownies, so I made brownies. I tried lasagna, but it didn't turn out so good."

Alex Pradillo, 17, has reached his limit, too. Rugby practices that normally take up two hours of his day have been suspended. He tried to invite a few friends over but their parents forbade them to go. So he finds himself spending six to eight hours a day downloading music from the Web or chatting with friends.

"It's definitely getting boring," he said. "It's tedious sitting around all day and the computer is starting to annoy me."

But boredom was still not enough to lure many Mexican City residents from their homes Sunday, 10 days into a flu outbreak that killed at least 22 people and sickened more than 560 in the country, most of them in the capital region.

Normally packed churches were all but empty. Priests in surgical masks offered Mass before a handful of faithful -- also wearing masks. Cardinal Norberto Rivera held a televised service from the Metropolitan Cathedral for those staying home.

Sunday also marked the official start of campaigning for the July 5 congressional elections -- but the government urged candidates not to hold rallies where the virus could spread. So candidates turned to the Internet to reach a population afraid join screaming crowds, shake hands or hold out babies for kisses.

Gabriela Cuevas Barron, a candidate for the conservative National Action Party, giddily claimed she was launching Mexico's first virtual campaign, promising in a Webcast to work for a cleaner and safer Mexico City -- for now, through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

"Nothing is more important than health," the smiling candidate chirped on her Web site Sunday morning. "I can listen to you from here through this page."

Her opponents beat her to the punch. Political activist Oscar Romero, 34, launched a Facebook and Twitter page at the stroke of midnight Sunday for candidates of his leftist Democratic Revolution Party.

But Romero worries that voter turnout could be swine flu's next victim if the disruption to everyday life drags on much longer. The Web is no substitute for old-fashioned rallies and canvassing in a country full of sprawling shantytowns and remote villages.

Party members "are pretty worried, I have to tell you. Because, effectively, they really can't campaign right now," he said.

Mexico has shut all its museums, archaeological ruins and theaters, and even nightclubs and bars in the Pacific resort of Acapulco are closed. Mexico City residents are discouraged from leaving the city.

The local magazine Inside Mexico jumped at the chance to promise an alternative: virtual strolls through "cobblestone medieval-tinged streets," biking and hiking in spa towns and even jungle treks.

"Are you suffering from flu-overload and hankering for a break (even if it's a virtual escape) from it all?" a Web blurb from the magazine asks. "We thought you might like to pause and remember some of Mexico's beauty."

Still, the magazine catered to the swine flu obsession. One of its most popular online articles?

"How to make your own anti-flu protective mask: Part II."

Healthy Forever & Ever

Is Tobacco the Next Anti-HIV Weapon?

Thank You Eric Bland, Discovery News

The tobacco plant could soon redeem itself in the eyes of public health experts, say scientists who are producing huge amounts of a powerful but prohibitively expensive HIV drug inside modified tobacco leaves.

"This is very significant news," said Polly Harrison, Director of the Alliance for Microbicide Development, who was not involved with the research.

"So often it's difficult to make enough of a promising drug to even do laboratory studies, but here production is at a level that allows them to literally make tons of the drug," said Harrison.

Scientists have known for years that the drug, known as griffithsin, protects some people from HIV infection by stopping the virus from colonizing the vaginal lining.

What has prevented griffithsin from becoming a standard HIV preventive measure is the cost of producing it.

The only known naturally occurring source of griffithsin is a red algae found off the coast of New Zealand, which grows in amounts too small to be effectively harvested.

Scientists can produce larger amounts of griffithsin by genetically engineering E. coli bacteria to produce the drug, but maintaining the necessarily high temperatures, supplying the raw materials, and harvesting the drug is expensive.

Now scientists have turned to a virus, the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), that commonly infects tobacco plants.

TMV is rod-shaped, about 18 nanometers wide by 200 to 300 nanometers long. Once the virus enters a plant cell, it hijacks the cell's molecular machinery. Usually the hijacked plant cells are reprogrammed to produce more virus.

The scientists first mail-ordered a synthetic version of the red algae gene that produces griffithsin. They then injected that gene into the TMV, mixed it with water, and sprayed the virus over a greenhouse field of eight-inch-tall Nicotiana benthamiana, a close cousin of commercial tobacco plants that is especially susceptible to TMV.
After a few days the leaves of infected plants began to wilt. The scientists harvested the plants by hand and processed them to extract the griffithsin.

The research is published in this week's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

The most effective way griffithsin can prevent HIV infection is in a vaginal cream applied before sex, said Kenneth Palmer, a researcher at Owensboro Cancer Research Program who was the corresponding author on the study.

A cigarette containing griffithsin hasn't been discounted either, said Palmer.

Tobacco-derived griffithsin in a gel has already been tested in both mice and in the cells of women who have had their cervix removed. In both cases the griffithsin stopped all HIV transmission without any toxic side effects and without any sign of inflammation or irritation.

The researchers hope to begin phase one FDA clinical trials of the microbicide gel within a year.

A next-generation Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine, also produced inside Nicotiana benthamiana, is already scheduled for clinical trials later this year.

Healthy Forever & Ever

Nano Ink 'Tattoo' Could Monitor Diabetes

Thank you Eric Bland, Discovery News

A special tattoo ink that changes color based on glucose levels inside the skin is under development by Massachusetts-based Draper Laboratories. The injectable nanotech ink could eventually free diabetics from painful blood glucose tests.

"It doesn't have to be a large, over-the-shoulder kind of tattoo," said Heather Clark, a scientist at Draper. "It would only have to be a few millimeters in size and wouldn't have to go as deep as a normal tattoo."

Clark and her colleagues didn't set out to create a glucose-detecting ink.

"At first I didn't even think it was possible," said Clark.

Originally the scientists developed a sodium-sensitive ink to monitor heart health, advancing basic knowledge of electrolytes in the body, or to ensure athletes are properly hydrated.



'Tattoos' With a Purpose

Monitoring a single ion is easier than a complex molecule made of 24 atoms however. After speaking with a colleague, Clark decided to give glucose detection a try.

She started with the basic three-part system to detect sodium and modified to detect glucose. The nano ink particles are tiny, squishy spheres about 120 nanometers across. Inside the sphere are three parts: the glucose detecting molecule, a color-changing dye, and another molecule that mimics glucose. When the particles are dissolved in water they look like food coloring, says Clark.

The three parts continuously move around the inside the hydrophobic orb. When they approach the surface, the glucose detecting molecule either grabs a molecule of glucose or the mimicking molecule.

If the molecules mostly latch onto glucose, the ink appears yellow. If glucose levels are low, the molecule latches onto the glucose mimic, turning the ink purple. A healthy level of glucose has a "funny orangey," color, according to Clark. The sampling process repeats itself every few milliseconds.

Time measured in milliseconds is much faster than then most current blood testing systems, and certainly less painful. But is it as accurate?

Glucose levels in the skin, where the ink would be injected subcutaneously, might not necessarily reflect the more critical measurement of glucose levels in the blood. Some studies show that skin glucose levels can lag up to 20 minutes behind blood glucose levels, while other show a much faster change.

"It's an interesting question," said Clark. "It's one that we might even be able to help answer."

Even if there is a significant lag time between blood and skin glucose levels, a small tattoo, in the several square millimeter range, according to Clark, would let diabetics know if an abnormally high or low reading was either returning to a normal level or getting worse.

Initial tests of the sodium-detecting ink in mice have had "spectacular" results, according to Clark. Testing the glucose monitoring nanotech ink in mice could begin by the end of this month.

Consumers will have to wait. Clark estimates that it will be at least two years before the necessary human testing is complete to bring the ink to the market.

Robert Rubin, a professor at Harvard Medical School, is excited by Clark's work at Draper.

"This will give me a great short cut for understanding what is happening inside the body," said Rubin.

Healthy Forever & Ever

Brushing Teeth May Help Prevent Preterm Birth

Thank You Eric Bland, Discovery News

Previously undiscovered bacteria usually found in the mouth could be responsible for up to 80 percent of early preterm labors, estimate doctors from Case Western and Yale Universities in a new study published recently in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

The research could help doctors prevent preterm births by encouraging oral hygiene or stop early labor from developing by prescribing targeted antibiotics.

"The earlier the woman goes into preterm labor, the higher the chance that she will be infected," said Yiping Han, a doctor at Case Western University and the first author on the study.

Most human pregnancies last about 40 weeks. A birth prior to 37 weeks is classified as preterm. About 12 percent of all births in the United States are preterm, a number that has grown by more than 30 percent since 1981 for reasons unknown. Babies born preterm can face many hurdles: vision and hearing loss, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, even death.

Labor itself is still somewhat of a mystery to science, which makes puzzling out preterm labor even more difficult. Anything from socioeconomic status and race to bacterial infection and genetics have been linked to preterm births, but a definitive cause is still elusive.

Han and her colleagues think they have found a major cause, at least in mice. By infecting the rodents with Bergeyella, a previously unknown bacteria found in the mice, the researchers caused preterm births.

In humans, the scientists showed a strong correlation between infection and preterm births. Doctors removed amniotic fluid from 46 different women with potentially higher risk pregnancies. Of that group, 21 delivered an early preterm baby (32 weeks or earlier). Nineteen of those women, or about 85 percent, were positive for previously undetected bacteria.

The bacteria normally live in the mouth, but if a cut, cavity or other wound allows the bacteria to enter the blood stream, they can travel and eventually colonize the uterus. That triggers an immune response, which can inflame the uterus and eventually cause a mother to go into labor prematurely.

To identify bacteria behind preterm labor, doctors used polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a much more sensitive technique for finding and identifying bacteria than bacterial culturing, the current standard technique. Using PCR, the scientists identified the Bergeyella bacterium, as well as DNA belonging to 10 or 11 different strains of newly identified bacteria.

Now that doctors know about another link to preterm labor, the next step is to treat it. Antibiotics that specifically target these new bacteria are currently being tested.

"I thought it was a very interesting paper, and it seemed very sound," said Floyd Dewhirst, who is leading an effort to catalog the estimated 1,500 species of bacteria found in the human mouth at the Forsyth Institute in Boston.

"My recommendation is for women to keep their mouth as healthy as possible, and if they have periodontal disease, to get it treated before they become pregnant," said Dewhirst.

Healthy Forever & Ever