A chemical called bisphenol A — BPA — used in plastic packaging and in the linings of food and beverage cans, may be passed from a mother to her offspring during pregnancy and cause changes in the gut bacteria of the offspring, according to an international team of researchers. In a study on rabbits, the […]
Heart Attacks More Likely In Those With Low Blood Phosphate Levels
Low phosphate in the blood is linked to the risk of heart attack and coronary artery disease, a new study in the journal PLOS One reports. Researchers from the University of Surrey found that insufficient levels of phosphate in the blood may pose a particular danger to cardiovascular health, contradicting previous research in this area, which suggested […]
New Research Shows Illegal Levels Of Arsenic Found In Baby Foods
Researchers at the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s have found that little has changed since this law was passed and that 50 per cent of baby rice food products still contain an illegal level of inorganic arsenic. In January 2016, the EU imposed a maximum limit of inorganic arsenic on manufacturers in a […]
Rig, Rad, Run: Radiation Monitoring, Fukushima, and Our Nuclear Dystopia
‘RIG, RAD, RUN: Radiation Monitoring, Fukushima, and Our Nuclear Dystopia’ addresses the shortcomings and manipulations in the radiation monitoring responses of the U.S. EPA and FDA in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. In the book, author Andrew Kishner argues that preconceived, unscientific notions corrupted the EPA’s sampling and testing activities to monitor Fukushima radiation […]
Diverse Natural Fatty Acids Follow ‘Golden Mean’
Mathematics in the Romanesco broccoli. The spiral structures are based on the Fibonacci sequence, which can be observed in nature, but also in art. Bioinformatics scientists at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (Germany) have discovered that the number of theoretically possible fatty acids with the same chain length but different structures can be determined with […]
Can Cannabinoids Be Used To Treat Cancer?
When cannabinoids activate signaling pathways in cancer cells they can stimulate a cell death mechanism called apoptosis, unleashing a potent anti-tumor effect. Yet cannabinoids, which have also shown strong activity against human tumor tissue grown in animal models, have undergone minimal testing in patients. Their potential use as anti-tumor drugs and/or to boost the effectiveness […]
Science Confirms You Should Stop And Smell The Roses
Short nature intervention can bring out the best in people. Is it any wonder that most happiness idioms are associated with nature? Happy as a pig in muck, happy as a clam, happy camper. A UBC researcher says there’s truth to the idea that spending time outdoors is a direct line to happiness. In fact, […]
E-Cigarettes Linked To Increased Arterial Stiffness, Blood Pressure And Heart Rate In Humans
New research has shown for the first time that e-cigarettes with nicotine cause a stiffening of the arteries in humans. This has important implications for the use of e-cigarettes, as arterial stiffness is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes in later life. Presenting the research at the European Respiratory Society International […]
Common Antiseptic Ingredients De-Energize Cells And Impair Hormone Response
A new in-vitro study by University of California, Davis, researchers indicates that quaternary ammonium compounds, or “quats,” used as antimicrobial agents in common household products inhibit mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell, as well as estrogenic functions in cells. Their findings will appear online Aug. 22 in Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the National Institute […]
Vitamin C May Encourage Blood Cancer Stem Cells to Die
Vitamin C may “tell” faulty stem cells in the bone marrow to mature and die normally, instead of multiplying to cause blood cancers. This is the finding of a study led by researchers from Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health, and published online August 17 in the journal Cell. Certain genetic changes are known to reduce the […]