Author: Martin D'Anjou

Categories
Uncategorized

Smell of peppermint can suppress appetite

The characteristic smell of peppermint could help control the appetite and make dieting easier, according to a study reported by Medic Magic.

Researchers at West Virginia’s Wheeling Jesuit University worked with 40 volunteers. Over the span of five days, the participants were asked to sniff peppermint every two hours. The following week, they were given a placebo to smell the same number of times a day.

During the week that the volunteers were sniffing peppermint, the researchers found that they consumed 1,800 fewer calories than they did during the week they were given a placebo, a 23 percent reduction in caloric intake.

Peppermint has also been shown to improve mental alertness and focus, and helps relieve bloating and flatulence. Other studies have found it effective in treating headaches, nausea and even anxiety.

For best effects, be sure to use real peppermint leaves or essential oils, rather than products made with artificial aromas.

Peppermint is not recommended for people who suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease or hiatal hernia, because it can relax the stomach muscles, making it easier for stomach acid to flow back up into the esophagus.

Categories
Uncategorized

Anti-anxiety and sleeping pills increase risk of Alzheimer’s

A recent study shows there is a link between long-term use of anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills to Alzheimer’s disease, according to a recent study published in the journal Sciences et Avenir.

Before Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed, patients often experience difficulty sleeping, anxiety and even depression, so their doctors regularly prescribe tranquilizers and sleeping pills.

Comparing users with non-users, French researchers found a strong link between the chronic use of sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication (for a period of two years to more than ten years) and the risk of Alzheimer’s. The risk for those on these medications increased from 20 to 50 percent.

Lead researcher Bernard Bégaud said that these results send a very strong warning signal in terms of public health, and that this latest study only adds to eight previous ones that have studied the association between long-term use of these drugs and Alzheimer’s disease.

Bégaud believes the medical community should limit the duration for use of these drugs, and that each each physician should be warned of the risks incurred by prescribing these drugs over the long term.

 

Photo credit: gameanna/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Categories
Cinéma

Mick Jagger returns to the big screen

Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger hasn’t starred in a feature film since the 2001 drama The Man from Elysian Fields. Prior to that, his sparse filmography also included Freejack, Ned Kelly, and Running Out of Luck and numerous documentaries.

Jagger came up with the idea for the film Tabloid and plans to produce it with Victoria Pearman under his own Jagged Films label. The rock star brought in Josh Olson (A History of Violence) to write the screenplay.

In the thriller, Jagger will play an unscrupulous international media mogul who seduces a young journalist into his immoral world. No further details on Tabloid is available at this time. Olson recently wrote the first draft of One Shot, based on the Lee Child novel, that has Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher.

Jagger founded Jagged Films with Victoria Pearman in 1995, and its first release was the World War II drama Enigma in 2001. In 2008, the company began work on an adaptation of the 1939 George Cukor film The Women, which starred Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Debra Messing.

Categories
Uncategorized

New hope for patients with late-stage prostate cancer

New research into the genetics of prostate cancer may give hope to later-stage cancer sufferers, according to a study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Researchers at Indiana’s Purdue University have discovered new information about the roles played by two different genes: Polo-like kinase (Plk1) – which helps to regulate the life-cycle of cells – and Pten, a tumor-suppressor gene.

According to the study, later-stage cancer cells are lacking Pten, which causes problems during cell division. To compensate for the lack of Pten, the cells produce more Plk1, which results in rapid cell division: "usually a hallmark of cancer formation," explained lead author Xiaoqi Liu.

"This turns out to be a major driving factor in future cancer," added Liu. "Without Pten, there is huge potential to become a cancer cell."

The researchers tested a Plk1 inhibitor drug on human and mice cancer cells. Some of the cells contained Pten, while others had lost it – and those cells lacking in Pten responded to the drug.

"In later stages of prostate cancer, cells have lost Pten," said Liu. "This means the Plk1 inhibitor can be a good drug for treatment of those tumors."

The drug proved effective even at low doses, which means the side effects could be less severe. The drug can also target cancer cells that have stopped responding to current treatments aimed at stopping cell division.

Categories
Uncategorized

Compliments brand smoked ham recall

Yesterday (September 27), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and manufacturer Les Cuisines Gaspésiennes Matane issued a health hazard alert for Compliments brand ‘Sensations Old-Style Smoked Ham’ as it may be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes.

The affected Compliments brand ‘Sensations Old-Style Smoked Ham’ is sold in 175 g packages bearing UPC 6 23682 10628 2, Lot Code: 230 87, and Best Before: 2011NO13.

This product was distributed in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product. Food contaminated with listeria monocytogenes may not look or smell spoiled, however this bacteria may cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea.

The Compliments brand is sold through Sobeys, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Price Chopper, Thrifty Foods, and Lawtons Drugs.

Categories
Cinéma

David Duchovny steps aboard Phantom

Star of TV series X-Files and Californication, David Duchovny, has enlisted for the role of a Soviet special forces leader aboard the submarine adventure thriller Phantom, reports Variety.

Replacing Andy Garcia, Duchovny joines his Californication co-star Natascha McElhone, along with Ed Harris and William Fichtner.

The movie is set during the Cold War, and Duchovny plays the haunted captain of a Soviet submarine who holds the fate of the world in his hands. Forced to leave his family behind, he is charged with leading a covert mission cloaked in mystery.

Directed by Todd Robinson (Lonely Hearts, TV’s America’s Most Wanted), filming is expected to begin in a few days in Long Beach, California.

Duchovny has been busy these days. The 51-year-old actor with a Masters degree in English literature recently finished filming his fifth season in the role of novelist Hank Moody in Californication.

The actor is awaiting a release date for the comedy Goats costarring Vera Farmiga, Ty Burrell, Keri Russell and Minnie Driver, and will also star in the comedy drama Relative Insanity – a modern-day adaption of the Anton Chekhov’s classic play The Seagull.

Categories
Uncategorized

Energy drinks pose dilemma for government

Health Canada is currently engaged in an internal debate over whether or not to reclassify so-called energy drinks – soft drinks containing high levels of caffeine and other stimulants – as ""stimulant drug containing drinks," according to their own expert panel, reports the Ottawa Citizen.

Currently, energy drinks – sold under brand names like Red Bull, Monster and Rock Star – are regulated as natural health products. If Health Canada follows the advice of the panel, Canada will become one of the first countries to classify these drinks as a non-prescription drug, which would allow them to be sold only under a pharmacist’s supervision.

Internal documents show that the government agency is considering following the lead of several other countries, however, by classifying the drinks as "foodlike." Unlike non-prescription drug products, foodlike products can be sold freely outside of pharmacies.

Classifying the beverages as containing stimulant drugs "is recommended regardless of how other countries have chosen to deal with these products," the panel wrote in their recommendations.

Now Canada must face either scrutiny on the world stage – not to mention pressure from the beverage industry – for being one of the first countries to classify the drinks as a drug, or go against the recommendations of its own experts.

Categories
Uncategorized

Energy drinks pose dilemma for government

Health Canada is currently engaged in an internal debate over whether or not to reclassify so-called energy drinks – soft drinks containing high levels of caffeine and other stimulants – as ""stimulant drug containing drinks," according to their own expert panel, reports the Ottawa Citizen.

Currently, energy drinks – sold under brand names like Red Bull, Monster and Rock Star – are regulated as natural health products. If Health Canada follows the advice of the panel, Canada will become one of the first countries to classify these drinks as a non-prescription drug, which would allow them to be sold only under a pharmacist’s supervision.

Internal documents show that the government agency is considering following the lead of several other countries, however, by classifying the drinks as "foodlike." Unlike non-prescription drug products, foodlike products can be sold freely outside of pharmacies.

Classifying the beverages as containing stimulant drugs "is recommended regardless of how other countries have chosen to deal with these products," the panel wrote in their recommendations.

Now Canada must face either scrutiny on the world stage – not to mention pressure from the beverage industry – for being one of the first countries to classify the drinks as a drug, or go against the recommendations of its own experts.

Categories
Uncategorized

Pool chlorine linked to infertility in males

Children who swam at least 125 hours in a chlorinated pool before the age of 7 were three times more likely to have fertility problems in adulthood, according to a study published in the Journal of Andrology.

According to researchers the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, human contaminants (sunscreen, sweat, hair, makeup, and urine, etc.) can all be found in any public pool, and they combine with chlorine to form chloramines, and that is what you typically smell entering a pool area.

Outdoor pools allow these byproducts to dissipate, but enclosed pools mean these volatile chemicals are transferred from water to air with every splash. Without good ventilation, they remain in the air for quite some time.

Following research with animals, scientists conducted blood tests on three groups of adolescents aged 14 to 18, two groups swam regularly in a chorine pools and one group did not.

The results showed that most hormones tested normal, however two were significantly different, testosterone and inhibin B, both indicators of sperm count and mobility. These data are important, given that for 10 percent of adults with fertility problems, there is a deficit of inhibin B.

Lead researcher, Dr. Alfred Bernard, has also substantiated a link between childhood asthma and swimming in indoor chlorinated. Bernard’s 2007 study showed airway and lung changes in children who had participated in an infant swimming group.

Categories
Cinéma

Justin Timberlake to play ‘70s music executive

Actor-singer Justin Timberlake continues his film career with a role set in an industry he is very familiar with – as music producer Neil Bogart in the biopic Spinning Gold, reports Deadline.

The film traces the life of the highly-successful music producer of the 1960s and ’70s. Founder of the Casablanca record label, Bogart helped propel the music careers of such famous acts as Kiss, Donna Summer, Parliament featuring George Clinton, and the Village People. In 1982, he died of cancer at the age of 39.

The screenplay for Spinning Gold was written by his son Tim Bogart, and will trace the producer’s life, from a poor young man growing up in Brooklyn to his gradual ascent to the top of the music industry. Filming is expected to begin at the end of 2012.

In the meantime, after starring this year with Mila Kunis in the romantic comedy Friends with Benefits, Timberlake can next be seen in the sci-fi thriller In Time, due in theaters October 28.