VIDEO CORNER: Fluoxetine Hydrochloride – Prozac…
Current Rating 3.4

A pharmacist explains how Prozac works, why doctors
prescribe this anti-depressant, and some common side effects
of the drug.
http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=8793

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HEALTH TIP: Blacklist Pessimism for Good Health…

Let me start out by saying I am a firm believer in the power
of positive thinking. Now do I think it will cure things? No,
but I believe when you open yourself up to good things, good
things happen!

It’s just not my feeling… now there’s a reason to take that
oh-so-annoying Susie Sunshine a little more seriously. A recent
study published in Psychosomatic Medicine reveals that people
who choose to look at the glass as half full are 33% less likely
to get sick when exposed to a virus. Why? Positive emotions
prompt the release of chemicals that strengthen the immune system.

So the next time you have the urge to be a nay-sayer or ignore
a cloud’s silver lining, think again.

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How-To: Avoid Being Dinner for a Bear…

If you’re heading out into the wilderness for some nature-
like fun, you may come across a bear at some point. You
are in their habitat, after all There are certain steps
you can take to protect yourself and your family, since
most black bears are not interested in people and can
usually be scared away. Take a look:

1. Stand up as tall as you can

2. Hold out your arms to appear bigger (if you’re wearing
a jacket and have the time, open it up)

3. Speak in a loud, deep voice (what you choose to say is
up to you, though I imagine explicatives might be part of
the package)

4. Back up slowly

If this doesn’t work and the bear starts charging at you,
you should actually fight back – and hard. Try to hit him
in the nose, which is a bear’s main sensory organ. However…
DON’T RUN! Running will torment the bear, and heavens knows,
he can outrun you.

Keep in mind, this advice is all true for black bears, not
brown grizzlies (which are found west of the Rockies). If you
come across a grizzly, it’s best to play dead.

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Diet May Stop Infant Epileptic Spasms…

BALTIMORE, — U.S. scientists say they have determined a
ketogenic — or high fat, low carbohydrate — diet is eff-
ective in treating infantile epileptic spasms. Infantile
spasms are a potentially devastating epileptic condition
affecting children aged 4-8 months. Johns Hopkins University
researchers said their finding is the first description of
the ketogenic diet as a first-line defense for infantile
spasms in place of drugs. The diet is more traditionally
used for intractable childhood epilepsy, scientists said.
ACTH and vigabatrin, medications commonly used as first
treatments, can have potentially serious side effects, the
scientists said. In addition, although ACTH is effective in
up to 70 percent of cases, it costs more than $80,000 for a
one-month supply and vigabatrin isn’t yet available in the
United States. “We decided to review our experience at Johns
Hopkins using the ketogenic diet to treat infantile spasms
before medications were tried and compare this to our use
of ACTH over the same time period,” said Dr. Eric Kossoff,
the study’s lead author. He said the ketogenic diet is now
one of the first-line therapies for new-onset infantile
spasms at Johns Hopkins, with other hospitals beginning to
follow suit. The study appears in the journal Epilepsia.

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Study: Continuous Blood Sugar Monitor Best…

NEW YORK, — A U.S. study has determined type 1 diabetes
patients using continuous glucose monitoring improved their
HbA1c blood sugar control levels. The Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation International-funded trial showed type 1
diabetes patients using continuous glucose monitoring, or
CGM, devices experienced significant improvements in HbA1c
blood sugar control. HbA1c is a form of hemoglobin that’s
used to identify the average plasma glucose concentration in
a patient’s blood during prolonged periods of time. Resear-
chers said blood sugar control improvement was greatest for
CGM patients 25 years or older, whose HbA1c levels decreased
during the study by an average of 0.53 percent, as compared
with .001 percent for control patients. “These results are
very important, because they show continuous glucose moni-
tors are more than simply devices of convenience for people
with diabetes — they are tools that can substantially im-
prove blood sugar control when used regularly,” said Dr. -
Aaron Kowalski, director for metabolic control at JDRF.
Study results were presented this week in Rome during a
meeting of the European Association for the Study of Dia-
betes. Portions of the data will appear in the Oct. 2 issue
of the New England Journal of Medicine and are now available
at nejm.org.
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Protein Found To Suppress Skin Cancer…

HOUSTON, — U.S. scientists say they’ve determined the pro-
tein IKKalpha suppresses skin cancer development. “We have
shown that IKK? acts as a sentry, monitoring and, when
necessary, halting proliferation of these important
(squamous) cells, said University of Texas M.D. Anderson
Cancer Center Assistant Professor Yinling Hu, the study’s
senior author. Squamous cells are primary cell types that
cover internal and external surfaces of the body. “In the
first mouse model of its kind, we also found deleting IKK?
spontaneously induced squamous cell carcinomas by activating
the epidermal growth factor receptor pathway,” said Hu,
“These results provide new therapeutic targets for prevent-
ion of skin cancer.” The researchers said downregulation of
IKK? has been noted in a variety of human squamous cell
carcinomas, but the protein’s role in maintaining skin hom-
eostasis, or stability, had remained unclear because an
appropriate mouse model wasn’t available. To solve that
problem, Bigang Liu, the study’s first author, and colleagues
generated mice with IKK? deletions in their keratinocytes.
“This study has revealed the importance of IKK? in maintain-
ing skin homeostasis and in preventing skin cancer, as well
as the mechanism of how IKK? acts in these processes,” Hu
said. The research appears in the journal Cancer Cell.

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Do You Suffer From Discomgoogoloation?…

Discomgoogolation is the ‘feeling stressed or anxious at
an inability to access the internet.’ The term is the
result of combining “discombobulate,” which means to confuse
or frustrate, and “Google”.

Apparently, there are an awful lot of discomgoogolation
sufferers out there. A recent survey done in Britain almost
half of those surveyed feel somewhat discomgoogolated when
deprived of internet access and just over a quarter actually
suffer from increased stress levels when not able to get online.

Psychologist Dr David Lewis, who dentified discomgoogolation
by measuring heart rates and brainwave activity, says “It was
surprising to see the stress this led to brain activity and
blood pressure in participants both increase in response to
being cut off from the internet.”

Other interesting findings from the survey include:

- Over 75% of  Britons feel they could not live without the internet

- 47% of those polled believed the internet was more important
in people’s lives than religion

- One in five people paying the internet more attention than
their partner.

It’s true the internet may be taking over our lives!