Latest Ageing Reverse Research: Fountain of Youth Finally Found?

Did the latest anti-aging research finally discover the proverbial “Fountain of Youth” in the blood plasma of younger organisms? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Since Spanish explorers had been searching for the Fountain of Youth in 16^th Century America without signs of success, contemporary medial science have since written off studies into physiological age-reversing as nothing more than a “Quixotic Task”, but not anymore. Research authors of an ongoing study on age-reversing in the United States’ West and East coasts are finally confident of their latest results showing that they might be a way to physiologically reverse the biological aging process. 

Saul Villeda, Ph.D. of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research – one of the research authors of an ongoing research done on the US West and East coast on injecting blood plasma from younger mice into the hippocampuses of older mice have shown to reverse most of the damage done by Alzheimer’s Disease. Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray of Stanford University School of Medicine – one of the scientists involved in the Ageing Reverse Research – have experimental results showing older mice becoming stronger both physically and mentally after injecting their hippocampuses with blood plasma from much younger mice suggests that “younger blood plasma” recharges the brain. Though to the layman, the research results could suggest the physiological explanation of “vampirism”. 

Despite the research results suggesting the physiological explanation of “vampirism” and of “Bram Stroker’s Dracula”, repeatable lab results have shown that blood plasma of younger mice shows an observable improvement of the brains of older mice compared to the control group. Stronger reaction in the improved performance of the hippocampuses – the part of the brain involver in learning and memory - of older mice injected with blood plasma of younger mice suggests that the procedure could serve as a possible cure in reversing the damage done by Alzheimer’s to the brains of affected humans. The encouraging results point to the possibility of human trials in a few years time.

Post Orgasmic Illness: Spoiling Men’s Enjoyment of Sex?

Though the disorder is still extremely rare, is post orgasmic illness inadvertently spoiling men affected with it their full enjoyment of sex? 

By: Ringo Bones 

There is now a Facebook and other social network communities of men affected by the disorder and although it is still exceedingly rare, more and more men are now coming out as being affected by post orgasmic illness and how it spoils their maximum enjoyment of sex. But is the global medical science community currently working on the cure of such a terrible disorder?

Post orgasmic illness produces a flu-like symptom to men affected by it that lasts from two days to a few weeks depending on the severity. Rare as its occurrence may be, there might be a physiological explanation on why some men are affected by illness. They might be allergic to their own sperm since the symptoms of the illness tends to happen minutes after these men achieve orgasm and depending on severity, will give then flu-like symptoms that lasts for two days to three weeks. 

The allergen mechanism of post orgasmic illness might be the most probable physiological explanation of the disease because men affected by it have their symptoms dramatically reduced after they undergo hyposensitization therapy via diluted injections of their own sperm akin to hyposensitization therapy done on persons affected by bee venom and peanuts. But more research is yet to be done if post orgasmic illness has only one – or if are there many – variants or if it is just a sperm allergy reaction. 

Post orgasmic illness not only puts a damper on the affected men’s sex lives but also on their jobs as well. A typical man affected by post orgasmic illness whose married and has a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday job schedule can only schedule sex on a Friday night since he could be affected by flu-like symptoms the whole weekend long and he has to report to work on Monday morning to keep a roof over his wife and family’s heads and keep them fed on a day in and day out basis and fund those other extraneous necessities. Due to the rarity of the illness, most healthcare providers only provide coverage to post orgasmic illness via special additional premiums which could add to one’s healthcare expenses. 

Should E-Cigarettes Be Classified As A Pharmaceutical Product?

Given the apparent health study results and user’s anecdotal testimony that they are “healthier” than regular tobacco based cigarettes, are there any justification to classify e-cigarettes as a pharmaceutical product? 

By: Ringo Bones

During a recent European Union discussion via the powers-that-be at Brussels on whether to enact proposals to classify e-cigarettes as a pharmaceutical product and to restrict their sale only through pharmacies, may in the EU are now quite surprised on “why now”? After all, e-cigarettes had been freely sold in supermarkets and kiosks that used to sell conventional tobacco based cigarettes for years now. Even Katherine Devlin, head of the Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association was quite surprised by the recent proposal by Brussels. 

For those unfamiliar with the product, electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes turn a nicotine laced liquid into vapor via a built-in battery powered heater. For a number of years it has been used around the world by smokers who are trying to avoid the harmful effects of regular tobacco-based cigarettes – i.e. from the carcinogens found in tobacco like tar, polonium, etc. Given that e-cigarettes for all intents and purposes a way of taking nicotine  - i.e. a nicotine delivery system - for those who are chronically addicted to this tobacco derived alkaloid, shouldn’t e-cigarettes – like other nicotine delivery systems like nicotine patches and gums - be classified as a pharmaceutical product and be sold only in government licensed pharmacies like most tobacco smoking related pharmaceutical products? 

Even tough pro and anti smoking activists are still divided over the long term effects of e-cigarettes, the powers that be in the European Union’s main headquarters at Brussels are proposing for a more stringent health study on the  long-term health effects of e-cigarettes or electronic cigarettes. And also, Adrian Everrett, C.E.O. of e-lites says so far thoughout the world, nobody has yet died of e-cigarette use so far. Though there had been isolated reports of unscrupulous retailers selling e-cigarettes to minors who are not old enough to buy and / or publicly use conventional tobacco cigarettes. 

Horsemeat: EU Public Health Risk?

Given that the European Union horsemeat scandal is already a 16-nation affair are there any real health risks in consuming horsemeat?

By: Ringo Bones

When the “horsemeat scandal” first broke out in the UK during the last week of January 2013 when meat inspectors found out that a London franchise of Burger King was using horsemeat instead of beef, many UK citizens are in an uproar because Brits are very sentimental and reverent about the heroism of horses as draft animals. Not just for their heroism in the trenches of Word War I but throughout the rest of British history for their largely undocumented role in nation building, not to mention there might already be a British horse awarded with the Dickens Medal for bravery during wartime. But are there any real health risks in eating horsemeat? After all, the French had been eating horsemeat as gourmet food for centuries and they seem reasonably healthy.

For want of a horse, a kingdom was lost – doth quote the great English bard Shakespeare and now it seems the recent 16-nation European Union wide horsemeat scandal has been handled by the powers-that-be as the clear and present danger du jour when it comes to threat to public health. A few days ago, the UK’s environment minister Owen Patterson stated that the main health risk of consuming horsemeat is the yet unknown effects of pharmaceuticals used in culled race and draft horses that had been turned into meat on the human physiology. Certain anti-inflammatory veterinary drugs confined to use in farm animals not destined for human consumption have yet hitherto unknown physiological effects on humans. Not to mention the narcotic effects of so called “horse tranquilizers” on those people who eat horsemeat from culled race and draft horses.

After a popular brand of supposedly all-beef boxed grocery lasagne called Findus was found to be using horsemeat instead of beef, the UK food investigation committee later traced the source of the horsemeat to a government run abattoir in Romania. Now the Romanian government is under investigation by EU food watchdogs on why their government abattoirs were allowed to label horsemeat as beef. 

Along with dogs, horses are one of the few animals that are revered here in the West and eating them is largely seen as taboo. Though in this day and age, there are already certain health risks that come with the consumption of “unseemly meats” due to the very fact that these use certain veterinary pharmaceuticals that are banned for use in farm animals destined for meat on the table like chickens, pigs and cows, draft and race horses and sheep herding dogs are NOT intended for human consumption so they are prescribed veterinary drugs that are not normally used in “culinary animals”; Thus making the regular consumption of their meat carry certain long-term and largely unknown health risks. 

What Not To Touch During Flu Season

Despite of everyone’s inherent susceptibility of falling ill every flu season, did you know that you can lessen your chances of catching the flu by avoiding touching certain everyday items?

By: Ringo Bones

Human ergonomic studies conducted since the 1960s have shown that we humans who work in an urban office setting grab up to 30 objects a minute while at the same duration of time also tend to touch our faces at least five times. Given that droplets of moisture laden with flu viruses tend to increase their chances of infecting us humans as they get close to the proximity to our respiratory tract – as in within our facial area, are there steps – i.e. precautionary measures - to be taken to lessen our chances of getting the flu during the dreaded flu season?

Washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water or using an effective antimicrobial hand sanitizer before touching your face certainly helps, but there are everyday objects that you should be mindful of before touching them because they are seldom cleaned by those in charge of them. Restaurant menus are one of the usual magnets of microbial pathogens because they tend to be treated by antibacterial cleaning agents only after the restaurant’s closing time for the next day’s business. So too are fast-food and restaurant condiment dispensers that tend to be cleaned only after closing time.

Door knobs in public restrooms make excellent hubs for microbial pathogens on their way to infect us because users who go into the public restrooms tend to have already dirty hands and those exiting are more often than not – didn’t wash their hands thoroughly or used an effective hand sanitizer. And so too are water faucets in public restrooms, though you can lessen your chances of catching flu viruses from these by wiping them with paper towels before using them.

Shopping cart handles are also a veritable magnet of microbial pathogens and parents of toddlers should be wary because tots slung in the “kid holder” part of the shopping cart tend to lick the shopping cart handles with their tongues. But believe it or not, recent studies have found out that copper and silver coins do not harbor pathogens – contrary to earlier popular belief – because copper and silver ions formed on the surface of these types of coins tend to have excellent antibacterial properties. Ancient Egyptians even used copper and silver coins to purify drinking water by heating them and then dunking these metals into the container of water intended to be purified over 4,000 years ago.

Do Heavier People Live Longer Than Average?

Even though being “pleasingly plump” may only be in vogue during your grandparents’ generation, but do heavier people live a bit longer than average?

By: Ringo Bones

In a decade-long study conducted on 2.8 million research participants around the world by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shown, surprisingly, that “slightly overweight people” - i.e. persons who weigh 5 to 6 percent above their ideal body mass index tend to live 5 to 6 percent longer than people who weigh within or below their ideal body mass index. Will the results of this research study undermine the commitment of those folks already sticking to their live-lengthening caloric restrictive diet regimen?

Even though morbidly obese people still have a way higher mortality rate in comparison to individuals who weigh within or slightly above their ideal body mass index, slightly heavier folks that weigh 5 to 6 percent above their ideal body mass index – especially if they can jog for a mile without collapsing – are living on average 5 to 6 percent longer than their thinner counterparts. The latest US-CDC study also show results that persons who weigh 5 to 6 percent above their ideal body mass index have a significantly statistically better chances of surviving during medical emergencies. Proving the old World War II-era adage of a “healthy pleasingly plump figure”?

Brown Fat Cells: The Secret To Combating Obesity?

Even though it is still a largely esoteric part of the human anatomy, does brown fat cells now hold the key in our battle against obesity?

By: Ringo Bones

Just look at every survey and study made since the mid-1990s about the incidence of obesity, chances are figures show that up to 33 percent of Americans are now obese. Worse still, her “poorer” neighbor south-of-the-border had shown an increasing rise in childhood obesity cases since the mid 1990s. Given that a proper diet and exercise alone seems powerless to halt the slowly - but so even perceptively – increasing cases of obesity, can another much healthier tactic be used to end this scourge of civilized mankind?

Since their scrutiny by medical researchers, brown fat cells had been found out to be active in infants as a way to keep them warm, but brown fat cells later turn off metabolically in adulthood. During the 1980s, MRI imaging technicians used to mistake dormant brown fat cells of adult patients being examined as cancer cells for their cancer-like imaging result in a typical MRI scanning session. Further studies in the 1990s had also shown that brown fat cells had kept our Stone-Age ancestors warm but our largely indoor lifestyle could have metabolically atrophied the main function of our brown fat cells – which is burning food sourced calories to keep us warm.

Dr. Norbert Stefan, an endocrinologist at Tubingen State University, specializes in the treatment of morbidly obese persons and persons with thyroid deficiency that made them morbidly obese. As latest medical research have shown that brown fat cells are packed with mitochondria and are a regional main hub for capillaries that controls our body’s core temperature, Dr. Stefan’s pioneering new method of curing obesity centers around increasing the metabolic rate of largely dormant brown fat cells in adults to make them burn more calories even when living out our present-day largely sedentary lifestyle.

A hormone treatment that’s used to be given to people with thyroid disorders had recently been trialed to activate the dormant brown fat cells in adults stricken with obesity, though the. Preliminary results have shown that more than 90 percent of the trial participants had their overall weight reduced down to much more healthier levels than before – especially those patients who also added dieting and exercise to the treatment. Could revitalizing our atrophied brown fat cells be the key to ending the scourge of obesity in out increasingly sedentary 21^st Century lifestyle?