Água nos aviões (dos EUA) imprópria

Não convém pedir chá ou café que a usem (contaminações):

http://www.e-konomista.pt/artigo/pedir-cha-ou-cafe-num-aviao/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=entity_ekviagens&utm_content=ekviagens

Citando:
"Investigadores da estação televisiva NBC 5 observaram que a água usada para chá e café é água que provém da torneira e não de uma garrafa, em pleno voo.

De acordo com uma amostra da Agência de Proteção Ambiental dos EUA de 2004, resultante de testes a 158 aviões, 13% continham bactérias indicadoras de contaminação (coliformes). Em 2 dos aviões encontraram E.coli (Escherichia coli) perigosa na água. Esta bactéria, quando em grandes quantidades, pode causar infeção intestinal e urinária.

Num estudo adicional da EPA, descobriu-se também que um 1 cada 8 aviões falha nos padrões relativos à segurança da água. Isto, por si só, indica que não deve mesmo pedir chá ou café num avião."

Livro: A vida secreta dos intestinos

Artigo e entrevista sobre o livro. Ainda como bónus, a imagem de como se sentar correctamente na sanita:
http://observador.pt/2015/04/28/sabia-que-anda-a-sentar-se-mal-na-sanita/

Livro: Café ou não café(ina)?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LP66Z2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=humarefre-20

Citando:
"Amazon.com Review

Get ready to give up that morning latte and kiss cola goodbye. Here comes Caffeine Blues, by Stephen Cherniske, M.S., the first book to expose the dark side of America's No. 1 drug: caffeine. If you are one of the nearly 80 percent of Americans hooked on caffeine--a natural component of coffee, tea, and chocolate and a common ingredient in drugs, soda, candy, and other products--this book will be a wake-up call.

In Caffeine Blues, Cherniske, a nutritional biochemist with more than 25 years of academic research and clinical experience and author of the bestseller The DHEA Breakthrough, reveals the truth about caffeine and explains how to kick the habit forever. Cherniske discusses how caffeine affects the body and brain and why it can increase your risk of dozens of health disorders ranging from osteoporosis, diabetes, and PMS to hypertension and heartburn. After spending 300 pages documenting all of caffeine's evils, Cherniske finally offers a decaffeinated life line: "Off the Bean and on to Vitality," a step-by-step, clinically proven program to help readers kick the habit and boost energy levels naturally. --Ellen Albertson"

Sono e problemas de coração?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/08/29/tossing-turning-night-could-double-risk-heart-attack/

Citando:
"Dr Sasaki concluded: “Our results support the hypothesis that sleep deterioration may lead to cardiovascular disease. Poor sleep in patients with ischaemic heart disease may be characterised by shorter sleep and brief moments of waking up.”

He added: “Difficulty maintaining sleep reflects an increase in sleep fragmentation, which refers to brief moments of waking up and causes overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system and adrenocortical axis.”

Previous research, published by the University of California San Francisco last year, suggests people who do not sleep all the way through the night are at a 29 per cent increased risk of developing an irregular heartbeat."

Cuidado com os "substitutos" da fruta

Coma-se fruta (5 por dia, ou 10 conforme os estudos) não "substitutos" de fruta, porque ou contêm menos fruta do que se esperaria, ou contêm açúcar em excesso:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/11/packaged-food-manufacturers-fudging-fruit-and-vegetable-claims-study-finds

375g de fruta, 400g (OMS) ou 800g por dia?

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/29/life-saving-fruit-and-vegetable-diet-need-only-be-three-portions-study

Citando:
"Wolfing down a mountain of fruit and vegetables every day offers no more benefit in staving off death than eating just three to four portions, researchers have found, adding that the findings could have important ramifications for those on low incomes.

The World Health Organisation currently recommends individuals eat at least 400g of fruit, vegetables and legumes – plants such as peas and beans – each day, although recent studies have suggested as much as 800g should be consumed to reduce the risk of stroke, heart disease and premature death."

PS.
Artigo sobre o "10 a day" (em vez do conselho mais comum de "5 per day"):
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/23/five-day-10-portions-fruit-veg-cut-early-death
Citando:
"Five portions of fruit and veg a day is good for you, but 10 is much better and could prevent up to 7.8 million premature deaths worldwide every year, say scientists. "

Tinnitus estudado

http://home.bt.com/news/science-news/chronic-ringing-in-the-ears-keeps-the-brain-less-at-rest-a-new-study-shows-11364207390660

Citando:
"The precuneus is connected to the dorsal attention network – an area responsive to attention demanding tasks, and the default mode network, the area which is activated during less mentally strenuous activity.

“When the default mode network is on, the dorsal attention network is off, and vice versa. We found that the precuneus in tinnitus patients seems to be playing a role in that relationship,” said Sara Schmidt, a graduate student in the university’s neuroscience program.

For those suffering from chronic tinnitus, the precuneus is more closely connected to the dorsal attention network, than the default-mode network, MRI scans showed.

The research suggests that tinnitus sufferers are “not truly at rest, even when resting”, said Fatima Husain, lead researcher and on the study and a professor at the university."

Ai o substituto das estatinas?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/08/27/new-wonder-drug-hailed-biggest-breakthrough-fight-against-heart/

Citando:
"Cholesterol-busting statins are given to millions of adults deemed to be at risk of heart disease.

But half of heart attacks occur in people who do not have high cholesterol at all.

Now scientists have found that reducing inflammation in the body can protect against a host of conditions - with a “really dramatic effect” on cancer deaths.

The drug canakinumab, given by injection every three months - cut repeat heart attacks by one quarter. Statins cut the risk by around 15 per cent."

O preço:
"The new treatment - which works by blocking part of the immune system called interleukin-1 - currently costs around £40,000 annually to treat a patient with the drug, compared to just £20 for statins."

Retardadores de incêndios associados a infertilidade feminina?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/female-fertility-chemicals-gym-mats-furniture-threat-warning-study-flame-retardant-a7911091.html

Citando:
"Researchers in the US found more than 80 per cent of women having fertility treatment at the Massachusetts General Hospital had traces of three types of chemicals known as PFRs in their urine.

And those with high levels of the chemicals were 38 per cent less likely to have a child after a cycle of IVF treatment than those with low levels."

(...)
"PFRs were introduced as flame retardants as a supposedly safer alternative to PentaBDE after evidence of its adverse health effects.

However concern has been growing about PFRs – organophosphate flame retardants – which are used in polyurethane foam in upholstered furniture, baby products and gym mats, for example. They can spread from furniture into the air and dust of rooms."

Cuidado com as dietas da moda (5-day cleansing)?

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/11/why-we-fell-for-clean-eating

Citando:
"n the spring of 2014, Jordan Younger noticed that her hair was falling out in clumps. “Not cool” was her reaction. At the time, Younger, 23, believed herself to be eating the healthiest of all possible diets. She was a “gluten-free, sugar-free, oil-free, grain-free, legume-free, plant-based raw vegan”. As The Blonde Vegan, Younger was a “wellness” blogger in New York City, one of thousands on Instagram (where she had 70,000 followers) rallying under the hashtag #eatclean. Although she had no qualifications as a nutritionist, Younger had sold more than 40,000 copies of her own $25, five-day “cleanse” programme – a formula for an all-raw, plant-based diet majoring on green juice.

But the “clean” diet that Younger was selling as the route to health was making its creator sick. Far from being super-healthy, she was suffering from a serious eating disorder: orthorexia, an obsession with consuming only foods that are pure and perfect. Younger’s raw vegan diet had caused her periods to stop and given her skin an orange tinge from all the sweet potato and carrots she consumed (the only carbohydrates she permitted herself). Eventually, she sought psychological help, and began to slowly widen the repertoire of foods she would allow herself to eat, starting with fish. She recognised that the problem was not her veganism, per se, but the particularly rigid and restrictive diet regime she had imposed on herself.

As Younger slowly recovered from her eating disorder, she faced a new dilemma. “What would people think”, she agonised, “if they knew the Blonde Vegan was eating fish?” She levelled with her followers in a blogpost entitled Why I’m Transitioning Away from Veganism. Within hours of announcing her new diet, Younger was receiving irate messages from vegans demanding money back from the cleanse programmes and T-shirts they had bought from her site (featuring slogans such as “OH KALE YES”).

She lost followers “by the thousands” and received a daily raft of angry messages, including death threats. Some responded to her confession that she was suffering from an eating disorder by accusing her of being a “fat piece of lard” who didn’t have the discipline to be truly “clean”."

Futuro: como matar de fome um cancro sem matar o paciente?

https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21702169-how-starve-cancer-without-starving-patient-fast-thinking?fsrc=scn/fb/te/pe/ed/

Citando:
" (...) think about how he might mimic the benefits of starvation while minimising its problems. The result is a diet rich in vitamin D, zinc and fatty acids essential to TILs’ performance, while being low in the proteins and simple sugars that tumours make ready use of."

Do cheiro do esfregão...

http://visao.sapo.pt/actualidade/sociedade/2017-08-13-As-tecnicas-para-higienizar-os-esfregoes-de-cozinha-so-os-tornam-mais-sujos

Citando:
"O mau cheiro proveniente do esfregão após algum tempo de utilização tem, também, uma razão. De acordo com os cientistas responsáveis pelo estudo deve-se a um micróbio, o Moraxella osloensis, que existe na natureza, vive na pele humana e pode causar infeções em pessoas com um sistema imunitário enfraquecido. O mau odor que este micróbio emite provém do seu metabolismo, uma vez que come e excreta gordura."
(...)
"Um estudo, publicado em julho e conduzido por Markus Egert, microbiologista da Universidade de Furtwangen na Alemanha, analisou 14 amostras de esfregões de cozinha usados incluindo aqueles que são regularmente limpos. Nas amostras foram encontradas cerca de 362 espécies diferentes de bactérias e 5 das 10 espécies de bactérias mais frequentes eram agentes potencialmente patogénicos, ou seja, capazes de originar doenças."

Hambúrguer de beterraba?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4787520/Beetroot-burgers-replacing-beef-barbecue.html

Mais um episódio da novela das Estatinas

Leiam o artigo mas leiam também os comentários (artigo de um médico a defender o uso de estatinas):
https://www.publico.pt/2017/08/13/ciencia/noticia/colesterol-e-estatinas-porque-ter-medo-da-verdade-1782065

A realidade dos factos (no meu caso) é que perante a ameaça da minha Médica de Família ("estes níveis de colesterol ou baixam ou começa a tomar estatinas, veja lá o que é que come", algo assim), eu comecei a fazer exercício (moderado) e os parâmetros alteram-se radicalmente (tornando desnecessária a medicação "milagrosa"). Que médicos recomendam o exercício em vez de nos dar o comprimidinho? Muitos poucos.

CRISPR usado para criar porcos livres de PERV

... que pode ser transmitido a humanos (se órgãos transplantados em humanos):
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/08/11/scientists-closer-using-pig-organs-humans-working-pig-2-0/55903800

Citando:
"The company and its collaborators published their work in the journal Science, where they explain how they created the PERV-less piglets.

Using a genome-editing tool named CRISPR, the researchers created PERV-free embryos, implanted them into surrogate female pigs, which gave birth to piglets without the retrovirus. 

The piglets are now four-and-a-half months old and will be monitored for any long-term effects. "

(...)
"But the fear of transmitting PERVs to humans was, among other hurdles, blocking progress toward successful xenotransplantation, making the eGenesis find an important one."

Efeitos da corrida no comportamento?

http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fhealth-fitness%2Fbody%2Fjogger-rage-runners-getting-aggressive1%2F#pt0-693851

Citando:
"How does running, which has a deserved reputation as an emotionally therapeutic exercise, cause such bile?

Much depends on which emotion you are aiming to address by going out in the first place. If you are feeling down, a run is often an effective way to cheer yourself up. It can also be a surprisingly efficient method of problem solving or dealing with mental blocks. As you stride along, your mind will clear, allowing you to see an issue in a completely new and positive way.

So far, so good - but the picture becomes quite different when people use a jog to try and burn off anger. That seething, aggressive energy may help someone run faster and longer, but heading out for a run with these sorts of emotions swirling inside you is a potentially lethal plan.
While running can sometimes ease anger, it can also make it worse because on a physical level, running and anger have plenty in common. Both will pump up your heart rate and blood pressure. They release adrenaline and stress hormones, as well as tensing up muscles. Testosterone rises too, which might explain why, in my experience at least, angry runners are always male.

All of this can send the angry runner into a vicious cycle. They start to feel more, not less, angry. This spurs them on to run faster and further. Their blood sugar levels are falling, which makes them even more irritable. Round and round they go – and heaven help anyone who gets in their way.

Another factor is that running can tune out your conscious brain, which means you begin to interact with the world in a more primal way. This is what can make runners territorial and aggressive on pavements. They respond to others in a way they would never dream of during a casual stroll.

Also worth noting is the potential for cowardice, which running shares with cycling and driving. It’s so much easier to bark an insult at someone, or push them out of the way, if you know you can simply run off and get away from quickly. "

Tomar vitamina D depois de queimaduras solares?

Ajuda a prevenir a inflamação mas: Só se na dose certa. Que por acaso é muito acima das doses diárias admissíveis. Por isso não se recomenda, apesar dos resultados serem promissores:
https://www.bancodasaude.com/noticias/queimaduras-solares-vitamina-d-e-eficaz/

Citando:
"Os participantes receberam uma pequena “queimadura solar” no antebraço através de uma lâmpada de raios ultravioletas. Uma hora mais tarde os investigadores ofereceram-lhes aleatoriamente uma dose de 50.000, 100.000, ou 200.000 IU de vitamina D ou um placebo.
 
Os investigadores monitorizaram os participantes 24, 48 e 72 horas e uma semana após o ensaio, tendo recolhido amostras de pele para biópsia. 
 
Foi observado que os participantes que tinham tomado as doses mais elevadas de vitamina D apresentavam os menores índices de inflamação, vermelhidão e atividade genética relacionada com a reparação da barreira cutânea 48 horas após a queimadura. "

Portal: Banco da Saúde

https://www.bancodasaude.com/noticias/

Doença do fígado gordo revertida por medicamento?

Ohttp://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/836926/reverse-fatty-liver-disease-obesity-diet-fat-drug

Citação:
"NON-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition usually seen in people who are obese or overweight, however now experts think there could be a cure."
(...)
"Fatty liver, which is linked to obesity can lead to cirrhosis - where the liver shrinks and can lead to liver failure.

Now experts believe they have found a drug which can reverse liver inflammation and injury.

Scientists reported that a drug called URMC-099 reversed liver inflammation, injury and scarring in animals fed a high-fat diet."

Falta de gordura nas pernas e síndrome metabólica

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/837823/thin-legs-obese-weight-BMI-metabolic-health-blood-pressure

Citação:
"Dr Norbert Stefan and colleagues used MRI cans and magnetic resonance spectroscopy to precisely determine body fat mass, fat distribution and deposition of fat in the liver.

They also looked at insulin sensitivity, insulin secretion, thickness of the carotid vessel wall and fitness.

The experts found that among the fat compartments, a low percentage leg fat mass was the strongest determinant of metabolic risk in lean subjects, while in obese subjects nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and increased intra-abdominal fat mass strongly determined this risk.

Based on these findings, the experts said that in lean subjects the problem of storing fat in the leg may be a crucial factor placing lean people at increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases."

O comprimido em vez do ginásio?

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/838650/exercise-pill-mimics-effects-visit-gym-heart-disease-sufferers

Citando:
"Scientists claim the experimental drug can even strengthen weak hearts.

The pill is based on a protein called CT1(cardiotrophin 1) that tricks the heart into thinking it is being exercised by growing healthily and pumping more blood.

This replicates what happens during a workout, jog or cycle ride."

Futuro: curar feridas e renovar órgãos?

https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2F2017%2Faug%2F07%2Fnanochip-could-heal-injuries-or-regrow-organs-with-one-touch-say-researchers#pt0-108619

Citando:
"“By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced,” said Chandan Sen, from the Ohio State University, who co-led the study. “We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining.”"

Pesticidas nos ovos (Europa)?

http://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/belgium-kept-contaminated-eggs-probe-secret-for-several-weeks-36004593.html

Citando:
"Supermarkets have pulled millions of eggs from shelves after pesticide Fipronil was found in Dutch and Belgian poultry farms.

Kathy Brison, of the Belgian food safety agency, said on Sunday that a Belgian farm alerted authorities to a possible contamination in June, and they began investigating and alerted Belgian prosecutors."

Doenças mono-genéticas corrigidas?

http://www.philly.com/philly/health/topics/HealthDay725214_20170802_Geneticists_Repair_Mutation_in_Human_Embryo.html

Citando:
"In a first-ever experiment, geneticists have successfully modified a human embryo to remove a mutation that causes a life-threatening heart condition.

This is the first study to demonstrate that a gene-editing technique can be used in human embryos to convert mutant genes back to their normal version, the researchers said.

The new procedure tackled a genetic mutation in human embryos that causes hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an inherited condition in which the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick."