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My answer to What are some current issues that impact the health and wellness of populations in the US?

Answer by Connie b. Dellobuono:

Access to clean air, water and food. Too easy access to over the counter medications, alcohols and nicotine products. Lack of education in schools on matters of health and wellness. No support from employers on wellness reinforcements. Insurance companies not paying for wellness and affordable care such as noninvasive diagnostics, supplements and health care. Expensive medical school system with no emphasis on wellness, herbs, nutrition and complimentary alternative medicine. More at http://www.clubalthea.com

What are some current issues that impact the health and wellness of populations in the US?

Recent study confirms that hearing the voice of our mothers triggers positive brain responses and growth. We can effect health as mothers from our touch to our voices. “Think of DNA as books in a l…

Source: The voice of our mother can boost our immune system

Recent study confirms that hearing the voice of our mothers triggers positive brain responses and growth.

We can effect health as mothers from our touch to our voices.

“Think of DNA as books in a library. That library is not particularly useful until you read those books. So the DNA is sitting there in the cells but when there is an experience that that individual has, then that DNA can be read.

It can be opened up and then the gene can be expressed. In the case of epigenetics, there are proteins that interact with the DNA that determine if it can be read or not. So if a child grows up in a very stressful environment, the genes that are important for coping with stress get wrapped up in those proteins and so they cannot be expressed. And that’s what is meant by epigenetics,” said Dr. Sokolowski. Dr. Sokolowski discussed the groundbreaking rat studies by Michael Meaney, Moshe Syzf and Gustavo Turecki, Ph.D’99 at McGill, showing that when a mother rat licks her babies, a gene that decreases the amount of stress hormones that get released gets turned on.

Mother-infant interactions

Dr. Sokolowski spoke about her current CIHR funded study about mother-infant interactions, which seeks to find how those interactions vary depending on whether the mother had a history of abuse. Everyone has one of two forms of a gene that controls how much serotonin, the major chemical responsible for regulating mood and emotion, is transported from one place to another in the brain.

But that gene may not always be expressed, if epigenetic tags have been added from abusive experiences. Dr. Rosanna Weksberg spoke about how environmental factors can impact on how genes are expressed as early as when new life is first implanted. She cited the case where Danish mothers who were 0-10 weeks pregnant during a famine delivered very low birth weight babies that even 60 years later carried different growth factor marks on their genes compared to those who were not affected by the famine.

Dr. Weksberg is Staff Physician with Clinical and Metabolic Genetics at The Hospital for Sick Children and Professor, Pediatrics and Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto. Dr. Albert Wong talked about his research which hopes to find potential drug treatments that could help prevent the expression of strong inherited susceptibilities for schizophrenia and depression, by acting on the epigenome.

Dr. Wong is Research Scientist, Neuroscience Division at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Pharmacology at the University of Toronto. – See more at: http://janelangille.com/epigenet…

The health of the mother’s gut also affects the health of an infant’s gut.

A strong willed positive and loving mother can breed happy and confident children.

My answer to Healthcare is the number one reason for bankruptcy and debt what changes to Obamacare can be made to h…

Answer by Connie b. Dellobuono:

We changed the market by offering shops to chose the insurance carrier but we have not changed the product itself. More doctors are prescribing narcotic pain meds, more expensive diagnostics, insurance not covering non-invasive diagnostics such as that from http://www.natera.com and insurance not paying for preventative such as acupuncture, health coaches, herbalists, supplements, massage. And we are not funding the college education of our health professionals so that they can concentrate on care and not paying for student loans. Connie of http://www.clubalthea.com

Healthcare is the number one reason for bankruptcy and debt what changes to Obamacare can be made to help manage healthcare costs?

PD is Parkinson’s Disease and AD is Alzheimer’s Disease

Source: As we age, our brain can get PD or AD

PD is Parkinson’s Disease and AD is Alzheimer’s Disease

 

When microbes in the gut is altered by alcohol (downregulates the antimicrobial action by the gut), the microbes (toxic) then travels to the brain causing havoc.
See:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/drinking-causes-gut-microbe-imbalance-linked-to-liver-disease/

Heavy drinking and alcohol use suffered an intestinal dysbiosis

“We’ve known for a very long time that patients with heavy drinking and alcohol use suffered an intestinal dysbiosis, where bacteria in the gut increase and they suffer from liver disease,” says University of California, San Diego, research gastroenterologist Bernd Schnabl, who had seen similar outcomes in mouse models. “If we give rodents nonabsorbable antibiotics, get rid of the flora, they essentially are protected from liver disease. We started asking, what is going on?”

Genes generate are only produced in the gut and have broad-spectrum activity against gram-negative and gram-positive organisms

That curiosity led Schnabl and his research team to focus on antimicrobial molecules REG3B and REG3G and the genes (Reg3b and Reg3g) that produce them. The genes are only expressed in the intestines; the pair of peptides the genes generate are only produced in the gut and have broad-spectrum activity against gram-negative and gram-positive organisms, respectively.

More bacteria in their guts and more severe liver disease

Through a series of experiments, detailed in this week’s Cell Host & Microbe the researchers learned that administering alcohol downregulated the genes so that they produced significantly less of the antimicrobial molecules. Knockout mice lacking those genes developed more bacteria in their guts and more severe liver disease compared with normal wild-type mice.

What did I learn after graduating high school in the Philippines?

As I look at the old school building, I was wondering how will it look like many years after.

Spending classes outside the roof of a classroom and at times under a tree.

Many shared laughter, giggles and smiles as we make each other laugh at little things.

Now, after high school and on to college to get a diploma to be able to leave the country for higher pay abroad, is my only goal after finishing up high school in the Philippines.

As my other high school teachers left to work as servants in other Asian countries, I wonder if I will follow suit.

I know that it is getting crowded and unemployment is high.

I was later blessed to get a job as a high school teacher and then at Intel in Makati.

Wondering each year before graduation what country I could be working for to earn in dollars as I was only paid $50 a month as a high school teacher in 1983.

Thirty six years later, I visited my mother land. The land where I spent more than 28 yrs of my life and learning new things at school.  Gardening for an hour before class starts and reading textbooks handed down from many years of use.

My family encouraged me to finish college to be able to live and not just live another day.

To have children who will have more opportunities than what I have.

For my government is busy with politics or making money not mindful of serving its people.

The Filipinos who keep coming back to the street to effect a change in government.

The People Power whose voice shouts for no corruption but progress.

Where is progress? When we cannot send our children to school for free with books and pen to write.

Where parents do not have to leave their children in the Philippines to work abroad and earn dollars.

Where parents can guide their children that your future is in your hands and not the government.

But speak up when there is corruption and strive to bring dollars back to the Philippines.

Even the government cannot provide for its people.

Connie Benedicto

 

 

 

Do not just go through the motions, trying to demonstrate qualities that are associated with emotional intelligence. You have to be genuine. You can do a gut check to find out how genuine you are b…

Source: Emotionally Intelligent Genuine People

Do not just go through the motions, trying to demonstrate qualities that are associated with emotional intelligence. You have to be genuine.

You can do a gut check to find out how genuine you are by comparing your own behavior to that of people who are highly genuine. Consider the hallmarks of genuine people and see how you stack up.

“Authenticity requires a certain measure of vulnerability, transparency, and integrity.” –Janet Louise Stephenson

1. Genuine people do not try to make people like them. Genuine people are who they are. They know that some people will like them, and some will not. And they’re OK with that. It’s not that they don’t care whether or not other people will like them but simply that they’re not going to let that get in the way of doing the right thing. They’re willing to make unpopular decisions and to take unpopular positions if that’s what needs to be done.

 Since genuine people aren’t desperate for attention, they don’t try to show off. They know that when they speak in a friendly, confident, and concise manner, people are much more attentive to and interested in what they have to say than if they try to show that they’re important. People catch on to your attitude quickly and are more attracted to the right attitude than what or how many people you know.

 

2. They don’t pass judgment. Genuine people are open-minded, which makes them approachable and interesting to others. No one wants to have a conversation with someone who has already formed an opinion and is not willing to listen.

 

Having an open mind is crucial in the workplace, as approachability means access to new ideas and help. To eliminate preconceived notions and judgment, you need to see the world through other people’s eyes. This doesn’t require you to believe what they believe or condone their behavior; it simply means you quit passing judgment long enough to truly understand what makes them tick. Only then can you let them be who they are.

 

3. They forge their own paths. Genuine people don’t derive their sense of pleasure and satisfaction from the opinions of others. This frees them up to follow their own internal compasses. They know who they are and don’t pretend to be anything else. Their direction comes from within, from their own principles and values. They do what they believe to be the right thing, and they’re not swayed by the fact that somebody might not like it.

 

4. They are generous. We’ve all worked with people who constantly hold something back, whether it’s knowledge or resources. They act as if they’re afraid you’ll outshine them if they give you access to everything you need to do your job. Genuine people are unfailingly generous with whom they know, what they know, and the resources they have access to. They want you to do well more than anything else because they’re team players and they’re confident enough to never worry that your success might make them look bad. In fact, they believe that your success is their success.
5. They treat everyone with respect. Whether interacting with their biggest clients or servers taking their drink orders, genuine people are unfailingly polite and respectful. They understand that no matter how nice they are to the people they have lunch with, it’s all for naught if those people witnesses them behaving badly toward others. Genuine people treat everyone with respect because they believe they’re no better than anyone else.
6. They aren’t motivated by material things. Genuine people don’t need shiny, fancy stuff in order to feel good. It’s not that they think it’s wrong to go out and buy the latest and greatest items to show off their status; they just don’t need to do this to be happy. Their happiness comes from within, as well as from the simpler pleasures—such as friends, family, and a sense of purpose—that make life rich.
7. They are trustworthy. People gravitate toward those who are genuine because they know they can trust them. It is difficult to like someone when you don’t know who they really are and how they really feel. Genuine people mean what they say, and if they make a commitment, they keep it. You’ll never hear a truly genuine person say, “Oh, I just said that to make the meeting end faster.” You know that if they say something, it’s because they believe it to be true.
8. They are thick-skinned. Genuine people have a strong enough sense of self that they don’t go around seeing offense that isn’t there. If somebody criticizes one of their ideas, they don’t treat this as a personal attack. There’s no need for them to jump to conclusions, feel insulted, and start plotting their revenge. They’re able to objectively evaluate negative and constructive feedback, accept what works, put it into practice, and leave the rest of it behind without developing hard feelings.
9. They put away their phones. Nothing turns someone off to you like a mid-conversation text message or even a quick glance at your phone. When genuine people commit to a conversation, they focus all of their energy on the conversation. You will find that conversations are more enjoyable and effective when you immerse yourself in them. When you robotically approach people with small talk and are tethered to your phone, this puts their brains on autopilot and prevents them from having any real affinity for you. Genuine people create connection and find depth even in short, everyday conversations. Their genuine interest in other people makes it easy for them to ask good questions and relate what they’re told to other important facets of the speaker’s life.

Connie’s comments:

Authentic people believe in truth, peace and love. They nurture others and are always happy. They are attentive to other’s feelings but passing no judgment as spending more time in love than in judging. And most of all, they love and believe in themselves but without showing off.

Depressed Parents lead to depressed teens A new study concludes that parental depression contributes to greater brain activity in areas linked to risk taking in adolescent children, likely leading…

Source: Teens who gain pleasure from helping others could be less prone to depression

 Depressed Parents lead to depressed teens

A new study concludes that parental depression contributes to greater brain activity in areas linked to risk taking in adolescent children, likely leading to more risk-taking and rule-breaking behaviors. While previous research has found associations between clinically depressed parents and their teenagers’ risk taking, the new study is the first to find corresponding changes in the adolescents’ brains.

The study is reported in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

“This is the first empirical evidence to show that parental depression influences children’s behavior through the change in the adolescent’s brain,” said University of Illinois graduate student Yang Qu, who led the study with U. of I. psychology professor Eva Telzer.

“There are a lot of changes happening in the teen years, especially when we are thinking about risk-taking behaviors,” Telzer said.

The researchers followed a group of 23 adolescents, 15 to 17 years old, with cognitive testing and brain imaging at the beginning and end of the 18-month study. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers measured changes in blood oxygen levels in the brain while the study subjects clicked a button to inflate a computerized balloon. The goal was to inflate the balloon as much as possible without popping it. More clicks earned the teens a greater monetary reward, but if it popped, they earned nothing.

“The more risky they are in real life, the more risky they are on the task as well,” Telzer said.

The researchers also collected information on the adolescents’ rule-breaking behaviors, such as sneaking out without parental permission, substance abuse and partying.

To measure parental depression, the team collected data from the parents on their own depressive symptoms, including feelings like “I couldn’t shake off the blues” and “Everything I did was an effort.” Telzer and Qu measured these symptoms in parents who were not currently being treated for clinical depression.

They found that adolescents whose parents had greater depressive symptoms increased their risk taking over the course of the study. The team also saw changes in how the teens’ brains responded to risk taking.

“At the neural level, they show increases over time in activation in the ventral striatum,” Telzer said. “The ventral striatum is a key brain region involved in risk taking, and it has also been linked in some studies to depression.”

These new findings help to explain the relationship between parental depression and an adolescent’s risky behaviors, Qu said.

“Even if you are not clinically depressed and seeking out help, your teen is probably picking up on the negative emotions that you may be experiencing,” Telzer said. This unconscious awareness can influence teens’ risk-taking behaviors and also shape the way their brains respond to risky situations.

Teens who gain pleasure from helping others could be less prone to depression, research shows.

More information: Yang Qu et al, Links Between Parental Depression and Longitudinal Changes in Youths’ Neural Sensitivity to Rewards, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (2016). DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsw035

Long-term use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) to an increased risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease and renal failure Previous studies have linked regular, long-term use of proton pump inhibit…

Source: Antacids = risks for heart attack,dementia,bad gut bacteria, weak blood vessels

 Long-term use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) to an increased risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease and renal failure

Previous studies have linked regular, long-term use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) to an increased risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease and renal failure, but until now, scientists haven’t known exactly why. Results published Tuesday in the journal Circulation Research signal a plausible answer, researchers say: Vascular cells chronically exposed in vitro to PPIs led to a buildup of cellular garbage in cellular linings, thus accelerating blood vessel aging.

“I’m perplexed that the pharmaceutical industry didn’t run across this first,” senior study author John P. Cooke, chair of cardiovascular disease research at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, told FoxNews.com. “This is something that should have been apparent a long time ago and should have been investigated.”

An estimated one in 14 Americans uses an over-the-counter PPI like omeprazole, sold as Prilosec, to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), also called heartburn or acid reflux. Considered the most effective treatment for GERD, PPIs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use four weeks at a time, but research suggests up to 70 percent of PPI use may be inappropriate.

Cooke helped author research in 2013 that suggested PPIs decrease nitric oxide in endothelial cells, which line blood cells in the body— an effect that can have an adverse impact on cardiovascular health. He also worked on a 2015 study that linked regular, long-term PPI use to a 20 percent increased risk of heart attack among a database of 3 million patients.

“We now have a plausible mechanism that unifies how PPIs are associated with heart attack, vascular dementia and renal failure,” said Cooke, who is also director of the Center for Cardiovascular Regeneration at the Houston Methodist Research Institute.

For his latest study, Cooke and his colleagues exposed endothelial cells over weeks— roughly equal to months or years in a clinical model— to the PPI esomeprazole, or Nexium, as well as another PPI that isn’t commercially available, and to an H2 blocker, another type of medication for GERD.

 The vascular cells chronically exposed to PPIs had a “fried egg” look, Cooke said.

“That was not expected, and then we thought, ‘What could be causing them to age faster if that’s the case?’” he said.

Cooke and his team proved that was the case by using a stain called beta-gal to expose markers for aging. Next, it occurred to them that vascular cells have tiny organelles inside called lysosomes, which act like garbage disposals, or stomachs. It’s well known that if lysosomes are impaired, garbage accumulates and aging accelerates.

Researchers found that while the H2 blockers had no effect on vascular aging, chronic use of the PPIs indeed impaired the lysosomes, preventing them from generating acid.

“We also saw the telomeres shortening— they’re on the tips of chromosomes and like our biological clock,” Cooke added. “Those vascular cells couldn’t proliferate or divide as well, and that’s necessary for repairing a wound in the vessel.”

Previous research has associated free radical generation and telomere shortening with expedited cell aging. Free radical accumulation in particular can trigger oxidative damage, an effect linked with age-related chronic conditions such as neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer’s disease, as well as cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Nick Leeper, associate professor and chief of vascular medicine at Stanford University, was not involved in the current study but called the new findings “provocative.” Medicine at Stanford University

“I think that this is yet another piece of data which all points to a potential risk that should be studied in a prospective, randomized fashion,” Leeper, who worked with Cooke on the 2015 study linking PPIs to an increased heart attack risk, told FoxNews.com. “I think it’s important to note, as the authors point out, that these medicines are frequently used for much longer than the approved indication and are also available over the counter. And so I think that, given this pattern of potential harm that’s been seen in this series of studies described here, that regulators should consider whether additional prospective studies are necessary.”

Cooke said a prospective, randomized trial is the next step for researchers, as the main limitation of his team’s new study is that, although its model is clinically relevant, it was conducted in vitro.

However, he thinks his team’s findings warrant action among regulators and doctors.

“I’m not saying these drugs should be pulled off the market— they’re safe and effective as approved by the FDA,” Cooke said, “but I do think it’s time to reconsider their use over the counter and re-educate ourselves.”

Drugs that help millions of people cope with acid reflux may also cause cardiovascular disease, report scientists from Houston Methodist Hospital and two other institutions in an upcoming issue of Circulation (now online). It is the first time researchers have shown how proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs, might cause cardiovascular problems.

In human tissue and mouse models, the researchers found PPIs caused the constriction of blood vessels. If taken regularly, PPIs could lead to a variety of cardiovascular problems over time, including hypertension and a weakened heart. In the paper, the scientists call for a broad, large-scale study to determine whether PPIs are dangerous.

“The surprising effect that PPIs may impair vascular health needs further investigation,” said John Cooke, M.D., Ph.D., the study’s principal investigator. “Our work is consistent with previous reports that PPIs may increase the risk of a second heart attack in people that have been hospitalized with an acute coronary syndrome. Patients taking PPIs may wish to speak to their doctors about switching to another drug to protect their stomachs, if they are at risk for a heart attack.”

Commonly used proton pump inhibitors in the United States are lansoprazole and omeprazole, and these drugs are purchasable over the counter as brands or generics. The FDA estimates about 1 in 14 Americans has used them. In 2009, PPIs were the third-most taken type of drug in the U.S., accounting for $13 billion in sales. PPIs are used to treat a wide range of disorders, including gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, infection by the ulcer-causing Helicobacter pylori, Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, and Barrett’s esophagus.

Recent studies of proton pump inhibitors use by people who’ve already experienced severe cardiovascular events have raised concern about the anti-reflux drugs, at least for this subgroup of patients, said Cooke, chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Regeneration at Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center.

PPIs are initially inert. After oral consumption, they are activated by specialized cells in the stomach. Once active, the molecules suppress the movement of protons into the intestine, which reduces the amount of acid present there and in the stomach.

In mouse models and cultures of human endothelial cells, Cooke and lead author Yohannes Ghebramariam, Ph.D., found that PPIs suppressed the enzyme DDAH, dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase. That caused an increase in the blood levels of ADMA (asymmetric dimethylarginine), an important chemical messenger. They found ADMA in turn suppressed the production of another chemical messenger, nitric oxide, or NO, proven by 1998 Nobel Prize winners Furchgott, Ignarro, and Murad to impact cardiovascular function. Quantitative studies in mouse models showed animals fed PPIs were more likely than controls to have tense vascular tissue.

“We found that PPIs interfere with the ability of blood vessels to relax,” said Ghebremariam, a Houston Methodist molecular biologist. “PPIs have this adverse effect by reducing the ability of human blood vessels to generate nitric oxide. Nitric oxide generated by the lining of the vessel is known to relax, and to protect, arteries and veins.”

The researchers found PPIs led to an approximately 25 percent increase in ADMA in mouse and tissue cultures, and reduced the ability of mouse blood vessels to relax by over 30 percent on average.

Also contributing to this report were Paea LePendu, Ph.D., Jerry Lee, Daniel Erlanson, Ph.D., and Nigam H. Shah, Ph.D. (Stanford University) and Anna Slaviero, Ph.D., and James Leiper, Ph.D. (Imperial College London). Work was funded with grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the Stanford SPARK program, and the Stanford Translational Research and Applied Medicine (TRAM) program.

Circulation is published by the American Heart Association.

The Methodist Hospital recently changed its name to Houston Methodist Hospital.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Methodist Hospital, Houston. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:

1.Y. T. Ghebremariam, P. LePendu, J. C. Lee, D. A. Erlanson, A. Slaviero, N. H. Shah, J. Leiper, J. P. Cooke. An Unexpected Effect of Proton Pump Inhibitors: Elevation of the Cardiovascular Risk Factor ADMA. Circulation, 2013; DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.003602

Methodist Hospital, Houston. “Acid reflux drug may cause heart disease, study suggests.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 July 2013. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130710114225.htm>.

 

There are four primary consequences of acid stopping drugs:

1.Increased bacterial overgrowth

2.Impaired nutrient absorption

3.Decreased resistance to infection

4.Increased risk of cancer and other diseases

I had originally intended to cover all four of these issues in this article, but as I started to write I realized it would be far too long. So I will cover increased bacterial overgrowth and impaired nutrient absorption in this article, and decreased resistance to infection and increased risk of cancer and other diseases in the next article.

A stomach full of germs

The connection between low stomach acid and bacterial overgrowth was the focus of Part II and Part III.

To review, low stomach acid causes bacterial overgrowth in the stomach and other parts of the intestine. Bacterial overgrowth causes maldigestion of carbohydrates, which in turn produces gas. This gas increases the pressure in the stomach, causing the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) to malfunction. The malfunction of the LES allows acid from the stomach to enter the esophagus, thus producing the symptoms of heartburn and GERD.

Bacterial overgrowth has a number of other undesirable effects, including reducing nutrient absorption, increasing inflammation, and raising the risk of stomach cancer. Studies have confirmed that proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) can profoundly alter the gastrointestinal bacterial population by suppressing stomach acid. Researchers in Italy detected small bowel bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) in 50% of patients using PPIs, compared to only 6% of healthy control subjects. The prevalence of SIBO increased after one year of treatment with PPIs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The link between heartburn drugs and dementia