Amazing Hoodia Diet

Hoodia Gordonii is a succulent plant used for years by the San people in the Kalahari Desert as an appetite suppressant during times of hunger or long hunts. It contains a molecule that fools your brain into believing you are full, making it easier to lose excess weight and making skipped meals painless and easy. Hoodia has been reported as having no known side-effects, stimulant free, and will not give you the shakes, or make your heart race or raise your body temperature.

Hoodia Gordonii powder comes from South Africa where it is grown under commercial cultivation in compliance with South African Government laws. The only legitimate use is in 100% Hoodia Gordonii Powder. The plant takes years to grow and it is a rare and until recently only grew in the wild. Lately, a number of growers saw the commercial potential in this plant and set up farms whereby they began to commercially develop the rare plant. This proved to be the only way to provide sustainable quantities of the material to consumers.

Will update this once I find out where they sell this in Singapore!

Januvia - Intelligent Diabetes Drug

Straits Times reported 7 May that a new class of diabetes drugs - described by one doctor as 'intelligent' because it would adapt to sugar levels – would go on sale that day. It worked only when blood sugar levels were high, and would not cause weight gain. Called Januvia, the drug does not cause excessively low sugar levels, or hypoglycaemia, which is a serious problem faced by older diabetics. And unlike several existing diabetes drugs, it woudoes not cause patients to gain weight. This is a big plus as obesity increases the risk of diabetes. Januvia costs $3.50 - about the price of other branded diabetes drugs, but much more than generic ones. It may prove a boon to older diabetics who are sensitive to medication and whose blood sugar levels can swing from one extreme to the other.

Promising Osteoporosis Drug

LA times reported 3 May that a new once-a-year drug has shown strong promise for the treatment of osteoporosis. However, researchers said the medication may increase the likelihood of miscued heart beats in a small percentage of patients taking it, putting them at a high risk of stroke. Reclast - whose scientific name was zoledronic acid - is found to reduce spinal fractures by 70 percent and hip fractures by 41 percent in a three-year study of 7,736 post-menopausal women. Novartis has submitted data to the US Food and Drug Administration, requesting that Reclast be considered as an osteoporosis drug.

Doctors would prefer a once-a-year treatment for osteoporosis because patients do not always take other medication regularly. Bisphosphonate pills are supposed to be taken on an empty stomach with a full glass of water, and the patients must be upright for at least 30 minutes. As a result, most patients skip at least 20 percent of their pills. Osteoporosis affects millions of women worldwide, with more than 50 million women in the United States, Europe and Japan suffering from the ailment.

Wild Garlic to Treat Hypertension?

The American Physiological Society had a news release 2 May saying that a team of researchers examined the effectiveness of 16 plants growing in South Africa's Kwa-Zulu Natal region and concluded that eight plant extracts may hold value for treating hypertension.

Hypertension can be treated with medication, including drugs such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB). These drugs not only lower blood pressure but offer additional protection to the brain and heart. ACEI, in particular, provide beneficial properties to patients with type 1 diabetes.

One plant -- Wild Garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) -- showed the most promising hypotensive affects. The plant is commonly associated with onions and garlic and highly concentrated in Southern Africa. Researchers have recorded (1962) that the plant was pounded into formulations and used by native South Africans to relieve stomach ailments, rheumatism and high fevers. Other researchers found (1966) that native South Africans rubbed the leaves of the plant on the head for sinus headaches and used plant infusions for colic and restlessness in young children. The most direct discovery is the 1993 finding that large doses of popular garlic preparations significantly decreased the diastolic blood pressure in human patients 5-14 hours after the dose with no significant side effects. In addition, wild and cultivated garlic preparations were shown to decrease systolic blood pressure in rats.

The researchers felt it would be worthwhile to pursue further studies involving this extract. The treatment for hypertension may well be served with your dinner in future. Who knows?

Stem cell research & Seeds?

United Press International reported on 30 Apr that German scientists have found that genomic imprinting is not always essential for seed development -- a finding with implications for stem cell research.

Genomic imprinting is a form of gene regulation that starts early in life, causing certain genes to be expressed from only maternally inherited DNA, while others are expressed only from paternal DNA. The phenomenon is well known in mammals, but it also occurs in flowering plants.

In a fertilized seed the endosperm provides nutrients to the developing embryo. Scientists at the University of Cologne created a mutant plant in which the endosperm is derived solely from maternal DNA. They found, in a certain mutant background that affects chromatin remodeling, the endosperm can develop normally without a paternal contribution, suggesting genomic imprinting is not essential for seed development.

Mammalian embryos lacking appropriate imprints die, but the uniparental endosperm seedlings in the study were viable, although smaller than normal.
(Adapted from the journal Nature)

Nanotechnology to fight Cancer

Straits Times reported on 20 Apr that NUS researchers have developed a better cancer drug delivery method, with fewer side effects. Professor Feng Si-Shen said that by dressing anti-cancer drug Pacitaxel in ultrafine nanoparticles, which are derived from vitamin E, the problems commonly associated with chemotherapy can be significantly reduced.

Pacitaxel is usually dissolved into an agent called Cremphor EL, which often triggers severe reactions in patients, including weakened immune systems and complete hair loss. Although Prof Feng and his team have yet to conduct clinical trials, laboratory tests on rats injected with colon cancer cells have yielded impressive results. Currently, the only nanoparticle cancer treatment available is Abraxine, which is confined largely to the US market. It costs more than $6,000 for a single dose - more than three times that of the current Pacitaxel formulation.

Take a "Liver Holiday"?

Reuters reported 17 Apr 07 that taking a break from alcohol for a couple days each week (for men who drink regularly and heavily) may benefit their health, according to Japanese researchers.

The study included 89,000 middle-aged men and women who were followed for up to 13 years. The analysis was confided to the men because the number of female drinkers was so small. These findings gave some credibility to the widespread social belief in Japan that a "liver holiday" – a few days off from drinking each week – would help counter the ill effects of alcohol. One of the researchers commented that one possibility was that those who drunk everyday, might be more exposed to acetaldehyde, a byproduct of alcohol metabolism that was thought to promote cancer.

However, the findings don't suggest that a few binges each week will do no harm, the study's lead author cautioned. "This does not mean you can drink a lot as long as you have a 'liver holiday", said Dr. Tomomi Marugame, of the National Cancer Center in Tokyo.

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, April 2007.

Fake Medicines on the rise

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that the counterfeit drug trade is an increasing problem throughout the world, especially in developing countries, claiming thousands of lives every year. It was noted that in China, counterfeit medicines are rampant especially on the Internet. It noted that Malaysia also faced the same problem. Therefore, the Malaysian health ministry announced recently that it will introduce a new holographic label with enhanced security features on each registered medicine next month. Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said this was among the measures taken to ensure the public do not buy fake medicines.

Caterpillar & Flu vaccine

Journal of the American Medical Association reported 11 Apr in a study that a new influenza vaccine churned out by caterpillar cells prevents the flu! The advance might eventually revolutionize the manufacture of flu vaccine, now produced in chicken eggs in a long, cumbersome process prone to contamination and other failures.

During the 2004–2005 flu season, none of 151 recipients of a high dose of the new vaccine caught the bug. The study "absolutely showed protection".

The new vaccine is produced by caterpillar cells infected with a genetically modified baculovirus. In its normal form, this virus prolifically produces a protein called polyhedron, which coats and protects the virus particles as they rest on leaves before being eaten by a caterpillar. The vaccine developers replaced the polyhedron gene with the gene for hemagglutinin, an influenza protein. Lab-grown insect cells infected with the modified baculovirus then churned out large amounts of hemagglutinin, which elicited flu-fighting antibodies when injected into people, according to the new findings.

Each strain of influenza carries a slightly different hemagglutinin gene, and each year public health officials make an educated guess as to which strains will emerge around the globe. Vaccine makers then target the predicted strains. If the officials guess wrong, as they did in 2003, the vaccine produced offers little protection. But with the new method, the appropriate hemagglutinin gene could be quickly inserted into baculovirus, speeding production of effective vaccines.

It takes 6 months from identification of emerging strains in Asia to putting the vaccine in vials. The new process could cut production time to 2 months. Such an acceleration could save lives. However, researchers haven't yet demonstrated large-scale vaccine production from insect cells.

Gary Nabel, director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., agrees. "Overall, I'd say it's encouraging. [But] is it ready to swoop in tomorrow and replace conventional vaccines? No."

New fat gene found!

CNN reported on 12 Apr that researchers have found another gene that may make you fat! The gene is named FTO, and British scientists discovered that people who carry two copies of a variation of the FTO gene weighed, on average, 7 pounds more than people who lack it. Unlike other genes thought to be involved with appetite or calorie burning, scientists have no idea yet what FTO is supposed to do.

But research published in the journal Science shows strong evidence of a link. Using blood samples provided by more than 38,000 people, scientists found that those who had one copy of the gene variation had a 30 percent increased risk of obesity, and carriers of two copies had almost a 70 percent increased risk. The study included mostly white Europeans, and about one in six of them are thought to carry two copies of the gene variant.

About a third of American adults are obese, and millions more are overweight. Bad diets and too little exercise are the chief factors. But innate biology plays some role, and researchers are exploring a variety of genes and hormones that seem involved in the balancing act of weight gain and loss.

Wrinkles... time for painless Botox...

Yeeks! Wrinkles on my forehead are returning. I have had them since young, so this has nothing to do with aging. Look at the number of lines on my forehead! Wrinkles are generally formed in areas with strong muscle activity, like the glabella, forehead & crows feet.

Its time I went back for more painless Botox. Simply Aesthetic clinic has lots of pain relief options, from EMLA cream to laughing gas. After injection, the lines miraculously disappears in 3 days! A natural look is achieved as only minimal but sufficient amounts of Botox is used. Gone are the days of large amounts of Botox use to achieve a 'mask-like' face where you cannot even smile!

Update on Doctor's Fees

Turning to CASE may be only option if you think your Doctor has overcharged you

Straits Times and 早报 reported on 5 April that the withdrawal of the SMA guidelines means patients can no longer approach the SMA with complaints about overcharging. Now such patients can only turn to the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE). CASE received 59 complaints about pricing by medical practitioners between January 2005 and December last year, but until now it has referred complaints of overcharging to the SMA. It is not clear if CASE will now handle these complaints. SMA receives an average of about 25 complaints of overpayment a year. Of these, an average of four to five patients get reimbursed by the doctors after SMA intervention. But the amounts are usually small - not above $100. There was also a separate article on how SMA made the decision with ‘great reluctance’, and a column on ‘How to avoid being overcharged’, which included tips like shopping around for a doctor and checking surveys of bill sizes for an idea of what reasonable rates are.

Today (TDY) and Berita Harian added that the results of SMA’s survey on primary care clinics, conducted last year, were being analysed and details would be published on the SMA website within a year. The association would also conduct a similar survey among medical specialists this year. TDY also noted that the SMA was open to exploring a new feedback channel for consumers, in collaboration with the MOH and CASE if doing so did not compromise the association's legal position. TV news noted that CASE may not have the relevant medical knowledge to handle complaints on overcharging by doctors.

Researchers find way to ease shortage of Type O blood

Danish researchers have perfected an inexpensive and efficient way to convert types A, B and AB blood into type O, the universal-donor blood that can be given to anyone – an achievement that promises to make transfusions safer and relieve shortages of type O blood.

The team reported Sunday in the journal Nature Biotechnology that they isolated bacterial enzymes that safely remove from red blood cells the sugar molecules that provoke an immune reaction in the recipient. Previous studies of type O blood produced from type B by a different method have shown it to be both safe and effective, and the researchers are now conducting clinical trials with the new product.

Mismatching of blood causes at least half of all transfusion-related deaths. And the need for precisely matched blood drives the costly and inefficient process of shuttling blood units between regional blood banks and hospitals to match daily requirements.

The problem involves sugar molecules on the surface of red blood cells. Type A blood has one set of sugars and type B has another, while type O has none. People with type A blood have antibodies against the type B sugars, people with type B have antibodies against type A, and people with type O have antibodies against both. If a person receives mismatched blood, the antibodies attack red blood cells, producing a potentially fatal breakdown of red cells.

In the 1980s, the late Jack Goldstein of the New York Blood Center isolated an enzyme from coffee beans that could convert type B to type O. Clinical trials of the enzyme-produced blood showed it behaved no differently from normal blood in hospitalized patients. But the enzymes involved were expensive and had to be used under highly acidic conditions that damaged the red cells. Goldstein's team also was not able to find an enzyme that would convert type A to type O. As a consequence, the development was halted.

ZymeQuest commissioned cellular biologist Henrik Clausen of the University of Copenhagen to search for new enzymes to carry out the conversion. Clausen and his team sifted through more than 2,500 bacteria and fungi before identifying the two candidates cited in the Nature Biotechnology report.

The discovery could be a major breakthrough in improving the blood supply, wrote Geoff Daniels of England's Bristol Institute for Transfusion Sciences in an editorial accompanying the article.
The new enzymes are more potent than previously used ones and, more important, they work at room temperature and neutral pH, which is very good for blood cells, said Dr. Martin L. Olsson of Lund University in Sweden. In an hour, they remove all the sugar molecules from the surface of red blood cells, after which they can be easily washed away.

Private doctors can set own fees as SMA drops guidelines

Straits Times (p1) reported yesterday that private doctors here are free to set their own fees from now, instead of referring to guidelines drawn up by the Singapore Medical Association (SMA). The SMA agreed to withdraw the guidelines during its annual general meeting on Sunday after receiving word that the guide could be in contravention of the recently- enacted competition code. Since the Competition Act was enacted last year, the SMA has been grappling with the legality of the guidelines. It consulted its lawyers and was told the guidelines could be illegal. The SMA had several misgivings about withdrawing them. But the commission reiterated a section of the Act stating that 'recommendations of a trade association in relation to price...may be considered to be price-fixing, regardless of the form it takes'. The chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health Halimah Yacob expressed dismay at the change and said: 'Health care is an important public good that should be exempted from the competition code.' The 'greatest casualty', she said, will be transparency.

The Health Ministry told The Straits Times yesterday that under its guidelines for private hospitals and medical clinics, doctors are encouraged to publish their consultation charges before seeing patients. A separate law under the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinics Regulations also requires hospital managers to inform patients before or on admission the estimated total charges for their stay. It said it will continue to publish pricing data and historical price trends on its website. CNA and 早报 (p3) carried similar reports. CNA added that the SMA will be conducting a survey later this year to find out the prices of the various charges in primary care clinics.