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Twitter: the perfect place for making sweeping statements and summing up important life events in under 140 characters. So what better place to sum up your entire life in just five words?Continue reading...
Monday, March 4, 2013
#Trending Today: My Life In 5 Words
Twitter: the perfect place for making sweeping statements and summing up important life events in under 140 characters. So what better place to sum up your entire life in just five words?Continue reading...
Bip Ling at Diet Coke’s 30 Birthday Party
Bip Ling at Diet Coke’s 30 Birthday Party - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’tsContinue reading...
Pixie Lott on the street in London
Pixie Lott wears a black biker jacket, checked shirt and cut-off jeans in London - vote on celebrity fashion, style and red carpet looks in GLAMOUR.COM’s Dos and Don’tsContinue reading...
Beyoncé poses ahead of her Super Bowl performance
We won’t be taking on Queen Bey in a hurry! Beyoncé looks thoroughly terrifying in this shot, which has been released ahead of her big live comeback at the Super Bowl on SundayContinue reading...
John Mayer opens up about relationship with Katy Perry
John Mayer has opened up about his relationship with Katy Perry for the first time.Continue reading...
Some Parkinson's Patients Discover an Artistic Side
THURSDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Some people with Parkinson's disease discover untapped artistic abilities after their diagnosis -- a phenomenon that seems to be related to their dopamine-enhancing medication.
Over the years, reports have popped up in the medical literature on Parkinson's patients who suddenly discover they are painters, sculptors or writers at heart.
Dan Joseph is one of them. After being diagnosed with the movement disorder a dozen years ago, the former doctor eventually took up painting. But it wasn't because he planned on becoming an artist.
"A friend of mine said, 'You're not doing anything. Why don't you paint?'" said Joseph, a 79-year-old Santa Barbara, Calif., resident.
He decided to follow that advice and soon discovered that when he painted, his hand tremors improved. He also discovered that he actually had talent; about six years after first picking up a paintbrush, Joseph has had three solo art exhibitions.
No one knows how common it is for Parkinson's patients to find their inner painter or creative writer, according to Dr. Rivka Inzelberg, of Tel Aviv University and Sheba Medical Center, in Israel.
But when she pulled together past case reports on 14 such patients, Inzelberg found that the phenomenon does appear to be related to treatment with levodopa and so-called dopamine agonists -- Parkinson's drugs that enhance the action of the brain chemical dopamine.
One patient, for example, suddenly became interested in creative writing after starting levodopa and a dopamine agonist. That interest waned, however, when the drug doses were cut, Inzelberg reported in the Jan. 14 online edition of the journal Behavioral Neuroscience.
Parkinson's disease arises when dopamine-producing cells in the brain die off over time. That leads to symptoms such as tremors, rigid muscles, slowed movement and balance problems. Levodopa and dopamine agonists -- drugs like Requip (ropinirole) and Mirapex (pramipexole) -- help make up for that dopamine loss.
But dopamine is not only involved in movement; it's also connected to the brain's "reward system." And it's well known that some Parkinson's patients on dopamine-enhancing drugs develop so-called impulse-control disorders -- such as compulsive gambling and hypersexuality (commonly known as "sex addiction").
Inzelberg said it's possible that for certain Parkinson's patients, the medications lower inhibitions that once held back any creative impulses.
"It is also possible that dopamine is involved in creativity in general," Inzelberg said. That theory, she noted, is based on the observation that artists who suffer psychosis -- which involves excessive dopamine activity -- can become remarkably productive. Think Vincent Van Gogh.
That's all speculation, though. Experts know little about why some people on Parkinson's drugs suddenly find creative inspiration. But it does seem to be related to the medications themselves, agreed Dr. Anhar Hassan, an assistant professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who was not involved in the report.
Brominated Vegetable Oil Q&A
Jan. 30, 2013 -- PepsiCo recently announced it would remove brominated vegetable oil (BVO) from its Gatorade drinks in response to customer concerns.
Just what is BVO? And what is it doing in your sports drink?To learn more, we reached out to food chemists Kantha Shelke, PhD, a Chicago scientist who consults with food companies to develop new products, and Walter Vetter, PhD, who is studying BVO at the University of Hohenheim in Germany.
What is BVO?
Brominated vegetable oil is a synthetic chemical that is created when vegetable oil is bonded to the element bromine. Bromine is heavy, and it keeps the oil from floating to the top of water-based solutions, like soft drinks.
Why is BVO in some kinds of drinks?
Citrus flavors -- orange, lemon, lime, and grapefruit -- are oily. “When you put them on a soda or in a beverage, they tend to sit on top of the drink. They are not dispersed all the way through,” Shelke says. BVO acts as an emulsifier, meaning it helps the citrus flavors mix better in the soft drink. Drinks that contain BVO usually look hazy or cloudy.
Why are there concerns about BVO?
In very high amounts drunk over a long period of time, BVO can build up in the body and cause toxic effects.
In 1997, doctors were stumped by the case of a man who came to the emergency room with headaches, fatigue, and a loss of muscle coordination and memory. He continued to get worse over time, and eventually he lost the ability to walk. A blood test found sky-high levels of bromide. The source? The man had been drinking between 2 and 4 liters of soda containing brominated vegetable oil every day. He needed dialysis but eventually recovered.
In 2003, doctors treated a man who developed swollen hands with oozing sores. They diagnosed a rare case of the skin condition bromoderma after blood tests revealed his bromine was about twice normal limits. The man admitted drinking about 8 liters of Ruby Red Squirt, which contains BVO, each day.
High amounts of bromine can also cause skin breakouts known as halogen acne.
What about lower levels?
It’s not known whether BVO might pose health concerns at the low levels most people take in, Vetter says.
But he and others think the food additive needs further study.
That’s because it’s in the same chemical family as flame-retardants like polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE).
Scientists are studying brominated flame retardants because blood tests show that these chemicals can build up in our bodies. Early studies suggest that flame-retardant chemicals disrupt normal hormone function, leading to problems with brain development in children, fertility, thyroid function, and possibly cancer.
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