Red wine compound may combat obesity, extend life, says mice study: Resveratrol, a polyphenol found in red wine, extended survival rates of mice and prevented weight-gain from high-calorie diets, says a new study published in Nature. The study, described by an independent expert…
There is little medical evidence that the vaccines have any kind of beneficial effect, even for vulnerable people with asthma and cystic fibrosis, he said.Vaccines given to children under the age of two have the same effect as if they were given a dummy drug, he added.Tom Jefferson, co-ordinator of the vaccines field of the highly-respected Cochrane Collaboration, called for an “urgent” re-evaluation of vaccination campaigns.Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), he said that, because influenza viruses mutate and vary from year to year, it was difficult for scientists to study the precise effects of vaccines.Most studies are of poor quality, and there is little comparative evidence on the safety of the vaccines, he said…. He continued: “A similar philosophy is the ‘we have to make decisions and cannot wait to have perfect data’ approach.”In a separate background paper, Dr Jefferson said: “Reviews show a consistent picture of modest or no effect of inactivated vaccines and poor quality of the original studies, especially those that are not randomised controlled trials.”Referring to the gap between policy and evidence, he said that “given the huge resources involved in yearly vaccination campaigns, a re-evaluation should be urgently undertaken”.Earlier this month, there were fears that vulnerable people in the UK might have to wait for flu jabs after the Government confirmed stocks would arrive late.The jab is given to high-risk groups first, including the over-65s, people with respiratory conditions such as asthma, and those with chronic conditions such as diabetes.
Consumption of Soft Drinks and Hyperactivity, Mental Distress, and Conduct Problems Among Adolescents in Oslo, NorwayLars Lien, MD, MSc, Nanna Lien, PhD, Sonja Heyerdahl, PhD, Magne Thoresen, PhD and Espen Bjertness, PhDThe authors are with the University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway…. There was a J-shaped dose–response relationship between soft drink consumption and mental distress, conduct problems, and total mental health difficulties score; that is, adolescents who did not consume soft drinks had higher scores (indicating worse symptoms) than those who consumed soft drinks at moderate levels but lower scores than those with high consumption levels.
PerkinsFires in high-latitude forests and peaty soils of the Northern Hemisphere may loft hundreds of tons of mercury into the atmosphere each year, much more than scientists had expected, a new analysis suggests…. However, soil data and new computer models now indicate that wildfire emissions of mercury could be much higher, Turetsky and her colleagues report in the Aug. 28 Geophysical Research Letters.