Soul Searching

Living on a farm during pregnancy may help reduce the chance of the child developing asthma, eczema and even hayfever, say scientists.

The New Zealand researchers suggest that exposure to animals and the bacteria they carry may affect the foetus’s immune system.
Writing in the European Respiratory Journal, they said exposure before and after birth halved the [...]

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By KENNETH CHANG
Cinnamon is a spice added to some breads and other bakery items. Soon, it might also be an ingredient in the wrapper around the bread as a way to keep out mold.

In addition to its sweet, woody aroma, cinnamon kills microbes — it was one of the ingredients used by ancient Egyptian embalmers. [...]

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French brain surgeons have conducted a world first by destroying a brain tumour on a conscious patient using keyhole laser surgery, it has emerged.
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 11:40PM BST 29 Aug 2008
The team from Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris drilled a 3mm hole into the skull of a patient under local anaesthetic, inserting a [...]

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By RONI CARYN RABIN
Until she was 11 months old, Aleanie Remy-Marquez could have starred in an advertisement for breast milk. She took to nursing easily, was breast-fed exclusively for six or seven months, and ate little else even after that. She was alert and precocious and developed at astonishing speed, her mother said, sitting at [...]

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What other 20-minute investment gives you an immediate productivity boost?

By Anne Fisher
(Fortune Small Business) — There is a quick-acting miracle cure for weariness that won’t cost you a dime. It’s called a nap.
“What other 26-minute investment gives you a 54% productivity boost?” asks Mark Rosekind, a former Stanford University sleep researcher who now heads sleep [...]

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Odds are you’re not getting the eight hours of nightly shuteye experts agree you need. Here’s why it matters - for you and your business.

By Anne Fisher
(Fortune Small Business) — Are you getting enough sleep? For years, Cynthia McKay wasn’t.
McKay, CEO of Le Gourmet Gift Basket, a specialty-foods company based in Castle Rock, Colo., spent [...]

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by Allison Aubrey
In his 20 years as director of the hypertension program at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Randy Zusman has maintained a rather traditional approach.
He writes plenty of prescriptions for standard medications to treat high blood pressure. But in recent years, Zusman has gotten more assertive with patients about lifestyle choices.
“You’re going to have to [...]

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By PETER JARET
Hepatitis C can take decades to show up as damage to the liver.
Chronic viral hepatitis is now the leading reason for liver transplants.
Current combination therapy can be individualized to cure chronic infections in 40 to 80 percent of cases.

The consequences of being infected with hepatitis C can take years to appear. So while [...]

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Eradicating a common bug in people with stomach cancer can prevent the disease from recurring, research suggests.
Helicobacter pylori, proved to be the cause of most stomach ulcers, has also been linked with stomach cancer.

In a study of 550 people who had stomach cancer surgery, antibiotics which killed the bug cut the risk of a second [...]

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A herb known as “Indian Frankincense” can reduce the symptoms of arthritis, US researchers have suggested.
Extracts from Boswellia serrata, a similar species to the variety famous for its role in the Christian nativity, were tested on dozens of patients.

Those who received it reported better movement and less pain and stiffness.
The herb has been used for [...]

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