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Coffee drinkers may live longer — even those ordering decaf

coffee blogging

Published: Nov 21, 2015 8:44 a.m. ET

Tall, grande or venti? Your answer may depend on whether you believe this.

People who drink three to five cups of coffee a day may be less likely to die prematurely from some illnesses than those who drink less coffee or don’t drink any coffee at all, according to a new study released by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers and published online in the journal Circulation.

What’s more, drinkers of both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee saw benefits, including a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, neurological diseases, Type 2 diabetes and suicide. “Moderate consumption of coffee may confer health benefits in terms of reducing premature death due to several diseases,” said senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard. (These findings support a 2012 study of over 400,000 men and women published in The New England Journal of Medicine, which found an association between coffee drinkers and lower rates of mortality due to several diseases including stroke, respiratory diseases and diabetes.)

The data include nearly 168,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study (I and II, the former started in 1976 and the latter started in 1989) and look at factors influencing women’s health, plus 40,557 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, started in 1986and designed to complement the Nurses’ Health Study, sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health and the National Cancer Institute. Coffee drinking was assessed using validated food questionnaires every four years over about 30 years. During the study period, 19,524 women and 12,432 men died from a range of causes.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coffee-drinkers-may-live-longer-even-those-ordering-decaf-2015-11-17?link=sfmw_tw

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FDA Orders Antibacterials Removed From Consumer Soaps

The Robot from Lost In Space

by MAGGIE FOX

Say goodbye to those “antibacterial” soaps. The Food and Drug Administration says they do little or nothing to make soap work any better and said the industry has failed to prove they’re safe.

Companies will have a year to take the ingredients out of the products, the FDA said. They include triclosan and triclocarban. Soap manufacturers will have an extra year to negotiate over other, less commonly used ingredients such as benzalkonium chloride.

“Companies will no longer be able to market antibacterial washes with these ingredients because manufacturers did not demonstrate that the ingredients are both safe for long-term daily use and more effective than plain soap and water in preventing illness and the spread of certain infections,” the FDA said in a statement.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-orders-antibacterials-removed-consumer-soaps-n642036

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Zika-infected mosquitoes lay Zika-infected eggs

mosquito-blood

This is the first experimental proof that mosquitoes can transmit Zika to their own offspring

By Rachel Becker

on August 29, 2016 05:01 pm

Mosquito moms can transmit zika virus to their offspring — at least in the lab, a new study shows. If this also happens in nature, the virus might be able to survive in tough mosquito eggs even when cold weather, dry spells, and pesticides kill off the infectious adults.

Mosquitoes can transmit viruses in the same family as Zika, such as yellow fever and dengue, to their offspring — but it wasn’t clear whether this was also true for Zika. So scientists led by Robert Tesh, an epidemiologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch, injected Zika virus into approximately 200 females from two different species of mosquitoes: Aedes aegypti, and Aedes albopictus. None of the A. albopictus offspring tested positive for the virus, but about one in every 290 A. aegypti offspring were infected. They published these results today in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/29/12694218/zika-mosquito-eggs-transmission-offspring-spread

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Do Entrepreneurs Suck at Relationships?

Entrepreneur PJ Blogger

“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” – Albert Einstein

August 26,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Some argue that entrepreneurs suck at relationships. On the contrary, I think most of us are pretty good at them.

Many of us begin to realize success because of the nurtured relationships we’ve built. But as stress builds and businesses evolve, we allow our relationship skills to diminish. The more we engage in stressful business decisions and debate, the more our relationships suffer.

We speed walk through the hallway to our office to avoid a lengthy conversation with the staff because we have back-to-back conference calls starting two minutes ago. We check emails at the dinner table because no one’s really talking right now anyway.

We begin to treat all the people in our lives the same. Generic. Passionless. Cold. Soon our spouses, children, and employees feel inferior to everything else on our mind. I know because I let myself get like this—once. As my business grew and I became busier, my time became even scarcer. Enter relationship problems.

My insensitivity and newly-found failure in relationships became evident. Suddenly my operations team dreaded meeting with me, my wife and I were disconnected, and my kids liked her better than me (ouch).
This all dawned on me when I sent my wife a picture of my filet mignon from a business trip in Singapore.
She responded with a picture of the mac & cheese and hot dogs she was eating with our kids. Clearly something was off.

This reminded me of the value of working on relationships. I began rebuilding the relationship with my wife, my kids, my business partners, and my team. What’s more, I actually started looking at these relationships as something to be developed and analyzed. I finally realized that relationships don’t take care of themselves.

I now have meaningful, individualized, and long-lasting relationships with the people in my life—because I live for others. And that, my friends, is the one thing we all need to do every day.

Here’s how I live for others now.

1. Reach out to people.

The expression “let’s get together sometime” has become cliché for one reason: little to no follow through. Our Google Calendars get so packed with appointments and conference calls that we forget to include a wildly important component to our day—maintaining existing relationships and creating new ones.

Keep a list of your 20 closest friends and 10 people you want to get to know better and reach out to one person a day. Show your friends you care by asking how they’re doing and what’s new in their life. Ask the people you want to build relationships with what you can do for them. Genuine focus on the other person shows how committed you are to the relationship. You’ll also maintain awareness of what’s going on.

2. Be there for others. Do you have a person in your life that you lean on? This is the person you call immediately without even thinking about it because they’re consistently there for you. Be that person for others. You can do this by just making time for them. As entrepreneurs, time is the best gift we can give. If someone calls, if a staff member comes into your office, make time for them. Be engaged. Don’t cut one meeting short for the upcoming meeting. Just plan better, provide support and counsel.

3. Focus on the value delivered, not taken. Relationships are a two way street. Imagine how strong a relationship would be if you both approached it selflessly. Stop thinking about what you can gain from the relationship. Instead, focus on what you’re bringing to the table. It’s not about you, it’s about them. If you find yourself drifting off when someone’s talking to you, remind yourself of this and regain focus. Building a relationship is about having a real conversation and making a connection.

We talk about the importance of relationships all the time. Network, build your collection of business cards, connect with colleagues on LinkedIn, and follow people within your niche on Twitter. But if we’re not going to nurture and value these relationships, what’s the point?

About Matt Stewart

Matt Stewart is co-founder of College Works Painting (collegeworks.com), which provides business experience for thousands of college students each year. The award-winning program also offers high-quality house-painting services for homeowners.

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How much coffee do YOU drink? Study reveals why some of us need five cups a day while others can manage on one

coffee_ridgewopodblog

Genetic variation means some don’t need as much coffee to get a kick
Change in the PDSS2 gene makes it harder for body to metabolise caffeine
People without the variation process caffeine faster and so drink more  

By STEPHEN MATTHEWS FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 08:15 EST, 25 August 2016 | UPDATED: 12:02 EST, 25 August 2016

our desire to grab coffee from Starbucks could be written in your genes, scientists claim.

New research has found people with a certain variation of a gene don’t need to consume as much coffee to get a caffeine hit – quelling their urge for more.

The gene in question is called PDSS2 – and the variation reduces the body’s ability to break down caffeine – causing it stay in a person’s system for longer.

Those without the variation metabolise caffeine more quickly and as a result, are more likely to have an extra cup each day.

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3758119/How-coffee-drink-Study-reveals-need-five-cups-day-manage-one.html#ixzz4ISg0H6cV

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Social isolation ‘as bad for your health as smoking’

home alone

by Paul Gallagher

Having a small social network is as bad for your health as smoking, according to a new study. Researchers from Yale University showed that a person’s position in the social network is associated with blood markers of stress. They discovered that the more people who would call you a friend the lower the levels of fibrinogen, a predictor of heart attack and stroke, in your blood. However, reeling off a long list of those we consider friends does not have the same effect. The number of friends and relatives named by an individual, reflecting the perceived social network, is only weakly related to fibrinogen levels. The association between social isolation and fibrinogen is comparable to the effect of smoking, and greater than that of low education, a conventional measure of socioeconomic disadvantage, the scientists said. What matters is how others see us, not how we see them.

Read more at: https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/health/social-network-isolation-stress-levels-smoking/

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Witnesses say Jacksonville dog attack victim was dismembered

Ridgewood _police_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

by: Lorena Inclan, Action News Jax Updated: Aug 23, 2016 – 9:01 AM

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has identified a man killed in a dog attack as 83-year-old Michael Downing.

Downing was killed by his neighbor’s dogs at about 4 p.m. Friday, officials said.

The hole in the fence where witnesses said the dogs came through is now boarded up.

Witnesses Mackenzie Partin and Eddie Edwards said Downing’s body may have been dragged into the dog’s yard because they saw his body on the other side of the fence.

The Franklin Arms apartment community is mourning the loss of Downing, whom they described as a helpful neighbor and happy man.

“He always had a big smile on his face,” said neighbor Mark Jones.

Police roped off an area near the Dumpster where Edwards and Partin spotted the body.

“By far it’s probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Partin. “There was only 30 percent left of his body probably.”

https://www.wftv.com/news/local/witnesses-say-jacksonville-dog-attack-victim-was-dismembered/428332897

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The medical marijuana movement just got some really bad news

POT-SMOKING-KID

By Susan K. Livio | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on August 11, 2016 at 7:28 AM, updated August 11, 2016 at 11:32 AM

TRENTON — The Obama administration will uphold the ban on researching the therapeutic benefits of marijuana, once again rebuffing requests to remove the plant from the list of the drugs, like heroin and cocaine, that are considered to be the most addictive and lacking medicinal value.

On Thursday, the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration will publish a notice in the Federal Register, a compilation of government rules, that will announce its decision to keep marijuana as a “schedule 1” drug, according to the Washington Post.

The decision will no doubt disappoint supporters who had hoped the federal government would finally allow research to determine cannabis’ potential. Half of the states in the nation, including New Jersey, as well as Washington D.C. permit the cultivation and sale of marijuana for medical purposes.

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/08/feds_reject_petitions_to_allow_medical_research_on.html?ath=9c46bfc08d76232bb5a5e00eeaf0bfa2#cmpid=nsltr_strybutton

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Valley Hospital : Consumers Skeptical of Horizon’s Motives

Valley Hospital theridgewoodblog.net 131
August 10th 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Valley Hospital continues to raise objections to Horizon’s OMNIA two tier hospital rating designations .

In and email Valley Pointed out , “Horizon’s OMNIA plan set up a two-tiered system that rewards some hospitals with Tier 1 designations and essentially punishes others by designating them as Tier 2 and imposing higher copays on many patients. Horizon’s scheme uses huge hospital systems as its Tier 1 base, while excluding some of the state’s best and highest-rated hospitals.

There was no public process or known criteria by which hospitals and physicians were ultimately assigned to a tier, nor is there any public path to move to another tier. And Horizon still refuses to publicly divulge its mysterious selection process.

It’s no wonder why a recent poll indicated that voters and Horizon customers indicated strong trust concerns with New Jersey’s insurance giant. According to an Anzalone, Liszt, and Grove research poll,1 61 percent agree that Horizon “puts profits ahead of people,” while 55 percent of Horizon’s customers who were surveyed also agreed. In fact, 57 percent of those polled also agreed that Horizon “has too much influence and power in New Jersey,” while 61 percent of Horizon’s own customers who were surveyed said the same thing.”

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Study Shows Unique Brain Exercise Lowers Risk of Dementia

Ridgewood Police Alzheimer's patient was found
file photo by Boyd Loving  Ridgewood PD searching for Dementia patient
August 10th 2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

SAN FRANCISCO, CA , A unique brain exercise cut the long-term risk of dementia nearly in half in a large study of older adults that was presented today at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto. Researchers from the ACTIVE Study (Advanced Cognitive Training in Vital Elderly) tracked 2,802 cognitively healthy, community-dwelling, older adults for 10 years, as the average study participant aged from 74 to 84.
The randomized, controlled trial compared three different types of cognitive training – speed, memory and reasoning – against a control group, to determine if brain training might help with healthier aging. The speed training was found to cut long-term dementia risk by 33 percent among those asked to complete 10 hours of training in the first year of the study. The other types of training had no significant effect. Sub-groups of participants were asked to complete an additional four hours of training in months 11 and 35 of the study. Those who were asked to complete 11 or more hours of speed training were found to reduce their dementia risk by 48 percent over the 10-year study. Memory and reasoning training were found not to have any significant effect on dementia risk.
Previously published results from the ACTIVE Study showed participants in speed training also improved at measures of brain processing speed and at measures of tasks related to independent living. They also did better than the control group at measures of mood, confidence, health, and driving. “Clearly, the time spent on effective brain training has potential long lasting benefits for many aspects of older adults’ lives” said Dr. Jerri Edwards of the University of South Florida, who announced these latest ACTIVE study results.
The computerized speed training pushes a user to progressively improve visual speed of processing, with attentional demands at both the center of gaze and periphery. It was developed by Dr. Karlene Ball of the University of Alabama Birmingham and Dr. Dan Roenker of Western Kentucky University. It is now exclusively licensed to Posit Science Corporation, and a web version is available as the “Double Decision” exercise of the BrainHQ.com brain training program. “This type of exercise has been shown to improve various measures of speed, attention, and memory, as well as quality of life, across many different studies,” said Dr. Mahncke, CEO of Posit Science. “It targets elemental sensory systems of the brain, where a split second improvement can serve you well during every waking hour of every day
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Everyone recommends flossing – but there’s hardly any proof it works

Wendy-missing-teeth-MM-1024x693

Dental organizations and the federal government have long urged people to use dental floss, but the latest US guidelines have dropped the recommendation

It’s one of the most universal recommendations in all of public health: floss daily to prevent gum disease and cavities.

Except there’s little proof that flossing works.

Still, the US federal government, dental organizations and manufacturers of floss have pushed the practice for decades. Dentist in Orlando provide samples to their patients; the American Dental Association insists on its website: “Flossing is an essential part of taking care of your teeth and gums.”

Everything you ever wanted to know about teeth (but were afraid to ask the dentist)

The federal government has recommended flossing since 1979, first in a surgeon general’s report and later in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, issued every five years. The guidelines must be based on scientific evidence, under the law.

Last year, the Associated Press asked the health and agriculture departments for their evidence, and followed up with written requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

When the federal government issued its latest dietary guidelines this year, the flossing recommendation had been removed, without notice. In a letter to the AP, the government acknowledged the effectiveness of flossing had never been researched, as required.

The AP looked at the most rigorous research conducted over the past decade, focusing on 25 studies that generally compared the use of a toothbrush with the combination of toothbrushes and floss. The findings? The evidence for flossing is “weak, very unreliable”, of “very low” quality, and carries “a moderate to large potential for bias”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/02/dental-floss-proof-works-guidelines-dropped

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With 10 new Zika cases in Miami, CDC advises pregnant women to avoid Wynwood

mosquito-blood

BY DANIEL CHANG AND EMILY COCHRANE

Federal health officials on Monday advised pregnant women to avoid a Miami neighborhood— marking the first time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned against travel to any area within the continental United States — as a Zika outbreak in South Florida has led to 10 more local cases spread by mosquitoes.

The advisory extends to all expectant mothers, and women planning on becoming pregnant who have traveled to a one-square-mile area north of downtown Miami — including Wynwood, Midtown and the Design District — on or after June 15, said CDC Director Tom Frieden.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/health-care/article93057392.html#storylink=cpy

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Worried About Alzheimer’s? These Tips Can Help Keep Your Brain Healthy

FOOD healthy food

file photo by ArtChick

August 1,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most frightening, yet least understood ailments we face as human beings.

The loss of memory – forgetting family, friends and the most important events of our lives – is painful, tragic and heartbreaking for anyone who is close to the person suffering from the disease.

But Alzheimer’s doesn’t just arrive one day, full blown. It begins its insidious work long before the patient has a hint of what’s happening.

“Research suggests Alzheimer’s disease starts in your brain decades before you experience any symptoms,” says Daniel Amen, M.D., a clinical neuroscientist and brain imaging expert who also is the founder of Amen Clinics (www.amenclinics.com), which treat patients at six locations around the country.

He says the good news is you can find out what’s happening in your brain and, while there is no known cure for Alzheimer’s, there are things you can do to better care for your brain.

Amen, author of the New York Times bestseller “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life,” uses SPECT scans to examine his patients’ brains. SPECT stands for single-photon emission computed tomography. Amen says the brain-imaging device can show the abnormal patterns of Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia in their early stages and also can help distinguish multiple forms of dementia.

“That’s critical information,” Amen says, “because the varying types of dementia often have similar looking symptoms – at least in the early stages –  but each type has its own ‘signature’ blood flow pattern in the brain that’s revealed with SPECT imaging.

“Identifying the type of dementia a person has is important because the treatment that works best for one type may not be effective for another type.”

But Amen also says there are steps that anyone can take to keep their brains healthy long before Alzheimer’s becomes a concern. Those include:

• Maintaining a proper diet. People who focus on healthy eating often are worried about their waistline, but the brain also benefits from or is harmed by what’s on the menu. Too many Americans sustain themselves on a diet filled with sugar and processed foods, which are associated with dementia and depression, Amen says. For a healthier mind, he says, there are “super foods” that nourish the brain such as various fruits, vegetables, fish and nuts.
• Avoiding too much alcohol and tobacco. Heavy alcohol and tobacco use lowers blood flow to the brain and reduces the ability to think over time.
• Exercising the brain.  Activities such as dancing, tennis or table tennis (which Amen calls the world’s best brain sport) boost your coordination.  Mindful exercises like yoga and Tai Chi reduce anxiety, depression and increase focus.

“In spite of the natural process of aging, you actually have a choice in how fast your brain ages,” Amen says. “What you choose to do – in other words, your behavior and habits – can speed up or slow down the rate at which your brain declines with age.”

About Daniel Amen, M.D.

Daniel Amen, M.D., (www.amenclinics.com) is a clinical neuroscientist and brain imaging expert who heads Amen Clinics, which are located in Orange County, Calif., Atlanta, San Francisco, New York City, Washington, D.C., and the Seattle area. He has written numerous books, including “The Amen Solution: The Secret to Being Thinner, Smarter, Happier” and “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life.” Dr. Amen also has appeared as a guest on such TV shows as “The View” and was a consultant for the movie “Concussion.”

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Zika linked to birth defects in six US cases

mosquito-blood

AFP

June 17, 2016

Washington (AFP) – The Zika virus has been linked to birth defects in the foetuses and babies of six women in the United States who were infected while pregnant, US health officials said Thursday.

Three of the women gave birth to infants with congenital defects such as microcephaly — an abnormally small head — and brain damage that are linked to Zika, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, citing figures as of June 9.

Of the other three women, one had a miscarriage, one terminated her pregnancy, and the third gave birth to an infant that was stillborn. All three cases showed instances of Zika-related birth defects.

The six women mentioned Thursday were all infected while traveling in countries where the virus is circulating.

The CDC said it will publish weekly results of women who are pregnant and infected with Zika.

A total of 234 pregnant women in the United States had tested positive for Zika as of June 9, the CDC said.

US scientists believe that a woman infected with Zika during the first trimester of her pregnancy has a one to 13 percent chance that the fetus develops microcephaly.

The mosquito-borne Zika has spread rapidly across Latin America and the Caribbean in the past months, and experts warn that the continental United States will likely see an increase in cases as summer begins in the northern hemisphere.

There is also growing evidence that Zika can be transmitted sexually.

There is no vaccine for Zika.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/zika-linked-birth-defects-six-us-cases-104853040.html?ref=gs

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A Study on Fats That Doesn’t Fit the Story Line

bbq

Aaron E. Carroll

THE NEW HEALTH CARE APRIL 15, 2016

There was a lot of news this week about a study, published in the medical journal BMJ, that looked at how diet affects heart health. The results were unexpected because they challenged the conventional thinking on saturated fats.

And the data were very old, from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

This has led many to wonder why they weren’t published previously. It has also added to the growing concern that when it comes to nutrition, personal beliefs often trump science.

Perhaps no subject is more controversial in the nutrition world these days than fats. While in the 1970s and 1980s doctors attacked the total amount of fat in Americans’ diets, that seems to have passed. These days, the fights are over the type of fat that is considered acceptable.

Most of our fat comes from two main sources. The first is saturated fats. Usually solid at room temperature, they’re in red meat, dairy products and partly in chicken. The second is unsaturated fats, usually softer and more liquid at room temperature. They’re in fish, nuts and vegetable oils. Many doctors and nutritionists still argue, quite strongly, that the key to health is to emphasize the unsaturated fats. Others believe that’s misguided.

This week’s news came to us by way of a randomized controlled trial, which I’ve argued repeatedly is the best kind of study to determine how one thing causes another.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/upshot/a-study-on-fats-that-doesnt-fit-the-story-line.html?WT.mc_id=2016-KWP-MOBILE-AUD_DEV&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=MOBILEFULLPAGE&kwp_0=150560&_r=0