To my thinking, control mechanisms always have the potential for a role for nutrition,somewhere nutrition will fit into the scheme. Adaptive immune responses depend on the activation and expansion of specific subsets of white blood cells such as T cells in response to antigens. Although it has long been known that such proliferative responses are…
Read moreThis study in Northern Italy in elderly Italians ( 65-91 years old ) showed that physical activity in an elderly Italian protected against the characteristic features of the metabolic syndrome. Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly was inversely correlated with waist circumference, triglyceride and fasting insulin concentration. Any leisure time activity , walking, dancing or…
Read moreGreece is a country where in the original 7 countries study the prevalence of myocardial infarction in rural Greece was only 0.3% in middle aged men. Now the prevalence is comparable to the USA and rising. This is in contrast to other countries where the prevalence is falling.Importantly here is a country where the Mediterranean…
Read moreWhen I was in my teens I milked a large herd of Friesian cows. I have always had affection for these gentle massive converters of green grass into white milk.They are the largest dairy breed in the world 8.57 million in USA2.6 1 millions Poland2.17 Millions UK2.15 millions German1.4 millions Italy1.2 millions IrelandTheir average weight…
Read moreAs a the waiting physician in a busy Accident and Emergency Department there was always the chance of seeing classical diseases including scurvy. This was usually in outcasts of society living rough.The Lancet of September 13th 2008 p 1008 describes a poor unemployed divorced man livig on the edge of society and schizophrenic. He had…
Read moreThere is an important letter in the LancetLazarus and Smyth 2008 Lancet Iodine deficiency in the UK and Ireland p 88which is a reminder of the need for added iodine in our diets. The principle source is added iodine to salt but this practice is now rarely used. 50% of pregnant women in North East…
Read more30 years ago, 134 WHO member states gathered as a conference on international primary health care. On Sept 12, 1978, the Alma-Ata Declaration was signed, with the ambitious target of achieving “Health for All by 2000”.In 1978, 2000 million people were estimated to have no access to adequate health care. There were large inequalities between…
Read morePropitious esculent : The potato in World History John Reader Publisher William HeinemannReviewed in Nature by Sandra Knapp Potatoes and poverty Nature 2008 vol 455 pp 170-71 This book is devoted to a most important vegetable , the potato which has sustained impoverished populations world wide. Originating in South America. One of the great sights…
Read moreIn the olden days ward sisters ruled over the in patient community. One of her treasured skills was the provision of dietary treats to the ill, regardless of the time of day and night. Now we have Health and Safety , food bought long distances in lorries and strict and brief timetables for eating. No…
Read moreMicroRNAs ( m1RNAs) are RNA sequences some 23 nucleotides long. They are crucial to gene expression. As part pf a RNA-protein complexes they form complementary bas pairs with their target complementary RNA sequences. These influence mRNA degradation and repress the translation of the mRNA into protein. Individual micro RNA sequences can suppress the production of…
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