Nerdy Science Blog

Regardless of race, women are more health conscious than men.  Men often believe they do not need to see a doctor.  A study involved 1,514 adults with high blood pressure showed that men, especially African-American men, less likely to know their condition than women.

I found this image of Black Men cover.  This definitely will cause high blood pressure of straight men.  However high blood pressure is not an adult problem anymore, the age of getting high blood pressure is getting younger.  Please bring your kids for medical checkups.  Hypertension should be treated as early as possible as it could lead to kidney failures, etc.

(news news2 [pic])

To perform the procedure, the researchers first took about 10 grams of muscle from one of the patient’s thighs. Myoblast cells (a type of muscle stem cell) were then extracted from the muscle tissue, placed in a culture solution and grown into 50-micron-thick sheets measuring about 5 centimeters (2 inches) in diameter. Several layers of myoblast sheets were then applied to the surface of the impaired heart, where they helped strengthen the muscle and restore cardiac function.

I’m really impressed by Japanese researchers. If there’s a chance, I shall do my research in Japan.

[news]

In Malaysia, visit doctor and get prescription drugs are one stop centre. After coming to Australia, I only realize healthcare service is so expensive (international students better get a healthcare card, just in case). Besides, you can’t get your prescription drugs immediately after seeing the charming doctor, you must travel all the way to the pharmacist to get them. Both doctor and drugs cost you dearly. The worst thing is no pharmacy is operating twenty-four-seven, if you just happen to get sick after office hour, no doctors for you, no pharmacy for you, just R.I.P.

InstyMeds introduces this vending machine for getting prescription drugs. Electronic prescriptions are sent to the machine by doctor through secure networks. Patient then can choose either print out the prescription from the machine bring to a pharmacy or directly order the medication from the InstyMedsTM dispenser at the medical centre. This machine is currently only available in US.

What I was thinking is “can we get this vending machine into our lab?” Then we can just have ready made substance by just keying in and programming into the machine web-based system, without doing all the painstaking pipette jobs. I mean making a cup of coffee in the lab.

(link [via])

Our food preferences are likely to be programmed from the moment we’re fertilized.

For the first time, scientists have linked the all-too-human preference for a food — chocolate — to a specific, chemical signature that may be programmed into the metabolic system and is detectable by laboratory tests. The signature reads ‘chocolate lover’ in some people and indifference to the popular sweet in others, the researchers say.

—— ScienceDaily: People Are Programmed To Love Chocolate, Study Finds

Some people might envy those who can eat a lot (such as me) and will never get fat. Researchers suggested that this might be because of the link between metabolic system and food we like, such as chocolate, carbs, steaks, etc.

So stop using “fattening” restraining yourself from eating chocolate, you’re just not talented. So do durianphobic losers.

I don’t like potatoes for no reason, this get me away from the harm of french fries (they are really bad to your health). Though I don’t like potatoes, that does not make me hate potatoes lovers. So I am going to tell you that green potatoes are poisonous.

You should not eat green potatoes because they contain a chemical called solanine (glycoalkaloid poison). Solanine is very toxic even in small amount. It is created by nightshade plants as a defense mechanism against diseases, insects and predators. Solanine produced by potatoes when they are exposed to sunlight, even the fluorescent lights in supermarket can stimulate the potatoes to turn green and produce glycoalkaloid. You can’t ‘kill’ solanine by cooking the potato as they are heat stable toxic and it is bitter.

I found an interesting review here about the chemical. Guess no one can poison me by serving me potato as I don’t eat them at all.

“Moley Moley Moley!” It’s from Austin Powers in Goldmember. Sometimes some people had a outstanding mole which you can’t take your eyes off, and lots of people are making fun of it.

People with a lot of moles may age slower than those with few moles, say British scientists, who suggest this may mean fewer age-related illnesses such as heart disease or osteoporosis for “moley people.”

—— CBCnews: Moles linked with slower aging: study

Imagine people who are having fun laughing at the Moleys only got to have a short 50 years lifespan while the Moleys being humilated by people for 100 years, which one would you be?

According to chinese mole reading (part of face reading), the mole of the moley in the picutre represents two things (I can’t google currently, my ISP hates google, they blocked it), which are “Enjoys the good things in life” and “Prone to accident with water“. Don’t play with your moles, they linked with skin cancer.

Does your kid have asthma? Perhaps it’s a gene-linked disease.

In a genetic study of more than 2,000 children, scientists established that genetic markers on chromosome 17 had a striking effect on the risk of asthma in children. They also found that these markers altered the levels of a new gene called ORMDL3, which was at a higher level in the blood cells of children with asthma than in those without.

—— ScienceDaily: Gene Linked With Childhood Asthma Is Identified, Giving Hope For New Therapies

Both my brother and I had asthma when we were young, it was such an irritating thing. We did not have the freedom to drink cold drinks (coke used to be luxury to us) and can’t run around like other kids.

Asthma is a chronic disease of the respiration system. People having asthma often facing breathing difficulties when they encounter certain factors, such as allergens (animals, dust), irritants (air, odours), emotional factors and also illness.

Long-acting bronchodilator is a piece of equipment that asthma patient should carry around. One of the most common long-acting bronchodilator is Serevent (salmeterol), I used to carry this inhaler around with me when i was still an asthma patient.

(Picture Source)

Scientists often need to hanging around the laboratory for a long time, this leads them to the lacking of exercises.

An analysis of 524 nominees for the Nobels in physics and in chemistry between 1901 and 1950 showed that the group’s 135 winners lived about two years longer than the also-rans. The finding points to the health benefits of social status and suggests that status benefits the bodies of the cerebrally normal too.

—— LiveScience.com: Nobel Prize Winners Live Longer

If you notice, the Nobles laurettes mostly are god-damn-old. You will not have your share of Noble prize if you are dead. You might say, “I can’t running or jumping around in the lab.”

Nay, exercises don’t limit to running, jumping, swimming, or flying. You can do some simple body stretching. You can visit “Office Workout – Exercise you can do at work” to see what you can do. Just imagine the chair and the table are the one in your lab. I’d like to take some photos of myself doing the stretching works, but i’m having break now and i won’t be seeing lab for another month.

DO NOT RUN IN LABORATORY.

You may think that your pets will not get any disease that affect human, but you are wrong:

(HealthDay News) — Cats can develop a feline form of Alzheimer’s disease, say U.K. and U.S. researchers who identified a protein that can build up in brain nerve cells and cause mental deterioration.

You may not care about the old folks, but most people do care for their pets. So if you are trying to pull funds out of people who don’t care for old folks, maybe you can change your slogan to “Save Your Cats from Alzheimer’s disease, Fund Us”.

New York City became the first city that bans trans fats at restaurants.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York on Tuesday became the first city in the nation to ban artery-clogging artificial trans fats at restaurants, leading the charge to limit consumption of an ingredient linked to heart disease and used in everything from french fries to pizza dough to pancake mix.

What is a trans fat? It is an unsaturated fat that is made by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil. So what can trans fats do to you?

1. higer risk of heart disease
2. deplete good cholesterol (HDL)

Since trans fats are bad for us, why do the manufacturers put them in so many food products? It’s all about money because trans fats increase the shelf life of the food products such as crackers. So the more you eat, the more they earn and the poorer you are as you are getting fatter.

Heavy people do not spend more than normal-size people on food itself, but their life insurance premiums are two to four times as large. They can expect higher medical expenses, and they tend to make less money and accumulate less wealth in their shortened lifetimes. They can have a harder time being hired and, once on the job, a harder time winning plum assignments and promotions.

So who are in troubles now? The fast food restaurants!