Magnesium intake helps relieve feelings anxiety and fear.

12-06-11

 A new study shows that increased magnesium intake is a key to helping the brain naturally reduce anxiety and stress, reducing fear response and helping with socail anxiety disorder, PTSD and panic phobias. 

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A supplemented intake of magnesium is found to enhance the brain's ability to reduce fear and anxiety responses, making way for a possible supplemental treatment for many anxiety disorders such as social anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, specific phobias and others. In the October 2011 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, top neuroscientists at Tsinghua University in Beijing, University of Texas, and University of Toronto revealed that by increasing the extracellular magnesium concentration in the brain through a new magnesium compound called Magtein(TM), the cognitive ability - an essential facility that controls fear and anxiety - is enhanced. This development becomes extremely significant considering anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in America, affecting 18% of the population(1).

Anxiety disorders can be triggered by fear and thus, affect cognitive functioning. When in danger, fear is essential for survival. This fear triggers the brain to respond with many split-second changes in the body to prepare to defend against the danger or to avoid it. This response is a healthy reaction meant to protect a person from harm.

But in anxiety disorders this reaction is enhanced so that the fear memory continues even when one is no longer in danger, affecting cognitive ability on a daily basis.

"Through our study, we found that increasing brain magnesium with Magtein enhances not only the learning and memory ability, but also top-down inhibition of fear memory of rats," explains Dr. Guosong Liu, one of the study's principal scientists. "When the cognitive ability is enhanced, fear responses such as anxiety-like and PTSD-like behaviors, are controlled."

According to Liu, the use of a high magnesium treatment induces a unique pattern of action on brain regions involved in and responsible for the body's emotional processes. It heightens the function of the prefrontalcortex, a brain region involved in controlling fear responses, without affecting the function of amygdala - the brain's evolutionary conserved region involved in fear memory formation and storage. "By increasing brain magnesium through Magtein, cognitive ability goes up, fear memory remains unchanged".

http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=11979&Section=NUTRITION

Acupuncture, TCM, Part of Pre-Performance Prep for NYC Ballet Dancers

Acupuncture, and Traditional Chinese Medicine have become part of the preparation for many NYC based professional dancers with excellent results.NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- For professional dancers in New York City, getting the job means everything. For many, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has quietly become an effective way to ensure success in preparing for an audition or a big show, according to Seven Point Wellness, a TCM group in midtown Manhattan.

Recent studies have named acupuncture as the treatment of choice by many dancers for musculoskeletal injury, localized pain and inflammation, and the repetitive stress that accompany overtraining and long rehearsals. Seven Point co-founders Phil Veneziano, M.S., L.Ac., and his wife and partner Cristina R. de La Mar, M.S., L.Ac., Doula, use their tools to help dancers recover and correct structural imbalances so they can avoid the pain of re-injury and time out of work. Many performing artists also come to Phil and Cristina for help with the emotional aspects of their careers: overcoming audition anxiety, stage fright and pre-performance insomnia.

"TCM techniques like acupuncture, Tui Na (soft tissue manipulation), and other manual therapies have proven incredibly effective at helping our dance patients recover from injury and prepare for the emotional challenges of working as a New York City dancer," said Phil, a New York State–licensed acupuncturist, Tui Na practitioner, and herbalist. "On top of living in one of the world's most stressful and frenetic cities, New York dancers have rigorous rehearsal schedules and endure intense strain on their bodies. We undo a lot of that stress and help people heal."

Located at 16 East 40th Street – convenient to Manhattan's artistic and theatrical community – Seven Point Wellness is a must for many dancers, who turn to TCM for injury rehabilitation and freedom from physical and emotional stress. Hannah, a 23-year-old professional dancer/actress, said Seven Point helped her reclaim her career and changed its trajectory for the better. "Not only couldn't I dance before Phil treated me, I couldn't walk!," said Hannah. "My knee and hip were in constant pain. Now I'm back in class and auditioning, and with more flexibility than I've had in a long time."

"Thanks to Phil, I have more energy and less back pain," added Aaron, a professional dancer and choreographer. "I've been able to dance more fully with increased endurance, like I could 20 years ago. This work has transformed my career."

To help raise awareness of the unique benefit of TCM for the NYC dancer community, from now through January 10, 2012, Seven Point Wellness will offer working NYC dancers their first appointment for half the usual fee. This important first visit includes a full health history, acupuncture, bodywork, herbal consultation, nutritional and lifestyle assessment, and other Eastern therapies (i.e. Gua Sha, Moxibustion, and more).

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/acupuncture-group-creates-new-opportunities-for-nyc-dancers-132141148.html

Direct Physiologic Effects of Homeopathic Medicines Objectively Measured

Direct Physiologic Effects of Homeopathic Medicines Objectively Measured

News Source: 

Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine

Sentiment: 

Positive

News Date: 

July 25, 2011

"Researchers from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India used a Medical Analyzer System to explore the autonomic response of selective homeopathic medicines in healthy persons. The objective of this investigation was to observe the changes produced in the variability spectrum of heart rate variability and blood flow variability following administration of placebo and different potencies of certain homeopathic medicines. This investigation is particularly interesting because, even though several clinical studies have demonstrated an effect of highly diluted homeopathic medicines, until now their action had not been directly observable."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21787219

Coriander/Cilantro oil has anti-bacterial properties.

Coriander oil is capable of killing many strains of bacteria in laboratory tests, researchers have found.

Coriander, also called cilantro, is an aromatic plant used in cooking. For centuries, oil produced from the seeds has been tied to health benefits, including pain relief, ease of cramps, nausea fighter, aid for digestion and treatment of fungal infections.Coriander, also called cilantro or Chinese parsley, has been used for centuries to aid digestion. Apichart Weerawong/Associated Press

Now scientists writing in the Journal of Medical Microbiology say the oil reduced the growth of 12 bacterial species, including E. coli, salmonella and the MRSAsuperbug. Most strains were killed by solutions containing 1.6 per cent coriander oil or less.

"The results indicate that coriander oil damages the membrane surrounding the bacterial cell," said Fernanda Domingues, who led the study at the University of Beira Interior in Portugal.

"This disrupts the barrier between the cell and its environment and inhibits essential processes including respiration, which ultimately leads to death of the bacterial cell," she added in a release.

The sterilized coriander oil did not work against two types of bacteria,Bacillus cereus and Enterococcus faecalis.

"These results, showing a potent antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria due to membrane permeability, are noteworthy and justify the use of this plant, not only as a food flavouring agent, but also as a food preservative in order to prevent bacterial spoilage of foods," the study's authors concluded.

"However, this research needs further enlightenment in order to evaluate the suitability of these remarkable antibacterial properties in practical applications."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/08/24/coriander-bacteria.html

Using antibiotics for UTI, urinary tract infections has a side effect: antibiotic resistant E.coli.

A recent study highlights the problem with using Antibiotics as a cure-all: the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. 

Women with recurrent urinary tract infections sometimes must take low-dose antibiotics for months to control the problem. Many prefer to try something less onerous, like cranberry extract or juice, whichseveral studies have suggested can prevent these infections.

But a new study finds that a commonly used antibiotic works much better than cranberry, with one significant drawback: It encourages the development of resistant strains of bacteria.

Dutch researchers randomly assigned 221 women with a history of infections to two groups. The first took a daily dose of 480 milligrams of Bactrim, an antibiotic, and the second took 1,000 milligrams of cranberry extract.

The study, published Monday in The Archives of Internal Medicine, found that by any of three measures — the number of symptomatic infections, the proportion of patients with at least one infection or the average time to the first infection after starting the regimens — antibiotics controlled the infections more effectively in the study participants.

But when the researchers tested the subjects’ urine and feces, they found a large increase in the presence of antibiotic-resistant strains of E. coli, the most common cause of the infections, in those who used the antibiotic.

Dr. Suzanne E. Geerlings, the senior author and an infectious disease specialist at the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam, said the findings did not rule out using cranberry and noted that antibiotics have risks. “Antibiotics work better,” she said, “but when you get an infection resistant to antibiotics, you have a bigger problem.”

Read the original NY Times story here:

Regimens: Downside for a Urinary Infection Remedy

Video: Homeopathic Medicine Safety for Kids

A great video on the safety of Homeopathic Medicine, and it's gentle effectiveness for kids. Click on video link picture below to watch the video at http://www.homeopathic.org/  - full video after brief commercial. 
Video Link: Full Video after brief commercial.