The search for a true hair vitamin has puzzled scientists for years. Now, doctors in California have identified a vitamin-like substance that looks like the natural solution to balding and unwanted hair loss…

Stunning Results in “Leftover” Mice

Doctors at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles had some mice left over from drug experiments. Some of the animals had excessive hair loss, but were otherwise healthy. They decided to see if they could regrow hair in the mice, by adding a natural extract- known as polyphenols- to their diet.

Hair Loss “Stopped Completely”

The doctors divided the mice into two groups. They gave the first group a polyphenol extract added to their drinking water. The other group received plain water only.

After six months, the mice receiving the polyphenols in their drinking water showed no progressive hair loss. This finding is remarkable and bears repeating. In every one of the mice fed the extract in their water, hair loss completely stopped.

Polyphenols Grow New Hair

The findings on hair loss cessation are exciting by themselves. But the real surprise is the report of “significant regrowth” of hair in animals receiving the polyphenol treatment.

The L.A. scientists found that 33% of the treated mice had significant hair regrowth. They actually referred to this as “spontaneous remission,” a medical term usually reserved for unexplainable or miraculous reversal of disease.

No hair regrowth was observed in the untreated (control) group. Other than the polyphenols, both groups were fed the same diet. Both were housed in the same conditions. Only the polyphenol group had zero further hair loss, and substantial hair regrowth.

Science Strongest for Apple Polyphenols and Hair Growth

Previous experiments have proven that polyphenols from apple skins, grape seeds and barley all exhibit the ability to regrow hair in animal and human trials. This is the first report in the literature showing that green tea polyphenols also have some hair growth effects. This study is also important because it’s the first time that polyphenols have produced new hair growth when taken internally.

Proof of “Significant Regrowth”

Human clinical trials on apple polyphenols, specifically procyanidins, have shown the best and fastest results in hair regrowth, but have only been tested topically. This latest study is proof that polyphenols, taken internally, have significant hair growth effects in mammals.

The human hair cycle is a complex process. Other vitamins, minerals and hormones are certainly involved in the general health of hair follicles, skin, and other organs. But now, for the first time, you can specifically target hair loss and regrowth with polyphenols- the new hair vitamin.

David L. Kern is a medical research analyst and editor of New Health Longevity, a newsletter devoted to the latest advances in antiaging medicine and nutrition. Stop struggling with unwanted hair loss. Get full details on this safe, natural hair vitamin right now at http://www.applepoly.com/hairvitamin

Article Source: http://allthingspondered.com

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Tom Venuto wrote an excellent article below, visit his website to learn more about his e-book. Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
http://www.tobeinformed.com/burnfat

Not long ago, one of the members of my health club poked her head in my office for some advice. Linda was a 46 year old mother of two, and she had been a member for over a year. She had been working out sporadically, with (not surprisingly), sporadic results. On that particular day, she seemed to have enthusiasm and a twinkle in her eye that I hadn’t seen before.

“I want to enter a before and after fitness contest called the “12 week body transformation challenge.” I could win money and prizes and even get my picture in a magazine.”

“I want to lose THIS”, she continued, as she grabbed the body fat on her stomach. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”

Linda was not “obese,” she just had the typical “moderate roll” of abdominal body fat and a little bit of thigh/hip fat that many forty-something females struggle with.

“I think it’s a great idea,” I reassured her. “Competitions are great for motivation. When you have a deadline and you dangle a “carrot” like that prize money in front of you, it can keep you focused and more motivated than ever.”

Linda was eager and rarin’ to go. “Will you help me? I have this enrollment kit and I need my body fat measured.”

“No problem,” I said as I pulled out my Skyndex fat caliper, which is used to measure body fat percentage with a “pinch an inch” test.

When I finished, I read the results to her from the caliper display: “Twenty-seven percent. Room for improvement, but not bad; it’s about average for your age group.”

She wasn’t overjoyed at being ‘average’. “Yeah, but it’s not good either. Look at THIS,” she complained as again she grabbed a handful of stomach fat. “I want to get my body fat down to 19%, I heard that was a good body fat level.”

I agreed that 19% was a great goal, but told her it would take a lot of work because average fat loss is usually about a half a percent a week, or six percent in twelve weeks. Her goal, to lose eight percent in twelve weeks was ambitious.

She smiled and insisted, “I’m a hard worker. I can do it”

Indeed she was and indeed she did. She was a machine! Not only did she never miss a day in the gym, she trained HARD. Whenever I left my office and took a stroll through the gym, she was up there pumping away with everything she had. She told me her diet was the strictest it had ever been in her life and she didn’t cheat at all. I believed her, and it started to show, quickly.

Each week she popped into my office to have her body fat measured again, and each week it went down, down, down. Consistently she lost three quarters of a percent per week – well above the average rate of fat loss – and on two separate occasions, I recall her losing a full one percent body fat in just seven days.

Someone conservative might have said she was overtraining, but when we weighed her and calculated her lean body mass, we saw that she hadn’t lost ANY muscle – only fat. Her results were simply exceptional!

She was ecstatic, and needless to say, her success bred more success and she kept after it like a hungry tiger for the full twelve weeks.

On week twelve, day seven, she showed up in my office for her final weigh-in and body fat measurement. She was wearing a pair of formerly tight blue jeans and they were FALLING OFF her!

“Look, look, look,” she repeated giddily as she tugged at her waistband, which was now several inches too large.

As I took her body fat, I have to say, I was impressed. She hadn’t just lost a little fat, she was “RIPPED!”

During week twelve she dropped from 18% to 17% body fat, for a grand total of 10% body fat lost in three months. She surpassed her goal of 19% by two percent. I was now even more impressed, because not many people lose that much body fat in three months.

You should have seen her! She started jumping up and down for joy like she was on a pogo stick! She was beaming… grinning from ear to ear! She practically knocked me over as she jumped up and gave me a hug – “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Don’t thank me,” I said, “You did it, I just measured your body fat.”

She thanked me again anyway and then said she had to go have her “after” pictures taken.

Then something very, very strange happened. She stopped coming to the gym. Her “disappearance” was so abrupt, I was worried and I called her. She never picked up, so I just left messages.

No return phone call.

It was about four months later when I finally saw Linda again. The giddy smile was gone, replaced with a sullen face, a droopy posture and a big sigh when I said hello and asked where she’d been.

“I stopped working out after the contest… and I didn’t even win.”

“You looked like a winner to me, no matter what place you came in” I insisted, “but why did you stop, you were doing so well!”

“I don’t know, I blew my diet and then just completely lost my motivation. Now look at me, my weight is right back where I started and I don’t even want to know my body fat.”

“Well, I’m glad to see you back in here again. Write down some new goals for yourself and remember to think long term too. Twelve week goals are important, but fitness isn’t 12 week program you know, it’s a lifestyle – you have to do it every day, for the rest of your life.”

She nodded her head and finished her workout, still with a defeated look on her face. Unfortunately, she never again come anywhere near the condition she achieved for that competition, and for the rest of the time she was a member at our club, she slipped right back into the sporadic on and off workout pattern.

Linda was not an isolated case. I’ve seen the same thing happen with countless men and women of all ages and fitness levels from beginners to competitive bodybuilders. In fact, it happens to millions of people who “go on” diets, lose a lot of weight, then quickly “go off” the diet and gain the weight right back.

What causes people to burn so brightly with enthusiasm and motivation and then burn out just as quickly? Why do so many people succeed brilliantly in the short term but fail 95 out of 100 times in the long term? Why do so many people reach their fitness goals but struggle to maintain them?

The answer is simple: Health and fitness is for life, not for “12 weeks.”

You can avoid the on and off, yo-yo cycle of fitness ups and downs. You can get in great shape and stay in great shape. You can even get in shape and keep getting in better and better shape year after year, but it’s going to take a very different philosophy than most people subscribe to. The seven tips below will guide you.

These guidelines are quite contrary to the quick fix philosophies prevailing in the weight loss and fitness world today. Applying them will take patience, discipline and dedication and they will put you in the minority. Just remember, the only thing worse than getting no results is getting great results and losing them.

1) Don’t “go on” diets. When you “go on” a diet, the underlying assumption is that at some point you have to “go off” it. This isn’t just semantics, it’s one of the primary reasons most diets fail. By definition, a “diet” is a temporary and often drastic change in your eating behaviors and/or a severe restriction of calories or food, which is ultimately, not maintainable. If you reach your goal, the diet is officially “over” and then you “go off” (returning to the way you used to eat). Health and fitness is not temporary; it’s not a “diet.” It’s something you do every day of your life. Unless you approach nutrition from a “habits” and “lifestyle” perspective, you’re doomed from the start.

2) Eat the same healthy foods consistently, all year round. Permanent fat loss is best achieved by eating mostly the same types of foods all year round. Naturally, you should include a wide variety of healthy foods so you get the full spectrum of nutrients you need, but there should be consistency, month in, month out. When you want to lose body fat, there’s no dramatic change necessary – you don’t need to eat totally different foods – it’s a simple matter of eating less of those same healthy foods and exercising more.

3) Have a plan for easing into maintenance. Let’s face it – sometimes a nutrition program needs to be more strict than usual. For example, peaking for a bodybuilding, figure, fitness or transformation challenge contest requires an extremely strict regimen that’s different than the rest of the year. As a rule, the stricter your nutrition program, the more you must plan ahead and the more time you must allow for a slow, disciplined transition into maintenance. Failure to plan for a gradual transition will almost always result in a huge binge and a very rapid, hard fall “off the wagon.”

4) Focus on changing daily behaviors and habits one or two at a time. Rather than making huge, multiple changes all at once, focus on changing one or two habits/behaviors at a time. Most psychologists agree that it takes about 21 days of consistent effort to replace an old bad habit with a new positive one. As you master each habit, and it becomes as ingrained into your daily life as brushing your teeth, then you simply move on to the next one. That would be at least 17 new habits per year. Can you imagine the impact that would have on your health and your life? This approach requires patience, but the results are a lot more permanent than if you try to change everything in one fell swoop. This is also the least intimidating way for a beginner to start making some health-improving changes to their lifestyle.

5) Make goal setting a lifelong habit. Goal setting is not a one-time event, it’s a process that never ends. For example, if you have a 12 week goal to lose 6% bodyfat, what are you going to do after you achieve it? Lose even more fat? Gain muscle? What’s next? On week 13, day 1, if you have no direction and no long term goal to keep you going, you’ll have nothing to keep you from slipping back into old patterns. Every time you achieve a short term goal (daily, weekly and 12 week goals), you must set another one. Having short term goals means that you are literally setting goals continuously and never stopping.

6) Allow a reasonable time frame to reach your goal. It’s important to set deadlines for your fitness and weight loss goals. It’s also important to set big, ambitious goals, but you must allow a reasonable time frame for achieving them. Time pressure is often the motivating force that helps people get in the best shape of their lives. But when the deadline is unrealistic for a particular goal (like 30 pounds in 30 days), then crash dieting or other extreme measures are often taken to get there before the bell. The more rapidly you lose weight, the more likely you are to lose muscle and the faster the weight will come right back on afterwards. Start sooner. Don’t wait until mid-May to think about looking good for summer.

7) Extend your time perspective. Successful people in every field always share one common character trait: Long term time perspective. Some of the most successful Japanese technology and manufacturing companies have 100 year and even 250-year business plans. If you want to be successful in maintaining high levels of fitness, you must set long term goals: One year, Ten years, Even fifty years! You also must consider what the long term consequences might be as a result of using any “radical” diet, training method or ergogenic aid. The people who had it but lost it are usually the ones who failed to think long term or acknowledge future consequences. It’s easy for a 21 year old to live only for today, and it may even seem ridiculous to set 25 year goals, but consider this: I’ve never met a 40 or 60 year old who didn’t care about his or her health and appearance, but I have met 40 or 60 year olds who regretted not caring 25 years ago.

Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) is a fat loss program which acknowledges the simple truth that going “on diets,” entering “Fitness challenges” or competing in “Transformation contests” without having long term goals and a lifestyle attitude, is a recipe for failure. Don’t let yourself be part of the latest fitness dropout statistics: visit the Burn The Fat website for more details on how to change your lifestyle… and keep the change! www.burnthefat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s Fat Loss program, visit:
http://www.tobeinformed.com/burnfat

——-

I thought you might enjoy Tom’s article.

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Give or take a few thousand, approximately 80,000 people in the United States die each and every year at the hands of medical
“professionals.”

Medical malpractice is rampant in this country and it isn’t receiving the kind of press it deserves.

Consider this. If you run the numbers, 80,000 deaths a year is the equivalent of three fully packed jumbo jets nose diving into the ground with no survivors, every week.

How long would it take for you to realize you need to find a better form of transportation? And yet, patients are being admitted to hospitals and treated in doctor’s offices with out ever considering their odds of coming out alive. It staggers the imagination.

Medical malpractice is such an epidemic that if it were some new kind of new flu virus, the center for disease control in Atlanta would be screaming to the high heavens.

But still, the American public is being led into precarious medical situations like sheep being led to slaughter.

The statistics have been confirmed by numerous studies performed in California and New Jersey. Ph.D., Elizabeth A. McGlynn, Ph.D, and Robert H. Brook, M.D., Sc.D. discovered that autopsy studies revealed rates between 35 and 40% of missed diagnoses by medical personnel. The majority of the cases resulted in the patient’s death.

Unfortunately medical malpractice injuries and deaths go un-publicized since the incidents happen “only” one at a time. The social impact (shock factor) is not present because injury and death is sort of a “private thing.” Even more disturbing, these numbers are only based on statistics the hospitals themselves are willing to reveal. It doesn’t take much of a stretch in the imagination to believe that the numbers are far greater.

The stats do not include deaths from missed diagnoses or medical negligence that occurred in clinics, private doctors’ offices, dental offices or other non-hospital facilities.

Interestingly, very few claims are filed on behalf of the victims. Less than 2% of the people injured, (or their families in fatal cases) ever seek compensation by filing a lawsuit.

Medical Malpractice in the United States is a national disgrace. Even worse, it is receiving little attention when compared to the hottest new TV reality show.

We “Survivors” better quickly figure out if there is anything that can be done to stop the slaughter.

About The Author: Tony Merlino is webmaster and legal marketing consultant at http://www.JerseyJustice.com ,a legal information and marketing portal for clients and their lawyers in New Jersey.

Article Source: http://tobeinformed.com

Medical Malpractice Resource List

I struggled to find a good article about nursing and nursing schools and could not find one. So let me just tell you what I know and my opinions. You can find a short list of nursing schools here

The nursing profession comes with a lot of options. You are not necessarily confined to the typical role of a nurse in a sick ward. You can be an ER nurse if you like the high stress, high action environment. You can also go into administrative functions as a nurse.

You can also join a number of travelling nurse programs. I knew two such nurses when I lived in hawaii. Their living space was paid for, they had good jobs and there were probably other perks invovled. Because there is a shortage of nurses across the board, a number of opportunites exist for travel. In fact, as a I write this, the idea of travelling and getting paid well to do so, seems very enticing to me.

If you are a male, there is indeed a need for male nurses as well. You come with certain advantages when it comes to restraining out-of-control patients – especially in the Emergency Room. So this may be a good choice for you.

Whatever you decide – happy carreer hunting.

Here is that list of nursing schools again.

Steps to Prevent Dry Socket after Dental Extraction

Dry socket (alveolar osteitis) is an infection in your tooth socket after a tooth is extracted. It occurs when the blood clot at the site of a tooth extraction is disrupted prematurely. This leaves the alveolar bone unprotected and exposed to the oral environment. The socket can be packed with food and bacteria. The pain typically commences 3-4 days following the extraction. This is often extremely unpleasant for the patient, as symptoms include extreme pain (sometimes worse than the toothache that indicated the extraction), a foul taste, bad breath, and swelling in the infected area. Nerves are exposed, and sometimes the bone is visible in the empty socket. It is often accompanied by what feels like an earache. There may be lymph-node involvement.

Dry socket occurs in approximately 5 percent of all tooth extractions. Women are at higher risk than men for developing dry socket. Of the women that have developed it, the majority take an oral contraceptive. Smokers have been shown to have a greatly increased risk of developing alveolar osteitis after tooth extraction. This is thought to be due to the decreased amount of oxygen available in the healing tissues as a result of carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke. It is advisable to avoid smoking following tooth extraction for at least 48 hours to reduce the risk of developing this dry socket.

Treatment for alveolar osteitis is mainly preventative. Maintaining good oral hygiene is a must before and during the healing period. If possible, have your teeth professionally cleaned several days before dental surgery. Take all of your regular medications for systemic illnesses (diabetics and cardiovascular diseases). Women are recommended to have extractions during the last five days of their menstrual cycle. This is to minimize chances of developing dry socket because the estrogen levels are lower during that part of the cycle (day 23-28).

Several things can cause the premature loss of a blood clot from an extraction site, including smoking, forceful spitting, sucking through a straw, coughing or sneezing. You should also avoid consuming carbonated or alcoholic beverages after an extraction, as these have also been associated with the development of dry socket. Also, you should:

. keep your fingers and tongue away from the extraction site.
. apply an ice pack to your jaw for the first 24 hours following surgery – on for 15-20 minutes, and off for 30-40 minutes – to prevent pain and swelling and stop excessive bleeding.
. not rinse your mouth the day of surgery. The next day, you can rinse gently with warm salt water; dissolve one teaspoon of salt in a cup of warm water. Be sure to rinse and spit gently.
Call your dentist right away if you notice any symptoms of dry socket. Treatment for dry socket typically includes a gentle rinsing of the socket to remove debris. This is followed by packing the socket with Alvogyl. Its fibrous consistency allows for easy filling of the socket and good adherence during the entire healing process. The active ingredients of Alvogyl include:

. eugenol for analgesic action;
. butamben for anesthetic action; and
. iodoform for anti-microbial action.

Sometimes analgesics are also prescribed. You usually need to return to the dentist’s office two to three times over a two-week time period for re-dressing and monitoring the healing. Fortunately, a dry socket is often self-healed over a longer time. In very rare situation where the dry socket can’t heal itself, another operation may be needed. The procedure aims to make the socket bleed again and so that a new blood clot can be formed inside the post-extraction socket.

For more information, please contact Dr. M. Nguyen at 281-807-6111 or drnguyen@softdental.com. SoftDental (website: http://www.softdental.com ) is Houston’s Premier Laser, Family, and Cosmetic dentistry. We are one of the America’s Top Dentists and have served Houston since 1993.

Article Source: http://tobeinformed.com

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