videos:
- Anecdotals (4:35)
Anecdotals was made by Jennifer Sharp
Jennifer Sharp is an award winning director, editor, writer and graduate of NYU, Tisch School of the Arts. In 2015, while traveling alone in Honduras, she was inspired to document the story of locals she encountered. With only her cell phone and her artistic vision, she shot the short documentary, “Solitary Worlds,” which won the grand jury prize at the 2016 Rincon International film festival. She is a believer that Art has the power to change the world, and that artists have a responsibility to facilitate that change through sharing their truths. Her film, Waiting, reflects on how we spend our lives waiting passively for dreams to come true. Boxed speaks of the baggage that we choose to carry around. Time Travelers, is a reflection of the absurdity of humans’ obsession with time. In Una Great Movie, Jennifer uses humor to address racism, tourism, and how making art a business can destroy art.
- Psychologist debunks 8 myths of mass scale | Todd Rose Part 2. (10:00)
Intermittent fasting may reverse type 2 diabetes
Hunan Agricultural University (China), December 14, 2022
After an intermittent fasting diet intervention, patients achieved complete diabetes remission, defined as an HbA1c (average blood sugar) level of less than 6.5% at least one year after stopping diabetes medication, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Intermittent fasting diets have become popular in recent years as an effective weight loss method. With intermittent fasting, you only eat during a specific window of time. Fasting for a certain number of hours each day or eating just one meal a couple of days a week can help your body burn fat. Research shows intermittent fasting can lower your risk of diabetes and heart disease. “Our research shows an intermittent fasting, Chinese Medical Nutrition Therapy (CMNT), can lead to diabetes remission in people with type 2 diabetes, and these findings could have a major impact on the over 537 million adults worldwide who suffer from the disease.” The researchers conducted a 3-month intermittent fasting diet intervention among 36 people with diabetes and found almost 90% of participants, including those who took blood sugar-lowering agents and insulin, reduced their diabetes medication intake after intermittent fasting. Fifty-five percent of these people experienced diabetes remission, discontinued their diabetes medication and maintained it for at least one year. The study challenges the conventional view that diabetes remission can only be achieved in those with a shorter diabetes duration (0-6 years). Sixty-five percent of the study participants who achieved diabetes remission had a diabetes duration of more than 6 years (6-11 years).”Diabetes medications are costly and a barrier for many patients who are trying to effectively manage their diabetes. Our study saw medication costs decrease by 77% in people with diabetes after intermittent fasting,” Liu said.
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Aloe Vera Compound Found to Improve Alzheimer’s Disease
University of Miami School of Medicine, December 3, 2022
Scientists from the University of Miami’s School of Medicine determined that a constituent of Aloe vera reduces Alzheimer’s disease symptoms and increases cognition scores. The researchers gave a supplement with aloe polymannose – also called acemannan – to Alzheimer’s patients over a one year period. They tested the subjects every three months. The researchers found that the cognitive improvements occurred in 46% of the patients taking the supplement. The research also found that several cytokines and inflammatory factors were significantly decreased among the patients. This of course directly relates to a reduction in neuro-inflammation. Other research has determined that neuro-inflammation is symptomatic in Alzheimer’s disease. The patients consumed four teaspoons a day of the supplement. Their cognition scores were determined using the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale system – also called ADAS-cog – along with several other tests. Aloe polymannose is a complex oligosaccharide, which has been extensively studied for its ability to interact with and regulate glycoprotein metabolism. This directly affects inflammation processes. Aloe contains several other medicinal saccharides, such as D-mannose.
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Drinking coffee regularly after pregnancy may lower type 2 diabetes risk for women who had diabetes during pregnancy
National University of Singapore, December 14, 2022
The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is projected to continue rising and one in three currently has a risk of developing diabetes in their lifetime. Several early-life cardiometabolic complications make identifying high-risk populations and application of diabetes preventive strategies paramount. Among the high-risk groups are women who experienced diabetes during pregnancy, commonly known as gestational diabetes mellitus or gestational diabetes. Compared to the general healthy female population, these women may face a ten-fold higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Current known research has found that, instead of artificially and sugar-sweetened drinks, drinking two to five cups of either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee a day is potentially a healthier substitute in delaying the onset or preventing type 2 diabetes. This is likely due to the bioactive components in coffee, such as polyphenols, which are naturally-occurring plant micronutrients. Bioactive components are types of chemicals found in small amounts in plants and certain foods, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, oils, and whole grains, and may promote good health. This common and popular drink appears to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes in the general population. To investigate this, Professor Cuilin Zhang, Director of the Global Center for Asian Women’s Health (GloW) and a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine)in collaboration with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), examined the roles of long-term coffee consumption after the complicated pregnancy and subsequent risk of type 2 diabetes among women with a history of gestational diabetes. The team further examined coffee consumption with type 2 diabetes by replacing commonly consumed sugary drinks with coffee. In their study, the researchers followed more than 4,500 predominantly white female participants who had a history of gestational diabetes, for over 25 years, and examined the associations of long-term coffee consumption with subsequent risk of type 2 diabetes. The consumption of caffeinated coffee among women after their pregnancies, was discovered to have a linear inverse association with the risk of type 2 diabetes. Compared to those who did not drink caffeinated coffee at all, among those who drank one cup of caffeinated coffee or less, two to three cups, and four and more cups a day, the risk of type 2 diabetes was reduced by 10%, 17%, and 53% respectively. More importantly, replacing artificially sweetened and sugar-sweetened beverages with coffee also reduces the risk, by 10% for a cup of artificially sweetened beverage, and 17% for a cup of sugar-sweetened one. “Thus far, the overall findings suggest that caffeinated coffee, when consumed properly (two to five cups per day, without sugar and whole-fat/high-fat dairy), could be incorporated into a relatively healthy lifestyle for certain population,” noted Professor Zhang.
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Aging 101: Scientists reveal how to successfully age gracefully
University of Toronto, December 12, 2022
Aging is a topic few people like discussing, especially in their later years. So, how do some people manage to stay healthy and vital — what scientists call “optimal aging”? A new study is revealing the key factors which can keep you lively well into old age. In an analysis of more than 7,000 middle aged and older Canadian adults, researchers from the University of Toronto found women, married adults, and physically active individuals were more likely than their peers to maintain excellent health over a three-year study period. Participants who were not obese, those who never smoked, high-income workers, and those with no history of sleep problems, heart disease, and arthritis were also more likely to stay in great shape over these 36 months. Overall, healthy people in any of these groups were less likely than others to develop cognitive, physical, or emotional problems. The team notes that each participant was in “excellent” health at the start of the three-year review. None of them had any signs of memory loss, disability, or chronic pain. “We were surprised and delighted to learn that more than 70% of our sample maintained their excellent state of health across the study period,” says study first author Mabel Ho at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW) and the Institute of Life Course and Aging. “Our findings underline the importance of a strength-based rather than a deficit-based focus on aging and older adults. The media and research tend to ignore the positive and just focus on the problems.” The study found that three in four adults between 55 and 64 years-old continued to display signs of optimal aging throughout the three years. However, only half of those 80 and over remained in excellent health. “It is remarkable that half of those aged 80 and older maintained this extremely high bar of cognitive, physical, and emotional well-being across the three years of the study. This is wonderful news for older adults and their families who may anticipate that precipitous decline is inevitable for those aged 80 and older,” says Mabel Ho. The Canadian team also found that three in four people living above the poverty line aged optimally, compared to just half of those living below the poverty line.
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How To Sleep Better Without Meds: Soak In More Daylight Outdoors, Even If It’s Cloudy
University of Washington, December 13, 2022
Getting outside for at least a little while and soaking in some daytime light, even when it’s cloudy, can help us sleep soundly at night, new research from the University of Washington suggests. Scientists measured the sleep patterns of UW undergrad students, observing that they tended to fall asleep especially late and wake up later in the morning during winter. Of course, that’s a time when daylight hours on the UW Seattle campus are usually limited and the skies stay overcast. Collected data confirmed that the observed students weren’t getting nearly as much daylight during winter in comparison to other seasons. Study authors theorize this is why they slept less. Numerous earlier studies have indicated that lack of daylight exposure can lead to restlessness come bedtime. “Our bodies have a natural circadian clock that tells us when to go to sleep at night,” says senior author Horacio de la Iglesia, a UW professor of biology, in a statement. “If you do not get enough exposure to light during the day when the sun is out, that ‘delays’ your clock and pushes back the onset of sleep at night.” That data indicated students were getting about the same amount of sleep daily regardless of the season. However, on school days during the winter, participants went to bed an average of 35 minutes later and woke up 27 minutes later than summer school days. Study authors admit they were surprised by their findings, especially considering Seattle is a high-latitude city that enjoys close to 16 hours of sunlight on the summer solstice, over eight hours of sunlight on the winter solstice, and plenty of year-round evening light and nightlife. “We were expecting that in the summer students would be up later due to all the light that’s available during that season,” Prof. de la Iglesia adds. Based the collected data, study authors posit that something was happening during winter to “push back” the students’ circadian cycles. The instinctual circadian cycle governing when we wake up and sleep runs at about 24 hours and 20 minutes for most people, but is also “calibrated” on a daily basis by environmental stimuli. The students’ circadian cycles were running up to 40 minutes later in winter than summer. The data indicates that daytime light exposure has a bigger impact on sleep than evening light exposure. More specifically, each additional hour of daytime light “moved up” the students’ circadian phases by a half hour. Even if it was cloudy or overcast during the winter, outdoor light exposure still had this effect. Each hour of evening light (light derived from indoor sources like lamps and computer screens) meanwhile, delayed circadian phases by about 15 minutes. Cloudy daylight is still significantly brighter than artificial indoor lighting. In conclusion, researchers say these findings may prove valuable to far more people than just college students.
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Study: Turmeric and Bay Leaves Team up to Prevent Atherosclerosis
Yeungnam University (South Korea), December 10, 2022
There are numerous natural, healthful ways to achieve protection against inflammation and issues like atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), with diet playing an especially important role. Just one solution revolves around the spice turmeric and the herb bay leaves, with one recent study finding that combining the two can have remarkable effects on reducing the risk factors for heart disease – reducing plaque build up and reducing blood sugar. The study, published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, focused on zebrafish fed a high cholesterol diet (HCD) and then tracked for health changes. Some of the fish were given turmeric and bay leaf extracts, while the others did not. Compared to zebrafish that did not consume the extracts, those that received either turmeric or laurel experienced a 14 percent or 12 percent decrease, respectively, in their overall weight and height ratios. The turmeric and laurel groups also experienced a respective 48 percent and 28 percent reduction in cholesterol levels, as well as a respective 68 percent and 56 percent decrease in plasma triglycerides. The researchers found that these extracts and their strong antioxidant concentrations suppressed the incidence of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. This is a significant risk factor for heart disease, and when paired with the other benefits noted in the zebrafish, the findings could translate to important advances in the prevention of heart disease in humans.