BENEFIT OF EATING OKRA (LADY'S FINGER) (Bendakaya)

A guy has been suffering from constipation for the past 20 years and
recently from acid reflux. He didn't realize that the treatmentcould be so simple -- OKRA! (or Lady's Finger). He started eating okra within the last 2 months and since then have never taken medication again. All he did was consume 6 pieces of OKRA everyday. 

He's now regular and his blood sugar has drop ped from 135 to 98,  with his cholesterol and acid reflux also under control. Here are some facts on okra (from the research of Ms. Sylvia Zook, PH.D nutrition), University of
Illinois.  * 

*"Okra is a powerhouse of valuable nutrients, nearly half of which is 
soluble fiber in the form of gums and pectins. Soluble fiber helps to lower serum cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart disease. 

The other half is insoluble fiber which helps to keep the intestinal tract healthy, decreasing the risk of some forms of cancer, especially colo-rectal cancer. *

*Nearly 10 % of the recommended levels of vitamin B6 and folic acid is also present in a half cup of cooked okra. Okra is a rich source of many nutrients, including fiber, vitamin B6 and folic acid. 

He got the following numbers from the University of Illinois Extension Okra Page Please check there for more details. 

Okra Nutrition (half-cup cooked okra) 
* Calories = 25 
* Dietary Fiber = 2 grams 
* Protein = 1.5 grams 
* Carbohydrates = 5.8 grams 
* Vitamin A = 460 IU 
* Vitamin C = 13 mg 
* Folic acid = 36.5 micrograms 
* Calcium = 50 mg 
* Iron = 0.4 mg 
* Potassium = 256 mg 
* Magnesium = 46 mg * 
 
*These numbers should be used as a guideline only, and if you are on a medically-restricted diet please consult your physician and/or dietician. 

Ms Sylvia W. Zook, Ph.D. (nutritionist) has very kindly provided the following thought-provoking comments on the many benefits of this versatile vegetable. 

They are well worth reading

1. The superior fiber found in okra helps to stabilize blood sugar as it curbs the r ate at which sugar is absorbed from the intestinal tract. 

2. Okra's mucilage not only binds cholesterol but bile acid carrying toxins dumped into it by the filtering liver. But it doesn't stop there...

3. Many alternative health practitioners believe all diseases begin in the colon. The okra fiber, absorbing water and ensuring bulk in stools, helps  prevent constipation . Fiber in general is helpful for this but okra is one of the best, along with ground flax seed and psyllium. Unlike harsh wheat bran, which can irritate or injure the intestinal tract, okra's mucilage soothes , and okra facilitates elimination more comfortably by its slippery characteristic many people abhor. 

In other words, this incredibly valuable vegetable not only binds excess cholesterol and toxins (in bile acids) which cause numerous health problems, if not evacuated, but also assures their easy passage from the body. The veggie is completely non-toxic, non-habit forming (except for the many who greatly enjoy eating it), has n o adverse side effects, is full of nutrients, and is economically within reach of most. 

4. Further contributing to the health of the intestinal tract, okra fiber(as 
well as flax and psyllium) has no equal among fibers for feeding the good bacteria (probiotics). 

5. To retain most of okra's nutrients and self-digesting enzymes, it should be cooked as little as possible, e.g. with low heat or lightly steamed. Some eat it raw. 


Some important benefits of consuming okra:

Stabilises blood sugar level. 
Lowers serum cholesterol level. 
Prevents constipation. 
Ke eps intestinal tract healthy. 
Feeds good bacteria residing in us all.

10,000 steps daily 5 days a week three times more protective than just 3,000 steps a day

THURSDAY, Jan. 13 (HealthDay News) -- The more you walk, the lower your risk of diabetes, say Australian researchers.

The scientists tracked 592 middle-aged adults who participated in a study to map diabetes levels across Australia between 2000 and 2005. Participants underwent a health examination at the start of the study and provided details about their eating and lifestyle habits.

The volunteers were also given a pedometer and instructed how to use it.

Follow-up with the participants five years later showed that a higher daily step count was associated with a lower body-mass index (BMI), lower waist-to-hip ratio and better insulin sensitivity, even after adjusting for factors such as diet, smoking and alcohol intake.

These associations were independent of calorie intake and appeared to be largely due to a change in weight, said the researchers at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne.

They calculated that a sedentary person who changed his or her behavior and started walking 10,000 steps every day would achieve a threefold improvement in insulin sensitivity, compared with a similar person who walked 3,000 steps a day, five days a week.

The 10,000 steps per day is a popular guideline, but a more recent recommendation is 3,000 steps per day, five days a week.

"These findings, confirming an independent beneficial role of higher daily step count on body-mass index, waist-to-hip ratio and insulin sensitivity, provide further support to promote higher physical activity levels among middle-aged adults," the researchers concluded in a news release.

The study appears in the online edition of the British Medical Journal.

WATER THERAPY

WATER THERAPY

What is water Therapy?

Early in the morning, immediately after getting up from the bed (without even brushing your teeth) drink 1.5 liters of water ; after drinking you should not take any food or drink (juice/milk/coffee/tea) for at least one hour. If you feel difficult in taking 1.5 liters at a time, then you take water gradually (give a gap of 2 minutes after drinking 4 glasses of water). These 1.5 liters of water will help in cleansing your body. If you follow this process regularly, the toxins are released through sweat or urinal excretions. You should not take any alcohol last night.

Benefits of water therapy:

By water therapy, you can prevent some diseases and cure some diseases. If you drink water as suggested, then your skin will have a glowing effect, you will be free from constipation,  acidity can be cured within two sessions, Diabetes can be cured with seven sessions, hypertension controlled within only four weeks, you will be physically fit and your body temperature will be regulated.

When should we drink water? 

It’s simple but we do not adhere to it because of our busy schedule.

After water therapy early in the morning we must take a glass of water at regular intervals.

BUT WE MUST NOT HAVE WATER HALF-AN-HOUR BEFORE MEALS (ANY OTHER SOLID FOOD) AND TWO HOURS AFTER MEALS.

Consuming ordinary drinking water by the right method purifies human body. It renders the colon more effective by forming new fresh blood, known in medical terms as Haematopaises. The blood is all-important in curing ailments and restoring health and for this water should be consumed in a regular pattern.

One possible danger of water therapy is the unregulated intake of water. Our body has a natural mechanism of getting rid of excess water. If you take in more water than you could then you are risking a possible fatal condition called hyperhydration or water poisoning. This could result into conditions such as heart failure, stroke or brain damage. So in the morning hours consume not more than 1.5 liters of water at a stretch or as suggested then followed by intake at regular intervals. It is enough if adults consume water between 4-5 liters a day depending upon their individuals capacity.

Newly Developed Fluorescent Protein Makes Internal Organs Visible

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have developed the first fluorescent protein that enables scientists to clearly "see" the internal organs of living animals without the need for a scalpel or imaging techniques that can have side effects or increase radiation exposure.

The new probe could prove to be a breakthrough in whole-body imaging -- allowing doctors, for example, to noninvasively monitor the growth of tumors in order to assess the effectiveness of anti-cancer therapies. In contrast to other body-scanning techniques, fluorescent-protein imaging does not involve radiation exposure or require the use of contrast agents. The findings are described in the July 17 online edition of Nature Biotechnology.

For the past 20 years, scientists have used a variety of colored fluorescent proteins, derived from jellyfish and corals, to visualize cells and their organelles and molecules. But using fluorescent probes to peer inside live mammals has posed a major challenge. The reason: hemoglobin in an animal's blood effectively absorbs the blue, green, red and other wavelengths used to stimulate standard fluorescent proteins along with any wavelengths emitted by the proteins when they do light up.

To overcome that roadblock, the laboratory of Vladislav Verkhusha, Ph.D., associate professor of anatomy and structural biology at Einstein and the study's senior author, engineered a fluorescent protein from a bacterial phytochrome (the pigment that a species of bacteria uses to detect light). This new phytochrome-based fluorescent protein, dubbed iRFP, both absorbs and emits light in the near-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum- the spectral region in which mammalian tissues are nearly transparent.

The researchers targeted their fluorescent protein to the liver -- an organ particularly difficult to visualize because of its high blood content. Adenovirus particles containing the gene for iRFP were injected into mice. Once the viruses and their gene cargoes infected liver cells, the infected cells expressed the gene and produced iRFP protein. The mice were then exposed to near-infrared light and it was possible to visualize the resulting emitted fluorescent light using a whole-body imaging device. Fluorescence of the liver in the infected mice was first detected the second day after infection and reached a peak at day five. Additional experiments showed that the iRFP fluorescent protein was nontoxic.

"Our study found that iRFP was far superior to the other fluorescent proteins that reportedly help in visualizing the livers of live animals," said Grigory Filonov, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Verkhusha''''s laboratory at Einstein, and the first author of the Nature Biotechnology paper. "iRFP not only produced a far brighter image, with higher contrast than the other fluorescent proteins, but was also very stable over time. We believe it will significantly broaden the potential uses for noninvasive whole-body imaging."

Dr. Filonov noted that fluorescent-protein imaging involves no radiation risk, which can occur with standard x-rays and computed tomography (CT) scanning. And unlike magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in which contrasting agents must sometimes be swallowed or injected to make internal body structures more visible, the contrast provided by iRFP is so vibrant that contrasting agents are not needed.

Japan bio-scientists produce 'singing mouse'

Japanese scientists said they had produced a mouse that tweets like a bird in a genetically engineered "evolution" which they hope will shed light on the origins of human language.
Japanese scientists said Tuesday they had produced a mouse that tweets like a bird in a genetically engineered "evolution" which they hope will shed light on the origins of human language.

A team of researchers at the University of Osaka created the animal in their "Evolved Mouse Project", in which they use genetically modified mice that are prone to miscopying DNA and thus to mutations.
"Mutations are the driving force of evolution. We have cross-bred the genetically modified mice for generations to see what would happen," lead researcher Arikuni Uchimura told AFP.
"We checked the newly born mice one by one... One day we found a mouse that was singing like a bird," he said, noting that the "singing mouse" was born by chance but that the trait will be passed on to future generations.
"I was surprised because I had been expecting mice that are different in physical shape," he said by telephone, adding that in fact the project had also produced "a mouse with short limbs and a tail like a dachshund".
The laboratory, directed by professor Takeshi Yagi at the Osaka University's Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences in western Japan, now has more than 100 "singing mice" for further research.
The team hopes they will provide clues on how human language evolved, just as researchers in other countries study songbirds such as finches to help them understand the origins of human language.
Scientists have found that birds use different sound elements, put them together into chunks like words in human languages and then make strings of them to sing "songs", that are subject to certain linguistic rules.
"Mice are better than birds to study because they are mammals and much closer to humans in their brain structures and other biological aspects," Uchimura said.
"We are watching how a mouse that emits new sounds would affect ordinary mice in the same group... in other words if it has social connotations," he said, adding that ordinary mice squeak mainly under stress.
Considering that mutant mice tweet louder when put in different environments or when males are put together with females, Uchimura said their chirps "may be some sort of expressions of their emotions or bodily conditions."
The team has found that ordinary mice that grew up with singing mice emitted fewer ultrasounds than others, which could indicate that communication methods can spread in the same group like a dialect.
Uchimura dreams of further "evolution" of mice through genetic engineering.

"I know it's a long shot and people would say it's 'too absurd'... but I'm doing this with hopes of making a Mickey Mouse some day," he said.........

Biochemists And Engineers Create Fast-acting Pathogen Sensor

Engineers invented a device to bring air samples into contact with genetically engineered biosensors in the effort to detect dangerous biological agents. The technology uses multiple collections of altered cell antibodies, each collection designed to respond to a specific pathogen by releasing photons of a unique wavelength upon finding it. Detectors measure the photons' wavelengths and interpret the pathogens they represent.
Anthrax, plague and small pox are some of the possible pathogens terrorists could use against us; but now, researchers say jellyfish are helping prevent these kinds of attacks.
From public transportation to federal and government buildings, experts are naming likely targets of bioterrorism.
Now, this innovative biosensor developed by scientists and engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory can identify harmful bacteria or viruses in the air in less than two minutes.
"It's at least ten times faster than any other automated sensor that's available," says James Harper, a biochemist and engineer at MIT.
In the lab, Todd Rider first developed the CANARY Sensor using jellyfish DNA and a high-voltage electrical charge. "I was in the lab with the electric creator," says Rider, a biologist at MIT. "I had mouse cells and the jellyfish DNA, and I frizzed my hair, said please give me life and pressed the buttons -- and the jellyfish DNA went inside the cells, and we had glowing mouse cells."
The glowing cells reveal the presence of a targeted pathogen. Still, scientists had no way to test air samples for pathogens until Harper created the PANTHER.
Scientists say operation is as simple as loading your DVD player. Disks containing sixteen chambers are loaded into the PANTHER. The machine pulls air through the disk to collect and test any pathogen that might be in the air. "That disk contains the cells that are the key to the canary technology," Harper says. "It releases those cells into the collected particles and looks for the resulting light, and gives you a sense of what's detected."
If a dangerous pathogen is detected, the sensor goes off -- alerting anyone who could be in harm's way.
Scientists and engineers say the CANARY technology can eventually be used for medical diagnostics to test patient samples. It may even be used in food processing plants to identify contaminants like E. coli or salmonella.

The technology is now licensed commercially.

WHAT IS PANTHER? The PANTHER device uses immune cells altered to act as detectors of dangerous biological agents. The device takes in air, runs it past the cells, which are gathered into groups, each designed to react to specific agent. The cells, which are engineered to respond to a specific pathogen, release photons of light when they detect their target. Other detectors recognize the release of light to indicate the pathogen that was detected. Based on the wavelengths of light that were released, the device outputs a list of dangerous pathogens that were found, about three minutes after beginning the test.

Induced pluripotent stem cells - emerging technology

         Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are a type of pluripotent stem cells artificially derived from an adult somatic (non-pluripotent) cell. It is used to understand model diseases, develop and screen candidate drugs and also in regenerative medicines to repair tissues damaged through disease or injury because it can overcome the 2 main obstacles associated with human embryonic stem cells- Immune rejection after transplantation and ethical concerns regarding the use of human embryos. While the establishment of iPSC lines is conceptually and technically simple, direct reprogramming is a slow and inefficient process consisting of largely unknown events. Several variables must be considered in order to reproducibly obtain iPSCs. An important area for future studies in iPSC field is directly testing iPSC tumorigenicity using methods that mimic the approaches that could be used for regenerative medicine therapies. It is believed that the biggest challenge, direct reprogramming by defined factors has been resolved and the remaining challenges are basically technical issues, which is believed to be resolved in the near future and hence provided great benefits to many patients.