Category: Health

THE RIGHT CHEMICAL EXFOLIATOR FOR YOUR SKIN TYPE

Tom Patriot

Exfoliating has evolved over the years — remember those tiny plastic balls we used to rub on our face every night? — but it remains  an essential step for a brighter, more even-looking skin tone. Now that you know better than to aggressively scrub the skin on your face with not-so-eco-friendly microbeads, you’ve probably begun to dabble in the world of chemical exfoliators. These products help remove built-up dead skin cells from the skin’s surface through potent ingredients — no rubbing required — to reveal a more radiant complexion.   AHAs, or alpha-hydroxy acids,…

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A short bout of exercise enhances brain function

Tom Patriot

Most people know that regular exercise is good for your health. New research shows it may make you smarter, too. Neuroscientists at OHSU in Portland, Oregon, working with mice, have discovered that a short burst of exercise directly boosts the function of a gene that increases connections between neurons in the hippocampus, the region of the brain associated with learning and memory. The research is published online in the journal eLife. “Exercise is cheap, and you don’t necessarily need a fancy gym membership or have to run 10 miles a day,”…

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Legalized recreational marijuana a substitute for alcohol, but not tobacco

Tom Patriot

The recent wave of recreational cannabis legalization across the U.S. could generate $22 billion in sales per year, but not everyone is happy about it. New research to be published in an upcoming edition of the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, titled, “Asymmetric Effects of Recreational Cannabis Legalization,” shows the alcohol industry could be impacted when the substance is legalized. “It appears the alcohol industry has a valid reason to be concerned about legal marijuana and may need creative strategies to avoid market decline if it passes,” said Pengyuan Wang, an assistant…

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Copper compound shows further potential as therapy for slowing ALS

Tom Patriot

A compound with potential as a treatment for ALS has gained further promise in a new study that showed it improved the condition of mice whose motor neurons had been damaged by an environmental toxin known to cause features of ALS. ALS patients are categorized either as familial – meaning two or more people in their family have had the disease, which in their case is linked to inherited genetic mutations – or sporadic, which accounts for about 90% of the cases. Sporadic means the cause or causes are unknown.…

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Could coffee be the secret to fighting obesity?

Tom Patriot

Scientists from the University of Nottingham have discovered that drinking a cup of coffee can stimulate ‘brown fat’, the body’s own fat-fighting defenses, which could be the key to tackling obesity and diabetes. The pioneering study, published today in the journal Scientific Reports, is one of the first to be carried out in humans to find components which could have a direct effect on ‘brown fat’ functions, an important part of the human body which plays a key role in how quickly we can burn calories as energy. Brown adipose tissue…

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