Who said a nice Parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes caprese salad is not healthy for the heart?
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Cardiovascular diseases are among the main factors that lead to US hospitalizations. But the good news is that the majority of this kind of problems are preventable if patients follow a simple set of guidelines. They just have to exercise regularly and know what the healthiest food for the heart is.
While one cannot fight with a genetic predisposition or a serious congenital defect, there are several heart-related problems that can be avoided by eating the healthiest food for the heart and exercising regularly.
When it comes to cardiovascular issues it is better to prevent than to treat. And the prevention measures have a very nice “side effect”. They keep people healthy, energetic and ready to take on the world.
But doctors are always advising patients to eat healthy without actually providing them with many examples of the healthiest food for the heart. But fear not, because we comprised a long list of groceries that will help you and your family enjoy a heart-friendly meal any time of the day.
Here is a list of the healthiest food for your heart.
Fish
Who doesn’t remember the dreadful moments in their childhood when they had to take fish oil supplements? And before the jelly tablets, there were the big bottles filled with gooey oil that children were forced to swallow.
Fish is rich in vitamins, minerals, Omega 3, Selenium and other heart-friendly substances. But not all of them. The doctors recommend the consumption of sockeye salmon (which is a bit lighter than the usual salmon found on the market), Pacific halibut, Atlantic cod, blue mussels, European anchovies, and yellowfin tuna.
Grains
Quinoa, for example, is a great source of Magnesium and Selenium. It’s also really tasty when it’s boiled with a few cloves and a half of lemon.
Another heart-healthy grain is semolina flour. The B3 and Selenium rich flour are usually used in the making of pasta, puddings, couscous and breakfast cereal.
Seeds
Of course, a salad is healthy no matter what because it contains chlorophyll and fibers, and very tasty olive oil. But you can transform a regular salad into one of the healthiest food of the heart by adding some seeds to it.
Sunflower seeds, for example, have an index of heart healthy of 76.7 because they are highly rich in selenium and magnesium. Also, they add a really nice crunchy texture when they are added to a salad or a yogurt.
Other healthy seeds are sesame which has a really big calcium and magnesium concentration, chia seeds, linseeds and poppy seeds.
Even though it’s actually a spice we are going to also include cinnamon in this category because it is absolutely wonderful, especially combined with a cup of dark roasted coffee or some dark hot chocolate. Cinnamon contains a ton of calcium and a whole teaspoon features only 6 calories.
Others
The “others” category feature tofu which has a concentration of 213.4 percent of calcium, 77.6 percent selenium and index of 88.7 when it comes to heart health.
You might also want to include more egg whites in your diet along Parmesan cheese, soybeans, liverwurst, brown rice, sundried tomatoes, Swiss cheese, shiitake mushrooms, ginger and agar seaweed.
Most of the healthiest food for the heart is also the tastiest food on the table. So you won’t have to make compromises taste-wise when you will start your heart-friendly diet.
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The timber rattlesnakes used in the research will be fitted with special designed radio trackers.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – The Mount Zion Island in Massachusetts will be populated with venomous snakes that the researchers want to study more closely. The timber rattlesnakes will be monitored via radio trackers so they will not pose a threat to the population residing near the island.
The venomous reptiles will be fitted with radio transmitters small enough to do them no harm and large enough to send back viable information. So if one of the timber rattlesnakes involved in the experiment would try to make a run to the mainland the researchers would be able to catch it and bring it back to the island.
The Massachusetts Division of Wildlife and Fisheries assistant director Tom French stated that any wayward snake would be handled and the population will not be submitted to any risks or dangers.
Mount Zion is off limits to civilian population so there is no risk of an accidental encounter with a timber rattlesnake and an unsuspecting human.
The researchers involved in the study plan to release one to a maximum number of ten snakes on the Mount Zion island each year.
The radio transmitters only have a 2 years lifespan, so they will have to retrieve the snakes once every two years. The devices will only be fitted by the head veterinarian of the Rhode Island Park Zoo.
Since a snake can withstand three such surgeries during its lifetime, a single specimen will only be fitted with two radio transmitters, the third surgery being only one of removal.
According to French timber rattlesnakes are perfectly capable of swimming, but they need a motivation to do so. Also, besides the fact that the snakes are monitored, they would place themselves in great danger is they decided to swim towards the continent.
A swimming snake is a perfect target for a bald eagle. In the case of an escapist, it is probable that the researchers end up tracking the eagle that ate the snake rather than a free venomous reptile.
French also declared that the scientists will make one to eight visits per month to the Mount Zion Island. They will use special tracking devices to see the snake’s movements and preferred resting places.
The areas where the timber rattlesnakes prefer to spend their time in or hibernate are not yet clear for the researchers. That is why they are conducting this study.
In conclusion, the population that resides near the Mount Zion area will have nothing to fear because the timber rattlesnakes will be monitored via radio trackers and any rogue specimens will be relocated as soon as they try to make their escape.
Image source: www.wikimedia.org
Neither Zuckenberg, nor Dorsey wished to comment on the threats emitted by the CSA.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – A video released by an ISIS-supporting terrorist group, the “Sons Caliphate Army” warned Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg that their efforts against on-line terrorism are useless. The SCA threatened the social media giants that their eradication measures are futile and their “names will soon be erased”.
The hacker terrorist group behind these threats, the “Sons Caliphate Army”, made a 25-minute long video in which they presented all of their “achievements”. They also showed pictures with Twitter and Facebook’s CEO’s, Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg being used as target practice. After they were done shooting at the cardboard figures of the two media giants the terrorist group burned the pictures in order for their message to be clear.
Mythology thought us that the hydra was a magical creature that thrived when it was attacked. The reason? When you cut one head, two more took its place. The concept was later adopted by the Captain America comic books where a Nazi German group named themselves “Hydra” and munched on cyanide pills when they got caught.
The SCA took the analogy even further and threatened Dorsey and Zuckerberg that with every account they delete, they will hack ten more. This is the first serious threat that the social media moguls received after they publicly announced last month that they are actively trying to eliminate all terrorist-affiliated profiles from their platforms.
But why is the Islamic State so interested in having profiles on social media platforms that support most things Allah bans? Because Twitter and Facebook have millions of active users, a gold mine for ISIS potential recruits.
Only this month, Twitter announced that 125.000 accounts were suspended because of terrorist affiliations. According to the press release, these accounts were either threatening or promoting acts of terrorism, all in the name of ISIS.
Facebook also made it very clear that any promotion or praise linked to terrorism or terror act are strictly prohibited on the platform. Users that do not follow this rule will have their accounts deleted.
As you can see in the short version of the SCA video embedded below, the terrorist group of hackers claim that they are presently in control of 10,000 accounts and 150 groups on Facebook and over 5,000 profiles on Twitter.
Also, they deemed the two social network’s eradicating efforts as being futile because “they are not in their league”.
Neither Facebook nor Twitter representatives had anything to comment regarding the video.
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Even though the virus has been eradicated, Ebola is still affecting the West African population.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Ebola is gone, but neurological problems linger in patients that survived the terrible outbreak. According to a new study, the majority of Ebola survivors are now dealing with long-term neurological damage.
The United States researchers that conducted the study concluded that Ebola is gone, but neurological problems linger. The patients that were observed complained of headaches, muscle pain, depressed moods, and memory loss. There have also been reported cases of suicidal patients.
The British nurse that was first hospitalized in December 2014 after contracting the virus at a “Save the Children” center was cured last year. But she remains admitted at London’s Free Royal Hospital due to “late complications” caused by the virus infection.
And this is not the only time she has been admitted for “late complications” treatment. The Scot nurse was hospitalized three times after the she got rid of the Ebola virus.
The US National Stroke and Neurological Disorders Institute examined a sample of 82 Liberian Ebola survivors. The team of scientists that worked on the case discovered that the majority of patients suffered from different neurological abnormalities.
The most common side effect that was present in roughly two-thirds of the patients was body weakness. Furthermore, almost half of the group complained of memory loss and headaches. Two patients displayed suicidal behavior and one was suffering from hallucinations.
Other common problems among the Liberian Ebola survivors were tremors and an abnormal level of eye movements.
The study is just a part of a larger research project aimed to analyze the long-term effects that the Ebola virus had on the African population. The entire research will be presented at the annual meeting of the Neurological American Academy.
The aftermath of the Ebola outbreak that stormed the entire west part of the African continent counts 17,000 survivors and 11,300 deceased citizens.
The lead author of the study, Lauren Brown, said that Ebola is gone, but neurological problems linger. The survivors of the terrible and deadly outbreak are now left to deal with a couple of additional health issues that are worse for some than they are for others.
Dr. Brown also added that it is crucial for future research that the scientists have a clear image of the brain’s evolution when confronted and cured of the virus.
The average age of the sample patients was of 35. This means that the side-effects are affecting a rather young population. The headaches and the memory loss is interfering with their daily routines.
Ebola is gone, but neurological problems linger. This means that the virus has only physically disappeared from the lives of the inhabitants of the West African countries.
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A pack of Foria Relief marijuana suppositories contains four such items and costs $44.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Foria Relief is a new suppository that is supposed to successfully treat endometriosis or menstrual cramps. The marijuana capsule could be the new ibuprofen, only without the side effects.
The $44 suppository works pretty much like a tampon or a vaginal ovuli. The capsules are made out of cocoa butter which facilitates a smooth insertion. The active ingredients of the new pain drug are tetrahydrocannabinol, or more commonly THC and cannabidiol, or CBD. The first is the chemical substance in cannabis or marijuana that gives the actual psychological high and the latter is the muscle relaxant ingredient in marijuana that has been used as an efficient pain relief drug.
According to the official website of the new drug, Foria Relief activates the receptors from the pelvic region. In other words, the CBD reduces the swelling from the inflamed uterus and the THC numbs the nerve endings and reduces the number of electrical signals that the cervix, uterus and ovaries send to the surrounding muscles.
This makes the pain, inflammation and notorious cramping that are usually associated with periods to disappear, or drop significantly. The women will not feel the actual psychological high that the THC induces when it is administered in the body via other methods like inhaling or ingesting.
Furthermore, users will be able to also insert their personal choice of tampons. So the use of Foria Relief is not restricted to pad users.
The drug is not yet FDA approved, so it cannot be marketed as a cure or a treatment. The drug can be bought only in the western parts of the United States where medical use of marijuana is approved by the Government.
The marijuana capsule could be the new ibuprofen, but the approval from the Federal Drug Association is still pending. However, there have been numerous studies on the positive effects of CBD and THC as anti-inflammatory and pain relief medication.
A 2015 review published in JAMA magazine specified that the CBD and THC chemical compounds can be used with great success in the treatment of neuropathic pain, muscle stiffness or chronic pain in patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
The only two drugs that contain active cannabinoid ingredients that were approved by the FDA are nabilone and dronabinol. They are both nausea medication used in post-chemotherapy treatment.
There have been additional papers that showed the great potential of the two substances. For example, a 2008 study concluded that cannabinoid-based medication can treat certain conditions that affect healthy menstruation cycles while also being effective in combating menopause symptoms.
The Foria Relief marijuana capsule could be the new ibuprofen, without the side effects. Because of the lack of an FDA approval, the new drug cannot be advertised as a treatment. But the team or researchers that developed the medication is counting on the reviews of users worldwide to speak in the name of its product.
Image source: foriapleasure.com
Anorexia, bulimia and binge eating are the the most encountered eating disorder in the US.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – National awareness week for eating disorders starts today, the 21st of January and it will end Saturday, on the 27th. In this week, you can throw away any misconceptions or prejudices you might have about the mental disorders and learn the facts behind the eating disorders that affect a great number of the US population.
Eating disorders are classified by doctors as mental health issues. They are also the psychiatric illnesses with the highest mortality level. This kind of psychiatric disorders can seriously affect the psychological and physical health of a patient. Some actually being able to cause irreparable damage.
Any individual, no matter the gender, ethnicity or age could fall victim to an eating disorder. And when they do, the illness will take over their lives because it affects all levels of day-to-day activities and processes.
The estimated number of US citizens who suffer from an eating disorder is of 30 million individuals. The estimate does not contain the people who struggle with body dissatisfaction or disordered eating attitudes and behaviors.
A very common misconception is the fact that eating disorders are nothing but a lifestyle choice of the patients. That is completely wrong. According to both psychologists and psychiatrists, eating disorders are real medical conditions. They are caused by mental imbalances, not by poor life choices.
There are three eating disorders that are very common in the United States, and those are bulimia nervosa, anemia nervosa and the binge eating disorder.
For a better understanding of the eating disorders, one must first know their symptoms. The most common are
- a constant, slightly obsessive preoccupation with one’s body, weight or food
- compulsive exercising
- withdrawal
- a constant underlying fear of weight gaining
- a severe limitation of food or refusal to ingest any kind of solid food
- secret eating
- eating alone
- lack of menstruation in women
- laxatives or diet pills abuse
- last, but not least, binge eating, in the sense that an individual ingests very large amounts or portions of food in relatively short periods of time
Eating disorders can be treated with both medication and therapy. There are numerous support groups that offer their help to struggling patients.
National awareness week for eating disorders starts today and its main goal is to educate the US population about these serious disorders which, unfortunately, are considered to be whims by a very large number of citizens.
#NEDAwarenessWeek brings all of the information on symptoms, treatments and causes of eating disorders while also encouraging patients to win the battle against their illnesses.
National awareness week for eating disorders starts today and you can take a 3-minute test to see if you have a predisposition for eating disorders here. It’s quick and it’s anonymous.
Image source: www.wikimedia.org
The fact that selfies killed a dolphin really puts to question the morals of our present-day society.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – The expression “pics or it never happened” seems to have caught a whole new meaning after selfies killed a baby dolphin. The mammal was part of a rare species that can only be found in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, the place where the incident happened.
The baby dolphin, a part of the La Plata species, also known as Franciscana dolphins, was picked up by a person in order to be used as a selfie prop. And since there are still a lot of people that kept the herd mentality from our arboreal ancestors, the man was quickly surrounded by other very guilty bystanders who tried to catch a selfie with the endangered animal.
The people who were a part of this, for a lack of a better word, crime, were surely connoisseurs of the fine arts of selfies and photograph layers and filters. The skin of the dolphin must have looked great in the photos. Too bad that in real life it got really dry, really fast and it killed the innocent mammal.
Surely you must be more intelligent than a dolphin to be able to operate the camera of a smartphone. And maybe, just maybe, if the people involved would have been mostly children then we would blame the whole thing on the naiveté associated with the young age.
But judging by the horrible picture that has gone viral on the internet, the majority of the selfie enthusiasts were grown men and women who were just burning with the desire of receiving a couple of “likes”, maybe even a comment. The only inconvenience? The selfies killed a baby dolphin.
Well, not all managed to take the desired picture because, and it seems that it’s actually not that obvious when you pull a marine creature out of the water, it dies. And a selfie with a dead dolphin is absolutely gruesome.
Many animal right activists and sane people, for that matter, got enraged at the sight of the viral photograph. According to wildlife foundations, the La Plata species is actually very rare, elusive and shy.
There are only a couple thousand of the dolphins still alive, and their species is marked as being “vulnerable”. And selfies killed a baby dolphin belonging to this species because people are not educated enough in matters of wildlife preservation.
Specialists urge the people to not take the dolphins out of the sea in the case in which they encounter the animal in shallow waters. Instead, people are being advised to guide the dolphins back to deeper waters where they could find their way back to their colony.
Selfies killed a baby dolphin. Selfies killed a lot of people, too, when a gun selfie was all in the rage. But at least, the guns were fine after the pictures were taken.
Image source: www.ibtimes.com
The nuclear warheads that were constructed during the Cold War will be used against meteors.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – After being affected a few times by rogue space objects, now Russia is targeting asteroids that are scheduled to pass near our planet. The 99942 Apophis is estimated to reach our planet in 2029, 2036 and in 2068. Neither of the calculated encounters has an impact risk, but Russia is not taking any chances.
Russia is targeting asteroids with the missile system built in the Cold War. The country’s plan is to build an entire missile network that would be able to destroy an asteroid in the blink of an eye. According to TASS, the system that there are planning to implement will be efficient against asteroids, comets, and meteors in between 65 and a maximum wide of 165 feet.
The biggest space object that could be destroyed at the snap of a finger is actually pretty small compared to what’s roaming around out there, in space. But it doesn’t take a large asteroid to do a lot of damage.
Russia is targeting asteroids because it has been through previous unpleasant experiences caused by the rogue frozen space rocks. The disaster at Chelyabinsk, for example, was caused by a meteor with a width of only 65 feet.
The meteor explosion that took place in 2013 in the northeast of Russia caused a shock wave that injured more than 1,500 individuals and severely damaged around 7,200 structures in six cities.
And the aftermath of the meteor impact was actually very light seeing as the meteor exploded in the atmosphere. If it had the chance to reach the Earth’s surface, then the damage would have been far more extensive.
The scariest part in the Chelyabinsk story is not the aftermath of the meteor impact, but the fact that the object was never detected by satellites. Its presence was acknowledged only in the moment in which it became visible in the Russian sky.
After a closer look at what happened at Chelyabinsk, the reason why Russia is targeting asteroids becomes very clear.
The missile system that they want to transform into an Earth defense station is actually the ICBM. During the cold war, both Russia and the United States were ready to defend themselves against each other. That is when the “Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles” were built. The weapons are still locked and ready to be deployed at the slight of the hand.
So there is no need to call Bruce Willis or SG-1 when a meteor, comet or asteroid is detected. Just send a notice to the Russian government and they will go nuclear on the threat.
Image source: www.pixabay.com
A new study says that the risks of developing post-operative complications is higher in the elderly.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – According to the latest studies, cancer surgery is riskier for the elderly than it is for the middle-aged patients. Elderly people are more prone to develop serious health complications after they go through cancer surgery because their immune system and their metabolism are slower than in middle-aged patients.
A U.S. study concluded that around one in ten adults who are older than 55 suffered from at least one post-operative problem. The most common issues are dehydration, delirium, falls, pressure ulcers, weight loss and fractures.
Also, patients aged 65 and older seemed to develop these setbacks even more often than those aged 55 and older. The patients from this group age usually presented additional serious health problems and were often operated for digestive system tumors or unusual growths nearby organs.
The worst odds were those of patients aged 75 and older. The chances of developing a post-operative health issue were of 46 percent. This is more than double the 22 percent that was estimated for patients aged 55 and older.
Hung-Jui Tan, the lead author of the study and urologic oncology researcher at the California University in Los Angeles said that there are a plenty of factors that have to be considered in the case of an elderly patient. According to Dr. Tan, cancer surgery is riskier for the elderly and it can have a serious impact on their life quality, functionality, and vitality.
For this study, Dr. Tan and his team used a data sample from 940,000 adult patients nationwide. The data studied belonged to patients aged 55 and older who underwent cancer surgery in between 2009 and 2011.
Operations that were meant to resect tumors from the area of the ovary, bladder, rectum, colon, stomach or pancreas were the most likely to develop post-operative complications.
There are a couple of factors that could influence the results of the study. The first one is the fact that the study was made using administrative data. The researchers say that some of the data may be corrupt because this kind of administrative information doesn’t always reflect some of the nuances of a patient’s condition due to its billing purposes.
Also, there are no means of checking if the patients were already suffering from some of the illnesses that were described as complications by their physicians.
A geriatric researcher from the University Hospital in Oslo, Norway, Siri Rostoft, declared that even though cancer surgery is riskier for the elderly, some of the complications are not life or lifestyle-threatening. For example weight loss and dehydration can be managed with a slight diet change.
Dr. Rostoft, who had no involvement in the cited study, said that the complications of cancer surgery are more manageable than cancer itself. According to him, the elderly should take into consideration the fact that cancer is much more lethal than the possible post-operative problems.
Another doctor, Steven Cunningham, a researcher at the Hospital of Saint Agnes and the Baltimore Cancer Institute, declared that the study is valuable because it offers both the doctors and the patients a sort of measuring unit. Thus, the physician and the patient can weigh in the risks of having or not having cancer surgery.
Researcher and doctor at Nottingham University and a member of the Geriatric Oncology International Society, Kwok-Leung Cheung, also noted the fact that, according to the study, cancer surgery complications appear more often in non-teaching hospitals than in teaching hospitals. The hospital where the operation is made is also an important factor that the patient must take into consideration when deciding whether or not to undergo cancer surgery.
Cancer surgery is riskier for the elderly, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they should stop fighting with the illness. If the tumor allows it, the surgeons could consider using non-invasive procedures like robotic or laparoscopic surgery.
Image source: www.flickr.com
The fine red dust that covers the entire surface of Mars can prove to be highly dangerous.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Are you really ready to go to Mars? This is the question that the candidates for the newly opened astronaut positions at NASA should ask themselves before applying. And while the idea of being among the first people to set foot on the Red Planet is more than appealing, people should keep in mind that the Mars expedition will be nothing like the Matt Damon movie.
NASA is hiring the new generation of astronauts and according to a representative, one member of this class will be a part of the Mars expedition. There are only sixteen jobs available but there are already thousands of candidates. And the requirements are harsh. The candidates must have a bachelor degree in sciences, military background and perfect social skills just to be considered for an interview.
But the main question on the interviewer’s lips will be “Are you really ready to go to Mars?”
The idea of visiting the Red Planet is thrilling, to say the least, but before arriving there, one must survive the trip towards Mars. NASA estimates that the journey will take approximately six months. Scott Kelly has been aboard the ISS for almost a year, so we know that it is possible to survive in space for an extended period of time.
But Scott Kelly received supplies on a regular basis from Florida and Kazakhstan. And while his overall health was not affected in any way, his motivation was raised by the fact that he had access to the internet and knew that it would take approximately an hour to receive something from the base in case of an emergency. These things will not apply to the crew traveling towards Mars.
Also, the ship could be hit by a meteor or a stray space object with no determined trajectory. There are a lot of risks revolving around just the journey there. So if you think about the trip and still answer yes when you ask yourself “Are you really ready to go to Mars?” then let’s talk landing.
NASA already managed to land the rovers on the Red Planet’s surface, so the actual landing is possible. But the settlers will face a lot of difficulties, for example, the radiation, the high amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the dust, the cold and the extremely low atmospheric pressure.
According to a new study, the astronauts that will land on Mars will have to construct their base underground in order to escape from the fatal solar radiation. Also, they will have to have tremendous amounts of oxygen supply with them because it would take a while for plants to grow and filter the carbon dioxide inside the settlement.
The dust, as seen in The Martian, is very fine and it could do tremendous amounts of damage to the settlement and the equipment. The researchers at NASA are not yet sure how the dust will affect the astronauts or how dangerous it could really prove to be.
Also, the average temperature on the planet’s surface balances from a pleasant 27 Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) to a bone-chilling, Jack Nicholson freezing -143 Celsius (-225 degrees Fahrenheit). So the team must be ready to learn how to fix the heating.
The atmospheric pressure is so low that, according to NASA scientists, a person’s body water would evaporate if the individual is not wearing the protection suit.
Image source: www.wikimedia.org