Early Morning Stress Reduction Inspiration - 5/9/2013
Early Morning Stress Reduction Inspiration - 5/9/2013 |
- Early Morning Stress Reduction Inspiration - 5/9/2013
- Eating Peppers May Lower Parkinson's Risk
- Sorrow is failed compassion (Day 28)
- Taking nirvana seriously
- Spiraling Esophagus: Strange Condition Found in Elderly Woman
- Cause of Port Wine Birthmarks & Rare Disorder Found
| Early Morning Stress Reduction Inspiration - 5/9/2013 Posted: 09 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT  "Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace." ~The Buddha      Read More @ Source | ||
| Eating Peppers May Lower Parkinson's Risk Posted: 09 May 2013 05:00 AM PDT
Regularly eating peppers may lower the risk of Parkinson's disease, a new study suggests. The researchers said the benefit may be due to a substance in the vegetable that we've been advised to avoid: nicotine. People in the study who ate peppers two times per week were 30 percent less likely to develop Parkinson's disease than people who ate peppers less than once a week. Peppers and tobacco both belong to a family of plants called Solanaceae. As a result, peppers — be they red, yellow or green — contain tiny amounts of nicotine. Previous research has suggested that the nicotine in cigarettes and secondhand smoke may protect certain brain cells, or neurons, from the damage associated with Parkinson's. In Parkinson's disease, up to 80 percent of the neurons that produce a chemical called dopamine, which controls muscle function, are damaged, according to the National Parkinson Foundation. A neurodegenerative disease, Parkinson's causes a range of symptoms. The hallmark signs are tremors, slowness of movement, stiffness of the arms, legs or trunk and problems with balance. Approximately 1 million Americans have Parkinson's disease, reports the National Parkinson Foundation. Each year, 50,000 to 60,000 new cases are diagnosed in the United States. The pepper advantage In the study, the researchers looked at 490 people who had been newly diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and compared them with 644 people who did not have the condition. Participants answered a detailed questionnaire about their lifetime dietary habits and tobacco use. Just 11 percent of those with the disease and 5 percent of people in the control grouphad a family history of the disease, which can raise risk. People reported how often they ate certain vegetables, and their history of tobacco use. The researchers found that not only were peppers associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson's, but also that the more peppers people consumed, the greater the apparent benefit. People who ate peppers five to six times a week or more slashed their Parkinson's risk by about 50 percent compared with those who ate them less than once a week. Other vegetables didn't seem to have this effect. "Benefits associated with vegetables from the Solanaceae family seemed to be fairly specific," said study researcher Susan Searles Nielsen, an environmental and occupational health researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle. "While there was some suggestion that tomatoes might also be associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson's, it was not clear," Searles Nielsen said. Peppers' good-for-neuron powers were much "clearer in people who had never used tobacco regularly," Searles Nielsen added. Exposure to nicotine from tobacco use "is likely going to overshadow what people would get in their diet," she explained. While the study findings are promising, Searles Nielsen stressed that they show an association and not necessarily a cause and effect. "While it is certainly intriguing to think that eating peppers may protect against Parkinson's disease, we have to consider that there are other explanations," she said. "With further research, hopefully that can be learned." Dr. Michael Okun, national medical director for the National Parkinson Foundation, who was not involved in the study, called the findings "interesting," but cautioned that that they are far from conclusive. "It is not clear from this study that family members at risk (those with a family history of Parkinson's) should rush out and start eating red peppers," Okun said. "Much work will need to be done to understand the mechanism and to establish potential benefits in the Parkinson's 'at risk' population." Still, it can't hurt to include peppers in your diet, Searles Nielsen said. "If you happen to like peppers, fine," she added. Just don't overdo it. "Keep in mind that too much of a good thing may not be a good thing," Searles Nielsen said. The study is published today (May 9) in the journal Annals of Neurology. Pass It On: Eating peppers may lower the risk of Parkinson's disease. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+. Read the original story on MyHealthNewsDaily.  Read More @ Source | ||
| Sorrow is failed compassion (Day 28) Posted: 08 May 2013 10:00 PM PDT
The "near enemy" is, by definition, something you might confuse with compassion. You might think you were cultivating compassion but were actually cultivating something else. The "far enemy" is cruelty or indifference to suffering, which is just the direct opposite of compassion. That's easy to understand. But what is compassion's "near enemy"? People use the word "pity" to describe the near enemy, but the traditional commentaries use the word "grief" and compassion is said to fail when it becomes sorrow. I'm going to point to three things that I think can be the near enemy of compassion. 1. You're suffering's making me feel bad, dammit! We can't empathize with others unless we empathize with our own suffering, so we need to connect with our own vulnerability, which is something I've talked about in relation to compassion, and with lovingkindness. I wouldn't recommend going into compassion meditation "cold." We should always start by acknowledging that we suffer. 2. Stop samsara, I want to get off! These first two very much connect with the Buddha's "two arrows" teaching:
The first arrow here is simply the heart-ache of sensing someone's suffering. The second arrow is our mental rebellion against suffering. We're not able to let ourselves suffer, and we sink into what the Buddha called a "bottomless pit" of pain — where we generate pain in response to pain. "But when a well-taught noble disciple is afflicted by painful bodily feelings, she will not worry nor grieve and lament, she will not beat her breast and weep, nor will she be distraught." And thus she becomes one who is able to gain a foothold in the bottomless pit. We can learn to bear suffering mindfully, without reacting. This is a form of equanimity, or even-mindedness. We need to practice noticing suffering, and noticing — and letting go of — our thoughts and reactions to suffering. We just let the suffering be there. It's OK to feel pain. Over time we become better at experiencing the first arrow without adding a second. 3. Poor you! The cure again here is acknowledging our own vulnerability. You want to be happy. You don't want to suffer. And yet over and over again you encounter suffering when you hadn't expected it. Suffering sideswipes you. So you're not in control. You're not "sorted." You're struggling, like everyone else. Bearing this in mind helps keep us real. Doubt is deadly! People are always looking for excuses to think that they might, secretly, be doing a meditation practice wrong. So I feel compassionate, but maybe it's not real! Just keep going. If you feel despairing, then that's probably a sign you've tipped over into "grief" or "sorrow." If you just have an ache in the heart then that's probably just the "first arrow," which is an unavoidable part of the practice. All of the above are simply things we have to work through, so don't beat yourself up or despair. But maybe if we learn about these unhelpful patterns we can recognize them a bit earlier. Read More @ Source | ||
| Posted: 08 May 2013 09:00 PM PDT Relative to our temporal world and our own temporal life, the question of "What is nirvana?" has no concise, significant meaning for us. Truth be told, it is not oblivion, or annihilation. It is not a special kind of ego death after which we are released from suffering. Western scholars who have tried to make sense of nirvana are aware of the problem of defining nirvana. To be sure, there is a diversity of interpretations. These interpretations can be, more or less, influenced by certain philosophical predilections. Despite these seeming differences there is some agreement in general. What we learn from the discourses of the Buddha is that nirvana is beyond existence and nonexistence. It is understood to be in stark contrast with our world of temporal appearances. It is certainly in stark contrast with dependent origination. Hence, nirvana is completely transcendent. Nirvana, which involves a transcendent realization for the adept, presents a problem for popular Buddhism and its followers. While the scholarly world has not ignored nirvana, where Buddhism is marketed to the general public, nirvana has been, for the most part, given mostly lip service. On the same score, transcendent signifiers such as the One Mind, pure Mind, Buddha-nature are also not taken up a seriously as they might be. The public, who is interested in Buddhism, is often simply unaware that nirvana is the alpha and omega of Buddhism. It is easy to forget that the Buddha taught that nirvana is the goal of the holy life since the appeal that Buddhism has these days is mainly that of a tool which helps us to cope with the tension of daily life. What this reveals is that many modern followers of Buddhism are still very much caught up in samsara; who are unwilling to let it go sufficiently to make nirvana their goal; not just giving it lip service. | ||
| Spiraling Esophagus: Strange Condition Found in Elderly Woman Posted: 08 May 2013 05:00 PM PDT
An 87-year-old Swiss woman who suffered painful spasms in her chest turned out to have an esophagus that twisted itself into a corkscrew shape whenever she swallowed, according to a report of her case. The woman had lost 11 pounds in the past several months, and told doctors she had cramplike spasms shortly after eating. Her doctors performed an endoscopy and found that, when she swallowed, her esophagus had the same helical shape as a playground twisty slide. X-ray images revealed the startling, corkscrew shape taking form. "The magnitude of this finding was extraordinary," said Dr. Luc Biedermann, of the University Hospital Zurich, who treated the woman and reported the case in this week's New England Journal of Medicine. Although the condition is unusual, it has been encountered before. In fact, another elderly female patient, 89 years old, who complained of difficulty swallowing, abdominal pain and frequent belching, also turned out to have her esophagus twisting into a helical shape when she swallowed, according to a 2003 case report in the same journal. Dr. Michael Vaezi, who specializes in treating "esophageal motility disorders" at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, said he has seen the condition many times. While primary care doctors may rarely see this disorder, at his center, they "encounter these patients on weekly basis." Dr. John Pandolfino, a gastroenterologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, explained that this strange phenomenon occurs because of the way the muscles of the esophagus contract. Normally when a person swallows, the muscle fibers that encircle the top of the esophagus contract first, and then as they relax, the muscles just below them contract, and this wave of contraction continues all the way down to the stomach. But in a person with this condition, all the muscles contract simultaneously. As a result, rather than moving food downward toward the stomach, the muscles pull the esophagus itself into a spiral shape. Why this happens, however, is still unknown. Vaezi said "some have speculated that gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) could be playing a role." While there is no cure for the condition, the doctors in the study tried to treat the patient's symptoms by giving her high-dose proton-pump inhibitor drugs, which are typically used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease, and long-acting calcium channel-blockers, which Vaezi said can help to scale down the "squeeze" of the esophagus's contractions. In this patient's case, neither drug had much of an effect. In some cases, "Botox of the esophagus has also been tried with limited success," Pandolfino said, "but it only lasts six to 12 months, so it's not a good long-term solution." A last-resort solution may include surgery of the esophageal muscles. Pass it on: A strange spiraling esophagus has been found in an elderly woman. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND, Facebook & Google+. Read the original story on MyHealthNewsDaily . Read More @ Source | ||
| Cause of Port Wine Birthmarks & Rare Disorder Found Posted: 08 May 2013 04:00 PM PDT
A single genetic mutation is the cause of "port wine" birthmarks, as well as a rare neurological condition of which the birthmarks are a distinctive feature, researchers have discovered. The mutation occurs after conception — it is not present in sperm or egg cells — but exactly when it occurs could determine whether a baby develops only a birthmark, or the serious neurological disorder Sturge-Weber syndrome, the researchers say. People with this disorder have port wine birthmarks (reddish to purplish discolorations), typically on the face, and also can suffer seizures, paralysis, blindness and learning disabilities. Finding the genetic cause of Sturge-Weber syndrome and port wine birthmarks is the first step in developing new treatments for the conditions, the researchers said. "One has to know what one's trying to fix," said study researcher Jonathan Pevsner, director of Bioinformatics at Kennedy Krieger Institute, an organization in Baltimore that researches child developmental disorders. While it was suspected that the Sturge-Weber syndrome was caused by a mutation that occurs after conception, rather than an inherited mutation, this study is the first to prove that hypothesis. It will be a relief to parents to know that they didn't pass on the condition to their child, said Karen Ball, founder and president of the Sturge-Weber Foundation, and the mother of a child with Sturge-Weber syndrome. "[It's] is going to bring great comfort to people," Ball said. Understanding the cause People with Sturge-Weber syndrome have abnormal blood vessels in the skin, brain and eyes, which cause the symptoms of the disorder. When cells of the skin are affected, the result is the port wine birthmark. About 1 in 20,000 babies are born with Sturge-Weber syndrome, while port wine birthmarks are more common, affecting about a million people in the United States. [See What are Birthmarks?] When Ball gave birth to her daughter with Sturge-Weber syndrome in 1986, she could find virtually no information about it. In 1987, she started the Sturge-Weber Foundation to facilitate research into the condition. Only recently have researchers had the technology to investigate the genetic cause of Sturge-Weber syndrome. In the new study, researchers sequenced the entire genomes of three people with Sturge-Weber syndrome, comparing the genes from normal and abnormal cells. They found a single place where the genomes differed, in a gene called GNAQ. In a larger study, the researchers found the same mutation in 23 out of 26 with Sturge-Weber syndrome, and 12 of 13 people with port wine stains, but not in any of six healthy people they tested who did not have either condition. The Sturge-Weber Foundation syndrome provided funding and many of the tissue samples used in the study. New treatments Currently, there is no cure for either Sturge-Weber syndrome or port wine stains. Treatment for Sturge-Weber syndrome includes managing the symptoms, such as medications to treat seizures, and surgeries to treat glaucoma and overgrowths of tissue. Doctors can attempt to lighten or remove port wine stains with laser treatments, but they often reoccur. Now that researchers know the genetic cause of the conditions, they can begin to investigate drugs that affect the cellular signaling pathways the gene is involved in. It's possible such drugs could reverse the progression of the Sturge-Weber syndrome, said Dr. Anne Comi, director of the Kennedy Krieger Institute's Hunter Nelson Sturge-Weber Center. A mutation in the GNAQ is also involved in uveal melanoma, a type of melanoma that occurs in the eye. As a result, there has already been significant research into GNAQ and the pathways it affects. "This is helpful to us because we can move quickly to understand the basic biology" of how the mutation leads to Sturge-Weber syndrome and port wine stains, Pevsner said. Pass it on: The genetic cause of Sturge-Weber syndrome and port wine stains has been discovered. Follow Rachael Rettner @RachaelRettner. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on MyHealthNewsDaily. Read More @ Source |
I've had more people asking me about the "near enemy" of compassion. So here goes…
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