A strong barrier keeps moisture in and external aggressors and irritants out. When the barrier is damaged, moisture evaporates more rapidly and irritants can get in more easily, both of which cause damage to the skin.

In addition, when the immune function of skin is compromised, its ability to fight off external invaders and suppress damaged cells before they multiply is also compromised. Why did you choose to approach age prevention this way? We have had anecdotal evidence for a long time that psychological stress can affect skin. (more…)

At the start of the study, smokers scored lower on average than people who never had smoked on all tested aspects of cognition, except memory; those scores were about the same. During a five-year span. smokers’ scores in all areas, including memory, declined about twice as fast as non-smokers’ did. The more cigarettes smokes, the greater the decline. (more…)

The scientists believe their breakthrough may offer a whole new range of treatments for diseases like Parkinson’s and diabetes and for spinal cord injuries involving use of men’s own stem cells to replace damaged or diseased cells in their own bodies.

The researchers from the Universities of Tuebingen and Cologne in Germany, and King’s College London, say routine biopsies of men’s testicles could provide a new source of stem cells which could be as good as embryonic stem cells for researching and developing treatments for a range of diseases, but without the ethical and legal problems of embryonic stem cells. (more…)

No trace of the chemical has been found in 19 baby formula products tested, presumably because the additive makes up less than 0.1% of the final product, the agency said.

No comment was immediately available from Tauta, which on Monday had suspended exports of lactoferrin because of the melamine find. The company was also checking where its product had been exported to and trying to trace the source of the melamine contamination.

“There’s quite a lot of sensitivity around melamine even at low levels,” chief executive Paul McGilvary told the NZ Press Association at the time.

He said the New Zealand Food Safety Authority had found fewer than four parts per million of melamine in the Tatua product, and found there was no contamination of the company’s milk supply.

South Korea has banned the imports of Chinese milk powder and rice cookies produced in China. It has also recalled tainted products from store shelves.

A growing list of Chinese milk and milk-related products have been taken off shelves around the world in recent weeks after they have been found to be contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, sickening tens of thousands and killing four children.

It is used as a fi re retardant additive in polymer resins because its high nitrogen content is released as flame-stifling nitrogen gas when the compound is burned or charred. Indeed, it is this high nitrogen level - 66% nitrogen by mass - in melamine that gives it the analytical characteristics of protein molecules.

Melamine can also be described as a trimer of cyanamide, three cyanamide units joined in a ring.
It is a rather harmful compound. Harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Chronic exposure may cause cancer or reproductive damage.

Previously, melamine was found in exported pet food last year and blamed for killing thousands of cats and dogs in the US. Bloomberg also reports that analysis of samples of ice cream produced by Yili
have also revealed the presence of melamine.

Four city officials and a company boss have been sacked in the health scare which has seen thousands of parents in southern China flood into Hong Kong to buy foreign-made milk powder.

China has been beset by scandals about toxic and unsafe food and other products in recent years. In 2004, at least 13 babies died after drinking fake milk powder that had no nutritional value.

Facing alarm at the latest food safety scandal, the government sacked four officials in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province in north China and base of the Sanlu Group, the dairy company first linked to the toxic milk.

The sackings included the vice mayor in charge of agriculture, Zhang Fawang, and the director of the city’s food and drug watchdog, Zhang Yi, as well as chief officials for animal husbandry and quality inspection. (more…)

Two infants have died and more than 50 are in a serious condition from kidney stones caused by a banned chemical, melamine, added to raw milk before processing in an apparent bid to fool inspectors.

“Their number could rise as the search for more infants fed Sanlu milk food spreads across the country’s rural areas,” the China Daily reported. “…The number could rise sharply in coming days as more parents take their children for medical check-ups,” it added, citing Health Minister Chen Zhu.

Melamine is rich in nitrogen, an element often used to measure protein, and so can be used to disguise diluted milk.

China is the world’s second biggest market for baby milk powder, and Sanlu has been the top-selling company in the sector for 15 years, with 18.3% of sales in 2007.

Sanlu dominates in poorer rural areas, where farmer and migrant workers often find milk powder is easier than breast-feeding, and sometimes believe it is also healthier.

The central government has called the poisonings a “Level 1″ food safety incident and formed an emergency team to grapple with the fall-out, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

But public anger has grown over claims the company and officials failed to act sooner.
Sanlu, 43% owned by New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, last week halted production after investigators announced they had found the problem.

Local Chinese officials acted last week only after the New Zealand government contacted Beijing, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Monday. But according to Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier, Sanlu started its own recall from suppliers from Aug 2.

But last year, Sanlu was lauded by a Chinese state television programme, “Weekly Consumer Report”, as a model of good quality.

In past days, Chinese internet sites have filled with bitter criticisms claiming the broadcaster was more interested in boosting companies than protecting consumers.

“Weekly Consumer Report changes from an attacker of fake and sub-standard products into their protector,” said one. - Reuters

“This gene is central to HIV biology,” Dr. Warner Greene of the Gladstone Institutes at the University of California, San Francisco, said in a telephone interview.

So far, efforts to make a vaccine against HIV have failed. (more…)

What is a yeast infection?
Yeast infection is also called candidiasis, and is due to the fungus Candida albicans that infects the vagina.

You must be wondering why yeast would grow in the vagina. In fact, it is natural to find small amounts of yeast living in the vagina under normal conditions. However, the natural acidity of the vagina can be unbalanced, causing the yeast to overgrow and cause an infection.

The infection will then cause irritation of the vagina and the vulva. This may cause you to suffer extreme itchiness in and around the vagina. This may be accompanied by a thick, white, odourless vaginal discharge that has the texture of cottage cheese.

You may also notice other symptoms like burning, redness and swelling of the vagina and vulva, pain upon urinating, and pain or discomfort during sex.

What causes it? (more…)