Building Muscle Doesn't Require Lifting Heavy Weights, Study Shows:

Article from www.sciencedaily.com:The findings are published in PLoS ONE.
"Rather than grunting and straining to lift heavy weights, you can grab something much lighter but you have to lift it until you can't lift it anymore," says Stuart Phillips, associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University. "We're convinced that growing muscle means stimulating your muscle to make new muscle proteins, a process in the body that over time accumulates into bigger muscles."
Phillips praised lead author and senior Ph.D. student Nicholas Burd for masterminding the project that showed it's really not the weight that you lift but the fact that you get muscular fatigue that's the critical point in building muscle. The study used light weights that represented a percentage of what the subjects could lift. The heavier weights were set to 90% of a person's best lift and the light weights at a mere 30% of what people could lift. "It's a very light weight," says Phillips noting that the 90-80% range is usually something people can lift from 5-10 times before fatigue sets in. At 30%, Burd reported that subjects could lift that weight at least 24 times before they felt fatigue.
"We're excited to see where this new paradigm will lead," says Phillips, adding that these new data have practical significance for gym enthusiasts but more importantly for people with compromised skeletal muscle mass, such as the elderly, patients with cancer, or those who are recovering from trauma, surgery or even stroke.

Reflections: I was very surprised and shocked after I read this article. The article stated that a new study conducted at McMaster University has shown that a similar degree of muscle building can be achieved by using lighter weights. You just need your muscles to feel fatigue, and you would have your muscles. However, the bad thing is that you need to raise the weight more times. This research also says that other than having practical significance for gym enthusiasts, it would also benefit people with compromised skeletal muscle mass, such as the elderly, patients with cancer, or those who are recovering from trauma, surgery or even stroke. Therefore, I think that these new discovery benefits humans a lot and I would not need to train so hard to get muscles as light weights could also do! However, one still need to put in effort to train muscles as you would also need more time to train muscles in the new method as you need to raise lighter weights more times!

Free Statins With Fast Food Could Neutralize Heart Risk, Scientists Say:

Article from www.sciencedaily.com: Statins reduce the amount of unhealthy "LDL" cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data has proven them to be highly effective at lowering a person's heart attack risk.
In a paper published in the American Journal of Cardiology, Dr Darrel Francis and colleagues calculate that the reduction in cardiovascular risk offered by a statin is enough to offset the increase in heart attack risk from eating a cheeseburger and a milkshake.
Dr Francis, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, who is the senior author of the study, said: "Statins don't cut out all of the unhealthy effects of burgers and fries. It's better to avoid fatty food altogether. But we've worked out that in terms of your likelihood of having a heart attack, taking a statin can reduce your risk to more or less the same degree as a fast food meal increases it."
One statin, simvastatin, is already available in low doses (10mg) over the counter at pharmacies without a prescription. Other statins are so far only prescribed by doctors, and limited by cost to patients at particular risk of heart attack or stroke. However, the cost of the tablets has fallen sharply in recent years (from ~£40/month to ~£1.50/month), such that the cost to the NHS of seeing a doctor is much greater than the cost of the tablet.
"It's ironic that people are free to take as many unhealthy condiments in fast food outlets as they like, but statins, which are beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed," Dr Francis said.
Statins have among the best safety profiles of any medication. A very small proportion of regular statin users experience significant side effects, with problems in the liver and kidneys reported in between 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 10,000 people.
"Everybody knows that fast food is bad for you, but people continue to eat it because it tastes good. We're genetically programmed to prefer high-calorie foods, and sadly fast food chains will continue to sell unhealthy foods because it earns them a living.
"It makes sense to make risk-reducing supplements available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge. It would cost less than 5p per customer -- not much different to a sachet of ketchup.
"When people engage in risky behaviours like driving or smoking, they're encouraged to take measures that minimise their risk, like wearing a seatbelt or choosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a statin is a rational way of lowering some of the risks of eating a fatty meal."
Studies have shown a clear link between total fat intake and blood cholesterol, which is strongly linked to heart disease. Recent evidence suggests that trans fats, which are found in high levels in fast food, are the component of the Western diet that is most dangerous in terms of heart disease risk.
Dr Francis and his colleagues used data from a previous large cohort study to quantify how a person's heart attack risk increases with their daily intake of total fat and trans fat. He compared this with the decrease in risk from various statins, based on a meta-analysis of seven randomised controlled trials.
The results showed that most statin regimes are able to compensate for the relative risk increase from eating a cheeseburger and a small milkshake.
The researchers note that studies should be conducted to assess the potential risks of allowing people to take statins freely, without medical supervision. They suggest that a warning on the packet should emphasise that no tablet can substitute for a healthy diet, and advise people to consult their doctor for more advice.

Reflections: For those who like to eat fast food, this would be good news for them! Fast food Restaurants are giving out free Statin to reduce the risk of heart diseases like heart attack. What is Statin? Statin is a type of medicine that reduces the amount of unhealthy "LDL" cholesterol in the blood. A wealth of trial data has proven them to be highly effective at lowering a person's heart attack risk. Those who like to eat fast food would be over the moon and eat more from now on. However, in my opinion, eating fast food that increases cholesterol is still unhealthy and bad for us even though now we are given Statin. Statin only reduces the risk of getting heart diseases, but it does not eliminate the possibility of getting heart diseases. Anyway, there are always other vices for this, for example: fast food is too salty, less vitamin C, so on and so forth. Therefore, in a nutshell, I think that we should still eat less fast food as it still harms our body.

Culture Matters in Suicidal Behavior Patterns and Prevention, Psychologist Says:

Article from www.sciencedaily.com:"Everywhere, suicidal behavior is culturally scripted," said Silvia S. Canetto, PhD, of Colorado State University. "Women and men adopt the self-destructive behaviors that are expected of them within their cultures."
While the gender paradox of suicidal behavior is common, particularly in industrialized countries, it is not universal, she said. In China, for example, women die of suicide at higher rates than men. In Finland and Ireland, men and women engage in nonfatal suicidal behavior at similar rates. There are more exceptions to the gender paradox of suicidal behavior when one examines female/male patterns of suicidality by age or culture, she said.
In some cultures, particularly in industrialized countries, such as the United States and Canada, suicide is considered a masculine act and an "unnatural" behavior for women, Canetto said at a symposium entitled "New Perspectives on Suicide Theory, Research and Prevention."
"In these countries, the dominant view is that `successful, completed' suicide is the masculine way to do suicide. In the U.S., women who kill themselves are considered more deviant than men. By contrast, in other cultures, killing oneself is considered feminine behavior (and is more common in women)," she said, citing, among others, the Aguaruna people of Peru, who view suicide as an indication of a feminine inability to control strong emotions. Yet in other cultures, men's and women's suicidal behavior is similar. For example, in Sri Lanka, the same types of issues (problems with spouses, parents or in-laws) are typically associated with both women's and men's suicides.
"A broad cultural perspective shows that women and men do not consistently differ in terms of the kinds of suicidal behavior they engage in, or with regard to the circumstances or the motives of their suicidal behavior," she said. "When women and men differ with regard to some dimensions of suicidal behavior, the meaning and salience of these differences vary from one social group to another, one culture to another, one historical period to another, depending on local scripts of gender and suicidal behavior." The cultural variability in patterns and scripts of women's and men's suicidal behavior calls for "culturally situated suicidality research and prevention," Canetto said.
At the same symposium, James L. Werth Jr., PhD, of Radford University, discussed reasons why the suicide rate in rural America is consistently higher than it is in urban areas. In addition to general suicide risk factors, such as mental illness, a family history of suicide and feelings of hopelessness, rural residents may be more isolated, be less willing to ask for help and have increased access to lethal means such as guns and pesticides, he said.
"County by county or state by state, the top areas in terms of suicide are rural," Werth said. "The top five states are Alaska, Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nevada, whereas D.C., New Jersey, New York Connecticut and Massachusetts have the lowest rates."
Some of the possible contributing factors to the higher rates in rural America are more poverty, higher unemployment and lack of access to treatment resources, Werth said. "People are not going to drive five hours to visit a counselor," he said.
In suggesting possible solutions to the rural suicide rate, Werth said greater access to broadband would help by increasing access to resources, as will integration of mental health practitioners into primary care.
"Even though people live farther apart, there may be stronger connections -- they need to rely on one another," he said. "There may be longstanding relationships among families and more religiosity …. we need to build on those existing qualities and strengths and beliefs."

Reflections: I was astounded by this article as I found out that in most countries, women suicide rates are higher than men are! Researches said that this depended on one’s cultural beliefs. In America, suicide was being seen as a masculine act and an "unnatural" behavior for women. However, in other countries, their culture believes that suicide is a feminine behavior. An example is the Aguaruna people of Peru, who viewed suicides as an indication of a feminine inability to control strong emotions. However, in my point of view, people who suicides are those who are under great pressures and stress or faced extreme sadness. I believed this as in Singapore, there are often many news about students of secondary or high schools that faced pressure and jumped down a building. In conclusion, I think that those who suicide are too stupid as they did not know how to cherish their life, which is very precious.

Periodic Table

The periodic table is being defined as a table of the chemical elements arranged in order of atomic number, usually in rows, so that elements with similar atomic structure (and hence similar chemical properties) appear in vertical columns. Yet, we have to know much more than that! :(

Not only do we need to have the sufficient understandings about the periodic table, for example, what vertical and horizontal rows and columns are for, we also need to memorise what each rows represent, although, the middle portion we only need to know that it is called the transition metals. Alas! We still needed to know many other things. The properties of each and every group of elements for instance, and some usages of the different element groups.

To me, though periodic table is somehow, or quite significantly related to the previous topic of chemical bonding and atomic structure, I found it relatively difficult to memorise. I knew that this was because I did not see the link of it with the everyday lives of us. However hard it was to memorise everything, it was still an inevitable part that we needed to memorise. As such, I still prepared some notes to facilitate a more effective way of learning...

To see the notes, please go to my website. To view the notes directly, please go to https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzY2llbmNlZXBvcnR8Z3g6Mjc2YzhkMTQyYmNjMzFlNA

Have fun viewing!

Chemical bonding and atomic structure

Chemistry! Chemistry! Chemistry!

For my level at least, chemistry requires one to deposit a lot of effort, especially for the memorising part. Chemical bonding and atomic structure is the same. We needed to know how to draw diagrams and define the meaning of terms. Unlike biology though, in chemistry, I still find some interesting portions in which I was quite enthralled by. For instance, the bonding of molecules resulting in intricate molecular structure - those were quite fascinating.

This topic was also interesting because we could relate some of the things we learnt to our daily lives, especially how molecules bond in different states, thus resulting to different melting or boiling points. Prior to the introduction of this topic, I never did inquire why water, when below 0 degree celsius, would turn into a hard and cold solid. I only treated it as how nature works, and I never asked what the reasons behind these freezing and evaporating processes work.

Though molecules are some very tiny things (?) that we cannot see with our naked eye, through theory, we still understood quite some facts about them. At the same time, I was also very intrigued by how scientists discovered these many informations about the different molecular structures. I found out that though currently, chemistry only involves memorising work, they are still as interesting as any other topics. But they are only interesting when one really put in the effort to memorise them, understand them, and try to see them as a whole and the linkage between the topics and our daily lives. While we are learning more and more with each passing day, I rightly believe that our mind would slowly develop to be more inquisitive, while, noticing that the world of science is actually bigger than we expect.

To see my notes and effort put in for this term's test, please click on the hyperlink to see the webpage. To see my notes directly, please click on the following: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxzY2llbmNlZXBvcnR8Z3g6MmQ4N2Y1MzQzYmI2OGI5Yg

Happy reading!

Reflection: Term 1 test results

The topics tested in this term are namely periodic table, atomic structure and chemical bonding. I found that in order to score well in this exam of chemistry, the most important thing is to work hard and do a lot of memorizing work. As such, I compiled the notes that Dr. Tan gave to be able to revise more systematically and efficiently, and at the same time, setting aside some time for researching online for the uses of different properties of elements.

I find compiling notes very effective, since during the making of notes, my mind also absorbed the information, thus killing two birds with one stone. Furthermore, when compiling notes, I was also able to review what Dr. Tan taught in lesson and have a through “checkup” on how much I understood about the topics; in other words, looking through each and every part of the topics to see if I still did not have a grasp about any topic, or unsure and feared any topic. As such, I was able to have an overall understanding of how these topics relate to each other. I felt that this was more important than just stuffing all the facts into our mind without any “digestion”.

With weeks and weeks of revision, the test finally came, and went. The result was that I got barely touched A1 – 31.5/40. To be frank, I am not very pleased with my own results. Careless mistakes, loads of them in the test paper. This was partly because of the lack of time, or also could be due to my inaccurate time planning, therefore, resulting in being unable to check my answers. As a matter of fact, it is only carelessness that resulted in my decrease in marks, since I totally understood how to do those questions. It was perhaps out of pure rashness and lack of time which made me failed to properly comprehend the question before answering them. As a result, the effort I invested, I felt, was far more than what I should have gotten for my results. However, perhaps it was because I did not do enough practices, since I only memorized the facts and information. Hence, I resolved that I should not only memorise, but also do numerous practices for the next test, and hope that I could pass with flying colours.

Poor Kidney Function Common among HIV-Infected Injection Drug Users:

Article from www.sciencedaily.com:HIV-infected individuals are more likely to have kidney disease compared with the general population. This may be due to a direct effect of HIV infection as well as indirect effects related to known risk factors for kidney disease that are commonly present among HIV-infected populations -- for example, the presence of other illnesses, toxic effects of antiretroviral medications, low socioeconomic status, and African American race. Research also indicates that injection drug users exhibit increased risk of becoming infected with HIV. While little information is available about the burden of kidney disease in injection drug users, this population's drug use, higher prevalence of viral hepatitis, and poor access to medical care may increase the risk of kidney disease.

To investigate the issue, Shruti H Mehta, PhD (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and her colleagues analyzed the presence of proteinuria, or excess excretion of protein in the urine, in HIV-positive and HIV-negative injection drug users. Individuals with proteinuria often develop kidney disease; therefore, screening for proteinuria may help physicians prevent or slow damage to the kidneys.
Researchers analyzed information from 902 injection drug users who were predominantly African American, 273 of whom were infected with HIV. 24.8% had proteinuria and prevalence was 2.9 times higher among HIV-infected (45%) compared with uninfected individuals (16%). HIV infection, unemployment, increased age, diabetes, hepatitis C infection, and high blood pressure were linked to a higher prevalence of proteinuria.
Because proteinuria can lead to kidney failure and increases one's risk of developing cardiovascular disease, clinicians should aggressively screen HIV-infected injection drug users for proteinuria and consider them candidates for medical treatments that protect the heart and kidneys.
Study co-authors include Elizabeth Yanik (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Public Health); Gregory Lucas, MD, PhD (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine); David Vlahov, PhD (New York Academy of Medicine); and Gregory Kirk, MD, PhD (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine).
Reflections: From this article, I have found out poor kidney function is common among injection drug users, particularly those with HIV, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue. Therefore, I think that clinicians should monitor the kidney function of HIV-infected injection drug users and consider them candidates for medical treatments to protect their kidneys when appropriate. Those people that have problems with their kidneys are mostly African or American races. Research also indicates that injection drug users exhibit increased risk of becoming infected with HIV. This shows that taking drugs are unhealthy and we got to take good care of our own health and not take drugs even though taking drugs might feel nice for a while. Actually, maybe that this article is to tell people the vices of taking drugs and deter them. Personally, I feel that this poor kidney function is a punishment to those who take drugs.