10 things you didn't know about the sound

10 things you didn't know about sound

October 10, 2010
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/10/...dex.html?hpt=C1


Editor's note: TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to "Ideas worth spreading," which it makes available through talks posted on its website. Julian Treasure, the author of "Sound Business," is chairman of UK-based audio branding specialist The Sound Agency and an international speaker on sound's effects on people, on business and on society.

(CNN) -- Most of us have become so used to suppressing noise that we don't think much about what we're hearing, or about how we listen. Yet our well-being is now being seriously damaged by modern sound. Here are 10 things about sound and health that you may not know:

1.) You are a chord. This is obvious from physics, though it's admittedly somewhat metaphorical to call the combined rhythms and vibrations within a human being a chord, which we usually understand to be an aesthetically pleasant audible collection of tones. But "the fundamental characteristic of nature is periodic functioning in frequency, or musical pitch," according to C.T. Eagle. Matter is vibrating energy; therefore, we are a collection of vibrations of many kinds, which can be considered a chord.

2.) One definition of health may be that that chord is in complete harmony. The World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" which opens at least three dimensions to the concept. On a philosophical level, Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras and Confucius all wrote at length about the relationship between harmony, music and health (both social and physical). Here's Socrates: "Rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful."

Watch an interview with Julian Treasure

3.) We see one octave; we hear ten. An octave is a doubling in frequency. The visual spectrum in frequency terms is 400-790 THz, so it's just under one octave. Humans with great hearing can hear from 20 Hz to 20 KHz, which is ten octaves.

4.) We adopt listening positions. Listening positions are a useful set of perspectives that can help people to be more conscious and effective in communication -- because expert listening can be just as powerful as speaking. For example, men typically adopt a reductive listening position, listening for something, often a point or solution.

Women, by contrast, typically adopt an expansive listening position, enjoying the journey, going with the flow. When unconscious, this mismatch causes a lot of arguments.

Other listening positions include judgmental (or critical), active (or reflective), passive (or meditative) and so on. Some are well known and widely used; for example, active listening is trained into many therapists, counselors and educators.

5.) Noise harms and even kills. There is now wealth of evidence about the harmful effect of noise, and yet most people still consider noise a local matter, not the major global issue it has become.

According to a 1999 U.S. Census report, Americans named noise as the number one problem in neighborhoods. Of the households surveyed, 11.3 percent stated that street or traffic noise was bothersome, and 4.4 percent said it was so bad that they wanted to move. More Americans are bothered by noise than by crime, odors and other problems listed under "other bothersome conditions."

TED.com: Music is medicine, music is sanity

The European Union says: "Around 20% of the Union's population or close on 80 million people suffer from noise levels that scientists and health experts consider to be unacceptable, where most people become annoyed, where sleep is disturbed and where adverse health effects are to be feared. An additional 170 million citizens are living in so-called 'grey areas' where the noise levels are such to cause serious annoyance during the daytime."

The World Health Organization says: "Traffic noise alone is harming the health of almost every third person in the WHO European Region. One in five Europeans is regularly exposed to sound levels at night that could significantly damage health."

The WHO is also the source for the startling statistic about noise killing 200,000 people a year. Its findings (LARES report) estimate that 3 percent of deaths from ischemic heart disease result from long-term exposure to noise. With 7 million deaths a year globally, that means 210,000 people are dying of noise every year.

TED.com: Jose Abreu on kids transformed by music

The cost of noise to society is astronomical. The EU again: "Present economic estimates of the annual damage in the EU due to environmental noise range from EUR 13 billion to 38 billion. Elements that contribute are a reduction of housing prices, medical costs, reduced possibilities of land use and cost of lost labour days." (Future Noise Policy European Commission Green Paper 1996).

Then there is the effect of noise on social behavior. The U.S. report "Noise and its effects" (Administrative Conference of the United States, Alice Suter, 1991) says: "Even moderate noise levels can increase anxiety, decrease the incidence of helping behavior, and increase the risk of hostile behavior in experimental subjects. These effects may, to some extent, help explain the "dehumanization" of today's urban environment."

Perhaps Confucius and Socrates have a point.

6.) Schizophonia is unhealthy. "Schizophonia" describes a state where what you hear and what you see are unrelated. The word was coined by the great Canadian audiologist Murray Schafer and was intended to communicate unhealthiness. Schafer explains: "I coined the term schizophonia intending it to be a nervous word. Related to schizophrenia, I wanted it to convey the same sense of aberration and drama."

My assertion that continual schizophonia is unhealthy is a hypothesis that science could and should test, both at personal and also a social level. You have only to consider the bizarre jollity of train carriages now -- full of lively conversation but none of it with anyone else in the carriage -- to entertain the possibility that this is somehow unnatural. Old-style silence at least had the virtue of being an honest lack of connection with those around us. Now we ignore our neighbors, merrily discussing intimate details of our lives as if the people around us simply don't exist. Surely this is not a positive social phenomenon.

7. Compressed music makes you tired. However clever the technology and the psychoacoustic algorithms applied, there are many issues with data compression of music, as discussed in this excellent article by Robert Harley back in 1991. My assertion that listening to highly compressed music makes people tired and irritable is based on personal and anecdotal experience - again it's one that I hope will be tested by researchers.

8. Headphone abuse is creating deaf kids. Over 19 percent of American 12 to 19 years old exhibited some hearing loss in 2005-2006, an increase of almost 5 percent since 1988-94 (according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Josef Shargorodsky et al, reported with comments from the researchers here). One university study found that 61 percent of freshmen showed hearing loss (Leeds 2001).

Many audiologists use the rule of thumb that your headphones are too loud if you can't hear someone talking loudly to you. For example, Robert Fifer, an associate professor of audiology and speech pathology at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, says: "If you can still hear what people are saying around you, you are at a safe level. If the volume is turned so loudly that you can no longer hear conversation around you, or if someone has to shout at you at a distance of about 2 or 3 feet to get your attention, then you are up in the hazardous noise range."

TED.com: Evelyn Glennie shows how to listen

9. Natural sound and silence are good for you. These assertions seem to be uncontroversial. Perhaps they resonate with everyone's experience or instinct.

10. Sound can heal. Both music therapy and sound therapy can be categorized as "sound healing." Music therapy (the use of music to improve health) is a well-established form of treatment in the context of mainstream medicine for many conditions, including dementia and autism.

Less mainstream, though intellectually no more difficult to accept, is sound therapy: the use of tones or sounds to improve health through entrainment (affecting one oscillator with a stronger one). This is long-established: shamanic and community chant and the use of various resonators like bells and gongs, date back thousands of years and are still in use in many cultures around the world.

Just because something is pre-Enlightenment and not done in hospitals doesn't mean that it's new-age BS. Doubtless there are charlatans offering snake oil (as in many fields), but I suspect there is also much to learn, and just as herbal medicine gave rise to many of the drugs we use today, I suspect there are rich resources and fascinating insights to be gleaned when science starts to unpack the traditions of sound healing.

I hope these thoughts make a contribution to raising awareness of sound and its effects on health. I welcome your reaction, and I will check this forum and respond.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Julian Treasure.

Does human DNA contain our consciousness?

DNA 's Mysteries. Does DNA contain our Consciousness?

Posted by Vatic at 17:00
2010-10-10
http://vaticproject.blogspot.com/2010/10/d...you-always.html


Vatic Note: The first part of this is about the physical characteristics of DNA. The second half deals with consciousness/spirituality/humanity and our DNA. If DNA contains our consciousness, and if we are about to go through the photon belt linked below, and if such passage occurs every 24,000 years lasting 2,000 years, it suggests that "light" and high vibration is going to be the result; then can that result in another evolutionary movement for mankind on the spirit side?

If so, is that why the massive intense work on the side of the evil ones, to manipulate that DNA before we begin that journey which is said to begin in 2012 around dec.? We covered a lot of information on the work they are doing with manipulating our DNA and dehumanizing and changing our actual structure to "what", we don't know. They have recently, publically, made massive appeals for depopulation with no shame, and that makes me wonder why? They have spent billions on Eugenics since 1921 when they began the program and funding, through the Rockefeller foundation and other such elite foundations. Check out all the efforts through various DNA destroying or altering efforts here, here, and here.

I have a series coming up this week early Monday about an historical perspective on all of this going back over 13,000 years and it ties into so much of all of this. To me the video series is like a glue that finally connects all this together. Watch for the series by Michael Tsarion, called "The Origins of Evil", On Monday at 2 am Monday and the 2nd portion will be up Monday at 10:00 AM and keep this blog in mind (it was quite a rabbit hole this has taken me down, and fascinating and credible. Maybe this explains why Bill Cooper was murdered) when I watched the video series credibly done and documented, it connected and explained a whole lot to me. Tying all this together is important. The bits and pieces mean nothing unless viewed as a wholistic piece all connected like a huge jigsaw puzzle. Once put together you can see the full big picture. I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I did.

DNA's Mysteries.
(Excerpted elements to reduce size for the blog and excerpts from other related articles. Links are included.)

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread589332/pg1



Now, that is something I think is pretty interesting. Don't you ?
The following picture is simplified, and names the specific components. (VN: This is important since later the elements contained in DNA will be discussed and it will explain why these scientists who want to do Genetic engineering on the human DNA should not be allowed to do so as it can literally take away our humanity)



Components of DNA

So the bridge between the edges of the helix is made of a combination of four chemicals, Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine and Guanine. Which I will abbreviate as A, T, C and G. Those are the letters of the DNA alphabet. A, C, T, and G encode all information necessary for life. In the simplest tiny microorganisms it takes 500,000 letters to represent a living organism. It takes five hundred thousand A's, or C's, or T's, or G's.

In a human it takes three billion (3,000,000,000) of those letters to represents a copy of you, and there is one of those three billion letter messages inside every cell in your body. (By the way modern technology, to date, has not produced an information storage mechanism that is more dense than DNA.) All the information in your hard drive is a lot bulkier than the information in your cells.

So DNA is not just a molecule, DNA is a language. It is actually very comparable to English and human languages in the way that it is structured. Here is a little chart and it shows the comparison between human languages and DNA. The nucleotide is the A, T, C, G.

Is DNA a pattern? Or is it a language?

DNA is an encoding and decoding system. DNA molecule represents more than itself; it represents an entire living organism. It doesn't just represent Adenine. It represents you or it represents a rabbit or a squirrel or a snake.

It has alphabet and syntax and semantics and pragmatics, or to use less technical terms alphabet, grammar, meaning and intent. It can be copied and even stored in other media with no loss of information.

I used to work for a company that made DNA sequencers. Their machines would go through and figure out what all the letters were in a strand of DNA. You could store that on a computer disk, and somebody in the lab could take the right chemicals and they could put those back and they could end up with a clone of the organism. Because the information in DNA is information is something distinct and separate from whatever it is stored in. Together with all of the science there are also people that think DNA shows all the signs of being a language.

All Languages and Codes Have Four Components

Regardless of what kind of communication we are talking about those four things are present in that communication. Alphabet, grammar, meaning and intent. And nearly all languages have error correction or redundancy.

English is about 50% redundant, which means if you're talking on your cell phone and its cutting in and out and in and out, if you can hear every word you can still pretty much figure out what's being said. If you lose more than that you really can't.

Where does redundancy come from? If you take a word out, you can fill it in from the context. Your mind can fill in the difference. Most of you never thought of this, but in when you're on the internet or getting and receiving emails there's a whole collection of mechanisms that are put in the communication back and forth to ensure that errors are corrected before they get to you. This is common to almost all languages.

DNA Language -Human Language

-Nucleotide -Character
-Codon -Letter
-Gene -Word
-Operon -Sentence
-Regulon -Paragraph

DNA is encoding, decoding mechanism that stores and transmits the message of the living organism. Biologists have actually been using linguistic analysis to decode the human genome. Tools that we must use to analyze languages are continually being used to figure out what all of those genes actually mean.

So if you read some article in the newspaper it says we found a gene that causes Spina Bifida or something like that, some kind of linguistic analysis was used to help figure that out.

The reason form me to post it is , in modern day science, Quantum Physics it is , in theory, possible that our DNA holds indeed a communication device.

You can think of a holographic universe, or maybe a sentient universe. Well, that would make it god-like doesn't it ?

A little introduction for those who have never heard of what I saying here.



http://www.youtube.com/v/j-azcMJ5JS4&hl=en...player_embedded

JUNK DNA- May Not Be Junk After All
(Quoted from Gene exchange no 2, 1996)

In another reminder that we may not understand the full ramifications of genetic engineering, Science magazine recently reported new work on the function of genetic material*. Scientists have long been puzzled by the fact that fully 97% of the DNA in human cells does not code for proteins and appears to consist of meaningless sequences. The possibility that this apparently useless DNA has some as yet unknown function continues to tantalize scientists.

The Science article reports on a paper suggesting that the non-coding 97% of the DNA, commonly referred to as junk DNA, might have a function. The authors of the paper employed linguistic tests to analyze junk DNA and discovered striking similarities to ordinary language. The scientists interpret those similarities as suggestions that there might be messages in the junk sequences, although its anyone s guess as to how the language might work. * F. Flam, Hints of a language in junk DNA, Science 266:1320, 1994.

You've probably heard of a molecule called DNA, otherwise known as "The Blueprint Of Life". Molecular biologists have been examining and mapping the DNA for a few decades now. But as they've looked more closely at the DNA, they've been getting increasingly bothered by one inconvenient little fact - the fact that 97% of the DNA is junk, and it has no known use or function! But, an usual collaboration between molecular biologists, cryptoanalysists (people who break secret codes), linguists (people who study languages) and physicists, has found strange hints of a hidden language in this so- called "junk DNA".

And that is not all. In this particular scientific article they are also suggesting that this junk DNA includes or is a language. How about that ?

The next big breakthrough came from a really unusual collaboration between medical doctors, physicists and linguists. They found even more evidence that there was a sort-of language buried in the introns.

So the scientists looked at a very long bit of DNA, and made artificial words by breaking up the DNA into "words" each 3 rungs long. And then they tried it again for "words" 4 rungs long, 5 rungs long, and so on up to 8 rungs long. They then analysed all these words, and to their surprise, they got the same sort of Zipf Law/straight-line-graph for the human DNA (which is mostly introns), as they did for the human languages!
Source

Junk DNA is also called "non coding DNA"

The function of over 95 percent of our DNA is still a mystery. That is, we have spelled out the code, but have discovered that most of it does not code for proteins. Genes can be separated by a vast desert of noncoding DNA, which is sometimes called “junk” DNA. But is it useless? Probably not, because included among noncoding sequences are the crucial promoter regions which control when genes are turned on or off.

The human genome has more noncoding DNA than any other animal known to date and it is not clear why. At least half of the non-coding sequence is made up of recognizable repeated sequences, some of which were inserted by viruses in the past. These repeats may provide some genomic wiggle room. That is, long stretches of noncoding DNA provide a playground for evolution. It may be a huge selective advantage to have all that raw material available to mutate and either modify existing traits and behaviors or express new ones all together. Humans are characterized by the ability to be flexible and to adapt quickly, so our junk DNA is potentially a priceless contribution to our humanness.

Source.

Now this is something to think about. Raw material for future evolution ? Quick adaptation ?

I agree that must be a priceless advantage. What strikes me most is that humans have the most junk DNA then any other known animal. This could be the reason why we, with our puny physical strength, speed and tenderness, have been able to survive and work ourselves to the top of the food chain.

Another article where junk DNA is given credit for who we are. 'Junk' DNA gets credit for making us who we are.

A video about what junk DNA actually is.



Amazing revelations about DNA

As scientists began to decode the human DNA molecule, they found something quite unexpected—an exquisite 'language' composed of some 3 billion genetic letters. "One of the most extraordinary discoveries of the twentieth century," says Dr. Stephen Meyer, director of the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute in Seattle, Wash., "was that DNA actually stores information—the detailed instructions for assembling proteins—in the form of a four-character digital code" (quoted by Lee Strobel, The Case for a Creator, 2004, p. 224).

It is hard to fathom, but the amount of information in human DNA is roughly equivalent to 12 sets of The Encyclopaedia Britannica—an incredible 384 volumes" worth of detailed information that would fill 48 feet of library shelves!

Yet in their actual size—which is only two millionths of a millimeter thick—a teaspoon of DNA, according to molecular biologist Michael Denton, could contain all the information needed to build the proteins for all the species of organisms that have ever lived on the earth, and "there would still be enough room left for all the information in every book ever written" (Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, 1996, p. 334).

Who or what could miniaturize such information and place this enormous number of 'letters' in their proper sequence as a genetic instruction manual? Could evolution have gradually come up with a system like this? Source.

Another link where you will read about the DNA language. It says it is a code, not binary but still digital.

Source.

Is this an explanation for the hundredth monkey phenomena?

VN: If so, then does that mean "consciousness" is a result or is communicated through the DNA as implied by this article from Rense and why the dark forces are so vehemently trying to collect, destroy, mutate, and otherwise manipulate human DNA?? Is this why Monsanto is inserting animal DNA in our plant food? They are also inserting human DNA in our animal food. Remember mad cow disease comes from cows eating ground up meat of their own species.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There can be little doubt that the mind-body link is mediated by the DNA molecule. One possibility is that the nitgogenous bases may be functional as a quantum computer. I have posted an abstract of some current research below. I was unable to locate an online copy.

Title:

Triplet–singlet spin communication between DNA nucleotides serves the basis for quantum computing.

Source:
Chemical Physics Letters; Feb2007, Vol. 436 Issue 1-3, p258-262, 5p

Abstract:

The nature of spin communication between DNA nucleotide pairs is discussed. The results are based on CIU (2×10up>6 configurations, 6-311Gup>∗∗ basis set) quantum chemistry computations at a constant temperature T =310K of complementary nucleotide pairs, guanosine–cytidine (G–C) and adenosine–thymidine (A–T) monophosphates, assembled into DNA fragments of different length. Calculations reveal alternation of low energy triplet–singlet (T–S) potential energy surfaces (PESs), assigned to individual nucleotides.

In a narrow energy interval these PESs approach, showing repulsion and uncommon crossings. Complementary nucleotide pairing, a result of Watson–Crick hydrogen bonding, produces a global minimum in total energy, coming from the unique crossing between two singlet by nature PESs strictly around 310K.

Interaction between non-complementary nucleotides reveals no minima and points rather to system destabilization. Computations show that regularly organized DNA is a structure of similarly oriented spins along each of its two chains, so that the resultant spin of the whole structure is equal to zero. Disordering in spin structure produces coherent effects, appearing in spin flipping, which serves the basis for constructing DNA-based quantum computing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Also of interest is the field of BIO-PHOTONICS, which suggests that DNA may form an EM resonant pathway of biological communication. it is currently believed that proteins organize the control of the organism. but biophotonics suggests that cellular structures are actually exchanging packets of visible light facilitated by DNA. (VN: This is important since we will soon be moving through the photon belt which will have a major impact on our DNA in the EM resonant pathway mentioned above and vibrational impact as well at a much higher level than we are used to. Remember this only happens once every 24,000 years and it takes 2,000 years to complete the pass through. )

What amazes me about DNA is the sheer uber-complicated processes which occur to just keep our DNA intact - there are protiens whoose entire job is to 'look' for errors and then correct mistakes and misprints..suprising to say that she lost me halfway through most of our conversations about it.

Some researchers have found that the majority of junk DNA is actual remnets of viruses. Our DNA structure is upto 9% Virus.

From Disinfo:

This is dwarfed by DNA deriving from viruses, which amounts to roughly 9 per cent.On top of that, huge chunks of the genome are made up of mysterious virus-like entities called retrotransposons, pieces of selfish DNA that appear to serve no function other than to make copies of themselves. These account for no less than 34 per cent of our genome.

I'm not a religious man, not in the christian sense anyway...but the more I learn, the more I feel as though we were 'designed' or at least upgraded...Ancient Astronaut Theory anyone?

http://333connect.com/dna-activation/dna-activation/

Dr Bill Deagle explaining the so called "junk DNA"

A message to the resistance -



Junk DNA explained

It invokes actual individual thinking about ourselves at the smallest level of existence and how we individually fit into the grand design, accidently or not, to the hardly recognized Oneness of the conscious Universe.

This is why they are using so many chemicals / technologies that DESTROY our DNA, such as microwaves and HAARP and cell phones and GMO foods and processed foods, etc.

However it has been found that the sequence of the syllables is not random at all and has a striking resemblance with the structure of human language (ref. Flam, F. "Hints of a language in junk DNA", Science 266:1320, 1994, see quote below). Therefore, scientists now generally believe that this DNA must contain some kind of coded information. But the code and its function is yet completely unknown.

http://www.psrast.org.../
So it is two languages, if there was one language then we would have known the meaning behind the supposed Junk DNA.

Gregg Braden also talks of human DNA and the fact that is contains a language in his video The Science of Miracles.....



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nKSq2tV1kE

I have been quite skeptical of him but maybe he's on to something after all!! Everyone should be 'aware' of the symbol for the hippocratic oath: The symbol, ethic and morality of your very creation.

Hippocratic Oath

The Hippocratic oath, as originally intended, is no longer a requisite in modern medicine nor modern human conduct unto another. Who is 'your' brother? Your neighbor. The Creator does not make mistakes.
The Creation has always had a 'choice'.

Choose wisely and perhaps one could become One with the cosmos and one's soul/spirit may escape the pergatory known as Earth.....

That's ALL that matters in one's end. Take Care of One another.

Edit to Add:

Yes, there is a Good Reason the hippocratic oath 'symbol' looks eerily similar to that of the double helix structured DNA.....as well as the spiral of infinity.....by far the oldest relic found on Earth.

There are Angels of which 'logically' one should assume would be of extra terrestrial origin among yourselves.

To be 'touched' by an A-ngle is to glow within and without.

This Is the most reliable evidence one could discover.

Also note the shapes that run through our DNA are also in the macrouniverse and mathimatically similar. Is there some thread running through the micro and the macro of creation??? Are we infinite beings connected to this macrouniverse through our consciousness within our DNA? Is that what the language is for? Experiments suggest that is the case. Relisten to the Braden video again. Its there.


http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/planet...ageOfLight.html

9) DNA IS THE SEED CRYSTAL OF THE HIGHER DIMENSIONAL LIGHT BODY.
DNA, a perfect Phi structures crystal connecting long waves and short waves, is a three-dimensional patterns designed to transmit information, in the form of living being, through time and space, the fourth dimension. Its goal seems to be the creation of a fifth dimensional intelligence, one capable of phase-locking with the information of the universe stored in the crystaline coding of the DNA geometry.



10) LIGHT, WHEN FOLDED BACK ON ITSELF, COMES TO KNOW ITSELF.
A fifth dimensional awareness, which we can categorize as one that sees all space and time, energy and matter, as components of the original wave form, bends Light into the circle of self-awareness. This creates the rich blue/UV explosion of energy that accompanies the rise of Kundalini, the phase-lock of biological energies into the flow of the universal information energy stream. This enfolded-ness creates enlightenment, a state where the awareness of the universal mind meets itself at every wave junction.

Understanding acne holistically

(NaturalNews) The consensus in the dermatological community is that acne is largely a genetic disorder and that diet has little to no effect on the development of the condition. A literature search shows that the irrefutable beliefs held by dermatologists are based on a collection of studies that are inconclusive at best. The pathology of acne is well understood. Unsurprisingly though, the medical establishment is unaware of (or dismissive towards) the power of natural methods and diet to prevent, modify, and cure the condition. Instead, they choose to focus on using drugs that down regulate, inhibit, or kill rather than work with and restore balance back to the body.

Acne is a disorder of EXCESSIVE GROWTH and INFLAMMATION, which is driven by hormonal changes.

1. The formation of acne begins in the hair follicle, with over proliferation and adhesion of epidermal cells called keratinocytes (dead surface skin cells). This process is driven by a growth factor (EGF) and a cytokine (IL-1).
2. An over active sebaceous gland empties sebum into the follicle, which mixes with the dead skin cells. This sticky mass inhibits normal skin exfoliation and creates a clogged pore (microcomedone).
3. Impaction and bacterial infiltration creates oxidative stress and the follicle eventually bursts, releasing its contents. Inflammation ensues and becomes visible in and around the clog. The lesion is now called a papule, pustule, or cyst.

Insulin influences every step in the formation of acne directly and indirectly.

1. First, insulin frees up IGF-1 and EGF, which are incredible promoters of growth. IGF-1 acts on and stimulates keratinocyte proliferation. It also decreases IGFBP-3, which regulates IGF-1, and acts on RXR to normalize cell growth. High insulin levels are also linked to chronic inflammation, triggering the release of IL-1 that starts the whole process.
2. Insulin increases sebum production in two ways: by stimulating androgen release in the testes and ovaries and by decreasing SHBG, which normally binds sex hormones in the bloodstream, regulating its availability to cells.
3. Insulin worsens acne by diverting essential fatty acid (EFA) derived eicosanoid production towards inflammation.

Recommendations

1. Diet
- Choose low-glycemic load , anti-inflammatory foods, which provoke less insulin, growth factor release, androgen production, and inflammation. These changes normalize follicular cell proliferation and reduce sebum.
- Avoid inflammatory foods like trans-fats, refined vegetable oils, grain-fed meats, and refined carbohydrates.
- Minimize inflammation by consuming foods rich in omega-3s and reducing Arachidonic acid (AA).

2. Lifestyle
- Increase quality and quantity of sleep. Inadequate sleep increases inflammation, stress, weight gain, and cortisol production. Cortisol may contribute to acne flare-ups by elevating blood sugar and stimulating the sebaceous glands, much like the androgens.
- Negative emotions and stress are linked to increased production of inflammatory cytokines. Stress also increases the production of cortisol.
- Chronic stress depresses the adrenal glands over time and leads to hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism decreases SHBG, freeing up the androgens that increase sebum.

3. Supplements
- Vitamin D3: Regulates proper skin cell formation and modulates the inflammatory response.
- Alpha linolenic acid (ALA): Flooding the body with ALA reduces inflammation by outcompeting AA for delta-5-desaturase. Reducing AA, insulin surges, and boosting ALA will divert EFA production towards anti-inflammatory mediators.
- Methylsulfonylmethane
- N-acetyl cysteine: precursor to glutathione; prevents oxidative damage and inflammation and enhances Vitamins C and E.

Acne may have a genetic component, but as with most other diseases, the expression and severity of acne is influenced by lifestyle factors that are well within our control. Until dermatologists recognize the potential for natural, holistic solutions to modify the hormonal and inflammatory changes that cause acne, long-term success with conventional therapies will be elusive.

Author's note: the supplements listed above are neither comprehensive nor all the supplements necessary for everyone. Rather, it is a starting list worthy of consideration based on research.

Sources:
1."Implications for the Role of Diet in Acne" (Seminars in Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery, 2005).
2."Dietary Implications for the Development of Acne: A Shifting Paradigm" (US Dermatology Review, 2006).
3."Acne Vulgaris" (Archives of Dermatology, 2002).
4."Vitamin D analogs: mechanism of action and therapeutic potential" (Nagpal S, Boehm MF).
5."Noncalcemic actions of vitamin d receptor ligands" (Nagpal S, Rathnchalam R).
6."The vitamin D pathway: a new target for control of the skin's immune response?" (Experimental Dermatology, June 2008).
7."Oxidative Stress in the Pathogenesis of Skin Disease" (Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2006).

What doctors don't tell you or, what they don't know...

(NaturalNews) America is a nation of widespread health and nutritional illiteracy. And I'm not just talking about the knowledge gaps of health consumers, either. It's the doctors and health "experts" who have astonishing gaps in knowledge that should be considered basic health information in any first-world nation.

Parents, too, lack any real literacy in nutrition and health. That's largely because medical journals, health authorities and the mass media actively misinform them about health and nutrition issues, hoping to prevent people from learning how to take care of their own health using simple, natural remedies and cures.

Here are some shocking examples of the huge gaps in knowledge among doctors, parents and others...

What your doctor doesn't know might actually harm you

• Most doctors have little or no understanding of the nutritional difference between LIVE foods and DEAD foods. Most doctors think they're nutritional identical!

• Most conventional doctors don't know that the NIH actively funded and operated criminal medical experiments on human prisoners (http://www.naturalnews.com/029920_U...).

• Most parents have no idea that processed meats (bacon, sausage, sandwich ham, etc.) are laced with the sodium nitrite coloring chemical that promotes aggressive brain, pancreas and colon cancers. (http://www.naturalnews.com/007024.html).

• Most doctors have no idea that seasonal flu vaccines are little more than quackery and simply don't offer any real protection against the flu. (http://www.naturalnews.com/029641_v...)

• Very few parents know the difference between the words "natural" and "organic" on food labels. Most parents just think "natural" means "organic" and so they buy more products that claim to be natural (even when the word means nothing).

• Few doctors realize that statin drugs were engineered from a molecule called lovastatin, found naturally in red yeast rice. The drug companies pirated the molecule from nature (biopiracy), then patented it. Then they pressured the FDA to declare that red yeast rice was an "adulterated" supplemented because -- get this -- it naturally contains the drug they stole from it!

• Most parents are completely befuddled by the nutritional claims of infant formula. They are astonishingly unaware that some of the most popular infant formula products such as Similac are made with over 50% sugars (http://www.naturalnews.com/029863_S...).

• Virtually no one outside the natural health community knows that soy protein is extracted using a toxic, explosive chemical called hexane. (http://www.naturalnews.com/026303_s...)

• Very few people know that the carmine food coloring used in fruit punch drinks and strawberry yogurt is actually made from smashed red beetles (http://www.naturalnews.com/002043.html).

• Most doctors remain completely unaware of the anti-cancer nutrients found in celery, grapefruit, cabbage and chocolate. They tend to believe that medicine comes from laboratories, not food.

• Very few parents are aware that processed milk and dairy products promote obesity, heart disease and acne in their teenage children. Astonishingly, most adults have been fooled into thinking that yogurt is good for them because it contains probiotics (never mind the homogenized milk fats).

• Most people of all ages, come to think of it, believe that frozen yogurt is somehow good for them, even though it's really just processed ice cream sprinkled with probiotic powder (http://www.naturalnews.com/029038_f...).

• Most doctors are completely unaware of the health dangers of aspartame and MSG and make no attempt to educate their patients about avoiding these excitotoxins.

• Most people don't know that if you sign up as an organ donor, literally millions of dollars may be made off your body parts while your organs go to murderers! (http://www.naturalnews.com/029296_o...) Also, if you're an organ donor recipient, you may receive a cancer-ridden, diseased organ as your "new" transplant. (http://www.naturalnews.com/027353_h...)

• Think cooking on non-stick cookware is safe? Most people have no idea that non-stick cookware surfaces are made of highly toxic chemicals, and if you heat a non-stick pan on the stove, it will actually off-gas enough toxic chemicals to kill your pet parakeet (this is not a myth).

• Very few doctors know that the human body has a second brain. It's located in your gut, and it's a highly complex mass of interconnected neurons that give real "intelligence" to your digestion and your interactions with food. There's even a book called The Second Brain (http://www.amazon.com/Second-Brain-...) that explains how it works.

• A typical conventional doctor cannot tell you the health benefits of blueberries -- even though blueberries can make statin drugs obsolete for many people! Most naturopaths, however, are well aware of the benefits of blueberries and may even prescribe them to you.

• Most doctors DO know the truth about how toxic chemotherapy is for patients, but they won't tell patients the details of what they know. It turns out that 91% of oncologists would not choose chemotherapy for themselves. (http://www.naturalnews.com/029996_c...)

This list could continue, of course. There are seemingly countless examples of extreme gaps in the knowledge of doctors who should frankly know better.

Irritable bowel sybdrome is not in the mind

(NaturalNews) Doctors who have been telling IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) patients that it's all in their mind will have to rethink that approach after scientists finally discovered the problem really does exist. Researchers at Munich's Technische University have located the cause of IBS and it is in the gut, not the mind. Specifically, it is the result of tiny inflammations in the mucosa of the gut, which upset the sensitive balance of the bowel.

Professor Michael Schemann's research team at the TUM Department for Human Biology demonstrated that micro-inflammations of the mucosa cause sensitization of the enteric nervous system, which in turn cause irritable bowel syndrome. The researchers used ultrafast optical measuring methods to demonstrate that mediators from mast cells and enterochromaffin cells directly activate the nerve cells in the bowel.

The hypersensitivity of the enteric nervous system upsets communication between the gut's mucosa and its nervous system. Project leader Professor Schemann explained: "The irritated mucosa releases increased amounts of neuroactive substances such as serotonin, histamine and protease. This cocktail produced by the body could be the real cause of the unpleasant IBS complaints."

The scientists are the first to identify IBS's cause; up to now, many doctors have dismissed their IBS patients as merely being hypochondriacs. Irritable bowel syndrome makes life miserable for those affected - an estimated ten percent or more of the population.

IBS can turn digestion into a nightmare. Common symptoms include stomach disorders, nausea, cramps, Flatulence, constipation and diarrhea, nausea and stomach cramps, sleep disturbances, headaches and backache. While the new research findings will almost surely lead to medicines and treatments to inhibit serotonin, histamine and protease, the findings could also help reinforce and narrow natural treatments for IBS.

Proper diet has been the foremost tool used against IBS. Eating properly for IBS can relieve and prevent both diarrhea and constipation, as well pain, gas, and bloating. This is best accomplished by avoiding foods that over-stimulate or irritate the colon and eating foods that soothe and regulate it. It is considered essential to strictly limit the amount of unhealthy dietary fats (the single most powerful digestive tract stimulant), eat soluble fiber consistently with every snack and meal, eliminate coffee, carbonated beverages and alcohol, be very careful with insoluble fiber, and avoid overeating. It is also important to avoid cigarettes, as tobacco wreaks havoc on the digestive tract.

The following list includes many potential dietary sources of trouble. Please note that, since individual tolerances for IBS triggers vary, you may find through experimentation that you have a higher degree of tolerance for some of these foods than others:

Red meat (beef, pork, lamb, etc.), poultry dark meat and skin, dairy products, egg yolks, fried foods, coconut milk, oils, shortening, butter, fats, solid chocolate, regular and decaffeinated coffee, alcohol, carbonated beverages, artificial sweeteners, artificial fats, and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

One food item that may be particularly beneficial is apples (with the hard to digest skin removed or else cooked). Apples contain malic acid, a substance that eases pain and inflammation. Apples also contain pectin, which helps remove toxins that may be causing stomach irritation as well as other problems.

Another item which could help tremendously is raw honey, especially a type of honey known as manuka honey. People have reported being able to conquer IBS completely with the combination of a good diet and taking a teaspoon of raw manuka honey dissolved in a cup of warm water three times daily on an empty stomach.
Other items which have been reported to be beneficial for IBS include:

* Digestive enzymes
* Ginger
* Colloidal silver

Sources included:

http://www.wddty.com/ibs-cause-fina...
http://scienceblog.com/37670/proof-...
http://gut.bmj.com/content/59/9/121...
http://www.healingwell.com/library/...

Low calories diet and health

Strict diet two days a week 'cuts risk of breast cancer by 40 per cent'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:06 PM on 5th October 2010
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-...er-40-cent.html


Research professor Gillian Haddock, who took part in the study, said a benefit of the diet was that it was straightforward to follow

Women who follow a strict diet just two days a week can lower their risk of breast cancer by 40 per cent.

British researchers found the calorie-controlled regime almost halved cancer-causing hormones in women at high risk of the disease.

The study, led by Dr Michelle Harvie, examined 100 overweight women from Greater Manchester.

Half followed a 650-calorie-a-day diet for two days a week and ate what they wanted for the rest of the week, while the rest followed a Mediterranean diet.

After six months, women on both eating plans dropped an average of 13lb and were recording significant improvements in three key areas linked to breast cancer.

Women following the two-day diet saw their levels of the hormone leptin drop by 40 per cent, while those on the Mediterranean diet saw a drop of 36 per cent.

Both saw a drop in insulin levels of up to 25 per cent and levels of inflammatory protein of up to 15 per cent.

Dr Harvie said the two-day diet could be a life-saver for women who found it difficult to restrict what they ate 24/7.

Research professor Gillian Haddock, who took part in the study, said she found it the easier diet option.

The mother of two from Bowdon, Cheshire, said: 'I used to follow the 650-calorie diet on a Monday and Tuesday and it was great because I knew that by Wednesday I would be eating normally.

'It really suited me, I did it on my busiest work days and I would mainly have the milky drinks while I was at work so I didn't have to worry about shopping or taking in a specially prepared packed lunch.'

Mrs Haddock, 47, said she has now recommended the approach to friends.

Pamela Goldberg, chief executive of the Breast Cancer Campaign, said: 'There are many breast cancer risk factors that can't be controlled, such as age, gender and family history - but staying at a healthy weight is one positive step that can be taken.

'This intermittent dieting approach provides an alternative to conventional dieting which could help with weight loss, but also potentially reduce the risk of developing breast cancer.'

However, Dr Julie Sharp, senior science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: 'This study is not about breast cancer, it's a study showing how different diet patterns affect weight loss and it's misleading to draw any conclusions about breast cancer from this research.'

The research was conducted at the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Centre at Wythenshawe Hospital and was published in the International Journal of Obesity.