One Cup Of Green Tea Per Day Cuts Ovarian Cancer Risk In Half

Just One Cup Of Green Tea Per Day Cuts Ovarian Cancer Risk In Half – Life Extension Newsletter

 

A short communication published in the March, 2008 issue of the American Association for Cancer Research journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention reported the outcome of a study conducted by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington in Seattle which found that women who drank one or more cups per day of green tea experienced a 54 percent reduction in the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer. Because the disease is difficult to detect in its early, treatable stages, and a reliable screening test is still not available to the public, an effective means of preventing the disease “remains the only feasible approach to reduce ovarian cancer mortality,” according to the authors.

 

Mary Anne Rossing and her colleagues set out to evaluate the relationship between caffeine-containing beverages and ovarian cancer risk by comparing 781 women diagnosed with a primary invasive or borderline epithelial ovarian cancer between 2002 and 2005, and 1,263 women without the disease. Interviews with the participants obtained demographic and lifestyle characteristics, medical, family and reproductive history, and beverage consumption data five years prior to ovarian cancer diagnosis (or prior to an assigned reference date for the control subjects). Caffeine-containing drinks were reported as brewed coffee, instant coffee, espresso or espresso drinks, green tea, black tea, colas and root beer, diet colas and diet root beer, and caffeinated soft drinks. Decaffeinated beverages were reported separately.

 

In agreement with previous studies, women who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer were less likely to have used hormonal contraception, had a greater frequency of childlessness, or were likelier to have a family history of the disease. While the frequent intake of colas or root beer, whether regular or decaffeinated, was associated with a moderately increased risk of ovarian cancer, none of the other beverages were associated with increased or decreased risk, with the exception of green tea. Women who consumed one or more cups of green tea per day experienced a 54 percent reduction in ovarian cancer risk compared to those who did not drink green tea. Those who reported drinking an average of less than one cup per day experienced a smaller reduction in risk. Elimination of Asian women from the analysis (who are often frequent consumers of green tea), analysis of the data by tumor type, and separation of the women according to age or menopausal status failed to modify the finding.

 

The relatively high levels of epigallocatechin-3-gallate in green tea have been shown to help inhibit the growth of ovarian cancer in cell cultures according to two studies cited by the authors. Additionally, green tea drinking has been associated with a reduced risk of several other cancers. “Green tea, which is commonly consumed in countries with low ovarian cancer incidence, should be further investigated for its cancer prevention properties,” the authors conclude.

New video of Boston Dynamics BigDog robot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dog

Advertisers may sneak into your brain

We may soon wish the Firefox extension Adblock Plus existed as a neural implant affecting all sensory input:

Study: Subliminal ads warp your brain – CNET

Science has proven, once again, that advertising is effective. Who knew?

Researchers from upset-destined Duke University (fill out those brackets, people) and the University of Waterloo have published the results of a study that suggests that brief exposure to Apple’s brand logo drives higher levels of creativity than exposure to IBM’s logo. In fact, the researchers suggest that subliminal advertising is actually more effective than regular advertising, because people don’t have time to raise their anti-ad defenses.

…etc.

The Reality Distortion Field Is Real – Slashdot

“Apparently, even subliminal exposure to the Apple logo can make you ‘think different.’ Researchers at Duke University subjected participants to subliminal images of the iconic Apple and IBM logos (during what subjects thought was a visual acuity test), and those who were shown the Apple logo generated more creative ideas after the test than did those who were shown the IBM logo. In a second test, subjects exposed to the Disney logo acted more honestly than those who saw an E! Channel logo.”

CCTV Busting Infra-Red Headset Makes You Invisible | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

A German art project could help the British avoid the oppressive proliferation of surveillance cameras in their country. The I-R.A.S.C is simple, consisting of a circle of infra-red LEDs mounted on a headband. The infra red is invisible to The Man, but will cause CCTV cameras to flare out over the face of the wearer, obscuring his identity and making this the digital equivalent of a hooded sweatshirt.

This is not a production unit, but given that youd only need a hat, a battery and a few LEDs, you could easily knock one up in the garage.

CCTV Busting Infra-Red Headset Makes You Invisible | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

Record Efficiency Solar Inverter Could Mean 30% Cheaper Solar

You read that right. Nevermind attempts to improve the solar panels in a photovoltaic power generation setup – this new inverter could mean 30% cheaper solar. Amazing what’s possible when scientists stop to focus some time on the little things often lost in development of complex, cutting-edge technologies.

(This advancement impacts any sort of electrical array where an inverter is used, but I gear this post toward photovoltaics because in my opinion they’re currently by far the best option for alternative energy production. I lost the love for wind turbines when I learned they kill thousands of bats a year. Which warrants a separate post…)

A new inverter developed by engineers at the Fraunhofer Institute achieved an efficiency rating of 98.5 percent. The more efficient the inverter, the less energy is lost in the conversion.

“Fraunhofer researchers succeeded in reducing the power dissipation of conventional inverters by 30 to 50 percent when compared with results obtained with traditional silicon-based transistors.”

So, while increasing the efficiency of the photovoltaic material itself is probably the more exciting direction for improving efficiency, inverters that lose less of the energy as it is usefully delivered are also a development that will help.

(Source: EcoGeek)

50% of people on Earth are now connected via mobile

From Treo Today:

What’s the difference between yesterday and today? Nothing much, if you consider it on a day by day basis. Just 26 years after the first cellular (mobile) network was launched, we have reached 3.3 billion mobile subscriptions. That’s half the population of the world, many of whom never had any form of telecommunications just ten years ago. Today there are mobile networks in 224 countries.

The first mobile network was launched way back in August 1981 in Sweden and Norway. The network was based on the NMT-450 (Nordic Mobile Telephony) standard, and the first mobile phone was the Mobira Senator 450 by Nokia. The Mobira Senator 450 weighed 10 kilos! Think about that the next time you say a Nokia phone is “heavy”.

Termites aren’t ants after all – they’re roaches

Weird, weird and strange. That’s what I say to this.

Insect experts at the [London] Natural History Museum reveal that termites, the creatures famous for building enormous mounds and eating houses, are in fact cockroaches.

Termites have long baffled scientists as to their place in the natural world and their relationship with other insects. Although they are part of a large ’superorder’ that includes cockroaches, they were classified separately in a group called Isoptera .

This new research puts termites into the same group as cockroaches, (Blattodea). Termites are now classed as a new family of cockroaches called Termitidae . Isoptera is no longer valid.

Social insects

Termite diet, social behaviour and ecology are very different from their kitchen infesting cockroach counterparts. Confusingly also known as ‘white ants’, termites show many behavioural similarities with ants, wasps and bees as they are ’social’ insects. They produce offspring to carry out specialised tasks such as foraging, mound building, defence or reproduction.

DNA analysis

Dr Paul Eggleton, Daegan Inward and George Beccaloni carried out the most comprehensive DNA study to date . They studied 107 different species of termites, cockroaches and mantids, another group of animals thought to be closely related.

‘The key change in the termites’ evolution from their cockroach ancestors seems to be when they developed the ability to eat wood ,’ said Paul, Museum termite expert, ‘they gradually lost their characteristic egg case, and some of their offspring became sterile workers and soldiers’.

Changing appearance and behaviour

‘It may seem surprising that termites are actually social cockroaches since they look so different, but it is not unusual for animals to change in appearance as their behaviour evolves over time. Perhaps the most famous social insects, ants, evolved from solitary predatory wasps.’

Dr George Beccaloni, the Museum’s cockroach expert adds, ‘It is very rare that such a major change is proposed to how a group of animals is classified by biologists. If our findings are correct the textbooks will need to be rewritten.’

The paper Death of an order: a comprehensive molecular phylogenetic study confirms that termites are eusocial cockroaches is published online in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

Toxic furniture getting some standards

What’s in furniture? It’s enough to make you sick.
Susan Fornoff, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Laura Ingram rarely buys anything new, but last spring the 58-year-old Oakland landlord sprang for 16 feet of new oak bookcases to line the walls of her backyard studio-office.

“There was no problem in the showroom, when I was standing there with huge stacks of shelves,” she said. “But when the shelves arrived, they provoked such a violent allergic reaction in me after delivery that the vendor had to come and get them the next day and put them on a loading dock for three weeks to off-gas.”

The bookcases came back, and Ingram paid a carpenter to install them and a helper to move 35 boxes of books. Still, her chest would hurt, her lips would swell, she’d get confused and feel as if she had the flu.

So the furniture sat in her yard for three more months while she waited for the chemical odor to dissipate. It didn’t. The vendor finally returned Ingram’s money and took the bookcases away.

“This was my attempt to spiff up my environment,” Ingram said. “Now, I’d be extremely wary and want every certificate in the world.”

The problem for Ingram and others who are growing increasingly sensitized to indoor air pollutants is that the certificate doesn’t exist, and the furniture industry resists the notion of labeling its wares. Consumers can read a list of the ingredients in their cornflakes and a summary of what nutrients they contain, but good luck trying to find out what’s in the new set of bedroom furniture we spend eight hours with every night.

The store owner concluded that it was some chemical in the lacquer that made Ingram sick. Lacquers can contain high levels of solvents that release volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, that the American Lung Association reports can irritate eyes, skin and lungs and cause headaches, nausea and even liver and kidney damage.

Kirk Saunders, a finish specialist at EcoHome Improvement, guesses it was formaldehyde off-gassing from pressed wood. Emissions from urea formaldehyde - “which is really, really bad for you, and is so ubiquitous in an urban environment,” Saunders said - can cause cancer “and other adverse health effects,” according to the California Air Resources Board.

David Pogue (NY Times) covers the new Palm Centro

David Pogue (1) (2) offers one of the better synopses (what else is new?) of the latest device from Palm, the Centro. The Centro is a Treo, but has been rebranded in order, it seems, to reach a new demographic. It’s noticeably smaller than other recent Treos yet still retains all the features and the full QWERTY keyboard of its larger siblings. And while the screen has also been shrunken, it achieves the same resolution as that of the older Treos (320×320), making for a sharper display in a smaller space. It’s also $99 after rebates. Nice.

(Mostly) Good Things in a Small Package
By DAVID POGUE
Published: October 11, 2007

Google starts “My Library” at Book Search

Google Book Search’s “My Library” feature could be another free contender to LibraryThing with the added benefit of being able to search your custom library’s book texts.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/collect-share-and-discover-books.html
http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/my-own-library-on-book-search.html

Reader2.com or BiblioPhil.org have more capabilities, and both are also free, but that text search capacity is darn nifty.

LibraryThing still appears to have the best interface and functionality of all. So in the case of social library databases, I think you get what you pay for.