Listening to your favorite music may be good for your cardiovascular system. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have shown for the first time that the emotions aroused by joyful music have a healthy effect on blood vessel function.

Music, selected by study participants because it made them feel good and brought them a sense of joy, caused tissue in the inner lining of blood vessels to dilate (or expand) in order to increase blood flow. This healthy response matches what the same researchers found in a 2005 study of laughter. On the other hand, when study volunteers listened to music they perceived as stressful, their blood vessels narrowed, producing a potentially unhealthy response that reduces blood flow.

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by Maureen Williams, ND

Healthnotes Newswire —For people who need lower back surgery for a slipped disc (also known as a prolapsed or herniated disc), the best post-surgical advice might be to get into a vigorous exercise program within a few weeks. A new review of the evidence concluded that people who started exercise programs, especially high-intensity programs, four to six weeks after surgery had less pain and disability than inactive people.

The review, published in The Cochrane Library, included data from 1,927 adults in 14 studies who had undergone their first surgery for low back (lumbar) disc prolapse. All of the studies compared groups treated with exercise programs different from each other and/or with groups that did not exercise; in most of the studies treatment started four to six weeks after surgery.

Short-term gains for exercisers

In studies where participants started exercising four to six weeks after surgery, exercisers had less pain and were more able to function than nonexercisers at the end of the treatment period. Those in high-intensity programs did better than people in low-intensity programs, and at-home exercise was just as effective as supervised exercise in these short-term trials. There was no evidence of increased rates of re-operation in exercisers, but the researchers noted that these studies provide no long-term information. Read more…

Clay…the next topical penicillin?

There may come a time in the very near future where curing a sore or cut could be as simple stepping out the back door–if you are in France.

Two scientists at the ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are examining the antibacterial properties of French green clay. Clay has been associated with home cures since Roman times. But there have been very few scientific studies to investigate such claims.

Shelley Haydel is an assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences (SOLS) and an expert in the study of tuberculosis. Much of her research is done at with the Center of Infectious Disease and Vaccinology at the ASU Biodesign Institute. She is testing the antimicrobial qualities of French green clay on various strains of pathogenic bacteria – with astounding results. One particular clay actually kills the bacteria.

Lynda Williams recruited Haydel to the project. Williams is a geochemist and associate research professor with the School of Earth and Space Exploration. She is an expert on clay mineralogy.

Williams has been studying the properties of clay for decades. Strangely, it was the Internet that set the two ASU scientists on their present path. Williams says that a message posted by a French humanitarian on the Clay Minerals Societies’ list serve caught her eye.

Scientists are showing that French Green Clay has antibiotic potential, which explains why it has been a part of spa treatments for thousands of years.

Bees are essential to the entire ecosystem. Plus, they give us honey, a superfood with antibiotic characteristics, not to mention a healthful way to sweeten foods without resorting to toxic, refined sugar. The problem is that the bees are disappearing, which is a major threat to our entire planet and food production The disappearance of bees was a mystery until independent groups figured out that pesticides are killing them off.

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From OMB Watch... A conservation organization has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to release information about a pesticide linked to dramatic declines in honeybee populations. The pesticide was approved on the condition that the manufacturer study the effects of the chemical on the bee species. The EPA has received the studies but refuses to release them to the public, even though a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was filed.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which made the FOIA request, sued EPA on Aug. 18 for withholding the information. The pesticide, known as clothianidin and sold under the brand name Poncho, is in a class of chemicals linked to collapses of thousands of bee colonies.

Honeybees have been declining for several years in the United States, including a die-off of 36 percent between September 2007 and March 2008. The problem is referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), and it is characterized by the disappearance of all adult worker bees in a hive while the queen and immature bees and honey remain. The result is the destruction of the entire hive. Exact causes are unknown. Recent evidence suggests certain pesticides may be contributing to the rapid decline in bee populations.

The collapse of managed bee colonies could be disastrous for U.S. agriculture. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the production of one-third of the nation’s food is dependent on pollination by honeybees. Pollination is responsible for $15 billion in added crop value, particularly for specialty crops such as almonds and other nuts, berries, fruits, and vegetables.