Resident ‘Gut bacteria’ and mental health

Please click on the web-link below :-

http://www.livescience.com/49248-gut-bacteria-mental-health.html

Food as Medicine for the Heart, By Tissa Kappagoda.

email from tissa kappagoda	2:18 AM (1 hour ago)

Dear Philip,

Best wishes to you both and your family for the New Year.

My book on heart healthy diet and recipes is out today and I am attaching a short flyer for your information.  I would be greatly obliged if you could  place the information on the blog.  The book has nearly 400 recipes but there are no Sri Lankan items in it.
  Food as Medicine for the Heart

Authored by Tissa Kappagoda MD, with Debbie Lucus RD, Jill Burns RD and Linda Paumer MA

8.5" x 11" (21.59 x 27.94 cm)
Black & White on White paper
414 pages

MTK Publishers
ISBN-13: 978-0615944692
ISBN-10: 0615944698
BISAC: Cooking / Vegetarian & Vegan

Food is an integral part of any program of health care. The nature of the diet consumed is especially important in the maintenance of cardiovascular health. It is particularly relevant to those recovering from a major cardiac event such as a heart attack or coronary artery bypass surgery and also to those who are at risk of developing diseases such as atherosclerosis. While recognizing the benefits that accrue from procedures such as the placement of stents in the coronary arteries and the use of medications for the treatment of high blood pressure and elevated levels of cholesterol, the authors believe that these effects could be enhanced by instituting changes in lifestyle such as cessation of tobacco abuse, participation in a regular exercise program and the consumption of a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol. For a period of more than 20 years, the authors of this book have promoted a low fat plant-based diet for patients who have evidence of coronary atherosclerosis. This book is a collection of approximately 350 recipes that were recommended to patients who came under their care. The individual items were contributed by patients who adapted their favorite recipes so that they fell within the low fat vegetarian guidelines that were provided for them.

The book is divided into three parts:

Part One: Background information designed to guide readers through the basic concepts of nutrition.
Part Two: Meals plans based on the low fat vegetarian concept.
Part Three: Recipes arranged in convenient group followed by an index.

Available at: createspace.com store from January 1^st, 2015 and from Amazon after January 10^th, 2015.  It will be also available on Kindle.

Loneliness is a modern epidemic in need of treatment

Please click on the web-link below :-

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10901/s/41e0643a/sc/38/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn267390Eloneliness0Eis0Ea0Emodern0Eepidemic0Ein0Eneed0Eof0Etreatment0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qhealth/story01.htm

PS

In the old village cultures of Asia, loneliness was never a problem. Everyone was interested in his neighbours’ business especially of the old and the sick. In the newly emerging cities like Colombo, Sri Lanka, loneliness is now emerging as a problem. The rush to make money and more of it, is the cause. Once money is grasped at as the aim in life, it is a never ending ascending spiral with no destination. Loneliness, sorrow and misery follow.

PGV.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

email from raja korale	8:51 AM (19 hours ago)

  WISH   YOU   ALL   A  VERY   HAPPY   &   PROSPEROUS   NEW   YEAR   2015.

                                     ...................  Raja    &    Chandra   Korala..

Saved By A Bad Taste, The Last 'Radium Girl' Dies At 107

Please click on the web-link below :-

http://www.npr.org/2014/12/28/373510029/saved-by-a-bad-taste-the-last-radium-girl-dies-at-107


PS
In the early 1960s I remember Ms. Daphne Attygalla, later Professor in Pathology at the Colombo Medical Faculty, gave us a lecture about radiation damage to cells. She referred about the incidence of lip cancer among workers painting watch dials with radium salts. We were advised not to buy watches with dials glowing in the dark - a fashion those days.

Old as time: What we can learn from past attempts to treat ageing.

Please click on the web-link below:-

http://feeds.nature.com/~r/nm/rss/current/~3/Tu33BjbBa6k/nm1214-1362

PS

There was a persistent rumour in Siddha Ayurvedic Medicine, in Sri Lanka, that the powdered form of dried flowers, dried seeds, part of the dried bark, part of a dried stem and part of the dried roots of a Margosa tree which was more than 100 years old, if taken daily in small doses, would increase longevity. Was it another 'Sympathatic magic' concoction? 

Drugs that made headlines in 2014

Please click on the web-link below:-

http://feeds.nature.com/~r/nm/rss/current/~3/ZNkEPtm9-xg/nm1214-1370