Archive for April, 2009
Robotic surgery for kidney cancer
Robotic trained surgeons at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia presented a new and novel approach to surgically treat urothelial cancer (in the lining of the bladder or kidney) today at the American Urological Association’s Annual Meeting. Using da Vinci robot-assisted technology, urologic cancer surgeons perform complicated urologic cases using minimally invasive surgery……..
Original post by Heather Craven
Details of bacterial ‘injection’ system
New details of the composition and structure of a needlelike protein complex on the surface of positive bacteria may help researchers develop new strategies to thwart infection. The research, conducted in part at the U.S. division of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, will be published April 26, 2009, in the advance online edition of Nature Structural and Molecular Biology…….
Original post by Heather Craven
Brain works best when cells keep right rhythms
It is said that each of us marches to the beat of a different drum, but new Stanford University research suggests that brain cells need to follow specific rhythms that must be kept for proper brain functioning. These rhythms don’t seem to be working correctly in such diseases as schizophrenia and autism, and now two papers due to be published online that week by the journals Nature and Science demonstrate that precisely tuning the oscillation frequencies of positive neurons can affect how the brain processes info and implements feelings of reward……..
Original post by Heather Craven
Low Cal, Fat Free Ranch Dressing Recipe
Well, I was very pleased with myself for coming up with a brilliant view of making my own ranch salad dressing that was virtually fat free and low in calories. I was tired of trying the different prebottled dressings that are low in fat, and since I like different kinds of ranch dressings, but often the low fat versions aren’t very flavorful, and you can just forget about the fat free versions having any good flavor whatsoever, I figured why not try to manufacture my own.
It’s really easy to have a base, considering Hidden Valley (who makes a great ranch dressing), makes a powdered version of their ranch dressing that you just have to mix with a few basic ingredients and you have your own “home made” ranch. The cost is a little by a dollar for a packet, and you get a whole bottle of dressing. I additionally bought the cruet for the Good Seasons Italian dressing mix, along with two packages of the Good Seasons zesty italian dressing powder, since I like to use those once in a while too, so I had the perfect bottle for my ranch dressing when I was done mixing it a in a bowl. It’s much nicer to dispense out of, and holds the perfect amount for future use. Plus it looks nice.
Here’s how I modified the recipe. The recipe for the Hidden Valley ranch dressing mix calls for you to add 1 cup of mayonnaise and one cup of milk. Instead of using regular, full fat versions, I used low fat mayonnaise, which contains very little fat - I use the Hellmans low fat mayo which only has like 1 gram of fat per serving or something like that. I used skim milk, although I probably would have used 1% instead but we accidentally bought skim the last moment we went shopping, but that makes it even more low fat.
I additionally added t cloves of crushed garlic and two tablespoons of parmesan cheese, which added about 40 calories and barely any fat at all. So, all the ingredients in that low fat ranch dressing were virtually fat free, making that a very low fat, but much more tasty dressing than what you can buy in bottles. Plus I feel like it tastes more natural. I don’t taste all those preservatives and funny sort of chemical tastes that you often get in bottled dressings.
The good news is that once it sits a few days in the fridge, the garlic, ranch and parmesan cheese flavors really come out, and it’s much tastier than it was when you first made it! You don’t need much either, it’s very thick and the flavor quickly covers each lettuce leaf individually - very savory!
Original post by EatingToLive
New mediator of smoking recruits
Freiburg, Gera number of Current research suggests that smoking increases the production of osteopontin in the lungs, which contributes to the development of smoking-related lung disease. The related report by Prasse et al, “Essential role of osteopontin in smoking-related interstitial lung diseases,” appears in the May 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology…….
Original post by Heather Craven
Cattle genome sequencing milestone promises health benefits
The landmark sequencing of the domestic cattle genome, reported today in the journal Science, could lead to urgent new findings about health and nutrition, a participating Michigan State University researcher said. Theresa Casey, a research assistant professor in the area of Animal Science, joined 300 colleagues around the world in a six-year project to complete, annotate and analyze the bovine genome sequence……..
Original post by Heather Craven
Vitamin D levels linked to asthma severity
New research provides evidence for a link within vitamin D insufficiency and asthma severity. Serum levels of vitamin D in more than 600 Costa Rican children were inversely associated with several indicators of allergy and asthma severity, including hospitalizations for asthma, use of inhaled steroids and total IgE levels, as per a research studythat will seem in the first issue for May of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine…….
Original post by Heather Craven
