The end of sleep?

Following other posts (here and here) about sleep and all that it entails, here's an excellent article on the illusion and trendable movement towards living without sleeping, kind of.

The end of sleep?: New technologies are emerging that could radically reduce our need to sleep - if we can bear to use them

Liver disease in Canada: a crisis in the making

Here's a very interesting report on liver disease for the period of 2000-2007 in Canada.

Some striking figures:

The costs of treatment of liver disease are high. A course of treatment for hepatitis C may cost $20,000-70,000 depending on the subtype of the virus (genotype). Treatment of hepatitis B may cost between $7,000-9,000/year for 10-20 years or more. Drug treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma costs $6,000/month. Liver transplantation costs upwards of $100,000 per case with ongoing costs for medical care and immunosuppressive drugs.

Sleep and memory consolidation

We all know that sleep is very important for our mental and physical health, as seen here and here. Now there is research that looks into the processes of consolidation of memory during sleep.

Authors have found out that...

the mechanism that enables the brain to consolidate memory and found that a commonly prescribed sleep aid enhances the process. 

Here.

Lighter warm up, better sprint?

I always had this doubt and a very good friend of mine who is a basketball coach and physical education teacher, told me exactly the same thing. I guess he's right. :)

Video.

Kids who bully have greater tendency to show sleep problems

"Our schools do push the importance of healthy eating and exercise, but this study highlights that good sleep is just as essential to a healthy lifestyle."

Sleep is always considered the weakest link when we think about kids' health. Most of the times kids have this bad habit and attitude of thinking about few hours of sleep as something cool and that one must be proud of. On the contrary, good sleep is mandatory.

I found that sleep (or the lack of sleep) is a very important issue among the kids that have behavioral problems here at the school where I work. Most of them have a terrible sleep hygiene, with few hours sleep, long hours of TV before going to sleep, etc.

Interesting piece. Here.

University of Alberta: dichloroacetate is effective in curing cancer

Researchers at the University of Alberta believe Dichloroacetate may soon be used as an effective treatment for many forms of cancer.

Here.

Violence and abuse: electronic library

The mission of the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA) is to support research, education, and access to violence related resources.

Dear 16-year-old Me

Melanoma awareness.

Autism and Technology

Gregory Abowd on Computing & Autism

Sugar: The Bitter Truth

Yes, sugar. The University of California and Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, presents an educational documentary about the bitterness of sugar and "explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin".

High levels of sugar in the blood are a cause of several diseases like Diabetes, a pandemic illness of the 21st century. Just for you to get a picture of how common it is in the population, the American Diabetes Association states that 8.3% of population of US has diabetes. That's a staggering number!



Gary Taubes, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation independent investigator in health policy and the author of “Why We Get Fat”, who the article "Is Sugar Toxic?" on the NYTimes, shares the same worries of Mr Lusting if not the same conclusion. It's a long read but it's worthwhile.