Curiously Awesome

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Incendia Health. All opinions are 100% mine.

As strange as it may sound, I actually have never talked to anyone personally who has has iLASIK surgery and I do not know anyone who has had the procedure done. Weird? Yeah…maybe.

Anyway, Abbott Medical Optics Inc. recently held a iLASIK Video Contest among people who have had the procedure done. The challenge was to make a video depicting how improved vision has changed their lives. The grand prize? $5,000.

Well, they’ve announced the winners now and there is some cool work here among these iLASIK patients. Definitely gives anyone considering this surgery some food for thought.

If you go to their website you can see the winners of the iLASIK Video Contest and see what I mean. While you’re there, look around a little bit. I even found that you can register to receive some great eye care products. Who couldn’t love that?

I don’t wear glasses, so this isn’t something I personally need to consider for myself, but perhaps it’s time to think about this procedure if you do wear specs. Hey…if nothing else, you can make a cool video and enter their next contest! By the way, AMO sponsored this content.

Swedish researchers have found that breast milk contains ingredients that kill cancer cells in humans. The substance, Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made LEthal to Tumor (HAMLET) cells, is made of a protein and a fatty acid.

HAMLET can kill 40 different types of cancer cells. Additionally, the natural substance is effective in killing one of the most deadly brain cancers — glioblastoma. HAMLET was recently tested on humans. Scientists in Sweden used HAMLET on patients suffering from bladder cancer. After treatment with the breast milk the cancer patients excreted dead cancer cells in their urine.

HAMLET interacts with cell membranes. Using a tracking substance to show the exact location of HAMLET, researchers demonstrated that HAMLET binds to the membranes of tumor cells and kills them. HAMLET does not damage surrounding healthy cells.

The federal law regulating tap water hasn’t been updated in so long that more than one-fifth of the U.S. population is consuming tap water that the government classifies as toxic. Yet this water is still approved for human consumption.

More than 60,000 chemicals are used in the US each year and the majority are not tested for human safety. The Safe Water Drinking Act regulates 91 assorted toxins. Many of these regulations haven’t been updated for almost 30 years. The law does not consider newer findings about some chemicals being more toxic in combination than separately. Not one chemical has been added to the law since 2000.

New consensus is that numerous chemicals are more dangerous than previously thought. Even so, the EPA still gives them a clean bill of health.

Artificial sweeteners can cause metabolic changes in the way the body reacts to real sugar.

Researchers tested 22 healthy young volunteers. The volunteers fasted for several hours and then drank either a diet soda the same amount of carbonated water. Ten minutes later participants drank a sugary beverage and their body’s responses were measured.

Increases in blood glucose levels were the same for everyone. Participants who drank the artificially sweetened drink first showed larger increases in a hormone that is released by the gut when food enters the stomach. This hormone signals the brain to create the feeling of “fullness.” This reaction does not seem to occur in people consuming artificial sweeteners.

Bottom line: Artificial sweeteners have a significant effect on the body’s reaction to other kinds of food.

A new study reveals that sometimes donor recipients acquire certain characteristics or personality traits from their donor. Could the physical heart contain memories belonging to its original owner?

Case in point: a Spanish-speaking man who received a new heart began using words that he had not used prior to his transplant. His donor was a man named David who had died in a car accident. David’s wife used the word “copacetic” to describe the situation. The recipient’s mother then replied that her son had started using that word for the first time and the curious thing was that this word does not even have a Spanish equivalent. There is no explanation how the word entered the recipient’s vocabulary.

Not only the brain, but the heart as well contains important information about a person. Cell communication can continue to occur after an organ has been removed from one person and transplanted into another. Information from the donor may install directly into the recipient’s memory.

A recent study has concluded that the emergence of MRSA superbugs has been caused by the widespread use of synthetic antibiotic drugs that started in the 1960s.

Scientists analyzed 63 samples of MRSA responsible for a large percentage of superbug outbreaks in hospitals globally. They identified a pattern of mutations that shows the superbug’s tendency to develop resistance to antibiotics. The scientists were able to narrow down the origins of the strain and traced it back to 1960s in Europe. This was a time when antibiotic use was just beginning to rise up in mainstream medicine.

The rise of deadly superbugs like MRSA highlights the overuse of antibiotics as the culprit. Many studies have concluded that synthetic antibiotic is increasing the growth of bacterial mutations.