Category Archives: Integrative Medicine

Heres the deal: All wrinkles form from a mix of the same factors. Neck wrinkles are caused by the same things that cause other wrinkles: a combination of aging of the skinbreakdown of collagen and elastic tissueand movement, says board-certified dermatologist Jeremy Fenton, M.D., of Schweiger Dermatology Group in NYC and Long Beach, NY. This is also especially true of the neck, as the skin here does tend to be thinner, and thinner skin is often impacted by aging faster (the same reason your eyes may show fine lines before any other part of your face.)

First up, collagen and elastin breakdown. As we age, our skin becomes less resilient with less of the collagen and elastic tissue to allow it to rebound to its original shape, he says. Besides this being a natural part of aging, it can happen faster with more exposure to sunlight (UV light). The neck can capture a lot of sun damage, particularly on the sides and lower portion.

Now combine aging skin with daily movements, and things start to settle in. The second main cause is the movement of the neck, says Fenton. We get horizontal lines in the neck due to the bending of the neck to look down. You can also get some of the more fine lines or wrinkles, particularly along the sides of the neck, from turning side-to-side and from sleeping on your side, but these dont tend to be the deep wrinkles.

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Here Is Everything You Need To Know About Tech Neck & Neck Wrinkles - mindbodygreen.com

Psychologists have long understood that we eat when we're under emotional stress. No wonder we've put on the "Covid 15." No wonder we overeat at the Thanksgiving table. What's more stressful than having to eat with extended familywearing masks? It's times like these that many of us reach for the closest bag of chips or cookies and don't stop munching until we hit crumbs.

"We often overeat, not because we're hungry, but because we want the delicious food to soothe away an unpleasant feeling," says a researcher who has studied the phenomenon, Jennifer Daubenmier, PhD, Assistant Professor at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. And the real harm, she says, may come later from the shame we feel over our behavior, which can trigger overeating to spiral out of control. (Related: 15 Classic American Desserts That Deserve a Comeback.)

So, how does one overcome the power of a table of holiday dishes taunting "how many are you going to add to your plate?" The answer may lie in practicing what's called "mindful eating," a technique that helps you to recognize the signals your body gives you when hungry or distractions that cause you to overindulge.

In a recent study of obese adults led by Dr. Daubenmier, 100 volunteers were taught mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques like meditation, yoga, and mindful eating drills designed to empower them to stall mindless overeating. The results, reported in a recent issue of the journal Obesity, showed that women who experienced the greatest reduction in stress levels from these mindfulness techniques also had the greatest loss of visceral belly fat, the deep, most dangerous fat that forms around internal organs in the abdomen. At the end of the 18-month experiment, the mindful eaters also experienced improvements in fasting blood sugar, the ratio of HDL cholesterol to triglycerides, and a reduction in the percentage of their daily calories that came from candy, cakes and sugary beverages.

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"If you can train yourself to recognize the reasons for overeating, what you're feeling before you act, you have a greater chance of making a wiser decision," says Daubenmier, explaining the goal of mindful eating.

How to do it? Daubenmier suggests slowing the eating process down to a crawl, eating like a gourmet food critic, focusing on smell, taste, texture, and taking breathes in between each bite to contemplate the sensations. By slowing down and taking time to become more aware of your food, your hunger level, and the emotions that may be causing you to eat, you give yourself the power to control cravings.

Developing a skill for mindful eating is easier if you team it up with daily mindful meditation practice. Daubenmier recommends practicing meditation 25 minutes, six days a week. You can read books on how to meditate, or make it as simple as sitting in a comfortable chair, closing your eyes and focusing your attention on your breath. Breathe deeply, allowing your belly to rise before your chest does. On the exhale, allow the chest to fall before your belly does. If your mind begins to wander, simply bring your attention back to your breathing. Noticing your mind wandering is actually proof that you're doing it right and already becoming more aware, more mindful, of your body.

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The Easiest Trick to Avoid Overeating This Thanksgiving - Yahoo Lifestyle

Professor Kenya Honda of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology of the Keio University School of Medicine (Tokyo), team leader of the Laboratory for Gut Homeostasis of the Riken Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (Yokohama), has been designated as the laureate of the 2020 Carlos J. Finlay UNESCO Prize for Microbiology. The Prize recognizes his outstanding contribution to the field of microbiology, more particularly for his research into microbiota and its impact on the immune system in various diseases.

Dr. Hondas research group has developed and perfected a top-down gnotobiotic pipeline that integrates highly efficient anaerobic culture techniques with next generation sequencing and gnotobiotic animal models. This enables the direct screening and testing of effector microbes, as gut microbiota members often cooperate as a community to produce metabolites that affect host physiology. Dr Honda has thus been able to identify microbiota members that drive specific types of adaptive immune responses.

Professor Honda was named by the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, on the basis of recommendations of an international jury composed of experts in microbiology. Created in 1977 at the initiative of the Government of Cuba, the UNESCO Carlos J. Finlay Prize for Microbiology is endowed with 10,000 dollars.

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Kenya Honda (Japan) to receive the Carlos J. Finlay UNESCO Prize for Microbiology - India Education Diary

Puberty, the transformational period where a child reaches physical and sexual maturity, is a near universal human experience, yet the fundamental processes behind how and when it starts is still a mystery.

For girls, puberty can begin as early as eight years old, with most instances of early puberty linked to childhood obesity. And puberty may be starting earlier in boys as well. Evidence points to the hormone leptin, which is produced by fat cells, as one of the likely culprits, says Carol Elias, Ph.D., a professor of molecular & integrative physiology and obstetrics & gynecology at the U-M Medical School. Her lab has been studying the role of metabolism in reproduction, looking for clues within the brain to help explain the effects of metabolic signals in pubertal onset and fertility.

Elias and her team have published a new study in the journal iScience examining two important regions in the brain, called the ventral premammillary nucleus and the arcuate nucleus, to try to understand how leptin influences pubertal timing.

Both areas lie in the hypothalamus at the base of the brain where the capillaries are relatively opened, allowing circulating molecules to flow easily, increasing the communication between the peripheral organs and the brain explains Elias, who was recently elected as a 2020 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Neurons that respond to leptin in this area have a fundamental role in pubertal development.

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Her team compared normal female mice to mice lacking leptin, who are obese and fail to enter puberty on their own. By giving leptin to mice lacking it, the researchers were able to control when puberty starts. Next, they compared brain samples from the ventral premammillary and arcuate nuclei in normal pre-pubescent and adult mice to the obese leptin-deficient mice. Data was analyzed and compared using three independent RNA sequencing methods.

Our goal was to identify the genes that were differentially expressed in these two brain areas that could provide some clues about the molecular mechanisms associated with pubertal onset and obesity-induced early puberty, Elias says. What they found was a high percentage of genes related to the development of the structures outside of the neuronal soma, called the neuropil. The genes that were expressed during pubertal transition were, in part, related to growing axons and dendrites, i.e. the extensions that are important for neuron-to-neuron communication, to the extracellular space and blood vessels.

What we think this means is that brain development is not completed and that puberty starts only when the entire neuropil, including blood vessels and components of the extracellular space, is ready, says Elias. Its possible that leptin is speeding up the development of these structures in the base of the brain.

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Some of the genes identified, such as MKRN3 and TAC3, have been previously linked to health conditions like precocious puberty, a genetic disorder that causes signs of puberty to appear before the age of 8, and infertility in humans.

Elias hopes the work will be used as a database for other researchers who are interested in the genes underpinning leptin, puberty and fertility. Her next goal is to further analyze the blood brain barrier and its connection to neuronal plasticity.

Says Elias, When you have new data, you also have a lot of new questions.

Paper cited: Hypothalamic and Cell-Specific Transcriptomes Unravel a Dynamic Neuropil Remodeling in Leptin-Induced and Typical Pubertal Transition in Female Mice, iScience. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101563

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The Link Between Obesity and Puberty - Michigan Medicine

Lifestyle

22 Nov, 2020 09:15 PM2 minutes to read

A US man who went to see his doctor after becoming depressed over a failing marriage is suing, claiming the same doctor he saw was the one having an affair with his wife. Photo / 123RF, File

A US man who went to see his doctor after becoming depressed over a failing marriage is suing, claiming the same doctor he saw was the one having an affair with his wife.

Peirson Tone is suing doctor Ronald Rosen for $2.9 million for professional negligence.

After struggling to mend relations with his wife, Tone visited Rosen, who counselled him on ways to improve his marriage and prescribed him marijuana and CBD.

In addition to traditional medicine, Rosen offers patients a range of holistic alternatives, according to his website.

He's trained to perform acupuncture, osteopathic manipulation and biodynamic cranial osteopathy. He is also a certified laughter yoga leader.

From 2015 to 2018, Tone, his wife and two children received medical care at Rosen's clinic, Open Paths Integrative Medicine in Oregon, according to the suit.

At some point, the suit says, Rosen began a relationship with Tone's wife.

After the visit, Tone learned Rosen had been involved with his wife for an "extended" period of time, the complaint states. The couple later divorced.

"As a result of (Rosen's) conduct, the plaintiff sustained emotional distress including ... the loss of his marriage and emotional and social destruction of his family," the lawsuit alleges.

Rosen has been licensed to practice medicine in Oregon since 1991, according to the Oregon Medical Board.

He has no prior cases of medical malpractice.

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He went to the doctor for distress over marital woes. Then he uncovered a shocking secret - New Zealand Herald

RAKxa promises tailored wellness programmes that fuse science-led technology with holistic therapies and anti-inflammatory cuisine. Olivia Palamountain reports

Fully integrative wellness and medical retreat RAKxawill open this Decemberin Bangkok.

It will deliver tailored wellness programmes designed by certified medical doctors combining advanced medical treatments with holistic therapies.

The first of its kind in Thailand, RAKxa promises a fullytransformative experience through personalised three- to- fourteen dayprogrammes based on real results using cutting -edge technology.

The opening of RAKxa typifies the current appetite for Hyper Health and Extreme Wellness clinics, facilities and treatments, as reported in Globetrenders Future of Luxury Travel Forecast, now amplified more than ever before due to thecoronavirus pandemic.Situated on Bang Kachao, a protected island on the Chao Phraya Riverpopular with cyclists and nature lovers, the facility is surrounded bylush botanical gardens and comprises 40 Garden Villas, 20 Pool Villas and 2 Residences. The Pool Villas and Presidential Villas are expected in early 2021.A series of 10 different programmes are on offer, each focused on a different health goal. These include gut health, body/facial, and de-stressing solutions plus immunity boosting, 2020s hottest health trend.

Nightly rates for the Immunity Booster package start from US$2,000 per person with a minimum of a three-night stay.

Guests begin the RAKxa experience at home with a pre-arrival questionnaire to help the team establish long-term health goals and tailor the programme accordingly.

The medical side of things comes care of the VitalLife Scientific Wellness Clinic (a subsidiary company of the Bumrungrad International Hospital). It provides DNA tests, epigenetics, gut microbiome and inflammation analysis. The clinic will also offer light therapy, IV nutrient therapy, CryoSauna, infrared sauna and hormone replacement therapy. The VitalLife medical doctors will work alongside practitioners at RAKxas Holistic Wellness Centre RAKxa Jai. Holistic treatments span Traditional Thai Medicine (TTM), Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurvedic treatments and energy healing practices.

Each day will be packed with acombination of these specialised holistic and scientific treatments along witha bespoke diet plan and activity schedule for optimum results.

Fitness training takes place in the Olympic-standard medical gym with hydrothermal spa facilities, while activities include dance classes, Tai Chi, Yoga, Muay Thai boxing and hiking.Fuelling the experience is cuisine from RAKxas two restaurants Unam and Ukhao eachguided by an anti-inflammatory philosophy and centred on local, seasonal and sustainable ingredients. Cooking classes and organic food lectures are also on the menu.

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RAKxa in Bangkok is a fully integrative medical wellness retreat - Globetrender