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U-M Study: Why Dishing Does You Good
A University of Michigan study has identified a likely reason: feeling emotionally close to a friend increases levels of the hormone progesterone, helping to boost well-being and reduce anxiety and stress.
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'Catastrophic Epilepsy' Caused By Single Gene Mutation
Catastrophic epilepsy - characterized by severe muscle spasms, persistent seizures, mental retardation and sometimes autism - results from a mutation in a single gene, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in a report that appears in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
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Rural Hospital Places Critical Bet On Health IT; Technology Raises Fears Of Hackers
Kaiser A small, rural hospital in Missouri is "rolling the dice" on electronic medical records, its CEO tells the Associated Press. The 47-bed hospitals borrowed nearly $1 million to implement an electronic records system, and that"s on top of a $370,000 operating deficit and staff layoffs. The executives are banking on a government bailout in the form of a "$3 million windfall" of stimulus-funded incentives for hospitals to switch to electronic record-keeping.
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Scents Really Can Soothe Stress

Feeling stressed? Then try savoring the scent of lemon, mango, lavender, or other fragrant plants. Scientists in Japan are reporting the first scientific evidence that inhaling certain fragrances alter gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that can reduce stress levels. Their study appears in ACS" Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication. In the new study, Akio Nakamura and colleagues note that people have inhaled the scent of certain plants since ancient times to help reduce stress, fight inflammation and depression, and induce sleep. Aromatherapy, the use of fragrant plant oils to improve mood and health, has become a popular form of alternative medicine today. And linalool is one of the most widely used substances to soothe away emotional stress. Until now, however, linalool"s exact effects on the body have been a deep mystery. The scientists exposed lab rats to stressful conditions while inhaling and not inhaling linalool. Linalool returned stress-elevated levels of neutrophils and lymphocytes - key parts of the immune system - to near-normal levels. Inhaling linalool also reduced the activity of more than 100 genes that go into overdrive in stressful situations. The findings could form the basis of new blood tests for identifying fragrances that can soothe stress, the researchers say. Article: "Stress Repression in Restrained Rats by (R)-(-)-Linalool Inhalation and Gene Expression Profiling of Their Whole Blood Cells" http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/jf900420g Michael Woods American Chemical Society


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