Find that Genius!

Hi there! How's it going? Having a 'caffo' day, I trust? I hope so. Perk up your brain with a jolt of espresso to 'espressify' your brain. Help it along with a virtual muffin, why don't'cha? Speaking of brains, here's some interesting research being done in Beijing...

Beijing Genomics Institute scientists are closing in on a technology to allow parents to choose, from several embryos, the one most likely to yield the smartest offspring. 

London's Daily Mail (in January, referencing recent work in Wired, The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker) explained that BGI will have identified high-potential mathematics genes (by mapping the cells of geniuses) so that researchers can search for those among a couple's array of embryos. (Most embryos will yield gene arrays resembling their parents', but one embryo is likely "better" -- and maybe much better.) 

One Chinese researcher acknowledged the "controversial" nature of the work, "especially in the West," but added, "That's not the case in China." 

Remember there's a 'one child per family' deal in China so parents want to make the most of the one opportunity they have. The parental price tag on finding the smartest kid? Expensive, said a supporter, but less than upgrading an average kid via Harvard, or even a private prep school.

Advance selection...hmmm. Is this not another version of selection of the master race?

See ya, eh!

Bob

The Placebo Effect Works on Sleep and Exercise

Whoa! Slow down that spiraling orbit, eh! You almost crashed into the coffeepot! Trying to exercise in front of your computer, were you? Nodded off, perhaps? Anyway, I'm glad you could make it today. Coffee's fresh and the usual magnificent array of virtual treats awaits. Say...wouldn't it be something if you could get the benefits of a good night’s sleep without actually having had one?

In great news for insomniacs everywhere, a new study has found that the simple power of suggestion might be enough to improve the cognitive functions associated with a well-rested body.

The placebo effect — most commonly demonstrated when someone takes a sugar pill that makes them feel better — has fascinated researchers for years. But new research takes the concept beyond inert pharmaceuticals to reveal that people can get placebo sleep, and even placebo exercise. By simply being told they were sleeping well and exercising enough, they received beneficial effects.

In one study, Christina Draganich and Colorado College psychology professor Kristi Erdal recruited 164 participants who were told they would be undergoing a new technique to measure sleep patterns. The technique was a fabrication. The volunteers were given a short lecture about the importance of REM and how better sleep improves cognitive function, and then they were hooked up to phony sensors before going to sleep. They were then divided into two groups, “above average” quality sleep and “below average” quality sleep.

The “above average” group was told that the sensors recorded 28.7 percent REM sleep while the “below average” group was told they received 16.2 percent REM. Of course, since the sensors were fictitious, these recordings were not true. They were then given a test to measure cognitive function. The “below average” group did significantly worse on the tasks, while the “above average” group had superior performances.

A follow-up phase that added more controls and additional cognitive tests confirmed the initial results. “These findings supported the hypothesis that mindset can influence cognitive states in both positive and negative directions, suggesting a means of controlling one’s health and cognition,” the researchers concluded.

Meanwhile another study, published in the journal Psychological Science, further supports the idea of intangible placebos — this time as they pertain to exercise and health. Researchers studied a group of 84 female housekeepers from seven hotels. The housekeepers in four of the hotels were told that their work fulfilled the exercise requirements for good health, while the women in the other three hotels were told nothing.

After four weeks, the women were examined to ascertain changes to their health; the workers who were told they were exercising adequately lost an average of two pounds, lowered their blood pressure by almost 10 percent, and were significantly healthier as measured by body-fat percentage, BMI and waist-to-hip ratio. These changes were notably higher than those from the group who didn’t think they were exercising enough and were especially remarkable given the time period of only four weeks, according to the study’s news statement

The findings suggest that simply thinking you got a workout could actually make you healthier, said Ellen Langer, Harvard University psychologist and author of the study. “Whether the change in physiological health was brought about directly or indirectly, it is clear that health is significantly affected by mindset,” said Langer. 
Both studies conclude that moderating one’s mindset can prove beneficial for health. Now all we need is a group of scientists duping us into believing that we are sleeping wonderfully and exercising enough.

See ya, eh. I have to go exercise on the couch!

Bob

Anti-Aging Secret of Alcohol?

Well a gracious good day to you! Glad to see you and thanks for clicking by. Coffee's freshly brewed and there's a delectable assortment of virtual treats awaiting your pleasure. Say... I received another email from my pal Dr. Al who says that a drink a day is good for you.  Read on...

Dear Bob,

When I told my grandfather I was going to medical school, he quoted an old German proverb: “There are more old wine drinkers than old doctors.”

Grandpa liked to say provocative things…

It turns out there is a great deal of wisdom in that saying. Moderate alcohol consumption maintains telomeres, recent scientific studies have discovered. And telomeres, those tiny caps at the end of your DNA, determine how long you’ll live.

Did you know that…

• Drinking 12 to 35 grams of alcohol each day reduces the likelihood of cancer by 65% for men and 60% for women? ¹

• Drinking a glass of beer will lower your chance of heart disease by up to 41%? ²

• Light to moderate beer drinking decreases the risk of stroke in women by 20%? ³

• Men who have 1 to 6 drinks a week have an average 20% lower risk of death from all causes than those who don’t drink at all? ⁴

Those are just three of many studies that have proven that moderate alcohol consumption helps prevent disease, improve health and extend life.

Which leads to the obvious question: Why?

Until recently all we had were speculations. But a new study gives us a clue as to what may be happening.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University wanted to expand on Elizabeth Blackburn’s research into telomeres. Ms. Blackburn, as you may recall from previous House Calls, won the Nobel Prize for her work on telomeres in 2009.

The Tel Aviv team of scientists exposed the telomeres of yeast cells to 13 different environmental “stressors.” They changed the temperature, they changed the pH (more acidic and more alkaline) and exposed the cells to different chemicals and drugs.

Two of those stressors you might encounter in everyday life had an effect. Caffeine shortened telomeres and alcohol made them longer.⁵

So it turns out that moderate alcohol consumption is healthy is because it helps maintain the length of your telomeres.

Another study, at the Institute of Health Sciences/Geriatrics at University Hospital in Finland, confirmed this hypothesis.

The institute had been keeping data on alcohol consumption by a group of businessmen from Helsinki since 1974. In 2002, they decided to measure their telomere lengths. Those who drank just a bit of alcohol had much longer telomeres. The scientists calculated their bodies were up to 10 years younger.⁶

And when researchers looked at the famous Nurses' Health Study, they found that if the women drank a bit of alcohol, their telomeres were 16.4% longer.⁷

This is not the first time you have heard that drinking a glass of alcohol a day is good for you. But this may be the first time you have been told why that might be.

So if you like to have a drink each day, enjoy it without worry. But the key is moderation. In all of these studies, only moderate drinkers profited. And by moderation, I mean one per day. This matters much more than the type of alcohol you chose.

Alcohol abusers (4 or more drinks a day) have telomeres half as long as people who drink one or fewer drinks a day. ⁸

If you enjoy beer, I recommend the low-carb variety. Low-carb beers used to taste like wash water. But today there are dozens of very tasty brews – even some that are relatively full-bodied.

If you like wine, try a muscadine. Muscadine wines have the most resveratrol. But if you prefer a Merlot or Cabernet, don’t worry. Any wine in moderation gives you the telomere benefits.

If you currently do not drink alcohol, starting now won’t help as much as taking a telomere maintenance supplement like Ultra Essence. Nutrients have a more immediate effect in your cells, whereas the overall protective effect of moderate alcohol consumption is something that works better over the long haul.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

See ya, eh!

Bob

Canada Ends Investment Visa Program

Well, g’day to you! I trust you’re having a ‘caffo’ day...learning something new and enjoying a mugful of coffee. Glad you could take a few minutes to click by. Fill your mug and reach for a virtual doughnut, muffin or pastry, why don’t’cha? Say...have you noticed how when a government is edging towards an election, it begins to review some of its policies? Here’s a doosie for you...

According to an article in Forbes Magazine, Canada will no longer be selling green cards in return for interest free loans, after a media report indicating that the country’s investor visa program had become an express lane for wealthy Chinese hoping to secure overseas residency was quickly followed by the program’s cancellation.

The Ottawa government announced on Wednesday that the country’s Immigrant Investor Program, which allowed foreign nationals to gain Canadian residency by loaning 800,000 Canadian dollars (US$726,720) interest free to any of the country’s provinces for five-years was being cancelled with all pending cases being rejected.

Public perception that the program had become a visa expressway for wealthy mainland Chinese was reinforced after a report in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post revealed that among the 59,000 applications pending for the program, more than 45,000 were from mainland Chinese. Data from some Canadian provinces indicated that about 99 per cent of applicants are mainland Chinese.

The announcement ending the investor visa program came within one week of the story being published in the Hong Kong media. New applications for the visa category had been frozen since 2012 in an attempt to clear the existing backlog of cases.

Canada’s Program Among the Most Popular with Applicants
 
The case-load for Chinese applicants to Canada’s program amounted to approximately six times the combined applications from all other nationalities to the investor visa programs in the US, Britain and Australia.

Canada’s program was considerably more liberal than that found in many other developed countries, which normally require investments rather than loans. In the US, investor visas require a minimum US$1,000,000 investment, except in the case of high priority investments qualifying under the EB-5 visa program, which require a $500,000 investment.

Undervaluing Canadian Residency
While the media report appears to have been the catalyst for Canada to cancel the visas for loans program, the investor visa scheme had clearly been unpopular with many Canadians.

Studies had shown that residents admitted through the investor visa program reported investment income and employment below the national average and paid significantly lower taxes than those in other immigrant categories.

In ending the program, the Ottawa government said that the investor visa scheme “significantly undervalued Canadian” permanent residency.
The impact that the investor visa program had on the property market in some areas, particularly Vancouver, had also caused resentment among locals.

Since the visa program was introduced home prices in Vancouver, where 80 per cent of Chinese investor migrants seek to live, have become the second-least affordable in the world behind Hong Kong. Now run-down bungalows in Vancouver are said to sell for as much as US$1.8 million in a city where median family income averages $64,000.

SOURCE: http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelcole/2014/02/13/canada-slams-door-on-45k-chinese-millionaires-with-end-of-visa-program/

Y'know, once when I was on a tour of Hong Kong, the local tour guide joked (?) that Vancouver is so popular with the Hong Kong Chinese people that it is known over there as "Hongcouver!" No doubt about it in my mind.

See ya, eh!

Bob

Get Out of Jail Free Boxing Card

Hey! Hey! Glad you could click by today! Ready to go a couple rounds? Coffee and a couple  virtual treats, I mean. Why not, eh! You look a  tad peckish. But while we're talking about going a couple of rounds, listen to this...

In a world where prisoners’ sentences are reduced for good behavior, the rules at Klong Prem Central Prison, in Thailand, come across as bizarre. They basically have it the other way around...

Inmates battle foreign fighters in a tournament called ‘Prison Fight’, a charity event organized by Thailand’s Department of Corrections. The organized boxing matches, held regularly across various Thai prisons, give them a shot at reducing their sentences or even gaining their freedom.

Winning inmates receive prize money as well as the chance to meet with the warden to have their sentence reduced. Needless to say, the Thai prisoners win at least 9 out of 10 fights, both because they are eager to get out of confinement and because most of them have years of experience. But they also need to have a track record of good behavior to be let off the hook.

“Prison fights are done to help the prisoners. It lets the prisoners fight so they can earn money,” said Mr. Pek, Prison Fights coordinator. “They also fight to reduce the time of their sentences. To reduce their sentence and to bring honor and fame to Thailand, if they can defeat foreign fighters and fight a lot. 

Some of the fighters are in for drugs, robbery or murder. There are boxers doing life or 50 years. There are boxers who can never get out.”

One presumes that if the foreigner wins, he also has a chance to have his sentence reduced.... subject of course to the good behaviour qualifier.

See ya, eh!

Bob

Miniature Snowmen as Cartop Decorations

Well hey there! Thanks for orbiting by today. Drop down right next to the coffeepot; fill your mug; roll a snowy coconut doughnut onto your place and listen to this. They say there's a sucker born every minute, right?

When snow is free of cost, who’s going to pay for snowmen, right? Wrong! Apparently, people will buy anything if you sell it right. These two Chinese men have hit the marketing jackpot – making the most of heavy snowfall, they’re selling snowmen by the dozen.

The two men (we don’t know their names or who they are), make snowmen for cars in the suburb of Chengdu, in Southwest China’s Sichuan province. A photograph taken on 10 February shows them placing snowmen with orange eyes, noses and buttons, on top of a customer’s car.

According to some reports, they had sold over 100 snowmen before noon that day. Other pictures show several cars lined up in a street, all sporting snowmen on the roof. It certainly made for a festive display. It was as though the frozen figures were cheering on the traffic.

So like, if I've got this right, they sell these snowmen for the tops of cars...the cars heat up...the snowmen fall off and...the car owners have to buy new ones, eh! Wow! What a marketing ploy. I'm surprised the car manufacturers didn't think of doing something like that themselves...wait a minute...come to think of it, isn't that called Planned Obsolescence?

See ya, eh!

Bob

The Human Brewery

Hi there! Nice to see you. Thanks for dropping out of cyberspace to spend a few moments with the blog today. Soon as you fill your mug and snag a virtual muffin, doughnut or pastry, I want to tell you about a guy whose body makes its own alcohol. Huh? Yup...

34-year-old Matthew Hogg has a rare condition – auto-brewery syndrome. Every time he eats starchy or sugary foods, his body converts the food into alcohol that is released into his blood stream. This alcohol is so strong that he ends up intoxicated without even touching a single drink.

While this might sound like an alcoholic’s dream, for Matthew, it’s nothing short of a nightmare. He’s been suffering from the rare condition since primary school and his parents have spent their entire life savings of over $80,000 on diagnosing his illness. 

After seeing several specialists, the condition was finally identified when a test by Dr. Keith Eaton in London revealed high levels of ethanol in his blood and indicated bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine. It is this yeast overgrowth that converts his meals into alcohol.

“I have experienced symptoms from birth and during my childhood there were countless times I suffered drunkenness without having consumed an alcoholic beverage,” said Matthew. 

“Every time I eat bread, potatoes or starchy rice I produce 100 percent proof drinking alcohol that travels around my body through my bloodstream – if I eat a portion of rice I would suffer a hangover equivalent of having glugged three bottles of red wine the night before.”

Wonder how that registers on the police alcohol checkers? Can he drive a car, I wonder?

So there you go...no wonder they tell us not to eat so many carbs!

See ya, eh!

Bob

Travel Pony

There’s a new social hotel booking site that I’ve heard about in the past few weeks. Travel Pony was launched last year and claims to save you 40 to 70% on hotel rooms.

Here’s the theory.

TravelPony says that they can offer cheaper prices by keeping their costs low. Unlike the big hotel booking sites (which sometimes spend 40% of their budget on flashy ads), TravelPony has a minimal advertising budget. Instead, Travel Pony relies on users to share their deals on Facebook and other social media. They use the money they save on advertising to bring you cheaper prices.

But does Travel Pony really save you any money?

Turns out they ponied up (couldn’t resist that, sorry), and were a fair bit cheaper than the big name travel booking sites.

Example Number 1: Vancouver

The Westin Bayshore

Right on the water, this hotel gets stellar user reviews. It’s walking distance to Robson Street and Stanley Park, has indoor and outdoor pools and rooms include wireless Internet access.

TravelPony came in with a rate of $158. The cheapest competitor was: $207.

I'm not recommending Travel Pony but it's a fairly new hotel booking agency you may want to check it out when you're going somewhere that needs an overnight stay.

See ya, eh!

Bob

All Hail the Sky Whale

Hey there! Wonderful to see you today! Thanks for clicking by. Careful though! If you're flying around in cyberspace as you normally are, watch out for the new Sky Whale! Fill your mug and nudge a virtual treat or two onto your plate while I tell you about it...and it's a big one!

The aptly-named Airbus Beluga resembles a giant whale, but it's really a behemoth of the skies. 

The triple-decker aircraft is designed to transport lightweight but oversized cargo, like airplane wings. The Beluga is really an Airbus A300 aircraft, which originally carried 600 passengers, that was refitted to transport aircraft parts around Europe.

The three-storey monster is designed to transport lightweight but oversized cargo, like airplane wings.

Or... I'll bet you could fit a whole lot of doughnuts in that one, eh! Not that I'm into eating doughtnuts, mind. It was just a thought that crossed my evil mind as I looked at the picture. 

You might even get all 12 girls from the Krispy Kreme Calendar in there with a push. What a party plane! No windows, either so what goes on in the Sky Whale stays in the Sky Whale!

See ya, eh!

Bob

You May as Well be Eating Doughnuts

Ahoy there! How's traffic in cyberspace today? Glad you could scoot down for a few minutes to enjoy a mug of coffee and a virtual treat with me. Say...here's part of an email I received from Dr. Al Sears about fish. Personally, I'm trying to eat more. 

"Most people are shocked when I tell them the truth about their tilapia. After all, it’s fish. It’s supposed to be good for you. 

Salmon is still the most popular fish, but tilapia is gaining on it because it has a mild taste and it’s inexpensive.

But here’s the thing: Eat the tilapia you get at the supermarket and you get the same amount of “bad fats” as a typical doughnut!

The tilapia served as the “Catch of The Day” in restaurants across the country is usually farm-raised. And farm-raised tilapia has more omega-6s than bacon, doughnuts and commercially-raised hamburger meat. 

Instead of being good for your heart, it’s flooding your body with inflammation – the main culprit behind heart disease. And on top of that, tilapia is pumped full of gender-bending hormones.

The Real Dark Side Of Fat

It’s not that omega-6s are necessarily bad for you. They are essential fatty acids that your body needs. But we get so much of them that our bodies often have an unhealthy ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s.

In fact, the average American has an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of 20:1. Your ideal ratio should be 2:1 in favor of omega-3s. So, you need to eat foods that are high in omega-3s to balance out the omega-6s.

Unfortunately, farm-raised tilapia isn’t a great source.

The omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in farm-raised tilapia is a whopping 11:1. Farm-raised tilapia has less than half a gram of omega-3s per 3.5 ounces of fish. That’s probably the lowest you’ll find in any fish… even farm-raised salmon has 12 times more omega-3s and farm-raised trout has 2 times more. In contrast, wild-caught salmon has 22 times more omega-3s than tilapia.

What makes tilapia so bad for you? It’s the corn diet the fish are fed. Most wild caught fish eat greens – or other fish that eat greens – which supplies them with omega-3s.

Corn, however, is loaded with omega-6s. When the fish eat the corn, they convert the omega-6s into arachidonic acid, the main cause of dangerous inflammation in the body.

This is a problem, since Americans ate 475 million pounds of tilapia last year. So the fish that was once a nice treat here in Africa, is now the most popular farm-raised fish in the United States.

Fish Undergoing Sex Changes

The fact that tilapia has too much omega-6 and not enough omega-3 fatty acids is reason enough not to waste your time eating it. But, did you also know that young tilapia are pumped full of hormones that turn them all into males?

You see, farm-raised tilapia are kept in enclosed ponds and breed like crazy. It takes them just two to three months to mature and then they breed once a month. You might think this overabundance of fish would be good, but it causes overcrowding in the ponds and ends up stunting the growth of the fish.

So, the producers get an uneven harvest – some small, deformed fish and some larger fish (generally the male ones).

In many cases, fish farmers use polyethylene vinyl acetate to stimulate growth and breeding in both males and females. It’s what is used to make plastic tubing.

On fish farms, in order to get a uniform “catch” of larger tilapia, they feed the stock the hormone 17 alpha-methyltestosterone, which turn all the fish into males.

This lets the fish farmers produce bigger fish in a shorter period for higher profits. No wonder this fish is becoming more popular every day. It’s inexpensive. And its mild, white meat appeals to many consumers.

The hormone treatment is the chosen method used by tilapia farmers worldwide. That means that just about all tilapia sold in supermarkets here in the U.S. are fed methyltestosterone.

There aren’t any long-term studies to tell if this hormone is safe in humans eating tilapia. But the hormone itself is toxic to the liver and has been taken off the market in Germany.

This steady diet of corn and hormones just isn’t the diet nature intended.

Before the days of modern industry, your fish had abundant supplies of omega-3s. They dined on seaweed or algae and other fish below them in the food chain that ate these plants.

But these days, even some salmon has little to none of these essential fats. Farm-raised fish are fed corn, soy, those fish flakes that you feed the fish in your aquarium, and other unnatural foods.

There was even an episode of the “Dirty Jobs” TV show where they showed a U.S. fish farm feeding the tilapia the waste product of a different farmed fish.

It’s no wonder they don’t have any omega-3s… these fish don’t ever eat their native diet.

The benefits are practically endless when your body gets enough omega-3s. Many of my own patients have not only reversed disease, but also improved their mental and emotional lives as well. Omega-3s are a family of healthy fats that you can’t make, so you must take in so they can:

• Help maintain normal inflammatory response in your joints and body

• Facilitate healthy brain communication

• Maintain healthy heart rhythm

• Stabilize blood sugar levels

• Maintain your immune system

• Help you keep healthy lung function

• Keep your brain sharp and accurate

Find The Best Fish For Your Omega-3s

Don’t abandon fish altogether. They are still a great source of omega-3s. Here are the omega-3 to omega-6 ratios of some of the most popular fish we eat, and how that compares to farmed tilapia:

Omega-3 to Omega-6 Ratio of Wild-Caught and Farm-Raised Fish
Wild Salmon	13:1
Pollock	12.5:1
Freshwater Salmon	7.5:1
Herring	6.5:1
Tuna	5:1
Trout	2:1
Farmed Catfish	1:11
Farmed Tilapia	1:11

Avoid Apex-Predator Fish. While tuna (albacore and bluefin) has good amounts of omega-3s, you should avoid it because it tends to contain high levels of toxins like mercury. Overall, stay away from top-of-the-food-chain fish like tuna, shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel because of their mercury levels. If you want to eat tuna, skip the albacore and stick with light tuna.

Choose Smaller Fish. Try to choose smaller fish that are lower down on the food chain. They don’t typically eat other fish and fewer toxins get stored in their flesh. Good choices are herring, salmon, sardines, anchovies, trout, halibut, and haddock.

Buy Wild-Caught Fish. Farm-raised fish are simply fed an unnatural diet and become diseased and inflamed. The potential health risks could cost your body in the long run.

Because farm-raised fish don’t have lots of room to swim and are prone to disease, they are often given antibiotics as well as preservatives and commercial dyes to give them a healthy color.

For example, farm-raised salmon doesn’t get enough astaxanthin to turn it the nice pink color that you would see with wild salmon, so it is injected with dye. At your supermarket you will often see “color-enhanced” in small print under the farm-raised salmon sign.

Wild salmon, on the other hand, get their pink color by eating little sea creatures like krill that have natural astaxanthin. I prefer wild-caught salmon of the Pacific Ocean.

But, to tell the truth, wild-caught fish is not the clear-cut choice it used to be. When about 300 streams across the U.S. were tested, one hundred percent of the fish were found to be contaminated with mercury. It’s gotten that bad.

So today, supplementing with a good quality fish oil that is purified of contaminants is a sensible way to make sure you get enough to reap the health benefits."

Wow! Watch out for farmed tilapia, eh! Nong and I tend towards wild salmon when we can catch it at our nearest supermarket, eh. I bake it in foil with some garlic, pepper, light soy sauce and 'herbs de Provence'. Tasty!

See ya, eh!

Bob