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16 rules to live by for young-looking skin
16 simple yet wildly effective rules to live by for dewy, plump, perfectly smooth skin--no matter what your age.
1. Even if you're sitting in the shade, without sunscreen you're being zapped by aging rays. Sunscreen, (at least SPF30, every day) not only prevents aging, it gives your skin time away from defending itself, so it can actually repair and undo existing damage.
2. There's wet, and then there's wet: If you want any antiager to work better, get your skin very wet. For instance, if you want your face scrub to exfoliate more than usual, do it at the very end of a shower.
3. Always pat eye cream in with your ring finger--it's the weakest, so the most gentle.
Perfect Your Skin: The right regimen makes all the difference, whether you're treating breakouts, wrinkles or redness.
4. Retin-A, Tazorac, Renova: These prescription-only retinoic acid formulas de-age skin like no over-the-counter cream. It takes about six weeks to see results, but the difference in most people is truly spectacular.
5. For some, retinoic acid is too skin-sensitizing. The next strongest thing is available over the counter: retinol. The most powerful retinol we know of is Help Me by Philosophy. If that's too much for you, Healthy Skin by Neutrogena is nonirritating but still extremely effective.
6. Too much sugar in your diet causes glycation--an inflammation and a disruption of collagen production. Avoid eating sweets, and use a product designed to prevent (and undo) the reaction.
7. Your skin does most of its repair-and-refresh work at night. Lack of sleep shows up on your face as dullness initially, graduating to wrinkling, sagging, and even breakouts as you continue to lose sleep.
There are no falsities to this beauty sleep business. A Lucky beauty editor was recently inflicted with mono (and a 1,000 hours of sleep) and reemerged with her most luminous skin ever.
8. Supplements: Who knows if they work? They might, and that's why we take them--especially those with omega-3, -6, and -9 oils. Since none of us can eat as much youthifying salmon as the experts say we should.
9. Cold really does bring down puffiness. Throw your eye cream in the fridge, or use these already-frosty versions.
10. Unanimous editors' rave: More Lucky staffers mentioned Kiehl's when they were queried about their antiaging routines than any other brand. They love the avocado eye cream, the pineapple papaya face scrub, the...
11. Peptides stimulate your cells to produce more collagen. They retexturize--so your skin feels silkier and looks brighter--and minimize lines. And they don't irritate at all.
12. Smoking is even better (and faster) at aging your face than the sun.
13. Wind and cold are dehydrating. Moisturizer plumps up your skin, making it look and feel smoother temporarily. We have never met a makeup artist who doesn't apply moisturizer liberally before makeup--it really makes a difference.
14. If you overdo it on skin treatments, anti-inflammatory products like Dr. Brandt's Laser Relief will calm your skin back to normality overnight.
15. Tinted undereye moisturizer is a genius invention. Use it alone if your trouble is not severe, under concealer if it's more major.
16. If all else fails, keep your sunglasses on--and not solely for the obvious reason of camouflage. You also shield the delicate and first-to-wrinkle-and-sag eye area from future damage. Eye cream with SPF helps too.
GENETICS and emotional stress are two factors which contribute to common allergies such as hay fever among children, according to two separate studies by German researchers. In one study of 3,000 school pupils in Munich, geneticists discovered evidence that a genetic deficiency in the protein filaggrin in skin cells contributes to common eczema-like skin allergies.
Variants of the filaggrin gene were also associated with dandruff and contact dermatitis, for example rashes caused by nickel jewellery, according to the study conducted by the Munich Helmholtz Centre and the Technical University of Munich. With certain variants of the gene, a patient was three times as likely to suffer from atopic dermatitis and was also more liable to have hay fever, the study found.
In a separate Helmholtz study, scientists discovered that emotional stress, such as moving to a new town and changing schools or going through parental divorce, is also a risk factor in childhood allergies. The researchers examined blood samples taken from 234 six-year-old children and discovered increased blood concentrations of the stressrelated peptide VIP (vasoactive intestinal polypeptide) in connection with moving house or the separation of parents.
The neuropeptide VIP could take on a mediator role between stress events in life and the regulation of immune responses, researchers write in the scientific journal ‘Pediatric Allergy and Immunology’. The findings resulted from a longterm study correlating life-style, immune system development and allergies, led by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Leipzig (UFZ), the Helmholtz Zentrum Munich and the Institut fuer Umweltmedizinische Forschung (IUF) in Duesseldorf.
It has been known for some time that emotional stress can have an influence on the development of allergies. But the causative mechanisms long remained unexplained. Now, for the first time, stress events were investigated during early childhood within a large epidemiological study using immune and stress markers. The researchers said they had found definitive proof of a link between stress during childhood and the later development of asthma, allergic skin disorders, or allergic sensitasations.
Dramatic life events like the death of a family member, serious illnesses of a family member or the separation of parents, but also harmless events like for example moving house are suspected of increasing the risk of allergies for the children affected. “The immune system obviously plays a mediator role between stress on the one hand and allergies on the other,” the researchers wrote. “Since these mechanisms had hardly been understood before, researchers attempted to identify stress-related factors showing an influence on the immune system, in the context of an epidemiological study.”
Trans fats linked to pre-cancerous colon growths
AHIGH intake of trans fats could increase colon cancer risk, according to new research published in the ‘American Journal of Epidemiology’. People who ate the most trans fatty acids were more likely to have pre-cancerous growths or polyps in their colons than those who consumed the least, Dr Lisa C Vinikoor of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and colleagues found. “These results provide further support for recommendations to limit consumption of trans-fatty acids,” they conclude.
Activity key to breast cancer patients’ survival
WOMEN who stay active after being diagnosed with breast cancer – and even those who take up exercise for the first time after diagnosis – have a better chance of surviving the disease, a new study shows. “Anything is better than nothing,” Dr Melinda L Irwin of the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, one of the researchers on the study, said. “We actually observed benefits with just doing a little bit of exercise.”
Many return to sports after getting a new shoulder
MANY physically-active people will return to recreational sports after having shoulder replacement surgery, research shows. In fact, most of the people who had
the surgery in order to continue to participate in sports reported that their ability had actually improved, Dr Eric C McCarty of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver and colleagues found.
Severe stress in pregnancy may affect foetal growth
WOMEN who go through a traumatic event during or soon before pregnancy may be at increased risk of having an underweight baby, a large study suggests. Researchers found that of more than 1mn Danish women who gave birth over 24 years, those who dealt with the death or serious illness of a loved one shortly before or during pregnancy were more likely to have a low-birthweight baby.
Weight loss may cut risk of colorectal growths
OBESITY is associated with an increased risk of colorectal adenomas – growths or polyps that can become cancerous – but weight loss might reduce the risk, a study hints. “Colorectal cancer is known to be associated with obesity,” Dr Yutaka Yamaji from University of Tokyo, Japan said. “Our data, together with previous reports, shows pre-cancerous lesions are also associated with obesity.”
Weight-loss surgery won’t ‘cure’ sleep apnea
IN PEOPLE who are obese, weight-loss surgery will likely lead to an improvement in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) but it won’t eliminate the nighttime breathing disorder. Many patients will have residual OSA one year after weight-loss surgery (also known as bariatric surgery), results of a study indicate. “There are numerous benefits to weight loss by any means, (including) a reduction in the severity of OSA,” study leader Dr Christopher Lettieri of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, said. “However, patients and their physicians should understand that OSA can occur in the absence of obesity, and losing weight, even if substantial, may not resolve OSA.”
How do you tell whether you have the flu or a cold?
A: When the flu comes knocking, you’ll know it. You’re likely to be on your back and in misery for a good spell. The flu has a sudden onset with symptoms that include high fever and chills, cough, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, intense
fatigue, severe muscle aches and headache. The common cold is a couple of notches down, with symptoms such as lowgrade fever, cough, runny or congested nose, sneezing and mild sore throat. If it’s a cold, you might show up for work. If it’s the flu, forget it.
Besides bringing its own bag of miseries,the flu makes you more susceptible to bacterial infections such as pneumonia and can worsen asthma, diabetes, heart failure and other chronic conditions. So it’s important to dodge the flu if you can. The best way to do that is to get a flu vaccination. (Once you’ve experienced the flu, you won’t need further convincing.) If you do get the flu, there’s still an option: a prescription antiviral drug such as Tamiflu or Relenza. The drug can cut the illness short, but you can’t dawdle. The antiviral agent needs to be started within 48 hours after symptoms begin, and the sooner the better.
How effective is the flu vaccine in preventing the flu?
A: Not perfect, but pretty good. Flu vaccine works by triggering your immune system to recognise and attack specific strains of flu viruses. Because these viruses change fast, a yearly vaccination is required. The current vaccine is based on these changes. Each year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracks flu virus strains worldwide in an attempt to reasonably predict which new strains will be circulating during the coming flu season. Based on this information, the agency recommends the makeup of that year’s flu vaccine. When virus strains in the vaccine are well-matched to actual virus strains circulating about, the flu vaccine appears to be 70-90% effective in preventing the flu among healthy adults younger than 65.
How is the flu virus spread?
A: The virus can be transmitted via respiratory droplets (from sneezing or coughing) through the air or on contaminated surfaces (anything people have touched) such as door knobs, self-service gas nozzles, and currency. People commonly become infected by touching their eyes, nose, or mouth after their hands have picked up the flu virus. You can stall the spread of the flu by covering your mouth with a disposable tissue (or shirt sleeve) when you cough or sneeze. The best way to avoid the flu, besides getting vaccinated, is to wash your hands frequently. Handwashing also prevents the spread of other communicable diseases. Those who remain flu-free won’t be sick and won’t be part of the chain spreading the disease to others. Please do your part this flu season.
(Richard Harkness is a consultant pharmacist, natural medicines specialist, and author of eight published books.) – MCT
TAKING a simple once-daily capsule of fish oil improves survival prospects for patients with heart failure, results of a major clinical study showed earlier this week. The positive finding boosts the healthgiving reputation of fish oil and is particularly encouraging because heart failure – a chronic condition in which the heart
struggles to pump blood effectively – is notoriously difficult to treat.
It is a major plus for Norway’s Pronova BioPharma, which makes the medicine used in the test, although doctors said cheap over-the-counter products should work just as well. Pronova is a world leader in producing pharmaceuticals from fish oil, a rich
source of omega-3 fatty acids. The news also vindicates GlaxoSmithKline’s decision to snap up US rights to Pronova’s product Lovaza last November, by
acquiring Reliant Pharmaceuticals for $1.65bn.
Omega-3 fatty acids have in the past been linked to a range of health benefits, including reducing the risk of heart attacks, strokes, Alzheimer’s disease and depression.
Luigi Tavazzi of the ANMCO Research Centre in Florence, Italy, told the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting that patients on Lovaza, followed up for an average 3.9 years, were 9% less likely to die than those given a placebo, or dummy capsule. They were also less likely to be admitted to hospital with cardiovascular problems.Patients on active treatment received a daily Lovaza capsule containing 1g of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Of the 7,000 people tracked in the study, 955 patients in the Lovaza group died, compared with 1,014 in the placebo group. That difference may be modest but Jose Ramon Gonzalez Juanatey, a cardiologist at Santiago University Hospital in Spain, who was not involved in the test, said it was clinically meaningful, since the patients were already receiving the best available treatment, leaving little room for improvement. “This is important because heart failure is a major public health problem.
Even in well-treated patients, the mortality rate is 10% a year, so new therapies and strategies are needed,” he said. Current European and US treatment guidelines focus on the role of omega-3 in preventing heart disease but Juanatey said wider guidance to include treating heart failure could be warranted. The findings should also be taken as a message to the public to eat more fish to keep their hearts healthy, Juanatey said. Robert Bonow, a cardiologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, said fish oil capsules were cheap, welltolerated and did not interfere with other medications, making them an attractive option, even if the benefits were moderate.
“I think it makes sense for doctors and their patients to consider using them,” he said. Omega-3 is thought to help by stabilising the electrical signals of the heart, as well as reducing blood fat levels. Industry analysts said the latest results should fuel sales growth of Lovaza, also known as Omacor, which is the only EU and US-approved omega-3 prescription drug. The findings from the so-called GISSI-HF study were also published online by the Lancet medical journal.
Cancer Drug Shows Promise Against Graft Vs. Host Disease
A new University of Michigan study in mice suggests that a drug recently approved to fight cancer tumors is also able to reduce the effects of graft-versus-host disease, a common and sometimes fatal complication for people who have had bone marrow transplants.
Plans are under way at U-M for an initial trial of the drug in people as a new way to prevent graft-versus-host disease. Researchers expect to begin a trial within a year.
The U-M scientists tested the effects of the drug SAHA, as well as another member of a group of drugs known as HDAC inhibitors, on key immune system cells called dendritic cells. In mice, both drugs were able to significantly diminish the destructive inflammatory effects that these cells cause in graft-versus-host disease.
Graft-versus-host disease occurs when immune cells in the transplanted bone marrow mount a misguided attack on body tissues. If HDAC inhibitors turn out to be safe and effective in people, they might offer a treatment option preferable to the immunosuppressant drugs used now to treat the disease. These leave people vulnerable to infection and have other significant side effects.
"To make bone marrow transplants more effective, we need better control of the very powerful reactions between the immune systems of the donor and recipient. This study shows how drugs like SAHA regulate those reactions, and takes us a major step closer to bringing this new approach to patients who need transplants," says James L.M. Ferrara, M.D., director of the U-M Combined Bone Marrow Transplant Program and a senior author on the study. Ferrara is also professor of internal medicine and pediatric and communicable diseases at U-M.
"These HDAC inhibitors were thought to just kill cancer cells, but at lower doses, it's possible they can modulate a number of immune diseases," says Pavan Reddy, M.D., the study's lead and corresponding author, and an assistant professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School. "The mechanism we have identified in graft-versus-host disease may be involved in autoimmune diseases as well."
Context
Bone marrow stem cell transplants are most commonly used to treat leukemia and lymphoma. By replenishing depleted blood cells, the transplants allow higher doses of chemotherapy to more effectively get rid of cancer cells.
But as many as half of bone marrow transplant recipients develop acute or chronic symptoms of graft-versus-host disease, which can affect the skin, liver and gastrointestinal tract. Reddy calls the disease "the single biggest barrier to bone marrow transplant."
The study suggests a novel way to treat graft-versus-host disease with an already available drug that is stirring considerable interest as an anti-cancer agent. The FDA approved SAHA, marketed under the name Vorinostat, as a treatment for one kind of lymphoma in 2006 and for leukemia in 2007. SAHA is being used off label for other cancers, including lung, brain and colon cancer.
The U-M study adds to a growing body of research suggesting HDAC inhibitors also may be useful tools to reign in misguided immune responses. Researchers elsewhere have recently shown that HDAC inhibitors have been beneficial in animal studies of lupus and inflammatory bowel disease. Other studies suggest the drugs could be useful in regulating the immune response in heart and islet cell transplants.
Research details
The U-M researchers studied the responses of immune system dendritic cells in mice given SAHA and ITF 2357, another new HDAC inhibitor. Dendritic cells are important immune system cells whose varied roles are beginning to be fully understood.
The scientists looked at the two HDAC inhibitors' effects on mouse and human dendritic cells in culture. They found that as they suspected, the drugs acted to diminish the dendritic cells' key role in promoting pro-inflammatory proteins called cytokines. Specifically, the researchers found that the HDAC inhibitors increase the expression of IDO, an enzyme which represses dendritic cell activity.
They tested the HDAC inhibitors in mice bred to display the effects of graft -versus-host disease. When they injected the mice with dendritic cells treated with the drugs, they found the drugs were able to reduce the disease's effects.
How Tumor Cells Break Free And Form Metastases
When tumor cells acquire the capacity to move around and invade other tissues, there is a risk of metastases and cancer treatment becomes more difficult.
At the Institut Curie, CNRS Director of Research Philippe Chavrier and his group have just discovered how breast cancer cells break the bonds that tether them to the tumor.
The basement membrane around the mammary gland is a barrier to the spread of cancer cells. Three proteins in the tumor cells transport enzymes needed to perforate this barrier, and another protein puts these enzymes in the right place. These discoveries, published in the 16 June 2008 issue of The Journal of Cell Biology and in Current Biology on 8 July 2008, shed light on the early mechanisms of the formation of metastases in certain breast cancers.
These findings constitute an essential step in the quest for the early identification of highly invasive tumors, or even the blocking of formation of metastases.
Tissues are generally formed by cells arranged side by side. Epithelial cells cover an outer surface, such as the skin or an organ such as the mammary gland, and remain tightly bound together. This cohesion is vital to the body’s functioning, and the epithelial cells remain in position in their original tissue until they die. Sometimes, though, they detach and move away, and while such migration is essential during embryonic development as cells give rise to new tissues, when tumor cells break loose this often heralds the formation of metastases.
When tumor cells break loose
Tumor cells accumulate errors, become totally anarchic, and flout all the rules. Some even become detached from the tumor through complex and poorly understood mechanisms. The Membrane and Cytoskeleton Dynamics Group headed by Philippe Chavrier(1) (UMR 144 CNRS/Institut Curie) has now shed new light on the way cells, in this case breast cancer cells, escape their shackles. The mammary gland is separated from the neighboring tissue by the basement membrane, which the tumor cells will have to cross before continuing on their way.
The cell first forms protrusions called invadopodia and anchors them in the basement membrane. These “feet” provide everything needed to breach the membrane. The tumor cells produce a whole range of proteases that degrade the proteins of the extracellular matrix that hems them in, part of which is the basement membrane. These proteases cut a hole in the basement membrane through which the cells can escape.
In a first publication, the researchers used a model of metastatic breast cancer cells to show that the proteins sec3, sec8 and IQGAP1 transport vesicles containing proteases to the invadopodia. Without sec3, sec8 and IQGAP1 the vesicles cannot be fastened to the ends of the invadopodia and so the cells fail to escape into the neighboring tissue. Before the proteases can degrade the membrane, they must first be released from the vesicles.
In a second publication, Philippe Chavrier and colleagues show that the protein Vamp7 fuses protease-containing vesicles with the membrane of tumor cells. Only then can the proteases at the ends of the invadopodia progressively erode the basement membrane of the mammary gland. Inactivation of Vamp7 greatly reduces the ability of the breast cancer cells to degrade the extracellular matrix.
So tumor cells can only escape from the mammary gland by accomplishing a whole series of modifications. Philippe Chavrier and his group have shown how they hijack cellular mechanisms to leave their original tissue, after which they can spread throughout the body and form metastases.
These discoveries may help to explain why certain breast cancers are more aggressive than others, or even to identify highly invasive tumors at an early stage. It is also conceivable that tumor invasion could be blocked by acting on the underlying mechanisms identified by Philippe Chavrier and colleagues.
(1) Philippe Chavrier is CNRS Director of Research at the Institut Curie.
Millions of women visit manicurists to have their nails professionally manicured every year. Unfortunately, occasionally the result of having manicures is developing nail fungus or bacterial infections which can not only look bad, but may also feel even worse. Although HIV or AIDS can be transmitted through broken skin that occurs during a visit to a nail salon, this is extremely rare. What can you do to lower your risk of developing an infection or fungus, or HIV/AIDS, caused by a manicure?
A few simple steps before your next manicure can significantly lower your risk of developing a painful nail infection or fungus, or disease.
Buy your own manicure or pedicure kit and take it with you when you visit your manicurist. Make sure you clean and disinfect your manicure kit after each use, even if you are the only one using your kit.
Bring your own nail polish, base coat, and top coats. Remove your old nail polish at home, or bring nail polish remover with you.
Check out the salon where you have your nails done. Does it look clean and sanitary? Is the trash container properly bagged and covered? Is the floor clean? Are the manicure tables kept neat and tidy? Is there plenty of good light? Look at the disinfectant containers and make sure that they are clear, clean, and free of debris.
If you are not using your own manicure kit: Are all instruments cleaned and disinfected after each use? Does the manicurist use fresh, clean instruments on each client? Does the manicurist remove the clean, disinfected, instruments from the disinfectant in front of you? Make sure all files, buffers, and anything else that touches you is freshly clean before you allow the manicurist to begin.
Make sure the pedicure tub is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected after each client. The steps where clients typically step with bare feet at spa pedicures should be cleaned and disinfected before each client, as well.
Make sure that the manicurists wash their hands before and after each client, and that clients wash before their nails are done.
Never use a towel that is not fresh and clean.
Make sure that plenty of clean, disinfected, nail brushes are available for each client.
Make sure that a new, unused, emory board is used for each client.
Consider using cuticle softener, rather than cuticle scissors to reduce the risk of broken skin occurring.
If these sanitary precautions are not being taken at your nail salon, don’t be afraid to tell the shop owner what needs to change and what you expect from a manicurist and nail salon.
Contact your state cosmetology board if you develop a nail infection, fungus, or other condition as a result of visiting a nail salon, or if you see unsanitary practices.
What to do when your weight loss flatlines
You've been eating fewer calories, your trainer is your new BFF, and your body has gotten teenier. But now it seems like you couldn't lose a pound unless you cut your arm off. You've hit the dreaded plateau — a frustratingly common dieting phenomenon. "At a certain point in weight loss, usually after losing about 10 percent of your weight, you may have to tweak your diet and exercise to jump-start your body again," says Susan Mitchell, Ph.D., R.D., co-author of Fat Is Not Your Fate. Here's why you might stall and what you can do to rev back up.
You're eating for 164 (pounds, not people).
Flatline Yeah, losing mass means you look better in your low-riders, but it also means there's less of you to burn calories. It's a cruel truth: Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) — the number of calories your body needs just to exist — gets lower as you get littler. Keep eating for your old weight and you're going to hit a wall. Finish line As the number on the scale goes down, so too must your food intake. Figure out your BMR by dividing your current weight by 2.2 pounds, then multiplying this number by 0.9, and then by 24. (Or calculate it at bmicalculator.net/bmrcalculator.)
Now multiply your BMR by 1.2 and voil: You've got the average number of calories your body burns per day when you factor in normal activities. (Add another 300 to 500 on days you do an hour of moderate to intense exercise.) Once you have your final number, shave off 500 to find out how many calories you need to eat to lose a pound a week, or 300 to lose 2 pounds a month. Just don't ever go below 1,200 a day or you'll run into the problem below.
You're eating for 95.
Flat line Here's the flip side: There's such a thing as eating too little to lose weight. "The body needs a certain number of calories per day to meet minimum metabolic needs, such as cardiovascular function and respiration," Mitchell says. When you're running on empty, your brain sends signals to various organs (like your thyroid), telling them to slow down your metabolism to conserve energy.
Finish line Strategy? Simple: "Increase your calories," Mitchell says. "Many women are afraid to do this because they think they'll gain weight, when actually the body will function more efficiently and they'll start losing again." If you're stuck (and starving), try adding 100 calories a day for 2 weeks.
You could work out in your sleep.
Flat line Been repeating the same moves since you made your New Year's resolutions? You need a kick in your (shrinking) behind. "When your body is used to an exercise, it stops making physiological changes," says Cassandra Forsythe, a nutrition and exercise scientist at the University of Connecticut. Translation: Your bod has become so efficient at doing your current routine that it's burning fewer calories. Want proof? A recent study in the International Journal of Obesity found that runners who didn't increase their mileage gained weight over time.
Finish line Mix it up. "To grow more muscle and keep your metabolic rate high, you have to damage the muscles a little by challenging your body with a different workout," Forsythe says. If you're a treadmill rat, get on the elliptical or bike. If you're hell-bent on the treadmill, up the intensity (by adjusting the speed or incline) every other minute, or work up to a longer run by adding a half mile every couple of weeks. In the weight room, forget those 15 reps you usually do with a 5-pounder: "Decrease the number of reps and increase the weight, using one you can lift only five to eight times.
Article Courtsey of http://www.womenshealthmag.com
