Monday, January 31, 2011

[Peckers_Pics] Model Wars, PICS; Feb 1, 2011 / David Kato - Rest In Peace!



Model Wars, PICS; Feb 1, 2011
Safe PICS For All Ages, Rated  G / "We Support Keith Olbermann"

Please be advised that Imay not post as much for next few days - as i will be out of town! 

Updates on Keith Olbermann  @ ObamaBiden2008

Updates on slain gay activist - David Kato of Uganada @ ObamaBiden2008

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Diet & Fitness:

  • Reminder: Did you complete your Diet Journal today?
  • Did you do any physical activity?  If not, make a point of it by tomorrow! 
  • Perhaps our male fitness photos shall inspire you to get Fit!
Health - Wellness - Exercise - Reflections:
Alzheimer's And Herpes Simplex Virus: A Link?
 
Huffington Post / Jan 31, 2011 / David Perlmutter, M.D
 
Last week an advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended the approval of a diagnostic brain scan for Alzheimer's disease. The new technology is based upon imaging and quantifying the amount of a specific protein, beta amyloid, in the brains of patients suspected of having the disease. Research has demonstrated a striking correlation between the amount of beta amyloid in the brain and the degree of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's patients.

Dr. Norman Foster, professor of neurology at the University of Utah, testified before the FDA committee and was quoted in The New York Times stating the approval of the new scan "would be a historic advance in neurology and in the daily management of patients with memory complaints," an interesting comment as the article goes on to say, "If a person has Alzheimer's though, there is as yet no treatment that can slow or reverse the disease ... "

Over the past several decades, the understanding of beta amyloid's role as a causative agent for Alzheimer's disease has served to underpin worldwide research in attempt to develop meaningful treatments designed to rid the brain of this damaging protein. Interestingly, these attempts have met with almost universal failure. Most recently, pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced yet another failure in an attempt to chemically reduce beta amyloid in humans. In an August 17, 2010 press release the company noted that their experimental drug semagacestat, an "oral agent designed to reduce the body's production of amyloid beta plaques, which scientists believe play an important role in causing Alzheimer's disease," actually caused more rapid decline in Alzheimer's patients. The company revealed that patients treated with the experimental drug "worsened to a significantly greater degree than those treated with placebo."

If beta amyloid were the cause of Alzheimer's disease, then why would ridding the brain of this protein actually cause patients to worsen? Harvard researcher Dr. Stephanie Soscia and her associates may have the answer. Their recently published research questioned why beta amyloid accumulates in the Alzheimer's brain in the first place, and concluded that in fact, the protein actually serves to rid the brain of a variety of bacteria and viruses. They described beta amyloid as an "antimicrobial peptide" which accumulated in response to an infectious agent. Their work looks upon beta amyloid in a new light as they stated, "If the normal function of beta amyloid is to function as an antimicrobial peptide, then an absence of the peptide may result in increased vulnerability to infection." Rather than causing the disease, beta amyloid may be our brain's natural response to an infectious agent, accumulating as a way of defending us against a pathogen. So perhaps we should reconsider beta amyloid since it has been said that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Assuming beta amyloid is produced in response to an infectious agent, logically we would want to examine the evidence supporting the role of infection in Alzheimer's disease. Over the past several years, compelling evidence has surfaced linking herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) to Alzheimer's disease. In 2008, Canadian researchers Luc Letenneur and Karine Peres demonstrated a dramatic increase in antibodies directed against HSV1 in Alzheimer's patients compared to age-matched individuals without the disease. Professor Ruth Itzhaki from the University of Manchester has explored the relationship of HSV1 to Alzheimer's disease in great depth. In her landmark article published in 2008 entitled "Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 in Alzheimer's disease: The Enemy Within," Dr. Itzhaki revealed that HSV1 infects the brains of 90 percent of adults. If HSV1 causes Alzheimer's, this high rate of infection would be a necessary characteristic in light of the very high prevalence of Alzheimer's disease. Further, she points out, HSV1 can remain latent in the nervous system lifelong and may undergo periodic reactivation causing persistent brain inflammation. As an example, HSV1 is the cause of recurrent fever blisters that occur when the virus gets activated in the brain. Undoubtedly the most compelling evidence linking HSV1 to Alzheimer's disease comes from her recent discovery of HSV1 DNA actually located exactly within the beta amyloid plaque, the so-called "hallmark" of the disease.

So compelling are these findings that Dr. Itzhaki has concluded, "Our present data suggest that this virus is a major cause of amyloid plaques and hence probably a significant etiological factor in Alzheimer's disease. They point to the usage of antiviral agents to treat the disease and possibly of vaccination to prevent it."

The FDA's likely approval of technology allowing the quantification of beta amyloid in suspected Alzheimer's patients will clearly provide a valuable tool in defining the cause of dementia in cognitively impaired individuals. But focusing on ridding the brain of this protein may be treating the smoke while ignoring the fire. Indeed, the evidence now suggests that beta amyloid protein may very well represent a positive response in the brain's attempt to deal with a viral infection. Proving the role of HSV1 in Alzheimer's disease could be as simple as treating a group of patients with readily available antiviral medication. Dr. Itzhaki recently sent me an email indicating she stands ready to get this research underway, but as is so often the case, funding the study remains a challenge.

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And Now, Model Wars!

This group is called "Peckers Pics."  The English -  slang definition of "pecker" is to pluck at the truth. Therefore, we peck at items such as Gay Men's Health, Male Fitness, Gay (LGBT) Politics & Issues.  In this section you may peck at each photo in order to decide the winner of the "war of the fittest!"  Whereas, who is the model that may inspire you to exercise and "get fit?"  Warning: This may stoke you!
 
Your participation in discussion of health / news articles - appearing in this message is greatly appreciated.
 
Gavin Henson
Gavin Lloyd Henson (born 1 February 1982) is a Welsh rugby union player born in Pencoed, south Wales, who plays for Saracens in the Aviva Premiership and has been capped for the Wales national team. He attracted much media attention as part of a Wales team which achieved Grand Slams in the Six Nations Championship in 2005 and 2008. He has also played for the British and Irish Lions, touring in 2005 to New Zealand but has never appeared at a World Cup.  Henson has played in a variety of positions including fly-half, fullback and inside centre. After an extended spell out of the national side, including missing the 2007 Rugby World Cup, he was recalled by caretaker coach Nigel Davies, being included in the squad to play against South Africa.
 
VS
Upen Patel
To speak about Bollywood film, some of us may think of an Indian couple running from one to another mountain while singing and flirting. Or some may think of a belly dancing, or…bla bla bla…. And you, what do you think about Bollywood?  Upen Patel (born 16 August 1981) is a British Indian model and Bollywood film actor.
 
You Decide!
Baukalender 2011 : Austrian workers
Austria has got another construction worker (Baukalender) calendar. This aesthetic calendar presents all dust, large machines and tanned construction workers : these stereotypes come to mind when one thinks of a construction site.
Stoked?
Baukalender 2011 : Austrian workers
Austria has got another construction worker (Baukalender) calendar. This aesthetic calendar presents all dust, large machines and tanned construction workers : these stereotypes come to mind when one thinks of a construction site.
Illinois allows civil unions for same-sex couples
Reuters - Chicago; Jan 31, 2011 / By Andrew Stern
 
Governor Pat Quinn on Monday made Illinois the 16th U.S. state to give spousal rights to same-sex couples by signing into law a measure allowing civil unions.
 
Both houses of the Illinois legislature narrowly passed the measure that takes effect in July, though it does not alter a state law that limits marriage to a man and a woman.
 
The new law does give gay couples new rights normally reserved for spouses regarding such things as hospital visitation, making health-care decisions, and matters concerning probate of a partner's estate.
 
"Illinois is taking an historic step forward in embracing fairness and extending basic dignity to all couples in our state," said John Knight, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.
 
Opponents of the Illinois law said allowing civil unions opened the way to gay marriage.
 
Vermont in 2000 became the first state to make civil unions legal, and in 2009 passed a law allowing same-sex marriages, which made the civil unions law obsolete.
 
Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
 
Backing from newly elected lawmakers and the repeal by Congress of the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, don't tell" policy which expelled thousands of gay people from the U.S. military, has helped gay rights advocates push for gay marriage laws in Maryland, New York and Rhode Island, organizers and supporters of the effort say.
 
However, nearly half the states have amended their constitutions or passed laws to prohibit gay marriage, or by defining marriage as between a man and woman.
 
In Iowa, a conservative backlash against the gay marriage law led voters to oust three judges from the state's Supreme Court, which had approved the law.
 
California stopped granting marriage licenses to gay couples pending curt action after voters approved a referendum barring the practice.
 
But California is among nine states to provide limited spousal rights to same-sex couples through domestic partner laws. The other states are Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Wisconsin, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state, according to the Human Rights Campaign. New Jersey allows civil unions for same-sex couples.

"Every gay and lesbian person who has been lucky enough to survive the turmoil of growing up is a survivor. Survivors always have an obligation to those who will face the same challenges."

 
....Jake

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"Every gay and lesbian person who has been lucky enough to survive the turmoil of growing up is a survivor. Survivors always have an obligation to those who will face the same challenges."

...Jake (Moderator)



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