United Press International 10-14-09 ATLANTA, Oct 13, 2009 Data on 1,400 U.S. adults and 500 children hospitalized because of H1N1 indicate most had underlying conditions, a health official said Tuesday. Dr. Ann Schuchat, director of the national center for immunization and respiratory diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said the vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths are occurring in younger people, they're not occurring in people age 65 and older. "In adults, the most common underlying conditions were asthma and chronic lung disease, chronic heart disease and immunosuppression," Schuchat told reporters in a news briefing. "And in children, the most common underlying conditions were asthma and chronic lung disease, neurologic or neuromuscular diseases and sickle cell or other blood disorders." However, this virus can be serious even in healthy people with no underlying conditions. We have seen and reported results from the autopsies, Schuchat says. "In about 20 percent of the fatalities, what we saw was the influenza leading to a bacterial pneumonia. Sometimes it was the staph aureus including Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, sometimes it was the pneumococcus and that's where we're telling people that pneumococcal vaccine is important in protecting people from pneumococcal pneumonia," Schuchat said. "Most people who develop H1N1 influenza will have an illness that can be cared for at home without needing treatment, but some people will have a very severe course."

        

WATSONVILLE, Calif., Oct 19, 2009 / Latest Research on Foods for Brain Health Discussed at Premiere Neuroscience Meeting of the Year in Chicago this WeekDiets rich in strawberries, other berries, nuts, and certain spices may lower age-related cognitive declines and the risk of neurodegenerative disease, according to James Joseph, Ph.D., of the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. Dr. Joseph describes his breakthrough work on the everyday foods that promote brain health during a presentation this week at Neuroscience 2009, the 39th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience being held in Chicago.Aging often results in mental decline -- and the world's aging population is large and growing. There are currently 390 million people over the age of 65 around the world with an expected increase to 800 million by 2025. According to Alzheimer's Disease International, dementia affects one in 20 people over the age of 65. Some 24 million people worldwide are currently thought to experience some form of dementia."With the rising cost of healthcare and drugs, patients are increasingly turning to preventive lifestyle actions over which they have some control, such as exercise and diet," said Dr. Joseph. "Emerging science continues to point to natural foods as sources of beneficial nutrients that can have some positive impact on cognitive function."Strawberries, other berries, nuts, and certain spices contain plant compounds called polyphenols and other plant chemicals, which are believed to provide brain health benefits. Although some of the benefit has been attributed to the antioxidant activity of those compounds, antioxidant activity alone is not predictive in assessing the potency of these compounds against certain disorders affected by aging. In fact, in Dr. Joseph's studies, oxidative stress markers were only modestly reduced by these antioxidant rich foods. The polyphenols in berry fruit like strawberries may be responsible for other mechanisms including enhanced neuronal communication and reduced stress signals due to enhanced neuroprotective stress shock proteins.According to Dr. Joseph, you can protect yourself against the two major villains of aging, oxidation and inflammation, by including the following foods in your diet regularly:-- Strawberries-- Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries-- Walnuts-- Fish-- Turmeric (a spice in curry)

        

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