Today in my mail I received informational brochure from the University of Chicago Medicine. I found 2 very important articles and I want to share with those who did not receive it.
DEVILISH PALNT TARGETS CANCER
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Legend has it the cure for cancer is buried in the root of some obscure plant in the Amazon rain forest. While that’s overstating what any one medicine can do to fight what are actually hundreds of different diseases, research clearly shows that natural remedies offer some valuable tools in the fight against cancer. In a paper published in Cell Death and Disease, University of Chicago Medicine researchers Wei Du, PhD, and Chun-Su Yuan, MD, PhD, reported that an extract from a Pacific Northwest shrub, ominously named devil’s club, can kill colon cancer cells without affecting the normal cells around them. Du suggests the extract, falcarindiol, a relative of ginseng, has lots of potential uses. “For example, it can be used together with chemotherapeutic drugs as a way to enhance the toxicity to cancer cells and reduce the side effects,” he said.
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P.S. I am so happy that doctors recognize herbs as a medicine, because it has been a medicine for as long as humanity exists.
EVEN FAT CELLS SLEEP
In a study that challenges the notion that the primary function of sleep is only to rest the brain, University of Chicago Medicine researchers found that not getting enough shut-eye has a harmful impact on fat cells, reducing their ability to respond to insulin, a hormone that regulates energy. Sleep deprivation has long been associated with impaired brain function, causing decreased alertness and cognitive ability. The latest finding, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, is the first description of a molecular mechanism directly connecting sleep loss to the disruption of energy regulation in humans, which can lead to weight gain, diabetes and other health problems. “Many people think of fat as a problem, but it serves a vital function in storing and releasing energy,” said study author Matthew Brady, PhD. “We found that fat cells need sleep to function properly.”
The University of Chicago Medicine IMAGINE MAGAZINE / Winter 2013
