Why get tested?
Scientists from around the world are talking about a brand new invention that is on the verge of changing the way people think about health – the Pharmanex® BioPhotonic Scanner. This revolutionary tool enables us, for the first time, to measure our level of carotenoid antioxidant protection quickly.
Antioxidants are our frontline defense against the free radicals that constantly affect our cells. Over 30,000 scientific papers have been written about free radicals and antioxidants in the last 20 years. With the Pharmanex® BioPhotonic Scanner we can now obtain an accurate reading of your personal antioxidant score.
How does it work?
Sir C. V. Raman discovered the technology on which the scanner is based in the 1920’s. Sir Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the Raman Spectroscopy in 1930.
That was in the 1920's, but until the onset of the computer, optical and laser technology reached its current sophistication, the concept was not really practical.
Raman’s discovery proved that there are certain molecules, like carotenoids, that can be excited with a certain wavelength of laser light. The molecules then begin to resonate in very particular ways, releasing a very specific light signal of an altered wavelength that then can be measured. This discovery was revolutionary at the time, but computer and laser technologies could not fully apply it until recently. In just the last ten years, researchers at a major university, led by Dr. Werner Gellerman, actually started putting all these pieces of technology together.
The scanner technology is a tremendous scientific breakthrough. Scientists realized that the concentration of carotenoids in the eye is related to eye health. Because carotenoids are found throughout the body as part of the body’s antioxidant network, scientists believed this same technology could be used to measure carotenoid levels in human tissue. That’s when the scientists at Pharmanex® collaborated with Dr. Gellerman to develop the Pharmanex® BioPhotonic Scanner.
By simply placing the palm of your hand in front of a safe, low-energy blue light laser, you obtain an immediate reading of your carotenoid antioxidant activity—your antioxidant Score.
Biophotonic Scanner
Aids Mosquito Spread Human in Adaptation to Climate Change
Humans adjusting to water shortages caused by global warming could help a dengue fever-carrying mosquito expand into new parts of Australia, according to a study released Tuesday.
People hoarding water in ever-more parched swathes of the country already affected by climate change inadvertently create perfect breeding grounds for the potentially deadly insects, the study found.
Once confined to Africa, Aedes aegypti also carries viruses that cause yellow fever and the painful joint inflammation called chikungunya, and is today found throughout the tropics.
Its closely-related cousin, Aedes albopictus, spreads the same diseases, and has recently been found in southern Europe, finding new habitat in warmer climes.
A. aegypti first showed up in Australia in the 19th century. By the 1960s, eradication efforts reduced its range to the continent's northeastern state of Queensland.
Concerned about the potential impact of climate change on the species, a team of researchers led by Michael Kearney of the University of Melbourne designed a computer model to simulate its potential spread.
They looked at two habitats -- a 3,600-liter (9,500 gallons) water tank, and a 20-liter (five-gallon) bucket -- in different temperature conditions, one with near-total shade and another with very little.
Slight increases in average temperature would not by themselves expand the range in which the mosquitoes could easily survive, they found.
But when changes in human behavior spurred by global warming were taken into account, the danger was suddenly multiplied many times over.
"In many Australian cities and towns, a major impact of climate change is reduced rainfall, resulting in a dramatic increase in domestic rainwater storage and other forms of water hoarding," explained Kearney in a press statement.
The still or stagnant water in such open-air containers provide an ideal spot for mosquitoes to lay eggs, the most vulnerable stage of their life cycle.
If conditions are too cold or too dry, the eggs will not develop into larvae.
"This indirect effect of climate change via human adaptation could dramatically re-expand the mosquito's current range," said Kearney.
The study, published in Functional Ecology, a journal of the British Ecological Society (BES), also factored in the capacity of the mosquitoes to evolve, a variable not previously included in such models.
Based on earlier research on fruit flies and other insects, the scientists conclude that A. aegypti would adapt through the process of natural selection, accelerating its spread into new areas where it cannot survive today.
"Evolution happens all the time in nature and can be very rapid, taking only a few generations to influence the fitness of populations," said co-author Ary Hoffmann, a professor of genetics at the University of Melbourne.
"Our results show that evolution can make a very large difference when predicting changes in species ranges under climate change."
The study recommended water hygiene education campaigns be set up in the regions most at risk.
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, gathering top scientists, warned in a landmark report in 2007 that climate change could spur the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, especially malaria and dengue.
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Technical Consultation on the Severity of Disease Caused by the new influenza A (H1N1) Virus Infections
World Health Organization convened, via teleconference, a technical consultation to assess current knowledge about the severity of disease caused by influenza A(H1N1) infection and the implications this might have near the start of a pandemic. WHO also sought data on the clinical spectrum and patterns of the disease and how this compares with what is seen during epidemics of seasonal influenza.
Information was provided by epidemiologists, clinicians, and virologists from Canada, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. These countries have the largest experience, to date, in aggressive surveillance for the disease and the detection and investigation of cases. In addition, international experts advised WHO during the consultation.
Although the data were preliminary and many key questions cannot be answered at present, this conference provided a stronger understanding about this illness than was previously known. The larger number of cases in Canada, Mexico and the United States provided the most comprehensive initial picture of patterns of illness and spread to date.
In all of the countries most cases have experienced a mild influenza-like illness. However, severe illness has been reported in Mexico and the United States, especially in persons who are at risk for complications of seasonal influenza, such as the very young, women who are pregnant and persons with underlying medical conditions but also in some healthy young adults. It is too early to get a reliable estimate of the case fatality ratio.
The principal reason for hospitalization of cases in Mexico and the United States is severe respiratory disease. In the Mexican experience, secondary bacterial pneumonia has occurred among hospitalized cases.
Mexico experienced a large number of persons over a short period of time seeking care and hospitalization for respiratory disease. However, health care systems of other affected countries have not had a similar experience to date.
While all age groups have been affected, most cases are occurring in younger age groups (median age in mid-20's). Some caution must be exercised in interpreting this observation as it may reflect age patterns of persons travelling to Mexico and the occurrence of outbreaks in school settings.
Some, but not all, countries reported cases that had diarrhoea, in addition to typical flu-like symptoms, such as fever, cough, runny nose, headache, and malaise. This initial finding about diarrhoea requires further confirmation, and studies to determine if virus is shed in the faeces. If this is found, it could have significance for countries or situations in which there is inadequate sanitation.
In addition, some confirmed cases did not have fever and it is likely that there are asymptomatic and very mild cases of infection -- as occurs with seasonal epidemics of influenza.
The virus appears to be easily transmitted from person to person. In the United States and Mexico, community transmission has been widespread. Based on early data, the secondary attack rate is estimated to be around 22% by some experts, and as high as 30% by others.
At present, the virus is susceptible to oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza). In laboratory studies, there is no evidence so far that the virus has markers for human virulence that have been described for the 1918 H1N1 pandemic virus and avian influenza H5N1 viruses.
There is no convincing laboratory or clinical evidence that vaccination against normal seasonal influenza confers protection against the new H1N1 virus, but this requires more study.
In summary, there is now early information about the H1N1 virus' behaviour and disease patterns, coming primarily from Canada, Mexico and the United States. Cases in most other countries have been too few to get a full picture of the virus and its impact in those setting. The situation is expected to evolve over time and bears careful watching.
Although illness to date has been mainly mild, as the number of cases and the geographic spread of the virus increase, increased numbers of severe illness and deaths are expected -- as we see with influenza epidemics each year.
WHO is grateful to countries for their rapid investigation of cases and their willingness to share these early findings internationally.
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