K2 is the name of a type of synthetic marijuana. It’s often marketed under several names, including: JWH-018, Cannabanoid, Spice, Texas Gold, Serenity Now, K2 Blonde, and other names. While it’s not illegal everywhere at the time this is being written, there are a lot of concerns about the incense that people smoke to get a similar ‘high’ as marijuana. Panic attacks, elevated heart rates, and several seizures have been reported. Many discussions weighing in on the topic have talked about the fact that it can cause dependency as well. On Canadian CTV news, it was reported that more than 500 such negative incidents from using it have been brought to light in 2010.
About K2 and Other Synthetic Marijuana
K2 is a brand name for an herbal product that is supposedly not traceable, like marijuana, so used by many people as an alternative to pot smoking. Many say it’s not as strong of a high but some say there are other concerns as well.
It’s available in several flavours from smoke shops. It doesn’t contain THC but according to a K2 article on CNN, the drugs in it: JWH-018 and JWH-073 are made in China, are unregulated, and could have higher potencies than THC due to other chemicals used.
Several other brands, using the name K2, are also on the market and many indicate that there has been a rise in counterfeit K2-like products and consumers can’t be sure what sorts of chemicals are contained in the packages. Many say “not for consumption’ directly on the packages and there seems to be zero accountability due to the fact that they’re being categorized as “incense”. Many anticipate (or are calling for) it being banned on a near global basis in the very near future.
Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com
Tags: jwh-018, jwh-072, K2, k2 alternatives, k2 safety, marijuana altenatives, synthetic marijuana
Press release from the 2010 ESHRE conference:
Rome, Italy: Researchers have developed a way of accurately predicting when women will hit the menopause using a simple blood test. The average difference between the predicted age and the actual age that the women in their study reached the menopause was only a third of a year, and the maximum margin of error was between three and four years.
Dr Fahimeh Ramezani Tehrani will tell the 26th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome today (Monday) that her findings have implications for women and their doctors; if the results of the research are supported by larger studies, it means that women will be able to discover early on in their reproductive life what their expected age at menopause will be, so that they can plan when to start a family.
By taking blood samples from 266 women, aged 20-49, who had been enrolled in the much larger Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study, Dr Ramezani Tehrani and her colleagues were able to measure the concentrations of a hormone that is produced by cells in women’s ovaries - anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH). AMH controls the development of follicles in the ovaries, from which oocytes (eggs) develop and it has been suggested that AMH could be used for measuring ovarian function. The researchers took two further blood samples at three yearly intervals, and they also collected information on the women’s socioeconomic background and reproductive history. In addition, the women had physical examinations every three years. The Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study is a prospective study that started in 1998 and is still continuing.
Dr Ramezani Tehrani, who is President of the Reproductive Endocrinology Department of the Endocrine Research Centre and a faculty member and Associate Professor of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran, said: “We developed a statistical model for estimating the age at menopause from a single measurement of AMH concentration in serum from blood samples. Using this model, we estimated mean average ages at menopause for women at different time points in their reproductive life span from varying levels of serum AMH concentration. We were able to show that there was a good level of agreement between ages at menopause estimated by our model and the actual age at menopause for a subgroup of 63 women who reached menopause during the study. The average difference between the predicted age at menopause using our model and the women’s actual age was only a third of a year and the maximum margin of error for our model was only three to four years.
“The results from our study could enable us to make a more realistic assessment of women’s reproductive status many years before they reach menopause. For example, if a 20-year-old woman has a concentration of serum AMH of 2.8 ng/ml [nanograms per millilitre], we estimate that she will become menopausal between 35-38 years old. To the best of our knowledge this is the first prediction of age at menopause that has resulted from a population-based cohort study. We believe that our estimates of ages at menopause based on AMH levels are of sufficient validity to guide medical practitioners in their day-to-day practice, so that they can help women with their family planning.”
Dr Ramezani Tehrani was able to use the statistical model to identify AMH levels at different ages that would predict if women were likely to have an early menopause (before the age of 45). She found that, for instance, AMH levels of 4.1 ng/ml or less predicted early menopause in 20-year-olds, AMH levels of 3.3 ng/ml predicted it in 25-year-olds, and AMH levels of 2.4 ng/ml predicted it in 30-year-olds.
In contrast, AMH levels of at least 4.5 ng/ml at the age of 20, 3.8 ngl/ml at 25 and 2.9 ng/ml at 30 all predicted an age at menopause of over 50 years old. The researchers found that the average age at menopause for the women in their study was approximately 52.
Dr Ramezani Tehrani concluded: “Our findings indicate that AMH is capable of specifying a woman’s reproductive status more realistically than chronological age per se. Considering that this is a small study that has looked at women over a period of time, larger studies starting with women in their twenties and following them for several years are needed to validate the accuracy of serum AMH concentration for the prediction of menopause in young women.”
This information was brought to you by Cision http://www.cisionwire.com
Tags: Dr Fahimeh Ramezani Tehrani, ESHRE, menopause prediction, Press Releases
Whether you suspect you have celiac disease or a gluten intolerance or perhaps just aren’t consuming enough foods above and beyond gluten, you may want to look further into a gluten-free diet or gluten-reduced diet (except for those with Celiac, who need to eliminate wheat /gluten entirely!) to see if it helps. Depending on where you live, Celiac testing could be difficult to get and celiac disease testing could be extremely expensive as well.
Here are some resources and a guest post to help you:
For Most People Gluten isn’t a Diet Enemy:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10096009&ft=1&f=1007
Should You Give Up Gluten? Dr. Oz and Dr Roizen:
http://www.realage.com/blogs/doctor-oz-roizen/should-you-give-up-gluten?eid=7192&memberid=9682031
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Today’s Guest Post:
10 Reasons to Banish Gluten From Your Life
Have you ever stopped to ponder how much gluten you might be consuming in your diet? Have you ever stopped and thought about the fact that this highly processed product, did not play much of a part in our diet until the last 100 years or so. In evolutionary terms, this is only a very short period of time and it is felt that as a race, our bodies have not adapted well to this rapid change. If you are a regular eater of bread or toast, cereals, pasta, pastries, pizza, pies, wraps, biscuits or crackers, your gluten intake is likely to be extremely high.
In my clinic, I regularly request that my patients avoid processed foods and have mainly fresh produce. And unfortunately for those gluten lovers, there is no such thing as a bread tree or a pasta tree! When I ask my patients to eat gluten free eating gluten products for 6 to 8 weeks (for various different health reasons) I am constantly surprised how many of them tell me how good they feel without the gluten. In particular, many of my patients report more energy and less bloating of the stomach. So what are some of the problems associated with gluten:
1. Gluten is the number one allergy food, which can produce measurable IgE antibodies and an allergy response within 2 to 4 hours of ingestion;
2. Gluten is known to be associated with many skin disorders including the allergy related ones, but also skin conditions such as psoriasis, where 40% of people are believed to have an intolerance;
3. Some people will have a very overt form of gluten intolerance known as celiac disease. In celiac disease the finger like projections in the bowel, known as villi, are actually worn away;
4. The average western diet is highly acidic and one of the main causes of this is high grain intake;
5. Grains stop the absorption of the important mineral zinc, due to the phytates which they contain;
6. Poor nutrition is very common in modern society. When you are filling up on nutrient poor, calorie rich foods such as breads, you are doing this at the expense of eating more nutritional foods such as vegetables;
7. Gluten intake is associated with leaky gut syndrome. A substance has been identified that resides on the outside of the small intestine and this substance is responsible for the absorption of gluten into the blood stream. As the gluten passes through the intestine, the substance forces open the tight junctions that are found between the cells, allowing the gluten to pass into the blood stream. Once in the blood stream gluten can create an inflammatory response which can affect the whole body and produce symptoms such as pain, fatigue, allergy, skin problems etc;
8. Gluten can cause a delayed allergy response which produces IgG antibodies - symptoms can arise 24 to 72 hours after ingestion;
9. Gluten can slow down thyroid function and should therefore be avoided if you have hypothyroidism;
10. When consuming a high carbohydrate food such as bread, cakes, pastries, pizza or biscuits, the body must produce large amounts of insulin, to process the glucose in these foods. If you are eating gluten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, your body will be almost continually producing insulin. Problems such as polycystic ovary syndrome, insulin resistance and diabetes are associated with blood sugar and insulin problems. Decreasing the intake of gluten and consuming more vegetables and proteins instead, will help reverse these blood sugar related conditions.
Some of my patients become a little bewildered at the suggestion of removing gluten from the diet, but believe me it is not as hard as what you think. There are many companies producing gluten free foods these days and it really is a matter of educating yourself about what is good and what is not so good. Unless you are a celiac, most people can tolerate small amounts of gluten now and again. But for lifelong good health and disease prevention, going gluten free or significantly reducing your intake, is definitely a smart move.
Written by Naturopath and Nurse, Vivienne Savill. For gluten free cooking advice, visit www.recipetohealth.com
Vivienne Savill is a Naturopath and Nurse who runs a natural health clinic in Australia. She is passionate about teaching people how to maintain good health and prevent ill health, through the use of diet, nutrition, lifestyle and herbs. Vivienne is the author of numerous health books which can be found at http://www.recipetohealth.com
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More Helpful Info:
Gluten Free Recipes:
http://www.csaceliacs.org/recipes.php
http://allrecipes.com//Recipes/healthy-cooking/gluten-free/Main.aspx
Tags: celiac, gluten free recipes, gluten intolerence, wheat allergy
