Berlin Man - HIV cure, perhaps...

 

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  The first person reportedly cured of HIV said on Wednesday he is hopeful that medical advances will allow others suffering from the virus that causes AIDS to be cured, too.
  Timothy Ray Brown of San Francisco is known as "The Berlin Patient" because of where he was treated. He and the doctor who treated him, Gero Hutter, made their first joint appearance in the U.S. on Wednesday when Hutter spoke at a symposium on gene therapy at Washington University in St. Louis.
  Scientists are studying whether gene therapy can be used to rid the body of HIV. Some doctors remain skeptical that Brown, 46, is cured. His case was first reported in the media in 2008 and described in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009.
  Brown and Hutter, in an interview with The Associated Press during the symposium, said the passage of time is further proof that Brown is cured. Hutter cited the same five-year standard after which some cancer patients are said to be cured.
  Brown was diagnosed with HIV in 1995. In 2006, he also developed leukemia while living in Germany. Hutter performed a blood stem cell transplant using a donor with a rare gene mutation that provides natural resistance to HIV. Hutter said that resistance transferred to Brown.
  Brown said he feels great, has not needed HIV medication since the 2007 surgery, and is now active in a foundation named for him that seeks a cure for HIV.
  Brown grew up in Seattle and moved to Germany in 1993. After the HIV diagnosis, he started on medication to prevent him from developing full-blown AIDS.
  He was attending a wedding in New York in 2006 when he became unusually tired. An avid cyclist, within weeks he could barely ride the bike and eventually was diagnosed with leukemia.
  Brown underwent chemotherapy but needed a blood stem cell transplant and turned to Hutter, a blood specialist at Heidelberg University.
  Hutter suggested they seek a donor with a certain cell feature that gives them natural resistance to HIV infection. Only about 1 percent of the northern European population has this feature. Hutter theorized that a transplant from such a donor could make the recipient resistant to HIV.
  Hutter said no one apparently had tried this, and his idea received mixed reaction from other doctors. "Some were very excited, but many were skeptical," he said.
  But within weeks, Hutter said, tests showed promise that Brown was cured.
  Read more:
  http://news.yahoo.com/berlin-man-doctor-convinced-hiv-cure-real-185947472.html
• http://huttriverofnz.blog.co.uk

Should I have to stop eating bananas to lose weight...

 

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  Should I have to stop eating bananas to lose weight?
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  You probably know that bananas are a healthy fruit and are good for you. Unfortunately, many people think many of the most healthful foods, especially fruits, are off limits if they are trying to lose weight. By and large, this is a misconception. If you eat bananas every day or are putting together a weight-loss diet plan, you may be curious if bananas belong on your grocery list.
  General Weight-loss Principles:
  Understanding how and why weight loss occurs can help you safely maximize your diet plans. The University of Illinois explains that weight loss is actually a matter of "simple math." When you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. You will gain weight, however, if you consume more calories than you burn. While weight loss also involves dietary fat, carbohydrates, protein intake, blood sugar levels, insulin release, metabolism rates and timing your meals, at the core, weight loss is simply about calories. To drop pounds, you will need to consistently expend more calories than you take in; this is called a "caloric deficit."
  Bananas for Weight Loss:
  Now that you understand that weight loss is simply a matter of calories, you can decide how and if bananas fit into your weight-loss equation. Bananas, like most fruits, are low in calories. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention specifically recommends eating bananas in place of higher-calorie foods to help you lose weight or manage your weight. A medium banana has 105 calories. Although this is slightly more than other fruits, mainly because other fruits contain more water, bananas are by no means a high-calorie food. You can cut up banana slices in nonfat Greek yogurt for a healthful dessert. The CDC suggests adding banana slices to a bowl of cereal so that you eat less cereal.
  Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/422323-should-i-stop-eating-bananas-if-im-trying-to-lose-weight/#ixzz28P2MwUOS