Here are some tips to reduce that ever troubling tummy fat and have a healthy body..

One of the Most important facet of having a Healthy body is

Nutrition
The first key to losing body fat and gaining muscle is with proper nutrition. You need to create a diet that burns slightly more calories than consumed. Begin by reducing your portion sizes and maintaining a balanced diet of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins. Eating several small meals throughout the day helps many people stay more satisfied and reduces hunger. Other tips for avoiding fat gain include: getting calcium,eating breakfast, diet rich in fibers etc. Make sure you stay well hydrated by drinking water throughout the day. Also, be sure not to cut calories too drastically or you could inadvertently lower your metabolism.

Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise is the best way to burn calories and manage (or lose) weight. Reducing your calories without exercise will lead to initial weight loss, but you'll likely reach a plateau and you may also lose muscle. A Personal exercise plan suiting your body structure and other attributes get you past plateaus and can help you maintain muscle.

Abdominal Exercise
Finally, to get defined abs you should perform specific abdominal exercises that work all the abdominal muscles. There are many exercises you can do to work the abs. There are also some great products that you can use at home. One of the better ab tools you can invest in is an exercise ball. Exercise balls are great for crunches, twists and other movements. Because you stabilize your torso on the ball you use more muscles than when performing standard crunches. For a list of the best abdominal exercises see: Best to Worst Abdominal exercises see down

Core Training
You can also perform core stability exercises to improve your torso strength, balance and stability. Your core is made up of abdominals, lower back and hips and creates a foundation for all other movement. These muscles stabilize the spine and create a strong center around which the extremities can move. A strong core is important in every aspect of movement; especially power movements.

Best to Worst Exercises for Strengthening the Rectus Abdominus:

1. Bicycle Crunch Exercise.
2. Captain's Chair Exercise.
3. Crunches on Exercise Ball
4. Vertical Leg Crunch
5. Torso Track
6. Long Arm Crunch
7. Reverse Crunch
8. Crunch with Heel Push
9. Ab Roller
10. Plank (Hover) Exercise.
11. Traditional Crunch
12. Exercise tubing pull
13. Ab Rocker

Best to Worst Exercises for Strengthening the Obliques:

1. Captain's Chair Exercise.
2. Bicycle Crunch Exercise.
3. Reverse Crunch
4. Plank (Hover) Exercise.
   
5. Vertical Leg Crunch
6. Crunch on Exercise Ball
7. Torso Track
8. Crunch with heel push
9. Long arm Crunch
10. Ab Roller
11. Traditional Crunch
12. Exercise tubing Pull
13. Ab Rocker

A California research team has become the first to report, and painstakingly document, the cloning of a human embryo using donated oocytes (egg cells) and DNA from the cells of an adult donor. The study was published online by the journal "Stem Cells."

The experiments, using a technique called somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), provide key steps toward the development of patient-specific embryonic stem cells for use in developing new treatments for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and spinal cord injury, among others. The lead author was Andrew J. French, Ph.D., of Stemagen Corp., a private company headquartered in La Jolla, Calif.

In the experiments, the researchers removed the nuclei of mature oocytes from healthy young women who had previously donated eggs for successful infertility treatments. The SCNT technique was then used to insert DNA from an adult male donor into the oocytes. The DNA was derived from a type of cell called fibroblasts, obtained from skin biopsies.

Subsequently, several of the reconstructed oocytes continued to develop as normal embryos, to the blastocyst stage. Extensive and carefully documented genetic tests were performed to confirm the genetic identity of the cloned embryos. In three embryos, tests showed the same DNA as the male fibroblast donor.

In one of the three cases, additional tests showed that the embryo had another type of DNA, called mitochondrial DNA, from both the female oocyte donor and the male DNA donor.

Mitochondrial DNA testing is viewed as an essential proof of successful human cloning -- particularly after previous fabricated reports from a South Korean research group. Amidst this background of controversy, the researchers took extraordinary steps to ensure that their experiments were properly conducted and documented. These included approval by an independent review board and confirmation of the genetic results by an independent laboratory, among other steps.

The ability to generate stem cells using the patient's own DNA holds great promise for the treatment of currently incurable degenerative diseases, as well as for cell-based drug discovery. Previous studies reporting the development of cloned human embryos have used embryonic stem cells as the DNA donors.

"This study demonstrates, for the first time, that SCNT can be utilized to generate cloned human blastocysts using differentiated adult donor nuclei remodeled and reprogrammed by human oocytes," the researchers write. They believe that some key technical factors contributed to their successful results, including the use of freshly donated oocytes from successful egg donors.

While the study is an important step toward the development of stem cells for therapeutic cloning, much more research will be needed to confirm and extend the results. Dr. French comments, "The data we present are not in any way the final word on this topic, but, we anticipate, just one of many publications from a variety of researchers who will use a variety of methods to conduct and analyze similar experiments."

Dr. Miodrag Stojkovic, Co-Editor of "Stem Cells," comments: "These researchers have for the first time developed cloned embryos up to blastocyst stage using adult somatic [skin] cells as donor cells. This is a key advance in the development of patient-specific stem cell lines for therapeutic and drug development purposes. Although these results are preliminary since no stem cell lines have been derived from the cloned embryos, this may now be attempted."

How to Check for Skin Cancer

Steps

1. Mark your calendar. Plan to give yourself a skin exam once a month, in addition to your annual check-up with a doctor who can inspect your skin and answer any questions you may have.
   
2. Know your cancers. It is very important that you learn your cancers before you panic about something such as a bruise or birthmark.
   
   • Basal cell cancer. Most often found in areas that get exposed to a lot of sun, such as the head, neck, and arms; flat, firm, pale areas; small, raised, pink or red, translucent, shiny, waxy, "pearly" areas; may bleed after minor injury; may have one or more abnormal blood vessels, a lower area in their center, and/or blue, brown, or black areas; larger areas could be oozing or crusting; small blood vessels may be seen;
     
   • Squamous cell cancer. Most often found in areas that get exposed to a lot of sun, such as the head, neck, and arms; lumps with rough, scaly, or crusted surface; flat reddish patches that grow slowly; sometimes accompanied by ulceration or bleeding
     
   • Actinic keratosis. Small (less than 1/4 inch) rough spots; pink-red or flesh-colored; usually on the face, ears, back of the hands, and arms;
     
   • Melanomas. Look for changes in size, shape, or color of a mole or the appearance of a new spot during adulthood. Use the "ABCD rule".
     
     • A - Asymmetry, one half of a mole or birthmark does not match the other.
       
     • B - Border is irregular, ragged, notched, or blurred.
       
     • C - Color varies (brown, black, red, white blue).
       
     • D - Diameter is larger than 6 millimeters across (about 1/4 inch -- the size of a pencil eraser).
       
     
     
   
   
3. Become familiar with warning signs. Not all skin cancer cases exhibit classic symptoms as described in the previous step. Look out for the following, as well:
   
   • Any new growths, spots, bumps, patches, or sores that don't heal after 2 to 3 months
     
   • Spread of pigment from the border of a spot to surrounding skin
     
   • Redness or a new swelling beyond the border
     
   • Change in sensation -- itchiness, tenderness, or pain
     
   • Change in the surface of a mole -- scaliness, oozing, bleeding, or the appearance of a bump or nodule
     
   
   
4. Stand in front of a full-length mirror. Skin cancer can form anywhere on your body so it is very important that you perform a very thorough self exam. Use a wall mirror to give yourself a better view of your skin. You should also have a hand-held mirror and, if possible, a spouse or close friend to help you check out areas like your lower back or the backs of your thighs.
   
5. Examine your entire body. - It can be helpful to have a list in front of you. Don't skip any of these steps as you perform your self-exam:
   

• Check your face, lips, ears, behind your ears, and eyes. Use a Flashlight to check the inside of your mouth.
  
• Check your neck, shoulders, belly and chest. You may need to lift your breasts or any excess skin so you can check the skin underneath.
  
• Check your underarms, arms, hands, between your fingers, and fingernail beds.
  
• Using a hand mirror check your buttocks, genitals, lower back, upper back, and the back of your neck. Face your backside to the large mirror and use your hand held mirror to see your reflection.
  
• Check your legs, ankles, feet, toes, toenail beds and between your toes. You can check your front while sitting down, but you will need to use a hand held mirror to see the bottoms of your feet, your calves, and the backs of your thighs.
  
• Part your hair and check your scalp.
  

3. Seek medical attention - If you find anything that you think might resemble skin cancer, seek medical attention immediately. Consider calling your local clinic and making an appointment for the next day. When skin cancer is concerned, it's always better to be safe than sorry.

Tips

• If you find what appears to be skin cancer always seek medical attention as soon as you can.
  

Things You'll Need

• Hand mirror
  
• Wall mount mirror
  
• Chair
  
• Knowledge of the different types of skin cancer
  

Sources and Citations

1. ↑ American Cancer Society

• American Cancer Society - Skin Cancer Prevention and Early Detection
  
• VideoJug.com Original source of this information. Shared with permission.
  
• Basal Cell Carcinoma
  
• Squamous Cell Carcinoma
  
• Melanoma
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Check for Skin Cancer. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

A drug used to treat bone marrow cancer may also help treat osteoporosis by stimulating stem cells, U.S. researchers reported on Friday.

Stem cell therapies are often thought of as putting new cells into the body, but this study suggests that medications can turn on existing stem cells that reside in the body's tissues, acting as regenerative medicines to enhance the body's own repair mechanisms.

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