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.

Read Full Story Here

Since the mid 1990s researchers have been trying to understand the impact of a chemical called DOPAL (short for endogenous metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetaldehyde) on people with Parkinson's disease. This is the culmination of many years of research on the subject.

"The findings provide a target for Pharmaceutical companies and other researchers to block DOPAL formation and its toxic effects," wrote lead researcher William J. Burke MD, PhD, in an email to My Parkinson's info.

Scientists have long known that a key protein called alpha-synuclein plays a role in the development of Parkinson's disease.

Alpha-synuclein is found throughout the brain—but in some people, the protein clumps together. This causes the death of the dopamine-producing cells, which in turn causes Parkinson's to develop.

New UC Irvine research is among the first to demonstrate that neural stem cells may help to restore memory after brain damage.

In the study, mice with brain injuries experienced enhanced memory -- similar to the level found in healthy mice -- up to three months after receiving a stem cell treatment. Scientists believe the stem cells secreted proteins called neurotrophins that protected vulnerable cells from death and rescued memory. This creates hope that a drug to boost production of these proteins could be developed to restore the ability to remember in patients with neuronal loss.

"Our research provides clear evidence that stem cells can reverse memory loss," said Frank LaFerla, professor of neurobiology and behavior at UCI. "This gives us hope that stem cells someday could help restore brain function in humans suffering from a wide range of diseases and injuries that impair memory formation."

The results of the study appear Oct. 31 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

LaFerla, Mathew Blurton-Jones and Tritia Yamasaki performed their experiments using a new type of genetically engineered mouse that develops brain lesions in areas designated by the scientists. For this study, they destroyed cells in the hippocampus, an area of the brain vital to memory formation and where neurons often die.

To test memory, the researchers gave place and object recognition tests to healthy mice and mice with brain injuries. Memories of place depend upon the hippocampus, and memories of objects depend more upon the cortex. In the place test, healthy mice remembered their surroundings about 70 percent of the time, but mice with brain injuries remembered it just 40 percent of the time. In the object test, healthy mice remembered objects about 80 percent of the time, while injured mice remembered as poorly as about 65 percent of the time.

The scientists then set out to learn whether neural stem cells from a mouse could improve memory in mice with brain injuries. To test this, they injected each mouse with about 200,000 neural stem cells that were engineered to appear green under ultraviolet light. The color allows the scientists to track the stem cells inside the mouse brain after transplantation.

Three months after implanting the stem cells, the mice were tested on place recognition. The researchers found that mice with brain injuries that also received stem cells remembered their surroundings about 70 percent of the time -- the same level as healthy mice. In contrast, control mice that didn't receive stem cells still had memory impairments.

Next, the scientists took a closer look at how the green-colored stem cells behaved in the mouse brain. They found that only about 4 percent of them turned into neurons, indicating the stem cells were not improving memory simply by replacing the dead brain cells. In the healthy mice, the stem cells migrated throughout the brain, but in the mice with neuronal loss, the cells congregated in the hippocampus, the area of the injury. Interestingly, mice that had been treated with stem cells had more neurons four months after the transplantation than mice that had not been treated.

"We know that very few of the cells are becoming neurons, so we think that the stem cells are instead enhancing the local brain microenvironment," Blurton-Jones said. "We have evidence suggesting that the stem cells provide support to vulnerable and injured neurons, keeping them alive and functional by making beneficial proteins called neurotrophins."

If supplemental neurotrophins are in fact at the root of memory enhancement, scientists could try to create a drug that enhances the release or production of these proteins. Scientists then could spend less time coaxing stem cells to turn into other types of cells, at least as it relates to memory research.

"Much of the focus in stem cell research has been how to turn them into different types of cells such as neurons, but maybe that is not always necessary," Yamasaki said. "In this case, we did not have to make neurons to improve memory."

With nearly 30 percent of Indians suffering from obesity, people may be blaming their food habits.
But doctors in the capital Thursday said the real cause of this ailment lies in the brain. We are not giving a clean chit to food and lifestyle habits for this disease but metabolic activities in the brain is a major cause of this ailment.

Certain activities in the brain affect our genes and food intake. Due to this development, over 70 percent of intake calories get deposited in our body leading to problems like obesity and diabetes.
When a person becomes obese, it continues for at least the three next generations.If a person acquires obesity by himself without any contribution from his forefathers, then his next three generations will suffer from the ailment.

New medical procedures like surgery, stem cell therapy, gene therapy, insulin inhaler and other upcoming cheap but efficient drugs to tackle obesity and diabetes problems will be discussed at the conference. Health experts said currently nearly 30 percent of Indians are overweight and at least 50 percent of the country's population will suffer from this problem in next one decade.
Obesity is no more a disease of the adult and male population. Females and minors are getting affected by it too. While 57 percent of obese people suffer from Type-2 diabetes, 30 percent face gallbladder diseases, 14 percent osteoarthritis, 17 percent face hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Some also face problems like uterine and breast cancer.

The problem is obesity leads to many health hazards and at one time a single individual may face a number of ailments. For every one diabetes case diagnosed in our country, two cases go undiagnosed and four cases have intolerable glucose level, which means they are on the verge of getting diabetic.