Honda NSX in Excess
14 years ago
12 skin creams banned for health danger
KUALA LUMPUR: The National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB) has banned 12 cosmetic products that contain ingredients, including scheduled poisons, that are dangerous to health. The products are:
* Felisa Gentle Peeling Solution,
* Krim Malam Rahsia Rimba,
* Biocosmet Whitening Essence Cream,
* H2O + Waterwhite Brightening Night Cream,
* Magixpress Lightening Plus,
* A.Vant Cream,
* Eriesya Spa Beauty Cream,
* Natasya Krim Herba,
* Temulawak Whitening Pearl Cream Papaya,
* Ratna Sari Whitening Night Cream,
* Atika Beauty Renewal Night Cream and
* Chantique Whitening Night Cream.
* The bereau cancelled the registration of the products over the past 11 months because they contained the prohibited ingredients tretinoin (retinoic acid) and hydroquinone.
NPCB no longer allows the import, manufacture, distribution and sale of these products, and must be removed from the shelves.
Tretinoin, used to control acne, decongests the pores by peeling the superficial skin layer. The problem is that the acne would get worse before it gets better, and side effects include scaling of the skin, stinging, swelling or flushing.
In 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration recommended that products with hydroquinone be sold only under prescription because it was a possible carcinogen and for a possible link found in studies in Africa to a skin disorder called ochronosis.
Last year, NPCB banned six cosmetic products for similar reasons:
* Khazanah White Pembersih Wajah,
* Gloskin Krim Malam & Siang,
* Reena's Astringen Lanjutan,
* Skin Desires Deep Whitening Cleansing Milk,
* EETYE Whitening Cream and
* O'Lynn Skin Lightening Cream.
2009/12/10
By Annie Freeda Cruez
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* Felisa Gentle Peeling Solution,
* Krim Malam Rahsia Rimba,
* Biocosmet Whitening Essence Cream,
* H2O + Waterwhite Brightening Night Cream,
* Magixpress Lightening Plus,
* A.Vant Cream,
* Eriesya Spa Beauty Cream,
* Natasya Krim Herba,
* Temulawak Whitening Pearl Cream Papaya,
* Ratna Sari Whitening Night Cream,
* Atika Beauty Renewal Night Cream and
* Chantique Whitening Night Cream.
* The bereau cancelled the registration of the products over the past 11 months because they contained the prohibited ingredients tretinoin (retinoic acid) and hydroquinone.
NPCB no longer allows the import, manufacture, distribution and sale of these products, and must be removed from the shelves.
Tretinoin, used to control acne, decongests the pores by peeling the superficial skin layer. The problem is that the acne would get worse before it gets better, and side effects include scaling of the skin, stinging, swelling or flushing.
In 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration recommended that products with hydroquinone be sold only under prescription because it was a possible carcinogen and for a possible link found in studies in Africa to a skin disorder called ochronosis.
Last year, NPCB banned six cosmetic products for similar reasons:
* Khazanah White Pembersih Wajah,
* Gloskin Krim Malam & Siang,
* Reena's Astringen Lanjutan,
* Skin Desires Deep Whitening Cleansing Milk,
* EETYE Whitening Cream and
* O'Lynn Skin Lightening Cream.
2009/12/10
By Annie Freeda Cruez
Read more!
Daily Exercise Suggestions
Walk 10 Minutes a Day and Increase Your Fitness Level.
Old thinking was to work out in a sweat-filled gym for hours a day. No pain, no gain. New studies show that even short bouts of activity can increase your fitness level, especially if you're new at working out.
Park and Walk
Whenever you have an errand, park your car as far away as you can handle and walk to the store. At the mall, park at the farthest end and walk the length of the mall. Use every opportunity to walk. At the end of the day, it all adds up to better fitness.
Crunch in Bed
Before you even get out of bed in the morning, do 10 stomach crunches while lying flat on your mattress. Increase daily by one until you get up to 100. Think you'll never get there? Try it. You may eventually have to set your clock to wake up 15 minutes earlier, a small price to pay for a flatter stomach.
Read more!
Old thinking was to work out in a sweat-filled gym for hours a day. No pain, no gain. New studies show that even short bouts of activity can increase your fitness level, especially if you're new at working out.
"To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first."
-Shakespeare, Henry VIII. Act I. Sc. 1
Park and Walk
Whenever you have an errand, park your car as far away as you can handle and walk to the store. At the mall, park at the farthest end and walk the length of the mall. Use every opportunity to walk. At the end of the day, it all adds up to better fitness.
Crunch in Bed
Before you even get out of bed in the morning, do 10 stomach crunches while lying flat on your mattress. Increase daily by one until you get up to 100. Think you'll never get there? Try it. You may eventually have to set your clock to wake up 15 minutes earlier, a small price to pay for a flatter stomach.
Read more!
New gene-targeted drug offers hope in skin cancer
BERLIN - Scientists offered new hope in the fight against the most deadly type of skin cancer on Wednesday as an early-stage clinical trial showed an experimental drug dramatically shrank tumors.
Another study also found Roche's established cancer drug Avastin had promise in treating melanoma, but it failed to show a statistically significant improvement in survival.
Paul Chapman from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York said 70 percent of patients with a particular gene mutation saw their tumors shrink when given the new pill, called PLX4032.
"To put that into context, chemotherapy is about 13 to 15 percent, and that's where we have been stuck with conventional treatments," he said at the ECCO-ESMO cancer congress in Berlin.
A tourist sunbathes at Illetas beach on the Balearic island of Mallorca June 4, 2008.[Agencies]
Of the 27 patients evaluated in the small Phase I study, two responded completely and signs of their disease disappeared.
Preliminary findings with the new drug were first reported in June but the data from more patients have boosted confidence in its prospects.
Chapman and his colleagues are planning a Phase II trial of 90 patients starting at the end of 2009, and a large international Phase III trial involving several hundred patients is planned to start in late 2009 or early 2010.
Alexander Eggermont, president of the European Cancer Organization, described the trial as "simply spectacular" and said it showed the benefits of targeting treatment.
The news would transform melanoma work into "a very exciting field instead of a graveyard," he said.
PLX4032, which Roche is developing with privately-held U.S. biotech company Plexxikon, is the latest in a growing group of gene-targeted drugs that oncologists believe will drive future cancer treatment.
It blocks the activity of the cancer-causing mutation of the BRAF gene involved 50 to 60 percent of melanomas.
Eggermont said findings on BRAF status, which showed the some 40 percent of patients with the unmutated gene had no response to the drug, gave oncologists clearly defined targets.
"We know exactly what we are doing, that is what all the excitement is about," he told reporters.
Malignant melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer, with about 160,000 new cases diagnosed worldwide each year. It is treatable if caught early, but in patients whose disease has spread it is rarely cured and often kills them within a year.
Read more!
Another study also found Roche's established cancer drug Avastin had promise in treating melanoma, but it failed to show a statistically significant improvement in survival.
Paul Chapman from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York said 70 percent of patients with a particular gene mutation saw their tumors shrink when given the new pill, called PLX4032.
"To put that into context, chemotherapy is about 13 to 15 percent, and that's where we have been stuck with conventional treatments," he said at the ECCO-ESMO cancer congress in Berlin.
A tourist sunbathes at Illetas beach on the Balearic island of Mallorca June 4, 2008.[Agencies]
Of the 27 patients evaluated in the small Phase I study, two responded completely and signs of their disease disappeared.
Preliminary findings with the new drug were first reported in June but the data from more patients have boosted confidence in its prospects.
Chapman and his colleagues are planning a Phase II trial of 90 patients starting at the end of 2009, and a large international Phase III trial involving several hundred patients is planned to start in late 2009 or early 2010.
Alexander Eggermont, president of the European Cancer Organization, described the trial as "simply spectacular" and said it showed the benefits of targeting treatment.
The news would transform melanoma work into "a very exciting field instead of a graveyard," he said.
PLX4032, which Roche is developing with privately-held U.S. biotech company Plexxikon, is the latest in a growing group of gene-targeted drugs that oncologists believe will drive future cancer treatment.
It blocks the activity of the cancer-causing mutation of the BRAF gene involved 50 to 60 percent of melanomas.
Eggermont said findings on BRAF status, which showed the some 40 percent of patients with the unmutated gene had no response to the drug, gave oncologists clearly defined targets.
"We know exactly what we are doing, that is what all the excitement is about," he told reporters.
Malignant melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer, with about 160,000 new cases diagnosed worldwide each year. It is treatable if caught early, but in patients whose disease has spread it is rarely cured and often kills them within a year.
Read more!
Skinny friends may make you eat more
NEW YORK - That friend who stays thin despite eating anything and everything is not just annoying. She might also wreck your diet, new research suggests.
Researchers found that when they had college students watch a movie and snack with either a skinny or overweight companion, the students typically followed the thin friend's lead when she overindulged.
In contrast, study participants used more self-control when snacking with a heavier companion who overate.
The findings, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, suggest that seeing a thin friend devour a big meal gives us implicit permission to do the same.
"We think 'if she can eat like that and stay thin, so can I,' or 'she is having cake, then I can too,'" explained Dr. Brent McFerran, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of British Columbia in Kelowna, Canada.
"In other words," he told Reuters Health in an email, "the most dangerous person to eat with is not someone who is obese, but a thin friend with a large appetite."
For their study, McFerran and his colleagues recruited 210 female college students for what the participants believed was a study on movie viewing; each woman watched a movie with a companion, who was actually a member of the research team.
A model displays an outfit by Elio Berhanyer during the Spring/Summer 2007-08 Pasarela Cibeles fashion show in Madrid September 18, 2007.[Agencies]
In some cases, the researcher showed up as her normal 105-pound self, while in others she donned padding that made her appear to be obese.
During the movie, the pairs were offered snacks, with the undercover researcher taking her portion first.
In general, McFerran's team found, the students ate more when their thin companion took a large portion, versus cases where the "obese" companion took a similarly large portion.
For example, when the skinny researcher ate a lot (30 candies), the participants ate an average of 10 candies. When the researcher was "obese" and ate a lot, the kids ate about 6 candies.
"Eating involves much social pressure," McFerran said, noting that social influences may, in fact, be the strongest predictor of what we eat.
But the current findings do not mean that we need to cancel all future dinner plans with our overindulgent skinny friends.
"If we think about what we are doing in advance," McFerran said, "we are less likely to overconsume."
He suggested that instead of looking at a thin friend who is gorging on dessert and feeling permission to do the same, we should remind ourselves that individuals are different -- with different metabolisms and exercise habits, for example.
Focus on your own goal to eat healthfully, McFerran said, rather than automatically mimicking a friend.
He pointed out, however, that there is a "flip side": Friends who choose smaller portion sizes and healthier foods can encourage us to do so, especially if those friends are thin.
Read more!
Researchers found that when they had college students watch a movie and snack with either a skinny or overweight companion, the students typically followed the thin friend's lead when she overindulged.
In contrast, study participants used more self-control when snacking with a heavier companion who overate.
The findings, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, suggest that seeing a thin friend devour a big meal gives us implicit permission to do the same.
"We think 'if she can eat like that and stay thin, so can I,' or 'she is having cake, then I can too,'" explained Dr. Brent McFerran, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of British Columbia in Kelowna, Canada.
"In other words," he told Reuters Health in an email, "the most dangerous person to eat with is not someone who is obese, but a thin friend with a large appetite."
For their study, McFerran and his colleagues recruited 210 female college students for what the participants believed was a study on movie viewing; each woman watched a movie with a companion, who was actually a member of the research team.
A model displays an outfit by Elio Berhanyer during the Spring/Summer 2007-08 Pasarela Cibeles fashion show in Madrid September 18, 2007.[Agencies]
In some cases, the researcher showed up as her normal 105-pound self, while in others she donned padding that made her appear to be obese.
During the movie, the pairs were offered snacks, with the undercover researcher taking her portion first.
In general, McFerran's team found, the students ate more when their thin companion took a large portion, versus cases where the "obese" companion took a similarly large portion.
For example, when the skinny researcher ate a lot (30 candies), the participants ate an average of 10 candies. When the researcher was "obese" and ate a lot, the kids ate about 6 candies.
"Eating involves much social pressure," McFerran said, noting that social influences may, in fact, be the strongest predictor of what we eat.
But the current findings do not mean that we need to cancel all future dinner plans with our overindulgent skinny friends.
"If we think about what we are doing in advance," McFerran said, "we are less likely to overconsume."
He suggested that instead of looking at a thin friend who is gorging on dessert and feeling permission to do the same, we should remind ourselves that individuals are different -- with different metabolisms and exercise habits, for example.
Focus on your own goal to eat healthfully, McFerran said, rather than automatically mimicking a friend.
He pointed out, however, that there is a "flip side": Friends who choose smaller portion sizes and healthier foods can encourage us to do so, especially if those friends are thin.
Read more!
20-year-old brunette wins Miss Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela – Marelisa Gibson, a 20-year-old brunette, has been crowned Miss Venezuela and will represent the beauty-obsessed South American country at next year's Miss Universe pageant.
The annual Miss Venezuela pageant is the one of Venezuela's most watched programs and a source of national pride.
Venezuela has won six Miss Universe, five Miss World and four Miss International crowns — more than any other country.
Stefania Fernandez, a Venezuelan, was selected Miss Universe last month at the pageant in the Bahamas.
Miss Miranda, Marelisa Gibson Villegas turns on the runway during the swimsuit event of the Miss Venezuela 2009 a beauty pageant in Caracas, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009.[Agencies]
Fernandez gave the Miss Venezuela crown to Gibson at the conclusion of Thursday's four-hour pageant.
Second place went to 22-year-old Adriana Visini, who will represent Venezuela in the Miss World pageant.
Read more!
The annual Miss Venezuela pageant is the one of Venezuela's most watched programs and a source of national pride.
Venezuela has won six Miss Universe, five Miss World and four Miss International crowns — more than any other country.
Stefania Fernandez, a Venezuelan, was selected Miss Universe last month at the pageant in the Bahamas.
Miss Miranda, Marelisa Gibson Villegas turns on the runway during the swimsuit event of the Miss Venezuela 2009 a beauty pageant in Caracas, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009.[Agencies]
Fernandez gave the Miss Venezuela crown to Gibson at the conclusion of Thursday's four-hour pageant.
Second place went to 22-year-old Adriana Visini, who will represent Venezuela in the Miss World pageant.
Read more!
