MaoBah - Interesting Health Topics, Celebrity News and Informational News

After the world’s first successful AIDS vaccine has been tried and tested — protecting one in three people from getting HIV in a large study in Thailand — government leaders and scientists are now trying to improve it.

The World Health Organization and the UNAIDS said that the results gave hope to those concerned, even though it will be years before a vaccine will be thoroughly available. Scientists created the vaccine with a combination approach, using two types of vaccines that worked in different way.

The combo cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by more than 31 percent in the study of more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases co-sponsored the study and said that the outcome has given him cautious optimism and inspires him to develop a more effective AIDS vaccine.

Every day, there are 7,500 people around the world who are infected with HIV and in 2007, 2 million died of AIDS.

1. Kimberlee Big Hole — South Africa

Apparently the largest ever hand-dug excavation in the world, this 1097 meter deep mine yielded over 3 tons of diamonds before being closed.

2. Glory Hole — Monticello Dam, California

A glory hole is used when a dam is at full capacity and water needs to be drained from the reservoir. This is the ‘Glory Hole’ at Monticello dam, and it’s the largest in the world of this type of spillway, its size enabling it to consume 14,400 cubic feet of water every second.

3. Great Blue Hole — Belize

This incredible geographical phenomenon, known as a blue hole, is situated 60 miles off the mainland of Belize. There are numerous blue holes around the world, but none as stunning as this one.

4. Sinkhole — Guatemala

These photos are of a sinkhole that occurred early this year in Guatemala. The hole swallowed 2 dozen homes and killed at least 3 people.

5. And the really terrifying one!

This is the ‘Biggest Sink Hole of All’ that you have heard about. It is capable of swallowing trillions and trillions of U.S. dollars … Annually!

One of the things that leads to stressful, unhealthy living is when people gobble down their meals. Because lots of us have hectic lives and have things that need to be done within the day, we tend to hustle all the time. What people don’t know, though, is that eating slower have plenty of benefits.

A growing number of studies confirm that eating slower can make us consume fewer calories - enough to lose 20 pounds a year, actually. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to register that you’re full, and if you eat fast, you can continue eating past the point where you’re actually full.

Enjoying your food can be hard if it goes down your stomach right away. Take time to chew and let your taste buds savor the moment for a while; make your meals a gastronomic pleasure instead of rushing between stressful events. If you eat slower, you’ll chew your food better and this can lead to better digestion. Digestion starts in the mouth, so the more time you take in chewing, the less you work there’ll be in your stomach.

Eating slowly and paying attention to our eating can be a great form of mindfulness exercise. Be in the moment rather than rushing through a meal thinking about other things you need to do after.
Rebelling against fast food and fast life can do more good than you thought. A hectic, fast paced and chaotic life leads to eating in fast food restaurants. We all know that this can be very unhealthy (think of what happened to the guy in Supersize Me.)

The Venezuelan government has ordered Coca-Cola to withdraw its Coke Zero beverage from the South American nation because it contained ingredients that were considered a danger to health.
The decision follows a period of increased scrutiny of businesses in South America’s top oil exporter. Health Minister Jesus Mantilla said the zero-calorie Coke Zero should be withdrawn from circulation to preserve the health of Venezuelans, especially since the beverage contains artificial sweeteners.

Venezuelan health officials said tests found Coke Zero contains sodium cyclamate, an artificial sweetener that has been banned in the United States since 1969 because of concerns it may cause cancer and male reproductive problems.

Although cyclamate is not banned in Venezuela (and is legal in more than 50 countries), the health ministry said Coke Zero did not list it as an ingredient and stated Coca-Cola is “failing to comply with sanitary norms.”

Coca-Cola, meanwhile, denied that Coke Zero sold in Venezuela contained cyclamate, and said it actually contains acesulfame-K and aspartame for artificial sweeteners.

Well, regardless of which artificial sweeteners Coke Zero contains, it, along with all other diet soft drinks, will only have a negative influence on your health.

Laziness can happen to all of us. No matter how hard working we are, there will always be a day where we feel like our bodies are weighed down and the only thing we feel like doing is staying at home, lying around or watching TV. Here are some tips to get back to work and see your productivity soar.

   1. Plan ahead. You can’t always predict your moods, but you can plan ahead so you start out with the right state of mind. If you wake up without a concrete plan for your day you can easily waft into checking e-mail and social networking sites before doing any actual work.
   2. Wait until late morning or early afternoon to open your e-mail software or check any social networking sites. If you check your e-mail, there’s a strong chance that there will be something in your Inbox that will require action on your part, and you can bet you’ll feel compelled to deal with that e-mail before you get to work on the tasks you had planned for the day.
   3. Minimize distractions. Turn off the TV and the phone ringer, and disable any chat or instant messaging software. It’s especially important when you work from home to make sure your friends and family know when you are working, so you can maintain a consistent, productive environment.
   4. Take care of whatever is distracting you and then come back to work. If it’s “fun” that’s distracting you, take a half hour to go do something enjoyable.
   5. Build in a system of rewards and punishments. The reward and punishment can be two sides of the same coin: if you accomplish your task, you get to do a particular fun activity, and if you don’t accomplish your task, you don’t get to do that activity.

Of course, there’s the powerful strategy where you just have to force yourself to get up and do it no matter what. When you start working and getting productive, you’ll find it a lot easier to stay in that zone. Once you’re in that zone, you can find finish what you plan to accomplish in an hour instead of an entire day.