People suffering from diabetes must closely monitor their blood sugar, multiple times throughout the day.
The current monitoring process involves pricking a finger and testing a drop of blood for current blood sugar (glucose) levels.
As you can imagine, this monitoring can become tiresome, and will leave diabetics with sore fingers.
A new contact lens could change all that.
This new contact lens, being developed by Sanford Asher, Ph.D., at the University of Pittsburgh, will sense the sugar levels in tear fluid. The color of the contact lens will change as sugar levels rise.
Instead of finger pricks, diabetics would just need to look at themselves in a mirror to determine their current blood sugar levels.
The contact lenses are still under development, but Dr. Asher expects that these glucose-sensing lenses will be available for human trials within the year.
Such an advance would mean a significant life improvement for the more than 21 million Americans who suffer from diabetes.
A study recently published in Psychosomatic Medicine found that being in a happy, positive mood may be the best defense against catching a cold.
In this experiment, healthy volunteers were exposed to a cold or flu virus, and the people with a “positive emotional style” were better able to ward off colds and illness compared to their counterparts.
Researchers believe this is due to both objective and subjective experiences. Objectively, happiness or a positivity may boost the immune response (similar to the effects of laughing at a good joke.)
Subjectively, happy people are less likely to complain about the symptoms of their cold, so the cold bothers them less.
The research shows that people who tend to be happy are less likely to come down with colds.
Another good reason to be happy, right!?
If you’re looking for some tips on boosting your happiness, let me suggest one of my very favorite books on creating a meaningful and happy life:
Filed under The Latest Skin Care News by 
Mouth ulcers, the official name for canker sores, affect more than 58 million Americans.
Canker sores tend to occur on the insides of the gums, lips, and cheeks.
They begin as a small reddened bump, and then quickly become an irritated sore, covered by a white or yellowish membrane.
Without treatment, most canker sores will heal by themselves- but it can take two weeks or more.
A new patch made from edible ingredients holds some promise in the treatment of canker sores; reducing the healing time from weeks to hours.
Quantum Health’s Canker Cover seals the sore for up to 12 hours, protecting it from further irritation, such as caused by food, drink, teeth, and tongue.
One patch heals a sore in 8-12 hours, for most people, and the patch releases edible ingredients: sea salt, citrus oil, and menthol. Each of these diminishes pain and speeds healing.
A recent study published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Science found that out of 248 participants, 149 had their canker sores healed in eight hours. This study was funded by the makers of the patch, but the results are impressive.
Canker cover may offer a new fast treatment for fast healing of annoying (and painful!) mouth ulcers.
Filed under The Latest Skin Care News by
