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Developing Better Solutions for a Healthier World
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- January 10, 2012
- 10:00 AM
- 187 views
Studying body odor: one step at a time
by Aurametrix team in Olfactics and Diagnostics
Unpleasant body odors could be a sign of a disease. But even when the cause of the disease is known - an example is trimethylaminuria or TMAU - there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. Elimination of choline and other essential nutrients from diet can be harmful and unhelpful. Everyone has their own unique needs, with individual combinations of foods, activities and optimal environmental conditions.An earlier survey of about 100 body odor and halitosis sufferers indicated stress (34%), fo........ Read more »
Jan Havlicek, & Pavlina Lenochova. (2008) Environmental effects on human body odour. Chemical Signals in Vertebrates. DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-73945-8_19
Havlicek, J., & Lenochova, P. (2006) The Effect of Meat Consumption on Body Odor Attractiveness. Chemical Senses, 31(8), 747-752. DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjl017
- December 24, 2011
- 11:25 PM
- 164 views
The smell of Christmas
by Aurametrix team in Olfactics and Diagnostics
How does Christmas smell like? Like cinnamon! So say studies by European scientists. And even though the smell of cinnamon is described as "pungent" (besides "warm", 'sweet", and "spicy"), it fires up our brains, evoking a joyful Christmas mood and making us more generous. Cinnamon is classified as a stimulant. Smelling and tasting cinnamon could enhance attention and virtual recognition memory, at least in comparison to smells of peppermint, jasmine or cherries. In addition to its many heal........ Read more »
Seo HS, Buschhüter D, & Hummel T. (2009) Odor attributes change in relation to the time of the year. Cinnamon odor is more familiar and pleasant during Christmas season than summertime. Appetite, 53(2), 222-5. PMID: 19576937
Hlebowicz, J., Hlebowicz, A., Lindstedt, S., Bjorgell, O., Hoglund, P., Holst, J., Darwiche, G., & Almer, L. (2009) Effects of 1 and 3 g cinnamon on gastric emptying, satiety, and postprandial blood glucose, insulin, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, glucagon-like peptide 1, and ghrelin concentrations in healthy subjects. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89(3), 815-821. DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.2008.26807
- December 9, 2011
- 11:25 AM
- 190 views
Can Software help Health care?
by Aurametrix team in Health Technologies
Apps, apps and more apps. Software is everything and everything runs on software. Almost every industry in the U.S. has been disrupted by software. The health care field is not one of them. Easily accessible consumer information makes everyone a little bit doctor. Emerging portable diagnostic devices will strengthen the transition. Are we up to it? Not yet. ... Read more »
Archer N, Fevrier-Thomas U, Lokker C, McKibbon KA, & Straus SE. (2011) Personal health records: a scoping review. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA, 18(4), 515-22. PMID: 21672914
- December 6, 2011
- 12:00 AM
- 171 views
The Road to Ammonia
by Aurametrix team in Olfactics and Diagnostics
Why do I smell like Ammonia? This question, in thousands of variations, has been asked over and over again at every major question/answer site, especially teen, bodybuilding and athletic forums.The Internet provides plenty of opinions.Medical sites talk about diseases like chronic kidney failure, hepatic cirrhosis or H. pylori infection. Fitness sites recommend drinking more water, reevaluating protein sources and eating more carbohydrates. What are these diet-odor links? And what's the Science?........ Read more »
Hovsepyan, M., Sargsyan, E., & Bergsten, P. (2010) Palmitate-induced changes in protein expression of insulin secreting INS-1E cells. Journal of Proteomics, 73(6), 1148-1155. DOI: 10.1016/j.jprot.2010.01.012
- November 12, 2011
- 01:10 PM
- 233 views
Adding red to your diet
by Aurametrix team in Irritable Bowel Blog
A number of studies have suggested that a higher intake of lycopene-containing foods decreases the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer, other cancers and infections, even cataracts and asthma. What are the potential side effects?... Read more »
Jatoi A, Burch P, Hillman D, Vanyo JM, Dakhil S, Nikcevich D, Rowland K, Morton R, Flynn PJ, Young C.... (2007) A tomato-based, lycopene-containing intervention for androgen-independent prostate cancer: results of a Phase II study from the North Central Cancer Treatment Group. Urology, 69(2), 289-94. PMID: 17320666
- November 5, 2011
- 05:00 PM
- 221 views
What's that fatty odor?
by Aurametrix team in Olfactics and Diagnostics
Body odor is closely associated with diet. Deciphering the chemistry of human odor is not an easy task. Fortunately for some (and not so fortunately for others), the human nose can capture and discriminate many smell signatures. Could this discrimination be used to connect the dots between diet and body odor? MEBO Research has just started an anonymous study using the Aurametrix health analysis tool to find out.... Read more »
Bolton B, & Halpern BP. (2010) Orthonasal and retronasal but not oral-cavity-only discrimination of vapor-phase fatty acids. Chemical senses, 35(3), 229-38. PMID: 20100787
Dunkel M, Schmidt U, Struck S, Berger L, Gruening B, Hossbach J, Jaeger IS, Effmert U, Piechulla B, Eriksson R.... (2009) SuperScent--a database of flavors and scents. Nucleic acids research, 37(Database issue). PMID: 18931377
- August 14, 2011
- 09:00 PM
- 351 views
Hold the Starch?
by Aurametrix team in Irritable Bowel Blog
Starch is that stuff that stiffens your shirts. It's also what most people eat for fuel. Wheat, rice, corn, oats, potatoes are all very starchy foods. Many popular diet plans call starch a second-rate food that should be avoided at all costs. No-starch and low starch diets are favored by irritable bowel communities, while former Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and Atkins enthusiasts love the new Carb Lovers Diet praising starch. Yet, there may be something good about starch even for those with........ Read more »
Bird AR, Conlon MA, Christophersen CT, & Topping DL. (2010) Resistant starch, large bowel fermentation and a broader perspective of prebiotics and probiotics. Beneficial microbes, 1(4), 423-31. PMID: 21831780
- May 30, 2011
- 09:25 PM
- 537 views
Tryptophan in food: Will it make you happy, sleepy or smelly?
by Aurametrix team in Irritable Bowel Blog
And the answer is ... either or all of the above. And this is not a complete list of all that can happen. In some rare conditions, for example, tryptophan could also make your pee purple.Tryptophan supplements were used as a popular sleeping aid until negative press in 1989. The FDA banned dietary tryptophan supplements from the market, just days before the arrival of Prozac rising as the new promise for chemical happiness. Further investigation showed that ill effects of tryptophan were actua........ Read more »
Capuron L, Schroecksnadel S, Féart C, Aubert A, Higueret D, Barberger-Gateau P, Layé S, & Fuchs D. (2011) Chronic Low-Grade Inflammation in Elderly Persons Is Associated with Altered Tryptophan and Tyrosine Metabolism: Role in Neuropsychiatric Symptoms. Biological psychiatry. PMID: 21277567
- May 9, 2011
- 11:25 AM
- 516 views
On seasonal allergies and IBS
by Aurametrix team in Irritable Bowel Blog
Irritable Bowel Syndrome is nothing to sneeze at. Especially during the sneezing season. As a matter of fact, you are more prone to have irritable bowel if you have a seasonal allergy. The likelihood of IBS is 3 times higher in patients reporting atopic symptoms (2.67 times higher in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis and 3. 85 times higher in patients with allergic eczema, according to Tobin and his colleagues who administered questionnaires to 125 patients). So some of that abd........ Read more »
Wassenberg J, Nutten S, Audran R, Barbier N, Aubert V, Moulin J, Mercenier A, & Spertini F. (2011) Effect of Lactobacillus paracasei ST11 on a nasal provocation test with grass pollen in allergic rhinitis. Clinical and experimental allergy : journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 41(4), 565-73. PMID: 21395878
Valerio F, de Candia S, Lonigro SL, Russo F, Riezzo G, Orlando A, De Bellis P, Sisto A, & Lavermicocca P. (2011) Role of the probiotic strain Lactobacillus paracasei LMGP22043 carried by artichokes in influencing faecal bacteria and biochemical parameters in human subjects. Journal of applied microbiology. PMID: 21447019
- April 4, 2011
- 11:31 PM
- 266 views
Much ado about Bowel Movement
by Aurametrix team in Irritable Bowel Blog
Want to manage your toilet metrics? There's an app for that. Actually, multiple apps - like this one recording precise GPS location of bowel events along with their shapes and odors or IBS symptom tracker and GI monitor, approved and designed by gastroenterologists. Yet, the lists of metrics provided by these applications are not complete - no options to record color, consistency, texture, effort... And what about total time spent? According to IBS forums, it could range from seconds to ... "lon........ Read more »
Sikirov D. (2003) Comparison of straining during defecation in three positions: results and implications for human health. Digestive diseases and sciences, 48(7), 1201-5. PMID: 12870773
Rao SS, Kavlock R, & Rao S. (2006) Influence of body position and stool characteristics on defecation in humans. The American journal of gastroenterology, 101(12), 2790-6. PMID: 17026568
Ryuji SAKAKIBARA, Kuniko TSUNOYAMA, Hiroyasu HOSOI, Osamu TAKAHASHI, Megumi SUGIYAMA, Masahiko KISHI, Emina OGAWA, Hitoshi TERADA, Tomoyuki UCHIYAMA, & Tomonori YAMANISHI. (2010) Influence of Body Position on Defecation in Humans. . LUTS: Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms, 2(1), 16-21. DOI: 10.1111/j.1757-5672.2009.00057.x
- February 2, 2011
- 11:36 PM
- 363 views
Colonoscopy for everyone! ..or Gonna Buy Me A Dog
by Aurametrix team in Olfactics and Diagnostics
New research from Japan brings good news: dogs can be almost as accurate as a colonoscopy exam.In patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and controls, the sensitivity of canine scent detection of breath samples compared with conventional diagnosis by colonoscopy was 0.91 and the specificity was 0.99. The sensitivity of canine scent detection of watery stool samples was 0.97 and the specificity was 0.99. The ........ Read more »
Sonoda H, Kohnoe S, Yamazato T, Satoh Y, Morizono G, Shikata K, Morita M, Watanabe A, Morita M, Kakeji Y.... (2011) Colorectal cancer screening with odour material by canine scent detection. Gut. PMID: 21282130
- December 17, 2010
- 07:55 PM
- 379 views
Danger, Will Robinson!!! or injury prevention with sensors and algorithms
by Aurametrix team in Health Technologies
Injuries are most likely to be perceived as “acts of fate”, but they depend on the same determinants as other health factors: individual behavior, social and physical environment. The likelihood of injuries - unintentional ones and those caused by acts of violence - can be computed from physical location, gene-environment interactions, prior medical history, and physical traits. There are many ways to prevent injuries - just say "no" to risky behaviors, wear preventative gear while p........ Read more »
Swanenburg J, de Bruin ED, Uebelhart D, & Mulder T. (2010) Falls prediction in elderly people: a 1-year prospective study. Gait , 31(3), 317-21. PMID: 20047833
- October 12, 2010
- 10:45 PM
- 332 views
You are the Chosen One, at least by your bacteria
by Aurametrix team in Health Technologies
Host genomics is not the main decision-making factor for bacteria immigrating into human body, but it is an important factor. Two papers recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences help to understand why you are chosen and how the choosers make their decisions. ... Read more »
Ben-Jacob E, & Schultz D. (2010) Bacteria determine fate by playing dice with controlled odds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(30), 13197-8. PMID: 20660309
Andrew K. Benson,, Scott A. Kelly,, Ryan Legge,, Fangrui Ma,, Soo Jen Low,, Jaehyoung Kim,, Min Zhang,, Phaik Lyn Oh,, Derrick Nehrenberg,, Kunjie Hu,.... (2010) Individuality in gut microbiota composition is a complex polygenic trait shaped by multiple environmental and host genetic factors . PNAS. info:/
- August 22, 2010
- 12:30 AM
- 438 views
Of blood and breath: metabolite-based diagnosis of ovarian cancer
by Aurametrix team in Olfactics and Diagnostics
Physicians always knew that breath contains clues to diseases. Chemicals in breath often correlate with chemicals in saliva and blood - be it alcohol, anaesthetics or other metabolites (see, for example, this study by Dr Andreas Hengstenberg).As one of my interests is breath-based detection of ovarian cancer, I took note of the recent paper claiming 99% to 100% accuracy of detecting ovarian cancer by metabolites in blood. The authors used customized functional support vector machine-based machin........ Read more »
Zhou M, Guan W, Walker LD, Mezencev R, Benigno BB, Gray A, Fernández FM, & McDonald JF. (2010) Rapid Mass Spectrometric Metabolic Profiling of Blood Sera Detects Ovarian Cancer with High Accuracy. Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers . PMID: 20699376
- August 15, 2010
- 04:25 PM
- 380 views
Predicting catastrophic health events - noninvasively and short term
by Aurametrix team in Health Technologies
"I've just picked up a fault in the AE35 unit. It's going to go 100% failure in 72 hours". These were famous words of the almighty computer HAL in "2001: A Space Odyssey". Few of us believe too much in software forecasts - be it weather, earthquakes or computer hard disk failures. Yet, we all know that sometimes it works. And such systems are very valuable, assuming they continuously improve. ... Read more »
Hsia, J., Larson, J., Ockene, J., Sarto, G., Allison, M., Hendrix, S., Robinson, J., LaCroix, A., Manson, J., & , . (2009) Resting heart rate as a low tech predictor of coronary events in women: prospective cohort study. BMJ, 338(feb03 2). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.b219
Mayo Clinic. (2009) High resting heart rate could predict heart attack in women. Mayo Clinic women's healthsource, 13(7), 3. PMID: 19498326
Froelicher VF, Duarte GM, Oakes DF, Klein J, Dubach PA, & Janosi A. (1988) The prognostic value of the exercise test. Disease-a-month : DM, 34(11), 677-735. PMID: 3056676
Sheward WJ, Naylor E, Knowles-Barley S, Armstrong JD, Brooker GA, Seckl JR, Turek FW, Holmes MC, Zee PC, & Harmar AJ. (2010) Circadian control of mouse heart rate and blood pressure by the suprachiasmatic nuclei: behavioral effects are more significant than direct outputs. PloS one, 5(3). PMID: 20339544
- August 11, 2010
- 01:51 PM
- 495 views
On cancers and petroleum spills
by Aurametrix team in Olfactics and Diagnostics
Researchers have known for years that smell of cancer patients is chemically different from healthy individuals. One more study featured in British Journal of Cancer brings us a bit closer to an inexpensive, easy-to-use, portable device for home diagnostics. Exhaled breath collected from 177 volunteers (patients with lung, colon, breast, and prostate cancers and healthy controls) was examined by gold nanoparticle nanosensor arrays (GNPs) and gas chromatography linked to the mass spectr........ Read more »
Peng G, Hakim M, Broza YY, Billan S, Abdah-Bortnyak R, Kuten A, Tisch U, & Haick H. (2010) Detection of lung, breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers from exhaled breath using a single array of nanosensors. British journal of cancer, 103(4), 542-51. PMID: 20648015
- July 28, 2010
- 08:18 PM
- 531 views
Hormonal Manipulation of Olfactory Cues, or How to Lose a Guy in 10 days
by Aurametrix team in Olfactics and Diagnostics
Body odors are important cues used for social and sexual discrimination. As was shown many times, animals can easily smell age-, health- and genetics-related differences. Recent study of our large-eyed relatives, ring-tailed lemurs, demonstrate that drugs can alter body scents and change behavior. Researchers examined changes in endocrine and semiochemical profiles of sexually mature female lemurs treated with hormonal contraceptives during their breeding season. Genetic diversity and kin........ Read more »
Jeremy Chase Crawford,Marylène Boulet and Christine M. Drea1. (2010) Smelling wrong: hormonal contraception in lemurs alters critical female odour cues. Proceedings B . info:/
- July 17, 2010
- 10:30 PM
- 434 views
Collaboration 2.0
by Aurametrix team in Health Technologies
Information technology is letting people around the world come together in unprecedented ways. Wikis, blogs and microblogs like twitter, crowdsourcing and crowd-task-solving sites continue to flatten the planet. Scientific innovation used to be a private endeavor, with very narrowly specialized scientists. The Internet changed some of this but there is plenty of room for improvement.... Read more »
Johnston SC, & Hauser SL. (2009) Crowdsourcing scientific innovation. Annals of neurology, 65(6). PMID: 19562693
Wright MT, Roche B, von Unger H, Block M, & Gardner B. (2010) A call for an international collaboration on participatory research for health. Health promotion international, 25(1), 115-22. PMID: 19854843
Marsh A, Carroll D, & Foggie R. (2010) Using collective intelligence to fine-tune public health policy. Studies in health technology and informatics, 13-8. PMID: 20543334
Huss JW 3rd, Lindenbaum P, Martone M, Roberts D, Pizarro A, Valafar F, Hogenesch JB, & Su AI. (2010) The Gene Wiki: community intelligence applied to human gene annotation. Nucleic acids research, 38(Database issue). PMID: 19755503
Butler, D. (2010) Open-source science takes on neglected disease. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/news.2010.50
- July 15, 2010
- 02:53 PM
- 444 views
Odor-prints: individual but genetic connections unclear
by Aurametrix team in Olfactics and Diagnostics
Odor is like fingerprints or facial features - it's unique. Yet no single measurement could be easily applied to recognize an individual. GC/MS measurements can be used to analyze mixtures of acids, alcohols, aldehydes, hydrocarbons, esters, ketones, and nitrogenous molecules in human odor. Complex algorithms mining patterns help to pinpoint the signatures. But could these signatures be easily derived from genetic makeups?Recent article published in the Journal of Chemical Ecology looked at ........ Read more »
Natsch A, Kuhn F, & Tiercy JM. (2010) Lack of Evidence for HLA-Linked Patterns of Odorous Carboxylic Acids Released from Glutamine Conjugates Secreted in the Human Axilla. Journal of chemical ecology. PMID: 20623248
- July 14, 2010
- 08:00 PM
- 309 views
Sit less, Move more
by Aurametrix team in Health Technologies
I am typing this standing in front of my computer. My tall chair is aside. About a year ago I discovered that life is better if I stand while working some of the time. Then I found out that other people discovered it too, and more keep discovering. We hear it often: eat less and exercise. But this may not be enough. As shown in a recent study, exercise does not counteract the ill effects of sedentary lives, we should keep moving throughout the day too. New York Times article about th........ Read more »
WARREN, T., BARRY, V., HOOKER, S., SUI, X., CHURCH, T., & BLAIR, S. (2010) Sedentary Behaviors Increase Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Mortality in Men. Medicine , 42(5), 879-885. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181c3aa7e
Dunstan, D., Barr, E., Healy, G., Salmon, J., Shaw, J., Balkau, B., Magliano, D., Cameron, A., Zimmet, P., & Owen, N. (2010) Television Viewing Time and Mortality: The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab). Circulation, 121(3), 384-391. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.894824
Katzmarzyk PT, Church TS, Craig CL, & Bouchard C. (2009) Sitting time and mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 41(5), 998-1005. PMID: 19346988
KATZMARZYK, P., CHURCH, T., CRAIG, C., & BOUCHARD, C. (2009) Sitting Time and Mortality from All Causes, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer. Medicine , 41(5), 998-1005. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181930355
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