Pepper combat obesity

Pepper is probably the most used of all condiments. Eternal companion of salt on every table and almost every recipe, originally from India this spice has been used since ancient times. His popularity in the kitchen is due to the flavor and aroma that gives the food, but, although not all the guests know, this fruit also has many medicinal qualities.

To begin with, is an excellent ally of digestion. Just that this condiment touch the taste buds on our tongue to our brain sends a signal to our stomach must secrete acids that needed to digest food from the road. This early warning allows digestion faster and less troublesome food.

In addition, he is known to pepper the goodness to avoid the formation of intestinal gas and diuretic property.

As if that was not enough, pepper has another interesting property: it can prevent the absorption of fat.

In search of natural agents capable of contributing to the fight against obesity , a team of South Korean researchers decided to examine how the pepper can help fight against obesity.

The scientists, led by Soo-Jong Um, Sejong University, concentrated in the piperine, a substance that gives pepper flavor, but it is also the secret of this seasoning to prevent the accumulation of fat in the body.

How do you do? After several molecular studies, Soo-Jong Um and his colleagues found that piperine does interfere with the expression of several genes needed to create new fat cells, cells from fatty tissue where fat accumulates.

Obesity is when we eat more than what the body requires to function. Excess energy that accumulates in the body as fat and is in adipocytes, fat cells, where it accumulates these energy reserves.

When all the tanks are full, the body must create new ones.

This is a process which involves several chain genes to cause fat cells to differentiate and create new fat cells, but piperine inhibits the expression of some of these genes, avoiding the creation of new cells.

Based on their findings, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry , Soo-Jong Um confident that the pepper can help fight, naturally, obesity.

Perhaps in the near future there is a bar of piperine to help us avoid the accumulation of fat in the body. For now, remember to take a little spice to your meal.

The wine could hide a weapon against obesity

It is only known that grapes and of course, wine, resveratrol have composed powerful antioxidant qualities which are a great ally in the fight against cancer and cardiovascular disease.

However, the fruit of the vine has another powerful compound, which is much less known and is attracting the attention of scientists.

The molecule in question is the piceatannol and several preliminary investigations have indicated that you have the ability to induce apoptosis, cell death in cancer tissues.

However, a new study has revealed another virtue of piceatannol that could make a weapon against obesity.

The recent findings of Kee-Hong Kim and Jung Yeon Kwon, University of Purdue, Indiana, USA. UU., Demonstrate that the compound does inhibit the development of new adipocytes, the cells stored in body fat.

This is an interesting finding since it is possible that inhibiting the formation of new adipose cells, also can prevent accumulation of new body fat.

The study, whose results were published in the latest edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry , was to evaluate the effect of piceatannol in cultured fat cells.

To form a new fat cell, you must carry out a process that lasts about 10 days time that immature fat cells, called preadipositos, must pass through several stages to reach full maturation.

In the lab, Kim and Kwon showed that piceatannol blocks the effect of the hormone insulin on preadipositos. It turns out that insulin is required to activate within the preadiposito the ripening process, so by blocking its influence on the growth slows down and never gets to become a fat cell.

Although the findings are promising, much remains to be done to find out if the compound present in grapes, white tea and blueberries, can actually be used to help prevent obesity.

Scientists will focus their efforts on designing studies in animal models and achieve a more stable synthesis of this compound.

For now, at least we have more good reason to toast with a glass of wine.

The impact of economics on health

An economic crisis like that experienced in 2008, has an effect on the wallets of all: some win, many lose.

However, beyond the trade balances of countries and the personal finances of the world's citizens, what effect it may have a situation like this in health?

According to a team of Japanese researchers, led by Koji Wada, Kitasato University, those who are in managerial and professional positions may pay a heavy price in the middle of an economic crisis: they can find an earlier death.

Sure, that happens only if the same has happened in Japan, as revealed by their study, published in the British Medical Journal .

The Japanese have a long life expectancy at birth, for example, Japanese women hold the best life expectancy at birth across the planet. That good health may be due in part to the diet of the Japanese, the fact that every citizen has access to health services and that after the economic crisis experienced after World War II, the country experienced economic growth process accelerated.

However, this growth ran up against a wall in the 90's and began to fall, a situation worsened by the Asian economic crisis of 1998. In those years, for the first time since the war, the Japanese economy began to show decline.

What effect did the economic blow on the health of Japanese men? To answer that question, researchers studied mortality rates in men between 30 and 59 years, from 1980 to 2005.

Specifically, they analyzed the mortality rates of the five leading causes of death among the Japanese, who cited in order, are: cancer, cerebrovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, accidents and suicides.

Between 1980 and 2005, there was a steady decrease in mortality rates of the four leading causes of death in the entire population, except in men with managerial and professional jobs; in them, since 1990 began to increase rather .

As for suicides, its incidence has grown rapidly since the late 90's, with a higher incidence among managers and professionals.

Scientists, after analyzing the deaths between 1980 and 2005, found that those with management and professional jobs were 1.7 times more likely to die before 60 years of age, those in work in the field of sales, religious services, agriculture, transportation, utilities, security or production.

According to Wada, high levels of stress, poor lifestyle (neglecting the exercise, good nutrition and enough sleep) and neglect in health by not visiting the doctor, are possibly responsible for the increase in deaths among Japanese executives.

While Japanese culture is different from the Western, the lesson of that country should not be missed: more work pressure there, it is important to strike a balance and not let go of health.

Looking for new ideas? You may serve meditate

If you're looking for a creative way to solve a problem, you may think will help you open your mind and find just what you need.

The benefits of meditation for physical and emotional health are more than familiar.Scientific evidence indicates that meditation can help you better manage stress, reduce anxiety, increase positive thoughts and make you more happy, it is also effective in helping the person to tolerate pain better.

However, what impact can have meditation on how the brain organizes ideas and leads one to find a solution to a problem?

Just that was the question that led to Laurence Colzato, Ayca Ozturk and Bernard Hommel, researchers at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, to recruit 19 adults that from at least two years practicing meditation habit.

Volunteers were summoned over one month to three individual sessions, where with the help of a guide, conducted exercises of various kinds of meditation and then generate a simple test of creative thinking.

To have a point of comparison, a session was devoted to visualization exercises where volunteers were asked to imagine performing various household tasks.

Another session was devoted to open monitoring meditation, where attention is paid to the activity of the mind freely, ie let through all thoughts, emotions or feelings that are experienced.

And the last session was devoted to meditation controlled approach, which should be directed to an object of meditation, mantra or the breath and not let other thoughts or activities going around breaking the concentration.

Scientists suspected that favor open monitoring meditation divergent thinking or lateral thinking, a way of generating creative ideas through the exploration of many possible solutions, and assumed that the controlled approach meditation help the person to perform tasks related to thinking convergent, it follows a certain set of logical steps to arrive at a single correct answer.

However, at the end of their study, whose results appear in the latest edition of the journal Frontiers in Psychology , they realized they were wrong, but only in part.

Meditation does favor the development of creative thinking, but only in the case of open monitoring meditation.

You know, if you are looking for new and different ideas, you could use to do a little meditation 'may well open your mind and be able to find the answers you seek.

ICE has changed and here's part of why

Last Saturday I posted an article about the changes we have experienced the Costa Ricans with the arrival of the opening in the cell phone market. 

No matter what you do not have happened to any of the new operators, even staying with ICE are notable changes have been made, not only in the last six months, when the competition opened their shops, but for about two years when ICE began preparing to face this challenge.

On this subject I spoke with Don Jaime Palermo, Client Manager of ICE, on Thursday.Then I offer the audio of the interview. Logically, in the form we have provided little space and consider valuable to share with you the analysis that Don Jaime on how ICE changed its strategy, focusing on the engineering, towards a more customer focused (something that in any case, are still struggling, as he himself confesses).

We also hear that without competition changes made by the ICE might have been possible, but do not have the same momentum. For Palermo, the entry of competition benefited the ICE and consumers are dissatisfied with the progress so far, but knows he can not lower our guard against giants such as Telefonica (Movistar) and America Movil (Claro).

The interview lasts about half an hour, quite spacious for our day of tweets to 140 characters, summaries and immediacy. However, I recommend you take the time if you want to better understand how and why the ICE made the changes and where we could handle.

Now I know if Windows Phone and Nokia will succeed in Costa Rica

Although not the first phone with Windows Phone coming into the country ( and the ICE has the Wembley last couple of months ), the launch is important because we are talking about Nokia.

We have no numbers or a formal investigation, but I insist that Nokia is a brand that at least until very recently had an excellent position in Costa Rica. Several friends commented that I did not change their Nokia because they admired his strength. For many, the other models were too sensitive and did not want to risk that with the first fall to the floor to lose their investment. 

This reputation of Nokia may still present, but the fact is that the momentum of the iPhone and Android models that brought the cell opening will had to change the market share of the Finnish company in the country. In reviewing the statistics of the Nation on the Internet, the national site with more visits in Costa Rica is very clear the increased use of Android devices from our country. Nokia devices have generally increased, but not at the same rate, while the Windows Phone has been growing since last year, but very timidly, almost marginally.

The arrival of the Lumia gives you the opportunity to re-position Nokia in the market and offer a different product to IOS and Android, high quality, Windows Phone. Be few who dislikes this operating system, modern and agile. As I said in an earlier post, iPhone lovers to give positive feedback .

. We are a matter of days they will start selling in the country officially the Nokia Lumia , cell phones that run Windows Phone and with which the giant Nokia said over a year ago that he wanted to become The third major competitor in the mobile market (behind, presumably, the iPhone and Android).

The problem I see is the possibility of reaching only the Lumia 800, which means it will almost be competing in the higher range of phones, just below the iPhone and the Galaxy S II. I think because it came so long after its worldwide release, should have been stationed in parallel also bring a range of popular, not the 610 but probably 710. The best thing would have been "taking" the market with four models, but as it is certainly not do so, at least have offered two options would have helped to bring them more attention when you get to the store, if I can not go with such expensive Once you do with the cheap and if I find it very easy cheap, the expensive might be what you go looking. 

Great Nokia smartphones with Symbian already included not anticipated. The N9 with MeeGoo is interesting, but not massive because it is not designed for that. The Lumia, then, those who have the opportunity to make a difference. With irregular sales where they have been released, will be the arrival of the 800 shows what if the good name of Nokia is still present and encourages a purchase or if, like me I suspect, the consumer has already heard enough from other brands and understands that there are other serious options and quality they deserve a chance.

The Wars, auditions

most important film events in its history: The Wars . I must confess that is one of my favorite sagas. Sure, the first three: The Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1983). The other three, The Phantom Menace (1999) and Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005), but was a box office success, left many disgruntled fans, among them my story.

In the series, much has been said. So what I wanted to share with you this day were some videos that I found where you see some of the tests that were developed for the final choice of the actors in the series. Some of those we see, they did it, as Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford . Others, such as Kurt Russell , the best known of those who ultimately were not chosen. Without further ado, I leave you with links to these videos. Hope you enjoy.

Come on tour in San Jose and museums!

I have one month expected to be May 18. The reason? I enjoyed both the past Art City Tour, held on Wednesday 18 April, that I was not wanting to miss even once more. Of course, this Friday night, I will work, but I'm not selfish, so I tell my experience to others crave, take advantage of it and live it fully.

The Art City Tour , organized by  Cultural GAM is done once a month for five hours, and promoting tours by bus and on foot through museums, galleries, cultural centers and alternative spaces in downtown San Jose and Amon and Escalante neighborhoods.

What was it that I liked? I have it clear: to see a happy crowd walking through San Jose and enjoy museums, in a very friendly and very curious art, people who believe and value. Achieving this is, no doubt, an enormous contribution to bringing people to art and positive appropriation of the city.

That Wednesday was no longer a normal day in San Jose, one day at 5 pm Thereafter, museums and galleries were filled with curious common vans and electric began to transport groups of people through the center of the capital free, in addition, children and young people joined the party without regard to their artistic bedtime or classes the next day.

I started by the Central Bank Museums to 6 pm, with a lot of people, especially families who were to enjoy the ever-attractive terms of this cultural complex. It was impressive: in the display felines in the archeology of Costa Rica, a cramped walk, listening to laughter, funny comments about the various animals that had the show and saw all appropriate art, natural history and biology to a playful, entertaining and very natural.

We all tried the wooden masks of the jaguar, tiger, ocelot, and even did our best roar for video phones. There, I met Daniel, age 3, who was happy jaguar mask and posed for the picture I did Maday Montiel, 29, and Jorge Jimenez, 33, confessed that they are avid followers of the Art City Tour . "It's a good initiative. We get used to Daniel to come with us to these things. Give a room to visit areas of art, sometimes you can not afford socioeconomically, "said the young woman.

I kept visiting the museum and in the Gold Museum, I found a small stand of indigenous crafts Láscarez Dominga, 50 and resident of Rey Curre. How have you been in business? "So-so, but can be improved. The gourds are the ones they like everyone, "he told this woman, creator of those pieces with his mother, Cruz Ortiz, 67. Is it hard being an artisan? "Yes, of course. Every day we work and work. All my life I worked hard, from 6 years, "he said.

With taste, had followed in this museum, but had to follow the tour . I took a bus free, comfortable and well labeled due to the Alliance Francaise. There was another good surprise to be known, the store Chietón Morén (Good Deal) exhibited and sold works of different indigenous communities in the country, as Boruca Quitirrisí Mora and Térraba, among others. Offering masks, textiles, musical instruments, necklaces and other pieces.According to Pilar Ureña, coordinator of this project, helping them to 117 artisans selling their works in a shop located behind the church of La Dolorosa, San Jose, once a month, they bring with them items and pay them directly, intermediaries who are left without a good piece.

Buseta could expect, but I decided to go walk to the Museum of Jade, which is on the ground floor of the National Insurance Institute (INS). At 8:30 pm, this was another llenazo: kids happy seeing the myriad of objects shown in this space on your windows, families and babies yet, strangers, friends. The most singular was listening to a teenager, still dressed in uniform college, said this through the cell, "Mommy, Mommy, no, not yet pick us up. We have to go to other places, we are in the museum of the INS, which is very large. Porfa, porfa, come later; porfa, Mommy, okay? "Judging by the gesture of victory, they would stay longer on this tour Josephine.

I went back to the bus and got off at the kiosk Sjo and restaurant Kaloo , ie there I opened up a world of temptations for consumption and appetite: the kiosk with their product offering sustainable design and Kaloo with Costa Rican menu.

I returned to the vans to let me in the corner of the sundial National Cultural Center (Cenac). I was so happy that the first thing I did was ask, "When is the next Art City Tour?" May 18, they said, and immediately put it into my schedule.

I can not go and, really, sorry for this tour showed me spaces filled with good range of cultural, people's passion for art (if you allow you to zoom) and some benefits that do not always show in San Jose daily life.

This Friday, the Art City Tour held on International Museum Day, so we have a wide range of museums, galleries, cultural centers and other spaces. Meal! and tell me how they fare on the route, to experience the tour through the experiences of others.

Costa Rica ranked 7 in the world by infection with 'malware'

Costa Rica is ranked No. 7 worldwide malware infections, ie malicious programs among which mainly include trojans, viruses and worms.

This is indicated by the latest report on the subject presented by PandaLabs, the laboratory of computer security company Panda Security.

According to the analysis during the second quarter (April to June) was detected that 44% of Costa Ricans computers were infected.

This percentage is not only above the world average (which is 39.79% of infected computers), but places the country in seventh place in the world infected machines. In this field, only Costa Rica than China, Thailand, Taiwan, Turkey, Russia and Brazil, the report said.

The document indicates that, globally, the most common types of infections are Trojans (69.30%), viruses (10.41%) and worms (8.53%).

A Trojan is a malicious software that is installed on your computer and allows an attacker to access the machine. A virus, however, is installed on the computer and alter files and programs, while worms usually generate network problems.

Causes. According to Roger Campos, PandaLabs security specialist Costa Rica, the country has this level of infection, "mainly because of little concern for the users, information technology managers and business owners about computer security, along with the lack of real risks associated with poor management in this area. "

Data from this company in 2010 indicate that 70% of companies use a single provider practices of security.

"As popularly say, are 'putting your eggs in one basket,'" said Campos.

Moreover, not all companies have a responsibility for security.

"In Costa Rica suffer the same problems that are experienced by almost everyone: they have antimalware solutions (like antivirus), but they are not properly configured or updated," he added.

"In addition, users are fully trained in the area of ​​computer security (specifically, social engineering, web browsing and social networks), and apply security updates of the operating system, Internet browser, or critical applications," said.

Campos admitted that external factors such as epidemics of malware, targeted attacks or failures of safety systems, have also affected the country.

The recommendation of the experts is not only having a system of protection (antivirus, firewall, antispyware) quality, but to maintain the system properly updated.

Also, be wary of calling messages from people you do not know, or suspicious applications, for example, that promise to know who visits your Facebook profile.

Software piracy caused chaos in last quarter

San Francisco. Hackers infected computers, altered web sites and networks sacked in the last quarter, one of the worst recorded so far, said PandaLabs.

The hacker group Anonymous Lulz Security and caused "widespread lawlessness" in the three months ended June 30, and malware "spread considerably," the report said.

"The number of attacks on businesses and large organizations has triggered alarm signals and systems for companies that until now were considered proof of hackers have been victims of cybercrime," he said.

Among the victims of hacking, are the International Monetary Fund, the Department of Defense United States, and companies Sony, Sega and Citigroup.

According to PandaLabs, there was a significant spread of virus to computers in homes around the world.Investigators determined that an average of 42 new types of malicious software, known as malware, were created by minute during the quarter just ended.

'Hacktivism'. The last quarter also made ​​plain blurred lines between online activism, and hacktivism , and cyber attacks.

"It seems the only way the protest group Anonymous has is committing illegal acts," the report said.

The hacker group Lulz LulzSec Security or simply acted with the stated mission of fun at the expense of others, he added.

They find security flaws in the iPhone and Cases

San Francisco (AP). A new security flaw has been discovered in the iPhone, iPhone and iPod Touch from Apple Inc., raising fears about the vulnerability of these electronic devices to attacks from hackers.

Imperfections were detected in the software that governs these devices after a German security agency warned that criminals could use them to extract confidential information illegally.

Apple, the largest technology company in the world in terms of market value, said Thursday it is working to correct these flaws in a software update that will be distributed shortly to update the devices.

Thanks to these failures, a hacker can place stealthily special software on the devices to cheat on his owner to click on an infected PDF file. The Federal Office for Information Security failures considered critical weaknesses IOS operating system from Apple.

Devices connected to the Internet remain less vulnerable to attack than PCs, but could become a very attractive target for hackers because they store confidential information on bank accounts, emails, calendars, contacts and other data .

Constantly being discovered weaknesses in the software, but the latter is especially alarming because these gaps are already being exploited.