IronmanLive.com: Ironman Age-Group Champion Survives Bear Attack

IronmanLive.com: Ironman Age-Group Champion Survives Bear Attack: "Julia Gerlach had been on track to return to the Ford Ironman World Championship in October … until she was attacked by a predatory black bear! She is recovering from her injuries, and credits her Ironman background with her survival."

How to deal with stress in golf (and in life?)

First let me say that I do not play golf and really wish it were not on TV evry weekend, but none-the-less, this is very similar to virtually any sport (and probably life as well!)

Good Game Of Golf -- Mind Over Matter

"In general, effective coping involved gaining a sense of control, while
ineffective coping involved the golfers trying to force their play,' said
co-author Dr. Nick Holt, a professor of Physical Education and Recreation at the
University of Alberta, and a Certified Consultant with the Association for the
Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology. The study, published in the June
edition of The Sport Psychologist, was conducted jointly with Dr. Adam Nicholls
from the University of Hull in the United Kingdom."

The key point is summarized in the following two paragraphs. (again from Science Daily)

"During effective coping golfers maintained a positive mindset by using positive
self-talk, blocking negative thoughts, and focusing on the next shot (rather
than on past shots). They stayed physically relaxed by using deep breathing
exercises and stretching. Finally, they sought advice from their caddies, and
were sure to follow their playing routine.

Alternatively, the golfers had very different thoughts and behaviors during ineffective coping episodes. Ineffective coping strategies were identified as trying too hard, speeding up,
and making sudden changes to their learned playing routine. Changing the playing
routine is a common mistake, Dr. Holt said. "Rather than making changes during a
round, they should be sticking with what they know. Pre-shot routines can be
adapted during practice, but not under the stress of competition." "

Insects Develop Resistance To Engineered Crops

It really is a moving target. Just when you think something is solved, the problem evolves.

Insects Develop Resistance To Engineered Crops: "Genetically modified crops containing two insecticidal proteins in a single plant efficiently kill insects. But when crops engineered with just one of those toxins grow nearby, insects may more rapidly develop resistance to all the insect-killing plants, report Cornell University researchers."

From ScienceDaily.com:

""Our findings suggest that concurrent use of single- and dual-gene Bt plants can put the dual-gene plants at risk if single-gene plants are deployed in the same area simultaneously," said Anthony Shelton, professor of entomology at Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and an author of the study, which was posted online June 6 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and is in the June 14 print edition of the journal. "Single-gene plants really function as a steppingstone in resistance of two-gene plants if the single gene plants contain one of the same Bt proteins as in the two-gene plant.""

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | New model 'permits time travel'

Something to think about for a while...lol..

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | New model 'permits time travel': "Researchers speculate that time travel can occur within a kind of feedback loop where backwards movement is possible, but only in a way that is 'complementary' to the present."

PowerBar: Newsletter Archive

I get literally hundreds of newsletters per month, but consistently the PowerBar newsletter is one of my favorites. Sure it is a commerical too. Sure it is biased (for instance I do think some protein in drink is good for both recovery and performance), but they are all interesting. This month's athlete of the month is-----surprise, Lance Armstrong!

Here is the newsletter archive
PowerBar: Newsletter Archive

FOXNews.com - Health - Inside Lance Armstrong's Remarkable Success

FOXNews.com - Health - Inside Lance Armstrong's Remarkable Success

A scientific look at what makes Lance Lance.

Heart problems and stomach microbe link?

wow, how interesting is this? a heart problem related to a gastric microbe! This is partially why I was somewhat surprised earlier when a study found no tie between heart disease and antibiotics. Stay tuned.

Health News Article | Reuters.com

"NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The gastric microbe, Helicobacter pylori, that's the cause of most stomach ulcers also takes it out on the heart, Italian investigators report.

They found that people with rapid beating of the upper chamber of the heart, atrial fibrillation, are nearly 20 times more likely to be infected with Helicobacter than are healthy "controls," according to a report in the medical journal Heart.

While the exact mechanism is unknown, Dr. A. S. Montenero, from Policlinico Multimedica in Milan, and colleagues theorize that it may relate to autoantibodies that develop in some H. pylori-infected patients. These antibodies, which normally attack an acid pump found on gastric cells, may instead attack a similar pump on cardiac cells, ultimately triggering atrial fibrillation. "