Wednesday, June 29, 2011

How to create your own Internet Radio Station?

Who needs the Internet Radio Station?
  • Artists, who would like to promote their audio tracks among their friends and general public.
  • Website and blog owners, who would like to publish the favorite songs, related to the particular posts.
  • Music fans, who want to have instant access to their music library and be able to share it with their friends.

If you belong to one of these categories, you might be interesting in promising free service, called Radionomy. Radionomy is a web platform hosting personal internet radios with no charges.

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Radionomy provides individuals and organizations with the tools, infrastructure, and content libraries to create real radio stations broadcasted on the web and accessible anywhere. It's now the biggest webradio network in Europe, with more than 3000 internet radio stations spreading over all kinds of music genres and cultures.

The name Radionomy comes from two concepts: Radio + Autonomy.

The developers believe that today's Internet users should be completely free to create their own radio stations. Freedom of choice: they provide track libraries and lots of audio content. Freedom of expression: the ability to add content at will. Financial freedom: they pay for everything including royalties and broadcast fees.

Developing your own station is fast and easy. You need to create an account and register the new station name. When you create a radio, it will automatically be registered on your portal of radios with the address www.radionomy.com/yourradioname. Then you download the free software to manage your audio tracks library.

After your station is published, all visitors of the Radionomy website will be able to listen to the Radios proposed by the creators of radios by connecting directly to the radio address, by searching for a radio using multiple criteria or by following the selections proposed by the Radionomy team (top-ranking radios, new ones, etc.). You can send the URL created by Radionomy to your friends, or embed it to your website or blog with provided code.

Note that Radionomy broadcasts radio in streaming. The auditors can listen to a radio but without being able to download all or part of what is being broadcast.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Life expectancy and lifespan: How to increase longevity?

Today there are more and more people living to be centenarians in the United States. In 1986 there was one centenarian per 10,000 elderly (defined as over 65 years of age) and by the year 2080 that number is expected to be 250 per 10,000. The 1990 census reported 35,800 Americans over 100 years old and 28,000 of them were women. In addition, it was predicted by the Census Bureau that the number of Americans over 100 years old will more than double to 80,000 by the year 2000. In fact, the most rapidly growing segment of the population is the 85 and older group. Between 1960 and 1980, that group increased by over 141%.

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Mariam Amash, 120, Israel


Although there are more centenarians today than ever before, and thus our life expectancy is gaining tremendous grounds, our potential lifespan has not changed. Life expectancy is the age at which an individual born into a particular cohort is expected to die, as a child born in 1900 had an average life expectancy of 48 years. If born today, your life expectancy would be 75 years for a man and 80 years for a woman. In this past century alone, the average life expectancy in the United States has increased by almost 40 years which is a greater gain than made during all of human history. The most important contributing factors to this increase in life expectancy were improvements in public health and the discovery and use of antibiotics.

But how long can human beings live? Lifespan or "the maximum age that could be attained if an individual were able to avoid or be successfully treated for all illnesses and accidents" is generally agreed to be 110-120 years. Interestingly, our potential lifespan has not changed in over one hundred thousand years, so the amazing increase in life expectancy does not reflect any reduction of the basic aging process itself.

One hundred and twenty years is considered the ideal human life-span, as stated in Genesis (6:3): "G-d said: 'My spirit shall not abide in a human forever, since a person is also flesh; therefore a person's days will be 120 years.'"


Adam, the first man, lived 930 years. And Methusalah, seven generations later, is renowned for his extraordinary longevity: 969 years. But by the era of the patriarchs, the normal human life-span had apparently dropped closer to a biblical life-span of 120 years. (Abraham lived 175 years, Sarah lived 127 years, Joseph lived 110 years, etc).


Only one person in the Torah lived exactly 120 years--to the day. According to the Midrash, Moses was born and died on the 7th day of Adar (which is today). Many understand the significance of his death at precisely 120 years to be a statement attesting to the fact that he had, without question, completed his life's work.

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Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, 114, Holland

But, in our times, there are quite few people who can reach 120 life mark. Walford writes that two persons have lived to 113 and one to 119 years. However, Georgakas states that Delina Filkins, 113, of New York is thus far the best documented centenarian (May 4, 1815-December 4, 1928). Currently, there is a woman living in England who is counting the minutes since she turned a documented 120 years. Many have claimed lifespans greater than 113 years and some up to 170 years, but Georgakas research has not borne these claims out.

The best-documented oldest living human being was Frenchwoman Jeanne Louise Calment, born on February 21, 1875. She lived to be 122 years old, dying in 1998. Ms. Calment came from good genetic stock�her father lived to 94, and her mother to 86. Defying conventional wisdom, she smoked until 1995, only giving up the habit out of pride at not being able to light her own cigarettes. Her sense of humor always remained, however (when asked about her vision of the future, she replied "very brief").

Why, if life expectancy has increased so impressively, has not the human lifespan? Leonard Hayflick, professor of anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine and a "dinosaur" specialist on aging, states that nature did not design us for great longevity. The goal is survival of the species which translates to getting offspring to sexual maturation and independence. Therefore, by age 30 we are coasting on our reserves. Hayflick states that our life expectancy would increase to about 91 (from 75) if cancer, heart disease and strokes were cured, but it would add no more than 3 years to our lifespan. Why? Because at around 100 years of age, all of our organs functional abilities have dramatically declined, so our only hope of an intervention is to first discover the cause of aging. Currently, our chances for living to our maximal lifespan, approximately 115 years, are 1 in 4 billion!

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Besse Berry Cooper, 114, USA


Predictors of longevity

What will increase your odds of being the 1 in 4 billion who lives to actualize your lifespan potential? The Roman historian and philosopher, Lucius Auraeus Seneca (4 B.C.-A.D. 65), thought he knew: "It is not the rich and the great, not those who depend on medicine, who become old; but such as use much exercise, are exposed to fresh air, and whose food is plain and moderate, as farmers, gardeners, fishermen, laborers, soldiers; and such men as perhaps never employed their thoughts on the means which have been used to promote longevity. It is among these people, chiefly, that the most astonishing instances of it are observed. Sometimes in these situations, man still attains to the amazing age of 150 years, and upward".

Although Seneca's belief of a 150 year old in Roman times was a definite exaggeration (life expectancy was 22 years!), his "formula" for the longest living persons was probably fairly accurate.

Several others have formulated profiles that constitute predictors of the longevous. Dr. G. M. Humphry, professor of surgery at Cambridge, examined 900 patients who were at least 90 years old and approximately 52 were centenarians. The 100 year olds consisted of 36 women and 16 men. The following data was compiled:
-The majority were light to moderate eaters and consumed very little meat.
-Most awakened early and enjoyed outdoor work.
-40 of the 52 drank alcohol.
-Few reported having had many illnesses.
-44 said they were excellent sleepers, most of them averaging over 8 hours a night.
-A large number stated they were from long lived families, but long lived was not well defined.
-12 were first born children
-Over 2/3 of the women had been married and raised large families.
-10 out of the 11 who were over 102 years old were female, the oldest being 105 years.

One of the most famous studies designed to isolate the best predictors of life expectancy was the Duke Longitudinal Study of Aging. Based on this study of 270 volunteer men and women between the ages of 60-94, Palmore, developed a mathematical model that helped predict direct and indirect variables that influence life expectancy. The strongest predictors of longevity were:
-Only the father's age at death was significant in predicting a child's longevity.
-Intelligence predictors were significant.
-Three socioeconomic predictors, education, finances, and occupation were positively correlated with longevity.
-The following activity factors were significant:
  • Locomotor activities (physical mobility)
  • Secondary activity (number of organizations the person was a member of, time spent reading, number of meetings attended, leisure activities)
  • Nongroup activity (daily hobbies)
-Three sexual relations indicators were significant, including the frequency: of intercourse per week, the past enjoyment of intercourse in younger years, and the current pleasure of intercourse.
-Tobacco use was a significant negative predictor.
-Work satisfaction, religious satisfaction, usefulness and happiness were all positively correlated with a long life.
-Three health predictors were significantly linked to longevity:
  • Physical functions rating based on objective health indices, i.e. ECG, audiogram, physical exam, etc.
  • Self rating of the person's own health status
  • Health Satisfaction Score based on agreement/disagreement with 6 statements

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Hryhory Nestor, 114, Ukraine

Other studies are currently underway which are reporting amazing results in increasing, and in some cases, doubling the longevity of animals in experimental environments. For instance, rats that have had their food intake cut by 40% can live a very long life, even doubling their average life expectancy. To top this off, these animals are amazingly free of diabetes, cancer, and heart disease! When they do get these diseases, they are much delayed when compared to animals who eat all they want. Human studies are currently underway. In fact, the noted anti-aging expert Dr. Walford is a strong proponent of calorie restriction as a method to increasing human life.

Another promising experiment which has been popular with the public was the Biosphere Project. From 1991 to 1993, 8 men and women were locked way from the rest of the world, having to grow every bite of food, generate their own air supply and recycle all their water in this environment. Problems arose when they ran low on food. As the Biosphere team members ate less, their body statistics changed. The men lost an average of 18 percent body weight, the women 10 percent. Blood pressure fell on the average by 20%. Indicators for diabetes, such as blood sugar and insulin levels, decreased by 30 percent on average. Cholesterol level also dropped. These statistics are interesting because they are numbers associated with much younger persons than were the members of the Biosphere team.

It looks like, it is almost impossible to reach and bypass the pre-set lifespan for humans of 120 years, however, you have a chance to get closer to the magic age. We are not only getting the longevity predisposition with our genes from our parents, but we have certain power to affect it by our lifestyle habits. It does make sense that living healthy and happy life helps to extend our years on the Earth.



Sources and Additional Information:


http://tinyurl.com/6fwxo3h

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Free Real-Time Spell Checker for Internet Explorer

If you still use Internet Explorer (and many people still are), you definitely miss one important feature. Let me guess � it is a real-time spell checker. Spekie freeware utility, designed by Versoworks, will fill the gap.

Main Features

� The first and only real time dedicated spell checking solution for IE.
� The first and only spell checker that can use one or more dictionaries simultaneously.
� The first and only spell checker for the 64 bit version of IE.
� Translated to 30 different languages and with 30 dictionaries available.
� Optionally spell check single and/or multiple line edit fields.
� Add and manage words in per-language user dictionaries.
� Ability to configure the highlight of misspellings; suitable for the visually impaired.
� Works with CRM systems like Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
� Improve productivity; no more waiting until you're done typing and clicking buttons to spell check!

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Installing Dictionaries

If you have Speckie installed, all dictionaries can be installed by selecting the 'Open' option when prompted, after clicking the link to download. Alternatively, double clicking the downloaded .sdinstall file will also install the dictionary.

Activation

Once installation is completed, start an instance of Internet Explorer. It should prompt you to enable Speckie. If it does, select the Enable button. If you don't receive a prompt, you'll have to enable Speckie manually. In Internet Explorer, under the Tools menu, select the Manage add-ons menu item. In the appearing window, find Speckie in the list of add-ons, select it, then click the Enable button. Once Speckie is enabled, it will function in new windows/tabs only, not any existing windows/tabs.

Configuration


To configure Speckie, you'll need to access the Speckie Settings. You can access the Settings via the main Tools menu in Internet Explorer, via the context menu of an edit field or by navigating Internet Explorer to about:Speckie.

Developers' website: http://www.speckie.com/

Downloading page: http://ping.fm/qUD2Mdload/


Tryptophan - promising remedy against depression

Overview

Considering the depression as disease caused by chemical imbalance in the brain, we can search for natural supplements taken with food to neutralize the negative impact in our body. One way to increase amount of the useful components is consuming food that contain tryptophan. Tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin, which helps you relax and can generally improve your mood and treat your insomnia. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, what means it cannot be produced in the body and needs to be taken  as a part of the diet or as a dietary supplement.

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Tryptophan and Serotonin

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that must be consumed with food, rather than any nonessential amino acid the human body might be able to generate with no relation to the diet. Obtained tryptophan is converted by our body into the chemical 5-hydroxytryptophan, or 5-HTP, which is then converted into melatonin, serotonin, and, very inefficiently, niacin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that facilitates the relay of signals between brain cells. Eating foods containing tryptophan is a way to increase serotonin in your brain naturally, which may have a positive effect not only on your mood and anxiety, but on your sleep, appetite and pain sensation as well.

Tryptophan and Depression

While regular antidepressant drugs help relieve depression by increasing the availability of serotonin in the brain and preventing its depletion, tryptophan allows to increase serotonin levels naturally. Research by Linda Booij and colleagues, reported in 2005 in "The British Journal of Psychiatry," found that acute tryptophan depletion causes a relapse into depression and depressive symptoms, such as lethargy and loss of appetite, in people with remitted depression, highlighting the importance of tryptophan for protection against depressed moods. Women need more tryptophan than men. Research in 1997 from McGill University found that men produce 52 percent more serotonin in their brains than women, with the result that women are more likely than men to suffer from depression unless their tryptophan levels are high.

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What is Tryptophan used for (other than depression)?

Tryptophan is used as a natural cure for a variety of conditions, besides depression, such as anxiety, stress, low moods, poor mental health, migraine headaches, insomnia, nervousness, carbohydrate craving and other eating disorders, premenstrual tension, fibromyalgia, excessive alcohol use, other addictive states, aggression, irritability, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Tourette's syndrome and some psychiatric disorders.

Foods Containing Tryptophan

Foods that contain tryptophan include milk, turkey, beef, cottage cheese, oats, soy, bananas, cheese, nuts, sesame seeds and peanut butter. Nuts, in particular almonds, and sesame seeds, can be sprinkled on casseroles, breakfast cereals and salads.

Tryptophan Supplements

One disadvantage of tryptophan is that our bodies do not always absorb it efficiently, even when foods high in tryptophan, such as almonds and peanut butter, are eaten. Supplements of tryptophan are available at doses that can be readily absorbed by the brain. These supplements must be taken together with vitamin C and B-complex vitamins to support the transformation of tryptophan into serotonin. Like all supplements, tryptophan should be taken only on the recommendation of your doctor.

5HTP (5-hydroxy tryptophan) is considered by many to be more effective than tryptophan for depression. L-Tryptophan (which is the desired form) is converted to 5HTP before becoming serotonin; taking 5HTP bypasses this first step of the process. The effectiveness of 5HTP may be increased with gingko biloba, St. John's Wort, B-complex vitamins with magnesium, tyrosine, flax seed oil, and ginger. Vitamin B6 and folic acid may assist in the conversion to serotonin. An equivalent dose of 5HTP (compared to 1gm of tryptophan) is about 100 mg. Doses of 100mg tid have been used, but it may be best to start at a lower dose and slowly increase as the side-effect of nausea can occur at higher doses. Starting at a lower dose reduces the likelihood of nausea, which usually disappears in less than 2 weeks.

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Side effects and precautions

Tryptophan is generally well tolerated, but there is a risk of several side effects (these are usually mild, occurring mostly at the higher doses and fading away by themselves after discontinuing Tryptophan supplementation).

Among possible side effects of Tryptophan are dryness of the mouth, nausea, stomach disturbances and drowsiness.

Make sure you know well your reaction to tryptophan before driving or any other activity demanding high alertness.

Do not take L-tryptophan in combination with other serotonin increasing drugs, such as SSRIs, MAOIs and sedatives, for abnormally high levels of serotonin are no better than its deficiency.

As with any other nutritional supplement, it is advisable to seek medical advice before taking tryptophan, as it may interact with other medications or cause adverse effects.


Sources and Additional Information:


Drinking Coffee Link to the Depression Symptoms

When I started to work on the article, exploring causal relationship between coffee and depression, I was not quite sure what category this post will belong: to the depression causes, or to the depression cures. There is no doubt, that there should be some link between these two. To my surprise, the amount of studies trying to examine the relationship is quite limited, and the results, and following recommendations are quite controversial. Following the detailed review of all the materials, I decided to place the post in the cure category, and I will try to explain this decision.

How Coffee Works on your Body and Mind?

When you drink coffee, or any other caffeinated drink, as a matter of fact, whether it's a soft drink, caffeinated tea or energy drink  � the caffeine uptake will put your body on the special internal rollercoaster. Upon consumption, caffeine begins its effects by initiating uncontrolled neuron firing in your brain. This excess neuron activity triggers your pituitary gland to secrete a hormone that tells your adrenal glands to produce adrenalin. Therefore, caffeine puts your body in this "fight-or-flight" state, which might not be quite necessary for you risk-free daily job at your computer desk. And there is a payout coming later. When this adrenal high wears off, you feel more fatigue, irritability, headache or confusion.

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Stephen Cherniske in his book, Caffeine Blues explains your body's "perspective" of this constant state: "Imagine you lived in a country that was always under threat of attack. No matter where you went, there was a perpetual state of alert. Not only that, but your defenses were constantly being depleted and weakened. Does that sound stressful? Caffeine produces the same effect on your body, like fighting a war on multiple fronts at the same time." Cherniske calls your body's constant state of alert "caffeinism," which is characterized by fatigue, anxiety, mood swings, sleep disturbance, irritability and depression.

A dosage of 50 to 100 mg caffeine, the amount in one cup of coffee, will produce a temporary increase in mental clarity and energy levels while simultaneously reducing drowsiness. It also improves muscular-coordinated work activity, such as typing. Through its CNS stimulation, caffeine increases brain activity; however, it also stimulates the cardiovascular system, raising blood pressure and heart rate. It generally speeds up our body by increasing our basal metabolic rate (BMR), which burns more calories.

Can Caffeine Cause Depression?

After reviewing the coffee effect on the body, it would seem more likely, that caffeine would cause anxiety rather than depression � which is true for some people. On the other hand, there is a possibility that caffeine makes the symptoms of depression worse in several ways. One way is by increasing levels of the stress hormone cortisol � a hormone produced by the adrenal gland that's associated with feelings of depression.

Other consideration should be taken in an account. Caffeine usually increases energy levels and boosts alertness initially, but this is followed several hours later by a "crash" where a person feels fatigued and wiped out. In a person who's already depressed, this can make the symptoms worse � or lead to a cycle of drinking caffeine all day just to stay functional. Caffeine also causes rapid fluctuations in blood sugar levels which can worsen the symptoms of depression.

Validity of these warnings has been confirmed by research results, completed in Kansas State University, checking the hypotheses that drinking caffeinated coffee can lead to feelings of depression. Commenting on the study results, scientists explained that caffeine only increases energy temporarily. When caffeine is consumed, it begins to lower the level of sugar in the body's blood supply. About 4 hours after drinking the coffee, the body experiences significantly low blood sugar levels, which causes feelings of depression and fatigue.

And finally multiple studies have proven that stopping abruptly caffeine consumption can worsen depression if you regularly consumed it before, remaining regular withdrawal symptoms in the process of cleansing from other drugs as nicotine, for example. Quitting caffeine can also cause other signs and symptoms such as headaches, fatigue and irritability.

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Coffee as Mild Antidepressant

To be fair, we should also present another side of a story. Several recent studies have shown that coffee may function as an antidepressant, acting on the central nervous system and has mild antidepressant effects.

Coffee and Depression studies have found that drinking coffee reduced the rate of suicide in the large demographic populations observed.

The first study that raised the topic of coffee as an antidepressant was done in 1993. In this study, which included the relationship between Coffee and Depression, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program studied 128,934 nurses and found that coffee drinkers were significantly less likely to commit suicide than nondrinkers.  This Nurse's Health Study did not go so far as to establish a causal relationship between coffee drinking and the drop in the suicide rate as far as coffee and depression goes. The study stated that it could be that the coffee itself had little to do with it, but that people who drink coffee share other characteristics that make them less likely to commit suicide.

A second study on coffee including this relationship confirmed these controversial findings and went farther as to state that it was the coffee that dropped the suicide rate. This study was especially noteworthy, as it was large-scale and adjusted for a wide range of other factors.

Published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 1996, the study followed more than 86,000 registered nurses in the United States between 34 and 59 years of age for ten years. Dr. Ichiro Kawachi, an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School who led this study, looked at the data from the Kaiser study hoping to dispute their findings. Instead of what he expected to find, he confirmed the original study's results with his own: using coffee as an antidepressant reduced the suicide rate in these nurses.

Dr. Kawachi discovered that the nurses he studied who drank two to three cups of coffee a day were one-third less likely to commit suicide as those who didn't drink any. The nurses who drank more than four cups of coffee a day were 58% less likely to commit suicide than their colleagues who drank less. This study of female nurses found eleven suicides among those who drank two to three cups of caffeinated coffee per day, compared with twenty-one cases among those who said they almost never drank coffee.

Dr. Kawachi suggested that whether it is the caffeine or some other coffee ingredient, coffee does seem to have at least a mild antidepressant effect. The caffeine in coffee may have mood-elevating actions through effects on neurotransmitters such as dopamine and acetylcholine.

Summary

1.       Moderate amount of the caffeinated drinks consumption may have slight positive effect on the depressive symptoms appearance, especially for people performing the stressful and complicated job functions. Mild antidepressant and stimulating effect helps the body to "wake up" and got to work. Moderation is a key, since excessive amount of the daily dose of caffeine may cause the body to get "over burnt", draining physical and emotional energy out.

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2.       The Mayo Clinic suggested that there is still no substantial link been found connecting directly caffeine and depression. Instead, the depression may be linked to a lack of sleep related to caffeine. Having a good night sleep is very important, so do not drink coffee or any other caffeinated drinks in the evening. It is recommended to confine your coffee drinking to before noon as a general rule.
3.       Depression symptoms may occur as a result of caffeine withdrawal, especially among people who consume caffeine regularly. An individual withdrawing from caffeine because of a chronic toxic overdose may experience symptoms of withdrawal including headache, nausea, nervousness, reduced alertness and depressed mood. These symptoms are most acute during the first 20-48 hours, but they may persist for as long as 7 days. Discontinuation of caffeine at even a moderate intake can lead to these symptoms.
4.       While proven link between caffeine and depression has to be discovered yet, scientists claim that there should be no relations between decaffeinated coffee and depression symptoms, focusing on caffeine as the primary troublemaker.
5.       And final, but very important point: if you drink coffee, at least do not feel guilty about that!

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Sources and Additional Information:



Monday, June 20, 2011

Back4Sure � Comprehensive solution for all your Data Backup needs

We have already discussed earlier that there is no way to safe guard your valuable data on you of your storage devices. No matter how careful and thoughtful you are, the Hard Drive may crash anytime, in some cases without early warning signs. USB and DVD also cannot guarantee secure long-time operations, whatever you do. Therefore, having backup or backups is the only way to ensure you will not lose your most valuable information. Back4Sure offers you convenient solution.

Back4Sure is a freeware program for making backup copies of your documents, pictures, music, videos and anything you find valuable. The files to copy may be distributed all over your computer, even on different drives. Back4Sure will gather all the files you've selected for backup and make a copy of them into a specified target directory. The folder with the drive letter of the source drive and the directory structure will be automatically created in the target directory, so all your files will be stored correctly and easy to find. In this process, Back4Sure will only copy files that have changed since the last backup, so even a large number of files can be backed up as fast as possible.

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You can use a USB flash drive, a second hard drive or a network share as backup target. With the built-in compression of Back4Sure you can save space and especially on flash disks lots of time when you make a backup of thousands of files.

Back4Sure does not use a proprietary file format to store your data. All files are simply copied or alternatively stored in standardized Zip or 7Zip archives. This way you don't need Back4Sure to get your files back, your file manager will do the all necessary recovery operations.

Additionally, Back4Sure has an option to clean up the target directory. With this option you can remove orphaned files, that only exist in the target directory, but do not have corresponding source files anymore. This backup mode helps to keep only the data that you really need.

While offering lots of options for the backup process, Back4Sure is still handy and flexible: It occupies less than 4 MB of storage space and can easily be run from a flash disk without installation. It does not leave any traces on the host system and does not install any kind of extensions or services.

The program was tested under the MS Windows versions 2000, XP, 7 and 7 64-bit.

Some features of Back4Sure

  • Freeware: Back4Sure is unlimited freeware for private and commercial use.
  • Easy folder selection: You can easily select multiple folders from the directory tree to include them into the backup set. Just as easy you can exclude certain folders from the backup.
  • Full Unicode support: Back4Sure can handle Unicode filenames. They are shown correctly in the directory selection tree and will be copied without errors. That is an important feature for multi-language data structure on your PC.
  • Long paths support: Even very large and deeply nested directory structures (path length up to 32000 characters) are no problem for Back4Sure.
  • Efficient filter system: You can easily create filter set to determine which files to include in or to exclude from the backup. And this not only for the whole backup, but also for individual folders.
  • Compression option with adjustable directory depth and encryption: Backups may be stored in a compressed format. If you choose to enable compression, you can specify the directory depth from which on all files are packed into a single archive file. This way you can avoid very large archives and improve overall safety of you backup process. Compressed backup archives can also be encrypted. If you choose the 7Zip format, even the filenames can be hidden.
  • Cleanup the target directory: After larger restructuring of your file organization, lots of files in the backup target directory do not have corresponding source files anymore. Using the cleanup function of Back4Sure you can easily remove those orphaned files from the target directory.
  • Logging of the backup process: All actions performed during backup may be logged into a plain text file. You can choose between two different formats of the log file: either an easy to read version or version in INI format optimized for automated analysis.
  • Executing actions before and after the backup: If you are an advanced user you may engoj an opportunity to specify actions to execute before and after the backup process, e.g. running programs or scripts or sending a mail with the log file of the just finished backup job.
  • Shutting down the computer after backup: Back4Sure can be instructed to shutdown the computer after all backup tasks have finished.
  • Creating desktop links to backup jobs: You can easily create a desktop link to a backup job from within the program, from which the backup job can be directly started by just double clicking it.
  • Support for command line parameters: Back4Sure supports some useful command line parameters. This offers the possibility to control Back4Sure via scripts and also allows fully automated execution.
  • Portable use or fixed installation: Besides the normal setup file for a fixed installation, a zipped version for use from a USB drive, not requiring installation on the Hard Drive, is also available.
  • No backup scheduler
    Why is this a feature? Well, Back4sure can be fully controlled via command line parameters so you can easily use the built-in task scheduler from Windows. Thus you save another unnecessary background service.

Developers website: http://ping.fm/MxrQR

Downloading page: http://ping.fm/ynjKN


Low linguistic ability in early life linked to Alzheimer's later on

Nun Study as unique source for the long-term Alzheimer's research

In 1991, David A. Snowdon, Ph.D., Professor at Sanders-Brown Center on Aging College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, began what has come to be known as the Nun Study. Participants in this study are 678 American members of the School Sisters of Notre Dame religious congregation. The nuns in the study are age 75 to 106.

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The Nun Study is an ongoing, one-of-a-kind resource for the study of brain diseases in the elderly. It is expected that data, tissue, and genetic material collected in this study will be used by scientists for decades into the future.

Each of the 678 participants in the Nun Study agreed to participate in annual assessments of their cognitive and physical function, medical exams, blood drawing for genetic and nutritional studies, and brain donation at death for neuropathologic studies. The Nun Study represents the largest brain donor population in the world. In addition, the sisters have given investigators full access to their convent and medical records. The convent archives are particularly useful in our study of Alzheimer's disease because they contain accurate risk factor data spanning the entire lifespan of the participants. Accurate information on early and mid-life risk factors is difficult or impossible to obtain in most other studies on Alzheimer's disease because individuals with this memory disorder cannot accurately recall their history. The convent archives contain a wealth of information including baptismal records, birth certificates, socioeconomic characteristics of the family, education documentation, autobiographies written in early, mid, and late life, as well as residential, social, and occupational data describing their mid and late lives.

Many factors that confound (or confuse) the findings of other studies are either eliminated or minimized because of the relatively homogeneous adult lifestyles and environments of these women. Participants in this study are non-smokers, drink little if any alcohol, have the same marital status and reproductive history, have lived in similar housing, held similar jobs, and had similar access to preventive and medical care.

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Findings from Nun Study

Some of the findings received from the Nun Study confirm the results, received from other researches, but there are some absolutely new insights obtained for the additional risk factors and causal relationship between personal characteristics and traits to the chance of the Alzheimer's development at some moment in life.

Among the findings were:
1. Those, who had revealed better linguistic abilities in early life, were less likely to have dementia later.
2. Those, who demonstrated set of positive emotions in early life, had greater longevity.
3. Low linguistic ability in early life was associated both with dementia in later life and less longevity.
4. Those with low serum folate levels were more likely to have Alzheimer's disease of other dementia.
5. There was no significant relationship found between dental amalgams (silver fillings) and dementia.
6. Those with brain infarcts had poorer cognitive function and a higher prevalence of dementia.
7. Dementia was unrecognized by nursing staff in a number of cases.
8. Higher education in early life was associated with less cognitive decline in later life.

The study has confirmed, for example, that a history of stroke and head trauma can boost your chances of coming down with debilitating symptoms of Alzheimer's later in life; and that a college education and an active intellectual life, on the other hand, may actually protect you from the effects of the disease.

One of the most surprising results of the Nun Study, however, is the discovery that the way we express ourselves in language, even at an early age, can foretell how long we'll live and how vulnerable we'll be to Alzheimer's decades down the line. After analyzing short autobiographies of almost 200 nuns, written when they first took holy orders, he found that the sisters who had expressed the most positive emotions in their writing and who expressed the better linguistic abilities as girls ended up living longest, and that those on the road to Alzheimer's expressed fewer and fewer positive emotions as their mental functions declined.

So, the study found that low idea density shown in the writings of the young women was strongly linked with low cognitive test scores and the presence of Alzheimer's disease in late life. For example, the nuns with low idea density scores were 30 times more likely to do poorly on a standard measure of cognitive function, the Mini-Mental State Exam, than those with more complex writings. An even more dramatic difference was observed when cognitive ability and characteristics of brain tissue were compared in the nuns who died. Neurofibrillary tangles of Alzheimer's disease appeared in about 90 percent of those nuns who had low linguistic ability in early life.

Among other findings there are some, which still do not have the valid scientific explanation, as why there is not always the direct correlation between the medical evidence for the Alzheimer's disease appearance in the brain and the actual behavioral symptoms doctors can see on these patients.

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"Most of the brains neatly fit our expectations, with little or no evidence of disease in a tack-sharp sister and abundant damage seen in a sister who had dementia," Dr. Snowdon wrote. "But sometimes (Dr. Bill) Markesbery (the neurologist who did the autopsies) finds little evidence of Alzheimer's in a sister who had the classic symptoms of the disease. And sometimes brains from other sisters who appeared mentally intact when alive show extensive evidence of the disease."

This surprising information wasn't a set-up by the researchers.  In fact, Dr. Snowdon noted that Dr. Markesbery was not informed prior to conducting the autopsy about the mental status of that particular sister. After the autopsy, Dr. Markesbery met with Dr. Snowdon and the study's neuropsychologist, Dr. Kathryn Riley, to compare notes.


In one case - that of Sister Maria - Dr. Markesbery found that the nun had some plaques and tangles, but the number was not large. The nun's brain itself weighed within the normal range (most Alzheimer's brains have lower weights). Furthermore, the sister's brain rated Stage II on the Braak scale. (The Braak scale defines six distinct stages of the disease based on an autopsy. Stage 0 indicates the general absence of tangles. Stages 1-VI described the increasing range of the number and spread of the tangles throughout the brain.)


Following Dr. Markesbery's report, Dr. Riley shared Sister Maria's scores on three evaluations conducted prior to her death. These evaluations showed that Sister Maria had suffered progressive loss of her mental, physical and social functions in a way that was consistent with Alzheimer's disease.


Yet the reverse can happen as well. For instance, Dr. Markesbery's autopsy of Sister Bernadette's brain yielded the findings that she had Braak Stage VI, which indicates the most severe presence of Alzheimer's. However, Dr. Riley's report on the cognitive evaluations conducted in the years prior to Sister Bernadette's death showed that the nun was mentally sharp.


 "The Nun Study's real eye-opening findings...are the ones that add to the evidence that Alzheimer's is not a yes/no disease," Dr. Snowdon wrote. "Rather it is a process - one that evolves over decades and interacts with many other factors." Using the data from the Nun's Study, Dr. Snowdon pointed out, "Of sisters in stages I or II, only 22 percent had evidence of dementia. For stages III and IV, that jumped to 43 percent. And by stages V and VI, 70 percent of the sisters had dementia."

While there is no magical cure for Alzheimer's so far, the findings from Nun Study may give a hope that even you may not be able to eliminate the negative neurochemical changes in your brain, you still can fight the symptoms actual appearance by filling your life with regular physical and mental exercises, healthy diet, lowering stress, attempting to happy and present, etc. This way, you can be proactive in altering how this disease may affect you at some point, if you have predisposition, and follow in Sister Bernadette's footsteps, living a long and vital life.

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ICANN supports unlimited imagination in choosing Top-Level Domains

The Board of ICANN, which controls top-level domains and Internet connectivity, has voted to allow for expansion of new top-level domains (TLDs) to include an almost unlimited number of broad, unlimited strings as new dots, including "almost any word in any language" and even using Facebook Emoticons like musical notes.

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That is going to versify enormously the web addresses structure, as currently there are only 22 TLDs, giving amazing chance to improve branding opportunities. But… not for everyone!

 A factsheet released by ICANN says the evaluation fee is approximately $185,000 and applicants will have to pay a $5,000 deposit per requested application slot when registering. ICANN says the fee is set to recover costs associated with the program to ensure it is fully funded and revenue neutral. According to the application guidebook, "this deposit amount will be credited against the evaluation fee for each application. The deposit requirement is in place to help reduce the risk of frivolous access to the online application system."

Also, the application form will be quite complicated and is expected to be 360 pages long.

So brands like Coca-Cola could ask to create ".cola" or ".coke" and Intel might request ".intel" TLD. That would be almost personal domain, but the biggest interest might be in getting attractive generic TLDs, like ".cafe", ".bank", or ".store".

"ICANN has opened the Internet's naming system to unleash the global human imagination," Rod Beckstrom, president and chief executive officer of ICANN said in a statement. "Today's decision respects the rights of groups to create new Top Level Domains in any language or script. We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind."

Just reminding to all blog readers, that three months ago, ICANN approved new specific top-level domain ". XXX" for sites with pornographic content after long, full of controversy, debates.

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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Why Life Expectancy Increased Around the World?

After remaining fairly constant for most of human history, life expectancy (the average number of years a person can expect to live) has nearly doubled in the past century. There is little disagreement over these facts. Scholarly opinion diverges, however, as to whether these increases will continue or whether human longevity is approaching its limit.

Looking to the United States as example, it can be noticed that through the first half of the 20th century, improved nutrition and the control of infectious diseases drastically reduced child and infant mortality�developments that produced astonishing advances in life expectancy.

By 1950, penicillin and sulfa drugs had yielded the first substantial decrease in U.S. adult mortality. In the latter part of the century, continued improvements in living standards, health behaviors, and medical care also lowered mortality from chronic diseases, especially heart disease and stroke. This trend was also mirrored in all industrial nations.

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Medical Reasons for Mortality Decrease

As was mentioned earlier, the main reasons for the increased life expectancy are linked to the success of the clinical medicine, helping people to live longer and in better health. Among them:

1.       Infectious disease mortality:

* Better control of the spread of infection (sanitation, water, quarantine).
* Better personal hygiene (cleanliness, no close contact with sick persons).
* Anti-bacterial drugs (sulfonamides, antibiotics).

2.        Cardiovascular Disease Mortality:

* Decline in tobacco smoking.
* Changes in diet, reduction in consumption of saturated fat, cholesterol.
* Better control for high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.
 Better diagnosis and treatment of heart disease and stroke.
* More and better coronary-care units and emergency services.

3.       Decrease in Cancer Mortality:

* Better control of infection (H. pylori, human papilloma virus, hepatitis).
* Decline in cigarette smoking.
Improved treatment (surgery, chemotherapy).
* Better screening and earlier treatment.  

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Factors influencing Life Expectancy

The main social cause of the life expectancy increase is considered income increase and all issues associated with it like ability to afford medical treatment, better housing and nutrition. That is understandable, and the related studies confirmed that people with better education, income, and social status have noticeable life expectancy advantages over those in lower socioeconomic statuses.

Principal factors that influence life expectancy are technology, education, disposable income, urbanization, inequality, healthcare, and health risks/epidemics. Basic technology consists of inventions that reach to most places in the world and permeate the developed countries. Since these inventions are usually relatively old, they are both ubiquitous and inexpensive or, if expensive, they are supplied by most governments. Advanced technology, which should also have a positive effect on life expectancy, consists of recent inventions, many of which are not widely distributed worldwide mostly due to high costs and interface issues. GDP per capita is expected, among other effects, to influence the effects of advanced technology on life expectancy.

Education is having a positive effect on life expectancy because as education increases so does the knowledge of how to lead a healthier life. This knowledge might, for example, take the form of improved nutrition or reduced exposure to various health risks, such as indoor pollution exposures.

Disposable income is positively related to life expectancy for diverse reasons. As disposable income increases people have more resources for better shelter, food, and medical care.

Urbanization might seem to have a positive effect on life expectancy because as urbanization increases so does the accessibility, other things equal, to life-extending resources such as doctors, medicine, and education. However, urbanization also exerts negative effects such as stress, pollution, and congestion (with more rapid spread of infectious disease).

As the quality of healthcare increases, so should the average life expectancy. This factor is partially reflected in income, education, and perhaps urbanization.

People engage in many risky behaviors that compromise their health status and longevity. One of the foremost health risks today is tobacco smoking, so for the countries where the tobacco smoking is more socially accepted, the negative impact on life expectancy is expected.  A second risky behavior with potentially enormous implications for life expectancy is that of unprotected sex in the presence of the AIDS virus. This variable is of particular importance in that it strikes predominantly people in the younger age groups that would not otherwise be likely to die for many years. This is in contrast to the chronic diseases of aging, such as heart disease and cancer, whose cures would not dramatically affect overall life expectancy.

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Life Expectancy per Country

Based on this observation, the countries with higher income per capita should enjoy the better longevity for its residents. General trend is obvious, but some deviation from the general trend can be seen:


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As you can see from the chart, more developed countries generally have higher life expectancies than less developed countries. However, some countries like Saudi Arabia have very high GNP per capita but don't have high life expectancies. Alternatively, there are countries, like China and Cuba, that have low GNP per capita, have reasonably high life expectancies.

Currently, microstates Monaco, Macau, San Marino, and Andorra, along with Japan have the world's highest life expectancies (89.73, 84.41, 83.01, 82.43, and 82.25, respectively).

Unfortunately, AIDS has taken its toll in Africa, Asia and even Latin America by reducing life expectancy in 34 different countries (26 of them in Africa). Africa is home to the world's lowest life expectancies with Swaziland (31.88 years), Angola (38.2 years) and Zambia (38.63 years) rounding out the bottom.


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Monday, June 13, 2011

Free Portable MP3 Cutter and Editor

If you do not belong to the people who write the music and create sophisticated sound effects, you may not need complicated and features-rich audio editor utility. But, as regular computer user, you still have to deal once a while with need to modify mp3 tracks on your PC.

Just several possible situation of non-professional mp3 modification:
         Trimming audio file to create personalized ringtone for your mobile phone.
         Changing volume for your audio clip for various purposes.
         Creation of fade out and fade in sound effects, while preparing sound track for your slide show.

If you mentally prepare inventory of all activities you do with audio files on your PC, you will definitely be able to add other situation, when you need simple and straightforward mp3 file editing.

Free portable utility from MuseTips - MP3 Cutter and Editor � will be quite handy for all situations mentioned above and many other.

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The following commands are supported:
         Delete Selected: Deletes selected part from the mp3 document.
         Delete Unselected: Deletes unselected part from the mp3 document.
         Change Volume: Changes audio volume by specifying a percentage value.
         Maximize Volume: Increases volume as high as possible without distortion.
         Fade In: Gradually increases the volume throughout the selection.
         Fade Out: Gradually decreases the volume throughout the selection.
         Convert to Stereo: Duplicates mono track to make a stereo track.
         Convert to Mono: Mixes all channels to make a mono track.


Direct Download: http://ping.fm/853y3

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Drinking Coffee Linking to the Depression Symptoms

When I started to work on the article, exploring causal relationship between coffee and depression, I was not quite sure what category this post will belong: to the depression causes, or to the depression cures. There is no doubt, that there should be some link between these two. To my surprise, the amount of studies trying to examine the relationship is quite limited, and the results, and following recommendations are quite controversial. Following the detailed review of all the materials, I decided to place the post in the cure category, and I will try to explain this decision.

How Coffee Works on your Body and Mind?

When you drink coffee, or any other caffeinated drink, as a matter of fact, whether it's a soft drink, caffeinated tea or energy drink  � the caffeine uptake will put your body on the special internal rollercoaster. Upon consumption, caffeine begins its effects by initiating uncontrolled neuron firing in your brain. This excess neuron activity triggers your pituitary gland to secrete a hormone that tells your adrenal glands to produce adrenalin. Therefore, caffeine puts your body in this "fight-or-flight" state, which might not be quite necessary for you risk-free daily job at your computer desk. And there is a payout coming later. When this adrenal high wears off, you feel more fatigue, irritability, headache or confusion.

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Stephen Cherniske in his book, Caffeine Blues explains your body's "perspective" of this constant state: "Imagine you lived in a country that was always under threat of attack. No matter where you went, there was a perpetual state of alert. Not only that, but your defenses were constantly being depleted and weakened. Does that sound stressful? Caffeine produces the same effect on your body, like fighting a war on multiple fronts at the same time." Cherniske calls your body's constant state of alert "caffeinism," which is characterized by fatigue, anxiety, mood swings, sleep disturbance, irritability and depression.

A dosage of 50 to 100 mg caffeine, the amount in one cup of coffee, will produce a temporary increase in mental clarity and energy levels while simultaneously reducing drowsiness. It also improves muscular-coordinated work activity, such as typing. Through its CNS stimulation, caffeine increases brain activity; however, it also stimulates the cardiovascular system, raising blood pressure and heart rate. It generally speeds up our body by increasing our basal metabolic rate (BMR), which burns more calories.

Can Caffeine Cause Depression?

After reviewing the coffee effect on the body, it would seem more likely, that caffeine would cause anxiety rather than depression � which is true for some people. On the other hand, there is a possibility that caffeine makes the symptoms of depression worse in several ways. One way is by increasing levels of the stress hormone cortisol � a hormone produced by the adrenal gland that's associated with feelings of depression.

Other consideration should be taken in an account. Caffeine usually increases energy levels and boosts alertness initially, but this is followed several hours later by a "crash" where a person feels fatigued and wiped out. In a person who's already depressed, this can make the symptoms worse � or lead to a cycle of drinking caffeine all day just to stay functional. Caffeine also causes rapid fluctuations in blood sugar levels which can worsen the symptoms of depression.

Validity of these warnings has been confirmed by research results, completed in Kansas State University, checking the hypotheses that drinking caffeinated coffee can lead to feelings of depression. Commenting on the study results, scientists explained that caffeine only increases energy temporarily. When caffeine is consumed, it begins to lower the level of sugar in the body's blood supply. About 4 hours after drinking the coffee, the body experiences significantly low blood sugar levels, which causes feelings of depression and fatigue.

And finally multiple studies have proven that stopping abruptly caffeine consumption can worsen depression if you regularly consumed it before, remaining regular withdrawal symptoms in the process of cleansing from other drugs as nicotine, for example. Quitting caffeine can also cause other signs and symptoms such as headaches, fatigue and irritability.

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Coffee as Mild Antidepressant

To be fair, we should also present another side of a story. Several recent studies have shown that coffee may function as an antidepressant, acting on the central nervous system and has mild antidepressant effects.

Coffee and Depression studies have found that drinking coffee reduced the rate of suicide in the large demographic populations observed.

The first study that raised the topic of coffee as an antidepressant was done in 1993. In this study, which included the relationship between Coffee and Depression, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program studied 128,934 nurses and found that coffee drinkers were significantly less likely to commit suicide than nondrinkers.  This Nurse's Health Study did not go so far as to establish a causal relationship between coffee drinking and the drop in the suicide rate as far as coffee and depression goes. The study stated that it could be that the coffee itself had little to do with it, but that people who drink coffee share other characteristics that make them less likely to commit suicide.

A second study on coffee including this relationship confirmed these controversial findings and went farther as to state that it was the coffee that dropped the suicide rate. This study was especially noteworthy, as it was large-scale and adjusted for a wide range of other factors.

Published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 1996, the study followed more than 86,000 registered nurses in the United States between 34 and 59 years of age for ten years. Dr. Ichiro Kawachi, an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School who led this study, looked at the data from the Kaiser study hoping to dispute their findings. Instead of what he expected to find, he confirmed the original study's results with his own: using coffee as an antidepressant reduced the suicide rate in these nurses.

Dr. Kawachi discovered that the nurses he studied who drank two to three cups of coffee a day were one-third less likely to commit suicide as those who didn't drink any. The nurses who drank more than four cups of coffee a day were 58% less likely to commit suicide than their colleagues who drank less. This study of female nurses found eleven suicides among those who drank two to three cups of caffeinated coffee per day, compared with twenty-one cases among those who said they almost never drank coffee.

Dr. Kawachi suggested that whether it is the caffeine or some other coffee ingredient, coffee does seem to have at least a mild antidepressant effect. The caffeine in coffee may have mood-elevating actions through effects on neurotransmitters such as dopamine and acetylcholine.

Summary

1.       Moderate amount of the caffeinated drinks consumption may have slight positive effect on the depressive symptoms appearance, especially for people performing the stressful and complicated job functions. Mild antidepressant and stimulating effect helps the body to "wake up" and got to work. Moderation is a key, since excessive amount of the daily dose of caffeine may cause the body to get "over burnt", draining physical and emotional energy out.

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2.       The Mayo Clinic suggested that there is still no substantial link been found connecting directly caffeine and depression. Instead, the depression may be linked to a lack of sleep related to caffeine. Having a good night sleep is very important, so do not drink coffee or any other caffeinated drinks in the evening. It is recommended to confine your coffee drinking to before noon as a general rule.
3.       Depression symptoms may occur as a result of caffeine withdrawal, especially among people who consume caffeine regularly. An individual withdrawing from caffeine because of a chronic toxic overdose may experience symptoms of withdrawal including headache, nausea, nervousness, reduced alertness and depressed mood. These symptoms are most acute during the first 20-48 hours, but they may persist for as long as 7 days. Discontinuation of caffeine at even a moderate intake can lead to these symptoms.
4.       While proven link between caffeine and depression has to be discovered yet, scientists claim that there should be no relations between decaffeinated coffee and depression symptoms, focusing on caffeine as the primary troublemaker.
5.       And final, but very important point: if you drink coffee, at least do not feel guilty about that!

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