To realize the aspects of cellular metabolism as well as rejuvenation, we have to know the inner processes of the cell-in specific, the mitochondria, often known as the “cellular power plants” as they metabolize food-derived chemicals to generate energy. Mitochondria are accountable for transforming nutrients and also oxygen into the energy-yielding molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in order to supply the cell’s functions.Without having energy, the cell is unable to repair on its own, leading to cellular breakdown.

The DNA within the mitochondria is in great threat due to the free radicals created in this little furnace in the course of energy production. The cell readily repairs most of the harm done to nuclear DNA; nevertheless, the DNA within the mitochondria can’t be automatically repaired. Consequently, substantial DNA harm builds up with time can turns back down the mitochondria, producing the cells to die and also the organism to grow older.

Free radical as well as the inflammation concepts have been pretty much overlooked for decades. But, researchers currently identify and admit the significance of free radicals in the aging system. Aging is basically the outcome from accumulation of changes due to reactions in the body started by extremely reactive molecules called “free radicals.” The responses activated by free radicals are considered to be an important reason behind aging, disease development or even death.

The body’s immunity process towards these types of free radicals are known as anti-oxidants. If the quantity of anti-oxidants in your system is not enough to do fight with the free radicals, these kinds of highly reactive molecules conveniently react with important molecules in the body, for example DNA, producing mutations (modifications) in the series of genetic material. The deposition of responses is then considered to cause the advancement of aging and also degenerative diseases.

Most of the free radicals are extracted from oxygen. Therefore, the harm being carried out by these types of free radicals is called oxidative damage. If a cell carries a large amount of free radicals, we refer this as oxidative stress, and oxidative stress contributes to the generation of chemicals which produce inflammation within the cell.

Free radicals occur just for a nanosecond and so actually do very small direct harm to cellular molecules. In contrast, what they do execute, in their very limited existence, is the initiation of an inflammatory procede, which may go on for several hours or even days. The extended life of the inflammatory cascade results in the majority of the cellular damage which brings to aging and age-related diseases.

Our bodies can, in fact create a a number of enzyme anti-oxidants which reduce or modify free radicals. (An enzyme is a protein which increases the speed of chemical reactions.) They are known as endogenous anti-oxidants as they’re produced internally inside the body. Other ways of acquiring anti-oxidants is from our diet or by having nutritional supplements.

We’re all aware of most of these anti-oxidants, such as vitamins C and also E, also the multitude of phytonutrients which is found in fresh fruits as well as vegetables. Anti-oxidants are one type of phytonutrients, although there are various. Anti-oxidants perform by providing an additional oxygen molecule to those molecules which are lacking one, known as free radicals. When anti-oxidants do not provide the missing oxygen molecule into free radicals, the free radicals will acquire an oxygen molecule from some other compound in the body, which was previously healthy and also intact by itself a free radical. Free radicals aren’t ‘baddies’, basically unstable chemical molecules, however the impact they’ve on the body is damaging, as they possibly can harm cells. Free radicals are created as a regular by product of the metabolic operations of our cells, and also by our defense mechanisms because it counteracts the impact of pathogens and also the environment.

Free radicals have an effect on the skin in 3 major ways. They are able to modify the fatty layers in your cellular membranes. These types of fatty layers give shape to the cell, and also regulate which nutrients and some other agents can move inside and out. They are able to modify the DNA in cells, which usually initiate the possibility of serious illnesses, may make the skin likely to wrinkles and also sagging prior to it’s normal biological period. Modified DNA produces a blueprint for collagen and also elastin fibers that do not work as healthy, common ones probably would. Also to compound issues, the skin’s pores require healthy collagen and elastin fibers to remain tight as well as small. Therefore a further unwanted outcome is open, large pores.

Free radicals additionally create a process known as the cross-linking of collagen fibers. This happens within the skin’s dermis, on account of collagen and elastin fibers thus turning out to be hard, thick, after binding together. Damaging alterations in our muscle mass, referred to as sarcopenia, together with the loss of critical bone mass (osteopenia and osteoporosis), also take place.

Things to Consider When Selecting a Resveratrol Supplement

We recommend Perfect Resgrape. Perfect Resgrape contains Only All Natural 99% Trans-Resveratrol…
PLUS Whole Food Muscadine Grapes.

Each serving of Perfect ResGrape includes:
200 mg of 99% Pure Trans-Resveratrol
1000 mg of Whole-Food Muscadine Grapes
(serving size is 2 capsules)

We also recommend Acai Berry Select which contains Green Tea extract(225 mg), Acai Berry Extract (50 mg), Chromium (75 mcg), and L-theanine (8 mg).

Together these two supplements Perfect Resgrape and Acai Berry Select will work in a synergistic fashion for your health benefits and will help you lose weight by increasing metabolism and fat oxidation and also help increase energy and fight fatigue so you have more energy for exercise and burning off calories. Great for your weight loss and anti-aging efforts.

Acai Berry Provides the vital antioxidants to fight free radicals and promote healthy body function and over all health. Similar to caffeine, Green Tea has been proven through research to increase our metabolic rate. It burns fat, and also contains a ton of antioxidants as well. Chromium is an essential mineral for normal metabolism of blood sugar. It helps regulate the sugar level in the blood stream. There is minimal research into the direct weight loss benefits of Chromium, how ever there has been no negative results. L-theanine doesn’t directly effect weight loss it’s been shown to reduce our stress levels.

There are big differences in the various resveratrol supplements currently available. Here are a few things to look for:

Does the product contain cis-resveratrol or trans-resveratrol?
Trans-resveratrol is the type of resveratrol that is considered nutritionally relevant, not cis-resveratrol.

What is the potency of the trans-resveratrol?
This is a huge point to consider. There is a big difference between 50% purity and 99% purity trans-resveratrol. Consumers should be sure to read the resveratrol ingredients label of any product being considered to see what they are buying.

Why is Muscadine Grape Resveratrol so Good?
What is the source of the resveratrol? Is it just from Japanese knotweed? Or is it from Muscadine grapes (a great source) or from some other source? Muscadine grapes are a terrifically healthy grape. Muscadines are also an excellent source of resveratrol. The antioxidant value of Muscadine grapes is stunning. Testing has shown ORAC value better than 2 times that of the pomegranate, almost 3 times that of the blueberry, over 3 times the blackberry and over 9 times that of non-muscadine grapes. Remember that many factors affect testing so definitive comparisons are impossible to make, but the evidence is extremely strong that Muscadine grapes are likely far better than ordinary red grapes. Not only are Muscadine grapes an antioxidant powerhouse but they’re also a potentially great source of resveratrol.

Avoid Low Purity Trans Resveratrol Products That Contain Large Amounts of Emodin – What is Emodin? – Why Avoid Emodin?
Some products are made with only low-purity trans-resveratrol from Japanese Knotweed. These products usually contain high amounts of Emodin, which is a problem. Emodin can cause gastrointestinal issues for many people because it can act as a laxative and can cause stomach cramps and more.

Resveratrol Products to Avoid

Avoid resveratrol supplement products which are made from low-purity trans-resveratrol, because they contain unacceptably high amounts of Emodin. Emodin can act as a laxative and cause stomach cramps and intestinal distress. Read more about it on this website.

Avoid resveratrol products that contain additional ingredients such as additives, fillers, or other substances.

Avoid any supplement when the label says it contains a “proprietary blend.” If there is no ingredient label displayed, you don’t want it. If the company won’t tell you what is in it, you shouldn’t take it.

Having a healthy body is more than just about knowing what to eat and what to avoid. It is more than just about avoiding the common dietary pitfalls that cause people to overeat and gain unwanted weight. It can also help a lot if you have an able buddy to get you through your diet goal. Caralluma Fimbriata proves to be a nice option.

Caralluma Fimbriata is a plant-based supplement that can aid you well with your dietary goals. It is a revolutionary product – something new to Americans – that will help you against overeating, accumulation of body fats, and loss of muscle mass.

Caralluma Fimbriata is an edible, succulent plant from the cacti family that grows all over India, significantly figured in the daily diets of several native populations. It can be found just about anywhere – in the wild, in the urban centers, and even in roadside, planted as shrubs that are boundary markers in many gardens. It has been widely used for many centuries in India having significant benefits in rising energy, increasing lean muscle mass, and decreasing arm and waist circumference.

Caralluma Fimbriata serves many interesting benefits including:

* It helps block fat formation. During the Krebs cycle, a complicated chemical process, glucose is broken down into the compound pyruvic acid, which enters the mitochondria. Pyruvic acid is then broken down into acetic acid and then converted into acetyl coenzyme A and citric acid. Through this cycle, ATP is formed, which generates the needed energy for the body to perform regular daily activities. If too much energy is generated, it is stored in the body in the form of fats. The formation of acetyl coenzyme A, which is the basic building block of fatty acids, requires an enzyme called citrate lyase. If this particular enzyme is blocked, naturally, the body cannot form fat. This is where Caralluma Fimbriata proves to be significant. The plant-based supplement contains pregnane glycosides, which blocks the formation of citrate lyase, which in turn hinders the formation of fat.

* It helps control the appetite. There have been studies that showed Caralluma Fimbriata actually has the ability to suppress the appetite. That is mainly due to the supplement’s activity on the appetite-control mechanism of the brain. Caralluma Fimbriata interferes with the signals sent by the stomach to the hypothalamus. As you know, when the stomach is full, it sends signals to the hypothalamus, which controls a person’s appetite. That signal prompts the person to stop eating. In the same case, the stomach sends signals to the brain that it needs food when the person is hungry. Since there is now Caralluma Fimbriata, people can fool their brains into thinking that the stomach is full, thus, it stops craving for food. The pregnane glycosides in the dietary supplement inhibit the hunger sensory mechanism.

* It generates lean muscle mass. Formation of lean muscle is a vital part of any weight-loss program. The reason most people fail to achieve their ideal weight is that in the course of dieting, they feel naturally dull and tired. That makes them revert to their old eating habits and regain the lost weight or even more. That will not be the case, however, if you start taking Caralluma Fimbriata. Since there is an increase in lean muscle mass, they feel more energetic and vibrant.

People dread aging. No, it is not the addition of years; it is the ugly signs that say they have actually aged. It is not merely about getting old, but looking old, that matters.

The wrinkles, most especially, are the most discouraging aspects of getting old. Since the skin is the largest and the most visible organ of the human body, as soon as it changes, you will actually see it and feel it.

But the concern about aging goes beyond what is seen on the surface. Aside from worries about wrinkles and crow’s feet and visible fine lines, there should be that concern about the aging of what lies beneath – the subcutaneous fat, the bones, and the muscles.

Cellular degeneration does more than just making the skin lose its vibrancy and youthfulness. It also leads to more alarming problems such as decreased cell function and abnormal structure changes. An aging skin, however, is a sure sign that there are aging problems concerning the cells that must be fully addressed.

Eating to a Firmer Skin

What people eat reflects what they are and how they have aged. In that sense, people must make wise food choices in order to maintain that youthful glow.

An anti-inflammatory diet is the women’s first line of defense against the ugly signs of aging. A daily dose of protein combined with the right choices of carbohydrates sources can help maintain the contours and convexities of the face.

Inflammation is caused by wrong carbohydrates and lack of protein. The glycation of collagen in the skin and in all the other organs results to more pressing problems such as wrinkles, sagging muscles, and loss of tone, elasticity and resilience.

Taking Care of Blood Sugar Levels

Insulin is a critical hormone. It does not only affect the person’s ability to keep an ideal weight but also cause an inflammatory cascade as well as cellular degeneration.

Too much insulin circulating in the bloodstream can cause a handful of other ugly things like:

* Accelerating aging both internally and externally.

* Promoting obesity.

* Forming of body fats and locking them in.

* Shrinking muscle mass, which results to loss of the toned look.

To avoid the significant bad effects of elevated insulin levels, blood sugar has to be controlled and kept in order. Here are some ways to:

* Follow an anti-inflammatory diet, which is basically a high-protein, low-carb diet.

* Keep an intake of sugary and starchy foods in moderation.

* Eat the right fats that will help burn fats.

* Maintain a stable blood sugar and insulin levels.

* Protein must be taken at the start of every meal or snack.

Getting Rid of Wrinkles with Silicon

After getting into the problems beneath, it must not be forgotten that there are also problems in the surface that are as significant. To prevent wrinkles from forming, people have to make a significant lifestyle change. When the wrinkles have already formed on the skin, however, they have to think out ways on how the skin will appear smoother and more vibrant again, as it was in their youth.

Well, there’s a form of silicon known as choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid (ch-OSA), which improves the bone health benefits of both calcium and vitamin D. Thus, it will help slow down aging, reduce the appearance of wrinkles, and improve skin elasticity.

John has a knack for tennis. No, that is an understatement. He loves tennis; he lives tennis; he breathes tennis.

John has been playing since he was 8. When his father saw he was good at it, he never stopped to help John learn the ins and outs of the game. It is not as if the little boy took time to get the grip. In no time, John is playing incredibly, even when he hardly can manage to handle the racket.

Since he obviously has the skill, John took his sport to a whole new level by joining competitions after competitions. He never settled for just school sporting events. He went out of his way to bring his sport and his popularity to a whole new level. By the time he was at a ripe age of his teen, his father had been piling up sparkling trophies.

Soon enough, John accelerated to the international league. There, his tennis skills are constantly being tested. Players from other countries do not take him sitting down. They absolutely have the power to knock him down if he is ever too confident. But no, John never rested on his laurels. That’s why he kept on getting better with his sport as he goes. He spends a lot of time practicing moves, developing new tricks, and just about anything to improve his performance in every game. John obviously deserves hiss wins.

As you might have expected, it pays a lot for John to be good in his sport. His schedule is both hectic and busy. He needed to keep himself in perfect shape to meet the demands on his strength, time, and energy. But after years of being strictly focused on just tennis, it seems that the sport or his schedule is taking a toll on himself or something. He was preparing for another big competition when it hit him. John cannot seem to have the enthusiasm to go for another all-out war on the court. He is feeling too tired and run down. No, he cannot be losing his grip. He feels it is too early in his career. He still wants to achieve more, compete more, and win more games.

Before it affects his performance, his father took him to a physician to track down where his fatigue is rooted. After a thorough medical check-up, results show that he is perfectly healthy. There is no underlying disease causing his fatigue. So the physician went on to investigate further.

The first stop is John’s nutritional profile. Eating habits can usually cause such physical and mental symptoms.

“I love salads and sandwiches,” John confessed. “Because I also need to keep an ideal weight, I always use a nonfat salad dressing.” While eating salads is always recommended, his use of nonfat dressing is not. Unless he adds a good form of fat, such as EVOO, John’s body cannot absorb all the important nutrients in the salad. It was also alarming that John relied heavily on so-called power drinks for his energy. These popular beverages are very high in caffeine and sugar; a dangerous combination that leaves him exhausted and dehydrated. In fact, John also admitted to have trouble sleeping, which is obviously another side effect of consuming excessive caffeine.

John also has an ongoing lack of protein. While he is afraid of losing his tip top shape to play tennis, he obviously forgets that without adequate protein, his body enters into an accelerated aging mode. The muscles, organs, bones, cartilage, skin, and the antibodies that protect the body from disease are all made of protein. Even the enzymes that facilitate essential chemical reactions in the body — from digestion to building cells — are made of protein. If the cells do not have complete availability of all the essential amino acids, cellular repair will be not only incomplete but also much slower than it should be.

Since the body cannot store protein for future use, John should have a good source of quality protein at each meal. Ideally, he should eat three meals and two snacks per day, evenly spaced, to provide a steady flow of nutrients, fats, protein, and carbohydrates for optimum performance and to avoid physical and mental fatigue.

Repairing the Problem

Since John’s nutritional profile seems to trigger his fatigue, there is a need to repair it immediately. His eating habits need to be reformed so he could well get into the road of cellular repair and energy recovery.

John was instructed to have yogurt, hardboiled eggs, raw and unsalted nuts, olives, water, cans of salmon, and a bunch of fruits and vegetables accessible in the fridge. He needs to revamp his nutrition structure to regain his youthful energy and control the aging signs from constantly cropping up.

The foods are basic; they can easily be found on the pantry. Only, they are often neglected due to poor choices. But if athletes like John really want to build-up the energy that his sport demands they must load with the basic foods that constitute a healthy diet.

Soon enough, the anti-inflammatory antioxidants contained in the aforementioned foods would clearly show a stunning difference on John – starting on his skin, which will turn radiant, healthy-looking, and glowing.

In addition to making healthier food choices, John was also subjected in a supplement regimen. Aside from having a good multivitamin, he was also given carnitine and acetyl-l-carnitine. Those are important to enhance cellular energy production. He was also recommended to take alpha lipoic acid – the only antioxidant that can boost cellular levels of glutathione and the tripeptide antioxidant critical to health and longevity, which declines with age – and Co-Q10.

Coenzyme Q10 works synergistically with alpha lipoic acid and acetyl-l-carnitine to assist with many metabolic processes and helps elevate levels of other antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E. John also tried topical anti-inflammatories.

In a short span of time after the enhancements in his diet, John went on to topple his most prestigious trophy ever – in flying colors. He has obviously regained his energy and stamina to perform well in his games with a certain promise that he will still be able to do in many years to come.

Losing the spark of youth can be disappointing. But it helps to know that there are ways and means to slow the aging process and shun the ugly aging signs.

Antioxidants information – What you must take?

• The Fourteen Super Nutrients - Best antioxidants for healthy living

  If you analyze all the most health-promoting, disease preventing, antiaging, risk-factor-limiting diets in the world, fourteen nutrients consistently turn up. They are associated with reducing a wide range of chronic ailments. Countless studies demonst...

• Super fruits rich in antioxidants

  • Best bets: Apples, berries, grapefruit • Good choices: Pears, peaches, plums, prunes, cherries, oranges • Anti-aging benefits: Rich in fibers and anti-inflammatory antioxidants that enhance cardiovascular health; may reduce the risk of certa...

• Coenzyme Q10 (to get Cellular Repair) - coenzyme q10 ubiquinone supplements benefits for health and weight loss

  Because cellular energy generation is reduced as we grow older, compounds like coenzyme Q10 (Co-Q10), also called ubiquinone, are generally vital in retaining adequate energy in the cell so that it may restore on their own. This kind of anti-oxidant ca...

• Alpha Lipoic Acid benefits- Enhancing Cellular Rejuvenation

  Another essential technique for decreasing inflammation and also guarding the mitochondria would be the consumption of focused nutritional supplements. Even though this really is a bit debatable amongst several popular medical practitioners, I strongl...

• ALC - acetyl l-carnitine health benefits

  Acetyl-L-Carnitine (to get Cellular Stabilization) Acetyl-l-carnitine (ALC) is actually a by-product from carnitine which is accountable to suppport the transfer of essential fatty acids right into a cell’s mitochondria.ALC furthermore enhances str...

Stress and Aging

Stress is a powerful trigger for the ugly aging signs to crop up. When people are stressed, their physical and mental health is at stake; significant manifestations in their appearance will clearly make each passing day dreadful.

To live a long, healthy, and happy life, people should get rid of stress, for whatever it takes. Avoiding mental and emotional stress will keep the body’s vibrancy and youthfulness.

To understand the impact of stress to the body, here is a little helpful background:

The endocrine system works hand-in-hand with the nervous system in performing several critical tasks. The neuroendocrine system, as the two systems are more commonly known, is responsible for maintaining the body’s internal steady state or homeostasis. This includes nutrition, metabolism, excretion, water and salt balances. It also helps regulate growth, development, and reproduction. It also produces, uses, and stores energy.

The neuroendocrine system is designed to help ensure each individual’s safety from external or internal threats. The hormones most responsible for this task are called stress hormones.

In addition, there have been studies that suggest that the imbalance in the HPA axis is responsible for some detrimental effects. The glucocorticoid (GC) hypersecretion (overproduction of steroids), which occurs when the HPA axis is activated, results in a number of diseases, including obesity, Alzheimer’s, AIDS, dementia, and depression.

There is also a recent study at the University of California suggesting stress as a trigger for accelerated aging in all aspects. This is because stress increases the heart rate, weakens the immune system, and heightens the cholesterol level in the long run.

The increase in cholesterol levels related to stress is alarming because it is a known risk factor for heart and circulatory disease, the number one killer of both men and women in the United States.

Stress promotes the formation of body fats by producing more energy in the form of fatty acids. It also requires the liver to secrete more LDL-C, which are transported to other tissues of the body. It also interferes with the body’s ability to get rid of cholesterol. It also triggers inflammatory cascades that also lead to an increase in cholesterol production.

Fighting Stress with Supplements

Significant lifestyle modification is the key to a healthier, happier, and longer life. With the help of the following supplements, stress can be fought one-handed.

Vitamin C

In a study conducted among marathon runners in 2001, Vitamin C showed significant effects on high cortisol levels that are brought about by physical stress.

Omega-3 Fish Oil

Fish oil is known to provide a wide range of health benefits. One of them is its ability to lower high cortisol levels, helping individuals cope with psychological stress. It also helps prevent a number of mental disorders and disturbances such as depression, bipolar disorder, aggression, Alzheimer’s disease, memory loss, and learning difficulties. In fact, studies made it clear that these mental conditions as well as a bunch of others are rooted from or are exacerbated by the nutritional habits of Americans. The genetic aspect and the environmental risk factors of those diseases are nothing but secondary.

It may seem far-fetched but a few meals rich with the Omega-3 fatty acid or a supplement of fish oil significantly leads to a number of health and cosmetic benefits. Omega-3 is enriched with anti-aging nutrients as well as potent agents for good mental health.

The way to go, along with making significant lifestyle changes, is to make food choices that are high in Omega-3 fatty acid and low in inflammatory Omega-6 fatty acid. An anti-inflammatory diet, which is high in protein and low in carbohydrates, can help realize dietary goals without having to struggle. It must be understood that intake of wrong carbohydrates, mainly from sugary and starchy foods, does not only promote risk factors for degenerative diseases such as diabetes, cancer, obesity, and Alzheimer’s. It also makes the skin, the subcutaneous fat, bones, and the muscles age faster than usual. This is quite easy, as easy as counting 1-2-3!

Load up on fatty cold-water fish such as salmon, sardines, anchovies, trout, herring, and sablefish. Take fish oil capsules daily. Then, avoid those that are high in Omega-6, which are mainly processed, frozen, and fast foods. Instead, switch to the heart-friendly EVOO, which is high in anti-inflammatory monounsaturated fats and is a potent anti-inflammatory antioxidant.

Chronic, subclinical inflammation is currently considered accountable by researchers regarding anything from wrinkles and obesity to chronic degenerative diseases for example cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s, various cancers, arthritis, and much more.

The activation of inflammatory genes behaves as a passage connecting usual aging to pathological procedures with a lot of age- related diseases, that individuals reveal an base of chronic inflammatory condition.

Overwhelming latest medical improvements are proving us that there’s much more we are able to do-we, can in fact reconstruct our bodies over cellular level. Brain, bone, muscle, as well as skin can certainly be benefited in a method called as cellular rejuvenation.

Inflammation is triggered by an immune response to the cellular degree. It may be created by infection or perhaps allergies and also by several lifestyle issues such as:

smoking
bad nutrition
insufficient sleep
exposure to the sun

“Inflammatory issues anticipate almost all negative results in human beings,” states Russell Tracy, a professor of pathology and also biochemistry at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, in whose revolutionary research assisted to illustrate the responsibility of inflammation in cardiovascular diseases. “It anticipates getting heart attacks, having heart failure, getting diabetic; states getting fragile in aging; anticipates cognitive function decrease, also cancer to some extent.”

When you begin thinking about aging as a result of inflammation you start out to view old age in many different, far more optimistic manner.

The best anti-inflammatory medicine might be a panacea, healing diabetes, dementia, cardiovascular disease and also cancer. This type of amazing medicine may possibly enable us to survive longer, but most importantly, it would most likely enable us to live far better, enhancing the probabilities that people could possibly all enjoy their old age perception like Jim Hammond: healthy and balanced, lively, and also vital. And in contrast to science stories thoughts of an immortality capsule, an effective anti-inflammatory treatments can truly occur in our life long cellular rejuvenating execution; it’s a new along with interesting scientific research which will recover physical and mental health and wellness for all parts of the body, both outside and inside. The very first time we now have the way and also the approaches to reduce the age-related fall of all organ systems.

There exist many tested foods, botanicals, and also nutritional dietary supplements which provide real physical and also mental regenerative gains. Although we can’t turn back the time, we can easily figure out how to slow down.

CELLULAR LEVEL INFORMATION AND FACTS — INCLUDING NUTRITION

Fundamentally, we’re “cellular” beings. We’re made from trillions of particular cells. Every cell is energized by a number of chemical reactions known as the Krebs Cycle, which offers the power that each cell ought to perform its actions.

Regardless of whether you take a look at a liver cell, a brain cell or perhaps a muscle cell, you will find identical complicated stream of chemical reactions happening. In an effort to produce power from the Krebs Cycle, your cells need several nutrients, such as amino acids, minerals and also trace elements.

We’re mainly As Healthy As Our Cells ?

Our body is comprised of trillions of cells (let us name all of them “building blocks”, each ones is totally capable to execute all the steps which define life — respiration, power generation, movements, digestion, elimination, reproduction, and much more. Since the framework of health and wellbeing is actually as powerful as its building blocks, we’re simply as healthy (or perhaps unhealthy) because our cells.

And when your cells “feel better,” so will you! Most of us have heard and observed that: “Good food is the best medicine”.

How Sex promotes anti aging

General Physical Well-Being, Because Sex . . .

• Improves sleep because orgasm causes a surge in oxytocin (a hormone best known for inducing labor, but also associated with human attachment and bonding) and endorphins that may act as sedatives.

• Increases fitness by burning calories and fat. It has also been suggested that people with active sex lives tend to exercise more frequently and have better dietary habits than those who are less sexually active.

• Cures wrinkles! A study conducted during a 10-year period and involving more than 3,500 European and American women and men examined various factors associated with youthful appearance.

A panel of judges viewed the participants through a oneway mirror and then guessed the age of each study subject.

Those women and men whose age was regularly underestimated by 7 to 12 years were labeled “superyoung.”Among these
superyoung people, one of the strongest correlates of youthful appearance was an active sex life. On average, superyoung participants reported engaging in sexual intercourse three times a week in comparison with the control group’s average of twice a week. The superyoung were also found to be comfortable and confident regarding their sexual identity.
Sexual and Reproductive Health, Because Sex . . .

• Protects against endometriosis
• Enhances fertility
• Regulates the menstrual cycle
• Relieves menstrual cramps
• Protects against early delivery in pregnancy
• Supports prostate health
• Relieves chronic pain
• Helps to relieve migraines

Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Spiritual Health, Because Sex . . .
• Improves overall quality of life
• Decreases risk of depression and suicide
• Reduces stress
• Increases self-esteem
• Enhances intimacy
• Improves social health
• Increases stability of relationships
• Heightens spirituality

Cardio Protection – Resveratrol, Quercetin and Heart health

Diagnosed heart disease, has made scientists more conscious of  lifestyle and other major cardiac risk factors: rich foods, no exercise, hypertension, and an apple shaped, moderately obese body

Heart attack is the number one killer in the United States. Exploring what causes heart attacks, we find the best ways to prevent them, are natural approaches-in particular the use of polyphenols such as resveratrol, quercetin, and other compounds found in red grape skins may provide valuable new protection for the heart, along with diet and exercise.

While the news about red wine might sound great if you enjoy a glass of red wine with your evening meal, doctors are wary of encouraging anyone to start drinking alcohol. That’s because too much alcohol can have many harmful effects on your body.Still, many doctors agree that something in red wine appears to help your heart. It’s possible that antioxidants, such as flavonoids or a substance called resveratrol, have heart-healthy benefits.

As people’s life spans have increased and our diet has moved away from what we ate thousands of years ago as hunter-gatherers, heart disease has increased, but it was not until 1912 that we began to understand the mechanisms involved. That year Professor James Herrick, a physician at the University of Chicago, published his landmark paper “Clinical Features of Sudden Obstruction of the Coronary Arteries.” In it he correlated autopsy findings of blocked arteries in the heart with patients who had also complained of chest pain over several months or years and then died suddenly. Dr. Hemick coined the term “heart attack,” or myocardial infarction, to describe what occurs when a part of the heart muscle dies or is damaged due to an inadequate supply of oxygen-rich blood to that area.

“The origins of coronary heart disease lie in the reduced passage of blood within the coronary arteries.” He used the term atherosclerosis, from athero (meaning “paste”) and sclerosis (”hardness”), to describe coronary arteries filled with calcium, blood clots, and cellular debris that blocked the coronary arteries to produce heart disease.

Until quite recently, scientists accepted the idea that a heart attack was caused primarily by a plumbing problem, much the way that mineral deposits and rust build up inside water pipes over time. The human heart beats roughly one hundred thousand times per day, cycling six quarts of blood through the sixty thousand miles of blood vessels in our bodies. It stood to reason that deposits would accumulate in this elaborate system and eventually cause blockages, leading to a heart attack.

The New Theory of Heart Disease

Coronary artery disease, or hardening of the coronary arteries, is indeed the cause of most heart attacks. The problem is that as much as half the time, sudden death is the first symptom of heart disease. It was well established that elevated cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, diabetes, tobacco use, obesity, and sedentary lifestyles were all major risk factors associated with progressive artery blockage, but they showed up in only half of all fatal heart attacks. So what caused the rest?

Scientists began to look beyond the composition of the clots blocking blood vessels to the lining of the vessels themselves, called the endothelium. Its functions include regulating inflammation and immune reactions, the tone of blood vessels (their ability to contract and widen, or dilate), clotting, the formation of new blood vessels, and so on. Like the skin on the outer surface of the body; the endothelium is subject to a multitude of disease processes as it performs its vital regulatory functions. So important is the study of the endothelium that this research has become the basis of a new frontier called endotheliology. As scientists struggle to find ways to avert heart attacks, which kill more than seven million people worldwide each year, the endothelium seems to lie at the heart of the problem.

Resveratrol might be a key ingredient in red wine that helps prevent damage to blood vessels, reduces “bad” cholesterol and prevents blood clots.

Most research on resveratrol has been done on animals, not people. Research in mice given resveratrol suggests that the antioxidant might also help protect them from obesity and diabetes, both of which are strong risk factors for heart disease. However, those findings were reported only in mice, not in people. In addition, to get the same dose of resveratrol used in the mice studies, a person would have to drink over 60 liters of red wine every day.

Research also shows that resveratrol could be linked to a reduced risk of inflammation and blood clotting, both of which can lead to heart disease. More research is needed before it’s known whether resveratrol was the cause for the reduced risk.

Many components circulating in the blood can damage the arteries’ inner lining. These include glucose (sugar), trans-fatty acids, lowdensity lipoproteins (LDLs) , free radicals, and cytokines~signaling molecules that can turn inflammation on and off. To prevent heart diseaseand understand the role of xeno factors in prevention, we need to understand the five stages leading to a heart attack.

These are:

(1) the accumulation and oxidation of fat by free radicals; (2) inflammation within the blood vessel itself; (3) a markedly decreased vascular tone and decreased elasttcity of the blood vessels; (4) increased clotting that results in coronary thrombosis, or the sudden obstruction of the coronary arteries, as described by Herrick; and (5) the damage or death ofthe heart muscle itself

Let’s take a close look at the remarkable promise that xeno factors offer by fighting heart disease at each of these five stages.

Xeno Factors, Polyphenols – Resveratrol and Quercetin and Cardio Protection

Heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and many forms of arthritis all have one common link to our age-old immunological defense mechanism: inflammation. Inflammation is the body’s first defense against infection and trauma. Now scientists have finally connected the dots, giving researchers renewed hopes that a remedy for inflarnmation could possibly prevent the many major diseases that ail us.

Drug companies are spending billions of dollars on researching new drugs and are exploring new ways to use existing drugs. Celebrex, a so-called COX-2 inhibitor used primarily for arthritis because of its anti-inflammatory effects, is being evaluated to see if it can prevent breast cancer, slow memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease, and eliminate polyp development in the intestines. Statin drugs, thought to reduce the incidence of heart attacks by reducing cholesterol, also reduce inflammation; this reduction may be their primary cardio-protective mechanism.

Aspirin, the grandfather of anti-inflammatory drugs, known for reducing the incidence of heart attacks, is also being tested on colon cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

And very recently; natural substances high in xeno factors-resveratrol, quercetin, catechin, and the other polyphenol compounds-have shown remarkable early signs of effectiveness against inflammation.

Stage 1: The Antioxidant Effect: Reducing Free Radicals
Diets high in fat, particularly from meat and hydrogenated vegetable oils, or so-called trans-fatty acids, found abundantly in French fries, some cakes, and margarine, are extremely damaging to the endothelium. In fact, trans fats appear to increase the risk of heart disease more than any other food product, even at very low levels. A 2 percent increase in calories from trans-fatty acids is associated with a 23 percent increase in the incidence of coronary artery disease. It is no wonder that the New York City Department of Health required 20,000 restaurants and 14,000 food suppliers to eliminate partially hydrogenated oils from their food. Other states are following suit, and Denmark and Canada are actually considering legislation to eliminate all industrially produced trans-fatty acids from their food supply.

After being processed by the liver, fats accumulate in the blood in the form of cholesterol and triglycerides. There are two primary types of cholesterol molecules: LDL, or “bad” low-density lipoprotein; and HDL, or “good” high-density lipoprotein, which has been referred to as the “arterial wall garbage barge” because of its ability to haul away bad cholesterol. from clogged arteries.

If the balance tips toward LDL and other toxic food by-products, the endothelium becomes irritated and causes microscopic cracks to develop in the lining of the blood vessel. These cracks release free radicals that oxidize or degrade the LDL. The accumulation of free radicals in oxidized LDL leads to the next stage of coronary disease.

When an oxygen molecule is added to LDL cholesterol, this creates a fatty substance that can attack the membranes of surrounding cells, particularly the endothelium. This deterioration of membrane lipids (fats), known as lipid peroxidation, is extremely destructive to the blood vessel lining. Our bodies use antioxidants in our diet to counter these destructive effects.

Scientists evaluated the effects of red wine on LDL. They found that the people in the treatment group, who drank one and a half glasses of red wine per day, lowered their level of lipid peroxide (the toxic material) by an average of 40 percent. They also found that an alcohol-free powder of a red wine polyphenol extract had similar antioxidant effects, both in the blood and in LDL cholesterol. This confirmed that although alcohol in red wine may contribute to cardio protection, the main antioxidant protection comes from polyphenols.

There are several mechanisms for this protection. As free-radical scavengers, these xeno factors prevent free radicals from “stealing” electrons from the membranes of normal cells, and this action in turn prevents any destructive effect. Other studies have shown that polyphenols bind to LDL cholesterol, thus protecting it from peroxidation. The bottom line is that the polyphenols found in xeno factors significantly inhibit or prevent the first stage in the development of a heart attack through their antioxidant effect.

Stage 2: The Anti-inflammatory Xeno Effect

When oxidized LDL and fat just under the endothelium accumulate, they attract white blood cells circulating in the bloodstream. These white cells, called macrophages, proceed to ingest the cholesterol in an attempt to remove it. The now fat-laden microphages (known as “foam cells” because they appear plump and white under the microscope) create a significant inflammatory reaction. Smooth muscle cells form a cap over the injury site in the blood vessel lining; calcium accumulates here and forms a material similar to bones-hence the term “hardening of the arteries”. The word plaque refers to this combination of foam ceJls, smooth muscle cells, and lipid accumulation, which has a cheesy appearance.

The discovery of nuclear Jactor kappa B (NF- KB) is critical in the understanding of inflammation. The NF-KB molecule is a protein that acts as a switch to turn inflammation on and off in the body Known as the body’s “smoke detector,” it can detect substances such as infectious agents, free radicals, and other bad actors.In response, it turns on particular genes that promote production of inflammatory cytokines that in turn try to kill or isolate the invading agent through the inflammatory response.

When the membranes of the surrounding cells sense the toxic debris of the plaque, NF-KB facilitates the production of chemicals that promote and maintain the normally protective inflammatory state. These agents attract defensive white blood cells to the site of inflammation and enhance cellular proliferation and growth. In the case of the coronary arteries, however, the inflammation response persists and will not stop until the muscle cells just under the endothelium grow over the site of irritation in an attempt to cover the debris. It is through blocking or inhibiting NF-KB activity that aspirin; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories like Celebrex, Aleve, and ibuprofen; and natural compounds like white willow bark work to block inflammation. Multiple lines of laboratory studies indicate that xeno factors such as resveratrol, quercetin, and others act as potent anti-inflammatory agents through a similar action on NF-KB.

Stage 3: The Vascular Dilation Effect- The coronary arteries widen and constrict to vary blood supply to the heart muscle under different circumstances. When we walk up a steep hill or exercise vigorously, our blood vessels automatically dilate to bring more oxygen-carrying blood to the heart. When the physical activity is over, the blood vessels return to a more normal size. Artery walls encrusted with plaque lose this flexibility. A substance called nitric oxide, produced by the endothelium, promotes relaxation and constriction of the arterial smooth muscle.

One of the earliest signs of atherosclerotic changes, or hardening of the arteries, is the inability of the endothelium to make nitric oxide, which would allow the arteries to dilate. Because of the general protective effects of polyphenols, scientists set out to determine if these compounds might enhance nitric oxide production. Indeed, it has been confirmed that resveratrol enhances the production of nitric oxide, allowing arteries to dilate in times of need.

The xeno factors also block a substance called endothelin-l (ET-l), which is a potent constrictor of blood vessels and also stimulates smooth vascular muscle cells to cover up the plaque within the blood vessel. Inhibiting ET-l production, protecting against atherosclerotic changes in the blood vessel, blocking vascular constriction, and enhancing vascular enlargement are all ways in which natural xeno factors work to provide cardio protection at this third stage of cardiac disease development.

Stage 4: The Xeno Factor and Blood Clotting

As material continues to build up inside the blood vessel, it can accumulate to the point where blood flow is markedly reduced and then finally blocked. More commonly, however, the arterial plaque can break up, exposing the underlying cellular debris to the rapidly flowing bloodstream. The body senses this as an injury and sends platelets, one of the main components of blood, to the injured area to form protective clots. These sticky platelets quickly pile up. A sudden heart attack occurs when blood flow is abruptly cut off by the platelet thrombus, or clot, leading to the death of heart muscles that depend on richly oxygenated blood for survival.

Stage 5: Stopping the Heart Attack

As we’ve seen, a heart attack occurs when a coronary artery no longer supplies blood to a particular part of the heart. Heart failure, which is often related to a heart attack, results when the heart muscle is unable to pump blood at a rate that meets the needs of the body’s tissues. In essence, if the pumping action of the heart is too weak, the body can be starved of blood-and therefore oxygen. With heart failure, the heart enlarges, its chambers dilate, and the heart’s life-sustaining ability to pump deteriorates.

Scientists were investigating the mechanism of heart failure when they found that a specific enzyme found in cardiac cells is activated by free radicals, calcium, and magnesium released by cellular injury from a heart attack. When this enzyme,poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-l (or PARP), is overactivated, it results in heart cell death. It also suppresses the heart cell’s mitochondria, or nucleic power plants, leading to an energy deficit in cells that survive.

In studying how PARP activation causes cardiac cell death, these scientists discovered a direct link to the SIRTI enzyme: PARP reduces the activity of SIRTl. Could the same process also work in reverse, to the benefit of the heart? Dr. Pillai and his colleagues were familiar with the work of Guarente, Sinclair, and Baur. In 2006 they too studied activation of the sirtuin enzyme with resveratrol and discovered that it indeed protected the heart cells against PARP-mediated cell death. SIRTI activation helped preserve cell function.

Bezstarosti and his associates from the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands reported the remarkable result that animals pretreated with resveratrol and then subjected to heart attacks showed a decreased myocardial death rate compared with animals not administered resveratrol.

Another study evaluated the ability of a red wine extract to decrease the electrical irritability of a heart muscle cell which concluded that both resveratrol and quercetin could significantly inhibit abnormal electrical flow through a heart muscle cell.

In summary, xeno factors, natural products readily available in our food, can help protect us against heart disease at every stage in its development, and can help ameliorate its life-threatening effects when a heart attack occurs.

Unfortunately, most people do not know about these xeno factors.

Prevention is still the key to survival. The United States performs three times as many invasive heart procedures per one hundred thousand people as France, Japan, and Great Britain yet still has the highest death rate from heart disease. Contrary to popular belief, although these heart surgeries may decrease symptoms, they don’t decrease heart attacks or extend life for most patients.

Quitting smoking, lowering blood pressure, and reducing other known health risks have prevented as many heart deaths over the last twenty years as have costly high-tech treatments.

Risk reduction plus supplementing a healthy diet with xeno factors like resveratrol and quercetin  may be the optimal preventive strategy for heart disease.

Diabetes costs our nation more than the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the global war on terrorism combined-an estimated $174 billion per year. With over 60 percent of Americans overweight or obese, one million new cases are added a year. If current trends continue, 1 in 3 people born in 2000 and 1 in 2 members of minorities will develop diabetes in their lifetime. The personal cost from its associated blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, strokes, poor wound healing, infections, blood sugar complications, and amputated limbs is inestimable.

Diabetes is a disease of sugar and fat metabolism caused by problems with insulin secretion by the pancreas, or with the insulin sensitivity of the cells. Insulin, a hormone, facilitates the uptake of sugar required by every cell to produce energy. There are two primary types of diabetes. Type 1, which is the more serious, develops when the body’s immune system destroys the insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas. This type accounts for 5 to 10 percent of all cases and usually strikes children and young adults, although it can occur at any age. Type 2 diabetes, often called “adult-onset diabetes,” accounts for 90 to 95 percent of all diagnosed cases. This type usually begins when cells do not use insulin properly and develop resistance to it. To compensate, the pancreas attempts to produce more insulin and gradually loses the ability to do so, or burns out.

Pre-diabetes patients taking resveratrol supplements demonstrated lower post-meal glucose levels and improved insulin sensitivity – an encouraging outcome with potential implications for those with type 2 diabetes or at high risk for the condition.

Today approximateiy twenty-one million Americans, or 7 percent of the population, suffer from diabetes. One in four has the disease or is at risk of getting it. Six million are unaware they have it. Overeating, starchy diets, and lack of exercise are the primary causes. Foods that contain a significant amount of carbohydrates-grains, fruits, vegetables, and beans-are rated on a scale according to how high they raise blood sugar levels, called the “glycemic index,” or GI. A recent analysis of the dietary habits of nearly two million healthy men and women showed that people who ate the diets highest in foods that spike blood sugar levels (high-Gl foods) were more likely to develop not only diabetes but also heart disease, gallstones, and some types of cancer. According to Alan Barclay of the University of Sydney in Australia, lead author of the study; “If you have constantly high blood sugar and insulin levels due to a high-Gl diet, you may literally wear out your pancreas over time. Eventually it may lead to diabetes.”

Medical anthropologists refer to diabetes and obesity as “diseases of civilization.”

It was when aboriginal populations began to adopt a high-sugar, high-fat, “Western” diet for the first time that obesity and diabetes suddenly appeared. The Pima Indians of Arizona and the indigenous people of Hawaii provide dramatic demonstrations of this phenomenon. In both instances, the abandonment of their traditional plant-rich, high-fiber diet was followed by skyrocketing rates of diabetes, obesity, and cancer.

Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load

The glycemic index was developed to help researchers understand the spikes and troughs of blood sugar. This index ranks food according to its ability to release sugar into the bloodstream. A food with a high glycemic index (GI), like potatoes, white bread, or cornflakes, raises blood sugar and insulin levels more quickly than one with a low GI, like green peas or carrots. Another index is the glycemic load (GL): the number of grams of carbohydrate in the food multiplied by its GI. The GL provides a better indicator of the amount of insulin needed to digest a given food. The amount needed is based on the quantity of carbohydrates and how fast they are converted to glucose. For example, carrots have a GI of 47, and pasta, 44. But because pasta is so high in carbohydrates, it has a GL of 21 versus 4 for carrots. High-GL diets are strongly associated with diabetes.

Americans are eating and drinking themselves to death. Studies indicate that a reduction in the intake of refined sugar and a thirty minute walk a day would cut the incidence of diabetes in the United States by around half. But just the opposite is occurring, as Americans consume more sugar products and become more sedentary. As a result, diabetes has been compared to a sleeping giant that is ready to awaken and overwhelm our current health care system. In the last twenty-five years, the number of adults between the ages of eighteen and seventy-nine with newly diagnosed diabetes almost tripled, from approximately 493,000 to 1.4 million. By the year 2025, it is predicted that around 9 percent of the U.S. population will have diabetes, or approximately twenty-five million to thirty million people.

What does all this have to do with xeno factors? To answer that, let’s take a look at the current drugs used to treat diabetes and then see how xeno factors may playa part.

In type 1 diabetes, injections of insulin keep the body’s level of blood sugar under control. In type 2 diabetes, where cells still produce insulin, but not enough, oral medications are the first line of treatment. These drugs lower blood sugar by increasing insulin output from the “tired” pancreas and by improving insulin sensitivity Most scientists believe that lower blood sugar will decrease the complications of diabetes, including heart attacks, blindness, and kidney failure.
Since the therapeutic effects of all current drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes depend either directly or indirectly on insulin, the development of a new class of insulin-independent drugs that lower blood sugar would be tremendously valuable.

In 1985 scientists discovered that two components in red wine and grape juice, quercetin and epicatechin, enhanced insulin release in rats by 44 percent to 70 percent in certain cells. After their report, the therapeutic use of those natural compounds for diabetes lay dormant in the medical literature until quite recently.

In another study quercetin was administered to a group of diabetic rats and discovered that it regenerated pancreatic cells and increased insulin release. The study confirmed that quercetin reduced blood sugar and decreased appetite in diabetic and healthy animals.

The development of type 2 diabetes is related to increased amounts of fat circulating in the bloodstream.  Scientists also discovered that resveratrol appears to counter the effects of elevated free fatty acids, allowing normal insulin uptake in muscle cells and also that this polyphenol could increase glucose absorption in a manner different from insulin and was not dependent on the action of enzymes typically needed to allow glucose to enter the cell.

In January 2006 Hui-Chen Su and his associates in Taiwan evaluated the effect of resveratrol in diabetic rats.

They confirmed the findings of previous investigators, and showed that resveratrol stimulated the uptake of glucose by liver, fat, and muscle cells. Again, resveratrol appeared to act through a mechanism different from that of insulin.

These observations on resveratrol and the mechanisms of glucose, insulin, and fat metabolism are so revolutionary that a pharmaceutical company called Sirtris was formed with the specific goal of developing resveratrol-like compounds to give people the same boosts in blood sugar control that resveratrol gave mice. After quickly raising $165 million, Sirtris analyzed nearly five hundred thousand compounds and has targeted diabetes as the first disease to treat. The company is presently evaluating its resveratrol product in diabetic patients. Preliminary results indicate that the resveratrol-like compound is safe, increases insulin sensitivity, enhances blood sugar control, and has huge potential to safely help millions of people.

Quercetin, also found in red wine and red grape juice, has likewise shown promise in animals with diabetes. It appears to be effective in reducing the high spike in insulin that occurs when sugary food is ingested; sensing the sugar, the pancreas releases this jolt of insulin to help drive it into cells. These insulin peaks are responsible for the hunger cravings that occur soon after someone eats a meal loaded with processed sugar.

In addition to reducing these insulin peaks and slowing the absorption of sugars, quercetin is also a potent inhibitor of sugars in the intestine, contributing to a steadier energy state. Investigators also confirmed that not only quercetin but several other plant polyphenols found in grape skins (like myricetin and catechin gallate) also slowed sugar absorption in the intestines. All of these naturally derived xeno factors-resveratrol, quercetin, myricetin, carechins, and more-hold great potential for diabetic management in the near term.

Scientists also evaluated the ability of resveratrol to reduce diabetic neuropathic pain. Looking at various inflammatory markers associated with this pain, they discovered that daily oral intake of resveratrol at 5, 10, and 20 milligrams per kilogram of body weight significantly reduced pain sensitivity in treated animals with induced nerve damage.

What, then, is the relationship between xeno factors and diabetes?

Through their action of decreasing insulin resistance, enhancing glucose’s ability to enter the cells, and stabilizing weight, polyphenols provide a complementary way to attack the disease. Additionally, studies have confirmed that polyphenols are potent anti-inflammatories, that they reduce free radicals, and that they inhibit the formation of damaging advanced glycation end products, or AGEs.

It is the prevention of diabetic complications that may be the greater role for plant-produced polyphenols. As discussed earlier in theories of aging, these glycation end products (AGEs) are formed by a cellular interaction of blood proteins that become bound to circulating glucose molecules. And the AGEs can occur more frequently in poorly controlled diabetics. These AGEs can stick to blood vessel walls and induce the development of diabetic vascular complications.

We are just beginning to understand how these naturally occurring compounds ingested over thousands of years activate ancient genetic pathways to enhance health and prolong longevity: But one of the most exciting possibilities is their potential for drug-free management of the diabetes pandemic.