--
/ - - -

Cherries may help you get a good night's sleep

Researchers.
say Cherries grown in sun-rich Central Otago are a natural source of
melatonin at levels 30 times higher than their northern hemisphere
counterparts.
Melatonin is a hormone that is naturally present in the human body and
aids sleep.
The findings come from research commissioned by Fruision Ltd, a joint
venturebetween Hamilton-based Quantec Ltd, a company specialising in
developing health remedies from natural products, and Alexandra-based
fruit grower Summerfrui, Stuff.co.nz reported.
Previous studies published in the United States have shown northern
hemisphere cherries to have levels of melatonin attwo to 15 nanograms
per gram.
The latest study, undertaken by an independent laboratory in
Australia, has shown Central Otago cherries have500 nanograms per
gram.
When the cherries had been dried, the melatonin levels increased to
3100 nanograms per gram.
Fruision senior scientist Dr Judy Bragger said Kiwi plants are exposed
to moreultraviolet radiation than those growing at a similar latitude
in Europe of North America, and this caused them to produce more
secondary metabolites -- organic compounds that are not directly
involved in the normal plant growth.
"It is these secondary metabolites that the cherries produce that have
such great human health promoting properties when eaten," Dr Bragger
stated.
Moanui Laboratories in Hamilton were already backing the science and
arethe first New Zealand company to distribute a sleep aid derived
from cherries in a capsule form./

--
/ - - -

Ayath & Defenition

Allah Ta'ala said,
"… And do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our
remembrance and who follows his desire and whose affair is ever [in]
neglect." [al-Kahf: 28]
As for good character, then 'Alqamah ibn Qays (rahimahullah) summed it
up in his final advice to his son as he was on his deathbed:
"O my son, if you ever feel the need to befriend and accompany men,
then accompany the one who protects you when you help him, adorns you
if you walk with him, and supplies you when your provisions run out.
Accompany the one who when you stretch forth your hands in goodness ,
he stretches his hand too, ifhe sees merit from you, he remembers it,
and if he sees bad from you, he remedies it. Accompany the one who
gives you when you ask , who steps up when you are silent, and who
consoles you when calamity overtakes you. Accompany the one who
believes you when you speak , entrusts you when you engage in work ,
and if you fall out, he prefers you to the fallout."
In such cases, it is said:
'Your real brother is he who stays with you
Who harms himself in order to help you
When hard times break you and scatter you
He becomes dispersed just so he can fix you'
But before all that, he mustbe knowledgeable after having attained
wara' (piety), so that you can benefit from his knowledge too. Luqman
said to his son, "O my son, sit with the scholars, crowd them with
your knees! For indeed, hearts come to life with words of wisdom just
like the dead earth comes back to life with the downpour of rain.""

--
/ - - -

Miniature honeycomb 'grows nerve'

A "miniature honeycomb" - or scaffold - could one day be used to
encourage damaged nerves to grow and recover, according to an
international group of researchers.
The scaffold can channel clusters of nerves through its honeycomb of
holes, eventually healing a severed nerve.
The findings of their study on mouse nerves are published in the
journal Biofabrication.
Academics hope to one daytreat spinal cord injuries with the scaffold.
When nerves are severed, such as in car accidents, it can result in a
loss of feeling and movement.
Repairing this damage can be a challenge - but nerves outside of the
brain and spinal cord can repair themselves, if only over short
distances.
Tube links
One technique to improve this repair is to use tubes. Either end of
the severed nerve is placed in a tube and the two ends of the nerve
should grow and joinin the middle.
Researchers at the University of Sheffield and Laser Zentrum Hannover,
Germany, investigated using a honeycomb structure.
Dr Frederik Claeyssens, from the department of materials science and
engineering at Sheffield, told the BBC: "That is much more like the
structure of the nerve itself.
"The nerve has small regions of 'cable' that go through from one end
to the other end, you have a whole bunch of little cablesinside a
larger cable, that's what we tried to reproducewith this type of
scaffold."
The honeycomb is made from photopolymerizable polylactic acid, which
biodegrades once the nerve has repaired.
The researchers showed nerve cells could grow on the scaffold and are
now testing it in mice to see if itcan fully repair the damage.
Dr Frederik Claeyssens said:"This technology could make a huge
difference to patients suffering severe nerve damage."
Scaffold technology is used in a range of "regenerative medicines".
Building a scaffold and then coating itwith human cells has, for
example, been used to givepatients new windpipes and bladders/

--
/ - - -