Did you know that camping and spending time outdoors can actually benefit your health? In fact, there are many health benefits that come with a good camping trip.

Camping brings us back to the basics. It provides an escape from the daily grind. And it allows us to connect with nature and appreciate the simple basic needs of life.

Camping is an escape from the daily rat race. Stress levels can significantly decrease in nature, without all the worries and routines of everyday life.

Leave the huzzle, noise and pollution of the city behind you for a few days. Weekend get-aways are great for people who are tired with their everyday lives and are looking for something out of the ordinary to do.

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Infrared energy, also known as radiant heat, is a form of energy that heats objects directly through a process called conversion, without having to heat the air in between. Our sun is the principal source of radiant energy.

Far-infrared rays are part of the sunlight spectrum which is invisible to the naked eye. They are also known as biogenetic rays. Scientists have proven that these rays promote the growth and health of living cells in humans, animals and plants.

Far-infrared light penetrates beyond the skin level and is absorbed by cells below, whereas visible light is mostly bounced off the skin surface. Near-infrared is mostly absorbed at the skin level and raises the skin temperature. Far-infrared can penetrate up to 4 centimetres, causing resonance with water molecules and resonating with cellular frequencies. Thus, FIR can revitalize human cells and tissue by warming the body from the inside.

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More people are turning to herbal medicines in their search for more natural and gentle health care. Herbal remedies are cost-effective and offer relief from an abundance of ailments.

However, self-medication is cautioned, as herbal remedies can have short-term or long-term effects.

Most spices are not consumed in large amounts so the average person will not notice their effect. Large or long-term doses of any spice or herb to achieve a desired health benefit should not be taken without consulting a physician.

As every human has individual needs, the health benefits of all herbs and spices may vary from person to person. Also potencies vary among the many different preparation methods and brands.

Always follow label directions, unless otherwise prescribed by a herbologist, traditional Chinese doctor, Ayurvedic doctor, naturopathic or homeopathic doctor or other certified natural health care provider.

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A recent US study suggests that antibiotics are overused in people with advanced dementia. During the study 214 residents with advanced dementia in Boston nursing homes were followed for 18 months or until their deaths. During the study period, 99 people died. Of those, 42 percent received antibiotic medication during the last two weeks of their lives.

The study raises concerns about the end-of-life care of patients dying with advanced dementia. The report recommends administering antibiotics more carefully because of the growing problem of drug-resistant bacteria.

About 70 percent of the 5 million Americans with dementia will live in a nursing home at the final stage of their disease. Repeated infections and fevers are common at the end of life, and nursing home residents with advanced dementia are at elevated risk to receive antibiotics. Nursing homes often harbour drug-resistant bacteria, and residents can spread dangerous infections when they are admitted to hospitals. Drug resistant bacteria are also associated with higher mortality rates and prolonged hospitalization. Nursing home residents with dementia are a growing population.

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People have a lot of bad theories about happiness and what makes them happy. That’s among the research findings of Harvard University psychologist Daniel Gilbert. "When we try to predict what will make us happy we're often wrong," he says.

The numbers of pharmaceutical sales confirm his theory. Americans spent $750 million on self-help books in 2006 and more than $1 billion on motivational speakers.

Gilbert, in his book "Stumbling on Happiness," writes that our culture associates happiness with buying bigger, better, newer things. However, research indicates that things don’t buy happiness.

"Researchers all over the world find the same predictable errors, whether the pursuit involves romance, a new car, or a sumptuous meal."

Gilbert says money buys happiness only for those who lack the basic needs. Once you pass an income of $50,000, more money doesn't buy much more happiness.

Another misconception is that having children equals happiness. Says Gilbert, "When you follow people throughout their days, as they're going about their normal activities, people are about as happy interacting with their children, on average, as when they're doing housework. They're much less happy than when they're exercising, sleeping, grocery shopping, hanging out with friends.”

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"Happiness pills" won't cure depression. This is among the findings from one of the largest recent study on modern antidepressant drugs.

Researchers from Canada, the U.S. and Great Britain looked at published and unpublished clinical trials and data used by drug companies. The results, which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that antidepressants were only effective in a very small percentage of the most extreme depressed. The majority of patients given placebos (sugar pills) improved just as much as patients given antidepressants.

These research results set a wave of concerns and questions throughout the medical world and patients.

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These studies are part of a group of research and development protocols known as "stress" or "flex" studies that are designed to demonstrate the robustness of the OraQuick(R) test for home use. Specifically, the studies are designed to determine the impact of environmental and common household factors on the performance of OraQuick(R). Several of these studies were recently commenced and several more are expected to be started in the near future. These studies are in addition to those the Company previously performed when it obtained a CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments Act of 1988) waiver for the OraQuick(R) test in 2005...

OraQuick ADVANCE(R) is the first and only FDA-approved and CLIA-waived rapid point-of-care test that can detect antibodies to both HIV-1 and HIV-2 in 20 minutes, using oral fluid, finger-stick or venipuncture whole blood or plasma specimens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration have deployed over one million OraQuick(R) tests in various public health, drug treatment and outreach settings throughout the United States. The OraQuick(R) test is also used by hospitals, state departments of health, clinics...

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Scientists say they have made a blocker that could stop the lethal anthrax toxin from attacking the body.

The inhibitor binds to the receptors in the body where anthrax attaches.

Using receptors as the treatment target rather than the toxin itself should get round the problem of antibiotic resistance, PNAS journal reports.

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A gay man, he'd been "very sexually active" in San Francisco in the late 1970s, he said, and tended toward unprotected encounters. Then he entered a long-term monogamous relationship, and after he lost both it and his job as a computer specialist, he sank into a life of hard revelry and so much intravenous methamphetamine use that he wound up homeless on the streets of the city's Tenderloin district.

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