3 Basics for Super Skin

Exfoliate, hydrate, moisturize, cleanse...most of us barely have time to gulp a low-fat, half-caff latte, so who has time for complex skin care?

Yet who doesn't want that good-skin glow?

So, with your time (and pocketbook) in mind. With these simple steps you can love the skin you're in — in minutes.

Basic Skin Care Tip 1: Wash Your Skin Each Day

You don't need fancy products to clean your way to super skin. Everyday soap and water removes the grime, sweat, pollution and dead cells that accumulate through the day — and costs pennies to boot. And a daily scrub or two is all you need; washing more often can disturb your skin's natural protective lubrication.

Skin care experts suggest using a mild, unscented soap with emollient and moisturizing properties. They warn against deodorant body soaps or antibacterial cleansers, which can be harsh to your skin.


Basic Skin Care Tip 2: Moisturize Your Skin

With our constant exposure to steamy showers, cold weather, and hot sun it's no wonder the pros say we need moisturizer — even if our skin is naturally oily. Fortunately, locking in moisture for soft, smooth skin is easy: Just pat on your preferred product after stepping from the shower.

And pricey products need not apply: Some skin care professional recommend white petroleum jelly, even hair conditioner. Have oily skin? Try noncomedogenic products, which don't clog pores.And don't forget to moisturize from the inside out with plenty of water.


Basic Skin Care Tip 3: Use Sunscreen to Protect Your Skin

Whether the weather promises snow, sun, or showers, sun protection is a must, say the specialists at the American Academy of Dermatology. Snow and water both reflect the sun's rays, and even on cloudy days we get a healthy dose of skin-sizzling ultraviolet. Over time, those ultraviolet rays can lead to wrinkles, discoloration, moles, and skin cancer.

What to do? Cover up exposed skin and slather on a sunscreen of SPF 15 or more, with UVA and UVB protection. And reapply often. Even Skimpier Skin Care

Really pressed for time? It's easy to shrink these three skin care steps into a two-step process:

* Merge washing up and moisturizing steps by using a moisturizing soap.

* Unite your moisturizer and sunscreen: Buy a moisturizer with SPF 15 or higher.

Why Garlic Is Good for You

Garlic Relaxes Blood Vessels, Increases Blood Flow

The health benefits of garlic have been touted for centuries, but now researchers may have pinpointed at least one reason why.

A new study shows red blood cells process compounds from digested garlic and turn them into the cell messenger hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which relaxes blood vessels and increases blood flow. Therefore, eating garlic may increase our natural supply of this vital chemical and play a role in reducing the risk of heart disease.

Previous studies on garlic's health effects have produced mixed results. For example, some studies of garlic have found few benefits, but others have been shown to lower the risk of heart disease.

But researchers say if further studies confirm these findings, testing the ability to produce hydrogen sulfide may be used to standardize garlic supplements to produce greater health benefits.

Finding Garlic's Effect

In the study, researcher Gloria Benavides, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues analyzed the effects of juice extracted from supermarket garlic on human red blood cells in the lab.

They found the red blood cells immediately began producing hydrogen sulfide after getting a tiny dose of garlic. The amount of garlic tested in the lab was roughly equal to two garlic cloves for a typical adult.

Further tests showed the key chemical reaction occurred at the membranes of the red blood cells, but a small amount of hydrogen sulfide was also produced inside the cells.

Few plants other than garlic contain the building blocks of hydrogen sulfide to provide these health benefits, and researchers say garlic is the only one commonly used in the human diet.

Their results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) Databases:

As the main biotechnology information resource in US, NCBI maitains a large collection of databases and bioinforamtics tools for molecular biology research. Knowing how to retrieve the exact information you need in an efficient way is the fundamental and most important skill for people interested in Bioinformatics. Very often, you get clearer definition, or deeper understanding, or even the answers for your questions by searching these databases before you use other bioinformatics tools.

On the other hand, every NCBI database is designed and created for some specific purposes. The most common mistake Bioinformatics novices make is to try to search information in an inappropriate database. Therefore, we highly recommend researchers to explore NCBI resources thoroughly to identify which databases are more suitable to answer your questions in mind before you jump to search some common databases, like "Nucleotide" or "Protein" database.

NCBI provides a general description about those databases and tools it maintains at NCBI Site Map. Each database also has its own "Help" page describing its usages in more details. It's worth to read these documentations before you start your search. Most time, for people who search databases blindly will get wrong or incomplete answers for their questions. Entrez is an integrated search engine for many NCBI databases. Therefore, knowing exactly how Entrez works and various search options in Entrez will help you retrieve complete dataset in an effecient way. Entrez Help Document will be a good reference. However, there are some databases not supported by Entrez, for example, LocusLink. In such cases, you need to learn what is best way to query that specific database.

We provide a PowerPoint presentation on introduction to searching NCBI databases. It's a general description, and definately not in depth. However, if you want to get a quick view about some important databases maintained at NCBI and some searching tips, it's a good start point.

Here we list some useful links where people can get all levels of tutorials on NCBI resources.

NCBI Site Map

NCBI Handbook

Databases Supported by Entrez

Entrez Help Document

GenBank Sample Record