I’ve been having a bit of eyestrain lately from staring at the computer 24-7 on three different machines.
(An unfortunate side effect of assuring in a timely manner that the web-based application I’ve been working on is cross-browser compatible. More on this very soon!)
I found this paper on eyestrain from Dr. Larry Bickford that had some helpful suggestions and information.
Thought you might be interested.

I’m speaking purely from experience, since I’ve been using Tai Chi to treat various health problems I’ve been having. (I’ve had the health problems for about the last year, but the most effective cure so far has been Tai Chi! And it really makes a difference on the days I don’t do it. It’s incredible. I’ve only been doing it for about the last two months — but the improvement to my overall health is absolutely incredible.)
I just saw this article that actually studied this phenomenon among patients with a lot bigger problems than I have, and the results are pretty interesting.

Tai Chi Chih Boosts Shingles Immunity In Older Adults
From the Center For The Advancement Of Health
(via BoingBoing)

The report in the September issue of Psychosomatic Medicine is the first study to show that a behavioral intervention can influence the virus-specific immune response, say Michael R. Irwin, M.D., of the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at the University of Los Angeles, California and colleagues.
On average, the 18 adults who participated in the tai chi chih program had an increase of nearly 50 percent in immune cell levels one week after completing the program, although individual responses to the exercises varied substantially in this group.
Tai chi chih participants were significantly more likely to increase their immunity than those who did not participate in the program, however.
Tai chi chih practice was also associated with improvements in physical functioning, especially among those who had the most problems with everyday tasks like walking and climbing stairs at the beginning of the study..

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This is from KGO Channel 7 News in San Francisco on September 8, 2003.

ABC News On Using Naturally Occurring Vaginal Bacteria To Protect Women From HIV Transmission (Small – 6 MB)

Update 2:38pm — it has been brought to my attention that Ricaurte’s screw up was a “mistake,” rather than an intentional, precalculated deception. As you may well know by now, intent matters to me, so incompetence is sort of a defense in this case, I suppose, but it still sounds pretty shaky at best.

Here’s a great synopsis about it by Derek Lowe. (Note that Derek also agrees with me — that the original results should not have been published at all without first being repeated!)
It’s still irresponsible to publish information that could have such a profound impact on the population without qualifying it first at least twice in one’s own lab. Sloppy research at best. But the stuff I say below was said when I thought there was a deliberate misconception going on. Here’s the original retraction article. Nuff said. There’s more important stuff going on.
So the bozo that scared the world into thinking that one Ecstasy trip could scar your brain for life has admitted that he lied about his test results. (He has officially “retracted” them — and admitted to using other substances on the subjects involved than the substances that were supposed to be the focus of the study. That’s lying!)
Yeah I’ll say it’s “a major flaw in his research” that the research was absent of the the drug he’s supposedly testing.
This guy shouldn’t even be allowed to do research anymore. We don’t need big fat liars like you in Academia buddy. Away with you!
Leave your beaker at the door!

Here’s ABC World News on the subject.
Here’s the report containing some of the lies.
I hope it goes without saying that anything else this guy’s done should be considered suspect as well.
Here’s a clip from the summary I quote above:

But all that said, I have to then turn around and wonder why the original paper was published at all. I was surprised to learn that their results hadn’t been repeated beforehand. You’d think that this would be necessary, given the public health implications of the work and its variance with the results of others in the field. I can’t help but think that the researchers got their original data, thought they had a hot result that would make everyone sit up straight, and got it into publication as fast as they could.
I’m really taken aback to learn that they hadn’t looked at the original monkeys for MDMA levels before. Getting blood samples from monkeys is no easy task, but why wait until there’s a problem to do the post-mortem brain levels? Those numbers really would have helped to shore up the original results – and would have immediately shown that there was a problem, long before the paper was even published. I don’t like to sound this way, but it’s true: in the drug industry, we consider pharmacokinetic data like this to be essential when interpreting an animal study.

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A number of close friends of mine have lost a lot of weight on the Atkins Diet. I’ve learned a number of health tips from them in the process.
This clip from KTVU Channel 2 News in San Francisco seemed to summarize some of the spirit behind this growing movement — while also highlighting a new chain of franchises — Castus Low Cal Superstores. One has just opened in San Ramon, California, and KTVU went over there to check it out.
This is from the August 7, 2003 program.

KTVU On Atkins/Low Carb Grocery Store (Small – 12 MB)