Free Republic

Research shows that people who wear tefillin, leather bands used in a Jewish religious practice which involves the tight wrapping of an arm with the bands, may receive cardiovascular health benefits. The study suggests those benefits are the result of ischemic or reduced blood flow preconditioning which produces protection from the damage caused by heart attacks. The use of tefillin dates back to scriptural commandments urging the faithful followers to comply with religious law and to "bind them as a sign upon your arm." Rubinstein says the binding of the arm and the discomfort users often report may serve as...

WHAT'S NEXT THE familiar electrocardiograms of yearly medical checkups are the routine way to record electrical activity of the heart and detect disorders in its rhythms. But the test is relatively insensitive at pinpointing small areas where there may be problems, since a standard EKG machine samples electrical potential only at a handful of points on the body's surface. But a new computer-based method developed by a researcher seeks to deliver far more detailed information about the electrical activity of the heart. Instead of a dozen or so electrodes, the technique uses 224 of them, all woven into a chain...