By Alex Duval Smith in Paris

After at least 530 million years of clamming up, the oyster has revealed its secret curative properties to mankind. And they are not only aphrodisiac.

French biologists who have been studying the way oysters produce nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, believe the process could be replicated to provide cures and preventative treatments for osteoporosis, arthritis and certain skin complaints.


Read full article: 'Healing powers of oysters could mend human bones'

Dear Friends of Diveheart,

One way that Diveheart www.diveheart.org keeps it's dive buddies and instructors sharp is by offering free Diveheart H.S.A. ( Handicapped Scuba Association ) refresher training.


Read full article: 'Diveheart Offers FREE Disabled Dive Training for Instructors and Dive Buddies'

Washington, D.C. (Oct 10, 2007 12:42 EST) Last week, a front-page headline in The Washington Post declared, "Mothers Again Urged to Eat Fish." The story reported on a new study from the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition that said pregnant and breast-feeding women should eat at least 12 ounces of fish and seafood per week - contrary to federal advisories they should eat no more than 12 ounces a week to protect their babies' developing brains from mercury contamination.

The study was also covered prominently by NBC's "Today" show, Reuters, ABC.com and dozens of other news outlets. Thankfully, National Public Radio and Bloomberg News Service bothered to ask the Journalism 101 questions that revealed:


Read full article: 'News Media Fell Hook, Line And Sinker For Industry 'Study' On Mercury In Seafood'

DAN, through its partnership with subsidiary AGI, has contributed $100,000 to fund a study of the causes of immersion pulmonary edema, a lung injury identified in water enthusiasts. Richard E. Moon, M.D., DAN senior medical consultant, will conduct the study, which is targeted for completion in late 2008.
Moon is also professor of anesthesiology and medicine at Duke University Medical Center and medical director of the DUMC’s Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology.



Read full article: 'DAN Funds Major New Research Study'

BANGKOK – A boat carrying nearly 60 foreign divers back from a Thai island featuring in the Hollywood film 'The Beach' sank on Tuesday, killing one Israeli and injuring two, Thai officials said.

Both injured victims were men, one of whom was cut on both legs by the propeller, a nurse at a hospital emergency unit told Reuters. The 'Dream Catcher' sank a mile off Phi Phi Island in the Andaman Sea on its return from a diving trip for tourists, mainly Israelis and South Koreans, cut short by a heavy rain storm, officials told Reuters by telephone.


Read full article: 'Israeli killed as diver boat sinks off Thai island'

The initiative to bring together agency strengths for the greater good of diving and diver safety continues to grow with the announcement of an alliance between Divers Alert Network (DAN) and Scuba Schools International (SSI). Effective immediately, SSI publicly encourages DAN Membership and endorses DAN Dive Accident Insurance as the agency’s official dive accident insurance program.


Read full article: 'DAN and SSI Announce Alliance'

Nairobi, Kenya (Aug 9, 2007 10:58 EST) The emerging threat of pesticide resistance means that biological malaria control methods are once again in vogue. New research published in the online open access journal BMC Public Health shows how Nile tilapia, a fish more commonly served up to Kenyan diners, is a valuable weapon against malaria mosquitoes.


Read full article: 'Tilapia Found To Be Potent Malaria Control Method'

A total of 13 divers were treated for decompression sickness in Devon after getting into difficulties over the weekend.

The Diving Disease Research Centre (DDRC) says the good weather may have contributed to the high number of divers suffering from the "bends".


Read full article: 'Thirteen divers treated for bends'

Beginning June 1, DAN is challenging all interested divers to pursue and achieve the level of Diving Emergency Specialist (DES), a training recognition program designed to commend divers who have continued their education and training in obtaining knowledge and becoming both better buddies and better divers.


Read full article: 'DAN Announces DES Quest II'

The USC Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber is offering a course this fall that will be of special interest to all divers. This year, the Advanced Decompression Physiology course will be on August 18-19, 2007. Only 50 students will be able to participate in this course.


Read full article: 'Catalina Chamber Announces Special Training Programs'

Thanks to an arrangement with Praxair Inc., DAN Providers and Trainers throughout the United States and Canada can now obtain oxygen USP, or medical-grade oxygen.


Praxair is a global industrial, medical, specialty and diving gas manufacturer headquartered in Danbury, Conn.


The arrangement between DAN and Praxair, effective April 9, 2007, will enable DAN-trained and DAN-certified Oxygen Providers to obtain oxygen fills through Praxair retail locations in the United States and Canada.



Read full article: 'Oxygen Fills Are Now Easier to Obtain'

Divers Alert Network opens the 2007 dive season with the PDE Extravaganza. Kicking off on Memorial Day and running through Labor Day (May 28 – Sept. 3, 2007), the PDE Extravaganza invites divers to support DAN Research and Project Dive Exploration by sharing info on the dives they’ll be making this summer.


“It’s easy to participate,” says Marketing Manager Christine McTaggart, “and you can qualify to win prizes, including a grand prize of $250 (with some redemption restrictions) to spend at DAN.”


Read full article: 'DAN's PDE Extravaganza'

A Victorian diving company has been fined $200,000 for failing to ensure the safety of an inexperienced scuba diver who drowned during a trip off the Mornington Peninsula.

Robert Grant, 32, of Clayton in Melbourne's south-east, drowned after experiencing problems on a diving trip out of Portsea off Victoria's Mornington Peninsula on January 17, 2004.


Read full article: 'Diving company fined over novice's death'

Dear Friends of Diveheart....

Very exciting things happening. Here are the highlights......

1. NOW Thru May 6th.....Diveheart Ebay fundraiser features a dive vacation for two to beautiful Sunset Waters Beach Resort in Curacao http://www.SunsetWater.com .

A huge thank you to our friends at Sunset waters.....click below for more information and to bid on this exciting dive vacation.... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=330114151805&rd=1&rd=1?refid=store



Read full article: 'Diveheart Provides Monthly Update to the Industry'

By Mark Collette

GALVESTON — Greg Scofelia reached into his freezer and pulled out a plastic pouch filled with succulent white meat. Strangely, the hard, frozen grouper fillet felt to him like it had just come out of a scorching oven.

“It was fun catching it, but I damn sure wish it had broke my line,” he said.

The 30 or so pounds of grouper in his freezer all came from the same fish, caught in March about 100 miles southeast of Galveston at a coral reef known as Flower Garden Banks. With its tailfin touching the boat deck, the grouper’s nose reached Scofelia’s chest.


Read full article: 'Poison case could signal trend'