Family Health 365

Try the 'portfolio diet' to lower cholesterol; Diet relies on soy products, stick fiber and sterols

2011-08-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

Need to lower your cholesterol? Try thumbing through the "portfolio diet."

New research reveals that the diet, which combines soy, nuts, plant sterols, and fiber, may work better than a traditional low-fat diet.

The University of Canada found that people with high cholesterol who followed the portfolio diet lowered their low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels by about 13 percent after six months on the diet, according to a recent study.

That is compared with a 3 percent LDL reduction among those who followed a diet low in saturated fat. The findings appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The portfolio diet focuses on four kinds of food groups:

• Substitute soy-based foods for meat and dairy, such as soy burgers, soy hot dogs, soy milk and soy dairy substitutes.

• Eat a lot of sticky fiber, such as adding a natural psyllium supplement to your diet and eating oats, barley and vegetables such as eggplant and okra.

• Replace butter and margarine with plant sterol-enriched margarine. US brands include Benecol and Take Control and brands in other countries are Becel and Flora pro-activ. Plant sterols are also available in capsule form.

• Eat a handful of nuts every day.

The new study is the latest in a series of research studies by Dr. David Jenkins from the University of Toronto. Prior research from his lab revealed that following the portfolio diet is almost as effective as taking a statin drug.

"If we let people know that they can control their own cholesterol levels themselves, we're putting some of the responsibility but also the power back into the hands of ordinary citizens," Jenkins told health news site WebMD.

With AFP Relaxnews

FDA approves Botox for bladder control; Injectible OKd for people with MS or spinal cord injury

2011-08-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

Botox can cause more than just your wrinkles to freeze -- it can help an overactive bladder.

The face-freezing pharmaceutical injection was given the nod by the Food and Drug Administration to treat people with multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury who suffer from urinary incontinence and must manage it with medication or a catheter.

"Urinary incontinence associated with neurologic conditions can be difficult to manage," said George Benson, deputy director of FDA's division of Reproductive and Urologic Products.

"Botox offers another treatment option for these patients."

The new method allows a physician to inject Botox into a patient's bladder, where it relaxes the muscles and allows more urine to be stored.

Clinical studies showed such injections could decrease episodes of urinary incontinence for a period of nine months.

Botox, which is marketed by the California-based Allergan, is also approved for treatment of chronic migraines, severe underarm sweating, eyelid twitching and certain kinds of muscle stiffness, the FDA said.

The drug is made from a toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. In other forms it can cause a deadly type of food poisoning called botulism, according to the National Institutes of Health.
With AFP Relaxnews

The illegal cure for cancer: Study says club drug ecstasy may hold cure for cancer

2011-08-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

Scientists are saying that ecstasy-an illegal drug largely connected with hardcore clubgoers-can actually treat several forms of cancer.

However, a market-ready medication doctors can prescribe to patients may take another ten years to develop, researchers told BBC Radio.

"This is an exciting next step," said Professor John Gordon, lead author of a groundbreaking study on the topic, during a radio interview.

"Where we've tested these new compounds, we can wipe out 100% of the cancer cells in some cases."

Birmingham University researchers first discovered the unlikely link between the illegal substance and a viable therapy for common blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma in 2006. Additional research produced an atomically tweaked version of ecstasy's active compound, MDMA, which bolsters the drug's cancer-fighting power 100-fold in test tubes.

The original 2006 study found a fatally large dose of MDMA would be needed to make a dent in the disease. But the Birmingham team, toiling for five years along with scientists from The University of Western Australia, found a way to maximize MDMA's cancer-fighting properties, while minimizing its toxic effect on the brain.

This is how it works: The drug attaches itself to the fat in diseased cells, weakening the membrane and making them "soapy."

The cancer cells are then essentially washed away, Gordon said.

The news is "genuinely exciting," said Dr. David Grant, director of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Research charity.

"Further work is required but this research is a significant step forward in developing a potential new cancer drug," he said.

Can't stick to an exercise program? Blame your self-confidence, not your willpower

2011-08-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Having trouble sticking with an exercise routine? Don't blame your willpower.

New research suggests that whether or not you can overcome obstacles in your workout regime could boil down to confidence.

"Almost 50 percent of people who begin an exercise program drop out in the first six months," said University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Edward McAuley, who led the research. His assumption? A lack of a quality he refers to as "self-efficacy," or "situation-specific self-confidence."

"People who are more efficacious tend to approach more challenging tasks, work harder, and stick with it even in the face of early failures," adds McAuley in a statement on August 16.

If you fall a little short in self-efficacy, all is not lost, said the researchers.

Prior research has shown that you can boost confidence to achieve your goals by remembering your previous successes, observing others accomplishing something you find daunting, and enlisting support from your friends and family. "Every step toward your goal will further increase your confidence," McAuley said.

In the study, the researchers conducted a battery of cognitive tests on 177 men and women in their 60s and early 70s, and also asked them whether and how often they set goals for themselves, monitored their own progress, managed their time, and engaged in other "self-regulatory" behaviors, such as working in the yard rather than watching TV.

Participants were then randomly assigned to either a walking program or a stretching, toning, and balance program that met three times a week for a year. Their self-efficacy was assessed after three weeks in the program.

Those who stuck to their program were the ones who were better able to multitask and better control their undesirable behaviors, the researchers found.

With AFP Relaxnews

Is Kate Middleton getting too thin? Experts dismiss idea that Kate will struggle like Princess Diana By Lindsay Goldwert

2011-03-14T08:35:00.001-07:00

The British press dubbed Kate Middleton "Waity Katy" after her courtship with Prince William stretched for years without an engagement – but lately the tabloids are more focused on Katy's weight.

Middleton has always had a lithe, athletic build, but the trim princess-to-be has looked even more slender lately – prompting media cries that she's lost too much weight for her royal wedding and speculation that she may fall prey to the same web of pressures and pain that befell the late Princess Diana.

The prince's longtime love has been spotted working out at Di's old gym and she's rumored to be using a risky no-carb diet to drop pounds – arousing fears she may fall into the same obsessive quest for thinness and perfection that caused Diana so much misery.

But those who know the royal family well call the reports rubbish and say Middleton's emotional state couldn't be more different from the late Diana.

"The British press has been relentless in its attempt to portray Kate Middleton as a fragile young woman who is already falling prey to an eating disorder. It's absurd," said Christopher Andersen, author of "William and Kate: A Love Story" and the bestselling "The Day Diana Died."

The Princess brides: Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles in 1981 and Kate Middleton and Prince William in 2010. (Getty)

"Kate looks no thinner to me at all. She's always been a health and exercise fanatic, but not in an unhealthy way," he said.

According to royal lore, Diana became bulimic after Prince Charles hurt her feelings by calling her "chubby."

"Kate is not chubby at all, but if she was, William would never hurt her feelings in that manner," said Andersen. "Charles could be thoughtless, even cruel, in a way Williams never could."

Another difference is the marriages themselves.

There is no "other woman" lurking in the wings to mar Kate and William's special day. One of the reasons Diana became so thin and insecure at the time of her wedding was because she knew her husband-to-be was in love with his now-wife Camilla Parker Bowles.

"Diana was l9 when she married a man she already knew was in love with someone else," Andersen said. "She was driven over the edge by a royal family that treated her pretty shabbily."

Kate Middleton is 10 years older than Diana was at the time of her engagement and in a much better place, emotionally, because she's marrying a guy who seems completely devoted to herm said Andersen.

Another reason why Prince Charles and Princess Diana's marriage bombed was there considerable age gap, said Claudia Joseph, the author of "Kate: The Making of a Princess."

William's parents were 12 years apart in age while the prince and Kate are the same age.

"I think she already has a distinct advantage over Diana. She is older and wiser and will conduct her role in a more dignified and conscientious manner," Joseph said. "Kate has been dating William for nearly eight years and has had ample opportunity to learn from him how to cope with the role."

Joseph also shrugged off rumors that Kate is heading down a path to weight obsession and eating disorders.

"Certainly Kate has lost weight since she became engaged, but many brides drop pounds in the runup to their wedding," she said. "It does not mean she has a problem."

Major depression and bipolar disorder; New treatments are on the horizon for serious depression

2011-03-14T08:22:00.000-07:00

As director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program and associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Dan V. Iosifescu is a psychiatrist who specializes in treatment-resistant depression and bipolar disorder. His research looks for novel treatments and understanding the brain mechanisms of these severe conditions.

Who's at risk

Major depression and bipolar disorder are two of the most common disorders seen by psychiatrists.

"Depression affects between 10% and 15% of the population," says Iosifescu. "Bipolar disorder is less frequent, but still affects 2% to 4% of Americans at some point during their lifetime."

A subset of patients who do not improve after multiple treatments is termed "treatment resistant."

These mood disorders can appear similar, and depressive episodes are indistinguishable in bipolar disorder and major depression. "Depressive episodes are characterized by long periods of severe sadness and a lack of interest in doing things" says Iosifescu. "In bipolar disorder, patients experience episodes of depression alternating with episodes of extreme mood elevation called mania or hypomania, which often lead to dangerous behaviors."

Genetics and traumatic life events are the two primary risk factors for depression and bipolar disorder, which both have fairly early ages of onset.

"While bipolar typically begins early in life (50% of patients have their first episode by age 18), depression has a wider range of first onset. However, the majority of patients experience their first episode before age 30," says Iosifescu.

While some patients might have only one or two depressed or manic episodes during their lifetime and can maintain a high level of functioning, patients with treatment-resistant disorder have long, chronic episodes or a series of multiple recurrences and can be highly impaired.

Signs and symptoms

Both depression and bipolar disorder are characterized by multiple psychological and physical symptoms.

"Besides sadness and lack of interest, symptoms of depression include disrupted sleep, low self-esteem, guilt, low energy and fatigue, poor concentration and significant changes in appetite," says Iosifescu. "Importantly, some patients experience suicidal thoughts, and suicide is a cause of mortality in both depression and bipolar disorder."

While most patients can recognize their periods of depression, they are less able to recognize as abnormal the mood elevation (hypomania and mania) of bipolar disorder. "The periods of mania — an abnormally excited, hyper mood — can feel like positive energy to the patient, even as they are perceived as abnormal by those around the patient, and it impairs significantly the patients' ability to function," says Iosifescu.

"In this state, people tend to have excessive involvement in pleasurable activities, disregarding risks or potential negative consequences."

Mania is also associated with high irritability, distractedness, high self-esteem, decreased sleep without fatigue, high levels of activity and pressured speech (very rapid speech).

"Sometimes bipolar disorder is not recognized, as the patient does not remember manic episodes as abnormal. However, the most significant challenge for treatment-resistant patients is finding a treatment that does work, even if it's not standard," says Iosifescu. "A series of novel treatments currently researched, some of them in advanced development, could prove to be lifesaving for these patients."

Traditional treatment

The standard trifecta of treatment options are medications, psychotherapies (counseling or talking therapy) and somatic treatments like electric-shock therapy and transcranial magnetic stimulation.

"We have a good number of FDA-approved drugs for depression and a smaller number for bipolar disorder," says Iosifescu. "The problem is that a lot of these medications belong to the same families of chemicals and work in relatively similar ways. So while they're incredibly helpful for many people, they are ineffective for a minority of our patients."

Psychotherapies seek to improve the patient's sense of well-being and provide tools for overcoming problems.

"For instance, cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on the abnormal thinking patterns that patients develop and helps them recognize and correct their distorted perceptions," says Iosifescu.

Somatic therapies apply energy directly to the brain to cause positive changes in depression and mood.

"Along with electro-convulsive therapy, commonly known as electric shock therapy, more modern treatments include transcranial magnetic stimulation, a magnetic field that stimulates currents in the brain, and vagus nerve stimulation, which modulates electric signals in the brain," says Iosifescu. "While electric shock therapy tends to be very effective, it has significant side effects. Transcranial magnetic stimulation and vagus nerve stimulation have limited efficacy."

Research breakthroughs

Doctors are seeking new therapies to help patients who have proven resistant to treatment.
"One very important novel treatment is ketamine, a medication currently used for anesthesia," says Iosifescu. "Recent studies, including several from our group at Mount Sinai, showed that ketamine works reliably and much faster than other antidepressants, with significant improvement occurring after only a few days even in treatment-resistant patients."

The success of ketamine points to a potential whole new family of drugs for treating depression, with activity on glutamate brain receptors, in contrast to current antidepressants, which produce their effects via serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine.

Questions for your doctor

If you're diagnosed and undergoing a new treatment regimen, ask: "How soon can I expect improvement?" "If it's not working after eight weeks, it's time to take another approach," says Iosifescu.

Another key question is, "How will we know that the treatment is working?"

Not all depression symptoms improve at the same pace. "We have a wide enough variety of treatments that even after you've tried a few, we can find something else that works on very different mechanisms to help you manage these disorders and improve your quality of life," says Iosifescu.

Surgeon General praises benefits of breast feeding; recognizes challenges it presents to new moms

2011-02-13T19:52:00.000-08:00

America's chief doctor called on Americans to support breast-feeding on Thursday and outlined guidelines for mothers and communities to support that most natural nutrition system.

Studies have shown numerous benefits for babies, mothers and overall healthcare when newborns are breast-fed for the recommended minimum of six months.

Surgeon General Regina Benjamin issued a report on Thursday advocating mothers breast-feed their children.

"Many barriers exist for mothers who want to breast-feed," Benjamin said in a statement accompanying the report.

"They shouldn't have to go it alone. Whether you're a clinician, a family member, a friend, or an employer, you can play an important part in helping mothers who want to breast-feed."

Breast-feeding develops immunity in babies and protects them from illnesses like diarrhea, ear infection and pneumonia, according to the report.

Some studies have linked breast-feeding to higher IQs.

Despite the reported benefits of breast-feeding, some women find that with busy schedules, social stigma, and lack of know-how, consistent breast-feeding is difficult to manage.

Although 75 percent of babies start out being breast-fed, just over 1 of 10 are breast-fed exclusively for six months.

The Surgeon General's call seeks to combat those problems by expanding and improving community programs that provide support and peer counseling, and ensuring employers and health care centers to provide similar support.

The American Academy of Pediatrics endorsed the surgeon general's campaign.

"The Call to Action provides a road map for creating a clear path for all mothers to breast-feed as long as they can and wish to do so," the children's healthcare organization said in a statement.

Dentist Louis Siegelman calms patients, encourages regular checkups with gentle approach, support

2011-02-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

Three words that strike terror when they come from a dentist's mouth.

Julie Cunningham, CUNY Graduate Center's chief librarian, knew the dreaded feeling all too well. It was so paralyzing, she simply stopped going to the dentist for 15 years — and only for emergencies in the 20 years before that.

At 63, her teeth were breaking, her gums were inflamed. No matter how much she brushed, she worried about her breath.

Last year, Cunningham finally got herself into the chair, the gentle chair of Dr. Louis Siegelman, who specializes in dental phobia and dental anesthesia.

"He's changed my life," said Cunningham, who in the last year accomplished the major dental work she had been avoiding for years: A new bridge, a crown, wisdom teeth pulled and a deep cleaning and implants.

"My family was so thrilled I finally went," said Cunningham, who needed sedation the first several visits and is now able to be awake for routine dental work. "He is someone who understood, who appreciated I took the first step to overcome this fear."

Call him the Dr. Phil of fillings.

Siegelman truly feels your pain. Like a warm and wise therapist, he has helped thousands of New Yorkers overcome their fears and restore their health and self-confidence.

"When people call me on the telephone for the first time, I know they are suffering," said Siegelman, sitting in his W. 57th St. office. "It's like they are out there shivering in the cold. It's rewarding to be able to lift their burden."

Siegelman's manner and practice differ profoundly from the brutal dentists most everyone remembers from childhood. (Think "Little Shop of Horrors.")

The first visit, for example, is the hour he spends talking with a patient on the telephone. He listens carefully, asks questions about what has kept them from coming and tries to tame their terror.

Next is an office visit, where he explains the choices a patient has to ease pain and fear — from numbing the treatment area, to an oral medication to relieve anxiety, to general anesthesia where you are put to sleep and feel nothing.

Dr. Louis Siegelman's specialty is people who are terrified of the dentist and need to be sedated to get through a procedure. (Roca/News)

"People feel this sense of shame that this part of their body which is so personal is in a terrible state," said Siegelman. "And the more put-together they are in the rest of their lives, the more of a conflict it is for them.

"They need to know it's safe to come in — and that everyone here in the office understands and they won't be criticized," he added. "I want them to understand their fear is a normal fear, they are not unusual or crazy. We all have this mechanism to want to flee something that frightens us."

The staff — a team of receptionists, dental assistants and a hygienist — have all been trained to work with apprehensive patients.

Even the recorded message a person hears when the office is closed, or when someone is put on hold, is aimed at allaying the angst.

Melissa McEnerney, the hygienist who has worked with Siegelman for 10 years, said she reminds her patients two months before their scheduled appointments, two weeks before, and then again two days before. And still she gets cancellations.

"I know their patterns," said McEnerney. "The sixth time is the charm. If I didn't have the reminders, it would be another 15 to 20 years before I would see them again," she said.

According to the American Dental Association, 30% of Americans do not regularly go to a dentist. While many people cite cost as the reason, a third of Americans who have dental insurance don't go, sometimes for years.

"One-third to one-half of people have a fear of going to the dentist, but they get there," said Dr. Mark Wolff, professor and chairman of the NYU College of Dentistry. "For about 10% of the people, the fear is so bad they don't go for years."

Wolff said the profession needs more dentists like Siegelman, who combine certified skill in dental anesthesia with an excellent chairside manner.

"There are very few dentists whose practice is devoted to these patients," he said. "It's a very real and needed service. He doesn't just put people in a chair and knock them out. He treats their anxieties as well."

As in Cunningham's case, dental phobias are often rooted in bad experiences as a child. Siegelman says there is often some kind of trauma or abuse, something that may not even be related to dentistry. He once had a former prisoner or war who flew out of the chair as soon as he heard a loud noise from the street outside.

Others are upset by the high-pitched sound of the drill, or feel they can't breathe when the dentist has his hands and equipment in their mouths. One patient, who also suffered from a fear of claustrophobia, needed three staffers to walk her up the eight flights of stairs to his office.

Jennifer Rosenblum, 34, said she can't remember not being petrified of going to the dentist. Before Siegelman, she had never had a teeth cleaning in her life. Not in New York or in France, from where she moved five years ago.

"Unfortunately I waited until the pain felt like my head was going to explode," said the advertising designer. "It's so strange that when it comes to the dentist I completely transform myself from a mature woman to a little girl."

A few weeks ago, she had a root canal and crown done under sedation. "In three hours I was out. It was perfect. I hope I won't wait so long the next time. I'm so happy to have met him.

"I'm facing my fears because I couldn't end the pain myself," she added. "If I could, I would never go to the dentist."

Caroline Hightower, a Manhattan consultant, is glad she found Siegelman after lousy experiences with dentists.

On a recent visit, she reclined calmly in his chair for nearly an hour as he worked on her implants.

"He is gentle and efficient," said Hightower. "I've come to truly like him, which is very strange to feel about a dentist."

The son of parents who worked in the Garment District, Siegelman grew up in Bayside, Queens, the youngest of three children. His sunny and sensitive disposition were on display early in life, according to his 89-year-old mom, Elaine, who still lives in Queens.

"The dentist is the last place you want to go," said Elaine Siegelman. She knows about making people comfortable at the dentist; she recently retired from the front office of another dentist after 20 years there.

Asked why he chose this work, given the amount of patience and energy needed to help people in emotional distress, Siegelman smilingly made his own admission. "I have analyzed that in myself," he said. "I like to be needed."

YOU SHOULD KNOW

Here are three things you can do to ease your dental anxiety — and recognize when it's a problem.

- If just thinking of going to the dentist makes your heart pound, causes sleepless nights or intrusive thoughts, or you go only when you have an emergency, be open and honest with yourself and the dentist about your fears and your past experiences.

- Do your homework when looking for a competent and caring dentist. Ask about his or her training, how many years of experience, the number of cases performed with anesthesia, and the training and readiness of the support team.

- Home care is crucial for keeping your teeth and mouth healthy. Avoiding acidic and sugary beverages and foods, as well as foods that stick to your teeth. Brush and floss daily.

The longer you put off going to the dentist, the worse the decay and chances of more serious health problems.

Men faking orgasm: 16% of men don't experience pleasure from orgasm

2011-02-09T19:50:00.000-08:00

For nearly a fifth of men, sex is just terrible.

About 16% of men are able to ejaculate but feel none of the pleasure of orgasm, according to research presented at the European Society for Sexual Medicine.

In fact, when it comes to sexual dysfunction, it's not the erection or the ejaculation that's the problem for many men -- it's feeling anything at all.

So are these men, well, faking their orgasms?

"When I asked the test subjects in plain language, ‘Did you feel orgasm [after ejaculating after sex with a woman], 16 % of men in our group said they didn't have sensation of orgasm," said Dr. Darius Paduch, assistant professor of urology and reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. "This is astonishing."

Problems with sexual pleasure don't just affect older men. Paduch said that he sees men as young as their 20s.

It isn't easy for men to admit to their partner that they can't enjoy sex.

"Our society is more sympathetic for women facing sexual problems, but men are still faced with self-doubt, fear of being labeled as impotent, inadequate and just not a full man," said Paduch. "You need to remember that regardless if a man is a bricklayer or a president, men value themselves through their sexual performance."

Bath salts ban; Sen. Charles Schumer moves to ban drug sold under bath salts guise

2011-02-07T19:46:00.000-08:00

Two drugs that produce a "meth-like" high and are being sold under the guise of "bath salts" would be banned as federally controlled substances under a bill unveiled on Sunday by Senator Charles Schumer.

"These so-called bath salts contain ingredients that are nothing more than legally sanctioned narcotics, and they are being sold cheaply to all comers, with no questions asked, at store counters around the country," said Schumer, a New York Democrat.

Schumer said he will introduce a bill to outlaw the two synthetic drugs -- mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, or MDPV. The drugs come in powder and tablet form and are ingested by snorting, injection, smoking and, less often, by use of an atomizer.

Users experience an intense high, euphoria, extreme energy, hallucinations, insomnia and are easily provoked to anger, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which is currently investigating the drugs.

They have emerged as legal alternatives to cocaine and methamphetamines, and one or both have already been banned in the European Union, Australia, Canada, and Israel. In the United States, Florida, Louisiana and North Dakota have all recently banned the substances.

"The longer we wait to ban the substance, the greater risk we put our kids in," Schumer said.

Media reports over the last year describe the drugs as becoming increasingly popular, particularly among young people attending nightclubs, although the actual number of individuals using the drugs is unknown.

"These products are readily available at convenience stores, discount tobacco outlets, gas stations, pawnshops, tattoo parlors, truck stops and other locations," said an alert issued by the DEA.

"Prices range from $25 to $50 per 50-milligram packet," the DEA alert said.

The European Union banned mephedrone in December, saying the drug was directly linked to the deaths of two people, and may have been tied to 37 other cases of death.

The European Union's report said there was limited scientific evidence on the effects of the drug -- believed to be mostly manufactured in Asia before being packaged in the West -- but that there was sufficient evidence of its health risks to support a ban.

Schumer has also asked the health commissioner of New York State, Nirav Shah, to ban the two substances.

Nealy 26 million Americans have diabetes: CDC

2011-02-05T19:45:00.000-08:00

U.S. health officials have raised their estimate of how many Americans have diabetes to nearly 26 million or 8.3 percent of the population.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the new estimate: Here is a breakdown of the terrifying 2011 statistics:

Age 60 years or older: 10.9 million, or 26.9% of all people in this age group, have diabetes.

Men: 13.0 million, or 11.8% of all men aged 20 years or older, have diabetes.

Women: 12.6 million, or 10.8% of all women aged 20 years or older, have diabetes.

Non-Hispanic whites: 15.7 million, or 10.2% of all non-Hispanic whites aged 20 years or older, have diabetes.

Non-Hispanic blacks: 4.9 million, or 18.7% of all non-Hispanic blacks aged 20 years or older, have diabetes.

Pregnant women: Women who have had gestational diabetes have a 35% to 60% chance of developing diabetes in the next 10–20 years.

Medical clowns may boost IVF treatment success; Laughing may lower stress, raise implantation rate

2011-02-03T19:44:00.000-08:00

Women who have tried everything to get pregnant may have one more option: A medical clown. Seriously.

A study of 229 Israeli women undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to treat infertility received 15-minute visit from a trained "medical clown" immediately after the embryos were implanted. The success rate ballooned to 36%, compared with 20% for women who weren't given the silly treatment.

The goal of the study was to see if reduced stress, caused by laughter, could increase the chance of that the injected embryo will successfully make its way into the womb.

Afraid of clowns? Other treatments, including acupuncture have lead to positive results for women undergoing IVF.

You can't become a medical clown just from attending your local clown college. The University of Haifa in Israel is the only school in the world that actually awards a degree in hospital jokery.

These professional funnymen, who have taken courses in nursing, have made strides in Israeli children's wards by helping young patient communicate their pain and distract them from their suffering.

Does at-home drug rehab work? Charlie Sheen reportedly receiving help at his Los Angeles home

2011-02-01T19:42:00.001-08:00

Charlie Sheen is reportedly undergoing another round of rehabilitation to cope with his drug addiction - only this time, he's getting the help delivered to his home.

The star of the CBS comedy hit "Two and a Half Men" will reportedly receive visits to his Los Angeles home from "an expert in addiction," reports TMZ.

But does at-home rehab work?

The clearest benefit for a patient receiving rehabilitation treatment at home is that he receives all the comforts of, well, home.

But this can be a mixed blessing.

"The patient doesn't have access to the full compliment of medical services," Dr. Petros Levounis, the director of the Addiction Institute of New York at St. Lukes & Roosevelt Hospitals told the Daily News. "If something goes wrong, there are no resources available."

Making an addict feel "at home" isn't always the wisest treatment move.

"Every time you sacrifice something to make rehab more 'like home'—you are catering to the way the addict's life is currently operating," said Dr. David Moore, psychologist and author of the NY Daily News weekly column 'Addictions & Answers.'

For example, Sheen is likely to have full access to his cell phone and internet, a luxury that is usually denied to patients first entering rehab.

"The only benefit to treating Sheen at home is to control the environment so that the paparazzi has less access to what is going on," said Moore. "However, this type of 'sterilizing the environment' is simply not effective."

If the patient is still suffering from withdrawal symptoms, he may require a battery of caregivers to administer IV fluids and medication, provide counseling, and schedule around the clock visits.

This also costs a lot of money - most likely a lot more than one would spend in a traditional inpatient rehabilitation facility.

"You have to bring the hospital resources to the patient, rather than the other way around," said Levounis.

Even if the patient being treated at home has every medical marvel at his fingertips, there's one thing he's likely to miss out on - group counseling.

Sheen may be intent on avoiding the cameras but he may have trouble succeeding in sobriety if he doesn't have contact with non-celebrity addicts.

"It requires a very motivated person," said Levounis. "Part of rehabilitation is asking for help, having humility and the ability for introspection. You can't bring an AA meeting into someone's home. It's helpful if the patient is willing to leave the home for group therapy and counseling."

Is there ever a time when at-home rehabilitation is recommended over traditional treatment?

Only when the patient refuses anything else.

"When a person steadfastly refuses to come to an addiction treatment center, then this can be a successful option," said Levounis.

Moore is less optimistic.

"Take a look at Tiger Woods—he had family counselors and therapists coming to his Florida compound for his drug and sex addiction stuff," he said. "Where did it get him?"

NYC sugar scare ad shows diabetic's decaying toes; TV commercial warns sugary soda leads to diabetes

2011-02-01T19:42:00.000-08:00

Sugar is the new scourge of the city, the Health Department is warning.

The city cut a grisly new TV commercial warning of the health risks of sugary soft drinks - including images of a diabetic's decaying toes.

"Don't drink yourself sick. Go with water, seltzer, fat-free milk or unsweetened teas instead," admonishes the narration.

The 30-second spot stresses that a 20 oz. bottle of soda pop contains the equivalent of 16 packets of sugar.

A mid-morning soda, a sweetened tea at lunch, a frozen coffee drink in the afternoon and then a few sodas at dinner might seem harmless, but they add up to 93 packets of sugar, a female narrator intones.

The ad says excessive sugar intake can cause health problems such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

And to drive home the message, the ad features the decaying toes and an unconscious man being shocked with a defribillator.

This the second such commercial released by the city in its campaign against sugar drinks.

The earlier spot was released in September 2009 - and featured a young man chugging what was described as liquid fat, with the admonition, "drinking one can of soda can make you ten pounds fatter a year."

Print versions of the ads have also been displayed on subway trains and.

A spokeswoman for the Health Department said the latest ad push could be seen as gruesome by some, but she added, "we're trying to educate people about the potential harmful health consequences of sugar drinks.

"We call them hard-hitting and realistic," she added.

The latest ads will air through Feb. 22 on major broadcast and cable TV channels in the area.

'Naked Fitness' author boasts shedding pounds is as easy as 'stripping' away excuses for exercise

2011-01-24T01:01:00.000-08:00

Trainer and nutrition expert Andrea Metcalf won't make you strip off your spandex to shed pounds — she'll adjust your negative attitude.

"The book title is referring to my theory that in order to lose weight, you have to strip away your excuses, your bad mind-set, your bad outlook to achieve whatever lifestyle goal you have," she says. "It teaches you how to look at your whole body — and your whole life — in a different way."

Metcalf, whose book features a 28-day workout program, doesn't believe in the doctrine of "no pain, no gain." ("That's no way to live your life," she says.) She insists you can change your body with just 10 minutes of exercise a day.

Chew on that.

'Weight loss is 100% mindset and 100% moving, every day," she says. "Even if it's only for 10 minutes. Doing 10 minutes of movement or strengthening or vigorous walking will make you feel different and cause your metabolism to change."

Still not convinced? Metcalf outlines one of her regimens — walking — below, and promises results.

"If you're honest with yourself about your goals, you will be successful and you WILL be happy," she says. "And then, you'll want to be naked, really naked!"

WALK YOUR WAY TO NAKED FITNESS

One secret to success on Naked Fitness is walking two hours a day. You may think, "Two hours
a day? That's not possible!"

But before you protest, let me reassure you that walking two hours a day is not only doable, but honestly is very easy to do. Nor is it time-consuming, because most of the time you'll be "sneaking" your walk into your day.

There are many ways to reach the two-hour target. Some are familiar, but as more of my clients have started walking two hours a day, they've found very inventive ways to do it. They suggest:

- Take the farthest parking space.

- Take the stairs.

- Walk your dog.

- Break up walking into different activities: 30 minutes on a treadmill, 30 minutes on a stair-stepping machine, 30 minutes on an elliptical or 30 minutes of walking during your lunch hour.

- Walk in place or on a treadmill while watching TV.

- Take your clients for a long walk instead of "doing lunch."

- Walk around when you're waiting for a bus, airplane, train or other appointment.

- Schedule walking meetings instead of group sit-downs in stuffy rooms.

- Walk while you shop. Mall walking is a great way to sneak in exercise.

- Take some fun aerobics classes, such as Latin dancing or hip-hop. These count toward your daily walking quota because they are aerobic and help you burn fat.

- Walk while on your cell phone.

- Deliver memos on foot instead of emailing nearby co-workers.

- Compete in charity walks. The moment you enroll, you'll have a new sense of purpose and a concrete goal that will push you to achieve more.

Jenny McCarthy still isn't convinced.

2011-01-22T00:58:00.000-08:00

The actress still firmly believes that vaccines are to blame for development of autism in children, despite last week's British Medical Journal article about a discredited study linking childhood shots to the developmental disorder.

On a blog she wrote for the Huffington Post, McCarthy asked, "Why does one journalist's accusations against Dr. Wakefield now mean the vaccine-autism debate is over?"

"I know children regress after vaccination because it happened to my own son," she stated. "Why aren't there any tests out there on the safety of how vaccines are administered in the real world, six at a time? Why have only two of the 36 shots our kids receive been looked at for their relationship to autism?"

That article charged that the author of the 1998 study, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, hid the fact that some of the dozen children he described in his research already suffered from developmental problems when they were vaccinated.

The British physician had his medical license revoked last year because of "serious professional misconduct," according to Salon.com.

Wakefield had altered the medical histories of the kids whose stories formed the base of his study, CNN reported.

McCarthy's son Evan, was born in 2002 and diagnosed with autism in 2005. Since then, McCarthy, a self-described "mother warrior" has been highly visible as an advocate for autism awareness.

The former model shows no signs of slowing down in her quest to have childhood vaccines looked at more closely.

"Why do other first world countries give children so many fewer vaccines than we do?" she asked. "Vaccines save lives, but might be harming some children. Is moderation such a terrible idea?"

And, referring to the BMJ story, she added, "Last week, this hoopla made us a little stronger, and even more determined to fight for the truth about what's happening to our kids."

McCarthy, who has written books on Evan's condition, including "Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism," has said her son is "healed" from autism.
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Black and Latino seniors less likely to get flu shots than whites, study shows

2011-01-20T00:54:00.000-08:00

Black and Latino seniors are less likely than whites to get the flu shot - even though they're at higher risk for chronic diseases that make the vaccine crucial, a new report says.

"We're concerned that not only don't seniors get enough flu shots, but there seems to be ethnic and racial disparities," said Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association.

In New York City, 35% of blacks and 38% of Latinos age 50 and older got the shot in 2009, compared with 49% of whites, the Health Department reported.

Avoiding the flu; Influenza is easily contracted but also highly preventable

2011-01-18T00:52:00.000-08:00

As director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Adolfo García-Sastre conducts research on the influenza virus, including ways to produce better vaccines and antivirals. He has been working on influenza for 25 years.

Who's at risk

For most Americans, influenza, or flu, is an inevitable yearly visitor. "Influenza is a respiratory disease caused by the influenza virus," says García-Sastre. "It's like a very bad cold, characterized by four or five days of high fever and prostration."

For 10,000 to 50,000 Americans every year, mostly elderly, the symptoms can worsen and lead to death, usually from flu-induced pneumonia.

The groups at highest risk of severe flu are the old and very young, people over age 65 or under age 2.

"The older you are, the higher the risk," says García-Sastre. "One exception was last year's pandemic H1N1, which left most people over 65 unaffected and was more severe in young people." Other factors that put you at elevated risk of severe flu are obesity, pregnancy, immuno-suppression and respiratory problems like asthma.

Flu spreads in three major ways, all of them respiratory.

"Phomites are surfaces that become contaminated," says García-Sastre. "Then someone touches the surface, gets the virus on the hand, and puts the hand in their nose or their eyes." Shaking hands with someone is a common example of this form.

The other main way flu spreads is through respiratory droplets, which can either be big or small. "Coughing and sneezing often cause big respiratory droplets that cannot fly more than 3 feet because they are heavy and quickly fall to the floor," says García-Sastre. "That's why the recommendation is to stay 3 feet away from people who are sick."

But coughing and sneezing also generate aerosol droplets, which are small particles that stay in the air and travel long distances. Doctors haven't determined which mode of transmission is most common.

Signs and symptoms

Most people are extremely familiar with warning signs of flu. "The symptoms are very typical of any febrile disease," says García-Sastre. "Most of them are respiratory symptoms: stuffy nose, sneezing, high fever, feeling very bad and prostration." Other symptoms can include headaches and GI symptoms. In severe cases, flu causes respiratory failure, which can lead to multiple organ dysfunction and death.

The common cold causes respiratory symptoms that can look like flu, but severity and timing can help you tell the difference. "Flu typically causes a fever," says García-Sastre. "In general, if you feel very bad and need to go to bed, it's usually flu, not a cold."

Flu also strikes seasonally, and the Centers for Disease Control tracks the number of cases so its researchers can report which states have a high incidence of flu.

"If you get a very bad cold during the peak of the influenza season, it's probably influenza," says García-Sastre.

Traditional treatment

The best treatment for flu is still prevention. "Vaccines work extremely well in healthy adults, but not as well in the elderly," says García-Sastre. "However, the best way to prevent elderly people from getting infected is to decrease infections among the younger people. Kids are the main spreaders of flu."

There are two types of vaccine: an inactivated vaccine, taken as a shot, and flu-mist vaccine, an alive but weakened virus that is taken intranasally.

"The injection is an inactivated vaccine, which cannot make you sick because the virus isn't alive," says García-Sastre. "It's also given intramuscularly so it can't reach the respiratory tract."

Vaccination takes three to four weeks to induce an immune response.

"One problem with the vaccine is that because the virus changes, the vaccine needs to change every year," says García-Sastre. "When a new strain comes, it's very difficult to create a new vaccine in time."

Once you've been infected with influenza, antivirals can prevent the virus from replicating.

"There are two classes of antivirals. Amantadine and rimantadine belong to the first class, two drugs that target the same viral protein and aren't currently recommended for many patients due to resistance of the circulating strains," says García-Sastre. "Neuraminidase inhibitors Tamiflu and Relenza are more effective against the current strains — Tamiflu is an oral product and Relenza is inhaled."

Taking antivirals can reduce death in cases of severe disease. "The problem with antivirals is that they need to be taken very early on to have impact," says García-Sastre. "Right now these drugs are effective, but in the future the virus may develop resistance to them."

Research breakthroughs

The best hope for reducing the burden of influenza is research working to develop new vaccines and antivirals. "New research breakthroughs give hope on the possibility of a next generation of influenza vaccines that are called universal, which means they would protect against more different strains, even all different strains of the virus," says García-Sastre. "A second avenue of research is the development of new antivirals that target different components."

García-Sastre expects that doctors will be able to choose from many more anti-virals within the next five years.
Question for your doctor

If you think you have flu, talk to your doctor over the phone and ask, "Do you recommend Tamiflu?"

Tamiflu can also be used prophylactically.

"For instance, if one person has the disease in a family that lives together, taking Tamiflu can help prevent the rest of the family catching it," says García-Sastre.

What you can do

See a doctor if you have severe flu.

"If you start to feel really bad and have problems breathing, you might be getting severe influenza that could lead into pneumonia," says Dr. Adolfo García-Sastre. "And you might need to be hospitalized."

Watch out for complications.

The normal duration of flu is around one week. Longer bouts can be a sign something is wrong. For example, the flu could have given way to a bacterial infection, or it may not have been flu in the first place.

Get vaccinated.

García-Sastre recommends everybody get vaccinated: "The more people get vaccinated, the less spreading there will be."

Take sensible precautions.

Frequently wash your hands, and don't cough or sneeze into your hands. The use of masks by people who have the disease can help, too.

Stay in bed.

"If you come to work, you are going to spread it," says García-Sastre.

Get informed.

The CDC runs a great website on influenza (cdc.gov/flu) with information on flu prevention, treatment and free resources.

No diet is one-size-fits-all, only way to target fat is by liposuction

2011-01-16T00:48:00.000-08:00

Calorie counters looking to turn the tables on weight gain have just two days left to phone the free Daily News Diet Hotline.

Our diet and fitness experts are taking a bite out of the Big Apple's obesity epidemic, one call at a time.

"People are suffering from information overload," says dietitian Keri Glassman, founder and president of Keri Glassman, Nutritious Life. "Weight Watchers says this, Jenny Craig says that, people read one thing one day and another thing the next, so no wonder they are still confused about what they can or cannot eat."

No diet is one-size-fits-all, so New Yorkers need to customize a plan to fit their lifestyle.

"What they should do is take advantage of the fact that there are options, and figure out what works best for them," says dietitian Lisa Moskovitz of the F-Factor Diet. "People want to be told exactly what to eat, but what they need to learn is how to make choices for themselves."

The Diet Hotline is helping confused callers become educated eaters. Dial (212) 210-2044 or email your questions to DietHotline@nydailynews.com.

The first step is forgetting the diet and fitness myths you've always believed. Start with this one: There's no such thing as targeting weight loss to a specific area.

"The only way to spot-reduce is a thing called liposuction," says trainer Jeff Halevy, CEO of Halevy Life. "That's the only way to suck fat out of just one area."

You've got to work the whole body to shed that stubborn belly fat. "You can't target, but when you lose weight overall, it will also leave your belly," says dietitian Anne Ammons from New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. "There are little things you can do to help, however, like focus on building core strength or cutting out carbonated beverages, which can make you bloated and puffy."

Next, say our experts: Don't believe the baked-chip hype. Baked Lays aren't better for you than the original fat trap, says dietitian Melissa Rifkin from Montefiore Medical Center Weiler Division. "They're both bad. And Baked Lays actually have more sodium than the regular kind."

For snackers struggling to kick salty cravings, try a healthy take on fries: Make your own "potato chips" by sprinkling thin sweet-potato slices with a salt substitute, like Mrs. Dash or Nu-Salt, and baking them in the oven.

Whatever you do, eat. Starvation diets are never a quick fix. "Missing meals hurts your metabolism. It slows it down," says June Levine, a dietitian and certified diabetes educator. "Eat small meals throughout the day to boost your metabolism." You'll also be less likely to binge when your appetite kicks in.

Eating right doesn't have to mean giving up your favorite local foodie spot. "One caller who needs to cut his daily bagel and cream cheese habit didn't want to give up going to his regular breakfast place," says Allison Fishman, author of the upcoming "You Can Trust a Skinny Cook."

"We went over the menu together and amped up his breakfast to an egg-white omelet with vegetables on rye toast," she explains, "so he can still say hi to his peeps every day, and he doesn't have to leave
his spot."

The experts available on the Daily News Diet Hotline cannot give you medical advice or diagnosis. Any information about nutrition and weight control they offer is not intended as, and is not a substitute for, medical advice, counseling or diagnosis. You should consult your doctor before beginning any weight-loss program. The Daily News makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to information given by the hotline experts and under no circumstances will it be liable to any caller or other person for damages of any nature arising in any way from the use of such information.

Living with Crohn's disease is easier thanks to treatment breakthroughs

2011-01-14T06:32:00.000-08:00

As chairman of the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Mark Babyatsky is a gastroenterologist who has specialized in inflammatory bowel diseases since 1984. Seventy-five percent of his patients have Crohn's disease.

Who's at risk

"Crohn's disease is an inflammation of any part of the digestive tract," says Babyatsky. "It's most commonly located in the small intestine or the large intestine." More than 500,000 people in the U.S. are living with Crohn's disease. An even greater number have ulcerative colitis, a similar inflammatory bowel disease that strikes the colon.

"For reasons that we don't completely understand, these numbers are increasing and Crohn's is becoming more common," says Babyatsky.

Some groups are at higher risk of Crohn's disease than others. "Doctors have long recognized higher incidence of Crohn's in people of Scandinavian descent and the Ashkenazi Jewish population, which is Jews of Eastern European origin," says Babyatsky.

"Western European Jews have a lower incidence." Doctors have recently found other groups at risk, and now agree that any group can get Crohn's.

The biggest risk factor is genetics. "There's a genetic predisposition, but it's not strictly inherited," says Babyatsky. "If your parent or first-degree relative had the disease, your risk is 5% higher."

Doctors are also exploring environmental factors that contribute to the risks, stomach bacteria in particular.
"There's good and bad bacteria in terms of inflammation," says Babyatsky. "But we're not quite there in terms of understanding how that affects Crohn's."

The disease commonly shows up in young people. "The most common age of presentation is 15 to 30 years old," says Babyatsky. "Crohn's tends to be a young person's disease, and can appear even in childhood." There's a second peak of diagnosis from age 60-80.

Signs and symptoms

Crohn's diseases presents itself in different ways, depending on where the inflammation is in the gastro-intestinal tract.

"Abdominal pain, diarrhea and bloody bowel movements are three textbook symptoms," says Babyatsky. "Secondary symptoms can include weight loss, nausea and loss of appetite." In some patients, the disease causes abscesses or fistulas that can affect surrounding tissue or organs.

For most patients, Crohn's symptoms present as sporadic attacks. "These are symptoms that come and go," says Babyatsky. "Some people have one attack and then it doesn't come back, but most people have recurrences." Crohn's attacks are often triggered by factors like stress, smoking, certain foods (especially high-fiber foods and dairy) and nonsteroidal drugs, including aspirin and non-aspirin products.

One challenge of living with Crohn's disease is that it can be difficult to diagnose. "It takes a while to get the correct diagnosis, and Crohn's is often confused with irritable bowel syndrome," says Babyatsky. In milder cases, patients may think they are feeling the effects of a change in diet or bowel habits, or even an infection.

Crohn's is easy to diagnose once the doctor orders screening tests like a colonoscopy, X-ray or CT enterography. "These tests give images of the GI tract's lining," says Babyatsky. "The doctor can actually see abscesses, strictures or inflammation."

Traditional treatment

Doctors now have a powerful array of treatment options for Crohn's disease. "The traditional treatments include a novel class of anti-inflammatory medications, immunosuppressive agents at lower doses, and antibiotics," says Babyatsky. "Most of these drugs are taken orally."

In the past 15 years, a newer generation of drugs have dramatically improved quality of life for Crohn's patients.

"Starting in 1998, we've had anti-TNF (anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor) medicines like Remicade," says Babyatsky. "These drugs are antibodies against an inflammatory substance that is increased in Crohn's patients."

Doctors call these drugs biologic treatments because they're directed against the particular biology of the disease. "Now there's a family of anti-TNF medications and these are used extremely frequently and effectively for many forms of Crohn's," says Babyatsky, "especially for people with fistulas."

Surgery is an option of last resort for most patients because the disease is recurrent and the drugs are so effective.
"Nonetheless, for some people surgery can be a tremendous option," says Babyatsky. "The surgeon removes the inflamed part of the GI tract, strictures or the fistula."

Research breakthroughs

Doctors' understanding of Crohn's disease has increased radically in the past decade. "We've found that there are two major pathways in the disease: the first related to the bacteria in the gut and their relationship to how the body handles them, including autophagy, a particular process of degeneration in the cells. The second is a specific pathway of the body's immune system.

Targets against these factors are being evaluated," says Babyatsky.

"The next step is to use this knowledge to develop the right strategies for treating diseases like Crohn's," he says. One hope is to use good bacteria, called probiotics, to counteract the bad bacteria that cause Crohn's.

Questions for your doctor

If you're diagnosed with Crohn's ask, "What are the triggers I can avoid?" For many patients the answers include nonsteroidal drugs, not smoking and certain foods. Another good question is, "What risk do my family members have of getting the disease?

The third question is, "Is this going to kill me?" Almost without exception, the answer is no.

Babyatsky counsels patients that Crohn's is now a manageable disease. "Under great care, patients have a normal life span and, in some cases, permanent remissions."

What you can do

Comply with medication.
Take your medications as prescribed and have a close working relationship with your doctor.

Keep a dietary chart.
The triggers for Crohn's are different for everyone, and keeping a chart can help identify your pattern. High-fiber foods and dairy are two common triggers.

See a nutritionist.
No single diet fits all Crohn's patients, so working with a nutritionist is key. Most nutritionists will ask you to keep a food log, then design a diet tailored to your specific needs.

Get informed.
The Crohn's Colitis Foundation (ccfa.org) posts excellent, up-to-date information, including search engines for clinical trials and physicians who specialize in the disease.

Ask about colon cancer screening.

Patients with Crohn's in the large intestine can be at increased risk of colon cancer. Most doctors advise colon cancer screening eight-10 years after diagnosis with Crohn's, and repeating it every one to two years.

nydailynews.com

Former vice president Dick Cheney now has no pulse; Heart pump like artificial heart

2011-01-12T06:29:00.000-08:00

He no longer has a pulse, but Dick Cheney has a mechanical heart pump – and a chance for a normal life.

The 69-year-old former vice president is back in action, albeit a little thinner.

"He really doesn't have a pulse, but he has blood pressure because blood is being pumped out from his ventricle into the aorta at a constant pressure," explains Dr. Kirk Garratt, clinical director of interventional cardiovascular research at Lenox Hill Hospital.

But what exactly is beating in Cheney's chest?

Called an implantable left ventricular assist device, it "works like a little centrifugal pump," Garratt said. "It is like a spinning motor that acts like a fan to draw blood out of the pumping chamber, or left ventricle, and it propels the blood into the aorta."

Cheney's device, which is almost like a partial artificial heart, is battery-powered.

Implanted in the patient's chest, the device is connected to a cable that comes out of the body and connects to a mini computer that plugs into a battery pack. The patient wears a vest that holds these in place, and spare batteries must be carried as well.

"With a normal heart, the left ventricle fills with blood and the muscles of the heart all squeeze at once to push the blood out in one quick wave," Garratt said. "The pressure of that blood being pushed out into the arteries is what you feel as a pulse when you put your fingers to your wrist. But the pump works continuously, always drawing blood out of the left ventricle and propelling it into the aorta at a constant rate. So you don’t generate a pulse."

Typically, the pump's batteries last for around six hours, and then they must be changed.

But why does Cheney no longer have a pulse?

The mechanical heart works continuously to push the blood, rather than mimicking a heartbeat.

But don't think that just anyone can get this heart pump. Getting a pump like Cheney’s is major surgery and can require a lengthy hospital stay and recovery time.

"It’s a big surgery that carries with it very real risks," Dr. Mathew Williams, surgical director of cardiovascular transcatheter therapies at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia told the Daily News. "We tend to put them into people who are going to die without them."

Cheney will likely have this device in place for the rest of his life.

Some patients are given this mechanical heart until they are healthy enough for a transplant. But in older patients like Cheney -- who has had five heart attacks -- a heart transplant is not always an option.

“Hearts are an exceedingly rare commodity,” Garratt says. “It’s hard to make the decision to give a heart to a man who is [close to] 70 when you know that means a 30-year-old may not be able to get it.”

nydailynews.com

Girls who begin their period earlier are more likely to be depressed teens: study

2011-01-10T06:07:00.000-08:00

The younger a girl is when she begins her monthly period, the more likely she is to struggle with depression later in her teen years, according to a study.

British scientists studied a group of girls ages 10, 13 and 14 years old and examined the relationship between the early onset of menstruation and depressive symptoms, according to a recent study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Researchers found that girls who started their periods before the age of 11.5 were the most depressed by ages 13 and 14. Girls who began to menstruate at 13.5 years of age were the least likely to suffer the same symptoms.

Why does this happen?

"Early maturing girls may feel isolated, and faced with demands which they are not emotionally prepared for," said lead researcher Dr. Carol Joinson of the School of Social and Community Medicine at Bristol University.

These changes can include hormonal fluctuations, conflicts with friends and parents and sudden attention from the opposite sex.

"Later maturation may be protective against psychological distress," said Joinson.

The study only examines depression in mid-adolescent girls as opposed to whether girls who menstruate early suffer from depression as adults.

If the link between early onset puberty and depression is a real one, additional counseling can help girls who are struggling with the sudden changes.

"If girls who reach puberty early are at greater risk of psychological problems in adolescence, it may be possible to help them with school- and family-based programs aimed at early intervention and prevention," said Joinson.

nydailynews.com

Autism and vaccine link discredited; what parents should know now about vaccinating kids

2011-01-06T06:04:00.000-08:00

It's safe for kids to get their shots. That's the take-away message from medical experts in the wake of a British Medical Journal article about a discredited study linking vaccines and autism.

The study author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, hid the fact that some of the children he wrote about in his research already had developmental problems when they got their vaccines, according to the Journal story.

The doctor had changed the medical histories of the dozen autistic children whose stories were the basis of his 1998 study, reports CNN.com.

The Journal article "pretty clearly shows that vaccines are safe, and there does not seem to be a clear relationship that vaccines are causing autism," said Dr. Robert Melillo, autism expert and author of "Disconnected Kids."

For worried parents, the idea that autism could be prevented by withholding vaccines held a certain appeal since there are no definitively recognized causes for the disorder.

"Some 95% of the research in the past couple of decades has been spent looking for a bad gene or genes," said Melillo. "There has not been a lot of research looking at environmental factors."

When Wakefield's study came out, Melillo said, "It was the smoking gun, and it gave parents the validation they were looking for as a cause for autism."

With the now-retracted study labeled an "elaborate fraud," according to CNN, Melillo advised parents to let go of any vaccine worries. But, he said, they also should be aware of early signs of autism, such as a baby being unable to roll over by the age of 5 months or to breastfeed successfully.

Jenny McCarthy is just one of the Hollywood celebrities who is adamant about the connection between vaccinations and autism. (Rodriguez/Getty)

Parents worried about a baby's development should get in touch with the child's pediatrician right away, he said.

Vaccine fears have taken hold of parents, but they're unfounded, says Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of the division of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Cohen Children's Medical Center of North Shore-LIJ.

"There is an overwhelming abundance of research dismissing any credible link between autism and vaccines," he said.

"One of the many wrong presumptions is that there is a singular cause of autism." Instead, he said, it's likely that there are multiple reasons for a child to have autism.

Despite the BMJ story, not all parents are convinced that Wakefield's research has been disproved. "Vaccine injury is real," said Kim Stagliano, a Connecticut mother of three autistic daughters who said that her older two, now 16 and 14, got autism because of vaccines

She subsequently did not have her youngest, now 10, vaccinated.

"The barrage against Dr. Wakefield is an unvarnished attempt to convince the American public that there is an ‘anti-vaccine' movement, while ignoring that American children are chronically sicker than ever and autism now hobbles at least 1% of American children," said Stagliano, who is the author of the book, "All I Can Handle: I'm No Mother Teresa."

She added that parents have the right to demand vaccine safety and "honest science, without those who have a financial interest controlling the conversation."

The actress Jenny McCarthy, whose son has autism, hadn't issued comment on the BMJ article, according to CNN. However, McCarthy, who founded Generation Rescue, a group that backs the idea of a link between vaccines and autism, had supported Wakefield in the past.

Parents now should have much less anxiety about vaccinating their kids, says Dr. Mary Beth Koslap-Petraco, chairwoman of legislative affairs of the Nurse Practitioner Association of Long Island and a past member of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee.

"The study linking autism with vaccines has decreased the number of children who get vaccinated," she said. "But there was no truth to the study. A mistake was made. The person who did the study has betrayed the public's trust with this, and children have suffered because of it."

Whether previously reluctant parents will now decide to have their kids vaccinated remains to be seen.

New York State requires certain vaccinations before a child can attend school, but a parent can get a religious exemption, Koslap-Petraco said. "It's very difficult to get a medical exemption, and New York City is really strict about what they will allow as a religious exemption."

Not vaccinating kids opens up the possibility of an outbreak of disease, she said. "Unless you have a highly vaccinated population, if you introduce a virus or the bacteria into the community, it puts all children, even the vaccinated ones, at risk," she warned.

nydailynews.com

Scientists debunk dubious celebrity-endorsed health tips

2011-01-04T18:50:00.000-08:00

Science campaigners laid bare some of the most dubious celebrity-endorsed health tips on Wednesday, rubbishing ideas such as reabsorbing sperm and wearing silicone bracelets to boost energy.

In an annual list of what it sees as the year's worst abuses against science, the Sense About Science (SAS) campaign group debunked diet and exercise suggestions made by actors, pop stars and others in the public eye in an effort "to help the celebrities realize where they are going wrong and to help the public make sense of celebrity claims."

In the health and fitness section, SAS noted that soccer player David Beckham and Prince William's fiancee Kate Middleton have both been spotted wearing hologram-embedded silicone bracelets which makers claim can improve energy and fitness.

It also listed a diet reportedly used by supermodel Naomi Campbell and actors Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore in which followers survive on maple syrup, lemon and pepper alone for up to two weeks. Campbell told U.S. TV host Oprah Winfrey in an interview in May: "It's good to clean out your body once in a while."

Naomi Campbell: Beautiful but not the person to go to for health advice. (Pascal Le Segretain)

But SAS said in a statement: "Many of these claims promote theories, therapies and campaigns that make no scientific sense."

Pop star Sarah Harding told Now magazine in April that she crumbles charcoal over her food, saying: "It's doesn't taste of anything and apparently absorbs all the bad damaging stuff in the body."

Dr John Elmsley, a chemical scientist and writer asked by SAS to comment on this idea, said charcoal is known to absorb toxic molecules when used in gas masks and sewage treatment, but is "unnecessary when it comes to diet become the body is already quite capable of removing any 'bad damaging stuff'."

One of the highlights for SAS was a tip from cage fighter Alex Reid, who told The Sun tabloid newspaper in April that he "reabsorbs" his sperm to prepare for a big fight.

"It's actually very good for a man to have unprotected sex as long as he doesn't ejaculate. Because I believe that all that semen has a lot of nutrition. A tablespoon of semen has your equivalent of steak, eggs, lemons and oranges. I am reabsorbing it into my body and it makes me go raaaaahh," he said.

John Aplin, a reproductive research scientist at the University of Manchester, said sperm cannot be reabsorbed once they have formed in the testes. "In fact sperm die after a few days, and the nutritional content of the ejaculate is really rather small," he said in a comment on the SAS list.

To try and counter the effects of some of the wildest health and fitness tips, SAS published its own "easy-to-remember pointers for celebrity commentators":-

* Nothing is chemical-free: everything is made of chemicals, it's just a case of which ones

* Detox is a marketing myth: our body does it without pricey potions and detox diets

* There's no need to boost: bodily functions occur without boosting

* Energy and fitness come from...food and exercise: there are no shortcuts.

nydailynews.com

Addictions & Answers: Controlled drinking meds for alcoholics -- miracle drug or denial in a bottle?

2011-01-02T18:48:00.000-08:00

BILL: Dave, you heard about this new drug, Nalmefene? Supposed to block brain signals that makes drinking feel good? The promise is that it can curb a drunk's urge to order another after s/he's had that barrier-breaking first shot?

DR. DAVE: "Nalmefene is aimed at reducing consumption without the abstinence that Alcoholics Anonymous and other treatment programs say is necessary," says Adron Harris, director of the University of Texas at Austin's Waggoner Center for Alcohol & Addiction Research . "This less-strict approach may drive more abusers to seek treatment for the first time."

BILL: Drunks like to say booze fills the hole in your belly. I think it's a hole in your heart and soul. How does a chemical fill that?

DR. DAVE: The actual hole that Nalmafene research does fill is the craving among a small group of scientists to develop a path to controlled drinking for alcoholics.

BILL: Where I agree with Adron Harris is that the notion of complete abstinence is so scary it does keep many a drunk from seeking treatment. Why are you so dead set against that?

DR. DAVE: Experience tells me a return to controlled drinking is the holy grail of virtually every alcoholic. The unstated promise behind Nalmafene is maybe you don't have to stop drinking at all. Listen, Bill, are you having a bit of longing yourself for some pill that would allow you to have that "occasional drink or two?"

BILL: Doc, is that what you hear in my interest in Nalmefene? The siren call of relapse? To dance once more with three martinis on the other side of the moon?

DR. DAVE: What I don't like is that Nalmefene's false promise undermines work on medications that actually do support a more comfortable abstinence.

BILL: Such as Naltrexone and Acomprosate?

DR.DAVE: Both already approved by the FDA to alleviate cravings.

BILL: I remember going through bouts of depression in rehab – a feeling I had to have a drink right now or die. One of those proven suppressants would have made it a lot easier to pay attention to aftercare group counseling sessions.

DR. DAVE: And that's where the new advances in medication are at their best! In fact, even in good Minnesota Model treatment programs we see rates of recovery in depressed alcoholics hovering around 30%. Add Naltrexone and a common non-abusable anti-depressant, Zoloft, to the treatment and those research rates jump up above 50%.

BILL: Whoa Doc—aren't you back to pushing pills rather than treatment? Instead of weeks in rehab, wouldn't the temptation be to just go get a prescription from your family doc?

DR. DAVE: The statistics are that doctors who mistakenly prescribe just anti-depressant medication to improve the symptoms of alcoholism are actually choosing the least effective course of treatment.

BILL: We've certainly seen a lot of celebs who actually died trying to find a chemical way out of their alcoholism or addiction—Corey Haim, Anna Nicole Smith, Judy Garland and the pinnacles of old time rock and roll—Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix.

DR. DAVE: Its called Combined Drug Intoxication, or CDI, and it comes from trying to mix drugs to "get a better high" without so many negative side effects...

BILL: What you are saying is that drugs like Nalmafene could actually be called "Denial in a Bottle?"

DR. DAVE: If family physicians reading us want to see the different medications that can be legitimately used to support an abstinence-based alcoholism recovery, they can go to this medication web site.

BILL: Run by the American Academy of Family Physicians, right? Dave, I have to tell you though, that with the holidays coming to an end, the research I'd like to see would be for those infomercial favorites--Fat Burner pills, followed by two tablets of Exercise-in-a-Bottle. Now, if there had been one to evaporate the contents of a full bladder, I would never have to leave the couch!

DR. DAVE: Well Bill, we've run out of space today; but I'll be glad to reserve next week's column for medication and eating disorders—just in time for your New Years' Resolutions.

Dr. David Moore is a licensed psychologist and chemical dependency professional who is a graduate school faculty member at Argosy University's Seattle Campus. Bill Manville is a Book of the Month novelist; his most recent work of non-fiction, "Cool, Hip & Sober," is available at online bookstores. Bill also teaches "Writing To Get Published" for Temple University and at writers.com.

nydailynews.com

What does a 'polar bear plunge' do your body? Jumping into icy waters isn't for the faint of heart

2010-12-31T18:44:00.001-08:00

Do you like to ring in the New Year with an icy dip in the Atlantic?

Taking a 'polar bear plunge' is more than just a cold shock to the skin – it's a shock to your entire system.

Brave souls who race to Coney Island each year to jump into frigid waters boast the plunge's invigorating qualities – After all, the Scandinavians have been diving into cold water and then warming up in the saunas since the time of the Vikings.

But does it really give your health a boost?

"I don't know of any definitive medical studies that have been done to measure the health benefits of cold-water swimming," Dr. Alan Steinman, one of the country's foremost experts on hypothermia and cold-water survival told Msnbc.com.

He's worried that these chilly revelers may be taking health risks.

He recommends a gentle dip, slowly into shallow water, rather than a total, sudden plunge. Yes, this sort of defeats the purpose for these daredevil human polar bears.

When the body is suddenly immersed in icy water, there's a sudden gasp, an inhalation, rapid breathing and the inability to hold your breath, "which can be a problem if your head's underwater," he says.

For that reason, it's better to "plunge" gradually, from shallow water, and not off a dock or a boardwalk. It's possible to go into cardiac arrest due to shock -- The small blood vessels constrict on the surface of your body as a defense mechanism, so you don't lose heat. That means that a whole lot more blood is being squeezed into the same amount of blood vessels, which "serves to increase the effect on blood pressure," said Steinman.

Still, organizers of the Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plungefest, which raises money for charity, has been incident-free.

Around 12,000 people are expected to run wild in the Chesapeake.

nydailynews.com

E-cigarettes cannot be regulated as a drug; Victory for electronic tobacco company

2010-12-27T07:51:00.000-08:00

E-cig smokers can keep puffing.

An appeals court is saying the Food and Drug Administration cannot stop imports of electronic cigarettes.
The FDA wants to regulate e-cigarettes as a drug-device and last year ordered that a shipment could not enter the United States.

But Sottera Inc. of Arizona, which does business as e-cigarette distributor NJOY, says in a lawsuit that its product cannot be regulated as a drug-device.

"We're thrilled," Craig Weiss, the president of theScottsdale, Arizona-based company told Business Week. "Now we can continue to sell e-cigarettes under the regulations of the Tobacco Act."

E-cigarettes operate with a heating element and a battery. Users inhale a vaporized liquid nicotine mixture much the way traditional smokers inhale smoke, but without fire, smoke, ash or carbon monoxide.

"Some people believe that e-cigarettes are a safe substitute for conventional cigarettes," said study co-author Dr. Prue Talbot, director of UC Riverside's Stem Cell Center. "However, there are virtually no scientific studies on e-cigarettes and their safety. Our study — one of the first studies to evaluate e-cigarettes — shows that this product has many flaws, which could cause serious public health problems in the future if the flaws go uncorrected."

nydailynews.com

Coffee and donuts: Breakfast of champions? It turns out caffeine and glucose could make you smarter

2010-12-25T07:50:00.000-08:00

Breakfast of champions? It turns out a morning meal of java and a donut, a favorite of office workers everywhere, could actually make you smarter.

The combo of caffeine and glucose revs up the brain, according to a study published in the journal "Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental," reported by MSNBC.com.

Researchers found that pairing the two oft-maligned ingredients helps both attention and memory.

The study, conducted at the University of Barcelona in Spain, examined a group of 72 women and men between the ages of 18 and 25, who were given doses of either water, water with caffeine, water with glucose, or water with both caffeine and glucose.

The subjects then took a variety of tests on attention, memory and manual dexterity.

Some of the tests involved simple tasks such as remembering a list of 15 repeated words, or removing pegs from a cup and putting them quickly into a hole.

Others consisted of repeating back a batch of numbers both forward and backwards.

Participants who had been given water with caffeine or glucose had better reaction times than those who drank plain water.

And when the study subjects drank the water with both substances, they displayed impressive results on attention, learning, and consolidating verbal memory.

While the findings are noteworthy, researchers hope to perform more studies to investigate "the effects of caffeine and glucose, alone and in combination, with repeated doses."

In the meantime, hold the nutritious breakfast, please, and bring on the double mocha lattes and French crullers.

nydailynews.com

Christmas tree safety tips for preventing fires; Test your lights and tree to avoid disaster

2010-12-23T07:48:00.000-08:00

Christmas isn't all joy to the world. In fact, it can be downright treacherous.

About 12,000 consumers are treated in hospital emergency departments nationwide due to holiday-related decorating incidents, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Dried out Christmas trees result in an average of 17 deaths and $13 million in property damage annually. Candle-related residential fires cause about 150 deaths and $385 million in property damage.

"To prevent a holiday tradition from becoming a holiday tragedy, keep lighted candles in sight, check trees for freshness, and don't use lights with broken sockets or frayed wires,” said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum.

Other tips for a safe winter holiday season:

Get a good tree: A fresh tree is green, its needles are hard to pull from branches, and its needles do not break when bent between your fingers. The bottom of a fresh tree is sticky with resin, and when tapped on the ground, the tree should not lose many needles.

Set it up right: Keep your tree away from fireplaces, vents, and radiators -- heated rooms rapidly dry out live trees. Keep the tree stand filled with water. Be careful not to not block doorways.

Get the right fake: Make sure your artificial tree is labeled, "Fire Resistant."

All the trimmings: In homes with small children, avoid sharp, weighted, or breakable decorations or small removable parts that could cause a choking hazard.

Light it up: Check each set of lights, new or old, for broken or cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires, or loose connections. Throw out damaged sets. Never use electric lights on a metallic tree.

Night lights: When using lights outdoors, make sure they're certified for outdoor use. Plug them into a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) protected receptacle or a portable GFCI.

nydailynews.com

Aspirin may reduce the risk of dying from cancer, research shows

2010-12-21T07:46:00.000-08:00

Popping aspirin on a regular basis may cut your risk of dying from cancer.

People who took the over-the-counter drug for several years were 21% less likely to die of stomach, esophageal and lung cancers, according to a study in the journal Lancet.

When British researchers looked at eight trials in which more than 25,000 patients participated, they learned that two decades later, the risk of those patients dying from lung cancer fell 30%, the risk of dying from esophageal cancer decreased by 60%, and the risk of dying from colorectal cancer dropped 40%, according to U.S. News and World Report.

"This is important as a proof of principle that a single simple compound like aspirin can reduce the risk of cancer substantially," study author Peter M. Rothwell told The NY Times. "There's been a lot of work over the years showing that certain compounds can increase the risk of cancer, but it's not been shown before that we can reduce the risk with something as simple as aspirin."

Low doses of aspirin have been used for years by those who want to lower their heart attack risk. Still, experts warn, aspirin also can be risky. Those who take it on a daily basis have an increased chance of developing an ulcer and internal bleeding, for instance. In fact, a daily aspirin bumps up the risk of internal bleeding to one in every 2,000 to 3,000 people.

Dr. Michael Aziz, an internist at Lenox Hill Hospital and author of "The Perfect 10 Diet," feels that only diabetics and those at a high risk for heart attack or stroke should take aspirin on a daily basis.

"People are popping aspirin like it’s nothing," he says. "Yet long term aspirin use has been linked to health problems such as macular degeneration."

Another potential risk with a regular regimen of aspirin could be bleeding into the brain, or a hemorrhagic stroke.

In the study, researchers learned that the size of the aspirin dose did not appear to be all that significant. In most trials, participants got a low dose of 75 to 100 milligrams. The patients that had the most dramatic reduction in cancer deaths were those who were in the longest lasting trials.

So does this mean you should take an aspirin a day? "Many people may wonder if they should start taking daily aspirin, but it would be premature to recommend people start taking aspirin specifically to prevent cancer," American Cancer Society epidemiologist Eric J. Jacobs told The Times. "It’s hard to assess effects on mortality from just one study."

nydailynews.com

Weight Watchers new Points Plus weight loss system has dieters losing their minds

2010-12-19T07:44:00.000-08:00

Weight Watchers has overhauled its points system. And not everyone is happy about it.

The new system's 'PointsPlus' values has stunned the many devoted members who have sworn by the old points method for weight loss since it was introduced 13 year ago.

For the 750,000 Americans on Weight Watchers, the new program will require some adjustment in how they choose their foods.

One reason people adored the program was because it allowed room for sweets and alcohol. Just budget the points for it out of your daily allowance and you were able to keep your weight down.

Using the old 'Points', an apple had the same Points value as a small bag of pretzels. Even though the program leaders urged dieters to eat a healthy balance of fruits and vegetables, there was little incentive to choose the apple.

"Before, we considered a calorie as a calorie," Stephanie Rost, Weight Watchers' corporate program development director told the News. "You are automatically guided toward foods that have a higher satiety value, that will help you keep fuller longer."

Weight Watchers' Idol: Actress and singer Jennifer Hudson reportedly used the new PointsPlus system to transform her body.
Vegetables and fruits are now zero "Points Plus" but processed foods as well as alcohol and sugar are higher. That two-point glass of wine is now four points.

While many are praising the new plan, many are wishing Weight Watchers would bury it.

"I love my carbs and have lost 121 lbs on the old system," one member wrote on the company's Facebook page. "I don't wanna change what I am doing and I feel that Weight Watchers should have given us a choice whether or not we wanted to try the new Points Plus."

"All the Points values in my cookbook are wrong now," one member moaned. "I guess I'll just have to get new ones for my computer."

Members were also irritated that the new ontime tools and products to measure the Points Plus were not given to them for free since the old ones that they paid for are now worthless.

Weight Watchers' move away from processed foods and putting more emphasis on fruits and vegetables is more in line with the trends of today. Nutritionists have long dismissed low-fat, high-sugar foods as a bad way to lose weight. People are paying more attention to the chemicals and additives in packaged foods than ever before.

Under the new system, the 40,000 foods in the Weight Watchers database (it includes both branded foods and generic foods) have been recalculated, taking into account not just how many calories they contain, but what else they contain. All the packaged foods will be recalculated and relabeled, and should be available in the new version within a month, Rost says.

So is the plan better for consumers?

Having a higher point allotment could potentially slow weight loss in some people, says Roberta Anding, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. "As you increase points, you increase total calories, maybe by 100 or 200 calories a day," she says. "But calories or points always count. That subtle increase in points may make a difference in weight loss."

But, she adds, "This is the first time there has been an emphasis on whole foods from Weight Watchers, the first time they recognized that a 100 calorie apple and a 100 calorie cookie aren't metabolized the same way. The concept of getting away from processed foods is a good one."

While members are fretting over the changes and added costs to the new program, others are already disovering free versions of the online tools and sharing new tricks and tips with the skeptics.

"I think it will be fun when all the naysayers who quit come back 50 lbs heavier while the rest of us are healthier and thinner," a member wrote on Facebook. "Love the health-ified new plan."

nydailynews.com

Could hormone replacement therapy help the sex drives of very old men?

2010-12-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

The very oldest men are still interested in sex but illness and a lack of opportunity may be holding them back, Australian researchers reported on Monday.

The "male" hormone testosterone was clearly linked with how often a man over 75 had sex, and doctors need to do more studies to see if hormone replacement therapy might benefit older men, the researchers said.

Zoe Hyde of the University of Western Australia and colleagues surveyed more than 2,700 men aged 75 to 95 for their study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

They asked a range of questions about health, relationships and sexual activity.

"The older men were, the less likely they were to be sexually active, but sex remained at least somewhat important to one fifth of men aged 90 to 95 years, refuting the stereotype of the asexual older person," they wrote in their report.

"Of those who were sexually active, more than 40 percent were dissatisfied with the frequency of sexual activity, preferring sex more frequently."

More than 30 percent of the men reported some sort of sexual activity in the past year, but more than 48 percent said sex was important, suggesting many of the men wanted to have sex but could not.

Age was a factor but so were testosterone levels, the lack of an interested partner, and various diseases from diabetes to prostate cancer.

More than 40 percent of the men who had not had sex recently said they were not interested.

nydailynews.com

Aretha Franklin has cancer: Relatives confirm illness week after Queen of Soul had mystery surgery

2010-12-15T07:42:00.000-08:00

Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin has cancer, her family announced Wednesday.

The music legend's relatives and sources close to her confirmed the sad news to Detroit's Fox 2 station and The Detroit News, adding they are deeply worried about the icon's health.

Franklin, 68, underwent a mysterious surgery last Thursday at a Detroit hospital for an undisclosed condition.

She released a statement after the procedure to reassure her fans, but did not specify the reason for her operation.

"The surgery was highly successful," she said. "God is still in control. I had superb doctors and nurses whom were blessed by all the prayers of the city and the country. God bless you all for your prayers!"

The day after her surgery, Franklin visited with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who said she was making an impressive recovery.

"She's doing very well," Jackson told The Detroit News. "She's very prayerful. She's a woman of deep religious faith."

Speculation about Franklin's poor health has been brewing since November, when the singer canceled all of her upcoming concerts due to "medical reasons."

The National Enquirer claimed Wednesday that Franklin was actually diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer months ago.

The Enquirer "claims doctors made the glum diagnosis after Aretha broke her ribs in a shower fall over the summer," reports Popcrunch, which obtained the report.

The tabloid suggests Franklin has less than a year to live.

nydailynews.com

Derrick Burts, aka Cameron Reid, aka Derek Chambers, reveals he is HIV positive, calls for condoms

2010-12-13T07:40:00.000-08:00

Adult film star Derrick Burts is calling for condom use on porn sets.

The 24-year-old performer -- who is known as Derek Chambers in gay films and Cameron Reid in straight films -- has outed himself as the actor who tested positive for the HIV virus in October, causing two of the industry’s biggest production companies, Vivid Pictures and Wicked Entertainment, to shut down for almost a month.

Known only as Patient Zeta at the time, Burts found out on Oct. 8 from a routine check-up at the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation in Sherman Oaks, Calif., that he had contracted the virus, The Los Angeles Times reported.

After quarantining his co-stars, all of whom tested negative, the clinic reportedly told Burts they had traced the infection to someone he had performed with who was "known positive," but could not reveal his name due to patient confidentiality.

According to the Times, the gay porn industry does not require negative test results before filming.

Burts told the newspaper that he may have contracted the disease during a gay film shoot in Florida, during which time performers used condoms during intercourse but not during oral sex.

"It's very dangerous," he told the Times. "It should be required that you wear a condom on the set."

A month after being diagnosed, the clinic claimed in a statement that Zeta had contracted the HIV virus "through private, personal activity."

Burts told the Times that this was "completely false" as he had only ever slept with his girlfriend in his personal life and that she tested negative for the disease.

He also took issue with the fact that the clinic reportedly did not arrange for follow-up care and told him not to contact the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which he did anyway.

The actor reportedly identified himself as Patient Zeta to the group last week and said he wanted to speak out in favor of enforcing mandatory condom use on adult film sets.

"Making $10,000 or $15,000 for porn isn't worth your life,” he told the Times. "Performers need to be educated."

Burts will be holding a news conference about the reforms at 10 a.m. on Wednesday

nydailynews.com

Woman still breast feeds son, 6, says it's 'perfectly natural' and has no deadline for stopping

2010-12-11T07:38:00.000-08:00

No one would look twice at the sight of Amanda Hurst breast-feeding her infant son, but watching her do the same for her 6-year-old is a different story.

Hurst, 29, of Hemingfield, England, currently breast feeds both her sons, 5-month-old William and 6-year-old Jonathan, she revealed in an interview with the Daily Mail.

She tried to wean Jonathan off the habit at age 3, she says, but failed.

"I explained to him, 'This is the last time you can breastfeed," she told the paper. "He was like 'yeah, alright Mum,' and went to bed. When he came to feed in the night, I said, 'You're 3 now, you don't breastfeed, you're a big boy."

But Hurst reveals she herself didn't want to stop, and it was her husband who convinced her to continue.

The practice was sporadic for a few years and Hurst thought Jonathan was growing out of it -- until she had her second baby.

At that point, Jonathan began to demand breast milk more often to keep up with his infant brother.

"If you'd not had cake for three years and someone put a slice in front of you, you might want to have a bit," she said.

Hurst complied, not knowing how long her son would want to keep going.

"At first I thought I would only do it for four months then it was six months. He started walking at nine months and then he was a year, but he was still enjoying it, and I was too, so I just carried on," she said. "I didn't set myself any deadlines for stopping...It seemed normal, nobody said anything to me, I'm not sure whether people even noticed. It wasn't until he was 3 that I thought 'maybe this is a bit weird.'"

Hurst acknowledges that some may find her decision bizarre.

"I know some people think it's strange," Hurst told the Daily Mail. "But I think it's perfectly natural...There are people who find it hard to understand, including my mum and dad, but they respect me for standing up and being counted."

While the Mayo Clinic recommends that mothers breast-feed until their infants are 1-year-old, the American Academy of Pediatrics advises there is likely no risk to continuing past that recommendation.

"There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding and no evidence of psychologic or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer," the AAP states on its website.

That's good news for Hurst, who has no idea when she'll be able to stop.

"My opinion is that you should carry on until the child doesn't want it anymore, within reason," she told the Daily Mail.

"I would like him to grow out of it," she added, telling the paper that Jonathan is asking for breast milk "less and less" these days and even has his own age-appropriate 7-year-old girlfriend.

But she does admit she may have cut it off earlier if she had known it would go this far. "If I thought he would still be breastfeeding now I probably wouldn't even have started."

nydailynews.com

Study finds men who place laptop computer on lap put testicles at risk of overheating, infertility

2010-12-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

Attention guys: it might be time to switch to the iPad. The future of your children could depend on it.

The authors of a study that appeared in the journal Fertility and Sterility this month found that men who balanced a laptop on their nether regions could be putting their ability to reproduce at risk, because the computers heated their scrotums to unsafe temperatures.

In the study, researchers hooked thermometers to the scrotums of 29 men while they balanced a laptop on their knees.

Even with a pad under the computer, researchers found the men's testicles overheated quickly, Reuters reported.

"Within 10 or 15 minutes their scrotal temperature is already above what we consider safe, but they don't feel it," said Dr. Yefim Sheynkin, a urologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, who led the study.

Sheynkin stressed the test's results do not prove that laptop use impacts men's fertility.

But previous tests have shown that heating the scrotum even slightly is enough to damage sperm.

The researchers found the temperature of the men's testicles rose by up to 2.5 degrees Celsius after working with the computer positioned on their legs.

"I wouldn't say that if someone starts to use laptops they will become infertile," Sheynkin told Reuters.

But frequent use could cause problems, he said, because "the scrotum doesn't have time to cool down."

If found to affect fertility, laptops would join a roster of lifestyle factors like diet, drug use, exercise habits and nutrition that men should monitor in order to keep their reproductive systems healthy.

Personal style, though, is not a threat.

Sheynkin said that tight-fitting jeans and brief-style underwear did not put men at risk for low sperm counts.

With Wire News Services

nydailynews.com

Wendy's fast food chain unveils 'natural' french fries with skins on and sea salt

2010-12-07T00:59:00.000-08:00

Wendy's

French fries with the skin on and sea salt are Wendy's latest attempt to attract customers with more natural recipes.

With an eye toward appealing to foodies, Wendy's is remaking its fries with Russett potatoes, leaving the skin on and sprinkling sea salt on top.

The fast-food chain has been changing its menu to focus on "real" ingredients to win more fans.

The first move in the strategy was a new line of salads such as Apple Pecan Chicken in the summer. Now, the fries, which first appear on Thursday and roll out over the next two weeks. This is the first major overhaul of the 41-year-old company's fries, although it has adjusted the recipe in the past.

The new fries are slightly slimmer than the old ones, and crispier because they're smaller. They will have more salt, a medium size fry goes from 350 milligrams to 500 milligrams, and calories add 10 to 420. The selling price will not change, ranging from 99 cents to about $2. The fries will still come to stores frozen.

Wendy's is planning a marketing push, including national television ads airing later this month, to highlight the changes.

"We want every ingredient to be a simple ingredient, to be one you can pronounce and one your grandmother would recognize in her pantry," said Chief Marketing Officer Ken Calwell, who declined to say what the Dublin, Ohio, company was spending on the effort.

People want more natural foods and they want to know where they come from, he said. Having the skin on is a way to remind people that fries come from potatoes, he said. Testing showed that some people think restaurant french fries are processed foods, he said. The old recipe used a blend of potatoes, not always Russett, but the fries were 100 percent potato.

Sea salt is being increasingly used in fine dining and in mainstream eating. Lay's, part of PepsiCo Inc., uses sea salt in a version of its natural potato chips.

The new fries are also cooked in a different blend of vegetable oils.

Wendy's worked with its suppliers to grow more Russett potatoes, so the new recipe will only cost a fraction more to produce.

The company, a unit of Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc., has never been known for its fries, Calwell concedes. Burger King in the late 1990s famously overhauled its recipe to be crispier.

Wendy's said its new fries have been selling well in five test markets, including New Orleans and Orlando, in the past eight to nine months, he said. Wendy's has changed its fry recipe over the years, by adjusting the blend of oil used to fry them, and the amount of time they go from preparation to order, among other things. But those changes aren't something that could be easily understood by diners, so they were never touted.

Fries are very important to restaurant chains because they're a staple, but they've never been a major part of Wendy's business, said Joscelyn MacKay, a securities analyst with Morningstar. The company has been known more for its beef, which is fresh, not frozen. Fries are more of an afterthought to Wendy's, so it's not likely this will drive new business.

"It's very consistent with their positioning but at the end of the day, it's going to be down to taste," she said.

nydailynews.com

The worst fast-food meals for kids can weigh in with close to 1,000 fat-laden calories

2010-12-05T00:56:00.000-08:00

Small wonder that kids are getting larger.

Preschoolers now see three fast-food commercials each day, according to research reported on Msnbc.com.

The TV commercials push the fat-laden cheeseburgers and fries, rather than singing the praises of healthier side dishes like apples.

A third of American kids eat an actual fast-food meal each day -- some clocking in at 1,000 calories each.

The default side dish: French fries.

Healthier side dishes and drinks should be the default options for children when they eat fast food, and fast-food ads should regulated, says Marlene Schwartz, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University, told Msnbc.com.

Fast-food is "a huge source of meals for kids, and that's why we feel they need to be really looked at more carefully," she says.

The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity’s list of "worst" and "best" kids' meal combinations at fast-food restaurants lists Taco Bell, Dairy Queen and KFC among the worst nutritionally.

Taco Bell's bean burrito, served with cinnamon twists and a soft drink, has 760 calories, 284 of which come from sugar. KFC's extra crispy chicken drumstick, served with potato wedges, a soft drink and string cheese, contains 680 calories, while Dairy Queen's "original" cheeseburger, served with fries, Mountain Dew and a chocolate dilly bar, comes in at 973 calories, according to the Rudd Center.

nydailynews.com
The researchers who visited 250 restaurants found that French fries were automatically served with kids' meals 86% of the time and soft drinks were served 55% of the time. And when the researchers tallied up calories, sugar, sodium and fat in thousands of kids' meal combinations, only 12 met the nutrition standards for preschoolers' school lunches established by the Institute of Medicine.

Wondering where to take your child for a healthy fast-food meal? The Rudd Center's top picks are Subway and Burger King. At Subway, for instance, a Veggie Delite sandwich served with apple juice and apple slices has just 285 calories and 295 milligrams of sodium

One of the worst bets when you’re ordering for your child: KFC's popcorn chicken, with 840 calories and 1,610 milligrams of sodium.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2010/11/09/2010-11-09_the_worst_fastfood_meals_for_kids_can_weigh_in_with_close_to_1000_fatladen_calor.html#ixzz15FHFMEHF

Heart problems during pregnancy; cardiac trouble is a rare but real threat for expectant mothers

2010-12-03T20:33:00.000-08:00

An assistant professor of medicine, and associate director of the Mount Sinai Hospital echocardiography laboratory, Dr. Lori Croft is a cardiologist who specializes in pregnancy and the heart.

Who's at risk

Although pregnancy causes no cardiac problems for the vast majority of women, certain groups of women have an elevated risk of heart complications during pregnancy.

"A woman who has a history of heart disease, heart murmur, rheumatic fever or high blood pressure is potentially at risk during pregnancy," says Croft. "If you fall into one of these groups, you should talk with your doctor before becoming pregnant."

Overall, less than 1% of pregnancies are complicated by heart disease.

"Far and away the majority of women will have no cardiac issues and will not need to see a cardiologist during pregnancy," says Croft. "However, though rare, heart problems when present can affect anyone — age and ethnic background aren't a factor."

In particular, women with certain complex congenital heart problems have an elevated risk. "For some rare conditions, pregnancy is not advised at all," says Croft.

In a very small number of cases, previously asymptomatic women discover they have a heart defect when it shows symptoms for the first time due to the additional stress of pregnancy.

There are three heart-related conditions that are most likely to develop in otherwise healthy women during pregnancy: heart murmur, arrhythmia and hypertension.

"Women often develop a murmur from the extra blood flow in the heart, but only rarely is it pathologic," says Croft. "An arrhythmia is a heartbeat that may be too fast or too slow, regular or irregular, and usually no treatment is required."

The most common cardiac complication during pregnancy is hypertension, or high blood pressure. "This affects about 8% of all pregnancy women, most often after the 20th week," says Croft.

"High blood pressure during pregnancy can affect the supply of oxygen to both the mother and the baby, putting them both at risk," she says. If you develop hypertension during pregnancy, the most serious form it can take is pre-eclampsia, which requires immediate attention because it can be life-threatening. Certain risk factors place you at increased risk of developing hypertension during
pregnancy and pre-eclampsia.

Those most at risk are first-time mothers, women carrying multiple babies, teenage mothers, women older than 40 and women who had high blood pressure or kidney disease before pregnancy.

Signs and symptoms

Pregnancy is a physiological state that places a burden on the heart. "The heart has to work harder for nine months," says Croft. "A pregnant woman's heart pumps 30%-50% more blood than before pregnancy."

While a healthy heart can handle this extra load, a diseased heart can't always cope. "Different kinds of heart diseases may cause different problems during pregnancy," says Croft.

Even normal pregnancies produce cardiac and respiratory symptoms that can mimic more serious complications. "So it's vital to differentiate normal signs and symptoms of pregnancy from a true problem during pregnancy," says Croft.

Symptoms that can arise during a normal pregnancy include fatigue, shortness of breath, swelling in lower extremities, dizziness, lightheadedness, palpitations and increased heart rate.

"Pregnant women should tell their physician if they experience any of these symptoms, so their physician can determine if any evaluation is needed," says Croft.

It's good to keep an eye out for the symptoms of a significant problem. The warning signs for pre-eclampsia include visual disturbances, severe headaches, abdominal pain and lower-extremity swelling. Arrhythmias can cause palpitations, dizziness, fainting, shortness of breath and chest discomfort.

Traditional treatment

Providing medical care for pregnant cardiac patients poses extra challenges. "Some patients may only require reassurance, while some more require in-depth counseling," says Croft. "And if you take medications, it's key that your doctor advises you about which are best for pregnancy."

Good medications are available for treating chronic and gestation hypertension, though the only treatment for pre-eclampsia is delivering the baby.

Only in rare cases do pregnant patients require cardiac surgery.

"Some women may be surgical candidates because they have acute aortic dissection, an acute regurgitant valve or severe valvular stenosis," says Croft. "But a much more common part of my job is reassuring women with low-risk cardiac pathology about their condition, thus eliminating unnecessary anxiety."

Research breakthroughs

Thanks to surgical and medical management advances, many women with congenital heart disease now live to childbearing age and can successfully carry a pregnancy.

"The medical care of a pregnant cardiac patient is a considerable challenge," says Croft. "But with good communication between obstetricians and cardiologists, we can successfully manage care for these patients despite their elevated risk."

Questions for your doctor

A great question for every woman to ask, is "Do I have any restrictions during my pregnancy?" If you have a diagnosed heart problem, ask: "Is my child at risk to inherit my heart condition?"
Another good question is, "Am I at increased risk of C-section?

What you can do

Make sure that your doctor knows about any medications you're taking, including over-the-counter ones. If you have a known heart problem, talk to your physician going through pregnancy.

Watch your blood pressure.

Dr. Lori Croft advises patients to have their blood pressure checked often throughout pregnancy.
Stay healthy.

The rules everyone knows about are indeed essential: Don't drink or smoke, eat healthy and exercise if your doctor allows it.

nydailynews.com

Organ donation: New research seeks improve the gift that keeps on giving

2010-12-01T19:44:00.000-08:00

As director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at Mount Sinai and the medical director of the New York Organ Donor Network, Michael J. Goldstein is a transplant surgeon whose vision is to increase patient access to transplantation through an innovative clinical style, as well as enhance the number and quality of life-saving organ donors. He oversees the clinical management of donors for the New York metro area and performs over 100 kidney transplants a year.

Who's at risk

About 86,000 Americans are currently waiting for a kidney transplant. "People who need kidney transplantation have minimal to no kidney function due to chronic kidney disease," says Goldstein. "Some patients develop disease that is limited to the kidneys, but most develop kidney failure from diabetes and/or high blood pressure."

In New York state, more than 7,000 people need a kidney transplant — with 80% of them living in the New York metro area. And every group in society is at risk of kidney disease.

"The gender differences aren't significant," says Goldstein. "There are strong differences between different ethnic groups, but everybody is at risk." African-Americans have a higher risk of developing kidney failure, he said.

The only treatments for end-stage kidney disease are dialysis and transplantation, but there is a critical shortage of available organs.

"The waiting time to get a kidney transplant in New York is around four to six years, one of the longest in the country," says Goldstein. "The fewer organs we have, the more people die while waiting."

Each year, about 35,000 patients are added to the waiting list, and only 16,000 get a kidney transplant — which amounts to about a fifth of those who need them. About 60% of donated organs come from deceased donors, with the other 40% coming from living donors — mainly relatives and friends.

Signs and symptoms

"The scariest part of kidney failure is that it's silent," says Goldstein. "The majority of patients have no idea they have kidney disease." Most patients are diagnosed at a doctor's appointment when they get routine blood work.

"One of the blood levels, called creatinine, is elevated, or they have protein in their urine," says Goldstein. "But they can't feel these things." The amount of urine produced is not a gauge of kidney function.

When kidney disease goes undiagnosed until end-stage renal failure, some patients end up in the ER with complications. "Most people live their lives and feel great until they've lost 80%-90% of their function," says Goldstein. "It's hard for them to imagine that they feel so good and yet they need a transplant or dialysis."

The most common symptom of kidney disease is fatigue, which of course is not a specific warning sign. Once patients get to end-stage disease, they can develop high blood pressure, progressive anemia or fluid overload that can show up as swelling in their legs.

Traditional treatment

Patients with advanced kidney disease still have two options: dialysis or kidney transplantation.

"Dialysis is a great backup mechanism in that it's life-saving. It's disruptive of lifestyle, but it does sustain their life for a long time," says Goldstein. "Nevertheless, what they need is a new kidney."

Most patients just need one kidney from a healthy donor to get off dialysis.
Transplants are highly effective, but not curative. "People can develop recurrences of kidney disease in the transplanted kidney," says Goldstein. "And any transplanted kidney will not last forever."

The average life of a kidney from a deceased donor is 7-10 years. From a living donor, it's 17-20 years. Goldstein recommends patients in need of a kidney transplant ask themselves, "Is there anyone in my family or community who might be a living donor for me?"

There are four advantages to a living donor: Patients don't linger on the wait list, the kidney almost always has immediate function, the kidney is usually healthier, and it lasts on average twice as long as a kidney from a deceased donor.

The kidney transplant operation takes about three hours under general anesthesia. "The vast majority receive one new kidney, which we often put in a different place than their original kidney," says Goldstein. "The patient's own nonfunctional kidneys rarely need to be removed."

Most patients stay in the hospital three to five days. After surgery, patients can return to work and lead normal lives, as long as they stick to their medical regimen. "One would not be able to easily identify a transplant patient," says Goldstein. "The only difference between them and anyone else is that they're on medication to make sure their body doesn't reject the kidney."

These immunosuppressants are now safe, with minor side effects. "These meds keep the kidney from having early rejection 90%-95% of the time," says Goldstein. "It's like taking vitamins for their kidney every day."

Nonetheless, transplanted kidneys don't last forever, so many patients end up getting another transplant 10 to 20 years down the line.

Research breakthroughs

Treatment for kidney disease has improved radically in the past 50 years, but doctors are still working for better treatments. "The longstanding dream of doctors in transplantation is to achieve something called tolerance — the ability of one patient to accept another person's organ without the ability to recognize it as different," says Goldstein. "We're looking for ways to fool our bodies into accepting another person's organ without recognizing and rejecting it as foreign."

Questions for your doctor

Once you've been diagnosed with a kidney disease, the first question should be, "Is it appropriate for me to be referred to a kidney transplant program at this time?" If you've reached the point of needing a transplant, changing your lifestyle can make things easier, so ask, "How can I optimize my diet and exercise routine to make myself the best possible transplant patient?"

What you can do

Guard against diabetes and hypertension.

They are the two leading causes of kidney disease, so preventing them, detecting them early, and managing them once they've developed are key to preventing kidney disease.

Get evaluated at a kidney transplant program.

Dr. Michael J. Goldstein advises being evaluated as early in the disease as possible and certainly before you go on dialysis. The transplant center can make sure you get on the wait list as soon as it is appropriate.

Get informed.

Start with the website for organ donation, donatelifeny.org, which carries helpful information for both potential organ donors and recipients. For information on kidney diseases in general, check the National Kidney Foundation at kidney.org.

nydailynews.com

Hypertension Treatment in African-Americans: Too Little, Too Late

2010-11-30T07:50:00.000-08:00

Treatment for high blood pressure in African-Americans needs to start sooner and be more aggressive, according to a consensus statement by the International Society on Hypertension in Blacks (ISHIB) that is published in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

"Evidence from several recently completed studies converged to convince our committee that we were waiting a little bit too long to start treating hypertension in African-Americans," said lead author John M. Flack, MD, of the Department of Internal Medicine at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, in an online report of the study.

The update to the ISHIB's 2003 consensus statement—for which Flack and colleagues reviewed hypertension and cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment guidelines, pharmacological hypertension clinical end point trials, and blood pressure-lowering trials in African-Americans—includes two major recommendations:

* The thresholds at which treatment is initiated in African-American patients should be lowered.
* Physicians should move quickly from single-drug therapy to multi-drug therapy to keep a patient's blood pressure comfortably below the thresholds

"We believe that these recommendations will lead to better blood pressure control, and a better outlook for African-Americans with high blood pressure," Flack said.

Currently, blood pressure below 120/80 is considered normal for healthy adults. However, the ISHIB is proposing that physicians recommend lifestyle changes to lower blood pressure in otherwise healthy African-Americans with blood pressure at or above 115/75. Those changes include reduced dietary sodium and increased potassium from eating more fruits and vegetables, as well as losing weight, getting regular aerobic exercise, and consuming alcohol in moderation, Flack said.

"Epidemiological data shows that 115/75 is the critical blood pressure number for adults, and every time that figure goes up by 20/10 the risk of cardiovascular disease essentially doubles. We think it makes perfect sense to start lifestyle changes at that lower threshold," he said, pointing out that from age 50 and up, Americans have a 90% chance of developing hypertension.

The ISHIB also recommends that physicians tighten the primary prevention threshold to 135/80 for African-Americans, and begin secondary prevention when blood pressure is at or above 130/80, according to the statement, which provides step-by-step guidance on the best second, third, and fourth drugs to add based on individual patient characteristics, along with charts with alternate multi-drug combinations so physicians have several options for keeping patients' blood pressure under targets.

hcplive.com

U.S. Tops World in Getting Fat

2010-11-29T07:45:00.000-08:00

According to the study taken by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD on September 23, 2010, the United States leads the number of fat people in the world. US residents are much less physically active than in the past, thus overweight increased from 50% in 1980 to approximately 70% in 2010.

Apparently, these rates have doubled, even tripled in almost half of developed countries including the United State. With 34% of obesity, the United States is leading the rank of the world's richest countries getting fatter and fatter, and three out of four Americans will be obese within 10 years. If governments, individuals and industries including the United States do not cooperate to combat the epidemic, disease rates and health care expenditures will have been out of control by 2020. Let's have a look at the statistics by OECD of overweight of the United States in particular and the world's other richest countries in general.

Obesity is currently among the greatest issues becoming popular in the world's most-developed countries including America, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia and so on

The fat rise with 34% population in the US have direct effects on national issues of , health, development, and some other great aspects

It's amazing that the US is forecast to be ranked "the fattest country in the OECD" with a full 75% of obese Americans in 10 years by 2020

There are many factors causing overweight in the US in particular and in some richest countries in general such as much less physically active activities, or much cheaper foods, lifestyle changes

Because of less time to prepare meals at home, people more and more eat out in restaurants, use fast foot harming their health and lifestyles

Countries ranking after the US of obesity are Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, UK, Canada, Ireland with 30%, 27%, 25%, 24% 23% respectively

According to the Economic Cooperation and Development, the BMI of 30 or greater. BMI is a calculation of body fat based on height and weight applying to adult men and women

ezineseeker.com

Skins of fruits should be eaten

2010-11-27T07:42:00.000-08:00

Fruitsare the best sources of natural nutrients. Containing a large amount of minerals and vitamins, fruits help us get good health faster. Fruits are the healthiest foods that we eat everyday; however, we don’t know that the skins of fruits can be eaten and they are very good for our health as well. Eating the skins of fruit can help supplement vitamins, fight against cancer and increase our energy levels. These are some fruits and vegetables that we should try to eat without binning their skin.

Kiwi fruit

The skin of the kiwi fruit has antioxidants as well as anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti- allergic substance. Its skin has three times the anti-oxidants of its pulp. It can also fight against Staphylococcus and E-coli which often cause food poisoning.style="text-align: center;">

Broccoli

Pineapple

We do not use the prickly skin of the pineapple but its tough core. This tough skin contains a lot of vitamin C and an enzyme called bromelain which helps protect the stomach.

Garlic

Garlic skin can help check the ageing process and protect the heart. Therefore, you should use the whole bulb to bake or fry when cooking

Pumpkin

Pumpkin is rich in zinc and the antioxidant beta carotene. Therefore, it can promote healthy skin and nails as well as protect against heart disease and cancer

Bananas

Banana peel extract can help decrease depression because it is rich in serotonin which can balance the mood. The skin is also good for eyes

Boil the banana peel for 10 minutes and drink the cooled water or crush the whole fruit for the juice

Citrus fruits

Orange and tangerine peel is high in antioxidants. They can help ease cholesterol and colonise the gut with beneficial bacteria. You can add them into cakes or crush the whole fruit and drink it

Potatoes

Don’t reject potato skins because they contain many substances which are very good for our health such as potassium, iron, phosphorous, zinc and vitamin C

ezineseeker.com

Alcohol is more harmful than heroin or crack: study

2010-11-25T07:40:00.000-08:00

Alcohol is even worse than heroin and crack on the list of "most harmful" drugs, according to a new study published in the British medical journal, The Lancet.

A variety of social, physical and psychological problems that are caused by drugs were examined by a panel of experts, who concluded that alcohol, heroin and crack were the most harmful to others while heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine were the most harmful to individual users, CNN reported.

Dr. Petros Levounis, director of the Addiction Institute of New York at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, agreed with the study findings.

"Both in terms of the medical consequences as well as societal consequences, I agree that alcohol ranks very high in overall harmfulness,"he told the News. "Alcohol has tremendous repercussions in our society in terms of drunk driving and societal consequences.”

Twenty drugs were scored on 16 criteria – nine related to the harms that a particular drug does to an individual and seven to the harms a drug does to others. All the drugs were scored out of 100 points, and overall, alcohol came in the highest, at 72 points, according to The Lancet. Heroin came in second with 55 points and crack cocaine took third place with 54 points.

While cocaine and tobacco were found to be equally harmful, LSD and ecstasy were found to be the least harmful, according to BBC.com.

Funding for the study came from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies in London.

The report in the Lancet was co-authored by Professor David Nutt, Britain's former chief drug policy advisor, who stirred up controversy last year when he wrote an article that said riding a horse was more dangerous than taking ecstasy, CNN reported.

Almost 17.6 million adults in the United States either are alcoholics or have alcohol problems, according to the National Institutes of Health.

But because alcohol is legal and easy to access, many people don't think it is a problem for them, says addiction expert Dr. Jeffrey Parsons, chair of the psychology department at Hunter College.

"It is legal and socially sanctioned, so it does not carry the same stigma and issues that illegal drugs do,"he says. "But the negative health consequences of alcohol are even greater than with many illegal drugs.”

Drinkers tend to equate "legal" with "safe," but that's not necessarily the case, says Lebanon Valley College psychology professor Lou Manza. "In the general public's mind, because you can go and buy alcohol in the store, it is okay,"he said.

One major difference between alcohol and other drugs, such as nicotine, is that there is a "safe"level of it for many people, Livados says. It's generally recognized that two drinks a day for men and one for women can be considered safe, with exceptions such as people with depression or anxiety, those with alcohol dependence and pregnant women.

"It's not the same with nicotine," Levounis says. "We have not been able to find a low threshold under which smoking cigarettes is safe. There's no such thing."

Alcohol dependence tends to be masked more often than dependence upon other drugs, Parsons says. "With alcohol, someone can feel like a law abiding citizen despite the fact that they're abusing a drug," he told The News.

nydailynews.com

What is cutting? Demi Lovato, Disney star, checks into rehab for self-mutilation, eating disorder

2010-11-23T07:25:00.000-08:00

Teen Disney star Demi Lovato stunned fans when it was announced that the star had dropped out of her Jonas Brothers tour gig to seek help treatment for "emotional and physical issues," according to her representatives.

The "Sonny With a Chance" and the "Camp Rock" star has struggled with eating disorders and cutting herself in the past, according to the Associated Press, although it's unclear if those are the reasons why she left the tour.

But what is cutting? And why might someone - in many cases teens - self mutilate?

There's no one reason.

Often times, the individual is practically bursting with overwhelming feelings and this can be too hard to bear," Dr. Michael Hollander, director of 3East at McLean Hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School in Belmont, Mass told the News.

Cutting releases opioids into the bloodstream and can actually cause the person to feel suddenly very calm.

"I would say 80% of patients self-injure for emotional regulation," said Hollander.

The release of endorphins is short-lived, however, and the feeling being overwhelmed returns.

Others cut themselves because they feel numb and empty. The rush of endorphins can make the cutter briefly feel alive again.

It isn't easy to tell when someone you care about is cutting or causing themselves injury since many adolescents cut themselves on their bellies or thighs – body parts that aren't easily seen.

"It's hard to tell if you can't see the marks," said Hollander. "A tell-tale sign is when you see someone wearing long sleeves in the summer.

There are many factors in a person's life that can lead them to seek emotional solace from cutting: Bullying, low self-esteem are only a few.

"The kind of person who would exhibit this type of behavior is an extremely sensitive individual," said Hollander. "Their environment hasn't caught up to their emotional needs."

It's important to note that the person who cuts is not necessarily suicidal although the behaviors are linked.

While there is no medication to treat cutting specifically, there are several kinds of cognitive therapies that have proven very effective in helping people deal with their out-of-control emotions.

Disney reportedly supports the Lovato's decision to seek treatment.

The star has been dealing with "emotional and physical issues … for some time," her rep confirmed to People, adding, "Demi has decided to take personal responsibility for her actions and seek help."

nydailynews.com

Sitting in a chair all day can kill you; Exercise at your desk can make a difference

2010-11-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

Those who sit for hours at a time - even if they regularly work out at the gym - are at an increased risk for an early death, according to research reported in Men's Health.

Sitting for long periods is bad for the heart, and that holds true for "exercising couch potatoes", says Marc Hamilton, Ph.D.

In other words, a person who jogs or goes on the elliptical five times a week, but hangs out at a desk all day other than that.

A study of the lifestyle habits of some 17,000 men and women revealed that those who sat for most of the day were 54% more likely to have heart problems as those who rarely sat. And it didn’t matter how much the sedentary individuals weighed or how much they worked out.

So if you can't switch jobs, try these workout moves that can be done around the office from Kara Smith, special programs coordinator for the Loyola Center for Fitness in Maywood, Ill.

March in place: Stand up, march in place or take a brief walk around your office to increase blood flow, and increase your heart rate by doing low-impact jumping jacks (raise your right arm out to the side while tapping your left toe out to the side, and then switch sides.)

Tighten your abs: You don't need to wear a leotard to perform the exercises recommended by Dr. Anders Cohen, chief of neurosurgery and spine surgery at the Brooklyn Hospital Center. "While sitting at your desk, tighten up your abdominals and straighten your back," he says. "Make your stomach feel like a washboard and hold it to the count of five, then repeat. It tones your abs, supports your lower back and minimizes injuries."

Raise your hands: Get the blood flowing when sitting for long periods simply by raising your hands over your head and touching your fingers, or bringing your hands behind your back and grabbing your wrists, Cohen says.

Without ever moving out of your chair, try these, recommended by Monica Vazquez, certified master trainer and running coach:

Desk push-ups: Place your hands slightly farther than shoulder-width apart on the edge of your desk. Keeping a straight back, do two sets of 15 pushups. Or try "desk planks," Vazquez says. For this one, place your elbows on your desk (with a sweater for padding if you need it) and bring your legs out and behind you in a plank position. There should be a straight line from your shoulders to your feet. If it seems too easy, try doing it on one leg. Always hold for 30 seconds per side for one leg, or for one minute. Repeat twice for maximum benefits, Vazquez recommends.

Sit up straight: Another way to work out in the office: replace your chair with a "fitball" so you will learn better posture and how to support your back, says fitness expert and model Tosca Reno. Or sit at your desk at your chair or on a fit ball, and push yourself off your feet while supporting your body weight using just your arms, says Reno. "You can also increase your metabolism by doing walking lunges on the way to the water cooler," she says. "And use a water bottle like a weight to do biceps curls and shoulder presses while you’re sitting at your desk."

"Taking a break for even a few minutes can help with cardiovascular, strength and flexibility," says Kara Smith, special programs coordinator for the Loyola Center for Fitness in Maywood, Ill. "And if co-workers give you a strange look, ask them to join you.

nydailynews.com

Will 'groundbreaking' AIDS gel change the face of the HIV epidemic

2010-11-19T08:26:00.000-08:00

Groups developing a gel to protect women from the AIDS virus say they are moving ahead to develop the product that was hailed as "groundbreaking" after a study on its effectiveness was released in July.

The developers, who met last week with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said the FDA informed them it would only require a limited amount of new information about the gel's safety and efficacy before considering licensing the product.

The gel, containing Gilead Sciences AIDS drug tenofovir, reduced HIV infections in women by 39 percent over two and a half years in a trial in South Africa that was called "groundbreaking by the World Health Organisation.

The FDA would require more information on whether the gel works and is safe, but will help speed up the process, said Dr. Henry Gabelnick, executive director of CONRAD, one of the groups developing the gel.

"They gave it what is called fast-track designation," Gabelnick said in a telephone interview. "That means you can report data on a rolling submission -- you don't have to wait and put everything together. Then they have six months to review the data."

The need for such a gel is compelling -- most infections with the AIDS virus are in Africa and most new cases are among women infected during sex with men. The human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS infects 33 million people globally and has killed 25 million.

There is no vaccine and no cure.

Condoms can protect women and men but many African men refuse to use them and often a married woman is trying to conceive a child but risks being infected by her husband.

A gel, cream or drug-releasing ring called a microbicide could help protect against HIV while allowing a woman to get pregnant, and, if necessary, she could use the product without letting her partner know.

SECOND TRIAL

CONRAD, a division of the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, was a partner with the Centre for Programme Research for AIDS in South Africa (CAPRISA) and U.S.-based Family Health International on the study.

Gilead has licensed tenofovir for use in the gel and researchers were stunned by the findings of the study, presented to an AIDS conference in Vienna in July.

"We still have to get a final report from the CAPRISA study," Gabelnick said. But in the meantime, a second study, called VOICE, is under way.

"We are trying to do things simultaneously to the extent that it could be done," Gabelnick said.

"We are working with partners in South Africa to establish an eventual manufacturing site and distribution network."

nydailynews.com

BPA chemical in plastics may be linked to low sperm counts

2010-11-17T08:22:00.000-08:00

Chinese factory workers exposed to high levels of the plastics chemical BPA had low sperm counts, according to the first human study to tie it to poor semen quality.

The study is the latest to raise health questions about bisphenol-A and comes two weeks after Canada published a final order adding the chemical to its list of toxic substances.

Whether the relatively low sperm counts and other signs of poor semen quality translate to reduced fertility is not known. Study author Dr. De-Kun Li, a scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., noted that even men with extremely low sperm counts can father children.

But Li said finding that BPA may affect sperm is troubling because it echoes studies in animals and follows his previous research in the same men that linked BPA exposure with sexual problems.

If BPA exposure can reduce sperm levels, "that can't be good" and means more study is needed to check for other harmful effects, Li said.

The study was published online Thursday in the journal Fertility and Sterility. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health funded the research.

Andrea Gore, a pharmacology and toxicology professor at the University of Texas who was not involved in the research, called it an important but preliminary study.

The results "are at least suggestive of the possibility that BPA may be one of the compounds that are causing some of these changes" in sperm, she said. But Gore said stronger evidence is needed to prove that BPA is indeed the culprit.

BPA is used to make resins and strengthen plastics and is found in many consumer products: hard plastic bottles, metal food container linings, dental sealants and eyeglasses. Most Americans' urine contains measurable levels of BPA.

Studies in animals have linked the chemical with reproductive problems and cancer. That's led to millions of dollars in new research in people.

Steven Hentges of the American Chemistry Council, an industry group, said the study in China "is of limited relevance" to U.S. consumers, who typically are exposed to very low BPA levels that pose no health threat.

The study involved 130 Chinese factory employees who worked directly with materials containing BPA and 88 workers who didn't handle it and whose exposure was similar to that of typical American men.

Low sperm counts were found in workers who had detectable levels of bisphenol-A in their urine. Poor sperm quality was two to four times more prevalent among these men than among workers whose urine showed no sign of BPA. The lowest sperm counts were in men with the highest levels of BPA.

BPA in urine was linked with lower-quality semen even in men who didn't work with the chemical, although their average BPA levels were much lower than in the other group. Li said the average level in this group was similar to that detected in U.S. men.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been evaluating the chemical's safety but declined to say if it is considering following Canada's lead in declaring the chemical toxic.

In an e-mailed statement, the FDA said it is working with the National Institutes of Health and others "to advance scientific understanding of BPA and inform our decisions."

www.nydailynews.com

Blood clots can strike at 10,000 feet - the dangers of deep vein thrombosis

2010-11-15T08:17:00.000-08:00

Andrew Dunn, the chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine at Mount Sinai, specializes in blood clots, anti-coagulation and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). During his 15-year career, he's seen hundreds of patients with DVT.

Who's at risk

Flying is more dangerous than you think. But it's got nothing to do with the pilot. "Between one and six Americans per 1,000 are affected by deep vein thrombosis each year," says Dunn.

One of the triggers of the blood clots that form in the veins of the body, specifically in the legs, is long flights. "Prolonged air travel is a rare but potential cause," says Dunn. That's because sitting for long periods of time in one position can contribute to poor blood flow — a condition called statis.

A much more prevalent risk factor is surgery. "Stasis can result from being severely ill, surgery, fracture, heart failure, stroke and obesity," says Dunn. "Stasis in the setting of illness and inflammation are really the tipoff to this disease," says Dunn.

"Active cancer and other severe medical illness resulting in inflammation and hospitalization all put you at risk," adds Dunn.

Other risk factors include taking birth-control pills or hormone replacement therapy, especially when paired with smoking. There's also a genetic component in some cases. "Some people have a predisposition to clot," says Dunn, "so DVT can run in families."

DVT strikes men and women of all races and ages, though the risk does increase with age. "Everybody is at risk of this, and once you've had one clot you're at high risk," he explains, adding that about a third of patients have a recurrence.

Signs and symptoms

The textbook symptoms of DVT are pain and swelling. "It usually presents in the legs, just on one side," says Dunn. "It can happen in the arms, but that's almost always in the setting of an IV."
Cancer patients and patients who go home with a PICC (a type of catheter) line are at particularly elevated risk of DVT in the arms.

One specific form of clot is a pulmonary embolism, in which the blood clots break off from the legs and travel to the lungs — sometimes with fatal results.

"The hallmark of pulmonary embolism is the sudden onset of severe shortness of breath and chest pain," says Dunn. "Often the chest pain gets worse when you take a deep breath."

While many people take a week to see a doctor about DVT in the legs, pulmonary embolisms are abrupt enough that people usually go to the ER within a day. Patients often describe the experience of pulmonary embolism as similar to a cardiac event, such as in, "I couldn't catch my breath, and it hurt every time I took a deep breath." Other symptoms are pain when coughing, heaviness in the legs and a dull persistent ache.

Traditional treatment

The primary treatment for DVT is medical. "We treat it with blood-thinning medication — anti-coagulants," says Dunn. "The drug Warfarin is a pill that takes five to seven days to kick in, and you need a medicine that works immediately, so it has to be injection therapy first, followed by pills for the long term." Some patients continue taking Warfarin for a lifetime, while others can stop after three to six months.

The good news is that Warfarin is highly effective. "This is a treatable, curable condition," says Dunn. "The blood thinner works extremely well, but it does take a lot of diligence and monitoring."

Warfarin also can cause serious drug and food interactions, so treating patients with related problems, like severe heart failure, emphysema, kidney or liver disease or bleeding disorders requires extra precautions and sometimes longer hospital stays.

Doctors are now able to treat more patients with DVT in their legs at home. "It takes some organization and oversight, because someone has to be monitoring the pill level at home," says Dunn. "Often people who end up in the ER for DVT in the legs go home the same day or after a short hospital stay of about 24 hours."

Clots in the lungs are very dangerous and more likely to be fatal than clots in the legs, so these patients often need hospital stays. "With pulmonary embolism, if you miss a few doses, you could die," says Dunn. "Surgery is an option for major embolism in the lungs, but is rarely necessary."

The recovery period for DVT is about a month plus.

"Most patients have their symptoms resolve slowly," says Dunn. "They start feeling better in a week or so, and they recover in about one to three months."

About a quarter of patients with leg clots have long-term symptoms like pain, swelling or ulceration that don't go away.

"Elastic stockings can help reduce the risk of long-term symptoms,"says Dunn.

Research breakthroughs

Doctors are excited about the next generation of drugs that may come to replace Warfarin. "The new pills provide immediate blood thinning, eliminating the need for the temporary injections and intense monitoring of Warfarin," says Dunn. "They also have few food or drug interactions, so it's a very exciting moment in DVT care."

Questions for your doctor
If you're hospitalized, ask your doctor, "Are you giving me a medicine to prevent clots?" Once you've gone on medication to prevent DVT, you should track your INR level, a measurement that reads for how fast your blood clots in comparison to someone who's not
on Warfarin. Ask, "What's my INR — and what's my target?"

What you can do

Get moving after surgery or illness.

"If you are sick, try to get mobile as soon as you can,” says Dr. Andrew Dunn. “The doctors and nurses should be pushing this."

Do exercises on long-haul flights.

Deep vein thrombosis is usually only a problem on flights of more than six hours. Dunn recommends doing calf exercises every hour by pushing up on the balls and then the heels of your feet and squeezing.

Don’t smoke if you take birth-control pills.

"The combination multiplies the risk," says Dunn.

Get informed.

A reliable patient advocacy group is the Coalition to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis (preventdvt.org), which has patient-friendly FAQs and tools to help you assess your risk.

nydailynews.com

Top 10 Brain Health Foods

2010-11-13T01:47:00.000-08:00

Certain foods with low fat and cholesterol such as blackberries and dark chocolates containing nutritions and vitamins bring a healthy life and help enhance brain power. According to the Alzheimer's Association, a brain-healthy diet can effectively treat Alzheimer's disease or dementia and reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes, transfer blood flow to the brain. There are variety of natural foods, drinks, herbs and supplemental products containing brain & body improving properties, the following list includes the best brain health food for humans.

Apples are the wealthy source of quercetin, an antioxidant plant chemical preserving water to protect your brain cells. An apple each day helps prevent your brain from free radical attacks. Radical attack is so dangerous to your brain because it can damage the outer line of delicate neurons, even causing cognitive decline.

Apples

Blackberries supply with potent antioxidants best known as polyphenols enhancing communication between neurons, improving information process.

Blackberries

Caffeine and plentiful antioxidants being contained in coffee beans is the key to enhance brain power. According to a recent Finnish study of 1,400 long-time coffee drinkers, having three to five cups of coffee compared to fewer than two cups a day is much more effective in reducing the development of Alzheimer's disease by 65 percent.

Coffee

According to the 2009 Journal of Nutrition study, eating 28,35 gram of chocolate a day at least helps protect your brain against absentmindedness and memory loss. The polyphenols in cocoa beans contribute to enhancing blood flow to the brain.

Chocolate

A well-known research from the University of California at Santa Barbara shows that the two compounds proanthocyanidins and cinnamaldehyde in cinnamon are inactivate tau proteins killing brain cells.

Cinnamon

This kind of food contains nutrients helping prevent dementia such as folate, vitamin E, and vitamin K. You will obtain a third of the folate and five times a great deal of vitamin K in a half cup of boiled spinach. Combining spinach with a little olive oil for your diets creats healthy fats enhancing absorption of vitamins E and K.

Spinach

ADDLs (or amyloid B-derived diffusible ligands) are proteins enhancing Alzheimer's progress. According to a research carried out at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, PA last year, extra of olive oil may be an enemy against ADDLs harming the brain.

Extract of olive oil

Salmon is either good for heart or for brain. Salmon is a leading source of DHA, omega-3 protecting against Alzheimer, an illness killing over five million Americans. The kind of fish also supplies with a plentiful source of vitamin D helping avoid cognitive decline.

Salmon

Turmeric and ginger are 2 main spices in curry powder. According to studies at the University of California Los Angeles Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, turmeric is rich in curcumin protecting against Alzheimer's progress. Besides, turmeric reduces cholesterol causing low blood flow to your brain.

Turmeric

A survey conducted by researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicin shows that 12 older adults with memory decline having a daily drink of grape juice is so beneficial to heart and brain. Polyphenols in grape juice help enhance communication among brain cells.

Grape juice

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More than 40,000 drop-side cribs are being recalled for safety concerns.

2010-11-11T01:31:00.000-08:00

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the recalled Ethan Allen, Angel Line and Victory Land Heritage Collection cribs could pose a suffocation or entrapment risk if the drop-side rail detaches because of faulty hardware.

Ethan Allen has received five reports of incidents with its cribs. Angel Line has received one report of an incident with its cribs, which are sold at Ababy.com, Babyage.com and other online stores. Victory Land has received 17 reports of incidents involving its Heritage Collection cribs, which are sold by Kmart.

CPSC urged parents on Friday to stop using the cribs and contact the companies for a free repair kit.

nydailynews.com

Sexy or sick? Australia says Calvin Klein ad promotes 'rape'

2010-11-09T01:27:00.000-08:00

Once again, designer Calvin Klein is mired in controversy for his provocative ads.

His latest ad for Calvin Klein jeans has been banned in Australia after the continent’s Advertising Standards Bureau ruled that it was 'suggestive of violence and rape'.

Lara Stone, the gap-toothed face of the brand is seen lying on her back on the lap of one shirtless male model who is holding her hair. Another shirtless model is hovering above her, his hand beneath her.

They seem to be in a public park in an urban space since the models are up against a chain-link fence.

The ad was part of a series but it was this particular billboard shot that caused the outcry from activists who said the photo was using images of gang rape to sell clothing.

The government ordered the ads be taken down.

"The Board considered that whilst the act depicted could be consensual, the overall impact and most likely impression is that the scene is suggestive of violence and rape,” said a spokesman.

"We considered that the image was demeaning to women by suggesting that she is a plaything of these men."

Risque ads that push the envelope is nothing new to the designer and his brand.

In New York City in 2008, Soho residents protested a giant billboard that showed actress Eva Mendez in a scantily clad embrace with two men.

In 1996, critics, including President Clinton cried pedophilia over his campaign featuring young, scantily clad models in what appeared to the basement of a rec-room being spoken to by a man off-camera. The TV ads were run in New York only before they were withdrawn.

nydailynews.com

American Heart Association drops 'P' from CPR - life-saving procedure simplified in new guidelines

2010-11-07T01:26:00.000-07:00

CPR is getting a makeover - and mouth-to-mouth is taking a back seat to chest compressions.

The American Heart Association released new guidelines yesterday to encourage bystanders to immediately start cardiopulmonary resuscitation on someone whose heart has stopped.

All that's required is rapid pushing on the chest. That mean's no more mouth-to-mouth breaths, the first step under the old guidlines.

"What this means is CPR is now easier than ever," says Michele Hooper, a paramedic and CPR instructor for the association.

"More people will be able to do CPR and more lives can be saved."

"We want them to identify an unresponsive person and start pushing hard and push fast," she added. "We don't want people watching. We don't want people waiting for EMS to arrive."

CPR is used to help a person who has suffered a cardiac arrest - meaning they're not breathing and have no pulse.

Starting it right away and following up with a difibrulator can increase survival rates.

However, less than 50% of those who go into cardiac arrest get bystander CPR.

Researchers found that bystanders were often afraid they'd catch something by putting their mouth on a stranger's mouth - and so did nothing at all.

"It's a lot to ask somebody to put their mouth on a complete stranger," said Dr. Holly Phillips, WCBS/Ch. 2 medical correspondent and an internist affiliated with Lenox Hill Hospital.

And it turned out the old requirement of starting with two breaths delayed chest compressions, which keep blood moving through the body.

Now officials say the most important thing is to start compressions - pressing on the center of the chest - and worry about breathing later.

Compressions should be performed at a rate of 100 times a minute - roughly the same beat as the Bee Gees' hit "Stayin' Alive" - at depth of two inches.

"I think this is a good move," Phillips said.

"We know right now that people who go into sudden cardiac arrest [out of a hospital], their rates of survival are about 2 percent. Research shows those numbers could increase by 500 percent [with bystander CPR.]"

The Heart Association began a push towards "hands-only" CPR in 2008, but the full guideline changes didn't come until yesterday.

nydailynews.com

Where are her parents?! Taylor Momsen, 17, puffs away alongside 'Gossip Girl' co-star Matthew Settle

2010-11-05T01:22:00.000-07:00

It may be a good thing Matthew Settle isn't Taylor Momsen's real-life father.

The "Gossip Girl" stars were filming in New York City Monday when the 17-year-old actress decided to have a smoke.

Settle, who plays dad Rufus Humphrey to Momsen's Jenny on The CW show, didn't appear to mind that his co-star – who legally can't purchase cigarettes until she's 18 – was puffing away.

Momsen's character has been missing in action for the series' fourth season thus far, but will make a return in the episode airing Oct. 25. She decided to take time off from the show to tour with her band, The Pretty Reckless.

The actress' real-life parents have remained mum, at least in the media, on their teenage daughter's controversial habits.

Momsen has slowly transformed her image from doe-eyed little girl to raccoon-eyed rocker prone to appearing in public scantily clad and talking about X-rated subject matter.

She released a music video in September for her song "Make Me Wanna Die," where she strips until she's virtually naked, and recently spoke with Revolver magazine about her interest in sex tapes and masturbation.

nydailynews.com

On a diet at age 2?? When weight obsessed parents cause serious harm

2010-11-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

The biggest loser? An obese British mom who has had her eight-year-old daughter on a severely restricted diet - starting at age two.

Aly Gilardoni, a single mom, allows little Corleigh to eat just 700 calories a day (1,000 calories too little, medical experts say). On a typical day, Corleigh gets cereal for breakfast, salad and half a roll for lunch, and a baked potato for dinner, reports the Daily Mail.

While she claims she doesn't want her daughter to turn out like her, tipping the scales at 238 pounds and eating a 3,000 calorie diet of junk food and carbs, experts are appalled by her tactics.

Children of normal weight should never have their calories restricted, Dr. Stephen Turner, chairman of the department of pediatrics at Long Island College Hospital told the News.

"It's clear in this case that it it not the child who has issues, but the mother," Turner says. "It's neglect to restrict calories in a child like this."

Even in an overweight child, Turner says, it's usually not necessary to trim calories out of the meal plan. Instead, he says, he recommends simply omitting fruit juices and offering skim milk instead of whole milk.

"The idea is for an overweight child to not gain weight," Turner explains. "However, the child should not be losing weight."

He also says that when kids are overweight, they should be offered healthy food choices even when these contain the same number of calories as an unhealthier choice. For instance, he says, giving the child a peanut butter sandwich makes more sense than offering a candy bar since it will make him feel full longer.

As for exercise, it's not necessary to put a two-year-old on an exercise regime. (Most parents get out of breath running after their toddler, Turner points out.)

However, he says, a parent should check to see if the environment affords enough opportunities for kids to run around and play. "If there is a baby in the house, a parent may be putting that child in front of the TV since the parent is busy," he explains. "And that will definitely have consequences in terms of weight gain."

Little Corleigh so far is just five pounds underweight, but otherwise healthy. Yet, her mother told the Daily Mail, the little girl is now afraid of being fat.

"She's always looking in mirrors," Gilardoni said. "I feel guilty - but it's how I want her to be."

nydailynews.com

Mesothelioma: The environmental cancer that strikes on the job.

2010-11-01T21:42:00.000-07:00

As a professor and chief of thoracic surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, Raja Flores operates on cancers of the chest, mostly lung and esophageal cancer. Over the past 15 years, he has specialized in mesothelioma and sees more than 50 cases annually.

Who's at risk

Mesothelioma is a relatively rare cancer that affects about 3,000 Americans a year. "Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of the lung," says Flores. "It starts in one spot, creeps throughout the chest and can give a slow, painful death."

According to the National Cancer Institute, the incidence of mesothelioma has increased during the past 20 years. Environmental exposures account for the vast majority of patients.

"Asbestos exposure is the No. 1 risk factor," says Flores. "That refers to naturally occurring minerals present in many industrial products, like cement, textiles and insulation."

Asbestos can become dangerous when inhaled or swallowed, often during manufacturing. Most sufferers of the disease had exposure to asbestos on the job, where it is a risk for workers like insulators, rescue teams (such as after 9/11) and shipyard crews.

One challenge in fighting mesothelioma is that asbestos exposure is often silent and invisible. "Many people don't even know they've been exposed," says Flores. "There can be a 20- to 30-year latency, so it's years after they're exposed that they see symptoms."

A small portion of people have a genetic predisposition to the disease.

"There are identified cohorts in Montana and Turkey, where clusters in the same family got mesothelioma and other exposed people didn't get it," says Flores, "but for the most part, it's environmental."

Signs and symptoms

There aren't characteristic symptoms for mesothelioma that make it easy to diagnose. "Basically, the warning signs are not specific," says Flores. "People who have asbestos exposure are the main group that needs to be on the alert."

Most patients don't have symptoms of mesothelioma until the disease has started to spread and progressed to stage 3 or 4, he says.

"Shortness of breath is a red flag," says Flores. "That's usually from fluid accumulating in the chest, which can also result from a number of benign reasons."

Doctors will usually drain the fluid and often find some cancer cells.

"If the doctor can't explain the fluid accumulation, you have to get a biopsy to make sure it's not mesothelioma," says Flores. Chest pain is an indication that the disease has developed to a higher stage.

Traditional treatment

There is now no cure for mesothelioma, and the prognosis depends on how early it is caught. "Survival really depends on stage," says Flores. "What we're trying to do is help patients live longer with better quality of life."

There are three types of the disease: epitheliod, mixed and sarcomatoid. The type of tumor can determine treatment.

Doctors don't have a consensus about whether surgery is necessary. "One group says surgery, one group says no surgery," says Flores.

"There are certain things we can do to improve the patient's condition, so all patients should see a thoracic surgeon when making their decisions about treatment."

There's also no agreement about which surgical approach works best.

"The two main surgeries are extra-pleural pneumonectomy, which removes the lung, and pleurectomy/decortication, which spares the lung," says Flores. "The goal of surgery is to get rid of tumor bulk and expand the lung while decreasing the pain and gross size of the disease."

Another procedure is chemotherapy, which one randomized control trial found had a survival benefit of three months.

Surgeons can't always tell which surgical approach is best for a patient until they can get a better look at the lung during surgery. "CT scans often downplay the amount of cancer," says Flores. "There's not a standard way of doing these surgeries, which is why going to a surgeon who has a lot of experience is the most important thing."

Research breakthroughs

Mesothelioma care is constantly improving. "It's just been two years since the paper came out that convinced us we could be sparing the lung," says Flores. "That's not a magic bullet, and early
detection is probably the closest thing we have coming down the pike."

Questions for your doctor

If your test results come back positive, ask: "What kind of mesothelioma do I have?"

When you're considering treatment options, ask: "What treatment other than surgery might I benefit from?" Once you've decided on surgery, ask: "Can I have lung-sparing surgery, or do I need to have my lung removed?"

What you can do

See a specialist.

Both the surgeon and radiation specialist should be experts in treating mesothelioma. Ask how many patients they’ve treated and how many surgeries they've done.

Know your family history.

If you have a family member with mesothelioma or asbestos exposure, you should get a CT scan to have a baseline reading so your doctor can watch for changes.

Take precautions when working with asbestos.

The No. 1 rule when working with asbestos is to wear a mask. But another important precaution is being careful with your clothing. "If you have a relative who comes home after a long day of working with
asbestos, be very careful not to inhale it off the clothes," says Flores.

Get informed.

The Mesothelioma Foundation (curemeso.org) has helpful information about how to get treatment and where to find financial support.

nydailynews.com

Researchers discover gene that could be responsible for depression

2010-10-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

Researchers have identified a gene that can cause symptoms of major depression and said it may be possible to use gene therapy to counteract its effects.

They have been testing a similar gene therapy technique in the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease and may be able to quickly adapt it to depression, Michael Kaplitt of Cornell Medical College and colleagues reported Wednesday.

"We potentially have a novel therapy to target what we now believe is one root cause of human depression," Kaplitt, a neurosurgeon, said in a statement.

Depression affects about 121 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and is diagnosed in at least 13 million U.S. adults each year. It is the main factor in suicide and at least 27 million Americans take antidepressant drugs.

The causes are complex and different patients respond to different treatments.

Kaplitt's team looked at the activity of a gene called p11 in a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens.

"This is the center of the brain for reward satisfaction," Kaplitt said in a telephone interview.

"One of the major problems in depression is what is called anhedonia -- an inability to be able to be satisfied or happy or content with normally pleasurable activities in life."

The p11 gene helps regulate signaling of serotonin, a brain chemical tied to mood, sleep and memory. Many antidepressants target serotonin.

The research team used mice that lacked active p11 and acted depressed.

DEPRESSED MICE

"If you hold a mouse up by its tail, it tends to fight to get away. A mouse showing depressive behavior will just lie there," Kaplitt said.

Kaplitt's team has been testing gene therapy for another brain disease, Parkinson's, in people. They used the same vector -- the virus used to carry the new gene into the body -- to make a gene therapy replacement for p11.

It transformed the behavior of the depressed mice, they reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine. But taking out a gene and then replacing it in mice does not prove that gene causes human symptoms, or that boosting its production would alter human depression.

So they looked at brain samples taken from people with depression who had died and compared them to samples from people without depression.

Levels of p11 in the nucleus accumbens region -- the reward center -- were significantly lower in the depressed patients, they found.

Gene therapy for depression is a long way from being tested in people, Kaplitt noted, although he said the Parkinson's trials show it could be safe.

Gene therapy -- replacing or boosting the activity of a faulty gene to correct disease -- is still considered highly experimental, although there has been some success in treating forms of blindness and immune deficiency.

"One of the next key steps is to try and test this in non-human primates," he said. He said his team was collaborating with a team at the National Institute of Mental Health, one of the National Institutes of Health, to test the idea in monkeys.

The study was paid for by the U.S. and Swedish governments as well as private foundations, but Kaplitt has founded a company called Neurologix Inc, which has licensed intellectual property rights to p11 gene therapy for behavioral disorders.

nydailynews.com

'World's Oldest Improv Group'

2010-10-28T01:41:00.000-07:00

"Improv comedy is so stimulating, it's kind of like vitamins for the brain." So says 85-year-old Lois Peltier, who is a resident and a member of an improv group at the Vi at The Glen, a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Glenview.

"We're often called the 'World's Oldest Improv Group' because most of us are primarily in our 80s, and we have a couple [members] in their 90s," said Peltier, who lives in a two-bedroom residence at the Vi with her husband, Noel, 87.

The senior improv group has 10 members and practices every Wednesday afternoon at the retirement community with students (from freshmen to seniors) from nearby Glenbrook South High School.

"We love working with the students," Peltier said. "Plus, it does seem to be good for the students to work with us because when they see us doing improv it helps them to appreciate that life doesn't end with high school or college and that grandparents can have a good time, too. Surprise! Surprise!" Peltier said. "Over the years many of them have gone on to college and some come back and visit us."

Peltier has been a member of the improv group since she moved to the Vi seven years ago. Sometimes the troupe performs at local events, but most often for residents of the retirement community.

"Improv keeps me young. It's a challenge like any puzzle or game although we don't win at this. But you still want to do well and have others do well too," said Peltier, who is a retired nursing home activities director.

To help practice, the senior improv troupe often starts with a location and then each member has to start from there and develop a character.

"Seniors here are amazing because they've retained their sense of humor, ability and flexibility," Peltier said. "I'll work with maybe three other people at one time and we learn to feed off each other [for the comedy]."

"Not everyone shows up every week, but sometimes that's good because fewer people seems to help seniors who are little more timid than others. They have to get up and do it and find they are very capable," Peltier said.

Meanwhile, residents at the Vi at the Glen have plenty of other activities to enjoy.

"We offer so many recreational options -- fitness classes, aqua aerobics, tai chi, yoga, walking groups, golf outings, poker nights, socials, themed parties, concerts, book and current events discussion groups and computer instruction," said Andrea Agazim, lifestyle director at the Vi. "We have a play reading group, memoir writing workshops, book clubs, arts and crafts and a knitting group that makes blankets for charity. There's even a garden here, so residents can do their own gardening.

"Improv is great, but there are so many other things to do here, too," Peltier said.

Vi at The Glen is a retirement community that offers its residents a combination of housing, dining, and certain amenities and health care services in return for a monthly fee and an entrance fee. Residents do not purchase their apartments. The entrance fee and monthly fees give the resident the right to occupy his/her apartment for life and cover the services while residing at the community.

The community consists of a three-story main building with common areas and 251 one- and two-bedroom apartments. There also are 45 free-standing villas surrounding the main building.

suntimes.com

Couple turns frustration into foundation

2010-10-26T01:17:00.000-07:00

As 4-year-old Liam O'Meara participates in the Clarendon Hills Park District's Pee Wee Start Smart Golf program on a recent Thursday afternoon, he swings a club, gets instruction, and has fun. He is just like any other class member.

But underneath his white polo shirt, Liam is not the same. He bears the scars of three surgeries already in his young life.

The Clarendon Hills youth was born in 2006 with half a heart. Stricken with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, Liam had doctors at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin reconfigure his heart to operate with a single ventricle.

From first finding out about Liam's condition at 22 weeks into the pregnancy to his prognosis for the future, Liam's parents, Brian and Bridget O'Meara, didn't get a lot of answers along the way because there are not a lot of answers out there. A lot of what they heard from medical specialists was "We don't know."

"So much of everything was out of our hands," Bridget O'Meara said.

Despite not a lot of clear answers, Bridget couldn't speak highly enough of the staff at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

"They held our hands. They gave us a lot of support," she said.

She also said they were blessed to have a lot of family and friend support.

Knowing that everyone does not have such a strong support system, the O'Mearas created the Mend a Heart Foundation to support initiatives that extend and enrich the lives of young heart patients. They said they wanted to create a resource for other parents of heart patients and be a funding mechanism for research.

"We wanted to take back some of the fight and that is how the idea (for the foundation) was born," Brian O'Meara said.

The foundation will have its fourth fund-raiser Saturday, Oct. 16 in the gym at Notre Dame School, 66 Norfolk Ave., Clarendon Hills. The O'Mearas hope to raise as much as $50,000 with the one-night fundraiser.

The first three fund-raisers netted a total of $90,000, much of which has gone to fund heart studies.

Coordinating an annual fund-raiser while raising three boys keeps the Clarendon Hills couple on their toes.

"I don't get much sleep this time of year," Bridget admitted, quickly adding that she has a lot of help from friends in organizing the event.

"You do something four years in a row and you get to know the lay of the land," Brian said.

Through their work with the foundation, the O'Mearas have met many other parents and individuals with family members with heart conditions.

"A lot of people have told us their stories," Brian said. "Someone will tell us 'My cousin has a heart condition.' We now know of kids in town who have heart conditions."

Liam's right ventricle will eventually wear out, making a heart transplant the likely course of action. However, the O'Mearas hope that their fund-raising efforts will pay dividends for their son when that time comes. Whether it be by creation of another ventricle through stem cells or some other process, the O'Mearas hope the research they fund can find an answer for when the atrophy occurs.

Brian O'Meara noted that 20 years ago Liam's condition was almost always fatal. He said the research done since then has helped save his son's life.

"I hope that 20 years from now, doctors and families will be using equipment and procedures identified in the research we are funding," Brian said. "I hope that because of what we are doing now that 20 years from now we will have come along with medical solutions to these problems."

Mend a Heart has funded research into the effect of exercise on heart patients, as well as looking at a drug that could keep heart transplants from being needed. The organization also has helped fund Camp Odayin, a Minnesota summer camp for youth with heart conditions. The camp has a cardiologist in each cabin to monitor youth.

"Our mission statement says we aim to extend and enrich the lives of children," Brian said. "We have worked on extending lives through the research. We wanted to include enrichment and we included the summer camp."

The O'Mearas have a medical board of directors that examines the half-dozen applications the foundation receives for funding annually.

"I like to give individuals hope," Brian said. "People long ago helped save Liam's life through the research that was done. I would like to give someone else that piece of mind."

Bridget noted that doctors have put few rules and regulations on Liam at this point.

"Other than keeping him out of contact sports, he doesn't have many restrictions," Bridget said.

"The doctors said he will be self-regulating," Brian said. "His body will tell him what he needs to know."

Bridget said Liam's two brothers, Finn, 6; and Seamus, 2, don't treat him any differently because of his condition.

"He is always trying to keep up with his older brother," Bridget said.

suntimes.com

Easy-to-use AED saves hoops player's life after collapse

2010-10-24T01:36:00.000-07:00

On the first day of basketball practice, Elizabeth Pearlman passed out with a heart condition, but an AED saved her life. “What if it happened somewhere where an AED wasn’t available?” she asked.

Chicago native Elizabeth Pearlman was taking part in a conditioning drill with her college basketball team last October when she collapsed.

If an automated external defibrillator -- an AED is a portable device that can detect cardiac arrhythmias and shock the heart back into rhythm -- hadn't been available, she likely would have died. Pearlman hopes that by sharing her story she might raise awareness -- and ultimately help save others.

"It was the first day of practice," the Aurora University senior said. "At the end of practice, we were doing sprints. On the last sprint, I suddenly felt like I had to stop running. Did I feel faint? No. I just knew that I didn't feel right. The next thing I saw was the floor coming to my face."

Fortunately, Aurora head athletic trainer Terry Smith was at the practice. He saw Pearlman go down. Was she just tired? He doubted that. He sensed something was wrong, and went directly over to her. He saw that she was having a hard time breathing and was hyperventilating. Then he saw her eyes roll back in her head.

"It went downhill real quick," Smith said.

He told one coach to call 911, and told another to get an AED. He immediately began performing CPR. But Pearlman didn't respond to the CPR. Smith had to use the AED to restore her heart rhythm. He had to shock her twice.

"I don't know how much time passed," Smith said. "But time flew. Then the ambulance came."

Pearlman, 21, remembers being in a state of euphoria before regaining full consciousness in the ambulance.

"I was in a great place -- it was deep and solid," she said. "Then I started feeling pricks and pokes, and I woke up to [the paramedics] putting needles in my veins."

Pearlman would spend the next week in the intensive care unit. She would learn that she suffers from a previously undiagnosed genetic heart disease called arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia. She also had suffered a pulmonary embolism. In the months that followed she would undergo several medical procedures, including having an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or ICD, put in her chest. She has become an expert on her heart condition. She knows she had a close call. Make that a very close call.

"If not for the AED, you're dead," she said. "Growing up, I played basketball in some pretty tough city neighborhoods. I played pick-up games with guys, and we were always running. What if it had happened then? What if it had happened somewhere where an AED wasn't available?"

If it were up to organizations such as the American Red Cross, you would find an AED on every playground and in every home. Because CPR alone isn't always enough. AEDs are not useful for every arrhythmia, but they can detect two that are frequently implicated in sudden cardiac arrest, ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia.

"If you have an AED, it can increase your chance [of survival]," said Theresa Rees, manager of instruction and development for the Red Cross of Greater Chicago.

Fortunately, you can find AEDs in more places than ever before. They're small, light and easy to use.

"They are in all sporting facilities, government buildings, airports, schools, police cars, ambulances [and other places, as well]," Rees said.

Even those without training should not hesitate to use one in a crisis. But ideally everyone would learn from a professional.

Paramedic Lisa Krch, the CPR training coordinator for Advocate Christ Medical Center's Center for Prehospital Care in southwest suburban Oak Lawn, has taught thousands of people how to use an AED.

"You can teach anyone to use them," Krch said. "I've taught Boy Scouts -- 8-year-old kids. You just follow the prompts. Turn the machine on, then one prompt at a time. It won't go to the next step until you've completed the step you're on."

Advocate Christ has for the past two years gone into high schools to teach CPR, AED and basic first aid.

"Last year alone we taught 1,000 people," Krch said. "I wish they would make it a requirement of high school graduation that you need to know CPR and AED. It's less than eight hours, and it could save a life."

Twelve months ago, Pearlman's life changed drastically. She can no longer play basketball -- her heart condition won't allow it. But she's on target to graduate with her class, and she hopes to attend veterinary school. She's not only alive, she is full of life. Spread the word.

"AEDs are very, very important," she said.

suntimes.com

Pham Anh Thu sexy and fuzzy

2010-10-23T01:33:00.000-07:00

A little mystery with smog, Pham Anh Thu (VietNam) - Bronze Supermodel 2010 with standard configuration has moments of real photos bikini sexy outfits.

Up in smoke: Are Katherine Heigl's e-cigarettes a smart way to quit smoking?

2010-10-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

Katherine Heigl's plan to kick her cigarette addiction by turning to the electronic version of butts may just go up in smoke.

Heigl, demonstrating for David Letterman last week how she puffs on an e-cigarette, said it has worked for her where nicotine gum, nicotine patches and a prescription drug did not.
"You blow out water vapor so you're not harming anyone around you and you're not harming yourself," she said. "I'm essentially humidifying the space."

"I know it’s ridiculous, but it’s helping me not to actually smoke real cigarettes," Heigl said in an interview with Parade.

But e-cigarettes not only contain nicotine, but whatever chemicals leach out of the plastic tubing that is part of the device, Dr. Len Horovitz, internist and pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital told the News.

Electronic cigarettes, which unlike regular cigarettes don't burn tobacco, are smoked with the aid of a battery-operated device. The smoker inhales a vapor that contains nicotine in liquid, which comes in a replaceable cartridge.

"Medically it is exactly like a nicotine addiction," he says. "And inhaling fumes from the plastic tubes can be carcinogenic."

Electronic cigarettes "are not a good way or an approved way to quit smoking," says Dr. Jonathan Whiteson, medical director of the Cardiac and Pulmonary Wellness and Rehabilitation Program at NYU Langone Medical Center.

"They have never been proven to be effective at smoking cessation," he says. "There are many claims, none of which have been substantiated."

Besides the nicotine itself, some of the chemicals in the propellant that helps to vaporize the nicotine are dangerous, too, Whiteson notes.

Electronic cigarettes are not FDA approved, and aren’t currently subject to strict regulation, notes Kathy Garrett Szymanski, respiratory therapist in the thoracic center at Long Island College Hospital, where she directs the smoking cessation program.

"At this point, they are a drug delivery service," she says. "It’s a little cigarette that lets you inhale nicotine. And inhalation is the fastest route of drug delivery. I do not recommend them."

Bottom line? "It’s nicotine, it’s a drug, it’s addictive and it has health consequences," Whiteson says.

With 70% of those who try to kick the habit thwarted in their efforts, smoking remains a tough addiction to beat. But the best way to quit, Horovitz says, is with the nicotine patch and, if necessary, the chewing gum.

"These have been found to be superior to all the pills that are out there," he said. "But there is no magic way to quit smoking anymore than there is a magic way to diet."

Heigl told Letterman that she warn her daughter against the dangers of smoking.

"The one thing I would say to my kid is, "It’s not just that it’s bad for you. Do you want to spend the rest of your life fighting a stupid addiction to a stupid thing that doesn’t even really give you a good buzz?' "

nydailynews.com

The skinny on fatty liver: Weight and metabolic disorders put millions at risk

2010-10-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

A hepatologist and assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai, Dr. Charissa Chang specializes in treating patients with liver diseases like viral hepatitis and fatty liver disease.

Who's at risk

About 30% of Americans have fatty liver, a condition whose name says it all. "Fatty liver is a condition where there's excess fat accumulation in the liver," says Chang. "A subset of patients who have fat in their liver have fat plus additional damage, which we call nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)."

If left unmanaged, NASH can lead to cirrhosis, liver transplant or liver cancer. "A liver biopsy is the only way to tell whether someone with fatty liver has the more severe NASH, although sometimes we can make an estimation without having to perform a liver biopsy," says Chang.

Doctors estimate that 2% to 9% of Americans have NASH. "Fatty liver disease is now a common cause of liver abnormalities and the most common cause of abnormal liver tests in the United States," says Chang. "We're seeing more patients for transplant or cancer with the fatty liver disease as the underlying cause."

At this point, fatty liver disease is even more prevalent than hepatitis C, which affects 1.5% of the population.

The main risk factors for fatty liver are obesity and metabolic syndrome. "Fatty liver is the liver manifestation of metabolic syndrome," says Chang. "So it's associated with all the other features of metabolic syndrome: high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and an increased waistline."

A minority of patients with fatty liver don't have metabolic syndrome. "Some medications can cause fatty liver, and there are genetically inherited disorders of fat metabolism, including a rare condition called congenital lipodystrophy that can be associated with fatty liver," says Chang.

The cause of fatty liver disease is still unclear and is an area of active research. Fatty liver is a condition that increases with age, although young people and kids can be affected. "The prevalence increases with age for a few reasons," says Chang. "Some of it is weight gain over time, and some of it is that the longer you've had fat in the liver, the more years you've had to develop liver damage."

Signs and symptoms

Fatty liver is often a stealth disease. "The early signs and symptoms are often silent," says Chang.
"It's usually an incidental diagnosis picked up by having blood drawn as part of a routine check-up." Most primary-care physicians run liver tests as part of a yearly physical, but it's worth asking to make sure your doctor tests for fatty liver.

Liver damage only begins to show symptoms when it reaches the point of end-stage liver disease. "At this point, the patient progresses to cirrhosis, which can cause symptoms a patient could note on his own — things like fluid retention and jaundice," says Chang.

"Another big concern or end-stage complication is liver cancer," she says. As more patients develop fatty liver disease, doctors are seeing increased amounts of liver cancer that developed in the presence of fatty liver disease. "The goal is to prevent fatty liver from progressing to cirrhosis," says Chang. "Or better yet, preventing it in the first place."

Traditional treatment

The first step for patients diagnosed with fatty liver is to develop a plan with their primary care physician to address obesity and related issues like diabetes and cholesterol. "Losing weight and keeping diabetes under control can improve fatty liver or keep it from causing damage," says Chang.

"I advise patients to limit both saturated fat and high-fructose-containing food products like sodas, both of which are associated with obesity," she says.

About a third of patients who have fatty liver get better, one third stay the same and one third get worse. The focus is on prevention and containment, because doctors don't have many options for patients whose disease worsens to the point of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

"Right now we have no FDA-approved medications to treat NASH," says Chang. "While there has been research using diabetes drugs, weight-loss medications and cholesterol medications to treat NASH, there is not enough evidence at this time to show that these drugs can be used to treat NASH directly."

Patients whose disease continues to progress can develop cirrhosis, an outcome doctors work very hard to prevent. "Once there is cirrhosis in a patient with NASH, there aren't a lot of options to reverse the damage," says Chang.

"Short of a liver transplant, there isn't much we can do besides advise to lose weight and keep diabetes and cholesterol under control," she says. Even liver transplant isn't a perfect cure, because the disease can come back after a transplant.

Research breakthroughs

One recent study had promising results for using vitamin E to fight fatty liver. "Last year, a National Institutes of Health multi-site collaboration called the PIVENS trial published its findings that using vitamin E improved liver tests and reversed scarring in the livers of patients with NASH," says Chang. "We need more supporting studies, but it's worth asking your doctor if vitamin E could help."

Questions for your doctor

Because this disease is usually asymptomatic, it's all the more important for patients to ask, "Could I have fatty liver disease?"

If you've been diagnosed, then the question becomes, "What can I do to keep my fatty liver from progressing?"

Eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly can go a long way toward keep fatty liver disease under control.

nydailynews.com

Diverticulitis: A disease that can be hard to stomach

2010-10-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

The specialist: Dr. Scott Nguyen on diverticulitis.

A gastrointestinal surgeon specializing in laparoscopic surgery, Scott Nguyen performs 300 to 400 operations a year. Ten percent of his patients at Mount Sinai have diverticular disease.

Who's at risk

You may never have heard of diverticular disease, but there's a fair chance you have it if you're over 60. Thirty percent of those over 60 have diverticula — pouches in the lining of the large intestine or colon.

"The good news is that the pockets themselves only cause problems for 20% to 30% of patients," says Nguyen. "When the pockets cause complications like localized inflammation or infection, we call it diverticulitis."

Another form of diverticular disease is diverticular bleeding, when pockets erode into the blood vessels of the colon and cause bleeding.

As of now, there's no known genetic component to diverticular disease. The primary cause of the disorder is thought to be the modern diet.

"This is a disease of developed countries," says Nguyen. "A low-fiber, high-fat diet is the biggest risk factor, so the obese and people who eat a lot of red meat and other fats are at elevated risk."

Because of the links to fiber, diverticular disease is also possibly associated with constipation.
Your odds of developing diverticular disease increase as you age. Both men and women develop the disease, but often at different points in their lives.

"Most people who develop diverticular disease before age 40 are men, and after age 70 are women," says Nguyen.

Signs and symptoms

The symptoms of both diverticulitis and diverticular bleeding can be extremely disabling.

"The red flag is the acute onset of lower abdominal pain, usually persisting for several hours, up to several days," says Nguyen. "The pain is relatively severe and often associated with a fever,
because it's a type of infection."

If left untreated, the pain often spreads throughout the abdomen and the infection can worsen into a severe infection like sepsis. In some cases the inflammation is so severe that it forms an abscess, erodes into organs like the bladder or blocks the colon.

"Most people have an attack or two of diverticulitis and go to see their doctor for relief," says Nguyen.

Diverticular bleeding is even easier to diagnose, and patients usually head to the hospital immediately. "The sign of diverticular bleeding is the sudden onset of painless rectal bleeding," says Nguyen, "This is profuse bleeding that often leads people to call 911."

The blood tends to be a bright, fresh red, but can also be darker old blood. In some cases, the bleeding is severe enough to cause fainting.

Traditional treatment

The first course of action for preventing or treating diverticular disease is lifestyle modification.

"That means changing your diet, getting exercise, losing weight," says Nguyen. "Unfortunately, it's very hard to change these habits."

During an acute attack, doctors use antibiotics to calm the infection. "Many people respond really well to this," says Nguyen. "But the standard of care is that if you have two or more attacks, you need surgery to remove the diseased area of the colon."

Surgical intervention is called for because these patients are more likely to have a recurrence and to develop complications like abscesses or serious infection.

"For people who had multiple attacks, surgery is successful and prevents another attack about 90% of the time," says Nguyen.

"If we can do it as an elective operation, where we can cool people off with antibiotics, they are usually in and out of the hospital within a week." The results of emergency surgery are much less ideal: Patients usually spend weeks in the hospital for recovery and often need an ostomy bag afterward.

Diverticular bleeding usually calls for admission to the hospital for intravenous fluids and possibly blood transfusions until the bleeding stops. Sometimes a colonoscopy or a special radiologic procedure can be used to halt the bleeding.

"If the bleeding doesn't stop, then we do emergency surgery to remove that section of the colon," says Nguyen.

Research breakthroughs

Doctors are still figuring out how diverticulitis works. "In the past, the traditional school of thought was that diverticulitis in people under 50 was a more virulent form of the disease, so we advocated earlier surgery," says Nguyen. "But now evidence shows that diverticulitis acts the same in young and old — that's a big change in dogma."

Another improvement is in surgical technique. "Laparoscopic surgery is becoming the preferred method, because it has a shorter recovering time and fewer complications," says Nguyen.

Questions for your doctor

If you have an attack of diverticular disease, ask: "What can I do to prevent this from happening again?"

A better lifestyle can protect you against recurrence.

Another essential question is, "Should I get a colonoscopy?" This test will both evaluate the extent of your diverticular disease and check for co-existing cancers.

"Diverticular disease is a sign that it's time to change your life, and it's never too late," says Nguyen. "Even at 90, improving your diet will do its best to correct diverticular disease."

www.nydailynews.com

America's South Korean village of billiards

2010-10-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

Not only do the lines of unique and progressive leap of achievements, Yu Ram Cha also known for his bold oriental beauty.

Helen Mirren maintains foxy figure with Nintendo Wii Fit

2010-10-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Helen Mirren claims that her secret to looking young is holding in her stomach and wearing platform high heels.

But now that she's shilling for Nintendo's Wii Fit, she's got another fitness trick up her sleeve.

"The Wii is fun, and it's infinitely varied. You can hula, jog, yoga, step, all in one session, she said, according to the Daily Mail. "You need never get bored as every day you can tailor a new workout.

"It challenges you, and you do it at home, so nobody need see you in those old yoga pants and torn T-shirt."

Helen Mirren looking sleek and chic at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

The 65-year-old Oscar winner, who famously posed nude in New York magazine this year, has claimed to be as body-conscious as the next woman.

"Holding your tummy in is another trick for making you look and feel good," Mirren said. "I don’t know why, but I do, by nature, hold my tummy in."

Bits of my body are all right, but bits of me are horrible," she told Woman and Home last month. "To be honest, anything from the waist down I don't really like."

Mirren recently gave 24-year-old actress Megan Fox a run for her money, nearly beating her out for Esquire magazine's 2010 Sexiest Woman Alive. She told the magazine that she was "gobsmacked" by the honor.

nydailynews.com

Health overlooked factor in marijuana measure

2010-10-16T00:47:00.000-07:00

In 1969, Carol McDonald was 28, married and the mother of two young children, out for an evening of fun with a couple who smoked marijuana. By the end of the evening she was on her way to a 19-year addiction.

"Within a few months, I was smoking every day," said McDonald, a retired bookkeeper, now 69. "I had to smoke before going to work. If something was upsetting, I smoked over it. If there was a celebration, I smoked over it."

People like McDonald may be largely overlooked in the statewide debate over legalizing marijuana. The drug has a benign reputation: Many baby boomers smoked and emerged unscathed, and medical marijuana facilities with their friendly images of seven-fingered leaves have popped up all over Los Angeles.

That might be why Proposition 19, the Nov. 2 ballot measure that would legalize marijuana and regulate it similarly to alcohol, has generated scores of reports and debates regarding the potential effect on business revenue, tax dollars and law enforcement but scant discussion on the potential fallout on people's health.

In California, addiction counselors are split on the legalization issue largely because of their long-standing support of treatment over jail and legal penalties for marijuana addicts. Yet nationally, public health experts mostly are against legalization. They say it will increase the number of people who become addicted to the drug, contribute to more automobile accidents and erode school performance.

"It's bizarre to me when people say, 'Make marijuana legal, and we'll have no problems with it,'" said Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stanford University who recently served as a White House senior adviser on the nation's drug control policy.

Because the science of marijuana's health effects is in many cases unclear, experts on each side of the legalization debate can point to scientific studies that support their own position.

They do agree that marijuana should be avoided during pregnancy and that it is harmful for people with mental illness or who are at risk for developing a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia.

And they agree, too, on some basic statistics: Marijuana is addictive for about 9 percent of adults who use it (compared with about 15 percent who use alcohol and 15 percent who use cocaine), according to federal data. Because it is the most widely used illegal substance in the country, marijuana dependence is more common than addiction to either cocaine or heroin despite its lower addiction potential.

"We generally think the problems with marijuana aren't as serious as the problems you tend to see with cocaine or heroin," said Alan J. Budney, a leading researcher on marijuana at the Center for Addiction Research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences who opposes legalization. "But they are still pretty substantial."

The science of marijuana becomes murky when one steps beyond addiction statistics to examine effects on health.

A series of studies conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published in 1998 found that the effects of marijuana alone on driving were small or moderate, but severe when combined with alcohol. But other studies show little impairment from a moderate dose.

The data on lung damage and smoking-related cancers are similarly mixed, in part because a large portion of heavy marijuana users also smoke tobacco, which muddies the picture of marijuana's effects.

Several studies have also dismissed the fear that marijuana is a "gateway" drug that will lead children and adolescents to experiment with harder illicit drugs - although numerous studies suggest that the earlier in life someone uses marijuana, the riskier it becomes.

Among 14- and 15-year-olds who start to smoke, 17 percent will be dependent within two years, said Dr. Tim Cermak, an addiction psychiatrist and president of the California Society of Addiction Medicine.

sfgate.com

The 'one-stitch facelift': Can one little stitch knock off a dozen years?

2010-10-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

Is the so-called "one-stitch face-lift" really a fast pass to a youthful appearance?

The wrinkle-free results may not be as long-lasting as with a traditional operation, but the minimally invasive procedure is a hot ticket right now in cosmetic surgery.

Two reasons. It's quicker and cheaper than a traditional face-lift, which requires more inpatient care time.

"There's a strong trend right now to perform less invasive procedures for facial rejuvenation," Dr. Jennifer Walden, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital told the Daily News. "People want instant results and minimal down time, so there is a demand for these procedures. No one can take two or three weeks off from work to recover."

The "instant" face-lift consists of four stages, Walden explained: the insertion of the barbed thread, then the deployment of the suture material, followed by the anchoring of the soft tissues and then the fixation into place.

There's one superlong, supersneaky suture. And yes, the needle is big.

Angelica Kavouni, 47, told the Daily Mail that she was unhappy with her "increasingly jowly" appearance. She decided to give the "one-stitch face-lift" -- also called a thread lift or an iGuide -- a try with plastic surgeon.

Hardy experienced minimal side-effects from the 40-minute procedure and said that with makeup, she could return to work that day.

So can one stitch hold up, or hold back all those years?

Not exactly, according to Angelo Cuzalina, president-elect of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery.

The face, he notes, "has a lot of ligaments and tissues that tend to pull back down, so it’s not like a single suture could ever hold up a face or a portion of the face."

But the technique is getting better and better all the time, Walden says. "Our methods are getting better so they will last longer."

In the meantime, Hardy told the Mail that if she didn’t like her "new" face, the surgeon had said that the face-lift was reversible. Basically, it was a matter of pulling out the suture.

nydailynews.com

Great Wolf Resorts CEO Kim Schaefer works all over the company on 'Undercover Boss'

2010-10-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

Pulling off the production on the CBS hit "Undercover Boss" takes a lot of work, but even with extensive preparation, slipups happen.

"There was one employee who did recognize me," says Kim Schaefer, the chief executive officer of Great Wolf Resorts, which is featured Sunday at 9 on CBS.

"I know most of our management team, and they were either absent, had the day off or had an assignment outside the lodge," Schaefer told the Daily News.

Yet one staffer did spot her. That employee wasn't part of the group Schaefer worked with during the filming, however, so viewers won't see the encounter.

However, it does expose the difficulty of pulling off a show built around having a top executive go undercover within a company. Schaefer, it should be noted, is the first female boss in the show.

"What this show gave me is the opportunity to be somebody else and listen and learn and participate," she says.

If Schaefer had been there as the boss, she says she would have wanted to fix little problems. But with the cameras on, and in the guise of a regular employee, she was able to watch.

"The biggest challenge was keeping quiet," she says. "Definitely in the middle of a shift, or at the end of the shift, I wanted to do more with the information I had."

But she couldn't.

During the show, she worked in one of the day-care centers at a Great Wolf Lodge and also in the water park. At another site, she staffed the front desk, and in yet another she worked as a waitress.

Schaefer says the producers of the show had urged her to take part in it, and says there were not a lot of active discussions on whether to do it.

"I knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," she says.

Indeed, one upside to the show has been a boon to the featured businesses. Schaefer says she expects some uptick after the program airs.

Locally, she says, the Great Wolf Lodge in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, generates roughly 68% of its business from New Yorkers.

The season premiere last week averaged 11.54 million viewers, up against tough football competition on NBC. Last year, including a big night after the Super Bowl, "Undercover Boss" averaged more than 17 million viewers and became one of the hottest series on TV, and the rare show that families can watch together.

Schaefer says she didn't find anything terribly wrong with her operations, just some things to tweak along the way, like the length of time it takes to check in and how hot it is for employees at the water park.

"My expectations were that I was going to come in as a CEO and look at it through the eyes of the CEO," she says. "It ended up being about the people, and me as a working mom."

nydailynews.com/

Amyloid disorders: A disease where nothing is safe

2010-10-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

For the past 30 years, Peter Gorevic, now director of rheumatology at Mount Sinai, has been treating patients with immune and arthritis-related disorders. One of his main research interests is looking at what causes the group of disorders known as amyloid diseases, and what doctors can do to treat them.

Who's at risk

Amyloid disease is hardly a household word, despite the fact that one of the 26 types is Alzheimer’s disease — which affects about 4 million Americans. "Amyloid diseases, or amyloidosis, are conditions in which the abnormal amyloid proteins build up in organs and tissues," says Gorevic. "During a biopsy, the pathologist sees a pinkish amorphous material that is the sign of an unhealthy mutation," he says.

These amyloid deposits can occur anywhere in the body and cause different symptoms, depending on which organ is primarily affected. Doctors divide amyloid disease into systemic and localized disease, with localized disease often related to Alzheimer’s.

"Systemic amyloid falls into three groups: primary, secondary and familial amyloid," says Gorevic, "While these diseases are relatively uncommon, they do occur in certain settings more often than others."

For instance, one type of amyloid is a frequent complication resulting from long-term dialysis.

"Some researchers think that 60%-80% of patients who are on dialysis for more than 10 years may have amyloid," says Gorevic. "We estimate that about 250,000 Americans fall into this high-risk category."

Another common disease linked to amyloid is chronic inflammatory arthritis, which can cause secondary amyloid disease. "As many as 5%-10% of those people might develop amyloid if their arthritis isn’t kept under control," says Gorevic.

Familial amyloid is the rarest disorder, with only 10,000 to 15,000 people affected worldwide.

"The genetic mutation that causes it is widely represented in Western Africa, and as a result more prevalent in African-Americans," says Gorevic. "Some researchers think 1 million people carry the mutation that can lead to familial amyloid."

Signs and symptoms

Amyloid diseases present themselves differently, depending on the system that is primarily affected.

"Often patients end up with symptoms related to the kidney, heart, nervous system or GI tract," says Gorevic. "The symptoms may not be specific to amyloid, but they would lead the patient to come to the doctor, who runs a biopsy that catches the amyloid," he says.

For instance, amyloid patients commonly see a nephrologist if they are retaining fluid, losing protein in their urine or experiencing shortness of breath. Cardiologists more often find amyloid in patients who have swollen legs, chest palpitations and shorter and shorter breath. "Sometimes they can’t lie flat because fluid accumulates in their lungs," says Gorevic.

Neurological symptoms can include neuropathy (which cause numbness and tingling in the legs), carpal-tunnel syndrome or weakness in the legs and arms. In the GI system, red flags can come from the sense that the stomach fills up too quickly, trouble swallowing, dry mouth, diarrhea or constipation.

Traditional treatment

A thorough diagnosis is the key first step to treating amyloid disease.

"Traditionally, treatment is, first of all, figuring out what organ is involved and how it should be handled," says Gorevic. "For instance, if heart failure, what could you do? If the kidneys, how do we conserve function?" In this approach, cardiac patients might be helped by certain drugs and the need to avoid others.

Kidney patients would take "standard meds" like ACE inhibitors or ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers). In both cases, organ transplant can be an option down the line. One of the primary objectives is that the treatment has to be tailored to the particular type of amyloid.

"For primary amyloid, we must first evaluate the patient for the bone marrow cancer multiple myeloma, which occurs in 10% of these patients," says Gorevic. "The treatment is chemotherapy."

In secondary amyloid, the amyloid results from another health problem, such as chronic inflammatory arthritis. Treating the underlying disease aggressively has great results in managing the amyloid." Familial amyloid is the most frustrating," says Gorevic. "It affects the nervous system or heart, and until recently we had no therapeutics."

New drugs are rapidly changing the landscape of treatments available for all three types of amyloid, with more rapid chemo and an improved understanding of bone marrow transplantation changing the prognosis for patients with primary amyloid.

New therapeutics can prevent secondary amyloid from forming, or prevent the need for kidney transplant.

Research breakthroughs

Doctors expect that two new drugs approved for rheumatoid arthritis will dramatically cut down on the resulting amyloid. In the past year, doctors have discovered a new therapeutic, diflunisal.

"It seems to inhibit this form of amyloid from occurring," says Gorevic. "It’s going through testing now, and we're very optimistic."

Questions for your doctor

If you’re diagnosed with amyloid disease, start out by asking "How much of my body is affected?" Be sure to consider the range of treatments by asking "What are my options?"

If your doctor recommends a medical treatment, ask, "What side effects can I expect from these drugs?" Many of the drugs that doctors prescribe to patients can be part of a study or involve an off-label use, "so it’s important for the patients to understand the risks and benefits," says Gorevic.

www.nydailynews.com

Can a bigger booze tax reduce disease, crime?

2010-10-08T02:04:00.000-07:00

Alcohol abuse is the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., and it contributes to countless diseases, car crashes, injuries, and crimes.

How can we solve these thorny problems? Making booze more expensive might be a good start, a new study suggests.

Doubling the current state taxes on alcohol -- which would tack on as much as 50 cents to the price of the average six-pack or bottle of wine -- could be expected to reduce alcohol-related deaths by 35 percent, fatal car crashes by 11 percent, and the rates of sexually transmitted disease by 6 percent, according to the study.

Higher taxes on booze would also lead to 2 percent less violence and 1.4 percent less crime, the researchers estimate.

Health.com: Do you have a drinking problem?

"What is surprising is the consistency of the effect across a broad range of health outcomes that kind of don't have anything to do with each other," says Alexander C. Wagenaar, Ph.D., the lead researcher and a professor of epidemiology and health outcomes at the University of Florida, in Gainesville.

If state alcohol taxes were doubled, the tax on a six-pack or bottle of wine would increase by anywhere from a few pennies to 50 cents, depending on the state, and the tax on a standard bottle of liquor could go up by as much as a few dollars.

Health.com: Survey: More Americans drinking alcohol

Though modest, these tax hikes would add up over time and may ultimately curb the heavy drinker who's seeing his weekly alcohol budget rise, the college student stockpiling booze for a party, and even the social drinker.

"Studies show that all these groups respond to price," Wagenaar says.

Even a slight decrease in drinking could have a large impact on public health. If millions of people living in an area consumed half a drink less per week, on average, the small differences in alcohol intake -- and intoxication -- could lead to big drops in the area's overall injury and death rates, Wagenaar says.

There is some evidence that raising taxes can reduce unhealthy behaviors, even for people who are addicts. Increased taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products have been shown to reduce smoking rates and influence heavy smokers to cut back or quit.

Health.com: How much money are you spending on cigarettes?

In the new study, which was published in the American Journal of Public Health, Wagenaar and his colleagues re-analyzed data from 50 studies that investigated the link between increases in alcohol taxes and the rates of drinking-related problems including death, diseases, car crashes, STDs, violence, crime, and suicide. Most of the studies, which were conducted between 1955 and 2004, looked at alcohol tax increases in American states.

One of the studies -- led by Wagenaar himself -- focused on Alaska, one of the few states to have implemented substantial alcohol tax increases. The researchers found that the state's alcohol-related deaths dipped in 1983 and 2002, immediately following tax increases. The 1983 increase, which upped the tax on a bottle of beer from four to six cents, was associated with 23 fewer deaths -- a 29 percent drop.

Alcohol abuse has been linked to an increased risk of liver disease, heart disease, stroke, depression, and some cancers, in addition to causing the impaired judgment that leads to risky sexual behavior and drunk driving.

Sara Markowitz, Ph.D., an associate professor of economics at Emory University, says that even small increases in the price of alcohol are likely to result in measurable gains in public health and safety.

Some health problems are likely to respond more than others to a tax increase, depending on how closely linked they are to alcohol abuse.

"The proportion of crime and suicide that are alcohol-related would be far smaller than diseases such as liver cirrhosis," says Markowitz, who has researched alcohol taxes but was not involved in the new study.

Indeed, the only health measure in Wagenaar's analysis that did not show a significant drop following higher alcohol taxes was suicide.

Health.com: Booze, drugs, and bipolar disorder

Higher taxes on alcohol could provide a much-needed source of revenue for state and local governments reeling from budget shortfalls and cost-cutting. But the willingness of elected officials to increase the tax on alcohol is questionable, says David Jernigan, Ph.D., an associate professor and alcohol policy expert at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Alcohol tax increases have lagged behind the inflation rate since the 1950s, which Jernigan attributes to the nation's anti-tax climate. There have been very few federal and state alcohol tax hikes in the past several decades, he says, and states like California and Maryland that have proposed increases have faced opposition from the restaurant and beverage industries.

What's more, a proposed tax increase during a sluggish economy would almost certainly be unpopular among drinkers, including those who limit their intake to the occasional glass of white wine and those who'd never dream of getting behind the wheel after drinking.

Health.com: Is drinking actually good for you?

But boosting the tax on alcohol would be a "win-win for government" by increasing revenue and decreasing costs, Jernigan says.

In Maryland, Jernigan has estimated, a 10-cent-per-drink tax increase would save the state $214 million in healthcare costs and generate $249 million in revenues, in addition to reducing alcohol consumption by 5 percent.

"In terms of the analysis we did, there's nothing that makes Maryland stand out from other states," Jernigan says.

cnn.com

Happy 114th Birthday, Walter Breuning! Montana man is the oldest in the world

2010-10-06T02:03:00.000-07:00

Walter Breuning is 114 years old today – the oldest man in the world.

On this day, as he did last year when he also held the title, he is preparing a speech that he will deliver to friends, fans and residents of the Rainbow Retirement Community in downtown Great Falls, Mont., reports the Great Falls Tribune.

State Gov. Brian Schweitzer is set to attend the speech as well as the following cake and festivities, along with representatives from the Guinness Book of World Records, public television, and Masonic, Shrine and Scottish Rite groups.

While he is certainly a local celebrity, his fellow neighbors also hold a sincere admiration for him – for more than just living to an advanced age. Residents mention his dignified air, his preference for pinstriped suits and his modesty, considering his world fame.

Resident Ray Stingley, 87, told the Tribune that he admired the fact Breuning never used a cane or walker to help him move around until the last few years.

"I think he's a great man, to be honest with you," Stingley said.

Margie Arganbright, 80, said she thought having him live at the Rainbow was "wonderful".

"He's such a gentleman," Arganbright said.

Breuning was born in 1896, in the Minnesota town of Melrose but moved to Great Falls in 1918 to work for the Great Northern Railway, according to the Tribune.

He married a girl from Butte named Agnes, who died in 1957. The couple had no children.

His parents died young at 50 and 46 but his paternal grandparents lived into their 90s. One of his own siblings lived to be 100.

He told the Tribune that his greatest regret was being too old to serve his country. When World War I broke out, he was already in his 40s.

He may be an extremely old man but to many of his elderly friends and neighbors, he’s just a man.

"I didn't know he was a celebrity; he's just lived a long time," Ray Milversted, 92, told The Herald.

nydailynews.com

Buzz killer: Could caffeine overload cause temporary insanity?

2010-10-04T02:01:00.000-07:00

Could consuming too much caffeine make someone crazy enough to commit murder?

Lawyers for Woody Will Smith, whose murder trial in Newport, Ky., starts today, plan to argue that the 33-year-old defendant had ingested excessive caffeine before he allegedly strangled his wife and so was temporarily insane, according to The Associated Press.

Shannon Sexton, the defense attorney, plans to state that Smith was not even able to form the intent of committing a murder, although prosecutor Michelle Snodgrass will say that Smith tested negative for substances containing amphetamines after the killing.

Smith is charged with killing his wife, 28-year-old Amanda Hornsby-Smith, in May 2009, by strangling her with an extension cord.

He could receive a sentence of life in prison if convicted. Smith told a psychologist hired by the defendant that he recalls taking his kids to school, but little else, about the morning of the murder.

In the previous weeks, he told psychologist Dr. Robert Noelker, he had not been sleeping, partly because he was afraid his wife would leave him and take their two children.

During this period, according to reports and case records, the defendant was consuming five or six energy drinks and soft drinks daily, along with diet pills.

In all, he was taking more than 400 milligrams of caffeine each day. An overdose of caffeine is defined as more than 300 milligrams (about three cups of coffee), according to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Smith could have had a "brief psychosis" due to sleep deprivation caused by heavy caffeine ingestion, according to Noelker. It is my opinion that this disorder was the direct result of psychosis due to severe insomnia," said a report filed by Noelker for the defendant.

The unusual strategy is not unlike one involving Daniel Noble, a University of Idaho Foundation budget analyst, who woke up last December after many nights of working long hours and drove to a Starbucks to down two large coffees. He was accused of mowing down and injuring two pedestrians with his car.

His attorney, Mark Moorer, got the charges dismissed.

Noble had a rare form of bipolar disorder brought on by excessive caffeine consumption, according to medical records. Charges were dismissed when the judge concluded that Noble could not form the mental intent necessary to even commit a crime.

"We referred to it as a temporary insanity defense," Moorer told The AP. "If you sat down and talked with him now, you’d think he’s as normal as you and I."
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British mum tweets 13-hour labor from birthing pool -- while undergoing natural childbirth

2010-10-02T02:00:00.000-07:00

Fi StarStone, a British woman who runs a child-care advice website, posted constant updates after going into labor last Friday, according to the Daily Mail.

Her decision to tweet about her labor was to "dispel some of the myths of childbirth," she told The Daily Mail.

After posting nine updates that were followed by hundreds of people online, she gave birth Friday afternoon to a baby boy in a birthing pool at home. Oscar John Michael Victor Stone, weighing 7 pounds and 9 ounces, was born following a labor during which his mom used no pain relief.

When she went into labor, she posted, "Here we go lovelies! Contractions started at 2:30am! Baby decided he wants to come to his sister’s 1st birthday party on Saturday!"

Her final tweet before the birth was, Still going my lovelies. Still no pain relief."

And just 20 minutes after the birth of her son, the mom posted another update: "Introducing Oscar John Michael Victor Stone. Thanks so much for all your support. I’m shattered and sore but the happiest mummy on the planet."

Her husband, Richard, said his wife had decided to send updates during labor because so many mothers follow her through her website, Childcare is Fun.

And the proud mom of two told The Daily Mail, "I did it this way to show them the positive side of childbirth and to show it could be done without pain relief and while tweeting the whole time."

No word yet on when Oscar will be getting his very own Twitter account.

nydailynews.com

At-home LED acne treatments: experts say they're safe, but not always very effective

2010-09-30T01:58:00.000-07:00

It’s the latest wrinkle in acne treatments -- an at-home kit that uses LED light therapy by exposing the skin to various wavelengths of colored light in an attempt to clear up blemishes.

LED treatments aren’t just favored by dermatologists and facialists, but by high-profile celebs like Carla Bruni, Sienna Miller and Natalie Imbruglia, reports The Daily Mail. In salons, a light treatment could cost well over $100 and take more than six sessions.

But a hand-held device for home use actually mimics the treatments that the pros pay top dollar for, at a much smaller price.

The Tanda Light Therapy Skincare System, created in Canada, is a minimachine for home use that has two separate devices. One, the Tanda Clear, employs blue LED light to zap bacteria that cause acne. Red LED light is used in the Tanda Regenerate, said to enliven collagen-producing cells, with the goal of fewer wrinkles and firmer skin. Studies found that users experienced a "significant" reduction in pimples, reports The Daily Mail.

So is a device like this safe for those who like the idea of a do-it-yourself acne treatment?

"It appears to be safe, but I would be skeptical of the findings of any of these studies," says Dr. David Avram, a dermatologist at Long Island College Hospital. "They are not doubleblinded studies that meet the criteria for good scientific studies."

Those who use the at-home LED system may discover that it "will probably help on inflamed lesions," Avram says. "It will wipe away acne on the surface of the skin. It works very superficially on very mild cases, but in significant acne, it really does not have much of a role."

Adds Dr. Maria Tsoukas, a dermatologist at the University of Chicago, "The LED lights have been shown to be effective in acne therapy, but you have to be careful. Anytime someone uses something like this they should carefully follow the instructions."

Dr. Doris Day, dermatologist and an attending physician at Lenox Hill Hospital, predicts that more products like the Tanda will make their way onto the market. But, she says, people should think of at-home acne treatments as an adjunct to the treatment they receive from a physician.

There is no true "cure" for acne, she explains, and it can be scarring. "The earlier and more appropriately you treat it, the greater chance that you will be able to clear the acne without leaving marks behind," Day explains. "Systems like these are okay as part of a treatment, because very often a combination of treatments is needed for acne. In any case, they should be used under the guidance of your dermatologist."

Avram says of the at-home treatments, "They are not dangerous, but people who use them should be realistic. People probably will just see a limited improvement. For those with more significant acne, it may just be a waste of their time."

nydailynews.com

More docs switching to e-Prescriptions, spurred on by govt financial incentives

2010-09-28T01:22:00.000-07:00

VALLEJO, CA - AUGUST 11: Touro University medical student Shamis Fallah (R) prepares a Tdap vaccination during the Solano County health fair August 11, 2010 in Vallejo, California. California medical officials are urging California residents to get booster shots for whooping cough as the state is in the midst of the largest outbreak in over fifty years. Close to 1,500 cases of whooping cough have been reported this year, including six cases that resulted in deaths of children under three years old.

U.S. doctors increasingly are ditching pen and paper and sending prescriptions to pharmacies electronically, lured by up to $27 billion in government funds aimed at speeding the switch to electronic medical records.

There are now 200,000 doctors who use e-prescribing, or roughly one in three office-based doctors. That compares with 156,000 at the end of last year, and 74,000 at the end of 2008, according to new data released on Tuesday by Surescripts, which operates the largest U.S. electronic prescribing network. They said 47 states more than doubled their use of electronic prescribing last year.

In Massachusetts, one in three prescriptions is now written electronically, and 57 percent of doctors are sending prescriptions electronically. Doctors in Michigan, a state that has been hit hard by a slowdown in the automotive industry, make the most use of features that allow them to see if a patient's health plan covers certain drugs.

President Barack Obama has made using information technology a central plank in his plan to cut costs out of a U.S. healthcare system that consistently ranks lower in quality measures than other rich countries.

PENALTIES LOOM

In 2009, Congress authorized funding to promote electronic health records as part of the economic stimulus package. Incentives will be paid out over five years, and by 2015 providers will face penalties if they don't adopt the new technology. As a result, many more doctors are expected to switch to electronic prescriptions, which promise to prevent medical errors caused by poor handwriting and harmful drug interactions.

Dr. Edward Lisberg, an asthma and allergy specialist based in River Forest, Illinois, made the switch to e-prescribing and electronic medical records nine months ago. He said moving to e-prescribing was much easier than the transition he made to electronic medical records, which involves transferring years of patient medical histories into a digital form.

Lisberg said in a telephone interview his practice does not have enough Medicare patients required to qualify for up to $44,000 offered by the government to cover the cost of converting from paper to digital health records. And he sees e-prescribing largely as a convenience to patients, although it does offer a bit of improvement on his admittedly messy handwriting.

"It's a time-saver for patients, but not much for doctors," Lisberg said. That's because he may have to create new templates if he wants to customize a prescription. But it does mean patients don't lose their prescriptions anymore, he said.

Health information technology companies include Cerner Corp, McKesson Corp and Quality Systems Inc, as well as larger technology companies such as General Electric's GE Healthcare unit, Siemens, Microsoft Corp and Google Inc.

nydailynews.com

Tyra Banks hot photos

2010-09-26T02:03:00.000-07:00

Tyra Banks hot photos

Epidemic proportions: AIDS in France is 'out of control' among gay men

2010-09-24T02:01:00.000-07:00

Transmission of the AIDS virus seems to be "out of control" among gay men in France despite an overall fall in the number of new HIV cases in the country, according to a study published on Thursday.

Scientists from the French National Institute for Public Health Surveillance found that nearly half of the 7,000 people newly infected with HIV in the country in 2008 were gay men, and the incidence among homosexual men is 200 times higher than in the heterosexual population.

Experts said the findings showed that French authorities needed to revise and renew prevention strategies and ensure they were properly targeted at groups most at risk of HIV infection.

The human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS infects 33.4 million people globally. In sub-Saharan Africa, 22.4 million people have it, and Eastern Europe currently has the fastest growing HIV epidemic in the world.

Thursday's study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, found that HIV in France fell significantly from 8,930 new infections in 2003 to 6,940 in 2008.

But the number of new infections among gay men was stable despite a decline in other groups, and accounted for 48 percent of new cases in France in 2008.

Non-French-nationals living in France accounted for around 23 percent of all new infections in 2008 and for 45 percent of the infections transmitted heterosexually. Most were immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, the researchers said.

The number of new infections among injecting drug users — a group in which HIV epidemics are spreading rapidly in other parts of Europe — was low and stable in France over the 5-year study period, accounting for only 1 or 2 percent of new infections every year.

"Our results provide a new perspective on the HIV epidemic in France," said Stephane le Vu, who led the research.

"HIV transmission disproportionately affects certain risk groups and seems to be out of control in the MSM population," he said, using an acronym for men who have sex with men.

Since AIDS emerged in the 1980s, 60 million people have been infected with virus that causes it and 25 million have died. HIV is spread in blood, during sex and in breast milk. Drug users can spread it by sharing needles with infected people.

In a commentary on the findings, Robert Hogg from the British Colombia Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in Vancouver, Canada, said the French data reflected an "unacceptably high" number of new infections among gay men worldwide.

He said authorities should seek to tackle the problem with a combined prevention approach which would include promoting prevention measures such as condom use among gay men and expanding access to AIDS drugs for all eligible HIV patients.

Recent studies have shown that treating HIV patients early in their disease and with potent cocktails of AIDS drugs not only helps them live longer but also significantly reduces the spread of the virus to others.

nydailynews.com

Blood cancers pose challenges in detection, but treatments have greatly improved

2010-09-22T02:00:00.000-07:00

The specialist: Dr. Steven Gruenstein on hematologic malignancies.

An associate clinical professor at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Steven Gruenstein splits his practice treating hematology and oncology problems. Over the past 20 years, Gruenstein has seen thousands of patients with hematologic malignancies like myeloma, chronic myeloid leukemias and lymphomas.

Who’s at risk

Hematology is the field of medicine that studies blood and blood diseases. Hematologic malignancies are cancers of the blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes. "Normally all our blood is produced in a broadly similar way, in which progenitor cells produce many types of cells," says Gruenstein. "A malignancy, or cancer, is when a cell mutates and develops clones that are not under normal controls."

A common result of hematologic malignancies is too much or too little blood. Individual hematologic malignancies are not very common in the general population, though some disorders appear more frequently than others. "For instance, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is fairly common, but Hodgkin’s disease is not," says Gruenstein. "As yet, we’re not sure if some groups are more at risk than others." The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society reports that hematologic malignancies account for 9% of all newly diagnosed cancers in the country.

Doctors consider hematologic malignancies to be idiopathic, which means they arise spontaneously or from an unknown cause." There aren’t really risk factors," says Gruenstein. "Some patients have it in the family, but that’s only a small fraction."

Environmental exposure to toxins like benzene also can cause hematologic malignancies.

"There are different pathways — a lot of times a genetic mechanism leads to a change in an enzyme or protein that forms a malignant population of cells," says Gruenstein.

Signs and symptoms

Patients often go undiagnosed for years because hematologic malignancies can be chronic diseases that progress slowly. "Usually, the symptoms are noticed by the internist at the annual physical," says Gruenstein. "After speaking to the patient and performing a physical exam, the doctor makes the diagnosis with a blood test, which is sometimes followed by a radiographic exam or a biopsy of the bone marrow or lymph node."

When bone marrow cells are the ones altered, the symptoms are usually related to too much or too little of certain cells like platelets or hemoglobin or white blood cells. Common red flags are anemia, high hemoglobin or thrombosis accompanied by fatigue, bleeding, night sweats, abdominal pain or pain in general.

nydailynews.com

U.K. group says older people often lack knowledge about STDs and how to prevent them.

2010-09-21T01:54:00.000-07:00

Do middle-aged people need sex ed?

The number of forty- and fiftysomethings in the U.K diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease last year was double the number in 2000, according to data reported in the Daily Mail.

Nearly 13,000 middle-aged men and women were diagnosed in 2009 with an STD, according to data analyzed by the Family Planning Association.

The incidence of the STD chlamydia among women above the age of 45 rose 95% in the past nine years, and the FPA is seeing a 30% increase in the number of calls to its helpline from older citizens concerned about sexually transmitted diseases.

To draw attention to the issue, the FPA is launching a campaign, The Middle-age Spread, that targets Brits over 50.

Individuals who are leaving long-term relationships now use social networking to start dating again, but may be "apparently oblivious to the need for safer sex and the importance of condoms," according to the FPA, as reported by the Daily Mail.

FPA chief executive Julie Bentley says people in this age group may find it hard to discuss issues surrounding sex.

"We celebrate the positive and fulfilling sexuality of the over-50s, but we also have to get the message across that STIs (sexually transmitted infections) don’t care about graying hair and a few wrinkles," she said. "This is a concerning situation which unless we take action now is only going to get worse."

nydailynews.com

Survive Your Doctor

2010-09-19T02:52:00.000-07:00

Overworked and sleep deprived, doctors are making more medical mistakes than ever before. Who's most at risk? Young women—because they're assumed healthy and they're less likely to question a diagnosis. Here's how to be your own health advocate so you can help your M.D. help you. Your life could depend on it.

So, a woman walks into a doctor's office. She's 25, and her cramps are out of control; her period is irregular at best. What's more, she's packed on 50 pounds in 18 months. Her general practitioner suspects and tests her thyroid. Normal. She's shuffled to a gynecologist, who orders a raft of blood work. Normal again. She's prescribed Advil for the pain and birth-control pills to regulate her cycle. Back home, she takes to the Web, searching for answers. And at a followup visit with her gyno, she timidly offers a diagnosis of her own: polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal disorder that plagues some 5 million young women. "Doubtful," says her doc. "You don't fit the profile." Though the classic PCOS patient is overweight, sufferers also have unnaturally high testosterone levels, something that's missing here. Besides, before her recent weight gain, she'd been slim and healthy, so she's likely just going through a normal postadolescent metabolic slowdown, says her M.D. She'll bounce back soon enough. Except that she doesn't—and two years later, after constant pain and countless more appointments, procedures, and tests, Alexa Stevenson of St. Paul, Minnesota, is finally correctly diagnosed by a reproductive endocrinologist with PCOS, the most common cause of infertility. What, were you expecting a punch line? Alexa's experience is no joke—in fact, it's alarmingly common. Tens of thousands of patients are misdiagnosed every year, according to the Institute of Medicine. In fact, medical mistakes are the eighth leading cause of death—higher than car accidents or even breast cancer. Alexa's diagnosis was fumbled because her birthcontrol pills lowered her testosterone level—something her gynecologist arguably should have deduced since she's the doctor who prescribed them in the first place, before checking her hormone levels. But Alexa is just one of the roughly 49 million Americans (many of them young women) who walk into their doctor's office with a problem and leave with a solution to something else.

Behind the Mistakes

For many women, "the good old days of putting yourself in the capable hands of a doctor who knows you are over," says Peter J. Weiss, M.D., author of More Health, Less Care: How to Take Charge of Your Medical Care and Write Your Own Personal Prescription for Lifelong Health. Today's inundated clinics and vexing HMOs mean physicians are swamped—not to mention drowning in paperwork—and are more likely to pass patients around, especially in big private practices. Not seeing the same practitioner each time you visit raises your risk for a misdiagnosis; without background knowledge, says Weiss, it's much harder for a doc to nail what ails you. And if you happen to be a female in your twenties or thirties, your chance jumps even higher.

It sounds strange, but young women's general good health can work against them. When dealing with a typically strong, fit demographic, doctors are less likely to look toward serious diagnoses. Take, for example, what happened to Emily Willingham of Austin, Texas. When she first saw a gastroenterologist for her relentless stomachaches at age 35, she was sent home with ibuprofen. Four years later, another M.D. discovered a precancerous three-inch-wide intestinal polyp. "That first G.I. doc thought I was too young and too female to have colon problems," she remembers. "But without treatment, I would have died of colon cancer."

Also contributing to misdiagnoses is that lots of young women use their gyno as their primary doctor, relying on a singlesubject- trained physician to diagnose all sorts of bodily woes, says gynecologist Shari Brasner, M.D., an assistant clinical professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. "If a woman wakes up with ear pain, a gyno is not the right person to see." Janet Taylor, M.D., a psychiatrist and health strategist in Manhattan, echoes that statement: "Specialists are specialists for a reason; they focus on one area of the body. Even if you have a terrific relationship with your gynecologist, you should still seek out a general practitioner."

Of course, scheduling multiple appointments with multiple docs can be maddening (think: infuriating hold times). We don't have time to get sick, much less tend to our symptoms. As a result, when we finally find ourselves in an exam room, we're inclined to accept the first diagnosis that comes along so we can get out, get better, and get on with our lives. "This mind-set really causes problems," says Taylor.

Fortunately, there is a fix. What follows is crucial information on how to increase your chances of being correctly diagnosed off the bat and advice on the best ways to stay informed throughout your treatment.

Demystify Your Doc

Something about a white coat renders even brave, bossy types meek and compliant. Women often hesitate to ask questions, says Weiss, especially when we're already feeling sick and vulnerable. Plus, we're shivering in skimpy paper gowns, and we address our docs with their professional titles (Dr. So-and-So), while they call us by our first names. "All too often there is a parent-child relationship between doctors and patients, as opposed to an adult-adult interaction," explains Andrew Cook, M.D., of the Vital

Health Institute in Los Gatos, California. And young women might succumb to an extra insecurity: We want our doctors to treat us kindly and give us optimal care, so we're inclined to be obedient, says Taylor. We're also more likely to lie about our health and feel embarrassed about discussing "private" physical symptoms (hello, itchy vaginal rash!), so we often keep mum to avoid being judged.

But here's the thing: This isn't a scenario of us versus them. Women and their doctors are on the same team, so why shouldn't we be as vigilant when it comes to our health as we are at work or at home?

Before you even get into that paper gown, comparison shop. Suss out a practice in advance by reading reviews at sites like AngiesList.com. If the docs are booked till Christmas, ask to see a nurse practitioner instead—they are a good first step into a medical group, can prescribe meds, and are often more available than the physicians.

While in research mode, don't let concern about ruffling anyone's feathers keep you from your homework. "Arrogance and ego are real problems in the medical profession," but good docs welcome involved patients, says Richard Klein, M.D., author of Surviving Your Doctors: Why the Medical System Is Dangerous to Your Health and How to Get Through It Alive.

In addition to asking lots of questions, keep close track of your medical history by filing away copies of your records and transferring them whenever you change docs. But even if you have charts dating back to childhood, don't assume your physician has digested everything. "There really isn't enough time," says Adam Dickler, M.D., a radiation oncologist in Evergreen, Illinois. If your doctor flips open your file while entering the exam room, it may be the first time she's looking at it, so be ready with a recap. A full recap. "The issue isn't always that doctors aren't looking at your info," says Taylor, "it's that patients aren't giving enough information." (Case in point: Emily Willingham didn't know to tell her first doc about her family's history of colon polyps.) "Anyone who's ever seen an episode of House knows the importance patient history plays in a diagnosis," says PCOS sufferer Alexa Stevenson. "And when it comes to how you've felt in the past, you are the only real expert."

Double-Check Your Diagnosis

There are thousands of medical diagnoses. But most doctors see only about 250 of them in the course of their career, leaving lots of room for error, says patient advocate Jason Maude, founder of Isabel Healthcare, which runs a diagnosis computer program for medical pros. Docs are taught that the obvious culprit is usually the right one— and it often is. But after diagnosing dozens of patients, it's tempting to jump to easy conclusions. Just imagine a physician has seen 10 cases of strep throat in the past 10 days. If you walk in with a sore throat, guess what's at the front of her mind?

That preliminary diagnosis is critical— and tough to shake. Once your symptoms are given a name, the label tends to stick until overwhelming evidence (or your own persistence) compels alternate theories. Cook, for example, recently saw a patient in her twenties with excruciating pelvic pain that other docs believed was a psychological result of her history of sexual abuse. In reality, he says, she was suffering from endometriosis.

Cutting-edge in-office online diagnosis aids like Isabel and UpToDate are starting to help doctors think outside their familiar 250 cases. But even with the best tools and the most open-minded physician, "diagnosis is still a question of playing the odds," says Weiss. "Even if I'm 99 percent sure you have a certain condition, there's always that 1 percent chance I'm wrong."

Tip the odds all the way by doing research before your appointment (remember, you're researching, not diagnosing) and reminding your M.D. that other possibilities could still exist. When you walk in with that sore throat, remember to ask, "So you think I have strep, but what else could it be?"

Most important, don't think twice about getting a second opinion. Many Americans shy away from having their diagnoses double-checked; that's especially bad news for women, since female-specific illnesses like ovarian cancer are frequently misdiagnosed. A smart doctor should never feel offended or threatened by a backup opinion, particularly if it's from a specialist, says Dickler. "Many women have a fear of insulting their doctors," he says, "but getting a second opinion is a patient's right."

Still feeling bashful? Start thinking of your health as your most important investment. "We spend so much money on health care that we're entitled to get the correct diagnosis," says Taylor. "You owe it to yourself to get a second opinion."

Be an Empowered Patient

Once the diagnostic process is over, you may be tempted to just sit back and swallow your meds. But one-size-fits-all solutions don't always apply in medicine. Every young woman reacts differently to her treatment, so make sure you get the lowdown on possible side effects and continue to monitor your body closely. If prescription pills aren't helping, ask for a list of alternatives. "Many traditions are related to health and healing," says Weiss. "But doctors come from just one tradition—medical school— so they might automatically prescribe drugs instead of, say, massage or acupuncture."

If your treatment is over but you still feel lousy, schedule another appointment... stat. Your M.D. won't know you're still sick if you don't tell her. "I always remind my patients that the follow-up is essential," says Napoleon Knight, M.D., vice president and associate medical director of the Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Illinois. "If you're not getting better, it's your responsibility to come back in." Because although it's a doc's job to solve your medical problems, no one really cares more about your health than you do.

5 COMMONLY MISDIAGNOSED CONDITIONS

Thousands of patients are misdiagnosed each year, thanks to a host of diseases that can pre sent sketchy symptoms and be tricky to identify. A few of the most perplexing cases that affect young women:

1. Hormonal Imbalances Thyroid disease hits about one in eight women, but it is often mistaken for depression, as is polycystic ovary syndrome. Both also have symptoms such as mood swings and weight gain that can be misattributed to lack of exercise or poor diet. Docs sometimes neglect to ask female patients when their worst symptoms occur, thereby missing out on important hormonal cues.

2. Ovarian Cancer Regular Pap exams screen for cervical cancer, but tests are still in development for the ovarian kind, which can cause bloating and irregular bleeding-symptoms many doctors interpret as stomach-related issue like irritable bowel syndrome. As a result, more than 50 percent of ovarian cancer cases are already advanced when finally diagnosed.

3. Autoimmune Diseases Symptoms of illnesses like lupus and fibromyalgia— both more common among young women than men—are often chalked up to the results of excess stress. Fatigue and achy bones can also be hallmarks of anxiety or depression, which many auto-immunedisease sufferers are told they have.

4. Heart Disease Approximately 25,000 women under the age of 45 die of heart disease each year, but many old-school docs still wrongly think of coronary sickness as a "man's disease." Physicians often interpret cardiac-illness warning signs (a racing heart, difficulty breathing, chest pressure) as just heartburn or possible symptoms of anxiety disorders.

5. Endometriosis The average patient waits seven years for a proper diagnosis. The illness can cause crippling cramps and eventual infertility, but it's frequently diagnosed as an irregular menstrual cycle. Because surgery is the only concrete way to diagnose endometriosis, many docs treat other potential culprits first (and often find the real thing accidentally, such as during a C-section).

Take Charge of Your Checkup

1. Make a list. Writing down your symptoms, queries, and any meds you're taking helps avoid what Napoleon Knight, M.D., calls the "excuse-me moment," when your doc is about to leave and you say, "Excuse me! I forgot to mention....

2. Tell the whole truth. Total honesty about things like drug use and sex is nonnegotiable. "Your doc is there to treat you, not judge you," says Janet Taylor, M.D. "And if he does act like he's offended, he's not the doctor you wan

3. Get a translation. "Doctors some-times don't realize we're talking in our own language," says Richard Klein, M.D. If the medical mumbo jumbo isn't making sense, speak up. Ask your physician to slow down and give you layman's terms.

4. Take notes. It's hard to retain lots of new info, especially if you've just been handed upsetting news. Jot down your doc's thoughts on causes, treatments, and cures. Then use that crib sheet to do follow-up research when you get home.

5. Know your testing options. Not all medical tests are created equal: Some are notoriously inaccurate, others give vague results. Understand the risks behind each test, including any false positive or negative outcomes.

6. Follow up. Don't assume your tests came back OK just because you haven't heard from your doctor. "Samples can be mislabeled or, worse, lost," says Klein. Call the office yourself and always request all the hard numbers.

Symptoms You Should Never Ignore

1. Killer Cramps or Vaginal Bleeding If your flow is heavier than normal, don't assume it's just a one-time fluke. Ditto for harsher cramps, unexpected spotting, or a later-than-usual period. Changes in your cycle can be no big deal, but they could also be signs of a serious infection or even cancer. Let your doc do the decoding.

2. Blurred Vision Before you self-diagnose a migraine—and borrow your coworker's headache meds—dial up your M.D. Wooziness or blurry eyesight could indicate a neurological problem like a blood clot or a tumor. It could also be an early sign of multiple sclerosis, which affects many more young women than men.

3. Excessive Sweating and Difficulty Breathing You're having a scary but fleeting panic attack, right? Maybe not. Per the American Heart Association, young women do have heart attacks (to the tune of more than 10,000 a year). They often ignore heart-attack symptoms, thinking they're not old enough for coronary ills.

4. Persistent Down-There Itching If your "yeast infection" just won't quit, all the OTC aids you're taking aren't helping (in fact, they're probably hurting) because you most likely don't have a yeast infection. See your ob-gyn ASAP, and ask her about bacterial vaginosis and ST D testing.

5. A Bulging Stomach Bloated and constipated? Stop saying "I have to eat better" and schedule a doctor's appointment. Chronic abdominal unrest could spell anything from easily treatable lactose intolerance to more dire problems like Crohn's disease or an ovarian tumor.

Still smokin': One in five Americans still puff cigarettes

2010-09-17T02:41:00.000-07:00

Americans love their butts: one in five people still smokes cigarettes on a regular basis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and, after four decades of declining smoking rates, the rate’s been stable for the last five years, according to the Los Angeles Times.

And cigarettes aren’t just hurting smokers. Nearly all the kids who live with a smoker have toxic chemicals in their bloodstream that may put them at risk for cancer, heart disease and other illnesses, and more than half of all American children are exposed to poisonous second-hand smoke.

"If you smoke and have children, don’t kid yourself," said CDC director Dr. Thomas R. Frieden at a news conference reported by the Los Angeles Times. "Your smoke is harming your children."

While many may think tobacco products marketed as not as harmful are less likely to sicken them, they’re equally hazardous, Frieden said. "All cigarettes kill equally, and we know that light and low-tar cigarettes are no less likely to kill you."

Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable deaths in this country, even though there’s been a reduction in smoking over the past 40 years. Some 446,000 Americans die from smoking-related illnesses annually. Of all the states, West Virginia and Kentucky have the highest smoking rates: about 26% of adults in those states smoke regularly. Utah has the lowest rate (10%) and California comes in second lowest (just below 13%).

Frieden says that if other states had similar cancer prevention programs to Utah’s and California’s, there would be 5 million fewer smokers in the nation. The tobacco industry has become more skilled at getting around efforts by the government to keep people from smoking. For instance, the industry targets price discounts to get kids to start smoking, and introduced flavored lozenges to circumvent the ban on flavored cigarettes.

The CDC study found that sex, race and educational level all affect whether a person smokes or not.

Some 24% of men smoke, versus 18% of women, and 31% of smokers live below the poverty level. Close to 50% of people with a GED and 25% of those who did not graduate from high school smoke, while only 6% of college graduates smoke.

nydailynews.com

FDA turns up heat on Canada Dry and Lipton green tea beverage labels

2010-09-15T02:46:00.000-07:00

Federal health regulators have issued warnings to the makers of Canada Dry ginger ale and Lipton tea for making unsubstantiated nutritional claims about their green tea-flavored beverages.

In a warning letter issued Aug. 30, the Food and Drug Administration takes issue with the labeling of Canada Dry Sparkling Green Tea Ginger Ale. The agency issued a similar letter Aug. 23 to Unilever Inc., over website and product labeling for its Lipton Green Tea.

Food processors increasingly have been adding vitamins and nutrients to their products to make them more appealing to health-conscious consumers. But the FDA letter to Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, which makes Canada Dry, states that the agency "does not consider it appropriate to fortify snack foods such as carbonated beverages." Furthermore, the agency states that the soft drink does not meet federal requirements to carry the claim that the drink is "enhanced with 200 mg of antioxidants from green tea and vitamin C." According to FDA regulations, the ingredients in Canada Dry's product "are not nutrients with recognized antioxidant activity."

The FDA letter to Unilever takes issue with a company website that mentions four studies that showed a cholesterol-lowering effect with tea. According to the agency, the labeling is misleading because it suggests Lipton tea is designed to treat or prevent disease. The agency also cites antioxidant labeling claims on the company's Lipton Green Tea, which do not follow federal guidelines.

The agency asks executives from both companies to respond to the citations within 15 days and to outline their plans for addressing the problems.

Calls to Plano, Texas-based Dr. Pepper Snapple Group were not immediately returned Tuesday. Calls placed to Unilever's Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based offices were also not immediately returned. The company is headquartered in London and Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Once a niche market, nutrient-enriched beverages have grown into a multibillion dollar business that includes everything from calcium-enhanced orange juice to energy drinks containing ginseng, ginkgo and other organic products.

In recent years, the FDA has begun cracking down on food companies that overstate the benefits of their products.

The FDA generally endorses health claims on foods only after government researchers have verified that the products help prevent actual disease. Food containing oats, for example, can carry the FDA-approved claim, "may reduce risk of heart disease."

The FDA regularly issues warning letters to companies that do not follow regulations for manufacturing and marketing. The letters are not legally binding, but the agency can take companies to court if they are ignored.

nydailynews.com

Licensed from Dry eyes Health Article

2010-09-13T02:48:00.000-07:00

Definition

Dry eyes are caused by a lack of tears. Tears are necessary for the normal lubrication of your eyes and to wash away particles and foreign bodies.

Alternative Names

Tearing - decreased; Eyes - dry

Considerations

If you have dry eyes, you will feel a burning, scratching, or stinging sensation. You may also have strained or tired eyes after reading, even for short periods of time. If you wear contacts, they will likely feel uncomfortable. Having dry eyes for a while can lead to tiny abrasions on the surface of your eyes.

Common Causes

Common causes of dry eyes include:

Aging
Dry environment or workplace (wind, air conditioning)
Sun exposure
Smoking or second-hand smoke exposure
Cold or allergy medicines
An eye injury or other problem with your eyes or eyelids (like a drooping eyelid or bulging eyes)
Sjogren's syndrome -- includes dry eyes, mouth, and mucus membranes, and often rheumatoid arthritis or other joint disorder
Previous eye surgery

Home Care

The following steps may help:

Try artificial tears, available as either drops or ointment. Ointments last longer, but are thicker and can cause blurry vision.
Don't smoke. Avoid second-hand smoke, direct wind, and air conditioning.
Use a humidifier, especially in the winter.
Purposefully blink more often. Rest your eyes.

Call your health care provider if

Call your health care provider if:

You have red or painful eyes.
You have flaking, discharge, or a lesion on your eye or eyelid.
You have had trauma to your eye, or you have a bulging eye or a drooping eyelid.
You have joint pain, swelling, or stiffness.
You also have a dry mouth.
Your dry eyes do not respond to self-care measures within a few days

What to expect at your health care provider's office

Your health care provider will take a medical history and perform a physical examination, including a careful eye examination.

To help better understand your dry eyes, your health care provider may ask the following:

How long have you had dry eyes? Does it involve one or both eyes?
Do you have it all of the time or does it only occur at certain times, with certain activities, or in certain places?
Does the dryness seem related to wind, dust, chemicals, sun, or light exposure?
Does it affect your vision?
Does it cause pain?
Do your eyelids close easily?
Have you noticed any drainage from your eyes?
Does anything make your dry eyes worse?
Does anything make your dry eyes better?
Have you tried artificial tears? Do they help?
Are you taking any medications? Which ones?
Have you had surgery or an injury to your eyes or nose?
Do you have allergies?
Have you been using any new cosmetics?
Do you have any other symptoms like dry mouth or joint discomfort?

Your health care provider may perform tearing tests that can help diagnose dry eyes. Artificial tears may be prescribed.

References

yahoo.net