Exercise an Hour a Day? Here’s How to Make It Painless

By Theresa Tamkins

You may have heard the news that women need to exercise an hour a day, five days a week to keep post-diet weight loss from coming back. And you may have been tempted—like I was—to mentally file it under Super Depressing Health News That Must Be Ignored.

Who has time for five hours of exercise a week? The current recommendation is 30 minutes a day, five days a week, and I don’t even get close to that. If you have kids, a job, or a life, an hour of daily exercise can seem like a luxury reserved for tennis-playing socialites.

So I talked to the lead researcher, John Jakicic, PhD, chair of the department of health and physical activity at the University of Pittsburgh, to get a reality check. Read More

Low-Fat vs. Low-Carb: New Research Uncovers Which Diet Will Help You Lose Weight

By Ross Weale

Should you go low-carb, cut out the fat, or follow the Mediterranean approach?

Health.com’s executive editor Amy O’Connor visited the Fox News Channel on July 22 and weighed in on a new diet study from The New England Journal of Medicine. Watch the clip to learn which diet will help you lose weight.

Read More

Hospitalizations for Heart Failure Skyrocketing

(HealthDay News) -- The number of Americans admitted to hospitals for heart failure has jumped in recent years, and the trend almost certainly will continue, government experts report.

"Our study covers more than two decades, from 1979 to 2004, and the number of hospitalizations almost tripled during that time," said Dr. Jing Fang, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and lead author of the report in the Aug. 5 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

A major reason for the increase is the aging of the American population, Fang said. Heart failure, in which the heart progressively loses its ability to pump blood, is more common among older people.

"Another reason is the improvement in technology for treatment of patients with other heart diseases, such as acute myocardial infarction [heart attack]," Fang added. "So, people with diseases of the heart live longer."

Data from the National Heart Discharge Survey showed that the number of admissions to hospitals with any mention of heart failure rose from 1.274 million in 1979 to 3.86 million in 2004, the report said. More than 80 percent of those admitted to hospitals were 65 or older, with Medicare or Medicaid covering the cost.

The report did not cover the cost of the hospitalizations, but the American Heart Association has estimated it to be more than $20 billion annually, Fang said.

There has been a marked increase in the number of hospitalizations for which heart failure was not the primary cause, the report said. Heart failure was listed as the primary cause in no more than 35 percent of cases, with respiratory diseases and other conditions given as the reason for hospital admission in all other cases.

"Most are due to pneumonia or another disease that makes heart failure worse," Fang said. Better control of those other conditions, which include diabetes and kidney disease, could reduce hospitalizations for heart failure, Fang added.

But those people tend to keep coming back to the hospital because "you cannot cure people with heart failure," Fang said. "The best medicine [we] can do is to keep the heart functioning enough for the patient to have good quality of life."

A basic problem is that there is no effective treatment for heart failure severe enough to cause hospitalization, said Dr. Javed Butler, director of the heart failure research program at Emory University, and co-author of an accompanying editorial.

"When you are talking about medications that have been proven, they all are for chronic, stable outpatients," Butler said. "We don't have any proven medications for treatment in the hospital."

What is needed is a major effort to develop in-hospital treatments for severe heart failure, he said. "When you consider the huge cost, it is right up high on the list of conditions we need to study," Butler said. "It is a least-studied, most costly problem. We need to get a better grasp on what we should be doing."

More information
Learn about heart failure and its management from the American Heart Association.

Dementia Underestimated in Developing Countries

(HealthDay News) -- Rates of dementia in developing countries have been greatly underestimated, according to researchers who used a specially-developed method of calculating dementia prevalence.

Previous studies have suggested that rates of dementia in developing countries are much lower than in high-income countries. However, the quality and evidence base of these studies are poor, according to the authors of the new study, who are members of the 10/66 Research Group.

The group is named to reflect the global research community's neglect of dementia patients in developing countries. Just 10 percent of research is focused on the 66 percent of dementia patients living in low- and middle-income countries.

The standard DSM-IV criteria for dementia diagnosis are too restrictive, requiring memory impairment (which is not an early feature in some dementia subtypes), and clear evidence of social and occupational impairment (which can be difficult to establish in low- and middle-income countries), according to background information in the study.

The 10/66 group developed its own method of dementia diagnosis, based on an assessment at the person's home, including a clinical interview, cognitive tests, and interviews with family and friends. This approach may reveal more mild and moderate cases of dementia, according to the group.

Using DSM-IV criteria, rates of dementia in developing countries varied widely, from 0.3 percent in rural India to 6.3 percent in Cuba. The prevalence of dementia in urban Latin America sites was 80 percent of that in Europe, in China the prevalence was half of that in Europe, and in India and rural Latin American the prevalence was a quarter or less of that in Europe.

The 10/66 method revealed a higher prevalence of dementia in developing countries and was more consistent across sites, varying between 5.6 percent in rural China and 11.7 percent in the Dominican Republic.

While 847 of the 1,345 cases of dementia identified by the 10/66 method weren't confirmed as DSM-IV dementia, the validity of those 847 cases was supported by high levels of associated disability, the study authors said.

"We believe that our methods have drawn attention to a substantial prevalence of dementia that might have been missed. Prevalence differences between developed and developing countries might not be as large as previously thought," the study authors wrote.

The study was released online by The Lancet to coincide with a presentation at the International Conference on Alzheimer's disease in Chicago.

More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians outlines common signs of dementia.

Eating Less May Slow Aging Process

(HealthDay News) -- Cutting just 300 to 500 calories a day from your diet could be the key to slowing the signs of aging and living longer, according to a new study.

Studies have long shown that reducing calorie intake slows the aging process in rats and mice. A popular theory is that fewer daily calories decreases production of the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3), which then slows metabolism and tissue aging.

A new study, by Saint Louis University researchers, found this hormone decrease occurs when humans regularly skip rich desserts or substitute a turkey sandwich for a Big Mac and fries every day.

"Our research provides evidence that calorie restriction does work in humans like it has been shown to work in animals," study lead author Edward Weiss, associate professor of nutrition and dietetics at Saint Louis University's Doisy College of Health Sciences, said in a prepared statement. "The next step is to determine if this in fact slows age-related tissue deterioration. The only way to be certain, though, is to do a long-term study."

The findings, published in the June 2008 issue of Rejuvenation Research, are based on a study of healthy but sedentary, non-smoking, 50- to 60-year-old men and post-menopausal women. For a year, the volunteers participated in either: a calorie-restriction group that cut their daily calorie intake by 300 to 500 calories per day; a group that stayed on their regular diet and exercised regularly; or a group that maintained its normal routine.

While those in the calorie-restriction and exercise groups both lost body fat mass, only those in the calorie restriction group also had lower levels of the thyroid hormone.

Although a long-term study is still needed to determine if reducing T3 levels through calorie restriction does indeed slow the aging process, Weiss said cutting back on calories is a good idea.

"There is plenty of evidence the calorie restriction can reduce your risks for many common diseases including cancer, diabetes and heart disease," Weiss said. "And you may live to be substantially older."

Weiss warned that while cutting calories, people need to maintain a healthy diet by eating nutrient-rich foods. He noted that long-term slowing of the metabolism could also make people more prone to weight gain over time.

The key to maintaining a healthy weight, Weiss said, is keeping a consistent diet and exercising regularly.

More information
The Calorie Restriction Society has more about calorie restriction.

Health Tip: Why You Should Wash Your Hands

(HealthDay News) -- You've heard it over and over, starting from your parents: "Wash your hands."

But if you knew why it's so important, handwashing would always be on the top of your list of ways to stay healthy, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Scientists believe most people get colds and other illnesses by touching a sick person or by touching something a sick person touched.

All you have to do to protect yourself is wash your hands -- after you go to the bathroom, after you touch a cut or sore and and always before you touch food.

Wash your hands front and back and between the fingers. Soap up your wrists, too. And don't forget your fingernails. A good nail brush does the best job there.

A Surgeon’s Confession: “The Supernatural Is All Around Us”

By Andrea Useem

When I read a book for work, it’s usually slow going. But once I’d read a few pages of surgeon Allan Hamilton’s new book, The Scalpel and the Soul: Encounters With Surgery, the Supernatural, and the Healing Power of Hope, I could hardly put it down.
Dr. Hamilton, the former chief of neurosurgery at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, tells story after story of how the strange, tragic, and sometimes amazing hand of fate enters the most sterile operating room, and how hope—and forces more mysterious than hope—can mean the difference between life and death. Read More

Soy Linked to Low Sperm Count

(HealthDay News) -- Eating half a serving of soy food a day lowers sperm concentrations and may play a role in male Infertility, particularly in obese men, Harvard University researchers report.

The reason for this relationship between soy and sperm count isn't clear. However, researchers speculate that soy increases estrogen activity, which may have a negative affect on sperm production and also interfere with other hormonal signalss.

"There have been a lot of interest in estrogen and isoflavones in particular and a potential relationship to fertility and other reproductive disorders," said lead researcher Dr. Jorge Chavarro, a research fellow in the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Research in animals has shown that isoflavones and estrogen can have a potentially negative affect on reproduction, including decreased fertility, Chavarro said. However, there is very little evidence of how these findings apply to humans, he said.

The new research, he added, lends support to how results of animal studies apply to humans. But Chavarro considers the findings preliminary and inconclusive. "It's way too early to say stop eating soy foods," he said. "It's not time to worry about whether you're eating too much soy. There's not enough information to conclusively say that. "

His report was published in the July 24 online edition of the journal Human Reproduction.

For the study, Chavarro and colleagues collected data on 99 men who attended a fertility clinic for evaluation. The men were asked about how much of 15 soy-based foods they ate in the past three months.

The foods men were asked about included tofu, tempeh, tofu or soy sausages, bacon, burgers, soy milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream and other soy products like roasted nuts and energy bars.

Because different foods have different levels of isoflavones, half a serving of soy is equal to about one cup of soy milk or one serving of tofu or soy burgers every other day, Chavarro noted.

Chavarro's team found that men who ate the most soy had 41 million fewer sperm per milliliter of semen compared with men who did not eat soy foods. Normal sperm counts range between 80 million and 120 million per milliliter, according to a press release from the journal, a monthly publication of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology.

In addition, the researchers found that the link between soy and sperm concentration was stronger among overweight and obese men. Overweight and obese men produce more estrogen than thinner men, and soy may increase those estrogen levels even further, they speculated.

Moreover, the link between soy and sperm concentration was strongest in men with higher sperm concentrations. Men who have normal or high sperm counts may be more susceptible to soy foods than men with low sperm counts, Chavarro said.

Infertility expert Dr. Hossein Sadeghi-Nejad, an associate professor of urology at UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School and Hackensack University Medical Center, agreed that soy may be one factor affecting fertility, especially in overweight and obese men.

"When patients are overweight, the fat tissue converts male hormones to more female hormones," Sadeghi-Nejad said. "So, it is possible that the combination of this estrogenic source [soy] and the extra internal estrogen that is caused by the conversion of androgen to estrogen through the fat has a more deleterious effect in that group of patients."

In addition, Sadeghi-Nejad noted that although sperm counts decreased most among men who have the highest counts, that should not affect fertility, since sperm counts were still in the normal range.

"But this is a good reminder that if you have an overweight patient, with abnormal semen parameters, and a very high soy intake, it may be wise for them to decrease this factor," Sadeghi-Nejad said.

More information
For more about obesity and infertility, visit the Obesity Action Coalition.

Is This Your Brain on Cell Phones?

By Sally Chew

Have you seen the YouTube video with the cell phones popping popcorn? (Or subsequent videos that appear to repeat the experiment?) What seemed like a viral, grassroots phenomenon in culinary cell phone experimentation was quickly debunked and turned out to be a marketing campaign by the makers of Bluetooth headsets. But it got me thinking: Where are we on assessing the health risks of cell phones? Read More

Health Tip: Keep Baby Safe in the Crib

(HealthDay News) -- Your baby's sleep environment should be carefully arranged to prevent injury.

The National Safety Council offers these crib safety recommendations:

• Throw your older crib away if it has slats that are too far apart, lead paint or decorative cutouts that could harm your baby. The slats shouldn't be more than 2 3/8 inches apart.


• Choose a mattress that fits snugly inside the crib, with no gaps around the edges. Replace any mattress when you can insert two adult fingers between the mattress and the crib.


• Bumper pads should cover the whole inside perimeter of the crib and tie or snap in place.


• They should be removed as soon as the child is able to assume a standing position.


• Don't use pillows, large stuffed animals and other items that may pose a threat for suffocation.


• Never place a crib near a window, as blinds and cords can pose strangulation hazards. Also window screens won't prevent the child from falling through them.


• Stop using the crib once the height of the rails is less than three-quarters of the child's height.


• Make sure there is a working smoke detector near your child's crib.

Health Tip: Choosing Exercise Equipment

(HealthDay News) -- Before you buy home exercise equipment, it's important to make sure you're making the best choice for you and your lifestyle.

Here are things to keep in mind when selecting exercise equipment, courtesy of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons:

• Consider the difference between exercising at home, versus joining a gym. Make sure that you're comfortable with doing it at home.


• Consider less expensive options that offer more variety in your exercise. Look for a stand to convert your regular bicycle into a stationary bike, or consider free weights and a bench instead of a resistance machine.


• Choose a place in your home that is pleasant for exercising. Make sure it's well-lit and well-ventilated.


• Make sure you know how to properly use the equipment before bringing it home.

FDA Says It's Safe to Eat Tomatoes

(HealthDay News) -- U.S. health officiaSls on Thursday dropped their warning against eating fresh tomatoes, as the toll in the ongoing salmonella outbreak reached 1,220 confirmed cases, with at least 242 people hospitalized.

"As of today, FDA officials believe that consumers may now enjoy all types of fresh tomatoes available on the domestic market without concern about becoming infected with Salmonella saintpaul bacteria," Dr. David Acheson, associate commissioner for foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said during a Thursday afternoon teleconference.

But the warning against jalapeno and serrano peppers remains in effect for the largest foodborne outbreak in the United States in more than a decade, he said.

"We still do not know where the original contamination was," Acheson acknowledged during the teleconference.

Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the Division of Foodborne, Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the outbreak may be winding down.

"The large salmonella outbreak is continuing with 20 to 30 new cases being reported each day," Tauxe said. "Although it appears that the outbreak is ongoing, and we do not have evidence that it's over, it does appear to have decreased in intensity beginning in mid-June."

When the outbreak began in April, early signs pointed to raw tomatoes -- particularly raw round, red tomatoes, plum or Roma tomatoes -- as the likely source of contamination. But Acheson said the ban was lifted Thursday, because it's highly unlikely that any tomatoes that were on the market at the start of the outbreak remain on the market. The FDA has found no samples of salmonella in tomatoes on any of the farms or in any of the packing houses investigated, he said.

As later cases of salmonella infection came in, more evidence seemed to point to peppers. As a result, the FDA, in cooperation with Mexican officials, has dispatched inspectors to a specific packer in Mexico that receives peppers from several farms, Acheson said.

According to the CDC, people stricken during the outbreak have ranged in age from under 1 to 99 years old, and 50 percent are female. The rate of illness has been highest among those 20 to 29 years old; it is lowest among adolescents 10 to 19 years old and people over 80.

According to the CDC's latest count as of July 16, the breakdown by state of ill people shows: Alabama (2 persons), Arkansas (16), Arizona (54), California (9), Colorado (16), Connecticut (4), Florida (2), Georgia (28), Idaho (6), Illinois (113), Indiana (16), Iowa (2), Kansas (18), Kentucky (1), Louisiana (1), Maine (1), Maryland (32), Massachusetts (26), Michigan (24), Minnesota (22), Mississippi (2), Missouri (17), New Hampshire (5), Nevada (11), New Jersey (12), New Mexico (102), New York (32), North Carolina (23), Ohio (10), Oklahoma (25), Oregon (10), Pennsylvania (12), Rhode Island (3), South Carolina (2), Tennessee (9), Texas (456), Utah (2), Virginia (31), Vermont (2), Washington (17), West Virginia (1), Wisconsin (13), and the District of Columbia (1). Five ill persons are from Canada; four appear to have been infected while traveling in the United States, and one individual remains under investigation.

CDC officials say that people at risk of infection, including infants and elderly people, should avoid eating jalapeno and serrano peppers. Raw jalapeno peppers are often used in the preparation of salsa, pico de gallo, and other dishes.

Salmonella is a bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhea in humans. Some 40,000 cases of salmonellosis are reported in the United States each year, although the CDC estimates that because milder cases aren't diagnosed or reported, the actual number of infections may be 30 or more times greater. Approximately 600 people die each year after being infected.

However, the strain of Salmonella saintpaul had been previously considered rare. In 2007, according to the CDC, there were only three people infected in the country during April through June.

Meanwhile, an Associated Press-Ipsos poll has found that the salmonella outbreak has unnerved many consumers, with nearly half of Americans saying they're worried they could get sick from eating contaminated food. And they're avoiding foods they'd normally buy.

Three-quarters of those polled said they remain confident about the overall safety of foods. But the poll also found that 86 percent of consumers back the idea of a "tracing" system for produce. This would allow for the labeling of produce so it could be tracked from the farm, through packers and shippers, to supermarkets. The lack of such a system has hampered federal officials in their efforts to determine the cause of the salmonella outbreak.

Meat and poultry have long been subject to enforceable federal safeguards, but fruits and vegetables are not, although produce increasingly is being implicated in outbreaks, the AP said.

More information
Visit the FDA for more on the salmonella outbreak.

Training Video 2

Sometimes we all need to be beaten into shape, because we're too lazy to get in shape ourselves. Here's a fun way to beat the flab, and look good in a bikini!Jab/Crosses (Do 4 rounds of 30, aiming to get gradually faster)Jab with your left handCross with your right

Make sure your wrists go straight out from your arm and your arm goes straight out at chin height, aiming for your opponent's mitt, protecting your jaw and your ribs at all timesRotate your hips with each jab and cross Jab/Cross/Push-ups (Good cardio workout, do 10 rounds)Jab/Cross as above twiceDrop to the floor for 4 push-upsJab/Cross/Duck (Repeat for about 2 minutes)

Jab/Cross for four and then duck (Ducking: keep your feet apart -- the aim is to avoid the punch coming from an opponent above your head by using your legs to squat down under your opponent's swing. Keep your eyes on the mitt and do not move your upper body.)Remember, no slacking or you're off to Siberia! Girls, you won't need your bikinis there...

Health Tip: Staying Emotionally Healthy

(HealthDay News) -- People who are emotionally healthy handle stress well, have a positive self-image, and are able to sustain healthy relationships.

The American Academy of Family Physicians offers these suggestions to help you stay emotionally healthy:

• Establish what you are feeling, and what's causing those feelings.



• Be open with yourself and others about your emotions, instead of keeping the sources of stress and anxiety to yourself.



• Focus on the positive things in your life instead of dwelling on the negative. Deal with what's bothering you, but don't let it overwhelm you.



• Try relaxation methods, including meditation, yoga or deep breathing exercises.



• Take care of your physical self with a healthy diet, regular exercise and a good sleep schedule.

No Smoking Anywhere: Tough New Law in Kenya

By Theresa Tamkins

Kenya has enacted a tough new smoking rule, which bans smoking on the street and in parks, markets, bars, private homes, and private cars. That’s right: If you’re not lighting up in one of the country’s designated smoking zones, you’re not smoking at all—unless you want to risk imprisonment (up to three years) or a fine of up to $43,000, according to the BBC.
Being an ex-smoker, I tend to give the nicotine-addicted more sympathy than scorn and rarely complain about secondhand fumes. But even I thought, Hmm, wouldn’t that be nice? Read More

Health Tip: Keep Stitches Clean and Dry

(HealthDay News) -- Stitches are used to close deep cuts in the skin. They need to be properly cared for to prevent significant scarring and infection.

Here are suggestions on caring for stitches, courtesy of the American Academy of Family Physicians:

• Keep the stitches clean and dry. You should be able to wash the area within one to three days of getting the stitches.
• If recommended by your doctor, after 24 hours, gently clean the wound with water, thoroughly dry, and re-bandage it.
• Gently wash off the dirt and crust that forms over the stitches.
• If a light, yellow fluid drains from the wound, you may need to keep it covered.
• With your doctor's approval, use a bit of antibiotic ointment on the wound to reduce the risk of infection.
• To reduce pain and swelling, for up to two days after getting the stitches, try to keep the wound elevated above your heart as much as possible.

Are You Getting Burned by Your Sunscreen?

(HealthDay News) -- Sunscreens are one of the most popular protections people use as the summer sun rises high and threatens to burn their skin with harmful ultraviolet rays.

Sunburns are not only painful, they can lead to skin cancer, the most prevalent form of cancer in the United States.

But, new research has led some to question the effectiveness of many sunscreens.

A recent study by the Environmental Working Group found that one in every eight name-brand sunscreens did not protect against ultraviolet A rays. These UVA rays have traditionally been linked to tanning, but doctors now know they can cause long-term damage and skin cancer. The SPF -- or sun protection factor -- rating currently placed on all sunscreens only reflects the lotion's effectiveness in blocking ultraviolet B rays.

As a result of such research, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is the process of approving a new regulation that would set standards for testing and labeling sunscreens for UVA protection as well as for UVB.

The incidence of sunburns has increased in the United States, a sign the many people aren't using proper sun protection. A recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that sunburn rates increased from 31.8 percent to 33.7 percent from 1999 to 2004.

Sunburn damage to the skin is a direct cause of skin cancer, said Dr. Martin Weinstock, a professor of dermatology at Brown University Medical School.

"Most cancers in the United States are skin cancer, and incidences are rising, while the incidences of most other types of cancer are remaining stable or going down," Weinstock said. "The most important avoidable cause we know about is exposure to ultraviolet radiation."

Sunlight is composed of the visible light that we can see, and ultraviolet (UV) light that we can not. There are two types of UV light -- UVA and UVB. While UVA rays are responsible for tanning and UVB for sunburn, both can damage the skin and increase the risk of skin cancer.

Most skin cancers form in older people, on parts of their bodies that have experienced more exposure to the sun, or in people who have weakened immune systems.

The most deadly form of skin cancer is melanoma, which forms in the skin cells that make the pigment melanin -- often as a mole. The National Cancer Institute estimates there will be 62,480 new cases of melanoma in the United States in 2008, and about 8,420 deaths caused by the disease. By comparison, there will be more than 1 million new cases of non-melanoma skin cancers in 2008, with fewer than 1,000 deaths.

Experts recommend a multiple approach to protecting yourself against harmful rays.

"The American Cancer Society has a slogan -- 'Slip, Slop, Slap,' " Weinstock said. "Slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen, and slap on a hat."

But Kristan Markey, a research analyst with the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization that works to protect public health and the environment, said the effectiveness of sunscreens isn't as strong as one might think.

"We found that most sunscreens are not effective in filtering out ultraviolet radiation or have problems with toxic hazards," Markey said.

Not only do many sunscreens fail to protect against UV radiation, but they also break down over normal usage and develop toxic components, the group's study found.

Markey noted that sunscreen makers also make claims that can't stand up to the light of day. For example, even sunscreens that boast "all-day protection" must be regularly reapplied to avoid skin damage, he said.

"You can't say 'all-day protection,' because the recommendation is you have to reapply every two hours," Markey said. "It's still very much the wild west in the industry."

The FDA's recommended new rules for sunscreens would assign a star rating system -- from one to four stars -- to gauge the lotions' effectiveness in blocking UVA rays. Ratings for UVA would be based on two tests, one to measure the sunscreen's ability to reduce the amount of UVA radiation passing through it, and a second to measure the product's ability to prevent tanning and potential long-term skin damage.

Given the mandatory approval process, any new labeling featuring the UVA ratings alongside the current SPF rating won't appear on store shelves until 2009 at the earliest.

Until then, Weinstock said people need to continue to check themselves often for changes in skin blemishes or moles, as a precaution.

"We do recommend that people do a thorough examination of their own skin once a month, top and bottom, front and back," he said. "If they see spots that are changing, ask for some advice from a medical professional.

"Early detection is important in the treatment of skin Cancer, and it's right out there to see," he added.

More information
To learn more about sunscreens, visit the American Academy of Dermatology.

Training Video 1

Side-weight pull (Good for obliques, 3 sets each side with 30 secs in between)Keep your feet parallel, legs straight, torso facing mirrorStretch one arm down to reach your kneeStraightenStretch to the other sideTry to use gradually heavier weights as this is quite a simple exercise

Nanoparticle Stops Cancer From Spreading

(HealthDay News) -- California researchers say they have developed molecular "smart bombs" that stop pancreatic and kidney cancer from spreading in mice while causing fewer side effects and damage to healthy surrounding tissues than traditional chemotherapy.

A team from the University of California, San Diego, designed a "nanoparticle" anti-cancer drug delivery system that zooms in on a protein marker called integrin avB3, which is found on the surface of certain tumor blood vessels. The marker is tied to the development of new blood vessels and malignant tumor growth.

While the system had little impact on primary tumors, it halted the metastasis of pancreatic and kidney cancers throughout the bodies of mice. Cancer metastasis normally is much harder to treat than the primary tumor, and it usually leads to the patient's death.

The findings were published in this week's online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to the report, the system works with a lower dose of chemotherapy because it attacks the cancer with such precision. In most chemo treatments, the destruction of healthy tissue is a side effect as it floods the body with cancer-killing toxins.

"We were able to establish the desired anti-cancer effect while delivering the drug at levels 15 times below what is needed when the drug is used systemically," study leader David Cheresh, vice chairman of pathology at UCSD, said in a university news release. "Even more interesting is that the metastatic lesions were more sensitive to this therapy than the primary tumor."

UCSD engineers and oncologists together designed the nanoparticle -- a microscopic particle made of lipid-based polymers -- to work with the cancer-killing drug doxorubicin.

"Doxorubicin is known to be an effective anti-cancer drug but has been difficult to give patients an adequate dose without negative side effects," Cheresh said. "This new strategy represents the first time we've seen such an impact on metastatic growth, and it was accomplished without the collateral damage of weight loss or other outward signs of toxicity in the patient."

"Traditional cancer therapies are often limited or non-effective over time, because the toxic side effects limit the dose we can safely deliver to the patient," he said. "This new drug delivery system offers an important advance in treating metastatic disease."

More information
The National Cancer Institute has more about nanotechnology uses in cancer treatment.

Salmonella Illnesses Now Top 1,000

(HealthDay News) -- The number of people sickened in the ongoing salmonella outbreak has now surpassed 1,000, and while certain types of tomatoes remain the suspected cause, U.S. health officials on Wednesday added hot peppers and cilantro as potential suspects.

"We continue to get new reported cases every day," Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the division of foodborne, bacterial and mycotic diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a late afternoon teleconference. "This is the largest foodborne outbreak in the United States."

Since the outbreak began in April, 1,017 people in 41 states, the District of Columbia and Canada have fallen ill, and at least 203 people have been hospitalized. One death -- a Texas man in his 80s -- has been associated with the outbreak. Also, a man in his 60s who died in Texas from cancer had a Salmonella Saintpaul infection at the time of his death, the CDC reported Wednesday on its Web site.

In addition, according to the CDC, 300 of those people became ill after June 1.

An initial investigation of the outbreak, in New Mexico and Texas, suggested raw tomatoes as the likely source of the contamination. But a larger, nationwide study comparing persons who were ill in June found that those who were sickened were likely to have recently eaten raw tomatoes, as well as fresh jalapeno and serrano peppers, and fresh cilantro. These foods are typically consumed together, the CDC said.

Recently, many clusters of illnesses have been identified involving people who had eaten in restaurants. In one cluster, illnesses were linked to consumption of an item containing fresh tomatoes and fresh jalapeno peppers. In another two clusters, illnesses were linked to a food item containing fresh jalapeno peppers, leading federal officials to believe that jalapeno peppers caused some of the reported illnesses, the CDC said.

However, "at this we have not found any samples of tomatoes or peppers positive for Salmonella Saintpaul," Steve Sundlof, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, told reporters at the teleconference.

Tauxe added, "Neither tomatoes nor jalapenos explain the entire outbreak at this point. We're presuming that both of them cause illness."

When it comes to tomatoes, officials said the advice to consumers remains the same: Avoid raw red plum, red Roma, round red tomatoes, and products containing these raw tomatoes.

On Wednesday, Tauxe added that people at risk of infection, including infants and elderly people, should avoid eating jalapeno peppers.

Salmonella is a bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhea in humans. Some 40,000 cases of salmonellosis are reported in the United States each year, although the CDC estimates that because milder cases are not diagnosed or reported, the actual number of infections may be 30 or more times greater. Approximately 600 people die each year after being infected.

However, the strain of Salmonella Saintpaul had been previously considered rare. In 2007, according to the CDC, there were only three people infected in the country during April through June.

More information
Visit the CDC for more on the salmonella outbreak.

Smiling Babies Make Moms Happy

By Kate Rope

Pop quiz: That headline is a) printed on a T-shirt I picked up in a Tokyo novelty shop last week, b) a really freakin’ obvious statement, or c) the results of a study published in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics.

If you went with b) and c), you’re a genius! Yes, it’s true; scientists have confirmed what we new moms already know—when we see our smiling babies, it makes us happy.
I called up the lead author of the study to ask, “When I read the press release about your study, the first thing I thought was, ‘Duh!’ So why is this news?” Read More

Working Hard When Tired Raises Blood Pressure

(HealthDay News) -- Doing mental or physical work while exhausted may harm your health, a new study shows.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that fatigued people had bigger spikes in blood pressure than well-rested people while doing a memorization test.

When fatigued people regard a task as worthwhile and achievable, they increase their effort to compensate for their diminished capability, explained study author and psychologist Rex Wright. As a result, a tired person's blood pressure increases and remains elevated until the task is completed or the person gives up.

"Our findings are relevant to health because of links that have been established between cardiovascular responsiveness and negative health outcomes, including hypertension and heart disease," Wright said in a prepared statement.

"Individuals who experience chronically exaggerated cardiovascular responses are believed to be at greater risk than individuals who do not. Thus, the implication is that chronic fatigue may pose a health risk under some performance conditions," he explained.

In this study, Wright and colleagues told 80 volunteers they could win a modest prize by memorizing two or six nonsense trigrams (meaningless, three-letter sequences) within two minutes. Compared to volunteers with low levels of fatigue, those with moderate fatigue had stronger blood pressure while doing the two-trigram memorization task.

"Presumably this was because the moderately fatigued subjects viewed success as relatively hard, but still possible and worthwhile. Subjects who reported moderate fatigue had relatively reduced blood pressure increases in the six-trigram condition, presumably because they view success there as impossible or too difficult to be worth the effort," Wright said.

Volunteers with high levels of fatigue had low blood pressure increases in both the two- and six-trigram tasks. This likely means they viewed both tasks as too difficult to attempt, the researchers said.

The study was published in the July issue of the International Journal of Psychophysiology.

More information
The MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia has more about fatigue.

Collagen Wrinkle Filler Approved

(HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Evolence to treat moderate-to-severe facial wrinkles and folds, maker Johnson & Johnson said Wednesday.

The injected treatment is made from "naturally sourced collagen" using tendons harvested from pigs in the United States and Australia, The Wall Street Journal quoted the company as saying.

Evolence has been available in many other nations since 2004.

In the United States, it will compete with a number of synthetic "dermal fillers," including Medicis Pharmaceutical's Restylane and Allergan's Juvederm, the newspaper said.

More information
The FDA has more about injectable wrinkle fillers and their risks.

Hallucinogen Gives Lasting Spiritual Boost

(HealthDay News) -- The spiritual effects of a substance in "sacred mushrooms" can last more than a year, Johns Hopkins researchers claim.

The scientists said their investigations may lead to new ways to help people with conditions such as cancer, depression and drug dependence..

In a previous study, the researchers gave psilocybin to 36 healthy, well-educated volunteers with active spiritual lives. After taking the substance under controlled conditions, 60 percent of the participants reported have a "full mystical experience."

When the researchers checked with the volunteers 14 months later, the same percentage said taking psilocybin increased their sense of well-being or life satisfaction.

"Most of the volunteers looked back on their experience up to 14 months later and rated it as the most, or one of the five most, personally meaningful and spiritually significant of their lives," lead investigator Roland Griffiths, a professor in the departments of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and neuroscience, said in a prepared statement.

The study was published in the current issue of the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

"This is truly remarkable finding, "Griffiths said. "Rarely in psychological research do we see such persistently positive reports from a single event in the laboratory. This gives credence to claims that the mystical-type experiences some people have during hallucinogen sessions may help patients suffering from cancer-related anxiety or depression, and may serve as a potential treatment for drug dependence. We're eager to move ahead with that research."

He noted that while some of the volunteers "reported strong fear or anxiety for a portion of their day-long psilocybin sessions, none reported any lingering harmful effects, and we didn't observe any clinical evidence of harm."

However, if hallucinogens are used in poorly supervised settings, the possible fear or anxiety responses could lead to harmful behaviors, Griffiths warned.

More information
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has more about hallucinogens.

One Swipe or More? The Lowdown on Germ-Killing Wipes

By Theresa Tamkins

I accidentally dropped a “ health news” bomb on a colleague the other day. I strolled into her office and blurted it out: “Did you hear that antimicrobial wipes just spread bacteria from one spot to another?”
She took one look at the giant canister of wipes spilling out of her purse and another on the desk (she’s a nursing mom), and yelled, “Oh, God! No!”
So let me formally apologize for that one. The study actually found that overusing those wipes could spread, rather than kill, bacteria in a simulated hospital-like setting—not in the home. Read More

The Doctor Is On: The New Doc Radio

By Sally Chew

Doctor Radio, launched by Sirius on June 2, is a dream come true for doctors who love what they do—and happen to have an exhibitionist streak. Practitioners at New York University Langone Medical Center banter with each other about everything from salmonella and tick bites to disease-struck celebrities (think Tim Russert and Amy Winehouse); take phone calls and emails from around the country; and sometimes even sit their own patients down to review “how the surgery went.”

I signed up for a three-day trial, and the first doc-host I encountered was pediatrician Dr. Dan Rausch, addressing a thorny summer-camp predicament on a show called “On Call for Kids.” A mom wanted to know if she could give her son a break from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorde (ADD) meds for one reckless, attention-liberating week or two. Dr. Rausch advised against it. “If [he’s] thriving at home on the medication, it would be my personal opinion that the child stay on the medication,” said the straightforward Dr. Rausch. Sure, school is out, but camp will bring it’s own new “stresses,” he said.

Next, I listened to “The Pulse,” featuring heart surgeon Dr. Thomas Maldonado and a man named Christopher, who had been relieved of a “really big aneurysm” by Maldonado himself. I picked up a little circulatory science and noticed how intimate it all felt. Dr. Maldonado told his patient: “I just saw your urologist in the lobby,” as if he were talking about a mutual friend. Then he offered his sincere hope (on national radio!) that Christopher would please quit smoking.
Hearts work their way into branding (and website headlines) better than most medical things, so I wasn’t surprised that the next show I ran into after “The Pulse” was called “Heart to Heart.” The program eventually got around to heart surgery—repairing coronary arteries with catheters—but not before some banter about an Atlanta Braves game and a Hillary Clinton event.

I didn’t mind the off-topic tangents because I was so thoroughly entertained by cardiologist Dr. Fred Feit, director of the medical center’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab. He has one of those naturally quirky-confident radio show personalities and even confessed at one point that sometimes it is “scary” blowing up balloons inside arteries. I imagine the human side of medicine will be one of the station’s main appeals, drawing in a loyal crowd of med students and other medical junkies.

On occasion, the chitchat did slip too much into inside baseball, however. I was turned off by one doctor’s full-on flattery of another colleague’s low mortality rates, if a little titillated by an oblique reference to “the dark side of stents.”

Pure doctor gossip, on the other hand, definitely has its place. If I’m right in guessing the main audience for the shows, then little tidbits about the doctors themselves will be a key ingredient. I found it pretty funny to learn that doctors at NYU Langone were skipping out during the day recently to catch European Cup soccer games. I guess that’s all right, as long as they make it back in time for their appointments with patients (and their appearances in Radioland).
(PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: ISTOCKPHOTO/HEALTH)