Health Tip: Help Prevent a Herniated Disk

(HealthDay News) -- A herniated (sometimes called "ruptured") disk in the back or neck can cause severe pain and numbness.

Disks are the soft, rubbery pads found between the spine's vertebrae. When stressed or overused from wear-and-tear, the center of the disk can push through its outer edge, putting pressure on nearby sensitive nerves.

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons lists these common risk factors for herniated disks:

• Lifting objects the wrong way.


• Smoking.


• Being overweight, which causes stress on the spine.


• Applying sudden pressure, even slight, on the spine.


• Engaging in repetitive strenuous activities.

Alabama Slaps a Tax on Fat People

By Sean Kelley

Should you pay more if you weigh more? That’s what Alabama’s State Employees’ Insurance Board thinks. In 2011 the board will start charging overweight state workers—those with a body mass index greater than 35—$25 a month for health insurance, which is currently free for all state employees.

(The state is giving workers a two-year head start; if they sign up for free health screenings and make progress, they won’t face the insurance fine.)

Being the second fattest state in the country—behind Mississippi—costs Alabamians lots of money—up to $1.32 billion a year in estimated medical charges, according to a 2004 study. Read More

Health Tip: Using a Dietary Supplement

(HealthDay News) -- More than half of Americans take a dietary supplement of some kind, the Cleveland Clinic says.

But all supplements aren't safe and effective. The clinic offers this primer:

• There's no better substitute for a healthy, balanced diet, which can provide most healthy people with all of the nutrients they need.


• Supplements are a good option for people who can't get enough of certain needed nutrients through diet. Pregnant women, athletes and vegetarians are prime examples.


• Too much of a good thing can cause serious health problems. Be sure not to exceed the recommended daily amount of any supplement.


• Supplements aren't regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, so it's up to consumers to carefully check supplement labels to be sure what they're taking.

Health Tip: Leaving Your Children Alone

(HealthDay News) -- It's important for a child to learn to be independent and care for himself. But how do you know when a child is old and mature enough to stay alone?

In general, a child younger than age 10 probably isn't ready. But when it comes to older children, the Nemours Foundation says the time may be right to forgo a babysitter if your child:

• Feels comfortable with the prospect of staying alone.
• Shows a sense of responsibility with chores, doing homework, and following rules and directions.
• Stays calm in difficult or unexpected situations, and knows how to handle them.
• Clearly understands and regularly follows rules.
• Knows basic first aid.
• Knows and follows rules for staying away from strangers.

4 More Deaths Reported Among Byetta Patients

(HealthDay News) -- The makers of the type 2 diabetes drug Byetta reported Tuesday the deaths of four more people who'd been taking the medication.

The announcement by Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. came a week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that two Byetta users had died of acute pancreatitis, a condition that can cause nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

Lilly's medical director, James Malone, said Tuesday that the FDA was aware of the four additional deaths last week, but did not make them public because they involved a milder form of pancreatitis, the Associated Press reported.

"They [the FDA] were concentrating on the more severe forms of the condition, but we felt it was important to get this information out there," Malone told the news service.

All four patients had complicating medical conditions in addition to type 2 diabetes; those conditions ranged from leukemia to gallstones, which were likely the primary cause of death, Malone told the AP.

Lilly could not rule out a link between the drug and the pancreas problems, Malone said, but he noted that there have been reports of similar problems with rival medications.

"While a definite causal relationship between Byetta and pancreatitis has not been proved, to better understand the suspected relationship Amylin and Lilly continue to pursue a comprehensive drug-safety program that includes extensive internal and external review of individual cases, and clinical and epidemiologic studies," said a joint statement from the companies, MarketWatch reported.

On Aug. 18, the FDA said two deaths had resulted from six recent cases of pancreatitis among Byetta users. The agency said at the time it was working on stronger labeling for the injected drug, which has been used by more than 700,000 people since being approved in June 2005.

Last October, the FDA said there had been 30 reports of pancreatitis among Byetta users. In that announcement, the FDA warned that people should stop taking the drug if they developed symptoms of acute pancreatitis, including nausea and abdominal pain.

More information
To learn more, visit the FDA.

Should Smoking Around Kids Be Illegal?

By Scott Mowbray

When I was a kid, a few years after the surgeon general released the original report linking smoking to vast health risks, my Dad—a doctor!—still smoked a pipe and the occasional cigar. I remember him lighting a stogie during a long drive in the family VW. I remember throwing up. It was an effective counterattack. But it’s not practical in all circumstances.

The most recent news about secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure is good; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that “detectable serum cotinine” levels are down across the board in nonsmoking Americans. Serum cotinine is a marker in the blood that signals a nonsmoker’s exposure to secondhand smoke, and if levels go down, disease risk also probably declines with it. The CDC speculated that workplace and public-place smoking bans were the likely cause. Read More

In Weight Loss, Accountability Is Essential

By Sean Kelley

For the first four months of 2008, I stepped out of the shower every morning and onto a flashy digital scale. This act, along with a food journal and a nutrition class, helped me lose nearly 25 pounds and beat my boss in a weight-loss contest. My blood sugar, which I checked regularly, was under tighter control, and I dropped at least one medication from my diabetes regimen.

The class ended, the batteries died on the scale, and the journal—who knows? Maybe the new hypoallergenic dog ate it. Can you guess what happened next? Read More

Degenerative Diseases Tragedy

Degenerative Diseases Tragedy

After Fits and Starts, New Hope for Psoriasis Patients

(HealthDay News) -- Psoriasis can be a maddening disease.

Patches of thick, inflamed skin covered with silvery scales form here and there on the patient's body, often on the elbows, knees, other parts of the legs, scalp, lower back, face, palms, and soles of the feet. They usually itch or feel sore, and the more of the patches there are, generally, the worse the person suffers.

And because psoriasis is a genetic condition that causes inflammation by striking at the immune system, it can have other health effects. An estimated 10 percent to 30 percent of people with psoriasis also develop psoriatic arthritis, which causes pain, stiffness and swelling in and around the joints, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation.

Psoriasis sufferers also have higher rates of cardiovascular disease and other systemic health problems, said Dr. Jennifer Cather, a Dallas dermatologist and a member of the Baylor University Medical Center's Division of Dermatology.

"Often patients think psoriasis is just a rash, [but] it is a systemic inflammatory disease with far-reaching affects," Cather said. "Patients should be aware of that and understand that controlling that systemic inflammation can help with other diseases."

That's a message doctors are looking to share during August, Psoriasis Awareness Month.

Until recently, there was little that could be done about the systemic damage done by psoriasis. Sufferers used topical creams to ease their itches or aches, or underwent expensive ultraviolet light treatments that disrupted the surface spread of psoriasis but did not address the underlying problems within the immune system.

But the past few years have seen the development of a new wave of drug treatments known as biologics. These medications do what previous treatments could not -- go after the root of the problem by influencing the immune system.

"It's really changed the way we can treat psoriasis," said Dr. Lawrence Green, assistant professor of dermatology at George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. "It really has made life much more tolerable for patients."

Psoriasis occurs when the body's immune system is somehow mistakenly triggered, which speeds up the growth cycle of skin cells, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation. Normal skin cells mature and fall off the body in 28 to 30 days. A psoriatic skin cell takes just three to four days to mature and move to the surface, and, instead of falling off, the cells pile up and form lesions.

According to the National Institutes of Health, as many as 7.5 million Americans have psoriasis.

Biologics are made from human or animal proteins, and they treat psoriasis by going after the overactive immune cells causing the disease.

"They are based on natural processes," Green said. "They're similar to chemicals or compounds we already have in our system. They help lessen immune responses. They help soak up or diminish the extra inflammatory compounds."

Currently, five biologics are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of psoriasis, and three of those five are approved for psoriatic arthritis. Biologics are effective, and they also are more affordable than ultraviolet therapy, the other leading treatment for dealing with medium-to-severe cases of psoriasis, according to dermatologists.

Ultraviolet light kills the immune cells in the skin that are causing the problem, Cather said. The problem is, a person must come in three to five times a week for treatment, racking up hundreds of dollars in co-payments.

Biologics, by comparison, are self-administered through injection. The patient usually must inject the medication somewhere between twice-weekly to once every other week, Cather said.

Patients undergoing biologic therapy need to have periodic re-evaluations by their dermatologist to check for the development of new symptoms, including infections and potential cancers, according to guidelines issued earlier this year by the American Academy of Dermatology.

More information
To learn more about psoriasis, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Depression and Anxiety

Producer: Ivanhoe Broadcast News
Watch this video to learn more about the link between these two disorders.

Bioidentical Hormones- Do You Need Them?

Dr. Jonathan Wright explains the importance of using hormones that are exactly identical to the hormones your body made when you were younger.

Health Tip: When Your Diabetic Child Takes a Trip

(HealthDay News) -- Having diabetes shouldn't cause your child to miss out on the fun of sleepovers and school field trips.

Prepare your diabetic child for time away from home with these recommendations from the American Diabetes Association:

• Pack a bag with everything your child will need, including insulin, syringes, a meter, test strips and a log book. Pack extras of everything.
• If traveling for several hours, pack several snacks, juices and glucose tablets.
• If your child will be changing time zones, talk to your doctor about how to adjust the insulin schedule accordingly.
• Make sure your child wears a medical ID bracelet that notes diabetes.
• Make sure your child checks glucose levels more frequently away from home.
• Make sure that any adults accompanying your child understand diabetes and how to manage it.

Cervical cancer shot not always cost-effective

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- An expensive vaccine aimed at preventing cervical cancer makes sense for young teens when it comes to cost-effectiveness, but not for women in their 20s, contends a new report.

The vaccine against the HPV virus was licensed in 2006 for use in girls and women ages 9 to 26. Health officials recommend it for girls at age 11 or 12, and some doctors offer it to women in their 20s in "catch-up" vaccination campaigns.

The maker of the Gardasil vaccine, Merck & Co., also wants to market it to women ages 27 to 45, but so far the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has denied that request.

The government-funded study found the HPV vaccine is very cost-effective when given to girls at age 12, but raises questions about the value of pushing for vaccinating adults.

Two researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health did the study, one of the most sophisticated analyses of the issue so far. Results are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Gardasil is given in three doses over six months and costs about $375. It targets the two types of HPV, or human papillomavirus, believed to be responsible for about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases, and two other types that cause most genital warts. The virus spreads through sex.

Health officials say it's best to give the shots to girls at age 11 or 12, before they begin having sex. Some parents think that age is too young for a vaccination campaign against a sexually transmitted disease.

But that is when the shots make the most economic sense, the researchers found. Continue Reading >>

Excessive Abdominal Fat Is Not Only Ugly but Hazardous to Your Health

By Mike GearyFounder, TruthAboutAbs.com

In America and many western countries the vast majority of people in this day and age have excess abdominal fat. The bad news is excess belly fat isn't just ugly, but is also a dangerous risk factor to your health. Scientific research has clearly determined that although it's unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout your body, it's also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.

There are two types of fat that you have in your abdominal area. The first type that covers up your abs is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.

The second type is called visceral fat, and that lies deeper in the abdomen beneath your muscle and surrounding your organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that "beer belly" appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.

Both types of fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Both of them greatly increase your risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases.

Why visceral fat is particularly dangerous is because it apparently releases more inflammatory molecules into your system on a consistent basis.

If you care about the quality of your life and your loved ones, reducing your abdominal fat should be one of your TOP priorities! There's just no way around it. Besides, a side effect of finally getting rid of all of that excessive ugly abdominal fat is that your stomach will flatten out, and if you lose enough stomach fat, you will be able to visibly see some nice six pack abs that everyone wants.

So what gets rid of extra abdominal fat? Is there actually a tried and true solution beyond all of the gimmicks and hype that you see in ads and on commercials for "miracle" fat loss junk? Continue Reading >>

Health Tip: Who's Prone to Iron Deficiency?

(HealthDay News) -- Iron is an essential mineral that the body needs to make red blood cells.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine says these people are at greater risk for iron deficiency, and should ask their doctor about getting enough iron-rich foods:

• Menstruating women, and those with especially heavy periods.
• Women who are pregnant or who have recently had a baby.
• People who are long-distance runners.
• Vegetarians.
• People with a bleeding ulcer or intestinal bleeding disorder.
• People who donate blood often.
• People with conditions that reduce their ability to absorb nutrients from food.

Health Tip: Keep Cholesterol Under Control

(HealthDay News) -- Too much dietary cholesterol can lead to high cholesterol levels in the blood, which can be a risk factor for heart disease.

The Cleveland Clinic offers these suggestions to help lower your cholesterol:

• Avoid high-fat or fried foods.
• When you do eat foods with fat, look for foods with unsaturated, not saturated, fat.
• Reduce the amount of red meat that you eat, and eat more fish and poultry.
• Get enough soluble fiber by eating plenty of fruits, beans, peas and oats.
• Don't eat more than three egg yolks per week.
• Get plenty of exercise, maintain a healthy body weight, and stop smoking.

Survivors of 1918 Flu Pandemic Immune 90 Years Later

(HealthDay News) -- People who lived through the 1918 flu pandemic that killed 50 million worldwide are still producing antibodies to the virus 90 years later, researchers report.

"Most people have a notion that elderly people have very weak immunity or they have lost immunity," said lead researcher Dr. James E. Crowe Jr., a professor of pediatrics, microbiology and immunology at Vanderbilt University.

"This study shows that extremely elderly people have retained memory of being infected with the 1918 flu, even 90 years later," Crowe said.

This is the first evidence that shows that people developed significant immunity to the 1918 flu virus, Crowe said. "It's important to know that you can develop immunity to such a pandemic virus. That has implications for new pandemic viruses," he said.

The report is published in the Aug. 17 issue of Nature.

For the study, Crowe's team studied antibodies in the blood of 32 people in their 90s and 100s, born during or before 1915. They found that all 32 people had antibodies to the 1918 strain of flu virus. In fact, several of these people were still producing the antibodies to the virus.

In experiments with mice, the researchers found that these antibodies continue to protect the mice from infection with the 1918 flu strain.

The study also shows that people have a "surprising ability" to maintain immunity to things they saw a long time ago, Crowe said.

Whether this long-term immunity is peculiar to the 1918 flu virus isn't known, Crowe said. He believes more work needs to be done understand the full extent of this immune response. "The elderly might be a very good donor source for finding antibodies against viruses," he said.

"This study shows that humans can develop very potent immune responses against dangerous influenza that cause pandemics," Crowe said. "It gives us hope that we can develop vaccines and antibody treatments for any other pandemic viruses that come along," he said.

Dr. Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine in New York City, thinks that people who developed this strong immune response may have been infected with a less deadly strain of flu before 1918.

"The implication of this study is the 1918 virus was so powerful that the immunity you had to have in order to survive was so prominent that it lasted for the rest of your life," Siegel said.

However, Siegel noted that some people may have had experience with a similar less deadly flu virus that prepared their immune system to handle the 1918 strain.

"So, those in certain age groups who had seen a related virus had the strongest responses," Siegel said. "Either they died, or they developed a profound immune response," he said.

Siegel expects if there is another flu pandemic, some people will develop a lifelong immunity as they did in 1918.

More information
For more on avian flu, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Home: Where The Heart Is

From the moment it begins beating until the moment it stops, the human heart works tirelessly. In an average lifetime, the heart beats more than two and a half billion times, without ever pausing to rest. Like a pumping machine, the heart provides the power needed for life.

This life-sustaining power has, throughout time, caused an air of mystery to surround the heart. Modern technology has removed much of the mystery, but there is still an air of fascination and curiosity. Explore the heart. Continue Reading >>

A World Of 'Pushy Parents'

The Hartford Courant, Connecticut - July 10, 2008
Jul. 10--What's wrong with parents today?

We try too hard. We are so anxious for our children to be successful, to be good athletes or musicians, to get into good colleges and to have good careers and to be happy that we overreach and plant the seeds of incompetence, frustration, unhappiness, even mental and emotional disorders.

That's the sobering news from the latest crop of books on parenting.

Carl Honore, author of "Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children From the Culture of Hyper-Parenting" (HarperOne, $24.95), says he was inspired to take on the topic when he saw himself becoming one of those parents. At a parent-teacher conference, his 7-year-old's art teacher told him that his son was "incredibly imaginative," that he was indeed "a gifted young artist."

Elated at the news, Honore charged home and spent the evening surfing the Internet looking for the right art course to nurture his son's talent. The next morning on their walk to school, Honore floated the idea of art lessons. His son wasn't interested.

"I don't want to go to a class and have a teacher tell me what to do -- I just want to draw," his son said firmly. "Why do grown-ups have to take over everything?"

Honore said the reply opened his eyes. "My God, he's right. I am trying to take over. I'm one of those pushy parents," he said.

That epiphany prompted Honore to embark on a 2-year investigation of child-raising approaches around the world. What he found everywhere he went among middle-class and affluent families was that despite the best intentions or perhaps because of them, kids are over-scheduled, over-stimulated and over-indulged.

This micromanagement of kids' lives has different names in different countries, Honore found. Often in the U.S., we call it "helicopter-parenting" because Mom and Dad are hovering. "Scandinavians joke about 'curling parents' who frantically sweep the ice in front of their child. 'Education mothers' devote every second to steering their children through the school system in Japan."

"I'm not convinced that this kind of micromanaging is equipping anybody" to be successful, said Honore. Continue Reading >>

Former half-ton man struggles, uses humor to cope

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Times are tough for the Nebraska man who once weighed more than 1,000 pounds, but Patrick Deuel says he's trying to keep a positive outlook.

"Oh, I'm still breathing," the 46-year-old Deuel sighed before suddenly letting out a hearty laugh.

Deuel weighed 1,072 pounds in 2004, and in order for him to have lifesaving gastric bypass surgery, a bedroom wall had to be cut out so he could be extracted from his home in Valentine.

After getting down to 370 pounds in late 2006, he was up to 540 in May, the last time he stepped on a scale.

"As far as being able to go out and do the things he wants to do, he's been able to do that," said his wife, Edie. "That's so much better than a number on a scale." Continue Reading >>

His tragic loss helps others gain sight

KURUTHU, India (CNN) -- In a single, tragic day, Chandrasekhar Sankurathri lost everything he loved.

More than 137,000 cataract surgeries have been performed at Chandrasekhar Sankurathri's eye hospital.

"Nobody should go through what I've been through in my life," he says.

Sankurathri's wife and two young children were flying on Air India Flight 182 from Ottawa, Canada, to Bombay, India (now known as Mumbai), in 1985 when a bomb exploded, killing everyone on board.

"I used to think maybe they landed someplace. Maybe somebody rescued them, you know," he says.

For three years he stumbled through his daily routine as a biologist in Ottawa, not wanting to believe the truth.

"I was really lost," he remembers.

After considerable soul-searching, Sankurathri made a decision few others might -- to turn his personal pain into an opportunity to help those less fortunate. In 1988, he quit his job, sold his home and returned to India, where he was born, and where he believed he could do the most good. Continue Reading >>

Asthma's Course Differs by Gender

(HealthDay News) -- Boys may be more likely to have childhood asthma than girls, but they are also more likely to grow out of it, a new study says.

The report, published in the second August issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, found that boys also have fewer asthma occurrences in the post-pubertal years.

The study tracked more than 1,000 children, ages 5 to 12, with mild to moderate persistent asthma over nine years. Each child received an annual spirometric testing with methacholine challenges to quantify their airway responsiveness (AR).

After an average of 8.6 years, boys became increasingly tolerant over time to larger and larger doses of methacholine, which provokes airway constriction, suggesting a possible decrease in disease severity. By age 16, it took more than twice as much methacholine to provoke a 20 percent constriction in the boys' airway on average as it did with the girls'.

Over the years, the girls' reactivity did not change markedly. By age 18, only 14 percent of the girls showed no significant degree of airways responsiveness, compared to 27 percent of boys.

"While our results were not unexpected, they do point to intriguing potential mechanisms to explain the gender differences in asthma incidence and severity. Especially intriguing is that the differences in gender begin at the time of transition into early puberty," the lead researcher, Dr. Kelan G. Tantisira of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said in a news release issued by the journal's publisher.

More information
The National Institutes of Health has more about asthma.

Health Tip: Don't Do Your Child's Homework

(HealthDay News) -- A proper home atmosphere for doing homework is important for learning and keeping up in school.

The Nemours Foundation offers these suggestions:

• Create an area at home just for homework. It should be well-lit, with all of the supplies that your child needs.
• Set aside a certain time every day -- such as before a snack or after dinner -- to study and do homework.
• Minimize distractions during homework time, including music, television and phone calls.
• Don't do your child's homework. The child won't learn from mistakes if they're yours. But offer help when needed. Praise your child for doing well and trying hard.
• Be involved in your child's school work, and set a good example by reading and working at home, too.

Health Tip: Beating Backpack Pain

(HealthDay News) -- Backpacks can cause back pain and injury if they are too heavy or don't offer enough support.

Keep these guidelines in mind when choosing and wearing a backpack, courtesy of the National Safety Council:

• Always wear both straps, so that the weight is distributed across both shoulders and evenly across the back.


• A backpack should always be centered across the middle of the back.


• Try not to overload the backpack. Keep it from getting too heavy.


• Place the heaviest items closest to the back.


• When lifting the backpack, bend at the knees and lift with your legs.

Living with autism in college

Many students with autism face new challenges in a college setting. It's a problem colleges and universities are "very aware" of as the first big wave of children with diagnosed autism-related disorders moves beyond high school, says the executive director of an organization of student affairs administrators. full story

Drinking Problems Greater Among Returning Combat Veterans

(HealthDay News) -- A host of new studies confirm that the effects of war linger long after the conflict ends.

The Aug. 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association is a special themed issue on violence and human rights, and three studies published in that issue found that various mental health issues, such as alcohol misuse and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), were more common after exposure to violent conflicts. The one bright spot was a study that found suicide rates weren't higher for returning combat veterans.

The first study found that veterans coming home from combat were 63 percent more likely to report new-onset heavy drinking than were military personnel that hadn't been deployed to combat zones.

"Our study found that combat deployment in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was significantly associated with new-onset heavy weekly drinking, binge drinking, and other alcohol-related problems among Reserve/Guard and younger personnel after return from deployment," wrote the study's authors, who represent various branches of the U.S. military, including the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego.

"Because alcohol use may serve as a coping mechanism after traumatic events, it is plausible that deployment is associated with increased rates of alcohol consumption or problem drinking," the researchers suggested.

Their study included nearly 50,000 military personnel: 26,613 were active duty and 21,868 were Reserve or National Guard. Most -- 37,310 -- were not deployed, while 5,661 were deployed, but in non-combat areas. Just over 5,500 were deployed into combat zones.

New-onset rates of heavy weekly drinking were 8.8 percent after combat deployment, according to the study. Rates of new-onset binge drinking were 25.6 percent for combat veterans returning home, and new-onset alcohol-related problems were 7.1 percent.

Young soldiers had the highest risk for developing alcohol-related outcomes, and Reserve and National Guard members returning from combat had higher rates of new-onset heavy drinking than soldiers from other military branches, according to the study.

"I think this study is probably very accurate. As part of the re-entry process, people will turn to coping mechanisms that are easily accessible, and alcohol is easily available, socially acceptable and quite effective for short-term stress relief," said Jeffrey T. Parsons, chair of the department of psychology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, in New York City. Parsons added that long-term use of alcohol as a coping mechanism can lead to numerous negative outcomes.

He recommended that returning soldiers try to immediately rebuild their support networks. If a deployment has lasted awhile, Parsons pointed out that friends and family members may have moved or just drifted away. "Surround yourself with people you can talk to and establish a support system that isn't tied to a bar," he advised.

Parsons added that being a soldier doesn't mean that you have to be devoid of emotions, and that asking for help isn't a sign of weakness. And, he added, this study may trigger awareness campaigns for military personnel that could "have a huge effect, and it could lead people to treatment on their own." He added that if the military were to develop some kind of routine psychological screening for returning veterans, it "would be a real and clear indication that they valued and respected the contribution of these people."

Another study, this one published as a letter in the same issue of the journal, offers some good news about the mental health of returning combat veterans. This study found there were no statistically significant differences in the rates of suicide between U.S. veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan compared to the U.S. population as a whole.

Two other studies in the same issue looked at former child soldiers in Nepal and in people who fought in the Liberian civil wars who experienced sexual violence. In both groups, researchers found higher rates of PTSD symptoms and depression. Thoughts of suicide were also higher in Liberians who had been exposed to sexual violence.

More information
To learn more about alcohol abuse, visit the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Are You a Candidate for Obesity Surgery? Part 1

The option of surgery to treat obesity has gained in popularity over the past several years. As the techniques and knowledge regarding the subject have improved, so too have the results. However, not everyone is... Read more

Interrupted Night Sleep Worse for Cognitive Function

(HealthDay News) -- People are groggier and think less clearly when woken up during their night-time sleep than during than an afternoon nap, a new study shows.

The findings, published in the August issue of the Journal of Biological Rhythms, have implications for anyone who needs to be alert upon awakening in the middle of the night, such as on-call physicians, emergency personnel and even parents.

Researchers found that sleep inertia, the period of grogginess and impaired cognitive performance experienced upon awakening, was nearly four times stronger when people were awoken during the middle of their "biological night" (a period of normal night of sleep) compared to their biological day. The feeling was almost twice as strong during the person's biological morning, the wake-up period following a normal night of sleep. People also showed the least thinking impairment after awakening during the middle of the biological day.

"The cognitive impairment during the biological night was twice as large as during the normal time of awakening -- the biological morning," lead author Frank A.J.L. Scheer, a neuroscientist in Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of Sleep Medicine, said in a hospital news release. "This is especially important, considering that already following awakening during the morning, the cognitive impairment can be more detrimental than staying awake all night and has been shown to be comparable to the effects of alcoholic intoxication."

More information
The National Sleep Foundation has more about sleep and lifestyle.

Getting buff without the sweat is cheating

By Mark Leyner and Dr. Billy Goldberg
What if you could simply swallow a pill and become a buff, shredded, aerobic dynamo all without having to spend one sweaty second in the gym? Wouldn’t an instant fitness drug be great? Maybe not.

We were both mighty intrigued to learn that scientists had developed not one, but two “Mighty Mouse Drugs” that endow mice with all the benefits of having worked out furiously, without the effort of actual exercise. Researchers at the Salk Institute in San Diego reported that a drug called Aicar increased mice’s endurance on a treadmill by 44 percent after just four weeks of treatment and helped them burn more calories and have less fat than untreated mice. A second drug with the catchy name “GW1516,” when combined with exercise, boosted the mice’s endurance by a whopping 75 percent!

Both drugs activate PPAR-delta protein which produces more high-endurance Type 1 muscle fibers in the body. Aicar actually mimics the effects of exercise, convincing cells that they’ve burned off energy and need to generate more. As one of the researchers said: “It’s pretty much pharmacological exercise.” The researchers contend that it’s reasonable to assume that these results will apply to people.



Continue Reading >>

Health Tip: Why am I Constipated?

(HealthDay News) - Constipation often is defined as producing fewer than three bowel movements in a week. Other symptoms may include producing small, hard stools; and significant straining during bowel movements.

The University of Michigan Health System lists these common causes of constipation:

• Insufficient fiber in the diet.
• Dehydration.
• Not getting enough exercise.
• Lifestyle factors, including taking certain medications, pregnancy, travel or aging.
• Not acting on the urge to produce a bowel movement.
• Having conditions such as Irritable bowel syndrome, a blockage of the colon or rectum, or certain systemic diseases.

Breaking the News About Breast Cancer

(HealthDay News) -- Shelley Volz, now 59, got the news about her breast cancer diagnosis 10 years ago, right before she was headed from San Francisco to New York for the wedding of her younger brother.

After much thought, she decided to tell only her mother before the wedding and to hold off telling other family members. "My mother had a typical mother's reaction, tears and hugs, and we moved on," Volz said. "She really appreciated the fact that I didn't want to steal the limelight there."

Volz waited until after the wedding celebration to calmly tell others. Ten years later, after successful treatment, she is doing fine.

While she says she doesn't think she found it as difficult as many people to disclose the diagnosis, she did think about others' reactions.

In that sense, she is typical, according to a new study. "Even when women are facing a breast cancer diagnosis, they are still concerned about caring for everyone else, especially the emotions of others," said study author Grace J. Yoo, a medical sociologist at San Francisco State University's Biobehavioral Research Center.

She presented the findings Monday at the American Sociological Association annual meeting, in Boston. The research is especially timely, given the recent news that actress Christina Applegate, 36, is being treated for early breast cancer.

Yoo and her team interviewed 164 San Francisco-area breast cancer survivors, average age 57, of different ethnicities to evaluate the "emotion work" involved in telling others about the diagnosis.

In interviews with the researchers, the women talked about their feelings and actions after getting the diagnosis.

"Even telling someone, 'I have breast cancer,' it's well thought out," Yoo said. "They know the statement, to some, can overwhelm." Women react in different ways -- stifling their own emotions so they don't appear vulnerable, paying attention to the timing of their news, or sometimes letting it all out, she said.

Women find it somewhat easier to tell friends than family members, she found. "Women are trying to protect older, aging parents and younger children and even their spouses, even during illness. Women are socialized to care about others."

Ideally, Yoo said, women should do less of that at this time. "It's a time they should be caring about themselves, what decisions they should be making about breast cancer. They shouldn't emotionally burn themselves out by caring for others' emotions."

One woman, for instance, told the interviewer that she didn't tell her mother about her breast cancer until after the surgery, because she knew her mother would worry. Many women said once they were told about the diagnosis, they were surprised about the outpouring of help, even from acquaintances. But some feared that if they told, people may not care enough to help.

The findings ring true with what another expert has seen in clinical practice. This has "documented what we have known instinctively," said Lori Worden, an oncology social worker in Grants Pass, Ore.

Her advice to women? "You don't need to tell people today." Feel free to process it yourself first. Practicing what you will say, by saying it out loud to yourself or writing it down, can help, she said.

Yoo's advice: "We tell women to seek out other breast cancer survivors, other women who understand, to increase their resources." And focus more on getting emotional support than giving it.

More information
To learn more about how to tell others about your diagnosis, visit the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

ER care in critical condition

Health Tip: Can't Sleep?

(HealthDay News) -- If you have trouble falling or staying asleep, it's important to understand the reasons for your insomnia.

Here's a list of possible reasons for your sleepless nights, courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine:

• Discomfort or illness.
• Depression.
• Stress or anxiety.
• Drinking caffeine or alcohol, smoking, or taking certain medications or illicit drugs.
• An inappropriate sleep environment, including one that's too bright or too noisy.
• Related activities that affect your sleep, such as taking naps or going to bed too early.

Morgan Freeman Still in Serious Condition

Movie News, Out Sick

Morgan Freeman remains in serious condition days after a car crash that required the jaws-of-life to free the 'Dark Knight' and 'Shawshank Redemption' actor. Freeman, 71, is said to be "in good spirits." Full Coverage »

The Latest Rankings of Blood Glucose Monitors

By Sean Kelley

If you’re a diabetic, chances are you didn’t choose your blood sugar monitor. It chose you.

Most newly diagnosed diabetics get their blood glucose monitors from their nurse educator, endocrinologist, or general practitioner. When I was diagnosed, I was given a hand-me-down monitor from my mother, a diabetic nurse. I got a second one—free—from my nurse educator.

I was never happy with either of them. When I finally went shopping, I was shocked at the variety of features, sizes, options, and even colors available. And I was flustered. There was no solid way to evaluate them. When it comes to technology, I’m used to researching my decision to death before I purchase an item, but there was no reliable source of information to consult. Read More

Living with HIV

More Americans are newly infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, than previously thought, according to numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 40 percent more people are infected than officials thought, with an estimated 56,000 Americans contracting HIV each year.

Have you, or a loved one, been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS-HIV? Are you involved with outreach programs? Tell us about your experience. Send your photos and videos, and share your story.

The 9 Best Natural Medicines for Depression

These 9 best natural Medicines are helping people with depression using naturopathic medicine. Alternative medicines, herbal medicine, nutritional therapies, diet, and lifestyle are wonderful complementary approaches to addressing depression over the long haul. read moredigg story

Fears Cloud Medical Marijuana Legalization - Daily Bulletin

As a registered nurse, I am growing increasingly weary of the insulting attacks which brand me as a miscreant and criminal. Even though a person would never consider going to a police station to obtain an opinion on the use of a medication, pronouncements by law enforcement such on the efficacy of medicinal marijuana are accepted as fact. read more digg story

Growth hormone cuts abnormal fat in patients with HIV - Los Angeles Times

Low doses of human growth hormone can reverse some of the abnormal fat distribution caused by HIV therapy, lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, but the treatment may produce an unnecessary risk for those who have early stages of diabetes. Read more >>

New HIV/AIDS Guidelines Suggest Earlier Treatment

(HealthDay News) -- New guidelines for treating HIV and AIDS patients with treatments known as antiretrovirals suggest earlier therapy might be effective.

The findings were slated to be presented at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City Sunday. They will also appear in the Aug. 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

The new guidelines were written by the International AIDS Society-USA Panel, and recommend starting therapy before immune-system CD4 cell counts decline to less than 350 cells per microliter. Additional factors should be considered when starting therapy at higher CD4 levels.

"As we now have developed treatments that are easier to take in terms of number of pills, number of doses in the day and potential adverse effects, and we now know there seem to be additional benefits with starting earlier, the pendulum is swinging back to starting [treatment] earlier," noted Dr. Michael Horberg, director of HIV/AIDS policy at Kaiser Permanente Health Plan in Santa Clara, Calif. "Also, importantly, is the recognition of comorbidities that should prompt you to start treatment earlier, including hepatitis B or C, cardiovascular risk, and HIV-associated necropathy."

The authors of the guidelines also recommended that frontline regimens be individualized, and that certain drugs such as Sustiva (efavirenz) be given high consideration.

Patient plasma HIV-1 RNA levels should be monitored regularly, and genotypic testing for drug resistance also should be performed for certain patients.

The guidelines also addressed changing therapies and when to introduce new drugs.

In other news from the AIDS conference:

• Patients taking rifampicin-based therapy for tuberculosis were more likely to experience virological failure (failure to keep viral levels low) when they start nevirapine-based antiretroviral therapy as opposed to efavirenz-based antiretroviral therapy. Nevirapine-based therapy costs less and is used more often in developing areas of the world.


• HIV-infected patients with abdominal obesity and growth hormone deficiency related to their treatment regimens who received low-dose growth hormone showed improvements in fat and blood pressure measurements but worse glucose levels.


• The survival rate between HIV-infected intravenous drug users and non-drug users appears similar after four to five years of active antiretroviral therapy. This is in contrast to previous reports.

"The take-home message is 'prevention is always better than treatment,' which seems to be possible through the utilization of the latest diagnostic techniques," said Srikanth Kolluru, an assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences at Texas A&M Health Science Center Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy in Kingsville.

More information
There's much more on HIV/AIDS at the U.S. government's AIDS.gov Web site.

We Try Harder

By Walter Armstrong

I originally thought of this blog entry as “Where, Oh Where, Did My Orgasm Go?” I had in mind a comic riff on that most notorious downside of antidepressants: sexual dysfunction (SD). I was going to regale you with anecdotes of my many frustrating, fumbling, ultimately heroic efforts to achieve sexual satisfaction against the seemingly insurmountable odds posed by the little green-and-yellow pill. I’m single and often solitary, by the way, so for this blog I’m going to talk about solitary sex.
Like the time I lay in bed for over an hour, sweating, swearing, starting, and stopping but refusing to yield in my bull-headed determination to reach orgasm. I was Sisyphus pushing the boulder of arousal up the hill—and not getting anywhere near the peak.
Read More

Sickness on the Street: How I Almost Walked Past My Own Patient

By Dena Rifkin, MD

On my way home from work a few days ago, I saw someone staggering toward me as I headed to the subway station. It was a typical city scene—lots of pedestrians steering clear of someone who was probably drunk, potentially homeless, and possibly dangerous. No one was offering to help him as he stopped and crouched in a doorway. And I did what any urban-dwelling young woman with a sense of self-preservation would do: I started to walk quickly past him.
Then I did a double take. He was one of my patients. Read More

Awake brain surgery helps doctors' accuracy

Conor Mather-Licht had brain tumor. His treatment: "awake craniotomy with mapping." It's much like standard brain surgery, with one critical difference: The patient is awake. full story

5 tips to increase your cell phone safety

The jury is still out on the link between cell phones and cancer.

While scientists are deliberating, here are five tricks for lowering your exposure to the radiation that cell phones emit. full story

Are Some People Mosquito Magnets?

By Kurt Soller
After this weekend's barbeques and fireworks displays, you might wonder why some people wind up covered in mosquito welts and others are bite-free. It's not a coincidence. Each person's individual body chemistry determines how many mosquitoes will come calling.

According to Joe Conlon, a medical entomologist who advises the American Mosquito Control Association, the insects can detect their targets from nearly 100 feet away. But what are they seeking? Mostly the scent of carbon dioxide and lactic acid, two compounds that indicate to the hematophagous—or blood-sucking—pests that their next landing pad is nearby. (It's worth noting that when a female mosquito latches on to you, she's not looking for food; instead, she sucks out blood to help fertilize her eggs … that's why males don't "bite"). Continue Reading >>

Health Tip: Alleviating Rheumatoid Arthritis

(HealthDay News) -- Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the joints. Remedies may include lifestyle changes, medication and surgery designed to help control pain and minimize joint damage.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine offers this list of possible treatments for rheumatoid arthritis:

• Range-of-motion exercises and other exercise routines devised by a physical therapist can help prevent or delay joint damage.
• Splints, braces and other supportive devices can help protect the joints.
• Heat or cold treatments can help ease pain and inflammation.
• Working with a physical therapist can help you learn how to protect your joints during daily activities and tasks, and how to use your joints when your arthritis is causing pain.
• Getting at least eight hours sleep at night and taking frequent rests during strenuous activities are recommended to ease joint stress.