Medical News To Use

Autumn's Pumpkins Pack a Nutritional Punch

2009-11-26T01:15:00.000-08:00

Andrea Donsky and Randy Boyer Naturally Savvy

November 25, 2009

Every Halloween, people across North America go out in search of the biggest, roundest, most knobby pumpkin they can find for a Jack-O-Lantern. The elaborate designs and many carving contests are a testament to the tradition, but most people forget that the pumpkin is a gourd we can eat and use in other ways.

Pumpkins are packed with antioxidants, nutrients, dietary fiber, and protein.

"For holiday treats, you can't go wrong with pumpkins," says Dina Aronson, MS, RD, a nutrition consultant and author based in New Jersey. "Pumpkin is very high in antioxidants, potassium, and vitamin A, and quite low in sugar--only about 2 grams in a whole cup--and naturally low in sodium."

"In particular, it contains the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin, important for eye health."

Studies have also shown pumpkin may help prevent prostate cancer and may be beneficial for diabetics, as it can help control blood sugar.

When most people think of eating pumpkin, they think pie. But there are many ways to enjoy the sweet gourd. Aronson recommends using pumpkin cubes in soups and casseroles, rather than pies and breads.

Mashed pumpkin is also a delicious>>>

Fact Check: Health Care Reform Claims

2009-11-26T00:52:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24, 2009

(CBS) Congress has begun its Thanksgiving break, with Senate Democrats going home thankful they cleared a major hurdle on health care reform after voting to open a floor debate when they get back next week.

Meanwhile, debate continues all over the airwaves about what the House and Senate bills would really mean for ordinary Americans. CBS News congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes has a reality check.

Add the Senate and House bills together and they are 4,064 pages worth of reforms that Democrats say will revolutionize the health care system and Republicans say will bankrupt it.

No wonder many Americans have doubts. Citizens told us they think Congress is "Rushing it through. They should give it more thought," and, "I don't think I want a public option because I don't think the government handles things too well."

Concerns run so deep, that the most recent CBS News poll shows only 40 percent of Americans approve of the proposed health care plans in Congress while 45 percent disapprove.

Special Report: Health Care Reform

Polls show one of their main concerns is the price tag: around $1 trillion over 10 years. Reality check takes a closer look.

Claim: The health care proposals will boost the deficit >>>

Fat Foolishness

2009-11-15T04:53:00.000-08:00

Posted 10/09/2009 06:14 PM ET

Obesity: A new study in Los Angeles refutes the theory that fast-food chains make the poor overweight. So the city should lift its ban on McDonald's and start letting Wal-Mart sell cheap, healthy groceries.

Ever since public-health data turned up the fact that low-income Americans have a weight problem, politically sensitive types have struggled to come up with explanations that avoid the stern, common-sense answer — that the poor do it to themselves.

It's said that healthy food such as fresh fruit and vegetables is too expensive, that the poor depend too much on fast-food outlets for their meals and that they have fewer local sources of cheap, healthy food.

There's some truth in that last of those arguments, but the inconvenient fact is that better-off people face mostly the same dietary temptations and, as a group, tend to be less obese.

The fast-food bugaboo, for instance, led the Los Angeles City Council last year to ban expansion by chains such as McDonald's in low-income, mostly minority South L.A.

Now comes a study by the Rand Corp., published in the journal Health Affairs, showing that the ban has no rational basis.

Rand researchers looked at the actual locations of fast-food outlets and found that South Los Angeles had relatively few of them, at 19 per 100,000 residents. They were much more highly concentrated, at 29 per 100,000 residents, on the city's affluent west side and, at 30 per 100,000, in Los Angeles County as a whole.

The study also analyzed a survey of 1,480 adults>>>

Testosterone Is Sure Looking Virile

2009-11-15T03:51:00.000-08:00

Despite legal setbacks and FDA delays, youth-crazed boomers are making it a billion-dollar industry

By Arlene Weintraub

When Endo Pharmaceuticals (ENDP) acquired two experimental testosterone products earlier this year, CEO David P. Holveck predicted that safety issues might delay approval by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Synthetic versions of the quintessential male hormone are prescribed to thousands of patients in the U.S. to treat fatigue, sagging libido, and other signs of testosterone deficiency. But when they're applied as topical gels, they have an unpleasant propensity to rub off on other people—moving, say, from a father to a child and temporarily causing symptoms of puberty, increased aggression, and other annoyances. In addition, the FDA is concerned about the growing use of testosterone by anti-aging clinics seeking to restore youthfulness to baby boomers, and by the abuse of such drugs in sports.

Holveck was right to be worried. On Oct. 19 the FDA said it would not approve Endo's Fortesta, a topical testosterone gel, until the company performs additional safety trials. Only seven weeks earlier, regulators delayed Endo's other product in this class, an injectable version—also over safety issues.

It's no surprise the FDA is being so vigilant.>>>

Reid Weighs Rise in Medicare Tax

2009-11-15T03:49:00.000-08:00

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

By NAFTALI BENDAVID

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, seeking a new source of funding for the health-care overhaul legislation the Senate could begin debating next week, is considering a proposal to raise Medicare payroll taxes on couples who make more than $250,000 a year, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The Nevada Democrat may need the money because he is looking to scale back a tax on high-value health-insurance policies that is part of a bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee. In addition, many Democrats want him to increase the proposed health-insurance subsidies for low- and middle-income people.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid is struggling to craft a bill that will meet the demands of his 60-member Democratic caucus and not add to the deficit. One proposal involves an increase in Medicare payroll taxes on wealthy Americans that could plug a financing gap in the health-care bill. WSJ's Naftali Bendavid reports.

Senators have proposed several options to fill the gap, but the Medicare tax proposal is gaining steam. It would raise the payroll tax to 1.75% from 1.45% for individuals earning more than $200,000 a year and couples making more than $250,000, aides said. No estimate was available of how much the increase would raise.

The move could prove popular with labor unions and others who have strongly opposed the initial plan for a 40% tax on high-value insurance plans, those worth at least $8,000 for individuals or $21,000 for families.

On the Table

Compare the plans, point-by-point

Health-Care Overhaul Attempts

As costs have risen, attempts at change

View Interactive

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Thursday that a payroll-tax increase on high earners is fairer. "We think that's far preferable to taxing the plans," Mr. Trumka said in an interview. Others say an extra tax on high earners would crimp the economy, and that taxing the high-value plans would limit wasteful medical spending.

and much more here>>>

Obamacare-Obamascare

2009-11-14T03:59:00.001-08:00

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature,

It is now official you are ALL corrupt:

The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.
Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.
War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.
Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.
The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.

You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??

Folks, keep this circulating. It is very well stated.

Woman Disabled by Flu Shot Reaction

2009-11-14T02:42:00.001-08:00

Updated: Thursday, 15 Oct 2009, 6:54 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 13 Oct 2009, 11:27 PM EDT

By CLAUDIA COFFEY/myfoxdc

WASHINGTON, D.C. - An Ashburn, Virginia woman is in the fight of her life after suffering a very rare side effect to the seasonal flu shot.

The vast majority of doctors say flu shots are safe. In this case, the FDA says they found nothing wrong with this particular batch, but sometimes there are complications.

That's apparently what happened to Desiree Jennings, and now her life will never be the same.

FOR AN UPDATE ON DESIREE AND HER CONDITION, CLICK HERE FOR OUR NEWEST STORY.

At 26 years old, Desiree Jennings was the picture of health. She's a Washington Redskins cheerleader and an avid runner. Her life changed forever on August 23 when she says she got a seasonal flu shot at a local grocery store.

"I was training for a half marathon then," said Jennings, crying. "It just all went so fast."

Ten days after receiving the shot, she came down with the flu. After that, her health spiraled downwards. She started passing out and had to be hospitalized twice.

"We went to an urgent care place and they wouldn't even let her get out of my truck because she was seizing in the back so bad, so they called an ambulance immediately," says her husband, Brendan Jennings.

Doctors at Fairfax Inova>>>

Two die after H1N1 vaccination

2009-11-14T02:24:00.000-08:00

By Shan Juan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-14 09:17

Two persons are reported to have died after taking the A/H1N1 vaccination as the Chinese mainland prepares to vaccinate 65 million people, or 5 percent of its population, by the end of the year, health officials said on Friday.

A secondary school teacher in Hunan province died while playing basketball 8 hours after taking the jab, the provincial health department said on Friday afternoon.

A Shenyang resident grimaces while being inoculated against the H1N1 virus at a medical camp in the capital of Liaoning province on Thursday. Wang Huan

But his death, according to preliminary findings, was not linked to the vaccine and it would not affect the ongoing H1N1 vaccination program, said Deng Haihua, spokesman for the Ministry of Health.

Deng did not give the details of the other victim. According to regulations, the local health authority where such deaths occur should be the one to announce it, he said.

So far, 15 people have suffered severe side effects including anaphylactic shocks (sudden drop in blood pressure or difficulty in breathing) after taking the jab, said Liu Dawei, a vaccination expert with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

"These people will get free treatment>>>

Virginia Family Claims H1N1 Vaccine Sickened Son

2009-11-14T02:08:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 13, 2009

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A northern Virginia family says their lives were turned upside down just 24 hours after getting their 14-year-old son received his seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccines.

Jordan McFarland is an avid young athlete who was unable to walk without the aid of a walker just one day after getting his flu shots. His father Calvin says doctors made a preliminary diagnosis of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disease characterized by muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis.

About 1 in 1 million people who receive seasonal flu vaccines will be infected with GBS, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC adds that GBS is a condition that strikes people who have never received a flu vaccine.

The Alexandria, Va. teen had both a seasonal flu vaccine and an H1N1 shot a week ago, but his dad believes the illness is linked to the H1N1 flu shot. He says Jordan had regular flu shots four times before without a problem.

The CDC tells FOX 5 it is investigating five cases of reported Guillain-Barre Syndrome after patients had a swine flu shot. One of those cases is a 14-year-old in Virginia.

and more here>>>

Obamacare

2009-11-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

Home Flu Cures: Bad Medicine?

2009-11-07T05:08:00.000-08:00

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

By MELINDA BECK

Heard the one about the raw onion?

With concerns over the H1N1 flu rising and supplies of vaccine running scarce, it's no surprise that alternative remedies are circulating on the Web.

During the flu epidemic of 1918 that killed 40 million people, one widely circulated email relates, a doctor visiting a farmhouse where everyone stayed healthy observed that the family kept an unpeeled onion in each room. He examined one under a microscope and saw that the onion had indeed absorbed flu virus.

Alan Witschonke

Folk remedies for the flu abound on the Web. They range from placing a raw onion in the room or garlic in the pocket to washing the ear out with hydrogen peroxide to drinking hot liquids with all kinds of additives, including honey and vinegar.

The same email mentions a modern-day hairdresser whose employees stopped getting the flu after she placed onions around the shop, and a pneumonia sufferer who put a raw onion in a jar by the bed and woke up feeling much better, though the onion was a rotting mess.

This and other folk remedies are sparking a volley of discussion on blogs and bulletin boards. Some posters are adding their own twists, such as chopping or boiling the onion and inhaling it with a towel over the head. "You sir are a saviour," wrote one on the Web site abovetopsecret.com. "Me and my 13 month old daughter have been sick for a week. Boiled some onions and left them on the coffee table for an hour, she is now walking around and I feel so much better. Thanks."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the officially sanctioned vaccine is the only proven way to prevent the H1N1 virus, and the antiviral drugs oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) are among the few proven ways to shorten its duration. "There is no scientific evidence that any herbal, homeopathic or other folk remedies have any benefit against influenza," the CDC says.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has adopted a "no tolerance" policy on bogus H1N1 claims, has sent 75 warning letters to marketers of products that claim to fight the virus, from air filters purporting to neutralize sneezes to counterfeit Tamiflu. "We feel these products pose a serious threat to the public health, not only because people can get a false sense of protection and not seek appropriate care, but because some may do actual harm," says Gary Coody, the FDA's national health fraud coordinator.

and much more here>>>

Hypocritic Oath

2009-11-06T01:40:00.000-08:00

Posted 11/05/2009 07:33 PM ET

Public Option: Congressional Democratic leaders insist on a government health coverage option. But if it's so great, why won't they themselves be covered by it?

If you thought Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., caused a stir when he yelled, "You Lie!" during the State of the Union, just watch him expose the hypocrisy of liberal Democrats in Congress.

Democrats want a government-run health insurance scheme to "keep the insurance companies honest." But Blue Cross/Blue Shield warns of dire consequences:

• "Millions of people would lose their current private coverage they are happy with ..."

• The federal government "will underpay providers — even if negotiated rates are initially used — creating major access issues, including long waits for services with some providers closing their doors ..."

• Any "government-run plan will use its built-in advantages — no matter how it is initially structured — to take over the market" via "price-setting based on Medicare" or through the use of "existing government programs as leverage for negotiations."

If it's worth turning the private health care industry upside down like that, this must be a solid gold system Congress is establishing. Everyone will want it, right?

Wrong. Members of Congress certainly don't. They'd rather keep the "Cadillac" coverage they've enjoyed for years, with its hundreds of private insurance options and heavily taxpayer-subsidized premiums.

"If this government-run plan is so good,>>>

This About Sums It Up !

2009-10-31T17:48:00.001-07:00

Let me get this straight...
We're going to pass a health care plan
Written by a committee

Whose head says he doesn't understand it,
Passed by a Congress that hasn't read it,

But exempts themselves from it,
Signed by a president that also hasn't read it

And who smokes,
With funding administered by a treasury chief,

Who didn't pay his taxes,
Overseen by a surgeon general who is obese,

And financed by a country that's nearly broke.

What possibly could go wrong?

H1N1 Vaccinations To Be Offered To Guantanamo Bay Detainees

2009-10-31T04:57:00.000-07:00

Posted: 6:07 PM Oct 30, 2009

The Pentagon will offer the H1N1 vaccination to detainees at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, officials there said Friday.

Reporter: Mike Mount, CNN Senior Pentagon Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon will offer the H1N1 vaccination to detainees at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, officials there said Friday.

The Pentagon made the decision based on U.S. government assessments that people held in detention facilities are at high risk for the pandemic, said Maj. Diana R. Haynie, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, which is in charge of holding the suspected terrorists.

"Detainees at JTF Guantanamo are considered to be at higher risk and therefore they will be offered the H1N1 vaccination," Haynie said.

"JTF Guantanamo conducts safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detainees. As such, we must provide detainees the medical care necessary to maintain their health," she said.

Base officials had not received the vaccinations>>>

2009-10-30T03:08:00.001-07:00

OCTOBER 27, 2009

By LAURA LANDRO

Health-care innovations come in many shapes and sizes. There's the stuff of headlines—new drugs, new surgical procedures, new cancer treatments—that hold out hope for miracle breakthroughs.

And then there's a whole different kind of health-care innovation. The kind that doesn't make one think of miracles, but that may have just as dramatic an impact on health care. The kind that can help reach the goal that continues to elude our policy makers: getting good care to the greatest number of people in the most cost-effective way.

In this report, we talk about six of those innovations in health-care delivery. They touch on a variety of areas—public policy and high technology, hospital procedures and market competition. But all of them in some way revisit the most important relationship in care—the one between doctor and patient.

You'll see, for instance, how with a growing shortage of intensive-care experts, more hospitals are using high-tech video command centers to monitor ICU patients remotely. Or how electronic-medical-records systems like the one the Veterans Health Administration has developed over the past two decades can help prevent medical errors and make sure doctors follow guidelines for delivering the best medical care to patients.

and more here>>>

Insuring Doom

2009-10-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

Posted 06:49 PM ET

Health Care: Washington's latest target is America's "fat cat" health insurance companies. A closer look reveals a vital but vulnerable industry, not the greedy, profiteering image pushed by health reformers.

We've seen "Big Oil" dragged to Capitol Hill to be slandered by power-hungry senators and congressmen for finding, extracting and refining the lifeblood commodity of the global economy. We've seen the pharmaceutical industry drawn and quartered for doing what it takes to discover, make and market lifesaving and life-enhancing drugs.

The latest villain in the politicians' demagogic fantasyland is private health insurance. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has accused private insurers of making "immoral profits." And they're a prime target for taxes to pay for the health care revolution Congress and the White House have planned.

But in fact, as we pointed out recently in these pages, this is an industry that actually lags many others in the U.S. economy. Plenty of other sectors of private industry are doing far better.

And some of the things Washington has planned — in particular a "public option" — would leave private insurers bankrupt.

As the Associated Press recently reported,>>>

INFORMATION EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW........................

2009-10-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

INFORMATION EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW........................
B lood Clots/Stroke - They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, the Tongue

I will continue to forward this every time it comes around!

STROKE: Remember the 1st Three Letters.... S.T.R.

My nurse friend sent this and encouraged me to post it and spread the word.
I agree.

If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks.
Seriously..

Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening

Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally . He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR . Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE.
T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)(i.e. It is sunny out today.)
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

I have done my part. Will you?

Congressman Mike Rogers' opening statement on Health Care reform in Washington D.C.

2009-10-18T04:21:00.000-07:00

How Ice Can Save Your Life

2009-10-16T01:39:00.000-07:00

OCTOBER 6, 2009

By Ron Winslow

For decades, conventional wisdom in treating patients with cardiac arrest was that if the heart stopped beating for longer than six to 10 minutes, the brain would be dead. Now a new treatment being embraced by a growing number of U.S. hospitals suggests that patients can be brought back to a healthy life even if their heart is stopped for 20 minutes, perhaps longer.

The difference is profound. In recent months around the U.S., doctors and nurses say, cardiac-arrest patients who would previously have been given up for dead have been revived and discharged to return to their families and jobs with all or nearly all of their cognitive abilities intact.

The treatment is called therapeutic hypothermia and at its core is the simplest of technologies: ice. Once a patient's heartbeat is restored, emergency-room doctors, cardiologists and rescue squads are quickly applying ice and other coolants to moderately lower a patient's body temperature by about six degrees. Then the patient is put in a drug-induced coma in intensive care for 24 hours before gradually being warmed back up to normal temperature.

"We've had patients who have been stone-cold out for least 20 minutes—we know that for sure—and they've come back normal or nearly normal," says Michael Mooney, a cardiologist who heads the therapeutic hypothermia program at Minneapolis Heart Institute. An early adopter of the cooling technique, the cardiology practice has treated more than 140 patients since 2006 and says 52% have survived, compared with single digits historically; of those, about 75% have had a "favorable neurologic recovery," including many who report a full return to normal.

Experience with the treatment is injecting optimism in a field long plagued by frustration. Despite faster emergency squads, deployment of automated defibrillators at airports and other public places, and improvements in cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques, fewer than 10% of the 300,000 Americans who suffer cardiac arrest each year survive long enough to leave the hospital—a rate that hasn't budged much over the years.

The rationale behind the new treatment is that the brain is more resilient than previously believed during the early period after the heart goes down. Of course, the brain can't live long without the oxygen provided by normal blood flow. But an initial rush of blood to the brain, when resuscitation gets the heart beating again, also kills tissue and is "a more important insult," Dr. Mooney says.

At normal temperatures, the restoration of blood flow triggers a cascade of inflammatory and other responses over the following minutes and hours, which can injure tissue in the brain and exact a lethal toll. Scientists say icing the body slows metabolism and protects the brain from at least some of the damage caused by the restored blood flow.

The benefits of cooling in cardiac arrest were demonstrated in two landmark studies, one done in Australia, the other in Europe, and both published in 2002 the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings prompted the American Heart Association to include therapeutic hypothermia in 2005 guidelines for treating cardiac-arrest patients outside of a hospital.

The case of Christine Flicek-Reak illustrates the phenomenon.>>>

Hearst Signs On in Beauty Contest

2009-10-11T18:32:00.000-07:00

AUGUST 31, 2009

By SHIRA OVIDE and EMILY STEEL

Hearst Corp. hopes a new Web site and growing interest in the Internet among beauty-products makers will translate into a fresh source of advertising for the publishing giant.

In September, Hearst plans to launch a site called Real Beauty, which will focus on makeup, hair care and other beauty topics. The venture is an effort by Hearst to create a one-stop destination for consumers who want to research and buy beauty products. It will be competing with a vast field of more specialized beauty blogs as well as sites operated by various cosmetics brands and retail chains.

Daily Makeover

Daily Makeover, whose virtual makeover program, above, lets women try out beauty products and hairstyles, is among the new Hearst venture's rivals.

Hearst says the site will mix advice from customers with product reviews and information from its magazines, which include Cosmopolitan, Seventeen and Harper's Bazaar. Users of the site will be able to customize information so, for example, a woman with curly hair won't see articles about straight hair; she also may get discount offers from salons specializing in taming frizzy locks.

Beauty brands have been slower than other marketers to advertise online, largely because of concerns that the Web could never match the in-store experience of trying out beauty aids.

Companies spend about $6 billion a year to hawk personal-care products, a category including beauty, shaving and hair care, but only 3% is spent online, excluding search ads, according to TNS Media Intelligence, an ad tracking firm owned by ad giant WPP.

However, research released in May by>>>

Gut Reaction: 'Good' Microbes Under Attack

2009-10-11T18:21:00.001-07:00

AUGUST 18, 2009, 5:23 A.M. ET

By BARBARA MARTINEZ

Add this to the list of reasons why you should be cautious about taking antibiotics: Some of these drugs may permanently wipe out the "good" bugs in your gut that fight off the "bad" ones.

In tests on mice, Vincent Young at the University of Michigan Medical School found that a certain antibiotic permanently decreased the diversity of the animals' "microbiota"—the trillions of microscopic bugs that inhabit the gut and which may be very beneficial.

The study was published in June in the journal Infection and Immunity.

"We may be doing long-term damage to our close friends," said Dr. Young, 46 years old, referring to the good bugs.

Dr. Young, who is an assistant professor in the school's departments of internal medicine and microbiology and immunology, has spent the past several years studying communities of microbes found in the gut—the gastrointestinal tract, which includes the mouth, the stomach and the intestines.

and much more here>>>

Finding Smells That Repel

2009-10-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

SEPTEMBER 1, 2009

By SHIRLEY S. WANG

If you're one of those people whom mosquitoes tend to favor, maybe it's because you aren't sufficiently stressed-out.

Insects have very keen powers of smell that direct them to their targets. But for researchers trying to figure out what attracts or repels the pests, sorting through the 300 to 400 distinct chemical odors that the human body produces has proved daunting.

Michael C. Witte

Now scientists at Rothamsted Research in the U.K. have been making headway at understanding why some people can end up with dozens of bites after a backyard barbecue, while others remain unscathed. The researchers have identified a handful of the body's chemical odors—some of which may be related to stress—that are present in significantly larger concentrations in people that the bugs are happier to leave alone. If efforts to synthesize these particular chemicals are successful, the result could be an all-natural mosquito repellent that is more effective and safer than products currently available.

"Mosquitoes fly through an aerial soup of chemicals, but can home in on those that draw them to humans," says James Logan, a researcher at Rothamsted, one of the world's oldest agricultural-research institutions. But when the combination of human odors is wrong, he says, "the mosquito fails to recognize this signal as a potential blood meal."

The phenomenon that some people are more prone to mosquito bites than others is well documented. In the 1990s, chemist Ulrich Bernier, now at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, began looking for what he calls the "magic compounds" that attract mosquitoes. His research helped to show that mosquitoes are attracted to humans by blends of common chemicals such as carbon dioxide, released from the skin and by exhaling, and lactic acid, which is present on the skin, especially when we exercise. But none of the known attractant chemicals explained why mosquitoes preferred some people to others.

Rothamsted's Dr. Logan says the answer isn't to>>>

Older, Wiser, Slower

2009-10-11T02:37:00.001-07:00

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009, 5:19 A.M. ET

By KEVIN HELLIKER

During Sunday's Chicago Triathlon, I kept my heart rate low, cut my pace at every hint of muscular or cardiovascular pain and crossed the finish line about half an hour behind my personal record in that race. It was exhilarating.

What I accomplished is a goal I once considered unreachable, not to mention undesirable: I raced without competing. My ranking among the more than 4,200 participants in the Olympic-distance triathlon couldn't have mattered less to me. More important, I ditched the notion of competing against oneself. That had been an appealing concept at age 40, when I was fitter, faster and trimmer than I'd been at age 20. But at 50, the triumphs of the last decade—the time I flew past most of the few-and-proud at the Marine Corps Triathlon—are far behind me, and anyway my cardiologist is urging moderation since the discovery of an aneurysm in my aortic root. "Race all you want," he says, "but keep your heart rate below 120," far lower than most peak workout targets.

Amid ever-rising calls for more exercise in America, there isn't much guidance on cutting back. As the baby boomers who fueled marathon and triathlon crazes enter their 50s and 60s, their unquenched competitiveness can become a threat to their stiffening joints, rigid muscles, hardening arteries and high-mileage hearts. And it doesn't help that nearly every exercise message they hear emphasizes more. It's as if nobody wants to acknowledge that exercise isn't the fountain of youth.

"The no-pain-no-gain mentality suggests>>>

Tom Daschle: K Street Tax Cheat Turned Health Reform Promoter

2009-10-03T01:49:00.000-07:00

By MICHELLE MALKINPosted 09/09/2009 05:36 PM ET

Tom Daschle is the human toe fungus of Washington — a persistent infection that may disappear from time to time, but always comes back with a vengeance.

Despite abandoning his secretary of health and human services nomination in disgrace in February 2009, the K Street tax cheat who evaded IRS rules for years remains a top White House confidante and policy strategist.

In fact, he's leading the drive to save ObamaCare. He climbed up from under the bus back into the Oval Office and onto the sets of "Meet the Press" and "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" to offer his rescue plan.

It's Daschle's idea to morph the unpopular "public option" into nonprofit "health care co-ops" that will almost certainly receive government funding, support and tax advantages over private insurers.

Old colleagues on both sides of the Senate aisle are now promoting his alternative. Last week, he penned a "Do It for Teddy Kennedy" pep rally op-ed in the Wall Street Journal urging Democrats to go it alone and depend on the backroom Senate reconciliation process if necessary to get a deal done.

The White House told the Washington Post that Daschle is simply a trusted "sounding board" and "friend" offering invaluable assistance as an experienced individual with a passion for health care reform. But Daschle is the dictionary definition of a self-interested Washington lobbyist and Beltway swamp creature.

Married to heavy-hitting aviation lobbyist Linda Hall Daschle, the former U.S. senator from South Dakota has earned more than $5 million as a professional back-scratcher since leaving life as an entrenched incumbent.

In the parlance of self-exempting Team Obama members, Daschle is merely a beneficent "resource," as he described himself to the New York Times, serving the Public Interest.

The truth: Daschle is cashing in mightily on his role as "the architect of president Obama's health care plan" in the private sector — and evading lobbyist disclosure by reinventing himself as a highly paid "senior adviser" to D.C.-based law firm/influence-peddling shop Alston & Bird.

Daschle represents mega-insurer UnitedHealth,>>>

Statement from the American College of Surgeons Regarding Recent Comments from President Obama

2009-09-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

The following statement from the College was issued to media across the country today:

Statement from the American College of Surgeons Regarding Recent Comments from President Obama

CHICAGO--The American College of Surgeons is deeply disturbed over the uninformed public comments President Obama continues to make about the high-quality care provided by surgeons in the United States. When the President makes statements that are incorrect or not based in fact, we think he does a disservice to the American people at a time when they want clear, understandable facts about health care reform. We want to set the record straight.

Yesterday during a town hall meeting, President Obama got his facts completely wrong. He stated that a surgeon gets paid $50,000 for a leg amputation when, in fact, Medicare pays a surgeon between $740 and $1,140 for a leg amputation. This payment also includes the evaluation of the patient on the day of the operation plus patient follow-up care that is provided for 90 days after the operation. Private insurers pay some variation of the Medicare reimbursement for this service.
Three weeks ago, the President suggested that a surgeon's decision to remove a child's tonsils is based on the desire to make a lot of money. That remark was ill-informed and dangerous, and we were dismayed by this characterization of the work surgeons do. Surgeons make decisions about recommending operations based on what's right for the patient.

We agree with the President that the best thing for patients with diabetes is to manage the disease proactively to avoid the bad consequences that can occur, including blindness, stroke, and amputation. But as is the case for a person who has been treated for cancer and still needs to have a tumor removed, or a person who is in a terrible car crash and needs access to a trauma surgeon, there are times when even a perfectly managed diabetic patient needs a surgeon. The President's remarks are truly alarming and run the risk of damaging the all-important trust between surgeons and their patients.

We assume that the President made these mistakes unintentionally, but we would urge him to have his facts correct before making another inflammatory and incorrect statement about surgeons and surgical care.

About the American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 76,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.