Enlarge NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

Two women check their cell phones as they hawk their wares on a bridge over the Artibonite river, whose waters are believed to be the source of Haiti's 2010 cholera outbreak.

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

Two women check their cell phones as they hawk their wares on a bridge over the Artibonite river, whose waters are believed to be the source of Haiti's 2010 cholera outbreak.

The year 2010 was a very bad one for Haiti. It started with an earthquake that killed over 300,000 people, mostly in the crowded capital of Port-au-Prince. After that, cholera originating in a U.N. camp broke out in a northern province and eventually spread to the city.

But public health researchers learned something useful from the tragedy: Cell phones can help stem an unfolding epidemic and funnel aid to the needy.

Shortly after the quake, Linus Bengtsson at Sweden's Karolinska Institute helped put together a team to capitalize on Haiti's cell phone system. "When people start to move around, as they often do after a natural disaster, it's very difficult to know where to deliver supplies," Bengtsson says.

 

But about a third of Haiti's population have cell phones. So Bengtsson and colleagues collaborated with the cell phone company Digicell to track calls by the SIM cards in the phones.

The phone owners remained anonymous, but their whereabouts showed that some 600,000 fled Port-au-Prince within three weeks of the quake. That relieved pressure on aid groups in the city, but not for long. Soon, the phone maps showed that most of those refugees returned because there was no food in the countryside.

While the quake experience was more a proof of principle for disaster relief, the team actually got results when they applied their tracking system to the cholera epidemic months later. The researchers describe their experiment in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Team member Richard Garfield of Columbia University says they tracked people leaving the epicenter of the epidemic, near the city of St. Marc. They wanted to alert medics to go where infected people might carry the disease. It worked, Garfield says.

"The second wave of cases did appear exactly in the areas where most of the population was moving to...out of the cholera zone," Garfield says.

In addition to trying to point health teams where the epidemic would spread, the cell phone trackers also sent health advice to Haitians via text or voice mailâ€"things like, wash your hands frequently, get oral rehydration if you get sick, and continue to breast feed infected babies.

People who track infectious diseases say the technique should work for other outbreaks. "I think it's incredibly beneficial," says Andrew Tatem, who studies malaria at the University of Florida. "I think we're seeing a glimpse into the future of gathering information for disaster management."

From Pfizer, a drugmaker known best for medicines to treat millions, there is now a twice-a-day pill to treat lung cancer that will be prescribed for only a few thousand people each year.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer's Xalkori to treat patients with a particular form of non-small cell lung cancer, one that is marked by a genetic variation called ALK.

Only people with tumors that test positive for ALK â€" about 3 to 5 percent of NSCLC patients, or around 6,500 to 11,000 U.S. patients a year â€" are candidates for the treatment. By comparison, last year more than 45 million prescriptions were dispensed for Lipitor, the cholesterol-fighter that is Pfizer's biggest seller.

 

The FDA approved the pill in combination with a genetic test to detect the ALK variation to figure out who has the best chance of responding to the medicine.

The new, highly targeted cancer pill won't come cheap at about $9,600 a month. But the benefits for those with the ALK-positive cancers appear to be substantial. Half or more of patients in the studies cited in the FDA approval responded well to treatment with Xalkori. Their tumors shrank or disappeared.

But there are no definitive data so far on whether the drug extends life, though that's expected to be the case. The FDA approved the drug quickly, under a priority review approach reserved for drugs that have special promise. Pfizer has to perform more studies of the drug to confirm the agency's assessment of Xalkori.

Common side effects from Xalkori include vision problems, nausea and diarrhea. More rarely, in less than 2 percent of cases, patients experienced life-threatening inflammation of the lungs.

One high-profile patient who took Xalkori in clinical trials is former Microsoft engineer Andy Hill, a state senator in Washington. Diagnosed with NSCLC in early 2009, he started taking the pill in October of that year. Since Feb. 2010, he's shown no signs of lung cancer. "It's pretty miraculous," he told the Redmond Reporter. "I am doing things I never thought I would ever be able to do again."

For more on Hill's case and how cancer patients can make the best use of the Internet and medical professionals in making treatment decisions, watch the video below of Dr. Jack West, a lung cancer specialist at Seattle's Swedish Medical Center. (Hat tip on video to Sally Church at Icarus Consulting.)

Dr. Jack West describes the case of Andy West, a middle-aged father of three, who developed a form of lung cancer that was treated with Pfizer's new pill Xalkori.

Source: YouTube

Enlarge RICHARD SHIRO/AP

Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks to supporters in Greenville, S.C. on Aug. 20.

RICHARD SHIRO/AP

Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks to supporters in Greenville, S.C. on Aug. 20.

Just a few weeks into his campaign, Texas Gov. and presidential candidate Rick Perry isn't talking a whole lot about health care, except to criticize President Obama for last year's law. And he's not considered a health care expert. But he's is passionate on one point: Fixing the nation's health care system must include a major reform of the medical malpractice system.

In 2009, Perry and fellow GOP presidential competitor Newt Gingrich wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that Texas has successfully controlled health care costs, and at the same time has improved quality by enacting tort reforms in 2003. "Fewer frivolous lawsuits have attracted record numbers of doctors to the state as medical malpractice insurance premiums dropped by half," they wrote.

They also mention Christus Health, a large Catholic nonprofit system with a significant presence in Texas, which reduced its liability defense payments from about $100 million in 2003 to $2.3 million last year. The savings went to expanding health-care services in low-income communities.

 

The 2003 law Perry enacted capped non-economic damages â€" court awards for pain and suffering â€" at $250,000 per defendant. There is no cap on economic damages, such as medical expenses.

Republicans and physicians have long argued that massive court awards make it difficult for doctors to obtain malpractice insurance coverage at affordable prices â€" or at all â€" and that they increase health care costs by prompting them to practice defensive medicine. Consumer advocates and trial lawyers, though, have countered that capping awards infringes on the rights of individuals to be properly compensated, that the caps don't do much good in holding down costs.

Perry wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Examiner in 2009: "In 2003, I declared the medical liability crisis an emergency item, and the legislature responded, passing sweeping reforms that protected the patient .... We ended the practice of allowing baseless, but expensive, lawsuits to drag on indefinitely, requiring plaintiffs to provide expert witness reports to support their claims within four months of filing suit or drop the case."

But Jon Greenberg of New Hampshire Public Radio today debunked some of Perry's claims on tort reform on the Politifact website: "The wholesale transformation that Perry describes is not backed up by the numbers. Perry said Texas has 21,000 more doctors thanks to tort reform. That's flat out wrong. Texas has only about 13,000 more doctors in the state and the historic trends suggest that population growth was the driving factor. We rate his statement False."

What else might "Perrycare" have to offer Americans? "Rick Perry believes the best way for the federal government to improve health care is to stimulate job creation so more Americans are covered by employer-sponsored health plans," according to his campaign website. "Creating jobs will also reduce the strain on public safety net programs like Medicaid, saving taxpayer dollars."

Enlarge Rhodes ludovic/iStockphoto.com

If you're overweight, the best way to spend your limited time exercising is aerobic activity, a researcher says.

Rhodes ludovic/iStockphoto.com

If you're overweight, the best way to spend your limited time exercising is aerobic activity, a researcher says.

Weight training is touted as the cure for many ills. But if the goal is to lose belly fat, aerobic exercise is the only way to go, exercise scientists say.

We're not talking about muffin tops, the annoying bit of pudge that rolls over a woman's waistline and is featured in those strange Internet ads. Rather, this is gut fat lodged around internal organs, which could look like a beer belly from the outisde. It's considered a risk factor for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Surprisingly little research has been done comparing the health benefits of strength training with weights to aerobic exercise such as walking. But that's just what researchers at Duke University did.

 

They compared changes in visceral fat â€" the fat that wraps around internal organs â€" in people who did strength training compared to a group who did aerobic exercise. They divided 198 overweight, sedentary adults into groups, with one group working out with weights three times a week for eight months. A second group jogged 12 miles a week.

The aerobic exercisers lost significant amounts of visceral fat, as well as fat around the liver. They also lost abdominal fat overall, and had improvements in liver enzymes and insulin resistance. By contrast, the people who were pumping iron lost a wee bit of subcutaneous fat, but their stats otherwise didn't improve. The aerobic training burned 67 percent more calories than resistance training. The results were published in the American Journal of Physiology.

"Resistance training is a very good way to increase lean muscle," Cris Slentz, an exercise physiologist at Duke who led the study, told Shots. "And aerobic exercise isn't." But if the goal is to lose fat, then aerobic exercise is the ticket, he said.

There's no easy way to know how much visceral fat a person has; the researchers had to put people in CT scans to measure it. But one good clue is a beer belly â€" that distinctive shape is caused by visceral fat. Men tend to carry more visceral fat than women, Slentz says, and white people tend to have more visceral fat than African Americans. And older people tend to internalize fat, while younger people carry fat right beneath their dewy skin.

People in general are interested to minimize the aging effects and look ever youthful. In spite of losing one or more teeth, they are now able to get back a youthful smile through effective cosmetic dentistry procedure. A qualified cosmetic dentist can ensure patients a complete smile makeover by practicing different cosmetic dentistry methods such as porcelain veneers, dental bridges, dental implants, dentures, tooth fillings and root canal therapy. With his/her professional assistance, getting back an esthetic smile along with enhanced facial structure becomes easy for people.

How A Dentist Can Give You Great Smile Effects?

Apart from general dentistry, a cosmetic surgeon also specializes in cosmetic dentistry procedures that are all meant to surgically rectify any type of smile problem and build up a healthy and natural smile. It is through very selective and desirable cosmetic dentistry procedures a Colorado Spring dentist strives to fix broken, chipped or crooked teeth and give patients a perfect smile. The dentist not only remains concerned about the esthetic appeal of a smile but also ensures the health and vitality of tooth no matter whether dental implants or teeth whitening procedure is being used for treating the patient. So, you need to consult with an expert cosmetic dentistry surgeon who can better address your smile problem and deliver the best smile effects you can ever have.

Do They Follow Any Advanced Cosmetic Dentistry Process?

The cosmetic dentist assures patients long term smile effects by providing them with an option to get treated by the most effective cosmetic dentistry method for their specific clinical condition. Be it restorative dental implants, porcelain or composite dental veneers, teeth whitening, tooth colored fillings or full mouth reconstruction, the dentist wants to give patients a complete smile makeover along with the added advantage of oral health and hygiene.

Sometimes, the cosmetic dentist will have to use two or more treatment procedures in combination to maximize the effect of fabricated smile. The use of innovative laser technology allows the dentist to make smile makeover easy and painless for the patients and fasten the healing time.

Are There Benefits Other Than Smile Effects?

With the high quality service of a cosmetic dentist, patients are undoubtedly getting the best support for their specific kind of dental problem. They are able to get back their self confidence which they are losing to problems like bad breath and broken, crooked or chipped teeth. And what is interesting is that they are able to eat, speak and smile like before and without spending much. If you want to ensure all these benefits at a time then visit a nearby cosmetic dentist to discuss your problem in depth and get the right solution.

About Morgan & Rogers Dental:
Morgan & Rogers Dental, with a combined 95 years of experience in Dental in Colorado Springs and Peublo. They provide exceptional service like Cosmetic dentistry, Dental Implants and are truly dedicated to making your experience comfortable. You will find them friendly and willing to help with all your scheduling and every dental needs.

DISCLAIMER: THE STORY(s) DEPICTED ON THIS SITE AND THE PERSON(s) DEPICTED IN THE STORY ARE NOT REAL. RATHER, THIS FICTIONAL STORY IS BASED ON THE RESULTS THAT SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE USED THESE PRODUCTS HAVE ACHIEVED. THE RESULTS PORTRAYED IN THE STORY AND IN THE COMMENTS ARE ILLUSTRATIVE, AND MAY NOT BE THE RESULTS THAT YOU ACHIEVE WITH THESE PRODUCTS. THIS PAGE RECEIVES COMPENSATION FOR CLICKS ON OR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS FEATURED ON THIS SITE.

Enlarge Vicente Barcelo Varona/iStockphoto.com

Vicente Barcelo Varona/iStockphoto.com

OK, so your mom was right.

It turns out that moving in with that special someone without getting married first puts you at very high risk for an unplanned pregnancy.

That's one of the key findings of a new report from the Guttmacher Institute.

The report found that overall, "the United States did not make progress toward its goal of reducing unintended pregnancy between 2001 and 2006." In fact, the rate was 49 percent in 2006, virtually unchanged from 48 percent in 2001.

But the highest rate of unintended pregnancy of all the subgroups studied occurred among "cohabitors," or, to use the vernacular, women who were shacking up.

 

The largest increase of unintended pregnancies occurred in cohabitators under age 25.

Indeed, while 80 percent of unintended pregnancies still occurred in those under age 20, those most likely to experience an unintended pregnancy were women aged 20-24.

A fact that may surprise some is that teens aged 15-17 were one of the few groups for whom the unintended pregnancy rate actually dropped.

Using a variety of government and other statistics, Guttmacher researchers found that 5 percent of all women of reproductive age experienced an unintended pregnancy in 2006.

About 43 percent of those pregnancies ended in abortion, down slightly from 47 percent in 2001.

Researchers also found a widening gap based on race and income. African-American women had the highest unintended pregnancy rate â€" more than twice as high as non-Hispanic white women.

Also, the rate of unintended pregnancies among low-income women rose, leading the researchers to conclude: "the rate for poor women was more than five times the rate for women in the highest income level."

Meanwhile, women of greater means experienced fewer unintended pregnancies between 2001 and 2006.

Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, which is no longer affiliated with the Guttmacher Institute, said in a statement that the report shows why the federal government should proceed with a recent plan to make birth control more affordable for those with health insurance.

"The take-home message is clear," Richards said. "We need to do more to prevent unintended pregnancy, and access to affordable birth control is one significant way to do that."

Given ongoing efforts to cut federal spending, however, including the federal family planning program, Title X of the Public Health Service Act, that may be easier said than done.

People in general are interested to minimize the aging effects and look ever youthful. In spite of losing one or more teeth, they are now able to get back a youthful smile through effective cosmetic dentistry procedure. A qualified cosmetic dentist can ensure patients a complete smile makeover by practicing different cosmetic dentistry methods such as porcelain veneers, dental bridges, dental implants, dentures, tooth fillings and root canal therapy. With his/her professional assistance, getting back an esthetic smile along with enhanced facial structure becomes easy for people.

How A Dentist Can Give You Great Smile Effects?

Apart from general dentistry, a cosmetic surgeon also specializes in cosmetic dentistry procedures that are all meant to surgically rectify any type of smile problem and build up a healthy and natural smile. It is through very selective and desirable cosmetic dentistry procedures a Colorado Spring dentist strives to fix broken, chipped or crooked teeth and give patients a perfect smile. The dentist not only remains concerned about the esthetic appeal of a smile but also ensures the health and vitality of tooth no matter whether dental implants or teeth whitening procedure is being used for treating the patient. So, you need to consult with an expert cosmetic dentistry surgeon who can better address your smile problem and deliver the best smile effects you can ever have.

Do They Follow Any Advanced Cosmetic Dentistry Process?

The cosmetic dentist assures patients long term smile effects by providing them with an option to get treated by the most effective cosmetic dentistry method for their specific clinical condition. Be it restorative dental implants, porcelain or composite dental veneers, teeth whitening, tooth colored fillings or full mouth reconstruction, the dentist wants to give patients a complete smile makeover along with the added advantage of oral health and hygiene.

Sometimes, the cosmetic dentist will have to use two or more treatment procedures in combination to maximize the effect of fabricated smile. The use of innovative laser technology allows the dentist to make smile makeover easy and painless for the patients and fasten the healing time.

Are There Benefits Other Than Smile Effects?

With the high quality service of a cosmetic dentist, patients are undoubtedly getting the best support for their specific kind of dental problem. They are able to get back their self confidence which they are losing to problems like bad breath and broken, crooked or chipped teeth. And what is interesting is that they are able to eat, speak and smile like before and without spending much. If you want to ensure all these benefits at a time then visit a nearby cosmetic dentist to discuss your problem in depth and get the right solution.

About Morgan & Rogers Dental:
Morgan & Rogers Dental, with a combined 95 years of experience in Dental in Colorado Springs and Peublo. They provide exceptional service like Cosmetic dentistry, Dental Implants and are truly dedicated to making your experience comfortable. You will find them friendly and willing to help with all your scheduling and every dental needs.

DISCLAIMER: THE STORY(s) DEPICTED ON THIS SITE AND THE PERSON(s) DEPICTED IN THE STORY ARE NOT REAL. RATHER, THIS FICTIONAL STORY IS BASED ON THE RESULTS THAT SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE USED THESE PRODUCTS HAVE ACHIEVED. THE RESULTS PORTRAYED IN THE STORY AND IN THE COMMENTS ARE ILLUSTRATIVE, AND MAY NOT BE THE RESULTS THAT YOU ACHIEVE WITH THESE PRODUCTS. THIS PAGE RECEIVES COMPENSATION FOR CLICKS ON OR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS FEATURED ON THIS SITE.

For women seeking an abortion, finding a doctor willing to offer one is easier said than done.

Ninety-seven percent of OB-GYNs have encountered patients wanting an abortion, but only 14 percent of the doctors perform them, according to a study published today in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. That finding suggests a smaller percentage of OB-GYNs may be offering abortion services than previous studies have estimated.

 

Access to abortion has become more limited over the past few decades, the researchers write. Another recent study found that in 2008, 87 percent of U.S. counties (where 35 percent of reproductive-aged women live) didn't have any abortion providers. Since 1996, however, all OB-GYN residents have been required to learn how to perform the procedure.

This year, states have passed at least 80 new abortion restrictions â€" double the previous annual record of 34 seen in 2005, and more than triple 2010's 23 changes.

A woman's best chance of finding a willing doctor?

• Women physicians are more likely than male physicians to provide an abortion (19 percent vs. 11 percent);
• Young doctors (ages 26 to 35) are the most likely to offer abortion, followed by the oldest doctors (ages 56 to 65);
• Doctors in the Northeast or West are more likely to offer the procedure than those in the South or Midwest; and,
• Urban doctors are more likely than rural doctors to perform abortions.

Religious affiliation, as you might imagine, turns out to be a fairly significant indicator of whether a doctor will or won't provide abortions. Forty percent of Jewish doctors say yes, compared with 1 percent of evangelicals. Nine percent of Roman Catholics or members of Eastern Orthodox churches were likely to perform abortions. Among OB-BYNs, 10 percent of non-evangelical Protestants, 20 percent of Hindus and 27 percent of doctors who said they had no religious affiliation said they offer abortion services.

Few doctors who work in Catholic facilities, which often restrict abortion, do.

The findings were compiled from surveys mailed to 1,800 OB-GYNs across the U.S. More than 1,100 doctors provided valid responses. One question the survey didn't ask: Do doctors who don't offer abortions refer patients to their colleagues who do?

Routine laboratory investigations may be suggestive of Addison’s disease and include hypoglycemia (severe especially among children due to loss of glucocorticoids glucogenic effects), high blood calcium level, high blood potassium level (due to loss of production of the hormone aldosterone, a cortisol), low blood sodium levels (hyponatremia) etc. In addition there may be increased eosinophils and lymphocytes (both are white blood cells). Increased acidity of blood (metabolic acidosis) is another suggestive laboratory finding in Addison’s disease. Metabolic acidosis is due to lack of aldosterone, which results in loss of sodium in urine and in return retention of hydrogen ions, which increase acidity of body fluid (blood).

If a person is suspected to be suffering from Addison’s disease, it is important to demonstrate low levels of adrenal hormone, despite adequate stimulation of adrenal gland to produce sufficient hormones. The test performed is called “ACTH stimulation” test, performed using synthetic pituitary ACTH hormone tetracosactide, which can be of two types, short test and long test.

Short ACTH stimulation test:

In short ACTH stimulation test, blood cortisol level is compared before giving tetracosactide and one hour after giving 250 microgram tetracosactide, by IV/IM (intravenously or intramuscularly) injection. If plasma cortisol level after one hour rises by at least 330 nmol/Liter to at least 690 nmol/Liter, adrenal failure is excluded. If short ACTH stimulation test is abnormal, the long ACTH stimulation test is performed.

Long ACTH stimulation test:

In the long ACTH stimulation test, 1 mg (1,000 microgram) tetracosactide is injected by intravenously or intramuscularly and blood sample taken at 1, 4, 8 and 24 hours. In normal subject the plasma cortisol level should be at least 1000 nmol/Liter at 4 hours. Less than 1000 nmol/Liter cortisol in blood at 4 hours indicate Addison’s disease.

Other tests, which can be used in diagnosis of Addison’s disease include, medical imaging such as USG (ultrasound), CT (computerized tomography) scan and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

DISCLAIMER: THE STORY(s) DEPICTED ON THIS SITE AND THE PERSON(s) DEPICTED IN THE STORY ARE NOT REAL. RATHER, THIS FICTIONAL STORY IS BASED ON THE RESULTS THAT SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE USED THESE PRODUCTS HAVE ACHIEVED. THE RESULTS PORTRAYED IN THE STORY AND IN THE COMMENTS ARE ILLUSTRATIVE, AND MAY NOT BE THE RESULTS THAT YOU ACHIEVE WITH THESE PRODUCTS. THIS PAGE RECEIVES COMPENSATION FOR CLICKS ON OR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS FEATURED ON THIS SITE.

Older people often have difficulty understanding conversation in a crowd. Like everything else, our hearing deteriorates as we age.

There are physiological reasons for this decline: We lose tiny hair cells that pave the way for sound to reach our brains. We lose needed neurons and chemicals in the inner ear, reducing our capacity to hear.

So how can you help stave off that age-related hearing loss? Try embracing music early in life, research suggests.

"If you spend a lot of your life interacting with sound in an active manner, then your nervous system has made lots of sound-to-meaning connections" that can strengthen your auditory system, says Nina Kraus, director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University.

 

Musicians focus extraordinary attention on deciphering low notes from high notes and detecting different tonal qualities. Kraus has studied younger musicians and found that their hearing is far superior to that of their non-musician counterparts.

So Kraus wondered: Could that musical training also help fend off age-related hearing loss? To find out, she assembled a small group of middle-aged musicians and non musicians, aged 45-65. She put both groups through a series of tests measuring their ability to make out and repeat a variety of sentences spoken in noisy background environments.

Turns out, the musicians were 40 percent better than non-musicians at tuning out background noise and hearing the sentences, as Kraus reported in PloS ONE. The musicians were also better able to remember the sentences than the non-musicians â€" and that made it easier for them to follow a line of conversation. After all, Kraus says, in order to listen to a friend in a noisy restaurant, you need to be able to recall what was said a few seconds ago in order to make sense of what you're hearing right now.

The take-home message: If you're an older musician, don't stop playing. And if you gave it up, it may be time to dust off the old violin.

As for picking up an instrument for the first time in mid-life, there's no evidence yet that it can help maintain hearing. But the world of rodents offers some hope: One recent study found that intense auditory training of older rats resulted in significant improvement in their ability to hear high-pitched sounds. It also boosted their levels of brain chemicals crucial for hearing.

Of course, rats' ears, though similar to humans, are not the same. More research is needed to find out if old human ears can also be taught new tricks.

Routine laboratory investigations may be suggestive of Addison’s disease and include hypoglycemia (severe especially among children due to loss of glucocorticoids glucogenic effects), high blood calcium level, high blood potassium level (due to loss of production of the hormone aldosterone, a cortisol), low blood sodium levels (hyponatremia) etc. In addition there may be increased eosinophils and lymphocytes (both are white blood cells). Increased acidity of blood (metabolic acidosis) is another suggestive laboratory finding in Addison’s disease. Metabolic acidosis is due to lack of aldosterone, which results in loss of sodium in urine and in return retention of hydrogen ions, which increase acidity of body fluid (blood).

If a person is suspected to be suffering from Addison’s disease, it is important to demonstrate low levels of adrenal hormone, despite adequate stimulation of adrenal gland to produce sufficient hormones. The test performed is called “ACTH stimulation” test, performed using synthetic pituitary ACTH hormone tetracosactide, which can be of two types, short test and long test.

Short ACTH stimulation test:

In short ACTH stimulation test, blood cortisol level is compared before giving tetracosactide and one hour after giving 250 microgram tetracosactide, by IV/IM (intravenously or intramuscularly) injection. If plasma cortisol level after one hour rises by at least 330 nmol/Liter to at least 690 nmol/Liter, adrenal failure is excluded. If short ACTH stimulation test is abnormal, the long ACTH stimulation test is performed.

Long ACTH stimulation test:

In the long ACTH stimulation test, 1 mg (1,000 microgram) tetracosactide is injected by intravenously or intramuscularly and blood sample taken at 1, 4, 8 and 24 hours. In normal subject the plasma cortisol level should be at least 1000 nmol/Liter at 4 hours. Less than 1000 nmol/Liter cortisol in blood at 4 hours indicate Addison’s disease.

Other tests, which can be used in diagnosis of Addison’s disease include, medical imaging such as USG (ultrasound), CT (computerized tomography) scan and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

DISCLAIMER: THE STORY(s) DEPICTED ON THIS SITE AND THE PERSON(s) DEPICTED IN THE STORY ARE NOT REAL. RATHER, THIS FICTIONAL STORY IS BASED ON THE RESULTS THAT SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE USED THESE PRODUCTS HAVE ACHIEVED. THE RESULTS PORTRAYED IN THE STORY AND IN THE COMMENTS ARE ILLUSTRATIVE, AND MAY NOT BE THE RESULTS THAT YOU ACHIEVE WITH THESE PRODUCTS. THIS PAGE RECEIVES COMPENSATION FOR CLICKS ON OR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS FEATURED ON THIS SITE.

Enlarge Tariq Mahmood/AFP/Getty Images

Pakistani NGO workers protest at a rally on World AIDS Day in Peshawar in 2006.

Tariq Mahmood/AFP/Getty Images

Pakistani NGO workers protest at a rally on World AIDS Day in Peshawar in 2006.

HIV epidemics are emerging among men who have sex with men in the Middle East and North Africa, researchers say. It's a region where HIV/AIDS isn't well understood, or studied.

More than 5 percent of men who have sex with men are infected by HIV in countries including Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia, according to a recent study in PLoS Medicine. In one group of men in Pakistan, the rate of infection was about 28 percent. (For reference, in 2008, rates of HIV infection among men who have sex with men in the U.S. ranged from 16 percent among white men up to 28 percent of black men, according to the CDC.)

Risky behavior, low condom use, injectable drug use and male sex workers are some of the factors that could cause HIV rates to rise in the region, the researchers say. On average, the men who have sex with men group had between four and 14 sexual partners within the past six months, with consistent condom use falling below 25 percent.

Lack of HIV surveillance and low access to treatment and prevention are a concern for researchers, who believe the window of opportunity to prevent the epidemic from spreading across the region is growing smaller.

Shots had a chance to speak with one of the study's authors, Dr. Laith Abu-Raddad, assistant professor of public health at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, to discuss the challenges of researching such a taboo topic.

 

What made you decide to pursue this study?

There are some political and community leaders who believe that our region is not affected by the epidemic. While others, such as HIV activists, believe that men having sex with men behavior is hidden, so HIV data must be hidden. They have called it the "HIV epidemic behind the veil." It occurred to me that these are very contrasting views, and the truth must be out there somewhere.

I started this work eight years ago, to get every piece of evidence that we have on HIV. Turns out that there are more data than we think. The regions are not hiding the data, it's just a sensitive issue. These issues aren't discussed like in the western media. But it doesn't mean that the government isn't dealing with it. Governments do have programs such as active non-government organizations, NGOs, working with groups that are infected.

What surprised you about the findings?

Certain countries did surprise us with the work they've done. In Iran, they target the population of drug users. When Iran discovered HIV among drug users, they created programs that offered drug users access to treatment, and gave them free clean needles and syringes.

Many governments don't want to provide HIV treatment or counseling directly. They support NGOs financially and logistically to help treat communities affected. It's a way for them to protect people without raising sensitive issues of sexual and drug use behaviors that are often controversial.

What challenges did you face while gathering evidence?

There were some governments that gave us their data on the condition that we didn't publish it. They want to deal with this issue, but they see no reason to raise it to the public. There were governments who did not want to release data. I can't tell you which countries, since we have long-standing relationships with them. But we managed to convince some of them that the data would be used purely for scientific research and not used against them by the media.

What do you hope to accomplish from this study?

To raise awareness among policy makers. Hopefully, governments will make changes to policy. Surprisingly, the No. 1 barrier is poor research capacity in this region. If we don't have the scientific data, we can't have effective policy. We need to have an effective surveillance program, so we can help prevent further HIV transmission.

This part of the world is seen as not addressing the epidemic. Countries like Iran, Morocco and Egypt are developing programs and working with NGOs. But other countries haven't yet improved their services to the public. But we hope they will.

Routine laboratory investigations may be suggestive of Addison’s disease and include hypoglycemia (severe especially among children due to loss of glucocorticoids glucogenic effects), high blood calcium level, high blood potassium level (due to loss of production of the hormone aldosterone, a cortisol), low blood sodium levels (hyponatremia) etc. In addition there may be increased eosinophils and lymphocytes (both are white blood cells). Increased acidity of blood (metabolic acidosis) is another suggestive laboratory finding in Addison’s disease. Metabolic acidosis is due to lack of aldosterone, which results in loss of sodium in urine and in return retention of hydrogen ions, which increase acidity of body fluid (blood).

If a person is suspected to be suffering from Addison’s disease, it is important to demonstrate low levels of adrenal hormone, despite adequate stimulation of adrenal gland to produce sufficient hormones. The test performed is called “ACTH stimulation” test, performed using synthetic pituitary ACTH hormone tetracosactide, which can be of two types, short test and long test.

Short ACTH stimulation test:

In short ACTH stimulation test, blood cortisol level is compared before giving tetracosactide and one hour after giving 250 microgram tetracosactide, by IV/IM (intravenously or intramuscularly) injection. If plasma cortisol level after one hour rises by at least 330 nmol/Liter to at least 690 nmol/Liter, adrenal failure is excluded. If short ACTH stimulation test is abnormal, the long ACTH stimulation test is performed.

Long ACTH stimulation test:

In the long ACTH stimulation test, 1 mg (1,000 microgram) tetracosactide is injected by intravenously or intramuscularly and blood sample taken at 1, 4, 8 and 24 hours. In normal subject the plasma cortisol level should be at least 1000 nmol/Liter at 4 hours. Less than 1000 nmol/Liter cortisol in blood at 4 hours indicate Addison’s disease.

Other tests, which can be used in diagnosis of Addison’s disease include, medical imaging such as USG (ultrasound), CT (computerized tomography) scan and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

DISCLAIMER: THE STORY(s) DEPICTED ON THIS SITE AND THE PERSON(s) DEPICTED IN THE STORY ARE NOT REAL. RATHER, THIS FICTIONAL STORY IS BASED ON THE RESULTS THAT SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE USED THESE PRODUCTS HAVE ACHIEVED. THE RESULTS PORTRAYED IN THE STORY AND IN THE COMMENTS ARE ILLUSTRATIVE, AND MAY NOT BE THE RESULTS THAT YOU ACHIEVE WITH THESE PRODUCTS. THIS PAGE RECEIVES COMPENSATION FOR CLICKS ON OR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS FEATURED ON THIS SITE.

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Insurance is a top priority for Rabbi Craig Ezring.

Courtesy of Rabbi Craig Ezring

Insurance is a top priority for Rabbi Craig Ezring.

When Rabbi Craig Ezring's annual health insurance costs soared 38 percent this year to a whopping $18,636, he did more than just complain.

He went looking for a young wife.

For several years, the Boca Raton, Fla., rabbi had been getting coverage through a small corporation he formed with his wife. When she died four years ago, he thought the cost of his insurance coverage would drop. Instead it rose.

That's partly because Ezring, 56, had a heart bypass surgery a couple of years ago. Nonetheless, he said he's still quite healthy, and does ballroom and Latin dancing twice a week.

When he got his latest health insurance bill in August, Ezing said he almost had a heart attack.

 

An insurance broker told him his small business insurance rate is based on the age of the owner of the company. So, Ezring posted on his blog that he was looking for a younger woman who wouldn't mind marrying him to help him get cheaper coverage.

"Give some thought to the possibility of marrying me ... a good insurance plan is all I ask," he wrote. "Okay there maybe one or two other things I ask for, but sadly, right now insurance has become a top priority."

Ezring, a rabbi at several nursing homes and assisted living facilities in South Florida, said he's had a few "comical offers" of marriage in response to his plea, including one asking if he wanted to move to South Carolina.

Ezring said his insurer, UnitedHealthcare, has been good to him: The company makes sure he gets services he needs and can see the doctors he wants. But with the latest rate hike, he feels like he's working mostly just to afford his health coverage. He's shopped for other policies, but other companies won't offer him coverage.

When told that Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who vehemently opposes the federal health overhaul, is only paying about $400 a year for his state-subsidized health insurance, Ezring chuckled. "It would be lovely if everyone could pay that amount for really good insurance," he said.

Routine laboratory investigations may be suggestive of Addison’s disease and include hypoglycemia (severe especially among children due to loss of glucocorticoids glucogenic effects), high blood calcium level, high blood potassium level (due to loss of production of the hormone aldosterone, a cortisol), low blood sodium levels (hyponatremia) etc. In addition there may be increased eosinophils and lymphocytes (both are white blood cells). Increased acidity of blood (metabolic acidosis) is another suggestive laboratory finding in Addison’s disease. Metabolic acidosis is due to lack of aldosterone, which results in loss of sodium in urine and in return retention of hydrogen ions, which increase acidity of body fluid (blood).

If a person is suspected to be suffering from Addison’s disease, it is important to demonstrate low levels of adrenal hormone, despite adequate stimulation of adrenal gland to produce sufficient hormones. The test performed is called “ACTH stimulation” test, performed using synthetic pituitary ACTH hormone tetracosactide, which can be of two types, short test and long test.

Short ACTH stimulation test:

In short ACTH stimulation test, blood cortisol level is compared before giving tetracosactide and one hour after giving 250 microgram tetracosactide, by IV/IM (intravenously or intramuscularly) injection. If plasma cortisol level after one hour rises by at least 330 nmol/Liter to at least 690 nmol/Liter, adrenal failure is excluded. If short ACTH stimulation test is abnormal, the long ACTH stimulation test is performed.

Long ACTH stimulation test:

In the long ACTH stimulation test, 1 mg (1,000 microgram) tetracosactide is injected by intravenously or intramuscularly and blood sample taken at 1, 4, 8 and 24 hours. In normal subject the plasma cortisol level should be at least 1000 nmol/Liter at 4 hours. Less than 1000 nmol/Liter cortisol in blood at 4 hours indicate Addison’s disease.

Other tests, which can be used in diagnosis of Addison’s disease include, medical imaging such as USG (ultrasound), CT (computerized tomography) scan and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

DISCLAIMER: THE STORY(s) DEPICTED ON THIS SITE AND THE PERSON(s) DEPICTED IN THE STORY ARE NOT REAL. RATHER, THIS FICTIONAL STORY IS BASED ON THE RESULTS THAT SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE USED THESE PRODUCTS HAVE ACHIEVED. THE RESULTS PORTRAYED IN THE STORY AND IN THE COMMENTS ARE ILLUSTRATIVE, AND MAY NOT BE THE RESULTS THAT YOU ACHIEVE WITH THESE PRODUCTS. THIS PAGE RECEIVES COMPENSATION FOR CLICKS ON OR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS FEATURED ON THIS SITE.

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A CT scan of a human lung.

iStockphoto.com

A CT scan of a human lung.

Hospitals around the country have started offering deeply discounted CT scans for smokers worried about lung cancer.

Their pitches point to recent findings that screening current or former heavy smokers with CT scans before they show symptoms of lung cancer could modestly reduce their risk of dying from the disease. But some experts question whether the strategy is simply a marketing ploy that could bring more harm than good.

A flyer from St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem, Pa., heralds that a "10-second scan could be life-saving" â€" and comes with a coupon for a $49 procedure. On the website for University Hospitals in Cleveland, there's a slick video promoting a $99 scan, noting that some experts say the screening could be the "new hope needed to help save lives."

The promotions come in response to a National Cancer Institute study of more than 50,000 smokers published last fall. It found that annual, low-dose computerized tomography screening of high-risk patients could cut the death rate from lung cancer by 20 percent by identifying the disease earlier than X-rays.

 

In the nearly decade-long study, 354 patients who got CT scans died of lung cancer, compared with 442 deaths among those who got chest X-rays.

"The data [are] pretty compelling," said Dr. Christopher Faber, medical director of the University of Pittsburgh Comprehensive Lung Center, one of the hospitals offering low-cost CT scans. So compelling that federal officials halted the study early so they could announce the findings.

But as Shots reported at the time, the findings come with important caveats. For one, the results apply only to older smokers (55 to 75) and former smokers who lit up at least a pack of cigarettes a day for 30 years.

There's also the risk of false positives: Nearly one in four people in the study had scan that found an abnormality in the lung which turned out not to be cancer. That often can lead to a biopsy or other invasive procedures with their own health risks. Another concern: the added radiation exposure from the scans.

There are economic considerations, too: The results of the study suggest that more than 300 heavy smokers will need to be screened to prevent just one death from lung cancer over a five-year period.

Most lung cancers are detected when they cause symptoms such as shortness of breath, and by that time, the disease is more likely to be advanced and less curable. William Burfeind, a cardiothoracic surgeon at St. Luke's, says his hospital hopes the low-cost scans will help identify patients with earlier stages of lung cancer. Those patients might have a better chance of being cured by treatment.

"The vast majority of my patients show up with stage 3 or 4 [lung cancer,] which is treatable, but rarely curable," he says. "Once we learned the results of the national study, we felt compelled to offer this to our patients."

Hospitals have marked down the CT scan â€" which typically costs as much as $1,000 â€" to help cash-paying customers. The test isn't covered by Medicare or private insurers. Neither the American Cancer Society nor the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of medical experts that examines the effectiveness of preventive tests, recommends the screening, although both groups are studying the issue.

"You have to ask the question: Whose interests are being served here?" Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, a Dartmouth researcher who studies cancer screening, says of hospitals' sales pitches. "Screening tests are a great way to recruit new patients that produce revenues with follow-up biopsies and procedures."

Other experts worry that the hospital promotions may induce patient to get a test they don't need.

Dr. David Midthun, a pulmonologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, says the NCI findings prove that on an individual basis, CT scans are a good idea. What's not known, he says: Considering the cost of the test, does it make sense to recommend it for millions of people?

The cause of Addison’s disease is adrenal insufficiency. There are three major ways through which adrenal gland produce insufficient cortisol. The three ways are, adrenal dysgenesis (incomplete and inadequate development of adrenal glands), impaired steroidogenesis (despite presence of adrenal it is unable to produce cortisol biochemically), and adrenal destruction (due to some disease process).

Impaired steroidogenesis in causation of Addison’s disease:

For formation of cortisol in adrenal gland, cholesterol is required, which is than converted into steroid hormones biochemically. Any disruption/interruption (such as abetalipoproteinemia) in the delivery of cholesterol may result in impaired formation of hormones (steroid hormones). Some medications also interfere with steroid synthesis enzymes (e.g. ketoconazole) which synthesize steroid hormones and some medications increase breakdown of hormones (e.g. rifampicin, phenytoin) in the liver. Congenital adrenal hypoplasia results in problem in the synthesis of steroid hormones by affecting different enzymes (e.g. 21-hydroxylase, 17alpha-hydroxylase, 11beta-hydroxylase etc.) involved in synthesis of hormones.

Adrenal dysgenesis in causation of Addison’s disease:

The cause of adrenal dysgenesis is genetic and its occurrence is rare. Mutation occurs in DAX-1 gene to cause congenital adrenal hypoplasia, ACTH receptor gene, SF1 transcription factor etc. and result in interruption of synthesis of steroid hormones.

Adrenal destruction in causation of Addison’s disease:

One of the commonest causes of destruction of adrenal tissue is autoimmune destruction (autoimmune adrenalitis). Autoimmune adrenalitis results in autoimmune destruction of adrenal cortex due to immune reaction to 21-hydroxylase enzyme.

Destruction of adrenal gland tissue may also occur due to hemorrhage, due to metastasis of cancer (from lung), adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), due to deposition of abnormal protein as seen in amyloidosis, infection such as tuberculosis, histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis etc.

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A man with sleep apnea wears a CPAP machine mask in bed.

Amy Walters/iStockphoto.com

A man with sleep apnea wears a CPAP machine mask in bed.

If you use a breathing machine to treat your sleep apnea, it's probably a bit clunky. But it's also probably doing you a lot of good.

In a small study, researchers at the University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland report that when patients stopped using continuous positive airway pressure machines, or CPAP, for one night or more, not only were they sleepy the next day, but a flood of related health problems returned.

The findings appear online in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

 

Those findings make a lot of sense, says Dr. Nancy Collop, medical director of the Emory Sleep Center in Atlanta. She likens the CPAP machine to blood pressure medication. If you stop taking your medication, your blood pressure rises. If you forget to use your CPAP, your sleep apnea will return.

Patients with sleep apnea can awake hundreds of times during a night, gasping for breathe and never really getting a good night sleep. The breathing machine helps patients by pumping air directly into their obstructed airway, essentially forcing them to breathe regularly.

What was surprising in the study was just how quickly problems returned when patients went off the machine. Researchers divided patients into two groups. One used their breathing machines as usual. The other was taken off their regular machine and given another one that pumped less air, making it ineffective. After two weeks, the group on the ineffective breathing machine experienced a return of a number of health problems related to apnea.

Researchers found a marked increase in blood pressure and heart rate, as well as increased dysfunction of blood vessels inside the heart and certain hormones related to heart disease. CPAP withdrawal leads to a return of obstructive sleep apnea within the first night off CPAP, researchers say.

Dr. Collop says that because the CPAP machine can be cumbersome, most patients at one time or another will ask her if they really need to wear it every night. But over the years, the machine â€" which was once the size of a suitcase â€" has been re-designed and is now about the size of a square box of tissue.

Even so, "CPAP is a treatment, not a cure," she says. "Unless it's on your nose or over your face, it's not going to be helping you when you're sleeping."

The main problem with exclusive breast feeding (if infants are given nothing except breast milk, not even water, in the first six to eight months, is called exclusive breast feeding) is iron deficiency. Due to iron deficiency there is high risk of developing anemia. Although breast fed infants have high risk of anemia (due to iron deficiency), doctors still recommend breast feeding, as supplementation of breast feeding is associated with other health problems such as GIT infections, which are potentially fatal.

One of the strategies followed worldwide to prevent iron deficiency in infants is feeding infants with iron fortified formula. But there is risk of gastrointestinal problems, which may be more serious (sometimes may even be fatal) than iron deficiency, hence many experts do not recommend iron fortified formula.

An important way to prevent iron deficiency in infants is not to cut the umbilical cord during delivery too soon. Studies suggest that even delaying cutting of umbilical cord by only two minutes can improve the iron status of the infant and help in preventing iron deficiency.

Exclusively breast fed infants have lower risk of developing gastrointestinal problems such as stomach infection in compare to bottle fed infants. Breast fed infants have lower risk of gastrointestinal problems because of better immunity (which is due to breast feeding) as well as reduce exposure to infection as breast feeding is more hygienic than bottle feeding. At present most pediatricians (doctor who treats children) recommend exclusive breast feeding for first 6 months of baby’s life.

Some other terms are also used regarding feeding of infants such as extensive breast feeding, predominantly breast feeding, predominantly bottle feeding and bottle feeding. All these terms are self explanatory. But doctors’ advice all babies should be given exclusive breast feeding and for promoting breast feeding, the first week of August is celebrated every year as “world breast feeding week”.

Despite having risk of developing iron deficiency, doctors recommend exclusive breast feeding, because iron deficiency is manageable with iron supplementation easily, but potential risk of gastrointestinal problems in bottle feeding is greater as it may lead to serious and sometime fatal infections.

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Canning your own food is a timeworn practice that's back in vogue.

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Canning your own food is a timeworn practice that's back in vogue.

Call it a reaction to high food prices, food recalls, and a bad economy. Or just call it retro chic. But there's no doubt canning is newly trendy among people who a couple of years ago probably didn't give much thought to what goes into a jar.

According to a recent survey by Opinion Research, 43 percent of consumers interested in canning are ages 18-34. And since 2009, searches for "canning recipes" on allrecipes.com has increased 61 percent during the summer months, says Judith Dern of the popular website.

But the process of canning, or "putting up" food, is not something to be taken lightly. You still have to make sure the food you're saving is safe.

In time for Saturday's first annual National Can-It-Forward Day, where food bloggers and chefs will do live and web streaming demos of goodies like mixed berry jam and pepper jelly from Seattle's Pikes Place Market, we wanted to get some tips on how to do it right.

 

We turned to Lauren Devine-Hager, a test kitchen scientist at Jarden Home Brands and editor of the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Jarden makes the iconic Ball jar, which pretty much has the market cornered.

Here's an excerpt from our interview, edited for length and clarity.

Q: There's lots of beautiful, high-end jars of chutney and jelly in the stores these days. Why should we bother with canning ourselves?

A: What we're finding is a lot of people for either health reasons or dietary reasons need to have control over salt and sugar. There's a lot of people with food allergies now, especially young kids, so parents are looking at all the nutrition labels pretty closely. So people are turning to canning because they know exactly what goes into that jar. Of course, the sense of accomplishment... is something that is unsurpassed.

Q: Are there actually nutritional benefits to canning your own products?

A: You're taking [food] at its peak of freshness and preserving it, very much like commercial processes. But [in this case,] it's control over what you might add to it.

Q: It seems like you have to have a lot of stuff and it takes a long time and an army of people to get it all done. Is that true?

A: That's one of the myths out there...It really isn't that complicated.

Q: What are the basic steps?

A: Basically you prepare your gear. Wash your jars, lids and bands, and prepare your stockpot. The second step is prepare your recipe. Step three is going through the preserving process, so you're filling your jar, you're putting it in your rack, lowering it into the stockpot and bring the water to a boil.

(Note: For a detailed list of equipment and times and recipes, see the National Center for Home Food Preservation. You can buy basic boiling water canning equipment for about $10 on the web or at many hardware stores.)

Q: So, what if I have my grandmother's recipe for bread and butter pickles from the 1930s? Is it safe? Should I go for it?

A: We always recommend you start with a current tested recipe. We do get that a lot. Either check in with us and see if we have one that's very similar. Or reach out to your local cooperative extension agent.

Q: Are the health risks real, like botulism?

A: People always correlate botulism with canning. In all actuality, there's only certain foods that that bacteria even thrive on, and those are low-acid foods... like [certain] vegetables, meats, poultry and seafood...those are the types of foods you always have to can in a pressure canner. It's a totally different method that will get you to a higher temperature.

(Note:The process of canning hasn't fundamentally changed since Napoleon's day, according to FoodReference.com: "Heat sufficient to destroy microorganisms is applied to foods packed into sealed, or 'airtight' containers. The canned foods are then heated under steam pressure at temperatures of 240-250°F (116-121°C)." How long and how hot depends on the food's acidity and density.)

If you're ready for the canning challenge but are not growing your own food, you can still get plenty of fresh produce at the grocery store or even one of the country's more than 7,000 farmers markets. Check out this handy list from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other related websites and apps for more food sources.

Atrial Fibrillation is increasing day by day and its ratio is increasing at an alarming rate in America. According to a rough estimate in 2050, above 5.6 Million American can suffer from AFib related stroke risks. AFib is caused due to irregular heart beat which become cause of stroke. Some of the leading organizations and famous stars like Susan Lucci have offered their efforts to create awareness among people AFib related stroke risks.

TV Star Susan Lucci Talks about AFib Related Stroke Risks; She said, “Having been happily married for more than 41 years, Helmut and I are a true team. We play an active role in each other’s health and work together to manage his AFib and reduce his risk of stroke. We know how much a stroke can impact all aspects of our family and we’re doing everything we can to reduce his risk. We hope the Facing AFib PSA and website will help educate others about the risk of stroke associated with AFib and will encourage them to do all that they can to manage the condition, just like us.”

Role of National Stroke Association in Creating Awareness

National Stroke Association is the only association on National level which is giving its 100% to reduce stroke. The organization is focused on its mission to reduce the occurrence and causes of stroke by developing compelling community outreach programs, calling for continued development in the quality of stroke patient care and enlightening healthcare professionals as well as broad public about stroke.

CEO of National Stroke Association Jim Baranski said, “As we strive to reduce the incidence and impact of stroke in America, raising awareness about AFib and stroke among patients and their loved ones, is key. That’s why it’s important for those impacted by AFib to get serious about stroke and to take the pledge at FacingAFib.com. The website is a great place to find information and resources to help patients and their families discuss the condition and AFib-related stroke risk reduction with their physicians.”

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Enlarge Paul Sakuma/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ground turkey packages like this one are part of a nationwide recall and are blamed for sickening 107 people so far.

Paul Sakuma/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ground turkey packages like this one are part of a nationwide recall and are blamed for sickening 107 people so far.

It's been another tough week for food safety.

Another 30 people nationwide, including one who later died, were infected with the antibiotic-resistant strain of salmonella tied to ground turkey processed and later recalled by food giant Cargill. That brings the total to 107 people infected in this outbreak. Meanwhile, as many as 18 people, including one who later died, got sick from an E. coli outbreak linked to strawberries from an Oregon farm. And just today, a meat manufacturer is expanding a recall to thousands of beef products after discovering a different E. coli strain that's suspected of causing illnesses in Michigan.

It seems like the government is scrambling to respond. So what's going on?

 

Oversight of food safety in the U.S. is divided among a dozen different agencies. That may account for why, during the turkey recall, a government antimicrobial monitoring system had information on problems at Cargill's Springdale, Ark., plant weeks ago, but the company wasn't contacted until several days later when the U.S. Department of Agriculture felt it had enough data to request a recall.

Cargill has apologized for the illnesses and is working with the agency to recall its products, according to a company statement.

The frustration with outbreak after outbreak this summer is palpable.

Barbara Kowalcyk founded a non-profit food safety advocacy group after her son Kevin died of an E.coli infection 10 years ago. She tells the Huffington Post that regulators' hands are tied without new laws:

"USDA needs the authority to take action when contaminated products are causing human illness. They need to be able to set limits for foodborne pathogens. They need to reduce those limits over time to prevent fewer pathogens from entering the food supply. And, they need the authority to shut down producers that repeatedly fail to meet those standards."

But getting new laws is no guarantee of better oversight. The FDA, which is charged with the safety of foods that aren't meat, got some new powers in a shiny new food safety law passed last year, but much of its funding is up in the air and could get further tied up with the debt ceiling battles to come.

Several consumer groups are asking USDA to just declare salmonella strains "adulterants" to meat, which would make it easier to get the stuff out of commerce â€" even before someone gets sick.

But that's probably not a quick fix, either. The agency asked the White House budget office way back in January to allow it to add several strains of E. coli to its "adulterants" list, according to Food Poison Journal.

The response so far? Cue the crickets.

Psoriasis is a chronic immune mediated skin disease. It is a fairly common skin disease and affects large number of people. The main pathology in psoriasis is speeding up of the growth cycle of skin cells and as a result skin turn over is increased (i.e. normal skin turn over time of approximately 28 days become less than that) and there is also plaque formation occurs.

There are various treatment options available for treatment of psoriasis. If a disease does not have specific and effective treatment, number of different treatment options is generally available for that particular disease and unfortunately none of the treatment options can cure the disease and none of these generally give high satisfaction. The same is true in case of psoriasis too, as it is a chronic disease without any cure; hence there are several treatment options available. Some of the treatment modalities can be helpful and can improve quality of life.

The options available for treatment of psoriasis include use of topical agents, use of systemic agents, phototherapy, use of alternative therapy etc.

Topical agents for treatment of psoriasis:

Several different topical agents are available for treatment of psoriasis, such as petroleum jelly, coal tar, moisturizers, mineral oil, dithranol, salicylic acid, corticosteroids, vitamin D etc. Different preparations act in a different way, for example petroleum jelly, moisturizers etc. act by soothing effect on skin and reduce the dryness. Medicated creams and ointments (containing corticosteroids, dithranol etc.) applied directly to psoriatic plaques reduce inflammation, remove built-up scale, reduce skin turn over, and clear affected skin of plaques.

Phototherapy in treatment of psoriasis:

Wavelengths of 311â€"313 nm are most effective and special lamps are available which produce this wavelength. PUVA (psoralens and ultraviolet A) phototherapy combines psoralens (oral or topical) and ultraviolet A. But long term phototherapy may cause skin cancer (squamous cell carcinoma but not melanoma).

Systemic agents for treatment of psoriasis:

When topical agents and phototherapy fail to elicit any response, systemic agents are used for treatment of psoriasis. The systemic agents are toxic and need regular blood and liver function tests to monitor side effects. There are three systemic agents used for treatment of psoriasis, which are methotraxate, cyclosporine and retinoids. The first two (methotraxate and cyclosporine) are immunosuppressant drugs and retinoids are synthetic forms of vitamin A.

There are other systemic agents which are also used for treatment of psoriasis, such as efalizumab (monoclonal antibody), Ustekinumab, TNF-alpha (tumor necrosis factor-alpha) etc.

Alternative medicine in treatment of psoriasis:

Various agents are used for treatment of psoriasis, such as cod liver oil, vitamin E etc.

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Charla Nash received a full face transplant after she was mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. The procedure was performed last month by a team of plastic and orthopedic surgeons at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

HO/AFP/Getty Images

Charla Nash received a full face transplant after she was mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009. The procedure was performed last month by a team of plastic and orthopedic surgeons at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

The Boston hospital that gave Charla Nash a new face in May has released the first post-surgery photo of the transplant's results.

Nash's face was mauled by an out-of-control chimpanzee in 2009. Before the transplant, she wore a veil to conceal the grotesquely misshapen face that was the best plastic surgeons could do.

Her transplanted face is smooth and normally proportioned, with little or no sign it came from another person, whose family consented to the donation after death. The operation was done by a team at Brigham and Women's Hospital, which has performed three full-face transplants this year.

 

In a statement, Nash thanked the unknown family. "I will now be able to do things I once took for granted," she writes. "I will be able to smell. I will be able to eat normally. I will no longer be disfigured. I will have lips and will speak clearly once again. I will be able to kiss and hug loved ones."

She will never see again, since her eyes were irreparably damaged in the attack and eye transplants are not yet possible.

Nash also lost both hands. A double-hand transplant done at the same time as her face transplant, from the same donor, failed after she suffered a post-surgical bout of pneumonia that caused her blood pressure to fall, so the hands were deprived of sufficient blood at a crucial time.

Nash calls the loss of the transplanted hands "just a bump in the road of my recovery." She hopes to try another double-hand transplant.

"I believe that one day I'll have two hands to help me live as a blind person with confidence," she says.

If that happens, Nash will be the first person in the world to have a successful transplant of both face and hands.

Breast feeding has health benefits to the infant and some of these health benefits of breast feeding are long term benefits. The long term health benefits of breast feeding includes better dental health, lower risk of diabetes, lesser incidence of childhood cancers and reduced incidence of various other chronic disease (such as Crohn’s disease, juvenile arthritis, Hodgkin’s disease etc.).

Less childhood obesity:

Breast feeding reduce risk of obesity among children, which has become epidemic these days due to lack of physical exercise (no or very little outdoor activities) and watching TV for long hours. Several studies have shown consistent results in regards to the relationship of obesity and breastfeeding. The longer the duration of breastfeeding the lesser is the chance of obesity in the breastfed baby.

Better dental health:

Longer duration of breast feeding is associated with lower incidence of dental problems such as mal-occlusion. Incidence of dental carries is also much less among breast fed children, in compare to formula fed children.

Lower risk of diabetes mellitus:

Breast feeding has protective action against development of diabetes type-1 (IDDM or insulin dependent diabetes mellitus). In Australia, children with IDDM were compared with normal children (without IDDM) with same sex and age. It was found that children who were breast fed during first three months of life had 34% lower risk of developing diabetes (IDDM) than children who were not breast fed. It the study it was also seen that infants fed with cow’s milk based infant formula had 52% increased risk of developing diabetes.

Lower incidence of childhood cancers:

Children who were formula fed or breast fed for less than 6 months have increased risk of developing cancer in the later years and even increased risk of developing cancer before age of 15 years. The risk of developing cancer among formula fed children and adults is several times higher than long term breast fed children.

Lower risk of chronic disease:

Breast fed (especially long term breast feeding) children have lower risk of developing several chronic diseases such as Crohn’s disease, juvenile arthritis, Hodgkin’s disease. Breast feeding for 8 months or more have strong protective effect against Hodgkin’s disease, than children who were not breast fed or breast fed for less than 2 months.

General health during childhood:

Breast fed infants suffer from fewer episodes of illness in compare to bottle fed infants.  Due to lesser incidences of illness the health in general is better among breast fed children.

DISCLAIMER: THE STORY(s) DEPICTED ON THIS SITE AND THE PERSON(s) DEPICTED IN THE STORY ARE NOT REAL. RATHER, THIS FICTIONAL STORY IS BASED ON THE RESULTS THAT SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE USED THESE PRODUCTS HAVE ACHIEVED. THE RESULTS PORTRAYED IN THE STORY AND IN THE COMMENTS ARE ILLUSTRATIVE, AND MAY NOT BE THE RESULTS THAT YOU ACHIEVE WITH THESE PRODUCTS. THIS PAGE RECEIVES COMPENSATION FOR CLICKS ON OR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS FEATURED ON THIS SITE.

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No chicken, organic or conventionally raised, is completely free of pathogens.

Seth Perlman/AP

No chicken, organic or conventionally raised, is completely free of pathogens.

Proponents of organic meat often make the case that it's inherently better for people's health and the environment than meat raised by conventional farming methods. But the actual impacts of organic production can be tough for scientists to prove.

A study out today in Environmental Health Perspectives adds some weight to the argument that organic poultry, at least, may reduce one type of health risk. A team of scientists from the University of Maryland and other universities found that large-scale organic poultry farms â€" which are not allowed to use antibiotics to prevent disease in the animals â€" had significantly lower levels of one group of drug-resistant bacteria than their conventional counterparts.

 

The study comes at a time when antibiotic use in industrial livestock production is under heavy fire from the public health community. Farmers who raise food-producing animals use about 29 million pounds of antibiotics each year, according to the Food and Drug Administration, and the latest Salmonella outbreak in ground turkey turned out to be caused by a strain resistant to several antibiotics.

Bacteria resistant to antibiotics can make their way to humans through the meat itself and the environment â€" like waterways contaminated with runoff. If humans ingest those bacteria or are exposed to them other ways and get sick, there aren't many options for treating them.

Several European countries have already banned the prophylactic or preventative use of antibiotics for exactly this reason, and some studies there have shown that once farmers reduce antibiotic use, those resistant microbes mostly go away.

But that's been difficult to study in the U.S., since the majority of farmers still use antibiotics pretty indiscriminately. So Amy Sapkota, an assistant professor of environmental sciences at the University of Maryland and lead author of the study, decided to look at 10 mid-Atlantic farms that had just adopted organic practices. She measured the change in levels of enterococci bacteria against 10 mid-Atlantic conventional farms. Enterococci can show up in poultry litter, feed, and water. The researchers tested their resistance to 17 different types of antibiotic drugs.

"We were surprised to see such dramatic differences in the levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the very first flock at these organic farms," Sapkota tells Shots.

For one common antibiotic, erythromycin, 67 percent of an Enterococcus bacterium from conventional poultry farms were found to be resistant, while 18 percent were resistant at the organic farms. But Sapkota notes that organic farms usually still have "reservoirs" of resistant bacteria that can linger in the soil or the packed dirt floor of the poultry houses, so they may never be completely free of the bugs.

But Sapkota's work does not mean organic poultry eaters get a free pass when it comes to food safety. No chicken is completely free of pathogens, and consumers still need to take all the precautions they normally would when preparing poultry: Cook it well and beware of cross-contamination on the cutting board.

Breast feeding has health benefits to the infant and some of these health benefits of breast feeding are long term benefits. The long term health benefits of breast feeding includes better dental health, lower risk of diabetes, lesser incidence of childhood cancers and reduced incidence of various other chronic disease (such as Crohn’s disease, juvenile arthritis, Hodgkin’s disease etc.).

Less childhood obesity:

Breast feeding reduce risk of obesity among children, which has become epidemic these days due to lack of physical exercise (no or very little outdoor activities) and watching TV for long hours. Several studies have shown consistent results in regards to the relationship of obesity and breastfeeding. The longer the duration of breastfeeding the lesser is the chance of obesity in the breastfed baby.

Better dental health:

Longer duration of breast feeding is associated with lower incidence of dental problems such as mal-occlusion. Incidence of dental carries is also much less among breast fed children, in compare to formula fed children.

Lower risk of diabetes mellitus:

Breast feeding has protective action against development of diabetes type-1 (IDDM or insulin dependent diabetes mellitus). In Australia, children with IDDM were compared with normal children (without IDDM) with same sex and age. It was found that children who were breast fed during first three months of life had 34% lower risk of developing diabetes (IDDM) than children who were not breast fed. It the study it was also seen that infants fed with cow’s milk based infant formula had 52% increased risk of developing diabetes.

Lower incidence of childhood cancers:

Children who were formula fed or breast fed for less than 6 months have increased risk of developing cancer in the later years and even increased risk of developing cancer before age of 15 years. The risk of developing cancer among formula fed children and adults is several times higher than long term breast fed children.

Lower risk of chronic disease:

Breast fed (especially long term breast feeding) children have lower risk of developing several chronic diseases such as Crohn’s disease, juvenile arthritis, Hodgkin’s disease. Breast feeding for 8 months or more have strong protective effect against Hodgkin’s disease, than children who were not breast fed or breast fed for less than 2 months.

General health during childhood:

Breast fed infants suffer from fewer episodes of illness in compare to bottle fed infants.  Due to lesser incidences of illness the health in general is better among breast fed children.

DISCLAIMER: THE STORY(s) DEPICTED ON THIS SITE AND THE PERSON(s) DEPICTED IN THE STORY ARE NOT REAL. RATHER, THIS FICTIONAL STORY IS BASED ON THE RESULTS THAT SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE USED THESE PRODUCTS HAVE ACHIEVED. THE RESULTS PORTRAYED IN THE STORY AND IN THE COMMENTS ARE ILLUSTRATIVE, AND MAY NOT BE THE RESULTS THAT YOU ACHIEVE WITH THESE PRODUCTS. THIS PAGE RECEIVES COMPENSATION FOR CLICKS ON OR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS FEATURED ON THIS SITE.

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Woman who took a daily soy pill had no less bone loss after two years than others who took a sugar pill, a study found.

iStockphoto.com

Woman who took a daily soy pill had no less bone loss after two years than others who took a sugar pill, a study found.

Soy pills for the hot flashes and bone loss menopausal women may endure seemed like a great idea â€" a cheap way of getting the benefit of estrogen without the risks.

But alas, a new study concludes they don't work.

Woman who took a daily soy pill had no less bone loss after two years than others who took a sugar pill. (Women in both groups didn't know which pill they got.)

And women taking soy actually reported more hot flashes. That could be due to a strong placebo effect among women taking placebos, or perhaps the soy protein actually has an anti-estrogen effect. (Estrogens can work both ways, so perhaps phytoestrogens â€" plant estrogens found in soy â€" do too.)

 

The discovery will be a big disappointment to millions of women who started taking soy after the Women's Health Initiative showed in 2002 that estrogen supplements increase the menopausal women's risk of blood clots, stroke and cognitive problems. And estrogen plus progestin â€" a formulation necessary to protect against cancer in women who still have a uterus â€" also increases the risk of heart attacks. Those results led most menopausal women to reject so-called hormone replacement therapy (although millions still use it).

The study, in this week's Archives of Internal Medicine, is larger and longer than previous looks at soy pills. It enrolled 248 women, and although many women in both groups dropped out, the 182 who didn't were apparently enough to show that soy was no better than placebo.

"It is difficult to imagine that the results would have differed substantially with additional participants," say women's health experts Katherine Newton and Deborah Grady, authors of an accompanying commentary.

The study was done largely by Florida researchers with support from the National Institutes of Health.

Health experts have bought into the soy pill idea because Asian women, who typically eat lots of soy protein, have lower levels of osteoporosis, breast cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The notion makes sense, since soy contains phytoestrogens that weakly mimic the human hormone. The new study provided a soy dose equal to twice the typical Asian diet, and the hope was that would be enough to minimize hot flashes, which estrogen reduces by 60 to 95 percent. Researchers also thought it could retard the rapid bone loss of early menopause, which estrogen also does.

But this is hardly the first time that dietary supplements have disappointed. Beta-carotene, vitamin E, selenium and vitamin D supplements have all been acclaimed for their health benefits, but studies have failed to back up many of the claims or have produced conflicting results. (There's little question that getting these micronutrients from food, rather than in pill form, is a good thing.)

The new study isn't necessarily the end of the soy protein story. Newton and Grady point out that 25 to 50 percent of women make a substance called equol when they eat a soy protein called daidzein. Some think equol may be more biologically active, so there may be a rationale for studying it in women who are equol-producers.

Heroin addiction worldwide debilitating epidemic (pandemic to be precise) which costs United States alone, approximately $22 billions a year, in terms of medical care, social welfare, criminal activity, loss of productivity etc. Heroin addiction, as well as addiction and abuse of other drugs is one of the driving forces of spread of HIV.

Researchers and scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have developed a vaccine against heroin addiction, which shows great and promising result after initial animal studies. The researchers involved in the research study are euphoric about the vaccine as they could prove therapeutic potential in animal models in laboratory. The study of vaccine against heroin was published in the official website of The Scripps Research Institute. The same research team has previously created vaccines (using immune molecules to blunt the effects of abused drugs) against cocaine, methamphetamine, and nicotine and at present the human clinical trials are under way for the cocaine and nicotine vaccines.

The vaccine against the commonly abused drug heroin is one of the first of its kind and has shown great and promising results, which can be an effective deterrent against not only heroin addiction and abuse, but also against other psychoactive compounds metabolized from heroin (such as morphine and 6-acetyle morphine) from reaching the brain by crossing what is called blood brain barrier (BBB) to produce euphoric effects in the heroin addict. The researchers saw specific and robust response from the vaccine and hope (we all also hope) to make it available for use soon.

How the vaccine against heroin act?

The vaccine uses an innovative method called “immunopharmacotherapy”, which produce antibodies (immune molecules of protenaceous nature) against heroin as well as other psychoactive compounds which are metabolized product of heroin and prevent from reaching brain to produce the famed euphoric effects of heroin. Heroin is rapidly degraded to 6-acetyle morphine and than to morphine. A vaccine has to be effective against 6-acetyle morphine and morphine to be effective against heroin and the vaccine against heroin is exactly as required.

Researchers also report that the vaccine against heroin is highly specific, meaning that it produce antibodies against 6-acetyle morphine and heroin and do not produce antibodies against other commonly used opioid drugs for therapeutic purpose such as methadone, naltrexone, and naloxone (all these are used for treatment of opioid dependence and heroin addiction), as well as oxycodone.

DISCLAIMER: THE STORY(s) DEPICTED ON THIS SITE AND THE PERSON(s) DEPICTED IN THE STORY ARE NOT REAL. RATHER, THIS FICTIONAL STORY IS BASED ON THE RESULTS THAT SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE USED THESE PRODUCTS HAVE ACHIEVED. THE RESULTS PORTRAYED IN THE STORY AND IN THE COMMENTS ARE ILLUSTRATIVE, AND MAY NOT BE THE RESULTS THAT YOU ACHIEVE WITH THESE PRODUCTS. THIS PAGE RECEIVES COMPENSATION FOR CLICKS ON OR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS FEATURED ON THIS SITE.

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Poultry farms and other livestock operations often use antibiotics to promote growth, which can lead to antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria such as salmonella.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Poultry farms and other livestock operations often use antibiotics to promote growth, which can lead to antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria such as salmonella.

Hosts April Fulton and Rebecca Davis talk turkey this week on the podcast, among other things.

The third largest recall in U.S. history affected 36 million pounds of ground turkey on store shelves and in consumers' freezers. For months, people have been getting sick from an antibiotic-resistant strain of salmonella, but government investigators only recently pinpointed the culprit: Turkey from a Cargill plant in Arkansas.

Bacteria such as salmonella can become resistant to antibiotics when they are exposed to low-doses of them over time. And the industrial production of poultry and meat provides ample opportunity for that to happen, some experts say. As Allison Aubrey reports, more antibiotics are used on livestock than humans in the U.S. â€" and not because they're sick.

 

And, gout, a disease once thought to be a royal problem, has emerged as a health concern for the common man and woman. That's because the lifestyle of many modern folks doesn't look all that different from the princes of old: Lots of rich food and not much exercise. Patti Neighmond talks to the doctors and patients who are dealing with gout.

Scorpions may not be a big concern for you if you live in, say, Maine or Mississippi. But they're a fact of life if you live in the desert Southwest. This week, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first antidote to scorpion stings, which can be a real problem for kids in particular.

Good news for couch potatoes, too â€" or bad news, depending on your perspective. Turns out that even a little exercise â€" just 15 minutes of walking a day â€" can do some good for your heart. Waiting to pick up the kids? You're not off the hook. Walk around the block.

We also take a look at a different side of health: A controversial form of "therapy" that aims to turn gay men and women straight. The debate over whether this is medically and morally sound is not new. But since the revelation that Michelle Bachmann's husband practices conversion therapy, the controversy has been back in the news.

Alix Spiegel spoke with two men who underwent conversion therapy.

Finally, a microbiological farce: David Was tells the story of his efforts to retake his swimming pool from the protozoa.

Heroin addiction worldwide debilitating epidemic (pandemic to be precise) which costs United States alone, approximately $22 billions a year, in terms of medical care, social welfare, criminal activity, loss of productivity etc. Heroin addiction, as well as addiction and abuse of other drugs is one of the driving forces of spread of HIV.

Researchers and scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have developed a vaccine against heroin addiction, which shows great and promising result after initial animal studies. The researchers involved in the research study are euphoric about the vaccine as they could prove therapeutic potential in animal models in laboratory. The study of vaccine against heroin was published in the official website of The Scripps Research Institute. The same research team has previously created vaccines (using immune molecules to blunt the effects of abused drugs) against cocaine, methamphetamine, and nicotine and at present the human clinical trials are under way for the cocaine and nicotine vaccines.

The vaccine against the commonly abused drug heroin is one of the first of its kind and has shown great and promising results, which can be an effective deterrent against not only heroin addiction and abuse, but also against other psychoactive compounds metabolized from heroin (such as morphine and 6-acetyle morphine) from reaching the brain by crossing what is called blood brain barrier (BBB) to produce euphoric effects in the heroin addict. The researchers saw specific and robust response from the vaccine and hope (we all also hope) to make it available for use soon.

How the vaccine against heroin act?

The vaccine uses an innovative method called “immunopharmacotherapy”, which produce antibodies (immune molecules of protenaceous nature) against heroin as well as other psychoactive compounds which are metabolized product of heroin and prevent from reaching brain to produce the famed euphoric effects of heroin. Heroin is rapidly degraded to 6-acetyle morphine and than to morphine. A vaccine has to be effective against 6-acetyle morphine and morphine to be effective against heroin and the vaccine against heroin is exactly as required.

Researchers also report that the vaccine against heroin is highly specific, meaning that it produce antibodies against 6-acetyle morphine and heroin and do not produce antibodies against other commonly used opioid drugs for therapeutic purpose such as methadone, naltrexone, and naloxone (all these are used for treatment of opioid dependence and heroin addiction), as well as oxycodone.

DISCLAIMER: THE STORY(s) DEPICTED ON THIS SITE AND THE PERSON(s) DEPICTED IN THE STORY ARE NOT REAL. RATHER, THIS FICTIONAL STORY IS BASED ON THE RESULTS THAT SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE USED THESE PRODUCTS HAVE ACHIEVED. THE RESULTS PORTRAYED IN THE STORY AND IN THE COMMENTS ARE ILLUSTRATIVE, AND MAY NOT BE THE RESULTS THAT YOU ACHIEVE WITH THESE PRODUCTS. THIS PAGE RECEIVES COMPENSATION FOR CLICKS ON OR PURCHASE OF PRODUCTS FEATURED ON THIS SITE.

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Peanuts were a problem for 9 percent of households that reported someone with a food allergy or intolerance.

iStockphoto.com

Peanuts were a problem for 9 percent of households that reported someone with a food allergy or intolerance.

If some foods really don't agree with you or someone you live with, you've got plenty of company.

In the latest NPR-Thomson Reuters Health Poll, we asked people across the country about food allergies and intolerance. The bottom line: 1 in 5 households across the country has at least one person who is allergic or intolerant to at least one food.

How do they know? Well, there are the obvious symptoms, such as itching, swelling of the tongue and wheezing in some cases. Nearly two-thirds of households â€" 64 percent â€" that reported a food issue said the allergy or intolerance had been diagnosed by a doctor.

 

Still, just what constitutes a food allergy can be hard to pin down. "Food allergy has no universally accepted definition," according to a review of the medical literature that was published last year in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. That has complicated the task of coming up with precise figures on of the prevalence of food allergies.

OK, so given the caveats, which foods lead to the most problems in our poll? Milk and dairy products were No. 1, affecting just over a third of the people with allergies or intolerance. Fruits, as a group, were second at 19 percent. "Peanuts? What about peanuts?" you ask. Those came in at 9 percent.

We also asked people if they believe bans on certain foods, such as nuts, from public places (think airplane cabins and lunchrooms) are an important safety measure. A majority â€" 59 percent â€" said the bans are OK by them.

Finally, we wondered if people think that fears about food allergies are overblown. The responses were just about split: 48.5 percent answered yes; 51.5 percent said no.

The results came from a nationwide telephone poll that collected responses from more than 3,000 adults in early June. The margin of error for the findings is plus or minus 1.8 percentage points. To see the questions and detailed figures, click here.

For the result from previous NPR-Thomson Reuters polls, click on the poll tag below.