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Parents can have confidence about the safety of the standard childhood vaccine schedule, a report from a panel of experts says. The Institute of Medicine, which advises the government on health, looked into the vaccine schedule because of concerns from some parents that children today receive too many vaccines too soon. Yet delaying shots prolongs the time babies and children are vulnerable to "devastating...
January 17, 2013
Some parts of the country are experiencing spot shortages of flu vaccine because of increased demand in a flu season that started earlier and is more severe than previous years. In Las Vegas, Celeste Tom tried six times before she found a flu shot for her boyfriend. "I'd been bugging him to get a flu shot, but he kept putting it off," said Tom, 55. The Smith's Food and Drug Center where she got her...
January 17, 2013
Acontroversial new government study have have shaken some dieters' resolutions to lose weight. The research showed that people who are moderately heavy, up to 30 or so pounds above normal, have a slightly lower risk (6%) of premature death than those at a normal weight. But those who are extremely obese - roughly 60 or more pounds over a normal weight - have a 29% greater risk of dying early, according...
January 16, 2013
Are parents happier than people without kids? Conventional wisdom would say kids bring parental joy, but in past research, childless people have reported greater well-being. Now, new studies in the journal Psychological Science find that overall, "parents (and especially fathers) report relatively higher levels of happiness, positive emotion, and meaning in life than do non-parents." Of three studies...
January 16, 2013
What the nation owes each year to veterans who are disabled by war and service has more than doubled since 2000, rising from $14.8 billion to $39.4 billion in 2011, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The toll of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where troops served repeatedly in combat zones, is a key contributor to escalating costs of individual disability payouts, says Allison Hickey, VA...
January 16, 2013
Jan. 15 - Dr. Andrea Dugas recalled widespread skepticism at a medical conference 10 years ago when she suggested that social media mentions and search volume could one day forecast flu activity. "They would say, 'How can you use this social media to surveil flu data' and 'It's crazy' and 'You can't do that,'" said Dugas, a Johns Hopkins University professor who studies flu-tracking. "Now it's widely...
January 15, 2013
Jan. 15 - Looking for one national statistic not climbing steadily alongside the obesity rate? How about instances of weight counseling initiated by primary care physicians. Penn State College of Medicine researchers say weight counseling for patients classified as overweight or obese has dropped 46 percent in 10 years. "We were surprised by these results ourselves," said Dr. Jennifer Kraschnewski,...
January 15, 2013
TORONTO - Taking even low doses of opioids like codeine or morphine increases the risk of being involved in a traumatic motor vehicle accident ????? and that risk goes up as people take higher and higher amounts of the powerful pain killers, research suggests. Opioids, the widely prescribed class of drugs that also includes oxycodone, hydromorphone and the fentanyl patch, are prescribed for both acute...
January 15, 2013
Beijing (dpa) - The sky over Beijing has darkened ominously. The sun is scarcely able to break through the thick smog as the skyscrapers of the city of 20 million disappear in the murk. The air has a burnt smell, and many people wear face masks. "I scarcely dare to breathe," one 47-year-old woman says. "It's unbelievable." Beijing's residents are accustomed to poor air quality, but nobody can recall...
January 14, 2013
Jan. 14 - Laboratory testing for the flu has traditionally taken so long to yield results that most people recovered before finding out if they actually had the virus. But about half a dozen Chicago-area hospitals can now diagnose influenza in just more than an hour through a federally approved machine that has been working overtime during what is shaping up as a horrendous season for the flu. "If...
January 14, 2013
Jan. 12 - Hospitals are seeing a dramatic increase in flu cases, including three deaths in Connecticut. This season's flu has officially reached the level of an epidemic in the U.S., federal health officials said Friday, but there's some hope that cases have peaked. Deaths from influenza and pneumonia accounted for 7.3 percent of all deaths in the week ending Jan. 5. The official threshold for an epidemic...
January 12, 2013
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Tavares Gooden hadn't heard the news about Junior Seau when he got to the locker room Thursday. He said when he puts on his helmet each day, he doesn't think about potential long-term effects from hits to the head. He does think about it in the offseason, though, and he does something about it. "We can all learn something from Junior," Gooden told USA TODAY Sports. "I've...
January 11, 2013
News that Junior Seau showed signs of degenerative brain disease when he killed himself in May did not surprise Mark Walczak, a friend and ex-teammate who spent time with Seau in the last week of his life. "In some ways, I'm relieved there's this finding," Walczak told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) named Seau as the latest of dozens of pro football players...
January 11, 2013
An intensifying flu season is filling hospital emergency rooms around the country and renewing pleas for people to get vaccinated. "This is the worst flu season I've seen in all my practicing years," said Pat Meadors, emergency director at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, who graduated from medical school 35 years ago. In Albany, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo received a flu shot Thursday before TV cameras from...
January 11, 2013
Here are a few common questions and answers about the flu from experts and public health officials.: Q: What are the symptoms? A: Misery, basically. Flu comes on suddenly, accompanied by fever and chills (rare for a cold), coughing, sore throats, muscle aches, fatigue and headaches. Nausea and diarrhea are more common in children. A bad cold makes daily life rotten, but a bad flu makes it really miserable....
January 11, 2013
Americans die younger than people in other wealthy countries - and the gap is getting worse, a new report shows. Men in the USA have shorter lives than men in 16 developed nations. American women also fall near the bottom of the list, living 5.2 fewer years than Japanese women, who live the longest. Americans "have a long-standing pattern of poorer health that is strikingly consistent and pervasive"...
January 10, 2013
A severe flu season prompted Boston Mayor Thomas Menino on Wednesday to declare a public-health emergency in the city. Boston health officials have confirmed 700 cases of flu - 10 times the number for the entire season last year. "This is the worst flu season we've seen since 2009, and people should take the threat of flu seriously," Menino said in a news release. The Boston declaration is meant to...
January 10, 2013
The DEA for nearly a decade has pushed for tighter restrictions on Vicodin, the nation's most widely prescribed drug. The chronic abuse of such painkillers, and devastating toll associated with this abuse, has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. The agency could get its wish later this month when the Food and Drug Administration considers the DEA's request to put Vicodin in the same...
January 10, 2013
If you're unlucky enough this winter to slip on an icy surface and break a bone, you may need to do more than just treat the injury. If you're 50 or older, ask your doctor for a bone density test, advises the National Bone Health Alliance. Made up of 47 health care organizations, the alliance says only 20% of those who break a bone are tested or treated for osteoporosis. More than 2 million breaks...
January 9, 2013
A new report documents a disturbing rise in the number of cases of cancer related to HPV, a family of sexually transmitted viruses linked to tumors of the cervix, head and neck, and several organs. The spike in HPV-related cancers defies the generally positive trends in cancer, whose incidence and mortality rates continue to fall slightly each year, the report says. It was published online Monday in...
January 8, 2013
If you have high blood pressure and haven't treated it yet, consider this: getting it under control may also reduce your risk of dementia, suggests a study out Monday. Men treated with anti-hypertensive drugs were found in autopsies to have fewer microinfarcts (a sign of small strokes), fewer amyloid plaques and tangles (signs of Alzheimer's disease) and less brain atrophy. Those on beta blockers,...
January 8, 2013
Jan. 07 - In the interest of good milk production and personal comfort, breastfeeding moms often are willing to try things that fall outside the usual medical advice. For example, some women apply cabbage leaves to their breasts to alleviate soreness, or they take supplements to boost milk supplies. Others sometimes drink beer, thinking it will help bring more milk. To get a better handle on popular...
January 7, 2013
A number of cells which attack cancer and HIV have been developed in Japan. Doctors could kill the cancerous cells by injecting huge numbers of the new cells into a patient - which would give the immune system a boost. The research is published in the journal Cell Stem Cell. (c) 2007 World Entertainment News Network
January 7, 2013
After a week and a half of assorted holiday madness, I finally left my parents' stately Long Island manse on Dec. 30 and returned to New Jersey. And, no, I wasn't empty-handed. Mama mia's care package included one zip-lock bag filled with chicken; another filled with leftover baccala salad (cod, black olives and vinegar peppers); and two heads of romaine lettuce. "In case you want to make a salad,"...
January 6, 2013
Jan. 06 - CORSICANA - Get a flu shot The CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine as the first and most important step in protecting against flu viruses. While there are many different flu viruses, a flu vaccine protects against the three viruses that research suggests will be most common. Everyone 6 months of age and older should get a flu vaccine. Vaccination also is important for health care workers,...
January 6, 2013
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