Petr Vaneck was throwing a 90-mph splitter as a 16-year-old. A star for his Czech Republic high school team, he had planned to show off his skills as an exchange student in the USA this year. Instead, Vaneck tore his rotator cuff, an arm injury that has derailed his hopes. "I could not move my arm," says Vaneck, who is living in Fullerton, Calif., this year. Baseball is not usually considered a dangerous...
June 9, 2008
Smoking apparently presents an increased risk for memory loss in people at mid-life, a new study released Monday found. The study by Severine Sabia and colleagues of France's Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale reviewed data from 10,308 London-based civil servants age 35 to 55 who took part in a study between 1985 and 1988. The researchers said that they found strong links between...
June 9, 2008
New York (dpa) - The AIDS epidemic has eroded African societies in multiple ways, from threatening government institutions to decreasing agricultural production, a report said Monday, adding that more challenges were expected in coming years. The report by the African Development Forum presented at a conference on HIV/AIDS at the United Nations headquarters in New York provided a gloomy analysis of...
June 9, 2008
DURHAM, N.C. US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, moving with extraordinary quickness to pursue the most aggressive form of treatment for his malignant brain tumor, flew by private jet to North Carolina and underwent brain surgery that his hand-picked neurosurgeon declared a success Monday. The three-hour operation was performed by Dr. Allan H. Friedman, chief of neurosurgery at Duke University Medical Center,...
June 8, 2008
Federal food safety and public health agencies are being urged to begin checking meat sold across the country for the presence of MRSA, a potentially fatal bacteria. Scientists have found the infection in U.S. pigs and farmworkers. Members of Congress and public health advocates are demanding that the government determine whether highly infectious MRSA has entered the food supply. MRSA - methicillin-resistant...
June 8, 2008
Toledo native Gretchen Bleiler spends days drenched in sunlight reflected off snowy mountains, giving the medal-winning professional snowboarder a rush of unwanted ultraviolet rays. Using typical sunscreen to ward off facial sunburn would sting the athlete's eyes, not to mention be too greasy. But Ms. Bleiler, the 2008 X Games halfpipe gold medalist, is one of several athletes that helped Mission Product...
June 8, 2008
WASHINGTON, Jun 8, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) - A leading Democratic U.S. senator has introduced legislation that he says would avert a coming reduction in Medicare payments to doctors. Max Baucus of Montana, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced the bill late Friday, The Hill reported. The bill would use money intended to get private insurance plans to participate in Medicare Advantage to...
June 8, 2008
This is your brain at work. John Medina's new book, Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, dissects the workings of the brain in plain English, explaining its role in the workplace and classroom. What could be a daunting subject becomes enjoyable through a writing style that makes words leap off the page. Medina is a developmental molecular biologist, business...
June 8, 2008
Jeff Gragg thinks most men are generally "below average" when it comes to taking good care of their health. He's not being harsh, especially since he had his own go-around with keeping fit. "I spent 10 years in the military," he said. "Afterwards, I took a desk job and just ballooned up to 300 pounds. I made my exercise program fit into my schedule at all costs. I changed my whole way of life." Gragg,...
June 8, 2008
The Food and Drug Administration said Sunday that 145 to 150 people in 16 states have been sickened by salmonellosis, which has been linked to the consumption of raw red tomatoes. The FDA initially issued a warning last Tuesday about tomatoes in New Mexico and Texas. On Saturday, officials expanded the warning nationwide. There were 25 hospitalizations but no deaths in the outbreak. The cause is a...
June 8, 2008
Chicago Tribune (MCT) NEW PALESTINE, Ind. Army Sgt. First Class Jeffrey Mittman was sitting behind the wheel of a Humvee when a roadside bomb exploded on a Baghdad street, shearing off Mittman's nose, lips, most of his teeth and blinding him in one eye. Nearly three years later, and after more than two dozen surgeries, Mittman's face is a jigsaw of reconstructions. His nose is fashioned from his rib...
June 8, 2008
Shaun's restaurant in Inman Park is the kind of intimate spot where guests at neighboring tables might strike up a conversation. But on a recent Sunday night, Dora Burke and Jennifer Harris not only swapped notes on the prix fixe dinner, they compared the diagnoses that had brought them to it. Burke has rheumatoid arthritis, Harris celiac disease. Both had come to Shaun's for the chef's special gluten-free...
June 7, 2008
Shaun's restaurant in Inman Park is the kind of intimate spot where guests at neighboring tables might strike up a conversation. But on a recent Sunday night, Dora Burke and Jennifer Harris not only swapped notes on the prix fixe dinner, they compared the diagnoses that had brought them to it. Burke has rheumatoid arthritis, Harris celiac disease. Both had come to Shaun's for the chef's special gluten-free...
June 7, 2008
Shaun's restaurant in Inman Park is the kind of intimate spot where guests at neighboring tables might strike up a conversation. But on a recent Sunday night, Dora Burke and Jennifer Harris not only swapped notes on the prix fixe dinner, they compared the diagnoses that had brought them to it. Burke has rheumatoid arthritis, Harris celiac disease. Both had come to Shaun's for the chef's special gluten-free...
June 7, 2008
Jun. 7 - Drink plenty of water today, slather on sunscreen and pace yourself while outside. That's the advice from a registered nurse and meteorologists, since today's weather may be within a degree or two of record highs. "It's certainly a concern any time there's heat and people are going be outside," said Sharon Goforth, a registered nurse with the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department....
June 6, 2008
Jun. 7 - Community-health agencies statewide learned this week that grant contracts with the former Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation will not be honored by the Ohio Department of Health. The state agency mailed 54 letters last week, breaking the news to public health departments, hospitals, medical centers and others that rely on tobacco money. Current grants will stop June 30, leaving many agencies...
June 6, 2008
Jun. 6 - ADA - When Harold Ware learned he had prostate cancer, he immediately alerted his identical triplet brothers Gerald and Darrel of his condition. When results came back from their tests, it became apparent all three of the Wares had prostate cancer. Ware said he was diagnosed earlier in the year. "I was going in for an enlarged prostate, so they went in and did a biopsy for a 'cool laser' procedure,"...
June 6, 2008
NEW YORK, May 10, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) - U.S. residents suffering from mental illnesses have a new public voice, owing to the growth of so-called mad pride events, mental health professionals say. Yale School of Medicine psychiatry lecturer Charles Barber said the growing mad pride movement represents a new generation's attempt to bring mental illness into the public eye without shame or remorse,...
June 6, 2008
WASHINGTON, Jun 5, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) - Seven former U.S. health secretaries, including Tommy Thompson and Donna Shalala, sent a letter to Congress calling for a ban on menthol cigarettes. The letter said the exemption of menthol from proposed legislation banning tobacco flavorings would "trample the health of African-Americans." Studies show that 75 percent of African-American smokers choose menthol...
June 6, 2008
Judy Price says the hardest part about being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease was knowing, at that point, she was at the beginning of a steady decline. The Blue Ridge resident was 50 when she was diagnosed with the chronic, progressive disease that affects the central nervous system. "They gave me a good 10 years, which was pretty devastating," said Price, now 55. Now, Melissa Johnson wants to start...
June 6, 2008
Jun. 6 - VALDOSTA - Early Thursday afternoon, two images could be seen rising out of the steaming blacktop of U.S. Highway 84 headed east into Valdosta. As the scorching pavement pushed steam into the air, two cyclists were riding through the heat, as their journey brought them from Pensacola, Fla. to Valdosta and then beyond. Seventeen-year-old John Ellis and his friend Jamaal Warren started their...
June 5, 2008
"I believe every pastor should know about Alzheimer's disease." This is how Marina Gopadze, pastor of Buchanan Presbyterian Church, explained her recent study of all kinds of dementia, Alzheimer's being the best known. As she came to learn how many people are affected by dementia, either as patients or caregivers, she also came to believe community folks would welcome more information. To that end,...
June 5, 2008
CHICAGO - John Meyer, 37, recently learned the hard way that nail-biting doesn't just leave you with stubby, bloody fingertips. The Chicagoan's habit fractured - and wore down - his upper teeth so severely that he needed $15,000 worth of dental reconstruction. "His teeth were scalloped in the shape of his nails to accommodate his nail-biting," said Meyer's dentist, Jeffrey Weller of Weller Aesthetic...
June 5, 2008
Jun. 6 - West Nile virus may have an early start in Oklahoma this year, according to the Muskogee County Health Department. A 55-year-old woman in Pittsburg County has been confirmed as being infected. WNV is transmitted through the bite of mosquitoes. Infection can cause severe and sometimes fatal illness. Linda Hattaway, health department administrative director, said fall is the normal time for...
June 5, 2008
CHICAGO - By every measure, Sheryl Grossman is a success. The 33-year-old has a master's degree from a prestigious university, a promising career and her own Web site. But due to a rare genetic disorder, her sterling credentials often seem to be overshadowed. Grossman is 4 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 46 pounds. "People routinely talk to me in baby talk," she said. "I've had coats and hats hung on...
June 5, 2008