Apr. 25 - John Hopkins geriatrician Dr. Robert Burton has heard far too many stories like that of Nancy Schmidt, the 74-year-old woman who was attacked in her Remington home this week. "I think older people are particularly vulnerable to crime ..." Burton said, ticking off horror story after horror story of patients he has known who have been similarly victimized. "Particularly single women living...
April 24, 2008
Apr. 24 - MORGANTON - A top ten list of why someone should love being a cancer survivor kicked off the keynote speech during a survivor dinner. Tyson Rodriguez, 33, a survivor of small intestine cancer, delivered a speech filled with hope to a room full of other cancer survivors and supporters on Thursday evening at Grace Episcopal Church. Among the things Rodriguez listed were overcoming her fear...
April 24, 2008
Apr. 25 - Three brothers. Three funerals. Four short years. Phillip Walter died at 62. Michael Walter died at 59. Steven Walter was 57. The cause was a rare, mysterious neurological illness that first robbed them of their personalities, and then everything else. While they were living and even in death, the Walter brothers contributed to the understanding of frontotemporal dementia. They subjected...
April 24, 2008
Apr. 25 - While California leads the nation's charge against global warming pollution, local health officials lag on preparedness for the expected fallout of more frequent and more severe heat waves, bad air days and disease epidemics. Sacramento County officials interviewed Thursday said they have yet to define their roles as first-responders to climate- related illnesses and deaths. "We are starting...
April 24, 2008
A best-selling video game series, Grand Theft Auto, is releasing a new version Tuesday amid a firestorm of concern about the impact of violent games on children. The Chicago Transit Authority is pulling ads for the game off its buses. The Parents Television Council is calling on retailers to keep it away from children. The PTA has a campaign to explain ratings. More than a dozen bids in five states...
April 24, 2008
WASHINGTON, Apr 24, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the voluntary nationwide recall of Silk-brand chocolate flavor soymilk due to a labeling error. The FDA said the WhiteWave Foods Co. of Broomfield, Colo., is recalling 11-ounce plastic single serve bottles of Silk Soymilk Chocolate Flavor because they might contain undeclared milk protein, posing a health risk...
April 24, 2008
CHICAGO - Eric Field was on his skateboard last August, holding onto the back of a friend's car, when the wheels on his board gave out and he flipped over. Without a helmet, Field, 15, suffered a subdural hematoma, four skull fractures and a bruised brain. He was unconscious for two weeks but suffered no brain damage. He quit skateboarding. "Whenever we would buy him the knee pads or elbow pads, they'd...
April 24, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) - Breakfast is diet Pepsi and two packets of M&M's. For lunch, macaroons and white chocolates filled with marzipan from the farmer's market near Wall Street. After learning her job would be cut this summer, Kelly Daly started reaching more frequently for the soothing effects of sugar. "It's a stress reliever. Especially now that a bunch of us are going to be laid off," said the 49-year-old...
April 24, 2008
Bonn (dpa) - Returning to sports after a long period of inactivity takes a lot of effort. Even people who know that daily activity does a world of good have to struggle against the basic instinct of sitting around and being lazy. The most important tip for people getting into fitness or returning to it is they should begin at a point below their performance potential, said Jens Moeller, a psychologist...
April 24, 2008
Childhood immunization rates in Washington increased dramatically between 2003 and 2006, but the state still lags behind 40 states and the District of Columbia, prompting health officials to look for ways to improve. Before the increase, Washington ranked at the very bottom of the states. Childhood immunization rates increased from 56.2 percent in 2003 to a new high of 71.2 percent in 2006. But Washington...
April 23, 2008
Divorce often gets blamed for a host of troubles faced by children whose parents split, and much past research has focused on the damage to children's well-being. But new research suggests that at least in one segment of overall well-being - bad behavior - divorce doesn't appear to be the reason for some behavior problems. "It really depends on the individual marriages and the family," says Allen Li,...
April 23, 2008
WASHINGTON, Apr 23, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a final regulation barring certain cattle materials from all animal feed, including pet food. The agency said its final rule further protects animals and consumers against bovine spongiform encephalopathym, or BSE - also known as "mad cow disease." The materials that can no longer be used in animal feed are...
April 23, 2008
A meningitis epidemic has killed more than 800 people in Burkina Faso since the start of the year and has now reached the captital, the health ministry said on Wednesday. "Between January 1 and April 20, we have counted a total of 8,382 suspected cases of meningitis, including 811 deceased, which is a mortality rate of 9.67 percent," ministry epidemiologist Ousmane Badolo told AFP. The previous official...
April 23, 2008
State and local public health officials should pay close attention to new statistics that show the life expectancy of a significant number of women in the United States has started to decline. Without more aggressive prevention and treatment programs, the latest research suggests, the obesity epidemic in the Deep South and other poorer regions of the country will shorten the lives of women even more....
April 23, 2008
Even short-term exposure to common levels of ozone in smog is likely to contribute to premature deaths, a new National Research Council report warned Wednesday. "Based on a review of recent research, the committee found that deaths related to ozone exposure are more likely among individuals with pre-existing diseases and other factors that could increase their susceptibility," the study said. "However,...
April 23, 2008
At 12 years old, Danielle LeePow was warning girls about risky sexual behavior. She knew the danger of HIV/AIDs because her mom worked at AID Atlanta. Now at 17, Danielle decided to examine the reasons why some girls are more likely to engage in sexual activity. She designed a survey and polled 327 African-American teen girls across metro Atlanta. Then she looked for a link between sex and self-esteem....
April 22, 2008
Apr. 23 - Dr. Stephen Webster always is concerned this time of the year when young women use indoor tanning beds so they can get a tan in time for prom. The Gundersen Lutheran dermatologist said he tries to make people aware of the dangers of ultraviolet UV radiation from tanning beds and sun lamps. The two types of ultraviolet radiation are ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B. UVB long has been associated...
April 22, 2008
James Jesse knows patients at his dental practice hate nothing more than the sight of the drill, so he added a new tool to his repertoire: a laser. But what is surprising to most people is that Jesse started using a laser in his practice in Colton, Calif., more than 15 years ago. What is even more surprising is that few other dentists have joined him. Even though laser technology has been available...
April 22, 2008
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Apr 23, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) - U.S. researchers say smoking, high blood pressure and obesity have dropped the life expectancy for people in Appalachia and parts of the South. While overall U.S. life expectancy increased more than seven years for men and more than six years for women between 1960 and 2000, there is a small but significant group that is dying younger, a report by the...
April 22, 2008
Oysters may excite the libido, but there is nothing like a hearty breakfast laced with sugar to boost a woman's chances of conceiving a son, according to a study released Wednesday. Likewise, a low-energy diet that skimps on calories, minerals and nutrients is more likely to yield a female of the human species, says the study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Britain's...
April 22, 2008
Federal food-safety officials are considering whether labels on some frozen chicken products adequately inform consumers that the chicken is raw and provide sufficient cooking instructions. Stuffed chicken entrees - which look cooked because they're breaded and prebrowned so that the breading sticks - are blamed for five salmonella outbreaks since 1998 that sickened 71 people, Minnesota health officials...
April 22, 2008
When you're shopping for lotions and potions, experts caution that you shouldn't assume a product is "all natural" just because that's what the label says. Sophie Uliano, author of Gorgeously Green, suggests studying ingredients. Many beauty products have chemical preservatives, strengtheners or sealants, so doing homework is a must, she says. "Look for something that is 100% made with organic ingredients....
April 22, 2008
ROCKVILLE, Md., Apr 22, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) - A U.S. government agency and The Advertising Council are waging an ad campaign urging middle-aged men to increase preventive medical testing, officials said. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, is conducting the campaign with the Ad Council. The ads point out that men are 25 percent...
April 22, 2008
For the first time since the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, life expectancy for a significant proportion of the United States is on the decline largely because of an increase in chronic diseases related to obesity, smoking and high blood pressure. Although life expectancy for all other Western nations and for most of the U.S. has continued to improve over the past several decades, researchers at Harvard...
April 21, 2008
Apr. 22 - People who suspect they have significant memory loss can face terrifying questions: Do I have Alzheimer's disease? If not, what's causing the forgetfulness? If it is Alzheimer's, what can be done? Two Triangle experts, Duke dementia expert Dr. Murali Doraiswamy and Lisa Gwyther, founder of Duke's Alzheimer's Family Support program, have collaborated on a new book. Called "The Alzheimer's...
April 21, 2008