The most healthful meal is the one you cook at home. But for those of us skilled at the art of takeout, the idea of cooking in our kitchens is daunting. Who has time after a busy day to shop, chop, prepare and cook?
The Times’s food writer Mark Bittman always makes cooking look easy as author of the weekly Minimalist column and his new blog Bitten. He’s also the author of several cookbooks, including “How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food.'’ I recently spoke with Mark about the how-to’s of home cooking, his favorite ingredients and a lot about beans.
Why do you think so many people find it tough to cook regularly at home?
I think there are a couple of lost generations. In the years after the war it became less and less popular to cook and more and more common to do things conveniently. Especially people born after 1960 or after, when reentering the workforce and using canned and frozen microwave stuff — they just didn’t see their mothers cooking.
For those of us who want to cook more, what’s your advice for getting started?
I would say start with a decent cookbook. Pick something you really like, and make the effort to be successful; you want positive reinforcement. Read the recipe carefully, set aside the time and make sure you’ve got the ingredients and the equipment and really walk yourself through it. What takes you two hours the first time may only take 15 minutes the third time.
What supplies should I always have in my kitchen? Are there any special pots or pans I need?
In “How To Cook Everything,” there are lists of what you need for your pantry and a list of the equipment. You can start with three or four pans, a couple different utensils. And you can start with 10 or 15 ingredients. The list includes pasta and rice, canned beans and tomatoes, spices, olive oil, eggs and butter, long-keeping vegetables like onions, potatoes and garlic and canned stock. You have to start with the right ingredients, and you have to invest a little money and a fair amount of time.
But that is usually the problem for most people. They say they don’t have time to cook. I know I often don’t.
Well, whatever it takes to get food on the table, you have to do something. I’m not saying calling the Chinese takeout guy is harder than cooking. But all things considered, it’s not that much different. Yesterday morning I woke up and cooked beans while getting ready to come to work. I got home really late, like at 7:45 p.m. I reheated the beans, washed some lettuce and broiled a piece of fish. I had stuff on the table in 15 minutes. People say, “I have no time.” It’s like exercise: you have to want to do it.
For me the worst part of cooking is shopping for groceries and figuring what ingredients I need for a meal.
These days I cook a lot of things that are already in the house. I eat a lot of eggs, vegetables, beans and pasta. A lot of people think cooking is complicated. But this is the thing. Once you learn what you’re doing you realize it’s not. As I said, I woke up yesterday and made beans. Even if you take a can of beans and throw it in a pot with cherry tomatoes (you don’t even have to cut them up), some garlic and olive oil — there’s nothing wrong with that. Broil a piece of fish, wash some lettuce, and you have a fine meal. If your kids don’t like fish, then use shrimp or a piece of meat. I’ve gotten so used to cooking simply I almost never do anything else. Even when people come over for dinner — they get the same things I cook for myself. If I made what I just described to you and you were coming over for dinner, you’d probably think, “He cooked. How nice.'’ People worry about this too much.
How many different types of meals should we know how to make? Is variety important?
Whatever makes you happy. If you know how to broil a piece of fish or meat, if you know how to make a stir-fry and a couple pasta dishes and maybe a rice dish, and if you know how to deal with beans and make a salad, at that point you are well on your way.
When you are cooking, do you ask yourself whether it’s healthy, or do you just want it to taste good?
I always thought if you were aware of what you were putting in your mouth you’re not going to eat badly. Nobody can cook what they cook in fast-food joints and restaurants, in general, because you just don’t have the same ingredients. But if you looked at what it means to put a half a cup of butter in a dish, you would just look and say, “I’m going to use less.'’ When you cook yourself, you just don’t put the same kind of crappy things in there that people put in food that is prepared for you.
Do you have a favorite ingredient?
I go through an awful lot of olive oil, a stunning amount. I’m eating a lot of legumes.
You’ve talked a lot about beans. How do you cook them? Don’t you have to soak them?
You don’t have to soak them, but it makes it faster if you do. If you soak small dried beans overnight, I wager you could get them most of the way cooked by the time you and your daughter got out of the house in the morning. There’s a lot of stuff you can start and stop in the morning, especially beans and grains.
I have to confess, I’m not much of a bean eater. Maybe I need to start. Why are you such a fan?
It’s the flavor, the satisfaction, the non-meatness, the high-fiberness. When you get into cooking you start to see the subtle differences among things. At first I didn’t know anything about fish, then I learned 50 species, and then it mattered if it was bay scallops or sea scallops or pink scallops. That’s where I’m at these days with vegetables and legumes. I didn’t pay much attention to cooking them for most of my adult life, and now I’m starting to understand the subtle differences.
Okay, so what beans should we all be trying?
Chickpeas are the best. Now I’m into these huge beans called gigantes. You eat three of them and it’s like you had a small potato. But you can take a pound of chickpeas, cook them on a Saturday and stick them in the refrigerator tossed with olive oil, and you can eat them all week long.
Do you have a particular food indulgence?
I have a lot of friends in the food business, so I get my share of treats. At home it’s almost like I’m happy with pretty much everything I cook. It’s not that it’s so great. It’s the knowledge that I put something together, it’s simple and I put something on the table and there we are, sitting and eating it. It’s something I’ve loved doing for a long time, and I’m still into it.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Lessons in Home Cooking
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Pizza for Breakfast? Yes!
I know what you're thinking: pizza? For breakfast? But the truth is that you can crack open last night's leftovers in the a.m. if you want to.
I know lots of women who skip breakfast, and they have a ton of different excuses for doing it. Some say they don't have time, others think they're "saving" calories by eliminating a meal, still others just don't like breakfast food.
But the bottom line is, eating in the morning is crucial when you're trying to trim down. "Eating just about anything in the range of 300 to 400 calories would be better than nothing at all," says SELF contributor Katherine Brooking, R.D., who developed the super-easy eating plan for this year's SELF Challenge. And even pizza can be healthy if it's thin-crust, loaded with veggies, and you stick to one slice.
Breakfast is one meal I never miss (my favorite morning combo includes Fage nonfat yogurt topped with fresh fruit and low-carb granola, yum!), and the same goes for most weight loss success stories.
Research shows that eating breakfast revs up your metabolism, keeps you from overeating later in the day and may even help sleekify your abs. Researchers at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles found that breakfast skippers have bigger tummies than those who regularly have a morning meal.
So eat something in the morning, anything. I know plenty of pals who end up forgoing it altogether to have just coffee or cola. I say, try heating up last night's leftovers-it may sound crazy, but if it works for you, do it!
Bonus: I find if I tell myself, "You can always eat it tomorrow," I put away the leftovers instead of eating more that night. Try it...you may save yourself some prebedtime calories. And watch your body reap the fat-burning benefits. What are your favorite breakfast foods?
Source: http://health.yahoo.com
The Easiest Diet Secret
Produce, especially the veggie variety, is a dieter’s best friend. When people eat veggies with a meal, they consume a full 20 percent fewer calories overall — and still feel satisfied afterward, a study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals.
I know that all that chopping and cooking feels like a drag, but it’s easier than you think to work in five cups of the fresh stuff a day.
At breakfast, have a fruit “smush” made with a medley of fresh berries and yogurt (the lean protein fills me up). Then, at lunch, have a great big salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, peas or whatever your favorite veggies are. Add grilled chicken or another lean protein to hold off afternoon hunger.
Start dinner with a veggie-packed soup, like minestrone, and make a side dish that you love (I’m a big fan of steamed spinach with a little salt). I also love ratatouille (especially in summer), but if you don’t have time for that, heat up some frozen veggies and sprinkle them with Parmesan or lemon juice for an easy, delicious, healthy side. My favorite brand of frozen veggies is from Cascadian Farm.
Source: health.yahoo.com
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Telling smokers "age" of lungs helps them quit
Smokers are more likely to kick the habit if they are told how "old" their lungs are, a British study found on Friday.
The concept of lung age -- measured by comparing a smoker's lungs to the age of a healthy person whose lungs function the same -- has helped patients better understand how smoking damages health, researchers had already found.
But that information is also effective in convincing smokers to quit, said Gary Parkes, a family physician in Hertfordshire outside London, who led the study published in the British Medical Journal.
"Telling smokers their lung age significantly improves the likelihood of them quitting smoking," Parkes and his colleagues wrote.
Smoking kills about four million people each year, according to the World Health Organization. Tobacco is highly addictive and the leading preventable cause of both cancer and heart disease.
The study in five general medical practices outside London involved 561 long-term smokers older than 35 and began with a simple test to record the volume and rate at which the volunteers exhaled air from the lungs.
One group received no detailed information about their results while the other people were given their lung age, shown a diagram of how smoking ages the lungs and told that quitting would slow the rate of damage.
Everyone was also strongly encouraged to quit and offered help to do so. One year later, saliva tests showed that 13 percent of the smokers told their lung age had quit while only 6 percent of people in the other group had stopped.
"Anybody who had good, understandable information seemed more inclined to give up," Parkes said. "The reason may be people had dreaded the worst and realized it was still worthwhile giving up."
The study counters research showing such health information does not prod them to quit and underscores the benefits of early screening because 16 percent of the people in the study had undiagnosed emphysema, Parkes said.
Giving people this kind of information could represent a cheap and easy way to get people to stop smoking and reduce smoking-related health problems that are putting pressure on health systems to treat.
"The cost, if you like, is certainly within the economic framework of a good deal," Parkes said.
Reuters
(Reporting by Michael Kahn; editing by Maggie Fox and Philippa Fletcher)
Popcorn ingredient causes lung disease: U.S. study
A chemical used to give butter flavor to popcorn can damage the lungs and airways of mice, U.S. government experts reported on Thursday.
Tests on mice show that diacetyl, a component of artificial butter flavoring, can cause a condition known as lymphocytic bronchiolitis, said the team at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health.
The condition can lead to obliterative bronchiolitis -- or "popcorn lung" -- a rare and debilitating disease seen in workers at microwave popcorn packaging plants and at least one consumer.
At least two microwave popcorn makers -- ConAgra Foods Inc and Weaver Popcorn Co Inc -- have said recently they would stop using diacetyl.
Laboratory mice made to inhale diacetyl vapors for three months developed lymphocytic bronchiolitis, the NIEHS team said.
"This is one of the first studies to evaluate the respiratory toxicity of diacetyl at levels relevant to human health," Daniel Morgan at NIEHS, whose team led the study, said in a statement.
Writing in the journal Toxicological Sciences, the researchers said findings suggest that workplace exposure to diacetyl contributes to the development of obliterative bronchiolitis.
The hard-to-treat condition causes vague symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath, and steadily worsens, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Congress has been working on a bill to order quick action by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to limit exposure to diacetyl. The House of Representatives passed a bill last year but the Senate has not acted.
The Food and Drug Administration said last September it was investigating a report of a man who came down with the life-threatening disease after eating several bags of butter-flavored microwave popcorn each day.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Will Dunham and John O'Callaghan)
Copy Right Reuters
Psychological scars: the hidden legacy of Iraq
NEW YORK (AFP) - Suicides, family breakups, depression and social stigma are just some of the hidden legacies of the Iraq war among the more than one million US troops who have served in the campaign.
While nearly 4,000 American troops have been killed in the war and more than 29,000 have been wounded, those who escape physical injury still stand a high chance of developing psychological scars that may stay with them for life.
Some have watched comrades die or witnessed unspeakable carnage, while others may have found it hard to come to terms with the trauma of killing.
A report last month focused on the psychological toll on troops from the 10th Mountain Division based in New York state, one of the most deployed brigades in the US Army since the September 11 attacks of 2001.
The study, by the group Veterans for America, found that the mental health care provided for soldiers did not meet the psychological burden they had suffered during repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Sooner or later, and likely sooner, we're going to hit the wall and something will have to change," said Bobby Muller, the founder of Veterans for America and a former Marine paralyzed while serving in Vietnam in 1969.
The report criticized a Pentagon policy of extending tours of duty from 12 to 15 months and insufficient time between deployments to recuperate as key factors in the high level of mental problems among returning US troops.
On its most recent deployment, the 10th Mountain Division's second brigade combat team lost 52 troops killed in action, while a further 270 were wounded, out of a total troop strength of around 3,500 soldiers.
The figures reveal the unit's soldiers to be five times more likely to be killed in action than the average soldier serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the report -- a major psychological stress on the troops.
The study found troops in the unit reported low morale, spousal abuse and attempted suicides. And yet, troops had to wait up to two months for an appointment with a mental health expert once they returned, it said.
A separate report by the Army released earlier this month found that soldiers on their third or fourth combat deployment were at particular risk of suffering mental health problems.
Major General Gale Pollock, the Army's deputy surgeon general, said the results simply "show the effects of a long war."
A similar report by the Army's Mental Health Advisory Team released in 2007 found that 28 percent of soldiers who had been in high-intensity combat were experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, or acute stress.
It also found that the percentage of soldiers with severe stress, emotional, alcohol or family problems had risen more than 85 percent since the invasion of Iraq five years ago.
In January, the Army said suicide rates had soared over the past three years, attributing the rise to strains on family relationships.
"I think it's a marker of the stress on the force," said Colonel Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatric consultant to the army's surgeon general.
According to the figures, more than 2,000 soldiers tried to take their own lives or injure themselves in 2006, compared to about 375 in 2002.
Yet another study by the Defense Department in June last year found that more than one third of active Army personnel who returned from combat experienced some degree of mental health problems.
However, according to some campaigners, the numbers could under-state the true scale of psychological problems, given that some troops are reluctant to admit to trauma, for fear of being stigmatized or overlooked for promotion.
Veterans for America said it considered that military commanders also wielded too much influence in the treatment of psychological problems.
In response to that report, the military at Fort Drum, the home of the 10th Mountain Division, acknowledged some shortcomings while characterizing elements of the study as misrepresenting the true picture.
"While we've made great strides this year to increase our mental health provider capacity, we acknowledge the shortage of mental health providers, not just here but across America," unit commander Major General Michael Oates said.
"We welcome the opinions of outside interest groups, but we're more interested in well-researched solutions to these problems," spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Paul Swiergosz added in a statement.
Copy Right AFP. By James Hossack - Sun Mar 16.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Lifestyle and Cholesterol Levels
When is it time to use medication for high cholesterol, and what are the best choices?
For elevated triglycerides, I suggest a three-month commitment to reduce the sugar and simple starches in your diet. This means lowering consumption of foods like potatoes, white rice, pasta, and baked goods, and replacing them with smaller quantities of whole grains like brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, and bright-colored vegetables and fruits.
It also means cutting down on sugary drinks, like soda. If that doesn't lower your triglycerides below 150 mg/dl, it's time to think about medications-and that's in addition to your dietary modifications, not instead!
Niacin, one of the B vitamins, is an effective and appealing treatment for many people concerned about high triglycerides, because it is a fairly natural approach. Over-the-counter forms of niacin are usually not strong enough, so a high-dose prescription version is usually used.
The only problem is that such high doses often cause redness and sweating in the face and upper chest (called a flushing reaction). Using a slow-release form of niacin and taking some aspirin before each dose sometimes helps.
Fibrates are also useful for lowering triglycerides. The two most widely used are gemfibrozil and fenofibrate. The most common side effect is upset stomach, but most people aren't too bothered by that. Rarely, the fibrates can cause irritation of the liver, which gets better quickly when the medicine is stopped.
Statins also lower triglyceride levels, but not nearly as well as niacin and fibrates.
If a high LDL is your main problem, you should reduce your dietary fat intake. If that's not good enough after three months, then I suggest taking a statin.
There are several to choose from, and your doctor can help select the best one for you. Many people know that they have to avoid grapefruit when taking a statin, but there is one exception-pravastatin is not affected by grapefruit, although it is one of the weaker statins.
The most common side effects are irritation of the liver or muscles, but these problems happen to less than 1 in 1,000 people taking a statin, and resolve promptly when you stop taking it.
One of the most exciting things about statins is that, besides lowering your LDL level, they also appear to directly reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. The specific reason for this is not yet understood. It is not known if any other methods of lowering cholesterol have the same kind of additional protective benefit.
If a statin plus dietary change still doesn't get you to your LDL goal, you might benefit from adding ezetemibe. This medicine blocks absorption of LDL cholesterol from your intestines.
It doesn't have much effect when used by itself, but ezetemibe is very powerful in combination with a statin, and almost never causes any side effects.
A few other medicines are occasionally prescribed to lower cholesterol, but these four (niacin, fibrates, statins and ezetimibe) are among the best and the most commonly used.
There are a few natural products advertised to lower cholesterol. The FDA issued a warning in August 2007 that two of the most common, red rice yeast and policosanol, often contain a cholesterol-lowering drug, lovastatin, as the main active ingredient. So you may be fooling yourself if you think these are safer than a prescribed statin just because they are "natural".
Garlic, fish oil, and a variety of other products are sometimes advertised as lowering cholesterol, too. My general attitude is that if an alternative product or natural substance is truly harmless, I have no objection to giving it a try. But always work with your doctor to monitor whether such products are really working and to make sure they aren't causing any side effects.
--------------------------
© 2007 Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. This article from Johns Hopkins University is provided as a service by Yahoo. All materials are produced independently by Johns Hopkins University, which is solely responsible for its content.
Pessimism Deadly for Heart Patients?
Outlook Affects Survival, Study Shows, So Look on the Bright Side
Keeping a positive attitude is good for your health, and if you are a heart patient it just may save your life, new research suggests.
A study of patients with heart disease followed for six to 10 years found that those with pessimistic beliefs about their recovery were twice as likely to die during that timeframe as those who felt more optimistic.
The research was presented this week in Baltimore at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, a group dedicated to the research of the interaction between the mind and body.
"This study is one of the first to examine how a patient's attitude toward their disease affects their health over the long term, and ultimately their survival," says lead researcher John C. Barefoot, PhD.
Mind and Body Connection
Barefoot, Redford B. Williams, MD, and colleagues from Duke University Medical Center conducted psychological assessments on 2,825 patients hospitalized for heart disease.
The patients were asked to describe their expectations about their ability to recover from their illness and regain a normal life.
During six to 10 years of follow-up, 978 of the patients died, with 66% dying of heart disease.
Patient expectations about their disease course were highly related to survival, with patients who had the most pessimistic views dying at twice the rate of those who were most optimistic.
After controlling for factors that could influence survival, including disease severity, functional status, and depression, the death rate among the most pessimistic patients was still 30% higher than the most optimistic, Williams tells WebMD.
"Negative outlook was an independent predictor of poor outcomes," he says. "And there seems to be something protective about having a more optimistic attitude that makes you feel that you are going to be OK."
He says patients with positive expectations may be more likely to make lifestyle changes and follow treatment regimens prescribed by their doctors.
The Impact of Stress
Another possible explanation is that positive thoughts may lessen the damaging effects of stress on the body.
A separate study presented by the Duke researchers at the Baltimore meeting examined this theory.
Researchers conducted personality profiles on 327 healthy people to determine if they were more inclined to exhibit positive or negative emotions. They then conducted tests designed to assess the study participants' physiological responses to stress.
People identified as being more positive were found to have significantly lower increases in blood pressure during stress than people who were negative.
They also had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol within 30 minutes of waking — a time in which levels tend to be high.
"It's not just that negative emotions are harmful," lead researcher Beverly H. Brummett, PhD, tells WebMD. "There seems to be something about the experience of having more positive emotions. They seem to act as a buffer against bad health outcomes."
Brummett says interventions like meditation, behavioral therapy, and regular exercise may help people with naturally gloomy dispositions change their outlook.
But cardiologist Donald LaVan, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, is not so sure.
LaVan, who is a spokesman for the American Heart Association, tells WebMD that very soon after the introduction of heart bypass surgery, cardiologists began to recognize that more optimistic patients fared better in terms of recovery and even survival.
This recognition led to the advent of the Zipper Club, a volunteer group made up of former heart surgery patients who help current patients deal with the emotional aspects of their illness.
LaVan says studies like the ones presented at the Baltimore meeting help advance the understanding of how emotions affect health.
"The conclusions are not too surprising, but the question becomes, 'Can you do anything to change someone's attitude?'" he says. "Maybe you can to some degree, but my clinical experience tells me that if a patient is walking around with a big black cloud over his head there's not much you can do about it."
----------------------------------
SOURCES: American Psychosomatic Society annual meeting, March 12, 2008, Baltimore. John C. Barefoot, PhD, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. Redford B. Williams, MD, division head, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. Beverly H. Brummett, PhD, research professor, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. Donald LaVan, MD, spokesman, American Heart Association; clinical associate professor of medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
© 2008 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.
Breast Cancer Gene Ringleader Found
Gene, Called SATB1, Orders Other Breast Cancer Genes Into Action and Dims Anticancer Genes.
Breast cancer experts have a new prime suspect among breast cancer genes, and that finding could lead to new breast cancer treatments.
The breast cancer gene in question, called SATB1, bosses other breast cancer genes and hushes anticancer genes.
The result: breast cancer grows and spreads aggressively when SATB1 is active. And when SATB2 is silenced, breast tumors slow down.
Those findings come from lab experiments done in test tubes and mice; further studies are needed in people.
To put SATB1's influence in perspective, the new lab tests show that switching off SATB1 affected more than 1,000 genes.
The researchers report that SATB1 isn't just active in advanced breast cancer; it may also be on the prowl in early-stage breast tumors, before cancer spreads from the breast to nearby lymph nodes.
In addition to being a potential target for new breast cancer treatments, SATB1 might predict the odds that early-stage breast cancer will spread, according to the researchers.
They included Hye-Jung Han, PhD, and Terumi Kohwi-Shigematsu, PhD, of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.
The study appears in the March 13 edition of Nature.
------------------------------
By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News
What's a Normal Blood Pressure?
A wealth of information is available about blood pressure, and sometimes the most important points get lost or confused. Although we often hear announcements in the press about new or revised blood-pressure guidelines, the basic facts haven't really changed much over the past several decades.
Blood pressure is measured by two numbers. The systolic pressure (the "top" number) is the highest pressure inside your arteries, measured at the moment when your heart is contracting.
It's the active part of a heartbeat. In contrast, the diastolic pressure (the "bottom" number) is the lowest pressure in your arteries, measured while your heart is relaxing between beats.
Experts have long debated whether the systolic or diastolic pressure is more important for health. The current evidence suggests that the systolic is a little more important, but the simple answer is that both numbers matter.
Let's review some of the basic facts about blood pressure.
Normal blood pressure is 120/80 or below. I'm often asked, "What is a normal blood pressure for my age?" The answer is much simpler than most people realize: Less than 120/80. While it's true that blood pressure tends to rise with age, that's no reason to feel complacent: Such a rise will always carry with it an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, and other complications of high blood pressure (hypertension).
Blood pressure normally varies throughout the day, often by 40 points or more. Exercise and stress are especially likely to increase it, while relaxation and sleep will usually lower it. Standing up or talking, for example, can increase blood pressure by 10 or more points. Even simply worrying about blood pressure will increase it. If your blood pressure is only high when you're exercising or when you're at the doctor's office, that's okay. But if it's high even part of the time in routine situations, that is abnormal and deserves treatment.
High blood pressure is anything above 120/80. However, mild elevations beyond those numbers only slightly increase the risk of significant health problems. We generally don't prescribe medication to bring down blood pressure until the systolic reaches 140 or the diastolic reaches 90. The exception is for people with diabetes or impaired kidney function, in whom we use medication for anything above 130/80. That's because people with diabetes and kidney disease are already at higher risk for heart attack and stroke.
Treating high blood pressure takes more than just medication. If your blood pressure is ever above 120/80, you can improve your overall health by lowering it, even if you don't need medication. Losing weight, exercising regularly, and limiting your sodium (salt) and alcohol intakes are proven ways of reducing blood pressure. Such treatments don't cost any money and the only side effect is likely to be improved health!
-----------------------------
© 2007 Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. This article from Johns Hopkins University is provided as a service by Yahoo. All materials are produced independently by Johns Hopkins University, which is solely responsible for its content.
Pet Allergies: Making It Work
With a few changes you can keep your companion animal -- and manage your pet allergies, too.
Do pet allergies have you wheezing and sneezing -- again? Well, there are over 132 million good reasons for that.
That's the number of cats and dogs living in U.S. homes as of 2002, says the American Veterinary Medical Association. And while these four-legged friends are by far the most common companion animals in America, they aren't the only creatures behind the exasperating symptoms of pet allergies.
The Cause of Pet Allergies: Protein
You'll find pet dander on just about every warm and fuzzy critter we bring in to our homes: from cats and dogs, to birds, hamsters, and ferrets. And just about anything with dander has the potential to bring susceptible people down with a suite of allergy symptoms, says allergist Asriani Chiu, MD.
But it's not a pet's hair, or even the flaky, dandruff-like dander itself, that causes allergies. Instead "it's a specific protein in the dander that people are allergic to," says Chiu, associate professor of pediatrics and medicine (allergy/immunology) at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "With any allergy, from hay fever to peanut allergies, it's always a protein in the substance that you're reacting to."
Pet allergy-producing proteins -- called allergens -- are also found in your pet's urine and saliva. Add to this the fact that these proteins are tiny, easily airborne, and ubiquitous, and it explains why some people can develop pet allergy symptoms simply by walking into an empty room.
What are the most common symptoms of pet allergies? "I get a stuffy nose and runny eyes, very much like seasonal allergies," says Anthony Herrig, an Oregon web developer with cat allergies. Other symptoms can range from mild -- itchy throat, nasal congestion, and sneezing -- to a more severe, asthma-like response, including coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
Why Pet Allergies Hit You
Usually, not everyone in a family or household is allergic to pets. Just as you have your mom's smile or dad's laugh, you may have inherited your family's genetic predisposition to allergies. Add to this a higher risk of developing allergies to pets if you have other allergies or asthma, and it's clear why you may be alone in your congestion. What's not clear just yet, says Chiu, is why one person can have mild symptoms, while another is laid low with an acute, asthma-like response.
Fortunately, there's a lot you can do to manage pet allergies -- no matter how they affect you. But before you try the following tips, it's a good idea to make sure you really are allergic to dander. If you're not positive you are allergic to dogs, cats, or other pets, visit an allergist, who can help identify which specific allergen is triggering your symptoms.
Tips to Help You Cope With Allergies and Pets
Though the best way to find relief from allergies is to avoid exposure to what you're allergic to, you can have your precious pets and live well, too. Allergists and pet allergy sufferers offer these tips:
Pet Allergies Tip 1: Change Your Environment
* Keep Your Bedroom Pet-Free. Something as simple as making your bedroom a pet-free sanctuary "can significantly decrease levels of allergens" in that space, says Alan Goldsobel, MD, a spokesman for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Goldsobel also suggest switching to special bedding designed to be less permeable to allergens.
* Consider a HEPA Filter . HEPA filters remove tiny airborne pollutants, like dust mites, pollen, and pet dander, from the air you breathe. "Dander is so airy and light that HEPA filters can filter it out of the air," reducing your exposure, Chiu tells WebMD. Within a given area stand-alone filters are typically more effective than a whole-house HEPA system, Chiu adds. As for those air de-ionizers/purifiers often hawked on late-night infomercials, they may make allergies worse by releasing harmful ozone gas.
* Learn to Love Housework. "I try to vacuum the bedroom frequently and change furnace filters to reduce the dander in the air," says Herrig. Other allergy sufferers tackle pet allergies by shampooing rugs regularly, changing people and pet bedding frequently, wiping down walls where pets rub, and dusting often. And to reduce the number of places where allergens can build up, Goldsobel suggests converting to hard-surface floor and minimizing the amount of upholstered furniture in your home
Pet Allergies Tip 2: Change Yourself
* Wash Your Hands . Some people bathe their companion animals in an effort to reduce pet dander, but this approach is "very transient" Goldsobel tells WebMD. While washing does decrease the amount of shed allergens, the effect lasts mere days -- while the cat's bad mood may last far longer! More effective is giving yourself a scrub by washing hands and face frequently.
* Mediate With Medication. Over-the-counter allergy medications, such as antihistamines, can relieve mild allergy symptoms like nasal congestion and itchy eyes, but they won't help asthma-type symptoms, such as wheezing and chest tightness. Talk to your primary care physician or an allergist if you think you'll benefit from prescription allergy medication.
* Consider Allergy Shots. If you know you'll be around pets long-term -- for example, your young kids have a new puppy -- you might want to consider allergy shots. These shots are also called allergy vaccines. Allergy shots help you develop protective antibodies so that you won't have an allergic reaction when exposed to an allergen. Allergy shots require patience, however. It can take almost a year of weekly injections before you convert to monthly maintenance doses, then another 3-5 years of monthly shots before you no longer have allergy symptoms -- and need no more medication.
* Understand Your Environment. No matter how religiously you clean, you'll still be exposed to dander. Pet allergens are "sticky," making it easy for people to carry them on their clothes. This explains why you'll find them in places that have no pets, such as schools, workplaces, and pet-free homes.
* Expand Your Definition of "Pet." If, after Fido or Fifi have passed on, you still crave a pet's companionship, think creatures without feathers or fur. Allergy experts recommend turtles, geckos, lizards, snakes, fish -- even tarantulas.
Finally, "don't give up hope," says Anthony Herrig. With a few lifestyle changes and a little help, you can enjoy pets all your life!
------------------------
By Wendy C. Fries
WebMD Feature
How to Recognize an Asthma Attack
An asthma attack is a sudden worsening of asthma symptoms caused by the tightening of muscles around your airways (bronchospasm). During the attack, the lining of the airways becomes swollen or inflamed and more and thicker mucus than normal is produced. All of these factors -- bronchospasm, inflammation, and mucus production -- cause symptoms such as difficulty breathing, wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and difficulty performing normal daily activities. Other symptoms of an asthma attack include:
* Severe wheezing when breathing both in and out
* Coughing that won't stop
* Very rapid breathing
* Chest pain or pressure
* Tightened neck and chest muscles, called retractions
* Difficulty talking
* Feelings of anxiety or panic
* Pale, sweaty face
* Blue lips or fingernails
* Or worsening symptoms despite use of your medications
Some people with asthma may go for extended periods without having any symptoms, interrupted by periodic worsening of their symptoms, due to exposure to asthma triggers or perhaps from over doing it during exercise.
Mild asthma attacks are generally more common. Usually, the airways open up within a few minutes to a few hours after treatment. Severe attacks are less common but last longer and require immediate medical help. It is important to recognize and treat even mild symptoms to help you prevent severe episodes and keep asthma under control.
What Happens If an Asthma Attack Goes Untreated?
Without immediate treatment, your breathing will become more labored, and wheezing may get louder. If you use a peak flow meter at this time, your personal best reading will probably be reduced.
As your lungs continue to tighten, you will be unable to use the peak flow meter at all. Gradually, your lungs will tighten so much that there is not enough air movement to produce wheezing. This is sometimes called the "silent chest," and it is a dangerous sign. You need to be transported to a hospital immediately. Unfortunately, some people interpret the disappearance of wheezing as a sign of improvement and fail to get prompt emergency care.
If you do not receive adequate treatment, you will eventually be unable to speak and will develop a bluish coloring around your lips. This color change, known as "cyanosis," means you have less and less oxygen in your blood. Without immediate aggressive treatment in an intensive care unit, you will lose consciousness and eventually die.
How Do I Recognize the Early Signs of An Attack?
Early warning signs are changes that happen just before or at the very beginning of an asthma attack. These changes start before the well-known symptoms of asthma and are the earliest signs that your asthma is worsening.
In general, these signs are not severe enough to stop you from going about your daily activities. But by recognizing these signs, you can stop an asthma attack or prevent one from getting worse.
Early warning signs include:
* Frequent cough, especially at night
* Reduced peak flow meter readings
* Losing your breath easily or shortness of breath
* Feeling very tired or weak when exercising
* Wheezing or coughing after exercise
* Feeling tired, easily upset, grouchy or moody
* Decreases or changes in lung function as measured on a peak flow meter
* Signs of a cold, or allergies (sneezing, runny nose, cough, nasal congestion, sore throat and headache)
* Trouble sleeping
The severity of an asthma attack can escalate rapidly, so it's important to treat these symptoms immediately once you recognize them.
What Do I Do If I Have An Asthma Attack?
If you are experiencing an asthma attack and your symptoms do not improve after following your asthma action plan contact your doctor and follow the "Red Zone" or emergency instructions immediately. You need medical attention right away.
------------------------
Reviewed by the doctors at The Cleveland Clinic Department of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine.
Skin Cancer: Some Burning Facts
While you are still trying to avoid the cold, it's a good a time to think about skin cancer protection and screening as summertime approaches.
Your total lifetime sun exposure increases your risk for melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma.
Melanoma is the most worrisome skin cancer, because it can spread (metastasize) very early, when the mole is still small. Squamous cell and basal cell skin cancers can also cause harm, but do all of their damage locally (without spreading to other parts of the body), so the severity is related to the size of the lesion you can see.
Here are the most important risk factors for skin cancer that you should consider:
Prevention is straightforward: Use quality sunscreen that blocks both UVA and UVB and has an SPF rating of at least 15 (higher for fair skin or more intense exposure). Reapply the sunscreen frequently (at least every two hours), especially after swimming. There are many high-tech clothes these days that look and feel cool while protecting you from the sun. A hat helps to protect the top of your head and your face, and sunglasses are important, too. Even on cloudy days, sun exposure can be significant, especially between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Watch for moles and lesions that are growing, bleeding, itching or becoming painful, because they could be skin cancer. Those symptoms, however, can occur with many other skin conditions that are not so worrisome. Remember the ABCD warning signs of melanoma:
Ask your doctor or a dermatologist about any suspicious moles. If you limit sun exposure and check your skin regularly, you can minimize your risk and get any problems treated quickly, before they cause you any real trouble.
-------------------------------------
© 2007 Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. This article from Johns Hopkins University is provided as a service by Yahoo. All materials are produced independently by Johns Hopkins University, which is solely responsible for its content.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Sex Infections Found in Quarter of Teenage Girls
The first national study of four common sexually transmitted diseases among girls and young women has found that one in four are infected with at least one of the diseases, federal health officials reported Tuesday.
Nearly half the African-Americans in the study of teenagers ages 14 to 19 were infected with at least one of the diseases monitored in the study — human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis, a common parasite.
The 50 percent figure compared with 20 percent of white teenagers, health officials and researchers said at a news conference at a scientific meeting in Chicago.
The two most common sexually transmitted diseases, or S.T.D.’s, among all the participants tested were HPV, at 18 percent, and chlamydia, at 4 percent, according to the analysis, part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Each disease can be serious in its own way. HPV, for example, can cause cancer and genital warts.
Among the infected women, 15 percent had more than one of the diseases.
Women may be unaware they are infected. But the diseases, which are infections caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites, can produce acute symptoms like irritating vaginal discharge, painful pelvic inflammatory disease and potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy. The infections can also lead to longterm ailments like infertility and cervical cancer.
The survey tested for specific HPV strains linked to genital warts and cervical cancer.
Officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the findings underscored the need to strengthen screening, vaccination and other prevention measures for the diseases, which are among the highest public health priorities.
About 19 million new sexually transmitted infections occur each year among all age groups in the United States.
“High S.T.D. infection rates among young women, particularly young African-American women, are clear signs that we must continue developing ways to reach those most at risk,” said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr., who directs the centers’ division of S.T.D. prevention.
The president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Cecile Richards, said the new findings “emphasize the need for real comprehensive sex education.”
“The national policy of promoting abstinence-only programs is a $1.5 billion failure,” Ms. Richards said, “and teenage girls are paying the real price.”
Although earlier annual surveys have tested for a single sexually transmitted disease in a specified population, this is the first time the national study has collected data on all the most common sexual diseases in adolescent women at the same time. It is also the first time the study measured human papillomavirus.
Dr. Douglas said that because the new survey was based on direct testing, it was more reliable than analyses derived from data that doctors and clinics sent to the diseases center through state and local health departments.
“What we found is alarming,” said Dr. Sara Forhan, a researcher at the centers and the lead author of the study.
Dr. Forhan added that the study showed “how fast the S.T.D. prevalence appears.”
“Far too many young women are at risk for the serious health effects of untreated S.T.D.’s, ” she said.
The centers conducts the annual study, which asks a representative sample of the household population a wide range of health questions. The analysis was based on information collected in the 2003-4 survey.
Extrapolating from the findings, Dr. Forhan said 3.2 million teenage women were infected with at least one of the four diseases.
The 838 participants in the study were chosen at random with standard statistical techniques. Of the women asked, 96 percent agreed to submit vaginal swabs for testing.
The findings and specific treatment recommendations were available to the participants calling a password-protected telephone line. Three reminders were sent to participants who did not call.
Health officials recommend treatment for all sex partners of individuals diagnosed with curable sexually transmitted diseases. One promising approach to reach that goal is for doctors who treat infected women to provide or prescribe the same treatment for their partners, Dr. Douglas said. The goal is to encourage men who may not have a physician or who have no symptoms and may be reluctant to seek care to be treated without a doctor’s visit.
He also urged infected women to be retested three months after treatment to detect possible reinfection and to treat it.
Dr. Forhan said she did not know how many participants received their test results.
Federal health officials recommend annual screening tests to detect chlamydia for sexually active women younger than 25. The disease agency also recommends that women ages 11 to 26 be fully vaccinated against HPV.
The Food and Drug Administration has said in a report that latex condoms are “highly effective” at preventing infection by chlamydia, trichomoniasis, H.I.V., gonorrhea and hepatitis B.
The agency noted that condoms seemed less effective against genital herpes and syphilis. Protection against human papillomavirus “is partial at best,” the report said. [nytimes.com]
A Heart Device Is Found Vulnerable to Hacker Attacks
To the long list of objects vulnerable to attack by computer hackers, add the human heart.
The threat seems largely theoretical. But a team of computer security researchers plans to report Wednesday that it had been able to gain wireless access to a combination heart defibrillator and pacemaker.
They were able to reprogram it to shut down and to deliver jolts of electricity that would potentially be fatal — if the device had been in a person. In this case, the researcher were hacking into a device in a laboratory.
The researchers said they had also been able to glean personal patient data by eavesdropping on signals from the tiny wireless radio that Medtronic, the device’s maker, had embedded in the implant as a way to let doctors monitor and adjust it without surgery.
The report, to published at www.secure-medicine.org, makes clear that the hundreds of thousands of people in this country with implanted defibrillators or pacemakers to regulate their damaged hearts — they include Vice President Dick Cheney — have no need yet to fear hackers. The experiment required more than $30,000 worth of lab equipment and a sustained effort by a team of specialists from the University of Washington and the University of Massachusetts to interpret the data gathered from the implant’s signals. And the device the researchers tested, a combination defibrillator and pacemaker called the Maximo, was placed within two inches of the test gear.
Defibrillators shock hearts that are beating chaotically and dangerously back into normal rhythms. Pacemakers use gentle stimulation to slow or speed up the heart. Federal regulators said no security breaches of such medical implants had ever been reported to them.
The researchers said they chose Medtronic’s Maximo because they considered the device typical of many implants with wireless communications features. Radios have been used in implants for decades to enable doctors to test them during office visits. But device makers have begun designing them to connect to the Internet, which allows doctors to monitor patients from remote locations.
The researchers said the test results suggested that too little attention was being paid to security in the growing number of medical implants being equipped with communications capabilities.
“The risks to patients now are very low, but I worry that they could increase in the future,” said Tadayoshi Kohno, a lead researcher on the project at the University of Washington, who has studied vulnerability to hacking of networked computers and voting machines.
The paper summarizing the research is called “Pacemakers and Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators: Software Radio Attacks and Zero-Power Defenses.” The last part refers to defensive possibilities the researchers outlined that they say would enhance security without draining an implant’s battery. They include methods for warning a patient of tampering or requiring that an incoming signal be authenticated, using energy harvested from the incoming signals.
But Mr. Kohno and Kevin Fu, who led the University of Massachusetts arm of the project, said they had not tried to test the defenses in an actual implant or to learn if anyone trying to use them might run afoul of existing patent claims.
Another participant in the project, Dr. William H. Maisel, a cardiologist who is director of the Medical Device Safety Institute at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said that the results had been shared last month with the F.D.A., but not with Medtronic.
“We feel this is an industry-wide issue best handled by the F.D.A.,” Dr. Maisel said.
The F.D.A. had already begun stepping up scrutiny of radio devices in implants. But the agency’s focus has been primarily on whether unintentional interference from other equipment might compromise the safety or reliability of the radio-equipped medical implants. In a document published in January, the agency included security in a list of concerns about wireless technology that device makers needed to address.
Medtronic, the industry leader in cardiac regulating implants, said Tuesday that it welcomed the chance to look at security issues with doctors, regulators and researchers, adding that it had never encountered illegal or unauthorized hacking of its devices that have telemetry, or wireless control, capabilities.
“To our knowledge there has not been a single reported incident of such an event in more than 30 years of device telemetry use, which includes millions of implants worldwide,” a Medtronic spokesman, Robert Clark, said. Mr. Clark added that newer implants with longer transmission ranges than Maximo also had enhanced security.
Boston Scientific, whose Guidant division ranks second behind Medtronic, said its implants “incorporate encryption and security technologies designed to mitigate these risks.”
St. Jude Medical, the third major defibrillator company, said it used “proprietary techniques” to protect the security of its implants and had not heard of any unauthorized or illegal manipulation of them.
Dr. Maisel urged that patients not be alarmed by the discussion of security flaws. “Patients who have the devices are far better off having these devices than not having them,” he said. “If I needed a defibrillator, I’d ask for one with wireless technology.” [nytimes.com]
Friday, March 7, 2008
McDonald's 4-Year-Old Burger
Diet.com Author and Obesity Activist Julia Havey has been aging a McDonalds cheeseburger for 4 years. Find out what happens to this old burger? Fast food cheeseburgers age better than most humans. The French Fries still look fresh and vibrant. Sarah, Diet.com Host, also guest stars
Eat Breakfast, Weigh Less!
It’s been pounded into our brains: Eat fewer calories if you want to lose weight. Not rocket science – right?
Then why is skipping breakfast (and potentially saving 300-400 calories each day) being associated with weight gain?
According to a recent article in the International Business Times, American teens who skipped breakfast ended up weighing 5 pounds heavier than teens who started their day with a morning meal.
Diet surveys were given to 2,216 middle and high school students from Minnesota from 1998 to 1999 and again from 2003 and 2004.
Like toast, an interesting finding popped up: “Girls were initially more likely than boys to skip breakfast. During the five years, the researchers found an almost 17 percent decrease in the number of boys who ate breakfast. At the end of the study, 18.9 percent of the boys missed the meal versus 13.8 percent of the girls.”
I’m not convinced by this study that the teenage boys or girls skip that morning meal in an effort to reduce calories and lose weight.
What I think is a more common problem is that teenagers, like many adults, are rushed in the morning. Many eat extra calories in the evening, from dinnertime and onward and as a consequence, they awaken without a morning appetite.
And in the five years of this study, we’ve certainly seen a rise in the availability of snack foods along with a rise in the stress level of many teens. Facts that may be interrelated.
Teens are also not getting enough sleep. Getting more zzzz’s is probably higher on their to-do list, than waking earlier so they can eat a healthy breakfast.
Skipping breakfast can easily set people up for starting their day feeling sluggish; this doesn’t encourage individuals to take the stairs instead of the elevator or park their car farther away in an effort to burn more calories. It also makes people more vulnerable to food temptations at work and at home.
An important take-home message here is this: when you consume your calories is as important as the type and number of calories you gobble.
Also, how you start your day can set you up for either failure or success.
Source: www.diet.com
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Penis Enlargement Review
It's important that you read penis enlargement reviews before using penis enlargement products. To get the most comprehensive database of penile health information, visit Penis Englarment Review.
The Penis Enlargement Review is the only penile health publication comprised of leading male enhancement specialists all certified and practicing within their respective fields.
Here you will find a lot of coherent information on penis health, sexual health, as well as reviews of the best penis enlargement products.
You can also see on the top products and penis extender reviews. These are a valuable resource for anyone purchasing pharmaceutical or male enhancement products for the treatment of certain penile disorders (visit penile enlargement). All penis enlargement devices reviewed and rated by the Penis Enlargement Review are tested for safety and we ensure that each of these products are efficient and affective at providing the results they claim.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
New Food Formula: Tastes Fine, Kills Worms
Parasitic worms infect at least 290 million people, a number that could be reduced by adequate sanitation that separates sewage from human contact.
Kraft Foods, the conglomerate built on macaroni and cheese, is working on a new and unusual product line — food that is not only tasty, but kills intestinal worms.
It is not intended for sale in the United States, but is aimed at rural Asia, Africa and Latin America, where worms leave millions of children lethargic, dangerously anemic and, sometimes, passing blood.
The food is in the early development stage, and a spokeswoman said the company was not ready to say whether it would be a cheese, a pasta, a granola bar or something else. But it will incorporate deworming chemicals developed by TyraTech, a company in Melbourne, Fla., that makes safe pesticides.
The pesticides, explained R. Douglas Armstrong, chief executive of TyraTech, are derived from plant oils. He would not name the plants, but compared the idea to the power of citronella to repel mosquitoes.
The oils attach to three olfactory and central nervous system receptors found only in invertebrates. When overstimulated, Dr. Armstrong said, those receptors produce unstoppable cascades of impulses in the nervous systems of insects or worms, repelling or killing them.
Dr. Armstrong compared it to ringing a doorbell so incessantly that it finally triggers a heart attack. Because vertebrates, including humans, lack these receptors, the oils are harmless to them.
They have been tested on mice, which are also vertebrates. Five days of treatment cleared them of dwarf tapeworms, TyraTech said. Tests on humans have not been done, so it is not clear what the prospective delicacies will taste like, said Sarah Delea, a spokeswoman for Kraft.
Dr. Armstrong said that different blends would work and that taste could be removed, masked with food flavors or coated with microencapsulization, as is done with medicine.
Plant oils’ killing power was discovered by accident, he added.
Essam Enan, a biochemist who is now the chief scientific officer for TyraTech, was formerly a cancer researcher studying the oils at the University of California, Davis, which is in the hot Sacramento Valley, when there was a power failure.
“Pretty soon, the other labs in the building began to close down for the day,” Dr. Armstrong said. “They had opened their windows. But there were too many flies and bugs, and it was too hot to close them.”
“But there were no bugs in Essam’s lab,” he continued. “Then he found some dead flies. That’s when he began to appreciate the potency.”
Dr. Frank O. Richards Jr., a parasitologist at the Carter Center in Atlanta, said he found the idea of a worm-killing food “interesting but not convincing yet.”
He would want to see proof, he said, that it worked on roundworms, which are metabolically different from tapeworms and much more common. And he would want proof that it killed worms, rather than just irritating them enough to make them migrate to other organs.
“We’re always interested in new worm drugs, because there isn’t a lot of research into them,” he said. “But a lot in this remains to be looked at.”
Although worm killing is a new angle for Kraft, Ms. Delea said, the manufacturer does reformulate some foods to be used in poor countries to improve health.
For example, she said, the Tang drink it sells in Asia and Latin America has extra vitamins. And the Eden brand cheese it sells in the Philippines is fortified with iodine. Iodine deficiency is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation, and it also leads to stunting and goiters.
Credits:
Author: DONALD G. McNEIL Jr., published at nytimes.com
Hair could help diagnose breast cancer
Scientists spot distinctive pattern in X-rays of hair from cancer patients
Hair from women with breast cancer can be distinguished from hair obtained from women without the disease, researchers in Australia report.
When hair is exposed to X-rays, the radiation is diffracted in a distinctive pattern by the alpha-keratin that forms hair, the researchers explain in the International Journal of Cancer. Dr. Gary L. Corino and Dr. Peter W. French, based at Fermiscan Ltd in Sydney, used the technique to look at samples of hair from 13 patients diagnosed with breast cancer and 20 healthy subjects.
Hair was cut as close to the skin as possible to obtain samples of the most recent hair growth. The investigators "successfully and consistently generated the basic alpha-keratin X-ray diffraction pattern in every hair sample."
Hair from the breast cancer patients produced the same features "with the only difference being the superimposition of a new feature." This was a distinctive low-intensity ring.
This ring sign was fairly accurate in identifying breast cancer. It missed one of the breast cancer patients, and showed up as a false-positive in three of the healthy subject.
The researchers went on to study a length of hair representing 6 months' growth from a breast cancer patient whose hair fell out following chemotherapy. X-ray diffraction at three points along the hair showed clear evidence of the ring at the position furthest from the hair root, a fainter ring at the middle point, and complete absence of the ring close to the root.
"This progressive reduction in the intensity of the ring appears to correlate with the patient's course of treatment and possibly indicates the eradication of the cancer as a result of that treatment," Corino and French suggest.
As for the reason for the ring pattern, they suggest it may represent "incorporation of extraneous lipid material into the fiber as a result of the presence of a tumor." It may also be that the disease affects hair follicles in some way.
Further testing is needed to establish the accuracy of this methodology as a diagnostic test for breast cancer, they conclude.
Copyright 2008 Reuters.
Hormone therapy skews mammogram results
Study: Even short-term use can make detecting breast cancer more difficult
CHICAGO - Women on hormone replacement therapy have only a slightly higher risk of developing breast cancer, but there are much greater chances they will experience the worry of abnormal mammograms or may undergo an avoidable breast biopsy, researchers said on Monday.
Mammograms and biopsy exams were also found to be less reliable at detecting breast cancer among women taking hormones, which counteract symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness.
Originally, the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study involving 16,608 women aged 50 to 79 found breast cancer incidence among women taking the hormones estrogen and progestin projected to an additional one in 1,000 cases compared to women taking an inert placebo.
“What this data does is emphasize that yes, the breast cancer risk is still there, but more importantly, instead of that low number of one in 1,000 getting breast cancer, one in 10 women are told they had an abnormal mammogram they’ll have to deal with, and probably even more importantly, one in 25 women will have an otherwise avoidable breast biopsy,” Dr. Rowan Chlebowski at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center said in a telephone interview.
“Both of those less reliably found cancer,” he added.
Previous research has shown hormone replacement therapy increases breast tissue density, which can make detection of cancerous tumors more difficult, although the current study did not examine this factor.
Since the original findings of increased cancer risk, doctors generally have urged women opting for hormone therapy to use it at the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible time.
Roughly 25 million U.S. prescriptions for hormone therapy are written yearly, Chlebowski said.
The pharmaceutical company Wyeth said in a statement the study’s findings did not change what is already known about the breast cancer risk from hormone replacement therapy.
“These findings represent a concern for post-menopausal women who are considering hormone therapy,” Chlebowski said in a statement. “They should take the results of this study into consideration and consult with their physicians before undergoing even short-term hormone therapy.”
In the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 35 percent of women taking hormones had mammograms with abnormal results compared to 23 percent of women taking a placebo. An abnormal test can create emotional as well as financial hardships, the study noted.
Ten percent of women taking hormones had breast biopsies ordered by their doctors, compared to 6 percent of women taking a placebo.
During the 5-1/2 years of the study, there were 199 breast cancers found in the hormone group and 150 in the placebo group. Women taking hormones had more advanced cancers yet biopsies ordered by their doctors had a lower rate of diagnosis — 15 percent in the hormone group versus 20 percent in the placebo group.
“(A year) after discontinuation (of the therapy) ... the adverse effects on mammogram and breast biopsy performance were seen even in younger women in the fifth decade of life, so the finding may impact women just entering menopause as well,” Chlebowski said.
Copyright 2008 Reuters.
Vaccine protects against prostate cancer in mice
2 shots stopped disease in rodents with pre-cancerous legions, study says
NEW YORK - An experimental vaccine can provide long-term protection against prostate cancer in mice genetically predisposed to the disease, new research indicates.
"By early vaccination, we have basically given these mice life-long protection against a disease they were destined to have," senior investigator Dr. W. Martin Kast, from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said in a statement.
"This has never been done before and, with further research, could represent a paradigm shift in the management of human prostate cancer."
The vaccine stimulates an immune response against PSCA, which stands for prostate stem cell antigen. PSCA is a good vaccine target because it is overly expressed in prostate cancer, but displays limited expression in other tissues, the investigators note.
In the new study reported in the journal Cancer Research, the investigators administered a PSCA-based vaccine to mice made prone to prostate cancer. The animals were 8 weeks old and already had pre-cancerous prostate lesions.
Vaccination was associated with a robust immune response. At 12 months, 90 percent of the vaccinated mice were still alive, while all of the control animals had either died or had large tumors.
Human studies are needed to confirm the safety and efficacy of this vaccine strategy. "We feel this is a very promising approach. With just two shots, the vaccine will prime immune cells to be on the lookout for any cell that over-expresses PSCA."
*Copyright 2008 Reuters.
The Ultimate Anti-Aging Vitamin
Vitamin C can fend off heart disease, cancer, memory loss—and wrinkles. Here’s how to make it work for you.
Remember when vitamin C was hailed as the best, and maybe only, cold remedy? Then it became the Rodney Dangerfield of vitamins: It didn’t get any respect. The nutrient’s glory days of curing scurvy-riddled sailors via juicy citrus fruit seemed to be the only thing keeping its reputation afloat, particularly after a massive research review found C to be virtually useless for fighting colds. But don’t believe it. The truth is that scientists have taken a fresh look at C—and have found lots of new ways it can help you stay healthy and look and feel younger. Here’s the latest on what C can really do for you.
Prevent wrinkles
You can’t pick up a beauty product these days without the label touting its antioxidants. There’s a good reason: Antioxidants—like vitamin C—help turn back the clock. An October 2007 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who ate foods rich in vitamin C had fewer wrinkles and less age-related dry skin than those whose diets contained only small amounts of the vitamin. C helps form collagen, which smooths fine lines and wrinkles, according to Patricia Farris, MD, clinical assistant professor of dermatology at Tulane University in New Orleans.
The key seems to be C’s ability to fight free radicals, a by-product of cell metabolism in your body. Free radicals are thought to attack proteins, fats, and DNA—and break down collagen. C also seems to guard against ultraviolet rays from the sun, which can lead to freckles and a mottled complexion. “Vitamin C does some repair and firming on the skin,” Farris says.
What to do now: Use a topical vitamin C treatment daily after you wash your face and before you slather on moisturizer or sunscreen so it penetrates the skin. Farris recommends La Roche-Posay Active C facial moisturizer or SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic topical antioxidant treatment.
Protect your heart
Experts continue to argue about whether antioxidants like vitamin C can prevent heart disease. But some of the evidence is highly persuasive. When Finnish researchers looked at studies involving nearly 300,000 people over 10 years, they found that taking more than 700 milligrams of C supplements daily reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease by 25 percent. And a recent study from Harvard Uni-versity researchers hints that women who take a combo of 500 milligrams of vitamin C daily and 600 IU of vitamin E (another antioxidant) can cut their risk of stroke by 30 percent. It’s possible that people who take vitamin supplements simply have healthier lifestyles than those who don’t, which could explain this finding. It’s also possible, experts say, that C enhances the functioning of endothelial cells (which line the inside of all blood vessels), slowing artery clogging and lowering blood pressure.
What to do now: Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, which are full of vitamin C as well as other healthy nutrients, and consider taking C and E supplements. Experts say there are essentially no risks, but first check with your doctor.
Keep cancer at bay
A diet full of vitamin C–rich fruits and vegetables isn’t just good for your heart, it may also lower your risks of bladder, esophagus, stomach, and lung cancers. Even though more research is needed to find out which compounds in fruits and veggies do the trick, researchers say the association is strong. Someday, C may also be used to treat cancer. High levels of C given intravenously seem to be toxic to cancer cells (studies on vitamin C taken orally showed no effect on cancerous cells). Intravenous C appears to trigger the formation of hydrogen peroxide, which kills some cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed, says lead study author Mark Levine, MD, chief of the molecular and clinical nutrition section and senior staff physician at the National Institutes of Health. Levine says doctors at the University of Kansas Medical School and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia are trying this therapy on cancer patients.
What to do now: “Strive for five or more fruits and vegetables daily, in a rainbow of colors,” Levine says. “It’s where the most benefit is.
Boost brain power
Pairing vitamins C and E is smart for another reason: It may lessen your Alzheimer’s risks by as much as 64 percent, according to research in the Archives of Neurology. Just 500 milligrams of C and 400 IU of E appear to be enough. The brain’s high fat content makes it especially vulnerable to free radicals, but these antioxidants may act as shields, says study author Peter Zandi, PhD, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Some studies suggest that vitamin E does its job reducing free radicals in the body, but then its capacity is depleted,” Zandi says. “Vitamin C may recharge E.”
What to do now: Try taking C and E supplements, and talk to your doc about your risks for Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Save your eyesight
Vitamin C can’t prevent the need for reading glasses around age 45. But anti-oxidants, including C, help prevent one of the leading causes of blindness: age-related macular degeneration (AMD). More than 3.5 million Americans are thought to be in the early stages, and the disease strikes more women than men. A major clinical trial sponsored by the National Eye Institute showed that a daily supplement of 500 milligrams of vitamin C, 400 IU of vitamin E, 15 milligrams of beta-carotene, 80 milligrams of zinc, and 2 milligrams of copper reduced the risk of moderate or severe AMD-related vision loss by up to 25 percent. The antioxidants neutralize damage to the retina caused by, you guessed it, free radicals.
What to do now: If you’re at high risk for AMD (you’re overweight or have a family history), check to see if your multi-vitamin contains the study’s amounts of C, E, beta-carotene/vitamin A, zinc, and copper. Chances are, its C and E levels fall short, but additional supplements will do the job. (Caveat: Don’t follow this advice if you smoke; this level of beta-carotene may up your lung-cancer risks.)
Help you live longer
You’ve probably heard that green tea boosts the body’s defenses against toxins. That’s important because toxins are thought to contribute to cancer, heart attack, stroke, and lots of other maladies. In fact, one to two cups a day may reduce a woman’s risk of dying by about 20 per-cent, Japanese researchers say. What’s the vitamin C connection? Citrus juices (lemon, lime, orange) may supercharge the immunity-boosting power of green tea. A new Purdue University study found that mixing citrus juice with green tea allowed 80 percent of the tea’s anti-oxidants to stick around after simulated digestion, making the pairing healthier than thought, says study author Mario G. Ferruzzi, PhD, assistant professor in Purdue’s department of food and nutrition.
What to do now: Add at least an ounce of citrus juice to your green tea—or try Tazo Lemon Green iced tea or SoBe Green Tea 3G. Both drinks are stocked with vitamin C.
This article written by by Rachel Grumman, published at health.com
Monday, March 3, 2008
Penis Enlargement
Don't waste your efforts on penis enlargement pumps, pills, patches or creams. They are a waste of time and money. This is a good information for you that Penis enlargement is now available to all, with our low-cost, high-results packages.
By using the Comfort Strap for traction stabilization, I can assure you the most comfortable, yet result-producing stretch on the market! Ya, this is the most safety penis enlarger.
If you have decided to start working towards a larger penis without pursuing surgical means, keep reading and don’t be afraid to address any future inquiries. Originally conceived by European physicians, a more affordable, comfortable and usable penis enlargement device has been redesigned here in the U.S.A. and is now available to YOU!
Please check out penis enlargement information
The Language of Autism
Are people with autism trapped in their own world? Or are the rest of us just trapped in ours?
After seeing 27-year-old Amanda Baggs, featured in this month’s Wired magazine, you may rethink your views of the so-called “normal” world. Ms. Baggs, who lives in Burlington, Vt., is autistic and doesn’t speak. But she has become an Internet sensation as a result of an unusual video she created called “In My Language.'’
For the first three minutes of the video, she rocks, flaps her hands, waves a piece of paper, buries her face in a book and runs her fingers repeatedly across a computer keyboard, all while humming a haunting two-note tune.
Then, the words “A Translation” appear on the screen.
Although Ms. Baggs doesn’t speak, she types 120 words a minute. Using a synthesized voice generated by a software application, Ms. Baggs types out what is going on inside her head. The movement, the noise, the repetitive behaviors are all part of Ms. Baggs’ own “native” language, she says via her computerized voice. It’s a language that allows her to have a “constant conversation” with her surroundings.
My language is not about designing words or even visual symbols for people to interpret. It is about being in a constant conversation with every aspect of my environment, reacting physically to all parts of my surroundings.
Far from being purposeless, the way that I move is an ongoing response to what is around me….The way I naturally think and respond to things looks and feels so different from standard concepts or even visualization that some people do not consider it thought at all. But it is a way of thinking in its own right.
Ms. Baggs does far more than give us a vivid glimpse into her mind. Her video is a clarion call on behalf of people with cognitive disabilities whose way of communicating isn’t understood by the rest of the world. As the story in Wired points out, Ms. Baggs is at the forefront of a nascent civil rights movement on behalf of people with autism.
“I remember in ‘99, seeing a number of gay pride Web sites,'’ she tells the magazine. “I envied how many there were and wished there was something like that for autism. Now there is.”
Watching Ms. Baggs rock and flap is to see a person most of us would define as disabled. And that’s why the impact of the computerized voice and her cogent argument on behalf of people with autism is so powerful.
In the end I want you to know that this has not been intended as a voyeuristic freak show where you get to look at the bizarre workings of the autistic mind. It is meant as a strong statement on the existence and value of many different kinds of thinking and interaction in the world….Only when the many shapes of personhood are recognized will justice and human rights be possible.
Update: To read more about the autism activism movement, see “How About Not ‘Curing’ Us, Some Autistics Are Pleading,” which appeared in the Times in 2004. To read the story, click here.
Study Finds Death Risk From Anemia Drugs
Widely used anemia drugs sold by Amgen and Johnson & Johnson raise the risk of death among cancer patients by about 10 percent, according to a new analysis of previous clinical trials that is to be published Wednesday.
The study is the first compilation of clinical trial data — called a meta-analysis — to show a statistically significant increase in the risk of death from the drugs, said Dr. Charles L. Bennett, a professor at Northwestern University and its lead author.
The Food and Drug Administration is planning to convene an advisory committee on March 13 to discuss whether to impose further restrictions on the use of the drugs, Aranesp from Amgen and Procrit from Johnson & Johnson, with cancer patients.
The Amgen drug Epogen, which is the same as Procrit but is aimed at kidney dialysis patients, will not be directly affected by the discussions.
Amgen said the study, being published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, provided little new information. “What he observes is the risks that we’ve already talked about that are in the label,” said Roger Perlmutter, Amgen’s executive vice president for research and development.
The F.D.A. ordered stronger warnings on the drugs’ labels last year, after a flurry of studies suggested that the products, if used too aggressively, could worsen cancer conditions or hasten death. And Medicare sharply restricted reimbursement for the drugs when used to treat anemia caused by cancer chemotherapy.
Sales of Aranesp, Amgen’s best-selling product, declined to $3.6 billion last year from $4.1 billion in 2006.
One option that analysts expect to be discussed at the meeting in March would be to bar the use of the drugs for specific types of cancer, like breast cancer and head and neck cancer. Another would be to delay treatment with the drugs until patients became more anemic than the current threshold, a change that would more closely match the Medicare reimbursement policy.
A third option, which many analysts say is unlikely, would be for the F.D.A. to no longer authorize the drugs’ use in treating anemia caused by chemotherapy. The drugs would still be allowed to treat anemia caused by kidney disease.
Jim Birchenough, an analyst with Lehman Brothers, estimated in a report on Monday that rescinding approval for chemotherapy-induced anemia would reduce Amgen’s sales of Aranesp by $1 billion a year. A change in the label to match the Medicare policy would cut them by $300 million.
The new analysis on death risk, which could play into the discussions on March 13, combines data from 51 clinical trials involving 13,611 patients. The study also found a 57 percent increase in the risk of blood clots in veins, a known side effect of the drugs.
Dr. Bennett, an oncologist and hematologist, said he did not think that the higher risk of death came from those blood clots. Rather, he said, there is evidence that the drugs, which are synthetic forms of a natural hormone called erythropoietin, directly stimulate the growth and spread of tumors. Amgen scientists dispute that explanation.
Procrit, which Johnson & Johnson sells under license from Amgen, was approved for treatment of cancer patients in 1993, and Aranesp in 2002, based on their ability to reduce the need for blood transfusions. But the studies on which the approvals were based were not large and long enough to measure the effect on patients’ longevity.
As a result, efforts have been made to pool the results of many smaller trials to look for safety problems.
A meta-analysis published in 2004 by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international research group, found that patients who were given the drugs tended to live longer.
But in recent years, some new clinical trials, aimed at showing that using the drugs at higher doses than indicated on the label would improve survival, found the opposite. As those studies were added to the compilations, the safety balance appeared to shift.
A meta-analysis published in 2006 by the Cochrane Collaboration found an 8 percent higher risk of death among users of the drugs, but the result just missed being statistically significant. The analysis being published Wednesday adds some more recent studies and reaches statistical significance.
That still leaves unclear whether the drugs are dangerous if used at the levels indicated on the label, a question that bedeviled an F.D.A. advisory committee last year and is likely to do so again in March.
“We didn’t ask the right questions for 15 years,” Dr. Bennett said.
-------------------------
By ANDREW POLLACK, published at Newyorktimes.com
