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.
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© 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.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Skin Cancer: Some Burning Facts
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
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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
