Human

HHS HealthBeat

(December 29, 2009)

HIV and obesity

Listen to Tip Interested? Take the Next Step

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Being obese is bad for people’s health. And a study indicates that being obese is bad for people with HIV in a way that’s related to their disease.

Nancy Crum-Cianflone of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences saw this in 22 years of data on more than 1,100 people. She examined the effect of obesity after therapy became available to fight the AIDS virus on their immune cells – notably their CD4 cells:

[Nancy Crum-Cianflone speaks] "People who had excessive weights had lower CD4 counts than someone who had an appropriate weight."

Crum-Cianflone says it may be another reason to control weight.

The study presented at a meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: December, 28 2009

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Human

FEMA Encourages Winter

Weather Preparedness

Release Date: December 18, 2009
Release Number: HQ-09-156

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the winter season approaching, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reminds individuals to be prepared for winter storms and extreme cold. While the danger of severe winter weather varies across the country, everyone can benefit by taking a few easy steps now to prepare for emergencies. A first step, regardless of where you live, is to visit the Ready.gov Web site to find preparedness ideas you can use all year long.

"Severe winter weather can strike at any time. Even areas that normally experience mild winters can be hit with a major snowstorm or extreme cold," said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. “I encourage everyone to get an emergency supply kit, develop and practice a family emergency plan and stay informed about emergencies that may affect your area. Families can log onto Ready.gov to learn more.”

Severe winter weather can include snow or subfreezing temperatures, strong winds and ice or heavy rain storms. An emergency supply kit both at home and in the car will help prepare you and your family for winter power outages and icy or impassable roads.

Both kits should include a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, extra flashlights and batteries. In addition, your home kit should include a three day supply of food and water. Thoroughly check and update your family’s emergency supply kit and add the following supplies in preparation for winter weather:

• Rock salt to melt ice on walkways,
• Sand to improve traction on driveways and sidewalks,
• Snow shovels and other snow removal equipment,
• And adequate clothing and blankets to help keep you warm.

Ensure your family preparedness plan and contacts are up to date and exercise your plan. Learn about emergency plans established in your area by state and local officials and make sure your family plans and contacts are up to date.

Finally, make sure to familiarize yourself with the terms that are used to identify a winter storm hazard and discuss with your family what to do if a winter storm watch or warning is issued. Terms used to describe a winter storm hazard include the following:

• Freezing Rain creates a coating of ice on roads and walkways.
• Sleet is rain that turns to ice pellets before reaching the ground. Sleet also causes roads to freeze and become slippery.
• Winter Weather Advisory means cold, ice and snow are expected.
• Winter Storm Watch means severe weather such as heavy snow or ice is possible in the next day or two.
• Winter Storm Warning means severe winter conditions have begun or will begin very soon.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

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Human

Self-Image Linked

to Activity in Frontal

Lobe of Brain

People with high self-regard use brain area less, MRI scans show.

SATURDAY, Jan. 23 (HealthDay News) -- People who have an unrealistically high opinion of themselves have less activity in the frontal lobes of their brain, researchers have found.

"In healthy people, the more you activate a portion of your frontal lobes, the more accurate your view of yourself is. And the more you view yourself as desirable or better than your peers, the less you use those lobes," Jennifer Beer, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a university news release.

In the new study, 20 volunteers had MRI brain scans while they answered questions about how they compared to their peers on positive traits, such as likeability, modesty and maturity, and on negative traits, such as unreliability, materialism, messiness and narrow-mindedness.

The participants who had a very positive self-image had less activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, a region of the frontal lobe generally associated with reasoning, planning, decision-making and problem-solving. Some of the volunteers with a realistic self-view had four times more frontal lobe activation than the participant with the highest self-regard, the researchers found.

The study is published in the February issue of the journal NeuroImage.

Beer said the findings may help improve understanding of brain function in seniors or people who suffer from depression or other mental illnesses. It may also prove important in the treatment of recovering methamphetamine addicts whose frontal lobes are often damaged by drug use and who can overestimate their ability to remain drug-free.

http://frontal lobes-dobi.blogspot.com/human

Human

Video Gaming Just Might Fight Aging

Experts find physical and mental benefits as people grow old.

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Slaying orcs, charting military campaigns and gunning down bad guys might not sound like things seniors would be interested in pursuing for fun or exercise.

But they might want to start, some experts on aging say.

Research has found that off-the-shelf video games have the potential to help seniors age more gracefully, keeping their minds sharp and responsive through game play.

"There's a growing body of evidence that suggests playing video games actually can improve older adults' reflexes, processing speed, memory, attention skills and spatial abilities," said Jason Allaire, an associate professor of psychology at North Carolina State University and co-director of its Gains Through Gaming Lab.

With the advent of the Nintendo Wii, there's even the potential that video games could provide seniors with an outlet for physical exercise.

The Wii uses special controllers that require arm and body movements, and a number of games have been developed for the system specifically to provide an exercise program.

One study found that a Wii bowling game boosted the heart rate of players at a senior center in Pensacola, Fla., by about 40 percent. The game required that the players, who were in their 60s, 70s and 80s, hold the controller like a bowling ball and swing it to hit the pins in a virtual bowling alley.

"The Wii is a perfect vehicle because it is so easy," Allaire said. "It's in a lot of senior centers already. Older adults already tend to use it."

The potential of video games to keep minds sharp was highlighted in a 2008 study in which 40 people in their 60s and 70s were asked to play Rise of Nations, a real-time strategy game for computers that can be found in many stores that sell video games.

"We wanted to see whether we could take an off-the-shelf game and see fairly substantial changes," said Art Kramer, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who participated in the study.

Researchers measured the cognitive abilities of the players, none of whom had played any video games for at least two years. They then had half the group play Rise of Nations for nearly 24 hours total over an eight-week period.

Follow-up tests found that the seniors who played the strategy video game improved their performance on tests of memory, reasoning and cognition. There were particular improvements, Kramer said, in what's called executive control processes -- abilities such as planning, scheduling, dealing with ambiguity and multi-tasking.

"As we get older, we show declines in many of those abilities," he said. "As a result of doing certain things, we end up doing them less often. The kinds of processes that were exercised in the video game were some of the processes that older adults show deficits on."

Allaire is part of a team that has been given a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to do further research on whether and how video games can boost memory and thinking skills in the elderly.

The researchers plan to have seniors play a Wii game called Boom Blox that involves using weapons such as slingshots and cannonballs to demolish on-screen targets. The research will also involve World of Warcraft, an online role-playing game, Allaire said.

The plan is to assess three aspects of video game-playing that are thought to drive cognitive improvements in older people, Allaire said. They are:

* Attentional demand. "You have to pay attention to what's going on on the screen and react quickly," he said. "The more attention you expend on the video game, the better you get at focusing your attention."
* Novelty. "There's a lot of research that, when we're put in novel situations or are learning novel things, it activates our brains," he said.
* Social interaction. "People who stay more socially engaged have more cognitive function," he said. "We think people will interact with each other through collaborating and playing the game."

Though the research efforts show the possibilities of using video games to help aging adults, Allaire noted that no studies have shown a transfer of video-game skills to real-world activities.

"Is it going to help you remember to take your medications, or to remember what you wanted to buy at the store?" he asked. "That really hasn't been proven."

Kramer said that seniors should consider video games one of a number of things they can do to keep themselves sharp.

"I would not suggest that video games would be the only or even the best way to exercise those cognitive functions," he said, noting that physical exercise, social interaction and diet are already proven ways to promote mental abilities as you get older. "I would recommend they get out and ride a bike. I would recommend they learn a new language."

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Human

Blacks Often Misdiagnosed

With Schizophrenia, Author

Says

Trend dates to Civil Rights era and continues today, new book claims.

FRIDAY, Jan. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Black men in the United States are misdiagnosed with schizophrenia at least five times more often than any other racial group.

This trend dates back to the 1960s and 1970s, when equal rights activism was equated with mental illness, said researcher Jonathan Metzl, an associate professor of psychiatry and women's studies at the University of Michigan, and director of U-M's Culture, Health and Medicine Program.

He analyzed archives at the Ionia State Hospital for the Criminally Insane and found that black men, mainly from Detroit during the civil rights era, were taken to the facility and often misdiagnosed with schizophrenia.

"Some patients became schizophrenic because of changes in their diagnosis rather than their clinical symptoms," Metzl said in a U-M news release.

He noted that the way schizophrenia was defined by the psychiatric profession changed in the 1960s and 1970s. It had been considered an illness affecting non-violent white patients, but the language was changed to violent, hostile, angry and aggressive as a way to label black men.

"It's an easy thing to say this was racism, but it's a much more complicated story -- that's still playing out in present day," he added.

The criminalization of mental illness and misdiagnosis of schizophrenia meant that many black men have been placed in prisons rather than psychiatric hospitals, Metzl said. He noted that the Ionia facility became a prison in 1977.

Over-diagnosis of schizophrenia in black American men continues despite efforts to improve cultural competency training in psychiatry.

"Multicultural training is important, but it often does little to address how assumptions about race are structurally embedded into health care delivery systems," Metzl said.

His research appears in a new book, The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease.

http://Black men -dobi.blogspot.com/human

Human

Stress of Caring for Disabled Spouse Raises Stroke Threat

Study found husbands more vulnerable than wives, black men affected most of all.

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 14 (HealthDay News) -- The stress of caring for a disabled spouse increases the risk of stroke substantially, and the increased risk is greater for husbands than for wives, a new study finds.

"We followed 767 people out of a large study who were caring for a spouse with any disabling condition," said William E. Haley, a clinical psychologist who is a professor in the School of Aging Studies at the University of South Florida in Tampa. "The spouses who had the highest scores for strain had the highest risk scores for stroke."

Strain was measured on a standard score by asking the participants how many days during the past week they had felt depressed, lonely, sad or had crying spells. The answers were matched to the Framingham Stroke Risk Score, which measures risk factors such as age, blood pressure, blood cholesterol levels, smoking and diabetes. The study is published in the Jan. 14 online edition of Stroke.

A high score on the measure of strain was associated with an overall 23 percent higher risk of stroke. The association was stronger in husbands than in wives. It was highest in black men with high caregiving strain, with a 26.9 percent increased risk of stroke in the next 10 years.

"We showed that African-American men have the highest risk for stroke of any demographic group," Haley said. "The risk is nearly doubled for the highest-strain African-American men," he added.

"For the most part, when men are caregivers they use more paid services," Haley said. "It's likely that men who are not getting help, African-American men in particular, experience tremendous strain. Women are more prepared to be caregivers, and show less risk tied to strain."

It's not clear whether the high-risk scores will result in an increased incidence of stroke, he noted. "We haven't followed enough people for long enough to do that analysis," Haley said. "Over the next several years, we will have the ability to see whether high degrees of strain lead to a higher incidence of stroke and mortality."

Caregivers who feel the strain can and should seek help, he advised. "We do know already that caregivers can benefit from all sorts of counseling," Haley said. "We encourage those caregivers to get additional assistance."

Another study in the same issue of the journal, this one from Sweden, found that only half to three-quarters of people who survived strokes were still taking recommended drugs to prevent a new stroke two years later.

The study of more than 21,000 stroke survivors, average age 75, found that two years later, 26 percent had stopped taking drugs to control high blood pressure, 44 percent had stopped taking cholesterol-lowering statins, 36 percent had stopped taking clot-preventing medications and 55 percent were not taking the blood thinner warfarin.

It's not clear whether the same pattern of noncompliance is true for the United States, wrote the neurologists from Umea University Hospital, but "it is very much so here," said Dr. Bruce Ovbiagele, director of the stroke prevention program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

There are several possible explanations for failure to take such basic measures to prevent another stroke, Ovbiagele said. "On the part of the patients, many patients are not clear that they need to be on these medications indefinitely," he noted.

Physicians can also be at fault, Ovbiagele added. "Some providers are not as insistent about educating patients about how long they need to be on these medications," he said. "Most evidence of their value comes from relatively short studies, so providers may not think it is evident that they have to be continued."

Patient compliance with medication instructions after a stroke is best when "there is some structured interventional program to support it," Ovbiagele said.

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Human

FocusDriven Seeks

to Crack Down on

Distracted Drivers

Federal government, safety group target use of cell phones and texting devices.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) -- More than 500,000 people were injured and nearly 6,000 people were killed last year in motor-vehicle accidents involving a driver who was distracted while using a cell phone or texting device, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported Tuesday.

To cut down on the growing number of injuries and deaths caused by distracted drivers, federal officials and safety advocacy groups have joined forces to get states to ban such activities while driving.

"We are on a rampage about this," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said during a Tuesday afternoon press conference. "Distracted driving is a serious, life-threatening epidemic that steals loved ones from us and puts responsible drivers in danger."

Accidents involving cell phone use and texting are "entirely preventable," he said.

An estimated 100 people die every day in traffic accidents in the United States, National Safety Council President Janet Froetscher said during the press conference. A year ago the council called for a total ban on cell phone use while driving, she said.

"Twenty-eight percent of all crashes are caused by the use of cell phone and texting devices each year," she said.

"We estimate that 25 percent of crashes, or 1.4 million crashes each year, are caused by drivers using their cell phones, and an additional 3 percent are caused by drivers that are using texting devices," Froetscher added.

Using a cell phone or a texting device while driving increases the risk of an accident eight to 23 times, she said, adding, "No cell phone call or text message is worth somebody's life."

The federal government has already taken steps to crack down on cell phone calling and texting while driving. LaHood said that President Barack Obama on Dec. 30 issued an executive order banning federal employees from using cell phones and texting devices while behind the wheel.

And Congress is considering a bill that would offer states incentives to pass laws against cell phone use while driving, and to punish states without such bans, La Hood said.

LaHood said he believes in tough laws and penalties, but he's not waiting for Congress to act. "We are not going to sit around, we are not going to wait around for Congress -- we're moving ahead," he said.

As part of Tuesday's press conference, LaHood announced the formation of a group called FocusDriven, made up of people who have lost a relative to an accident caused by a driver talking on a cell phone or texting.

"We are molded as a MADD-styled (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) campaign to protect the drivers of our nation's roadways," said Jennifer Smith, a FocusDriven board member who lost her mother in a car accident involving a distracted driver.

"Our mission is to prevent injuries and save lives by eliminating cell phone use while driving," she added.

Said LaHood: "It's up to all of us to keep our eyes on the road every single time we are behind the wheel."

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Human

Seat Belts, Bike Helmets

Go Unused in Movies

Aimed at Kids

Hollywood demonstrates safe practices only about half the time, study finds

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Jan. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Movies made for kids are getting better at portraying safety behaviors like wearing seatbelts and bike helmets, but they're still missing the mark about half the time.

That's the conclusion of a government study that's been tracking injury-prevention practices in movies since 1995. The study found that just 56 percent of motor vehicle passengers on the silver screen wore their seatbelts, while a mere 25 percent of people bicycling wore helmets.

"Personal injuries are the leading cause of death in children, but when appropriate safety recommendations are followed, deaths are decreased," noted study author Jon Eric Tongren, an epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "If Hollywood can portray health messages that are factual, that would be very important, because children may imitate what they see on film."

The current study is the third in a series of studies designed to assess how injury-prevention practices are being portrayed in movies targeted to children. The first looked at movies from 1995 to 1997, the second from 1998 to 2002 and the current study looked at movies from 2003 to 2007.

In the latest report, the researchers included the 25 top-grossing films rated either G or PG for each year. They excluded animated films, fantasy films, documentaries and movies not set in the present day. After the exclusions, 67 films were analyzed for scenes with safe or unsafe behaviors.

Five of the movies were rated G, and the remaining 62 were PG-rated. Thirty-eight movies were comedies, 15 were action/adventure movies, 13 were children/family films and one was a drama.

From those movies, the researchers found 958 person-scenes involving potential injury-prevention practices. Fifty-five percent of the scenes involved children.

Twenty-two person-scenes involved either a fall or a crash, but just three of those scenes resulted in an injury.

"In reality, that's probably not what's going to happen and the lack of consequences in films may give children a false sense of security," Tongren said.

Dr. Barbara Gaines, director of the Benedum Pediatric Trauma Program at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, agreed that the lack of consequences in films is a concern. "People are falling, crashing and having these events happen where they don't have the expected consequences. It's like when you watch animated cartoons and the character gets smooshed and then pops right back up. It makes me wonder what the impact of that is?" she said.

The study found that 56 percent of people in motor vehicles wore seatbelts; 35 percent of pedestrians used crosswalks; 75 percent of boaters wore life vests and 25 percent of bicyclists wore helmets.

Results of the current study are to be published in the February issue of Pediatrics.

When compared to the previous studies, the researchers did find that cinematic use of seatbelts, life vests, crosswalks and bicycle helmets had all increased.

"The entertainment industry has improved significantly, but Hollywood still has a long way to go," said Tongren, who added that "parents should take an active role in viewing movies and highlighting unsafe behaviors."

For example, he said, in a recent movie featuring "Hannah Montana" teen idol Miley Cyrus, her character was shown riding in the back of an SUV with her father -- and not wearing a seatbelt. Parents need to point out that's not the safest behavior.

Gaines said, "If you're watching a movie with your child and there's a major scene where someone didn't buckle up, give your kid a nudge, and say something like, 'Uh-oh, what did that guy forget to do?'"

As for consequences, she said it's important to point out to your child that if the same fall or crash were to happen to him or her, the results probably wouldn't be the same. Say something like, "That person was pretty lucky, you could get really hurt from a fall like that," Gaines suggested.

She also said that this study highlights the need for parents to prescreen the kinds of movies and TV shows their children might watch, keeping in mind, "Is this really something I want them to watch? Or, are there a lot of messages I don't want them to take in?"

Tongren said the researchers are hoping that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the organization that sets movie ratings, will begin to include injury-prevention practices as part of the ratings.

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Human

As Problems Accumulate, Frailty May Set In

But action from middle age on can delay the condition, experts say.

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Dec. 31 (HealthDay News) -- "Frail" and "elderly" don't always have to go together, say experts who have begun to shine a brighter light on the condition of frailty in older adults.

Among people older than 65, up to 10 percent are frail -- a percentage that rises with age, according to a leading researcher in the field, Dr. Linda P. Fried, dean and DeLamar professor of public health at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

Most people know frailty when they see a fragile elder, Fried said.

"If you ask people if they have ever known anyone who is frail, everyone holds up their hand," she said. "They perceive [the frail person] as thin, weak, slow and as fragile."

But Fried and other experts have a more scholarly definition of frailty. They see it as a constellation of signs and symptoms involving many bodily systems, all slowing down or shutting down. Typically that means weight loss, loss of muscle strength, perhaps cognitive decline and problems in other bodily systems. A frail person might have inflammation, anemia, too much body fat and problems with fine motor skills, for instance.

"I would define frailty as the loss of reserves in multiple systems, including physical and mental health as well as social supports," said Dr. Claire Heppenstall, a clinical research fellow with the University of Otago in New Zealand. She has received funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand to study fragile elders.

To Dr. Sharon A. Brangman, president-elect of the American Geriatric Society, the cumulative effect of problems is what leads to the frailty.

"It doesn't look like it is related to any one organ system or problem but a conglomeration of dysfunction in many different organ systems, which results in a person having much less physiological reserve to recover from stressors, whether internal or external," said Brangman, a professor of medicine and chief of geriatrics at the State University of New York's Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.

A frail person, for instance, won't likely bounce back from a bout of influenza or an emotional setback, such as the death of a loved one, as easily as a stronger older person.

"This means that even a minor insult, such as an infection or illness of a caregiver, can tip the balance and cause a cascade of adverse events to the extent that the person is unable to function in their usual environment and may require hospital admission or residential care," Heppenstall said.

In a study published in the October issue of the Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, Fried and her research team found that three or more bodily systems functioning at abnormal levels was a predictor of which people would be frail. They looked at such factors as anemia, inflammation and fine motor speed. By itself, fine motor speed also predicted frailty, the study found.

So is frailty inevitable? Eventually, if people live long enough, it's likely they will become increasingly frail. But "it can be delayed," Brangman and others said.

Much of it is rooted in unhealthy habits picked up in early and middle age -- "especially a lack of physical exercise, smoking and poor nutrition," said Heppenstall.

"To prevent it, we should emphasize regular physical activity in all adults at all ages, as well as a balanced diet," she said.

Exercise on a regular basis will at least delay frailty, agreed Brangman. "What we are trying to do is avoid that period of time when people are dependent and debilitated and have a lot of disability and need to be institutionalized."

http://condition of frailty-dobi.blogspot.com/human

Human

Volunteering May Keep Elderly Stronger

Finding debunks myth that condition is unavoidable, expert says.

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Dec. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Volunteering one's time and energy might help stave off frailty among the elderly.

The notion is drawn from a fresh analysis of data nearly two decades old that tracked the activities of over 1,000 physically active men and women in their 70s who were described as reasonably high-functioning.

Those who spent time volunteering were less likely to become frail, a physical diminishing that sometimes happens among the elderly.

"Of course, this certainly does not prove that volunteering prevents frailty," cautioned Dr. Catherine Sarkisian, an associate professor of geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. "This was an observational study. But this suggests that maybe there is something about working to help other people -- and getting outside yourself -- that has benefits for the elderly, both mentally and physically."

The data were initially collected between 1988 and 1991 by the MacArthur Study of Successful Aging. Among the participants, 28 percent did some type of volunteer work, 25 percent performed child-care duties and 19 percent worked for a salary. Some did more than one of these activities, and 45 percent participated in none of them, the study found.

Sarkisian, who is also a staff physician with the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, and her fellow researchers assessed the degree of frailty among the participants based on five criteria: weight loss, weakness in grip strength, exhaustion, slow movement and low levels of physical activity.

About 3 percent of the participants had been classified as frail at the start of the study, and after three years, the number had risen to 7 percent.

After accounting for such factors as age, cognitive function and disability, the researchers found that neither paid work nor child care appeared to protect against the onset of frailty. However, volunteering was associated with a reduced risk for becoming frail, they concluded.

Their findings were published online Dec. 16 in the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

Using different definitions of frailty might alter the findings, the researchers said, and they stressed that it would be premature to suggest that volunteer work directly protected against frailty. Other factors -- including religious beliefs and practices, and having a strong sense of "personal mastery" about one's activities -- could also play a role in warding off frailty, they noted.

"But I think the most exciting thing about this subject in general is that so often we've assumed that frailty is something that you can't avoid when you get old," Sarkisian said. "And for many people, that is certainly true. But it's exciting to think that maybe there are potentially many things we can do outside of medicine that can help stave off frailty."

She noted that researchers have already begun further exploration of a volunteerism-frailty connection.

S. Jay Olshansky, a senior research scientist at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, said he already views the current study as "encouraging" and a potential boon to elder care.

"There's always a potential selection bias going on with this sort of study, meaning that, in general, people who become frail cannot volunteer in the first place so the ones who are left behind are, by definition, the ones who are healthy," he explained.

"But I have to say that that problem aside, I'm not surprised by this finding," Olshansky said. "The evidence I've seen elsewhere suggesting that this could be beneficial is extremely promising -- and exciting, actually -- because it's the very kind of research that illustrates the malleability of people at almost every age."

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Human

Winter Exercise Can Lift Your Spirits

Creativity will help you stick to your workout routine, even in foul weather.

TUESDAY, Dec. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Winter can put a chill on even the most enthusiastic exerciser's plans. It's hard to get motivated to go jogging when you have to sidestep icy patches. And who wants to go to the gym when you have to scrape the ice off the windshield first?

But sticking to your exercise program throughout the colder months is beneficial for multiple reasons, experts say. Not only can physical activity lift your spirits during days of limited sunlight, it can help make sure you're in good shape when it's time to pull out those shorts and bathing suits again.

To exercise safely in more challenging conditions, you may need to make some adjustments to your routine, said Tony Breitbach, director of athletic training education at Saint Louis University.

"A change in weather should bring a change to your mindset," Breitbach said. "As temperatures get colder ... you need to have a winter sports strategy."

When exercising outdoors, it's important to dress properly. Wear layers that you can peel off as necessary. Ideally, the layer closest to your skin should be made of a breathable wicking material and not sweat-absorbing cotton. Then add a layer of fleece or cotton for warmth and, finally, a windbreaker or waterproof outer layer.

Make sure you've adequately insulated your extremities. The face, fingers and toes are most likely to get frostbitten. Pain or tingling in your ears, fingers or toes is a sign that it's time to come in from the cold, Breitbach said.

And don't forget a hat. Substantial body heat is lost through your head.

Though you may feel less thirsty in cold weather, continue to drink water while exercising. Avoid caffeine and alcohol-based beverages, which can contribute to dehydration.

If you run in the dark, wear reflective clothing so that drivers can see you.

Warming up is extra important when it's cold outside. Before leaving home, do some stretching and other exercises to limber up. Once outside, start with some brisk walking before beginning to jog.

Also watch out for overuse injuries. Indoor surfaces such as gym floors or concrete can be hard on the knees and can worsen overuse issues.

If the winter blues have extended to your feelings about exercise, get creative. Find an indoor pool or go to that Pilates class you've been wanting to try. Ice skating and cross-country skiing burn lots of calories. And there's nothing like a snowball fight with your kids to get your heart pumping.

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Human

Keep Fire Safety in Mind as

You Celebrate

Candles, Christmas trees and holiday distractions raise risk of a blaze.

FRIDAY, Dec. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Candles glowing on beautifully set tables and yule logs burning make for a picture-perfect holiday setting. But all that heat also raises the risk of fires, experts say.

Alcohol and parties have the potential to make people less cautious about fire safety, said Dr. Roger Yurt, director of the Hearst Burn Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Every holiday season brings an estimated 47,000 fires that kill 500 people.

One of the deadliest causes of house fires are Christmas trees, which are cut early in the season, dry out and quickly turn into kindling. One in every 22 fires caused by a tree ends in death.

To minimize your risk, keep your tree well-watered, never place it in front of a door or a fireplace, and make sure the tree is at least three feet from other heat sources, such as space heaters or radiators, advises Nicole Leahy, manager of outreach and community education at the medical center.

Candles are another source of fire danger. Fires caused by candles quadruple during the holiday season, Yurt said. Keep candles at least three feet from curtains, holiday decorations and Christmas trees, and never leave candles burning unattended.

Decorations can pose their own risks. Place decorations away from space heaters and radiators and, when possible, use fire-retardant decorations. Test and inspect your holiday lights each year for frayed wires or bare spots in the insulation, and unplug the lights when going to sleep or going out.

Wires on lights can short, leading to fires. Use a surge protector and don't overload outlets when plugging in holiday lights and decorations.

Watch your children around the fireplace -- or better yet, wait until they are old enough to understand the dangers before lighting a fire.

When cooking, don't allow anyone within a three-foot "zone of safety" around the cooking area. Open burners, pot handles and oven doors all pose burn risks. Many serious burns on children occur when a cook drops a pot of hot liquid and it splatters.

When cooking, don't wear that blouse with the ruffled sleeves or toss your pot holder carelessly on the stove. Wear tight-fitting clothing to prevent the fabric from brushing against a heat source and keep paper towels and other flammable objects far from your burners.

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Human

Facial Symmetry May

Be Best Beauty Secret

Average ratio of features seems to be the key to physical attractiveness, study finds.

MONDAY, Dec. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Women with facial proportions that are closest to average are considered the most beautiful by their peers, research suggests.

Researchers from the University of California San Diego and the University of Toronto asked college students to view digital photos of women's faces that were identical except for slight alterations in certain facial proportions, including placement of the eyes and the relationship between the eyes and mouth.

Female faces that followed certain proportions were judged more attractive by their peers -- specifically, a vertical distance between the eyes and mouth that's 36 percent of facial length, and a horizontal distance between the eyes that's 46 percent of facial width. Researchers are calling it a "golden ratio."

Though it is unknown why faces that follow these proportions are considered lovelier, researchers say one theory is that humans have a mental prototype that represents an average of all faces and those that are closest to it are considered the most appealing. Previous research has shown that those with symmetrical faces are also perceived as more beautiful, possibly because the symmetry indicates good health. It is possible that evolutionary biology dictates that average faces are viewed in much the same way, the study authors noted.

So does this mean women shouldn't bother with cosmetics and appointments at the salon?

Not so fast, the study authors noted.

"We already know that different facial features make a female face attractive -- large eyes, for example, or full lips," said study co-author Kang Lee, a professor at University of Toronto and the director of the Institute of Child Study at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. "Our study conclusively proves that the structure of faces -- the relation between our face contour and the eyes, mouth and nose -- also contributes to our perception of facial attractiveness. Our finding also explains why sometimes an attractive person looks unattractive or vice versa after a haircut, because hairdos change the ratios."

Since only white female faces were included, the authors noted that there may be a different set of ideal proportions for other racial groups, male faces or children's faces.

The study was released online in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal Vision Research.

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Human

Hoping for a Happy Family

Holiday? Here's How

Efforts to understand others can help maintain peace, expert suggests.

SATURDAY, Dec. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Despite messages of peace and love, conflict is all too common when families get together during the holidays.

Unresolved hurtful situations, hidden animosities and disagreements about values, beliefs and "ways of being" are among the main reasons for these family spats, Shelia McNamee, a professor of communications at the University of New Hampshire, explained in a university news release.

There's an expectation that everyone in a family gets along as if they all have similar life experiences, but that's not the case with modern families, she added.

"All relationships require coordination and negotiation, but for some reason in families, we just expect communication to be easy. Until we slow down and really consider what others are doing and saying, we will very likely find ourselves confronting, oppressing, accusing and demonizing anything that doesn't concur with our own ways of being," McNamee said.

"Our culture presents holidays as warm, meaningful moments to be with loved ones, particularly family. Yet families are so diverse, and it is highly unusual for any given family to live up to the cultural expectations of joy and love during the holidays," she added.

McNamee said families may want to establish some communication "ground rules" prior to gatherings. These rules might include:

• Using only "I" statements when speaking.
• Instead of blaming someone, ask questions to gain understanding.
• Family members shouldn't be allowed to interrupt each other.
• Engage in "generous listening," instead of using listening as a chance to "reload" during a disagreement.
• Relatives should take a deep breath and a pause in conversation when they feel they're getting excited or angry in response to each other. Count to three and try to understand what could support the action of the other person. For example, they may feel their action is logical. Understanding this may lead to a meaningful question instead of a counterattack.

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human

Health care for us

One in 110 U.S. Children Has

Autism

Latest CDC estimates reflect growing prevalence of developmental disorder.

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Dec. 18 (HealthDay News) -- In a finding that demonstrates that the prevalence of autism continues to rise, a government report released Friday finds that one in every 110 children in the United States has been diagnosed with the developmental disorder.

In fact, the number of 8-year-old children with autism jumped an average of 57 percent between 2002 and 2006. This rise is part of a trend predating the 1980s, when autism was still considered rare. Previously, the national estimate was one in 150 children has autism.

"If you look back over the last two decades, you see an increase of 600 percent in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders," said Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer of the patient advocacy group Autism Speaks. "The important call to action is that we need answers to understand why we're seeing this staggering increase."

However, the authors of the report, published in the Dec. 18 edition of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, did not rule out increased surveillance and other factors as being responsible for the higher numbers.

"It's impossible to say how much is a true increase and how much is in identification," Catherine Rice, a behavioral health scientist at the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said during a Friday morning news conference. "A simple explanation is not apparent, and a true risk cannot be ruled out."

"The CDC considers this a significant public health concern," continued Rice. "This helps us know that it's important to look for causes of autism and to take these data to help us intervene for those individuals who are here now."

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of developmental disabilities once lumped under the label "autism." Experts now realize there are varying degrees of disabilities, which manifest mainly in socialization, behavior and, perhaps most importantly, language and communication.

This latest report used data from the Autism Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, which collects data from health and educational records in 11 states around the United States: parts of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin.

The study looked only at 8-year-olds, as children have usually have been diagnosed by this age. The average age of diagnosis was 4.5 years, which is considered fairly late for interventions.

In 2006, 0.9 percent of more than 300,000 children (representing about 8 percent of the total U.S. population of 8-year-olds) surveyed had an ASD.

"The most consistent pattern was an increase among boys," Rice reported. "Prevalence was four to five times higher for boys than girls."

Prevalence increased 55 percent among whites, 31 percent among blacks and 90 percent among Hispanics.

Prevalence rates ranged from a low of 4.2 per 1,000 children in Florida to a high of 12.1 per 1,000 children in Arizona and Missouri.

More males were diagnosed with an ASD than females, approximately one in 70 boys and one in 315 girls. This represents an average increase in boys of 60 percent and, in girls, 48 percent.

"We need to understand what environmental factors may be contributing to this increase and I believe we need to cast a very wide net to look at a range of environmental factors, beginning with the pregnancy period and through child development, to understand how the environment may be interacting with what we know are underlying genetic susceptibilities," Dawson said.

Although research into these factors are still in their infancy, Dawson said current hypotheses include greater use of assisted reproductive technology, premature birth, infections the mother may have experienced during pregnancy, childbirth complications, prenatal exposure to environmental toxins and dietary factors.

"We believe that it's going to turn out very much like cancer in that it's not going to be one single thing that's causing autism, just like there's not one single thing that causes cancer," she said. "There's going to be different forms of autism in terms of causes and we're going to likely find a wide range of environmental factors contribute."

"But until we invest more money in doing large-scale studies we're not going to be able to find the answers," Dawson said.

The findings do not lay to rest the controversy surrounding whether or not thimerosal, which was once a component of children's vaccines, contributed to autism risk because the preservative was still being phased out at that time.

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Human

Health Care For Us
Amputee Athlete Tells Her Story

Sarah Reinertsen has run marathons, competed in triathalons and appeared on The Amazing Race.

By Jamie Talan
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Sarah Reinertsen likes to think of herself as part human, part machine.

A one-legged girl in a two-legged world is how the 34-year-old triathlete likes to describe herself. When she's not training for a marathon, you can find her speaking to packed school auditoriums or posing nude with her metal leg crossed over her bare right leg on the cover of the latest ESPN Body Issue.

She is the first female amputee to win an Ironman competition. She climbed the Great Wall of China and scaled a giant cliff in Vietnam during the 10th season of the CBS television show The Amazing Race. And when she's not running or biking or swimming, she's trying on artificial limbs to test the latest body armor for a company that makes prosthetics. She also rallies soldiers who have lost their limbs to war. She is a hometown hero talking to runners who have known her since she was an 11-year-old who climbed into a sneaker and began running for her life.

Now, the California resident tells her story in a new book, In A Single Bound. Born off-balance in the world with a leg that would never catch up to the rest of her, the non-hereditary birth defect is called proximal femoral focal deficiency. Reinertsen just wanted to fit in; a hard thing to do when it was decided that her leg had to be amputated at the age of 7. When she saw her peers signing up for soccer, she begged her mother for a uniform and a chance to play. And while her parents shunned the word "can't" in their home, there wasn't much they could do from the sidelines when the coach sent her off alone to kick the ball against a wall. It would become a metaphor for her life, a message that echoes in virtually everything that Reinertsen sets out to do. Young people must achieve their goals no matter what anyone tells them to do, she stresses.

At 11, she found her game. Reinertsen was at a local 10K race with her father and brother when she watched an athlete sprinting by with an artificial leg. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing, what I realized was possible," Reinertsen said. She went home and put that sneaker on, and taught herself how to run. Pretty soon, she had a coach and was winning medals for short-distance relays. By the time she was 16, she was competing in the Paralympics in Barcelona. She tripped at the gate and was so defeated that she went home and put her sneakers away for two years.

"I went through a long time not being comfortable in my skin," she said. By her second year of college at George Washington University, she realized she missed running and turned her sights to marathons. "Running taught me to see my body as whole," she said. The prize was running in the 1997 New York City Marathon. Her coach ran by her side hugging one of his student's extra legs. She got to the finish line 6.5 hours later.

As an athlete, Reinertsen found faith in where her body could go. The year of the marathon, she met a man without a leg who was heading out to Hawaii to do an Ironman competition. Reinertsen loved to watch the race on television, and it became an instant obsession. There were only two problems. While she had the running part of the race down, she had no idea how to bike and any swimming she had done was spent on her belly in the Long Island Sound as a kid.

But she was up for the challenge. She started with the bike, learning how to ride in her Brooklyn apartment. Swimming was more challenging. There was a swimming pool a few blocks from her house. But every day she would get off the subway and find people staring at a one-legged man begging on a subway platform. That strong image made it impossible for her to think about going to the pool, shedding her metal leg, and diving in. Instead, she would take a detour on the way home and crash on the couch with a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. That daily routine lasted a year. She talked herself into heading back to the pool, 15 minutes at a time for another year. A move from New York to California made it easier to train outdoors. By 2004, she was on her way to Hawaii. She was 12 years in training.

Reinertsen's endurance was not lost to the race, even though she was handed an exit slip when she missed the window for the biking leg by 15 minutes. Her unfinished business led her back to the Ironman challenge a year later, when she finished in 15 hours, 5 minutes, and became the first woman with a prosthetic leg to win the coveted triathlon. "There were 400 two-legged people behind me," Reinertsen said. "It felt great."

A year later, she was asked to audition for The Amazing Race and won a spot on the world tour. Reality show regulars got to know Sarah Reinertsen through her adventures in China, Mongolia, India, Vietnam and Kuwait. The race ended for Reinertsen and her partner in Kuwait when they got lost and ended up in the throes of a mob of people watching a beheading.

Reinertsen graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism, produced a television show on Olympic athletes, worked for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which is an organization that supports athletes with disabilities, and for a company that builds prosthetic equipment. These days, she has a busy career as a motivational speaker and often lends her body to test future generations of artificial legs. She also spends time visiting amputees at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

"My voice as an advocate for people with disabilities is breaking down walls, showing people that everyone has challenges that can be overcome with passion and hard work," she said.
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Human

When It Comes to Toys,

Shop Smart, Shop Safe

Common sense this holiday season can help you avoid gifts that might pose a risk to children.

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Dec. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Parents are crowding into stores this holiday season, searching for toys that will prompt smiles, cheers and hugs from their kids.

But parents also need to keep in mind that there are potentially dangerous toys on store shelves, so they must use judgment and common sense with every purchase.

"There are still some items that fall through the cracks," said Liz Hitchcock, a public health advocate for U.S. PIRG, who wrote this year's Trouble in Toyland report for the non-profit consumer protection group. "Consumers buying toys should be careful of what they buy."

There is encouraging news: New federal laws passed in the wake of the massive toy recalls of 2007 are kicking in, which means the toys out for this year should be among the safest ever, experts said.

"New federal safety rules are in place that should give consumers greater confidence when they go toy shopping this holiday season," said Nychelle Fleming, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. There are now tough limits on lead and phthalates (endocrine disruptors commonly used in plastics) in toys, as well as new mandatory safety standards.

"This is the first holiday shopping season where you'll see these things implemented," she said.

Government and business reaction to the problems of 2007 also have improved toy safety, Fleming noted. There were 162 toy recalls in 2008; this year, by November there had only been 38 toy recalls, she said.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission attributes the drop in toy recalls to several factors, Fleming said: toy manufacturers placing a greater emphasis on quality, improved product enforcement at United States ports, better cooperation with countries that produce toys, and sharper consumers putting more thought into what they pluck off store shelves for purchase.

Despite this new emphasis on toy safety, researchers at U.S. PIRG still found in their Trouble in Toyland report toys on shelves in September and October that pose potential hazards to children. These include:

• Choking hazards, which prompted the most toy safety recalls in 2009, according to U.S. PIRG. By November, 5.3 million toys and children's products had been pulled from store shelves -- part of the 38 total toy recalls -- due to choking hazards.

  Still, the group said it was able to find toys for children under age 3 that contained small parts. "Kids under the age of 3 put everything in their mouth," Hitchcock said. Parents should use a cardboard toilet paper tube or a choke tube to test individual pieces of a toy and see if they will pose a choking hazard.

• Toys containing toxins. Despite the new federal laws, U.S. PIRG found a number of children's products that contained high amounts of lead or phthalates.

  "We were disappointed to find lead in products on store shelves, because a lot of attention was paid to lead in toys," Hitchcock said. "Parents can't just trust that every product on a store shelf is safe and free from excessive amounts of lead."

  People who want to avoid the potential of lead in their children's toys should avoid buying certain types of toys, Hitchcock said. These include painted toys and inexpensive costume jewelry made out of metal.

• Loud toys. A new safety concern involves toys that could damage children's hearing.

  ASTM (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials) has created standards that limit the noise made by most children's toys to 85 decibels. But U.S. PIRG found a number of toys that surpassed that limit. "If it seems too loud for the parent, it's certainly going to be too loud for the child," Hitchcock said.

Another type of toy -- one that many people rarely think of as a toy -- caused the most toy-related deaths and injuries in 2008, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Riding toys -- tricycles, bicycles, skateboards, roller skates, scooters and the like -- caused nine of the 19 reported deaths in 2008. They also accounted for 26 percent of the 172,700 toy-related injuries treated in hospital emergency departments, more than any other type of toy, the agency said.

People who buy their child a riding toy need to buy the helmet, pads and other safety equipment necessary for safe use, Fleming stated.

"The complete gift includes all the safety gear," she said.

When shopping, parents can improve their chances of picking a safe toy by paying attention to the warning labels on toy packaging, Fleming and Hitchcock said.

The labels don't pertain to a child's aptitude. Rather, they take into account a wide range of developmental factors like dexterity and "mouthing behavior" to determine which toys pose a hazard to younger children.

"Always be a good label reader," Fleming said. "These labels are provided for safety."

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Human

Lifestyle Changes May

Cure Impotency

by Chris Chew

in Health

(submitted 2009-12-02)

0

votes

vote

Most men, especially those above 40 years of age suffer some form of erectile dysfunction, commonly known as male impotency to varying degrees and this affliction can cause much anguish, pent up sexual stress and may even lead to depression.

Because of this medical problem, many men resorted to making regular trips to their doctors to get erectile dysfunction prescription pills such as Viagra, Cialis or Levitra just to name a few, to treat their problems.

However, regular trips to the doctor's office can be expensive, embarrassing and time consuming which can be a real hassle not to mention their related side effects. Furthermore, the prescribed pills only serves as a temporary measure and when the effects of the pills are gone, it is back to square one.

Unknown to these patients, there are several natural ways to treat erectile dysfunction successfully such as changing one's lifestyle or using natural herbal erectile dysfunction supplements.

For most men having this sexual health problem, just simply by adopting a healthier lifestyle, such as quitting smoking, exercising regularly, quitting alcohol consumption, losing weight if you are obese and reducing stress may be all that is needed to cure their impotency.

Quitting Smoking can be very difficult for most hardcore smokers and there is no single best way to quit that works for all people. One of the most effective ways to quit smoking is to get nicotine replacement therapies such as with the aid of nicotine gums and patches. Others use quit smoking hypnosis or even acupunture treatment to help them stop smoking.

Regular exercise not only can improve your physical health, it can improve your mental and sexual health too. Along with improving erectile function, exercise can, strengthen the heart and lungs, improve the flow of oxygen in the blood, build stamina, lower blood pressure, strengthen muscle and bones, help you lose weight and reduce stress plus many other helpful health benefits including being a natural treament for erectile dysfunction as it involves good blood circulation.

Nest, go get enoungh sleep. Your body rejuvenates itself during deep slumber and you should sleep at least 7 or more hours a day. A night of restful sleep can rejuvenate your mind, body and banish away your stress and anxiety. You will feel great and even sexually healthy.

Stress is one of the common causes of erectile dysfunction. Our bodies are designed to feel stress and react to it. It keeps us alert and ready to avoid or confront danger. But it is not always possible to avoid or change events that may cause stress and it is easy to feel trapped and depressed.

When stress accumulates, our body begins to break down and illnesses such as having erectile dysfunction and other disease can occur. The good thing is regular exercises and having enough sleep can reduce stress significantly. You can even try coping with stress through meditation, yoga and even picking up a new hobby.

In order for your impotency treatment to be even more successful, try natural herbal impotency supplements such as Herbal Viagra. These erectile dysfunction pills are made from natural traditional herb extracts and are used by physicians for centuries from many different cultures. Because of its natural herbal ingredients, you don't need a prescription to get them because there are no known side effects.

Why not change your lifestyle to correct your impotency problems instead of relying on prescription pills.

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Human

The Main Symptoms Of

Disease

by

www.maleenhancementgroup.com

in Health

(submitted 2009-11-30)

1

vote

vote

When people consult the doctor they do so because they have had feelings and sensations that are disturbing and uncomfortable. Perhaps they have had reactions in various portions of the body which are quite different from the usual. For instance, symptoms may include pain, weakness, shortness of breath, cough, or itching. One may notice a sudden increase of weight, or loss of weight. The hands and feet may seem to be cold and numb. Indigestion may occur, with dizziness or vomiting or diarrhea. Because of jaundice the skin may develop a yellow appearance. All these are included in the signs and symptoms of disease; they are a warning that an investigation of the cause is needed.

People who are emotionally disturbed are likely to feel pain sooner and more intensely than are people in general. With the reaction to pain may come other changes, brought about through functioning of the sympathetic nervous system. These include rapid beating of the heart, sweating, rise in the blood pressure and disturbances of digestion.

Pain

Pain is described as burning, sticking or pricking, sharp, dull, throbbing or knifing. Different parts of the body feel pain in different ways. The skin reacts easily. Muscles may not feel puncture by a needle, but ache when they are in spasm or suffer cramp. Compact bone may be cut without pain but porous bone may be painful when injured. The brain tissue may not be sensitive, but the blood vessels have nerve connections and anything that pulls or stretches the blood vessels in the brain will give a pain in the head. Pain from the intestines may be due to injury of the intestinal wall, stretching of the muscles in the wall or pulling on the tissues that hold the intestines in place.

Headache

When you have a headache the doctor will want to know about the location of the pain, its quality, its intensity, the time when it comes on, and the way it is influenced by moving, reading, noise, and other factors. Usually a headache is a dull, aching pain, that arises from the structures within the skull. Sometimes a headache may be associated with a disturbance in the sinuses, or the eyes, or in the bones in the upper part of the spine.

Sensitivity to pain in the head varies in different people and in the same person at different times. The worst headaches are those associated with inflammations or infections of the meninges, which are the tissues that cover the brain. When a sudden, sharp pain affects the head the sensation may be due to a branch of the facial nerve. Usually headaches last longer, for minutes or even hours. When the headache is described as "throbbing" the effect comes from transmission of the pulse in the blood vessels.

A headache may be associated with exposure to cold. Other headaches may develop in healthy people during periods of great fatigue or emotional stress. Such headaches occur towards the end of the day; they begin as a dull ache in the forehead and spread towards the temples or towards the back. These headaches disappear when the person concerned has some good rest or sleep. Fear and worry seem to make headaches worse. Some headaches come from tenseness of the facial muscles, which in turn may be caused by pain or anxiety or strain.

Psychological disorders or mental disturbances may also be reflected in pains which are referred to the head. Such people complain of pressure on the head, of a tight-fitting band which squeezes the head, or of a pain that presses on the very top of the head.

Pain In The Chest

Pain in the chest may come from the ribs and the tissues related to the ribs; from organs in the abdomen; from the heart or from other organs in the chest. The muscle of the heart has to have oxygen, and when this essential is not provided the muscle responds with pain. Angina pectoris is a pain of this type which is usually continuous and which is provoked by walking, or an emotional strain, or any other factor that increases the work of the heart. The pain tends to be relieved when the burden is removed. Interference with the flow of blood carrying oxygen through the coronary arteries into the heart will bring on an attack of pain. The pain of angina pectoris and that of coronary thrombosis are about the same. Usually that of coronary thrombosis is more severe and lasts longer. Occasionally, however, thrombosis may occur with little or less severe pain.

Other pains in the chest may come from disturbances of the large blood vessels, from the nerves that reach the linings of the chest cavity, and from growths or abscesses behind the breast bone.

Heartburn probably arises from constriction at the bottom of the esophagus or swallowing tube, because material has been regurgitated from the stomach into this tube.

Pain In The Back

Strangely, one of the most difficult of all the diagnoses that a doctor has to make concerns the cause of a pain in the back. Excluding the pain that comes with breaking the bones of the spine or twisting the spine completely out of line, a number of different conditions may be ( responsible for different kinds of pains in the back. Infections may attack the tissues of the back as they do other parts of the body. Rheumatoid arthritis may select the many joints of the backbone as a place in which to locate. The little cartilages or discs that act as cushions between the bones may be crushed or slip out of place. The ligaments which attach to the bones of the spine may be pulled to the point where they are painful with every movement.

Careful study by an experienced physician reveals the cause of pain in the back and indicates the type of treatment to be followed. This may vary from changing the shoes and wearing a specially designed brace or corset, to instructions for reducing weight, improving the posture or even a surgical operation.

A recent postural instruction says:

• When standing or walking, toe straight ahead and take most of your weight on the heels.
• Sit with the buttocks tucked under so that the hollow in the low back is eradicated.
• When possible elevate the knees higher than the hips while sitting.
• Sleep on your back with your knees propped up or on your side with one or both knees drawn up.
• Bed should be firm.
• Never bend backwards.
• Avoid standing as much as possible.
• Learn to live 24 hours a day without a hollow in the lower part of your back.
• Avoid sleeping on the abdomen.

Painful Arms And Legs

Bums, frostbite, and cutting of the arms and legs may be painful. Similarly arthritis, abscesses in the bones and soft tissues, tumors and damage to the nerves may result in severe pain.

From the limbs of the body the nerves pass along until they connect with the roots in the spinal cord. Pressure, irritation or damage to these nerves at any point along their course may result in pain that is felt in the limb itself.

Pain may also be transmitted to the limbs from impulses arising elsewhere in the body. For instance, pain from the hip may be transmitted to the knee. Pain from the deep muscles of the back or from the small bones of the spinal column may be felt in the legs. Pain from angina pectoris or coronary thrombosis of the heart may be felt along the inner sides of the arms.

Various disturbances of the blood supply to the limbs may result in pain. This applies particularly to blocking of the circulation so that the tissues do not receive a proper amount of oxygen. As the blood supply becomes blocked there is a feeling of numbness and finally difficulty of movement. You say "My leg has gone to sleep." Blocking the blood to the arm causes the fingers to get quite numb in about twelve minutes, and then they are painful when touched. As the blood returns a sensation of tingling is felt, which is due to renewed activity of the nerves of the arm. If an arm or leg is moved while the circulation is blocked severe pain may be felt. This may be called a cramp, although actually the muscles are not in spasm but flaccid.

After a limb has been amputated pain may be felt as if it were in the limb. This is called "phantom limb" pain. In diagnosing the causes of pain in the extremities the character and location of the pain are most significant.

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Human

Graduated Driver's Licensing Saves Lives: Study

Three-step process 'keeping teenagers alive and families intact'
HealthDay

By Robert Preidt

Thursday, November 26, 2009

THURSDAY, Nov. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Three-stage graduated licensing for teens and other new drivers prevents injuries and saves lives, say U.S. researchers who analyzed five years of crash data from six states -- Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

More than 300 lives could have been saved if all of these states had added new, evidence-based modifications to their graduated driver's licensing (GDL) programs, study leader Dr. Timothy Corden, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and colleagues reported in a university news release.

The study authors also concluded that more than 21,400 traffic injuries could have been prevented if all these states had instituted at least five of seven components recommended by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:

• Minimum age of 16 years for obtaining a learner's permit.
• A waiting period of at least six months after obtaining a learner's permit before applying for an intermediate-phase license.
• At least 30 hours of supervised driving.
• Minimum age of 16.5 years for entering the intermediate phase.
• No unsupervised driving at night after 10 p.m. during the intermediate phase.
• No unsupervised driving during the intermediate phase with more than one passenger younger than 20.
• Minimum age of 17 for a full license.

"Our study lends support for states moving to include more of the best-practice components included within the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recommendations for state GDL regulations," the researchers said. "This could be viewed as a 'policy treatment prescription' capable of keeping teenagers alive and families intact."

While some politicians may be reluctant to revise GDL laws, parents are generally supportive of GDL programs and play an important role in the development of successful GDL policies, the researchers said.

The study was published online in the Wisconsin Medical Journal.

SOURCE: Medical College of Wisconsin, news release, Nov. 16, 2009

HealthDay
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