The Plain Truth's: Your Health Today ONLINE

Old blood may pose a safety risk

	Packed red blood cells used in blood transfusions can be stored for up to six weeks, according to federal rules. But a new study has renewed questions about whether the blood deteriorates sooner, causing serious problems in some patients. View related photos
Tim Boyle / Getty Images

updated 5:00 p.m. ET, Wed., March. 19, 2008

Heart surgery patients were more likely to die or suffer problems if they received transfusions of blood that is more than two weeks old rather than fresher blood, according to a new study that adds to the debate about the shelf life of blood.

Although not the final word, the study underscores concerns that blood deteriorates with age and that rules allowing blood to be stored for six weeks may pose a safety risk, at least for certain patients.

The findings bolster the argument of those who believe that older blood should be avoided, wrote Dr. John Adamson of the University of California at San Diego, in an editorial accompanying the study in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.

The Benefits of High Cholesterol

By Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD

People with high cholesterol live the longest. This statement seems so incredible that it takes a long time to clear one´s brainwashed mind to fully understand its importance. Yet the fact that people with high cholesterol live the longest emerges clearly from many scientific papers. Consider the finding of Dr. Harlan Krumholz of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale University, who reported in 1994 that old people with low cholesterol died twice as often from a heart attack as did old people with a high cholesterol.1 Supporters of the cholesterol campaign consistently ignore his observation, or consider it as a rare exception, produced by chance among a huge number of studies finding the opposite.

Doctors warn of superbug infection in face-lifts

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A dangerous drug-resistant bacterial infection has been showing up in a small number of patients who undergo face-lifts, doctors reported on Monday.

When infections do occur at surgical sites following such procedures "the facial plastic surgeon should have a high suspicion" for MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), as the source, they said.

Dr. Richard Zoumalan of Lennox Hill-Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital in New York and the New York University School of Medicine and Dr. David Rosenberg also of the Lennox Hill center said a review of 780 U.S. face-lift patients from 2001 to 2007 found five -- 0.6 percent -- with infections at incision sites. Four were confirmed as MRSA, all in 2006.

Is lack of Sleep Killing You???

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Popcorn Ingredient Tied to Lung Disease

Reuters

Posted: 2008-03-14 09:35:34

Filed Under: Health News

WASHINGTON (March 14) - A chemical used to give butter flavor to popcorn can damage the lungs and airways of mice, U.S. government experts reported on Thursday.

Microwave popcorn in aisle at grocery store.

Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

Late last year, two makers of microwave popcorn -- ConAgra Foods Inc. and Weaver Popcorn Co. Inc. -- said they would stop using diacetyl in their products after concerns about lung problems were raised. Orville Redenbacher is one of ConAgra's brands.

Concerns about a chemical in hard plastics make old-fashioned new again

	Michelle Palowich, of Amesbury, Mass., looks at Dr. Brown's glass baby bottles at Babies"R"Us, in Peabody, Mass. Dr. Brown's, which has been making a polycarbonate bottle for about a decade, introduced a glass version in early January. View related photos
Lisa Poole / AP

NEW YORK - Meg Robustelli had heard reports that a chemical in most plastic baby bottles could be dangerous, but she had not done anything about it. That's when her mother stepped in and bought her glass bottles.

"She's an alarmist, but I'm grateful," said Robustelli, whose daughter, Mia, is 14 months old. "I switched because of all the concerns about the plastic."

She made the change about six months ago, becoming one of a relatively small but growing number of parents turning to glass bottles amid concerns over a chemical used to make plastic bottles, bisphenol A.

10 strategies for a more restful night's sleep

Take a bath, adjust your attitude, darken your room and the rest will follow

	Just 25 percent of Americans get at least eight hours of rest on weekdays, and 60 percent of women say they often sleep poorly, according to the National Sleep Foundation. View related photos
Getty Images stock

By Ginny Graves

updated 12:50 p.m. ET, Sun., March. 2, 2008

The brown bat sleeps for nearly 20 hours each day. Humans function best on a comparatively thrifty seven to nine, but more and more people are having trouble getting even that. The National Sleep Foundation recently found that just 25 percent of Americans get at least eight hours of rest on weekdays and that 60 percent

Read More........

7 ways to boost your metabolism

Trick your body into burning calories more efficiently

By Samantha Heller, M.S., R.D., Health magazine

TODAY

updated 9:56 a.m. ET, Mon., March. 10, 2008

Your basal metabolic rate — the energy your body expends at rest — is generally determined by your genetics, but new research shows you can trick your body into burning calories more efficiently.

HEALTH magazine contributor Samantha Heller offers seven tips that can help boost your metabolism and lead to a stronger, healthier, leaner body.

Here are the best metabolism boosters:

Read More........

Overdose of Tussionex cough medicine can kill

WASHINGTON - U.S. health officials issued an alert on Tuesday about reports of life-threatening side effects and deaths linked to inappropriate use of UCB SA’s prescription cough medicine Tussionex.

The reports indicate doctors sometimes are prescribing, and patients sometimes taking, more than the recommended dose of Tussionex Pennkinetic Extended-Release Suspension, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Some people also are taking the drug more frequently than every 12 hours, the recommended time interval, or giving it to children under age 6, the FDA said. Tussionex is not approved for children younger than 6.

Gout Risk Linked To Genes

A study led by a team of scientists in Scotland suggests that genes may play a part in increasing one's risk of developing gout, a painful condition that affects the joints.

The study is published in the 9 March online issue of Nature Genetics and is the work of researchers based at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, and colleagues from other research centres in the UK and also in Croatia and Germany.

Gout (also called metabolic arthritis) is a painful condition caused when uric acid, a waste product of purine metabolism that in humans and great apes is mostly excreted via the kidneys into urine, deposits in the joints.

In some people the kidneys don't clear all the uric acid from the bloodstream, a condition that is called hyperuricemia.

Some 10 per cent of people with hyperuricemia go on to develop gout, where uric acid is deposited in the joints as monosodium urate crystals, resulting in inflammation and often considerable pain. The condition usually affects the joint of the big toe, but it can also affect fingers, elbows, ankles, knees and other joints.

Causes of gout have often been attributed to diet and lifestyle, with overconsumption of protein, refined sugar and alcohol being the main culprits, but the mystery that has remained is why thousands of people with these lifestyles don't develop gout.

The answer, according to this study, could be genetic. The researchers studied the genes of more than 12,000 people and found that a gene variant may increase or lower the risk of a person developing gout.

The gene variant in question is called SLC2A9, already known to scientists as a transporter of fructose, but in this new study, the researchers, led by Professor Alan Wright of the MRC Human Genetics Unit, found the variant also plays a key role in transporting uric acid.

Circumcision 'does not curb sex'

GOD KNEW THIS! That's why he commanded circumcism . It's in the Bible and now experts concur that Circumcision 'does not curb sex'

Charities warn circumcision should not replace condoms in the war on HIV

Circumcision does not reduce sexual satisfaction and so there should be no reservations about using this method as a way to combat HIV, a study says.

Nearly 5,000 Ugandan men were recruited for the study. Half were circumcised, half had yet to undergo surgery.

There was little difference between the two groups when they were asked to rate performance and satisfaction, the journal BJU International reports.

Read More...........

Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy'

Wim Hof's Amazing Abilities to Withstand Freezing Temperatures

Wim Hof runs barefoot through the snow. (Henny Boogert)

By JOSEPH ANGIER
March 7, 2008

E-mail

It's a bitterly cold winter day and students on the University of Minnesota campus are bundled up, hurrying to their next class. Wim Hof, dressed in shorts, sandals and nothing else, appeared from the doorway of a school building.

He's known as 'The Ice Man."

Video

Submerged In Ice

Scientists can't really explain it, but the 48-year-old Dutchman is able to withstand, and even thrive, in temperatures that could be fatal to the average person

Read More.........

AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water

Here is more on a story we brought you more than a month ago! Our water supply is filled with traces of medicines, from Viagra to female hormones! Pharmaceuticals found in drinking water is affecting wildlife and humans!Read More.........

Fatigued? Wake Up And Smell The Coffee

Looks Like Certain Foods DO Cause Acne!

By Robert R Barney

When I was a teenager, I suffered from severe acne. My grandma blamed fried foods, chocolate and dairy. My dermatologists informed me that foods had nothing to do with acne. It was a hormonal problem that caused too much oil production in the skin, which when trapped in a pore, the bacteria caused the acne. The only thing I could do was keep my face clean, use Retin-A and take a load of anti-biotic's that could cure an army. It also caused my ulcers. Now today, some research suggests that our diet may help cause acne in prone people. Yes, hormones (too much male hormone) plays the key role, but our diets can cause severe outbreaks.

As someone who experienced first-hand the trauma of severe acne, I sympathize with all of those people out there plagued with the malady. If you haven't had it very bad, one will never realize what this medical problem can do to the psyche of the afflicted.

The following viseo from CNN has some updated info on acne.

View Video.........

Could a Pill Replace Weight Loss Surgery?

(March 4) - Researchers in London may have found a way to treat obesity that doesn't involve risky surgery, according to BBC News and other sources.

Scientists say they've identified two proteins that control how the stomach expands when a person eats a big meal. They say this information lead to a drug that could block the protein that relaxes the stomach, making people feel full after eating a smaller amount of food.

Currently, doctors use gastric banding or stomach stapling surgeries to reduce the stomach's volume. But these options can be risky and have potential for serious side effects.

"A pill that could replace this surgery, yet have the same effect, might be a useful alternative," said Dr. Brian King, one of the researchers in the study.

A report in the Telegraph says that potential pill could still be 10 years away.

The University College London study appears in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Sources: BBC News and Telegraph.co.uk

Is Illegaal Immigration Making You Sick?

Is Illegal Immigration Making You Sick….Literally?!

The unchecked flow of illegal border-hoppers from the south is washing over us like a Texas flash flood. It negatively impacts our bottom line, greatly compromises our security, and erodes our national identity… but what nobody's talking about is how serious a public health issue it is.

They're trying to cheat the system, but in the end, you're the one who pays. Maybe you don't know this, but all immigrants who want to qualify for their green cards have to go through a thorough testing process. Basically, they have to prove that they don't have any contagious diseases or drug addictions.

Do you have any idea how rampant diseases are in Third World countries that don't have the same sanitary conditions and health care available to them? Our screening process is in place to keep us all safe. Whether people choose to accept it or not, the truth is that too many of the illegals who "bypass" this testing process are coming into this country with more than just their "dream of a better life"-they're also bringing very contagious, and sometimes very deadly, diseases.

Light Up Your Health

Being outside in the sun makes you feel good - and is really good for your health! Let’s face it – we all love it when the winter is over and the warm sunshine comes around again and turning your face to the sun makes you feel a whole lot better.

This is because sunlight triggers an increase in the feel-good brain chemical serotonin. Serotonin controls sleep patterns, body temperature and your sex drive, and also lifts your mood and wards off depression.

Some people are extra sensitive to the lack of sunshine in the winter – so much so that they can suffer real depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Prescription drugs like Prozac stimulate the brain to produce more serotonin but many SAD sufferers usually resort to an artificial light box instead as Prozac can have unpleasant side effects.

Bacteria May Reduce Risk For Kidney Stones

Researchers from Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center have found that the bacteria Oxalobacter formigenes (O. formigenes), a naturally occurring bacterium that has no known side effects, is associated with a 70 percent reduction in the risk of recurrent kidney stones. These findings appear online in the March issue Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Kidney stones are an important health problem in many countries. In the United States, the lifetime risk for developing a stone is five to 15 percent, and a five-year risk for recurrence is 30 to 50 percent. The economic impact of hospital admissions for this condition is $2 billion per year.

According to the researchers, up to 80 percent of kidney stones are predominately composed on calcium oxalate (CaOx) and urinary oxalate is a major risk factor for CaOx stone formation. O. formigenes metabolizes oxalate in the intestinal tract and is present in a large proportion of the normal adult population.

Listening To Cell Phones Impairs Driving, Study

Scientists in the US have shown that listening to a cell phone while driving was enough distraction to cause drivers to make the same type of driving errors as they would under the influence of alcohol.

The study is the work of neuroscientist Dr Marcel Just and colleagues at the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is to be published shortly in the journal Brain Research.

Even if you are not talking, just listening to a cell phone conversation can significantly reduce the amount of brain activity associated with driving, said the researchers, who asked volunteers to drive on a simulator while they observed their brains using an MRI (magnetic resonance image) scanner.

Using cell phones while driving has been a matter of controversy for some time, but this is the first study to look at listening alone as a distraction.

Americans Sleepier Than Ever

MONDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Americans are working later and sleeping less, a dangerous combination which can cause drowsiness at the wheel, loss of productivity and a lack of interest in sex.

And while most people know this is a problem, about two-thirds of them aren't doing anything about it, a new poll shows.

"People are actually acknowledging it's an issue and not doing any thing about it," said Mark R. Rosekind, a former board member of the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). "This can be lethal in your car."

The troubling numbers come from a new Sleep in America poll released Monday by the NSF as part of its 11th annual National Sleep Awareness Week.

This year's survey focuses much more on the workplace and issues of safety and productivity than previous surveys, said Rosekind, who was on the poll task force.

Cold Vs. Flu Symptoms

Cold vs. Flu Tool Know the Difference Between Cold and Flu Symptoms

Can you tell the difference between symptoms of flu and the common cold? To learn more about your symptoms, if they are associated with the flu, and how TAMIFLU may help check out the Symptoms at a Glance chart below.

Symptom	Cold	Flu
Fever	Fever is rare with a cold.	Fever is usually present with the flu in up to 80% of all flu cases. A temperature of 100°F or higher for 3 to 4 days is associated with the flu.
Coughing	A hacking, productive (mucus- producing) cough is often present with a cold.	A non-productive (non-mucus producing) cough is usually present with the flu (sometimes referred to as dry cough).
Aches	Slight body aches and pains can be part of a cold.	Severe aches and pains are common with the flu.
Stuffy Nose	Stuffy nose is commonly present with a cold and typically resolves spontaneously within a week.	Stuffy nose is not commonly present with the flu.
Chills	Chills are uncommon with a cold.	60% of people who have the flu experience chills.
Tiredness	Tiredness is fairly mild with a cold.	Tiredness is moderate to severe with the flu.
Sneezing	Sneezing is commonly present with a cold.	Sneezing is not common with the flu.
Sudden Symptoms	Cold symptoms tend to develop over a few days.	The flu has a rapid onset within 3-6 hours. The flu hits hard and includes sudden symptoms like high fever, aches and pains.
Headache	A headache is fairly uncommon with a cold.	A headache is very common with the flu, present in 80% of flu cases.
Sore Throat	Sore throat is commonly present with a cold.	Sore throat is not commonly present with the flu.
Chest Discomfort	Chest discomfort is mild to moderate with a cold.	Chest discomfort is often severe with the flu.

DISCLAIMER:
This isnot a substitute for a professional, on-site medical diagnosis. However, you can use the printable symptoms results for discussion with your doctor or other healthcare professional during your visit to aid in a professional diagnosis.

Colonoscopies Could Miss Dangerous Lesions: Report

More Than 9 Percent of Dangerous Lesions May Be Missed

New research suggests colonoscopies may often miss a certain type of potentially dangerous lesion. (AP Photo)

Mar 5, 2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The most dangerous types of pre-cancerous lesions in the colon could be missed by colonoscopies, researchers cautioned on Wednesday.

Colonoscopies are examinations of the colon that use an endoscope -- a little camera on a flexible tube. The doctor doing the examination can see and remove polyps, the small growths that can become tumors.

But not every pre-cancerous lesion stands up. There is a type called a flat, non-polypoid colorectal neoplasm and the California team found they are both more common and more dangerous than previously thought.

Dr. Roy Soetikno and colleagues examined the results of 1,819 colonoscopies among patients at their hospital.

They found 170 of these flat lesions, or 9.35 percent of all growths detected.

Once removed, they were 10 times as likely as the more obvious growths to contain cancerous tissue, Soetikno's team reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Rare Gene Mutation Plays Role in Longevity

TUESDAY, March 4 (HealthDay News) -- A rare gene mutation that restricts a particular growth factor may be one of the keys to living to 100 and beyond, a new study suggests.

This mutation, which seems to decrease the activity of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), results in short stature but longer life. Exactly why this might lengthen someone's life isn't known, but the researchers say the finding might prove useful in developing anti-aging drugs.

"We found that people of a hundred years old have mutations in a gene that is related to the growth hormone pathway," said lead researcher Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. "We think this is important, because that's what now happens in nature. The pony lives longer than the horse, the small dog lives longer than a large dog. Apparently, it's true for humans also."

Interestingly, this particular mutation has been found mostly among women, he added.

It might be possible, given these findings, to develop drugs that can prevent aging and age-related disease, Barzilai noted. "There are drugs being developed to decrease growth hormone in patients with tumors, because sometimes cancer is dependent on growth hormones," he said. "Maybe we can adopt the strategy to slow aging."

Perceptions: Watch Your Weight, Sure, but Don’t Worry About It

Worrying about weighing too much may be bad for you, no matter how much you actually weigh.

Using results from a telephone health survey run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers analyzed data on more than 170,000 men and women nationwide. Among other information about health and lifestyle, all reported height and weight, how much they would like to weigh and how many days in the past month they had felt physically or mentally unhealthy.

The study, to be published in the March issue of The American Journal of Public Health, found that men who wanted to lose 1 percent, 10 percent and 20 percent of their body weight reported 0.05, 0.9 and 2.7 unhealthy days a month, respectively. Women with the same weight-loss desires reported 0.1, 1.6 and 4.3 total unhealthy days a month. The results held even after controlling for age and body mass index.

The authors acknowledge that their findings depend on self-reports, and that women tend to say they weigh less than they do, while men claim to be taller than they are. But controlling for many variables — like diabetes, hypertension and smoking — did not significantly alter the conclusions.

Hormone users face new cancer risks years later

CHICAGO - The first follow-up of a landmark study of hormone use after menopause shows heart problems linked with the pills seem to fade after women stop taking them, while surprising new cancer risks appear.

That heart trouble associated with hormones may not be permanent is good news for millions of women who quit taking them after the government study was halted six years ago because of heart risks and breast cancer.

But the new risks for other cancers, particularly lung tumors, in women who’d taken estrogen-progestin pills for about five years puzzled the researchers and outside experts. Those risks “were completely unanticipated,” said Dr. Gerardo Heiss of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, lead author of the follow-up analysis.

The analysis focused on participants’ health in the first two to three years after the study’s end. During that time, those who’d taken hormones but stopped were 24 percent more likely to develop any kind of cancer than women who’d taken dummy pills during the study.

“There’s still a lot of uncertainty about the cause of the increased cancer risk,” said analysis co-author Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The cancers included breast tumors, which also occurred more frequently in hormone users during the study.

The researchers noted that the increased risks for all cancers amounted to only three extra cases per year for every 1,000 women on hormone pills, compared with nonusers.

Blood Thinner Might Be Tied to More Deaths

By WALT BOGDANICH

Published: February 29, 2008

Amid indications that more people may have died or been harmed after being given a brand of the blood thinner heparin, federal drug regulators said Thursday that they had found “potential deficiencies” at a Chinese plant that supplied much of the active ingredient for the drug.

Baxter International, which makes the brand of heparin associated with the problems, and buys supplies from the Chinese plant, announced that it was expanding a recall to include virtually all its heparin products. Though Baxter produces much of the heparin used in the United States, regulators said the other major supplier would be able to meet the demand.

The Food and Drug Administration said the number of deaths possibly associated with the drug, made from pig intestines, had risen to 21 from 4. But it cautioned that many of those patients were already seriously ill and that the drug might not have caused their deaths.

Fruit, Vegetable-Rich Diet Halves Lung Disease Risk

Date updated: May 15, 2007
Content provided by Health Day

TUESDAY, May 15 (HealthDay News) -- People who follow a "Mediterranean" diet rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains and fish cut their risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by half, researchers report.

COPD, a lethal combination of emphysema and bronchitis, is expected to become the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2020.

Smoking remains the primary cause of COPD, according to the report in the May 14 online edition of the journal Thorax.

Therefore, "The first message is that people have to stop smoking," said lead researcher Dr. Raphaelle Varraso, from INSERM, Villejuif, France. "And then, that a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and fish may help to reduce risk of COPD."

And, if healthy food can cut the odds for COPD, unhealthy eating could do the opposite, he said. "In smokers and ex-smokers, a diet rich in refined grains, cured and red meats, desserts and French fries may increase the risk of COPD," Varraso said.

Curry Ingredient May Cut Cardiovascular Risks

Date updated: February 27, 2008
Content provided by Health Day

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Curcumin, an ingredient in the curry spice tumeric, can reduce heart enlargement and may lower the risk of heart failure, Canadian researchers say.

The scientists at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre of the Toronto General Hospital tested the effects of curcumin in mice with enlarged hearts (hypertrophy) and found it could prevent and reverse the condition, restore heart function, and reduce scar formation. The study was published in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

If human clinical trials support these findings, curcumin-based treatments may provide a safe and inexpensive new option for patients with heart enlargement, according to the researchers.

They said curcumin works directly in the cell nucleus by preventing abnormal unraveling of the chromosome under stress and preventing excessive abnormal protein production.

Are Cutting Health Costs Always Safe?

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U.S. study shows why winter is ‘flu season’ Coating protects viruses against cold — so they can infe

updated 1:38 p.m. ET, Sun., March. 2, 2008

WASHINGTON - Influenza viruses coat themselves in fatty material that hardens and protects them in colder temperatures — a finding that could explain why winter is the flu season, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday.

This butter-like coating melts in the respiratory tract, allowing the virus to infect cells, the team at the National Institutes of Health found.

"Like an M&M in your mouth, the protective covering melts when it enters the respiratory tract," said Joshua Zimmerberg of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), who led the study.Read More.......

Regular aspirin may lower colon cancer risk in men

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who routinely take aspirin seem to be less likely to develop colorectal cancer, according to new research findings. However, the benefit requires the dose of aspirin to be higher than usually recommended for heart health, and to be taken over at least 6 years.

"Long-term data on the risk of colorectal cancer according to dose, duration, and consistency of aspirin therapy are limited," Dr. Andrew T. Chan, of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues write in the medical journal Gastroenterology.

The research team collected data on aspirin use and cancer risk factors every 2 years among more than 47,000 men between 40 and 87 years old at enrollment in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study in 1986. .

During 18 years of follow-up, 975 cases of colorectal cancer were documented.

After adjustment for risk factors, men who reported taking aspirin regularly (at least twice a week) had a 21 percent lower risk of developing colorectal cancer compared with men who were not regular aspirin users.

Obese patients wait longer for kidney transplants

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Extremely obese adults in need of a kidney transplant appear to wait longer for a donor organ than their thinner counterparts do, a study has found.

The findings, according to researchers, suggest there may be a bias in the way donor kidneys are allocated.

Analyzing a decade's worth of national transplant data, researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found that morbidly obese patients - those who are 100 or more pounds overweight -- on the kidney transplant waiting list were 44 percent less likely to receive a donor organ as normal-weight patients.

There was no similar disparity seen among overweight or mildly obese patients, the researchers report in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

"The results identify a potential bias in organ allocation that is not consistent with the goals of our allocation system," Dr. Dorry L. Segev, the lead researcher on the study, said in a statement.

In the U.S., the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) oversees the allocation of donor organs. Segev and his colleagues based their findings on UNOS data for 132,353 patients on the waiting list for a kidney transplant between 1995 and 2006.

Carb Intake, Obesity Tied to Rise in Esophageal Cancers

FRIDAY, Feb. 29 (HealthDay News) -- There may be a link between rising rates of carbohydrate intake and obesity and the increasing number of esophageal cancer cases in the United States, a new study says.

Researchers noted that cases of esophageal cancer increased from 300,000 in 1973 to 2.1 million in 2001, which closely mirrors increases in carbohydrate intake and obesity over the same time.

Obesity is a major risk factor for many types of cancer, and a diet high in calories from refined carbohydrates is a common contributor to obesity, the researchers noted. They also said no other studied nutrients were found to correlate with esophageal cancer rates.

"If we can reverse the trends in refined carbohydrate intake and obesity in the U.S., we may be able to reduce the incidence of esophageal cancer," study senior author Dr. Li Li, an assistant professor in the department of family medicine and the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals Health System, said in a prepared statement.

Clinic accused of reusing syringes sued

LAS VEGAS - A former patient sued a surgical center believed to have spread hepatitis C by reusing syringes and vials of medication, saying Thursday he fears for his health.

The suit comes a day after the Southern Nevada Health District announced that unsafe practices at the clinic may have led to six reported cases of hepatitis C, a potentially fatal blood-borne virus.

Another 40,000 people who received anesthesia at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada between March 2004 and January 2008 are being urged to be tested for hepatitis, strains C and B, and HIV.

"I feel like a ticking time bomb. I'll get tested ASAP, but since HIV can lay dormant for many years, my wife and I face a future of uncertainty and fear," according to a statement from the plaintiff, Charles Anthony Rader, Jr., who says he received treatment during that period and may have been exposed.

What a nightmare: Americans get too little sleep

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With late-night TV watching, Internet surfing and other distractions, Americans are getting less and less sleep, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

And all this sleeplessness can be a nightmare for your mental and physical health, CDC experts cautioned, calling sleep loss an under-recognized public health problem.

Sleep experts say chronic sleep loss is associated with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cardiovascular disease, depression, cigarette smoking and excessive drinking.

The CDC surveyed 19,589 adults in four states. Ten percent reported they did not get enough sleep or rest every single day of the prior month, and 38 percent said they did not get enough in seven or more days in the prior month.

Doctor's Orders Can Kill You

When’s the last time YOUR doctor gave you a prescription for some nutritious food, some time off from work, and a stress-free, loving relationship?

I got a big kick out of this cartoon, not only because of the punch line but also because the above “prescription” truly can redirect you toward health. Life can seem so very complicated at times, but when you get down to it, it is the simple things that make all the difference.

So as much and as often as you can, eat healthy food, be supportive to your loved ones, get some physical activity (in whatever form you choose!), and by all means, laugh, deeply and heartily...Read More....

Deaths Halt Diabetes Study

diabetes, insulin, blood sugar, sugar, leptin, obesity, actos, avandia, death The U.S. government abruptly halted aggressive treatment in a major study of diabetes and heart disease after a surprising number of deaths occurred among patients who pushed their blood sugar to very low levels.

The 10,000-patient ACCORD was designed to investigate whether lowering blood sugar levels to below the current recommended target would help protect patients at high-risk of heart attack.

However, the study was halted 18 months early, following 257 deaths among aggressively treated patients, compared to only 203 among diabetics given more standard care. Although aggressively treated patients were actually less likely to suffer heart attacks, any heart attacks they did suffer were more likely to be fatal.

A close look at the multiple medications patients used, including the drug Avandia that is suspected of being a heart risk, showed no sign that any were to blame.

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

One concept that I strive to make well-known, which has the potential to save hundreds of thousands and even millions of lives, is that diabetes is not a disease of blood sugar.

Rather, it is a disease of insulin – of insulin resistance -- and perhaps more importantly, of faulty leptin signaling.

Until that concept becomes well-known in both the medical community and by the public at large, this misconception will continue to be promoted in studies such as the one above, revealing the inadequacy of current conventional medical treatment for chronic diseases such as diabetes, and their erroneous advice about nutrition.

Typically, conventional treatment is focused on fixing a symptom, in this case elevated blood sugar, rather than the underlying disease. Symptoms are generally the way that nature has taught our bodies to deal with a disease – the real underlying biological or physiological problem.

Similarly, treatments that concentrate merely on lowering blood sugar for diabetes while raising insulin levels, can actually worsen rather than remedy the actual problem of metabolic miscommunication. It just trades one evil for another...Read More...

Starving student blames stingy host family

Parents consider suing AFS after son was placed in Egyptian home

This photo, taken in January, shows Jonathan McCullum at a hospital in Portland, Maine, after his time abroad.

updated 4:43 p.m. ET, Wed., Feb. 27, 2008

HALLOWELL, Maine - Jonathan McCullum was in perfect health at 155 pounds when he left last summer to spend the school year as an exchange student in Egypt.

But when he returned home to Maine just four months later, the 5-foot-9 teenager weighed a mere 97 pounds and was so weak that he struggled to carry his baggage or climb a flight of stairs. Doctors said he was at risk for a heart attack.

McCullum says he was denied sufficient food while staying with a family of Coptic Christians, who fast for more than 200 days a year, a regimen unmatched by other Christians...Read More...

Anti-impotence pill could boost high flying pilots

Thu Feb 7, 3:43 PM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A drug used to treat impotence could help Israeli fighter pilots operate at high altitude, the Israeli military's official magazine reported in its latest issue.

It said a retired general plans to present to the air force the results of a study he conducted on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania where he found that tadalafil, the active ingredient in Cialis tablets, improved breathing in a thin atmosphere...Read More...

Strokes among middle-aged women triple By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer

NEW ORLEANS - Strokes have tripled in recent years among middle-aged women in the U.S., an alarming trend doctors blame on the obesity epidemic. Nearly 2 percent of women ages 35 to 54 reported suffering a stroke in the most recent federal health survey, from 1999 to 2004. Only about half a percent did in the previous survey, from 1988 to 1994...Read More...

Antibiotics Frequently Given To Patients With Advanced Dementia

A new study by researchers in the US found that people with advanced dementia are frequently given antibiotics toward the end of life, and has thrown into question whether this practice should be curtailed in view of the increased risk of developing drug resistant superbugs.

The study is the work of Drs Erika D'Agata and Susan L Mitchell of the Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, and is published in the 25th February issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Advanced dementia patients in nursing homes are at high risk of infections and antimicrobial exposure near the end of life, wrote the researchers.

D'Agata and Mitchell studied a group of 214 residents, of average age 85.2, with advanced dementia being cared for in 21 nursing homes in and around Boston.

The residents were assessed between 2003 and 2006 and then every three months for up to 18 months. At each assessment, the number and type of antibiotics prescribed, with reasons (indication), were noted from records kept at the nursing home...Read More...