The Plain Truth's: Your Health Today ONLINE

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

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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:

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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.

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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

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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.

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

10 strategies for a more restful night's sleep

7 ways to boost your metabolism

Overdose of Tussionex cough medicine can kill

Gout Risk Linked To Genes

Circumcision 'does not curb sex'

Iceman on Everest: 'It Was Easy'

AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water

Fatigued? Wake Up And Smell The Coffee

Looks Like Certain Foods DO Cause Acne!

Could a Pill Replace Weight Loss Surgery?

Is Illegaal Immigration Making You Sick?

Light Up Your Health

Bacteria May Reduce Risk For Kidney Stones

Listening To Cell Phones Impairs Driving, Study

Americans Sleepier Than Ever

Cold Vs. Flu Symptoms

Colonoscopies Could Miss Dangerous Lesions: Report

Rare Gene Mutation Plays Role in Longevity

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

Hormone users face new cancer risks years later

Blood Thinner Might Be Tied to More Deaths

Fruit, Vegetable-Rich Diet Halves Lung Disease Risk

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