Hand Washing May do More Harm Than Good …..
Posted: December 3, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: electric hand dryers, hand drying, hand washing, warm air hand dryers Leave a comment
peatoire (sxc.hu)
…..If You Do Not Dry Your Hands Properly
Of course we wash our hands after using the restroom, but how we dry them determines whether bacteria die off or thrive and spread, according to a new study in the Journal of Applied Microbiology. Researchers measured the number of bacteria transferred from hands to other surfaces after volunteers washed and then used different types of electric hand dryers like the ones found in many public restrooms. Read the rest of this entry »
Avoiding E. Coli
Posted: November 17, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: E. coli, food poisoning Leave a comment
balder2111 (sxc.hu)
After the recent E. coli food poisoning scare in Europe, a coworker told me that she was washing her raw fruits and vegetables in a diluted bleach solution to guard against foodborne illnesses. When I found this dubious advice echoed online, alarms went off in my head. This is where the Internet can actually be a dangerous source of information—since unvetted ideas get presented as fact.
I called Christine M. Bruhn, PhD, director of the Center for Consumer Research at the University of California, Davis, to discuss this latest ill-founded advice. She said emphatically, “Never use bleach on food! To be effective and safe, you would have to measure a bleach solution exactly. Yet we have found that people guess instead—so bleach amounts wind up too low to be effective at killing pathogens or, worse, too high to be safe for human consumption.” Even if you think that you’re rinsing off the bleach afterward, fruits and vegetables are porous—so they can absorb bleach.
What to use instead: Read the rest of this entry »
Cellular Telephones DO Cause Brain Tumors
Posted: October 31, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: cell phones & radiation, cell phones do cause brain tumors Leave a commentAbout nine out of 10 US households now have at least one cell phone — and that doesn’t include other wireless devices, such as cordless phones, iPads, baby monitors and computers.
Result: The average adult (and child) is flooded with nonionizing radiation, a form of energy that — for the first time — has been officially linked to cancer. In May, a panel of the World Health Organization (WHO) listed cell phones as a class 2b carcinogen, which means that it’s “possible” that cell phones, like some industrial chemicals, increase the risk for cancer.
This conclusion has been disputed by many scientists. But careful analysis of the best studies to date indicate that people who log the most cell-phone minutes are more likely to develop tumors on the same side of the head that they hold the cell phone, compared with those who use cell phones less often.
DISTURBING RESEARCH Read the rest of this entry »
Relaxing to Death
Posted: October 14, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: alprazolam, benzodiazepine drugs, relaxing to death, xanax 4 Comments
Can Xanax, the extremely popular prescription drug that soothes anxiety, make a mess of your life? Yes, it can — and not only because it’s highly addictive. It can easily kill you if you take too much of it. Frighteningly, we are seeing that more and more as people are dying… or driving so unsafely that they might kill others.
Xanax is old — it was first marketed in 1981 — but boy, has our society had a hard time learning to deal with it safely. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a report announcing that Xanax has become one of the leading causes of drug overdose in the state of Florida, where fatal overdoses of prescription drugs are now four times as common as those caused by illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine. (A news story in the St. Petersburg Times reported that Xanax is turning up along with alcohol in the blood of an alarming number of people arrested for driving “under the influence.”) According to a recent report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services, benzodiazepines are more commonly used for “recreational” purposes than opioids — and among them, Xanax is the most frequently misused. Three decades after its introduction, what we have with Xanax looks to be a major problem in the making.
SOMETHING TO BE ANXIOUS ABOUT… Read the rest of this entry »
Staying Away from the Flu This Year
Posted: October 5, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: flu prevention, flu virus, seasonal flu, seasonal influenza, staying away from the flu this year Leave a comment
Little kids sure can be cute, but when they’re all sneezy and drippy, who can blame us for not wanting to get too close — imagine the germs! And when flu season hits, the thought of being sidelined with a hacking cough, fever and chills is enough to make us want to step back just a bit further from those sweet little faces. Hold on though — it turns out that small children may be getting a bad rap when it comes to spreading the flu. Dena Schanzer, MSc, PStat, a senior statistical analyst with the Public Health Agency in Ontario, Canada, published research recently in the American Journal of Epidemiology that suggests that, in fact, Read the rest of this entry »
Mysterious New Tick Disease
Posted: August 15, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: babesiosis, Mysterious New Tick Disease Leave a comment
Getty Image
Along with the pleasure of being outdoors in the summer, there is an important downside for many people — disease-causing deer ticks. Mostly we worry about Lyme disease, but be warned — there is a second, more mysterious deer tick disease making the rounds. Unlike Lyme disease, which is caused by a bacterium, babesiosis (pronounced bah BEE zio sis) is caused by a parasite that enters a person’s red blood cells. While Lyme disease usually signals its presence very early on with a target like rash, babesiosis does not have any such overt early display, so it’s especially important to be aware of its symptoms.
The good news is that symptoms are so mild in many adults who contract babesiosis that they’re hardly noticeable… and they often self-resolve without a problem. (In other words, once the parasite dies out, you are completely free of it.) Other people, primarily but not only those with impaired immune systems, don’t fare so well and develop malaria-like symptoms that can be very severe. Left untreated, these symptoms can be associated with complications in the lung, heart, kidneys and/or the liver, all of which can stop functioning. Read the rest of this entry »
A Fever May be Good for You
Posted: July 12, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: fevers, normal body temperature, when fever is a good thing 1 Comment
tap78 (sxc.hu)
IS FEVER YOUR FRIEND?
Why Should I Volunteer?
Posted: July 8, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: volunteer, volunteering is good for your health, why you should volunteer Leave a comment
nellart (sxc.hu)
Volunteering improves your health. Volunteering creates a sense of belonging and can relieve depression and chronic pain and reduce risk for heart attack and stroke. Read the rest of this entry »
Is It a Food Allergy?
Posted: June 28, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: difference between food allergy and food intolerance, food allergy, food intolerance Leave a comment— OR A DIFFERENT PROBLEM?
An astonishing number of people now have food allergies — not. A number of recent studies have found that most people who believe they have food allergies actually don’t — one small study puts that figure as high as 90%! This state of affairs led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to release new guidelines to provide a uniform strategy for diagnosing and managing food allergies. I spoke with Matthew Fenton, PhD, chief of the asthma and allergy branch of NIAID, to find out more…
WHAT’S YOUR REAL PROBLEM? Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t be Shocked — Electroshock Therapy Works!
Posted: June 25, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: electroshock therapy Leave a comment
Palla (sxc.hu)
Think of Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of McMurphy in the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It brought electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and the controversy surrounding it to the cultural forefront back in the 1970s. Well, the subject is once again in the news. Many people, including patients and psychiatrists, believe that ECT can be an invaluable tool in the recovery from clinical depression, while others criticize it as unsafe, extreme and even unhelpful.
Earlier this year, a cadre of influential mental health organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, teamed up to urge that the FDA downgrade the risk rating of ECT devices to medium-risk from high-risk, a move that would put them in the same risk category as syringes and surgical drills. After reviewing the request, an FDA advisory committee in March recommended against taking this action — not because the procedure is known to be unsafe but because there’s little research that proves it is safe, particularly long term. Proponents of ECT argue that this will make it difficult for many patients who would benefit by having access to ECT, with some saying that such a ruling even may make the treatment unavailable altogether.
SAFETY TESTING HASN’T BEEN DONE Read the rest of this entry »
Unusual Allergies
Posted: June 1, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: allergic to exercise, allergy, bra allergy, cell phone allergy, chemicals and clothing, clothing allergies, dangers of ill fitting bras, exercise-induced anaphylaxis, intimate allergies, unusual allergies Leave a commentUNUSUAL ALLERGIES
People have allergic reactions to some surprising and funky things — like sex, cell phones and underwear. While everyone knows to watch out for dust mites, dairy, ragweed and the like, many people are dealing with rashes, hives and sinus issues without realizing that they have an allergy. What are some of the lesser-known things that people may be allergic to? I called Thomas Brunoski, MD, a practitioner of nutritional and preventive medicine in Westport, Connecticut.
PUT DOWN YOUR CELL PHONE Read the rest of this entry »
House Plants and VOCs
Posted: April 4, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: houseplants, Indoor air quality, power of house plants, VOCs Leave a comment
ludrossi (sxc.hu)
Houseplants help remove chemicals released into the air by paints, cleaners, glues and other products. The plants’ physiological processes help remove some volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during the day, and tiny organisms in the soil remove VOCs when the plant is not as active at night.
Plants that remove the most VOCs: Purple waffle plant, wax plant, asparagus fern, English ivy and the purple heart plant.
Source: Bodie Pennisi, PhD, associate professor, department of horticulture, University of Georgia, Griffin, and leader of a study that tested 28 common houseplants, published in HortScience.
What To Do For Your Toothbrush
Posted: March 30, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: how to care for your toothbrush, Toothbrush Leave a comment
jaylopez (sxc.hu)
How to Care for Your Toothbrush
You rely on it to promote oral health — but a toothbrush that is not properly maintained may house bacteria and viruses that transmit colds, flu, cold sores and other ailments. What to do for your toothbrush…
Give it a good home. When several toothbrushes are jumbled together, germs can migrate from brush to brush — so use a holder that keeps toothbrushes upright and separate. Place the holder at least six feet from the toilet — water particles can travel several feet with each flush. (Better yet, close the toilet lid before flushing.) Read the rest of this entry »
Cell Phones & Radiation
Posted: March 28, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: cell phones & radiation Leave a comment
Kriss Szkurlatowski (sxc.hu)
The 4-Letter Cell-Phone Safety Trick
Cell phones have become integral to everyday life, and no one (including me!) is in the mood to hear that they are really unsafe.
But I’ve read a few things lately that make me think twice about how much time I spend on my cell phone. I believe this issue merits some serious consideration and perhaps some changes in our habits. For one thing, brand new research demonstrates that when an active cell-phone antenna is held against the head, it brings a measurable change to brain activity in that area. While the researchers of this study are careful to say that this doesn’t show that cell phones harm the brain, it’s clear that it’s not only the substance of the conversation that affects our brains when we’re on our cell phones — there’s something else going on, too, and we need to learn more about what that means to our health. Read the rest of this entry »
Want To Be A Super-Ager?
Posted: March 17, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: living a long & healthy life, Middle age, super-agers Leave a comment
julosstock (sxc.hu)
Want to live a long, healthy life? To learn how, just ask a “super-ager.”That was the thinking of researchers at the University of California, Irvine, who recruited more than 1,000 residents from a retirement community to study what exactlycaused these people to live to age 90 and beyond. Known as the “oldest-old,” this group is comprised of about two million Americans and is the fastest-growing segment of the US population.The 90-Plus Study, which is ongoing, holds important lessons for all of us who hope to reach advanced age with our mental and physical faculties intact.
What’s been discovered so far… * Read the rest of this entry »
Water Prevents Kidney Stones
Posted: March 6, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: prevent kidney stones Leave a comment
Kriss Szkurlatowski (sxc.hu)
To prevent kidney stones, drink plenty of liquids. Dehydration can make stones more likely. Extra fluid intake helps keep urine flowing so that stones do not have the time or opportunity to form. Some people benefit from drinking large quantities of liquids containing citrate, such as lemonade, which can reduce the likelihood of a chemical reaction in your urine that would cause new stones to form. Also, ask your doctor whether changes in your diet may make stones less likely. If you have had kidney stones or have a family history of them, see a urologist or nephrologist (kidney specialist).
Go Away Chronic Cough — I Don’t Want to Live With You Anymore.
Posted: February 16, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: ACE inhibitor, chronic cough, Cough, GERD, how to get rid of that nagging cough 4 Comments
tuwannu (sxc.hu)
If you have a nagging cough, you may be tempted to just “live with it.” Don’t make that mistake. Even though most chronic coughs (persisting for eight weeks or longer) are not caused by a serious illness, an unresolved cough can disrupt sleep and interfere with work, home and social life.
Good news: With the right combination of treatments, chronic cough almost always can be cured.
WHY WE COUGH
Coughing protects the airways from foreign particles. But a persistent cough usually indicates that something is stimulating your cough reflex unnecessarily.
Important finding: Read the rest of this entry »
The Proper Way to Clean Out Your Ears
Posted: January 5, 2011 Filed under: Health | Tags: how to clean your ears, right way to clean your ears 1 Comment
vierdrie (sxc.hu)
Earwax lubricates the ear’s delicate skin and traps germs and debris. When you talk or eat, jaw motion pushes excess wax out of the ear canal to the point where it is visible. It can then be wiped away with a damp cloth or swab.
But: Sometimes the ear gets clogged as wax builds up. Do not try to dig wax out of the ear canal — this could abrade the skin, inviting infection… compact wax further… or puncture the eardrum. Better…
Wax may get stuck if it’s too dry. To soften it, once a week use an eyedropper to place two drops of unscented baby oil in each ear.
Clogs may occur if you secrete excess wax or have narrow ear canals.
To unclog: Read the rest of this entry »
Prescription Fish Oil – Beware
Posted: November 15, 2010 Filed under: Health | Tags: lovaza, prescription fish oil 1 CommentBig Pharma is going natural with big dollar signs in its eyes. With the exploding popularity of all things natural, this market was simply too big and potentially profitable for drug companies to pass up. But there’s one problem — most natural products are naturally inexpensive. The solution: Tweak a molecule, create a synthetic version, patent it and charge a high price — as it turns out, however, this may hurt patients in ways other than just denting their wallets.
boroda003 (sxc.hu)
For example, we have the “prescriptionization” of fish oil. Fish oil contains Read the rest of this entry »
Immunity, Your Gender, and the Flu
Posted: October 6, 2010 Filed under: Health | Tags: sex and the flu Leave a comment
personalfx (sxc.hu)
If you’re worried about how you’ll fare through this year’s flu season, the answer, surprisingly, may depend on whether you are a man or woman. Research on the impact of gender on disease response, including to the flu, is relatively new — in fact, clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) didn’t include women until Read the rest of this entry »
Your Pet Can Give You a Disease
Posted: September 30, 2010 Filed under: Health | Tags: Diseases you can get from pets Leave a comment
Kriss Szkurlatowski (sxc.hu)
In recent years, the drug-resistant bacteria methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which used to be found exclusively in humans, has turned up in pets. Humans can acquire MRSA (often pronounced “mersa”) during a hospital stay, then pass it on to their pets, where it can live for several months before being passed back to humans who have close contact with the pets. Dogs and cats both appear to be potential carriers of the bacteria, which can cause severe skin infections, pneumonia and even death in both humans and pets. For protection, always wash your hands after handling a pet, and don’t let a pet lick your face. Take your pet to the vet if he/she has any sign of a skin infection.
Other diseases that you can get from your pets… Read the rest of this entry »
The Right Bed Can Ease Back Pain
Posted: September 28, 2010 Filed under: Health | Tags: beds and back pain Leave a comment
michelsick (sxc.hu)
People with back pain often think that a very firm mattress is best. Not true. In a study published in The Lancet, 313 individuals with low-back pain slept on either a firm or a medium-firm coil mattress. After 90 days, the participants with the medium-firm mattresses had less pain in bed, upon rising and during the day than those with firm mattresses. Other misconceptions about beds and back pain…
The Controversy Over Raw Milk
Posted: August 16, 2010 Filed under: Health | Tags: all about raw milk Leave a comment
malko (sxc.hu)
I wouldn’t be covering the milk story well if I failed to address the controversy concerning raw cow’s milk. Once again it has become trendy — much to the chagrin of FDA regulators, who maintain that all “raw milk, no matter how carefully produced, may be unsafe.”
Raw milk is neither pasteurized (the process of heating milk to high temperatures to kill bacteria) nor homogenized (a blending process that changes taste and consistency). Not coincidentally, both these processes also prolong the shelf life of the milk.
The raw milk controversy is not exactly new. People are talking about it again, however, because of a resurgence in its popularity that can be explained by two somewhat unrelated factors. For one, Read the rest of this entry »
Adult stem cell research far ahead of embryonic
Posted: August 2, 2010 Filed under: Health | Tags: embroyonic cells versus adult stem cells Leave a comment
flaivoloka (sxc.hu)
A few months ago, Dr. Thomas Einhorn was treating a patient with a broken ankle that wouldn’t heal, even with multiple surgeries. So he sought help from the man’s own body.
Einhorn drew bone marrow from the man’s pelvic bone with a needle, condensed it to about four teaspoons of rich red liquid, and injected that into his ankle.
Four months later the ankle was healed. Einhorn, chairman of orthopedic surgery at Boston University Medical Center, credits “adult” stem cells in the marrow injection. He tried it because of published research from France.
Einhorn’s experience isn’t a Read the rest of this entry »
Did You Know That??? 
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