Tag Archives: association

Study finds Facebook helps users ‘Like’ themselves better

Spending a few minutes peeking at one’s Facebook profile reportedly elevates a person’s self-esteem but reduces their ambition to excel, according to researchers. The University of Wisconsin-Madison study that unearthed these social-media phenomena seemingly employed a controversial cognitive test to arrive at its findings, and also discovered the Facebook-borne ego boost lead to diminished ambition, or the desire to excel on subsequent cognitive evaluations. The study, “Self-affirmation underlies Facebook use,” was published in the June issue of the Journal of Media Psychology and was conducted by a team led by Catalina Toma. Toma is a UW-Madison assistant professor of communication arts. “Most have a very large audience of friends and they selectively present the best version of self, but they do so in an accurate manner,” Toma told ABC News of typical Facebook profiles. “We had people look at their own profiles for five minutes and found that they experienced a boost in self-esteem in a deep, unconscious level.” The study employed the widely-used, but still reportedly controversial Implicit Association Test, which requires participants to make snap word-based associations, reportedly said to reveal intensely personal truths, and ones about which test-takers may not even be aware on a conscious level. Also, the study correspondingly uncovered a tenuous correlation between the Facebook-induced self-esteem boost derived by those who briefly viewed their profile and the study participants' motivation to excel on a simple mathematical test taken afterward. “Facebook gives you a real good image of yourself, but you then don't have to look for that in other ways,” Toma reportedly said. “Your motivation to perform well might be reduced because you already feel really good.” According to the Toma team’s abstract, the study shows  “that Facebook profiles are self-affirming in the sense of satisfying users’ need for self-worth and self-integrity, “ and  “that Facebook users gravitate toward their online profiles after receiving a blow to the ego, in an unconscious effort to repair their perceptions of self-worth.” Click to read more on the Facebook study.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/02/study-finds-facebook-helps-users-like-themselves-better/

High blood pressure linked to declining brain function

High blood pressure, particularly in the arteries that supply blood to the head and neck, may be linked with declining cognitive abilities, according to a new study from Australia. Researchers found that people with high blood pressure in the central arteries including the aorta, the largest artery in the human body, and the carotid arteries in the neck performed worse on tests of visual processing, and had slower thinking and poorer recognition abilities. Typically, blood pressure measurements are taken from the brachial artery in the arm, but looking at the health of the central arteries may be a more sensitive way to assess cognitive abilities, said study researcher Matthew Pase, of the Center for Human Psychopharmacology at Swinburne University in Melbourne. The central arteries directly control bloodflow to the brain. “If we can estimate the blood pressure in central arteries, we might be able to better predict cognitive function and cognitive decline,” Pase said. [10 Odd Facts About the Brain] Pase presented the findings here on May 24 at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science. How it all works A beating heart pumps blood in spurts, but the central arteries are flexible, expanding and contracting to maintain steady bloodflow to the brain. As people age, the central arteries stiffen, and with less elasticity, the brain receives more high-pressure blood, which may damage cognition, Pase said. [7 Ways the Mind and Body Change With Age] In the study, Pase and his colleagues looked at whether associations between blood pressure and cognition were stronger for measurements taken in the arm, or the central arteries. The researchers examined 493 Australians between ages 20 and 82. The participants were mostly Caucasians, and all were nonsmokers with no history of stroke or dementia, Pase said. Study participants performed tasks to measure various types of cognition, such as visual processing, working memory, recognition abilities and processing speed. The researchers also took blood pressure measurements from the arm and central arteries. Blood pressure and cognition The researchers found that high brachial blood pressure was linked to worse performance on the visual processing test, but high central blood pressure correlated to worse performance across several tests, including visual processing, recognition and processing speed. “This suggests central blood pressure is a more sensitive predictor of cognitive aging,” Pase said. To expand upon these findings, Pase said he wants to look at whether reducing central blood pressure which can be done by quitting smoking, doing regular exercise or limiting salt intake might protect people against mental deterioration. The researchers will detail their results in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science. Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/30/high-blood-pressure-linked-to-declining-brain-function/

Woman to have ‘dolphin-assisted’ birth

A pregnant woman and her husband have traveled to Hawaii where they plan on having a “dolphin-assisted birth,” a water delivery among dolphins, according to Medical Daily. Heather Barrington, 27, and her husband Adam, 29, of South Carolina, are preparing for the July arrival of their first child through a series of prenatal and postnatal swims with a pod of dolphins at The Sirius Institute in Pohoa, Hawaii. The Sirius Institute describes itself as a “a research consortium with the purpose of 'dolphinizing' the planet.” They recently set up the Dolphin Attended, Water, Natural and Gentle Birth Center (DAWN), due to what they claim is an increasing demand on their web site for people looking to give birth near dolphins. The Sirius Institute claims that giving birth with dolphins is part of an ancient native Hawaiian practice. While dolphin-assisted births are rare, dolphin assisted therapy (DAT) has been used for more than 25 years in patients with mental and physical disabilities and autism, according to Medical Daily. During DAT, patients swim and play with dolphins living in captivity while completing tasks meant to improve skills like hand-eye coordination. However, scientists claim there is little scientific evidence indicating that DAT is therapeutically effective. Water births – without the presence of dolphins –have proven benefits, including more efficient contractions, improved blood circulation for the mother, less pain and more oxygen for the baby, according to the American Pregnancy Association (APA). However, the APA noted that few studies have been done examining the risks associated with water births.       In the event that a “dolphin-assisted” birth cannot occur, the couple has made plans to deliver with a midwife. Experts point out that dolphins are predators and can become aggressive, though dolphin-related injuries among people are relatively rare, Medical Daily reported. “Having that connection with the pod of dolphins anytime – even if the birth doesn’t happen in the water – still brings peace, comfort and strength to the mother and baby during labor,” Heather told the South Charlotte News. Click for more from Medical Daily.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/28/woman-to-have-dolphin-assisted-birth/

Pregnancy hormone may predict postpartum depression risk

Levels of a stress hormone released by the placenta could predict a woman's risk of developing postpartum depression, new research suggests. The new findings suggest that measuring levels of the hormone, called placental corticotropin-releasing hormone (pCRH), could one day help identify women who are prone to postpartum depression before they give birth. “Women who show high levels of this hormone prenatally are at increased risk,” said study co-author Laura Glynn, a psychologist at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. The study showed an association, not a cause-and-effect relationship, between pCRH levels and postpartum depression. Further research is needed to determine exactly how this link might work. The study was presented May 21 at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, and has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Placental clock The placenta, which lies within the uterus and provides nutrition to the baby, produces varying amounts of the hormone pCRH over the course of pregnancy, with a sharp rise shortly before birth. Scientists believe the hormone plays a role in timing when women deliver their babies. “It's been called the placental clock,” Glynn told LiveScience. Women who deliver prematurely, for instance, tend to show higher levels of pCRH than those who deliver at term. Depression link To understand how pCRH levels may be related to postpartum depression, Glynn and her colleagues measured hormone levels in the blood of 170 pregnant women at 15, 19, 25, 31 and 36 weeks of gestation. (Full-term pregnancies last 40 weeks.) The researchers also assessed the women's levels of depression at three and six months after giving birth. Women with high levels of pCRH around the middle of their pregnancies (at 25 weeks) were more likely to be depressed three months after giving birth, compared with women whose levels were lower at midpregnancy. The researchers didn't find a link between pCRH levels and depression at the six-month mark. Proactive treatment The findings could help identify women who are at risk of postpartum depression before they give birth so that health care professionals could intervene early. It can be hard for women struggling with new motherhood and depression to get help, but identifying at-risk women in the earlier stages of their pregnancies could make it easier for doctors to help. Its especially important to identify the risk early on because postpartum depression can have lasting effects. “Not only is mom suffering, but her suffering is going to influence the development of the infant in a pretty profound way,” Glynn said. Glynn isn't exactly sure why high pCRH levels might predict the risk of depression, but she said it could be because some women's hormonal systems take longer to return to their prepregnant states. The findings also suggest that postpartum depression that appears soon after birth may have different causes than depression that shows up later on. Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/24/pregnancy-hormone-may-predict-postpartum-depression-risk/

Frequent heartburn may predict cancers of the throat and vocal cord

"Previous studies examining gastric reflux and cancers of the head and neck have generated mixed results," said Scott M. Langevin, Ph.D., postdoctoral research fellow at Brown University in Providence, R.I. "Most of those studies had either few numbers of cases or they were not adjusted for confounding factors…

Antidepressants may help with heart disease

For some patients with heart disease, taking antidepressants may reduce the risk of heart problems brought on by mental stress, a new study suggests. Researchers looked at patients with myocardial ischemia a condition in which the heart doesn't get enough blood as they preformed mentally stressful activities. All of the patients also had coronary heart disease, or a narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. Patients in the study who took the antidepressant escitalopram (sold as Lexapro) were about 2.5 times less likely than those who took a placebo to experience myocardial ischemia triggered by mental stress. The findings suggest that an antidepressant, or other treatments that help patients cope with stress, could improve symptoms for some people with coronary heart disease, said study researcher Dr. Wei Jiang, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. However, future studies are needed to confirm the results, and to identify the people most likely to benefit from such treatment, Jiang said. Stress and the heart About 30 years ago, doctors observed that mental stress could bring on myocardial ischemia.tudies also have found that people with mental-stress-induced myocardial ischemia are at increased risk of dying from heart disease. Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and about 50 percent of patients with the condition experience mental-stress-induced myocardial ischemia yet few studies have attempted to find treatments. In the new study, 127 patients were randomly assigned to receive escitalopram or placebo for six weeks. Participants completed a number of tests at the beginning and end of the study, including a treadmill stress test, a math test and a test in which participants told a sad story in order to evoke emotion. During the tests, the researchers examined certain heart symptoms to diagnose myocardial ischemia, such as a reduction in blood pumped out of one of the heart's cambers. After six weeks, about 34 percent of participants taking the antidepressant did not experience myocardial ischemia during the mental-stress tests, compared with 17 percent in the placebo group. The antidepressant did not affect whether patients experienced myocardial ischemia during exercise. Dr. Andrew Freeman, a cardiologist at the National Jewish Health hospital in Denver, said it was not very surprising that drugs that blunt the brain's response to stress would also blunt the heart's response to stress. But what the findings mean for patients in the long term is not known, said Freeman, who was not involved in the study. Future studies are needed to see whether antidepressants might reduce the risk of cardiovascular events like heart attacks, Freeman said. How does it work?

The DSM-5 is here: What the controversial new changes mean for mental health care

The most recent revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has arrived, and the latest changes have caused divisions among those in the psychiatric community.   Often touted as the psychiatrist’s “Bible,” the DSM is published by the American Psychiatric Association and establishes the almost universal standard by which doctors classify, diagnose and ultimately treat mental disorders – making it an essential part of the psychiatric profession.  The DSM is utilized not only by clinicians, but researchers and health insurance companies as well. Even government officials take interest in the DSM’s criteria in order to determine grant funding, insurance coverage and new health care policies. The latest version is the DSM’s fifth edition, and it is the manual’s first major revision in nearly 20 years since the publication of the DSM-IV in 1994.  The DSM-5’s release brings some radical new changes, which have been met with both praise and disgust from mental health professionals. Some of the most highly debated changes include the elimination of Asperger’s disorder and the addition of a few new controversial conditions such as cannabis withdrawal, gambling addiction and the highly contested disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMD). So what do these changes mean for those currently dealing with mental health disorders?  Read on to learn more about the DSM-5’s biggest changes and the possible impact they may have on mental health care. Combination of autism spectrum disorders into single category One of the most publicized changes in the DSM-5 involves grouping all of the subcategories of autism into a single category known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD).  This move effectively eliminates previously separate diagnoses of autism – including autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive development disorder “not otherwise specified” (PDD-NOS). This merging of categories creates a “sliding scale” for autism, meaning individuals will be diagnosed somewhere along the autism spectrum, given the personal severity of their symptoms. Many parents and health care providers have speculated that this transformation may end up excluding some of those already diagnosed with an autism disorder, like Asperger’s or PDD-NOS. “I think (exclusion from the spectrum) frankly yet to be determined, but if anything, the specificity is going to go up, meaning the false positives are going to be less likely,” Dr. Alexandar Kolevzon, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, told FoxNews.com. “This universe of people with PDD-NOS – it’s possible that some of those patients may no longer meet those criteria.  Some of the debate revolves around Asperger’s, but it seems to me that most people diagnosed with Asperger’s will still be on the autism spectrum.” Over the past decade, the United States has seen a striking increase in the amount of autism diagnoses, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that one in 88 children suffers from an autism spectrum disorder.  According to Kolvezon, numerous epidemiological studies have found that the majority of children accounting for this incidence are those with PDD-NOS – a diagnosis given to those with communication issues and pattern behavior but who do not meet the full criteria for autism or another pervasive developmental disorder. Kolevzon said it’s possible that over-diagnosis of PDD-NOS has led to this increase in autism spectrum disorder cases. “What happens in the community is that the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder virtually guarantees a whole host of therapies – such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, behavioral therapy, and potentially physical therapy,” Kolevzon said. “Theoretically, it’s possible that community providers and clinicians are incentivized to label kids with PDD-NOS, because it would make it more likely to receive appropriate services.” The autism spectrum disorder scale will further refine the way providers diagnose autism, Kolevzon said, by recognizing differences from person to person rather than trying to generalize them into one of four categories. The creation of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder Within the past decade, more and more children as young as 2 years old have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, leading to the prescription of powerful antipsychotic medication that can be quite intense for children at such a young age. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, hospital stays for childhood bipolar disorder have increased by 434 percent from 1997 to 2010.   The trend began in the mid-1990s, when doctors from Harvard University stated that bipolar disorder presented differently in children than that of adults. However, recent studies have found that many of these diagnoses were false, causing what many have described as the “false epidemic.” To combat this trend, the DSM-5 is eliminating the diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder and creating a brand new category called disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD), described as intense outbursts and irritability beyond normal temper tantrums in young children. While the move is meant to address an established problem, many are worried that the category will be applied too liberally. “My concern is this category will be applied to individuals where the reason for these blow ups is for something else.  You can see it in kids with anxiety disorders and ADHD….Even the head of the DSM committee asked, ‘Are we going to label kids with temper tantrums?’” Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist for UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, told FoxNews.com. “The thing is we have to make sure people are going to be rigorous in application and not just apply to any kid with temper tantrums or sleep deprivation.” ‘Dependence’ to ‘addiction,’ cannabis withdrawal and gambling disorders The DSM’s chapter on substance abuse has also undergone changes, now being called the Substance Use Disorders chapter.  The diagnostic criteria for these conditions have been expanded, but one of the biggest changes deals with the swapping of two seemingly similar words when describing these disorders: the term “dependence” is out and the term “addiction” is in. According to Dr. Yasmin Hurd, professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai, the change is subtle but necessary. “It was quite confusing, especially with the term dependence,” Hurd told FoxNews.com.  “It had association with severe psychological dependencies, generating a lot of confusion.  Now the DSM-5 just talks about addiction, in context, being about the compulsive nature of the disorder.” For example, patients being prescribed pain medication may wind up hooked on the drug, but they are still taking the medication under the guidance of a physician.  They aren’t necessarily seeking out the medication by themselves, but if they are taken off the drug they may still have psychological withdrawal. In this case, they aren’t dependent on the drug, but they are addicted - according to the new guidelines. In addition to the word swap, new controversial categories of gambling disorders and cannabis withdrawal have been created in the DSM-5 – decisions based on multiple human and animal studies. “Experts in the field know that people who have severe cannabis use – they’ll go through cannabis withdrawal,” Hurd said. “There is a misnomer in our society that people can’t get addicted to marijuana.  That’s not true.  There are more people that meet the criteria for abuse of cannabis than any other illicit drug.” Similar to the changes made to the autism spectrum disorders, substance use disorders will also be categorized more on a sliding scale, depending on the severity of each patient’s symptoms. “You’re going to have many people with alcohol and cannabis addiction who have mild addiction, but very few heroin addicts are going to be mild,” Hurd said. Other major changes Along with the more controversial changes, the DSM-5 is also refining the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), including a subtype for PTSD in preschool children.  The diagnosis for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is also getting a revision, with the elimination of a previously required symptom and the changing of the required age of onset from age 7 to age 12. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), once categorized under anxiety disorders, is now getting its own category of Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.  Along with OCD, this category includes Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Trichotillomania (TTM, or hair pulling) and a brand new disorder called Hoarding Disorder. The DSM-5 incorporates many more changes that have psychiatrists locked in heated debate, but Wiznitzer noted that these tensions will always exist as long as doctors continue to learn more about the human brain. “Homosexuality used to be in the DSM as a psychiatric disorder; that was two versions ago,” Wiznitzer said. “Autism wasn’t even in the first two versions of the DSM, it was childhood schizophrenia.  Then we changed the criteria over time.  Basically anytime you change something, it’s always met with resistance.” Click for more information on the DSM-5.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/21/dsm-5-is-here-what-controversial-new-changes-mean-for-mental-health-care/

Health literature is too complex for most patients to grasp, study shows

The importance of health literacy hit home for Lisa Gualtieri when a Cambodian refugee diagnosed with cancer asked her to act as a patient advocate. She played the role of a “salty tongue,” a Cambodian expression that paints outspokenness in a positive light. But even though the patient's family was in the room when doctors took the time to answer every last question about test results and treatment options, the refugee's family would call Gualtieri hours later to review what doctors had said. A new study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggests one potential reason for the family's confusion: Despite good intentions, many experts may be creating educational materials that are too difficult for patients and their families to grasp. “Patients will often come to the office, and one of the first things they say to you, especially about technical information, they'll say that they've been on the Internet, and they'll quote one or two key phrases back to you,” said study author Dr. Charles Prestigiacomo. “Unfortunately, the little soundbites, while accurate, may not be complete.” Prestigiacomo and his colleagues at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark used a number of readability scales - including “simple measure of gobbledygook (SMOG) grading” - to test how challenging materials by 16 different medical specialty societies were to read. The average reading level of the online materials by groups ranging from the American Society of Anesthesiologists to the American Psychiatric Association, fell anywhere from ninth grade to the sophomore year of college. (See one example here:.) That's far above the fourth-to-sixth grade level recommended by the American Medical Association and by a number of U.S. government agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services. Those guidelines are based on the fact that the average American reads at 7th or 8th grade level, said Nitin Agarwal, a medical student at UMDNJ and another author of the study. “We might not be cognizant of the population reading our articles, who might need something more simple,” Agarwal said. The current study's findings agree with those of previous work by some of the same researchers looking at patient education materials in individual specialties. “Organizations often end up using jargon,” said Gualtieri, who studies health communication at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, but was not involved in the new research. They end up “using the language they're accustomed to as opposed to (the language) the people they're trying to reach are accustomed to using,” she said. “You have to think about reaching people where they are,” she added. Sometimes, according to Prestigiacomo, that means using analogies. “There are only so many ways you can describe an aneurysm,” said the UMDNJ neurosurgeon, who tells patients such ballooning blood vessels are “like a blister on a tire.” “The problem is that it's not quite perfectly accurate,” he said. “But sometimes we have to realize that simplifying it to an analogy may be the best way for patients to understand it.” DROWNING IN CLICHES When it came to the quality of the writing, obstetrics and gynecology really failed to deliver. Materials in that specialty had nearly six cliches for every 50 pages, and also “contained the highest total number of indefinite article mismatches (the improper use of “a” or “an”).” “You go from region to region in the U.S., people aren't familiar with what each cliche refers to,” said Agarwal. And in a sentence that might have unintentionally demonstrated the authors' point, they report, “The proportion of passive voice sentences used throughout resources ranged from 4% in family medicine to 27% in neurological surgery.” “Concise and to the point is the way to go for this sort of stuff,” Agarwal said. Gualtieri recommended that those who produce such materials consider why people are coming to their sites, and what they're looking for. She echoed the authors' suggestion that such sites use pictures and videos. “The organizations represented should be happy that people are at their sites,” Gualtieri said. “It's high-quality, reliable information, there's a lot out there that isn't. If one of these organizations could read something like this, and say, ‘we're not doing everything we can for those who most read us,' that would be a lovely outcome from a study like this.” That's already happened. Prestigiacomo showed the results to one of the specialty groups whose patient materials were analyzed before publishing the paper, and the organization committed to rewriting them. And the Cambodian man with cancer is doing well, Gualtieri said. “The treatment was successful.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/21/health-literature-is-too-complex-for-most-patients-to-grasp-study-shows/

What you need to know about new PSA screening guidelines

Recently, the American Urological Association (AUA) announced new guidelines for prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing.  These guidelines were designed to help urologists, and ultimately patients, reduce prostate cancer mortality by making informed screening decisions.  These recommendations were based on comprehensive literature reviews and the strength of the existing evidence.   Here is what you need to know: • The AUA recommends against screening in men under age 40.  Such blanket recommendations can increase the risk of younger men being overlooked and potentially resulting in worse disease later in life. Men under 40 need to be educated about prostate cancer and given a clear understanding of their individual risk factors.   Obesity/excess weight, a family history of prostate cancer, and African American race are the driving risk factors of this disease. • The AUA recommends against routine screening in men of average risk aged 40 to 54 years old.  Early diagnosis and treatment are the two most important factors to successfully eliminating prostate cancer. • The AUA strongly recommends careful consideration of the pros and cons of screening for men between the ages of 55 and 69.  The risk of prostate cancer increases significantly by age 65; so it’s wise for men in this age bracket to be screened. These men have the greatest opportunity for early detection and treatment to eliminate their prostate cancer with optimal quality of life. • The AUA suggests screening for prostate cancer every two years rather than annually. PSA is not a perfect test.  Prostate cancer can be an indolent cancer, taking many years to decades before it causes problems or it can behave in a highly aggressive manner. PSA is not able to differentiate these two cases. However, by tracking PSA velocity and density we can more accurately predict one’s risk of cancer. • The AUA recommends against PSA screening in men over age 70 with a life expectancy less than 10-15 years.  Now that such a large percentage of Americans live well into their 80s, prostate cancer screening should be part of overall wellness monitoring for these men. Prostate cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death in men, killing approximately 34,000 men each year.  Since the widespread adoption of PSA screening in the early 90s, there has been a 39 percent reduction in prostate cancer mortality rates; so there is no doubt that PSA screening is successful – when used correctly.   Speak with your doctor about your individual risk factors for prostate cancer and your treatment goals.  Through comprehensive education about prostate cancer testing, diagnosis, and treatment options, American men can make well-informed decisions about what’s best for them. Dr. David B. Samadi is the Vice Chairman of the Department of Urology and Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He is a board-certified urologist, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of urological disease, with a focus on robotic prostate cancer treatments. To learn more please visit his websites RoboticOncology.com and SMART-surgery.com. Find Dr. Samadi on Facebook.Dr. David B. Samadi is the Vice Chairman of the Department of Urology and Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He is a board-certified urologist, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of urological disease, with a focus on robotic prostate cancer treatments. To learn more please visit his websites RoboticOncology.com and SMART-surgery.com. Find Dr. Samadi on Facebook.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/17/what-need-to-know-about-new-psa-screening-guidelines/

Organic industry clout grows with consumer demand

The organic food industry is gaining clout on Capitol Hill, prompted by rising consumer demand and its entry into traditional farm states. But that isn't going over well with everyone in Congress. Tensions between conventional and organic agriculture boiled over this week during a late-night House Agriculture Committee debate on a sweeping farm bill that has for decades propped up traditional crops and largely ignored organics. When Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., a former organic farmer, offered an amendment to make it easier for organic companies to organize industrywide promotional campaigns, there was swift backlash from some farm-state Republicans, with one member saying he didn't want to see the industry get a free ride and another complaining about organics' “continued assault on agriculture.” “That's one of the things that has caught me and raises my concerns, is that industry's lack of respect for traditional agriculture,” said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., referring to some organic companies' efforts to reduce the number of genetically modified crops in the marketplace. At the same time, Scott acknowledged that he and his wife buy organic foods. Growing consumer interest in organics has proved tough for some Republicans on the committee to ignore. Eight Republicans, most of them newer members of the committee, joined with all of the panel's Democrats in supporting the amendment, which was adopted 29-17. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a Missouri Republican who owns a farm equipment business and a corn and soybean farm, said she supported the amendment not only because helping organics is good for agriculture but because many of her constituents eat organic foods. “Organics are a niche market in agriculture with a growing market share, so it makes sense for me to allow farmers to invest some of their own funds to promote their products,” she said. The amendment would allow the organic industry to organize and pay for a unified industry promotional campaign called a “checkoff” that is facilitated by the Agriculture Department but is no cost to the government. These promotional programs have traditionally been limited to individual commodities or crops, producing familiar campaigns like “Got Milk?” and “Beef: It's What's for Dinner.” The amendment would not set up such a program for organics, but it would allow USDA to approve an organic promotional campaign if the industry decided it wanted one. Laura Batcha of the Organic Trade Association says one reason the industry would approve a campaign is that many organic producers are concerned that consumers don't understand that products labeled “natural” aren't necessarily organic, which requires certification. The organic industry has exploded in the last decade, with $35 billion in sales and 10 percent growth just last year. There are more than 17,000 certified organic businesses in the country. Producers of organic crops and conventional crops have long been at odds, as organic products have grabbed market share - more than 4 percent of food and beverage sales in 2011 - and the industry has advertised organic foods as healthier than other foods. Organic products are required to be certified by the USDA and are grown without pesticides and genetically modified ingredients, mainstays of traditional agriculture. Government-managed promotional checkoff programs like the one that would be allowed under the amendment are required to be positive and not disparage other products, and some lawmakers seemed wary that such a campaign would be possible. “How do I present organic pork without disparaging non-organic pork?” asked House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., who opposed the amendment. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, took issue with part of the amendment that would allow the organic producers to opt out of other commodity campaigns, an option that isn't given to conventional producers. “Looks to me like they have a free ride on this thing,” Conaway said, in an at times angry exchange with Schrader. Despite the rancor, the chances that the amendment will become law are good, as the Senate Agriculture Committee added the same amendment to its version of the farm bill. Schrader told his colleagues that embracing organics is essential to appealing to consumers in a time when big farms are often demonized by popular culture. He said that many young people are coming back to farms because of nontraditional agriculture. “American agriculture is under siege,” he said. “Urban folks do not understand where their food and fiber comes from. ... The point here is to hopefully position American agriculture where we're not always trying to catch up to what the American consumer wants.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/17/organic-industry-clout-grows-with-consumer-demand/