Tag Archives: cancer

How to deal with bad behavior at the gym

The etiquette of dealing with space invaders, circuit breakers and other gym scourges. Space Invaders Problem: You finally make it to yoga class, but just as it begins, a latecomer places his mat inches from yours. Now you can’t salute the sun without smacking your neighbor’s back. Solution: Confront, but in a nice way. “Always begin your approach with the thought that most people aren’t rude on purpose,” Liz Neporent, exercise physiologist and a coauthor of “The Fat-Free Truth,” said. “They’re simply wrapped up in their own little worlds.”  You could say something like, “Excuse me, but I’m going to need a little extra room here,” suggested Dee Poquette, a personal trainer in Danbury, Connecticut. If politeness fails, move to another spot or take the matter to a higher authority. Chances are the gym or studio may be overselling classes. Loud Talkers Problem: You’re thoroughly engrossed in a magazine, cycling toward your eight-mile goal, when a woman on the machine behind you answers her cell phone and proceeds to discuss her dinner plans at full volume. Solution: Say something, but keep your tone pleasant and nonaccusatory. You can say, “Excuse me, but your conversation is distracting―would you mind talking off the gym floor?” If you don’t want to get directly involved, ask an employee to intervene.  “The proble mis that many clubs don’t ban cell phones,” John McCarthy, a former executive director of the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, said.  If yours doesn’t, try moving to another part of the gym or wearing headphones. Smelly Patrons Problem: As you work yourself into an elliptical frenzy, a strong whiff of your most hated perfume (or, worse, body odor) wafts your way, and you feel as if you’re going to suffocate or faint. Solution: Move away, if possible. But if you’re stuck in close quarters, there’s little you can do beyond discreetly taking your complaint to a manager.  “When the issue is personal grooming, we prefer members to come to us,” Steven L. Schwartz, chief executive officer of Midtown Athletic Clubs in Chicago, said. “It’s uncomfortable for someone to tell another person that he smells bad.”      Sometimes the issue is ignorance or, in the case of body odor, inattention. Poquette recalled when one client’s odor lingered long after he had left the room, bothering other clients.  “It turns out he would work out and put his clothes in the locker, then put the same clothes back on two days later,” she said. “As soon as someone pointed out the issue, the problem was straightened out. You’d think he could tell, but he was oblivious.” Circuit Breakers Problem: As you’re zooming around the machines, which are clearly labeled 1 through 9 for circuit training, you see someone position herself on the shoulder press―your intended next stop. Solution: “A certain amount of jumping in on a circuit is acceptable, provided the person doesn’t block someone who’s going through in order,” Neporent said. “If someone is about to block you, you can say, ‘I’m following the circuit, and I’m about to use that machine.’ ”      If she blocks you anyway, keep going around and come back to the machine later to maintain the flow of your workout. Circuit etiquette is a bit different from general weight-room etiquette in that you’re expected to let another person use your machine―that is, “work in”―while you rest or do cardio between sets. Should a response to your “May I work in with you?” be less than friendly, simply back off or take the matter to the trainer on duty. You’re not tattling.      “Things like that have a way of boiling over in gyms,” Denis Barry, a co-owner of Edge, a gym in New York City, said. Click for more tips on gym etiquette from Real Simple. source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/14/coping-with-bad-behavior-at-gym/

Marijuana-like compound could lead to first-ever medication for PTSD

The life of an individual suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often a debilitating one, as patients are frequently plagued by intense nightmares, flashbacks and emotional instability.    There are a number of psychotherapeutic treatments and cognitive behavioral therapy options to aid sufferers of PTSD, but these interventions are not always available to patients.  And while medications tend to be the first line of defense for these individuals, no pharmaceutical treatments have been developed yet to specifically target PTSD. But now, new research may help dramatically change the course of treatment for PTSD patients.  In the first study of its kind, researchers at New York University Langone Medical Center have utilized brain imaging technology to highlight a connection between the number of cannabinoid receptors in the brain and PTSD.  Cannabinoid receptors, known as CB1 receptors, are activated in the brain when a person uses cannabis, which can lead to impaired memory and reduced anxiety. The researchers’ findings pave the way for the development of the first every medication designed explicitly to treat trauma – something, they say, is desperately needed. “The first line of treatment (for PTSD patients) is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which is a class of medication generally used with good effects in people with depression,” lead author Dr. Alexander Neumeister, director of the molecular imaging program in the departments of psychiatry and radiology at NYU School of Medicine, told FoxNews.com.   “These medications do not really do the job for people with PTSD, so clinicians use anything else that is legally available on the market.  They often use different classes of medications developed for things like depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder, and overall there’s consensus that these do not work.” Affecting nearly 8 million Americans each year, PTSD is an anxiety disorder that is developed after an individual experiences a dangerous or painful life event – such as a sexual assault, a tragic accident, surviving an act of extreme violence or the experience of fighting in a war.  Of the 1.7 million American men and women in the military who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, approximately 20 percent have been diagnosed with PTSD. During the past decade, Neumeister and his team have studied the impact PTSD has on the brain’s physiology and have found that exposure to severe trauma can considerably alter how the brain functions.  With this knowledge in mind, the researchers decided to examine CB1 receptors in the brain due to a common trend observed among PTSD patients: Marijuana use.  In an attempt to cope with their symptoms, many PTSD patients end up using and abusing cannabis, which helps to temporarily relieve them of their incapacitating episodes. According to Neumeister, PTSD patients often report that smoking marijuana works better for them than any other legal medication, leading the researchers to believe that the manipulation of CB1 receptors in the brain may have a beneficial impact on trauma symptoms. “About 8 years ago, the first animal study was published showing that everybody has endogenous cannabinoids, or endocannabinoids, in the brain – meaning this substance is in the brain of every person,” Neumeister said, noting that endocannabinoids act like cannabis, binding to CB1 receptors to help extinguish traumatic memories. “Animal studies have suggested that increasing cannabinoids in the brain helps them to forget painful events and form new memories, so they start to learn to digest what they went through and get over it.  We thought this may be relevant to PTSD.” To test this idea, the researchers performed positron emission tomography (PET) imaging on the brains of 60 participants who had been divided into three groups – those with PTSD, those with a history of trauma, but no PTSD, and those with no history of trauma or PTSD.  Each participant was injected with a harmless radioactive tracer, which was designed to travel to the CB1 receptors in the brain and illuminate them under the PET scan. The images revealed what the researchers had expected.  The individuals with PTSD had higher levels of CB1 receptors in areas of the brain associated with fear and anxiety than the volunteers without PTSD.  Those with PTSD also had lower levels of the neurotransmitter anandamide, an endocannabinoid that binds to CB1.  Neumeister explained that lower levels of anandamide prompts the brain to compensate by increasing the number of CB1 receptors, resulting in an imbalanced endocannibinoid system. Because CB1 receptors help regulate mood and anxiety, the scientists advised against creating medications to destroy them in the brain, as that would lead to depression.  Instead, Neumeister said their PTSD medication would rely on promoting CB1 equilibrium. “We want to increase the concentration of these endocannabinoids,” Neumeister said.  “So we are currently working on the methods to do this, and we have developed a compound that is able to increase the concentration of endocannabioniods without attacking the receptors. It helps restore a normal balance of this chemical in the brains of those with PTSD.” Neumeister claims the compound is very safe and does not come with the added health problems caused by chronic marijuana use. “Very soon, we will be able to start clinical trial of this medication in people,” Neumeister said.  “It’s the first medication developed for people with PTSD, so I hope that it will open up a new generation of treatment for people.” The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/14/marijuana-like-compound-could-lead-to-first-ever-medication-for-ptsd/

Deaths from West Nile virus hit record last year

U.S. health officials say last year was the worst ever for West Nile virus deaths. The final tally reported Monday was 286 deaths - or two more than the record set in 2002. But there were far fewer illnesses overall, and fewer serious cases than in previous years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had predicted it would be a bad year because of weather conditions that promote breeding of the mosquitoes that spread the virus to people. The CDC report Monday showed Texas had nearly a third of the serious cases, and about a third of the deaths. West Nile virus was first diagnosed in Uganda in 1937, but no cases were reported in the U.S. until 1999 in New York. It gradually spread to the West Coast.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/14/deaths-from-west-nile-virus-hit-record-last-year/

Is creatine safe for teens?

Even if you’re not a body builder, you’ve probably heard of creatine -- and those who use it, swear by it. But no one should put supplements into their body without weighing the risks and benefits. We recently received this question from a concerned viewer: Dear Dr. Manny, My 17-year-old son is interested in taking creatine. Is it safe? Thanks, Linda Creatine is a combination of amino acids produced naturally in the body by the liver, kidneys and pancreas. It can also be found in the protein-rich foods we eat, like meat and fish. It reduces muscle fatigue by transporting extra energy to the body’s cells, and causes water weight gain – which can make muscles appear larger. “Creatine supplementation has not been adequately studied in those under 18 years old,” said Elizabeth DeRobertis, a registered dietician and nutritionist. “So for that reason, it is not recommended that your son try creatine. Once he turns 18, DeRobertis added, it’s important that he know a few things: 1. Creatine has been found to be effective in short-duration, high-intensity exercises, like sprinting. 2. He should be involved in competitive athletics if he does decide to try creatine, and he should let his coach know, his health care professional know, and of course, his parents know. 3. It’s also important that he drink enough water during the day, because creatine may contribute to dehydration – so he should drink at least 64 ounces of water every day. 4. He should not combine creatine with any other supplement, especially those containing caffeine or ephedra. As always, it’s important to talk to your doctor before making any diet or lifestyle changes. Do you have a question for Dr. Manny? Send it to DrManny@foxnews.com.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/13/is-creatine-safe-for-teens/

CNN anchor says she has breast cancer, is getting mastectomy

CNN anchor Zoraida Sambolin says she has breast cancer and is getting a double mastectomy. Sambolin, who anchors CNN's “Early Start” morning show, talked about her condition on the show Tuesday while discussing the recent double mastectomy of actress Angelina Jolie. Sambolin said wanting to be there for her children helped her make the decision. In a New York Times op-ed, Jolie announced she has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer. Jolie writes that she made the choice with thoughts of her six children after watching her own mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand, die too young from cancer.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/14/cnn-anchor-is-getting-mastectomy/

Doctors should ask patients about alcohol misuse, panel says

Primary care doctors should ask adults how much and how often they drink alcohol and counsel those with risky and dangerous drinking habits, a government-backed panel said today. Based on a review of studies conducted since 1985, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) determined there is good enough evidence both that screening can accurately detect alcohol misuse and that counseling can reduce heavy drinking in people age 18 and older. Screening “takes hardly any time at all, and it works pretty well,” said Dr. Michael LeFevre, co-vice chair of the Task Force and a family medicine doctor at the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia. “From my point of view as a family physician, the shorter and easier the better,” he said. Risky drinking is defined by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as more than four drinks in a single day or 14 drinks per week for men and more than three drinks in a day or seven in a week for women. Research suggests about one third of U.S. adults misuse alcohol. Asking men the last time they had five drinks in one sitting, and women the last time they had four, is a good start, according to LeFevre. “If they can name a time, that means we should be talking to them more about what their alcohol consumption looks like,” he said. If that time was for the patient's birthday, and the only time in years the patient had binge drank, it's probably not a big deal. But if that happens on a regular basis, he said, that would point toward alcohol misuse. The review behind the new recommendations included 23 trials that randomly assigned risky drinkers to behavioral counseling or normal care. Overall, counseling interventions led to a 12 percent absolute increase in the proportion of people who reported no heavy drinking episodes one year later, and an average reduction in weekly drinks from 23 to 19. Brief counseling sessions, the USPSTF noted, are more likely to help people who have a few too many drinks on occasion than those who abuse or are dependent on alcohol. People with a serious drinking problem may need more specialty treatment, according to the Task Force, which published its recommendations Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. “A brief intervention as applied by, say, a primary care physician in practice is probably not going to be adequate intervention for people on the alcohol dependence end of the spectrum,” LeFevre said. The USPSTF said there weren't enough data for it to weigh the possible benefits and harms of asking younger teenagers about their alcohol use. “The Task Force felt that it would be inappropriate to assume that what we have learned about the best ways to screen and manage adults (is) in fact applicable to adolescents,” LeFevre said. However, he added, that's not a recommendation against asking teens about their alcohol use - it's just a call for more studies to figure out the most effective way to do that. Dr. Sharon Levy said she hoped doctors didn't choose not to talk to teens about alcohol based on the new recommendations. “We recognize that there's not a lot of data, but we also recognize that alcohol use is one of the most significant contributors to (illness) and mortality in adolescents,” said Levy, director of the Adolescent Substance Abuse Program at Children's Hospital Boston. “There's no question that alcohol use is a serious problem for this age group,” she said. Levy, who wasn't involved in drafting the new guidelines, co-authored a statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommending that doctors screen adolescents for drug and alcohol use. She said the type of brief interventions recommended for adults who drink too much are also “developmentally appropriate” for teens. “They work with adults and they seem really adaptable,” Levy said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/14/doctors-should-ask-patients-about-alcohol-misuse-panel-says/

Man dies after toothpick gets stuck in throat

A Swedish man has died after doctors failed to spot a toothpick stuck in his throat. The man, who was in his 60s, accidentally swallowed a toothpick while eating a sandwich, The Local reports. The next day, he was taken to the emergency room after having trouble swallowing. However, the doctors who examined him failed to find any problem and sent him home. Ten days later, he developed a hole in his windpipe and an infection that required emergency surgery. The man hemorrhaged during the operation and died the next day. Click for more from news.com.ausource : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/14/man-dies-after-toothpick-gets-stuck-in-throat/

Snack before you shop

Maybe you’ve heard that going supermarket shopping while hungry can cause you to spend more money. But, did you know that researchers at Cornell University found that hungry grocery shoppers are more apt to slip high-calorie foods into their cart? You can keep your food bill and your waistline in check simply by eating something before heading out to the grocery store. Grabbing a quick snack is probably easier on the weekend than it is after work when you are tired and your stomach is growling.  Choosing sugary candy and cookies from the office vending machine isn’t very diet-friendly nor will these hold you for long. Your best bet is to plan ahead and have a healthy, satisfying grab-and-go snack at the ready.  Here are some simple and tasty ideas: String cheese and grapes This refreshing sweet and salty combo could not be easier to pack. You can count on the natural sugar in the grapes to give you a nice energy boost while the protein in the cheese will digest slowly, keeping hunger in check until you sit down to dinner. Hummus and veggies Talk about smart substitutes! Let some baby carrots or sliced peppers answer the call for something crunchy, and by pairing them with hummus you have a light yet savory alternative to a bag of fatty deep-fried chips. Apple slices with peanut butter Simply cut an apple in half and core it. Then fill each cavity with a spoonful of creamy peanut butter. You get the fruity-nutty taste of a PB&J sandwich without the bread, plus a lot more tummy-filling fiber and protein.   Gorp!   This acronym stands for “good old raisins and peanuts,” but with some creative license it covers a healthy trail mix, too. Prepare a batch in minutes by mixing some dried fruit, almonds, high fiber cereal, and whole wheat pretzel sticks. Then fill zip-lock baggies with 1/2 cup portions.   Strawberries and Cream Start with a single serving of Greek yogurt and top it with juicy ripe sliced strawberries.  Greek yogurt is creamier than traditional yogurt and much higher in protein, which keeps you feeling full longer. The berries provide natural sweetness and tang and feel free to add a drizzle of sugar-free chocolate sauce over the strawberries to make this healthy snack seem more like a decadent dessert. For more tips, delicious high fiber meal plans, recipes, and proven ways to lose weight and look great, check out my new book The Miracle Carb Diet: Make Calories and Fat Disappear – with Fiber! Tanya Zuckerbrot MS, RD, is a registered dietitian in New York City and the bestselling author of The Miracle Carb Diet: Make Calories and Fat Disappear – with fiber, and The F-Factor Diet: Discover the Secret to Permanent Weight Loss.  Follow Tanya on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and visit her website Ffactor.com  source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/14/snack-before-shop/

Leap in leukemia treatment

CLL lives both in the blood in circulation, and in lymph nodes and bone marrow. The former is relatively easy to kill, but the disease recurs because of resistant CLL cells in the lymph nodes and bone marrow. The researchers found an innovative drug combination that targets the stubborn CLL cells. "We have been studying the mechanism in the cancer cells that causes the resistance to treatment," says Alan Eastman, the senior researcher on the team and a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, "and that in turn, led us to find drugs that target the resistance." Eastman led the team at Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center that also included Ryan Soderquist, Darcy Bates, and Alexey Danilov. …

Tumor-activated protein promotes cancer spread

The findings are published in this week’s online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Roughly 90 percent of all cancer deaths are due to metastasis — the disease spreading from the original tumor site to multiple, distant tissues and finally overwhelming the patient’s body. Lymph vessels are often the path of transmission, with circulating tumor cells lodging in the lymph nodes — organs distributed throughout the body that act as immune system garrisons and traps for pathogens and foreign particles. The researchers, led by principal investigator Judith A. …