Mosquitos love me. They’ll pass up a crowded room full of sweating targets before chomping in on my bare arms or legs. An inconvenience at home for sure, but a nasty problem in malarial areas (no safariis for me in the wet months).
So what is a human target to do if they don’t want the DEET repellents? Should they try garlic?
The answer has long been known—forget the garlic.
Adults who drink at least one soft drink per day are 30% more likely to develop new-onset diabetes or have low levels of good cholesterol.
A recent study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association reports that drinking at least one soft drink a day of a diet or regular soft drink are at greater risk for heart disease than those who don’t. The study was conducted on 3,500 middle aged men and women. The study found that soft-drink consumers are more likely to develop matabolic syndrome, a combination of
a combination of factors like high blood pressure and elevated triglycerides — are more likely to suffer diabetes and heart disease.
Adults who consume at least one soft drink a day are more likely to develop risk factors for heart disease than those who don’t, even if the beverage is diet, according to a study published today in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers studying about 3,500 middle-aged men and women as part of a larger, long-term heart study found an association between daily soft drink consumption and an increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome.
The American Heart Association defines metabolic syndrome as:
Metabolic syndrome is a growing problem in America, where an estimated 50 million people exhibit symptoms and have greater risk of coronary heart disease and other diseases related to plaque buildups in artery walls.
Yet another report of Chinese products that seem to be dangerous, at least to some consumers. A woman reports that after wearing her Walmart-purchased flip-flops, her feet exhibit burns along the areas that were in contact with the flip-flops.
Walmart’s response was to pass responsibility on to the Chinese manufacturer of the flip-flops. Click here for photos.
A steam pipe blast that injured dozens of people in downtown Manhattan spewed debris that contained asbestos particles, according to New York City’s Department of Emergency Management. The department says they found asbestos in six of ten samples taken.
"People who may (have come) into contact with the steam or debris should take a shower and place their clothes in plastic bags for cleaning or disposal," the statement said.
The blast resulted in dozens of injuries, and at least one death.
Asbestos is a very dangerous material that can cause a form of cancer called mesothelioma.
Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles, or have been exposed to asbestos dust by handling clothes of those who work in such an environment. Home renovation and demolition may also expose people to asbestos dust.
There are two sides to the issue of physicians blogging online about their work. One one hand, is the opinion that patients own their own medical stories. Publishing those stories should call for permission, say some observers.
Alen over at GruntDoc has a more realistic view…
“IMHO there is nothing unethical in blogging about patient interactions provided they’re suitably anonymized, and not illegal (which is different) providing you follow the HIPAA guidelines. Although I won’t hold myself out to be a paragon of blogging perfection, when I blog about patients they’re so anonymized that frankly I’m more at risk of a non-patient of mine thinking I’m writing about them than my actual patient (or patients) that spurred the post.”
California health authorities will release the results of a study showing the rate of death of bypass surgery patients in California hospitals, including the names of some of the surgeons with the poorest patient survival records.
Doctors and hospitals have argued that the study does not adequately consider the difficulty of each individual case, and may lead to surgeons turning away patients who have lesschance of survival.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle "the state-mandated survey gave the worst ratings to some hospitals that have been regarded as among the best in the business" including UCSF Medical Center and Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
Supporters of the study say that outcome reports are important when consumes make healthcare decisions.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (7/13/2007)
At a time when one out of every two American adults has borderline or high cholesterol, Kroger is advertising a new milk that can reduce your LDL.
Until the 1990s, atrial fibrillation was noted mostly for the number of false alarms it generated among patients who showed up at emergency rooms fearing they were having heart attacks.
Doctors viewed it as relatively benign because the most common symptoms — palpitations, dizziness and shortness of breath — were tolerable and often short-lived.
No matter how bad patients may have felt, enough blood still flowed into the ventricles to sustain adequate circulation, as long as the ventricles remained healthy.
But doctors now recognize that atrial fibrillation allows blood to pool in the atria and form clots, which in turn may explain why such patients are prone to strokes and heart attacks.
A recent study reports that scientists have found a gene that is strongly associated with an increased risk of asthma in children.
The study, published in the journal Nature, encompassed more than 2,000 children, and found that a gene called ORMDL3 was found at higher levels in the blood cells of children with Asthma.
Though the study did not determine how the gene was specifically related to increased risk of asthma, it indicated that the genes are found in primitive organisms such as yeast. The scientists opined that ORMDL3 may be a component of ancient immune mechanisms.
Source: BBC (7/4/2007)
Spoon-feeding babies pureed food could cause health problems later in life a Unicef childcare expert has warned.