High Heels Today, Foot Pain Tomorrow

Women's Poor Shoe Choices Lead to Foot Pain Later in Life
By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Health News

Wearing high heels today may hurt just a little, but even bigger foot pain may be in store later on.

A new study shows that people who make poor shoe choices early in life by wearing unsupportive footwear like high heels, sandals, and slippers are much more likely to suffer from foot pain in later years.

The study showed that men don’t experience the same type of foot pain as women, largely because of the type of shoes men wear. Researchers say the findings may help explain why women are much more likely than men to have foot pain.

Foot and toe pain are among the top 20 reasons adults aged 65-74 visit their physician, but researchers say relatively little is known about the causes of foot pain in older adults. Previous studies on footwear and foot pain have been small or based on people with a particular disease.
Causes of Foot Pain

In this study, published in Arthritis Care & Research, researchers examined the effects of footwear choices early in life on foot pain later in life in a group of 3,378 adults who participated in the Framingham Foot Study.

The participants were asked if they had pain, aching, or stiffness in one or both feet. They also provided information on the types of shoes they wore during the following age groups: 20-29, 30-44, 45-64, 65-74, and 75+.

Shoes were classified into three groups:

* Good: low-risk shoes, such as athletic and casual sneakers
* Average: mid-risk shoes, like hard- or rubber-soled shoes, special shoes, and work boots
* Poor: high-risk footwear that don’t have support or structure, such as high heels, sandals, and slippers

The results showed that 19% of men and 29% of women had generalized foot pain on most days.

Women who wore good shoes in the past were 67% less likely to report hindfoot pain than those who wore average shoes.

“While more research is needed, young women should make careful choices regarding their shoe type to avoid hindfoot pain later in life, or perform stretching exercises to alleviate the effect of high heels on foot pain,” write researcher Alyssa B. Dufour, of the Boston University School of Public Health, and colleagues.

Researchers found no link between foot pain and shoe choice among men, largely because less than 2% wore bad shoes.

Source & Picture: www.webmd.com

U.S. Swine Flu Vaccinations Start Oct. 6

Most of First 6 Million Doses Will Be Nasal Spray Vaccine
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News

accinations against H1N1 swine flu will start on Oct. 6, CDC Director Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, said today.

Nearly all of the first 6 million doses of swine flu vaccine are the FluMist nasal spray vaccine. By mid-October, the government plans to deliver some 45 million doses -- including more traditional flu shots -- apportioned to states based on population.

"We have a vaccine and it is likely to be effective after a single dose for those over 10, and it is going to be rolling into doctors' offices and clinics," Frieden said at a news conference.

Because the FluMist vaccine cannot be given to pregnant women, kids under age 2, or to those with underlying health problems, the first vaccine doses will go to health care workers and to people caring for or living with infants under 6 months of age.

As flu shots arrive, priority vaccinations will go to pregnant women and to school-age kids. Different states are emphasizing different kinds of programs. Frieden said school-based vaccination programs are especially important.

"We know many kids get sick from flu, and not only is that a problem for them, but they end up spreading flu widely in the community," Frieden said. "So if you protect kids, you probably end up protecting the community as well."

Although the vaccine is right on schedule, it's arriving at least two weeks after the flu pandemic. As of Sept. 19, H1N1 swine flu was widespread in 26 states. Doctors in nine of the 10 U.S. surveillance regions reported elevated rates of flu-like illness -- and virtually all proven cases of flu have been swine flu.

Will it be too late for people to get vaccinated? No, Frieden said. There's no way to tell whether there will be new waves of pandemic flu. And even if 10% of the population gets the flu -- as happened in New York City last spring -- that means 90% of the population remains vulnerable until vaccinated.
Swine Flu Vaccine Distribution 'Bumpy' at First

The CDC is working to ensure equitable vaccine delivery across the nation. But Frieden said some states are better prepared than others to start vaccinating their residents once the federal government delivers the swine flu vaccine to them.

"It's going to be a busy and challenging few weeks," Frieden said. "It is going to be bumpy. In different states there will be different levels of preparedness and readiness and planning. There will undoubtedly be places where people want to get vaccinated and can't in early to mid-October, particularly."

Eventually, Frieden promised, there will be enough vaccine for any U.S. resident who wants it.

Frieden urged people not to wait for the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, but to get their seasonal flu shots right away. He was asked about reports from Canada of unpublished research suggesting that people who got seasonal flu shots might be more susceptible to swine flu. (www.webmd.com)

Some Children's, Infants' Tylenol Recalled

Maker Recalls Certain Lots of Children's and Infants' Tylenol From Warehouses and Retailers; No Illnesses Reported
By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Health News

McNeil Consumer Healthcare is recalling certain lots of Children's Tylenol and Infants' Tylenol after bulk raw material was found to be tainted with B. cepacia bacteria.

In a news release, the company says it has implemented the voluntary recall "at the warehouse and retail levels," not at the consumer level. "The packaged product, shipped to retailers by the company, has met all specifications," McNeil Consumer Healthcare states.

The recalled products were made between April 2008 and June 2008.

In a letter to healthcare professionals, McNeil Consumer Healthcare states that examination of bulk raw material detected the bacteria Burkholderia cepacia (B. cepacia). But none of that tainted raw material was used in the production of any finished product; the recall is a precaution, according to McNeil Consumer Healthcare.

"Adverse health consequences of B. cepacia infections could be potentially severe, especially in high-risk patients, such as those with underlying pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, or compromised immune systems," McNeil Consumer Healthcare states in the letter, which is dated Sept. 18.

The company says it has checked its post-marketing data and found no safety signals for Children's or Infants' Tylenol products for the time period related to the recalled batches.

The likelihood of a serious medical event is "remote," McNeil Consumer Healthcare states.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare advises parents or caregivers to contact their child's health care provider if they have given the product to their child or infant and have concerns. Consumers with questions can also call the company's consumer call center at 800-962-5357 Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time.
List of Recalled Children's Tylenol and Infants' Tylenol Products

The recall includes the following Tylenol products (the lot number is on the bottom of the box containing the liquid product and also on the sticker that surrounds the product bottle):

* Children's Tylenol Plus Cold MS Suspension 4 oz. Grape

UPC # 300450391049

Code # 3910400

Lot # SBM041, SBM067, SCM037, SDM027, SEM109

* Children's Tylenol Suspension 4 oz. Grape

UPC# 300450296047

Code # 2960400

Lot # SBM042, SCM015, SCM036, SDM034

* Children's Tylenol Suspension 4 oz. Bubble Gum

UPC # 300450407047

Code # 4070400

Lot # SBM043, SBM044, SCM029

* Children's Tylenol Suspension 4 oz. Strawberry

UPC # 300450493040

Code # 4930400

Lot # SBM045, SCM011, SCM030, SDM035

* Infants' Tylenol Grape Suspension Drops 1/4 oz.

UPC# 300450122407

Code # 1224000

Lot # SBM064, SCM033, SDM020

* Infants' Tylenol Suspension 1/2 oz. Cherry

UPC # 300450186157

Code # 1861500

Lot # SBM065, SCM005, SCM006, SDM032

* Children's Tylenol Dye Free Suspension 4 oz. Cherry

UPC # 300450166043

Code # 1660400

Lot # SBM066, SCM068

* Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Cherry

UPC Code # 300450123046

Code # 1230400

Lot # SBM068, SCM035, SCM070, SCM080, SDM005

* Children's Tylenol Plus Cough & Runny Nose 4 oz. Cherry

UPC # 300450249043

Code # 2490400

Lot # SBM069, SBM070, SCM081, SDM006

* Infants' Tylenol Suspension Drops 1/2 oz. Grape

UPC # 300450122155

Source & Picture: www.webmd.com

HIV & AIDS Health Center

AIDS Vaccine Success Is 'Modest'
First-Ever Protective Effect Is Small but Suggests HIV Vaccine Is Possible
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News

"Modest" success in an HIV vaccine trial shows for the first time that vaccination can protect people against infection with the AIDS virus.

It's a small but significant step forward. Few, if any, think this vaccine is effective enough to deploy in the worldwide fight against AIDS. But many experts say it offers badly needed hope to an effort marked by many expensive failures.

"While these results are encouraging, we recognize that further study is required to build upon these findings," Col. Nelson Michael, director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program, says in a news release.

The trial was a collaboration between the U.S. Army, Thailand, the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Sanofi Pasteur, and Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases. It tested Sanofi's ALVAC vaccine boosted with a dose of GSID's AIDSVAX.

Conducted in Thailand, it began in 2003 and enrolled 16,402 adult, HIV-negative men and women. Half got the two-part vaccine, and half got inactive placebo shots.

Over the course of the study, 74 placebo recipients and 51 vaccine recipients became infected with HIV. The difference isn't large, but it translates into 31% vaccine effectiveness. That is, it lowered the risk of getting HIV by 31%.

That's "an important step forward in HIV vaccine research," NIAID director and long-time AIDS researcher Anthony Fauci, MD, says in a news release. "Certainly this is an encouraging advance."

Even so, the study results are puzzling. It was expected that vaccine recipients who became infected would at least have some protection against the virus. But the study found no evidence of such protection. HIV levels were just as high in vaccine recipients who became infected as in placebo recipients who contracted the virus.

Perhaps more importantly, the study fell far short of its goal of reducing the risk of HIV infection by 50%.

The study was controversial from the outset. It's the largest HIV vaccine trial yet conducted, and some AIDS activists called the study a waste of precious resources.

AIDSVAX, the first HIV vaccine ever to be tested, had already failed to prevent HIV in a number of trials. ALVAC, a live canarypox virus carrying HIV genes, did not appear to stimulate strong immune responses in healthy people. And similar combination vaccine strategies showed little evidence of eliciting strong immune responses.

Moreover, a similar study of the ALVAC and AIDSVAX vaccines had been canceled in the U.S. And critics said the study design would make it hard to tell which part of the vaccine regimen was or was not effective.

Now that the study is completed, researchers will go over the data with a fine-tooth comb. They'll try to figure out what worked and build on that success.

"Knowledge gained through this study will be used to accelerate future study design and testing as researchers continue the search for a safe, globally effective HIV vaccine," Col. Jerome Kim, HIV vaccines product manager for the U.S. Army, says in a news release.

Source & Picture: www.webmd.com

Hand Hygiene Habits Improve

Survey Shows Americans Are Cleaning Up Their Hand Washing Habits
By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Health News

Americans get a B- for their hand hygiene in a new survey about hand washing. That grade is up from a C- in 2008.

The new, improved grade is based on a survey of 888 U.S. adults. The survey, which was conducted by phone in August for the Soap and Detergent Association, gets into the nitty gritty of how often -- or how rarely -- participants wash their hands.

Here are some highlights from the survey:

* Half of the participants say they wash their hands more than 10 times daily, up from 36% in 2008.
* Women wash their hands more often than men do. For instance, 62% of women reported that they wash their hands more than 10 times daily, compared to 37% of men. And 41% of men say they wash their hands six times a day or less, compared to 17% of women.
* 88% of participants say they "always" or "frequently" wash their hands before lunch.
* 90% of participants say they always wash their hands after going to the bathroom, up 5% since 2008. But 3% say they never do, which is the same percentage as last year.

The survey has a margin of error of 3.4%.

Source & Picture: www.webmd.com

Kids Need 2 Swine Flu Shots

Kids Under Age 10 Need 2 Doses of H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine, 3 Weeks Apart
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Kids under age 10 will need two doses of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, given three weeks apart.

The finding -- early results from clinical trials of the Sanofi Pasteur version of the swine flu vaccine -- is no surprise. The CDC bases its swine flu vaccination plan on the need for two shots in younger kids.

In kids over age 10, the H1N1 swine flu vaccine works just as well as it does in adults. These older children will need just one dose of the swine flu vaccine and can expect protection in eight to 10 days.

One shot of the vaccine raised protective antibodies in 76% of older children, a level of protection considered very good for flu vaccines. But a single dose of the vaccine protects only 36% of 3- to 9-year-olds, and only 25% of children age 6 months to 35 months.

"These two younger groups may require two doses of the vaccine," National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci, MD, said in a news conference held to announce the findings. "This is not an unexpected finding and is quite similar to what we see with seasonal flu vaccine."

H1N1 swine flu vaccine from other manufacturers -- including the inhaled FluMist version -- is expected to act in much the same way as the Sanofi product.

More clinical trial data are expected soon. But so far, experts are relieved to see that the H1N1 swine flu vaccines act very much like seasonal flu vaccines. There's been no sign of unusual side effects in children or adults given the H1N1 swine flu vaccine.

It's likely that kids will be able to get their seasonal flu shots and their H1N1 swine flu shots on the same day, although clinical trials are still looking at the issue. However, the CDC urges parents to get their kids the seasonal flu vaccine right away and not wait for the swine flu vaccine to become available.

The inhaled FluMist version of the swine flu vaccine cannot be given on the same day a kid gets the FluMist version of the seasonal vaccine. That's because FluMist contains a live, weakened flu virus and stimulates the immune system in a different way than flu shots, which contain inactivated virus particles.

The first 3.4 million doses of swine flu vaccine to be distributed in the U.S. will be FluMist, although millions more doses of the injectable vaccine will start arriving in mid-October. FluMist is recommended only for kids over age 2 (and adults under age 50) who do not suffer respiratory problems.

Since the H1N1 swine flu first appeared, 47 U.S. children and teens have died of the disease.

Source & Picture: www.webmd.com

Diet for Your Blood Type

By: Lara Endreszl
Published: Saturday, 19 September 2009

After a recent doctor appointment and being advised to get blood drawn, a phlebotomist (blood technician) friend of mine asked if the blood type diet would be a good idea for me to try. With some investigation as to exactly what “eating for my blood type” meant, the results were interesting enough to share.

Even if you are not having health problems, knowing your blood type and being able to decipher the best health plan for your diet are good things to know. A doctor by the name of Peter J. D’Adamo was brought up by his father to learn that people have different blood types and based on those blood types specific diet patterns work better with certain types of blood. In 1996, Dr. D’Adamo published a book called Eat Right 4 Your Type (ER4YT) that won awards in the health sector including being named one of the "10 Most Important Health Books Ever Written." After the success with ER4YT, Dr. D’Adamo followed up his book in 2007 with a new diet called The GenoType Diet, aimed at further investigation of diets based on your blood type and genotype according to your specific genes.

Dr. D’Adamo recommends a unique blend of food for each of the main blood types: A, B, AB, and O. Studies have been outstanding and one in particular shows that three out of every four people reported a vast improvement in their health. A lot of the recorded improvements have been weight loss along with better digestion, less stress, more energy, and clearer mental stability out of the 6,500 individuals who tracked their blood type diet over the course of at least one month.

People with type A blood are asked to follow a lower fat, vegetarian-based diet full of fruits and vegetables because they have thicker blood, sensitive immunity, and a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, cancer, or diabetes.

Recommendations for Type B blood include an omnivorous diet consisting of a balance between plants and meats because they have the best chance of avoiding serious diseases.

Type AB should follow a strict vegetarian program.

Type O—the most universal blood type—should consume a larger percentage of proteins, meats, vegetables, etc. and a smaller percentage of carbohydrates like pasta and breads. Type O blood should stay away from wheat, dairy, and nut products as people carrying this blood are more prone to hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid) and acidic conditions like stomach ulcers.

Although critics cite lack of scientific evidence for the reason why this program isn’t sweeping the nation, it seems that followers of the blood type diet love the idea of not having to track points, calories, fat grams, or carbs while sticking to a food and drink regimen perfect for the blood circulating throughout his or her system. Allergies, diet changes according to age, and other restrictions based on medical problems also have no basis on this diet because the rules do not apply.

However, this does not mean that Dr. D’Adamo is wrong in his hypothesi,s but it does mean that along with any other diet adding subtle healthy changes will most likely have positive benefits. The downside to only being able to have one type of diet is that because it is based on a specific unchanging variable (your blood) the diet cannot be changed which could cause problems such as iron or protein deficiencies down the line. I have yet to take my friend’s advice and check out the blood type diet on my own, but now I know that a primarily vegetarian diet and low-resistance exercise are suggested for my Type A blood.

Source & Picture: www.healthnews.com

Heart Risk Factors on the Rise Again

Hypertension, Diabetes, and Obesity Are Increasing After Decades of Improvement
By Bill Hendrick
WebMD Health News

The percentage of Americans without major heart disease risk factors rose during the 1980s and 1990s, but our health is declining again, a study shows.

Though the percentage of smokers is still heading south, the number of people with obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure is increasing, shows the study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

"It's not good news," study researcher Earl S. Ford, MD, MPH, of the U.S. Public Health Services at the CDC, tells WebMD. "The effect of all this stuff is going to be determined by the balance of the risk factors."

In a news release, Ford says that "from a preventive health point of view, it's important that individuals achieve as many of these [low-risk] goals as possible, and it's disappointing that less than 10 percent of Americans are meeting them all."
Trends in Heart Disease Risk Factors

About one in 12 adults in the U.S. had a low-risk profile for cardiovascular disease during the 1994-2004 period, he tells WebMD, and that needs to improve.

Ford adds in the news release that the study "suggests that achieving low risk status for most U.S. adults remains a distant and challenging goal. Unfortunately, the limited strides that were made toward this goal during the 1970s and 1980s were eroded by the increases in excess weight, diabetes and hypertension during more recent decades."

Ford's team analyzed data on adults aged 25-74 in four national surveys, examining the prevalence of a low-risk profile for heart disease, which includes all of the following:

* Never smoked, or former smoker.
* Total cholesterol below 200 and not using cholesterol-lowering drugs.
* Blood pressure below 120/80 without using blood pressure-lowering medications.
* Not overweight or obese, as reflected in a body mass index (BMI) less than 25.
* Never diagnosed with diabetes.

In many studies, the researchers say, people with a low-risk profile have lower health care costs and are far less likely to develop cardiovascular disease.

In the present analysis, they found that 4.4% of adults had all five of the low-risk factors between 1971 and 1975. That rose to 5.7% in the 1976-1980 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and rose again to 10.5% in 1988-1994. But the trend did not continue and the proportion of adults rating at low risk in 1999-2004 fell to 7.5%.

"Until the early '90s, we were moving in a positive direction, but then it took a turn and we're headed in a negative direction," Ford says in a news release. "When you look at the individual factors, tobacco use is still headed in the right direction and so are cholesterol levels, although that has leveled off. The problem is that blood pressure, BMI and diabetes are all headed in the wrong direction."

Source & Picture: www.webmd.com

Nasal Spray May Kill Cold Virus

Virus Levels Drop Faster in Volunteers Given Oxymetazoline Spray
By Charlene Laino
WebMD Health News

Oxymetazoline, a compound found in many over-the-counter nasal decongestant sprays, may help kill the virus that causes the common cold, researchers report.

In a new study, viral levels dropped more quickly than expected in volunteers treated with oxymetazoline nasal sprays, says Birgit Winther, MD, PhD, of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Winther tells WebMD that previous research in test tubes suggested that oxymetazoline had an antiviral effect against rhinovirus, which causes the common cold.

As the next step, she and colleagues infected 94 young healthy adult volunteers with the rhinovirus.

Three hours later, “before they really got sick,” half were randomly assigned to receive oxymetazoline nasal spray and the other half were given a saline spray. The volunteers received one puff of either spray into each nostril three times daily for five days.
Cold Virus Levels Drop Quickly in Volunteers Given Oxymetazoline

If no medication is given, “you would expect viral levels in nasal secretions to peak two to three days after infection,” Winther says. That’s just what happened in the volunteers who were treated with saline.

But in volunteers given oxymetazoline, rhinovirus levels in nasal secretions started to drop by day two, she says.

Winther says the quick dip in viral levels could help reduce the spread of the cold virus from the nose into the ears, sinus, and lungs, as well as from person to person.

By the fourth day after infection with rhinovirus, however, viral levels were lower -- and the same -- in both groups.

The new study was presented at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
Long-Term Use Has Rebound Effect

Sprays containing oxymetazoline are sold under a variety of trade names, including Afrin, Dristan 12-Hour Nasal Spray, Duramist Plus, and Vicks Sinex 12 Hour Nasal Spray.

A decongestant, oxymetazoline works by shrinking blood vessels in your nasal tissues, allowing mucus to drain.

The sprays work very quickly to reduce symptoms, Winther says, but you can't use them long-term. After five days, they can damage your nasal tissue and lead to chronic congestion.

Michael Ison, MD, an infectious diseases expert at Northwestern University in Chicago who moderated the session at which the findings were presented, says he isn’t sure that the quick dip in viral levels in volunteers given oxymetazoline “is clinically meaningful.”

The sprays “definitely provide symptom relief,” but further study is needed to confirm an antiviral effect, he tells WebMD.

Source & Picture: www.webmd.com

Beaches May Be Safe Harbor for MRSA

Researchers Find Samples of the Superbug on Washington State Beaches
By Charlene Laino
WebMD Health News

Drug-resistant staph bacteria have been found on public beaches in Washington state, and beaches in other states may harbor the superbug too.

MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) was once rarely seen outside of hospitals or other health care facilities. But in the past decade, cases have been rising in communities.

Community-acquired infections in people without risk factors such as poor hygiene are a growing concern, but little is known about environmental sources of MRSA, says Marilyn Roberts, PhD, an environmental health scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The new study suggests marine water and sand may harbor the bug, she says.

Roberts tells WebMD that an individual beachgoer's risk of acquiring the infection is unknown.

"But we thought that chance of finding MRSA [at the beach] would be zero. The very fact that we found these organisms suggests that the level is much higher than we had thought," she says.

The findings were presented at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Earlier this year, other researchers reported they found MRSA in samples taken from South Florida beaches.

For the new study, Roberts and colleagues tested marine water and sand samples from beaches along the Puget Sound in Washington from February to September 2008.

Staph bacteria were found at nine of 10 beaches tested. Five of the beaches harbored strains of multidrug-resistant staph.

To the researchers' surprise, most of the samples "looked more like hospital-acquired MRSA strains than the bacteria typically found in the community," Roberts says. Three samples, from beaches 10 miles apart, were "essentially the same," she says.

Roberts says further research is needed to find out the exact source of the bacteria. In the meantime, people should continue to enjoy the beach, she says.

Her recommendations for lowering the risk of infection:

* Make sure you get all the sand off when you get out of the water. Digging and being buried in the sand appear to raise the risk of infection.
* Clean and bandage any open cuts or scrapes before playing in the sand.
* If a scrape looks infected a few days after a trip to the beach, see a health care professional right away.

"It's probably prudent to shower when you come out of the water," adds Lance Peterson, MD.

"Staph is a salt-loving organism. It's not surprising to see it in the ocean," he tells WebMD. Peterson, a microbiologist at NorthShore University Health System in Evanston, Ill., was not involved with the research.

Source: http://www.webmd.com

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Cold & Flu Health Center

Swine Flu Breaks Out Across U.S.
Flu Hot Spot: College Campuses
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News

Outbreaks on college campuses are signaling swine flu hot spots as fast-spreading H1N1 swine flu gives an early start to the fall flu season.

College campuses as far apart as Emory in urban Atlanta and Washington State in rural Pullman report explosive outbreaks of swine flu. The action isn't all on campus: Elementary and high schools are also seeing a lot of flu; 24 schools last week dismissed 25,000 students because of flu outbreaks.

One of the CDC's main indicators of flu season is the number of people seeing a doctor for flu-like illness. That statistic last week shot sharply up. That uptick was mainly because of swine-flu hot spots in the Southeastern U.S., with flare-ups in widely separated communities across the nation.

"It is time to pay attention," the CDC's disease chief, Anne Schuchat, MD, said today at a news conference.

The CDC can't predict where swine flu will strike next, how long it will linger in communities, or when it will come back. Yet so far, the pandemic is developing very much as experts expected:

* The vast majority of swine flu cases have been mild, with people getting over the worst of it in three to five days.
* Swine flu spreads most quickly among children, teens, and young adults.
* In every nation, the pandemic appears as a series of widely separated community hot spots that flare up and die down -- not as a wave moving from east to west or north to south.
* Children and adults at risk for flu complications -- those with lung conditions (including asthma), neurologic conditions, heart conditions, immune suppression, pregnancy, or under 5 years old -- tend to be those with the most severe disease.
* Because some previously healthy children and adults have died of swine flu, it's important to be on the lookout for severe symptoms in anyone who has a flu-like illness. This is particularly true for children under 2.

Even though things are turning out as expected, Schuchat says the CDC is not ready to relax. And neither should we.

"Our prediction is it is going to be a busy and long flu season," Schuchat said. "We need to be prepared through the fall and winter and even into the spring."

One reason the CDC can't relax is that flu viruses can change with remarkable speed. They can become more or less virulent. And as often happens with seasonal flu bugs, they eventually get around flu vaccines.

"The H1N1 influenza viruses that have been tested as recently as a couple of weeks ago are close matches, essentially the same as those in the vaccine," Schuchat said. "That does not mean that in a couple of months or weeks from now that won't change."

Source& Picture: www.webmd.com

Recognizing the Symptoms of Depression

Craving Carbs: Is It Depression?
Many people crave carbohydrates when they feel low.
By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Feature

Does a bad day at the office or a tiff with your spouse send you marching to the cookie jar or the corner bakery?

Or do you find yourself at the vending machine every day precisely at 4 p.m. for some crackers or candy?

If either scenario fits, you're not alone. Many people crave carbohydrates -- especially cookies, candy, or ice cream -- when they feel upset, depressed, or tired.

"Carb craving is part of daily life," says Judith Wurtman, PhD, a former scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-author of The Serotonin Power Diet. She and her husband, MIT professor Richard J. Wurtman, have long researched carbohydrates and their link to mood and depression.

The Wurtmans published a landmark article about carbs and depression in Scientific American in 1989. They are convinced that the carbohydrate craving is related to decreases in the feel-good hormone serotonin, which is marked by a decline in mood and concentration.

Other experts aren’t so sure. Some wonder if depressed mood and reaching for carbs are both related to an external event -- such as the stock market decline -- or to simply habit.
Carbohydrate Cravings: What's Known? What's Debated?

Carb cravings seem to be related to decreases in serotonin activity, says Wurtman.

"We discovered years and years ago that many people experience the 'universal carbohydrate craving time' between 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. every day," she says. "I suspect the tradition of English tea with its carb offering is a ritual developed to fill this need."

"It's a real neurochemical phenomenon," she says.

The Wurtmans’ work, however, has its skeptics.

Edward Abramson, PhD, a psychologist and professor emeritus at California State University, Chico, wrote the book Emotional Eating. He does not think the link is strong and clear-cut.

"You could be down because of loss of money in the stock market," he says. "The depression is triggered by an external event, not by [only] a dip in serotonin. It may be the external event causing the dip in serotonin, not the dip occurring, then the craving, he says.

Another possibility, says Abramson, is that carb craving may be just a habit, learned early. For instance, a woman brought up to believe that anger is not an acceptable emotion may turn to eating treats such as cookies instead -- because that's what she did as a kid and perhaps was encouraged to do by a parent.

Carb cravings can also result from diets, says Evelyn Tribole, RD, a dietitian in Newport Beach, Calif., and author of Healthy Homestyle Cooking.

She sees quite a few dieters who crave carbohydrates, especially if they’re on one of the high-protein, low-carb diets.

"You don't want to kill for a piece of broccoli, but you'd kill for a piece of bread. It's a clear signal,” she says, “that your body needs more carbs. It’s not an abnormal craving.”

Prostate Cancer Health Center

PSA Test: More Harm Than Good?
Study: 1 Million Men Suffered Needless Treatment After
Prostate Cancer Test
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News

The PSA prostate cancer screening test does more harm than good, a new study suggests.

How much harm and how much good?

"For every man who avoids a prostate cancer death due to PSA screening, about 50 men have to be treated unnecessarily -- and a third of these men will have serious problems with treatment," study co-author H. Gilbert Welch, MD, MPH, tells WebMD.

The blood test detects prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the blood. Rising PSA levels may, or may not, mean prostate cancer. So men with suspicious PSA levels undergo prostate biopsies.

Although vast numbers of men undergo annual PSA blood tests, many professional groups, including the American Cancer Society, do not recommend routine PSA screening for prostate cancer. They instead recommend the test only for men who still want it after carefully discussing the risks and benefits with their doctor.

The PSA test became popular in 1986. What have we learned about the test's risks and benefits?

To find out, Welch, professor or medicine at Dartmouth University, and urologist Peter C. Albertsen, MD, of the University of Connecticut, analyzed data on prostate cancer collected by the National Cancer Institute and population data from the U.S. Census.

The result: From 1986 to 2005, PSA testing resulted in the diagnosis of about 1.3 million prostate cancers that would never otherwise have been detected. More than 1 million of these patients were treated with surgery or radiation.

Over that time, deaths from prostate cancer declined. Taking a conservative approach, Welch and Albertsen assumed that PSA detection of early prostate cancers -- and not improvements in treatment -- was responsible for the entire drop in prostate cancer deaths.

In that case, PSA testing would have saved about 56,500 lives. But some 943,500 men would have been "overdiagnosed."

"The overdiagnosed patient is one not destined to experience symptoms or death from the cancer," Welch says. "This means people who were never going to get a dangerous cancer get treated and suffer the ill effects of needless treatment. Overdiagnosed patients cannot benefit from treatment because there is nothing to be fixed, but they can be harmed."

Source: www.webmd.com

Mediterranean Diet Helps Control Diabetes

Low-Carbohydrate Mediterranean Diet Better Than Low-Fat Diet at Managing Diabetes
By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Health News

Eating a Mediterranean-style diet may help people with type 2 diabetes keep their disease under control without drugs better than following a typical low-fat diet.

A new study from Italy shows that people with type 2 diabetes who ate a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetables and whole grains with at least 30% of daily calories from fat (mostly olive oil) were better able to manage their disease without diabetes medications than those who ate a low-fat diet with no more than 30% of calories from fat (with less than 10% coming from saturated fat choices).

After four years, researchers found that 44% of people on the Mediterranean diet ended up requiring diabetes medications to control their blood sugars compared with 70% of those who followed the low-fat diet.

It’s one of the longest-term studies of its kind, and researchers, including Katherine Esposito, MD, of the Second University of Naples, say the results “reinforce the message that benefits of lifestyle interventions should not be overlooked."
Best Diet for Diabetes Control

In the study, researchers randomly assigned 215 overweight people recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who had never been treated with diabetes medications to either a Mediterranean-style diet or a low-fat diet.

The Mediterranean diet was rich in vegetables and whole grains and low in red meat, which was replaced with fish or poultry. Overall, the diet consisted of no more than 50% of daily calories from carbohydrates and no less than 30% of calories from fat.

The low-fat diet was based on American Heart Association guidelines and was rich in whole grains and limited in sweets with no more than 30% of calories from fat and 10% from saturated fats, such as animal fats.

After four years of follow-up, the Mediterranean diet group had better glycemic (blood sugar) control and were less likely to require diabetes medications to bring their blood sugar within healthy levels.

In addition, people who followed the Mediterranean diet group also experienced improvement in other heart disease risk factors. Interestingly, weight loss was relatively comparable between the two groups by the end of the trial, suggesting that attributes of the Mediterranean diet beyond weight loss affect blood sugar control.

Source & Picture: http://diabetes.webmd.com