Superbugs! “Untreatable gonorrhea” joins the ranks of infectious bogeymen

Superbugs!  “Untreatable gonorrhea” joins the ranks of infectious bogeymen. A recent paper in the New England Journal of Medicine called “The Emerging Threat of Untreatable Gonococcal Infection” suggests that gonorrhea is set to join the superbugs, the elite circle of nightmarish infections (MRSA, XDR-tuberculosis, NDM-1) that some fear will sweep civilization off its pins. The new breed of sexually-transmitted infection, first spotted in Japan, is resistant to the cephalosporin class of antibiotics, which puts it in position to run the table on available treatments and knock us back into a Fred Flintstone, pre-antibiotic world.

As an infectious disease specialist, I am sort of flattered by the attention my homeboys are getting. After all, I have been thinking about, worrying about, and dreading these microbes for a long time and have limitless respect for their heartless lethality.

A 2005 colorized SEM depicting numerous clumps of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, or MRSA Scan courtesy the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But I have to ask, people, why all the excitement? As a looming public-health calamity for John Q Citizen as he walks down Maple Street in Middletown USA, the threat is minuscule (particularly if John Q can remember to keep his pecker in his pants). As with the avian flu massacre that never was and the smallpox pandemic that never came, this Superbug fascination seems to be more about our peculiar love of fear itself (cf: Stephen King, Paranormal Activity, the Republican debates) than any sober consideration of the risk before us.

Beyond its fear-factor potential, the superbug story has legs because of something entirely different. The use and misuse of antibiotics has become one of the central morality tales of our time. All the key elements are there—our adolescent inability to control our appetites and the resultant waste of promising youth (alas, penicillin, I knew ye well); individual profligacy creating communal pain; and worst of all, scalding selfishness. Reading about superbugs has come to resemble John Bunyan following the Pilgrim in his progress more than a story of chemistry and microbiology and snippets of DNA that drift left rather than right.

Yet lost in the hurry to embrace this particular sky-is-falling medical story is an important and revealing fact: not all superbugs take the same path to ignominy. Gonorrhea, for example, hasn't moved to the front of the line on account of our pharmaceutical gluttony. There's another mortal sin at work: Lust. People like to have sex, and with each condom-free act, bacteria swarm from this body part to that again and again, yes, and one more time, yes yes. Yes. Simply put, the sheer velocity of people hooking up has overwhelmed our flimsy antibiotic defense.

In contrast, the superbugs that have been long-term headliners earned their stripes (the story goes) through a toxic mix of uncaring doctors, grasping patients, dim-witted public health officials, greedy drug companies, people who don’t wash their hands, and tons of antibiotics shoveled into the mouths of farm animals. In this godless world, available antibiotics are systematically misapplied, too much for some, not enough for others, until, at the far end of the bug-drug wrestling match, the only one left standing is super-whatever. John Bunyan, meet the mother lode: A world where everyone is guilty.

But our dramatic self-flagellation—alas, if only the trustees of medicine’s covenant had been more restrained, more mature, more caring about the real things that matter, then perhaps none of this would have happened—is just so much posturing and mugging for the camera. After all, antibiotic resistance has been with us from the day antibiotics were hatched in Fleming’s moldy lab; it’s an immutable part of the program. Antibiotic activity and antibiotic resistance are like credit and debt—you can’t have one without the other. And, as we learned from highly active antiviral agents against HIV, the more potent the compound, the faster resistance emerges.

In this long-running superbug drama, we humans are giving ourselves far too much credit for making the mess. This is about the power of bacteria, not the weakness of man. Yes, we can do a better job shepherding our patrimony, using common sense and restraint to maintain antibiotics’ fresh edge. But we will lose—always—and not because we are a fat, lazy society that, through indolence, inattention to detail, and blatant disregard of those around us, has created a dark and dangerous world.

Rather we are pawns in a game between bits of microbial DNA, crude chemical structures, and a human body with more bacteria in and on it than that person’s number of normal human cells. Our insistence that we are the ones driving this enormous complex over the cliff disregards the basic facts. More disturbingly it reveals an all-too-familiar Master of the Universe insistence that we are the cause of everything on the planet, good and bad. It's too bad there is no biological phenomenon like drug resistance to undo the suffocating certainty of the narcissist. ( slate.com )

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Chemicals in plastics linked to early onset menopause

Chemicals in plastics linked to early onset menopause - Man-made chemicals found in a variety of everyday products – from food containers to clothes – may be causing early menopause in women, say scientists.

A study of almost 26,000 – the largest of its kind – found those with high levels of PFCs (perfluorocarbons) were more likely to have gone through the change of life prematurely.

Dr Sarah Knox, of the West Virginia University School of Medicine, said: "There is no doubt that there is an association between exposure to PFCs and onset of menopause, but the causality is unclear.

Higher levels of PFCs were associated with increased odds of having experienced menopause in women between 42 to 64

"Part of the explanation could be that women in these age groups have higher PFC levels because they are no longer losing PFCs with menstrual blood anymore.

"But it is still clinically disturbing because it would imply that increased PFC exposure is the natural result of menopause."

The study to be published in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found higher levels of PFCs were associated with increased odds of having experienced menopause in women between 42 to 64.

Women in this age group with more PFCs also had much less of the sex hormone oestrogen compared to those who had low levels which are also found in furniture, carpets and paints.

Their broad use has led to widespread circulation in water, air, soil, plant life, animals and humans – even in remote parts of the world.

A probability sample of adults in the US found measurable concentrations of PFCs in 98 per cent of those tested.

Dr Knox said: "The current study is the largest ever to be done on the endocrine (hormone)-disrupting effects of perfluorocarbons in human women.

"Our data shows after controlling for age, women of peri-menopausal and menopausal age in this large population are more likely to have experienced menopause if they have higher serum concentrations of PFCs than their counterparts with lower levels."

In the study of 18 to 65-year-old women researchers ascertained the menopausal status of the participants and then measured their serum concentration levels of PFCs and oestradiol.

They found an association between PFC exposure, decreased oestradiol and early menopause in women over age 42.

The higher the PFC levels in women of child bearing age the lower their oestrogen also but this link was not statistically significant.

PFCs are known to have multiple adverse health outcomes including increased cardiovascular risk and impairment of the immune system.

Dr Knox said: "Our findings suggest PFCs are associated with endocrine disruption in women and that further research on mechanisms is warranted."( telegraph.co.uk )

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Heart repair breakthroughs replace surgeon's knife

Heart repair breakthroughs replace surgeon's knife — Have a heart problem? If it's fixable, there's a good chance it can be done without surgery, using tiny tools and devices that are pushed through tubes into blood vessels.

Heart care is in the midst of a transformation. Many problems that once required sawing through the breastbone and opening up the chest for open heart surgery now can be treated with a nip, twist or patch through a tube.

These minimal procedures used to be done just to unclog arteries and correct less common heart rhythm problems. Now some patients are getting such repairs for valves, irregular heartbeats, holes in the heart and other defects — without major surgery. Doctors even are testing ways to treat high blood pressure with some of these new approaches.

Associated Press/Jeff Chiu - In this Monday, March 11, 2013 photo, Atlanta cardiologist Dr. Spencer King demonstrates how a catheter is used to repair a diseased heart valve, at an American College of Cardiology conference in San Francisco. Many problems that used to require open-heart surgery now can be treated with minimally invasive procedures. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

All rely on catheters — hollow tubes that let doctors burn away and reshape heart tissue or correct defects through small holes in blood vessels.

"This is the replacement for the surgeon's knife. Instead of opening the chest, we're able to put catheters in through the leg, sometimes through the arm," said Dr. Spencer King of St. Joseph's Heart and Vascular Institute in Atlanta. He is former president of the American College of Cardiology. Its conference earlier this month featured research on these novel devices.

"Many patients after having this kind of procedure in a day or two can go home" rather than staying in the hospital while a big wound heals, he said. It may lead to cheaper treatment, although the initial cost of the novel devices often offsets the savings from shorter hospital stays.

Not everyone can have catheter treatment, and some promising devices have hit snags in testing. Others on the market now are so new that it will take several years to see if their results last as long as the benefits from surgery do.

But already, these procedures have allowed many people too old or frail for an operation to get help for problems that otherwise would likely kill them.

"You can do these on 90-year-old patients," King said.

These methods also offer an option for people who cannot tolerate long-term use of blood thinners or other drugs to manage their conditions, or who don't get enough help from these medicines and are getting worse.

"It's opened up a whole new field," said Dr. Hadley Wilson, cardiology chief at Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte. "We can hopefully treat more patients more definitively, with better results."

For patients, this is crucial: Make sure you are evaluated by a "heart team" that includes a surgeon as well as other specialists who do less invasive treatments. Many patients now get whatever treatment is offered by whatever specialist they are sent to, and those specialists sometimes are rivals.

"We want to get away from that" and do whatever is best for the patient, said Dr. Timothy Gardner, a surgeon at Christiana Care Health System in Newark, Del., and an American Heart Association spokesman. "There shouldn't be a rivalry in the field."

Here are some common problems and newer treatments for them:

HEART VALVES

Millions of people have leaky heart valves. Each year, more than 100,000 people in the United States alone have surgery for them. A common one is the aortic valve, the heart's main gate. It can stiffen and narrow, making the heart strain to push blood through it. Without a valve replacement operation, half of these patients die within two years, yet many are too weak to have one.

"Essentially, this was a death sentence," said Dr. John Harold, a Los Angeles heart specialist who is president of the College of Cardiology.

That changed just over a year ago, when Edwards Lifesciences Corp. won approval to sell an artificial aortic valve flexible and small enough to fit into a catheter and wedged inside the bad one. At first it was just for inoperable patients. Last fall, use was expanded to include people able to have surgery but at high risk of complications.

Gary Verwer, 76, of Napa, Calif., had a bypass operation in 1988 that made surgery too risky when he later developed trouble with his aortic valve.

"It was getting worse every day. I couldn't walk from my bed to my bathroom without having to sit down and rest," he said. After getting a new valve through a catheter last April at Stanford University, "everything changed; it was almost immediate," he said. "Now I can walk almost three miles a day and enjoy it. I'm not tired at all."

"The chest cracking part is not the most fun," he said of his earlier bypass surgery. "It was a great relief not to have to go through that recovery again."

Catheter-based treatments for other valves also are in testing. One for the mitral valve — Abbott Laboratories' MitraClip — had a mixed review by federal Food and Drug Administration advisers this week; whether it will win FDA approval is unclear. It is already sold in Europe.

HEART RHYTHM PROBLEMS

Catheters can contain tools to vaporize or "ablate" bits of heart tissue that cause abnormal signals that control the heartbeat. This used to be done only for some serious or relatively rare problems, or surgically if a patient was having an operation for another heart issue.

Now catheter ablation is being used for the most common rhythm problem — atrial fibrillation, which plagues about 3 million Americans and 15 million people worldwide. The upper chambers of the heart quiver or beat too fast or too slow. That lets blood pool in a small pouch off one of these chambers. Clots can form in the pouch and travel to the brain, causing a stroke.

Ablation addresses the underlying rhythm problem. To address the stroke risk from pooled blood, several novel devices aim to plug or seal off the pouch. Only one has approval in the U.S. now — SentreHeart Inc.'s Lariat, a tiny lasso to cinch the pouch shut. It uses two catheters that act like chopsticks. One goes through a blood vessel and into the pouch to help guide placement of the device, which is contained in a second catheter poked under the ribs to the outside of the heart. A loop is released to circle the top of the pouch where it meets the heart, sealing off the pouch.

A different kind of device — Boston Scientific Corp.'s Watchman — is sold in Europe and parts of Asia, but is pending before the FDA in the U.S. It's like a tiny umbrella pushed through a vein and then opened inside the heart to plug the troublesome pouch. Early results from a pivotal study released by the company suggested it would miss a key goal, making its future in the U.S. uncertain.

HEART DEFECTS

Some people have a hole in a heart wall called an atrial septal defect that causes abnormal blood flow. St. Jude Medical Inc.'s Amplatzer is a fabric-mesh patch threaded through catheters to plug the hole.

The patch is also being tested for a more common defect — PFO, a hole that results when the heart wall doesn't seal the way it should after birth. This can raise the risk of stroke. In two new studies, the device did not meet the main goal of lowering the risk of repeat strokes in people who had already suffered one, but some doctors were encouraged by other results.

CLOGGED ARTERIES

The original catheter-based treatment — balloon angioplasty — is still used hundreds of thousands of times each year in the U.S. alone. A Japanese company, Terumo Corp., is one of the leaders of a new way to do it that is easier on patients — through a catheter in the arm rather than the groin.

Newer stents that prop arteries open and then dissolve over time, aimed at reducing the risk of blood clots, also are in late-stage testing.

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

About 75 million Americans and 1 billion people worldwide have high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart attacks. Researchers are testing a possible long-term fix for dangerously high pressure that can't be controlled with multiple medications.

It uses a catheter and radio waves to zap nerves, located near the kidneys, which fuel high blood pressure. At least one device is approved in Europe and several companies are testing devices in the United States.

"We're very excited about this," said Harold, the cardiology college's president. It offers hope to "essentially cure high blood pressure." ( Associated Press )

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A soda per day may raise heart-attack risk

A soda per day may raise heart-attack risk - It's no secret that the empty calories in soda and other sugary drinks can contribute to weight gain and obesity. But a new study suggests these beverages also may harm your heart, even if they don't cause you to gain weight.

The study, which followed nearly 43,000 men for an average of 22 years, found that those who habitually drank one 12-ounce sweetened beverage per day were 20% more likely to have a heart attack, fatal or otherwise, than men who drank none.

The association could not be explained by obesity or weight gain alone. The researchers took into account the men's body mass index, along with their dietary habits, exercise levels, family history of heart disease, and other extentuating factors.

Sugary-beverage consumption "appears to be an independent risk factor for heart disease," says lead author Frank Hu, M.D., a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston.

Artificially sweetened diet drinks were not linked to heart attacks, as they have been in some other recent studies. And only daily or near-daily consumption of sugary drinks measurably increased heart-attack risk.

The study was published this week in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

Several factors besides body weight—or, more likely, a combination of factors—could explain the findings, Hu says. For instance, he says, sugary beverages have been linked to high triglycerides and low "good" cholesterol (HDL), which could increase heart-attack risk without being accompanied by obesity.

Sugary beverages also are believed to promote inflammation, an immune-system response involved in both heart disease and insulin resistance, a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Finally, Hu says, sugary drinks have been associated with the accumulation of belly fat, which can increase a man's risk of heart attacks even if he isn't obese.

Blood samples taken from roughly 40% of the men during the study supported some of these hypotheses. Men who consumed sugary beverages at least once a day had higher triglyceride levels, lower HDL levels, and higher levels of a marker of inflammation known as C-reactive protein (CRP). They also had higher levels of leptin, a hormone that helps regulate metabolism.

The study had some important limitations. Most notably, the researchers measured beverage consumption every four years using food questionnaires. Although this is a commonly used research method, it relies on the study participants' memory and is therefore less than exact.

In addition, the new research was part of an ongoing study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, that includes only male health professionals, almost all of whom are white. That may limit the relevance of the findings to other groups.

However, the findings do closely resemble those of a similar study in women, known as the Nurses Health Study.

"We already know that sugary beverages are associated with increased obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other metabolic issues," Hu says. "This adds further evidence that sugary beverages are detrimental to our health." ( Health Magazine )

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Horse whisper therapy for Gwynedd teens

Horse whisper therapy for Gwynedd teens - Youngsters with behavioural problems in Gwynedd are to be taught to "horse whisper" in a bid to improve their confidence and self-esteem.

A new project is starting next month at a farm near Porthmadog.

Children will be encouraged to communicate and bond with the horses and learn how their behaviour affects the animals.

 
The youngsters will work with a rescued horse and a pony at the farm near Porthmadog

The project has secured £5,000 from the National Lottery and is one of 56 across Wales to share £203,423 funding.

Horse whispering is perhaps most famously associated with the 1998 Hollywood film directed by and starring Robert Redford.

Project manager Lindsey Mitchell said she first saw the positive effect working with horses could have on youngsters while working at a summer camp in Virginia in the USA.

She has also been involved in equine therapy project for children with disabilities in Warwickshire.

“Start Quote

It's very useful for children with behavioural problems to see an immediate reaction to their behaviour so that they can modify it” - Lindsey Mitchell Project manager

But she said using horses to help modify the behaviour of youngsters with problems such anger management was relatively new.

"The term horse whisperer is a bit flowery," she said.

"It's really about how the body, the voice and even the breath can affect another living creature.

"It's very useful for children with behavioural problems to see an immediate reaction to their behaviour so that they can modify it.

"When they work with horses, they have to be be very careful about what they do or the horse will not approach them."

Disadvantaged and socially excluded youngsters will work under supervision with a rescued horse and pony which live at the farm.

'Improve lives' Ms Mitchell said the money would allow the project to run as a pilot with 15 youngsters for six months.

"We try and tailor our programmes to work with children with a wide variety of needs to help improve their lives," she said.

"We hope to expand this project if the pilot is successful to include 80 children a year from different areas of Wales."

Other projects to benefit from the Awards For All grants from the Big Lottery Fund include the West Meliden Residents Association to run the street surfing in Denbighshire.

Street surfers use specially designed boards in a sport described as a cross between surfing, snowboarding and skating.

The Troedyrhiw Environmental Forum in Merthyr Tydfil will spend £1,950 on constructing a recycled bottle green house while the Newtown Air Training Corps 2416 Squadron in Powys will spend £5,000 to allow cadets to undertake training courses in the use of IT and gain skills in target shooting. (  bbc.co.uk )

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Search: in America's Most Polluted Cities

Search: in America's Most Polluted Cities - Remember the fog that lingered over Beijing during the 2008 Summer Olympics? It wasn't fog. It was dirty air. Yes, China faces a world-class air quality problem. But before you get too smug about its smog, consider this: 154.5 million Americans, just over half the nation's population, live in areas where air pollution levels are often dangerous to breathe. That's according to the American Lung Association's (ALA) just-released report 2011 State of the Air.

The cities ranked worst in air quality? California metros like Los Angeles, Visalia, Hanford and Fresno. Bakersfield, Calif., ranked the worst in terms of short-term and year-round particle pollution. It also ranked second-worst, behind Los Angeles, for smog levels, known formally as ozone pollution.

California metros "really have made great strides to try to clean up, but they have a lot of sources--a lot of people driving, a lot of ships coming into the port, especially ocean-going vessels," explains Janice Nolen, lead author of the report and an assistant vice president of national policy and advocacy at the ALA. "Plus, California has the warm, sunny climate that encourages pollutants to form and the geography that helps trap them."

Behind The Numbers

The American Lung Association's study ranks the air quality of 900 counties and more than 200 U.S. Census-defined Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Combined Statistical Areas--cities and their surrounding suburbs--where an air pollution monitor is present.

The ALA analyzed data from 2007 to 2009 that had been collected daily through monitors operated by federal agencies, states and Native American tribes. The data was reviewed by the Environmental Protection Agency. The ALA analyzed the data based on ozone pollution, short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution. Its report grades cities using, in part, the EPA's color-coded Air Quality Index, as well as its own weighting system that ranks the severity of pollution on a daily basis.

The EPA defines particle pollution as "a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets ... made up of a number of components, including acids (such as nitrates and sulfates), organic chemicals, metals, and soil or dust particles." Year-round air pollution is an average of the daily levels of particle pollution on all 365 days. Short-term particle pollution measures the number of times in a year when levels spike above healthy standards for several days to several weeks. Ozone pollution has adverse effects on health as well, but is not as dangerous in the short-term.

"All three can kill people, and all three can cause asthma attacks," asserts Nolen. "But short-term and year-round particle pollution are more deadly than ozone."

For that reason Forbes focused on the metros most affected by year-round particle pollution for this list. The ALA compiled a list of the 10 worst culprits. (A total of 11 metros made the list due to a tie in the data.)

Many major urban hubs in the Golden State ranked high on the list, but one other southwestern U.S. city tied Los Angeles for second place: Phoenix, Ariz. Like California's hardest-hit cities, the foreclosure mecca's climate and geography serve as incubators for airborne toxins. But one of the biggest reasons for Phoenix's high pollution levels is actually cattle ranches found south of the city, in Pinal County and vicinity. "Those cattle ranches are contributing a lot of fine particle pollution to the small communities near them that are part of the Phoenix metro area, but also to the tribe adjacent to it," says Nolen. "It's also being blown into other parts of the city."

Closer to the east coast, Pittsburgh, Pa., has long been associated with coal, and it shows in the numbers. The Steel City ranks seventh on the list of most polluted, followed by another metro chock-full of coal-fired power plants: Birmingham, Ala.

Nolen says air pollution can cause asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, lung conditions and difficulty breathing for some people. California, for example, estimates that 9,000 people die each year from air pollution-related illnesses.

"We have a lot of folks that see this report and call up and ask 'where should I go?'" says Nolen. "We want people to do things like check the Air Quality Index. If it's going to be a very unhealthy day, you can take steps to avoid exercising outside or working outdoors strenuously." She also adds that people should avoid running within 300 to 500 meters of major roads, which tend to have elevated levels of air pollution.

The good news is that most metros and counties around the country have been improving their air quality, thanks in part to support from the EPA and the implementation, albeit slow, of the 1990 Clean Air Act. Most cities that topped the ALA's most polluted lists for particle and ozone pollution have seen their levels decrease. The only city in the top 10 to actually get worse in terms of year-round particle pollution levels was Bakersfield.

Here are the nation's five most polluted cities:

No. 5 Hanford, Calif.

Hanford is the nation's fifth most polluted metro area

MSA: Hanford-Corcoran, Calif.
Worst county: Kings County
PM2.5 annual design value (2007-2009): 17.3
Total population: 148,800 people potentially exposed

No. 2 (tie) Visalia, Calif.

Visalia is tied for the nation's second most polluted metro area

MSA: Visalia-Porterville, Calif.
Worst county: Tulare County
PM2.5 annual design value (2007-2009): 18.8
Total population: 429,700 people potentially exposed

No. 2 (tie) Phoenix, Ariz.

Phoenix is tied for the nation's second most polluted metro area Photo: iStock

MSA: Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, Ariz.
Worst county: Pinal County
PM2.5 annual design value (2007-2009): 18.8
Total population: 4.36 million people potentially exposed

No. 2 (tie) Los Angeles, Calif.

Los Angeles is tied for the nation's second most polluted metro area
Photo: iStock

CSA: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, Calif.
Worst county: Riverside County
PM2.5 annual design value (2007-2009): 18.8
Total population: 17.82 million people potentially exposed

No. 1 Bakersfield, Calif.

Bakersfield is the nation's most polluted city Photo: David Jordan

MSA: Bakersfield, Calif.
Worst county: Kern County
PM2.5 annual design value (2007-2009): 22.6
Total population: 807,400 people potentially exposed ( forbes )

READ MORE - Search: in America's Most Polluted Cities

Fat Stigma Spreading Across Globe

The 'fat stigma' is going global: Parts of the world that once viewed plumpness favorably now hold negative attitudes toward extra pounds, new research suggests. Anthropologists at Arizona State University asked 700 people in 10 countries or regions to answer true or false to statements like "Fat people are lazy" and "A big woman is a beautiful woman." The findings, they say, suggest that negative perceptions about overweight people are becoming a cultural norm.

Fat stigma now exists everywhere, but is greatest in places that have traditionally considered larger bodies attractive, like Paraguay, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico, according to the study, published in the April issue of the journal Current Anthropology. "The change has come very, very fast in all these places," study author Alexandra Brewis, executive director of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University, told The New York Times. "The next big question is whether it's going to create a lot of new suffering where suffering didn't exist before. It's important that we think about designing health messages around obesity that don't exacerbate the problem."

Can Blaming People for Being Fat Help Curb Obesity?

Stigma can be a powerful force in changing behavior, and the obese are the new scapegoats for a lot of our ills. In 2008, a letter published in the Lancet noted that the obese contribute more than their thinner compatriots to food scarcity and global warming, given that they eat more and require more transportation energy to move themselves around. While the authors' intent was probably not to make the obese feel worse, the media translations of the study turned up headlines such as "Fat People Cause Global Warming, Higher Food Prices" and "Scientists Blame Fat People for Global Warming."

You might think that the obese could use some blame. As obesity increasingly becomes the norm, maybe society has grown too accepting, U.S. News reports. Perhaps what is lacking is the same thing that helped smokers lose their butts: a healthy dose of social stigma. If only there were more shame in being fat, maybe more people would be motivated to lose weight. But in fact, researchers say, stigma does very little to motivate overweight or obese people to change.

Why, first, are we increasingly intolerant of the obese even as more of us are joining their ranks? "At the same time that weight has gone up, we've had an increased emphasis on the thin ideal in society," says Janet Latner, a psychologist who studies stigma at the University of Hawaii--Manoa in Honolulu. People also see family and friends lose weight and believe that body weight is completely under our control.


The Obesity Epidemic Isn't Just About Willpower

Obesity, not so long ago an issue of personal struggle with fatty foods and bulging waistline, has of late become Public Health Enemy No. 1, blamed for almost a third of the rise in healthcare spending. Overeaters now find themselves in the same category as smokers or drug addicts, tainted with the aura of moral weakness and lack of willpower. This perspective has begun to spawn tough-love policies geared to prod people into thinness, writes U.S. News's Bernadine Healy. Discriminating against the chubby in social and even employment settings seems to be gaining on the politically correct scale. And levying a "sin tax" on sweet treats, starting with sugary sodas and fruit juices, has a growing following on Capitol Hill.

The sharpened focus on fatness isn't surprising: Overweight is far more pervasive than either smoking or addiction, affecting over 65 percent of the population, and true obesity has more than doubled since 1980, at a cost estimated at more than a hundred billion dollars a year. The obese have shorter lives and face more diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer than the thin, not to speak of the psychological burden and often lowered self-esteem. But using blame and punishment to inspire willpower and discipline in citizens to curb their appetite, eat more fruits and vegetables, and exercise more is not likely to work. Why? Because it does not begin to take into account the biological complexity of obesity and the enormous biological differences among individuals that make weight loss a snap for some and a near impossibility for others ( usnews.com )

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The guide to healthy hair

The guide to healthy hair - As an MD, and a practicing dermatologist, I am often asked: “Is it possible to increase the longevity of hair?”

The answer is, of course not. Hair is a nonliving tissue that cannot be altered once produced by the follicle. Cosmetically, the longevity of hair is determined by how long it remains attached to the head. Thus, anything that causes hair breakage shortens the longevity of the hair shaft. That is why your aim should be to keep your hair strong by reducing breakage, which is the most common cause of hair loss.

Here are some tips to help reduce breakage and have healthy, great looking hair:

Tip #1: Manipulate the hair as little as possible

There is a belief among hairstylists that the more you do to the hair, the healthier it becomes. This is not true! There is no such thing as a “body restoring permanent wave” or a “strengthening hair dye.” The more you dye or perm your hair, the weaker it becomes. And, the more you brush, curl, twist, clip and braid your hair, the more damage it incurs. This damage is permanent since the hair is nonliving.

Tip #2: Select a wide-toothed comb with Teflon-coated tips

One of the most common insults the hair receives on a daily basis is grooming, which is usually done with a comb. Thus, it is important to select a comb that decreases hair breakage by minimizing the friction between the hair and the teeth of the comb. For this reason, a comb should have broadly spaced smooth teeth, preferably Teflon-coated, to reduce combing friction.

Combing friction is also maximal when the hair shafts are tangled. Unfortunately the most common reason for combing the hair is to remove the tangles. The most effective way to reduce hair combing friction, besides proper comb selection, is application of a conditioner.

Tip #3: Select a vented ball-tipped styling brush

The second most commonly used grooming implement is a brush, and it too requires careful selection. The main goal again is to reduce friction between the brush and the hair shafts. Select a brush design known as a blow-drying brush, for general grooming needs. These brushes possess vents or openings on the brush head to prevent heat from building up between the hair and the brush head. Furthermore, the widely spaced plastic bristles are also ball-tipped to minimize friction.

Tip #4: Do not comb wet hair

Hair is much more likely to break when wet than dry. For this reason, it is advisable to gently detangle hair following shampooing from the distal ends to the proximal ends with the fingers, not attempting combing or brushing until the hair is almost dry.

Many people feel that the hair must be styled wet in order to attain the desired style. This is only partially true. Hair will set in the position in which it is placed the instant that the last water molecule evaporates from the hair shaft. This means that the hair is optimally styled just before it is completely dry.

Tip #5: Allow hair to air-dry avoiding heated drying appliances

Many people prefer to apply heat to the hair shaft in order to speed up the evaporation of water. This can be done with a hand-held blow dryer or a hooded professional salon dryer. Unfortunately, any type of heat that is applied to the hair shafts can permanently damage the hair’s protein structure.

It is important to distinguish between the water that resides on the outside of the hair shaft when the hair is wet and the water that resides inside the hair shaft, which acts as a plasticizer.

When hair is rapidly exposed to high temperatures, the water within the shaft turns to steam and exits the hair shaft, creating a loss of cuticular scale and a condition known as “bubble hair.” Unfortunately, “bubble hair” is permanent and results in the weakening of the hair shaft that contributes to breakage.

If the hair exposure to heat is gradual, the damage effect is not as great. Thus, a gradual temperature increase is recommended. This means that hair dryers can be safely used if the nozzle blowing out hot air is held at least 12 inches from the hair, allowing the air to cool prior to touching the hair shaft. Hairdryers also should be started on low heat to initially warm the hair prior to drying it at higher temperatures.

Heated hair rollers and curling irons can also be used safely if allowed to cool before being applied to the hair.

Tip #6: Select a conditioning shampoo

Unfortunately, many patients who see a dermatologist have already severely damaged their hair and permanent restoration is not possible. Yet, it is important to council the patient on how to optimize the appearance of their damaged hair until new growth occurs, while discontinuing the damaging cosmetic procedure.

One such method of minimizing hair damage is to select a conditioning shampoo. These are available for all types of hair including dry, oily, and chemically treated hair. Silicone is instrumental in these formulas since it can coat the hair shaft without leaving the greasy appearance of sebum. The silicone also significantly reduces the friction of combing and brushing, minimizing hair breakage. Thus, patients with hair loss or chemically damaged hair may benefit from the use of a conditioning silicone-containing shampoo.

Tip #7: Apply an instant conditioner after each shampooing

One of the best recommendations a dermatologist can provide to the patient who is experiencing hair loss is to use an instant conditioner following shampooing. Use of this product will prolong hair longevity, no matter what the underlying cause of hair loss may be.

Tip #8: Consider use of a deep conditioner once a week

Occasionally it is necessary to impart more conditioning benefits to the hair fiber than what an instant conditioner delivers. This is especially the case in hair that has undergone chemical processing, such as permanent dying, bleaching, permanent waving or chemical straightening.

Deep conditioners are applied to hair for 20 to 30 minutes outside the bath or shower either at home or in a salon. There are basically two types of deep conditioners: oil treatments and protein packs. Oil treatments are usually used for kinky hair that has been straightened. In general, oil treatments are not used for straight hair, since the heavy oil leaves the hair limp and difficult to style.

Protein packs represent a second type of deep conditioner and can be used for all hair types. The protein diffuses into the hair shaft through the cuticular defects created by the chemical treatment, and can impart some strength to the hair shaft, while also smoothing the cuticular scale.

For patients who have chemically processed hair, I recommend a deep conditioner once every one to two weeks in addition to an instant conditioner after shampooing.

Tip # 9: Cut away damaged hair shafts

Many patients who are losing their hair are reluctant to cut their hair. Hair that has been damaged by too much chemical processing and too little conditioner application cannot be restored. For these patients, the overall appearance of the hair can be improved simply by removing one to two inches from the distal hair shafts. This trims away the split ends and creates new hair ends that are not frizzy, are more likely to maintain a curl and less subject to static electricity.

In short, removal of the damaged hair can create the illusion of fuller, healthier hair. Of course, the newly exposed ends must receive proper care or they will too develop an unattractive cosmetic appearance with time.

Summary

Even though hair is a nonliving substance, you can strengthen it by taking care of it in an optimal fashion. When hair is thought of as a fabric, it is easy to understand how proper handling of the hair fiber and limited exposure to damaging chemicals and environmental variables can influence its cosmetic performance. ( arabnews.com )

READ MORE - The guide to healthy hair

Stop Snoring Now

Stop Snoring Now - You probably know at least one person who snores. It could be your partner, parents, grandparents, or even Uncle Ned or Aunt Sophie that snore at various noise levels.

Some laugh and make jokes about it, but it can be a symptom of a serious disorder called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). And if it is obstructive sleep apnea, then it is no laughing matter; that individual needs to get evaluated by a sleep specialist and learn to stop snoring. For the rest of us, the problem is a lot less serious and there are several measures you can take to stop snoring today.

What is snoring?

Snoring is a noise produced when an individual breathes (usually produced when inhaling) during sleep, which in turn causes vibration of the soft palate and uvula (that thing that hangs down in the back of the throat).

The word "apnea" means the absence of breathing. Unfortunately, men are hit with more bouts of disruptive snoring than women. Sorry guys, but even if you don't think you snore, you probably do. At least there are treatments that can help you stop snoring.

Treatment for snoring

The most important point to make about the treatment of OSA is that effective treatment requires several related problems to be treated simultaneously.

At least the following need to be addressed if you wish to stop snoring:

Lifestyle factors

The impression is growing that, to a large extent, many cases of OSA and snoring may be related to Western culture. The risk of significant OSA increases with the numerous factors described below, many of which are problems currently rampant in our society. Correction of OSA generally requires that these factors be eliminated. At times, elimination of these factors completely resolves the problem.

Weight

Excessive weight brought about by a sedentary lifestyle, too many rich foods or by medically related situations such as thyroid problems, is probably the leading factor contributing to OSA. Bed partners almost invariably make the observation that the larger their snoring spouse becomes, the louder the snoring bellows, and the more often they hear snoring pauses followed by snorts, and a resumption of breathing (i.e., apneas — episodes of obstructed breathing).

Conversely, in a large percentage of patients, weight loss down to an ideal weight has reversed the process.

Smoking

Smoking has numerous undesirable effects on the body. Most pertinent to OSA are the obstructions to the airway that cigarette smoking causes: swelling of the mucous membrane in the nose, swelling of the tissue in the throat, and blockage of the small vessels in the lungs. Therefore, add snoring to the list of reasons why you should stop smoking.

Alcohol

It is the partial collapse of the airway (breathing tube between nose, mouth and lungs) that is the immediate cause of snoring, and its complete collapse that is the immediate cause of apnea. Alcohol causes too great a relaxation of the airway during sleep. This, and other effects of alcohol on the body, means that it can either cause or greatly contribute to the development of loud snoring and

Organization of sleep

There are two periods of sleep that, given the right circumstances, are especially vulnerable to the development of unstable breathing. These are Stage 1 sleep, which should only occur when a person is first falling asleep but can occur many times during the night if sleep is poor, and REM sleep, which is the time when dreaming most frequently occurs.

If a person has very unbalanced sleeping habits, it can result in the development of very significant respiratory instability during sleep. It's that simple: unstable sleeping patterns lead to unstable breathing. Therefore, all you need to do is regulate your sleep by getting at least 7.5 hours of sleep per night. Sometimes, this is all that is required.

Medical problems

Anything that can lead to a blockage of the nose, throat or lungs potentially plays a role in the development of OSA.

Pertinent nasal problems include allergies to airborne particles, such as animal dander, and dryness of the nose because of a wood-burning stove. Factors that can block the throat include large tonsils, large adenoids, excessive amounts of fatty tissue, and, at times, the enlargement of some of the complex tissue at the back of the throat. In these cases, surgery can help by removing unwanted or excess tissue.

Snoring can also be a symptom of diabetes or hypothyroidism. Therefore, sometimes the best treatment for snoring and apnea is to go to the source of the problem and treat the medical problem itself.

Lifestyle before surgery

On a final note, if you are an excessive snorer, and constantly get complaints from friends and loved ones, look at your lifestyle very carefully first. Try changing some bad habits to good ones, and exercise more.

If after all this, you still snore excessively, then we suggest you go see a physician or a nose, ear and throat specialist. Always make surgery your last resort. Even though it's proven to be safe, surgery can still do damage to your wallet, when all you needed to do was quit smoking or join a gym. ( foxnews.com )

READ MORE - Stop Snoring Now

Obesity weighs on wealthy in poor countries

Obesity weighs on wealthy in poor countries - The obesity epidemic has spread to poorer nations, where it almost entirely affects wealthy citizens, while the poor in the same nations still remain underweight, a study said.

By contrast, obesity tends to have a greater impact on the poor in developed nations, such as the United States.

"There's a lot of discussion on how the problems of obesity and overweight are now spreading to poor and developing countries," said S.V. Subramanian, at the Harvard School of Public Health, who led a recent study.

Subway commuters walk while leaving U.S. Open - Subway commuters walk through the turnstiles while leaving the U.S. Open in New York September 4, 2007 REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/Files

But the question of who is most affected within those countries is almost never asked, he told Reuters Health.

In the study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Subramanian and his colleagues looked for weight trends in more than half a million women in 54 developing countries between 1994 and 2008.

Overall, they found that just about a quarter of the women were overweight, with the rate varying widely between nations -- from three out of every four women in Egypt, to just 6 percent in Ethiopia.

More importantly, as levels of income and education rose, so did the weight of individuals. Those in the top quarter of wealth had more than twice the risk of being overweight compared to the bottom quarter.

Meanwhile, a substantial portion of the population -- often larger than the overweight portion -- still suffered from being underweight.

"On the one hand, you have populations where there is a need to increase calorie intake, and on the other, you have the rich folks who are overconsuming," Subramanian said.

Food is cheap and convenient for the well-to-do, and their neighborhoods typically house a lot of restaurants where people can eat while not expending energy to cook, he said.

Cultural phenomena, such as expectations that a marriage-aged girl should look healthy rather than anorexic, may also play a part, he added.

For the overweight, he suggested that intervention through the education and the media could help. The issue of the poor is more difficult, and simply providing more calories may not be the answer.

In Egypt, for example, the government subsidized trans fats and saw increased obesity in poor populations, along with continuing problems with underweight among those too poor to even buy the cheaper food.

"We should have a more comprehensive policy that focuses incentives on the right compositions of nutrients. That way we can solve the problem of underweight, while also controlling the problem of overweight," he said. ( reuters.com )

READ MORE - Obesity weighs on wealthy in poor countries

Rapist Performs Abortion on Daughter

Rapist Performs Abortion on Daughter. A Jordanian man has been charged with raping and murdering his daughter after allegedly impregnating her and then carrying out an abortion during which she died.

"The 19-year-old woman died on Sunday morning of severe internal bleeding after her father performed an abortion to get rid of a five-month-old foetus to hide his crime [in Zarqa, northeast of Amman]," a police spokesman said.

"The 46-year-old suspect, who was charged with premeditated murder, rape and abortion, has confessed ... he said he has been having sex with his daughter for the past five years and that her mother knew about his acts."

The man faces the death penalty if convicted, the spokesman said. It was unclear if police arrested the victim's mother. ( AFP )

READ MORE - Rapist Performs Abortion on Daughter

Exercise on prescription

Exercise on prescription. Patients are to be given exercise on prescription from their family doctors under a Government scheme to combat soaring rates of obesity and heart disease.

Ministers hope that encouraging them to spend more time at the gym will cut hospital waiting lists by making the population healthier.

The NHS workouts will be prescribed for those who are overweight and at risk of strokes and heart dis-ease, along with sufferers of stress, back pain, osteoporosis and diabetes.

Pensioners who have suffered falls or accidents will also be encouraged to use the gym to help them regain strength and confidence.

Aerobics, weight training, yoga and swimming will be available either free or at cut-price rates for up to ten weeks at a time under the schemes, 300 of which are already up and running.

They are expected to cost £60,000 per 800 patients, with the funding shared between health authorities, councils and leisure companies.

Family doctors yesterday received Department of Health guidance on exactly what exercise they could prescribe for patients. This also addressed concerns expressed by GPs over insurance cover and legal responsibility for their patients in the gym.

The Fitness Industry Association has published a register of fully-qualified exercise specialists and gyms will take legal responsibility while people are working out.

Launching the scheme at the Sobell Fitness Centre in North London yesterday, Health Secretary Alan Milburn said: 'It is not telling people to do exercise, it is helping people to do it if the GP thinks it is appropriate.

'The NHS is there to help people get well and stay well. Prevention is better than cure. There is a lot of evidence that moderate exercise brings with it health benefits and in the longer term it may mean fewer people need treatment for a disease or illness.

'GPs are under a lot of pressure and are seeing a huge number of patients. By referring people on for exercise they may improve the health of the population they serve and so ease the burden on their busy surgeries.'

Sports Minister Chris Smith said: 'We are concerned that too few people take part in sports and leisure activities that can benefit their health.

'This is particularly true among older people, who find it harder to find the time, or who don't place a high value on regular physical activity.'

One third of deaths from coronary heart disease and a quarter of those from strokes could be prevented if people at risk took moderate exercise, say experts.

One in five Britons is classed as obese - a proportion of the population which has tripled in 20 years.

According to the National Audit Office, Britain's burgeoning weight problem costs the NHS £500million in consultations, drugs and other therapies.

Around a fifth of patients who have already taken part in the schemes went on to join their gyms after their prescriptions ran out. ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - Exercise on prescription

How To Eat To Lose Weight

How To Eat To Lose Weight. Why do we gain weight? We gain weight because we are eating more calories than we burn. There really is a more simple way to lose weight than to “go on a diet”.


Dieting is no fun! Why deprive yourself of food or feel guilty for eating when you’re hungry? That’s not right! Reduced calorie diets don’t work.


Eat Only Whole Foods And You Will Lose Weight


It’s very important to feed our body well. By “well” I mean to feed it real, whole foods. This is what the body craves. The body craves natural, wholesome food. And here is what’s so neat about it. When your body realizes it is being given what it needs, it runs much more efficiently, giving us more energy—energy to burn off the food we eat so we lose weight! What else happens to our body when it is fed natural, whole foods? Let’s take a look.

• All of the organs function quite efficiently, working together to give YOU, the person inside your body a good physical, mental, and spiritual outlook.

• Natural (organic) foods burn more efficiently than denatured foods do.

• Whole foods keep your body in balance because elimination occurs more readily and naturally.

• Irritable bowl syndrome symptoms go away when the body is fed good food

• Your body loses fat because of all of the above!

• Skin quality improves greatly because your body is less toxic, plus cells are receiving valuable nutrition.

What Happens When We Eat Denatured Food?

• The body becomes confused and doesn’t know what to do with the substances added to denatured food.

• Toxins build up because the body is swamped with substances it can’t metabolize through digestion

• Fibreless, denatured foods cause constipation, boils, rashes, allergies, acne, potbelly, obesity, sugar spikes, IBS, hemorrhoids, gluten intolerance, emotional issues, and more.

• Organs begin to stop functioning normally, causing bladder infections, liver disease, pancreas issues, IBS, clogged arteries, colon cancer, and more.

Pesticides, herbicides, additives, colorings, dyes, fake sugars, preservatives, and chemicals overtime all leave a trail of toxins in your body in the form of weight gain, sleep disturbances, sugar spikes, aches and pains, and digestive disorders that become disease and cancer if something is not done to cleanse the system and change the diet.


God did not build our body to tolerate food that was not invented yet. We had already been given all the food we would need for perfect health. He knew that man would build factories and destroy the food through denaturing. But God gave us a mind that can think and reason, for this purpose, so we can choose to lead a healthy eating lifestyle.


No one is standing over us at gunpoint making us eat boxed, packaged, canned, frozen denatured food products. We can choose to buy only whole, natural ingredients and cook! Did you know that fatness is enabled in this country through the denaturing of foods!


I’m telling you, if you want to lose weight and feel good, with no guilt trips, than go all-natural! Give your body the food it was meant to receive and your body will reward you with physical and mental well being. ( heavenministries.com )

READ MORE - How To Eat To Lose Weight

IVF fathers could pass infertility on to sons

IVF fathers could pass infertility on to sons. Boys born as a result of IVF could inherit their father's infertility, scientists have warned.

A study has found that boys conceived using the popular form of fertility treatment often had shorter fingers - a trait associated with infertility.

It means techniques used to combat problems conceiving could be storing up problems for the future.

However, the boys in the study are too young for it to be known whether they are infertile.

Almost one in 50 babies born in Britain is conceived artificially.

Future problems: Infertility will spread if IVF fathers have sons and pass the condition on to them. (Posed by models)

Nearly half of these use a treatment called ICSI - intracytoplasmic sperm injection - in which an individual sperm is injected directly into the female egg.

It means it bypasses the normal 'survival of the fittest' competition which sees only the healthiest sperm make its way to the egg, break through and fertilise it.

The study, carried out at the Institute of Child Health in London, compared 211 six-year-olds conceived through ICSI with 195 naturally conceived children of the same age.

Although the ICSI group were of a similar height to the naturally conceived group, the boys had significantly shorter fingers, according to the journal Reproductive Biomedicine Online.

Men with low sperm counts often have ring fingers the same length as their index finger - while fertile men are more likely to have a ring finger that is longer.

Finger length is set within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy and is linked to testosterone exposure which is, in turn, governed by a specific set of genes.

Dr Alastair Sutcliffe, a paediatrician at the institute, said: 'This the first study of its kind. We don't yet know the implication of the findings because the children are very young, but we need to inform people.'

The first ICSI baby was born in 1992 and there are around 3,700 such births a year in Britain.

John Manning, an evolutionary biologist at Southampton Univertechniquessity and one of the authors of the study, said: 'This is telling us that we should only use ICSI when it is absolutely necessary.

'We know the extraordinary depression and pain that childlessness can cause and we have a responsibility to ensure that the focus on the well-being of the children born as a result of these is as high as it can be.'

Josephine Quintavalle, from Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said ICSI was becoming the preferred option in infertility treatment because of a shortage of healthy sperm, caused by legislation requiring donors to agree to be identified to offspring in adulthood.

She said: 'Using ICSI is obviously counter-intuitive to good health and this research would demonstrate that may be true.'

Allan Pacey, an expert in male infertility at Sheffield University and a spokesman for the British Fertility Society, said ICSI should be used 'only when absolutely necessary'.

A spokesman for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the watchdog which regulates private IVF clinics, said doctors should warn couples of the risks of treatment before they were enrolled as patients.( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - IVF fathers could pass infertility on to sons