Despite lower smoking rates, African-Americans are more likely to get lung cancer than whites and more likely to die from it. In a report released yesterday, the American Lung Association called for greater attention to that and other differences and better efforts to eliminate them.
African-Americans are also more likely to find out they have cancer when the disease is more advanced, likely to wait longer between diagnosis and treatment, more likely to refuse treatment and more likely to die in the hospital after surgery.
Access to health care and insurance, and socioeconomic factors such as education and income, play roles - as do genetics and cultural views on health care. Bias and prejudice also persist, the report says.
Health & Wellness
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Beef containing harmful pesticides, veterinary antibiotics and heavy metals is being sold to the public because federal agencies have failed to set limits for the contaminants or adequately test for them, a federal audit finds.
Beef containing harmful pesticides, veterinary antibiotics and heavy metals is being sold to the public because federal agencies have failed to set limits for the contaminants or adequately test for them, a federal audit finds.
A program set up to test beef for chemical residues "is not accomplishing its mission of monitoring the food supply for ... dangerous substances, which has resulted in meat with these substances being distributed in commerce," says the audit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General.
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Reality check: bad manners and annoying reality TV programmes raise our blood pressure, increasing the risk of health problems, a new survey has revealed.
Reality check: bad manners and annoying reality TV programmes raise our blood pressure, increasing the risk of health problems, a new survey has revealed.
But, instead of calmly ignoring poor behaviour, almost eight of ten of us let it get under our skin, according to a survey.
Queue jumping was one of the most common cause of irritation, with 66 per cent saying it made their blood boil. Even reality TV was enough to make people see red.
The poll found that 61 per cent of those questioned were irritated by poor driving, while 40 per cent admitted they became angry when they heard someone speaking too loudly on a mobile phone.
Reality TV shows such as Big Brother and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! angered 38 per cent of men - but only 27 per cent of women.
Americans eat 31 percent more packaged food than fresh food, and they consume more packaged food per person than their counterparts in nearly all other countries. A sizable part of the American diet is ready-to-eat meals, like frozen pizzas and microwave dinners, and sweet or salty snack foods.This probably doesn't come as too much of a surprise to anyone, especially given our outsized obesity rates compared to other countries. But the accompanying graphic helpfully illustrates a most unfortunate kind of "American exceptionalism."
It's worth pointing out, however, that there's nothing inherently evil about packaged foods. It's what's in them that counts.
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Moms who spank their 3-year-olds may be increasing their children's risk of aggressive behavior, such as bullying, by the time they turn 5, a study shows.
The study, published in the May issue of Pediatrics, adds to evidence suggesting that spanking and other types of corporal punishment set kids up for aggressive behaviors later in life.
"Children need guidance and discipline; however, parents should focus on positive, non-physical forms of discipline and avoid the use of spanking," study researcher Catherine A. Taylor, PhD, an assistant professor of community health sciences at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, tells WebMD in an email. "This message is consistent with that of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which 'strongly opposes striking a child for any reason.'"
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It was also revealed that FDA officials had conducted confidential studies on Avandia and made recommendations that the drug be pulled from the market because it is unsafe. In 2007, however, an FDA advisory committee of scientists and doctors voted overwhelmingly to keep the drug on the market, while at the same time acknowledging that it increased the risk of a heart attack.
In the bizarre world of the drug industry, lies and deception are generally allowed to trump the facts. GSK responded to the allegations by claiming that extensive studies on more than 52,000 patients have shown no "statistically significant association between Avandia and heart attacks."
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Glucophage
Glucophage
Some patients described Metformin as smelling like dead fish while others said the smell reminded them of dirty socks. Many are refusing to take the drug because the smell is so distinctively sickening to them that they are unable to bear it.
According to the group of doctors, the problem could be easily remedied if manufacturers of the metformin would develop a pill coating that prevents it from releasing the smell into patients' stomachs. Integrating a time-release technology into the pills would prevent the burping up of the disturbing odor.
Metformin's expressed side effects include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, flatulence, distention, and abdominal pain, but none of these side effects are specifically indicated as having any correlation to the drug's odor. In fact, none of the literature for the drug makes any mention of odor as a side effect.
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You can read about the research by scientists at the University of Iowa (UI) in Iowa City in the 12 April early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS.
Lead author Justin Feinstein, a student in the UI graduate programs of neuroscience and psychology, told the media that:
"A simple visit or phone call from family members might have a lingering positive influence on a patient's happiness even though the patient may quickly forget the visit or phone call."
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Researchers have discovered that the enzyme porphyranase breaks down porphyran, one of the components in the walls of a red-colored marine algae used to prepare sushi and, surprisingly, in the bacteria that populate the gut of the Japanese.
Researchers have discovered that the enzyme porphyranase breaks down porphyran, one of the components in the walls of a red-colored marine algae used to prepare sushi and, surprisingly, in the bacteria that populate the gut of the Japanese.
Their results are published in Nature on April 8, 2010.
Without intestinal flora, humans cannot break down the polysaccharides in their diet, which are one of the principal sources of energy for the brain. Indeed, intestinal bacteria contain enzymes that are known to "break down" polysaccharides (1), which are polymers made up of carbohydrates. They are essential because the human genome is not endowed with such enzymes.
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Marigold
Marigold
"I decided to this off my own back," said 73-year-old Harry Marsland. "I treated myself, which is the very thing you're not supposed to do in any profession. As a retired professional, I feel a responsibility to get this message across to as many people as possible."
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of blindness in people over the age of 60, and causes loss of vision in the center of the eye. "Wet" AMD occurs when abnormal blood vessel growth leads to the destruction of the eye's light-sensitive (photoreceptor) cells. "Dry" AMD occurs when the photoreceptors atrophy without blood vessel damage.
