Feed aggregator

The Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation’s hospital, run by the Navajo Nation and financed partly by the Indian Health Service, prides itself on having a higher than average rate of vaginal births among women with a prior Caesarean, and a lower Caesarean rate over all.

The national Caesarean rate, 31.8 percent, has been rising steadily for the last 11 years and is fed by repeat patients. In Tuba City, the overall Caesarean rate is only 13.5 percent.

Changes in malpractice insurance might help the rest of the nation reach this goal. The hospital and doctors in Tuba City are insured by the federal government, and therefore insurance companies cannot threaten to increase their premiums or withdraw coverage if they allow vaginal births after Caesarean.

Critics say that doctors are performing too many Caesareans, needlessly exposing women and infants to surgical risks and running up several billion dollars a year in excess bills.

A new study demonstrates that acupuncture may be an effective therapy for joint pain and stiffness in breast cancer patients who are being treated with commonly used hormonal therapies. Joint pain and stiffness are common side effects of aromatase inhibitor therapy.

To explore the effects of acupuncture on associated joint pain, a research team randomly assigned 43 women to receive either true acupuncture or sham acupuncture twice a week for six weeks. The women treated with true acupuncture experienced significant improvement in joint pain and stiffness over the course of the study. Pain severity declined, and overall physical well-being improved.

Additionally, 20 percent of the patients who had reported taking pain relief medications reported that they no longer needed to take these medications following acupuncture treatment.

Germs in your gut may help drive appetite, says new research into the link between obesity and bacteria.

Previous studies have shown that overweight people and normal-weight people harbor different types and amounts of microbes that naturally live in the intestine. To determine why, scientists are peering into mice.

Researchers transferred bacteria from the fat mice directly into the germ-free intestines of normal newborn mice.  Those mice began eating more and developed inflammation and insulin problems.

Researchers have discovered that exposure during pregnancy to Bisphenol A (BPA), a common component of plastics, causes permanent abnormalities in the uterus of offspring.

The study is the first to show that BPA exposure permanently affects sensitivity to estrogen.

Researchers used two groups of mice, one exposed to BPA as a fetus during pregnancy and another exposed to a placebo. The mice exposed to BPA as a fetus had an exaggerated response to estrogens as adults, long after the exposure to BPA.

The Supreme Court will soon decide whether drug makers can be sued by parents who claim their children suffered serious health problems from vaccines.

The justices have agreed to hear an appeal from parents in Pittsburgh who want to sue Wyeth over the serious side effects their daughter, six months old at the time, allegedly suffered as a result of the company's diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled the parents, saying a 1986 federal law bars their claims. That law set up a special vaccine court to handle disputes -- shielding companies from most lawsuits to help ensure a steady vaccine supply.

Only one state appeals court, the Georgia Supreme Court, has ruled that families can sue in a vaccine case. The vaccine industry has fiercely opposed the Georgia ruling, in which a couple alleged that their son suffered neurological damage after receiving vaccine booster shots that contained the preservative thimerosal.

Trash is accumulating in a massive garbage patch in the Atlantic Ocean -- just like the more well-known Texas-size trash vortex in the Pacific.

The newly described garbage patch sits hundreds of miles off the North American coast. The patch covers a region between 22 and 38 degrees north latitude. As with the Pacific garbage patch, plastic can circulate in this part of the Atlantic Ocean for years, posing health risks to fish, seabirds, and other marine animals that accidentally eat the litter.

In some places, investigators found more than 520,000 bits of trash per square mile. The vast majority comes from consumer products that were blown out of open landfills or were tossed out by litterbugs.

There's an epidemic in progress -- and it has nothing to do with the flu. A ground-breaking study found an astonishing 59 percent of study subjects had too little Vitamin D in their blood. Nearly a quarter of the group had serious deficiencies (less than 20 ng/ml).

The study was also the first to show a clear link between Vitamin D levels and the accumulation of fat in muscle tissue -- a factor in muscle strength and overall health. Scientists have known for years that Vitamin D is essential for muscle strength.

Studies in the elderly have showed bedridden patients quickly gain strength when given Vitamin D.

The National Sleep Foundation has releases its annual "Sleep in America Poll," which reveals how much sleep Americans are getting, what their bedtime habits are, and who's taking medications when sleep is elusive. This year, for the first time, the report explored differences in the sleep habits of different ethnic groups.

And overall, no one's getting enough sleep. Fewer than half of respondents from each ethnic group say they get a good night's sleep on most nights.

African Americans reported the least amount of sleep.  Inadequate sleep is starting to be associated with obesity, heart disease and diabetes -- all diseases that are more prevalent among African Americans.

According to the Gizmodo article linked below, Sony has lost its spirit, spending too much time telling you it's the greatest electronics company in the world and not nearly enough time showing you.

Time and again, Sony took an excellently engineered solution and held it tightly, the better to extract big profits. But each time, Sony's need to control the format became more and more of a liability. As a result, today's Sony is an also-ran that wants to be respected like a market leader.

There's no better example of the arrogance of the modern Sony than the launch of the PlayStation 3. It was the last of the current generation of game consoles to market. It cost more than all its competitors. Sony president and CEO Kaz Hirai said infamously, "The next generation doesn't start until we say it does." Sony spent the next three years struggling in a videogame market they once dominated.

As the U.S. taste for bottled water grows, environmentalists have been trying to sell people on tap water. Bottled water is a drain on the environment -- the U.S. public goes through about 50 billion water bottles a year, and most of those plastic containers are not recycled.

But switching to tap water could be a bad idea in some schools where the risk of lead contamination from old pipes -- known to affect physical and mental development -- is high, particularly in large urban areas such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.

A nationwide investigation showed that the drinking water in schools in 27 states is contaminated with lead and other toxic substances from lead-soldered pipes installed before 1985.  In 2007, Baltimore City public schools switched their entire system to bottled water after a study of 84 randomly selected water fountains found 10 with lead levels high than the EPA's cutoff of 20 parts per billion.

The school district decided it would be cheaper to provide bottled water than testing and remediation efforts.

After a drawn-out debate, the U.S. Agriculture Department has significantly narrowed the definition of organic livestock to animals that spend a third of the year grazing on pasture.

The new rules also say that “organic” milk and meat must come from livestock grazing on pasture for at least four months of the year, and that 30 percent of their feed must come from grazing. The old rules said only that animals must have access to pasture.

Once a niche market, the organic industry has grown exponentially in the last 20 years. Organic products are grown without pesticides, hormones, antibiotics or biotechnology.

The author of a bill that would legalize the sale of raw milk said 300 to 500 people could show up for a public hearing on the issue in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Representative Chris Danou is the lead sponsor of Assembly Bill 628, which would allow the sale of raw milk on the farm to consumers.  Senator Pat Kreitlow has sponsored the same measure in the Senate.

Public health officials have expressed concerns about people getting sick from unpasteurized milk, but advocates tout the many health benefits.

Justice Christopher Jessup, an Australian federal court judge, has found that the anti-arthritis drug Vioxx doubled the risk of heart attacks and was not fit to be on the market.  In a landmark decision, Graeme Peterson, who claimed the drug caused him to have a heart attack in 2003, was awarded compensation of $278,000 plus interest.

Mr. Peterson, acting on behalf of every Australian who took the drug from its launch in 2001 to its voluntary recall in September 2004, alleged that drugmaker Merck knew about the cardiovascular risks of the drug, but covered it up and engaged in inappropriate marketing tactics. The Australian Federal Court case heard allegations that Merck created a “hit list” of doctors critical of the drug who needed to be “neutralized”, and even faked a medical journal promoting the company's product.

It was the first civil trial against the pharmaceutical giant outside the U.S.  Merck settled hundreds of lawsuits over Vioxx in the U.S. for $4.8 billion in late 2007, but did not admit any liability.

Merck has announced that it will appeal the decision.

A new study has confirmed that vitamin D plays an important role in activating your immune defenses against infectious diseases like flu.

Vitamin D deficiency has already been linked to a wide spectrum of diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression, autoimmune disease and many others.

The new study discovers that activation of T-cells to fight infections needs definite help from vitamin D. When a T cell recognizes foreign invaders like bacteria or viruses, it sends activating signals to the vitamin D receptor gene. The VDR gene then starts producing DVR protein, which binds vitamin D in the T cell.  Then the vitamin D bound and activated DVR produces PLC-gamma1 protein -- which allows the T cell to get started fighting the infection.

Dr. John Cannell has also reported that vitamin D helps produce antibacterial peptides that help protect against flu.  That is why in winter, when there is little sunshine, people are more prone to vitamin D deficiency and getting infected with flu viruses.

Senior eye doctors are warning people to keep liquid capsules for fabric detergents out of the reach of children after a wave of eye injuries in young children.

Last year, chemical injuries associated with these capsules accounted for 40 percent of ocular chemical injuries in children under the age of five at The Western Eye Hospital.

The capsule in most liquid detergent capsules is a water soluble polyvinyl alcohol membrane. The liquid detergent is a mixture of three active agents -- an anionic detergent, a non-ionic detergent, and a cationic surfactant -- dissolved in water to give an alkaline solution, making the capsule more dangerous than initially perceived.

Alkali injuries are the most severe form of chemical eye injury. They can cause irreversible damage and have lifelong ramifications, such as constant discomfort, scarring and even amblyopia (lazy eye).

Beginning March of this year, the U.S. Census Bureau's will send out a short questionnaire to every household in the U.S. and Puerto Rico in an effort to collect important demographic data. As a citizen, you are required by law to respond to the 10 short questions. From April to July, those that haven't completed their census will receive a visit at their home address from a census taker.

Identity criminals are taking advantage of the census law and targeting unsuspecting victims in an attempt to steal sensitive information. The scams perpetrated range from fraudulent emails designed to obtain sensitive information to attempts to impersonate census collectors.

Most citizens don't think twice about sharing personal information with a census worker, and that's why these scams can be very effective. It's important to remember there are distinct differences between a real census worker and an identity thief posing as a census worker.

U.S. Census workers will have identification, a handheld device and a confidentiality notice. But these things can be easily fabricated, so it's important to know what census workers will not do:

• They will not ask for your Social Security number or financial information, e.g. bank or credit card accounts
• They will not ask you for money or say that you owe money
• They will not harass or intimidate you
• They will not contact you by email- only by phone, by mail, or in person

It is recommended that you follow universal safety rules -- even with U.S. Census workers. For example, avoid inviting strangers into your home, and be suspicious when someone asks for your personal and sensitive information.

For more information on this scam or variations of it visit the Social Security Administration’s website at www.ssa.gov. Use the search function and enter keywords "email scam".  To learn more about the 2010 Census and U.S. Census workers, call (800) 923-8282 or visit them online at www.2010census.gov.

A new study shows that one in four parents believes some vaccines can trigger autism.

The study is based on a survey of more than 1,500 parents that was conducted last year. About 12 percent of parents said they had refused to allow their children to receive a vaccine that a doctor recommended.

Those parents tended to shy away from four vaccines:

• Human papillomavirus vaccine, because of concerns about side effects
• Vaccine for meningococcal diseases, because of the risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome, an immune system disorder
• The shot for measles, mumps and rubella, because of potential autism risk
• Chickenpox vaccine

Children as young as 13 who have evidence of secondhand smoke in their blood also have visibly thicker arteries, researchers have reported.

The study suggests that the damage caused by secondhand tobacco smoke starts in childhood and causes measurable damage by the teen years. It look at nearly 500 children aged 8 to 13 taking part in ongoing research on heart disease. The scientists measured levels of cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine that is found in the blood after someone breathes in tobacco smoke.

The children with the most cotinine in their blood had carotid artery walls that were, on average, 7 percent thicker. Their aortas were 8 percent thicker.

The researchers also did a test that measures the flexibility of the arteries in the arm, another measure of blood vessel health and heart disease risk. This measurement was 15 percent lower in teenagers with the highest levels of cotinine.

Too much or too little sleep can cause fat to accumulate around your organs. A new study reveals how extremes of sleep can be hazardous to your health -- especially for young minority women, a group most affected by obesity and chronic metabolic disease.

The findings also indicate that there's more to "fat" than simply what you choose to eat; social factors such as the need to work three jobs in a bad economy could be causing dangerous fat deposition around vital organs.

In individuals under 40, the study showed a clear association between averaging five hours or less of sleep each night and large increases in visceral fat, or fat around the organs. Getting more than eight hours of sleep on average per night has a similar, though less pronounced effect.

A new study analyzing 130 research reports on more than 130,000 subjects worldwide proves conclusively that exposure to violent video games makes more aggressive, less caring kids -- regardless of their age, sex or culture.

A research team used meta-analytic procedures -- the statistical methods used to analyze and combine results from previous, related literature -- to test the effects of violent video game play on the behaviors, thoughts and feelings of people ranging from elementary school-aged children to college undergraduates.

The analysis found that violent video game effects are significant in both Eastern and Western cultures, in males and females, and in all age groups.