Welcome to the Health and Fitness NewsWelcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness News weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.
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It’s been a busy week for me and whenever my schedule is tight I veer toward pasta. In some of this week’s Recipes for Health you will be able to prepare the vegetable accompaniment in the time it takes to heat the water and cook the pasta: the same water is used to blanch vegetables in the dish. I made one dish with perciatelli, baby broccoli and tomatoes and blanched the baby broccoli in the water that I then used for the pasta, and when I made orecchiette with pesto and green and yellow string beans, I just threw the beans into the pot with the pasta halfway through the pasta’s cooking time.
~Martha Rose Shulman~
This Southern Italian pasta is inspired by a dish that calls for the light green cauliflower used in Sicily.
Orecchiette With Basil and Pistachio Pesto and Green and Yellow Beans
Cut the beans into small lengths so that everything is bite-size.
Farfalle With Roasted Peppers, Peas, Feta and Yogurt
This dish is inspired by Greek and Turkish ways with pasta and yogurt.
Whole Wheat Penne or Fusilli With Tomatoes, Shell Beans and Feta
Shell beans are a rare treat, soft and velvety, to be savored during their short season.
Lasagna With Pistou and Mushrooms
There will be a day when the weather suddenly cools and my basil plants and those at your farmers’ market stop thriving, but that day hasn’t come yet.
Too Many Antibiotics Prescribed for Sore Throats?
by Steven Reinberg, HealthDay
Most ills are caused by viruses, end on their own, researchers report
Oct. 3 (HealthDay News) — Despite efforts to curb the unnecessary use of antibiotics, many doctors still prescribe them for illnesses that don’t respond to the medications, Harvard researchers report.
Antibiotics only work against bacterial infections, and yet they are prescribed at a rate of 60 percent for sore throats and 73 percent for bronchitis, conditions that are typically caused by viruses, the scientists said.
Pricey Dental Implants Not Always Necessary, Study Finds
by Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay
Teeth that are salvageable may be better off treated than replaced, experts say
Oct. 3 (HealthDay News) — Dental implants are reliable replacements for teeth that are already missing, but they’re not always the best choice for diseased teeth, a new study indicates.
Instead, attempts to save the tooth with treatment, especially in cases of gum or periodontal disease, should sometimes be tried first, the lead researcher said. And although the study did not address expense, dental implants are not cheap, costing roughly $3,500 for the complete treatment.
Poo in a Pill to Treat Gut Infection?
byDennis Thompson, HealthDay
Researchers create capsules containing fecal bacteria to flush away deadly germs
Oct. 3 (HealthDay News) — Researchers report they have found a more palatable way to deliver a decidedly unappealing treatment that can cure a potentially deadly intestinal infection.
Until now, the transplantation of healthy fecal bacteria into a patient’s gut to tackle Clostridium difficile infections could only be done one of three ways: with an enema; a colonoscopy (placing a tube in the colon); or via a tube snaked through the nose and down the throat. But Canadian scientists have created capsules containing a concentrate of fecal bacteria that can simply be swallowed by the patient.
Skin Cancer Patients Not Avoiding Sun: Study
by Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Danish researchers looked at exposure after melanoma diagnosis
Oct. 2 (HealthDay News) — Some people with melanoma aren’t cautious about sun exposure, a small new study suggests, even though ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun is a major cause of skin cancer.
Researchers looked at 20 patients with malignant melanoma — the most deadly type of skin cancer — and a comparison group of 20 people without melanoma, all of whom carried portable UV-dose-detection devices and kept sun exposure diaries to measure their exposure to UV radiation.
Study Questions Discovery of ‘New’ Hepatitis Virus
by Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Contaminated lab glassware caused confusion, researchers say
Oct. 2 (HealthDay News) — A reported discovery earlier this year of a new hepatitis virus was a false alarm, and the “virus” was actually a contaminant present in a type of glassware used in many research laboratories, a new study contends.
The findings highlight both the promise and drawbacks of powerful “next-generation” lab techniques used to identify new causes of disease, the University of California, San Francisco researchers said.
Colon Cancer Hits Younger Adults Especially Hard
by Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Risk of advanced disease, death greater than for middle-aged patients
Oct. 1 (HealthDay News) — Younger adults with colorectal cancer that has spread (metastasized) to other areas of the body have a higher risk of disease progression and death than middle-aged patients, a new study finds.
Colorectal cancer in elderly patients is also more aggressive than it is in the middle-aged, the study says.
Statins May Not Harm Memory, Thinking After All
by Randy Dotinga, HealthDay
But even with new study, jury’s still out on safety of cholesterol-lowering drugs
Oct. 1 (HealthDay News) — Here’s some good, if preliminary, news for the millions of people who take statin drugs to lower their cholesterol: A new review of existing research finds no evidence that the medications pose a risk to brainpower.
Instead, the review suggests that statins may actually lower the risk of dementia, although the researchers say that’s not certain.
Many Parents Share Bed With Babies Despite Risks
by Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Doctors should discuss sleep-time habits with new parents, expert says
Sept. 30 (HealthDay News) — About 14 percent of infants in the United States frequently share a bed with other people, and this life-threatening practice has more than doubled since the early 1990s, a new study says.
The survey of nearly 20,000 caregivers nationwide revealed that the percentage of infants who shared a bed with another person rose from 6.5 percent in 1993 to 13.5 percent in 2010. Eighty-five percent of the bed-sharing was with parents and the remainder was with other adults and children.
Whooping Cough Outbreaks Tied to Parents Shunning Vaccines
by Serena Gordon, HealthDay
Study finds that areas with high rates of nonmedical vaccine exemptions also had high number of cases
Sept. 30 (HealthDay News) — New research confirms what experts have suspected: The decision not to vaccinate children for nonmedical reasons can have far-reaching effects, including raising the risk of infections for other children and their families.
Researchers compared areas with significant numbers of parents who chose not to vaccinate their children for nonmedical reasons to areas that were affected by the 2010 whooping cough outbreak in California. They found that people living in areas with high nonmedical vaccine exemption rates were 2.5 times more likely to also be located in an area with high levels of whooping cough.
‘Cruise Ship Virus’ Vaccine a First-Class Idea?
by Steven Reinberg, HealthDay
In early trial, symptoms of norovirus infection were halved, researchers say
The dreaded “cruise ship virus” could sink into history some day, if a promising vaccine trial pans out.
Researchers report that an early test of an experimental vaccine for norovirus — the cause of a stomach sickness that fells scores of cruise ship passengers and nursing home residents, among others — reduced symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea by 52 percent.
AIDS Virus in Cats Might Help Human Vaccine Effort
by Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Protein in feline virus triggered immune reaction in blood from people with HIV
Oct. 3 (HealthDay News) — Cats may hold a key to developing an HIV vaccine for people, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that a protein from the virus that causes AIDS in cats triggered an immune response in blood from HIV-infected people. The virus that causes AIDS in people is called the human immunodeficiency virus while the one that affects cats is called the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV).
The findings, reported in the October issue of the Journal of Virology suggest that further research with FIV could lead to an HIV vaccine for people, the University of Florida and University of California, San Francisco investigators said.
Daily Walk May Cut Your Breast Cancer Risk
by Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay
Study findings are good news for postmenopausal women, experts say
Oct. 4 (HealthDay News) — Older women who walk every day may reduce their risk of developing breast cancer. And those who exercise vigorously may get even more protection, according to new research.
The study of more than 73,000 postmenopausal women found that walking at a moderate pace for an hour a day was associated with a 14 percent reduced breast cancer risk, compared to leading a sedentary lifestyle. An hour or more of daily strenuous physical activity was associated with a 25 percent reduced risk, the study found.
This is welcome news for women who aren’t very athletic.
More Black Women Diagnosed With Breast Cancer
by Steven Reinberg HealthDay
Whites still have highest rates, but blacks more likely to die
Oct. 1 (HealthDay News) — White women 40 and older have traditionally had the highest rates of breast cancer in the United States, but rising rates among blacks have narrowed the gap in recent years, according to a new American Cancer Society report.
“This convergence of rates is being driven by steady rates among white women and a slow increase in recent years among African-American women,” said report co-author Carol DeSantis, an epidemiologist in the society’s Surveillance and Health Services Research Group.
Hormone Therapy Won’t Prevent Disease After Menopause: Analysis
by Amy Norton, HealthDay
But follow-up research shows that short-term use for hot flashes remains an option
Oct. 1 (HealthDay News) — No good evidence supports using hormone replacement therapy after menopause to prevent heart disease or other chronic ills, but short-term use for hot flashes should be an option.
That’s the conclusion of the latest analysis of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a group of major U.S. trials set up to test use of hormone replacement therapy for preventing chronic diseases in healthy, older women.
Stressful Middle Age & Alzheimer’s Risk in Women
by Amy Norton, HealthDay
Swedish study looked at effect of issues such as divorce, job strain over nearly 4 decades
Oct. 1 (HealthDay News) — Women who deal with a lot of day-to-day stressors in middle-age may have a somewhat higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s later in life, a new study suggests.
The findings, published online Sept. 30 in BMJ Open, do not prove that your job or your family are raising your dementia risk. But experts said they add to evidence that chronic stress may contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease in some people.
New Infertility Treatment Leads to 1st Baby: Report
by Maureen Salamon, HealthDay
Experimental procedure may offer hope to women with early ovarian failure
Sept. 30 (HealthDay News) — An innovative infertility treatment for women with premature ovarian failure has yielded its first success story, an apparently healthy baby boy born in Japan, researchers report.
The boy’s 30-year-old mother had suffered from primary ovarian insufficiency, a condition triggering menopausal symptoms before age 40 and a lack of egg-bearing ovarian follicles, the study authors noted.
Older Men Gain Little From PSA Test: Study
by Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Researchers followed Medicare recipients for 3 years
Oct. 4 (HealthDay News) — The large amount of money that Medicare spends on PSA screening for prostate cancer provides little benefit for older men, according to a new study.
Over three years, the Medicare fee-for-service program spent more than $450 million a year on PSA (prostate-specific antigen) screenings, one-third of which was for men over age 75, said the researchers at Yale University’s Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness Research Center.
Preschoolers’ Use of Psychiatric Drugs Levels Off, Study Shows
by Brenda Goodman, HealthDay
Findings suggest doctors may have safety concerns
Sept. 30 (HealthDay News) — Doctors don’t seem to be as quick as they once were to reach for their prescription pads when treating preschoolers for mental troubles, a new study shows.
The research, published online Sept. 30 in the journal Pediatrics, looked at recent trends in the use of psychotropic medications — drugs that alter mood or behavior — in children between the ages of 2 and 5.
Aging Brain, More Trouble With Financial Decisions?
by Randy Dotinga, HealthDay
Older people also tend to tolerate less financial risk, research suggests
Sept. 30 (HealthDay News) — Years of research have produced conflicting findings on aging’s effects on brainpower. Now, a new study says that people aged 65 to 90 are significantly less likely than their younger counterparts to make what researchers define as rational decisions regarding money.
Not surprisingly, they’re also more averse to financial risk than middle-aged people, but not in all situations, the investigators found.
Depression May Sometimes Foreshadow Parkinson’s
by Denise Mann, HealthDay
Study from Taiwan found strongest connection among older adults with tough-to-treat cases
Oct. 2 (HealthDay News) — Depressed people — particularly those 65 or older or with hard-to-treat depression — are more than three times as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease as their peers without depression, a new study indicates.
The new findings don’t imply that depression causes Parkinson’s disease. Instead, they suggest that depression may precede Parkinson’s in some cases, said study author Dr. Albert Yang, an attending psychiatrist at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, in Taiwan.
Shape, Size of Wine Glass May Skew How Much You Pour
by Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Width and location of the glass, color of the wine all seem to matter, researchers say
Sept. 30 (HealthDay News) — You may be serving wine with a heavier hand than you believe: The size, shape and location of a wine glass can affect how much you pour into the glass, according to a new study.
Most people think of a glass as just one serving, but it could be closer to two or three, which means that it can be easy to consume more than you think, the researchers at Iowa State and Cornell universities noted.
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