Welcome to the Stars Hollow Gazette‘s 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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Bitter greens taste bitter in part because of the presence of certain phytochemicals, which some studies have shown to have antioxidant attributes. We have always known that these greens are healthy and as scientists learn more about the compounds that contribute to their bitter flavors, we are beginning to understand why.
~Martha Rose Shulman~
This dish combines four elements, hot, sour, sweet and bitter, for a delicious result.
Wild Arugula, Celery and Apple Salad With Anchovy Dressing
A salad with a delicious play of bitter, pungent, sweet and salty flavors.
Endive Salad With Blue Cheese Dressing
A new, more flavorful twist on an American classic
Penne With Radicchio and Goat Cheese
Bitter greens combines with creamy goat cheese for an irresistible result.
Seared or Grilled Radicchio With Walnut Anchovy Sauce
A delicious blend of salty anchovies, pungent garlic and nutty walnuts makes the perfect sauce for seared or grilled radicchio.
Maine Judge Rejects Ebola Quarantine for Nurse
Less than a day after restricting the movements of a nurse who treated Ebola victims in West Africa, a judge in Maine has lifted the measures, rejecting arguments by the State of Maine that a quarantine was necessary to protect the public.
Within an hour of the decision, state troopers who had been parked outside the nurse’s house for days had left.
The order, signed on Friday by Judge Charles C. LaVerdiere, the chief judge for the Maine District Courts who serves in Kennebec and Somerset counties, said the nurse, Kaci Hickox, “currently does not show symptoms of Ebola and is therefore not infectious.”
The order requires Ms. Hickox to submit to daily monitoring for symptoms, to coordinate her travel with state health officials, and to notify them immediately if symptoms appear. Ms. Hickox has agreed to follow the requirements.
Pentagon civilians leaving Ebola zones may choose monitoring regimen
Civilian U.S. defense employees returning from Ebola relief work in West Africa must undergo monitoring to ensure they are free of disease but can choose between following civil health guidelines or the stricter military regimen, the Pentagon said on Friday. [..]
Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said the Defense Department could not legally force civilian employees to follow the monitoring program approved for uniformed personnel this week but said they could voluntarily choose that option if they wanted.
WHO updates Ebola PPE guidance for health providers
Based on an expedited review, the World Health Organization (WHO) today updated it guidance for personal protective equipment (PPE) for use in treating suspected and confirmed Ebola infections, which prioritizes protecting mucosal areas and hand hygiene.
The guidance updates the WHO’s recommendations from August and comes from a group of 13 international experts convened in early October, including participants from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Doctors without Borders (MSF), and the Infection Control Africa Network, the WHO said today.
Doctors Mystified by Paralysis in Dozens of Children
More than 50 children in 23 states have had mysterious episodes of paralysis to their arms or legs, according to data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The cause is not known, although some doctors suspect the cases may be linked to infection with enterovirus 68, a respiratory virus that has sickened thousands of children in recent months.
Concerned by a cluster of cases in Colorado, the C.D.C. last month asked doctors and state health officials nationwide to begin compiling detailed reports about cases of unusual limb weakness in children. Experts convened by the agency plan next week to release interim guidelines on managing the condition.
That so many children have had full or partial paralysis in a short period is unusual, but officials said that the cases seemed to be extremely rare.
Low Vitamin D Tied to Asthma Attacks
Raising vitamin D levels may help control flare-ups in people with asthma.
Israeli researchers studied 308,000 people whose vitamin D blood levels had been recorded. They found no association of low vitamin D with an initial diagnosis of asthma. But inadequate levels were significantly associated with the number and severity of attacks in the 21,237 people in the group who had had asthma diagnosed.
Even after controlling for sex, age, ethnicity, smoking and other factors, the researchers found that the lower the vitamin D level, the greater the incidence of recurrent asthma attacks.
Obese Children Show Early Signs of Heart Disease
Obese children and teenagers already show hints of future cardiovascular problems, new research has found.
German researchers studied 61 overweight and obese children 8-to 21-years-old, comparing them with 40 non-obese children of the same age. All were free of disease and not taking any medicines. The study is online in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.
Is Tau the ‘How’ Behind Alzheimer’s?
Oct. 31, 2014 (HealthDay News) — Malfunction of a key brain protein called tau is the likely culprit behind Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, a new study in mice concludes.
Neurons — highly specialized nerve cells in the brain — appear to die when tau malfunctions and fails to clear the cells of unwanted and toxic proteins, explained Charbel Moussa, head of the Laboratory for Dementia and Parkinsonism at Georgetown University School of Medicine, in Washington, D.C.
This means drugs that replace the function of tau in these brain cells are likely to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s, he said.
Scientists Implicate More Than 100 Genes In Causing Autism
The hunt to find genes that cause autism has been a long slog, one hampered by a lack of technology and families willing to be tested.
But the effort is starting to pay off. On Tuesday, researchers at more than 50 laboratories said they had identified more than 100 genes that are mutated in children with autism, dozens more than were known before.
Scientists Find Differences In The Brains Of People With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Chronic fatigue syndrome affects as many as four in a thousand people in the United States — perhaps more. Despite that, there’s been slow progress in understanding the disease, and researchers still aren’t exactly sure what causes it. Now, a small new study hints that subtle differences in the brain’s white matter might have something to do with the disease.
CFS has a controversial past. For years, health officials denied it even existed, ironically dismissing it as a sign of mental illness. But in the last few years, more and more researchers are taking it seriously. The latest research points to mold-produced toxins as a likely cause — or at least trigger — of CFS, the symptoms of which include impaired memory and concentration, extreme fatigue after exercise, muscle and joint pain, and unrefreshing sleep. Yet exactly how CFS works remains something of a mystery.
Drop In Vaccinations Linked To Spikes In Preventable Diseases Around The World
A growing anti-vaccination movement, coupled with ongoing difficulties in reaching underserved populations, is taking a global toll on efforts to eradicate infectious diseases, new data from the Council on Foreign Relations suggests.
Polio, measles, mumps, rubella and whooping cough are all preventable with safe, low-cost vaccines. Yet the council’s Vaccine-Preventable Outbreaks Map shows hundreds of thousands of cases of those diseases worldwide from 2006 to the present day. (Click on “Map” in the upper lefthand corner.) [..]
“One terrible truth stands out: Misinformation and rumors from just one persuasive voice, delivered effectively, can derail entire immunization campaigns and persuade millions of parents to shun vaccinations for their children,” Garrett wrote in a Los Angeles Times op-ed last week. “Every baby who has died of pertussis in California, been paralyzed by polio in Pakistan or suffered from measles in the United Kingdom represents a tragedy that might have been prevented.”
Why Scapegoating Bats Is A Big Mistake For Human Health
Even before allegations emerged that West Africa’s Ebola outbreak may have originated in bats, public opinion of the animal was hardly glowing. Years as a Halloween icon cast a dark shadow over the flying mammal’s reputation.
But leading experts in ecology and public health — even Batman himself — now beg you to reconsider.
“These creatures of the night are thought of as evil,” said Michelle Baker, a researcher at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Victoria. “But bats play an amazing role in the ecosystem. And we have so much to learn from them.”
Put calorie labels on beer, wine and spirits, say public health experts
Beer, wine and spirits are fuelling the obesity epidemic and should be labelled with the calories they contain, say public health experts.
A large 175ml glass of 13% ABV (alcohol by volume) wine contains 160 calories, a bottle of alcopop contains 170 and a pint of 4% ABV beer contains 180.
But the vast majority of drinkers are unaware of the calorific value of their drinks, says the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH).
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