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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Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Belgian endive is a vegetable often served as is, uncooked and delicious. But this week Martha Rose Shulman brings the heat with a new recipe of seared endive that can be enjoyed as a main course.
The French serve seared endive as a side, but I’ve been enjoying this dish as the main event for lunch.
Endive Salad With Blue Cheese Dressing
A new, more flavorful twist on an American classic
Nutty, earthy grains mix with crunchy, juicy apples for a great salad that holds up well on a buffet.
Apple, Fennel and Endive Salad With Feta
The sweet juice from the grated apple permeates this crunchy salad, which could be a side dish, but would also make a good light lunch or dinner.
Blue Bell Pulls Ice Cream After Listeria Outbreak
By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay
Blue Bell Creameries said new tests showing contamination prompted move
April 21, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Blue Bell Creameries said Monday that it will pull all of its frozen dessert products off the market because they might be contaminated with a bacteria that can cause stomach illness.
So far, tainted ice cream made by Blue Bell has been linked to 10 illnesses, including three deaths in Kansas, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday.
2nd Company Pulls Ice Cream After Listeria Threat
By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams joins Blue Bell Creameries after test showing contamination
April 24, 2015 (HealthDay News) — For the second time this week, a major U.S. manufacturer of ice cream has recalled all of its products because of possible contamination with the bacteria listeria.
Ohio-based Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams said Thursday that it was recalling all of its ice creams, sorbets and ice cream sandwiches, and temporarily closing all of its scoop shops.
FDA Warns of Bogus Botox
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Doctors should closely examine wrinkle-reliever packaging
April 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Counterfeit Botox may have been distributed to doctors’ offices and medical clinics across the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns.
The bogus Botox — which is considered unsafe and should not be used — was sold by an unlicensed supplier not authorized to ship or distribute drug products in the United States, the FDA said in a news release.
Packaging similarities between the fakes and the FDA-approved Botox, which is made by Allergan (100 units/vial), could cause health care professionals to mistake one for the other.
Prices of MS Drugs Soaring, Study Finds
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
No medications available for disabling disease for less than $50,000 a year in United States, researchers say
April 24, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The prices of multiple sclerosis drugs have skyrocketed in the past two decades, in some cases rising more than 700 percent, a new study shows.
The huge price increases have occurred even though newer drugs have been introduced, something that normally stabilizes or lowers the cost of older drugs, Oregon State University researchers noted.
Cigars Pose Dangers Similar to Cigarettes
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Risk of death and certain cancers increased, study finds
April 24, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Smoking cigars carries the same risk of death as smoking cigarettes, a new review finds.
“The results reinforce the fact that cigar smoking carries many of the same health risks as cigarette smoking. Cigar smoking is linked to fatal oral, esophageal, pancreatic, laryngeal and lung cancers, as well as heart disease and aortic aneurysm,” lead researcher Cindy Chang, from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said in a news release from BMC Public Health. The findings were published recently in this journal.
Why Ringing in the Ears May Be Hard to Treat
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Study found tinnitus activates much larger area of brain than normal sounds do
April 23, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Tinnitus is associated with surprisingly wide-ranging brain activity, researchers report, and this may be why the hearing disorder is hard to treat.
About one in five people have tinnitus, which is the sensation of a steady ringing or buzzing in the ears.
Antibiotic Shortages On the Rise in U.S.
By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay
Commonly used medicines are essential, but not profitable for companies, expert says
April 23, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Shortages of antibiotics, including those used to treat drug-resistant infections, may be putting patients at risk for sickness and death, according to a new report.
Between 2001 and 2013, there were shortages of 148 antibiotics. And the shortages started getting worse in 2007, researchers found.
“Many of the drug shortages were among the only drugs to treat a particular condition, drugs to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria and drugs used to treat children,” said lead researcher Dr. Larissa May, an associate professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Genes May Determine Whether You’re Mosquito Bait
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Study found DNA-linked body odor attracts or repels biting insects
April 23, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Your genes may affect whether mosquitoes prefer to snack on you or someone else, a new study shows.
In experiments with identical and fraternal twins, a team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine discovered that genes influence whether a person’s body odor attracts or repels mosquitoes. People who are less attractive to the insects produce natural repellents, which seem to be genetically controlled, researchers said.
The findings could lead to new ways to keep mosquitoes at bay, the researchers said.
Heroin Use Levels Off in U.S., But Still High
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Number of people needing treatment also rose in recent years
April 23, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Levels of heroin use in the United States have stabilized but are still high, federal officials reported Thursday.
In 2013, about 681,000 Americans aged 12 and older said they had used heroin in the past year. That number has remained steady since 2009, but it is still much higher than between 2002 and 2008, when the numbers ranged from 314,000 to 455,000, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) report found.
Could Weak Bones, Sudden Hearing Loss Be Linked?
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
In study, people with osteoporosis were at higher risk for deafness occurring over a few days
April 22, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Although the reason for the connection isn’t clear, osteoporosis and sudden, temporary hearing loss often occur together, a new study from Taiwan finds.
A team led by Dr. Kai-Jen Tien, of the Chi Mei Medical Center in Tainan City, looked at more than 10,000 Taiwan residents diagnosed with the bone disease osteoporosis between 1999 and 2008. The researchers then compared them with nearly 32,000 people without the condition.
By the end of 2011, people with osteoporosis had a 76 percent higher risk of developing sudden deafness — an unexplained, rapid loss of hearing that typically occurs in one ear.
Ban Flavoring, Ads for E-Cigs: Doctors’ Group
By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay
Backers of the devices say bans would destroy the market, may drive some smokers back to cigarettes
April 22, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should ban flavorings and television ads for e-cigarettes, a prominent physicians’ organization says.
There is scant evidence that e-cigarettes help people quit smoking, as claimed by manufacturers. And the chemicals used in these devices may be harmful to both smokers and bystanders, said Ryan Crowley, senior associate for health policy at the American College of Physicians (ACP)
Study Tests Powdered Insulin to Prevent Diabetes
By Brenda Goodman, MA, WebMD Health News
Swallowing a daily dose of insulin is safe, and it may act like a vaccine to prevent type 1 diabetes, a small new study shows.
If the results can be repeated in larger and longer trials, the approach may one day be used to help young children at high risk of the disease avoid getting diabetes.
Type 1 is an autoimmune disease. The body attacks and destroys islet cells in the pancreas that make insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar.
‘Tamper-Proof’ Painkiller May Be Curbing Abuse
By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay
Number of prescriptions, overdoses dropped, but heroin overdoses went up
April 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Narcotic painkillers that have features that make them hard to abuse may be linked to a drop in both the number of prescriptions and overdoses of these drugs, a new study finds.
After a tamper-resistant form of OxyContin was introduced in 2010, prescriptions dropped 19 percent and the rate of overdoses dropped 20 percent across the United States. However, the rate of heroin overdose increased by 23 percent during the same period, the researchers added
Immune-Focused Drugs Show Promise Against Melanoma
By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay
Keytruda, Yervoy and other medications harness immune cells to target cancers, experts say
April 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Drugs that supercharge the body’s immune system show promise in treating advanced melanoma, according to a pair of clinical trials.
The trials both involve drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors, which essentially prod the immune system to attack and destroy cancer cells, said Dr. Suzanne Topalian, director of the Melanoma Program at Johns Hopkins’ Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center in Baltimore.
Treating Sleep Apnea May Help Those With AFib
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Researchers recommend sleep disorder screening for patients with atrial fibrillation
April 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — People with both atrial fibrillation and obstructive sleep apnea are less likely to have a recurrence of the heart rhythm disorder if they use continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, a new report says.
Researchers from New York University Langone Medical Center reviewed seven studies that included more than 1,000 people with sleep apnea. They found that CPAP use was associated with a 42 percent reduction in the recurrence of atri
Drug Shows Early Promise for Advanced Lung Cancer
By Amy Norton, HealthDay
Keytruda is already approved to treat melanoma
April 19, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A new drug that boosts the immune system’s cancer-fighting potential is showing early promise for some patients with advanced lung cancer.
The drug, marketed as Keytruda, was recently approved in the United States for treating advanced melanoma, but is not yet approved for lung cancer.
Still, experts were encouraged by preliminary findings reported Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Philadelphia, and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Aspirin May Help Ward Off Gastrointestinal Cancers
By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay
But experts caution against starting to take it every day in hopes of preventing disease
April 19, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Taking aspirin regularly over several years may help prevent gastrointestinal cancers, a new study suggests.
There was a 20 percent lower risk of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, especially in the colon and rectum, among people taking aspirin, said lead researcher Yin Cao, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
Ebola Outbreak May Have Led to More Malaria Deaths
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Overwhelmed systems caused deadly disruptions in health care, experts say
April 23, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Nearly 11,000 extra deaths due to malaria may have occurred in 2014 because of disruptions in health care services caused by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, a new study suggests.
Another 3,900 extra malaria deaths may have been caused by the interruption of delivery of insecticide-treated sleeping nets, the British researchers said.
The study appears online April 23 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Bird Flu Poses Little Threat to People: CDC
By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay
Genetic analysis indicates public shouldn’t be alarmed, ‘cautiously optimistic’ health officials say
April 22, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The bird flu outbreak that has resulted in the slaughter of millions of chickens and turkeys in the United States has little chance of sickening humans, federal health officials said Wednesday.
The reason: the genetic makeup of the virus behind the outbreak is different from other bird flu viruses that have sickened more than 600 people in 15 countries, according to Dr. Alicia Fry, an epidemiologist and medical officer with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
Breast Cancer Patients: Mastectomy vs. Lumpectomy
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Better pre-surgical chemotherapy means more of the breast can safely be saved, researchers say
April 23, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Breast cancer surgeries have advanced so that surgeons can often remove the tumor while safely conserving the breast, in what’s known as lumpectomy.
But a new study shows that even though this breast-conserving surgery has a high success rate, many patients who are eligible for it still choose to have the entire breast removed.
Ovary Removal and Breast Cancer Death With BRCA1
By Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay
The sooner, the better, researchers found
April 23, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Actress and activist Angelina Jolie made news last month when she announced she had her ovaries removed — after undergoing a preventive double mastectomy in 2013 — because she is a carrier of BRCA, a genetic mutation that greatly increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
Jolie did not have cancer but underwent both surgeries to reduce her cancer risk. Now, a new study supports preventive ovary removal in women with breast cancer who also carry the BRCA1 mutation. Women can greatly reduce their risk of dying from the breast cancer if they undergo ovary removal (“oophorectomy”) — and the sooner the better, the researchers said.
Study Supports HPV Vaccination Guidelines
By Randy Dotinga, HealthDay
Protection may go beyond cervical infection
April 21, 2015 (HealthDay News) — New research finds that young women who get the HPV vaccine gain significant protection against infection in three parts of the body if they haven’t already been exposed to the human papillomavirus.
“HPV is a local infection that can separately infect the cervical, anal, or oral sites, where it can occasionally lead to cancer,” said Daniel Beachler, a postdoctoral fellow at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. “This study demonstrates that the HPV 16/18 vaccine provides protection at all three sites, particularly among women without evidence of HPV exposure prior to vaccination.”
Mammograms a Personal Decision for Women in 40s
By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening every 2 years for all after 50
April 20, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Women in their 40s should talk with their doctors and then decide for themselves whether they need regular mammograms to screen for breast cancer before age 50, according to draft U.S. federal health guidelines.
The draft mammography guidelines issued April 20 by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) largely reiterate those that have been in place since 2009, the last time they were updated.
The guidelines still recommend mammograms to screen for breast cancer every two years for women ages 50 to 74.
Dogs Find Prostate Cancer by Smell
By Peter Russell, WebMD Health News
April 20, 2015 — Scientists in Italy say they have trained two dogs to “sniff out” prostate cancer with more than 90% accuracy.
The researchers say using dogs to diagnose the disease could provide an alternative to the current blood test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which can give false results in men who do not have prostate cancer.
The team, led by the Humanitas Clinical and Research Center in Milan, Italy, collected urine samples from 362 men diagnosed with prostate cancer at different stages of the disease. They also took samples from 418 men and 122 women who were either healthy, had a different type of cancer, or had another health condition.
Kids With Type 1 Diabetes and Serious Complication
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Diabetic ketoacidosis can prove serious; researchers point to lack of insurance leading to late diagnosis
April 21, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A growing number of American children and teens with type 1 diabetes are experiencing a life-threatening complication at the time of their diagnosis, a new study finds.
Researchers say a lack of insurance may mean some children are getting diagnosed with type 1 late in its development, when serious complications can arise.
Another Study Finds No Vaccine-Autism Link
By Amy Norton, HealthDay
Finding held true even for children at risk for the developmental disorder
April 21, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Yet another study finds no evidence that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine raises the risk of autism — even among children who are at increased genetic risk.
Experts said the findings, reported in the April 21 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, should be reassuring to parents, particularly those who already have a child with autism.
More Children Seek Help for Gender Dysphoria
By Brenda Goodman, MA, WebMD Health News
Specialty clinics in the U.S., Canada, and Europe say they’re seeing large increases in the numbers of children like Sam who are seeking help for gender dysphoria. That’s a feeling of extreme distress that happens when a person doesn’t identify with the body they’re born into. Gender dysphoria sometimes leads people to take steps to change their sex, or become transgender.
These kids can be quite young, sometimes as young as age 5. With the help of their parents and teachers, they’re entering school with new names, new clothes, and new gender identities. Later they may take drugs to delay the physical changes tied to puberty.
Experts are split about whether this is the right way to help them.
Freedom to Fidget Helps Kids With ADHD Learn
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
The more they were able to move during tests, the better they did
April 21, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) need to squirm to learn, a small study suggests.
Constantly shifting in their desks, tapping their feet, swinging their legs and other fidgety behaviors play a crucial role in helping these children remember information and solve complex mental tasks, the researchers found.
Challenging Job May Help Some With Dementia
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Study suggests demanding work benefits those with frontotemporal disease
April 22, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Having a challenging job may help people live longer after developing a certain type of dementia, a small study suggests.
Researchers analyzed the medical charts of 34 people diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. This type of dementia typically affects people younger than 65 and causes language problems and changes in personality or behavior. It does not affect memory.
Majority of Older U.S. Adults Take Daily Aspirin
By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay
Usage doesn’t always comply with national guidelines
April 24, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Slightly more than half of middle-aged adults and seniors in the United States take aspirin daily to prevent heart attack, stroke or other serious illnesses, a new survey has found.
Leading medical associations recommend use of low-dose aspirin mainly to prevent a second heart attack or stroke. But many others who haven’t had a heart problem also take aspirin regularly, researchers found.
A doctor who helped write the national guidelines for low-dose, or “baby,” aspirin use said that the number of people found by the survey to be taking daily aspirin “seems about right to me.”
Statins Carry Some Risk for Seniors
By Robert Preidt, HealthDay
Cholesterol-lowering drugs cut heart risks, but may spur muscle weakness, memory declines
April 22, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs can help prevent heart disease in seniors, but the medications also carry the risk of side effects, new research shows.
Researchers used a computer simulation to assess whether statins should be routinely taken by adults aged 75 and older to prevent heart disease.
There did appear to be “tremendous” potential benefits, such as a far lower risk of heart attack, the study authors said. The researchers estimated that 105,000 heart attacks and 68,000 deaths could be prevented if all U.S. adults aged 75 to 93 who did not have heart disease took statins over the next decade.
However, the benefits of giving statins to this group of people would be offset by a 10 percent to 30 percent increase in the risk of side effects such as muscle pain and weakness, and
Mindfulness Therapy as Good as Depression Meds
By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay
Results suggest possible alternative to long-term drug use
April 21, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy might offer an alternative for people with depression who don’t want to take antidepressants long-term, British researchers say.
Their study, published April 21 online in The Lancet, found this new therapy was as effective as antidepressant drugs in preventing a recurrence of depression over a two-year period.
Young Adults With Autism: Unemployment, Isolation
By Alan Mozes, HealthDay
Report highlights need for more services for this age group
April 21, 2015 (HealthDay News) — As children with autism grow older, many approach adulthood without continued access to the kind of special needs services they routinely received as children, a new report warns.
The “National Autism Indicators Report: Transition into Young Adulthood” also reveals that such children may enter adulthood without the advanced planning they need to find jobs or live independently after high school.
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