Author: Staff (Page 123 of 157)

Mexican Papayas Source of Salmonella Poisoning

August 29, 2011 / Staff

Papayas blocked at the boarder because of salmonella.

As many as 100 people were made ill because of the Mexican papayas.

The Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday the outbreak, which spread to 23 U.S. states, was linked to fresh papayas from nearly all the major papaya-growing regions in Mexico.

Salmonella infection commonly causes diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps in the first few days after eating a contaminated product.
The infection is the most common U.S. foodborne illness and continues to strike the country as often as it did 15 years ago, linked to contaminated meats, produce and processed foods. Last year it caused nearly 2,300 hospitalizations and 29 deaths. One outbreak led to a recall of nearly half a billion eggs.

Quality Control

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Obesity Hurts Everyone

August 29, 2011 / Staff

If you think that being overweight effects only the obese then think again.

Obesity is fast replacing tobacco as the single most important preventable cause of chronic non-communicable diseases, and will add an extra 7.8 million cases of diabetes, 6.8 million cases of heart disease and stroke, and 539,000 cases of cancer in the United States by 2030.
Some 32 percent of men and 35 percent of women are now obese in the United States, according to a research team led by Claire Wang at the Mailman School of Public Health in Columbia University in New York. They published their findings in a special series of four papers on obesity in The Lancet.

Health Care Policy, Health Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, Nutrition, Quality Control, Resources, Wellness

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Bad Behavior is Contagious

August 25, 2011 / Staff

Being in love is wonderful and being a couple is even better.

Well maybe not.

In a recent study of married people in relationships of 14-25 years it seems that any bad habits brought into the relationship seem to prevail.

In other words, who ever brings in the bad habit brings the other partner down with him.

And we do mean him.

Among straight couples, guys were almost always the ones who brought the other partner’s health down, a new study found.

Reczek interviewed 122 heterosexual, lesbian, and gay couples with an average age of older than 40 and an average relationship duration of between 14 and 25 years. Then she teased out subtle and direct clues as to how the couple interacted in health-related behaviors. What did she find? Three ways that partners can erode each other’s health habits: “influence,” “synchronicity” and “personal responsibility.”
The examples of each will sound familiar to any long-married person. “Yeah, I drink a Dr. Pepper every morning,” Jason, a man in the study, is quoted as saying. “It’s like a ritual.” Maria, who never drank sodas before marrying Jason, now indulges. She has also picked up his junk food habit. “I can definitely bring her health down, if she ever let herself get on the bandwagon, so to speak,” he told Reczek.
Jason is influencing his wife to drink soda and eat junk food and he’s dismissing any responsibility he may have for not changing his own habits by using the words “if she ever let herself,” an argument that his wife has personal responsibility for her own health. It’s not his job.

Research, Wellness

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What Time Do You Have on Your Biological Clock?

August 25, 2011 / Staff

Science may soon be able to predict more accurately how long a woman will remain fertile.

A survey of healthy women carried out at the University of St. Andrews and by experts from both the University of Edinburgh and University of Glasgow, all in the U.K., has revealed the normal range of levels of a hormone considered vital to a woman’s fertility.

The survey showed the normal range of levels of the anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) in relation to age. This hormone reflects the activity of the ovaries during a woman’s lifetime and gives an estimate of her remaining egg supply.
The study looked at 3,200 samples from healthy girls and women to find out the average levels of AMH. The findings will now allow fertility experts to tell how a women’s AMH level compares with the average for her age.

Research, Wellness

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Conflict of Interest Guidelines Revised at the National Institute of Health

August 24, 2011 / Staff

The amount of money considered to constitute a conflict of interest has been lowered at the National Institute of Health.

The 16 year old conflict of interest rules for medical researchers has been revised, expanding the required disclosures.

Concern about the integrity of research in the United States has grown since 2008, when Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley criticized prominent Harvard University psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman and others for failing to fully disclose payments from drug companies.
In a more recent example, medical device maker Medtronic Inc came under fire over accusations that doctors paid by the company had failed to disclose major side effects from a bone growth drug in clinical trials.

Private sector funds have no place in policy governing the health of the nation.