MS Maze

September and the beginning of a new school year seems like an appropriate time for Fruits & Veggies — More Matters™ Month.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has joined with public and private organizations to remind consumers that fruits and vegetables promote better health. It is estimated that ninety percent of Americans do not eat enough fruits and vegetables. We can do better than that!

Read the article:

Fruits and Veggies Matter

Photo courtesy of photoxpress.com

The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) has announced a new interactive widget to assist consumers in figuring out their health care coverage options.

The widget embed code is available to anyone who wishes to post it on their own website or blog.

Read the article:

HHS Unveils Interactive Insurance-Finder Widget

For people waiting for cures, the wait just got longer as embryonic stem cell research in the United States takes a step backward.

Researchers value embryonic stem cells for their ability to morph into any cell of the body, with the potential for better treatments or even cures for diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, as well as spinal cord injuries. Embryonic stem cell research comes with no guarantees, but without extensive research, the potential will remain unknown.

Dedicated researchers, for a short time, were free to concentrate on the task at hand in an effort to advance our knowledge and understanding of embryonic stem cells and to unlock their full capabilities.

Read full story:

Embryonic Stem Cell Ruling Halts March Toward Cures

Photo: http://www.atp.nist.gov

The MEDCottage, or so called “Granny Pod,” is being marketed as “family managed health care as an alternative to long-term care facilities.”

The 12 foot by 24 foot portable, modular “medical home,” unveiled this past July, can be purchased or leased and placed on the caregiving family’s property. The homes are equipped with health monitoring equipment and lifts to assist people who have problems with mobility.

Read this post and see the poll results:

The ‘Granny Pod’ Alternative

Image used under Creative Commons License via Flickr with thanks to eflon

Do you support corporate responsibility for climate? If you’re still working on your back-to-school shopping list, you can plan that shopping with climate change in mind.

Before you spend another dime, there are a few things you should know. The back-to-school shopping season is second only to the holiday shopping season in generating revenue. In 2008 the top 100 brands spent over $100 billion dollars on advertising in the United States. All that requires energy, packaging, and transportation — all contributing factors in climate change.

Back-to-Cool: Shopping with Climate Change in Mind

photo: climatecounts.org

One burger, a large order of fries, and some free statins. What if you could bypass the doctor and the pharmacist and get your statins directly from your fast-food provider? Talk about cutting out the middle-man.

At least that’s what researchers at Imperial College London have suggested in a recent study, as reported in ScienceDaily. The paper, published in the American Journal of Cardiology, indicates that the effect of a statin is enough to offset the increased risk of heart attack caused by eating a cheeseburger and a milkshake. It turns out that the statin reduces risk to approximately the same degree as fast food increases it.

Read the story:

Fast Food-Statin Combo Meal

Photo courtesy PhotoXpress.com

Legislation to make consumer electronics more accessible to vision and hearing-impaired people is winding its way through Congress.

The Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act, authored by Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR), passed the Senate on August 6. A companion bill authored by Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, passed the House on July 26.

Read the article:

Bills Push Access to Technology for Disabled

Photo: Photoxpress.com

Lou Gehrig may not have had “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”

The New York Times is reporting on a peer-reviewed paper in Journal Neuropathy suggesting that baseball legend Lou Gehrig may not have suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at all, but from a fatal disease caused by concussion-like trauma that erodes the central nervous system, producing similar symptoms. When Lou Gehrig died in 1941, ALS was commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”

The Times points out that the paper does not specifically mention Gehrig, but “its authors in interviews acknowledged the clear implication: Lou Gehrig might not have had Lou Gehrig’s disease.”

Read the article (with Gehrig’s farewell speech video):

Lou Gehrig May Not Have Had Lou Gehrig’s Disease

Photo: Harris & Ewing Collection at the Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons

At the top of almost every back-to-school supply list is the backpack. It is a convenient and practical way to carry books, pens, pencils, and other required school supplies while keeping hands free. With all the colors and designs available, some even consider the backpack to be a fun fashion accessory.

As helpful and fun as they are, backpacks can also cause pain and injury if not used properly. The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) estimates that about 55 percent of students are carrying backpacks heavier than the recommended guideline, leading to increased backpack-related incidents in recent years.

Read the article:

Backpack Safety Tips for Back-to-School Shopping

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, announced that the world is no longer in phase six of influenza pandemic alert — we are now moving into the post-pandemic period and the new H1N1 virus has largely run its course. Dr. Chan went on to say:

“As we enter the post-pandemic period, this does not mean that the H1N1 virus has gone away. Based on experience with past pandemics, we expect the H1N1 virus to take on the behavoir of a seasonal influenza virus and continue to circulate for some years to come.

Read the article:

H1N1 Pandemic Over: Post-Pandemic Flu Season Looms

Photo Credit: Greg Knobloch, via U.S. Centers for disease Control and Prevention

Having an affectionate sister is good for you.

Young teens who have a sister feel less lonely, unloved, guilty, self-conscious, and fearful. A recent story in USA TODAY reported on a study of siblings by researchers from Brigham Young University. The study found that regardless of age, gender, or age differences, affectionate siblings have positive influences on each other, but that having a sister prevents depression more than having a brother.

Siblings also have twice as much influence than parents when it comes to performing good deeds for others, and it comes as no surprise that hostility between siblings has a negative effect.

That got me to thinking about my own big sister and her influence on me as a young girl…

Read the story:

The Sister Effect

Pharmaceuticals promoting their products through Facebook “Shares” have been warned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)… and they’re apparently heeding that warning.

Pharmaceutical company Novartis removed it’s Facebook Share after receiving a letter from the FDA warning that the Facebook Share button it is using to promote its cancer medication, Tasigna, violates FDA requirements about disclosure of drug information, and that the information is misleading and “implies superiority over other product.”

Read the article:

FDA Warns Pharma about Facebook Shares

Photo: photoxpress.com

Are you one of those people who pour the milk down the drain on the expiration date?

Expiration dates on food products can protect consumer health, but those dates are really more about quality than safety, and if not properly understood, they can also encourage consumers to discard food that is perfectly safe to eat.

A recent poll of more than 2,000 adults showed that most of us discard food we believe is unsafe to eat, which is a good thing, of course, but it is important that we understand what food expiration dates mean before we dump our food — and our money — down the drain or into the garbage.

Read the article:

Food Expiration Dates: What do they really mean?

Photo used under Creative Commons License via Flickr with thanks to Dan4th

If you are uninsured and cannot pay for life-saving emergency medical services, who gets stuck with the bill?

A lot of people… doctors, hospitals, insured individuals, businesses, and taxpayers. One of the reasons for rising premiums for the insured is that they are paying for the uninsured.

Do we want to stick with the status quo… or do we want to live in a society where the uninsured are simply not treated at all… or do we want to move toward shared responsibility? Unfortunately, without the individual mandate, we are back to square one. Welcome back, status quo.

Fighting the Individual Mandate… read the article:

The Interconnectedness of Health Care Costs

Photo used under Creative Commons License, via Flickr, courtesy of Rosser321

Seafood from some parts of the Gulf of Mexico affected by the BP oil spill has been declared safe to eat, but do you want it on your dinner table?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced its support for the states of Mississippi, Florida, and Louisiana as they reopen state waters to commercial fishing.

Get the scoop:

FDA Declares Gulf Seafood Safe to Eat

Photo courtesy photoxpress.com