Heartburn Drugs Tied to Stomach Cancer Risk
http://ift.tt/2z1aTLB People who carry the stomach bacteria known as Helicobacter pylori are at increased risk for ulcers and stomach cancer. But even when antibiotic treatment has eliminated the bacterium, stomach cancer may still arise. A new study suggests that one reason may be the long-term use of proton pump inhibitors, or P.P.I.s, acid-reducing medicines sold under brand names such as Prilosec and Prevacid. Researchers studied 63,397 people in Hong Kong successfully treated for H. pylori infection, of whom 3,271 used P.P.I.s and 21,179 took H2-receptor antagonists, another type of acid-controller (Tagamet, Pepcid and other brands). Over an average 7.6 years, 153 of them developed gastric cancer. Compared with those who used H2 blockers, those who took P.P.I.s had more than twice the risk for cancer, and the risk increased over time. The study, published in Gut, controlled for smoking, alcohol use, obesity, statin use, hypertension and many other factors. “Even after the eradication of H. pylori, the risk of cancer persists with P.P.Is,” said the lead author, Dr. Wai Keung Leung, a professor of medicine at the University of Hong Kong. “But the absolute risk is not high, and I don’t want to discourage people from taking these drugs when necessary. There are people who benefit tremendously from them.” Continue reading the main storyHealth via NYT > Health http://ift.tt/2koaaw3 October 31, 2017 at 08:00PM
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The Sweet Spot: Let’s Hear It for Those With Low Libidos
http://ift.tt/2gSJMYB CS: There are essentially four choices couples make when faced with the conundrum you present, Not Feeling It. They are: 1. Compromise by agreeing to do what they might not otherwise do except to please a partner (i.e. having sex more or less often than they’d prefer). This works best when the compromise feels more like a collaboration than a demand. 2. Change the rules of the relationship. A couple might choose to open a monogamous relationship, for example, so the partner with the higher libido can have his or her sexual needs met from others while maintaining a loving partnership with his or her primary, but less sexually active, partner. 3. End the relationship — or at least the romantic/sexual aspect of it — because No. 1 and No. 2 above are unappealing. 4. Do nothing and feel miserable and resentful about it. SA: I realize this may sound bleak. That’s not our intention. We’re simply trying to get at the underlying truth here: that you’re sick of being pressured to feel more sexual desire. This pressure, by the way, doesn’t just come from a partner. It comes from the culture at large, which uses a hyped and fraudulent version of sexuality to peddle all manner of products. If you don’t want to “just do it” when it comes to sex, then don’t. But if you also love your partner and want to build a stronger relationship with him, you’re going to have to confront the incompatibility of your desires. The best way to do this is to start from a place of acceptance, then to figure out whether there are ways to compromise, to express your feelings and to meet each other’s needs without judgment or shame. That’s what true intimacy, of whatever form, is about. CS: I think the most important thing for any of our readers and listeners to take away from this column and our podcast is that you get to make your life — and more than that, you’ll be happier if you do. But to do that you have to be willing to rewrite the stories you’ve been told about a wide range of things; you have to consider things that might scare you. Just as we told the previous letter writer that he had the right to ask for the sex he desired, you have the right to tell your partner that you don’t desire it, or at least not often. The truth has a powerful way of leading us to the light. So speak your truth and hear your partner’s truth. From that place of honesty, you’ll figure out where to go next in this relationship. SA: One thing I can promise you, Not Feeling It, is that Cheryl and I are not in the business of dispensing cures. It would be dishonest and arrogant to even pretend we have such powers. What we try to do is help people confront their sorrows and disappointments. Sometimes those arise from an unmet yearning for sex. But as you rightly observe, they also arise from the misbegotten notion that the only true measure of romantic intimacy is carnal communion. Regardless of how our bodies operate, that’s not how the heart keeps score. Continue reading the main storyHealth via NYT > Health http://ift.tt/2koaaw3 October 31, 2017 at 04:05PM
Climate Change Could Threaten Human Health Worldwide
http://ift.tt/2h07iGB Climate Change Could Threaten Human Health Worldwide Health via WebMD Health https://www.webmd.com/ October 31, 2017 at 03:46PM
Brain Scans May Identify Potential For Suicide
http://ift.tt/2gShI7k By Robert Preidt HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, Oct. 31, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Brain scans may be able to identify when people are having suicidal thoughts, researchers report. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young adults in the United States, but suicidal risk is difficult to assess and predict. This study included 17 people with known suicidal tendencies and a control group of 17 people without such tendencies. While in a brain scanner, the participants were presented with and asked to think about words relating to six concepts: death, cruelty, trouble, carefree, good and praise. The researchers said an algorithm they developed was 91 percent accurate in identifying whether a person was from the suicidal or control group and 94 percent accurate in identifying people who had attempted suicide. The study, published Oct. 30 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, suggests a new way to assess mental health disorders, according to the researchers. "Our latest work is unique insofar as it identifies concept alterations that are associated with suicidal ideation and behavior, using machine-learning algorithms to assess the neural representation of specific concepts related to suicide," said study co-leader Marcel Just, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "This gives us a window into the brain and mind, shedding light on how suicidal individuals think about suicide and emotion-related concepts," Just added in a university news release. He went on to say that what's "central to this new study is that we can tell whether someone is considering suicide by the way that they are thinking about the death-related topics." But the researchers cautioned that further research is needed before this approach can be used to predict suicide risk. WebMD News from HealthDay SourcesSOURCE: Carnegie Mellon University, news release, Oct. 30, 2017 Health via WebMD Health https://www.webmd.com/ October 31, 2017 at 02:00PM
A student wore an orange jumpsuit with the name Freddie Gray to a Halloween party
http://ift.tt/2gYgBXx The College of Charleston student wore the outfit to an off-campus party and posed for photos. One showed the student, who is white, pointing to the name with his thumbs. Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man, died in 2015 in Baltimore after suffering a neck injury while in police custody. His death spurred massive protests and riots in Baltimore. Three Baltimore police officers were acquitted at trial of charges related to Gray's death and prosecutors dropped charges against the remaining three officers. The Justice Department also declined to prosecutethe six. "These people make fun of the gender, ethnicity -- basically it is disgusting," said Detrickt Manning, who provided the photo taken at the party to CNN. He said he received it from someone who was there. The photo was originally posted to Facebook without the caption "ur going to jail tonight." Someone added the caption about five hours later, Manning said. Calls for expulsionThe College of Charleston is a public university in the coastal city. Spokesman Mike Robertson told CNN the student is still enrolled while the school investigates whether his costume calls for disciplinary action. "In no way does this behavior reflect our College of Charleston core values, especially as it relates to diversity, community and respect for the individual student," the college president, Glenn McConnell, said in a statement. The college's Black Student Union said the student should be expelled. "The death of Mr. Freddie Carlos Gray, Jr. was detrimental and causes emotional distress amongst the Black communities and those who understand the outcomes of continuous acts of police brutality in America," it said in a statement. "As students of the College of Charleston, we come to you in solidarity to ask that the students involved in this incident be reprimanded through indefinite expulsion." The student's family told CNN they have retained a lawyer but the lawyer didn't return CNN's request for a comment. The Freddie Gray costume was not an isolated incident. In Baltimore, several private school students were photographed posing in similar Halloween costumes, the Baltimore Sun reported. Health via CNN.com - RSS Channel - Health http://ift.tt/1rsiniF October 31, 2017 at 01:08PM
Fisher-Price infant motion seat, PlanToys Baby Gym recalled
http://ift.tt/2hrc3px Consumers should immediately stop using both recalled products, according to the commission, and contact Fisher-Price for a full refund for Soothing Motion Seats. Those who purchased the baby gym should contact PlanToys for a free replacement. The recalled motion seats, which sway and bounce while playing music and sounds, include Fisher-Price model numbers CMR35, CMR36, CMR37 and DYH22 as well as Smart Connect model number CMR39. The model number is on the underside of the motor housing. Fisher-Price, a brand of Mattel Inc., has received 36 reports of the motion seat overheating, including one of a fire contained within the motor housing, according to the product safety commission. The overheating poses a fire hazard. The company sold about 63,000 of the seats in the United States and 2,000 in Canada. The product was marketed from November 2015 through October 2017 at BuybuyBaby, Target, Toys R Us, Walmart and other stores nationwide as well as through Amazon and other websites. "Children's and families' safety is always our top priority at Mattel," Michelle Chidoni, a spokeswoman for Mattel, wrote in an email. "The actions we are taking today are in support of maintaining that highest level of trust." Baby gymThe wooden baby gym has four legs with four colored balls in the middle that are connected by two ropes on the sides; these ropes are considered a hazard to infants. The manufacturing date code TH 080116 through TH 082916 is printed on the top corner joint connecting ball. About 500 of the gyms were sold in the US by specialty toy and baby product stores, as well as at Diapers.com, Target.com and other websites from September 2016 through May 2017. Judith Culberson, national sales and marketing manager at PlanToys, said the testing lab in Thailand originally passed the product, which is also considered safe to sell under European Union regulations. After retesting the product, the company began its own recall in May. "People were very understanding," she said. "Everybody wanted it replaced." The new gym replacement is made with a wooden bar instead of the rope. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Health via CNN.com - RSS Channel - Health http://ift.tt/1rsiniF October 31, 2017 at 12:26PM
After sexual harassment allegations, a sisterhood forms
http://ift.tt/2zVmfOV They liked each other's tweets, replied to them, and reached out in direct messages. Soon, they formed a private group message to share their stories. CNN was unable to independently verify their accounts. "I found a support system that I didn't think I could have," said Echo Danon, one of the first seven women to form the Twitter group. Also among those seven was actress Selma Blair. Weeks after the group was formed, Blair, along with actress Rachel McAdams, would describe Toback's alleged harassmentin a Vanity Fair article. CNN contacted representatives for McAdams and Blair for comment on that story. As more women came forward with allegations against Toback, they were added to the group. By October 20, the group grew to 38 members and the women had a bigger plan in mind, one set on taking down Toback. Some of them spoke to the Los Angeles Times for an article detailing allegationsagainst him as far back as the 1980s. Some brought their stories to law enforcement. "We'll investigate every claim to see if there was a crime committed," said Lt. John Grimpel, a spokesman for the New York Police Department. The 72-year-old director denied the allegations to the Times and Rolling Stone. He has not returned CNN's requests for comment. On October 22, the day the article was to publish, some of the women got together in homes in New York and Los Angeles and braced for the fallout. Amid the roller coaster of emotions, a sisterhood formed. Then, things really took off. A community formsThe claims from Toback's accusers come amid a flood of sexual harassment allegations against high-profile men in recent months. Earlier this month, allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein opened the floodgates, and inspired #MeToo, a movement highlighting sexual harassment in the entertainment industry and beyond. The Weinstein scandal dredged up Terri Conn's long-suppressed memories of an encounter she says she had with Toback. She was 23 and acting on the soap opera "As the World Turns" when, she says, Toback approached her in New York and asked her to meet him in Central Park. In a secluded area of the park, he knelt before her and rubbed his groin against her leg, she told CNN. The memories brought a flood of emotion and tears with them. It was around then that she told her husband the story for the first time, she said. Then she Googled Toback and found a Gawker articlecontaining similar allegations against him. She said she was shocked by the parallels. "I saw my story -- being approached at 72nd and Broadway by a guy talking about the part he has for her -- coming out of someone else's mouth," she told CNN. There must be more of us, she thought to herself. After the first set of allegations surfaced in The New York Times, The New Yorker published an articleabout Weinstein on October 10. The same week, Conn searched Twitter for women tweeting with the hashtags #MeToo and #JamesToback. Already, some of the women were talking to each other. She reached out to them and they formed a private group message on Twitter. They bared their souls to each other, forming an instant bond. Some of them said they had not spoken about the alleged incidents since they happened decades earlier. Some had never told their spouses. But they didn't want their victimhood to define them. They began to form a plan. "I thought, 'we need to get together and tell our stories,'" Conn said. "Toback isn't as big as Weinstein and we are not as big as Rose McGowan, but our stories needed to be told." One of the people she reached was Danon, who met Toback on the set of a film for an audition in his trailer. Danon was inspired by the women speaking out against Weinstein. "I felt sick and traumatized, but I also felt hope and strength emanating from all the women who had stood up against him," she said in an email to CNN. "We wanted to speak out. We knew we needed the strength that comes from numbers," she said. "I was confident that there were many other women out there suffering from memories of this predator, and that this was only the beginning." Members of the group searched for more people talking about Toback on social media. They came across Sari Kamin, who commented on Facebook posts about Toback and wrote a post on Mediumon October 17 accusing him of harassment. She, too, was emboldened by the Weinstein accusers. "I started to think that maybe if I went public, I could finally release my own shame and possibly help other women," Kamin said. The group took notice and invited her to join, forming the original seven, which included Blair. In the wake of Weinstein and #MeToo, Blair "thought the moment was right to share her story," said LA Times reporter Glenn Whipp, who wrote the newspaper article and spoke to Blair. The women reached Whipp through director Scott Derrickson, Danon said. As more women joined the group, they sent them to Whipp to share their stories. Though Blair ultimately decided to remain anonymous in the LA Times story, many more consented to be named before publication: 31 of 38 people who initially spoke to Whipp -- an unusually high number for such a sensitive story. "It's really remarkable that so many of these women came forward with the courage to use their names, recalling a really traumatic experience," Whipp said. "That was a really profoundly moving experience, to talk to those people." Transforming a moment into a movementAfter the article published, the Twitter group reached its limit of 60 people in less than 24 hours. A new one was started that quickly reached capacity by the next day. Women would drop out to make space for others. Christine Hudman's husband read the LA Times article and told her the stories sounded just like her alleged encounter with Toback. She decided to look up the women named in the article. They connected and she also joined the group. "It's an odd group to be a part of. You can't say you're happy to be a part of this group, but there is this feeling of solidarity, just this feeling you're not alone," Hudman said. "It's less about what (he) did and more about us now. What are we going to do so our children, boys and girls, don't grow up in a culture where they think it's OK to do this?" As their numbers grew, they organized around the goal of seeking accountability for Toback. Members took on specific tasks. Some deal with media, others with law enforcement, said Starr Rinaldi, one of the original seven. Licensed therapists in the group counsel people offline. Wednesday, they created a new group on another platform to accommodate their expanding scope and numbers. The new group offers support and solidarity just like the old one, Rinaldi said. They also hope it's the launching point for a movement. They hope to keep gathering stories to find one that could lead to a viable prosecution, Rinaldi said. Many accusers say the incidents took place years or decades ago, well beyond the statutory time limit for assault charges. To that end, they hope to lobby for changes to statutes of limitations, Rinaldi said. "The seven of us kicked the hornet's nest," she said. "We knew there were going to be a lot of women, but I don't think we expected it would flow as fast as it did." Health via CNN.com - RSS Channel - Health http://ift.tt/1rsiniF October 30, 2017 at 06:44AM
Novartis Looks to Buy French Firm to Bolster Cancer Portfolio
http://ift.tt/2yWDq4L Its products include Lutathera, which recently received approval from regulators in Europe to treat certain types of tumors. Lutathera is under review by the authorities in the United States. Novartis said in a news release that the transaction would strengthen the company’s stable of cancer treatments “with both near-term product launches as well as a new technology platform with potential applications across a number of oncology early development programs.” The company reported sales of $48.5 billion last year and has about 121,000 employees. Under the terms of the deal, Novartis has offered to pay $41 per ordinary share and $82 per American depositary share. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and to the agreement of shareholders to sell at least 80 percent of Advanced Accelerator Applications’ outstanding ordinary shares to Novartis. “It is with great satisfaction that we announce this proposed transaction with Novartis, who we have long felt would be an ideal partner,” Stefano Buono, the French company’s chief executive, said in a news release. “We believe that the combination of our expertise in radiopharmaceuticals and theragnostic strategy together with the global oncology experience and infrastructure of Novartis, provide the best prospects for our patients, physicians and employees, as well as the broader nuclear medicine community,” he added. Continue reading the main storyHealth via NYT > Health http://ift.tt/2koaaw3 October 30, 2017 at 05:36AM
The Checkup: Managing the Storm of a Toddler’s Tantrum
http://ift.tt/2hmQg2d So what should parents do, faced with a tantrum? “I don’t think any child having a tantrum can respond to what I hear all the time: ‘Use your words,’” Dr. Egger said. Instead, the parent should try to be a “container,” she said, to keep the child safe, and then talk about it afterward. “You have to see it like a storm,” she said. “Manage the storm, then find out what was happening beforehand.” “Things are unglued,” Dr. Egger said. “What do children need to become reglued? They need that feeling that there’s a competent grown-up who is there to contain them.” The last thing you want, she said, is for a child to have the feeling of pushing against a wall, only to see that wall fall down. Dr. Potegal suggested that parents think about what function a tantrum is serving for a child: Is it attention getting, with negative attention better than no attention? Is there something tangible at stake, like food or a toy? Or is there something the child wants to escape doing? Tantrums typically happen when children are hungry or tired or when there has been some significant change in their routine, Dr. Egger said. The children with more problematic tantrums, she said, are the ones who are triggered by anger and frustration, or by transitions — they aren’t particularly tired, they’re just furious that it’s bedtime or bath time. And sometimes there’s no clear trigger, which can be a sign that all is not well. “Parents describe the tantrums just coming out of the blue,” Dr. Egger said, “‘Do you want to wear your blue shoes or your red shoes?’ and you’re done.” It’s less common and more concerning for children to have tantrums regularly with babysitters or teachers, and in fact, Dr. Egger said, “kids who have tantrums outside of the home at school and day care, at church, outside, that’s another flag.” Children with increased frequency of tantrums — almost every day, or even more often — and who bite, kick, hit or break things during the tantrums are the children to worry about, Dr. Egger said. Such children are eight times more likely to meet criteria for “impairing mental health disorders,” such as anxiety disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression, and also more likely to develop problems later on. “And when we follow these children into early and middle childhood, these aggressive early childhood tantrums may be associated with emotional disorders like anxiety and depression,” she said. “Most children who have tantrums that are really severe in duration and intensity aren’t just normally angry, they have something else wrong with them,” said Dr. Gabrielle Carlson, professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. “They may have A.D.H.D. or depression or another psychiatric disorder.” For a long time, she said, tantrums were understood as aggression, but more recently, psychiatrists have begun to think of these children with “a very short fuse and a very large explosion” as being highly irritable, rather than aggressive. A child’s irritability may be a clue to some medical problem causing pain or distress; it’s a rare explanation for tantrums, but there are certainly children whose tantrums decrease or stop when they get treated for reflux, or some other cause of underlying discomfort, or for something that is impairing their ability to communicate and leaving them frustrated. And children with developmental disabilities and autism also often have tantrums, so it’s important to assess the child’s general development. “My son, who has grown up to be quite a nice lad, used to have really, really bad temper tantrums,” Dr. Carlson said. “He would scream and yell and throw his shoes. It would last about 45 minutes.” She would put him in his room, “and then he would come out, he would tell me he was mad and sad.” She worried about it, she said, and she thought it was abnormal. “He turned out to have A.D.H.D., it wasn’t just a normal kid being a little bit delayed outgrowing the terrible 2s,” she said. “He had a developmental condition, and the oppositionality and poor anger management were among the signs.” So if tantrums are frequent or aggressive (hitting, kicking, biting, breaking things), parents should by all means get help, rather than blaming themselves. If you find yourself changing family routines or avoiding triggers out of terror that you’ll provoke a tantrum, that’s another sign that you should seek help. And finally, if an experienced day care provider or preschool teacher says these tantrums are something out of the ordinary, take that seriously, though a healthy typical child can certainly have an occasional nuclear meltdown, and many of us have terrible memories of one public agony or another. But if it’s happening regularly, talk to your pediatrician, think about possible medical problems, and get a referral to someone experienced in early childhood who can evaluate the child for mental health issues — a child psychiatrist or psychologist or developmental specialist. To say that extreme tantrums may be a sign of something else is only to say that that child — and those parents — may need some extra help, and the sooner the better. Continue reading the main storyHealth via NYT > Health http://ift.tt/2koaaw3 October 30, 2017 at 05:36AM
Personal Health: Trying the Feldenkrais Method for Chronic Pain
http://ift.tt/2zR6707 In her book, she recounts the experience of Courtney King, who first experienced crippling back spasms in her late 20s. Ms. King was taking several dance classes a week and practicing yoga, and she thought the stress of these activities might be causing the pain in her tight, inflexible back. But after a number of Feldenkrais sessions, she told Ms. Ramin, “I realized that the pain had more to do with the way I carried myself every day.” Even after just one session, I understood what she meant. When I make a point of walking upright and fluid, sitting straight, even cooking relaxed and unhurried, I have no pain. The slow, gentle, repetitive movements I practiced in a Feldenkrais group class helped foster an awareness of how I use my body in relation to my environment, and awareness is the first step to changing one’s behavior. One common problem of which I’m often guilty is using small muscles to accomplish tasks meant for large, heavy-duty ones, resulting in undue fatigue and pain. The group class, called Awareness Through Movement, was followed by an individual session called Functional Integration with a therapist that helped to free tight muscles and joints that were limiting my motion and increasing my discomfort. Using gentle manipulation and passive movements, the therapist individualized his approach to my particular needs. The ultimate goal of both sessions is, in effect, to retrain the brain – to establish new neural pathways that result in easy, simple movements that are physiologically effective and comfortable. Although the Feldenkrais method was developed in the mid-20th century, neurophysiologists have since demonstrated the plasticity of the brain, its ability to form new cells, reorganize itself and, in effect, learn new ways to do things. The beauty of Feldenkrais lessons is that they are both relatively low-cost (group classes average $15 to $25, individual sessions $100 to $200) and potentially accessible to nearly everyone. There are more than 7,000 teachers and practitioners working in 18 countries, including large numbers in the United States. You can be any age, strength, fitness level and state of well-being to participate. The exercises are slow, gentle and adjustable to whatever might ail you. Their calming effect counters the stress that results in contracted muscles, tightness and pain. Feldenkrais practitioners like Marek Wyszynski, director of the New York center, typically start professional life as physical therapists. They then undergo three years of training to become certified in the Feldenkrais method. Mr. Wyszynski explained that he starts by observing how patients are using their skeletons – how they sit, stand and walk in ways that may cause or contribute to their pathology, be it spinal disc disease, arthritis, shoulder pain or damaged knee joints. In accordance with Dr. Feldenkrais’s astute observation, “If you don’t know what you are doing, you can’t do what you want,” patients are then given a clear sensory experience of how their posture and behavior contribute to their pain and physical limitations. For example, some people may use excessive force, clench their teeth, hold their breath or rush, causing undue muscle tension and skeletal stress. Years ago, I realized that my frequent headaches resulted from an unconscious habit of clenching my jaw when I concentrated intently on a task like sewing or cooking. Feldenkrais teachers do not give formulas for a proper way of behaving; rather, they rely on their patients’ ability to self-discover and self-correct. Once aware of their counterproductive habits, students are given the opportunity to experience alternative movements, postures and behaviors and, through practice, create new habits that are less likely to cause pain. Mr. Wyszynski told me that there are more than 1,000 distinct Feldenkrais lessons currently available, most of which involve everyday actions like reaching, getting up from a chair, turning, bending and walking. As a mechanical engineer and physicist, Dr. Feldenkrais understood that the job of the human skeleton was to accommodate the effects of gravity in order to remain upright. And he wanted people to achieve this in the most efficient way possible. Using two tall foam cylinders, one perched on top of the other, Mr. Wyszynski demonstrated a guiding principle of the Feldenkrais method. When the top cylinder was centered on the bottom one, it stood in place without assistance. But when it was off center, perched near the edge of the bottom cylinder, it tipped over. If instead of cylinders these were someone’s skeletal parts that were askew, tightened muscles would have to keep the patient from falling over. As Mr. Wyszynski explained, “Good posture allows the skeleton to hold up and support the body without expending unnecessary energy despite the pull of gravity. However, with poor posture, the muscles are doing part of the job of the bones, and with poor skeletal support, the muscles have to remain contracted to prevent the body from falling.” Continue reading the main storyHealth via NYT > Health http://ift.tt/2koaaw3 October 30, 2017 at 05:36AM |
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