Health Tips and News Updates

Nutrition needs before pregnancy. Healthy eating  When you are trying to get pregnant it pays to make sure your diet is giving you all the nutrients you need. A healthy diet may improve your chances of conceiving and give your baby a better start. Fad diets or gorging on fast foods won’t do your pre-pregnancy body any favours. A balanced diet with a few special tweaks is the best way forward. If you are either too overweight or underweight it may reduce your chances of getting pregnant, so try to make sure you are at a healthy weight when trying to conceive. "Getting your body into prime condition pre-pregnancy gives your baby the best possible start in life," says British Dietetic Association spokesperson Priya Tew. "There are links between the nutrition a foetus receives in the womb and their health later on in life, with increased risks of some chronic diseases with unhealthy diets," she adds. According to the NHS you are in a healthy weight ra...

Colorado 8-year-old dies after pharmacy allegedly gives him 1,000 times his usual medication dosage for sensory processing disorder Jake Steinbrecher, an 8-year-old boy from Loveland, Colorado, died after a Good Day pharmacist allegedly gave him 1,000 times his usual dosage of his medication. An 8-year-old boy in Colorado died this month after a local pharmacy made a massive error in his medication dosage. Jake Steinbrecher overdosed on his usual medication of Clonidine used to treat his sensory processing disorder — a drug his parents didn't want him to take to begin with. Clonidine is often used to treat high blood pressure as well as ADHD symptoms. "Drugging our child definitely wasn't something we wanted to do," his mother Caroline Steinbrecher told the Daily News. Jake Steinbrecher in the hospital. "The Clonidine was a compromise I could live with, because it was a non-addictive drug," she added. Steinbrecher said that ...

Babies of the opioid epidemic: Bipartisan bill sails through US House. Lisa Collinsworth holds her infant son Luke during an October visit with him at Lily's Place, a treatment center for opioid-dependent newborns in Huntington, W.Va. On May 11, a bill seeking to better support babies born with a dependency on opioid drugs passed unanimously in the US House of Representatives. A bill seeking to better support babies born with a dependency on opioid drugs has passed unanimously in the US House of Representatives. As part of a suite of bills targeting the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation, the US House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation Wednesday to raise the standard of safety planning for children born with a dependency on opiates. A similar bill awaits consideration in the Senate, one of more than a dozen aiming to address the addiction to pain pills and cheap heroin that has swept across the United States. The legislation was born as a result ...

A New Way to Beat AIDS Protease might become a friend instead of foe in fighting HIV When new AIDS virus particles bud from an infected cell, an enzyme named protease activates to help the viruses mature and infect more cells. That’s why modern AIDS drugs control the disease by inhibiting protease. Now, University of Utah researchers found a way to turn protease into a double-edged sword: They showed that if they delay the budding of new HIV particles, protease itself will destroy the virus instead of helping it spread. They say that might lead, in about a decade, to new kinds of AIDS drugs with fewer side effects. PHOTO CREDIT: SHANTI DEEMYAD, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH “We could use the power of the protease itself to destroy the virus,” says virologist Saveez Saffarian, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Utah and senior author of the study released June 9 by PLOS Pathogens, an online journal published by the Public Library of Science. ...

Physical fitness in middle age may lower your risk of stroke after 65 Physical fitness A recently published study has found that physical fitness in middle age could decrease an individual’s chances of stroke post-65. Dr. Ralph Sacco, chairman of neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said that it has been becoming more and clearer that healthy mid-life behaviors bear fruits as we age, and decrease our chances of contracting cardiovascular disease and suffer a stroke. Dr. Sacco wasn’t involved in the study. Researchers analyzed roughly 20,000 adults in their mid to late 40s, and discovered that the fittest had 37% decreased risk of suffering a stroke after 65, in comparison to the most unfit. Fitness’ protective effect stayed even after the researchers considered stroke risk factors, including high blood pressure, type-2 diabetes and an abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation. Lead researcher Dr. Ambarish Pandey, a cardiology fellow at ...

Stroke related death rate three times higher among Black population compared to Whites Death from stroke among black aged between 45 and 54 is three times higher than whites, unveils the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study. Higher risk of death from strokes in blacks is majorly due to more number of such incidents in their population. Above mentioned conclusion has been based on the assessment of stroke incidence and mortality of nearly 30,000 participants over the age of 45. In the last five decades, there has been a decline of around 70% in the stroke mortality rate. Now, stroke is counted as the fifth leading cause of death in the United States.

State issuing Zika prevention kits. The Zika virus is spread mainly through the bite of a tropical mosquito called Aedes aegypti. Virginia health officials are using federal money left over from Ebola prevention and turning it to a different infectious disease threat: the Zika virus. About 10,000 Zika prevention kits have been sent to health departments across the state.

Study Finds Mylan’s ‘Biosimilar’ Drug Comparable to Roche Cancer Medicine Development marks milestone in effort to bring cheaper versions of cancer treatments to market. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. is developing Myl-1201O, which a study showed to be essentially equivalent in safety and effectiveness to Roche Holding AG’s Herceptin. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES Researchers said a drug being developed by Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. proved comparable to Roche Holding AG’s Herceptin in a clinical trial, a new milestone in the effort to bring cheaper versions of some of biotechnology’s best-known cancer drugs to the market. In a study involving a total of 500 patients, Mylan’s drug, called Myl-1401O, was shown to be essentially equivalent in safety and effectiveness to Herceptin, a multibillion-dollar medicine that in the past two decades has transformed treatment for about 25% of breast cancer patients. Mylan’s drug is a so-called biosimilar—the industry’s term for a copy of ...

Clif Bar Is Recalling Multiple Flavors for Listeria Risk Clif Bar's energy and protein bars. Sunflower seeds pose a possible risk. Clif Bar is urging consumers to throw away several of its popular products out of concern that they could be contaminated with listeria. The energy bar maker voluntarily recalled three of its flavors on Thursday after discovering that they contained ingredients supplied by SunOpta STKL 3.01% , which in May recalled many of its sunflower kernels for possible listeria. SunOpta’s move triggered a recall of about 100 snack foods that used its affected kernels, and other protein and granola bar makers have since also issued warnings about their products. Clif Bar’s recall includes its Mojo Mountain trail mix bars, Sierra Trail Mix energy bars, and Nuts & Seeds energy bars, with “best by” dates ranging from this month to 2017. (For the specific dates of the recalled products, see Clif Bar’s full announcement.) The company was not able...

Poultry-linked Salmonella sickens 324 in 35 states Poultry Products In what seems to be an annual occurrence, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday reported a wave of Salmonella infections linked to live poultry, consisting of seven separate outbreaks that have sickened 324 people in 35 states. Investigations have linked the outbreaks to contact with live poultry including chicks and ducklings from multiple hatcheries. Illnesses began in January, and 66 people have been hospitalized. One death has been reported, but the CDC said Salmonella isn't thought to have been a contributing factor. Similar outbreaks last year involving four Salmonella strains sickened at least 252 people in 43 states, and one in 2014 linked to three strains resulted in 363 cases from 43 states and Puerto Rico. States with the highest number of cases are Michigan (34), New York (34), Ohio (33), North Carolina (26), Kentucky (21), and Pennsylvania (20). Public he...

Zika Can Spread Through Oral Sex, Study Says A baby born with microcephaly is examined by a neurologiston Feb. 12, 2016, at the Pedro I hospital in Paraiba state, Brazil. Babies born with microcephaly caused by the Zika virus can suffer from worse eye problems than researchers thought, according to a new study. (FELIPE DANA/AP) A new report from France suggests that the Zika virus can be transmitted through oral sex. Zika is typically spread through the bite of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, but the new case adds to building evidence that the virus may be transmitted through sexual contact more readily than thought. Zika symptoms are typically mild in most people. However, the virus can cause a catastrophic birth defect known as microcephaly in babies born to women who become infected while pregnant. These infants are born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains. In the face of the growing reality of sexual transmission of Zika, U.N. health officials ann...

Antenatal vitamins. Antenatal Vitamins Antenatal vitamins are vitamin and mineral nutritional supplements specially formulated for women who are pregnant, are planning a pregnancy or are breastfeeding. The NHS recommends that women who are planning a pregnancy should be given pre-conception advice which includes information on folic acid and vitamin D supplements. However, the Royal College of Midwives stresses that antenatal vitamins do not take the place of healthy eating.   Antenatal vitamins and supplements information  In some areas, and depending on their eligibility, pregnant women should be able to receive free antenatal vitamins under the Healthy Start scheme. The vitamins provided under the Healthy Start scheme contain vitamin C (70mg/tablet), vitamin D (10 micrograms/tablet) and folic acid (400micrograms/tablet). You should check with your GP or midwife if you qualify for free antenatal vitamins. Folic acid    Folic acid is essenti...

Addiction expert questions recently approved anti-opioid implant The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first-ever implant to fight opioid abuse last week, offering hope amid an epidemic that killed nearly half a million Americans between 2000 and 2015. But some addiction experts are arguing that making the implant commercially available is premature, as questions remain over whether it would do more harm than good. The matchstick-size implant, Probuphine, was developed by Braeburn Pharmaceuticals and Titan Pharmaceuticals, and is designed to release buprenorphine over a period of six months. Buprenorphine is used to treat opioid dependence including narcotic painkillers and heroin. It's part of a class of medications called opioid partial agonist-antagonists and works to prevent withdrawal symptoms when someone stops taking opiod drugs by producing similar effects to these drugs. Probuphine developers say the rod-like device is designed to make th...

Adiposity Linked to Aggressive Prostate Cancer and Death GOTHENBURG, Sweden — Obese men, ie those with a high body mass index (BMI) and large waist circumference, have a greater risk of both high-grade, aggressive prostate cancer and prostate-cancer death than men with normal BMI and waist circumference, new data from a large European study reveals. The study of over 140,000 men from eight countries showed that there was a linear association between BMI and waist circumference and high-grade prostate cancer and prostate-cancer death, with the risks increasing by more than 10% with each stepwise increase in adiposity. Another notable finding from the investigation, which was presented at the European Obesity Summit 2016, was that, paradoxically, the overall risk of prostate cancer was lower for men with a higher BMI and those with a larger waist circumference.

Fewer U.S. teens are giving birth, CDC finds Fewer teens than ever are giving birth in the United States, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The finding is part of a larger trend of women having babies later in life, as birth rates continue to increase among women in their 30s and 40s. The study found that just shy of 230,000 girls age 15 to 19 gave birth in 2015, or 22 for every 1,000 teens, which was an 8% decrease from 2014. The birth rate in this age group has been falling sharply since 2007, and between 2013 and 2014, there was a record decrease of 9%. Even though the decrease in teen births between 2014 and 2015 does not appear to be quite as large as between 2013 and 2014, it is “still quite impressive,” said Brady E. Hamilton, a statistician and demographer at the National Center for Health Statistics who is lead author of the study. Since 2007, the year-to-year decline in teen birth rates has been between 7% and 9%, which is...

Wolf Administration pushes for more funding to combat heroin and opioid epidemic. Human Services Secretary Ted Dallas discusses new effort to combat opiod epidemic Saying it's time to try a new approach to try to combat opiod addiction, Dallas discusses rationale behind Gov. Tom Wolf's proposal to spend $34 million to implement 50 centers to provide more coordinated care that will look not just at addressing...  Some $630 million a year in Medicaid funding goes toward combating the heroin and opioid epidemic in Pennsylvania but the results don't show it making much of a difference, said Human Services Secretary Ted Dallas.  Four out of every five Medicaid recipients with substance abuse addictions are not in treatment even after they overdose, he said. So Gov. Tom Wolf's administration believes it's time to try something different.   That's what the proposed Centers of Excellence, as the administration is calling them, are about. They are places th...

U.S. death rate rises for first time in a decade. The U.S. death rate rose slightly last year -- the first increase in a decade, health officials reported Wednesday. Researchers think the increase is due to a combination of factors. The death rate from heart disease -- the nation's leading killer -- leveled off, instead of dropping the way it usually does. Meanwhile, deaths rates for accidental injuries, stroke, and some other causes increased. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted the numbers Wednesday. They are based on a preliminary look at 2015 death certificates. The overall death rate rose to nearly 730 deaths per 100,000 people last year, from about 723 the year before. The rate has occasionally increased, the last time in 2005. It also increased in 1999, 1993 and 1998. It's too early to say whether 2015 will be another one-year blip or the start of a more lasting trend, said Farida Ahmad, a CDC researcher. A lot may hinge on the heart d...