Health and Medication

Men have a tendency to take care of their bodies on the outside. They go to the gym, lift weights and do various other exercises that will give them a great physique. But what do they do for their inner bodies? This may be one of the reasons that men come down with diseases that are often preventable with a little knowledge. As men, we need to do a little more research and have an understanding of what we can do to protect our inner bodies.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men. At firdt the symptoms of the disease are asymptomatic; for this reason it is commonly referred to as the silent killer. Prostate cancer has very few early symptoms and those such as trouble urinating or painful ejaculation are also symptoms of much less serious disease such as enlarged prostate.

The function of the prostate is to close the urethra after ejection. It is also essential for ejaculation. There will be more than 200,000 cases of prostate cancer diagnosed this year that will result in over 30,000 deaths. Maintaining good prostate health requires us to have the necessary information available to us. We would like to review a few things that men can do to assure good prostate health.

1. GET SOME EXERCISE

We are all aware that exercise is good for getting our hearts pumping, lowering cholesterol and protecting us from heart attacks and strokes. But, did you know that exercise can also protect us from some forms of cancer, especially prostate cancer? Research has shown that men who maintain a daily exercise schedule have a 75% less chance of developing cancer and heart disease than men who do not participate in a regular program.

By participating in exercise you get the blood flowing to your vital organs. This has a beneficial effect because it enhances the exchange of nutrients and helps with the elimination of waste products from our cells and tissues. It can also keep our weight under control further reducing the risks of some types of cancers. Stronger muscles also generate better blood flow and circulation to our cells and tissues.

2. EAT A HEALTHY DIET

When we eat a diet high in vegetables and low in saturated fats we are actually reducing the risks of some forms of cancer. Scientists don’t know why but men that eat a diet high in red meat are more likely to get prostate cancer. Some feel that there may be fats in red meat that are harmful to the prostate and others feel that chemicals produced during grilling may be responsible. It may also be that increasing the amount of red meat one consumes reduces the amount of fruits and vegetables we eat.

It is recommended that we eat 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Research has shown that men who follow this type of diet have much lower rates of cancer than men who do not. While consuming this many servings a day may be difficult for many, supplementation is also an option. Free radicals in the body have been shown to convert normal healthy cells into cancerous ones. For these reason tomatoes based products are particularly useful. They contain a high amount of Lycopene which is a powerful antioxidant that can reduce the number of free radicals in our bodies.

3. SPEAK TO YOUR DOCTOR

Screening is an important part of prevention. This involves looking for signs of the disease before symptom arise. There are a few ways this can be done now and your doctor will be able to suggest the one that best fits your situation. This is the time when treatment will be most effective.

He or she will be able to access any risk factors such as family history or race and put you on a screening schedule suited for your particular situation.

In conclusion, while prostate cancer can be a killer there are things that we can easily do to reduce the risk of us contracting it. The added benefit of some of the things suggested above is that they are also positives to your overall health in general. Just by reducing the risk of chronic heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancers with some simple lifestyle changes we can all live longer and healthier lives.

The idea of a World War was something that couldn’t be imagined prior to the 20th century. Then we had two world wars in a matter of 35 years. The number of people killed in the wars was staggering. The fact that people continued to die for forty or fifty years after the end of World War II was all the more shocking until the cause was discovered.

Asbestos has long been considered a miracle material of sort. It is highly resistant to heat, which makes it a great insulator and fire wall wherever heat and electricity are found. This was a known fact for hundreds of years, but never really led to its use in a major way. Then World War II rolled around. Despite being the second of the two huge wars, it was the first that involved a really massive production of military materials. This led to the widespread use of asbestos and a resulting Mesothelioma nightmare.

Hawaii notwithstanding, the World War II battle arena was in other countries ranging from Europe to much of Asia. This necessitated the movement of resources across vast stretches of the ocean. This in turn called for the construction of a huge number of transport ships to move the resources as well as naval ships to protect them and dominate the seas. To achieve this, ships were put on the fast track in construction.

The war effort saw hundreds of thousands flow into factories and docks to help. In the case of ship building, this meant a hoard of people willing to do just about anything to speed up production. A Liberty cargo ship took only two weeks to build at Kaiser Shipyards at one point. The problem was many shortcuts were taken to make this happen, many that exposed the workers to massive health risks.

Asbestos is a cause of Mesothelioma. In the construction of the various types of ships being created, the workers used everything from rope to gloves to caulking to insulation and so on that incorporated asbestos as their key material component. The war is long over, but it is now believed as many as 100,000 died from Mesothelioma and lung cancer caused by this exposure to asbestos. As a mater of comparison, there were roughly 10,000 casualties of which 2,500 died for the Allies on D-Day.

Mesothelioma is a horrible disease and it is a bit shocking that our government would so hastily expose hundreds of thousands to its ravages. The story of asbestos use without notice is a ghastly one that has been repeated throughout history.

Let’s acknowledge that pornography can be good for some people. Couples going through a hard time sexually are often prescribed pornography as a way of reengaging and rejuvenating their sex lives. And some people are voyeuristic, and get turned on watching others. But if your man thinks that the reel-life he’s seeing should be anything like your real-life in the bedroom, then there’s a problem.

Here are 6 wrong lessons from the porn industry:

1. Women are always ready. Porn is flawed right from the time you hit Play on the DVD player. While there are women who are ready for sex at the drop of a hat, most require some kind of effort besides eloquent, smooth lines like, “You ready?” or “How about some?” Do men really think that a line like “Wanna bump uglies?” is going to get them in the mood? It’s going to take a little more than that to get a woman to relax enough to forget about work stress, money worries, the kids, boring chores and everything else that is preying on her mind.

2. All women want to do anything for the man, while he provides a bare minimum. This is highlighted in every movie and in every scene. 99 percent of sex scenes start with …. (wait for it) … a —– . Of course … because she’s been sitting around all day just waiting to perform that act.

3. Foreplay is not necessary. No need for all that pesky foreplay — kissing is overrated, ambiance is unnecessary, creating any kind of a mood is just a waste of time. Just give it to me now! Sometimes a quickie is just what a woman wants, but every time? No way!

4. Everything on a woman is … uh … “accessible”... and she wants you to do whatever you want to her body. Yeah, right. Sure. Women want no ambience, no foreplay, no attraction to their partners, and no privacy as a man inserts his various extremities and pounds every possible bodily opening (perhaps without any lubrication). Please…

5. Nipples are there specifically for men to abuse. In porn land, pounding, pulling, pinching, twisting and prodding obsessively — with ever-increasing intensity — on the most sensitive of a woman’s body parts will earn men extra points. Can we please acknowledge that there is a real difference between aggressive sex and clumsy, seventh-grade experimentation? Some women are into pain and kink … but not all. (A clearer definition: Erotic might be a feather … Kinky is the whole chicken.)

6. All women are naturally attracted to other women. Ah yes … the Holy Grail of sex for men: The threesome. There’s nothing wrong if she’s into it, but you won’t catch most women hanging out a with a friend, dressed as secretaries (or school girls, or teachers, or bikini-wearing “housewives”) with blue eye shadow and sticky red lip gloss, waiting for the guy to come home (or knock on the door with a pizza delivery) so they can do him together.

These examples showcase the massive disconnect between what most women really want, and what men are being exposed to on a constant basis. If men are being turned on by an ever-increasing selfishness in bed, it’s no wonder sex lives are suffering (which I’m not just assuming … I’ve been told). I’m not suggesting that sex needs to be candles, soft music and aromatherapy every time, but assuming all women want these things is B.S.; there’s just no other term for it. And I’m also not suggesting that men should be doing all the work to create the mood, but I would suggest that there are rewards to be reaped for reading the scene, creating the right environment, and moving slowly … ending in a fever pitch.

Seduction is not over-rated … and it starts way before you enter the bedroom.

Based on my experiences talking to some people on this theme, I found a general consensus that cleaning the house can improve ones mental health. It may be in the “ordering” of things. When the brain starts to dip in a depression or soar in anxiety or mania, order helps. I talked to a woman who described her mania as soldiers marching on a bridge. When it seems they were not breaking their steps enough, she trued cleaning with her steam cleaner. For her, it was better than medication. She told me she valued medication and would never disobey the doctor and stopped taking it. Nonetheless, she felt a marked calm in here mood and her focus when she engaged in a cleaning activity. To me, this assertion needs little scientific proof. I get very calm after a good clean and besides that, I get a clean house out of the therapeutic activity. How can you miss? How about you? Do you find that cleaning the house elevates your mood?

The term “swine flu” can now cause a great fear among people. People often consider swine flu as not a regular flu. The fact is swine flu is just an influenza virus. By this, I mean it’s just another type of flu virus just like that causes our typical seasonal flu symptoms.

Somehow, the current swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is new and most of us don’t have any immunity to it. That is what made it so easy for it to become a pandemic virus (have the ability to cause a global outbreak), because it could easily spread from person-to-person.

Swine Flu Symptoms

Like seasonal flu, according to the CDC, swine flu symptoms infections can include:

• fever, which is usually high, but unlike seasonal flu, is sometimes absent
• cough
• runny nose or stuffy nose
• sore throat
• body aches
• headache
• chills
• fatigue or tiredness, which can be extreme
• diarrhea and vomiting, sometimes, but more commonly seen than with seasonal flu

Signs of a more serious swine flu infection might include pneumonia and respiratory failure.

Serious Swine Flu Symptoms

More serious symptoms that would indicate that a child with swine flu would need urgent medical attention include:

• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish or gray skin color
• Not drinking enough fluids
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

Find out more about swine flu symptoms in the link below.

Protect your family. Read The Truth About Swine Flu

As the first stage of swine flu or H1N1 vaccine crosses the country, more than a third of parents don’t want their children get vaccinated, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll. They are quite afraid about the new vaccine’s side effects — nothing serious has turned up in tests so far though — while others say swine flu doesn’t amount to any greater health threat than seasonal flu.

“I will not be first in line in October to get my son vaccinated,” a mother said in an interview last month. “We’re talking about putting an unknown into him. I can’t do that.” She said the vaccine is too new and too untested.

The AP poll learned that 38 percent of parents said they were unlikely to give permission for their children to be vaccinated at school.

The belief that the new vaccine could be risky is one federal health officials have been fighting from the start, and they plan an unprecedented system of monitoring for side effects. They note that swine flu vaccine is made the same way as seasonal flu vaccines that have been used for years. And no scary side effects have turned up in tests on volunteers, including children.

The AP poll, conducted October 1-5, found 72 percent of those surveyed are worried about side effects, although more than half say that wouldn’t stop them from getting the vaccine to protect the children from the new flu.

Giving flu shots to schoolchildren is also an idea many parents are still getting used to. It was only last year that the government recommendation kicked in for virtually all children to get it. Seasonal flu vaccination rates for children last year ranged from about 48 percent for toddlers to about 9 percent for teens.

It traditionally takes a while for parents to learn about and accept a new vaccine and years for immunization rates to grow, said Dr. Matthew Davis, a University of Michigan Medical School associate professor who has overseen polling on flu issues.

Special swine flu vaccination clinics at schools are being planned in many states. Children are the main spreaders of infectious disease, and if large numbers are coming down with swine flu, there are ripple effects for everyone else.

The AP poll found 59 percent are likely to let their kids be vaccinated at school. But the kind of concerns voiced by parents could put a dent in public health efforts.

A survey Davis directed for C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Michigan suggested one reason for rejecting the vaccine is that about half of parents said they did not consider swine flu any worse than the seasonal bug.

Some recall the 1976 swine flu immunization campaign that vaccinated 40 million Americans against an epidemic that never materialized. Worse, many who got the shots back then filed injury claims blaming health problems on the vaccine, with some reporting a paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Health officials did not find evidence the vaccine caused the condition, noting it occurs naturally anyway and would be bound to show up in such a large group. Many people were unjustifiably blaming all sorts of health problems on the vaccine, some health experts believe.

That’s why the government is already trying to educate people about how common many health problems are, and why it’s handing out cards telling people how to report any side effects.

For some parents, fears are compounded by worries about thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that will be in roughly 60 percent of the 225 million swine flu doses ordered for Americans.

The preservative is not in the FluMist nasal spray, which can be given to healthy kids age 2 and older. But it’s in many injectable doses, which are packaged in multi-dose vials that require thimerosal to prevent bacterial contamination.

Fears that the preservative or something in vaccines themselves can lead to autism remain entrenched in some quarters — despite no evidence from the most rigorous scientific studies.

Some autism advocacy groups echo parents’ concerns about swine flu vaccine, and also argue it’s a bad idea to spend so much time and money on the new flu.

“We’re flipping out over swine flu, but it’s only affected a few thousand people. Why isn’t somebody freaking out about the autism epidemic?” said Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association.

Vaccine makers are sensitive to demand for preservative-free shots. Parents can ask their doctors to order preservative-free, single-dose vaccine for their kids, said Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

As for his own two school-age children, Frieden said in a recent interview: “I would have no hesitation about getting my kids vaccinated by thimerosal-containing vaccines.”

Health officials and many parents are strong believers in the vaccine, and warn about the potential dangers of a virus that has caused at least 9,000 U.S. hospitalizations and at least 600 deaths, including 60 children.

Jennifer Barnes enrolled herself and her two children in one of the government studies of the new vaccine, seizing an opportunity to get them all immunized before the illness became widespread.

“I thought, ‘This is an opportunity to get the kids vaccinated, and I better jump on it,’” said Barnes, 32, a speech language pathologist who lives in Decatur, Ga.

Barnes said she gets her kids vaccinated against flu each year not only for their own health but to protect others. “My kids hang around kids who might have lowered immune systems. I would hate for them to get something and pass it on,” she said.

Shea said she appreciates those arguments, but she’s hesitated to talk about swine flu vaccine with other parents, who seem polarized on the topic. “There’s the crunchy granola group” against flu vaccinations, she said, “and the very staunch, follow everything group” who extol them.

She also worries that swine flu could become more widespread and dangerous than it is now. If that happens, she said, she would probably try to get her son vaccinated, though she’s aware there are risks in waiting, too.

“It’s one of those things where you’re almost damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” she said.

The AP-GfK poll was based on a nationally representative sample of 1,003 adults age 18 or older, contacted by telephone on land lines and cell phones. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for all adults, 5.2 percentage points for parents.

Find more updates about Swine Flu Vaccine in the link below.

Protect your family. Read The Truth About Swine Flu

Swine flu vaccine first doses are being administered in the United States today, at first targeting health-care workers as the country’s biggest influenza prevention program seeks to slow the pandemic.

Among the first to have AstraZeneca Plc’s nasal spray vaccine are doctors and hospital workers in Marion County, Indiana, and Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee. About 600,000 tubes will be shipped by tomorrow, with shots coming later this week totaling 6 million to 7 million doses, said Bill Hall, spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department.

Swine flu, or H1N1, is spreading widely in most U.S. states. The first H1N1 vaccines will be targeted at health-care workers, children, pregnant women and people with chronic conditions that put them at risk for complications. While the U.S. has ordered doses to cover all Americans, only half of U.S. adults plan to get the vaccine, according to a Harvard University poll.

“This is uncharted territory for an influenza season; we’ve already had many millions of cases, and we will have many millions of cases more,” Thomas Frieden, head of the Atlanta- based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told members of Congress on September 29. “Over the next several weeks, there will be some vaccine in the system, but there will also be some roughness as it gets distributed.”

Most adults, including the elderly, should wait until abundant supplies of vaccine arrive, according to CDC recommendations. About 40 to 50 million vaccines will be ready to ship next week, Hall said.

Same Procedure

The H1N1 vaccines are made with the same ingredients, dose and manufacturing process as the seasonal influenza vaccine given to 100 million Americans each year, Frieden said at the hearing in Washington. The H1N1 vaccine is more effective than some seasonal shots because the virus hasn’t mutated and matches the vaccine, he said.

Individual states will decide how initial vaccine doses are distributed, said Anne Schuchat, head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC. Many areas will focus on inoculating health- care workers in the initial days when supply is most limited, she said.

Sixty children have died from H1N1 since April in the U.S.. That’s more than die in an entire season in some years, Schuchat said in an interview October 2.

“We went as fast as we could without taking shortcuts,” with vaccine testing and production, said Bruce Gellin, director of the National Vaccine Program Office at the HHS Department. “I have an 11-year-old son, and I would like to have him protected.”

Surging Cases

Hospitals in the Northern Hemisphere are bracing for a surge of cases in coming weeks, spurred by colder weather that promotes spread of the flu. While a majority of people infected with H1N1 have similar symptoms as the seasonal flu – cough, fever, sore throat, aches and fatigue – a small number of otherwise healthy people develop life- threatening disease.

Cases spiked when students returned to classes in September, and U.S. flu rates are currently higher than the February peaks of two of the last three seasons, according to CDC surveillance data. The illness swept through college campuses, with more than 27,000 potential cases reported out of 3.2 million students tracked by the American College Health Association. Last week, 6,527 new cases were reported at colleges, down 19 percent from the previous week.

Swine flu is responsible for more than 600 U.S. deaths since the virus was identified in April, Schuchat said. Cases of severe illness occurred during spring and summer months when flu typically doesn’t spread in the U.S.

Pregnant Women

Pregnant women are especially at risk. More than 100 pregnant women have been hospitalized in intensive care units, and 28 have died, Schuchat said. The H1N1 shot is recommended for pregnant women, though the nasal spray isn’t, she said.

Each year, influenza kills about 36,000 people. The majority of deaths are in people older than age 80, according to the CDC. In contrast, swine flu attacks children hardest, while older people have some immunity, probably from exposure early in life to a virus that was genetically similar to the new H1N1, according to the National Institutes of Health, which conducted the vaccine tests.

The U.S. government took the unusual step of buying all of the H1N1 vaccines and is funneling them through San Francisco- based McKesson Corp., the biggest U.S. distributor of drugs and medical supplies. States, health departments and large cities can order the vaccine through a CDC website, and the U.S. plans to distribute them directly to 90,000 doctors’ offices, pharmacies and school- based vaccination programs.

Poll Results

About 53 percent of adults said they plan to get vaccinated, with 41 percent saying they won’t and 6 percent saying they’re not sure, according to a telephone poll of 1,042 people conducted by Harvard University School of Public Health from September 14 to 20. About 70 percent of parents said they will get the H1N1 vaccine for their children.

New York became the first state this year to require health-care workers to get the swine flu vaccine. Health-care workers are at high risk for getting the flu and passing it to their patients and families, said the CDC’s Frieden, who was formerly New York City health commissioner. Frieden told Congress the CDC may consider a federal mandate for future flu seasons.

“I object to the government telling me what shots I’ve got to take,” said Gail Sloan, a registered nurse in the emergency room at A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital in Oneonta, New York. “The vaccine has been pushed by drug companies and I don’t think it has been fully tested.”

Sloan was one of more than 200 demonstrators Sept. 29 outside the capitol building in Albany carrying signs such as “NYS Health Workers Are Not Lab Rats.”

Dead Virus

Flu shots are made from dead virus samples that trigger the body into producing protective antibodies to fight off future infections. They’re approved for everyone older than 6 months, and enough doses of the swine flu vaccine will be available in the coming months for anyone who wants one, according to the CDC. Possible side effects include soreness where the shot was given, low-grade fever and aches.

The nasal vaccine is made from a genetically weakened form of the virus and is approved for people ages 2 to 49, excluding pregnant women and people with breathing difficulties such as asthma. Side effects are similar and may also include runny nose, wheezing, cough or headache. It’s impossible to contract the flu from either vaccine, the CDC’s Frieden said.

For the seasonal and swine flu vaccines, children under age 10 require two doses to prime and boost their immune systems.

The vaccines are free, though doctors and pharmacies may charge a fee to administer them. Some health departments are setting up free centers to administer the vaccine, and New York is offering shots free to children with consenting parents.

Seasonal Flu Shot

A separate vaccine against the seasonal flu is now available in the U.S., though Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis SA reported delays that are causing shortages in some U.S. areas. Sanofi is “a few weeks” behind schedule, and has distributed more than half of its allocated 50.5 million doses to the U.S., spokeswoman Donna Cary said in an e-mail last week.

About 70 million doses have been shipped across the U.S., more than is typical for this time of year, and any shortages should be temporary, the CDC’s Schuchat said. The seasonal flu shot doesn’t help against swine flu, she said.

Vaccine suppliers Sanofi, London-based AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline Plc; Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG and CSL Ltd. of Australia are making 114 million seasonal flu doses, and 251 million swine flu doses for the U.S., according to HHS. About 10 percent of the H1N1 supply will be donated to poor countries, according to the department.

The new H1N1 influenza strain has killed at least 3,917 people worldwide and spread to 191 countries and territories.

Hundreds of people walked to get the word out about the importance of breast cancer awareness in downtown Bakersfield and at the park at River Walk on Thursday. Dozens of people laced up their walking shoes to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

It’s also a fundraiser to raise money so that local women under the age of 40 can get mammograms and ultra sounds if they need it.

Event participants were treated to lunch for showing their support.

Meanwhile All Tennessee’s Chris Johnson needs to complete his outfit for Sunday’s game against Jacksonville in a pink mouthpiece.

The Titans running back has the pink gloves and his pink shoes should arrive Friday. Johnson, one of four or five players on each NFL team wearing pink during National Breast Cancer Awareness month, doesn’t have a personal connection to the disease. He says it doesn’t matter if pink isn’t a manly football color, “it’s about breast cancer. You’re supporting them.”

Johnson, the AFC’s leading rusher with 351 yards, also leads the NFL in total yards from scrimmage with 457. He says his new shoes are mostly pink with some white thrown in. He says he won’t wear them until game day, he doesn’t “want to get them dirty.”

New York will receive its first swine flu vaccine doses next week, with many reserved for health care workers, including those opposed to the state’s requirement to get vaccinated.

Upstate New York will have about 100,000 doses and New York City will get about 80,000, according to the state Department of Health. Health officials will place orders for the first round of vaccinations Wednesday.

“We’re going into a third flu season in one calendar year,” said Dr. Richard Daines, the state commissioner of health. “And there’s a lesson there. Every time flu rips through our system it creates harm.”

Priority will be given to those the CDC – Centers for Disease Control’s considers at high risk. That includes health care workers, pregnant women, children and young adults and people between ages 25 and 64 who have health conditions that could lead to medical complications from the flu. New York will be getting only the mist vaccine in its first order. That particular type is not recommended for pregnant women or people with underlying health conditions.

Later, the state will have vaccinations that are injected. New York state has about 10 million people who fit the priority groups, according to the state Health Department.

The first wave will be distributed to all 57 county health departments and to about 150 hospitals and health centers. Outside of New York City, 2,900 health care offices and hospitals have registered ahead to order the vaccine, which will be released in waves. It will also be made available on college campuses and pharmacies.

Each health facility will be able to decide how to distribute the doses, as long as it starts with people on the priority list.

CDC estimates that it will have provided states with 186 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine by January 2010. New York officials expect the state to receive 6.7 million doses for upstate and 5 million doses for the city.

New York is the first state to mandate flu vaccinations for health care workers.

Hospitals, home care agencies, and outpatient clinics will have to determine how to enforce the requirement. It’s unclear what that would involve, but some health workers opposed to inoculation are concerned they could lose their jobs if they refuse.

“No one likes to be told what to do, and we have to persuade and lead by example,” Daines said.

The state Health Department said New York has about 500,000 health workers who would qualify for the mandatory inoculation. They must be vaccinated by November 30, unless a shortage of vaccine makes that impossible.

“We don’t feel the government should have the right to force us to put any substance – whether or not the government feels it’s safe – into our body,” said Laura Ally, a critical care nurse at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany.

She spoke at a rally outside the Capitol where more than 100 people opposed to the vaccination requirement were protesting. The event included 20 nurses from the Poughkeepsie area. It wasn’t clear how many protesters were health care workers, because organizers declined to say which groups were behind the event. Some said they were from the New York Liberty Council. The group describes itself as a “coalition of liberty minded groups, uniting to bring about positive, Constitution-minded change to our state and federal government.”

The U.S. government is rushing to deliver H1N1 swine flu vaccine to states on or around Oct. 15. Vaccination likely will take two shots given three weeks apart. No protection is expected until two to four weeks after the second shot – around Thanksgiving for those who start vaccination in mid-October.

You are on the front line of this fall’s flu fight then. It’s going to be up to you to try not to catch the flu. And if you do catch the flu, it’s going to be up to you to try not to infect anyone else. It is essential for people to make plans, because U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will not have a vaccine available for a few months.

The first part of the plan is to avoid infection:

* Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly. Use soap and warm water when available; use hand sanitizer between hand washings.
* Avoid close contact with sick people. Close contact means getting within 6 feet of a sick person. If you must care for someone who is ill, minimize close contact.
* It’s not known whether face masks protect against infection. If you use one, don’t slack off on hand washing or avoiding close contact with sick people. Use the face mask properly and throw it away after use.
* Get your seasonal flu vaccine as soon as possible. It’s safe, and it protects against the three seasonal flu bugs expected to circulate this fall and winter — even though it won’t protect against H1N1 swine flu.

The second part of the plan is to keep from spreading the swine flu virus:

* Stay home if you are sick.
* Observe flu etiquette. Don’t cough or sneeze into your hands. Cough/sneeze into a tissue — or, failing that, your elbow.
* If you can do so comfortably, wear a face mask if you come into contact with others.
* If you are an employer, do not penalize workers for staying home if sick or for caring for sick children.
* Make plans — now — for what you’d do if you or your children get sick this fall.

If enough people do these things often enough, it will slow the speed at which flu spreads through a community. This actually slows down the pandemic — and buys precious time for vaccination to do its work.

To keep you from getting the misleading information about swine flu Click Here!

Do you need more energy? Below are some simple and surprising, non-caffeinated energy boosters you can do to rev you up…

1. Change your socks. It sounds odd, right? But it works. The idea is to bring an extra pair of socks to your office and sometime around 3 p.m. when you hit your slump, take off your shoes and socks (and maybe air out your feet for a sec if you have a private office; if you don’t, that would be a nada) and then put a fresh pair of socks on. Voila! “You’ll be amazed at how much fresher you’ll feel,” write the Zen Habits bloggers. “This trick is especially handy on days with lots of walking.”

2. Reconsider your workout time. If you tend to work out at night, it might be messing with your sleep. Here’s why: People who work out too close to their bedtimes may flood their brains with stress hormones that can make it hard to fall asleep. A workout doesn’t do a body good when it leaves you sluggish and exhausted the next day because it prevented you from getting enough sleep.

3. Eat chia seeds. Favored by the Aztecs for their energy-boosting qualities, you can add these little seeds (P.S. we’re not talking about the Chia Pet here) to all kinds of snacks and recipes.

4. Sniff some citrus. Past research shows that citrus-scented essential oils or lotions can boost alertness. There, you have an excuse to shop for some grapefruit-scented lotion!

5. Get on your toes. If you’re feeling sleepy at your desk, take the advice of Connie Tyne, executive director of the Cooper Wellness Program in Dallas, who says the best way to wake up your circulatory system is to roll up and down on your toes. As the blood starts flowing, more nourishing oxygen and glucose are transported throughout your body so you feel more energized.

The topic of girls bullying is common and is not new. Many lay books and scholarly journals have addressed the ways “relational aggression – tactics such as exclusion, rumor mongering, and Internet harassment – can damage girls’ self-esteem. But only recently have researchers begun exploring at what bullying does to the bullies themselves. The news is not good.

The Impact of Bullying

In the short term, girl bullies often are rejected by peers and lack meaningful relationships, notes Charisse Nixon, PhD, co-author of Girl Wars: 12 Strategies That Will End Female Bullying and an assistant professor of developmental psychology at Pennsylvania State University in Erie.

In the long term, “these girls learn to manipulate people like chess pieces,” Nixon says. “Unfortunately, this can harm their ability to have meaningful relationships and successful careers.”

Some characteristics of a girl bully are jealousy, feelings of superiority, poor impulse control, and lack of empathy. Nixon believes girls bully when their basic needs of “ABCs, and me” — acceptance (by self), belonging (among others), control, and meaningful existence — are thwarted. “These needs apply to everyone,” she notes, “children and adults.” People will do what they need to do to get those needs met.

Prevent Bullying

Whatever the cause of bullying, researchers are now focusing on prevention – including counseling to get at the root of the need to bully; teaching healthy communication skills; and introducing schoolwide antibullying programs.

What should you do if your daughter is accused of being a bully? Psychologist Charisse Nixon, PhD, offers these tips and advises seeking counseling if the behavior continues.

Discuss perspective. “Developmentally, adolescents often have no idea how their behavior hurts others.”

Model healthy ways of dealing with conflict . “As grown-ups we are often unconscious of the ways we ourselves bully, like the way we gossip behind people’s backs. But girls pick up on all that,” says Nixon.

Make sure her basic needs are being met. These include acceptance and a sense of belonging. “If she’s not getting what she needs, she’ll find a destructive way to cope.”

No antibullying programs — or even caring adults — existed to help my tormentor, Helen, who, I realized later, was having a hard time herself. She had just moved to a new school and her parents were divorced. No doubt she put me down to give her own social standing a leg up. It’s a shame she had no better way.

Mesothelioma is a unique type of cancer. It affects different parts of the mesothelium, a membrane that covers and protects most of the body’s internal organs. Depending upon the organ it covers and protects, the mesothelium has different names and the types of mesothelioma are called after those different membranes.

For instance, the mesothelial tissue, or membrane, surrounding the lungs and lining the wall of the chest cavity is named the pleura. Cancer of this membrane is called pleural mesothelioma.

Human heart is veiled by the pericardium. Cancer of that membrane is called pericardial mesothelioma.

The membrane surrounding most of the organs in the abdominal cavity is known as the peritoneum, so cancer of that membrane is named peritoneal mesothelioma.

No matter which organs of the body it covers, the mesothelium is made up of two layers of cells. The first layer closely surrounds each organ. The second layer forms a sac around it. Between these two layers, the mesothelium produces a lubricating fluid which allows the surrounded organs to move easily. This lubrication allows our lungs to expand and contract effortlessly as we breathe in and out. It also lets our heart beat smoothly.

Pleural mesothelioma

Pleural mesothelioma is caused by malignant (cancerous) tumors which form in the lining of the membrane surrounding the lungs and the chest cavity. Fluid often builds up between the lining of the lung and the chest cavity. This is known as pleural effusion, which often causes shortness of breath and pain.

Pleural mesothelioma is by far the most common form of malignant mesothelioma. Like all forms of mesothelioma, those who’ve been exposed to asbestos for long periods of time – generally by working with or around asbestos or by living near mines or factories where asbestos was processed – are the most likely to develop this type of asbestos mesothelioma. However, family members who inhaled dust bought home on workers’ clothes and people with brief exposures to asbestos can also develop this and other forms of malignant mesothelioma. In all types of mesothelioma, it takes anywhere from 10 to more than 50 years for symptoms to develop.

Symptoms of pleural mesothelioma can resemble pneumonia and other less serious diseases, so it’s important to tell a doctor if you’ve been exposed to asbestos. Symptoms include shortness of breath, constant cough, or chest pain.

Although there is a form of mesothelioma in which benign (non-cancerous) tumors form in the pleura, nearly all cases of pleural mesothelioma are malignant (cancerous).

Peritoneal mesothelioma

Peritoneal mesothelioma, which attacks the tissue surrounding the abdominal area, is much less common than pleural mesothelioma, but it is also caused by breathing in asbestos dust and fibers.

Symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma can include weight loss, abdominal pain and swelling, bowel obstruction, blood clotting abnormalities, anemia, and fever. Just like pleural mesothelioma, the symptoms of peritoneal mesothelioma are similar to those of other less serious conditions or different diseases, which can make it hard to detect, especially if your doctor doesn’t know that you’ve been exposed to asbestos.

Pericardial mesothelioma

Pericardial mesothelioma is an extremely rare form of asbestos mesothelioma. Many of the symptoms are similar to those of pleural mesothelioma: a constant cough, shortness of breath, or chest pain. Palpitations are another symptom. As with the other forms of mesothelioma, these symptoms are similar to those of other diseases, so tell your doctor if you’ve been exposed to asbestos.

In all types of mesothelioma, as with other forms of cancer, the cancer cells can metastasize (spread) from their original site to other parts of the body, leading to other types of cancer.

Even with treatment, the outlook for most people diagnosed with mesothelioma is about 18 months after diagnosis, although some patients have lived for four or more years after diagnosis and treatment. Untreated, the prognosis is often as little as four months.

Until recently, treatment options have been limited, but awareness of the disease and continued research, including clinical trials of new treatments, mean that the outlook for survival is starting to look better.

Never smoke. Take a walk. Leave the junk food. Watch your waistline.

I believe you have heard these advice before. But did you know that if you practice all four of these healthy habits together, you could decrease your chances of developing some of the most common and deadly chronic diseases by nearly 80%?

Researchers reporting in this month’s Archives of Internal Medicine analyzed the health, lifestyles, and diet of 23,513 German adults 35 to 65 years old, starting in the mid-1990s. The study showed that those who had more healthy habits were much less likely to get diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

The analysis included a detailed look at each person’s body weight and height, disease background, food frequency, and how well they followed these four healthy lifestyle habits over the eight-year study period:

* Never smoked
* Exercised at least 3.5 hours per week
* Maintained a body mass index (BMI) under 30
* Followed a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain breads, and limited in meats

Most of the people in the study had at least one healthy habit; only 9% said they followed all four.

After adjusting for risk factors that might influence the development of disease, the researchers learned that those who followed all four healthy habits had a 78% lower risk of developing a chronic condition such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer compared to those who reported none of the healthy habits.

Specifically, in the study, all four of the healthy habits combined were linked to a:

* 93% lower risk of type 2 diabetes
* 81% lower risk of heart attack
* 50% lower risk of stroke
* 36% lower risk of cancer

Researchers say it’s important to adopt and teach healthy habits early in life. Their findings “reinforce current public health recommendations to avoid smoking, to maintain a healthy weight, to engage in physical activity appropriately and to eat adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables and foods containing whole grains and to partake of red meat prudently,” study author Earl S. Ford, MD, MPH, of the CDC, and colleagues write.

The following habits may help you lower your risk of developing chronic diseases. They are listed in order of largest to smallest impact on disease risk, as determined by the recent study.

1. Maintain a healthy weight. Your body mass index should be lower than 30.
2. Never smoke. (But if you already do, you should quit.)
3. Get at least 3.5 hours of exercise every week.
4. Follow a healthy diet. Ask your doctor for recommendations.

Diagnosis of mesothelioma is often hard, because symptoms of mesothelioma are similar to the symptoms of a number of other conditions. Diagnosis mesothelioma starts with the patient’s medical history review. A history of exposure to asbestos may increase clinical suspicion for mesothelioma.

An examination on physical aspects is performed, followed by chest X-ray and often lung function tests. The X-ray may reveal pleural thickening commonly seen after asbestos exposure and increases suspicion of mesothelioma. A CT (or CAT) scan or an MRI is usually done. If there is a large amount of fluid, abnormal cells may be detected by cytology if this fluid is aspirated with a syringe. For pleural fluid this is done by a pleural tap or chest drain, in ascites with an paracentesis or ascitic drain and in a pericardial effusion with pericardiocentesis. While absence of malignant cells on cytology does not completely exclude mesothelioma, it makes it much more unlikely, especially if an alternative diagnosis can be made (e.g. tuberculosis, heart failure).

If cytology is positive or a plaque is regarded as suspicious, a biopsy is needed to confirm a diagnosis mesothelioma. A doctor removes a sample of tissue for examination under a microscope by a pathologist. A biopsy may be performed in different ways, depending on where the abnormal area is located. If the cancer is in the chest, the doctor may perform a thoracoscopy. In this procedure, the doctor makes a small cut through the chest wall and puts a thin, lighted tube called a thoracoscope into the chest between two ribs. Thoracoscopy allows the doctor to look inside the chest and obtain tissue samples.

If the cancer is in the abdomen, the doctor may perform a laparoscopy. To obtain tissue for examination, the doctor makes a small incision in the abdomen and inserts a special instrument into the abdominal cavity. If these procedures do not yield enough tissue, more extensive diagnostic surgery may be necessary.