ROUND-UP: BIRD FLU (continued)
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**1. BROOK K. BAKER, professor at the NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY School of Law and an expert on access to and affordability of medicines: "The United States' planned, domestically oriented response to the growing risk of a global bird flu pandemic is shortsighted and, ultimately, self-defeating. U.S. decision- makers must act to ensure that proactive measures are available on a global scale to quickly intervene with effective medicines, health care, and public health policies in each and every place a flu outbreak may occur. Ensuring that local communities in other areas of the world have surveillance capacity, sufficient quantities of affordable and effective medicines, and robust, distributed health care systems so that they can detect, treat and contain an incipient outbreak conveys 'herd protection' to the larger global community, including the U.S.
**2. BILL BONNER, founder and president of AGORA PUBLISHING, which publishes newsletters focusing on finance, health and travel, can discuss the lengths people could go to in order to protect themselves from diseases like bird flu: "At the time of the Great Plague, some people in Europe believed the disease was caused by foul air; many built high walls around their houses to keep out the bad breezes. Others went about flogging themselves with whips; they thought the malady was brought on by sin, which could only be relieved by punishment."
**3. DAN DWIGHT, CEO of KRONOS ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES, a new air-purification technology that helps prevent the airborne spread of viruses and recently completed testing at Washington University in St. Louis, can speak about what is being done in the technology arena to help prevent the airborne spread of avian flu, should a pandemic occur.
ROUND-UP: COMBATING OBESITY (continued)
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**1. STEPHEN J. VIRGILIO, professor and director of graduate studies at ADELPHI UNIVERSITY: "Childhood obesity can be avoided with early intervention. Children experiencing and learning the benefits of physical activity and healthful living at ages two through six will develop positive behaviors that may last well into adulthood. But no one parent, grandparent or teacher can do it alone. To have a lasting effect on our children's health, we need the help of the people children value most in their lives."
**2. MICHELE GUERRA, Active Living Partners director at HUMAN KINETICS PUBLISHERS: "Getting people off the couch involves more than just telling them to. People need to learn how to make physical activity and healthy eating part of their daily habits. This involves lifestyle change strategies like realistic goal setting, identifying barriers to healthy behaviors, recognizing the benefits, rewarding healthy behaviors and recovering from lapses."
**3. MITCH WALD, president of SPORT HEALTH, the Washington, D.C., area's largest health club company: "It's critical to instill healthy habits in young people -- habits that can be used for entire life spans. Being fit can be as much fun as it is critical to one's well-being."
ROUND-UP: BREAST CANCER AWARENESS (continued)
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**1. CYNTHIA LOUSIE DROGULA, M.D., medical director and breast surgeon at The Aiello Breast Center at BALTIMORE WASHINGTON MEDICAL CENTER: "October is a good month to begin the habit of monthly self breast exams. Although many women are quite diligent about checking their breasts, most are not. Some women find it hard to remember to do the monthly check up. Other women are frightened because 'everything feels like a lump.' Still, other women are uncomfortable touching their breasts. The benefit is real, however, as most breast lumps are discovered by the woman herself. Women who perform regular breast self exams can find lumps much smaller than women who do not."
_____LEADS
**1. ALTERNATIVE HEALTH: NATURAL OPTIONS FOR MANAGING JOINT PAIN. DR. JASON THEODOSAKIS, M.D., international best selling author of "The Arthritis Cure," arthritis expert, assistant clinical professor at the UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA College of Medicine, and preventive and sports medicine clinician at the CANYON RANCH MEDICAL DEPARTMENT: "Joint pain shouldn't limit someone's daily activities. There are safe, effective and cost-efficient natural options that are gaining major momentum and acceptance among athletes, baby boomers and the medical community. Simple exercises, antioxidant-rich diets and natural supplements, such as glucosamine, chondriotin and MSM, can reduce pain, help rebuild cartilage and improve joint flexibility and mobility."
**2. DERMATOLOGY: NEW ECZEMA DRUGS -- TO USE OR NOT TO USE? JOSHUA L. FOX, M.D., FAAD of ADVANCED DERMATOLOGY PC: "Topical immunomodulators (TIMs), the first new class of drugs in over 40 years to treat eczema, were hailed as revolutionary treatments when they were first marketed, offering new hope to the 15 million Americans suffering from this chronic, unsightly skin condition. Today, these miracle prescription creams are under assault because of data suggesting they may increase the risk of cancer. In March 2005, the FDA issued an advisory warning that animal tests had shown an increase in cancer with the use of TIMs. I advise patients to reserve Elidel and Protopic as last-resort treatments and, if necessary, to consider using them for only a short period of time and/or intermittently, to use the lowest doses needed to control your symptoms, and not to use TIMs with a weakened or compromised immune system or a history of lymphoma or leukemia."
**3. HEALTH: FALL YARD WORK WITHOUT THE BACK PAIN. SCOTT BAUTCH, DC, a doctor of chiropractic and member of the AMERICAN CHIROPRACTIC ASSOCIATION, can discuss ways to help prevent the needless pain often caused by yard work: "Before you reach for your rake this fall, consider the possible consequences: upper or lower-back strain, neck strain and pain in the shoulders. In fact, some experts estimate that as many as 80 percent of all Americans will experience a back problem at some time in their lives. The repetitive motion that your body undergoes when working in the yard can bring on a host of mechanical problems. However, there are easy ways to avoid injury and strain."
**4. HEALTH: FINDING A CURE FOR CROHNâ"¢Ë™S DISEASE. DR. FABIO COMINELLI, chief of gastroenterology at the UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA HEALTH SYSTEM and a leading Crohnâ"¢Ë™s expert: "Experts say that more than 600,000 people in the U.S. and millions worldwide suffer from Crohn's, a chronic, often debilitating, disease characterized by ulcerations and inflammatory lesions throughout the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms include severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss and general malaise. Right now there is no cure; available treatments only relieve symptoms and sometimes have significant side effects. Our goal is to discover the cause of spontaneous intestinal inflammation in animals and apply this information to patients, with the final goal of developing a cure for at least a subgroup of patients with Crohn's disease." A $6.2 million federal grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been given to The Digestive Health Center of Excellence at the University of Virginia Health System for another five years to study the cause of Crohnâ"¢Ë™s disease.
**5. HEALTH: NATURAL CARBOHYDRATE CAN HELP LOWER BLOOD SUGAR. JOSEPH LARNER, M.D., Ph.D., professor emeritus and former chairman of the department of pharmacology at the UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA HEALTH SYSTEM, has conducted research on a carbohydrate isolated from the liver that lowers blood sugar levels after it is injected into diabetic rats: "Our team believes this compound, called D-chiro-Inositol-Galactosamine, or INS2, acts as a messenger inside cells to switch on enzymes that regulate blood sugar, taking glucose from the bloodstream into the liver and muscles where it is stored. INS2 is naturally occurring in the body and is found in human blood. Our findings could lead to new drugs to treat Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease. Diabetes is a known risk factor for nerve and kidney damage, stroke, heart disease and blindness, among other complications. Some scientists think the complications are due to modifications in certain proteins and in how genes respond to insulin. We believe this molecule works by sending a message inside the cell to respond to insulin, which helps cells dispose of excess glucose."
**6. HEALTH: PLAN FOR THE UNEXPECTED AND SHARE PLANS WITH FAMILY MEMBERS. DR. LINDA RHODES, gerontologist and author of "Should Mom Be Left Alone? Should Dad Be Driving?": "Almost one quarter of adult Americans are presently caring for or assisting an elderly parent or relative with their activities of daily living. Surprisingly, three out of four senior relatives, however, did not reach out and ask for help from family members, according to a new eldercare survey done by Harris Interactive for Home Instead Senior Care, the world's largest provider of non-medical home care and companionship for aging adults. If you want to receive the kind of care, including non-medical, thatâ"¢Ë™s in your best interest and save your family from conflicts over â"¢Ë˜whatâ"¢Ë™s best for mom or dad,â"¢Ë™ then take a few pro-active steps now. Plan for the unexpected and share your plans with family members now. Unplanned decisions are uninformed decisions, and in the heat of a crisis, they are rarely in anyoneâ"¢Ë™s best interest." News Contact: Laura Giardina, [email protected] Phone: +1-914-241-0086, ext. 20 (10/28/05)
**7. HEALTH: TEMPERATURE-TAKING 101. DR. W. STEVEN PRAY, professor of nonprescription products and devices at SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY, can provide instructions on taking rectal, axillary (underarm), oral and tympanic (ear) temperatures: "Ear, oral, rectal, and underarm digital thermometers are available to determine whether or not you or your child has a fever. Most parents aren't aware that a reading above 98.6 degrees does not necessarily indicate a true fever."
**8. HEALTH: ORAL SEX AMONG TEENAGERS CAN SPREAD HERPES, CHLAMYDIA. MIKE DOMITRZ, founder of THE DATE SAFE PROJECT and an expert on sexual assault: "The act of oral sex among teenagers is a feeding ground for sexual assault and misconduct, not to mention sexually transmitted diseases like herpes and chlamydia. Statistics indicate an increase in oral sex activity among young people, which requires parents and educators to make more of an effort to teach teens not only how to protect themselves properly, but to talk with partners before engaging in this type of activity so that boundaries are respected."
**9. HEALTH INSURANCE: EASING THE CHOKING OF THE HEALTH CARE DOLLAR. EARL STEINBERG, M.D., president and CEO of RESOLUTION HEALTH INC.: "When members of a health plan make the move from prescription to an OTC, and feel confident and comfortable with the switch, health plans, employers and members generate good will and stand to realize significant savings -- ultimately saving $3 million per 100,000 covered lives per year." Resolution Health Inc. recently created SmartSwitch, a coupon-ing system that works with managed care companies and employers in saving a lot of money on medications and, in many cases, switches the consumer from prescription to OTC medication (for non- antihistamine allergy and stomach acid medication).
**10. MENTAL HEALTH: MEMORY LAPSES ARE A GROWING CONCERN FOR ADULTS IN THEIR 30s. CORINNE GEDIMAN, author of "Brainfit: Ten Minutes a Day to a Sharper Mind and Memory": "The brain starts aging in our late 20s, memory peaks at 30, and Alzheimerâ"¢Ë™s disease may start 20 to 50 years before serious symptoms appear. Senior moments, or memory lapses, are on a list of growing health concerns among adults as young as 30."
**11. TREATMENTS: THE BEST TREATMENTS FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS. THEODORE R. FIELDS, M.D., FACP, clinical director of the Gosden-Robinson Early Arthritis Center (EAC) at HOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERY: "There is general agreement among rheumatologists that patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) need to be actively treated to prevent joint damage. In view of the large number of available agents to treat RA, the question of which agent(s) to use first, and whether combinations should be used early, has remained controversial. New research published in the November issue of Arthritis Rheumatism is supportive of early combination therapy, but more research is still needed."
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