A look at "broken heart" syndrome

Many believe it was no coincidence that Debbie Reynolds died the day after the death of her daughter Carrie Fisher. Medical experts say "broken heart syndrome" is real, and CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook found one family who experienced a similar loss.

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/a-look-at-broken-heart-syndrome/

Melanoma Rates Rise in South, Midwest

Local sun-safety campaigns may be key to progress against the deadly skin cancer, researchers say

From: http://www.webmd.com/melanoma-skin-cancer/news/20161229/melanoma-rates-rise-in-some-states-fall-in-others?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Cells dripped into brain help man fight deadly cancer

Hospital says the novel treatment helped his immune system attack the disease, shrinking his tumors dramatically

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cells-dripped-into-the-brain-help-man-fight-deadly-cancer/

Making Mayo's Recipes: Lemon Pudding Cake

From: Mayo Clinic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wZQbdNruYQ

An Energizing 10-Minute Morning Yoga Routine

Stretch your body, center your mind, and boost your energy with this beginner-friendly flow.

From: http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/10-minute-morning-yoga-routine?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Fish Oil For Moms May Cut Kids' Asthma Risk

High doses linked to 30 percent drop in children's odds of developing the airway disease, study finds

From: http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/news/20161229/fish-oil-during-pregnancy-may-cut-kids-asthma-risk?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Could Debbie Reynolds have died of a broken heart?

Daughter Carrie Fisher died just the day before; Reynolds’ son Todd Fisher said it was “just too much” for their mother

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/could-debbie-reynolds-have-died-of-a-broken-heart-day-after-carrie-fisher/

Siri and Alexa's future: Health and emotional support?

Ahead of CES 2017, experts weigh the potential of giving voice assistants more health awareness

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/siri-and-alexas-future-health-and-emotional-support/

A 10-Minute Workout to Strengthen Your Whole Body

Start your day with this quick body weight routine from WebMD's chief medical editor Michael Smith, MD.

From: http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/body-weight-workout-video?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Men Don't Know About Risks to Fertility: Survey

It's not commonly known that factors such as obesity, laptop use on lap can affect sperm counts

From: http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/news/20161228/men-dont-know-about-risks-to-fertility-survey-finds?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Millions of Americans may be misusing over-the-counter sleep aids

Lisa Gill from Consumer Reports joins CBSN to discuss their findings on some of the most popular over-the-counter sleep aids and the dangers many Americans could face from misusing them.

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/millions-of-americans-may-be-misusing-over-the-counter-sleep-aids/

Which Habits Really Help You Avoid Colds and Flu?

While some precautions can help you stay healthy, others are a waste of time.

From: http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/features/which-habits-really-help-you-avoid-colds?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Immediate radiation when PSA levels spike after prostate cancer surgery helps reduce risk of recurrence

Following surgery to remove a cancerous prostate gland, some men experience a biochemical recurrence, meaning that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has become detectable in their blood. Since only the prostate releases PSA, removing the gland should drop this protein to undetectable levels in the body. Detecting PSA could signify that prostate cancer cells are lingering, and forming new tumors before they can be seen with modern imaging technology. PSA isn’t always reliable for cancer screening, but it is a very sensitive marker of new cancer growth after initial treatment.

Doctors usually treat biochemical recurrence by irradiating the prostate bed, or the area where the gland used to be. Studies have shown that this treatment, which is called salvage radiation, helps to minimize the risk that prostate cancer will return and spread, or metastasize. But when to initiate salvage radiation has been open question, since PSA will also rise if small amounts of benign prostate tissue have been left behind after surgery. Many times, doctors don’t know if biochemical recurrence is really cancer, so they wait to see if the PSA levels will rise any further.

In October, researchers reported that giving salvage radiation as soon as PSA is detected could substantially reduce the risk of metastasis. “We found that early intervention with radiation could potentially improve cure rates,” said Rahul Tendulkar, M.D., a radiation oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic, and the study’s first author. “There’s no need to wait until PSA crosses an arbitrary threshold.”

Tendulkar and his colleagues combined nearly 2,500 post-surgical patients treated with salvage radiation at 10 different academic hospitals between 1987 and 2013. Of those men, 599 had cancers with a low risk of progression, while the others had higher-risk disease that was in some cases spreading into nearby tissues. Some of the men also had positive surgical margins, meaning that cancer cells might still be lurking next to where the prostate was removed.

According to their results, the incidence of metastases at five years following surgery was 9% among men given salvage radiation for PSA levels ranging from 0.01 to 0.2 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). By contrast, the metastasis incidence rate was 15% among men treated for PSA levels of 0.2 to 0.5 ng/mL. Both the American Urological Association and the American Society of Radiation Oncology recommend that salvage radiation be given when PSA levels reach or exceed 0.2 ng/mL. But Tendulkar says that level was defined years ago, before ultra-sensitive methods for detecting PSA became widely available.

“In this newer era of ultra-sensitive PSA testing we didn’t know if giving salvage radiation at lower levels would make a difference or not,” Tendulkar said. “Now we know that it does.”

Tendulkar says the decision to initiate salvage radiation can also be influenced by other factors, such as age, other health problems, and the aggressiveness of the cancer he was diagnosed with.

In an accompanying editorial, Paul Nguyen, M.D., a radiation oncologist at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, in Boston, MA, and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, wrote that Tendulkar’s study “will become the gold standard” for men considering salvage radiation after surgical treatment for prostate cancer.

But the study doesn’t address an important question: Should men with high-risk cancer consider getting radiation after surgery even before PSA increases are detected? Studies designed to answer that question are now ongoing.

“This important study provides some much needed guidance that comports with my own clinical experience,” said Dr. Marc Garnick, the Gorman Brothers Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and editor in chief of HarvardProstateKnowledge.org. “Patients should be aware that complications such as erectile problems and urinary side effects will likely worsen with salvage radiation.”

The post Immediate radiation when PSA levels spike after prostate cancer surgery helps reduce risk of recurrence appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

From: Charlie Schmidt http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/new-study-recommends-immediate-radiation-when-psa-levels-spike-after-prostate-cancer-surgery-2016122910868

Spinning out of control: Vertigo

Vertigo isn’t just a catchy song by the band U2, but is also a common symptom that has multiple potential causes. Although most people think that vertigo has to involve a spinning sensation, vertigo is actually the sensation that one is moving or that one’s surroundings are moving in the absence of any actual movement. To understand vertigo, one must understand that our sense of balance comes from multiple different systems in the body.

A balancing act: processing system inputs

There is your visual system, which tells you where your body is in space and time in relation to your surroundings. There is the sensory system, which allows your feet to send information to your brain about the terrain you are walking on. A third system, the vestibular system, often goes unappreciated in day-to-day life, but can cause havoc when not working properly. The vestibular system is composed of structures in your inner ear that function like a carpenter’s level.

Like a level, when the device is tilted in one direction or another, the bubble moves indicating imbalance. Similarly, during head and body movements, the inner ear transmits information regarding movement or balance to the brain. When there is a mismatch between the visual, sensory, or vestibular systems, people can at times have balance issues. Those balance issues can include vertigo.

Medications for the treatment of vertigo are used to target structures in the brain that process these at times conflicting signals. Antihistamines like dimenhydrinate (Dramamine), diphenhydramine (Benadryl), and meclizine (Antivert) can be useful treatments for vertigo. Anticholinergic medications like scopolamine can be particularly useful, as it comes in a patch form, which can be applied just prior to entering a situation where motion sickness can be anticipated.

Shipwrecked

One of the most common manifestations of vertigo occurs when someone travels on a boat. While on a boat, particularly when not standing on the deck, your visual system indicates that there is not much movement, and your surroundings appear still. The vestibular system (inner ear), on the other hand, is telling your brain that there is back and forth rocking movement, which naturally occurs with sea travel. The result is that one part of the brain is registering movement while the other part of the brain is registering no movement. This mismatch leads to vertigo, nausea, and at times vomiting, which is commonly known as seasickness.

Unfortunately, when people feel seasick many go below deck to lie down, which makes the problem worse. The best remedy for seasickness is actually to go above the deck, and look at the motion of the water or off at the horizon. By doing this, the visual system perceives the motion that the vestibular system perceives, which can alleviate the sense of imbalance. For many who have experienced seasickness, the symptoms can persist for hours to days after getting off the boat. Another place where such balance mismatches frequently occur is when transitioning onto or off of an escalator.

I explained this concept to one of my patients who is an avid fisherman as he complained about his wife, who frequently gets seasick. After providing the advice, he said, “Dr. Mathew, your care has been life-changing. As a thank you, you must join me on my boat some day.” I replied, “Thank you for the offer, but I am horrible at fishing.” He said, “Oh really, why is that?” I replied, ‘’Because it is difficult to catch any fish when you are holding two cocktails.” He chuckled, and proceeded to tell me about how he often catches mackerel, which other fishermen call inedible, advising him to throw it back in the water. He ignores their advice and keeps the mackerel, noting, “My wife loves that greasy fish.” I then asked him, “Is fishing a religious experience for you?” He said, “No doctor, why do you ask?” I then shrugged my shoulders and said, “Holy mackerel?” As he tried to hide a smile, he indicated that he was not amused. I then said, “Like the mackerel, I guess I should have thrown that bad joke overboard”, which caused him to laugh out loud. Apparently, the post-punch line was a bigger hit than the actual punch line.

The post Spinning out of control: Vertigo appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

From: Paul G. Mathew, MD, FAAN, FAHS http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/spinning-out-of-control-vertigo-2016122710919

Mayo Clinic Minute: Dont wait on losing weight

From: Mayo Clinic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyn61UxXhPI

Disabled Children Face Bullying Throughout School Years

More must be done to teach them how to respond to aggression, researcher says

From: http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20161228/disabled-children-face-bullying-throughout-school-years?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Risks of over-the-counter sleep aids

A Consumer Reports survey reveals people may be taking over-the-counter sleep aids too often. Eighteen percent of sleep aid users took them on a daily basis, and 41 percent used them for a year or longer. Required labels on those products urge users to see their doctor if insomnia lasts for more than two weeks. Consumer Reports' Lisa Gill joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss the survey.

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/risks-of-over-the-counter-sleep-aids/

Could broken heart syndrome have caused Debbie Reynolds' death?

Hollywood icon Debbie Reynolds died Wednesday, just one day after daughter Carrie Fisher's death. Her son, Todd Fisher, told E! News: "She was under a lot of emotion and stress from the loss [of Carrie] and it's pretty much what triggered this event." CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss how loss can have impact on a person's health.

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/could-broken-heart-syndrome-have-caused-debbie-reynolds-death/

Spinning out of control: Vertigo

Vertigo isn’t just a catchy song by the band U2, but is also a common symptom that has multiple potential causes. Although most people think that vertigo has to involve a spinning sensation, vertigo is actually the sensation that one is moving or that one’s surroundings are moving in the absence of any actual movement. To understand vertigo, one must understand that our sense of balance comes from multiple different systems in the body.

A balancing act: processing system inputs

There is your visual system, which tells you where your body is in space and time in relation to your surroundings. There is the sensory system, which allows your feet to send information to your brain about the terrain you are walking on. A third system, the vestibular system, often goes unappreciated in day-to-day life, but can cause havoc when not working properly. The vestibular system is composed of structures in your inner ear that function like a carpenter’s level.

Like a level, when the device is tilted in one direction or another, the bubble moves indicating imbalance. Similarly, during head and body movements, the inner ear transmits information regarding movement or balance to the brain. When there is a mismatch between the visual, sensory, or vestibular systems, people can at times have balance issues. Those balance issues can include vertigo.

Medications for the treatment of vertigo are used to target structures in the brain that process these at times conflicting signals. Antihistamines like dimenhydrinate (Dramamine), diphenhydramine (Benadryl), and meclizine (Antivert) can be useful treatments for vertigo. Anticholinergic medications like scopolamine can be particularly useful, as it comes in a patch form, which can be applied just prior to entering a situation where motion sickness can be anticipated.

Shipwrecked

One of the most common manifestations of vertigo occurs when someone travels on a boat. While on a boat, particularly when not standing on the deck, your visual system indicates that there is not much movement, and your surroundings appear still. The vestibular system (inner ear), on the other hand, is telling your brain that there is back and forth rocking movement, which naturally occurs with sea travel. The result is that one part of the brain is registering movement while the other part of the brain is registering no movement. This mismatch leads to vertigo, nausea, and at times vomiting, which is commonly known as seasickness.

Unfortunately, when people feel seasick many go below deck to lie down, which makes the problem worse. The best remedy for seasickness is actually to go above the deck, and look at the motion of the water or off at the horizon. By doing this, the visual system perceives the motion that the vestibular system perceives, which can alleviate the sense of imbalance. For many who have experienced seasickness, the symptoms can persist for hours to days after getting off the boat. Another place where such balance mismatches frequently occur is when transitioning onto or off of an escalator.

I explained this concept to one of my patients who is an avid fisherman as he complained about his wife, who frequently gets seasick. After providing the advice, he said, “Dr. Mathew, your care has been life-changing. As a thank you, you must join me on my boat some day.” I replied, “Thank you for the offer, but I am horrible at fishing.” He said, “Oh really, why is that?” I replied, ‘’Because it is difficult to catch any fish when you are holding two cocktails.” He chuckled, and proceeded to tell me about how he often catches mackerel, which other fishermen call inedible, advising him to throw it back in the water. He ignores their advice and keeps the mackerel, noting, “My wife loves that greasy fish.” I then asked him, “Is fishing a religious experience for you?” He said, “No doctor, why do you ask?” I then shrugged my shoulders and said, “Holy mackerel?” As he tried to hide a smile, he indicated that he was not amused. I then said, “Like the mackerel, I guess I should have thrown that bad joke overboard”, which caused him to laugh out loud. Apparently, the post-punch line was a bigger hit than the actual punch line.

The post Spinning out of control: Vertigo appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

From: Paul G. Mathew, MD, FAAN, FAHS http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/spinning-out-of-control-vertigo-2016122710919

Spinning out of control: Vertigo

Vertigo isn’t just a catchy song by the band U2, but is also a common symptom that has multiple potential causes. Although most people think that vertigo has to involve a spinning sensation, vertigo is actually the sensation that one is moving or that one’s surroundings are moving in the absence of any actual movement. To understand vertigo, one must understand that our sense of balance comes from multiple different systems in the body.

A balancing act: processing system inputs

There is your visual system, which tells you where your body is in space and time in relation to your surroundings. There is the sensory system, which allows your feet to send information to your brain about the terrain you are walking on. A third system, the vestibular system, often goes unappreciated in day-to-day life, but can cause havoc when not working properly. The vestibular system is composed of structures in your inner ear that function like a carpenter’s level.

Like a level, when the device is tilted in one direction or another, the bubble moves indicating imbalance. Similarly, during head and body movements, the inner ear transmits information regarding movement or balance to the brain. When there is a mismatch between the visual, sensory, or vestibular systems, people can at times have balance issues. Those balance issues can include vertigo.

Medications for the treatment of vertigo are used to target structures in the brain that process these at times conflicting signals. Antihistamines like dimenhydrinate (Dramamine), diphenhydramine (Benadryl), and meclizine (Antivert) can be useful treatments for vertigo. Anticholinergic medications like scopolamine can be particularly useful, as it comes in a patch form, which can be applied just prior to entering a situation where motion sickness can be anticipated.

Shipwrecked

One of the most common manifestations of vertigo occurs when someone travels on a boat. While on a boat, particularly when not standing on the deck, your visual system indicates that there is not much movement, and your surroundings appear still. The vestibular system (inner ear), on the other hand, is telling your brain that there is back and forth rocking movement, which naturally occurs with sea travel. The result is that one part of the brain is registering movement while the other part of the brain is registering no movement. This mismatch leads to vertigo, nausea, and at times vomiting, which is commonly known as seasickness.

Unfortunately, when people feel seasick many go below deck to lie down, which makes the problem worse. The best remedy for seasickness is actually to go above the deck, and look at the motion of the water or off at the horizon. By doing this, the visual system perceives the motion that the vestibular system perceives, which can alleviate the sense of imbalance. For many who have experienced seasickness, the symptoms can persist for hours to days after getting off the boat. Another place where such balance mismatches frequently occur is when transitioning onto or off of an escalator.

I explained this concept to one of my patients who is an avid fisherman as he complained about his wife, who frequently gets seasick. After providing the advice, he said, “Dr. Mathew, your care has been life-changing. As a thank you, you must join me on my boat some day.” I replied, “Thank you for the offer, but I am horrible at fishing.” He said, “Oh really, why is that?” I replied, ‘’Because it is difficult to catch any fish when you are holding two cocktails.” He chuckled, and proceeded to tell me about how he often catches mackerel, which other fishermen call inedible, advising him to throw it back in the water. He ignores their advice and keeps the mackerel, noting, “My wife loves that greasy fish.” I then asked him, “Is fishing a religious experience for you?” He said, “No doctor, why do you ask?” I then shrugged my shoulders and said, “Holy mackerel?” As he tried to hide a smile, he indicated that he was not amused. I then said, “Like the mackerel, I guess I should have thrown that bad joke overboard”, which caused him to laugh out loud. Apparently, the post-punch line was a bigger hit than the actual punch line.

The post Spinning out of control: Vertigo appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

From: Paul G. Mathew, MD, FAAN, FAHS http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/spinning-out-of-control-vertigo-2016122710919