Archive for the ‘CDC News’ Category
I am very excited about this Fourth of July. I will be spending it in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with my whole family. It has been a long time since we were all together for a fun celebration. The “foodie” in me is already contemplating what culinary delight I can make to wow the family at our get-together.
Of course, fireworks are a “must have” for a great July 4th celebration, but each year there
are an estimated 10,000 people treated for injuries related to fireworks, and many of these injuries involve children under the age of 15.
Even something as seemingly innocent as a sparkler requires safe handling. Did you know a sparkler burns at 1200° F? Here are some basic safety tips to follow while
handling fireworks. Also, know the laws in your state regarding the purchase and use of fireworks.
While Iowa limits the use of individual fireworks, Cedar Rapids, like many communities, has an Independence Day celebration that will have a great fireworks display. To locate local 4th of July celebration websites you can use the USA.gov search and type in your city or county to find out what activities are in your area.
I wish you all a safe holiday with good times and great food. During your festivities this Sunday, take a moment to reflect and be grateful that we live in such a great country. Remember those
who came before us, those who created, fought for, and secured our freedoms.
This 4th of July, I am going to a wedding. If you’ve read this blog with any regularity over the past 3 years, you know this is pretty much 
par for the course of how I spend my weekends during the summer.
When I saw the date on the invite, my immediate reaction was, “They better have fireworks at this thing!”
While the presence of fireworks at this soiree has been neither confirmed nor denied, I am choosing to be optimistic and have it in my head that I will be staring into the sky ohhhing and ahhhing on the 4th.
Unfortunately in many towns across the country, people will not be saying the same this year. With the economy not fully turned around, cities and townships are cutting firework displays in an effort to save money. Some places justify the cancellation by saying that fireworks are for the viewing pleasure of both residents and visitors and that the money should be used for events and programs strictly for residents, such as children’s summer camps and activities for seniors.
Some towns that have cancelled are: Glendale, AZ, Springfield, MO, and Jersey City, NJ.
Are you disappointed in your city’s cancellation? Are you willing to travel someplace else to see fireworks?
A clinical trial of testosterone treatment in older men, reported June 30 online in the New England Journal of Medicine, has found a higher rate of adverse cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and elevated blood pressure, in a group of older men receiving testosterone gel compared to those receiving placebo. Due to these events, the treatment phase of the trial was stopped.
The study was supported by a grant to Shalender Bhasin, M.D., at Boston Medical Center from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health.
In high-risk adults with type 2 diabetes, researchers have found that two therapies may slow the progression of diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that is the leading cause of vision loss in working-age Americans.
It drives me nuts when I’m sitting on the train and I can hear the music blaring from another person’s iPod. It’s just plain rude to be playing your music so loudly that it disrupts the rest of the train. But even if those people aren’t considerate of others, shouldn’t they at least care about the damage they are doing to their own hearing?
Studies show that listening to music through headphones at such a loud volume could lead to hearing loss down the road.
Here are some tips on protecting yourself from long term hearing loss.
Turn down the music. Aren’t sure of the ideal volume, check how many decibels the music should be.
Limit your time listening. Cutting back on how long you’re rocking out could help save your ears.
Use ear plugs. If you’re going to be somewhere loud, like a concert or working with power tools, buy a pair of ear plugs to help mute the sound.
If you think you might be experiencing hearing loss, you can take a brief quiz that highlights some of the classic symptoms. Depending on how you answer you may want to visit your doctor for more formal testing.
The vitamin folate appears to promote healing in damaged rat spinal cord tissue by triggering a change in DNA, according to a laboratory study funded
by the National Institutes of Health.
The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced the availability of supplemental funding for eligible NIBIB-supported research grants to facilitate collaborative work among researchers in the United States and India.
One of my two year old’s favorite tricks is when I make his toy caterpillar turn into a toy butterfly under a dishtowel cocoon. He squeals with glee every time the butterfly emerges from the dishtowel! (You have to love inspiration from The Very Hungry Caterpillar.)
Unfortunately, I’ve noticed that the real things are hard to spot these days. Research bears this out: many species of butterflies, moths, birds, bats, and domesticated honey bees and other pollinators are declining.
This Sunday marks the end of National Pollinator Week, which highlights the importance of pollinators in the world food supply and ecosystems.
It’s been calculated that one out of every three mouthfuls of food we eat, and beverages we drink, is delivered to us by pollinators. As a matter of fact, these helpful animals pollinate 75 percent of our flowering plants and crops. Without pollinators, we wouldn’t have flowers, fruit, nuts, coffee, or chocolate! (I repeat: no coffee and chocolate!)
Most plants need cross-pollination—the movement of pollen from one plant to another—to survive. As bees and other pollinators get their food from the flower of the plant, they brush up against the pollen. The pollen sticks to them and is rubbed off on other plants of the same species, fertilizing them. Once fertilized, a plant produces fruit or seeds.
Interested in helping our pollinating friends? (Did I mention that they make chocolate and coffee possible?) Some simple things you can do at home include:
- Plant a pollinator garden. Choose plants that flower at different times of the year to provide nectar and pollen throughout the growing season. Plant groups of flowers, choose native plants, and avoid using “double” hybrid flowers since their pollen, nectar, and fragrance are often bred out of them.
- Build a bee nesting box, leave a dead tree or limb undisturbed (if it’s not a safety hazard, of course), or maintain a small, undisturbed patch of bare ground to provide a nesting habitat.
- Avoid or limit using pesticides. Try removing individual pests by hand if possible (wearing garden gloves), encourage native predators with a diverse garden habitat, and expect and accept a little bit of pest activity. If you must use a pesticide, choose one that is the least toxic to non-pest species, does not persist on vegetation, and apply it in the evening when most pollinators are not as active.
- Educate others about the importance of pollinators. The U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and USA.gov have great information on pollinators, and the Children’s Butterfly Site is sure to interest any metamorphosis-maniac child.
Have you helped pollinators?
Despite hopes that higher blood levels of vitamin D might reduce cancer risk, a large study finds no protective effect against non-Hodgkin lymphoma or cancer of the endometrium, esophagus, stomach, kidney, ovary, or pancreas. In this study, carried out by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and many other research institutions, data based on blood samples originally drawn for 10 individual studies were combined to investigate whether people with high levels of vitamin D were less likely to develop these rarer cancers.
Recently the Oprah Winfrey show featured a multiple part series on debt called Debt Diet. The series emphasizes how Americans are drowning in debt and not saving enough. The show offers an action plan to help families get out of debt. The series follows three families as they wrangle with trying to implement the step by step action plan to reduce their debt.
It is critical that you know how much debt you really have and how much you are spending. If you have too much debt, you need to get your spending under control and manage your credit cards better. It may be a matter of teaching yourself to say “NO” to new purchases and to follow a spending plan. Or, you may need to explore new ways to increase your income.
When you are struggling with debt it is difficult to even think about saving for retirement. In order to have the resources you need later in life, you should begin to set aside resources now. Most people struggle with how much to save now, so they will be in good financial shape 20-30 years into the future. It may seem a bit like guessing or magic, but there are tools to help you estimate how much you will need. Social Security Online offers an estimate your retirement benefits calculator. There are other retirement calculators, as well.
Here are some additional resources to help you manage your debt and increase your savings:
- Dealing with Debt Videos
- Knee Deep in Debt – Facts For Consumers
- Money and Credit 101
- Money Matters
- Mymoney.gov Managing Debt and Credit
- Retirement Savings Education Campaign
Are your “get out of debt” strategies working for you? When it comes to retirement planning, do you think you are saving enough?
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Wellcome Trust, a global charity based in London, will announce a partnership with African researchers to conduct genetic and environmental studies in Africa of common, non-communicable disorders — such as heart disease and cancer — as well as communicable diseases, such as malaria.
The National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, is bringing together premier researchers who translate molecular and genetic approaches from the laboratory to visual system diseases in the clinic.
Scientists have discovered that a gene linked to Alzheimer’s disease may play a beneficial role in cell survival by enabling neurons to clear away toxic proteins. A study funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, shows the presenilin 1 (PS1) gene is essential to the function of lysosomes, the cell component that digests and recycles unwanted proteins. However, mutations in the PS1 gene — a known risk factor for a rare, early onset form of Alzheimer’s disease — disrupt this crucial process.
Sunday, June 20, is Father’s Day. As I was thinking about what I would say for my Father’s Day blog, I began thinking about my own dad. He died a couple of weeks after Father’s Day two years ago. Even though my dad only went to school through the 8th grade, I consider him to have been one of the smartest and wisest men I’ve ever known. This Father’s Day I wanted to share some of the things I learned from my dad.
I heard my father say, on more than one occasion, “If you’re gonna look up a sow’s rear… don’t expect a purty view.” In other words, Dad felt that if he chose to look at things in life expecting to see the ugly or the bad, that is exactly what he would see. He felt that looking for the negative in life took so much more energy, so he might as well try to see the good in things (both in people and in life events), and hope for the <a href=”http://www.bestdentalplans.com”>best.
My dad was mostly a quiet man, although he could slip into story mode and tell the funniest stories. As a little girl, I was a total chatterbox. Dad would advise me, “Sometimes if you just sit patiently, don’t talk, just listen and observe, you will learn the most amazing things.” Dad grew up in the country, in the hills outside of Dubuque, Iowa. He hunted, fished, farmed, and he grew up learning to listen to the land. He was quite skilled at
understanding nature and working with nature. He said the ability to listen and quietly observe doesn’t just work with nature, it would also teach me a lot about people. He was right.
My dad was a “do-it-yourselfer.” He rarely paid anyone to do home projects. Dad was an electrician by trade, but he was also a very capable plumber, and an all around handy-man. If he didn’t have the skill set he needed, he would go learn it. He always felt, “If you can do it yourself, you will save yourself money and at the end of the project you will be rewarded with that feeling of great achievement.” I took this philosophy as my own. I try to do many of my own home projects. His philosophy taught me to be self-reliant, it gave me a lot of confidence, and a strong belief that I can do anything, if I put my mind to it.
These are just a few of the things I learned from Dad. He had such a huge impact on my life. I am the person that I am today, because he was in my life. I want to give all of you the opportunity to share lessons from your fathers. Please take the time to drop me a line and share your stories.
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have observed two previously unknown steps in the spread of the malaria parasite through the bloodstream. And in laboratory cultures, the researchers interfered with one of these steps, raising the possibility that new drug treatments could be developed to combat the disease.
You know summertime is approaching when your local grocery store begins stocking an aisle with bags of charcoal briquettes, lighter fluid, barbecuing utensils and other grilling paraphernalia. Summer barbecuing is a favorite tradition with most Americans. I personally like barbecuing season, because I know that I will get a little break
from cooking when my husband takes over as chief preparer of all things meat.
Over the years, my husband has become quite skillful with the grill. He uses dry rubs, marinades, and will occasionally smoke meat and poultry. He makes wonderful steaks, pork chops, barbecued ribs and chicken, but my favorite has got to be his smoked salmon. I have taken his salmon to parties and it is always the first thing to disappear from the table.
With any kind of food preparation, there are some basic guidelines for handling food safely, but this is particularly important during the summer. Did you know foodborne illness peaks in the summer? Bacteria that can contaminate food grow faster in warmer temperatures. In addition, during summer people are doing more things like barbecuing, picnics, and camping where refrigeration and washing facilities may not be available.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service has put together these fact sheets on Barbecue and Food Safety and Handling Food Safely on the Road. Foodborne illness isn’t the only danger that needs to be considered when it comes to preparing food on a grill. When cooking with open
flame, fire safety needs to be considered. Here are some safety tips for barbecuing.
While you are enjoying your own grilling efforts, you should consider checking out some of the cook off and barbecue competitions in your area. Go to your preferred search engine and search on “barbecue cook off” or “barbecue competition” and type your state name. Here in Texas, as you can imagine, we have quite a few barbecuing contests.
Have a good time with your grills and if you have any great recipes, feel free to drop me a line.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has stopped a clinical trial evaluating a new approach to reduce the risk of recurrent stroke in children with sickle cell anemia and iron overload because of evidence that the new treatment was unlikely to prove better than the existing treatment.