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NEWYORK, N.Y., Nov. 19 (UPI) –

New York City health officials said 311 telephone operators will provide guidance to those who feel sick with a flulike illness.

New York City’s Web site and phone number for government information and non-emergency service — 311 — provides the public with quick access to all city government services and information.

If a resident or family member feels sick with flulike illness — fever with cough or sore throat — callers will be connected to registered nurses, who will provide information and advice on whether to seek care. For concerned patients who don’t have or can’t reach a regular healthcare provider, NYC FluLine is an alternative to standing in line at a hospital emergency department, health department officials said.

The call-center nurses will not make diagnoses or prescribe treatments but they will advise callers about whether to see a doctor or stay home, health officials said.

When necessary, on-call nurses will refer p…

See the full post at NYC offers H1N1 assistance by telephone

ATHENS, Ga., Nov. 19 (UPI) –

Indoor smoking bans resulted in outdoor smoking areas but they may be creating a new health hazard, U.S. researchers suggest.

Indoor smoking bans have helped to create more of these outdoor environments where people are exposed to secondhand smoke, study co-author Luke Naeher, associate professor in the University of Georgia College of Public Health, says in a statement. We know from our previous study that there are measurable airborne levels of secondhand smoke in these environments, and we know from this study that we can measure internal exposure.

Naeher and colleagues recruited 20 non-smoking adults and placed them in outside bars, outside restaurants and, for the control group, outside the main library at University of Georgia. The county enacted an indoor smoking ban in 2005.

The team found an average increase of 162 percent in cotinine — a metabolite of nicotine — for the volunteers stationed at outdoor seating and stand…

See the full post at Concerns about outdoor second-hand smoke

MELBOURNE, Nov. 19 (UPI) –

One of the toddlers separated from her conjoined twin in a 32-hour operation in Australia was talking and appeared to be doing well, doctors said.

She looks brilliant, said neurosurgeon Wirginia Maixner. She’s talking. She’s being Trishna. She’s behaving the way she normally did.

Trishna was awakened from an induced coma Thursday and doctors expect to wake her twin sister, Krishna, later in the day, The Times of London reported.

Trishna and Krishna, orphans from Bangladesh who turn 3 next month, were joined at the head and shared a skull, blood vessels and brain tissue before the marathon surgery and reconstruction by 16 surgeons and nurses at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

Maixner said brain scans showed no early signs of brain damage.

The brains look really, really good on the scans. We’re really, really happy, she said.

The two girls were abandoned by their parents in Dhaka soon after birth…

See the full post at Separated twin awakened from coma

BALTIMORE, Nov. 17 (UPI) –

A U.S. dental professor says he sees the oral cavity as an indicator of overall health of the body.

Dr. Li Mao of the University of Maryland Dental School in Baltimore is a physician who wants to retool dental education so dentists practice more within the larger healthcare community.

Mao says in a study he led last year he found surface tissues inside the cheek could be checked to detect tobacco-induced damage in the lungs.

We hypothesized that tobacco-induced molecular alterations in the oral epithelium are similar to those in the lungs, Mao says in statement. This might have broader implications for using the mouth as a diagnostic indicator for general health.

Christian S. Stohler, dean of the University of Maryland Dental School, says Mao, previously a head and neck doctor at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, crosses the bridge between medicine and dentistry.

See the full post at Oral health an indicator of overall health

LONDON, Nov. 16 (UPI) –

British researchers discovered taking too much of the essential mineral selenium can increase cholesterol by 8 percent.

Dr. Saverio Stranges of the University Warwick Medical School said the body naturally absorbs selenium from foods such as vegetables, meat and seafood. However, when the balance is altered and the body absorbs too much selenium — such as through taking selenium supplements — it can have adverse affects.

Stranges said the research team examined the association of plasma selenium concentrations — levels of selenium in the blood — with blood lipids, fats in the blood.

The study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, found in those participants with higher plasma selenium — more than 1.20 micromoles per liter — there was an average total cholesterol level increase of 8 percent.

The researchers said a 10 percent increase in low-density lipoprotein, the bad cholesterol, can help predict the risk of someone suffering a…

See the full post at Too much selenium can increase cholesterol

LONDON, Nov. 13 (UPI) –

Anti-psychotic drugs contribute to the deaths of hundreds of dementia patients each year, a British study found.

Researchers found about 180,000 people with dementia are prescribed anti-psychotic medications every year in Britain, the BBC said. This includes people in hospitals, nursing homes and their own homes.

The drugs, developed to help schizophrenics, are used to control aggressive behavior.

Sube Banerjee of King’s College London, who headed the review, said only about 36,000 patients benefit from the drugs. He recommended they be given for no more than three months at a time.

In at least 1,800 cases, the drugs contribute to deaths, Banerjee said.

The government has said steps will be taken to reduce the number of prescriptions given for the drugs. They include giving patients other forms of treatment like counseling, more training for healthcare workers, information sessions for family members and stricter controls on prescripti…

See the full post at Anti-psychotics overused for dementia

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 12 (UPI) –

U.S. researchers found norovirus — stomach flu — RNA detectable in groundwater for more than 18 months.

To better understand the risks of waterborne norovirus transmission, researchers at Emory University’s Center for Global Safe Water examined how long norovirus remains infectious in water.

Common symptoms of norovirus gastroenteritis include diarrhea, vomiting and stomach cramping.

Noroviruses are highly contagious and easily spread through several different ways such as eating foods or drinking liquid contaminated with a norovirus. Treatment for norovirus gastroenteritis consists of managing the symptoms while the body fights off the infection.

Outbreaks of norovirus are associated with contaminated groundwater, surface water and recreational water and causes serious morbidity and economic losses.

The researchers presented the finding at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in Philadelphia.

See the full post at Norovirus detectable in groundwater

TORONTO, Nov. 10 (UPI) –

Attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the part of bystanders can quadruple cardiac arrest survival rates to more than 50 percent, a Canadian study found.

Dr. Laurie Morrison and the research team at Rescu — a group based out of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto dedicated to out-of-hospital resuscitation — found 30 percent of bystanders in Toronto are willing to deliver CPR. That is one of the lowest rates of bystanders helping others in the developed world.

Over the last four years, we have been working hard with paramedics and firefighters in Southern Ontario to increase the survival rate of people who experience cardiac arrest outside of the hospital, Morrison said in a statement. Since 2004, our efforts have managed to triple the survival rate in the Toronto area but it is still less than 10 percent.

Morrison pointed out that home is one of the most common places for cardiac arrests so learning CPR could mean saving a family …

See the full post at CPR can increase survival rate

BOSTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) –

Many education officials base decisions on when to close schools for flu on politics or fear rather than data, U.S. and Japanese researchers say.

Epidemiologists John Brownstein and Anne Gatewood Hoen of the Children’s Hospital Boston Informatics Program in collaboration with Asami Sasaki of the University of Niigata Prefecture used a detailed set of Japanese data to help guide decision making by schools and government agencies.

Sasaki, Hoen and Brownstein analyzed flu absenteeism data from a Japanese school district with 54 elementary schools. Tracking four consecutive flu seasons — 2004-2008 — they asked what pattern of flu absenteeism was best for detecting a true school outbreak, balanced against the practical need to keep schools open if possible.

A school outbreak was defined as a daily flu absentee rate of more than 10 percent of students. After comparing more than two dozen possible scenarios for closing a school, the analysis suggested thre…

See the full post at When flu should trigger a school shutdown

CLEVELAND, OH., Nov. 6 (TOTI) –

It’s that time of the year when again when the average person wants to let loose and really celebrate. Often, that means over-indulging in both food and drink. Thanksgiving and Christmas are two of the most popular holidays, and are known for the delicious food and festive times. But, if ever there’s a time where a person can gain weight, it’s now!

If you’re struggling with a weight problem and you’d like to keep yourself from going overboard during the Holiday season, keep in mind you’ll need some serious discipline to maintain your goals. If not, you might just go overboard like everybody else and end up tempted to just overeat because you can always ‘make a New Year’s resolution’ and deal with the problem in 2010.

1.) Let yourself go on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. Go ahead and indulge on the two …

See the full post at Weight Loss Tips For The Holidays – Diet And Exercise Needed