Health

Task force doctor defends new cancer advice

WASHINGTON — A member of the independent panel whose new mammogram recommendations have led to confusion defended the task force’s report. Dr. Timothy Wilt, a member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, stuck by its recommendation that most women don’t need mammograms in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50. The American Cancer Society’s long-standing position has been that women should get annual cancer-screening mammograms starting at age 40.

Why a bellybutton?

Whether they have an innie or an outie, most people take their bellybutton for granted. After all, what’s it good for except trapping lint, sweat and other icky stuff? Well, that may be true now, but the next time you look at your bellybutton, remember that it once played a very important role in your life. Before you were born, you spent nine months growing in your mother’s body. Little kids think babies grow in their mom’s stomach, but if that were true, babies would be digested like a piece of cheese! In reality, babies grow inside a special organ that women have called the uterus. (Babies are called fetuses before they are born.)

Ex-KISS drummer speaks out about cancer

SPRING LAKE, N.J. — Peter Criss, the once-costumed rocker and former KISS drummer who performed in his Catman makeup, is speaking out about male breast cancer after suffering from it himself. Two years ago, Criss felt something strange: a small lump on his left breast.

New advice on mammograms for women under 40

Upending one of the most widely followed medical directives for women, an influential panel of experts is recommending that women 50 and older get screened for breast cancer only once every two years and that most women in their 40s skip the test altogether. The panel also concludes that breast self-exams — a drill that women for decades have been told to perform each month — do not reduce mortality from breast cancer, but instead lead to more biopsies producing results that are benign.

‘Jimmy Legs’ condition gets serious study

In an episode of the “Seinfeld” TV show, Kramer complained that his new romantic interest had the “jimmy legs.” “She’s throwing off my whole sleep,” he said, and then demonstrated by raising one leg and juddering it in the air.

AIDS patients to president: Send money south

JACKSON, Miss. — When Robin Webb lived in New York City, he was treated by HIV specialists and had access to counseling and nutritional programs. Now he lives in Mississippi, where few of those services exist. Mississippi is just one of several mostly rural states across the South with a dearth of resources for HIV and AIDS patients.

Palliative medicine ‘a sea change’

SEATTLE (AP) — It was a personal experience that first exposed Dr. Christine Cofer to palliative medicine. During her late teens, when her father was suffering from metastatic kidney cancer and conventional treatments could no longer help him, he started receiving hospice care.

Sexual diseases up, better testing cited

ATLANTA — Health officials say sexually spread diseases continue to rise, with reported chlamydia cases setting yet another record in 2008.

Stretching for safety

WENATCHEE — It’s 32 degrees. The rising sun throws pink fog-filtered light on low clouds moving up the horns of Saddle Rock. About 50 hard-hatted construction workers take their places close to a deep trench on the north side of Central Washington Hospital, ready to begin their 7 a.m. Stretch ‘N Bend exercises. “Body stretch,” yells Greg Rosinski, project supervisor for the M.A. Mortenson Company that is adding a five-story wing to the hospital. Rosinski stretches his hands high above his head, stands on his tiptoes, and reaches for the sky. “Touch your toes.” The workers eagerly follow his commands and mimmick his movements as he bends down and then stretches up again. “Bring it back up.”

Health care comes up green on new list

Industry emits less than its share of greenhouse gases, study concludes

CHICAGO (AP) — Health care, a giant in the U.S. economy, may be a gentle giant when it comes to greenhouse gases. According to the first estimate of the sector’s carbon footprint, the health care industry emits less than its share of the gases that promote global warming, compared to its size in the economy.

AMA’s marriage stand sets off conservatives, delights gay advocates

CHICAGO (AP) — The American Medical Association on Tuesday voted to oppose the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, and declared that gay marriage bans contribute to health disparities. The nation’s largest doctors’ group stopped short of saying it would seek to overturn marriage bans, but its new stance angered conservative activists and provides a fresh boost to lobbying efforts by gay-rights advocates.

Mutation gene explains why people talk, chimps don’t

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chimps, our nearest relative, don’t talk. We do. Now scientists have pinpointed a mutation in a gene that might help explain the difference. The mutation seems to have helped humans develop speech and language. It’s probably not the only gene involved, but researchers found the gene looks and acts differently in chimps and humans, according to a study published online today by the journal Nature.

Bill for 5 futile minutes in the ER: $29,000

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For five desperate minutes, emergency room doctors at the University of California Davis Medical Center frantically tried to revive Scott Hawkins. In those five minutes, the 23-year-old California State University, Sacramento, student was hooked up to life support monitors, air pumped into his weakened lungs as he bled on a gurney.

Reform huge for people with pre-existing conditions

WASHINGTON — Kelsey Jessup, 26, is a model of healthful living. The Palo Alto, Calif., native runs five days a week, practices yoga and stays away from red meat. But none of that mattered when Jessup recently applied for health insurance. Because she had knee surgery to repair a high school soccer injury and went to the emergency room after fainting a few years ago, she was denied coverage by multiple insurers. Ronald Sturm, 62, of San Jose, Calif., is diabetic but has managed his condition for five years with regular insulin shots and by eating right. Otherwise he’s in good shape, he says, pointing to his part-time job as a referee running up and down high school gymnasiums. But Sturm, too, can’t get coverage; he pays out of pocket for doctor visits and medications and prays nothing major happens to him before he qualifies for Medicare at age 65.

Some obese folks fool themselves into denial of weight problem

Have you heard of “the fat gap”? It’s a term that sprang up in September, when a survey in Great Britain found the majority of overweight people there are oblivious to the fact that they’re heavy. The findings pin down a phenomenon that health professionals have been talking about for years: as those around us get fatter, our perception of our own size changes accordingly. Are you, too, caught in the fat gap? Fooling ourselves: The survey found that public perception of healthy weight has blurred so much that fat is now seen as the “norm.” Less than one in 10 people believe the excess pounds they are carrying are significant enough for them to be classified as obese, according to the 2,100 adults in the poll by YouGov, an international Internet-based market research firm. Yet measurements found that one in four of those questioned were clinically obese.