When Does It Go Bad

When Does It Go Bad, When to keep and when to toss your favorite foods. We’ve all heard tales of the Twinkie that would survive (as fresh as the day it was made) into the next millennium, but most food, fortunately, does not have quite that long a shelf life (how long do Twinkies really last?). Confused about what to keep and when to toss? Here is a guide to the lifespan of some of the foods currently sitting in your refrigerator or on pantry shelves.twinkie shelf life 25 days,

Teachers say talking is an occupational hazard

Teachers say talking is an occupational hazard

Teachers say talking is an occupational hazard, By the end of her first day of school this month, Theresa Simon’s voice was already starting to go.“You can hear a little bit of rasp,” said the 48-year-old teacher at Cecelia Snyder Middle School in Bensalem, Pa.

Should boys get HPV vaccine

Should boys get HPV vaccine

Should boys get HPV vaccine, U.S. health authorities now recommend that girls and young women be vaccinated against human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease that is a known cause of cervical cancer, but that recommendation does not extend to boys and young men.

Some asthma inhalers banned

Some asthma inhalers banned

Some asthma inhalers banned, Health officials are banning the only asthma inhaler sold over the counter in the United States starting from next year to prevent the use of products that harm the environment.The Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in metered-dose asthma inhalers that contain the drug epinephrine cannot be used, following an international agreement that bans CFCs because they deplete the Earth's ozone layer.

Study finds living alone may increase alcohol death risk

Study finds living alone may increase alcohol death risk, Hospitalizations for alcohol and drug overdoses — alone or in combination — increased dramatically among 18- to 24-year-olds between 1999 and 2008, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health.Led by Aaron M. White, Ph.D. and Ralph W. Hingson, Sc.D., of NIAAA's division of epidemiology and prevention research, the study examined hospitalization data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a project of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality designed to approximate a 20 percent sample of U.S. community hospitals. The findings appear in the September issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Drs. White, Hingson, and their colleagues report that, over the 10-year study period, hospitalizations among 18-24–year-olds increased by 25 percent for alcohol overdoses; 56 percent for drug overdoses; and 76 percent for combined alcohol and drug overdoses.

"In 2008, 1 out of 3 hospitalizations for overdoses in young adults involved excessive consumption of alcohol, " notes Dr. White. "Alcohol overdoses alone caused 29,000 hospitalizations, combined alcohol and other drug overdoses caused 29,000, and drug overdoses alone caused another 114,000. The cost of these hospitalizations now exceeds $1.2 billion per year just for 18-24-year-olds. "

According to the authors, this is a growing problem for those outside of the 18-24 age range, as well.

"Among the entire population 18 and older, 1.6 million people were hospitalized for overdoses in 2008, at a cost of $15.5 billion, and half of these hospitalizations involved alcohol overdoses, " adds Dr. Hingson.

The current study also showed an increase of 122 percent in the rate of poisonings from prescription opioid pain medications and related narcotics among 18-24 year olds. An alcohol overdose was present in 1 of 5 poisonings on these medications.

"The combination of alcohol with narcotic pain medications is particularly dangerous, because they both suppress activity in brain areas that regulate breathing and other vital functions,” says Dr. White.

The researchers note that the steep rise in combined alcohol and drug overdoses highlights the significant risk and growing threat to public health of combining alcohol with other substances, including prescription medications. They call for stronger efforts to educate medical practitioners and the general public about the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption alone or in combination with other drugs.

"An increase in screening for alcohol misuse would help clinicians identify patients at particularly high risk for excessive drinking and for alcohol and medication interactions," says NIAAA Acting Director Kenneth Warren, Ph.D. "Clinicians should use brief intervention techniques to help young adults evaluate their relationship with alcohol and other drugs and make wise choices regarding future use."

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health, is the primary U.S. agency for conducting and supporting research on the causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and alcohol problems. NIAAA also disseminates research findings to general, professional, and academic audiences. Additional alcohol research information and publications are available at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.

Source: elbiruniblogspotcom

Adhd and Boys' Puberty

Adhd and Boys' Puberty, The widely used attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication methylphenidate -- best known as Ritalin -- appears to be tied to delayed puberty in male monkeys.

But, researchers cautioned that the finding needs to be replicated before parents should concern themselves about similar effects in boys.

Male primates given methylphenidate over a 40-month span experienced "impaired testicular descent" and smaller-sized testicles, as well as lower testosterone levels, all of which resolved over the course of the study.

"To our knowledge, it's the first observation in primates to suggest an alteration in testicular function," said study author Dr. Donald Mattison, a medical officer at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

"We believe they're interesting observations, but substantially more work needs to be done . . . to make sure they're repeatable," Mattison said. "It's really too early to say there are clinical implications."

The study is published in this week's online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder in childhood, ADHD affects between 3 percent and 5 percent of school-age kids, mostly boys. Ritalin and other forms of methylphenidate have long been the most widely used drugs to treat ADHD, which involves issues of inattentiveness, overactivity and impulsivity. Other brand name versions of methylphenidate include Concerta, Metadate and Methylin.

According to Mattison, the young rhesus monkeys in the study were given either a low dose or high dose of methylphenidate, with the low dose designed to match typical blood levels of the drug observed in human ADHD patients. The high dose was intended to produce blood levels five to 10 times higher than used in people, he said.

"Testicular descent," part of the male maturation process, was postponed "significantly" in monkeys given the high (but not lower) dose of methylphenidate, the study found, while lowered testicular volume and blood testosterone levels were noted in monkeys given either the low- or high-dose regimens.

The effects on testicular function were a complete surprise, Mattison noted, since the study was designed to evaluate other types of potential toxicity from methylphenidate, including possible DNA damage.

"I think the results are more to keep in mind, and we haven't made any recommendations for clinical practice," he said. "But we encourage clinicians and scientists to think about puberty as a potential endpoint that might be affected. So we're pretty cautious at this point."

Dr. Spyros Mezitis, an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, said hormonal systems are very similar in primates and humans, but he has not observed any testosterone-related symptoms in patients taking methylphenidate.

"This is a standalone study . . . so we need more studies to understand what's happening here," Mezitis said. "In the endocrine community, when it comes to the use of Ritalin, we're not really considering testosterone levels, but maybe we should now."

A spokesperson for Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., which manufactures Ritalin, said it was important to note that the study was conducted in monkeys and showed the impact of methylphenidate on puberty was not permanent.

"We have specifically examined our post-marketing data for reports of delayed sexual maturation," spokesman Michael Billings said. "From the data available, no association between the use of our methylphenidate products and delays in sexual maturation has been been established."

Cantaloupe listeria outbreak spreading

Cantaloupe listeria outbreak spreading, Health officials have issued a warning for cantaloupes from a revered melon-producing area of the U.S. state of Colorado amid a bacteria outbreak blamed for four deaths in the state and New Mexico, troubling farmers who depend on sales of the fruit.The warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came after numerous cases of a strain of Listeria were reported in six states, including at least 11 from Colorado, 10 from New Mexico, two from Texas, and one each from Indiana, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

The agency said it was the first Listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupe in the United States. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration said it had not recalled the melons while it worked to locate the source.

Rocky Ford cantaloupes, named for a region along the old Santa Fe Trail about 130 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Denver, are prized for their above-average sugar content. W.C. Fields reportedly said bald guys have "a head shaped like a Rocky Ford cantaloupe," and Lucile Ball had the melons delivered to her dressing room.

"This is really silly. You can get Listeria any place. I eat those melons every day," said Kent Lusk, a fifth-generation cantaloupe farmer from Rocky Ford.

Colorado Agriculture Commissioner John Salazar said the contamination might not be the cantaloupes, but a truck or other source. But several Colorado grocery chains pulled their supplies as a precaution, and New Mexico issued a voluntary recall. State Environmental Health Bureau inspectors were collecting cantaloupe samples from grocery stores and distributors across New Mexico for laboratory analysis.

Listeriosis is a serious infection usually caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. The disease primarily affects older adults, pregnant women, newborns and adults with weakened immune systems.

Colorado health director Chris Urbina said people who are at high risk included people 60 and older, those with weakened immune systems from transplants and people with chronic diseases. Symptoms can include fever, muscle aches, diarrhea, headache, stiff neck, confusion and convulsions. Listeriosis can cause miscarriages and stillbirths.

The CDC warning advised people with cantaloupes at home to see if they came from the Rocky Ford region, and if so, not to eat the melons if they're in a vulnerable group. Health authorities asked people throwing out Rocky Ford cantaloupes to put them in a sealed plastic bag before putting them in the trash.

The fatal cases in New Mexico included a 93-year-old man from Bernalillo County, a 61-year-old woman from Curry County and a 63-year-old man from Bernalillo County. Mark Salley, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said the person who died in Colorado was not being identified.