[Callace]

That's interesting. Which treatments are those?

[sunnykerr]

I'm no expert, but I do know of a mode of treatment where the idea is to, if not constantly, than quite strenously stimulate during prolonged periods of time the child through cognitive exercizes, both physical and verbal.

[Callace]

I have heard of those too, but that sounds more like training to overcome a disability? Teaching the autist ways to cope with their handicap? Like a dyslexic learning a different way to deal with written language, rather than treatment for a decease, hereditary or not, like giving a diabetic an insulin shot.

But I am not an expert of these things either I am just pondering.

[sunnykerr]

Well, like I said, I don't know much, but I do know it's considered a course of treatment.

I don't know. Me, I tend to leave it up to the experts to defines things like this.

[Callace]

That is usually a good idea But I am blessed (or cursed) with such a curiousity and inquisitive mind that I often have a hard time with just taking anything on faith I want reasons for everything. So i had to ask.

[sunnykerr]

In Troubled Times, Vasectomies Snip and Prosper (CNN) -- Dr. J. Stephen Jones had seven vasectomies to perform in a day. The schedule for Jones, a Cleveland, Ohio, urologist, has become more crowded during a recent boom in vasectomies. "My staff came to me and said, what's happening?" said Jones, the chairman of the Department of Regional Urology of Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. "Why are we suddenly having an explosion in guys asking for vasectomies?" They looked at their statistics and realized the uptick started around November as the economic crisis deepened. October went down in the history books as one of Wall Street's worst months. Since then, the Cleveland Clinic has seen a 50 percent increase in vasectomies, an outpatient surgery that is the cheapest form of permanent birth control. Vasectomies are less invasive and cheaper than tubal ligation, which involves blocking, tieing or cutting a woman's fallopian tubes to prevent pregnancy. "It's unlikely that some guy read the Dow Jones numbers that day and said, 'Why don't we have a vasectomy?' " Jones said. "More likely, people have already been considering it and typically a guy and his wife have spoken a year or two about this." Jones was told by patients that they were getting vasectomies because they were losing their jobs and health insurance, or concerned about being out of work soon. "They realize they don't have the financial security long-term with what's going on," Jones said. "Several of them have mentioned, 'We can't afford to have any more children in this economy.' My perception is that it's more of the concept of raising children in an uncertain economic future." Much like Jones, Dr. Marc Goldstein, surgeon-in-chief of male reproductive medicine and surgery at the Cornell Institute for Reproductive Medicine in New York, saw a 48 percent increase in vasectomy consultations compared with the same time last year. "I have never seen anything like this," said Goldstein, a urologist for the last 30 years. "When things started to go south in the stock market, then the vasectomy consults went north." Half of Goldstein's New York patients work in the financial sector. New patients filed into his office in November. "I think the situation of finance and the economy is the major reason," Goldstein said. "Some of them have mentioned that, 'It cost $30,000 a year to put my kids in private school and I can't afford to have another one.' It's never the sole reason, but it's certainly a contributing factor." During the vasectomy, the doctor cuts the two vas deferens, which are the tubes carrying sperm from the testicles to become semen. After the procedure, men can still have sex, but their semen does not contain sperm and therefore they can no longer father children. Doctors can attempt to reverse the procedure, but vasectomy reversals are expensive and only work half the time in restoring sperm flow. Carl Haub, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau, a private research firm, said the National Center for Health Statistics' data showed that, "During bad economic times, the Depression and the recession in the 1970s, the birth rate did go down." ...

More at: In troubled times, vasectomies snip and prosper - CNN.com

I have to say that, when I read the headline to this story, I was originally quite amused. But then, of course, I read the story and it's not funny at all.

I mean, I am all for people taking their reproductive health seriously. And it is true that it is safer, quicker and cheaper to have men have vasectomies, as opposed to women undergo variations on tubal ligations.

But it's a little sad that times have gotten so rough that there is a demonstrable spike in the numbers of couple reconsidering having (more) children. I do think it's a little sad, that's all.

[TheAngel]

Originally Posted by callace (View Post) That's interesting. Which treatments are those?

Here's an article that's really interesting that talks about autism and potential treatments. In this case, autism has basically been "cured". There are a number of diseases that are chronic that people can be rehabilitated to overcome and they're not considered disabled. I feel like this is a genetic condition with a predisposition that causes certain children to exhibit these certain symptoms and that things can be done to overcome them and potentially treat them.

[sunnykerr]

Allergy Season, Pollen Counts Usher in Springtime ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The wet tissues pile up as pollen from trees swirls in the air, clogging noses and tickling eyes without relief. This is what parts of March, April and May are like for many Americans. Some years are worse than others, and pollen forecasters try to keep the public up to date on how the season progresses. So, how do we know when it's the "worst in years"? There are no nationwide government pollen trackers, but private companies do monitoring. SDI Health LLC, the company that runs the popular Web site pollen.com, has 480 pollen monitoring stations in the United States, said Gerry Kress, the company's owner. "We're forecasting a heavier season this year than last year," he said. Pollen.com's national pollen reports and forecasts are based on the pollen count and the number of people affected by pollen allergies in different areas of the country, Kress said. SDI takes into account the weather patterns and the types of pollen in each area to predict the number of people who will suffer from pollen allergies from February 1 to May 31. While there may be more allergy sufferers generally in the United States, different areas will have distinct experiences. The Northeast, because of the high population and the types of plants that grow there, is usually the strongest allergy area, and it will likely have a heavier season than last year, SDI predicts. A large area from Minneapolis, Minnesota, all the way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will also be stronger, as will areas from Louisiana to South Carolina, Kress said. The area around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wilmington, Delaware, and New York will be about the same as last year. The West Coast, Texas, and many Southern states, on the other hand, will have fewer than or about the same number of allergy sufferers as last year, he said. Other pollen analysts have their own ways of characterizing and forecasting the season. Allergy sufferers in the Southeast may have a particularly tough season this year, said Dr. Stanley Fineman, an allergist with the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic. That's because there were high tree pollen counts in February, followed by a low pollen count during several weeks of colder weather, and now there's a lot of pollen again, he said. Patients may experience a priming effect from this, he said. Having been exposed early in the season, then re-exposed after a period of low pollen, people's sensitivity may be heightened, and they will have a more drastic, violent response to this new round of pollen. Then there's the role of the economy. Dr. Jeffery Adelglass and his group at the Allergy Testing & Treatment Center in Plano, Texas, predict a mild to moderate season in urban areas such as Dallas, Texas. If people drive less to save gas money, that would lower the level of pollution, which exacerbates allergies, he said. "As the economy picks up, we expect to see a return of the runny nose, itchy eyes, sneezing and wheezing that we're accustomed to," Adelglass said. People who live in rural areas will still experience quite a bit of pollen, he said. The pollen spreads further with the wind when there's nothing to block it, such as city buildings. Take a quiz about allergies » How is Pollen Measured? Many experts use a Rotorod, a special machine manufactured by SDI that has small rods that collect pollen throughout a given 24 hours. Then, a technician will take the rods off to analyze the pollen. The pollen count reported on the Web site atlantaallergy.com through Rotorod measurements is how many pollen grains there are per cubic meter of air in 24 hours, Fineman said. A low reading is 0 to 30, moderate is 31 to 60, high is 61 to 120 and extremely high is anything over 121, Fineman said. This week got off to a particularly bad start for Atlanta allergy sufferers, with Monday at 192, Tuesday at 618, and Wednesday at 1063, according to Fineman's group's scale. By comparison, in 2008, the corresponding days had pollen counts of 10, 17 and 214, respectively. Thursday morning, the city experienced heavy rain, and the pollen count dropped to 78. One offensive variety is pine pollen, which Atlanta and other Southeastern U.S. residents know well as the green stuff on their cars every year. Major pollens also include birch, oak, sweetgum and sycamore. But even relatively low pollen counts cause some people to suffer, he said. People seem to be having problems earlier in the season because of a warming trend, which makes the trees pollinate earlier, he said. In the Dallas area, Adelglass's group also uses a Rotorod. Grass pollen levels are beginning to elevate and will get worse in April and May, he said, while right now it's the trees -- juniper, maple and elm, he said. Thursday, the highest levels of pollen in the Dallas area were from maple at 682 grains per cubic meter, according to his group's measurements. See pollen counts for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Plano area Pollen levels tend to drop on rainy days, but rain also waters the grass, he said. Treating the Sniffles About 17.6 million Americans have diagnosed allergic rhinitis, also called hay fever, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. SDI data show that about 20 million people suffered from allergies across the country in the week ending March 20, a slight decrease compared with the same week last year. A variety of antihistamines are available over the counter. A recent survey by the American Pharmacists Association of 1,000 pharmacists found that for adult antihistamines, 32 percent of recommendations in a week were for Claritin, 28 percent were for Zyrtec and 25 percent were for Benadryl. For multisymptom allergy and hay fever products, 35 percent of recommendations in a week were for Claritin-D, 26 percent were for Zyrtec-D and 10 percent were for Actifed Cold & Allergy. The survey had a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Sometimes allergy patients need additional help. Allergists can prescribe stronger prescription medications and nasal sprays. They may also do a skin test to see exactly which kinds of pollen, dust or even pets may be causing symptoms. Allergy shots, which introduce small amounts of allergens into the body to build tolerance, are recommended for people with severe symptoms, especially those that lead to sinus infections, or people who have occupational concerns about taking traditional medications, Adelglass said. "I wouldn't like my airplane pilot to be taking sedating antihistamines. I wouldn't like my chef to be sneezing in my soup. I would like my policeman wide awake at night, not taking medicines that impair his judgment and alertness, " he said. The earlier in the season people get treatment for allergies, the better off they will be, Adelglass said. "Once their system gets primed, it only goes from bad to worse," he said.

Allergy season, pollen counts usher in springtime - CNN.com

So, I don't know how many fellow allergy sufferers are out there, but you might want to gear up!

[vc318]

^ I'll be sure to warn the husband although he's usually used to it about this time when forest fires are up.

[vc318]

I'm going to post this in the Strange News section too:

hot tea cancer

Drinking Scalding Tea May Cause Cancer

LONDON (March 27) - Drinking hot tea may cause throat cancer, Iranian researchers said Friday, suggesting people should let steaming drinks cool before consuming them.
Previous studies have linked tobacco and alcohol with cancer of the esophagus, and the research published in the British Medical Journal suggests that scalding beverages may also somehow pave the way for such tumors.

Drinking very hot tea at a temperature of greater than 160 degrees Fahrenheit was associated with an eight-fold increased risk of throat cancer compared to sipping warm or lukewarm tea at less than 150 degrees, the researchers said.

Reza Malekzadeh of Tehran University of Medical Sciences and colleagues studied the tea-drinking habits of 300 people with esophageal cancer and another 571 healthy men and women from the same area in Golestan Province in northern Iran.

That region has one of the highest rates of throat cancer in the world but smoking rates and alcohol consumption are low, the researchers said. Nearly all the volunteers drank black tea regularly, consuming on average more than a liter each day.

People who regularly drank tea less than two minutes after pouring were five times more likely to develop the cancer compared to those who waited four or more minutes, the researchers said.

British studies have reported people prefer their tea at an average temperature of 133 degrees to 140 degrees, they noted.
It is not clear how hot tea might cause cancer but one idea is that repeated thermal injury to the lining of the throat somehow initiates it, researchers said. Cancers of the esophagus kill more than 500,000 people worldwide each year, with the bulk of the disease occurring in discrete populations in Asia, Africa, and South America. The tumors are especially deadly, with five-year survival rates of 12 to 31 percent.

Earlier this week, U.S. and Japanese researchers reported that about a third of East Asians -- Chinese, Japanese and Koreans -- have an enzyme deficiency that puts them at higher risk of developing esophageal cancer when they drink alcohol.

Ummm, might I just say that anyone capable of drinking something close to 160 degrees must be seriously on something else.

[sunnykerr]

I would have to agree: Anyone drinking at 160F (which is 71C for my fellow non-Americans) has some serious issues.

[sunnykerr]

Beware the Perils of Caffeine Withdrawal ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Susan Todd loves her daily coffee fix. "I can drink four or five cups, easily, comfortably," said Todd, 59, of Clinton Township, Michigan. But if she skips her regular dose of caffeine, Todd warned, watch out. "I feel lousy all over. It's not that anything hurts," she explained. "I just feel sluggish, and a cup of caffeine will cure that." Todd is among the estimated 80 to 90 percent of North American adults and children who consume caffeine products every day. Experts estimate about half that number will experience headaches and other symptoms from caffeine withdrawal syndrome. There are a number of reasons why someone might need to reduce or stop their daily caffeine intake. Experts tell pregnant women not to consume more than 200 milligrams of caffeine a day (about one 12-ounce cup of coffee). Caffeinated products are not recommended for people who are prone to panic attacks or those who suffer from anxiety. Some surgical patients may also experience the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal syndrome on the day of surgery, because they are told not to eat or drink anything. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, recognized the condition as a disorder five years ago after reviewing decades of studies. They concluded the higher the caffeine intake, the more likely a patient was to suffer from severe withdrawal symptoms when denied the ingredient. Researchers also reported that some caffeine users considered themselves addicted to caffeine because they were unable to quit or cut down on their usage. ...

Beware the perils of caffeine withdrawal - CNN.com

Well, I've never had a full cup of coffee in my life. Never liked the taste. But this isn't exactly news, is it? It doesn't take a genius to figure out that coffee's a drug, just like any other, and that you experience withdrawal when you stop taking it, just like all the other drugs.

[Cristofle]

It's World Malaria Day. This has gotten some mainstream attention this year due to Ashton Kutcher's and CNN's Twitter war.

A to Z of malaria - CNN.com

# Story Highlights # World Malaria Day on April 25 highlights the danger of malaria and calls for action # According to the WHO there were 247 million cases of malaria in 2006 # 880,000 people died of malaria in 2006, a preventable and curable disease

[sunnykerr]

Pediatricians Adopt New Term for 'Shaken Baby Syndrome' CHICAGO -- The American Academy of Pediatrics wants doctors to stop using the term "shaken baby syndrome" in favour of something more scientific. The country's largest pediatricians' group recommends "abusive head trauma," calling it a more comprehensive diagnosis for brain, skull and spinal injuries associated with shaking and other head injuries inflicted on infants. The academy says the new diagnostic term should be used in medical records and that it may provide more clarity in the courtroom. Some defence lawyers and doctors believe shaken baby syndrome doesn't exist, arguing that it's impossible to shake babies hard enough to cause brain injuries without breaking their necks. But that argument is based on faulty evidence and is not shared by most physicians who specialize in treating child abuse, said Dr. Robert Block, former chairman of an academy committee on child abuse. The National Institutes of Health says shaking can cause bruising, swelling, and bleeding, "which can lead to permanent, severe brain damage or death." Block said legal challenges to the term "shaken baby syndrome" can detract from more important questions about whether abuse occurred. The new term can avoid that problem, he said. "In no way does this change the position of the academy" about the potentially fatal risks of shaking an infant, said Block, a pediatrics professor at the University of Oklahoma's community medicine school in Tulsa. The pediatrics academy recommends the new terminology in a policy statement being published in the May issue of its journal, Pediatrics. Dr. Cindy Christian, a co-author of the policy statement and a child abuse researcher at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said evidence shows babies can be injured by severe shaking alone but sometimes they have head injuries caused by other abuse as well. The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome says an estimated 1,200 to 1,400 U.S. children are injured or killed by shaking each year, but that the number may be much higher since many cases likely are not detected. The advocacy group also uses the umbrella term "abusive head trauma," but says shaking is the leading cause of death in these cases. The pediatricians' new policy says doctors should be alert to signs of head trauma that could include abusive shaking. Doctors also should teach parents safe ways to calm fussy babies and how to avoid the dangers of shaking, the policy advises. Marilyn Barr, executive director of the centre on shaken baby syndrome, praised the academy for "trying to clear murky waters."

CTV.ca | Pediatricians adopt new term for 'shaken baby syndrome'

Well, I do think this is an excellent development. Maybe if we de-cutesy-fy the term, courts will take it more seriously and punish the perpetrators accordingly. There's a difference between shaking a baby and shaking it so much that it dies. 'Abusive head trauma' sounds far more on the money to me and, this way, courts will have a far easier time of convincing people to take this seriously.

[sunnykerr]

WHO Raises Pandemic Alert Level; 149 Dead in Mexico The World Health Organization raised its pandemic alert level to Phase 4 on Monday, verifying human-to-human transmission of swine flu, as the suspected death toll from the virus in Mexico hit 149. Meanwhile, the United States cautioned against non-essential travel to Mexico and tightened its borders along the southern states. The European Union also advised Europeans to be wary about travelling on Mexico -- and parts of the U.S. In newly-revised alert levels released this week, WHO defines Phase 4 as "human-to-human transmission of an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus able to sustain community-level outbreaks has been verified." Phase 4 normally calls on affected countries to contain the outbreak. But WHO spokesperson Dr. Keiji ***uda said that "given the current situation," the the focus should be on mitigation. "This virus has already spread quite far, so at this time containment is not a feasible option," he said. ***uda also said the WHO director-general has recommended not closing borders or restricting travel. However, those who are sick should delay their travel plans. Phase 5 would mean there is a high-to-certain probability of a pandemic, while Phase 6 means a pandemic is in progress. The swine flu outbreak has now reached beyond North America, reaching into Europe. So far, confirmed cases have been found in: United States: 42 Mexico: 26 Canada: 6 Spain: 1 Scotland: 2 Mexico has suffered the brunt of the outbreak. Schools across the country were ordered to close Monday as officials revealed that the suspected death toll from swine flu has reached 149. Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said only 20 people have been confirmed to have died directly from swine flu. Cordova said tests were still being conducted on the rest of the dead. In total, Cordova said 1,995 people have been hospitalized in Mexico with serious cases of pneumonia since the first case of swine flu was reported on April 13. Of those hospitalized, 1,070 have since been released. All schools have been suspended until May 6. (...) Swine flu, also known as A H1N1, is normally contracted through contact with pigs. However, it appears that this strain is spread through human-to-human contact. Symptoms include fever, muscle and joint pain, cough, sore throat, eye pain, shortness of breath and extreme fatigue. (...)

CTV.ca | WHO raises pandemic alert level; 149 dead in Mexico

The article is quite long, so I cut some parts out of it. I'm sure we're all aware of what's going on with this thing. My brother and his girlfriend are currently in Puerto Vallarta, so it's been a concern for the family, but they seem to be doing alright.

I don't know. On the one hand, obviously, extreme caution seems to be in order. On the other hand, it seems like these pandemics are sprouting every year. I'm sure it's tragic for the loved ones of those who died. Any death of this sort is horrible. Still, I sorta feel like the media like to make a lot of noise about things that, in the end, wind up being okay.



Any thoughts?