Heather Scholten used to get a deer-in-the-headlights look from just about everyone who heard her story. They couldn’t understand how she could elect to remove both her breasts and her ovaries without ever being diagnosed with cancer. Read more
Heather Scholten used to get a deer-in-the-headlights look from just about everyone who heard her story. They couldn’t understand how she could elect to remove both her breasts and her ovaries without ever being diagnosed with cancer. Read more
DEAR DOCTOR K: My doctor thinks I may have hypothyroidism. How will he make the diagnosis? DEAR READER: Hypothyroidism is the medical term for an underactive thyroid. Some conditions are hard to diagnose, but fortunately hypothyroidism is not one of them. Read more
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LOS ANGELES – Forget boiling or antiseptic wipes: The best way to clean a pacifier may be putting it in your own mouth. It may sound gross, but evidence suggests that those bacteria may help reduce instances of allergy development in babies. Read more
DEAR DOCTOR K: I’m a healthy young person, but I tend to have a lot of gas, bloating and diarrhea. Could a gluten-free diet help me? DEAR READER: Gluten-free eating is essential for people with celiac disease, which is an intolerance to the protein gluten. This protein is found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye. Read more
Q. As far back as I can remember, my stool has floated. I never worried about it until I saw something on the web about pancreatic cancer and floating poop. I did some research and found that if you have pale poop that floats, it could be serious. There might be something wrong with the gallbladder, liver or pancreas. Since I have lived with this for decades, I reasoned that it probably wasn’t pancreatic cancer, or I would be long gone. Read more
MELVILLE, N.Y. – The lead investigator of a way to obtain images of prostate tumors and accurately diagnose them said last week that the new technology is the medical equivalent of a global positioning system for the prostate gland. North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health system is the only institution other than the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., to use the new diagnostic system, Dr. Art Rastinehad of North Shore-LIJ said Thursday at a news conference. Read more
New listings Skin Cancer Screenings – Offered by Kootenai Cancer Center, North Idaho Dermatology, and Advanced Dermatology and Skin Surgery. Saturday, 9-11 a.m., Post Falls Cancer Center, 1440 E. Mullan Ave. Free. Read more
ST. LOUIS – Doctors can now view patients’ leukemia from the equivalent of a helicopter instead of an airplane with new DNA sequencing of cancer cells, an analogy described by Richard Wilson, director of Washington University’s Genome Institute. The researchers led by Washington University studied the genetic profiles and mutations of 200 patients in St. Louis with acute myeloid leukemia, a blood cancer that can spread fast and is difficult to treat. Read more
You won’t find the word “senior” in any of the promotional materials for Affinity Living Communities, though most Affinity residents are senior-discount age. Instead, you’ll find “active adult” and other words designed to attract aging boomers: Wi-Fi, fitness center, community gardens, pub, happy hour and “pets welcome.” Read more
A man with no risk factors for prostate cancer can go his whole life without ever taking a PSA test, according to the American Urological Association. In a new clinical guideline unveiled Friday, the urologists said that only men between the ages of 55 and 69 should even consider getting a PSA screening test if they have no signs or symptoms of prostate cancer. Read more
NEW YORK – The suicide rate among middle-aged Americans climbed a startling 28 percent in a decade, a period that included the recession and the mortgage crisis, the government reported Thursday. The trend was most pronounced among white men and women in that age group. Their suicide rate jumped 40 percent between 1999 and 2010. Read more
WASHINGTON – It’s a chemical that’s been in U.S. households for more than 40 years, from the body wash in your bathroom shower to the knives on your kitchen counter to the bedding in your baby’s basinet. But federal health regulators are just now deciding whether triclosan – the germ-killing ingredient found in an estimated 75 percent of antibacterial liquid soaps and body washes sold in the U.S. – is ineffective, or worse, harmful. Read more
When Lucille Olin turned 80, her doctor advised her to stop running. She obliged, making that year her last Bloomsday run. Read more
DEAR DOCTOR K: I’m scheduled to have a corneal transplant. What can I expect during this procedure? DEAR READER: The cornea is the clear, round “window” that allows light to enter the front of the eye. If the cornea becomes severely diseased or damaged, it can cause a significant loss of vision. A corneal transplant often is the best solution. Read more
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it has approved a request to allow the emergency contraceptive pill, Plan B One-Step, to be sold to customers as young as 15 without a prescription. The action comes roughly three weeks after a federal judge harshly criticized regulators from the Department of Health and Human Services for their handling of the drug’s approval process, calling their actions “politically motivated and scientifically unjustified.” Read more
LOS ANGELES – It stands to reason that the longer a woman waits to start breast cancer treatment, the worse her prognosis. A new study of California women puts some hard numbers on the cost of delaying treatment, and finds that Latinas, African-Americans and poor women were most likely to put their recovery at risk by waiting six weeks or more to have surgery or begin chemotherapy. Researchers from the University of California, Irvine, and Children’s Hospital of Orange County focused on breast cancer patients between ages 15 and 39. Females in this age group account for only 5 to 6 percent of all breast cancer patients, but their cancers are typically more aggressive, and the urgency to begin treatment is increased. Read more
Competing in the unofficial wheelchair division – in the back with the strollers – Donna Husick and Gail Ableman probably will not win Bloomsday on Sunday. But when they finish, it’ll represent a couple of victories. Read more
An amino acid commonly found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients has been discovered in the spinal fluid of people without dementia whose close relatives were diagnosed with the disease, according to a study led by Duke University researchers. The researchers also found people closely related to an Alzheimer’s patient were more likely to have a smaller-than-normal hippocampus, the portion of the brain linked to memory. The findings could help lay the groundwork for development of early-detection tools, said Erika Lambert, a Duke researcher involved in the project. Read more
