Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/uNabJxQaMAo   When it comes to preventing the spread of the flu, a paper surgical mask works just as well as the N95 respirator mask costing 14 times more.  Both masks are readily available from Amazon.com.   A multi-site study, organized by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the CDC, reviewed the spread of influenza when more than 2800 participants wore either the N95 respirator or the paper mask.  There were no significant differences when wearing either mask type during confirmed influenza occurrences.   The paper masks cost as little as 9 cents a piece, and can easily be worn if you are at high risk for the flu or if you have the flu and don’t want to infect others with whom you live or work.  They are available in decorator colors and designs.   Lewis J. Radonovich, Michael S. Simberkoff, Mary T. Bessesen, etal. N95 Respirators vs Medical Masks for Preventing Influenza Among Health Care Personnel. JAMA, 2019; 322 (9): 824 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2019.11645

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/FedQyWPCnNM   To induce tolerance to peanuts in those allergic to them, tiny amounts of peanut protein under the tongue, so called Sublingual Immunotherapy or SLIT, work better with fewer dangerous side effects than swallowing the peanuts or wearing a peanut patch.  Allergists at The University of North Carolina announce this conclusion from their ongoing study of 48 patients treated with daily tongue immunizations and followed over the past 8 years.   Two-thirds of the patients were successfully immunized so that they tolerated a reasonable peanut exposure without serious consequences.  The goal of peanut allergy therapy is to prevent a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction rather than to permit kids to safely ingest a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch.   SLIT therapy for peanut allergy appears to be effective, safe, and cheap.  It will permit more kids to participate in more activities more freely without fear of impending disaster.   Edwin H. Kim et al. Long-term sublin

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/acnKKOtHZRc   It’s exercise doctrine that strength-boosting sessions should be followed by a protein shake to permit muscle recovery and reduce aches and pains.  Now a study from Britain’s University of Lincoln suggests that these shakes are no better than plain old carbohydrate drinks.   University exercise physiologists provided 30 male subjects with one of three drinks, a whey protein shake, a milk-based shake, or a carbohydrate drink.  The liquids looked and tasted the same.  When the results were decoded, all 3 drinks were associated with the same degree of muscle soreness and functional muscle recovery.   The researchers and other exercise nutritionists recommend foregoing post-exercise protein shakes in favor or eating real food that provides needed proteins, amino acids, and carbs.  They suggest eggs, oily fish such as tuna, meat, and soy.  Many of these are portable and can easily replace the shakes in your gym bag.   Thomas I Gee, Thomas J Woolrich, Mark F Smith. Effectiven

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/h7tCnOJJpvM   One-third of middle school and high school students are exposed to the lung-sickening toxins that spew from electronic cigarettes smoked by their peers.  This warning comes from Harvard’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the analysis of data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey for 2018.   The numbers of students who report inhaling the fumes generated by their friends’ vaping devices has risen by 30% compared with reports from the 3 previous years.  These second-hand aerosols contain addicting nicotine, toxic heavy metals, carcinogenic aldehydes, irritating glycerol, and the antifreeze propylene glycol.   Vaping damages lungs, and it is producing a generation of pulmonary cripples.  If a teen won’t stop vaping to save themselves, they should do it for their friends.   Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "Exposure to second-hand e-cigarettes increasing among young people: A national survey shows one-third of middle and high-school students exposed to second-hand e-cigarett

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/S9WDXawVQMQ   Systemic therapy with estrogens, progesterones, or a combination of both can more than double a post-menopausal woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.  This frightening warning comes from a collaborative study just published in The Lancet.   The research focused on nearly 107,000 postmenopausal breast cancer patients half of whom had received hormonal therapy.  The more hormones a woman receives and the longer she receives them will drive up the risk of cancer from a low of 17% for a 1-4 year course of estrogen alone up to 230% for estrogen-progestin combo therapy taken for 5-14 years.  The only hormonal therapy that did not increase cancer risk was topical vaginal therapy.     This sobering study is proof positive that menopausal systemic hormonal therapy is dangerous.  Women suffering from severe menopausal symptoms have found significant relief from moisturizing topical agents, counseling, anti-depressants, Vitamin E, and acupuncture.   Raja Dhar et al. Type and

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/JAh9odm_68c   Electric scooters are all the rage, but their use in the US and around the world has fostered an epidemic of injuries.  A study by surgeons at UC-San Diego shows that most scooter disasters occur when their users drink alcohol, use drugs, and fail to wear helmets.   The investigators tabulated eScooter-related admissions to their emergency department over just one year.  The 103 patients with an average age of 37 years were two-thirds male.  Only 2% of them were wearing helmets, half of them were legally drunk, and at least 30% had a positive drug screen.  One-third of the patients admitted went to the operating room for treatment of intracranial bleeding, severe extremity fractures, or facial fractures.     EScooters provide convenient, alternative transportation, but their use on urban streets requires intense vigilance, a choice of quiet streets, a clear mind, and a helmet-protected brain.   Leslie M Kobayashi, Elliot Williams, Carlos V Brown, Brent J Emigh, Vishal

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/wbftavTqh_w   Eat nuts, virtually any type of nuts, twice a week, and you’ll cut your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by 17%.  That’s the bottom line from an Iranian study just presented to the World Congress of Cardiology.   Nearly 5500 participants 35 years or older who were disease-free at study onset were followed for 12 years.  Their consumption of walnuts, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, and seeds as well as their incidence of fatal and non-fatal heart disease and stroke were tabulated.   Nuts are a great source of unsaturated, healthy fat, but they also contain lots of protein, vitamins, minerals, and fiber.  The recommended nut consumption is 30 grams of unsalted, raw nuts a day, and that’s one-quarter cup.   European Society of Cardiology. "Eating nuts linked with lower risk of fatal heart attack and stroke." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 31 August 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190831155847.htm   #Nuts #cardiovasculardisease #stroke  

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/-I3_f7U00RU   The Impossible Burger, Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage, and Tyson’s Raised and Rooted Chicken Nuggets are all the rage.  Besides the debate about the taste and the genetically-engineered content of these plant-based products compared with the meats they replace, a UK nutritionist sounds the alarm in the British Medical Journal that exclusive use of meatless foods threatens a choline deficiency that could cause brain damage.   Choline is an essential brain-building nutrient that our bodies cannot synthesize in sufficient quantities, and most of us obtain it from meat and fish.  It is necessary for brain health and particularly critical for the developing fetal brain.  The minimum daily intake is 425 mg for women, 550 mg for men, and 450-550 mg for pregnant and breastfeeding women.   Pregnant women should avoid plant-based meat and fish fakes in order to maintain a healthy choline intake.  They and those of us who do use the plant-based products can boost our choline in

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/BTotDqF8O1U   Even if your parents suffered a heart attack at a young age, you can avoid that fate.  Lack of exercise, smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes are more important than genetic factors when it comes to the early development of cardiovascular disease.     This conclusion stems from a Portuguese study just presented to the European Society of Cardiology.  The researchers analyzed data from just over 1,000 mostly male patients under the age of 50 half of whom had developed premature coronary artery disease.  The tabulated results showed that 73% of those who did fall ill had at least 3 of the 5 risk factors versus only 31% of the healthy controls.  The probability that a young person will fall victim to heart disease rises even higher by a factor of 3 with the addition of 1 more risk factor, escalates 7 fold with two more factors,, and soars 24 times higher with 3 additional factors.   Since lifestyle factors far outweigh any genetically-controlled family histo

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/RU0P15Rlw1M   Women who are walkers, live near green spaces in temperate to warm climates, eat only moderate amounts of fish, and avoid BPA-containing plastic water bottles are more likely to have kids with normal blood pressures during mid to late childhood.  Spanish researchers just published these finding in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.   The investigators studied nearly 1300 mother-child pairs from across Europe for whom data was available from their gestational periods through 6-11 years of age.  Their findings confirm and extend previous work that emphasizes the value of exercise, dietary moderation, avoidance of known toxins, and time spent outdoors in the clean air of green spaces.   Normal blood pressure during childhood, like normal body weight, normal cholesterol and lipid levels, and frequent exercise, is critically important for preventing mid-life heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, and early death.   Charline Warembourg, Léa Maitre, Ibon Tama

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/uhyKeeSPw4o   Here comes another loud cheer for sleep moderation from the Harvard-MIT Broad Biomedical Institute, the University of Colorado-Boulder, and the UK’s University of Manchester.  Those sleeping fewer than 6 hours a night had a 20% higher heart attack risk, but sleeping longer than 9 hours was even more dangerous elevating the risk of heart attack by 34%.   The researchers studied more than 460,000 subjects 40-69 years of age with sleep, cardiovascular, genetic as well as 27 other categories of data in Britain’s huge Biobank The large size of the study group permitted the investigators to isolate the impact of sleep on cardiovascular disease.  Sleep is such a powerful body rejuvenator that the proper amount of it can even help to neutralize those genetic factors that predispose many to heart attacks.    Hours of sleep is another of those health numbers to track regularly.  Add it to weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and calories burned in order to keep the machine that

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/5H_y0xIrTgo Health News You Should Use, the latest medical discoveries that you can use to keep yourself and your family healthy.   Here are this weeks stories : Listening Equal To Reading For Comprehending Information Dogs Help Your Heart Smartphone Use Not Driving Our Teens Crazy After All Polluted Air Kills You Faster Any Physical Activity Cuts Risk of Early Death A Your Partner IS An Excellent Pain Killer Heavy Drinking Curbs Immunity To HIV Don’t Sugar-coat Your Cancer Risk Zinc Boosts Resistance To Bacterial Pneumonia Women Do Have Typical Heart Attack Symptoms Simpler Parental Speech Speeds Baby’s Language Development Pomegranate Juice During Pregnancy Yields Healthier Neonate Brains Cannabis Flower The Most Effective Pain Reliever Green-space Drives Happiness Even Nicotine-Free, Flavor-Free Vaping Is Toxic   For show notes and references to for the stories, check out my website at: https://www.drhowardsmith.com/aug-2019-4th-week-health-news #Reading #listening #comprehension

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/T3LMa31YJEk   It’s all over the news: currently more than 200 mostly young people have been hospitalized with life-threatening respiratory illness.  At least one of them has died.     A new study from the University of Pennsylvania shows that even vaping once without any nicotine leads to significant blood vessel lining damage.   The study analyzed 31 healthy non-smoking adults before and after vaping a single e-cigarette that did not contain nicotine but only the usual propylene glycol-glycerol base with tobacco flavoring added. Each participant took only 16-3-second puffs.   Even this limited exposure drove a 34% reduction in major arterial dilatation, a 17% reduction in peak blood flow, a 20% reduction in venous oxygenation, and a 26% reduction in blood acceleration.  The electric heating and vaporization process converts the e-cigarette liquids into toxic substances that damage blood vessels.   Don’t use these devices.  If you want to quit smoking and need to withdraw from nicot

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/EoNbGsjDUns   A visit to your favorite park can give you a happiness boost equivalent to Christmas.  In a first-of-its-kind-study, a University of Vermont study analyzed the word contents of tweets from nearly 4700 users as a function of their publicly identified geolocation.   Those users in the largest green spaces with the most vegetation used the happiest words in their tweets.   They also tended show less narcissism dropping the use of first person pronouns such as “I” and “me.”    Their burst of happiness on Twitter was statistically equivalent to that coming from users over the traditional winter holiday.  The park visit even showed a positive tail, since tweets following the visit used fewer negative words.   The researchers caution that the “twitter-addicted” may not always be representative of the population at large.  I’d take that chance, and get yourself out into the great outdoors.  So many other studies have demonstrated the benefits of frequent visits with good ol’ M

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/luh_-YXmVT8   Cannabis does relieve pain, the most effective pain relief comes from whole cannabis flower, and the products most likely to help with pain are those with the highest THC rather than CBD content.  These are the conclusions from a University of New Mexico study that analyzed data contributed by nearly 3000 users of the ReleafApp.     This Releaf app contains the largest available database of outcomes from patient self-directed cannabis administration.  It captures information about the product used, the beneficial effects, and any side effects and complications.   The researchers looked at more than 20,000 cannabis administrations.  The average pain reduction recorded was 3 on a 10 point scale, and cannabis containing THC worked well for musculoskeletal, headache, nerve, and gastrointestinal pain.  The bad news is that the psychoactive THC products did drive more temporary cognitive and functional impairment along with a longer-term addiction risk.   If you do suffer fr

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/z6pAYo_JlkU   Babies at risk for abnormal brain development showed improved tissue microstructure and better functional connectivity when their pregnant mothers consumed pomegranate juice on a daily basis.  These startling results of a preliminary study are being rushed into publication by neonatologists at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.   The team there conducted a randomized, controlled, double-blind study of 78 pregnant women whose developing babies were diagnosed with intrauterine growth restriction at 24-34 weeks.  These growth issues are associated with placental malfunction.     Half the group received a 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily while the controls were served a placebo with an identical taste and color.  Pomegranate juice’s anti-oxidant polyphenols are known to cross both the placenta and the blood-brain barrier.   When the neonate brains were analyzed with MRIs at 36-41 weeks, those babies whose mothers received the pomegranate juice were spared some nega

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/qpSt1Nj92lM   When parents simply their speech by using single word replies, shorter sentences, and fewer new words, infants develop language faster.  This observation comes from a Cornell University study just published in the Journal of Child Language.   Pediatric behavioral specialists there studied the vocalizations of 30 infant-mother pairs on two consecutive days.  They discovered that when many parents responded to their baby’s babbling, they tended to simply their language output.  Those infants whose parents did streamline their speech showed accelerated vocal maturation even in the short run.   The study shows that babies actually cue their parents to present language to them in a form they can easily digest.  If you want your own infant’s language skills to soar, follow their lead by responding to their babbling and consistently serving up bite sized language “snacks.”   Steven L. Elmlinger, Jennifer A. Schwade, Michael H. Goldstein. The ecology of prelinguistic vocal lea

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/ippJoLK0hZU   I learned in med school and then read over and over again that women have different and more subtle heart attack symptoms compared with men.  Cardiologists often warn not to expect the crushing left-sided chest and arm pains if you want to make a clinical diagnosis in women.   A Scottish study, just published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, now labels this medical orthodoxy a medical myth.  Researchers at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary studied the presenting symptoms of 274 heart attack victims diagnosed by the gold standard cardiac muscle protein troponin test.  Ninety-three percent of both men and women had chest pain and 48-49 percent of each gender had pain radiating to the left.  Women did have more pain traveling to the jaw and back as well as nausea, but men also had the gastrointestinal symptom heartburn and also reported back pain.   The assumption that women only have atypical heart attack symptoms has led to delayed diagnoses and over 8,000

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/Z2X7Kvrpd9U   Zinc boosts the body’s immune response to Streptococcus pneumoniae, the bacterium that causes  most community-acquired pneumonia.  A just-published Australian study used a mouse model to find out just how zinc works its magic.   Finding that zinc-deficient animals fell victim to Pneumococcal pneumonia 3 times faster than normal mice, the researchers were able to show that serum zinc stresses the bacteria permitting the body’s immune cells to kill them effectively.   Nearly 2 billion people around the world suffer from a zinc deficiency.  Although we now have very effective vaccines against the pneumococcus, Prevnar 13 and 23, zinc also plays a role in our immunity to other bacteria.  You can boost your own zinc by eating beans, mushrooms, dark chocolate, nuts, oysters, beef, lamb, shrimp and scallops.   Bart A. Eijkelkamp, Jacqueline R. Morey, Stephanie L. Neville, etal. Dietary zinc and the control of Streptococcus pneumoniae infection. PLOS Pathogens, 2019; 15 (8): e

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/aOaBxMvc6dE   Gobbling sugar may trigger diabetes but also cancer.  A study from California’s City of Hope Medical Center, investigating the link between type 2 diabetes and cancer, discovered that the high blood sugar levels seen in diabetics can trigger DNA damage and prevent repair.   The studies of both diabetic mice and human type 2 diabetics showed not only markers of DNA damage but also lower than normal levels of reparative proteins that can eliminate the cancer-triggering DNA damage.      Diabetics, as a matter of course, try to maintain normal blood sugar levels.   The drug metformin, used by type 2 diabetics to lower blood sugar, has the added benefit of restoring those DNA reparative proteins.   This study suggests yet another reason why all of us should put a damper on our own sugar intakes by soft-peddling those desserts and candy bars.   American Chemical Society. "How diabetes can increase cancer risk: DNA damaged by high blood sugar." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 25