(HealthDay News) When people with type 2 diabetes also struggle with depression, their odds for a third worrisome condition -- dementia -- goes up markedly, a new study suggests.

Specifically, patients with type 2 diabetes are twice as likely to develop dementia three to five years after being diagnosed with depression compared to nondepressed people with diabetes, researchers found…

The authors noted that depression and diabetes are among the most prevalent health issues facing American seniors.

What's more, each of the two conditions seem to independently raise the risk for developing the other: Being diabetic bumps up the likelihood of becoming depressed, while being depressed boosts the risk for developing diabetes…

But the authors also noted that many of the things that can boost the odds for depression among diabetic patients, such as eating a poor diet, maintaining a sedentary lifestyle and/or smoking, are modifiable behaviors. This means that patients and physicians alike have some clear targets for interventions to lower depression risk, and possibly dementia risk as well.

Read more.

Community: There are steps we can take to prevent, delay, or reduce the effects of diabetes, depression, and dementia.

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(HealthDay News) A woman's risk of developing breast cancer appears to rise if she has diabetes or is obese after age 60, a new study indicates.

Previous research has linked obesity and increased breast cancer risk, but "the diabetes link had not been clearly shown," said researcher Dr. Hakan Olsson…

The diabetes link held even after he accounted for obesity and levels of blood lipids, such as cholesterol. It is an association, however, not proven cause and effect…

Obesity after age 60 boosted breast cancer risk by 55 percent, Olsson said. To put this in perspective, while 15 of 100 obese women, at the most, would get breast cancer, fewer than 10 of 100 women in the general population would be expected to get breast cancer, Olsson explained.

Up to four years after a diabetes diagnosis, women of any age had a 37 percent higher risk of developing breast cancer, he said.

Read more.

Community: There are steps we can take to prevent, delay, or reduce the effects of diabetes.

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(HealthDay News) Working rotating night shifts may do more than leave you tired; it may also increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research finds.

A study of two groups of women found that those who worked rotating night shifts were more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than women with regular hours, and the longer that they worked a rotating shift schedule, the greater their risk…

[Said the study's senior author, Dr. Frank Hu,] "For nurses who spent a couple of years working rotating night shifts, there was a minimal increase in risk. But, for those with a very long duration of rotating shifts, the risk was almost 60 percent higher. This provides pretty strong evidence that the longer the rotating night shift work, the greater the risk of diabetes."

Read more.

Community: There are steps we can take to prevent, delay, or reduce the effects of diabetes.

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(Prevention) What can I eat? If that's not the first question you ask after a diabetes diagnosis, it's probably a close second.

You figure fruits and vegetables are at the top of the list (they are); lean meats, some fish, and healthy whole grains make the cut too. Those you expect; these you may not: oils, olives, nuts and seeds, avocados, and dark chocolate. These five foods are packed with monounsaturated fatty acids, or MUFAs (moo-fahs) for short.

Incorporating "good" unsaturated fats into a fruit-veggie-lean-protein-whole-grain diet helped people with prediabetes reduce their risk of developing full-blown type 2 by almost 60 percent, according to a landmark government study. And now, emerging research points to MUFAs in particular as potential superheroes for controlling blood sugar, reducing insulin resistance, and fighting belly fat specifically visceral belly fat, the dangerous kind found deep in your abdomen and strongly associated with prediabetes and diabetes.

Of course, you can't simply add lots of chocolate or handfuls of nuts to an unhealthy diet and expect great results. The key is to work right-size portions of oil, olives, nuts and seeds, avocados, and dark chocolate into the mix of healthy foods you'll eat at every meal. Here's a closer look at how these five fab foods help fight diabetes and boost your health, plus some delicious recipes you can try today.

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Community: And there are more steps we can take to prevent, delay, or reduce the effects of diabetes.

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MyRecipes.com:

Cold Peanut Noodles with Shrimp
The noodles absorb the sauce quickly, so serve shortly after tossing all the ingredients together. If you can't find fresh Chinese egg noodles, substitute spaghetti or linguine.

Hot-and-Sour Beef and Rice Noodle Salad

Spicy Scallop and Bean Thread Noodle Salad

Thai Chicken and Noodles

EatingWell:

Herb & Onion Frittata
This Italian-style omelet is delicious with just about any herb combination; try parsley, dill, chervil or marjoram.

Asparagus & Potato Frittata

Artichoke & Parmesan Frittata

Green Eggs & Ham Frittata

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(Science Daily) Oxidative stress is considered to be involved in a multitude of pathogenic processes and is also implicated in the proces of aging. For the first time, scientists … have been able to directly observe oxidative changes in a living organism. Their findings in fruit flies raise doubts about the validity of some widely held hypotheses: The research team has found no evidence that the life span is limited by the production of harmful oxidants…

Up to now, many scientists have assumed that the aging process is associated with a general increase in oxidants throughout the body. However, this was not confirmed by the observations made by the investigators across the entire life span of the adult [fruit flies]. They were surprised that almost the only age-dependent increase in oxidants was found in the fly's intestine. Moreover, when comparing flies with different life spans, they found out that the accumulation of oxidants in intestinal tissue even accelerated with a longer life span. The group thus found no evidence supporting the frequently voiced assumption that an organism's life span is limited by the production of harmful oxidants.

Read more.

Community: Yes, well, I’ll wait for confirmation before I stop taking anti-oxidants.

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(HealthDay News)Women who get routine mammograms can lower their risk of dying from breast cancer by nearly half, a new Dutch study suggests.

"Our study adds further to the evidence that mammography screening unambiguously reduces breast cancer mortality," said Dr. Suzie Otto, a senior researcher in the department of public health at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

The routine screening also lowered the chances of being diagnosed with an advanced cancer, she said…

Mammography screening, including the best schedule and the best age to begin, is being hotly debated in the United States and elsewhere. Some experts think women should start getting them at age 40. Other think women should discuss the pros and cons of the test at 40, decide on an individual basis and start screens routinely at 50. Otto's study only looked at women aged 49 and older.

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(Science Daily) A computer-based tool could help GPs to speed up the diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from two of the most common forms of cancer, potentially saving thousands of lives every year.

Researchers at The University of Nottingham and ClinRisk Ltd have shown that the algorithm is successful in identifying those suffering with gastro-esophageal cancer and lung cancer at an earlier stage by 'red-flagging' potentially worrying combinations of symptoms and risk factors.

Read more.

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(Science Daily) Scientists are reporting development and successful initial testing of a new tool that tells whether brain tissue is normal or cancerous while an operation is underway, so that surgeons can remove more of the tumor without removing healthy tissue, improving patients' survival…

Zoltán Takáts and colleagues point out that cancer can recur if tumor cells remain in the body after surgery. As a precaution, surgeons typically remove extra tissue surrounding a breast, prostate and other tumors in the body. But neurosurgeons face severe limitations because removing extra tissue can impair the patient's memory, mobility and other vital functions. Neurosurgeons thus strive to precisely identify the tumor margins during brain surgery. Current methods take too long and are unreliable. To overcome these challenges, the researchers developed a new tool that can identify the margin between cancerous and healthy tissue in half the time previously needed.

They describe linking a mainstay surgical tool termed an ultrasonic aspirator -- used to break up and suction tissue -- to a modified version of a standard laboratory tool called a mass spectrometer. Their tests proved successful on human brain samples.

Read more.

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(Science Daily) Scientists in Glasgow have made an important discovery in the fight against malignant melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer…

Professor [Owen] Sansom and his colleagues demonstrated the key role that P-Rex1 plays in the spread of malignant melanoma…

They then clearly confirmed that human melanoma samples, taken from patients' tumours, contained raised levels of P-Rex1.

Said Professor Sansom: "By contrast P-Rex1 is not present in most other normal human cell types, pointing up its suitability as a gene to be 'switched off' with chemotherapeutic drugs, as there are unlikely to be any unwanted side effects on nearby healthy cells."

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(Reuters) British scientists have made the first human embryonic stem cells of a high enough grade to use in patients and deposited them in a public stem cell bank for development in human trials by drug companies and researchers by 2014.

A team from King's College London said on Monday they were submitting two clinical-grade stem cell lines to the UK Stem Cell Bank (UKSBC), which will test and validate them before offering them to researchers.

This could speed the path towards new stem-cell treatments for conditions like blindness, severe injury or heart disease.

Read more.

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(UPI) Women with post-traumatic stress disorder who report a history of rape or child physical abuse are more likely to suffer chronic PTSD, U.S. researchers say…

Most people will experience at least one potentially traumatic event during their lifetimes that could result in PTSD and knowing the factors that predict chronic PTSD will help to identify people who are most in need of assistance and treatment after suffering a traumatic event, [Jesse R.] Cougle said.

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(New York Times) If anyone needed evidence of the frontline role played by dogs in war these days, here is the latest: the four-legged, wet-nosed troops used to sniff out mines, track down enemy fighters and clear buildings are struggling with the mental strains of combat nearly as much as their human counterparts…

Like humans with the analogous disorder, different dogs show different symptoms. Some become hyper-vigilant. Others avoid buildings or work areas that they had previously been comfortable in. Some undergo sharp changes in temperament, becoming unusually aggressive with their handlers, or clingy and timid. Most crucially, many stop doing the tasks they were trained to perform…

Treatment can be tricky. Since the patient cannot explain what is wrong, veterinarians and handlers must make educated guesses about the traumatizing events. Care can be as simple as taking a dog off patrol and giving it lots of exercise, playtime and gentle obedience training.

More serious cases will receive what [animal behaviorist Dr. Walter F. Burghardt Jr.] calls “desensitization counterconditioning,” which entails exposing the dog at a safe distance to a sight or sound that might set off a reaction — a gunshot, a loud bang or a vehicle, for instance. If the dog does not react, it is rewarded, and the trigger — “the spider in a glass box,” Dr. Burghardt calls it — is moved progressively closer…

Some dogs are also treated with the same medications used to fight panic attacks in humans…

Dogs that do not recover quickly are returned to their home bases for longer-term treatment. But if they continue to show symptoms after three months, they are usually retired or transferred to different duties, Dr. Burghardt said.

Read more.

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(Times of India) According to psychologists from Ohio University, the oft-repeated seven seconds statistic about men is just a myth, as it would mean men thinking about sex 8,000 times during a waking day, the Daily Express reported.

The study of young adult men and women revealed that men thought about sex on an average 19 times a day. Some of the men, however, recorded 388 sexual thoughts a day.

Men were also found thinking about food 18 times a day and thinking of sleep around 11 times a day.

Whereas women thought about sex 10 times a day, less than the 15 times a day they thought about food.

Read more.

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(Science Daily) Researchers have identified the area of the brain that controls our ability to correct our movement after we've been hit or bumped -- a finding that may have implications for understanding why subjects with stroke often have severe difficulties moving…

[Neuroscience professor Stephen] Scott now wants to apply these findings to stroke patients by examining the damage these patients have to their sensory pathways and how this damage relates to movement problems. He believes that these findings may support an increased focus on first-stage sensory rehabilitation to help rebuild pathways that transmit sensory information to the brain before treatment moves to a focus on motor skills.

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(Kaiser Health News) Home care technology can play a critical role in keeping patients out of hospitals and at home, but many providers believe new policies should be used to encourage its adoption.

Advocates for those changes were on Capitol Hill yesterday to push for legislation that would expand the use of such technology, which allows home health agencies and nurses to remotely monitor a patient’s vital signs, like heart activity and blood pressure, and be able to flag troubling symptoms before they become medical emergencies.

Such technology is important as people live longer with more chronic conditions and seek to stay in their homes, the advocates told congressional staff at a presentation sponsored by Philips Healthcare, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice and the Home Care Technology Association of America. It also could be critical as Medicare prepares to penalize hospitals next year for frequently readmitting patients within 30 days for heart failure, heart attacks and pneumonia.

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(Reuters) The government urged the Supreme Court to rule in favor of a generic drugmaker in a case over how companies can fight brand-name rivals to get cheaper drugs to market.

The nation's top court on Monday heard arguments about whether the generics company, Caraco Pharmaceuticals, could sue a brand-name drugmaker to get it to narrow its patent description with the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA uses this information to decide whether to approve a generic "copycat" version of a medicine before the patent has expired.

Caraco, a unit of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, contends that the description of the patent for the diabetes drug, Prandin, is too broad, and because of that prevents any generic from entering the market. It raised a "counterclaim" to challenge the description.

In a brief to the court, the U.S. government said generic drugs save consumers billions of dollars each year. It opposed a lower court ruling in favor of the brand-name company, Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk.

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(Reuters) After decades in relative obscurity, a legal doctrine that holds corporate officers liable for company wrongdoing is finding its way back into some high-profile healthcare prosecutions.

The "responsible corporate officer" doctrine allows for prison terms of up to one year for misdemeanor violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, but typically defendants have received only probation.

Recently, however, the government has sought to reinvigorate the doctrine, and some executives are facing stiffer penalties than they had ever imagined.

On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services will seek to convince a federal appeals court to uphold a 12-year exclusion from government business for three former executives of Purdue Pharma. The executives had pleaded guilty in 2007 to a misdemeanor for misbranding the painkiller OxyContin.

And on November 21, three former executives at medical-device company Synthes Inc received prison sentences of between five and nine months for their role in an illegal test of a bone-cement product.

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(WebMD Health News) Many Americans have a grinch-like attitude toward being nice around the holidays, finds a new survey by Consumer Reports.

In the poll, "having to be nice" ranked among the top 10 things people dread this time of year. Worries about weight gain also ranked in the top 10…

The poll found that 15% of the adults questioned, or an estimated 35 million Americans, can't stand having to be nice during the holidays. And that can add even more stress to an already hectic holiday season.

When people were asked what -- if anything -- they dreaded most about the holidays, crowds and long lines topped the list; 68% ranked them as their biggest beefs this time of year.

Read more.

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(HealthDay News) A man's fitness level may be more important for his overall health than his body weight, a novel finding that runs counter to conventional wisdom.

A new study … finds that improving or even just maintaining your fitness level can help you live longer, regardless of whether your body weight has stayed the same or even gone up…

Given that two-thirds of the U.S. population are overweight or obese, the observation could change the way millions approach health.

Read more.

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(HealthDay News) Physically unfit men who do heavy work may be at increased risk for fatal heart attack, a new study says…

Danish researchers compared men in lower and higher socioeconomic levels… Men in the lower social classes had a 14 percent long-term risk for death from ischemic heart disease (such as heart attack) compared with about 9 percent for those in the higher social classes.

But poor physical fitness, not low social class, was the main risk factor.

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(New York Times) Eighty-six percent of the estimated 3.2 million truck drivers in the United States are overweight or obese, according to a 2007 study in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association…

It’s a problem not just for truckers, but for anyone who shares the road with them. In 2010, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 13 percent of all fatal occupational injuries, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A 2007 report from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found that 87 percent of crashes involving truckers stemmed to some degree from driver error. Twelve percent of these cases were because the driver was asleep, had a heart attack, was in diabetic shock or had some other health problem…

Now transportation carriers, industry organizations and even truck stops are unrolling initiatives to help truckers slim down, shape up and improve their health. Employers are holding health seminars, building on-site gyms, bringing in nutritionists and fitness trainers, and offering financial incentives to employees who stop smoking or lose weight. Some drivers are cooking in their rigs, walking or bike riding around truck stops, blogging about their experiences at sites like truckingsolutionsgroup.org and safetythruwellness.com, and writing books.

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(Reader's Digest) Posture isn’t just about how you look. It also has a powerful effect on how you feel — and on what you do. Want to eat less? Stick to your budget? Ease your back pain? Researchers in the growing field of “embodied cognition” suggest you assume these positions:

To lose weight, make a muscle.
You really do want to exercise and eat sensibly — but your resolve keeps going wobbly? Try clenching your hand, gritting your teeth, or standing on tiptoe. Flexing your muscles can make your willpower stronger, according to a study published last year.

“You’re telling yourself, ‘I am strong. I can resist this temptation,’ ” says coauthor Aparna Labroo, PhD, who studies decision making at the Rotman School of Management in Toronto. “The cumulative effect can be quite large over time.”

To hurt less, stand tall.
Your back is killing you, so you curl up into a ball. But a study published earlier this year found that an expansive posture — for instance, standing up straight, shoulders back, chest out — makes people less sensitive to pain. A dominant posture may help you breathe more deeply and can even affect hormone levels, says coauthor Scott Wiltermuth, PhD, at the USC Marshall School of Business. “But we think it’s mostly about changes inside the head. You feel more powerful, and that increases your tolerance for pain.”

Source

Community: Once again, we see that a sense of efficacy is important in maintaining healthy habits. We need to become the little engines that can.

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(Reader's Digest) Sure, your genes have something to do with your life span, but the doctors we spoke to agreed that you can make a big dent in your risk of chronic disease by doing 12 simple things. What's more, the following checklist isn't just a prescription for living long; it's your ticket to living well.

1. Stop Smoking
Four years after doing so, your chance of having a heart attack falls to that of someone who has never smoked. After ten years, your lung cancer risk drops to nearly that of a nonsmoker.

2. Exercise Daily
Thirty minutes of activity is all that's necessary. Three ten-minute walks will do it.

3. Eat five servings of produce [every day].

4. Get Screened
No need to go test-crazy; just get the health screenings recommended for your stage of life. Check with your doctor to make sure you're up-to-date.

5. Get Plenty of Sleep
For most adults, that means seven to eight hours every night. If you have a tough time turning off the light, remember that sleep deprivation raises the risk of heart disease, cancer, and more.

6. Ask your doctor about low-dose aspirin.
Heart attack, stroke, even cancer — a single 81 mg tablet per day may fight them all. (Aspirin comes with risks, though, so don't start on your own.)

7. Know Your Blood Pressure
It's not called the silent killer just to give your life a little more drama. Keep yours under 120/80.

8. Stay Connected
Loneliness is another form of stress. Friends, family, and furry pets supply vitamin F.

9. Cut Back on Saturated Fat
It's the raw material your body uses for producing LDL, bad cholesterol.

10. Get Help for Depression
It doesn't just feel bad; it does bad things to your body. In fact, when tacked onto diabetes and heart disease, it increases risk of early death by as much as 30 percent.

11. Manage Stress
The doctors we surveyed say that living with uncontrolled stress is more destructive to your health than being 30 pounds overweight.

12. Have a higher purpose.
As one physician advised, "Strive to achieve something bigger than yourself." By giving back, you give to yourself.

Source

Community: I’m keeping lists of things we can do to prevent or reduce depression and stress.

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MyRecipes.com:

Chicken and Black Bean-Stuffed Burritos
These skillet-grilled burritos come together in a flash thanks to store-bought rotisserie chicken. Keep this meal light by serving with a fresh green salad.

Chicken-Vegetable Toss

Soft Chicken Tacos

Buffalo Chicken Tacos

EatingWell:

Warm Winter Salad
Sautéed radicchio, fennel and carrots are topped with chicken, walnuts and Gorgonzola in this warm and hearty main-dish salad. Serve with crusty whole-grain baguette.

Warm Quinoa Salad with Edamame & Tarragon

Warm Lentil & Roasted Red Pepper Salad

Warm Chicken Salad with Pine Nuts

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(Science Daily) A substance in medicines for cancer and epilepsy could also prevent heart attacks, according to researchers … who have been using it to stimulate the body's own defence system against blood clots…

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg's Sahlgrenska Academy have been looking at a way to stimulate the clot-dissolving system…

Previously tested substances have proved unsuitable, mainly because of their unwanted side-effects. In the present study the Sahlgrenska researchers used HDAC inhibitors, substances new to this particular context, and managed to stimulate production of the relevant enzyme…

The advantage of HDAC inhibitors is that they are already used in medication for illnesses such as epilepsy and cancer, which means that their pharmacological properties and side-effects are known.

Read more.

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(UKPA) Modern chemotherapy drugs are cutting breast cancer deaths by about a third, a study has shown.

Scientists analysed pooled data from 123 trials involving around 100,000 women conducted over the past four decades.

They found that standard 1980s chemotherapy treatments reduced breast cancer death rates by almost a quarter.

More effective modern drugs reduced mortality by about a third in a wide range of patients, compared with no chemotherapy.

The impact on death rates applied to all women irrespective of age, size of tumour, level of spread, and whether the cancer was fuelled by oestrogen.

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(UPI) Recognizing possible symptoms of gynecologic cancers can lead to diagnosis and timely treatment, a U.S. gynecologic oncologist says.

Dr. Debra Richardson … said women who have gone through menopause, for instance, should not experience any menstrual bleeding.

"Any bleeding -- even spotting -- after menopause is not normal and should be checked out by a gynecologist," Richardson said in a statement.

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(Science Daily) Acupuncture may help ease the severe nerve pain associated with certain cancer drugs, suggests a small preliminary study…

"The data suggest that acupuncture has a positive effect on CIPN, as measured by objective parameters [nerve conduction studies]," write the authors, adding that their results are similar to those found in patients with nerve damage caused by diabetes and those with peripheral neuropathy of unknown cause.

They conclude that the results of this pilot study are "encouraging," and merit further investigation in a larger trial.

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(Science Daily) In pets and people, the time it takes to diagnose an infection may mean life or death. Now, a University of Missouri veterinarian is identifying ways to diagnose pet infections in approximately a third of the current diagnosis time. The resulting test could be used eventually for humans.

"Infections can be difficult to diagnose, and many veterinarians have to send samples to a lab and wait three days or more as the lab attempts to grow a culture," said Amy DeClue, assistant professor of veterinary internal medicine… "Meanwhile, the infection continues to spread each day that veterinarians wait on lab results, which is detrimental to the patient. In extreme infections, called sepsis, more than half of patients die. My group has been evaluating different blood biomarkers that could give a quick and accurate indication of infection, and we believe we've found a biomarker that will only require a simple blood test."

Read more.

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(Science Daily) Antibiotics may not be the only risk factor associated with community-acquired Clostridium difficile infection, indicating that other undefined causes of the potentially life-threatening infection may exist and could also predict whether or not a patient will require hospitalization, according to [a] study…

Community-acquired Clostridium difficile infection (CA-CDI) is an increasingly recognized cause of diarrhea, including for those who were previously thought to be at low risk or lacked traditional risk factors…

[Said co-investigator Darrell Pardi, MD, MS, FACG,] "Interestingly, those hospitalized were less likely to have received prior antibiotics, suggesting that other undefined risk factors associated with CA-CDI were operative, and could be predictors of hospitalization. Future studies are needed to better characterize determinants of infection risk and need for hospitalization in CA-CDI."

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(Science Daily) Life-threatening viruses such as HIV, SARS, hepatitis and influenza, could soon be combatted in an unusual manner as researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of plasma for inactivating and preventing the replication of adenoviruses.

When exposed to plasma -- the fourth state of matter in addition to solids, liquids and gases -- for a period of just 240 seconds, it was found that only one in a million viruses could still replicate -- practically all were inactivated.

The study … is one of the first to concentrate specifically on viruses and builds on research that has already shown the usefulness of plasma in eradicating bacteria from skin and sterilising water.

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(Science Daily) Scientists at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and Yale University have identified a new target area in the human genome that appears to harbor genes with a major role in the onset of depression…

[John Blangero, Ph.D.] and his colleagues looked at more than 11,000 endophenotypes, or heritable factors, and searched for the ones that were linked with the risk of major depression. They found that disease risk correlated most strongly with expression levels of a gene called RNF123, which helps regulate neuron growth.

Once they found this risk factor, further analysis directed scientists to an area on chromosome 4 containing genes that appear to regulate RNF123.

Because the RNF123 expression levels can be measured relatively easily in the blood, this finding could lead to a way of identifying people at risk for major depressive disorder, Blangero said.

Read more.

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(WebMD Health News) New CDC numbers show that 36% of adults have already gotten flu shots as of early November -- months before the illness normally sweeps the nation.

That means roughly 111 million adults have received flu shots or the spray flu vaccine so far, the CDC’s Anne Schuchat, MD, director of the agency’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said at a media briefing here.

That’s a slight uptick from last year, when only 34% of adults had received flu shots this early.

Read more.

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(Reuters) Regulators and drugmakers need to find ways to make more clinical data openly available, since vital knowledge about fighting disease is often locked away in confidential databases, the head of the U.S. drugs watchdog said on Monday.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said opening up data to public scrutiny needed to be done selectively, given legitimate concerns among companies over commercial confidentiality, but more could still be done…

In particular, making detailed data available on how experimental drugs have performed in clinical tests, which are then filed with regulators, could prevent scientists from pursuing dead-end areas of research, she added.

Read more.

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(Health.com) Progress in the fight against obesity, heart disease, and several other public-health scourges all but ground to a halt in the past year, although as usual a person's chances of being in good health varied widely by location, according to the latest state-by-state rankings of the nation's health.

As they have in the past, northeastern states dominated the top of the rankings, while states in the southeastern United States were clustered at the bottom. Vermont -- with its low rate of infectious disease, high use of early prenatal care, and relative lack of violent crime -- was deemed the healthiest state for the second year in a row, followed by New Hampshire, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Massachusetts.

The picture was far less bright across the nation as a whole, however. Increases in obesity, diabetes, and the percentage of children living in poverty are eroding the nation's health, and the gloomy economic situation is likely only compounding these problems, say public health experts who contributed to the report, known as America's Health Rankings…

There are some glimmers of good news, however: The percentage of American adults who smoke fell from 17.9% percent to 17.3% percent, for instance, and the number of preventable hospitalizations dropped from 82.5 to 68.2 per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.

Efforts to improve health in this country must focus on prevention, and should be tailored to individual states and communities, [says Georges Benjamin, M.D., the executive director of the APHA, a professional organization for public health experts].

"Physical activity, nutrition, and tobacco: If we could get people focused on those three, we could take a huge bite out of the chronic disease epidemic," he says. "This is not an infinite list of things that people have to address."

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(Chicago Tribune) You've been cooking all last night and this morning. Your guests will be over in about 20 minutes.

People who look remotely like you will fill the driveway with their cars, trudge up the front stairs and ring the doorbell over and over — even though the door is open. Running under outstretched hands with casserole dishes will be the children. Oh so many children with oh so many squeals and dirty shoes.

Right about now you might be thinking it best to bolt out the backdoor before they arrive. Time to reach for mother's little metal helper — your cellphone. These stress-relieving apps can help guide your mind to a happy place, leaving you just enough time to take the pie out of the oven and hide the cats (We all remember what happened last year).

MyCalmBeat

Stress Doctor by Azumio

Universal Breathing — Pranayama Free

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Community: I’m keeping a list of steps we can take to reduce stress.

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(Arthur Agatston, MD, Everyday Health) Q: My husband has a high-pressure job and works long hours. I'm worried that his work, combined with a less-than-ideal diet, may lead him to have a heart attack. What can I do to get him to make his health a priority?

A: … I typically recommend changes in diet and exercise. It’s unrealistic to tell a person who enjoys his work to cut back, but you can tell him that simply getting 20 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise every other day — either before or after he heads for the office or during his lunch hour — can go a long way toward beating stress, strengthening the heart muscle, and preventing a heart attack or stroke. Since most workaholics won’t go to the gym (no time), I tell them to buy the most expensive treadmill or elliptical machine available, since they’re more likely to use it if it costs a lot of money!

Making simple dietary changes like eating more antioxidant-rich, high-fiber fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, and eating at least two nutritious snacks a day at the office (rather than chowing down on empty-calorie fast food) can also help.

And if your husband smokes (which many workaholics do), I would definitely read him the riot act. I tell my patients who smoke that I think they’ll be lucky if they do die quickly from a heart attack, because a long and lingering death from emphysema or lung cancer is far worse!

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Community: Dr. Agatston recommends scaring the husband into taking care of himself, but in my experience that tactic doesn’t work. People who think they’re too busy to take care of themselves are masters of denial. Nothing bad is going to happen to them! But she might be able to convince her husband that by making these changes he’ll do a better job at work. That’s certainly what I found.

And I’m keeping a list of steps we can take to reduce stress.

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(UPI) An abusive boss not only causes stress and strain at work, but stress and strain at home as well, U.S. researchers said.

Study co-authors Dawn Carlson and Merideth Ferguson … suggested as supervisor abuse -- tantrums, rudeness, public criticism and inconsiderate action -- heightens tension, an employee is less motivated or able to engage in positive interactions with a partner and other family members.

The study … found stress and tension caused by an abusive boss have an impact on an employee's partner, which affects the domestic relationship and, subsequently, the employee's entire family.

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(RealAge.com) If you're stuck in a toxic work environment, try these steps to help you rise above the ugliness and bring back respect:

Practice the Golden Rule. Respect others, look for the best in people, speak kindly, and bite your tongue when you're about to gossip about a coworker. Reallylisten to colleagues. Genuine kindness will help you build stronger connections and give your longevity a boost.

Outsmart the office jerk. Every watercooler's got one: the complainer who always sees the dark side. To protect yourself, consider changing your break time to avoid the verbal toxin. And think upbeat thoughts after a run-in. Being optimistic can boost immunity. Here's why.

Find an ally. If there's rampant incivility at work, talk with your boss or have a chat with human resources (especially if you're a target). Business-psychology experts emphasize that real change only comes from the top.

Find meaning in what you do. Work's not easy these days, but renewing your commitment to your job can help you shrug off the ill effects of incivility (and make you nicer, too). Even if you have to dig, find satisfaction and purpose in all that you do -- even if that means finding a new passion or retraining for a new job.

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Community: I’m keeping a list of steps we can take to reduce stress.

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(EatingWell) If you're feeling stressed, take heart: What you eat and smell may help you de-stress.

"The part of the brain that processes odors is very close to the (part that houses) emotions and memories," explains Pamela Dalton, Ph.D., M.P.H., a researcher at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, Penn. So when you sniff something you like, you tend to breathe more deeply, your blood pressure lowers and your heart rate slows — all of which relax you. Eating some foods may help relax you, too.

Try arming yourself with these soothing scents and tasty foods to cope when you are stressed:

Sniff an Apple
If you like the smell of green apples, embracing their aroma may help alleviate headaches, according to preliminary research…

Sip on Tea
Drinking caffeinated black, green or oolong tea varieties may elicit a more alert state of mind…

Inhale Lavender
In one [study,] … the group exposed to the lavender scent reported significantly lower anxiety levels…

Cut Into a Coconut
When you’re stressed, the scent of coconut may blunt your natural “fight or flight” response, slowing your heart rate…

Pack Some Peppermint
Overwhelmed by decadent holiday spreads? A little peppermint may help you stave off the urge to overdo it…

Nibble on Chocolate
Recent research shows eating dark chocolate can help reduce levels of cortisol and catecholamines (hormones associated with stress), especially for those with high anxiety…

Satisfy a Carb Craving
Eating carbohydrates can stimulate the release of serotonin, your feel-good brain chemical… Opt for whole grains, such as quinoa and oatmeal, which deliver more fiber and nutrients than refined ones.

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Community: I’m keeping a list of steps we can take to reduce stress.

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