http://www.kentucky.com/147/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Health and Family 60 Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:55:10 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/601/story/461460.html http://www.kentucky.com/601/story/461460.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:11 EDT http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/573605.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/573605.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:58 EDT
WASHINGTON . Medical science has learned a great deal about the causes of pain and ways to relieve it, pain experts say, but for a host of reasons, the treatment of pain and suffering has improved hardly at all in recent years.

John Seffrin, the president of the American Cancer Society, calls this "a national health-care crisis of undertreated pain."

"Nearly all cancer pain can be relieved, but fewer than half of our patients report adequate pain relief," Rebecca Kirch, the society's associate director of policy, said at a pain seminar in Washington last week.

Hospitals do a little better than that in managing pain for patients with all kinds of illnesses, according to a survey to be published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/568974.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/568974.html Sun, 26 Oct 2008 06:04 EDT
It was 1945, and Oscar Whitaker was in a Louisville hospital, yet another of the Whitaker family struck with some kind of cancer. Stanley, who was 8 and was visiting, was already aware that this is what killed Whitakers.

It was what killed Stanley's grandfather when Stanley's dad was 3. It would kill Uncle Oscar, but not until 1965. Of Oscar's 10 kids, eight would develop cancers of the colon, uterus, stomach or pancreas.

Stanley's sister Margaret died when she was 55 of colon and uterine cancer. His sister Marcella died after numerous cancer operations at 67, after her own son had died of colon cancer at 32.

And, sure enough, Stanley developed colon cancer in 1983 when he was 46. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/568327.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/568327.html Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:06 EDT
The public will have a chance to ask local political candidates questions about family violence, sexual assault and other crime concerns at a public forum Tuesday afternoon.

The candidate forum sponsored by the Domestic Violence Prevention Board will be 3 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Center, 200 East Main Street.

Candidates for Congress, state Senate and House, and District Court judge have been invited to appear. The questioning will focus on interpersonal and family violence issues, including child abuse, intimate partner violence, abuse of older people and people with disabilities, sexual assault and human trafficking.

For more information, call (859) 258-3803. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/566517.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/566517.html Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:00 EDT
LONDON . About half of American doctors in a new survey say they regularly give patients placebo treatments, usually drugs or vitamins that won't really help their condition.

And many of these doctors are not honest with their patients about what they are doing, the survey found.

That contradicts advice from the American Medical Association, which recommends doctors use treatments with the full knowledge of their patients.

"It's a disturbing finding," said Franklin G. Miller, director of the research ethics program at the U.S. National Institutes Health and one of the study authors. "There is an element of deception here which is contrary to the principle of informed consent." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/565086.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/565086.html Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:51 EDT
CHICAGO . The ailing economy is leading many Americans to skip doctor visits, skimp on their medicine, and put off mammograms, Pap smears and other tests. And physicians worry the result will be sicker patients who need more expensive treatment later.

"I have to pretty much be very ill to go to the doctor," said Julie Shelley, a 49-year-old office manager and mother of three from West Milton, Ohio. "I'm probably at the age where I should have a checkup or physical. I'm not going to do it. I am last on the list."

In Lombard, Ill., Donald Hendricks lost his job over the summer at an event-planning company. When two of his six children came down with a fever and sore throat several weeks ago, he could not afford the gas money to drive them to the doctor. He gave them soup and soda instead, and they got better.

"I never felt the crunch like this before," Hendricks said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/558699.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/558699.html Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:26 EDT
CHICAGO . Stayin' Alive might be more true to its name than the Bee Gees ever could have guessed: At 103 beats per minute, the old disco song has almost the perfect rhythm to help jump-start a stopped heart.

And in a small but intriguing study from the University of Illinois medical school, doctors and students maintained close to the ideal number of chest compressions doing CPR while listening to the catchy tune from the 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever.

The American Heart Association recommends 100 chest compressions per minute, study author Dr. David Matlock of the school's Peoria, Ill., campus said Thursday.

Some people hesitate to do CPR because they're not sure about keeping the proper rhythm, Matlock said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/557396.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/557396.html Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:52 EDT
Even good foods can cause havoc in your life. Here are a few to keep your eye on.

Dried fruits

Problem: Exaggerate symptoms of candida and other yeast-feeding infections.

What happens: According to Jackie Keller, founder of NutriFit and author of Body After Baby: A Simple, Healthy Plan to Lose Your Baby Weight Fast (Avery/ Penguin, $24.95), "Dried fruits are a concentrated source of naturally occurring fruit sugars that can exaggerate symptoms of candida and other yeast-feeding infections." Candida albicans is a yeastlike fungus that inhabits the intestines, genital tract, mouth, esophagus and throat. Under normal conditions, this fungus lives in healthy balance with the other bacteria and yeasts in the body. However, certain conditions can cause the bacteria to multiply out of control, and it can lead to a weakened immune system and an infection known as candidiasis. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/551122.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/551122.html Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:44 EDT
ATLANTA . One in four teen girls has rolled up her sleeves for the relatively new vaccine against cervical cancer, federal health officials said Thursday.

The figures represent the government's first substantial study of vaccination rates for the Gardasil vaccine . Merck . Co.'s heavily advertised, three-shot series that targets the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, or HPV.

The vaccine protects against strains of the virus that cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers.

Health officials recommend that girls get the shots when they are 11 or 12, if possible, before they become sexually active. Also, age 11 is when children are generally due for another round of vaccinations. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/551108.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/551108.html Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:19 EDT
Chronic diseases afflict 100 million Americans, cause seven out of 10 deaths, and consume $2 out of every $3 spent on health care.

Yet much of the burden . personal and financial . can be prevented with simple lifestyle choices. A major contributing factor is physical inactivity. Americans just aren't moving enough, and it's killing them.

To combat this burgeoning health threat, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has just released a practical road map to a healthier lifestyle, called the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Developed with the help of the nation's leading physical-activity scientists, these guidelines provide specific recommendations on what we need to do and how long we need to do it.

More than 50 percent of American adults do not get enough physical activity, and one-quarter of adults are not active at all in their leisure time. As a consequence, conditions such as obesity, coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, colon and breast cancer, and depression affect more than 100 million adults. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/549518.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/549518.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:01 EDT
OMAHA, Neb. . Zapping frozen meals in the microwave might be fast and easy, but it also can make you sick if it's not done properly.

That message has been slow to catch on, despite a spate of illnesses last year from improperly microwaved frozen foods. On Sunday, the government issued a new warning urging consumers to thoroughly cook frozen chicken dinners after 32 people in 12 states were sickened with salmonella poisoning.

"Given how people use microwaves, it's great for reheating but maybe not so good for cooking," said Doug Powell, scientific director of the International Food Safety Network based at Kansas State University.

The problem is that microwaves heat unevenly, and they can leave cold spots in the food that harbor dangerous bacteria, such as E. coli , salmonella or listeria. So microwaving anything that includes raw meat, whether it's frozen or thawed, can cause problems. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/540597.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/540597.html Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:48 EDT
I was talking with a friend last week, catching up on all the years we had not been in contact, when the conversation turned to the economy and our wallets.

We are both journalists, but his job in Mississippi seems more secure than mine here in Lexington.

Still, he was more worried and completely stressed out about it.

At 48, he isn't married but he has a daughter in college. He has traveled the world covering sports but hasn't managed to save much money. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/532854.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/532854.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:00 EDT
When Charlie Kratzer started on the basement art project in his south Lexington home, he was surrounded by walls painted a classic cream. Ten dollars of Magic Marker and Sharpie later, the place was black and cream and drawn all over.

There are fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, Winston Churchill lounging with George Bernard Shaw . and the TV squirrel Rocky and his less adroit moose pal Bullwinkle.

Says Kratzer of his cartoon of a cartoon: "You appreciate the cleverness more as an adult."

There's Georges Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. There is Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, and the Cornell Law School, of which Kratzer is an alumnus. There is Kratzer's dad. There is the harlequin pattern . alluded to in culinary culture today by the Panera bread bag . and a fake fireplace facing a real one. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/533615.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/533615.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:48 EDT
In 2004, Gerard Badger retired from his second career and moved with his wife, Rita, to Lexington from New Jersey.

They came here looking for good veterans health care, for good neighbors and for a sense of community.

They had visited four years before moving here and left with a sense that Lexington is where they wanted to be and where God was leading them.

"Given where we were living, Lexington was as close to paradise as we were going to get," Rita Badger said. "We had looked at the Carolinas and other pretty places, but everybody from where we were was going there, and they were taking their ugly with them. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/525425.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/525425.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:46 EDT
Time and time again, research has shown that the poor and minorities come up on the short end of the longevity stick.

Some of the blame can be placed on inactivity and dietary choices.

But a four-part PBS documentary, Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick , which first aired in March, shows mounting evidence that sometimes economic status, race and environment can be better predictors of health than our own poor choices.

The documentary demonstrated how at each economic level . rich to middle class to poor . health declines at the same rate as our money. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/525427.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/525427.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:35 EDT
People often ask me how I find great deals. Honestly, I just try to keep my eyes open.

And I am not a believer in making a shopping list because I never know what is going to be marked down or on clearance. But I always carry my handy coupon holder when I go shopping. I find that sometimes looking on the shelves I might find products with peelies (stuck-on coupons) that maybe I don't want to use right away, but I take a couple and save them for when the product goes on sale.

Gas stations are great for coupons. Remember you can double the coupons up to 50 cents at Kroger and Meijer.

If you want to learn some of these simple but huge savings tips, come to the Fru-Gal Fair from 11a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Herald-Leader, 100 Midland Avenue. Bring your coupons to share, and we'll have some to share with you. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/517046.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/517046.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:28 EDT
I have a problem with some news organizations that have used fianc. when referring to Levi Johnston, the young man being introduced as the father of Bristol Palin's unborn child.

In a statement released by Gov. Sarah Palin, the vice presidential nominee for the Republican Party, and her husband, Todd, announcing their daughter's pregnancy, they said, "Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family."

Johnston's mother, Sherry Johnston, told the Associated Press that Levi and Bristol had talked of marriage before they knew about the pregnancy. "This is just a bonus," she said.

I respect that and don't doubt it. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/510380.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/510380.html Tue, 02 Sep 2008 01:49 EDT
Soon after Barack Obama officially won the Democratic Party's presidential nomination Wednesday evening but before he accepted on Thursday, TV cameras caught black people crying on the floor of the convention.

Apparently filled to overflowing with pride in a day not many people expected to see in America, a day when a black man would have a legitimate chance to be president of the United States of America, those people knew they had witnessed history unfolding.

We've had so little to celebrate since arriving in America, when compared with other ethnic groups.

All black people, despite our political leanings or affiliations, should take a bit of pride in Obama's success. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/487529.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/487529.html Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:03 EDT
The day before Veterans Day 2006, Charles .Chuck. Stoner of Wilmore drove to Dayton, Ohio, so he could be at the airport early the next morning.

He was scheduled to join other World War II .veterans as they traveled, free, to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., courtesy of Honor Flight Network.

.There were 50 of us from Dayton and another 50 from Columbus, and we met in Washington,. Stoner, 82, said. .It was great. All of them were World War II .veterans like myself. We talked about what outfit we were in and where we served. We had something in .common..

Back then, he said, he was the only veteran from Kentucky on the flight. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/480585.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/480585.html Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:29 EDT
This page is filled with information and suggestions, compassion and empathy for those parents of younger children who will be headed back to school.

The cost of supplies, the aggravation of having to entice sleepy kids out of bed at dawn, and the need to save vacation days to tend to a sick child are enough to drive parents bonkers.

Things are different for the parents of college .students, however.

I'm supposed to talk about some of that, what with my many years of experience in that area, but I'm sorry, I .simply cannot concentrate. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/480089.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/480089.html Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:07 EDT
The back-to-school supply list seems to get longer every year, and it raises the question that if millions in tax dollars are spent on schools then why, in addition to paper and pencils, do lists include items like cleaning supplies and ink cartridges.

It's trickle-down economics, say teachers, parents and administrators.

School budget reductions put financial pressure on principals who put pressure on teachers, many of whom already subsidized their classrooms out of pocket. The teachers seek help from parents.

When Georgia Powell saw the lists for her three grandchildren, two of whom are in elementary school, her response: .Oh, my goodness.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/474458.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/474458.html Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:29 EDT
Anna Kate McFarland, 17, stood in the middle of a group of women old enough to be her mother, or possibly her grandmother, teaching us how to fold a 2-inch piece of duct tape into a pentagon shape that would, with our patience and her nurturing, become a petal on a rose.

And, by the end of the class, she had succeeded. We each had created a duct tape rose.

No, they weren't all silver, . the only color of duct tape available when our fathers used to secure whatever couldn't be glued. The tape now comes in a variety of colors. And, yes, they really did look like roses.

Making duct tape roses is definitely an activity that will keep idle crafters' fingers busy . whether those crafters are senior citizens or 4-H alumni. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/474232.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/474232.html Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:04 EDT
I spend time each week with two wonderful older women. One I cook with every Wednesday at the Ronald McDonald House. I laugh sometimes because she scrapes the bottom of the bowl to make sure every last bit is out. I throw away the grease, and she tries to find a way to use it or save it for next week.

The other woman asked me to help her find a clothesline. None of the stores I visited carry an outside clothes rack. What has happened that we feel that we don't have the time or need to hang our clothes?

Being frugal with food and hanging clothes to dry . both are good ways to save money.

Special treats for men ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/467817.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/467817.html Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:58 EDT
The U.S. Senate passed the HIV/AIDS relief bill last week, allotting $48 billion over five years toward fighting that disease, as well as malaria and tuberculosis, worldwide.

It is a program that President Bush has pushed for years, wangling $15 billion out of Congress five years ago. So this measure, called the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act, is triple that amount.

Bush will have to take some deserved hits for his hawkish foreign policy in the Middle East and for his seemingly blind-eye's view of the U.S. economy, but no one can fault him for his focus on helping AIDS sufferers worldwide find relief.

So, had North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole .suggested adding Bush's name to the bill, no one would have argued. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/467819.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/467819.html Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:14 EDT
When I have told people about my Fru-Gal column, some of them ask: You teach people how to be cheap?

I always think this reaction is from people who don't look for ways to save money. Many people won't use a 50-cent coupon, thinking it is just 50 cents. I don't know about you, but in the big picture, if you had a extra 50 cents a day, by the end of a year you would be making out quite well. Are you cheap when you bring your lunch in to work, or rent a movie instead of going to a theater? In the end, my pocket probably has more quarters than theirs.

Live healthy

. Free Stuff for Powerful Girls, including place mats and a journal to help girls learn about healthy bones. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/455138.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/455138.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:34 EDT
Dignitaries from several countries and entertainment stars from all genres gathered in London on June 27 to wish former South African President Nelson Mandela a happy 90th birthday.

He was honored for the statesman he is and was given millions of dollars toward his fight against the spread of HIV and AIDS in his country.

The big bash was held in England because that country loves him. Had it been thrown in the United States, there would have been a lot more paperwork and .bureaucracy to wade through.

See, until Wednesday, six days ago, Mandela was on our terrorist list. He couldn't get a visa to visit this country without special .dispensation from our .Secretary of State. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/448705.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/448705.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:33 EDT
Jim Madden of Lexington has this mini-vacation thing down: two gallons of gas each way, and he and his companion, Dewey, an Australian shepherd, are on vacation.

In their RV camper.

At Herrington Lake.

Madden and his dog go on .stay-cation,. a phenomenon born of inflation and nearly $4-a-gallon gas prices. It's a combination of .staying put. and .going on vacation. . .having a rest at home or very close to it. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/448706.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/448706.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:23 EDT
Although James and Jeanette Robinson did not have a fairy-tale romance, they nonetheless think their marriage will have a happy ending.

.I kept thinking this is puppy love,. Jeanette .Robinson, 75, said of her feelings for her new husband before their wedding in May. .But it wasn't. It was a special love. It really was. He never ever was completely gone from my mind..

That's a good thing, because it took the couple 60 years to finally get together.

James Robinson and .Jeanette Baylous had their first date when he was 14 and she was 12, and they both lived in Parkersburg, W.Va. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/448908.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/448908.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:36 EDT
Cutting coupons and watching for deals can save money. But so can applying for rebates. Although they take a little more time, some rebate offers give you back the entire purchase price and/or will reimburse you for a product you don't like. This week's .column includes information on all of that.

The next step to saving money is to track your spending. Take time to analyze where your money is going. All of us need to decide between needs and wants..

For the young ones

. A free activities book for ages 6 to 8 from the National Eye Institute. .It contains games and comics designed to help .children learn about parts of the eye and how they work. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/435919.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/435919.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:04 EDT
My last child, the son who made my growing old a very ungraceful act, has graduated high school and is now about to enter college.

Buried in that statement is a pile of emotions that can result when bitter is mixed with sweet.

First and foremost, having him finally graduate is sweet. Despite what some teachers wrote to me on several occasions, my having to go to school to save the boy from himself was nothing to be relished. I have had to discuss my son with teachers who didn't have any idea who he really was. Those conversations were extremely difficult from my side of the desk.

Far better were the conferences I had with teachers who knew exactly who my son was, what he was up to, and who let him know he couldn't slide on barbed wire. Those teachers were professionals who sought a partnership, not a chaperone. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/435918.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/435918.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:11 EDT
I've received responses from lots of people who are applying for and receiving their free stuff. That's great. I've also heard from a couple of people who said they've tried to get free stuff only to find out the offer isn't good anymore. Some items do have a limited supply available. I try to stay away from them, but sometimes it's not clear that the supply is limited. So I apologize for anyone not getting a free item because supplies ran out. Remember: .Free. sometimes means .as long as supplies last..

For your pets

. Free sample of Bio Spot Spot On Flea and Tick Control. www.mybiospot.com/country.living

. Free Pet Safety Kit from the ASPCA. www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pets_rescuesticker.JServSessionIdr010=skkt0dhgk2.app27b ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596448.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596448.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:09 EST
Which probably explains why the first question so many parents ask when calling one of their children, is: "Where are you?"

It used to be when you called someone you knew where they were - at home. That's why they answered their phone, because they were home. If they weren't home, they didn't answer. It was a good system. You knew who was home and who wasn't.

Now when you call someone, chances are the person will not be home, but will answer the phone. Since I like a mental picture of where the kid I am talking to is located, I've fallen into a standard greeting of, "Hello, where are you?"

"At the grocery store. (Beep, beep goes the scanner.) Can I call you back?"]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596362.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596362.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:14 EST
A: Co-sleeping, or sleeping with an infant in your adult bed, is one of the many parenting ideas that has passionate advocates and just-as-passionate detractors. The two sides are usually framed in extremes, as if you're evil if you do it - or evil if you don't. Obviously, it's not that simple. As you noted, it's best to learn the risks and benefits so you can make an informed decision.

Although it has only recently re-entered the conversation in North America, co-sleeping is not some newfangled idea. Outside of the English-speaking world it's the norm, and before the 20th century it was standard pretty much everywhere (although it's worth mentioning that in many countries, people share a bed with their children because the entire family lives in a single room).

Advocates of co-sleeping cite good studies that show that co-sleeping helps sync the sleep cycles of mother and child, facilitates nighttime breastfeeding, reduces stress hormones, and encourages closer attachment between parent(s) and child. Butthe U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) advises against it, saying babies are at risk of suffocation if an adult rolls over on the child (which is extremely unlikely unless you're obese or drunk), or the child becomes wedged between bed and wall, for example. The AmericanAcademyof Pediatrics also recommends against co-sleeping, going so far as to suggest that it increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). As you might expect, many prominent experts including Dr. William Sears, have a completely different view, saying that co-sleeping may actually prevent SIDS.

When expert opinion is divided in this way, it often indicates that the evidence is so sketchy that neither extreme is justified. The CPSC estimates that about 64 children die each year as a result of sleeping with adults. Each of these is an unthinkable tragedy, of course, but it indicates a very rare occurrence, and probably included extenuating circumstances. Controlling these factors should eliminate most of the associated risks:]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596517.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596517.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:59 EST
A: We don't think it's a good idea, either - and it will most likely backfire. She may feel as if she can't say anything about you in front of them, or about them in front of you. A child should feel comfortable talking about anything she wants - we can't think of a situation when a discussion about life with her other parent should be off-limits.

Your ex and his new girlfriend seem to be operating from what we call "old-school divorce principles," referring to old-fashioned custody agreements when sole custody went to Mom, and Dad saw the kids on the weekends. They may mistakenly think that now that they are together, their life will be completely separate from yours. They approach new custody agreements, such as the one you have where the child goes back and forth between her parents' homes, with old custody attitudes.

You can have separate lives when sole custody goes to one parent; but if you are sharing custody and the kids are going back and forth, no matter what percentage of their time you have agreed to share, you will interact on some level with the ex and the ex's new partner. Those who co-parent must accept that their kids have two homes, neither more important than the other. The fact that the child is talking about things that happen at the other home means the parents are doing something right - not that the child is doing something wrong. The child is talking about her life. Listen.

Remember: The first rule of good ex-etiquette is to put the kids first. Don't impose your personal insecurities on the children in your care. Divorced parents and their new partners need to look past their own "stuff" and consider what is best for the child. In our opinion, it's saying absolutely nothing and responding as positively as you can when a child you love talks about someone she loves. Sounds as if she's doing the best she can to be part of two families. Help her to be a success.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596364.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596364.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:14 EST
A: It seems to me that getting him to stop hitting and pushing other children is the priority item. Taking him out of a game in which he is being a problem is not going to teach him to quit. It's going to cause him to think twice the next time he's in a game and feels the impulse to hit or push. In short, I think your husband has the right idea. I would amend it as follows:

The next time your son hits or pushes in a soccer game, I would take him out, take him home, and confine him to his room until the next game or practice, then give it another try. And I'd keep doing that until the hitting and pushing stopped. During his confinement, he can come out of his room to do chores, eat meals with the family (assuming he behaves himself at the table), go to preschool, and accompany you when you leave the house. This type of behavior is very serious; therefore, it requires a very serious response, one that creates a lasting memory.

Q: How should we deal with a very intelligent 5-year-old girl who joins with two other little neighbor girls at the bus stop in calling her 7-year-old disabled sibling a wacko? We have talked ourselves blue in the face to no avail.

A: I recommend what I call "kicking (in this case, your budding sociopath) out of the Garden of Eden." When she is at school one day, remove from the home EVERYTHING that "belongs" to her - toys, books, nonessential clothing, and so on, from her room. She comes home from school to a life that is stripped down to its bare essentials. In addition, all after-school and weekend activities are suspended for the duration of her rehabilitation. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595138.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595138.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:09 EST
Engelbreit brings her cheerful artwork and love of tradition to "Mary Engelbreit's Nursery Tales" (HarperCollins, $19.99), a collection of a dozen familiar children's stories, filled with the artist's signature drawings. The stories themselves are as classic as they come: "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," "Puss in Boots," "Jack and the Beanstalk." But Engelbreit injects little bits of whimsy into her illustrations - the bears' wall is decorated with a needlepoint sampler that says "Den Sweet Den"; two birds watch as Jack's mother drops the magic beans out the window; Hansel and Gretel's nemesis lives in house that any candy fanatic will drool over. The hardcover book would be a beautiful baby shower gift for all but the most minimalist moms.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595149.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595149.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:14 EST
We're not African-American - that wasn't it. We're not from Chicago, we have not been foreclosed upon, and we are fortunate to have health care and our health. In fact, it took me several days to truly understand the personal victory we felt that night. Barack Obama, our next president, was raised by a single mom.

I have an answer now to every "expert" or study that says my children would be better off in a two-parent household. Well, I've always had an answer, which is no. We're better off without him. Even my children, albeit unhappily, would tell you that. But now ... now I have proof that being raised by a single parent does not have to be a barrier to anything they want to accomplish. Because a single mother raised the next president of the United States.

True, she had help. So do I. And I'd encourage any and every single parent out there to be brave enough to ask for all the love and support and help you can get. My daughters are better off undoubtedly because of my parents and extended family members. But even with that, and along with all the sacrifices mothers make every day for our children, there are some jobs, chores, decisions that are solely mine. And there's no one to run interference in a moment when I've had it. There's no one else who will take out the trash, dole out the discipline, or simply love and obsess over them the way I do.

I have cried many times about it. I have struggled with my own culpability in it. And I know in my gut that Obama's mother did, too. I'm sure she questioned herself, and cried her eyes out sometimes, and worried how deep the scars of his childhood would get.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595165.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595165.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:19 EST
QUESTION: At what age did your child start showering independently? Maggie just turned 6. It's not unrealistic for me to think she can do it herself, is it? I should add that bathing/showering is a HUGE issue for us. She likes water fine, but is TERRIFIED of it near her face/eyes/ears.

- Posted by Mother Nature at detroit.momslikeme.com.

RESPONSES:

"Mikayla started around 6. I still pop my head (OK, hands) in and scrub her head because it would never get clean otherwise. I leave her to rinse by herself. I did find that using a her washcloth before it gets wet over her face helped with getting her to rinse."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595179.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595179.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:24 EST
What else is new?

Actually this stuff: Noodle . Boo's Instant Hand Sanitizer. This nifty little all-natural cleanser is much more gentle than say, Purell, so you can use it on baby's hands, feet and other body parts she lobs into her mouth.

Developed from grain-based ethanol and vegetable glycerin, it claims to kill 99.9 percent of broad-spectrum microorganisms (including MRSA, the bacteria behind staph infections).

What's also great (besides the sweet, nonmedicinal smell) is the no-tears formula.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595217.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595217.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:59 EST
Dr. Andrea Summer, member of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and associate professor of pediatrics at Medical University of South Carolina offers these tips to keep children safe:

- ANIMALS: Very often children are drawn to animals. However, animals in developing countries are usually not required to have vaccines like they are in the United States and can carry a variety of transmittable diseases, including rabies.

- MOSQUITOES: Insects such as mosquitoes are cause for concern in tropical areas because of the many diseases they can spread to humans, including Dengue fever and malaria, which are potentially fatal. There are many physical barriers parents can use to protect children, which include long pants and long-sleeve shirts, bed nets and DEET-based repellents.

- TOXINS: Parents should research if there will be toxins in developing countries that may not be considered toxins in the United States. Such toxins may include plants or flowers that contain poisons, insecticides, lead-based paints or rodent bait.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595131.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595131.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:09 EST
When my son was born, I was a neurotic mess most of the time. I decided that anything that passed his lips had to be organic if it wasn't breast milk (current me frequently snickers at old one-child me). I took a look at the baby food that came in jars and cringed. I had never been big on canned foods myself and thought I could do better on my own. Someone had given me a used copy of "Super Baby Foods" before my son was born so I dug it up and started reading. I started experimenting and buying more books. It turned out to be fun! When my daughter came along eight months ago, I thought about making baby food but was completely overwhelmed by the addition of a second child to my life. However, the closer she got to six months everything got a bit easier, and somehow making food seemed possible. I jumped back into my old baby food making ways, but after three or so recipes, I realized that I was not going to have time to make enough food myself to get a real variety in her diet.

Then it dawned on me --- babysitting co-ops have gotten pretty popular - what about a baby food co-op? I put a post up on the local parenting board trying to find a few people to join me. We do our second swap tomorrow and so far, it's been really amazing. In fact, I haven't had to use jarred food once in the last month.

So why did I start my own baby food making coop when it comes in handy little jars at the grocery store?

Reason 1: Big money saver]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597681.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597681.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:45 EST
The research suggests that the first humans in New Zealand hunted the newly found Waitaha penguin to extinction by 1500, about 250 years after their arrival on the islands. But the loss of the Waitaha allowed another kind of penguin to thrive - the yellow-eyed species that now also faces extinction, Philip Seddon of Otago University, a co-author of the study, said Wednesday.

The team was testing DNA from the bones of prehistoric modern yellow-eyed penguins for genetic changes associated with human settlement when it found some bones that were older - and had different DNA.

Tests on the older bones "lead us to describe a new penguin species that became extinct only a few hundred years ago," the team reported in a paper in the biological research journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

Polynesian settlers came to New Zealand around 1250 and are known to have hunted species such as the large, flightless moa bird to extinction.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598507.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598507.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:35 EST
As she was being released Wednesday from a Miami hospital, the shy teen seemed in awe of what she's endured. Since July, she's had two heart transplants and survived with artificial heart pumps - but no heart - for four months between the transplants.

Last spring D'Zhana and her parents learned she had an enlarged heart that was too weak to sufficiently pump blood. They traveled from their home in Clinton, S.C. to Holtz Children's Hospital in Miami for a heart transplant.

But her new heart didn't work properly and could have ruptured so surgeons removed it two days later.

And they did something unusual, especially for a young patient: They replaced the heart with a pair of artificial pumping devices that kept blood flowing through her body until she could have a second transplant.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598212.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598212.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:15 EST
The project marks the first time researchers have spelled out the DNA of an extinct species, and it raised the possibility that other ancient animals such as mastodons and sabertooth tigers might someday walk the Earth again.

"It could be done. The question is, just because we might be able to do it one day, should we do it?" asked Stephan Schuster, a Penn State University biochemist and co-author of the new research. "I would be surprised to see if it would take more than 10 or 20 years to do it."

The million-dollar mammoth study resulted in a first draft of the animal's genome, detailing the ice age creature's more than 3 billion DNA building blocks. The research published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature also gives scientists new clues about evolution and extinction.

"This is an amazing achievement," said Alex Greenwood, an Old Dominion University biology professor who studies ancient DNA and was not involved in the mammoth research.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598557.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598557.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:15 EST
In 1967, Kantrowitz performed the first human heart transplant in the United States, three days after the world's first was performed in South Africa.

But the transplant, on an infant who died several hours later, was only a small part of his life's work to solve the problem of heart failure, his wife said.

Adrian Kantrowitz invented and for decades continued to improve the left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, which would later lend its name to his Detroit-based research company, L-VAD Technology Inc.

The device is designed to be permanently implanted in patients with otherwise-terminal heart failure, helping their hearts circulate blood and allowing them to leave the hospital.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598409.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598409.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:25 EST
Ehud Netzer, head of Jerusalem's Hebrew University excavation team, which uncovered the site of the king's winter palace in the Judean desert in 2007, said the latest finds show work and funding fit for a king.

"What we found here, spread all around, are architectural fragments that enable us to restore a monument of 25 meters high, 75 feet high, very elegant, which fits Herod's taste and status," he told The Associated Press in an interview at the hillside dig in an Israeli-controlled part of the West Bank, south of Jerusalem.

No human remains or inscriptions have been found to prove conclusively that the tomb was Herod's, but excavation continues.

Herod is known for extensive building throughout the Holy Land.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596201.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596201.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:15 EST
A panel of independent advisers urged the Food and Drug Administration to revise information for consumers and doctors - called the product label - to include the risk of long lasting reactions such as bumps under the skin, blotches and scars.

"This is almost a no-brainer," said panel member Dr. Michael Bigby, a Harvard Medical School dermatologist. "The current label is not adequate." The panel of doctors other experts unanimously agreed on the need for more safety studies.

The gel-like fillers have become immensely popular with baby boomers. Injected into the face, they smooth away wrinkles. Most patients get a couple of touchups a year, at a cost that can easily exceed $1,000 each.

Manufacturers and plastic surgeons say fillers have an excellent safety record. But Tuesday's FDA hearing raised questions about unapproved uses, untrained technicians giving injections, and a lack of long-term safety data. It was a first step as the FDA considers whether to regulate fillers more closely.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597029.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597029.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:54 EST
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper said in an interview with The Associated Press that it was "very disheartening" to lose her bag full of tools. She was trying to clean up grease that had oozed out of a grease gun in the backpack-size bag, when the tote and everything in it floated away Tuesday.

The bag was one of the largest items ever lost by a spacewalking astronaut.

For a split second, she thought she might be able to grab it and she tried to judge how far away it was. Just as quickly, "I thought, no, that would probably just make things worse and the best thing to do would be to just let it go."

"There's still the psychological thing of knowing that we made a mistake and having to live through that," she said. "During the spacewalk ... it was easy to put it aside because I knew that we still had five hours of spacewalk work to do and the work needed to get done and you can't dwell on a mistake. It was hardest coming back in and having to face everybody else."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596366.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596366.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:15 EST
The study, released Tuesday, puts the total at $218 billion last year - the first comprehensive estimate of the financial toll diabetes takes, according to Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk A/S, which paid for the study.

That figure includes direct medical care costs, from insulin and pills for controlling patients' blood sugar to amputations and hospitalizations, plus indirect costs such as lost productivity, disability and early retirement.

The $218 billion amounts to about 10 percent of all U.S. health care spending by government and the public, about $2.1 trillion in 2006, and nearly half the $448.5 billion cost of heart disease and stroke.

The study, conducted by the Lewin Group consultants, estimates costs for people known to have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes at $174.4 billion combined, a total previously reported by Novo Nordisk, the world's top producer of insulin and the maker of diabetes pills such as NovoNorm and Prandin. That study was done with the American Diabetes Association.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596727.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596727.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:05 EST
"We've been surprised at how similar the genomes are," said Jenny Graves, director of the government-backed research effort. "Great chunks of the genome are virtually identical."

The scientists also discovered 14 previously unknown genes in the kangaroo and suspect the same ones are also in humans, Graves said.

The animal whose DNA was decoded is a small kangaroo known as a Tammar wallaby and named Matilda. Researchers working with the government-funded Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics sequenced Matilda's DNA last year. Last week, they finished putting the pieces of the sequence together to form a genetic map. The group plans to publish the research next year, Graves said.

Scientists have already untangled the DNA of around two dozen mammals, including mice and chimps, which are closer to humans on the evolutionary timeline. But Graves said it's the kangaroo's distance from people that make its genetic map helpful in understanding how humans evolved.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597060.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597060.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:05 EST
If successful, the procedure could become a new standard of treatment, said Genden, who was not involved in the research.

The results were published online Wednesday in the medical journal, The Lancet.

The transplant was given to Claudia Castillo, a 30-year-old Colombian mother of two living in Barcelona, suffered from tuberculosis for years. After a severe collapse of her left lung in March, Castillo needed regular hospital visits to clear her airways and was unable to take care of her children.

Doctors initially thought the only solution was to remove the entire left lung. But Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, head of thoracic surgery at Barcelona's Hospital Clinic, proposed a windpipe transplant instead.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596645.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596645.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:49 EST
Infants perceive color in the right hemisphere of the brain, researchers report, while adults do the job in the brain's left hemisphere.

Testing toddlers showed that the change occurred when the youngsters learned the names to attach to particular colors, scientists report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"It appears, as far as we can tell, that somehow the brain, when it has categories such as color, it actually consults those categories," Paul Kay of the department of linguistics, University of California, Berkeley, said in a telephone interview.

He said the researchers did a similar experiment with silhouettes of dogs and cats with the same result - once a child learns the name for the animal, perception moves from the right to the left side of the brain.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596857.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596857.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:10 EST
Extracts from ginkgo tree leaves have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, but earlier research on ginkgo and memory showed mixed results. Annual U.S. sales of the supplement reached $107 million in 2007, according to Nutrition Business Journal estimates.

For the new study, appearing in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers recruited more than 3,000 people, ages 75 and older, from voter and mailing lists in Maryland, Pennsylvania, California and North Carolina.

Half were randomly assigned to take 120 milligrams of ginkgo biloba twice a day, a typical dose taken by people who think it may help memory. The others took identical dummy pills.

Participants were screened for dementia every six months. After six years, dementia had been diagnosed at a similar rate in both groups; 277 in the ginkgo group and 246 in the group taking the dummy tablets. When the researchers looked only at Alzheimer's disease, that rate too was similar.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597069.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597069.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:40 EST
Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper proved that Tuesday when she accidentally let go of her tool bag after a grease gun inside it exploded outside the international space station. The tote bag, containing two grease guns, a putty knife and cloth mitts, was one of the largest items ever to be lost by a spacewalker.

But Stefanyshyn-Piper isn't the first person to drop something in space. Bulky gloves and weightlessness have led to a history of some clumsy moments at NASA.

Here are some recent examples of astronauts accidentally adding to the thousands of pieces of junk already in space:

- During a September 2006 spacewalk, astronaut Joe Tanner, working outside the space station with Stefanyshyn-Piper, accidentally released a bolt, spring and washer.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595477.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595477.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:19 EST
Vermont's largest city is tops among U.S. metropolitan areas by having the largest proportion of people - 92 percent - who say they are in good or great health.

It's also among the best in exercise and among the lowest in obesity, diabetes and other measures of ill health, according to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This New England city of 40,000, on the shores of Lake Champlain, is in some ways similar to the unhealthiest city - Huntington, W.Va. Both are out-of-the-way college towns with populations that are overwhelmingly white people of English, German or Irish ancestry.

But there the similarities end:]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595775.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595775.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:20 EST
It was one of the largest items ever to be lost by a spacewalker, and occurred during an unprecedented attempt to clean and lube a gummed-up joint on a solar panel.

Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper was just starting to work on the joint when the mishap occurred.

She said her grease gun exploded, getting the dark gray stuff all over a camera and her gloves. While wiping off herself, the white, backpack-size bag slipped out of her grip, and she lost all her other tools.

"Oh, great," she mumbled.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594977.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594977.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:29 EST
An electrical failure shut down the Large Hadron Collider on Sept. 19, nine days after the $10 billion machine started up with great fanfare.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research recently said that the repairs would be completed by May or early June. Spokesman James Gillies said the organization know as CERN is now estimating the restart will be at the end of June or later.

"If we can do it sooner, all well and good. But I think we can do it realistically (in) early summer," he said.

The organization has blamed the shutdown on the failure of a single, badly soldered electrical connection.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595567.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595567.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:49 EST
His confusion is understandable: The first ankle replacements of the 1970s were abandoned when they couldn't withstand the pounding of daily life. A second generation in the '90s lasted longer but never became really popular.

Now the nation is embarking on a new generation of artificial ankles designed to work more like the joint you're born with, a move specialists hope finally will offer less pain and more function to thousands who hobble - although it's too soon to be sure.

"These third-generation prostheses really mimic a natural ankle, which is really what makes them different," says ankle specialist Dr. Steven L. Haddad of the Illinois Bone and Joint Institute and an orthopedic surgery professor at Northwestern University.

If the newer implants pan out, it's a market ripe for growth. More than 200,000 people seek care for ankle pain annually, with few options for the severely damaged. More than 8,000 a year get their ankle bones fused, a last-ditch treatment after years of suffering, while surgeons perform between 2,000 and 2,500 ankle replacements.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595336.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595336.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:44 EST
When a breast cancer patient is found to carry one of those gene mutations, her relatives tend to breathe a sigh of relief if they test gene-free.

But those headline-grabbing genes account for only about 15 percent of all breast cancer cases. Even in families riddled with breast cancer, a BRCA gene is the culprit only in roughly one family of every five that gets tested, said University of Toronto cancer specialist Dr. Steven Narod.

So clearly members of those families remain at risk from other yet-to-be-found genes, but how much risk?

Narod tracked nearly 1,500 women from 365 breast cancer-prone families, who tested negative for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595675.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595675.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:14 EST
"Their unity in death suggests unity in life," researchers said in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

While tools and remains from the stone age have long been studied, there are few clues to the social relationships between people.

"By establishing the genetic links between the two adults and two children buried together in one grave, we have established the presence of the classic nuclear family in a prehistoric context in Central Europe - to our knowledge the oldest authentic molecular genetic evidence so far," lead author Wolfgang Haak of the University of Adelaide, Australia, said in a statement.

The researchers studied four multiple burials at Eulau, Saxony-Anhalt, all dated to the same time and containing adults and children carefully buried facing each other.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594326.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594326.html Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:34 EST
Vermont's largest city is tops among U.S. metropolitan areas by having the largest proportion of people - 92 percent - who say they are in good or great health.

It's also among the best in exercise and among the lowest in obesity, diabetes and other measures of ill health, according to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This New England city of 40,000, on the shores of Lake Champlain, is in some ways similar to the unhealthiest city - Huntington, W.Va. Both are out-of-the-way college towns with populations that are overwhelmingly white people of English, German or Irish ancestry.

But there the similarities end:]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/597582.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/597582.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:43 EST
Smoking ban starts Thursday

Thursday is the day that more than a dozen Lexington area hospitals and health care facilities go tobacco-free. The facilities will require patients, employees and family members to leave the property to smoke. The policy change will affect 13,000 employees and thousands of patients, visitors, physicians and medical students, according to the Kentucky Hospital Association. The providers have pledged to help those affected by the smoke-out to quit. Twenty-nine percent of Kentuckians smoke, the highest rate in the nation.



Advocacy group launches Web site ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/597581.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/597581.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:43 EST
One of the most common injuries I see as an orthopaedic surgeon is the dreaded ACL rupture. Most are familiar with the term "ACL" . or anterior cruciate ligament . and are looking for anything but that diagnosis.

However, a new type of surgery for ACL injury, called the anatomic double-bundle reconstruction technique, may help athletes return to their sport at the same performance level with a lowered risk of osteoarthritis development . a common risk factor for this type of knee injury.

Female soccer players and basketball players rupture their ACL four to eight times more frequently than their age-matched male counterparts when comparing equal athletic exposure risk.

One reason could be that women are simply more ACL-dependent for sports than their male counterparts. Other theories have included hormonal differences between men and women, and women landing with more inward collapse of the knees, which puts undue stress on the ACL. The anatomical differences between men and women may simply place the ACL more at risk. Women who have their ACL reconstructed are also at greater risk of retearing their graft than their male counterparts are. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596183.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596183.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:39 EST
WASHINGTON . Scientists are baffled by one of humankind's most annoying problems, itching, an almost universal misery for which there is, as yet, no adequate explanation or treatment.

"Why we can't stop scratching remains a big puzzle for researchers," said Zhou-Feng Chen, a neuroscientist at Washington University, St. Louis.

"Itch can be devastating to patients and lead to extensive loss of quality of life," said Matthias Ringkamp, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "Unfortunately, the treatment of itch is often unsatisfactory."

The recent discovery of an "itchy gene," however, might offer hope for better treatments, Chen said. A drug to block that gene might relieve the distress of itching. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596182.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596182.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:39 EST
WASHINGTON . What was left of Dan Sivia's ankle simply didn't work. He limped through his 30s by sheer force of will, one foot almost completely immobile from repeated broken bones and surgeries.

Then a doctor offered his last hope: an ankle replacement.

A what? Sivia knew about hip, knee, even shoulder replacements. But ankles?

His confusion is understandable: The first ankle replacements of the 1970s were abandoned when they couldn't withstand the pounding of daily life. A second generation in the '90s lasted longer but never became really popular. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596124.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596124.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:38 EST
WASHINGTON . An American subjected to several years of intense FBI scrutiny and questioning about links to terrorism has been held without charges, access to a lawyer or contact with his family for nearly three months by the security services of the United Arab Emirates.

The case of Naji Hamdan raises the question of whether the Bush administration has asked other nations to hold Americans suspected of terrorism links whom U.S. officials lack the evidence to charge.

That allegation is central to a lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union was planning to file Tuesday against President Bush, Attorney General Michael Mukasey and FBI Director Robert Mueller.

"If the U.S. government is responsible for this detention, and we believe it is, this is clearly illegal because our government can't contract away the Constitution by enlisting the aid of other governments that do not adhere to the Constitution's requirements," said Ahilan Arulanantham of the ACLU's Southern California office. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596119.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596119.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:38 EST
CHICAGO . Babies born to couples who rely on medical technology to become pregnant have much higher rates of certain birth defects, according to a study published online Monday in the journal Human Reproduction.

The report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found these infants have twice as many heart defects and cleft lips and nearly four times as many gastrointestinal defects as those conceived without technological interventions.

Still, the overall rate of the defects was low and the majority of babies born to couples using assisted reproduction were normal, said Jennita Reehfuis, a CDC epidemiologist and lead author of the report.

Independent experts noted the study establishes an association, not a causal connection, between birth defects and two procedures: in vitro fertilization and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection. (With IVF, a man's sperm and a woman's egg are merged outside the body. ICSI involves injecting a single sperm into an egg. In both cases, resulting embryos are then implanted in a woman.) ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/595052.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/595052.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:48 EST
WASHINGTON . Growing old isn't for sissies, the saying goes. The passage of years usually brings physical frailty, failing memory, cancer and other diseases.

As more people live longer, scientists are stepping up their efforts to understand the biological process. Recent research is changing their views on how and why we age.

For half a century, much of the deterioration that comes over time has been blamed on "free radicals." These are toxic, unstable molecules of oxygen running amok in the cells of your body.

This is called the "oxygen paradox," since oxygen is both necessary for . and dangerous to . living organisms. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/595027.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/595027.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:42 EST
What's the healthiest city in America? It appears to be Burlington, Vt.

Vermont's largest city is tops among U.S. metropolitan areas by having the largest proportion of people . 92 percent . who say they are in good or great health.

Burlington also is among the best in exercise, and it's among the lowest in obesity, diabetes and other measures of ill health, according to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The New England city of 40,000, on the shores of Lake Champlain, is in some ways similar to the unhealthiest city . Huntington, W.Va. Both are out-of-the-way college towns with populations that are overwhelmingly white people of English, German or Irish ancestry. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/594052.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/594052.html Sun, 16 Nov 2008 02:57 EST
DENVER . Decades ago, as a high school student thumbing through a popular ladies' magazine, Pat McAlister stumbled upon an article that seemed to predict her impending demise.

Diabetics, she read, generally didn't live beyond age 25. She would discover later that her parents, and later still, her husband, privately had been resigned to the likelihood that her time would be short.

"I never felt like that," says McAlister, "and I wasn't going to believe it."

Now, 61 years after her diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes . originally called juvenile or childhood diabetes . she teaches college, remains active in her church and spends after-school hours with her 9-year-old granddaughter. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/592894.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/592894.html Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:48 EST
ATLANTA . The lives of nearly 8,000 black Americans could be saved each year if doctors could figure out a way to bring their average blood pressure down to the average level of whites, a surprising new study found.

The gap between the races in controlling blood pressure is well-known, but the resulting number of lives lost startled some scientists.

"We expected it to be big, but it was even larger than we anticipated," said lead author Dr. Kevin Fiscella of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

The study, released Monday in the Annals of Family Medicine, is being called the first to calculate the lives lost due to racial disparities in blood pressure control. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597681.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597681.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:45 EST
The research suggests that the first humans in New Zealand hunted the newly found Waitaha penguin to extinction by 1500, about 250 years after their arrival on the islands. But the loss of the Waitaha allowed another kind of penguin to thrive - the yellow-eyed species that now also faces extinction, Philip Seddon of Otago University, a co-author of the study, said Wednesday.

The team was testing DNA from the bones of prehistoric modern yellow-eyed penguins for genetic changes associated with human settlement when it found some bones that were older - and had different DNA.

Tests on the older bones "lead us to describe a new penguin species that became extinct only a few hundred years ago," the team reported in a paper in the biological research journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

Polynesian settlers came to New Zealand around 1250 and are known to have hunted species such as the large, flightless moa bird to extinction.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598507.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598507.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:35 EST
As she was being released Wednesday from a Miami hospital, the shy teen seemed in awe of what she's endured. Since July, she's had two heart transplants and survived with artificial heart pumps - but no heart - for four months between the transplants.

Last spring D'Zhana and her parents learned she had an enlarged heart that was too weak to sufficiently pump blood. They traveled from their home in Clinton, S.C. to Holtz Children's Hospital in Miami for a heart transplant.

But her new heart didn't work properly and could have ruptured so surgeons removed it two days later.

And they did something unusual, especially for a young patient: They replaced the heart with a pair of artificial pumping devices that kept blood flowing through her body until she could have a second transplant.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598212.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598212.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:15 EST
The project marks the first time researchers have spelled out the DNA of an extinct species, and it raised the possibility that other ancient animals such as mastodons and sabertooth tigers might someday walk the Earth again.

"It could be done. The question is, just because we might be able to do it one day, should we do it?" asked Stephan Schuster, a Penn State University biochemist and co-author of the new research. "I would be surprised to see if it would take more than 10 or 20 years to do it."

The million-dollar mammoth study resulted in a first draft of the animal's genome, detailing the ice age creature's more than 3 billion DNA building blocks. The research published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature also gives scientists new clues about evolution and extinction.

"This is an amazing achievement," said Alex Greenwood, an Old Dominion University biology professor who studies ancient DNA and was not involved in the mammoth research.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598557.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598557.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:15 EST
In 1967, Kantrowitz performed the first human heart transplant in the United States, three days after the world's first was performed in South Africa.

But the transplant, on an infant who died several hours later, was only a small part of his life's work to solve the problem of heart failure, his wife said.

Adrian Kantrowitz invented and for decades continued to improve the left ventricular assist device, or LVAD, which would later lend its name to his Detroit-based research company, L-VAD Technology Inc.

The device is designed to be permanently implanted in patients with otherwise-terminal heart failure, helping their hearts circulate blood and allowing them to leave the hospital.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598409.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/598409.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:25 EST
Ehud Netzer, head of Jerusalem's Hebrew University excavation team, which uncovered the site of the king's winter palace in the Judean desert in 2007, said the latest finds show work and funding fit for a king.

"What we found here, spread all around, are architectural fragments that enable us to restore a monument of 25 meters high, 75 feet high, very elegant, which fits Herod's taste and status," he told The Associated Press in an interview at the hillside dig in an Israeli-controlled part of the West Bank, south of Jerusalem.

No human remains or inscriptions have been found to prove conclusively that the tomb was Herod's, but excavation continues.

Herod is known for extensive building throughout the Holy Land.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596201.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596201.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:15 EST
A panel of independent advisers urged the Food and Drug Administration to revise information for consumers and doctors - called the product label - to include the risk of long lasting reactions such as bumps under the skin, blotches and scars.

"This is almost a no-brainer," said panel member Dr. Michael Bigby, a Harvard Medical School dermatologist. "The current label is not adequate." The panel of doctors other experts unanimously agreed on the need for more safety studies.

The gel-like fillers have become immensely popular with baby boomers. Injected into the face, they smooth away wrinkles. Most patients get a couple of touchups a year, at a cost that can easily exceed $1,000 each.

Manufacturers and plastic surgeons say fillers have an excellent safety record. But Tuesday's FDA hearing raised questions about unapproved uses, untrained technicians giving injections, and a lack of long-term safety data. It was a first step as the FDA considers whether to regulate fillers more closely.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597029.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597029.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:54 EST
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper said in an interview with The Associated Press that it was "very disheartening" to lose her bag full of tools. She was trying to clean up grease that had oozed out of a grease gun in the backpack-size bag, when the tote and everything in it floated away Tuesday.

The bag was one of the largest items ever lost by a spacewalking astronaut.

For a split second, she thought she might be able to grab it and she tried to judge how far away it was. Just as quickly, "I thought, no, that would probably just make things worse and the best thing to do would be to just let it go."

"There's still the psychological thing of knowing that we made a mistake and having to live through that," she said. "During the spacewalk ... it was easy to put it aside because I knew that we still had five hours of spacewalk work to do and the work needed to get done and you can't dwell on a mistake. It was hardest coming back in and having to face everybody else."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596366.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596366.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:15 EST
The study, released Tuesday, puts the total at $218 billion last year - the first comprehensive estimate of the financial toll diabetes takes, according to Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk A/S, which paid for the study.

That figure includes direct medical care costs, from insulin and pills for controlling patients' blood sugar to amputations and hospitalizations, plus indirect costs such as lost productivity, disability and early retirement.

The $218 billion amounts to about 10 percent of all U.S. health care spending by government and the public, about $2.1 trillion in 2006, and nearly half the $448.5 billion cost of heart disease and stroke.

The study, conducted by the Lewin Group consultants, estimates costs for people known to have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes at $174.4 billion combined, a total previously reported by Novo Nordisk, the world's top producer of insulin and the maker of diabetes pills such as NovoNorm and Prandin. That study was done with the American Diabetes Association.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596727.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596727.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:05 EST
"We've been surprised at how similar the genomes are," said Jenny Graves, director of the government-backed research effort. "Great chunks of the genome are virtually identical."

The scientists also discovered 14 previously unknown genes in the kangaroo and suspect the same ones are also in humans, Graves said.

The animal whose DNA was decoded is a small kangaroo known as a Tammar wallaby and named Matilda. Researchers working with the government-funded Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics sequenced Matilda's DNA last year. Last week, they finished putting the pieces of the sequence together to form a genetic map. The group plans to publish the research next year, Graves said.

Scientists have already untangled the DNA of around two dozen mammals, including mice and chimps, which are closer to humans on the evolutionary timeline. But Graves said it's the kangaroo's distance from people that make its genetic map helpful in understanding how humans evolved.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597060.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/597060.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:05 EST
If successful, the procedure could become a new standard of treatment, said Genden, who was not involved in the research.

The results were published online Wednesday in the medical journal, The Lancet.

The transplant was given to Claudia Castillo, a 30-year-old Colombian mother of two living in Barcelona, suffered from tuberculosis for years. After a severe collapse of her left lung in March, Castillo needed regular hospital visits to clear her airways and was unable to take care of her children.

Doctors initially thought the only solution was to remove the entire left lung. But Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, head of thoracic surgery at Barcelona's Hospital Clinic, proposed a windpipe transplant instead.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/435918.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/435918.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:11 EDT
I've received responses from lots of people who are applying for and receiving their free stuff. That's great. I've also heard from a couple of people who said they've tried to get free stuff only to find out the offer isn't good anymore. Some items do have a limited supply available. I try to stay away from them, but sometimes it's not clear that the supply is limited. So I apologize for anyone not getting a free item because supplies ran out. Remember: .Free. sometimes means .as long as supplies last..

For your pets

. Free sample of Bio Spot Spot On Flea and Tick Control. www.mybiospot.com/country.living

. Free Pet Safety Kit from the ASPCA. www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pets_rescuesticker.JServSessionIdr010=skkt0dhgk2.app27b ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/429197.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/429197.html Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:43 EDT
1. The No. 1 cause of halitosis . bad breath . is oral bacteria. It often congregates on the surfaces of the tongue, produces a waste that is rich in sulfur compounds and creates a dreadful rotten-egg smell.

2. The most common dental causes of bad breath include dry mouth, gum disease, extensive dental decay, oral infections and abscesses, oral cancers, poor oral hygiene and a proliferation of specific types of bacteria. Medical causes include tonsillar infections, post-nasal drainage, sinus infections, diabetes and lung diseases.

3. A closer look: Chronic dry mouth is the main culprit because saliva washes away excess sulfur compounds and provides oxygen to the oral environment, thus preventing the proliferation of anaerobic bacteria.

4. A tongue scraper and mouthwashes containing chlorine dioxide or sodium chlorite are crucial, Miami dentist Ewaldo Wendler says. used together, they will reduce the amount of bacteria and neutralize the sulfuric compounds that .create bad breath. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/409738.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/409738.html Mon, 19 May 2008 17:16 EDT
Playing video games has long been synonymous with being a couch potato.

But the Nintendo Wii's latest game, Wii Fit, encourages gamers to get moving . and hula hoop, yoga and .penguin slide..

Wii Fit, which goes on sale Wednesday, is the latest offering in the trend of .exergaming,. a term that describes video games that induce exercise. Players use the Wii .balance board to play . and exercise .. with the various activities involving strength training, aerobics, yoga and balance games.

No longer does it .have to be video game versus exercise,. said Ben Sawyer, co-founder of Games for Health, a project of the Serious Games Initiative to develop a community and best-practices platform for the numerous games being built for health-care applications. .Now it can be, .Which game?'. Sawyer said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/409836.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/409836.html Mon, 19 May 2008 19:36 EDT
One of my sons' friends dropped by recently to proudly tell us he had joined the Navy and couldn't wait to start basic training.

I paused, waiting for the .gotcha. moment that never came. He was serious.

But what about the war in Iraq? I asked. How is your .grandmother taking this news?

.Everything will be OK, Miss Merlene,. he said. .When was the last time you heard of .anyone dying in the Navy?. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396447.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396447.html Tue, 06 May 2008 09:26 EDT
Pitch a tent, invite 1,500 or so of your friends, and voil.: Derby party. That's the way Bill Morgan has been doing it since 1972. But it didn't start out quite so big.

While Morgan was a student at the University of Kentucky, he decided to throw a party for his friends who couldn't afford the exclusive Derby parties. The Poor Man's Harlan County Derby Eve Party was born.

Now it's the biggest party of them all.

And just like the more expensive parties, this bash is for .charity. .Morgan, wife Elizabeth Morgan, brother Bryan Morgan and friend James .Smitty. Jones . a onetime maitre'd at Columbia's Steak House on North Limestone . were the hosts. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396446.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396446.html Tue, 06 May 2008 09:43 EDT
Our mental health determines how we view the world around us, how we think, feel and react, and it affects the choices we make.

For adults who have had time to live with good mental health, mental illness might be easier to perceive.

But children often don't know when they have a mental illness. It is up to parents, teachers, professionals and other adults to discern that for them.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This week is Children's Mental Health Awareness Week, and Thursday is Children's Mental Health Awareness Day. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396448.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396448.html Wed, 07 May 2008 10:24 EDT
Warning: If you have an aversion to your body's waste, don't read any further.

However, your stool can tell you a lot about your diet and health. And who better to tell us a bit about our poo than Dr. Anish Sheth, a gastro.enterology fellow at the Yale School of Medicine and co-author of What's Your Poo Telling You? (Chronicle Books, $9.95). Here are a few diet scenarios and how they affect your poo:

Anti-diet: white toast, no fruits or veggies (no fiber)

A lack of fiber causes infrequent, hard stools that require straining during defecation. Fiber, in .insoluble and soluble forms, is vital to soften the stool and aid in its effortless passage through the GI tract. Low-fiber diets produce dry, pebbly stools and, in severe cases, can result in fecal impaction . in which stool forms a rock-hard plug that prohibits passage of any stool at all. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396845.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396845.html Tue, 06 May 2008 09:51 EDT
Question: I am a woman, 73, with type 2 diabetes. My doctor has .prescribed fenofibrate and .simvastatin.

Your recent column cautioned about possible muscle damage with this combination. I suffer from .arthritis, and I have a bad back and lots of joint pain, so how am I to distinguish between the pains? I have not had the additional blood work that was ordered and have not started on the above drugs yet. I would appreciate your opinion. (I currently take metformin, metoprolol and hydrochlorothiazide.)

Answer: Based on the drugs you mention, you appear to have mixed hyperlipidemia (high LDL .cholesterol and high triglycerides).

Fenofibrate reduces triglycerides, and simvastatin is a statin drug that reduces LDL cholesterol (the bad kind). ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/389658.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/389658.html Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:54 EDT
Several news agencies are wondering aloud whether last week's Pennsylvania primary was a harbinger of the demise of the Democratic Party if Sen. Barack Obama were to be its presidential nominee.

All of the focus has been on Obama not carrying the Reagan Democrats or blue-collar white voters.

Polls showed that Obama lost white voters without college degrees by 44 points in Ohio and 42 points in Pennsylvania. Those blue collar voters, historically, are the bread and butter of the Dem.ocratic base, although in recent years that demographic has voted Republican.

Without them, Obama can't win, according to pundits and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/390146.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/390146.html Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:54 EDT
Question: My cholesterol numbers: total cholesterol, 125; LDL, 69; HDL, 32; and triglycerides, 119. My liver enzymes have been slightly high for years, and I recently was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Is there a safe, effective way to increase my HDL through specific foods or .supplements?

Answer: Most people would gladly take those lipid numbers and run. They are very good except for the HDL level of 32, which is lower than the recommended minimum of 40.

HDL cholesterol (the good kind) is the type you want more of because it helps mop up cholesterol that might otherwise find its way into artery-narrowing plaque.

Women tend to have a higher HDL than men. The average in women is 55 and in men 45. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/382910.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/382910.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:06 EDT
It's a brave girl who will let herself be photographed without makeup. Yet three already beautiful teenagers (and members of the Herald-Leader Teen Board) agreed to give their faces a good scrub at 7 a.m. and show up ready to face the cameras.

Then makeup artist Leigh-Ann Mims went to work, using mainly MAC cosmetics to softly sculpt a look that whispered .barely there but better..

It was fresh faces all around. Which is exactly what spring requires. Gone is the uneven skin tone of winter. Gone, too, the dry skin, the tired eyes and the lackluster lips.

The look takes no time and just a little trouble. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/382911.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/382911.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:58 EDT
Susan Burgess Laux looks .normal..

She wears normal-looking clothes and shoes, and her hair is beautifully cut and maintained.

There are no torn jeans, no hair going every which way, no tie-dyed T-shirt . images we are given to conjure up when thinking of people passionate about saving the Earth.

Nothing about Laux, the owner of The Woodlands Salon, would indicate that she long ago embraced our need to treat the Earth better so that it would be here much longer. She's been a cosmetologist for more than 30 years and has been environmentally concerned for most of that time. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/382912.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/382912.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:59 EDT
The stock market roller coaster, the housing crisis, the dreaded .R. word . it's stressful out there. Where can we turn? How about comfort foods? Unfortunately most comfort foods are notoriously high in calories. Knowing that, we thought it would be helpful to reach out to a few foodies and chefs to find several tasty, low-calorie comfort food recipes.

This healthy recipe is by Lisa Lillien of Hungry Girl (www.Hungry-Girl.com) and author of Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World (St. Martin's Griffin, April 29, 2008)

Kickin' chicken pot pie

8 ounces raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/383403.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/383403.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:59 EDT
Question: I recently heard that tanning beds might be safer than previously thought and that they promote health by stimulating vitamin D production. Can you comment?

Answer: The source for your information seems to be a recent ad campaign sponsored by a trade group representing the indoor .tanning industry.

In general, advertisements and other information provided by special-interest groups should be taken with a grain of salt.

First, let's get our bearings. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/376328.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/376328.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:20 EDT
A policeman and a kid in a diner having a chat. Tell people it's called The Runaway .

Lots of ideas come to mind if you've just got that to go on. But put on the red knapsack nearby and figure it's 1958 and you'll know that you are seeing this cop and this kid and this diner through the bespectacled eyes of American artist Norman Rockwell.

But if you're in fifth grade right now, you probably don't.

Because 1958 might as well be 1492 and Norman Rockwell could very well be Kid Rock's dad, for all you know. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/376327.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/376327.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:36 EDT
Something comes over me in the spring that compels me to dig in dirt and to plant and transplant things and throw mulch wherever I can.

I know. My family thinks I'm crazy, too. It's beyond my control.

Recently I've even been scouring the classifieds and car lots looking for a small truck that doesn't cost more than I've saved for my last child's college fund just so I can go get mulch when I need to and have it on hand. My husband hasn't filed for divorce yet . that I know of.

This overwhelming urge to garden has been with me as long as I can remember, but once I left home, there was a decade in which I could only dig at the roots of a small houseplant. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/376326.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/376326.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:36 EDT
Question: My doctor prescribed pills for an allergic reaction. Afterwards, I found out they were steroids. With all the news about athletes taking steroids and the harm they can cause, should I be worried? I only took them for seven days.

Answer: Your pills appear to be corticosteroids, probably prednisone or prednisolone. Corticosteroids are used for their anti-inflammatory effects and are different from the steroids used to enhance athletic performance, so don't be worried.

The latter are called anabolic steroids. They build muscle and strength and appear to be widely abused by both elite athletes and teenage wannabes who use them in pill or injectable form.

Recent congressional hearings focusing on anabolic steroid use in major league baseball grabbed media headlines, so let's look more closely at these drugs. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369451.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369451.html Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:55 EDT
Twice a year, women who might not be able to afford it otherwise are invited to have mammograms and Pap tests done by the professionals at the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.

The next testing day is April 26.

The screenings are for women, especially those older than 40 who are uninsured and underinsured, so they will not have to forgo the annual exam that might allow early intervention and treatment for breast and cervical cancer.

You don't even have to be from Fayette County to get the free exam. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369454.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369454.html Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:17 EDT
Before I started elementary school, my mother worked part-time as a domestic, cooking and cleaning for rich folk, as we called them.

Whenever a family didn't want a young child in their house, my mother would send me to her sister's house down the street.

Aunt Clara Mae was a vibrant woman when I first started staying with her, but eventually she slowed down tremendously.

Part of the reason was injuries from an accident, but another was diabetes. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369453.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369453.html Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:27 EDT
Even the most well-intentioned parents can have a hard time understanding how school systems work. To help, we are answering some often-asked questions. This is our second installment. For information about the previous topic and to suggest a topic for us to write about in the future, go to our new Web site, www.bluegrassmoms.com.

Question: What is the .primary talent pool?

Answer: It's a group of students who show the potential to perform at exceptionally high levels. They receive extra enrichment to help them achieve their potential.

These students generally represent about 25 percent of the total talent pool. Once children are in the primary talent pool, they should not be removed. School districts are not required to let parents know their child is in the primary talent pool. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369452.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369452.html Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:25 EDT
Question: My husband, who is 69, was taking a statin drug to lower his cholesterol but had to discontinue it because of muscle pains. I know other people who have experienced similar problems. How .common is this?

Answer: One estimate is that muscle pain (myalgia) occurs in 1 to 5 percent of those on statin drugs. Some sources place it higher. .Related muscle symptoms can include weakness, .tenderness or soreness.

Statins are the most .effective cholesterol-lowering drugs. They include lovastatin (Mevacor), simvastatin (Zocor), pravastatin (Pravachol), fluvastatin (Lescol), atorvastatin (Lipitor) and rosuvastatin (Crestor).

Having statin-related muscle symptoms doesn't necessarily mean the drug must be stopped. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362615.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362615.html Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:39 EDT
Guys, we have a few words for you: Man up and grab yourself a feather duster.

It's spring, and that fine veneer of Coors, pepperoni grease and dog fur on the coffee table isn't going to unpeel itself.



Admit it, fellas: You want a house that looks like one of those upscale home magazines . full of gleaming, uncluttered surfaces and gently .blowing curtains and artfully .arranged fresh fruit. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362618.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362618.html Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:27 EDT
The bad news is that the Sister Study, which is seeking 50,000 sisters of women who have had breast cancer, is still looking for participants.

The good news is that statement won't be true much longer.

The study, which I wrote about in June 2006, and which one of my co-workers has been accepted into, is seeking volunteers who will be observed now and again over a 10-year period to determine if the shared environments, genetics and life experiences of sisters can help identify types of and treatments for breast cancer.

As of today, however, the participants accepted into the National Institute of Environmental Health Science study will be limited to women of color ages 35 to 74, and white women with a high school education or lower, and white women ages 65 to 74. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362620.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362620.html Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:39 EDT
SAN MATEO, Calif. . Shea Kelly