Using Exhaust Fan on a Gas Stove Cuts Pollution: Study

HealthDay – 1 hr 11 mins ago THURSDAY, July 26 (HealthDay News) -- Turning on the exhaust fan above your kitchen stove and cooking on the back burners can reduce the amount of air pollution from gas stovetops and ovens, a new study says.

The study also found, however, that exhaust fans vary in their effectiveness in reducing levels of indoor air pollution from cooking with gas, which can produce pollution levels higher than those in heavily polluted outdoor air.

Exhaust fans in hoods over cooktops and downdraft systems that suck air directly from the cooking surface also vary widely in price, loudness and power consumption, concluded researchers Brett Singer and William Delp at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy facility in Berkeley, Calif.

Despite these differences, there is no rating system to help consumers know which product is best at removing pollutants from their home.

The study was recently published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

The researchers measured the performance of seven over-the-range hood designs and found that none of them performed well in all of the key functions: fan efficiency, sound levels and efficiency in capturing polluted air for exhaust, according to a journal news release.

Two products that operated quietly and removed 70 percent to 90 percent of pollutants had high fan speeds that compromised their efficiency. A third product that was best at removing pollutants was so loud it made normal conversation impossible.

The best option may not require buying a new over-the-range hood, the researchers suggested.

"Routine use of even moderately effective venting range hoods can substantially reduce in-home exposures to cooking and burner-generated air pollutants," Singer and Delp wrote. "Effectiveness can be substantially enhanced by preferential use of back versus front cooktop burners and by using higher fan settings."

More information

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has more about air quality inside homes.

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Writing Using the Eyes Might Help Paralyzed Communicate

HealthDay – 1 hr 11 mins ago THURSDAY, July 26 (HealthDay News) -- A new technology may enable people who have lost the ability to move their arms or legs to use their eyes to write in cursive, or script.

The technology, which enables people to produce smooth eye movements in desired directions, could be of great benefit to people who have lost limb movement because of diseases such as Lou Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called ALS) or spinal or other injuries, according to the study published online July 26 in the journal Current Biology.

The "eye-writing" technology might also help improve eye-movement control in people with conditions such as dyslexia or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or in professions that require strong eye focus, such as surgeons and athletes, according to a journal news release.

"Contrary to the current belief, we show that one can gain complete, voluntary control over smooth pursuit eye movements," Jean Lorenceau, of Pierre and Marie Curie University-Paris, said in the news release. "The discovery also provides a tool to use smooth pursuit eye movements as a pencil to draw, write or generate a signature."

The technology uses a visual display to help people learn to develop smooth eye movement. It doesn't take much practice, according to Lorenceau.

"One can also imagine that, in the long term, eye movements can routinely be used in man-machine interactions," he said.

Lorenceau is developing an improved version of the eye writer, and tests with ALS patients should begin next year, according to the release.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about ALS.

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More teens using condoms over past two decades

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Brain Scans Using New Dye May Predict Alzheimer's

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Using Wrinkle Cream Reviews as References

July 4, 2012 by admin

One of the things we cannot do anything about is aging. Whether we like it or not, we will develop signs of aging that will appear on our arms, legs, torso, especially on our faces. Though the level of technology we have at present has not yet discovered a way to cheat getting old, we were able to develop devices, particularly products to minimize these unsightly signs. One example is wrinkle creams. We primarily develop wrinkles when our skin losses its natural capability of producing collagen and elastin that gives out the look of youthfulness of our skin.

This very problem is what most wrinkle creams in the market target nowadays. However, not all brands of this product actually work so you as a user must be vigilant in choosing the right wrinkle cream for you. You can do this by referring to wrinkle cream reviews. In looking for such reviews, you do not actually need to go to a dermatologist and ask for his opinion on specific products.

For all you know, the professional you are referring too might have been requested to inadvertently advertise certain products on his clients.

For easier access and a more diverse set of comments, look for wrinkle cream reviews in the internet. Here, you can be sure that you will only be getting reviews from those who have actually tried and experienced the product for themselves. Another pro of looking for wrinkle cream reviews in the internet is that you can easily determine the websites which have been just paid to promote a brand over those that are telling the truth. Websites with fake wrinkle cream reviews are those that present all the cons of a certain brand then immediately give out all the pros of a wrinkle cream in the end.

Most of the legitimate wrinkle cream reviews are those that mention product experiments on their content.

 

Anti Aging

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More Teen Girls Using Contraceptives: CDC

HealthDay – Fri, May 4, 2012 THURSDAY, May 3 (HealthDay News) -- More teenage girls are using contraceptives, which may explain part of the dramatic drop in the U.S. teen pregnancy rate, federal health officials reported Thursday.

The teen birth rate has dropped 44 percent since 1990, to 34 births for every 1,000 females. In 2010, about 368,000 infants were born to teen mothers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We know there have been declines in teen pregnancy, which is wonderful, and increases in abstinence among teens, which is really wonderful also," said report author Crystal Pirtle Tyler, a CDC health scientist. "There has also been increases in contraceptive use."

Tyler noted that there has been a 16 percent decline in teens who say they are sexually active. "The majority of teens report never having had sex," she said.

To keep teen pregnancy rates declining, teens and their doctors need to have talks about delaying having sex, Tyler said. "It would be great if teens know that the majority of teens have never had sex," she added.

Even teens who are sexually active can be counseled to stop having sex, Tyler noted.

Tyler also said she thinks doctors have become less adverse to offering contraceptive advice to teens. "They are more comfortable providing contraceptive information than they were before," she said.

The new findings were published in the May 4 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Using data from the National Survey of Family Growth, the researchers found that about 60 percent of sexually active teens said they used effective contraceptive methods. Contraceptives included intrauterine devices, implants, pills, patches, rings or injectable contraceptives.

That represents a 47 percent increase in contraceptive use since 1995, the researchers said.

Contraceptive use varied by race and ethnic group, the researchers found. More white teens (66 percent) than black (46 percent) or Hispanic teens (54 percent) used contraceptives.

Although these findings are seen as progress in reducing teen pregnancy rates, meeting the Healthy People 2020 goal of reducing teen pregnancy rates by 10 percent will require "a comprehensive approach to sexual and reproductive health that includes continued promotion of delayed sexual debut and increased use of highly effective contraception among sexually experienced teens," the CDC said.

However, "we are on target to meet that goal," Tyler added.

Dr. Lawrence Friedman, director of adolescent medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said that, "It's good news that young people are using more contraceptives when they are sexually active, and that there are more young people that are delaying the onset of sexual activity."

However, Friedman doesn't think that the apparent decrease in sexual activity means that teens are having less sex, just that they may be having less intercourse. "So, it does not indicate that teenagers are really less sexually active, maybe they are not choosing intercourse," he explained.

The fact that the pregnancy rate is down could mean that fewer teens are having intercourse, but perhaps more teens are choosing oral sex or mutual masturbation instead of intercourse, Friedman added.

More information

For more information on contraception, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The K-E Diet: Brides-to-Be Using Feeding Tubes to Rapidly Shed Pounds

(ABC News)

Brides-to-be looking to shed that final 10, 15 or 20 pounds in order to fit into their dream wedding gown have taken a controversial approach to crash dieting that involves inserting a feeding tube into their noses for up to 10 days for a quick fix to rapid weight loss.

The K-E diet, which boasts promises of shedding 20 pounds in 10 days, is an increasingly popular alternative to ordinary calorie-counting programs. The program has dieters inserting a feeding tube into their nose that runs to the stomach. They're fed a constant slow drip of protein and fat, mixed with water, which contains zero carbohydrates and totals 800 calories a day. Body fat is burned off through a process called ketosis, which leaves muscle intact, Dr. Oliver Di Pietro of Bay Harbor Islands, Fla., said.

"It is a hunger-free, effective way of dieting," Di Pietro said. "Within a few hours and your hunger and appetite go away completely, so patients are actually not hungry at all for the whole 10 days. That's what is so amazing about this diet."

Di Pietro says patients are under a doctor's supervision, although they're not hospitalized during the dieting process. Instead, they carry the food solution with them, in a bag, like a purse, keeping the tube in their nose for 10 days straight. Di Pietro says there are few side effects.

"The main side effects are bad breath; there is some constipation because there is no fiber in the food," he said.

Slipping into a wedding gown for a dream wedding is a moment of truth for most brides, but as many say that there is a real fear that it will not quite fit. That's how Jessica Schnaider says she felt with a June wedding approaching and 10 pounds she says she couldn't lose. She was desperate for a quick fix.

"I don't have all of the time on the planet just to focus an hour and a half a day to exercise so I came to the doctor, I saw the diet, and I said, 'You know what? Why not? Let me try it. So I decided to go ahead and give it a shot," she said.

Schnaider said she was never hungry throughout the 10 days she was on the K-E diet, but admits that it still wasn't easy.

"It was emotionally difficult, the 10 days of not eating," Schnaider said. "And sometimes I had to give excuses to people who were asking are you sick? And I was like, 'No, I'm not sick, I'm not dying, I'm fine.'

"I was tired. I didn't feel like exercising. The doctor told me that if you can compliment with walking for a half an hour on the beach, that would be great, but I didn't feel like doing that. I'm a very energetic person, but those days I was a little tired."

Although the K-E diet is new to the United States, it has been around for years in Europe. Dr. Di Pietro charges $1,500 for the 10-day plan, and says the before-and-after pictures sell themselves.

But critics warn that losing too much weight too fast can be dangerous, and it ultimately won't last. Di Pietro warns that people with kidney issues should avoid the diet.

Many doctors also say that with so much pressure on brides to be perfect, it's easy to understand why this kind of rapid weight loss might seem appealing, but might not be healthy.

"If you lose the weight too quickly your mind is not going to be able to catch up with a newer, skinnier you," psychoanalyst Bethany Marshall of Beverly Hills, Calif. said.

Schnaider says that in her case she actually only kept her tube in for eight of the 10 days, skipping the last two because she'd already lost the 10 pounds she wanted.

She has kept it off so far, saying she is looking forward to her big day this summer.

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