Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/vkno1b7LI28

Nearly eighty percent of young women have never had a check of their cholesterol and other lipid levels.  This is the finding of a study by University of Pennsylvania cardiologists after reviewing the records of more than 5,000 women admitted to the UPenn hospital for childbirth.

The current American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines recommend that all adults 20 years or older have regular lipid screening.  Furthermore, they suggest a spot check once around age 10 and another around age 18.  If there is a family history of a lipid disorder, even younger children should also have a cholesterol check between the ages of 2 and 10 years.

One in every three American adults does have elevated cholesterol, a condition that lacks any symptoms until it may be too late.  To catch and treat this condition before the inevitable heart attack or stroke, the UPenn cardiologists recommend that every woman should have a lipid test as she enters her prenatal care.  

I’d add that her significant other, the prospective dad, should also visit his doctor and have the cholesterol and lipid testing done as part of a general checkup.  Both parents-to-be are about to run a 21 year plus marathon, need to be in optimal health, and need to stay alive to guide and enjoy the child they are about to bring into the world.

#Cholesterol #lipid #pregnancy #heartattack #stroke

American College of Cardiology. "Women of childbearing age have staggeringly low rates of lipid screening: OB/GYNs may be key to getting more women screened." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 March 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190306100631.htm.

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/vkno1b7LI28

Nearly eighty percent of young women have never had a check of their cholesterol and other lipid levels.  This is the finding of a study by University of Pennsylvania cardiologists after reviewing the records of more than 5,000 women admitted to the UPenn hospital for childbirth.

The current American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines recommend that all adults 20 years or older have regular lipid screening.  Furthermore, they suggest a spot check once around age 10 and another around age 18.  If there is a family history of a lipid disorder, even younger children should also have a cholesterol check between the ages of 2 and 10 years.

One in every three American adults does have elevated cholesterol, a condition that lacks any symptoms until it may be too late.  To catch and treat this condition before the inevitable heart attack or stroke, the UPenn cardiologists recommend that every woman should have a lipid test as she enters her prenatal care.  

I’d add that her significant other, the prospective dad, should also visit his doctor and have the cholesterol and lipid testing done as part of a general checkup.  Both parents-to-be are about to run a 21 year plus marathon, need to be in optimal health, and need to stay alive to guide and enjoy the child they are about to bring into the world.

#Cholesterol #lipid #pregnancy #heartattack #stroke

American College of Cardiology. "Women of childbearing age have staggeringly low rates of lipid screening: OB/GYNs may be key to getting more women screened." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 March 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190306100631.htm.

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/ns4WPEqWzG0

Want to boost your long distance running performance in only 4 days?  Get yourself on the Mediterranean Diet says investigators from St. Louis University.

They studied 11 male and female 5K runners giving each 4 days of the Mediterranean Diet or 4 days of the typical Western Diet before they ran the 5K on a treadmill.  Consuming the Mediterranean Diet with its fruits, veggies, nuts, olive oil and whole grains pumped the runners performance up by a consistent 6 percent compared with their times after consuming the Western Diet’s red meats, processed meats, dairy, refined sugar, and fats.  

The researchers attribute the performance boost to the Mediterranean Diet’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.  Just be aware that these advantages are quickly lost after stopping the diet.

If you want top performance from your body in so many challenging situations, not just in running, eat the fruits and vegetables that your body craves and treat the offerings of the typical Western diet as special treats or desserts.

#MediterraneanDiet #WesternDiet #5Krun

Michelle E. Baker, Kristen N. DeCesare, Abby Johnson, Kathleen S. Kress, Cynthia L. Inman, Edward P. Weiss. Short-Term Mediterranean Diet Improves Endurance Exercise Performance: A Randomized-Sequence Crossover Trial. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2019; 1 DOI: 10.1080/07315724.2019.1568322

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/ns4WPEqWzG0

Want to boost your long distance running performance in only 4 days?  Get yourself on the Mediterranean Diet says investigators from St. Louis University.

They studied 11 male and female 5K runners giving each 4 days of the Mediterranean Diet or 4 days of the typical Western Diet before they ran the 5K on a treadmill.  Consuming the Mediterranean Diet with its fruits, veggies, nuts, olive oil and whole grains pumped the runners performance up by a consistent 6 percent compared with their times after consuming the Western Diet’s red meats, processed meats, dairy, refined sugar, and fats.  

The researchers attribute the performance boost to the Mediterranean Diet’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.  Just be aware that these advantages are quickly lost after stopping the diet.

If you want top performance from your body in so many challenging situations, not just in running, eat the fruits and vegetables that your body craves and treat the offerings of the typical Western diet as special treats or desserts.

#MediterraneanDiet #WesternDiet #5Krun

Michelle E. Baker, Kristen N. DeCesare, Abby Johnson, Kathleen S. Kress, Cynthia L. Inman, Edward P. Weiss. Short-Term Mediterranean Diet Improves Endurance Exercise Performance: A Randomized-Sequence Crossover Trial. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2019; 1 DOI: 10.1080/07315724.2019.1568322

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/iLaBRwQvVhI

Raw dog food is becoming quite the rage.  A study just published in the British Medical Journal’s Veterinary Record reveals that raw dog food from 10 different sources contains dangerous levels of E.coli and other fecal bacteria, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Clostridia.

Raw pet food is prepared from miscellaneous body parts and organs that are a byproduct of slaughtering cattle, chickens, sheep, turkeys, pigs, ducks, salmon, and even reindeer.  The raw meat is not heat treated or freeze-dried to kill bacterial contaminants but rather only packaged and fresh frozen.  This type of simple freezing fails to kill many bacteria.

The bacteria in these products can easily pass to you and to your children.  If you choose to feed it to your poor dog and risk making the animal sick, keep the raw dog food frozen until just before using it, keep it far away from your own food,, and handle it with separate kitchen equipment while you wear gloves.

If you really want to give your doggie a treat, cut that oversized slice of beef your are about to consume in a restaurant and save it for Rover.  Both of you will be healthier.

#Rawmeat #Ecoli #fecalcontaminants #salmonella #campylobacter #clostridia,

Josefin Hellgren, Lovisa Staaf Hästö, Camilla Wikström, Lise-Lotte Fernström, Ingrid Hansson. Occurrence of Salmonella, Campylobacter, Clostridium and Enterobacteriaceae in raw meat-based diets for dogs. Veterinary Record, 2019; vetrec-2018-105199 DOI: 10.1136/vr.105199

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/iLaBRwQvVhI

Raw dog food is becoming quite the rage.  A study just published in the British Medical Journal’s Veterinary Record reveals that raw dog food from 10 different sources contains dangerous levels of E.coli and other fecal bacteria, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Clostridia.

Raw pet food is prepared from miscellaneous body parts and organs that are a byproduct of slaughtering cattle, chickens, sheep, turkeys, pigs, ducks, salmon, and even reindeer.  The raw meat is not heat treated or freeze-dried to kill bacterial contaminants but rather only packaged and fresh frozen.  This type of simple freezing fails to kill many bacteria.

The bacteria in these products can easily pass to you and to your children.  If you choose to feed it to your poor dog and risk making the animal sick, keep the raw dog food frozen until just before using it, keep it far away from your own food,, and handle it with separate kitchen equipment while you wear gloves.

If you really want to give your doggie a treat, cut that oversized slice of beef your are about to consume in a restaurant and save it for Rover.  Both of you will be healthier.

#Rawmeat #Ecoli #fecalcontaminants #salmonella #campylobacter #clostridia,

Josefin Hellgren, Lovisa Staaf Hästö, Camilla Wikström, Lise-Lotte Fernström, Ingrid Hansson. Occurrence of Salmonella, Campylobacter, Clostridium and Enterobacteriaceae in raw meat-based diets for dogs. Veterinary Record, 2019; vetrec-2018-105199 DOI: 10.1136/vr.105199

Listen up men.  Two chemicals that can damage your sperm and your ability to father a normal child are lurking in and around your home.   A study just published by England’s University of Nottingham shows that the plasticizer DEHP and the industrial chemical PCB153 both reduce the motility and increase the level of DNA damage of sperm exposed to them in the test tube.

DEHP is found in carpets, linoleum flooring, upholstery, clothing, and even children’s toys.  Although PCB use was banned in the US more than 40 years ago, these chemicals degrade so slowly that they remain in many structures and in the soil on which we all walk and play.

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/ccMiRss_ygk

Male fertility is on the decline, and sperm samples from around the world demonstrate a 50% reduction in quality over the past 80 years.  If you are trying to father a child, avoid drinking from plastic containers or wearing plastic clogs that contain the organic compounds DEHP, PCBs, or BPAs.   To maintain your reproductive health, drink from glass or aluminum containers and wear leather sandals.  See that your kids do the same.

#DEHP #PCB #sperm #fertility #plastic #clogs

Rebecca N. Sumner, Mathew Tomlinson, Jim Craigon, Gary C. W. England, Richard G. Lea. Independent and combined effects of diethylhexyl phthalate and polychlorinated biphenyl 153 on sperm quality in the human and dog. Scientific Reports, 2019; 9 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39913-9

Listen up men.  Two chemicals that can damage your sperm and your ability to father a normal child are lurking in and around your home.   A study just published by England’s University of Nottingham shows that the plasticizer DEHP and the industrial chemical PCB153 both reduce the motility and increase the level of DNA damage of sperm exposed to them in the test tube.

DEHP is found in carpets, linoleum flooring, upholstery, clothing, and even children’s toys.  Although PCB use was banned in the US more than 40 years ago, these chemicals degrade so slowly that they remain in many structures and in the soil on which we all walk and play.

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/ccMiRss_ygk

Male fertility is on the decline, and sperm samples from around the world demonstrate a 50% reduction in quality over the past 80 years.  If you are trying to father a child, avoid drinking from plastic containers or wearing plastic clogs that contain the organic compounds DEHP, PCBs, or BPAs.   To maintain your reproductive health, drink from glass or aluminum containers and wear leather sandals.  See that your kids do the same.

#DEHP #PCB #sperm #fertility #plastic #clogs

Rebecca N. Sumner, Mathew Tomlinson, Jim Craigon, Gary C. W. England, Richard G. Lea. Independent and combined effects of diethylhexyl phthalate and polychlorinated biphenyl 153 on sperm quality in the human and dog. Scientific Reports, 2019; 9 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39913-9

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/vJAm-_EAjsQ

From the “spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down” department, Johns Hopkins School of Education reports that the fusion of contemporary arts such as dancing, singing, rapping, and drawing into traditional science lessons increases student interest and retention of the subject matter.  The educators studied some 350 5th grade students in 6 Baltimore schools.

In this crossover study design, one group of students received the arts-enriched science class and the other group the straight science curriculum.  In the second part of the investigation, the groups were reversed.

The data demonstrated that the art-science combo lessons covering chemistry-environmental science and life science-astronomy were retained three times better than straight science instruction by those students at a basic reading level.  Those students with more advanced reading skills and academic performance derived no benefit.  I’ll bet they did have more fun.

Breathing life into potentially dry educational material on any subject is a winning strategy.  This study also suggests that the technique can help academically challenged students excel in potentially frustrating courses of study and love school a whole lot more.

#science #arts #singing #dancing #rap #drawing #healthnews

Mariale M. Hardiman, Ranjini Mahinda JohnBull, Deborah T. Carran, Amy Shelton. The effects of arts-integrated instruction on memory for science content. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 2019; 14: 25 DOI: 10.1016/j.tine.2019.02.002

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/vJAm-_EAjsQ

From the “spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down” department, Johns Hopkins School of Education reports that the fusion of contemporary arts such as dancing, singing, rapping, and drawing into traditional science lessons increases student interest and retention of the subject matter.  The educators studied some 350 5th grade students in 6 Baltimore schools.

In this crossover study design, one group of students received the arts-enriched science class and the other group the straight science curriculum.  In the second part of the investigation, the groups were reversed.

The data demonstrated that the art-science combo lessons covering chemistry-environmental science and life science-astronomy were retained three times better than straight science instruction by those students at a basic reading level.  Those students with more advanced reading skills and academic performance derived no benefit.  I’ll bet they did have more fun.

Breathing life into potentially dry educational material on any subject is a winning strategy.  This study also suggests that the technique can help academically challenged students excel in potentially frustrating courses of study and love school a whole lot more.

#science #arts #singing #dancing #rap #drawing #healthnews

Mariale M. Hardiman, Ranjini Mahinda JohnBull, Deborah T. Carran, Amy Shelton. The effects of arts-integrated instruction on memory for science content. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 2019; 14: 25 DOI: 10.1016/j.tine.2019.02.002