Ody Typing Is Unproven Science

D'Adamo created the best-selling Eat Right For Your Type diet series.Family Health Insurance And while some superstars, including Liz Hurley, eat right for their type, we're not sure if any celeb is eating right for their genotype.

Using what he calls a revolutionary approach to dieting, D'Adamo identified six genotypes that comprise humanity. Each of us fits into a specific genotype – hunter, gatherer, teacher, explorer, warrior or nomad – and should be following a type-specific diet and lifestyle plan to optimize our genetic potential. That is, to maximize health and wellness, boost weight loss, slow the aging process and prevent or reverse disease.

D'Adamo has come up with a genotype calculator that uses various body characteristics, including fingerprints, leg length and head shape, to help dieters work out their specific type. Gatherers (my type), for example, will learn they possess "nature's ultimate survival strategy" with a thrifty body type, making them vulnerable to packing on pounds in our modern, overabundant food environment. A Gatherer should stick to a high-protein,Family Health Insurance low-glycemic diet to boost muscle mass and decrease body fat. D'Adamo has created lists of superfoods and toxic foods for each type and has specific exercise and supplement recommendations.

The Gatherer's exercise plan is designed to increase muscle, clean out toxins in the body and boost insulin efficiency. Stretching and lengthening exercises,Family Health Insurance including Pilates and vigorous walking, are supposedly best. And a twice-weekly stint in the sauna at the beginning of the program will help remove toxins and chemicals, as well as speed up fat removal.

Lung Cancer Trigger Discovered

Three international teams of scientists, one led in part by Toronto researchers, have for the first time homed in on the genetic origins of lung cancer Health Insurance, the biggest cancer killer in the country.

After sifting through the DNA of more than 60,000 people, the scientists pinpointed a cluster of genetic variations on the human genome that can boost a person's chance of getting the disease by as much as 80 per cent. And it seems the genetic variants may make smokers – as well as those who have already kicked the habit – more susceptible than others to the cancer.

Experts say the trio of studies will help scientists understand how tobacco smoking can trigger lung cancer and may answer the conundrum of why some pack-a-day smokers will never develop the disease.

The findings could also herald new prevention and treatment strategies and reveal ways to detect lung cancer at its earliest – Health Insurance and most treatable – stages.

The teams found people who inherit a particular genetic variant are 30 per cent more likely to get lung cancer than people who don't have that genetic marker.

That risk rises to 80 per cent if the person inherits two copies of the variant.

"For the first time, we are sure we have identified important regions for lung cancer," said Dr. Rayjean Hung, a principal investigator of one of the studies and a researcher at Mount Sinai Hospital's Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute.

Roughly half of the general population has one copy of the genetic variant, the research suggests.

However, an individual's risk is also influenced by environmental factors, including smoking history or family history, said Hung, who conducted much of the research while at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, Health Insurance and who has since been recruited to Toronto.

"Lung cancer is a complex disease and this finding will help us to solve a part of the puzzle, not the whole puzzle," she said.

Cancer experts emphasize smoking is still the largest risk factor for getting lung cancer, which kills some 20,000 Canadians each year, and say giving up cigarettes is the best way to reduce the risk of getting the disease.

Each of the three studies, published yesterday in the journals Nature and Nature Genetics, show a clear link between lung cancer and a region on chromosome 15 that contains three nicotine receptor genes. But the teams disagree on how this region is linked to smoking.

The Icelandic team, led by scientists from the biopharmaceutical company deCode genetics, found the increased lung cancer risk was due to the genetic variant setting off a chain of risk, whereby the variant makes smokers more likely to be addicted to nicotine, which causes them to smoke more, and will therefore raise their risk of getting lung cancer.

But the other two teams – one led by U.S. researchers, and the other by Hung and her colleagues – found the increased risk in both smokers and non-smokers, which suggests the variant may biologically trigger risk for lung cancer, independent of smoking addiction.

The link between addiction and lung cancer is still open for debate and where researchers will likely turn next, said Dr. Geoffrey Liu, a medical oncologist at Princess Margaret Hospital who was not associated with the studies.

"Is it one mechanism or the other?. Or is it what I call the double-whammy?" he said.

By double-whammy Liu meant a person could be hit twice by the same genetic variant, which could make him more biologically at risk to get addicted to smoking and more biologically at risk to develop lung cancer.

New Mindset On Mentally

Dealing with mental health crises in Mississauga has a new look as Peel police and health care professionals team up to find innovative ways to defuse volatile situations.

The new COAST (Crisis Outreach And Support Team) program implemented yesterday by Peel police, the Canadian Mental Health Association and Saint Elizabeth Health Care aims to keep people in crisis out of the criminal justice system and find them appropriate treatment in the community.

"As police officers we work with people with mental health illness on a daily basis," Health Fitness said Acting Deputy Chief Dan McDonald. "Most are not dangerous and have not committed any kind of crime.

"The police are usually the first responders to the needs of people in crisis and we become their helpers and their access to treatment and intervention. If left untreated we all know that mental health illness can have a devastating effect on the ill person, their family and their friends."

The program, which may expand to Brampton, will pair specially trained plain clothes officers with mental health workers available to respond to crisis calls every day from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m.

"Not every mental health call requires a front line police officer to attend," said Const. Fiona Thivierge, Peel's mental health co-ordinator.

"What you need is someone with crisis intervention training. A trained mental health professional there can do an assessment at the residence and find the appropriate community agency or service to support them Health Fitness."

It offers options other than jail or a psychiatric facility for people needing care, she said.

"This will allow people to maintain their dignity and find appropriate treatment," said Thivierge, who also trains front line Peel officers in mental health awareness and crisis intervention in an intense three-day course, twice a year.

"It's a new mindset," she explained Health Fitness. "This is a more appropriate way to deal with these people. It's much more humane."

Shirlee Sharkey, president and CEO at Saint Elizabeth, agreed.

"It's a better approach to people who are suffering from a crisis situation," she said.

"Violence is not a typical reaction with a lot of people with mental illness. In fact, they become more reclusive and withdrawn.

"When there is a lack of understanding and there's fear and anxiety, anybody will react to that in a fearful way and with some violence. In this approach there'll be a better way of communicating and understanding, approaching the situation in a calm way, with a health professional working with the police.

"We hope that all around there will be a more peaceful intervention."

The program, modelled after existing projects in Hamilton and Halton, is funded in part by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

"People are going to be getting preventative support as well as crisis support while they're working through their crisis," said Sandy Milakovic of the Canadian Mental Health Association in Peel.

Urinary symptoms often affect women's sex life

Women with lower urinary tract symptoms, or LUTS, are more likely to have sexual problems than women without LUTS,Health Topics researchers reported here at the annual meeting of the European Association of Urology Health Sexual.

Dr. Con Kelleher, Health Sexual at Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital Trusts in London, and colleagues examined the impact of LUTS on women's sexual functioning using a database that contains records from 333 general practices.

The study included 1,377,000 women 18 years of age or older who had been seen at one of the practices from 2000 through 2006.

The rate of sexual dysfunction among women with LUTS was twice that of women with no LUTS, researchers found.

The data also showed that women between 30 and 60 years of age were significantly more likely to report sexual dysfunction than women outside this age range Health Topics.

Overall, the occurrence of overactive bladder, incontinence, and voiding problems, as well as sexual difficulties,Health Topics increased markedly during the study period.

"The data suggest that the relationship between sexual dysfunction and LUTS (including overactive bladder) should be considered in women when diagnosing and treating these conditions," Kelleher said.

Health and care fair welcomes returning service members

The Veterans Affairs medical center in La Jolla sponsored its first “Welcome Home” event yesterday – health club a health and caregiver-support fair for men and women returning from deployment overseas.

These days, nonprofit groups and the government are offering a lot more mental and physical health services and other programs for troops leaving active duty and transitioning to civilian life.

“When someone leaves the military and the holistic system that supports the entire family unit, the idea is these organizations and partners pick up where we leave off health club,” said Michael Kilmer, care-coordination manager for the VA's Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom programs.

“Here, we have case-management teams to maintain those relationships.”

Staying connected to services and groups that understand what a military person has been through is crucial, Kilmer said.

During the daylong event, health club hundreds of men, women and their families wandered by about 40 table displays where nonprofit groups and government agencies offered details about free or discount programs tailored for them.

“I'm hitting every booth,” said Lt. Patrick Walsh, 41, who will soon retire after a 20-year Navy career in bomb disposal. “There's a lot of state and federal programs here, and I need to find out the details.”

Numerous programs represented yesterday help veterans cope with life after traumatic brain injury or with post-traumatic stress disorder. Some programs assist those learning to walk or move their arms or legs, perhaps because of an amputation.

One table displayed devices to help veterans partially blinded by brain or eye injuries.

For those suffering from depression, insomnia or anxiety, a VA researcher was recruiting participants for a study on genetic markers for neurotransmitter imbalance, paying some qualified volunteers as much as $1,000.

Vocational training, tutoring, couples counseling, anger management, job listings and financial advice were among the services offered.

Need new furniture, a home loan or a chaplain who understands combat stress? Looking for discounts on school tuition? Programs involving all those issues were on display, too.

Melody Forgy said veterans at the VA's Wellness and Vocational Enrichment Clinic are taught ways to explain to a potential employer how their military skills would be valuable.

“For example, they may have great skills in organizing food, equipment and weapon supplies, but they don't know how that translates to a job in civilian language, or how to write a résumé,” Forgy said. “We can help with that.”

Female veterans should consider getting their health care through the VA's Firm Comprehensive Women's Clinic, rather than from civilian medical providers, said the clinic's Elka Braden.

“Military sexual trauma and sexual abuse is something that sometimes occurs, but providers in the community might not even think to ask about it health club,” Braden said. “We're better equipped to handle it,” she said.

Richard Cira, 27, and Timothy Gass, 25, were Marines stationed together in Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Although they returned to San Diego four years ago, Cira and Gass came to “Welcome Home” yesterday to find out what new services are available.

“It's nice to get in touch with different groups that are out there to help us,” said Gass, who is looking for a place to live. Gass said he was surprised to find out about a home-loan program for veterans.

Health and care fair welcomes returning service members

The Veterans Affairs medical center in La Jolla sponsored its first “Welcome Home” event yesterday – a health and caregiver-support fair for men and women returning from deployment overseas.

These days, nonprofit groups and the government are offering a lot more mental and physical health services and other programs for troops leaving active duty and transitioning to civilian life.

“When someone leaves the military and the holistic system that supports the entire family unit, the idea is these organizations and partners pick up where we leave off,” health club said Michael Kilmer, care-coordination manager for the VA's Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom programs.

“Here, we have case-management teams to maintain those relationships.”

Staying connected to services and groups that understand what a military person has been through is crucial, Kilmer said.

During the daylong event, hundreds of men, women and their families wandered by about 40 table displays where nonprofit groups and government agencies offered details about free or discount programs tailored for them.

“I'm hitting every booth,” said Lt. Patrick Walsh, 41, who will soon retire after a 20-year Navy career in bomb disposal. “There's a lot of state and federal programs here, and I need to find out the details.”

Numerous programs represented yesterday help veterans cope with life after traumatic brain injury or with post-traumatic stress disorder. Some programs assist those learning to walk or move their arms or legs, perhaps because of an amputation.

One table displayed devices to help veterans partially blinded by brain or eye injuries.

For those suffering from depression, insomnia or anxiety, a VA researcher was recruiting participants for a study on genetic markers for neurotransmitter imbalance, paying some qualified volunteers as much as $1,000.

Vocational training, tutoring, couples counseling, anger management, job listings and financial advice were among the services offered.

Need new furniture, a home loan or a chaplain who understands combat stress? Looking for discounts on school tuition? Programs involving all those issues were on display, too.

Melody Forgy said veterans at the VA's Wellness and Vocational Enrichment Clinic are taught ways to explain to a potential employer how their military skills would be valuable.

“For example, they may have great skills in organizing food, equipment and weapon supplies, but they don't know how that translates to a job in civilian language, or how to write a résumé,” Forgy said. “We can help with that.”

Female veterans should consider getting their health care through the VA's Firm Comprehensive Women's Clinic, rather than from civilian medical providers, said the clinic's Elka Braden.

“Military sexual trauma and sexual abuse is something that sometimes occurs, but providers in the community might not even think to ask about it health club,” Braden said. “We're better equipped to handle it,” she said.

Richard Cira, 27, and Timothy Gass, 25, were Marines stationed together in Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Although they returned to San Diego four years ago, Cira and Gass came to “Welcome Home” yesterday to find out what new services are available.

“It's nice to get in touch with different groups that are out there to help us,” said Gass, who is looking for a place to live. Gass said he was surprised to find out about a home-loan program for veterans health club.

Education key to reducing STIs

Last Wednesday morning, Kansas University health educators stood in front of a classroom of Lawrence High School students answering questions about sexually transmitted infections.

But the real education came after their presentation when the students Health News — unabashedly — answered questions posed to them about the prevalence of STIs.

Yes, they said, students talk about STIs. Some of it comes in the way of quick-spreading rumors that are whispered in school hallways. And, some of it is in the form of distressed secrets shared among friends.

Either way, teenagers have STIs, even in Lawrence.

“A lot of people go to parties, drink, don’t realize what they are doing, don’t use a condom … and the next day they are like ‘Oh, my God,’ ” said Alexah Gudenkauf, an LHS sophomore.

Still, Gudenkauf, like many of the other girls in the class, was surprised by a study that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this month. One in four teenage girls has at least one sexually transmitted disease, the CDC reported.

The study, the first of its kind Health News, tested 838 girls between the ages of 14 and 19 for sexually transmitted infections and included both those who said they were sexually active and those who said they were not.

“I didn’t know it was that high; I didn’t know it was that common,” Gudenkauf said. “But, I understand why.”

Punjab to introduce health insurance scheme

Keeping in view the fast increasing costs of medical treatment, the Punjab government was shortly implementing a special Health Insurance Scheme for the people belong to Below Poverty Line families, so that the poor people could also avail the advanced medical facilities in the private hospitals.

This was disclosed by Ramesh Inder Singh Chief Secretary Punjab, while addressing the concluding function of three day North Zone Inter Medical and Dental Colleges Tournament at Dyanand Medical College and Hospital last night.

Further elaborating, the Chief Secretary said that apart from BPL families Health Topics, the insurance would also be extended to the small farmers and farm laborers through village level Agri Cooperative Societies.

He said that the fast advancement in science and technology and medical sector had completely changed the working system in all the fields and the new technologies has become essential ingredient in the hands of professionals Health Topics.

He said that in the present times, the traditional medical research was on the process of shifting from Universalities to the Pharmaceutical companies and diagnostic centers and many new inventions in medical field were coming up daily.

Health insured will still pay Thousands to be billed under free-care regime

CLOSE TO to half a million Jamaicans with health insurance can still expect to pay indirectly for services and items in public health facilities from which user fees are to be removed come Tuesday.

Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Minister of Health Rudyard Spencer says while insured persons would not be required to co-pay for services, insurance companies will still be billed to cover a portion of the cost Health Insurance.

Insurance companies currently cover 80 per cent of the insured's expense for health services and medication. Close to 20 per cent of the population have health insurance, according to the latest Survey of Living Conditions by the Planning Institute of Jamaica.

"We have had exhaust(ive) discussions ... and those persons accessing the public health facilities will be asked to present their card, but that 20 per cent - that co-payment that they would be required to make - would not be made," Spencer told The Gleaner.

This means several people who purchase health insurance might still indirectly pay for services and items from which user fees have been removed.

In many organisations, health insurance is a normal item offered, or mandated, in employee salary packages for which workers contribute.

President of the Jamaica Employers' Federation, Audrey Hinchcliffe, says most companies share the cost for the coverage by paying 80 per cent for their employees, but commonly the cost is split in half.

"I do not know of any rich company that (pays) all of it," she says.

The action by Government could, therefore, lead many workers with health insurance to consider whether to continue paying for health insurance coverage in order to access the particular items and services that will be provided free in public health facilities.

Not casting judgement

President of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union, Kavan Gayle, Health Insurance says it is a concern the union has, but he is waiting to see how the system will pan out before casting judgement.

"Definitely, it's going to be a concern to us," says Gayle. "We are going to have to examine (the) impact of it ... . We would be discussing it with our membership to see (if) it will affect the various persons in the public sector entities," he adds.

President emeritus of the National Workers' Union, Clive Dobson, says while it was not an immediate concern, it certainly means that workers would be getting the services free.

However, Spencer has rubbished that argument. He says what employees are normally required to pay is an additional amount for dependents and not for themselves.

"The company provides the health insurance for their employees and employees pay an additional amount for the coverage for dependency," he argues.

No concerns raised

He adds that the concern was never raised by any union or insurance company.

"I don't want to get involved with that because you (this reporter) are the first person to raise that. None of the unions raised that Health Insurance; the Medical Association and the Nurses' Association never raised that."

The move might also cause some elderly - who are in greater need of care - to pay for the free health items and services the Government will start delivering tomorrow.

According to the latest Survey of Living Conditions, persons 60 years old and over make up more than a quarter of those with health insurance. Most have private health insurance.

When asked if he was aware of the data, Spencer responded that he was not: "I don't know that. Because the majority of the people who are working are not the elderly. I don't want to get into a debate about that because this is not what this is about," he says.

The Ministry of Health got a boost of $100 million in the 2008/2009 Budget to assist with preparatory activities for the abolition of user fees in all public health facilities, except the University Hospital of the West Indies, Health Insurance come Tuesday.

DepEd set to launch sex education in public schools

Despite persistent lobbying by the Catholic Church, health club the Department of Education is bent on teaching sex education in the public high schools.

The DepEd is awaiting the go-ahead from the Presidential Council on Values Formation (PCVF) which is currently reviewing the secondary teachers’ “adolescent reproductive health manuals,” according to Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus.

“The new draft modules which are subject to PCVF review and approval are purely health and science angles on reproductive health... They are not sex educational materials at all,” Lapus told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

The DepEd furnished the Inquirer with copies of the revised modules, titled “Secondary Teachers’ Toolkit on Adolescent Reproductive Health” and “Patnubay sa Pagtuturo ng Araling Adolescent Reproductive Health para sa Alternative Learning System.”

Lapus stressed that the revised modules were “products of nationwide multisectoral consultations.”

The preparation of the 2006 manuals were jointly funded by the Australian Aid for International Development and the United Nations Fund for Population Awareness.

Asked about the sex education program’s timetable, Lapus said it all depended on the PCVF. “We await the council’s resolution.”

The council was created on April 30, 2004, by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo under Executive Order No. 314.

The Office of the President-attached body is tasked to “serve as the lead agency by which government may work hand in hand with civil society and the private sector in the establishment of a strong foundation for moral value formation in the government bureaucracy.”

The PCVF, chaired by Arroyo, counted “members of the clergy and ministers,” among others, as those seating in the counil, said Lapus.

With regards to its composition, separate checks by Inquirer Research and the DepEd communications office with the PCVF yielded negative results.

For undisclosed reasons health club, PCVF staff declined to provide the data requested.

When interviewed, Dr. Thelma Santos, director of the DepEd’s Health and Nutrition Center, justified the DepEd’s sex education initiative.

“It is high time public schools provide their adolescent students with the right information about their sexuality,” said Santos.

According to Santos health club, “distinction should be made between sex education and teaching students to be more aware of their sexuality.”

The revised modules include teaching notes on:

? Pre-marital sex, commercial sex, abortion and homosexuality.

? “Risky sex.” Class discussions on the long-term health and social consequences of sexual risk-taking among adolescents.

? Feelings of admiration for one person of the same or opposite sex. In small group discussions, students will be asked to discuss what they think about dating, boy-girl relationship, how to ask for a date and proper behavior while dating, among others.