General Health and Mental Health
“Why Doesn’t She Just Leave?” Barriers to Getting Out of Abusive Relationships
Domestic violence is a fact of life in the U.S. for approximately 35% of women and 28% of men. When we learn someone is in an abusive relationship, the first question many people ask is “Well, why doesn’t she just leave?” However, getting out of the situation is not as easy as people like to think. Read More
Pesticides and Cancer in Children: Is There A Connection?
Pesticides have long been known to cause birth defects and poisoning if ingested. Now research is showing that even small quantities of rodent and insect killing pesticides can be toxic over time to children. Read More
Beginner’s Guide to Developing an Exercise Routine
Exercise is one of NRC’s seven recommended ways to maximize your health. If you want to exercise but aren’t sure where to begin, we can help! If you feel like your daily life doesn’t allow you to get fit (not enough time, no money for a gym membership, etc.), we have some “work-arounds” that may help. Read More
Are Bisphenol A (BPA) Plastic Products Safe?
Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used to make plastics. It is frequently used in sports equipment, water bottles, medical devices, as a coating or lining in food and beverage cans, and in credit card receipts. It leaches out of plastic into liquids and foods, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found measurable amounts of BPA in the bodies of 93% of the U.S. population studied. While early concerns about BPA’s health effects were based primarily on animal studies and research on cells, there is increasing evidence from studies in humans that BPA can cause serious harm, such as increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and sexual dysfunction. Read More
Aspirin: Could It Reduce Your Risk for Cancer?
Often called a “wonder drug,” aspirin reduces aches and pains, fever, and swelling, and lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke. But few of us ever imagined that it might also lower our chances of developing several types of cancer and help keep cancer from spreading. Read More
Are Bayer’s Birth Control Pills too Risky?
YAZ, Yasmin, Beyaz, and other drospirenone hormonal birth control pills have been found to have an increased risk of serious blood clots. However, the FDA has not taken the pills off the market or demanded a black box warning. Read More
Social Networking Sites: Benefits, Problems, and “Facebook Depression”
For better or worse, social networking is an almost unavoidable part of everyday life. The number of people joining social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus is growing exponentially, especially among youth. Due to the prevalence of social media usage among youths, many parents wonder if it is having beneficial or negative effects on their children. Like many things in life, the answer is not so clear-cut: it’s yes and no. Facebook both promotes mental well-being and undermines it. Read More
The Failed Promise of Gene Based Tests for Diagnosing and Treating Cancer
When the Human Genome Project released its first “draft” in 2000, many scientists believed it would revolutionize medical research. President Bill Clinton claimed that genetic diagnosis (the ability to tell who has a disease after looking at the genes) would “revolutionize the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of most, if not all, human diseases.”Although the ability to map the human genome has great promise, a decade later it still hasn’t yielded good methods for diagnosing cancer. Even more disappointing: recent scandals and severe product flaws have cast doubt on gene-based research as a whole Read More
Procrit, Aranesp, and Epogen–All Risk and No Benefits for Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease?
Anemia drugs are widely used by patients on chemotherapy and patients with chronic kidney disease, but there is growing evidence that the misuse of these drugs is harming many patients. The FDA issued a “safety communication” on June 24, 2011 recommending lower doses of anemia drugs for patients with chronic kidney disease. This warning was based on studies showing increased risk of stroke, blood clots, other cardiac problems, and death for patients with chronic kidney disease Read More
Ovarian Cancer CA-125 Blood Test: Does it Work?
Ovarian cancer is a deadly disease because it is rarely diagnosed early. There is not yet an effective, life-saving screening tool for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Furthermore, the mostly commonly used tool (The CA-125 blood test) has been shown to be not just ineffective but actually harmful. Read More