Health

European Pediatricians: American Academy of Pediatrics' Recommendation to Circumcise Baby Boys Is "Questionable, Weak"

By Deirdra Funcheon Tue., Mar. 19 2013 at 7:07 AM
Categories: Health
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Deirdra Funcheon
After years of studying all the studies about circumcision, the American Academy of Pediatrics last year updated its policy about circumcision of infant boys. Whereas it had previously been neutral on the matter, the organization started recommending the procedure, advising that the benefits outweigh the risks.

This put the AAP at odds with pediatric groups in other countries, especially European ones.

See also:
- Interview With Dr. Doug Dietkema of the American Academy of Pediatrics
- Anti-circumcision Activists: Trimming a Bit off the Top Is Too Much

Yesterday, European doctors struck back in a scientific journal article, saying that "only 1 of the arguments put forward by the American Academy of Pediatrics has some theoretical relevance" and that the other claimed health benefits "are questionable, weak, and likely to have little public health relevance in a Western context, and they do not represent compelling reasons for surgery before boys are old enough to decide for themselves."

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Fort Lauderdale Wants Your Pills

By Zachary Fagenson Thu., Jan. 24 2013 at 12:33 PM
Categories: Health, Pain Clinics, Pill Mills

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Bring out your pills! Leave no injectable behind! Think that two-year old bottle of codeine isn't safe to mix with Sprite? Ditch it!

Fort Lauderdale is hosting a no-questions-asked medication take back on Jan. 27 at 301 N. Andrews Ave. from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The city and much Broward County has long held the distinction of being the capital for illicit distribution of prescription pain medication.

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29-Year-Old With AIDS Launches Kickstarter-Type Campaign to Pay for Health Care

By Deirdra Funcheon Tue., Jan. 22 2013 at 7:37 AM
Categories: Health
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Valyn Calhoun
Valyn Calhoun posted a photo of himself, looking pale and weighing 95 pounds. "I put up a picture of my body," the 29-year-old wrote. "It may scare some, but this is something I see everyday."

Calhoun, a photographer who runs in Fort Lauderdale's music and art scenes, contracted HIV and hepatitis C, and after his insurance refused to pay for his care, he began soliciting donations on GiveForward.org, a website that enables online fundraising and is geared toward people needing help with medical expenses. It's a lot like the better-known Kickstarter, though Kickstarter's focus is on artistic projects.

According to GiveForward, the website has enabled more than $31 million in transactions. At presstime, Calhoun had raised just over $5,000 of his $20,000 goal.

Now that's he's had access to medication for a week and a half, Calhoun, who says he's "not shy about anything," agreed to an email interview about his disease and his experience.

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Health

Beyond Tumescence: Four Other Uses For Erectile Dysfunction Drugs

By Chris Sweeney Mon., Dec. 3 2012 at 8:27 AM
Categories: Health
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It's been a marquee week for boner pills.

First, a University of Florida professor and colleagues published a study showing that Cialis, the blockbuster erectile dysfunction drug, can help treat Becker muscular dystrophy, a rare and debilitating disease that often cripples people by age 30 and for which there's no known cure. Then Brandon Marshall, former Miami Dolphins receiver and all-around maniac, blurts out that some NFL players pop Viagra to gain a competitive edge.

That got us wondering: What else can these little lascivious pills do? It turns out a whole lot.


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Brandon Marshall, University of Florida, Viagra
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UF Researcher Helps Show That Boner Pill Cialis Can Help Treat Rare Form of Muscular Dystrophy

By Chris Sweeney Thu., Nov. 29 2012 at 6:00 AM
Categories: Health
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You probably know Cialis as that boner drug with the annoying commercial of a sex-deprived couple sitting in separate bathtubs gazing toward the horizon. The announcer says something about the dangers of erections lasting more than four hours and viewers get grossed out thinking about baby boomers with raging hard-ons. 

But this week, a gaggle of researchers, including Barry Byrne of the University of Florida, published a new study showing that the drug might have far less lascivious applications. According to the findings, Cialis might be able to reverse the effects of Becker muscular dystrophy, a rare and debilitating disease for which there's no known cure. 

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Cialis, Eli Lilly, University of Florida
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"Designer Vagina" Procedures Often Misleading and Poorly Described, New Study Says

By Chris Sweeney Fri., Nov. 23 2012 at 9:10 AM
Categories: Health
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There's a veritable menu of weird-sounding vagina-focused procedures offered by local chop shop plastic surgery chain Strax Rejuvenation.

G-spot amplification is a "lunch time procedure" that results in "enhanced sexual arousal" for 87 percent of "normally sexually functioning women." Hymenoplasty can "repair the hymen as if nothing ever occurred." And augmentation labioplasty makes for a more "youthful" labia courtesy of a fat transplant.

But a new study out this week blasts these types of descriptions for being misleading, unsubstantiated, and just plain confusing.

See also
- Strax CEO Has Criminal Record
- Strax Surgeon Had License Suspended
- Fifth Strax Patient Dies in Eight Years
More »

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Strax
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Florida Whooping Cough Cases Hit Ten-Year High

By Chris Sweeney Thu., Nov. 1 2012 at 6:00 AM
Categories: Health
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We've been predicting it for months, and new data from the Department of Health now confirm it. 

Whooping cough cases are the highest they've been in Florida for the past decade, and probably a lot longer than that. As of Tuesday, there have an astonishing 515 cases around the state, according to DOH spokeswoman Jessica Hammonds. 

See also


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Whooping Cough
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American Academy of Environmental Medicine Says Wi-Fi Makes Kids Sick: BS or Uh-Oh?

By Chris Sweeney Tue., Oct. 16 2012 at 5:00 AM
Categories: Health
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Gone are the days of chalkboards, abacuses, and dunce caps. Nowadays elementary-school students (of a certain social stratus) tote iPads and laptops and get shamed for their stupidity on social media.

And while the prospect of Little Billy jumping on Plantation Middle School's wireless network to polish his social studies project or learn about the mating habits of monarch butterflies is great, one group says the invisible radio waves beaming around the building are an overlooked and understudied health hazard. 

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American Academy of Environmental Medicine, WiFi
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Whooping Cough Cases Continue to Climb in Broward and Across Florida

By Chris Sweeney Mon., Oct. 8 2012 at 5:00 AM
Categories: Health
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Broward health officials have now recorded 34 cases of whooping cough this year, according to the latest data. For the whole of last year, there was only one case documented in the county. 

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The surge of the highly contagious respiratory disease, also known as pertussis, is playing out across the state. Florida Department of Health data through the end of September show a total of 447 cases, suggesting that we're on our way to breaking 2009's recent record of 497 cases. 

So what's driving the epidemic? 

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Tags:

Autism, CDC, Florida, KNOW Vaccines, National Vaccine Information Center, Vaccines, Whooping Cough
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Florida CDC Quarantine Station Doesn't Get Much Play, so Long as Ebola Stays Away

By Chris Sweeney Tue., Aug. 7 2012 at 8:00 AM
Categories: Health
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Courtesy of WHO
Picture this: A flight with passengers from Uganda just touched down at Miami International Airport. As the visitors inch toward the terminal, one pauses in the aisle and wipes a speck of blood from his earlobe. Suddenly sweat runs down his cheeks; his eyes are inky red. He lets out a guttural moan before a stream of vomit pours out.

Ebola has just been let loose in MIA, an airport that caters to 7 million international passengers, 27,000 immigrants, and nearly 10,000 refuges in a year. Catastrophe seems imminent.

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Tags:

CDC, Ebola, Miami International Airport, Qurantine
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