http://www.kentucky.com/147/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Health and Family 60 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:11:27 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/601/story/461460.html http://www.kentucky.com/601/story/461460.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:11 EDT http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/573605.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/573605.html Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:58 EDT
WASHINGTON . Medical science has learned a great deal about the causes of pain and ways to relieve it, pain experts say, but for a host of reasons, the treatment of pain and suffering has improved hardly at all in recent years.

John Seffrin, the president of the American Cancer Society, calls this "a national health-care crisis of undertreated pain."

"Nearly all cancer pain can be relieved, but fewer than half of our patients report adequate pain relief," Rebecca Kirch, the society's associate director of policy, said at a pain seminar in Washington last week.

Hospitals do a little better than that in managing pain for patients with all kinds of illnesses, according to a survey to be published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/568974.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/568974.html Sun, 26 Oct 2008 06:04 EDT
It was 1945, and Oscar Whitaker was in a Louisville hospital, yet another of the Whitaker family struck with some kind of cancer. Stanley, who was 8 and was visiting, was already aware that this is what killed Whitakers.

It was what killed Stanley's grandfather when Stanley's dad was 3. It would kill Uncle Oscar, but not until 1965. Of Oscar's 10 kids, eight would develop cancers of the colon, uterus, stomach or pancreas.

Stanley's sister Margaret died when she was 55 of colon and uterine cancer. His sister Marcella died after numerous cancer operations at 67, after her own son had died of colon cancer at 32.

And, sure enough, Stanley developed colon cancer in 1983 when he was 46. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/568327.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/568327.html Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:06 EDT
The public will have a chance to ask local political candidates questions about family violence, sexual assault and other crime concerns at a public forum Tuesday afternoon.

The candidate forum sponsored by the Domestic Violence Prevention Board will be 3 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Center, 200 East Main Street.

Candidates for Congress, state Senate and House, and District Court judge have been invited to appear. The questioning will focus on interpersonal and family violence issues, including child abuse, intimate partner violence, abuse of older people and people with disabilities, sexual assault and human trafficking.

For more information, call (859) 258-3803. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/566517.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/566517.html Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:00 EDT
LONDON . About half of American doctors in a new survey say they regularly give patients placebo treatments, usually drugs or vitamins that won't really help their condition.

And many of these doctors are not honest with their patients about what they are doing, the survey found.

That contradicts advice from the American Medical Association, which recommends doctors use treatments with the full knowledge of their patients.

"It's a disturbing finding," said Franklin G. Miller, director of the research ethics program at the U.S. National Institutes Health and one of the study authors. "There is an element of deception here which is contrary to the principle of informed consent." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/565086.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/565086.html Thu, 23 Oct 2008 01:51 EDT
CHICAGO . The ailing economy is leading many Americans to skip doctor visits, skimp on their medicine, and put off mammograms, Pap smears and other tests. And physicians worry the result will be sicker patients who need more expensive treatment later.

"I have to pretty much be very ill to go to the doctor," said Julie Shelley, a 49-year-old office manager and mother of three from West Milton, Ohio. "I'm probably at the age where I should have a checkup or physical. I'm not going to do it. I am last on the list."

In Lombard, Ill., Donald Hendricks lost his job over the summer at an event-planning company. When two of his six children came down with a fever and sore throat several weeks ago, he could not afford the gas money to drive them to the doctor. He gave them soup and soda instead, and they got better.

"I never felt the crunch like this before," Hendricks said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/558699.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/558699.html Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:26 EDT
CHICAGO . Stayin' Alive might be more true to its name than the Bee Gees ever could have guessed: At 103 beats per minute, the old disco song has almost the perfect rhythm to help jump-start a stopped heart.

And in a small but intriguing study from the University of Illinois medical school, doctors and students maintained close to the ideal number of chest compressions doing CPR while listening to the catchy tune from the 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever.

The American Heart Association recommends 100 chest compressions per minute, study author Dr. David Matlock of the school's Peoria, Ill., campus said Thursday.

Some people hesitate to do CPR because they're not sure about keeping the proper rhythm, Matlock said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/557396.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/557396.html Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:52 EDT
Even good foods can cause havoc in your life. Here are a few to keep your eye on.

Dried fruits

Problem: Exaggerate symptoms of candida and other yeast-feeding infections.

What happens: According to Jackie Keller, founder of NutriFit and author of Body After Baby: A Simple, Healthy Plan to Lose Your Baby Weight Fast (Avery/ Penguin, $24.95), "Dried fruits are a concentrated source of naturally occurring fruit sugars that can exaggerate symptoms of candida and other yeast-feeding infections." Candida albicans is a yeastlike fungus that inhabits the intestines, genital tract, mouth, esophagus and throat. Under normal conditions, this fungus lives in healthy balance with the other bacteria and yeasts in the body. However, certain conditions can cause the bacteria to multiply out of control, and it can lead to a weakened immune system and an infection known as candidiasis. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/551122.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/551122.html Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:44 EDT
ATLANTA . One in four teen girls has rolled up her sleeves for the relatively new vaccine against cervical cancer, federal health officials said Thursday.

The figures represent the government's first substantial study of vaccination rates for the Gardasil vaccine . Merck . Co.'s heavily advertised, three-shot series that targets the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, or HPV.

The vaccine protects against strains of the virus that cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers.

Health officials recommend that girls get the shots when they are 11 or 12, if possible, before they become sexually active. Also, age 11 is when children are generally due for another round of vaccinations. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/551108.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/551108.html Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:19 EDT
Chronic diseases afflict 100 million Americans, cause seven out of 10 deaths, and consume $2 out of every $3 spent on health care.

Yet much of the burden . personal and financial . can be prevented with simple lifestyle choices. A major contributing factor is physical inactivity. Americans just aren't moving enough, and it's killing them.

To combat this burgeoning health threat, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has just released a practical road map to a healthier lifestyle, called the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Developed with the help of the nation's leading physical-activity scientists, these guidelines provide specific recommendations on what we need to do and how long we need to do it.

More than 50 percent of American adults do not get enough physical activity, and one-quarter of adults are not active at all in their leisure time. As a consequence, conditions such as obesity, coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, colon and breast cancer, and depression affect more than 100 million adults. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/549518.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/549518.html Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:01 EDT
OMAHA, Neb. . Zapping frozen meals in the microwave might be fast and easy, but it also can make you sick if it's not done properly.

That message has been slow to catch on, despite a spate of illnesses last year from improperly microwaved frozen foods. On Sunday, the government issued a new warning urging consumers to thoroughly cook frozen chicken dinners after 32 people in 12 states were sickened with salmonella poisoning.

"Given how people use microwaves, it's great for reheating but maybe not so good for cooking," said Doug Powell, scientific director of the International Food Safety Network based at Kansas State University.

The problem is that microwaves heat unevenly, and they can leave cold spots in the food that harbor dangerous bacteria, such as E. coli , salmonella or listeria. So microwaving anything that includes raw meat, whether it's frozen or thawed, can cause problems. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/540597.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/540597.html Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:48 EDT
I was talking with a friend last week, catching up on all the years we had not been in contact, when the conversation turned to the economy and our wallets.

We are both journalists, but his job in Mississippi seems more secure than mine here in Lexington.

Still, he was more worried and completely stressed out about it.

At 48, he isn't married but he has a daughter in college. He has traveled the world covering sports but hasn't managed to save much money. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/532854.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/532854.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:00 EDT
When Charlie Kratzer started on the basement art project in his south Lexington home, he was surrounded by walls painted a classic cream. Ten dollars of Magic Marker and Sharpie later, the place was black and cream and drawn all over.

There are fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, Winston Churchill lounging with George Bernard Shaw . and the TV squirrel Rocky and his less adroit moose pal Bullwinkle.

Says Kratzer of his cartoon of a cartoon: "You appreciate the cleverness more as an adult."

There's Georges Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. There is Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, and the Cornell Law School, of which Kratzer is an alumnus. There is Kratzer's dad. There is the harlequin pattern . alluded to in culinary culture today by the Panera bread bag . and a fake fireplace facing a real one. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/533615.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/533615.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:48 EDT
In 2004, Gerard Badger retired from his second career and moved with his wife, Rita, to Lexington from New Jersey.

They came here looking for good veterans health care, for good neighbors and for a sense of community.

They had visited four years before moving here and left with a sense that Lexington is where they wanted to be and where God was leading them.

"Given where we were living, Lexington was as close to paradise as we were going to get," Rita Badger said. "We had looked at the Carolinas and other pretty places, but everybody from where we were was going there, and they were taking their ugly with them. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/525425.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/525425.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:46 EDT
Time and time again, research has shown that the poor and minorities come up on the short end of the longevity stick.

Some of the blame can be placed on inactivity and dietary choices.

But a four-part PBS documentary, Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick , which first aired in March, shows mounting evidence that sometimes economic status, race and environment can be better predictors of health than our own poor choices.

The documentary demonstrated how at each economic level . rich to middle class to poor . health declines at the same rate as our money. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/525427.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/525427.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:35 EDT
People often ask me how I find great deals. Honestly, I just try to keep my eyes open.

And I am not a believer in making a shopping list because I never know what is going to be marked down or on clearance. But I always carry my handy coupon holder when I go shopping. I find that sometimes looking on the shelves I might find products with peelies (stuck-on coupons) that maybe I don't want to use right away, but I take a couple and save them for when the product goes on sale.

Gas stations are great for coupons. Remember you can double the coupons up to 50 cents at Kroger and Meijer.

If you want to learn some of these simple but huge savings tips, come to the Fru-Gal Fair from 11a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Herald-Leader, 100 Midland Avenue. Bring your coupons to share, and we'll have some to share with you. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/517046.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/517046.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:28 EDT
I have a problem with some news organizations that have used fianc. when referring to Levi Johnston, the young man being introduced as the father of Bristol Palin's unborn child.

In a statement released by Gov. Sarah Palin, the vice presidential nominee for the Republican Party, and her husband, Todd, announcing their daughter's pregnancy, they said, "Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family."

Johnston's mother, Sherry Johnston, told the Associated Press that Levi and Bristol had talked of marriage before they knew about the pregnancy. "This is just a bonus," she said.

I respect that and don't doubt it. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/510380.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/510380.html Tue, 02 Sep 2008 01:49 EDT
Soon after Barack Obama officially won the Democratic Party's presidential nomination Wednesday evening but before he accepted on Thursday, TV cameras caught black people crying on the floor of the convention.

Apparently filled to overflowing with pride in a day not many people expected to see in America, a day when a black man would have a legitimate chance to be president of the United States of America, those people knew they had witnessed history unfolding.

We've had so little to celebrate since arriving in America, when compared with other ethnic groups.

All black people, despite our political leanings or affiliations, should take a bit of pride in Obama's success. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/487529.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/487529.html Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:03 EDT
The day before Veterans Day 2006, Charles .Chuck. Stoner of Wilmore drove to Dayton, Ohio, so he could be at the airport early the next morning.

He was scheduled to join other World War II .veterans as they traveled, free, to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., courtesy of Honor Flight Network.

.There were 50 of us from Dayton and another 50 from Columbus, and we met in Washington,. Stoner, 82, said. .It was great. All of them were World War II .veterans like myself. We talked about what outfit we were in and where we served. We had something in .common..

Back then, he said, he was the only veteran from Kentucky on the flight. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/480585.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/480585.html Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:29 EDT
This page is filled with information and suggestions, compassion and empathy for those parents of younger children who will be headed back to school.

The cost of supplies, the aggravation of having to entice sleepy kids out of bed at dawn, and the need to save vacation days to tend to a sick child are enough to drive parents bonkers.

Things are different for the parents of college .students, however.

I'm supposed to talk about some of that, what with my many years of experience in that area, but I'm sorry, I .simply cannot concentrate. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/480089.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/480089.html Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:07 EDT
The back-to-school supply list seems to get longer every year, and it raises the question that if millions in tax dollars are spent on schools then why, in addition to paper and pencils, do lists include items like cleaning supplies and ink cartridges.

It's trickle-down economics, say teachers, parents and administrators.

School budget reductions put financial pressure on principals who put pressure on teachers, many of whom already subsidized their classrooms out of pocket. The teachers seek help from parents.

When Georgia Powell saw the lists for her three grandchildren, two of whom are in elementary school, her response: .Oh, my goodness.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/474458.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/474458.html Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:29 EDT
Anna Kate McFarland, 17, stood in the middle of a group of women old enough to be her mother, or possibly her grandmother, teaching us how to fold a 2-inch piece of duct tape into a pentagon shape that would, with our patience and her nurturing, become a petal on a rose.

And, by the end of the class, she had succeeded. We each had created a duct tape rose.

No, they weren't all silver, . the only color of duct tape available when our fathers used to secure whatever couldn't be glued. The tape now comes in a variety of colors. And, yes, they really did look like roses.

Making duct tape roses is definitely an activity that will keep idle crafters' fingers busy . whether those crafters are senior citizens or 4-H alumni. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/474232.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/474232.html Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:04 EDT
I spend time each week with two wonderful older women. One I cook with every Wednesday at the Ronald McDonald House. I laugh sometimes because she scrapes the bottom of the bowl to make sure every last bit is out. I throw away the grease, and she tries to find a way to use it or save it for next week.

The other woman asked me to help her find a clothesline. None of the stores I visited carry an outside clothes rack. What has happened that we feel that we don't have the time or need to hang our clothes?

Being frugal with food and hanging clothes to dry . both are good ways to save money.

Special treats for men ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/467817.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/467817.html Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:58 EDT
The U.S. Senate passed the HIV/AIDS relief bill last week, allotting $48 billion over five years toward fighting that disease, as well as malaria and tuberculosis, worldwide.

It is a program that President Bush has pushed for years, wangling $15 billion out of Congress five years ago. So this measure, called the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act, is triple that amount.

Bush will have to take some deserved hits for his hawkish foreign policy in the Middle East and for his seemingly blind-eye's view of the U.S. economy, but no one can fault him for his focus on helping AIDS sufferers worldwide find relief.

So, had North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole .suggested adding Bush's name to the bill, no one would have argued. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/467819.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/467819.html Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:14 EDT
When I have told people about my Fru-Gal column, some of them ask: You teach people how to be cheap?

I always think this reaction is from people who don't look for ways to save money. Many people won't use a 50-cent coupon, thinking it is just 50 cents. I don't know about you, but in the big picture, if you had a extra 50 cents a day, by the end of a year you would be making out quite well. Are you cheap when you bring your lunch in to work, or rent a movie instead of going to a theater? In the end, my pocket probably has more quarters than theirs.

Live healthy

. Free Stuff for Powerful Girls, including place mats and a journal to help girls learn about healthy bones. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/455138.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/455138.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:34 EDT
Dignitaries from several countries and entertainment stars from all genres gathered in London on June 27 to wish former South African President Nelson Mandela a happy 90th birthday.

He was honored for the statesman he is and was given millions of dollars toward his fight against the spread of HIV and AIDS in his country.

The big bash was held in England because that country loves him. Had it been thrown in the United States, there would have been a lot more paperwork and .bureaucracy to wade through.

See, until Wednesday, six days ago, Mandela was on our terrorist list. He couldn't get a visa to visit this country without special .dispensation from our .Secretary of State. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/448705.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/448705.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:33 EDT
Jim Madden of Lexington has this mini-vacation thing down: two gallons of gas each way, and he and his companion, Dewey, an Australian shepherd, are on vacation.

In their RV camper.

At Herrington Lake.

Madden and his dog go on .stay-cation,. a phenomenon born of inflation and nearly $4-a-gallon gas prices. It's a combination of .staying put. and .going on vacation. . .having a rest at home or very close to it. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/448706.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/448706.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:23 EDT
Although James and Jeanette Robinson did not have a fairy-tale romance, they nonetheless think their marriage will have a happy ending.

.I kept thinking this is puppy love,. Jeanette .Robinson, 75, said of her feelings for her new husband before their wedding in May. .But it wasn't. It was a special love. It really was. He never ever was completely gone from my mind..

That's a good thing, because it took the couple 60 years to finally get together.

James Robinson and .Jeanette Baylous had their first date when he was 14 and she was 12, and they both lived in Parkersburg, W.Va. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/448908.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/448908.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:36 EDT
Cutting coupons and watching for deals can save money. But so can applying for rebates. Although they take a little more time, some rebate offers give you back the entire purchase price and/or will reimburse you for a product you don't like. This week's .column includes information on all of that.

The next step to saving money is to track your spending. Take time to analyze where your money is going. All of us need to decide between needs and wants..

For the young ones

. A free activities book for ages 6 to 8 from the National Eye Institute. .It contains games and comics designed to help .children learn about parts of the eye and how they work. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/435919.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/435919.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:04 EDT
My last child, the son who made my growing old a very ungraceful act, has graduated high school and is now about to enter college.

Buried in that statement is a pile of emotions that can result when bitter is mixed with sweet.

First and foremost, having him finally graduate is sweet. Despite what some teachers wrote to me on several occasions, my having to go to school to save the boy from himself was nothing to be relished. I have had to discuss my son with teachers who didn't have any idea who he really was. Those conversations were extremely difficult from my side of the desk.

Far better were the conferences I had with teachers who knew exactly who my son was, what he was up to, and who let him know he couldn't slide on barbed wire. Those teachers were professionals who sought a partnership, not a chaperone. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/435918.html http://www.kentucky.com/147/story/435918.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:11 EDT
I've received responses from lots of people who are applying for and receiving their free stuff. That's great. I've also heard from a couple of people who said they've tried to get free stuff only to find out the offer isn't good anymore. Some items do have a limited supply available. I try to stay away from them, but sometimes it's not clear that the supply is limited. So I apologize for anyone not getting a free item because supplies ran out. Remember: .Free. sometimes means .as long as supplies last..

For your pets

. Free sample of Bio Spot Spot On Flea and Tick Control. www.mybiospot.com/country.living

. Free Pet Safety Kit from the ASPCA. www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pets_rescuesticker.JServSessionIdr010=skkt0dhgk2.app27b ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596448.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596448.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:09 EST
Which probably explains why the first question so many parents ask when calling one of their children, is: "Where are you?"

It used to be when you called someone you knew where they were - at home. That's why they answered their phone, because they were home. If they weren't home, they didn't answer. It was a good system. You knew who was home and who wasn't.

Now when you call someone, chances are the person will not be home, but will answer the phone. Since I like a mental picture of where the kid I am talking to is located, I've fallen into a standard greeting of, "Hello, where are you?"

"At the grocery store. (Beep, beep goes the scanner.) Can I call you back?"]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596362.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596362.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:14 EST
A: Co-sleeping, or sleeping with an infant in your adult bed, is one of the many parenting ideas that has passionate advocates and just-as-passionate detractors. The two sides are usually framed in extremes, as if you're evil if you do it - or evil if you don't. Obviously, it's not that simple. As you noted, it's best to learn the risks and benefits so you can make an informed decision.

Although it has only recently re-entered the conversation in North America, co-sleeping is not some newfangled idea. Outside of the English-speaking world it's the norm, and before the 20th century it was standard pretty much everywhere (although it's worth mentioning that in many countries, people share a bed with their children because the entire family lives in a single room).

Advocates of co-sleeping cite good studies that show that co-sleeping helps sync the sleep cycles of mother and child, facilitates nighttime breastfeeding, reduces stress hormones, and encourages closer attachment between parent(s) and child. Butthe U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) advises against it, saying babies are at risk of suffocation if an adult rolls over on the child (which is extremely unlikely unless you're obese or drunk), or the child becomes wedged between bed and wall, for example. The AmericanAcademyof Pediatrics also recommends against co-sleeping, going so far as to suggest that it increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). As you might expect, many prominent experts including Dr. William Sears, have a completely different view, saying that co-sleeping may actually prevent SIDS.

When expert opinion is divided in this way, it often indicates that the evidence is so sketchy that neither extreme is justified. The CPSC estimates that about 64 children die each year as a result of sleeping with adults. Each of these is an unthinkable tragedy, of course, but it indicates a very rare occurrence, and probably included extenuating circumstances. Controlling these factors should eliminate most of the associated risks:]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596364.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/596364.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:14 EST
A: It seems to me that getting him to stop hitting and pushing other children is the priority item. Taking him out of a game in which he is being a problem is not going to teach him to quit. It's going to cause him to think twice the next time he's in a game and feels the impulse to hit or push. In short, I think your husband has the right idea. I would amend it as follows:

The next time your son hits or pushes in a soccer game, I would take him out, take him home, and confine him to his room until the next game or practice, then give it another try. And I'd keep doing that until the hitting and pushing stopped. During his confinement, he can come out of his room to do chores, eat meals with the family (assuming he behaves himself at the table), go to preschool, and accompany you when you leave the house. This type of behavior is very serious; therefore, it requires a very serious response, one that creates a lasting memory.

Q: How should we deal with a very intelligent 5-year-old girl who joins with two other little neighbor girls at the bus stop in calling her 7-year-old disabled sibling a wacko? We have talked ourselves blue in the face to no avail.

A: I recommend what I call "kicking (in this case, your budding sociopath) out of the Garden of Eden." When she is at school one day, remove from the home EVERYTHING that "belongs" to her - toys, books, nonessential clothing, and so on, from her room. She comes home from school to a life that is stripped down to its bare essentials. In addition, all after-school and weekend activities are suspended for the duration of her rehabilitation. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595138.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595138.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:09 EST
Engelbreit brings her cheerful artwork and love of tradition to "Mary Engelbreit's Nursery Tales" (HarperCollins, $19.99), a collection of a dozen familiar children's stories, filled with the artist's signature drawings. The stories themselves are as classic as they come: "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," "Puss in Boots," "Jack and the Beanstalk." But Engelbreit injects little bits of whimsy into her illustrations - the bears' wall is decorated with a needlepoint sampler that says "Den Sweet Den"; two birds watch as Jack's mother drops the magic beans out the window; Hansel and Gretel's nemesis lives in house that any candy fanatic will drool over. The hardcover book would be a beautiful baby shower gift for all but the most minimalist moms.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595149.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595149.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:14 EST
We're not African-American - that wasn't it. We're not from Chicago, we have not been foreclosed upon, and we are fortunate to have health care and our health. In fact, it took me several days to truly understand the personal victory we felt that night. Barack Obama, our next president, was raised by a single mom.

I have an answer now to every "expert" or study that says my children would be better off in a two-parent household. Well, I've always had an answer, which is no. We're better off without him. Even my children, albeit unhappily, would tell you that. But now ... now I have proof that being raised by a single parent does not have to be a barrier to anything they want to accomplish. Because a single mother raised the next president of the United States.

True, she had help. So do I. And I'd encourage any and every single parent out there to be brave enough to ask for all the love and support and help you can get. My daughters are better off undoubtedly because of my parents and extended family members. But even with that, and along with all the sacrifices mothers make every day for our children, there are some jobs, chores, decisions that are solely mine. And there's no one to run interference in a moment when I've had it. There's no one else who will take out the trash, dole out the discipline, or simply love and obsess over them the way I do.

I have cried many times about it. I have struggled with my own culpability in it. And I know in my gut that Obama's mother did, too. I'm sure she questioned herself, and cried her eyes out sometimes, and worried how deep the scars of his childhood would get.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595165.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595165.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:19 EST
QUESTION: At what age did your child start showering independently? Maggie just turned 6. It's not unrealistic for me to think she can do it herself, is it? I should add that bathing/showering is a HUGE issue for us. She likes water fine, but is TERRIFIED of it near her face/eyes/ears.

- Posted by Mother Nature at detroit.momslikeme.com.

RESPONSES:

"Mikayla started around 6. I still pop my head (OK, hands) in and scrub her head because it would never get clean otherwise. I leave her to rinse by herself. I did find that using a her washcloth before it gets wet over her face helped with getting her to rinse."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595179.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595179.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:24 EST
What else is new?

Actually this stuff: Noodle . Boo's Instant Hand Sanitizer. This nifty little all-natural cleanser is much more gentle than say, Purell, so you can use it on baby's hands, feet and other body parts she lobs into her mouth.

Developed from grain-based ethanol and vegetable glycerin, it claims to kill 99.9 percent of broad-spectrum microorganisms (including MRSA, the bacteria behind staph infections).

What's also great (besides the sweet, nonmedicinal smell) is the no-tears formula.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595217.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595217.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:59 EST
Dr. Andrea Summer, member of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and associate professor of pediatrics at Medical University of South Carolina offers these tips to keep children safe:

- ANIMALS: Very often children are drawn to animals. However, animals in developing countries are usually not required to have vaccines like they are in the United States and can carry a variety of transmittable diseases, including rabies.

- MOSQUITOES: Insects such as mosquitoes are cause for concern in tropical areas because of the many diseases they can spread to humans, including Dengue fever and malaria, which are potentially fatal. There are many physical barriers parents can use to protect children, which include long pants and long-sleeve shirts, bed nets and DEET-based repellents.

- TOXINS: Parents should research if there will be toxins in developing countries that may not be considered toxins in the United States. Such toxins may include plants or flowers that contain poisons, insecticides, lead-based paints or rodent bait.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595131.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595131.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:09 EST
When my son was born, I was a neurotic mess most of the time. I decided that anything that passed his lips had to be organic if it wasn't breast milk (current me frequently snickers at old one-child me). I took a look at the baby food that came in jars and cringed. I had never been big on canned foods myself and thought I could do better on my own. Someone had given me a used copy of "Super Baby Foods" before my son was born so I dug it up and started reading. I started experimenting and buying more books. It turned out to be fun! When my daughter came along eight months ago, I thought about making baby food but was completely overwhelmed by the addition of a second child to my life. However, the closer she got to six months everything got a bit easier, and somehow making food seemed possible. I jumped back into my old baby food making ways, but after three or so recipes, I realized that I was not going to have time to make enough food myself to get a real variety in her diet.

Then it dawned on me --- babysitting co-ops have gotten pretty popular - what about a baby food co-op? I put a post up on the local parenting board trying to find a few people to join me. We do our second swap tomorrow and so far, it's been really amazing. In fact, I haven't had to use jarred food once in the last month.

So why did I start my own baby food making coop when it comes in handy little jars at the grocery store?

Reason 1: Big money saver]]> http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595143.html http://www.kentucky.com/499/story/595143.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:14 EST
Days like today.

Days when Big Guy rousts me at the crack of 9 a.m. with an ear-shattering "Cousin's coming over at 10!" and the screaming doesn't stop for 12 hours.

I'd actually awakened three hours earlier to Little Guy's insistent thumps on my chest. "I'm hungry. Want bwekfes. Gimme cake."

Happily, Little Guy agreed to resnuggle after bwekfas. I thought I was clear for the morning, because we usually free float through Sundays on the sofa bed. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596366.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596366.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:20 EST
A new study, released Tuesday exclusively to The Associated Press, puts the total at $218 billion last year - the first comprehensive estimate of the financial toll diabetes takes, according to Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S, which paid for the study.

That figure includes direct medical care costs, from insulin and pills for controlling patients' blood sugar to amputations and hospitalizations, plus indirect costs such as lost productivity, disability and early retirement.

The study, conducted by the Lewin Group consultants, estimates costs to society for people known to have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes at $174.4 billion combined, a total previously reported by Novo Nordisk, the world's top producer of insulin and the maker of diabetes pills such as NovoNorm and Prandin. That study was done with the American Diabetes Association.

The new study adds estimates for people who haven't been diagnosed yet ($18 billion), women who develop diabetes temporarily during pregnancy ($636 million) and those on track to develop diabetes, an increasingly common condition called pre-diabetes ($25 billion).]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594977.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594977.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:29 EST
An electrical failure shut down the Large Hadron Collider on Sept. 19, nine days after the $10 billion machine started up with great fanfare.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research recently said that the repairs would be completed by May or early June. Spokesman James Gillies said the organization know as CERN is now estimating the restart will be at the end of June or later.

"If we can do it sooner, all well and good. But I think we can do it realistically (in) early summer," he said.

The organization has blamed the shutdown on the failure of a single, badly soldered electrical connection.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595567.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595567.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:49 EST
His confusion is understandable: The first ankle replacements of the 1970s were abandoned when they couldn't withstand the pounding of daily life. A second generation in the '90s lasted longer but never became really popular.

Now the nation is embarking on a new generation of artificial ankles designed to work more like the joint you're born with, a move specialists hope finally will offer less pain and more function to thousands who hobble - although it's too soon to be sure.

"These third-generation prostheses really mimic a natural ankle, which is really what makes them different," says ankle specialist Dr. Steven L. Haddad of the Illinois Bone and Joint Institute and an orthopedic surgery professor at Northwestern University.

If the newer implants pan out, it's a market ripe for growth. More than 200,000 people seek care for ankle pain annually, with few options for the severely damaged. More than 8,000 a year get their ankle bones fused, a last-ditch treatment after years of suffering, while surgeons perform between 2,000 and 2,500 ankle replacements.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595336.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595336.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:44 EST
When a breast cancer patient is found to carry one of those gene mutations, her relatives tend to breathe a sigh of relief if they test gene-free.

But those headline-grabbing genes account for only about 15 percent of all breast cancer cases. Even in families riddled with breast cancer, a BRCA gene is the culprit only in roughly one family of every five that gets tested, said University of Toronto cancer specialist Dr. Steven Narod.

So clearly members of those families remain at risk from other yet-to-be-found genes, but how much risk?

Narod tracked nearly 1,500 women from 365 breast cancer-prone families, who tested negative for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595675.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595675.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:14 EST
"Their unity in death suggests unity in life," researchers said in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

While tools and remains from the stone age have long been studied, there are few clues to the social relationships between people.

"By establishing the genetic links between the two adults and two children buried together in one grave, we have established the presence of the classic nuclear family in a prehistoric context in Central Europe - to our knowledge the oldest authentic molecular genetic evidence so far," lead author Wolfgang Haak of the University of Adelaide, Australia, said in a statement.

The researchers studied four multiple burials at Eulau, Saxony-Anhalt, all dated to the same time and containing adults and children carefully buried facing each other.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595477.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595477.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:19 EST
Vermont's largest city is tops among U.S. metropolitan areas by having the largest proportion of people - 92 percent - who say they are in good or great health.

It's also among the best in exercise and among the lowest in obesity, diabetes and other measures of ill health, according to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This New England city of 40,000, on the shores of Lake Champlain, is in some ways similar to the unhealthiest city - Huntington, W.Va. Both are out-of-the-way college towns with populations that are overwhelmingly white people of English, German or Irish ancestry.

But there the similarities end:]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595775.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595775.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:44 EST
The 10-foot-wide joint has been clogged with metal shavings from grinding parts for more than a year, limiting how much power the solar wing can produce.

Once in the void of space, spacewalkers Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Stephen Bowen have at their disposal a putty knife to scrape away the metal grit, wet wipes for cleaning and a grease gun to lubricate the area.

"We have a little cleaning and greasing to do, to see if we can make it rotate smoother," Bowen said. "We're going to try to make it come back to life."

Other tasks during the 6 1/2-hour spacewalk include moving an empty nitrogen tank into the docked space shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay for a return to Earth and taking an ammonia hose from the shuttle to store outside the station.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594326.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594326.html Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:34 EST
Vermont's largest city is tops among U.S. metropolitan areas by having the largest proportion of people - 92 percent - who say they are in good or great health.

It's also among the best in exercise and among the lowest in obesity, diabetes and other measures of ill health, according to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This New England city of 40,000, on the shores of Lake Champlain, is in some ways similar to the unhealthiest city - Huntington, W.Va. Both are out-of-the-way college towns with populations that are overwhelmingly white people of English, German or Irish ancestry.

But there the similarities end:]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594411.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594411.html Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:49 EST
The public has been whipsawed by good and bad news about vitamins, much of it from test-tube or animal studies and hyped manufacturer claims. Even when researchers compare people's diets and find that a vitamin seems to help, the benefit may not translate when that nutrient is obtained a different way, such as a pill.

"Antioxidants, which include vitamin C and vitamin E, have been shown as a group to have potential benefit," but have not been tested individually for a long enough time to know, said Howard Sesso of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

The Physicians Health Study, which he helped lead, was designed to do that. It involved 14,641 male doctors, 50 or older, including 1,274 who had cancer when or before the study started in 1997. They were included so scientists could see whether the vitamins could prevent a second cancer.

Participants were put into four groups and given vitamin E, vitamin C, both, or dummy pills. The dose of E was 400 international units every other day; C was 500 milligrams daily.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594324.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594324.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:05 EST
"It doesn't come up," said David Felinton, 5-foot-9 and 233 pounds, as he walked toward City Hall one recent morning. "We've got a lot of economic challenges here in Huntington. That's usually the focus."

Huntington's economy has withered, its poverty rate is worse than the national average, and vagrants haunt a downtown riverfront park. But this city's financial woes are not nearly as bad as its health.

Nearly half the adults in Huntington's five-county metropolitan area are obese - an astounding percentage, far bigger than the national average in a country with a well-known weight problem.

Huntington leads in a half-dozen other illness measures, too, including heart disease and diabetes. It's even tops in the percentage of elderly people who have lost all their teeth (half of them have).]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594534.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594534.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:09 EST
It was the first major job for the crews of the linked space station and space shuttle Endeavour, and highlighted their first full day together.

"We're here to work," the space station's skipper, Mike Fincke, called down. "This is the can-do crew."

More than 14,000 pounds of gear was stuffed into the 21-foot container that flew up on Endeavour and was hoisted onto the space station. It held an extra toilet, refrigerator and kitchenette, exercise machine and sleeping compartments, and a new recycling system for converting urine into drinking water.

Fincke called it "the goodies ... things needed for an extreme home makeover."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/592080.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/592080.html Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:24 EST
A probe sent late Friday from the orbiting mother spacecraft took pictures and gathered other data India needs for a future moon landing as it plummeted to a crash-landing at the moon's south pole, said Indian Space Research Organization spokesman B.R. Guruprasad.

The box-shaped probe was painted with India's saffron, white and green flag, sparking celebrations in the country that is striving to become a world power.

"The tricolor has landed," the Hindustan Times said in a banner headline, while The Asian Age proclaimed "India is big cheese."

As India's economy has boomed in recent years, it has sought to convert its newfound wealth - built on the nation's high-tech sector - into political and military clout. The moon mission comes just months after it finalized a deal with the United States that recognizes India as a nuclear power, and leaders hope the mission will further enhance its prestige.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/593398.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/593398.html Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:19 EST
"International space station is, indeed, ready for an extreme home makeover, so get here when you do and we'll be sure to open the door," the station's skipper, Mike Fincke, radioed to the shuttle astronauts.

Endeavour's commander, Christopher Ferguson, got some good news as he prepared for the final stage of the rendezvous. The shuttle's main radio antenna was working fine as a radar navigation device, despite earlier trouble.

Before steering Endeavour toward a late-afternoon docking, Ferguson had to guide it through a 360-degree backflip so Fincke and another space station resident could take zoom-in digital pictures of the approaching shuttle. The images - as many as 300 - will help NASA determine whether Endeavour sustained any damage during liftoff Friday night.

At least two pieces of debris have been spotted so far in launch pictures.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/592129.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/592129.html Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:51 EST
So concludes a major study in Head Start programs in Pennsylvania, research with implications for preschools and parents everywhere.

Face it, 4-year-olds are lovable but self-centered, impulsive and prone to meltdowns. Teaching them not to whack a classmate who snatches a toy is a big part of preschool socialization.

But growing awareness that early learning is important to future school achievement has put more pressure on preschool's academic side, especially efforts to eliminate achievement gaps between low-income and wealthier students.

Both skills are intertwined, said Penn State University psychology professor Karen Bierman, who led the new study.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/592275.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/592275.html Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:24 EST
At least two pieces of debris were spotted Friday night in launch photos, and engineers were poring over the images to determine whether the debris - or anything else - hit Endeavour.

The spacecraft and its crew of seven were on track to hook up Sunday afternoon with the space station, currently home to three astronauts. The shuttle was delivering tons of equipment for remodeling, including a new bathroom, kitchenette, two sleeping compartments and an unprecedented recycling system for turning urine into drinking water.

"It's always a great day to be in space," shuttle commander Christopher Ferguson observed.

The day centered around the shuttle inspections, standard procedure ever since Columbia shattered during re-entry in 2003.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/590587.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/590587.html Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:53 EST
It's unusual for the Food and Drug Administration to put such a broad hold on goods from an entire country, not just a few rogue manufacturers. The order, which covers products made with milk, is a precaution to keep out foods contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, which can cause serious kidney problems.

"We've continued to get information from others in the international community, and reports from China, about (melamine contamination) moving into different commodities," said Steve Solomon, a senior FDA enforcement official. "Most of the products we are talking about are finished products like cookies, cakes and candies. The impact will be for various ethnic communities looking for specific products."

Under the directive, FDA inspectors at U.S. ports of entry will detain foods from China made with milk and certain ingredients derived from milk. Importers must pay to have their products tested by an independent laboratory that meets FDA standards. Only products found to be melamine-free will be allowed into the country.

The order also applies to pet foods and some bulk protein products, the focus of a melamine recall in 2007.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/590972.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/590972.html Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:54 EST
Running a little late Friday morning, technicians finally began pumping more than 500,000 gallons of super-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen into Endeavour's big external fuel tank. Within three hours, the tank was full and the countdown right on track.

Endeavour and its seven-person crew will spend 15 days in orbit, including Thanksgiving. The shuttle held enough irradiated turkey dinners for everyone, with plenty of space-style candied yams, corn bread stuffing and cranberry-apple dessert.

Filling the payload bay were thousands of pounds of equipment for the space station - enough to allow NASA to double the size of the space station's three-person crew by June.

Among the additions: two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchenette, exercise machine and NASA's revolutionary new recycling system designed to turn urine and condensation into drinking water.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/591185.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/591185.html Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:33 EST
NASA had not heard from the 5-year-old Martian rover for four days. Just when engineers feared having to give up the ghost, the aptly named robot radioed back to Earth on Thursday that it survived.

Engineers shouted "she's talking," at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif. They were afraid that a dust storm had drained Spirit's solar batteries, triggering it to shut down. Spirit's batteries are low, but working.

Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, are living long past their planned three months on Mars.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/590204.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/590204.html Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:43 EST
The disease is genital warts - sexually transmitted, embarrassing and uncomfortable - but not life-threatening.

Still, the results are expected to bolster a likely bid by the vaccine's manufacturer, Merck & Co. Inc., to begin marketing the vaccine to boys, experts said. Merck plans to ask the government for that approval later this year.

"This opens the door to a wonderful opportunity to prevent illness," said Anna Giuliano, a researcher at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., who worked on the Merck study. The research results were being presented Thursday at a medical conference in Europe.

The focus was Merck's vaccine, Gardasil, which is given in three doses over six months and is priced at about $375.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/590756.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/590756.html Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:13 EST
The huge smog-like plumes, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and firewood, are known as "atmospheric brown clouds."

When mixed with emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for warming the earth's atmosphere like a greenhouse, they are the newest threat to the global environment, according to a report commissioned by the U.N. Environment Program.

"All of this points to an even greater and urgent need to look at emissions across the planet," said Achim Steiner, head of Kenya-based UNEP, which funded the report with backing from Italy, Sweden and the United States.

Brown clouds are caused by an unhealthy mix of particles, ozone and other chemicals that come from cars, coal-fired power plants, burning fields and wood-burning stoves. First identified by the report's lead researcher in 1990, the clouds were depicted Thursday as being more widespread and causing more environmental damage than previously known.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596183.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596183.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:39 EST
WASHINGTON . Scientists are baffled by one of humankind's most annoying problems, itching, an almost universal misery for which there is, as yet, no adequate explanation or treatment.

"Why we can't stop scratching remains a big puzzle for researchers," said Zhou-Feng Chen, a neuroscientist at Washington University, St. Louis.

"Itch can be devastating to patients and lead to extensive loss of quality of life," said Matthias Ringkamp, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "Unfortunately, the treatment of itch is often unsatisfactory."

The recent discovery of an "itchy gene," however, might offer hope for better treatments, Chen said. A drug to block that gene might relieve the distress of itching. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596182.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596182.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:39 EST
WASHINGTON . What was left of Dan Sivia's ankle simply didn't work. He limped through his 30s by sheer force of will, one foot almost completely immobile from repeated broken bones and surgeries.

Then a doctor offered his last hope: an ankle replacement.

A what? Sivia knew about hip, knee, even shoulder replacements. But ankles?

His confusion is understandable: The first ankle replacements of the 1970s were abandoned when they couldn't withstand the pounding of daily life. A second generation in the '90s lasted longer but never became really popular. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596124.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596124.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:38 EST
WASHINGTON . An American subjected to several years of intense FBI scrutiny and questioning about links to terrorism has been held without charges, access to a lawyer or contact with his family for nearly three months by the security services of the United Arab Emirates.

The case of Naji Hamdan raises the question of whether the Bush administration has asked other nations to hold Americans suspected of terrorism links whom U.S. officials lack the evidence to charge.

That allegation is central to a lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union was planning to file Tuesday against President Bush, Attorney General Michael Mukasey and FBI Director Robert Mueller.

"If the U.S. government is responsible for this detention, and we believe it is, this is clearly illegal because our government can't contract away the Constitution by enlisting the aid of other governments that do not adhere to the Constitution's requirements," said Ahilan Arulanantham of the ACLU's Southern California office. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596119.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/596119.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:38 EST
CHICAGO . Babies born to couples who rely on medical technology to become pregnant have much higher rates of certain birth defects, according to a study published online Monday in the journal Human Reproduction.

The report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found these infants have twice as many heart defects and cleft lips and nearly four times as many gastrointestinal defects as those conceived without technological interventions.

Still, the overall rate of the defects was low and the majority of babies born to couples using assisted reproduction were normal, said Jennita Reehfuis, a CDC epidemiologist and lead author of the report.

Independent experts noted the study establishes an association, not a causal connection, between birth defects and two procedures: in vitro fertilization and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection. (With IVF, a man's sperm and a woman's egg are merged outside the body. ICSI involves injecting a single sperm into an egg. In both cases, resulting embryos are then implanted in a woman.) ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/595052.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/595052.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:48 EST
WASHINGTON . Growing old isn't for sissies, the saying goes. The passage of years usually brings physical frailty, failing memory, cancer and other diseases.

As more people live longer, scientists are stepping up their efforts to understand the biological process. Recent research is changing their views on how and why we age.

For half a century, much of the deterioration that comes over time has been blamed on "free radicals." These are toxic, unstable molecules of oxygen running amok in the cells of your body.

This is called the "oxygen paradox," since oxygen is both necessary for . and dangerous to . living organisms. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/595027.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/595027.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:42 EST
What's the healthiest city in America? It appears to be Burlington, Vt.

Vermont's largest city is tops among U.S. metropolitan areas by having the largest proportion of people . 92 percent . who say they are in good or great health.

Burlington also is among the best in exercise, and it's among the lowest in obesity, diabetes and other measures of ill health, according to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The New England city of 40,000, on the shores of Lake Champlain, is in some ways similar to the unhealthiest city . Huntington, W.Va. Both are out-of-the-way college towns with populations that are overwhelmingly white people of English, German or Irish ancestry. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/594052.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/594052.html Sun, 16 Nov 2008 02:57 EST
DENVER . Decades ago, as a high school student thumbing through a popular ladies' magazine, Pat McAlister stumbled upon an article that seemed to predict her impending demise.

Diabetics, she read, generally didn't live beyond age 25. She would discover later that her parents, and later still, her husband, privately had been resigned to the likelihood that her time would be short.

"I never felt like that," says McAlister, "and I wasn't going to believe it."

Now, 61 years after her diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes . originally called juvenile or childhood diabetes . she teaches college, remains active in her church and spends after-school hours with her 9-year-old granddaughter. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/592894.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/592894.html Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:48 EST
ATLANTA . The lives of nearly 8,000 black Americans could be saved each year if doctors could figure out a way to bring their average blood pressure down to the average level of whites, a surprising new study found.

The gap between the races in controlling blood pressure is well-known, but the resulting number of lives lost startled some scientists.

"We expected it to be big, but it was even larger than we anticipated," said lead author Dr. Kevin Fiscella of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

The study, released Monday in the Annals of Family Medicine, is being called the first to calculate the lives lost due to racial disparities in blood pressure control. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/591577.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/591577.html Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:42 EST
WASHINGTON . Robert Clark describes himself as a bit of a tightwad. So he's a little perplexed about the news from his Medicare drug plan. His monthly premium will rise from $25 a month to $41 a month next year. His wife, June, will face the same increase.

Clark, of Cumming, Ga., emphasized he just wants to be treated fairly. "I've always been careful about my money," he said. "I don't understand why it has to double."

While the increase falls short of a doubling, it's clear the Clarks, as well as millions of other seniors and the disabled, face hefty premium increases next year for prescription drug coverage.

Among the top 10 drug plans in terms of enrollment, the average monthly premium will increase anywhere from 8 percent to 63.7 percent, according to an analysis from Avalere Health, a management consulting firm. At the same time, those plans are reducing the number of medicines that they'll cover by about 9 percent. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/591549.html http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/591549.html Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:42 EST
LONDON . If you think they're out to get you, you're not alone.

Paranoia, once assumed to afflict only schizophrenics, might be a lot more common than previously thought.

According to British psychologist Daniel Freeman, nearly one in four Londoners regularly has paranoid thoughts. Freeman is a paranoia expert at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College and the author of a book on the subject.

Experts say there is a wide spectrum of paranoia, from the dangerous delusions that drive schizophrenics to violence, to the irrational fears many people have daily. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596366.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/596366.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:20 EST
A new study, released Tuesday exclusively to The Associated Press, puts the total at $218 billion last year - the first comprehensive estimate of the financial toll diabetes takes, according to Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S, which paid for the study.

That figure includes direct medical care costs, from insulin and pills for controlling patients' blood sugar to amputations and hospitalizations, plus indirect costs such as lost productivity, disability and early retirement.

The study, conducted by the Lewin Group consultants, estimates costs to society for people known to have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes at $174.4 billion combined, a total previously reported by Novo Nordisk, the world's top producer of insulin and the maker of diabetes pills such as NovoNorm and Prandin. That study was done with the American Diabetes Association.

The new study adds estimates for people who haven't been diagnosed yet ($18 billion), women who develop diabetes temporarily during pregnancy ($636 million) and those on track to develop diabetes, an increasingly common condition called pre-diabetes ($25 billion).]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595336.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595336.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:44 EST
When a breast cancer patient is found to carry one of those gene mutations, her relatives tend to breathe a sigh of relief if they test gene-free.

But those headline-grabbing genes account for only about 15 percent of all breast cancer cases. Even in families riddled with breast cancer, a BRCA gene is the culprit only in roughly one family of every five that gets tested, said University of Toronto cancer specialist Dr. Steven Narod.

So clearly members of those families remain at risk from other yet-to-be-found genes, but how much risk?

Narod tracked nearly 1,500 women from 365 breast cancer-prone families, who tested negative for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595675.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595675.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:14 EST
"Their unity in death suggests unity in life," researchers said in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

While tools and remains from the stone age have long been studied, there are few clues to the social relationships between people.

"By establishing the genetic links between the two adults and two children buried together in one grave, we have established the presence of the classic nuclear family in a prehistoric context in Central Europe - to our knowledge the oldest authentic molecular genetic evidence so far," lead author Wolfgang Haak of the University of Adelaide, Australia, said in a statement.

The researchers studied four multiple burials at Eulau, Saxony-Anhalt, all dated to the same time and containing adults and children carefully buried facing each other.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595477.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595477.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:19 EST
Vermont's largest city is tops among U.S. metropolitan areas by having the largest proportion of people - 92 percent - who say they are in good or great health.

It's also among the best in exercise and among the lowest in obesity, diabetes and other measures of ill health, according to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This New England city of 40,000, on the shores of Lake Champlain, is in some ways similar to the unhealthiest city - Huntington, W.Va. Both are out-of-the-way college towns with populations that are overwhelmingly white people of English, German or Irish ancestry.

But there the similarities end:]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595775.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595775.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:44 EST
The 10-foot-wide joint has been clogged with metal shavings from grinding parts for more than a year, limiting how much power the solar wing can produce.

Once in the void of space, spacewalkers Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Stephen Bowen have at their disposal a putty knife to scrape away the metal grit, wet wipes for cleaning and a grease gun to lubricate the area.

"We have a little cleaning and greasing to do, to see if we can make it rotate smoother," Bowen said. "We're going to try to make it come back to life."

Other tasks during the 6 1/2-hour spacewalk include moving an empty nitrogen tank into the docked space shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay for a return to Earth and taking an ammonia hose from the shuttle to store outside the station.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594977.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594977.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:29 EST
An electrical failure shut down the Large Hadron Collider on Sept. 19, nine days after the $10 billion machine started up with great fanfare.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research recently said that the repairs would be completed by May or early June. Spokesman James Gillies said the organization know as CERN is now estimating the restart will be at the end of June or later.

"If we can do it sooner, all well and good. But I think we can do it realistically (in) early summer," he said.

The organization has blamed the shutdown on the failure of a single, badly soldered electrical connection.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595567.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/595567.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:49 EST
His confusion is understandable: The first ankle replacements of the 1970s were abandoned when they couldn't withstand the pounding of daily life. A second generation in the '90s lasted longer but never became really popular.

Now the nation is embarking on a new generation of artificial ankles designed to work more like the joint you're born with, a move specialists hope finally will offer less pain and more function to thousands who hobble - although it's too soon to be sure.

"These third-generation prostheses really mimic a natural ankle, which is really what makes them different," says ankle specialist Dr. Steven L. Haddad of the Illinois Bone and Joint Institute and an orthopedic surgery professor at Northwestern University.

If the newer implants pan out, it's a market ripe for growth. More than 200,000 people seek care for ankle pain annually, with few options for the severely damaged. More than 8,000 a year get their ankle bones fused, a last-ditch treatment after years of suffering, while surgeons perform between 2,000 and 2,500 ankle replacements.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594324.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594324.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:05 EST
"It doesn't come up," said David Felinton, 5-foot-9 and 233 pounds, as he walked toward City Hall one recent morning. "We've got a lot of economic challenges here in Huntington. That's usually the focus."

Huntington's economy has withered, its poverty rate is worse than the national average, and vagrants haunt a downtown riverfront park. But this city's financial woes are not nearly as bad as its health.

Nearly half the adults in Huntington's five-county metropolitan area are obese - an astounding percentage, far bigger than the national average in a country with a well-known weight problem.

Huntington leads in a half-dozen other illness measures, too, including heart disease and diabetes. It's even tops in the percentage of elderly people who have lost all their teeth (half of them have).]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594534.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594534.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:09 EST
It was the first major job for the crews of the linked space station and space shuttle Endeavour, and highlighted their first full day together.

"We're here to work," the space station's skipper, Mike Fincke, called down. "This is the can-do crew."

More than 14,000 pounds of gear was stuffed into the 21-foot container that flew up on Endeavour and was hoisted onto the space station. It held an extra toilet, refrigerator and kitchenette, exercise machine and sleeping compartments, and a new recycling system for converting urine into drinking water.

Fincke called it "the goodies ... things needed for an extreme home makeover."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594326.html http://www.kentucky.com/512/story/594326.html Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:34 EST
Vermont's largest city is tops among U.S. metropolitan areas by having the largest proportion of people - 92 percent - who say they are in good or great health.

It's also among the best in exercise and among the lowest in obesity, diabetes and other measures of ill health, according to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This New England city of 40,000, on the shores of Lake Champlain, is in some ways similar to the unhealthiest city - Huntington, W.Va. Both are out-of-the-way college towns with populations that are overwhelmingly white people of English, German or Irish ancestry.

But there the similarities end:]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/435918.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/435918.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:11 EDT
I've received responses from lots of people who are applying for and receiving their free stuff. That's great. I've also heard from a couple of people who said they've tried to get free stuff only to find out the offer isn't good anymore. Some items do have a limited supply available. I try to stay away from them, but sometimes it's not clear that the supply is limited. So I apologize for anyone not getting a free item because supplies ran out. Remember: .Free. sometimes means .as long as supplies last..

For your pets

. Free sample of Bio Spot Spot On Flea and Tick Control. www.mybiospot.com/country.living

. Free Pet Safety Kit from the ASPCA. www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pets_rescuesticker.JServSessionIdr010=skkt0dhgk2.app27b ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/429197.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/429197.html Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:43 EDT
1. The No. 1 cause of halitosis . bad breath . is oral bacteria. It often congregates on the surfaces of the tongue, produces a waste that is rich in sulfur compounds and creates a dreadful rotten-egg smell.

2. The most common dental causes of bad breath include dry mouth, gum disease, extensive dental decay, oral infections and abscesses, oral cancers, poor oral hygiene and a proliferation of specific types of bacteria. Medical causes include tonsillar infections, post-nasal drainage, sinus infections, diabetes and lung diseases.

3. A closer look: Chronic dry mouth is the main culprit because saliva washes away excess sulfur compounds and provides oxygen to the oral environment, thus preventing the proliferation of anaerobic bacteria.

4. A tongue scraper and mouthwashes containing chlorine dioxide or sodium chlorite are crucial, Miami dentist Ewaldo Wendler says. used together, they will reduce the amount of bacteria and neutralize the sulfuric compounds that .create bad breath. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/409738.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/409738.html Mon, 19 May 2008 17:16 EDT
Playing video games has long been synonymous with being a couch potato.

But the Nintendo Wii's latest game, Wii Fit, encourages gamers to get moving . and hula hoop, yoga and .penguin slide..

Wii Fit, which goes on sale Wednesday, is the latest offering in the trend of .exergaming,. a term that describes video games that induce exercise. Players use the Wii .balance board to play . and exercise .. with the various activities involving strength training, aerobics, yoga and balance games.

No longer does it .have to be video game versus exercise,. said Ben Sawyer, co-founder of Games for Health, a project of the Serious Games Initiative to develop a community and best-practices platform for the numerous games being built for health-care applications. .Now it can be, .Which game?'. Sawyer said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/409836.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/409836.html Mon, 19 May 2008 19:36 EDT
One of my sons' friends dropped by recently to proudly tell us he had joined the Navy and couldn't wait to start basic training.

I paused, waiting for the .gotcha. moment that never came. He was serious.

But what about the war in Iraq? I asked. How is your .grandmother taking this news?

.Everything will be OK, Miss Merlene,. he said. .When was the last time you heard of .anyone dying in the Navy?. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396447.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396447.html Tue, 06 May 2008 09:26 EDT
Pitch a tent, invite 1,500 or so of your friends, and voil.: Derby party. That's the way Bill Morgan has been doing it since 1972. But it didn't start out quite so big.

While Morgan was a student at the University of Kentucky, he decided to throw a party for his friends who couldn't afford the exclusive Derby parties. The Poor Man's Harlan County Derby Eve Party was born.

Now it's the biggest party of them all.

And just like the more expensive parties, this bash is for .charity. .Morgan, wife Elizabeth Morgan, brother Bryan Morgan and friend James .Smitty. Jones . a onetime maitre'd at Columbia's Steak House on North Limestone . were the hosts. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396446.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396446.html Tue, 06 May 2008 09:43 EDT
Our mental health determines how we view the world around us, how we think, feel and react, and it affects the choices we make.

For adults who have had time to live with good mental health, mental illness might be easier to perceive.

But children often don't know when they have a mental illness. It is up to parents, teachers, professionals and other adults to discern that for them.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This week is Children's Mental Health Awareness Week, and Thursday is Children's Mental Health Awareness Day. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396448.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396448.html Wed, 07 May 2008 10:24 EDT
Warning: If you have an aversion to your body's waste, don't read any further.

However, your stool can tell you a lot about your diet and health. And who better to tell us a bit about our poo than Dr. Anish Sheth, a gastro.enterology fellow at the Yale School of Medicine and co-author of What's Your Poo Telling You? (Chronicle Books, $9.95). Here are a few diet scenarios and how they affect your poo:

Anti-diet: white toast, no fruits or veggies (no fiber)

A lack of fiber causes infrequent, hard stools that require straining during defecation. Fiber, in .insoluble and soluble forms, is vital to soften the stool and aid in its effortless passage through the GI tract. Low-fiber diets produce dry, pebbly stools and, in severe cases, can result in fecal impaction . in which stool forms a rock-hard plug that prohibits passage of any stool at all. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396845.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/396845.html Tue, 06 May 2008 09:51 EDT
Question: I am a woman, 73, with type 2 diabetes. My doctor has .prescribed fenofibrate and .simvastatin.

Your recent column cautioned about possible muscle damage with this combination. I suffer from .arthritis, and I have a bad back and lots of joint pain, so how am I to distinguish between the pains? I have not had the additional blood work that was ordered and have not started on the above drugs yet. I would appreciate your opinion. (I currently take metformin, metoprolol and hydrochlorothiazide.)

Answer: Based on the drugs you mention, you appear to have mixed hyperlipidemia (high LDL .cholesterol and high triglycerides).

Fenofibrate reduces triglycerides, and simvastatin is a statin drug that reduces LDL cholesterol (the bad kind). ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/389658.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/389658.html Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:54 EDT
Several news agencies are wondering aloud whether last week's Pennsylvania primary was a harbinger of the demise of the Democratic Party if Sen. Barack Obama were to be its presidential nominee.

All of the focus has been on Obama not carrying the Reagan Democrats or blue-collar white voters.

Polls showed that Obama lost white voters without college degrees by 44 points in Ohio and 42 points in Pennsylvania. Those blue collar voters, historically, are the bread and butter of the Dem.ocratic base, although in recent years that demographic has voted Republican.

Without them, Obama can't win, according to pundits and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/390146.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/390146.html Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:54 EDT
Question: My cholesterol numbers: total cholesterol, 125; LDL, 69; HDL, 32; and triglycerides, 119. My liver enzymes have been slightly high for years, and I recently was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Is there a safe, effective way to increase my HDL through specific foods or .supplements?

Answer: Most people would gladly take those lipid numbers and run. They are very good except for the HDL level of 32, which is lower than the recommended minimum of 40.

HDL cholesterol (the good kind) is the type you want more of because it helps mop up cholesterol that might otherwise find its way into artery-narrowing plaque.

Women tend to have a higher HDL than men. The average in women is 55 and in men 45. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/382910.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/382910.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:06 EDT
It's a brave girl who will let herself be photographed without makeup. Yet three already beautiful teenagers (and members of the Herald-Leader Teen Board) agreed to give their faces a good scrub at 7 a.m. and show up ready to face the cameras.

Then makeup artist Leigh-Ann Mims went to work, using mainly MAC cosmetics to softly sculpt a look that whispered .barely there but better..

It was fresh faces all around. Which is exactly what spring requires. Gone is the uneven skin tone of winter. Gone, too, the dry skin, the tired eyes and the lackluster lips.

The look takes no time and just a little trouble. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/382911.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/382911.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:58 EDT
Susan Burgess Laux looks .normal..

She wears normal-looking clothes and shoes, and her hair is beautifully cut and maintained.

There are no torn jeans, no hair going every which way, no tie-dyed T-shirt . images we are given to conjure up when thinking of people passionate about saving the Earth.

Nothing about Laux, the owner of The Woodlands Salon, would indicate that she long ago embraced our need to treat the Earth better so that it would be here much longer. She's been a cosmetologist for more than 30 years and has been environmentally concerned for most of that time. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/382912.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/382912.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:59 EDT
The stock market roller coaster, the housing crisis, the dreaded .R. word . it's stressful out there. Where can we turn? How about comfort foods? Unfortunately most comfort foods are notoriously high in calories. Knowing that, we thought it would be helpful to reach out to a few foodies and chefs to find several tasty, low-calorie comfort food recipes.

This healthy recipe is by Lisa Lillien of Hungry Girl (www.Hungry-Girl.com) and author of Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World (St. Martin's Griffin, April 29, 2008)

Kickin' chicken pot pie

8 ounces raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/383403.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/383403.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:59 EDT
Question: I recently heard that tanning beds might be safer than previously thought and that they promote health by stimulating vitamin D production. Can you comment?

Answer: The source for your information seems to be a recent ad campaign sponsored by a trade group representing the indoor .tanning industry.

In general, advertisements and other information provided by special-interest groups should be taken with a grain of salt.

First, let's get our bearings. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/376328.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/376328.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:20 EDT
A policeman and a kid in a diner having a chat. Tell people it's called The Runaway .

Lots of ideas come to mind if you've just got that to go on. But put on the red knapsack nearby and figure it's 1958 and you'll know that you are seeing this cop and this kid and this diner through the bespectacled eyes of American artist Norman Rockwell.

But if you're in fifth grade right now, you probably don't.

Because 1958 might as well be 1492 and Norman Rockwell could very well be Kid Rock's dad, for all you know. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/376327.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/376327.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:36 EDT
Something comes over me in the spring that compels me to dig in dirt and to plant and transplant things and throw mulch wherever I can.

I know. My family thinks I'm crazy, too. It's beyond my control.

Recently I've even been scouring the classifieds and car lots looking for a small truck that doesn't cost more than I've saved for my last child's college fund just so I can go get mulch when I need to and have it on hand. My husband hasn't filed for divorce yet . that I know of.

This overwhelming urge to garden has been with me as long as I can remember, but once I left home, there was a decade in which I could only dig at the roots of a small houseplant. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/376326.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/376326.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:36 EDT
Question: My doctor prescribed pills for an allergic reaction. Afterwards, I found out they were steroids. With all the news about athletes taking steroids and the harm they can cause, should I be worried? I only took them for seven days.

Answer: Your pills appear to be corticosteroids, probably prednisone or prednisolone. Corticosteroids are used for their anti-inflammatory effects and are different from the steroids used to enhance athletic performance, so don't be worried.

The latter are called anabolic steroids. They build muscle and strength and appear to be widely abused by both elite athletes and teenage wannabes who use them in pill or injectable form.

Recent congressional hearings focusing on anabolic steroid use in major league baseball grabbed media headlines, so let's look more closely at these drugs. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369451.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369451.html Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:55 EDT
Twice a year, women who might not be able to afford it otherwise are invited to have mammograms and Pap tests done by the professionals at the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.

The next testing day is April 26.

The screenings are for women, especially those older than 40 who are uninsured and underinsured, so they will not have to forgo the annual exam that might allow early intervention and treatment for breast and cervical cancer.

You don't even have to be from Fayette County to get the free exam. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369454.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369454.html Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:17 EDT
Before I started elementary school, my mother worked part-time as a domestic, cooking and cleaning for rich folk, as we called them.

Whenever a family didn't want a young child in their house, my mother would send me to her sister's house down the street.

Aunt Clara Mae was a vibrant woman when I first started staying with her, but eventually she slowed down tremendously.

Part of the reason was injuries from an accident, but another was diabetes. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369453.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369453.html Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:27 EDT
Even the most well-intentioned parents can have a hard time understanding how school systems work. To help, we are answering some often-asked questions. This is our second installment. For information about the previous topic and to suggest a topic for us to write about in the future, go to our new Web site, www.bluegrassmoms.com.

Question: What is the .primary talent pool?

Answer: It's a group of students who show the potential to perform at exceptionally high levels. They receive extra enrichment to help them achieve their potential.

These students generally represent about 25 percent of the total talent pool. Once children are in the primary talent pool, they should not be removed. School districts are not required to let parents know their child is in the primary talent pool. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369452.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/369452.html Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:25 EDT
Question: My husband, who is 69, was taking a statin drug to lower his cholesterol but had to discontinue it because of muscle pains. I know other people who have experienced similar problems. How .common is this?

Answer: One estimate is that muscle pain (myalgia) occurs in 1 to 5 percent of those on statin drugs. Some sources place it higher. .Related muscle symptoms can include weakness, .tenderness or soreness.

Statins are the most .effective cholesterol-lowering drugs. They include lovastatin (Mevacor), simvastatin (Zocor), pravastatin (Pravachol), fluvastatin (Lescol), atorvastatin (Lipitor) and rosuvastatin (Crestor).

Having statin-related muscle symptoms doesn't necessarily mean the drug must be stopped. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362615.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362615.html Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:39 EDT
Guys, we have a few words for you: Man up and grab yourself a feather duster.

It's spring, and that fine veneer of Coors, pepperoni grease and dog fur on the coffee table isn't going to unpeel itself.



Admit it, fellas: You want a house that looks like one of those upscale home magazines . full of gleaming, uncluttered surfaces and gently .blowing curtains and artfully .arranged fresh fruit. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362618.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362618.html Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:27 EDT
The bad news is that the Sister Study, which is seeking 50,000 sisters of women who have had breast cancer, is still looking for participants.

The good news is that statement won't be true much longer.

The study, which I wrote about in June 2006, and which one of my co-workers has been accepted into, is seeking volunteers who will be observed now and again over a 10-year period to determine if the shared environments, genetics and life experiences of sisters can help identify types of and treatments for breast cancer.

As of today, however, the participants accepted into the National Institute of Environmental Health Science study will be limited to women of color ages 35 to 74, and white women with a high school education or lower, and white women ages 65 to 74. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362620.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362620.html Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:39 EDT
SAN MATEO, Calif. . Shea Kelly is raising two fast-growing babies. One is her 26-month-old daughter, Marissa, the focal point of Kelly's life since her adoption in January 2006. The other is Chez Shea Baby LLC, her baby-products company responsible for what she hopes is the next big thing in baby bibs, DaBib.

With sales growing in the United States and as far away as the United Kingdom and Australia, DaBib's innovative design is catching on with relieved parents. Kelly already has several famous clients, some of whom received the new bibsin September at the Emmy Awards, where she spent $3,000 for a booth.

.This provides an elegant solution to parents,. the Massachusetts native said of her creation. .It's hard to imagine a more common activity than feeding your kid, and why hasn't somebody bothered to just make it right?.

Her first product has earned an iParenting Media Award, a product-evaluation-and-testing designation provided by iParenting.com, a Disney Internet Group media property. She was selected last August out of thousands of applicants in the feeding category. She launched the brand in October. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362617.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362617.html Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:28 EDT
Question: I'm 48 and recently had shingles. My doctor says she's seeing more cases of shingles in younger adults. Many of my friends had shingles or had a close friend or relative in their age group (40s to early 50s) who had it.

My doctor hypothesized that, with children being given the chickenpox .vaccine, shingles is erupting in a younger population. Why would that be?

Also, I would like to get the Zostavax shingles .vaccination to prevent further outbreaks. Why is it available only for people older than 60?

Answer: Shingles is caused by the chickenpox virus. After you've had chickenpox, the virus lies dormant in nerve pathways. Later in life it can reawaken painfully as shingles. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362616.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/362616.html Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:39 EDT
In what some are calling an important breakthrough, scientists studying historical research have noted several quizzical physical symptoms in human beings that might lead to a widespread diagnosis for many Americans.

The conditions seem to affect nearly every system of the body, and grouped together elicit a collection of strange statistics.

Answer the following questionnaire to see whether you might be included in the diagnosis facing a majority of Americans.

1. You suspect that you blink frequently, up to 16 times a minute. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/356128.html http://www.kentucky.com/149/story/356128.html Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:55 EDT
Peer pressure, first love, suicide, drinking and driving, and the power of friends and family are all topics addressed in books by Sharon M. Draper.

The issues are what kids talk about with each other and are passionate about, she said.

.Kids like my books because I don't preach to them,. Draper said. .They like that it's on their level. . I don't talk down to them..

Draper, who lives in Cincinnati and has taught high school English for 25 years, is passionate about teaching