Tuesday, January 1, 2013

What Men Don't Know About Shaving

Reviewed by Kimball Johnson, MD

Basic shaving can be quick and easy. Just pick up a razor and drag it across your face until the stubble’s gone. A really good shave, on the other hand, requires a little more effort and know-how.

Even if you've been shaving for years, you might learn something, from dermatologists and a barber who’s been shaving men for decades, about what you need to do to get the best shave possible.

Causes of Obesity in Men

The prevalence of obesity among American men has doubled in only 25 years, and it’s killing us. A 2004 survey published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 71% of men 20 years old and over were overweight and 31% were obese. The same survey conducted in the late 1970s had found 47% of men were overweight and 15% were obese. Science is searching for the causes of obesity and exploring the role of genes, the diets of pregnant women, and the feeding habits of babies....

Read the Causes of Obesity in Men article > >

Don’t rush through a shave. That’s a good way to abuse your face. Instead, spend the necessary time prepping your skin for the razor.

Start by washing your face. Facial cleansers work best because they help soften the protein in the hair, says Jeffrey Benabio, MD, a dermatologist with Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. Harsh soaps, on the other hand, wash away hair-softening oils. Leave the cleanser on your face for one minute before you rinse.

Next, lather up with shaving cream or gel. (Benabio says it doesn’t matter which, but choose one labeled "for sensitive skin" if you need it.) Then let it sit for 2 to 3 minutes. You can comb your hair or brush your teeth to pass the time.

"That’s an important step," Benabio says. "That really softens the hair and makes a one-pass shave possible."

Dermatologist Adam Penstein, MD, agrees.

"The longer you let it sit, the better, although spending the time is not always practical," says Penstein, chief of dermatology at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Lake Success, N.Y.

Don't rely on your fingers to lather your shaving cream. Get a brush.

"A good brush really pushes the cream into the hair and makes it much easier to shave," says Penstein.

Benabio recommends using a badger hair brush for its ability to lift the hairs and really coat them with cream.

When it comes to razors, both Benabio and Penstein say there's no need to fool with multiblade razors. A single blade will work fine, though Benabio favors a double-bladed razor for his shaves. The important thing to keep mind, they say, is that the blade you use must be sharp. Discard it if you see a nick in the blade; otherwise, if you shave most days, change blades every week or two.

How often you must change blades is another good reason to stick with inexpensive single blades rather than three- or five-blade razors, which can be quite costly. The more expensive the blade, the less likely you may be to change them as often as you should.

As for straight razors, Penstein advises leaving those to the pros. "They're much harder to handle and to keep even," he says, "and they're not as safe."

Barber Charles Kirkpatrick says straight razors are a lot harder to use and that it's easy to get hurt with one.

"Some people say it's daring to use it, but I love the word safety, myself," says Kirkpatrick, an executive officer with Barbers International and owner of a barber shop in Arkadelphia, Ark.


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Whey Protein, Amino Acids May Boost Fat Loss

Dec. 14, 2012 -- Adding essential amino acids and whey protein to a weight loss plan appears to increase fat loss, according to new research.

The study was done in older, obese adults, but the strategy may also work for younger adults, says researcher Robert Coker, PhD. He is an associate professor of geriatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock.

In his new study, he compared two kinds of meal replacements. One was a protein replacement without essential amino acids. The other was a meal replacement with essential amino acids and whey protein.

The replacement with whey won.

"Essential amino acids, included as part of a meal replacement, along with whey protein, improved the synthesis of muscle and led to a greater loss of fat," he says.

Both groups lost about 7% of their total body weight. But the amino acids and whey group lost a greater percentage of fat to lean tissue. 

Increasing fat loss during a weight loss program translates to a better and healthier body composition, experts say.

Coker studied 12 obese men and women, all 65 to 80 years old. 

They were assigned to the meal replacement group or the meal replacement with amino acids and whey group. All were allotted 1,200 calories a day.

Coker evaluated the 11 who completed the eight-week program to see the effect of each plan on fat and muscle.

The meal replacement with whey and amino acids did not preserve lean muscle tissue much better than the other meal replacement.

It did boost fat loss. At the start of the study, the meal-replacement-alone group was about 39% fat; at the study end, they averaged 37.5% fat. The group getting meal replacement with amino acids and whey had 41.8% body fat at the start but 36.3% at the end.

Body weight losses were similar -- both groups started at about 200 pounds and finished at an average of 185.

The whey and amino acid supplement ''increased muscle metabolism, and this may have triggered a greater reduction in body fat," Coker says.

Could the same strategy help younger adults? "I think the answer potentially is yes," Coker says. His study looked only at those 65-plus, and they were obese. But other research has indicated the approach could help younger people, he says.

Losing excess body fat is an important goal, Coker says. Among other effects, it promotes inflammation and insulin resistance, making the body less apt to use insulin effectively.

The product studied by Coker is not available to the public.

The study was supported by an NIH Small Business Innovation Research grant and other grants. The small business grant was administered through HealthSpan, which makes a whey protein product. Coker and other co-authors were compensated by HealthSpan as consultants for the grant.


View the original article here

FDA Approves Tamiflu for Infants

sleeping newborn baby

Dec. 21, 2012 -- Children as young as 2 weeks old may now be treated for the flu with Tamiflu.

The FDA expanded its approval today for Tamiflu to include infants under age 1 who have had symptoms of the flu, such as stuffy nose, cough, sore throat, fever, and body aches, for no longer than two days.

It is not approved to prevent flu infection in this age group.

Tamiflu is now the only drug approved to treat the flu in children under age 1, who are at higher risk of developing complications of the flu.

Until now, Tamiflu was approved to treat the flu in adults and children ages 1 year and older who have had symptoms for less than two days. The drug is also approved to prevent flu infection in children and adults over 1 year of age.

FDA officials say there is a fixed dosing schedule for children and adults over age 1, but dosing for children under 1 year old must be calculated for each infant according to their weight.

Children under age 1 should receive 3 milligrams of Tamiflu per kilogram of body weight twice daily for five days. This smaller dose requires a different dispenser than what currently comes in the Tamiflu package.

“Pharmacists must provide the proper dispenser when filling a prescription so parents can measure and administer the correct dose to their children,” Edward Cox, MD, MPH, director of the Office of Antimicrobial Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a news release. “Parents and pediatricians must make sure children receive only the amount of Tamiflu appropriate for their weight.”

According to the CDC, children younger than 2 years old are especially vulnerable to developing complications from the flu. Infants 6 months of age and younger have the highest rates of hospitalization for the flu.

The FDA based its approval of Tamiflu for children under age 1 on data from previous studies in adults and older children.

Two new safety studies in 135 children under 1 year old with confirmed cases of the flu also showed the safety profile in infants was consistent with that found among older children and adults.

The most common side effect in these studies was vomiting and diarrhea.

Rare cases of severe rash, skin reactions, hallucinations, delirium, and abnormal behavior have been reported with use of Tamiflu but were not found in these new safety studies.


View the original article here

Is Your Teen Lying to You?

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WebMD Feature Reviewed byHansa D. Bhargava, MD

Trying to figure out if your teen is lying to you can be tricky.

Researchers who study lying and truth-telling among children have found that parents often can't tell when their child is lying.

Since trying to catch your teen in a lie is probably a waste of time, family therapists say you're better off using a different tactic: Make it easier for your teen to tell you the truth.

"Punishing for lying just teaches children to be better liars," says psychologist Laura Markham, PhD, author of Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids.

Ideally, you would help your child get comfortable telling you the truth from an early age. But if your child is already a teen, it's not too late to show her that she can be honest with you, if you’re ready to work at it.

“It can take a year of consistently shifting the way you approach lying for your teenager to trust you enough to tell the truth,” says Joe Broome, MA, a family therapist in Renton, Wash.

To start rebuilding the relationship:

Spend time with your teen every day. It doesn't have to be a major event. Just share part of your day with them, one on one. Markham suggests doing something that your teen enjoys, such as getting a manicure or playing video games.   Expect them to test you. "They won't immediately confide in you," Markham says. "They might tell you that their friend Robbie got in trouble because of XYZ. Robbie's a test. If you fly off the handle and say ‘Oh no, do Robbie's parents know about this?' they'll never tell you anything again. But if instead you say, ‘Wow, Robbie must have been so upset. I wonder how he felt. I wonder if lots of kids do this,' you'll encourage him to talk more." Don't overreact. When your teen tells you something that freaks you out, stop and breathe. Bite your tongue if you have to. "When your teen does start confiding in you, it's even more important to really regulate your emotions," Markham says. That doesn't mean that there aren't consequences. You need to clearly define for your teen, ahead of time, how you'll respond if they lie and how much you value honesty. Then you'll need to follow through. Just do it calmly, without flying off the handle. Help your teen problem-solve. Instead of telling him what you think about what he's just confided in you, ask him what he thinks. "If your teenager tells you that other kids are drinking and driving, the impulse is to freak out," Markham says. But taking a simple "Just say no!" approach shuts down the conversation. "Instead, you can say something like, ‘It must be so hard and scary when someone who's been drinking wants you to get in the car. It would be embarrassing to be the one to say something, wouldn't it? What can we do so you're not in that situation?'"

Every parent wants a silver bullet to deal with lying. But there is no such thing.  "It's about building a relationship based on trust," Broome says. "You, as the parent, have to take the lead in that."

View Article Sources Sources

SOURCES:

Joe Broome, MA, family therapist, In It Together Counseling, Renton, Wash.

Talwar, V. Applied Developmental Psychology, 2009. 

Laura Markham, PhD, clinical psychologist; author, Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids. Telephone interview.

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Olympic Medalists Live Longer

Dec. 13, 2012 -- We watch the Olympic Games with awe and marvel at the athletes’ power and grace. 

But are Olympic athletes really any healthier than the rest of us? Do they live longer? And if they do, what does it mean for the rest of us mere mortals?

These are some of the questions that two new studies in the BMJ set out to answer.

The first study showed Olympic medalists do live close to three years longer than the rest of us, regardless of their country, medal won, or type of sport played.  

A second study involving Olympic athletes, however, found that athletes who participated in high- or moderate-intensity sports don’t live any longer than athletes who excel in low-intensity sports such as golf. But boxers and rugby and ice hockey players are at greater risk of dying due to the physical contact associated with their sports.

In the first study, researchers compared life expectancy among 15,174 Olympic athletes who won medals between 1896 and 2010 to that of people in the general population. Winners lived about of 2.8 years longer than non-Olympic medalists in eight of the nine country groups studied. It didn’t matter if they took home the gold, silver, or bronze, either.  

“We were a little surprised that survival advantage among Olympians was so pervasive,” says researcher Philip M. Clarke. He is a professor of health economics at the University of Melbourne in Australia. “It can be observed across almost all countries, sports, and medal type. Olympians are much more like each other when they are compared with the general population.”

The study wasn’t designed to figure out why Olympic athletes live longer, but the researchers do have some theories.

“There are a range of explanations including genetic factors, physical activity, healthy lifestyle, and the wealth and status that comes from international sporting glory,” Clarke says. “While it is hard to disentangle these effects, what we do show is winning a gold medal does not confer any additional survival advantage. So maybe any wealth and fame that can flow from winning is playing less of a role, but we really need another study to examine this issue in detail.”

You don’t have to be a Gabby Douglas to reap these benefits. "For those of us who are unable to win an Olympic medal, the one thing we can do to improve our life expectancy is to engage in regular exercise, which has been shown to protect against major diseases like type 2 diabetes," he says.

In the second study, researchers tracked almost 10,000 athletes with a known age at death who took part in at least one Olympics between 1896 and 1936.


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When Parents Are Too Permissive

You might think that too-permissive parents are the ones whose kids have no rules, no curfews, no dress code, and no manners. True, but they're not the only ones.

You may be surprised that some of your habits could put you into the "pushover" or permissive parent category, according to experts, even if you think that you're doing everything right with your tweens and teens.

"Many parents today misunderstand their role," says parenting expert Leonard Sax, MD, PhD, a family doctor in Chester County, PA, and author of Girls on the Edge and Boys Adrift. "They often see their role as making sure the son or daughter gets into a top college and protecting the son or daughter from disappointment. They are there, providing the safety net in situations where it might be wiser to let the kid experience the consequences."

Here are five common ways that parents become too permissive, plus how and why you should change your ways.

For many parents, life can get too hectic to follow through on their parenting plans, especially if it will take some work to get the kids on board. After a while, their family's lack of routine can result in lazy, spoiled teens or tweens without schedules and responsibilities.

"Everybody knows that they should have rules, routines, habits and socializations," says Laura Kastner, PhD, author of Getting to Calm: Cool-Headed Strategies for Parenting Tweens and Teens, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Washington School of Medicine. "But for busy parents, when they finally get home, they don't want to turn their family time into acrimony."

Like it or not, the only way to change the situation is to become less permissive, setting limits for the family.

"If you say, 'We're now going to have bedtime,' the kids will really push back," Kastner says. "You have to be calm, absolutely resolute, and not cave."

If you're married or living with your partner, they have to be on board. "You want your spouse to be on the point as much as possible, because kids will go after the weaker partner," Kastner says. "Once you get past the first two weeks, you're probably on your way."


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Weight Loss Pill Qsymia 'Gaining Traction'

Dec. 26, 2012 -- Sales of the prescription weight loss drug Qsymia, the first such drug to get the FDA's OK in 13 years, are increasing, despite earlier reports of sluggish interest.

For the week ending Dec. 7, more than 2,000 new prescriptions for Qsymia were filled, according to Source Healthcare Analytics, a provider of pharmaceutical market data. That compares to 1,163 filled prescriptions for the week ending Nov. 23.

Depending on who you talk to, the drug, which went on sale in mid-September, is a godsend or a disaster.

Gwen Barton, 57, of New York, participated in a Qsymia clinical trial. She dropped 50 pounds in 18 months. She gained back half of that after the trial ended, then started back on the pill in early December.

The pounds came off again. "I have lost 12 pounds so far and I'm very happy,'' she says. She wants to shed another 40 pounds on her 5-foot-5-inch frame to get to 140 pounds.

Barton offered to share her story through the public relations firm for Vivus, the maker of Qsymia.

When the FDA approved the drug earlier in 2012, Sidney Wolfe, MD, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, called the decision ''reckless.''

His opinion hasn't changed, he says. "The history of diet drugs is a disaster," he says.

Michael Miller, chief commercial officer at Vivus, declined to release sales figures or quote prescription numbers until January, when fourth quarter results are in.

"We are pleased," he says of sales. "We have been gaining traction."

The drug is only sold through certified mail-order pharmacies whose personnel have finished a Qsymia-provided training program.

That was part of the risk reduction that Vivus agreed to with the FDA.

Average cost of the recommended dose is $160 for a one-month supply, Miller says.

Insurance coverage is not yet common. "About 1 out of 5 prescriptions are covered," he says. "The average co-pay is $50 or $60."

Qsymia combines two drugs already on the market: phentermine and topiramate.

Phentermine is an appetite suppressant. (It was the ''phen'' part of the popular weight loss combination pill fen-phen. After reports of lung problems and heart valve damage surfaced, related to the ''fen'' or fenfluramine, the FDA requested fenfluramine's withdrawal from market in 1997).

Topiramate may work by suppressing appetite and helping you feel full, according to the drugmaker.

Qsymia is approved only for those who have a body mass index or BMI of 30+, termed obese, or a BMI of 27+, termed overweight, with another weight-related problem such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

It is prescribed with the understanding that patients will follow a healthy, reduced-calorie diet and get regular exercise.

Barton says she walks for exercise. She drinks a lot of water and has given up fatty foods, sodas, and another old favorite, doughnuts.

Thanksgiving was not the struggle it once was. "No seconds, no thirds, I didn't bring food home," she says.


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Helping Your Child Overcome Embarrassing Situations

By Rebecca Felsenthal Stewart
WebMD Feature

You know the feeling: hot cheeks, wishing you could disappear. You'd do anything to spare your child that sense of embarrassment. 

But those feelings happen, and they're normal.

"Starting around 4 or 5 the world gets bigger for children, and so does their awareness of it, meaning they become aware of dirty looks, teasing, being pointed at, and being different," says psychologist Lawrence J. Cohen, PhD, author of Positive Parenting. "Partly that's developmental, and partly it's because of school -- they have so much more peer interaction."

Around this age, kids also start to develop an inner conscience. "When kids are younger their conscience is similar to that of a dog: It's external. Are you going to be praised or get in trouble? During the school years it's becoming internal and children become aware if they do something that violates their own sense of order," Cohen says.

Don't make light of it, says child development expert Betsy Brown Braun, author of Just Tell Me What to Say: Sensible Tips and Scripts for Perplexed Parents.

"It's really the parent's job to empathize and understand," Braun says. "Don't make it bigger than your child is making it, but don't blow it off. If your child says, 'Today I bent over and my pants ripped,' say, "Oh my gosh, that must have been hard.' Ask how she handled it and try to get her talking about it."

If your child says she can't go back to school because everyone will laugh at her, tell her you understand why she feels that way. "You can say, 'Not going back to school is not a workable solution, but I can understand that it feels like the only possible way. We'll have to work together to find a solution'," Cohen says.

A great way to show you understand is to tell your own embarrassing story. Emphasize how difficult it was (not how terrible it was). Admitting how poorly you handled it can help, Braun say, because "it helps your child understand she's not alone."

Braun and Cohen share more tips to help your child get past six common, embarrassing situations.

Farting, sneezing and spraying boogers, throwing up, or even peeing in class are common scenarios for grade-school kids. "The most painful embarrassing moments are ones over which you have no control," Braun says. "These fall under the category of 'couldn't help it.'"

She suggests reminding your kids that everyone farts. "Another thing I tell kids is, 'You know, the reason people laugh or react when something embarrassing happens is because they are relieved that it happened to you, not them.'"

Help your child acknowledge the situation, laugh it off, and move on, says Braun. Tell her to say something along the lines of, "Beans for dinner last night. Sorry." If kids are still teasing, say, "Oh get over it," and try to distract them. Don't pretend it didn't happen.


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