“Many patients demand a treatment. They get sick and they think they’re going to get better with an antibiotic,” explains Dr. Deborah Gentile of Allegheny General Hospital’s Department of Allergy and Immunology.

But is this really the right thing to do? A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association says antibiotics work no better than placebo.

Researchers looked at 166 adults with symptoms of a sinus infection.

“Very severe pain behind their sinuses here, as well as here, many of them will also have tooth pain, jaw pain, headaches, many of them have bad breath, and they also have a purulent or pussy nasal discharge,” lists Dr. Gentile.

The patients were randomly assigned to get either the antibiotic Amoxicillin or a placebo. They also all took Tylenol, a decongestant, and saline nasal spray.

There was no difference between the two groups in terms of symptom relief after a few days, a week, or even several weeks.

“Many times what people think are sinus infections are just viral upper respiratory infections,” Dr. Gentile continues. “You also have to think about allergies as a potential cause.”

Medicine to fight a bacterial sinusitis doesn’t help, and only increases the risk of stronger germs.

The lesson here? Skip the antibiotics. Stick to over-the-counter symptom relief.

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A new weight loss program is offering big cash rewards if you can shed some pounds.

It’s weight loss with a twist where you gamble on yourself.

KDKA-TV’s Susan Koeppen met up with five co-workers who decided to give the weight loss gamble a try.

They call themselves the “skinny-dippers.”

“We are excited, it’s awesome, it’s a great incentive,” the group said.

The fab five are in a competition with teams across the country. If you lose the most weight, your team wins $10,000.

“I think working as a team is the best part because we can check on each other. We are enjoying it and hoping to bring home that $10,000,” Julia Burkhart said.

Lose weight, gain money is the brainchild of Healthy Wage CEO David Roddenberry. His company’s concept is simple in that gambling on losing weight works.

“You’re putting up some money to win money. It’s making weight loss fun, more achievable and more successful,” Roddenberry said.

The company offers three different programs:

The BMI challenge: Wager $300 to win $1,000 if you lower your BMI from obese to normal in one year.

The 10 percent challenge: Wager: $100 to win $200 if you lose 10 percent of your body weight in six months.

Then, there’s the team challenge.

That’s what the “skinny-dippers” are doing. They gamble $60 dollars each and their team has three months to lose the most weight to win $10,000.

Amy Goodman, a team member, said thinking about the money helps.

“The $10,000 is a real good motivation,” Goodman said.

The team started back in November of 2011, and three months later they were lighter, healthier, but unfortunately not $10,000 richer.

“We didn’t win the money, but we certainly lost the weight,” Nancy Mallinder said.

They lost a combined 93 pounds, shed seven percent of their body weight and they came in 23rd out of 205 teams.

“We feel really good. I mean it’s a pretty big accomplishment. We wanted to be one, but 23 I think is pretty good,” Burkhart said.

The “skinny-dippers” aren’t ready to give up either. They’re already gambling again. They have until April 20, 2012, to lose the weight.

Healthy wage said it handed out $500,000 in winnings to participants in 2011.

For more information visit the Healthy Wage website here.

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Within the first few hours of opening, nearly all of the 23 patient rooms were filled.

Albert Buccigrossi, 85, lives less than a block from West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield.

He was devastated when the emergency room closed 14 months ago.

He was emotional again on Tuesday but this time, he had tears of joy. He was the first patient to be treated in the new and improved emergency room.

Many people are thankful to have the emergency room back up and running in their neighborhood and with significant upgrades.

There is new advanced equipment such as a high-tech CT scanner and a new fast-track patient triage system.

All of the changes are welcomed by the community as well as West Penn officials, doctors, nurses and staff.

“This is a great day for us, I’ve worked here for 25 years and everyone is just ecstatic. It’s a wonderful day and we’re living history and we couldn’t wait for this to happen,” Donna Scolieri said.

“The excitement here is [palpable] and you can feel it when you walk the halls of the hospital, which is very exciting,” West Penn Hospital President & CEO Duke Rupert said.

The reopening is thanks to a partnership between West Penn Allegheny Health System and Highmark.

“I am incredibly excited about this opportunity and what we’re going to do going beyond this, so the emergency room and some of the floors that we’ve opened is just the first phase,” Rupert said.

More renovations are already on the table for the future as well as looking at bringing cardiovascular services to the community.

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“I said, ‘Guys, I got bad news for you. I can’t move and I can’t feel my toes or fingers,” Burnett said.

A congenital condition in Burnett’s neck called “Cervical Stenosis” was traumatized in a water tubing accident on an East Tennessee lake.

Most of the feeling returned almost immediately. Three months later, Burnett was losing the ability to move his head.

His first trip to a surgeon was a wake-up call.

KDKA’s Mary Robb Jackson reports:

“The doc said, ‘You’re lucky. You could have been permanently paralyzed,’” Burnett said.

Burnett said hearing how the doctor wanted to fix the problem was equally as sobering.

“I think we should fuse the spine, need to remove the vertebra and put a plate in and four-to-six weeks of recovery,” Burnett said.

Indianapolis Colts star quarterback Peyton Manning underwent that more traditional surgical approach for his neck injury. He’s still on the sidelines.

However, Burnett sought a second opinion and learned about a minimally invasive neurosurgical option developed 20 years ago by Dr. Hae Dong Jho.

Dr. Jho, who performs his procedure at Allegheny General Hospital, leaves the on-camera interviews to his assistant, Patrick Wallace.

“You can have this with an acute injury or chronic wear-and-tear, arthritic changes too,” Wallace said.

Cervical Stenosis is a condition in which bone spurs form and narrow the spinal canal causing pressure and pain.

KDKA’s Jon Burnett on Pittsburgh Today Live:

During surgery, Dr. Jho makes a tiny incision near the front of the neck. Opening the spinal canal, he shaves off the boney tissue causing the compression.

There is no bone fusion, so neck motion is preserved.

“We want to preserve the natural anatomy as much as possible,” Wallace said.

Olympic gold medalist and professional wrestler Kurt Angle, who suffered what was thought to be a career-ending neck injury, was operated on by Dr. Jho and went back to the ring.

Over two decades and 3,000 patients later, Dr. Jho said his success record is about 98 percent.

Burnett’s pre-op scan showed how the bone spurs were compressing the spinal cord. A post-op scan showed the tunnel was now open with no evidence of any compression.

About 72 hours after his overnight stay at the hospital, the numbness and tingling faded and Burnett was able to keep up with his grandson Eli.

His only souvenir was one small incision.

“Instead of four-to-six weeks, look at me! I had this surgery three days ago,” Burnett said.

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Doctors define infertility this way.

“If a woman is less than 35, it’s one year of attempting a pregnancy,” Dr. Joseph Sanfilippo, an infertility specialist at Magee Women’s Hospital, said. “If she’s over 35, that’s shortened to six months.”

It’s not unusual to see fertility and ovulation tests available over-the-counter for women.

But beginning in April, Walgreens plans to market the SpermCheck home fertility test for men to find out if their sperm count is normal.

Manufactured by Contra Vac, SpermCheck is already for sale through Walgreens’ online pharmacy for $39.99 – one use only.

Surveys find that men are less willing to deal with fertility issues although it’s estimated that 40 percent of infertility cases are traced to male factor infertility.

SpermCheck touts its men’s fertility test as simple and 98 percent accurate.

“I would kind of label that approach with caution,” Dr. Sanfilippo, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital, said.

“My advice is to not waste time and money with home semen analyses,” he said.

An analysis of sperm count would just be repeated by any qualified infertility specialist in a laboratory.

“It’s not only looking at the sperm count and the motility or movement and the shape [or] morphology,” he continued.

Dr. Sanfilippo says even men showing little or no sperm count have been successfully treated medically or surgically, but he knows how emotional infertility can be.

“I have couples every time the woman gets her period it’s a real emotional roller coaster.”

SpermCheck was initially marketed to men who had had vasectomies to determine risk of conception. A study at the University of Virginia found that for that purpose the correct response rate was 97 percent accurate.

RELATED LINKS
Walgreens: Spermcheck Fertility Home Sperm Test
Magee Women’s Hospital: Center For Fertility and Reproductive Endocrinology

“I think there’s a fear factor, that a lot of people feel that it’s a very complex procedure,” says Donamarie Wilfong of West Penn Hospital’s STAR Center, a simulation lab.

KDKA-TV Anchor Susan Koeppen was saved with this heart-pumping maneuver. But for people whose hearts stop, bystander CPR is done in only one in three instances and only half the time it’s done right.

“The hardest part is continuing to do compressions,” says a CPR trainer as he demonstrated the technique.

In general, it’s not as hard as it seems. And there are many places where you can learn.

“It’s 30 compressions to two ventilations, at a rate of a hundred a minute,” explains Anthony Cuda, an instructor at the STAR Center. “They’re actually using a song now — the Bee Gees ‘Staying Alive’ to give the proper rate.”

Getting on your disco groove in a critical situation doesn’t bring anyone back, per se, but keeping the blood pumping keeps the body going until shocks can be given and other emergency life support can be started. It’s most effective if compressions begin within six minutes of the heart stopping.

It’s still called CPR for cardio pulmonary resuscitation. But in cases of a witnessed cardiac arrest in an adult, you can forgo the rescue breaths and just do compressions. There is still enough oxygen in the bloodstream. The important thing is to keep the blood circulating to all the vital organs.

On Saturday, February 11th, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., you can drop by the simulation center at West Penn Hospital to learn how to do CPR. After a two-hour class, you’ll get a certificate saying you’ve learned how to do it. And maybe someday, you’ll get a chance to save a life.

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West Penn Allegheny STAR Center

The FDA believes that taking proton pump inhibitors like Nexium, Prilosec, Zegerid and Prevacid may increase your risk of developing a stomach infection.

The medicines work by reducing stomach acid, and while it helps treat the illness, it may be doing some harm too.

“I think one of the things we do know that stomach acid is very important in protecting against infections in the body, especially in the gastrointestinal system, and I think that anything that depletes that acid will certainly increase the risk of infections,” Dr. Abhijit Kulkarni, the director of endoscopy at Allegheny General Hospital and West Penn Allegheny Health System.

Doctors say while there is no epidemic, people who take proton pump inhibitors need to be cautious.

Some side effects are common, but if you start experiencing more pronounced symptoms you should see your doctor right away.

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“Eastern Pennsylvania has lots of Lyme disease. Here in western Pennsylvania we are considered low risk, but there are, again, the ticks have been found, so it is of concern here,” says Dr. Ron Voorhees of the Allegheny County Health Department.

A map from a study in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and hygiene shows we’re in the green, meaning “low risk.” But what have doctors actually been seeing?

“It’s clear the numbers are much higher than they were maybe four or five years ago,” says Children’s Hospital pediatric infectious diseases physician Dr. Michael Green.

The map was made by collecting deer ticks from the woods and testing them for the bacteria that cause Lyme disease.

Allegheny County tracks only human cases.

“We get a report of all the positive tests, and those have been going up over the last several years,” says Dr. Voorhees. “One thing we’re hoping to do this year is to actually be testing ticks themselves.”

So why, with increasing numbers here, does the map show we are low risk? For one, the ticks in the study were collected from 2004 to 2007 before the numbers were noticeably up. Also, the pattern we’re seeing could be due to greater awareness and more testing.

“Even though our numbers have gone up, we really don’t have a good way to understand yet what that really means,” Dr. Voorhees continues.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that you get from a deer tick bite. As housing plans expand into wooded areas, the likelihood of coming in contact with deer ticks increases.

“My experience would suggest that we would anticipate that the number of cases are likely to increase, until we hit a plateau. It’s not clear if we’ve reached that plateau at this time,” says Dr. Green.

The classic sign of Lyme disease is a bull’s eye rash at the tick bite. This infection can also affect the heart, brain, and joints. It can be confirmed with blood tests, and luckily, the prognosis is good if it’s recognized and treated with antibiotics.

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“I think the secret today is to understand which treatments are most effective under what circumstances,” Dr. Martin Gallagher said.

Dr. Gallagher is a certified chiropractor, is schooled in acupuncture and he’s a medical doctor as well. He can write prescriptions or recommend herbal remedies.

He employs the best of modern and ancient medicines.

“We’ve come to understand that the things in the east are very effective and have stood the test of time for a reason. They’ve been working,” Dr. Gallagher said.

Treatment of chronic pain is one Dr. Gallagher’s specialties.

“Pain is a very subjective phenomenon, but most people in chronic pain can’t get any relief regardless of what they do,” Dr. Gallagher said.

He’s using the Chinese practice of acupuncture on Mariangela Mancuso.

The 51-year-old yoga instructor from North Versailles was plagued by progressive hip and arm pain for years. The hair-thin needles are said to alter brain chemistry and affect the central nervous system.

“My life had deteriorated to standing or resting on the floor,” Mancuso said.

For two years, Mancuso has been undergoing a regimen of acupuncture including, spinal manipulation and prolotherapy. She believes it’s working.

“I didn’t have a life. So, I can’t say thanks for giving me my life back. I didn’t have one. I have one now,” Mancuso said.

Dr. Gallagher said the American military has also adopted “battlefield acupuncture.”

“The Army is very much involved with the research about how they can take Iraqi veterans and get them off pain medication,” Dr. Gallagher said.

“I couldn’t drive long distances without pain. I couldn’t. It was uncomfortable to sit, uncomfortable to stand,” Aaron LeDonne said.

LeDonne, 31, of Franklin Park, suffered from a herniated disk with pain radiating down his left leg.

“And went and saw a neurosurgeon who wanted to schedule me for surgery immediately,” LeDonne said.

Instead, LeDonne tried prolotherapy.

In this procedure, syringes are filled with sugar water or saline. Before the series of injections, the area is desensitized. A number of injections are given and x-ray or ultrasound is used to guide the doctor.

“The current research shows based on MRI studies and ultrasound is that at the cell level what’s taking place is the growth of new tissue,” Dr. Gallagher said.

Around since the 1940s, prolotherapy is being studied at the Mayo Clinic and Harvard as a way to reduce pain. However, there’s no real solid evidence yet as to how or if it really works.

For LeDonne, his lower back agony appears to be over.

“There’s days when it’s mildly uncomfortable, but that’s the extent of it. I have no limitations,” LeDonne said.

Dr. Gallagher knows that many of his fellow doctors are skeptical and that these treatments are not equally successful with all patients. However, he believes that integrative medicine is the future.

“The shift is taking place predominantly with the public, but it’s also now taking place in the medical field. So, it’s just a matter of time where the kind of therapies we’re talking about are standard therapies,” Dr. Gallagher said.

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It’s what almost claimed the life of KDKA-TV News Anchor Susan Koeppen. But, she is alive in part to the quick action of some passers-by who performed CPR.

On Nov. 20, Susan was running with friends when she suffered Cardiac Arrest.

Ninety-five percent of people who suffer Cardiac Arrest outside of a hospital setting die. But Susan survived because of CPR and the use of an AED (Automated External Defibrillator).

The statistics are staggering, four out of five Cardiac Arrests happen in the home. Also, 19 out of 20 victims die, and only 30 percent of Americans are trained in CPR.

The American Red Cross trains more than four million people in CPR each year.

With their help, Susan and seven of her friends are now certified in CPR and in the use of an AED. On Jan. 31, they took a four hour course led by instructor John Ignatius.

If you are called upon to perform CPR, chances are it will involve a loved one.

“It will be someone very close, someone you know very well and someone that you happen to care a lot about,” says Ignatius.

The rules of how to give CPR have changed over the years.

After you assess the scene and confirm the victim is unconscious and not breathing, you give 30 compressions to the chest and then two breaths.

On an adult, the compressions should be at least two inches deep.

According to Ignatius, “Your main thing will be compressions on the chest… hard and fast to pump that blood as best you can to keep that brain alive.”

Sudden Cardiac Arrest is one of the leading a causes of death in the United States. It can strike anyone, at any time.

CPR is a crucial step in saving a victim, and so is the use of an Automated External Defibrillator.

“Doing nothing guarantees one thing — a trip to the morgue. Doing something you are giving the person a chance for life,” says Ignatius.

RELATED LINKS:

• 5 Local YMCA Branches Offer Free CPR Classes
• American Red Cross
• Red Cross: Upcoming CPR Courses Listing
• First Aid, CPR & AED Classes (Southwestern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross)
• American Heart Association: CPR
• American Heart Association: Go Red Day
• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (MedlinePlus.gov)
• First Aid: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation or CPR (MayoClinic.com)

RELATED STORIES:

• KDKA-TV News Anchor Susan Koeppen Recovering (11/22/11)
• Susan Koeppen’s Story: The Gift Of Life (1/23)
• Susan’s Story: Meeting The People Who Saved Her Life (1/24/12)
• About Susan Koeppen
• More from KDKA Consumer Editor Susan Koeppen

“We’re very disappointed,” said Pittsburgh’s Planned Parenthood CEO, Kim Everett. “This is clearly bowing to political pressure. This is not about women’s health care. This is not about helping women obtain access to breast cancer screening services. This is political.”

“As an affiliate, we are bound by the guidelines,” says Susan G. Komen for the Cure Pittsburgh affiliate executive director Kathy Purcell. “We certainly understand everyone’s concerns; some people are very angry. We do want to keep assuring people in this area that women will still be funded, and that’s important to us.”

Planned Parenthood provides family planning and other women’s health services. Susan G. Komen for the Cure calls it a strategic decision, in response to an investigation in the use of taxpayer money by Planned Parenthood.

“I don’t think they expected the outcries to be as numerous,” says Purcell. “So I think it remains to be seen what will happen.”

Locally, the effect will be minimal. The Komen Foundation does not directly fund Planned Parenthood, but partners with another organization that gives vouchers for mammograms to Planned Parenthood clients.

“We funded close to 10,000 mammograms,” says Purcell. “With that number, I would not want to see those women and men not be able to be helped.”

People are already showing they are willing to help Planned Parenthood.

“A couple of donors have already stepped up to the plate and have provided Planned Parenthood with some money to start their own fund for breast cancer screening,” says Everett.

Both organizations have received many calls from people angry about the decision. There has even been talk of a race to rival the Komen Foundation’s big event in May, the Race for the Cure. Kathy Purcell says the local Komen affiliate is keeping the national organization aware of what they are hearing, and encourages people to contact the national organization directly as well.

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It seems ludicrous to even ask. But a small number of people can remember – not just one day, but many of the days of their lives. They have super memory.

Chris Lowe is part of a national study on this. What he can remember is truly amazing, and scientists are trying to figure out how it is possible.

They’re hopeful that understanding it may help all of us.

You remember the big moments in life – your wedding day, the birth of a child – but when it comes to what happens every single day, those moments tend to fade except for a small group of people, including Lowe.

David Highfield: “May 14th 1998?”

Lowe: “That was a Thursday. I came back from London that day, and I got home in time to watch the last episode of Seinfeld. And I got the word that Frank Sinatra had died.”

Highfield: “Feb. 11, 2001?”

Lowe: “Heinz Field, not Heinz Field – Three Rivers Stadium imploded.”

Highfield: “Aug. 31, 1997?”

Lowe: “Sunday. That’s where… when Princess Diana died. Steelers lost to the Cowboys that day – don’t know the score.”

Lowe grew up in Bentleyville and he was 13 when he says his extraordinary memory somehow kicked in. That would be the summer of 1984, which he remembers well.

“Aug 14. Saw ‘Red Dawn,’ said Lowe. “Aug. 20, got hit in the head with a porch swing.”

Thousands of miles away, at the University of California, Irvine, Dr. James McGaugh has discovered something called superior autobiographical memory.

“I didn’t know that anyone had this ability, and it’s remarkable,” Dr. McGaugh.

The initial group he’s studying was featured on “60 Minutes,” including actress Marilu Henner, who told Leslie Stahl she can even remember the first day she wore many of her shoes.

McGaugh’s study flew Lowe out to California where he was tested, and sure enough, he has it too.

People with this can go back in their memory to tell you what day of the week a certain date was, but Lowe can do something more.

He can do it for dates well before he was even born.

Highfield: “Sept. 9, 1893?”

Lowe: “Oh that was a Saturday, that was a Saturday.”

There are formulas online for how to calculate this, but Lowe’s not aware of how he’s able to do it.

Highfield: “When you’re mentally picturing that, do you see like a grid?”

Lowe: “The best way I can describe it is ‘Pop Up Video.’ I’d say a lot of times it just pops in there.”

He’s talking about the show on VH1 where bubbles of information pop onto the screen.

By doing brain scans of people with this type of memory, Dr. McGaugh has found their brains are different than ours. Two parts of their brains are actually bigger.

He’s also found they have more obsessive tendencies. For instance, Lowe is a bit of a germ-a-phobe. After touching a door handle, he had to go wash his hands immediately.

At restaurants, he won’t touch salt or pepper shakers. He calls his memory a gift but says it can also be a curse.

“It’s absolutely exhausting at times,” he said. “My mind is constantly going.”

He would love to understand why his brain works the way it does. And it may be possible that understanding why could eventually help people with Alzheimer’s and other memory problems.

The CBS show “Unforgettable” is about a detective with superior autobiographical memory; but for Bob Petrella, it’s no TV show, it’s real life.

Highfield: “Easter 1983. Would you remember the date?”

Petrella: “Yes it was April 3.”

But Petrella is particularly impressive when it comes to sports.

Highfield: “Game 4 of the 1979 World Series?”

Petrella: “Yeah, that was Oct. 13, 1979. I think Stargell hit a home run early in the game, but then the Orioles came back and just pounded.”

Highfield: “What happened on Sept. 20, 2009?”

Petrella: “I know the Steelers lost. They lost to the Bears in Chicago.”

He lives in Los Angeles now, but Petrella grew up in Beaver County. By age 17, he realized he remembers things others can’t.

Highfield: “Tell me about the fourth time the Steelers won the Super Bowl.”

Petrella: “That was Jan. 20, 1980 – that was in Pasadena. I had just moved to L.A.”

And he remembers the details.

Petrella: “They were behind late in the game. I think about 10 minutes left in the game when Terry Bradshaw… they were behind 19 -17 when Terry Bradshaw threw a 73-yard touchdown to John Stallworth.”

He’s also part of a national study at the University of California, Irvine of people with this rare type memory.

“Sometimes it feels like too cramped or crowded,” Petrella said. “There’s so many things rolling around up there.”

Petrella has written the book, a collection of the most memorable dates of his life. And, if you happen to see him, ask him about a date because he enjoys getting quizzed.

“I like entertaining with it,” he said. “I like making it fun.”

RELATED LINKS:
60 Minutes: “The Gift of Endless Memory”
More Featured Stories

Because of a packaging error, you may have received too many active pills or too many inactive pills. Drug maker Pfizer is recalling these, and the generic equivalent. The worry – the pills won’t work.

Because newer options are available, few women take this particular product these days, but one doctor’s basic message to those women is:

“Don’t worry,” says Dr. Eugene Scioscia, an obstetrician gynecologist at Allegheny Western Pennsylvania Hospital System.

In a standard four-week blister pack, you should have 21 active pills. These are typically all one color, and they contain a combination of hormones to keep the ovaries from releasing an egg. There should also be seven inactive pills. These are typically another color, and the week you take these pills is the week you get your period.

In the case of too many inactive pills, not having the hormones may result in ovulation. And if you have sex around that time, you could become pregnant.

“It’s still probably less than one percent,” says Dr. Scioscia about the likelihood, “but it’s measurable. S, we’re obligated to tell patients that, that they’re at some risk.”

With too many active pills, you may not have your period, but you won’t get pregnant.

It would be hard to trace a pregnancy to one of these packs, since completely correct usage, even with solid medication, can’t be assumed.

“Perfect pill users will conceive less than one percent of the time. But in reality in real time use, it’s eight percent,” says Dr. Scioscia.

If you have one of the faulty packs, let your doctor know and return it to the pharmacy. Any bad outcomes can be reported to the FDA with an online form, which can also be downloaded and mailed.

RELATED LINKS:
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Turns out, they both benefit.

“Notoriously women have been understudied in cardiovascular trials. So to some extent this is a little bit confirming they do get benefit from statin therapy,” says Allegheny General Hospital cardiologist Dr. George Gabriel.

In a study in the “Journal of the American College of Cardiology,” researchers reviewed more than 18 studies involving more than 140,000 patients – more than 40,000 of them women.

There are fewer heart attacks and fewer deaths of any cause among those taking statins and gender didn’t matter.

“I don’t think it’s surprising at all. It’s the same disease in men and women,” Dr. Gabriel continues.

Statins raise good cholesterol, and reduce bad cholesterol. Having a high bad cholesterol level increases your risk for heart attack and stroke.

Drugs in this category include atorvastatin (or Lipitor), simvastatin (or Zocor), lovastatin (or Mevacor), and a few others.

For women who smoke, have a strong family history of heart disease, and also have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, taking this medicine can help reduce their risk.

It’s not yet recommended for everybody, including those at low risk, because of potential side effects, like muscle aches and liver issues.

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When Crosby took that hit to the head in the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day 2011, he complained of “soreness in his neck.”

But that diagnosis soon focused on serious symptoms from a concussion lingering on for 10 months.

Crosby didn’t last long after his return in November – again suffering concussion-like symptoms.

Now, in addition to the concussion, a visit to Beverly Hills neurosurgeon Dr. Robert Bray, Jr., by Crosby appears to confirm that the hockey phenom may have suffered a broken neck – two fractured vertebra – numbers C1 and C2 – bones that Dr. Bray report as fully-healed.

“Those are the two vertebrae that really govern how much motion you have for your head to move about and to look,” Dr. Tom Muzzonigro, an orthopedic surgeon at Butler Health Systems, said.

He added that it is also possible for neck fractures to go undetected by doctors initially, even using scans and x-rays.

“In that case it could have been a subtle fracture that you couldn’t have seen,” Dr. Muzzonigro said.

During the most recent scan, it’s likely that the subtle breaks became visible because of the healing process itself.

“And that would show metabolically active bone which would show healing or bone mass healed,” Dr. Muzzonigro explained.

Athletes like Crosby do return to the game once concussion symptoms are resolved and bones are healed along with the ligaments that support them.

“They can if the injury heals and they rehabilitate properly and they no longer have symptoms so it’s safe to return to the ice,” he said.

Crosby’s agent, Pat Brisson, was flying back to California from the NHL All-Star Game and was unavailable for comment.

Tom McMillan of the Pittsburgh Penguins would only refer to the team’s most recent statement that there would be no more comment until additional medical opinions are reviewed.

RELATED LINKS
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Now, she’s put her weight loss advice in a book called “The Active Calorie Diet.”

In addition to helping football, hockey and baseball players with what they eat, Bonci counsels regular Pittsburghers.

Many of them have tried diets, lost weight and gained it back.

So, she came up with a diet that’s easy to follow and believe it or not, it is not about counting calories. It is about making them count.

“The reason we call it the ‘Active Calorie Diet’ is because all calories are not the same. In other words, there are certain foods you eat that when you eat them, your body actually expends more calories to break them down,” Bonci said.

Bonci, with co-author Selene Yeager and the editors of Prevention Magazine, came up with an easy way to remember how to make those calories work for you.

They came up with the acronym, “CHEW.”

“C” stands for chewing, because you expend calories just by chewing.

“What I mean by that is instead of someone saying I’m just having a glass of juice. When you eat the apple, you have to bite into it, you have to chew it,” Bonci said.

Chewy foods include fruits, vegetables, meat and nuts.

“H” stands for hearty which applies foods that are filling and satisfying.

Hearty foods like soup, oatmeal, cereal and high fiber foods take up more room in your stomach.

“E” stands for energizing, which applies to foods or drinks that have caffeine in them.

“What happens when you have caffeine, you feel a little more stimulated. But actually, in the body, particularly things that have green tea, you get an added advantage because of the fat burning perspective,” Bonci said.

Bonci does not recommend soda, but dark chocolate in moderation works.

“W” stands for warming, which applies to spices such as chili pepper, Tobasco or salsa.

“It could be ginger, in spice or fresh ginger itself. Curry, cumin, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, all those types of things. The good thing about them – no calories. They add a ton of flavor to what you eat, but they have no calories in them,” Bonci said.

Vinegars are also warming.

However, can these simple changes really make a difference?

“With any of these it will work. You will burn a little bit more. So, cumulatively over the day, if someone says I’m chewing more, they incorporate the hearty, they feel a little bit fuller. If I add in the energizing and I’ve added the warming, what can that add up to calorically in a day? Fifty, 70 calories extra burned,” Bonci said.

Bonci also said to burn even more you should eat protein with every meal.

“The body expends more calories to break this down than it does the carbs,” Bonci said.

Bonci also recommends being more active in life, even in preparing your food.

“I have my vegetables. I’m actually going to chop them. You expend energy when you have a knife and you’re chopping, or perhaps somebody’s mincing or stirring. All are small motor movements, but it’s still calories expended,” Bonci said.

A sample active plate would include turkey, strawberries, broccoli and pasta and it would be topped with wonderful spices or vinegars.

The diet worked for Pittsburghers who served as the test panel.

Professional golfer Carol Semple Thompson lost 14 pounds and more than seven inches in a month and said she never felt like she was dieting.

The book has more than 140 recipes and also great visual guidelines with graphics of what your plate should look like.

If you eat out a lot, there are also suggestions of how to have an active plate at a restaurant or fast food joint.

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“There can be genes that predict that you’re more likely to respond to chemotherapy. Genes that predict a greater risk of spread to other parts of the body,” explains Dr. Jane Raymond, a cancer specialist at Allegheny General Hospital.

Of the two major types of lung cancer, small cell and non-small cell, the more common is non-small cell. Surgical removal of the tumor is often standard, but what about chemotherapy and radiation?

In some cases it’s clear cut.

“If the tumor is larger, if the lymph nodes are positive, we know those patients benefit from having adjuvent chemotherapy, which is chemotherapy after surgery,” Dr. Raymond says.

In cases where the tumor is still small with no spread, it’s not so clear.

The problem is, in half of the patients, the cancer will come back. This group would benefit from chemotherapy. The other half, if they took the powerful cancer-killing medicine, they would get no benefit and perhaps only side effects.

A new test, studied in the United states and China, analyzes the DNA of the lung cancer cells. Specific genes are thought to be associated with an increased likelihood of the cancer returning.

Two studies of more than a thousand people with non-small cell lung cancer, published in the journal The Lancet, shows this test outperforms traditional tests.

“Right now we go by looking at the tumor under the microscope, size of the tumor, and the number of lymph nodes,” Dr. Raymond says.

But it’s not quite ready for widespread use. Further research has to show that these genes really do make a tumor more risky, and that chemotherapy really does keep the cancer from recurring.

“I think it’s the wave of the future. Certainly, we’re doing that in breast cancer, and we’re looking at it in colon cancer, prostate cancer; so, I think this is the next step,” Dr. Raymond says.

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Whether you are a college student, or a sleep-deprived parent caffeine is king.

Coffee is the drink of choice for many, but there are all kinds of other products available. Many are loaded with sugar along with the caffeine.

Now, there’s a new way to get that added jolt by breathing it in.

“It’s a mix of caffeine and B vitamins that you puff into your mouth,” Breathable Foods CEO Tom Hadfield said.

The product is called Aeroshot.

Hadfield’s company came out with inhalable chocolate a few years ago.

The Aeroshot uses the same technology, which was developed by a Harvard professor. Each tube contains 100 milligrams of caffeine, which is about the same as a large cup of coffee.

Also, there are no calories and it just went on sale this week in Boston and New York.

The Aeroshot is a dietary supplement, so it is not regulated by the FDA, but the company said it’s completely safe.

Whether you breathe it or drink it, too much caffeine isn’t good for you.

Dr. Rick Donahue of Personal Health MD said there is no evidence that caffeine causes cancer or heart disease. However, he said if a person is stressed, it can add to that stress.

“Stress is a pro-inflammatory. It causes inflammation in the body and many of the diseases we look at and treat are related to inflammation,” Dr. Donahue said.

According to Dr. Donahue, like many things in life, caffeine is perfectly safe in moderation.

So, if you’re looking for a way to carry your caffeine around in your pocket, the Aeroshot might do the trick.

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It turns out that doctors are seeing injuries that range from bad posture, pinched nerves, and even thumb injuries.

KDKA AM’s Larry and John talk to Tri Rivers Surgical Associates’ Dr. Tom Muzzinigro about the dangers of how we use these devices and what he’s seeing in his office.

However, doctors now say it’s not just up to the kids.

Parents lead by example and that is what is needed to help kids with obesity.

“It starts with the parents, then trickles down to the family,” St. Clair Hospital Dietician Anne Berzinsky said. “I think in a lot of situations it isn’t happening.”

In its journal circulation, the American Heart Association is making a new scientific statement about what works.

It’s based on research about treatment program outcomes where parents and caregivers are highly involved.

What seems to be effective includes:

• Identifying specific behaviors that need to change,
• Goal setting – for example, only two hours of screen time a day,
• Removing high calorie temptations from the home and replacing them with fruit,
• Avoiding using food in rewards and punishments.

Progress should be tracked and praised, as well.

These treatment programs are often staffed by a team of doctors, dieticians, and psychologists, typically in a university or hospital clinic setting. This may not be available everywhere.

“The parents attend, the siblings attend, and even grandparents even sometimes attend,” Berzinsky said.

They learn about healthy meals and choices, staying active and self-esteem.

If you don’t have a program like this near you, you can try taking small steps on your own at home, or see if your school has anything to offer.

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“The preteen age group is really the classic age group for not caring about the future,” Dr. Robin Gehris, a dermatologist at Children’s Hospital Pittsburgh, said.  “Sadly, we’re seeing an increase in melanoma, both in kids and in young adults.”

“We never really thought about sunscreen or anything, going to the beach and as i got older i went to tanning beds,” Colleen McDonald said. “I don’t even remember how many biopsies. I’ve had five melanoma surgeries.”

A study in the journal Pediatrics shows many kids may be on the same track. A total of 360 10-year-olds were surveyed about sunburns, how much time they spent in the sun, and how often they wore sunscreen. They were asked again three years later.

Half of them wore sunscreen at the beginning. This dropped to a quarter at the end. Most of them said they liked the look of a suntan.

But tans, freckles, and eventually wrinkles and cancer are the ravages of the sun.

“Start talking to them about look how much prettier this person’s skin looks because it’s not highly freckled, and freckles are really a sign of sun damage,” Dr. Gehris said. “If they still feel that social need to be tan, despite that fact that no one thinks that looks healthy anymore, there are the self-tanning lotions.”

Dermatologists recommend wearing sunscreen every day, even in the winter.

“Even in the winter time you can easily get burned on a sunny day with sun reflecting off snow,” Dr. Gehris said.

If you instill healthy habits at a young age — just like brushing teeth and wearing seatbelts — your kids may be uncomfortable stopping those habits in adolescence.

“If you create a routine for your kids, where again, it’s right in front of them, they don’t have to go out of their way, you may actually set them up for better success,” Dr. Gehris said.

In another study, it turns out kids are more likely to use sunscreen if it comes from a pump top bottle, rather than from a bottle with a press top, screw on cap, or roll on.

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“It’s relatively quiet right now,” says Guillermo Cole, Allegheny County Health Department spokesman. “Activity is low, just slightly above what we consider baseline.”

Year round, about two percent of emergency visits are for flu-like symptoms. Currently at three percent, the number of flu cases is significantly lower than last year’s eight-and-a-half percent.

“We do have two lab confirmed cases. So we do know there’s influenza, there’s just not a lot of it here,” says Cole.

It is unlikely that we have reached the peak yet.

“Usually on average, it’s late January, early February. Last year it was mid-February,” Cole explains.

Official flu numbers are tracked through laboratories that find the virus through patient testing, through information about outpatient visits and hospitalizations for the flu, and through death certificates that list the flu as a cause of death.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Pennsylvania as a whole has sporadic activity, meaning there are just a few lab-confirmed cases, but there is no increase in the number of people with symptoms.

The rest of the country also has been hit pretty lightly.

Tools like Google Flu Trends, which uses search information, can uncannily predict when and where the flu will surge. In contrast to the CDC data, this tool says activity here is moderate.

“The worst may be yet to come, later on as we get into February,” Cole surmises.

For that reason, it is not too late to prevent the fever, cough, aches, chills and tiredness that accompany the flu.

“Go out and get your flu shot now if you haven’t already been vaccinated,” Cole says. “You’ll have protection for the peak that will eventually come.”

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Well, maybe it’s your sleep.

Your body needs seven to eight hours of good sound sleep for the proper hormones to keep things in balance.

“If you don’t get enough of that good sleep, your muscles have the tendency to not repair themselves, your metabolism slows down, and you develop an insulin resistance,” said Karen Gannon, of the St. Clair Hospital Sleep Lab.

If you wake up feeling well rested, you probably are getting enough. But if you’re tired through the day, you may have a sleep disorder.

A common one is obstructive sleep apnea, where too much weight and throat tissue stops your breathing and interrupts your sleep.

Your sleeping, breathing and other functions can be monitored overnight in a lab. This can help pinpoint any problems.

However, these formal sleep studies can be inconvenient and expensive. Home sleep studies are an option too; just be aware, quality can vary.

“Some of them don’t grab enough data to be able to diagnose it appropriately, and if it’s not run for enough consecutive nights, if leads come off, then you’re not getting accurate data,” Gannon said.

Whether or not you need a formal sleep study depends a lot of different factors.

“Do you have hypertension, how overweight are you, are you snoring at night, lack of concentration, daytime fatigue,” Gannon said.

Weight gain and lack of sleep seems to be a vicious cycle. But once the trouble is identified and treated, improved night time can lead to improved day time.

“They were able to lose 50 pounds and up on their own, without having any other, gastric bypass surgery or anything like that. I’ve had patients that have gotten promotions,” said Gannon. They’re actually more motivated to do better at their job.”

Obesity rates are still very high in the United States, but they haven’t increased much in recent years. The CDC finds no change in the rate of obesity from 2007 to 2010.

It’s estimated about one in three adults and one in six children and teens are obese, which is defined as being 20 percent or more above your ideal weight.

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One in four pediatricians thinks so in the first study asking doctors specifically about this topic.

“Pediatricians in the community feel like they’re not getting enough advice in this regard,” says Dr. Vivek Allada, a pediatric cardiologist at Children’s Hospital Pittsburgh.

The concern is sudden cardiac death. This has occurred in kids with ADHD taking stimulants — drugs like Ritalin, Adderal, and Concerta.

“There were 20 such reports, 20 such cases over a very long period of time, and it involved millions of doses of medications,” Dr Allada points out.

Published in the journal Pediatrics, the government sponsored survey of more than 500 pediatricians shows that they more often discuss weight loss, loss of appetite, sleep disturbance and moodiness. Less than half talked about cardiac risks.

The American Heart Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have gone back and forth about whether an EKG — or a heart rhythm test — is needed before starting these medications. Most doctors in the survey are not getting this test, but they are getting a detailed cardiac history from the patient and family.

Dr. Allada believes this is enough. He says the EKG is not perfect and the numbers are so low, the benefit is low, too.

“It’s still a good history and physical that gets the best evaluation, and decision about doing an EKG is the next step,” he says. “It doesn’t pick up all the conditions that can lead to sudden cardiac death.”

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