Health Archive (248)
Singer Angie Stone learned to manage six small meals a day once she was diagnosed with diabetes, even when she goes on the road to sing. Stone was a guest speaker at a Diabetes Expo at Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church on Sat., Oct. 26. Courtesy PhotoSinger and songwriter Angie Stone encouraged approximately 250 African Americans to face diabetes by taking charge of and learning to manage the disease. They braved the rain to come out to hear Stone tell her story about her struggle with diabetes at The F.A.C.E. (Fearless African Americans Connected and Empowered) Diabetes Campaign event at Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church in D.C. on Sat., Oct. 26.
F.A.C.E. is a grassroots movement targeting African Americans in the U.S. to help individuals, families and neighborhoods to successfully detect and manage their diabetes.
“My family and I, mother, father and my two young children, were taking a car trip to an amusement park for the day. We had to travel about four hours to get there. I became very thirsty. I’d drink so much water that less than an hour later, I asked him to stop again so I could go to the bathroom, and I drank more and more water,†Stone said.
“I didn’t know what was wrong, I just knew I was very thirsty and because of drinking so much water, I needed to go to the bathroom again about every 40 minutes, which was as long as I could wait to stop. We finally made it to the amusement park but by then, I was so sick that I could not enjoy myself.â€
(Taylor Media Services) All Americans appear to be making strides in their battle against cancer but African Americans are not doing quite as well as Whites. According to a report published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, for the first time since 1971, the rate at which Americans are diagnosed with cancer has declined. It was in 1971 that the nation first declared war against cancer. According to the study, new cancer cases fell by an average of 0.8 percent a year for the period 2000 to 2005.
The decline was largely attributed to decreased smoking, improved screening techniques and better treatments. Meanwhile, actual cancer death rates have been declining since 1991. But this report marks the first time the rate of people being diagnosed with cancer also went down. The only group which did not witness a decline in cancer death rates was American Indians. Further, Black males were 35 percent more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than White males and Black females were 18 percent more likely to be diagnosed than White females. Last year, according to the American Cancer Society, roughly 1.4 million Americans were diagnosed with cancer. The leading cancers are lung, colon, breast and prostate. All these cancers declined in incidence during the five year period ending in 2005.
Independent Community Residential Facility Operators are being faced with providing sub-standard care for consumers due to lack of support and funding by the District’s Department of Mental Health.
“Our alliance urges the city to step in and help us to continue to provide the much-needed care for its mentally ill citizens,’ said David A. Gilmore, executive director of Humility Outreach Missionary Ministries.
Gilmore sent a letter to Mayor Adrian Fenty’s office and still awaits a response for proposed funds to keep community residential facility operating. Housing services are provided for over 200 consumers in the District. With the increasing cost of liability insurance, unemployment insurance, utilities, food, and gas for the facilities, DMH has provided little to no support for the consumers, according to Gilmore.
CHAPEL HILL (NNPA) - A new study seeking to improve scientists’ understanding of breast cancer, including why the disease’s fatality rate is higher in African-American women, is underway in 44 counties in North Carolina.
The project, named after the late Jeanne Hopkins Lucas, a North Carolina state senator who died of breast cancer last year, is being run by the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The research is an extension of the Carolina Breast Cancer Study, one of the largest breast cancer databases in the United States.
Potential participants will be identified from among women living in the 44 North Carolina counties as participating hospitals report newly diagnosed breast cancer cases to the North Carolina Central Cancer Registry.
A first of its kind study conducted in Dorchester, Mass. shows that Blacks born in America are three times more likely to have asthma than Blacks born in other countries. But medical authorities are not sure why such a large difference exists. The study was published in the November edition of the Journal of Asthma. The study was presided over by researchers at Tufts University’s medical school beginning in 2005.
Head researcher Doug Brugge said he was surprised by the study results saying, “We were used to thinking that people coming from developing countries have worse health.†U.S.-born Blacks also tend to have higher asthma rates than America-born Whites. Theories regarding the disparity range from foreign-born Blacks having greater exposure to sunlight while U.S.-born Blacks, especially those in the inner city, spend more time cooped up inside homes and apartments where substances including mold and cockroach droppings may trigger asthma.
Lung cancer continues to be a most deadly enemy for African Americans and other minorities. Despite recent improvements in diagnosis and treatment, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths among African Americans.
While for many patients the promise of a cure is still in the future, researchers are hopeful as they look to treating this difficult disease with a novel approach: an anti-cancer vaccine.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., is currently in the middle stages of a clinical study for the effectiveness of a new vaccine, the HyperAcute® Lung Cancer Vaccine (HAL). The vaccine is being studied as a potential treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a disease that affects over 173,000 people a year in the U.S.
Written by Courtesy of the National Cancer Institute - NNPA Special Commentary
"People need to plan ahead for prescription refills, doctor's appointments and medical visits," said Dr. Pierre Vigilance, director for the District's department of health. "Emergency Rooms are expected to be busier than normal, non-emergent care patients should obtain care through their primary care provider before Jan. 19 or make arrangements after Jan. 20.â€
Living in the North has taught residents how to dress warmly, but extra caution must be paid to staying warm while outside for extended periods of time. For example, a rain poncho is an excellent choice for high winds. Here are a few other tips on how to prepare to walk to the Inaugural Swearing-In, Parades and the Balls.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, a group of brain disorders that interferes with a person’s ability to carry out daily activities. In AD, areas of the brain change and deteriorate, which causes a decline in cognition and memory functioning. In some patients, the deficits are large enough to get in the way of performing normal, everyday tasks. There is evidence that AD affects women differently than men.
Written by By Jennifer Wider, M.D. - Society for Women's Health Research
Written by By Robyn H. Jimenez - Special to the NNPA from the Dallas Examiner
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