Experimental new vaccine may help in the fight against shingles

If you had chickenpox as a child, the virus that caused it can re-emerge later in life — out of the blue — to cause shingles. This condition, also known as herpes zoster, consists of a rash on one side of the body, often accompanied by excruciating pain. The rash typically goes away in about a month, but in some people, the pain lingers for weeks, months, or even years. This chronic pain is called post-herpetic neuralgia.
The virus that causes chickenpox, known as varicella-zoster, doesn’t necessarily disappear from the body after the chickenpox rash fades away. Instead, the virus can go into hiding, taking up residence in the nerve roots coming off the spinal cord. As the immune system becomes weaker with age, varicella-zoster may “wake up,” start to grow in a nerve root on one side of the body, and cause shingles.

No “best” treatment for common uterine fibroids

The other night, I sat in a restaurant with a group of girlfriends. We shared laughter, good conversation and some great wine. As I looked around, I realized that we were likely to share something else: uterine fibroids. Of the ten women sitting at the table, there was a good chance that seven of us would have uterine fibroids at some point in our lives.
Fibroids are noncancerous tumors that grow in the uterus. They may be smaller than a seed or bigger than a grapefruit. A woman may have only one fibroid or she may have many. Depending on their size, number, and location, fibroids can cause heavy bleeding and long menstrual periods (which can, in turn, cause anemia), pelvic pain, frequent urination, or constipation. Fibroids can also cause infertility and repeated miscarriages.

Hospitalization after fainting can do more harm than good

One morning not long ago, my teenage daughter started to black out. After an ambulance ride to our local hospital’s emergency department, an electrocardiogram, and some bloodwork, she was sent home with a follow-up doctor appointment. We got the good news that Alexa is perfectly healthy, but should avoid getting too hungry or thirsty so she doesn’t faint again. And I’m feeling lucky that she didn’t need to be hospitalized, because a research letter in this week’s JAMA Internal Medicine points out that hospitalization for low-risk fainting can do more harm than good.
Doctors use something called the San Francisco Syncope Rule to identify individuals who are at low risk for serious short-term problems after fainting and who don’t need to be hospitalized. Yet up to one-third of fainters at low risk are still hospitalized. “Most patients in the U.S. are admitted even if they don’t need to be, because doctors worry there might be a life-threatening cause,” says Dr. Shamai Grossman, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School, who’s conducted about 20 studies on fainting.

Switching to a fiber-rich diet may lower colon cancer risk in blacks

Switching from a “Western” diet with lots of fat and meat to a fiber-rich diet for just two weeks makes conditions in the large intestine less favorable to the development of colon cancer. The opposite switch may promote the formation of cancer.
That’s the conclusion from a small but elegant study done in urban Pittsburgh and rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It adds to a growing body of research that diet plays a large role in the development of colon cancer. The study also points a finger at bacteria living in the intestines, known as the gut microbiome, as a key link between diet and colon cancer.
An international team of researchers recruited 20 African American men and women living in Pittsburgh and 20 Africans living in KwaZulu-Natal. All of the volunteers had their diets scrutinized and their gut microbiomes analyzed. They also underwent colonoscopy. This inspection of the large intestine (the colon) showed that nine of the 20 Americans had polyps, small growths in the lining of the colon that can develop into cancer. No polyps were found in any of the 20 South Africans.
For two weeks, the Americans ate a traditional South African diet rich in fruits, vegetables, beans, and plant foods. The Africans ate a Western diet that had two to three times more fat and protein, including meat, than their traditional diet. Afterward, the participants again had colonoscopies and their gut microbiomes analyzed.

Parents Sue To Allow Daughter To Use Medical Marijuana In School

After Genny Barbour was prescribed cannabis oil by her doctor, her severe seizures — which had affected her several times a day — disappeared. Like many other children with epilepsy or other seizure conditions, Barbour was an example of a patient who benefited significantly from medical marijuana.

But Barbour’s parents are now fighting her school district in New Jersey to allow the 16-year-old girl — who has both autism and epilepsy — to take her cannabis oil prescription in school. While Barbour needs to take the oil several times a day, including once around lunchtime at noon, she is barred from taking it on school grounds because it violates federal laws for “drug-free school zones.”

How Jennifer Garner Will Be Keeping Fit and Fabulous This Summer

Raise your hand if you'd jump at the chance for some summer R&R with Jennifer Garner—yeah, us, too. We recently spoke with the leading lady and mother of three for her Neutrogena Choose Skin Health campaign about how she's getting active and staying safe in the sun this season. And yeah: We're dying to join.
"I love hiking with girlfriends," says the incredibly fit actress, who also works out with celeb trainer Valerie Waters and does Body By Simone dance cardio classes. "It is a no-brainer, great way to spend a couple of hours, for sure. And in Los Angeles, it's always been one of my go-to workouts. And there's so many great hikes all over LA. I feel really lucky to live there and be able to take advantage of them."
As for cooling off in the water, Jennifer's excited to hit the pool with her family in the coming months. "I think that my littlest one will finally be water safe—with supervision, obviously—this summer, and so I'm excited to all be swimming together without a baby holding onto me because that's always a big moment."
Jennifer points out that, "whenever you're in the water, you have to be super careful because the water magnifies the effects of the sun." And she says she and her friends lay on the sunscreen during their hikes, too: "You would be amazed—just as we're walking out the door, we all pass it around and get another dose."
Learn more about Jennifer's skin health campaign with Neutrogena and how you can keep yourself healthy by heading to neutrogena.com—and don't forget to pick up some sunscreen while you're at it!