Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/EoNbGsjDUns   A visit to your favorite park can give you a happiness boost equivalent to Christmas.   In a first-of-its-kind-study, a University of Vermont study analyzed the word contents of tweets from nearly 4700 users as a function of their publicly identified geolocation.   Those users in the largest green spaces with the most vegetation used the happiest words in...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/luh_-YXmVT8   Cannabis does relieve pain, the most effective pain relief comes from whole cannabis flower, and the products most likely to help with pain are those with the highest THC rather than CBD content.   These are the conclusions from a University of New Mexico study that analyzed data contributed by nearly 3000 users of the ReleafApp.     This Releaf app contai...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/z6pAYo_JlkU   Babies at risk for abnormal brain development showed improved tissue microstructure and better functional connectivity when their pregnant mothers consumed pomegranate juice on a daily basis.   These startling results of a preliminary study are being rushed into publication by neonatologists at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital.   The team there condu...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/qpSt1Nj92lM   When parents simply their speech by using single word replies, shorter sentences, and fewer new words, infants develop language faster.   This observation comes from a Cornell University study just published in the Journal of Child Language.   Pediatric behavioral specialists there studied the vocalizations of 30 infant-mother pairs on two consecutive days...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/ippJoLK0hZU   I learned in med school and then read over and over again that women have different and more subtle heart attack symptoms compared with men.   Cardiologists often warn not to expect the crushing left-sided chest and arm pains if you want to make a clinical diagnosis in women.   A Scottish study, just published in the Journal of the American Heart Associati...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/Z2X7Kvrpd9U   Zinc boosts the body’s immune response to Streptococcus pneumoniae , the bacterium that causes   most community-acquired pneumonia.   A just-published Australian study used a mouse model to find out just how zinc works its magic.   Finding that zinc-deficient animals fell victim to Pneumococcal pneumonia 3 times faster than normal mice, the researchers wer...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/aOaBxMvc6dE   Gobbling sugar may trigger diabetes but also cancer.   A study from California’s City of Hope Medical Center, investigating the link between type 2 diabetes and cancer, discovered that the high blood sugar levels seen in diabetics can trigger DNA damage and prevent repair.   The studies of both diabetic mice and human type 2 diabetics showed not only marke...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/Wuw8pTzG7KA   Men and women infected with HIV should avoid drinking to excess.   This recommendation comes from immunologic studies completed at the Boston University School of Medicine.   The researchers there tested a group of HIV-positive subjects and determined their immune competence by assessing 3 individual processes: systemic inflammation, monocyte activation, a...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/fRevpx6l9UQ   In the search for pain control in light of the current opioid epidemic, you need look no further than your significant other.   A small study just published in the Scandinavian Journal of Pain shows that even the passive presence of your partner will help you better cope with pain.   The researchers studied 48 heterosexual couples and assessed the response...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/Fo8xdLfLWwE   Moving your body regularly, even slowly and casually, will double your chances of avoiding early death.   This good news comes from a Norwegian meta-analysis of 8 studies covering more than 36,000 subjects.   Compared with those who reported negligible extra physical activity, those with some, say routine walking enjoyed a mortality reduction of 52%,   tho...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/bGmAxYkLFr4   In the largest study of its kind just published in The New England Journal of Medicine , multinational public health researchers prove that even short term exposures to inhaled pollutants is associated with higher mortality rates.   The study looked some 652 urban areas in 24 countries and regions evaluating their air quality data and 30 year death rates d...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/ypwilC6A8ec   A number of studies indict smartphone use for triggering an adolescent mental health decline.   Not so fast say a group of university psychologists in a study just published by the journal Clinical Psychological Science .   The investigators closely followed a group of 388 kids 10-15 years of age, both socioeconomically and racially diverse, who attended N...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/VT_6z3ohyks   Dog owners are more likely than owners of other pets or non-pet owners to have a healthy heart and to keep it that way.   This conclusion comes from a study just published by the Mayo Clinic’s Division Of Preventive Cardiology.   Looking at nearly 1800 subjects without a history of heart problems, the investigators tabulated their cardiac risk factors includ...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/nXAsJvs5q4k   You’ll absorb just as much information from listening to a book as reading it.   This is the conclusion from a UC-Berkeley in which researchers used MRI scans of participants to create so-called 3D semantic maps that represented the brain’s processing of word-based information.   When the captured data was decoded, the investigators were surprised to find...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/Lpgg9Nl5I10   I’m Dr. Howard Smith, PENTA Medical Network, reporting from NYC with the Health News Roundup for the 3rd week of AUGUST, 2019.   This is Health News You Should Use, the latest medical discoveries that you can use to keep yourself and your family healthy.   Here are this weeks stories : Medicate Mildly Asthmatic Kids Only When Needed Those With Sleepless Nigh...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/LNri2WQPAnQ   Cannabis users who also use alcohol are more likely to drink heavily and more frequently.   This is the conclusion from Penn State researchers who surveyed more than 1,000 subjects between the ages of 18 and 25 years about their use of alcohol, marijuana, and the two together.   Those who used the two drugs simultaneously, so-called SAM users, consumed nea...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/7PXOk2UMWz0   Sixty percent of children having their tonsils removed are prescribed opioids for 6 to 10 days following the surgery.   This fact comes from study by University of Michigan of nearly 16,000 children ages 1 to 18 years who underwent surgery from 2016 until 2018.   This prescribing pattern flies in the face of American Academy of Otolaryngology guidelines th...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/M8KGl6VRPSk   A whopping 48% of persons who are victims of the big four, domestic violence, sexual assault, depression, or suicidal thoughts refuse to reveal this fact and ask for help.   A collaborative study of some 4500 subjects questioned in two online surveys was just published in JAMA Open Network.   Digging deeper into the data, the investigators showed that 70%...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/j0AMNiPTals   One in every 14 persons over the age of 65 who undergoes even seemingly risk-free elective surgery may suffer a silent or covert stroke that can permanently impair their cognitive powers or worse.   This warning comes from a Canadian study just published in The Lancet.   Covert strokes are those without obvious symptoms including paralysis, weakness, speec...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/MatgZ2Jd0-U   Teens who have been bullied are 3 times more likely to have attempted suicide than those who have not be victimized.   This fact is true for adolescents around the world according to a recently published data analysis culled from more than 130,000 adolescents 12 through 15 years by the World Health Organizations Student Health Survey.   The risk of suicide...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/sSbGUgcsl68   As medical and recreational cannabis are increasingly legalized, poison control centers are fielding more calls from emergency rooms and desperate parents.   A report from UMass-Amherst just published in JAMA looks at the rise in calls following legalization of medical marijuana in Massachusetts.     Legalization of medicinal weed was followed by a 140% in...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/ByXQXvIfwRg   The obesity epidemic is triggering cancer in ever-younger Americans.   Epidemiologists from Case Western Reserve University studied cancers, both obesity-related and non-related, that were documented in the worldwide SEER18 database over the first 16 years of the 21 st century.   They focused on the age of the cancers at diagnosis.   The data included some...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/WaX8zsaB2Xg   Recovery from breast cancer surgery is challenging, and much work is needed to regain arm strength, shoulder mobility, and freedom from arm swelling.   A Spanish meta-analysis, just published in the European Journal of Cancer Care, shows that Nordic walking has a significant, positive impact on arm edema, physical fitness, disability, and patient optimism....

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/WRdLs2fhXtY Nearly 90% of American stroke victims with large blood vessel blockages receive less than optimal care.   That statistic is even worse for minority populations suggesting healthcare racism.   Mayo Clinic neurology researchers reviewed more than 200,000 admissions to some 173 medical centers over the most recent 2 year period.   Despite widespread professiona...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/4VSFYpvclCQ   A VR trip to far-off lands or a challenging VR adventure game may curb pain without the risks of medicine.   UCLA researchers proved that point by quantitating the pain of 120 hospital patients half of whom were randomized to use virtual reality headsets three times a day for a two day study period.   Those treated to the VR sessions recorded nearly 4 time...