Dr. Howard Smith Reports

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/1yclIEv_3d4   The CPSC and Aldi are recalling the Bee Happy 12 Days of Craft Advent Calendars.   The paint used on the Day 10 brown bell contains lead levels that exceed federal safety standards and create a risk of lead poisoning for young children should the paint be ingested.   About 13 of these units were sold at Aldi stores in Laguna Woods, CA and West Madison, A...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/BGYm7dKKqVE   The CPSC and Petzl are recalling the PIRANA Descender Canyoneering Devices.   The climber’s rope may become caught or wedged in the device’s blocking slot preventing the individual from moving up or down.   If the climber is suspended in a waterfall or in a pool, there is a risk of drowning.   About 3450 of these devices were sold in the US and 177 were...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/nXLuHZwqorI   The CPSC and BRP are recalling Ski-Doo Expedition SE, LE, and SWT 900 ACE Turbo snowmobiles from the model years 2020 through 2022.   Fuel may leak from the tank onto superheated components if the vehicle is on a tilt or flips over, and this will create fire and burn hazards.   About 700 of these snowmobiles were sold in the US and about 3900 were sold i...

Short Short Medical Reports are the cutting edge medical and healthcare discoveries not quite ready for the clinic, but I want you to know about them now.   Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/7wKrhWX2MUM   Cleaning surfaces at home using common commercial disinfectants may release dangerous levels of volatile organic compounds into the air you breathe.   Engineers at Indiana University remind you to vent...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/mq9ov3lJ1fI   Children with CoVid-induced multiple inflammatory syndrome, MIS-C, recovered more quickly when larazotide, a drug developed and approved for treatment of celiac disease, was added to the usual regimen of steroids and intravenous immune globulins.   Pediatric gastroenterologists at Harvard’s Mass. General Hospital and pathologists at the Brigham & Women’s...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/uuaSQbFb33E   Women who smoke consistently from 14 weeks before conception to 10 weeks after it carry fetuses that are consistently underweight and are born with a notable weight deficit.   Dutch researchers studied 689 pregnant women between 2010 and 2018 and compared the babies carried by the smokers with the non-smokers.   Those who smoked a half-pack a day or more...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/N3pVudLSzLQ   A child’s level of dislike for a given food rather than how much the child likes that food is a better predictor of consumption at any given meal.   Penn State nutritionists studied 61 children 4 to 6 years of age who were asked to rate the 7 foods presented to them on a meal tray: chicken nuggets, grapes, potato chips, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, ketchup...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/hnkLtoEJjIA   Individuals with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at least 6 times more likely to evidence a hoarding disorder (HD) that significantly interferes with the conduct of their lives.   So say psychologists at the UK’s Anglia Ruskin University following their study of 88 patients in an ADHD clinic, a matched control group of 90 persons, and...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/iR1H6epMhGI   The CDC announced on 2/25/22 a recommended extension in the interval between the first and second shots of mRNA vaccine from 3-4 weeks to 8 weeks.   They explained that this longer interval drives   an improvement in CoVid immunity generation and a reduction in the incidence of complications including myocarditis.   Let’s look at the specifics for vaccin...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/yIo1uEg9sVM   The young women who experience migraines and become pregnant are more likely to suffer sometimes dire complications.   Investigators at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital issue this warning after analyzing more than 30,000 pregnancies in about 19,000 women over a 20 year period.   The data shows that pregnant women with migraine headaches are 17% mor...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/9XfhDAQtQP8   The early reports from NY State show that the Pfizer vaccine works better and longer for teens than for the elementary school crew.   The NY State Public Health Department in collaboration with the University of Albany now report the vaccine efficiencies for 852,384 fully vaccinated adolescents 12-17 years and 365,502 children 5-11 years during the 6 wee...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/MiMWjWPrJVk   The FDA and Family Dollar Inc. have recalled a slew of products that have been shipped to various Family Dollar retail stores from a Family Dollar Distribution Center in West Memphis, Arkansas.   This warehouse was found to be infested with rats and other rodents.   Products from this warehouse may be contaminated with salmonella and include drugs, medic...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/mcuxYHLsLCw   The FDA and Vadilal are recalling Valdilal Frozen Custard Apple Pulp.   This product is contaminated with salmonella.   This bacterium can cause serious and sometimes life-threatening infections in the very young, elders, and those with immunosuppression.   The batch codes involved include KWHO and KRQO.   Do not consume this product but return it to the...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/7w_5yPXpEpM   The FDA and Alli and Rose LLC announce the recall of Snak Yard Dried Plums/Saladitos.   This product has potential lead contamination.   It was sold at Costco Wholesale in Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington state.   If you bought this product, return it to your local Costco for a refund.   For more information about this recall, call Alli & Rose L...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/1RNykeiQ6lU   The CPSC and Marshalls now recall Festive Lights Hanukkah Menorahs in the shapes of llama, brontosaurus, stegosaurus, T-rex, castle, rainbow, rainbow platform, and emojis.   These menorahs are composed of resin and medium density fiberboard that may ignite and burn.   About 7900 of these menorahs were sold nationwide at Marshalls, HomeGoods, and Homesens...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/t2iJiih6zoY   The CPSC and Kelly Wynne LLC are recalling Mama & Me MINI Children’s Handbags.   These children’s handbags have metal zipper sliders, zipper 0-rings, d-rings, rivets and studs that contain lead levels exceeding the federal lead content ban. Lead is neurotoxic if ingested by young children.   About 1,050 of these bags were sold at nordstrom.com and at kel...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/i0ImNC_9tn8   A 4 th shot of either the Moderna or Pfizer CoVid vaccine bumps CoVid neutralizing antibodies and actual Omicron virus neutralization by a factor of 8 to 10 fold while preventing both infections and hospitalizations.   These conclusions come from an Israeli study comparing the CoVid immunity and health status of 274 health care workers who received 4 th...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/YTKEt_tUi5c   The BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron variant has 6 additional mutations and 3 deletions that permit it to escape neutralization by the only two remaining monoclonal antibodies shown to capably neutralize the original Omicron subvariant,   Virologists at NYU report this finding after studying the neutralizing effects of various monoclonal antibodies and coc...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/NcvCgecD2c8   Some 43% of elementary school aged children with insomnia continue to suffer from it into adolescence and young adulthood.   This from a Penn State longitudinal study of 502 children initially studied when they were 5 to 12 years of age with followup evaluations 7 and 15 years later when they were at median ages of 16 years and 24 years.   In addition to...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/OsPEBimYMVs   The good news: studies from South Africa show that the Omicron subvariant BA.2 that I call Omicron 2, while appearing to spread faster than Omicron 1, does not cause more severe disease.   The bad news: researchers in Denmark have identified a subtype of Omicron 2, so-called BA.2+H78Y, that is even better than Omicron 1 or 2   at evading preexisting CoVi...

x Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/YT89x809C88   The 3 common rapid antigen tests currently in use in the US have similar analytic sensitivities for the Omicron variant as they do for the Delta variant but all tests were incapable of detecting infection when low levels of virus were present.   Researchers at Harvard report these findings after testing 30 known Omicron positive samples and 30 known Delt...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/RBjk196t8U8   Fully vaccinated and vaccinated and boosted persons are at least half as likely as unvaccinated persons to experience long CoVid symptoms should they develop a CoVid infection.   On the other hand, those who received vaccination after their infections were only 12% less likely to report continuing CoVid symptoms.   The UK Health Security Agency reviewed...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/9JzvAmLtvfI   Lifelong exercise not only keeps your body fat from over-accumulating but it also fine tunes its metabolic activity helping to prevent diabetes, obesity, and cancer.   Researchers at the University of Copenhagen make these claims after comparing the fat cells from 20 something male couch potatoes with those from 60 something men who either avoided exerci...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/CoVRKi3808c   The Royal Ice Cream Co. with the FDA’s blessing is expanding its ice cream recall to include their products sold under the following brands: Batch, Ronny Brook, New Orleans, Maple Valley, Art Cream, Sweet Scoops, Gelato Fiasco, Big Iggy’s, Munson Chipwich, Giffords, Chewy Louie, Snow Wich, Newport Creamery, Dough Wich, Doris Italian Markets, as well as R...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/T4td-26CRAs   The FDA and Candies Toleca are recalling Toleca Saladitos (Dried Salted Plums) and Saladitos con Chile y Limon (Dried Plums with Chili & Lemon).   These products are contaminated with lead, a neurotoxic substance, particularly for infants, young children, and a developing fetus.   These products were sold in California, Nevada, and Utah.   Do not consume...