Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/XBVuiU1SwvE Published on Apr 16, 2016 Tylenol can affect your reaction times and judgement. #Tylenol #acetaminophen #reactiontime #judgement

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/mY6ggkY0vBE Published on Dec 6, 2015 React to Your Baby's Babbling to foster the development of communications with your baby. #Parenting #babbling #language #infancy #communications  

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/6-EdsjAk52c Here’s some very good news.   A new study from Yale cardiology shows that the incidence of heart attacks and the rates of death from them are at 20 year lows. Following more than 4 million Medicare patients from 1995 to 2014, the investigators report a 38% decline in heart attack hospitalizations over 2 decades.   Even more impressive is the all time low 12% 3...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/Ks1j_yT6_Gs The drug dapagliflozin (DAP-AG-LI-FLOSIN), marketed as Farxiga (FAR-SIGA), which helps type 2 non-insulin dependent diabetics control their blood sugars, can help patients with heart failure as well.   The beneficial effect of Farxiga on heart failure has been known, but the new information from the international DECLARE-TIMI study is that the drug preferentia...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/qPrjwtIsFvM Ninety percent of the most popular prescription medications in the US contain one or more ingredients that may make you sick.   Now, I’m not talking about the main or so-called active ingredient but rather about the inactive ingredients that are added to pills, capsules, and liquids to improve shelf life, absorption, and taste. A study just released by collabo...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/Od7mpmZadsA If you heard that you can avoid regular, breast squeezing mammography and still effectively screen for breast cancer using thermography, you heard incorrectly.   The FDA now repeats its warning that thermography, the use of an infrared camera to detect breast hot spots, cannot detect breast cancer at its earliest and most treatable stages. The FDA has been tak...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/SjzjE9Wa4X4 I’m not referring to the psychedelic variety of ‘shrooms.   We’re talking more pedestrian varieties. A study from Singapore just published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease suggests that mushrooms may be magic after all.   They seem to play a role in preventing cognitive impairment that occurs with aging and after head injury. The researchers studied and t...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/qlbHRISO0no Sit-stand desks, so-called SSDs, are no miracle.   This conclusion stems from a University of Pittsburgh meta-analysis of some 53 studies. The Pitt bioengineers conclude that these convertible desks do drive less sitting, can improve back pain issues, may make their users somewhat more comfortable, and can lower your blood pressure a bit.   They will not help...

Vidcast: ttps://youtu.be/S2QmyRj51jM Wrapping a new pacemaker in an absorbable, antibiotic-soaked mesh before implantation can prevent a nasty infection later.   Cardiologists at Cleveland Clinic conducted and recently published the results of an international, multi-center study of the FDA approved Medtronic TYRX   (TRIKES) Absorbable Antibacterial Envelope. The trial enrolled nearly 7,000 patien...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/mot6c4dB_fQ If you’re struggling with balance problems due to an accident, an injury, or advancing age, that VR headset laying around the house or on the store shelf may just be the key to your recovery.   Balance specialists and physiotherapists at Sweden’s Lund University now report their results using a virtual reality environment to help subjects train their balance s...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/pZYPwtzQhJs Is your smartphone the final authority on the best time to have sex?   Whether you want to get pregnant or avoid parenthood, the answer appears to be yes.   Georgetown University’s Institute for Reproductive Health studied one app that can help you, the DOT Fertility Tracker, in over 700 women 18 to 39 years of age for up to one year of use.   They found that...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/vOOwAULCFfg   Statins, in widespread use for lowering cholesterol and right-sizing the proportions of so-called good and bad fats, HDL and LDL.   Statins such as atorvastatin (Lipitor), lovastatin (Mevacor), pravastatin (Pravachol), rosuvastatin (Crestor), and simvastatin (Zocor) will save lives but all too few take them regularly as prescribed.     Utah cardiologists pre...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/mIwQOTwREXY A mother smoking before and during pregnancy increases the risk that her child will die unexpectedly during infancy.   Seattle Children’s Hospital pediatricians and the data jockeys at Microsoft Corporation collaborated to analyze the CDC’s infant death data covering almost 21 million births and close to 20,000 episodes of infant death. The risk of unexpected...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/KTnE7itSwwY Sporadic over-consumption of alcohol during adolescent years leads to epigenetic alterations in the cells of brain tissue, and that modification forever damages later emotional stability.   Experiments proving this phenomenon from the University of Illinois-Chicago were just published in the journal Biological Psychiatry. Using an adolescent rat model, the sci...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/s4Lxva4O0Pk Sleep deprivation will drive you to consume a wider variety of products.   Marketing researchers from the University of British Columbia’s business school draw this conclusion from several studies of buying patterns as a function of sleepiness.   Their experiments included artificial situations such as choosing candy bars on more or less sleep and a look at th...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/YBZgDChW8Xg Smartphones and tablets have not reduced the 90 minutes a day that children and teens traditionally spend with other family members.   Sociologists at the British Universities of Oxford and Warwick reviewed journals from nearly 2500 children 8 to 16 years of age and journals from their parents as well.     The data shows that personal electronics actually adde...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/9mnVzvXuIoo Wiping a memory away requires more brain resources than retaining that thought.   Neuroscientists from the University of Texas at Austin report these findings after studying a group of adult subjects using functional MRI brain imaging to determine the levels of brain activity while attempting to either remember or forget images of people or scenes. The brain i...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/oHVdoCrx_4c The poor ole egg is again under attack again.   Numerous studies over the past 30 years have declared the egg to be innocent of being an accessory before the fact when it comes to driving artery hardening, heart attacks, and strokes.   Many nutrition experts have stated that the majority of the cholesterol in our body is synthesized in the liver from the fats...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/XiP1t2R8KdA I’m Dr. Howard Smith, PENTA Medical Network,   reporting from NYC with the Health News Roundup for the 3rd week of MARCH, 2019.   This is Health News You Should Use, the latest medical discoveries that you can use in a practical way to keep yourself and your family healthy.   Here are this week’s headlines: Eggs or No Eggs: Can You Eat Them Safely? It’s Easier...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/q71bhoFuam4 Here are the headlines for this weeks stories: Toxins At Home And In Food Can Make You Sterile Raw Dog Food Contains Dangerous Bacteria Mediterranean Diet Turbocharges You In Just Days Young Women Need Better Lipid Screening Childbirth In the 50s Can Be As Safe As In The 40s Pregnancy Infections May Trigger Autism and Depression Vaping Triggers Heart Attacks a...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/E40hnE1C8yA Nine year old Lilly has special needs.   She is intrigued by bagging at the grocery store and loves seeing how the various packages fit together in any given bag just like a puzzle. On a recent trip to the market with her mom, she was eyeing the bags when cashier Isaac Witte asked her if she would like to help him bag.   She was delighted and did a magnificent...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/m3yHMVTJ3zw Hookah smoking is considered safe and fun.   It attracts teens and young adults by the droves.   This cavalier attitude is drawing alarm from the American Heart Association, and it is time to set the record straight. Water pipe smoking is industrial strength tobacco smoking.   A one hour hookah session exposes the smoker to the nicotine and tar equivalent of 1...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/ujmnLUq7wdk Young infants use the quality of laughter they hear to help them separate family and friend from stranger danger.   A joint study by communication psychologists at New York University and UCLA concludes that babies as young as 5 months of age can detect social relationships by decoding the sounds of laughter. Using both audio and video experiments, the investi...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/08vDhmJzUMc A one-hour midday nap can help you control your blood pressure as well as taking medications or changing your diet.   Greek cardiologists will be presenting their data demonstrating this effect next week at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Sessions. The researchers studied more than 200 middle aged subjects comparing the blood pressures o...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/U077ZmTUQiE Stocky, young athletes often experience disordered sleep snd breathing patterns that could predispose them to heart attack and sudden death.   Exercise scientists from Japan’s Showa University explored this situation by studying 42 male rugby players 18-19 years of age. After formal sleep studies were completed, 43% of the players experienced significant sleep...