Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/rOPNUtRcBY4 Aspirin has now been shown to significantly improve survival for at least one type of cancer in those patients whose tumors have a specific genetic variant.   That cancer is squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with an altered PIK3CA gene. A study just published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine followed 266 patients after surgical resection of t...

Aspirin Can Help Cure Cancer Most Brainpower Develops During Childhood and Adolescence Muscle Power Banked During Youth Supports Later Vigor Weed is Fetal Poison A Short Delay Bathing Newborns Enhances Breastfeeding Low Dose Aspirin Prevents Preelampsia-Associated Stroke A Simple Swallow Can Detect Esophageal Cancer The Ketogenic Diet Is Safe It’s Karma: School Bullies Sustain More Injury Than Vic...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/YFe2s7g4drk from www.goodnewsNetwork.org Kate, not her real name, has epilepsy.   Late once night, she began suffering seizures and went to the ER.   She stabilized and was discharged at 4 in the morning.   She called a Lyft to get home as she could not drive.   Here’s her first person account:  I called a Lyft to pick me up and hoped against hope that it would be someone...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/DgFFJMe2_no Here’s a flash from the off-beat health news department.   Researchers in Sweden and Hungary report that the black and white striped design seen on Africa’s Zebras and copied into body painting by indigenous peoples protects against biting and blood-sucking insects including mosquitos and horseflies.   The scientists compared the frequency of horsefly attacks...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/RldzY17lQUQ Acupressure can give breast cancer survivors significant relief from pain, anxiety, depressive symptoms, fatigue and sleep problems.   A continuing study at the University of Michigan reports a news analysis of 288 patients. Two different type of Eastern medical acupressure, relaxing acupressure and stimulating acupressure, were compared with standard relaxati...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/p-LdqwUqtPg The wearable foot sensors that many serious runners think may prevent devastating stress fractures are measuring the wrong forces.   Engineers and orthopedic specialists at Vanderbilt University now report that muscular forces on the leg bones rather the force of the foot striking the running surface are the principal causes of the incapacitating, tiny cracks...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/js0YBT86Omo Mmmmm.   Smell that fried dough!   Doesn’t that whiff of pepperoni pizza get your juices flowing?   Businesses peddling less than healthy treats have been blowing fragrances of warm cinnamon rolls and buttered popcorn in our faces for years knowing that its tough for us to resist.   Marketing gurus from the University of South Florida’s college of business n...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/cnqHqgpqycE Someday soon, high-tech tattoos may replace blood testing for continuous monitoring.   Bioengineers at MIT and Harvard Med School as well as at the University of Colorado’s ATLAS Institute are combining nanoparticles with tattoo technology to create color changing indicators deep in the skin. The Harvard-MIT team developed sensor inks that can signal levels of...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/ohUzmKKBY_I One or two hits of cannabis in any form does permanently affect the brain structure of young people.   New studies by University of Vermont psychiatrists looked at brain imaging for 46 teens experiencing cannabis for the first time and compared their brains with those of with non-users. The data reveals greater gray matter volumes in cannabis-binding zones of...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/9JV0SLJuclE Standing, walking down the hall or room to room, even going to the kitchen....for water, ANYTHING BUT SITTING, will add years to your healthy life.   This health tip comes from New York’s Columbia College of Physicans and Surgeons as an ongoing study follows nearly 8,000 middle aged men and women using wearable activity monitors. Swapping just 30 minutes of si...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/A1dV3YvCf8w Newborns and infants have very sensitive developing respiratory and gastrointestinal channels.   When parents have brought them to my pediatric ENT office, I found that their breathing issues were usually due to   airway irritation from refluxed feedings and dryness.   These observation became so common, that I began to offer 3 tips to every parent of a newbor...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/ZG9QzEod8iY Victims of bullying and sexual exploitation are more likely to suffer a lower quality of life than those with current heart disease, diabetes, and mental illnesses.   This is the conclusion of an Australian study of some 3,000 persons of all ages and socioeconomic levels. The researchers used the presence of multiple self-destructive behaviors including smokin...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/NXeOBr57VNY Beware of missing those doctors’ appointments.   Now, I’m not shilling for my colleagues but merely reporting a warning from the latest and largest study of its kind from Britain and Scotland.   After reviewing the appointment histories of one-half million persons, researchers report that patients with continuing medical issues of all kinds who missed 2 or mor...

  Vidcast: https://youtu.be/IyL2_-NFP3w   Missed Doctors’ Appointments Can Be Deadly Social and Sexual Abuse Drive Substantial Health Decline HELP: 3 Tips Every Infant’s Parent Should Know Bursts of Any Physical Activity Add Years First Uses of Marijuana Trigger Permanent Brain Changes FutureMed: Smart Tattoos Aromas of Fattening Foods Can Stir or Curb Appetite Runners’ Wearable Sensors Will Not P...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/MJwjbyGChDU Disabled veteran Marc Walsh was frantic and disheartened when he noticed that his wallet, filled with cash, credit cards, and difficult to replace identification cards, was not in his pocket.   Meanwhile, two teen sisters, walking along a snow-covered West Detroit street, saw the wallet and picked it up.   Opening the wallet, Walsh’s military ID card immediate...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/W9pIH4Cq7zc Half of the millions using the most common type of sleeping pills might never wake to escape a fire.   Taken to induce sleep and relaxation, the popular benzodiazepine medications or benzos for short include Restoril, Halcion, Ativan, Xanax, and Valium.   This class of drugs induces drowsiness but also suppresses emergency arousal.   Even newer drugs such as A...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/BdkFM7lAJ7Q Eating fiber-rich foods and whole grains rather than fast food carbs will prolong your healthy life.   A meta-analysis of 135 million person-years of data, completed in New Zealand, was just published in The Lancet. The highest consumption of dietary fiber and whole grains led to a 15-30% reduction in deaths from all causes, in the incidence and deaths from he...

VidCast: https://youtu.be/BfUxLso3b5I Restricting childrens’ sedentary screen time in favor of more physically active pursuits is the latest weapon in the war against childhood obesity.   New Canadian research just published in the journal BMC Obesity reminds us that parenting practices are key factors in their offsprings’ screen time. Nearly 40 families with at least one child 18 monthS to 5 year...

VidCast: https://youtu.be/seKiQCg_VEw Excess abdominal fat, particularly visceral fat around the bowels that creates a pear-shaped belly, can substantially raise your risk of heart disease even more than just being overweight or obese.   A new study published in the journal Neurology now associates pear-shaped bellies with smaller brains.   The study reviewed over 9600 middle aged people and looke...

VidCast: https://youtu.be/cdG-7SCuuSk Women experiencing serious post-menopausal symptoms including hot flashes and flushing are frequently prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT).   One uncommon but life-threatening risk associated with this therapy is venous thromboembolism, the formation of blood clots in leg or other veins that can travel up into the heart and lungs or beyond. British epi...

VidCast: https://youtu.be/BXJr5-3AZ80 Terrifying flashbacks and horrifying visual memories are suffered by those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).   German and Swedish researchers now publish data in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology that demonstrates suppression of these hallucinations by playing   Tetris. Their studies showed that 75% of those who played Tetris while ex...

VidCast: https://youtu.be/Xue5gu5TAe8   Everyone assumes that Vitamin supplements in reasonable quantities are safe and beneficial.   Investigators at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital now show that for Vitamin E and cancer that assumption is dead wrong.   The word dead is significant.   The enzyme that controls how the body uses Vitamin E comes in 3 genetic variants.   It turns out that wome...

VidCast: https://youtu.be/WIVM5wcPtQA   Fasting intermittently while on restricted intake was the most effective path to weight loss for the obese.   That’s the result of Australia’s Adelaide University’s study of 88 overweight or obese women on controlled diets over a 10 week period.   The data showed that those who ate only 70% of their normal caloric requirement and fasted for 3 non-consecutive...

VidCast: https://youtu.be/aoeVuKJMH8U   Doctors who regularly prescribe marijuana have some practical advice for you, and I’ll pass it on.   The Annals of Internal Medicine solicited this information and here are the pearls: AS A PAIN MED:   not the first thing to try;   if you try begin with low doses, avoid smoking it in favor of edibles and topicals; begin with CBD (cannabidiol) rather than the...

VidCast: https://youtu.be/yRHTi8fPcow To remain happy in the mainstream of life, check your hearing.   Researchers in Columbia’s ENT department studied over 5,000 New Yorkers with hearing tests but also screening for depression.   They found that even a mild hearing loss doubles your chances for depression. If you have a severe hearing loss, you are 4 times more likely to be depressed. Almost ever...