Category Archives: Health

Less than 7% of Americans have good heart health

Less than 7% of Americans have good heart health – with minorities and less educated people suffering the most, study finds

  • Only 7% of Americans have optimal heart health, with figures declining in recent years, a new study finds
  • Researchers blame a majority of the downturn in heart health on the rising prevalence of obesity and diabetes
  • Heart disease is the leading killer of Americans every year, even maintaining the title through the COVID-19 pandemic 
  • People who are less educated and those that are ethnic minorities were found to be at the most risk of poor heart health 

A staggering low number of Americans have good heart health, a new study finds.

Researchers at Tufts University in the Boston, Massachusetts area, found that only seven percent of Americans are in good cardiometabolic health.

While worrying, the findings are not surprising as the poor health of the average American has been well reported for years on end, making it one of health officials biggest puzzles to solve.

What is surprising is the level that some social determinants play in a person’s heart health, with people who are less educated or an ethnic minority more likely to be in bad health.

Only 7% of Americans are in optimal heart health, a new study finds, with increases in obesity and diabetes determined to be at most fault (file photo)

‘These numbers are striking. It’s deeply problematic that in the United States, one of the wealthiest nations in the world, fewer than 1 in 15 adults have optimal cardiometabolic health,’ Meghan O’Hearn, a doctoral candidate at Tufts and lead author of the study, said in a statement.

‘We need a complete overhaul of our healthcare system, food system, and built environment, because this is a crisis for everyone, not just one segment of the population.’ 

Researchers, who published their findings Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology,  gathered data from 55,000 people aged 20 or older from 1999 to 2018 for the study.

The most recent ten cycles of the Health and Nutritional Exam Survey were analyzed.

Each participant’s data was evaluated for five key components of health, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, whether they were overweight and by how much, and the development of cardiovascular disease.

Only seven percent of American adults were in an optimal place in all five categories.

In both the blood sugar and overweight categories, rates got significantly worse over the two decade period data was gathered from.

This has been a well recognized trend by health officials in the U.S. as well. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, nearly half of Americans are obese and over 70 percent are overweight.

The CDC also reports that more than one-in-ten Americans are also diabetic.

Both figures have rapidly shifted upwards since the turn of the century, mainly because of poor dietary habits and the number of Americans living sedentary lifestyles.

Heart disease is also the leading killer of Americans, even maintaining the title through the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘This is a health crisis we’ve been facing for a while,’ O’Hearn said.

Where researchers were surprised was when they broke down the data by race and education level.

They found that less-educated adults were only half as likely to have optimal heart health as their more scholarly peers.

While small, the number of white Americans with good heart health actually increased from 1999 to 2019, while there were declines found among Mexican-Americans, Hispanic and black people.

‘This is really problematic,’ Dr Dariush Mozaffarian, study author and dean at Tufts, said in a statement.

‘Social determinants of health such as food and nutrition security, social and community context, economic stability, and structural racism put individuals of different education levels, races, and ethnicities at an increased risk of health issues.’

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Hippocrates Did WHAT to Treat Hemorrhoids?

Did you know that more than half of all people will have to deal with hemorrhoids at least once in their life? Although hemorrhoids are an issue no one looks forward to dealing with, if you ever find yourself addressing that pesky condition, be VERY glad you are not living in ancient Greece with the famed Hippocrates (aka the “Father of Modern Medicine”) as your physician.

The famed doctor traveled widely and even may have written many of his thoughts and practices down (although because many Greeks studied under him and wrote based on his teaching, it is likely there are multiple authors of the works usually referred to as the “Hippocratic Collection”). What he is by far most famous for is the still used “Hippocratic Oath” taken by modern physicians around the world to this day. What is ironic is that the oath states to “do no harm” – which is why it may be surprising to find out if you went to a Hippocratic doctor in ancient Greece they would treat your hemorrhoids by literally taking heated iron surgical instruments to your derriere!

Greek physician and patient, plaster cast in W.H.M.M. (Wellcome Collection/ CC BY 4.0 )

Hippocrates’ Procedure to Treat Hemorrhoids

The specific words of the 400 BC treatise “On Hemorrhoids” go into great detail on exactly how to best accomplish this procedure. It states that “seven or eight” iron surgical tools with a coin sized piece on the end should be “prepared” – meaning made red hot. Then the patient should be held down with arms restrained while the hemorrhoids are literally “burned until the pile is dried up, so that no part may be left behind”. Interestingly, the work specifically encouraged the patient not to be gagged and be encouraged to yell, because yelling will “push the anus out” and make it easier to access and burn off more hemorrhoids!

Surgical tools, 5th century BC, Greece. Reconstruction based on descriptions within the Hippocratic corpus. Thessaloniki Technology Museum. (Gts-tg/ CC BY-SA 4.0 )

When the procedure was finished there at least were processes in place to treat the (possibly now quite more severe) wounds in the person’s backside. After the operation a classic soothing paste was applied, made from the medicinal staples (?) lentils and chickpeas, and a bandage was tied to the person’s midriff to hold it in place for several days. After the lentil-chickpea bandage was removed, honey would be applied to a new bandage, and inserted into the person’s anus.

Now how the person was relieving themselves during that week, or how they could possibly do it with any semblance of hygiene… is best not to think about. Especially when you consider the fact that ancient Greeks tended to use actual shards of pottery in lieu of toilet paper after going “#2”. I can think of few worse things than having to literally scrape feces off of recent burn wounds… but I guess these ancient Greeks were a different breed. Sadly, that habit of using pottery shards as tp is a major reason why hemorrhoids were so common amongst ancient Greeks.

Ancient Greek pottery of Cycladic workshop, find from cemetery north of Paroikia, shard with painting, 700 – 600 BC. Archaeological museum of Paros. Zde/ CC BY-SA 4.0

Other Ancient Hemorrhoid Cures

This “burn them straight to hell!” technique seems to be contained to the Greeks, although other potential solutions (essentially ALL preferable) were also written about by both the Hippocratic authors and other ancient societies. For example, ancient Egyptians had several recipes for medicinal pastes that could be applied to the affected areas.

Interestingly, a different strategy used by Romans, Indians, and Arabs involved “ligation”. Ligation, or literally cutting off blood flow to an area, was utilized by each of these cultures and also pops up in some of the Hippocratic writings. The Greeks wrote about using wool or thread to tightly tie off the hemorrhoid, cutting off the blood flow to it so over time it would actually shrivel up and fall off either on its own or through “excision” – cutting it off. This technique has actually stood the test of time and it is one of several methods still used, although now doctors use a rubber band instead of some version of thread to tie off the hemorrhoid.

11th century English miniature. On the right is an operation to remove hemorrhoids. On the left a patient with gout is treated with cutting and burning of the feet. ( Public Domain )

Hemorrhoid Burning Aside, Hippocrates Made Some Positive Contributions to Today’s Health Care

Of all possible solutions, the Hippocratic red hot iron burning is absolutely the worst. However, Hippocrates did give the world a whole new way of looking at health and even such terms as symptom, diagnosis, therapy, trauma, and sepsis. He is credited as the first to accurately diagnose epilepsy and figure out that it was caused by an issue within the brain, and therefore it proved that the brain did in fact control the body.

He also named a host of diseases we continue to call by the same terms today, such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, coma, and paralysis. He even figured out how to diagnose and treat a lung infection known as empyema, a potentially fatal condition that would require a CT scan and X-ray for diagnosis today.

Given Hippocrates’ host of remarkable accomplishments across multiple medical disciplines before the invention of nearly all modern diagnostic tools, perhaps we can give him a break for making the wrong call on one particular condition. Also considering it is always best to look on the brighter side of things, and considering almost everyone will deal with hemorrhoids at some point in their life… when it happens, you can at least be extra glad you are facing it with modern medicine at your side!

Top Image: 13th century depiction of hemorrhoid surgery. Source: The British Library / Public Domain

By Brendan Beatty

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Why UCSF’s Bob Wachter says COVID variant BA.5 is ‘a different beast’

The new BA.5 strain of the COVID-causing virus is “a different beast” from ones we’ve already seen — more infectious and better able to evade immune responses — and “we need to change our thinking” about how to defend against it, according to a data-packed Twitter thread posted today by Dr. Bob Wachter, UCSF’s chair of medicine.

BA.5, a sub-variant of the Omicron family which has an altered version of the virus’s infamous “spike” protein, will soon become the dominant strain of the virus in the U.S., meaning that “its behavior will determine our fate for the next few months, until it either burns itself out by infecting so many people or is replaced by a variant that’s even better at infecting people,” Wachter wrote.

“Neither is a joyful scenario,” he added.

The number of new COVID cases per day has plateaued nationally and is down significantly since January. The same is true for the number of COVID hospitalizations in the UCSF health system, Watchter said. However, the true spread of COVID is harder to know these days, because so many people are testing themselves with at-home kits.

And BA.5 could cause a continued plateau, or even a new surge of infections and possibly hospitalizations, because it infects more easily and also is better at evading immune responses — even in vaccinated people, Wachter wrote.

While he stressed that vaccines and vaccine booster shots “remain hugely valuable in preventing a severe case” that might lead to hospitalization or death, the increased slippieriness of BA.5 means that existing vaccines will probably be less effective at preventing mild COVID cases or stopping transmission in the first place. Also, he wrote, prior infection by a different variant “no longer provides robust protection from reinfection” with BA.5.

What should a person do, then?

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Wachter said it depends on how badly you want to avoid getting COVID. Personally, he said, he doesn’t want to risk getting “Long COVID” and the debilitating symptoms that come with it, “So I still avoid indoor dining & will continue to wear an N95 in crowded indoor spaces until cases come way down.” Others might make different choices.

As for governments, he said, if BA.5 causes a surge in hospitalizations, “particularly if we also have staff shortages,” a return to mask mandates “would be the right call.” But Wachter acknowledged there would likely be fierce resistance to new mask-wearing requirements, especially outside of blue states, regardless of the danger.

“Most people have ditched their masks,” he wrote.

Jason Fagone (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jason.fagone@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfagone



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Study indicates that thin influencers do not motivate healthy food choices among tweens

Can tweens’ eating habits be affected by messaging from influencers? A study published in Frontiers in Psychology suggests that a thin influencer does not affect food choice in kids between 11 and 13, while an overweight influencer may be able to.

Tweens, teens, and young adults are subject to a lot of promotion from influencers and brands. In this technology-driven age, influencer marketing is a huge industry, with influencers advertising clothes, food, makeup, and more. This can have a profound effect on people, especially individuals who are young and impressionable. With nutrition being such an important part of a developing child’s health, this study seeks to understand how influencers can affect food choice for tweens.

For their study, Steffi De Jans and colleagues utilized 146 participants with an even gender split. Participants were randomly selected from 3 different schools in Belgium. Researchers created 2 Instagram profiles for fake influencers, one who was presented as thin-ideal and one who was presented as overweight. Influencers were shown holding either carrots (healthy snack) or cookies (unhealthy snack). Participants completed measures on influencer credibility, influencer admiration, trans-parasocial interactions, and food choice.

Results showed that when exposed to the thin-ideal influencer, their choice of snack was not affected; the group shown the healthy snack and the group shown the unhealthy snack chose the unhealthy snack at similar rates. When exposed to the overweight influencer, participants were more likely to choose the healthy snack after seeing the post with the unhealthy product in it. The results showed an effect of weight on perceived credibility, with overweight influencers being perceived as less credible, and on influencer admiration, with thin-ideal influencers being more admired.

This study took steps into better understanding influencers effects on food choice for tweens, but it also has some limitations to note. One such limitation is that this study utilized a fictitious influencer, which likely would not have the sway or influence on kids that someone they know of might. Additionally, participants were told they would be given their chosen snack as a thank you, which may have influenced them to pick whichever snack they would prefer at the time. Future research could give more snack options.

“This study shows that exposure to a thin-ideal influencer did not affect tweens’ choice for healthy vs. unhealthy foods. Hence, we suggest that using thin-ideal social media influencers does not stimulate a healthy diet among tweens,” the researchers said.

“However, exposure to an overweight influencer promoting unhealthy snacks can positively affect children’s choice of healthy food. These results could be explained by contrast effects, as the overweight influencer is also perceived as less credible and is admired less by the tweens. Based on this main result, it is difficult to draw a concrete recommendation for marketers or public policies when it comes to promoting healthy food to children and adolescents, as our results would suggest that the best way to promote a healthy diet is by using an overweight influencer promoting an unhealthy food product.”

“Thus, we believe that it is not advisable to promote healthy food to children through the endorsement of unhealthy food by an overweight influencer, as this may perpetuate the stereotypes regarding overweight people in that people who do not have a thin ideal are unhealthy and eat unhealthy food,” the researchers concluded.

The study, “Impact of Thin-Ideals in Influencer Posts Promoting Healthy vs. Unhealthy Foods on Tweens’ Healthy Food Choice Behaviors“, was authored by Steffi De Jans, Liselot Hudders, Brigitte Naderer, and Valentina De Pauw.

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Only seven percent of adults have good cardiometabolic health

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Less than 7 percent of the U.S. adult population has good cardiometabolic health, a devastating health crisis requiring urgent action, according to research led by a team from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in a pioneering perspective on cardiometabolic health trends and disparities published in the July 12 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Their team also included researchers from Tufts Medical Center.

Researchers evaluated Americans across five components of health: levels of blood pressure, blood sugar, blood cholesterol, adiposity (overweight and obesity), and presence or absence of cardiovascular disease (heart attack, stroke, etc.). They found that only 6.8 percent of U.S. adults had optimal levels of all five components as of 2017-2018. Among these five components, trends between 1999 and 2018 also worsened significantly for adiposity and blood glucose. In 1999, 1 out of 3 adults had optimal levels for adiposity (no overweight or obesity); that number decreased to 1 out of 4 by 2018. Likewise, while 3 out of 5 adults didn’t have diabetes or prediabetes in 1999, fewer than 4 out of 10 adults were free of these conditions in 2018.

“These numbers are striking. It’s deeply problematic that in the United States, one of the wealthiest nations in the world, fewer than 1 in 15 adults have optimal cardiometabolic health,” said Meghan O’Hearn, a doctoral candidate at the Friedman School and the study’s lead author. “We need a complete overhaul of our healthcare system, food system, and built environment, because this is a crisis for everyone, not just one segment of the population.”

The study looked at a nationally representative sample of about 55,000 people aged 20 years or older from 1999 to 2018 from the 10 most recent cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The research team focused on optimal, intermediate, and poor levels of cardiometabolic health and its components, rather than just presence or absence of disease. “We need to shift the conversation, because disease is not the only problem,” O’Hearn said. “We don’t just want to be free of disease. We want to achieve optimal health and well-being.”

The researchers also identified large health disparities between people of different sexes, ages, races and ethnicities, and education levels. For example, adults with less education were half as likely to have optimal cardiometabolic health compared with adults with more education, and Mexican Americans had one-third the optimal levels versus non-Hispanic White adults. Additionally, between 1999 and 2018, while the percentage of adults with good cardiometabolic health modestly increased among non-Hispanic White Americans, it went down for Mexican American, other Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and adults of other races.

“This is really problematic. Social determinants of health such as food and nutrition security, social and community context, economic stability, and structural racism put individuals of different education levels, races, and ethnicities at an increased risk of health issues,” said Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School and senior author. “This highlights the other important work going on across the Friedman School and Tufts University to better understand and address the underlying causes of poor nutrition and health disparities in the U.S. and around the world.”

The study also assessed “intermediate” levels of health—not optimal but not yet poor—including conditions like pre-diabetes, pre-hypertension, and overweight. “A large portion of the population is at a critical inflection point,” O’Hearn said. “Identifying these individuals and addressing their health conditions and lifestyle early is critical to reducing growing healthcare burdens and health inequities.”

The consequences of the dire state of health among U.S. adults reach beyond personal health. “Its impacts on national healthcare spending and the financial health of the entire economy are enormous,” O’Hearn said. “And these conditions are largely preventable. We have the public health and clinical interventions and policies to be able to address these problems.”

Researchers at the Friedman School work actively on many such solutions, O’Hearn said, including Food is Medicine interventions (using good nutrition to help prevent and treat illness); incentives and subsidies to make healthy food more affordable; consumer education on a healthy diet; and private sector engagement to drive a healthier and more equitable food system. “There are a lot of different avenues through which this can be done,” O’Hearn said. “We need a multi-sectoral approach, and we need the political will and desire to do it.”

“This is a health crisis we’ve been facing for a while,” O’Hearn said. “Now there’s a growing economic, social and ethical imperative to give this problem significantly more attention than it has been getting.”


Only 1 in 5 people in the US has optimal heart health


More information:
Trends and disparities in cardiometabolic health among U.S. adults, 1999-2018, Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2022.04.046
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Only seven percent of adults have good cardiometabolic health (2022, July 4)
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N.J reports 1,385 COVID cases, no deaths. Numerous indicators suggest virus is spreading again.

New Jersey on Monday reported another 1,385 confirmed COVID-19 positive tests and no new confirmed deaths for the first time since late May.

But despite the low mortality report, numerous indicators suggest the virus is spreading again.

The statewide positivity rate for tests conducted Wednesday, the most recent day with available data, was 11.36%. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers positivity rates above 10% to be “high.”

New Jersey’s rate of transmission — which has been increasing recently — was 1.05 on Monday. A transmission rate below 1 is an indication that the outbreak is declining, as each new case is leading to less than one additional new case. When the transmission rate is 1, that means cases have leveled off at the current numbers and anything above 1 means it’s spreading.

There were 833 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across 70 of the state’s 71 hospitals as of Sunday night. Hospitalizations remain significantly lower than when they peaked at 6,089 on Jan. 10 during the omicron wave.

The CDC now lists four New Jersey counties as having “high” transmission rates — Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, and Monmouth. The CDC recommends that people in high-risk areas wear a mask indoors in public and on public transportation and stay up-to-date on vaccinations.

There are 13 counties in the medium-risk category: Bergen, Camden, Essex, Gloucester, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Salem, Somerset and Union . Masks are not recommended in the medium-risk and low-risk regions.

Cumberland, Hunterdon, Sussex, and Warren are listed as low risk.

TOTAL NUMBERS

New Jersey has reported 2,138,256 total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the more than two years since the state reported its first known case March 4, 2020.

The Garden State has also recorded about 362,162 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases. And there are numerous cases that have likely never been counted, including at-home positive tests that are not included in the state’s numbers.

The state of 9.2 million residents has reported 34,065 COVID-19 deaths — 30,977 confirmed fatalities and 3,088 probable ones.

New Jersey now has the seventh-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. — behind Mississippi, Arizona, Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee and Oklahoma — as of the latest data reported Monday. Last summer, the state had the most deaths per capita in the country.

VACCINATION NUMBERS

More than 6.94 million people who live, work or study in New Jersey have received the initial course of vaccinations and more than 7.8 million have received a first dose since vaccinations began here on Dec. 15, 2020.

Over 4 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one. That number may rise after the Food and Drug Administration approved booster shots for healthy children between the ages of 5 and 11. U.S. regulators authorized the booster for kids hoping an extra vaccine dose will enhance their protection as infections continue to spread.

LONG-TERM CARE NUMBERS

At least 9,279 of the state’s COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to state data.

There were active outbreaks at 346 facilities, resulting in 4,438 current cases among residents and 4,347 cases among staff, as of the latest data.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

As of Monday, there have been more than 549 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University, and more than 6.3 million people have died due to the virus.

The U.S. has reported the most cases (more than 87.8 million) and deaths (at least 1,017,880) of any nation.

There have been more than 11.7 billion vaccine doses administered globally.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.

Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com.

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Woman allergic to everything, even laughter

She could literally die laughing.

Natasha Coates suffers from a rare condition in which anything from sweating to laughing can trigger a potentially fatal allergic reaction — an affliction so dangerous she planned her own funeral at 20.

Despite her debilitating disease, she has managed to excel at gymnastics and become an online inspiration to others with the ailment.

“I’m allergic to strong emotions,” said the UK survivor, 27, of her harrowing saga in videos posted to her popular Instagram and TikTok accounts. “Any changes to my body’s status quo — whether I’m laughing, crying, sad or stressed — can cause a chemical reaction.”

Coates specifically suffers from mast cell activation syndrome, a rare immunological disorder in which a person experiences “repeated severe allergy symptoms affecting several body systems,” according to the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology.

The Nottingham native recalled one instance where she almost literally died laughing, describing: “We were having a good laugh when my tongue and throat swelled up.”

“In MCAS, mast cells mistakenly release too many chemical agents, resulting in symptoms in the skin, gastrointestinal tract, heart, respiratory, and neurologic systems,” experts at the Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center reported.

“One friend called an ambulance, while another helped me use my EpiPen to stop me choking and suffocating to death,” Coates told the Mirror. “They stroked my hair, telling me I’d be OK as I lost consciousness before being whisked into intensive care. Quite the end to a night out.”

Natasha Coates has to walk on allergenic eggshells to avoid triggering anaphylaxis.
Instagram/@natashacoatesgb

“In my body, my cells are hypersensitive,” Coates explained while describing her condition in a recent documentary titled “The Girl Who’s Allergic to Herself.”

“So they release an excess of these chemicals at the slightest trigger, for example food or exercise or heat or being stung. And sometimes they release chemicals when there’s no trigger,” she continued. “If they release enough of these chemicals they can send me into anaphylactic shock, which can be potentially life-threatening.”

As a result of her MCAS, the embattled athlete experiences reactions nearly every day and has been hospitalized over 500 times.

Coates experiences allergic reactions to laughter, her own tears, growing her hair, changes in the weather, food and digestion.
Instagram/@natashacoatesgb

“When I feel it starting, I get upset and try to suppress it, otherwise I’ll have a worse reaction — it’s a vicious circle,” lamented Coates.

The Brit’s MCAS first reared its head when she was younger and would have strange reactions to food, which her family initially dismissed as hypersensitivity.

Then, at 18, Coates experienced her first anaphylactic attack. “I was at a big public event when I suddenly felt shaky, dizzy and found it hard to breathe,” said the petrified youngster athlete. “I was taken to hospital with a police escort.”

She added, “I was unconscious, so I missed all the excitement, but when I came round in hospital I was frightened.”

Despite the life-threatening episode, doctors assured Coates that this was normal, leaving her thinking she’d experienced a “once-in-a-lifetime reaction.”

It wasn’t until two years later — and countless reactions, many of which landed her in the emergency room — that the poor gal was finally diagnosed with MCAS.

Needless to say, life became a living hell. “I’m allergic to body sprays, cleaning products and scented candles,” Coates explained. “Eating is still a bit like Russian roulette.

“A food that’s fine today could give me an allergic reaction tomorrow,” added the unfortunate sportswoman, who had initially tried to identify the offending foods. Pretty soon, she’d whittled her diet down only chicken, potatoes and broccoli, which caused her to become malnourished.

Coates hasn’t let her condition stop her from competing in gymnastics. She has won over 20 British titles and 30-something British medals in the Disability British Championships.
Instagram/@natashacoatesgb

“I can cope with anything but I’m allowed to have bad days. There’s no point pretending it’s OK — because I’m not OK with it. If I could click my fingers and be cured, I’d do it instantly.”

Natasha Coates, 27

Not to mention that her self-imposed eating regimen ultimately proved futile. “Because of the chemicals released when I’m digesting food, sometimes it’s not what I’m eating but the digestion process that triggers anaphylaxis,” rued Coates.

She analogized living with MCAS to a “ticking time bomb,” describing: “It’s frightening for my family, wondering which reaction is going to be my last.”

Eventually, the youngster said she came to “accept that this condition could kill me.”

“I planned my funeral aged 20,” Coates said, detailing the seemingly morbid measure. “I know that’s not normal but by being organised, I know I’m having a Beyoncé song!”

Thankfully, she has since implemented protocols to prevent the worst from happening, including taking medication to mitigate reactions, making sure each member knows how to use an EpiPen and even employing “assistive technology.”

“If I press a button on my watch, the lights on the front of my house change to red and an ambulance is called,” said Coates. The brave gal was even able to move out of her parents’ house and live on her own — albeit with a personal assistant by her side five days a week.

Coates said that “keeping myself alive is a full-time job.”

“I do have to avoid social situations sometimes,” she said. “I go on a risk versus reward basis. I study menus beforehand, take extra medication and hope for the best. I need to know where the nearest hospital is, that I’ve got my care plan and enough medication.”

Interestingly, despite her myriad allergenic triggers, Coates has reportedly found salvation in gymnastics, which she says saved her both physically and mentally.

This naturally poses risk, however, due to both the sweating and the fact that physical activity messes with her senses.

“The chemicals released in my brain when I exercise cause me to lose my elbows down to my knees down,” explained Coates on TikTok. “So when I catch the high bar I can’t actually feel myself catching the high bar.”

She added, per the Mirror: “So when I whack my shin on the beam, there’s a big bump — and any injury can cause a reaction. I badly damaged my knee in 2019 and went into anaphylaxis.”

“In my body, my cells are hypersensitive,” Coates explained while describing her condition in a recent documentary titled “The Girl Who’s Allergic to Herself.” “So they release an excess of these chemicals at the slightest trigger, for example food or exercise or heat or being stung. And sometimes they release chemicals when there’s no trigger.”
Instagram/@natashacoatesgb

Nonetheless, the trailblazing gal, who competes in the Disability British Championships, has set a high bar in the sport, amassing over 20 British titles and 30-something British medals, per the documentary.

Describing why she competes despite the potential for injury, the competitor described: “The only people who tell me I should stop gymnastics are those who don’t understand me. It gives me so much more than it takes away. The allergic reactions will happen anyway, even if I’m sitting at home doing nothing, so I may as well be out living my life.”

While certainly an inspiration, the flip wizard ultimately wishes she wasn’t afflicted with MCAS.

“I can cope with anything but I’m allowed to have bad days. There’s no point pretending it’s OK — because I’m not OK with it. If I could click my fingers and be cured, I’d do it instantly.”



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At last, medical guidelines address care for adults with Down syndrome

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In the 1960s, the life span of a person with Down syndrome was just 10 years.

Today, those life spans have stretched to 60 years. But until recently, no guidelines existed for treating the special health problems many adults with Down syndrome face.

Now, a guide for families and caretakers breaks down a new set of advice on caring for the medical needs of adults with the chromosomal abnormality.

It was developed by the Global Down Syndrome Foundation (GLOBAL), a leading nonprofit and advocacy organization focused on improving the health of people with the condition. The foundation worked with the clinical directors of eight of the largest Down syndrome medical centers as well as other experts, in consultation with adults with Down syndrome, their family members and other advocates.

For people with Down syndrome, a longer life, but under a cloud

The family publication distills the guidelines that were first published for physicians in a peer-reviewed article in JAMA.

Recommendations touch on the nine most common types of health problems faced by adults with Down syndrome: behavioral issues, dementia, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, instability of the bones at the base of the skull and neck, osteoporosis, thyroid issues and celiac disease.

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The guidelines reflect the importance of tailoring treatment for patients and avoiding misdiagnoses. Some risk factors are unclear, and some treatments can be dangerous. The foundation says several of the questions posed by the medical authors had no published research evidence — which officials said was proof of the disparities faced by people with Down syndrome.

Though it is the most common chromosomal disorder in the United States, affecting about 1 in every 700 babies born, Down syndrome research has historically been underfunded compared with other major genetic conditions. But that is changing because of self-advocacy and the efforts of parents, caretakers, physicians and others. Today, more research is being undertaken. Discrimination and disparities still exist, however. And some medical providers still rely on inaccurate or outdated information about the condition.

Want to take a look at the new guidelines? Visit bit.ly/DownGuidelines to download the free guide.

GLOBAL Medical Care Guidelines for Adults with Down Syndrome

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This July 4th, COVID is still killing hundreds of Americans each day

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Summer in America right now — in terms of the coronavirus — means many infections but relatively few deaths compared to prior versions of the virus, said officials cited by the Associated Press.

COVID-19 is still killing hundreds of Americans each day — yet the virus is not nearly as dangerous as it was last fall and winter.

“It’s going to be a good summer and we deserve this break,” Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, told the AP.

With more Americans shielded from severe illness through vaccination and infection, COVID-19 — at least for the time being — has transformed into an unpleasant, inconvenient nuisance for many.

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“It’s like having a bad cold or the flu,” one woman in Massachusetts said recently.

She also said, “If I get it, I get it — and I’ll get over it.” She’s been doubled vaxxed and boosted against COVID, she said. 

A child wears a face mask on the first day of New York City schools, amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Brooklyn, N.Y., back in Sept. 2021. 
(REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo)

Depending on location, many Americans are still wearing masks when they enter grocery stores or go to other public places, even though the stores or venues may not require them. Many are still masking up outdoors, too, when they’re among large crowds. 

Some shops are also still requiring masking in order to enter.

Yet other Americans want nothing to do with masks at this point.

Visitors walk past a memorial for victims of COVID-19 at the Griffith Observatory, on Friday, Nov. 19, 2021, in Los Angeles. Thousands of flags were placed on the lawn in front of the observatory in memory of those who have died of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County as of Nov. 2. 
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez )

Dr. Dan Kaul, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, told the AP that things “feel cautiously good right now.”

“For the first time that I can remember, pretty much since it started, we don’t have any [coronavirus] patients in the ICU,” he said.

As the nation marks July 4th this year, the average number of daily deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. is hovering around 360. 

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Last year, during a similar summer lull, that number was at roughly 228 per day in early July. 

That remains the lowest threshold in U.S. daily deaths since March 2020, when the virus first began to spread across the U.S.

Today, in the third year of the pandemic, it’s easy to feel confused by the mixed picture. 

But there were far fewer reported cases at this time last year — fewer than 20,000 a day. 

Now, it’s about 109,000 — and likely an undercount as tests done at home aren’t routinely reported.

Today, in the third year of the pandemic, it’s easy to feel confused by the mixed picture: Repeat infections are increasingly likely, the AP reported, and a sizeable share of those infected will face the lingering symptoms of what has become known as long COVID-19.

People traveling by plane during the coronavirus pandemic are shown wearing face masks as they walk through an airport terminal. 
(iStock)

Many worries are also now eased, however. 

“We’re now at a point that everyone’s immune system has seen either the virus or the vaccine two or three times by now,” Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the AP. 

“What we’re seeing is that people are getting less and less ill on average,” Dowdy said.

As many as 8 out of 10 people in the U.S. have been infected at least once, according to one influential model, the AP pointed out. 

Big differences separate the flu from COVID-19. Health experts continue to be surprised by the behavior of the coronavirus. 

Recently the death rate for COVID-19 has been a moving target. It’s now it’s fallen to within the range of an average flu season, according to data analyzed by Arizona State University health industry researcher Mara Aspinall.

At first, some people said coronavirus was no more deadly than the flu — “and for a long period of time, that wasn’t true,” Aspinall said. 

Back then, people had no immunity. Treatments were experimental — and vaccines weren’t yet available en masse.

A youngster receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a pediatric vaccine clinic for children ages 5 to 11 set up at Willard Intermediate School in Santa Ana, Calif., on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. 
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Aspinall said that today, the built-up immunity has driven down the death rate to solidly in the range of a typical flu season. (In the past decade, the death rate for the flu was about 5% to 13% of those hospitalized.)

Big differences separate the flu from COVID-19. Health experts continue to be surprised by the behavior of the coronavirus. It’s also still unclear whether it will settle into a flu-like seasonal pattern.

Last summer — when vaccinations first became widely available in the U.S. — the U.S. had to suffer through the delta surge and then omicron, which peaked last February and took the lives of 2,600 Americans a day, the AP reported. 

The fast-spreading omicron subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 may also contribute to a change in the death numbers, said experts. 

Experts agree it is possible that a new variant might arise and be capable of escaping the population’s built-up immunity. The fast-spreading omicron subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 may also contribute to a change in the death numbers.

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In the next weeks, deaths could edge up in many states but the U.S. as a whole is likely to see deaths decline slightly, said Nicholas Reich, who aggregates coronavirus projections for the COVID-19 Forecast Hub in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

People walking down the street are shown wearing masks against COVID-19.
(AP)

“We’ve seen COVID hospitalizations increase to around 5,000 new admissions each day from just over 1,000 in early April. But deaths due to COVID have only increased slightly over the same time period,” said Reich, a professor of biostatistics at University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Unvaccinated people have a six times higher risk of dying from COVID-19 compared with people with at least a primary series of shots, the CDC estimated based on available data from April.

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This summer, consider your own vulnerability and that of those around you, especially in large gatherings since the virus is spreading so rapidly, said Dowdy of Hopkins.

“There are still people who are very much at risk,” he said.

Many vaccinated Americans, however, are shunning yet another booster. 

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“I’m double-vaccinated and I’ve been boosted once,” one New Yorker told Fox News Digital. “That’s enough. No more boosters for me.”

He also pointed out that in his “civilian” opinion (he is not a doctor), it’s quite possible that those who are perishing from COVID today had pre-existing conditions or other complications.  

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this article. 

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Experts warn that the US could soon lose control of monkeypox

Experts warn that the US could soon lose control of monkeypox due to lack of testing and limited access to vaccines

  • Some experts are warning the monkeypox could get out of control due to failures by health officials
  • Testing capacity in America is still limited even over a month after the outbreak began in late May
  • Access to vaccines is being improved by officials but some have still complained of limited supply and lack of information being available
  • The U.S. has recorded 460 cases of the tropical virus though true case figures are likely much higher 

Some experts are warning that gaps in testing and vaccine coverage for monkeypox will leave the United States vulnerable to losing control of its tropical virus outbreak.

Public health leaders from the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) and George Washington University (GW) warn that a fractured and lacking response to the outbreak so far can have severe consequences.

Previous experts have warned that the virus has likely been spreading undetected in the U.S. for some time, and fear it could become endemic in the nation is not curbed soon. 

As if Friday – the most recently available data – the U.S. has logged 460 cases across 31 states and the District of Columbia. Iowa is believed to have recorded its first case over the weekend as well, though Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures have not yet reflected it.

‘Where we have lagged is streamlining testing, making vaccines available, streamlining access to the best therapeutics,’ David Harvey, executive director of the NCSD told The Hill.

‘All three areas have been bureaucratic and slow, and that means we haven’t contained this outbreak.’

Testing for the virus has been a slow and arduous process so far. When a patient begins exhibiting symptoms of the virus they are first examined for the orthopox family of viruses.

The lineage includes monkeypox – along with the extinct smallpox virus – and it is likely that anyone who tests positive for it does have the tropical infection.

First American to go public with monkeypox infection is a gay actor in Los Angeles 

The first American monkeypox patient to go public with his battle against the tropical virus has slammed health officials for a ‘lackluster’ job of testing for the virus, which has left many cases undiagnosed.

Matt Ford, a self-employed actor who splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City, has spoken out to warn people that the disease ‘sucks’ and they should take it ‘seriously.’

He blasted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for their poor testing efforts, saying it took officials three days to diagnose his illness by which point he ‘already knew’ what they would say.

Revealing his diagnosis to Buzzfeed, Ford said he caught the virus after having ‘skin-to-skin contact’ with another patient.

The actor and writer, who describes himself as a ‘proud openly gay man,’ revealed he initially noticed spots in and around his ‘underwear zone,’ which indicated to him he had caught the virus.

Over the next few days they spread across the rest of his body, including his face, arms, hands and abdomen. 

In total, he has counted 25 spots and said after appearing they began to ‘fill with puss’ and became itchy. Several — especially in the ‘sensitive area’ — became so painful they left him unable to sleep at night without taking painkillers.

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In order to confirm a monkeypox case, samples must be sent to the CDC for testing, where it is then confirmed.

Testing is slow, though. Access to these test is limited as well. This makes many experts fear that cases are going undetected.

The federal government has taken steps to expand capacity but access to tests is still relatively limited.

There have also been cases detected so far with no links to international travel or to another case of the virus – meaning there is some undetected circulation of the virus ongoing.

‘We’ve been sort of screaming for a month about how bad the diagnostic situation is for monkeypox,’ James Krellenstein, cofounder of Prep4All, told The Hill.

‘And that really was a clear error, preventable, and it’s very clear that this administration has not learned lessons from early Covid.’

The nation’s vaccine rollout has been under intense scrutiny as well.

American officials have ordered around 4.4 million doses of the Jynneos vaccine – including an additional 2.5 million last week.

Getting the shots into arms has been a challenge, though. New York City had its first public vaccine event two weeks ago – ahead of Pride festivities in the Big Apple – but demand for the jabs was so high officials had to cut off walk-in appointments in a matter of hours.

People waiting at the clinic for the shot told DailyMail.com that the barely a thousand doses available as ‘ridiculous’ in a city of nearly eight million. 

Other eager recipients accused officials of giving ‘contradictory’ information on how to get jabbed. 

Some experts are comparing the currently broken response to monkeypox to that of COVID-19 when it first erupted in March 2020.

‘I think we’ll continue to repeat these mistakes because that’s been our track record. That’s been our track record,’ Jon Andrus, a global health professor at GW, said.

‘We’ve had, what, more than five or six waves of Covid, and we seem every time to be a little bit caught off guard,… stopping transmission requires that we’re all reading from the same page. We all have the same road map.’ 

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