Septic Tanks May Allow Fecal Matter Into Lakes, Rivers

MONDAY, Aug. 3, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Septic tanks don’t prevent fecal bacteria from seeping into rivers and lakes, according to a new study that dispels a widely held belief that they can.

“All along, we have presumed that on-site wastewater disposal systems, such as septic tanks, were working,” Joan Rose, a water expert at Michigan State University, said in a university news release.

“But in this study, sample after sample, bacterial concentrations were highest where there were higher numbers of septic systems in the watershed area,” she said.

Rose and her colleagues analyzed samples from 64 river systems in Michigan.

The study was published in the Aug. 3 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Many areas of the United States rely on septic tanks to dispose of human sewage, including Michigan, Florida and South Carolina, the researchers said. They also noted that resort areas near lakes all across the United States often use septic tanks. Regulations on septic tanks vary by state, the researchers said.

Until now, it was thought that soil worked as a natural treatment system that could filter human sewage, the researchers explained.

“For years we have been seeing the effects of fecal pollution, but we haven’t known where it is coming from,” Rose said.

She added that the study “has important implications on the understanding of relationships between land use, water quality and human health as we go forward.”

More information

The U.S. Geological Survey has more about water quality.

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Online Anti-Drinking Aids May Not Help Over Long Term

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Aug. 3, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Trying to curb alcohol use on your own with web-based or CD programs may not be very effective, a new study reports.

The study found these programs could reduce drinking slightly among adults and college students. But they appeared to be ineffective for reducing binge drinking and the negative social aspects linked with alcohol misuse.

The evidence, researchers said, shows that intense treatment may be needed to reduce drinking levels to recommended limits.

“At this point, the effects of the available brief electronic interventions are small, and evidence that they help people to drink within recommended limits is lacking,” said lead researcher Eric Dedert, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences from Duke University School of Medicine, in Durham, N.C.

“However, electronic interventions for alcohol misuse hold significant promise, and there is a need to develop more intensive interventions,” he said.

The report was published in the Aug. 4 Annals of Internal Medicine.

The U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) guidelines say low-risk drinking for women means no more than three drinks in a single day, and no more than seven drinks in a week. For men, low-risk drinking means no more than four drinks in a single day and no more than 14 drinks a week.

To see if electronic programs were effective, Dedert and colleagues reviewed 28 previous studies.

The review included a range of electronic interventions. Interventions were delivered by CD-ROM, desktop computers in clinics, online delivery, mobile applications, or interactive voice response on the phone or computer, Dedert said.

“The most common electronic interventions in our review were brief, consisting of one-time interventions in which individuals would enter information about how much alcohol they drank, and then receive information on how their alcohol intake compared to their peer group,” he explained.

Other common treatment techniques were goal setting and providing information on the negative effects of drinking on physical health and overall functioning, Dedert said.

“Though human support for these electronic interventions was typically absent or limited, a minority of interventions was supplemented by 1.5 to 6.5 hours of support, including phone counseling. Electronic intervention also varied in duration, ranging from a single, two-minute interaction to as many as 62 interactions for more than a year,” he said.

Dedert added that some electronic interventions are freely available, including the “Rethinking Drinking” tool on the NIAAA website.

The researchers found that electronic interventions may work slightly to reduce alcohol consumption in the short term.

Specifically, for people using electronic interventions, there was evidence of reduced alcohol intake of an average of one less drink per week, with diminishing effects at 12 months. This was true of both college students and non-college adults, Dedert said.

There was little evidence that electronic interventions led to any significant long-term changes, the study found.

Few trials reported on other clinically significant outcomes, such as meeting drinking-limit guidelines, fewer binge-drinking episodes, reducing the social consequences of drinking, and cutting alcohol-related health problems.

“The available data provided insufficient evidence in support of a benefit of electronic interventions for these outcomes,” he said.

In addition, only a few trials have investigated electronic interventions for alcohol use disorders, which are a more severe form of alcohol misuse, Dedert said.

Dr. James Garbutt, a professor of psychiatry from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said, “The underlying idea is of interest — can we use brief and inexpensive electronic interventions to help individuals reduce their harmful drinking?”

But, “these data suggest that stronger electronic interventions, possibly including interventions from a live human being, may be necessary to attain more meaningful improvements in drinking behavior,” Garbutt said.

More information

For more on cutting down on drinking alcohol, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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I Tried It: Multi-Masking

Photo: Courtesy of MIMI/ Art: Elysia Berman

The Internet has been a-flutter the past few weeks about a new technique of mask treatments. Its name is multi-masking, and as you might guess, it involves using multiple masks, at the same time.

And by that I mean, one mask in a concentrated area of your face, and another one in a different region, depending on the conditions of your skin you want to treat. Obviously, I was intrigued. Don’t get me wrong, I love my beauty routine, but anything that can make it more efficient is always good in my book. Plus, I’ve noticed that certain parts of my face need different kinds of TLC on any given day.

So, I decided to give it a whirl. I chose the Caudalie Purifying Mask to put on my jawline and a small patch of my forehead where I am, ahem, prone to breakouts at certain times in my cycle. Then, I put my moisturizing mask of choice, the Eve Lom Moisture Mask (it is div-ine), on my cheeks and temples, which are the areas of my face that tend to get a little dry, and uncomfortably tight if I were to use a clay mask on them. And, since my eyes had been puffy and I was very tired, I used my go-to Skyn Iceland Hydra Cool Firming Eye Gels to top my pamper session off.

Photo: Courtesy of MIMI

And then, I stopped thinking about it. I simply plopped myself on my couch to watch an episode of Endeavor, which is a TV show that pretty much mandates your full attention or you won’t understand. I like to do masks while I unwind, and normally that involves a TV show as well, but, having two masks on at the same time was a serious game changer. I didn’t have to get up to wash my face and swap out my mask for another one in the middle of the show, and I didn’t experience any tightening or discomfort which might set in using a clay mask, which is my face’s special way of telling me, “I’m done”

I got the targeted results I needed, I pampered myself, and I was actually able to focus on the show I was trying to enjoy. Call me a convert.

This story originally appeared on MIMIChatter.com

More from MIMI:

I Tried 13 Natural Deodorants So You Don’t Have To

What Happened When We Tried Cindy Crawford’s Cleanse

MIMI Chatter is an endless stream of beauty content. We bring together the must-knows and the how-tos from your favorite sites, beauty influencers, our editors, and YOU.

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12 Standing Desk Ideas That Just Might Save Your Health (and Your Wallet)

We’ve all heard the bad news about sitting. It’s the “new smoking,” as many news articles have put it. It’s been linked to upping your risk for cancer, diabetes, and early death, even if you exercise, according to recent research. It may even affect your mental health.

But let’s face it: many of us have desk jobs, and there’s not much we can do about sitting at our computers unless we quit our jobs—or buy a fancy standing desk. The problem? These desks aren’t exactly affordable, with some of the more pricey models clocking in at upwards of $500.

But, thanks to the ingenuity of the Internet and some smart product designers, there are now plenty of ways to stand more without breaking the bank. Here are our favorite DIY and budget-friendly desks that won’t cost you a small fortune.

RELATED: 4 Steps to a Stronger Back

DIY standing desks

Photo: Courtesy of A Beautiful Mess

Emma Chapman, writing for the blog A Beautiful Mess, used pine wood and shelf brackets to build this standing desk suitable for any home office. She even added a bar stool for easy seating (when she needs a break). Check out her full tutorial.

Photo: Courtesy of Mostaza Seed

For those who aren’t as savvy with a saw, this stay-at-home mom placed an old door on top of two bar tables. (And voila!) For an even easier hack, opt out of finding a door (which can be tricky) and use a bar table alone for a workspace with the same height.

RELATED: 6 Ways to Sit Less Every Day

Photo: Courtesy of Mint

This work-from-home business owner purposed a custom height standing desk using supplies needed to build a sawhorse, along with a countertop (costing just $99) from Ikea.

DIY hacks for standing more at the office

An easy way to add height to a smaller desktop is by using materials that are already in your workspace. This worker used boxes, but think about trying books as well (our food director converted her space using this method).

RELATED: 5 Yoga Poses You Can Do at Your Desk

Photo: Courtesy of The Geekorium

If you need a workspace with some extra height you can fashion a standing desk from a filing cabinet, like this blogger.

If all else fails, a folding chair seemed to do this trick for this guy. Although, this makeshift workspace will leave you with limited space, and possibly some strange looks from co-workers. But hey, anything for your health, right?

Not crafty? Affordable options for sale

Photo: Courtesy of IKEA

Adjust your standing desk to any height with Ikea’s Bjursta Wall-mounted drop-leaf table ($40, ikea.com). When you’re done working, the space folds down into a small, space-saving shelf.

RELATED: Are Your Bad Habits As Bad As You Think?

Photo: Courtesy of Wayfair.com

 

This lightweight portable desk ($80, wayfair.com) lets you easily convert any desk into a standing desk. All you have to do is place the above desk, which is a foot high and 3 feet long, on top of your regular work table.

Photo: Courtesy of Uncaged Ergonomics

This standing deks from WorkEZ comes with a flexible monitor stand, keyboard tray and mouse pad that allows you to completely customize your workstation. In addition to easing hunching and back pain, the keyboard pad tilts downward to alleviate wrist fatigue. ($120, uncagedergonomics.com)

Courtesy of: StorkStand

The StorkStand ($199, storkstand.com) turns any office chair into a complete standing workspace. Simply attach to the back of any ergonomic task chair or thick executive chair with no assembly. Weighing in at 5.5 pounds, you can take it with you if you need. (Bonus: When we reached out to StorkStand to get a photo, they offered us a discount code for Health readers. Purchase a standing desk this week (8/3-8/9) online using the code HealthMag, and you’ll get 50% off!)

RELATED: 17 Ways to Burn More Calories All Day

If you’ve got a fair amount to spend

Photo: Courtesy of The Container Store

This adjustable workstation from The Container Store works as both a standing or sitting desk with it’s adjustable height. Built-in wheels also make this desk an easy option for transporting your workspace anywhere you need to go. ($299, containerstore.com)

Photo: Courtesy of Varidesk

The Varidesk Pro Plus 36  ($350, varidesk.com)  is perfect for those looking for a standing desk option that doesn’t skimp on space. The space is built to accommodate dual-monitor set-ups, allowing for a ton of space even for those who may not have two monitors. The two-tier design also offers plenty of space for a keyboard, mouse and other accessories.

RELATED: 6 Ways Your Mobile Devices Are Hurting Your Body

 

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To Sway Anti-Vaccine Beliefs, Focus on Consequences: Study

MONDAY, Aug. 3, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Highlighting what might happen if children aren’t vaccinated can change the thinking of some people who oppose vaccines, a new study suggests.

Many people with anti-vaccine views focus on the perceived risks of vaccines, the researchers noted.

“Perhaps we need to direct people’s attention to the other aspect of the decision. You may be focused on the risk of getting the shot. But there’s also the risk of not getting the shot. You or your child could get measles,” University of Illinois graduate student Zachary Horne said in a university news release.

He and his colleagues asked 315 people their views about vaccines and their willingness to vaccinate their children. Then they randomly divided them into three groups.

One group received material challenging the anti-vaccination point of view, and another group got reading material and photographs about the risks associated with measles, mumps and rubella in children. The third group read about something other than vaccines.

All three groups then completed another survey about vaccination.

“We found that directing people’s attention to the risks posed by not getting vaccinated, like getting measles, mumps and rubella and the complications associated with those diseases, changed people’s attitudes positively towards vaccination — and that was for even the most skeptical participants in the study. Actually, the largest effect sizes were for people who were the most skeptical,” Horne said.

Noting that the skeptics are the people with the greatest amount of room to move, Horne said that finding wasn’t a complete surprise. “But it’s also extremely important, because those are precisely the people you want to move. That’s the kind of result we were really looking for,” he said.

The study was published Aug. 3 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

One reason why focusing on the threat posed to unvaccinated children is successful is because it targets parents’ primary concern, the well-being of their children, the researchers said.

“People who fear vaccines ultimately do care about the safety of their children, so our manipulation focuses on the safety of their children. So there’s not just one calculation in your decision whether to get a vaccination, but now there are two,” Horne said.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about childhood vaccines.

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Your Office Temperature Settings May Have a Gender Bias

MONDAY, Aug. 3, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Heating and cooling system settings in office buildings are based on men’s needs and could result in excess energy use, a new study suggests.

Temperature standards in office buildings are based in part on the resting metabolic rate of a 154-pound, 40-year-old man, the researchers say. These standards may overestimate the amount of heating or cooling women require to be comfortable, they report in the Aug. 3 online issue of the journal Nature Climate Change.

“These findings could be significant for the next round of revisions of thermal comfort standards, [but] a large-scale re-evaluation in field studies may be needed in order to sufficiently convince real-estate developers, standard committees and building services engineers,” Joost van Hoof, of Fontys University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, wrote in an accompanying commentary.

The Dutch researchers assessed 16 young women who did light office work and found their metabolic rate was significantly lower than current standard values. This suggests they may require lower levels of office cooling in the summer to be comfortable, they said.

Adjusting heating and cooling standards, established in the 1960s, to account for different metabolic rates in women and men could reduce energy consumption, the researchers noted.

Further energy-saving benefits might be gained by accounting for other factors such as age, body size and the specific types of work activity, said the researchers, Boris Kingma and Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt, from Maastrict University in the Netherlands.

More information

The U.S. National Institutes of Health explains metabolism and aging.

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Combo Rx May Boost Ovarian Cancer Outcomes, But Too Few Get It: Study

MONDAY, Aug. 3, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Chemotherapy delivered directly into the abdomen significantly improves survival among women with advanced ovarian cancer, a new study finds.

However, fewer than half of U.S. patients who could benefit from this treatment — called intraperitoneal chemotherapy — are receiving it, according to Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center researchers.

The investigators studied whether a combination of intraperitoneal (IP) and intravenous (IV) chemotherapy was as effective in clinical practice as in a clinical trial involving women who’d had surgery for stage III ovarian cancer.

The researchers examined the medical records of more than 800 women who were treated for stage III ovarian cancer between 2003 and 2012, and were eligible for IP/IV combination therapy.

According to the study, 81 percent of women who received the dual therapy were alive three years after treatment, compared with 71 percent of those who received IV chemotherapy alone. However, only 41 percent of the patients who were deemed to be suitable candidates actually received the dual therapy, the team reported.

The investigators also found that the side effects of the dual therapy were less severe than those reported in the clinical trial.

“This is the first study to show that IP/IV chemotherapy improves survival in the real world, outside of a clinical trial,” first author Dr. Alexi Wright, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, said in an institute news release.

“Unfortunately, fewer than half of women who qualify for IP/IV chemotherapy received the treatment. This suggests that increasing access to IP/IV chemotherapy may improve ovarian cancer patients’ survival,” she added.

Two experts not connected to the study agreed that the combo treatment may work better, but side effects are often an issue.

“The National Cancer Center Network guidelines do recommend this treatment option for patients with stage II or higher disease,” said Dr. Eva Chalas, chief of gynecologic oncology at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y.

“However, this treatment is more poorly tolerated by patients, and is associated with more side effects,” she added, and the new study pointed that out, as well.

Still, “patients should be aware that this therapy represents a very effective option and should remain motivated to proceed, if it is recommended to them by their gynecologic oncologist,” Chalas said.

Dr. Kit Cheng is a medical oncologist at North Shore-LIJ Cancer Institute in Lake Success, N.Y. She believes that future clinical trials “will shed more light to the best treatment to improve the survival of our [ovarian cancer] patients with the least amount of side effects.”

The study was published in the Aug. 3 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about ovarian cancer.

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Women and Blacks Fare Worse After Heart Attacks: Study

By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Aug. 3, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Heart attacks take more years from the expected life spans of women and blacks than from white males, a new study suggests.

On average, women lost 10.5 percent more of their expected life than men did, while blacks lost 6 percent more than whites, the study revealed.

Why the gap? Differences in care may be account for some of the disparity, but not all.

“Black patients had more risk factors, were sicker when they first presented to care, and received less treatment than white patients,” said study lead author Dr. Emily Bucholz, a pediatric resident at Boston Children’s Hospital. “However, we were not able to explain the sex differences in life years lost that we observed.”

For the study, the researchers analyzed almost 147,000 Medicare patients who’d been hospitalized for a heart attack from 1994 to 1995. Forty-eight percent of the group was female and 6 percent were black. Their average age when the study began was 74 to 77, according to the study.

After 17 years of follow-up, the researchers found that over 7 percent were still alive. The survival rates were 8.3 percent for white men, 6.4 percent for white women, 5.4 percent for black men and 5.8 percent for black women.

On average, women lost almost two more years of potential life after a heart attack than men across all ages. And blacks lost nearly a year more of potential life after a heart attack compared to whites, the researchers noted.

What’s going on? After the researchers adjusted their statistics so they wouldn’t be thrown off by factors like the level of illness in the patients, blacks actually gained a life span advantage over whites. This suggests that blacks were sicker when they went to the hospital and weren’t treated the same as whites, Bucholz said.

Dr. Jack Tu, a senior scientist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto, and author of a commentary accompanying the study, said it’s “disconcerting” that the findings suggest whites and blacks were treated differently in the hospital, with blacks getting fewer treatments such as clot-busting drugs, bypass surgery and angioplasty.

Still, he said, the study is based on treatments of patients two decades ago. “There are other data showing that the racial differences in treatment have been reduced since that time,” Tu said.

As for women, they still lost 8 percent more of their expected life span compared to men even after statistics were adjusted. Researchers aren’t sure why this difference exists. Biological differences might be one reason, Bucholz said, or women could be getting worse follow-up care after a heart attack.

What should happen now? “Presumably, more equitable delivery of care both before and after heart attack can help address many of the racial differences in life expectancy and years of life lost after heart attack we observed,” she said. To that end, she said, national policymakers need to focus on “reducing racial disparities in health care, but also on understanding why women are at higher risk after heart attack than men.”

The study appears in the Aug. 11 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

More information

The American Heart Association has information on recovering from heart attack.

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Liquid Nicotine From E-Cigs Poses Poison Danger to Kids

MONDAY, Aug. 3, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Nicotine poisoning is a growing concern for American children, but proposed U.S. federal government regulations alone aren’t enough to solve the problem, an expert says.

The increasing popularity of electronic cigarettes has led to a number of cases of nicotine poisoning in recent years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hopes to require warning labels and child-resistant packaging on liquid nicotine products, such as those used in e-cigarettes. Even a small amount of liquid nicotine can be lethal, Jonathan Foulds, a professor of public health sciences at Penn State College of Medicine, said in a university news release.

The proposed FDA measures would help, but it’s important for adults to consistently use the provided childproofing features and to keep all sources of nicotine out of children’s reach, said Foulds.

“Simply put, nicotine is a poison and consumers need to take responsibility for keeping it away from children, whether it is in a childproof container or not,” he said.

A nicotine overdose can cause anxiety, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, loss of consciousness or even death. All nicotine-containing products — including cigarettes, liquid nicotine and nicotine-replacement lozenges — can be harmful to youngsters and should come in childproof containers, Foulds explained.

“There are hundreds of cases of poisoning from cigarettes every year, and so all nicotine products, including cigarettes, should be in childproof packages,” he said.

More information

The American Association of Poison Control Centers has more on protecting children from liquid nicotine.

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Vitamin D Supplements Won’t Strengthen Older Women’s Bones: Study

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Aug. 3, 2015 (HealthDay News) — High doses of vitamin D do not appear to protect postmenopausal women from the dangers of osteoporosis, new research indicates.

“While high-dose vitamin D did indeed increase calcium absorption, the increase was only 1 percent and [it] did not translate into gains in spine, hip or total body bone mineral density,” said study author Dr. Karen Hansen.

In fact, Hansen, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, noted that she and her colleagues “did not find any benefit of vitamin D, in either high or low dose, on muscle mass, two tests of muscle fitness or fall [risk].”

The team reported the results online Aug. 3 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

Postmenopausal women face a greater than average risk for developing osteoporosis, according to the U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. In fact, the study authors say almost half of postmenopausal women will experience some type of bone fracture resulting from low bone mass, low muscle mass and/or low bone density.

To explore the potential benefit of vitamin D supplementation on bone health, investigators focused on 230 vitamin-D deficient postmenopausal women. Most were white, and all were under the age of 75.

Between 2010 and 2013, the women were divided into three groups: a high-dose vitamin D group; a low-dose vitamin D group; and a dummy pill group.

For one year, those in the low-dose group received 800 IUs of vitamin D daily, while those in the high-dose group received 50,000 IUs of vitamin D twice a month.

By year’s end, the no-dose group saw their calcium absorption rate drop by a little more than 1 percent, while the low-dose groups experienced a dip of about 2 percent. In comparison, the high-dose group saw their rate climb by 1 percent.

While the overall vitamin D level across all three groups was ultimately pegged at about 21 nanograms per milliliter, the high-dose group saw their levels rise to 30 nanograms per milliliter, a level many experts consider more optimal.

But despite the differences, tests revealed that the high-dose group showed no advantage over either the low-dose or no-dose group with respect to spine health, total bone mineral density, overall muscle mass or physical mobility (such as being able to move from a sitting to a standing position).

Similarly, no differences between the groups were seen with respect to overall fall risk.

The researchers cautioned that the findings may not apply to non-white women, young adults, women over the age of 75 or men.

“I don’t believe that my study is the last and definitive word on vitamin D,” added Hansen, while noting that high-dose vitamin D supplements typically pose no harm, other than high blood calcium levels or possible kidney stones.

Still, Hansen said the study, which was funded by the U.S. National Institute on Aging, suggests that postmenopausal women fare just as well with lower overall vitamin D levels.

The bottom-line: “A low-dose supplement of between 600 to 800 [IUs] a day makes a lot of sense,” she said. “If you take that amount it’s very unlikely you will be vitamin D-deficient.”

But Dr. Rita Redberg, a professor of medicine with the University of California, San Francisco’s Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and editor of JAMA Internal Medicine, went a step further.

“I think this is the final, and negative, word on vitamin D supplementation,” she said. “There are a lot of women getting vitamin D blood tests and taking vitamin D supplements of various doses. This study suggests that those practices should stop. In other words, if you are going to start vitamin D to improve bone health, and if you are currently taking it for that reason, you can stop. I know of no other benefits for vitamin D supplementation.”

More information

There’s more on bone health and vitamin D at U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

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