'Second heart' is in your legs

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Oct, 1998

Fat around the abdomen may be a predictor of disease. "If you pinch around your navel and the skinfold is more than an inch and a quarter, you're more likely to be at risk for obesity-related chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, or heart disease," warns Abhimanyu Garg, associate professor of internal medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. A 1.25" pinch generally equals 25% body fat in men and 30% in women. Research shows it is at those points that health risks tend to increase.

Buffered aspirin doesn't offer added protection to the stomach, according to epidemiologists from the Boston (Mass.) University School of Public Health. All types of aspirin--plain, buffered, and coated--will cause about equal amounts of intestinal bleeding. The researchers say buffered or coated aspirin provides protection solely against upset stomach.

Rapid growth of HIV/AIDS cases in rural America is causing alarm among health officials. An Indiana University, Bloomington, study suggests that unquestioning trust in their primary sexual partners by rural, low-income women is a reflection of community denial and a factor aggravating the risk. Researcher Richard A. Crosby indicates that such women are far less likely than their, urban counterparts to require condom use by male sexual partners and more willing to believe their lovers are HIV-negative without any evidence to support that belief. This is reflected in the finding that the increase in HIV/AIDS among rural females primarily results from unprotected sex with an infected male.

"White-coat hypertension"--a syndrome whereby some patients' blood pressure rises during visits to their doctors' offices--may be avoided if people learn to monitor their blood pressure at home, where they are more relaxed, says Norman Kaplan, clinical professor of internal medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Women who suffer from endometriosis--a painful menstrual-related disorder--may want to spend less time at their computer terminal, suggest researchers from the University of Iowa College of Medicine, Ames. Women who work around video display terminals have nearly triple the risk of cervical-factor infertility and four times the incidence of endometriosis cases.

Plastic screws to hold together broken bones offer several benefits, indicates orthopedist David Seligson, University of Louisville (Ky.). Metal screws stay with a patient for life unless a second surgical procedure is performed to remove them. Plastic ones, on the other hand, dissolve and are absorbed into the bloodstream, while bone grows back into the area where the screws previously had been inserted.

Hospital discharge of high-risk newborns should be based on family needs and capabilities, community resources and support services, and physician judgment, rather than the traditional single criterion of weight (usually about five pounds), a policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics proposes.

Patients treated by specialists are more likely to survive colorectal cancer and will pay less for surgical care than those who see non-specialist surgeons, according to a report from the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.

Even mild iron deficiency may weaken bones and make them more likely to break, an Ohio State University, Columbus, study shows. Researchers call for a change in the diets of children, teenagers, and pregnant women, all of whom have a high rate of iron deficiency in the U.S., to increase iron intake.