I recently had a health journalist interview me about the new guidelines for mammography under 50.

You may recall a storm of controversy was touched off in December 2009, when the US Preventive Services Task Force recommended that mammography begin at 50.  Sarah Palin went so far as to compare these recommendations to "death panels" under health care reform.  The controversy died down, and health care reform legislation was rewritten to ensure access to mammographic screening.

A half cupful of bleach per tub full of water seems effective in a small study published in next weeks' journal Pediatrics. This seems like an off-the-wall idea but the efficacy was pretty amazing: five-fold reduction in eczema flares in children in the treatment group. Evidently this is a real thing: The eczema kept getting better and better with the bleach bath and these baths prevented it from flaring again which is an ongoing problem for these kids said lead author Dr. Amy S.

A study published in last week's New England Journal of Medicine looked at Stage II cervical cancer as the outcome and found that testing for HPV DNA was about twice as accurate as Pap smears. Pap smears will "soon be of mainly historical interest" says a Professor of Gynecology at Stanford Dr. Paul D. Blumenthal. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/health/07virus.html?partner=rss&emc=rs... Don't tell that to laypeople just yet. There are plenty of stories of fortuitous finds on Pap smears.

I still don't quite understand the concept of "rooting" for a team ever since my college Physiology professor posed the question "If the Gators win or if they lose how does that make a bit of difference to you?" (My response even in 1992 was sassy enough: "We pay for them to play so they might as well win!") Rooting is hard not to do when it's your kid on the field playing I have learned. For all other sports it's predicated on the magical belief that wanting your team to win could improve the actual outcome of the game.

WSJ today reports a fascinating piece that exposes the dark underbelly of clinical research. "Jonathan Leo a professor of neuro-anatomy at tiny Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate Tenn. posted a letter on the Web site of the British Medical Journal this month criticizing a study that appeared in JAMA last spring. The study concerned the use of the anti-depressant Lexapro in stroke patients.

Borat's cousin teaches autistic kids to recognize emotions perhaps putting to use some of Sasha Baron Cohen's dramatic talents. Simon Baron-Cohen is a professor of psychology at Cambridge England and cousin to Sasha Baron Cohen a.k.a. Borat. The project consists of a DVD movie focusing on helping autistic kids identify emotions in other people known to be tough for them. Sounds like a good idea surprised nobody's though of it before now. Way to go!

Diabetes is the most frequent cause of kidney failure accounting for nearly 45 percent of new cases in America. Centers for Disease Control have revealed that over 17 million Americans have diabetes. Diabetes is also considered as the number one cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Patients with type 2 diabetes once known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or adult-onset diabetes are at an immense risk of acquiring kidney disease.

Hypospadias is considered as the most common birth defect of a male genitalia in which the penile meatus is not at the tip of the penis. The meatus is the term for opening the penis through which urine usually exits the bladder. This deficiency can be found in 1 in 125 boys born in the US. The name "hypospadias" comes from the Greek word (hypo under and spadias rent). It refers to the position of the opening through which the child urinates.

Heart failure is a chronic disease which manifests as fluid retention shortness of breath and lack of energy.  There is no cure now and patients tend to have declining heart function and increasing symptoms over time.  Doctors are able to manage the illness on a chronic basis to mitigate symptoms  with medications and procedures. Approximately 5 million Americans are believed to have been suffering from this disease.

Archaeological evidence has shown that Peppermint is 'the world's oldest medicine' and is in use since time immemorial. Peppermint is rich in menthol content and is used to flavor tea confectionery ice cream chewing gum and toothpaste. Its oil contains menthone and menthyl esters. Peppermint is also used in shampoos and soaps which gives a cooling effect on the skin. Scientific studies have measured the useful effects of enteric-coated peppermint capsules for treating symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) such as pain bloating gas and diarrhea.