The Korea Herald

Flesh-eating germ rare, especially for the healthy

May 17, 2012

ATLANTA (AP) ― Aimee Copeland, a Georgia grad student, is fighting for her life because of the flesh-eating bacteria that infected her after she gashed her leg in a river two weeks ago. One of her legs was amputated and her fingers will be too, her father says, because of the spreading infection.She has a rare condition, called necrotizing fasciitis, in which marauding bacteria run rampant through tissue. Affected areas sometimes have to be surgically removed to save the patient’s life.● How oft
Watch out for preeclampsia during pregnancy

May 17, 2012

In the year of the black dragon many people are planning to have babies with “good fortune.”However, pregnancy takes caution as well as enthusiasm. One thing expectant mothers should bear in mind ― especially those older than 35 ― is preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is when a pregnant woman develops high blood pressure and protein in the urine after the 20th week, which is in the middle of the second trimester of pregnancy.The U.S. National Institute of Health says the main symptoms of preeclampsia ar
Video shows massive cat enjoying good vacuum

May 17, 2012

An online video clip on Thursday showed a massive cat letting his owner give him a vacuuming.Normally, cats hate the loud sound of a vacuum cleaner and hide under the couch once the vacuum starts up.However, the YouTube video showed that the cat lying on the floor even rolls over onto his back to let the owner give him a thorough vacuuming. One comment said the cat would have run away if it had no
Coffee buzz: Study finds java drinkers live longer

May 17, 2012

One of life's simple pleasures just got a little sweeter. After years of waffling research on coffee and health, even some fear that java might raise the risk of heart disease, a big study finds the opposite: Coffee drinkers are a little more likely to live longer. Regular or decaf doesn't matter.The study of 400,000 people is the largest ever done on the issue, and the results should reassure an
Jogging mother called ‘selfish cow’ during pregnancy

May 13, 2012

British woman Jenny Wright said in a news report that she was called “selfish cow” by internet users because she kept on jogging during her pregnancy. According to the report, she was six months pregnant in January when she ran almost every day. She had posted her jogging experience on a website, with the encouragement of her doctor. There were hundreds of emails and comments by readers. Critics said that she could have caused brain damage in the unborn child; that her exercising was for feminis
11 habits that send diet plans awry

May 10, 2012

With unusually hot weather signaling an early end to spring, many women are taking up weight loss regimes, getting ready to show off slender figures in summer.According to business group CJ, the women’s weight-loss market is worth around 200 billion won ($175 million) a year. However, many fail in their attempts to shed a few kilograms. Here are 11 reasons suggested by Fox News and other news outlets as to why people stumble on their way to a slimmer figure. 1. You eat the wrong food: Many peop
Boys make up majority of ADHD patients

May 10, 2012

About 80 percent of those under-18s diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder are boys, requiring more than six months of treatment, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment said Wednesday. According to analysis, the number of young people diagnosed with ADHD amounted to 57,000 in 2011, up from 48,000 in 2007. About 80 percent were boys and 68.2 percent were between the ages of 7 and 13. ADHD symptoms include difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling
Children should not wear makeup: officials

May 10, 2012

The Korea Food and Drug Administration asks that children refrain from wearing makeup because some substances can trigger skin troubles at a very early age. “Children tend to have more vulnerable skin than grownups. Their skin also absorbs makeup materials more than that of grownups. Therefore, itchiness, rash and some other dermatological troubles may occur,” said Kim Young-ok, a KFDA official. The agency also said children should refrain from having manicures. Instead, they should wear sunscre
Breast cancer is rare in men, but they fare worse

May 10, 2012

CHICAGO (AP) ― Men rarely get breast cancer, but those who do often don’t survive as long as women, largely because they don’t even realize they can get it and are slow to recognize the warning signs, researchers say.On average, women with breast cancer lived two years longer than men in the biggest study yet of the disease in males.The study found that men’s breast tumors were larger at diagnosis, more advanced and more likely to have spread to other parts of the body. Men were also diagnosed l
70-year-old puts her best foot forward, 10 km a day

May 10, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Missouri ― Margie Warden is walking.It’s 4:45 a.m., and even some of the birds aren’t up yet, but she’s walking. She’s 70 years old and sweating through a gray shirt as she trudges up a long hill in the dark. She’ll walk 10 kilometers on the grounds of Kansas City Kansas Community College before the sun comes up. Ten years from now ― God willing, she says ― she’ll still be walking 10 kilometers every day. She’ll walk in the heat, in the cold, in the rain and the snow, because that’s
Anemia

May 10, 2012

Anemia is a condition in which the blood has a below-normal level of red blood cells, hemoglobin, or hematocrit. In general, the patient is diagnosed as anemic if their hemoglobin content is lower than 13 grams per 100 ml in men, or 12g per 100 ml in women.Not every case of dizziness is diagnosed as anemia.Though many people think they are same, dizziness and vertigo are often not caused by anemia. Anemia could be one reason behind dizziness, but there are many other possible reasons including d
Viagra helps children with heart defects

May 10, 2012

Viagra, or sildenafil may give a boost to underdeveloped hearts in children and young adults with congenital heart defects, U.S. researchers say.Study leader Dr. David J. Goldberg, a pediatric cardiologist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues randomly assigned 27 children and young adults to receive either sildenafil or a placebo for six weeks. After a six-week break in treat
Apples, onions, green tea can prevent blood clots: study

May 10, 2012

An apple a day keeps blood clots away, claim scientists.In fact, oranges, onions, green tea and black tea -- all of which contain the chemical rutin -- may also contribute to preventing blood clots. Researchers at Harvard Medical School tested 500 different chemicals to find that rutin was most effective in blocking protein disulfide isomerase, a key enzyme linked to the formation of blood clots.“Clots occur in both arteries and in veins,” says Professor Robert Flaumenhaft, who led the research
New questions raised about U.S. beef safety

May 8, 2012

Views conflict over dangers of BSE; government ignores pressure to stop customs clearanceMadThe safety of U.S. beef imports into Korea faces new questions after U.S. authorities confirmed a case of mad cow disease in a dairy cow from a California farm on April 24.The latest discovery was the first in six years and the country’s fourth case ever.For Korea, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly known as mad cow disease, is a high-profile issue affected by political considerations a
BSE has long incubation period, no treatment

May 8, 2012

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, is a progressive, fatal disease of the nervous system in cattle. The disease has a long incubation period (averaging four to five years) and there is currently no treatment or vaccine for the disease. BSE is one of a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). Other TSEs include scrapie in sheep, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.The measures to deal w