USA Today has a great report out on the effective ways to ward off mosquitoes and the sometimes serious illnesses their bites can cause. And, the best preventative does NOT include rubbing your skin with Bounce dryer sheets, eating garlic, or downing vitamin B.

My Take?

This is a great article for all parents and grandparents to read. The bottom line, the best preventive treatment is one of several commercial repellents — “an unloved group of products that can be stinky and sticky and, if used incorrectly, potentially toxic.”

USA Today reports that online second-opinion services offer patients consultations from specialists based on the medical records that they fax, mail or send via the Internet. 

The average cost, payable upfront via credit card, is $500 to $1,500, depending on the number of radiology or pathology interpretations required. Patients then receive online access to a second opinion in about two weeks.

The three main leaders in remote second-opinion services — the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine and POSC — each say they are serving about 1,000 patients a year.

ABC News is reporting that while Americans will be attending church this Sunday, Cindy McCain the woman who could one day be first lady will be walking around a garbage dump, far removed from her comfortable life in Phoenix.

This is the other side of Cindy McCain – not the model-perfect spouse of the candidate who wears pearls and designer clothes. On this side of the world, she wears old hiking boots, puts her hair up in a ponytail and wants to “get to work.”

According the BBC, gels or creams containing painkillers are better than tablets for chronic knee pain.

This report is based upon National Health Service research in Great Brittan. Their study of almost 600 patients aged over 50 found the anti-inflammatory creams worked as well as the oral versions and had fewer side-effects.

LifeNews.com is reporting a new Ohio law requiring abortion practitioners to give the woman an opportunity to view the active ultrasound image of the unborn child.

The law is another effort to give women information on fetal development they don’t normally receive before an abortion.

CitizenLink is reporting that researchers at the University of North Carolina have used adult stem cells to improve the healing of broken bones in mice.

Dawn Vargo, bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said: “Although this particular treatment is still being tested in mice, it might soon be added to the long list of adult stem-cell treatments successfully used in people suffering from debilitating.”

This is the second part in a series excerpted from my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Teen. You can learn more about parenting in my books God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Child or God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Teen.

A Parenting Style Case Study 

Imagine you’re putting clothes into your teen’s dresser. When you open the drawer, you see a pack of cigarettes. Here’s how parents of the four parenting styles might react:

• Study Shows Family Relationships Bring Greater Happiness Than High Income
• Anti-Smoking Initiative in Massachusetts Results in Fewer Heart Disease Deaths
• Bone health may suffer in non-menstruating athletes
• Woman Births Titanic Twins

ABC News is reporting a phenomena that family physicians around the country are reporting to me: Tim Russert’s death Friday from sudden cardiac arrest may have hit a nerve deeper than sadness.

Russert’s death may have lead some to fear for their own seemingly healthy bodies, or the health of a loved one – and doctors are seeing the effects. Calls are up dramatically for exams for middle aged men.

The AP is reporting that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is cracking down on teas, supplements, creams, and other products that falsely claim to cure, treat, or prevent cancer, even though they are not agency-approved drugs. All are available for sale on the Internet. 

The agency has sent 25 warning letters to companies and individuals marketing these products, FDA officials said Tuesday. Twenty-three of the letters went to domestic companies and two to foreign individuals.

WebMD is reporting a study showing that eating a 600-calorie breakfast rich in carbohydrates and protein helps dieters lose more weight long term than eating a modest breakfast and following a lower-carb eating plan.

LifeNews is reporting a study that suggests Planned Parenthood is at fault in the deaths of women in the United States from the abortion drug RU 486. The abortion business had been telling women to use the drug in a different way than the FDA guidelines suggested and the study shows it contributed to the deaths.

So far, eight women have died from the use of the abortion drug, including women going to Planned Parenthood abortion centers in California. Planned Parenthood had been telling women to use the abortion drug vaginally, even though the FDA indicated oral use is safer for women.