MONDAY, Feb. 16 (HealthDay News) — People with a family history of melanoma are twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, a new study finds.
While the reasons for this association are not clear, other studies have shown that people with Parkinson’s diseases are at greater risk for developing melanoma.
“For people with a family member with melanoma, they may be at risk for Parkinson’s disease,” said lead researcher Dr. Xiang Gao, an instructor Read the rest of this entry »

this week afford to care for them? It’s a question being raised anew today with the discovery of court documents showing that the woman’s mother, with whom she shares a home, filed for bankruptcy last year.
Neighbors told ABC News that the octuplets’ mother is single, in her 30s and already has six other children. She lives with her mother, Angela Victoria Suleman, who, according to public records, filed for bankruptcy in March 2008. The family Read the rest of this entry »

It Runs In My Family is a tool for disease prevention that takes the family history of any individual as the starting point. This tool enables anybody to create what the site terms a “family pedigree” and enter the diseases that run in his family. A report is then produced, and it can be presented to any specific healthcare professionals for him to weigh it up.
In addition to this family health history tool, the site includes a full section Read the rest of this entry »

The federal government launched a free tool to help people improve their medical care this week. The
, as its name suggests, allows you to fill out a digital version of the medical problems your relatives have had.
filled out at the doctor’s office usually contain errors, and many people haven’t even talked to family members to be able to complete such a form, the Associated Press reported.
But family histories aren’t just Read the rest of this entry »

– Most of the world seems to think that America invented obesity sometime in the last century, but the truth is, fat has always been a part of life (witness Hatshepsut, one of the great ancient Egyptian queens who reigned in the 15th century BC — despite her svelte sarcophagus, modern archeologists believe that she was pretty obese and may have suffered from diabetes).
So it stands to reason that dieting has been around just as long.
Some Read the rest of this entry »

This year’s Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum has been unprecedented on many levels. I’ve blogged about the apprehension in the air, but I’ve also written about how the world leaders at Davos seem to be open to new ideas in a more significant way than ever before.
The girl effect is a perfect demonstration of that. People here in Davos have been talking about it all week and it was clear after the session, The Girl Effect on Development, Read the rest of this entry »

1. Myth: It’s way too complicated for me to try to gather my familyhealth history. I’m too busy and it would take too much time.
Fact: Family history information can be collected over time. Begin bywriting down your own health history and then that of your closest relatives(your parents, brothers, sisters and children), working out to your moredistant relatives. As you identify missing information, make a list of whatyou need and have other family Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday, November 11, 2008
: If my father died of a heart attack, how likely am I to develop heart disease?
Q MY FATHER died at 45 years of age from a heart attack. I am now 40 and I would like to know how I can find out if I am at risk of heart disease?
HEART ATTACKS represent the most common cause of sudden death in people over 35 years of age. In general, most people who suffer heart attacks have at least one identifiable risk factor and Read the rest of this entry »

Posted: November 3, 2008 – 7:28 pm
The campaign issued a two-page summary of Palin’s medical history, signed by her family doctor in the Valley, Cathy Baldwin-Johnson.
Baldwin-Johnson writes that Palin has been a patient at the same clinic for 17 years and during that time has been in good health. She had four full-term deliveries and one pre-term delivery, earier this year.
“Governor Palin has had no major medical problems. Her hospitalizations Read the rest of this entry »

The Department of Public Health encourages Connecticut families to take a few minutes on Thursday, November 27th – Thanksgiving Day – to discuss their family health history. Thanksgiving Day was designated by the U.S. Surgeon General in 2004 as national Family History Day, dedicated to families increasing their knowledge of their own health history.
“Knowing your family health history is an important way to understand your risk factors and Read the rest of this entry »