Medical blog » Life

Oak Cliff baby, brain damaged after injury, taken off life support

admin — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:18:48 +0000

Oak Cliff baby, brain damaged after injury, taken off life support
09:29 PM CST on Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Darlene Diles spent the first 17 days of her life in her mother’s care She spent the remaining days of her life hooked to tubes and machines On Tuesday afternoon, Darlene’s “It was a hard decision, but I’d rather for her to just go like that The decision came four days after a Dallas County juvenile district The judge’s ruling came against the wishes of Brown. Her involvement in “She expressly stated she didn’t want Mr. Michael Diles to make that Contacted on Wednesday, N’Duka said that her client had not authorized After Friday’s hearing, family members and court-appointed advocates “The hospital has expressed concerns that someone is going to need to Diles, who works as battery technician, said he has five other children. “She was just a darling,” Diles said. “She smiled On Jan. 30, Darlene stopped breathing. According to a doctor’s report Brown said that Darlene cried afterward and that she tried to feed her Once there, Brown’s mother tried rescue breathing at the instruction of The doctor reported that he found no skull fracture or scalp swelling It wasn’t the first time Brown had been implicated in a case of abuse. In that case, Brown told authorities that she yanked the infant’s arm as A funeral for Darlene Diles had not yet been scheduled late Wednesday. Diles said he held his daughter for a while after she was taken off life “I went back to the hospital after she passed, and held her for about an before an injury on Jan. 30 left her with severe brain damage.
inside Children’s Medical Center Dallas, where doctors blamed her head injury on child abuse.
father decided to allow doctors to take her off life support. The 35-day-old baby died several hours later in her grandmother’s arms, he said.
than have to suffer the rest of her life,” said the father, Michael Diles, 39. “They said she would never have been able to walk, talk, open her eyes or hear or anything.”
court judge granted Diles the right to participate in decisions about his daughter’s medical care. He and the mother, 19-year-old K.C. Denise Brown, were not married and split up before Darlene’s Jan. 13 birth.
her daughter’s injuries is under investigation, but she has not been charged with any crime.
decision,” Brown’s court-appointed attorney, Angie N’Duka, told the judge during a hearing Friday. She said her client spoke to her from Terrell State Hospital. Brown is being treated there after having suicidal thoughts following her daughter’s injuries.
her to speak publicly about the case.
attended a meeting on Darlene’s continued life support.
make a medical decision on what is going to be in the best interest of the baby,” one of advocates wrote in a status report.
He said that he remained on good terms with Brown and visited their infant daughter regularly.
a lot.”
filed in court, Brown said she accidentally dropped her daughter on the kitchen floor of her southeast Oak Cliff apartment.
but soon realized the infant wasn’t breathing. The report says Brown then called her mother, who came over to help.
a 911 operator until paramedics arrived.
consistent with a fall. Instead, he found internal head injuries consistent with being shaken, court records say.
In 2006, she lost custody of Darlene’s half sister – who was no more than a month old – after that infant suffered a broken arm and other injuries.
she slipped from her grasp, court records say. The other injuries were left unexplained. That daughter, now 2, was placed with a relative.
Her father said arrangements would be handled by Lott’s Mortuary in Dallas.
support, and again after she died.
hour when she didn’t have no tubes or nothing on her,” he said.

Good health, good life a juggling act for Victoria Osteen

admin — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:56:02 +0000

In televised services from Lakewood Church, Victoria Osteen smiles as if she doesn’t know how to appear any other way. She was raised to have a positive outlook and then married into a family with a similar view: that life as an optimist is a lot better than, well, the opposite. A healthy outlook isn’t just about nutrition and exercise, though, says this native Houstonian and mother of two. She recently talked with Health editor Diane Cowen about good nutrition, regular exercise, daily prayer — and how women need to put themselves on their own to-do lists.
Q: How do you incorporate your family into your own health regimen?
A: We eat pretty healthy foods and I’ve taught my kids since they were little about knocking out trans fats.
Q: Are your meals at home pretty true to the lean meat-veggies-fruits plan or do you make room for a few luxuries?
A: I bake a chocolate cake from scratch every week. Joel doesn’t have a big appetite, but he always saves room for something sweet.
Q: How else do you view good health?
A: In our family health it’s about having a balanced life, about laughing and staying on a positive note.
Q: You say you love to be outdoors, did you grow up in an active family?
A: My parents walked and a lot of people in our neighborhood were joggers. Joel and I worked out before we got married and spent a lot of time at the gym. We used to meet there after work.
Q: What kind of exercise do you do now?
A: I use a treadmill, bicycle, elliptical and do strength training.
Q: At your home?
A: Yes, Joel has a weight machine in the garage. We joke that it’s our California gym. My son brings his music out and they both exercise. I have to always warn them not to hit the car.
Q: How often do you work out?
A: Three to four times a week, less when I travel. A trainer comes to my house twice a week. I’ve been doing this for about eight weeks.
Q: Have you always been a positive person?
A: Joel and I both come from positive families. But everybody can make a choice to be more positive. It’s about who you hang around and what you choose to watch on TV. What environment you put yourself in. It’s easy to get a negative internal dialogue. You have to be aware of what’s playing in your mind.
Q: Women are so hard on themselves. What advice would you give them?
A: It’s important to be happy with who you are. You can have goals, but be happy
. Enjoy the moment.
Q: During and after the plane incident and trial who did you turn to for support?
A: I have an amazing family; they are my support system. I also asked God to help me; people can do only so much.
Q: How is prayer a part of your healthy lifestyle?
A: It’s huge. I get up every morning and put God first. I read my Bible and take time to center myself. I pray with my children before they go to school and bless them for the day. My kids joke that I say ‘Amen’ five or six times and start up again. They’ll ask ‘When is this prayer going to be over?’
Q: You have such beautiful skin. What do you do to take care of it?
A: Nothing really. I wash my face every night and keep it moisturized. I do wear sunscreen and stay out of direct sun. One time Joel said “Victoria, life is to be lived, not preserved.” I tell him, “If I don’t, when I’m 80 you’ll wish I had preserved more.”

New life in Chicago brings refugees to health center's doors

admin — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 02:16:43 +0000

Differences in culture, religion and language pose daily challenges at the West
health center, where the waiting room might find Iraqis standing next to refugees from Myanmar, or Burundis sitting alongside Somalis and Bhutanese.
On a recent snowy, bitterly cold day, 77 refugees from various countries were treated at the clinic. Among the patients seen by Dr. Gary Kaufman, the clinic’s medical director, were two young sisters from Myanmar who needed immunizations and a 55-year-old man, also from Myanmar, who needed a checkup after recent heart surgery.
Since 1975, about 130,000 refugees have resettled in the Chicago area, and many pass through the doors of the Touhy clinic, which opened in the early 1970s. Except for the physicians, the staff members are themselves former refugees.
The health center is bracing for a new wave of clients this year, as Illinois expects an increase in refugees moving to the state, and most are headed to Chicago. In 2007, Illinois resettled 1,877 refugees. Last year, it was 2,412. By the end of September, an estimated 2,800 more are expected.
Refugees often land at the Touhy clinic shortly after they arrive because they are required to undergo a health assessment. But some of the center’s patients choose to get their primary care there long after they have met federal government requirements.
Most new arrivals in the Chicago area are Iraqi, Bhutanese and Burmese (from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma), said Marie Jochum, case manager for the refugee resettlement program at Catholic Charities of the
.
Some natives of Myanmar and Bhutan arrive after spending years in refugee camps in Nepal or Thailand, she said.
“We’re still getting a smattering of Africans,” said Edwin Silverman, chief of the bureau of refugee and immigrant services for the Illinois Department of Human Services. “Ethiopians, Eritreans, Sudanese and Somalis are the biggest groups.”
Jochum praised the clinic as a good resource.
“I can’t say enough good things about them,” she said. “Especially their understanding of the whole picture [of refugee health]—the mental health needs as well.”
Common health problems among the refugees include diabetes, high blood pressure, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, post-traumatic stress disorder and poor nutrition.
All disabled refugees are referred to Touhy because of its relationship to Sinai’s Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital, Silverman said.
In fiscal year 2008, Mt. Sinai spent more than $700,000 running the center and received about $322,000 from a government grant earmarked for refugees.
Each day, staff members navigate cultural divides that can complicate medical care. Many of the refugees, for example, grew up in countries that are socially conservative and insist on modesty.
Gittler recalled treating a Muslim woman who had been living in a Kenyan refugee camp for a number of years.
The Arabic interpreter at Touhy is a man, and he translated for the patient while standing behind a screen that shielded the woman. But it wasn’t easy.
The woman was an amputee, and at one point Gittler needed the translator to ask the woman if it was OK to lift her skirt and look at the site of her amputated limb. The woman needed to be fitted with a prosthetic leg—and the prosthetist also was a man.
At Schwab, most of Gittler’s patients are native-born Americans. “I’m used to having people stand up and drop their pants and show me their limb,” she said with a laugh.
In addition to an Arabic translator and a Karen-Burmese translator, the center uses Language Line Services, a company that provides interpretation in more than 170 languages over the phone.
But not all translators are trained in medicine, opening up the possibility of misunderstandings.
That was the case with Younan, whose translator was interpreting over the phone and couldn’t see her.
But even with all the challenges, refugee health care can be rewarding work.
“I’ve been here for eight years, and I still love it,” said Kaufman, who earlier in the day conversed with a deaf Polish patient in sign language. “You really feel at the end of the day that you’ve helped people.”

Clean Air Means Longer Life, Study Says

admin — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:00:22 +0000

If the air in your city is clean, you can tack on about five months to your life. So suggests a new study by researchers at Brigham Young University and Harvard School of Public Health.
This study found that the average life expectancy in 51 cities in the United States increased by nearly three years in recent decades and that approximately five months of that increase came as a result of cleaner air.
“Life expectancy is a well-understood indicator for public health,” said C. Arden Pope III, a Brigham Young University epidemiologist and lead author on the study in the Jan. 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. “We find that we are getting a substantial return on our investments in improving our air quality.”
Pope is no stranger to this issue. He and co-author Douglas Dockery, chair of the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard School of Public Health, teamed up with other researchers on important studies in the 1990s that revealed the negative health effects of infinitesimally small particles of pollution.
So small are these particles, known as “PM2.5,” that you would have to line up 25 of them end to end to span the width of a human hair. The danger of these tiny particles is that they can find their way deep into the respiratory system when inhaled.
Dr. Joel Schwartz, an environmental epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health, agreed that the research “suggests that there is a phenomenon in the United States regarding increase in air pollution and shortened life span that is greater than the six locations studied in [previous research].”
Time for Tighter Standards?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tightened air pollution standards in 1997 based on earlier data. But the new research suggests that it may be time to tighten these standards even further.
“This is a compelling paper,” said Dr. David Peden, chief of pediatric immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “The results speak to the need for better standards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”

Hearing to end life support for abused baby is canceled 1:40 PM CT

admin — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:30:09 +0000

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Life Fitness Center offers winter classes

admin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:59:27 +0000

The Life Fitness Center, 2222 Middle Road, Bettendorf, is offering a variety of classes this winter for both members and nonmembers.
Most classes began this week, but they can be joined at any time. Twelve-class punch cards are available for nonmembers for $60. Classes include:
Active older adult fitness — A cardio class designed for those 50 and older that incorporates active movement with mild choreography and chair stretching for flexibility, 8:15 a.m. Mondays and Fridays.
Water exercise — A water class for all ability levels. Morning classes are still available at 8:15 a.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The evening class meets at 6:15 p.m. Tuesdays.
Zumba — A Latin dance-inspired cardio class offered at 9 a.m. Saturdays.
Balance and movement — Based on exercises from Tai Chi, Qi Quong and traditional body weight balance training. Meets at 7:15 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays.
Karate — Classes are offered for $40 per month, with youth classes scheduled at 4:15 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, and teen/adult classes at 6:45 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
For more information, call (563) 344-4119 or visit the Web site at
.

Q&A: LIVE A DIET-FREE LIFE

admin — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:45:28 +0000

So you started the new year on a diet, right? Giving up carbs and starches, watching the sugars, heavy on the fish and chicken and light on the beef and pork.
Forget it, says Francie Berg, founder of Healthy Weight Network. She’s a licensed nutritionist and adjunct professor at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine.
“Resolve to follow a healthy, diet-free lifestyle through 2009,” Berg says. “You can get your life back on track, improve your health and move on with what’s really important to you.”
Q: There are always diets, maybe always have been diets.
We’ve had diets for about 50 years. If any one of them worked, we wouldn’t have so many obese people. The truth is some people are thin and some are larger.
The real problem with people 50 and older is a deficiency in nutrients. There’s a lot of emphasis on not eating meat, and these people need the protein they get from meat.
Q: So the answer is …
Eat all the food groups. Eat moderately. Eat at regular times, three meals and one or two snacks a day.
Q: You actually have a file on the Web site you edit, healthyweightnetwork.com, on “normal eating.”
Normal eating. An interesting concept. It’s pretty easy. Right now, it’s politically correct to be a vegetarian. I don’t want to talk against that. And for some people, it works. But most of us need animal products to get the full nutrition from the food we eat.
Q: Your Web site always lists the worst diet promotions of the year. What’s there for 2009?
For the most outrageous claim, we cited the Kevin Trudeau infomercials. He was fined more than $7 million for deceptive infomercials on his weight-loss book, and he was banned from making infomercials for three years. The worst gimmick is the skineez jeans ($139) that supposedly release “medication” through friction and that reduces cellulite.
The worst claim is AbGONE, with drug-like claims that it increases “fat metabolism and calorie burn.”
And our panel decided the worst product was Kimkins diet by Heidi “Kimmer” Diaz that charged users to view her Internet diet site, claiming they could lose 5 percent of their body weight in 10 days safely and permanently. It is essentially a starvation diet. Eleven people are suing her.
Q: So you encourage people to make good food choices and eat enough to keep themselves satisfied?
And also to feel good about yourself and others, accept your own body. I hope we will accept and respect other people – people who are naturally larger. These people are harassed in our country.

Gifts for the fitness buff in your life

admin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:07:47 +0000

Gym bags that hold everything a woman needs but will also fit inside her locker can be hard to find. REI kept those things in mind in designing the Balance Gym Bag, $59.50, made from recycled plastic bottles. It has a large zipper opening on the top, a side panel for a 1-liter water bottle, compartments for shoes and clothes, mesh vents to air things out and a removable shower caddy. A zippered stash pocket keeps your keys and phone handy. At REI stores and rei.com.
Russian strongmen are no longer the keepers of the kettlebells. The equipment is a staple in trendy fitness studios and comes in cheerfully colored weights ranging from 10 to 45 pounds, a perfect pick for the strength-training fan. Kettlebell training burns calories like crazy in short, controlled exercise programs. The kettlebells from Go Fit start at $29.99 and include an instructional DVD. At gofit.net.
Older teen boys and young men who want their gym time to produce muscles as well as attention from women will appreciate Built for Show, Nate Greens book thats not so subtly subtitled Four Body-Changing Workouts for Building Muscle, Losing Fat, and Looking Good Enough to Hook Up (Avery, $19.95). A trainer and contributor to Mens Fitness, Green offers not only workout plans, but advice on what to eat and even advice on building confidence.
You dont have to be a big kid to have serious snowboarding style. This year, Burton debuts Mini Shred, a line for riders 2 years and older, developed with input from the chil-dren of Burton employees. The kids were responsible for coming up with fabric ideas like the Candy Camo and Chicklet print. The clothes are made from materials Burton uses in its other lines, including Thermacore insulation and fast-drying outerwear technology. Features parents will like include the Ready-to-Grow System, which allows adjustments in both clothes and equipment, and bindings that are kid-friendly. Items range from bib pants, $70, to jackets, $90-$150. At burton.com.
What to get yoga fans this year be-sides more time and peace to prac-tice? How about clothing that goes beyond function and into the realm of fashion. Lucy offers both in its scoop-necked floral tank, $48, and floral border crop pants, $64. Both pieces are sleek-fitting and made from soft, stretchy performance fabrics. At Lucy stores and lucy.com.
Hop, skip
Savasa packs a lot of features into its Eco Jump Rope for women, $5 to $10, including ergonomic handles, ball bearings for smooth rotation and phthalate-free construction. It comes in three rope lengths. At ama-zon.com.
All the new baggage fees imposed by airlines seem especially cruel to skiers and snowboarders who have a lot of bulky gear to tote to the moun-tains. Transpack thought of that when designing its Sidekick Pro backpack, $80, with a strap system that holds a pair of boots, and a hel-met pocket. The main compartment has space for gloves, goggles, clothes and other gear. It also has a padded laptop sleeve and hydration sleeve with hose cover. Locations at trans-pack.net.
If mom and dad have been watching The Biggest Loser on TV from the sofa, heres their chance to train with one of the shows stars without having to go in front of a national audience. Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009, $40, created by Majesco Entertainment Co. and Interactive Game Group, is a new Wii Fitness video-game workout. Using the game and Wii Balance Board accessory, players go through a tiered fitness regimen, and can also get advice and exercise techniques. The game has Wii players be recruits in a boot camp composed of fitness tests and a series of workouts. Play-ers choose their workout from four types weight loss, strength training, intervals and hill climb and set the intensity to light, medium or hard for a duration between 10 and 60 min-utes. Two players can also race against each other. At amazon.com; majescoentertainment.com.
The guy who likes his winter sports can use REIs Power Stretch Half-Zip Top, $75. With a soft Po-lartec Power Stretch moisture-wicking fleece on the inside and a nylon outer face that resists moisture and wind, the top has an athletic fit. Other features hell like: a deep front zipper with reflective trim, tall collar, droptail hemline, flatlock seams to minimize abrasion, and a headphone port for his tunes. It comes in four colors and is sized from small to double XL. At REI stores and rei.com.

Erotica Key to Great Sex Life with New Fitness DVD, Say Makers of …

admin — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:10:29 +0000

Erotica Key to Great Sex Life with New Fitness DVD, Say Makers of SexArise!
RAHFA Entertainment Inc.
866.769.0497
Billed as the hottest erotic fitness show in the world, RAHFA Entertainment says it has raised the bar in erotica and erotic, nude fitness for 2009.
“We saw what was out there and there really isnt anything quite like our show” says John Allen, Senior Communications Director for the five-year-old company, based in Toronto. “SexArise! is perfect for people who love watching beautiful women but who also want a great workout”
With the success of the Tshirt line of the same name, Allen says it wasnt long before the company decided erotic fitness, which was the original concept for the brand, was the direction they should go in.
“SexArise! (
) started with the concept of an erotic fitness show but we shifted gears a little and after revisiting this and doing more research, we found there was a void in the marketplace for an over-the-top sexy fitness show so we really wanted to deliver”
The company hired a professional fitness trainer and choreographer, a skilled production team and, of course, hot models who could do more than just look good on screen.
We went through an eight week audition process looking for two models who could believably exercise on screen and not look goofy while doing it, Allen says, we wanted a hostess who could carry the show and we wanted everyones buy in that this could truly be the hottest erotic fitness show in the world.
The feedback from our customers shows we have done that.
The babelicious trio on the DVD are SexArise! Girls Milena and Eila and hostess Faye Ly, together they provide the viewer with a huge dose of eye candy from start to finish.
While the target market is men 18-34+, the actual fitness routine is geared primarily for women or couples to do the workout together. It is designed for participants to have more energy for more sex and with better orgasms. Allen says the end result should always be a steamy session behind closed doors, or self gratification.
“We created SexArise! for people to enjoy as a workout, a fantastic love-making experience or to just admire our beautiful girls and their fine form.
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Cleaner Air Has Boosted Life Spans

admin — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:41:13 +0000

LOS ANGELES — Cleaner air over the past two decades has added nearly five months to average life expectancy in the U.S., according to a study.
Researchers said it is the first study to show that reducing air pollution translates into longer lives.
Between 1978 and 2001, Americans’ average life span increased almost three years to 77, and as much as 4.8 months of that can be attributed to cleaner air, researchers from Brigham Young University and the Harvard School of Public Health reported in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
Some experts not connected with the study called the gain dramatic.
“It shows that our efforts as a country to control air pollution have been well worth the expense,” said Joel Kaufman, a University of Washington expert on environmental health.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A14