When Your Lifestyle Cries Out For An Annual Physical

Despite age and health status, there are quite a few risk factors that could warrant an annual physical exam. Here are some common ones, if you have any of these you may need an annual physical:

Family history of chronic disease including heart attack, cancer, diabetes, auto-immune diseases, osteoporosis, prostate problems and high blood pressure.

History of smoking, alcoholism or drug use (even if recovered.)  For example, past cocaine use can pre-dispose a person to cardiovscular disease; while past (even one-time) heroine use can pre-dispose a person to hepatiis C.

Overweight; also associated with cardiovascular and cancer risk.

Insomnia or sleep apnea; increasingly associated with cardiovascular disease and overall early death.

Elevated exposure to toxins; for example, lifetime city dwellers exposed daily to pollution are at a greater risk for cardiovascular disease and other inflammatory conditions.

High stress exposure: poorly managed stress--whether from a job, rocky marriage, financial trouble or extended care of a sick loved one--can increase risk for disease.

When Memory Fails, so Can Birth Control: Study Backs IUD and Other Methods That Don't Require People to Comply

From NYtimes.com

Intrauterine devices, under-the-skin implants and Depo-Provera injections — the long-acting reversible contraceptives — are much more effective in preventing pregnancy than the transdermal patch, the vaginal ring or the birth control pill, a new study reports.

Researchers provided 7,486 volunteers with the contraceptive of their choice, then followed them for up to three years. (Women using condoms, diaphragms and natural family planning were not included in the analysis.) There were 334 unintended pregnancies.

Failure rates for pills, patches and rings were more than 9 percent by the end of the study, compared with less than 1 percent for the long-acting reversible methods. The study appeared in the May 24 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Read more about the IUD and birth control study.

Have A Couple Of Laughs And Text Me In The Morning

It's not just Hollywood claptrap: A smile really is the best makeup and hearty guffaws, while possibly not the best, are certainly very good medicine. We humbly submit today's requirement, from McSweeney's. You know, Timothy McSweeney, who purchased his bratwurst with obsolete Alaskan treasury bonds. Ha ha ha.

Another Wand for When Mascara Isn't Enough

from WSJ.com

For some women, mascara just doesn't cut it anymore. Women are using eyelash enhancers to create thicker, more dramatic-looking lashes. Latisse, approved to treat people with inadequate lashes, is being used mostly by women with normal eyelashes, physicians say.

Dozens of over-the-counter products are marketed with claims of enhancing eyelash prominence, but only Latisse has regulatory approval based on strong scientific evidence to say it grows lashes.

Eyelashes can become come sparser with age, chemotherapy, genetics or other medical conditions, dermatologists say. The condition of having inadequate eyelashes is called hypotrichosis. Eyelashes protect the eyes from dust and dirt, with 100 to 150 lashes on the upper lid alone. The average person has lashes about nine millimeters long—of which seven millimeters extends beyond the skin, according to scientific literature.

Eyelash enhancers have a range of ingredients that includes "peptides" and nutrients for the lashes. They are typically applied once a day—often at bedtime—at the base of the top eyelash using an applicator. A product will transfer to the bottom lash when you blink, some companies sa

Latisse, sold by Allergan Inc., Irvine, Calif., is the only product approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat hypotrichosis. Latisse, which hit the U.S. market in 2009, is identical to Allergan's glaucoma drug Lumigan, an eyedrop that was discovered to grow eyelashes. However, most Latisse users are women with normal lashes who want a cosmetic boost, physicians say.

Latisse is relatively safe to use, doctors say, though some think their patients are overdoing it. "I've seen women who can't wear sunglasses without their eyelashes brushing the lenses," says Richard Glogau, a clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California in San Francisco and a paid consultant for Allergan.

Latisse makes lashes longer and thicker by prolonging their one-to-two-month growth phase, the time in which they are actively growing, likely by several weeks, says Frederick Beddingfield, Allergan's vice president of clinical development. Lashes also become darker, which is believed due to stimulation of an enzyme that boosts production of hair pigments, says Dr. Beddingfield.

Results are visible after as little as two months of use, peaking after four months, Allergan says. You must continue to use it, or your lashes go back to normal in a few weeks or months, the company says. Latisse costs $90 to $120 for a month's supply and isn't usually covered by insurance. Latisse is undergoing tests for eyebrow growth too, and some doctors are already prescribing it for that purpose.

In an Allergan-funded 278-person, four-month trial, Latisse increased the average length of eyelashes by 1.4 millimeters, compared with about a 10th of a millimeter for a placebo, the company said. In the study, published earlier this year in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 78% of patients on Latisse saw an increase of at least one point on the four-point scale designed by Allergan to measure the prominence of eyelashes. That's compared with 18% of those on a placebo. Latisse made lashes thicker and darker based on computer photo analysis results, according to the study. To be in the study, patients had to score 1 or 2 on the scale, or minimal-to-moderate lash prominence, before treatment.

Popular over-the-counter products include Marini Lash Eyelash Conditioner, which came out in 2008. Jan Marini Skin Research Inc., San Jose, Calif., which sells the product, says a tube that lasts two months costs $60. Chief Executive Jan Marini says her company's product contains a "proprietary blend" of two peptides, including Sympeptide 226, sold by Germany's Symrise  AG. The peptide enhances production of keratin, a protein that is a major component of hair, according to Symrise. The company says an independent lab tested Sympeptide 226 on four people and found lash length and thickness—measured by counting the number of pixels in images—increased on average by 61%. Symrise declined to provide a copy of the lab report.

EnvyDerm Cosmetics Co., Dana Point, Calif., says on its website that its EnvyDerm Eyelash Enhancement & Conditioning Nighttime Serum "increases the length and density of lashes." The product, which contains Sympeptide 226, costs $100 for a vial that lasts up to six months. The company—which cites the Symrise test as proof of efficacy—also sells peptide-containing mascara and eyeliner.

According to Athena Cosmetics Inc. in Ventura, Calif.'s website, a clinical study found its RevitaLash Advanced product "improved appearance" of eyelashes. The company didn't respond to requests for a copy of the study or a list of ingredients. A six-month supply costs $150.

Eyelash enhancers can be sold as over-the-counter cosmetics, but companies that claim their products grow lashes could face scrutiny. In general, an eyelash-growth claim "would indicate an intent to affect the structure or function of the body, and thus, cause the product to be a drug," which would require FDA approval, says Shelly Burgess, a spokeswoman. Whether a eyelash product's enhancement claims would require approval, would be determined on a case-by-case basis, she adds.

Because they haven't been through rigorous trials, the adverse effects of using over-the-counter lash enhancers aren't known, dermatologists say. The products, which generally have reusable applicators, would likely pose similar infection risks to mascara, which can sometimes cause eye infections, says Tina S. Alster, a Washington, D.C., dermatologist. Companies say they haven't had any reports of eye infections. Ms. Marini says Marini Lash is made with preservatives to prevent bacteria growth.

Latisse uses sterile wands for each application, but carries other risks, including eye redness and itchiness, and skin darkening, which goes away after the product is no longer used. Latisse could potentially cause hair growth if it drips on the face or darken eye color, but eye-color changes weren't seen in Latisse clinical trials, Allergan says.

read the story at wsj.com

Aging of Eyes Is Blamed for Range of Health Woes

For decades, scientists have looked for explanations as to why certain conditions occur with age, among them memory loss, slower reaction time, insomnia and even depression. They have scrupulously investigated such suspects as high cholesterol, obesity, heart disease and an inactive lifestyle.

Now a fascinating body of research supports a largely unrecognized culprit: the aging of the eye.

The gradual yellowing of the lens and the narrowing of the pupil that occur with age disturb the body’s circadian rhythm, contributing to a range of health problems, these studies suggest. As the eyes age, less and less sunlight gets through the lens to reach key cells in the retina that regulate the body’s circadian rhythm, its internal clock.

“We believe the effect is huge and that it’s just beginning to be recognized as a problem,” said Dr. Patricia Turner, an ophthalmologist in Leawood, Kan., who with her husband, Dr. Martin Mainster, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Kansas Medical School, has written extensively about the effects of the aging eye on health.

Circadian rhythms are the cyclical hormonal and physiological processes that rally the body in the morning to tackle the day’s demands and slow it down at night, allowing the body to rest and repair. This internal clock relies on light to function properly, and studies have found that people whose circadian rhythms are out of sync, like shift workers, are at greater risk for a number of ailments, including insomnia, heart disease and cancer.

“Evolution has built this beautiful timekeeping mechanism, but the clock is not absolutely perfect and needs to be nudged every day,” said Dr. David Berson, whose lab at Brown University studies how the eye communicates with the brain.

So-called photoreceptive cells in the retina absorb sunlight and transmit messages to a part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (S.C.N.), which governs the internal clock. The S.C.N. adjusts the body to the environment by initiating the release of the hormone melatonin in the evening and cortisol in the morning.

Melatonin is thought to have many health-promoting functions, and studies have shown that people with low melatonin secretion, a marker for a dysfunctional S.C.N., have a higher incidence of many illnesses, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

It was not until 2002 that the eye’s role in synchronizing the circadian rhythm became clear. It was always believed that the well-known rods and cones, which provide conscious vision, were the eye’s only photoreceptors. But Dr. Berson’s team discovered that cells in the inner retina, called retinal ganglion cells, also had photoreceptors and that these cells communicated more directly with the brain.

Read the story in The New York Times