HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Broccoli Prevents Skin Cancer

There are numerous studies that suggest eating vegetables can provide certain health benefits. Now researchers say that broccoli may help to combat skin cancer, not by eating it, but by applying it directly to the skin. Sally Dickinson, research assistant professor in the Pharmacology Department at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, has teamed up with researchers from John Hopkins University to determine how sulforaphane - a compound found in broccoli - could help prevent the skin disease. The team is conducting this study in the hope that patients with weaker immune systems may be able to apply the sulforaphane solution to their skin to reduce their risk of skin cancer.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Drinking #4 Cause of Death

A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that between 2006 and 2010, 1 in every 10 deaths among working-age adults in the US was attributable to excessive alcohol consumption. According to the research team, including Mandy Stahre, epidemic intelligence service officer at the CDC, excessive alcohol use is the fourth leading preventable cause of death in the US.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: More than 3 Hours of TV Causes Early Death

When you arrive home after a hard day's work, sometimes there is nothing better than relaxing on the sofa in front of the television. But you better not watch it for too long; 3 hours or more of TV watching a day could double the risk of premature death, according to a new study. The research team, led by Dr. Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez of the Department of Public Health at the University of Navarra in Spain, recently published their findings in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

HCR Toon of the Week from Mark Sanna

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Tanning Beds Increase Youth Cancer

A new study suggests that young people who are exposed to ultraviolet radiation from lamps used for indoor tanning have a greater risk for developing basal cell carcinomas at a young age. The researchers say as teens and young adults are increasingly seeking indoor tanning, there is an important need to draw their attention to the risk they are taking. Writing in the journal Pediatrics, they report how the incidence of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) in the US and elsewhere has been rising, and younger people are increasingly affected.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Standing Meetings Improve Performance.

A new study suggests standing during meetings indirectly benefits work performance in organizations where knowledge working is key to productivity. It found that compared with sitting, groups who held meetings standing up were more excited and less territorial about ideas, both of which lead to better elaboration of information, indirectly benefiting group performance. The study researchers, both from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, report their findings in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Sunlight is Addictive

When the sun is shining, many of us are unable to resist a trip to the beach to soak up the rays, despite recommendations that we should cover up to reduce the risk of skin cancer. And now, researchers have discovered why; ultraviolet radiation from the sun releases endorphins - "feel-good" hormones - that act like a drug, making exposure to sunlight addictive. The research team, including senior author David Fisher of the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, recently published their findings in the journal Cell.

HCR Comic of the Week

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Heart Attack Protecting Gene Identified

Two major studies by leading research groups published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday independently identified mutations in a single gene that protect against heart attacks by keeping levels of triglycerides — a kind of fat in the blood — very low for a lifetime. The findings are expected to lead to a push to develop drugs that mimic the effect of the mutations, potentially offering the first new class of drugs to combat heart disease in decades.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Dr. Oz backs down before Senate

Under pressure from Congress, the television host Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday offered to help “drain the swamp” of unscrupulous marketers using his name to sell so-called miracle pills for weight loss. Dr. Oz, appearing before the Senate’s consumer protection panel, was scolded by the chairwoman, Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, for his claims about weight-loss aids on “The Dr. Oz Show.” Dr. Oz, a surgeon, acknowledged that his language about green coffee and other supplements had been “flowery.”

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: US Ranked Last in Health Care

Britain and Switzerland were top scorers in a study by the Commonwealth Fund examining the quality and efficiency of health care systems in 11 advanced nations by a leading American research organization. As usual, the United States finished last over all and last on several important measures of cost and health outcomes, despite having the most costly system in the world. The US ranked last on measures involving the cost of care, the efficiency of delivering it, and the fairness of its system. It also ranked last on indicators of healthy lives as measured by infant mortality, healthy life expectancy at age 60 and deaths that might have been avoided through medical care.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Thousands to be Questioned on Eligibility

The Obama administration is contacting hundreds of thousands of people with subsidized health insurance to resolve questions about their eligibility, as consumer advocates express concern that many will be required to repay some or all of the subsidies. Of the 8 million people who signed up for private health plans through insurance exchanges under the new health care law, 2 million reported personal information that differed from data in government records, according to federal officials and Serco, the company hired to resolve such inconsistencies.

HCR Update From Mark Sanna: Cell Phones Reduce Sperm Quality

A new review of published evidence suggests one explanation could be men carrying their cell phones in their trouser pockets. Men may not realize it, but they could inadvertently be reducing their fertility by an average of 8% through exposure to radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR), suggest researchers who reported their findings in the journal Environment International.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Thousands of Vets Waiting for Care

More than 57,000 patients have been waiting more than three months for medical appointments at hospitals and clinics run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and nearly 64,000 others have been enrolled in the system for a decade but have still not been seen by doctors despite their requests, according to a nationwide audit released Monday.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Exposure to Dirt Decreases Asthma Risk

Though a parent's instinct may be to protect their newborn from things like household bacteria, dander and allergens, new research suggests infants who are exposed to these irritants during their first year of life are less likely to experience allergies, wheezing and asthma. The research, led by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, MD was published in the journal Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Childhood Obesity linked to Divorce

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Obesity is a growing concern, particularly among children. In the past 30 years, rates of obesity have more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents. Now, new research published in BMJ Open suggests that children whose parents divorce may be more prone to weight gain than those with a secure parental marital status. Overall, the researchers found that children of parents who divorced were 54% more likely to be generally overweight or obese and 89% more likely to be abdominally obese, compared with children of parents who were still married.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Cannabis use linked to Sleeping Problems

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Cannabis use is linked to an increased likelihood of sleeping problems, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and presented at the SLEEP 2014 meeting. Comparing the scans with brain scans of individuals with little or no history of marijuana use, the researchers found that the area of the brain responsible for reward processing - the nucleus accumbens - was larger and had an altered shape and structure in the marijuana users. The amygdala - a region of the brain involved in emotion - also displayed abnormalities in marijuana smokers, with the abnormalities being greater the more marijuana was smoked by the participants.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Carbon Emissions Cuts Improve Health

The Obama administration contends that its new plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants will not just fight climate change, but will also quickly improve public health, preventing up to 100,000 asthma attacks and 2,100 heart attacks in the first year the rules take effect. Public health experts said Monday that if the president could make the new rules stick, reductions in air pollution would be likely to pay off in better health.

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Childhood sunburn increases risk of melanoma

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: With incidence rates of melanoma rising for at least 30 years, it is not surprising that new research suggests that 5 or more blistering sunburns experienced before the age of 20 could increase melanoma risk by 80%.The study was published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.