Consumer Corner: Only one way to avoid a hangover -- don't drink

More research supports moderate drinking
A large, ever-growing body of evidence suggests that moderate drinking - a glass or two of wine a day, a beer (or even a martini) after work a few times a week - may help people live longer and healthier. That's probably good news to folks who booze it up a bit over the holidays, assuming they don't overdo it on the eggnog or Champagne. But the evidence isn't quite strong enough, and the risks associated with drinking Alcohol are serious enough that no one's recommending non-drinkers start a n...

Dr. Michael J. Breus: Holiday Jet Leg: Affecting the Brain Long After the Season Is Over
The Holiday Season brings lots of travel -- visiting family and friends, taking Vacations. If you have ever traveled and experienced jet lag, you know that you can feel that you are just not quite fully functioning (particularly when traveling east) when you arrive at your destination. A new study shows that this particular effect of jet lag may linger longer than we realize. Researchers at The University of California at Berkley conducted an interesting experiment. They used an animal model i...

The infamous Section 1233 is still alive and kicking
From The NY Times via Muckraker Mark “Patients will lose the ability to control treatments at the end of life.” “Advance care planning improves end-of-life care and patient and family satisfaction and reduces stress, anxiety and depression in surviving relatives,” the administration said in the preamble to the Medicare Regulation, quoting research published this year in the British Medical Journal. Several Democratic members of Congress, led by Representative Earl Blumenauer of O

Inside The Mind Of Blog Commenters
by Conor Friedersdorf In a Christmas Day experiment, Megan McArdle lets a few of them draft posts. A sample: 'Tis the season of goodwill towards men, loving our enemies, forgiving those who did us wrong, and calls for unity, civility, and an elevation of our public discourse to new heights of seriousness. Yeah, well, Bah Humbug to all that. Instead, I thought I'd offer my guide to effective blog commenting: one serious tip and a bunch of fun and manipulative tricks. My Christmas wish t...

A Little New Year's Advice
How to win an argument--or at least, help the other guy lose. 'Tis the season of goodwill towards men, loving our enemies, forgiving those who did us wrong, and calls for unity, civility, and an elevation of our public discourse to new heights of seriousness. Yeah, well, Bah Humbug to all that. Instead, I thought I'd offer my guide to effective blog commenting: one serious tip and a bunch of fun and manipulative tricks. My Christmas wish to you is that you should all find it in you to become as ...

Admirals defenseman learned lesson from concussion
By Jim Hodges Correspondent NORFOLK Troy Milam remembers every part of the play, and of an aftermath he calls "terrible." He remembers the revelation of how little doctors know about head injuries and, in the absence of concrete medical advice, he remembers the angst of self-diagnosis by "Google." Mostly, though, he remembers the Headaches. Every day is Christmas when a nine-month headache ends. "The puck was dumped in from the red line, and I took the guy back and made ...

Pediatric intensive care staff focused on making holiday special
At 7 a.m. on Christmas Eve nine nurses gather in the pediatric intensive care unit at Rush University Medical Center. While others juggle gift-wrapping and last minute errands, these caregivers are laser-focused on a dozen young patients, all of them critically ill. They arrive wearing red Santa caps and green reindeer antlers, but avoid making any overly festive predictions about their shift, which is just beginning. Yuletide or not, superstition runs deep in Hospitals. Merely uttering the wor...

Visions of Sugar Plums; or, Have yourselves a very merry-ish Christmas
This ad appeared in the Nov. 10, 1956, issue of Billboard. The song hasn't had quite the future predicted for it here, but perhaps its time has finally come? by Noah What would Christmas be without great Christmas tunes like these? LOIS LYNN: "Every Christmas We Know" (1956) This is one damn surreal, Twin Peaks-ish Christmas tune, sung by the dead girl, of course. Warning: Clear the room of sharp objects. There's nothing like a minor-key dirge to the most joyous of holidays! If Morrissey ever ...

Toast to moderation
Massachusetts’s Repeal of the Sales Tax on Alcohol clearly did not lead to the increase in Binge Drinking (“Just tax ’em anyway,” Dec. 21). And increasing Alcohol taxes is not an effective way to curb alcohol-related harm. Studies show that increasing Alcohol taxes significantly lowers drinking by light drinkers, but does little to change the behavior of heavy drinkers. Responsible drinkers shouldn’t have to pay for the actions of a small number of Alcohol abusers....

US Muslims: a new consumer niche
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) - In the ballroom of an upscale hotel a short train ride from New York, advertisers, Food Industry executives and market researchers mingled—the men in dark suits, the women in headscarves and Western dress. Chocolates made according to Islamic dietary laws were placed at each table. The setting was the American Muslim Consumer Conference, which aimed to promote Muslims as a new market segment for U.S. companies. While corporations have long catered to Muslim commu...

Lewis snow ride accident tally rises
LOWVILLE — Lewis County saw a 16 percent increase in Snowmobile crashes last winter during a short but intense season, according to the Sheriff's Department's annual Snowmobile activity report. "It would be the shortest snow season on record as no snow fell during November, March or April," Deputy Michael F. Leviker, the department's Parks and Recreation officer, wrote in his annual report. "This would also be the shortest in the 125 years of Snowfall record. (The) Tug Hill a...

When Does Moderate Drinking Become A Problem?
Ever wonder when you reach for that third glass of wine or order that third cocktail if maybe you're pushing it? Well, you're hardly alone, particularly during the Holiday Season, when mountains of food and Alcohol are heaped upon most social gatherings. Jay Ducote is one of those drinkers who wonders if he's overdoing it with alcohol. He absolutely enjoys his food and drink, and writes about both in his blog, Bite and Booze. The blog chronicles his adventures, mostly in southern Louisiana, wher...

The Hopelessness of Epidemiologic Understanding
At an Alcohol conference in Ireland, a clinician colleague commented from the lectern that the UK safe drinking guidelines were “Puritanical” because “Me and my mates like to go out and have 4 or 5 pints on Fridays — how could that be hazardous?”. A fairly similar comment was related to me by a reporter recently, more along the lines of asking why Public Health guideline writers are such killjoys when it comes to have having a few extra drinks around Christmas. This...

Parenting Style Plays Key Role In Teen Drinking
For teenagers, friends play a big role in the decision to take that first drink. And by the 12th grade, more than 65 percent of teens have at least experimented with Alcohol. But what parents do during the High School years can also influence whether teens go on to binge drink or abuse Alcohol. Researchers at Brigham Young University have found that teenagers who grow up with parents who are either too strict or too indulgent tend to binge drink more than their peers. "While parents didn't have ...

Sober New Year's Eve: A real celebration
Sarah Roisman comes from a good home. Her mother, Lee, is a dentist. Her father, Richard, is a lawyer. The youngest of the family's three Children, Sarah always did well in school, had well-mannered friends, and spent her summers playing softball at a camp in Maine. She sneaked her first glass of vodka at 12. By the time she celebrated her bat mitzvah, she had been drinking heavily on weekends for months. At 15, she was supporting a $100-a-day Cocaine habit, popping prescription pills from her f...

Massachusetts' alcohol sales tax set to disappear on Jan. 1
BOSTON -- Massachusetts shoppers soon will no longer have to pay the state’s 6.25 percent Sales Tax on Alcohol sold in stores. Come Jan. 1 the tax is set to disappear. Voters approved a ballot question in November eliminating the levy. Alcohol was exempt until 2009 when lawmakers expanded the Sales Tax to include beer and wine sold in stores and use the extra revenue to help fund Substance Abuse programs. The package store industry and Beer Distributors launched an advertising campaign in...

Obama Returns to End-of-Life Plan That Caused Stir
Obama Returns to End-of-Life Plan That Caused Stir New York Times December 25, 2010 When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “Death Panels,” Democrats dropped it from Legislation to overhaul the Health Care system. But the Obama Administration will achieve the same goal by Regulation, starting Jan. 1. Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare Regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, whic...

Medicare rule urges planning for end of life
WASHINGTON — When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “Death Panels,’’ Democrats dropped it from Legislation to overhaul the Health Care system. But the Obama Administration will achieve the same goal by Regulation, starting Jan. 1. Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare Regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive...

"Death Panels"
WASHINGTON — When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “Death Panels,” Democrats dropped it from Legislation to overhaul the Health Care system. But the Obama Administration will achieve the same goal by Regulation, starting Jan. 1. Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare Regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-...

Obama okays Medicare end-of-life directives - Register directive with California Secretary of State
WASHINGTON — When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “Death Panels,” Democrats dropped it from Legislation to overhaul the Health Care system. But the Obama Administration will achieve the same goal by Regulation, starting Jan. 1. Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare Regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-su...

End of Life Care Makes a Return
The New York Times reports: WASHINGTON — When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “Death Panels,” Democrats dropped it from Legislation to overhaul the Health Care system. But the Obama Administration will achieve the same goal by Regulation, starting Jan. 1. Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare Regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for End-Of-Life Care, which may include advance directives to forgo

More research supports moderate drinking
A large, ever-growing body of evidence suggests that moderate drinking - a glass or two of wine a day, a beer (or even a martini) after work a few times a week - may help people live longer and healthier. That's probably good news to folks who booze it up a bit over the holidays, assuming they don't overdo it on the eggnog or Champagne. But the evidence isn't quite strong enough, and the risks associated with drinking Alcohol are serious enough that no one's recommending non-drinkers start a n...

More research supports moderate drinking
A large, ever-growing body of evidence suggests that moderate drinking - a glass or two of wine a day, a beer (or even a martini) after work a few times a week - may help people live longer and healthier. That's probably good news to folks who booze it up a bit over the holidays, assuming they don't overdo it on the eggnog or Champagne. But the evidence isn't quite strong enough, and the risks associated with drinking Alcohol are serious enough that no one's recommending non-drinkers start a n...

Early births pose new health risks for newborns
The number of women giving birth early - often for no medical reason - has increased dramatically during the past two decades, altering the way we bear Children and posing new health risks, experts say. The average time a fetus spends in the womb has decreased by seven days in the United States since 1992, according to researchers and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers say shorter pregnancies coincide with a large number of women and doctors now scheduling ch...

Early births pose new health risks for newborns
The number of women giving birth early - often for no medical reason - has increased dramatically during the past two decades, altering the way we bear Children and posing new health risks, experts say. The average time a fetus spends in the womb has decreased by seven days in the United States since 1992, according to researchers and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers say shorter pregnancies coincide with a large number of women and doctors now scheduling ch...