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Though foodborne illness can put a quick end to Thanksgiving festivities, that need not be the case, food safety experts say. That’s because ensuring that homemade holiday meals are not only delicious but germ-free is within the grasp of not just experienced chefs, but rookie cooks as well. Food safety starts while you’re grocery shopping for ingredients, said Brian Ulshafer, executive chef at Penn State Health’s Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. For instance, “keep any raw meat or seafood away from other foods in the cart,” Ulshafer said in a medical center news release. “You don’t want to put a raw turkey on top of your lunchmeat.” Keeping cold foods cold and hot foods hot is also essential when it comes to preventing foodborne illnesses such as salmonella, E. coli and listeria. Bacteria grow quickly at temperatures ranging from 40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. “Bacteria can double in a 20-minute period, so that’s how fast it can grow,” Ulshafer said. He noted that people can get very sick or even die from foodborne illnesses. Roughly 1 in 6 Americans gets such infections each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms of a foodborne illness may include: Belly pain. Nausea or vomiting. Diarrhea. Fever. Chills. Fatigue. Headaches. Muscle pain. Bloody bowel movements. Sometimes, the warning signs of a foodborne illness are… read on >

Men who have trouble conceiving may have the air they breathe to blame, a new study by Chinese researchers suggests. Microscopic particles in the air called particulate matter (PM2.5) may affect the quality of sperm, which in turn can make it difficult to fertilize a woman’s egg, the researchers said. PM2.5 stands for particulate matter with a diameter 2.5 micrometers or less. That’s about 3 percent of the diameter of a human hair. “Air pollution is associated with a significant drop in normal sperm shape and size, which may result in a significant number of couples with infertility,” said lead researcher Xiang Qian Lao. He is an assistant professor in the School of Public Health and Primary Care at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Lao cautioned, however, that this study can’t prove that PM2.5 causes the damage to sperm, only that the two are associated. “You cannot conclude it is a causal relationship in this study, but existing evidence from toxicology and other studies support that the relationship is potentially causal,” he said. Exactly how air pollution might affect sperm isn’t clear, Lao said. Many components of fine particulate matter, such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, have been linked to sperm damage in experimental studies, he said. The effect of air pollution on sperm is small, Lao said, but because pollution is… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Getting a pet can improve not only your emotional outlook but your physical health as well, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The CDC says furry companions have been shown to trigger these health improvements: Decreased blood pressure. Decreased cholesterol. Decreased triglycerides. Reduced feelings of loneliness. Greater exposure to social activities and interaction. Increased likelihood of regular exercise.

Despite a long and illustrious pro baseball career, Tommy John is more famous as the source of the name for a surgical procedure than for the nearly 300 games the left-handed pitcher won. But Dr. Tommy John — who shares his dad’s name and played pro ball himself — is determined to change that. He’s a performance and healing specialist and a chiropractor in San Diego. Dr. John would prefer that his father — a four-time Major League All-Star — is remembered for his baseball achievements than for the elbow surgery that got him back on the mound for many years. And both son and father would really be happy if fewer young athletes had to undergo the procedure to keep playing the sport they love. The elder John’s career spanned from 1963 to 1989. After playing big league ball for more than 10 years and enduring about 40 cortisone shots to dampen the pain he felt from pitching, the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his elbow “exploded,” his son said. At the time, Dr. Frank Jobe had successfully performed surgery using a tendon on polio patients’ ankles, the younger John explained. But no one had ever reconstructed the elbow ligament of a major league baseball pitcher. “My dad wasn’t one to be told that he would have to stop,” Dr. John said, adding that… read on >

People with desk jobs want to move more, a new study suggests. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate how long desk-based workers actually want to sit, stand, walk and be physically active,” said study lead author Birgit Sperlich. She’s a postdoctoral researcher at German Sport University Cologne. Sperlich and her colleagues interviewed 614 people with desk jobs in Germany and found that they spent an average of 73 percent of their working day sitting down. Meanwhile, only 10 percent of the day was spent standing, 13 percent was spent walking and a mere 4 percent was spent doing physically demanding tasks. But the workers said they wanted to spend 54 percent of their work day sitting down, 15 percent standing, 23 percent walking, and almost 8 percent doing physically demanding tasks. The workers spent about 5.4 hours per eight-hour day sitting, but they wanted to spend an additional 46 minutes walking and an additional 26 minutes standing, on average, the researchers said. The findings were published Nov. 16 in the journal BMC Research Notes. “So far, plans to increase physical activity in the workplace primarily focus on health outcomes without asking the target group what they prefer,” Sperlich said in a journal news release. “Interventions to reduce sitting time may need to include more options for walking rather than only for… read on >

Having a father with depression may put teens at a heightened risk for the mental health problem, a new study suggests. Previous research had linked depression in mothers and in their children. But according to the investigators, this is the first study to find such an association between fathers and their children, independent of whether the mother has depression. The findings were based on an analysis of data from thousands of families in Ireland, Wales and England. “There’s a common misconception that mothers are more responsible for their children’s mental health, while fathers are less influential,” said lead study author Gemma Lewis. She is a researcher with the division of psychiatry at the University College London. “We found that the link between parent and teen depression is not related to gender,” Lewis said in a college news release. “Family-focused interventions to prevent depression often focus more on mothers, but our findings suggest we should be just as focused on fathers,” she added. Rates of depression rise sharply at the start of adolescence, so learning more about risk factors at that age may help prevent depression later in life, according to the study authors. “Men are less likely to seek treatment for depression,” Lewis said. “If you’re a father who hasn’t sought treatment for your depression, it could have an impact on your child. We hope… read on >

States that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act saw a greater increase in low-income adults who quit smoking than did states that did not expand Medicaid, a new study found. Under the health care act, states that expanded Medicaid had to offer services to help people quit smoking. About 30 percent of low-income adults in the United States smoke cigarettes, which is double the national average. For the study, University of Pittsburgh researchers analyzed the responses of more than 36,000 low-income adults, ages 18 to 64, who took part in a federal government survey on health behaviors. In the 31 states that expanded Medicaid, 8.1 percent of newly covered low-income adults said they’d quit smoking in the past year, compared with 6 percent of low-income adults in states that did not expand Medicaid. The findings show that government policies meant to reduce high smoking rates among low-income adults must include services to help people quit, according to the researchers. “Smoking cessation is notoriously difficult to achieve,” said study senior author Marian Jarlenski. She’s an assistant professor in the department of health policy and management in the university’s School of Public Health. “The sizable increase we found in smoking cessation might lead to significant reductions in death and diseases caused by smoking, and the taxpayer-funded health care expenditures that come with treating them,” Jarlenski said… read on >

Your heart will thank you if you stick to a mostly plant-based diet, a new preliminary study suggests. Researchers evaluated five dietary patterns. They found that people who ate a plant-based diet most of the time had a 42 percent lower risk of developing heart failure over four years than those who ate fewer plant-based foods. “Eating a diet mostly of dark green leafy plants, fruits, beans, whole grains and fish, while limiting processed meats, saturated fats, trans fats, refined carbohydrates and foods high in added sugars is a heart-healthy lifestyle and may specifically help prevent heart failure if you don’t already have it,” said study first author Dr. Kyla Lara. She’s an internal medicine resident at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Heart failure means the heart is unable to pump enough blood to maintain its workload. It affects about 6.5 million adults over the age of 20 in the United States. The study involved more than 15,500 American adults, aged 45 and older, without known heart disease or heart failure. The plant-based diet was weighed against diets of convenience (red meats, pastas, fried potatoes, fast foods); sweets-laden diets (desserts, breads, sweet breakfast foods, chocolate, candy); southern diets (eggs, fried food, organ meats, processed meats, sugary beverages); and eating habits heavy on alcohol and salads (salad dressings, green,… read on >

Offering both the promise of better patient compliance with health care, but also fears of a medical “Big Brother,” a newly approved “digital pill” allows physicians to track whether or not it’s been ingested by patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given the nod to Abilify MyCite, for use in patients with schizophrenia, an add-on treatment for depression, and to help control episodes of either manic or “mixed” episodes for people with bipolar disorder. As explained in an FDA news release, the pill contains a sensor that communicates with a wearable patch. This patch in turn sends signals to the patients’ smartphone, telling them whether or not they’ve taken the pill, along with the pertinent dates and times. “Patients can also permit their caregivers and physician to access the information through a web-based portal,” the FDA noted — opening the possibility that others can track a patient’s adherence (or lack thereof) to drug therapy. “Being able to track ingestion of medications prescribed for mental illness may be useful for some patients,” Dr. Mitchell Mathis, director of psychiatry products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in the news release. “The FDA supports the development and use of new technology in prescription drugs and is committed to working with companies to understand how technology might benefit patients and prescribers.” Otsuka Pharmaceutical… read on >

Even if researchers were to find a groundbreaking new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, millions of people might not benefit from it, new research reveals. That’s because the U.S. health care system doesn’t have the ability to quickly implement a newly approved treatment on a widespread scale, according to a report from the RAND Corporation. For instance, there aren’t enough doctors to diagnose all the people with early signs of dementia who would be good candidates for such a treatment, the researchers explained. In addition, scanners used to detect the disease are in short supply, and there aren’t enough treatment centers that could administer the therapy to patients. An estimated 5.5 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease. By 2040, that number is expected to jump to 11.6 million, according to the study authors. “While significant effort is being put into developing treatments to slow or block the progression of Alzheimer’s dementia, little work has been done to get the medical system ready for such an advancement,” said study lead author Jodi Liu. She is a policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research group. “While there is no certainty an Alzheimer’s therapy will be approved soon, our work suggests that health care leaders should begin thinking about how to respond to such a breakthrough,” Liu explained in a RAND news release. At least 10 therapies… read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Spread Joy, Not Foodborne Illness, for Thanksgiving

Smoggy Air May Spawn Weaker Sperm

Health Tip: A Pet May Improve Your Health

Dr. Tommy John Hopes Fewer Young Athletes Need Dad’s Namesake Surgery

Office Workers Don’t Like Being Chained to Their Desks

If Dad Has Depression, Kids Might Develop It, Too

Obamacare May Have Helped More Americans Quit Smoking

Try This Diet to Lower Your Risk of Heart Failure

FDA OKs First ‘Digital Pill’ That Lets Doctors Know It’s Been Taken

Millions Could Miss Out on a Potential Alzheimer’s Breakthrough