Calcium

DUBNA, Russia -- The small, pleasant city of Dubna on the bank of the Volga River is known as Naukograd, or Science City, and for good reason: It lends its name to element 105 of the periodic table, dubnium, and is home to the research institute where the five newest elements were discovered. Russian scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, collaborating with a team of American researchers at a laboratory in California, are pushing the boundaries of the tangible world and adding tantalizing tidbits to the understanding of the origin of life's chemical building blocks and how they behave.

Q. I have heard there is a new medicine for people with arthritis. Please tell me the name of this drug and when it will become available.My knees are in bad shape, and I took Advil until it gave me an ulcer. Now I get by on Tylenol but would appreciate something stronger.A. Celebrex (celecoxib) is a new kind of prescription arthritis medicine that the Food and Drug Administration may approve any day now. It probably won't be more effective against arthritis pain than current medications, but it is less likely to irritate the stomach lining.

Fruity dish gives calcium boostThis recipe for Blue Cheese-Stuffed Figs and Apricots (pictured above) not only tastes good but also boosts your calcium intake for the day, the American Dairy Association says. Halve 3 fresh figs (or plums) and 3 apricots (seeds removed), and top with 6 ounces crumbled, domestic blue cheese. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon honey and sprinkle with 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped, toasted hazelnuts. Serves 12.Buying antiques for the holidaysAs the holidays approach, the kinds of food we serve may not be our only dilemma.

Q.Please tell me about drug-induced gynecomastia (breast enlargement in men). Taking Haldol has caused weight gain and given me breasts that now resemble those of the opposite sex.My doctor maintains that if I lose weight through diet and exercise, this abnormality will disappear. I have been dieting for two years with no change in the size of my chest. The guys at the gym make derogatory remarks that are very embarrassing.Will dieting ever help, or do I need cosmetic surgery? This abnormality has caused me shame and depression and made others question my sexual reference.

Looks like candy. Chews like candy.But it's not candy.Move over Tums, here come "calcium chews."Mead Johnson's Viactiv and Nature Made's CalBurst -- supplements that can be munched like saltwater taffy -- are the latest products aimed at helping you meet your daily dietary requirement of calcium.They're convenient, that's certain. But it's not a good idea to substitute them for natural calcium sources such as broccoli, spinach and milk, says a report from the American Dietetic Association.

Q. I had toenail fungus so bad that my family doctor said it would take three visits and three treatments to clear it up, and the medicine can be hard on the liver. What really got my attention was the cost: $700.I checked with a friend who is a podiatrist. He confirmed what the doctor said but assured me that the liver scare was no big problem.A week later, just before my wife and I left on a one-month trip to Europe, she read your column about using Vicks VapoRub to kill toenail fungus.

Q. What can I do to get rid of the moss in my lawn?A. Moss indicates one or more of the following conditions: low soil pH (soil is too acidic); excessive shade; low soil fertility; and compacted or poorly drained soil. Call the number below to request a University of Maryland soil-test kit. The basic test costs $5 and will give you recommendations on liming and fertilizing the area. Rake out the moss while you're waiting for the soil-test results, and incorporate some leaf compost into the area.

Q.I have been plagued with sciatica for over a year. In desperation, I ordered a product guaranteed to cure it, but when it arrived, I read the ingredients on the label: Arsenicum album 12x, Chamomilla 3x, Colocynthis 3x, Sulphur 6x. I was alarmed by the idea of taking something with arsenic, which I always thought of as a poison. Is this product safe?A.Judging from the way the ingredients are listed - the "12x" and the "3x," for instance - you have received a homeopathic remedy. The amount of arsenic has been diluted to such a degree that it is unlikely to pose a hazard.

Late last year, Washington, D.C.'s Institute of Medicine released updated calcium recommendations that caused a nationwide media frenzy.In the flurry of news stories, the new, higher vitamin D reference intakes were often overlooked.Now, a New England Journal of Medicine study suggests we'd better get serious about the sunshine vitamin. Lots of people over 50 aren't getting enough, and that means greater risks for bone calcium loss and osteoporosis.What's the connection? Vitamin D's job is to make sure you maintain a small amount of calcium in your blood to make your heart beat and control its rhythm, contract muscles, clot blood, heal wounds and create hormones and enzymes that control digestion and produce energy.

I meet lots of people who think they're getting a 500 mg calcium jolt by switching to calcium-fortified Skim Delux milk. If they're doing the shake, they're OK. If not, that extra calcium is going into the trash with the carton.Ted and I have been drinking Skim Delux for several months now. We love it, because it contains some soluble fiber that creates a mouth-feel more like 2 percent or whole, which is what got Ted hooked. And the big bonus is the added calcium. Just two 8-ounce servings daily get us quickly to the recommended 1,000 mg.When we first started using Skim Delux, we bought half-gallon paperboard cartons, and we'd just open and pour.

Calcium supplements have no effect on weight, study says People who eat more dairy products have lower weights and seem to lose weight more easily, several observational studies published in recent years have suggested. But new research - perhaps the best study to date on the issue - found that calcium supplements have no effect on weight. The study involved 340 obese or overweight adults, most of whom were women. They were assigned to take either 1,500 milligrams of calcium or a placebo with meals for two years.

Kutztown Folk Festival Where:: Kutztown Fairgrounds, 225 N. White Oak St., Kutztown, Pa. When: : Saturday through July 5, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. What: : The 60-year-old festival celebrates the rich Dutch heritage of Pennsylvania with events including a roof-thatching demonstration, barn-raising for kids, folk entertainment and the largest collection of antique electric cars in America. The festival also features more than 2,500 traditional quilts, handmade by local quilters, along with a quilt auction.

About 10 percent of Americans may at some point develop kidney stones, says Brian R. Matlaga, director of stone disease at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Kidney stones, which are hard masses of crystals that form within the urinary tract, can cause extreme pain as they pass out of the body, infection and, in some cases, can block the ureter. What are kidney stones? Everyone's urine contains some crystals, but a stone occurs when these crystals bind together and aggregate until they achieve a size at which [the mass formed]

On the X-ray image they printed out for me, trouble is a pink triangular speck, labeled LAD. The pink spot represents a calcium buildup - hardened plaque. And the LAD tag means the plaque lies in my "left anterior descending" coronary artery - the one cardiologists call "the widow maker." A blockage in the LAD tends to kill you. No one has said definitively that's what killed NBC newsman Tim Russert last week at the age of 58. But it wouldn't be a bad bet. Russert died after a heart attack in his Washington office.

Sports Study suggests high mound a factor in pitchers' injuries As baseball season begins, pitchers will stand atop regulation-height, 10-inch mounds to wind up. Then they'll stride, cock their arms, accelerate, decelerate and follow through to release a ball that can reach speeds of 100 mph. Now, a motion analysis study of 20 elite pitchers from the major leagues and NCAA Division I-A college teams suggests that a 10-inch mound, also standard for...

DUBNA, Russia -- The small, pleasant city of Dubna on the bank of the Volga River is known as Naukograd, or Science City, and for good reason: It lends its name to element 105 of the periodic table, dubnium, and is home to the research institute where the five newest elements were discovered. Russian scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, collaborating with a team of American researchers at a laboratory in California, are pushing the boundaries of the tangible world and adding tantalizing tidbits to the understanding of the origin of life's chemical building blocks and how they behave.

Why is Merck spending so much money advertising Fosamax Plus D? Could it be that the company is worried people will quit this osteoporosis drug after learning that the benefits persist even after stopping use? I recently read that acid-suppressing drugs such as Nexium and Prilosec may be linked to hip fractures. Drugs such as Fosamax can cause symptoms of heartburn, for which people would take acid suppressors. Could this create a vicious cycle? Two articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Dec.

Older people who take heartburn drugs such as Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid and Protonix for long periods have a significantly increased risk of hip fractures, possibly because the drugs block calcium absorption, Pennsylvania researchers reported today. The drugs, which block production of acid in the stomach, are among the most widely used in the United States, with combined annual sales of more than $10 billion. "The perception is that the drugs are completely safe, and doctors dispense them without thinking too much about the risks and the benefits," said Dr. Yu-Xiao Yang of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, who led the study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

I heard a radio show caller say that an old-timer had told him to pick two small, new, reddish poison ivy leaves each spring, roll them inside a dough ball and swallow them to be immune from poison ivy for a whole season. This is an intriguing and terrifying suggestion. What is your opinion? We have heard this folk remedy from others, but we, too, are terrified by the idea. One reader related the following: "My father had me eat some poison ivy leaves when I was a child. I was always getting into it and breaking out in a bad rash.

Two months after a huge clinical trial concluded that calcium supplements don't do much to protect older women from bone fractures, a new study has found just the opposite. Or so it would appear. The paper released this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine said older women who consistently took calcium for five years had significantly fewer broken bones than those who did not. But in February, the Women's Health Initiative - a large government-sponsored study - reported that calcium supplements had little effect.