A new Web site, SeeYourBP.com, allows users to see inside living patients and view the damage high pressure does to the cardiovascular system and vital organs.

Can’t stop eating? Maybe your problem is an emotional one

By Barbara Quinn
Knight Ridder Newspapers

One of the most frustrating problems I have to deal with in my practice involves problems with children at school. Problems can be behavioral such as fighting with other students, insubordinate behavior with adults, and refusal to comply with classroom and school rules. Problems more often involve forgetfulness, such as failure to turn in homework even when it is completed, repeatedly making silly mistakes that cost points toward one's grade, and apathy.

“I’m 93 years old and my eyesight has kind of gone haywire. Outside of that, I’m in pretty good shape.”

I’ll say. My friend’s uncle Paul stands straight and tall as he dons his cap and heads out the door for his morning walk. His hands show no signs of arthritis. And his mind is sharp. What’s his secret?

Newnan Hospital and Piedmont Healthcare have signed a letter of intent to explore an equity relationship between the two organizations. Newnan and Piedmont have begun a 90-day period of due diligence and the development of a definitive agreement.

Below is a summary of some of the research done in 2005 showing significant results with Chiropractic care:

• Chiropractic Care Best for Long-Term Relief for Spinal Pain (Jan. 2005). An Australian study including 40 patients. Each patient underwent nine weeks of treatment with only one of the following: chiropractic, acupuncture or medicine. After one year the subjects were re-evaluated using the same standard diagnostic measures as in the initial assessment. The analysis found that chiropractic adjustments were significantly more effective at providing broad-based long-term benefit.

Beware of what lurks beneath your sheets

By Michael Laforgia
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WARNING: What you’re about to read might keep you up at night.

By Richard Harkness
Knight Ridder Newspapers

Q: I’m 25 weeks pregnant and just started taking a fish oil (omega-3 fatty acids) supplement, which I purchased from my chiropractor. The product is quite costly. The label says it is filtered twice and contains no mercury, but warns that pregnant women should contact their doctor before using. Why is that?

Cleft lip and palate now comprise the most common birth defects in the United States, according to a report issued Jan. 8 by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Adults with ADD turn to non-drug treatments to help them stay focused

By Julie Deardorff
Chicago Tribune

Seeking new law for right to write prescriptions

Dozens of Georgia nurses will rally at the State Capitol Thursday, pushing for legislation aimed at increasing access to health care and promoting patient safety for Georgians.

By Allen Douma, M.D.
Tribune Media Services

Q: I’m only 20 years old, and suddenly I’ve started developing bald spots on my head. I’ve also noticed patches on my chest that have lost the fine hair. My GP said I had alopecia and that it would probably go away if I rubbed steroids on the areas. But is has been months and it’s still there. What’s your advice?

By Barbara Quinn
Knight Ridder Newspapers

My mom has never had a cavity, and now she’s got more than her share. What happened?

By Richard Harkness
Knight Ridder Newspapers

Q: My daughter has been using the Ortho Evra patch for birth control. I’m concerned about the recent warning that it can increase the risk for blood clots. What would you advise?

Outreach attempts to woo Hispanics away from diabetes-prone lifestyle choices

By Sarah Krupp
Knight Ridder Newspapers

Is your New Year’s resolution to get healthy and fit? If so, Piedmont Fayette Hospital’s Rehabilitation and Fitness Center can help.

The ongoing decline in Georgia’s smoking rate coupled with continued increases in immunization rates have moved Georgia’s overall health ranking up, according to a new report by the United Health Foundation. Released Dec. 12, the America’s Health Rankings 2005 report showed that Georgia’s health ranking improved from 45 in 2004 to 43 in 2005, due largely to an 11 percent increase in immunization in the past year, and a 13 percent decrease in smoking during the same time; the report noted that smoking in Georgia has decreased by 37 percent since 1990.

The Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Public Health, is reporting the first confirmed case of influenza (flu) of the 2005-2006 flu season. The case, which was confirmed by the state Public Health Laboratory last week, was from Clarke County in northeast Georgia.

Greg Moffatt, Ph.D

I watched from the back of the auditorium as the program unfolded on stage. Over 600 people watched as the performers, both adults and children, sang traditional Christmas songs and moved in smoothly choreographed steps.

Sometimes bad breath is the sign of a bigger problem

By Amy Bertrand
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Breath mints, breath strips, mouthwash, toothpaste. It’s a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry. Why? Because bad breath leaves a bad impression. But the truth is, it could also be a sign of bad health.

Curves, the world's fastest growing fitness franchise today announces the grand opening of Curves at Riverdale Crossing (Publix shopping center), 820 Highway 138 SW at Highway 85.

The Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Public Health, has published a resource guide for families with infants or children affected by hearing loss. The guide – developed with input from parents, professionals and the State Advisory Committee for Newborn Hearing Screening – provides families with basic and unbiased information regarding hearing loss, its effects and implications, as well as linkages to professionals, programs, and services.

The Crohn's & Colitis (IBD) Support Group will be meeting the fourth Tuesday of January, Jan. 24, from 7-8:30 p.m.

The special speaker at that meeting will be Dr. Bryan L. Woods, gastroenterologist with Digestive Healthcare of Georgia. Dr. Woods is a graduate of Emory University and University of Tennessee, and completed his fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Dr. Woods sees patients of all ages in Digestive Healthcare's Piedmont Fayette Hospital location.

By Richard Seven
The Seattle Times

I grew up in Eugene, Ore., back when, we used to say you had to be either a logger, a hippie or a runner.

Knight Ridder Newspapers

You gotta love a scientist who drinks a beaker of bacteria just to prove a point. Maybe he slammed down the cup and said, “Hey, you’re givin’ me an ulcer over here.”

By Dionne Walker
Associated Press

It’s an October afternoon at Norfolk State University in Virginia, and the dining hall on this predominantly black campus has enough tantalizing choices to throw graduate student Tina Carroll into a lunchtime dilemma.

By Julie Deardorff
Chicago Tribune

For more than a decade, the most popular over-the-counter flu remedy in France has been a tongue-twisting homeopathic product called Oscillococcinum.

Tooth decay in children begins early
Q: When should a child get that first dental visit? What happens at that visit?

By Gregory K. Moffatt, Ph.D.

Whether a couple adopts because of inability to conceive or for some other reason, adoptive parents usually find that they love their children as if they were biologically their own and they don't even think of them as adopted. But adoption comes with several risks.

Local firm helps patients understand CT scans

Computed tomography, also known as CT or CAT scan, is a medical imaging device that combines the use of x-rays with computers to produce images that allow physicians to look inside a patient's body. A CT scan can produce clear and extremely detailed pictures of the body's internal structures. It can separate bone from muscle and fat in the part of the body being examined.