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Flu cases in North Georgia are on the rise. North Georgia Health District officials are encouraging all residents six months of age and older to get a flu shot while there is still time. Sherry Gregory, RN, North Georgia Health District Infectious Disease Supervisor, said: “It is not too late to vaccinate against the flu. Flu activity is increasing throughout our area. We expect the flu season to reach its peak early this year, within the next few weeks, so it is important to get vaccinated now. Flu vaccination not only protects the person who receives the vaccine but it...

Daily Fluctuations in Blood Pressure As we go through the day our blood pressure just naturally raises and lowers depending on a lot of conditions. What most people are most interested in is a regular resting blood pressure as high blood pressure and hypertension are a very strong indicator toward present and future heart problems. Drugstore machines that require you to sit in a chair and put your arm through a cuff are notorious for being poorly calibrated and fairly inaccurate. These measurements should never be used as an indication that something is wrong, or as reassurance that everything is...

Full Title: Remarks by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and Bipartisan Members of Congress at Signing of H.R. 2142, INTERDICT Act Oval Office 5:22 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. This is very important to all of us gathered here. We’re pleased to be joined by many of the members of Congress as we take an important step to halt the flood of deadly drugs that are pouring into our country like never before. It took place two, three, four years ago. It’s at a level that people haven’t seen over the last few...

MONTROSE, Colorado, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is interviewing former employees of a funeral home whose owner runs a side business on the same premises selling human body parts. An agent with the FBI has interviewed at least four former employees who worked for funeral director and body broker Megan Hess, seeking information about how she operates her businesses, the former workers told Reuters. The federal inquiry began several months ago, shortly after Reuters interviewed a half-dozen workers who formerly worked for Hess. One ex-employee, Kari Escher, said she was especially troubled by the practices of...

Ikea has a new advertisement that’s running in a Swedish magazine and asks women to pee on the page to learn about a discount. Once a woman urinates on a strip in the ad, a discount is revealed only if she is pregnant, according to a report in Adweek. “Peeing on this ad may change your life,” reads the promotion in Amelia magazine. It continues: “This ad is also a pregnancy test. Pee on the marked area and wait a moment. If you are expecting, you will get a surprise right here in the ad.”

BALTIMORE -- Overnight, Imamu Baraka was walking past a Baltimore hospital when he noticed something he says he'll never forget. The hospital's security guards had just wheeled a patient to a bus stop, and in the freezing temperatures they left her there. The only thing she had on was a hospital gown. "It's about 30 degrees out here right now," Baraka says in a recording of the encounter. "Are you OK, ma'am? Do you need me to call the police?" he asks. It's called "patient dumping" and it doesn't just happen in Baltimore. In 2007, "60 Minutes" investigated the practice...

Two Illinois lawmakers hope to make their state the next one to protect unborn babies with Down syndrome from discriminatory abortions. The Journal Star reports Republican state Reps. Allen Skillicorn, of Crystal Lake, and Thomas Morrison, of Palatine, introduced state House Bill 4210 last week to prohibit abortions on unborn babies solely because of a Down syndrome diagnosis. Doctors who violate the law could face a class 4 felony or loss of medical license. Women who seek abortions would not be penalized. “All life is precious and unique, including children with Down syndrome,” Skillicorn said. “They are not second-class citizens.”...

Dear Diary. For my sixty fifth birthday this year, my wife (the dear) purchased a week of personal training at the local health club for me. Although I am still in great shape since playing on my college tennis team 45 years ago, I decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and give it a try. I called the club and made my reservations with a personal trainer named Belinda, who identified herself as a 26-year-old aerobics instructor and model for athletic clothing and swim wear. My wife seemed pleased with my enthusiasm to get started! The...

PHOENIX — Every time Catherine Baimonte visited her mother at an assisted living facility in Colorado, her mother’s health worsened. Baimonte, a retired Avondale teacher, remembers one of those visits. Her mother forgot how to shower. Do you need help? Baimonte asked. She stepped in and out of the shower to help. “Finally, we got out, dried off and I let her dress herself,” Baimonte said. Her mother, Kathleen Baimonte, made it halfway through, then stopped. She sat there. What’s wrong, mother? I don’t know what I’m doing, she answered. Baimonte helped her finish dressing. Another sister who dropped by...

PHOENIX — The question of whether those with hearing impairment get tax relief could depend on whether lawmakers are willing to consider eliminating other tax breaks. Several members of the Senate Finance Committee indicated during a hearing Wednesday they are sympathetic to pleas by the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to exempt the batteries used in hearing aids from the state's 5.6 percent sales tax. Prices vary widely, with retailers charging anywhere from less than $3 for a six pack to more than $10. But the number of batteries bought clearly adds up: The Department of...

New York City is halting a $9.6 million incentive package offered to Aetna to move its headquarters to the city. The insurance giant announced in June that it would move its headquarters to New York City beginning in late 2018 after nearly two centuries in Hartford, Connecticut. But those plans were put on hold after CVS Health Corp. said in December that it was buying Aetna for $69 billion in a deal that would help the drugstore chain reach deeper into customer health care and protect a key client. At that time, Aetna said all of its locations would be...

Now dubbed "Rocky Balboa," the boa constrictor is in need of a loving home, animal rescuers say.A slithery pet who at one point faced "a certain death sentence" is now fully healed — thanks to the use of a jaw splint — and in need of a new home, officials with the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA said Wednesday. Named "Rocky Balboa," the boa constrictor is described as a sociable snake (bet you didn't know that was a thing) who would make a great pet. "On October 22, 2017 a member of the public spotted the injured snake on the...

A new study has found that women are biologically stronger than men. Despite ‘history’ teaching us that men come up trumps when it comes to lifting boxes, sawing down trees and winning pub fights all is not as it seems. The study by Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists of the United States of America reveals that women are actually more likely to survive a life threatening crisis than men. Researchers came to this conclusion by comparing the death rates of men and women who were pitted against famines, epidemics and slavery. The only two exceptions were the plantation...

(CNN)Health officials in Salt Lake County, Utah, are warning residents that an estimated 2,000 of them could have been exposed to hepatitis A at a local 7-Eleven convenience store. People who visited the location in West Jordan between December 26 and January 3 could be at risk if they used a restroom in the store or consumed certain food items, according to the Salt Lake County Health Department. "The possible hepatitis A exposure occurred when an infected employee worked while ill and potentially handled certain items in the store," the department said on Sunday. The case is believed to be...

Quora , CONTRIBUTOR Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Shutterstock Does leading a healthy lifestyle really prevent cancer? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Adriana Heguy, molecular biologist, genomics researcher, on Quora: If you understand cancer prevention as taking measures to reduce the risk of developing cancer, then yes, leading a healthy lifestyle will prevent cancer. But not 100%. It’s always a matter of risk reduction. If you have genetic factors, you may not avoid cancer. Sometimes people just get...

Maryland lawmakers want to create an individual health care mandate at the state level — in response to Washington gutting it at the federal level — and turn it into a down payment for people to pay for health insurance. Supporters outlined the proposal Tuesday, a day before the Maryland legislative session begins, adding it could also work in other states to help keep insurance premiums from skyrocketing. The Maryland General Assembly is controlled by Democrats. The federal tax overhaul approved last month removed the federal penalty that was charged to people without health insurance. Under Maryland legislation, the state...

The experimental drug J147 is something of a modern elixir of life; it's been shown to treat Alzheimer's disease and reverse aging in mice and is almost ready for clinical trials in humans. Now, Salk scientists have solved the puzzle of what, exactly, J147 does. In a paper published January 7, 2018, in the journal Aging Cell, they report that the drug binds to a protein found in mitochondria, the energy-generating powerhouses of cells. In turn, they showed, it makes aging cells, mice and flies appear more youthful. "This really glues together everything we know about J147 in terms of...

Representation of the organic-osmium compound, which is triggered using a non-toxic dose of sodium formate, a natural product found in many organisms, including nettles and ants. Credit: Dr James Coverdale/University of Warwick ================================================================================================================== Cancer cells can be destroyed more effectively and selectively with a unique new reusable treatment, activated with a substance found in stinging nettles and ants—thanks to new research by the University of Warwick. Led by Professor Peter J. Sadler from Warwick's Department of Chemistry, researchers have developed a new line of attack against cancer: an organic-osmium compound, which is triggered using a non-toxic dose of sodium formate,...

A team of researchers from Denmark and France has found that taking regular doses of the pain reliever ibuprofen over a long period of time can lead to a disorder in men called compensated hypogonadism. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study, which involved giving the drug to volunteers and monitoring their hormones and sperm production. To learn more about the possible impacts of the popular anti-inflammation drug Ibuprofen on male fertility when taken for long periods of time, the researchers asked 31 men between the ages of 18 and...

It's an ingestible electronic capsule that senses certain gases released in the human gut – some of the same stuff that you may already be familiar with when it eventually passes into the open air. The capsule's creator, electrical engineer Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh, a professor at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, says that the device has already begun revealing secrets about the human gut. To test the capsule, Kalantar-Zadeh enlisted 26 healthy volunteers – one being himself. Each person ate the same diet to help rule out food as a cause for different results, except for two volunteers who ate a...