Skip The Pelvic Exam, Says the American College of Physicians

Skip The Pelvic Exam, Says the American College of Physicians
But not everyone in the medical community agrees

TIME

A pelvic exam for women who are not pregnant and do not have symptoms of cancer may be unnecessary, says the American College of Physicians (ACP) in a controversial new set of guidelines published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The ACP, which reviewed studies on the harms and benefits of pelvic exams, says the procedure does not detect disease as well as previously thought; it doesn’t reduce mortality; and it leads to many false-positives, resulting in unnecessary testing and anxiety.

For the uninitiated, here’s what happens when women visit the gynecologist: their legs go up in stirrups and the doctor looks at the genitals before inserting a speculum into the vagina to examine the cervix. (If a woman is getting a PAP, cervical cells are gently scraped off with a Q-tip-like tool.) Then, the doctor places one hand inside the vagina and the other on the abdomen…

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Processed Food Hurts Your Immune System—And Your Kids’ Too

Processed Food Hurts Your Immune System—And Your Kids’ Too

TIME

Society’s over-indulgence on foods full of sugar, salt and fat may be ruining our immune systems, a new study says.

A study published in Nutrition Journal looked at the impact the Western diet and lifestyle has on people’s immune function. It found that the large number of calories in processed and fast food may lead to health problems such as increased inflammation, reduced control of infection, increased rates of cancer, and increased risk for allergic and auto-inflammatory disease.

And we’re not only harming ourselves. The study authors point to research that poor dietary choices get “encoded” into both DNA scaffolding and into the gut microbiome, meaning that food and lifestyle choices can permanently change the balance of bacteria in our bodies and can weaken the immune system. It also means those changes can be passed onto offspring.

The study’s author, Dr. Ian Myles, says he was surprised by how heavily…

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Not Bluffing

Not Bluffing

Countenance Blog

Washington, D.C.

Looks like he wasn’t bluffing.

Like I have been saying, whatever he does will mean extremely little actual change in (non-) enforcement of immigration policy on the ground.  It’s just that I never thought he’d be dumb enough to paint a big red target on his own party’s back.

What this means is that Obama is conceding short term political losses for the Democrats in exchange for long term gains.

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon

Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon
June 30, 2014
nonsense

What Did You Say?

nonsense

Posted onJune 30, 2014

http://conservativebyte.com/2014/06/nonsense/

Click on image to see movie trailer and more

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Is a Vast Marine Sanctuary Any Use if You Can’t Police It?

Is a Vast Marine Sanctuary Any Use if You Can’t Police It?

TIME

Correction appended, July 1, 2014

For the first half of June — until the U.S. declared an even bigger one — the tiny, French semiautonomous territory of New Caledonia boasted the largest nature reserve on earth.

Covering a vast 1.3 million-sq-km region of the South Pacific, the Natural Park of the Coral Sea was established on May 28 to protect the world’s second largest coral reef and its attendant lagoon. Already safeguarded in parts by a UNESCO World Heritage listing, this wonderland is a nursery for 25 kinds of marine mammals (including sea cows and humpback whales), 48 species of shark and five different marine turtles. It also spawns vast numbers of pelagic fish, 3,000 tons of which make it into the Pacific every year – an important food source for tens of millions, and a source of employment for thousands of people living in the region.

But before most…

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