What Swine Flu? Just Half of Americans Want H1N1 Vaccine
Despite the government's urging for people to be vaccinated against the H1N1 strain of flu, only slightly more than half of Americans surveyed want to do so, an Associated Press poll finds. Moreover, 62 percent of people 65 and older said they are planning to get vaccinated—even though the virus hits younger people harder and the government is recommending they go first, the AP says. Just 52 percent of Americans and 45 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds are planning to get vaccinated, the AP says. The poll also found that 57 percent of adults are likely to get the vaccine against seasonal flu.
[Slide Show: 10 Do's and 10 Don'ts to Protect Yourself From Swine Flu]
Pain in the Back or Neck or Knee? Consider the Muscles
When faced with a sore knee or back pain, the first inclination is to look to the bones and joints. And that's appropriate in some cases. But many times, the answer lies in how all of the elements of the musculoskeletal system work together, especially those often overlooked muscles, sports chiropractor Rob DeStefano tells U.S. News's Katherine Hobson. By taking this more global perspective, you're more accurately able to treat (and prevent) nagging injuries and aches, according to Muscle Medicine (Fireside), a new book DeStefano wrote with orthopedic surgeon Bryan Kelly and health writer Joseph Hooper. It takes you on a tour of your body's trouble spots—including the lower back and the knee—and helps you tease out the roots of common problems and possibly even how to fix them yourself. Read more.
[Read: Hands-On Fixes for Sports Injuries]
What You Can Do to Help Find the Causes of Breast Cancer
Certainly a lot of progress has been made in the fight against breast cancer: more effective treatments, less disfiguring surgery, and genetic testing and high-tech imaging to catch it earlier. Yet, little is known about what actually triggers the disease. In fact, 70 percent of breast cancers have no explainable cause. Now women can join the effort to help researchers identify what leads to breast cancer—with the ultimate goal of preventing it, writes U.S. News's Deborah Kotz. All you need to do is fill out a free online form to join the "Army of Women." You'll then receive twice-monthly E-mails telling you about research studies looking for participants. Breast surgeon Susan Love tells Kotz that the project currently has 312,000 people enrolled but that she's hoping to get to a million.
Love is heading the initiative, launched a year ago with a grant from the Avon Foundation. Researchers are looking for healthy women of various ages as well as breast cancer survivors (women and men). One study at Stanford School of Medicine is looking for volunteers to study the impact that too much stress and too little sleep has on a woman's risk of developing cancer. Another is looking at a woman's personal and family medical history, and one is offering yoga classes to breast cancer patients to see if the classes can help reduce post-treatment fatigue. Here's the full list. Love says she was motivated to form the army after speaking with researchers and learning that they were having a hard time finding volunteers. Read more.
[Read: 4 Steps to Take Now to Lower Your Breast Cancer Risk]
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