New guidelines for screening for cervical cancer

On an episode of the controversial show “Girls,” Hannah finds out she’s contracted HPV. When she tells her friend Shoshanna, Shoshanna, referring to another friend, says: “Jessa has HPV, like a couple different strands of it. She says all adventurous women do.” While it’s true that infection with some strain of HPV is almost universal among folks who are sexually active — more than 79 million Americans are carrying a strain of the virus — testing for it hasn’t been part of a regular gynecological exam until now.

Women have relied on a Pap smear every three years beginning at age 21 to check for cervical dysplasia (precancerous cell changes) and cervical cancer (usually caused by an HPV infection). But now, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says evidence confirms that women over 30 can get an HPV test, which looks for the virus itself, instead of a Pap smear, and then can safely wait five years between tests if they want to. Women 21 to 30 should still continue to get a Pap smear every three years — and skip the HPV testing.

The recommendations also say that women over 65 and those who have had a hysterectomy with removal of the cervix, who have had previous clear tests and aren’t otherwise at high risk for cervical cancer, can stop getting tested altogether.

If you have HIV or a compromised immune system, or were previously treated for a high-grade precancerous lesion or cervical cancer, you’re at a higher risk for cervical cancer and should talk to your doc about an individualized screening plan.

Spot the clot

Twenty-fouryear-old Spanish skateboarding star Danny Leon got made up to look like a not-so-steady-on-his-feet 80-yearold man. His goal: To see if teens at a local skate park would teach him the sport. They obliged, but when Danny started speeding down the half pipe and doing aerial spins, well, the kids were blown away.

Being a force of nature disguised as a harmless old guy — that’s a pretty good metaphor for the way a blood clot can disguise itself as a simple bruise. Don’t you fall for it.

Bruises can be painful and turn shades of black and blue, but generally they’re not harmful. One caveat: Easy or spontaneous bruising can indicate underlying disease and a need to see your doc.

A blood clot, on the other hand, is a concentrated aggregation of blood. It forms from an external injury to blood vessels or internal injury to the lining of a blood vessel from plaque, or because of dysfunction in your blood’s flow-and-clot chemistry. Clots can obstruct blood flow or dislodge and travel through your bloodstream, triggering heart attack, stroke, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE). So if you spot a clot, see your doc. Some tips:

• Near your skin’s surface, clots can appear bruise-like, but are generally redder and the underlying vein may be hard to the touch.

• A clot that’s moved and is causing trouble may trigger swelling and pain in an extremity (DVT); slurred speech and vision problems (stroke); chest pain or upper body discomfort, shortness of breath and a rapid heart rate (PE or heart attack).

Teen boys drinking: Maybe new risk will scare them straight!

In 2008, a viral video of Australian 16year-old Corey Worthington showed the world what happened when he threw a party at his parents’ house that attracted 500 teens — and the local cops’ air wing and dog squad. When a newscaster covering the riotous event asked him what he would say to other kids thinking of hosting parties, he replied, “Get me to do it for you.” Well, seven years later, in another interview, we were glad to see he was willing to admit that back then, he was a “little brat.”

Now, if teens can just learn that there’s more at stake than furious parents when they drink ... and drink and drink. Every year, an average of more than 4,300 kids in the United States under age 21 die from alcohol-related events. Those who indulge and survive, well, evidence shows that teen drinking can impair memory, decision making, executive function and emotional regulation. It also raises the risk of committing or being a victim of physical or sexual assault, suicide and later alcoholism and drug addiction.

Add to that the findings of a new study of 650 men: Those who had had an average of seven drinks a week between ages 15 and 19 were over three times more likely to develop high-grade prostate cancer. So talk to your teen boys about the dangers of alcohol — including prostate cancer. (For girls, the warnings include breast cancer.) While you’re at it, make sure your teens know you’re a safe person to talk to about peer pressure and other drinking-related concerns.

Is hostility leaking out of you? You’ve got the guts to change

In one game of the 1997 NBA finals, Michael Jordan scored 38 points — all in a day’s work for the superstar, you might say. Not quite. Jordan had the flu and was vomiting right up to game time. But he was determined that his leaky gut wouldn’t harm his team’s chance for victory. That ability to avoid damaging the team he loved, well that’s just plain gutsy!

But a fighting spirit isn’t always a good thing, especially when it turns to hostility between married folks. Then it can cause a leaky gut that will keep you out of the game.

Researchers from Ohio State University have found that couples who are actively hostile to one another cause bacteria in their gut to move through the intestinal wall — leaky gut — into their bloodstream, where the microbes trigger inflammation and disease. (No wonder couples may tell each other: “You’re bugging me!”) And when a hostile spouse is also depressed, health risks escalate.

Luckily, there are ways to defuse hostility and protect your health. The Cleveland Clinic’s Anger Management and Treatment Program suggests you:

• Seek treatment from a professional who’s trained to teach anger management and assertiveness skills. Assertiveness lets you express feelings calmly and directly.

• Use deep breathing and positive selftalk to interrupt your cycle of hostility. Breathe deeply from your diaphragm; slowly repeat a calm word or phrase such as “relax” or “take it easy.”

• Practise good listening skills. Listening can facilitate trusting feelings between people. This trust can help you deal with potentially hostile emotions.

Honey do!

If you told our Stone Age relatives to “mind your own beeswax,” they could have done just that, say researchers from the U.K.’s University of Bristol. They’ve found that beeswax was used as a sealant on 7,000-year-old shards of stoneware. And Egyptologists have discovered that ancient pyramids contain jars of honey that is completely edible today — the oldest still-fresh sample dates from around 1,000 BCE!

Remarkable stuff, this elixir that combines great flavour with the ability to smother bacteria with micro-be-unfriendly acidity and a touch of hydrogen peroxide!

We do caution against added sugars in drinks and foods (it leads to inflammation, weight gain and dysregulation of blood glucose levels), but there’s a lot to be said for the medicinal powers of honey. It can help wounds heal and, according to new guidelines out of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the U.K., it should be the first choice for treating coughs in anyone one year or older.

That’s good news for parents, since the Food and Drug Administration cautions “children under two years of age should not be given any kind of cough and cold product that contains a decongestant or antihistamine because serious and possibly life-threatening side effects could occur.” Codeine-containing products should be for those 18 and older. Antibiotics should be prescribed only for treating serious bacterial infections.

So if you or your child develops a cough, spoon out some honey, one tablespoon at a time, or add it to warm water or tea for a throat-soothing drink. Sweet!