Flesh-eating disease is the medical equivalent of being struck by lightning: it’s extremely rare and very tragic. And the fact that it moves at breakneck speed, capable of killing a healthy person in as little as 12 hours, makes it an especially frightening and intriguing disease.

“You don’t have the luxury of waiting around a few days to find out what’s going on,” says Dr. Michael Gardam, an infectious disease specialist at University Health Network in Toronto. “You’ve got to jump on it right away.”

The tricky thing about this bacterial infection is that typical symptoms include skin infection and flu-like aches and pains, so some patients and even doctors may not recognize what they’re dealing with until it’s too late.

The disease recently sparked headlines when a Mississauga woman, Debbie Sebesta, died from it last Wednesday. Three days earlier, the otherwise healthy woman was complaining of a bruise and pain in her leg. Within hours, flu-like symptoms such as chills and vomiting had set in and were worsening by the minute.

After being rushed to hospital, Sebesta underwent surgery to remove large part of her leg, which was infected with necrotizing fasciitis, often called flesh-eating disease because it kills muscle and skin as it spreads through the tissue.

Cases such as Sebesta’s are “the tip of the iceberg,” says Dr. Neil Rau, an infectious diseases specialist with a private practice in Oakville, who uses the analogy of being struck by lightning to highlight their rarity.

A few years ago, one of his patients cut her index finger while peeling an apple and became infected. Days later, the infection spread up her arm, to the armpit and across the chest. She was operated on, but later succumbed to the disease.

Such tragedies are rare, says Rau, noting that even in severe cases of the disease, most people don’t die. Such was the case in the winter of 1994 when Lucien Bouchard, then-leader of the Bloc Québécois, was forced to have his leg amputated because of the illness.

“For every terrible case we hear about, there are millions of people who have no symptoms or only mild symptoms,” says Rau. According to Health Canada, there are between 90 and 200 cases of necrotizing fasciitis each year, about 20 to 30 per cent of which are fatal.

Infection is caused by different strains of bacteria, including group A streptococcus (GAS), a bacterium often found in the throat and on the skin of healthy people. Most people who carry GAS have no symptoms of illness and most infections are relatively mild illnesses, such as strep throat.

Infection often develops when bacteria enters the body, usually through a minor cut or scrape. In rare cases, that infection will spread and release harmful toxins.

Among the telltale signs that a person may have the disease is a small cut that may not look so bad but is causing immense pain, a skin infection that is spreading and flu-like symptoms, such as vomiting, diarrhea and chills.

One of the cardinal features of flesh-eating disease, says Gardam is that “the pain is more than you’d expect from what you’re looking at.”

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Elderly people with dementia are more likely to suffer falls if they are given anti-depressants by care home staff, a study claims. Many dementia patients also suffer from depression and drugs known as selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are frequently prescribed.

But the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology reports that the risk of injuries from falls was tripled. The Alzheimer’s Society called for more research into alternative treatments. The risk of falls following treatment with older anti-depressants is well established, as the medication can cause side effects such as dizziness and unsteadiness.

It had been hoped that a move to newer SSRI-type drugs would reduce this problems, but the latest research, from the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, appears to show the reverse. ’Worrying’ Dr Carolyn Sterke recorded the daily drug use and records of falls in 248 nursing home residents over a two-year period.

The average age of the residents was 82, and the records suggested that 152 of them had suffered a total of 683 falls. The consequences of falls were relatively high, with 220 resulting in injuries including hip fractures and other broken bones - and one resident died following a fall.

“More research is now needed to understand why this anti-depressant is having this effect on people with dementia and if there is an alternative treatment for depression that they could be prescribed”, said Professor Clive Ballard Alzheimer’s Society.

The risk of having an injury-causing fall was three times higher in residents taking SSRIs compared with those not taking the drug, and this risk rose further if the patient was being given sedative drugs as well. Dr Sterke said that these risks needed to be taken into account when assessing whether anti-depressants were required.

She said: "Physicians should be cautious in prescribing SSRIs to older people with dementia, even at low doses."Professor Clive Ballard, from the Alzheimer’s Society, said it was "worrying" that such a commonly prescribed anti-depressant was causing increased risk.

He said: "It is important to highlight any aspect of care that might be causing risk to a person with dementia. We want to ensure that people with the condition are always receiving the best care possible.

"More research is now needed to understand why this anti-depressant is having this effect on people with dementia and if there is an alternative treatment for depression that they could be prescribed. "One in three people over 65 will die with dementia yet research into the condition continues to be drastically underfunded. We must invest now.’

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James Grant, editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, is writing a history of modern American business cycles. His most recent book is “Mr. Speaker! The Life and Times of Thomas B. Reed, the Man Who Broke the Filibuster.”

Our Great Recession ended 2½ years ago, according to the official cyclical timekeepers, but you wouldn’t know it by a glance at the news. Zero percent interest rates and $1 trillion in “stimulus” notwithstanding, the U.S. economy can hardly seem to heave itself out of bed in the morning. Now compare this with the first full year of recovery from the ugly depression of 1920-21. In 1922, under the unsung stewardship of the president best remembered for his underlings’ scandals and his own early death in office, the unemployment rate fell from 15.6 percent to 9 percent (on its way to 3.2 percent in 1923), while constant-dollar output leapt by 16 percent. After which the 1920s proverbially roared.

And how did the administration of Warren G. Harding, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve, produce these astonishing results? Why, by raising interest rates, reducing the public debt and balancing the federal budget. Let 21st-century economists rub their eyes in disbelief. Eighteen months after the depression started, it ended.

When he wasn’t presiding over a macroeconomic miracle cure, Harding convened a world disarmament conference and overhauled the creaky machinery of federal budget-making. For his trouble, historians customarily place him last, or next to last, in their rankings of U.S. presidents. Incredibly, they consign him near the bottom even in the subcategory of economic management, about 40 places behind Franklin D. Roosevelt, who inherited a depression that he didn’t actually fix. This year’s GOP aspirants are tussling over the mantle of “Reagan Republican.” A forward-thinking politician might lay claim to the Harding legacy instead.

You couldn’t dislike the handsome and amiable alumnus of Ohio Central College. He was one of three members of the Class of 1882 who, with some partners, bought control of the decrepit Marion, Ohio, Star newspaper in 1884 and turned it into a moneymaker. Gentle and accommodating to a fault, editor Harding would gladly withhold a fact or a name from a delicate story lest his newspaper cause unnecessary hurt to a neighbor. He was elected a state senator in 1899, lieutenant governor in 1903 and a U.S. senator in 1914.

Harding’s style of politicking was as easygoing as his personality. What his constituents were for, he liked, too. Peace, harmony and party loyalty were his watchwords. You’d never hear him sniping at a fellow Republican (except once, at Teddy Roosevelt) or even at a Democrat. In Washington, his cigar box, liquor cabinet and poker table were open to good fellows of any political stripe. Present for only slightly more than half of the recorded floor votes during his single Senate term, Harding made time for the little pleasures in life.

Possibly no political figure in Washington bore less resemblance to the austere occupant of the White House than the convivial senator from Ohio. President Woodrow Wilson — moralist, reformer and intellectual — read books and wrote them. Harding made no pretense to living the life of the mind. He liked people better than books, anyway.

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Many dementia patients also suffer from depression and drugs known as selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are frequently prescribed. But the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology reports that the risk of injuries from falls was tripled.

The Alzheimer's Society called for more research into alternative treatments. The risk of falls following treatment with older anti-depressants is well established, as the medication can cause side effects such as dizziness and unsteadiness.

It had been hoped that a move to newer SSRI-type drugs would reduce this problems, but the latest research, from the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, appears to show the reverse. 'Worrying' Dr Carolyn Sterke recorded the daily drug use and records of falls in 248 nursing home residents over a two-year period. The average age of the residents was 82, and the records suggested that 152 of them had suffered a total of 683 falls.

The consequences of falls were relatively high, with 220 resulting in injuries including hip fractures and other broken bones - and one resident died following a fall. The risk of having an injury-causing fall was three times higher in residents taking SSRIs compared with those not taking the drug, and this risk rose further if the patient was being given sedative drugs as well.

Dr Sterke said that these risks needed to be taken into account when assessing whether anti-depressants were required. She said: "Physicians should be cautious in prescribing SSRIs to older people with dementia, even at low doses."

Professor Clive Ballard, from the Alzheimer's Society, said it was "worrying" that such a commonly prescribed anti-depressant was causing increased risk. He said: "It is important to highlight any aspect of care that might be causing risk to a person with dementia. We want to ensure that people with the condition are always receiving the best care possible.

"More research is now needed to understand why this anti-depressant is having this effect on people with dementia and if there is an alternative treatment for depression that they could be prescribed. "One in three people over 65 will die with dementia yet research into the condition continues to be drastically underfunded. We must invest now.'

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Sinead O’Connor has checked herself into hospital to be treated for depression. The singer, whose dramatic personal life hasn’t been out of the headlines for months, told followers on Twitter she is “not at all well” but hopes to be back on her feet in a couple of weeks. It comes just four days after the Nothing Compares 2 U star admitted her fourth marriage was finally over following the whirlwind ceremony in Vegas.

At the same time the Dubliner – who found herself back at the centre of a media storm last week after tweeting about her escalating depression – vowed to stay single after splitting from drug counsellor Barry Herridge, 38. Sinead, 45, told her 11,000 followers: “Gonna be off radar for few weeks. But will be back. Worry not.”

After friends expressed concern, she continued: “I’m going to hospital. Treatment for depression. Not at all well. But they will put me back together quick.”And she vowed to be back “smiling” in around two weeks. Sinead wrote: “I be grand in few weeks. was right decision to call hospital. They fab. Good team. I be me again in 2 weeks they say.

“Don’t want anyone worrying. Should only worry if a depressed person DOESNT go hospital. all will be well. Just little time. :).”Sinead’s marriage with Barry ended last month after just 16 days. Within a week they had patched things up after a steamy night in the sack.

However, fears for the serial bride’s mental health grew again after she tweeted she was “ill” and desperate to see a psychiatrist. The mum of four blamed a Sunday newspaper for her breakdown after one of its journalists contacted her husband’s employers. Last Friday, Sinead confirmed she and Barry had split for good – and she had got the professional help she needed.

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Effective eating disorder therapy starts with a correct analysis of the problem along with any other co-existing health problems. Unfortunately, such conditions as anorexia or bulimia often go hidden until extra biological harm has taken place. If you have a tough fighting relationship with meals then you could be the right selection for eating disorders therapy. This kind of treatments will not tell you that you need eating plans or that you need to be on a diet. Actually, it allows you start seeing what has prompted your adverse connection with meals. Early prognosis of anorexia and bulimia can help convenience the procedure of restoration. However, early detection is often restricted because mom and dad and teachers aren't alert of the symptoms. Many individuals also believe that someone who is incredibly lean is anorexic. This may or may not be real.

Eating disorder therapy is not going to encourage lessening bodyweight. The objective of this treatment is to help you in finding where your adverse connection with meals started. When we eat excessively, we get a feeling of delight and satisfaction. Selecting to get help will reach us on an emotional stage to see how we can have those same thoughts throughout each day without unnecessary consumption. Food has an appropriate place in our life and, of course, is necessary for existence. But it should not be the major concentrate for anyone. When eating disorder is found in early stage, before too much biological damage has been done, less anxious techniques can be suggested. Many people are aided through personal plans including medical tests, therapy, and health assistance.

Residential plans provide a haven away from the outside world and allow the person required time to restore. This therapy can help you improve your emotional baggage and adverse thought styles encompassing your harmful connection with food. Once you are on an emotional level ready you will be in a position to shed bodyweight through a non-diet strategy to weight-loss. The non-diet strategy is a healthy way, actually and on an emotional level, to shed bodyweight and sustain the weight-loss. Eating disorder therapy is not a quick fix in losing weight; it is an emotional voyage towards betterment. It can help you master a new set of good ideas that will further enhance a delighted and strong you.

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HELPING OTHERS: When Framingham teen Jessica Kruger was in the seventh grade, she remembers wondering whether other students felt as sad as she did. By the time she reached high school, she was experiencing depressive and panic episodes for which she ultimately sought help.

“It started hindering my ability to do my schoolwork. I was sleeping a lot, withdrawing from activities. All the things you learn about in health class really are true,’’ said Kruger, a junior this year at Framingham High School.

“I let myself be open to the fact that it’s OK to have emotions you don’t know how to deal with, and it’s not your fault,’’ she added. “I knew I should be happy, that I deserved to be happy.’’

Kruger had a supportive network of family members, friends, and teachers assisting her to get the help she needed. Now, she is focused on helping those who aren’t as fortunate.

Kruger volunteers twice a week answering the crisis line at Samaritans Inc., a regional suicide prevention and support organization. She also plans to be involved with IM Hear_, an online pilot program aimed at and run by teens at Framingham High School that is on track to begin this month.

While the issues facing callers to the Samaritans crisis line vary widely, Kruger said, they commonly include relationships, sexual orientation, substance abuse and addiction, bereavement, physical or mental illness, disabilities, and past abuse.

Regardless of the nature of their struggle, Kruger said, she has one message for all callers: “Every single Samaritan cares about you.’’Kruger is a committee member for Make Noise 3, a Samaritans fund-raising party taking place tonight from 7 to 11 at the House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St. in Boston.

The event, for ages 16 and older, will feature DJ Joe Bermudez joined by Davis Ballard. For ticket information, visit www.makenoisetosavealife.org.

HEARING PROTECTION: The Newton Free Library is collaborating with Hear@Boston, a chapter of Hearing Loss Association of America, to share research findings on noise-induced and age-related hearing loss and their long-term ramifications.

Bedford resident Sharon Kujawa, an associate professor of otology and laryngology at Harvard Medical School and director of the audiology department at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, will be the featured speaker at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Druker Auditorium at the library, 330 Homer St. in Newton Center.

In her presentation, “Evidence of a Misspent Youth: Noise Exposure Ages Ears,’’ Kujawa will discuss the importance of protecting your hearing. According to the Better Hearing Institute, some 34 million Americans suffer from hearing loss.

In addition, according to Kujawa, research shows that exposure to loud sounds can cause ongoing degeneration of the cochlear nerve long after the noise has stopped.

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The mining industry is considered to be a high-hazard work environment. Dangerous conditions coupled with high stress and unpredictable circumstances make safety a core issue. Often, safety is used as a blanket reason for implementing drug and alcohol testing. However, in addition to a safe working environment, there are other important reasons to use drug and alcohol testing in a high-hazard industry, such as mining.

Of course, safety is the primary reason. Employees who are under the influence of alcohol or a narcotic cannot safely handle heavy equipment or severe working conditions. Careless disposal of drugs and drug injection equipment can cause harm to others.[1] Teams of employees which must work together to increase safety and work procedures must have competent, clear-headed members on their team, or they will not be able to produce as quickly nor will they have the safety and reliability associated with working on a team. As much as varying layers of employees and management may not like each other, trust and responsibility are key factors in a working relationship in a high-hazard industry. This means that the level of individual responsibility affects the whole company.

Secondarily, reputation in an industry is crucial to maintaining production, sustainability and, most importantly, employment. Since the mining industry is a contractual business, it is important to maintain a solid reputation among peers, not just locally, but globally as well. If a reputation begins to die out, then the number of contracts decreases, employees are laid off, pay decreases and every single member of the organisation is negatively impacted. This is not only true in high-hazard industries such as transport, aviation, construction and mining, but also for corporate businesses, both large and small. One employee who interacts with a customer while under the influence of substance abuse can deplete resources for the entire organisation.[2] All it takes is negative word-of-mouth distributed locally, on social networks, on the news, or within families, and businesses can lose clientele quite rapidly. However, if a company maintains a reputation for a drug and alcohol-free environment, the social standing among communities will be maintained.

The mining industry is not only known for its dangerous working conditions, but it can also be known for substance abuse among its workers. It is important to maintain a rigorous drug and alcohol testing schedule in order to develop a positive reputation, not just within a country, but worldwide.

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Gynecomastia surgery is usually requested by men because they feel their life has been inhibited in some way because of their breasts. The ideal patient may be an adolescent that is faced with ridicule from peers which prevents them from participating in activities, socialization, and perhaps, avoiding normal day-to-day functions. Body builders may desire gynecomastia surgery because they are dedicated to an improvement that cannot otherwise be obtained without male breast reduction surgery. Gynecomastia patients may be the average man that still abstains from activities that he refrained from when he first developed enlarged breast during adolescent years.

All of these types of men are usually candidates for male breast reduction. When Dr. Blau performs gynecomastia, he takes special care to evaluate each patient and create the refinement that would be most beneficial for their life. In some cases, Dr. Blau performs a mere refinement which may be satisfactory for his patients. Should the patient desire a greater enhancement, Dr. Blau may perform this on the first occasion or it may be performed during a secondary procedure. Secondary procedures do not occur often but can touch up results from an initial male breast reduction procedure. In both case scenarios, most every patient is fully satisfied with the results of the procedure.

Though, there have been a small number of cases worldwide which have documented that the patient is not satisfied with the results of gynecomastia surgery, despite an obvious enhanced appearance. When this occurs, the plastic surgeon may speak with them about the possibility of Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Body dysmorphic disorder affects approximately 2% of men and women in the U.S. -1- This is considered a mental disorder that causes such men and women to be overly concerned about their physical appearance, often a specific feature such as enlarged male breasts. When Body Dysmorphic Disorder becomes out of control, it can contribute to steroid abuse, requests for additional plastic surgery, depression or suicide, in extreme cases. Body Dysmorphic Disorder is a condition that patients are screened for prior to receiving male breast reduction surgery.

The good news is that body dysmorphic disorder can be treated through cognitive behavioral retraining and medication, when necessary. Because Body Dysmorphic Disorder is a rare disorder that is usually detected by eighteen years of age, most gynecomastia surgery candidates do not need to postpone or refrain from gynecomastia surgery. If you have any concerns about body dysmorphic disorder, please free feel to discuss your concerns with Dr. Blau. Dr. Blau has over 25 years experience screening patients for body dysmorphic disorder and can help in sending you in the right direction when necessary.

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What is really serious about the phenomenon is that most shisha smokers wrongfully take to the hubble-bubble thinking that it poses only “light” health risks compared to the serious health-related complications of cigarette smoking.

Medical experts have warned that shisha has a more perilous impact on health compared to cigarette smoking. They say most shisha smokers have a misconception based on a wrongful and unscientific notion that tobacco used in shisha is herbal and does not affect body organs.

It is to be noted that in their efforts to combat smoking, the health ministers of the GCC states have proposed a hike in the fees of commercial license issued for cafes and restaurants serving shisha in the member countries.

Medical experts have also cautioned that some of the hazards of smoking shisha are lung cancer and chronic obstructive lung disease, peripheral vascular disease, cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, hypertension, throat cancer and mouth cancer.

Most people misleadingly believe shisha does not contain tobacco and that when they smoke they inhale herbal products. The added flavors make them feel they are smoking herbs, while they are actually taking in tobacco and are likely to become addicted to nicotine. Shisha smokers should realize that it is far more dangerous than cigarette smoking, because the amount of nicotine in shisha cannot be measured due to packing differences.

Moreover, while smoking hubble-bubble, the aluminum foil, which is usually of poor quality, reacts with the burning charcoal and produces aluminum fumes that are carcinogenic or, in other words, cause cancer. The amount of carbon dioxide inhaled through shisha is very high compared to cigarette smoking, depending on the packed ingredients.

Shisha is equal to smoking cigarettes, but a 60-minute shisha session produces 100 to 200 times more smoke than one cigarette. Shisha smokers should also be aware of the fact that when smoke goes through water, humidity in smoke increases, which then tends to stay for a longer time in the lungs. Some germs, mainly bacteria that cause tuberculosis, live in the shisha pipe.

According to recent studies, the pipe could act as a good medium for conveying bacteria causing infectious diseases like hepatitis A that can be easily transmitted when the shisha pipe is used by multiple smokers.

According to the WHO, analyses have reached to the point that shisha is far more dangerous than smoking cigarettes or pipe smoking. One is getting more smoke from the shisha than when smoking a cigarette stick. Inhaling the smoke from the hubble-bubble is like inhaling toxic gases and compounds as well as some heavy metals, thus leading to pulmonary and cardiac problems. The water in the pipe does not filter the smoke, although it does absorb nicotine.

The smoke from the tobacco is cooled as it passes through a water-filled glass bowl and then inhaled through a flexible tube. The water in the bowl acts as a barrier for the most harmful substance in tobacco: Tar. Tar includes all of the mutagenic and carcinogenic agents in tobacco smoke, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which in cigarettes is made through the process of epoxidation and which causes the reaction in tobacco that aids the creation of the tar and the carrying of nicotine. This does not occur in shisha pipes, as the process is prevented in water due to saturation of the hydrocarbons in their gaseous state.

Although this is a positive, there are negatives to shisha pipe smoking as the nicotine, though in lesser amounts, is still carried through the water or liquid at the base of the pipe.

The link between smoking and lung cancer is clear. Ninety percent of lung cancer cases are due to smoking. If no one smoked, lung cancer would be a rare diagnosis —  only 0.5 percent of people who have never touched a cigarette develop lung cancer. One in ten moderate smokers and almost one in five heavy smokers (more than 15 cigarettes a day) will die of lung cancer.

The more cigarettes you smoke a day and the longer you have smoked, the higher your risk of lung cancer. Similarly, the risk rises the deeper you inhale and the earlier in life you started smoking. Other types of cancer that are more common in smokers are bladder cancer, cancer of the esophagus, of the kidneys, of the pancreas, and cervical cancer.

In smokers, the rate of decline in lung function can be three times the usual rate. As lung function declines, breathlessness begins. As the condition progresses, severe breathing problems can require hospital care. The final stage is death from slow and progressive breathlessness.

Smoking worsens asthma and counteracts asthma medication by worsening the inflammation of the airways that the medicine tries to ease.

There are many health-related reasons to give up cigarettes — not just for smokers, but to protect those around you. Babies born to mothers who smoke during pregnancy are twice as likely to be born prematurely and with a low birth weight.

Passive smoking, the “side-stream” smoke that comes off a cigarette between puffs, carries a higher risk than directly inhaled smoke. Children who grow up in a home where one or both parents smoke have twice the risk of getting asthma and asthmatic bronchitis.

They also have a higher risk of developing allergies. Infants under two years old are more prone to severe respiratory infections and sudden infant death syndrome. For adults, passive smoking seems to increase the risk of lung cancer, but the evidence for an increased risk of heart disease is not yet conclusive.

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