(CNN) Lap-Band for Lower BMI Safe, FDA panel says

Currently on CNN, the FDA has declared the popular lap band surgery safe for those with a body mass index (BMI) between 30-35. A quote from the article:

A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee on Friday voted that the new proposed Body Mass Index requirements for Lap-Band weight loss surgery are safe, effective, and that benefits associated with the surgery outweigh the risks. Now the FDA must make a final decision on whether to approve the medical device for patients with lower BMIs than previously allowed.

Swine Flu,Influenza A(H1N1) virus

As of 17 January 2010, worldwide more than 209 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including at least 14142 deaths.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has informed WHO of a mutation detected in three H1N1 viruses. The viruses were isolated from the first two fatal cases of pandemic influenza in the country and one patient with severe illness.

To gather information about the clinical features and management of pandemic influenza, WHO hosted a three-day meeting at the headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization in Washington, DC on 14–16 October. Findings and experiences were presented by around 100 clinicians, scientists, and public health professionals from the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Oceania.

WHO: Swine flu 'is unstoppable'

Growing international experience in the treatment of pandemic H1N1 virus infections underscores the importance of early treatment with the antiviral drugs, oseltamivir or zanamivir. Early treatment is especially important for patients who are at increased risk of developing complications, those who present with severe illness or those with worsening signs and symptoms.

The Top 3 Reasons For Starting Your Own Online Health Care

Health care is a growing business and more and more people are using the internet for their health care needs. These are the top 3 reasons for starting your own online business.

The need for health care products. As we all know the economy is in real bad shape these days, and is not improving any time soon. With more and more people losing their jobs, and health benefits, people are using the internet for their health needs. Take a look online and search for health care you will find millions and millions of sites, this will show you how much in demand for this type of business is. Would you not like to jump in and share the profits. People take their health very seriously these days, and would it not be gratifying to help these people out and make money at the same time.
Total automation. Choose a business that is totally automated, this means that the web site is all set up for you. Inventory that is done for you, meaning you don’t have to worry about the products they do all the shipping for you , this will save you lots of time and headaches. You don’t have to have an automated business if you know how to do it yourself, but if you are new to this type of business, I would not recommend it.
Residual income. This is the best part. Once your business is in place, you can start advertising your site. Tell your family and friend, coworkers ect. Once people start buying you products chances are they will keep coming back for more, and they will tell their friends, and their friends will tell their friends and so on. The potential is endless.

Simple Tips for Belly Fat Loss

What you would need to do is to cut the quantity of calories you eat while bearing in mind exercise is supreme when it comes to burning whatever you have on your body in surplus. What you really do need to know is that when it comes to the aspect of knowing about belly fat loss, there are a few options that you can hold close. On the other hand, you must become conscious that not all solutions are specifically the healthiest out there. For example, you are sure to come across many supplements and oxi-fat burners that have an assortment of plant extracts that serve up to supplement your metabolism and help you drop pounds.

Yet what many people do not know is that various dubious techniques that are used for belly fat loss can lead to permanent health complications. This is something that you do need to be aware of and stay away from. The last thing you need to do is to take a short cut that can lead you to shorten your life span. Then there are some tremendous ways you can lose weight as well. For example you would have come across a variety of fasts such as a water fast or juice fast. The fact of the matter here is that both have led to a great deal of pounds to be lost.

Patients praise Lee Memorial's new valve replacement, without open-heart surgery

David Albers/Staff - Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Brian Hummel evaluates the deployment of a transcatheter heart valve replacement surgery at Lee Memorial's HealthPark on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, in Fort Myers. The non-invasive heart valve replacement surgery is a newly approved treatment for severe aortic stenosis, a condition where calcium builds up in the aortic valve inhibiting proper blood flow. The non-invasive transcatheter heart valve replacement is a new option for patients unable to endure open heart surgery.


David Albers/Staff - Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Brian Hummel evaluates the deployment of a transcatheter heart valve replacement surgery at Lee Memorial's HealthPark on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, in Fort Myers. The non-invasive heart valve replacement surgery is a newly approved treatment for severe aortic stenosis, a condition where calcium builds up in the aortic valve inhibiting proper blood flow. The non-invasive transcatheter heart valve replacement is a new option for patients unable to endure open heart surgery.
Transcatheter heart valve replacement surgery at Lee Memorial's HealthPark

* David Albers/Staff - An Edwards Lifesciences brand SAPIEN Transcatheter Heart Valve with the RetroFlex 3 Transfemoral System is prepared to be implanted into patient during a transcatheter heart valve replacement surgery at Lee Memorial's HealthPark on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, in Fort Myers. The non-invasive heart valve replacement surgery is a newly approved treatment for severe aortic stenosis, a condition where calcium builds up in the aortic valve inhibiting proper blood flow. The non-invasive transcatheter heart valve replacement is a new option for patients unable to endure open heart surgery.
* David Albers/Staff - Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Brian Hummel makes two incisions to access the femoral arteries in a patient at the beginning of a transcatheter heart valve replacement surgery at Lee Memorial's HealthPark on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, in Fort Myers. The non-invasive heart valve replacement surgery is a newly approved treatment for severe aortic stenosis, a condition where calcium builds up in the aortic valve inhibiting proper blood flow. The non-invasive transcatheter heart valve replacement is a new option for patients unable to endure open heart surgery.
* David Albers/Staff - Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Brian Hummel makes two incisions in a patient at the beginning of a transcatheter heart valve replacement surgery at Lee Memorial's HealthPark on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, in Fort Myers. The non-invasive heart valve replacement surgery is a newly approved treatment for severe aortic stenosis, a condition where calcium builds up in the aortic valve inhibiting proper blood flow. The non-invasive transcatheter heart valve replacement is a new option for patients unable to endure open heart surgery.
* David Albers/Staff - Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Brian Hummel works with staff to insert a series of catheters along a femoral artery of a patient during a transcatheter heart valve replacement surgery at Lee Memorial's HealthPark on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, in Fort Myers. The non-invasive heart valve replacement surgery is a newly approved treatment for severe aortic stenosis, a condition where calcium builds up in the aortic valve inhibiting proper blood flow. The non-invasive transcatheter heart valve replacement is a new option for patients unable to endure open heart surgery.
* David Albers/Staff - Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Brian Hummel watches a CAT scan of his patient as he works with staff to insert a series of catheters along a femoral artery during a transcatheter heart valve replacement surgery at Lee Memorial's HealthPark on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, in Fort Myers. The non-invasive heart valve replacement surgery is a newly approved treatment for severe aortic stenosis, a condition where calcium builds up in the aortic valve inhibiting proper blood flow. The non-invasive transcatheter heart valve replacement is a new option for patients unable to endure open heart surgery.
* See all


FORT MYERS — James Stewart knows modern medicine saved his life but he also points to a spiritual element.

"I feel I've been divinely blessed by the scientists who developed this procedure," the 82-year-old said.

Stewart became the second patient in Southwest Florida to undergo an aortic heart valve replacement without having invasive open-heart surgery.

Instead, the artificial value is delivered in a catheter through the femoral artery in the groin and maneuvered to the site of the diseased valve.

A team of cardiac specialists started doing the procedure, technically called transcatheter aortic valve replacement, in December at Lee Memorial's HealthPark Medical Center, south of Fort Myers.

A handful of patients who are too fragile for open-heart surgery have been treated so far.

The catheter-based approach for valve replacement will be a game-changer for people with severe aortic stenosis, caused by the buildup of calcium, said Dr. Brian Hummel, a cardiothoracic surgeon with Gulf Coast Cardiothoracic Surgeons in Lee and Collier counties.

It means patients who are inoperable and with limited life expectancy have an option that didn't exist for them before.

It is only approved, for now, for patients who are too high-risk for open-heart surgery, so most candidates are in their 80s or 90s. That's expected to change with newer generation catheter-delivered valves and more studies.

"I think it will become widely available," Hummel said. "I'm not sure it will truly supplant open heart. It's done all over Europe. (Our team) has been training for over a year."