Can you s-t-r-e-t-c-h your way to Olympic gold? One swimmer from Parkland thinks she can. Dara Torres, at 41 the oldest woman to qualify for an Olympic team, has made it to her fifth Olympics where she hopes to earn her 10th Olympic medal. She's focused on winning swimming's shortest and fastest event, the 50-meter freestyle. Her time today is faster than the world record she set in 1983.
Researchers at hospitals in Miami and Atlanta have teamed up to see if they can break the grim cycle in which crack addicts engage in risky sex, become HIV positive, then spread the condition to others through more risky sex.
Advanced DNA testing led federal investigators to suspect a government scientist in the 2001 anthrax killings. The scientist's odd behavior, suspicious e-mails and unusual work hours convinced them they had the right man.
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1 Problem: This condition, which is not generally serious, causes pain and inflammation in the balls of the feet, especially when walking barefoot on a hard surface. Some people might experience numbness or tingling in the toes.
JOCK DOC
Q: I am a 30-year-old high-level tennis player and I have been having problems with my right wrist for three months. A hand specialist ordered an arthrogram and an MRI scan and told me that I had a tear of my TFCC. He said that if rest doesn't help, I might need surgery. What is the TFCC and what are my chances of it getting better?
NUTRITION
Parents looking for healthy meal choices for their children are likely to find slim pickings on the menus of the nation's top restaurant chains, according to a report released Monday by a nonprofit public health group.
The last time the Sleuth checked out heat-and-eat frozen pannini, the results were disappointing. Now, boxed, deli-style sandwiches are appearing in the refrigerated cases. The hook: They have a special tray that helps keep the rolls from getting rubbery in the microwave.
Can you s-t-r-e-t-c-h your way to Olympic gold? One swimmer from Parkland thinks she can. Dara Torres, at 41 the oldest woman to qualify for an Olympic team, has made it to her fifth Olympics where she hopes to earn her 10th Olympic medal. She's focused on winning swimming's shortest and fastest event, the 50-meter freestyle. Her time today is faster than the world record she set in 1983.
THE QUESTION Might corticosteroid creams reduce the effect of overexposure to the sun? THIS STUDY Involved 20 adults who had their backs exposed to ultraviolet rays from a sunlamp. A corticosteroid cream was applied to certain areas of their skin 30 minutes before exposure to the UV rays and to other areas either six hours or 23 hours after exposure; one area of skin was left untreated. No difference in redness was detected between the areas where the cream was applied after sunlamp exposure and...
1 What is it? Also known as FOP, it's a rare, genetic disease in which muscle tissue and connective tissue such as tendons and ligaments are gradually replaced by bone. It generally starts with the neck and shoulders and proceeds down the body into the limbs.
1 What is it? This painful, progressive condition, also called median nerve entrapment, occurs when the median nerve, which runs from the forearm into the hand, becomes pressed or squeezed at the wrist. It's more common in women and it affects up to 10 percent of the population.
MEN
Though they didn't look like much, the white specks squirming under a microscope in researcher Debra Wolgemuth's lab could have a big impact in the high stakes world of controlling fertility, not for women but for men.
When Roberto and Deborah Heros first saw the news that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, theirs was not a typical reaction.
HEALTH
''Chill out'' could be Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue's new motto when it comes to cardiac arrest victims.
The chief executive of Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, John C. Johnson, has been named to head a new Catholic Health East organization that will include Holy Cross and Mercy Hospital in Miami.
Stiefel Laboratories, South Florida's largest pharmaceutical company, announced it has completed the purchase of Barrier Therapeutics.
Noven Pharmaceuticals, the South Miami-Dade drug maker, announced Wednesday a 31 percent increase in revenue for the second quarter, but profits fell by 40 percent, due to higher marketing expenses and the recall of patches that had peeling problems.
HEALTHCARE | PEDIATRIX EARNINGS
Pediatrix Medical Group, South Florida's largest publicly traded healthcare company, reported solid results for the second quarter, with net patient revenue up 15 percent, but executives and analysts spent considerable time Tuesday on a conference call asking where the babies were.
Tenet HealthCare reported a narrower loss in the second quarter than a year earlier as admissions to its hospitals rose. The loss was wider than analysts estimated, and revenue fell short of expectations.
EMPHYSEMA
English singer Amy Winehouse is no stranger to tabloid headlines -- routinely grabbing attention for alleged drug use, brushes with the law, bizarre onstage behavior and curious fashion choices.
Christian Michael Tellez, 7, thinks ''king of the mountain,'' but the 40-foot rock-climbing wall at the Miami Children's Museum responds ''yo-yo.'' For every step up he takes, he slips back a notch or two.
HEALTH
The pain chased Dalouse Cesard from childhood in Haiti into her adolescence after she moved to the United States. She wondered why she was the one to endure debilitating agony that kept her out of school, put her in the hospital and forced her to sit while her friends played.
ROLE MODEL
Fifty teens from local Miami high schools got the chance to spend some off-court time with Serena Williams, the defending women's singles Sony Ericcson champ. Nike invited the girls to meet with Williams and chat about the advantages and challenges of being a female athlete. Williams lauded the efforts of ``pioneers like Billy Jean King, not to mention all the other great women athletes who really led the way in starting title IX which was really, really important so the female athlete like...
CHILDREN'S HEALTH
Approximately 2.2 million school-age children have food allergies. Allergic reactions to food occur when the immune system mistakenly identifies a food as harmful and triggers antibodies to form to fight it. The next time the food or a component of it is ingested, the antibodies release histamines and other chemicals into the bloodstream.
Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue Lt. Jim McCrady spends 10-hour days patrolling the beach. Most people would worry that's too much sun. But to some, McCrady, 41, is soaking up critical ultra-violet rays. McCrady may be slightly pink at the end of his four-day work week, but there's one thing he's not suffering from: lack of vitamin D.
If your aging parents are thinking of moving to Florida, you might want to suggest Fort Myers, not Miami-Fort Lauderdale. They'll live just as long there, but the healthcare will be less intense and less expensive. And when they die, they'll be less likely to do so in what one researcher calls ''a therapeutic frenzy,'' hooked up to tubes and machines.
