It’s no secret that Donald Trump, the newly sworn in president of the United States and reality television star, if very proud of his oft-ridiculed hair. What is a secret is apparently how he keeps that hair: he’s taking a drug meant to prevent hair loss, according to numerous reports in the media.

Trump is apparently taking a prostate drug often prescribed for hair loss known as Propecia, along with antibiotics for rosacea, his personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, admitted in an interview with the New York Times. Rosacea is a skin condition that involves redness of the skin.

Bornstein said during the campaign that all Trump was taking was rosuvastatin and low-dose aspirin to lower his risk of heart attack, famously stating during the campaign that Trump would be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” It’s unclear if Trump’s regimen changed or Bornstein simply neglected to mention Propecia last year.

Propecia is a formulation of finasteride that is prescribed to men with enlarged prostate glands that was later approved by the FDA to treat male pattern hair loss.

Here is what the FDA writes about Propecia on its website: “On April 11, 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced changes to the professional labels for Propecia (finasteride 1 mg) and Proscar (finasteride 5 mg) to expand the list of sexual adverse events reported to FDA as some of these events have been reported to continue after the drug is no longer being used (note that erectile dysfunction after stopping use of these drugs was added as a known event in 2011). The new label changes include: A revision to the Propecia label to include libido disorders, ejaculation disorders, and orgasm disorders that continued after discontinuation of the drug. A revision to the Proscar label to include decreased libido that continued after discontinuation of the drug. A revision to both the Propecia and Proscar labels to include a description of reports of male infertility and/or poor semen quality that normalized or improved after drug discontinuation.”

Editor’s note — this article originally appeared on Morning Ticker.

Michael Funk spent his September 11 cleaning out his crab pots, preparing to return to his winter home in Phoenix.  Later that day he became ill and just a short four days later he passed away, according to a story in the Washington Post.

Turns out the dark water around the Chesapeake Bay, where was using the pots contained the bacterial virus, Vibrio vulnificus, which is a strain of flesh-eating bacteria.  Unfortunately for Michael, he had a cut on his leg through which the bacteria entered his blood stream.

Michael was taken to the doctor and the diagnosis was quickly made, and he was flown to a trauma hospital in nearby Baltimore for treatment.  The physicians there amputated his leg in an effort to save his life, but it was too late and on September 15, he passed away, just four days after cleaning the crab pots.

According to the Florida Department of Health, vibriosis “can invade the bloodstream, causing a severe and life-threatening illness with symptoms like fever, chills, decreased blood pressure (septic shock) and blistering skin lesions.  Aggressive attention should be given to the wound site; for patients with wound infections, amputation of the infected limb is sometimes necessary.”

Recent studies have found an association with an increase in the spread of vibriosis and other water-borne pathogens, and the rising ocean temperatures cause by climate change.  A previous story in the Washington Post said the numbers of the bacteria grew in eight of nine regions in the North Atlantic where the water temperatures were warming.

Researchers say this enforces the idea that climate changes not only impact the health of the ocean and its inhabitants, but also play a part in human health as well, as these pathogens continue to spread.

The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has not yet issued an advisory for the waters around the bay, but it has said it was investigating the matter.

Mental health issues are something that affect millions and perhaps billions of people around the world, and a new report sheds light on the astonishing true figure of just how many people are suffering from it. Mental health problems are surging worldwide, and has become the next big health crisis in the world. In America along, 44 million people suffer from it each year.

And now, a new report from Business in the Community (BITC) in the United Kingdom has found that even our huge estimates of how many people suffer from mental illness are way too low. They surveyed 20,000 people and found three in four people, an incredible 75 percent, had experienced poor mental health at some point in their lives, meaning that it is actual a minority who haven’t gone through it at some point.

“We undertook a national survey to understand the reality of how mental health is experienced at work,” BITC said in a statement. “The survey results tell us that progress is being made but there is a need for greater organisational awareness of the support required for better mental health at work. Significant and potentially damaging disconnects exist that demand an urgent response from business.”

This has a tremendous economic impact. It could cost employers about $31 billion per year in the UK, and that number could be slashed by a third if business managers were more proactive in dealing with mental health issues in the workplace.

“Employers need to recognise the scale of poor mental health in the workplace and take significant steps to reduce the risk of their workplace being a contributor,” BITC added. “Employers have a duty of care to their employees to respond to mental ill health just as they would to a physical illness. Organisations should equip their managers with the tools, support and organisational culture they need to do their job well, which must include managing employees with mental health issues. It makes good business sense to foster a culture of openness that supports employees with a mental health issue to work and stay in work.

“We know that there is no one single solution to stop thousands of employees from suffering in silence. We are asking employers to undertake a three-step action plan to tackle the barriers. These calls to action alongside our recommendations will support employers to embed an ethos of parity of mental and physical health throughout their organisation.”

Seven people from four states including were infected with E.coli that was traced to the Adams Farm Slaughterhouse in Athol. The facility is recalling beef, veal, and bison the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Saturday according to a Boston Globe report.

Three people from Massachusetts, two in Connecticut, one in Pennsylvania and West Virginia fell ill, and five of them were hospitalized the CDC released in a statement. The recalled meat sat on the shelves of farmers’ markets, retail stores, and restaurants.

The cases were reported from June 27 to Sept. 4. The CDC said that packaging and inspections took place from July to August.

An official speaking for Adams Farm said the slaughterhouse aggressively complied with the Department of Agriculture, which publicized the multistate outbreak on its website Saturday.

“We became aware of the problem on Friday afternoon,” said Ed Maltby, the general manager of the slaughterhouse, in an interview Saturday night. “We’ve been working with the USDA to try and narrow down the cause of the contamination.”

He added, “We want to do anything possible to prevent any spreading of illness.” Maltby said the spoiled products could be linked to a span of hot August days. “We’ve narrowed it down to two days in production,” Maltby said.

According to Maltby, the company is shocked by the severity of the recall, which comprises entire carcasses of ground beef and veal the CDC said. “What we are aghast about is the breadth and scope of the USDA recall. We’re talking about two and a half months of production,” he said.

The slaughterhouse has been engaging with customers for the last 24 hours and plan to inform them via email. A personal letter will also be sent according to Maltby.

Scientists observed 15,907 blood samples drawn from 16 groups of subjects both smokers and non-smokers and searched their genomes for traces of methyl modifications. Analysts discovered over 2,600 sites that were statistically varied between smokers and nonsmokers, which equated to more than 7,000 genes or one-third of the total human genes.

In smokers, “There were a large number of methylation signals,” London said. The majority of the methyl sites returned to levels observed in non-smokers within five years; the surface of these genes, however, left a trace after 30-years of cessation.  Compared to nonsmokers, 185 of the roughly 2,600 sites found in former smokers remained altered.

Co-author of the study, Dr. Roby Joehanes of the Institute of Aging Research, said, “Our study has found compelling evidence that smoking has a long-lasting impact on our molecular machinery, an impact that can last more than 30 years,” and “The encouraging news is that once you stop smoking, the majority of DNA methylation signals return to never-smoker levels after five years, which means your body is trying to heal itself of the harmful impacts of tobacco smoking.”

A cord blood transplant is the last alternative treatment for those who have leukemia after other conventional methods have failed. A new study, however, indicates that this option may be just as effective as traditional cures such as bone marrow or stem cell transplants. In fact, under certain conditions, a blood cord transplant may be more operative.

A bone marrow transplant is typically used to treat leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. Ideally, the patient would receive a transplant from a relative because of compatible blood type. Realistically, however, in most cases this isn’t possible recorded in about 70 percent of leukemia instances.

The next feasible solution is to source an unrelated but compatible donor. If this stage can’t accommodate the patient, a donor with nearly compatible blood is used.

But a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that a cord-blood transplant is just as effective.

To appraise this treatment option in comparison to other transplant alternatives, researchers tracked 582 patients diagnosed with either leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome. If an unrelated donor couldn’t be reached, patients underwent a cord-blood transplant or a bone marrow or stem cell transplant from an incompatible donor.

“Our study showed that overall survival after cord-blood transplantation was comparable to the one observed after matched unrelated transplants,” said the study’s lead author, Filippo Milano. He also noted that cord-blood recipients also had better longevity than patients who experienced transplants with non-matching bone marrow or stem cells.

Cord-blood transplants were particularly favorable to a certain cross-section of patients. Those with “minimal residual disease” have small residuals of cancer cells in their body after undergoing chemotherapy prescribed just before a transplant.

Patients with this type of disease are at a high risk of relapse, but subjects who received cord-blood transplants experienced a significantly reduced risk than their contemporaries.

Although researchers  were able to prove that cord blood tolerates inconsistencies between donors and patients, they are not certain as to why it is better at managing cancer than other transplant options in related situations.

Transplantation experts support the conclusions of the study but advise against confirming that cord-blood transplants can replace traditional procedures with fully matched donors.

Source: Tech Times

Every American spends an average of $9,523 every year on health care, but a new analysis by WalletHub shows that everyone does not get the same bang for those big bucks. Researchers at the financial adviser site analyzed U.S. health care in the 50 states and District of Columbia to determine which states are best and worst using three dimensions: health care costs, access and outcomes.

The results found that higher costs did not translate into better care. Health care spending in the U.S. accounted for 17.5 percent of national GDP in 2014, and is expected to increased by 2.6 percent by 2025. Overall, Minnesota was found to have the best healthcare quality. Alaska ranked last overall. The top five states in overall quality were (in order) Minnesota, Maryland, South Dakota, Iowa and Utah. The five states at the bottom of the overall quality list were Arkansas, Nevada, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alaska.

Alaska and Wyoming tied for the most expensive monthly insurance premiums, with Minnesota having the lowest rates. The District of Columbia has the most hospital beds per capita, Oregon the least. The District of Columbia also ha the most physicians per capita. Mississippi has the fewest.

Patients who are insured by Medicare often have a difficult time finding a physician who will accept them. North Dakota ranks highest on Medicare acceptance, followed by New Hampshire and Minnesota. Oregon, District of Columbia and Hawaii are worst.

Massachusetts has the highest percentage of insured adults and children. Texas is last for insured adults, Nevada last for insured children.

California has the lowest infant mortality rate. Alabama is highest.

Data for the survey came from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, eHealthInsurance, Council for Community and Economic Research, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Urban Institute, Health Resources & Services Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others.