Flu Season Is Not Over



Still waiting to get your yearly flu vaccine? If you haven’t you should get it soon—according to US Health Officials, Univision Noticias reports. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns that flu activity usually peaks in January  or February and can also strike as late as May. “ As long as the virus is circulating, it's not too late to receive a flu shot and protect yourself and others against this seasonal misery.” "Influenza seasons and severity are often unpredictable. Annual influenza vaccination is the best way to prevent influenza among people 6 months of age and older," Marion Gruber, director of FDA's Office of Vaccine Research and Review, said in an agency news release. "However, taking such practical measures as washing hands, covering coughs and ...

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Clinical Trials Begin for Cancer Recurrence Vaccine



Mexican researchers are beginning clinical trials of a treatment that could prevent the recurrence of different types of cancer, Latin Times reports. “The new therapy trains the immune system to recognize and eliminate remaining cancerous cells" after conventional treatment, team leader Dr. Juan Pablo Márquez Manriquez, of the International Cancer Center in Sonora, told EFE. In the early stages of their research Dr. Marquez and his team tested the vaccines on mice that were genetically modified to develop cancer. “The animals that received the vaccine, both individual vaccines and the cocktail, never developed colon, pancreatic or ovarian cancer,” Dr. Márquez explained. During clinical trials the treatment will be tested in Mexico City, Sonora and Ciudad ...

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Nueva herramienta pro-consumidores de salud latinos



En California, Latinos que han sido negados seguro de salud, o no están contentos con su plan de seguros medico ahora tendrán una herramienta a su favor. La organización California Chronic Care Coalition (CCCC) ha lanzado una versión en español de su pagina MyPatientRights.org. "MyPatientRights.org es un faro de luz en un mar tormentoso en cuanto a  atención medica , en especial para los pacientes con una enfermedad crónica ", dijo Liz Helms , presidente y CEO de la CCCC . "Con el futuro de la salud de la nación estrechamente vinculada al bienestar de la comunidad latina, es importante que tengan acceso adecuado y de calidad.” El programa de salud del gobierno mejor conocido como Obamacare ha hecho que miles de familias latinas tengan acceso a cuidado medico, sin embargo ...

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Infographic: Food and Mental Health



SaludToday Guest Blogger Brietta Mengel While it’s common knowledge that certain foods influence your weight, it’s not as widely known that food can also affect your mental health. Here we take a look at what foods can make mental illness worse, and which can help promote a healthy mind. More than 16% of Latinos experienced a mental illness in the previous year. Depression is the No. 1 cause of disability in the world, and $193 billion is the cost of mental illness in lost earnings per year. More than half of people with mental illness do not even seek help, especially Latinos. Foods that work for your health include: fatty fish, such as salmon, sardines, mackerel and herring are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which can boost dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain. ...

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Cancer, the Leading Cause of Death Among Latinos



In 2015 cancer was the leading cause of death among Latinos in the United States, Latina Lista reports. Last year, Latinos experienced 125,900 new cases of cancer and more than 30,000 deaths from cancer. According to experts most cancer related deaths among Latinos are caused by lung tumors in men and breast malignancies in women. “Death rates are declining for both heart disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S. overall, and cancer, the second leading cause,” Rebecca Siegel, a researcher at the American Cancer Society, said. “Cancer has already surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death in Hispanics because of their young age structure.” Although Latinos have lower incidence of prostate and breast cancer than whites, they are more likely to be diagnosed ...

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Andrew Jimenez: An Èxito! Grad Who Is Committed to Helping Latinos Live Healthier Lives



Editor’s Note: This is the story of a graduate of the 2015 Èxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. Apply now for 2016. Andrew Jimenez Ontario, Calif. Encouraged by his great-grandfather’s spurs and his father’s ever-present support, Andrew Jimenez is driven to make a difference in helping Latinos live healthier lives. He is his family’s first college and grad school student, and he works as a research assistant while he studies health promotion. He’s open to new topics and challenges because he believes in the mantra, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Andrew obtained his bachelor's degree in biology from Whittier College and is currently attending Claremont Graduate University to obtain his masters in Public Health with a ...

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Dental ER Visits Have Doubled; Dental Benefits Go Unused



SaludToday Guest Blogger Jefferson Dental Clinics Dental ER visits have doubled since 2000. An analysis of federal data by the American Dental Association reported a total of 2.2 million dental health-related emergency room visits. That’s one visit every fifteen seconds. Latinos have the lowest dental utilization rate, putting them at a higher risk for developing abscess or infections that may require hospitalization. In fact, patients with private insurance plans are among the highest group to visit the emergency room for a dental abscess, reports a study conducted by the Journal of Endodontics. Uninsured patients report the lowest rates of hospitalization for the same condition. Emergency dental visits can cost more than three times the price of an average dental ...

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Join our #SaludTues Tweetchat 1p ET 01/05/16: Connecting Latinos to Coverage Before the End of Open Enrollment



The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was designed to increase access to quality health care for everyone in the country, especially the Latino community. The ACA’s open enrollment phase is currently underway through January 31, 2016. Health coverage under the new enrollment period began as early as January 1, 2016. To date, nearly 17 million individuals have gained coverage through the ACA and it has seen the largest reduction of uninsured Americans in four decades. Overall, 4.2 million Latinos (ages 18-64) gained health coverage and nearly 9 million now have access to vital preventive services such as mammograms, cervical cancer screenings, and flu shots. In 2014, an estimated 80% of uninsured Latinos qualified Medicaid, CHIP, or lower costs on monthly premiums through the Health ...

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El exceso de TV afecta el cerebro



El pasar mucho tiempo viendo televisión no solamente es malo para el corazón si no también para el cerebro, reporta NPR Health. Un nuevo estudio por la Universidad de California, encontró que aquellos que solamente hacen menos de tres horas de ejercicio y pasan por lo menos tres horas en frente del televisor tuvieron malos resultados en exámenes de enfoque cognitivo y velocidad que aquellos que hacen mas ejercicio y ven menos televisión. Según los expertos la perdida de poder cerebral causada por el exceso de televisión y poco ejercicio esta asociada con el hecho de que poco o nada de actividad física es mala para el ser humano. Marcus Richards, psicólogo de la Universidad de Londres piensa que la diferencia en habilidad y enfoque cognitivo de aquellos que ven mucha ...

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