Follow these guidelines for Better Health

Get the Screenings You Need:

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Screenings are tests that look for diseases before you have symptoms. Blood pressure checks and mammograms are examples of screenings. You can get some screenings, such as blood pressure readings, in your doctor’ s office. Others, such as mammograms, need special equipment, so you may need to go to a different office. After a screening test, ask when you will see the results and who to talk to about them.

• Breast Cancer. Ask your health care team whether a mammogram is right for you based on your age, family history, overall health, and personal concerns.
  

• Cervical Cancer. Have a Pap smear every 1 to 3 years if you are 21 to 65 years old and have been sexually active. If you are older than 65 and recent Pap smears were normal, you do not need a Pap smear. If you have had a hysterectomy for a reason other than cancer, you do not need a Pap smear.
  

• Chlamydia and Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Sexually transmitted diseases can make it hard to get pregnant, may affect your baby, and can cause other health problems. Have a screening test for Chlamydia if you are 24 or younger and sexually active. If you are older than 24, talk to your health care team about being screened for Chlamydia. Ask your doctor or nurse whether you should be screened for other sexually transmitted diseases.

• Colorectal Cancer. Have a screening test for colorectal cancer starting at age 50. If you have a family history of colorectal cancer, you may need to be screened earlier. Several different tests can detect this cancer. Your health care team can help you decide which is best for you.
  

• Depression. Your emotional health is as important as your physical health. Talk to your health care team about being screened for depression, especially if during the last 2 weeks: You have felt down, sad, or hopeless. You have felt little interest or pleasure in doing things.
  

• Diabetes. Get screened for diabetes if your blood pressure is higher than 135/80 or if you take medication for high blood pressure. Diabetes (high blood sugar) can cause problems with your heart, brain, eyes, feet, kidneys, nerves, and other body parts.

• High Blood Pressure. Starting at age 18, have your blood pressure checked at least every 2 years. High blood pressure is 140/90 or higher. High blood pressure can cause stroke, heart attack, kidney and eye problems, and heart failure.

• High Cholesterol. Starting at age 20, have your cholesterol checked regularly if:
  

1. You use tobacco.
2. You are obese.
3. You have diabetes or high blood pressure.
4. You have a personal history of heart disease or blocked arteries.
5. A man in your family had a heart attack before age 50 or a woman, before age 60.
   

• HIV. Talk with your health care team about HIV screening if any of these apply to you:
  

1. You have had unprotected sex with multiple partners.
2. You have injected drugs.
3. You exchange sex for money or drugs or have sex partners who do.
4. You have or had a sex partner who is HIV-infected, bisexual, or injects drugs.
5. You are being treated for a sexually transmitted disease.
6. You had a blood transfusion between 1978 and 1985.
7. You have any other concerns.Osteoporosis (Bone Thinning). Have a screening test at age 65 to make sure your bones are strong. If you are younger than 65, talk to your health care team about whether you should be tested.
   

• Overweight and Obesity. The best way to learn if you are overweight or obese is to find your body mass index (BMI). You can find your BMI by entering your height and weight into a BMI calculator. A BMI between 18.5 and 25 indicates a normal weight. Persons with a BMI of 30 or higher may be obese. If you are obese, talk to your doctor or nurse about seeking intensive counseling and help with changing your behaviors to lose weight. Overweight and obesity can lead to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Preventive Medicines:

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If you have any of these risk factors take these preventive medicines If You Need Them

• Aspirin. If you are 55 or older, ask your health care team if you should take aspirin to prevent strokes.
  

• Breast Cancer Drugs. If your mother, sister, or daughter has had breast cancer, talk to your doctor about whether you should take medicines to prevent breast cancer.
  

Estrogen for Menopause (Hormone Replacement Therapy). Do not use estrogen to prevent heart disease or other diseases. If you need relief from symptoms of menopause, talk with your health care team.

• Immunizations.

1. Get a flu shot every year.
2. If you are 65 or older, get a pneumonia shot.
3. Depending on health problems, you may need a pneumonia shot at a younger age or need shots to prevent diseases like whooping cough or shingles. Talk with your health care team about whether you need vaccinations. You can also find which ones you need by going to.
   

Take Steps to Good Health:

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Be physically active and make healthy food choices. Get to a healthy weight and stay there. Balance the calories you take in from food and drink with the calories you burn off by your activities.

• Be tobacco free.
  

• If you drink alcohol, have no more than one drink per day. A standard drink is one 12-ounce bottle of beer or wine cooler, one 5- ounce glass of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits.

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New HIV Virus Found In Gorillas

Scientists who found a new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in a Cameroonian woman living in Paris, have discovered it is an unusual variant of HIV-1 that could have come from gorillas.

The research that led to the findings was headed by Dr Jean-Christophe Plantier of the University of Rouen in France and is published in the 2 August online issue of Nature Medicine. Drs David Robertson and Jonathan Dickerson from the Faculty of Life Sciences at The University of Manchester, UK, were also involved in the study.

There are three established lineages of HIV-1, known as M, N, and O, which came from chimpanzees, but this new variant appears to be the prototype of a new lineage derived from gorillas and shows no evidence of recombination with the other known lineages, wrote the researchers.
They propose that the new lineage be called HIV-1 group P.
There are 33 million people worldwide living with AIDS which is caused by the HIV-1 virus group M (groups N and O are mainly confined to Cameroon).
HIV is a product of cross-species transmission of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) found in chimpanzees, thought to have crossed to humans from eating infected bush meat.
While first recognized in 1980, HIV is thought to have started some 80 years earlier in and around the African country that is now called the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The 62-year old Cameroonian woman at the centre of the study moved to Paris in 2004 and began to have symptoms shortly afterwards. Her blood sample showed discrepancies in her viral load, and further tests revealed she was infected with a new strain of HIV that more closely resembled SIV from gorillas than HIV from humans.
However, before moving to Paris the woman had lived in a semi-urban part of the central west African Republic of Cameroon; she had not come into contact with bush meat or gorillas.
Because of this information and the fact further tests showed that the virus was able to replicate in human cells, the scientists suggest the strain may well appear elsewhere.
Robertson told the media that:
"The discovery of this novel HIV-1 lineage highlights the continuing need to monitor closely for the emergence of new HIV variants."
"This demonstrates that HIV evolution is an ongoing process. The virus can jump from species to species, from primate to primate, and that includes us; pathogens have been with us for millions of years and routinely switch host species," he added.
In the same way as the current swine flu pandemic is showing us, this is another example of how viruses can now move very quickly around the world because nowadays large numbers of humans travel long distances in a short space of time.
Plantier's team in France are part of a network of laboratories that has been monitoring HIV genetic diversity, while the The Manchester Life Sciences team helped with the computer-based evolutionary analysis.

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