“Overall, the results of this study do not support the role of estrogen in the treatment of AD,” wrote study authors, led by Ruth A. Mulnard, R.N., D.N.Sc., of the Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia at the University of California, Irvine.

The study, the largest and longest of its kind, randomly divided 120 women with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease into three groups: one receiving a low dose of estrogen, another receiving a high dose of estrogen and a third receiving a placebo pill, which did not contain estrogen. Only women who had had a hysterectomy prior to enrollment were eligible for the trial. Ninety-seven women completed the study.

Researchers followed the progress of the patients for up to 15 months, regularly assessing their overall mental ability in addition to their mood, memory, attention, language skills, motor function and daily living activities.

Estrogen replacement therapy did not slow the mental decline of the Alzheimer’s patients studied. Eighty percent of the patients taking estrogen showed deterioration in their conditions compared to 74 percent of the patients taking a placebo. Low doses of estrogen were associated with some initial, short-term improvements in mental ability, consistent with earlier studies. This progress, however, was not sustained for the study’s duration.

In an interview with the American Council on Science and Health, Mulnard said she and her colleagues were surprised and disappointed by the findings. But, Mulnard added, “the results are very important to women. Positive or negative, the study is an important contribution.”

Alzheimer’s disease is estimated to affect more than 4 million people in the United States. The majority are women. The disease, which typically begins after age 60, is characterized by a progressive deterioration of memory, language ability, visuospatial skills and judgment. Currently, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, although some medications are effective in easing certain symptoms.

While the latest study indicates that estrogen is not effective in treating existing AD, study authors remain optimistic that estrogen may still prove useful in preventing or retarding the start of AD.

“This is a definitive study for the kind of women we studied,” Mulnard said. “But, it does not answer questions for all women with Alzheimer’s disease.”

“One thing is very clear,” Mulnard stressed, “Estrogen could still play a very big role in preventing disease.” She noted that there are already several large studies underway examining whether estrogen may prevent AD.

In an editorial accompanying the latest report, Yale researchers emphasized that the findings could only be limitedly generalized. They also encouraged more research on estrogen and Alzheimer’s disease.

“The conclusions are valid only for a very specific population, women of advanced age (approximately 75 years) with AD of mild to moderate severity,” commented Bennett A. Shaywitz, M.D., and Sally E. Shaywitz, M.D. “It remains for future studies to determine the role of estrogen, if any, in preventing or delaying the onset of AD.”

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TYLENOL – 15mg/kg for high fever (12mg/kg for low grade fever but I don’t use anything for low grade fevers anyway so I just ignore this). May be repeated as needed every 4 hours.

IBUPROFEN (Advil or Motrin) for Children – usually comes as 100mg per tsp. (Always check the label for the strength) – give 10mg per kilogram for high fever or pain due to inflammation (injury, teething, etc.) and this can also be repeated as often as every 4 hours if needed although it usually lasts longer than Tylenol so you may not need to use it as often. I like this drug a lot.

BENADRYL (diphenhydramine) – usually used for allergic reactions or cold symptoms without worrying about agitating like ephedrine will do – sometimes misguidedly used to get the kid to sleep on the plane – it never works! Comes as 12.5 mg per tsp. Dose – 1mg per kilogram of weight so give your 25 pounder one tsp.

SUDAFED (pseudoephedrine) – used for congestion and colds but you should always be sure your child is well hydrated before using this or you can make symptoms worse – also know this tends to agitate so skip it at bedtime if your child tends to be high strung to start with. Comes as 15 mg per tsp. Dose is 1 mg per kilogram of weight so give your 60 pounder 2 tsp. 2 or 3 times per day (a day is 24 hours parents, so don’t overuse this stuff).

IMODIUM (loperamide HCl) – for diarrhea (check first with your doc if it’s OK to use this in your child’s particular situation) This one is easier – 1/2 tsp. for under 25 lbs. And 1 tsp. for 25-50 lbs. And 2 tsp. over 50 lbs. And you may repeat this after each loose stool to a maximum of 6 doses in 24 hours. If it hasn’t controlled things by then it isn’t going to and you better consult your pediatrician again.

These are of course only some of the various OTC cheap drugs out there but they are the most common ones you call me about. Some of you are probably thinking, “This is too complicated. Why don’t I just call the pediatrician and she’ll do all the figuring.” You can, but just know, pediatricians like to sleep through the night sometimes too! Good luck and stay healthy – and if you must, use OTC meds in the correct dosage or not at all!
Happy calculating!

First, you MUST know your child’s weight at least within a few pounds if she is over 25lbs. and within 1lb. if she is smaller than that. Weight to dose is everything in determining both a safe and effective dose of any med. Infants only gain 1 to 2 lbs. per month in the first year so you can usually guess from the last month’s visit but better to know exactly in the very young.

Most dosing is “per kilo”, not per pound, due to the medical basis of the calculation and medicine’s penchant for making things complicated – so get used to dividing your child’s weight in half (that’s close enough though not exact) to deal with dosing calculations. You might wonder why I don’t tell you to follow the package instructions on dosing and that’s because it’s usually way off in accuracy, partly because they group kids by age, not weight, or the weight guidelines are a huge spread and for “safety” they aim at the lowest weight in the range they offer so that no one will take too much – of course this also means no one will take the right amount and so many will get insufficient medicine to make a beneficial difference – and what’s the point of putting this stuff in your child’s body in the first place if you’re not going to see him feel better for it! In some cases this can even be quite dangerous, for instance when you are trying to control a very high fever and by following the package directions you keep giving too little acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol) and the fever just keeps on rising! Not smart! Many of us have complained to Tylenol about this but they just tell us we’re right but that’s our responsibility and they can’t change the packaging without major FDA hassle. I for one find this very annoying and irresponsible. While I’m busy bashing let me also tell you to be very aware of the difference in strength between infant’s Tylenol drops and children’s Tylenol (this is also true of other meds with both infant and children preparations) – YOU CANNOT USE THE CHILDREN’S MED AS IF IT WERE THE INFANT’S, ONLY IN A BIGGER BOTTLE! – You will hurt your child if you do this and yet it happens all the time. The concentrations are totally different so don’t stick the dropper you get with infant’s medicines into the children’s bottle and draw up the same amount! If you understand the dosage difference you can of course use any dropper but you will be using a different quantity. Fortunately this error usually results in severe UNDER dosing instead of over dosing but that is still not what you want for your child. Also most instructions on OTC bottles are written for people with superior mega-vision and nothing but peace and time on their hands, so know this – all suspensions (vs. Elixirs) MUST be shaken well or you will not be giving a dependable dose of medicine (but you sure may be giving a sugar jolt to Johnny!). Also note that some cold meds look like they are intended for your child’s nose (see Pediacare infant drops packaging) when in fact it is meant to be taken by mouth (Pediacare finally put a very tiny warning on the front of the package next to the HUGE picture of a nose that says “for oral use”.) Thank you for trying.

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“I have indelible memories of those first five patients with AIDS–their names, their faces, their life stories, and their courage and understanding when they realized how little we knew about what was wrong with them,” writes Dr. Michael Gottlieb, who reported the outbreak. His essay on HIV/AIDS appears in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Since those first, confusing days, much has become clear about the virus that causes AIDS, even as the disease ravages the globe like no other in recent history.

According to statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over the past two decades “HIV infection has caused approximately 20 million deaths,” and today “an estimated 36 million persons are infected,” most of them in the developing world.

Many of the world’s poorest countries have been largely unprepared for the impact of AIDS, with fragile healthcare systems, poor education, and social stigmas making it nearly impossible to check the spread of the virus. The CDC now estimate that nearly 1 in every 11 young adults living in sub-Saharan Africa is now infected with HIV, and “in Botswana, the country with the highest prevalence, 36% of the adult population is infected.”

And yet committed individuals and governments and individuals have proven that the proper allocation of resources can stem the epidemic. Education efforts in Uganda have been so successful, in fact, that “during 1990-2000, overall adult HIV prevalence declined from14% to 8%,” the CDC researchers point out. Other countries–most notably Senegal, Thailand and Brazil–have mounted effective education or drug treatment programs that have dramatically reduced the numbers of those suffering with HIV/AIDS.

And in the developed world, AIDS activists have helped pressure governments and drug companies to spend millions of dollars in developing rx drugs that appear to at least slow the activity of HIV, prolonging the lives of thousands.

But all these accomplishments pale in the face of the work that still needs to be done, experts say. Writing in The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Kent Sepkowitz, from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, said that while the picture has improved, bringing the epidemic under control remains a “daunting task.”

Those committed to fighting AIDS should “find solace and inspiration in the remarkable achievements of the past 20 years,” Sepkowitz writes. But he cautions that “an effective vaccine is not imminent, and most governments are unlikely to initiate frank public discussions about sexual intercourse and injection drug use, despite the glaring need.”

For his part, Gottlieb believes the AIDS epidemic has changed the very practice of medicine since those first five cases were reported in 1981. It has been “a proving ground where character, beliefs, and values are tested,” he writes. “It has taught us about the nature and diversity of love, about courage, compassion, and caring.”

If you’ve never had a serious gynecological problem, it’s easy to take your good fortune for granted. But if something went wrong, would you be prepared? After all, your reproductive organs are more complicated than many other body parts (not to mention harder to see and dicier to talk about at dinner). And physical ills are just the tip of the iceberg, since having a reproductive system that works well has a big impact on your mental health and your overall sense of well-being. SELF asked five women to share their gynecological horror stories. See what lessons they learned the hard way.

Don’t Be Afraid of Bad News

WARNING SIGN: A mass in the pelvic area

Nobody likes going to the gynecologist. Those stirrups. That speculum. But Laura’s aversion was due to an intense fear of finding out she was ill—so intense, in fact, that she went years without a checkup. Then she noticed something strange: a mass in her pelvic area. Laura convinced herself that it was nothing to worry about. It’ll go away on its own, she thought, and she pushed it out of her mind.

Three months passed, and the mysterious lump kept growing. Even after Laura’s boyfriend finally persuaded her to go for an exam at the local women’s clinic, she didn’t plan to bring up the weird mass. “That’s how much I didn’t want to talk about it,” she remembers. “But it was so big, the nurse—practitioner took one look at my stomach and said, ‘You’re pregnant.’”

Instead, an ultrasound revealed that she had a benign cyst—called a teratoma—that had started on one of her ovaries and was spreading. By the end of the following week, she had undergone surgery to remove the growth, which weighed a stunning 10 pounds and contained fragments of hair and bone. Unfortunately, the invasive cyst couldn’t be removed without taking Laura’s ovary out, too. “If I had done something sooner, maybe they could’ve saved the ovary,” Laura says with regret. (Caught early, most ovarian cysts can be removed using laparoscopic surgery, a less invasive procedure.) “And even if they hadn’t, the experience still would have been a lot less traumatic. It took time to recover—emotionally and physically—and even though my doctors say I’ll still be able to have children, I think losing one of my ovaries changed me hormonally. My metabolism has slowed down and I’ve definitely gained weight.”

LESSON LEARNED: “There are many ways of coping with things that go wrong in our bodies, and denial is one,” says June La Valleur, M.D., assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and women’s health at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis. “The problem with denial, of course, is that it won’t make your health problem go away.” Occasionally, gynecological problems clear up on their own, but only a doctor can tell whether that’s true in your case, so seek medical attention early.

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On a recent Sunday, the cozy restaurant quickly fills with talent agents and software entrepreneurs, radio and record label executives, technology consultants, and IP lawyers. Balancing bowls of soup and dodging the snap of chopsticks, the tables are crowded with — among others — folks from incubators Evolab and EC2@USC gossiping with technologists from Scour.Net and DMX Music.

Anyone can attend this three-hour brunch, which started about two years ago after Jim Griffin left Geffen Records and launched his own consulting firm, One House.

Griffin, the 42-year-old creator and former head of Geffen’s technology department, is the good-natured host with a passion for soup and a near-fanatical belief in the convergence among the Net, ecommerce, and art. “We started out with a small [email] list and a lunch with two people, just to keep in touch,” Griffin explains. “Now, it’s the place to hang out, share ideas, and make key contacts.”

That real-world social tie between the computer and artistic realms also helps young entrepreneurs find financial help, as bankers and business advisers from Merrill Lynch and PricewaterhouseCoopers routinely come in search of new opportunities. “We’re not doing that whole trendy, Westside thing,” sniffs Jeremiah Chechik, CEO of Evolab. “This is real food, real conversation, and real promise.” And like any successful Internet venture, there are pho spinoffs: a weekly Saturday gathering in New York, and a Sunday munching session in Seattle.

The increase in suicidal tendencies associated with anti-depressants is more prevalent in children and adolescents than in adults. The tendency in adults as well is being shown by recent studies, which is unfortunate. It is quite shocking and scary to think that if you leave your depression untreated you may commit suicide, but you may also be at risk for suicide as a result of treatment. Is there an action being taken regarding this?

People are advised about this possible side effect before they take anti-depressants. It is being debated at the moment whether the cautions should be discussed more openly, so that people who are thinking about using these remedies can make more wise choices about the risks involved, before it becomes too late.

An additional choice is to find alternative remedies, like intensive therapy and homeopathic treatments. A huge effect upon our well being, emotionally, and additionally to the benefits of our health physically, are diet and exercise. Any type of alternate treatment should be thoroughly discussed with your medical professional, and for those who have concerns over or have experienced any unpleasant side effects of antidepressants, alternative therapies may offer another solution, so speak with your physician.

If the depression is diagnosed as a more serious condition, and is chronic, at the end of the day, treatment is required. Sadly, the only way to effectively treat serious depression is with medications.

When you are on antidepressant medications, stay in touch with your physician so you can report on the effects of the medication. If the medication is not effective, then they can assist you in the change to a different one that may work better.

Generic Lexapro is one of the more recent antidepressant medications; it is used to treat depression? social phobia, anxiety and OCD. By increasing Serotonin levels in the brain, it is one of the group of drugs known as SSRIs.

It might be recommended that you use this drug, after a diagnosis by a health professional.

When taking Lexapro, a supplemental dose of Vitamin B may be recommended, as it aids in serotonin production and can be quickly depleted during stressful experiences. Increasing your intake in supplement form is a great idea, as Vitamin B is not stored by the body.

Lexapro is a drug that is effective in the treatment of some diseases that are very debilitating. For the first six months taking it, you may experience a number of side effects, so it is important for your physician to watch carefully during this initial phase.