Singer Natalie Cole Released from Hospital

The singer Natalie Cole has been released from the hospital this week and was able to go home. She is currently suffering from hepatitis C but has been receiving kidney dialysis that isn’t related to the hepatitis. She was hospitalized due to problems she was having with the medicine she was taking and having a busy schedule to promote her new album, called “Still Unforgettable.”

In July, she announced that she had hepatitis C and it was found during a routine examination. The disease is likely caused by her past drug use. Hepatitis C is a liver disease that is spread by contact with infected blood.

Heart Doctor Pioneer Michael DeBakey Dies

Dr. Michael DeBakey, the famous cardiovascular surgeon that pioneered the bypass surgery and inventor of many devices to help people with heart problems, has died at the age of 99 from natural causes at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, TX. In 1932, while he was still in medical school, he invented the roller pump, which later became the most important part of the heart-lung machine. The machine takes over the responsibilities of the heart and lungs during surgery. He was also the pioneer in the development of artificial hearts and heart pumps to help people waiting for transplants. He had helped to create more than 70 surgical instruments in his lifetime.

In the 1950s, DeBakey was the first person to perform the replacement of arterial aneurysms and obstructive lesions. He had developed bypass pumps and connections to replace parts of diseased arteries.

He had performed more than 60,000 heart surgeries in his career that lasted 70 years. His patients had included the Duke of Windsor, the Shah of Iran, King Hussein of Jordan, Turkish President Turgut Ozal, Nicaraguan leader Violetta Chamorro, President Kennedy, President Johnson, and President Nixon. He was a consultant when Russian President Boris Yeltsin had surgery.

He served as the chairman of the President’s Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer, and Stroke during President Johnson’s administration. He had helped to establish the National Library of Medicine and was the author of more than 1,000 medical reports, papers, chapters, and books on surgery, medicine, and similar topics.

In 1953, he performed the first Dacron graft to be able to replace part of occluded arteries. In the 1960s he started coronary artery bypasses. In 1966, he was the first person to successfully use a partial artificial heart. In the 1990s, he helped to create the Michael E. DeBakey Heart Instititute at Hays Medical Center.

Study Says Some People Having AIDS Aren’t Infectious

It is found in a recent study that AIDS patients that have been treated with the latest antiretroviral drugs can no longer infect other people through sexual contact. The drugs work so well that even though the patients aren’t cured, they make it able that only a small amount of the virus is circulating through the body. Researchers say that this fact prevents a HIV-positive person from transferring the virus through sexual intercourse.

The researchers also say that AIDS patients who took the drugs for at least six months can have unprotected sex with HIV-negative people without infecting them. Many activists and doctors don’t agree with doing this because it might have HIV-positive people having sex without informing their partners about their disease. If a HIV-positive patient missed a dose of their medicine, then they could be at risk of infecting their partners.

Heath Ledger Died of Overdose

It is found that the actor Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose of painkillers, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety medication, and other prescription drugs, says a New York City medical examiner. The cause of death was acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine. The medical examiner’s office only named the name of generic drugs, so it is unclear if Ledger took generic or brand-name drugs.

Police found six types of prescription drugs in his apartment, including sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medicine. It isn’t released how much of each drug was found in his blood or if one drug played a greater role than others in causing his death. None of the drugs were taken excessively but the combination of having all the different drugs in his body at the same time proved deadly.

On January 22^nd Heath Ledger was found by a masseuse in the bed of his rented SoHo apartment. When she entered his bedroom to set up for the massage, she found him unresponsive. She then called his friend Mary-Kate Olsen three times over the next 9 minutes before calling 911. Ledger had been dead for a while when he was found.

Pimp C Autopsy Results

The autopsy of rapper Pimp C revealed that he died due to a deadly combination of sleep apnea and Promethazine/Codeine, which is cough syrup. His death has been ruled as an accident. He was found dead on December 4^th of 2007 in his bed at the Mondrian Hotel in Hollywood, California.

Cold Medicines Bad for Toddlers and Babies

The government is recently stating that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines are not safe for toddlers and babies. In October, drug companies stopped selling dozens of nonprescription cold medicines that were targeted towards young children and babies. The Food and Drug Administration’s scientific advisers voted that the drugs don’t work in small children and shouldn’t be used on any children under the age of 6 years old.

The Food and Drug Administration hasn’t decided yet if OTC decongestants, antihistamines, and cough suppressants are okay for children older than 6 years old. The FDA is warning that serious and possibly life-threatening side effects can happen. The possibilities of serious side effects are small but they do happen to some children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 1,500 babies and toddlers had to go to the emergency room over a two-year period because of the drugs and medicines. The biggest risks come from giving a child an overdose of medicine.

If a toddler or baby is sick, it is best to give the child plenty of liquids, let the child get lots of rest, give the child saline drops if it has a stuffy nose, and use humidifiers while the child is sleeping.

Natural Cold Cures

There are natural herbs available that can help you to stay healthy or help you to feel better quicker when you get a cold.

A study showed that 32% of Ginseng users got colds after 4 months compared to 62% taking a placebo. Another study showed that 256 people taking Ginseng had 25% fewer colds after 4 months than the people taking the placebo.

It is shown that the herb Echinacea shortens cold symptoms by a day and a half when taken regularly. It also decreases the chances of catching a cold by 58%.

A supplement containing the herb andrographis paniculata can improve cold symptoms by up to 55%.

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