"The cities have got to set aside (safe) places for kids to get outside and walk or even ride their bicycles," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, who promoted nutrition and exercise at the Penn-Alexander School, a public-private model school in West Philadelphia.

Thompson announced that 22 communities, from American Indian tribes to church-based groups to public school districts, will share "Healthier U.S." grants totaling $37.5 million. The funding is designed to promote disease-prevention or management programs, ranging from after-school health clubs in Philadelphia to smoking-cessation programs for the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma.

Nine million schoolchildren in the United States are overweight, three times the number in 1980, according to a new report by Action for Healthy Kids, a coalition started by former U.S. surgeon general David Satcher.

In Minnesota — like Pennsylvania, a battleground state in the presidential race — Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman on Tuesday announced $2.8 million in "Healthier U.S." grants for that state at a school in Woodbury, a Twin Cities suburb.

U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, meanwhile, trumpeted the cause in Cleveland, Ohio, another state that President Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry are working hard to win.

Although students were mindful of the Nov. 2 election — one Philadelphia youngster asked Thompson which man he supported, while another asked if he was a Democrat — Thompson denied the check presentations were politically timed.

"It has nothing to do with the election," he said after the event, where he shared the stage with injured Philadelphia Eagles defensive - http://www.msnbc.com/search/defensive end N.D. Kalu and four Eagles cheerleaders.

"Our culture has changed over the last few decades," Carmona - http://ms-jd.org/search/results/search&keywords=Carmona/ said Wednesday on CBS News' The Early Show. "Children have become more sedentary, school districts eliminate physical activity, indiscriminate eating, families have changed, a lot of single-parent families, children being less supervised, schools with different menus — a lot of factors over a change of several decades."

There are 9 million overweight children in the U.S., Carmona told co-anchor Julie Chen, and more children have diabetes and hypertension.

"This is a trend that's catastrophic if we don't stop it, because these children grow up to be overweight sick adults, at a huge cost to society and loss of quality of life," he said.

In Raleigh, N.C., 김포출장마사지 - https://www.anmapop.com/%ea%b9%80%ed%8f%ac%ec%b6%9c%ec%9e%a5%ec%83%b5%cf... Education Secretary Rod Paige tossed a beach ball with students as he announced that Wake County schools received $1.3 million in grants over three years for health and fitness programs.

That money came from President Bush's No Child Left Behind initiative, Paige said. The school system is the only recipient of such funding in North Carolina.

The North Carolina Democratic Party criticized Paige's visit, saying Mr. Bush has hurt disadvantaged children by under-funding No Child Left Behind.

Philadelphia groups received $2 million in funding this year from the "Healthier U.S." program, of which $190,000 will go to the Philadelphia School District. The district hopes to use some of the money to start pilot health clubs for children at risk for asthma, diabetes or obesity at 25 schools.

Other programs in Pennsylvania were to share another $1 million in "Healthier U.S." grants this year, the department said.

Families USA, a health consumer advocacy group, said the $35.7 million pales in comparison to health care cuts the Bush administration has made, including $1.1 billion in unspent funding for state Children's Health Insurance Programs that the president plans to rescind on Thursday.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is among those criticizing President Bush for his plans to redirect the money, rather than extend the Sept. 30 deadline for states to spend it.

HHS spokesman Bill Pierce said the money will go toward a new state CHIP program that the president has proposed called "Covering the Kids," which will involve outreach efforts to identify more uninsured children.

0309 222633 854991 2110." style="max-width:410px;float:left;padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px;">Cataract surgery is one of the most common operations performed in the U.S. About four million Americans had the surgery last year alone. And now a new study suggests the benefits may go beyond improving vision problems — older women with cataracts who had the surgery actually tended to live longer.

The study, published in JAMA Ophthalmology, looked at data on more than 74,000 women with cataracts, ages 65 and above, and associated the eye procedure with a 60 percent lower risk of dying from all causes. The study does not prove surgery is responsible for 경주출장마사지 - https://www.anmaweb.com/%ea%b2%bd%ec%a3%bc%ec%98%a4%ed%94%bc%ea%b1%b8%e2... their longer lives, but experts see reasons why it might make a difference.

"It's not so much that cataract surgery does anything to a heart or the brain or the cardiovascular system, but what it does do is it improves quality of life," said Dr. Christopher Starr, an ophthalmologist at Weill Cornell Medical Center. "By improving quality of life by improving vision, you also can improve quantity of life. You're living longer. And the theory is that because the vision has improved, you're more agile, you're going to trip and fall less. You might be more physically active, might exercise more, you can get to the doctor more often, you can take your medication and see what you're taking, and more motivation really to live."  

Starr likened cataracts, which he described as "very common," to a dirty lens on your glasses or camera.

"When we're born, we have nice clear translucent lenses - http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/search/translucent%20lenses . As we get older, they get yellower, they get more opaque and less translucent, and therefore the vision gets blurred, and that's what a cataract is," Starr said.

Women are more prone to cataracts, according to the National Eye Institute.

"We think it's post-menopausally, the decrease in estrogen probably leads to the increased risk of cataract. And there is some data that estrogen therapy, after menopause, can actually decrease the risk of cataract. So it's estrogen. It's horomonal," Starr said.

With baby boomers aging, "lots of people need cataract surgery," Starr said. But just because you have cataracts doesn't mean surgery is required.

"You can have a mild cataract - http://mondediplo.com/spip.php?page=recherche&recherche=mild%20cataract and still function well and therefore, you can wait on the surgery," Starr said.

Because the study was based on data from only female patients, the study has its limits and may not be generalizable for males.

Although they called their risk of contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease "remote," officials are notifying 98 brain or spinal surgery patients who may have had contact with the surgical instruments that were used on the infected patient. They also are informing 418 non-neurosurgical patients who had operations Sept. 10-27, although they are at lower risk.

Officials said Thursday that the infected patient's Sept. 15 diagnosis still awaits definitive test results and that could take weeks. The patient entered the hospital Aug. 24 with memory problems and other neurological symptoms, and officials would not say if the patient was still alive.

"Although we believe the chances of an exposure are extremely small, we cannot guarantee they are zero," said Dr. Allan Levey, Emory's chairman of neurology. "That is why Emory is taking every possible step to deal with this matter."

Affected patients began receiving phone calls Thursday. Emory said there was nothing they could or should do in response to the notification, but said it would provide counseling for those who need it.

The concern involves the naturally occurring, or sporadic, form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease — not the variant form caused by eating mad cow-infected meat. Sporadic CJD, which has no known cause, causes dementia, loss of muscle coordination and eventually death.

There have been four known cases worldwide of sporadic CJD spread by neurosurgical instruments — all occurring in Europe before 1976, when most hospitals began implementing new sterilization procedures, said Dr. Ermias Belay, an epidemiologist with the Centers for 산청출장안마 - https://www.opanma.com/36-sancheong Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

However, Belay added that more cases may have occurred, but it's often difficult - http://de.pons.com/übersetzung?q=difficult&l=deen&in=&lf=en to trace the source of the disease, which can take more than seven years to show symptoms.

Emory officials said they routinely sterilize all surgical - http://data.gov.uk/data/search?q=surgical equipment and have implemented an even more thorough sterilization procedure since Sept. 15.

The move announced Thursday by the nation's second-largest cereal maker affects 29 cereals, including such popular brands as Trix, Golden Grahams, Lucky Charms and Rice Chex. The new recipes and packaging will be launched in October, he said.

General Mills officials said the whole-grain switch is designed to make it even easier for consumers to eat healthy food. Several of the company's brands, including Cheerios, Wheaties, Total and Wheat Chex, are already whole grain.

Company spokesman Tom Johnson said just over 40 percent of the company's cereal line is being changed, "so it's a huge undertaking." He declined to specify the cost of the changeover.

The decision follows a recent recommendation by a federal advisory panel. The panel, looking at ways to update the Agriculture Department's familiar food pyramid, recommended eating whole grain products rather than refined grains to reduce risks of heart disease and other conditions - http://data.gov.uk/data/search?q=conditions .

At the same time, 칠곡출장안마 - https://www.opanma.com/33-chilgok there has been growing questions about whether food companies could be held legally responsible for America's obesity epidemic and other health problems.

The scrutiny has prompted a handful - http://www.purevolume.com/search?keyword=handful of companies to offer, or at least consider, healthier versions of existing products.

Fast food restaurant chains McDonald's Corp. and Wendy's International Inc. have also revamped their children's menus to promote milk and fruit consumption.

Last year, Kraft Foods Inc. began reducing the fat content in 200 products in North America and capping portions for single-serve packaged snacks. It also quit marketing snacks at school.

General Mills officials said it had done extensive taste tests with consumer panels on the revamped cereals.

"Consumers are looking for food products that can be part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle," Steve Sanger, the company's chairman and CEO, said in a statement announcing the change. "This innovation brings important health news to the cereal aisle. Delivering whole grain across our entire Big G cereal portfolio will benefit the people who love our cereals and should be good for the entire cereal category."

General Mills is the nation's No. 2 cereal maker, after Battle Creek, Mich.-based Kellogg Co.

Although they called their risk of contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease "remote," officials are notifying 98 brain or spinal surgery patients who may have had contact with the surgical instruments that were used on the infected patient. They also are informing 418 non-neurosurgical patients who had operations Sept. 10-27, although they are at lower risk.

Officials said Thursday that the infected patient's Sept. 15 diagnosis still awaits definitive test results and that could take weeks. The patient entered the hospital Aug. 24 with memory problems and other neurological symptoms, and officials would not say if the patient was still alive.

"Although we believe the chances of an exposure are extremely small, we cannot guarantee they are zero," said Dr. Allan Levey, Emory's chairman of neurology. "That is why Emory is taking every possible step to deal with this matter."

Affected patients began receiving phone calls Thursday. Emory said there was nothing they could or should do in response to the notification, but said it would provide counseling for those who need it.

The concern involves - http://www.google.de/search?q=involves the naturally occurring, or sporadic, form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease — not the variant form caused by eating mad cow-infected meat. Sporadic CJD, 포천출장마사지 - https://www.anmaop.com/%ed%8f%ac%ec%b2%9c%ec%b6%9c%ec%9e%a5%ec%83%b5%cf%... which has no known cause, causes dementia, loss of muscle coordination and eventually death.

There have been four known cases worldwide of sporadic CJD spread by neurosurgical instruments — all occurring in Europe before 1976, when most hospitals began implementing new sterilization procedures, said Dr. Ermias Belay, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

However, Belay added that more cases may have occurred, but it's often difficult to trace the source of the disease, which can take more than seven years to show symptoms.

Emory officials said they routinely sterilize all surgical equipment and have implemented an even more thorough sterilization procedure since Sept. 15.