These clubs are far and away the best irons I have ever played. At this point I have taken them to the range and played 2 rounds with these irons. I am hitting the ball crisp, long and straight. Fianly not only do I love being out one the course with the guys but for the first time I really enjoy playing the game. I owe it all to two things. My new set of Cleveland Hi-bore irons and the other is my new set up and swing that I learned from the “Symple Golf Swing.” See you on the course, playing Hi-bore irons. If you are smart?…….

According to federal officials, a Chicago-based company has begun recalling its beef based products distributed in 11 states over serious concerns about a possible E. Coli contamination.

The problem was first reported by the Food Service and Inspection Service from the United States Department of Agriculture.
Apparently, the company is recalling the meat used in its ground products. All products present the number “EST. 6872″ given by the USDA and they all include the 30-pounds, the 60-pounds and the 47-gallon barrels filled with the “MORREALE MEAT” beef products.

The products come in several forms, presented by 15 different labels which include “Boneless Chucks,” “Boneless Clods,” “Flat Rounds,” “Gooseneck Rounds” and “Knuckle.”

Escherichia coli or E. Coli is a bacterium commonly found in the lower intestine of animals and are usualy harmless. Some variations can be responsable for a set of serious food poisoning scenarios in humans, which include diarrhea, dehydration and kidney failure.

The affected states were Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, so far, due to the rapid voluntary recall made by JSM Meat Holdings Co., no illnesses were reported and it looks as if the worst has finally passed.

HONOLULU, HAWAII - The American Red Cross is supporting relief efforts of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, including the Myanmar Red Cross, and others to provide assistance to those in need.

The American Red Cross and its partners in the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are sending plane loads of relief supplies into the country. These include tarps for shelter, mosquito nets for malaria prevention and large water purification units to produce clean water. Volunteers from the Myanmar Red Cross are working around the clock and in difficult conditions to distribute relief items, including tarpaulins, pots, mosquito nets, water purification tablets and soap, to those in need. Many of these items have been provided by the American Red Cross and International Federation.

So far, the American Red Cross has committed a total of $1.5 million in financial support and relief supplies to the operation. This includes a $1 million contribution from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. These funds will be used to support relief operations through the procurement and transportation of emergency supplies to help those affected by the disaster. Already, more than 16 plane loads of supplies from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have landed in Yangon, carrying sheltering materials, mosquito nets, water purification systems and other emergency supplies.

This includes three plane loads of goods from the American Red Cross, providing more than 18,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets for malaria prevention and 3,500 tarps for shelter. In total, the American Red Cross is mobilizing 10,000 tarps, 20,000 mosquito nets, 3,800 kitchen sets, 30,000 water containers and 15,000 hygiene kits from its warehouses stocks in Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. The American Red Cross has committed an initial contribution of $1.5 million in relief supplies and financial resources to help survivors following this cyclone and is prepared to send in additional resources and supplies in the coming days. The Red Cross has established a relief pipeline into Myanmar, and more than 27,000 volunteers from the Myanmar Red Cross are distributing the bulk of these supplies. The Red Cross is establishing a series of regional hubs in the affected area that will be staffed by trained, local Red Cross volunteers.

Every day people around the world are suffering from countless crises, like the cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China.

You can help those affected by countless crises around the world each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need.

Please call 1-800-RED CROSS or 739-8109 here in Hawaii. Contributions to the International Response Fund may be sent to the Hawaii State Chapter at 4155 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI 96816. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting http://www.redcross.org The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If donors wish to designate a donation for a specific disaster, please do so at the time of donation.

Cosmetic skin fillers called polyalkylimide implant injections may cause infrequent, but sometimes severe, immune-related side effects months after treatment, Spanish researchers warn.

These implants, which consist of gel and water, are used in cosmetic procedures for facial features such as the lips, cheeks, forehead and lines that develop between the nose and mouth (nasolabial folds).

“In the early reports on polyalkylimide implant injections for cosmetic purposes, there were no significant signs of bioincompatibility (rejection of, or reaction to, the foreign material). However, more recent evidence refutes these statements, and so the complete safety of polyalkylimide implant gels can no longer be assured,” wrote Dr. Jaume Alijotas-Reig, of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and Autonomous University of Barcelona, and colleagues.

They assessed 25 patients who developed adverse effects 12 months or more after polyalkylimide implant injection. The problems included swelling, hardening, and swollen or tender nodules (skin lesions) near the injection site, along with systemic troubles such as fever, arthritis, and dry eyes or mouth.

“Eight patients were previously injected with another implant,” the study authors wrote. “Tender inflammatory nodules were seen in 24 patients. Systemic or distant manifestations appeared in six cases. Laboratory abnormalities were found in 20 cases. After an average of 21.3 months of follow-up, 11 patients appeared to be free of adverse effects, and 10 still had recurrent bouts.”

The actual rate of these kinds of delayed adverse events is unclear, said the authors, whose findings were published in the May issue of the journal Archives of Dermatology.

“Considering the increased use of polyalkylimide implants in European countries and in the United States, physicians should be aware that intermediate or delayed adverse effects can occur with polyalkylimide implants just as they can with collagen, polyacrylamide, polylactic acid or methacrylate (cosmetic fillers),” the authors wrote.

Lung cancer patients may be one step closer to the day when the disease can be detected early with a simple blood test.

Scientists slated to report their findings Tuesday at the American Thoracic Society’s conference in Toronto say the test — which tracks gene activity in immune-system cells — was very good at distinguishing patients with lung cancer from those without the disease.

“The findings are important and represent progress,” said Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association. “They may not be good enough [yet] to change practice. I’m sure, as the researchers refine it, it’ll get better and better.”

Lung cancer remains the number one cancer killer of men and women. According to the National Cancer Institute, 215,020 new cases of the disease will be diagnosed in 2008, and 161,840 Americans will die of lung cancer.

Lung tumors are notoriously difficult to spot when they are still small enough to be treated effectively, leading to an astronomically high death rate from the disease.

A technology known as CT screening can detect lung cancer in 20 percent to 60 percent of people tested, but it also has a high false-positive rate, meaning that patients often have to endure repeat or follow-up testing.

“If you do a CT scan on a general population, you are going to find lots of little nodules, and the critical issue is, what’s cancer and what’s not,” Edelman said. The CT scan method is also controversial, with one study finding that higher detection rates did not translate into lower death rates.

“If they had a minimally invasive blood test that doesn’t involve a biopsy that would tell whether or not something is cancer, that would be a huge advantage,” Edelman said.

Researchers have long been looking for a simple blood test to detect lung cancer, many of them trying to find proteins released into the bloodstream by the tumor. But lung cancer is so heterogeneous, involving many different cell types, that this goal has so far proved illusive.

The authors of this study followed a different strategy, measuring gene expression profiles in lymphocytes (immune system cells) to see if they correlated with the presence or absence of lung cancer. “The hypothesis is the immune system has some sort of interplay with the cancer and, from that interplay, you get changes in the genes that are expressed,” said Dr. Anil Vachani, lead author of the study and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

A 24-gene signature tested in 137 patients with early-stage lung cancer and 91 healthy controls had overall 87 percent accuracy in identifying who had cancer and who did not.

“I would say that 87 percent is very good, but it’s not excellent,” Vachani said. “For a test to be really useful clinically, it has to do a little bit better.”

A second study, also involving genetics and also being presented at the American Thoracic Society meeting, assessed how well five different high-risk genetic signatures predicted the likelihood of a recurrence in patients who had been diagnosed early with non-small cell lung cancer and then undergone surgery.

According to a team from Columbia University, New York City, the gene signature profiles were 40 percent to 100 percent accurate in predicting a recurrence of the disease, depending on the type of tumor. This could help physicians determine who should get more aggressive therapy, the authors stated.

Women who want to keep their hearts in tip-top shape face the fewest challenges in Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.

Those three cities top the list of the 10 most heart-healthy U.S. metropolitan areas for women, a list that’s dominated by western communities.

But the list, released Monday by the American Heart Association, also found the 10 metropolitan areas — mostly in the South and the Midwest — that spell trouble, with Nashville, Tenn., St. Louis and Detroit deemed the least friendly major cities for women’s heart health.

“It’s fair to say that if you live in the least heart-healthy cities, there’s a chance that you’ll have a high (likelihood) of heart disease and stroke and may have a shortened lifespan,” said Dr. Jennifer Mieres, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association and director of nuclear cardiology at the New York University School of Medicine.

Heart disease is the leading killer of American women. An estimated one-third of women suffer from heart problems, according to the American Heart Association, which says cardiovascular disease kills more women than the next five most common causes of death combined.

The heart association’s “Go Red For Women” campaign commissioned Sperling’s BestPlaces, which ranks the best places to live in the United States, to conduct the study. It included an analysis of 22 factors affecting women’s heart health, including rates of cardiovascular mortality, high blood pressure, exercise, and smoking.

The review, which also looked at factors like stress levels and the numbers of people who commute by bicycle or on foot, encompassed the 200 largest metropolitan areas in the country.

The most heart-friendly metro areas for women are:
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, District of Columbia
San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland, Calif.
Denver-Aurora, Colo.
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.
Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.
San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif.
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.

Minneapolis-St. Paul, Boston and Phoenix have the lowest heart-disease mortality rates for women, while women in San Francisco, Denver and Los Angeles are the thinnest.

Women in San Francisco, San Diego and Washington, D.C., are the healthiest eaters, and those in Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Francisco smoke the least.

The least-friendly metropolitan areas for women are:
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, Tenn.
St. Louis, Mo.
Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
Columbus, Ohio
Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio
Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev.
Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio
Indianapolis, Ind.

The researchers reported that women in Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio, and San Antonio, Texas, are among the most overweight in the country.

Women smoke the most in Cincinnati, Nashville and Indianapolis, while they eat the least healthy food in St. Louis, Kansas City, Kan., and Milwaukee.

The heart-unhealthy cities seem to share some things in common, Mieres said, like a plethora of fast-food restaurants, a tendency for people to drive instead of walk, and high smoking rates.

They may also have fewer teaching hospitals and fewer doctors per capita, she said. “When you look at the middle of the country and the South, they are about a decade or five years behind in getting the message that simple changes in diet and activity can have an impact,” she said.

However, living in one of these 10 cities doesn’t guarantee an unhealthy future, Mieres said. “What we’re trying to do is to get women across the country to recognize that whether or not you live in a heart-friendly city, heart disease can be prevented.”

Dr. Nieca Goldberg, medical director of the Women’s Health Program at New York University Medical Center, agreed. “The wrong take-away message is that you would have to move to prevent heart disease,” she said.

Another cardiologist, Dr. Lori Mosca, director of preventive cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/ Columbia University Medical Center, said future studies should look at factors like air quality, bans on trans fat in restaurants, and the availability of fresh produce in inner cities.

“These are some of the environmental factors that may have a significant influence on heart disease that are within the social and political control of cities,” Mosca said.

But the best advice remains: Eat healthy, get physically active, and track your blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and weight and keep them in a healthy range
.