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Preventing PAM: A rare, but lethal infection

Summer season is officially here. It is a great time to enjoy cookouts, playing sports, or participating in water-related activities. The summer season also brings a number of things that we need to be mindful of in order to be safe, such as hurricane season, mosquito season, and the less known amoeba season. Naegleria fowleri…
Getting motivated to move

Local ways to have fun in the sun and get fit Polk County area residents like to run and bike for exercise, but there are plenty of other opportunities to get fit.“I run, bike or swim depending on life’s circumstances, but ideally all three,” shares Dr. Richard Cardosi, a gynecologic oncologist with Watson Clinic and…
Just say NO to lazy days of summer

The benefits of keeping kids active and fit while school is out Although they’re called the “Lazy Days of Summer,” the best summer days for children are filled with physically engaging activities that are challenging and fun. Summer days are for most children less structured and therefore most are looking for something engaging to do. …

Medical Advice: 7 steps to living healthy with diabetes

I met a man once who said being diagnosed with diabetes saved his life. What a powerful statement that was. He explained that before being told he had diabetes, he didn’t pay attention to health habits that were causing him great harm. When he learned he had diabetes, he attended classes to learn to take…
Publisher’s Note: Florida launches a pain-pill database

With 2,710 deaths resulting in prescription drug overdoses last year, and after a bitter 10-year political debate, a Florida pain-pill database was launched on October 18. The purpose of enacting this new computer system is to help the medical community curtail drug addicts and traffickers from obtaining large quantities of pain pills. Unfortunately, Florida…
Signs & Symptoms

Seeing the Forest for the Trees with Prognostic Factor Testing Prognostic factor testing is critical for directing proper therapy in individuals diagnosed with breast cancer. We have known for quite some time that there are several different types of breast cancer. Some tumors grow slow. Some tumors grow fast. Some tumors rapidly spread to…