Want to Prevent Heart Attack and Stroke? Laugh, Eat Chocolate and Floss

Vascular disease may be hiding in the walls of your arteries. Many people do not know they have plaque in their arteries until it is too late.  Fifty percent of people who die from a heart attack had no idea they had vascular disease.

The standard of care for cardiovascular disease prevention is based on a risk factor model rather than a disease treatment model.  The standard of care uses a formula based approach that looks at risk factors such as age, gender, cholesterol, blood pressure and smoking status and places each person in a risk category, assigning a percentage of heart attack risk over a 10-year period. It is kind of like a gamble – a best-guess scenario.

Read about Bradley Bale and Amy Doneen’s different approach at http://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/health-answers/lauging-chocolate-flossing-tips-for-preventing-heart-attack-and-stroke/.

Mashable retracts recommendation of the Samsung Galaxy Note7

Due to ongoing concerns about safety, Mashable is retracting its recommendation of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 and revoking its Mashable Choice award.

We do not take this action lightly, but what's happened to the Samsung Galaxy Note7 in the last six weeks is unprecedented in mobile. After Samsung released the high-end phone to generally great reviews, including Mashable's, multiple reports began to surface that the phones were spontaneously catching fire due to exploding batteries.

It quickly became clear there was some kind of defect in how the phone's battery was made, which caused a significant (although statistically small) number of Note7 devices to malfunction. Lithium-ion batteries — the type of battery in the vast majority of today's portable consumer electronics — can become dangerously volatile if they're damaged or defective.

Samsung appeared to identify the flaw in its manufacturing process and correct it. It then began shipping "safe" Galaxy Note7 phones to customers.

That's when events went from unfortunate to unthinkable. It now appears multiple replacement Galaxy Note7's have caught fire. The developments have led to wireless carriers in the U.S. and other countries to halt sales of the device. Even Samsung is reportedly halting production of the Note7, which the company did not deny in a statement.

Those same developments have led Mashable to do something it's never done before: In light of the continued safety concerns that Samsung has yet to fully explain, Mashable can no longer recommend the Samsung Galaxy Note7, and we are rescinding the product's Mashable Choice status. Further, we echo the words of our senior editor, Stan Schroeder: Don't buy this phone.

Read Pete Pachal’s complete article at http://mashable.com/2016/10/10/do-not-buy-samsung-galaxy-note7/.

5 tips for selling on Marketplace, Facebook's version of Craigslist

Here's how to make your Facebook Marketplace listings pop

Facebook wants to get into the local buying-and-selling game with its new mobile classifieds section, Facebook Marketplace. The new Facebook Marketplace -- not to be confused with the old Facebook Marketplace -- lets you put up Craigslist-like ads for everything from furniture and clothing to cars and housing. The new Facebook Marketplace lets you sell to anyone (well, anyone within 100 miles of you), rather than limiting you to friends or group members.

Facebook Marketplace is similar to Craigslist: It's a venue, not a facilitator, and the details of any sales (including price, shipping and other logistics) are between the buyer and the seller. Facebook doesn't take a cut of the profits, nor does it offer protection for either party -- like Ebay does -- but it is slightly more credible than Craigslist because it's linked to your Facebook account.

Looking to offload your old sofa or a pile of baby clothes? Read Sarah Jacobsson Purewal's article at https://www.cnet.com/how-to/5-tips-for-selling-on-facebook-marketplace/.

The giant inflatable duck apocalypse has finally come to Scotland

It's time to put down your weapons and calmly welcome our duck new overlords.

On Saturday, motorists driving through the wind-swept roads of Glasgow, Scotland, were visited by a rather strange sight — a monstrous inflatable duck the size of a small building casually trundling its way along a hectic four-lane road.

See Sam Haysom’s article, including video, at http://mashable.com/2016/09/26/giant-inflatable-duck-glasgow/?utm_cid=hp-h-3#LUv_JKy85SqD.

Trim your wireless bill -- skip that phone upgrade

It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

Wireless subscribers have been conditioned to get a new phone every two years. That made sense back in the day, when wireless subsidies from mobile operators let you upgrade to the latest iPhone or Samsung Galaxy for only $200.

Those days are over. Today consumers are expected to pay full price for their devices. The carriers have tried to make the hefty $650 price tag of high-end devices more palatable by offering payment plans. But wireless subscribers shouldn't confuse these plans with the old device subsidies.

Marguerite Reardon explains why, in this new era of wireless, you'll spend considerably more if you continue your device-upgrade-every-two-years habit at https://www.cnet.com/news/trim-your-wireless-bill-skip-that-phone-upgrade/.

Stroke Treatment: Why Every Second Counts

Each passing second after someone suffers a stroke means greater risk of permanent damage or death, so it's critical to get a diagnosis and treatment as fast as possible.

The first few seconds of a stroke may be confusing, both to a witness and the stroke patient. Signs may be subtle — someone just isn't quite normal, seems tired, confused, or uncoordinated. But the quicker you spot the initial signs of a stroke, the faster stroke treatment can be given. Once a stroke starts, you've got just three hours before the window of opportunity for the most successful stroke treatment closes.

Stroke: What Happens

"It's important for people to understand that not all strokes are the same,” says Mark Alberts, MD, professor of neurology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and director of the stroke program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

There are two distinct types of stroke. Roughly 85 percent are ischemic strokes in which blood flow to the brain is blocked by a blood clot. The rest are hemorrhagic strokes, in which there's bleeding in or around the brain due to a burst blood vessel. "Even though hemorrhagic strokes are less common, they are more deadly and cause more damage,” says Dr. Alberts. “The number of people who die from ischemic strokes might be around 10 percent; those who die from hemorrhagic stroke might be 40 or 50 percent."

Stroke: The Damage

The rates of disability for both types of stroke are significant. Alberts says that 20 to 30 percent of patients will be significantly disabled following an ischemic stroke; those numbers rise to 40 to 50 percent of patients with hemorrhagic stroke. Disabilities range from problems with communication and mobility to issues so severe that the patient needs nursing home care.


"Strokes are sort of like real estate — it all depends on location and size, on where in the brain they occur and how large they are," Albert says. "Those two factors determine how much damage there will be. A small stroke in a critical part of the brain can cause a lot of damage, while a large stroke in a less important part of the brain may not cause as much."

Stroke: Fast Action is Important

To have the greatest chance of being effective, one of the best treatments for ischemic stroke, tissue plasminogen activator, or t-PA (Activase), has to be administered quickly.

Alberts emphasizes that "t-PA has to be given within three hours of stroke onset. Everything shows that ‘time is brain,’ and every second you delay treating someone the patient is losing tens of thousands of brain cells. The overriding concept is to treat patients as soon as possible."

A medication that is given by injection, t-PA is a clot buster. It is a very powerful agent that eats away at the blood clot in the vessel that's causing the ischemic stroke, says Alberts. “It begins working pretty rapidly, and we have certainly seen cases where it chews away the blood clot within an hour or two of being administered. But that isn't typical. Sometimes, t-PA isn't successful at destroying a clot; other times, it may take much longer to destroy the clot and fully restore blood flow to the brain.

That narrow window for treating stroke patients with t-PA may be expanded in the future, but Alberts says that doesn't mean there's time to waste. For patients who have suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, treatment will depend on the cause of the bleeding in the brain. Two common causes of bleeding are aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). An aneurysm is a bulge in the artery wall; an AVM is an abnormal connection between arteries and veins that creates a knotted group of blood vessels prone to bleeding. Surgery may be needed to drain blood from the brain or to repair the leaking blood vessels. But as with ischemic stroke, time is of essence.

Stroke: Call 911

Don’t waste time calling a doctor if you suspect someone has suffered a stroke or think it could be happening to you. Call 911 to request emergency medical help, so that treatment can be started immediately and brain cells can be saved.

Read Diana Rodriguez's article at http://www.everydayhealth.com/stroke/stroke-treatment-every-second-counts.aspx.

What to do if your iPhone 7 gets wet

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are water resistant, but what should you do if your new iPhone accidentally goes for a swim?

With Apple trumpeting its new iPhones as being "splash and water resistant," you'll understandably be tempted to take your new iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus on more adventures, from rainy-day hikes and long walks on the beach to fishing trips and whitewater rafting. Having your iPhone 7 or 7 Plus on your person during such activities will create great photo opps (while upping your selfie game), but it also increases the odds that your new iPhone will come into contact with water.

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus both received an IP67 rating, which means the phones can survive being dropped in water up to 1 meter in depth for 30 minutes. It also means they are completely dust resistant to survive Burning Man and other dry, dusty environments.

Despite the IP67 rating for both new models, Apple makes clear that "liquid damage is not covered under warranty" and lists a number of forbidden pursuits for you and your new iPhone 7 or 7 Plus.

Learn more from Matt Elliott’s article at https://www.cnet.com/how-to/what-to-do-if-your-iphone-7-gets-wet/.