Stomach

How can you tell if you or someone you know is having a heart attack? Sometimes the symptoms can be surprisingly subtle. "They can be very different from person to person, between women and men and even within an individual who has more than one heart attack," says Dr. David Rizik, director of Interventional Cardiology for Scottsdale Healthcare Hospitals, in Scottsdale, Ariz. Men and women may experience atypical heart attack symptoms. In contrast to the "classic" chest-splitting, gasping-for-breath symptoms, many heart attacks begin with symptoms that are so mild they are often mistaken for indigestion or muscle ache.

Attention dieters: If you want to maximize your chances of success, don't go to the grocery store on an empty stomach. So says a new JAMA Internal Medicine study from two members of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab , where researchers investigate “the psychology behind what people eat and how often they eat it,” as this website puts it. The study authors - Brian Wansink and Aner Tal - asked 68 study subjects to fast for...

When I was pregnant the second time, I found myself wearing wristbands nonstop that looked like they were meant for athletes but actually were to fend off morning (try all day long) sickness. They were functional but not too attractive. Psi Bands (pronounced "sigh" and referring to pounds per square inch) are acupressure wristbands that bring a little style to nausea relief for people who can't or don't want to take medications. They were designed by two moms and look rather like an inexpensive watch; the pressure applied to the wrists is adjustable.

When I was pregnant the second time, I found myself wearing wristbands nonstop that looked like they were meant for athletes but actually were to fend off morning (try all day long) sickness. They were functional but not too attractive. Psi Bands (pronounced "sigh" and referring to pounds per square inch) are acupressure wristbands that bring a little style to nausea relief for people who can't or don't want to take medications. They were designed by two moms and look rather like an inexpensive watch; the pressure applied to the wrists is adjustable.

The single-celled microorganisms known as probiotics are natural inhabitants of the human digestive system. These hundreds of species of bacteria and yeast play a variety of beneficial roles in the body, including synthesizing vitamins and keeping harmful bacteria in check. The medical use of probiotics -- in the form of cultured or fermented dairy products such as yogurt or kefir -- dates to biblical times. But only about 100 years ago were bacteria identified as the healthful components.

No matter what holiday you celebrate this season, there are probably lots of goodies around to nibble on. Sometimes, these rich treats can spell tummy trouble. "You can certainly get a stomachache from eating too many hard-to-digest foods," says Dr. Yvonne Tsai, a pediatrician at UCLA. But Tsai points out that eating the wrong foods is only one cause of stomachaches, which are one of the most common kid ailments.

Was DJ AM's death suicide? The jet-set mash-up disc jockey had prescription pills in his stomach and one in his throat when authorities found him dead in his SoHo apartment on Friday, an unnamed New York City official told the Associated Press. The official said there were six pills in DJ AM's stomach and the one lodged in his throat that appeared to be the powerful painkiller OxyContin. The official didn't know what dosage of the pills and was not certain what kind of pills were in DJ AM's stomach.

For the first time in 30 years of playing and coaching I find myself embarrassed to be associated with the game of basketball after viewing this year's McDonald's Prep All-Star Game. Watching this group of under-aged, over-indulged so-called basketball players do nothing but demonstrate their selfishness, laziness and out-of-control egos was more than a traditionalist like myself could stomach. STEVE KEITH Irvine

U.S. researchers have identified every gene in the microbe that causes stomach ulcers and cancer, calling it "fundamental" information that will be used by scientists for centuries. Craig Venter and his team at the Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville, Md., report today in the journal Nature that they have completely sequenced the genome of Helicobacter pylori, which infects more than half the world's population.

Injections of a gut hormone that tells the brain the stomach is full resulted in significant weight loss in a small human test, British researchers report today in the journal Diabetes. The study lasted a month and included 14 subjects who lost an average of 5 pounds, said Dr. Stephen R. Bloom, an endocrinologist at Imperial College London.

WASHINGTON - Cody Keenan haunts the basement of the West Wing at all hours, laboring over the State of the Union address while cloaked in a black pullover that a friend jokes is his "good luck fleece. " So Keenan hopes. The pressure is on the ruddy, 32-year-old wordsmith - the nationally televised address Tuesday will be his first major effort since President Obama named him chief White House speechwriter. In the small club of past presidential speechwriters, the State of the Union is known as a notoriously miserable task.

Last week, we arrived back in town after a vacation just in time to catch our kids' favorite television personality browbeat an innkeeper and describe a meal placed before him at the inn in bleeped words that appeared to refer to dinosaur excrement. I find Chef Gordon Ramsay's culinary boot-camp shtick as mesmerizing as my children do. But I'm also a little queasy about the fact that our 9- and 13-year-old kids are die-hard fans of this particular form of entertainment at a time when 1 in 4 American kids and nearly 50 million Americans of all ages live in what the government calls "food insecure households.

A Bakersfield woman has sued Lap-Band marketing firm 1-800-GET-THIN and several healthcare providers after complications from a 2011 weight-loss surgery forced doctors to remove her stomach. Natalie Swaim alleges that surgeons negligently implanted her Lap-Band weight-loss device, causing her stomach to lose blood supply and the tissue to die. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, also seeks damages from a Bakersfield hospital that treated Swaim in 2012 after complications surfaced.

Two fossil dinosaur specimens from China have revealed the animals' last meal: feathered, flying dinosaurs, along with fish, a lizard and the remains of unidentified mammals. The dinos might have been scavengers, but the near-complete remains of two of the flying dinosaurs in one of the animal's stomachs suggests instead that the beast was a skillful predator, said paleontologist Philip R. Bell of the Pipestone Creek Dinosaur Initiative in Clairmont, Canada, lead author of a report appearing in the online journal PLoS One. [ For the record, 9:34 a.m. Sept.

Re "Chick-fil-A or Whole Foods?," Opinion, Aug. 5 I suspect geography determines the politics of a chain's patronage as much as the chain itself. According to its website, Cracker Barrel, cited in this article as having the most conservative customers, has no restaurants in California, Oregon and Washington and has only nine in New York; yet there are 47 in Texas, 50 in Tennessee, 42 in Georgia and 29 in Alabama. There are quite a few in the current swing states of North Carolina and Virginia as well.

— It took a moment to get the baby to stop kicking. It took a few deep breaths and a few calming words. Telling her unborn daughter to settle down, Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi quietly added: "Mommy's going to shoot here. " Then she shouldered her weapon and fired away. The 29-year-old Malaysian woman finished well down the list at Saturday's 10-meter air rifle event but attracted some attention for competing while eight months pregnant. Though the record books contain no such category, officials believe she is farther along in her pregnancy than any other woman ever to participate in the Olympics.

Over the last 20 years, research on a tiny, S-shaped stomach bacterium has overturned doctors' notions about the origins and history of diseases from ulcers to cancer of the stomach. Now, some scientists who study the bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, say the tiny bug may help trace the migration of human populations across the globe. Next week, enthusiasts from around the globe will gather in Australia to celebrate the discovery of H. pylori.

Stretched out on the floor at a Studio City gym, Wil Bowers, 35, is reluctant to take a break from his abdominal exercises. Only when he's assured that the interruption will be brief does he stop crunching and start chatting about why he does this. Flat abs, he explains, "give me confidence. And that's important for an actor." Like Bowers, Albert Schoenfield of Los Osos is justifiably proud of his silhouette, maintained by swimming 72 laps a day.

The Angels lost Thursday because they couldn't see into a blinding sun and because pitcher C.J. Wilson couldn't seem to find home plate. The Chicago White Sox took advantage, using sun-caused misplays and six walks in less than four innings by under-the-weather Angels starter Wilson to earn a 6-1 victory at Angel Stadium. Wilson, battling a stomach virus he said nearly caused him to pass out in the first inning, fell behind, 1-0, in the third on a two-out walk to Paul Konerko and a run-scoring single to right field by A.J. Pierzynski.

SAN DIEGO — Jamey Wright was sitting in the visiting clubhouse at Petco Park before the Dodgers' season opener when utilityman Adam Kennedy told the reliever to start stretching. Clayton Kershaw was sick. Really sick. "It's not funny on opening day," Wright told him. But Kennedy wasn't kidding. Kershaw made it to the mound to face the San Diego Padres in front of new owner Magic Johnson on Thursday — long enough to spare Wright from making an emergency start but not long enough to provide the bullpen with a day off. With a stomach virus knocking Kershaw out of the game after three scoreless innings, the 5-3 victory required the use of five relievers and a two-run home run in the eighth inning by Matt Kemp.