Highlight HEALTH

As 2007 comes to a close, I would like to thank you for your readership. Just over one year ago, I launched two websites, Highlight HEALTH and the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory. Here at Highlight HEALTH, my goal was to write about biomedical research I found interesting and to make it easier for people to understand research findings, empowering them to have more productive discussions with their physicians and to make informed decisions about healthcare. The Highlight HEALTH Web Directory is my endeavor to catalog and make available health-related websites I find to be informative and useful. More recently, I’ve also started writing about Web 2.0 in Health, Fitness and Medicine, and plan to publish a series of review articles on a number of health-focused social networks.

This past month, I started the Highlight HEALTH Network, an aggregation of content from both sites to allow readers to keep up with the latest articles on Highlight HEALTH and the newest additions to the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory, all from a single source.

Here are the most popular articles for 2007 (top 20 based on the number of page views/number of days posted):

1. The Highlight HEALTH Network RSS Dashboard Widget
2. Smoking Cessation Timeline: What Happens When You Quit
3. Dichloroacetate Not Ready for Therapeutic Use
4. The Highlight HEALTH Network
5. New Common Cold Virus Variant Deadly
6. Common Therapy for Prostate Cancer May Promote Metastasis
7. Overweight Kids and TV: An Advertising Epidemic
8. Saline Nasal Irrigation More Effective than Spray for Chronic Sinus Symptoms
9. Pediatric Grand Rounds 2.8
10. The Genetics of Panic Disorder
11. Smoking Duration vs. Intensity and the Impact on Lung Cancer Risk
12. Social Networks and Health - The Research and the Reviews
13. Quercetin
14. American Obesity Rate Levels Off
15. Biodegradable Polymers for Drug and Gene Delivery
16. Individual Genetics, Coffee Consumption, BRCA1 and Breast Cancer
17. The Flu, Your Health and the Importance of Vaccination
18. SCHIP Funding and Fiscal Irresponsibility
19. DNA Amplification by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
20. Sinus Congestion

Thank you and Best of Health in the coming year!

Just in time for the holidays, Highlight HEALTH and the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory now offer an aggregated news feed.

The Highlight HEALTH Network is currently an aggregation of content from two news feeds:

• Highlight HEALTH
• The Highlight HEALTH Web Directory: New Additions

The aggregation of both feeds allows readers to easily keep up with the latest articles on Highlight HEALTH and the newest additions to the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory. You can subscribe to the Highlight HEALTH Network via RSS or email.

Do you currently subscribe to feeds on either Highlight HEALTH or the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory? Not to worry … these single feeds will continue uninterrupted. However, by subscribing to the Highlight HEALTH Network, you can stay up-to-date with new articles and websites, all from a single source.

Here’s some highlights of recent articles on Highlight HEALTH:

Here’s some highlights of recent additions to the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory. Hint: click on the category title to see all the websites currently listed.

Next up: plans to add a third feed to the Highlight HEALTH Network, which will include articles and reviews on Web 2.0 in Health, Fitness and Medicine from the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory.

Happy Holidays!

The sinuses are hollow spaces located inside the bones in the skull to either side of the nose, behind and in between the eyes, in the forehead and at the back of the nasal cavity. The sinuses are lined with a moist, thin layer of tissue called a mucous membrane, which not only humidifies the air as you breathe it in, but also produces mucus to trap irritants such as dust, pollen and bacteria. The sinuses are lined with microscopic hairs called cilia. The function of cilia is to move mucus to flush the sinuses and nasal passageways of trapped irritants.

Sinus congestion is the blockage of one or more of the nasal passageways as a result of inflammation and swelling of the sinus tissues, secretion of mucus or a deviated septum (meaning obstruction of the nasal passage by the membranous ridge of cartilage in the nose that separates the nasal cavity into the two nostrils). Sinus congestion leads to impaired flow of mucus out of the sinuses. The build up of mucus in the sinuses causes increased pressure. Also, bacteria can become trapped and infect the mucous membrane, a condition termed sinusitis.

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