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	<title>Dr. John Hong</title>
	<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog</link>
	<description>Real Medicine, Plain Talk</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 06 Feb 2012 02:58:48 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Adults &#8211; EXERCISE! &#124; Find Something You Love to Do</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Silver in your hair, gold in your teeth, and lead in your buttocks&#8211;that is the &#8220;Metallic Age.&#8221;  As a middle-aged man, I have gold in my teeth.  Before I highlighted my hair blond, I didn&#8217;t have one strand of silver hair (though my receding hairline makes my forehead look like the David Lee [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2012/adults-exercise-find-something-you-love-to-do/</link>
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		<title>Bell&#8217;s Palsy &#124; Nothing to Smile About</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Audrey Hepburn in &#8220;Funny Face&#8221; was stunning in front of camera of her fashion photograph, Fred Astaire.  She was most magnificent when she walked down the stairs in the Louve while holding a red scarf that floated up like a parachute.  &#8220;Hello, Audrey!&#8221;  Her face, charm, and style made her an international [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2012/bells-palsy-nothing-to-smile-about/</link>
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		<title>Statins &#124; A Pain in the Muscles?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Muscles on Taylor Lautner, Matthew McConaughey, and Hugh Jackman are hot.  Muscles on ex-congressman Andrew Wiener and Senator Scott Brown are not.  I used to power lift, until I hurt my rotator cuff at the tender age of 29.  I still lift weights, but these days I do more aerobics and calisthenics. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2012/statins-a-pain-in-the-muscles/</link>
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		<title>Cold and Flu Season 2011 &#124; Bundle Up. It&#8217;s Going to be a Bumpy Winter</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;It&#8217;s..be..ginning to look a lot like Christmas.&#8221;  I&#8217;m a little weird about holiday songs.  I don&#8217;t like to hear them every November and December, but I sing them January through October.  When fireworks are going off on The Fourth of July, I&#8217;ll hum John Philip Sousa&#8217;s &#8220;Stars and Stripes Forever&#8221; with interludes [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/cold-and-flu-season-2011-bundle-up-its-going-to-be-a-bumpy-winter/</link>
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		<title>Tooth Disease &amp; Heart Disease &#124; Nothing to Smile About</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Austin Powers has the worst teeth. Mike Myers plays this shaggy English spy who is somehow a lady&#8217;s man. I don&#8217;t know why anyone would kiss someone with such bad teeth. I&#8217;d fear getting a yeast infection or something worse.
Are teeth that important?
Besides the cosmetic aspect of teeth, dental health is important to a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/tooth-disease-heart-disease-nothing-to-smile-about/</link>
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		<title>Vocal Cord Nodes &#124; The Sound of Silence</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Adele is British? She doesn&#8217;t sing with an English accent. She sounds like she&#8217;s from Louisiana with a mint julep in one hand and a burning cigarette in the other. When I first heard about Adele from a rather hip friend, I ignored her, thinking Adele would fade away quickly like other &#8220;hot&#8221; from a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/vocal-cord-nodes-the-sound-of-silence/</link>
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		<title>Pradaxa &#124; Will Coumadin Become Thin?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Blood is thicker than water, they say. Oh, really? What about those rich families who disown their children and leave them nothing? Zilch, Nada. Disowning children is a popular pastime among many cultures to make family trees look like twigs.
In general, though, I do think families stick together like peanut butter and jelly. Perhaps [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/pradaxa-will-coumadin-become-thin/</link>
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		<title>SIDS &#124; Protect Your Baby</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Babies are popping out of my friends like popcorn! Even my friends who swore they would never have children now own minivans filled with car seats complete with puke, toys, and diapers.
When I was a medical student (circa 1991), I had a two-week rotation in the newborn nursery. They had a rule, &#8220;If you [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/sids-protect-your-baby/</link>
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		<title>Athletic GI Problem &#124; Running into Trouble</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Pathetic&#8211; a good term to describe my my aerobic endurance. I can&#8217;t tell you the number of times I&#8217;ve vomited or almost vomited from intense workouts. Once while playing tennis I lobbed the ball really high to allow myself time to vomit by the fence and then continue the rally. (Then I won the point!)
I [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/athletic-gi-problem-running-into-trouble/</link>
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		<title>Body Odor &#124; &#8220;CODE BROWN!&#8221;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Gyms smell like sweat, as they should! But most of us draw the line when people smell like old socks. Some folks don&#8217;t change their gym clothes for days- or weeks.
I used to belong to a pretty nice gym (if you define nice gym as dues costing as much as a mortgage). Most people donned [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/body-odor-code-brown/</link>
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		<title>Weight Watchers &#124; &#8220;Count&#8221; on Losing Weight</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Weight Watchers founder Jean Nidetch is 87 years old and still at her target weight of 142 pounds. Eighty-seven and still thin! I joke with everyone that when I turn 70, I&#8217;m going to eat the entire world: no exercise except for 12 oz. beer curls, Ben &#038; Jerry&#8217;s my middle name, only fried food [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/weight-watchers-count-on-losing-weight/</link>
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		<title>Genital Warts &#124; You Don&#8217;t Catch From A Toad</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Surprises lurk around each corner. Some surprises are wonderful: flowers on your desk, an unexpected inheritance, Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul back together on The X Factor. Other surprises are not so much: an IRS notice saying you owe back taxes, a fender-bender, Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul back together on The X Factor. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/genital-warts-you-dont-catch-from-a-toad/</link>
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		<title>Listeria &#124; Cantaloupe Calamity</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Cantaloupe for birthdays is so much better than a birthday cake. Trust me! It&#8217;s mouth-watering, crisp, sweet, vitamin-filled, and doesn&#8217;t add an extra inch to your waistline. I think a goal after the age of 40 is to make sure your waistline measurement doesn&#8217;t exceed your age. 
A good friend recently sent me a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/listeria-cantaloupe-calamity/</link>
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		<title>Interruptions &#124; Your Doctor Is Running Late</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Popularity breeds contempt.&#8221; Boy George says that before he sings &#8220;Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?&#8221;
I was never popular growing up in my hometown in Ohio, so I never got interrupted going to the grocery store, playing golf on our redneck course, or studying at my desk. Oh, well. At least I got my [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/interruptions-your-doctor-is-running-late/</link>
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		<title>Pills Pills Pills &#124; Whose Got the Pill Box?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix&#8211;so many people have overdosed on drugs. In The Rose, Bette Midler&#8217;s character swallows pills like a hypoglycemic child in an M&#038;M store, which leads to her death. Not that I would ever want to overdose on something, but if I did, it would be sushi, not drugs.
Do [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/pills-pills-pills-whose-got-the-pill-box/</link>
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		<title>Pathologic skin picking &#124; Have I Got a Bone (or Skin) to Pick With You!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Scratching posts are made for cats, but I think many humans would benefit from having one as well. Some people want to scratch out other people&#8217;s eyes (e.g. Nancy Grace&#8211;>Casey Anthony, gay people&#8211;>Michele Bachmann). Most of us scratch our heads at things like the government&#8217;s approach to the national deficit, the price of gasoline, and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/pathologic-skin-picking-have-i-got-a-bone-or-skin-to-pick-with-you/</link>
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		<title>Drowning &#124; Never Swim Alone!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Ariel, the Little Mermaid, would probably win every Olympic gold medal in swimming. She&#8217;d blow Michael Phelps out of the water. Oh, wait, that tail might disqualify her from competition.
My cousin snorkeled for the first time in his life this year. He loved it in the shallow waters of the beach. So he decided to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/drowning-never-swim-alone/</link>
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		<title>Poison Ivy &#124; ITCHY!!!!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[TV news was my thing.  When I first appeared regularly on D.C. news, I thought I was &#8220;da bomb.&#8221;  It was just a matter of time for someone else to drop a bomb on me.  A couple of years later in Charlottesville, Beth Duffy and I were itching to tell NBC29 viewers [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/poison-ivy-itchy/</link>
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		<title>In Sickness &amp; In Health &#124; Why Do Men Leave Sick Women?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Laura Linney is an amazing actress.  LOVE HER!  Ok, now I adore her in The Big C.  In the first season, she has malignant melanoma that has riddled her body…but she doesn&#8217;t tell anyone!  She figures she might as well enjoy life and not have anyone worry about her&#8211;including her [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/in-sickness-in-health-why-do-men-leave-sick-women/</link>
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		<title>Hospital Centers Hiring Primary Care Physicians &#124; Days of Mom &amp; Pop Medicine Are Over</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Board games like Sorry, Monopoly, and Life were my favorites growing up. I loved Life because the little spinny thing looked like the Wheel of Fortune, the cute little cars that we could eventually load up with a spouse and kids, and the career choices we had. I never, never, went the non-college route, which [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/hospital-centers-hiring-primary-care-physicians-days-of-mom-pop-medicine-are-over/</link>
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		<title>Fast Food Restaurants and Food Stores &#124; Do Americans Even Want to Eat Healthy Foods?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ McDonald&#8217;s was my place as a child:  Happy Meals to apple turnovers that always scalded the roof of my mouth.  When we first moved to Kenton, OH, there wasn’t a McDonald&#8217;s and I was an Unhappy-Meal camper.  Instead there was a Kentucky Fried Chicken, which became my home away from home, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/fast-food-restaurants-and-food-stores-do-americans-even-want-to-eat-healthy-foods/</link>
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		<title>Graves&#8217; Disease &#124; Making Missy Elliott Hip Hop Out of Her Eyes</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Hip Hop star, Missy Elliott, and Mrs. Barbara Bush have something in common.  No, it isn&#8217;t their jewelry because Missy Elliott doesn&#8217;t wear fake pearls all the time…if at all.  No, Barbara Bush hasn&#8217;t performed on stage with Madonna and Britney Spears&#8217; French-kissing each other.   And no, they aren&#8217;t working [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/graves-disease-making-missy-elliott-hip-hop-out-of-her-eyes/</link>
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		<title>Chantix Might Increase Heart Attacks &#124; Holy Smokes!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Backfire! Have you ever done something for the &#8220;good of humanity,&#8221; only to have it backfire? A would-be mother-in-law thinks she&#8217;s helping with the wedding, but ends up making the future bride scream. A friend gives unsolicited advice and ends up not getting invited to the next party. A politician thinks spreading the seeds of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/chantix-might-increase-heart-attacks-holy-smokes/</link>
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		<title>Sunscreens&#8217; New Standards &#124; Don&#8217;t get burned by your sunscreen</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Screens are not a full-proof type of protective shield.  A window screen doesn&#8217;t protect you from noseeums that make you look like you have measles (as I did after our Memorial Day BBQ)!  A human resource expert can try to screen out all the loser candidates, but still a lazy toxic person can [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/sunscreens-new-standards-dont-get-burned-by-your-sunscreen/</link>
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		<title>Younger People Are Heavier &#124; Is Bigger Better?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Class reunions are awesome.  It is a time to remember what we were like during a more innocent time. (I&#8217;m from the age of no cell phones, no internet, and no high fructose corn syrup.)  It amazing to catch up with old friends.  (&#8221;What? You&#8217;re a rocket scientist? I remember when you [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/younger-people-are-heavier-is-bigger-better/</link>
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		<title>Meningioma &#124; Mary Tyler Moore&#8217;s Brain Tumor</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Mary Tyler Moore was America&#8217;s sweetheart on her show. What will happen to our heroine as she faces a brain tumor?
Mary Tyler Moore announced she has a meningioma, the most common type of primary brain tumor. The brain tumor comes from the meninges, which is the clear lining that surrounds the brain. I remember in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/meningioma-mary-tyler-moores-brain-tumor/</link>
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		<title>Mucormycosis in Joplin, Missouri &#124; Facing horrible fungi</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Faces define people the most (well, unless you&#8217;re Representative Anthony Weiner). Makeup can completely transform a person. Tabloids always flash pictures of celebrities without make-up to shock the public. If you&#8217;re like me, the number of skin care products in your bathroom equals your age, because our faces are probably the most crucial aspect of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/mucormycosis-in-joplin-missouri-facing-horrible-fungi/</link>
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		<title>Asbestosis &#124; Making it hard to breathe</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Smoke makes most of us want to gag. Thank God people can&#8217;t smoke in airplanes anymore. In the pre-historic era, there were smoking and nonsmoking sections in planes. Gee, in a closed cabin without an effective air filtering system! Obviously, it didn&#8217;t work. I loved once sitting in nonsmoking row 23 with the folks in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/asbestosis-making-it-hard-to-breathe/</link>
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		<title>Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN) &#124; Potentially deadly rashes</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Rash people do rash things, including giving other people a psychological rash. We all do rash things— well, unless you&#8217;re Arnold Schwarzenegger who knows how to keep his mouth shut about a love child for years.  In my opinion, American Idol voters are rash to vote for lame singers. (C’mon. First Pia is off [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/stevens-johnson-syndrome-sjs-and-toxic-epidermal-necrolysis-ten-potentially-deadly-rashes/</link>
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		<title>Gout &#124; Yabba Dabba OW!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Fred Flintstone had the biggest feet, and he used them to propel his car. I&#8217;ll bet a pedicure would have cost him a grand! Fred loved his brontosaurus ribs, and perhaps a few beers at the Water Buffalo Lodge. 
Did a Stone Age doctor tell Fred he was a prime candidate for gout?
Fred had many [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/gout-yabba-dabba-ow/</link>
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		<title>Precocious Puberty &#124; Ahead of your time</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Precocious is an adjective people have used to describe me ever since I can remember. I didn&#8217;t wear cool adult clothes like Manny on &#8220;Modern Family.&#8221; I didn’t star in a major movie before I was 10 years old like Dakota Fanning. Still, I had to be pretty mature for my age to outsmart [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/precocious-puberty-ahead-of-your-time/</link>
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		<title>Organophosphates &#124; Poison Towards Greener Pastures?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;One thousand weeds in the lawn, one thousand nasty weeds. Take one out, pass it about, 999 weeds in the lawn.&#8221;
Yes, I sing my own variation of &#8220;99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall&#8221; while I do yard work. Our large lawn looks like the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic Mad Max movie.
So I&#8217;ve been pulling [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/organophosphates-poison-towards-greener-pastures/</link>
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		<title>Letting Go of a Doctor &#124; So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Cooking isn&#8217;t a passion of mine, but I do enjoy feeding people. I wish I were Bobby Flay so my guests would salivate a week ahead of time in anticipation of my dinner party. Instead, I get a few modest burps after dinner. I think I make overall good food, but it isn&#8217;t J-Wow-alicious! [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/letting-go-of-a-doctor-so-long-farewell-auf-wiedersehen-goodbye/</link>
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		<title>Screen for testicular cancer &#124; The Ball Is in Your Court?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Friends is a show I just never appreciated. You remember: that&#8217;s the show where three men and three women live in NYC without having any significant gay friends. That&#8217;s like living in the Big Apple and never eating in a Jewish deli or screaming for a taxi.
Nevertheless, our friends are important. My BFF in medical [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/screen-for-testicular-cancer-the-ball-is-in-your-court/</link>
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		<title>Brain-eating amoebic &#124; Bad Boy Ameobas</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Reincarnation doesn&#8217;t sound appealing to me. For example, it seems all the Hollywood stars were kings or some other fantastic legends in past lives. Why couldn&#8217;t they have just been ho-hum people? However, if reincarnation does exist, in my past lives, I&#8217;d like to have been Cary Grant, and before that Abe Lincoln, and before [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/brain-eating-amoebic-bad-boy-ameobas/</link>
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		<title>Hepatitis C &#124; Should you be screened like Pamela Anderson?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Pamela Anderson is one of the biggest blond bombshells in the history of Hollywood.  I have never watched an episode of Baywatch, but I still know her famous look in the red swimsuit while carrying that funny little floating device that looks like a huge suppository. 
   In 2002, she announced to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/hepatitis-c-should-you-be-screened-like-pamela-anderson/</link>
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		<title>Prescription Drug Plans &#124; Illogical &amp; Torture</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Math has always been a favorite subject of mine. Go figure, I&#8217;m Asian! However, in my teeny-tiny hometown in Ohio, we were lucky if we had an abacus or a protractor. Okay, it wasn&#8217;t that bad, but when I asked my math teachers to teach us pre-calculus, their response was, &#8220;You aren&#8217;t Isaac Newton. When [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/prescription-drug-plans-illogical-torture/</link>
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		<title>Psychosis &#124; Lost Touch with Reality</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Reality checks are important for all of us&#8211;some more than others. Joan Rivers gives Hollywood fashionistas a run for their money, such as her criticisms of Cate Blanchett&#8217;s Givenchy dress at the Oscars. Some critics said it was &#8220;high fashion,&#8221; but Joan gave these dreamers a reality check. She said the dress looked like it [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/psychosis-lost-touch-with-reality/</link>
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		<title>Are lifestyle changes difficult? &#124; Mm&#8230;Yes, But Worth It!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Change is inevitable. We&#8217;re born, we mature, we grow old, we die. Well, some of us mature differently&#8211; like Hugh Hefner, who walks around in his pajamas at the age of 160. (Don&#8217;t most of us have nightmares of walking in public in our jammies?)
Personally, I fear change. I fear what will happen when a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/are-lifestyle-changes-difficult-mm-yes-but-worth-it/</link>
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		<title>Radiation Poisoning &#124; Japan&#8217;s Plight</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Meryl Streep starred in Silkwood in 1983. Karen Silkwood was purposefully contaminated with radiation in a plutonium processing plant.  This was not a Homer Simpson moment &#8212; eating a donut at a nuclear power plant.  I was scared to death when Streep lit up the radiation exposure detector at work. 
What does radiation [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/radiation-poisoning-japans-plight/</link>
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		<title>Gastric Cancer &#124; Hard to Stomach for Many Asians</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Can you stomach it? I&#8217;ve learned, with my middle-aged wisdom, to learn to be more tolerant of things that don&#8217;t quite settle well in my stomach, such as news stations named after animals, bumper stickers that say &#8220;Bite Me,&#8221; and Charlie Sheen.
Asian people in general have strong stomachs, which is why we can eat spicy [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/gastric-cancer-hard-to-stomach-for-many-asians/</link>
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		<title>Mallory-Weiss Tears &#124; Vomiting Up Blood</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Starvin&#8217; like Marvin! Yes, don&#8217;t we all feel that from time to time? You know you shouldn&#8217;t eat it, but it taunts you. It whispers to you, &#8220;C&#8217;mon. Eat me. You&#8217;re hungry, and I&#8217;m delicious. Just eat me!&#8221;
Recently I ate some two-day-old baked ziti that had been out of the fridge for a few hours. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/mallory-weiss-tears-vomiting-up-blood/</link>
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		<title>Placebo Effect &#124; Sugars has never tasted so good!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;There&#8217;s a sucker born every minute!&#8221; Rip-off artists chant this phrase like a mantra. I don&#8217;t think victims of crime and scandals are suckers: many people think others are innocent and good. Look at Hitler, Bernie Madoff, and OJ Simpson.
One friend said to me, &#8220;I trust my friends 100 percent, but I also realize they&#8217;re [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/placebo-effect-sugars-has-never-tasted-so-good/</link>
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		<title>Cataract &#124; Cloudy Vision</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
 Claude Monet&#8217;s paintings make me feel like I&#8217;m at a picnic in a park in Giverny on a beautiful spring day with brie, rosemary bread, pinot noir, and a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich. (Sorry, it is my comfort food— didn&#8217;t mean to ruin the moment.) 
Sounds perfect, doesn&#8217;t it? I wish I [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/cataract-cloudy-vision/</link>
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		<title>Clueless Patients &#124; Become an Informed Patient</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Blonds are ditzy? Why would someone&#8217;s hair color make her dumb? If you think about it, how many real blonds exist? Most blonds I know get a little help from their friend Ms. Clairol. I almost never watched Married with Children, but I do remember one episode in which Peg and Kelly couldn&#8217;t remember their [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/clueless-patients-become-an-informed-patient/</link>
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		<title>Sicca &#124; &#8220;How Dry I Am&#8221;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Ricky Gervais at the 2011 Golden Globe Awards was anything but dry&#8211; well, except for a few dry martinis, I&#8217;m sure.
Wow, now I like humor, but I thought at times he went a liiiiitle too far to insult his guests. To paraphrase Kathy Griffin, it&#8217;s more polite to make fun of celebrities behind their backs. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/sicca-how-dry-i-am/</link>
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		<title>Hook Line Sinker &#124; Hookworms Are Parasites You Might Step Upon</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Hooks vary in life.  We all know The Hook, the only newspaper that really matters.    Peter Pan just loved Captain Hook.  I guess Mark Walberg threw a few good Left Hooks in The Fighter. Amish people dress using Hook &#038; Eye. Natalie Portman Hooks up in her new movie No [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/hook-line-sinker-hookworms-are-parasites-you-might-step-upon/</link>
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		<title>Bruised Heads &#124; Bruised Egos Are No Match to Subdural and Epidural Hematomas</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Skiing is the most freeing experience in the world: more than figure skating, more than running on the beach with Maggie Moo (my beloved doggy), more than singing to sold-out crowds at Carnegie Hall. (Okay, I might be telling a fib about Carnegie Hall: it&#8217;s my Walter Mitty dream.)
So skiing this past weekend in Vermont [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/bruised-heads-bruised-egos-are-no-match-to-subdural-and-epidural-hematomas/</link>
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		<title>Guillain-Barre Syndrome &#124; Fast Paralysis</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Stage fright can paralyze the whole body. Remember Shirley Jones in The Partridge Family when her character had to sing for the first time? She got lockjaw and couldn&#8217;t move, couldn&#8217;t breathe!
Stage frights isn&#8217;t something I understand because I love to be on stage! We just had another family cruise, and guess who came in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/guillain-barre-syndrome-fast-paralysis/</link>
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		<title>Hearing Loss &#124; What?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Charlie Brown&#8217;s schoolteacher talked like this, &#8220;Wah waah wah waah.&#8221; Maybe I have a hearing problem, but I don&#8217;t think The Peanuts adults articulate well. Snoopy talks better than they do. 
If you talk to someone who can&#8217;t hear well, they will often blame you. One hard-of-hearing person used to say to us, &#8220;You [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/hearing-loss-what/</link>
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		<title>Chantix &#124; Cure to Quit Smoking?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
 My life is so not glamorous. Because I have such a small practice (circa 2006), I usually can&#8217;t afford to have outside help. But now we&#8217;re hiring a nurse practitioner, and we&#8217;ve been hauling things all over, hammering away, dusting behind corners that haven&#8217;t seen light since 1904, yadda yadda yadda. 
Things could be [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/chantix-cure-to-quit-smoking/</link>
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		<title>Obese Still? &#124; 2010 Proves to Be a Big Failure</title>
		<description><![CDATA[“Bigger is better.” Donald Trump’s skyscrapers…and hair.  Pamela Anderson’s bodacious boobs.  Taylor Lautner’s big biceps. Aaron Spelling’s monstrosity of a mansion.   Alaska (except for that scary woman who lives there). 
   Is this why Americans continue to become more obese?
   Healthy People 2010 included an objective that [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/obese-still-2010-proves-to-be-a-big-failure/</link>
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		<title>Chronic Back Pain &#124; I&#8217;m &#8220;Back to the Future&#8221; &#8211; Not</title>
		<description><![CDATA[1-2-3-Kick!
Whenever I sing &#8220;New York, New York,&#8221; I grab people from the audience to form a chorus line. The problem with an unrehearsed chorus line is we end up kicking each other. 1-2-3-Yeow!
The Rockettes make it look so easy. However, during a party, I did one too many kicks because I could barely get out [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/chronic-back-pain-im-back-to-the-future-not/</link>
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		<title>Cold vs. Flu &#124; Anything you can do I can do better&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;It&#8217;s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,&#8221; has been a classic holiday song for like 60 years now! I don&#8217;t like to sing Christmas songs after Thanksgiving because they drive me crazy. On the other hand, I tend to hum them the rest of the year. Go figure!
I&#8217;ve heard from everyone from psychologists to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2011/cold-vs-flu-anything-you-can-do-i-can-do-better/</link>
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		<title>Gallstones &#124; The Gall To Ruin Dinner</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Have you ever had a stone thrown your way? A friend of mine said, &#8220;Humans make plans. God laughs at them.&#8221;
During these holidays, most people just want to pig out on turkey, stuffing, cookies, eggnog, and the next day another round of the same! But what happens to a holiday dinner if your gallbladder throws [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/gallstones-the-gall-to-ruin-dinner/</link>
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		<title>Circumcision &#124; To Cut or Not To Cut?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Penis is a polite word,&#8221; my high school biology teacher told our class. There are so many words that every Tom, Dick, and Harry can use to substitute for the word penis. I had heard of forehead, foreshadow, and foreclosure, but never heard of foreskin. I imagined it to look like the hood on a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/circumcision-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/</link>
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		<title>Cold &amp; Flu Season &#124; BRRRRR!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Hypocrisy is as prevalent as all the Starbucks stores. (I think there are Starbucks inside Starbucks– is that a double shot?) I was just driving behind a car plastered with so many pro-USA stickers it looked like tattoos on rocker Tommy Lee. Then somewhere in the collage of pro-USA stickers I saw, &#8220;Hyundai.&#8221; 
Even doctors [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/cold-flu-season-brrrrr/</link>
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		<title>Gay Teen Suicide &#124; There is Hope Out There</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Kurt Hummel is actually a gay character played by&#8211; get this&#8211; an openly gay actor (Chris Colfer) on the show Glee! Finally, an openly gay man playing an openly gay character. No bogus in-the-closet actor playing a gay man, which is so Victor Victoria. 
Remember Sean Hayes, who played OMG-so-gay Jack on Will &#038; Grace? [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/gay-teen-suicide-there-is-hope-out-there/</link>
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		<title>Anterograde Amenesia &#124; &#8220;Memories, like the corner of my&#8230;what?&#8221;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Forget it&#8211; it never happened!&#8221; 
How many times have we heard that from dysfunctional or unethical people? (Or at least in TV, movies, and books?)
If you&#8217;re like an elephant, you never forget anything. Some people can hold onto a grudge longer than a parent who reminds a daughter how she ruined Thanksgiving in 1942 by [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/anterograde-amenesia-memories-like-the-corner-of-my-what/</link>
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		<title>Drug Recalls &#124; Who is the bad egg?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Bad batch of cookies? I&#8217;ve never been much of a baker. I can stir-fry anything and make a mean hot and sour soup. However, baking is something I leave to tourists on the beaches of Cape May— (who don&#8217;t seem to have heard of sunscreen or umbrellas).
Because I got a KitchenAid mixer for my birthday, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/drug-recalls-who-is-the-bad-egg/</link>
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		<title>Concussions &#124; More than seeing stars</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
 Kiefer Sutherland&#8217;s TV hit, 24, is truly whacked&#8211; as in whack everyone in the head. I&#8217;ve never seen so many people knocked out in any show. It&#8217;s so medically unrealistic: they&#8217;re all clearly suffering concussions, yet they function at a high level when they regain consciousness. But then again, Jack Bauer has died twice [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/concussions-more-than-seeing-stars/</link>
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		<title>SAMe &#124; Not all things are the same when it comes to depression</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Sam I am, and I do not like green eggs and ham. Dr. Seuss was a genius! (Or he ate bad eggs one day and they came up green.) 
I don&#8217;t blame him, though. I know we should be open-minded enough to eat most anything. Look at Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods. Andrew is the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/same-not-all-things-are-the-same-when-it-comes-to-depression/</link>
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		<title>Toxoplasmosis &#124; Meow Yeow!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Britney Spears is back! She was pretty good in Glee (yes, I&#8217;m a Gleek. Laaaa!), and she hasn&#8217;t shaved her head in years. But as much as I love Glee, I didn&#8217;t appreciate their version of Britney&#8217;s top song, &#8220;Toxic.&#8221; They turned this innovative tune into a snore fest. &#8220;I&#8217;m addicted to you, but you [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/toxoplasmosis-meow-yeow/</link>
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		<title>Constipation &#124; Are you backed up? Video</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ 
&#8220;I&#8217;m on hold,&#8221; is something all of us have said. With companies facing increasing demands but less profit, we&#8217;re being put on hold everywhere. Even on the computer-help chat rooms, I&#8217;m put &#8220;on hold&#8221; sometimes for 30 minutes&#8211; which isn&#8217;t so bad because while waiting I can play Solitaire and read the latest entertainment [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/constipation-are-you-backed-up-video/</link>
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		<title>Congestive Heart Failure &#124; Video</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
 In the movie Beaches, Bette Midler was with Barbara Hershey to the end. Barb was lying on a chaise-lounge on the beach wearing an oxygen mask, because she was dying of congestive heart failure from cardiomyopathy (enlarged, weakened heart). 
The audience heard Bette singing &#8220;Wind beneath My Wing,&#8221; and I&#8217;m sorry, but I cry [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/congestive-heart-failure-video/</link>
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		<title>Wine Wine Good for the Heart &#124; Flavonoids &amp; Polyphenols are Antioxidants in Foods</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Wine plays a huge role in many cultures. I think tap water in France is wine (sans the fluoride). My first taste of wine was Manischewitz, and&#8211; Oy Vey!&#8211; I felt like Barbra Streisand singing off key. Needless to say, I didn&#8217;t drink wine again for a long time.
It wasn&#8217;t until I moved to Los [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/wine-wine-good-for-the-heart-flavonoids-polyphenols-are-antioxidants-in-foods/</link>
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		<title>New Superbugs &#124; E. coli and Klebsiella</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Oprah was sued by Texas cattle farmers in 1998 when she said she wouldn&#8217;t eat another hamburger. Really! Was it her comment that caused the cattlemen to lose $11 million in sales, or was it the mad cow disease scare sweeping the UK? Should all newly converted vegetarians be sued by the cattle industry because [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/640/</link>
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		<title>Whooping Cough &#124; It&#8217;s Making a Whooping Again</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Whooping in my day was as normal as apple pie. I&#8217;m not saying it was right or wrong. It just was. As adults, we still take whoopings&#8211; from life. 
&#8220;You&#8217;re now responsible for seven extras duties on top of what you already have&#8211; without a bonus or pay increase. Mazel tov!&#8221; 
&#8220;Your HVAC works as [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/whooping-cough-its-making-a-whooping-again/</link>
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		<title>Compulsive Hoarding Syndrome &#124; Hoarders on the Boarders</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Car Wash!&#8221; You know who sang it? Rose Royce. Now talk about a bad pun! I used to wash and hand-wax my car and my parents&#8217; cars when I was a teenager. Ugh, did I hate doing it! I think that&#8217;s why I now infrequently have my car cleaned. 
However, I always throw away my [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/compulsive-hoarding-syndrome-hoarders-on-the-boarders/</link>
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		<title>Skeptical Patients &#124; Na-uh!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Na-uh! I don&#8217;t believe you.&#8221; 
How many times have people questioned facts? This is an especially common phenomenon in this age of Internet information and misinformation. Mistrust. Misunderstanding. Miserable.
People used to think the world was flat and Christopher Columbus was an idiot to sail off the edge of the world. Instead he brought syphilis to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/skeptical-patients-na-uh/</link>
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		<title>IUD &#124; This Contraception Method is Back</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Are you sponge worthy? If you watched Seinfeld, you have to remember that before Elaine interviewed &#8220;gentleman callers&#8221; she would use her favorite method of contraception: the sponge. Elaine&#8217;s buddy George asked to borrow one because all of NYC was out of sponges, but no, no, no&#8211; Elaine worked very hard to buy the last [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/iud-this-contraception-method-is-back/</link>
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		<title>Flu Shots 2010 &#124; What&#8217;s New About Them?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Wii used to be so hot you couldn&#8217;t get one anywhere. People tackled each other just to get the video game sensation in time for Santa Claus. I still don&#8217;t own a Wii because it&#8217;s Wii too expensive for me to be beaten by my young nieces and nephews!
Are flu vaccines hot like the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/flu-shots-2010-whats-new-about-them/</link>
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		<title>Buffet Line &#124; Do We Eat Too Much?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Wasting away in Margaritaville.&#8221; Know the song? You should if you&#8217;re a Jimmy Buffett fan. 
My parents just treated the family to a Caribbean cruise. The first port of call was Turks and Caicos, and guess what was there? It wasn&#8217;t a Cheeseburger in Paradise, which can even be found in the land of Thomas [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/buffet-line-do-we-eat-too-much/</link>
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		<title>SAD &#124; SAMe &#124; Topical NSAIDs &#124; Fox29 News 9/8/10</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Thomas Drayton and Dr. John Hong today discuss SAD (Seasonal Affect Disorder). SAD affects up to 9% of the population, in particular regions of higher latitude. Light boxes to antidepressants might help stop the winter blues. &#124;  SAMe is an over the counter amino acid that is being used to treat depression. One study [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/sad-same-topical-nsaids-fox29-news-9810/</link>
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		<title>Aspiration &#124; Going Down the Wrong Pipe</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Choke? I used to choke in golf&#8211; 100% of the time. When I competed, when I tried out for the high school golf team, when I had an amazing score going into the 18th hole. 
&#8220;Wow, I&#8217;m doing great! I might break par.&#8221; 
Flash forward: sand trap, water hazard, out of bounds, lightning strike.
What happens [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/aspiration-going-down-the-wrong-pipe/</link>
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		<title>Kerri-Lee Halkett &amp; Dr. Hong talk about: Exercise can beat Obesity Gene, Removing Ovaries Can Save Lives for Women with BRCA Mutations, &amp; IUDs Are Back</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Kerri-Lee Halkett and John Hong, MD discuss three studies. Obesity genes can be thwarted with exercise. Women with BRCA mutations can live longer with removal of ovaries.  And IUDs are becoming popular again.
]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/keri-lee-halkett-dr-hong-talk-about-exercise-can-beat-obesity-gene-removing-ovaries-can-save-lives-for-women-with-brca-mutations-iuds-are-back/</link>
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		<title>Dengue &#124; The Mosquitoes Are Here!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Mosquitoes! I hate them. There can be 100 people in a room and one mosquito, and I will be the only one in that room bitten. Once bitten, twice&#8211; not shy, itchy! I used to swell up from mosquito bites like Tom Cruise&#8217;s ego. I have a can of &#8220;Off!&#8221; everywhere I go&#8211; even that [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/dengue-the-mosquitoes-are-here/</link>
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		<title>Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Bottled Tea, and Text Messaging &#124; Fox29 August 25, 2010</title>
		<description><![CDATA[  Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has no cure or effective treatment.  Hopefully a new retrovirus might shed light on its cause and lead to a cure. &#124; Tea is for intellectuals and coffee is for hard workers (like myself).  However, the polyphenols that improved cholesterol, fight cancer and heart disease, aren&#8217;t that high [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-bottled-tea-and-text-messaging-fox29-august-25-2010/</link>
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		<title>Male Infertility &#124; Stop Swimming Around the Issue</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m writing this article on Father&#8217;s day, when men all over the country celebrate the joys of parenthood. But what happens when a man cannot have a baby?
Oh, I know a man doesn&#8217;t get pregnant&#8212; well, unless he&#8217;s Thomas Beatie, a female-to-male transgender. I mean some men are unable to impregnate a woman. One of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/male-infertility-stop-swimming-around-the-issue/</link>
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		<title>Flu Shots, Whooping Cough, &amp; Moose Arthritis &#124; Fox 29 August 18</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Flu shots are already available?  You have to be kidding me!  My own office doesn&#8217;t even have flu shots yet.  You don&#8217;t want to get a flu shot too early because then you won&#8217;t be protected by the flu in the spring. CDC recommends flu shot November to March.  &#124; [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/flu-shots-whooping-cough-moose-arthritis-fox-29-august-18/</link>
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		<title>Bullies &#124; Patients Who Are Bullies</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Bullies. Do you know some or have you known some? Normally when you think of a bully, you think of a kid, but trust me: there are plenty of adult bullies. My fifth-grade reading teacher used to call me racists names (though always Chinese and Japanese because he didn&#8217;t know what Korean was). Mind you, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/bullies-patients-who-are-bullies/</link>
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		<title>Botulism &#124; Food Poison That Will Stop You Dead in Your Tracks</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Botox for the face is the number-one non-surgical cosmetic procedure. It&#8217;s like &#8220;Take that frown and turn it upside down&#8221; because it paralyzes the muscles&#8211; although depending on where the Botox is used, both happy and frustrated faces can be erased. 
A recent a study indicates emotions might be blunted because of this Botox effect. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/botulism-food-poison-that-will-stop-you-dead-in-your-tracks/</link>
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		<title>Pea in a&#8230;LUNG! &#124; Antibiotic Resistant E. Coli &#124; Menstrual Cramp &amp; The Brain</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Pea and The Princess is one thing, but a pea in the lung is more than bizarre.  Watch about the man in Cape Cod who had a pea plant found inside his lung. &#124; NDM-1 gene is making E. Coli resistant to some antibiotics, like some staph.  This could be bad news. &#124; [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/566/</link>
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		<title>Nails Salons &amp; Cancer, Good/Bad Bacteria, Honest Weight &#124; Fox29 News August 4 2010</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
I didn&#8217;t know nail salons use UV light to dry certain types of nail treatments.  But can UV light put a nail in your coffin&#8230;by skin cancer?  &#124; Bacteria is changing in our bodies, and does this change our health? &#124; More people are being honest about being obese, but do people really [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/nails-salons-cancer-goodbad-bacteria-honest-weight-fox29-news-august-4-2010/</link>
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		<title>Depression in Men &#124; Men are from Mars</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ 
 Flip?  What does it meant to be flip?  Supermodel and phone-throwing Naomi Campbell flipped in Culture Club&#8217;s &#8220;I&#8217;ll Tumble 4 Ya&#8221; video.  (That was before the age of the flip phone.)  Some people flip the bird, which I&#8217;m sure the Audobon society frowns upon.  A flip jump in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/depression-in-men-men-are-from-mars/</link>
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		<title>Trichomonas &#124; A Tricky STD</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Trick or Treat! Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat. (Ah, to be a kid again!) Thinking about it, isn&#8217;t it coercion to threaten to toilet-paper people&#8217;s houses or soap their windows if they don&#8217;t fork over some candy?
&#8220;Give me candy or you can Hershey Kiss this place goodbye.&#8221;
I must admit I haven&#8217;t [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/trichomonas-a-tricky-std/</link>
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		<title>5 Second Rule &#124; Is it valid?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
July 21, Kerri-Lee of Fox29 and I discuss the 5 Second Rule.  True there are bacteria on the floor and even your kitchen counter that can get you sick.  I would never eat anything dropped on the street or ground. But is it really that much of a risk to eat something like [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/5-second-rule-is-it-valid/</link>
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		<title>Huntington&#8217;s Disease (HD) &#124; A Genetic Disaster</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ &#8220;Inheritance is the retirement plan for &#8220;gold diggers.&#8221; 
As much fun as I thought Anna Nicole Smith was, let&#8217;s face it: she wouldn&#8217;t have married a man 63 years older than she was (wasn&#8217;t he 88 when she pushed his wheelchair down the aisle?) if he weren&#8217;t a billionaire. (On the flip side, he [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/huntingtons-disease-hd-a-genetic-disaster/</link>
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		<title>Fox29 &#124; Weight Loss Pill, Cell Phone and Brain Cancer, Alzheimer&#8217;s Early Detection</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Fox29 &#124; Weight Loss Pill, Cell Phone and Brain Cancer, Alzheimer's Early Detection]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/fox29-weight-loss-pill-cell-phone-and-brain-cancer-alzheimers-early-detection/</link>
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		<title>Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) &#124; Huh?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Huh?&#8221; Isn&#8217;t that likely the most used word today? 
With smart phones, computers, music videos flashing different shots every other second, news info crawling under the news anchors themselves, and satellite radio beeping you when a favorite song plays on a different station, is it any surprise we&#8217;re distracted? 
I used to think a lady [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/attention-deficit-disorder-add-huh/</link>
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		<title>Carotid Endarterectomy &#124; Clogged Neck Arteries</title>
		<description><![CDATA[To stick out your neck for others is a noble thing to do&#8211; most of the time. It&#8217;s good to stick out your neck for a friend in danger, like for Rihanna. It might not be a good idea to stick out your neck for a friend who is a thief and a liar, like [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/carotid-endarterectomy-clogged-neck-arteries/</link>
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		<title>Contact Lens Disasters</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The Acropolis is one of the most amazing places I&#8217;ve been. As a college student, I went to Greece on a three-week Classics Studies Tour in 1987, and Athens was hot and polluted even back then. Sweat made my glasses slide off my little Asian nose like toddlers down a water park ride. 
I didn&#8217;t [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/contact-lens-disasters/</link>
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		<title>LDL &#124; Bad Cholesterol</title>
		<description><![CDATA[LOL. If you don&#8217;t know what that means, then you probably don&#8217;t own a smart phone or use Internet social networks. 
Someone told me for a year he thought it meant &#8220;Lots of Love.&#8221; It means &#8220;Laughing Out Loud,&#8221; although honestly, I don&#8217;t think most people are &#8220;ha-ha&#8217;ing&#8221; when they type LOL. I know I&#8217;m [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/ldl-bad-cholesterol/</link>
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		<title>Januvia for Diabetes</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ 
 Eating habits are very interesting. Some people don&#8217;t let food on their plate touch-so much for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Some people won&#8217;t eat meat if the bone is still attached-so much for T-bone steaks. I know some who graze like Elsie the cow but won&#8217;t sit down for dinner with the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/januvia-for-diabetes/</link>
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		<title>Fox29 Philadelphia &#124; Botox, Depression, Colon Bacteria</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/fox29-philadelphia-botox-depression-colon-bacteria/</link>
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		<title>Gastritis &#124; Follow Your Gut Feeling and See the Doctor</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Can you stomach it?&#8221; That&#8217;s a very good question. 
Having a lot of fortitude is a good thing, but some things are over the top. Enron didn&#8217;t prepare most people to stomach the alleged crimes of Goldman Sachs. No matter how many episodes of What Not to Wear, I sometimes can&#8217;t stomach how some ladies [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/gastritis-follow-your-gut-feeling-and-see-the-doctor/</link>
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		<title>Diabetic Foot Ulcer &#124; Do Not Open Mouth Insert Foot</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
 Open mouth, insert foot. Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to die because you said something inappropriate?
Some friends threw a farewell party for me in LA when I finished residency. Not that I was a Chatty Cathy, but&#8211; I said to a couple of my friends across the dinner table, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/diabetic-foot-ulcer-do-not-open-mouth-insert-foot/</link>
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		<title>Diverticulitis &#124; Pimples of the Colon</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Heidi Klum, former supermodel and host of Project Runway, says, &#8220;In fashion, one day you&#8217;re in, the next you&#8217;re out.&#8221; She&#8217;s right— look at designer Isaac Mizrahi. One day he was in Nieman Marcus; now he&#8217;s in Target.
In his documentary, Unzipped, Mizrahi introduced us to the world of high fashion and dealing with supermodels like [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/diverticulitis-pimples-of-the-colon/</link>
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		<title>Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm &#124; AAA is not a battery</title>
		<description><![CDATA[AAA, C, 9-volt, Lithium batteries: Why are there so many different types? The problem with having so many different types of batteries is that you never have the one you need. 
Sure, that Energizer Bunny keeps going, and going, and going&#8211; but the commercial doesn&#8217;t show you scrambling around to find the right type of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-aaa-is-not-a-battery/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Pilonidal Cyst &#124; A Pain in the Butt</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Crack is whack,&#8221; according to once diva superstar Whitney Houston. Some other cracks are really bad: crack in your windshield, crack in your fine china, step on a crack break your mother&#8217;s back&#8211; 
Other cracks are good: crack a smile, crack up at a good joke, cheese and crack&#8230;ers.
What about the gluteal cleft, otherwise known [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2010/pilonidal-cyst-a-pain-in-the-butt/</link>
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