The South Florida sun is brutal, and while slathering on sunscreen usually feels like a no-brainer, this summer the rules have changed.
Read more SpaceX moonlit launch marks year’s midway point as pace reined in on Space Coast
An ingredient that makes European sunscreens more effective has just been approved by the FDA for use in the United States. For the first time in over 25 years, the FDA added bemotrizinol (BEMT) to its list of permitted active ingredients, providing broader protection against both UVB and UVA. However, it may take a while for products containing bemotrizinol to reach store shelves.
In the meantime, Floridians may want to use European sunscreens, which are known to provide better broad-spectrum protection. Because the European Union regulates sunscreens as cosmetics rather than over-the-counter drugs, companies there can innovate and introduce new ingredients much faster than in the U.S. Bemotrizinol has long been used in European and Asian sunscreens. Many formulas with advanced UV filters (like Mexoryl and TriAsorB) aren’t sold in U.S. brick-and-mortar stores, but you can buy them online.
Several years ago, the FDA released studies showing that a common sunscreen chemical in some U.S. brands, oxybenzone, may seep into the bloodstream. And some independent studies found links between chemical sunscreen ingredients and hormone and reproductive function. The FDA has requested that manufacturers conduct more testing.
Florida dermatologists see skin cancer regularly and say sunscreen’s known benefits outweigh any unconfirmed risks. An estimated one in five people in the U.S. will develop skin cancer during their lifetime, and sunscreen is the best protection to prevent it.
In a newsletter, Dr. Michelle Wong, an Australian cosmetic chemist, recommended choosing sunscreens labeled “broad spectrum,” which offer a better balance of UVA/UVB protection. Even if the difference is slight, the higher the SPF, the better, she advises.
New AI-powered app called Sick Predict
Many know entrepreneur Josh Salman as the husband of former TV news anchor Laurie Jennings. However, Salman, of Fort Lauderdale, wants to play an important role in your health. He has developed an AI-powered app called “Sick Predict” that learns your baseline health indicators from your iPhone, Apple Watch and Aura Ring and notifies you when something is off.
Salmon said the Sick Predict app considers metrics such as sleep patterns, blood oxygen levels and heart rate and provides a health score in real time from one to 10: Green means all is well; five and over is yellow, suggesting caution; and eight and over is red, signaling you are ill or about to become so within 24 hours. The app will notify you of any changes to your sick number.
By summer’s end, the app will feature an AI health coach, AIM-E, to go even further and offer recommendations.
“She will tell you insight into your health in real time, and answer any questions,” Salmon said. If you have a headache or sore throat, she will offer insight and suggestions. The app also stores up to a year’s worth of health data that you can provide to your medical team. The new version is in testing.
“Our plan is to have it ready for when the fall flu season comes,” Salmon said. Sick Predict has a seven-day free trial and requires a subscription. The new version will be $9.99 a month, with a discount for an annual subscription.
Surgeon uses cutting-edge technique to treat prostate cancer
A urologic surgeon at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach is using a new procedure to treat prostate cancer — and having success. Dr. Joshua S. Jue uses a real-time 3D map of the prostate, combining an MRI and prior biopsy data overlayed onto a real-time image within the operating room, to guide him while using a precise cryoablation tool to target and freeze the tumor in the prostate.
“I’m basically integrating multiple layers of information to be sure that I’m accurately covering and treating the area where prostate cancer was actually diagnosed,” Jue said.
This is a major advancement from typical focal therapy treatments that usually destroy 25% to 75% of the prostate gland, Jue said. He said if the prostate tumor is localized to one area, it can be treated with this technique, which minimizes the negative effect on sexual function and urination. It is a technique he learned at Memorial Sloan Kettering and brought to Florida. He said Good Samaritan is the only hospital south of Orlando to offer it.
Bruce Bradbury, 67, of West Palm Beach, underwent this procedure in November. He said when his Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) levels rose, imaging revealed a tumor in his prostate, and a biopsy revealed it was malignant. Because of its location, his tumor was easy to target, and because of Jue’s technique, Bradbury’s recovery was minimal, as were his side effects, he said. “I was able to live my normal life right away except for a catheter for the first two weeks.”
Bradbury continues to have his PSA levels monitored, and more than six months post-surgery, they remain low.
Got back pain? UHealth clinic offers new treatment options
The University of Miami has a new clinic for people with persistent back pain who may want alternatives to traditional surgery. The new UHealth Early Intervention Spine Clinic, led by Dr. Michael Wang, is enrolling patients in FDA-approved clinical trials for treatments they would otherwise not have access to in the United States.
“People are terrified of spine surgery, and there’s a lot of reason for that,” Wang said, adding that for the last 20 years, experts have made headway with aging spines, but haven’t focused on those younger than 50. “Everyone has neck or back problems now.”
Read more Heat advisory begins at 12 p.m. as peak heat indices top 108 degrees
Fortunately, he said, technology has advanced, allowing his clinic to offer new options to patients. “All have a much quicker recovery than traditional surgery.”
Wang said offerings include injectable disc cell treatments designed to rehydrate the disc, silicone-based implants to restore intervertebral disc function, specialized treatments to repair ligaments, and endoscopic spine surgery or spinal infusions. “All have quicker recoveries because we’re not cutting your back open,” he said.
“People want to know, is there a holy grail? The answer is everybody’s back is different.” Wang said. “Our goal is tailored medicine.”
“We want to offer people hope,” he said. “Not false hope, but real, scientifically grounded possibilities that didn’t exist even a decade ago.”
To get into a trial, email [email protected].
UF study links joint pain supplement to accelerating dementia
New research by the University of Florida has found an association between taking glucosamine, a popular over-the-counter joint pain supplement, and a higher likelihood of dementia progression. Knowing that glucosamine is commonly used by seniors for joint health, researchers set out to investigate whether it could have any effect on Alzheimer’s and related dementias,
UF researcher Ramon Su said he first documented the correlation in mice. Then he studied the link in humans using artificial intelligence to comb through de-identified UF Health records from 2012 to 2024 for patients diagnosed with either Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment.
His team found that a significant proportion — 8% — of both types of patients reported taking glucosamine. “That’s high, but it is consistent with national level reporting,” Su said.
After controlling for age, sex and demographics, the analysis showed that glucosamine use was associated with a 25% higher likelihood of progression from mild cognitive impairment to dementia. In addition, researchers found that taking glucosamine was associated with a 25% increase in mortality risk, or the likelihood of death within a short time frame, among Alzheimer’s patients.
Su said if someone is healthy or has a slight cognitive decline, taking glucosamine should be okay.
“If you have full-blown dementia, which is a clinical diagnosis, then you should talk to your doctor before actively taking glucosamine,” he said. “There are plenty of double-blind studies on joint pain and glucosamine and they show mixed results. So why take it?”
Su said he and his team are applying for a federal grant to study whether other common supplements may affect dementia. “This is a brand new area of research,” he said.
New freestanding Emergency Departments open in Broward
Broward Health is about to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new freestanding Emergency Room in Sunrise. The building near Oakland Park Boulevard and Northwest 94th Avenue is equipped with 15 exam rooms and X-ray and CT imaging for adults and pediatrics.
Earlier this month, Broward Health held a ribbon-cutting for a new freestanding Emergency Department with 10 emergency exam rooms in Lighthouse Point at 5360 N. Federal Highway,
And, in Southern Broward County, Memorial Healthcare System opened an Emergency Department on Red Road in Miramar and will soon open one in Pembroke Pines. The health system has another free-standing ED planned in Hollywood, at U.S. 441 and Hollywood Boulevard.
And in May, Holy Cross Health celebrated the grand opening of its first freestanding emergency department and outpatient health center, Holy Cross Health Center & Emergency Care in Deerfield Beach. This week, it broke ground on Holy Cross Health Center & Emergency Care in Fort Lauderdale at 200 E. Sunrise Blvd.
South Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at [email protected].
Read more KSC’s canceled Artemis launch tower would have cost $2 billion, NASA audit says