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2B – Daily News – Monday, February 14, 2011 Vitality & health Local group earns top score Lassen Medical Group physicians are distinguished with an icon denoting a top score for evidence based medicine measures (EBM)on the Cingna secure mem- ber and public on-line provider directories. Individuals covered by these plan designs are afford- ed a lower copayment or coinsurance for services pro- vided by a designated physician. Participating physicians meeting specific criteria are assigned the Cigna Care designation. Designated physicians are identified in the online provider directo- ry on www.cigna.com and www.mycigna.com by a Tree of Life symbol. “We strive to offer our patients the best care possi- ble,so recognition such as this is evidence that we’re on the right track,” said Director of Operations Kim Hake. “We ’re very happy about receiving this top score from Cigna.” Lassen Medical Group has been caring for Tehama County residents since 1956, when it began as a family practice partnership. Today, 30 providers in family practice, osteopathic medicine, internal medicine, urgent care,dermatology and pediatrics work together to provide a full spectrum of care. Nutrition Quiz: Taco Bell beef (MCT) — When a fast- food chain is in the news, it's usually not a good thing. Recently, Taco Bell has drawn the ire of nutri- tionistas and other law- suit-filing types – the claim being that its beef doesn't contain much, well, beef. Take our quiz. 1. The lawsuit against Taco Bell claims that 65 percent of the chain's beef actually consists of "binders, extenders and preservatives." What fig- ures have Taco Bell exec- utives countered with? a) It contains 51 per- cent beef and 49 percent "undisclosed flavored binders and extenders." b) It contains 88 per- cent beef and 12 percent "proprietary seasonings and spices." c) It contains 35 per- cent beef and 65 percent "herbed spackle and forti- fied drywall." 2. One of the ingredi- ents in Taco Bell's beef is "anti- dusting agents." Why, according to the Web site antidusting.com, would a food manufactur- er use that in food produc- tion? a) To avoid explosions in food plants from pow- der that can become sus- pended in the air during processing. b) To allow cleaner work plants and reduce or eliminate the need for workers to wear face masks and other protec- tive clothing. c) Both a and b. 3. What is the active ingredient for the "anti- dusting agent" used in the BOOK BARN Used Books Tues-Fri 10-5 Sat 10-2 Serving Tehama County since 1994 619 Oak St., Red Bluff (530) 528-2665 Taco Bell plant? a) soybean oil b) extra-virgin olive oil c) WD-40 4. Another ingredient is silicon dioxide, used by bakers to prevent "clump- ing." Taco Bell says it uses silicon dioxide to "contribute to the mois- ture, consistency and quality" of the beef. Comedian Stephen Col- bert, however, had what to say about the additive? a) "I take it directly from the packaging I get from Amazon and sprin- kle it on my salad." b) "Silicon dioxide. Isn't that the leading material in Cher?" c) "The street name for silicon dioxide is sand." 5. What did Karen Ansel, a registered dietit- ian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, tell the Asso- ciated Press about Taco Bell's beef? a) "I'd have no qualms feeding this to Bruno and Maggie. Then again, they're Labradoodles and will eat anything." b) "If they eat this, it is no worse for them than what they are getting any- where else." c) "All kidding aside, it's really no worse than consuming Soylent Green." 6. What is the name of Taco Bell's parent compa- ny, the one being sued? a) MmMm Goods b) Deliciousosity Inc. c) Yum Brands LOS ANGELES (MCT) — "I think I'm having anxi- ety," Leonard Castro told his wife on a day back in September. Some time in the days running up to Sept. 9, multi- ple factors that made 46- year-old Leonard Castro a prime candidate for a heart attack converged. His body was groaning: Blood pres- sure too high. Too much bad cholesterol. Too much sugar in the blood. Too much weight. Over the years, the walls in the arteries of his heart had narrowed and stiffened with plaque. The cells in those arteries became inflamed, a medical term perfectly derived from the Latin word "inflammare": to set on fire. Small clots of blood began to plug the arteries. Each time the flow of blood faltered, even for a few sec- onds, muscle cells died of lack of oxygen. That was what was hap- pening inside one man's chest. Simultaneously, lives were upended. A spouse began imagining herself a widow. A father feared he would outlive his son. A middle-aged man wondered: How could this happen to me? Someone has a heart attack every 34 seconds in the United States. For 785,000 people, it's a first heart attack. For 470,000, it's a second or perhaps third attack. Fewer people than ever suffer that "big, bad heart attack" that kills them or ruins their health, says Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz, director of the preventive and rehabilitative cardiac center at Cedars-Sinai Med- ical Center in Los Angeles. "If you can get to the hospi- tal, the death rate is very low now." More than 90 percent of heart attack patients who reach the hospital survive, according to a recent study. And most people who survive heart attacks today are expected to fully recov- er. But that is not to say their lives don't change dramati- cally. They have to. One minute Castro, an auto parts salesman, was a weekend golfer who changed the oil in his car, mowed his own lawn and trimmed the ivy. The next minute, he was on disability, could barely walk across his house and needed help using the bath- A Clean, Reliable, Trustworthy, Chimney Company... Possible? ”Their tarps are always clean and my home is always clean afterward. What I like best is their reliability and quality.” “I can trust them!” Dr. Evan Reasor Flue Season 527 3331 THE Chimney Professionals EXPERTISE IS STANDING BY. MAKE AN APPOINTMENT, TODAY. ©2010 HRB Tax Group, Inc. 1315 Solano St, Corning, CA 96021 530-824-7999 120 Bell Mill Road, Red Bluff, CA 96080 530-527-7515 Mon-Fri 9 am to 7 pm COMPLETE AUTO REPAIR All makes and models. We perform dealer recommened 30K, 60K, 90K SERVICES AT LOWER PRICES Smog Check starting at $ (most cars and pick-ups) 2595 + cert. Pass or FREE retest 527-9841 • 195 S. Main St. room. His wife, Hilda, asked neighbors to keep an eye out so he didn't do anything stupid and strenuous, like start the lawnmower. That is a heart attack for those who survive. "I felt like a dead fish in the water," he said of those first weeks at home with a healing chest. "I couldn't bend down. I couldn't put pressure on the chest. When we brought groceries home, Hilda would bring in the bags. I would carry a loaf of bread or the eggs." The Castros were host- ing relatives for Labor Day weekend when it happened. On Saturday, Leonard and Hilda's cousin played golf. He joined a raucous game of volleyball in the pool. He manned the grill, flipping burgers and steaks. On Sunday, they went to a swap meet. Leonard says that, while standing by the entrance gate, "I kind of lost my breath. It felt like a smog day, when it hurts when you breathe." Leonard waved off Hilda's concern. A heart attack? No way. But, in fact, he had been warned about such a day. Over the years, he had developed into a walking checklist of cardiac risk fac- tors. He was 5 feet, 11 inch- es and weighed 318 pounds. He took blood pressure medication and had total cholesterol of about 250 _ too high. His father had heart disease. Five years ago, Leonard was diag- nosed with diabetes. On Thursday, when fitness Long road back after heart attack MCT photo Heart patient Leonard Castro, 46, attends a cardiac rehab session along with other patients at St. Joseph's Outpatient Pavilion in Orange. Hilda found him lethargic, sweating and pale —still insisting he was OK — she erupted. "We call 911 or I'll drive you to the emergency room," she ordered. Within the hour, an emergency room doctor told Leonard that he had had a heart attack. Leonard's 81-year-old father burst into tears when he saw his son hooked to an electrocardiogram machine. "This shouldn't be happen- ing to you," he cried. Leonard was transferred to St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif., and two days later underwent a quin- tuple bypass surgery to re- establish blood flow in five completely or partially blocked blood vessels. Family and friends filled three waiting rooms. Hilda asked them to be strong in front of Leonard. No tears. He cried once, lying on the gurney just before surgery. He was afraid he would not survive. Hilda cried too. "I was crying because he had to go through this." Heart disease remains the leading cause of death among Americans despite numerous advances to keep patients alive. But it used to be far worse three decades ago. Heart attack patients were treated very differently from now, Bairey Merz, of Cedars-Sinai, recalled. "They were identified, placed in a room — some- times not even an intensive care unit — and given morphine and nitroglyc- erin," she said. "Then we would close the door and hope they would be there in the morning. We didn't have the understanding and the therapies to abort, interrupt or treat the heart attack." Before the advent of coronary bypass surgery, clot-busting therapies and angioplasty, a procedure to open a clogged artery, sur- vivors were left with heart failure, Bairey Merz says. "They didn't go back to work. They were weak." Cardiac rehabilitation also changed, turning into a comprehensive program called secondary prevention that starts right after release from the hospital. Secondary prevention is Life Overhaul 101. Patients learn about nutrition, exer- cise, stress reduction and how to manage multiple medications: aspirin, statins, beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors. They are screened for depression and treated if necessary. Smok- ers are urged to begin cessa- tion classes. Studies show that the more patients adhere to their program, the better they do. "If, a year after a heart attack, a patient is taking all of these medications, they have a 90 percent reduction in recurrent risk," Bairey Merz said. "If they then do some exercise and go to a cardiac rehab program, they basically become immor- tal." Leonard Castro doesn't feel immortal. When he awoke from surgery, his chest felt heavy and numb. When he arrived home, he was confined to the upstairs of his house and a schedule of 10 five-minute walks a day. Later, he would sit in a chair and watch Hilda clean the pool, and he'd simmer with frustration that he couldn't help. "I would get up and try to sweep some leaves, and she would get so mad at me," he recalls. His worst day occurred a couple of weeks after the heart attack, when he looked up information on quintuple bypass on his home computer. "I'm still sort of in shock that it happened," he said. "But every day I go in the bathroom to shave and I look in the mirror and see my scar. I'll see that scar every day." 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