0 From the Consumer Reports labs: Bodyguard 260P treadmill lets you run workouts with your iPad

The Imagine app for the Bodyguard 260P
brings exercising into the high-tech realm.

We're currently reviewing the Bodyguard 260P treadmill ($3,399, shown below), the first such piece of exercise equipment we've tested with iPad integration, in this case via the Imagine by Bodyguard fitness app. To use the feature, you'll need at least an iPad 2 running iOS6 and the free app. You can use the fourth-generation iPad and iPad Mini, with the Lightning adapter.

This iPad integration is also available on the following Bodyguard treadmills: T280P, T460XC, T520P, and T560X; we are not testing any of those at this time. (Explore our buying guide and Ratings for treadmills.)

Richard Handel, assistant project leader in our Technical division, reports on this high-tech feature:

The iPad connects easily to the Bodyguard 260P treadmill with the supplied cable. (For maximum stability and security--you don't want to trash your pricey tablet--Bodyguard recommends using a silicone wraparound cover.) The tablet sits on the treadmill's reading shelf. That positioning does cover the treadmill display, but that's okay since the iPad completely replaces the console and controls. You'll still be able to use the treadmill's main controls, such as start, stop, speed, and incline.

Once the treadmill displays "IPAD CONNECTED," you're ready to work out.

So what does the Imagine app do?

For one, you can set up multiple password-protected user profiles. Within each profile you can choose four of the following parameters to display on the iPad besides Speed, Incline, Time, Distance, and Heart Rate while working out: Calories, Calories/Hour, Elevation Change, Goal Remaining, Goal Segment, Laps, Laps Remaining, METS, Pace, and Time in Zone. You select your equipment settings, such as a Warm Up Period, Cool Down Period, Beep Option, Minimum and Maximum Speed, and Incline, Save Workout, and Pause Duration. You can also see your workout history, and if you're a workout wonk, you can export them as a .csv file via e-mail.

The Imagine app also integrates a number of features, including e-mail, music, video, and Web. You can listen to your music or videos wirelessly using stereo Bluetooth headphones.

Once you're up and--ahem--running, the Imagination app may be an interesting addition to your workout, and it is easy to set up. I found it to be an intriguing concept that could make working out inside less boring.

Remember, if you're constantly leaning on the treadmill handrails to fiddle with your iPad, you're cheating a bit on your workout. So to make your New Year's fitness and weight-loss resolutions come to fruition, forget about checking e-mail and watching YouTube videos and get moving!

Richard Handel

0 As the flu spreads across the country, Boston declares an emergency

Boston already has 700 confirmed cases of the flu, 10 times as many as this time last year, and the state has 18 reported deaths from the virus. Nationwide, nearly 6 percent of Americans have already contacted a health care provider about the flu. To combat the problem, Boston declared a public health emergency and will offer free vaccines this weekend. We think everyone in the city and across the country should take that and several other preventive measures, including hand washing.

The flu is now widespread in 41 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 29 states are experiencing higher than average hospitalizations. Nearly 6 percent of the U.S. population has contacted a health care professional about the flu, up substantially compared to a few weeks ago. More than three-quarters of the confirmed cases so far stem from the H3N2 virus. The CDC says that flu seasons in which that variant predominates tend to be bad ones.

Getting a flu shot won't eliminate your risk of contracting the disease, but the CDC says that this year's vaccine is 60 percent effective. And even if you do get sick despite the shot, your symptoms probably won't be as severe. The CDC now recommends that everyone older than 6 months get a flu shot.

Other important steps to take:

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.
• Avoid touch your eyes, nose or mouth, which can spread germs.
• Get plenty of rest, regular exercise, eat a balanced diet, manage your stress and drink plenty of fluids.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. It's probably the single most important step you can take to avoid spreading disease, but many people don't do it properly. Want to learn how? Watch the video, below.

Source:
Influenza Surveillance Report [CDC]

0 Avoidance of HPV vaccine may contribute to increase of some cancers

While the overall death rate from cancer has dropped in recent years, more people than ever are being diagnosed with anal cancer and certain cancers of the throat and mouth. Both are linked to infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted disease. That's frustrating, since a relatively new, but underused, vaccine can help prevent the infection.

Two vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, can prevent HPV infection. Both are recommended for girls and women ages 11 to 26 to help prevent cervical cancer. But Gardasil also protects against most genital warts and possibly other cancers, including anal cancer, and is also recommended for boys and men ages 11 to 21.

But less than half of girls aged 13 to 17 years had received one or more doses of the vaccine in 2010, and only about one-third had received the entire three-shot series, according to a new report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. And probably even fewer boys get the shot.

Including the vaccine among those required by schools could increase vaccination rates, but only Virginia and Washington, D.C. now do that. But the authors note that health care professionals may be hesitant about talking about the vaccine with kids and parents because it can mean talking about a child's future sexual activity.

"HPV-related cancers are rising at epidemic rates and the best chance to prevent it in a child is in the teen years before they become sexually active," says Consumer Reports medical adviser Orly Avitzur, M.D. "Parents need to include discussion about this vaccine when they speak to their teens about other sexually-related topics including STDs, safe sex or abstinence."

See Dr. Avitzur's recent column, How Can You Get HPV?

Source: Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2009, Featuring the Burden and Trends in Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-Associated Cancers and HPV
Vaccination Coverage Levels [J Natl Cancer Inst]

0 What works for knee arthritis? Not vitamin D

If you're taking vitamin D pills to ease arthritis in your knee, you might want to reconsider. The supplement didn't stand up to rigorous testing in a clinical study out this week.

In the 2-year study, 146 men and women with painful symptoms of the disease received at least 2,000 international units a day of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) supplements, or a placebo. The recommended daily intake is 600 to 800 IU for adults.

People who took vitamin D did not report less pain than those who got the placebo. And MRIs taken of their knees showed no significant differences in the cartilage volume. The study appeared in the January 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Bottom line: Previous epidemiologic research had suggested that vitamin D supplementation might help slow the progression of arthritis. But this more reliable study data failed to confirm that benefit. See our roundup of steps you can take that can help you reduce arthritis pain and stay mobile.

Source

Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Progression of Knee Pain and Cartilage Volume Loss in Patients With Symptomatic Osteoarthritis [JAMA]

0 FDA cuts dose of Ambien and related insomnia drugs

If you take a sleeping medication that contains zolpidem (Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar, Zolpimist, or generic), you could still have levels in your body the next morning that are high enough to impair driving, even if you feel wide awake. That's according to the Food and Drug Administration, which said Thursday it was requiring manufacturers to lower the recommended dose of the insomnia drugs by half to help reduce the risk of traffic accidents. Women are especially at risk because they clear the drug slower than men.

The FDA said the move was prompted by data from clinical trials and driving simulation studies that showed that both the extended release and immediate release formulations of zolpidem could impair next-day driving or other activities that require altertness. The agency had concerns about zolpidem's impact on driving because it received 700 reports of people whose driving ability was impaired or who were in an automobile accident after taking the medication.

For women, the recommended dose of immediate release zolpidem (Ambien, Edluar, Zolpimist, and generic) has been reduced from 10 mg to 5 mg. The recommended dose for extended release zolpidem (Ambien CR and generic) has been cut from 12.5 mg to 6.25 mg. Men should consider the lower doses also. The reduced dose does not apply to the low-dose zolpidem pill, Intermezzo, approved by FDA in late 2011. If you take one of these medications, talk to your doctor about how to safely reduce your dose.

Insomnia medications, including over-the counter drugs, such as diphenhydramine (Nytol, Sominex and generic) or doxylamine (Unisom and generic), can cause other side effects too, including daytime sleepiness, dizziness, and rebound insomnia. Sleep-walking, sleep-driving, sleep-eating, memory lapses, and hallucinations have also been reported.

So if you suffer from insomnia, we recommend first trying to improve your sleep habits or making other lifestyle changes, including avoiding alcohol and caffeine before bedtime and not using computer and electronic devices in bed. Research has found that these measures can often help resolve mild insomnia and make medications unnecessary.

Read more about insomnia medications in our free Best Buy Drugs report. And check out our sleep report for tips on how to relieve insomnia.

Source:

FDA Drug Safety Communication: Risk of next-morning impairment after use of insomnia drugs; FDA requires lower recommended doses for certain drugs containing zolpidem (Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar, and Zolpimist) [FDA announcement]

1 New federal mortgage rule aims to protect you from risky home loans

Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a new "ability to pay" rule aimed at protecting you from such risky home loans by requiring lenders to ensure you have the ability to repay your mortgage.

A key element of the housing crisis and meltdown was lenders making high-risk, and sometimes deceptively packaged, home loans without any real regard for whether borrowers would be able to repay them.

The new rule will take effect a year from now.

"In the run-up to the financial crisis, we had a housing market that was reckless about lending money," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. "Lenders thought they could make money on a loan even if the consumer could not pay back that loan."

Among the features of the ability-to-repay rule:

• Potential borrowers have to supply financial information, and lenders must verify it;
  
• To qualify for a particular loan, a consumer has to have sufficient assets or income to pay back the loan; and
  
• Lenders will have to determine the consumer's ability to repay both the principal and the interest over the long term not just during an introductory period when the rate may be lower.

Consumers Union, the advocacy and policy arm of Consumer Reports believes the new CFPB rule will help home owners avoid bad loans, but also believes that the CFPB should keep up pressure to ensure all mortgages are fair.

"While it's good that the CFPB is going after some of the worst abuses in the mortgage market, we urge them to keep the pressure on to ensure all mortgages offered to consumers are fair and appropriate," says Pamela Banks, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union.

For information on how to get a low-rate home mortgage read our report "How to overcome 7 barriers to qualifying for the best loans."

Source:
Assuring consumers have access to mortgages they can trust [CFPB]

0 Financial elder abuse by relatives: There is help

An episode of "Dr. Phil" this week that focused on elder abuseboth financial and physicalstruck a chord with a number of people, if the show's comments section is any indication. Numerous commenters reported abuse of their own parents by professionals in nursing-home settings and by relatives in the elderly people's own homes.

Our own investigative report on financial exploitation of older people underlines how widespread such abuse is.

Financial exploitation of elders is broadly defined as the illegal or improper use of the funds, property, or assets of people 60 and older. In one national study, 5.2 percent of older Americans said they'd been victimized by family members, and 6.5 percent said they'd been exploited by others. A seminal national study by the MetLife Mature Market Institute found that the cost of such abuses is at least $2.9 billion a year. Yet many experts told us that because these crimes often go unreported, those estimates are most likely the tip of the iceberg.

Several of Dr. Phil's readers suggested they had no recourse to halt the abuse of their loved ones. In fact, we found there are numerous avenues on the national and local level, with both government and not-for-profit organizations.

Many of the commenters correctly noted that one of the best preventive measures is vigilance. To catch elder abuse requires your willingness to visit your elderly loved one both at regular and irregular times. See the bottom of our article Protecting Mom & Dad's money for resources and additional advice.

Sources:
Dr. Phil - Elder Abuse (Show 1949) [Dr. Phil.com]
Dr. Phil message boards: Elder Abuse show [Dr. Phil.com]