The Scope Radio

You might think they’re not listening. But if a child’s not paying attention to you or you have to call them several times before they respond, is that just selective hearing or true hearing loss? Dr. Jeremy Meier talks about some of the symptoms of hearing loss in kids and why they can often be mistaken for other health conditions. You’ll also learn ways to prevent and keep your child safe from hearing loss, and whether or not hearing loss in kids is curable.

Over 200,000 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year. Of that, 35,000 will die. The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test can help identify cancer in its early stages, when treatment is most effective - but it’s not for every men. Dr. Tom Miller and Dr. Blake Hamilton discusses the controversial subject of who should and shouldn’t get a PSA screening test.

All the chemicals are out of the children’s reach and your pills secured in a locked medicine cabinet. You think you’ve poison-proofed the house, but there’s still something you may have overlooked. Marty Malheiro from the Utah Poison Control Center tells you the top three reasons people call poison control, and the number one reason might surprise you.

You might not have an eating disorder, but chances are, you probably know someone who does. The saying is, “Everyone knows somebody with an eating disorder.” Nick Galli from the University of Utah’s Department of Health Promotion and Education tells you how to identify an eating disorder in someone else and what help you can offer. He also talks about how to help someone with an eating disorder if they don’t want your help to begin with.

Dancers do it. Athletes do it. Should surgeons also videotape and evaluate their performance? The Chair of the Department of Surgery at University of Utah Health Care, Dr. Samuel Finlayson, talks about a study that filmed surgeons and had other surgeons evaluate their procedures. Find out what they discovered and how that might change the way surgeons operate.

The National Institutes of Health New Innovator Award encourages bold, creative research that has the potential for high payoff. Dr. Ryan O’Connell, Assistant Professor in Pathology, is developing a way to cure certain diseases by editing the genomes of patients. He talks about the work that has brought him to this point and where the technology may lead.

The little bits of dirt that you breath into your body could affect your baby. Even though your lungs filters out dirt, and the placenta filters out all the other bad stuff, air pollution can still get to your baby. Dr. Kirtly Jones discusses air pollution and its effects on pregnancy and your unborn baby. She also talks about what pregnant women should be avoiding in order to prevent the effects of bad air quality.

We know the air is bad if we can see it. But what’s actually in the air? Kerry Kelly, associate director of the Program for Air Quality, Health, and Society, helps you understand the inversion better by answering questions including what contributes to the air quality, how it affects you, and how you can protect yourself against the inversion. She also talks about the difference between inversion and smog, and if there are any doable solutions for the bad air quality.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women; about 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Dr. Vivian Lee and Dr. Alana Welm discuss some of the misunderstandings about breast cancer, and Dr. Welm’s research on new breast cancer treatments. They also talk about a woman’s chances of developing breast cancer, and if men can get the disease.

If someone’s bleeding and it doesn’t seem to stop, should you go to the ER? Emergency room physician Dr. Troy Madsen answers the question of 'how much blood is a concerning amount of blood?’ He also talks about what you can do at home to stop the bleeding before determining if a visit to the ER is necessary.

We all love the feeling of the sun on our skin and maybe even a little bit of that golden tan. But then we’re reminded that somebody dies every hour in the U.S. from skin cancer. Most skin cancer cases are completely avoidable. Dr. Glen Bowen from Huntsman Cancer Institutes talks about why he believes skin cancer is an epidemic problem. He’ll also talk about how to balance the desire to be out in the sun and the dangers of skin cancer, and why young adults are the most prone to melanoma.

The common and obvious assumption when you see red in the urine is that it’s blood, and it’s bad. A variety of reasons can cause blood in the urine, but the first question to ask is 'is it really blood?' Dr. Tom Miller and Dr. Blake Hamilton discusses what you should do if you notice the color of your urine changing from clear or yellow to red, and you’ll be surprise to find out that red urine can be caused be certain exercises and foods.

It’s not just about stealing lunch money or being teased in the playgrounds at school anymore. Bullying has become a very serious concern these days. There’s a good chance that your child, or a child you know is being bullied. Dr. Cindy Gellner addresses the issue of kids and bullying and what you can do as a parent if your child is being bullied. She also talks about cyber-bullying and some of the signs that your child is a victim.

Do mammograms happen at 30, 35, 40, 45? There can be a lot of confusing information about mammograms out there, including when women should be scheduling their first one, and how often mammograms should happen. From Teton Valley Hospital in Driggs, Idaho, director of medical imaging Marjean Barnett addresses some of the confusion surrounding mammograms, and tells you why getting one too early might actually be a bad thing.

It’s becoming more and more common that your primary care physician isn’t the one that oversees your care if you go to the hospital. A new specialist called a hospitalist is likely handling that job. Dr. Rodney Bates is a hospitalist at Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg, Idaho. He’ll tell you what he does, and how to best take advantage of this specialist.