When it comes to being fit, Minneapolis residents are right up there with anyone else in the country.

Men’s Fitness magazine ranked the country’s “Fittest/Fattest Cities,” and the 11th annual survey put Salt Lake City at the top of the Fittest list. Minneapolis was third, with Colorado Springs wedged between.

Minneapolis scored high for several reasons, the magazine said.

Mayor R.T. Rybak sets a positive example, exercising up to five days a week and participating “in more fitness-related public events than most mayors in our survey.”

The city’s residents also scored well, because they don’t watch so much television, but do participate in sports and activities such as running, cycling and walking, and have ample access to tennis courts, basketball courts, gyms, health clubs and golf courses.

Also, Minneapolis has the third-lowest number of doughnut outlets per capita, the magazine said its survey found. But on the flip side, ice cream shops are 38 percent more popular in Minneapolis than average.

Topping the “Fattest” list is Miami. The magazine said 61.5 percent of Miami residents are heavy enough to increase their risk for weight-related health problems, and the city has almost three times the number of fast-food restaurants as the average city.

SOURCE: PAUL WALSH@STAR TRIBUNE

ATLANTA (AP) — Dr. Julie L. Gerberding has resigned as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and will be replaced on an interim basis by a deputy as of Jan. 20, the day President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated.

Her resignation was announced in an e-mail message to employees on Friday night.

Dr. Gerberding, the first woman to direct the agency, led the C.D.C. through a post-Sept. 11 world of bioterrorism fears and was considered an effective communicator with legislators and the public.

In a November e-mail message to staff members, Dr. Gerberding said she expected that she might leave the post after the Bush administration left office. But colleagues said she had quietly held out hope that she would be allowed to stay on.

A spokesman for the agency, Glen Nowak, said Dr. Gerberding was traveling in Africa on agency business and was not available for comment.

Mr. Nowak said in a prepared statement that the Bush administration, “as part of the transition process,” had requested resignation letters from “a number of senior-level officials, including Dr. Julie Gerberding. This week, the administration accepted Dr. Gerberding’s resignation, effective Jan. 20.”

The agency investigates disease outbreaks, researches the cause and prevalence of health problems, and promotes illness prevention efforts. In a 2007 Harris Poll, the C.D.C. was rated the government agency that does the best job.

Dr. Gerberding is also head of the sister agency to the C.D.C., the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The two have a combined budget of about $8.8 billion and more than 14,000 full-time, part-time and contract employees.

Dr. Gerberding receives a total compensation of $202,200.

Dr. Gerberding, 53, was named director in July 2002. She had been an infectious diseases specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, and joined the disease centers in 1998 to lead a patient safety initiative.

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - One in every hundred breast cancers or so occurs in men, and such tumors are often detected at a late stage. Furthermore, these cancers can appear benign on mammography, according to a report in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Breast tumors in men are usually palpable by the time they’re discovered or they show signs “such as change in overlying skin or nipple,” Dr. Wei-Tse Yang told Reuters Health.

“Be attentive to any palpable masses in men and obtain imaging evaluation early,” he advises doctors.

In their report, Yang from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and colleagues describe the appearance of male breast tumors as seen on a mammogram or by ultrasound.

Among 244 men with breast cancer, only 57 underwent preoperative mammography or sonography, and that was because of clear signs of a problem: 54 had a palpable mass and two had nipple inversion or nipple discharge.

In a third of the cases, mammography showed a calcified mass, which is often considered to be benign.

“Radiologists should be aware of these findings to avoid the misdiagnosis of cancer in men as a benign lesion,” the investigators say.

SOURCE: American Journal of Roentgenology & Reuters Health

Now’s a good time to exercise frugality and check out the many deals available. Strike up the nerve to ask for extras. Fitness centers are slashing fees for current and new members, and even former members, for 2009.

Lapsed members of the upscale SportsClub/LA (thesportsclubla.com) were recently invited to return with no need to pay the one-time initiation fee, which can be at least $600, and no membership dues for two months, a savings for some of at least $330.

Less high-end clubs are also offering deals. Among them:

* A two-week free guest pass at Bally Total Fitness (ballyfitness.com), which recently filed for bankruptcy reorganization but says it plans to continue operations;

* One month free, then 50% off the monthly membership fee, through March 6 at Curves (curves.com);

* No enrollment fee at Gold’s Gym (goldsgym.com);

* A 30-day money-back guarantee at L.A. Boxing (laboxing.com).

“Gyms realize these are tough economic times, for themselves as well as their members,” says Joe Moore, chief executive of the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Assn., a fitness trade group.

Even independent gyms are offering deals, so talk to the manager.

Moore recommends that new and old gym members review benefits online or in the information package they are typically handed when they sign up. Go through the materials with a staff member to be sure you know what you’re getting. Then heck, ask for a little more — gym membership in the U.S. was down 3% in 2007 (there are no numbers yet for 2008) and clubs might consider throwing in a free month, a bigger membership discount, passes for a workout buddy, free or discounted personal training sessions or a free trial for a service the club otherwise charges for, such as a pool.

Monthly fees at luxury gyms such as SportsClub/LA, Equinox (equinoxfitness.com) and many hotel fitness centers that take monthly members can run north of $100. For hundreds to even $1,000 or so less each year, consider giving up the plush carpet and free mouthwash. Many lower-priced chains can charge less because they leave out expensive amenities such as spa, cafe and baby sitting, but they still offer cutting-edge equipment and, often, classes. Some even offer access 24/7, which the high-end clubs don’t usually match, or give access to any club in the network, useful for when you’re traveling.

Make sure to ask about all fees, however, and whether you can sign up month to month, rather than be locked into a full-year contract. And be sure to ask about cancellation rules, even for month-to-month contracts. Some clubs charge an enrollment fee but will often waive it if asked.

Lower-priced national chains:

* Snap Fitness (snapfitness.com) — 24/7 access. Fees about $40 per month, deals on couple and family memberships. Month-to-month contract.

* Anytime Fitness (anytimefitness.com) — access 24/7, key fee of about $35, monthly rate about $35. May require year contract plus initiation fee of about $50. Ask for best deal.

* 24 Hour Fitness (24hourfitness.com). Monthly rate about $29; may require year contract plus initiation fee of about $50. Ask for best deal.

Other tips:

* Out of work? If you’re locked into a year-long contract, ask the club if it will freeze your membership until you start working again, at least for a few months.

* Check payment details before you hand over your check or credit card. Best bet is a club that bills each month rather than via a deduction from a credit or checking account, though many clubs will insist on the deduction. You also don’t want to be locked into a year contract, if possible — you could change your mind or move.

* Before you sign, be sure you’re clear on what’s free and what you pay extra for. If classes are extra, you may want to find a club that includes them in the membership fee.

* Clubs often offer one or two personal training sessions free when you sign up. It’s cool to have someone work with only you, but it’s also expensive — $50 to $300 per hour, on average. If that’s not in your budget, consider these options: Ask for more free passes, ask trainers you like if they are ever on the floor to offer gratis coaching and find out if the club offers small training classes at rates well below the one-on-one sessions.

* Check your company benefits to see if free or discounted gym memberships are offered.

* Many health insurers offer discounts at specific gyms. Call the membership number on your insurance card or check the insurer’s website.

* If your doctor prescribes a gym membership to help treat a problem such as arthritis, you may be able to use your flexible spending account — a pretax account for medical expenses some firms set up for employees. Ask the doctor if a prescription is appropriate, then show it to the person at your firm who manages employee benefits and ask if your company will allow gym use to be covered by the account.

SOURCE: LA TIMES.

(CNN) — If you have a fever, headache and runny nose, you might go to Google and type the words “flu symptoms” to see whether you’ve come down with influenza.

Google knows that you might do something like that, and it also knows which U.S. state you’re in. Now, it’s putting that information together in a tool that Google says could detect flu outbreaks faster than traditional systems currently in use.

Google’s new public health initiative, Google Flu Trends, looks at the relative popularity of a slew of flu-related search terms to determine where in the U.S. flu outbreaks may be occurring.

“What’s exciting about Flu Trends is that it lets anybody – epidemiologists, health officials, moms with sick children — learn about the current flu activity level in their own state based on data that’s coming in this week,” said Jeremy Ginsberg, the lead engineer who developed the site.

The tool, which launched Tuesday, operates on the idea that there’s likely to be a flu outbreak in states where flu-related search terms are currently popular.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collaborated with Google on the project, helping validate and refine the model, and has provided flu tracking data over a five-year period, said Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of the epidemiology and prevention branch in the CDC’s influenza division.

Although it doesn’t replace the need for real viral surveillance data, Flu Trends is a good model, and the CDC looks forward to testing it this flu season, Bresee said.

“We really are excited about the future of using different technologies, including technology like this, in trying to figure out if there’s better ways to do surveillance for outbreaks of influenza or any other diseases in the United States,” he said. “In theory at least, this idea can be used for any disease and any health problem.”

Researchers found a tight correlation between the relative popularity of flu-related search terms and CDC’s surveillance data, Ginsberg said.

In the 2007-08 flu season, Google accurately estimated current flu levels one to two weeks faster than published CDC reports in each of the nine U.S. surveillance regions, Google said in a statement.

Traditionally, influenza surveillance has involved physicians’ reports of patients with flu-like symptoms, lab reports of influenza from nasal and throat swabs, and death certificates.

Only that kind of analysis will detect the spread of influenza strains not covered by the flu vaccine, information that search engine information does not reflect, experts say.

But there has been concern that influenza surveillance systems in place are not fast enough, and the new tool could be useful for the basic purpose of quickly detecting outbreaks, said Dr. Randall Stafford, associate professor of medicine at Stanford University’s Prevention Research Center, who was not involved in the project.

“Sacrificing accuracy may not necessarily carry a big penalty if you’re able to predict increasing flu incidence as well as the other systems, and do it more rapidly,” he said.

Still, there are limitations, Bresee said. The tool may miss cases of influenza spreading among elderly people, because they are less likely to use the Internet than younger people, Stafford said. He also noted that many people who search for flu-related terms have viral infections that are not actually influenza.

Google has also taken into account that people sometimes look for flu-related terms in response to certain news headlines and do not actually have the flu, Ginsberg said. The tool looks for terms that, for example, reflect searches by a person who has chest congestion or wants to buy a thermometer, he said.

Flu Trends may also help doctors make diagnoses, Ginsberg said.

“I would be very hesitant to diagnose influenza at this point in the year, but if the tool tells me influenza in California is really increasing dramatically, I might be more likely or willing to diagnose,” Stafford said.

Influenza is responsible for more than 500,000 deaths worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organization.

Flu Trends cannot be used to identify individual users, the company statement said. The search engine relies on aggregated counts, made anonymous, of how often certain search terms occur each week. But every computer connected to the Internet has its own internet protocol address, or IP address, which reveals its location to Google.

Software engineers and public health experts at Google.org, the company’s philanthropic arm, collaborated on the project, Ginsberg said. The search engine giant turned 10 years old this year.

The overall flu activity in the U.S. is low, although a few states — such as Hawaii, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Delaware and Maine — have “moderate” activity, according to Google’s map, based on data current through Monday.

“There’s no question that testing for virus in blood is the only way to get the most information, but having this sort of information earlier does make sense,” Stafford said.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Landau@CNN.COM

MSNBC recently reported the 100 most sweaty cities, found by the folks at Old Spice. The company says its findings are based on computer simulations of the amount of sweat an average person would have produced walking around in cities during the summer months last year. You can see where your city ranks here. Using GymSoap everyday will help get you clean after a sweaty day in the city.

GymSoap made a very cool appearance in Central Florida’s hip parenting magazine, PLAYGROUND. We were thrilled that the writer’s took note of what makes GymSoap different (it’s anti-fungal) than most soaps that people use, thinking they are ridding themselves of the bacteria that is found in many gyms. Local studio fitness centers like SWAT Workout, The Healing House, Florida Fitness Concepts, College Park Yoga and Fitness Orlando were noted to be “in” with GymSoap. Thanks to our new fans from PLAYGROUND.