By Ashley Coleman

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Jacksonville is normally known as the "river city." But now, the city has a new title.

The national magazine, The Advocate, named the city one of the "top five emerging cities for gay and lesbians."

"I think that it's great that they're becoming open-minded enough to do that and to have no shame," said Roy Buice, who works at Rainbows and Stars in Riverside.

The publication based the ranking on U.S. Census numbers. For every 1,000 Jacksonville households, there are 7.75 same-sex couples.

Plano, Texas ranked number one, before Jacksonville, which was number two on the list.

The magazine points to Jacksonville's strenths -- the river, ocean, parks, museums and growing population. It also mentions Riverside, San Marco, Avondale and the beaches as areas where the majority of same-sex couples live.

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By Steve Rothaus

More than 70% of lesbian and gay and respondents over age 40 reported concerns about losing the ability to care for themselves in a recent study conducted by Community Marketing, Inc. The majority also feared becoming sick or disabled, being dependent on others, and outliving their savings. When asked which resources they would rely on for long-term financial and social care as they age, less than 8% of respondents said they would place significant reliance on long-term care insurance, leaving us to wonder how prepared lesbians and gay men are for the kinds of health issues that often come with old age. Respondents placed the most emphasis on:

• Health care insurance: 22%
• Medicare: 20%
• Personal savings: 19%
• Social Security: 16%

65% of respondents expect for provide care to a partner sometime in the future, 44% for a parent, and 34% for a friend. However, respondents were less certain of who would care for them – 59% said a partner would be there to help care for them, 29% a friend, and 20% no one.

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Men with jobs that require them to be physically active may be getting benefits beyond salary and health insurance - they may be at a decreased risk of developing prostate cancer, according to a study at UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center.

Researchers studied more than 2,100 men who worked at the Rocketdyne facility in the San Fernando Valley, many of whom were exposed to radiation and chemicals that may have increased their risk for certain cancers. The research team identified 362 men who developed prostate cancer and compared them to 1,805 men of similar age and socioeconomic status who did not get prostate cancer.

“The message from this study for today is that if you’re more active, you may be able to prevent this cancer from happening,” said Beate Ritz, a Jonsson Cancer Center researcher, an associate professor of epidemiology in the UCLA School of Public Health and the study’s senior author.* “If you have a desk job, do something physically active to counterbalance it.”

The case-control study nested within a larger cohort of more than 10,000 subjects focused on men who worked at the nuclear and rocket engine testing facility from the 1950s to the early 1990s. The cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed between January 1988 and December 1999. Researchers obtained cancer incidence data for the workers from the California Cancer Registry and seven other cancer registries in neighboring states where workers may have moved after retirement.

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By Joy Buchanan

Thelma Hyman is 90 years old, and she expects to be called Mrs. Hyman when she visits the doctor's office. But when the black woman recently visited the office of a white physician, he called her Thelma. "I'm not sure I'm going back to him," says the resident of Washington, D.C. "It's very important. Everyone has their own feelings about how you need to address them."

The exchange may seem inconsequential, but a growing amount of research is investigating whether these small cultural differences — most of them between white, male doctors and their diverse patients — could be a big reason for the nation's persistent health care disparities.

Thelma Hyman, 90, of Washington, D.C., who recently was disappointed when a physician referred to her by her first name. Researchers are studying cultural gaffes such as this to see if they are affecting health care disparities.

In 2005, New Jersey became the first state to require cultural-competence education for physicians to get licenses. California requires continuing medical education for doctors to include cultural and linguistic competency training.

The federal government is financing studies examining whether the training can help health care workers get diverse groups to comply better with doctors' orders.

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Black barbers are being enlisted in the campaign to get black men tested for colon cancer

Oak Brook, Ill. -  Each year more than 150,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with colon cancer and over 50,000 will die from the disease. Death rates from colon cancer are higher among African Americans than any other population group in the U.S. The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE), representing the specialists in colon cancer screening, advises African Americans to speak to their physician about getting screened for colon cancer.

"Colon cancer is preventable with regular screening and is curable when detected early," said ASGE President Grace H. Elta, MD, FASGE. "All men and women are at risk for colon cancer and should begin screening for the disease at age 50. It concerns me that African Americans are being diagnosed with colon cancer at a higher rate than other populations. This disease does not discriminate against race or gender; your age is the single most important risk factor. I encourage African Americans to talk to their doctor about colon cancer screening."

Colorectal cancer, also referred to as colon cancer, is cancer of the colon or rectum and is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. for men and women combined. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer among African American men and women, with more than 16,000 cases estimated to be diagnosed each year and approximately 7,000 deaths annually. Some people are at a higher risk for the disease because of age, lifestyle or personal and family medical history. People who are diagnosed at early stages have a 90 percent chance of a cure and surviving. That is why screening for prevention and early detection is so important. Some studies have shown that African Americans are more frequently diagnosed with colon cancer at a younger age, leading some experts to suggest that African Americans begin screening prior to age 50. African Americans should ask their physician about an appropriate screening schedule.

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By Leslie Goldman

Lidocaine, methyl salicylate, hydrocortisone. You probably don't think twice about using over-the-counter creams with these ingredients when you need to soothe a sore muscle or bug bite, prep your legs before hair removal, or combat that vaginal itch. If the product's available without a prescription, it can't hurt you, right? Wrong.

One study estimates that women apply 175 chemicals a day from cosmetics, creams, and toiletries alone.

Take Arielle Newman, for instance, a New York City-area high school track star who died last year from a sports-cream overdose. She'd used large amounts of popular OTC pain-relieving ointments like Icy Hot and Ben-Gay on her sore muscles. The key ingredient in such products is methyl salicylate, which built up in Newman's body, may have interacted with other aspirin-based meds she was using, and caused her to go into cardiac arrest.

Another case: In 2005, Shiri Berg, 22, of North Carolina died of a lidocaine overdose. Following the instructions she'd been given by the staff at a local hair-removal clinic, she generously applied a numbing gel to her legs, then covered them in plastic wrap. On her way to the clinic to get hair lasered from her legs, Berg passed out. She went into convulsions, then a coma. Eight days later, she was dead.

Women dying in the name of hair removal? Athletes putting themselves at risk by using mentholated muscle soothers? Extreme situations, to be sure. But with all the stuff each of us slathers on our skin (one study estimates that women apply 175 chemicals a day from cosmetics, creams, and toiletries alone), it's no surprise that potential hazards are lurking.

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Noticing a few extra hairs in your comb lately? Is your new hairstyle a result of trying to conceal areas of thinning hair rather than a fashion choice? Are you paying more attention to the multitude of advertisements promoting hair growth? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might be one of the millions of people experiencing some form of hair loss. But to whom should you turn for help? The key to managing the condition is to consult a dermatologist, a physician trained in the diagnosis and treatment of all forms of hair loss.

Speaking today at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, dermatologist Amy J. McMichael, MD, FAAD, associate professor of dermatology at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., discussed the most common forms of hair loss, current treatment options and possible futuristic therapies.

"For both men and women, hair loss can be devastating and adversely affect one's overall quality of life," said Dr. McMichael. "As with most medical conditions, the key to controlling the hair loss cycle is to seek treatment early. The problem is that most people tend to ignore the first signs of hair loss or delay treatment, hoping that their hair will regrow on its own. Since there are many types and causes of hair loss, it is vital that patients seek a proper evaluation by a dermatologist at the first sign of a problem."

Androgenetic Alopecia (Pattern Hair Loss)

The most common form of hair loss, androgenetic alopecia (commonly referred to as male- or female-pattern hair loss) is a hereditary condition that affects men and women. In male-pattern hair loss, a receding hairline is common, as well as hair loss on top of the scalp. Women, on the other hand, typically maintain their frontal hairline but tend to have visible thinning over the front and top of the scalp. However, occasionally a man will experience female-pattern hair loss and a woman will show signs of male-pattern hair loss for reasons unknown to researchers.

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When America’s first lady disclosed that she had breast cancer, the story made headlines. That was back in 1974, and until Betty Ford made her courageous announcement, public discussion of the disease was taboo. Mrs. Ford was cured, and the publicity she generated promoted crucial cancer research and helped motivate millions of women to get life-saving tests and treatment.

Because of the frank discussions Mrs. Ford initiated, a celebrity’s breast cancer has moved off the front page. But in 2003, when a former U.S. senator made a similar announcement, it was again headline news, this time because the patient was a man, Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts.

Men like Senator John Kerry and General Colin Powell are increasingly forthright about prostate cancer, but most guys are reluctant to own up to “women’s problems” like breast disease. But men have breasts, too. The male breast is much smaller than its female counterpart, and it cannot produce milk. Because of this smaller size and simpler structure, breast disease is much less common in men than women. Still, men can develop important breast problems, both benign and malignant. Early detection is the key to a successful outcome, so every man should understand the basic elements of male breast disease.

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'Shaft' Star Battled Male Breast Cancer, Now Raises Awareness

By Katharine Stoel Gammon

When Richard Roundtree was diagnosed with cancer in 1993, he was bowled over.

"The doctor told me, 'You have breast cancer,'" recalls Roundtree, who played John Shaft in the iconic 1971 film "Shaft." I heard the cancer part first -- it was only later that I heard the breast part. I couldn't believe it."

Roundtree found the lump while filming a movie in Costa Rica.

"It just didn't feel right," he says. "I'm a bit of a hypochondriac, so I decided to get it checked out when I was back in L.A."

For years after his diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer, Roundtree kept quiet about his status as a cancer survivor.

"I was in the closet, so to speak, until after the fifth year when I was cancer free," he says.

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Leading a sedentary lifestyle may make us genetically old before our time, a study suggests.

A study of twins found those who were physically active during their leisure time appeared biologically younger than their sedentary peers.

The researchers found key pieces of DNA called telomeres shortened more quickly in inactive people. It is thought that could signify faster cellular ageing.

The King's College London study appears in Archives of Internal Medicine.

An active lifestyle has been linked to lower rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

However, the latest research suggests that inactivity not only makes people more vulnerable to disease, but may actually speed up the ageing process itself.

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By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cutting down on caffeine could help people with the most common form of diabetes better control their blood sugar levels, researchers said on Monday.

Giving caffeine to a small group of people with type 2 diabetes caused their levels of the blood sugar glucose to rise through the day, especially after meals, researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, found.

"Caffeine appears to disrupt glucose metabolism in a way that could be harmful to people with type-2 diabetes," James Lane, a Duke medical psychologist who led the study, said in a telephone interview.

Caffeine is found in coffee, tea and many soft drinks.

Diabetes is a condition in which one's blood glucose levels are too high. Having too much glucose in the blood can damage the eyes, kidneys and nerves, and diabetes can also lead to heart disease, stroke and limb amputations.

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By Krista Mahr

Prostate cancer may not be at the top of your list of topics for dinner conversation with Dad. But you might reconsider: About 10% of prostate cancer cases are linked with family history, and evidence for the disease's genetic roots is growing. Researchers have recently identified a series of gene markers that, when present with family history of the disease, increase a patient's risk of prostate cancer more than nine times. Those markers, say researchers, can be detected in a simple saliva or blood sample — good news for a condition whose prognosis is improved by early detection.

In a study published online today by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), a team of American and Swedish researchers reported the results of a DNA analysis of over 4,700 Swedish men. The study found that patients whose genes contained four of the five common variants, found to be associated with prostate cancer in 2006 and 2007, had a 400% to 500% increased risk of developing the disease. That risk shot up to over 900% in patients who had the genetic variants and a family history, accounting for nearly half of the prostate cancer cases in the study. "We've never seen this before," says Dr. Jianfeng Xu of Wake Forest University School of Medicine and one of the authors of the study conducted jointly with researchers at Sweden's Karolinksa Institute and Johns Hopkins Brady Urological Institute, among others. Because the variants are common in the general population and their collective association with cancer is so strong, Xu says his findings could help doctors move quickly into the next phase of prostate cancer research: "How to predict individual risk for prostate cancer and catch it early."

By Heather Knight

City and state officials announced an agreement Thursday with developers of the former UC Berkeley Extension site in San Francisco to include more affordable housing - more than doubling the number of such dwellings for the 413-unit project at 55 Laguna St.

While 66 of the 328 rental apartments for families had been designated as affordable, the new agreement makes an 85-unit complex for seniors - most of whom are expected to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender - affordable as well. The units for seniors previously were to be rented at the market rate.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, Assemblyman Mark Leno, state Sen. Carole Migden, the mayor's Office of Housing and gay rights and housing activists pushed to increase the percentage of affordable dwellings in the project from 16 percent to 37 percent. On Thursday, they celebrated the agreement with the University of California and A.F. Evans, the development company hired for the project.

Older adults who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) have “a history of caregiving” that creates networks of people who support each other during their senior years, according to a questionnaire study of 199 LGB seniors. The study found that more than two-thirds of the participants had provided care to one or more people during the previous five years.

“These findings contradict old myths about elderly gay people leading lonely lives of quiet desperation,” said Dr. Robert-Jay Green, executive director of the Rockway Institute, a national center for LGBT research and public policy. “LGB seniors create vibrant communities of care that overcome the difficulties posed by discrimination or by greater levels of rejection from their biological families.”

The study was conducted by Arnold H. Grossman and Eliza Dragowski of New York University, and Anthony D’Augelli of Pennsylvania State University and was published in the Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, Vol. 18, No. 3/4, 2007, pp. 15-38. The sample of LGB adults was aged 40 to 85 and was recruited from agencies providing services to LGB elders in New York City and Los Angeles. About one-quarter of participants were age 40 to 59; the remaining three-quarters were 60 years or older. The group was highly educated, with 63 percent having completed a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Encore House, an unusual non-profit enterprise dedicated to providing housing for gay and lesbian seniors. Located at the corner of Sunset and Ivar (at the same intersection as the Farmer’s Market and across the street from Sunset + Vine), Encore House contains 104 rental units, 3000 square feet of public space and a total of 460 parking spaces.

This $18 million project was developed by the Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing Group and McCormack Baron Salazar with the help of $5 million of CRA funds.

PARIS - Any American with even a slight familiarity with Paris knows about Josephine Baker, the black swivel-hipped cabaret entertainer who shunned racism in America, vaulted to stardom here in 1925, and stayed on to become one of France's most adored 20th century icons.

But what about William Wells Brown, the 19th-century former slave turned abolitionist who once expressed awe that he could pray next to whites at La Madeleine church, or that some tipped their hat to him on Paris streets?

Both historical figures feature high in Black Paris Tours, offering a glimpse of the mutual love affair between black Americans and the City of Light.

Tour guide Ricki Stevenson let me tag along as she escorted four black tourists from Texas, who braved the weak U.S. dollar and a chilly and wet winter day as part of a birthday-celebration getaway.

They chose the full-day option, US$129 per person for a trek zigzagging through offbeat areas like the Parc Monceau, where poet Langston Hughes once lived in maid's chambers, or a bustling, working-class area that Stevenson dubs "Little Africa."

Stevenson, an Oklahoma native and former TV journalist, has more than enough material to work with: Even after an information-packed tour lasting nine hours, I couldn't help thinking we had only scratched the surface.

The tour was especially eye-opening in France, where minorities from the substantial black and North African communities - often with origins in former French colonies - are not quantified in the census. The state considers everyone simply French, in its bid to be officially colourblind and stem discrimination. (In practice, though, North African immigrants and their children do complain of discrimination, and riots broke out in immigrant areas in 2005.)

American blacks in France, though, are a category unto themselves.

"In many ways, African-Americans came to France as a sort of privileged minority, a kind of model minority, if you will - a group that benefited not only from French fascination with blackness, but a French fascination about Americanness," said Tyler Stovall, a history professor of the University of California, Berkeley. "Jazz comes to France at roughly the same time as Hollywood movies - both are embraced enthusiastically."

Baker, who dazzled Paris audiences with her skimpy outfits and banana skirts, gets high billing in this tour. But so do jazz greats like Sidney Bechet, a longtime Paris resident, and the all-black 369th Regiment of the First World War best known as the Harlem Hellfighters.

Paris tours about black history have come and gone, but Stevenson's has unusual lasting power, and is now in its ninth year.

By Andrew Collins

The undisputed gay capital of the African continent, Cape Town has something of the progressive vibe, stunning coastal scenery, and sunny disposition of similarly appealing seaside cities, such as Sydney, San Francisco, and Vancouver. Part of a peninsular region that juts into the Atlantic Ocean along South Africa's southwestern coast, Cape Town has become increasingly popular with visitors from North America, offering travelers a small but vibrant gay business district and wonderful opportunities for day-tripping along the coast and inland to the lush vineyards and swank country inns of the Winelands regions.

There are some logistical issues to consider when planning a trip to this city, which is about 6,000 miles from London, 8,000 miles from New York City, and 10,000 miles from Los Angeles. It takes up to two days to get here and again to return home, and airfares are quite steep, generally $1,000 to $1,500 from North America. The good news is that North American and European currency are relatively strong against South African currency, the Rand, meaning that you'll generally encounter good values in hotels, restaurants, and shops once you're here.

Another thing to keep in mind when traveling such a long distance is that it's prudent to plan a trip of at least 10 days, and ideally 15 days. South Africa is famous not just for Cape Town and the surrounding area, but also for the safari lodges that proliferate in the wildlife-rich Kruger National Park, in the northeast part of the country. Many visitors plan a trip that includes a week or so in greater Cape Town, and another week in Kruger or at a safari camp in a nearby country, such as Botswana, Namibia, or Zimbabwe.

If you're going this route, your best strategy is to book your vacation through a reliable tour operator.

Visitor's center, church, businesses catering to Isle's growing group

By Allan Turner

With its laid-back lifestyle and low cost of living, Galveston promises to become the gay tourist mecca and residential center of the South, said activist-publisher Laura Villagran, who earlier this month opened the city's first gay and lesbian visitor's center.

Long known for its vibrant bar scene and raucous Splash Day celebrations, Galveston in recent years has become home to a growing gay and lesbian professional class. Now, real estate agents say, the city is poised to become a retirement haven for graying gays who, like their heterosexual counterparts, succumb to the lure of sun and surf.

In recent years, signs of a growing gay presence have appeared in Galveston, a city of 57,000 that boosters boast couples tolerance with a quirky small-town charm.

Last year, Harbor Metropolitan Community Church, catering to gay worshippers, opened on 39th Street. This year, roughly 8,000 revelers turned out for the summer Splash Day celebration on East Beach and, in October, throngs jammed the Strand for the city's first gay pride festival.

Liberal residents Now, Villagran's visitor's center, which functions as a travel agency and clearing house for tips on entertainment, real estate, health services and gay-friendly businesses, occupies a prominent spot near the heart of the city's tourist district.

Healthy Foods Are Too Expensive for Millions, Research Shows

By Lee Dye

It's hard not to spend too much time at the dinner table during the holiday season, getting fatter on our way to the poor house. Though we are lectured constantly about eating right, most of us don't. And the reason, it seems, is more a matter of economics than self-indulgence.

Eating right, new research shows, is getting so expensive that millions of Americans can't afford it.

In what is believed to be the first study of its kind, researchers at the University of Washington focused on the cost of eating foods that are rich in nutrients, and low in calories, like fresh vegetables, whole grains, fish and lean meats. That's the stuff we're told we have to eat if we are going to shed a few pounds and remain healthy.

But when the researchers checked prices at numerous stores around the Seattle area, they found that the good, healthy foods had soared in price over a two-year period, jumping by nearly 20 percent compared to a 5 percent increase in the overall food price inflation. And during that same period, high-calorie foods had remained about the same price, and in some cases had actually dropped.

African-American gays report existence is comfortable, somewhat invisible

By Mark Melady

Kathy J. Linton grew up in Dorchester believing African-American lesbians did not exist.

“When I did come out my family told me I couldn’t be gay because there was no such thing as a black lesbian,” said Ms. Linton, education and outreach director at the Rape Crisis Center of Central Massachusetts. “I didn’t know I existed practically up until about 10 minutes before I came out.”

Ms. Linton and other gay blacks living in Worcester still experience some degree of the invisibility willed on them by segments of the straight black community, especially the black ministry. But though they are a minority within a minority, they describe their lives here as comfortable, if sedate, and largely free of racial or gender prejudice.

They support gay marriage and codifying anti-discrimination protection based on sexual preference and expanding hate crimes to include gays, but they are hardly monolithic in their views about life, love, racism within the wider gay community and, for that matter, whether marriage and greater straight acceptance puts homosexuals in danger of being “normalized.”

Rodney Glasgow, director of diversity at Worcester Academy, calls gay marriage a human right while acknowledging that the difference between a civil and human right may be semantics. He opposes the notion that gay marriage is good because it will eventually bestow normalcy on homosexuals.