Your Health: Top tunes for marathoners

Runner's playlists

When the Chicago Marathon takes off this Sunday, the Black Eyes Peas will no doubt be giving some runners an extra push.

A survey of runners in the warmup to the marathon, last month's Chicago Half Marathon, found their favorite songs to run to included three BEP songs - "Let's Get It Started," "I Got a Feeling," and "Boom Boom Pow" in the top 10.

Get-moving tunes like the Rocky theme "Gonna Fly Now," Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run," and the Rolling Stones "Start Me Up" also predominated.

The No. 1 song? Another motivational standard, but I pity the fool whose iPod gets stuck on repeat for 26 miles: Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger."

Autism rate

A national survey has found autism spectrum disorder affects about 1 percent of U.S. children.

That means an estimated 637,000 children age 3 to 17 had an autism-related diagnosis as of a 2007 federal survey.

About one-third of parents who said their child had been diagnosed at one time with autism spectrum disorder said they no longer had that diagnosis. Those children were more likely to be diagnosed with other developmental or mental health conditions, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety or behavioral problems.

Of the children still diagnosed with autism, half of their parents described the condition as mild, one-third as moderate, and the rest as severe.

Boys were four times more likely than girls to have autism, and whites were more likely to be diagnosed than blacks or multiracial children.

Parkinson's trial

Patients with Parkinson's disease can join an experimental treatment that has shown promise in earlier trials.

Rush University Medical Center in Chicago is seeking 20 people to participate in a nationwide trial of coenzyme Q10, a substance produced in the body that helps produce energy in cell mitochondria and is a powerful antioxidant.

Studies show people with Parkinson's have impaired mitochondrial function and low levels of coenzyme Q10, and that the substance can protect the area of the brain damaged by Parkinson's.

A previous trial found that patients taking coenzyme Q10 experienced significantly less decline in daily activities like eating or dressing themselves.

Two groups will get different levels of the substance, while a third group will get a placebo with vitamin E.

Participants must be over 30, diagnosed within the past five years, and not taking any medication yet. For information, call (312) 563-2900.

A shot at helping

The Cook County Department of Public Health is looking for volunteers who are good with a needle.

Starting in mid-October, the county will be giving thousands of H1N1 vaccinations at elementary schools and regional clinics.

"It's a huge undertaking," spokeswoman Amy Poore said, "and we can't do it alone."

Doctors, nurses, dentists, emergency medical technicians and other health care workers are asked to help out. Volunteers will join the county's Medical Reserve Corps for possible involvement in other public health initiatives.

For more information or to register, call (708) 492-2920, or go to cookcounty.publichealth.org.