dr. jennifer ashton spoke about the flu warning on "good morning america." >> the cdc is tracking flu activity now in the southern hemisphere as a predictor to see what we might expect laylater on our flu season. h3n2, very bad actor, vea strai that makes people very sick. concerned it would be hitting people soon. this is not a bad cold, take it seriously. >> the cdc recommends a nearly flu vaccine for everyone over the age of 6 months. >>> the calendar officially says fall, and this week in the bay area celebrating that. still to come on abc 7 news, a sneak peek at the family fun happening where you live. >>> it may look like black friday but that's not the reason people are lining up at stores today. the throwback classic bringing out fans around the world. >>> here's a live look right now at the golden gate bridge. meteorologist drew tuma coming up with today's accuweather forecast. >>> abc 7 news celebrating hispanic heritage month on instagram. she oversees the philanthropy efforts >>> mario k oorksart is the gre video game of all-time according to me. if you're obsessed with that and do

dr. jennifer ashton and, jen, we have been talking about this and known videotape is an issue for so long heard doctors say this is the most severe case in someone this age ever, what does it tell you. >> cte, neurodegenerative brain disorder caused by repeated head trauma causing symptoms of memory loss, aggression, depression, in some cases suicidal behavior. we can only diagnose this on autopsy. now, there is no screening test yet for this out in july found evidence of cte in 99% of deceased nfl players' brains. now there could be biased involved because those players may have been having estimate symptoms and donated their brains for study or other terps involved in terms of the pathology. >> in the meantime, it's friday morning. "friday night lights" and so many going to the games to watch their kids play and see stories and wonder about the risks. >> it's scary and concerning but you can't remove all risks. there are other sports. this is not just football that has a risk of head trauma. recent study show children who play contact football before the age of 12 have three times highe

dr. jennifer ashton says it's important to consider family history here and says the test is not for everyone. ashton will talk about who should and should not be taking this new at-home test. >>> a new warning about the equifax data breach. >> the federal trade commission says some people are being targeted in a phone scam. a caller poses as an employee asking to verify your information. that's the moment you should hang up because equifax will never call you. so here's what can you do to avoid being squacammed. don't give information unless you initiate the call and you know who you're talking to. do not trust your caller id. scammers can trick the phone system. and if you do get a robo call, hang up. don't push any buttons because that can just initiate more robo calls. >>> roku preparing to go public now. the los gatos-based streaming pioneer made the announcement saying it will offer $18 million shares of stock at $14 apiece. roku has amassed $244 million in losses since it was founded in 2002. >>> your child's next happy meal may look and taste different. mcdonald's is changing the appl

dr. jennifer ashton. you know about this condition all too well. how many patients come and see you? basis. it's the most common and least understood condition. it's not a disease. it's a syndrome. there's no one test for it. it's an over activity of the oefryes. you can think of a penguin one at a time jumping off the iceberg. in pcos all those penguins are jumping together. your oefryes are producing a lot more hormones. >> what are the symptoms? >> the main stay is irregular menstrual cycles. you can have excessive body hair, severe acne on the back or chest. elevated test tos roen and ultrasound findings. usually you can make this diagnosis really talking to the person. we heard also weight gain can be part of it. >> this affects a lot of teens. what should parentss know? >> making the diagnosis in a teen can be harder. after a year and a teenager has this acne. >> educate us right now. you have some food here. nutrition is a factor. this can lead to other conditions. >> exactly. nutritional support is a main stay. i think it's well-known if you lose 5% of your body weight if you

dr. jennifer ashton is here. you can be in pain after post-surgery. are there any other options though?ecause an informed patient is the most ideal patient, but it's a catch 22 here because pain delays surgical healing and recovery so there's the balance about giving other options. if you are facing surgery, you want to ask a couple of questions. could you make inflammatories or use ice therapy. sometimes that's an option. you should always request the lowest dose if you need an opioid narcotic for the shortest period of time. it's basic pharmacology, and our awareness needs to be ratcheted up and we're talking about this class of medication. >> this number will startle people. according to the cdc, 33,000 died from overdoses in 2015. many what do we know about the going on, robin in the area of research medicine. it's the reward system in the brain is hijacked and we don't know why people are prone to become addicted. we know it happens, and you have to be aware of the warning signs. if you are taking more opioid narcotics and you can't cut down, that's a sign. if you are constantly na

dr. jennifer ashton is back.ommit medically what does that mean. >> we're talking about living directed donation. there is extensive testing that goes on before physical and medical testing to exclude infection, cancer drug use, extensive psychological screening. they want to make sure you're not being coerced and doing it for the right reason that organ has to be matched, you're familiar with this. to the recipient like a fingerprint key. and the donor has to be screened again extensively head to toe so this is all part of the informed con sent process. >> so a lot of people are like i want to donate. i want to do this but they don't know anybody to do it with. >> you're talking about living nondirected donation. it's separate so this case the donor does not name the recipient but say i want to give a kidney and have to match that organ for medical compatible and you're talking about things like in the future is that donor going to know where their organ went. in some cases yes. in some cases they'll just get ab

dr. jennifer ashton is here now. so tell us what your thoughts are on this study.we need to study it more with more people and even the group that had those reset periods of time had their calories restricted to the new lower amount of body weight so, again, it needs more research but let me show you what the theory of this diet approach is. we have two audience members. alessandra will represent the person who gets a reset day so if you think of those bags like the number of the days of the month as she picks them up. go ahead. let's say she's doing six days on, one day of reset. when she gets through day six you can eat the whole plate of jelly beans. >> that doesn't do damage to your diet. >> it could potentially but jeremy who will do this indefinitely. you can see it gets harder and harder to pick up the bags if there is no reset or cheat period. by the end of six day, 14 day, 30 days, he's physically, psychologically and metabolically getting -- >> your body can adjusting to the fewer calories, correct? >> look, your body is a very smart machine and it adapts

dr. jennifer ashton. you know about this condition all too well. how many patients come and see you? often referred to as the most common and least understood hormonal condition affecting women. it's not a disease. it's a syndrome. there's no one definitive test for it. it's an over activity of the ovarian function. ordinarily your ovaries are very orderly. you can think of a penguin one at a time jumping off that iceberg. in pcos all those penguins are jumping together. your ovaries are producing a lot more hormones. >> what are the symptoms? and how is it diagnosed? >> there's a range of symptoms. the mainstay is irregular menstrual cycles. you can have excessive body hair, severe acne on the back or chest. when you see that on a woman, that can be a red flag. elevated testosterone and ultrasound findings. we use ultrasound less often today because usually you can make this diagnosis really talking to the person. we heard also weight gain can be part of it. >> this affects a lot of teens. what should parents know? >> it can affect 5% to 10% of teenagers. making the diagnosis in a t

dr. jennifer ashton is here with that. about 20% of floridians are over the age of 65, 65 or older.nday night there have been about 400 skilled nursing facilities assi assisted facilities evacuated and this is one of the largest of that nature in the state's history and there are special needs with elderly a lot dealing with chronic conditions. you know, we're talking about the potential in a disaster like this for exacerbation of any chronic musculoskeletal, heart, lung condition. a lot need nursing aid with them and certain medical devices. that presents a challenge and just at cute storm. i mean, the stress, the falls, you know, that's a stress test for a lot of these people and we have a saying in medicine it only has to happen once so it's always best to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. >> and there are ways that you can get in touch with your family members down there in if you can't reach them by cell phone there are two sites that people can go to, fema has a site, the national emergency family registry and locator site, the red cross has a safe and well list. if

dr. jennifer ashton and mason is here. she's got your lipstick. >> i see that. >> hello there, mason.ctivity. they put a fit bark on the dogs to measure the dog's sleep activity and followed them over a seven-day period and the findings while they weren't amazing they certainly weren't bad. they found that humans sleep quality was not significantly disrupted if you have had a dog in the bedroom but if you had the dog in your bed, it was a little bit worse but, again, very interesting study. the first study of its kind to really look at sleep quality when dogs are in the room. >> so medically speaking, though, the pros and con. >> itdespends on three big thing, the size of the dog, the size of the bed and the size of the p the dog and need to d it with and multiple dogs. obviously if the human quality of sleep is disrupted that is a hard line in the sand in my opinion medically because our sleep is already not so great as a country. but i think if the dog provides comfort and actually you get a better night's sleep then that's good for definitely good for humans. >> what about mason's