dr. nancy snyderman. >> reporter: breast cancer strikes almost 300,000 women a year. while cure rates have improved over the last 20 years, increasingly doctors are focusing on a certain group of women who don't fare as well as others. >> there's a clear connection between obesity at the time of a breast cancer diagnosis and an increased risk of occurrence of breast cancer. >> reporter: dr. joseph sparano is an oncologist who specializes in breast cancer at montefiore einstein center for cancer care in new york and is a lead researcher of today's study which focuses on the most common type of breast cancer. >> we've known for a long time obesity is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer but what this study shows is that risk is there even if patients get optimal therapy. >> reporter: even after ruling out problems like heart disease, diabetes, kidney and liver disease, being clinically obese with a body mass index over 30 is an independent risk factor. the fat causes changes with insulin, estrogen and inflammation and serve as fuel for cancer cells. the st

dr. nancy snyderman, nbc news, new york. >>> up next here tonight, hundreds of earthquakes all b k buncheder, all in southern california. is there anything else we should know? exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news. [ male announcer ] if you think all batteries are the same... consider this: when the unexpected happens, there's one brand of battery more emergency workers trust in their maglites: duracell. one reason: duralock power preserve. it locks in power for up to 10 years in storage. guaranteed. so, whether it's 10 years' of life's

dr. nancy snyderman will have a special report on the increasing challenges for the millions of us who have been thrust into the role of caregiver at one time in our lives, especially those of us caring for aging parents. that's tomorrow night here on nbc nightly news. >>> and that is our broadcast for this tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. of course, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> police investigating another daylight shooting. is this a trend? i'll take a closer look. >>> the potentially tainting dog streets. the fda expands its investigation. >>> good evening.

dr. nancy snyderman. dr. nancy, i'm trying to get my head around this but perhaps you have some explanation, medical explanation, as to what he possibly could have been thinking. >> well, i think susan hit the nail on the head. if you haven't heard it before by the time you're our age, it probably doesn't exist. he mentioned possible physicians and a stress response for women who during time of any rape, that it would thwart becoming pregnant, it's just bogus. it's not written anywhere, it's not taught anywhere. in fact, what is taught in medical schools now is that rape is not about sex, it's about power, it's a crime, and the reason the morning after pill does exist is that women can get pregnant after rape and the morning after pill gives them a chance to prevent the pregnancy. i just want to remind people again that a pregnancy is implantation of egg and sperm, not disrupting an egg and sperm from getting together. >> dr. nancy, again, there is some possible explanation going back to i think an argument t

dr. nancy snyderman here with us in the studio with the very latest. what is this about? >> reporter: today the government came out and very emphatically said that all baby boomers, regardless of their risk, anybody in their 40s, 50s, or 60s, anybody born between 45 to 65 needs to get the test. the government basically today recommends that everyone step up to the plate and no one be exempted. it's estimated that 2 million baby boomers, one in 30, is infected with hepatitis c and probably doesn't know it so the test is a one-time blood test added to the medical checklist. the cdc expects the one-time testing will identify more than 800,000 additional cases of hepatitis c. that means this is a real health concern. there are treatments on the market that can take care of hepatitis c and that's important because it causes liver cancer, liver failure, the need for transplants, and while there are medications on the market there is a new one on the way in pill form. this is a genuine wakeup call. anyone born between 1945 and 1965. >> important story. glad to get it out. thank

dr. nancy snyderman has one remarkable success story. >> reporter: angela is a mother of four and a life-long runner. she used to start her days with a five-mile run, but lately her parkinson's disease has made that and so much more impossible. >> i have little kids and they like to run around the yard. i would like to be able to keep up with them. >> reporter: angela is one of the estimated million americans living with parkinson's disease a growing number under the age of 50. it is a degenerative disease which means it gets worse with time. >> that's me seven years ago just with one side. now it's switching over to both. >> reporter: she is off her medications because she has decided to try brain surgery to help her manage her disease and the surgery must be performed when her symptoms are at their worst. >> i love you. >> you ready? >> no. >> reporter: her husband, matt, shaves her head in preparation for the surgery. but as much as she tries to take it all in stride, it is sometimes overwhelming. angela was oy 32 when she was diagnosed. >> i was kind of shuffling. >> reporter: it's okay.

dr. nancy snyderman says for others, the virus can progress quickly. >> symptoms occurring 10 to 14 days after a bite. they are usually mild. fever, rash, exhaustion. if there are neurologic problems, confusion, seizures, or if you're over the age of 70, that's when you get to the hospital. >> reporter: experts say the numbers will rise because the west nile season is young, not ending until late september. and the numbers are already rising. texas health officials just updated the death toll here in the lone star state. it's now at 28. two more people have died. >> unbelievable numbers. janet shamlian starting us off outside of spring, texas. just outside houston tonight. janet, thanks. >>> now to the question we posed at the very top of the broadcast. is it possible a hurricane could be headed for tampa, florida, just as republicans head for tampa, florida, for their gop convention. forecasting this far out is kind of like forecasting the outcome of the general election but here is what we do know. there are hurricane watches and warnings throughout the caribbean. tonight the u.s. navy

dr. nancy snyderman. >> reporter: one morning four years ago, nancy was overcome with exhaustion, clammy sweat, nausea and unusual chest pain. >> i remember laying there thinking, it's a mistake, they made a mistake. this can't be me. i'm not the person that has a heart attack. >> reporter: 200,000 american women die from heart attacks every year. and an additional 42 million women live with heart disease, many unaware of the threat they face. >> the common myth is that heart disease and heart attacks occur only in men. and the truth is, in every year since 1984, more american women than men have died of heart disease. >> reporter: just like rosie o'donnell, nancy suffered a complete blockage of one of the main arteries in her heart, the type of heart attack, commonly called the widow maker. >> even that name implies this is a man's disease, a widow maker heart attack. >> reporter: but it isn't. and knowing how men's and women's symptoms can differ can save a woman's life. crushing chest pain is a well known symptom, as are sweating, anxiety and irregular heartbeat. but for women, it can

dr. nancy snyderman. >> reporter: five nights a week, in between helping her daughter with homework and managing her northern virginia household, 45-year-old debra and her husband b.g. bring dinner to his parents, carlos and sonia, who live nearby. >> i don't know how i juggle it all. >> reporter: it's one of the many ways debra and her family are helping provide them with care and company. according to today's aarp report, debra is one of 42 million americans, aged 40 to 60 caring for an older adult. those numbers are growing. 63%, most of them women, spend about nine hours a week caring for a loved one, with one-third clocking 40 hours or more. many say the hardest part is the loneliness, the isolation. >> care giving can be incredibly stressful and really overwhelming sometimes. >> reporter: amy isn't just aarp's care giving expert, she commutes from washington, d.c. to phoenix to help her parents, robert and patricia, with medications, doctor's appointments and physical therapy. >> you're doing so great, mommy, i'm so proud of you. >> reporter: while she's grateful for this time with them, s

dr. nancy snyderman will have a special report on the increasing challenges for the millions of us who havethis rust into the role of caregiver at one time in our lives. especially those caring for aging parents. that's tomorrow night here on nbc nightly news. that is our broadcast for this tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

dr. nancy snyderman says for the others, the virus can progress quickly. >> symptoms usually occur 3 to 14 days after a bite and they're usually mild -- fever, rash, exhaustion. but if there are neurologic problems, confusion, seizures, or if you're over the age of 70, that's when you get to the hospital. >> health officials expect the number of cases to increase because it is still early in the west nile season. >>> former university of virginia lacrosse player george huguely is waiting to learn his sentence for murder, now that a judge rejected his plea for a new trial. huguely was convicted of beating his girlfriend, yeardley love, to death in 2010. his lawyers claim there were several errors in the trial, but the judge ruled there was ample evidence to support the conviction. huguely will be sentenced next thursday and faces up to 26 years in prison. >>> alexandria police are trying to track down the man suspected of walking off with a $25,000 diamond ring from a jewelry store. you're looking at pictures of the suspect from surveillance camera at king's jewelers on king street. he walk

dr. nancy snyderman, thank you so much. here's matt. >> thank you. how will the gop deal with hurricane or tropical storm isaac if it threatens next week's convention in tampa, florida? peter alexander has more on that and the latest war of words out on the campaign trail. peter, good morning. >> matt, good morning to you. this is not the forecast the republicans were calling for, especially with roughly 70,000 people heading that way. and it may not need a direct hit to cause havoc in that area. in tampa, even an average summer thunderstorm can cause roads to flood. the city's mayor says public safety will always trump politics but rain or shine state and party officials expect the show will go on. with the potentially high-octane hurricane threatening to swamp next week's convention, mitt romney and paul ryan are focusing on the issues, focusing on what they say is president obama's mishandle of the economy. >> we've had four years in a row of a president that's built trillion dollar deficits. it's bad economics. >> president obama said the private

dr. nancy snyderman are assembled and ready to chat.'s talk about the rnc, chris christie gave the keynote address. it was hotly anticipated. but some in the room were a little bit peeved that it took him about 10 minutes to mention mitt romney. they decided it was a little too self-serving. >> what did they expect. >> is that fair criticism. >> he said that he spoke so long about himself because he didn't find mitt romney interesting enough to talk about. it was really a me, me, me speech teed up for 2016. >> you think that was ip appropriate. >> look, he did what he was supposed to do. he talked a lot about himself, his mom, dad, speaks the unvarnished truth. he took from how he speaks the truth to republicans. the mvp boy act, teed himself up for 2016 and played the convention role he was supposed to. >> let me talk about the christie brand. bullying will never be accepted in this country. there was a clip of him when a woman asked him about do your kids go to private school. it was an issue. he goes, none of your business. if you we

dr. nancy snyderman. >> kristen stewart is an actress. i'm sure you guys have been following this.as caught publicly cheating on her boyfriend and now she's been in the middle of a media fire storm. jody foster wrote "if i were a young actor today i would quit before i started. if i had to grow up in this media culture, i don't think i could survive it emotionally." >> it's a feeding frenzy. when people have an indiscretion, when you're ripped apart for every little thing do you, which for most of us is how we go through life, we make errors and fix it and move on, i think it would be very hard. i thought jody foster's piece was right on. >> are you crazy? >> you're so predictable. >> she's under the same microscope that a 14-year-old in high school is under today. >> no she's not! she's not! >> what party did you go, what party didn't you go? >> it's not on the front page of the paper. >> listen to me, you pose for magazine covers, you use the press. that's the contract you sign. are you kidding? and on top of it this girl had an affair with a married man, 40 years old. are you ki

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dr. nancy snyderman, good information.l news. >> good morning. i am jennifer franciotti. let's check on the morning commute with kim dacey. >> we have a situation northbound on the harrisburg expressway. the ramp to padonia road is closed because of to greet there. -- debris there. crash reported at hanover pike and old hanover road. westchester road remains closed. emergency road work all morning in held for. -- in halethorpe. two-way traffic pattern there. one lane gets by and each direction there. in havre de grace, another one in ohio and ontario street. a few incidents to watch for. west side of the beltway, we'll see most of the delays this morning. old court road, jammed from 795 to edmondson ave. if you extra minutes. switching over to an live view of 895 and potee street. backing and little bit because of construction on the steel bridge. tony has a check of the forecast. >> so far so good, weather-wise. 6 to 2 in parkton. 63 degrees and a westminster. 20% chance for a thunderstorm this afternoon. most of you will

dr. nancy snyderman. guys, good morning to all of you.running for the senate there finds himself in the middle of a firestorm because of comments he made when asked about his opinions on abortion in cases of rape. he said the following, basically, that victims of legitimate rape, those were his words, rarely get pregnant. he went on to say this. if it's legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that whole thing down. let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something, i think there should be some punishment but the punishment ought to be on the rapist. nancy, start me off. medically speaking, what's wrong with those words? >> everything. there's no -- first of all, there's no term legitimate rape in medicine. there's no situation where the female body can shut down a sperm megan egg. the risk of getting meetingnant after a rape is 5%. the risk with unprotected sex is 5%. a woman exposed to sperm runs the risk of being pregnant. this is basic junk. >> let's take the medicine out of it now. this is a guy who has now come out and

dr. nancy snyderman, good information.ch. >>> coming up next, a life threatening ride for a mom when her car's accelerator got stuck of the terrifying video as she dodged traffic at speeds up to 120 miles an hour. we'll have the story right after this. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news. what are you lookin' at? i wasn't... not looking at anything... we're not good enough for you. must be supermodels? what do you model gloves? brad, eat a snickers. why? 'cause you get a little angry when you're hungry. better? [ male announcer ] you're not you when you're hungry™. better. [ male announcer ] snickers satisfies. [ music playing ] [ music playing ] yeah, i might have ears like a rabbit... but i want to eat meat! [ male announcer ] iams knows dogs love meat. ...but most dry foods add plant protein, like gluten

dr. nancy snyderman. good morning to all of you. good to have you here.rew, let me start with you, with this struggle you had with binge eating. this was a couple of years ago. tell me about how you evolved from recognizing what eventually ended up being an eating disorder. >> i think where it all started, my sense of being an emotional eater even dates back to age five where that was a period when my parents divorced and i was looking for comfort and looking for it in the kitchen cabinet. that pattern continued until i was actually obese around age 10. by 12, i was on weight watchers. it just started that diet mentality that led to restriction and weight gain until i was 17 and over 200 pounds and put on a medically supervised weight loss program. that slipped my eating disorder into an anorexic period. even though i did lose a lot of weight very quickly, i certainly was not any happier. >> your relationship with food, then, was clearly all based on emotion. >> clearly it was. also body image concerns. it was soothing the fact that i never was happy with

dr. nancy snyderman explains, it's a wake-up call for all women. >> reporter: one more four years ago, nancy was overcome with exhaustion, clammy sweat, nausea and unusual chest pains. >> i remember laying there, thinking it's a mistake, i think they made a mistake. this can't be me. i'm not the person who has a heart attack. [ sirens ] >> reporter: 200,000 american women die from heart attacks every year, and an additional 42 million women live with heart disease, many unaware of the threat they face. >> the common myth is that heart disease and heart attacks occur only in men. and the truth is, in every year since 1984, more american women than men have died of heart disease. >> reporter: just like rosie o'donnell, nancy suffered a complete blockage of one of the main arteries in her heart, the type of heart attack commonly called the widow-maker. >> even that name implies this is a man's disease, a widow-maker heart attack. >> reporter: but it isn't, and knowing how men's and women's symptoms differ can save a woman's life. crushing chest pain is a well-known symptom, as are sweating, anx

dr. nancy snyderman, we just saw three women giving birth to their grandchildren. how common is this? we're seeing it on an increase. one, people may be infertile. healthy grandmothers can step in. >> what does it take for a grandmother to be successfully a surrogate? >> i think one of the things you really saw in this piece was how healthy grandma looks. she's fit, she's not heavy, obviously not a smoker. she's really taken good care of her body. so it requires her to go see the doctor, make sure she's physically fit, it means she's going to have to be on hormones to plump up the lining of the uterus, like any other surrogate that gets ready and from a psychiatric standpoint, the surrogate has to remember you're the vessel, you're not mom. and then the long-term problems. older moms can go into labor earlier. that's why these moms get sectioned. and if they get implanted with too many embreyoembryos, they r risk of gestational diabetes. they can put on a lot of weight. >> always a c-section delivery. >> always a c-section because that's what makes it safer. >> coming up next, a 3-yea

dr. nancy snyderman, good information.al news. >>> good morning, everyone. time right now 8:26 on this wednesday, august 22nd, 2012. here's a look at what's hot right now. this morning the ntsb is investigating a train derailment that killed two 19 year olds in ellicott city, maryland. >>> an amber alert is over this morning and a father is in custody for kidnapping his 1-year-old son in district heights. now, let's get a look at our forecast. >> good morning, cool summer morning. meteorologist tom kierein. with your four-day forecast and highs in the 80s today, tomorrow, saturday, sunday, not too humid. might get an isolated thundershower later this afternoon and looks nice through the weekend and into the first part of next week, barbara. part of next week, barbara. >> thank you, but somewhere along the way, something went horribly wrong. george allen voted for trillions in debt while voting to raise his pay four times, then voted to keep special tax breaks for oil and gas companies and took over a half-million from them

dr. nancy snyderman, nbc's chief medical editor. good morning. >> good morning.ety disorder. the number of men and women suffering from acute anxiety is on the rise and our stressful fast paced lifestyle is not helping. soon loan debt is surging above $1 trillion. >> census department figures show an astounding number of divorces. >> 13 million americans need jobs. racing thoughts, rapid heartbeat, sleepless nights, classic signs of anxiety. for the millions of americans living with anxiety disorders, the fright think feeling could become all consuming, even debilitating. >> it can lead an individual to not leave their home. it can lead an individual to lose their job. someone who really does feel their mind is constantly on sort of red alert. >> reporter: the numbers alone are worries some. since 1980 there's been a 1200% increase in the number of people suffering from anxiety disorders. today that adds up to 117 million people by some estimates making it one of the most common mental illnesses in america. a normal defense mechanism, anxiety is part of our fight

dr. nancy snyderman. hi, guys. let's start with the political conventions.ere's no expense. we know what will happen. big expense. tv networks barely show them anymore. donny is sleeping. are you voting with sleeping? is there any purpose for them anymore? >> yes, because we're a democracy. it's still a great kind of celebration of who we are. a media observation of why they don't matter anymore. thirty years ago before cnn, fox, we didn't get to see hollywood and how it works. every day now, 24 hours a day we're peeking behind the curtain, there's nothing special about them. we're just going over everything happening in the media. >> outside my office are fabulous big pictures of huntley-brinkley, black and whites. take you back to when there was suspense and roll call mattered. sometimes we really didn't know who will get the nod. things are over. >> we've had many conventions since the primary convention began. >> for four straight years. >> everyone pays a close attention to politics, perhaps as the three of you, for a lot of people this is the beginning