dr. nancy snyderman is back again tonight with some answers. viewers, dr. nancy snyderman is back tonight with some answers. o is going to the dog park together. sometimes my copd makes it hard to breathe. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function starting within five minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better. come on, boy! [ female announcer ] symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. [ man ] now symbicort significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. and that makes a difference in my breathing. today, i'm hanging out with my best friend. talk to your doctor about symbicort.

dr. nancy snyderman is here with all of it. >>> and a legend in comedy is gone, although we remember what he built. tonight, we remember the great sid caesar. nightly news begins now. >>> good evening, tonight, on the interstate in north carolina people who are unable to move forward are parking their cars, locking the doors and walking away in the middle of the storm. they will retrieve them some other time. but for now, tonight, a storm is moving up over top of them at speeds faster than traffic on a good day, a very large snow and ice storm that now almost follows the path of i-95 to the north. we estimate that upwards of half a million people are without power tonight. a staggering number, considering the wires may stay down now for days. schools are out, some cancelled days in advance. airports obviously shut down, and we can see how air travel has diverted around the area and in some places, the precipitation is falling as ice. we have it all covered. al roker is here, and peter alexander is in hard-hit north carolina, and mark potter will start us off in atlanta tonight, mark, good

dr. nancy snyderman is back with us. and let's try to personalize this. should women continue to get mammograms? and what would you advise your own daughter? >> mammography is not going away. and based on one study, brian, i would not advise my daughter based on that study. it's the cumulative stuff that we're talking about. but nonetheless, it has caused a lot of confusion among women, and the study has been criticized by leading doctors in the food for the methodology. so for every woman out there here is the one thing you need to hear. you need to personalize this, figure out your risk factors and sit down with your doctor, and then figure out your risks for breast cancer and whether or not you should be screened. and here are some of the risk factors to consider. does breast cancer run in your family? and include in that cancer of the ovary also. do you smoke? independent risk factor. how old are you? that is probably the biggest risk factor for breast cancer. what is your ethnicity? if you are black or white, you can get a different kind of cancer. a

dr. nancy snyderman. >> reporter: nicole armstrong credits her older sister, katrina, an award-winning special olympian, with saving her life. >> because of everything my sister had gone through, had she not had gotten sick it could have been me. >> reporter: katrina died two years ago at the age of 32, from breast cancer. she has a gene mutation associated with breast cancer and ovarian cancer. it was a wake-up call for the rest of the family to have the genetic testing. >> we walked in the room, and just -- the look on the counselor's face said that owe >> reporter: their grandmother owe it was going to be positive. also died of breast cancer. and in their case, their gene mutation runs on their dad's side of the family. nicole underwent a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of breast cancer. but now at 28 years of age, she has another big decision to make. >> having my ovaries removed is a big fear of mine. >> reporter: they suggest that women with the brc 1 mutation can reduce their risk of breast cancer by 80% and their risk of death by 70% if they have their ovaries and tubes removed by

dr. nancy snyderman joins us, so we heard the one physician at the end of the piece. nancy, what is the advice? how would you advise a male say over 45, should they now think twice about becoming fathers? >> i think you have to start with the cautionary note that not every father just because he is older will have a child with psychiatric issues. but it does raise an increasing belief that science has been able to push the limits. perhaps there is a real biological window for men and for women. and real sort of optimum time in one's life to pro create. i think it is an important time to remember that if you're going to plan to have a family to talk about that window for career, lifestyle, children and certainly, the biologic age of mom and dad. because the biologic age of eggs and sperm now, we know scientifically do play their individual roles. >> all right, dr. nancy snyderman, with answers to questions out of this, as always, thank you. >>> there was a revolution that may say a lot about the state of thasa and space program and the equipment troastronauts. his equi

dr. nancy snyderman, just off an airplane from russia. thank you for coming in tonight. >> you bet, brian. >>> now to a major announcement today about the pentagon. after 13 years of warfare for this country, the u.s. now has a new defense battle plan that involves shrinking down the military to levels not seen since before world war ii. the obama administration says it is not only about re-shaping budgets, but it is about rethinking the way we fight in the future. and these proposed cuts have already set off the kind of war fare they conduct in washington, our report tonight from all of us from our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. >> reporter: at ranger joe's outside forth benning, georgia, these cadets were glued on the pentagon's speech on military budget cuts. one rethinks his plan to join the army. >> it means i wouldn't get paid as much. and it means they may not even want me as a pilot. >> reporter: the pentagon could slash up to 90,000 soldiers from the army, down to 440,000, the lowest level since preworld war ii. an enti

dr. nancy snyderman on this newly approved medication tonight. thanks. >>> overseas now, events in ukraine continue to move quickly, unpredictably, after last week's government takeover. today in southern ukraine, a russian flag was raised over parliament in crimea, the most russian part of the country, after the building was taken over by heavily armed pro-russian gunmen. it raised new fears the country is going to split in two, east versus west, even as high-profile russian military maneuvers continue just across ukraine's border, all of it being watched closely in washington and in the capital city of kiev, here is how richard engel summed it up for us today. >> reporter: security has been increase heard in kiev in front of parliament. they don't want a repeat of what happened in crimea. we're now seeing a division of this country with two rival parliaments each surrounded by its reporters. >> and in this country from the white house, state and defense departments today we saw carefully coordinated warnings to russia not to interfere in ukrain

dr. nancy snyderman. >> reporter: in an unusual move tonight, a coalition of health care, law enforcement and addiction specialists is urging the government to protect the public's health by keep ing zohydro off the market, they say it is ten times much more powerful than other prescription painkillers. >> over the past ten years, more than 125,000 americans have died from painkiller overdose death. this is a severe epidemic that is getting worse every year. the last thing we need is a new high dose dangerous opioid to hit the market. >> reporter: zohydro is a family of painkillers which also included vicodin and oxycontin. un-- unlike many others, zohydro does not include certain medication. it has a high potential for abuse. and it can be crushed, making it easier to snort or inject. the fda approved zohydro even though the agency's panel overwhelmingly voted against it, citing concerns for addiction. >> i urge you to vote no. >> reporter: the fda says the findings are not binding, in a statement released today, the company said the fda concluded that the benefits of zohydro's extended

dr. nancy snyderman is here with all of it. >>> and a legend in comedy is gone, although we remember whatt. tonight, we remember the great sid caesar.

dr. nancy snyderman.ause they're the best and smartest in their field. bottom line, you want to find a good doctor, ask a nurse. they're the most observant. >> see? >> hello nurse. >> that's your take home message for the day. >> the nurses know. >> let's start with some health headlines. first one, a little bit surprising, these well check visits, which parents always take their kids to and should continue to do so, but sometimes it could exposing your kids to illnesses. >> this is an interesting one. we do take our kids in under the age of 6 for their well baby visits and i want parents to do it because you know i believe in immunizations and normal vaccinations. but parents haven't taught their kids about washing their hands and how to sneeze in their elbow. and doctors don't do a good job of segregating the waiting room. and now it all stratranslates i almost 800,000 influenza illnesses a year. bottom line is, the providers need to do a better job and parents, if your kids are really sick, sometimes t

dr. nancy snyderman is our medical editor.hat is it about this particular drug that has so many health professionals concerned in. >> this drug packs a wallop. it has tn times more codeine than a typical vicodin. perhaps it the drug delivery system that needs help, not a bigger amount of the narcotic. this is a lot like oxycodone. and this pill in particular can be crushed, which raises the possibility of snorting it and ingesting it. since we've seen drug in the fall of 2012, the advisory committee to the fda suggested not letting this drug go forward. and yet, right now, we're putting it on the market march 1st. >> a mixed message because the fda in the past has been pulling back on drugs like these and now releasing this one that is so potent. one emergency room physician said, "i'm talking about a drug somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 time more potent than what we're dealing with now. i'm five times more concerned about potency." >> the drug manufacturer says people don't start with these medications as gate way drugs.