_ Heart HealthCheaper & Better Drug for Heart Attack Procedure By Sondra Forsyth articleA study done in the UK and published in The Lancet on July 4th 2014 compares outcomes for two drugs used to prevent blood clot formation during emergency heart attack treatment. The study suggests that use of one of the drugs, heparin, could result in improved outcomes such as a reduced rate of repeat heart attacks, compared to the other drug tested, bivalirudin, which is in widespread use in high-income countries and is around 400 times more expensive than heparin.
_ Brain Health Sleep HealthA Good Night’s Sleep Boosts Brain Power as We Age By Sondra Forsyth articleA University of Oregon-led study published in the June 2014 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that middle-aged or older people who get six to nine hours of sleep a night think better than those sleeping fewer or more hours.The study reaffirms numerous small-scale studies in the United States, Western Europe and Japan, but it does so using data compiled across six middle-income nations and involving more than 30,000 subjects for a long-term project that began in 2007.
_ Watch: Why the Lazy Days of Summer Are Good for Your Health By Sondra Forsyth articleHere's another addition to our ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning!
_ ExerciseSitting Pretty: How to Stay Fit Even If You Have a Desk Job By Sondra Forsyth article By Sondra Forsyth
_ MenopauseToolkit to Diagnose Menopause By Sondra Forsyth articleThe “Practitioner Toolkit for Managing the Menopause”, designed to guide physicians in the management of menopausal conditions for women from the age of 40 has been designed by researchers at Monash University in Australia. The kit, which includes a diagnostic tool as well as a compendium of approved hormone therapies, was published on July 6th 2014 in the journal Climacteric.
_ Heart HealthPainless AFib Treatment By Sondra Forsyth articleA technique called cardiac optogenetics achieves defibrillation without the pain of electric shocks, according to research presented on July 4th at Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology (FCVB) 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. The meeting is organized by the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Science of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in collaboration with 13 European cardiovascular science societies.
_ Glitch in “Garbage Removal” Ups Dementia Risk By Sondra Forsyth articleAn international team of researchers identified a pathogenic mechanism that is common to several neurodegenerative diseases. The findings suggest that it may be possible to slow the progression of dementia even after the onset of symptoms.
Healthy Diet & Nutrition Senior HealthNutrition Screenings for Older Adults By Sondra Forsyth articleAs older adults typically have one or more chronic health conditions that can affect dietary intake, malnutrition has been identified as a serious for this population. For this reason, nutrition screenings should be a mandatory part of the comprehensive geriatric analysis (CGA), according to a review article published on July 3rd 2014 in the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition's (A.S.P.E.N.) Nutrition in Clinical Practice journal.
Heart HealthUnnecessary Blood Tests Waste Money By Sondra Forsyth articleResearchers at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center used two relatively simple tactics to significantly reduce the number of unnecessary blood tests to assess symptoms of heart attack and chest pain and to achieve a large decrease in patient charges.
_ Pancreatic CancerThunder God Vine Helps Kill Pancreatic Ca Cells By Sondra Forsyth articleA diagnosis of pancreatic cancer—the fourth most common cause of cancer death in the U.S.—can be devastating. Due in part to aggressive cell replication and tumor growth, pancreatic cancer progresses quickly and has a low five-year survival rate of less than 5 percent.
Healthy Diet & NutritionHow to Choose the Best Energy-Boosting Bars and Gels By Sondra Forsyth articleBy The Bone, Muscle, and Joint Team at HealthHub from Cleveland ClinicContributor: Kylene Guerra, RDDo you stand in the aisle of energy bars and sports gels wondering what to choose? When it comes to offering you the best health benefits and fuel for your sports performance, not all energy bars and sports gels are equal. Below, find tips to choosing the best ones for you.Energy bars
_ Alternative HealthSt. John's Wort & Drug Interactions By Sondra Forsyth articleSt. John's wort is the most frequently used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatment in the U.S. for depression and similar psychiatric disorders. The many commonly prescribed medications that St. John's wort can interact with—sometimes with serious consequences such as life-threatening “serotonin syndrome” or heart disease—are reviewed in the July 2014 issue of The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine and on the web site.
_ Aging WellTesting Competency of Aging Drivers By Sondra Forsyth articleAs the American population continues to age, using tests to evaluate competency behind the wheel is critical. However, research done at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver found “significant barriers to evaluations important to the continued safety and competency of older drivers” according to a release from the university. The study was published 2014 in the journal Occupational Therapy in Health Care.
High blood pressure / hypertensionBlood Pressure Monitoring Kiosks Aren't for Everyone By Sondra Forsyth articleConvenience can come with tradeoffs. The next time you put your arm in the cuff at a kiosk that measures blood pressure, you could get an inaccurate reading unless the cuff is your size.
_ MenopauseMenopause Brain: What You Need to Know Beat the Odds By Sondra Forsyth articleBy Soriyya BawaAs if hot flashes and irritability weren’t enough to handle, women going through menopause also worry about the risk of memory loss. Some of the common cognitive concerns relating to memory loss that are reported by women going through menopause include trouble with routine mental tasks and remembering what was once easily retrievable information. A lot of research has delved into evaluating the link between menopause and memory loss, and we’re now beginning to understand even more.
Mental & Emotional HealthHow to Put Your Inner Child in Time-Out By Sondra Forsyth article By Steven Jay FogelThe human brain is a wonder of the universe, but our understanding of it can seem contradictory. On the one hand, we’re often told of those crucial years that our brain develops in childhood, when we’re rapidly progressing in development of our language and other skills, and our preadolescent and teenage years, when our brains undergo a sort of second Big Bang of learning.
Breast CancerSome Cancers Respond to Anti-Inflammatory Drugs By Sondra Forsyth articleResearch done at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis raises the possibility that some cancer patients with aggressive tumors may benefit from a class of anti-inflammatory drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The investigators published their findings in a 2014 issue of the journal Cell Reports.
_ AD Drug to Prevent Brain Blood Clots By Sondra Forsyth articleExperiments done in Sidney Strickland's Laboratory of Neurobiology and Genetics at Rockefeller University in New York have identified a compound that might halt the progression of Alzheimer's by interfering with the role amyloid-β, a small protein that forms plaques in Alzheimer's brains, plays in the formation of blood clots. This work is highlighted in the July 2014 issue of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.