Lessons From Managing Geriatric Patients By article A large team of experts led by a Johns Hopkins geriatrician reports that efforts to improve the care of older adults and others with complex medical needs will fall short unless public policymakers focus not only on preventing hospital readmission rates, but also on better coordination of community-based "care transitions." Lessons learned from managing such transitions for older patients, they say, may offer a framework for overall improvement.
_ Waist Circumference Trumps BMI By article Having a big belly has consequences beyond trouble squeezing into your jeans, published in the March 2014 edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The researchers say that a large waist is detrimental to your health, even if you have a healthy body mass index (BMI). The finding come form a new international collaborative study led by a Mayo Clinic researcher found.
_ Aging Well More Proof Protein Is Good as We Age By Sondra Forsyth article On March 5th 2014, I posted an item on ThirdAge.com that dealt with the misleading title of a press release that went viral: “Meat and cheese may be as bad as smoking”. The study the release referred to actually showed that for people over 65, animal protein is protective.
_ Fillers Can Cause Bacterial Infections By article Many people have fillers injected into their facial tissue to give them “bee-stung lips” or to smooth out their wrinkles. Unfortunately, a lot of cosmetic treatment customers experience unpleasant side effects in the form of tender subcutaneous lumps that are difficult to treat and which - in isolated cases - have led to lesions that simply will not heal.
_ Solving The Lithium Problem By Jane Farrell article A safer form of lithium is on the horizon, researchers say. The drug, one of the most widely used to treat bipolar disorder has a serious drawback of toxicity. But investigators from the University of South Florida discovered that an oral variation, lithium salicylate, maintains steady levels of the drug for up to 48 hours without the toxic “spike” that happens with the rapid absorption of FDA-approved lithium carbonate. Their study results appear in RSC Advances, the journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Best Practices for Successful Online Dating at Midlife and Beyond By blog Online dating can be intimidating, especially for those of you who have been out of the dating game for a while. You may wonder if it’s safe, how comfortable you feel competing in such an open forum, how you will handle potential rejection, or how you will feel if you don’t any attention at all. All these concerns are valid. You no doubt feel more vulnerable than you did at 16. Here are my best practices for successful online dating. 1) Do keep it light
_ Breast Cancer Subtyping Breast Ca to Identify High Risk Women By article A University of South Florida-led study has refined a personalized approach to breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. A release from the university explains that a method called molecular subtyping can help doctors better determine which of their breast cancer patients are at high risk of getting breast cancer again. This sophisticated genetic profiling of an individual's specific tumor offers an additional resource to help identify patients who would most benefit from chemotherapy and those who would not.
_ Docs Not Sure Which Tests to Order By article A survey of primary care physicians suggests they often face uncertainty in ordering and interpreting clinical laboratory tests, and would welcome better electronic clinical decision support tools. The results of the survey, done at the University of Illinois in Chicago and sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were published in the March-April 2014 issue of The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
_ Exercise Good News for Lifelong Exercisers By article Along with its salutary effects on the heart, weight, and other facets of health, physical activity also helps to regenerate muscle mass, which tends to diminish as people age. That’s the finding of research done at the University of Utah and other institutions published in the March 6th 2014 in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine.
_ Mental & Emotional Health Diagnosing Parkinson's-Related Dementia By Jane Farrell article Researchers have determined that it may now be possible to identify Parkinson's patients who will go on to develop dementia. A study conducted by researchers from the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal used magnetic resonance imaging in reaching its conclusion. The findings were published in the journal Brain. Parkinson’s is usually associated with problems such as trembling, but patients also have a six times greater risk of developing dementia than do those who don’t have Parkinson’s.
_ Alzheimer's Disease and other Dementias Sex What Happens to Your Sex Life When Your Partner Develops Dementia? By article By Douglas Wornell MD What happens with sex in an established relationship -- perhaps one that’s been going on for decades -- when dementia enters the picture? At first glance, one might guess that the couple is likely older and sex isn’t happening anyway. Secondly, many may feel that the dementia will only push the couple further apart and therefore extinguish what glimmer of sexual activity was happening.
_ Use Common Sense When Wearing Body Slimmers By article By Family Health Team at the Cleveland Clinic Ladies, we all know the marvels achievable with shapewear – those slimming, stretchy undergarments that can help you go down a dress size and make your body seem smaller and firmer.
How to Love an Angry Man: Part 2 ΓÇô Dealing with Anger vs. Rage By blog Dear Dr. Jed, I’m worried about my husband. He’s angry all the time and blames me for everything that is wrong. He calls me names, yells at me, looks at me with such hatred, I want to disappear. He’s never hit me, but I’m afraid of him. He totally denies that there are any problems with him. When he gets mad he calls me a bitch and a lot worse and tells me I’m crazy and should be hospitalized.
_ Osteoporosis Osteoporosis and Strength Training By Jane Farrell article By Neil Short, Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach Osteoporosis is called the “silent disease” and for good reason. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF), more than 50% of women over the age of 50 have it, and few will know until they fall and break a bone. And it doesn’t stop there. The NOF estimates that a full 20% of seniors who break their hip will die within one year from complications due to surgery or recovery, and most end up in nursing homes well before their time.
_ A Blood Test for Alzheimer's By Jane Farrell article There’s an Alzheimer’s blood test now – a procedure that can detect whether a healthy person will develop mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s within three years. The test has a 90 percent accuracy rate. Described in the April issue of Nature Medicine, the test could lead to the development of treatment for early-stage Alzheimer’s, when therapy would be more effective at slowing or preventing onset of symptoms.
_ How Antibiotic Resistance Spreads By article The system that allows the sharing of genetic material among bacteria, and therefore the spread of antibiotic resistance has been uncovered by a team of scientists at Birkbeck, University of London and University College London.
Clues to the Mystery of Disease By article Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have devised a new biochemical technique that will allow scientists to delve much deeper than ever before into the specific cellular circuitry that keeps us healthy or causes disease.
_ 10 Things Docs & Older Patients Should Question By article “Choosing Wisely”, and initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation, has released a 2014 update from the American Geriatrics Society listing 10 procedures and tests that should not be routinely performed or prescribed for older patients: