_ Video Game Teaches Kids to Call 911 If YouΓÇÖre Having a Stroke By Jane Farrell article The grandchildren could save your life if you let them play a video game called “The Stroke Hero” that teaches them to recognize stroke symptoms and quickly call 911, according to an article published in in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.
Mental & Emotional Health This Is Your Brain on Anxiety By article According to the National Institute of Mental Health, over 18 percent of American adults suffer from anxiety disorders. These people suffer from excessive worry or tension that often leads to physical symptoms. A release from the California Institute of Technology reports that previous studies of anxiety in the brain have focused on the amygdala, an area known to play a role in fear. However, Caltech researchers had a hunch that understanding a different brain area, the lateral septum, could provide more clues into how the brain processes anxiety. Their instincts paid off.
_ Some Women May Need More Hormone Therapy By Jane Farrell article Researchers have found that for a substantial percentage of women, moderate to severe hot flashes last up to ten years or more after menopause, and that may mean hormone therapy should be prescribed for a longer period of time. Investigators from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine discovered that for most women, moderate to severe hot flashes continue, on average, for just five years after menopause, but more than one third of women have hot flashes for a decade or beyond.
_ Tablets in the Exam Room: Benefit or Annoyance? By article By Brok Vandersteen The last time I visited my doctor, I asked him how much my prescription would cost. “Well, it depends on how much your insurance covers,” he answered. I asked him if he knew how much that was. He pulled out his tablet and did the calculation, finding the pharmacy cost of my medication and comparing it to my insurance coverage. It was amazing: I knew right away what I would have to pay — and whether I could afford it.
Why the Next Big Frontier in Medicine is Energy Medicine By blog I first heard about Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2000 when I was writing my book The Whole Man Program: Reinvigorating Your Body, Mind, and Spirit After 40. Dr. Oz was one of the top heart surgeons in the world at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia Medical Center. I wanted to find someone with the best scientific credentials to help me better understand heart disease so I could help other men. Dr. Oz was a wonderful resource. He is still one of the best surgeons in the world but he has since expanded his view of what constitutes good medicine.
State Efforts to Promote Continuity of ACA Coverage By article A new culture of health care has been ushered in by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) but Americans with income fluctuations, such as those with multiple part-time jobs, may experience shifts in coverage. Those transitions would require the affected people to "churn" between Medicaid and private insurance, a process that could affect affordability and continuous access to care.
_ Possible New Parkinson's Therapy By article When properly manipulated, a population of support cells found in the brain called astrocytes could provide a new and promising approach to treat Parkinson's disease. That’s the finding of a study done at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York and published on January 28th 2014 in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.
_ Aspirin Overprescribed for AFib By article Aspirin is still overprescribed for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation despite the potential for dangerous side effects, according to a study done by the European Society of Cardiology andpublished January 28th 2014 in in the American Journal of Medicine. Another worrying finding was that oral anticoagulants were underprescribed in elderly patients, with aspirin alone more commonly prescribed.
_ The High Cost of "Free" Foods By Jane Farrell article Think twice before reaching for that fat-free cookie or sugar-free ice cream bar as an afternoon snack. In most cases, you’re better off having the real thing in moderate portions, says Kristin Kirkpatrick, MS, RD, LD, wellness manager at Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute. The issue, Kirkpatrick says, is that choosing heavily processed foods over natural foods often means taking in too many additives and refined ingredients with questionable nutritional value. Substitutions — but no substitute for the real thing.
A New Image for a Facelift By Jane Farrell article Complications from facelifts can be painful and embarrassing, but a new 3-D technique may change that. The technique deals with liquid facelifts, in which people remove wrinkles and soften creases by the injection of a gel-like material. Hundreds of patients suffer redness and swelling after the procedure. Millions of people each year remove wrinkles, soften creases and plump up their lips by injecting a gel-like material into their facial tissue. These cosmetic procedures are sometimes called “liquid facelifts” and are said to be minimally invasive.
Men's Health Screening for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms in Older Men By article A one-time screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm in men 65 years or older is associated with decreased AAA rupture and AAA-related mortality rates, according to a new review published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
_ Calling Obesity a ΓÇ£DiseaseΓÇ¥ Undermines Healthy Behaviors By Jane Farrell article The American Medical Association declared obesity a disease in June 2013 but messages that describe obesity as a disease may undermine healthy behaviors and beliefs among obese people. That’s the finding of a study done at the University of Richmond in Virginia and the University of Minnesotaand published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
_ Flu Vaccines Needed for Diabetics By Jane Farrell article Diabetics between the ages of 18 and 65 are at higher risk of getting the flu than are those without the condition, a new study has shown.
_ Omega-3s and Liver Health By article Oregon State University researchers in Corvallis and collaborators found that omega-3 fatty acids, especially docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), could “be of significant value in the prevention of fatty liver disease”, according to a release from the university.
_ On the Horizon: A New Way to Treat Pain By Jane Farrell article Researchers have identified two molecules that perpetuate chronic pain, and that may pave the way for more effective, less addictive medicines. A study from the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland said that the molecules may play a role in the phenomenon that causes uninjured areas of the body to be more sensitive to pain if they are near an area that has been injured. The findings were published in the journal Neuron. "With the identification
_ Hospitals Can Learn from Hospices By article Training hospital and nursing home staff in the basics of palliative care can make the last days of a dying patient’s life as comfortable and dignified as possible, according to F. Amos Bailey of the Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Bailey is the leader of a study¹ that showed the value of introducing palliative care strategies, typical of hospices, within the setting of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.
_ Needed: A New Approach to Health-Care Surrogates By Jane Farrell article Almost half of hospitalized Americans 65 and older need decision-making assistance from family members because they are too impaired to make decisions on their own, a new study has found. And those health-care surrogates need to be taken more seriously. Most surrogates are children or spouses. Some patients have two or more family members making decisions toether. Researchers from Indiana University said the problem is only going to grow more prevalent as the U.S.
_ Meds That Fight Fever May Spread the Flu By article Better not reach for the Advil or some aspirin when you have the flu. You may end up infecting others. Research done at McMaster University in Ontario showed that the widespread use of medications containing fever-reducing drugs may lead to tens of thousands more influenza cases and more than a thousand deaths attributable to influenza, each year across North America. These drugs include ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and acetylsalicylic acid. The study was published in January 2014 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.