_ Access to E-Health Records Could Improve Care By article Unlike medical records kept in paper charts, electronic health records (EHR) provide numerous access points to clinicians to review a patient's medical history. A multi-university study published in the May 2014 issue of Health Affairs has found that access to electronic health records in acute care situations may influence the care given to that patient, and in some cases, failure to review the EHR could have adversely affected the medical management.
Get Ready By blog I was obviously never a Boy Scout, but isn’t their motto “be prepared?” Recently, a client I’ve known for 12 years passed away suddenly. He was only in his early 50s. Here I am out in public, preaching about death, dying and being prepared. The loss of this special man has kept me up at night wondering about what I’ve been doing here at home- meaning my home office. Am I preaching enough right here at home? NO MATTER WHAT YOUR AGE, BE PREPARED. Part of dying well is doing what you need to do when you are living.
37 Million Could Be Saved Through Global Health Programs By Jane Farrell article Reaching globally-agreed targets for health risks such as smoking and alcohol can prevent more than 37 million deaths by 2025, according to new statistics. The study, led by researchers from Imperial College London, said the health risks are caused by the “big four” illnesses: cancer, diabetes, lung disease and cardiovascular disease. The study, published in The Lancet, found that the majority of death prevention would be in low- to middle-income nations, while the reductions for smoking and blood pressure will lead to the largest benefits.
_ Women's Health and Wellness Women & Peripheral Artery Disease By Sondra Forsyth article Women, especially older women, face greater limits on their lifestyle and have more severe symptoms as a result of peripheral artery disease (PAD) than men do. The condition happens when fatty deposits build up in arteries outside the heart, usually the arteries supplying fresh oxygen and blood to the arms, legs and feet. About 8 million Americans have peripheral artery disease.
_ Challenging the Notion of ΓÇ£Healthy ObesityΓÇ¥ By Jane Farrell article Back in October of 2013, the concept of “healthy obesity” made news because of a study published in the journal Diabetologia about overweight people with no metabolic problems. Now a study published on April 30th 2014 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology challenges that assertion. A release from the publisher explains that obese people who have no signs of cardiovascular disease show a much higher prevalence of early plaque buildup in the arteries compared to healthy normal weight individuals, according to a study.
_ Exercise How to Stick With Your Fitness Program By Jane Farrell article By Ken Blanchard and Tim Kearin
_ Heart Health Six Tips to Turn Back the Clock on Your Heart By article By Steven Masley, MD, CNS The first step to avoiding cardiovascular disease, which is the #1 killer of Americans, including women—is understanding how your heart and arteries age. The traditional approach to evaluating heart disease does not address what’s actually happening within your arteries. The single factor that causes most heart problems is not cholesterol per se, but the growth of plaque in your arteries. This is what determine your heart’s true age.
_ Of Mice and Men ΓÇô But Not Women By Jane Farrell article Laboratory mice are stressed by male experimenters but not by women and the reaction of the rodents may skew research findings. The reason is that the mice pick up on the human male pheromone scent but not that of human females. This may turn out to be the reason that scientists typically have trouble replicating research findings using mice and rats, a fact that has contributed to mounting concern over the reliability of such studies. These are the findings of an international team of pain researchers led by scientists at McGill University in Montreal
_ Longhand Trumps Typing for Remembering Your Notes By article The next time you need to take notes, maybe during a meeting at work or when you’re on the phone with a customer service representative, you’ll be more likely to retain the information if you write by hand rather than typing on a digital device. That’s the finding of a study done at Princeton University and published in April 2014 in the journal Psychological Science.
_ Eating And Exercising: 5 Top Tips By Jane Farrell article Anyone who’s ever had a high-fat meal knows how sluggish it can make you feel. (Thanksgiving dinner, anyone?) To get the most from your exercise routine, you need to eat healthy and nourishing foods. Here, from the Mayo Clinic, are some suggestions: 1. Eat a healthy breakfast
_ Exercise A Cyberbuddy Boosts Exercise Effort By article If you need a little encouragement in order to stick with an exercise regimen, a digital workout pal just might be the answer. Michigan State University researchers have shown that a software-generated partner can be an effective motivator. A human exercise buddy is still a better cheerleader but a cyberbuddy definitely helps gives people the extra nudge they need. The study appears in the April 2014 issue of Games for Health Journal.
_ Can An Alzheimer's Protein Be Stopped? By Jane Farrell article Researchers have devised a new approach to the treatment of Alzheimer’s by identifying a class of compounds that can decrease a deadly protein associated with dementia. The compounds, called pharmacologic chaperones, can decrease levels of amyloid-beta. That protein is thought to contribute to the development of dementia. The mouse-model study, by researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), Weill Cornell Medical College, and Brandeis University, was published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.
_ Mental & Emotional Health Childhood Bullying Still Hurts at 50+ By article Were you bullied as a child? You may still be feeling the negative social, physical and mental health effects. A studydone at King's College London and published in April 2014 in the American Journal of Psychiatry is the first to look at the effects of bullying beyond early adulthood. The findings come from the British National Child Development Study that includes data on all children born in England, Scotland, and Wales during one week in 1958. The 7,771participants were then followed up until the age of 50.
_ More Effective Kidney Stone Treatment By article Researchers in France have hit on a novel method to help kidney stone sufferers ensure they receive the correct and most effective treatment possible. Kidney stones represent a major medical problem in the Western and developing world. If left untreated, apart from being particularly painful, they can lead to renal failure and other complications. In many patients treated successfully, stone recurrence is also a major problem. Clearly a more effective pathological approach to diagnosis and treatment needs to be identified to ensure successful eradication of stones.
_ Pain Management Relief from Chemo Pain By article Scientists have identified new pain relief targets that could be used to provide relief from chemotherapy-induced pain. Researchers at King's College London made the discovery when investigating how pain occurs in nerves in the periphery of the body. A release from the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council quotes Dr Marzia Malcangio a saying, "We have been investigating and identifying mechanisms underlying pain generation and our findings could help chemotherapy patients who suffer pain related side effects."
_ Reducing Cartilage Loss in Arthritic Knees By article Treating osteoarthritic knees with drug called sprifermin, also known as recombinant human fibroblast growth factor 18, reduces the loss of cartilage. That is the findings of a study study done at Lund Univeristy in Sweden and published in April 2014 in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatology. The results showed that sprifermin dosed at 100µg reduced loss of cartilage thickness and volume in the total femorotibial (the thigh bone and the shin bone) joint and in the lateral knee compartment (the outside of the knee).
Heart Health Predicting Heart Disease in Low-Risk Patients By article With growing evidence that a measurement of the buildup of calcium in coronary arteries can predict heart disease risk, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) researchers found that the process of "calcium scoring" was also accurate in predicting the chances of dying of heart disease among adults with little or no known risk of heart disease. Matthew J. Budoff, MD and Rine Nakanishi, MD, PhD presented the in March 2014 findings at Acc.14, the annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology, in Washington D.C
_ Chinese Herb for Rheumatoid Arthritis By article A traditional Chinese herbal remedy, dubbed the Thunder God Vine, relieves the joint pain and inflammation of rheumatoid arthritis as well as methotrexate, a standard drug treatment for the condition. The Latin name of the herb is Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F, or TwHF for short. Also, combining the herbal remedy with methotrexate was more effective than treatment with methotrexate alone, according to researchers led by Qian -wen LV at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Bejing. The team published their findings online in April 2014 in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.