_ Menopause Are You Setting Off Your Hot Flashes? By Sondra Forsyth article By Gary Elkins If you start taking note of your hot flashes, you may recognize some events, emotions, or activities that actually seem to contribute to, or ΓÇ£trigger,ΓÇ¥ the onset of a hot flash. Scientifically speaking, while the physiology of hot flashes is associated with a decrease in estrogen level or an increase in gonadotropin concentrations, the actual physiological mechanism of hot flashes is not known.
_ The Best Way to Take Your Medicine By Jane Farrell article It pays to be cautious at any age about taking medications. But itΓÇÖs especially important for older people, who are likely to have multiple prescriptions. And that, according to the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), can increase the chances of harmful drug interactions.
A Microwave Device that Helps Treat Strokes By Jane Farrell article A device that detects different kinds of strokes in patients could be a lifesaving instrument, according to new research. Strokefinder, which is placed on a patientΓÇÖs head, uses microwaves to examine the patientΓÇÖs brain tissue. The device interprets the findings to determine if the stroke is caused by a blood clot or bleeding. The difference between those two kinds of strokes can be crucial in emergency treatment. Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, in Sweden, studied 45 patients.
7 Secrets for Saving Your Marriage And Living Joyfully Ever After By blog If you are married or are in a committed relationship, there are a few things I know are true. First, you want your relationship to be full of love, passion, and mutual support. Second, there are stresses that can pull the relationship apart. Third, you want to increase the good things in your marriage and decrease the bad. I want to help.
_ The Drug That Improves Anti-Cancer Viruses By Jane Farrell article Combining a widely used medication with a cancer-killing virus might improve the effectiveness of the virus in battling malignancies, according to a new study.
_ High blood pressure / hypertension Senior Health Diuretics Risky for Older Adults By Sondra Forsyth article Adults over 65 with high blood pressure who have recently begun taking thiazide diuretics are at a greater risk for developing metabolic-related adverse events including acute kidney injury, according to research done at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco. The study was published in June 2014 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
_ Injury Prevention & Treatment Medical Care ThirdAge Health Close-Up: I Fell and Dislocated My Shoulder By Sondra Forsyth article By Sherry Amatenstein, LCSW
Creating Your Backyard Paradise By blog No matter what style you're going for - a visit to the desert, an English garden or a tropical paradise - you can create a backyard escape with the help of container gardens. HereΓÇÖs how: Select a container with drainage holes and one that mimics the color and feel of the location you are trying to recreate. Use troughs, stone or other containers made from neutral colors when growing succulents. The container should complement, but not overpower the simple beauty of the desert plants.
_ Pain Management Getting Rid of Chronic Pain By Jane Farrell article As people age, chronic pain becomes a real problem. In your younger years, you probably had pain for a short while ΓÇô from a broken arm, say, or a bad toothache. But pain can become a constant, unwelcome companion for older people who have age-related illnesses like arthritis, cancer or diabetes. However, though chronic pain often accompanies aging, that doesnΓÇÖt mean itΓÇÖs something you should put up with. DonΓÇÖt delay going to your doctor. Here, from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), are tips on how to talk to your doctor so your pain problem can be solved.
_ Vision Health AMD: Omega-3 Stops Unwanted Blood Vessel Growth By Sondra Forsyth article Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is characterized blood vessel growth, is the primary cause of blindness in the elderly in industrialized countries. The prevalence of the disease is projected to increase 50% by the year 2020. There is an urgent need for new pharmacological interventions for the treatment and prevention of AMD.
_ Facebook and Your Friends' Feelings By Jane Farrell article Reading your Facebook news feed may do more than keep you up to date. It may also influence the emotional state of your status updates ΓÇô and that will affect your friends as well. To reach that conclusion, social scientists at Cornell University, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Facebook, studied the news feed of 689,003 randomly selected Facebook users. In their experiment, they controlled the news feed of the users to add more negative stories or more positive stories.
_ High blood pressure / hypertension Lower BP Not Always Better By Sondra Forsyth article For decades, common medical wisdom has been "the lower the better" in treating the approximately one in three people in this country who have high blood pressure. But does that approach result in reduced risk for dangerous heart events? Not necessarily, according to research done at Wake Forest Baptists Medical Center in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and published in the June 16th online edition of JAMA Internal Medicine.
_ Exercise People Underestimate Intensity of Exercise By Jane Farrell article If you think youΓÇÖre exercising enough, you just might be mistaken, a new study shows. The investigation, by researchers from York University in Toronto, found that many people over-estimate the effort required to work out at a moderate intensity level.
_ Aging Well Discussing Sensitive Subjects With Your Doctor By Sondra Forsyth article Much of the communication between doctor and patient is personal. To have a good partnership with your doctor, it is important to talk about sensitive subjects, like sex or memory problems, even if you are embarrassed or uncomfortable.
_ Bionic Pancreas Outperforms Insulin Pump By Sondra Forsyth article People with type 1 diabetes ΓÇô a lifelong condition -- who used a bionic pancreas instead of manually monitoring glucose using fingerstick tests and delivering insulin using a pump were more likely to have blood glucose levels consistently within the normal range, with fewer dangerous lows or highs. The full report of the findings, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was published June 15th 2014 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
_ Is Medical Marijuana Safe? By Jane Farrell article EditorΓÇÖs note: As of earlier this year, 20 states have legalized the use of marijuana for some serious medical conditions, including cancer, glaucoma and HIV/AIDS. But using medical marijuana isnΓÇÖt a casual decision. Here, the National Institute on Drug Abuse offers (NIDA) offers a briefing on the most controversial medicine of our time: According to NIDA, the term ΓÇ£medical marijuanaΓÇ¥ refers to the whole unprocessed marijuana plant or its crude extracts. The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesnΓÇÖt recognize or approve those substances as medicine.
_ Estrogen May Affect Male Obesity By Jane Farrell article An imbalance of female hormones may contributing to obesity among men in Western nations. In a paper published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers from the University of Adelaide's School of Medical Sciences, in Australia, said that part of the massive weight gain among men could be linked with exposure to substances containing estrogen. "Hormonally driven weight gain occurs more significantly in females than in males, and this is very clear when we look at the rates of obesity in the developing world," said medical student James Grantham, co-author of the study.
_ A New Kind of Drug for Alzheimer's? By Jane Farrell article Researchers have discovered a new drug target to fight AlzheimerΓÇÖs, and the finding could lead to a new diagnostic tool as well. Earlier drugs have long targeted the amyloid protein called plaques, which can cause neurons in the brain to die. But Penn State University researchers have found that another substance, a neurotransmitter known as GABA, could also be implicated in the development of AlzheimerΓÇÖs.