_ Your Right to Your Lab Reports By article As part of an ongoing effort to empower patients to be informed partners with their health care providers, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken action to give patients or a person designated by the patient a means of direct access to the patient’s completed laboratory test reports.
Fatigue Helps You Make Good Health Decisions By Jane Farrell article Researchers say there might be one good thing about being fatigued: we make better health-care decisions when we’re feeling tired and run down. “We proposed that people are more motivated to engage in healthful behavior when they are depleted and perceive their safety to be at stake,” write authors Monika Lisjak, of Erasmus University, and Angela Y. Lee, of the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
Getting Rid of the Apostrophe By blog I was recently invited to a party I was fearful to attend,because I didn’t think I knew a lot of the guests. So when the host, who happens to be a special friend asked, if I would be coming, my response was “I’ll try my best to be there.”
The Best Nutrition for Cancer Patients By Jane Farrell article Nutritional support for cancer patients is more crucial than many of us realize. In fact, an estimated 20 to 40 percent of cancer patients die from malnutrition-related causes. In some ways, that is unfortunately not surprising, given the side effects that usually occur with chemotherapy or radiation. But, according to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), even just a 5 percent weight loss in a month can decrease a patient’s tolerance for treatment, or can alter their treatment plan.
_ In-home Caregiving Extends Patient's Life By Jane Farrell article An in-home program that provided elderly people with counseling and resources increased the time they lived successfully at home, even with dementia and other memory disorders. Most of the participants in the study said they preferred to stay at home. The pilot program, conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, focused on elderly Baltimore residents over a period of 18 months.
_ Marriage Double Dating Keeps Romance Alive By Jane Farrell article Just in time for Valentine’s Day, researchers at Wayne State University in Detroit have found that going on a double date may be more effective at reigniting passion in your own relationship than the classic candlelit dinner for two. That result appears to be because striking up a friendship with another couple in which you discuss personal details of your life will bring you closer to your own partner. The study will be presented the week of February 10th 2014 at the annual conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in Austin, Texas.
_ Beyond Emotional Intelligence By article John Mayer, the University of New Hampshire psychologist who co-developed with Peter Salovey the groundbreaking theory of emotional intelligence popularized by Daniel Goleman in the book “Emotional Intelligence”, has introduced another paradigm-shifting idea.
_ Exercise Better Design for Running Shoes on the Horizon By article If running is your exercise of choice, you may soon have the option of wearing dramatically improved shoes when you train. A study of how foot muscles support the arch of the foot, led by researchers at t he University of Queensland in Australia used retro-reflective skin markers for three-dimensional motion capture on the right foot of each participant. The results were published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface on January 29th 2014.
_ Hemp Oil Could Be Used for Cooking By Jane Farrell article Researchers are well on the way to making hemp oil good for cooking. The experts, from the University of York in the UK, have developed hemp plants with a substantially increased content of oleic acid. That development means hemp oil can now be a cooking oil similar to olive oil. The new oil has a much longer shelf life and can be used for industrial as well as domestic purposes. The research was published in Plant Biotechnology Journal.
Make a Date with Yourself for Valentine's Day By blog Whether you’re married, single or divorced, the Valentine’s Day’s emphasis on romance and the expectations it sparks can create more stress than joy for many people. There can be pressure on Feb. 14 for anyone. The happily single may begin to have doubts; spouses may question the quality of their marital relationship; and for someone who recently experienced a breakup, the holiday can bring nothing but heartache.
_ Age-Related Decline in Motor Skills May Not be Inevitable By Jane Farrell article Researchers have pinpointed a source of age-related motor decline, and that could lead to targeted treatments to deal with the condition. The investigators, from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, discovered evidence that so-called “set points” in the nervous system are not inevitably determined during development but can be “reset” with age.
_ Helping Spinal Cord Patients Breathe on Their Own By article Diaphragm pacing, a system that gained nationwide attention when Raymond Onders, MD of University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Clevelandimplanted the stimulator in actor Christopher Reeve, has now been shown to be successful not only in weaning patients from mechanical ventilators but also in bridging patients to independent respiration. The study, done at the center, was published in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery.
_ Shopping for Health Insurance in the Digital Age By article By Edward Oberg With the introduction of legislation such as Obama Care, The Affordable Care Act, and even DOMA, the world of insurance is in flux and shopping for a new policy is more confusing than ever. This leaves those who remain uninsured and those who have found themselves underinsured with the newly imposed restrictions in quite a quandary. Despite the plethora of new questions these changes pose, luckily there are answers to be had.
_ Financial Issues for Caregivers By article By Hilary Young While caring for a loved one may seem like the better, cheaper alternative to assisted living, there are actually many financial issues to consider. Understanding these issues and knowing how to cope with them is vital because people are now living longer than ever before and many family members will eventually take on the role of caregiver.
6 Little Known Secrets For A Lifetime of Passion and Love By blog Everyone wants a great sex life, but few people know how to achieve that goal and even fewer know how to maintain it in a long-term relationship. Couples try new positions and look for “sexy” things to wear. They try to improve their communication and relationship skills. But to really have a great sex life you have to know the secrets of what it means to be male and female.
_ Breast Cancer Best Tx for Advanced Breast Cancer By article The first large-scale study of whole-genome testing is aimed at identifying the best treatment for women with advanced breast cancer.
_ The Benefits of ΓÇ£TelehealthΓÇ¥ By Sondra Forsyth article “Telehealth”, an approach to saving costs and improving patient care in hospitals, goes far beyond videoconferenced doctor visits, according to researchers at the University of Michigan who conducted the first survery of how broadly web-based technologies are being used nationwide. The team found that 42 percent of U.S. hospitals use some type of "telehealth" approach. The study, published in the February 2014 issue of the journal Health Affairs, breaks down adoption rates by state.