_ Using a Computer to Help Treat Mental Health By Jane Farrell article Experts are developing a genetic computer model that may eventually predict whether a patient going to suffer from a mental illness, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The researchers, from the University of Texas, Arlington; the University of Illinois; and the Beijing Genomics Institutes in Wuhan, China, published their findings in the journal Biomed Research International.
_ Breast Cancer Active Lifestyle Decreases Breast Ca Risk After Menopause By Sondra Forsyth article Postmenopausal women who in the past four years had undertaken regular physical activity equivalent to at least four hours of walking per week had a lower risk for invasive breast cancer compared with women who exercised less during those four years, according to data published in August 2014 inCancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
_ Lack of Vitamin D May Mean High Dementia Risk By Jane Farrell article A deficiency in Vitamin D has been linked to a high risk of AlzheimerΓÇÖs and dementia in older people, according to new research. An international team of investigators studied 1,658 elderly Americans who participated in the Cardiovascular Health Study. They concluded that the participants who were severely deficient in Vitamin D were 125 percent likelier to develop dementia of any kind. People who were moderately deficient in Vitamin D had a 53 percent higher risk. The subjects were followed for six years after the initial assessment.
_ Menopause What to Expect and How to Prepare for Menopause By Sondra Forsyth article By Marni Andrews There are a record number of North American women now entering a new period of their lives, menopause, which marks the official end of their reproductive period. Women are born with a finite number of eggs in their ovariesΓÇöby the time they reach their 50s, the number of fertile eggs has dropped significantly. When the remaining eggs are released, or hormones in the body can no longer stimulate their release, the body enters menopause. This generally happens between the ages of 45 and 55, with the average age being around 51.
_ Breast Cancer Mammography Benefits Women Over 75 By Sondra Forsyth article Mammography-detected breast cancer is associated with a shift to earlier stage diagnosis in older women, subsequently reducing the rate of more advanced, difficult-to-treat cases, according to a study published online in the journal Radiology in August 2014. The researchers said the findings lend support to regular mammography screening in women ages 75 and older.
_ How Safe Are Your Dietary Supplements? By Jane Farrell article WeΓÇÖre bombarded daily by commercials that promise everything from weight loss to sexual fulfillment if we just buy the dietary supplement theyΓÇÖre advertising. But how do we know whether the substance is safe, let alone effective? Here, experts from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) outline what you should know about these supposed curatives:
_ Beauty & Style Hair Watch: Women and Hair Loss By Sondra Forsyth article Here's another addition to our ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning!
The Mini-Cog, A Memory Assessment Tool By blog Have you heard of the ΓÇ£Mini-CogΓÇ¥? I had read about it several years ago but a recent front page feature in the Star Tribune, our major daily newspaper in the Twin Cities, piqued my interest. The story focused on Dr. Michael Rosenbloom, clinical director of the HealthPartners Center for Memory and Aging, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Rosenbloom and his colleagues believe that primary-care physicians are frequently missing signs of cognitive issues in their age 55 and over patients. Instead of relying solely on observation and a short conversation during patient appointments, Dr.
_ Caregiving Telephone Support Helps Dementia Caregivers By Sondra Forsyth article Rhode Island Hospital researchers have found that a support program administered entirely by telephone can significantly reduce depression and other symptoms in informal caregivers, such as family or friends, of individuals with dementia. The study was published in July 2014 online in advance of print in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia.
_ Healthy Diet & Nutrition Menus Trick You Into Choosing Unhealthy Items By Sondra Forsyth article After analyzing 217 menus and the selections of over 300 diners, Cornell Food and Brand Lab study published in July 2014 in the International Journal of Hospitality Management showed that any food item that attracts attention with bold, hightlighted or colored font or set apart in a text box makes people more likely to order it. Unfortunately, according to a release from Cornell, lead author Brian Wansink, author of
_ New Clue to Development of Diabetes By Jane Farrell article Researchers have discovered a mechanism that can eliminate excess quantities of a harmful protein in people with Type 2 diabetes. The discovery sheds light on the accumulation of the protein called islet amyloid polypeptide, or IAPP. That accumulation is linked to the loss of pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin. Researchers from UCLA appear to have found why that happens.
_ Heart Health Women With a Heart Attack Fare Worse Than Men By Sondra Forsyth article While awareness campaigns may be getting women to go to the hospital more quickly during a heart-attack, a new look at hospital data shows women have longer hospital stays and are more likely than men to die in the hospital after a heart attack. For the study published online July 21st 2014 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers from Yale School of Medicine analyzed 230,684 hospitalizations for heart attack in patients age 30 to 54 from a total of 1.1 million hospitalizations reported in a national database from 2001 to 2010.
My FatherΓÇÖs Stay at GodΓÇÖs Hotel: A Slow-Medicine Approach to Healing Mental Illness By blog ItΓÇÖs been a long journey to come to peace with my fatherΓÇÖs life and how it has impacted my own. I was born on December 21, 1943 in New York City. My parents had tried to conceive for many years, but had been unsuccessful. They finally were successful when my father was 37 and my mother was 35 following a procedure where my fatherΓÇÖs sperm was injected mother, a radical approach back then.
_ Breast Cancer Breast Ca Screening for Older Women = High Cost But No Benefit By Sondra Forsyth article Medicare spending on breast cancer screening increased substantially between 2001 and 2009 but the detection rates of early stage tumors were unchanged, according to a study done at Yale and published July 16th 2014 in the JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
_ Money Matters The Documents Every Woman Should Have By Jane Farrell article ThereΓÇÖs more to managing your money than the shoebox filled with crumpled receipts under your bed. According to Patrice C. Washington, Money Maven of the Steve Harvey Morning Show, organizing paperwork and keeping track of financial and legal documents is imperative to your financial well-being. ΓÇ£It is hard to stay on top of your finances if documents are scattered about,ΓÇ¥ Washington says. ΓÇ£On top of that, many women donΓÇÖt know which types of documents they need or even where to start.ΓÇ¥
The Words We Use to Describe Mental Illness: How They Matter By blog We hear the words often - words that imply that a person is a disease and the disease is a person. For example, we may say that someone is a diabetic or a hypertensive. But that's not right. The diabetes and the hypertension (high blood pressure) don't define the person. The person lives with or has diabetes or hypertension. Do you see the difference?
_ New Hope for Alzheimer’s Treatment By Sondra Forsyth article A relatively frequent genetic variant turns out to provide significant protection against Alzheimer's disease and can delay the onset of the disease by as much as four years. That is the finding of research done by Judes Poirier, PhD, C.Q., and colleagues at the Douglas Mental Health Institute and McGill University in Montréal. The discovery opens new avenues for treatment against this devastating disease. Dr. presented the study at the annual Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Copenhagen in July 2014.
_ Kidney Health Supplements & OTCs May Hurt Your Kidneys By Sondra Forsyth article How well are your kidneys working? Unless youΓÇÖve had problems in the past, you probably take for granted that your kidneys are working as they should. But more than one in 10 adults in the United States has kidney disease, and most people who have it donΓÇÖt know it.