_ Heart Patients Get Too Much Radiation By Jane Farrell article Experts are urging cardiologists to reduce patient radiation because of possible severe risks. The paper, published in the European Heart Journal, said that cardiology accounts for 40 percent of patient radiology and equals more than 50 chest X-rays per person per year.
_ FDA Warning About OTC Laxatives By article The Food and Drug Administration is alerting consumers that over-the-counter laxatives with sodium phosphate, marketed as Fleet, are potentially dangerous if dosing instructions or warnings on the Drug Facts label are not properly followed or when there are certain coexisting health conditions including kidney disease, heart problems or dehydration. People over 55 are also at increased risk. An article on the FDA page for consumers notes that there have been “dozens of reports of serious side effects, including 13 deaths” with these laxatives.
Making Peace with Failure: A Love Story By blog Allegedly, it is life at its best when we are succeeding and life at its worst when we are failing. How do we define success and failure? How do we come to have such a strong attachment to success and a deep aversion to failure? How does our relationship to success and failure define our relationship to life? What is Failure?
_ ICE Your Cell Phone for Cold Weather Safety By article As frigid temperatures continue to affect every state in the union, Visiting Angels -- one of the nation’s largest in-home senior care agencies -- has launched the ICE a Cell Phone Safety Campaign to help people in case of emergency. ICE stands for In Case of Emergency. To ICE your cell phone or the phone a loved one in your care, load emergency contacts with the word ICE in front of the names so that if you’re ever in trouble, people will know who to call.
_ Exercise Injuring Tendons as We Age By article The risk of tendon injuries increases with age but scientists have never fully understood why. Now research led by Queen Mary University of London has discovered a specific mechanism that is crucial to effective tendon function. The finding could reveal why older people are more prone to tendon injury.
_ 5 Treatments Older Adults May Not Need By article By Anne-Marie Botek, Editor-in-Chief of AgingCare.com Overtreatment is a persistent problem among the aging population. Research shows that the more doctors an individual has, the more likely a patient is to be prescribed conflicting medications. Indeed doctors may over treat elderly patients unintentionally.
_ Drugs Protect Against Post-Stroke Damage By article Anticoagulant medications such as Warfarin have long been known to help prevent strokes, but now a large Danish study has shown that the blood thinners can also reduce the risk of death and brain damage when a stroke happens anyway. The research was published in Stroke - Journal of the American Heart Association.
_ Special Focus Issue on Sepsis By article A special issue on sepsis has been released by the publisher of the journal Virulence, Landes Bioscience based in Austin, Texas. The articles were written by world-class investigators and provide new insights into both the pathogen-related factors and the host defense mechanisms that lead to septic shock and contribute either to its resolution or fatal outcome.
_ Cancer Stats 2014: Fewer Deaths By article The annual cancer statistics report from the American Cancer Society show that the cancer death rate has been continuously declining for two decades, from a peak of 215.1 per 100,000 in 1991 to 171.8 per 100,000 in 2010. This 20 percent decline translates to the avoidance of approximately 1,340,400 cancer deaths, 952,700 among men and 387,700 among women, during this time period.
_ Heart Health 5 Reasons Senior Heart Patients Need Exercise By Jane Farrell article Editor’s Note: You might think that the best course is to simply rest if you have heart disease. But doing the right kind of exercise can benefit you in some very substantial ways. Here, the American Council on Exercise and the Cleveland Clinic offer some suggestions to get you going. Remember, though, to talk with your doctor before beginning or resuming any exercise program, and to follow his or her recommendationis for the right exercises for you. 1. Exercise Optimizes Heart Health.
_ Detecting Prostate Ca Overdiagnosis By article Use of a “nomogram,” – a calculating device for prediction – can estimate individual risks that a screen-detected prostate cancer has been overdiagnosed, according to a study done at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and published January 6th 2014 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
_ Why You Should Donate Blood By Jane Farrell article Editor’s note: Many people make a list of New Year’s resolutions, and most of us have difficulty keeping them! But here’s one resolution that’s easy to follow through on: donating blood. Hospitals and patients are in critical need for blood, yet the donation rate is very low.
Metabolic Syndrome: Patients Not Sticking with Diet By article Adherence to dietary recommendations is weak among people suffering from metabolic syndrome or having increased risk for metabolic syndrome, according to the Nordic SYSDIET study led by the University of Eastern Finland. In most cases, patients are still consuming too much salt and saturated fat and too little dietary fiber and unsaturated fat. Not only that, but many of the patients don't have a sufficient intake of vitamin D. The study was published in the journal Food & Nutrition Research.
_ Glaucoma Senior Health Vision Health What You Must Know About Glaucoma By Sondra Forsyth article By Sondra Forsyth In April of 2013, I went for my annual eye exam. I’ve worn glasses or contacts for distance correction ever since elementary school but over the years, other than the usual age-related need for “readers”, I’ve never had any vision problems. This time, though, I saw a look of concern flash across the optometrist’s face when she did the test for ocular pressure. “Is something wrong?” I asked.
_ Heart Health A Patch for Tracking Heart Rhythms By article Research done at the Scripps Translational Science Institute in San Diego has found that a small adhesive wireless device worn on the chest for up to two weeks does a better job detecting abnormal and potentially dangerous heart rhythms than the Holter monitor that has been the standard of care for more than 50 years.
_ Heart Health Survival Tips for Heart-Attack Season By Jane Farrell article Snow shoveling is great exercise, but if you’re over a certain age or have health problems, it could prove deadly unless you protect yourself.
5 Secrets for Saving Your Midlife Marriage By blog “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way.” Charles Dickens could have been talking about mid-life when he wrote A Tale of Two Cities.
Happiness is the Result of Good Boundaries By blog Good boundaries are like locked doors that protect you from intruders. When and why you open your doors is up to you, so you feel safe and happy. If you have poor boundaries, people can barge into your space at any time, causing you to feel anxious and angry.