Monitoring Reactions to AD Risk Status By article A new clinical trial will begin soon at the University of Pennsylvania to test whether early medical intervention in people at risk for Alzheimer's can slow down progression of disease before symptoms emerge. As part of the overall prevention trial, Penn Medicine neurodegenerative ethics experts will monitor how learning about their risk of developing Alzheimer's impacts trial participants. The trial was outlined in March 2014 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
_ PCPs Must Know More About Menopause By article According to Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Women's Health, "It is essential that new curricula be developed to train internists in the core competencies needed to manage menopausal symptoms."
_ Vision Health Exercise & Light Drinking = Better Vision By article Get moving and raise a glass now and then if you want to stave off the kind of vision problems that can’t be corrected with lenses. That’s what the results of a study done at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health suggest. The team found that a physically active lifestyle and occasional drinking are associated with a reduced risk of developing visual impairment. The article was published online in March 2014 in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
_ Video-Game Technique May Help Avoid Patients' Falls By Jane Farrell article A device using technology similar to that found in video games may eventually help health care practitioners monitor and even prevent falls among hospital patients. Between 700,000 and 1 million people each year fall in U.S. hospitals, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. All patients are at higher risk of falls because they are sick or injured. Falls are especially serious for older patients.
_ The Aging Brain Needs REST By article Researchers at the Harvard Medical School have discovered that a gene regulator called REST, which is active during fetal brain development, switches back on later in life to protect aging neurons from stresses including the toxic effects of abnormal proteins. The team also showed that REST is lost in critical brain regions of people with Alzheimer's and mild cognitive impairment.
_ Too Many Unnecessary Brain Scans By Jane Farrell article The cost of brain scans for headache patients has reached $1 billion annually, a study has found. But many of the scans are unnecessary. Research from the University of Michigan Medical School found that 12 percent of doctor visits in the U.S. for headache resulted in a brain scan. Several national guidelines for physician advise against scanning the brains of patients who complain of headache and migraine. Still, the rate of brain scans is rising, not falling, since the guidelines were issued.
Heart Health New "Heart Attack Gene" Discovered By Jane Farrell article Researchers have found a previously undiscovered gene variation that reduces heart attack risk, and the discovery could lead to better treatment of high cholesterol and related disorders. The finding, by a team from the University of Michigan and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, took six years of analysis.
Tracking a SuperbugΓÇÖs Evolution By Jane Farrell article Using genome sequencing, National Institutes of Health scientists and their colleagues have tracked the evolution of the antibiotic-resistant bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 258 (ST258), an important agent of hospital-acquired infections. While researchers had previously thought that ST258 K. pneumoniae strains spread from a single ancestor, the NIH team showed that the strains arose from at least two different lineages.
_ Exercise Muscle Mass May Mean Longer Lifespan By Jane Farrell article Being stronger may equal a longer lifespan, according to new research. The findings, by researchers from UCLA, indicate that the more muscle mass older Americans have, the less likely they are to die prematurely. The study, published in the American Journal of Medicine, was led by Dr. Preethi Srikanthan, an assistant clinical professor in the endocrinology division at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. It seems to support a growing body of research that muscle mass may be a better predictor of all-cause mortality than the Body Mass Index (BMI).
_ When Medicine Does More Harm Than Good By Jane Farrell article About 20 percent of older Americans with chronic conditions are taking medicines that work against each other, according to a new study. In other words, the medication being used to treat one condition can make another condition worse. The problem affects millions of Americans, since three out of four older adults have multiple chronic conditions.
_ Reducing Falls Among the Elderly By article A low-cost program reduced falls in the elderly by 17 percent statewide in Pennsylvania, according to a study done at University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health available online in March 2014 and slated to be published in the May 2014 issue of the American Journal of Public Health The researchers demonstrated the value and effectiveness of using existing aging services such as senior centers in preventing falls.
_ Magnet Hospitals = Higher Quality of Care By article The Magnet Recognition Program operated by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, which recognizes healthcare organizations that provide excellence in nursing.
_ Heart Health Key Heart Failure Culprit Discovered By article A team of cardiovascular researchers from at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in NewYork and the University of California, San Diego have identified a small but powerful new player in the onset and progression of heart failure. Their findings, published in the journal Nature on March 12th 2014, also show how they successfully blocked the newly discovered culprit to halt the debilitating and chronic life-threatening condition in its tracks.
Lessons From Managing Geriatric Patients By article A large team of experts led by a Johns Hopkins geriatrician reports that efforts to improve the care of older adults and others with complex medical needs will fall short unless public policymakers focus not only on preventing hospital readmission rates, but also on better coordination of community-based "care transitions." Lessons learned from managing such transitions for older patients, they say, may offer a framework for overall improvement.
_ Healthy Food Sells Well at Concession Stands By article A University of Iowa-led study came to a surprising and encouraging conclusion: Concession stands can benefit financially from offering healthy foods instead of just junk food, Beyond that, consumers are pleased to have the helathy choices available. A release from the university reports that in the fall of 2008, researchers asked the booster club in Muscatine, Iowa to add healthy foods such from apples and string cheese to its concessions menu while also putting healthier ingredients in big sellers like nachos and popcorn.
_ A New Understanding of Metastasis By Jane Farrell article In their deadly journey through the body, cancer cells travel much more efficiently than had been previously thought, a new study shows. Researchers, whose findings were reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, developed a new mathematical formula that they say better reflects the behavior of cells as they travel through 3-D environments.
Best Practices for Successful Online Dating at Midlife and Beyond By blog Online dating can be intimidating, especially for those of you who have been out of the dating game for a while. You may wonder if it’s safe, how comfortable you feel competing in such an open forum, how you will handle potential rejection, or how you will feel if you don’t any attention at all. All these concerns are valid. You no doubt feel more vulnerable than you did at 16. Here are my best practices for successful online dating. 1) Do keep it light
_ Breast Cancer Subtyping Breast Ca to Identify High Risk Women By article A University of South Florida-led study has refined a personalized approach to breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. A release from the university explains that a method called molecular subtyping can help doctors better determine which of their breast cancer patients are at high risk of getting breast cancer again. This sophisticated genetic profiling of an individual's specific tumor offers an additional resource to help identify patients who would most benefit from chemotherapy and those who would not.