_ Aging Well More Proof Protein Is Good as We Age By Sondra Forsyth article On March 5th 2014, I posted an item on ThirdAge.com that dealt with the misleading title of a press release that went viral: “Meat and cheese may be as bad as smoking”. The study the release referred to actually showed that for people over 65, animal protein is protective.
_ Fillers Can Cause Bacterial Infections By article Many people have fillers injected into their facial tissue to give them “bee-stung lips” or to smooth out their wrinkles. Unfortunately, a lot of cosmetic treatment customers experience unpleasant side effects in the form of tender subcutaneous lumps that are difficult to treat and which - in isolated cases - have led to lesions that simply will not heal.
_ 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.
_ Solving The Lithium Problem By Jane Farrell article A safer form of lithium is on the horizon, researchers say. The drug, one of the most widely used to treat bipolar disorder has a serious drawback of toxicity. But investigators from the University of South Florida discovered that an oral variation, lithium salicylate, maintains steady levels of the drug for up to 48 hours without the toxic “spike” that happens with the rapid absorption of FDA-approved lithium carbonate. Their study results appear in RSC Advances, the journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
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.
_ Smart Phone Could Help Doctors to Diagnose Illness By Jane Farrell article Along with all their other functions, smart phones may soon be able to diagnose diseases in real time. Researchers from the University of Houston are developing a diagnostic system that could be read using only a smart phone and a $20 lens attachment. This new device, like essentially all diagnostic tools, relies on spotting specific chemical interactions between something that causes a disease – a virus or bacteria, for example – and a molecule that bonds with that one thing only, like a disease-fighting antibody.
_ Docs Not Sure Which Tests to Order By article A survey of primary care physicians suggests they often face uncertainty in ordering and interpreting clinical laboratory tests, and would welcome better electronic clinical decision support tools. The results of the survey, done at the University of Illinois in Chicago and sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were published in the March-April 2014 issue of The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
_ Exercise Good News for Lifelong Exercisers By article Along with its salutary effects on the heart, weight, and other facets of health, physical activity also helps to regenerate muscle mass, which tends to diminish as people age. That’s the finding of research done at the University of Utah and other institutions published in the March 6th 2014 in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine.
_ A Blood Test for Alzheimer's By Jane Farrell article There’s an Alzheimer’s blood test now – a procedure that can detect whether a healthy person will develop mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s within three years. The test has a 90 percent accuracy rate. Described in the April issue of Nature Medicine, the test could lead to the development of treatment for early-stage Alzheimer’s, when therapy would be more effective at slowing or preventing onset of symptoms.
_ Women's Health and Wellness New Theory on the Cause of Endometriosis By article Changes to two previously unstudied genes are the centerpiece of a new theory regarding the cause and development of endometriosis, a chronic and painful disease affecting 1 in 10 women.
_ How Antibiotic Resistance Spreads By article The system that allows the sharing of genetic material among bacteria, and therefore the spread of antibiotic resistance has been uncovered by a team of scientists at Birkbeck, University of London and University College London.
_ Aging Well Driving? Better Not Drink -- At All By Jane Farrell article For older drivers, as little as one drink may be too much, according to new research. Investigators from the University of Florida analyzed how drinking legally non-intoxicating levels of alcohol affect the driving skills of people aged 25 to 35 and those aged 55 to 70.
Clues to the Mystery of Disease By article Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have devised a new biochemical technique that will allow scientists to delve much deeper than ever before into the specific cellular circuitry that keeps us healthy or causes disease.
_ Hope for TX for Brain Disorders & Pain Issues By article Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA and at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN have created the most detailed 3-D picture yet of a membrane protein that is linked to learning, memory, anxiety, pain, and brain disorders such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and autism. The research, which focuses on the mGlu1 receptor, was reported in the March 6th, 2014 issue of the journal Science.
_ Avoiding Hospital Readmission After Surgery By Jane Farrell article Patients with post-surgical complications are likelier to be readmitted within 30 days than are those that don’t have the complications, according to a study published in JAMA Surgery. The research also found that using a simple online tool can help health-care practitioners predict which patients are at high risk of readmission.
_ Screening for Sickle Cell Trait Needed By article Researchers at Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine say the time is long past due to use current scientific data and technical advances to reduce the burden of sickle cell disease (SCD). Sickle Cell Trait (SCT) is estimated to affect 3 million people in the US: approximately 8 percent of African Americans and .5-3 percent of Hispanics. The inexpensive identification of the mutated hemoglobin and the technical capacity to screen populations have been known for decades.
Men's Health A Potentially Life-Saving Molecule By Jane Farrell article Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center may have discovered a way to potentially shut down the growth of prostate cancer cells. Dr. Ralf Kittler, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, studies ERG, a protein that facilitates the transformation of normal prostate cells into cancer cells. He and fellow investigators found that a molecule called WP1130 can ultimately lead to the destruction of ERG. “We now have a target that we could potentially exploit to develop a drug for treatment,” Kittler said in a statement.