_ Pain Management Beating Pain with Mindfulness Training By article A new intervention called Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement, or MORE, trains people to respond differently to pain, stress and opioid-related cues University of Utah researcher Eric Garland developed the treatment, which has been shown to not only lower pain but also decrease prescription opioid misuse among chronic pain patients. The study was published published online February 3rd 2014 in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
_ WhatΓÇÖs the Difference Between Prebiotics and Probiotics? By Jane Farrell article By Dr. Victor Marchione Many people are confused by the words “prebiotic” and “probiotic” and rightly so. They sound nearly the same and both have something to do with digestion. However, each has a very specific role to play in the body and each offers different benefits in terms of your health. Let’s take a closer look.
_ Breast Cancer Biennial Mammograms Just as Good as Annual Ones? By Jane Farrell article The adoption of guidelines calling for mammograms every two years for women age 50 to 75 would yield effective breast screenings and save the United States $4.3 billion a year in health care costs, a new study said.
Exercise Video Improves Post-Stroke Exercise Results By article About 80% of stroke survivors experience a condition called hemiparesis that causes weakness or the inability to move one side of the body. Core stabilization exercise to improve postural stability and independent walking in chronic hemiparetic stroke patients could be enhanced by real-time video feedback, according to research done at Sahmyook University in the Republic of Korea and published in the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.
_ Fast, Cheap Way to Detect Staph Infections By article Chances are you won't know you've got a staph infection until the test results come in, days after the symptoms first appear. But what if your physician could identify the infection much more quickly and without having to take a biopsy and ship it off for analysis?
_ Quality of Memories Trumps Quantity By article The capacity of the working memory is better explained by the quality of memories we can store than by their number, according to research done at New York University and published in the journal Psychological Review.
Determining Severity of Rotator-Cuff Injuries By article About 90 percent of people over 60 years old have rotator-cuff disease. A new ultrasound probe that has been developed at Clemson University in South Carlina could take some of the guesswork out of determining the severity of rotator-cuff injuries, making it easier for doctors to decide whether patients need surgery. Rotator-cuff injuries are the second highest-costing disease in the country, behind only back injuries.
_ After Antibiotics Stop Working, What's Next? By Jane Farrell article By Paul DiCorleto, Ph. D. Each year in the United States, 23,000 people die from drug-resistant bacterial infections. Antibiotics, designed to fight infections, have been one of the greatest medical advances of the past 100 years. But many health experts warn that we are entering a postantibiotic era, where drug-resistant “superbugs” threaten our health and economy. Our behavior — how we use antibiotics and antibacterial products — may be part of the problem. How superbugs survive
_ Weight Loss Weight Loss and Weekend Splurges By Jane Farrell article If you want to lose weight, eating well during the week may be more important than avoiding weekend splurges. Researchers from Cornell University, in collaboration with researchers from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Tampere University of Technology, examined the impact that the seven-days-a-week human cycle has on weight.
_ Database of ΓÇ£Health Legacy FoundationsΓÇ¥ By Jane Farrell article A new database of philanthropic foundations has been created by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The team suggests that consideration of the adoption of the more comprehensive generic term "health legacy foundation" would be a way to foster more precise thinking of the variation in the diverse but related phenomena occurring in health care mergers and other consolidations. The goal of the database is to help communities nationwide better understand local resources.
_ Caregiving Doesn't Cause Depression By Jane Farrell article A caregiver’s depression appears to be related to family and genetic factors more than the difficulty of the caregiving itself, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Washington analyzed 1,228 female twins. Some were caregivers and some were not. When it comes to life's stressors, most people would put caregiving at the top of the list. But according to Peter Vitaliano, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at UW, there never have been data actually showing caregiving causes psychological distress.
_ Video Game Teaches Kids to Call 911 If YouΓÇÖre Having a Stroke By Jane Farrell article The grandchildren could save your life if you let them play a video game called “The Stroke Hero” that teaches them to recognize stroke symptoms and quickly call 911, according to an article published in in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.
_ Some Women May Need More Hormone Therapy By Jane Farrell article Researchers have found that for a substantial percentage of women, moderate to severe hot flashes last up to ten years or more after menopause, and that may mean hormone therapy should be prescribed for a longer period of time. Investigators from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine discovered that for most women, moderate to severe hot flashes continue, on average, for just five years after menopause, but more than one third of women have hot flashes for a decade or beyond.
Llama Antibodies Control C. difficile By article Antibodies derived from llamas point the way to the development of new treatments for the deadly opportunistic bacterial pathogen Clostridium difficile (C. difficile).That’s the news from researchers from the Alberta Glycomics Centre at the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta in collaboration with researchers at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa. The team has revealed the first molecular views showing how highly specific antibodies derived from llamas may provide a new method for controlling lethal infections from C.
_ Slow Reaction Time Can be Deadly By Jane Farrell article Having a slow reaction time can be fatal: a new study shows that people who have that in midlife increase their risk of death 15 years later. The findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE. Researchers from University College London and the University of Edinburgh looked at statistics from more than 5,000 participants (age 20 to 59). The figures were collected from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-III) in the US.
_ Men's Health Testosterone Tx Ups Heart Attack Risk at Any Age By article Previous studies have shown that testosterone therapy raises the risk of heart attacks in men over 65 but new research has found an increased risk of cardiovascular events even when men using the therapy are under 65. Yet as a result of a ubiquitous advertising campaign for testosterone gel and patches, sales of Androgel exceeded those for Viagra in 2013.
Blood Test to Find Your Anti-Aging Diet By article In this age of commercial gene sequencing, a simple blood test might tell you which diet would give you the best chance for longevity. That’s the contention of researchers who discovered a genetic mechanism linking aging to specific diets. The study was done at the University of Southern California and published in the January 2014 issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.
_ Improving Ultrasound for Cancer Detection By Jane Farrell article Researchers have made a breakthrough in the use of ultrasound to detect and monitor cancer, and the discovery could provide a safer method than the ones already in use. Ultrasound has some advantages over other detection and monitoring methods such as X-rays, CT scans and MRIs: It’s less expensive and is radiation-free. But it hasn’t provided as clear an image as have the other methods.