_ Proposed 2015 Medicare Part C Updates By article Medicare beneficiaries can get greater protections, value, and care in the Medicare services they receive through the proposed policies in March of 2014 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The 2015 Advance Notice and draft Call Letter takes important steps to improve payment accuracy for Medicare Advantage (Part C) for 2015.
_ Women More Competitive Than Men By article True or false: Men are very competitive while women have a tendency to nurture relationships with others. The surprise answer, according to researchers at Harvard and the University of Quebec, is false. Co-authors Richard Wranghamand Joyce Benenson showed that within academic departments, women of different social or professional ranks cooperate with each other less well than men do. The paper was published March 3rd 2014 in the journal Current Biology.
_ Breast Cancer 14 Questions About Your Breast Cancer Diagnosis By article prognosis and medical choices.
The Advantages of Being Disagreeable By blog I am presently reading Malcolm Gladwell’s thought-provoking new book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. There are a number of interesting points in this book, but one section in particular struck me as true. As a young girl growing up in this culture, I was taught to be agreeable. Even though this went against my natural tendencies, I tried my best. Mr.
Exploring the Uplifting Effects of Aromatherapy By blog Think back to the last time you experienced a pleasant smell. Remember how it made you feel? For me the smell of fresh-cut grass puts my mind at ease and instantly relaxes me. The scent of lavender makes me less anxious and ready to fall asleep. I also love the smell of lemon — which reminds me of my mother's lemon pie and summer. These are just a few examples of how scents can have a powerful effect on the mind, influence your mood and lower anxiety.
_ A Simple Weapon Against Bacteria By Jane Farrell article An element in vinegar can kill even highly drug-resistant bacteria, according to a new study. The ingredient, acetic acid, can effectively kill even the stubborn Mycobacterium tuberculosis, an international team of researchers from Venezuela, France, and the US reports in the journal mBio®, of the American Society for Microbiology. Mycobacteria cause tuberculosis, and non-TB mycobacteria are common in the environment, even in tap water, and are resistant to commonly used disinfectants.
_ Body Clock Controls Healing of Hearing Damage By article A discovery at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden paves the way for medication to help people with hearing disabilities. The researchers have identified a biological circadian clock in the hearing organ, the cochlea. This circadian clock controls how well hearing damage may heal.
Caregiving Peace of Mind for Long-Distance Caregivers By article By Marki Flannery Every Sunday, Donna placed a call from her home in Washington D.C. to her Aunt Catherine, to check up on her. At age 87, Catherine lived alone in her longtime Lower Manhattan apartment and, except for an attack of angina a couple years ago, was in relatively good health. Donna asked, as she usually did, about her aunt's weekend and was heartened to hear she had gotten out with friends. "My neighbor's daughter took us to the Metropolitan Museum," Catherine said, sounding uplifted.
Ho'oponopono: Housecleaning for the Soul By blog After practicing Ho'oponopono for almost 10 years, it's obvious to me that the Hawaiians have a wonderful tool for clearing the data so that we can hear that still, small voice within, whether we call it God, the Divine, or Nature. As you practice Ho'oponopono, you clear the data in your sub-conscious (Unihipili), which frees you to hear the path the Divine has waiting for you. The more you clear the lower self of its programming, the more your higher self (Aumakua) can guide your way.
_ Ten Ways To Control High Blood Pressure Without Medication By Jane Farrell article Editor's note: Hypertension is one of the most common, and most serious, health problems. It has the potential to damage vital organs like the brain, heart and kidneys. Millions of people take medications to control their high blood presure, but lifestyle changes are often just as important and can make it possible to handle hypertension without any medicine. Here, experts from the Mayo Clinic offer some non-medicinal ways to control hypertension.
_ Stethoscopes More Contaminated Than DocsΓÇÖ Hands By Jane Farrell article The diaphragm of stethoscopes turned out to be more contaminated than all regions of the physicians’ hand except the fingertips in a study at the University of Geneva Hospitals and published in the March 2014 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Not only that, but the tube of the stethoscope was more heavily contaminated than the back of the physician's hand. Similar results were observed when contamination was due to methicillin-resistant S.aureus (MRSA) after examining MRSA-colonized patients.
_ Disruptive Sleep and Alzheimer's Patients By Jane Farrell article Scientists are coming closer to finding out how Alzheimer’s disrupts sleep patterns, and that could eventually lead to more effective ways to improve sleep among AD patients. People with Alzheimer’s often have poor biological rhythms that result in fragmented sleep as well as agitation in the late afternoon and early evening, a phenomenon known as “sundowning.” But it hasn’t been clear until now whether the biological clock is disrupted or destroyed altogether.
High-Calorie Diet Could Slow Lou GehrigΓÇÖs Disease By Jane Farrell article Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS), commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rapidly progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder affecting the nerve cells that control muscle movement. Patients gradually lose the ability to control the body's muscles, including those that control breathing. This leads to respiratory failure and death on average about three years after patients are diagnosed.
The End of Full-Body Scanners at Airports? By article Standing in a full-body scanner at an airport isn't fun, and the process adds time and stress to a journey. It also raises privacy concerns. Researchers now report in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters a more precise and direct method for using that "terahertz" (THz) technology to detect explosives from greater distances. The advance could ultimately lead to detectors that survey a wider area of an airport without the need for full-body scanners. A release from the American Chemical Soceity, which publishes the journal, notes that R.
_ Mental & Emotional Health Diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder By Jane Farrell article Borderline personality disorder, a serious mental illness, affects six to ten million Americans, according to statistics from New York-Presbyterian Hospital. That’s more than twice the number of people affected by bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. And up to 90 percent of those diagnosed are women; while that may be because women seek treatment more often than men, it’s still a substantial number. Despite its prevalence, borderline personality disorder less widely known than other conditions such as depression.
_ The 12 Habits of Highly Healthy People: #1, Physical Activity By article By Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D. The Mayo Clinic has created a program modeled on the same on that Mayo Clinic employees follow. It’s called "12 Habits of Highly Healthy People." The 12 habits are: 1) Physical activity 2) Forgiveness 3) Portion size
_ Exercise Need Motivation At The Gym? Just Add Music By Jane Farrell article By Joe Vennare, PT We will try anything to get a boost in the gym. Caffeine and pre-workout supplements might do the trick for some, but they come with a host of potential side effects in tow. Other people opt for performance enhancing drugs, legal or otherwise. This probably isn’t the best bet either. Breaking the law seldom is.
_ Dating Is Your Online Profile Too Revealing? By Jane Farrell article By Judith Bitterli Editor’s Note: Internet dating is serious business. According to the Statistics Brain Research Institute, the internet dating scene generated $1.049 billion in revenue for the year 2012. And online dating sites aren’t the only place where potential mates are checking each other out. AVG Technologies, an online security firm, found in a survey that one in three young baby boomers (45-54) were also using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to research a person they might be interested in.