healthy living for women + their families
In a landmark study of multiple sclerosis patients, researchers have traced the pattern of cognitive impairment of MS sufferers.
The study, by investigators from the Kessler Foundation and the Cleveland Clinic, followed the patients over 18 years. That length of time allowed researchers a unique insight into the cognitive decline of people who have MS.
Here’s another addition to the ThirdAge video collection. Press play to start learning.
A new study has found important clues about the process the brain uses to “navigate” back to consciousness after being on anesthesia.
Earlier research has revealed some elements of brain activity under anesthesia, but until now there haven’t been any findings on the navigation process out of anesthesia.
When it comes to quitting smoking, older people may be faced with some especially discouraging issues. Maybe they’ve tried to quit – more than once. Maybe they think they’re too old and that the damage has been done. But according to experts, it’s never too late to stop smoking, and to do it successfully.
It’s not that older smokers don’t want to quit. Many of them do, knowing that being smoke-free would have a number of positive results, from the avoidance of serious diseases like stroke and heart disease, to the likelihood of having more money and more energy.
You might have resisted the idea of online shopping for a while, but these days, chances are you’re doing it just like millions of other Americans.
Unfortunately, though, with the convenience of online shopping comes the possibility of fraud. How can you protect yourself and your personal information? The Internet security firm McAfee has some suggestions:
The protein beta-amyloid, long suspected to play a key role in Alzheimer’s, may begin its destructive process by blocking marijuana-like substances in the brain.
A study by researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine focused on the blocking of endocannabinoids in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Endocannabinoids are signaling substances that are the brain’s versions of the psychoactive chemicals in marijuana and hashish.
As a result of the discovery, the investigators are now focusing on the molecular details of exactly how the blocking occurs.
Here’s another addition to the ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning.
By Digestive Health Team, Cleveland Clinic
Everyone has reasons for not getting a colonoscopy. Often, it’s based on misunderstandings – both about the procedure and about colon cancer, says Carol A. Burke, MD, Director of the Center for Colon Polyp and Cancer Prevention in Cleveland Clinic’s Digestive Disease Institute.
People may not realize that colon cancer is one of the most preventable cancers – and that a colonoscopy is a short, mildly uncomfortable test that can save their life.
Women over 65 with non-metastatic breast cancer are likely to follow recommendations for preventive hormone treatment. But non-white women were much less likely to have that therapy.
The women who had the therapy suffered from estrogen-positive breast cancer and were given either an aromatase inhibitor or tamoxifen. Those hormones prevent tumors from using estrogen to fuel growth.
The study was reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
A combination of quit-smoking therapies is more effective than using just one for male smokers and people with a high level of nicotine dependence.
Researchers from Duke Medicine analyzed the outcomes of 349 people who reported smoking ten or more cigarettes per day. The participants were given a six-item questionnaire that measured their level of nicotine dependence. Before they quit, the researchers provided the subjects with a nicotine patch.
It pays to be cautious at any age about taking medications. But it’s especially important for older people, who are likely to have multiple prescriptions. And that, according to the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), can increase the chances of harmful drug interactions.
Cancer is a frightening and even traumatic experience not only for patients but for caregivers. But once diagnosis and treatment are over, people who cared for a loved one may expect to put it behind them and go back to their normal life.
As the National Cancer Institute (NCI) explains, though, that’s not usually the case. Caregivers are faced with a “new normal” that may make life seem more forbidding and uncertain. Here, experts from the NCI take a look at a situation that’s often neglected, and share some strategies for coping:
A device that detects different kinds of strokes in patients could be a lifesaving instrument, according to new research.
Strokefinder, which is placed on a patient’s head, uses microwaves to examine the patient’s brain tissue. The device interprets the findings to determine if the stroke is caused by a blood clot or bleeding. The difference between those two kinds of strokes can be crucial in emergency treatment.
Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, in Sweden, studied 45 patients.
Combining a widely used medication with a cancer-killing virus might improve the effectiveness of the virus in battling malignancies, according to a new study.
As people age, chronic pain becomes a real problem. In your younger years, you probably had pain for a short while – from a broken arm, say, or a bad toothache. But pain can become a constant, unwelcome companion for older people who have age-related illnesses like arthritis, cancer or diabetes.
However, though chronic pain often accompanies aging, that doesn’t mean it’s something you should put up with. Don’t delay going to your doctor. Here, from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), are tips on how to talk to your doctor so your pain problem can be solved.
Reading your Facebook news feed may do more than keep you up to date. It may also influence the emotional state of your status updates – and that will affect your friends as well.
To reach that conclusion, social scientists at Cornell University, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and Facebook, studied the news feed of 689,003 randomly selected Facebook users. In their experiment, they controlled the news feed of the users to add more negative stories or more positive stories.
If you think you’re exercising enough, you just might be mistaken, a new study shows.
The investigation, by researchers from York University in Toronto, found that many people over-estimate the effort required to work out at a moderate intensity level.
Editor’s note: As of earlier this year, 20 states have legalized the use of marijuana for some serious medical conditions, including cancer, glaucoma and HIV/AIDS. But using medical marijuana isn’t a casual decision. Here, the National Institute on Drug Abuse offers (NIDA) offers a briefing on the most controversial medicine of our time:
According to NIDA, the term “medical marijuana” refers to the whole unprocessed marijuana plant or its crude extracts. The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t recognize or approve those substances as medicine.
