Tag: depressive symptoms

Exercise & Light Drinking = Better Vision

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.

 

9 Tips for Emotional Intimacy

By Paul Dunion

When I ask a couple in couples counseling, "So, tell me about the current status of your intimacy,” they inevitably start talking about their sex life. When I proceed to explain I am interested in their emotional intimacy, the male quickly turns his gaze toward his wife and the female typically speaks of the loneliness and isolation she experiences in the marriage. She may not know exactly what, but she does know something is missing in the marriage.

A Discovery That Could Help Control Blood Sugar

Researchers have found that a molecule may help control high blood sugar, and the discovery could lead to new targeted therapies for 25 million Americans who have type 2 diabetes.

Scientists from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center showed that lipid molecules called phosphatidic acids enhance glucose production in the liver. So inhibiting the production of phosphatidic acids could do the opposite, helping to control blood sugar.

Video-Game Technique May Help Avoid Patients’ Falls

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.

Caregiving Challenges: Bathing and Personal Hygiene

By Diane Blum

As Alzheimer’s progresses, poor hygiene can often become more than just an unpleasant issue. It can have medical consequences, such as bacterial infections including UTIs. Gastroenteritis and other health issues can also occur, some quite serious to an immune system weakened as Alzheimer’s progresses.

The Aging Brain Needs REST

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.

Maybe Saturated Fats Aren’t So Bad After All

A study led University of Cambridge in the UK and published March 18th 2014 in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine raises questions about current guidelines that generally restrict the consumption of saturated fats and encourage consumption of polyunsaturated fats to prevent heart disease.

Post-Op Cognitive Dysfunction in the Elderly

Older people in particular tend to suffer from memory lapses and other types of cognitive impairment after undergoing surgical procedures. The condition is call  postoperative cognitive dysfunction, or POCD. Surgery has been performed on older patients much more commonly in recent years than ever before, and their pre- and postoperative care has become an important matter.

Reducing Anxiety? There’s an App for That.

Playing a science-based mobile gaming app for 25 minutes can reduce anxiety in stressed individuals, according to research done at Hunter College in NYC and the City University of New York and published in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The study suggests that "gamifying" a scientifically-supported intervention could offer measurable mental health and behavioral benefits for people with relatively high levels of anxiety.

Get Fit For Free

Getting and staying fit can be intimidating, especially if you don’t want to go to gyms that might make you self-conscious and cost a lot of money. Even at-home equipment can be costly. But you can have an enjoyable fitness routine without spending anything. Experts from the Go4Life fitness program of the National Institutes of Health have some great suggestions:

Five Questions to Ask Your Surgeon Before An Operation

From the Mayo Clinic

The news that you will need surgery can prompt many questions and a lot of anxiety. Beyond details about your medical condition and treatment options, what should you ask your surgeon before the operation? Whatever you need to ask to be comfortable with the decisions you make about your care, says Robert Cima, M.D., a colon and rectal surgeon and chair of Mayo’s surgical quality subcommittee.

Too Many Unnecessary Brain Scans

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.

Androgen Deprivation Therapy Ineffective For Early-Stage Prostate Cancer

Men who got androgen deprivation therapy as the primary treatment in the early stages of prostate cancer didn’t live any longer than those who got no treatment at all, a study shows.

The researchers say that this conclusion, along with the risk of serious side effects such as heart disease and diabetes, “mitigates against any clinical or policy rationale for use of primary androgen deprivation therapy [PADT] in these men.”

Watch: Why Are Doctors Worried About a New Painkiller?

Here's another addition to our ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning!

Suppressing Unwanted Memories

Researchers at the University of Cambridge and the  Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in the UK have shown that suppressing unwanted memories reduces their unconscious influences on subsequent behavior. The team has also shed light on how this process happens in the brain.

Stretchable Antenna for Wearable Health Monitors

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new, stretchable antenna that can be incorporated into wearable technologies such as health monitoring devices to keep track of blood pressure, oxygen in the blood, and pulse rate. The paper is published online in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Smart Tag Flags Spoiled Food & Meds

A color-coded smart tag could tell consumers whether a carton of milk has turned sour or a can of green beans has spoiled without opening the containers, according to researchers at Peking University in Beijing, China. The tag, which would appear on the packaging, also could be used to determine if medications and other perishable products were still active or fresh. The report on the color-changing food deterioration tags was presented on March 17th 2014 as part of the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society in Dallas.

“Bendopnea” = Heart Failure Symptom

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center cardiologists have defined a novel heart failure symptom in advanced heart failure patients: shortness of breath while bending over, such as when putting on shoes. The cardiologists dubbed he condition “bendopnea”, which is pronounced “bend-op-nee-ah”/

The easily detectable symptom can help doctors diagnose excessive fluid retention in patients with heart failure, according to the findings published in a March 2014 edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure.