Puzzled or intimidated by taking your blood pressure at home? The American Heart Association (AHA) offers the following tips: Be still. Don’t smoke, drink caffeinated beverages or exercise within 30 minutes before measuring your blood pressure. Empty your bladder and ensure at least 5 minutes of quiet rest before measurements. Sit correctly. Sit with your… Continue reading How to Use A Home Blood Pressure Monitor
Tag: effectiveness
A Tale of Two Vaccines
The new shingles vaccine is much better than the old one – but it’s more painful as well. Canadian researchers analyzed 27 clinical studies involving two million patients age 50 or older and found that the new vaccine, Shingrix, was 85 percent more effective in reducing cases of shingles. The research was published by The… Continue reading A Tale of Two Vaccines
Patients Want to Know More About The Medicines They’re Taking
Many patients want more information on the medicines they’re prescribed and are concerned about long-term side effects, according to a new study. The research, from the University of Kent, in the UK, is the first major study of the burden of long-term medicine use. Professor Janet Krska and two other researchers at the university’s Medway… Continue reading Patients Want to Know More About The Medicines They’re Taking
A Crowdsourced App for Exercise
Researchers have created a crowdsourced platform that can rival professional trainers’ apps in effectiveness. The platform, developed at the University of Washington and Seattle University, is called CrowdFit and was presented in a paper at the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Montreal. It relies on nonexperts to create workout regimens… Continue reading A Crowdsourced App for Exercise
Echinacea and The Common Cold
Who doesn’t want to get over an aggravating cold? Some dietary supplements are said to be great at ending the sniffles, but it pays to be cautious when taking them. Here, from the Mayo Clinic, is what you need to know: According to Mayo, research suggests that some echinacea supplements can shorten the length of… Continue reading Echinacea and The Common Cold
Partial Breast Radiation As Effective As Whole Breast Therapy
Women who were diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with a one-week regimen of partial breast radiation after their lumpectomy showed no increase in cancer recurrence or difference in cosmetic results compared to women who received post—surgical radiation of the entire breast for up to six weeks. The two-decade study, conducted by researchers from UCLA,… Continue reading Partial Breast Radiation As Effective As Whole Breast Therapy
Are Costlier Prostate Treatments Really Better?
The cost to treat a benign prostate condition can vary as much as 400 percent, researchers say, and the results were no different. The finding has important implications for health-care costs. Investigators from UCLA analyzed the cost of treatment for a common condition benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). “The rising cost of health care is unsustainable,… Continue reading Are Costlier Prostate Treatments Really Better?