Tag: Health A-Z

By Bill Miller M.D.
 
“I'm so nervous, my stomach is all in a knot.”                                       

Being underweight puts people at the highest risk of dying just as obesity does, according to research dome at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and published in March 2014 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health.

A release from the hospital written by Leslie Shepard notes that the connection between being underweight and the higher risk of dying is true for both adults and fetuses. This is so even when factors such as smoking, alcohol use or lung disease are considered, or adults with a chronic or terminal illness are excluded, the study found.

With sales of electronic cigarettes, or "e-cigarettes," on the rise and expected to hit $1.5 billion this year, concerns over potential health risks of using the trendy devices are also gaining momentum and political clout. An article in the March 2014 issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly magazine of the American Chemical Society, delves into what scientists and regulators are doing about e-cigarettes, which are now being cleverly marketed under more appealing names such as hookah pens and vape pipes.

In a study slated to be published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine found that the use of the drug allopurinol was associated with a reduced risk of death in patients with gout. The research suggests that the overall benefit of allopurinol on survival may outweigh the impact of rare serious adverse effects.

By Bradley Bale MD and Amy Doneen ARNP with Lisa Collier Cool

Have you ever wondered why someone could feel perfectly fine and then minutes later have a massive heart attack or stroke that either kills the person or causes a life-long disability? Even more challenging is the concept that some people can go in for a full medical exam, including cholesterol and blood pressure check and a stress test, and be told they are fine only to drop dead of a heart attack days or weeks later. 

If you’ve noticed that you’re less likely now to start yawning when someone else does, you’re not alone. A study from Duke University that was published in the journal PLoS ONE found that “contagious yawning” may decrease with age.

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.

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.

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.

Honey could be a solution to the problem of bacterial resistance to, to research done at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I  and presented in March 2014 at the 247th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Dallas.

A release from the society noted that medical professionals sometimes use honey successfully as a topical dressing but that the researchers predicted it could play a larger role in fighting infections..

Having a big belly has consequences beyond trouble squeezing into your jeans, published in the March 2014 edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The researchers say that a large waist is detrimental to your health, even if you have a healthy body mass index (BMI). The finding come form a new international collaborative study led by a Mayo Clinic researcher found.

The system that allows the sharing of genetic material among bacteria, and therefore the spread of antibiotic resistance has been uncovered by a team of scientists at Birkbeck, University of London and University College London.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have devised a new biochemical technique that will allow scientists to delve much deeper than ever before into the specific cellular circuitry that keeps us healthy or causes disease.

The last decade has seen a remarkable shift in how people use the Internet in relation to their health. This revelation probably won’t come as a surprise to you, given that you’re no doubt a regular visitor to ThirdAge.com and perhaps to other health sites as well. Professor Sue Ziebland, Director of the Health Experiences Research Group at the University of Oxford in the UK presented her findings at the South West Society for Academic Primary Care meeting at the University of Bristolin the UK on March 6th 2014.

As severe winter weather lingers in many areas of the country, you may be thinking ahead to sunnier days when you’ll be able to soak up some rays. Yet here’s even stronger proof that UV rays are hazardous to your health: Researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany have found that skin inflammation following UV irradiation promotes cancer cell spread along blood vessels.

Sprouted garlic with bright green shoots emerging from the cloves is typically considered to be past its prime and usually ends up in the garbage can. However, a study published in February 2014 in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reports that this type of garlic has even more heart-healthy antioxidant activity than its fresher counterparts.

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

Stroke hospitalization and death rates may rise and fall with changes in environmental temperature and dew point, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2014 in San Diego.