Chances are you won't know you've got a staph infection until the test results come in, days after the symptoms first appear. But what if your physician could identify the infection much more quickly and without having to take a biopsy and ship it off for analysis?
Tag: Health A-Z
Database of “Health Legacy Foundations”
A new database of philanthropic foundations has been created by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The team suggests that consideration of the adoption of the more comprehensive generic term "health legacy foundation" would be a way to foster more precise thinking of the variation in the diverse but related phenomena occurring in health care mergers and other consolidations. The goal of the database is to help communities nationwide better understand local resources.
Video Game Teaches Kids to Call 911 If You’re Having a Stroke
The grandchildren could save your life if you let them play a video game called “The Stroke Hero” that teaches them to recognize stroke symptoms and quickly call 911, according to an article published in in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.
Llama Antibodies Control C. difficile
Antibodies derived from llamas point the way to the development of new treatments for the deadly opportunistic bacterial pathogen Clostridium difficile (C. difficile).That’s the news from researchers from the Alberta Glycomics Centre at the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta in collaboration with researchers at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa. The team has revealed the first molecular views showing how highly specific antibodies derived from llamas may provide a new method for controlling lethal infections from C.
The 7 Hidden Causes of Fatigue
From the Cleveland Clinic
Fatigue can signal anemia, diabetes, hypothyroidism or hepatitis C. But once your doctor rules out major medical causes of fatigue, it’s time to consider hidden ones. "We look for the less obvious roots of fatigue — that’s our job,” says Tanya Edwards, MD, Medical Director of Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Integrative Medicine.
Hidden causes include:
1. A junk food diet
Marine Bacteria Fight Tough Infections
Aggressive infections are a growing health problem all over the world. The development of resistant bacteria is rampant and in the United States, resistant staphylococci cause more deaths than AIDS on an annual basis. Now researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmarare studying a new form of treatment based on marine bacteria. The results have been published in the journal PLOS ONE.
FDA Warning About OTC Laxatives
The Food and Drug Administration is alerting consumers that over-the-counter laxatives with sodium phosphate, marketed as Fleet, are potentially dangerous if dosing instructions or warnings on the Drug Facts label are not properly followed or when there are certain coexisting health conditions including kidney disease, heart problems or dehydration. People over 55 are also at increased risk. An article on the FDA page for consumers notes that there have been “dozens of reports of serious side effects, including 13 deaths” with these laxatives.
Watch: Must-Know Facts About Hemorrhoids
Here's another addition to our ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning!
Special Focus Issue on Sepsis
A special issue on sepsis has been released by the publisher of the journal Virulence, Landes Bioscience based in Austin, Texas. The articles were written by world-class investigators and provide new insights into both the pathogen-related factors and the host defense mechanisms that lead to septic shock and contribute either to its resolution or fatal outcome.
8 Million Lives Saved Since Since Anti-Smoking Warning
A Yale study estimates that 8 million lives have been saved in the United States as a result of anti-smoking measures that began 50 years ago in January of 1964 with the groundbreaking report from the Surgeon General outlining the deadly consequences of tobacco use. The Yale School of Public Health-led analysis is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Watch: Varicose Veins – Fact, Fiction, and a Cure!
Here's another addition to our ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning!
Watch: Medical Information on Your Phone
Here's another addition to our ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning!
Are You or a Loved One “Almost Alcoholic?”
By Judy Kirkwood
A Surgeon’s Tips for Back Pain Treatment
By Judy Kirkwood
Debilitating back pain is the second most common reason Americans visit the doctor. But who should you see when you have back pain and what do you ask?
Having treated thousands of patients, Dr. Burak Ozgur, a combined ortho-neuro spine fellowship-trained double board certified neurosurgeon based in Newport Beach, California, shares his thoughts.
Drug Abuse Among Seniors
By Judy Kirkwood
The problem of older adults abusing prescription and illicit drugs hasn’t gotten enough attention says Dr. Gaya Dowling, acting chief of science policy branch at NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse). “When we think of drug abuse, we think of young people,” says Dowling. But there has been an undeniable rise in the number of patients over 50 who require intervention and treatment. Many more remain in the shadows, undiagnosed.
World No Tobacco Day
May 31st is World No Tobacco Day 2012. If you're still puffing away, in spite of all the dire health warnings about smoking, consider making this the moment you commit to kicking the habit. Do it for yourself, and for those you love. Obviously, they want you to stay well and live long, but remember that you are also putting all those around you at risk by exposing them to secondhand smoke.
Dr. Marie’s Advice About Changes in Your Urine’s Color
ThirdAge medical contributor Marie Savard, M.D. is known for mentioning the unmentionable in order to help you stay healthy. Here, she explains how changes in the color of your urine can be an early sign of a medical disorder. Dr. Marie notes that in her experience, many women are shy about bringing up issues regarding what goes on "down there" and that this can be risky business.
Dr. Marie’s Advice About Bacterial Vaginosis
About 50% of all cases of vaginitis, an inflammation or infection of the vagina, are caused by bacterial vaginosis. If BV is not treated, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pelvic pain and possible infertility. It can also lower your defenses against other infections. However in this digital age, when many women are turning to the Internet rather than see a doctor, a recent study found that fully two out of three women with bacterial vaginosis misdiagnosed themselves when they Googled their symptoms.