Preserve community access to diabetes supplies, says pharmacy group
|
|
Backers of a bill that would remove certain diabetes testing supplies from national competitive bidding say it will inject “some sanity” into the program.
Introduced May 6 by Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the Medicare Access to Diabetes Supplies Act would exempt diabetes supplies like strips, monitors and lancets, that are furnished by small community pharmacies, from the bidding program. The Small Business Administration classifies small pharmacies as those with annual sales of $7 million or less.
While nearly three quarters of community pharmacists offer some DME, including diabetes supplies, it typically comprises less than 10% of their business, says John Norton, associate director of public relations for the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA).
The Voices of Thyroid Disease
|
|
Although many people haven’t heard of thyroid conditions like Graves’ disease or Hashimoto’s syndrome, thyroid problems are finally getting more attention.
The thyroid is a tiny gland in the neck that can sometimes make too much or too little of various hormones, causing a host of problems. President George Bush and his wife, Barbara, were both told they had thyroid conditions. In 2007, thyroid problems received the ultimate celebrity endorsement when Oprah Winfrey announced she was suffering from thyroid-related health issues.
In Wednesday’s Patient Voices feature, Karen Barrow, a New York Times producer, shares the stories of six men and women with thyroid disease. You’ll hear from Antonio Richardson, 25, of St. Paul, Minn., who was told he had Graves’ disease, which is rarely found in young men. He channeled his fears into music and now writes rap songs under the name A&R about living with chronic illness.
China scientists find use for cigarette butts
|
|
Chemical extracts from cigarette butts—so toxic they kill fish—can be used to protect steel pipes from rusting, a study in China has found.
In a paper published in the American Chemical Society’s bi-weekly journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, the scientists in China said they identified nine chemicals after immersing cigarette butts in water.
They applied the extracts to N80, a type of steel used in oil pipes, and found that they protected the steel from rusting.
How Nutrition Can Help Avoid a Mood Disorder B
|
|
Good diet is key to anticipate all sorts of bloom issues, about it plays a analytical role in preventing abounding affection disorders including depression. It absolutely did not abruptness me if I would accept an amaranthine bulk of E:mails from my admirers on radio administration their acquaintance of abasement traveling abroad in a abbreviate time afterwards getting on 1,000 mg. of Omega 3’s daily. Diet is key. If you eat awful candy foods, amoroso or alcohol too abundant caffeine, your physique as able-bodied as your academician gets ‘aggravated’ arch to affection disorders or depression. Read on for my account of foods that advice you anticipate this from accident in the aboriginal place.
1. Omega 3’s (fish oil) – is a abundant abode to alpha so accomplish abiding you attending for a acceptable superior Omega 3 angle oil supplement that says enteric coated on the label. This will accomplish it easier to abstract and you will not burp up a ambiguous taste. Of course, cover angle in your diet at atomic alert a week.
Use a Headache Diary to Aid Migraine Headache Treatment
|
|
Migraine sufferers know that the symptoms of migraine headaches can last for hours or even days. Finding a migraine headache treatment is often a priority for sufferers. One strategy for dealing with migraines is to attempt to identify the causes of migraine headaches. This can often be accomplished using a headache diary.
Migraine Triggers
Doctors know that migraines can be triggered by a variety of factors. The Mayo Clinic website lists these factors, which include:
* hormonal changes (in women),
* foods (for example, alcohol, aged cheeses, chocolate, monosodium glutamate, proceeded foods)
* stress,
* sensory stimuli (bright lights or sun glare, loud sounds, strange smells),
* changes in waking and sleeping patterns (too much or not enough sleep),
* physical factors (intense exercise or sexual activity),
* changes in the environment (changes in weather or the barometric pressure), or
* medications.
Effects of weight on kids’ heart rate vary by income
|
|
Overweight children from lower- and middle-income neighborhoods may fall short of their thinner peers in one measure of cardiovascular fitness—but the same may not be true of those from more affluent areas, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that among 480 children and teenagers who underwent treadmill exercise tests, those with a high body mass index (BMI) tended to have a slower heart rate recovery after their workout—but only if they were from lower- or middle-income neighborhoods.
Extra pounds did not generally seem to affect heart rate recovery among kids from the highest-income areas, the study found.
Covenant to host diabetes seminar
|
|
Covenant Health System will host a free community program on “Understanding Diabetes: From Childhood to the Obesity Epidemic” 6:30-7:30 p.m. May 18 in the Knipling Education Conference Center, 21st Street and Louisville Avenue.
The program will be delivered by Chris Shanklin, a family practice physician at Covenant.
Shanklin will speak to participants about diabetes and related health issues.
Waterpipes are popular, especially with young men
|
|
Waterpipe smoking may be gaining in popularity, particularly among young men with some time and money to burn, a study of Canadian college-age adults suggests.
Waterpipes, or hookahs, have long been used for smoking tobacco in the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia, and “hookah lounges” have been increasingly popping up in the U.S. and other Western countries in recent years. Studies suggest they are particularly popular with college students.
In the new study, reported in the journal Pediatrics, researchers found that among 871 Montreal residents between the ages of 18 and 24, 23 percent said they had used a waterpipe in the past year.
The Threat of Childhood Obesity
|
|
Recently, a group of retired military officers who call themselves “Mission: Readiness” released a report claiming that childhood obesity has become “a national security threat,” as more than a quarter of young Americans ages 17 to 24 are too overweight for military service. Sharing the concerns raised by first lady Michelle Obama, who has her own campaign to promote nutrition and healthy practices among youth, these ex-military men called on Congress to pass legislation aimed at improving school lunch programs and providing school-based resources to combat obesity. U.S. News asked William Dietz, a medical doctor and pediatrics expert who directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, to discuss the nation’s problems with childhood obesity and what parents can do to encourage healthy choices by their children. Excerpts:
How serious is childhood obesity in America right now?
I would say it’s a highly significant problem. About 17 percent of children and adolescents are affected. As they grow into adulthood, we can anticipate that, if obesity persists, then every major system in the body is affected. We also know that about 10 percent of the national healthcare budget is spent on obesity and its related problems. It’s quite clear that, if we don’t control obesity, we’re going to have a hard time controlling medical costs more generally.
Eliminating the source of asthma-causing immune molecules
|
|
Asthma and other allergic diseases are caused by inappropriate immune responses. Soluble IgE molecules, produced by immune cells known as B cells, are key immune mediators of these diseases. Therapeutic targeting of IgE in the blood can neutralize its effects and is an effective treatment for moderate-to-severe allergic asthma.
However, this approach does not halt IgE production and patients need to be treated repeatedly. But now, a team of researchers, at Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, has developed a way to specifically eliminate IgE-producing B cells, providing a potential new long-lasting therapeutic approach to treating asthma and other allergic diseases.
IgE-producing B cells express on their surface an IgE molecule that is slightly different to the IgE molecules that they secrete. The team, led by Lawren Wu, generated a therapeutic molecule known as a monoclonal antibody that targets the portion of human IgE that is contained in IgE molecules on the surface of B cells but not in IgE molecules in the blood.
By 2030, cardiovascular disease and death rates in China will surge
|
|
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and death rates will surge in China by up to 73 percent by 2030, due to aging, smoking, high blood pressure and other risk factors, according to research reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.
“China is a prime example of a middle income nation in transition. The country’s standard of living and life expectancy have improved for many, but aging, dietary changes and less physical activity are leading to more heart disease and stroke,” said lead author Andrew Moran, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, N.Y. “Our study used a computer model to forecast future cardiovascular disease in Chinese adults, and is the first to project the individual and combined effects of major risk factor trends on a national scale.”
Moran and colleagues reviewed risk factor surveys of Chinese adults, ages 35-84, since economic reforms in the 1980s, and used them to project future trends in blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, diabetes and body weight.
Canadian C-spine rule could help trauma patients, ease overcrowding in emergency departments
|
|
Widespread use of the Canadian C-spine rule by triage nurses in emergency departments would ease discomfort of trauma patients and improve patient flow in overcrowded emergency departments in Canada and abroad, according to a study (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj091430.pdf in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) http://www.cmaj.ca.
A clinical decision rule called the Canadian C-spine rule, which helps clinicians with diagnostic or therapeutic decisions, was previously developed for c-spine evaluation. It was designed to help physicians “clear” the c-spine without radiography and to decrease immobilization time. If nurses were also able to follow this clinical decision rule, it could improve trauma care efficiency in Canadian hospitals.
Canadian emergency departments annually treat 1.3 million patients with blunt force trauma from falls or vehicle accidents and who are at risk of injury to the cervical spine. Most of these patients are alert and their conditions stable. Less than 1% have C-spine fractures.
Can a Mother’s Voice Spur Recovery From a Coma?
|
|
Karen Schroeder’s voice, recorded on a CD, reminded her son, Ryan, of his 4-H project when he was 10 and decided to raise pigs. “You bid on three beautiful squealing black and white piglets at the auction,” she said softly. “We took them home in the trunk of our Lincoln Town Car, because we didn’t have a truck.”
Recordings from Ryan’s mother, father or sister were played through headphones for him four times a day. They were part of a new clinical trial investigating whether repeated stimulation with familiar voices can help repair a coma victim’s injured brain networks and spur his recovery.
In January 2009, Ryan, a 21-year-old college student from Huntley, Ill., was in a coma after he had been flung from his snowmobile into a tree during an ice storm. He had a traumatic brain injury; the fibers of his brain had been twisted and stretched from the impact.
Obama touts healthcare in new bid to ease doubts
|
|
President Barack Obama on Saturday touted the benefits of his healthcare overhaul, renewing a bid to counter Republican criticism and ease public doubts more than a month after he signed reform into law.
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama made clear he would keep up his campaign to promote the healthcare revamp, which is already shaping up as key issue in the campaign for pivotal congressional elections in November.
“While it will take some time to fully implement this law, reform is already delivering real benefits to millions of Americans,” Obama said. “Already, we are seeing a healthcare system that holds insurance companies more accountable and gives consumers more control.”
Cancer report energizes activists, not policy
|
|
A cancer report that concludes Americans are under constant assault from carcinogenic agents has heartened activists, who hope that finally government and policymakers will pay attention to their concerns.
But the report from the President’s Cancer Panel on Thursday has underwhelmed most mainstream cancer experts and drawn only a puzzled response from the White House. Even members of Congress who usually are eager to show they are fighting to protect the public have been mostly silent.
Cancer experts say for the most part that we already know what causes most cases of cancer and it’s not pollution or chemicals lurking in our water bottles. It’s tobacco use and other unhealthy behaviors, says Dr. Graham Colditz of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
