Health Arthritis

“FDA Limits Acetaminophen in Prescription Combination Products Including Arthritis Painkillers - About - News & Issues” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2011-01-14T20:16:00.001-08:00

“FDA Limits Acetaminophen in Prescription Combination Products Including Arthritis Painkillers - About - News & Issues” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

FDA Limits Acetaminophen in Prescription Combination Products Including Arthritis Painkillers - About - News & Issues

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 04:00 PM PST

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is asking manufacturers of prescription combination products that contain acetaminophen to keep the upper limit of acetaminophen in each tablet or capsule to 325 milligrams. Manufacturers are also required to update labels of all prescription combination acetaminophen products to warn of the potential risk for severe liver injury.

Arthritis patients may more easily recognize acetaminophen by its brand name, Tylenol. Acetaminophen is the generic equivalent of Tylenol. The actions the FDA is taking for prescription combination acetaminophen products do not affect over-the-counter acetaminophen products. So, over-the-counter extra-strength Tylenol or acetaminophen will still be sold as pain and fever medication, as will over-the-counter cough and cold medications that contain acetaminophen.

The new limit of 325 mg. acetaminophen per tablet or capsule only applies to prescription combination products. What's a prescription combination product in this case? A prescription combination product requires a prescription from your doctor to purchase -- and the drug contains acetaminophen combined with another ingredient. Opioids such as codeine (Tylenol with Codeine), oxycodone (Percocet), and hydrocodone (Vicodin) are examples. Propoxyphene-APAP (Darvocet) was also an example, but it was taken off the market in November 2010.

According to the FDA, the change will be phased in over three years and should not create a shortage of pain medication. The FDA believes that prescription combination products containing no more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per tablet are still effective for treating pain and will be safer. But there is no immediate danger and you do not need to stop taking the aforementioned opioids cold turkey -- which could itself cause problems if you stopped suddenly.

The risk of liver injury has long been a concern for patients taking multiple products containing acetaminophen together -- or for those who exceeded the maximum dose of 4000 mg. in a 24-hour period. Do you feel like this is a necessary move by the FDA or that chronic pain patients are paying a price because of people who don't follow drug precautions?

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Spirituality and Health: Getting to the Soul of the Matter - Albany Times Union (blog)

Posted: 14 Jan 2011 03:05 AM PST

[fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content]

We smiled, embraced, met eye to eye, heart to heart, and went on our separate ways. Spiritual wounds are often overlooked in the context of health care encounters. Spiritual wounds do not appear on x-rays nor can they be picked up on blood testing.

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“Top 5 Health Benefits of Folate - NewsMax.com” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2011-01-13T19:09:00.001-08:00

“Top 5 Health Benefits of Folate - NewsMax.com” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Top 5 Health Benefits of Folate - NewsMax.com

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 08:14 AM PST

Thursday, 13 Jan 2011 11:18 AM

Folate or folic acid, commonly known as vitamin B-12, plays a vital role in many bodily functions, including cell repair and maintenance, DNA synthesis, amino acid metabolism, and the formation of leukocytes and erythrocytes. It prevents obesity and various cancers, including colon cancer, as well as preventing heart disease.

Here are the top 5 health benefits of folate:

1. Fetal development

Erythrocyte production - the adequate and appropriate development of an unborn child's brain and spinal cord - is dependent on foods rich in folate. A lack of folate during pregnancy can lead to gaps in the development of the spinal cord, which can result in paralysis, brain damage, or a stillborn child.

2. Production of red blood cells

Folate is key in the development of red blood cells or erythrocytes. A lack of this compound can make the body susceptible to cancer. In addition, the body's defense mechanism, the white blood cells, are also manufactured in the presence of folate supplements.

3. Thwarting heart disease

Folic acid supplements also help the heart stay healthy and function optimally. Folate deficiency can lead to an increased risk of heart disease, coronary complications, and strokes in patients. In the U.S., after bread and cereal companies were asked to add vitamin B12 to their products, the rate of heart disease and stroke decreased by about 15 percent. Folic acid also helps remove homocysteine, a toxic compound that can lead to severe artery damage if not eliminated from the blood.

4. Helps in depression

Several studies have indicated that folate supplements can reduce depression. A deficiency may cause an increased risk of depression and dementia.

5. Helps keep brain young

Adequate folate levels are necessary for proper brain functioning. Studies have shown that folate benefits the brain by slowing down the effects of aging.

Folate food sources

Good dietary sources of folate include: green leafy vegetables like spinach and broccoli, bananas, strawberries, oranges, tomatoes, asparagus, legumes, yeast, cereals, mushrooms, fish, eggs, poultry, meat (specifically organs like liver and kidneys), and dairy.

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Study: Consumers Not Fazed by DNA Health Results - FOX News

Posted: 13 Jan 2011 04:54 AM PST

NEW YORK – Consumers who get their DNA tested for health risks take the results in stride, says the first major study of how people react to commercial genetic testing.

But getting that assessment for a bunch of diseases didn't inspire customers to eat better or exercise more, the researchers found.

Companies have offered "direct-to-consumer" genetic testing for several years, taking saliva samples from customers, analyzing the DNA and delivering a risk report for a series of diseases.
Critics say the results can be inaccurate, that DNA currently tells too little about an individual's disease risk to be useful, and that the information might make people unduly anxious.

The new study surveyed the reactions of about 2,000 customers about five months after they got the test results. It didn't assess the accuracy of the commercial test used.

The DNA test covered 22 conditions including Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, glaucoma, obesity and lung, breast and prostate cancers.

Participants showed no sign of significant anxiety from the results, which senior author Dr. Eric Topol found "very reassuring." The paper was published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

"We don't give consumers enough credit for the fact they can handle this type of information load about themselves," said Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, Calif.

But neither did they cut down on fat in their diets — a common recommendation for several of the conditions tested for — or boost their exercise.

"That was very disappointing," Topol said. "Our conclusion is it's very hard to change behavior."

That might change in the future, when more DNA research will allow companies to identify people at sharply higher risk than they can indicate now, he said.

Researchers also asked the participants about getting follow-up medical tests for conditions highlighted by their DNA reports. Overall, there was no statistically meaningful indication that the DNA results had made participants get medical tests. But Topol said there was a hint of such an effect, most clearly for glaucoma and prostate cancer.

Only about half the participants said they'd seek medical testing in the future because of their DNA results. But the results indicated that being found at risk for some illnesses, including colon and breast cancer, encouraged people to say they wanted to get tested for them someday.

Topol called that result striking, although he noted, "We just don't know whether they're going to go through with it."

The study was financed by the federal government and by Scripps Health, a private health care organization. Because of stipends provided by the researchers, study participants on average paid less $250 for the Navigenics Inc., test, which cost $2,500.

Experts unconnected with the work praised the study.

"They've made an important contribution here," said Dr. Robert C. Green of Boston University, who studies how people react to their genetic risks.

Green said the new work addresses some contentious questions about DNA testing. It shows that on average there was no increase in anxiety, for example, and no costly, mass stampede to get medical testing by people with only a modest increase in disease risk.

While it doesn't rule out the idea that DNA tests can motivate people to change their lifestyle, it provides important data on that as well, he said.

The researchers said the sample doesn't reflect the general population, but rather those who order DNA tests from companies. They are likely to have higher levels of education and socio-economic standing than the general population and be focused on improving their health, Green said.

Dr. Muin Khoury, director of the Office of Public Health Genomics at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the work is "the first of many, many studies to come. It's the kind of study you need to do. I'm glad they did it."

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“State Mental Health Failings Cause Arizona-Like Rampages - NewsMax.com” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2011-01-12T19:43:00.000-08:00

“State Mental Health Failings Cause Arizona-Like Rampages - NewsMax.com” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

State Mental Health Failings Cause Arizona-Like Rampages - NewsMax.com

Posted: 12 Jan 2011 10:39 AM PST

Wednesday, 12 Jan 2011 01:41 PM

By Charles J. Little

The Arizona rampage and massacres like it are on the rise because of a decades-long deterioration in mental health care provided by the states, a psychiatrist writes in The Wall Street Journal. E. Fuller Torrey, a schizophrenia researcher and author, writes that these "increasingly common" violent outbursts have roots in the 1960s, when states began shuttering mental hospitals en masse to save money but left released patients with too few options for continued treatment.

"By the 1980s, the results were evident — increasing numbers of seriously mentally ill persons among the homeless population and in the nation's jails and prisons," Dr. Torrey writes.

A small but significant number of those people, not all of them homeless or incarcerated, pose a threat of harm to others. Dr. Torrey describes the Arizona shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, as a likely case in point — a product of untreated mental illness, not heated political rhetoric. He also argues that the states must protect society from the dangerously disturbed and, when necessary, force hospitalization on sick individuals who defy court-ordered treatment.

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One Year Later: The State of Health in Haiti - FOX News

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 03:56 PM PST

The massive earthquake that shook the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince to its core on January 12, 2010, was just the beginning of a very long and challenging year for the people of the Caribbean nation.

Not only did the quake claim the lives of more than 230,000 people, it decimated many of the city's structures, leaving more than a million homeless and living in makeshift tent cities. To make matters even worse, a cholera epidemic broke out in the fall – killing thousands more.

And while humanitarian aid has been pouring into Haiti since the earthquake hit, the country is still reeling from the effects — and will be for some time.

Jason Erb, deputy country director in Haiti for International Medical Corps, has been in the country since March 2010. He spoke with FoxNews.com by phone from Port-au-Prince.

Q: Tell us about the state of Haiti now – one year later.

A: "When I first arrived, the roads were still choked with rubble, and the camps were still relatively new. There was a lot of work that still needed to be done, especially with drainage. A lot of the service provisions, as far as the medical services, the child services, the food provision services were also fairly new, and the camps in many ways were very insecure."

Q: What kind of progress have you made since then?

A: "There are fairly well-established services now. Our primary health clinics used to be in tents. Now we have permanent wood structures at some of the camp locations. We've moved into six buildings. There are more fixed locations where these services are being provided, and again, I think there's a lot more stability in these tent cities. We have 13 clinics running right now in Port-au-Prince and in the surrounding areas. Through these clinics, we've treated more than 150,000 people over the past year."

SLIDESHOW: International Medical Corps in Haiti.

Q: How would you describe the camps now?

A: "Some people are starting to move out. Some people, unfortunately, have been pushed out by land owners where the camps have been set up on. But again, there's a bit of stability and that's not necessarily a good thing. We don't want these camps to become permanent settlements for these people. These are not healthy environments. They are better than they were, since a lot of these organizations, like International Medical Corps, have come in and provided a lot of support and saved a lot of lives by making sure people are not dying of basic illnesses. So again, it's a better situation, but it's just a short-term, quick solution."

Q: What kinds of health problems are you seeing in these tent cities?

A: "It's mostly diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia. These are the biggest illnesses we find in these camps in terms of the most serious ones as far as infectious diseases. In the primary health clinics, we're also seeing things like the flu or an infection that someone has contracted – it kind of runs the gamut of what a primary health clinic will see. But the ones that are really serious are generally the ones like diarrhea, especially among children, malaria and pneumonia. And this is especially true during the rainy season. It's gotten better right now because we're in the dry season, but during the rainy season, things can get really ugly in the camps."

Q: The cholera outbreak is very serious – what is the prognosis?

A: "Haiti, being one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest countries in the world – there are a lot of things that just aren't in place in Haiti to make a response effective. 2010 was probably the worst year for Haiti. Aside from this earthquake, we've also seen the cholera outbreak where at this point, there have been thousands of deaths, with hundreds of thousands of people getting ill, and it's really struck quite a blow against Haiti. It also came in the middle of the hurricane season, and while Haiti wasn't hit that strongly, they were hit by Hurricane Tomas, and shortly after, there was an election season and we're now in a contested election, and so that has contributed to the critical instability of the country. So, cholera has really been difficult because of all of the other problems that already exist in the country."

Q. How is the mental health of the Haitian people?

A: "There are a lot of preexisting mental health conditions here in Haiti. The country, I think, has only two mental health facilities and the standard of quality care provided at these hospitals is really quite low, and so there are not a lot of people who are able to get professional mental health services. We've seen hundreds of patients and have also treated hundreds of severely mentally ill disabled individuals in the country. We have provided significant psychological support – basically psychological first aid – trying to help people cope with the highly stressful situations that they are encountering. There is a lot of stress and a lot of pressure on people here with not a lot of services to help them. This is the kind of situation that pushes people over the edge."

Q: How are you working to make Haiti a more self-sufficient nation?

A: "Beyond this emergency work that we do, we also try to do development work by working within the Haitian medical system to strengthen the system so it can respond to this type of situation so it can meet the needs effectively, but also respond to these crises more effectively on their own, without international support. One of the ways we are doing this is by developing an emergency medical services capacity in the country, and by that we mean, emergency responders, ambulance services, emergency room capacity and responsibility within the Haitian medical community."

Q: Are you optimistic about the future?

A: "In the longer term – yes – I am optimistic, but the country has really significant challenges. Again, the critical instability, the contested election that has just taken place and the severe underdevelopment in the country makes significant improvements difficult. It's going to take a couple of years to recover from these events. I think improvements are always made in a very slow and gradual way – but if Haiti can survive some of these very serious disasters in the next couple of years, I think they will be back on the road to more rapid development and improvements for the people that live there."

Click here for information about International Medical Corps.

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Galapagos receives EUR7.4 M milestone in arthritis alliance with GlaxoSmithKline - msnbc.com

2011-01-11T19:43:00.001-08:00

Galapagos receives EUR7.4 M milestone in arthritis alliance with GlaxoSmithKline - msnbc.com

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 10:37 PM PST

MECHELEN, BELGIUM —

· Completed first-in-human trials for GLPG0555

· Alliance's second novel candidate drug, GLPG0778, enters clinic

Galapagos NV (Euronext: GLPG) announced today progress achieved in its arthritis alliance with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Galapagos completed first-in-human trials with GLPG0555 in healthy volunteers. Galapagos also initiated clinical Phase I development for a second candidate drug, GLPG0778, which triggered a milestone payment of EUR7.4 million.

Initial Phase I results for the first candidate drug in the alliance, GLPG0555, showed no changes in vital signs and laboratory parameters for dosing up to 14 consecutive days in healthy volunteers. GLPG0555 was well tolerated with no severe adverse events reported.

In late December 2010, Galapagos initiated a first-in-human trial for GLPG0778, which is being conducted in healthy volunteers over the coming months. This second candidate drug, which inhibits kinase target GT623, has demonstrated excellent activity and safety in biochemical and animal models, and has successfully completed pre-clinical development.

"We are pleased to report progress on candidate drugs in our arthritis alliance with GSK," said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos. "Today's announcement increases our clinical rheumatoid arthritis portfolio to four candidate drugs, with a balanced risk profile of known and novel modes of action."

Details of GLPG0555 Phase I clinical trials

The primary endpoints of the first-in-human trials were to determine the safety, tolerability and PK profile of candidate drug GLPG0555. The double-blind, single ascending and multiple dose studies were conducted in 35 healthy human volunteers.

A double-blind, multiple ascending dose study for GLPG0555 is currently being conducted in up to 40 healthy human volunteers to further assess the safety, PK and biomarker profile. Furthermore, Galapagos is preparing to investigate a novel capsule formulation for later stage trials.

Details of GLPG00778 first-in-human trial

The primary endpoints of the first-in-human trial for GLPG0778 will be to determine the safety, tolerability and PK. The secondary endpoint will be to explore biomarker effects of this candidate drug. The placebo-controlled, double-blind, single ascending and multiple dose studies are being conducted in 40 healthy human volunteers in Belgium over the coming months.

About Galapagos' arthritis alliance with GlaxoSmithKline

GSK and Galapagos initiated an arthritis alliance to discover and develop disease-modifying drugs for GSK's global R&D organization in June 2006. GSK and Galapagos expanded the alliance on three occasions to include additional targets and increase the number of programs. Following the latest expansion in December 2009, Galapagos is eligible to receive more than EUR200 million in milestones, plus up to double-digit royalties from GSK. GSK has an exclusive option to further develop and commercialize these compounds on a worldwide basis. Since the start of the arthritis alliance, Galapagos has received a total of EUR54.7 million in payments from GSK.

About Galapagos

Galapagos (Euronext: GLPG; OTC: GLPYY) is a mid-size biotechnology company specialized in the discovery and development of small molecule and antibody therapies with novel modes-of-action. The Company is progressing one of the largest pipelines in biotech, with seven clinical and over 50 discovery programs. Through risk/reward-sharing alliances with GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Merck & Co., Roche and Servier, Galapagos is eligible to receive up to EUR3.3 billion in downstream milestones, plus royalties. The Galapagos Group has over 800 employees and operates facilities in seven countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More info at: www.glpg.com

This release may contain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "could," "stands to," and "continues," as well as similar expressions. Such forward- looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which might cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Galapagos, or industry results, to be materially different from any historic or future results, financial conditions, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties, the reader is advised not to place any undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of publication of this document. Galapagos expressly disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements in this document to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, unless required by law or regulation.

This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:

(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and

(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Galapagos NV via Thomson Reuters ONE

[HUG#1478532]

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“Favorite reader health advice - Boston Globe” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2011-01-10T19:22:00.001-08:00

“Favorite reader health advice - Boston Globe” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Favorite reader health advice - Boston Globe

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 04:43 AM PST

Plenty of you had advice to dispense over the past week concerning what you do about irritable bowel syndrome symptoms and how you plan to increase your walking speed and improve your eating habits during the new year. Here are some of my favorite comments of the week. Keep them coming!

Antibiotics relieves irritable bowel syndrome -- in some

coolguyalert wrote: I have Crohn's. When I'm in pain, it's the worst pain imaginable. I stopped eating the standard American diet and I'm still in a small amount of pain. Fair trade off. I suspect people who suffer from IBS/IBDs would benefit by putting down the potato chips and eating an organic apple.

laserstrike969 wrote: I think I would take my chance with probiotics [versus] antibiotics any day. Antibiotics can cause more problems for the digestive system then they fix. They throw off the whole balance of the digestive system. Probiotics can restore the balance.

Cat322+ wrote: I was just diagnosed with IBS and since avoiding foods that upset me and taking in more fiber I feel so so soooo much better. It's a pain but it's worth it and better for me than taking antibiotics when I'm not "sick".

Your walking speed may predict your lifespan

redglare2 wrote: My feeling is that if you aren't able to do a 20-minute mile, then something is wrong. I'm able to walk to my workplace in good weather, a distance of 1.25 miles, in slightly over 20 minutes. That's about a 16-minute mile rate. I'm not jogging, but I am walking at a brisk pace.

green-lady wrote: The most important thing about the article is telling folks they don't have to give in to infirmity before their time. In other words, picking up the pace improves one's health. To this baby boomer, that is very, very good news.

10 steps to sticking with that exercise routine

bigduke wrote: Exercise is very important, but if you don't eat right, then no matter how much exercise you do it won't help you lose weight. Outside of eating smaller meals, eating more whole foods, more vegetables, drink more water, etc....the best rule, in my judgment, is to avoid eating anything 3 hours before bedtime.

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NM Health Dept. offers chronic disease workshops - New Orleans Times-Picayune

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 06:30 AM PST

Jan. 10, 2011, 8:31 a.m. CST

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Department of Health's arthritis program is beginning free workshops in five counties to help people living with such chronic conditions as diabetes, arthritis, asthma and heart disease.

The workshops on managing chronic disease are being offered in Bernalillo, Dona Ana, Sierra, Curry and Chaves counties.

The program brings people with chronic diseases, their family members and caregivers together to learn healthier ways to live, gain confidence and motivation to manage their health and feel more positive.

It was developed by Stanford University.

The program includes setting weekly goals to change behavior, problem solving, using relaxation techniques, handling difficult emotions, eating well and exercising safely and easily.

___

Online:

www.arthritisnm.org

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Fish Oil Benefits And How This Fish Oil Supplement May Give Various Health Rewards - Zimbio

2011-01-09T19:17:00.001-08:00

Fish Oil Benefits And How This Fish Oil Supplement May Give Various Health Rewards - Zimbio

Posted: 09 Jan 2011 12:44 PM PST

Omega 3 fish oil is definitely a product that every person requires to add to their daily diet or health product list. Although there are no wonder drugs or products, fish oil has been established to help provide the body with valuable fish oil benefits in many ways. Starting with their blood thinning properties to reducing blood pressure and decreasing bad cholesterol, fatty acids sourced within pure fish oil are immensely fortunate to the human body. These acids can be connected to the reduction in the danger of cardiovascular problems for most people. The American Heart Association has reported that these supplements assist the hearts of active members of the public as well as those who're in danger or currently battling cardiovascular conditions. The AMA recommends a regular dose of at least 1000 mg of fish oil in order to jack up the health properties to the heart and the cardiovascular system. Omega 3 also boasts anti-inflammatory potential and inflammation diminishing capabilities that help free hurt and inflammation that can be repeatedly linked with conditions such as menopausal arthritis. With a regular intake of fish oil supplements, victims of this ailment can obtain some relief from the crippling joint discomfort that worries them. This supplement is so convincing that in many cases the folks who take omega 3 fish products always uncover that the product reduces their necessity for pain freeing cures. By lowering the ache and inflammation, omega 3 fish products can heighten the quality of life for those suffering with specific forms of arthritis. Mind health is another concern where omega 3 fish oil is assumed to have enhancing capabilities. Memory and general mind efficacy have been determined to be enriched by constant consumption of fish oil supplements. From inception to our golden years, the human cerebrum gains from fish oil benefits. Gestating women who take omega 3 products have lively kids that are carried to full term in most cases. Learning is enhanced and the risks of diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's could lessened after omega 3 fish products are combined to the his/her daily intake of food.

fish oil benefits

omega 3 fish oil

If you're interested in learning more about omega 3 fish oil and fish oil benefits, feel free to visit this website where you can find lots of info about fish oil supplements and what you should look out for when buying them. You can also view my website right now by clicking this link: http://www.omega-3-supplement.com/fish-oil-benefits-and-omega-3-fish-oil/

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“Health-care reform in cross hairs: Could it survive without individual mandate? - YAHOO!” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2011-01-08T19:31:00.001-08:00

“Health-care reform in cross hairs: Could it survive without individual mandate? - YAHOO!” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Health-care reform in cross hairs: Could it survive without individual mandate? - YAHOO!

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 03:46 PM PST

Washington – Supporters of President Obama's health-care reform are holding their breath as legal challenges to the individual mandate – the requirement that by 2014 virtually every American purchase health insurance or face penalties – work their way up to the US Supreme Court.

The mandate, they argue, is essential to creating a big enough pool of healthy individuals to cover the insurance industry's rising costs, because the law requires that insurers take all comers, regardless of preexisting conditions.

But Howard Dean, for one, isn't so concerned. At a Monitor breakfast Wednesday, the former national Democratic chairman and former governor of Vermont called the mandate "unnecessary." Mr. Dean, who is also a physician, cites his state's experience nearly 20 years ago in getting most children under 18 insured, without a mandate.

RELATED: Five ways Republicans will change the House

At the federal level, Dean says, "I don't think the mandate is unconstitutional, but i don't care if it is or not." Already, the law allows young adults up to age 26 to be covered on their parents' policy, which takes care of a demographic group that was least likely to have insurance. There are other ways to incentivize people to buy insurance, he says.

One way is to have an annual enrollment period, as with employer-provided health coverage, such that people can purchase insurance only during a limited time window. That would prevent people from buying insurance only after they become sick or have an accident. They would have to pay their health expenses out of pocket.

"If something bad happened to you, you could be forced into bankruptcy," Dean says. "That would wake some people up."

Another system that encourages opting in is used for enrollment of seniors in Medicare Part D, prescription drug coverage. People who do not sign up as soon as they are eligible are assessed a surcharge when they do enroll.

The key to encouraging enrollment in a health plan is affordability, Dean says.

"The truth is, even if you did nothing [if the mandate is struck down], the vast, vast majority of people are going to sign up for [insurance] if it's affordable," Dean says. "The president was right during the campaign when he said so."

Other advocates of Obama's reform aren't so sure there would be such near-universal buy-in without a legal mandate.

"If you want to protect people who currently have insurance from having their premiums increased significantly, you have to ensure that the pool is broad enough," says Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, an advocacy group for health-care consumers.

Methods besides a mandate could work to expand the insurance pool, "but they are less tried than an individual-responsibility provision," Mr. Pollack says, using the administration's term for the unpopular mandate. "It's already been tested in Massachusetts and worked very well."

A requirement to insure all comers without the mandate would produce "skyrocketing costs," says Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, a lobby group for insurers.

If the Supreme Court strikes down the individual mandate, pressure would be intense for Congress to act. Ed Haislmaier, a health policy researcher at the Heritage Foundation, sees multiple flash points in the reform that could spark action in Congress â€" beyond the current symbolic effort at repeal and even before any Supreme Court ruling on the mandate. (The possible cases are still in lower courts.)

The Obama administration and the Democratic leaders in Congress "are in a very difficult position politically, trying to defend this and at some point something is so bad that Congress has to actually go in and fix it," Mr. Haislmaier says. "At that point the question is, why not the rest of it? And it's like the dam breaking."

Last month, Virginia federal district judge Henry Hudson found the individual federal mandate unconstitutional. "At its core, this dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance – or crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage – it's about an individual's right to choose to participate," Judge Hudson wrote.

Hudson rejected the challenge to the entire statute, striking down only the mandate.

Dean says the mandate's unpopularity with the public reflects the libertarian nature of this country. "That's why the individual mandate I think is doomed – whether it gets thrown out in court or thrown out in the legislature or just ignored," says the former Democratic chairman. "Americans can't stand to be told what to do, no matter what party."

RELATED: Five ways Republicans will change the House

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Spiritual Solutions #22: Our Health, the Health of the Planet - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 06 Jan 2011 01:59 PM PST

By Deepak Chopra and Annie B. Bond

Our Consciousness

Think of the universe as a single, huge organism. Its vastness is a perceptual, projected reality; even though "out there" you may be seeing a big football stadium filled with thousands of people, the real phenomenon is a small electrical impulse inside your brain that you, the nonlocal being, interpret as a football game. Yoga Vasishta, an ancient Vedic text, says, "The world is like a huge city, reflected in a mirror. So too, the universe is a huge reflection of yourself in your own consciousness."

It is, in short, the soul of all things.
Adapted from The Essential Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, by Deepak Chopra.

Our Homes

Wendall Berry, in his book Home Economics, reminds us that in the original Greek, economics--oikonomikos--means "house" plus "steward" or "manager." Sharing the same root, oikos, the word "ecology" is closely related in concept--it is the relationships among among organisms who share the same home. Thus, as Berry explains, a most important measure of the health of the planet is the health of the households.

All of us bring food, packaging, cleaning products, building materials, appliances, and more into our homes. All of this has an impact on the environment and on our health.
Adapted from True Food, by Annie B. Bond, Melissa Breyer, and Wendy Gordon (National Geographic, 2009).

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“Why You're Hurting: Top Arthritis Myths - KABC” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2011-01-07T20:16:00.001-08:00

“Why You're Hurting: Top Arthritis Myths - KABC” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Why You're Hurting: Top Arthritis Myths - KABC

Posted: 07 Jan 2011 06:23 PM PST

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- When you hear the term arthritis, you probably just think of basic aches and pains, but you probably didn't know it's the leading cause of disability in the U.S., affecting 46 million Americans. One joint specialist says those who try for a quick fix can be throwing time, money and their sanity down the drain.

Are you tired of that constant, nagging pain? That pain is a two billion dollar annual business, partly because a whole bunch of products claim to relieve arthritis.

"I'm not in favor of running to a doctor. I'm old school Italian," Al Vacchiano, who suffers from arthritis, told Ivanhoe.

You name it, tennis champ Al Vacchiano tried it for his knee, but the pain stayed. After five years, he tried the least invasive surgical option, arthroscopy, but by then he had advanced arthritis, and surgery made it worse.

"Now your joint's going to be all sore and inflamed from the surgery that you had, so most patients are actually much worse after an arthroscopy," Geoffrey Westrich, M.D., a co-director of joint replacement research at the Hospital for Special Surgery, in New York, explained.

Doctor Geoffrey Westrich says advanced pain patients should ditch those unproven pills,devices, and minimally invasive surgery for bone-on-bone arthritis. He says joint replacement is the best option.

"Patients are much better having one anesthetic, one correct operation, than having to have two operations with two anesthesias," Dr. Westrich said.

So what's your arthritis IQ? True or false? It's an elderly disease.

- False.

Two-thirds of patients are under age 65. How about the weather, does it affect arthritis?

- Nope.

There's no science showing a flare up happens during bad weather. Finally, does exercise help arthritis?

- Yes!

Doctors say walking, biking and swimming can ease your pain.

"I'd like to play another 10 years & for 15 years," Vacchiano said.

Back on the court now, Al's partial knee replacement taught him a big lesson, quick fixes aren't always winning options. Doctors say creams, medications and even injections can help in the short run during the early stages of arthritis, and experts say folks should see a doctor before the pain gets unbearable. If pain lasts longer than two weeks, it's time to ask for help.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Geoffrey Westrich, MD
Hospital for Special Surgery
(212) 606-1000

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In Sickness and in Health - New York Times Blogs

Posted: 07 Jan 2011 06:56 AM PST

For several years, the professor and his wife, who has Parkinson's disease, managed in their house in Cambridge, Mass. But two years ago, finding living on their own too difficult, they moved together into an assisted living facility.

The professor, retired from M.I.T., was in good health and didn't need personal care. So I wondered: Why not move just his wife, whose mobility would deteriorate, and visit her regularly from his own home?

He sounded puzzled at the question. Live apart? "That never occurred to me," he said. "She's my wife."

As is often the case, though, assisted living proved only a temporary solution. His wife developed intensifying dementia and needed more care than the facility could provide. In November, at 85, she moved to another facility in a neighboring town. The professor stayed behind in assisted living. Now 87, he is living alone for the first time in 55 years. (He asked that I protect his wife's privacy by not identifying them further.)

He spends a good part of each day traveling to his wife's residence on public transportation; they eat lunch together, walk outside in good weather, try to have conversations. "I still haven't quite adjusted," he confessed. "I realize she's not going to get well and move back in with me. But in my head, I haven't quite grasped it." He sounded very sad.

"These are the hardest kind of situations we deal with," said Emily Saltz of Elder Resources, a veteran geriatric care manager in greater Boston. "We don't have good options for couples with differing health status."

Yet almost every elderly couple will eventually fall into that category, she pointed out. Who ages at exactly the same rate?

It's yet another quandary caused by lengthening life spans; more people over 60 are married, remarried or cohabiting than decades ago, when more were widowed. Ms. Saltz finds it no longer uncommon to work with couples in their 90s. Most want very much to continue living together. But it's not easy.

Questions of how and where to live are complicated by the conviction that one spouse should shoulder the burden, sometimes the entire burden, of caring for the other. They see that as a duty, even as research repeatedly underscores the risks.

"I've seen so many cases in which one goes under, their own health fails as a result of the stress and strain," said Ms. Saltz. As spouses struggle to hold onto their roles as caregivers, "they hurt themselves lifting. Their blood pressure goes sky-high. They fall."

Hiring home care is the least disruptive solution, if clients will accept it, but it can also be isolating for the healthier partner. And as the more disabled partner needs more care, round-the-clock home aides can become as expensive as a facility, or more so.

Even when a couple and their children agree that a move makes sense, however, finding a residence that works for both spouses can prove difficult. Select a place with enough personal or medical care for the sicker one, and the healthier one can feel out of place. Judith Parnes, a geriatric care manager who directs Elder Life Management in central New Jersey, had a client couple try assisted living together. "There were sacrifices" for the wife, who was more able, Ms. Parnes said. "The activities in most assisted living centers aren't at the level an independent adult wants. She really didn't see herself fitting in."

But a facility that suits the well spouse can also pose problems if it doesn't provide enough care for the ailing one. "It leaves the healthy spouse in that caregiving role," Ms. Saltz said. "If she can never leave the apartment because she's responsible for him, what have we accomplished?"

She often steers clients to a continuing care retirement community, where individuals can move to a higher level of care as needed and still remain on the same campus or in the same building. One couple, clients in their mid-80s — he's in fine health, she's disabled by a stroke — moved into separate wings of a C.C.R.C. in Dedham, Mass., the husband in independent living, the wife in the nursing home. "She gets a lot of hands-on assistance; he gets somewhat of a life," Ms. Saltz reported. "They're together every day." But as with the professor and his wife, it's a "bittersweet" solution, she added. "This isn't what they envisioned for their retirement."

Moreover, C.C.R.C.'s can thwart such arrangements by rejecting applicants with serious health problems, like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. They prefer healthier adults in their 60s or 70s; it isn't financially feasible to offer lifetime care if residents need help very soon after moving in.

In some cases, communities will be flexible and allow the independent partner to participate in lifetime care while the less healthy one enters on a pay-as-you-go basis. C.C.R.C.'s are already an expensive option, however; paying two sets of fees makes them even more so.

Some couples probably shouldn't strive to live together, Ms. Saltz noted. Severe dementia can make cohabiting nearly impossible. And some relationships were miserable even when both spouses were healthy. "Sometimes we encounter couples with terrible conflicts, and illness just makes it worse," Ms. Saltz said.

But a great majority of those who've spent their lives together want to continue; they took those vows seriously. And finding ways to make that happen takes thoughtful planning and a creative approach.

If you've coped with this issue, I'd like to hear what you and your parents decided and how they fared.

Paula Span is the author of "When the Time Comes: Families With Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions."

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“7 changes to expect in your health coverage this year - Boston Globe” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2011-01-06T19:10:00.001-08:00

“7 changes to expect in your health coverage this year - Boston Globe” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

7 changes to expect in your health coverage this year - Boston Globe

Posted: 05 Jan 2011 07:08 PM PST

1. Free preventive services. Any new health plan that you enroll in, either on your own or through your employer, must provide free coverage, without copays or deductibles, for a variety of screening tests, exams, and counseling services. The freebie list includes blood pressure screenings, mammograms, cholesterol checks, and vaccines, as well as depression screenings, breast-feeding support for new mothers, smoking cessation counseling, and behavioral assessments for kids.

Note: If you simply renew your old plan, you'll probably still have to pay as usual for these services since plans that were around before the healthcare law passed in March are exempt. Best to check if your own plan was "grandfathered" in and exempt from the free offerings.

2. Coverage for adult children. All plans, even the grandfathered ones, must now cover young adults up to age 26 who want to stay on their parents' plan, even if these adults are no longer dependents. The plans don't have to cover the children of these 20-somethings nor their spouses, The 2006 Massachusetts law required coverage for children who are no longer dependents but limited it to two years after they became independent or upon reaching age 26, whichever came first.

3. Monitoring of premiums. The health law now requires insurance companies to spend at least 80 cents of your premium dollar on medical care and quality. For employer plans covering more than 50 people, they must spend 85 cents.

The Massachusetts Division of Insurance will comply with this new regulation by ensuring that companies meet what's known as the "medical loss ratio" and will review rate increases by insurance firms. It has the authority to disapprove filings where rates are "excessive, inadequate, discriminatory, and unreasonable in relation to the benefits provided" or don't meet those loss ratios. Although the division can deny unreasonable rate hikes, there aren't any specific limits in the state law on how much individual premiums can rise year to year.

4. No more lifetime caps on coverage. The federal law eliminates lifetime caps on coverage and raises yearly coverage limits to $1.25 million in 2011. Massachusetts' health insurance carriers participating in the Health Connector, the state's insurance exchange, already didn't have coverage caps, with the exception of some carriers' Young Adult Plans for people between the ages of 18 and 26. The state was granted a federal waiver for about 3,500 folks who have such plans, according to EOHHS.

5. Changes to health savings account expenditures. Those with high-deductible policies paired with health savings accounts will find that they can no longer use any tax-free funds they sock away in these accounts for over-the-counter medications like Prilosec or Tylenol unless they're doctor-ordered. The funds can still be used for doctor visits, prescription medications, and lab tests.

6. Free prevention visit for Medicare patients. Medicare beneficiaries will be entitled to a free doctor visit to get a "personalized prevention plan" and a "comprehensive risk assessment." A government review board will determine by March what those terms mean, but end of life counseling -- which was originally included -- now won't be.

7. Medicare drug program changes. Those with Part D coverage will pay a $310 yearly deductible and then 25 percent of the cost of their prescriptions until they've reached $2,840 in drug expenses for the year. After that, they must pay 50 percent of the cost of brand-name prescriptions until the total cost reaches $6,448, when their share drops to just 5 percent. That's a substantial change from 2010, when the entire bill in this "doughnut hole" was the patient's responsibility (minus a $250 rebate to help ease the pain).

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Cooking with Arthritis: Tips to Make it More Enjoyable - Associated Content

Posted: 05 Jan 2011 06:04 PM PST

Cooking can be wonderful social activity or even a stress reliever for many. But for people suffering with arthritis

, it can be a whole different story. Think about it: how many times have you cooked without having to pick up a pot or a pan, without stretching or reaching into an uncomfortable position for a cabinet spice, or chopped something up? For people cooking with arthritis, these tasks can be unbearable.

Amye Leong has had 16 surgeries and 12 joint replacements. As the president of Healthy Motivation, as well as several successful books on arthritis, including "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Arthritis" and "Get a Grip," Amye now spends her time motivating and educating others on how to cope.

"I love to cook and have always loved to cook," said Amye. Her family owned a Chinese restaurant and she has put on several Chinese New Year dinners for the Arthritis Foundation. Amye says cooking is an attitude and the key is making the proper adjustments so that it can be enjoyable. "When we don't enjoy cooking that's when we begin to make poor choices in our diets."

Here are six tips Amye offers to make cooking with arthritis more enjoyable:

1) Make it fun. Remember, if it's not fun people won't do it. Finding a way to make cooking fun will encourage a person to cook more and more.

2) Proper arrangement of refrigerator and other kitchen items. Reaching can be painful for those cooking with arthritis. Focus on rearranging items in the refrigerator, spices in cabinets and also placement of pots and pans. Understand there is not a significant range of motion so set up the kitchen to make it functional.

3) Don't be afraid to sit. People cooking with arthritis need to understand that it's not about having limitations but rather being smart about the overall experience. Having plenty of time to sit and rest makes cooking more successful and it offers good rest for those with less than perfect joint mobility.

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“5 Advantages of Glutathione in Rheumatoid Arthritis: The way it might change a person’s everyday living - Zimbio” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2011-01-05T19:27:00.000-08:00

“5 Advantages of Glutathione in Rheumatoid Arthritis: The way it might change a person’s everyday living - Zimbio” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

5 Advantages of Glutathione in Rheumatoid Arthritis: The way it might change a person’s everyday living - Zimbio

Posted: 05 Jan 2011 03:12 PM PST

Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic, inflammatory illness that impacts the lining in the joints generating joint inflammation. Individuals struggling with rheumatoid arthritis will need to know how the master antioxidant glutathione (GSH) assists control the illness and alleviate its indicators and symptoms.

Listed here are a few of the advantages that rheumatoid arthritis patients can get from glutathione.

* GSH strengthens the Immune System

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease. For unknown factors, the entire body fails to understand its personal cells and tissues and attacks its constituent areas especially the joint muscles and tissues.

Glutathione assists regulate the immune program. It strengthens the underperforming locations of the immune method and calms the body's overactive defense mechanisms. This leads to a stability in the immune response which helps stop the progression of rheumatoid arthritis and aids ease the indicators and signs and symptoms of the disease.

* GSH slows the effects of Aging

Rheumatoid arthritis progresses with aging. The effects of Glutathione aids the human body combat towards the effects of aging by neutralizing totally free radicals which can damage the muscles and tissues from the joints and body organs.

Elevated levels of glutathione will aid rheumatoid arthritis sufferers retain their youth longer in addition to hampering the disease's progression.

* GSH assists alleviate Joint Inflammation & Joint Pain

Glutathione has anti-inflammatory properties. Increased ranges of glutathione in inflamed joint tissues can aid control joint inflammation and alleviate the pain associated with it.

* GSH increases Energy Amounts

The signs or symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, particularly joint pain, can be very physically draining on individuals. People who have the joint disease may perhaps also suffer from poor sleep which further lowers their energy levels and experience an overall feeling of tiredness and weakness in their muscles.

Glutathione can support combat off fatigue and weakness by increasing the body's energy ranges. With higher energy levels, rheumatoid arthritis patients have continue performing well at work and still have enough energy to enjoy leisure activities with family and friends.

* GSH helps the liver Detoxify the Entire body

Toxic substances can be found everywhere. Many common household items such as furniture, rugs, pesticides, cleaning solutions and even linens contain petrochemicals, formaldehyde and other toxic substances. These toxic substances can aggravate the signs and indicators of rheumatoid arthritis.

Glutathione plays a major role in neutralizing toxic substances within the system. It works with the liver to convert toxic substances into non-toxic or less toxic substances.

Anyone with rheumatoid arthritis can support ease the disease's indicators and indicators by increasing their glutathione levels.

Scientists have discovered and proven the benefits and results of glutathione supplementation and if you'd like to learn more about this critical substance go to:
http://www.effectsofglutathione.com

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Health law repeal? Not likely - Boston Globe

Posted: 04 Jan 2011 12:00 PM PST

There's been a lot of sturm und drang this week over the possibility that the new Republican-led Congress will repeal the health law guaranteeing health coverage for all Americans. (There have been 4,232 news articles written about this issue and counting.)

House Republicans are slated to vote next week on a bill to repeal the law and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius launched a counter-offensive Tuesday via a press conference.

She asserted that the 9-month-old health law has already been "making a significant difference" for families across the county giving them "more freedoms" from insurance company abuses. "Repeal really takes away all of those freedoms and shifts power back to the insurance companies," she added.

But all of this talk is probably for naught -- at least for now. The repeal, if passed in the House, stands almost no chance of being passed in the Democrat-controlled Senate, which means it's dead in the water.

So what's the point? Those opposed to the health care law told me in previous interviews that while repeal is unlikely during the next two years, it could still happen if the GOP wins big in 2012, especially if they take the presidency.

While Massachusetts already has its Health Connector insurance exchange in full operation, other states exchanges won't become operational until 2014, well after the next presidential election.

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“Health law repeal? Not likely - Boston Globe” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2011-01-04T19:22:00.001-08:00

“Health law repeal? Not likely - Boston Globe” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Health law repeal? Not likely - Boston Globe

Posted: 04 Jan 2011 12:00 PM PST

House Republicans are slated to vote next week on a bill to repeal the law and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius launched a counter-offensive Tuesday via a press conference.

While Massachusetts already has its Health Connector insurance exchange in full operation, other states exchanges won't become operational until 2014, well after the next presidential election.

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CFIA/Health Hazard Alert - Sprouters Northwest Brand Deli Sprouts Sold at Wal Mart in Western Canada ... - Yahoo Finance

Posted: 04 Jan 2011 02:44 PM PST

Press Release Source: Canadian Food Inspection Agency On Tuesday January 4, 2011, 5:53 pm EST

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - 01/04/11) - Audio clips available at www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/relations/indexaude.shtml.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Wal-Mart Canada Corp. are warning the public not to consume the Sprouters Northwest brand Deli Sprouts described below because the product may be contaminated with Salmonella.

The following Sprouters Northwest brand Deli Sprouts, product of USA, sold up to and including January 3, 2011 are affected by this alert.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Product Size UPC Distribution
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Deli Sprouts 5 oz 0 33383 70267 4 British Columbia
Item # 9494532 (Wal-Mart Supercentres)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Deli Sprouts 5 oz 0 33383 70267 4 Alberta & Saskatchewan
Item # 9477578 (Wal-Mart Supercentres)
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This product has been distributed in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

There have been several reported illnesses in the USA, none in Canada, associated with the consumption of this product.

Food contaminated with Salmonella may not look or smell spoiled. Consumption of food contaminated with these bacteria may cause salmonellosis, a food borne illness. In young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems, salmonellosis may cause serious and sometimes deadly infections. In otherwise healthy people, salmonellosis may cause short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Long-term complications may include severe arthritis.

The importer, Wal-Mart Canada Corp., Mississauga, ON, is voluntarily recalling the affected product from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.

For more information consumers and industry can call the CFIA at 1-800-442-2342 / TTY 1-800-465-7735 (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday).

For information on Salmonella, visit the Food Facts web page at: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/concen/cause/salmonellae.shtml

For information on all food recalls, visit the CFIA's Food Recall Report at: http://active.inspection.gc.ca/eng/corp/recarapp_dbe.asp

To find out more about receiving recalls by e-mail, and other food safety facts, visit: www.foodsafety.gc.ca. Food and consumer product recalls are also available at http://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca.

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“Health reforms kick up for 2011 - Detroit Free Press” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2011-01-03T19:33:00.001-08:00

“Health reforms kick up for 2011 - Detroit Free Press” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Health reforms kick up for 2011 - Detroit Free Press

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 11:04 AM PST

Kayleen Johnson's biggest worry in college isn't always her classes: It's making sure she's always enrolled full-time so she doesn't lose her health insurance.

With allergies and chronic stomach problems, Johnson, 23, a Wayne State University student from Riverview, will benefit from one of the most sweeping provisions of federal health care reform: being covered on her parent's insurance until she's 26.

The majority of Michigan's insurance plans are adopting big changes this year, according to the state's Office of Finance and Insurance Regulation. Now, most policies won't dump dependent children as soon as they're out of school.

"I told her she had to keep going to college. ... You have to stay full-time," said Kayleen Johnson's mother, Karen Johnson, a school administrator.

The changes are a big relief for the younger Johnson, who recently was hospitalized for a severe reaction to medication. "I don't know how well I'd be right now if I didn't have health insurance," she said.

Health reform: 2010 changes give seniors a boost

Many Michigan residents will see sweeping changes in their health care plans beginning this week.

State-regulated health insurance plans in Michigan are meeting requirements under the new federal health care reform law, a spokesman with the state's Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation said.

The majority of policies in Michigan began implementing those changes Saturday, the beginning of a new enrollment year, Jason Moon, a spokesman for the office, said last week.

The Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation began surveying insurers after Sept. 23, when many of the requirements went into effect under the Affordable Care Act, he said. "We ... found everyone in compliance," he said.

But if consumers want to make sure health care reform works for them, that means maintaining vigilance and taking an extra look at your changed policy, said Jennifer Tolbert, a health policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit based in Menlo, Calif., that is focused on health care research.

[Page 2 of 2]

"A lot will have to do with the savviness of the consumers," she said.

Even though it's a federal law, health reform regulation is largely left up to the states. And the states often hear about problems from consumers, she said.

In Michigan, the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation, which already had oversight of state-regulated policies before the new law was signed in March, is enforcing the provisions.

Among those changes: coverage that extends policies to dependent children until they are 26. Children can live outside the home, don't have to be attending college and even can be married. It applies to biological children as well as stepchildren, children adopted or placed for adoption and eligible foster children, said David Zick, president of Group Associates, a Bingham Farms benefits consulting firm.

It's a big departure from past policies that dropped children when they were no longer full-time students or financially dependent on their parents, he said.

But Zick and others worry about the costs.

Even though plans for young adults usually don't cost much (these consumers usually are not big users of health care), the extended coverage is another cost that ultimately will be passed from insurers onto employers and consumers, he said.

"It's like another straw on the camel's back. Is this the straw that will do it -- break it? Probably not, but it will continue to pile on," he said.

Steven Berkshire, professor of health administration at Central Michigan University, agreed that costs might be passed on. Insurers may begin requiring separate policies for more than one child, instead of family rates that now cover spouses and all dependent children, he said.

And some companies may choose to raise premiums for families with more than one child, said Bryan Hirn, area president of Gallagher Benefit Services, a Bingham Farms benefits consulting firm.

Many of the other provisions Michiganders will see this year lean heavily toward prevention.

For cash-strapped seniors, especially, staying healthy can be a struggle because of the high costs of medications or even a few dollars for copays for wellness checks or health screenings, said Sharon Gire, former director at the Michigan Office of Services to the Aging.

Gire now leads presentations for seniors for AARP Michigan about health care insurance.

One of the most immediate changes will be prescription coverage for seniors.

Medicare generally helps cover seniors' prescriptions up to a certain dollar amount. Then coverage drops, until the senior buys enough prescriptions out of pocket that coverage kicks in again. This is often called the doughnut hole in coverage.

Before, seniors dipped in and out of prescription coverage, depending on how much they had spent. And it didn't take long to hit that coverage gap, especially with common chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and arthritis, Gire said.

"These are treatable diseases and people can stay healthy, but only if they can afford those medicines," Gire said.

Now, once seniors hit $2,840 in costs -- the entrance to the doughnut hole -- brand-name medications especially will be cheaper.

Contact Robin Erb: 313-222-2708 or rerb@freepress.com

Health Tip: Have Pain in the Back and Leg? - Newsday

Posted: 03 Jan 2011 04:08 AM PST

Originally published: January 3, 2011 7:12 AM
from
-- Nancyann Rella

Do you have a pain in the rear that isn't caused by your boss? This literal pain in the buttocks could signal an inflamed piriformis muscle, which helps stabilize the hip, leg and pelvic area.

The piriformis, often overlooked as a cause of sciatica, can become inflamed, usually from sitting too long or rotating the leg outward (as when driving). When inflamed, the muscle can harden and press on the sciatic nerve, causing sciatica pain in the buttocks that radiates down the leg to the ankle or middle of the foot. It may be felt in the lower back, too. Sitting usually makes it worse, while standing or walking often makes it feel better.

The good news from the Arthritis Foundation is that the sciatica caused by an inflamed piriformis usually does not require surgery. It can be relieved by ice or heat; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin or ibuprofen; physical therapy, including deep massage and range-of-motion exercises; and corticosteroid injections.

Preventing future spasms of the piriformis muscle can be as simple as adding stretching exercises to your daily routine, the foundation says.

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“Link between gum health and arthritis - KABC” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2011-01-02T19:20:00.001-08:00

“Link between gum health and arthritis - KABC” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Link between gum health and arthritis - KABC

Posted: 02 Jan 2011 07:23 AM PST

January 2, 2011 (WPVI) -- Jan Sidley sees a gum specialist regularly to keep her gum disease under control and in the process he may have eased her arthritis symptoms.

"When I stop and think about it, over the last probably 10 years, I really have not had pain," Jan Sidley told Action News.

That is possible, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University. They recruited patients with both diseases.

"We looked at their mouth, and the patients who had inflammation of the gum and periodontal disease, and we treated this condition," says Dr. Nabil Bissada.

As the dentists cleared the gum infections, the arthritis joint pain and swelling improved.

Past research has already linked gum disease to serious ailments, such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

"The common dominating factor in all of them is the, what we call, systemic inflammation," Bissada said.

Dr. Bissada says toxins from a gum infection can travel through the blood and make an inflammatory disease like arthritis worse.

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Spectrum Health System - Strategic SWOT Analysis Review - new company profile published - PR Inside

Posted: 02 Jan 2011 04:48 PM PST

2011-01-03 01:48:35 - Spectrum Health System - Strategic SWOT Analysis Review - a new company profile report on companiesandmarkets.com

Spectrum Health System (Spectrum Health) is one of the largest non-profit health care systems in West Michigan. The health care system includes a network of seven nationally accredited hospitals and a multitude of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and recovery services. The medical services provided by the organisation includes bariatric, joint replacement, heart health, cancer care, women´s health services, food and nutrition

services, diabetes services, arthritis services and genetic services. Spectrum Health carries out its operations with more than 140 service sites and a network of primary care physicians.

Spectrum Health System Key Recent Developments . .

Jul 27, 2010: Van Andel Research Institute, Spectrum Health And Oncology Group To Develop Phase I Cancer Clinical Trial Program
Jul 19, 2010: Spectrum Elects Maria DeVos To Board
May 10, 2010: Spectrum Reports Net Loss Of $39 Million For Q1 2010

The Spectrum Health System - Strategic SWOT Analysis Review provides a comprehensive insight into the company´s history, corporate strategy, business structure and operations. The report contains a detailed SWOT analysis, information on the company´s key employees, key competitors and major products and services.

This up-to-the-minute company report will help you to formulate strategies to drive your business by enabling you to understand your partners, customers and competitors better.

Scope

- Business description A detailed description of the company´s operations and business divisions.
- Corporate strategy A summarization of the company´s business strategy.
- SWOT analysis A detailed analysis of the company´s strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats.
- Company history Progression of key events associated with the company.
- Major products and services A list of major products, services and brands of the company.
- Key competitors A list of key competitors to the company.
- Key employees A list of the key executives of the company.
- Executive biographies A brief summary of the executives´ employment history.
- Key operational heads A list of personnel heading key departments/functions.
- Important locations and subsidiaries A list of key locations and subsidiaries of the company, including contact details.
- Key manufacturing facilities A list of key manufacturing facilities of the company.

Note*: Some sections may be missing if data is unavailable for the company.

Reasons to buy

- Gain key insights into the company for academic or business research purposes. Key elements such as SWOT analysis and corporate strategy are incorporated in the profile to assist your academic or business research needs.
- Identify potential customers and suppliers with this report´s analysis of the company´s business structure, operations, major products and services and business strategy.
- Understand and respond to your competitors´ business structure and strategies with our detailed SWOT analysis. In this, the company´s core strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are analyzed, providing you with an up to date objective view of the company.
- Examine potential investment and acquisition targets with this report´s detailed insight into the company´s strategic, business and operational performance.

Click for report details: www.companiesandmarkets.com/Company-Profile/spectrum-health-syst ..

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“SD Health Department program urges healthy diet - msnbc.com” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2011-01-01T19:25:00.001-08:00

“SD Health Department program urges healthy diet - msnbc.com” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

SD Health Department program urges healthy diet - msnbc.com

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 02:13 AM PST

PIERRE, S.D. — A South Dakota Health Department program is challenging people to eat healthier foods.

The Make Calories Count challenge runs from Jan. 15 through Feb. 15. People can register for the challenge on the Internet at www.HealthySD.gov .

The website includes a list of 100 ways a person can cut 100 calories a day.

State nutritionist Kristin Biskeborn (BIHS'-kah-born) says people find it overwhelming to make major changes in their diets, but they can take small steps that make a big difference over time. She says people can cut 100 calories by simply eliminating one can of soda a day or using mustard instead of mayonnaise on a sandwich.

People who sign up for the challenge will receive a nutrition guide to fast food from 68 different restaurants.

___

Online:

www.HealthySD.gov

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Colin Hoobler: Your country needs you to take care of your health during 2011 - Oregonian

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 11:53 AM PST

Published: Wednesday, December 29, 2010, 11:52 AM Updated: Wednesday, December 29, 2010, 11:58 AM

New Year's resolutions tend to be overdone and over-reaching. But for 2011, allow me to propose resolutions for three key groups that could have tremendous implications for your life and our health care system.

Resolution for you (the public): By the time you've finished reading this sentence, realize you cannot buy health (i.e., take a pill); you must work at it via sound exercise and diet. This takes a positive attitude, time and practice. Need a compelling reason to start? It's patriotic! Assuming personal responsibility for your health won't just help you feel 100 percent better; it will also cut health care costs. The statistic is staggering: America spends 83 cents of every health care dollar on obesity-related conditions (Obesity Campaign, 2005).

That means your ridiculous health insurance bill could be more than 75 percent less if only people would choose to (literally) exercise personal responsibility for their health.

Need guidance? Talk to your doctor and/or physical therapist about how to get started, or simply keep reading this column and I'll do my best to help you. If your doctor and physical therapist aren't enthusiastic, find ones who are.

Your commitment to sound exercise and diet is crucial if you have disease. Arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia, cancer, heart disease, depression or any other lifestyle-related diseases are virtually impossible to treat effectively without lifestyle modification.

Resolution for doctors: By the end of January 2011, complete a literature search on the effectiveness of exercise to treat disease as opposed to pharmaceutical intervention. Folks with arthritis, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, diabetes and heart disease are best treated using sound exercise and diet (Journal of the American Medical Association 2003; Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2005; Diabetes Care 2008), so commit to helping your patients help themselves. This commitment won't just improve patient outcomes, but will also attenuate health care costs related to the aforementioned "83 cents issue" because obesity must be simultaneously addressed.

Are anti-inflammatory drugs the best treatment for arthritis? Nope. Pain killers cost-effective treatment for chronic low back pain? Not even close. Anti-depressants cost-effective for depression? As if.

And now for my beloved peers.

Resolution for physical therapists: By the end of January 2011, switch your treatment emphasis from passive treatments (manual therapy, hot packs, ultrasound, massage) to active treatments (strengthening, stretching, endurance exercise, basic dietary help) to give our profession something to brag about. Emphasizing easier, costly "Band-Aid" treatments that provide only mediocre relief (if any) instead of truly addressing the root cause of most people's pain (movement dysfunction, obesity, deconditioning) is a disservice of epic proportions, especially in people with chronic diseases like osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, obesity, depression, heart disease and/or diabetes.

Simply telling patients to do "three sets of 10" and hoping for results is not skilled therapy; patients must be sufficiently pushed while maintaining safe technique for optimum results (Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy 2004).

No matter who you are, 2011 can be a good year turned phenomenal if you're willing to ditch the excuses and get down to business. Imagine becoming a role model for everyone in your life (especially your kids) while subsequently altering the dismal trajectory of America's health care system.

Now that's a Happy New Year in the making.

-- Colin Hoobler

Colin Hoobler is a freelance writer who practices physical therapy at c.h. Physical Therapy and teaches exercise medicine at OHSU. His "Move in the Right Direction" health segment airs between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. most Saturdays or Sundays on KGW(8).

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“Tests show Magic's Jason Williams has arthritis in both feet - Orlando Sentinel” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2010-12-31T19:18:00.001-08:00

“Tests show Magic's Jason Williams has arthritis in both feet - Orlando Sentinel” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Tests show Magic's Jason Williams has arthritis in both feet - Orlando Sentinel

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 05:13 PM PST

Jason Williams remains in limbo, unable to practice or play because of problems with his left foot.

The reserve point guard told the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday that recent medical tests confirmed that he has arthritis in both feet.

"Actually, the right one's worse than the left one," Williams said before tipoff of the Orlando Magic's game against the New York Knicks at Amway Center.

Williams exchanged text messages with team physician Craig Mintzer but hadn't had spoken yet with Mintzer to determine the next course of action.

Williams, 35, could be at a career crossroads.

In addition to the problems with his feet, Williams is stuck on the Magic's depth chart behind Jameer Nelson and Gilbert Arenas and sometimes behind Chris Duhon.

Williams attempted to participate briefly during the Magic's shootaround Thursday morning, but Williams said coach Stan Van Gundy made him take a seat when the team started to do live drills.

"I love playing," Williams said. "I want to play, you know?"

Another tech

Dwight Howard received his 12th technical foul of the season just 1 minute, 56 seconds into Thursday's game. Howard reacted to a no-call after he went up for a shot and thought Amar'e Stoudemire fouled him.

In the NBA, a player is hit for a one-game suspension when he compiles his 16th tech of the season and an additional one-game suspension for every two additional techs thereafter.

Magic officials hope the technical Howard received on Christmas Day will be rescinded by the league.

Flu fears

The Magic have learned their lesson with the flu virus.

Trying to avoid a repeat of their near teamwide outbreak earlier this month, the team kept flu-ridden Quentin Richardson as far as possible from teammates Thursday. Richardson did not attend shootaround or the game against the Knicks.

"The thought is, we've been through this one time before," Van Gundy said. "We don't want to put somebody back around the team until they're ready to go. We don't want to lose half our team again. We can dress 10 guys tonight, which for us is a lot. I don't know if we'll ever again dress 12. But we don't want to be down to seven or eight if we can help it, either."

Smiling Gil

Almost two weeks have passed since the Magic acquired Arenas from the Washington Wizards, and Arenas still can't stop smiling, whether he's talking about how much he enjoys playing alongside J.J. Redick or is asked about Hedo Turkoglu's failed dunk attempt back on Dec. 21.

Arenas feels like the trade has given him a fresh start after the tumultuous ending to his Wizards tenure.

"I really needed it because I get to be myself again," Arenas said. "I don't have to tiptoe around the locker room and tiptoe throughout the city. I can just go on and be myself and be around guys and people who want me here."

Layups

• Reserve big man Malik Allen sat out his sixth consecutive game because of a left-ankle sprain. Van Gundy said Allen likely will begin running on the basketball court today but probably will not participate in practices or games for another week.

• Howard leads all Eastern Conference players in the balloting for the 2011 NBA All-Star Game. Howard has received 988,572 votes, according to the returns that were released Thursday. The Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant is the only player who's received more votes than the Magic center. Balloting will end on Jan. 23.

Read Josh Robbins' blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and e-mail him at jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

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New health care reform places limits on over-the-counter drugs - KHOU

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 06:02 PM PST

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by Brad Woodard / 11 News

khou.com

Posted on December 31, 2010 at 7:29 PM

HOUSTON -- With the country's new health care law going into effect on Saturday, some local residents are upset because those who have a tax-free flexible spending account or health savings account - where you've set aside money for medical expenses - will not be able to use them for over-the-counter drugs.

"A lot of people treat their Arthritis with over-the-counter medications and starting next year, they will not be able to run their costs through that flexible spending account," said certifed public accountant Bob Martin.

There are some winners as a result of health care reform, over-the-counter drugs can be covered by flexible spending plans if specifically perscribed by a physician. Also, some people who didn't previously have insurance or didn't qualify because of pre-existing conditions will now have it.

When it comes to tax-free flexible spending on health care, the ramifications extend far beyond over-the-counter medication, especially after 2012, when the government will place a $2,500 cap on the accounts.

"It's going to particularly hit people with special needs children because they tend to go over the limits anyway," said Martin.

People like Susan Garczynski, whose son Connor suffers from Autism.

"It's run us anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 a year out of pocket," said Garczynski.

When it comes to health care reform, there will be winners and losers. For the moment you can count Garczynski among the latter.

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Colin Hoobler: Your country needs you to take care of your health during 2011 - Oregonian

2010-12-29T19:16:00.001-08:00

Colin Hoobler: Your country needs you to take care of your health during 2011 - Oregonian

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 11:53 AM PST

Published: Wednesday, December 29, 2010, 11:52 AM Updated: Wednesday, December 29, 2010, 11:58 AM

That means your ridiculous health insurance bill could be more than 75 percent less if only people would choose to (literally) exercise personal responsibility for their health.

And now for my beloved peers.

Now that's a Happy New Year in the making.

-- Colin Hoobler

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“Turmeric Health Benefits: Have a Happy New Year With Turmeric - Huffingtonpost.com” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2010-12-28T19:10:00.001-08:00

“Turmeric Health Benefits: Have a Happy New Year With Turmeric - Huffingtonpost.com” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Turmeric Health Benefits: Have a Happy New Year With Turmeric - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 12:08 PM PST

Looking for a simple New Year's resolution for health? Add turmeric to your diet.

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a culinary spice, a major ingredient in Indian curries, and the source of American mustard's bright yellow color. Used as both medicine and food for centuries, accumulating evidence suggests that this relative of ginger is a promising preventive agent for a wide range of diseases, probably due largely to its anti-inflammatory properties.

The National Institutes of Health lists 24 current studies on the effects of turmeric and its chief active component, curcumin. Such studies raise the question of which is better to take: whole turmeric, generally used as a powdered spice with food; or curcumin, which is usually taken as a supplement? Each has been shown to have health benefits, but unless you have a specific condition such as inflammatory bowel disease, I favor using turmeric (especially in cooking) rather than taking curcumin pills. This reflects my general belief that, until proven otherwise in head to head studies, whole plants are usually a better choice than isolates. On the other hand, curcumin appears to have a more rapid and dramatic effect, and may be the better choice as a therapeutic (rather than a preventative) preparation.

Here's a quick roundup of recent research on both turmeric and curcumin.

Curcumin seems to delay liver damage that can eventually lead to cirrhosis, according to preliminary experimental research at the Medical University Graz in Austria.
Kansas State University research found that adding certain spices, including turmeric, can reduce the levels of heterocyclic amines -- carcinogenic compounds that are formed when meats are barbecued, boiled or fried -- by up to 40 percent.
Rodent studies at the University of Texas indicate that curcumin inhibits the growth of a skin cancer, melanoma and also slows the spread of breast cancer into the lungs.
Researchers from the University of South Dakota have found that pretreatment with curcumin makes cancer cells more vulnerable to chemo and radiotherapy.
Epidemiologists have hypothesized that the turmeric that is part of daily curries eaten in India may help explain the low rate of Alzheimer's disease in that country. Among people aged 70 to 79, the rate is less than one-quarter that of the United States.

And at least one new study suggests curcumin's value for arthritis treatment. Since arthritis is so common and the results so interesting, it's worth a closer look.

This research, from Italy, was a three-month trial involving 50 patients diagnosed by x-ray with osteoarthritis of the knee. The Italian team was investigating the effect on arthritis symptoms of a curcumin-based preparation optimized for better absorption. Participating patients took the formulation in addition to standard medical treatment; those in the second group continued following their physicians' recommendations.

After 90 days, the researchers found a 58 percent decrease in overall reported pain and stiffness as well as an improvement in physical functioning among the curcumin group compared to the controls. They also found, via a standardized testing procedure, a 300 percent improvement in the emotional well being of the curcumin patients compared with the others. And blood tests showed a 16-fold decline in C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation. Patients in the curcumin group were able to reduce their use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs by 63 percent, compared to the other group.

The bottom line that the therapeutic advantages of turmeric and curcumin are almost too numerous to list. An overview published in Advanced Experimental Medical Biology in 2007 states that, "Curcumin has been shown to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer activities and thus has a potential against various malignant diseases, diabetes, allergies, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease and other chronic illnesses."

If you find this compelling, there are many ways to add turmeric to your diet. Some Americans may find straight turmeric powder bitter or otherwise off-putting, but when a teaspoon or two is added to a pot of soup or stew, the flavor disperses and adds a subtle depth and complexity that most people find appealing. If even that's too much for you, both turmeric and curcumin supplements are now widely available -- just take one along with your daily multivitamin. Note, however, that turmeric and curcumin are poorly absorbed from the G.I. tract. A recent finding is that absorption is enhanced in the presence of piperine, a constituent of black pepper. Indian cuisine commonly uses turmeric and pepper together. I suggest using only turmeric and curcumin supplements that contain piperine or black pepper extract.

If, like me, you love the flavor of turmeric, try this recipe for turmeric tea.

Naturally, there's far more to good health than adding this spice to your meals. But as part of an overall plan that includes an anti-inflammatory diet, regular exercise, stress-reduction and prudent supplementation, a daily sprinkle of turmeric in your cooking can be a valuable addition to your healthy lifestyle, and a great habit with which to begin a happy new year!

Andrew Weil, M.D., is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and the editorial director of www.DrWeil.com. Become a fan on Facebook, follow Dr. Weil on Twitter, and check out his Daily Health Tips Blog.

Follow Dr. Andrew Weil on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DrWeil

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Is it a serious health issue — or are you just getting old? - msnbc.com

Posted: 28 Dec 2010 10:49 AM PST

Doctors often tell us to listen to our bodies. But when we face those aches, pains, pops and twitches, are they a sign of something seriously wrong — or just the harmless by-products of a life well lived? In other words: Are we just getting old?

These six symptoms could spell annoying but harmless signs of aging — or they could indicate you should get something checked out.

You're always cold

It's probably: Nothing.

Even though the mercury's only dropped slightly, are you always in the middle of a Siberian deep freeze? Older folks do run colder due to slowed circulation and lower metabolic rates, but people of all ages gripe about being chilly.

"Most of the time when people complain about feeling cold we don't find a reason. There's probably something going on in their temperature regulation center," says Dr. Diane Krieger, head of the diabetes care center at South Miami Hospital. Since temperature regulation takes place in the brain's hypothalamus, which is affected by hormones, everything from PMS to pregnancy can rejigger your thermostat.

It could be: A thyroid problem or anemia. The thyroid influences how swiftly you produce and use energy. If it's not working correctly, the body slows and can feel sluggish and wintry. If you feel frosty all the time, ask your doc for blood work. And if the blood work turns up normal, then Lrieger advises to dress in layers and kick up the heat.

Heart palpitations

It's probably:

The result of too much caffeine, not enough sleep, stress, a decongestant or steroid medications like Prednisone. Heart palpitation is a general term for a rapid, skipped or fluttering heartbeat, and you needn't be old to have them. In fact, for women, any flux of hormone levels such as being premenstrual, pregnant or peri-menopausal can cause palpitations.

"In an otherwise healthy person who has palpitations, most of them are not a precursor to a heart attack," says Dr. Nieca Goldberg, medical director of NYU Women's Heart Program.

It could be: Something more serious if you have palpitations that last more than 15 minutes, you feel lightheaded, dizzy or faint.

"If you have palpitations, you are not crazy — you have palpitations," says Goldberg. "And any doctor who sees you should evaluate those palpitations." Your doc will schedule an EKG and perhaps have you wear a heart monitor to detect anything suspicious.

Achy eyes

It's probably: Eye strain, too much computer time or a lot of late nights at the office. "Achy eyes are very common as people age," says Dr. Brian Bonanni, an ophthalmologist and medical director of Gotham Lasik Vision in New York City.

As we get older, our eyes become drier and after all day in front of the screen or hours of reading, they can feel tired, strained and achy. Look away from the computer and blink a few times every hour, or try an over-the-counter artificial tear product a couple of times per day or up to once an hour depending on symptoms.

It could be: A chronic inflammatory condition like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or a thyroid problem. These disorders can affect not only the eye muscle but cause dry eye, which leads to that achy feeling. "If it's an occasional ache, it's not a problem generally, but obviously if it increases in severity or frequency, it should be checked out," says Bonanni.

Shaky hands

It's probably: An annoying sign of age. Essential tremor, or hand shaking, used to be called benign or senile tremor because one in five people over 65 had it. For many, the shaking begins in young adulthood and becomes more obvious with age, occurring during movement. If mom or dad has essential tremor, there's a 50 percent chance their kids will develop it, too.

"For most it is mild, but it can be embarrassing or affect performance, like the ability to play an instrument," says Dr. Jane Sadler, family medicine practitioner at Baylor Medical Care System in Garland, Texas. Essential tremor can also involve the head and voice. Physical therapy, beta blockers and even Botox have been used to still the shaking.

It could be: Something more serious like an overactive thyroid, so get any shaking evaluated by your doctor. You may need an EMG (a test of the electrical muscles of the body) and blood work. Your doc will watch the tremor, and ask when it occurs. Tremors with Parkinson's are more noticeable when the hands are at rest; plus, Parkinson's does not affect the head or voice, so it's easily distinguished from essential tremor by your doc.

Popping knees

It's probably: Just a benign noise in the front of the kneecap that happens when you move from a seated position to a standing one. Joint popping is not painful and generally, it's not much of a worry. People develop it in their mid 40s because the cartilage in the knee wears down, just like the tread on the tires of a car.

"The kneecap runs in a groove in the front of the knee, and if it's just a little bit out of alignment within the groove, the cartilage behind the kneecap will wear a little and you get that popping or even a crunching sensation," says Dr. William Doherty, a Boston-area orthopedic surgeon. Popping is more common in women than men because their kneecaps are smaller and slip out of alignment easier.

It could be: More of a problem if it's accompanied by pain. Some people's knees hurt when climbing stairs, and women who wear high heels a lot may have bum knees. Others might be prone to pain if they've had a previous injury from a fall, or an athletic or dashboard injury, where the knee smashes the dash in a car accident. To reduce soreness, maintain good quadriceps muscle tone with exercises such as bicycling, walking or swimming. Well-toned quads keep the kneecap as close to the center of its groove as it should be, preventing pain.

Eyelid twitches

It's probably: Nothing to worry about. "Any irritation to the eye itself can cause a twitching reflex where the nerve gets irritated and causes the muscle to twitch," says Bonanni, the New York opthamologist. They're very common, especially as we age. Caffeine, stress, medication side effects and fatigue may cause them to come on. Even acute anxiety can result in twitches. Eye twitching may be nothing more than a sign you need to chill out a bit.

It could be: Blepharospasm, a condition characterized by abnormal involuntary blinking or spasms of the eyelids. Some doctors refer to it as blinking disorder. It may be caused by chemical messengers getting mixed in the basal ganglia of the brain. It could also be a medication side effect. If eyelid twitching occurs daily or gets progressively worse, have it evaluated by your eye professional or family doc. Botox injections may work to paralyze the muscles of the eyelid and eliminate the twitch.

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Health Buzz: FDA Approves Gardasil for Anal Cancer - YAHOO!

2010-12-27T19:46:00.001-08:00

Health Buzz: FDA Approves Gardasil for Anal Cancer - YAHOO!

Posted: 23 Dec 2010 08:06 PM PST

Gardasil Approved as Anal Cancer Vaccine

Federal officials have approved a new weapon against anal cancer. Merck's Gardasil can now be marketed as an anal cancer vaccine for men and women ages 9 to 26, U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said Wednesday. Clinical data suggest the vaccine, originally approved to prevent cervical, vulvar, and vaginal cancer caused by the human papillomavirus, could also be 78 percent effective in preventing anal cancer associated with four strains of HPV. Both men and women are affected by the disease, but the incidence is highest among men who have sex with men. More than 5,000 people are diagnosed with anal cancer each year, and about 720 are killed by the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute. Actress Farrah Fawcett died of anal cancer in 2009 at the age of 62. "Treatment for anal cancer is challenging. The use of Gardasil as a method of prevention is important, as it may result in fewer diagnoses and the subsequent surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy that individuals need to endure," Karen Midthun, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told Reuters.

--HPV Vaccine: Not Just for Women?

--7 Facts You Need to Know About HPV and Gardasil

Hangover Cure? Hah. But These Tips May Help

When it comes to hangovers, everyone has a swear-by-it remedy, from bingeing on cheeseburgers and fries (grease supposedly lines the stomach and slows alcohol absorption) to gulping spiked orange juice or a Bloody Mary (hair of the dog). Hundreds of others are free for the taking online, so why not pick one and get moving the day after you've had a few too many?

Because "in terms of anything that's proven to, quote, cure a hangover, there isn't anything," says Michael Fingerhood, an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. In 2005, researchers scoured studies as far back as the 1950s that addressed preventing or treating hangovers. They unearthed just eight that were worth a closer look, none of which could convincingly demonstrate success for their hangover tricks (such as taking a supplement of prickly-pear cactus or a yeast-vitamin pill), according to the report published in the British Medical Journal. That doesn't mean you have to be miserable all day, though. Experts say some old standbys will at least take the edge off a hangover and end it a little faster, U.S. News's Kurtis Hiatt reports. [Read more: Hangover Cure? Hah. But These Tips May Help.]

--For Addiction Help, Hire a 'Sober Coach'

--The Skinny on Alcoholic Beverages and Weight Loss

Skip the Eggnog! These Holiday Foods Are Good for You

It's hard to avoid indulging during the holidays. But do you have to? Actually, holiday foods aren't all bad, U.S. News's Megan Johnson reports. Excluding, say, eggnog, fried latkes, and other calorie-laden treats, some things that could land on your plate this season are in fact healthy.

Oysters--which supposedly taste best in the winter months--are an example. Traditionally served in stew on Christmas Eve, the mollusks contain more zinc than any other food. Zinc is a mineral that helps fight off infections and heal wounds, making oysters good for the immune system. They also contain vitamin B12 and iron, required to make red blood cells, and omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for heart health.

Maybe you have a favorite holiday dish: green bean or sweet potato casserole--or, perhaps, oyster stew. Recipes for these and many other festive dishes usually call for whole milk or cream and butter. But with that slice of pecan pie, made with sugar and eggs, a single celebratory feast could easily max out your daily allowance of calories. Still, you can make lighter, healthier versions with a few improvements. Top green bean casserole with sliced almonds instead of fried onions, and use fat-free cream of mushroom soup instead of the regular kind, suggests Bethany Thayer, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. In her dishes, Thayer uses skim milk and egg whites in lieu of whole milk and whole eggs. [Read more: Skip the Eggnog! These Holiday Foods Are Good for You.]

--Holiday Travel: 3 Ways to Reduce Stress

--Attention Travelers: Is the Bedbug Threat Real?

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“Arthritis causes more disability than any other disease - St. Petersburg Times” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2010-12-26T19:28:00.001-08:00

“Arthritis causes more disability than any other disease - St. Petersburg Times” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Arthritis causes more disability than any other disease - St. Petersburg Times

Posted: 19 Dec 2010 04:58 PM PST

By Letitia Stein, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Monday, December 20, 2010

When it comes to feared diseases, arthritis hardly ranks up there with killers such as cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's. Yet arthritis causes more disability than any other disease.

With one in five American adults afflicted, arthritis costs the nation $128 billion annually. Its growth is accelerating as the baby boomers age and people of all ages become heavier, fueling the disease.

Yet public health experts say it's hard to persuade people to take this painful, costly condition seriously.

"Arthritis is seen as not a killer," said Dr. Patience White, vice president of public health at the Arthritis Foundation. "What they don't know is that disability is a killer in the long run."

More than half of adults with diabetes or heart disease also have arthritis. Physical activity is one of the first things doctors recommend to manage all of these conditions. But people with arthritis are typically less active than those without.

Arthritis, White explained, is what's called a "doorknob disease," a medical problem that patients often consider so insignificant they don't bring it up until the doctor's hand is on the examining room door.

The word "arthritis" actually can describe more than 100 conditions affecting the joints, including fibromyalgia, lupus and gout. In the most common type, osteoarthritis, the cartilage and bone at the joint gradually wear down, a process worsened by age, weight and inactivity.

The toll of arthritis is making headlines. In just the past week:

• Some of the most prestigious medical groups in the country, including the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic, announced they are sharing data to determine the highest-quality, lowest-cost ways to approach the most common and costly procedures and conditions. First up: knee replacements — usually due to arthritis — which are performed more than 300,000 times a year in the United States with costs that range from $16,000 to $24,000 per surgery.

• Although doctors have been giving older arthritic patients narcotic painkillers, thinking they're safer than non-narcotics such as Advil, a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found those on narcotics face a higher risk of bone fracture, heart attack and death.

• A new study in the Journal of Gerontology says that we are spending more of our final years in poor health, including a marked increase in the number of people who can't walk up stairs or stroll a quarter-mile. "There is substantial evidence that we have done little to date to eliminate or delay disease or the physiological changes that are linked to age," researchers from the University of Southern California wrote.

But the U.S. health care system, in which providers are paid for procedures, encourages doctors to order up drugs, tests and surgery rather than spend time motivating patients to make difficult lifestyle changes.

Physicians "just don't have enough time, said Jennifer Hootman, an epidemiologist in the arthritis program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Plus, she said, doctors and patients alike are often unaware of resources offered by groups such as the Arthritis Foundation (see box for contact information). "Most of them don't know that there are programs in their community that could help them that are very low cost."

Given the impact arthritis has on people's lives, she said, patients say they would take action if they knew how.

"They would be willing to go to them," she added. "But they just don't know about them."

Information from Times wires was used in this report.

By the numbers

50 million: American adults who suffer from some form of arthritis

1 million: People who develop arthritis every year

No. 1: Arthritis' rank among all causes of disability

One in two: Adults who will eventually develop osteoarthritis of the knee

Two in three: Obese adults who will eventually develop osteoarthritis of the knee

More than half: Adults with diabetes or heart disease who also have arthritis

44 million: Annual outpatient medical visits due to arthritis.

992,100: Annual hospitalizations due to arthritis.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Health and Disease: Living longer brings own set of problems - Sacramento Bee

Posted: 26 Dec 2010 12:07 AM PST

One snapshot of baby boomer health shows the generation as rugged outdoors men and women who go mountain biking and kayaking.

"In a way we're in better shape. In a way, we're in worse shape," said Candace Roeder, executive director of Seniors First, a nonprofit senior services agency serving Placer County. "We've really used up our joints. I'm 57 and already had a knee replacement. We've played hard. We continue to play hard."

In fact, though, boomers will face just as many health problems as their parents have, said Will Tift, planner for the Area 4 Agency on Aging.

"What I would describe as a highly visible minority, the sky-diving baby boomer who's out there adventure-seeking, those people exist. That's a minority faction of all boomers," Tift said.

Boomers are certainly expected to live longer than any generation before them. Medical advances in antibiotics and surgery have significantly curbed the likelihood of death from heart attacks and infectious diseases. That means boomers and their doctors will spend more time managing ailments associated with aging, such as arthritis, dementia and other chronic illnesses.

Another of the biggest challenges for boomers will be their struggle with weight. Already one-third of them are clinically obese and another third are overweight, said Tift. "That's the main factor that drives the other chronic conditions: diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis."

By 2030, when all boomers are over age 65, one-fourth of them in the Sacramento region, about 125,000, are projected to be living with diabetes, according to a report by the Area 4 Agency on Aging.

“Free online program addresses chronic conditions and health - NJ.com” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2010-12-24T19:09:00.001-08:00

“Free online program addresses chronic conditions and health - NJ.com” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Free online program addresses chronic conditions and health - NJ.com

Posted: 24 Dec 2010 05:35 PM PST

Published: Friday, December 24, 2010, 8:37 PM

SALEM — The Salem County Health Department would like to announce that the New Jersey State Department of Health and Senior Services is currently offering a free, online program to address chronic conditions and health.

Better Choices, Better Health is a program provided by the state health department in every county in New Jersey.

It is an evidence-based program that was created by Stanford University. Prior to having it available online, Stanford trained individuals to teach the program and then they would go into the community to provide individuals with ongoing health issues with information.

The course helps people with arthritis, asthma, diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, stroke, and osteoporosis and many other chronic conditions manage their symptoms and take control of their health.

These classes are offered by the Salem County Health Department, as well as other agencies in the county.

Now, the state has collaborated once again with Stanford University and the National Council on Aging (NCOA) to provide this course in a web-based format. By doing so, individuals can access the program from the comfort of their homes, at whatever time is convenient for them.

"This is a really helpful and proven program that we are very proud to offer in our county," said County Health Officer Virginia Preesada. "The state has now expanded this program to individuals who may not be able to make it to a location at a set time."

For a limited time, the state is offering the program free to any resident.

All people have to do is go online to www.SelfManage.org and sign up.

Spaces are limited so please go to the website to find out more information.

Freeholder Dale Cross added, "This is a great opportunity for individuals in the state to take control of their health and make a change to improve themselves and their condition."

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Health Buzz: FDA Approves Gardasil for Anal Cancer - YAHOO!

Posted: 23 Dec 2010 09:08 AM PST

Gardasil Approved as Anal Cancer Vaccine

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The Year in Review: Health and Wellness Fads 2010 - MedPage Today

2010-12-22T19:42:00.001-08:00

The Year in Review: Health and Wellness Fads 2010 - MedPage Today

Posted: 22 Dec 2010 09:38 AM PST

Cupping and cleanses, detox diets and coconut water, kombucha tea and salvia were all associated with celebrities this year, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian, Demi Moore, Beyonce, Paris Hilton and Victoria Beckham. Which of these substances or practices have any scientific research to back them up?

1. Kombucha Tea

This drink is part of the dietary regimens of multiple Hollywood actresses and entertainers including Gwyneth Paltrow, Kirsten Dunst, Lindsay Lohan, Madonna, Halle Berry, Meg Ryan, Anna Paquin, Cher, Barbara Streisand, Alec Baldwin and Susan Sarandon.

Kombucha is a form of black tea and sugar that is fermented using a combination of bacterial and fungal cultures that form a "mushroom" on top of the fermentation vessel. It originated in China thousands of years ago, eventually spreading to Europe, and is today becoming increasingly popular through celebrity use and endorsement in the U.S. and U.K. Many home brew recipes for making kombucha may be found on the Internet but it is also manufactured and sold by companies such as Synergy Drinks.

The claims for its medicinal value are as far-reaching as they are implausible and include uses for aging, anorexia, arthritis, atherosclerosis, cancer, constipation, diabetes, gallbladder disease, gout, hemorrhoids, hair growth and color restoration, headache, hypertension, HIV, immune boosting, indigestion, increased vitality, treatment of alcohol and coffee addictions and wrinkle reduction. There is little or no evidence to support any of these claims.

At one time Whole Foods removed kombucha drinks from its store shelves because they can contain a small amount of alcohol as a product of the fermentation process. This fact was used as a possible explanation for why actress Lindsay Lohan's alcohol-monitoring (SCRAM) bracelet was activated even though she insisted that she had obeyed court orders not to drink alcoholic beverages.

2. Coconut Water

This year's summer drink for health-conscious celebrities was coconut water. Madonna, Demi Moore, Kim Kardashian, Molly Sims, Heidi Klum and Brooke Shields were all spotted sipping the beverage. Coconut water is the clear liquid inside young coconuts. As the fruit matures, the coconut water gradually is replaced by the coconut meat and air.

Companies that make and sell various brands of coconut have made all sorts of claims for it as a health elixir. These include: boosting the immune system, dissolving kidney stones and increasing sexual libido. There is no scientific evidence to support any of these claims. One research study concluded that sodium-enriched, fresh, young coconut water is "as good as ingesting a commercial sports drink for whole body rehydration after exercise-induced dehydration, but with better fluid tolerance."

3. Salvia

A TMZ video of 18-year-old Miley Cyrus taking bong hits of the Mexican sage, Salvia divinorum has brought a new wave of publicity to this ancient folk remedy. Salvia means "to heal" and divinorum means "divination" reflecting its traditional uses by Mazatec healers or shamans in Oxaxaca, Mexico.

Smoking Salvia produces intense hallucinations, typically described as "separation from the body" or "experiencing another reality" within minutes of ingestion, and its effects can last up to an hour. Although legal in many states, some legislators would like to see it reclassified as a controlled substance. The naturally-occurring chemicals in the leaves are being scientifically studied as potential drugs for a variety of diseases including depression and diarrhea, schizophrenia and Alzheimer's Disease.

4. Cupping

Cupping is the process of applying a a heated cup to the skin to create a slight suction. Cupping is a form of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) which is based on the yin-yang concept and a vital energy or life force called qi (or chi) that is said to circulate in the body along meridians. The basic idea behind cupping therapy is that the suction relieves "stagnation" and improves the flow of qi.

Unlike most of the other health fads discussed here, cupping has been subjected to a considerable amount of scientific investigation. The conclusions so far are that while cupping has no serious side effects, neither does it have proven benefits for any medical or health condition.

Cupping therapy was popular among a number of celebs this year including Gwyneth Paltrow, Paris Hilton, Victoria Beckham and Jessica Simpson. Ms. Paltrow was photographed with the tell-tale rings on her back, pictured in the photo at the top of the page. In June, Ms. Simpson tweeted: "Has anyone ever tried cupping? When u know you are doing something good for ur body the meditation creates intense visions. Love it!"

5. Detox Diets & Cleanses

Among the celebrities who used and/or promoted various cleansing or detox regimens were Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, Beyonce, Blair Underwood and especially Gwyneth Paltrow. Health claims derive from the belief that many chronic medical conditions occur when the body becomes a victim to a build up of "toxins."

As Dr. Alejandro Junger, designer of the Clean detox program, said: "When our systems are overtaxed, they begin to break down in a multitude of ways. Allergies, headaches, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, fatigue, weight gain and insomnia are just a few of the symptoms that can result. The majority of these common ailments are the direct result of toxin build-up in our systems that has accumulated during the course of our daily lives." Most mainstream physicians, such as complementary and alternative medicine expert Dr. Edzard Ernst (pictured) say that this is nonsense and there's only one substance reliably removed from people using detox/cleanses: "Money from their bank accounts."

Additional reference: Most useless celebrity-inspired health therapies

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Five health-related books that are worth a read - St. Petersburg Times

2010-12-21T19:08:00.001-08:00

Five health-related books that are worth a read - St. Petersburg Times

Posted: 17 Dec 2010 12:25 AM PST

UNDER review

By Kristen Gerencher, MarketWatch
In Print: Saturday, December 18, 2010

Several books published in the last year or so stand out for their enlightening, entertaining and often personal stories on the health and science front.

Here are five health books you might consider cracking open for yourself or giving to a loved one:

• There's something for nearly every kind of reader in this story that began when a poor black woman sought treatment for cervical cancer in 1951 and a doctor in Baltimore took a tissue sample without her consent. After she died, scientists were able to use her cell line to develop a raft of new therapies including the polio vaccine, and the profitable business of human biological materials was born. But Lacks' descendants were unable to afford health insurance, and they suffered two decades before learning the truth about her legacy. Rebecca Skloot's patience in winning the family's trust pays off and she lets Lacks' daughter Deborah emerge as a poignant protagonist, weaving a moving family portrait into a cautionary tale about health care injustice.

• A veteran journalist goes on a self-described "medical pilgrimage" from India to Germany to compare health systems through the prism of his aching shoulder. T. R. Reid collects medical advice from doctors and other practitioners aiming to help him past the pain of an old injury. But he's just as interested in why health systems evolved as they did and why the U.S. outspends them all while leaving 50 million people uninsured and failing to get better health results for its money. With humor and lucidity, Reid reminds readers that no health system is perfect. But he trains his eye on Switzerland and Taiwan as examples of free-market democracies that found the political will to cover nearly everyone.

• A former public relations executive for health insurance companies lays bare the tricks of the trade that he says insurers have used over the years to mislead reporters and scare and confuse Americans into keeping the dysfunctional system they have. Wendell Potter exposes the firms' lavish executive pay, use of front groups and tactics for weaseling out of insuring those who need coverage most, but he also condemns the for-profit model that sets up the need for these companies to compete on who can shed the most risk in the first place. He also looks at the major self-serving public relations campaigns that trade groups like the American Medical Association have used to derail previous attempts to make health care more equitable. Potter reveals the stories of patient desperation that caused him to abandon his 20-year career and explains why he fears that spin will win.

• In a comprehensive "biography" of cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee introduces a vast cast of characters and describes their early trials and errors that led to advances in cancer treatment. The author wants to know how scientists' shifting understanding and treatment of this complex disease can be used to predict its future, and his descriptions of patients' cases unfold with humane elegance. He uses the tale of the ancient Persian queen Atossa, who asked a slave to cut off her cancer-ridden breast, to orient readers on a treatment timeline that extends to the present.

• Even the most highly skilled and trained among us is prone to forgetting crucial steps or neglecting to ask critical questions when the pressure is on. So says Atul Gawande, a New Yorker writer and surgeon at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, who takes readers on a tour of how different professions and skilled trades manage the growing complexity of their tasks. He draws parallels to how U.S. health care teams can improve their performance and reduce deadly medical errors with the use of checklists. With both wit and gravitas, Gawande lends new urgency to an old idea.

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“Doctors' prescription for arthritis? Get moving - St. Petersburg Times” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2010-12-20T19:52:00.001-08:00

“Doctors' prescription for arthritis? Get moving - St. Petersburg Times” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Doctors' prescription for arthritis? Get moving - St. Petersburg Times

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 12:39 PM PST

By Letitia Stein, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Monday, December 20, 2010

Russ Arnwine, left, instructs Peter Conti Jr. during a physical therapy session last week using the AquaCiser II, a water-based treadmill, at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.
	[KATHLEEN FLYNN \| Times]

Arthritis patients increasingly are getting a prescription that sounds like the last thing to do when hips and knees are painfully inflamed: Get moving.

Despite years of advice that the arthritic should lay off their joints, doctors and therapists now say proper movement is the best medicine for the nation's leading cause of disability, whether the goal is alleviating pain, or even protecting against the condition.

The Arthritis Foundation, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, launched a national campaign this year to spread the word. Experts say preliminary research has shown that for many, exercise can relieve pain just as well as over-the-counter drugs such as Tylenol and Aleve, without the dangerous side effects of a number of medications.

Of course, hitting the gym or a trail is easier said than done if your knees are throbbing. But the right kind of exercise can help to loosen stiff joints and strengthen the muscles around them, giving sufferers less pain and more mobility. In the bargain, exercisers get a potent weapon to control heart disease and diabetes, which afflict many arthritic patients in middle age and beyond.

The key, experts agree, is getting people in pain to overcome their reluctance to move.

Pete Conti Jr., a 50-year-old St. Petersburg truck driver who's on medical leave with arthritis and diabetes, is a believer.

After diagnosing Conti with arthritis in his left hip, doctors sent him to physical therapy. After just a week of stretching and strengthening, he was moving more easily in the morning. So Conti didn't blanch when therapists ordered him into an odd-looking tank of warm water outfitted with a treadmill.

His big goal: avoid joint replacement surgery.

"I just didn't want it to get worse," Conti said of his arthritis. "I'm doing everything in my power to stay out from underneath the knife."

• • •

To appreciate the healing powers of exercise, you have to understand the mechanics of joints, body parts that get little attention until they hurt.

Joints don't get their nutrients from large blood vessels, the way muscles and organs do. Synovial fluid, a substance as slick as oil, feeds cartilage, which protects the bones from grinding against each other.

Movement lubricates the process much like squeezing water through a sponge, said Steve Tompkins, manager of outpatient rehabilitation at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where Conti is in therapy.

"You don't want to just sit around and be a couch potato," said Tompkins, who is a physical therapist. "You'll have a dirty sponge."

Exercise also strengthens the muscles around the joint and increases blood flow to the surrounding tissues.

And maintaining a healthy weight, through diet and exercise, is crucial to managing arthritis. For every pound gained, experts note, the pressure across your knees increases by four pounds.

• • •

The good news for the fitness averse: You don't have to knock yourself out to get the positive results of exercise. In fact, you shouldn't. Over time, pounding exercises such as running can wear down the cartilage in the joint, effectively causing osteoarthritis.

"What's hard is that most people think exercise is really going and killing yourself, whether it's running or whatever," said Dr. Patience White, vice president of public health at the Arthritis Foundation, which offers specific fitness guidance on its website and through its local chapters (see box).

"The point here is balance."

John Leanes has learned this lesson the hard way.

A basketball nut since the age of 4, he played three to four times a week until his mid 50s, when his right ankle began swelling up like a balloon. He wrapped his ankles and rubbed soothing ointment on his knees, anything to stay on the court.

When he finally saw a doctor, the St. Petersburg man learned his basketball days were over.

"It's a depressing piece of news to hear. Maybe 15 years ago, if I had this understanding, I could have slowed this process down," said Leanes, now 62. "It was hard for me to say to myself, 'John, you're aging. You need to do some things differently.' "

Where he once ran 5 miles a day, he now power walks for three or four. He still indulges in a monthly pick-up game, but only on indoor basketball courts that better absorb the impact.

"You have to figure out a way not to exercise less, but to exercise with less forces," said Jeff Konin, executive director of the University of South Florida's Sports Medicine and Athletic Related Trauma Institute. "It doesn't take a physician visit to know that there's too much force on whatever joint is involved."

Whether you already suffer from arthritis or hope to prevent it, experts recommend low-impact activities, such as walking, cycling, the elliptical machine and tai chi.

And nothing eases joint pain during exercise better than water.

"When you're walking in the water, you're really exercising all of the muscles you need to walk or run," said Dr. Adam Rosen, a rheumatologist in Clearwater. "You're rehabbing all of those muscles, but don't have your body weight on the hips and knees."

Sore muscles the next day are expected if you haven't exercised in a while. But watch for signs of overdoing it. If you experience more joint pain two hours after exercising than you did before, you should scale back.

Just don't quit. Experts say that can make the arthritis and pain even worse.

• • •

The benefits of exercise extend beyond osteoarthritis, a disease of wear-and-tear, to rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune condition that can strike at any age.

For several years in her late 20s, Tyrill Towns felt tired all the time. Doctors ordered a battery of tests to examine the cystlike knots developing in her left hand.

At age 31, she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

"I probably spent about two years being in denial about it. I'm like, 'I'm in my 30s. What do you mean I have this disease? What do you mean there's no cure?' " she said.

Towns, now 36, has more energy since she started running. She has lost about 25 pounds, mostly by eating a healthier diet. She occasionally takes steroids when the arthritis flares up.

Now her challenge is moderation, a tough feat when she gets competitive in 5K races, or when her friends urge her to try a half-marathon. The Temple Terrace woman reminds herself that her condition means she's more likely to also develop osteoarthritis if she overdoes it.

"I have a condition that I have to keep in my mind-set," she said. "It's still there. So let's be smart about our choices."

Letitia Stein can be reached at lstein@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3322.

Learn more

To learn more about arthritis and exercise, visit the Arthritis Foundation's website at arthritis.org, or call the Florida chapter at (813) 968-7000 or toll-free 1-800-850-9455. You'll also find information and resources on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov/arthritis.

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Officials rip health chain’s aggressive bone-marrow campaign - Boston Globe

Posted: 17 Dec 2010 04:14 AM PST

WORCESTER — It's a well-established advertising principle that sex sells.

But UMass Memorial Health Care Inc.'s use of pricey models in short skirts and spike heels to entice people to sign up for its bone marrow registry, while allegedly misleading consumers about the cost of testing, has drawn scrutiny of the hospital chain from authorities in New Hampshire.

Condemning the practice as a scam involving "suspect marketing and billing practices,'' New Hampshire Attorney General Michael A. Delany yesterday announced a major probe of shopping-mall bone marrow donor recruitment drives by UMass Memorial and its subsidiary, the Caitlin Raymond International Registry.

James T. Boffetti, New Hampshire senior assistant attorney general, said in a telephone interview yesterday afternoon that his office will investigate potential criminal violations of New Hampshire's Consumer Protection Act as part of a joint probe with the state's Insurance Department.

Caitlin Raymond staff and the models from a Boston agency, which charged UMass Memorial between $40,000 and $50,000 a week for about a year and a half, told potential donors that the DNA test required to join the registry did not cost anything, Boffetti said.

However, UMass Memorial billed the potential donors' insurance companies as much as $4,300 per test, far more than the roughly $100 charged by most labs, according to Boffetti.

The DNA samples tested by UMass Memorial were collected at shopping centers, sporting events, and elsewhere by swabbing the inside of a potential donor's cheek, he said.

Caitlin Raymond agreed to suspend all donor recruitment efforts in New Hampshire as of yesterday morning, he said.

Massachusetts law enforcement officials also are reviewing the allegations and have been in contact with New Hampshire authorities, said a spokesman for state Attorney General Martha Coakley.

UMass Memorial spokesman Robert Brogna declined to answer any specific questions about the embattled recruitment program. Instead, he issued a written statement praising the work of the bone marrow registry, and indicating that the hospital chain is cooperating with law enforcement authorities in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Boffetti declined to identify the Boston modeling agency hired by UMass Memorial, but said agency officials told New Hampshire investigators that it billed the hospital chain tens of thousands of dollars a week.

"Upwards of $40,000 a week for a year and half? Do the math,'' Boffetti said.

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“Arthritis causes more disability than any other disease - St. Petersburg Times” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2010-12-19T19:16:00.001-08:00

“Arthritis causes more disability than any other disease - St. Petersburg Times” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Arthritis causes more disability than any other disease - St. Petersburg Times

Posted: 19 Dec 2010 04:58 PM PST

By Letitia Stein, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Monday, December 20, 2010

When it comes to feared diseases, arthritis hardly ranks up there with killers such as cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's. Yet arthritis causes more disability than any other disease.

Yet public health experts say it's hard to persuade people to take this painful, costly condition seriously.

"Arthritis is seen as not a killer," said Dr. Patience White, vice president of public health at the Arthritis Foundation. "What they don't know is that disability is a killer in the long run."

The toll of arthritis is making headlines. In just the past week:

Given the impact arthritis has on people's lives, she said, patients say they would take action if they knew how.

"They would be willing to go to them," she added. "But they just don't know about them."

Information from Times wires was used in this report.

By the numbers

50 million: American adults who suffer from some form of arthritis

1 million: People who develop arthritis every year

No. 1: Arthritis' rank among all causes of disability

One in two: Adults who will eventually develop osteoarthritis of the knee

Two in three: Obese adults who will eventually develop osteoarthritis of the knee

More than half: Adults with diabetes or heart disease who also have arthritis

44 million: Annual outpatient medical visits due to arthritis.

992,100: Annual hospitalizations due to arthritis.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Doctors' prescription for arthritis sufferers? Get moving - St. Petersburg Times

Posted: 19 Dec 2010 04:58 PM PST

By Letitia Stein, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Monday, December 20, 2010

Russ Arnwine, left, instructs Peter Conti during a physical therapy session last week using the AquaCiser II, a water-based treadmill, at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.
	[KATHLEEN FLYNN \| Times]

Arthritis patients increasingly are getting a prescription that sounds like the last thing to do when hips and knees are painfully inflamed: Get moving.

The key, experts agree, is getting people in pain to overcome their reluctance to move.

Pete Conti Jr., a 50-year-old St. Petersburg truck driver who's on medical leave with arthritis and diabetes, is a believer.

His big goal: avoid joint replacement surgery.

"I just didn't want it to get worse," Conti said of his arthritis. "I'm doing everything in my power to stay out from underneath the knife."

• • •

To appreciate the healing powers of exercise, you have to understand the mechanics of joints, body parts that get little attention until they hurt.

"You don't want to just sit around and be a couch potato," said Tompkins, who is a physical therapist. "You'll have a dirty sponge."

Exercise also strengthens the muscles around the joint and increases blood flow to the surrounding tissues.

And maintaining a healthy weight, through diet and exercise, is crucial to managing arthritis. For every pound gained, experts note, the pressure across your knees increases by four pounds.

• • •

"The point here is balance."

John Leanes has learned this lesson the hard way.

When he finally saw a doctor, the St. Petersburg man learned his basketball days were over.

Where he once ran five miles a day, he now power walks for three or four. He still indulges in a monthly pick-up game, but only on indoor basketball courts that better absorb the impact.

Whether you already suffer from arthritis or hope to prevent it, experts recommend low-impact activities, such as walking, cycling, the elliptical machine and tai chi.

And nothing eases joint pain during exercise better than water.

Just don't quit. Experts say that can make the arthritis and pain even worse.

• • •

The benefits of exercise extend beyond osteoarthritis, a disease of wear-and-tear, to rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune condition that can strike at any age.

For several years in her late 20s, Tyrill Towns felt tired all the time. Doctors ordered a battery of tests to examine the cystlike knots developing in her left hand.

At age 31, she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

"I probably spent about two years being in denial about it. I'm like, 'I'm in my 30s. What do you mean I have this disease? What do you mean there's no cure?' " she said.

Towns, now 36, has more energy since she started running. She has lost about 25 pounds, mostly by eating a healthier diet. She occasionally takes steroids when the arthritis flares up.

"I have a condition that I have to keep in my mind-set," she said. "It's still there. So let's be smart about our choices."

Letitia Stein can be reached at lstein@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3322.

Learn more

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Zimbabwe Health Care, Paid With Peanuts - New York Times

2010-12-18T19:08:00.001-08:00

Zimbabwe Health Care, Paid With Peanuts - New York Times

Posted: 18 Dec 2010 06:25 PM PST

CHIDAMOYO, Zimbabwe — People lined up on the veranda of the American mission hospital here from miles around to barter for doctor visits and medicines, clutching scrawny chickens, squirming goats and buckets of maize. But mostly, they arrived with sacks of peanuts on their heads.

The hospital's cavernous chapel is now filled with what looks like a giant sand dune of unshelled nuts. The hospital makes them into peanut butter that is mixed into patients' breakfast porridge, spread on teatime snacks and melted into vegetables at dinnertime.

"We literally are providing medical services for peanuts!" exclaimed Kathy McCarty, a nurse from California who has run this rural hospital, 35 miles from the nearest tarred road, since 1981.

The hospital, along with countless Zimbabweans, turned to barter in earnest in 2008 when inflation peaked at what the International Monetary Fund estimates was an astonishing 500 billion percent, wiping out life savings, making even trillion-dollar notes worthless and propelling the health and education systems into a vertiginous collapse.

Since then, a power-sharing government has formed after years of decline under President Robert Mugabe, and the economy has stabilized. Zimbabwe abandoned its currency last year, replacing it with the American dollar, and inflation has fallen to a demure 3.6 percent. Teachers are back in their classrooms and nurses are back on their wards.

But a recent United Nations report suggests how far Zimbabwe has to go. It is still poorer than any of the 183 countries the United Nations has income data for. It is also one of only three countries in the world to be worse off now on combined measures of health, education and income than it was 40 years ago, the United Nations found.

For many rural Zimbabweans, cash remains so scarce that the 85-bed Chidamoyo Christian Hospital has continued to allow its patients to barter. Studies have found that fees are a major barrier to medical care in rural areas, where most Zimbabweans live.

"It's very difficult to get this famous dollar that people are talking about," said Esther Chirasasa, 30, who hiked eight miles through the bush to the hospital for treatment of debilitating arthritis. Her son, Cain, 13, walked at her side carrying a sack of peanuts to pay for her care.

Mrs. Chirasasa said her family of seven was nearly out of the food they grew on their small plot, so she needed to get her pain under control to work in other farmers' fields to feed her children.

Bartering helps plug some of the holes. A May survey of more than 4,000 rural households found that each of them, typically a family of six, spent an average of only $8 for all their needs in April, the cost of a couple of cappuccinos in New York. To help them get by, more than a third of households surveyed in September 2009 had used bartering.

Still, United Nations agencies estimate that 1.7 million of Zimbabwe's 11 million people will need food aid in the coming months. And Mr. Mugabe's continued domination of political life, along with persistent violations of the rule of law and human rights, have deterred foreign aid and investment needed to rebuild the nation's shattered economy, analysts say.

Here in this rustic outpost with no phone service and often no electricity, the Chidamoyo hospital and the people who rely on it have entered an unwritten pact to resist the tide of death that has carried away so many. Life expectancy in Zimbabwe, plagued by AIDS and poverty, has fallen to 47 years from 61 years over the past quarter century.

Patients provide the crops they grow and the animals they raise — food that feeds the thousands of patients who use the hospital — and the hospital tends to their wounds, treats their illnesses and delivers their babies. Its two doctors and 15 nurses see about 6,000 patients a month and have put 2,000 people with AIDS on life-saving antiretroviral medicines.

Even during the hyperinflation of 2008, when government hospitals ceased to function as the salaries of their workers shriveled, the Chidamoyo hospital stayed open by giving its staff members food that patients had bartered.

"People are helped very well and the staff cares about the patients," said Monica Mbizo, 22, who arrived with stomach pains and traded three skinny, black-feathered chickens for treatment.

The hospital, founded over four decades ago by American missionaries, from the Christian Church and Churches of Christ, receives limited support from a government that is itself hurting for revenue. The hospital also gets up to $10,000 a month from American and British churches, enabling it to charge patients far less in cash or goods than the fees at most government facilities. The hospital charges $1 to see the doctor — or a quarter bucket of peanuts — while a government hospital typically charges $4, in cash only.

Short of cash like the people it serves, the hospital practices a level of thrift unheard of in the United States. Workers and volunteers steam latex gloves to sterilize them for reuse, filling the fingers with water to ensure against leaks. They remove the cotton balls from thousands of pill bottles to swab patients' arms before injections. And they collect the tissue-thin pages of instructions from the same bottles for use as toilet paper.

But there are limits to what even stringent economies can achieve. For most of the past year, the hospital did not have enough money to stock blood. Ms. McCarty said women who hemorrhaged after giving birth or experiencing ruptured ectopic pregnancies were referred to bigger hospitals, but often they had no blood either. Eight women died, she said. Just recently, the United Nations has begun paying for blood at the hospital to improve women's odds of surviving.

Standing over an anesthetized woman before a Caesarean section, Dr. Vernon Murenje recalled how frightening it was to operate without blood in stock. "You're operating," he said, "but then at the back of your mind, you'll be thinking, 'What if we have significant blood loss?' "

As he prepared to make the incision, the hospital was in the midst of almost two weeks without power. Its old generator, already used when the hospital bought it 20 years ago, lacked enough juice to run the X-ray machine or to keep the florescent lights from flickering. It was turned on just before the Caesarean section. The air-conditioner coughed weakly to life in the stifling room.

When a boy emerged, Ms. McCarty cried, "Welcome to Zimbabwe!" But the newborn made no sound. She pounded his back and suctioned his nose until he let out a cry like a quavering baby bird.

"Oh, you finally realized you were born in Zimbabwe," she said. "He thought he was born in South Africa, and he was happy."

Postscript: The Community Presbyterian Church of Ringwood, N.J., has raised $24,000, and the Rotary Club of Sebastopol, Calif., contributed $7,000 to buy the hospital a generator.

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“Health Buzz: Autism Risk Linked to Freeway Proximity - YAHOO!” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2010-12-17T19:17:00.001-08:00

“Health Buzz: Autism Risk Linked to Freeway Proximity - YAHOO!” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Health Buzz: Autism Risk Linked to Freeway Proximity - YAHOO!

Posted: 17 Dec 2010 10:55 AM PST

Living Close to a Freeway May Increase Autism Risk

Could where you live could increase your child's chances of developing autism? New research suggests babies born to mothers who live close to freeways have double the risk of becoming autistic compared to other kids, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Researchers examined nearly 600 children ages 2 to 5--roughly half of whom had autism-- in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento. Those whose homes were within 1,000 feet of a freeway at birth appeared to be twice as likely to have autism, though the association didn't extend to major roads. Why freeways and not other highly-trafficked thoroughfares? Perhaps it's because of the type and quantity of the chemicals dispersed, the researchers speculated; in Los Angeles, for example, more than 300,000 cars cross some freeways daily, spewing pollutants. Past studies have linked autism to air pollutants, but the latest findings are the first to connect vehicular pollutants to the disorder. "This study isn't saying exposure to air pollution or exposure to traffic causes autism," lead researcher Heather Volk of the Saban Research Institute at Children's Hospital Los Angeles told The Los Angeles Times. "But it could be one of the factors that are contributing to its increase." Reported cases of autism jumped by 57 percent between 2002 and 2006, and about 1 in 110 children now has the disorder.

--Grandparents Can Join the Hunt for Causes of Autism

--New National Children's Study Seeks Environmental Causes of Autism, Asthma, ADHD

Want to Get in Shape? Take the Obama Challenge

Remember when you were a schoolkid running a mile and groaning through push-ups to meet the president's physical fitness challenge? Now you can sign up for the Obama version of the program, along with your own kids, U.S. News reports. The latest challenge, part of first lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative to end childhood obesity, aims to get 1 million children and their parents on their feet and moving daily. Stick it out for two months or so and you earn an official Presidential Active Lifestyle Award.

The PALA challenge requires adults to exercise for 30 minutes a day--kids, for an hour--five days a week for six out of eight weeks. Or you can wear a pedometer and count your daily steps (adult target: 8,500; kids' target: 11,000 for girls and 13,000 for boys). Sign up for free at Fitness.gov, where you can also log your activities. Online fitness tests can help you assess your endurance, muscle strength, and flexibility, and measure the progress you're making with your workouts. [Read more: Want to Get in Shape? Take the Obama Challenge.]

--10 Easy-Grow Veggies for Your Kids' Obama White House Garden

--Is Child Obesity an Infectious Disease?

TV Watching Is Bad for Babies' Brains

Babies who watch TV are more likely to have delayed cognitive development and language at 14 months, especially if they're watching programs intended for adults and older children. We probably knew that 24 and Grey's Anatomy don't really qualify as educational content, but it's surprising that TV-watching made a difference at such a tender age, writes U.S. News contributor Nancy Shute.

Babies who watched 60 minutes of TV daily had developmental scores one-third lower at 14 months than babies who weren't watching that much TV. Though their developmental scores were still in the normal range, the discrepancy may be due to the fact that when kids and parents are watching TV, they're missing out on talking, playing, and interactions that are essential to learning and development.

This new study, which appeared in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, followed 259 lower-income families in New York, most of whom spoke Spanish as their primary language at home. Other studies examining higher-income families have also come to the same conclusion: TV watching not only isn't educational, but it seems to stunt babies' development. [Read more: TV Watching Is Bad for Babies' Brains.]

--How to Have a Happier, Healthier, Smarter Baby

--What's Wrong With This Picture? Baby Is in Danger

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Officials rip health chain’s aggressive bone-marrow campaign - Boston Globe

Posted: 17 Dec 2010 04:14 AM PST

WORCESTER — It's a well-established advertising principle that sex sells.

However, UMass Memorial billed the potential donors' insurance companies as much as $4,300 per test, far more than the roughly $100 charged by most labs, according to Boffetti.

The DNA samples tested by UMass Memorial were collected at shopping centers, sporting events, and elsewhere by swabbing the inside of a potential donor's cheek, he said.

Caitlin Raymond agreed to suspend all donor recruitment efforts in New Hampshire as of yesterday morning, he said.

Massachusetts law enforcement officials also are reviewing the allegations and have been in contact with New Hampshire authorities, said a spokesman for state Attorney General Martha Coakley.

"Upwards of $40,000 a week for a year and half? Do the math,'' Boffetti said.

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“Pfizer Ends Some Arthritis Drug Trials But Project Still Alive - FOXBusiness” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2010-12-16T19:10:00.001-08:00

“Pfizer Ends Some Arthritis Drug Trials But Project Still Alive - FOXBusiness” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

Pfizer Ends Some Arthritis Drug Trials But Project Still Alive - FOXBusiness

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 11:25 AM PST

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) has formally terminated at least two clinical trials of an experimental arthritis drug that were put on hold earlier this year over safety concerns, but the company says it hasn't abandoned development of the drug.

Most clinical trials of the drug, tanezumab, were suspended in June and July at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, following reports that some patients' osteoarthritis worsened to the point of requiring joint replacement surgeries. Testing of the drug to treat cancer pain and chronic pancreatitis continues.

Since the suspensions, Pfizer has been in discussions with the FDA and hopes to submit clinical data and analysis to the agency by mid-2011 to further shed light on safety issues, said Ken Verburg, Pfizer's medical team lead for the tanezumab program. If the information alleviates the agency's safety concerns, the trial suspensions could be lifted.

But because so much time has already passed since the previous trials were suspended, Pfizer has discontinued at least two late-stage studies of the drug in osteoarthritis, saying it would be impractical to resume them.

In one of the terminated studies, which compared various dose levels of tanezumab with the pain drug naproxen, Pfizer had intended for each patient to receive treatment for one year. But at the time the trial was put on hold in June, only a small portion of patients had made it that far.

"Once we were put on hold we didn't believe it would be quick to exit the hold," Verburg said. "Therefore we began to shut down all the trials as a matter of course so we could gather and harvest all the data."

Analysts previously estimated the drug could generate sales ranging from $500 million to $1.2 billion annually by mid-decade, but expectations were lowered after the clinical trials were suspended.

The tanezumab trial suspensions are among a series of drug-research setbacks suffered by Pfizer, which faces patent expirations for top-selling drugs including cholesterol pill Lipitor in coming years, exposing them to sales-eroding generic competition.

In total, Pfizer had about a dozen Phase 3, or late-stage, trials for tanezumab, which is given by injection, either intravenously or by needle. The drug is designed to work by blocking a protein called nerve growth factor, which is believed to contribute to pain.

Some of the late-stage studies have been completed and others remain suspended. One trial whose results were reported at a medical conference in June suggested tanezumab was superior to a fake drug in relieving osteoarthritis of the knee. Adverse events reported in tanezumab users included joint pain and swelling.

According to The New England Journal of Medicine, at least 16 patients in one of the Phase 3 trials experienced worsening arthritis associated with bone necrosis, a type of bone damage. All the patients required total joint replacements including the knee and hip, and in more than half the cases the replaced joint was different from the one that had pain at the start of the trial.

Some non-Pfizer scientists have theorized that the drug masked pain so well that it led to over-activity, causing wear and tear that triggered the joint replacements--a theory that would seem to leave open the door for tanezumab to be a viable treatment as long as patients are warned not to overdo it.

But the theory hasn't been proven, and Pfizer is still analyzing the data to find out why some patients got worse.

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Recently Modified Ligament Reconstruction and Tendon Interposition Procedure -- Yielding Successful ... - Yahoo Finance

Posted: 16 Dec 2010 10:21 AM PST

Press Release Source: Dr. David Hildreth On Thursday December 16, 2010, 1:19 pm EST

HOUSTON, TX--(Marketwire - 12/16/10) - Dr. David Hildreth now offers arthritis sufferers a modified Ligament Reconstruction and Tendon Interposition (LRTI) procedure that is cutting operating time in half and reducing pain and recovery time.

As one of the leaders in his field in treating this common form of arthritis in women, basilar joint arthritis or arthritis of the thumb, Dr. Hildreth continually works to provide effective treatment options for optimal, long term hand function -- refining reconstructive and partial joint replacement procedures for degenerative joint conditions.

Dr. Hildreth, who helped shape the orthopedic program at Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital System in Houston, continues to specialize in the small bones and joints of the hand, wrist and elbow as the hand specialist of Richmond Bone & Joint Clinic.

The newly modified LRTI procedure is the latest joint preserving procedure he has made popular at the RBJC clinics.

"We're excited that this modified procedure will reduce the amount of time a patient spends in the OR and under anesthesia. By reducing surgical time, we are reducing risks," said Dr. Hildreth.

"This shorter procedure is also reducing the amount of postoperative pain patients experience and prompting a more rapid recovery. They're able to begin using their hand more quickly and as a result have better outcomes," added Dr. Hildreth.

The modified LRTI procedure is performed on patients suffering from arthritis of the thumb as well as those experiencing carpal metacarpal (CMC) instability. Dr. Hildreth performs partial and total joint replacement procedures for degenerative joint conditions as well as minimally invasive procedures for conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome and Dupuytren's Disease.

Featured among the medical innovators spotlighted in Newsweek magazine and annually appearing on the Texas Super Doctors' and international Best Doctors' lists, Dr. Hildreth is a published author and an associate professor of Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Dr. Hildreth practices at the RBJC Richmond, Sugar Land and Katy locations. Log onto www.davidhildrethmd.com to learn more about LRTI, or call (877) 702-MYMD (6963) to speak to a member of his staff and make an appointment. View introduction video: Meet Dr. Hildreth.

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“What Class Rank Says About Health - New York Times Blogs” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2010-12-15T19:13:00.001-08:00

“What Class Rank Says About Health - New York Times Blogs” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

What Class Rank Says About Health - New York Times Blogs

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 10:29 AM PST

Do straight-A students live longer?

Researchers have long known that education and good health are inextricably linked. Numerous studies have found that people with more years of schooling and higher education enjoy better health, over all, than those with less. But in a fascinating new report, investigators found that it is not just the number of degrees or years of education that make a difference, but another factor — class rank.

The findings come from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which has been following more than 10,000 people who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957. Those students who finished in the top 25 percent of their high school class were healthier, decades later, than the ones who finished in the bottom quarter. When they were all in their early 60s, those who had finished in the top quartile were, over all, half as likely to have experienced the declines in health that their peers who graduated in the lowest quartile were experiencing. Asked to assess their health on a scale from "excellent" to "poor," the top students ranked their overall health higher, and they were only half as likely to report having a chronic ailment like diabetes, heart disease or respiratory illness.

"What we've seen all along in other studies is the link between attainment — years of schooling — and health," said study author Dr. Pamela Herd, associate professor of public affairs and sociology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. "Here there's a link between health and actual academic performance.

"Even among those who each had 12 years of education, the person who performed better had better health," she said. "That's new." The study was published online in The Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

Now Dr. Herd, whose research is supported by the National Institute on Aging, is trying to figure out just what it is about class rank that seems to promote good health. Past research suggests people with a higher education get better jobs and make more money than their peers with less schooling, so they can afford to live in safer neighborhoods, eat a healthier diet, go to doctors, maybe join a gym. Jobs requiring more education also tend to involve less physical wear and tear and are less likely to subject workers to toxic fumes and other occupational hazards; they also carry more job security. Educated people also tend to have better habits: fewer smoke, fewer are obese, and more are physically active. And if they do develop a chronic disease like diabetes, they tend to be better at managing it.

But why would grades matter? One explanation is that the same psychological characteristics that make for a hardworking student — like conscientiousness, dependability, good study habits and following the rules — also shape healthy behaviors. But when Dr. Herd examined personality surveys the graduates of 1957 filled out, controlling for variables like family background and childhood health, she didn't find a strong correlation with health status.

She's convinced there's something about the actual mastering of academic material that's vital — not the algebra and United States history per se, but the process of developing critical thinking skills and improving cognitive function.

"The people who do better in high school — they learn more, they're more engaged, they're active learners, and that probably plays out across people's lives," Dr. Herd said. "They may have actually potentially learned how to learn more effectively, and that could affect things like how much you keep up with the latest innovations on how to improve your health, both medically and through your behavior."

There's a limit to what people can do to maintain and improve their health, she acknowledged, and we tend to oversimplify the extent of our control, "but these skills may be reflective of what we can do."

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Celtic Therapeutics and Bellus Health Initiate Confirmatory Phase III Clinical Study for Kiacta, a ... - Yahoo Finance

Posted: 15 Dec 2010 05:50 AM PST

Press Release Source: BELLUS HEALTH INC. On Wednesday December 15, 2010, 8:45 am EST

LAVAL, QC, and NEW YORK, Dec. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - BELLUS Health Inc. (TSX:BLU.to - News) and Celtic Therapeutics announced today that a global confirmatory phase III clinical study was initiated on December 14, 2010 for KIACTA™ (eprodisate). KIACTA™ is a drug candidate being developed for the treatment of AA amyloidosis, a life-threatening orphan disease that occurs in patients with long-lasting inflammatory conditions, most commonly due to rheumatoid arthritis. The study is designed to confirm the safety and efficacy of KIACTA™ in preventing renal function decline in patients with AA amyloidosis.

"KIACTA™ has the potential to offer a much awaited treatment to patients with AA amyloidosis, a devastating disease affecting an estimated 50,000 patients in the United States, Europe and Japan, for which there is currently no specific treatment available," said Dr. Peter B. Corr, Co-Founder and General Partner of Celtic Therapeutics. "In its initial phase III clinical study, KIACTA™ reduced the risk of renal decline or mortality by 42% (Cox proportional hazards regression model, p=0.025) as compared to placebo over a two-year period, and showed an excellent safety profile. KIACTA™ also continues to be safe and well tolerated upon chronic administration, with some patients exposed to the compound for more than eight years in the compassionate use program. These past findings make us confident regarding the outcome of the confirmatory phase III study," Dr. Corr added.

"We are pleased to see KIACTA™ advancing to a confirmatory phase III clinical study so quickly and are delighted that leading investigators throughout the world are eager to participate in this important trial", said Roberto Bellini, President and Chief Executive Officer of BELLUS Health. "As agreed upon with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA), this confirmatory study represents the last key step before applications for regulatory approval for KIACTA™ can be filed. The initiation of this registration trial is positive news for patients with AA amyloidosis and represents an important milestone for BELLUS Health and its shareholders," Mr. Bellini concluded.

Details of the confirmatory phase III clinical study

The international, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, event-driven study will involve approximately 230 patients diagnosed with AA amyloidosis enrolled from approximately 90 sites in 30 countries worldwide. The primary efficacy composite endpoint of the study is based on patients reaching an event linked to the deterioration of their renal function, defined as a persistent decrease in creatinine clearance (CrCl) of 40% or more, a persistent increase in serum creatinine (SCr) of 80% or more, or progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The primary efficacy analysis will be the time from baseline to the first renal deterioration event of the primary composite endpoint.

The study is tentatively planned to end when approximately 104 renal events have occurred. The number of events and enrollment target for the study will be reviewed and may be refined following an interim analysis which will be conducted following the occurrence of at least 20 events and 15 months after the enrollment of the first patient. It is currently estimated that the study will be completed in 2014.

About KIACTA™

KIACTA™ is an investigational product candidate for the treatment of AA amyloidosis. KIACTA™ has received Orphan Drug Status designation in the United States and Orphan Medicinal Product designation in Europe and began a Phase III confirmatory clinical trial in December of 2010.

KIACTA™ was investigated in a landmark international, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, and parallel-designed clinical trial in which 183 AA amyloidosis patients were enrolled at 27 sites around the world. The results of the Phase II/III clinical trial for KIACTA™ demonstrated that this product candidate offers important clinical benefits to patients by reducing the progression of AA amyloidosis-associated renal disease. These results were published in the June 7, 2007 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

About AA Amyloidosis

AA amyloidosis is a progressive and fatal condition that affects approximately 50,000 people in the United States, Europe and Japan with chronic inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and Crohn's disease. The disease also occurs in patients suffering from many other conditions ranging from chronic infections to inherited inflammatory diseases such as Familial Mediterranean Fever. The most common clinical presentation of AA amyloidosis is renal dysfunction. Involvement of the gastrointestinal system is also frequent and is usually manifested as chronic diarrhea, gastrointestinal bleeding, abdominal pain and malabsorption. Enlargement of the liver and the spleen may also occur in some patients. End-stage renal failure is the main cause of death in 40-60% of cases. The median survival time from diagnosis varies from two to 10 years depending on the stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis.

No specific treatment is currently available for this orphan disease. The goal of the existing therapies is limited to the control of the underlying chronic inflammatory disease. Current therapeutic approaches are non-specific, and often toxic, invasive or ineffective.

About BELLUS Health

BELLUS Health is a development-focused health company concentrating on research and development of products that provide innovative health solutions and address critical unmet medical needs. For further information, please visit www.bellushealth.com.

About Celtic Therapeutics

Founded in 2007 by Stephen Evans-Freke and Dr. Peter B. Corr, Celtic Therapeutics is a successor firm to Celtic Pharma Management L.P., pursuing the same pharmaceutical product-focused strategy on a larger scale. As a global private equity firm, it identifies, acquires and develops therapeutic products and related diagnostics in mid- and late-stage clinical development, in order to build one of the most valued portfolios of late-stage drug development programs in the global biopharmaceutical industry. Based in the US Virgin Islands, Celtic Therapeutics maintains origination and drug development operations in New York City and Switzerland. The Celtic Therapeutics team comprises extensive experience in all aspects of pharmaceutical investment management as well as a world class clinical and commercial development experience in the pharmaceutical industry. For further information, please visit www.celtictherapeutics.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release, other than statements of fact that are independently verifiable at the date hereof, may constitute forward-looking statements. Such statements, based as they are on the current expectations of management, inherently involve numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, many of which are beyond BELLUS Health Inc.'s control. Such risks include but are not limited to: the impact of general economic conditions, general conditions in the pharmaceutical and/or nutraceutical industry, changes in the regulatory environment in the jurisdictions in which the BELLUS Health Group does business, stock market volatility, fluctuations in costs, and changes to the competitive environment due to consolidation, that actual results may vary once the final and quality-controlled verification of data and analyses has been completed, as well as other risks disclosed in public filings of BELLUS Health Inc. Consequently, actual future results may differ materially from the anticipated results expressed in the forward-looking statements. The reader should not place undue reliance, if any, on any forward-looking statements included in this news release. These statements speak only as of the date made and BELLUS Health Inc. is under no obligation and disavows any intention to update or revise such statements as a result of any event, circumstances or otherwise, unless required by applicable legislation or regulation. Please see the Annual Information Form of BELLUS Health Inc. for further risk factors that might affect the BELLUS Health Group and its business.

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“A repeal that’ll be dangerous to our health - Boston Globe” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

2010-12-14T19:35:00.001-08:00

“A repeal that’ll be dangerous to our health - Boston Globe” plus 1 more - Extreme Sports

A repeal that’ll be dangerous to our health - Boston Globe

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 08:07 AM PST

MANY REPUBLICAN lawmakers are saying they will make the repeal of President Obama's health care law their top priority in the new Congress. And yesterday a lower-court federal judge rejected a key part of the law. But what would Republicans repeal to? They don't have an answer.

While polls find Americans split on the general question of repeal, few people want to actually kill major individual reforms. A November Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that by margins ranging from nearly 3 to 1 to more than 4 to 1, Americans do not want to repeal such aspects as: tax credits for small businesses offering health care to employees; closing the "doughnut hole'' to help seniors keep prescription medicine costs down; help for low- and moderate-income Americans to purchase coverage; and a ban on insurance companies denying coverage because of preexisting conditions. Also last month, a McClatchy poll found that 68 percent of Americans want to keep the ability to insure children until age 26, compared with only 29 percent of people who want that aspect repealed. The Republicans say they want to kill health care reform because it costs too much, but the old ways were costing us even more.

As flawed as the law may be to critics on the left and right, going backward is not a reasonable option. More caution against wholesale repeal came in the form of a recentstudy from Columbia University that suggested that US overspending on health might be harming Americans.

Analyzing survival rates for men and women ages 45 and 65, Americans have stunningly fallen behind other large, wealthy nations in life expectancy. That is despite a rate of health care spending that has grown nearly twice as fast as the spending in 12 comparison countries since 1970.

By 2005, the 15-year survival rates of white women were not only lower than in all comparison countries, but they were lower than the 1975 survival rates for women in Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Japan. "Many people say health care is just fine and that things like the poor health of African-Americans makes statistics look worse,'' said study author Peter Muennig, "but when you see how much worse it is for whites, too, you have a problem you cannot run away from.''

Muennig said the study accounted for factors that many people often say explain why we are behind such nations as the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and France. Researchers accounted for population diversity, smoking, obesity, traffic accidents, and homicide. Muennig was still left with the conclusion that rising health care spending "is itself responsible'' for the relative decline in survival rates in the United States.

He said there are three reasons why this might be true. One is that rising costs mean more inadequately insured people. Another is that rising health spending may be "choking off public funding on more important life-saving programs'' such as public transit, public safety programs, and community recreation centers. A third is that our current system encourages a level of unneeded, confusing procedures that lead to complications for patients.

In a phone interview, Muennig said, "We don't really know for sure how much the higher expenditures are driving higher mortality as obviously it can happen in complex ways. But it is clear that other nations are investing in things other than health care and their people are living longer. Could it be that lower health care costs in other countries lead to their governments being able to sell cheaper train and subway tickets and provide more resources for people to get out and lead healthier lives as a normal part of life? In the US, health care costs could be a canary in a coal mine sort of thing.''

If health care costs are the canary, then Republicans should be persuaded to think twice before squawking for repeal. The Republicans say Obamacare kills jobs. But health care spending prior to health care reform quite possibly was killing people.

Derrick Z. Jackson can be reached at jackson@globe.com.

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Judge voids key part of Obama health care law - Boston Globe

Posted: 14 Dec 2010 01:55 AM PST

NEW YORK — A federal judge in Virginia ruled yesterday that the keystone provision in the Obama health care law is unconstitutional, becoming the first judge to invalidate any part of the sprawling act and ensuring that appellate courts will receive contradictory opinions from below.

The judge, Henry Hudson of US District Court in Richmond, said the law's requirement that most Americans obtain insurance exceeded the regulatory authority granted to Congress under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.

Hudson, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, declined the plaintiff's request to suspend the act's implementation pending appeal, meaning there should be no immediate effect on its rollout.

But the ruling seemed likely to create confusion among the public and to further destabilize political support for a law that is under fierce attack from Republicans in Congress and in many state houses. Party leaders, including the incoming House speaker, Representative John Boehner of Ohio, quickly used the opinion to reiterate their call for repealing the law.

In a 42-page opinion Hudson wrote: "Neither the Supreme Court nor any federal circuit court of appeals has extended Commerce Clause powers to compel an individual to involuntarily enter the stream of commerce by purchasing a commodity in the private market.''

Allowing Congress to exert such authority, he said, "would invite unbridled exercise of federal police powers.''

Compelling vehicle owners to carry accident insurance, as states do, is considered a different matter because the Constitution gives the states broad police powers that have been interpreted to encompass that.

Furthermore, there is no statutory requirement that people possess cars, only a requirement that they have insurance as a condition of doing so. By contrast, the plaintiffs in the health care case argue that the new law requires people to obtain health insurance simply because they exist.

The insurance mandate is central to the law's mission of covering more than 30 million uninsured. Insurers argue that only by requiring healthy people to have policies can they afford to pay for those with expensive conditions. But Hudson ruled many of the law's other provisions could be severed legally from the insurance requirement and would survive even if that mandate is invalidated.

Hudson is the third district court judge to reach a determination on the merits in one of the two dozen lawsuits challenging the health care law. The other judges, in Detroit and Lynchburg, Va., have upheld the law.

Lawyers say the appellate process could last another two years before the Supreme Court settles the dispute.

The opinion by Hudson, who has a long history in Republican politics in northern Virginia, continued a partisan pattern in the health care cases. Thus far, judges appointed by Republican presidents have ruled consistently against the Obama administration while Democratic appointees have found for it.

The two cases previously decided by district courts are already before the midlevel courts of appeal. The Justice Department is considering whether to appeal Hudson's ruling.

Administration officials emphasized Hudson's opinion was just one among several, and said they were pleased he had not stopped the law from going into effect.

Some state officials said yesterday's ruling would reinforce calls by many Republicans to slow down its implementation.

"I think you might see some air taken out of the balloon nationwide,'' said Jason Helgerson, the Medicaid director in Wisconsin, where Republicans are about to take control of both the executive and legislative branches.

Hudson, who was best known for sentencing NFL quarterback Michael Vick to 23 months for dog fighting, had telegraphed his leanings in hearings and preliminary opinions. But the ruling was nonetheless striking given that only nine months ago prominent law professors were dismissing the constitutional claims as just north of frivolous.

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Smoking Raises Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk - WebMD

2010-12-13T19:08:00.001-08:00

Smoking Raises Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk - WebMD

Posted: 13 Dec 2010 04:08 PM PST

Study Suggests Smoking Is a Major Cause of RA

(continued)

More Research Needed on Smoking and RA

Ted R. Mikuls, MD, a rheumatologist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, says the new study validates earlier research on how smoking affects RA risk including a study from his own group that showed cigarette smoking increases the risk of RA among African-Americans.

"Smoking is the environmental risk factor that has most consistently been linked to RA," he says. "For now, it is the only modifiable risk factor that has been consistently linked to this condition, adding weight to public health measures aimed at reducing smoking prevalence."

Precisely how smoking affects RA risk is not well understood, he tells WebMD in an email. "The short answer is that we're not sure exactly what the mechanisms are that link cigarette smoking to an increased RA risk," Mikuls says.

"Understanding this link better may provide us with much needed insight into how RA starts and may provide us avenues for treatment or even means of prevention," he says. "Patients know that smoking contributes to other health risks, but often discussing the link with their arthritis provides added incentives to quit."

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