John Cleese takes us on a tour of a laughter therapy practice in India.
Laughter promotes stress reduction, community bonding, stronger immune system... and joy. What a simple solution!
These new medical schools are seeking to address an imbalance in
American medicine that has been growing for a quarter century.
Many bright students were fleeing to offshore medical schools, or giving up hope entirely, when they could not get into domestic schools.
In a weird aberration of "outsourcing", the medical field was outsourcing medical education to foreign countries, and then hiring foreign nationals to work in our American healthcare system, presumably at lower rates and longer hours.
During the 1980s and '90s only one new medical school was established.
"Huge numbers of qualified American kids were not getting into American medical schools or going abroad to study," Dr. Lawrence G. Smith, dean of the proposed Hofstra University School of Medicine, in Hempstead, N.Y., which is not yet recruiting students, said last week. "I think it was a kind of wake-up call."
The
proliferation of new schools is also a market response to a rare
convergence of forces:
Colleges serve a "Gatekeeping Function" as well as education of new practitioners. By carefully limiting the number of trained professionals, those with established careers have less competition -- and that can be important to personal care services that must maintain a full staff even when they have a light load of patients. Under-staffing also causes long delays in getting an appointment, and has healthcare consequences when care is delayed.
If all the schools being proposed actually opened, they would amount to an 18 percent increase in the 131 medical schools across the country.
Read more at the REFERENCE SOURCE: New York Times
This study, was published in the February 2, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
People who experience memory loss or a decline in their thinking abilities may be at higher risk of stroke, regardless of whether they have been diagnosed with dementia...
"Stroke is a leading cause of disability and death among older people, making early identification of people at high risk of stroke extremely important, so preventative measures can be taken," said study author Bernice Wiberg, MD, with Uppsala University in Sweden.
For the
study, 930 men in Sweden around the age of 70 without a history of
stroke participated in three mental tests.
Trail Making Test B
The first test, called the
Trail Making Test A, measures attention and visual-motor abilities.
The
second, the Trail Making Test B, measures the ability to execute and
modify a plan.
The third, the Mini Mental State Examination, is commonly used by doctors to measure cognitive decline.
During a
13-year period, 166 men developed a stroke or transient ischemic
attack, or TIA.
Brain infarction is the most common cause of stroke. Hemorrhage is another kind of stroke.
Brain infarction happened to 105 patients.
It causes tissue damage when the proper
amount of blood does not reach the brain.
INDICATOR: Low Performers on Trail Making Test B
The study found that people who were among the bottom 25 percent of performers on the Trail Making Test B were three times more likely to have a stroke or a brain infarction compared to those who scored among the top 25 percent of performers on the test. The other two mental tests did not predict brain infarction or stroke.
Cognitive Decline May Predict Risk of Stroke
"Our
results support the idea that cognitive decline regardless of whether a
person has dementia may predict risk of stroke," said Wiberg. "The
Trial Making Test B is a simple and cost-effective test that, with more
research, could be used to identify those persons for whom stroke
prevention measures should be considered."
The study was
supported by the Medical Faculty at Uppsala University, the Swedish
Stroke Association, Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Heart Lung
Foundation, the Geriatric Fund and the Uppsala County Association
Against Heart and Lung Diseases.
The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 22,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as multiple sclerosis, restless legs syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, narcolepsy and stroke.
For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit http://www.aan.com.
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/AANChannelInsomina -- the inability to fall asleep naturally -- affects most people at some time in their roller coaster lives. And insomina cures are possible with self-managed changes in behavior in many cases.
Sleepless nights. Missed work days. As anyone with insomnia will attest, a sleep-deprived condition can lead to intense personal suffering.
But combine insomnia with anxiety, depression and chronic pain, and sleeplessness can become even more troubling.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), however, may be a remedy for this multi-faceted problem, says a Ryerson University professor.
"When you have another disorder, you face unique barriers that other people do not," says Dr. Colleen Carney, assistant professor of psychology, and director of Ryerson's Sleep and Mood Disorder Program. "For example, a conventional insomnia strategy involves getting out of bed at the same time every day. But someone with depression may wonder, "what if I have nothing to get out of bed for?"
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
Carney's latest book is Quiet Your Mind and Get to Sleep: Solutions to Insomnia for Those With Depression, Anxiety or Chronic Pain is the only self-help book that focuses on people with insomnia combined with other health conditions. Quiet Your Mind and Get to Sleep was co-authored by Dr. Rachel Manber of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
Insominia is Common...and Disruptive
According to insomina research - one in every seven of us - experiences problems going to sleep and/or staying asleep. Furthermore, insomnia is a characteristic of almost all psychological diagnoses. Sleep clinics also report that insomnia patients with psychological disorders outnumber those without other conditions at a rate of nearly two to one.
Quiet Your Mind and Get to Sleep suggests many cognitive behavioural solutions to insomnia. Some of the tips in this practical book about insomnia cures include:
Previous insomnia research studies have also demonstrated that CBT offers many advantages over sleep-aid medications. Among them,
CBT has also become a popular choice for the treatment of sleeplessness says Dr. Carney. Through worksheets and a structured program, Quiet Your Mind and Get to Sleep helps readers discover and then address the cause of their insomnia.
CBT Can be a Self-Help Solution for Insomnia
"For this reason, CBT makes intuitive sense to people," says Carney. "It's a brief treatment and, as our book proves, it can be done on a self-help basis."
In addition to teaching at Ryerson Universtiy Carney is also president of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, an interest group on insomnia and other sleep disorders.
Ryerson University is Canada's leader in innovative career-focused education, offering close to 100 PhD, master's, and undergraduate programsIn recent studies of married couple supportiveness issues in their first few years of marriage, researchers learned that too much support is harder on a marriage than not enough. When it comes to marital satisfaction, both partners are happier if husbands receive the right type of support, and if wives ask for support when they need it.
The married support findings
illustrate the need for couples to understand the various ways they can
be supportive, and the importance of communicating what they need and
when, said Erika Lawrence, associate professor of psychology
in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Marriage issues are
solved with understanding and slightly changed support behaviors.
"The idea that simply being more supportive is better for your marriage is a myth," Lawrence said. "Often husbands and wives think, 'If my partner really knows me and loves me, he or she will know I'm upset and will know how to support me.' However, that's not the best way to approach a supportive marriage. Your partner shouldn't have to be a mind reader. Couples will be happier if they learn how to say, 'This is how I'm feeling, and this is how you can help me.'"
Too much of a good thing in marriage issues
In one study, Lawrence and colleagues discovered that receiving more support than desired is a greater risk factor for marital decline than not being there for a spouse.
"If you don't get enough support, you can make up for that with family and friends -- especially women, who tend to have multiple sources of support," she said. "When you receive too much support, there's no way to adjust for that."
The supportive marriage issues study involved 103 husbands and wives who completed surveys five times over their first five years of marriage. The questionnaires looked at how support was provided and measured marital satisfaction.
Types of supportive marriage
Four kinds of marriage issue support were identified in the study:
Worst! Too much unwanted advice!
Results showed that too much informational support -- usually in the form of unwanted advice-giving -- is the most detrimental.
Always Wanted in Marriage: Genuine Esteem Support!
In contrast, you can never go wrong providing esteem support, assuming it's genuine.
Too little marriage support was more common than too much.
Receiving less support than desired was a complaint of about two-thirds of men and at least 80 percent of women. Only about one-third of men and women reported receiving more support than they wanted.
The paper, published in the Journal of Family Psychology, was co-authored by Rebecca L. Brock, a UI graduate student in psychology.
Marriage Support isn't one-size-fits-all
A related supportive marriage study showed that for men, it's important that their wives provide the right kind of support, offering emotional, informational, tangible or esteem support as needed. For wives, it's more important that their husbands try to be supportive -- even if what they do doesn't quite hit the mark.
"Both parties are more satisfied if the husband gets the right kind of support, and if the wife feels like she's supported," Lawrence said. Marriage issues are shared by both genders. "Husbands shouldn't throw their hands up if they're not sure what to do. They need to stay in there and keep trying, because we found that women appreciate the effort to be supportive."
Dialog solves marriage issues
Lawrence said dialog is key to a supportive marriage. If you need support, request it; if you're providing support, ask how you can help -- don't assume you know what to do. Afterward, talk about what worked and what didn't, and adjust accordingly.
"The assumption is that men just want to be left alone and women want to be held and listened to," Lawrence said. "In reality, different men want different kinds of support, and different women want different kinds of support."
Marriage Issue Research
For this study of marriage support, 275 newlyweds completed questionnaires about supportive behaviors and marital satisfaction, the type of support they received, and whether it was sufficient. Twice during the study, 235 married couples visited the lab to discuss how they would approach a goal such as stress management, a career change, improving family relationships or being more assertive. Researchers shot video of the 10-minute conversations and observed how couples asked for, provided and accepted support.
The supportive marriage behaviors paper was published in the journal Personal Relationships. Lawrence was the lead author, with co-authors from the University of Iowa, CIGNA Health Solutions, Santa Clara University, the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Both marital support studies were supported by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute for Child and Human Development, and the UI.Antioxidants increasingly have been praised for their benefits against disease and aging, but recent studies at Kansas State University show that they also can cause harm.
Researchers in K-State's Cardiorespiratory Exercise Laboratory have been studying how to improve oxygen delivery to the skeletal muscle during physical activity by using antioxidants, which are nutrients in foods that can prevent or slow the oxidative damage to the body. Their findings show that sometimes antioxidants can impair muscle function.
Antioxidant
"Antioxidant
is one of those buzz words right now," said Steven Copp, a doctoral
student in anatomy and physiology from Manhattan and a researcher in
the lab. "Walking around grocery stores you see things advertised that
are loaded with antioxidants.
I think what a lot of people don't realize is that the antioxidant and pro-oxidant balance is really delicate.
One of the things we've seen in our research is that you can't just give a larger dose of antioxidants and presume that there will be some sort of beneficial effect. In fact, you can actually make a problem worse."
David C. Poole and Timothy I. Musch, K-State professors from both the departments of kinesiology and anatomy and physiology, direct the Cardiorespiratory Exercise Laboratory, located in the College of Veterinary Medicine complex. Researchers in the lab study the physiology of physical activity in health and disease through animal models. Copp and Daniel Hirai, an anatomy and physiology doctoral student from Manhattan working in the lab, have conducted various studies associated with how muscles control blood flow and the effects of different doses and types of antioxidants.
Abnormalities in the circulatory system
Abnormalities in the circulatory system, such as those that result from aging or a disease like chronic heart failure, can impair oxygen delivery to the skeletal muscle and increase fatigability during physical activity, Copp said. The researchers are studying the effects antioxidants could have in the process.
"If you have a person trying to recover from a heart attack and you put them in cardiac rehab, when they walk on a treadmill they might say it's difficult," Poole said. "Their muscles get sore and stiff. We try to understand why the blood cells aren't flowing properly and why they can't get oxygen to the muscles, as happens in healthy individuals."
Some of the oxidants in our body, such as hydrogen peroxide, are helpful to increase blood flow.
Copp said there is a potential for antioxidants to reverse or partially reverse some of those changes that result from aging or disease. However, K-State's studies have shown that some of the oxidants in our body, such as hydrogen peroxide, are helpful to increase blood flow.
"We're now learning that if antioxidant therapy takes away hydrogen peroxide - or other naturally occurring vasodilators, which are compounds that help open blood vessels - you impair the body's ability to deliver oxygen to the muscle so that it doesn't work properly," Poole said.
Antioxidants can actually suppress key signaling mechanisms that are necessary for muscle to function effectively.
Poole said antioxidants are largely thought to produce better health, but their studies have shown that antioxidants can actually suppress key signaling mechanisms that are necessary for muscle to function effectively.
"It's really a cautionary note that before we start recommending people get more antioxidants, we need to understand more about how they function in physiological systems and circumstances like exercise," Poole said.
Mobility for advancing age and diseases like heart failure
Hirai said the researchers will continue to explore antioxidants and the effects of exercise training. Their studies are looking at how these can help individuals combat the decreased mobility and muscle function that comes with advancing age and diseases like heart failure.
"The research we do here is very mechanistic in nature, and down the road our aim is to take our findings and make recommendations for diseased and aging populations," Copp said.
The researchers have published their recent findings in several journals, including the Journal of Applied Physiology, Respiratory Physiology and Neurobiology, Microvascular Research, The American Journal of Physiology and Experimental Physiology.
The Cardiorespiratory Exercise Laboratory has been funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association and intramural awards from the College of Veterinary Medicine.
"This is important, because surgery is not often affordable or reimbursed by insurance," said leading scientist Dr. Donna Ryan. "In fact, many medical treatments are frequently not reimbursed by insurance if they are for obesity. So this research is needed to show that primary care doctors are capable of helping obese patients lose weight to improve health, even those with extreme obesity. "
Ryan said losing only five-percent of body weight can reap healthy benefits for the extremely obese, and nearly 61-percent of those in her clinical trial achieved that. More than 40-percent lost 10-percent body weight or more.
Physicians Trained in Intensive Medical Intervention
Ryan and her team spread out across Louisiana to recruit and train practicing physicians and their office staffs in eight cities in what she called "intensive medical intervention," in which physicians used a combination of medication, low-calorie diets and behavior changes. All of the techniques were endorsed by national guidelines for obesity management. Training of physicians and their staffs took about a day and a half.
Funded by the Louisiana Office of Group Benefits, which provides health coverage for state employees, the research team contacted state employees, seeking participants to screen for and enroll in the trial. Nearly 400 participants enrolled in the two-year trial, called LOSS, using the nearest trained physicians.
About half of the participants received the intensive medical intervention, the other half received what Ryan called "usual care."
Program Starts with Low-calorie Liquid Diet
Those in the intense intervention group were immediately placed on a low-calorie liquid diet. They gradually moved to a low calorie, highly controlled diet using meal replacements, and received weight loss medication and group behavioral therapy that included lessons in exercise, activity, self-monitoring and recommendations for walking, water exercise and weight training. The group sessions were supervised by office staff.
Recommended Activities
Success in Daily Routine of Doctor's Practice
"We conducted this trial as close to the reality of a typical clinic setting as we could," Ryan said, "We didn't want to learn just if these strategies worked, but if they would work in the daily routine of a doctor's practice."
Challenge of Keeping Weight Off
Ryan noted that the continual challenge in weight loss
is keeping weight off, and that means sticking with a routine.
More than 50% of the LOSS participants stuck with it for two years or more, keeping much of the weight off, but Ryan said that does leave room for improving weight loss maintenance.
The LOSS trial results were published in the current issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The Pennington Biomedical Research Center is a campus of the Louisiana State University System and conducts basic, clinical and population research.UV-blocking contact lenses can reduce or eliminate the effects of the sun's harmful UV radiation.
According
to the article, "Prevention of UV-Induced Damage to the Anterior
Segment Using Class I UV Absorbing Hydrogel Contact Lenses" (http://bit.ly/5T2feA),
overexposure to UV radiation can lead to harmful changes in the cornea,
conjunctiva and lens, including cataracts, the most common cause of
visual impairment around the globe.
Cataracts
According to the researchers, some
estimates say that by the year 2050, there will be 167,000 to 830,000
more cases of cataracts.
Awareness of Eye Damage from UV Exposure
"Unfortunately, people are generally unaware of when their eyes are at greatest risk for damage from UV exposure," said vision researcher Heather Chandler, PhD, from Ohio State University's College of Optometry. "This research involving UV-absorbing contact lenses can provide another option for protection against the detrimental changes caused by UV."
The study exposed rabbits daily to the equivalent of about 16 hours of exposure to sunlight in humans -- enough to induce UV-associated corneal changes. The rabbits who wore UV-absorbing contact lenses (Senofilcon A) were not affected by the UV exposure.
Protection from Sunglasses or Hats
Chandler said wearing sunglasses or hats may not provide enough protection from the sun, and adding adequate UV protection to contact lenses may be a practical solution to the problems caused by too much exposure.
She also said that since this study focused exclusively on acute UV exposure, further long-term studies are needed to determine the efficiency of wearing the UV-absorbing contacts over a longer time period.
Use of UV-absorbing contact lenses
"Not all contact lenses offer UV protection, and, of those that do, not all provide similar absorption levels," Chandler said. "This research will help patients and doctors consider appropriate UV-blocking contact lenses for those who need vision correction, to fill in some of the UV blocking gaps left by more traditional means. The data generated from this study could support the use of UV-absorbing contact lenses and greatly impact the health of a large number of people."
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) is the largest eye and vision research organization in the world. Members include more than 12,500 eye and vision researchers from over 80 countries. ARVO encourages and assists research, training, publication and knowledge-sharing in vision and ophthalmology.
The ARVO peer-reviewed journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS) publishes results from original hypothesis-based clinical and laboratory research studies. IOVS ranks No. 4 in Impact Factor among ophthalmology journals. It is published online monthly.More information about recalled food products is available on the Food Safety and Inspection Service Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/
The Hygienic Laboratory is the state of Iowa's environmental and public health laboratory, with facilities located at the University of Iowa's Research Campus in Iowa City and at the Iowa Lab Facilities in Ankeny, a Des Moines suburb. For more information about the laboratory and its programs and services, visit http://www.uhl.uiowa.edu.