BY PATRICIA ANSTETT, Detroit Free Press

Five metro Detroit communities will receive a total of $16.2 million from a new federal grant to improve care for diabetic patients.

Hospital systems in Detroit, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Hamtramck and Highland Park — as well as doctor networks and federally funded clinics in the region will use the three-year grant to create an electronic network that gives them access to medical information about diabetic patients and to better coordinate their care.

“Information is the lifeblood of medicine,” said Dr. David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health information technology with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

He appeared at a news media briefing in Detroit to announce the grant, one of 17 distributed this year to “make care more efficient and cost effective.”

Hospital employees will use the information to follow up on diabetic patients who visit emergency departments, to ensure they get the follow-up care they need. The network will serve both insured and uninsured patients.

Now, if a diabetic patient visits an emergency department for complications, his or her records aren’t immediately available to providers unless they are part of the hospital system where the person was treated.

The money also will be used to track patient outcomes in response to the system to target areas needing improvements.

Diabetes is the nation’s costliest health care problem, totaling $200 billion in annual costs, said James Slaughter, executive director of the Metro Detroit & Southeast Michigan chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Read more: $16.2M grant aims to aid diabetic care | freep.com | Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/article/20100903/NEWS06/9030346/-16-2M-grant-aims-to-aid-diabetic-care#ixzz0yT1csbHw

Los Angeles Times

The vaunted protection that intellectually active adults get from Alzheimer’s disease has a dark downside, a study released Wednesday has found. Once dementia symptoms become evident and Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed in such patients, their mental decline can come with frightening speed.

That finding, published in the journal Neurology, comes from a study of 1,157 Chicago-based seniors who were followed for an average of just over 11 years. Six years after gauging the extent to which the study participants engaged in activities that challenged their mental capacities, researchers from Rush University Medical Center Alzheimer’s Disease Center made periodic assessments of the study participants’ cognitive health and traced the trajectories of their brain health.

All told, 148 of the participants were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease during the follow-up period, and 395 were found to have mild cognitive impairment—intellectual problems that are less severe than Alzheimer’s disease, but which often precede such a diagnosis.

While all participants’ mental function showed yearly declines, the steepest downward trajectories belonged to those who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, but who had reported high levels of mental engagement at the outset of the study. Fellow Alzheimer’s sufferers who had not sought out much intellectual stimulation at the study’s outset showed a more gradual decline in their function.

“In effect, the results of this study suggest that the benefit of delaying the initial appearance of cognitive impairment [in Alzheimer’s disease] comes at the cost of more rapid dementia progression,” the author wrote.

To read more, visit: http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-alzheimers-20100901,0,2206493.story?track=rss

By Jenifer Goodwin, Bloomberg News

Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables may help protect some smokers from lung cancer, a new European study suggests.

But, the researchers stressed that quitting smoking will do far more to reduce risk than “an apple a day” or having a salad for lunch.

In the study, participants who ate a diet that contained a diverse mix of fruits and vegetables appeared to have a 27 percent lowered risk of a common type of lung cancer, the researchers reported.

“First and foremost, the best way to reduce one’s risk of lung cancer is to quit smoking. That is of paramount importance,” said principal investigator Dr. H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, project director of cancer epidemiology at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands. “However, we realize that there are still millions worldwide who cannot and don’t want to quit smoking. To just ignore them would be somewhat of a pity. This study shows there is a possibility of reducing one’s risk even if one is a smoker.”

Keep in mind that “wide variety” meant more than a banana with breakfast and a helping of peas and carrots with dinner. Think kale and spinach; berries and melons; cabbage, cauliflower and eggplant — some 40 different fruits and vegetables in all.

The researchers analyzed data on more than 450,000 adults from 10 European countries. Participants filled out questionnaires about dietary habits and lifestyle, including occupation, medical history, tobacco and alcohol use and physical activity.

Over the course of nine years, 1,613 of the people were diagnosed with lung cancer.

Vegetable consumption was divided into eight categories: leafy vegetables; fruiting vegetables; root vegetables; cabbages; mushrooms; grain and pod vegetables; onion and garlic; and stalk vegetables. Vegetables did not include legumes, potatoes and other tubers.

The 14 fruits tracked included fresh, dried and canned fruits but excluded nuts, seeds and olives.

Participants were then divided into four groups, or quartiles, based on the diversity of their diet. Those in the highest quartile ate between 23 and 40 different types of fruits and vegetables during the prior two weeks. Those in the lowest quartile ate less than 10 different types of fruits and vegetables.

To read more, visit: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/642633.html

If weight is an issue for someone you love, we have bariatric products that will help make life better for them.

By Denise Mann, Health.com-CNN

Forget diet pills and cleanses. A new study suggests that an effective weight-loss aid is available straight from your kitchen sink.

Drinking two 8-ounce glasses of water before breakfast, lunch, and dinner while also cutting back on portions may help you lose weight and keep it off for at least a year, according to research presented today at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, in Boston.

“As part of a prudent, low-calorie weight-loss diet, adding water may help with weight-loss success,” says Brenda Davy, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and an associate professor of nutrition at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg.

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Dietitians have long recommended drinking water as a way to shed pounds, but little research has been done to confirm this conventional wisdom, the researchers say. Though small, Davy’s study is the first randomized controlled trial to examine the benefits of “preloading” with water before meals.

The study included 48 overweight or obese men and women between the ages of 55 and 75 who were on a low-calorie diet (1,200 calories per day for women and 1,500 calories per day for men). Half of the people were instructed to drink 16 ounces of water — the amount in a small bottle of spring water — before meals.

After three months, the participants who drank water had lost an average of about 15.5 pounds, compared with just 11 pounds in the control group, according to the study, the first results of which were published earlier this year in the journal Obesity.

And the weight loss appears to be lasting, new data suggest. After a full year of the same regimen, the water drinkers had slimmed down by an additional 1.5 pounds, on average, while those who didn’t load up on water before meals gained about 2 pounds, Davy says. (Unlike the data published in Obesity, the findings presented today have not been thoroughly vetted by other experts in the field, as is required by most medical journals.)

Davy and her colleagues aren’t sure why drinking water before meals encourages weight loss, but the main reason appears to be that it helps fill your stomach, making you less hungry and less likely to overeat.

To read more, visit: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/23/drink.water.lose.weight/index.html?npt=NP1

We can help you discreetly with any sexual problems you may being suffering due to diabetes.

By Kathleen Blanchard RN, Emaxhealth

Many patients living with diabetes remain sexually active, despite less desire. Men with diabetes are more likely to experience erectile dysfunction. Women and men may have difficulty with orgasm. New findings show that even though diabetes hampers sexual activity, 70 percent of men and 62 percent of women living with diabetes enjoy sex 2 to 3 times a month.

The number of diabetics found in the study engaging in sexual activity was comparable to those withoutdiabetes. The findings highlight the importance of recognizing problems experience by diabetics that can impair sex.

Diabetes Effects on Sexuality

Erectile Dysfunction is a recognized complication caused by vascular disease, pelvic trauma, peyronies disease, diabetes, hormone imbalances, psychological conditions, neurologic conditions, and mant others.

Researchers say the psychological effects of diabetes may have an effect on sexual activity. Men especially report lack of desire and erectile dysfunction. Men report climaxing too quickly, while both genders say they have trouble reaching orgasm.

“Patients and doctors need to know that most middle age and older adults with partners are still sexually active despite their diabetes,” said the study’s lead author Stacy Lindau, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and of medicine at the University of Chicago. “However, many people with diabetes have sexual problems that are not being addressed.”

Diabetic women with partners tend to avoid sex. They also don’t want to talk about it with their physician. Compared to 47 percent of men, only 19 percent of women said they had initiated discussion with their healthcare provider about sexual problems.

Some diabetics don’t know they have the disease. In the study that took place between July 2005 and March 2006 via questionnaires and interviews, 22 percent of men and 19 percent of women had diabetes not yet diagnosed. The findings are from the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project that included 2,000 people aged 57 to 85. Until now, there has been limited information about sexual activity among patients with diabetes.

“Failure to recognize and address sexual issues among middle-age and older adults with diabetes may impair quality of life and adaptation to the disease,” said Marshall Chin, MD, senior author of the study and professor of medicine at the University of Chicago. “Sexual problems are common in patients with diabetes, and many patients are not discussing these issues with their physicians.”

To read more, visit: http://www.emaxhealth.com/1020/diabetes-hampers-sex-many-patients-remain-sexually-active

Mothers that bottle feed are more likely to develop diabetes

Moms: Ward off diabetes by breastfeeding and we can help with the Purely Yours breast pump with carry all.

By Amanda Tennis, Examiner.com

According to a study led by Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, M.D., M.S., at the University of Pittsburgh, women that do not breastfeed their children are almost twice as likely to developing type 2 diabetes.

The study involved 2,233 women ages 40 to 78. Out of all of the subjects, 56% reported that they breastfeed their babies for at least a month.

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It was reported that 27% of women in the group that did not breastfeed their children developed type 2 diabetes while women that did breastfeed their children had a lower rate of diabetes.

“Our study provides another good reason to encourage women to breastfeed their infants, at least for the infant’s first month of life,” said Dr. Schwarz. “Clinicians need to consider women’s pregnancy and lactation history when advising women about their risk for developing type 2 diabetes.”

It is believed that breastfeeding can cut a woman’s risk for developing type 2 diabetes, because breastfeeding helps to cut belly fat.

To read more, visit: http://www.examiner.com/diabetes-in-national/women-who-did-not-breastfeed-their-children-are-at-higher-risk-for-type-2-diabetes

Increase your productivity and wellness with our no rinse non alcohol foam hand sanitizer.

By Catherine Donaldson-Evans, AOLHealth

Hand sanitizers have become trendy since last year’s swine flu scare, and dispensers pumping them out have cropped up everywhere from airports and office buildings to restaurants and stores.

But new research has taken the sanitizer craze a step further, claiming that the alcohol-based variety can improve on-the-job productivity and reduce the number of days employees are out sick.

A research team from Germany led by Nils-Olaf Hubner found that absenteeism among public administrations due to colds, fever and coughs dropped dramatically when hand sanitizers were used by staff.

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The authors of the study, published in the open access journal BMC Infectious Diseases, looked at the data on sick days and health symptoms for 129 participants. Subjects were divided into two groups, with those in the control group told to keep up their usual hand-washing rituals and those in the other group instructed to use hand sanitizer at least five times during the workday.

The researchers urged those given the disinfectant to use it liberally — particularly after activities likely to expose them to germs.

“Our study found that hand disinfection reduced the number of episodes of illness for the majority of the investigated symptoms,” Hubner wrote, according to a bulletin about the research.

Researchers saw fewer symptoms of common illnesses even during periods when participants weren’t out sick. They surmised that those results translated into a rise in at-work productivity and wellness.

Hubner did not respond to AOL Health’s requests for comment.

Prior studies have documented the positive effects of hand sanitizers in hospitals, child care centers and other public places where bacterial infections and viruses thrive.

To read more, visit: http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/08/24/hand-sanitizers-boost-wellness-productivity-at-work/

How widespread are gluten-free foods? Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, sells gluten-free hot dogs and beer.

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By Melinda Beck, The Wall Street Journal

Gluten-free foods are everywhere these days—but they’re much more than just a health craze.

The bevy of new products, from gluten-free pasta to pizza and beer, are a boon to people with celiac disease, wheat allergies or gluten sensitivity who are on very restrictive diets. That group has grown dramatically in recent decades, for reasons not understood.

Are they beneficial to everyone else? Probably not.

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The notion that a gluten-free diet can help people lose weight or avoid carbohydrates is a myth. “Many packaged gluten-free products are even higher in carbs, sugar, fat and calories than their regular counterparts, and they tend to be lower in fiber, vitamins and iron,” says Shelley Case, a registered dietician on the medical advisory board of the Celiac Disease Foundation. “Gluten-free does not mean nutritious,” she notes.

Gluten, a protein in wheat, barley and rye, is not only a key ingredient in baked goods. It’s also used as a thickening agent in ketchup and ice cream. It helps ferment vinegar and alcoholic beverages. It’s even in lip gloss and envelope adhesives.

For people with celiac disease, ingesting even tiny amounts of gluten can set off an autoimmune reaction that flattens the finger-like villi lining the small intestine. The most common symptoms are bloating, gas, diarrhea and constipation, as well as early osteoporosis. The autoimmune reaction can also cause skin rashes, chronic fatigue, bone and joint pain, neurological problems, liver problems, diabetes, infertility in both men and women and cancers, including lymphoma. An estimated three million Americans have celiac disease—and the vast majority don’t know it because it can have no symptoms or mimic other diseases.

To read more, visit: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575447413874799110.html?KEYWORDS=Giving+Up+Gluten

Ease the pain of your arthritis with our Therabath professional paraffin bath.

By Caroline Parkinson, BBC News

A protein produced in cases of rheumatoid arthritis appears to protect against the development of Alzheimer’s disease, US scientists have said.

In the Journal of Alzheimer’s Research study, mice with memory loss given the protein fared better in tests.

A synthetic version of GM-CSF protein is already used as a cancer treatment.

UK experts said the study was “an important first step” and tests were needed to see if the drug worked for people with Alzheimer’s.

In people with rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system goes into “overdrive” and produces attacking proteins – including GM-CSF.

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It had already been recognised that people with rheumatoid arthritis were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s, but the protective link had been thought to be due to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) taken by people with the condition.

However tests showed this was not the case.

In this study, University of South Florida researchers genetically altered mice to have memory problems similar to those seen in Alzheimer’s disease, which is a form of dementia.

They then treated them – and some healthy mice – with the protein. Other mice – both healthy ones and those with Alzheimer’s symptoms – were given a dummy (placebo) treatment.

At the end of the 20-day study, the Alzheimer’s mice treated with GM-CSF fared substantially better on tests measuring memory and learning, and performed at a similar level to mice of the same age without the condition.

Even the healthy mice treated with GM-CSF performed slightly better than their untreated peers.

Mice with Alzheimer’s that were given the placebo continued to do poorly in the tests.

To read more, visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11035500

Keep track of how well you’re keeping  your stress levels down with Invacare’s blood pressure monitor.

By Susannah Felts and Jeannie Kim, Health.com; CNN.com

Permission granted: You can officially stop feeling guilty about those little “bad-for-you” habits you can’t seem to break. Turns out, many of life’s greatest indulgences bring big health benefits — helping you stay slim, fight off the blues, and kick disease to the curb.

And we’ve got the 10 best right here, conveniently ranked by Health magazine’s expert panelists. Start at the top of the list to get the most bang for your healthy buck, and keep moving on down to learn how to boost your well-being in the most decadent ways possible.

Pleasure No. 1: Getting your zzz’s: Our experts unanimously agreed: Sleep is free and has virtually zero health drawbacks, making it the one treat no one should skimp on. Pillow time gives you energy, bolsters your immune system, boosts your memory, and even helps you get (or stay) slim.

Cut slumber short, and you’ll find it harder to make decisions (no surprise to anyone who’s struggled through a workday after a too-late bedtime). Plus, you’ll increase your risk for anxiety and depression.

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“Lack of sleep has also been associated with hypertension, glucose intolerance, and belly fat — all risk factors for heart disease,” says Nieca Goldberg, M.D., medical director of the New York University-Langone Women’s Heart Program.

Aim for seven to eight hours of sleep a night, the amount that studies show is ideal. If you’re up-and-at-’em on less, don’t sweat it: Some people are just wired that way, Goldberg says. But if you have trouble falling or staying asleep, or can’t seem to drag yourself out of bed on a regular basis, talk to your doctor about possible underlying causes, such as anxiety or sleep apnea.

Pleasure No. 2: Playing hooky: There’s a reason it’s called a mental-health day. Studies confirm that time off — whether on a trip out of Dodge or a 24-hour staycation — relieves stress, lowering your blood pressure and your risk for heart disease.

It also promotes creative thinking (attention, bosses!). And women in a 2005 study who took two or more vacations per year were less likely to be depressed than women who took one every two years.

Can’t swing more than a few days away? No problem: The length of a vacation had no bearing on how happy it made people, according to a recent study in the journal Applied Research in the Quality of Life.

What’s more, the biggest thrill came before the vacation. So spread around the joy of that sweet anticipation by planning short jaunts throughout the year instead of one big blowout trip.

To read more, visit: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/19/ten.healthy.vices/index.html