The Animal-Assisted Therapy

The Animal-Assisted Therapy.
People undergoing chemotherapy and emission for cancer may get an poignant lift from man's best friend, a new study suggests. The study, of patients with paramount and neck cancers, is among the first to scientifically test the effects of therapy dogs - trained and certified pooches brought in to effortlessness human anxiety, whether it's from trauma, maltreatment or illness. To dog lovers, it may be a no-brainer that canine companions bring comfort. And cure dogs are already a fixture in some US hospitals, as well as nursing homes, social service agencies, and other settings where rank and file are in need.

Dogs offer something that even the best-intentioned human caregiver can't very much match, said Rachel McPherson, executive director of the New York City-based Good Dog Foundation. "They give unconditional love," said McPherson, whose organizing trains and certifies treatment dogs for more than 350 facilities in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. "Dogs don't referee you, or try to give you advice, or tell you their stories," she pointed out.

Instead analysis dogs offer simple comfort to people facing scary circumstances, such as cancer treatment. But while that sounds good, doctors and hospitals on the side of scientific evidence. "We can weather for granted that supportive care for cancer patients, like a healthy diet, has benefits," said Dr Stewart Fleishman, the bring on researcher on the new study. "We wanted to as a matter of fact test animal-assisted therapy and quantify the effects". Fleishman, now retired, was founding governor of cancer supportive services at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City - now called Mount Sinai Beth Israel.

For the novel study, his team followed 42 patients at the nursing home who were undergoing six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation for head and neck cancers, mostly affecting the bombast and throat. All of the patients agreed to have visits with a therapy dog honest before each of their treatment sessions. The dogs, trained by the Good Dog Foundation, were brought in to the waiting room, or convalescent home room, so patients could spend about 15 minutes with them.

Physical And Mental Health Issues After Cancer Survivors

Physical And Mental Health Issues After Cancer Survivors.
Many US cancer survivors have undetermined palpable and mental health issues long after being cured, a unfamiliar study finds. One expert wasn't surprised. "Many oncologists intuit that their patients may have unmet needs, but suppose that these will diminish with time - the current study challenges that notion," said Dr James Ferrara, moderator of cancer medicine at Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai in New York City. The revitalized study tangled more than 1500 cancer survivors who completed an American Cancer Society survey asking about unmet needs.

More than one-third trenchant to physical problems related to their cancer or its treatment. For example, incontinence and earthy problems were especially common among prostate cancer survivors, the report found. Cancer dolour often took a toll on financial health, too. About 20 percent of the contemplate respondents said they continued to have problems with paying bills, long after the end of treatment. This was especially genuine for black and Hispanic survivors.

Many respondents also expressed anxiety about the possible return of their cancer, no matter what of the type of cancer or the number of years they had survived, according to the study published online Jan 12, 2015 in the newspaper Cancer. "Overall, we found that cancer survivors are often caught off guard by the remaining problems they experience after cancer treatment," study author Mary Ann Burg, of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, said in a catalogue news release.

Fatal Poisoning Pets By Sweet Antifreeze

Fatal Poisoning Pets By Sweet Antifreeze.
It's a deadly attraction: puddles of sweet-tasting antifreeze on driveways and garage floors are deeply for thirsty pets to resist. Just one teaspoon of ethylene glycol - the toxic part found in antifreeze - is wearying to a 10-pound cat, and about five tablespoons will kill a Labrador retriever if the antidote isn't given in time, put veterinary toxicologists. "The most important thing to know about antifreeze is you have a really pinched window for treatment," said veterinarian Dr Justine Lee, associate director of Pet Poison Helpline, a hail center staffed by animal health care professionals who stipulate treatment advice to owners nationwide.

The antidote must be given to dogs within eight hours after ingestion and cats within three hours. Otherwise, the pet's chances of survival are slim. The most mean author of ethylene glycol is automotive engine antifreeze or coolant. The toxic substance is also found in some express conditioners, imported snow globes, paints, solvents, and color film processing solutions.

Cabin owners in colder regions of the nation frequently put antifreeze in toilets to prevent the pipes from hyperboreal while the vacation home is unoccupied. "We see a lot of toxicities here in Minnesota from dogs running into cabins and drinking out of the toilet".

Initially, animals appear invigorated after imbibing antifreeze. Warning signs include staggering, lethargy, increased thirst, vomiting and feasible seizures, explained Dr Camille DeClementi, a veterinarian and board-certified veterinary toxicologist who serves as a superior director for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' Animal Poison Control Center.

Patients With Head And Neck Cancer Can Swallow And Speak After Therapy

Patients With Head And Neck Cancer Can Swallow And Speak After Therapy.
Most perception and neck cancer patients can communicate and accept after undergoing combined chemotherapy and radiation treatment, but several factors may be associated with poor outcomes, researchers have found. The late study included patients who were assessed nearly three years after they were successfully treated with chemoradiotherapy for advanced leadership and neck cancer. The US researchers gave a speaking make out of 1 through 4 to 163 patients an average of 34,8 months after they completed treatment, and gave a swallowing number of 1 through 4 to 166 patients an average of 34,5 months after treatment.

A higher nick indicated reduced ability to speak or swallow. Most of the patients (84,7 percent of those assigned speaking scores and 63,3 percent of those given swallowing scores) had no everlasting problems and received a cause of 1. Of the 160 patients who were given both speaking and swallowing scores, 96 had a amount of 1 in each category, the investigators found.

Positive Trends In The Treatment Of Leukemia And Lymphoma

Positive Trends In The Treatment Of Leukemia And Lymphoma.
Clinicians have made noteworthy advances in treating blood cancers with bone marrow and blood stem-post apartment transplants in recent years, significantly reducing the risk of treatment-related complications and death, a green study shows. Between the early 1990s and 2007, there was a 41 percent drop in the overall jeopardy of death in an analysis of more than 2,500 patients treated at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, a chairwoman in the field of blood cancers and other malignancies. Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, who conducted the study, also notable dramatic decreases in treatment complications such as infection and organ damage.

The consider was published in the Nov 24, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "We have made gross strides in understanding this very complex procedure and have yielded quite spectacular results," said contemplate senior author Dr George McDonald, a gastroenterologist with Hutchinson and a professor of medication at the University of Washington, in Seattle. "This is one of the most complex procedures in medicine and we apprehend a lot of complications we didn't before".

Dr Mitchell Smith, head of the lymphoma service at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, feels the extended positive trend - if not the exact numbers - can be extrapolated to other concern centers. "Most of the things that they've been doing have been generally adopted by most uproot units, although you do have to be careful because they get a select patient population and they are experts. The smaller centers that don't do as many procedures may not get the compel same results, but the trend is clearly better".

Treatment of high-risk blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma was revolutionized in the 1970s with the introduction of allogeneic blood or bone marrow transplantation. Before this advance, patients with blood cancers had far more restrictive options. The high-dose chemotherapy or emanation treatments designed to wreak blood cancer cells (which divide faster than everyday cells) often damaged or destroyed the patient's bone marrow, leaving it unable to produce the blood cells needed to gain oxygen, fight infection and stop bleeding.

Transplanting healthy stem cells from a provider into the patient's bone marrow - if all went well - restored its power to produce these vital blood cells. While the treatment met with great success, it also had a lot of serious side effects, including infections, device damage and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which were severe enough to prevent older and frailer patients from undergoing the procedure. But the days of old 40 years has seen a lot of improvements in managing these problems.

Most Americans And Canadians With HIV Diagnosed Too Late

Most Americans And Canadians With HIV Diagnosed Too Late.
Americans and Canadians infected with HIV are not getting diagnosed fast enough after exposure, resulting in a potentially toxic stoppage in lifesaving treatment, a new large study suggests. The observation stems from an scrutiny involving nearly 45000 HIV-positive patients in both countries, which focused on a key yardstick for protected system strength - CD4 cell counts - at the time each patient first place began treatment. CD4 counts measure the number of "helper" T-cells that are HIV's preferred target.

Reviewing the participants' medical records between 1997 and 2007, the span found that throughout the 10-year study period, the norm CD4 count at the time of first treatment was below the recommended level that scientists have yearn identified as the ideal starting point for medical care. "The public health implications of our findings are clear," over author Dr Richard Moore, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a information release. "Delayed diagnosis reduces survival, and individuals enter into HIV meticulousness with lower CD4 counts than the guidelines for initiating antiretroviral therapy". A suspend in getting treatment not only increases the chance that the disease will progress, but boosts the risk of transmission.

Taking Clot-Busting Drug Immediately After A Stroke Within A Few Hours Improves The Patient's Condition

Taking Clot-Busting Drug Immediately After A Stroke Within A Few Hours Improves The Patient's Condition.
Patients who get the clot-busting anaesthetize alteplase (tPA) within 4,5 hours of having a strike along better than patients who are given the drug later, Scottish doctors report. It has been known that treating a soothe earlier is better than later, but this study shows for the first place time that there is significant harm done with starting tPA after 4,5 hours, the researchers noted. "The advantage of giving this treatment for stroke continues if we start it as late as 4,5 hours," said guide researcher Dr Kennedy R Lees, from the University Department of Medicine and Therapeutics of the Gardiner Institute at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow.

So "There is no entrap benefit to patients if you start the care after 4,5 hours. But if you start treatment after 4,5 hours, you will have more patients who die. Starting at an hour is much better than starting at two hours, and that's better than three hours, and that's better than 4,5 hours".

The forward derived from initial tPA treatment is a long-term benefit, Lees pointed out. "It's a service that we can measure three months later. So, what we are getting is long-term improved function. They are more disposed to to have no symptoms and more likely, if they do have symptoms, to be able to do things for themselves, or need less help. A undamaged range of disability is reduced, by just starting tPA a few minutes earlier".

The report is published in the May 15 number of The Lancet. For the study, the research team at ease data on 3670 patients in eight trials that investigated how the benefits and risks of tPA changed based on the duration the drug was given after the onset of a stroke.

Americans Are Increasingly Abusing Painkillers

Americans Are Increasingly Abusing Painkillers.
Rehab admissions tied up to alcohol, opiates (including direction painkillers) and marijuana increased in the United States between 1999 and 2009, according to a remodelled national report. However, fewer people sought treatment for problems with cocaine and methamphetamine or amphetamines, the researchers noted. One of the most staggering increases over the 10-year haunt period: opiate admissions, mostly due to use of preparation opioids, which include painkillers such as oxycodone (Oxycontin) or Vicodin (hydrocodone).

The findings showed that 96 percent of the nearly 2 million admissions to curing facilities that occurred in 2009 were akin to alcohol (42 percent), opiates (21 percent), marijuana (18 percent), cocaine (9 percent) and methamphetamine/amphetamines (6 percent). The set forth from the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) identified trends in the reasons why ladies and gentlemen are admitted to make-up abuse treatment facilities.

The SAMHSA report revealed that prescription drugs were to reproof for 33 percent of opiate rehab admissions in 2009 - up from just 8 percent a decade earlier. Alcohol ill use also remains a serious problem. It was the number one apology for substance abuse treatment among all major ethnic and racial groups, except Puerto Ricans, according to the report.

PSA Kinetics Is Not A Sufficient Indication For The Treatment Of Prostate Cancer

PSA Kinetics Is Not A Sufficient Indication For The Treatment Of Prostate Cancer.
A approach that urologists had hoped would prepare it credible to distinguish men with prostate cancer who need treatment from those who would only need watchful waiting didn't function well, researchers report. The technique, called PSA kinetics, measures changes in the deserve at which the prostate gland produces a protein called prostate-specific antigen. A significant enhancement in PSA kinetics, measured by the time during which PSA production doubles or increases at a fast rate, is supposed to indicate the need for treatment, by radiation therapy or surgery.

PSA kinetics has covet been used to measure the effectiveness of treatment. A number of cancer centers have started to use it as a reasonable method of distinguishing aggressive cancers that require treatment from those that are so slow-growing that they can safely be left alone.

Recent studies indicating that many men with slow-growing prostate cancers be subjected to unnecessary treatment have given stress to the search for such a tool, especially considering that side effects of treatment can include incontinence and impotence. But the ponder indicates that "PSA kinetics doesn't seem to be enough to show you who you should follow and who you should treat," said Dr Ashley E Ross, a urology dwelling at the Johns Hopkins University Brady Urological Institute, and move author of a report on the technique published online May 3 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The promulgate describes the results of PSA kinetics measurements of 290 men with low-grade prostate cancer - the amicable that often doesn't require treatment - for an average of 2,9 years. The results of PSA tests were compared with biopsies - pack samples - that regular the progression of the cancers.

The trial is part of a study, under supervision of Dr H Ballentine Carter, kingpin of the division of adult urology at the Brady Urological Institute, that began in 1994. Men in the whirl had PSA tests every six months and biopsies every year.

Medical Advice For The Villagers

Medical Advice For The Villagers.
Cancer patients in sylvan areas are more proper than those in cities to retire early and less likely to get paid disability while undergoing treatment, a restored study finds in Dec 2013. The findings indicate that rural cancer patients are more conceivable to have financial problems than patients in cities, the researchers said. The study looked at 1155 cancer survivors in Vermont who were working at the leisure of their diagnosis.

No significant differences were seen in the percentages of rustic and urban patients who worked fewer hours, changed careers or were unable to work. However, pastoral survivors were 66 percent more likely to retire early as a result of their cancer diagnosis, according to the turn over published recently in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship. This may be due to the fact that people in country areas tend to have more physically demanding jobs - such as construction, agriculture, forestry and mining - and aren't able to pursue them after their cancer treatment, said study author Michelle Sowden and colleagues at the University of Vermont.

Another Genetic Cause Of Alzheimer's Disease

Another Genetic Cause Of Alzheimer's Disease.
Researchers have discovered that the deviant of a gene associated with betimes onset Alzheimer's may block a key recycling process essential for brain cell survival - a finding that points the way to possible treatment for the disease. When it's working properly, this gene - called presenilin 1 (PS1) - performs a decisive house-cleaning aid by helping brain cells digest unwanted, damaged and potentially toxic proteins.

But in its mutated form, the gene fails to assistant cells recycle these latent toxins, suggesting an explanation for the damage to the brain characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. "We maintain we have identified the principal mechanism by which mutations of PS1 cause the most common genetic blank of Alzheimer's disease," study co-author Dr Ralph A Nixon, professor in the departments of psychiatry and room biology as well as director of NYU's Center of Excellence on Brain Aging and the Silberstein Alzheimer's Institute, said in a university news programme release.

And "Presently, no effective treatment exists to either leaden or prevent the progression of Alzheimer's disease," added Nixon, also director of the Center for Dementia Research at the Nathan S Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in New York City. "This recognition has the implied of identifying such a treatment".

New Drug To Curb Hepatitis C

New Drug To Curb Hepatitis C.
The recently approved upper Incivek, combined with two official drugs, is highly effective at treating hepatitis C, a notoriously difficult-to-manage liver disease, two unique studies show. The dull works not only in patients just starting treatment, but in those who failed earlier treatment, the research found. The hepatitis C virus can wait in the body for years, causing liver damage, cirrhosis and even liver failure. "This is a significant proceed in the treatment of hepatitis C," said Dr David Bernstein, chieftain of the division of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset NY, who was not confused in either study.

And "We know that if we can get rid of the hepatitis C, we can taboo the progression of liver disease. This means we can prevent the progression of cirrhosis, we can prevent the development of cancer and also forestall the need for liver transplantation in a large number of people".

Incivek (telaprevir) was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in May and is the sec drug in a class of drugs called protease inhibitors to be approved to spirit hepatitis C The other drug, called Victrelis (boceprevir), was also approved in May. The footing treatment for hepatitis C has been a combination of two drugs, pegylated-interferon and ribavirin, which are given for a year.

If protease inhibitors such as Incivek are added to the mix, the "viral cure" take to task improves and the healing time is reduced to six months, researchers found. Both reports were published in the June 23 online version of the New England Journal of Medicine.

In one study, a Phase 3 trying out known as ADVANCE, patients were randomly assigned to either a placebo or the remedying in a double-blind study, which means that neither the patients nor the researchers know who's getting the drug and who's getting a hoax treatment. This type of study is considered the gold standard for clinical research.

In the ADVANCE trial, 1088 patients with hepatitis C who had never been treated for the persuade were randomly assigned to pattern therapy for 48 weeks, or telaprevir combined with standard therapy for eight or for 12 weeks, followed by prevalent therapy alone for a total treatment time of either 24 or 48 weeks. The researchers found that 79 percent of those receiving Incivek for the longest duration (24 weeks) had a "sustained response," which basically means their hepatitis C was contained.

Acupuncture Can Treat Some Types Of Amblyopia

Acupuncture Can Treat Some Types Of Amblyopia.
Acupuncture may be an efficient custom to treat older children struggling with a certain form of lazy eye, late research from China suggests, although experts say more studies are needed. Lazy eye (amblyopia) is essentially a structure of miscommunication between the brain and the eyes, resulting in the favoring of one eye over the other, according to the National Eye Institute. The analysis authors noted that anywhere from less than 1 percent to 5 percent of kith and kin worldwide are affected with the condition. Of those, between one third and one half have a archetype of lazy eye known as anisometropia, which is caused by a difference in the degree of nearsightedness or farsightedness between the two eyes.

Standard curing for children involves eyeglasses or contact lens designed to correct hub issues. However, while this approach is often successful in younger children (between the ages of 3 and 7), it is affluent among only about a third of older children (between the ages of 7 and 12). For the latter group, doctors will often locus a patch over the "good" eye temporarily in addition to eyeglasses, and healing success is typically achieved in two-thirds of cases.

Children, however, often have trouble adhering to territory therapy, the treatment can bring emotional issues for some and a reverse form of lazy eye can also guide root, the researchers said. Study author Dr Dennis SC Lam, from the jurisdiction of ophthalmology and visual sciences and Institute of Chinese Medicine at the Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and Chinese University of Hong Kong, and his colleagues come in their observations in the December emanate of the Archives of Ophthalmology.

In the search for a better option than patch therapy, Lam and his associates set out to travel the potential benefits of acupuncture, noting that it has been used to treat dry eye and myopia. Between 2007 and 2009, Lam and his colleagues recruited 88 children between the ages of 7 and 12 who had been diagnosed with anisometropia.

About half the children were treated five times a week with acupuncture, targeting five limited acupuncture needle insertion points (located at the zenith of the headman and the eyebrow region, as well as the legs and hands). The other half were given two hours a period of cover therapy, combined with a minimum of one hour per day of near-vision exercises such as reading.

After about four months of treatment, the delve into team found that overall visual acuity improved markedly more among the acupuncture place relative to the patch group. In fact, they noted that while lazy eye was successfully treated in nearly 42 percent of the acupuncture patients, that trust in dropped to less than 17 percent amid the patch patients.

Physically Active People Are More Likely To Prevail Over Cancer

Physically Active People Are More Likely To Prevail Over Cancer.
People undergoing cancer remedying traditionally have been told to keep on being as much as possible and elude exertion, to save all their strength to battle the dreaded disease. But a growing number of physicians and researchers now claim that people who remain physically active as best they can during treatment are more likely to beat cancer. The undeniable evidence for exercise during and after cancer treatment has piled so high that an American College of Sports Medicine panel is revising the group's nationalist guidelines regarding exercise recommended for cancer survivors.

The panel's conclusion: Cancer patients and survivors should fight to get the same amount of operation recommended for everyone else, about 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. Resistance training and stretching also are recommended.

A Strict Diet Improves The Condition Of The Patient In The First Year After Diagnosis Of Diabetes

A Strict Diet Improves The Condition Of The Patient In The First Year After Diagnosis Of Diabetes.
Dietary changes unparalleled can abandon the same benefits as changes in both assembly and exercise in the first year after a person is diagnosed with breed 2 diabetes, a new study contends. English researchers found that patients who were encouraged to yield weight by modifying their diet with the help of a dietician had the same improvements in blood sugar (glycemic) control, majority loss, cholesterol and triglyceride levels as those who changed both their diet and physical bustle levels as 30 minutes of brisk walking five times a week. Both groups achieved about a 10 percent advance in blood sugar control, cholesterol and triglyceride levels compared to patients who received uninteresting care.

The two intervention groups also lost an mediocre of 4 percent of their body weight, while those in a routine care group had little or no weight loss. Patients in the boring care group were also three times more likely than those in the intervention groups to start on diabetes medication before the end of the study.

And "Getting consumers to exercise is quite difficult, and can be expensive," lead researcher Rob Andrews, a chief lecturer at the University of Bristol, said in an American Diabetes Association information release. "What this study tells us is that if you only have a limited amount of money, in that first year of diagnosis, you should convergence on getting the diet right".

He pointed out, however, that the study participants with model 2 diabetes preferred to engage in both exercise and dietary changes. "They found diet by oneself quite negative". One reason they might not have seen an additional benefit from exercise "is because people often modify a trade. That is, if they go to the gym, then they feel as if they can have a treat. That could be why we saw no difference in the arrange loss for the diet plus exercise group".

Doctors Strongly Recommend That All Pregnant Women To Have A Blood Test For HIV

Doctors Strongly Recommend That All Pregnant Women To Have A Blood Test For HIV.
A mollycoddle born two-and-a-half years ago in Mississippi with HIV is the in front box of a so-called "functional cure" of the infection, researchers announced Sunday. Standard tests can no longer uncover any traces of the AIDS-causing virus even though the child has discontinued HIV medication. "We think this is the first well-documented case of a functional cure," said consider lead author Dr Deborah Persaud, associate professor of pediatrics in the allotment of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore. The finding was presented Sunday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, in Atlanta.

The teenager was not part of a study but, instead, the beneficiary of an unexpected and partly unplanned set of events that - once confirmed and replicated in a established study - might help more children who are born with HIV or who at risk of contracting HIV from their protect eradicate the virus from their body. Normally, mothers infected with HIV take antiretroviral drugs that can almost kill the odds of the virus being transferred to the baby. If a mother doesn't advised of her HIV status or hasn't been treated for other reasons, the baby is given "prophylactic" drugs at birth while awaiting the results of tests to infer his or her HIV status.

This can take four to six weeks to complete. If the tests are positive, the spoil starts HIV drug treatment. The mummy of the baby born in Mississippi didn't know she was HIV-positive until the time of delivery.

But in this case, both the prime and confirmatory tests on the baby were able to be completed within one day, allowing the baby to be started on HIV cure treatment within the first 30 hours of life. "Most of our kids don't get picked up that early". As expected, the baby's "viral load" - detectable levels of HIV - decreased progressively until it was no longer detectable at 29 days of age.

Theoretically, this boy (doctors aren't disclosing the gender) would have enchanted the medications for the be of his or her life, said the researchers, who included doctors from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Instead, the youngster stayed on the regimen for only 18 months before dropping out of the medical technique and discontinuing the drugs.

Ten months after stopping treatment, however, the laddie was again seen by doctors who were surprised to find no HIV virus or HIV antibodies with principle tests. Ultrasensitive tests did detect infinitesimal traces of viral DNA and RNA in the blood. But the virus was not replicating - a decidedly unusual occurrence given that drugs were no longer being administered, the researchers said.

Over The Last Decade Treatment Of Lupus Kidney Disorder Has Improved

Over The Last Decade Treatment Of Lupus Kidney Disorder Has Improved.
Over the one-time 10 years, therapy options for patients with an insurgent kidney disorder known as lupus nephritis have vastly improved, according to a new review. This means that patients with lupus nephritis, which is a involvement that can occur in individuals with the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), can now envision a better quality of life, without many of the harsh treatment side effects. The rethinking further indicates that new treatments for this serious kidney disorder are already coming down the pike, and will indubitably lead to even better options in the future.

And "Treatment of lupus nephritis is rapidly changing, becoming safer and more effective," Dr Gerald Appel, of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, said in an American Society of Nephrology flash release. Appel and Columbia fellow-worker Dr Andrew Bomback introduce their findings in the Nov 1, 2010 online printing of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. The authors noted that SLE affects about 1,4 million Americans, mostly women between the ages of 20 and 40.

Acupuncture Promotes Weight Loss

Acupuncture Promotes Weight Loss.
Placing five acupuncture needles in the outer regard may balm people lose that spare tire, researchers report. Ear acupuncture cure is based on the theory that the outer ear represents all parts of the body. One archetype uses one needle inserted into the area that is linked to hunger and appetite, while the other involves inserting five needles at bizarre key points in the ear. "If the trend we found is supported by other studies, the appetite acupuncture point is a good choice in terms of convenience.

However, for patients suffering from central obesity, persistent stimulation of five acupuncture points should be used," said lead researcher Sabina Lim, from the unit of meridian and acupuncture in the Graduate College of Basic Korean Medical Science at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea. According to Lim, the effectiveness of acupuncture on fleshy patients is closely agnate to metabolic function. "Increased metabolic function promotes the consumption of body fat, overall, resulting in force loss.

The report was published online Dec 16, 2013 in the newspaper Acupuncture in Medicine. Dr David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, said, "We must from rushing to judge that a remedying is ineffective just because we don't understand the mechanism. Rather, if a treatment is genuinely effective, it invites us to have a place out the mechanism". But this study does not prove the effectiveness of acupuncture.

So "Placebo effects are strong, uncommonly when they involve needles. The evidence here falls short of proof". According to the US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, results from the few studies on acupuncture and majority loss have been mixed. In one study, researchers examined the create of ear acupuncture with sham acupuncture on rotund women. "Researchers found no statistical difference in body weight, body-mass index and waist circumference between the acupuncture troupe and placebo," said Katy Danielson, a spokeswoman for the center.

New Solutions For The Prevention Of Memory Loss From Multiple Sclerosis

New Solutions For The Prevention Of Memory Loss From Multiple Sclerosis.
Being mentally busy may inform reduce memory and learning problems that often befall in people with multiple sclerosis, a new study suggests. It included 44 people, about lifetime 45, who'd had MS for an average of 11 years. Even if they had higher levels of sense damage, those with a mentally active lifestyle had better scores on tests of learning and tribute than those with less intellectually enriching lifestyles. "Many people with MS struggle with learning and memory problems," scrutiny author James Sumowski, of the Kessler Foundation Research Center in West Orange, NJ, said in an American Academy of Neurology telecast release.

So "This study shows that a mentally animated lifestyle might reduce the harmful effects of brain damage on learning and memory. Learning and reminiscence ability remained quite good in people with enriching lifestyles, even if they had a lot of thought damage brain atrophy as shown on brain scans ," Sumowski continued. "In contrast, persons with lesser mentally occupied lifestyles were more likely to suffer learning and memory problems, even at milder levels of knowledge damage".

Sumowski said the "findings suggest that enriching activities may build a person's 'cognitive reserve,' which can be thinking of as a buffer against disease-related memory impairment. Differences in cognitive guardedness among persons with MS may explain why some persons suffer memory problems early in the disease, while others do not begin memory problems until much later, if at all".

The study appears in the June 15 circulation of Neurology. In an editorial accompanying the study, Peter Arnett of Penn State University wrote that "more delve into is needed before any firm recommendations can be made," but that it seemed inexpensive to encourage people with MS to get involved with mentally challenging activities that might improve their cognitive reserve.

What is Multiple Sclerosis? An unpredictable bug of the central nervous system, multiple sclerosis (MS) can pigeon-hole from relatively benign to somewhat disabling to devastating, as communication between the brain and other parts of the body is disrupted. Many investigators accept MS to be an autoimmune disease - one in which the body, through its unaffected system, launches a defensive attack against its own tissues. In the case of MS, it is the nerve-insulating myelin that comes under assault. Such assaults may be linked to an unidentified environmental trigger, conceivably a virus.

Most people experience their first symptoms of MS between the ages of 20 and 40; the commencing symptom of MS is often blurred or double vision, red-green color distortion, or even blindness in one eye. Most MS patients observation muscle weakness in their extremities and difficulty with coordination and balance. These symptoms may be aloof enough to impair walking or even standing. In the worst cases, MS can out partial or complete paralysis.

The Incidence Of ADHD Is Growing In The United States

The Incidence Of ADHD Is Growing In The United States.
Many children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disarrange (ADHD) may have missed out on valuable counseling because of a universally touted inspect that concluded stimulants such as Ritalin or Adderall were more effective for treating the unrest than medication plus behavioral therapies, experts say in Dec 2013. That 20-year-old study, funded with $11 million from the US National Institute of Mental Health, concluded that the medications outperformed a bloc of stimulants additional skills-training therapy or therapy alone as a long-term treatment. But now experts, who embody some of the study's authors, think that relying on such a narrow avenue of care may deprive children, their families and their teachers of effective strategies for coping with ADHD, The New York Times reported Monday.

So "I fancy it didn't do irreparable damage," over co-author Dr Lily Hechtman, of McGill University in Montreal, told the Times. "The individuals who pay the price in the end are the kids. That's the biggest tragedy in all of this". Professionals be vexed that the findings have overshadowed the long-term benefits of school- and family-based skills programs. The primary findings also gave pharmaceutical companies a significant marketing tool - now more than two-thirds of American kids with ADHD gather medication for the condition.

And insurers have also used the study to deny coverage of psychosocial therapy, which costs more than regular medication but may deliver longer-lasting benefits, according to the Times. According to the flash report, an insured family might pay $200 a year for stimulants, while individual or family psychotherapy can be time-consuming and expensive, reaching $1000 or more. About 8 percent of US children are diagnosed with ADHD before the epoch of 18, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.