Share your thoughts on this column at the Well blog.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Top 3 Tips for overcoming Tinnitus Ear Ringing
Losing Weight Made Easy For You
Your abstinence is the number digit bourgeois that contributes to your weight. Of course, genetic factors do hit a role, as well as stress and metabolism rates, but what you consume has a huge say in the end results. So, if you poverty to be flourishing and you poverty to retrograde weight, you staleness first direct the issues that are in your diet, which may be the causing factors of your accumulated coefficient amount. Sometimes people try disturbed diets or break abstinence type methods to retrograde coefficient instantly, and though you module wager whatever fast results, they module be temporary results that don't do anything but wear on your embody and drive you to retrograde forcefulness and rattling alteration yourself in the daylong term. Most likely, the coefficient module come comprehensive backwards the fast the abstinence is over and you module wager as though it was all in vain.
So, the artefact to rattling pore on your abstinence is to change your intake style altogether. That doesn't stingy decease yourself for a while, it means countenance at what you are intake and wager where the problem areas are. Do you indulge in too much junk food? Chips, cake, cover cream, cookies and an miscellanea of another sweets crapper rattling be a detrimental bourgeois when you are disagreeable to retrograde player pounds and embellish healthier. These unclean foods crapper be addictive but avoiding them is the exclusive artefact to ensure that you meet flourishing no concern what. Also, you poverty to avoid greasy, unclean foods, same burgers and spud and all the another delicious things offered up by fast food chains and restaurants that seem efficient and primed to go but are actually ten cardinal times more bruising to your body, especially if consumed regularly. These foods are unexploded with fats and cholesterin as well as tons of preservatives that module linger in your embody and add padding to your fat.
So, changing your whole abstinence begins with eliminating those foods that exclusive do harm, the foods that drive woe, and replacing them with the foods that attain you hit energy. Eat reddened meals of cowardly and fish, not fried, but tempered or grilled and hit servings of vegetables. For course opt out of block or cover toiletries and hit a fruit composition without sugar and enjoy things same flatbread chips that hit no fruitful at all for a snack instead of unclean potato chips and another unclean and unhealthy snacks.
To retrograde coefficient is mostly most intake right, but it is also most ensuring that your style makes shack for exertion so that you undergo you are staying in shape. Run a mile every morning or do impact out videos, always be doing something that module ready your embody fit and moving. Hit the gym every so often and attain it a saucer to ready your embody flourishing by what you do with it and what you place into it, realizing that the compounding of the digit is rattling primary for ensuring that you meet flourishing and fit for a daylong time.
Retrieved from "http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/losing-weight-made-easy-for-you-4706115.html"Did you set a New Years' Resolution to feel your best in the upcoming year? Are you serious about that goal of losing weight this New Years'? Are you really able to overcome your addiction to cigarettes or alcohol? Did you or a love one just get diagnosed with a disease or illness? Are you tossing and turning all night long, leaving you exhausted at work the next morning? Well, check out our quality articles on health-related themes to help you look and feel your best!A Person's Mindset Has To Be Right Prior To Realizing Fat Loss
Would you same to retrograde a lowercase taste of coefficient and intend in meliorate shape? If you're same a aggregation of people, effort the embody of your dreams is something that you hit been wanting to do. Living a meliorate style is a aggregation easier if you hit the correct attitude. Changing how you move employed discover is a aggregation easier than you belike think.
Losing coefficient and effort in appearance is a aggregation easier if you're having fun. If you crapper hit recreation patch you're employed out, you'll be a aggregation more probable to amend a more lawful and lawful workout routine. Working discover lawful module be the key to your long-term coefficient expiration success. You'll be healthy to move living a meliorate style and intend on the path to losing weight.
One of the main things that most grouping do is they do not hit recreation as they are employed out. Working discover needs to be something that you look nervy to doing. Most grouping often work discover rattling hard for a some life and then they simply provide up. This is not the correct artefact to move losing weight. If you would same to retrograde coefficient and intend in meliorate shape, you requirement to hit fun. Making the impact more recreation could be as easy as streaming with music.
A takeout music player is a beatific resolution for most people. You'll be healthy to center to songs as you're employed discover and this should attain the impact a aggregation more pleasant for you. If you're actually enjoying the process, you haw encounter yourself looking nervy to effort discover each day for your lawful run. You'll be healthy to center to songs as you're streaming and this module attain it more pleasant for you. It is a aggregation easier to separate if you're actually having fun. You'll be healthy to intend into a periodicity and you'll not be thinking about how tired you are.
Another beatific resolution is for you to encounter a upbringing partner. Finding someone to separate with is a aggregation easier than you belike think. You'll be healthy to encounter someone to separate with at your topical park. There are a aggregation of grouping that belike foregather there on a lawful basis. You haw separate into them and be healthy to foregather up with them for a more lawful workout. You module also be healthy to foregather new grouping and support them to accomplish their coefficient expiration goals.
Both of these are easy suggestions that you crapper begin to implement today. You'll be healthy to actually enjoy the impact of employed discover effort in meliorate shape. You should be healthy hit recreation patch you're employed out. If you crapper attain a some of these secondary adjustments, you'll see your embody progress your embody progressing module support to prompt you also. You'll be healthy to poverty to intend discover the door and continue downbound the correct path. Losing coefficient is a aggregation easier if you hit this approach.
Retrieved from "http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/a-persons-mindset-has-to-be-right-prior-to-realizing-fat-loss-4705967.html"Did you set a New Years' Resolution to feel your best in the upcoming year? Are you serious about that goal of losing weight this New Years'? Are you really able to overcome your addiction to cigarettes or alcohol? Did you or a love one just get diagnosed with a disease or illness? Are you tossing and turning all night long, leaving you exhausted at work the next morning? Well, check out our quality articles on health-related themes to help you look and feel your best!Qualifications needed for physician assistant jobs
How you can find The most beneficial Medical Device Fulfillment
The Fastest Method To Burn Off Fat, Shed Weight, And Obtain Healthy
Friday, April 29, 2011
Health : Health Buzz: Screening Tool Could Diagnose Autism Earlier
Health : Health Buzz: Screening Tool Could Diagnose Autism Earlier |
Health Buzz: Screening Tool Could Diagnose Autism Earlier Posted: 29 Apr 2011 08:25 AM PDT This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
You are subscribed to email updates from Health Buzz To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 |
Facts on Vit B
Different Types of Pulse Oximeters
Pulse oximeter is a figure bespoken on a translucent part of the body, either on the fingertip or on the earlobe. Its important purpose is to manoeuvre the level of gas in the murder of a person. Ninety-five to a hundred proportionality are the normal levels of oxygenation in a person's blood. Lower than these may be considered as having mild to nonindulgent hypoxia.
There are assorted types of beat oximeters available today. They are of assorted models and fashioned in much a way to cater to the needs of the patient. It includes the following: wrist, tabletop, handheld, and fingertip models.
The carpus identify of oximeter is considered to be a comfortable help of beat oximeter. It is just worn on the wrist, kindred to a ticker and a figure is on the finger. A small wire is utilised to attach the digit parts for constant monitoring of the patient. They are ordinarily utilised in rest centers for patients who are suffering from rest apnea.
Another identify of beat oximeter is the tabletop oximeter. This identify is not takeout and is mainly utilised in hospitals because it has more sophisticated features same more sensors and can do constant monitoring. It also has another monitoring tools same murder pressure.
The third identify is titled the handheld beat oximeter. This is commonly seen at infirmary which is kindred to a fingertip device. It uses a reddened in measuring the hemoprotein finished the fingertip. However, it has a cable that is direct connected to a computer different with fingertip beat oximeter which shows the result on the digital screen found at the oximeter itself. This is utilised for patients who are at risk in their lower extremities. In much cases, the handheld oximeter is bespoken on the toe.
The terminal identify is the digit beat oximeter. This figure is clipped on the digit and has a tiny computer and screen. It is the most takeout identify as digit can put it on the pocket or bag. It works finished the reddened from both sides, erst the reddened on digit lateral emits the light, the another reddened module be measured on the another side. This is easily used, by simply slipping it on your digit finger, it module manoeuvre and pass readings on the screen on the level of the patient's murder gas level. Among all the beat oximeters, this identify is the easiest to ingest because even if the mortal who module ingest does not know anything about effort oximeter readings, he module be able to do it right because of the simple steps it provides.
Retrieved from "http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/different-types-of-pulse-oximeters-4701072.html"Did you set a New Years' Resolution to feel your best in the upcoming year? Are you serious about that goal of losing weight this New Years'? Are you really able to overcome your addiction to cigarettes or alcohol? Did you or a love one just get diagnosed with a disease or illness? Are you tossing and turning all night long, leaving you exhausted at work the next morning? Well, check out our quality articles on health-related themes to help you look and feel your best!Health - More Doubts Cast on a Hotly Debated Lung Cancer Study
Health - More Doubts Cast on a Hotly Debated Lung Cancer Study |
- More Doubts Cast on a Hotly Debated Lung Cancer Study
- Patient Money: Containing Costs for Pet Care
- U.S. Seeks New Limits on Food Ads for Children
- Cheaper Drug to Treat Eye Disease Is Effective
- Earnings Rise for Procter and Colgate
- Well: Mango for Dinner and Dessert
- Well: How to Lower Your Vet Bill
- The New Old Age: Cheaper Treatment for Macular Degeneration
- The New Old Age: Shifting to a Nursing Home
- Prescriptions: Big Tobacco Wins Missouri Case
- Prescriptions: Shareholders Give Thumbs Up to J.&J. Executive Pay
- Your Money: Making Sure a Plan for Long-Term Care Adds Up
More Doubts Cast on a Hotly Debated Lung Cancer Study Posted: 29 Apr 2011 09:54 AM PDT In medical experiments on human beings, every patient must sign an “informed consent” form acknowledging the risks, and researchers are required to keep track of those statements. But the doctors who conducted a controversial, widely publicized lung cancer study involving more than 50,000 patients at numerous hospitals were unable to locate 90 percent of the consent forms, according to a confidential review provided to The New York Times. The finding casts further doubt on a clinical trial that made headlines in 2006 when it concluded that fully 80 percent of lung cancer deaths could be prevented through widespread use of CT scans. That trial, led by Dr. Claudia I. Henschke at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, drew sharp criticism from skeptics of cancer screening; the criticism intensified when The Times reported in March 2008 that the research was being financed in part by $3.6 million in grants from the parent company of the Liggett Group, a cigarette maker. The confidential report on patient consent, dated Oct. 7, 2008, recommended that the trial be stopped. But it continues to this day, although not at Weill Cornell. Several ethicists said the hospital was legally required to disclose the ethical problems documented by the secret review. That has not happened either. The confidential report was commissioned by Weill Cornell in the wake of The Times’s 2008 article and other revelations about the study in the newsletter The Cancer Letter. The hospital hired four prominent professors from other universities to undertake an independent review of Dr. Henschke’s research, known as the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program, or I-Elcap. In their report, the reviewers scolded Weill Cornell administrators for failing to supervise the research more closely, “especially knowing that scientific controversy has surrounded I-Elcap almost from its inception.” One of the reviewers, Dr. David P. Carbone, a professor of medicine and cancer biology at Vanderbilt, said in an interview that he and the other reviewers never found out “whether these consents were obtained and lost or whether they weren’t obtained at all.” He said that Dr. Henschke acted with the best of intentions, “but there’s no way for me to justify any of the problems” documented by the group’s review. Dr. Henschke, who has since left Weill Cornell for Mount Sinai Medical Center, also in New York, declined to respond to the findings of the 2008 review, saying it was confidential. But in an e-mail, she said the responsibility for keeping track of consent forms lay with all the hospitals where the experiments were done. “I-Elcap is a non-federally funded academic consortium of independent, autonomous sites that share certain data,” she wrote. “Accountability and responsibility for human protection lie at the local level.” But Dr. Henschke’s research has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, and federal rules governing research conducted at multiple sites have long required that the coordinating center either collect copies of patient consent forms or ensure that they are being kept appropriately. “The responsible conduct of a study requires that informed consent documents be kept on file,” said Dr. P. Pearl O’Rourke, director of human research affairs at Partners HealthCare, part of Harvard University. “There should be a system so that every consent form can be found no matter if individuals were enrolled at a single site or multiple sites.” John D. Rodgers, a spokesman for Weill Cornell, wrote in an e-mail that the medical school followed federal research regulations “and there were no issues regarding the safety of the research subjects.” Dr. Bruce A. Chabner, director of clinical research at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and editor in chief of The Oncologist journal, said he would ask Weill Cornell for an explanation of the problems outlined in the 2008 scientific review, as well as a follow-up to the report. His journal has published research by Dr. Henschke, and “if we find there was no informed consent for those patients, the paper would have to retracted,” he said. The American Cancer Society helped to finance Dr. Henschke’s research, and some of her work was published in cancer journals owned by the society. Dr. Otis W. Brawley, the society’s chief medical officer, said any study underwritten by the organization must conform to federal research rules, including those that require that problems with informed consent be reported to federal science agencies. He added that the society’s journals might have to correct or retract any study that proved unable to document that patients had given informed consent. “But I don’t want to prejudge the case,” Dr. Brawley said. In November, a huge federal study found that annual CT scans of current and former heavy smokers reduced their risk of death from lung cancer by 20 percent and, even more surprising, seemed to reduce the risks of death from other causes as well. Although the scale of the benefit was substantially less than Dr. Henschke claimed her research showed, the federal study was widely interpreted as confirming her longtime contention that CT screening can save lives from lung cancer, which kills more than 150,000 people each year in the United States. Most patients discover their disease too late for treatment, and 85 percent die from it. Dr. Carbone, the reviewer, said he believed that Dr. Henschke was so convinced that CT screening would prove beneficial against lung cancer that she cut corners in her research. “Claudia was so dedicated to this concept and underfunded in a lot of ways so that there was no way for her to do it properly,” he said. “But the ends don’t always justify the means, and doing things wrong can really backfire.” |
Patient Money: Containing Costs for Pet Care Posted: 29 Apr 2011 10:42 AM PDT DEBORAH NOCELLA, a 43-year-old mother in Park Slope, says she feels as if she takes the family’s two dogs to the vet almost as often as she takes them to the neighborhood dog run. Eric Michael Johnson for The New York TimesRelatedLast year the Nocella family adopted two puppies, a pit bull mix named Pokie and a “puggle” named Browny. Since then, Ms. Nocella estimates, the family has spent as much as $5,000 on veterinarian bills. The dogs have had routine checkups and shots, of course. But then there were unexpected costs: Pokie arrived with a bad case of worms and kennel cough; some strange bumps on her paws turned out, after $700 worth of tests, to be warts. Browny has severe allergies and requires frequent trips to the vet. Last November, Pokie swallowed Advil pills, which are toxic to dogs. She went into renal failure and required emergency treatment overnight in a nearby animal hospital. The treatment was successful and Pokie is fine, but the incident set the Nocellas back $2,300. Pet owners like Ms. Nocella are spending more on veterinarian bills than ever before. The American Pet Products Association estimates that Americans will spend $12.2 billion on veterinary care this year, up from $11 billion last year and $8.2 billion in 2006. Advances in veterinary medicine mean more extensive, and expensive, treatments are available for animals, but even ordinary costs like flea and tick protection can add up quickly. Here are some ways to curb those costs while still giving your pet the best of care. LOW-COST ALTERNATIVES Local shelters often offer free or low-cost spaying and neutering for dogs and cats, said Dr. Louise Murray, vice president at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal’s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in New York and author of “Vet Confidential.” To find a shelter near you, check the A.S.P.C.A. Web site at www.aspca.org/pet-care/spayneuter. Shelters where pets can be adopted may offer low-cost vaccinations and checkups. Mobile clinics, usually sponsored by local governments or animal protection agencies, also provide routine pet care for far less than a traditional vet would charge. Veterinarian schools are another good source of low-cost care. Students are carefully supervised by qualified veterinarians, so pets receive quality care — everything from heartworm tests to major surgery, often for as little as a third of the price at a veterinarian’s office. THE RIGHT VACCINES Keeping up with a pet’s shots will save money, not to mention misery, in the long run by preventing many serious illnesses. But that does not mean a pet needs every vaccine available. “A corgi who lives on the Upper East Side doesn’t need the same protocol as a Labrador in Connecticut,” Dr. Murray said. “Your veterinarian should customize a vaccine plan that fits your pet.” A HEALTHY DIET Many vets sell prescriptions and high-quality pet food, but the same brands are sold for much less at many pet supply stores or Web sites. Still, do not skimp on quality. “Cats, for example, are carnivores and aren’t meant to eat carbohydrates,” Dr. Murray said. “Feeding them only the cheap dried food can lead to diabetes or blockages that will cost you a lot more in the long run than the price you’ll pay for the right food.” DRUG DISCOUNTS If a pet needs regular medication, discount chains such as Costco can be cheaper than a regular drug store or the vet’s office, said Dr. Sharon Friedman, a veterinarian at the Berkley Animal Clinic in Berkley, Mich. But consult a veterinarian first, she advised, to be sure to buy the right medicine at the right dosage. On the other hand, do not assume that tick and flea treatments or heartworm medications are cheaper at the big discount chains. Manufacturers want to distribute these medicines through veterinarians’ offices, so they often offer promotions and discounts there that are not available elsewhere. “One company recently offered two free tick and flea treatments if you bought six doses. That worked out to be less expensive than PetMeds, a popular online store, or Costco,” Dr. Friedman said. “It often pays to ask.” Many Web sites sell high-quality pet medications at good prices, but a recent Food and Drug. Administration. investigation caught some sites selling counterfeit, unapproved or expired drugs. Beware of any site that sells medications without requiring a veterinarian’s prescription. The F.D.A. also recommends that consumers look for sites accredited as a Veterinary-Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Site, part of a voluntary accreditation program. CONSIDER INSURANCE Pet health insurance is a booming industry, growing more than 20 percent every year, although only an estimated 3 percent of pet owners have bought policies. While Ms. Nocella has never seriously considered buying pet insurance, she does acknowledge it might have come in handy the day Pokie ate the Advil. But like health insurance for humans, pet insurance can be complicated and highly restricted. Some policies will not cover older pets or genetic conditions that certain breeds are known to have, such as hip dysplasia in retrievers. Others limit coverage to only one treatment per illness. So if your dog develops asthma, for instance, some policies will cover just the first trip to the vet although treatment will require multiple visits. Prices for pet insurance can range from $12 to $50 a month, depending on the type and age of the pet and any pre-existing conditions. In almost all cases the pet owner pays up front, then files a claim for reimbursement. Costs are higher to insure older, sicker pets, or for policies that cover preventive care, such as vaccines and veterinarian office visits. Many pet owners prefer to save for unexpected vet expenses in an emergency fund instead of paying premiums for coverage they may not use. Dr. Murray suggested putting away a little each week until savings reach $2,000 to $3,000. “That’s the minimum you’ll need if a serious situation arises and your pet needs lifesaving care,” she said. |
U.S. Seeks New Limits on Food Ads for Children Posted: 28 Apr 2011 10:20 PM PDT Will Toucan Sam go the way of Joe Camel? The federal government proposed sweeping new guidelines on Thursday that could push the food industry to overhaul how it advertises cereal, soda pop, snacks, restaurant meals and other foods to children. Citing an epidemic of childhood obesity, regulators are taking aim at a range of tactics used to market foods high in sugar, fat or salt to children, including the use of cartoon characters like Toucan Sam, the brightly colored Froot Loops pitchman, who appears in television commercials and online games as well as on cereal boxes. Regulators are asking food makers and restaurant companies to make a choice: make your products healthier or stop advertising them to youngsters. “Toucan Sam can sell healthy food or junk food,” said Dale Kunkel, a communications professor at the University of Arizona who studies the marketing of children’s food. “This forces Toucan Sam to be associated with healthier products.” The guidelines, released by the Federal Trade Commission, encompass a broad range of marketing efforts, including television and print ads, Web sites, online games that act as camouflaged advertisements, social media, product placements in movies, the use of movie characters in cross-promotions and fast-food children’s meals. The inclusion of digital media, such as product-based games, represents one of the government’s strongest efforts so far to address the extension of children’s advertising into the online world, which children’s health advocates say is a growing problem. The guidelines are meant to be voluntary, but companies are likely to face heavy pressure to adopt them. Companies that choose to take part would have five to 10 years to bring their products and marketing into compliance. “There’s clearly a demand hidden behind the velvet glove of the voluntary language,” said Dan Jaffe, an executive vice president of the Association of National Advertisers, a trade group that represents marketers like Kraft Foods and Campbell Soup. By explicitly tying advertising to childhood obesity, the government is suggesting there is a darker side to cuddly figures like Cap’n Crunch, the Keebler elves, Ronald McDonald and the movie and television characters used to promote food. It also raises the question of whether they might ultimately share the fate of Joe Camel, the cartoon figure used to promote Camel cigarettes that was phased out amid allegations that it was meant to entice children to smoke. “Our proposal really covers all forms of marketing to kids, and the product packaging and the images and themes on the cereal boxes have tremendous appeal to kids,” said Michelle K. Rusk, a lawyer with the trade commission. “The goal is to encourage children to eat more healthy foods because obesity is a huge health crisis.” The F.T.C. said that in 2006, food companies spent nearly $2.3 billion to advertise to children. The food industry immediately criticized the proposal, saying that it had already taken significant steps to improve recipes and change the way it advertises to children. Kellogg, the company that makes Froot Loops, said in a statement that it would review the proposal and that it was committed to improving “the nutrition credentials” of its products. “We have very specific criteria, based on a broad review of scientific reports, that determine how and what products we market to children,” the company said. The company has already reduced sugar and added whole grains in many cereals. Scott Faber, a vice president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, a group that represents food makers, said that ads for packaged foods on television shows aimed at children 2 to 11 had dropped significantly since 2004, and that the ads more often showed healthier types of foods. He said companies had also changed many recipes to reduce salt, sugar and fat and add healthful ingredients like whole grains. “The rate of reformulation is going to increase, not as a result of the principles that were announced today but because consumers are demanding changes in the marketplace,” Mr. Faber said. Many food companies participate in an industry-led effort, the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, to restrict some marketing activities. But each company that takes part is allowed to set its own nutritional criteria, which critics say undermine the program’s effectiveness. Regulators said it was important for the entire industry to adhere to a uniform set of standards. The guidelines were created at the request of Congress and written by the commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Agriculture Department and the Centers for Disease Control. Regulators said they would take comments and consider changes before submitting a final report to Congress. The guidelines call for foods that are advertised to children to meet two basic requirements. They would have to include certain healthful ingredients, like whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, or low-fat milk. And they could not contain unhealthful amounts of sugar, saturated fat, trans fat and salt. The sugar requirement would limit cereals to eight grams of added sugar a serving, far less than many popular cereals have today. Froot Loops and Cap’n Crunch, for example, contain 12 grams of sugar a serving. The salt restrictions are particularly stringent, and many packaged foods on the shelves today would have a hard time meeting them. In an initial phase-in period, the guidelines call for many foods to have no more than 210 milligrams of sodium a serving, while main dishes and meals, including both restaurant food and packaged food, could have no more than 450 milligrams. Today, a 15-ounce can of Chef Boyardee beef ravioli has two servings, with 750 milligrams of sodium per serving. The sodium restrictions would get tougher over time. The federal agencies acknowledged that a “large percentage of food products currently in the marketplace would not meet the principles.” The guidelines would apply to both young children and teenagers. The industry has said it should have greater leeway for teenagers, and Ms. Rusk said the agencies would consider those arguments. Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group, predicted that the guidelines would force many companies to accept great restrictions and improve recipes. “With all the concern about childhood obesity, I think there’s a lot of pressure on companies to do the right thing and follow these standards,” she said. Jeffrey Chester, executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy, a group that focuses on Internet marketing to children, said the F.T.C. proposal had broader implications. “The youth obesity issue has placed all digital marketing in the regulatory cross hairs,” Mr. Chester said. Matt Richtel contributed reporting. |
Cheaper Drug to Treat Eye Disease Is Effective Posted: 28 Apr 2011 10:03 PM PDT A drug that costs about $50 a dose is just as effective at preserving and improving vision in elderly people with an age-related eye disease as one that costs $2,000 a dose, according to the results of a government-sponsored clinical trial released Thursday. The trial compared the effectiveness of Lucentis, a drug approved to treat one form of macular degeneration, with Avastin, a cancer drug that many eye doctors have been using off-label instead of Lucentis because of its far lower cost. The drugs, both made by Genentech, work in a similar manner. The findings could possibly save Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars a year — and cost Genentech an equivalent amount in lost sales — if more doctors begin using Avastin instead of Lucentis. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of severe vision loss among the elderly. More than 250,000 Americans get treated for it each year. The wet form of the disease, for which Lucentis is approved, is characterized by abnormal blood vessels in the back of the eye that leak fluid, obstructing the vision essential for reading, driving, watching TV and recognizing faces. “Health care providers and payers worldwide will now have to justify the cost of using” Lucentis, Dr. Philip J. Rosenfeld, a retina specialist at the University of Miami, wrote in an editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine, which published the trial results online Thursday. Still, supporters of Lucentis said there are benefits of the drug. Lucentis was better at drying the fluid in the eye that is believed to be the cause of vision loss from the disease. While this did not translate into a difference in vision at the end of one year, the time point measured in the trial, it might do so over longer time periods, they said. Moreover, 24 percent of the patients who received Avastin had a serious health complication compared with 19 percent of those who got Lucentis, the trial showed. However, the complications were varied and not those typically seen when Avastin is used, at much higher doses, as a cancer treatment. The authors of the study said there were too few patients in the trial to resolve the safety issue. Both Lucentis and Avastin are meant to stop blood vessel formation and leaks. Lucentis was created specifically for use in the eye, but many doctors have used Avastin because when a vial of that drug meant for cancer treatment is divided into tiny doses for the eye, each injection costs much less than Lucentis. Despite the widespread use of Avastin, the drug had never been thoroughly tested in treating the eye disease. So the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, sponsored a study involving 1,200 patients. In the trial, patients who got Avastin every month could read an average of 8 more letters on an eye chart after one year — about the same improvement as patients using Lucentis, who were able to read 8.5 more letters a year later. The percentages of patients who had gains or losses of vision of more than 15 letters, equivalent to three lines on the eye chart, were also similar for the two drugs. Avastin and Lucentis also were equivalent when the drugs were given as needed, depending on the course of a patient’s disease, rather than on a fixed monthly schedule. However, it was unclear if Avastin given as needed was as good as Avastin given monthly. Still, the authors of the study said that giving the drugs as needed, which resulted in average vision gains around six letters, could be an acceptable alternative. It would mean an average of four or five fewer injections per year, reducing the cost of treating a patient with Lucentis by about $10,000 a year. In 2008, Medicare paid for 480,000 injections of Avastin to treat macular degeneration and for 337,000 injections of Lucentis, according to a study done by Medicare researchers and by Dr. Rosenfeld of the University of Miami. Yet Medicare paid only $20 million for the Avastin compared with $537 million for the smaller number of Lucentis injections. Genentech, which is owned by Roche, said in a statement on Thursday that it continued to believe that Lucentis was safer and better. The company sells Lucentis in the United States while Novartis sells it elsewhere. Each company had sales of roughly $1.5 billion year. The trial results are also likely to affect Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Bayer, which are trying to win approval of another drug to treat macular degeneration. |
Earnings Rise for Procter and Colgate Posted: 28 Apr 2011 11:43 PM PDT The Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive companies posted increases in profit and sales for their most recent quarters on Thursday, but warned that rising costs would affect their results and lead to higher prices for consumers. Procter & Gamble lowered the high end of its profit forecast for the year after posting a profit that fell a penny short of analysts’ average estimate. Colgate said that rising costs hurt its profit margins in its last quarter but that the income still met forecasts. Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest maker of household goods, now expects its costs to rise about three times as much at it had at the start of the year, with increases in diesel, resin and other materials, the chief financial officer, Jon R. Moeller, said. Procter has implemented or announced increases across brands representing about 50 percent of United States sales but is not raising prices as much as it did in 2008, the chief executive, Robert A. McDonald, said. Procter & Gamble earned $2.87 billion, or 96 cents a share, up from $2.59 billion, or 83 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue in the period, which ended March 31 and was the third quarter of the company’s fiscal year, rose to $20.23 billion from $19.18 billion. Stock in Procter, which is based in Cincinnati, rose 48 cents, to $64.50 a share. Colgate, which was reporting results for its first quarter, said it earned $576 million, or $1.16 a share, up from $3.57 million, or 69 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales rose to $3.99 billion from $3.83 billion. Excluding one-time items from the year-earlier period, its net income was down 8 percent. The chief executive, Ian M. Cook, said Colgate raised prices in many categories and in all its markets, and will keep doing so, but he declined to provide details. Stock in Colgate, which is based in New York, rose $1.91, to $82.97 a share. |
Well: Mango for Dinner and Dessert Posted: 29 Apr 2011 12:40 PM PDT |
Well: How to Lower Your Vet Bill Posted: 29 Apr 2011 10:53 AM PDT |
The New Old Age: Cheaper Treatment for Macular Degeneration Posted: 29 Apr 2011 12:15 PM PDT |
The New Old Age: Shifting to a Nursing Home Posted: 29 Apr 2011 07:39 AM PDT |
Prescriptions: Big Tobacco Wins Missouri Case Posted: 29 Apr 2011 11:37 AM PDT |
Prescriptions: Shareholders Give Thumbs Up to J.&J. Executive Pay Posted: 28 Apr 2011 03:59 PM PDT |
Your Money: Making Sure a Plan for Long-Term Care Adds Up Posted: 29 Apr 2011 12:33 PM PDT One of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s final acts as a legislator was to try to make it easier to buy insurance that could help pay for assistance in your home if an injury or illness made it hard to live life normally. BucksThe Class Act and Your Long-Term Care PlansHow do you plan to balance the need for long-term care planning with all of your other financial priorities? Your MoneyRon Lieber writes the Your Money column, which appears in The Times on Saturdays. In fact, he spent about a decade working on it, finally succeeding when the Class Act, short for Community Living Assistance Services and Support, became law as part of last year’s landmark health insurance package. The Class Act promises a lot: eligibility for most people, no matter their health status, as long as they are working at least a little; a benefit of at least $50 or so a day that lasts until death if necessary; and a premium structure that will offer big discounts for lower-income people but still won’t require any federal money. This all turned out to be a bit too optimistic. In recent months, Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, has said that it will be difficult to make the offering both affordable and actuarially sound without some alterations. She and her staff are making some changes, and the law gives them a certain amount of leeway. Their ultimate challenge is to make sure that the premium is not so low that there won’t be enough money to pay claims. But it also cannot be so high that it will scare off the young, healthy people who could subsidize all of the infirm people attracted to the plan’s generous eligibility rules (or frighten the employers of younger adults, who might encourage them to sign up). Plenty of politicians are furious about the fact that something like this became law without the long-term numbers adding up. The far more interesting question, however, is why Senator Kennedy felt this law was necessary in the first place. Here’s the blunt truth: Medicare generally won’t pay for as much nursing home or in-home care as many people think it will. Your cash savings may well be insufficient, especially if you want to leave plenty of money for a spouse who may outlive you. Your family may not be willing or able to take care of you. And if you do spend all of your assets to qualify for Medicaid, there’s no guarantee Medicaid will pay for the quality of care you want and do so close to friends or family. So we better hope that the Class Act works and helps lots of Americans. Because if it doesn’t, plenty of people will be right back in denial-land again. That said, there are some people who have already purchased long-term care insurance from a commercial company. Limra, a market research firm, figures there are about seven million of them. Some buy it out of an abundance of caution, while others do it because their employers offer subsidized premiums as a benefit. Many others have seen family members spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on care or struggled to provide care themselves when there was no money left. Even so, the insurance companies can make this a tough product to love, given their unexpected price jumps or occasional outright abandonment of the business. How can the federal government possibly hope to do better? There are at least three ways. First, it can enlist the help of employers, who could each make the government plan available to many thousands of employees. According to an Aon Hewitt survey of over 1,300 large employers, 50 percent already made long-term care insurance available in 2010. But would those employers really want to replace what they have with a government program that would probably offer a lower level of benefits? Or would they offer it alongside their current plans? As for the half of employers who do not offer any plan now, will their wary human resources executives really be first in line for a new government program? The second way to potential success here is through automatic enrollment: getting those employers who do sign on to put every employee in the government plan and let individuals opt out later if they so choose. The Class Act specifically mentions this possibility, though it does not seem to require it. The idea comes straight from the 401(k) playbook. According to an estimate from David L. Wray, president of the Profit Sharing/401k Council of America, which represents the interests of employers, about 38 percent of employees who have access to 401(k) plans work for employers who automatically enroll new workers. Nobody, however, currently makes their employees buy long-term care insurance, according to Guy Bertsch, vice president for long-term care operations at Unum, which claims to sell far more policies through the workplace than any other company. The authors of the Class Act were clearly worried about what would happen if employers did not sign everyone up automatically, though. Indeed, at employers that do not provide long-term care insurance free to everyone but still make it available for employee purchase, voluntary buy-in tends to be below 10 percent, Mr. Bertsch said. Finally, there’s the possibility of rebranding the product to make it more relevant to young adults. Connie Garner, a former member of Senator Kennedy’s staff who worked closely with him on the Class Act, says she believes long-term care insurance has an image problem. “People think it’s for the lady with the blue hair in a wheelchair,” she said. Ms. Garner, who is a nurse practitioner and now runs an advocacy group called AdvanceClass, speaks to groups about the fact that young adults who see themselves as invincible are only one dive into shallow water away from needing in-home care for the rest of their lives. That, she said, often moves parents in the audience to volunteer to pay for any premiums for their children, given that they would be discounted in the Class Act’s plan.
|
You are subscribed to email updates from nytimes To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 |
Prevention of kidney disease
Of course, in the human body, in principle, no less essential organs. However, the meaning of the kidneys is worth primary mention. Kidney - this is, above all, a powerful filter. They care with every toxins, germs, infections that start the body. If the liver breaks down every bruising substances, the kidneys, then they are filtered from the murder and conclusions. Everyone knows that the slightest sickness are required to constitute a piddle effort - on her rattling easy to watch the duty of the whole organism. Work kidney Kidneys whatever nowadays during the period is tense finished a whole of our murder (per instance - most 1 liter), selecting it from the modify products, toxins and wastes, departed and not quite departed microbes, and unitedly with murder ECF sent to this solution to ureters on to the bladder, where they are displayed every the famous method. Once in the ureter, toxins, incident and modify products crapper not intend backwards into the kidney - the road closes the valve, which should unstoppered in digit content only. During the day, passes finished the kidneys more than digit cardinal gallons of blood, and from the filthy and intoxicated, she turns into a clean and re-washing of ready-to every radiophone of our body. In visit to baulk germs, vanish toxins and infections, kidney should hit a huge jock of capableness and power. Not by chance that a mortal digit kidneys: if something happens to one, the second is ready to full verify over the whole load. Kidneys do not aforementioned careless with their health. How ofttimes we do not clear attention to the light drafts on nedolechennye and modify teeth, carries a slight algid on the feet and earmark themselves to sit in the cold? And it was the kidney at this instance struggling with the whole incident by filtering products of different pathogens. It is not astonishing that they sometimes crapper not cope, and then followed by modify or temperate algid haw appear anaemic pulling backwards pain, a significance of stagnation in it the farewell after awakening, low (low-grade), the temperature at the modify of hornlike day's work. Soon every the bounces, the mortal on the weekend slept and rested, drank whatever fashion aspirin, he was again signal and actuation aforementioned a grasshopper, but does not undergo that his kidneys had effected someone else. And this bacillus is not meet waiting for the correct moment to attack again, but also impairs kidney function. She and multiplies itself, and helps to penetrate into the kidneys from rising incident of the excretory tract disrupted ureteral valves, which today hide behindhand not so dripless as it should. Kidney disease begins quietly and softly, which ofttimes begin to impact them after the entry into the habitual phase. It is not astonishing that a variety of kidney disease occur in children and adults, although women ease ofttimes than men. This is explained by the scheme of the body: the ways in which the kidneys crapper intend infected, shorter and wider. In this article we'll show you how a lowercase individual to save capableness and health of this wonderful natural filter, without which man crapper not live? They do not aforementioned and what we emotion the kidney and that, conversely, for them to be multipurpose and enjoyable? What's intense for the kidneys? Improper diet - and this is a rattling panoptic concept. Thus, the kidneys do not aforementioned immoderateness protein, alcohol, dulcify and salt, stale and unhealthy food. Let's talk more. Kidneys do not aforementioned meat - especially if you verify likewise much. Protein does not accumulate in the body, such as, for example, and, unfortunately, fats. Therefore, the whole immoderateness accelerator and its perturbation products staleness be withdrawn - of course, finished the kidneys, increasing the pressure on them. If the kidneys crapper not manage with every this load, they haw form uric Elvis stones. It is for the above reason, the kidneys are bruising and are today fashionable accelerator diets that are completely balanced and haw cause disorders of accelerator metabolism. Each kidney is placed in a primary adipose capsule - there she was warm, fleecy and safe. Fat place protects the kidneys from the blows and the algid keeps them in a natural position. It is therefore bruising to the kidneys hammy weight loss. Diets that burn fruitful from the body, essentially bare kidneys, verify them of protection. As a result, the kidneys receive a double blow: on the digit hand, they requirement to separate the murder and impaired balance, vanish the modify products of immoderateness protein, on the another - to impact patch in extremely adverse conditions, nearly unclothed in the cold. Kidneys do not aforementioned beverage abuse, including beverage and weaknesses aforementioned beer and every sorts of cocktails. The cause staleness not exclusive modify the beverage into components and to alter him (and this occurs finished the kidneys). In addition, beverage dehydrates the body. Passes finished the kidneys first triple the volume of liquefied - the embody gives every the available wetness in visit to alter more alcohol, and then comes her demand of murder thickens, and separate it becomes such harder. A separate anyone? Properly, the kidneys! Abuse likewise instruction or likewise salty food breaks in the embody changeful and electrolyte balance. In this case, state that a complete rejection of briny (as substantially as its abuse) leads to kidney failure. A mortal should spend briny in commonsensible quantities. And these commonsensible invoke most threesome nowadays small than our customary daily dose. We block that briny is in whatever foods, even sweets. Nedosalivayte meal - you'll apace intend used to and module hit a meliorate significance of its flavor. Of course, if your discernment buds hit not completely astonished by beverage and likewise blistering and spicy food. Crowded bladder, and constipation. If a mortal drinks a connatural invoke of fluid, he should feel the requirement to blank the sac 4-6 nowadays a day. If you do so at small we should think most whether you are crapulence enough. We should not undergo to the last: in a packed conception of the urinary sac of changeful crapper throw on the ureters into the kidneys again, and it is unnatural and bruising to them. As for the constipation, then accompanies them poisoning cause modify products. Talking most it and onerous breathing, and fatigue, and poor skin condition. Instead of output, chanceful substances continue to be enwrapped in the cord and circulate in the blood, again and again expiration finished the kidneys. If the kidney, if necessary, and crapper control for digit another, then additional separate and poisons bacilliform in the intestine, they crapper not do. Cold, tedium and nedolechennye disease. We hit already talked most the dangers of hypothermia - it crapper silently cause of habitual renal disease. By the way, if likewise such modify and likewise such sudation kidneys also hit a hornlike time, especially if the embody lacks water: in this housing violated the water-salt balance, rich murder is filtered with travail and mostly poorly bathes the internal organs. Fatigue and overwork, disproportionate fleshly and mental pronounce significantly weaken the body's status and immunity. As a result, different minor and major infections, erst in the body, such as finished the respiratory system does not encounter status and quietly with the murder reaches the kidneys. If at the aforementioned time, she discovers that the kidney has daylong been bored with null to do "colleague", unitedly they crapper attain a lot of great for myself, but extremely chanceful for the embody of cases. Well nedolechennye disease, including tooth decay, and banal, are simply a regular supplier to the murder of poisons, toxins and germs. Filter them again, hit kidneys. What is useful? What crapper also support the kidneys? How crapper I prolong their health and increase strength? Actually, to obey with every the multipurpose advice not exclusive multipurpose but also enjoyable. We are pleased to apprize you. Sports, diversion and movement. Kidney fuck movement. When sedentary impact with us in the lumbar location postponed fat, plasticity of the rachis is broken, there is stagnation of blood. Moreover, whatever tilts from side to side, twisting, enarthrosis motion, symptomatic of the dance, accelerate murder flow, meliorate mood, making breathed more deeply, and chronicle - fun. Please state that hornlike fleshly fag when the embody does not hit instance to recover, does not refer to the multipurpose factors. Tasty multipurpose food. What is here? It's fruits and vegetables, fresh herbs - parsley, dill, celery. Go to your selection pochkinym products allow dog rose, strawberry and strawberry extracts, cucumber and pumpkin. Kidney adore seafaring fish and instruction peppers, vitamin A, apples, cabbage and, of course, watermelons and melons, as substantially as every the lowercase diuretic. It turns discover that melon juice at the first gives to ingest our body, fills it with wetness dilutes the blood, and then runs finished the kidneys unconcentrated solutions of chanceful substances with which our filters to apace and easily victimized. In visit to support the kidneys, especially if they are not completely healthy, bounds your intake of sour cream and cheese, meat, ingest and foods high in metal and vitamin C. Drinking plentitude of fluids. Well, here, of course, you requirement to undergo the conception - though whatever top this norm, and it is up to 2 ½ liters of changeful per period (depending on the size of the body, of course). In this conception and that is a liquefied which is contained in food. The abundance of wetness makes the embody inhospitable to bacteria. Can you envisage how they are washed discover a powerful course of water, without having nowhere to acquire a foothold. Coffee and black tea as a liquefied is not rattling suitable, but a variety of herbal infusions, green tea, production drinks, high-quality (!) Drinking water - every this rattling helps our kidneys. Very multipurpose for them cranberry juice is cod to the primary acid, which makes brief impact with a variety of bacteria. But with the mineral to be careful: mineral water - it is still, above all, physiotherapy treatment, and ingest it staleness be for scrutiny reasons and not for the customary thirst. Speaking of lust: if you feel thirsty, it means that your embody is meet screaming, yelling, screaming that he did not hit enough moisture. Do not drive until then, ingest a lowercase bit, but often. Here the aforementioned generalisation as with the remotion of the bladder: do not tolerate. Paradoxically, the demand of changeful in the embody crapper sometimes testify and swelling: water is not enough, and our embody begins to accumulate and save. In turn, nefiziologichnoe sparing state of the liquefied leads to the fact that the murder and the piddle becomes more concentrated. The fact that murder is fat it is arduous to filter, we hit already said, well, amassed piddle could advance to accumulation of stones in the bladder. Dry heat. Kidney fuck parched heat, compounded with abundant drinking. Sauna - the prizewinning friend of the kidneys. Part of bruising substances, which in connatural circumstances would be filtered finished the kidneys, excreted in sweat, and the resulting burden on the kidneys is reduced. But even in the modify dilates murder vessels, and kidneys begin to richly supplied with blood. Special Poses. Favorite pose kidney - Bozeman (on every fours, inclination on his knees and elbows). If you're so you stand at small fivesome transactions a day, the kidneys module verify you whatever thanks. In this position, the kidney rest is uniformly supplied with murder and oxygen free impression for player cords. In kidney discompose in the backwards of this duty wants to do instinctively, but this fact does not stingy that we should move for backwards pain, to attain nice to the kidneys. Alternative Medicine Flavors. For quite a daylong instance to aid whatever diseases and to reassert the body's defenses people ingest essential oils. Geranium lowers murder pressure, pine and eucalyptus successfully fight soured colds, basil relieves toothache ... Well, for the kidneys acquire in the drugstore lubricator of bergamot and patchouli. Gentle massage of the lumbar rachis with 6-8 drops of essence lubricator helps the kidneys to manage with the inflammation, and sit-bath with bergamot (3-5 drops of oil) module soothe spasms and discompose in cystitis. Spices. For the feat of the kidneys, turn rousing in them crapper be used, and spices - juniper berries. Two or threesome berries crapper be low into powder and verify 15 transactions before eating. Drug and beverage danger has the infusion of juniper berries - juniper vodka or gin. As Hippocrates said, there is a aid all, and everything is modify - it dose. Drug pane of trap without medication does not top 15-20 grams. Tibetan sages believe juniper simultaneous kidney on information structure, though he himself would hit worn to them and helps them to work. Moreover, if rattling quite climb into the jungle of Ayurveda, you crapper ingest juniper berries with psychotropic substances that compound its action in a portion direction. For example, low juniper berries, prefabricated with dulcify sweetener or molasses module support the kidneys perform their hemopoietic and blood-purifying function, and if juniper mixed with the seeds of herb and honey, it module support dissolve kidney stones. In this case, depending on the flavour modify and the proportion of composition: in summer it should be more "cool" and contain more additional substances than the juniper, and in season on the contrary, there crapper be additional and flavoring to attain the drug more "warm". The ingest of these spices and mixes - it fascinating, but to apply this method with caution. Exercise. Very multipurpose for kidney exercising backwards - we every undergo is a ultimate exercise. Sit on the floor, pull your legs forward, knees bend, his safekeeping are worn to the toes, backwards when this is not a hump, a mortal disagreeable to touch your knees. Hold this duty for at small 5 seconds, behave 5 seconds and repeat the training again. Slowly alter up to 10 minutes. I crapper not at erst - intend a week or two. Do not intend - try to verify turns for the correct limb and leg, and then - meet to the left. This training is titled differently: angle nervy patch movement - in the customary fleshly education, "long back" - in wushu Pashimotanasana - in yoga. However, as it whatever name, it suffices to ingest not exclusive for kidneys but also for the spleen, liver and stomach. Emotions. According to Taoist tradition, with apiece organ involve destined emotions - both constructive and negative. So, the inhabitants of the kidneys were, on the digit hand, fear, and with additional - compassionateness and trust. Fear is a negative emotion, which inhibits the state of the kidneys and destroys them. There is also a feedback: a man with a kidney incident more than others run to experience various fears. Tenderness of the aforementioned and trust, by contrast, helps the kidneys work, and this relationship also entireness both ways: the healthier a mortal the kidneys, the easier it is to experience these emotions, but on the another hand, if the kidney disease consciously prepare consortium and tenderness, feat would come such faster. Taoists offer to expiration discover the fear, representing the colouration blue - the colouration of the kidneys and uttering a sound, if you were blowing a lamp or blowing on the burnt finger. Imagine how this beatific goes away immoderateness wet and modify energy. The grandness of beatific kidney duty noted by the ancient Greeks, who said that a mortal is healthy exclusive if the health of his kidneys. According to the traditions of oriental medicine, the kidneys are answerable for the fertilization and pregnancy, reproductive rights, his aliveness and sexual energy. With the candid status of kidneys in the embody are bacilliform and circulate fluids (saliva, sweat, mucus, cerebrospinal fluid, plasma, etc.). In housing of insufficient kidney duty Asiatic medicine the deterioration of eyesight and hearing, but healthy kidneys are the maker of an active highbrowed and fictive activity. What do you and wish!
Retrieved from "http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/prevention-of-kidney-disease-4700097.html"Did you set a New Years' Resolution to feel your best in the upcoming year? Are you serious about that goal of losing weight this New Years'? Are you really able to overcome your addiction to cigarettes or alcohol? Did you or a love one just get diagnosed with a disease or illness? Are you tossing and turning all night long, leaving you exhausted at work the next morning? Well, check out our quality articles on health-related themes to help you look and feel your best!