Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/SjzjE9Wa4X4

I’m not referring to the psychedelic variety of ‘shrooms.  We’re talking more pedestrian varieties.

A study from Singapore just published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease suggests that mushrooms may be magic after all.  They seem to play a role in preventing cognitive impairment that occurs with aging and after head injury.

The researchers studied and tested more than 600 Chinese seniors over a 6 year period.  They determined that consuming two portions of mushrooms on a consistent, weekly basis reduced the odds of developing mild cognitive impairment by half.

Now understand that we’re talking a fair amount of mushrooms.  To reproduce the study, you would have to eat a cup and a half of mushrooms, that’s about half a plate, twice weekly over months.  

The good news is you can use any edible variety mushroom including shittake, oyster, golden, or white button.  They may be canned or dried.   The investigators hypothesize that the active ingredient is ergothioneine which has both anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Mushrooms, not actually veggies but rather fungi, are likely not the magic dementia bullet we’d all love them to be.  They do taste great with vegetables and atop your occasional pizza slice or burger treat.  So why not pile them on regularly.

Lei Feng, Irwin Kee-Mun Cheah, Maisie Mei-Xi Ng, Jialiang Li, Sue Mei Chan, Su Lin Lim, Rathi Mahendran, Ee-Heok Kua, Barry Halliwell. The Association between Mushroom Consumption and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study in Singapore. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 2019; 1 DOI: 10.3233/JAD-180959

#mushrooms #dementia #cognitiveimpairment #ergothioneine

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/SjzjE9Wa4X4

I’m not referring to the psychedelic variety of ‘shrooms.  We’re talking more pedestrian varieties.

A study from Singapore just published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease suggests that mushrooms may be magic after all.  They seem to play a role in preventing cognitive impairment that occurs with aging and after head injury.

The researchers studied and tested more than 600 Chinese seniors over a 6 year period.  They determined that consuming two portions of mushrooms on a consistent, weekly basis reduced the odds of developing mild cognitive impairment by half.

Now understand that we’re talking a fair amount of mushrooms.  To reproduce the study, you would have to eat a cup and a half of mushrooms, that’s about half a plate, twice weekly over months.  

The good news is you can use any edible variety mushroom including shittake, oyster, golden, or white button.  They may be canned or dried.   The investigators hypothesize that the active ingredient is ergothioneine which has both anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Mushrooms, not actually veggies but rather fungi, are likely not the magic dementia bullet we’d all love them to be.  They do taste great with vegetables and atop your occasional pizza slice or burger treat.  So why not pile them on regularly.

Lei Feng, Irwin Kee-Mun Cheah, Maisie Mei-Xi Ng, Jialiang Li, Sue Mei Chan, Su Lin Lim, Rathi Mahendran, Ee-Heok Kua, Barry Halliwell. The Association between Mushroom Consumption and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study in Singapore. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 2019; 1 DOI: 10.3233/JAD-180959

#mushrooms #dementia #cognitiveimpairment #ergothioneine

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/qlbHRISO0no

Sit-stand desks, so-called SSDs, are no miracle.  This conclusion stems from a University of Pittsburgh meta-analysis of some 53 studies.

The Pitt bioengineers conclude that these convertible desks do drive less sitting, can improve back pain issues, may make their users somewhat more comfortable, and can lower your blood pressure a bit.  They will not help you lose weight, and their safe use requires attention to how you are positioned such as desk height, monitor height, posture, and use of an anti-fatigue mat on which to stand.

These devices aren’t cheap.  Prices range from the bare-bones model at $175 to the luxury liners with push button controls that run nearly $1000.  Before making a final purchase, you might like to try one out by purchasing from a merchant with liberal return policies.

April J. Chambers, Michelle M. Robertson, Nancy A. Baker. The effect of sit-stand desks on office worker behavioral and health outcomes: A scoping review. Applied Ergonomics, 2019; 78: 37 DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2019.01.015

#standingdesks #sittingstandingdesks #dieting #ergonomics #footmat

standingdesks, sittingstandingdesks, dieting, ergonomics, footmat

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/qlbHRISO0no

Sit-stand desks, so-called SSDs, are no miracle.  This conclusion stems from a University of Pittsburgh meta-analysis of some 53 studies.

The Pitt bioengineers conclude that these convertible desks do drive less sitting, can improve back pain issues, may make their users somewhat more comfortable, and can lower your blood pressure a bit.  They will not help you lose weight, and their safe use requires attention to how you are positioned such as desk height, monitor height, posture, and use of an anti-fatigue mat on which to stand.

These devices aren’t cheap.  Prices range from the bare-bones model at $175 to the luxury liners with push button controls that run nearly $1000.  Before making a final purchase, you might like to try one out by purchasing from a merchant with liberal return policies.

April J. Chambers, Michelle M. Robertson, Nancy A. Baker. The effect of sit-stand desks on office worker behavioral and health outcomes: A scoping review. Applied Ergonomics, 2019; 78: 37 DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2019.01.015

#standingdesks #sittingstandingdesks #dieting #ergonomics #footmat

standingdesks, sittingstandingdesks, dieting, ergonomics, footmat

Vidcast: ttps://youtu.be/S2QmyRj51jM

Wrapping a new pacemaker in an absorbable, antibiotic-soaked mesh before implantation can prevent a nasty infection later.  Cardiologists at Cleveland Clinic conducted and recently published the results of an international, multi-center study of the FDA approved Medtronic TYRX  (TRIKES) Absorbable Antibacterial Envelope.

The trial enrolled nearly 7,000 patients in 25 countries each receiving a pacemaker or a defibrillator.  Half of the subjects received the antibiotic wrapper in addition to the standard prophylactic oral antibiotics.  

The mesh wrappers, constructed to release the two antibiotics minocycline and rifampin over about a week, reduced the incidence of infection by 40%.  This included not only pocket infections occurring around the devices but also the incidence of endocarditis, a nasty infection of the heart’s internal lining.

If you or someone your know are a candidate for an implantable pacemaker or defibrillator, ask the cardiologist about gift wrapping your device in the Medtronic TYRX.

Khaldoun G. Tarakji, Suneet Mittal, Charles Kennergren, etal . Antibacterial Envelope to Prevent Cardiac Implantable Device Infection. New England Journal of Medicine, 2019; DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1901111

https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/healthcare-professionals/products/cardiac-rhythm/infection-control/tyrx-antibacterial-envelope.html

#pacemaker #defibrillator #antibacterial #mesh #envelope

Vidcast: ttps://youtu.be/S2QmyRj51jM

Wrapping a new pacemaker in an absorbable, antibiotic-soaked mesh before implantation can prevent a nasty infection later.  Cardiologists at Cleveland Clinic conducted and recently published the results of an international, multi-center study of the FDA approved Medtronic TYRX  (TRIKES) Absorbable Antibacterial Envelope.

The trial enrolled nearly 7,000 patients in 25 countries each receiving a pacemaker or a defibrillator.  Half of the subjects received the antibiotic wrapper in addition to the standard prophylactic oral antibiotics.  

The mesh wrappers, constructed to release the two antibiotics minocycline and rifampin over about a week, reduced the incidence of infection by 40%.  This included not only pocket infections occurring around the devices but also the incidence of endocarditis, a nasty infection of the heart’s internal lining.

If you or someone your know are a candidate for an implantable pacemaker or defibrillator, ask the cardiologist about gift wrapping your device in the Medtronic TYRX.

Khaldoun G. Tarakji, Suneet Mittal, Charles Kennergren, etal . Antibacterial Envelope to Prevent Cardiac Implantable Device Infection. New England Journal of Medicine, 2019; DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1901111

https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/healthcare-professionals/products/cardiac-rhythm/infection-control/tyrx-antibacterial-envelope.html

#pacemaker #defibrillator #antibacterial #mesh #envelope

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/mot6c4dB_fQ

If you’re struggling with balance problems due to an accident, an injury, or advancing age, that VR headset laying around the house or on the store shelf may just be the key to your recovery.  Balance specialists and physiotherapists at Sweden’s Lund University now report their results using a virtual reality environment to help subjects train their balance systems. 

Patients with chronic balance system issues often begin to rely almost exclusively on visual input to stabilize their stance.   By repeatedly practicing stabilizing themselves on a postural stability platform while immersed in a VR roller coaster ride, the 20 experimental subjects were able to deploy the non-visual balance sensors in their muscles, joints, and ears to better reach a state of balance equilibration.  

The average number of near fall events diminished 10-fold after 5 VR rides by the female subjects.  The males experienced fewer fall events overall but enjoyed a similar pattern of improvement.

The researchers speculate that VR technology could play a key role in the rehabilitation of both head injury and stroke victims.

Per-Anders Fransson, Mitesh Patel, Hanna Jensen, Michèle Lundberg, Fredrik Tjernström, Måns Magnusson, Eva Ekvall Hansson. Postural instability in an immersive Virtual Reality adapts with repetition and includes directional and gender specific effects. Scientific Reports, 2019; 9 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39104-6

#VR #virtualreality # vestibularsystem, dizzy #balance

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/mot6c4dB_fQ

If you’re struggling with balance problems due to an accident, an injury, or advancing age, that VR headset laying around the house or on the store shelf may just be the key to your recovery.  Balance specialists and physiotherapists at Sweden’s Lund University now report their results using a virtual reality environment to help subjects train their balance systems. 

Patients with chronic balance system issues often begin to rely almost exclusively on visual input to stabilize their stance.   By repeatedly practicing stabilizing themselves on a postural stability platform while immersed in a VR roller coaster ride, the 20 experimental subjects were able to deploy the non-visual balance sensors in their muscles, joints, and ears to better reach a state of balance equilibration.  

The average number of near fall events diminished 10-fold after 5 VR rides by the female subjects.  The males experienced fewer fall events overall but enjoyed a similar pattern of improvement.

The researchers speculate that VR technology could play a key role in the rehabilitation of both head injury and stroke victims.

Per-Anders Fransson, Mitesh Patel, Hanna Jensen, Michèle Lundberg, Fredrik Tjernström, Måns Magnusson, Eva Ekvall Hansson. Postural instability in an immersive Virtual Reality adapts with repetition and includes directional and gender specific effects. Scientific Reports, 2019; 9 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39104-6

#VR #virtualreality # vestibularsystem, dizzy #balance

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/pZYPwtzQhJs

Is your smartphone the final authority on the best time to have sex?  Whether you want to get pregnant or avoid parenthood, the answer appears to be yes.  Georgetown University’s Institute for Reproductive Health studied one app that can help you, the DOT Fertility Tracker, in over 700 women 18 to 39 years of age for up to one year of use.  

They found that careful use of the app resulted in a 1% pregnancy rate.  That’s as good or better than most forms of contraception including the pill, vaginal rings, condoms, and certainly the traditional low tech rhythm method.

The app tracks a woman’s cycle and predicts the risk of pregnancy for each day of that cycle.  When a woman begins using the app, historical cycle data is applied.  As the app accumulates more personal data on her, it becomes far more accurate.

If a woman consistently avoids unprotected sex on the days the DOT app predicts as fertile, she has a very cost-effective method of family planning.   As you can tell, the method sadly precludes spontaneity.  For that, you’ll need one of the old standbys: the condom, the diaphragm, or the cervical cap.

Georgetown University Medical Center. "Fertility app 'Dot' found to be as effective as other family planning methods." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 March 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190318132556.htm.

#contraception #app #smartphone #pregnancy #cycle #menstrualcycle

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/pZYPwtzQhJs

Is your smartphone the final authority on the best time to have sex?  Whether you want to get pregnant or avoid parenthood, the answer appears to be yes.  Georgetown University’s Institute for Reproductive Health studied one app that can help you, the DOT Fertility Tracker, in over 700 women 18 to 39 years of age for up to one year of use.  

They found that careful use of the app resulted in a 1% pregnancy rate.  That’s as good or better than most forms of contraception including the pill, vaginal rings, condoms, and certainly the traditional low tech rhythm method.

The app tracks a woman’s cycle and predicts the risk of pregnancy for each day of that cycle.  When a woman begins using the app, historical cycle data is applied.  As the app accumulates more personal data on her, it becomes far more accurate.

If a woman consistently avoids unprotected sex on the days the DOT app predicts as fertile, she has a very cost-effective method of family planning.   As you can tell, the method sadly precludes spontaneity.  For that, you’ll need one of the old standbys: the condom, the diaphragm, or the cervical cap.

Georgetown University Medical Center. "Fertility app 'Dot' found to be as effective as other family planning methods." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 March 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190318132556.htm.

#contraception #app #smartphone #pregnancy #cycle #menstrualcycle