Vidcast: https://youtu.be/Od7mpmZadsA

If you heard that you can avoid regular, breast squeezing mammography and still effectively screen for breast cancer using thermography, you heard incorrectly.  The FDA now repeats its warning that thermography, the use of an infrared camera to detect breast hot spots, cannot detect breast cancer at its earliest and most treatable stages.

The FDA has been taking regulatory action against imaging centers, providers, and equipment manufacturers who have been misleading patients by stating that thermography is a substitute for mammography.  It is definitely not! 

Over years, there has been a decline in breast cancer deaths,  That progress is in no small part due to the adoption of regular screening with mammography.  Don’t risk your life by believing that thermography will keep you safe.

https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm257499.htm

#breastCA #cancer #mammography #thermography

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: 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/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/vOOwAULCFfg

Statins, in widespread use for lowering cholesterol and right-sizing the proportions of so-called good and bad fats, HDL and LDL.   Statins such as atorvastatin (Lipitor), lovastatin (Mevacor), pravastatin (Pravachol), rosuvastatin (Crestor), and simvastatin (Zocor) will save lives but all too few take them regularly as prescribed.  

Utah cardiologists presented their study of nearly 5500 patients at this years spring scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology.  The good news revealed by the data is that those patients who took their statin medications at least 80% of the time enjoyed nearly a 50% reduction in risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke, or death from any cause.  The bad news is that only 6% of the patients took their statin medications regularly.  A whopping 94% couldn’t be bothered to take these lifesaving drugs.

That statistic is just crazy!  If you are prescribed medications for your heart, breathing, or cholesterol, consider them to be as vital as food and water.  Work out a system so you won’t forget to take them regularly as directed.

Intermountain Medical Center. "Taking statins for heart disease cuts risk in half, yet only 6 percent of patients taking as directed." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 March 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190318111952.htm.

#statins #heartattack #stroke #cholesterol

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/mIwQOTwREXY

A mother smoking before and during pregnancy increases the risk that her child will die unexpectedly during infancy.  Seattle Children’s Hospital pediatricians and the data jockeys at Microsoft Corporation collaborated to analyze the CDC’s infant death data covering almost 21 million births and close to 20,000 episodes of infant death.

The risk of unexpected infant death skyrocketed by a factor of nearly 2.5 times with any maternal cigarette smoking, even one cigarette a day, during pregnancy.  The chance that her infant might die increased by 7% for each cigarette from 1 to 20 per day.  Even mothers who smoked within 3 months before becoming pregnant and quit once pregnant had a 47% increased chance of an infant death.

This study adds the precision of huge numbers to previous investigations that have already associated maternal smoking with sudden infant death.  If you are even thinking about becoming pregnant, you and anyone with whom you live should stop smoking at least 3 months before you begin trying to conceive.

If you have smoked before or during pregnancy and even if you haven’t, once your child is born take extra precautions and diligently follow Sudden Unexpected Infant Death prevention recommendations. These include: using a bare crib without covers, pillows, or bumpers; positioning your baby on the back to prevent obstructed breathing; and never fall asleep with your baby in your bed or chair.

An infant death is one of the worst tragedies any parent can endure.  Know that prevention is within your power and act on that knowledge.

Tatiana M. Anderson, Juan M. Lavista Ferres, Shirley You Ren, Rachel Y. Moon, Richard D. Goldstein, Jan-Marino Ramirez, Edwin A. Mitchell. Maternal Smoking Before and During Pregnancy and the Risk of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death. Pediatrics, 2019; e20183325 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2018-3325

https://sids.org/what-is-sidssuid/reduce-the-risk/

#smoking #SIDS #SUID

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/KTnE7itSwwY

Sporadic over-consumption of alcohol during adolescent years leads to epigenetic alterations in the cells of brain tissue, and that modification forever damages later emotional stability.  Experiments proving this phenomenon from the University of Illinois-Chicago were just published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Using an adolescent rat model, the scientists showed that repeated, intense exposures to alcohol early in life led to overt anxiety later in the animals’ lifespans.  Neuroanatomic studies revealed that the binge drinking led to a significant reduction of a protein ARC in the amygdala.  This missing protein was associated with a 40% reduction in critical neuronal connections.  Worse yet, stopping drinking failed to correct the deficit.

The amygdala is the coordinating center for our emotions, and wiring problems in this zone will create emotional shortfalls including anxiety and depression.  This can lead to a closed loop and a downward spiral where the effects of early alcohol misuse can then lead to frank alcoholism later in life.

Evan J. Kyzar, Huaibo Zhang, Subhash C. Pandey. Adolescent Alcohol Exposure Epigenetically Suppresses Amygdala Arc Enhancer RNA Expression to Confer Adult Anxiety Susceptibility. Biological Psychiatry, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.12.021

#bingeing #alcoholism #adolescence #emotion #depression #anxiety

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/s4Lxva4O0Pk

Sleep deprivation will drive you to consume a wider variety of products.  Marketing researchers from the University of British Columbia’s business school draw this conclusion from several studies of buying patterns as a function of sleepiness.  

Their experiments included artificial situations such as choosing candy bars on more or less sleep and a look at the consumption patterns of some 60,000 American households whose occupants lost sleep with the shift to daylight savings time.  Their shopping is quantitated in the Nielsen consumer panel data set.  I guess Nielsen watches more than our TV viewing habits.

The results from the various experiments told similar stories.  We human consumers tend to crave variety when we’re tired.  It seems that the search for new products or a variety of the same product helps to stimulate our brains and keep us awake.  It’s shopping as the ultimate form of self-stimulation.

It’s not rocket science to conclude that the search for variety will ultimately lead to more consumption than is probably necessary.  If you want to avoid impulse buying and the ingestion of unwanted calories, avoiding supermarket expeditions and culinary adventures when you are half in the bag or completely exhausted.

Zhongqiang (Tak) Huang, Yitian (Sky) Liang, Charles B. Weinberg, Gerald J. Gorn. The Sleepy Consumer and Variety Seeking. Journal of Marketing Research, 2019; 002224371881133 DOI: 10.1177/0022243718811334

#shopping #dining #consumer #sleep #sleepdeprivation