Tag Archives: group

Quit-smoking treatments safe, effective, review says

Popular smoking cessation treatments - such as nicotine replacements and antidepressants - improve people's chances of kicking the habit without much risk, according to a review of past research. “It seems very clear that medications can help. They're not the magic bullet but you do improve your chances of quitting - generally - if you try them. And as far as we can tell, they're safe to use,” said Kate Cahill, who led the study. Several reviews have looked at the effectiveness of smoking cessation treatments, but the researchers wanted to put those results into a single large review to help people who want to use medical treatments to stop smoking, Cahill, a senior researcher for the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group at the University of Oxford, UK, said. About one fifth of the U.S. and UK populations are current smokers, according to the researchers. Previous studies have found between 70 percent and 75 percent want to quit, but only about 3 percent accomplish that every year. For the new study, the researchers pulled data from 12 reviews published by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international research organization that evaluates medical evidence. Those analyses, which were conducted between 2008 and 2012, included data from 267 studies of more than 101,000 smokers. The studies typically compared smokers trying to quit without the help of a smoking cessation treatment to smokers using nicotine replacement therapies, such as nicotine gum and patches, or prescription drugs. The medications include varenicline (marketed by Pfizer as Chantix or Champix) and bupropion (marketed by GlaxoSmithKline as Zyban or Wellbutrin, but available as a generic). The researchers found that the nicotine replacement therapies and the antidepressant bupropion led about eighteen people to successfully give up smoking for every 10 people who quit without treatments. Varenicline performed even better and led to about 28 people quitting for every 10 who did so without medication. What's more, Cahill and her colleagues found that lesser-known smoking cessation treatments were also effective. Those include the antidepressant nortriptyline and cytisine, a plant-derived supplement available in Eastern Europe. All of the treatments also appeared to be reasonably safe, according to the researchers who published their results on Thursday in The Cochrane Library. Previous reports have found that about 1 in every 1,000 people taking bupropion has a seizure, but the researchers found a lower rate of 1 in 1,500. Also, despite conflicting reports over the safety of varenicline, the researchers didn't find evidence that the drug increased the risk of neuropsychiatric or heart problems. Judith Prochaska, who researches tobacco treatment but was not involved in the new study, said not all smokers will use smoking cessation tools but it's important for them to know they're available. Nicotine replacement therapy is available over the counter in the U.S. and varenicline and bupropion are available with a prescription for about $4 per day - less than a pack of cigarettes, said Prochaska, associate professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center in California. “They have been shown to pretty much double the likelihood that somebody will quit,” she added. Cahill cautioned, however, that smoking cessation tools won't work for everyone, but “they certainly help some people.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/31/quit-smoking-treatments-safe-effective-review-says/

Stretching, meditation eases PTSD in nurses, study shows

Nurses deal with traumatic experiences on a daily basis – a factor which puts them at higher risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder diagnosed in over 7 million U.S. adults every year. Now, researchers have discovered a simple solution to help nurses, and others with PTSD, cope with their disease: just one hour of stretching and meditation every week. In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, lead study author Sang H. Kim, of the National Institutes of Health, studied a group of 22 nurses experiencing PTSD symptoms. He chose to focus his research on nurses, in part, because his mother was a nurse. “(My mother) always used to tell me nurses need to not only take care of others – they need to take care of themselves, too,” Kim said. At the beginning of the study, Kim assessed the nurses’ PTSD symptoms using the PCL-C: PTSD checklist – civilian version, a questionnaire commonly used to diagnose PTSD. He also took blood samples from each nurse in order to analyze their levels of the stress hormone cortisol.   When people experience PTSD, their cortisol levels dip below normal – the opposite of what usually happens when people get stressed. Kim wanted to see if a meditation and stretching regimen would be able to help normalize cortisol levels. “My question was if we can reverse this, can we reverse PTSD symptoms?” Kim said. Half of the group of nurses participated in a 60-minute mind-body class once a week. The class was taught by Kim, who holds a doctorate in exercise science, and has 40 years of experience as a martial artist. During each session, the women performed meditation, stretching, balancing and deep-breathing exercising. “(It was) similar to yoga or tai chi or chi gong types of movement, but I simplified it in a way that they could do it anywhere, anytime and in any amount of time,” Kim said. “Nurses are always in demand so they sometimes only have one minute or 30 seconds.” After eight weeks of participating in the once-weekly class, the nurses experienced a 41 percent decrease in PTSD symptoms and a 67 percent increase in cortisol levels in the blood. Kim said that researchers only expected to see up to a 20 percent decrease in PTSD symptoms and were surprised – and impressed – by their results. “What we found is simple, but profound – only eight weeks of meditation relieved PTSD symptoms and normalized stress hormone levels,” Kim said.   The nurses who participated in the mind-body classes also experienced a reduction in PTSD symptoms such as flashbacks or emotional detachment – and they were able to  resume hobbies and improve their overall quality of life, according to Kim. “About four weeks in, many told me… ‘I sleep better these days and get less angry in my work and I now know if something comes up I can breathe, go to the bathroom, close the door and do this movement for one minute and come out and feel better,’” Kim said. The other half of the women in Kim’s study did not participate in the mind-body class. Comparatively, they experienced only a 4 percent decrease in PTSD symptoms and a 17 percent improvement in blood-cortisol levels during the same period of time. “The conclusion here is that mind-body practices like yoga or tai chi or chi gong - people think these things are hokey but…they are working,” Kim said. “(They are a) very effective and low-cost (way) for reducing stress even in people who suffer chronically high levels of stress, like PTSD patients.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/30/stretching-meditation-eases-ptsd-in-nurses-study-shows/

African-Americans experience longer delays between diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer

To see if there is a difference in the time from cancer diagnosis to initiation of treatment for African American men compared with Caucasian men with prostate cancer, Ronald Chen, MD, MPH, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his colleagues analyzed data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare registry, which links cancer diagnosis data to a master file of Medicare records. Their analysis included 2,506 African American and 21,454 Caucasian patients diagnosed with early (non-metastatic) prostate cancer from 2004 to 2007 and treated within 12 months of diagnosis…

Dealing with mean girls — and boys — in the workplace

Though most mean girls and tough boys of middle and high school grow out of their sophomoric behaviors, some cling to them well beyond college and into adulthood. That means you may encounter this behavior in the workplace. Author Meredith Fuller, a psychologist in Australia, interviewed over 200 women about mean girls in the workplace for her book, Working with Bitches. She discovered that certain personality “types” can make the lives of their coworkers miserable just as they did back in school. Grown women may feel some of the similar inhibitions they felt as teenagers when dealing with these difficult personalities in the workplace. Here are some of the most difficult personality types and how to deal with them: The Excluder:  She barely acknowledges you, pretends you don’t exist, fails to include you in important meetings and doesn’t bother giving you important information. How to cope: Most women don’t like to be disliked or excluded from the group, but ask yourself if you really want to be this person’s friend anyway. There’s a good chance you don’t. Her cold shoulder may simply be pushing a button of an earlier school girl experience. But if you flip your perspective and don’t take it personally, you may enjoy not having the burden of having to interact with her. This could be tricky, though, if you need information or input from her, but removing your emotional response will definitely ease these interactions. “Work out alternative ways to gather data or whatever else you need to do your job properly,” writes Fuller. Don’t try to push or goad her into communicating with you. You’ll just get the same treatment in spades. Instead, be civil and respond in a measured, mature way. That will help to diminish her effect on you.   The Screamer:  He yells to intimidate, insult and get a reaction. Like Ari Gold of Entourage, he's tightly wound and barks instructions at full volume. He’s critical and thinks he’s the only one who can get the job done correctly. He wants you to drop everything and race after whatever he's demanding. He’s volatile, impulsive and throws insults around the office. How to cope:  A screamer can’t hear you when he’s in a rage. So wait until he’s done before attempting to respond to his accusations. He probably doesn’t even want a response, because screaming is a one-way conversation. Trying to argue will only escalate it. Once you’ve identified a screamer, you can brace yourself to some degree for his outbursts – though they may still take a toll on you. Look at your own response to screamers, which is often influenced by your own experiences growing up. Do you find it highly distressing? Do you find it amusing, like watching a child have a tantrum? Or can you keep an emotional distance

Money talks when it comes to weight loss

The secret to weight loss may be much simpler than anyone ever imagined – so simple, in fact, you may wonder why it hasn’t been thought of before? A study completed by Mayo Clinic researchers has discovered that money is the most effective motivator when it comes to weight loss. When conducting a comparison between study groups, one group was incentivized, the other was not. The results were overwhelming, with 62 percent of study participants from the incentivized group completing the study, compared to only 26 of the non-incentivized group. And, the incentivized group lost an average of 9.08 pounds versus 2.34 pounds in the other group. Financial incentives for weight loss began to gain popularity in January, as New Year’s resolutions to finally drop excess pounds began to dominate water cooler chatter in offices across the nation. A number of websites and wellness firms now offer individuals, as well as teams, the ability to place bets on their weight loss efforts, and some even offer additional tools to help you succeed. According to a report by the National Business Group on Health, teaming up with co-workers to whittle your middle is an effective way to lose weight.  The media lit up in the wake of New Year’s resolutions to discuss the increases in employer-incentivized weight loss competitions. Wellness consultant groups and websites, like DietBet.com and Healthywage.com, have helped tens of thousands of employees shed as much as 5 percent of their body weight in just three months – enough to make a significant  difference in certain health risk factors. The effectiveness of the program is in line with the Mayo Clinic study: money talks when it comes to weight loss. And inside the office, the team mentality only enhances success. Independent wellness firms work with employers to establish teams within the office and offer a grand prize (as much as $10,000 cash) for the winning team and smaller prizes for milestones along the way, as well as runner-up rewards. In an interview, an employee of a participating company told The Wall Street Journal that staying on track was easier because he feared letting down his team in the pursuit of $10,000. A fellow teammate responded, agreeing, “The last thing you want to do is catch the wrath of your team.” Independent firms offer complete programs, including private weigh-ins. Employees may participate on a voluntary basis and a small fee is often required, but the rewards – even if you don’t win the grand prize – often outweigh the fee. There is speculation, as with most diets, about maintaining your weight loss after the allure of the money has long passed. However, studies have shown that in team weight loss “competitions” like these, many times teammates continue to help each other stay on track. Physician-supervised weight loss is also a healthy way to not only achieve weight loss results for contests like these, but to ensure you maintain it. Your doctor can be a vital part of your weight management team and help you uncover strategies that will lead to long term weight loss success – long after you have pocketed your weight loss earnings. Click to learn more about the Mayo Clinic study. Dr. Jennifer Landa is Chief Medical Officer of BodyLogicMD, the nation's largest franchise of physicians specializing in bioidentical hormone therapy. Dr. Jen spent 10 years as a traditional OB-GYN, and then became board-certified in regenerative medicine, with an emphasis on bio-identical hormones, preventative medicine and nutrition. She is the author of “The Sex Drive Solution for Women.” & Learn more about her programs at www.jenlandamd.com.& source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/27/money-talks-when-it-comes-to-weight-loss/

Study details genes that control whether tumors adapt or die when faced with p53 activating drugs

"The gene p53 is one of the most commonly mutated cancer genes. Tumors turn it off and then they can avoid controls that should kill them. Fine: we have drugs that can reactivate p53. But the bad news is when we go into the clinic with these drugs, only maybe one in ten tumors actually dies. …

Women escorted from mall for wearing “F— CANCER” hats

Two sisters were escorted from a mall in King of Prussia, Pa., on Sunday because they were wearing hats reading “F--- CANCER” with the “C” in the expletive replaced by a pink breast cancer awareness ribbon, the Philadelphia Daily News reported. Zakia Clark, 29, and Tasha Clark, 27, said that they were wearing the shirts to honor their mother, Jackie Underwood, who had passed away on May 14 at the age of 51 after a battle with breast cancer. The women, both from Philadelphia, were at the King of Prussia Mall with a group of friends and relatives, shopping for a dress for Zakia’s daughter to wear to their mom’s funeral. After two-and-a-half hours of shopping, the women were approached by a security guard in the mall’s food court. Zakia told the Philadelphia Daily News that the guard approached them without a greeting and said, “‘Take your hats off.’” Zakia removed her hat, but Tasha – a former mall employee – asked to see something in writing. “He said, 'Since you don't want to take your hat off, you can leave my mall,'” Zakia told the Philadelphia Daily News. “He stood there while we ate and threatened to call the cops.” The women stated that seven more guards then approached them and escorted them to the mall office. “I was very embarrassed,” Zakia told the Philadelphia Daily News. “My daughter was so scared she was crying.” At the mall office, the women were met by a police officer who had been called by mall security. “The officer said, 'I find it offensive that you even have that hat that says 'F--- CANCER,' ” Zakia recalled. “He said, 'It's their mall, they want you out, you have to get out.'” The women were escorted out of the mall, and two security cars waited by the sisters’ car until they left. After the Philadelphia Daily News looked into the incident, Les Morris, a spokesman for Simon Property Group in Indianapolis, IN., which owns King of Prussia Mall, called Zakia to apologize. “Certainly this could have been handled in a much more empathic and sensitive manner,” Morris told the People Paper. “We're very sorry about her loss and wanted to apologize for the way her party was treated.” “I do think this is an entirely different situation than a 16-year-old kid with a swear word on his T-shirt cruising the mall,” Morris said. Click for more from the Philadelphia Daily News.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/22/women-escorted-from-mall-for-wearing-f-cancer-hats/

Low radiation scans help identify cancer in earliest stages

Results of the study will be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference. "Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death and has a poor survival rate," said Sue Yoon, nurse practitioner at VA Boston HealthCare West Roxbury Division. "Most of our veterans in these ages have a heavy smoking history and early screening is desirable to improve outcomes. Our study was undertaken to learn how often we would discover significant abnormalities and how to adapt our existing processes and interdisciplinary approaches to accommodate additional patients." Conducted according to guidelines set forth by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), the study was based in part on the results of the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial (NLST) which found that LDCT resulted in a 20 percent reduction of lung cancer mortality compared to chest x-ray among heavy smokers aged 55 to 74 years. …

Childhood ADHD tied to obesity decades later

Boys who are diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in elementary school are more likely to grow up to be obese adults than those who don't have the condition, a new study suggests. Researchers surveyed two groups of 41-year-old men and found those with a history of ADHD were 19 pounds heavier than their non-ADHD counterparts, on average. The findings are consistent with past studies that looked only at children or only at adults and linked ADHD to extra pounds, researchers said. “There's definitely been enough research now where it does appear there is some connection between these two disorders,” said Sherry Pagoto, who has studied ADHD and obesity at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. Data for the new study came from 207 white boys with ADHD who were referred to a research clinic at around age eight and followed as they grew up. Ten years later another group of teenage boys without ADHD, who were otherwise similar to the original participants, were added to the study. By the time they were asked to report their weight at age 41, 111 men from each group were still in the study. On that survey, men with a history of ADHD reported weighing 213 pounds, on average, and 41 percent of them were obese. In comparison, men without ADHD weighed in at an average of 194 pounds, and 22 percent qualified as obese, Dr. F. Xavier Castellanos from the Child Study Center at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York and his colleagues wrote in Pediatrics. “As we learn more about the regions of the brain that may be implicated in obesity, they overlap with brain regions implicated in ADHD,” Castellanos told Reuters Health. “The reward system seems to be relevant to both conditions.” In addition, he added, “There is the speculation that the obesity is at least partly reflecting some of the impulsivity, poor planning and the difficulty in making choices” that come with ADHD. Pagoto, who was not involved in the new research, agreed that young people with the disorder could be more impulsive when it comes to their food choices and may also spend more time in front of screens than their peers. “Parents of children who have ADHD should pay special attention to how that child's weight is changing over time, knowing that they may be at greater risk for becoming obese,” she told Reuters Health. “If they're at higher risk of obesity, that may bring other things with it,” such as type 2 diabetes, she added. Contrary to the study team's hypothesis, they found that men who no longer had their childhood ADHD symptoms were especially likely to be obese - not those who still had persistent attention and hyperactivity problems. Pagoto agreed that finding was unexpected and said the study may simply have been too small to tease out reliable differences among adults with a history of ADHD. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, parents report that close to one in ten kids and teenagers has been diagnosed with ADHD. Boys are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed as girls. Castellanos recommended parents of children with ADHD make sure their kids are getting enough exercise and help them cut back on sugary drinks and other high-calorie food choices.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/20/childhood-adhd-tied-to-obesity-decades-later/

New fitness centers cater to aging baby boomers

Baby boomers, the generation that vowed to stay forever young, are getting older, designing senior-friendly gyms and becoming their own personal trainers. In exercise havens for the over-50 set, the cardio machines are typically low impact, the resistance training is mainly air-powered and some group fitness classes are taken sitting down. At Welcyon gyms, founded by husband-and-wife boomers Suzy and Tom Boerboom, the average age of members is 62. “The environment is really designed for those 50 and over,” said Suzy Boerboom. The couple created Welcyon, which has locations in Minnesota and South Dakota, in 2009. It has no tread-mills and no free weights and workouts are customized to members' levels of fitness. A smart card sets resistance, counts repetitions and adjusts workouts. An important attraction for many boomers: background music is a combination of '40s, '50s and '60s tunes played at a much lower volume than in traditional gyms. “It was something I could manage,” said 66-year-old Bill Zortman, one of an estimated 78 million baby boomers, defined as the group born between 1946 and 1964, who make up about 26 percent of the U.S. population, according to U.S. Census reports. His thrice-weekly workouts at a Welcyon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, consists of riding a bicycle or using air-powered resistance machines to strengthen his legs, arms and back. “They make sure I'm not overdoing it,” Zortman said of the staff, who Boerboom said are often boomers themselves. The absence of clanging free weights also cuts down on the racket, Boerboom said, noting that many people over 50 prefer a quieter gym. Group fitness classes for boomers are also modified. “We're just beginning to develop a group fitness interval training program,” Boerboom said. “It will be four to six people and low impact.” The American Council on Exercise says many of their fitness professionals are baby boomers who specialize in working with older adults. “People in their early 60's are becoming personal trainers and group fitness instructors,” said Todd Galati, ACE's director of credentialing. But they are far from the majority, as the average age of ACE's 50,000 certified fitness professionals is 42, and more than 37 percent are 40. “Every year I talk to newly certified personal trainers, retired from their career in another field, who want to help people their age become more fit,” Galati said. A recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that a sample of baby boomers had higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol than their parents' generation. “There is a big bad myth about the boomer generation being more fit,” said Dr. Sheldon S. Zinberg, founder of Nifty after Fifty fitness centers for older adults. “In fact, the boomer generation is less fit than their parents were at same age.” The chain has locations in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Virginia and New York. Its programs target muscle power, muscle strength, reaction time, balance and cognitive skills, he said. “At age 40 people lose 0.8 to 1 percent muscle mass each year. By age 60 this accelerates to 1.5 percent,” Zinberg said. At Nifty after Fifty, group fitness classes range from yoga and Zumba to seated volleyball and cane fu, a self-defense class in which participants use a cane. As with Welcyon, there are no tread-mills. “We used to use tread-mills, but we had people falling off,” Zinberg said. “We use recumbent stair steppers, among other exercisers.” He advises people to get fit in their 40s and 50s, “and when you do become older, enjoy a supervised, customized program.” Boerboom said Welcyon plans to open more gyms later this year. “There are over 70 million of us boomers,” she said, “and we have to take care of ourselves.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/13/new-fitness-centers-cater-to-aging-baby-boomers/