Tag Archives: stroke

Anti-Hypertensive Drugs Linked to Increased Risk of Hip Fracture

By Guest PostNovember 25, 2012Healthanti hypertensive drugs, chronic disease, data, debra butt, elderly canadian patients, elderly people, heart attack, high blood pressure, hip fracture, hypertension, risk, scarborough hospital, stroke

TORONTO, ON – Elderly people taking anti-hypertensive drugs are at a 43 per cent increased risk of having a hip fracture in the first 45 days of treatment, according to research conducted by family medicine Assistant Professor Dr. Debra Butt. A member of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto and a family physician affiliated with The Scarborough Hospital, Dr. Butt’s study was published on November 19, 2012 in Archives of Internal Medicine. The study examined data from health care administrative databases in Ontario, looking at records from 2000 to 2009 for community-dwelling hypertensive patients with a mean age of 80.8 years.

There are serious consequences to a hip fracture for the elderly. In the first year of a hip fracture there is a higher mortality rate than is seen for many chronic diseases. Those who recover often lose their independence due to reduced mobility, which can result in depression and overall decreased quality of life. (more…)

Medication Beliefs Strongly Affect Individuals’ Management of Chronic Diseases, MU Expert Says

By Guest PostOctober 21, 2012Healthalternative, basel, belgium, blood pressure, bottle cap, chronic condition, chronic disease, electronic, fabienne dobbels, heart disease, high, leuven, life, medication, medication regimen, missouri, objective feedback, patient, pill, pilot study, quality, risk, sabina de geest, salt consumption, shortened lifespan, side effect, stroke, switzerland, todd ruppar, treatment, university

Health practitioners should use behavior-change tactics so patients take medications as prescribed

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Nearly half of patients taking medications for chronic conditions do not strictly follow their prescribed medication regimens. Failure to use medications as directed increases patients’ risk for side effects, hospitalizations, reduced quality of life and shortened lifespans. Now, a University of Missouri gerontological nursing expert says patients’ poor adherence to prescribed medication regimens is connected to their beliefs about the necessity of prescriptions and concerns about long-term effects and dependency.

MU Assistant Professor Todd Ruppar found that patients’ beliefs about the causes of high blood pressure and the effectiveness of treatment alternatives significantly affected their likelihood of faithfully following prescribed medication regimens. In his pilot study, Ruppar focused on older patients’ adherence to medication treatments that control high blood pressure, a condition that affects nearly 70 million adults in the U.S. and can lead to heart disease and stroke. (more…)

Football Scores a Health Hat Trick for Hypertensive Men

By Guest PostOctober 15, 2012Healthblood pressure, body fat, british men, cardiovascular disease, control group, copenhagen, coronary artery, cycling, denmark, disease, exercise capacity, exeter, fat burning, fifa, gentofte university, gps, heart rate, high, hospital, hypertension, maximal, men, middle aged, mmhg, moderate hypertension, oxygen uptake, peter krustrup, peter riis hansen, physical exercise, playing football, risk, soccer, stroke, university

Playing football (soccer) could be the best way for people with high blood pressure, known as hypertension, to improve their fitness, normalise their blood pressure and reduce their risk of stroke, according to research published today (Monday 15 October 2012) in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

Research from Universities of Exeter and Copenhagen, and Gentofte University Hospital in Denmark suggests football training prevents cardiovascular disease in middle-aged men with hypertension and is more effective than healthy lifestyle advice currently prescribed by GPs.

After six months of football training, three out of four men in this study had blood pressure within the normal, healthy range. (more…)

Spirituality Correlates to Better Mental Health Regardless of Religion, Say MU Researchers

By Guest PostAugust 23, 2012Culture, Healthbelief, buddhists, cancer, catholics, christian monk, correlation, dan cohen, dong yoon, forgiveness, guy mccormack, Health, jesus christ, jews, laura schopp, mental health, muslims, Nirvana, personality trait, phenomena, positive, protestants, religion, spinal cord injury, spiritual belief, spiritual inclination, spirituality, stress, stroke, traumatic brain injury, university of missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Despite differences in rituals and beliefs among the world’s major religions, spirituality often enhances health regardless of a person’s faith, according to University of Missouri researchers. The MU researchers believe that health care providers could take advantage of this correlation between health – particularly mental health – and spirituality by tailoring treatments and rehabilitation programs to accommodate an individual’s spiritual inclinations.

“In many ways, the results of our study support the idea that spirituality functions as a personality trait,” said Dan Cohen, assistant teaching professor of religious studies at MU and one of the co-authors of the study. “With increased spirituality people reduce their sense of self and feel a greater sense of oneness and connectedness with the rest of the universe. What was interesting was that frequency of participation in religious activities or the perceived degree of congregational support was not found to be significant in the relationships between personality, spirituality, religion and health.” (more…)

Skin Patch Improves Attention Span in Stroke Patients

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2012Healthadhd, brain damage, drug rotigotine, hemi spatial neglect, masud husain, parkinsons disease, placebo treatment, receptors in brain, skin patch, stroke, stroke patient, ucl, university college london

Researchers at the UCL Institute of Neurology have found that giving the drug rotigotine as a skin patch can improve inattention in some stroke patients.

Hemi-spatial neglect, a severe and common form of inattention that can be caused by brain damage following a stroke, is one of the most debilitating symptoms, frequently preventing patients from living independently. When the right side of the brain has suffered damage, the patient may have little awareness of their left-hand side and have poor memory of objects that they have seen, leaving them inattentive and forgetful. Currently there are few treatment options. (more…)

Can Inflammation Predict Heart Disease and Stroke?

By Guest PostApril 7, 2012Healthanti inflammatory medication, asthma, blood clots, blood test, c reactive protein, cardiovascular disease, cholesterol, chronic inflammation, crp, disease, heart attack, heart disease, inflammation, protein, stroke

Can Inflammation Predict Heart Disease and Stroke?

Groundbreaking research may be able to help predict how likely it is that a person will have heart disease or a stroke in the future. Studies have linked inflammation to the risk of cardiovascular disease because of the association between the release of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and heart disease.

What is C-Reactive Protein (CRP)?

The National Institute of Health explains that CRP is a protein that is released when there is inflammation present in the body. The liver produces the protein and a blood test can be done to find out how much CRP is present in a person’s body.

What is inflammation?

John W. Kimball maintains a website describing in depth how inflammation develops in the body. Inflammation develops as a result of injury to the body. It can often be recognized by swelling and redness at the site of inflammation and may be accompanied by pain. Although inflammation often occurs on the surface of the skin, it can also occur internally. (more…)

A Bird’s Song May Teach Us About Human Speech Disorders

By Guest PostMarch 7, 2012Nature, Sciencearea x, austin hilliard, autism, basal ganglia, bat species, biostatistics, brain, cortex, disorder, dolphins, elephants, elizabeth fraley, England, flying and perching, foxp2, genes, genetic equivalent, human genetics, human stuttering, julie miller, language, male zebra finches, master gene, neuroscience, sexually mature, small bird, social network, song, songbird, speech, stephanie white, steve horvath, stroke, stuart wolpert, tissue, vocalization, zebra finch

*UCLA scientists identify 2,000 important genes*

Can the song of a small bird provide valuable insights into human stuttering and speech-related disorders and conditions, including autism and stroke? New research by UCLA life scientists and colleagues provides reason for optimism.

The scientists discovered that some 2,000 genes in a region of the male zebra finch’s brain known as “Area X” are significantly linked to singing. More than 1,500 genes in this region, a critical part of the bird’s song circuitry, are being reported for the first time. Previously, a group of scientists including the UCLA team had identified some 400 genes in Area X. All the genes’ levels of expression change when the bird sings. (more…)

Markerless Motion Capture Offers A New Angle On Tennis Injuries

By Guest PostJanuary 19, 2012Science, Sports3d volume, ajit chaudhari, alison sheets, baseball, characteristic spin, computer program, game, game like situation, geoffrey d abrams, injury, kick serve, marc safran, markerless motion capture, motion capture technology, ohio state university, orthopedic injuries, racquet, rehabilitation protocols, researchers, shoulder injury, stanford university, stroke, tennis ball, tennis injuries, tennis player, thomas p andriacchi, timothy hewitt, upper body, vertical center line

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new approach to motion capture technology is offering fresh insights into tennis injuries – and orthopedic injuries in general.

Researchers studied three types of tennis serves, and identified one in particular, called a “kick” serve, which creates the highest potential for shoulder injury. (more…)