Health and Disability

http://goo.gl/y3Vtbi

Results of the review revealed that the majority of exercise interventions appeared to reduce all injuries related to falls, and exercise seemed to significantly decrease the rate of falls that resulted in medical care, fractures and serious injuries.

The effect of exercise interventions appeared to be more prominent for severe fall-related injuries, the researchers note. They estimated the overall reduction to be 37% for all injurious falls, 43% for severe injurious falls and 61% for falls resulting in fractures.

The researchers emphasize that this study provides evidence that fall-prevention exercise programs for older adults reduces fall-related injuries, as well as the incidence of falls.

The only "community service" you get in a nursing home.

http://goo.gl/LUzHNq

More than one quarter of residents of 26 nursing homes in Orange County, California carry community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which spread more easily, and may cause more severe infection than MRSA traditionally associated with healthcare facilities, according to a paper published in the November 2013 issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

"Nursing homes need to be part of MRSA control strategies in healthcare facilities," says Lyndsey Hudson of Imperial College of London, the lead author on the study.

Community-associated MRSA are strains that did not originate in hospitals. Burden and transmission of MRSA in nursing homes are likely driven by the number of residents with chronic illnesses or indwelling devices according to the study, which is the first-ever to assess MRSA diversity in nursing homes at a population level and across a large region.

http://goo.gl/XD0Hk0

The research team based at Saarland University's medical campus in Homburg collaborated with scientists from Bonn, Finland and the Netherlands to examine how the sterols that we ingest influence the formation of these plaque proteins. It was found that one sterol in particular, stigmasterol, actually inhibited protein formation. "Stigmasterol has an effect on a variety of molecular processes: it lowers enzyme activity, it inhibits the formation of proteins implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease, and it alters the structure of the cell membrane," explained Dr Grimm. "Together, these effects synergistically reduce the production of beta-amyloid proteins." The research team has been able to confirm the positive effect of stigmasterol in tests on animals.

From Wikipedia:

Natural occurrences

Stigmasterol is an unsaturated plant sterol occurring in the plant fats or oils of soybean, calabar bean, and rape seed, and in a number of medicinal herbs, including the Chinese herbs Ophiopogon japonicus (Mai men dong), in Mirabilis jalapa^[2] andAmerican Ginseng.

Occurrences in food

Stigmasterol is also found in various vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and unpasteurized milk. Pasteurization will inactivate stigmasterol. Edible oils contains higher amount than vegetables.^[3] Phytosterols normally are broken down in the bile.

Great idea! Kaiser lets you use their health care and health insurance slides in your projects/presentations.

http://goo.gl/4OwFXh

Browse the Foundation’s key slides, charts, and presentations by keyword or by topic. Users may download an image or the original Powerpoint file.

http://goo.gl/HlFkCQ

Crowdsource your sneezing, aches and pains. Find out how many of you neighbors are suffering as well.

http://goo.gl/ndjE1K

The smallest part of our blood supply system is the capillaries which are tiny vessels that act as temperature regulators (among many other functions) and either conserve or release heat. Capillaries run throughout or bodies and are highly concentrated in our hands and feet. When damaged, capillaries are a serious issue for diabetics and now it has been discovered when the AV shunt is defective in function and interferes with capillary function, muscle and skin tissue cannot get proper nutrition or waste drawn away. Additionally, temperature regulation becomes an issue affecting nerve fibers.

The result is a build-up of lactic acid in muscle and deeper tissue affecting the muscular system and causes pain that can seem to ‘travel’ from areas of the body one day to the next and cause fatigue.

The sympathetic nervous system which uses the spinal cord for communication and the sensory fibers or nerve fibers that carry signals to the central nervous system, can have their communication disrupted by the results of AV shunt disorder and hypersensitized nerves send pain signals that can ‘travel’ as well. This explains why some selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as Cymbalta seem to help.

This recruiting of different types of skin nerves to transmit sensation also occurs with intense chronic pain.

http://goo.gl/QVXjCC

Researchers from the US and China say that as well as involving the usual suspects that transmit itch signals - "itch" nerve cells or neurons - chronic itching also utilizes pain neurons, intensifying the sensation of the itch.

http://goo.gl/G2VZ7Z

C3 Logix is a new, innovative concussion evaluation technology that provides on site data collection at the time of injury, to better aid physicians in diagnosis and treatment. The program is loaded into an iPad and before the season starts, athletes perform a series of neurocognitive tests. The program tracks the athlete’s visual reflexes and their ability to focus on moving objects. Results of these baseline tests can then be compared to data logged in incident reports at the time of suspected brain injury. 

http://goo.gl/jzdYz1

The Affordable Care Act has freed up $3 billion in grant money available to states looking to keep elderly and disabled individuals out of long-term care facilities.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Friday that New Hampshire will be the first state to receive a grant — worth $26.5 million over three years — under the ACA's Balancing Incentive program.

http://goo.gl/huk8J1

But a research team led by a trauma surgeon at Stanford (CA) University, found that elderly patients are often undertriaged, meaning they are not even taken to a trauma center, even though their injuries are severe enough to warrant being seen in those facilities.

"We're not sure why this is happening, but there is clearly a bias," said lead study author Kristan L. Staudenmayer, MD, MS, FACS, assistant professor of surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif. "They could be walking through the living room, trip, and fall. That [event] may not hurt a young person, but it can severely injure an elderly person, especially if that elderly person is frail and has a lot of other health conditions."

Without considering underlying health conditions, triage teams and first responders may underestimate how badly injured elderly patients are. "Even if we know they have heart disease or another condition, that's not sufficient to tell us how strong or weak they are," Dr. Staudenmayer adds. "I know plenty of people withdiabetes who look pretty healthy."