Finding a treatment or a cure for Alzheimer’s disease is keeping researchers busy across the world. Unfortunately, they aren’t having a lot of success and the latest hopeful entry has turned out to be a bust.
Dimebon, a medication that was developed to help slow the progression of Alzheimers has failed in the latest round of testing of 598 patients with mild to moderate disease. The results shocked the researchers because an earlier, smaller 18-month study of the drug showed that there was improvement among the patients taking Dimebon.
The companies that collaborated on the production, Pfizer and Medivation, haven’t given up …read more

Shingles, herpes zoster, is a painful infection caused by the chicken pox virus. Only people who have had chicken pox earlier in life can develop shingles. The virus remains dormant in your body and, for some some people for some reason, it activates again and causes shingles.
The rash and pain of shingles follows along a nerve line along your body. The most common examples are along your face, up to your eye, from your midback around to your shoulder, or along your beltline from midback around to the front.
Last year, we wrote about having shingles could mean an increased risk …read more

The FDA is not supposed to be in the business of practicing medicine. Their role related to medicine is to approve or not approve medications, and to warn doctors of potential problems with certain types of drugs. Some doctors are now expressing concern about the latest recommendation from the FDA, calling for earlier discontinuation of certain asthma drugs. The doctors, experts in the field of treating asthma, are saying that this recommendation may be very risky for some patients. They expressed their concern at press meeting held at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) 2010 …read more

According to a study just published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, almost 30% of Americans have a condition called prediabetes, but up to 90% don’t even know it. And, among the almost 10% who do know, only half make it a point to improve their lifestyle habits, such as losing weight and/or exercising.
Researchers from the Division of Diabetes Translation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University, and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases surveyed 1,402 adults who had been diagnosed with prediabetes. They were each tested with a fasting plasma glucose …read more

Everyone who has walked into a doctor’s office or hospital has had their blood pressure taken at least once. The cuff that wraps around your arm is inflated to the point that it stops the superficial circulation to the arm, which then returns gradually as the cuff slowly deflates.
These blood pressure cuffs (sphygnomanometers) have been used for other things as well. In an emergency, a cuff can be pumped up around a unit of blood to push it into the patient’s vein more quickly. A cuff can be used around an arm (or leg) if you’ve been bitten by a …read more

Prescribing medications can be tricky for some physicians, depending on what their patient  has, how they want to treat it, and what is available for prescription. And, it’s particularly difficult if the condition they are trying to treat is either not responding to the traditional treatments or there really isn’t anything yet that has been developed for it. This is where off-label prescribing comes in.
The FDA

When the FDA approves a medication, it approves it for one or more specific conditions. It okays the dosage ranges, the frequency it can or should be taken, how long it can or should be …read more

An autopsy performed on actress Brittany Murphy, who died this past December at the age of 32 years, has revealed that the actress had acute pneumonia and had been taking cold and flu medications before her death. There were also pain medications in her system and she suffered from iron-deficiency pneumonia, perhaps caused by heavy menstrual periods. According to CNN, her death is being ruled an accident.
While we’ll never know how much Brittany took of what, her death is a strong reminder of the dangers of self-treatment on top of medical treatment and it also reminds us that pneumonia is …read more

OneTouch SureStep Test Strips (LifeScan): Recall
PRESS RELEASE

[Posted 02/26/2010] LifeScan and FDA notified healthcare professionals of a voluntary recall of eight lots of OneTouch SureStep Test Strips, used by people with diabetes to measure their blood glucose levels at home. The test strips are being recalled because they may provide falsely low glucose results when the glucose level is higher than 400 mg/dL.
If patients use the falsely low test results to determine their insulin dose, they may give themselves too little insulin, which could result in poor blood glucose control. High blood glucose must be recognized and treated promptly to avoid …read more

The Wii game system has developed a consumer base that defies convention when it comes to video games: older adults. When we think of video games, we usually either think of kids and teens, glued in front of their screens, playing their games, or young men spending hours playing on the computer. But the Wii game system has appealed to people who may not usually play these types of games.
It’s been published already that there are retirement communities and nursing homes that use the Wii system to help keep seniors active. Between bowling and other interactive games, the game encourages …read more

Fear of dentists seems to be universal. We all know people who are afraid to go see a dentist. Some people may have been traumatized while in a dentist’s chair earlier in life, some may have unknowingly developed their fear from the adults around them, or maybe they are just afraid.
No matter the reason, although they may be afraid and delay trips to the dentist, they most likely end up going to have the necessary procedures done. However, there are many who are so afraid that they never go to the dentist, despite the condition of their teeth and this …read more