Is Your Doctor Ordering Needless Tests?

One new study suggests most doctors practice defensive medicine to protect against lawsuits
by: Tauren Dyson | from: AARP Bulletin | August 24, 2010


A new study looked at just that question and found that most physicians believe their peers do indeed order needless medical tests and procedures.

Why all the tests? Researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York found that 91 percent of 1,231 physicians surveyed said doctors order excessive tests for patients to protect themselves against malpractice suits, says Tara Bishop, M.D., coauthor of the study. The findings of the study were published in the June 28 issueof the Archives of Internal Medicine. And Bishop says they suggest one reason it is so hard to rein in the costs of health care.

“It’s really hard to quantify how much this problem costs the American health care system,” Bishop says. “One of the estimates is that it’s $60 billion a year, some argue that it is actually more than that.”

She noted that the potential threat of a malpractice lawsuit was a constant concern for the doctors she surveyed. According to the study, more than two malpractice claims are paid for every 100 physicians.

The study bolsters earlier research by the American Medical Association that found a sharp increase in the cost of potentially unnecessary cancer testing among Medicare patients between 1999 and 2006.http://www.aarp.org/health/doctors-hospitals/info-08-2010/health_discovery_is_your_doctor_ordering_needless_tests.html

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Losing your vision doesn't mean you have to put away the trowel

By Healthy Aging Admin Published 04/1/2009 Mental Wellness Unrated
Reward Your Senses by Gardening...even if you are visually impaired
Gardening for people who are blind or have low vision can be challenging, but it can also be satisfying. VisionAWARE.org is a free, not-for-profit online resource that can help them keep their gardens growing.
For the millions of Americans who have problems seeing, the idea of planting and tending to a garden may seem unrewarding. But losing your vision doesn't mean you have to put away the trowel. Maureen Duffy, M.S. CVRT and Editorial Director of VisionAWARE.org, explains that "gardens don't only have to be planted for their visual beauty ... they can be just as pleasing to the other senses, especially the sense of smell."

Duffy suggests choosing plants for more than just their appearance. Roses, lilacs, lavender, and gardenias are all excellent options for their aromatic qualities. Plants like mint and geraniums can be selected for their tactual assets.

VisionAWARE.org offers all sorts of gardening tips for people with vision loss including:

-- Planting in raised beds to help create solid boundaries
-- Using tools with brightly colored handles for easy spotting
-- Calling attention to garden stakes by securing old tennis balls to the tops
-- Marking newly planted areas with large print signs, decorative garden art or landscaping rocks

It is the goal of VisionAWARE.org that every web user, regardless of visual, auditory, or other physical impairment, has access to all information on the site. At VisionAWARE, you can learn how to adapt your computer to make it more accessible, including screen magnification, specialized browsers, and screen reading software.


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Antiaging protein also boosts learning and memory

Research in mice suggests additional role for sirtuins By Tina Hesman Saey Web edition : Monday, July 12th, 2010 Text Size
Aging and wisdom are supposed to go together, but it turns out that a molecule that prevents one may actually play a role in the other.

Researchers have discovered a new role for the famous antiaging protein SIRT1. It not only fends off aging, but also aids in learning and memory, a new study published online July 11 in Nature shows.

Sirtuins, a family of proteins that includes SIRT1, help to regulate gene activity and have been implicated in governing metabolism and many of the biological processes that lead to aging. In the new study, Li-Huei Tsai, a neuroscientist and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at MIT, finds that SIRT1 also plays a critical role in protecting learning and memory, at least in mice.

Tsai and her colleagues had an inkling that SIRT1 might play some role in the brain from earlier experiments showing that resveratrol, an activator of sirtuins, could help neurons survive a mouse version of Alzheimer’s disease. Resveratrol also improved the animals’ ability to learn and remember. Since resveratrol can act on all seven of the sirtuins found in mammals and also affects other biological processes (SN Online: 6/28/10), the researchers didn’t know what role, if any, SIRT1 played in the process.

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The Anti-Cancer Diet: Foods to Fight Cancer

Protect yourself from cancer by adding these anti-cancer foods to your diet.
By Eric Metcalf
Medically reviewed by Cynthia Haines, MD

An anti-cancer diet is an important strategy you can use to reduce your risk of cancer. The American Cancer Society recommends, for example, that you eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily and eat the right amount of food to stay at a healthy weight. In addition, researchers are finding that certain foods may be particularly useful in protecting you from cancer. Make room in your diet for the following foods and drinks to fight cancer.

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Active Lifestyles for People With Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence shouldn't keep you from activities you love. Learning bladder control and other techniques for preventing urine leakage can help calm your worries.

By Katherine Lee
Medically reviewed by Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH

Living with urinary incontinence, whether caused by an overactive bladder or compromised bladder control, can cause people to shy away from their favorite pastimes out of fear that they’ll have an accident. However, there are ways to handle your fears, lower your risk of involuntary urine leakage, and stay socially active.

Dealing With Emotional Effects of Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence can leave patients feeling a range of emotions, including embarrassment, distress, and helplessness. They may feel isolated and unable to participate in social activities.

One of the most effective ways to deal with emotions related to a condition is to see a doctor for an accurate diagnosis and treatment. However, many people with urinary incontinence ignore warning signs or postpone visiting their doctor. On average, people wait seven years before seeking help.

Continue reading http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-report/urinary-incontinence/active-lifestyles-with-urinary-incontinence.aspx

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Osteoporosis Awareness

Help Slow Bone Loss as You Age

Making a few easy lifestyle changes can help protect against bone loss as you get older. Find out about osteopenia, the first stage of bone loss, and how to keep your bones strong to lower your chances of developing more-serious osteoporosis. Avoiding carbonated drinks and engaging in weight-bearing exercises such as weight training and walking are two simple lifestyle changes that can help prevent osteoporosis. Learn how to slow bone loss. Continue reading at everyday health


Everyday Health



Verlia Caldwell, Pres.

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Stress of Caregiving Hurts Boomers’ Health, Jobs

‘Triple-decker-sandwich generation’ seeing higher rate of depression than earlier generation
By Cindy Chan
Epoch Times Staff


Related articles: World > North America


OTTAWA—Between caring for elderly parents, raising children, and looking after their own busy lives, baby boomers have a higher rate of depression than the previous generation, says an expert.

Dr. Richard Earle, managing director at the Canadian Institute of Stress, describes the world’s boomers as a “triple-decker-sandwich generation,” a term generally referring to those born during the approximately two-decades of strong employment and economic growth in the post-World War II era.

“What we’re noticing at the Canadian Institute of Stress and throughout the research literature is a significant rise in mood disorders, including depression, in that baby boomer age group, which is 46 to 64,” said Dr. Earle.

In Canada, about 10 percent of baby boomers are still raising children while looking after—or just beginning to look after—elderly parents, he said.

“Then it’s not just a sandwich generation—it’s a triple-decker sandwich because they’re looking after husband or wife and job and the rest of it.”

Research shows that as many as 4 in 10 boomers are experiencing an unusually high level of stress, which can lead to depression, Dr. Earle said.

About 32 percent say they’ve had to cancel travel plans, 34 percent have dropped personal hobbies and interests, and well over 70 percent say the balancing act is interfering with their ability to fulfill responsibilities at work.

There are emotional impacts as well—a feeling of not being able to find pleasure from things they used to enjoy, Dr. Earle explained, “and within that, not being able to concentrate, to focus on what they’re doing, making decisions, and certainly sleep disturbance.”

In Canada, boomers are defined as those born between 1947 and 1966. They number more than 8 million and make up about a quarter of the population.

Statistics on American boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, are almost identical, except that the United States has about 80 million baby boomers and they are reporting slightly higher impact on their jobs than Canadians due to stress from home, Dr. Earle said.

He noted that baby boomer issues and the increase in the rate of depression are much the same worldwide, including in such diverse places as Japan, the Middle East, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, India, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Everywhere, “the core of the problem is very similar”—juggling the demands of caring for parents and children are causing stress.

In particular, Japan has an extremely low birthrate and a significantly older average age than almost any other country, Dr. Earle said. “You have fewer younger people to take care of more older people.” Japan has also been dealing with the boomer depression issue longer than other countries.

As the first wave of boomers turns 65, their needs have been prompting services and research interest in every area from health and lifestyle to leisure and travel, from art and technology to financial services, and economic planning.

A recent study by the U.S.-based Hartford Financial Services Group, a major provider of employee-assistance programs, found that more than 80 percent of boomers report feeling moderate to high levels of stress from providing care or support to children, spouses, and/or parents.

Moreover, 46.6 percent said they felt worried about how caregiving is impacting their job, with 68 percent saying they missed work or left work early due to caregiving duties in the last six months.

University of Waterloo and Royal Bank of Canada launched a retirement research center last month, noted as the first collaborative approach of its kind between academic researchers and the financial services industry aimed at providing solutions and advice to boomers for retirement planning and living.

At last week’s 2010 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences held at Montreal’s Concordia University, University of Montreal professor Jacques Légaré presented a paper showing that aging boomers will have to either pay for their own care or find support from sources outside their immediate family circle.

Professor Légaré said that about 70 percent of elderly care currently comes from spouses or children. However, today’s boomers have fewer children to care for them. In addition, the rise in divorce, common-law unions, and blended families means that many boomers may not have a partner to rely on within a stable relationship as they age.

Meanwhile, average life expectancies are rising, putting further demands on society and boomers to create new support systems for tomorrow’s seniors.

The Canadian Institute of Stress is a charitable organization founded 30 years ago by Hungarian-Canadian Dr. Hans Selye, known as “the father of the stress field,” who published the world’s first scientific paper to identify and define stress in 1936.

The institute tracks trends in research literature and provides education to the public, health care professionals, and workplaces in Canada, and other countries on earlier detection of stress problems and methods for controlling stress.

“There are so many things that catch our attention, quite challenging, disturbing things happening in this world,” said Dr. Earle. “[But] the world will work out well to the extent that we look after ourselves and our families in a more informed way.”

He recommends that baby boomers “get refocused back on one’s own family situation and basically on ourselves—not in a selfish way, but in a self-maintaining way.” Continue reading at

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