Hi Everyone,
Here is a great new book by AK Doctor, Datis Kharrahzian: . "Do you take thyroid hormones yet still suffer from symptoms? If so, join millions of Americans who, despite normal test results, suffer low thyroid symptoms because they are mis-diagnosed or mismanaged. Treating the thyroid is often ineffective. Find the real culprit, and why it doesn't show up on a standard blood test." Read his blogs, watch his video and read his book. Congratulations to Dr. kharrahzian on the release of his book. Last week we featured another AK Doctor's book, Dr. Keith Maitland. Enjoy, Donald
1. Ipad for medical journals.
2. Comparative Effectiveness Research model may help AK studies
3. Dr. Repetto's new AK blog has just been posted
4. A new website AK page by Dr. Gangemi.
5. How your brain understands virtue.
6. Atlasprofilax is the new upper cervical community self help program franchise.
7. Olive oil is an anti inflammatory.
8. Eat more protein and reduce hip fractures
9. Young patients need more confidential care
10. Orange Juice is as good as Vit D
11. Yoga lowers blood pressure in German Study.
12. Heart problems are the most common cause of dizziness
13. Depression after having a baby can become chronic depression later.
14. Shocking your penis makes it work better.
15. Breast feeding works as well as formula to protect against infection.
16. Bottle fed babies eat more.
17. Early cannabis makes young adults go crazy
18. Asthma steriods prevent hardening of the arteries.
19. Self relaxation helps anal pain.
20. Other treatments help better than disc surgery
21. BMJ accepts case reports.
22. Fibromyalgia slideshow.
23. Movement disorders from stroke.
24. Tricks restaurants use to make you eat more.
25. 20 to 30% of your patients may not do what you say.
26. Cola/caffeine combination decreases sperm quality
27. Vit A for mothers improves lung function in offspring
28. Less money equals lower clinical performance.
29. Hot tea associated with throat cancer.
30. More happiness after 50
Perseverance and persistence
1. Ipad for medical journals. "And this is the joy of the iPad, as many people have said before me (not all of them paid by Apple)—that it has the potential to combine the best of print and online. For the BMJ this means being able to present a weekly bundle of content—which many of you say is more manageable than the continuous flowof content on the web—but with immediate links through to our daily updates and the archive. It also means that the creative effort we put into the print journal can find expression in digital form. Finally, the print BMJ is increasingly a selection for UK readers from a larger body of online information aimed at our growing international audience. Now the iPad offers the potential for a different weekly slice of content targeted at international readers. We can even include the ads."
2. Comparative Effectiveness Research model may help AK studies. Dr. Rosner discusses this topic: "The CER report from the Urban Institute3 provides a call to arms for us to redouble our efforts to support and get involved in research addressing chiropractic, nutrition, applied kinesiology and many other areas of practice with which our readership is most familiar. In forthcoming columns, I am looking forward to discussing this very topic in greater detail."
4. A new website AK page by Dr. Gangemi. "AK employs muscle testing with other standard methods of diagnosis. This is very important to understand as many people perform muscle testing, such as an “arm pull-down test” or other various modifications of muscle testing, to diagnose what may be going on with a person’s health. This type of muscle testing is a misused and oversimplified type of testing and is not AK. AK muscle testing is performed using many specific muscle tests to see a real-time sensory-motor (input-output) response, along with a thorough patient history, orthopedic and neurological testing, and often laboratory work, to get a thorough understanding of a person’s health problems and how to best deal with them. Muscle testing done alone or by an unskilled practitioner is no better than a psychic reading. AK is diagnostic; it is not a treatment procedure. A skilled AK doctor will employ various treatment methods such as chiropractic manipulation, cranial techniques, myofascial release or trigger point therapy, acupressure, nutritional or dietary changes/counseling, exercise therapies, emotional techniques, as well as other procedures to help the patient restore their health. The treatment is tailored to fit the patient based off the examination."
5. How your brain understands virtue. "Social emotions like admiration for another person’s virtue are often associated with a desire to be virtuous one’s self, and to engage in meaningful and socially relevant activities against any odds (Haidt & Seder, 2007). These emotions can profoundly inspire us, sometimes motivating our most significant life-course decisions. Yet despite the cognitive maturity and complexity of knowledge required to induce an emotion like admiration for virtue, our recent study of the brain and psychophysiological correlates of experiencing this emotion revealed significant involvement of low-level brain systems responsible for the feeling of the gut and the maintenance of basic life regulation (Immordino-Yang, McColl, Damasio, & Damasio, 2009). These findings contribute an interesting jumping-off point for reexamining the educational study of motivation states because they suggest that, contrary to current conceptions in educational research, nonconscious, low-level physiological processes related to survival and bodily sensation may be critical contributors to intrinsic motivation."
6. Atlasprofilax is the new upper cervical community self help program franchise. Just click the "next" button to find out how this Swiss therapist discovered how to use leg length checks and an activator to treat the neck. Chiropractic methods continue to be integrated and "rediscovered" by everyone else without credit to the founders. Amazing.
7. Olive oil is an anti inflammatory. "This study shows that intake of a breakfast based in virgin olive oil rich in phenol compounds is able to repress the in vivo expression of several pro-inflammatory genes, thereby switching the activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to a less deleterious inflammatory profile. These results provide at least a partial molecular basis for the reduced risk of cardiovascular disease observed in Mediterranean countries, where virgin olive oil represents the main source of dietary fat. Admittedly, other lifestyle factors are also likely to contribute to lowered risk of cardiovascular disease in this region."
8. Eat more protein and reduce hip fractures. "Seniors who consume a higher level of dietary protein are less likely to suffer hip fractures than seniors whose daily dietary protein intake is less, according to a new study by the Institute for Aging Research of Hebrew SeniorLife in Boston, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School."
9. Young patients need more confidential care. "Using the 2001-2004 Medical Expenditures Panel Survey, we examined rates of past-year adolescent time alone with a clinician by visit type, and among youths with a preventive visit, examined age, gender, and race/ethnicity differences. Youths with a preventive visit have higher rates of time alone; rates for these youths increase with age, are higher for males (42%) versus females (37%), and are lowest among Hispanics. Time alone rates are low, especially for younger females and Hispanic youths. Special efforts are needed to increase time alone in these populations. Copyright 2010 Society for Adolescent Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."
10. Orange Juice is as good as Vit D. "A glass of orange juice may not only help the vitamin pill go down. A new study suggests that fortified varieties can also help the body's vitamin D levels go up as effectively as the supplement itself. The finding could bring a welcome addition to a very short list of sources for vitamin D, which is thought to help fend off an array of health problems including brittle bones, diabetes, and cancer. "A lot of people don't drink milk," which has been fortified with vitamin D since the 1930s, "but they do drink OJ in the morning," the study's author, Dr. Michael Holick, of the Boston University School of Medicine."
11. Yoga lowers blood pressure in German Study. "An ambitious randomized trial testing two somewhat unconventional add-on components as part of an integrated cardiac-rehabilitation program in Germany has found that an individualized yoga program can produce large reductions in blood pressure on top of optimal medical therapy, even among patients who might never set foot in a yoga studio. The comparator therapy, progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), which is a more common component of cardiac-rehab programs in Germany, did not produce nearly the same degree of blood-pressure improvement, lead investigator for the study, Dr Wolfgang Mayer-Berger (Klinik Roderbirken der Deutschen Rentenversicherung, Germany), "
12. Heart problems are the most common cause of dizziness. "A new study shows that cardiovascular disease is the most common primary cause of dizziness in elderly patients seen by primary-care physicians [1]. Previous studies in secondary- and tertiary-care patients had suggested the most common cause of dizziness is dysfunction of the vestibular system in the inner ear that regulates balance."
13. Depression after having a baby can become chronic depression later. "Depression in "underserved" women of childbearing age is very common, with almost 20% of surveyed mothers of children 12 months or older continuing to experience moderate to severe symptoms of depression, according to the results of a study presented here at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2010 Annual Meeting."
14. Shocking your penis makes it work better. "Low-intensity extracorporeal shockwave therapy (LI-ESWT) can improve erectile function, according to a pilot study from Israel. Twice a week for 3 weeks, 20 middle-aged men with vasculogenic erectile dysfunction (ED) received LI-ESWT at 5 different sites on the penile shaft and crura. After a pause of 3 weeks, the cycle was repeated. A month after the end of treatment, all patients had significant improvement in International Index of Erectile Function ED domain scores, Dr. Yoram Vardi of Rambam Healthcare Campus, Haifa, and colleagues reported online April 16th in European Urology."
15. Breast feeding works as well as formula to protect against infection. "Results from a prospective multicenter study conducted at 7 centers throughout Western Europe, and presented here at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2010 Annual Meeting, indicate that European infants who were breast-fed during their first year of life experienced as many fever episodes, an indicator of infection, and respiratory infections as infants who were fed formula. When you look carefully at recent studies from Western countries, it becomes clear that the rate of infections is only marginally lower in breast-fed infants under good conditions. The low overall rate of infection, which can explain why we did not find effects at all, is new. Therefore, it contradicts the general belief, based on older studies, that breast-fed infants have fewer infections than formula-fed infants," study head Pieter J.J. Sauer, MD, professor of pediatrics at Beatrix Children's Hospital, University Medical Center, Groningen, the Netherlands, toldMedscape Pediatrics."
16. Bottle fed babies eat more. "Babies who are bottle-fed early on may consume more calories later in infancy than babies who are exclusively breastfed, a study published Monday suggests."
17. Early cannabis makes young adults go crazy. "Early-onset cannabis use appears to heighten the risk for psychosis-related outcomes in young adults, according to a study that used a sibling pair analysis."
18. Asthma steriods prevent hardening of the arteries. "Asthmatics who used inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) for at least two years had significantly less carotid atherosclerosis than non-asthmatic controls, Japanese researchers say."
19. Self relaxation helps anal pain. "Biofeedback is the most effective of these treatments, and EGS is somewhat effective. Only patients with tenderness on rectal examination benefit. The pathophysiology of LAS is similar to that of dyssynergic defecation. 2010 AGA Institute."
20. Other treatments help better than disc surgery. " Advice is less effective than microdiscectomy in the short term but equally effective in the long term for people who have LDHR. Moderate evidence favors stabilization exercises over no treatment, manipulation over sham manipulation, and the addition of mechanical traction to medication and electrotherapy. There was no difference among traction, laser, and ultrasound. Adverse events were associated with traction and ibuprofen. Additional high-quality trials would allow firmer conclusions regarding adverse effects and efficacy."
21. BMJ accepts case reports. "BMJ Case Reports delivers a focused, peer-reviewed, valuable collection of cases in all disciplines so that healthcare professionals, researchers and others can easily find clinically important information on common and rare conditions. This is the largest single collection of case reports online with more than 1500 articles from over 70 countries."
22. Fibromyalgia slideshow. "Fibromyalgia is an unfortunately common disease in the United States that frequently goes misdiagnosed for many years. It was considered a "wastebasket diagnosis" after the term had been coined in 1976, and it was not until 1987 when it was formally acknowledged by the American Medical Association as a true illness. Even with an increase in the awareness of fibromyalgia, patients typically suffer for many years before being properly diagnosed, and many times are exposed to needless, expensive, and invasive procedures or medications along the way."
23. Movement disorders from stroke. "Many different types of hyperkinetic and hypokinetic movement disorders have been reported after ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke. We searched the Medline database from 1966 to February 2008, retrieving 2942 articles from which 156 relevant case reports, case series and review articles were identified. The papers were then further reviewed and filtered and secondary references found. Here we review the different types of abnormal movements reported with anatomical correlation, epidemiology, treatment and prognosis. Post stroke movement disorders can present acutely or as a delayed sequel. They can be hyperkinetic (most commonly hemichorea-hemiballism) or hypokinetic (most commonly vascular parkinsonism). Most are caused by lesions in the basal ganglia or thalamus but can occur with strokes at many different locations in the motor circuit. Many are self limiting but treatment may be required for symptom control."
24. Tricks restaurants use to make you eat more. "Several studies have shown that people eat faster and leave sooner when loud music is playing -- so restaurants have been turning up the volume to increase flow-through.
And this isn't the only tactic restaurants use. Diners seated at tables in the middle of the room tend to be less comfortable and eat faster. The same holds true for uncomfortable chairs." Read the whole report here:
25. 20 to 30% of your patients may not do what you say. "Despite limitations, this study offers information on medication nonadherence and its related predictors. This can help providers tailor interventions to encourage patients to begin newly prescribed therapy and continue therapy. These efforts can help realize the potential of e-prescribing for improving the effectiveness and quality of prescription drug care and also reduce the cost of long-term adverse results of medication nonadherence."
26. Cola/caffeine combination decreases sperm quality. "High cola (>14 0.5-L bottles/week) and/or caffeine (>800 mg/day) intake was associated with reduced sperm concentration and total sperm count, although only significant for cola."
27. Vit A for mothers improves lung function in offspring. "In a chronically undernourished population, maternal repletion with vitamin A at recommended dietary levels before, during, and after pregnancy improved lung function in offspring. This public health benefit was apparent in the preadolescent years.
28. Less money equals lower clinical performance. "Policy makers and clinicians should be aware that removing facility directed financial incentives from clinical indicators may mean that performance levels decline."
29. Hot tea associated with throat cancer. "Drinking hot tea, a habit common in Golestan province, was strongly associated with a higher risk of oesophageal cancer."
30. More happiness after 50. " After age 50, daily stress and worry take a dive and happiness increases, according to an analysis of more than 340,000 adults questioned about the emotions they experienced "yesterday." The research, published online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that young adults experience negative emotions more frequently than those who are older. Negative emotions, such as stress and anger, are similar in that they consistently decline with age, but worry holds steady until around 50, when it drops sharply, the study shows."
Perseverance/Persistence
It takes time to build a corporate work of art. It takes time to build a life. And it takes time to develop and grow. So give yourself, your enterprise and your family the time they deserve and the time they require.
Americans are incredibly impatient. Someone once said that the shortest period of time in America is the time between when the light turns green and when you hear the first horn honk.
The twin killers of success are impatience and greed.
How long should you try? Until.
Some people plant in the spring and leave in the summer. If you’ve signed up for a season, see it through. You don’t have to stay forever, but at least stay until you see it through.
“In times of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” Oliver Wendall Holmes
Donald McDowall
DC, MAppSc, DNBCE, DIBAK, FACC