Clipmarks | masbury's 'healthcare' clips

8 glasses a day? No way! says webMD

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 22:05:43 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: I've always thought that was bunk! If I need to drink so much, why do I have to run to the bathroom 6 times a day when I'm keeping hydrated?

Clip Source: www.webmd.com

Myth No. 1: We need to drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day

Researchers aren't sure where this familiar advice came from, but most agree there's very little solid scientific evidence to support it. The average adult loses only about 1 liter of water a day through sweating and other bodily processes -- the equivalent of only four 8-ounce glasses. We typically get that much water just in the foods we eat. Drinking an additional eight tall glasses of H₂0 is probably more fluid than most of us need.

Clip Source: www.flickr.com

Clip Source: www.webmd.com

Myth No. 2: Caffeinated beverages make you dehydrated

Not true.

Myth No. 3: By the time you feel thirsty, you're already becoming dehydrated

Maybe if you're an elite athlete running a marathon or a hotshot tennis player sweating in the noonday sun -- but not if you're going about your everyday activities.

Myth No. 4: Drinking plenty of water can help you lose weight

"Water sneaks right past without triggering satiety signals, the cues that tell your body when you're full," says nutritionist Barbara Rolls, author of Volumetrics.

Tags: water, myth, myths, health, healthcare, science

Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:09:21 GMT

clipped by: sam.reckoner

Clip Source: www.ft.com

Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned

The US government is on a ‘burning platform’ of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned.

Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government”.

“They need to make fiscal responsibility and inter-generational equity one of their top priorities. If they do, I think we have a chance to turn this around but if they don’t, I think the risk of a serious crisis rises considerably”.

Tags: politics, government, finance, economy

Strawberries can Whiten Your Teeth

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 02:36:20 GMT

clipped by: 2muchInfo
clipper's remarks: A natural way of brightening your smile

Clip Source: www.health.com

Whiten Your Teeth the Natural Way

The secret to this inexpensive home whitening method is malic acid, which acts as an astringent to remove surface discoloration. Combined with baking soda, strawberries become a natural tooth-cleanser, buffing away stains from coffee, red wine, and dark sodas. While it’s no replacement for a bleaching treatment at your dentist’s office, “this is a fast, cheap way to brighten your smile,” says Adina Carrel, DMD, a dentist in private practice at Manhattan Dental Arts in New York. “Be careful not to use this too often, though, as the acid could damage the enamel on your teeth.”

You need:
1 ripe strawberry
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions: Crush the strawberry to a pulp, then mix with the baking powder until blended. Use a soft toothbrush to spread the mixture onto your teeth. Leave on for 5 minutes, then brush thoroughly with toothpaste to remove the berry–baking powder mix. Rinse. (A little floss will help get rid of any strawberry seeds.) Carrel says you can apply once a week.

Tags: strawberries, malic acid, teeth whitening, natural, homeopathic tooth whitening, baking powder, healthcare, non-abrasive

Cartograms

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:36:18 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: I found this quite interesting...

Clip Source: www-personal.umich.edu

Here is an ordinary map of the world:

It's possible, however, and sometimes very useful, to redraw the map with the sizes of countries made bigger or smaller in order to represent something of interest. Such maps are called cartograms and can be an effective and natural way of portraying geographic or social data.

Here, for example, is a cartogram that shows the human population of the countries of the world:

Cartograms are most often used to show population data, but there is no reason why they need be limited to population. They can in principle be used to show almost any quantity. Here is a cartogram of the world in which the sizes of countries are proportional to Gross Domestic Product, which is a measure of how much wealth a country's economy generates, and hence, to an extent, of the wealth of the country's inhabitants:

Child mortality

People living with HIV/AIDS

Total spending on healthcare

Energy consumption (including oil)

Greenhouse gas emissions

Click on image for a larger version

Tags: maps, world, countries

Boy Dies from Toothache due to lack of healthcare

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:48:17 GMT

clipped by: veeqdee

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Maryland boy, 12, dies after bacteria from tooth spread to his brain

WASHINGTON - Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.

A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.

If his mother had been insured.

If his family had not lost its Medicaid.

If Medicaid dentists weren't so hard to find.

If his mother hadn't been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.

By the time Deamonte's own aching tooth got any attention, the bacteria from the abscess had spread to his brain, doctors said. After two operations and more than six weeks of hospital care, the Prince George's County boy died.

Deamonte's death and the ultimate cost of his care, which could total more than $250,000, underscore an often-overlooked concern in the debate over universal health coverage: dental care.

In spite of efforts to change the system, fewer than one in three children in Maryland's Medicaid program received any dental service at all in 2005

Tags: healthcare, death, toothache

Threat To Medicines From Plant Extinctions

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 09:56:55 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: The world's most widely-used cancer drug, is Paclitaxel, which is derived from the bark of several species of yew tree. Its complex chemical structure and biological function has so far made it impossible to produce artificially.
-----
80 per cent of the global population - rely on traditional plant-based medicine as their primary form of healthcare.
-----

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Threat to medicines from plant extinctions

Millions of lives could be at risk because the plants which provide the basis of more than half of all prescription drugs face extinction, a new report warns.

The loss of plants and trees which provide natural medicines could provoke a global healthcare crisis, says Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).

Potential cures for some of the world's deadliest diseases - including currently untreatable cancer - may be lost if the problem is not checked.

70 per cent of all newly-developed drugs in the United States

are derived from natural sources

human health is still overwhelmingly dependent on the plant kingdom.

in many cases it has proved impossible to reproduce the beneficial compounds found in plants.

loss of the world's medicinal plants may not always be at the forefront of the public consciousness, however it is not an overstatement to say

it could destabilise the future of global healthcare

millions of lives at risk.

Tags: health, nature, extinction, medicine

Wal-Mart "You Bastards"!!!!

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:01:34 GMT

clipped by: raven714
clipper's remarks: The company persuaded a federal district court judge and the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to award it the full amount, even though Shank's family had paid for the lawsuit. Nor did it matter that the settlement covered a fraction of her expenses and losses. Wal-Mart's healthcare plan clearly states that it gets first dibs on any money recovered by injured employees. Such provisions aren't uncommon in health plans, and Wal-Mart isn't the first to enforce one.

Doing what the law allows isn't the same as doing the right thing, however. The company made itself whole at the expense of a helpless former employee who will never be whole again. Instead of having some resources to improve her care, Shank will receive only the basic services afforded her by Medicaid and Social Security. Nor will the trust fund be in a position to reimburse Medicaid (i.e., taxpayers), which stood to collect any unspent money upon Shank's death.

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

As chronicled in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, Shank, a former overnight shelf-stocker for Wal-Mart in southeastern Missouri, was driving her minivan when she was broadsided by a semi and suffered permanent brain damage. Unable to walk without help, she lost the ability to care for herself or interact meaningfully with her family. Now 52, she lives in a nursing home.

Wal-Mart started out as one of the good guys in this story, paying almost $470,000 of her initial medical bills. But three years after Shank's husband sued and settled with the semi driver's employer, the retail giant changed hats. It demanded every penny back, plus interest and legal fees -- more, in fact, than the $417,477 the settlement had placed in a special-needs Medicaid trust fund for Shank's future healthcare expenses.

An Immoral Philosophy

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:04:48 GMT

clipped by: schreibe
clipper's remarks: More:
It must be about philosophy, because it surely isn't about cost. One of the plans Mr. Bush opposes, the one approved by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the Senate Finance Committee, would cost less over the next five years than we'll spend in Iraq in the next four months. And it would be fully paid for by an increase in tobacco taxes.

So what kind of philosophy says that it's O.K. to subsidize insurance companies, but not to provide health care to children?

So his philosophy says that the government must be prevented from solving problems, even if it can. In fact, the more good a proposed government program would do, the more fiercely it must be opposed.

denying basic health care to children whose parents lack the means to pay for it, simply because you're afraid that success in insuring children might put big government in a good light, is just morally wrong.

it seems, more basic decency in the hearts of Americans than is dreamt of in Mr. Bush's philosophy.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

An Immoral Philosophy

By Paul Krugman, The New York Times. Posted August 1, 2007.

What kind of philosophy says that it's O.K. to subsidize insurance companies, but not to provide health care to children?

When a child is enrolled in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (Schip), the positive results can be dramatic. For example, after asthmatic children are enrolled in Schip, the frequency of their attacks declines on average by 60 percent, and their likelihood of being hospitalized for the condition declines more than 70 percent.

Regular care, in other words, makes a big difference. That's why Congressional Democrats, with support from many Republicans, are trying to expand Schip

But President Bush says that access to care is no problem -- "After all, you just go to an emergency room" -- and, with the support of the Republican Congressional leadership, he's declared that he'll veto any Schip expansion on "philosophical" grounds.

Tags: bush, healthcare, politics

Is anyone surprised?

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 22:22:35 GMT

clipped by: cptenaud
clipper's remarks: Meanwhile, back at the homefront, soldiers and their families continue to bear the burden and suffering of the present conflicts, ALONE. Often, those who express their deepest concern and have the highest level of awareness, are NOT in a position of power to do anything about the present debacle, and the coming avalanche of human misery.

We veterans and families of military easily discuss our expereinces of betrayal we have with our governmental agencies and organizations. Yet we are somehow silent when we look at or sit next to our neighbor and fellow citizens. We accept our isolation and alienation as our fate as if we will always be misunderstood or disregarded misfits.

Clip Source: www.veteransforamerica.org

Is Anyone Surprised?

I find it difficult to understand why Bush and his threats to veto recent healthcare bills to aid impoverished children appears any more shocking, than his historically casual disregard for the troops and their care, both "over there" and upon their return.

We still do not have a government Executive Branch that cares about being "of the people" or "for the people" any more than global warming and other proven facts and issues which should be of grave concern to everybody. Maybe this is because the people did not elect this government, but money did. I gues you get what you pay for.

We have seen a Hurricane Katrina of failed Executive appointees, Executive complicity with corporate special interests, and lying agencies and leaders. American citizens by and large just go along their daily merry way, often oblivious to the harsh realities of our domestic and international political decline. Congress contributes little to either accountability or substantive action.

Tags: soldiers, talking

Do smokers deserve equal medical care?

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 17:05:52 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Do smokers deserve equal medical care?

Does a pack a day keep the doctor away? It could if you are a smoker in need of lung surgery. In 2006, a UK primary care trust announced that it would remove smokers from its surgery waiting lists to cut costs. Now, in the most recent issue of the BMJ, two medical ethicists debate whether or not this decision is ethical.

Matthew Peters of the Concord Repatriation General Hospital in Australia felt that denying smokers surgery is justified: “Smoking up to the time of any surgery increases cardiac and pulmonary complications, impairs tissue healing, and is associated with more infections and other complications at the surgical site.”

“It is also true that smoking is rarely the only risk factor for a poor out¬come, and smoking should not be considered to the exclusion of all others. Smoking is, however, unique in that its associated risk can be reduced substantially within a short period,” he adds in his piece.

But Leonard Glantz of the Boston University School of Public Health says that denying smokers healthcare because they have a stigmatized habit is outright mean. He says that we would then have to be prepared to deny medical attention to many other people with bad habits. “Do patients have a general obligation to get healthy as a condition of receiving treatment? Patients are not required to visit fitness clubs for eight weeks, lose 25 pounds, or take drugs to lower blood pressure before surgery.”

I think that this is a great ethical debate for the medical community. But I believe it’s an even better issue for smokers to discuss. Knowing that enjoying a cigarette before the operation could suck money out of the healthcare system – and thereby worsen someone else’s treatment – could make smoking before surgery a real drag.

Roxanne Khamsi, Online Reporter

Tags: smoking, health care, health, medicine, ethics

Medical Literacy: Read this or Die

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:47:19 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Literacy! what a concept..

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

What you don't know might kill you—and cost the nation a bundle.

More than one-third of American adults have only basic or below-basic literacy in health matters, which costs the United States upwards of $238 billion in healthcare expenditures, according to a government- and industry-funded study.

And by basic literacy, we're talking about merely being able to read a label to determine if a product is for a head cold or diarrhea, or administer a proper dose to oneself or a child.

The cost of not understanding

Adults with low health literacy are less likely to comply with prescribed treatment and self-care regimens, make more medication or treatment errors, are less likely to use preventive care, and they lack the skills needed to navigate the healthcare system.

Low functional literacy may be responsible for $32 billion to $58 billion in healthcare spending, a substantial part of expenditures financed by Medicaid and Medicare.

High-tech, low-tech

Tags: literacy, health, education, medicine

The French Health System

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 21:31:36 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo
clipper's remarks:

So why not adopt it? Well, that would be socialized medicine...

Clip Source: www2.washingtonmonthly.com

Its hospitals gleam. Waiting-lists are non-existent. Doctors still make home visits. Life expectancy is two years longer than average for the western world.

....For the patient, the French health system is still a joy. Same-day appointments can be made easily; if one doctor's advice displeases, you can consult another, a habit known as nomadisme médical. Individual hospital rooms are the norm. Specialists can be consulted without referral. And while the patient pays up front, almost all the money is reimbursed, either through the public insurance system or a top-up private policy.

For family doctors too, liberty prevails. They are self-employed, can set up a practice where they like, prescribe what they like, and are paid per consultation. As the health ministry's own diagnosis put it recently: “The French system offers more freedom than any other in the world.”

the French system provides this service to everyone in the country

for less than half the cost per person of the U.S.

Tags: health, healthcare, government

Sleep MORE at least for your heart's sake...

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 14:33:09 GMT

clipped by: sohil

Clip Source: www.theheart.org

Even small reductions in sleep over time may put healthy persons at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, suggests a new study that found decreased heart-rate variability (HRV) in patients who underwent sleep restriction for just five nights [1]

"Heart-rate variability has been shown to be a good measure of cardiovascular risk," said Dr Siobhan Banks (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia), lead author of the study presented here at SLEEP 2007: the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

According to Banks, the decrease in HRV and increase in heart rate (HR) seen in this study suggest that sleep restriction may increase strain on the cardiovascular system. This could have implications for people who experience chronic sleep restriction, she said.

Prior evidence has shown that decreased HRV indicates the heart is under strain and has been associated with hypertension as well as shown to be a predictor of mortality after acute MI.

A marker of risk

Tags: alarm, sleep, health, science, healthcare, heart, heart disease, disease, study, medicine

Water may hide harmful chemical cocktail

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:37:12 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: environment.newscientist.com

Next time you're washing your hair, spare a thought for your neighbours' health. A report by the UK's Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) says chemicals from consumer products and drugs could be breaking down and recombining into a harmful brew in water supplies.

The report, released on Monday, says synthetic chemicals in shampoos, perfumes, medicines and other healthcare products that are washed down the drain are sneaking through the filters at water purification plants. The list includes phthalates, a family of some 120 chemicals linked to reproductive problems in men and wildlife, and parabens, a preservative with a suspected link to breast cancer.

Though concentrations of such chemicals in water are probably too low to be harmful, the effects of their breakdown products are poorly understood, says Jeff Hardy of the RSC. "We do not know if the breakdown products affect the health of people." The cocktail effect may also make these chemicals more harmful, he adds.

Tags: water, science, life, environment

Still a Democracy. 'How about you?'

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:00:31 GMT

clipped by: righthand
clipper's remarks: The voters will decide, with a far stronger opposition media than exists in the USA proselytising against the government. Venezuelans have not lost civil liberties the way people in the US or the UK have in recent years, and ordinary citizens continue to have more say in their government, and share more in its oil wealth, than ever before. It is doubtful that the referendum will reverse these changes, regardless of the outcome.

He does seem to be trying to give the poor some healthcare and some hope. 'How about you?'

Clip Source: www.newstatesman.com

World Affairs

Venezuela: still a democracy

the mainstream media generally abandons quaint notions of balance and objectivity when reporting on Venezuela

this often extends to left-of-centre newspapers not known to slavishly follow the Bush administration's lead when reporting on other oil states where regime change is either sought, Iran, or in process, Iraq

President Lula da Silva of Brazil defended Venezuela last week, asking why "people did not complain when Margaret Thatcher spent so many years in power"

"You can invent anything you want to criticise Chavez, but not for lack of democracy." Lula has repeatedly defended Venezuela's government as democratic, but these comments are never reported in the English language media

if Hillary Clinton is elected next year, we will have Bushes and Clintons as heads of state for a full consecutive 24 years

Chavez is also castigated for proposing to get rid of the independence of the Central Bank

there are sound economic reasons for this amendment.

Tags: venezuels, chavez, constitution, democracy