"Health News - Medicine, Diet and Fitness"

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Tips for Reliving Arthritis Pain Using Natural Remedies
Another alternative is to use a natural remedy as an alternative to medications. … My List of Beneficial Foods and Supplements for Rheumatoid Arthritis …

Natural approach to Arthritis
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In a University of California, Los Angeles study of 36 elderly men and women, … Naturally, a Web site service provider to natural health stores nationwide. …

Acupuncture Schools | acupuncturetoday.com
… information on the school’s degree programs in acupuncture and Oriental medicine. … Yo San University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Los Angeles) …

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A major obstacle in the treatment of infections and other diseases of the brain is the blood-brain barrier, which prevents systemically delivered therapeutic drugs from reaching the brain.

Grantees of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, have now shown that a short protein (peptide) from the rabies virus can carry a strip of therapeutic material into the brain via intravenous administration. Once delivered to the nerve cells of the brain, the strip, called a small interfering RNA (siRNA), was shown to protect mice from infection caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV).

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SACRAMENTO—Members of the OURx Bill of Rights Coalition gathered in the state Capitol this morning to applaud Governor Schwarzenegger’s signature of AB 2911 (Nez/Perata), the California Discount Prescription Drug Program. The coalition, comprised of more than a dozen groups representing consumers, the AIDS community, seniors and communities of color, sponsored the bill in the legislature this year.

“This effort began more than 4 years ago with a small group of OURx members and has blossomed into real reform for millions of Californians,” said Michael Weinstein, President of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

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SACRAMENTO—The Senate Health Committee today passed SB 1683, the Pharmaceutical Drug Right-to-Know Act. The bill, authored by Senator Jack Scott (Alta Dena) and sponsored by CALPIRG, would require drug companies to release the results of all their health studies for every drug sold in California.

“The Vioxx and Paxil scandals have made it perfectly clear that drug companies won’t voluntarily tell the public the whole truth,” said Emily Clayton, CALPIRG’s Health Care Advocate. “This legislation represents the best hope that doctors, researchers and patients have of getting some real answers about the safety and effectiveness of their medicines.”

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The state Senate and Assembly today approved AB 2911 (Nez/Perata), legislation that will create a prescription drug discount program for more than five million Californians without health insurance or with extremely high medical costs.

“With today’s passage of AB 2911, California is one step closer to bringing affordable medicine to more than five million Californians and one signature away from creating the largest prescription drug discount program in the nation,” said Emily Clayton, CALPIRG’s Health Care Advocate. “This legislation will go a long way toward bringing affordable medicine within reach of millions more Californians.”

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MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 3 — Influenza vaccination reduces older adults’ risk of hospitalization and mortality, researchers affirmed, despite lingering questions.Action Points
Explain to interested patients that the study supports at least a 33% reduction in death from any cause for older adults who receive flu shots.

Note that the CDC recommends annual influenza vaccination for all adults 65 and older.

Even in the most extreme sensitivity analysis, vaccination was associated with a statistically significant 7% decrease in risk of hospitalization and a 33% reduction in all-cause mortality risk, reported Kristin L. Nichol, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., of the VA Medical Center here, and colleagues, in the Oct. 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 2 — Reliance on a focused history and physical and judicious use of diagnostic imaging are hallmarks of new guidelines for management of low back pain issued jointly by the American College of Physicians and the American Pain Society. Action Points
Explain to patients that new guidelines for management of low back pain emphasize a conservative approach to diagnosis and treatment.

Note that routine use of imaging and testing is not recommended.

Note also that medications are recommended only when they have proven benefits.
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BALTIMORE, Nov. 2 — Failure to follow treatment guidelines for patients with acute myocardial infarctions and pneumonia in U.S. emergency departments may result in 22,000 needless deaths each year, investigators here said.Action Points
Explain to patients that guidelines recommend that patients brought to the emergency department with acute myocardial infarction be given aspirin and beta-blockers unless contraindicated.

Note, too, that patients with pneumonia should receive antibiotics while in the ED and be put on pulse oximetry.

Patients admitted to the ED with acute myocardial infarction received aspirin therapy only 40% of the time, and beta-blockers only 17% of the time, reported Julius Cuong Pham, M.D., of Johns Hopkins, and colleagues.

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