Help for People With Vision Loss
The following post was provided by the National Eye Health Education Program (NEHEP).
Here’s eye-opening news: Currently, 4.2 million Americans ages 40 and older are visually impaired. Of these, 3 million have low vision. By 2030, when the last baby boomers turn 65, the number of Americans who have visual impairments is projected to reach 7.2 million, with 5 million having low vision.
For the millions of people who currently live or will live with low vision, the good news is there is help.
But first, what is low vision? Low vision is when even with regular glasses, contact lenses, medicine, or surgery, people have d...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - February 20, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Disabilities Source Type: blogs
Why do people look YOUNGER on the Wheat Belly lifestyle?
We see this over and over again in the photos people provide on the Wheat Belly Facebook page: people look younger. It’s not uncommon for people to look like they’ve shed 10 or 20 years, such as the beautiful couple, Debi and Wayne, seen in the photos above.
But why does this happen?
As with many aspects of youth preservation or anti-aging, we suffer from lack of hard science. Given what we know about the health consequences of wheat and grains, however, along with the phenomena that recede with their removal, I can speculate on why people seem to look so much younger with this lifestyle. Among the likely facto...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - February 17, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle anti-aging gluten grains Weight Loss youth Source Type: blogs
Oculo cardiac reflex : An unique neural link between the eyes and Heart
Heart by development originates from near the same spot , where the brain develop (Neuralcrest) .Hence there is no surprise though a richly a vascular organ, heart retains many neural connections with brain .Eyeballs with it’s extensive neural connections can be considered direct extension of brain.
Occulo cardiac reflex .
When the eyeballs or the ocular muscles are manipulated or massaged slowing of heart rate can occur .This is due to a reflex called Occulo cardiac reflex mediated by vagal stimulation .This phenomenon is also referred to as Aschner phenomenon
The circuit
Afferent _Trigeminal ...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - February 3, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: dr s venkatesan Tags: Neuro cardiology circuits for occulo cardiac reflex diver's reflex eye ball massage trigemianl vagal reflex Source Type: blogs
CMS: Millions of patients across the nation are benefiting from the - um - potential - of Health IT?
I presume this is, in part, a response to the Jan. 21 letter from AMA and the other medical societies as I wrote about two days ago at http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2015/01/meaningful-use-not-so-meaningul.html:CMS intends to modify requirements for Meaningful Usehttp://blog.cms.gov/2015/01/29/cms-intends-to-modify-requirements-for-meaningful-use/January 29By Patrick Conway, MDToday, we at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are pleased to announce our intent to engage in rulemaking to update the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs beginning in 2015. These intended chan...
Source: Health Care Renewal - January 29, 2015 Category: Health Management Tags: CMS healthcare IT difficulties healthcare IT dissatisfaction healthcare IT myths MD Patrick Conway Source Type: blogs
"Meaningful Use" not so meaningul: Multiple medical specialty societies now go on record about hazards of EHR misdirection, mismanagement and sloppy hospital computing
The "Meaningful Use" program for EHRs is a mismanaged boondoggle causing critical issues of patient safety, EHR usability, etc. to be sidestepped.This is on top of the grossly mismanaged and unregulated U.S. boondoggle which should probably be called "the National Programme for IT in the HHS" - in recognition of the now-defunct multi-billion-pound debacle known as the National Programme for IT in the NHS (NPfIT), see my Sept. 2011 post "NPfIT Programme goes PfffT" at http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/09/npfit-programme-going-pffft.html.The complaints are not just coming from me now.As of January 21, 2015 in a letter to HH...
Source: Health Care Renewal - January 28, 2015 Category: Health Management Tags: AMIA healthcare IT safety Kaizen Event Karen De Salvo management mysticism MAUDE meaningful use Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 104
Question 1
As you pull back the curtain, your next patient bursts into a bout of uncontrollable laughter. Because it surely can’t be due to your appearance, you decide this patient must suffer from…?
Reveal Answer
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Gelastic seizures
Gelastic seizures are epileptic events characterized by bouts of laughter.
Laughter-like vocalization is usually combined with facial contraction in the form of a smile.
Autonomic features such as flushing, tachycardia, and altered respiration are widely recognized. [PMC 264...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - November 21, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Niall Hamilton Tags: Arcanum Veritas Frivolous Friday Five couching FFFF Iatrophobia j'ai des papillons noir Schamroth's Window Source Type: blogs
November update
He was here for a week this month. First time since January. Things actually went just fine between the 2 of us so perhaps caring for his father and being gone for over 2 years has been good. He has to come back to get labs and see his doc in order to continue to get his prescriptions.A1C was at 10.2. Not good at all. But looking back at the grid I used to keep, he has been at 8 and 9 most of the time since Feb 2010, which is when he had his heart attack. His cataracts are growing, but they prescribed new contacts. He had cornea transplants 30 years ago and they don't want to do cataract...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - November 10, 2014 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
Physician Payments Sunshine Act: Media Coverage of the Open Payments Data Release
CMS launched Open Payments on Tuesday. Instead of stories entitled “Find Out How Much Your Doctor Makes From Industry!” the media surrounding the release has for the most part focused on the deficiencies in the roll out of the system.
So Much For Transparency, Open Payments Database Toggles the Mind, Wall Street Journal
Another Government Website Rollout That Is Found Wanting, New York Times
Doctor Payments Show Little Value at Launch Time, USNews
Open Payments Site Launches to User Complaints, Media Health Leaders
Essentially, the physician-level information in the database has too many holes for news outlets ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - October 3, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Physician Payments Sunshine Act: Organizations Respond to CMS
September 2nd marked the last day for comments on CMS’ proposed rule to eliminate the accredited continuing medical education (CME) exemption from Sunshine Act reporting. In an overwhelming display of support for the exemption, over 800 comments were submitted encouraging the agency to either maintain or expand the current exclusion.
-Total comments supporting maintenance or expansion of the CME exemption: 820
-Total comments supporting elimination of the CME exemption: approximately 20
-Percentage of comments supporting the CME exemption: 98%
We have followed this issue closely, and recentl...
Source: Policy and Medicine - September 8, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
The femtosecond laser: Paying for the attendant in the washroom?
If there is a clear winner in the health care field--in terms of increased efficacy and lower cost over the decades--it has to be cataract surgery. I remember my grandmother's cataract removal in the 1960s. An expensive, laborious procedure requiring days of unmoving bed rest afterwards while the eye healed, and a lifetime of thick glasses. Now, the procedure takes minutes, the costs have plummeted, and the patient leaves the outpatient procedure ready to drive herself home. As noted here, "The surgery has become fairly common: millions of people have cataracts removed every year, and 98% of the surgeries are ...
Source: Running a hospital - August 24, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Physician Payments Sunshine Act: Over 100 Medical Associations and Societies Urge CMS To Reconsider CME Exemption and Open Payments Timeline
Medial associations and specialty societies have been understandably frustrated with the way the Physician Payments Sunshine Act has rolled out so far.
Yesterday, over 100 medical societies including the American Medical Assocation--49 state medical societies and 64 medical specality societies--sent a letter to Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) asking for redress over three problematic issues: (1) the expansion of reporting requirements for educational activities, (2) Open Payments’ condensed timeframe for physician registration, and (3) the complicated r...
Source: Policy and Medicine - August 6, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Automatic Test Detects Secondary Cataracts with High Precision
Detected area occupied by cells (in blue). Fundus image.
After cataract surgery a troubling number of patients develop posterior capsule opacity, also known as a “secondary cataract,” whereby a cloudy membrane develops behind the newly implanted lens. Recognizing this condition normally requires expert analysis, and while automated systems exist that detect lens opacity, they are not looking for creeping growth of cells onto the new lens.
Researchers at University of Alicante in Spain have now developed fully automatic software that provides a proper diagnosis of posterior capsule opacity from magnified images ...
Source: Medgadget - July 30, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Editors Tags: Ophthalmology Source Type: blogs
We should value quality when we shop for health care
Over the years, my husband’s parents, Helen and Dave, have both suffered unnecessarily from bad medical care. They are not alone.
A botched cataract surgery left Helen with a torn iris. One of her eyes can’t adjust to light, and for the last several years she’s worn sunglasses indoors. Her urologist kept treating her with the same antibiotic for urinary tract infections without testing to see what bacteria she had. When her symptoms persisted for months, I finally intervened. I ordered urine testing myself — I’m an internist and infectious disease specialist — and prescribed the right antibiotic.
Contin...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 21, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Celine Gounder, MD Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
CPR without informed consent in the elderly
Agnes was out shopping at her local corner store. At age 82 her body was beginning to show typical signs of aging. She had survived breast cancer surgery, a hip replacement, and cataract surgery. Her doctors told her she had osteoporosis and low vitamin D. She took medications for her hypertension, cholesterol, and osteoporosis. Her spine had begun to curve and her gait was a few steps slower.
Continue reading ...
Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 10, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Jim deMaine, MD Tags: Physician Geriatrics Palliative care Source Type: blogs
Ruth Ann N.
I’m an RN. I ordered Grain Brain after seeing you on FOX & Friends.
My husband had ignored my suggestions that he lose weight for years. The last week of November and first week of December 2013 he was going to have cataract surgery. I suggested he try the low-carb, gluten-free diet because his blood sugar a year before had been pre-diabetic. He was concerned about the chance of infection and loss of sight so he agreed.
During the week before Thanksgiving and the week after, he lost 10 pounds! His 2-hour post-prandial blood sugar was 98.
To date, he has gone from 215 pounds a week before Thanksgiving to 192.9 po...
Source: Renegade Neurologist - A Blog by David Perlmutter, MD, FACN - March 14, 2014 Category: Neurologists Authors: gbadmin Tags: Success cataract Cyrex psoriasis Supplements turmeric Vitamin D weight loss Source Type: blogs
