February 25th, 2011 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Health Tips
Tags: City Guide, Handicapped, iPhone App, Map App, Medgadget, Mobile Health Apps, OpenStreetMap, Physical Disability, Wheelchair Accessiblity, Wheelchair Users, Wheelmap
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Getting around a city can be hard when you’re in a wheelchair because some places simply aren’t designed for wheels. Wheelmap is an iPhone app for wheelchair users which tells you about the accessibility of nearby restaurants, cafes, clubs, museums, and other locations.
Locations are color-coded on a map to show how accessible they are. The current location, but also any place around the world, can be viewed. Maps are based on OpenStreetMap data, and accessibility data about locations can be modified and sent back to the servers by users from within the app. There is also a corresponding website showing the same information online.
As with any other crowd-sourced initiative, success depends on the number of contributors, but we have good hopes for this one to succeed. Because the app was created by a German, coverage is most extensive in Germany, particularly Berlin, but other large cities worldwide are starting to catch up.
More from AP: German iPhone app guides handicapped around cities…
iTunes link: Wheelmap…
Homepage: Wheelmap…
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
February 24th, 2011 by Linda Burke-Galloway, M.D. in Health Tips, Research
Tags: Birth Defect Risk, Birth Defects, CHD, Congenital Heart Disease, Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway, Family Medical History, Family Medicine, Fetal Health, Genetic Counseling, Genetics, Heart Defects, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, OB/GYN, Obstetrics And Gynecology, Unborn Child
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Birth defects, particularly those of the blood vessels, account for the majority of infant deaths, especially after the first week of life. Congenital heart disease (CHD) — meaning defects of the heart — is responsible for one-third of deaths between birth and the first year of life. Therefore, the diagnosis of CHD is critical in order to plan life-saving treatments, such as the proper place for the delivery, the type of delivery, and its timing. If it’s known in advance that an unborn baby has a heart problem and is delivered in a hospital that provides special care, its survival and future health will increase dramatically.
Who’s at risk for having CHD and which expectant moms should have further evaluation? Families who have a history of CHD — especially mothers, fathers, and siblings — should receive genetic counseling. Multiple medical studies over the past fifteen years have demonstrated the significance of genetics as a main culprit of CHD. Parents of a child with CHD have a two percent to three percent chance of having another affected child. If a mother or father has CHD, a fetal cardiac echo (an ultrasound of the heart) is definitely warranted.
Because the treatment of CHD in many cases is surgical, there’s an increasing number of patients who have survived into adulthood and have ultimately become parents. Research has documented that 4.1 percent of their children will have CHD. Children with mothers who have CHD are at a greater risk of inheriting the disease than if they have fathers with CHD. Mothers with cyanotic heart disease — that is, blood that is without oxygen that bypasses the lungs and goes directly to the blood vessels — also have a greater risk of having a baby with CHD. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway*
February 24th, 2011 by Jeffrey Benabio, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
Tags: Astringents, Dimethicone, Dr. Jeff Benabio, Dry Skin, Eye Cream, Face Cream, Healthy Skin, Oily Skin, Pores, Sensitive Skin, Silicone, Skin Care Products, Skin Rejuvenation, Skin Serums, Skin Toners, The Dermatology Blog
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Step-by-step skin care? It’s complicated. You have a cabinet full of toners, creams, and serums and you don’t know what goes on when. Using products in the wrong order could mean you’re not getting the most for your money. Here’s a guide to make it easier for you:
1. Toners
Toners are astringents, which means they contract tissue like pores, making your face feel tighter. They often contain alcohols and are used to remove oil from the skin as well as tightening. Therefore, you should use them first. If you have dry or sensitive skin, however, you might skip them completely because they can make dryness worse.
2. Serums
Serums are liquid cosmetics. They usually have antioxidants or peptides to minimize the day’s damage done to your skin and to give you a more youthful appearance. Serums are applied first so that there’s nothing between their expensive ingredients and your skin. The exceptions are serums that contain silicone or dimethicone. Silicone helps lock moisture in your skin, but it also acts as a barrier hindering anything above it from getting to your skin. Silicone serums should be applied last. Like expensive serums, any prescription medications should also be applied first to ensure that their active ingredients penetrate the skin unhindered. If you have both, then apply the prescription first and the serum second.
3. Eye cream and face cream
Face and eye creams can be simple moisturizers or complex anti-aging products. Eye creams usually have antioxidants to help restore this most delicate skin. If you have one, then apply it before your face cream. Otherwise, by applying your face cream first, you risk rubbing it into your eyes. Once your prescription medications (if any) serums, and eye creams have absorbed, then apply your face cream last. If your serum has silicone or dimethicone, then apply it last, so its protective ingredients are the outermost barrier.
*This blog post was originally published at The Dermatology Blog*
February 24th, 2011 by Harriet Hall, M.D. in Health Tips, Research
Tags: Big Pharma, Big Suppla, Big Supplement, CAM, Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, Diet Supplement Health and Education Act, Diet Supplements As Medicines, Dietary Supplements, Dietary Supplements As Medicine, Dr. Harriett Hall, DSHEA, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, Food and Nutrition, Food As Medicine, Herbal Medicine, Medicine As Food, Nutritional Supplements, SBM, Science Based Medicine
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I was surprised to get this e-mail from a reader:
Surely, Dr. Hall, the public mania for nutritional supplements is baseless. All the alleged nutrients in supplements are contained in the food we eat. And what governmental agency has oversight responsibility regarding the production of these so-call nutritional supplements? Even if one believes that such pills have value, how can the consumer be assured that the product actually contains what the label signifies? I have yet to find a comment on this subject on your otherwise informative website.
My co-bloggers and I have addressed these issues repeatedly.Peter Lipson covered DSHEA (The Diet Supplement Health and Education Act) nicely. It’s all been said before, but perhaps it needs to be said again — and maybe by writing this post I can make it easier for new readers to find the information.
Food, Medicine, or Something In Between?
The FDA regulates foods and has been instrumental in improving the safety of our food supply. It regulates prescription and over-the-counter medications, requiring evidence of effectiveness and safety before marketing. Surveys have shown that most people falsely assume these protections extend to everything on the shelves including diet supplements, but they don’t.
Under the 1994 Diet Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), a variety of products such as vitamins, minerals, herbs and botanicals, amino acids, enzymes, organ tissues, and hormones can evade the usual controls if they are sold as diet supplements. Under the DSHEA, the manufacturer doesn’t have to prove to the FDA that a product is safe and effective; it is up to the FDA to prove that it isn’t safe, and until recently there was no systematic method of reporting adverse effects (required reporting is still limited to serious effects like death).
So far the FDA has only managed to ban one substance, ephedra, and it took the death of a prominent sports figure and considerable skirmishing with the courts to accomplish that. Independent lab tests of diet supplements have found a high rate of contamination (with things like heavy metals and prescription drugs) and dosages wildly varying from the label. A striking example was Gary Null’s recent poisoning with vitamin D from one of his own products which contained 1,000 times the intended amount.
The FDA has issued rules on good manufacturing practices, but standardization is not required and it remains to be seen whether the new rules will effectively improve product quality. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
February 22nd, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in Health Tips, Research
Tags: Acute Otitis Media, Children's Health, Cold and Flu, Cold Virus, Dr. Christopher Chang, Ear Nose and Throat, Ear Pain, Ear Pressure, Eustachian Tube, Fauquier ENT, Fullness in the Ear, Middle Ear Infections In Kids, Nasal Congestion, Noseblowing, Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, Swallowing, Upper Respiratory Infection, Upper Respiratory Tract Viral Infection, URI, Yawning
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According to a new study published this month, more than 20 percent of young children with colds or other upper respiratory viruses will develop middle ear infections.
This finding isn’t that surprising. Eear symptoms along with a viral upper respiratory infection (URI) are common, including ear fullness and difficulty popping the ear. Although adults tend to be able to keep their ears clear by swallowing, chewing gum, yawning, or ear popping, most kids don’t know what to do when their ears feel full.
Whether in adults or kids, when the ears don’t ventilate or clear properly it can lead to ear problems including fluid buildup and middel ear infection. Why does this occur?
With a viral URI the lining of the nose swells, leading to symptoms of runny nose, nasal congestion, and sometimes nasal obstruction. This swelling doesn’t just occur in the nose, but also in the eustachian tube, which connects the back of the nose to the middle ear. When the ear “pops,” the eustachian tube opens to allow pressure and fluid to drain from the ear into the back of the nose. This is why yawning, swallowing, or noseblowing can cause an ear to pop normally.
When the lining in the eustachian tube swells up, the tube becomes blocked and prevents the ear from popping, leading to symptoms of ear pressure and fullness, fluid buildup, clogging, and often ear infections.
Read more about eustachian tube dysfunction here.
REFERENCE:
“Clinical Spectrum of Acute Otitis Media Complicating Upper Respiratory Tract Viral Infection.” Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. February 2011, volume 30, issue 2, pp 95-99.
*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*
