New
sensor technology finds many doctors may not be
pressing hard enough
Feb. 23, 2015 -
Many physicians who tested their
breast-examination skills on a new type of
pressure-sensing breast model failed to detect
masses deep in the breast because they were not
pressing hard enough, a study has found.
"They were not
doing the exams the right way, even though they
had been doing exams for many years," said
William C. McGaghie, PhD, of Loyola University
Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, a co-author
of the study published in the New England
Journal of Medicine.
EurekaAlert
Feb. 5, 2015 - The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration on Tuesday approved Pfizer Inc's
Ibrance, a potential new standard of care for
advanced breast cancer, in a regulatory decision
that came more than two months earlier than
expected. The drugs chemical name is
palbociclib…
Reuters
Feb. 5, 2015 - How much do your
grandparents (or parents) know about money? A
researcher found that advanced financial
literacy levels, which include familiarity with
stock market investments and investment risk,
are associated with higher levels of wealth
accumulation. In fact, respondents with strong
financial literacy had, on average, $71,187 more
than those with weak financial literacy.
By
Jan. 20, 2015 - In Silicon
Valley's youth-obsessed culture, 40-year-olds
get plastic surgery to fit in. But IDEO, the
firm that famously
developed the first mouse for Apple, has
a 90-year-old designer on staff. Barbara Beskind
says her age is an advantage. "Everybody who ages is going to
be their own problem-solver," she says. And
designers are problem-solvers. More at
NPR
Patients whose bad cholesterol
levels don’t respond may have more artery blockages
than those whose cholesterol levels drop
Feb. 28, 2015 — If your “bad”
cholesterol level stays the same or increases
after you take
statin drugs, you may have more blocked arteries
than people whose levels drop, according to research
in the American Heart Association journal
Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.
There is a lot more going on at
the group home to support successful aging
Feb.
25, 2015 - Baby boomers trying to pick the best
living arrangements for themselves or their parents
as they age should be wary of a phrase they coined
in their younger years: If it feels good, do it.
More...
Having a spouse
who still drives does not remove the consequences of
driving cessation for senior citizens
Feb.
24, 2015 – Even if just one member of a senior
couple stops driving, negative consequences result
for both the driver and non-driver, according to a
new study from the University of Missouri. It
recommends that the elderly, and their adult
children, carefully discuss and plan for the
transition to driving cessation.
More...
Affordable Care
Act added Medicare benefit offering face-to-face
weight-loss counseling to 13 million obese seniors
in the U.S.
By Sarah
Varney
February 23, 2015
Feb.
23, 2015 - In the farming town of Exeter, deep in
California’s Central Valley, Anne Roberson walks a
quarter mile down the road each day to her mailbox.
Her walk and housekeeping chores are the
68-year-old’s only exercise, and her weight has
remained stubbornly over 200 pounds for some time
now.
More...
Climb gets even steeper for
nursing homes to reach a five star rating
Feb.
23, 2015 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) says it has strengthened the Five
Star Quality Rating System for Nursing Homes on
the Nursing Home Compare website to “give
families more precise and meaningful information on
quality when they consider facilities for themselves
or a loved one.”
More...
Activities associated with
reduced risk included walking, gardening, and
cycling
Feb.
19, 2015 - Just a little exercise by older women is
better than none, at least when it comes to lowering
the risk of heart disease, stroke and blood clots.
Being active just a few times a week is all it
takes. Researchers were surprised to find that more
frequent physical activity didn’t result in further
reductions in risk.
More...
Medicare blog points to success
of Affordable Care Act, Medicare’s stress on better
care, HHS Partnership for Patients
By Patrick Conway,
Deputy Administrator for Innovation and Quality and
CMS Chief Medical Officer (originally published
February 11)
Feb.
19, 2015 - Recently, a Department of Health and
Human Services
report showed that an estimated 50,000 fewer
patients died in hospitals and approximately $12
billion in health care costs were saved as a result
of a reduction in hospital-acquired conditions from
2010 to 2013.
More...
Every minute of
physical activity may lower risk of heart attack for
seniors even in their 80s and with limited mobility;
amount of activity more important than the intensity
Feb.
18, 2015 – This is great news and it leaves senior
citizens, even those in their 80s, and those with
already limited mobility, no excuse not to try a
little physical activity. A new study finds they can
lower their risk of a heart attack – and coronary
death – for every minute they spend in a just light
physical activity.
More...
Study is particularly helpful for
health care providers who have patients who exercise
every day but are not seeing benefits
Feb.
18, 2015 – Individuals with Type 2 diabetes have
heightened amounts of sugars and fats in their
blood, which increases their risks for
cardiovascular diseases such as strokes and heart
attacks. Exercise is a popular prescription for
those suffering from the symptoms of Type 2
diabetes, but most research has focused the benefits
of different exercise methods. A news study,
however, decided to look at the difference in
benefits based on the time of the exercise. Doing it
after dinner is best, they say.
More...
Senior citizens often take
anticholinergic drugs, which are commonly prescribed
for a wide range of common health conditions
Feb.
17, 2015 – There is nothing that strikes fear in the
hearts of senior citizens more than the risk of
dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease in particular. A
recent study found, however, a significantly
increased risk for developing dementia, including
Alzheimer’s disease from taking commonly used
medications with anticholinergic effects, which are
taken frequently by older adults, often unknowingly.
They even include nonprescription medicines like
Benadryl.
More...
First solid
evidence that transplantation of human neural stem
cells can reverse chemo induced damage of healthy
tissue in the brain
Feb. 16, 2015 -
Human nerve system stem cell treatments are showing
promise for reversing learning and memory deficits
after chemotherapy, according to UC Irvine
researchers.
More...
Is the bottom
line of ‘successful aging’ for many elderly
Americans simply surviving with reasonable cognition
and some mobility, or is it much broader
Feb.
16, 2015 – The debate over defining “successful
aging” is raging again among the professionals in
the field of gerontology. Despite books, years of
research and numerous analytical articles in the
past, there are 16 articles in the latest issue of
The Gerontologist. One suggests those in the
U.S. define it in more multidimensional terms than
do most scholars.
More...
Residents at retirement communities
around the country find love in their golden years
Feb. 12, 2015 - As Valentine’s Day
approaches, seniors across the country who have lost their
sweethearts are finding love again - but this time, it is
with fellow residents in senior living communities,
according to Holiday Retirement, that operates homes for
senior citizens.
More...
Approximately 8 million deaths
each year, are attributable to mental disorders
Feb.
11, 2015 – This is one of those cases where a
massive study of a large number of research reports
raises more questions than it answers. It does
conclude that people with mental health disorders or
two times more likely to die than those without such
disorders. This link between mental problems and
mortality is complicated by the reality that most
people with those disorders do not die of their
condition.
More...
May aid
caretakers, physicians to prepare, help patients,
families make difficult personal decisions
Feb.
9, 2015 – Death is an unpleasant subject but its
inevitability has become well recognized by the time
we reach our senior years. It is something most
senior citizens have had to deal with up close and
personal. A new study in the journal Cancer that
identifies the eight highly specific physical and
cognitive signs associated with imminent death in
cancer patients.
More...
Incidence of cognitive decline
and dementia has increased substantially as elderly
population has grown
Feb.
9, 2015 - People are living longer and most of us
take that as good news. But in the world of reality,
the news is not so good, if those extra years of
living are plagued with mental torment. New research
of adults up to age 77, however, has found that the
practice of meditation may give us more years in
older age with less of the brain damage associated
with aging.
More...
Yale study looked
at 3 million Medicare patients who survived
hospitalization for heart failure and pneumonia
By Karen N. Peart
Feb.
6, 2015 – Senior citizens – age 65 and older – who
survive hospitalization for heart failure have a 20
percent chance of going back into the hospital or
death in the month after being discharged. New
research, however, has found these risks remain high
for up to a year, although they can be addressed
with targeted care.
More...
This is the first time that
Medicare has covered lung cancer screening
Feb.
5, 2015 - Today the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) issued a final national coverage
determination that provides for Medicare coverage of
Screening for Lung Cancer with Low Dose Computed
Tomography (LDCT). The coverage - the first ever for
lung cancer screening - is effective immediately.
More...
Study found no difference in
complications, mortality when compared to younger patients
Feb. 5, 2015 - As the number of Americans
age 80 and older continues to rise, so does the percentage of patients
with acute spinal conditions. A new srudy found significant benefit from
surgical treatment for
lumbar spinal stenosis with and without
degenerative spondylolisthesis and
no higher overall complication rate and no higher mortality for patients
age 80 and older when compared to patients younger than age 80.
More
Only 4% of the
Walmart products tested showed DNA from the plants
listed on the products’ labels – other stores GNC,
Target, Walgreens
Feb.
4, 2015 – The world of herbal supplements – a place
frequented often by senior citizens - virtually
exploded yesterday when New York State’s Attorney
General Eric T. Schneiderman ordered four the
largest retailers in the U.S. to stop selling a
number of brand herbal supplement products because
the labels on the products did not match the
contents. This misleading information was on almost
80 percent of the products tested.
More...
Family member asked whether the
dying person - age 50 plus - suffered pain, depression or periodic confusion
By Jenny Gold, Kaiser Health News
Feb. 3, 2015 - It’s been more than 15 years since the Institute of
Medicine released its
seminal 1997 report detailing the suffering many Americans
experience at the end of life and offering sweeping recommendations on
how to improve care. So has dying in America gotten any less painful?
More...
Improvement in cognitive
function, less falls for older hospital patients
result from practical interventions
Feb.
2, 2015 – Prescription drugs and programs with
multiple components are not necessary to reduce
delirium and prevent falls in hospitalized older
patents, according to an article published online by
JAMA Internal Medicine. Delirium is a
confused state that is marked by inattention and
global cognitive dysfunction (impaired memory and
thought).
More...
But problems with
blood clots may be more common in older women, study
suggests
Feb.
2, 2015 - Older women don't have an increased
overall risk of complications from breast
reconstruction after mastectomy, reports the
February issue of Plastic and Reconstructive
Surgery, official journal of the American Society of
Plastic Surgeons.
More...
Researchers
recommend counseling to manage drug regimens to
avoid high drug cost
Feb.
2, 2015 - Among seniors, women and patients with
diabetes and dementia are the most likely to fall
into the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan
"donut hole" - the gap occurring after beneficiaries
reach their annual coverage limit and before
catastrophic coverage kicks.
More...
Agency expands
online services and promotes use of my Social
Security Accounts
Feb.
2, 2015 – Seniors who lose their SSA-1099 form from
Social Security before they need it for their income
tax filing can now “quickly and easily” obtain a
replacement from the agency’s website using their my
Social Security account, according to a news release
issued today.
More...
Feb.
24, 2015 – Even if just one member of a senior
couple stops driving, negative consequences result
for both the driver and non-driver, according to a
new study from the University of Missouri. It
recommends that the elderly, and their adult
children, carefully discuss and plan for the
transition to driving cessation.
Feb.
17, 2015 – There is nothing that strikes fear in the
hearts of senior citizens more than the risk of
dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease in particular. A
recent study found, however, a significantly
increased risk for developing dementia, including
Alzheimer’s disease from taking commonly used
medications with anticholinergic effects, which are
taken frequently by older adults, often unknowingly.
They even include nonprescription medicines like
Benadryl.