makmbut ar theur: health

Showing posts with label health. Show all posts

Friday, May 27, 2011

It May Not Be a Wise to Take Polypills

As if we aren't taking enough medication, "combination" pills are now being made. Normal healthy people don't need to take "just in case" medication. After all anyone could be knocked down by a car and killed. Furthermore, many medications clash with each other producing dangerous chemicals when mixed.

The latest polypill is for heart attacks. It contains statins, aspirin, and two blood pressure drugs. Tests show that the incidence of heart attacks can be reduced by half if the multi-pill is taken regularly due to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. It is also claimed that colon cancer will be less frequent in test subjects, which seems rather odd considering the slim relationship between cholesterol and cancer.

If a person is fit and healthy it would probably be wise to leave things as they are because all medications have side effects, and tests done so far are only looking at short term results. Tests were only for 12 weeks. How can one draw such conclusions for only a three month period? A test for frequency of heart attacks needs to be done for at least ten years.

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Health

It May Not Be a Wise to Take Polypills

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Health

Friday, April 15, 2011

Pharmcists Should Stay Out of Mental Health

Pharmacists should stay out of health treatment and do what they do best - glorified clerks. They have no training in curing disease. Their education is solely based on chemical analysis. They are scientists not physicians. Ask their advice and they tell you what is written on the packet.

Now the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia is saying pharmacists are qualified to treat people with mental illness. They may "give" drugs to such patients but they do not prescribe them. Heaven help us if they get involved will-nilly in advising those with mental disorders. Having someone continually talking in your ear about how to take your prescription medicine it not going to help one recover.

Doctors need direct contact with a patient to give the greatest assistance. Having a pharmacist in the middle is only going to mess things up. A mental patient is already stressed. Saying pharmacists will reduce medication errors is implying that they have qualifications to oversee physicians. Obviously, they do not have such expertise.

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Health

Pharmcists Should Stay Out of Mental Health

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Health

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Shop Frequently and Live Longer

More silly research comes to useful conclusions. A survey has found that older people, men and women who go shopping "frequently" live longer. This is true for Taiwanese anyway. Subject women were 28 per cent less likely to die in the 10 years after the study. Men were 27 per cent less likely. Apparently, going shopping once a week is absolutely no good whatsoever. One has to shop, shop, shop to have a positive outcome.

Researchers reached the following conclusion: "Shopping captures several dimensions of personal wellbeing, health and security as well as contributing to the community's cohesiveness and economy, and may represent or actually confer increased longevity." This conclusion is not soundly based on the data, however. It is just drawn "out of the air". In other words it is just an opinion. Maybe shopping is an ideal way of getting regular exercise. Note, those who lived longer were healthier to begin with. And poor health meant less shopping, thus inadequate diet.

Another problem is the finding that companionship via shopping leads to better health. This has no foundation at all. Grumpy old men do have the adjective "old" clipped onto them.

It makes one wonder whether researchers have conclusions determined before they begin a study. It is worrying that longevity was tested for only 10 years after data was provided.

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Health

Shop Frequently and Live Longer

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Health

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Medicare to Adopt Online Payment

It's about time Medicare moved into the modern age! Thankfully it has given people an alternative to queueing for their medical treatment rebate. It is a silly system anyway. X-ray clinics and specialists should be given the subsidy directly in the first place. This would reduce the number of public servants providing an unnecessary service.

Now "customers" will be able to fill in forms online. Payment will then be made directly into their bank accounts.

We are led to believe that Medicare delayed adoption of a direct payment process due to the potential for fraud. This is nonsense. Fraud could occur under the old system. Limiting payments to $250 a day will not stop fraud.

Medicare holds that people will continue to use the queuing method of refunds. Internet banking is increasing in popularity. There is no doubt most will change to the new system in droves.

~~~~~Health~~~~~

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Medicare to Adopt Online Payment

~~~~~Health~~~~~

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Monday, February 28, 2011

Herbalists Should Be Tightly Regulated

Everything in society is controlled to make it safe, right? Wrong! Herbal medicine can be consumed freely without restriction even if it kills you. Try to buy opiates which can be taken for a lifetime without harm and all sorts of restrictions apply. Drug addicts die of illnesses such as aids and hepatitis.

Recent tests were done on an Australian who took Ayervedic medicines. His body had eight times the maximum safe level of lead in it. The mistake he made on a visit to India has ruined his life. Ayervedid herbs are normally contaminated with heavy metals. Whether this part of their "healing" function is not known. Imagine taking lead, arsenic and mercury, daily.

In Australia, Indian and Chinese herbs are monitored for dangerous levels of heavy metals. That's where it ends: the efficacy of the "medication" is not tested. You can buy such herbs on the Internet from countries where product quality is not regulated.

It is surely time for the herbal medicine market in Australia to be tightly regulated. Herbs should be vetted by a qualified physician before the herbalist dispenses them. Only then will sham treatments be stamped out.

~~~~~Health~~~~~

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Herbalists Should Be Tightly Regulated

~~~~~Health~~~~~

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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Women Leave It Too Late to Have Children

Women are putting off having babies until they have established a career. This is not good for the child. A woman in her prime is more capable of providing the nourishment a baby needs. Bottle feeding from birth is a poor alternative. The baby does not get the antibodies the mother has and there is the danger of obesity - too much nourishment of the wrong kind. Human babies are not calves.

Older mothers rely on IVF and freezing of eggs. There has been a rush for egg freezing in recent years. Doctors don't even need to advertise the service, though many do. Women in their early twenties see it as "insurance" for putting off having a family.

There are problems, however, in relying on frozen eggs. The success rate is low. Just under half do not give birth from eggs frozen for 10 years. It is unfortunate that some are making a business out of providing a service that will disappoint many women who have left it too late to have children.

~~~~~Health~~~~~

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Women Leave It Too Late to Have Children

~~~~~Health~~~~~

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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Global Warming Has Benefits

There are some good points about global warming. If you live off leaf vegetables you won't go hungry. Weeds and vegetables such as cabbage and lettuce grow much better with more carbon in the environment. Grass will also be thicker and grow faster, so cattle will fatten-up quicker.

The problem is herbicides will no longer be effective in controlling weeds. With the price of fuel going up this means they will have to be removed by hand in the future - a very arduous and expensive process.

It is conceivable that more herbicide will be used. This will pollute the environment. Diclofenac a chemical to reduce inflammation in humans and animals was widely used in India for cattle. The native vulture was nearly wiped out by consuming dead cattle carcases. More chemicals use is quite frightening. Similar disasters will probably occur.

~~~~~Science~~~~~

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Global Warming Has Benefits

~~~~~Science~~~~~

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Friday, February 4, 2011

Patients Do Not Take Medications Correctly

With probably one of the best prescription medicine schemes in the world which is heavily subsidized it is surprising that many people do not take their medications when they should. A third of patients just forget to take them.

An odd finding is that 67 per cent do not usually miss a dose but 71 per cent take less than the prescribed amount.

New schemes where pharmacists give advice will probably not help because listening now does not affect behavior later. Hospital admissions due to taking more and less than the prescribed medication amount will continue. With the pressures of daily life people seem to have more important concerns than their health.

~~~~~Health~~~~~

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Patients Do Not Take Medications Correctly

~~~~~Health~~~~~

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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Reduced Lung Fuction Due to Vitamin D Deficency in Dark Skinned People

No wonder West Indians had a rough time when they moved to the UK in the mid-twentieth century: with the polluted atmosphere common at that time many suffered from a vitamin D deficiency. Their children born in the UK had more problems than their parents because growing up in a sun depleted climatic environment with a dark skin led to long term lung problems.

Australian research shows the lack of vitamin D leads to altered lung structure, with the lungs partially shutting down. In adult life people of West Indian heritage have decreased lung function.

Mice were tested with some being made deficient in vitamin D while others had an adequate level. Tests with a plethysmograph showed lung obstruction was markedly greater in mice lacking vitamin D. Overall, lung volume was reduced. Lungs were also smaller than average.

It was unclear as to whether the problem was basically due to heritage, or mothers being deficient during pregnancy, because test mice had to be bred to have low sun-to-vitamin D conversion.

~~~~~Health~~~~~

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Reduced Lung Fuction Due to Vitamin D Deficency in Dark Skinned People

~~~~~Health~~~~~

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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Don't Blaim Falling Birth Rate on Government's Lack of Childcare

As developing countries become more developed with rising incomes and better health care so the birthrate is falling. Taiwan is a case in point. They are worrying now about how the large proportion of elderly people in the country will be cared for.

Taiwanese couples only have one child, currently. In China with the one-child policy the birthrate is higher than Taiwan's 0.91 per cent. This country has the Western "disease" of very expensive housing and wives finding it necessary to work to pay for a home. The date for having children is put off virtually indefinitely.

Like in other "advanced" countries the blame is being laid on the government's failure to provide healthcare. The propensity to allocate responsibility on government is a mistake. Unless healthcare is treated as unskilled labor it will remain expensive, Surely any responsible parent would not leave their children in the care of second-class workers?

Taking care of young children, particularly babies is a highly skilled endeavour. Income of carers must reflect this. For too long it has been one of the lowest paid occupations. Mothers cannot expect an income sufficient to pay for a one-on-one carer with a bit to spare. This is not economically feasible.

The world needs a lower birthrate. A solution to millions of elderly people will be found. It is worrying though that the answer could be dictatorial and draconian.

~~~~~Society~~~~~

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Don't Blaim Falling Birth Rate on Government's Lack of Childcare

~~~~~Society~~~~~

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