| HEALTH BENEFIT: Wellness companies find a growing market as more businesses strive to keep employees healthier
Nike Roach knows an opportunity when he sees one. Roach, the vice president of Sixth Sense Wellness Center in Winston-Salem, said he realized about two years ago that more and more companies wanted to provide wellness programs for employees. Creating a detailed health program for a large company was a sure way to grow his small nutrition business, Roach said. "The demand was out there," he said. "It didn't take a genius to figure out." Smaller businesses such as Roach's are jumping on the wellness bandwagon. With more employers willing to offer wellness programs for workers, including on-site nutrition counseling, that can be an attractive revenue stream for health counselors that provide those services. A wellness program encourages a more healthful lifestyle and can include exercise programs at work or financial incentives for employees to quit smoking or lose weight.
Eating Right: It's All About Routine
You probably eat certain foods every day. Maybe your routine includes Cheerios at breakfast, a Snickers from the vending machine at midday and two glasses of wine a night.
But you want to feel better, look thinner and live longer. Try swapping those out for some foods that dietitians say you should aim to add to your diet on most days of the week.
.
How the Old Firm pitched in to give fans a new lease of life
It was famously said that football was more important than life and death. For Rangers fan George Sanderson they go together. He is one of a number of supporters who owe their improving health to a pioneering scheme run with the backing of the Old Firm rivals Rangers and Celtic. For many years, the 59-year-old season ticket-holder at Ibrox would break up the stresses of his successful career in security management with a greasy treat from a burger van. At night, he confesses, he would rarely leave the couch after enjoying a large, home-cooked meal. .
Calling in sick when nothing hurts
Most of us have called in sick, sometimes even when we feel fine. But have you ever gone through the trouble of typing up, printing up and handing your boss a phony doctor's note?KOMO 4 News conducted a few experiments to find out what it takes to sell a fake sickness to the boss.First we bought several phony excuses from the Web site phoneyexcuses.com, which specializes in just that. Then, with the help of three employees of Jones Soda, we sent in our hidden cameras to see whether their bosses bought the phony excuses. Our first accomplice handed over a phony doctor's note for a future medical visit. And we mean business when we say "phony." The list of doctors on the slip was actually the list of the cast members from the ABC show "Grey's Anatomy." And the address of the phony doctor's office was that of the Space Needle.
Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals Provides Update on ENHANCE Trial
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. & KENILWORTH, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals today announced that an independent panel of clinical and biostatistics experts was convened on Friday, November 16, 2007 to offer advice about the prospective analysis of the ENHANCE trial. ENHANCE is a multinational, randomized, double-blind, trial that examines the effects of the highest approved dose of VYTORIN/INEGY (10 mg ezetimibe + 80 mg simvastatin) versus the highest approved dose of simvastatin 80 mg alone in patients with Heterozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia (HeFH). Patients with this uncommon genetic condition usually have very high cholesterol levels. HeFH occurs in approximately 0.2 percent of the population. .
CT Scans To Determine Heart Disease In The Emergency Room
In the future, patients who arrive at a hospital Emergency Department complaining of chest pain may be diagnosed with a sophisticated CT scan. If the diagnosis is negative, the patient can go home�"and the total time at the hospital will be much shorter than it is today.
That is the theory behind a study being presented at the RSNA (Abstract ID: 5009389; Monday, November 26, 3:10 p.m.) by Rajan Agarwal, M.D., a resident in Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
"The cost of chest pain triage (where patients in the Emergency Department are prioritized based on their symptoms) and management has been estimated to be as high as $8 billion annually, with most patients ultimately not having to remain in the hospital. Therefore," Dr. Agarwal states, "there is a tremendous opportunity to reduce health care costs if we can demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of this procedure with low-risk patients who go to the Emergency Department."
Further, this reduced length of stay improves resource utilization by decreasing costs, improving inpatient bed shortages and reducing crowding in the Emergency Department.
Takes these lean ideas from kitchen to table this turkey day
You've been eating well so far this fall, avoiding over-sized pieces of fresh apple pie ala mode and steering clear of the kids' trick-or-treat buckets. But a major diet challenge lies just around the corner: Thanksgiving dinner. Here's a buffet of lean ideas for approaching the feast. • Consider roasting a brined, whole, bone-in turkey breast . Brining keeps the lean breast moist and flavorful (and leftovers make terrific turkey sandwiches). If you're having a large get-together, cook two whole turkey breasts. Since I first shared that idea and the recipe several years ago, reader response has all been positive. Some noted how much their teenagers finally enjoyed the white meat. • If your guests really count on dark meat, brine a whole turkey so both the white meat and the dark meat benefit from the seasoned bath.
FORTEO(R) Increased Spine Bone Mineral Density in Patients with Glucocorticoid-Induced Osteoporosis
Glucocorticoid therapy is the most common cause of secondary osteoporosis,(2) leading to bone loss and an increased risk for fracture. Data indicate that glucocorticoids are used by up to three out of every 100 adults (3 percent) over age 50,(3) and up to 50 percent of individuals on chronic glucocorticoid therapy will eventually have an osteoporotic fracture.(4) Glucocorticoids are prescribed to treat many conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and inflammatory bowel disease.(4,5) "Currently, there is a lack of variety in treatment choices for patients receiving chronic glucocorticoid medication who are at high risk for fractures," said lead investigator Kenneth G. Saag, M.D., MSc, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
|
