Category Archives: Health

Politics: Bernie Sanders “Medicare For All” (NPR)

NPR PodcastsAs we head into South Carolina’s primary and gear up for Super Tuesday, the 2020 candidates are looking to stand out to voters. But perhaps no policy proposal has marked this election more than Sen. Bernie Sanders’s push for Medicare for All.

While the Democratic candidates agree on expanding health coverage, they’re divided on how to insure everyone, whether to insure everyone, and, of course, how to pay for it all.

Bernie Sanders Website

So how are they similar? How are they different? And how does that compare to President Trump?

Rachana Pradhan, correspondent for Kaiser Health NewsNoam Levey, national healthcare reporter for The LA Times; and Dan Diamond, health reporter for Politico and host of the “Pulse Check” podcast helped us break down where each candidate stood on health care.

Heart Health: “Statins” Are Beneficial Only With Healthy Diets & Lifestyle

Taking a statin helps keep your cholesterol levels in check. How can that be?

Mayo Clinic LogoDr. Stephen Kopecky explains that some people ask to be put on a statin. That’s because statins, while important and effective, are just one part of the whole heart-healthy picture. When you combine a statin with regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, controlling stress, not smoking and eating foods based on the Mediterranean diet, you can improve your heart health.

Dr. Kopecky says if you work in lifestyle changes slowly over time, you’ll be on your way to better heart health.

Statins are drugs that can lower your cholesterol. They work by blocking a substance your body needs to make cholesterol. Statins may also help your body reabsorb cholesterol that has built up in plaques on your artery walls, preventing further blockage in your blood vessels and heart attacks.

Several statins are available for use in the United States. They include:

  • atorvastatin (Lipitor)
  • lovastatin (Altoprev)
  • pitavastatin (Livalo)
  • pravastatin (Pravachol)
  • rosuvastatin (Crestor)
  • simvastatin (Zocor)

Sometimes, a statin is combined with another heart health medication. Examples are atorvastatin/amlodipine (Caduet) and simvastatin/ezetimibe (Vytorin).

Increasing evidence suggests that statins do more than just lower bad cholesterol. Research has found that the medicines can safely prevent heart disease in certain adults ages 40 to 75. But the benefits aren’t entirely clear for the elderly. And doctors still want to know more about the side effects of statins.

Health: “2020 National Diabetes Statistics Report”

CDC Centers for Disease Control and PreventionThe National Diabetes Statistics Report is a periodic publication of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that provides updated statistics about diabetes in the United States for a scientific audience. It includes information on prevalence and incidence of diabetes, prediabetes, risk factors for complications, acute and long-term complications, deaths, and costs. These data can help focus efforts to prevent and control diabetes across the United States.

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Health Study: Low-Dose Aspirin Reduces Risks Of Bone Fracture (BMJ)

From a BMJ Open Journal study release (February 20, 2020):

BMJ Open JournalAspirin is an inhibitor of prostaglandin production and may influence the cellular basis of bone remodelling responsible for maintaining the material and structural strength of bone.

The consistent findings of reduced risk of fracture across studies included in this review is encouraging. It is important to keep in mind that studies were quite diverse in design, populations included, data collection methods and follow-up periods and we did observe high heterogeneity especially for fracture risk. While we need to interpret this finding with some caution, there appeared to be a consistent indication that aspirin use is associated with positive bone outcomes. 

The anti-inflammatory effects of aspirin via prostaglandin inhibition have recently gained attention. Chronic low-grade inflammation contributes to age-related cardiovascular, neurological, respiratory and musculoskeletal conditions. Low-grade inflammation is associated with increased bone loss and fracture risk. Prostaglandin, an important inflammatory mediator, is likely to have a key role in bone remodelling attributable to inflammation. Prostaglandin E2 stimulates bone resorption and formation and is produced largely from cyclooxygenase-2 induction. Prostaglandins acutely inhibit osteoclast function. However, their chronic effect is to stimulate bone resorption by increasing replication of osteoclast precursors, and differentiation to mature osteoclasts.

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Health Talk: “Prostate Cancer – Diagnosis And Treatments” (Mayo Clinic)

On the Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Derek Lomas, a Mayo Clinic urologist, discusses prostate cancer, including a new biopsy method.

This interview originally aired Feb. 22, 2020. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer — second to skin cancer — among men in the U.S. One in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. Screening is important because early detection greatly improves the chances of survival. While some types of prostate cancer grow slowly, and may need minimal or even no treatment, other types are aggressive and can spread quickly. If prostate cancer is suspected, a biopsy can confirm the diagnosis.

Learn more about prostate cancer: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-c…

Diet Studies: Repeated “Diet Switching” Found To Increase Mortality Risks

From a Science Journal study (Feb 21, 2020):

Science Advances Feb 2020We suggest this increase in mortality seen on DR in the 4-day switch treatment is due to either accrued physiological costs or more probable, a carryover of deaths directly resulting from the rich diet, but recorded on the DR diet.

A closer examination of the timing of mortality within the 4-day switching paradigm showed that the mortality response was strongest in the second 48 hours after exposure to both DR and rich diets.

Ageing has attracted extensive scientific interest, from both a fundamental and biomedical perspective. Dietary restriction (DR) extends health and life span across taxa, from baker’s yeast to mice, with very few exceptions (12). The reduction in total calories—or restriction of macronutrients, such as protein—extends life span reliably (35). Although the precise universal mechanisms that connect DR to ageing remain elusive, translation of DR’s health benefits to human medicine is deemed possible. The widespread assumption of DR’s translational potential originates from the notion that DR’s beneficial effects are facilitated by shared evolutionary conserved mechanisms, as beneficial effects of DR are observed across taxa.

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Health Talk: “Treating Headaches, Migraines And Cluster” (Mayo Clinic)

On the Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Beth Robertson, a Mayo Clinic neurologist, discusses headaches and treatment for migraines.

This interview originally aired Feb. 22, 2020. Learn more about headaches: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-c…

Health Talk: “Exercise And The Heart” (Mayo Clinic)

On the Mayo Clinic Radio program, Dr. Todd Miller, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, explains how exercise affects the heart. This interview originally aired Feb. 22, 2020. Learn more about exercise and the heart: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-li…

Studies: Dementia Risk Is Up To 11 Times Greater With Declines In Both Memory And Gait (JAMA)

From a JAMA Network Open online release (February 21, 2020):

JAMA Network OpenAcross the 6 studies of 8699 participants, mean age ranged between 70 and 74 years and mean gait speed ranged between 1.05 and 1.26 m/s. Incident dementia ranged from 5 to 21 per 1000 person-years. Compared with usual agers, participants with only memory decline had 2.2 to 4.6 times higher risk for developing dementia… 

Those with only gait decline had 2.1 to 3.6 times higher risk. Those with dual decline had 5.2 to 11.7 times the risk…

Impaired mobility, such as slow gait, is associated with an increased risk of dementia, but the effect size of this association is generally modest.16 Identifying persons who experience both mobility decline and memory decline, a main symptom in the early stage of dementia, may have a greater prognostic value in assessing risk of dementia because the combination could identify a group in whom gait speed decline is at least in part caused by neurodegenerative pathologic conditions of the central nervous system rather than local musculoskeletal problems, such as sarcopenia or osteoarthritis.79 A recent study of 154 participants with mild cognitive impairment reported that those who declined in both cognition and gait speed had the highest risk of dementia.

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