Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Administration on Aging have awarded Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders (SAGE) a three-year, $900,000 grant to create the nationÛªs only national resource center on LGBT aging. The National Technical Assistance Resource Center for LGBT Elders will...
Author Archives: anthony
Caregiver Datbase Flawed According to LA Times
Two decades ago Congress set out to stop dangerous or incompetent caregivers from crossing state lines and landing in trouble by ordering that a national database be established allowing hospitals to check for disciplinary actions taken anywhere in the country against health professionals. The long-awaited repository is missing serious disciplinary...
Vitamin D Helps Reduce Falls
Researchers with The Cochrane Library reviewed five studies of vitamin D use in nursing homes. Four of those studies looked at fall rates among nursing home patients who take vitamin D. Residents were 28% less likely to experience a fall when given daily doses of vitamin D, and the benefit...
Anthem Delays Rate Hike
Anthem Blue Cross has agreed to postpone a proposed rate increase in California for at least two months, while the state insurance department examines the legality of the proposal. Anthem will delay the rate increase, which was expected to begin March 1 and will mean a 39% hike for some...
Decline in Sense of Smell Possible Alzheimer’s Indicator
Research in the Journal of Neuroscience suggests that loss of smell be an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease. People with Alzheimer’s are already known to suffer from loss of smell. But the new research pinpoints a direct link between development of amyloid plaques and a worsening sense of smell. The...
Cell Phones and Alzheimer’s
So your damned if you do an damned if you don’t. There has been a debate for years about the potential harm of cell phones and cancer incidence. Now, an international team of researchers from the U.S., Japan and China conducted a study that concluded that the electromagnetic waves generated...
Watch Out for This Diabetes Medication
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reports that a commonly prescribed diabetes medication is contributing to higher rates of bone fractures among elderly women. The drug thiazolidinedione (TZD) is commonly used to treat insulin resistance in patients with type 2 diabetes. Researchers studied 19,070 men and women, 4,511 of...
Let’s Move Should Not be for Just Kids
I applaud Mrs. Obama’s efforts to fight childhood obesity. But we should not lose site of the fact that many of us share the blame for our kid’s poor eating and exercise habits. Yes there is shameful, clever, manipulating marketing out there that sways behavior. But kids first look to...
Long-Term Quality Alliance Launched
A group of the nationÛªs leading health, consumer, and aging advocates has formed a new alliance, The Long-Term Quality Alliance (LTQA), which aims to broaden efforts to improve quality of care to include community-based settings as well as nursing homes. It will do so by fostering ÛÏperson-centeredÛ quality measures for...
Researchers Call into Question Marijuana’s Ability to Treat Alzheimers
Past studies have indicated that low levels of marijuana’s ÛÏactive ingredient,Û THC, could help prevent the accumulation of Amyloid plaques in the brain, and even stimulate brain cell growth. A new study by Canadian researchers comes to a different conclusion. Using mice that carry a human genetic mutation that causes...