Articles on Other Conditions

Can’t find what you’re looking for?  Check out the articles in this section.  If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, contact us and let us know which condition affects you or a loved one, and we’ll do our best to provide you with helpful and informative articles on the topic.

06/28/2011 - Articles

Senior Weddings

It used to be thought that when an older couple "tied the knot" they should have a quiet, small ceremony. Read more

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05/10/2010 - Articles

Fear of dying increases with supportive family network

Fear of dying is one factor influencing where people might choose to spend their final days – whether at home or in hospital. It is a sensitive subject but it is important to know how people feel about death in order to plan end of life care. Researchers at University College, London, now reveal that a person’s social networks and their ethnic background have a big impact on their level of fear of dying. Surprisingly, perhaps, those from ethnic minority backgrounds, with a large number of supportive relatives, seem to have the most fear of dying. Read more

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05/07/2010 - Articles

Acupuncture calms dental anxiety

Around one person in 20 suffers from severe dental anxiety, or odontophobia, which may mean that they put off or avoid regular dental checks and treatment. And up to one third of patients report some degree of dental anxiety. While relaxation techniques, hypnotherapy and biofeedback may help, these may be time-consuming and dependent upon available skills in the dentist’s surgery. A new study from researchers in Sweden, Denmark and the UK, now suggests that acupuncture is highly effective in treating dental anxiety. Read more

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05/06/2010 - Articles

Advance planning improves end of life care, reduces carer stress

End of life care is something both patients and doctors need to think about, particularly when a terminal illness is involved. End of life care involves issues like taking decisions about medical treatments in advance and whether to appoint a person to make decisions for the patient when they cannot do so for themselves. Clearly, these are questions that need to be decided before end of life care actually begins. And, surprisingly perhaps, there have been no trials on the effect this kind of advance planning has in end of life care. Read more

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05/04/2010 - Articles

Risky drinking linked to other unhealthy behaviors

Risky drinking is known to be linked to health problems like liver disease, high blood pressure and certain forms of cancer. A new study from the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research now reveals how the behaviours of those who report risky drinking might have an impact on their health. This is the first time that risky drinking and health-related behaviours have been studied together in this way. The researchers find that risky drinking is linked to other risky habits like putting off seeing the doctor, unhealthy eating, and failure to wear a seat belt, thereby risking injury in a road traffic accident. Read more

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04/14/2010 - Articles

ICU stay increases later mortality risk

A stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) can be life-saving in the short term but, according to a new study, it may increase mortality in the longer term. The situation is complicated, of course, because a patient has to be very ill to be in the ICU and we don’t really know if it’s the illness, or some factor about being in the ICU, that causes the increase in risk of death. There has actually been a decrease, over time, in the risk of dying in hospital after being in the ICU. So more patients are discharged after ICU care, but we do not know much about their fate afterwards. Read more

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04/06/2010 - Articles

Link between chronic fatigue and virus not proven

Chronic fatigue affects millions of people worldwide. It is associated with disabling fatigue, pain, and other symptoms. The causes of chronic fatigue remain unclear – various physical and psychological factors have been investigated, however. Nor is there any effective cure for chronic fatigue. If the cause could be established, then effective therapies for chronic fatigue are more likely to be developed. A recent study from the United States suggested a link between a human retrovirus known as xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV) and chronic fatigue. In this study, XMRV was found in two thirds of a group of patients with chronic fatigue. Then, in January 2010, there was a study from the UK which did not support these findings – no evidence of XMRV was detected in a group of 186 patients. A third study also failed to find XMRV in chronic fatigue patients. So, is there a link between XMRV and chronic fatigue – or not? Read more

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01/06/2010 - Articles

Medication-taking behavior in the spotlight

The way people take medication has an important impact on both its safety and its effectiveness. Dr Thomas Barron of Trinity College Dublin has just revealed that medication-taking behaviour is more complex than you might think. Persistence, when you continue to take your tablets, and adherence, which is taking medication in the right way, are two different aspects of medication-taking behaviour. You need to be doing both to get the maximum benefit from medication. Read more

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12/23/2009 - Articles

How To Spot Caregiver Burnout

The risk of burnout by family caregivers is well known, and it's important to be able to recognize the signs, so that timely help can be given. Here is a list. Read more

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12/22/2009 - Articles

Infections and arterial disease?

The risk factors for atherosclerosis (narrowing or blockage of arteries due to fat deposits) - which can lead to heart attacks and stroke - are well known; they include high blood pressure, obesity Read more

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