It's win-win for elderly tutors, grade-school kids - washingtonpost.com

By DAVID CRARY

For 73-year-old Rosetta Handy, and the second-graders who dote on her, it's a 50/50 proposition, with winners all around.

"They help me as much as I help them," said Handy of her volunteer work as a tutor at Belmont Elementary School in a low-income West Baltimore neighborhood. "They give you energy. You learn psychology all over again."

Recent research indicates that Handy knows of what she speaks - documenting significant health benefits for the tutors.

Continue Reading

Afib Linked to Dementia Incidence and Mortality

By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Atrial fibrillation appears independently linked to all forms of dementia, particularly in later middle age, researchers found.

Atrial fibrillation patients 70 or younger were 2.3 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than those without the heart rhythm disorder, after multivariate adjustment (P=0.001), in a large prospective cohort study by T. Jared Bunch, MD, of Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, and colleagues.
Coninue Reading

Diet and Lifestyle Still Top Bone Loss Prevention Strategies - in Endocrinology, Osteoporosis from MedPage Today

By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Diet and lifestyle should remain first among osteoporosis management options despite major advances in evidence for and approval of new treatments over the past few years, according to the North American Menopause Society.

The group's position statement on osteoporosis management in the January/February issue of Menopause emphasized that all postmenopausal women should be encouraged to reduce their risk of bone loss and osteoporotic fractures by:

* Maintaining a healthy weight
* Eating a balanced diet
* Obtaining adequate calcium (1,200 mg per day at age 50 and beyond) and vitamin D (800 to 1,000 IU vitamin D3 per day)
* Participating in appropriate exercise
* Avoiding excessive alcohol consumption
* Not smoking
* Taking measures to prevent falls

Periodic reviews of these measures, including annual assessment of fall risk after menopause or whenever physical or mental status changes, were recommended.

Continue Reading

New Guidance on Hormone Therapy Issued - in OB/Gyn, HRT from MedPage Today

Image via Wikipedia

By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

After discontinuing long-term hormone therapy, postmenopausal women should have their bone mineral density monitored and should start bone-preserving therapy if necessary, according to the North American Menopause Society.

The guidance is included in a position statement that updates a statement the society issued in 2008.

The new statement, crafted by an advisory panel led by Wulf Utian, MD, PhD, of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, was published in the March/April issue of Menopause.

Continue Reading