Health Care Fraud, Prescription Theft Lead To Significant Losses
ABC News: “A four month ‘Nightline’ investigation into Medicare fraud makes one thing perfectly clear: this is a crime that pays and pays and pays. The federal government admits that a staggering $60 billion is stolen from tax payers through Medicare scams every year. Some experts believe the number is more than twice that…
Determinants of awareness, initiation and maintenance of physical activity among the over-fifties: a Delphi study
To develop effective interventions to stimulate physical activity (PA), insight into its underlying variables is needed. The aim of this study was to obtain an overview of the most relevant determinants of awareness, initiation and maintenance of PA among the over-fifties by means of a three-round Delphi study. In the first round, 17 key-experts outlined possible relevant determinants into an open-ended electronic questionnaire. In the second round, 118 experts completed a structured electronic questionnaire that was based on the first round results, in which they scored each determinant on its relevance. In the third round, experts were asked to re-rate the relevance of each determinant, after feedback was given about the group median relevance score. After three rounds, the experts agreed on 30 relevant determinants of the three phases of PA. When compared with longitudinal studies, the Delphi study pointed out new concepts, such as several post-motivational and social and environmental determinants as possible relevant determinants, suggesting that this method has the potential to trace new and promising determinants. The results further showed that next to similarities, much dissimilarity in relevant determinants of awareness, initiation and maintenance of PA was found, suggesting that most determinants could be phase specific.
Dr. Mike Roizen To Give Keynote Speech At Annual Meeting For The International Anesthesia Research Society
The International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) announces that Dr. Michael Roizen of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Center will deliver the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture, the keynote speech of the 2010 Annual Meeting for the International Anesthesia Research Society, to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dr…
The Immune System May Offer Method For Stopping Infection-Caused Inflammation By Targeting Blood Vessels
Treating virulent influenza, sepsis, and other potentially deadly infections long has focused on looking for ways to kill viruses and bacteria. But new research from the University of Utah and Utah State University shows that modulating the body’s own overeager inflammatory response to infection may help save more lives…
The characteristics of the outdoor school environment associated with physical activity
The school is an important setting for physical activity. The purpose of the present study was to examine the association between physical environmental characteristics and participation in daily physical activity during school breaks. Data from 130 schools and 16 471 students (Grades 4–10) in Norway were obtained in 2004 through self-administered questionnaires to principals and students. Multilevel logistic regression models revealed that boys at secondary level with a larger number of outdoor facilities at school had 2.69 times [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.21–5.98] and girls 2.90 times (95% CI = 1.32–6.37) higher odds of being physically active compared with students in schools with fewer facilities. Boys at secondary level with areas for hopscotch/skipping rope had 2.53 times (95% CI = 1.55–4.13), with a soccer field 1.68 times (95% CI = 1.15–2.45), with playground equipment 1.66 times (95% CI = 1.16–2.37) and with a sledding hill 1.70 times (95% CI = 1.23–2.35) higher odds to be physically active compared with students in schools without these facilities. A sledding hill was also associated with girls’ physical activity participation in secondary school (odds ratio = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.11–2.24). Outdoor facilities in secondary schools are associated with students’ daily physical activity participation during school breaks. Therefore, improving the outdoor environment should be considered in physical activity promotion school programs in secondary schools.
Personal, social and environmental correlates of resilience to physical inactivity among women from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds
While sex and socio-economic disparities in physical activity have been well documented, not all disadvantaged women are inactive. This study aimed to examine correlates of achieving recommended levels of physical activity among women of low socio-economic position. In 2005, a population-based sample of 291 women with low educational attainment provided survey data on leisure time physical activity (LTPA). Participants reported potential personal (enjoyment and self-efficacy; barriers; intentions; guilt and priorities; routines and scheduling; occupational physical activity; television viewing), social (support from family/friends; social participation; sport/recreation club membership; dog ownership) and environmental (aesthetics; safety; local access; footpaths; interesting walks; busy roads to cross; heavy traffic) correlates of physical activity. Nearly 40% of participants achieved recommended LTPA (150 min week–1). Multivariable analyses revealed that higher levels of self-efficacy for walking [prevalence ratio (PR) 2.05, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.19–3.53], higher enjoyment of walking (PR 1.48, 95% CI 1.04–2.12), greater intentions to be active (PR 1.97, 95% CI 1.12–3.45) and having set routines for physical activity (PR 1.91, 95% CI 1.18–3.09) were significantly associated with achieving recommended LTPA. Personal factors were the characteristics most strongly associated with achieving recommended levels of LTPA among women from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Discovery Of Codeine And Morphine Genes By University Of Calgary Researchers
Researchers at the University of Calgary have discovered the unique genes that allow the opium poppy to make codeine and morphine, thus opening doors to alternate methods of producing these effective painkillers either by manufacturing them in a lab or controlling the production of these compounds in the plant…
Evolution of primordial chemical sensor, nociception, sniffed out
Whenever you choke on acrid cigarette smoke, feel like you’re burning up from a mouthful of wasabi-laced sushi, or cry while cutting raw onions and garlic, your response is being triggered by a primordial chemical sensor conserved across some 500 million years of animal evolution, report scientists.
Report Cites Rise In Uninsured Middle-Class Americans
A report released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Barely Hanging On: Middle-Class and Uninsured, looks at the rise in the level of uninsured middle-class people in the last eight years. USA Today reports on the most significant national statistics affecting middle-class families earning between $45,000 to $85,000 annually…
Antidepressants: People?s Beliefs About Using These Drugs
People who are hesitant to use antidepressants most often are young, have never taken antidepressants, view their depression as mild and temporary, and feel unclear about the reasons for their depression.
This is according to an interesting medical study, Explaining Patients? Beliefs About the Necessity and Harmfulness of Antidepressants, that looked at patients? beliefs about the use of medications to treat their depression.
Guidelines for the treatment of depression recommend that people with a diagnosis of depression take medications for at least eight months after their depression symptoms have lessened. However, more than 50% of patients stop their medication too soon or take it erratically, which may increase their risk for a return of depression symptoms.
The authors of this study suggested that physicians need to address these concerns with their patients to help them make better informed decisions about whether to use antidepressant medications. However, a physician?s indifference about these issues may increase the likelihood that their patients will not take their medications and, therefore, not recover.
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Antidepressants: People?s Beliefs About Using These Drugs originally appeared on About.com Drugs on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 12:56:30.
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