Iron overload: Straightforward treatment for common genetic disorder

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Oct 24,2009

Absorbing and storing too much iron can cause an array of health problems — for starters, joint pain, fatigue, weakness and loss of interest in sex. This condition, called hemochromatosis, is the most common genetic disorder in the United States, most frequently occurring in people of Northern European descent.

When people have hemochromatosis, their bodies absorb and store too much iron from their normal diet. Over decades, the iron levels can build up in various organs, most often the liver and heart. Without treatment, iron levels accumulate to 20 times that of a person without the disorder. The result can be irreversible scarring of the liver (cirrhosis), liver cancer, diabetes, heart failure, heart rhythm problems, arthritis, impotence or darkening of the skin.

Because of routine blood tests and follow-up genetic testing, nearly three-fourths of those with hemochromatosis are diagnosed before symptoms even begin. Usually, iron levels can be returned to normal without lasting health problems.

The most common treatment is as straightforward as the process of donating blood. About 1 pint of blood is removed from the patient every one to two weeks until iron markers in the blood reach normal levels. Once normal levels are reached, which can take from several weeks to a year or more, blood is drawn two to four times a year.

When iron levels return to normal, patients see marked improvements in weakness, fatigue, darkening of the skin and possibly even early-stage liver and heart disease. However, if cirrhosis occurs, damage to the liver may be permanent. The increased risk of liver cancer associated with cirrhosis will remain, too.

Source: Mayo Clinic

Alzheimer’s Association launches Comfort Zone

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Oct 23,2009

The First Comprehensive Location Management System Designed For People With Alzheimer’s

New System Combines Technology and Flexibility to Help People with Alzheimer’s Remain Active At Home Longer

The Alzheimer’s Association Comfort Zone(TM), powered by Omnilink, is the first comprehensive location management system designed specifically for Alzheimer’s, giving people with the disease more freedom and independence in their community while providing their family some peace of mind. Comfort Zone is a Web-based application that works with various location devices throughout the progression of the disease to proactively communicate the location of the person with Alzheimer’s within two to 30 minutes, based on the family’s selected plan. Comfort Zone also offers families assistance with 24/7 monitoring center services and access to emergency health records from the MedicAlert Foundation.

As Americans continue to live longer, prevalence of Alzheimer’s is expected to skyrocket from the current 5.3 million Americans to as many as 16 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Association 2009 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts & Figures report. In addition to its slow, fatal progression, Alzheimer’s poses immediate safety concerns for people living with the disease and enormous challenges and stress for their 10 million family caregivers.

“As the Alzheimer’s epidemic gains momentum, the Alzheimer’s Association is committed to educating families about how to keep people with Alzheimer’s successfully in the community for as long as possible,” said Beth Kallmyer, MSW, director of Family and Information Services at the Alzheimer’s Association. “Comfort Zone is an interactive safety service that allows people with the disease to be more active and caregivers to be more confident whether they are in the same house, down the street, at work or across the country.”

Comfort Zone combines the latest technology with flexibility, allowing families to change devices and plans as a person’s disease progresses and monitoring needs change. Using GPS and cellular technologies with online mapping, Comfort Zone allows the entire family to proactively determine the location of the person with Alzheimer’s. Families log into a secure, password-protected Web site similar to logging into most email systems and proactively establish safety zones. If the person with Alzheimer’s travels beyond the pre-set zones, they receive alerts via text or email within 15 or 30 minutes, depending on the device and service package purchased. These zones and alerts can be adjusted to meet the family’s needs as the disease progresses. Additionally, families can determine location within two minutes by initiating a “Find Me” or a longer “Follow Me” session, which provides updates every two minutes for one hour.

“Omnilink is pleased to partner with the Alzheimer’s Association and power the Comfort Zone application,” said Wain Kellum, CEO of Omnilink. “This is a great opportunity to use our advanced location-based services platform to give families flexible care options and choices throughout the progression of the disease.”

Bill Bailey, an Alzheimer’s Association Early-Stage Advisor living with the disease, and his wife Kitty Kennedy tested Comfort Zone from their Richmond, Va., home. Bailey, an avid exerciser, found he was able to ride his bike again and even drove 600 miles to camp with his brother-in-law for the first time since diagnosis. “I felt more confident that I would not get lost, because my wife could keep up with me,” said Bailey, Alzheimer’s Association Early-Stage Advisor. Kennedy adds, “As a caregiver, it gives me peace of mind to know that Bill is able to move about freely yet safely even if I’m at work, running errands or taking a break. With Comfort Zone in our back pocket, we bought ourselves more time and independence.”

“In the past, location management services and devices were bulky, complicated and prohibitively expensive. Advances in technology continue to make these solutions more discrete, simple and affordable offering families a choice,” said Kallmyer. “Comfort Zone is as easy as turning on a computer, receiving a text message or calling the monitoring center.”

The price of the Comfort Zone service packages varies, beginning at $42.99 a month with a $45.00 activation fee, similar to most cell phone services.

Source: www.alz.org/comfortzone

Studies: All infant formula contains fluoride at tooth-discoloring levels

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Oct 22,2009

All infant formulas, whether ready-to-feed, concentrated or organic, contain fluoride at levels which can discolor developing teeth, reports the October 2009 Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA)(1).

Fluoride, added to some bottled and public water supplies ostensibly to prevent cavities, is also in many foods and beverages, including infant formula. Excessive fluoride discolors and/or weakens permanent teeth (moderate fluorosis).

Researchers measured fluoride content of 49 infant formulas. See: http://www.freewebs.com/fluoridation/infantformulafluoride.htm

The research team concludes, “Most infants from birth to age 12 months who consume predominantly powdered and liquid concentrate formula are likely to exceed the upper tolerable limit [of fluoride] if the formula is reconstituted with optimally fluoridated water (0.7 – 1.2 ppm).”

Surprisingly, the study reveals that all 6-month-olds and younger will also exceed the lower “adequate intake” (0.01 mg/day) from all formulas (concentrated or not) risking moderate dental fluorosis from formula, alone.(2)

Breast milk contains about 250 times less fluoride than “optimally” fluoridated water and isn’t linked to fluorosis.

“Babies don’t need fluoride, and fluoride ingestion doesn’t reduce tooth decay,” says attorney Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. “So why are U.S. babies still exposed to unnecessary fluoride chemicals via the water and food supplies, and why aren’t parents informed of the consequences?” asks Beeber.

Up to 48% of school children have fluorosed teeth – 4% severe, reports the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)(3).

Both the CDC and the American Dental Association’s web sites advise parents to avoid mixing fluoridated water into concentrated infant formula, but they have never effectively broadcast this information to parents or the media(4,5).

A review of human studies by different researchers published in JADA (July 2009) concluded, “Our systematic review indicated that the consumption of infant formula [concentrated and ready-to-feed] is, on average, associated with an increased risk of developing at least some detectable level of enamel fluorosis.”(6)

“Parents, protect your children since dental and government agencies won’t. Petition local and state legislators to stop adding unnecessary and harmful fluoride chemicals into public water supplies and, thereby, into our food supply,” says Beeber. “Further, demand that the fluoride content of all food products be required on labels.”

USDA: Fluoride-content of common foods: http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=6312

Source: New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.

Solutions for better care for the elderly

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Oct 22,2009

FIGHT FOR QUALITY OF LIFE FOR PENNSYLVANIA CONSUMERS Assisted living industry pushes for smaller rooms and less space

With Pennsylvania just weeks away from the publication of final assisted living regulations, recently-released survey results about the size of living units in existing facilities show the wisdom of the proposed rules — and the absurdity of the industry’s opposition.

The size of the living units has been one of the most contentious issues in the battle over the regulations between consumers and the industry. Existing rules governing facilities that call themselves assisted living only require 80 square feet of living space per person. This is woefully small, equivalent to the federal minimum requirement for a prison cell. Rooms of this size do not provide a home-like environment and are not big enough to ensure comfort and safety for residents who are usually elderly and have disabilities.

The state has proposed setting the minimum requirement at 175 square feet for existing construction and 250 square feet for new construction, excluding bathrooms and closets. The latter number also is the recommended size supported by the Philadelphia Housing Authority and Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. But the assisted living industry wants the minimum set at 125 square feet for existing construction and 150 square feet for new construction.

Trade associations argue that facilities cannot currently meet the proposed standards. But the survey results show that many facilities are meeting the standards already.

According to a recent voluntary survey conducted by the state of Pennsylvania, more than 72% (20,801 units out of 28,774 units as reported to the state this Spring) of existing living units already meet (and mostly exceed) the state’s proposed 175-square-foot requirement. More than 700 facilities that are currently licensed as personal care homes — that may or may not call themselves assisted living — voluntarily participated in this survey. The survey was distributed by the state via e-mail and has been posted on the Pennsylvania Assisted Living Consumer Alliance website at www.paassistedlivingconsumeralliance.org.

These survey results are heartening and strongly support the state’s proposal on this topic. And they significantly undercut continued lobbying by the industry for lower standards.

“Consumers deserve a home-like setting with enough room that they can have a quality life and that they can maneuver around their living space while using their wheelchair or scooter,” said Alissa Halperin, Senior Attorney and Deputy Director of Policy Advocacy at the Pennsylvania Health Law Project and director of the PA Assisted Living Consumer Alliance (PALCA). Published data from 1999, the most recent available such report, showed more than 21 percent of residents in assisted living facilities relying on wheelchairs and 44 percent on walkers. “According to the architects we’ve consulted, who are recognized experts in the Americans With Disabilities Act and accessible design, anything less than roughly 200 square feet, even excluding bathrooms and closets, is not accessible to a wheelchair user,” Halperin added. “And even that amount of space is only accessible if arranged and furnished in just the right way.”

Residents who use wheelchairs and staff at various facilities have told the Pennsylvania Assisted Living Consumer Alliance that some residents have to sit in bed and wait to be transferred to a nearby wheelchair because the room doesn’t provide enough space for the residents to roll the chair up to the side of the bed so that they can transfer on their own. See their stories at www.paassistedlivingconsumeralliance.org.

About 50,000 people in Pennsylvania live in facilities that may call themselves assisted living facilities, housing people who are not so sick as to require a nursing home. Residents generally need help with bathing, dressing, medication management and other basic care needs. Current Pennsylvania regulations lump assisted living facilities together with personal care homes and other homes for the elderly and disabled.

The Alliance has identified numerous ways that the Department of Public Welfare’s proposed rules for assisted living need to be improved before becoming final. For more information on PALCA’s concerns with the proposed regulations or to find a list of participating organizations that are part of the Alliance and where PALCA stands on each of the regulatory issues, visit our website at www.paassistedlivingconsumeralliance.org.

Source: PA Assisted Living Consumer Alliance