New research published in the British Journal of Urology proposes improvements to the NHS-recommended treatment for stress incontinence (SUI).

This is welcome news for millions of women who can expect quicker relief from their distressing symptoms, as well as for NHS bosses who can deal with this major health problem more effectively.

The author of the article, Professor Marcus Drake of the Bristol Urology Institute, highlights fundamental weaknesses in the current treatment recommended by NICE – pelvic floor muscle exercise (PFME) – and suggests that greater success rates can be achieved if women are offered the PelvicToner(TM) to encourage a more effective and sustained exercise regime.

The PelvicToner(TM) is a registered medical device that works by strengthening the pelvic floor muscles through mild resistance training. This gives greater bladder control when coughing, sneezing, laughing or exercising.

Researchers at the Bristol Urological Institute (BUI) said the PelvicToner(TM) was “easy to use” and proved “particularly helpful” in the majority of cases. 86 per cent of participants who used the PelvicToner(TM) reported a “significant” improvement in their condition.

The PelvicToner(TM) is on sale priced GBP29.99, but could become available on NHS prescription. According to Professor Drake, who led the BUI study, it could supplement current NHS treatments and provide a long-term solution to stress incontinence.

He said: “The PelvicToner(TM) aided women in identifying their pelvic floor confidently. It increases patient choice and may promote subsequent compliance and sustained efficacy.”

Key points noted by the research are that the PelvicToner(TM):

  • gives “confidence to women that they were correctly contracting their pelvic floor.”
  • the biofeedback given can “demonstrate to the woman that she is carrying out the PFME appropriately.”

Professor Drake noted that the PelvicToner(TM) is particularly relevant to those women “who do not consult their physician and wish to maintain confidentiality regarding their SUI symptom.”

Stress incontinence occurs as a result of reduced support for the bladder, usually by ‘sagging’ pelvic floor muscles. This is commonly brought-on by childbirth and menopause but a life-long lack of effective pelvic floor exercise and obesity are also major factors.

According to Professor Drake, exercises recommended by the NHS often fail to help because of inadequate training, slow improvement or a lack of patient commitment.

Other forms of treatment include electrical stimulation, drugs and Surgery, but most women rely on the use of absorbent pads which are expensive and environmentally unsound.

According to SPM, the device’s Bristol-based manufacturer, a major benefit of the PelvicToner(TM) is the speed of improvement compared to pelvic floor exercise alone. An independent survey carried out by SPM found 87 per cent of users had better bladder control within four weeks, compared to the several months expected following the NHS regime.

Barry Fowler, who developed the PelvicToner(TM), said: “We believe that the PelvicToner(TM) can significantly improve the service and treatment that women receive from the NHS and help the NHS save a great deal of money by making the preferred treatment option more effective.”

“Millions of women are still too embarrassed to even consult with their doctor because of the taboo that surrounds stress incontinence. For these women especially, help is now immediately at hand with a medical device that is accessible, cheap, simple to use and of proven effectiveness.”

There is comprehensive information with links to the British Journal of Urology article on http://www.pelvictoner.co.uk and http://www.mypelvicfitness.com.

Source: Solutions Project Management Ltd


Eight in 10 Americans say they are in control of their eating habits

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Jan 17,2010

But Growing Obesity Crisis Tells Another Story

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare and its alli(R) Brand Launch Initiative to Address America’s Unhealthy Relationship with Food

Are Americans in denial about their eating habits? Today, two out of three Americans are overweight or obese, and by 2030 that figure will balloon to nearly nine out of 10.[i],[ii] Yet in a new national survey, three-quarters of respondents (74%) said they have a healthy personal relationship with food revealing a clear disconnect between how we think and how we act when it comes to eating. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, the maker of alli®, sponsored the survey to better understand America’s unhealthy relationship with food and develop solutions to help people change the way they eat.

“America’s unhealthy relationship with food touches everyone,” said Rachel Ferdinando, vice president, alli, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. “Our study showed that many Americans are engaging in mindless or emotional eating habits that is, eating without thinking about nutritional value or portion size, or eating in response to feelings instead of to hunger. These unhealthy habits can lead to weight gain and are contributing to our burgeoning obesity crisis. It’s time we look at our relationship with food through this lens so people can begin to understand why they overeat and learn healthier habits for life.”

The survey revealed several contradictions in how Americans perceive their eating habits. While eight in 10 Americans surveyed (79%) say they are satisfied with the state of their personal eating habits, two-thirds (67%) admit to practicing poor eating habits on at least a weekly basis, such as skipping meals and eating when they’re not hungry. And, despite their satisfaction with their own eating habits, nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) said most Americans have an unhealthy relationship with food. About half (52%) believe an immediate family member has an unhealthy relationship with food, while more than four in 10 (44%) are concerned about a spouse’s eating habits.

“It’s clear from this survey that people recognize poor eating habits, such as mindless or emotional eating, on a societal level and in other individuals, but they don’t identify the problem in themselves even though they admit to specific unhealthy eating habits,” said Brad Lamm*, a board-registered interventionist and founder and president of Intervention Specialists who helped design the survey for GSK. “We need to help people connect the dots so they see their own poor eating habits and mindless eating, identify the causes, and address them with sustainable solutions.”

As part of its commitment to changing the unhealthy eating paradigm, GSK Consumer Healthcare announced last week a sponsorship with The Creative Coalition, an advocacy organization of the entertainment community that uses the arts as a platform for shedding light on important social issues. The Creative Coalition will work with a director to develop a documentary project that raises awareness of mindless and emotional eating in relation to America’s obesity epidemic. The project is being sponsored with full funding by GSK Consumer Healthcare. The Creative Coalition will have complete creative control. This is part of The Creative Coalition’s Spotlight Initiative, which uses independent film to bring attention to important issues on the national and global agendas.

About the survey

On behalf of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, StrategyOne conducted a telephone survey among a sample of 2,001 Americans ages 18 and older. The national sample is census-representative for gender, age, region, income, education, and ethnicity. The overall margin of sampling error at the 95% confidence level is +/- 1.7% for total respondents (2,001). The survey was approximately 15 minutes in length and was conducted using CATI technology. Fielding took place December 5-11, 2009.

[i] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/overweight/overweight_adult.htm
[ii] http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v16/n10/abs/oby2008351a.html

*Brad Lamm is compensated by GSK but his opinions are his own.

Source: GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare


Avatar 3-D images help to identify vision problems

College of Optometrists in Vision Development offers advice for those having trouble with seeing in 3-D

With Avatar now heading into its fifth week as a box office hit, many people are headed to movie theaters to see what the excitement over 3-D is all about. Unfortunately, many of them may be disappointed because they didn’t know they can’t see 3-D.

While the concept of being “3-D ready” means that the new 3-D TVs, showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show last week, will be able to provide 3-D viewing, the College of Optometrists in Vision Development state that our eyes need to be “3-D ready” to be able to fully enjoy Avatar. In other words, you need to be able to see 3-D for the entire 2 hours and 40 minutes of riveting 3-D action.

The 3-D version of Avatar has two images projected on the screen, each image seen by one eye. The images are then merged into one by your brain. If the images aren’t perceived correctly, it will be very difficult to merge or fuse the images into 3-D. The technology behind the Avatar 3-D effects is based on the premise that the viewer has the ability to see 3-D.

“There are a variety of vision problems which may cause intermittent problems, where you will see 3-D part of the time. This can definitely cause headaches or at the least make viewing very uncomfortable,” explained Dr. Bradley Habermehl, President of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development.

Research has shown that up to 56% of those 18 to 38 years of age have one or more problems with binocular vision and therefore could have difficulty seeing 3-D. In addition, about five percent of the population have amblyopia (lazy eye) and/or strabismus (eye turn) which makes 3-D viewing impossible.

But there is hope. Thanks to optometric vision therapy, thousands of people who previously could not see 3-D are enjoying every special effect Avatar has to offer. Dr. Susan R. Barry, professor of neurobiology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Mount Holyoke College, who lived most of her life stereoblind until she went through an optometric vision therapy program at the age of 48, shares, “I am happy to say I am no longer stereoblind. I can enjoy the 3-D effects in Avatar as well or more than anyone else. The scenes of the forest receding way into the distance and the seeds from the Tree of Life floating in front of the screen were fantastic.”

In fact, Barry’s life changed so dramatically by gaining 3-D vision that she wrote Fixing My Gaze (June, 2009), to share her experience with the world. In an interview published in Scientific American, From 2-D to 3-D Sight: How One Scientist Learned to See, Barry shares, “Seeing in 3-D provides a fundamentally different way of seeing and interpreting the world than seeing with one eye. When I began to see in stereo, it came as an enormous surprise and a great gift.”

Some people may have 3-D vision but feel nauseous or dizzy when watching Avatar. This can be caused by something known as visual motion hypersensitivity.

“People who have visual motion hypersensitivity, will find Avatar quite challenging to view,” according to Kenneth J. Ciuffreda, O.D., FCOVD-A, Ph.D., a professor at SUNY, State College of Optometry, Department of Vision Sciences in New York City, and leading research expert in binocular vision. Ciuffreda recently co-authored a paper on the topic of visual motion hypersensitivity (VMH) and one of the signs of VMH is feeling dizzy when watching a movie in the movie theater. And, this isn’t even a 3-D movie! Adding the third dimension can make viewing stressful for someone with VMH. (The reference for the paper is: Winkler Pa, Ciuffreda KJ. Ocular fixation, vestibular dysfunction, and visual motion hypersensitivity. Optometry 2009;80(9):502-512.)

As technology quickly advances to provide us with 3-D ready TVs so we can watch movies, like Avatar, in the comfort of our own home, there are still millions of people whose eyes are not 3-D ready. “It is our mission to educate the public on the fact that you can become 3-D ready. Optometric vision therapy has helped thousands of people across the world to be able to see 3-D; even those who have had multiple eye surgeries, such as Dr. Barry,” Habermehl states.

To find out more about 3-D vision and optometric vision therapy, visit the website for the College of Optometrists in Vision Development, www.covd.org.


Bill to legalize marijuana is up in smoke!

  • Author: Health Informer
  • Filed under: Health News
  • Date: Jan 16,2010

Religious Faithful, Law Enforcement and Activists Hail Victory

The California Legislature formally proclaimed Assembly Bill 390 “dead on arrival” today as lawmakers rejected an 11th hour plan to save it from demise. Opponents of the measure hail the news as a resounding victory for the people of California.

“Tom Ammiano is trying to spin his committee’s endorsement of the bill as a major breakthrough that will lead to a national legalization movement; yet his own colleagues in the Legislature are unwilling to take it any further than the seven-member Public Safety Committee,” said an elated John Redman, executive director of Californians for Drug Free Youth (CADFY). “In deciding not to advance this measure, the California Legislature recognized that AB 390 was bad public policy. And, in spite of the four Bay Area legislators who voted for its passage in committee, the majority of lawmakers didn’t even think the bill was worth taking up in subsequent committees or the Assembly floor.”

Procedurally, the Assembly Health Committee had to act on AB 390 by today, January 15, 2010, to keep it alive. Since members chose to miss that deadline, AB 390 will not reach the Assembly floor, effectively killing it.

“This victory is really for the children growing up in California’s neighborhoods,” said Bishop Ron Allen, founder and president of the International Faith Based Coalition, who admits to being led down a destructive path of cocaine addiction that started with marijuana. “Our grassroots efforts paid off in reaching California voters to support our dream that our communities become free of drugs and are made safer for our kids.”

“I nearly lost everything – my home, my family and my reputation – as a result of taking that first puff of pot, and I have lived to regret it every day,” said Allen, who resides in drug-infested Oak Park, Sacramento. “We’ve made it our mission to stamp out this destructive drug once and for all, and we will not relent until our work is finished.”

As a recognized public safety expert and retired veteran CHP officer and assistant chief, Assemblymember Danny Gilmore (R-Hanford) voted against the bill. “We’re going to legalize marijuana and tax it and then use that money to educate our kids about the harms of drugs? You got to be kidding me!”

Added Redman, “Plain and simple, taxing marijuana is blood money. I think the Legislature came to its senses in realizing how ridiculous it would be to turn to drugs to balance the budget. There are legitimate ways to get our economy moving again, and this is not one of them.”

Source: International Faith Based Coalition


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