underwriting

Walk or Run? Think Distance, Not Speed

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Researchers evaluated 33,060 runners in the National Runners’ Health Study and 15,045 walkers in the National Walkers’ Health Study. Dr. Thompson said there will be more results coming from the data. The study found:

  • Running reduced the risk for first-time hypertension 4.2%, and walking reduced it by 7.2%.
  • Running cut the risk for first-time high cholesterol 4.3%, and walking reduced it by 7.0%.
  • Running cut the risk for first-time diabetes 12.1%, and walking decreased it by 12.3%.
  • Running reduced coronary heart disease 4.5% compared with 9.3% for walking.

via Walk or run? Think distance, not speed, for health benefits – amednews.com.

GREAT NEWS for this aging tortoise who no longer runs 10-k’s due to bilateral knee osteoarthritis.

Cinnamon Game Harms Players

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Calls to the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) related to cinnamon increased from 51 in 2011 to 178 calls in the first 6 months of 2012, wrote Steven Lipshultz, MD, of University of Miami’s Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine in Florida, and colleagues, online in a Perspective in Pediatrics.

 

Of the 178 calls, 122 (69%) were classified as intentional misuse or abuse “consistent with the cinnamon challenge,” the authors wrote, and about (17%) required medical attention.

 

The challenge requires a person to swallow a tablespoon of the dry, ground spice in 60 seconds without drinking fluids.

 

The authors pointed to 51,000 YouTube video clips — one viewed 19 million times — as of August 2012 that showed adolescents watching someone coughing and choking as the cinnamon triggers a severe gag reflex. They said the popularity of the Internet coupled with peer pressure instigated too many cinnamon challenges.

via Cinnamon Game Harms Players.

I am so thankful my own children are (mostly) past the stupid stage.

Slow Pace Linked to Early Death in Renal Patients

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Clinical assessment of gait speed and ‘timed up and go’ performance — the time it takes to stand from a seated position, walk around a cone placed 4 meters away, and return — were more strongly predictive of 3-year mortality than kidney function or standard blood testing in the study, published this week in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

via Slow Pace Linked to Early Death in Renal Patients.

Association of Clinical Symptomatic Hypoglycemia With Cardiovascular Events and Total Mortality in Type 2 Diabetes

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CONCLUSIONS: Symptomatic hypoglycemia, whether clinically mild or severe, is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events, all-cause hospitalization, and all-cause mortality. More attention may be needed for diabetic patients with hypoglycemic episodes.

via Association of Clinical Symptomatic Hypoglycemia With Cardiovascular Events and Total Mortality in Type 2 Diabetes.

Watch those hypoglycemic episodes in applicants with T2DM.

Association Between BMI Measured Within a Year After Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes and Mortality

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CONCLUSIONS: Patients categorized as normal weight or obese with T2DM within a year of diagnosis of T2DM exhibit variably higher mortality outcomes compared with the overweight group, confirming a U-shaped association of BMI with mortality. Whether weight loss interventions reduce mortality in all T2DM patients requires study.

via Association Between BMI Measured Within a Year After Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes and Mortality.

Could we have another U shaped mortality curve?  Watch that BMI.

Teaching Prediabetes an Uphill Battle

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The study shows that in 2010, one in three adults age 20 and older (an estimated 79 million people) had prediabetes. In that condition, a person’s blood sugar level is higher than normal but is not high enough for a diabetes diagnosis, the CDC said.

Of those adults with prediabetes, only 11% were aware that they had the condition. Although that figure marks a slight improvement from 2005-06, when 7% of people reported knowing they had prediabetes, awareness of the condition is too low, researchers said.

People with prediabetes are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those without the condition, according to the American Diabetes Assn. If action is taken early, however, risk of type 2 diabetes can be significantly reduced by losing weight and exercising moderately, the ADA said.

via Teaching adults about prediabetes an uphill battle – amednews.com.

Eat less. Move more. Good luck.

Diastolic Dysfunction Common in RA

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Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have an increased incidence of diastolic dysfunction, which may further raise their already high risk for congestive heart failure, a meta-analysis suggested.

 

Patients with RA have double the incidence of heart failure compared with the larger population, and this finding has prompted interest in determining the origins of heart failure in these patients.

via Diastolic Dysfunction Common in RA.