Disability Rights Legal Center honors Ossur

November 25, 2008 (LOS ANGELES, CA) — The Disability Rights Legal Center (DRLC), which for four decades has advocated for the civil rights of people with disabilities, has recognized Ossur, a trusted and leading global innovator and provider of non-invasive orthopaedic products and services, with the Charles D. Siegal President’s Award.

Tim McCarthy, vice president of Prosthetics for Ossur Americas, accepted the award on Thursday before 500 local and national leaders in the legal, entertainment, and other industries at the DRLC’s Annual Gala in downtown Los Angeles. Mr. McCarthy and his team are credited with leading an entire industry into the Bionic age of prosthetics with Ossur’s successful market entry via three groundbreaking product launches: the Rheo Knee, the Power Knee and the Proprio Foot. All three products have gained international recognition and acclaim.

There to present the award was April Holmes, the fastest female amputee in the world.

April owns the World Records (women’s T44 classification) in the 100m, 200m and 400m dashes, and came home from the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games with the Gold medal in the 100m race. She is also a member of Team Ossur, a group of elite amputee athletes sponsored by Ossur because – through their impressive achievements – they embody Ossur’s call for all disabled people to live a Life without Limitations.

“The Siegal Award recognizes the extraordinary contributions that Ossur and its inventors have made to the world community,” said Paula Pearlman, Esq., and the DRLC’s executive director. “Ossur’s manufacture of prosthetics and bionics – that have effectively revolutionized the way people with mobility disabilities experience the world – reinforces our organization’s values of inclusion and equality. In addition, Ossur’s inventors’ vision and limitless expectations parallel our organization’s motto of “Protecting the Possibilities,” she added.

PACS Medical Imaging for Hospitals, Hospital PACS Workstation

Payments To Medicare Advantage Plans Likely Will Be Cut in 2009

The incoming Obama administration and Democratic-led Congress likely will cut payments to private Medicare Advantage plans in 2009, an aide to Senate Democrats said Monday during a briefing sponsored by the journal Health Affairs, CQ HealthBeat reports (Weyl, CQ HealthBeat, 11/24).

According to The Hill, a “longstanding ideological battle between liberals and conservatives over the propriety of turning over a growing portion of the Medicare entitlement to private companies is meeting head-on with the need for Congress to make cuts to certain programs in order to finance other priorities.”

Federal payments to MA plans cost the government $94 billion annually.

Democrats say $15 billion of that amount is excessive and the so-called overpayments could be used for other things, such as overhauling the U.S. health care system, The Hill reports (Young, The Hill, 11/24).

Private MA plans on average are paid an estimated 13% more per beneficiary than what the same beneficiaries would cost in traditional Medicare, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (CQ HealthBeat, 11/24).

The Democratic aide said, “Further cuts are coming to the program. The payments are so high that they really don’t make any sense right now. There really is no rationale for the level of payments” (The Hill, 11/24).

Democratic staffers already are rethinking the payment system “quite extensively,” the aide said (CQ HealthBeat, 11/24).

Dressing up for the winter…

blue-arrow-06_R The bottom layer or underwear should keep you dry. Make sure to pay attention to the material of your undies, as cotton will absorb your sweat but it will hold it. You will need a fabric that will allow your sweat to pass through, such as synthetics or silk. Thermal underwear are an excellent choice.

blue-arrow-06_R The middle layer should be there to put some insulation to trap your body’s heat. Best choices are wool and down, as both materials breathe and will allow any moisture to evaporate while at the same time are excellent to hold the heat.

blue-arrow-06_R The outer layer should function as a shell to protect you from the cold wind, rain or snow. Best choices are synthetic fabrics such as polyester, the key here is that it should be waterproof and breathable.

blue-arrow-06_R Hats. Covering your head is key. We lose a lot heat through our head.

blue-arrow-06_R Feet and hands. The layering concept described above, works excellent for both feet and hands. Mittens are warmer than gloves. You could wear a thin pair of gloves and some toasty mittens, or find some mittens that already come in layers.
Wear two pairs of socks, the inner pair to keep you dry and the outer pair to keep you warm. For the inner pair you could wear socks made out of polypropylene or silk and for the outer pair you could wear wool socks.

Bad Breath Linked To Bacteria That Cause Stomach Ulcer And Cancer

New research from Japan found bacteria that cause stomach ulcers and cancer living in the mouths of some people with bad breath, even though they did not show signs of stomach illnesses.

The study was the work of Dr Nao Suzuki from Fukuoka Dental College in Fukuoka, Japan and colleagues and is published in the December issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology.

Scientists recently discovered that infection by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which is carried by over 90 per cent of people in the developing world and 20 to 80 per cent of people in the developed world, was a possible cause of peptic ulcers and gastric cancers.

More recent research has also suggested that the human mouth, which is home to over 600 different species of bacteria (some of which cause disease), is a possible reservoir for H. pylori, particularly in the presence of periodontal or gum disease, a known cause of halitosis or bad breath.

Suzuki explained that bad breath or halitosis is common in humans and is mostly caused by gum disease, tongue debris, poor oral hygiene and badly fitted fillings (they trap bacteria).

“Bacteria produce volatile compounds that smell unpleasant, including hydrogen sulphide, methyl mercaptan and dimethyl sulphide. Doctors often measure the levels of these compounds to diagnose the problem. Gastrointestinal diseases are also generally believed to cause halitosis,” said Suzuki.

Suzuki and colleagues decided to investigate the prevalence of H. pylori in the mouths of people with bad breath.

“Recently, scientists discovered that H. pylori can live in the mouth,” said Suzuki, adding that:

“We wanted to determine whether the bacteria can cause bad breath, so we tested patients complaining of halitosis for the presence of H. pylori.”

For the study, the researchers did DNA scans of saliva taken from 326 Japanese people; 251 had actual bad breath or halitosis and 75 did not. None showed any signs of stomach illnesses.

They found H. pylori and other bacteria that occur with periodontal or gum disease, called periodontopathic bacteria, including Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola and Prevotella intermedia.

More spefically the results showed that:

* 21 (6.4 per cent) of the participants had H. pylori in their mouths.

* These participants also had higher levels of other markers for periodontal disease, including higher levels of: methyl mercaptan (a bad breath gas); each of the periodontopathic bacteria; tooth mobility; periodontal pocket depth (PPD); and occult blood in the saliva.

* Of the 102 participants with periodontal disease, 16 (15.7 per cent) had H. pylori in their mouths.

The researchers concluded that the presence of H. pylori in nearly 16 per cent of the participants with periodontitis suggested that:

“Progression of periodontal pocket and inflammation may favour colonization by this species and that H. pylori infection may be indirectly associated with oral pathological halitosis following periodontitis.”

“Although the presence of H. pylori in the mouth does not directly cause bad breath, it is associated with periodontal disease, which does cause bad breath,” said Suzuki, who said the team will now be looking into the:

“Relationship between H. pylori in the mouth and in the stomach. We hope to discover the role of the mouth in transmitting H. pylori stomach infections in the near future.”

Here are some hints for holiday dining:

The holidays can be some of our most challenging times. Factors that make them so difficult are family stressors, the abundance of food, and all those darn desserts!

This is a time to reevaluate how we view the holidays. The first Thanksgiving after I was banded was the first time I realized Thanksgiving wasn’t just about the food.

Food used to be the whole reason I looked forward to the holiday and rushed home to have my mother’s cooking. After being banded, I came to enjoy my family and relationships more because I wasn’t so focused on the food. I was truly thankful for the weight loss I had achieved, for the surgery itself, and the life I had to look forward to as a healthier, thinner me!
Here are some hints for holiday dining:

* No dessert tastes as good as thin feels!
* Serve yourself on a small plate rather than the buffet-sized plates.
* Taste small amounts of the foods that you want to eat, but don’t overdo it on any one item.
* Get your protein in before the carbs and sweets.
* Keep in mind that turkey is a very dry meat and often causes problems for the band, so take your time.
* Eat slowly and put the food up when you are done so that you don’t graze all day.
* Allow yourself a small portion for dessert, not the whole slice of pie.

UK Fast Food Chains Commit To Healthier Eating

The big six fast food chains seen on high streets in the UK: Burger King, KFC, McDonald’s, Nando’s, Subway and Wimpy have promised to make changes that make it easier for people to eat healthy restaurant meals.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) wants to see more fruit, vegetables and salad on menus and for less dominance of fried food.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, the FSA estimates that the UK diet has 20 per cent too much saturated fat, and this contributes to the 200,000 deaths a year from heart disease.

Earlier this year a Cabinet Office report said that if people if the average UK diet matched the country’s nutritional guidelines on healthy eating about 70,000 fewer people would die prematurely.

The FSA aims to reduce the proportion of the average UK person’s daily energy intake that comes from saturated fat from 13.3 to 11 per cent by the year 2010, preventing 3,500 premature deaths every year.

The FSA has no power to force restaurants to follow these aims and has to rely on “naming and shaming” as a way to put pressure on.

The Agency said that in 2009 the six fast food companies will be starting individual projects to help their customers choose and eat a more balanced diet. And they have promised to update the FSA every six months on progress.

The FSA’s Head of Nutrition, Rosemary Hignett said in a statement that:

“Eating out should be fun and we don’t want to change that, but we believe restaurants can help make it easier for us to take healthier choices when dining out.”

The projects include:

* Reducing salt and saturated fats.
* Changing sauces, dressings and frying oils to alternatives that contain less saturated fat.
* Increasing healthier choices on menus.
* Giving customers more nutritional information.

Hignett said she hoped other restaurant chains will follow this lead. The FSA is also working with pub companies, family restaurant and coffee shop chains to come up with similar plans.

The Agency said that so far its work with leading workplace caterer’s in the UK has resulted in “positive changes to more than 1.6 million meals served in the workplace every day”.

Dame Deirdre Hutton, who chairs the FSA said consumers are used to seeing nutritional information in supermarkets and the Agency wants to give them the same opportunity to make informed choices about meals when they eat out as well.

According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, last year the major supermarket chains like Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Asda and the Co­operative Group agreed to using a colour coded “traffic light” system to show more nutritional information on packaged food: Tesco have implemented a different scheme.

It will be much harder for the small independent restaurants to show nutritional information on their menus, said the newspaper.

Spike In Hospital Visits For Respiratory Illnesses During Southern California Wildfires

Raging wildfires that engulfed Southern California earlier this decade not only destroyed neighborhoods laying in their path, they also caused significant health problems for many who lived outside the fires’ reach.

An analysis of hospital and emergency department admissions directly before, during and after the 2003 Southern California wildfires shows a dramatic increase in treatment for those with asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory disorders. Data points to the importance of educating people with existing respiratory ailments to react quickly to symptom onset and take precautionary measures. Results suggest that those at risk face similar health issues during current Southern California firestorm activity.

Heavy smoke conditions were associated with:

• 34 percent increase in asthma admissions;
• 67 percent increase in acute bronchitis admissions;
• 48 percent increase in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease admissions; and
• 45 percent increase in pneumonia admissions.

The hardest hit patients were young children and the elderly. Teens with asthma also were affected.

UC Irvine environmental epidemiologist Dr. Ralph Delfino led the study, which analyzed more than 40,000 admissions to Southern California hospitals in a month-and-a-half period surrounding raging wildfires in October 2003 that burned nearly three-quarters of a million acres and destroyed approximately 5,000 buildings.

According to study findings, public health officials need to increase preventive measures – such as advising people to avoid outdoor activities and advocating use of anti-inflammatory medications at the first sign of a wildfire for people who have asthma.

“It’s important to learn from this study that large-scale wildfires can have wide-ranging effects on human health. It will be vital to educate those at risk with existing respiratory conditions to react quickly at the earliest signs of symptoms with preventive interventions,” Delfino said. “This data has broad policy implications, as the health impact of wildfires will probably increase worldwide due to the effects of global warming.”

The study has been presented to the South Coast Air Quality Management District and will appear in the online version of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. To aid their analysis, investigators used sophisticated models including NASA satellite images to link hospital data to daily air-particle concentrations at the ZIP codes of patients’ homes throughout Southern California.

Delfino worked with statisticians, public health officials and environmental health researchers from UCI, UCLA, the California Department of Health Services and the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Hospital admissions data were obtained from the California State Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.

Delfino studies air pollutants’ effects on respiratory and cardiovascular health and leads one of the nation’s first public health studies on how ultrafine particles in urban air contribute to coronary heart disease in the elderly. In 2005, Delfino won an award from the South Coast Air Quality Management District for his contributions to cleaner air.

UnitedHealth Group To Provide Immediate Resources For Those Affected By The Southern California Wildfires

Due to the recent event of ongoing wildfires in Southern California, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) and its family of companies, including UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, OptumHealth and Prescription Solutions, are taking the following immediate actions to help those affected by the fires.

Effective Nov. 16, 2008, through Nov. 30, 2008, UnitedHealth Group is temporarily allowing affected customers who are enrolled in its health plans and pharmacy benefit management (PBM) services to obtain early refills of their prescription medications if the customers have refills remaining on file at a retail network or mail order pharmacy. This exception also applies to individuals with prescription coverage through UnitedHealth Group Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement or Medicare Part D offerings, including AARP MedicareRx plans.

Customers who have been displaced or whose network facility is not accessible and require assistance or special accommodations due to the wildfires should call the number on the back of their medical ID cards. Customer care professionals are available to help customers who have been displaced from their place of residence locate an in-network health care provider for non-emergent services or assist them in obtaining out-of-network services when an in-network provider is not available.

OptumHealth Inc. is providing a free help line to people in Southern California coping with the emotional consequences of the recent wildfires. Staffed by experienced master’s-level behavioral health specialists, the free help line offers assistance to callers seeking help in dealing with stress, anxiety and the grieving process. Callers may also receive referrals to a database of community resources to help them with specific concerns, such as financial and legal issues.

The toll-free help line number is 866-280-1418 and is available open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for as long as necessary. This service is free of charge. Resources and information are also available online in English at http://www.liveandworkwell.com and Spanish at http://www.mentesana-cuerposano.com.

About UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group is a diversified health and well-being company dedicated to making health care work better. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of products and services through six operating businesses: UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, AmeriChoice, OptumHealth, Ingenix and Prescription Solutions. Through its family of businesses, UnitedHealth Group serves more than 70 million individuals nationwide. Visit http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com for more information.

About OptumHealth

OptumHealth Inc. helps individuals navigate the health care system, finance their health care needs and achieve their health and well-being goals. The company’s personalized health advocacy and engagement programs tap a unique combination of capabilities that encompass care solutions, behavioral solutions, specialty benefits and financial services. Serving more than 61 million people, OptumHealth is the nation’s largest health and wellness business and is a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) company.
medicalnewstoday.com

Redding woman hit by car while in wheelchair

A 29-year-old Redding woman was injured Tuesday night when she was struck by a car while crossing the 100 block of Lake Boulevard in a wheelchair.

Shannon Wood was taken by ambulance to Shasta Regional Medical Center after the 7 p.m. crash.

Redding officer Michele Cox said Wood, who was not in a crosswalk and was wearing dark clothes, was struck by a car driven by Kenneth Tipp, 20, of Cottonwood.

Tipp apparently was trying to pull into a gas station mini mart when the accident occurred, a witness said.

Although Tipp tried to stop, he could not avoid striking her, Cox said.

The accident remains under investigation, she said.
-redding.com