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Deciding on Treatment for Hepatitis C

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:11:28 +0000

Those with hepatitis C should be monitored by a physician, but given the current state of available treatments, active treatment is not recommended for all people. Available medications can have intense side effects, so they are not recommended for those in whom there is no clear and obvious benefit.

Treatment is recommended for those with hepatitis C who’re rapidly progressing toward cirrhosis. These people generally have elevated ALT levels and a liver biopsy that shows fibrosis and at least moderate levels of inflammation and liver tissue death.

Because the virus often enters a person’s body without producing symptoms, it can be difficult to detect those with acute disease. However, if it is possible to detect the infection during the first six months, medication is recommended because it may help clear the virus from the person?s system before the infection becomes chronic.

For others, the decision to pursue treatment should be made on an individual basis. After assembling test results, the doctor and patient should discuss the benefits and risks of treatment and decide on the best course of action. In those with elevated ALT levels but less severe changes to the liver tissue, it may be best to monitor the disease’s progress with regular ALT tests and a liver biopsy every 3 to 5 years. For those over 60 or under 18, firm data on the best course of treatment is not yet available. For those who are HIV-positive, treatment is only recommended if the HIV infection is stable and the person functions well in daily life. HIV can often accelerate the course of hepatitis C.

Treatment is not recommended for those with advanced cirrhosis. In those cases, treatment is often ineffective and the side effects are difficult to endure. These people should be considered candidates for liver transplants. People with consistently normal ALT levels and little liver damage should also abstain from medication, as response rates are variable and benefits unproven. Because of the medications? side affects, treatment is not recommended for those with a history of major depression, cytopenias (low blood cell or platelet counts), hyperthyroidism or major autoimmune disease, or if they have undergone a kidney transplant.

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Club Com

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:15:20 +0000

While companies like Broadcast Vision and Cardio Theater provide the means, ClubCom (the parent company to Cardio Theater)provides the end — the content side of entertainment.

ClubCom believes that customization and communication are key for retaining a healthy membership. ClubCom offers a customizable network of music video entertainment, which enables facilities to define the type of music played based on the demographics of the facility at any time of the day. Managers can even program the ambient music to change when, for example, the soccer mom crowd gives way to young professionals. This broadcasting system, with banks of TVs wall-mounted throughout the facility, is designed to emulate a HardRock Cafe-typeatmosphere.

The customized network system also provides the opportunity to communicate with facility members via video commercials and information segments. Such ads may be useful in promoting other profit centers of the facility, such as the juice barand massage.

To operate, a video server is installed into each facility, providing ac- cess to thousands of pre-produced music videos and promotions. ClubCom updates the program- ming via satellite; the facility owner then accesses the entire range of programs through the Internet and controls exactly which channels and promotions to activate and broadcast at what time. The type of content available is primarily music videos, but also includes some sports, movie trailers and member information tips on fitness and nutrition.

The content is not intended to replace existing cable and other programming. The ClubCom network resides on an optional channel, and is used to augment the entertainment you already have. However, it does replace the central sound system, so that members can now listen to music and choose to watch the accompanying video if they desire.

There are several processes to work through before a ClubCom network is operational in a facility, including program agreements, licensing, logos and private branding arrangements. Overall, a facility should allow about six weeks to complete these steps; the actual physical installation only takes two to three hours. The video server is plugged into the amp and modulated over the facility’s cable system, where the network resides onan empty channel.

ClubCom says that it has a national infrastructure and full-time customer service.

Through its Internet connection to the health facility’s servers, the company can diagnose problems over the network, as well as through field support.

ClubCom pricing.ClubCom’s broadcast system ranges from $7,000 to$9,000, depending on the geographical location of the facility. This covers the cost of video productions and research and development into effective product promotion for the advertising segments.

What to Include

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:41:40 +0000

The Highland Park Hospital Health and Fitness Center’s newsletter includes “all upcoming programs, including one-day special events, such as an anniversary party, a 5K event or a special fitness seminar, and ongoing programs such as weight management, healthy cooking, and Baby and Me classes,” explains Kove.

The newsletter also features “information on projected programming to allow our members to give us feedback, thereby creating programming tailored to our membership.” She continues, “Special holiday hours, website information, phone, fax and mailing address are always included, as well.”

Prairie Athletic Club offers an extensive newsletter. Its Winter 2001-2002 issue features employee names with job duties, ads, new program/group exercise class spotlights, community events, new rules/regulations, staff profiles, health information, staff/member thank-yous.

Sports leagues/tournament information, photos of members and staff, in-club promotionssuch as massage, birthday parties, pro shop updates and juice bar updates, and much more.

You may also want to include member profiles, new equipment spotlights, maintenance updates, healthy recipes, workout rules/reminders, exercise questions and answers, or anything else you feel your members need to know, or want to know.

A Little Latte While Pregnant

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:32:10 +0000

If you’re pregnant and worried about what your favorite double espresso might do to your baby, a new study could put your fears to rest.

The research suggests that moderate caffeine intake during pregnancy doesn’t harm a baby’s development. However, previous studies have linked caffeine to delays in conceiving, low birth weight, premature delivery and miscarriage.

Those studies, particularly a pivotal animal study conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), led to an FDA recommendation in 1980 that pregnant women — however much they love their lattes — go cold turkey on caffeine while pregnant.

But as a coffee lover and a researcher in perinatal epidemiology at Yale University, Laura Grosso wanted to look into the caffeine conflict. She led a study that followed 2,714 women from the New Haven, Conn., area who gave birth between 1988 and 1991.

Her findings appear in a recent issue of the journal Epidemiology.

In the study, each woman provided details on how much coffee, tea and soda she drank during the first and third trimester of her pregnancy. Depending on how it’s brewed, a cup of coffee can contain up to 100 milligrams of caffeine, while a cup of tea or a glass of cola contains about 40 milligrams.

After examining the data, Grosso’s team reported that the consumption of moderate amounts of caffeine — approximately 300 milligrams daily?– appeared to have no negative effects on fetal development. Only 7 percent of the women delivered a baby with impaired fetal growth.

Grosso found that during the first month of pregnancy, 38 percent of the women drank coffee, making it the primary source of caffeine consumption. Of the coffee lovers, 25 percent said they drank at least one cup daily. A quarter of the women drank tea, and 30 percent drank caffeinated sodas.

The average consumption of caffeine among the women in the study was 72.4 milligrams a day. But by the seventh month of pregnancy, that had dropped to an average of 54 milligrams a day.

Coffee was the drink of choice, with 35 percent of women drinking at least a cup every week and 21 percent drinking one cup or two cups per day.

“Most of the studies that have shown an association [between caffeine and effects on pregnancy], it was with much higher caffeine consumption,” says Grosso. “It was more like 500 milligrams.”

One of the limitations of her study, she notes, was that researchers had trouble finding a significant number of pregnant women who drank more than 300 milligrams of caffeine per day.

Grosso suspects media coverage of the impact of caffeine on pregnancy has made women more aware.

“There are not a lot of women consuming 500, 600 milligrams of caffeine per day,” she says. “It’s kind of a disappearing exposure.”

Dr. Mark Klebanoff, director of the Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research at the National Institute for Child Health & Human Development, says that fact does indeed make it more difficult to study the issue.

“Pregnant women just tend to lay off coffee, and even tea, to a much greater degree than they did 20, 30 or 40 years ago,” he says.

He adds that the literature on caffeine and pregnancy is fairly inconclusive, and this study won’t close the book on the debate.

However, he says, “if we’ve been looking at this pretty intensively for 20 years and still haven’t really reached a clear and definite conclusion, it’s certainly reasonable to think that caffeine isn’t doing very much.”

“It’s certainly nowhere near as harmful in [terms of] making babies small as smoking is,” he adds.

Grosso says based on her study and previous research, “I believe it is still prudent to tell women that they should not exceed more than 300 milligrams per day. That’s probably, on average, maybe three mugs of coffee per day.”

“It’s probably OK to drink one to two cups per day,” she adds.

For many individuals conceiving a baby can become frustrating, illusive. On the our site you’ll find out a lot of easy and effective ways to get pregnant naturally and fast.

Finding the Courage To Be Yourself

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:20:36 +0000

From the outside it appeared that I was calm, poised and confident. Professionally, I had already achieved a measure of success, so who would guess that my view of myself was different on the inside?

It happened every time that I was about to step into a difficult situation, whether it was meeting with a major client, preparing to speak in front of an audience, writing an article, or attempting to talk to a person I found attractive. The problem was always the same. My anxiety level about what others thought of me would go up, and my brain would shut off. The thought of being judged by others would cause my emotions to jump into the driver’s seat and steer my mind into a blizzard of self-doubt.

If I was going to satisfy my need to become a fully integrated person, and ultimately achieve my goals, I needed to put my own evaluation of myself above the arbitrary conclusions of others. The challenge I faced was how to accomplish that task.

I remember when I was a little girl getting dressed to go to a party. I told my mother how nervous I was that the other girls might not like me. She said, “Don’t worry honey, just be yourself.” If I had a clue how to do that, I doubt if I’d have been so anxious.

A nine-step process based on the principles of Objectivist Philosophy, a philosophy founded by philosopher/novelist Ayn Rand and rooted in rational thought and self-interest, helped me to make a profound change in my thinking about this problem. Practicing these steps on a daily basis has enabled me to say, with total confidence, that I am not concerned with what you think of me. I am only concerned with what I think of myself and what I think of you.

Step 1
I realized that, in large measure, I was responsible for my own feelings and behaviors and that I could choose to feel or not feel “emotionally” disturbed. I was choosing to disturb myself with a very powerful irrational belief. Its origin was a verdict that I had accepted from significant others early in my life. I strongly and devoutly believed — albeit often subconsciously — that I was not enough.

I was exhausting myself pursuing the Holy Grail of “enoughness.” If I had a perfect relationship, I would be enough. If I made a six-figure income annually, I would be enough. One more person telling me that I was terrific — then I would be enough.

I surrendered this way of thinking the day I realized that there was nothing to prove to anyone outside of myself. I examined my expectations and discovered that I thought that I had to be approved of by anyone whom I chose to make significant. I decided to challenge and dispute this belief. What would be so terrible about another person’s disapproval? What evidence did another have to be my critical judge? What was the standard used by another to measure my worth? In short, I began to consider the source.

Step 2
I needed to understand what conditions I had to satisfy if I were to develop my own reliable, consistent, authentic system of self-evaluation. Needing to be liked and approved of was only getting me to be used. After considerable research and thought, I selected seven core values to live by to maintain a strong sense of myself. Living up to these standards began to free me from the tyranny of negatively judging myself. Being perfect wasn’t anywhere near as exciting as discovering my own voice; especially the one that could say, “no.”

Step 3
The first value was to assume the responsibility of thinking rationally. I had to consciously choose to focus my mind. Feelings, hopes, wishes and fantasies were no longer convenient substitutes for the truth. Evading reality, blanking out and choosing not to know were no longer options.

Step 4
Next, I needed to recognize the fact that I was responsible to think independently. That is, no one can do my thinking for me. I had to decide what was right for me and accept only what made sense to me. I needed to know why I was doing something if I was choosing to do it. It was no one else’s job, or business, to run my life. It was all right to ask others for advice, especially to guard against my self-will running riot. But the decisions about my life were ultimately my responsibility.

Red Berets Arrive at Team Church Social, Part 2

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:51:13 +0000

So, I’m making myself a mental note: If I ever have an opportunity to spoon a woman who isn’t my significant other… DON’T because I’d probably end up fondling her without my realizing it.

Reader’s Comment: “Do you ever spoon with your daughter? My son crawls into my bed all the time in the middle of the night, but I have never, ever, nor would ever, mistake him for my husband. I think Ted wanted some, got rejected, was going to ignore it, Ghandia brought it up (HARD TO DO) he eased out of it, never accepting that he did anything wrong except confuse her with his wife. Then he pseudo denied it, said he didn’t deny it, said he was not even attracted to her (RED FLAG, RED FLAG).

Had Ted said, Sorry Ghandia, I thought you were lonely like I was, etc., etc., I am attracted to you and thought you felt the same etc. It would be the end of the issue.”

As I replayed Ted and Ghandia’s earlier conversation, Ted seemed entirely sincere. Sincere to the point of repeatedly apologizing for causing her to remember being raped. Ghandia just admitted that she embellished her story, “I was a little hard on him in retelling the story.”

What I found interesting during their initial conversation was how Ghandia didn’t really listen to what Ted was saying. Before he finished several sentences, she cut him off and continued with her train of thought, continued her sentence as though Ted said absolutely nothing.

Scroll back up and read their conversation again. You’ll see what I mean. Knowing this, it’s not hard to believe that Ghandia later found his apology disingenuous – she didn’t really hear it.

And so, with Ghandia now trying very hard to alienate the women against Ted, the plot thickens.

What Causes Hair Loss And How To Treat It

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:38:42 +0000

Hair loss is a common problem that can be difficult to treat. Although it is not physically painful, it can leave emotional scars. Luckily, researchers have developed successful regimens for remedying cases of male pattern baldness.

Causes Of Hair Loss: One of the biggest problems with hair loss in men is male pattern baldness, which causes a specific pattern of hair loss. Hair loss starts towards the front of the scalp, working its way toward the dome or top part. Over time, a bare spot forms in the scalp’s center. Guys can eventually suffer with a partial or total case of male pattern baldness. Men grow bald primarily due to the male hormone, testosterone. This hormone is converted into DHT by the 5-alpha reductase enzyme. DHT production is excessive in certain males. Excessive amounts of DHT lead to shrinkage of hair follicles and the suppression of further hair production.

Hair loss can also be caused by stress, exposure to chemicals and radiation, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, thyroid problems, and prescription drug side effects.

Hair loss does not cause many physical problems, but it certainly will negatively impact how you look and feel emotionally. Nonetheless, younger guys in particular are bothered by this condition. They feel that thinning hair is detrimental to their sense of identity and masculinity. Hair loss can make a man look older than he really is. Men with hair loss frequently suffer from anxiety around strangers, particularly females. Often, those who experience thinning of their hair lose their confidence and shy away from being in the public eye.

Remedies For Thinning Hair: Hair loss is not physically painful, yet it leads to negative feelings and worry. If you are trying to treat hair loss, you might try creams, oils, and shampoos without success, but those in-the-know caution consumers against trying every botanical remedy on the market. Many companies may try to scam consumers by selling a fake and ineffective product, so caution is advised.

Propecia is a prescription medication that is extremely effective in treating hair loss and baldness in men. This substance suppresses the process that changes testosterone into DHT, thus regulating the levels of the latter. As a result, generic Propecia helps trigger new hair growth along with helping to stop additional thinning of the hair. Propecia is intended solely for males, and neither females nor children are advised to take or even handle it.

Minoxidil cream is another remedy with FDA approval; it is marketed as the product called Rogaine. It is possible to obtain Minoxidil without a prescription. Directions for use include working the cream into your scalp two times daily. Females as well as males are candidates for use of Minoxidil.

What are the steps needed to buy Propecia online?
It is possible to purchase Propecia finasteride from the online drugstore.

Red Berets Arrive at Team Church Social, Part 1

admin — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 05:57:59 +0000

These guys were awesome. They wasted no time. Right in their camp area they pointed out several trees and plants whose leaves could be eaten. Helen said, “I swear to God, they can make ANYTHING with their knife and bamboo.”

It was cool to watch. We saw plants eaten, spoons made, food prepared (“Everything in that wok is from right here on this beach.”), hunting tools, bowls, other cooking & eating utensils, cups, broths, ropes, twine… Their boat leak was fixed. Give them another day or two and we probably would’ve seen DVD players and global positioning satellites.

And to think that Robb would’ve preferred a turkey.

After Brian tries a broth, he tries to confuse the genius Red Berets, and I quote EXACTLY, “Ooh, not bad. No good, good. Not bad. Very good. Thank you.”

I’m pretty sure that he liked whatever it was he ate.

Ghandia and the mind of a Woman Whacked

Brian then sets the tone of the next sequence as he speaks to the cameras and invents a new word that I kind of like, “Once that genuinity goes away, or the lack of trust, goes away, then there’s going to be problems.”

In a hush-hush conversation, Ghandia (who has already hugged Ted, thanked Ted, and told Ted that he’s a good person and who was given too much time alone to think and second guess that Ted didn’t want to start anything with millions of people watching), details to Jan and Helen how Ted all but molested her in her sleep. The women, of course, unequivocally believe everything Ghandia said without once considering that there might be another side to this story and that they might be playing a million dollar game.

Ghandia said to the cameras, “I accepted Ted’s apology to his face, but when I had time to think about it I kind of thought that the excuse he gave me was a little bit disingenuous… A LOT disingenuous. So I just started telling everybody in the tribe what happened because I felt that everybody in the tribe should know what he did. And I was a little hard on him in retelling the story to everybody, but every part of the story that I told was true. The only part that I think I left out was the part that he apologized.”

Interspersed between all of this was her conversation with Jan and Helen. She detailed how he bit her on the shoulder “and once he did that, he was on.”

To be honest, Ted’s excuse is pretty hard to believe. Place a willing woman in the hands of the general man and it is very difficult for him not to fondle.

And men can very easily enjoy a good fondle just for the pleasure and the newness of the fondled part without having even a remote emotional connection. Many men think nothing more of fondle pleasure than they would of getting a neck or foot massage with one of those electronic massage devices you can find at Sharper Image stores in the mall.

On the other hand, if you were to call and wake me up, you would quickly realize that for the first 5-10 minutes, I am totally out of it. I’ll say and do things that you’ll laugh about and later mention and I’ll not remember at all. And although I’ve never spooned with a woman that wasn’t my significant other, I can totally see myself being in a sleep stupor and not even realizing that it wasn’t my partner. Sure, it sounds far-fetched, but how many people actually spoon with someone other than their significant other? I mean, it’s not like Ted’s explanation has been tested and proven wrong. And judging by my state of mind while asleep, I can totally see myself doing the same thing.

Basic Design Elements

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:22:37 +0000

Whether you are building a new facility or working with an existing one, there are some basic elements that should be considered when creating locker room atmosphere. These include:

Privacy. While many members have no qualms about changing in front of others or sharing space, there are others who appreciate any opportunity for privacy. This includes providing curtains on showers and, if possible, a separate changing room just outside the shower stall with at least one shelf and hooks for robes or clothing.

Family rooms. More and more facilities are offering private spaces that allow parents to accompany children of the opposite sex in changing areas. These areas also offer additional space to members with physical disabilities who may need extra room while changing.

Separate wet and dry areas. For safety and comfort reasons, clubs should separate wet and dry areas as much as possible. Ideally, facilities should offer “in-between areas” that divide the locker room, and offer people a place where they can groom away from members who are changing or washing. This also alleviates the problem of personal items like makeup bags or shaving kits getting wet.

Lighting. Lighting is essential to the overall feel of a room and can influence member satisfaction. As Keeler of Langdon Wilson Architecture points out, “Members come to a club to feel good about themselves. If they look in the mirror and appear too green or too blue, they’re not going to be happy.” To avoid harsh light, Lavoie suggests using indirect lighting techniques, such as placing fixtures on top of lockers, which bounces light off the ceiling and produces a warm, bright ambience in the room.

Diaper changing areas. Facilities with a daycare program should offer diaper changing areas and baby seats in at least one toilet stall.

Rounded corners. To promote both safety and cleanliness, locker room design should include as many rounded corners as possible. This makes it easier to access areas where mold and mildew are likely to grow, and will soften the look and feel of the room.

Non-porous grout. Using a high-strength epoxy grout in tiled areas allows for easier cleaning and will stand up better to the high-impact floor cleaners many facilities use to eliminate mildew.

Temperature and circulation. Low humidity and proper ventilation are crucial in locker room environments. The following levels are recommended by the ACSM guidelines: Temperature, 72 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit in both dry and wet areas; Humidity, 60 percent or less in both areas; Air circulation, eight to 12 exchanges in dry areas and 20 to 30 exchanges in wet areas. Likewise, air exchanges should have an appropriate mix of outside and inside air. While the mix is commonly only 10 percent outside air, ACSM recommends a preferable mix of 40 percent.

Bush vs. Gore

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:06:51 +0000

On Tuesday, the nominees of both the Republican and Democratic parties were all but decided. With that outcome, the presidential healthcare debate also changed markedly.

Before Super Tuesday, Gore and Bradley sparred on how far to go in revamping Medicare, whether to emphasize a catastrophic or first-dollar prescription drug benefit for seniors, how to expand federal health insurance to the poor, and how far reaching a patient bill of rights should be.

Before the national primary, Bush and McCain allowed each other to virtually ignore the healthcare issue all together, both of them citing the vague principles of individual choice and emphasizing minimalist proposals, such as the expansion of medical savings accounts, or MSAs.

Now it’s Gore vs. Bush, and Gore hasn’t wasted any time. On the eve of the vote, Gore attacked his Republican rival over healthcare. About Bush, Gore said, “Under his leadership, the state of Texas now ranks 49th in health insurance for children and 50th in health insurance for women.” Gore went on, “Fifty out of 50, that’s dead last.”

On healthcare, this election is now about a Democratic expansion of the federal role in Medicare and under-age-65 health insurance options vs. a Republican emphasis on more private sector options. It’s the government interventionist philosophy vs. the notion that consumers and the marketplace should take the lead in solving America’s healthcare problems.

Whichever philosophy makes sense, a number of facts about the American healthcare system in the year 2000 can’t be avoided:

The number of uninsured has grown dramatically — The number of uninsured has grown from 37 million in 1992 to almost 44 million today. As a group, the uninsured are not any better off then they were when Clinton and Gore were first elected in 1992. The ranks of the uninsured are particularly populated by children and families whose breadwinner is employed in small business.

Healthcare inflation is taking off again — Healthcare costs are currently rising at rates that are two to three times the basic inflation rate. It is not uncommon to see small businesses and individuals being told their insurance plan costs will rise by 10 percent to 20 percent.

Medicare is going broke — While budget surplus projections have led many to propose using the extra dollars to stabilize the system, that proposal is far from agreed to. As it stands today, the system cannot pay the baby boomers’ benefits.

Pharmacy costs are exploding — More and more healthcare is provided in outpatient settings, taking advantage of technology — particularly new drugs. Drug costs are rising at least 15 percent per year — almost seven times the general inflation rate.

Patient rights — Government and employers have embraced managed care as a major solution to their healthcare challenges. HMO Medicare Risk programs, Medicaid managed care programs and employers’ use of HMOs have been the direction the U.S. healthcare system has taken since the demise of the Clinton healthcare plan in 1994. But Americans have shown themselves to be dissatisfied with the managed care system, making patient rights one of the top election-year issues.

Up until now, Gore and Bradley argued about how far to go to change the healthcare system while Bush and McCain argued about everything but healthcare.

That will soon change.