The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) joined with The Advertising Council today to launch a national public service campaign designed to raise awareness among middle-aged men about the importance of preventive medical testing.

Men are 25 percent less likely than women to have visited the doctor within the past year and are 38 percent more likely than women to have neglected their cholesterol tests (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2005). Furthermore, men are 1.5 times more likely than women to die from heart disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005)

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A rehabilitation therapy developed by a UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) neuroscientist produces changes in the structure of the brain, the first evidence of actual brain remodeling resulting from a rehabilitation therapy. In findings presented online in Stroke, a Journal of the American Heart Association, sophisticated analysis of MRI images of stroke patients showed that Constraint Induced (CI) therapy produced a significant increase in the amount of gray matter present in the brains of patients receiving the therapy.

“This changes all of our perspectives about what is possible in the brain,” said UAB neuroscientist Edward Taub, Ph.D., a study author and the developer of CI therapy. “For years, science thought the adult brain was hardwired, with no ability to change or adapt. Now we have further proof of the concept of neuroplasticity, the brain’s remarkable ability to respond to damage to compensate for the injury.”

The efficacy of CI therapy as a rehabilitation technique for stroke patients has been well documented. Taub and other researchers worldwide have seen remarkable clinical changes in patients, such as dramatically improved use of an affected arm or leg. They also have observed functional changes in the brain, such as increased blood flow or an increase in excitability of brain cells. The new study confirms what Taub and his colleagues have long suspected….that the brain also has the ability to remodel itself structurally.
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For many women, the lovely images of life with a new baby don’t jive with their reality. Instead of feeling happy, they feel overwhelmed.University of New Hampshire researcher Kathleen Kendall-Tackett says there are a myriad of treatments available to new mothers experiencing postpartum depression. She is the author of a new monograph, “Non-Pharmacological Treatments for Depression in New Mothers” (2008, Hale Publishing). [continue reading…]