Gear up your smartphone with free apps to crush those annoying goals that show up on our top-10 lists every year:

Lose Weight: Two proven weight-loss strategies—calorie counting and peer support—team up in FitNow’s app (loseit.com). Set a daily calorie budget, track activities, and connect with friends for extra motivation.

Get Organized: Build collections of photos, recipes, and decorating ideas at pinterest.com. Think of it as a personal digital scrapbook that you just happen to share with the entire world.

Manage Money: Track and categorize spending at mint.com. Enter account information, then sit back and watch. As the year unfolds, you’ll begin to notice where to cut back and save.

Learn Something New: Bring global photo journalism into your tablet with this app from Reuters (widerimage.reuters.com). Timely, insightful, sometimes disturbing, always fascinating. (Sorry, it’s iPad only.)

Get a New Job: Access postings from job boards and company websites at indeed.com. Bonus: Personalize and send your search to your smart device.

Quit Smoking: OK, these apps aren’t free—but they’re lots cheaper than smoking. QuitNow! ($2.99, Google Play) and Livestrong MyQuit Coach ($3.99, iTunes) motivate soon-to-be-reformed-smokers with progress trackers, chats, and achievable goals.

Help Others: Find a great place to volunteer at volunteermatch.org.  Make a difference and connect with others in your community with this iPhone app.

Meet New People: Join the largest location-based social network at badoo.com. Meet new friends, chat, and share interests.

Send Cards: Find the perfect card for whenever and whomever at justwink.com. Get reminders and send personalized digital greetings via text, email, or Facebook.

Save the Planet: Go green with the One Small Act app from greenisuniversal.com. Choose from 400+ simple, eco-friendly actions; track progress; and share achievements.

Top 10 Apps for Self-Improvement The Saturday Evening Post

Brook Ochoa, 42, doesn’t fidget or squirm or bounce off walls like an 8-year-old child with ADHD. That’s primarily because she’s an adult, and adults tend to lack the hyperactivity part. The single mother of two has plenty of other symptoms, however. “I read seven books at a time, have never finished a project in my life, and when I get bored with a job I just walk away. I never knew until recently that that wasn’t normal. If it’s boring, I’m done.”

“Boring” is the kiss of death to adults with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or just ADD if they lack the hyperactivity component). And her inability to stay interested in any one subject for long may explain why Brook quit several jobs as manager and assistant manager of stores like Target and Wal-Mart. Brook is certainly competent enough to handle a heavy workload. She did well in school and earned a master’s degree in human resources; she can focus and finish assignments when they interest her. But around the house, she struggles with such simple tasks as washing dishes after meals. “Every dish in the house has to be dirty before I notice,” says Brook with a sigh. (See also “Symptoms of ADHD.”)

But at least she knows where her demons lie. For adults who were not diagnosed as children—and anyone who was already an adult when ADHD became widely recognized in children in the 1990s is unlikely to have been—having a label affixed to their struggles allows them to finally seek help. Perhaps even more important, it lets them make sense of a lifetime of bewildering experiences, of feeling hopeless or helpless in the face of their mental dysfunction, and, in many cases, wondering why they never achieved what they felt they could have.

“The more she described ADD the more the light bulb lit up for me,” recalls Robin Bellantone, 61, a mental health counselor in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She had no idea adult ADD existed when she had the life-altering conversation during her graduate-school internship at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 1999. It was there that she heard a fellow staffer who specialized in working with artists with ADHD talking about the disorder: “It explained so much about my own history”—her inability to focus, her difficulty paying attention, her constant search for new stimulation.

Stories of adults who finally learn they have ADHD are as unique as the people themselves, but they have at least one thing in common: a sense that what was once shrouded in mystery is now lit with understanding, that a weight has been lifted and a puzzle solved. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 4.1 percent of adults have ADHD in any given 12-month period (compared to 9 percent of children). In the young, three times as many boys as girls have ADHD, but by adulthood the prevalence is the same in both sexes.

If it sometimes seems that everyone has some form of ADHD in today’s disjointed world of smartphones, tablets, and the like, the formal diagnosis is indeed on the verge of becoming more common. The newest edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, scheduled for release in May 2013, is expected to loosen the diagnostic criteria for the disorder substantially, lowering the number of symptoms required. (See chart, “Symptoms of ADHD,” next page.) But, even so, there are misconceptions about what it takes to qualify. For example, inability to focus and being easily distracted—with no other symptoms—wouldn’t be enough. You do not have ADHD if you simply like to flit from task to task at work. You do not have ADHD if you get bored doing housework. You do not have it if your mind wanders when reading dense, boring prose on a topic you have no interest in; if you get fidgety during boring sermons or hours-long presentations from a financial planner; or if you start reading another book or magazine before you finish the previous one you’ve started.

Moreover, the symptoms must appear in at least two settings: If you only show these behaviors at work, then you do not have ADHD. You probably just don’t like your job.

Still, the condition is underdiagnosed. Today, for every adult whose ADHD has been identified, there are at least three adults whose ADHD has not, according to Dr. Mary Solanto of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. Underdiagnosis reflects that adults can compensate for ADHD by choosing jobs that fit their brains—for instance jobs that present constant new challenges rather than jobs where one does the same task over and over.

That probably explains why Ruth didn’t receive her diagnosis until age 74. As a young woman she had few friends, felt isolated, and often blurted out what she felt without much thought for the consequences. Then, after marrying and raising a family, Ruth—who did not want her full name used—went to nursing school at age 46. She adored her new career. “I was busy all of the time. It’s never boring,” she says.

Understanding Adult ADHD The Saturday Evening Post

Physical therapists can target persistent pain and improve sports performance with strengthening and stretching exercises to improve posture, flexibility, and motion. “Bring your sports gear to the initial visit to demonstrate the positions and activities that are especially bothersome,” advises physical therapist E. Anne Reicherter, spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association.

For example, softball players who frequently throw overhead can irritate and inflame gliding surfaces between the shoulder blade (scapula) and chest wall—a common problem called scapulothoracic bursitis, explains Michael S. George, M.D., spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and clinical assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine.

Other causes of the painful condition include poor posture and acute injury.

According to Dr. George, home exercises can often relieve scapulothoracic bursitis by improving upright posture and strengthening the muscles around the scapula and the shoulder. For the serratus anterior muscle in the upper back, perform push-ups with shoulder blades squeezed together. For the subscapularis muscle in front of the shoulder, try internal rotation exercises using resistance bands or light weights. When home remedies aren’t enough, doctors can use steroid injections to relieve persistent bursitis (surgery is rarely needed) and rule out other causes of shoulder pain.

Click here for helpful trigger point maps from the Pain Clinic to discover what’s causing your shoulder soreness.

Benefits of Physical Therapy

1. Targeted examination—Your therapist will ask about your symptoms and goals and conduct a thorough examination to identify any difficulty with posture, flexibility, strength, joint mobility, and movement that may contribute to chronic shoulder pain.

2. Targeted treatment—Based on the exam findings, you and the therapist will develop a customized rehab plan that may include manual therapy to improve joint and muscle motion, tips to care for your shoulders and upper back, and an overall physical fitness program.
- E. Anne Reicherter

Strike Out Sore Shoulder The Saturday Evening Post

Side Bending Pose

1. Stand with feet parallel and hip-width apart. Reach arms overhead. Ground body strongly with both heels.

2. Hold right wrist with left hand. Exhale and bend to left side, stretching both sides of torso. Inhale and return to standing position. Repeat for 30 seconds.

3. Hold left wrist with right hand. Exhale and bend to right side. Inhale and return to standing position. Repeat for 30 seconds.

4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3.

Downward Facing Dog

1. Come to all fours with hips directly over knees and shoulders directly over hands.

2. Turn toes under and lift knees off ground.

3. With legs slightly bent, push hands firmly into ground and move hips toward wall behind you. Feel the extension from your index finger to your sitting bones. Without compromising this extension, straighten legs as much as possible.

4. Hold posture for 1 to 2 minutes, noticing your breath and making micro-movements to find ease and alignment.

Cobblers Pose

1. Sit on ground with soles of feet together and knees dropped open to opposite sides. (Do not push knees down, but instead feel the release deep inside hip sockets.)

2. Place hands beside hips and extend side seams of waist, lifting chest and creating ease in lower back.

3. Hold ankles and bend slightly forward, keeping a feeling of length in front body while breathing easy and complete.

4. Hold posture for 1 to 2 minutes with a sense of discovery and play.

Rodney Yee’s latest DVD is A.M. & P.M. Yoga for Beginners with Colleen Saidman. (Gaiam) Buy it from Amazon.

5-Minute Fitness: Yoga Stretches The Saturday Evening Post

The bottom line: All whole grain breads are not created equal. To check a product’s actual fiber content, flip to its nutrition facts label and check the dietary fiber amount. (Best choices have at least 5 grams of fiber per slice with no added sugars.) Whole grain should also top the ingredient list. Otherwise, the bread could be enriched with nutrients but not fiber. “The FDA is slowly attempting to clean up front-of-package symbols and may get to this one eventually,” says Nestle. “The Whole Grain Council promotes a ‘100%’ certification stamp for whole grains and a ‘Basic’ stamp on products made from white flour and added bran or germ. For now, however, consumers who want to know about fiber in bread are stuck with reading nutrition facts labels.”

Dr. Nestle’s latest book, Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics*, provides more information to help consumers sort through food labels and evaluate claims served up by industry promoters. Co-authored by nutrition scientist Malden Nesheim, chapter titles include: What is a Calorie?, Today’s “Eat More” Environment, and More Calorie Confusion: Portion Distortion, Health Halos, and Wishful Thinking. Follow Dr. Nestle on Food Politics.

*Published by University of California Press: available online and at local stores.

The Politics of Food Labels The Saturday Evening Post

Although the cause remains unknown, strong evidence points to a triad of genes that make people more susceptible to the physically harmless yet socially distressing and hard-to-treat condition. When patients are upset by their appearance, months-long use of topical lotions and carefully controlled exposure to laser rays or light boxes may help stop the immune system attack and coax cells to grow back and re-pigment the area, says Dr. Kroshinsky. Others opt to cover up faded areas with skin dyes, medical-grade cosmetics, and self-tanning creams.

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Advances in surgical techniques hold promise for treating vitiligo, according to information presented at American Academy of Dermatology’s 70th Annual Meeting in March 2012 by Rebat M. Halder, MD, FAAD, professor and chair, department of dermatology, Howard University, Washington, D.C.

Skin Grafts

· What it is: Normal skin is transplanted to areas affected by vitiligo and begins producing pigment. Phototherapy is often used to boost pigment production in treated areas.

· Who is eligible: Patients with limited and extensive vitiligo that has been stable for at least six months.

· Success rate: 80 to 90 percent in most patients.

· Availability: Uncommon in the United States, this outpatient procedure is widely available in South America, Europe, Southeast Asia, India and China.

Melanocyte Transplants

· What it is: Cells (melanocytes and keratinocytes) found in the top layer of skin are obtained surgically under local anesthesia and grown overnight in the lab. Then cells are placed or applied on the skin’s vitiligo patches. Phototherapy is often used to boost pigment production in treated areas.

· Who is eligible: Patients with limited vitiligo that has been stable for at least six months.

· Success rate: 95 percent in most patients.

· Availability: Few dermatologic centers in the U.S. are currently offering this specialized outpatient procedure, but Dr. Halder expects that it will be more available in the future.

 “It is important for anyone who notices any unusual changes in the pigmentation of their skin to see a dermatologist, as vitiligo treatments are more successful the earlier they are started,” said Dr. Halder. “The newest surgical grafting techniques and transplant procedures hold a lot of promise for successfully treating vitiligo, and I think we’ll see more dermatologists offering these cutting-edge procedures in this country in the future.”

For more about vitiligo and to find a board-certified specialist contact the American Academy of Dermatology.

Disappearing Act? The Saturday Evening Post

That’s right. Zero. Statins—Lipitor, Crestor, Pravachol, Mevacor, Zocor, and their generic equivalents—today reside in the pill dispensers of a huge segment of the population over 45, but for heart-healthy patients, statins will not increase longevity, prevent a fatal heart attack, or avoid a life-ending stroke.

So if taking statins won’t keep you alive and healthy any longer than not taking the pills, Hadler asks—especially when you consider possible side effects ranging from muscle pain and fatigue to liver damage to increased risk of diabetes and even memory loss—what’s the point in knowing your cholesterol numbers?

Cardiologist Eric Topol is equally scathing about statins. Chief academic officer of Scripps Health, a nonprofit health care system based in San Diego, Topol has long believed that medicine must become personalized with treatments tailored to a patient’s DNA and other characteristics. Yet statins are the poster child of taking a drug that benefits some people and then prescribing it to many more. In his new book, The Creative Destruction of Medicine, Topol points out that only one or two out of 100 patients “without prior heart disease but at risk for developing such a condition will actually benefit” from a statin. To which he asks, “how about the 98 out of 100 patients who don’t benefit?”

To put these views in perspective, statins are associated with one of the greatest public health triumphs of the past 30 years: halving America’s death rate from coronary heart disease. From 543 per 100,000 men in 1980 the death rate fell to 267 deaths per 100,000 (adjusted for the aging of the population) in 2000. From 263 deaths per 100,000 women in 1980 it fell to 134 per 100,000 in 2000, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show.

Looking at it another way: As a result of the lower death rate from coronary heart disease, 341,745 fewer Americans died in 2000 alone.

That sounds pretty spectacular, but the crux of the debate lies in whether statins have a benefit in primary prevention—reducing heart attacks and strokes in patients without known heart disease. There’s no argument about the benefits of statins for secondary prevention—averting a heart attack or stroke in people who have already had one. For example, the 1994 Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study—still considered the definitive statin study—showed that treating patients with pre-existing heart disease decreased their chance of dying over five years from 12 percent without statins to eight percent with the drugs; their chance of cardiac death, heart attack, or needing heart surgery fell from about 30 percent without statins to about 20 percent with them also over five years. “If you’re in this category, you would definitely want to take a drug that decreased your chance of dying or having a major cardiac event by a third,” says Dr. Eli Farhi, an assistant professor of cardiology at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Primary prevention is another matter, however. These are the people Hadler, Topol, and other critics focus on when they discuss the statin problem. Consider two of the most rigorous and widely cited clinical trials of statins: In one, three people of every 100 without pre-existing heart disease but with high cholesterol who took a placebo pill suffered a heart attack; two of every 100 such people taking the best-selling Lipitor did. In the other trial, four of every 100 volunteers taking placebo had a non-fatal heart attack or stroke while two of every 100 taking Crestor did. These results are typical of the findings of other studies. As Topol notes, the bottom line is that the most popular statins reduce the risk of having a heart attack or stroke from three or four percent to two percent.

That’s not very significant. A 2011 analysis that reviewed 14 randomized trials and over 34,000 patients compared the tiny benefit with the very real risks of diabetes and muscle pain or weakness the drugs pose and concluded, “there was no net overall benefit of statins for patients without pre-existing heart disease,” notes Topol.

The key phrase here is “without pre-existing heart disease.” But most general practitioners take their cue from cardiovascular specialists, and many of these experts believe that statins save lives, period. Theirs is a straightforward argument: Cholesterol is bad; therefore, lowering cholesterol is good. “If someone has high LDL as well as high blood pressure or a history of smoking or other risk factors such as age and gender, let’s take that one risk factor [elevated cholesterol] out of the equation,” says Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Marc Gillinov, co-author of the new book Heart 411. (Indeed, Topol himself, once one of the fiercest advocates of statin drugs, wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine as recently as 2004 that “statin drugs have already surpassed all other classes of medicines in reducing the incidence of the major adverse outcomes of death, heart attack, and stroke” caused by atherosclerotic vascular disease.)

Statins, first introduced in 1987, lower blood cholesterol levels by affecting how much of the substance the liver produces, how much the intestines absorb, or how much circulates. Study after study, going back to the late 1980s, has concluded that statins lower the risk of heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke. Research into statins won the 1985 Nobel Prize in Medicine for Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein. No wonder statins rang up U.S. sales of $14.3 billion in 2009. One-fourth of Americans 45 and older take statins according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

“Statins clearly decrease one’s chance” of having a heart attack or stroke, agrees Buffalo’s Farhi. But the real-life importance of the decrease depends on how high your risk is in the first place. If your 10-year risk is extremely slim—a value judgment, but many clinicians regard anything under 10 percent as low—then “it would be of minimal benefit to take a statin,” says Farhi. “You could treat thousands of such people without preventing a single event.”

One useful way to look at the data is to consider something called “number needed to treat” (NNT). NNT simply means how many people must be given a medication, undergo surgery, have a diagnostic test, or have any other medical intervention in order for a single one of them to benefit from it. That number can be surprisingly high even for interventions with unquestioned benefits. For instance, 16 people with open fractures need to receive antibiotics for one to benefit; eight people need to take inhaled steroids during an asthma attack to prevent one from going to the hospital. In each case the vast majority of people would not have developed infections or needed a trip to the ER, respectively, even without the intervention. The NNT in these cases is 16 and eight.

Statins for primary prevention have a stratospherically higher NNT. Sixty people would have to take a statin for five years for one to avoid a heart attack; 60 is the NNT for avoiding this outcome. And 268 people without heart disease would need to take a statin for five years for one person to be saved from a stroke; 268 is therefore the NNT for avoiding this outcome, explains Dr. David Newman of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, who maintains an NNT database at thennt.com.

It’s one thing to talk about population-wide research. The challenge, of course, is determining the risks or benefits to any individual. To use an extreme example, a person riding in an airplane that’s headed for the side of a mountain is at very low risk of dying from heart disease. On the other extreme, “If you’re a 50-year-old smoker with very high cholesterol and everyone in your family has died of a heart attack before the age of 40, you would probably be very interested in something that decreases the risk of a heart attack,” says Farhi. Most people fall between these two extremes. You can gauge your risk of having a heart attack in the next 10 years by visiting hp2010.nhlbihin.net/atpiii/calculator.asp.

The National Cholesterol Education Program calculator cited above can also be used to show why lowering cholesterol, as statins indisputably do, fails to make much difference in whether or not you will develop cardiovascular disease. After you’ve typed in your actual cholesterol, blood pressure, and other data, notice what happens if you change the cholesterol: In many cases, it alters the risk of a heart attack by little or nothing. A 55-year-old non-smoking woman with total cholesterol of 240 (high enough to make most physicians prescribe a statin), HDL (good cholesterol) of 50 (which is quite low), and systolic blood pressure of 110 has a 1 percent chance of having a heart attack over the next decade, for instance. Now change her total cholesterol to 190—a huge decline. Her risk is still 1 percent. A 65-year-old man with those first numbers has an 11 percent chance of having a heart attack over the next decade; lowering his cholesterol to 190 brings that down to 9 percent.

In other words, cholesterol levels are not as strongly predictive of cardiovascular disease as once thought. “This has shocked everyone,” says Newman. “Cholesterol levels are actually a fairly weak predictor of who will have a heart attack.”

Might statins provide benefits unrelated to cholesterol reduction? There is some evidence that they also decrease inflammation. (When inflammation occurs in the arteries, it is thought to increase the risk of heart disease.) A 2008 study called the JUPITER trial tested statins in about 18,000 people with normal LDLs but elevated C-reactive protein, a measure of inflammation. Statins reduced the risks of heart attack and stroke. That led proponents to conclude that by working through an additional mechanism—lowering inflammation, not just LDL—statins were helping even people with normal LDL levels. Critics of the study note that it was halted earlier than planned (when people on statins were having fewer cardiovascular events than those not taking the drugs), which can produce a misleading result.

Whether cutting your risk of having a heart attack over the next 10 years from 11 percent to 9 percent, as in our hypothetical 65-year-old man who slashed his cholesterol, is meaningful depends on your perspective. But physicians who question the benefit of statins note that no medication is without risk—and statins are no exception. One known side effect is muscle pain or weakness. About five percent of people taking statins develop this, though in most it goes away when they stop taking the drugs. Another is diabetes. One person in 167 who take a statin for five years will develop diabetes. Newman points out that among people taking statins for primary prevention, the risk of diabetes is greater than the benefit in stroke reduction. Indeed, a 2012 study by the Mayo Clinic as reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that the use of statins in postmenopausal women is linked to an increased risk of new-onset diabetes of 71 percent. And in February, the FDA announced what it called “important safety changes” in the labels required on statins. Beginning immediately, the labels will have to warn patients that the drugs have been reported to cause certain cognitive effects in some patients, including memory loss and confusion; when patients stopped taking statins, these problems disappeared. The labels will also have to warn that increases in blood sugar (hyperglycemia) have also been reported, and that the FDA is aware of studies showing that statins may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.

As we were going to press, a new study was reported in The New York Times suggesting that taking statins makes it harder to exercise. The study, by French scientists, found that lab animals taking statins couldn’t run as far as a control group on a placebo. And a 2005 study that looked at human subjects had similar findings: “It seems possible that statins increase muscle damage” during and after exercise “and also interfere somewhat with the body’s ability to repair that damage,” Dr. Paul Thompson, the chief of cardiology at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and senior author of the study, told the Times.

How many people might be taking statins despite having only a slim chance of benefiting? Experts can give only rough estimates, but the numbers are clearly in the millions. No one currently taking a statin should stop the medication without talking to his or her doctor, of course, but “it doesn’t make sense to treat all these low-risk people with statins,” says Farhi. “The effect is indeed ‘cosmetic,’ improving their cholesterol numbers without producing any measurable difference in clinical outcome.”

He adds: “Doctors who put everyone on a statin without considering whether they’re likely to benefit are doing their patients a disservice.”

The Cholesterol Conundrum The Saturday Evening Post

All models of the electric Spinbrush can break into small parts and cause potentially serious problems, according to the FDA that regulates toothbrushes as medical devices intended to help prevent tooth decay.

• Spinbrush Proclean
• Spinbrush ProClean Recharge
• Spinbrush Pro Whitening
• Spinbrush SONIC
• Spinbrush SONIC Recharge
• Spinbrush Swirl
• Spinbrush Classic Clean
• Spinbrush For Kids
• Spinbrush Replacement Heads

“FDA’s concern is that the unexpected release of any part of this battery-powered toothbrush during use poses a risk of injury,” says Steven Silverman, director of the Office of Compliance in FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “And the risk is higher in children or adults who may need assistance but are not supervised while using the toothbrush.”

Parents, caregivers, and consumers are urged to routinely check for damaged or loose bristles before turning on the Spinbrush, and to make sure the brush head is connected tightly to the handle.

“It’s important that consumers know how to avoid the risks associated with using the Spinbrush,” says Shumaya Ali, M.P.H., a consumer safety officer at the Food and Drug Administration. “We’ve had reports in which parts of the toothbrush broke off during use and were released into the mouth with great speed, causing broken teeth and presenting a choking hazard.”

Suspect a problem? Call Spinbrush manufacturer Church & Dwight Company, Inc. at 800-352-3384 or 800-561-0752.

File a voluntary report of injuries or problems with the FDA by phone (800-332-1088), fax (800-332-0178), online, or sending a postage-paid, pre-addressed FDA form 3500 via regular mail.

Source: FDA Consumer Health Information

FDA Safety Notice: Please remember to replace your brush head after 3 months of use, or if the brush is damaged, or if parts become loose. Extended usage, loose parts or excessive wear could lead to brush head breakage, generation of small parts and possible choking hazard. Inspect brush for loose parts before use.

Toothbrush Can Chip Teeth and Cause Choking The Saturday Evening Post

1. Know your anesthesia number. Reason: Procedures that involve sedation carry an inherent degree of risk based on one’s health, age, and medical history. First, confirm that a certified expert will perform your anesthesia. Then, request your ranking on a six-tier scale used by doctors and nurse anesthetists to assess and limit anesthesia risk. Finally, ask about pre-op lab tests to verify that your body can process anesthesia drugs properly.
2. Come clean about any pills you take. Reason: Your health is at stake. To avoid dangerous interactions, provide and discuss with the anesthesiologist a complete listing of your prescription and over-the-counter medications. Be sure to include vitamins, herbs, supplements, eye drops—everything.
3. Search for certificates. Reason: Not all surgical facilities are created equal. Make sure the surgical facility is Medicare-certified or accredited by the Joint Commission, AAAHC (Accredited Association for Ambulatory Health Care), AAAASF (American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgical Facilities), or HFAP (Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program). Look for credentials on the wall or ask for proof at the front desk.
4. Quiz your surgeon. Reason: Unfortunately, there is no “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for physicians. Here are some questions to help you evaluate an individual’s education, training, and current competency:

1. How many (fill in the blank) procedures do you perform on an annual basis? (Tip: The more the better.)
2. Where do you have credentials to perform the surgery? (Tip: Hospitals and surgery centers have credentialing committees to ensure an individual is qualified to perform that particular procedure. Consider it a red flag if the physician can only perform surgery in their office facility.)
3. Do you participate in medical education programs? (Tip: Physicians on “the cutting edge” of their field often lecture and teach medical students and residents.)

Click here for more information and a video from the American Academy of Dermatology about selecting the right doctor for cosmetic procedures.

Safe-Surgery Checklist The Saturday Evening Post

In the following video, Eythor Bender, the CEO of Ekso Bionics speaks at TED along with Amanda, who demonstrates this revolutionary device.

Merging Technology and the Human Body The Saturday Evening Post

According to the Mayo Clinic, more than five million Americans live with atrial fibrillation, a condition that occurs when errant electric signals cause the upper part of the heart (the atria) to beat much faster than the rest of it. While some patients experience no symptoms, others describe AF as skipped heartbeats—or even like a “fish flopping” in the chest. Still others feel over-tired, dizzy, or chest discomfort. (See AF Symptoms, below.)

The first line of treatment, drugs help restore a normal beat and reduce the risk of clots that can potentially form as blood swirls chaotically throughout the heart. When pills don’t work, cardiac ablation to short circuit irregular heartbeats offers a long-term solution.

“In general, most AF patients are eligible for cardiac ablation,” says leading heart rhythm expert and Post contributor Douglas Zipes, M.D. “Heart rhythm experts generally prefer patients to have tried and failed at least one antiarrhythmic drug, but that is not mandatory. If ablation appeals to a patient, patients should discuss their risk and potential benefit with the doctor.”

During conventional ablation therapy, surgeons use x-ray images to thread a flexible yet firm tube through the blood vessels into the upper heart chambers. Once there, they send energy via the catheter to zap errant signals at the source and in the process potentially stop atrial fibrillation. However, there are limitations to the revolutionary procedure.

“Traditional ablations utilize a catheter with a certain degree of stiffness,” explains cardiologist Rodney Horton who is affiliated with Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia and UT Southwestern Medical School. “Obviously the stiffness provides a bit more control as the catheter is advanced around the heart. However, a stiffer catheter is more likely than a softer one to cause mechanical injury to the blood vessels and heart.  As a result, there are limits to where a firm catheter can be guided easily and safely.”

The Stereotaxis Remote Navigation System is designed to overcome these problems. Stereotactic procedures use 3-D, GPS-like technology to locate small targets inside the body—in this case, specific areas of the heart known to generate abnormal heartbeats.

The advanced system presently in use at 140-plus medical centers and FDA approved to treat patients with cardiac arrhythmias comprises of: 1) a catheter equipped with a magnetically sensitive tip; and 2) two magnets that pivot on either side of the patient table. Using sophisticated computer-guided technology, physicians direct the catheter to the targeted area.

“With Stereotaxis, we no longer depend on stiffness to get the catheter tip to a certain location,” says Dr. Horton, “Instead, physicians utilize the magnetic field across the patient’s chest to pull a flimsy catheter into the desired, precise location with a lower risk of complications—and less x-ray exposure.”

Image Courtesy of Fr. Bill Diltzer.

In 2008, Fr. Bill Diltzer became one of the first heart patients in Wisconsin to benefit from advances in cardiac ablation technology for heart rhythm disorders. Despite a family history of heart disease (“Everyone on my mother’s side dies of a heart attack or stroke between age 55 and 65,” says the pastor, now in his 60s,) Fr. Bill was initially unconvinced when a routine EKG discovered atrial fibrillation (AF). “I said, ‘that tracing can’t be mine! It’s all over the place,’ but the specialist assured me that it was,” he recalls. “Looking back, my health was deteriorating for quite some time. But I had no specific symptoms of AF, and any earlier episodes were overlooked.”

After an initial course of medicines, Fr. Bill’s heart rhythm expert recommended cardiac ablation using the Stereotaxis Magnetic Navigation System.  He agreed. And it’s a decision for which he is very grateful.

“I was told that either the procedure will work, or my life will be very short,” he says. “My doctor expected tremendous results, but my experience still astounds her. My recovery was longer than anticipated. But within one year I was walking close to 2 miles a day. Now I walk 3 miles a day and don’t think anything of it.”

No one can say whether Fr. Bill’s arrhythmia is gone for good. Outcomes of ablation therapy improve symptoms in 83 to 87 percent of AF patients but remain “tantalizingly unpredictable” in those with persistent or longstanding symptoms, according to a 2011 British single-center study that followed 100 patients for three years after an initial ablation.

“My ablation has held perfectly for 3 ½ years now,” the pastor reports enthusiastically. “They say we may need to do something else later. But if they can control my AF for the next 40 years, I’m fine with that!”

Putting the Brakes on Atrial Fibrillation The Saturday Evening Post

Type 1 diabetes develops when an overactive immune system knocks out insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas and sends blood sugars soaring. Early results suggest that infusions of the drug teplizumab avert the misguided attacks and can help prevent type 1 or throw it into remission. But no one knew how the therapy might work—until now.

The Yale report, which appears in Science Translational Medicine and was partially funded by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, reveals that teplizumab (also called anti-CD3) activates the immune system’s T cells and triggers a specific chain of events to protect insulin production.

“In the new study, we address the way this investigational drug works on human cells in a mouse model,” said co-author Richard A. Flavell, professor of immunobiology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “The results are exciting and predictive of how this compound would work in people.”

Click here for more about teplizumab research from Diabetes TrialNet, an international network of researchers that conducts studies for people with type 1 diabetes and their at-risk relatives.

Type 1 Diabetes: Closer to a Cure? The Saturday Evening Post

“Consumers are being more pro-active about their health,” says Michele Merhib, certified massage therapist and founder of Elements Therapeutic Massage, a national franchise with more than 85 studios. “And they are realizing that getting a professional massage—with the right therapist—can help keep their immune system up and running throughout cold and flu season.”

Post editors talked to the massage professional about turning to the relaxing technique for better health.

What does science say about the benefits of massage in besting colds and flu?

Recently, a study at Cedar-Sinai hospital evaluated 59 clients who received a 45-minute massage while connected to a lot of equipment. In the end, they discovered that a single massage resulted in significant biological changes: it decreased the stress hormone cortisol, increased production of lymphocytes (an important facet of the immune system response), and boosted levels of oxytocin, a hormone associated with a feeling of contentment.

What do your clients say about the benefits of massage?

Clients notice that regular massage at home or in a studio helps reduce colds and flu and improves overall health. For example, those who typically get a massage every 4^th week say they feel sluggish by the end of week 5 if they miss a session. They also report that regular massage helps them sleep better.

Is any one type of massage particularly effective?

Research shows that hands-on bodywork increases circulation and promotes health—whether that touch is light, or deep. What matters most, then, is identifying the pressure that works for your body. If it’s too deep, you won’t enjoy the massage or reap its benefits.

Can you suggest a massage technique to perform at home?

I’ll give you two! One technique massages the hand with the eraser-end of a pencil. The other uses a tennis or golf ball to rub the feet.

For Hands:

1. Turn palm up. With the eraser of a #2 pencil, apply pressure in a small circular motion at base of the thumb.
2. Repeat at base of each finger. Continue to work down the lateral, or pinkie-side, of the hand.
3. Travel twice around each hand.

For Feet: Reflexology teaches that points on the feet connect to the chest and lungs, so this technique may be especially good for avoiding colds and flu.

1. Sit comfortably on chair or couch and place tennis or golf ball near your feet.
2. Roll foot over ball, moving back and forth and side to side to cover the entire sole. Repeat with other foot. Apply enough pressure to feel a substantial, but not painful, massage. Ease up just before reaching the “hurts-so-good” threshold. As an alternative, cross the right leg over the left one. With your left hand, roll ball over right foot. Repeat on other side.
3. Set aside ball. Use hands to massage each toe from base to tip.

Can you offer tips to finding the right massage therapist?

First, start your search on websites affiliated with the American Massage Therapy Association and the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, especially if interested in a particular technique. These national organizations provide continuing education and liability insurance to its members as well as resources for the public.

Then, before scheduling your massage, set up a meeting to describe what’s going on in your body. You want to find a therapist who fits your needs. If you have back pain, for example, you want someone with knowledge and experience in that area.

Finally, try a half-hour massage session to gauge the therapist’s touch and communication style. Questions to consider include: Are they talking too much? Are they addressing the areas that most affect me? Do they even ask?

Remember that you don’t have to visit the same therapist. Personally, the one I choose for relaxation is not same person I see to get the knot out of my shoulder.

Part of what makes my business successful is that each Elements studio has 15-20 therapists on staff.  We are going to find a therapist who can meet a particular need.

Massaging Away Colds and Flu The Saturday Evening Post

Peppermint’s potent aroma is a great afternoon pick-me-up, while its distinctive cooling sensation eases pain when applied to the skin, according to the expert. Alternatively, drops of the essential oil can be added to tea or water to support digestion. Peppermint oil capsules and tablets are also sold in online and retail stores.

Post editors asked Goebel-Angel about buying—and taking advantage of—the healing herb. Always check with your doctor when starting a new treatment.

Where can you get therapeutic peppermint essential oil and how can consumers identify the best product?

Quality is always important when using essential oils to achieve therapeutic results, rather than to simply enjoy the fragrance.  First, look at stores for AFNOR-grade oils. These products meet a set of standards set in Europe by AFNOR (Association French Normalization Organization Regulation) and help buyers differentiate between therapeutic-grade essential oils and lower grade oils.

Then, read the ingredient list. Most essential oils have added artificial scents, fillers or preservatives.  One brand that does not is Young Living (YL)—a top, if not the best, brand in the world. Because YL oils are so therapeutic, training must be done in order to understand their uses and contraindications.  As a result, you cannot find them in stores. Young Living experts can be found online or locally, if you ask around.

How can people use peppermint oil for health?

Here are three benefits of peppermint, and how to reap them:

1. An organic mental energizer. To enhance focus and clarity, place a drop of oil on the nape of the neck and around the temples, inhale oil directly, or use a diffuser and take in its aroma daily.
2. A natural analgesic. To ease joint or muscle pain, rub a drop on the sore areas. For headache or migraine pain, place a drop on the temples or nape of neck.
3. A digestive aid. To relieve diarrhea, bloating or gas, directly rub one or two drops on abdomen in a clockwise motion. For an upset stomach or heartburn, place a drop in water and drink.  For nausea related to pregnancy* or cancer care, inhale daily, diffuse, or place a drop in water and drink.

*Pregnant women should consult with an expert before using any essential oils.

What precautions should people keep in mind when taking peppermint?

It’s always best to work with an expert when using powerful essential oils. For most people, small doses of peppermint are fine to take with prescriptions or OTC meds. Important precautions include: Avoid contact with eyes, sensitive skin, fresh wounds or burns.  If a skin reaction should occur, use a carrier oil (such as almond or coconut oil) to dilute the affected area. Do not wash with water and soap. Begin slowly, as overuse can create heartburn.  Do not apply to infants under 18 months of age.

What qualifies peppermint to be called the “world’s first medicine?”

Peppermint, a natural hybrid of water mint (Mentha aquatica) and spearmint (Mentha spicata), was first cultivated in England in the late seventeenth century. However, the herb has been used as a remedy for indigestion since Ancient Egyptian times. In fact, dried peppermint leaves were found in Egyptian pyramids dating back to 1000 B.C. The ancient Greeks and Romans valued the herb as a stomach soother. During the eighteenth century, peppermint became popular in Western Europe as a folk remedy for nausea, vomiting, morning sickness, respiratory infections, and menstrual disorders.  Due to its hardy nature and growth around the world, peppermint was readily available and provided quick relief for common ailments.

The Healing Power of Peppermint The Saturday Evening Post

1.  Make returning war veterans feel at home.  Simple home modifications—like installing exterior lighting or widening doorways—can enhance the comfort and security of returning soldiers, especially if they suffer from vision loss or post-traumatic stress or use a wheelchair, says Danise Levine, director of UB’s Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access. Levine helped design two homes for veterans and their families through the Wounded Warrior Home Project.

2.  Floss every day to protect against pneumonia and heart disease. Good oral hygiene may help prevent pneumonia and heart disease, according to two researchers. Professor of medicine, Ali A. El Solh, MD, indicates that periodontal microbes are a possible reservoir for recurrent lower respiratory tract infections in nursing home residents. And research done by Distinguished Professor and Vice Provost Robert J. Genco, DDS, shows a strong association between periodontal microbes and non-fatal heart attacks.

3. To lose weight, eat the same foods over and over. Variety may be the spice of life but it’s no good for your waistline, according to Leonard Epstein, PhD, professor of pediatrics and social and preventive medicine. In a study, he found that when women ate as many servings of macaroni and cheese as they wanted every day for five days, they reduced their intake by 30 calories. On the other hand, women who ate macaroni and cheese just once a week for five weeks increased their intake by 100 calories. Epstein said that the first group reduced their intake because of “habituation.”  In other words, repetition may discourage overeating.

4.  Be a humble leader, and be more effective in the workplace. Humble leaders are more effective and better liked in the workplace, according to research by Bradley Owens, PhD, assistant professor of organization and human resources in the UB School of Management.  ”Admitting mistakes, spotlighting follower strengths and modeling teachability are the core of humble leadership. These three behaviors are powerful predictors of the leader’s personal growth, as well as the organization’s growth,” explains Owens, who interviewed leaders at military, manufacturing, health care, financial services, retailing and religious organizations.

5.  Talk to your child about bullying. A number of bullying cases made major news last year, followed by many well-meaning calls for new laws and programs. Sometimes the most important thing parents can do is have a conversation with their child about bullying, says researcher Amanda Nickerson, PhD, director of UB’s Jean M. Alberti Center for the Prevention of Bullying Abuse and School Violence. “Ask explicitly if there is bullying at school, and then listen and empathize when they tell their stories,” she says. “Kids are more aware of the peer culture and the culture of the school to know what will make it worse and what will make it better.”

6. Read more fantasy to combat loneliness. Reading fantasies like the popular Twilight vampire series or the Harry Potter collection of novels helps to satisfy a need for human connection, according to the research of associate professor of psychology Shira Gabriel, PhD, and graduate student Ariana Young.   When we become engrossed in fictional narratives we feel close to others in the comfort of our own space and at our own convenience, their research shows.  ”In our subjects, this led to a reported increase in life satisfaction and positive mood, which are two primary outcomes of belonging,” Gabriel says.

7.  For better health, reflect on the things that give your life meaning. Feelings of spirituality or religiosity appear to offer protection against emotional distress and physical ailments, according to the research of Michael J. Poulin, PhD, assistant professor of psychology. Poulin studied people’s response to the traumatic events of 9/11 and found those who had a personal commitment to spiritual or religious beliefs were in better health than those in the study who expressed no religious or spiritual proclivities.

8.  Maintain separate email accounts to avoid being scammed. Having separate accounts for work and personal email helps you more easily sort through cluttered inboxes and focus on the details of email. This reduces the likelihood of being deceived by online scammers phishing for personal and financial information, according to the research of Arun Vishwanath, PhD, associate professor of communication, and H. Raghav Rao, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the UB School of Management.

9.  Teach math to your toddler for academic success through high school. Very young children have the potential to learn math that is complex and sophisticated, according to the research of professors Doug Clements, PhD, and Julie Sarama, PhD. Preschool children’s knowledge of mathematics predicts their later school success into high school. Further, it predicts later reading achievement.  Clements’ and Sarama’s pre-kindergarten Building Blocks project helps children “mathematize” their everyday activities, from building blocks to art and stories to puzzles and games.

10.  Be nice to nurses—they may save your life. According to the Institute of Medicine, nurses are the health-care professionals most likely to intercept and prevent medical mistakes, says assistant professor of nursing Sharon Hewner, PhD, RN.  Hewner developed a new patient-safety course to teach nursing students how to spot and prevent potential medical errors.  She hopes the course will be emulated and rolled out at nursing schools nationwide.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB’s more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.

To Your Health (and happiness, too) The Saturday Evening Post