Saturday, April 2, 2016

Study could help tackle memory loss associated with conditions such as Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia

Our brains can act the same way as email by filing irrelevant thoughts into a neurological trash folder.
Forgetting memories can be the result of an active deletion process rather than a failure to remember, according to new research.
The findings point towards new ways of tackling memory loss associated with conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.
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The Lancet: We now live in a world in which more people are obese than underweight, major global analysis reveals

  • By 2025, around a fifth of adults worldwide will be obese
  • Over a third of UK men and women, and over 40% of US men and women will be obese by 2025.
  • Interactive maps and country by country data available below
In the past 40 years, there has been a startling increase in the number of obese people worldwide--rising from 105 million in 1975 to 641 million in 2014, according to the most comprehensive analysis of trends in body mass index (BMI) to date, published in The Lancet.
The age-corrected proportion of obese men has more than tripled (3.2% to 10.8%), and the proportion of obese women has more than doubled (6.4% to 14.9%) since 1975. At the same time, the proportion of underweight people fell more modestly--by around a third in both men (13.8% to 8.8%) and women (14.6% to 9.7%).

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10 Old-School Nursing Skills You Don’t See Anymore

Nursing, along with the rest of the medical field, is constantly evolving to ensure better patient outcomes. Nursing skills, in particular, have changed quite a bit over the last several decades. Some skills have even been discarded completely for the sake of safety or efficiency. Here are 10 interesting examples of old-school nursing skills that have either drastically changed or are no longer practiced:
  1. Reusing syringes and urinary catheter

The Role of Nurses in Increasing Health Literacy

As nurses, we tend to take for granted how much our patients know about their own health conditions. The truth is, many don’t know much, and by overestimating their health literacy we are hindering their road to a recovery. With new standards in health care going into effect that entail more patient involvement in their own treatment, it is imperative that nurses learn how to properly assess health literacy.
What is Health Literacy?
In most cases, a patient ultimately has the final say in how they are treated medically. Even routine procedures are not first performed without their consent. While this measure seemingly protects their rights, it could hinder their recovery if they are not sure of what is happening to them.

Things for which I would never apologise - ever

Not answering phone calls from work or checking work email while I'm on vacation. Leave me voicemail if it's really important and I'll call you back.

This policy stems from the time the house supervisor called me and asked me to come in one morning for an "incentive shift." I replied that sorry, I couldn't come in, and got subjected to a lecture about how not-a-team-player I was and how my coworkers were going to suffer. I said, "Yeah, yeah, but I'm in CANADA" and that was that

Read more at Head Nurse Blog

What is grounded theory?

Grounded theory (GT) is a research method concerned with the generation of theory,1 which is ‘grounded’ in data that has been systematically collected and analysed.2 It is used to uncover such things as social relationships and behaviours of groups, known as social processes.3 It was developed in California, USA by Glaser and Strauss during their study—‘Awareness of Dying’.1 It is a general methodology for developing theory that is grounded in data which is systematically gathered and analysed.

Read more from Evidence based nursing 

Friday, March 11, 2016

Methylation: What It Is And How It Affects You

Methylation is crucial to happiness and well-being.
Making too much or not enough methyl impairs our ability to think clearly, have meaningful relationships, a healthy body, and live a fulfilling life.
In today’s world, methylation problems are commonplace due to food and environmental toxins, emotional trauma, genetic errors, and stress.
Conditions that have a direct link to methylation imbalances include, but are not limited to: bipolar disorder, behavior disorders and ADHD, autism, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, autoimmune diseases, and cancer.
Symptoms include, but are not limited to: depression, high anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, perfectionism, panic disorder, addictions, PMS, chemical and food sensitivities, amenorrhea (absence of menstruation), infertility, hair loss, anemia, elevated blood sugar, high blood pressure, memory loss, violent behavior, postpartum depression, hypothyroidism, skin rashes, headaches, insomnia, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), sensitive skin, spaciness, racing thoughts, arthritis, asthma, allergies, weight gain, weight loss, acne, premature greying of the hair, and chronic infections.


Overmethylation



Are you creative?  Low motivation during your school years?

You may be overmethylated.  Most overmethylated persons in the general population tend to be creative or sensitive types.  These individuals may be attracted to professions or hobbies in music and the arts, architecture, education, writing, social services or causes, and philosophy.  Often, they are "underachievers" and may experience learning issues.  

Individuals with methyl-folate imbalances may have elevated levels of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine and low blood histamine.  They may experience high internal tension and anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, food and chemical sensitivities, and have a tendency to overreact to life experiences.

Americas most trusted profession

Yet again, nursing has been rated the most trusted profession in Gallup’s annual poll on the honesty and ethics of various professionals. Considering the fact that nurses have topped the list nearly every year, this is hardly surprising. However, it’s interesting that nurses have almost always managed to beat out other professionals, including medical doctors and pharmacists, in the minds of Americans when it comes to trustworthiness. When we took the time to consider why this might be the case, we came up with the following potential explanations:

Read more at Scrubs Blog

How Changing Demographics Affect Nursing Practice


I personally have noted that as a nurse you run into people from tons of different cultural and socioeconomincal background.  And as a nurse caring for an adult population, I’ve noted that taking care of a 42 year-old patient is quite different than taking care of an 85 year-old patient and it’s important to be

Read more from the Nurse Eye Roll blog

Reduce the Stress Factor

The life of the average young person is a lot more stressful than it used to be. The pressures of jobs, looks, boyfriends, girlfriends and keeping credit in phones to name but a few! But all this and then school/college can sometimes be too much for a lot of people. Most people don’t realise how stressed they are until it is too late, so check out the common signs of too much stress here. It is very important that stress is spotted early so something can be done about it.
Read more on spunout.ie

WORLD-RENOWNED NUTRITIONAL TESTING & THERAPY FOR MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS

BIO BALANCE NUTRITIONAL APPROACH TO MENTAL HEALTH

A world-renowned nutrient therapy to treat depression and anxiety is now available for the first time in Ireland. Led by father and son team, Dr. Edmond O’Flaherty and Dr. Andrew O’Flaherty, who both have a special interest in mental health, the treatment is based on a nutrient therapy programme that, in conjunction with conventional medicine, has proven hugely successful in countries such as Australia, Norway, the USA and Canada.
Speaking about the pioneering treatment, Dr. Edmond O’Flaherty said: “My journey to this work started in 1999 when I read an article by Prof. Andrew Stoll of Harvard on fish oil. I had a patient with severe OCD and she had a wonderful response to a high dose of Omega-3, so I started looking for other natural nutrients that might help with mental health issues.”

Athlone IT Nursing & Health Science Building