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| Alternative Medicine in the News
November 2010 edition 101
published weekly |
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Stop the US Senate Bill S-510 Food Safety Modernization Act
Vote is imminent: Would outlaw gardening and saving seeds
Attention US citizens
(NaturalNews) Senate Bill 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, has been called "the most dangerous bill in the history of the United States of America." It would grant the U.S. government new authority over the public's right to grow, trade and transport any foods. This would give Big brother the power to regulate the tomato plants in your backyard. It would grant them the power to arrest and imprison people selling cucumbers at farmer's markets. It would criminalize the transporting of organic produce if you don't comply with the authoritarian rules of the federal government. "It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one's choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will of God." - Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistleblower ( http://shivchopra.com/?page_id=2) This tyrannical law puts all food production (yes, even food produced in your own garden) under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security. Yep -- the very same people running the TSA and its naked body scanner / passenger groping programs. This law would also give the U.S. government the power to arrest any backyard food producer as a felon (a "smuggler") for merely growing lettuce and selling it at a local farmer's market. It also sells out U.S. sovereignty over our own food supply by ceding to the authority of both the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Codex Alimentarius. It would criminalize seed saving ( http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/20...), turning backyard gardeners who save heirloom seeds into common criminals. This is obviously designed to give corporations like Monsanto a monopoly over seeds. It would create an unreasonable paperwork burden that would put small food producers out of business, resulting in more power over the food supply shifting to large multinational corporations. I encourage you to read more about this dangerous bill at the Food Freedom blog on Wordpress: http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/20...Watch this excellent video on NaturalNews.TV which explains S.510 in more detail: http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=9209B...Take action now or lose your right to grow your own foodSign this petition at Citizens for Health: http://www.citizens.org/?page_id=2312Do it today! This is really important. In addition, the Cornucopia Institute recently sent out an urgent call-to-action email containing the following information: ( http://www.cornucopia.org/2010/11/a...) How to protest Senate Bill 5101) Go to Congress.org and type in your zip code in the box in the upper right hand corner. 2) Click on your Senator's name, and then on the contact tab for their phone number. You can also call the Capitol Switchboard and ask to be directly connected to your Senator's office: 202-224-3121. 3) Once connected ask to speak to the legislative staff person responsible for agriculture. If they are unavailable leave a voice mail message. Be sure to include your name and phone number. Give them this message in support of the "Tester Amendment" which would exempt small farms from S.510: "I am a constituent of Senator___________. I ask that he/she support the Tester Amendment to the food safety bill. The Tester Amendment will exempt the safest, small, owner-operator farms and food facilities and farmers who direct market their products to consumers, stores or restaurants. Food safety legislation should not create inappropriate and costly regulatory barriers to family farms and the growing healthy food movement in the drive to crack down on corporate bad actors. Please support the Tester Amendment and market opportunities for small and mid-sized family farms, and small food processing facilities." You may also wish to explain that you oppose the Food Safety Modernization Act in its entirety, and it is a destructive, freedom-crushing law that will destroy the future of food in America. Remember, America has already lost control over its money supply to the Federal Reserve (nearly a hundred years ago). America has lost its health due to the medical industry and its profit-from-sickness agenda. Now we may lose our right to grow our own food and save our own seeds if Senate Bill 510 passes. This is a dangerous, tyrannical law that would thrust the American people into an age of darkness and malnutrition. It would criminalize many of the very people growing our food and turn food production into yet another corporate monopoly. Please take the time right now to contact your U.S. Senator and voice your strong opposition to this bill.
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Stop the EU Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive
No matter where you are from you need to sign this petition Today!!
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/39757/sign.html
Published by Heidi Stevenson on Oct 12, 2010
Region: Europe
Target: European Union Committee on Petitions
Petition text:
We call on the European Parliament to stop the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD), Directive 2004/24/EC, which is set to remove access to the vast majority of herbal medicinal products beginning 1 April 2011.
THMPD abridges the rights of each European citizen to self-determination in managing health. It goes far beyond reasonable controls over dangerous products, and enters the realm of coercion by limiting options for treating health issues.
The public's access to herbal products that have traditionally been freely available must continue uninterrupted.
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Six Easy Ways Detox in Our Toxic World
NaturalNews.com
(NaturalNews) In today's polluted and chemically contaminated world, we can only control toxins by what we consume or use in the home. But there is more we can't control externally. Incorporating detox protocols is actually necessary, not just nice. Fortunately, there are some simple, inexpensive methods that can be incorporated easily.
First Avoid
All processed foods, even many from health food stores, should be shunned. Most produce that's not organic is sprayed with toxic chemicals, some more than others. Find out which are worst and avoid them. Go organic as much as possible. All commercial household cleaners contain toxic materials. Ditto for laundry and dish detergents and most cosmetics.
Dry cleaning is not so dry when it comes to harsh chemicals. Try the eye and nose test in dry cleaning establishments or down the household cleaner and laundry detergent aisles of any grocery store. If you're not offended by the smell or if your eyes don't smart, you've been around this stuff too long.
Then Detox
These are a few simple detox protocols that are within reach and can be incorporated within almost any life style. There are others of course, but these can be incorporated within most lifestyles.
(1) Super foods, such as Chlorella, are excellent food based nutritional supplements that help detox as well. The Health Ranger (source below) recommends five grams of chlorella daily. Shaking chlorella powder in a jar of strong unsweetened lime or lemon water creates a mix that bypasses the unpleasant taste.
(2) Cilantro (dhania) extracts, juice, pesto, or leaves with chlorella is great for removing heavy metals. Cilantro alone has been clinically proven to remove mercury.
(3) Fasting for a week or so with lemon water mixed with cayenne has been effective for many.
(4) Lots of fiber in the diet aids bowel elimination. We should have two to three bowel movements daily.
(5) A tablespoon of activated charcoal powder taken in water on an empty stomach for one or two weeks is great for removing toxins and even heavy metals, according to Dr. Al Sears. It's virtually tasteless, just kind of messy.
(6) Enemas are proven detox methods. There is the coffee enema (organic unflavored high caffeine), which detoxes the liver, our most important toxin filter. With the coffee enema one lies on the right side for 20 minutes before eliminating. Plain water or herbal solution enemas for the bowel and lower intestines involves lying on the left side before eliminating. Either of these could be done weekly or as often as possible.
Replacing What's Been Avoided
There are many natural alternative products for all of the items to avoid that are safe and work well. Stay with bulk organic produce, grains, and legumes as much as possible. Organic hand soaps and shaving creams are available in health food stores everywhere. Natural soap nuts really do work for laundry items. Only a few soap nuts at a time need to be used for several washes; thus, the per load cost is ultimately inexpensive.
You can save money by using cheap white vinegar for house hold cleaning. Adding baking soda with vinegar works as a cleanser for sinks and toilets. That combination can even unclog drains. Use inexpensive baking soda and hydrogen peroxide for brushing teeth. There are green dry cleaners that don't use toxic chemicals cropping up. If you can find one in your area, there's your dry cleaning replacement.
Even with all the lifestyle changes, unless you're in a pristine isolated area, free from auto and industrial pollution as well as free from planes chemtrailing overhead, some detoxing is necessary.
Sources for more information include:
Mike Adams' excellent complete ebook on chlorella and spirulina - FREE!
http://www.chlorellafactor.com/
Mercola promotes chlorella's detox aspects
http://products.mercola.com/chlorella/
Dr. Al Sears on activated charcoal powder for detoxifying
http://www.healthiertalk.com/welcom...
Coffee enemas for detoxification
http://www.naturalnews.com/026289_c...
Health Ranger: Cilantro helps detox heavy metals
http://www.naturalnews.com/027434_c...
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Looking to plant Aloe
in your garden?
Aloe vera barbadensis seedlings
for sale. Will deliver.
Please contact Kamau in Embu
0720846107
0734850249
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Homeopathic Family Medicine: Evidence Based Homeopathy
-- an eBook by DANA ULLMAN, MPH
This ebook is many books in one! First, this ebook provides the most comprehensive and up-to-description reference to and description of the 200+ clinical studies testing homeopathic medicines that have been published in peer-review journals. This information is VITAL for those people who wish to advocate for homeopathy and who want to back-up their advocacy for homeopathy with good scientific evidence. This information is also useful to homeopaths who want to print out a specific chapter on the patient's illness (although the patient is usually not skeptical of homeopathy, his or her spouse or other family member or neighbor may be skeptical, and giving the patient a chapter that verifies scientific efficacy of homeopathic medicines is a great way to educate people...and even get new patients!).
This ebook also provides detailed information on how to individualize the use of homeopathic medicines in the treatment of 100+ common ailments, along with reference to which are the most commonly indicated medicines for the common ailments.
Because this is an ebook, there are no shipping charges for it!
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Yoga & Meditation at Abha Light House
YOGA
Mondays - Wednesdays
5:30 - 6:30
Cost: Ksh 300
4 classes for Ksh 1000
MEDITATION
Tuesdays
6:30 - 7:30
Cost: free!
Welcome!
Call for information: 0710-620323 / 0733-895466
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Cancer cells killed by chemotherapy may cause cancer to spread
(NaturalNews) Chemotherapy is known to come with a long list of side effects -- from debilitating nausea and hair loss to extreme fatigue -- and in many cases, it does not cure or even stop cancer from progressing. But what if chemotherapy does something no one has realized before during all the decades it has been in use? What if chemo actually encourages cancer to spread throughout the body, the process known as metastasis?
Researchers with the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Comprehensive Cancer Center and UAB Department of Chemistry have just been awarded a $805,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program to see if the answer to those questions is "yes". The study is investigating the very real possibility that dead cancer cells left over after chemotherapy spark cancer to spread to other parts of the body.
"What if by killing cancer cells with chemotherapy we inadvertently induce DNA structures that make surviving cancers cells more invasive? The idea is tough to stomach," Katri Selander, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UAB Division of Hematology and Oncology and co-principal researcher on the grant, said in a statement to the media. "Fundamentally this question must be answered to advance the knowledge base and to know all the risks and benefits of cancer treatment. This research has the potential to reach across numerous scientific disciplines, and may one day improve the lives of patients worldwide."
The UAB scientists are concentrating on inactivated or altered genetic material (DNA) left in the body after breast-cancer cells are exposed to chemotherapy. The research team stated that the resulting altered DNA could be the deadly factor that sparks the dreaded process of metastasis through a specific molecular pathway. Finding out whether chemotherapy could cause cancer spread is hugely important to the field of oncology because metastasis is the number one cause of cancer recurrence and treatment failure.
Dead cancer cells have been found to activate a pathway in the body mediated as a protein dubbed toll-like receptor 9, or TLR9, that is present in the immune system and in many kinds of cancer. "If TLR9 boosts metastasis, then researchers will work on finding targeted therapies that block or regulate this molecular pathway," Dr. Selander stated.
For more information:
http://main.uab.edu/Sites/MediaRela...
http://www.naturalnews.com/chemothe...
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Fruit Pectin Chelates Heavy Metals and Facilitates Drug Detox
Fruit pectin is effective for removing contaminants from the body such as heavy metals and unwanted drug residue. When these substances deposit in the body's cells, they contribute to a variety of serious diseases. Detoxifying the body from heavy metals and contaminants optimizes health and allows the body to repair itself. Using fruit pectin for home detox programs can be successful as long as people follow some common sense precautions regarding dosage.
When preparing to use pectin there are a few guidelines and tips to make it easier.
Recognizing Candidates for Heavy Metals and Drug Detoxification
Heavy metals exist throughout the environment contributing to serious health problems. Mercury is used in dental fillings and vaccines and contaminates waterways. Cadmium, found in cigarette smoke and exhaust fumes, permeates the air. Lead was used in paints, food, water pipes, pesticides, cosmetics and children's toys.
Some prescription medications are deposited in the body's tissues, and once in the system they are difficult to eliminate. Medications such as chemotherapy are known to be problematic creating an environment that not only destroys cancer cells, but also weakens the overall immune system.
Anyone over-exposed to these substances will benefit from using pectin to remove heavy metals and unwanted drug residues from the body.
What is Fruit Pectin and Where is it Found?
Pectin is a substance found naturally in many fruits whose properties make it excellent for use for making jellies. Pectin also has the ability to pull heavy metals and other contaminants from the blood stream through a process called chelation. These contaminants are excreted through normal urination.
Pectin is found in the rinds of many fruits and vegetables. Excellent sources of pectin are bananas, apples, cabbage, okra, beets, grapes, carrots and all citrus fruit in the white part called the pith.
Gently Detox from Contaminants and Heavy Metals
Eat several servings of high-pectin fruit daily for a natural, gentle detox. One of the best sources of pectin is green apples. Organic apple juice and unsweetened applesauce are also good sources of natural fruit pectin.
Using Pectin to Chelate Heavy Metals and for Deep Drug Detox
For a deeper and more controlled detox, find pectin at the grocery store in the canning section. Pectin made especially for chelating heavy metals and drugs is available at health food stores in powdered form. Check labels to make sure the pectin is free of MSG.
To use pectin, mix 2-4 teaspoons of dry pectin to an 8 oz. glass of grape juice once a day. Start with a lower dose of pectin until the body gets used to it and increase the amount slowly.
Continue taking pectin for a period from 2 weeks to 6 months to complete a drug detox or when chelating heavy metals. Indicators for completing the detox period are a reduction in symptoms. Although there is no such thing as a symptom-free detoxification during chelation therapy, if pectin is taken in small quantities over a period of time, overall health will return as energy increases and disease symptoms disappear.
Supervision for Heavy Metals Chelation and Drug Detox
People addicted to narcotics of any form should use pectin only under supervision during drug detox.
Pectin can cause problems in people who are sensitive. Some people may experience a flare up of their symptoms during the detox period including dizziness, nausea, joint or muscle pain, weakness and fatigue. Reducing the amount of the dose is usually enough to lessen symptoms making the detox experience more comfortable. Seek medical supervision to help with dosing.
Sources:
The Environmental Illness Resource
http://www.ei-resource.org/store/nu...
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2009...
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Sauerkraut is the Original Probiotic Superfood
[Didi's remarks: I wrote about Sauerkraut in my book Great Health, Naturally! There, I called it "Fermented Cabbage"]
(NaturalNews) With the advent of refrigeration and airline flights, getting and storing fresh vegetables year round is not something most people have to be concerned about. But before cold storage and long haul shipping was commonplace, vegetables spoiled very quickly and only creative solutions kept vegetables fresh for more than a few days after ripening. Sauerkraut is one solution to this problem that not only keeps vegetables fresh for months on end, but also confers exciting health benefits in the form of probiotics and nutrients that the plant in its natural form doesn't have.
Sauerkraut and its spicier Asian cousin Kim Chee are age old superfoods that are beginning to make a comeback due to their unique taste and benefits of 'good bacteria'. Fresh cabbage is already pre-populated with the bacteria required to lactoferment itself. It's easy to see how our ancestors might have first discovered this tasty side dish after a forgotten dish of cabbage was found after a few weeks left in a corner. While the process of allowing a cabbage to sit for weeks may not sound appetizing, this fermentation process is accomplished with lactic acid bacteria digesting the sugar of the cabbage in a process similar to how yogurt is made. Like yogurt, the fermentation process makes cabbage healthier and more digestible than the plant in its original form. In addition to creating a naturally occurring probiotic supplement, fermentation adds other nutritional benefits as well. Cabbage in its raw form contains substances called 'goitrogens' that can block the production of thyroid hormone, but goitrogens are reduced or eliminated through the fermentation process. Another 'bonus' of eating sauerkraut is that it is higher in B vitamins than cabbage, particularly in vitamin B12, making sauerkraut a perfect food for vegans.
Smart sailors and explorers from ancient times, too, used sauerkraut as a shipboard staple that they knew would provide them with vegetables even months into a voyage. Shipboard records from around the world show that scurvy, a painful and deadly vitamin C deficiency disease that was rampant on shipboard voyages, was a nonexistent problem when perfectly preserved casks of vitamin C containing sauerkraut were regularly opened on long voyages. Not only was the sauerkraut a tasty addition to a sailor's monotonous diet, but the good bacteria likely also protected sailors from getting the digestive complaints that so often plagued these men who boarded in cramped and unhygienic areas below-decks for months, and sometimes even years, on end.
While sauerkraut may be an 'acquired' taste for modern peoples used to mostly fresh or cooked vegetables, its tangy taste would have been a welcome treat for those in northern climates enduring long cold winters when all other vegetables had been eaten long before. In any case, it's a delicious accompaniment to dishes from around the world. But all sauerkraut is not equal and modern processing has created canned and jarred sauerkraut that have been heat treated and pasteurized, destroying the fragile bacteria that are the main reason for eating sauerkraut in the first place. Fortunately, artisan companies are bringing back this ancient superfood in the form of small batches of raw unpasteurized boutique sauerkrauts with unique taste twists such a sea vegetables, detoxifying herbs and even apple and fennel. But make sure that it says 'Raw' or 'Unpasteurized' in order to make sure that it's a 'living' food with beneficial bacteria. Even better, homemade sauerkraut is a simple and inexpensive way to brew up an effective natural probiotic 'supplement' that won't require taking any pills, powders or potions.
Resources
http://fsweb2.schaub.ncsu.edu/usdaa...
http://www.easy-immune-health.com/G...
http://apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/APJ...
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Enjoy the Many Healthy Benefits of Beets and Beetroot Juice
(NaturalNews) When most people think about beets, they likely turn up their noses and think "yuck!" However, health-conscious people would be wise to expand their palette and discover ways to utilize and enjoy beets on a regular basis because the oft-maligned beet is one of the healthiest vegetables on the planet.
Beets are rich in betaine, which stimulates liver cell function and helps keep the bile ducts healthy and flowing; this enables the body to eliminate toxins properly. Beets also protect against heart disease because another benefit of betaine is its ability to reduce homocysteine levels. Homocysteine is the toxic amino acid that increases risk of cardiovascular disease.
Betaine, also known as trimethylglycine (TMG), is a minor "mood enhancer". Through a series of events, it increases serotonin levels and can be used to help relieve many cases of depression.
Drinking just over two cups of beetroot juice daily may help keep your blood pressure in check, according to a 2008 study. Within three hours of drinking 500 milliliters (about 17 ounces) of beetroot juice, volunteers showed a significant decrease in blood pressure. What's more, that drop in blood pressure was sustained for up to 24 hours after the juice was consumed.
Beets also help protect against cancer, particularly colon cancer, and there is something called "Beet Therapy" which doctors have used to get rid of tumors and to help with blood diseases and leukemia. Even the leaves of raw beets have been eaten and useful and beneficial to one's health. The leaves have been known to counter "garlic" breath and in Roman times Hippocrates advocated the use of beet leaves as binding for healing wounds.
Among the other healthy uses of beets are:
*Helping cleanse the colon
*Strengthening the gall bladder
*Increasing stamina
*Treating and curing boils, abscesses and even acne.
Beets, which are low calorie and have no saturated fat, contain folic acid which is necessary for the production and maintenance of new cells. This is especially important for pregnant woman or anyone undergoing physical healing. Beets also contain sodium, magnesium, calcium, iron and phosphorous.
Beets are usually bright red (and sometimes white or yellow) and make a colorful and healthy garnish. They also can be made into a number of cold salads. Betacyanin is the pigment that gives red beets their color and is believed to be responsible for helping fight cancer.
Borscht is a vegetable soup made of beets and is a very popular and traditionally loved dish in Poland, Russia, Germany and other Eastern European countries. There are cold and hot Borscht soups and each country varies the ingredients somewhat, but beets are the one main and common ingredient of this revered hearty soup.
Juiced beets are usually called either "beetroot juice" or "beet juice". Beetroot juice has a strong flavor; thus, it is best blended with other juices (such as carrot, apple, and lemon) for better taste. Since juiced beets can be combined with other healthy ingredients for both taste and health benefits, many people prefer to consume beets in juiced form.
Here is a healthy and simple juiced beets recipe:
Beet Juice with Carrots and Celery
Ingredients:
*1 small organic beetroot (the small ones are sweeter!)
*2 large organic carrots
*1 stalk of organic celery
Directions:
1. Wash the vegetables using water and a vegetable brush.
2. Remove the carrot and beetroot tops. Peel the beetroot if the skin is tough. Otherwise, just cut off the top.
3. Slice up the vegetables to fit your juicer.
4. Juice and serve.
For a sweeter drink, add an apple, or use 2 apples instead of the carrots.
Sources included:
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/jui...
http://www.drdavidwilliams.com/lega...
http://www.associatedcontent.com/ar...
http://www.healing.org/only-23.html
http://www.rawfoods-livingfoods.com...
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Doctor fired from hospital for warning patients about dangers of gastric band surgery
(NaturalNews) After seeing countless patients suffer severe complications and seeing one patient die after getting gastric band surgery, surgical resident Neelu Pal began calling patients before their surgeries to warn them of the risk. When her supervisors at the New York University (NYU) Medical Center found out, she was fired. Pal, an immigrant from India, says she has now been blackballed from practicing medicine in the United States.
Pal has filed a lawsuit against the NYU Medical Center and enrolled in law school.
Gastric band surgery has recently become a popular alternative to the more invasive gastric bypass procedure. Unlike that procedure, gastric banding is quicker, reversible and is considered less risky.
"This restrictive-only procedure involves wrapping an inflatable band around the stomach to create a small pouch with a narrow outlet," write Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey in their book Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease.
Pal alleges that her superiors at NYU -- married couple Christine Ren and George Fielding -- were running a Lap-Band factory, installing as many as 30 of the devices in a single day.
"My impression at the time was that the practice was disorganized, but once I knew more about the system, I could see what they were trying to do was get as many patients on to the operating table as possible," Pal said.
A 2006 New York State Department of Health investigation had previously reprimanded Fielding for falsifying data on a 14-year-old boy whose appendix may have been removed unnecessarily after he experienced side effects from a gastric band operation, and for failing to address a postoperative patient's lack of urination, which contributed to the patient's death. Fielding has also been the subject of numerous personal injury lawsuits in his native Australia. The investigation cited Ren for permitting surgeons to practice without licenses and then covering it up.
Ren and Fielding are paid consultants for Allergan Inc., which makes Lap-Bands, the brand-name gastric bands that dominate more than two-thirds of the device's $300 million to $400 million market.
Sources for this story include: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS....
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Why your urologist may be ordering unnecessary imaging tests
(NaturalNews) Whether a urologist is salaried or self-employed can make all the difference in how often and under what circumstances he or she orders imaging tests, according to a new study out of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. Self-employed urologists tend to be twice as likely to order imaging tests than employed urologists, and researchers believe financial incentives are to blame.
"In the same patient, a medical problem would be evaluated -- and perhaps treated -- differently by employed versus self-employed urologists," explained Dr. John M. Hollingsworth, author of the study, to Reuters Health. Since ordering more diagnostic tests means more money for the self-employed urologist, it makes sense that those in this type of practice are more likely to order them, even when their patients do not really need them.
Based on data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey that included over 37 million outpatient visits to urologists, roughly 80 percent of urologists are self-employed, and more than 20 percent of urology visits involve orders for imaging tests. But about 24 percent of self-employed urologists order imaging for their patients while only 13 percent of salaried urologists do.
Though the majority of the imaging tests ordered were ultrasounds, other types of imaging that involve radiation could be problematic in the long-term for patients who see self-employed urologists, as repeated exposure could cause other health problems. For this reason, some are calling for changes to be made in the way physicians are reimbursed for services in order to curb illegitimate imaging orders.
"With physicians controlling much of the demand for imaging, strategies to affect its use should consider the methods by which providers are compensated," added Hollingsworth.
Sources for this story include:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS..
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Medical science discovers remarkable yet simple way to instantly increase your willpower
Here's good news that's just in time to help you avoid the temptation of sugary goodies served up at holiday parties. If you feel your willpower weakening as you pass the desserts piled high, just tighten up your muscles -- flex any of them, including your finger or calf muscles. Sound crazy? Not according to new research. Scientists have found that firming muscles literally shores up self-control.
Researchers Iris W. Hung of the National University of Singapore and Aparna A. Labroo of the University of Chicago collaborated on a study that put volunteers through a range of self-control dilemmas revolving around accepting immediate pain for long-term gain. For example, in one study participants held their hands in an ice bucket to demonstrate pain resistance and, in another, the research subjects had to drink a healthy but awful-tasting vinegar drink.
In yet another experiment, study participants decided whether they could look at disturbing information about injured children devastated by the earthquake in Haiti and donate money to help. And in a final study, the volunteers were observed while making food choices for lunch at a local cafeteria to see if tightening muscles helped them overcome picking tempting but not-good-for-them foods.
"Participants who were instructed to tighten their muscles, regardless of which muscles they tightened -- hand, finger, calf, or biceps -- while trying to exert self-control demonstrated greater ability to withstand the pain, consume the unpleasant medicine, attend to the immediately disturbing but essential information, or overcome tempting foods," the authors concluded in their paper, which was just published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
The researchers found that the muscle tightening specifically helped when the choice aligned with the participants' goals. For example, if a person didn't want to eat healthy foods, tightening their muscles wouldn't keep them from chowing down on sugary junk. Hung and Labroo also found that the tightening of muscles only helped at the moment people faced the self-control dilemma. In other words, tightening your muscles before faced with a plate of sugar cookies doesn't work but tightening your muscles when the cookies are in front of you seems to.
Bottom line: the research is a new example of the connection between the body and the mind. "We draw on theories of embodied cognition to explain our results, and we add to that literature by showing for the first time that one's body can help firm willpower and facilitate the self-regulation essential for the attainment of long-term goals...The mind and the body are so closely tied together, merely clenching muscles can also activate willpower," the authors stated in their paper. "Thus simply engaging in these bodily actions, which often result from an exertion of willpower, can serve as a non-conscious source to recruit willpower, facilitate self-control, and improve consumer will."
For more information:
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/do...
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Medical Disclaimer:
The information contained within does not take the place of medical diagnosis or
prescription. See your health care provider in case of sickness.
Editorial Disclaimer: Publication of these articles are to promote food for thought. The opinions expressed in these articles may not be the opinion of editors.
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