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Dr Lakin Named "Top Doc" Again For 2014!

Every year the Phoenix Magazine publishes a guide featuring over 500 of the Valley's best physicians. The doctors are selected through a peer-review survey. The theory is that medical professionals are the best qualified to judge medical professionals.

The survey asks the doctors to nominate those doctors who, in their judgment, are the best in their fields.

Once again, Dr. Lakin has been chosen as a TOP DOC among his peers.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Lakin again for the 12th year!

 

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In romantic relationships, women set the pace - literally. That's the conclusion of researchers who studied walking speeds among a small group of heterosexual couples and their friends.

As expected, men ambling solo generally walked faster than women. But when men walked with their wives or girlfriends, they slowed down to match their partners' speeds. Women barely sped up at all.

 

"It's really men who do all the compromising," at least in this small aspect of romantic relationships, says Cara Wall-Scheffler, a biologist at Seattle Pacific University.

 

An interesting note: When guys walked with female friends, they did not slow down. When they walked with other guys, they actually sped up. And when women walked with female friends, both women slowed down.

 

- Kim Painter, USA WEEKEND
 

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Chronic pain is often hidden from the USA's front pages and TV screens, but it is Americans' biggest health problem. Typically defined as pain lasting more than three to six months, it affects 100 million U.S. adults, according to a 2011 report from the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. It is the leading reason people go to doctors, and it costs the nation upwards of $635 billion a year - more than cancer, heart disease and diabetes combined.

But many people, including many physicians, are unaware of the growing number of non-narcotic treatments available; chief among these is exercise. Many sufferers are terrified that if they move, they will damage themselves, but nothing could be further from the truth.

"To date, there is no scientific evidence that activity and exercises are harmful," says James Rainville, a spine and rehabilitation specialist at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston.

Exercise also can help prevent chronic pain: For women 65 and older in one 2011 Norwegian study, the prevalence of chronic pain was 21% to 38% lower among exercisers.

Loneliness is risky: Friendships can protect your health

Loneliness does more than make you sad. People who feel consistently lonely have a 14% higher risk of premature death than those who don't, a recent study finds.

The impact of loneliness is almost as strong as the impact of being poor, which increased chances of dying early by 19%. To avoid loneliness: stay in touch with former colleagues, maintain meaningful relationships and participate in family activities, says psychologist John Cacioppo, director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago. He and colleagues reviewed survey responses from more than 2,100 adults 55 and older, controlling for age, gender, socioeconomic status, social isolation and poor health behaviors.

Their research has found loneliness can lead to sleep problems, raise blood pressure, increase the stress hormone cortisol, increase depression and reduce feelings of living a meaningful life.

Why do we twitch as we're falling asleep?

Even people with super recall tripped up by false memories, study finds

Some people have an amazing ability to recall specific events, like exactly what happened on a particular day decades ago. For example, when one person with such so-called highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM) was asked what happened on October 19, 1987, she quickly replied that it was a Monday, "the day of the big stock market crash and the cellist Jacqueline du Pré died that day."

Yet even people with exceptional recall are as susceptible to being manipulated by false memories as the rest of us, according to new research released today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The results could have enormous implications for legal proceedings, and any other forum that relies upon the memory of witnesses.

HSAM is different from using mnemonic tricks and extensive training to remember the order of playing cards or lists, like those described in writer Joshua Foer's popular book, "Moonwalking with Einstein." It's a natural, and seemingly foolproof, ability, although no one knows how many people have it.

In the test, all the people were asked to read about United Flight 93 of Sept, 11, 2001. Part of what they read stated that "video footage of the plane crashing" was taken by somebody on the ground. In fact, no such video exists. 

Yet after reading the material, 20 percent of HSAM people and 29 percent of the other group indicated they had indeed seen the video. In a later interview, 10 percent of HSAM people stuck to their stories. Of the total number of fake details about the crash planted in their minds, there was no significant difference in false memory between HSAM and normal memory participants.

"These people are especially good at remembering news reports," Patihis told NBCNews. "So we expected zero false memories in that task. But they were similar to controls."

Super-memory people and the normal memory group also scored about the same on tests using word lists. And when it came to slide shows depicting two crimes followed by a written narrative of the crimes seeded with false details, the HSAM subjects were slightly more susceptible to developing false memories.  

This is how eyewitnesses can be influenced by police suggestion or news reports.

"When you think about what we already know about memory in terms of distortions, most people are prone to suggestibility effects," explained Jason Hicks, professor of psychology at Louisiana State University who studies false memory and human learning.

Recall, Hicks explained, isn't like pulling a snapshot out of our heads. The brain constructs memories from individual bits of information, and then pieces those bits together to reassemble it when we remember something. But new information is constantly mixing with old and can become incorporated in the reassembled memory.

Charles Brainerd, chair of Cornell University's Department of Human Development, believes true and false memories reside in distinct memory systems: "verbatim" and "gist."

"Gist memory, which is our ability to understand and interpret the meaning of our experience, underlies our most advanced human thinking, reasoning, and judgment abilities," Brainerd said. It evolved to help us survive. "However, because gist memory does not contain the same level of detail about our experiences as verbatim memory, it can be tricked and tripped up."

People can swear in court, and truly believe, in the accuracy of their false memories. But, as Hicks said, "confidence does not equal accuracy."

                                                  - By Brian Alexander

Some sound like mortar fire, others like somebody just stepped on a mouse.

"I have world famous kitten sneezes," says Susan Frykholm, a 31-year-old multimedia sales specialist from Seattle. "I'm not trying to be cute but people usually start laughing at how 'precious' they are."

"Mine are like a revolutionary war cannon," says Dan Fine, a 54-year-old IT consultant who is also from Seattle.

We each have our own individual sneezing style. But what, exactly, determines whether those sneezes come out dainty and demure or whether they blow down the whole dang house?

"Sneezes are like laughter," says Dr. Alan Hirsch, a neurologist, psychiatrist and founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. "Some [laughs] are loud, some are soft. And it's similar with sneezing. It will often be the same from youth onward in terms of what it sounds like."

Hirsch says he doesn't know of any studies that have been conducted on various sneezing styles and what they might mean, but says he does believe the way we sneeze reflects some component of the personality.

"It's more of a psychological thing and represents the underlying personality or character structure," he says.

A person who's demonstrative and outgoing, for instance, would most likely have a loud explosive sneeze, whereas someone who's shy might try to withhold their sneezes, resulting in more of a Minnie Mouse-type expulsion.

Tara Spicer, a 29-year-old copywriter from Mountlake Terrace, Wash., has her own theory about why she sneezes the way she does.

"I'm a sneeze stifler," she says. "I've always pinched my nose to mute the noise. I think it's a subconscious rebellion against my grandmother, who raised me much of my life, and took pride in her ear-shattering siren-sneeze."

Others describe their sneezes as screams or trills or "triple threats," sneezes that come in threes. Just as with other basic body functions (we're thinking of coughs or hiccups or burps here), everybody's got their own signature style.

Why do we sneeze in the first place?

"In general, sneezing is an involuntary phenomenon, part of the body's mechanism of defense, a way of clearing out bacteria or other agents that would be injurious," says Dr. Gordon Siegel, a Chicago-area otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat doctor). "That being said, you can control to a degree the way it comes out."

Siegel, an assistant clinical professor at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, points to an acquaintance whose sneezes always incorporate a particularly colorful expression.

"When he sneezes, he likes it to come out saying 'horsesh*t' and he's got it down," he says. "There is partial control of the final product."

The shape of our nose or the bone structure of our face might contribute a small degree to certain sneezing styles much in the same way the resonance of our voice is affected by our anatomy, says Siegel. But "what we perceive as the sneezing sound is not really affected significantly by the nose structure."

For the most part, people don't really think that much about sneezes, he says. They just happen.

Hirsch, however, has given the practice some thought and adds this final insight.

"When we think about sneezing, it's almost orgasmic in its quality," he says. "By giving in to it, you're experiencing the positive pleasures of a nasal orgasm. So if someone is more sexually repressed, they may withhold it. But if they're hedonistically-oriented and like pleasure, they may sneeze loudly and strongly."

                                                    - By Diane Mapes

While a diet rich in fish has been touted as a way to improve brain health, research has been mixed.

Now, a new study of older women finds those with higher blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish oil, had less brain loss as they aged. That might mean they would maintain better brain function for an extra year or two.

Results suggest fish oil may help delay cognitive aging and dementia, says lead author, Jay Pottala of the University of South Dakota. The new study is in the journal Neurology.

Fish high in omega-3 fatty acids include salmon, herring, mackerel, tuna, sardines and swordfish.

Shrinking brain volume is part of aging, Pottala says, but MRI scans found that the brains of women with the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids "didn't atrophy as much."

These benefits could be achieved with fish or fish oil supplements, he says; to get to enough, you would have to eat fish five times a week, or twice a week and take supplements.

Physical activity also has been shown to potentially reduce risk of Alzheimer's disease, adds Heather Snyder of the Alzheimer's Association.

                     - By Nanci Hellmich, USA WEEKEND

As you all know, Dr Lakin is a strong supporter of annual physicals. This is a time we can visit and explore any unresolved medical problems and any new health issues that need to be addressed. Annual physicals are one of the best ways to safeguard your health.

The American Medical Association recommends that if you are between the ages of 40 - 49 years, physicals should be done every two years. If you are 50 years plus, it is recommend you have yearly exams, especially if you have any chronic medical conditions that need to be monitored.

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THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL 

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This film actually deserves 6 ******stars.  I do however recommend that you read about the movie before you go....there are is so very much going on, so many time changes, and so many new characters that you need to concentrate.  The movie is in my opinion the most magnificent silly, yes silly, work of art I have ever seen.  It takes place in an imaginary city at a famous European hotel between wars.  Filmmaker Wes Anderson's best movie yet.  Although the film centers on Ralph Fiennes as M. Gustave(concierge) and his "lobby boy" Zero, favorite stars such as Bill Murray (we can never get enough of him), Owen Wilson, and Ed Norton wander in and out.  There is the murder of a countess, stolen art work, chases of a sled and skis superbly animated that delighted me.  See it. If you go to stay at the Grand Budapest Hotel, I think you will never want to leave. 

Barb A.  

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Recipe: Spring Risotto