Arizona OK's Medicaid Expansion

Move Will Extend Health Care to 300,000 Residents Under Affordable Care Act

June 18, 2013 -- Arizona lawmakers have approved Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

The expansion vote, which took place during a special state budget session last week, allows more Arizonans with low incomes to qualify for health insurance coverage.

Although Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer opposes the Affordable Care Act, she lobbied hard for months for Medicaid expansion.

By expanding Medicaid, Arizona will enable about 300,000 residents to obtain or keep health care benefits.

"I am grateful to the Arizona lawmakers who have acted with courage and conviction by completing the people's business," Brewer said in a statement.

"With landmark votes today in the House and Senate, legislatures have tacked the issue that is Job One of every session -- adoption of a responsible state budget -- and enacted Arizona's most sweeping health care legislation in decades.”

Brewer sees Medicaid expansion as a way to provide cost-effective care to Arizona's working poor.

Not everyone agrees. Republican State Sen. Kelli Ward told the Associated Press the decision was "the  biggest mistake we've made in the Arizona Legislature this year and maybe ever."

Each state decides whether to participate in the Medicaid expansion. The new rules will extend benefits to individuals with an income of $15,856 and a family of three with an income up to $26,951.

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WATCH: Thor: The Dark World first trailer released

Chris Hemsworth has reprised his superhero role in the first Thor: The Dark World trailer.

The promotional video, which premiered earlier today, sees the Norse God fighting armies of Dark Elves, ushering Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) through Asgard and facing off against Malekith - the evil villain played by Christopher Eccleston.

It also stars Tom Hiddleston as a long-haired Loki, Thor's notorious adopted brother.

Rounding off the supporting cast are Sir Anthony Hopkins, Rene Rosso, Idris Elba, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings and Zachary Levi.

Alan Taylor (Game Of Thrones) has replaced Kenneth Branagh as the second director of the Thor series. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have written the script for the epic adventure. The duo's previous writing credits include Captain America: The First Avenger, among others. They have been joined in writing duties by comic scribe Christopher Yost.

Thor: The Dark World will open in the UK on 30 October 2013.

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will.i.am admits to copyright breach on song

will.i.am has admitted that he breached copywright on the track Let's Go.

The producer told Kiss FM that he was now "fixing" the song, which features Chris Brown and uses unauthorised elements of Arty & Mat Zo's track, Rebound. It is on will's new album #willpower.

The Voice UK judge said on air: "So this song by Chris Brown Let's Go. Arty is a dope producer so I wrote this song to rebound this last year. 

"I got in touch with Arty and showed it to him, did a different version to it 'cause I asked him [to] make it newer 'cause I don't just wanna take your song and rap over it. But we did that, we collaborated. 

"But in a year's time, time's gone by [and] we preferred writing over and using the [original] rebound. Something happened and the clearance… hopefully we resolved the issue. 

"I'm a fan of Arty; I think he's great and the world needs to know about how talented those guys are. It's sad that it's turned into a fiasco but hopefully it's resolved because I'm a fan of those guys to the point where I wrote to their instrumental." 

When questioned on whether he had collaborated with Arty on the song initially, he replied: "No, I heard his Rebound and then wrote a song to it and then contacted them last year. A year has passed and we're fixing it now." 

He added: "Do you like James Brown? Love James Brown. He changed hip-hop. People sample. You heard the song American Boy by Estelle? That original, I did the original instrumental on my song on my album Songs By Girls."

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Lots of Americans Want Health Care Via Their Smartphone

But all too often, the demand outpaces the technology to deliver it, Harris Interactive/HealthDay poll finds

By Amy Norton

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, June 18 (HealthDay News) -- Plenty of Americans are eager to use their mobile phones and tablet computers to better manage their health care, a new poll finds -- though the nation has a way to go before we're all consulting Dr. Smartphone.

In a Harris Interactive/HealthDay survey released Tuesday, more than one-third of respondents who are online said they were "very" or "extremely" interested in using smartphones or tablets to ask their doctors questions, make appointments or get medical test results.

Similar numbers of respondents were eager to use mobile phones and tablets for actual health-care services -- such as monitoring blood pressure or blood sugar, or even getting a diagnosis. Such phone and tablet apps are, however, either just getting off the ground or not yet on the market.

The survey results show that the demand for digital assists to health care is "strong and likely to grow," said Humphrey Taylor, chairman of The Harris Poll.

But he added that big questions remain: What types of services will consumers be able to get with their mobile devices, and when?

"The devil will surely be in the details," Taylor said, "and these are very big details."

An expert in health-care information agreed. "Right now, we're looking at a patchwork system," said Titus Schleyer, who heads the Center for Biomedical Informatics at the Regenstrief Institute, based at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis.

Companies are developing a number of apps that, along with equipment attached to your phone or tablet, can help diagnose everything from ear infections and eye diseases to irregular heartbeats and malaria. One goal is to bring better health care to remote parts of the world.

But there are already apps out there designed for the masses -- including ones to manage your blood pressure or blood sugar readings, for example. You take the reading via a monitor that plugs into your smartphone, and the app records all the information, which can then be e-mailed to your doctor or sent to your electronic health record, Schleyer said.

Of course, your doctor has to have the systems in place to do something with that information. And, Schleyer added, depending on where you live, and what health system you're in, that may or may not be the reality.

Schleyer said he has first-hand experience with the obstacles. His wife found an app that let her record and organize her blood pressure readings, only to discover that her smartphone "couldn't talk" to their health-care system's portal.

She ended up just bringing her smartphone to her doctor's visit.

"This poll shows us that the public is interested in using these apps," Schleyer said. "But the health-care system has to make it easier for them to do it."

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Zac Efron on the set of Townies in Los Angeles

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How to Talk With Your Partner About ED

Never before has erectile dysfunction been so openly discussed in our society. It appears in everything from news reports and comedy sketches to national advertising campaigns. “But ironically, it’s still very difficult for many couples to talk about sex, and especially to talk about erection problems,” says Brian Zamboni, PhD, a clinical psychologist specializing in human sexuality at the University of Minnesota.

That’s too bad. For most couples, talking about erection difficulties is the first step toward treating them -- and enjoying better sex. A few simple strategies can help you communicate more easily.

If you feel hesitant about starting the conversation with your partner, spend some time by yourself preparing your approach. If it helps, rehearse your opening and then choose a time and place that feels comfortable.

“Sometimes the best way to start is by acknowledging that this isn’t an easy subject to talk about,” says Louanne Cole Weston, PhD, a sex therapist in private practice in California. “You might say, ‘This is a little embarrassing, but I seem to be having some problems in the erection department.’ Of course your partner may bring up the subject before you do. Then your job is to make her or him comfortable.”

When problems happen in the bedroom, emotions can run high. If you’ve begun avoiding sex for fear of not getting an erection, your partner may begin to think you no longer find them attractive. Feelings get hurt. Couples begin to feel less intimate. Resentment creeps in.

“That’s why it’s so important to talk about sexual problems like erectile dysfunction in an open and supportive way,” says Weston. “Say right up front that it’s not a matter of being attracted to your partner. Reassure your partner that he or she is still attractive to you.”

Web sites and books offer valuable advice on how to overcome erection problems and enjoy better sex. Along with providing information, they provide a language to communicate for couples who don’t normally talk directly about sex.

“Words are a big problem for many people,” says Zamboni. “Some people feel comfortable only with medical terms like penis. Others are more comfortable with slang terms. Any words will do, as long as they make it easy for a couple to talk openly.”  Sharing a good book or web site about sex can help give you permission -- and a vocabulary -- to talk together about ED and your sex life in general.

That’s right. Many sex therapists recommend taking a break from sex while you and your partner focus on emotional intimacy.

“Most of the couples who come to our clinic assume that we’re going to be talking a lot about sex,” says Zamboni. “In fact, we often talk a lot less about sex than they expected.” That’s because most erection problems have little to do with the mechanics of sex and a lot to do with stress, anxiety, anger, and other feelings that find their way into the bedroom.

“Talking intimately about work, about the marriage or relationship, about yourself, can be much more helpful than banging away and trying to have sex,” says Zamboni. He counsels couples who are having sexual problems to take walks together, go out for dinner at a favorite restaurant, or spend a quiet evening just talking. Once you and your partner feel more intimate on an emotional level, you may find that your sex drive and your erections perk up.

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Insurance Loss Hampers Young People With Asthma

MONDAY, April 22 (HealthDay News) -- The loss of health insurance is the main reason asthma care for young people deteriorates after age 18, according to a new study.

Certain social factors -- such as leaving school and no longer having adult supervision -- also contribute to the decline in care, according to Harvard Medical School researchers.

"This study suggests that expanding insurance coverage will help many young adults with asthma receive the care they need," study leader Kao-Ping Chua, a staff physician in the division of emergency medicine at Boston Children's Hospital, said in a Harvard news release. "But it also points to the importance of addressing other socially mediated factors in this population."

"Aside from the lack of financial protection, uninsurance poses fewer health risks to young adults than for older adults because they are generally healthy," study senior author J. Michael McWilliams, an assistant professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School, said in the news release.

"But for young people with asthma -- or other conditions amenable to medical care -- it's important to understand and address the barriers to care," he added.

The researchers looked at data from nearly 2,500 asthma patients, aged 14 to 25, in order to determine if they had a regular care provider, if they visited that provider at least once a year, if they used asthma medications and if they made emergency-room visits.

Patients under age 18 were more likely to use primary care and asthma medications, while those over 18 were more likely to make emergency-room visits and have problems getting care and medications due to cost.

The loss of health insurance explained 32 percent of the decline in the use of primary care by patients over age 18 and between 47 percent and 61 percent of the increase in their cost-related problems getting care and medications, according to the study, which was published recently in the journal Pediatrics.

Under the federal Affordable Care Act, young adults whose parents have private insurance will be eligible to continue receiving coverage on their parents' policies until they are 26. But, the researchers said, since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states do not have to extend similar coverage to people on Medicaid, low-income young adults will be left out.

Health insurance, however, is not the only problem, they added.

"Young people with asthma need to work with their care providers to create transition plans from pediatric to adult care that take into account their medical and social history," Chua said.

-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCE: Harvard Medical School, news release, April 22, 2013

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starting at 153, 5'2.. taking prescription steroid for illness

I'm back! It's been at least a year and I have never successfully lost more than 10 pounds in my life. Lack of confidence I guess.. I need help. I'm on a steroid due to the inflammation in my inner ear which causes buzzing and pressure all day long. Med causes bloating and crazy weight gain.. Oh like I need to gain more... Any suggestions

:)

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Closed Windows in Hospital Rooms May Raise Infection Risk

FRIDAY, April 19 (HealthDay News) -- Closed windows in large hospital wards may increase patients' risk of getting an infection, a new study suggests.

British researchers used carbon dioxide as a tracer gas to simulate how airborne infections spread in a traditional hospital ward, which typically includes two rows of up to 30 beds.

The carbon dioxide represented potentially infectious exhaled breath, and was released by popping carbon dioxide-filled balloons. Carbon dioxide detectors were placed where beds might be located in a functioning ward.

"By measuring the concentration of the gas over time, we were able to quantify the exposure at each bed and therefore the potential risk to a patient in that bed," study team member Laura Pickin said in a University of Leeds news release. "We were also able to use the same data to measure the overall ventilation rate in the ward."

When the windows were open, ventilation in the ward was generally good and the risk of airborne infection low. But the danger of infection increased fourfold when the windows were closed, according to the study in the current online issue of the Building and Environment Journal.

"These wards are still in operation and, although they have often been subdivided into smaller areas with six to eight beds, their ventilation and structure is still fundamentally the same," lead investigator Cath Noakes, from the University of Leeds' School of Civil Engineering, said in the news release.

With natural ventilation from windows, the wards are safe. But that changes when the windows are closed during the winter or permanently sealed to lower energy costs.

"Some of these wards were designed by the Victorians, and our results show that they knew what they were doing. But there is a danger that we could be adapting our buildings to improve efficiency without thinking how it might affect patients," Noakes said.

-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCE: University of Leeds, news release, April 16, 2013

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Saturated Fat May Make the Brain Vulnerable to Alzheimer's

Researchers say a small, new study shows that fat cut the body's level of a chemical that keeps Alzheimer's at bay

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News) -- A diet high in saturated fat can quickly rob the brain of a key chemical that helps protect against Alzheimer's disease, according to new research.

In a small study published online Monday in the journal JAMA Neurology, researchers found that dietary saturated fat cut the body's levels of the chemical apolipoprotein E, also called ApoE, which helps "chaperone" amyloid beta proteins out of the brain.

"People who received a high-saturated-fat, high-sugar diet showed a change in their ApoE, such that the ApoE would be less able to help clear the amyloid," said research team member Suzanne Craft, a professor of medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Amyloid beta proteins left loose in the brain are more likely to form plaques that interfere with neuron function, the kind of plaques found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.

Diet also directly affected the amount of loose amyloid beta found in cerebrospinal fluid, Craft said. Those on a high-saturated-fat diet had higher levels of amyloid beta in their spinal fluid, while people on a low-saturated-fat diet actually saw a decline in such levels, she said.

"An amyloid that is not cleared -- or attached to ApoE to get cleared -- has a greater likelihood of becoming this toxic form," Craft said.

The clinical trial, led by Dr. Angela Hanson of the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, involved 20 seniors with normal cognition and 27 with mild thinking impairment, a precursor to Alzheimer's disease.

The patients, all in their late 60s, were randomly assigned to diets that contained the same amount of calories but were either high or low in saturated fat. The high-saturated-fat diets had 45 percent of total energy coming from fat, and more than a quarter of the total fat came from saturated fats. The low-saturated-fat diets had 25 percent of energy coming from fat, with saturated fat contributing less than 7 percent to total fat.

After just a month, the diets caused changes in the amounts of amyloid beta and ApoE in the study participants' cerebrospinal fluid, researchers said.

"Diet can really change levels of these toxic proteins and of these mediators that help clear these amyloids," Craft said. "Diets that are very high in bad cholesterol seem to interfere with ApoE's ability to clear amyloid."

One gerontology expert, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study in the journal, didn't think the link was quite that clear.

Although the study shows that diet can affect brain chemistry, it does not definitely tie diet to a person's risk for Alzheimer's disease, said Dr. Deborah Blacker, director of the Gerontology Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

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Alessandra Ambrosio on the street in LA

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The Drybar&apos;s Product Line Is Too Cute

Do you guys know about Drybar(s)? If you don't, I'm schooling you. Although many of the blow-dry-only hair salon's locations are in New York and California, there are several locations in Maryland, Dallas and Arizona, too, which all offer the same kind of service: blow drys, only. No cuts, no color. And each of the blowouts there are named after a cocktail -- cause, you know, it's a bar, after all. (Get it?!?)

Drybar founder Alli Webb wasn't satisfied with the products and tools available on the market, so the blow-out guru decided to launch her own line of stuff that is FREAKING adorable. Like, can't-take-it cute. Each is named after something bar-related (as in the alcoholic kind) and all the tools are the company's signature sunny yellow. The whole line is so freaking cute, you guys, that I just had to share a few of my favorites.

Southern Belle: This awesome volumizing mousse ($25) adds major lift without major stickiness or crunch.100 Proof: Although the name itself gives me a hangover, this newly launched hair oil ($35) is perfect. It's light. It hydrates. It seals in serious shine. If you've got super-parched strands like I do, this should be your new must have.
Buttercup Blow Dryer: The signature piece of the line, the blowdryer ($190) is the actual one the stylists actually use at the Drybar, and although you may experience sticker shock, we promise it's a worthwhile investment. Besides being the prettiest yellow ever, it's incredibly lightweight (thus easy on your arm) and has this nifty self-locking cool shot button, which is key to setting your look.

Oh and, if you're a Drybar newbie, don't take my advice. The spot has come major clients, including Emma Roberts, Zooey Deshcanel, Renee Zellweger, Julia Roberts and Eliza Dushku. Rose McGowan even has a stake in the company. With hair that great on so many diff celebs, I'm confident you'll feel super A-list.

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Concussion Damage Looks Much Like Early Alzheimer's: Study

Preliminary finding suggests mild brain injury triggers long-lasting abnormalities in white matter

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, June 18 (HealthDay News) -- Concussion can lead to damage in the white matter of the brain that resembles abnormalities found in people in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine said their findings should prompt a re-evaluation of the long-term effects of concussion, which affects more than 1.7 million people in the United States annually. About 15 percent of concussion patients suffer persistent neurological symptoms.

"The previous thinking before was you get a concussion, and that causes a certain damage from bopping your head and you get these symptoms," said study author Dr. Saeed Fakhran, an assistant professor of radiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "We found it acts as a kind of trigger, and lights a fuse that causes a neurodegenerative cascade that causes all these symptoms down the line. Once you've hit your head, the injury isn't done."

The findings are published online June 18 in the journal Radiology.

The study drew some criticism from concussion and Alzheimer's disease experts who said the findings, while provocative, should not be interpreted as drawing a clear link between a concussion suffered early in life with the development of Alzheimer's.

"I don't want a mom to pick this up and say, 'Oh my god, my 10-year-old is going to get Alzheimer's now,' because that is not the case," said Dr. Ken Podell, a neuropsychologist and co-director of the Methodist Concussion Center in Houston. "It's very inconclusive at this time, and there's no clinical application of this at this point of time."

White matter serves as the tissue through which messages pass between different areas of gray matter within the brain and spinal cord. Think of gray matter as the individual computers in a network, and white matter as the cables that connect the computer.

The researchers reviewed past brain scans of 64 people who had suffered a concussion, focusing on scans that used an advanced MRI technique called diffusion-tensor imaging, which spots microscopic changes in the brain's white matter.

The investigators then compared these brain scans to symptoms reported by concussed patients in a post-concussion questionnaire. They focused on symptoms shared with Alzheimer's patients, including memory problems, disturbances in sleep cycles and hearing problems.

The results showed a significant correlation between high concussion symptom scores and reduced water movement in the parts of the brain's white matter related to auditory processing and sleep-wake disturbances. Further, the researchers said, the distribution of white matter abnormalities in mildly concussed patients resembled the distribution of abnormalities in people with Alzheimer's disease.

"Basically, it looks a lot like Alzheimer's," said study co-author Dr. Lea Alhilali, an assistant professor of radiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "You get the same distribution of damage in the way that Alzheimer's disease affects the brain."

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