Low Vitamin D Levels May Increase Respiratory Infection Risk In Children

A new study has shown that infants in the age group of 3 months who have vitamin D levels lower than 25 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L) are two times more likely to have respiratory infections when compared to children who have levels above 75 nmol/L. In this study, published in the journalPediatrics, vitamin D levels were measured in the umbilical cord blood samples from 900 infants. The researchers examined whether these levels of vitamin D were associated with the risk of respiratory infections, wheezing or asthma.

Read the rest at: http://findatopdoc.com/blog/low-vitamin-d-levels-may-increase-respiratory-infection-risk-in-children

First Zika-Related Death in Puerto Rico Reported

(HealthDay News) -- The first known Zika virus-linked death in Puerto Rico was announced Friday by officials of the U.S. territory. A 70-year-old man with Zika died in February from severe thrombocytopenia. The death was...

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While Travelers Sleep, Brain Patrols for Danger

THURSDAY, April 21, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- When you sleep in a new place, a part of your brain remains alert for potential threats, a new study finds.

The findings might help explain why many people sleep poorly on their first night in a hotel, a sleep laboratory or other new location.

"In Japan they say, 'if you change your pillow, you can't sleep,' " study corresponding author Yuka Sasaki, research associate professor of cognitive linguistic and psychological sciences at Brown University in Rhode Island, said in a university news release. "You don't sleep very well in a new place. We all know about it."

Read the whole article here:

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/news/20160421/while-travelers-sleep-brain-patrols-for-danger

How Can I Lower Cholesterol Levels?

Lowering the levels of cholesterol goes a long way in reducing the risk of heart disease and aids in a longer, healthier life. But is it easy to lower the levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol (LDL cholesterol) in blood? Before we start with it, let us remember that cholesterol is needed by the body in small amounts for making new cells and hormones, and also for protecting the neurons. Normally we get cholesterol from the diet including meat, eggs and milk. But levels of this compound increases with the intake of foods containing trans fats, saturated fats, and even simple sugars.

Read the rest at: http://findatopdoc.com/blog/how-can-i-lower-cholesterol-levels

Foundations of a Resilient Medical Practice

As with anything else in this world, the only constant thing in the medical field is change. The profession is constantly evolving. Healthcare practitioners are leaning more and more towards evidence-based medicine, using top-grade researches and performance-based indexes to drive treatment and outcomes. At the same time, patients are also becoming more proactive in terms of managing their health, especially in the advent of health websites such as WebMD and MedScape. This leaves doctors in private practices wondering about the worth of the years they’ve spent in medical school and the essence of surviving residency.

There is always a certain amount of pressure to change in order to keep up with the trends of the healthcare industry today. And yet, there is also a fine line between evolving and losing the mission and vision of the practice over these changes. In order to build a medical practice that can ride the waves of the ever-evolving healthcare industry, it must be rooted in these five important anchors:

Read the rest at: http://www.leadingphysiciansdaily.com/2016/01/foundations-of-a-resilient-medical-practice/

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Vitamin C intake may help reduce the chance of cataracts

Eat foods rich in vitamin C, if you want to keep cataracts at bay. A study published in Ophthalmologysuggests that diet and lifestyle, rather than genetics, may have the most significant impact on cataract development, and vitamin C could cut the risk of the disorder by one third.

Read the article at: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/308215.php

Drug-Company Payments Mirror Doctors' Brand-Name Prescribing

Doctors have long disputed the accusation that the payments they receive from pharmaceutical companies have any relationship to how they prescribe drugs.

There's been little evidence to settle the matter, until now.

Ready the study over at NPR

Obese People May Live As Long as Slim People

Researchers from Canada have shown that obese people without any major health issues may live as long as others who are of normal weight. They also showed that some obese, but otherwise healthy people have lesser chances of dying due to heart problems when compared to normal weight people with some medical problems.

“This shows that one should not look at the weight alone”, says researcher Jennifer Kuk, PhD, assistant professor of kinesiology and health science at York University in Toronto. She adds that if a person is healthy, having a healthy lifestyle, being physically active and having a healthy diet are more important than the body weight or weight loss.

Read the whole article at: http://findatopdoc.com/blog/obese-people-may-live-as-long-as-slim-people