Fog brain could be low iron
Hey, ladies. If you’ve been walking around in a fog lately, iron-poor blood could be to blame.
In a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, iron supplements were given to women ages 18 to 35 with iron deficiency or iron deficiency with mild anemia for 16 weeks. Another group was given placebos. Base-line tests of memory, learning and attention were given before the women took the supplements. Those results then were compared with tests taken after 16 weeks.
The test performance of those who took the iron supplements improved five- to sevenfold, report researchers in the September issue of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter. Future studies must be done to determine whether these findings also might apply to men and older adults.
If you’re having memory issues, have your doctor check your iron levels to determine if iron supplements might help.
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The waiting-room bypass
Telemedicine may soon replace those long waits at the doctor’s office, where you risk contracting more diseases from others who cough and wheeze as they wait. All you need is a camera-equipped mobile phone, says a company called Myca, based in Quebec, Canada.
Doctorphone and Babyphone services are to be released soon, offering patients and parents instant videoconferences with freelance nurses and doctors via cell phone, according to a story in the September issue of Business 2.0. The phone also will allow heart-rate and temperature data to be transmitted to a patient’s electronic medical record file, and doctor-patient conversations will be archived for future reference.
Fees are expected to be billed by the minute, and Myca will handle billing with insurance companies that will reimburse physicians for video visits. In addition to Myca, Motorola is developing a phone that sends biometric data to doctors, and HealthPia America has launched a phone that monitors diabetes.
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Active ways to fight cancer
After his 2-year-old son Brent was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma, dad Mike McCreesh of Connecticut started Team Brent, at teambrent .com to help raise money and awareness to fight childhood cancers. It supports St. Baldrick’s, an international foundation that encourages people to shave their heads in exchange for charitable donations.
This year Team Brent encouraged 360 people to shave their heads and raised $450,000 for pediatric-care research, according to an article in the September issue of Best Life. If you just can’t part with those locks, there are other ways you can help:
*Join the Pan-Mass Challenge, a 190-mile bike ride across Massachusetts to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through its Jimmy Fund. For information, go to pmc.org.
*Donate bone marrow for transplants, or donate your child’s umbilical cord for stem-cell harvesting when you give birth, both of which can save babies and small children. For information, go to marrow.org.
To be sure you’re getting important information on the pros and cons of different treatment programs, ask your hospital or physician to recommend a decision aid (interactive Web site, DVDs or booklets), advises the September issue of Bottom Line Health.
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Back patients consider risks
One study of people with severe back pain caused by a ruptured disk found that patients who watched a video detailing the possible risks and benefits of surgery were 30 percent less likely to choose surgery than those who just discussed the operation with their surgeons.
Here are three good decision resources:
*Center for Shared Decision Making, part of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, 603-650-5578, www.hitchcock.org/ dept/csdm.
*Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making, 617-367-2000, fimdm.org.
*Patient Decision Aids, from the Ottawa Health Research Institute, www.ohri.ca/ decisionaid/
