Recent Advances in Diabetes Research
American Diabetes Association has updated their Diabetes News & Research page with the latest published studies on diabetes – the most common chronic condition in the United States. Click to read.
Flu Attack! How A Virus Invades Your Body
When you get the flu, viruses turn your cells into tiny factories that help spread the disease. In this animation, NPR’s Robert Krulwich and medical animator David Bolinsky explain how a flu virus can trick a single cell into making a million more viruses.
Total and High-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Adults
Almost 13% of adult Americans have high total cholesterol, and 17.4% had low HDL cholesterol according to the new data on cholesterol levels in U.S. which was recently published in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by the National Center for Health Statistics.
High levels of total cholesterol and low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the “good cholesterol”) are risk factors for coronary heart disease. Notably, less than 70% of adult Americans are screened for cholesterol – a simple and very inexpensive test, which every person aged 20 and over should take at least once every 5 years. Read full report.
Vitamin D: Forms, Mechanisms and Lab Testing
Vitamin D has become one of the most widely discussed and intensely scrutinized supplements in recent history. The renewed interest is due in large part to the startling prevalence of vitamin D deficiency worldwide and the proliferation of articles linking deficiency to multiple clinical conditions other than bone health.
Learn more about the critical role of Vitamin D, consequences of its deficiency and how you can have it tested.
Immunotherapy: Boosting the Immune System to Fight Cancer
This is a video explaining the concept of stimulating immune system to help patients with different types of cancer.
Early detection of cancer with the use of many tests offered by LabFlorida is key to success in treating cancer.
HPV Tied to Increased Risk of Cancers
Human papillomavirus (HPV) produces epithelial tumors of the skin in several anatomical areas and and mucous membranes. In the first global meta-analysis of case-control studies investigating the role of HPV in esophageal carcinoma, HPV was associated with a threefold greater chance of esophageal cancer.
Anogenital warts, cervical infections and even common cutaneous warts (verruca vulgaris) should be timely and correctly diagnosed. Missing a diagnosis is likely to cause confusion of one condition for a much more dangerous one, delay appropriate therapy and may lead to needless morbidity or even mortality.
ACA Timeline: Key Dates for Providers and Patients
Enhanced Sensitivity for HCV Viral Load Assays
New quantitative viral load assays for hepatitis C virus (HCV) with enhanced sensitivity are now available via LabFlorida.
The new test provides a lower limit of quantification (LLoQ) of 15 IU/mL and a lower limit of detection (LLoD) of 15 IU/mL.
Any result between 1 and 15 IU/mL will be reported as “detectable” but no value will be given. A “detectable” result (whether quantifiable or not) should be interpreted as evidence of continued presence of HCV RNA. This v2.0 assay enables more accurate assessments of response to antiviral therapy. Regular use of viral load assays for monitoring of patients is… Continue reading
Vitamin D and Infections in School Children
Inadequate vitamin D status is highly prevalent in children worldwide, even in equatorial regions with lots of sunshine. Recent epidemiologic studies indicate that low plasma vitamin D concentrations are related to increased incidence of respiratory infections, including acute lower respiratory tract infections and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease in infants and children less than 5 years of age. Furthermore, vitamin D supplementation in randomized controlled trials conducted among schoolchildren resulted in reduced incidence of influenza A infection and acute respiratory infection.
Among school-age children, respiratory and gastrointestinal infections account for increased school absences and parental absenteeism from work, as well as a sizeable proportion of physician visits.
New Challenges for Seniors Enrolling in Medicare
Here you go again: enrollment, renewals. It’s that time of the year when seniors need to figure out how to save on their healthcare costs. It is a lot more challenging this year than ever before.
The first thing all seniors need to remember: they have nothing to do with the marketplace insurance and exchanges. Those are for the younger people. Run away from anybody offering you marketplace healthcare coverage!
Your Medicare is likely to cost you more in 2014 and there are many options to choose from. Read more about Medicare plans, coverage gap, or “doughnut hole”, in Part D and other healthcare fun of the season.
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