IMAGING TECHNOLOGY IS ON THE RISE BUT CARRIES A RISK

The use of advanced medical imaging in emergency rooms – including radiation-emitting technology is on the rise. CT and nuclear scans as well as MRI which doesn’t use radiation – grew significantly between 1999 and 2008.

During the past 30 years the average amount of radiation that Americans have been exposed to has doubled. While the output from natural sources hasn’t changed the dose from medical imaging procedures has spiked more than six fold times. The epicenter of this explosion is computerized tomography, or CT scans. They take rapid multiple images, or slices of a body area, provide a finely detailed, three dimensional picture in less than a second – and impart a dose of radiation equivalent to 100 to 500 chest X-rays. In 1980 fewer than 3 million scans were performed with CT technology. Since then the annual number approaches 80 million and it’s increasing by approximately 10 percent each year. Medicare spending on CT scans ballooned from $975 million in 2000 to roughly $2.2 billion in 2006, the most recent year in which data was available.

The cost is more than monetary. Overall, slightly less than1 in 1,000 people who have a CT scan could develop cancer as a result of radiation exposure, estimates the National Research Council, an independent group that provides advice on health policy. Specific CT procedures can carry a much higher risk. In the December 2009 the Archives of Internal Medicine, for example, researchers estimated that one in every 270 40-year-old women who undergoes CT angiography (a test for clogged arteries that delivers a radiation dose equal to 42 mammograms) will develop cancer.

In one study, only 9 percent of ER physicians knew that CT scans increase the risk of getting cancer. Do you really need that scan? While patients rarely have the medical expertise to fact-check their doctor’s orders, it is wise to seek out a second opinion if you spot check these things.

CARING FOR YOUR KIDNEYS

Blood passes through tiny filters in both kidneys. In a recent study it was found that more than two-thirds of the people with severe kidney disease never received care from a kidney specialist. Another clinical study noted that the aggressive use of the drug darbepoetimetin alfa (Aranesp) to combat anemia in kidney patients with type 2 diabetes increased the risk of strokes. Stents have been widely used to open narrow kidney arteries but may not be worth the risk.

These filters sort substances the body needs – like calcium, sodium and water – separating them from wastes and excess fluid or urine. Kidneys also produce hormones that help regulate blood pressure and the production of red blood cells.

With advancing age, kidneys may shrink and lose their filtering capacity. They become more susceptible to damage from diabetes and high blood pressure. Forty-four percent of severe cases are caused by diabetes and 27 percent by hypertension, according to a study published in January 2010, in the New England Journal of Medicine. The loss of filtering capacity can cause anemia, bone disease, worsening high blood pressure and clogged and damaged arteries. Heart disease is a major killer of people with chronic kidney problems, in fact, they’re more likely to die from heart problems than ultimate failure of the kidneys.

A lady in our local Quilting group told us this morning that her son has just received word from the Vancouver General Hospital that her son is doing well after receiving a kidney from his daughter who is the mother of his two small grandchildren.

Symptoms of kidney disease aren’t always specific. It can cause insomnia, a poor appetite, upset stomach, and weakness until the organs have lost their filtering capacity. Once a year to three years it is appropriate for people with diabetes or high blood pressure or relatives with kidney failure t take a blood sample to measure levels of creatinine, a waste product in your blood that comes from muscle metabolism.

FIND TIME FOR A MILE WALK TO TUNE UP THE BODY

Folks stepping out for a walk at the pace of 4 mph (around 30 steps a minute) fared better at fighting age-related weight gain than those strolling at a leisurely pace. But either way a walk limbers up the entire system and sets every joint up for the excitement of the day.


Since there is only one over-the-counter weight loss aid with FDA approval, unlike the many dizzying tries in all diet categories, we can let the body help us along by tuning it up and keeping all systems moving well. And don’t forget that all body cells are talking to each other all the time. It could be called your inner t-phone. Their silent words may be saying, “How about a little lube job to smooth up those joints and keep them supple so they can move the whole system along with ease.” A spoon is the only tool required to get things rolling and in tune. A tablespoon of flax or fish oils can join in with the help of a muscle to deposit your whole grain cereals in your breakfast dish. I take two tablespoons of these mixed oils at my breakfast meal. The oils even make your cereals or toast taste kind of creamy after you have laid aside the orange or grapefruit peelings that have started the breakfast meal. Those fruit slices and other juices make you want to stretch your arms out and join over your head, eager to meet the excitement of the day. Later when you meet other walkers, a nod or a smile together with pleasant thoughts cheers your day as you think of something you admire about them and how these thoughts help shape the day with delight for both of you and keep everything in tune.

IS THE SIXTH MAN-MADE DESTRUCTION UPON US?

Scientists have determined that there may have been five mass extinctions in the history of our planet. They could have been created by natural causes and wiped out as much as 75 percent of life each time. According to a study recently published in the journal Nature, we may be in the midst of a sixth mass extinction. This one, according to the study, is man-made. Habitation loss, over-hunting species and climate change caused by fossil-fuel, green-house gases are the sources of this slow scourge. Except for the mass extinction caused by a comet colliding with earth, which killed quickly, the other four extinctions have occurred over hundreds of thousand years caused by global warming or cooling. This sixth extinction which began perhaps 200 years ago is happening rapidly.

Using a combination of deep ground radar, digital mapping, and underwater technology to survey an ancient site near Cadiz, Spain, an international team of archaeologists led by the University of Hartford (Connecticut), their results will be shown on a National Geographic special. The investigation began with the discovery of several “memorial cities,” presumably built in Atlantis’s image by its refugees after the continent’s likely destruction, perhaps by a tsunami.

PROOF THAT EXERCISE DOES INHIBIT AGING

According to some research conducted at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, exercising may indeed slow aging.

In their study, researchers employed mice who had a genetic defect that caused the mitochondria (the living processes within a cell that combine oxygen and nutrients to create energy) to deteriorate quickly leading to aging and an early death. One group of these mice lived a normal life, while the other group of mice enjoyed a regimen of intense exercise on an activity wheel. Three times a week for 45 minutes, these mice would run the wheel at a speed equivalent to a human running six miles an hour. The mice that didn’t exercise began to show aging as early as month three. By one year, all these mice were dead. However all the exercising mice were still alive.