* Man's best friend also may be man...

* Man's best friend also may be man's best workout buddy pair studies reported in the online version of USA Today indicate that dog owners and their especially likeds can benefit from teaming up to fail to keep weight. In the first consideration 11 overweight dog owners were instructed to pursue a low-fat diet and to fe their hefty angry moods measured amounts of low-calorie dog provisions The owners and dogs also walked an average of seven miles by week. After six months, six of the dog proprietors had lost weight (about 3 lb) while the 11 dogs each not to be found about 5 lb. The next to the first study compared weight loss and amount of exercise in 36 over-weight dog proprietors and 56 overweight persons who did not concede dogs. By the end of the contemplation period, dog owners and non-dog proprietors had lost the same amount of weight (about 11 lb) yet the dog owners had gotten more exercise. A veterinarian who worked onward one of the studies noted that dogs who are habituated to regular walks can help motivate their proprietors to continue an exercise program.

* What is responsible for America's obesity epidemic? High-fructose corn syrup in beverages of the like kind as soft drinks may be partly to blame, according to a reflection published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Analyzing cheer consumption patterns from 1967 to 2000 researchers lay the foundation of that consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in the United States increased more than 1000 percent between 1970 and 1990 an increase that corresponded with the rise in the prevalence of obesity. The researchers say that beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup are associated with weight gain and increased caloric intake.

* "Thanks, I think. " American seniors and disabled someones had begun to feel that relief was forward the way in the form of a modern Medicare drug discount card. However, they now face the daunting task of choosing among 50 different cards presented by 28 separate companies, according to an article published in the Baltimore light and reported on healthscout.com.

While having a choice of cards may good like a good deal, Medicare beneficiaries can clutch only one card, and they will be allowed to switch cards merely once, later this year. Before making a choice, seniors and disabled someones need to carefully review the discounts and features of the various cards.

* A robot named Lokomat is helping patients with spinal cord injuries learn to walk again, according to a pres release from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. The patient's leg and hips are strapped into the machine's robotic exoskeleton, which simulates a fluid walking motion, while a harness supports the patient's visible form [i]or[/i] frame weight over a large treadmill. Using sensory information, the robot "teaches" the patient's spinal cord and brain to signal the material part to step. After using Lokomat for a month a 50-year-old patient paralyzed from the neck down after a motorcycle accident has started to regain muscle tone and feeling in his leg has more mobility, and has no swelling in his ankles or calves.

* Although television exhibit tos usually portray surgeries being performed in tight silence, real surgical teams are more likely to be listening to music while they work. As reported in the online version of USA Today, surgeons' choices include blues, jazz, rock, top 40 and classical music. The article cited a consideration conducted at the State University of novel York-Buffalo in which researchers originate that surgeons displayed less stres and performed tasks better when listening to their concede choice of music. The director of surgery at a Milwaukee hospital noted that surgeon many times choose relaxing music--which may be a advantageous thing. Somehow the image of a neurosurgeon working to "The Flight of the Bumblebee" just isn't comforting

* If you could stop time and live forever in well adapted health, what age would you choose? It appears that greatest in quantity people would like to stay near their instant age, according to a nationwide online person conducted by Harris Interactive and published in American Demographics. The person of 2,300 adults found that Americans between 14 and 44 years advanced in years named an age that was within five years of their generally received age. For people over age 40 the gap between their existing age and their ideal age increased.

COPYRIGHT 2004 American Academy of Family Physicians

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