CHEATING DEATH: STATS STACK UP
Geneticists report that nearly 70% of longevity factors are linked to behavioral and environmental factors within one's control. Where are you gaining or subtracting years from your life?
+5 if you are a married man, or regularly play puzzles and games that stimulate the mind; +2 if you floss daily and eat nuts on a regular basis; -1 if you get less than 6 to 8 hours of sleep; -5 if you are stressed out or are slowly gaining weight; -15 if you smoke or use intravenous drugs.-Data from Archives of Internal Medicine and the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED SUPERBUG
Instances of gonorrhea being resistant to multiple drugs-the definition of a "superbug"-have started to appear. "This is a very clever bacteria. If this problem isn't addressed, there is a real possibility that gonorrhea will become a very difficult infection to treat," reported Catherine Ison, a specialist on gonorrhea from Britain's Health Protection Agency.
Globally, the WHO estimates that there are at least 340 million new cases of curable sexually transmitted infections every year among people ages 15 to 49. Current treatment for gonorrhea consists of a single antibiotic dose of either cefixime or ceftriaxone. Ison said strains of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria were starting to become resistant and could soon become impervious to all current antibiotic treatment options.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62S5KF20100329/
Accessed 4/19/2010.
WARMER IS BETTER
Maintaining a normal body temperature during the perioperative experience can improve patient outcomes. The American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses, in guidelines released October 2009, said, "In an effort to reduce complications and costs associated with perioperative hypothermia, it is imperative to maintain normothermia throughout the course of the surgical continuum." That may include the use of blankets, socks and head coverings, or active warming devices. Prewarming for a minimum of 30 minutes may reduce the risk of hypothermia; nonemergent patients should be normothermic before being transferred to the operating room.
"Surgery patients are at risk for hypothermia due to exposure in a cool operating room," said Charlaine Patterson, RN, MSN, CNOR, Director of Surgical Services for Methodist Dallas Medical Center. "Anesthetized patients lose their ability to shiver, which is the body's natural way to attempt to correct hypothermia."
http://www.nursezone.com/Nursing-News-Events/more-news/Keeping-Surgical-Patients
Accessed 4/19/2010.
HOLD THE SALT
Rather than passing the salt, Americans need to take a pass on salt. The average adult male consumes more than 10 g of salt daily, according to the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. In April, the American Heart Association published new guidelines calling for all Americans to reduce their daily intake of sodium-a key component of salt-to 1,500 mg, equivalent to 3.8 g of salt. Previously, the regular limit had been 2,300 mg of sodium, or 5.8 g of salt.
A national program to reduce dietary salt could trim as much as $24 billion from the U.S. healthcare tab, according to a study published April 2010 in the New England Journal of Medicine. But significant cuts in salt could be challenging without action from food manufacturers. Some 75% of dietary salt intake comes from processed foods, according to the researchers.
Lowering salt intake by 3 g a day would cut new cases of heart disease annually by a third-an estimated 60,000 to 120,000 cases per year-heart attacks by 54,000 to 99,000 cases and strokes by 32,000 to 66,000 cases. It would reduce about 100,000 deaths.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704320104575015453863612776.html?m
Accessed 4/19/2010.
VIRGINIA M. OHLSON
We are saddened by the death of Virginia Ohlson, PhD, RN (1914-2010), an NCF friend and colleague for over half a century who was an international icon in public health nursing. Dr. Ohlson was instrumental in the formation of NCF in Japan and the USA and leaves a rich legacy of academic excellence, spiritual integrity, and missional vision for nursing. Her legacy lives on in the lives of nurses around the world who have been inspired by her integrity in reflecting the love of Jesus through a lifelong career in nursing and nursing education.-http://www.ncf-jcn.org
Learn more about Virginia Ohlson in Making Choices, Taking Chances:Nurse Leaders Tell Their Stories (Mosby, 1988) and American Nursing: A Biographical Dictionary, Vol. 2 (Garland, 1992).