Category Archives: Integrative Medicine

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US after heart disease, but certain lifestyle habits can make a difference. "Making any change is difficult. But setting small, achievable goals makes big goals much easier to accomplish," says cancer dietitian Joseph Dowdell, RDN, LD. Here are five habits scientifically proven to decrease cancer risk. Read onand to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had COVID.

Numerous studies have shown that walkingeven just a little bit every daycan decrease the risk of cancer. "Going for a walk at an average to brisk pace can provide people with a tremendous health benefit. It's free, easy, and can be done anywhere," says Alpa Patel, PhD, Strategic Director, CPS-3, American Cancer Society.

Sleeping less than six hours a night is associated with an increased risk of cancer, researchers say. "Studies have shown short-sleep durationthat's another way of saying not sleeping enoughis linked to a higher risk of colorectal cancer," says Michael J. Breus, PhD. "Insufficient sleep has also been identified as a factor in elevating risk for colorectal adenomasthese are polyps found in the colon, which can sometimes develop into cancer. And multiple studies including this long-term, large-scale study published recentlyshow that short sleep may increase breast cancer risk, one of the most-studied forms of cancer."

Cutting down on alcoholor eliminating it completelycan lower the risk of developing cancer. "This is another great example of how changing behavior could significantly decrease cancer deaths," says Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer at the American Cancer Society. "The most striking findings is the impact on cancer deaths with changes in alcohol consumption. Individuals should be strongly counseled that they can dramatically decrease their cancer risk if alcohol consumption is moderated."

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Fruit and vegetables contain antioxidants and other compounds shown to have protective benefits against cancer, research shows. "Although prior studies have suggested an association, they have been limited in power, particularly for specific fruits and vegetables and aggressive subtypes of breast cancer," says Maryam Farvid, PhD. "This research provides the most complete picture of the importance of consuming high amounts of fruit and vegetables for breast cancer prevention."

While the jury is still out over whether stress causes cancer directly, stress can have a significant impact on health and healing. "Stress has a profound impact on how your body's systems function," says Lorenzo Cohen, PhD, professor of General Oncology and Behavioral Science, and director of the Integrative Medicine Program at MD Anderson. "Stress makes your body more hospitable to cancer."

Ferozan Mast

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Little-Known Habits That Decrease Your Deadly Cancer Risk Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

Amy Tureen credits a former supervisor's odd request with shaping her approach to leadership wellness. It was Tureen's first day, and rather than focusing on job expectations, her supervisor made her promise to value her mind, body, and spirit as much as her professional accomplishments.

Looking back on her initial interaction, the associate professor and head of the Library Liaison Program in University Libraries felt empowered to consider her own wellness in the course of doing her job. That approach shaped Tureens interest in leadership wellness, with a particular emphasis on higher education.

Drawing from her extensive career working and training at colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, Tureen recently co-edited the book, Leadership Wellness and Mental Health Concerns in Higher Education. She also co-authored two of its chapters on leadership wellness.

Here, she discusses the concept of leadership wellness, the challenges of leadership wellness in higher education, and tips for supervisors on implementing leadership wellness techniques.

Leadership wellness is multifaceted and can include any combination of the following established domains of wellness: emotional/mental, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual. While these domains of wellness are relevant for everyone, regardless of positional or occupational status, they are of particular importance in leaders because of the roles leaders have in establishing, maintaining, and normalizing culture.

Employees will look to leaders to see what the culture tolerates in terms of wellness. Employees who receive 10 p.m. action item emails from their supervisors may intuit an unspoken expectation to work extended hours, while employees who watch their boss pop up a quiet time or thinking time sign may well understand that work, in that culture, is not exclusively tied to deliverables. Leadership wellness asks leaders to monitor their own wellness as a barrier to establishing unofficial or official unhealthy expectations regarding accepted behaviors, traditions, and norms.

Leaders who lack wellness in one or more of these areas may operate at a deficit, and all too often their subordinates may bear the brunt of this imbalance. This can also result in a cascade effect, wherein an exhausted supervisor takes out their stress on an employee, who takes out their stress on a student worker, who in turn takes out their stress on their parents or siblings when they return home. Thats four or more people who could have been left unharmed had the original leader taken time to care for their wellness needs.

Continued poor wellness in a leader may eventually lead to establishing an unhealthy or even toxic workplace culture. Leaders need to manage their wellness not only for themselves, but for the sake of those who follow them.

When I first started in libraries I had a simply amazing boss, Theresa Rhodes. On my first day she made me promise her three things: that I would find friends who worked outside the university; that I would find a place to engage with whatever was spiritually meaningful to me; and that I would engage in some form of physical activity that I enjoyed.

At the time, the importance of her requests didnt really sink in, but when I became a supervisor myself I realized what an incredible gift she had given me. By requesting those agreements, my boss was telling me that part of working for her meant caring for myself in mind, body, and spirit. Over the course of my years working for Theresa, she regularly communicated value for her own wellness and, in doing so, empowered her reports to do the same for ourselves.

When I transitioned into a research position, I became interested in the role of wellness in both the development of individual leaders and the organizational cultures they led. I was curious about how organizations explicitly and implicitly communicate the value of employee wellness and how leaders supported or contradicted these values by way of their personal, and yet still public, behavioral choices. I wanted to know if Theresa was unique in her approach to embedding wellness and the value of wellness into her leadership and, if she wasnt, how others communicated the same message.

While colleges and universities often talk about supporting the whole student, our required curriculum is rarely holistic. Those opportunities that do exist are optional, sometimes for an additional fee, and require students to take an interest and get involved on their own initiative.

Holistic care for higher education employees is even more rare and all too often is provided by colleagues with a personal interest in fields like wellness and mindfulness and who are willing to share their knowledge and labor with their colleagues without compensation. I note this because among the many challenges to mental health and wellness in higher education is establishing it is a topic important enough to discuss and prioritize much less fund at all. Individual employee wellness has a direct impact on how employees show up and do their work. It is not a responsibility exclusive to the individual as the impact of success or failure in this arena has a direct and often measurable impact on the community at large.

Another more nebulous challenge in recent years is, of course, capitalism and the changing economic role of higher education. Increases in tuition, the slow replacement of grant-funded education in favor of interest-generating, loan-funded education, the commodification of educational attainment, mounting tenure expectations, increased use of perilously employed adjunct instructors, and an encroaching push to see students as customers rather than apprentices or scholars have added both economic and social pressure to higher education workers of all types.

Bust-and-boom cycles within the field have led to too many applicants for too few positions, changes in demographics such as flagging birth rates suggest we will soon have far more universities than interested students to fill them, and ongoing financial belt tightening due to multiple national and international economic downturns have seen the responsibility portfolios of many higher education employees swell. This in turn has resulted in increased stress and the establishment of a scarcity mindset.

Students, who are often higher education leaders in their own right, are also not immune from risks for their mental health and wellness. Bachelor's degrees are increasingly becoming a requirement for entry-level employment, threatening to put the vast majority of workers into personal debt before they are able to start to earn. Internships, often unpaid, and work-study experience are increasingly the norm in some professions, requiring students to be both student and worker concurrently, potentially in addition to any additional compensated work a student may engage in to meet their own financial needs.

Competition for limited teaching assistant and research assistant positions, limited travel funding for graduate students, and even the sometimes cutthroat scrabble for a handful of As on a graded curve put students into direct conflict with one another and exacerbate the sense that success and happiness is dependant on external criteria. The ongoing pandemic added still more pressure, asking students to master skills and concepts that were, for many teachers, being taught via an entirely new modality for the first time.

Supervisors can start by being mindful of their own wellness needs and clear in communicating that wellness theirs and that of their employees is important. Supervisors also need to practice self awareness and learn to appreciate not only their intent, but also the impact of their communication, management, and leadership styles. Several of the chapters recommend processes to critically evaluate ones own professional practice with the assistance of peers. Others provide tips on how individuals can deepen their sense of peace and resilience by engaging intimately with the wellness domains that they most resonate with.

I encourage supervisors who choose to read the book to share their learning with others. Use the material to start a dialogue, both with yourself and your reports. A conversation starter as simple as how can I better help you feel empowered to prioritize your personal wellness? can lead to a robust and illuminating conversation.

Stress, resilience, and self-improvement loom large in many of the chapters. While some authors elected to tackle more generic examples of challenges to wellness and mental health (overwork, job creep, poor leadership styles, etc.) or established systemic traumas to personal wellness (sexism, racism, homophobia, etc.), other authors chose to write about specific incidents and their impact on the wellness of both themselves and their communities. Some were remarkably unique (such as studying in Syria while bombs actively rained down on campus), while others impacted broader communities but were in no way less personal or signficniant (such as dual campus and community-destroying hurricanes and the psycho-social impact of COVID-19). Many authors wrote not only of the impact of wellness challenges, but also offered solutions, citing the power of communities (such as mentors, sharing circles, cohorts, and even research centers) to collectively grow, learn, and heal.

University administrators are at the top of setting cultural expectations and norms related to wellness. Like supervisors, they both model and enforce what is permissible and what is not, but they also have atypical authority to establish wellness as a central value within an organization.

This commitment can be explicitly stated in a number of ways, such as articulated values in vision statements, membership in the United States Health Promoting Campus Network, or electing to adopt the Okanagan Charter on an institutional level. This commitment can also be implicit by providing policies and benefits which help employees and students meet their individual wellness goals.

Examples of implicit support may include flexible work schedules, hybrid classrooms that allow students to attend class in person or remotely as needed, free wellness programming, and both promoting and supporting skill attainment in wellness-related activities such as mind-body medicine, art therapy, and bystander intervention techniques.

Individuals interested in mind-body wellness should review the work of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine either at their website directly or viaREBELearn where Annie Weisman, director of well-being and integrative medicine at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, provides an entire course on the topic.

Those interested specifically in the intersection of leadership and wellness should consider reading the work of Shola Richards, Scott Eblin and Scott Behson.

I also recommend that anyone who is working in or plans to ever work in a team or shared environment pickup Liz Fosslein and Mollie West Duffys delightful and fabulously illustrated book, No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work.

Read more:
Cultivating a Culture of Wellness in the Higher Ed Workplace - UNLV NewsCenter

Musicians translating their music into different languages isnt completely unheard of. ABBA recorded Waterloo in three different languages, and you gotta love how the Beatles Germanized I Want To Hold Your Hand and She Loves You, after spending years performing einDeutschland.

Translations into Mandarin Chinese on the other hand? Name one that youve heard.

Enter Alec Benjamin, a 28-year old singer-songwriter currently residing in L.A. The sensation behind Let Me Down Slowlywhich recently hit one billion streams on Spotifyisnt 100% fluent, but has translated a few of his songs into Mandarin Chinese, and recently translated and re-recorded one of his albums for release in the somewhat near future. His fascination mainly came about due to his father blending Chinese culture into his work.

He's a medical doctor, but he also does acupuncture, and he does stuff with Eastern medicine," Benjamintold Creative Loafing Tampa Bay during a recent phone interview.

Benjamins songwriting style is completely straightforward and honest, and tackles subjects from moving out of L.A. (Shadow of Mine) to sometimes having to play a role in life that youre just chained to (DeNiro). And even if you're not necessarily pleased with your casting, you have to do the best that you're given, he advised.

In the beginning, Benjamin played the difficult role of a kid entertaining people in line for arena concerts such as Shawn Mendes, and handing out business cards. And Columbia Records execs dropping him just after he turned in his debut album definitely didnt boost his confidence. But these days, he's an Elektra signee whose career got the surge it needed when a kid danced to I Built A Friend on Americas Got Talent in 2017.

Get our full Q&A with Alec Benjamin below, and go see him at St. Petersburg's Jannus Live on Tuesday, Sept. 13, with support from Claire Rosinkranz.

I'm great, thanks for taking the time today. Appreciate it.

Are you in California?

Yes, sir.

Awesome. Getting ready to kick off the tour, huh?

Yeah, I'm getting ready. I was rehearsing all during the week. Then Ive got some rehearsals next week and the following week, and then we start.

Sweet deal. So, this tour is promoting the new (Un)Commentary album that you've got out. How much of it would you say is based on true events?

Well, I suppose all of it. I wrote this album during the pandemic, and a lot of it is talking about things that happened during the pandemic. And then, even the stuff that I talk about thats like a story that's fictional, it's based on things that have actually happened, and I'm trying to get across an idea or like, an emotion that maybe was inspired by a true event. But even if I'm not necessarily talking about the actual event itself in the song, in most of the songs in this record, theyre pretty literal. Like, I have a song called Nancy Got A Haircut, about Nancy Pelosi getting a haircut, and its a true story.

Haha, thats awesome. Would I be correct in assuming that Shadow Of Mine was inspired by your move to L.A.?

In part, but it was more inspired by my move out of Los Angeles. I've been sort of slowly, sort of exploring like, moving to new places and stuff for multitude of reasons. One of which was developing a lot of bad habits and a lot of things that I'd like to leave behind here. I might move to Florida soon, and so I went down to Miami. I went down to Texas for a little bit, and I realized that even though those are places that I might want to live ultimately, I'm not going to be able to escape a lot of the problems that I feel like I'd like to leave behind in Los Angeles. Yeah, Miami and Texas seem like good places to visit, but from up close, maybe not somewhere to live for some people.

Sure. I mean, maybe one day Ill move there, but regardless, it doesnt matter where I go, whether it's Miami or Texas, or whether it's Alabama or wherever. I have to move to a place because I want to move to the place, not because I feel like escaping some of the things that were bothering me in my previous residence.

So speaking of things that bother you, there's a song on the record called Older, and you've been opening your shows with it. What makes that the ideal show opener?

It was a great show opener for the last few shows, but on this tour, the setlist has changed, so its not gonna be the show opener this time. Hopefully, the song we picked to be the set opener is gonna be the more ideal set opener, but I think, when we put it in the set as the tour opener, the album wasn't fully out yet, I had a few singles out, and Older was one of the things that I had just released, so it made sense at the time to have that as a set opener. We tried it and it worked, so we kept it in, but it's gonna be different this time.

Right on. So I want to go back a little bit. You have not been a music person for your whole life, but some of your inspirations include Paul Simon and Eminem. What parts of their artistry touch you the most?

I just like their lyrics and I like their ethos as artists. I like what they have to say. I don't always agree with them, but I like that they take a stance and they're bold. And I love how they are able to tell stories in their music. And that resonated with me as a young kid, and it resonates with me now as an adult.

That's cool. So, the story goes, you were signed to Columbia Records, you made a record and then they dropped you. And currently the record you made for them is still being held hostage and you can't share them right now. Can you tell me anything about what the record was like?

Oh no, thats not true. I got it back, its all good.

You did?

Yeah, yeah. It took me a few years, but ultimately, I got the album back and I put out some of the songs. So, one of the songs was a song called Water Fountain, And I had a few other songs that I ended up putting out on my first album that made it back, but no, it's not being held hostage. It ultimately had a happy ending.

Well, that's good that you got it back. Do you ever look back on that record and think about how far youve come as an artist?

Yeah, I do. I feel like Ive grown a lot, but in a lot of ways. I also sometimes envy the person that I was at time, because it's nice to be sort of like, young and naive, and not as worried about things, and you're able to create more freely. So I kind of miss that.

Fair enough. I really liked the Mandarin Chinese translations you did for a few of your songs. What made you decide to do that? Are you fluent?

I'm fluent enough to do that. But no, I had a lot of help making the translations. I didn't do the translations, I had a friend help me, but I just thought it was something that I was always interested in doing. I've actually translated my entire album into Chinese, and we just got done recording last week, so that was really cool.

And didn't your dad blend Chinese culture into his medical work?

He does. My dad is integrative medicine. He's a medical doctor, but he also does acupuncture, and he does stuff with Eastern medicine, so thats one of the reasons I got into it. Moving on, I read that you met John Mayer through Instagram. Did he know who you were at the time?

When I first sent him a DM on Instagram, I don't think he knew who I was when he didn't respond. And then, he sort of found my music and he messaged me. I think he saw the previous messages that I had sent him. But yeah, he was looking for me. Someone showed him my music and that was the medium through which he was able to reach out to me.

Have you heard his latest, Sob Rock?

Of course, yeah. Have you?

Oh yeah, one of his best in years, I think.

Whats your favorite song?

Thats a hard oneIm gonna say New Light. What about you?

Oh yeah, thats good. I like the song Wild Blue. Thats a great one.

Hell yeah. One more question for you: When you play your songs for friends and family for the first time, do they give you constructive criticism? Whose do you trust the most?

I have a couple of friends that I feel like will be honest with me. I think other times, I just put my friends in an uncomfortable position because they don't want to disappoint me, especially if they can tell I'm excited about something. They dont want to be the ones to sorta let the air out of the balloon and tell me that it's not as good as I think it is. But my mom has no problem telling me the truth, which is good, having people in your life that are going to be honest with you. So I talk to my mom and I play her the songs, and if she likes the song, then I know that there's a good shot that its gonna resonate.

*This interview has been edited for clarity*

Originally posted here:
Q&A: Before St. Pete show, Alec Benjamin talks John Mayer, his fascination with Mandarin Chinese, and more - Creative Loafing Tampa

Shaoyun Li,1,* Yuefei Li,1,* Xiyan Xu,1 Jian Shao,2 Ruifeng Xie,3 Sheng Liu,1 Li Peng,1 Jin Wang,1 Kaixin Zhou,3 Huyi Feng1

1The Fifth Peoples Hospital of Chongqing, Chongqing, Peoples Republic of China; 2Guangzhou Laboratory, Guangzhou, Peoples Republic of China; 3Department of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China

Introduction: Simple non-invasive biomarker is urgently needed to detect the largely silent osteopenia in order to prevent osteoporosis-related fracture later in life. The accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) has been related to reduced bone density and osteoporotic fractures. Whether lens autofluorescence (LAF) based AGEs (LAF-AGEs) measurement could be used to assess the risk of osteopenia is aimed to investigate in this paper.Methods: Through routine health examination, 368 individuals under the age of 50 were enrolled. A dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) device was used to measure bone mineral density (BMD) of the forearm and determine osteopenia. AGE levels were derived with LAF along with the other demographic and laboratory parameters. After deriving the age-adjusted AGE levels (AALs), a linear regression analysis and an ordered logistic regression analysis were applied to examine the associations between osteopenia and LAF-AGEs as well as AALs.Results: Negative correlations (Pearson r = 0.16, p Discussion: After reviewing the relevant studies, it is concluded that LAF-AGE is a more stable measure of long-term metabolic dysfunction than circulating AGE. LAF-AGEs are a valid, practical and non-invasive parameter for osteopenia risk evaluation. Further studies with longer follow-up will be helpful to clarify its effectiveness for osteoporosis risk assessment.

Keywords: lens autofluorescence, LAF, osteopenia, advanced glycation end products, AGEs, bone mineral density, T-scores

The prevalence of osteoporosis is 19.2% in people aged over 50 and increases to 65% for those over 65 in China.1 Osteopenia is the gradual loss in bone mineral density (BMD) prior to osteoporosis.2 Chronic osteopenia increases the risk of osteoporosis, fracture or stooped posture. Although early detection of osteopenia and intervention could reduce the risk for osteoporosis-related fracture later in life,3 the awareness rate of osteopenia is only 7% people in those aged over 50 and even lower in the young adults.1 This is largely due to the fact that osteopenia is asymptomatic and its diagnosis often relies on the hazardous X-ray scan.

Alternative biomarkers had been eagerly pursued to inform the early detection of osteopenia.4 Previous studies demonstrated that biochemical factors such as bone serum osteocalcin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and osteoprotegerin were associated with osteopenia.5,6 These biomarkers are useful to provide the early assessment of osteopenia and osteoporosis however they are invasive approaches and require laboratory to get the test results. On the other hand, efforts to combine multiple non-invasive measurements such as biceps brachii elasticity and percentage thigh muscle had been proven informative, but the clinical implementation had been severely hindered by its complexity.7 Simple non-invasive biomarkers of osteopenia are still on demand.

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) include heterogeneous molecules that are nonenzymatically generated by glycation of proteins.8,9 Although distributed across multiple tissues, AGEs are well established to interact with proteins constituting extracellular matrix in bone to form covalent cross-links, damaging the bone properties. Since its distribution across tissues are correlated, AGEs from different compartments of the body had been examined for association with bone quality and fracture.7,8,10 Those from serum and urine were poorly associated due to the short half-life of AGEs related proteins in these tissues.7 Skin autofluorescence-based AGEs were also examined, but their association with bone strength was prone to confounding by renal function.11

Lens autofluorescence (LAF) measurement is a non-invasive technique for determining AGEs initially used for the evaluation of diabetes risk.12 This is largely driven by the fact that proteins in lens are long-lived and the uptake of glucose by lens is not regulated by insulin. Therefore, lens proteins are more likely to be carriers of glycosylation and the LAF-based AGEs (LAF-AGEs) levels are relatively stable. However, whether LAF-AGEs are associated with the risk of bone health and osteopenia is unknown.

In this study, we set out to examine the association between LAF-AGEs and osteopenia in a group of individuals under the age of 50, aiming to establish whether LAF-AGEs could inform early intervention of osteopenia to reduce its related risks later in life.

We recruited 773 adult participants from the Physical Examination Center of the Fifth Peoples Hospital of Chongqing between February and December 2019 while they took their annual physical check. Individuals were excluded if they were aged over 50 or suffer from crystal turbidity, or severe renal functional impairment, or diagnosed with osteoporosis. With the exclusion, 368 patients were selected in the study for the further analysis. In addition to the BMD test and the measurement of Lens Autofluorescence specific to this study, we also collected routine demographic and biochemistry measures such as age, sex, body mass index (BMI), serum creatinine and ALP. Both serum creatinine level and ALP were tested through a blood test where the amount of creatinine in blood and the amount of ALP were obtained. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated by the chronic kidney disease epidemiology collaboration (CDK-EPI) equation.13 The study protocol was approved by the local appointed ethics committee and all participants gave their informed consent.

BMD was measured at the forearm with a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) device (SGY-I, TEDA Shenghong Medical Apparatus Co. Ltd., China). All scans were performed and verified by a trained technician who applied adjustments when necessary. The T-scores produced from each scan were used to identify participants with osteopenia or osteoporosis according the Manufacturer Instruction.14 Based on their T-scores, the participants were classified into five groups of normal (T-score 1), low level osteopenia (1.2 T-score < 1), medium level osteopenia (1.4 T-score < 1.2), high level osteopenia (2 T-score < 1.4) and osteoporosis (T-score < 2).

The AGEscan Lens Fluorescence Microscope (Sinocare Co. Ltd., China) was used to detect autofluorescence of lens. The equipment adopted the ClearPath DS-120 Lens Fluorescence Biomicroscope that had been most widely used in previous LAF studies.15,16 The system reported the ratio of green fluorescence to scattered light as the raw measurement of LAF-AGEs. The raw ratios were further adjusted by age and referenced against a normal population profile to derive four age-adjusted AGE levels (AALs):

Data was expressed as mean SD for continuous variables, and number of cases and percentage for categorical variables. Continuous variables were compared by the t or ANOVA test for normally distributed variables. Chi-Square test was used to compare categorical variables. The linear regression analyses were applied to examine whether T-scores were associated with LAF-AGEs as well as AALs. The co-impacts of the confounders, such as sex, BMI, eGFR and ALP were analyzed by the comparison between the values in two groups divided based on T-Scores. In addition, an ordered logistic regression analysis was applied to investigate whether the change of AALs between different levels affected impacts the different levels of osteopenia. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Data processing was performed using Python (version 3.8.5) and statistical analyses were carried out using R (version 4.0.3).

After excluding individuals with existing osteoporosis (T-score < 2), the key characteristics of the remaining 368 participants in the study were summarized in Table 1. They were divided into the low osteopenia risk group (T-score 1.2) and the high osteopenia risk group (2 T-score < 1.2). In keeping with previous studies, individuals in the group with higher risk of osteopenia tend to be slimmer and older (both p < 0.001). No significant difference in ALP (p = 0.83) and eGFR (p = 0.13) was observed between the two groups. In addition, there was no significant gender ratio difference between the two osteopenia risk groups.

Table 1 Characteristics of the Participants

The joint distribution of osteopenia T-Scores and raw LAF-AGEs levels was plotted in Figure 1A. In a linear regression model, LAF-AGEs were significantly (Pearson r = 0.20, p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with T-Scores. As shown in Figure 1B, when LAF-AGEs were age standardized into AALs, there remained a significant (p = 0.025) negative correlation between AAL and T-score.

Figure 1 The correlation results: (A) Association between T-scores and LAF-AGEs; (B) association between T-scores and AALs.

In order to predict the transition between osteopenia severity levels with the LAF-AGEs, an ordered logistic regression model was employed with the AALs as the predicator and the leveled osteopenia diagnosis as the ordered outcome. This univariate analysis identified AAL was a factor for lower osteopenia level [p = 0.004, odds ratio (OR) = 1.28, 95% confident interval (CI) 1.081.51]. In the multivariate model with gender, BMI, eGFR and ALP as covariates, AAL remained a significant predictor [p = 0.02, OR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.021.45].

In this cross-sectional study of 368 normal individuals under the age of 50, we showed an inverse association between LAF-AGE levels and osteopenia risk as measured by T-score. The age standardized LAF-AGE levels remained a statistically significant risk after adjusting for other known osteopenia risk factors.

The present investigation was set out to focus on the young adults. Abundant previous evidence had shown that people aged over 50 or menopausal women had increased risk of osteopenia.8,10,17 Yet the bone mass loss in young adults did not receive much attention with the osteopenia risk profile poorly defined.16 Early diagnosis and treatment of osteopenia for young people have been demonstrated to decrease fracture rates, improve life quality when they grow into elderly.18,19 Thus, we opted to extend existing knowledge by examining whether LAF-AGE could serve as a biomarker to inform early assessment of osteopenia.

AGEs are diverse compounds with tissue specific origin, reflecting the metabolic properties of multiple correlated tissues.17 The formation of covalant cross-links with collagen and other bone proteins which affect the mechanical properties of tissue and disturbs bone remodelling, deterioration and bone mass loss, underlying osteoporosis, is induced by the accumulation of AGEs within the bone. It is known that circulating AGEs plays a major role in the progression of osteopenia with a negative correlation of r = 0.26 to the T-score of lumbar spines.20 Here, we showed LAF-AGEs had a similar level of negative correlation (r = 0.16) with the T-scores of forearms. Thus, our study confirmed the LAF-AGEs, another form of AGEs existing in eyes, also had the inverse association with bone mass loss, raising the potential for osteopenia risk evaluation.

As with AGEs measured from other tissues, LAF-AGEs increase with natural aging. We then adopted the age standardized LAF-AGEs in this study to explore its association with T-score and osteopenia risk. The result of the ordinal logistic regression showed the transition between AALsalso resulted in a risk escalation of osteopenia, even after accounting for other known risk factors. Moreover, it has been shown that LAF-AGE is a more stable measure of long-term metabolic dysfunction than circulating AGE. Compared to skin measures of SAF-AGEs, it is less perturbed by short term physiological change which is relevant to the accumulating risk of osteopenia. Taken together, our results demonstrated LAF-AGEs as a valid and practical parameter for osteopenia risk evaluation, adding a non-invasive biomarker to the existing risk profile.

Our study references the bone mineral assessment at the forearm with the low radiation dose DXA which is commonly used in health care setting.21 In contrast, previous AGEs studies mostly measured bone mass at other body parts such as femoral neck and lumbar spine with higher accuracy.10,20 However, a recent study showed that BMD measured at different sites, including lumber, left hip and non-superiority forearm with DXA, were comparable in screening osteoporosis.22 Therefore, the association between LAF-AGEs and T-score observed in this study is likely to be a valid indicator of osteopenia risk.

The present study utilized a cross-sectional dataset and could only focus on the risk predication of osteopenia with LAF-AGEs. However, previous studies did suggest that skin measures of SAF-AGEs were associated with long-term outcomes of osteoporotic fractures and vertebral fractures in susceptible individuals.10,23 Given that LAF-AGEs and SAF-AGEs are significantly correlated,24 it would be reasonable for future studies to examine whether LAF-AGEs could serve as a valid indicator of fracture risk in longitudinal investigations of young cohort. On the other hand, this study used the BMD data measured by DXA at forearm which is widely in routine physical examinations. More analysis should be undertaken to explore whether and how strong the correlations are between LAF-AGEs and bone mass loss at other body sites such as lumbar spine and wards triangle. Further studies with longer follow-up will be helpful to establish whether LAF-AGEs could be used as a risk indicator of osteopenia and later osteoporosis.

In conclusion, this cross-sectional study of normal individuals under the age of 50 confirmed significant association between LAF-AGE levels and osteopenia. Together with other known risk of factors of osteopenia, the non-invasive and reliable measure of LAF-AGEs provides the possibility of more accurate risk profiling and early diagnosis of osteopenia.

Dr. Huyi Feng is a chief medical doctor in hepatobiliary surgery and the director of the Fifth Peoples Hospital of Chongqing. He received his MD in 1984 from West China Medical University and MMed in 2002 from Chongqing Medical University. He published 20 academic papers, had completed 9 research projects and is in charge of one on-going research project in medical science. He is the vice-chairman of Chongqing General Surgery Committee of Chinese Medical Association Integrative Medicine and a member of Chongqing Minimally Invasive Surgery Committee. He is also an editor of the journal Chongqing Medicine. He is expert in diagnosis and treatment of hepatobiliary and pancreatic diseases, especially in laparoscopic technique and laparoscopic cholecystectomy. His research interests include hepatobiliary and pancreatic diseases, endocrine system and advanced glycation end products.

Dr. Shaoyun Li is a data scientist working in the Big Data Laboratory of the Fifth Peoples Hospital of Chongqing. She received her PhD in computer science from De Montfort University in the UK in 2007. She has been working on the research and development in software engineering and data analysis for more than 20 years, especially focusing on medical science in the past 2 years. She has published more than 20 academic research papers in software engineering and medical science. Her current research interests include integration and analysis of medical data to discover the association between diseases and medication.

The electronic medical record data retrieved from the Fifth Peoples Hospital of Chongqing was anonymized for this study. Summary data that were used to support the findings of this study may be requested from the correspondent author.

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Fifth Peoples Hospital of Chongqing (protocol code: 2019CQSDWRMYYEC-003) on 10th March 2019.

We thank Sinocare Co. Ltd., China for providing the AGEscan Lens Fluorescence Microscope which was used to measure LAF-AGEs in our research.

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

This research was funded by two National Key R&D Programs of China, grant numbers: 2018YFC2001003 and 2018YFC2001001.

The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

1. National Health Commission of the Peoples Republic of China. Results of the first epidemiological survey of osteoporosis in China; 2018. Available from: http://www.nhc.gov.cn/wjw/xwdt/201810/d816a5c72f6b45e399a1e7214642cd47.shtml. Accessed August 26, 2022.

2. Varacallo M, Seaman TJ, Jandu JS, Pizzutillo P. Osteopenia. In: Statpearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2020.

3. Tucci JR. Importance of early diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis to prevent fractures. Am J Manag Care. 2006;12:181190.

4. Kuo T-R, Chen C-H. Bone biomarker for the clinical assessment of osteoporosis: recent developments and future perspectives. Biomark Res. 2017;5:18. doi:10.1186/s40364-017-0097-4

5. Mekkawy ND, Elsaeed WF, Ahmed HS, Khaliel AM. Importance of serum osteocalcin as early biomarker for osteopenia in preterm neonates receiving total parenteral nutrition. Zagazig Univ Med J. 2019;28:497504.

6. Parveen B, Parveen A, Divya V. Biomarkers of osteoporosis: an update. endocrine. Metab Immune Disord Drug Targets. 2019;19:895912. doi:10.2174/1871530319666190204165207

7. Kida Y, Saito M, Shinohara A, Soshi S, Marumo K. Non-invasive skin autofluorescence, blood and urine assays of the advanced glycation end product (age) pentosidine as an indirect indicator of age content in human bone. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2019;20:627. doi:10.1186/s12891-019-3011-4

8. Tabara Y, Ikezoe T, Yamanaka M, et al. Advanced glycation end product accumulation is associated with low skeletal muscle mass, weak muscle strength, and reduced bone density: the nagahama study. J Gerontol: Med Sci. 2018;74:14461453. doi:10.1093/gerona/gly233

9. Steenbeke M, Bruyne SD, Aken EV, et al. Uv Fluorescence-based determination of urinary advanced glycation end products in patients with chronic kidney disease. Diagnostics. 2020;10:34. doi:10.3390/diagnostics10010034

10. Waqas K, Chen J, Koromani F, et al. Skin autofluorescence, a noninvasive biomarker for advanced glycation end-products, is associated with prevalent vertebral and major osteoporotic fractures: the Rotterdam study. J Bone Miner Res. 2020;35:19041913. doi:10.1002/jbmr.4096

11. Sim-Servat O, Planasa A, Ciudin A, Sim R, Hernndez C. Assessment of advanced glycation end-products as a biomarker of diabetic outcomes. Endocrinologa, Diabetes y Nutricin. 2018;65:540545. doi:10.1016/j.endien.2018.06.003

12. Cahn F, Burd J, Ignotz K, Mishra S. Measurement of lens autofluorescence can distinguish subjects with diabetes from those without. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2014;8:4349. doi:10.1177/1932296813516955

13. Levey AS, Stevens LA, Schmid CH, et al. Equation to estimate glomerular filtration rate. Ann Intern Med. 2009;150:604612. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-150-9-200905050-00006

14. Teda Shenghong Medical Apparatus Co. Ltd. C. Manufacturer Instruction: sgy-I. 2010.

15. Burd J, Lum S, Cahn F, Ignotz K. Simultaneous noninvasive clinical measurement of lens autofluorescence and Rayleigh scattering using a fluorescence biomicroscope. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2012;6:12511259. doi:10.1177/193229681200600603

16. Pehlivanolu S, Acar N, Albayrak S, Karakaya M, Ofluolu A. The assessment of autofluorescence of the crystalline lens in diabetic patients and healthy controls: can it be used as a screening test? Clin Ophthalmol. 2018;12:11631170. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S164960

17. Yamamoto M, Sugimoto T. Advanced glycation end products, diabetes, and bone strength. Curr Osteoporos Rep. 2016;14:320326. doi:10.1007/s11914-016-0332-1

18. Karaguzel G, Holick MF. Diagnosis and treatment of osteopenia. Rev Endocr Metab Disord. 2011;11:237251. doi:10.1007/s11154-010-9154-0

19. Teng Z, Zhu Y, Yu X, et al. An analysis and systematic review of sarcopenia increasing osteopenia risk. PLoS One. 2021;16:114. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0250437

20. Yang D-H, Chiang T-I, Chang I-C, Lin F-H, Wei -C-C, Cheng Y-W. Increased levels of circulating advanced glycation end-products in menopausal women with osteoporosis. Int J Med Sci. 2014;11:453460. doi:10.7150/ijms.8172

21. Augat P, Fuerst T, Genant H. Quantitative bone mineral assessment at the forearm: a review. Osteoporosis Internationa. 1998;8:299310. doi:10.1007/s001980050068

22. Wang Y, Zhang Z. Comparision forearm bone mineral density between lumbar spine and hip: a useful tool to screen osteoporsis in female patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2019;78:1634.

23. Waqas K, Chen J, Koromani F, et al. Dietary advanced glycation end-products (Dages) intake and bone health: a cross-sectional analysis in the Rotterdam study. Nutrients. 2020;12:2377. doi:10.3390/nu12082377

24. Skrha J, Soupal J, Prazny M, Skrha J. Lens autofluorescence relates to skin autofluorescence but poorly to glycated haemoglobin in patients with diabetes. Diabetologia. 2015;58:560.

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tHE association between LAF-AGEs and osteopenia | MDER - Dove Medical Press

For young students, seeking reproductive health resources available in the area may be difficult to find.

Fosnight Center embraces the uniqueness of each individual in an effort to ensure all feel safe and welcome regardless of intersectional identities, said Casey Duncan, the director of administrative services for the Fosnight Center for sexual health in Asheville.

The director said the Fosnight Center provides inclusive healthcare for all bodies. The center covers gender affirming care, gynecology and urology services, sexual and integrative medicine and physical therapy.

At the Fosnight Center, we recognize the pieces and put them together to create an individualized treatment plan through a multidisciplinary team approach, Duncan said. You will have the opportunity to be evaluated by our medical providers, pelvic health physical therapist and sex therapist in order to look at the whole picture of your health concern.

The director said the sexual health center provides gender inclusive contraceptive care, gender affirming hormone therapies, STI testing and preventative care.

According to the CDC, before the overturning of Roe 65.3% of people born with a uterus were using contraceptives.

We pride ourselves on creating a safe space for all our patients and clients. Duncan said. We believe everyone deserves to love their body.

The Fosnight director said the center is passionate about reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy for all.

We are committed to cultivating an inclusive environment that benefits all our providers, staff, clients, patients and the community, Duncan said.

Duncan said the sexual health center accepts most commerical insurances and has self-pay discounts.

According to Planned Parenthood, after the overturn of Roe v. Wade on June 24, many Planned Parenthood centers were forced to close leavingmany low income young adults struggling to find affordable testing and sexual health clinics.

The staff understand the unique needs and challenges of being a college student, said Jay Cutspec, the director of Health and Counseling at UNC Asheville.

Cutspec said students receive basic reproductive care and services at UNCA comparable to a family physicians office.

We adapt our services to meet the unique needs of college students, Cutspec said. We have a diverse staff from a variety of backgrounds and experiences.

The health and counseling director said they advise students to make the Health and Counseling Center their first step. If they cannot provide specific services or have unmet needs, students will be referred to the most appropriate community provider.

The phone number for the Health and Counseling Center is (828)-251-6520.

We also understand that for many students, this may be the first time that they have to manage their own healthcare, Cutspec said. We try to educate them on how to manage the healthcare system.

Cutspec said the only charge for a visit to the Health and Counseling Center is for possible medication prescription or lab tests received during the visit.

The Menstrual Equity Club on UNCAs campus takes these matters into their own hands providing safer sex supplies, menstrual products and community health resources.

We have had the pleasure of partnering with organizations such as the Western North Carolina Aids Project and Planned Parenthood, said Samantha Mazze, a UNCA student studying psychology and co-president of the equity club.

Through these collaborations we have been able to provide the campus population with free HIV testing and guest speaker community health educators, Mazze said.

Mazze said the club members pride themselves on providing safe spaces for students to discuss reproductive justice, campus community needs and concerns.

The UNCA student said this was their third year being a part of the Menstrual Equity club.

The co-president said in the past year one of the biggest projects the club worked on was providing free menstrual products in all bathrooms on campus.

One of our goals for this next year is to make sure all students on campus have access to these essential supplies regardless of the bathroom they use, said Mazze.

Mazze said another project the club organizes is the packing party, a Halloween goodie bag filled with menstrual products, candies, stickers and more for students. The co-president said with events like packing parties the club donates supplies back to the community.

The UNCA student said the presence of organizations like the menstrual equity club are crucial because voices are not being heard.

We continue to see people of color and the LGBTQ+ community be consistently overlooked by our healthcare and justice systems, said Mazze.

Mazze said after their graduation they want to continue their efforts in reproductive health, and become a sex therapist.

The co-president said students wishing to get involved can follow the clubs instagram page @uncaforme or join the email list [emailprotected].

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UNCA and Asheville clinics priortize inclusive healthcare The Blue Banner - The Blue Banner

Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth (SBV) has launched an Institute of Salutogenesis and Complementary Medicine (ISCM) to better integrate ongoing complementary therapeutics and wellness medicine programmes for patients.

SBV has been providing complementary medicine services since 2007 in the form of music therapy interventions and yoga to target specific diseases, and in combination with modern medicine.

Both these services were subsequently established as centres - the Centre for Music Therapy Education & Research and the Centre for Yoga Therapy Education and Research.

Bhushan Patwardhan, chairman, executive committee, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), and former vice-chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC), launched the facility at a function recently.

In his remarks, Dr. Patwardhan drew reference to the statistics provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) that nearly 80% of the global population utilises traditional, complementary and integrative medicine (TCIM).

Despite the rapid advances made in medical sciences and therapeutics, a mention must be made of the fact that several challenges do exist with reference to accessibility and affordability, he noted.

A holistic approach would involve the physical, mental, social and spiritual dimensions. In this regard, salutogenesis or wellness has been seamlessly integrated at SBV with the essential principles of complementary medicine and allopathy, he said.

Subhash Chandra Parija, SBV vice-chancellor, said that since the establishment of yoga and music therapy centres, an impressive volume of evidence had been generated through research publications in high-impact journals. Several thousands of people had benefited from outreach services.

On the academic front, several courses and programmes, including certificate, PG diploma, masters and doctoral programmes in music and yoga therapy, are being offered. It was in this context that a decision was made to upgrade the facilities into ISCM, with the aim of providing salutogenesis and wellness for all, Dr. Parija said.

N. Ananthakrishnan, Dean of Faculty, SBV, noted that yoga and music interventions would strive for promoting wellness when combined with standard healthcare. The concept of salutogenesis had been integrated into modern medicine, and this was an important contribution of SBV, especially during the post-pandemic period, he said.

Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, Director, ISCM, said the upgradation of yoga and music therapy centres into ISCM would go a long way in promoting salutogenesis, besides addressing several disorders of lifestyle, metabolism and endocrine and nervous systems. A.R. Srinivasan, Registrar, SBV, Madanmohan Trakroo and Sumathy Sundar also participated in the event.

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Salutogenesis institute launched in Puducherry - The Hindu

Getting sick from COVID is bad enough, but for many it doesn't just end there. Millions will experience a long list of lingering symptomslike brain fog, fatigue, headaches, shortness of breath, neurological symptoms and GI issues for weeks, months and possibly years after the initial infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "New data from the Household Pulse Survey show that more than 40% of adults in the United States reported having COVID-19 in the past, and nearly one in five of those (19%) are currently still having symptoms of "long COVID." Eat This, Not That! Health spoke with experts who explain how COVID affects the gut and signs you have Long COVID. Read onand to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had COVID.

Raphael Kellman, MD, a Physician of Integrative and Functional Medicine tells us, "Research is showing that the COVID virus can actually impact and adversely affect the microbiome, which then results in inflammation in intestinal permeability, and a host of consequences that occur when the gastrointestinal wall becomes more permeable than it should be to toxins, environmental chemicals, and byproducts of bacterial metabolites. That can then cause a number of problems in the body, including inflammation and even oral immunity. A component of the effects of coronavirus is its impact on the microbiome and that's even if you don't have gastrointestinal symptoms. So that's why improving the microbiome is a very important component in the healing of COVID. Also, dealing with vaccines in vaccine injury assists with prevention and the treatment of long haul COVID."

Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D., Integrative Medicine Physician, Researcher and Bestselling Author From Fatigued to Fantastic! adds, "In some people, COVID likes to make a persistent home for itself in the gut lining. As the gut makes more brain and mood controlling neurotransmitters than the brain itself, This can trigger the persistent brain fog and anxiety frequently seen in long haulers."

Dr. Teitelbaum says, "It is not uncommon to see people come down with persistent diarrhea and sometimes nausea as part of their Long Covid."

Dr. Kellman adds, "Many people who've had no gastrointestinal symptoms before they got COVID have developed gastrointestinal symptoms. There's no doubt about it. Certainly, if one has an autoimmune gastrointestinal disease like Colitis or Crohn's disease, they're more susceptible to exacerbation. People who have had no gastrointestinal disease, symptom or problem at all developed GI and COVID related problems. They could persist for quite a while."

Dr. Teitelbaum explains, "Although the research has been done actually showing persistent parts of the Covid virus in the gut lining, these tests are not available outside of research settings. But they look very different on colonoscopy and biopsy. The main tipoff? That the gut symptoms started with a viral infection didn't go away."

Dr. Kellman states, "Well, first of all if someone had Crohn's before they would know. But if it's a new onset with Crohn's, you could get mucus and/or blood in the stool, same thing with Colitis. This is not as common with COVID, but there's a lot of crossovers because COVID can induce autoimmunity as well. So, it can be a trigger for Colitis and Crohn's disease. COVID could really cause many problems. It's a really difficult disease, as it has many weapons to it."

Dr. Teitelbaum shares, "In those that I treat, I begin with ivermectin 20 27 mg a day (depending on the person's weight) for five days along with Pepcid 20 to 40 mg twice a day. Interestingly, Pepcid has been shown to have marked immune and anti-COVID activities in a good number of studies. A recent Yale study also showed reactivation of the Epstein-Barr (Mono) Virus in people with Long Covid, and we have known for decades that Pepcid stimulates your immune system in ways that are helpful for this as well. In addition, Our recently published studies showed that a unique form of ginseng very high in rare ginsenosides resulted in 67% average increase in energy in post viral chronic fatigue syndrome."

According to Dr. Kellman, "There are absolutely things that can be done and it relates to restoring the microbiome. COVID can adversely affect the health of the microbiome. It reduces its diversity and it can absolutely reduce percentages of certain healthy bacteria in the gut and overgrowth of some other bacteria. So, number one, reestablishing some balance of the microbiome and helping it to endogenously become healthier so that it could flourish. A very important component of treatments is the use of both probiotics and prebiotics. Prebiotics are the nutrients that are used to help a healthy gut microbiome to proliferate and become more diversified. Probiotics that have immune modulating and anti-inflammatory effects,.are important to incorporate to assist with relief. When the microbiome is adversely affected by COVID, it can lead to an immunological flare up, even autoimmunity. So, you want to use the types of probiotics that tend to modulate and reduce the overactive immune expression."

Dr. Kellman lists the following GI symptoms that can happen with Long COVID:

"Persistent abdominal discomfort and cramps is certainly one possible sign that COVID has affected your gut.

Constipation and/or diarrhea is another sign, some people actually have alternating constipation and diarrhea post COVID.

Bloating is another symptom that I've seen.

When there's gastrointestinal symptoms, invariably, there are other systemic symptoms as well, such as brain fog and difficulty concentrating anxiety. It's rare that you'll see someone with long haul COVID and that they only have gastrointestinal symptoms. It's quite common that it's associated with problems in the brain as well, including anxiety, depression, brain fog, poor memory and difficulty concentrating, which is very common."

Dr. Teitelbaum shares, "The main symptoms of long Covid are fatigue, brain fog, achiness, and insomnia. Although you may have symptoms localized just to the gut, the onset after Covid and the association of these other symptoms suggests that possible long Covid needs to be addressed."

Dr. Teitelbaum tells us, "The more often one gets COVID, the more likely they are to have more severe illness. But in an otherwise young healthy and low risk population, the risk is still low. What is most important is to maintain optimal health and immune function. This can be as simple as taking a good daily multivitamin with zinc 15 mg, vitamin D 1000 units and other key nutrients. I recommend either the Energy Revitalization System vitamin powder or a combination of Clinical Essentials plus Virapro. Remember, 40% of people who get the virus have no symptoms whatsoever. And only about 20% of people in a household where somebody has the virus catches it. So simple measures such as a good multivitamin, getting your eight hours of sleep a day, and staying hydrated can make all the difference in the world."6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Dr. Kellman explains, "It's most important for people to realize that long haul COVID is a big problem. Some studies show as high as 30% of people who've had COVID develop some form of long haul COVID and sometimes symptoms can start months later. So, it's very tricky to diagnose and sometimes people don't see the connection.

It's very elusive but it could have significant adverse consequences, not only in the fact that many people feel so terrible, but it could have detrimental effects on the brain and other organs. Causing persistent inflammation, which can then lead to a number of different problems, including coronary artery disease, neurological problems and neurological inflammation, which can then lead to neurodegenerative disorders and poor cognitive function. It's important to understand that number one, it needs to be diagnosed and identified and people need to be more aware of this possibility that their symptoms may be due to long haul COVID and not just say aging or "I'm just not feeling so good these days." Make the connection that if you've had COVID and you're having these symptoms, this definitely could be long haul COVID. In fact, some people have long haul COVID who had very mild symptoms with COVID. And then a few weeks or a month later they have long haul COVID symptoms such as brain fog, difficulty concentrating, anxiety, poor memory, and common fatigue among others." And to protect your life and the lives of others, don't visit any of these 35 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID.

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Signs You May Have COVID in Your Gut After Infection Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

NAPLES, Fla., Aug. 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lifestyle Healing Institute, a center for complementary and alternative medicine, treats illnesses with data-driven approaches delivered by a medical team with decades of experience. With new investments in its outdoor garden campus, LHI recently enhanced its holistic, integrative approach to healthcare.

LHI's improved campus includes gardens, nature paths for walking and bicycling, a swimming pool and badminton court, and outdoor spaces for meetings, lounging, meditation and prayer.

LHI founder Wyatt Palumbo said the treatment center has added the new features to enhance and improve patients' recovery process.

"It's like going to your primary care doctor or any specialist's office and having the ability to work with your doctors in both a clinical setting as well as in a real-world application," Palumbo said. "Patients have the ability to work in a clinical setting, and also in more of an everyday life setting, where they are able to ask questions and learn hands-on what works for them. They can directly apply lifestyle tools, new ways of life, and rediscover old ones."

The campus also allows caretakers such as spouses and other family members - the "silent warriors," Palumbo said - the opportunity to participate in both individual and group treatments to support their loved ones' healing and recovery process.

By blending scientifically validated diagnostics and therapies with the necessary lifestyle changes to support both the body and mind, LHI specializes in the treatment of chronic illness, including immune and infectious disease disorders like chronic Lyme disease, as well as chronic conditions involving pain, fatigue, brain fog, among others. Now patients with these everyday illnesses have the opportunity to work in both a traditional setting of a clinic and the real-world outdoor setting of what Palumbo calls the "pharm property."

"I haven't seen this kind of integrated treatment center short of payingtens of thousands of dollars or unless you have access to a large-scale hospital and university system," Palumbo said. "It's now available to the everyday patient locally and nationwide becoming the only Lyme disease treatment center of its kind."

All of LHI's therapies and facilities are integrated within one personalized treatment program with a multidisciplinary team of doctors and healthcare practitioners with more than 150 years of clinical and medical experience.

Each program includes utilization of the "pharm property," the outdoor space that spans about two acres andfunctions as a "real-world rehabilitation" for adults working towards healing, both one-on-one and in groups.

"We began by providing chronic Lyme treatment, addressing all the symptoms that accompany the disease," Palumbo said. "Treating those patients quickly showed us that this kind of facility better supports the whole person no matter the symptoms they had."

LHI has successfully treated more than 1,000 patients since its founding in 2014 with its holistic and integrative approach to traditional care, blending biochemical, emotional, psychological, and lifestyle therapies in both indoor and outdoor environments.

"We are hoping to redefine what primary care should look like," Palumbo said. "It's critical that we address each person's unique healing needs while keeping them engaged in the process, and investing in our natural campus ensures we can continue to do that."

To learn more, visit https://lifestylehealinginstitute.com.

About Lifestyle Healing InstituteLifestyle Healing Institute is a complementary and alternative treatment center specializing in chronic illness and overprescribed medications. Using a data-driven, holistic approach to healthcare, LHI's patented Baseline Therapy is delivered in one treatment program by a team of integrated doctors and healthcare professionals. To learn more, visitwww.lifestylehealinginstitute.com.

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With Expanded Outdoor Features, Lifestyle Healing Institute Integrates Traditional and Holistic Medicine - GlobeNewswire

Your immune system works hard to fight off forein invaders like infections and germs to keep you healthy and it never gets a break. It works around the clock everyday to protect you, so helping your immune system stay strong is vital to your overall well-being. So how can you help strengthen your immunity? Eat This, Not That! Health spoke with Dr. Michael Hirt, a Board Certified Nutrition from Harvard University and Board Certified in Internal Medicine and is with The Center for Integrative Medicine in Tarzana California who shares what to know about your immune system, signs it's too weak and how to help boost it. As always, please speak with your physician for medical advice. Read onand to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had COVID.

Dr. Hirt tells us, "You know exercise can make your heart stronger. You know puzzles can make your brain smarter. However, even after two years of pandemic health lessons, people are still puzzled as to how to reliably make their immune system stronger. Like your cardiovascular and nervous systems, the immune system is subject to the same lifestyle choices that affect the rest of your body. Eat too much sugar, drink too much liquor, shorten your sleep hours, and you should not be surprised that you are going to wake up with your heart pounding, brain fogged in, and the start of a sore throat. You are the sum of your choices, and a robust immune system is no exception to your cumulative health investments (or lack thereof)."

"The innate programming of your immune system is only to attack microbial threats and coordinate repairs ranging from skin scrapes to broken bones," says Dr. Hirt. "Under the influence of environmental toxins, intestinal imbalances (from diet and bacteria), and genetic tendencies, some parts of your immune system can go 'rogue' and attack the body it was sworn to only defend. This is called an auto-immune condition because the immune system is attacking parts of self like joints, skin, or internal organs. This is never supposed to happen, serves no evolutionary benefit, and requires major lifestyle changes, detoxification, and medical interventions to stop the attack and remove the triggers of self-attack. Without a coordinated healing effort, the immune system will likely continue to attack itself and require strong, immune-suppressive measures."

Dr. Hirt shares, "If you're thinking of trying to boost your immune system, consider how you would boost the effectiveness of your nation's defense forces. To have a stronger, more effective military, you would feed them healthy food, ensure they are well rested, avoid unnecessary stress, house them on clean bases, provide cutting edge equipment, and have plenty of munitions so they never run out of bullets and missiles. Same with your immune system. Eat the healthiest food you can, in the cleanest environment you can, under the least stress you can, having had the most restful sleep you can, and taking the best vitamins you can including zinc, vitamin C, and vitamin D. Just like our military, your immune system never gets to take a collective break from defending you from all threats, both foreign and domestic."

Dr. Hirt states, "Most adults get a cold or flu 2 3 times yearly. If you're calling in sick on a monthly basis, you could have a more significant immune deficiency that needs testing and treatments."

"When you cut your self, superficial wounds typically take seven days to heal," Dr. Hirt tells us. "If you are watching your skin take weeks to heal, then your immune system may be compromised."6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

According to Dr. Hirt, "When you get an upper respiratory infection, most people with healthy immune systems can fully recover in ten days. If your symptoms go on for most of the month, then there may be issues with the strength of your immune responsiveness."

"There are many reasons to be tired," Dr. Hirt says. "Many people are surprised to learn that one of them is a weak immune system, or low white blood cell count. If you are experiencing unusual fatigue, make sure your healthcare provider includes a screening test for your immune system."

Heather Newgen

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Sure Signs Your Immune System Isn't as Strong as it Should Be Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

Note: This article is a paid placement and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Billy Penn at WHYY.

With the United States long at the forefront of medical breakthroughs, why do so many Americans still get sick with preventable illnesses?

Around 60% of adults in the U.S. have a chronic disease, according to the CDC, and over 40% have more than one.

The fast-growing field of integrative medicine looks to address that problem. Its practitioners are trained to consider the whole patient the person instead of just the symptoms or the disease. Its the driving philosophy behind the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health Jefferson Health in Philadelphia, where doctors just published a book with insights and tips on how you can use this thinking to further your own health.

Called Tapestry of Health: Weaving Wellness into Your Life through the New Science of Integrative Medicine (Kales Press), the book is by Marcus Institute founding director and CEO Daniel Monti, MD, and Medical Director Anthony Bazzan, MD.

It presents a step-by-step plan of evidence-based restorative approaches and emerging cutting-edge strategies. Its been well-received by readers, rocking a 4.4-star rating on Amazon, and by other experts in the field,

This book is so incredibly timely and important, writes Sara Gottfried, a doctor with four NYT best-sellers who provided the new books forward, because it helps you understand this new paradigm of health a massive shift that affects healthcare providers and patients alike,

As its currently structured, the authors say, the medical field suffers from an overemphasis on acute care, which is a reactionary approach. Under this model, when a person gets sick, medical care is sought and a standard treatment be it drugs or surgery is prescribed. Theres no doubt this approach has saved many lives. But it is not enough.

Heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes are leading causes of death and disability in the U.S., accounting for the majority of the nations $4.1 trillion a year in health care costs.

In many cases, these illnesses are significantly exacerbated by key lifestyle risk factors. Some, such as tobacco use, are straightforward and easy to understand. Others, including the vital role of diet and specific nutrients, physical inactivity, and stress effects on immunity, are more complex.

In the case of immune resilience, the pandemic is a perfect example of how acute care medicine dominated the conversation.

Everyone understandably became very focused on the COVID-19 pathogen. However, what got lost was the state of the host i.e. people! For example, we know nutritional status affects the immune response to the virus, and that stress in general affects the immune system in very measurable ways. So while we very much needed an effective vaccine, we also needed tools to maximize immune wellness to maximize the host response to infection. That largely did not happen.

Some in medicine have begun to recognize the gap, which is why a new paradigm is emerging that integrates the best of modern medicine with proactive, holistic and preventive care.

Thomas Jefferson University is at the forefront of this movement. The Philly institution recently created the first-ever Department of Integrative Medicine & Nutritional Sciences at Sidney Kimmel Medical College. The new department includes the clinical programs of Jefferson Healths Marcus Institute of Integrative Health. These programs have introduced an approach to care that is a multifaceted partnership, connecting all aspects of well-being, including the physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, social, and nutritional.

To learn more about the book and other resources, visit the Tapestry of Health website.

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Jefferson doctors publish new book, 'Tapestry of Health,' with tips on wellness - On top of Philly news - Billy Penn