Unless you’re living completely off the grid (and if you were, you wouldn’t be reading this), you’ve heard about the recent fires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and taken far too many lives. For more than 70 years, Smokey Bear has been telling us about how to prevent forest fires. Clearly we need to be...Continue reading
Category: Editorials
Interning with Men’s Health Network
My first day interning with Men’s Health Network was May 31st, a.k.a. the day before the start of Men’s Health Month (MHM). It was rather easy, my most difficult task being remembering everyone’s name in the office. However, this was the calm before the storm. Things were about to get hectic. MHN, the sponsor for...Continue reading
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms: Silent Killers
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms or AAA, (pronounced “triple A”), are a silent killer. They evolve slowly over many years, offering no symptoms and no pain. They begins as a small dilation in the lower portion of the aorta, the body’s largest blood vessel, usually in the area just below the kidneys. Over years, they will continue...Continue reading
Using a Video to Empower Patients Facing Major Surgery
How can patients about to undergo major surgery effectively communicate their wishes for care after their operations? Feedback from patients and family members led researchers to revise their plan for testing a tool to promote advance care planning. When you think of a state fair, you’re likely to envision a large Ferris wheel, game stations,...Continue reading
Make a Difference–Be Part of the Healthy Aging Research Study
If you are between the ages of 45 and 80, please consider volunteering for our Healthy Aging Research Study. This is a collaborative project organized by faculty at Benedictine University & Fairleigh Dickinson University. The goal of our research study is to investigate how an individual’s dietary and lifestyle choices affect wellness, including hormonal/sexual functioning...Continue reading
When it Comes to Minorities, Improving Men’s Health Improves the Health of the Whole Community
With the launch of President Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative in 2014, many of the issues facing young African American men suddenly hit the front pages. However, there has been an unfortunate tendency to look at African American men’s health issues as narrowly affecting only that particular group. The reality is quite different. Health problems...Continue reading
The Beat Goes On and On and On
An electrical engineer at Stanford University has devised a way to wirelessly transfer energy deep inside the body where it can be used “to run tiny electronic medical gadgets such as pacemakers, nerve stimulators or new sensors and devices yet to be developed,” according to a University press release. The goal is to create “electroceuticals,”...Continue reading
The Tracker Solution
If you’ve ever had an EKG or EEG, you know how uncomfortable all those wires, pads, and tape can be—especially if you’ve had to stay connected overnight. Well, all that discomfort may be a thing of the past, thanks to researchers at Northwestern University who have created a thin, comfortable patch that wirelessly sends all...Continue reading
Yep, There’s a Test for That, Part 3: Dementia
In Part 2, we talked about a new test developed at Washington University in St. Louis that uses biomarkers in urine to screen for kidney cancer. On the other side of the world, researchers at the University of Copenhagen have identified a different biomarker—this one in a simple blood—that may predict a person’s risk of...Continue reading
Yep, There’s a Test for That, Part 2: Kidney Cancer
Kidney cancer is one of the 10 most common cancers for both men and women (although for women, it’s number 10, for men, number 7). More than 60,000 Americans (2/3 are men) are diagnosed with kidney cancer every year, and 14,000 (again, 2/3 are men) will die. The good news is that, caught early, about...