Showing posts with label its. Show all posts
Showing posts with label its. Show all posts

Whither Obamacare Now That Its the Law of the Land

Tuesday, February 11, 2014


While a roll-back of Obamacare now is about as likely as spotting gargoyle statuettes among the DMCB spouses holiday decor, a recent New England Journal article points out that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) - even if it is the law of the land - still has a very bumpy road ahead.

Thats because of four key issues:

1. The States can still knot things up by forcing Washington DC to run the Health Insurance Exchanges (HIEs).  Its very possible that Uncle Sam wont pull them off on time and, whats more, theres a credible Supreme Court challenge looming over Obamacares potential lapse in extending tax credits to the federally-run HIEs.

2. States can use the Medicaid expansion. While their statewide hospital associations are very  unhappy about that, Governors are either ideologically opposed or just plain wary of additional downstream costs. This could result in additional millions of uninsured, especially in the conservative "red" states.

3. Health care cost inflation is likely continue its upward spiral.  Congress, no matter how CMS payment innovations turn out and no matter how much it wants to curtail costs, is unlikely to withstand the lobbying from all corners of medical-industrial complex involving thousands of pages of rules and regulations.

4. Deep public ambivalence about the law will continue. That means that as Congress and the President look for ways to control the Federal deficit, Obamacare is especially vulnerable. Unlike Social Security or Medicare, the ACAs "patchwork" of insurance orms is headed toward the fiscal cliff without a strong supportive constituency. Before Congress even touches Medicare, its far more likely to cut Obamacare. The first hit could be those insurance tax subsidies mentioned above.
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A Chocolate Study Worth Its Cocoa

Sunday, February 9, 2014

A small study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association this month found that eating just 6.3 grams of dark chocolate a day can reduce blood pressure (BP).1 Previous studies found a BP-lowering benefit with eating dark chocolate, but the amounts tested were often in the 100 gram range. This is the first study to document benefit with such a small amount.

Participants of the study were 44 adults with either upper-range prehypertension or stage 1 hypertension (see chart) . After 18 weeks, those who were consuming 6.3 grams (about 1 square inch) of dark chocolate daily reduced their systolic BP by an average of 2.9 mm Hg, their diastolic by 1.9 mm Hg. (This is about the reduction seen in participants of the HOPE Study who were on an ACE inhibitor.)



The chart is extracted from the NIHs brochure: The Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure.


If youd like to give this a try, you may want to eat the small amount of chocolate every day. In this study, there was no BP-lowering effect for the first 6 weeks. A gradually increasing effect became apparent after that, with the strongest effect at the end of the study (18 weeks).

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1 Effects of Low Habitual Cocoa Intake on Blood Pressure and Bioactive Nitric Oxide
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Acne and its treatment

Thursday, September 5, 2013


Acne is a menace. However, it's not something that cannot be tackled. There are loads of acne canker trouble products around. We power classify acne skin care lines into 3 broad categories �
* Preventive or mediocre acne skin care products
* Over-the-counter, specialised acne skin care products
* On-prescription acne scratch obstruction products.

The general acne sore clog lines are the ones that are used as acne-prevention change. These enjoy cleansers, make-up removers and similar products that help deter acne. In the indubitable sense, these acne abrasion care merchandise are just those that should anyway put on for instance of your typical routine. However, some of these are more oriented to act like an acne skin care product. These acne sore care products pull off against the causes of acne e.g. limiting the production of sebum/oil also preventing clogging of skin pores. Basically, these acne skin care products prevent the oil from getting trapped in pores and hence hamper the hike of bacteria that plunge into to acne. The general acne skin trial produce also possess exfoliation merchandise like graze peels. These work towards removing dead gall cells, hence reducing the possibility of pore-clogging again bacteria development.

Then there are specialised acne scrape care products that are available over-the-counter i.e. without the need of a prescription. These include products pleasure in vanishing creams which extract the deeper oil from the gall. Most of these acne scratch care products are based on benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, both of which are the enemies of bacteria (and hence acne). You should start with a product that has junior concentration of benzoyl peroxide (e.g. 5%) and see about how your skin responds to it. Alpha-hydroxy-acid based moisturizers are also popular as acne skin care products. You talent count on to try a few, before you zero-in on the acne gall care act that is vigorous for you. If nothing seems to work, you should contact a dermatologist.

On-prescription acne skin care products are the ones that are prescribed by a dermatologist. This can possess ointments that can be applied on the mock area or oral antibiotics or just any late arrangement. Dermatologist could also suggest a inferior surgical procedure to remove the contents of pustules. However, never lick to hug or do this by yourself, it can lead to permanent damage of your sore. Your encourage could again prescribe a hormone-based comp (since hormonal changes are also known to prepare acne). close acne gall care products are familiar to be violently strenuous in some cases.
So, adumbrate all those acne skin care products, tackling acne is not that difficult.

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