Chiropractic OnLine Today's
In The News feature: Part Two. September 28 - November 16, 1996

Each week, Chiropractic OnLine Today has searched the top news items dealing with the health industry. Stay on top of the weeks top items, right here!

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For obtaining News stories mentioned, surf to
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"News Headlines from previous issues of Chiropractic OnLine Today":

Kudos to Drs. Reed Phillips and John Triano, for their commentary entitled Historical Perspective: Jaoseph Janse, in the journal Spine ( 1995; 20: 2349-2353).

Chiropractic OnLine Today recently came across this news item from the FDA for a change in selling nicotine products.

HCFA ISSUES MEMORANDUM DEALING WITH XRAY REFERRAL DENIALS

A memorandum from the Department of Health & Human Services / Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), the organization which oversees Medicare, appears to have remedied the problem Chiropractors across the nation have been experiencing within the last year. Chiropractors from Missouri to New Jersey, who referred a Medicare patient to a Radiology facility for X-rays were discovering that Medicare was refusing to reimburse the physician performing the X-rays, due to the fact that the Chiropractor had referred the patient. This began a troubling pattern of Chiropractors not having their referrals accepted by the Radiology or other facility.

IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE

Nintendo of America has released a new game called Killer Instinct. In the game, reference is made to the Chiropractic Adjustment in a defaming manner. The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association has responded to violent video games.

Plus!

Chiropractic OnLine Today has received a response from a Nintendo representative (thanks to the Chiro-List for tipping us on their Email address). Click here for MORE!

SPECIAL REPORT

In April, 1995, Washington State approved a policy, limiting Independent Examinations of chiropractic patients, to be performed only by qualified chiropractors. Chiropractic OnLine Today is pleased to present the Official Policy Statement issued by the Washington State Department of Health.

Weekly News Items

  • A new study confuses the issue of how much exercise is enough, as it was found that women who run 40 miles a week get greater health benefits than those who run less than 10 miles. This study was discussed at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association. (COT's advice: Get the advice of a qualified health professional, knowledgeable in Exercise/Rehabilitation, before starting out with a brand new exercise program.) AP 11/16/95

  • Another story from the American Heart Association annual meeting, discusses the potential benefits for blood pressure reduction, simply by losing weight and reducing salt intake. (COT's advice: Get the advice of a qualified health professional, and have your blood pressure checked regularly, especially if you have boderline or hyper-tensive blood pressure.) AP 11/16/95

  • A protein in the brains of patients afflicted with Huntington's disease may have been discovered, which could lead the way for drugs to be developed to help combat the degenerative effects of the disease. This disease produces slow degeneration of brain cells that cause jerky movements, impaired speech, dementia and eventually death. AP 11/14/95

  • A report by the AP states that most patients are not getting the newest and best treatments for heart disease. Two problems were cited: Doctors not doing enough to encourage adoption of the new treatments, and the insurance companies are not paying for them. Further, it is felt that patients are not doing enough to continue risk-reduction strategies. AP 11/14/95

  • A researcher reported this past weekend, at the annual meeting of Prevent Blindness America, that blindess among America's older population, will double d;uring the next 35 years if better methods aren't discovered to stop eye disease. The report states that the top four (4) disease include: macular degeneration; cataracts; glaucoma and diabetic eye disease. AP 11/12/95

  • A report in todays AP discusses a new therapy to the US, referred to as Snoezelin, which is a combination of aromatherapy and low-stress atmosphere, first used in Holland, and being used in the US to treat sufferers of Alzheimer's disease. AP 11/12/95

  • Falling under the catagory of totally useless information: 6,000 pounds of pasta and 75,000 cups of coffee are consumed during the NYC marathon period. COT11/11/95

  • Ketoprofen, a generic drug which has been sold in higher doses as a prescriptrion drug since 1986, is about to be sold over the counter by American Home Products Copr., under the name of Orudis KT. The drug is in the same family of drugs as ibuprofen, the generic name for the following brand names: Advil, Motrin and Nuprin, to name a few. AP 11/10/95

  • The National Institutes of Health are urging precaution when prescribing certain heart drugs, known as calcium channel blockers. While not all of this class of drugs have been implicated, one of the brands of these drugs was shown to increase the heart attack and death rates of patients. Ask your doctor about any contraindications to any drug or procedure.AP 11/10/95

  • A report in today's AP briefs state that better treatments for hallucinations, which schizophrenics develop, may be in the offing as scientists have located circuits in the brain which produce these events. AP 11/8/95

  • A report in todays AP briefs stresses the need for a women to monitor how much (or actually how little) she eats in attempts to lose weight, as too little calorie intake appears to set up hormonal changes that results in physical changes similar to those of anorexia. The researcher studied the effects of eating combined with exercising, stressing the importance of avoiding development of problems such as osteoporosis and loss of the normal menstrual cycle. AP 11/5/95

    As always, Chiropractic OnLine Today encourages anyone considering weight reduction to use sound, scientific information, and to always consult with a knowledgeable health care provider. Further, monitoring the amount of exercise performed is also important.

  • A new report suggests that Americans who reach the age of 80 can expect to live about a year longer than elderly people in four other industrialized countries. The countries studied included the U.S., France, Japan and Sweden, and looked at people born between 1880 and 1894. AP 10/31/95

  • The number of Americans with diabetes has risen almost 50 percent since 1983 and the disease rate has tripled since 1958 - in part becasue of age and increased fat. According to the article, approximately 16 million Americans now have diabetes. AP 11/2/95

  • A report from the AP suggests that primary care doctors studied from the Pacific Northwest, where AIDS cases are still relatively rare, missed importan signs of HIV infections three-quarters of the time. Some of the signs missed included: Kaposi's sarcoma and swelling of the lymph nodes, to name only a few. AP 10/31/95

  • A new study, published in the November 1, 1995 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that people who ate the equivalent of three ounces of salmon a week were only half as likely to be stricken with cardiac arrrest as those who ate now fish. AP 10/31/95

  • A new study focuses on the role on the lung muscles of asthmatics. The findings of this study, reported in the November 1995 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggests that asthmatics may have trouble breathing because their lung muscles cannot relax normally. These findings may help in detecting those who are prone to developing asthma.AP 10/30/95

  • A new X-ray source is about to be unveiled by a group of scientists assembled in Chicago, IL, said to be trillions of times more powerful than the flashes of radiation Roentgen first observed in 1895.AP 10/29/95

  • A new study confirms the benefits of Weight Training. The article mentions that the women who were studied during weeks of regular workouts made the their muscles larger and increased their resting metabolic rates.AP 10/29/95

  • The Medical profession begins to look toward the future, as one of their Medical Schools, the Eastern Virginia Medical School, has been planning the nation's first dual residency in Family Medicine and Internal Medicine.AP 10/29/95

  • An AP report suggests that women over 50 should think about having a regular bone-density scan. They explain it is an x-ray exam that gives information about the strength of bones, and thus of an individual woman's risk of osteoporosis.AP 10/29/95

  • A new fat substitute, olestra, has sparked a debate between its manufacturer and the Center for Science in the Public Interest. While the manufacturer of olestra defends the product as a safe way for Americans to lower the amount of fat that they eat, the CSPI states that the product is too dangerous to eat. The FDA is about to look at the product, scheduled to used as a fat substitute in snack chips. According to this article, this new product is derived from sugar and vegetable oil. It's fat molecules are too large and tightly packed for the body to break down, thus the olestra passes out of the body undigested.AP 10/25/95

  • Researchers reported Thursday, October 25, that the AIDS virus can infect key blood cells even after it's trapped and chemically handcuffed by the body. It was also reported that researchers must find ways to attack the trapped HIV.AP 10/26/95

  • Antacids fail to protect anit-arthritis drug users from serious internal bleeding and may even increase that risk because they mask symptoms, accorting to two new studies. AP 10/23/95

  • Late Thursday, October 19, 1995, the House of Representative passed the Republican backed Medicare Reform bill. The vote awas 231 - 201. The bill is controversial in the benefits which its' backers have been citing. The effect the passage of this bill will have on Chiropractic is unknown at this point. President Clinton has threatened to veto the bill if he is presented with it. COT10/19/95

  • The British Medical Journal, on August 5, 1995, published a follow up to the Meade study of 1992 ( See Journal Corner above). In this study, chiropractic patients reported less pain than hospital patients at six weeks, and three years later, chiropractic patients reported a greater improvement with chiropractic compared to hospital treatment. FCER release 10/2/95

  • Meditation, hypnosis and biofeedback -- once scoffed at as New Age shamanism by traditional medicine -- can be effective treatments for people who suffer from insomnia or persistent pain, according to a 12 - member panel of the National Institutes of Health. AP 10/19/95

  • A researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research's Laboratory for Basic Pharmacology and Toxicology in Toulouse, France, report in the October 12, 1995 issue of the journal Nature that they have found a substance in rat brains, which also appears to be made in human brains, that makes mice extra-sensitive to pain. The article further states if a method can be devised that prevents any binding to this substance, initially labelled nociceptin, a new analgesic for pain may be discovered.AP 10/15/95

  • Many elderly Americans are at risk of illness and injury because of malnutrition caused partly by a defect in the way their body regulates food intake. This was reported on Saturday October 14, 1995, by a researcher at the annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity. AP 10/14/95

  • The Institute of Food Research has stated that dieting is bad for a person's memory and powers of concentrations. The article further states that the casue is purely psychological. AP 10/13/95

  • The Food and Drug Administration stated on Wednesday October 10, 1995, that Americans who take dietary supplements that contain the stimulant ephedrine may put themselves at risk for heart attacks, seizures and other severe problems. The article goes on to state where this stimulant is found naturally and cites proponents claims' as to the effects from taking ephedrine. AP 10/11/95

  • Study finds that diets rich in saturated fat and cholesterol have been found to increase by 80 percent the risk of a condition called macular degeneration, in which eyesight in the center of the visual field declines dramatically because of deterioration in the eye. The article cites other methods of reducing the risk of cataracts. AP 10/11/95

  • Interesting study in New England Journal of Medicine this week. It shows that DCs, orthopedic surgeons and primary care practitioners have similar outcomes on back pain. Greater patient satisfactdion with DCs, but DCs and orthopods are the most expensive options. DCs have many visits at low cost per visit; while orthopods have few visits but high priced. Howard Wolinsky 10/4/95 author, The Serpent on the Staff.

    • Surf Here

  • A story by David Bauder of the Associated Press discusses how NY State's largest health insurer, Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, may face fines for its "wholesale rejection of chiropractic claims" and along with other problems. Surf Here. AP 9/28/95

    • Please note: Chiropractic OnLine Today provides recounts of these studies for informational purposes only. Readers are urged to review further information or contact your Doctor of Chiropractic for other preventive health measures.

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