NEW IDEAS AND TRENDS (old)

According the the National Survey on Medical Identity Theft, about 1.4 million Americans were victims of medical identity theft in 2009.  Almost half of these victims did not learn of the theft until one or more years after their medical records were taken over and 'blended' with the thief's.  The time it takes to discover medical identity theft is one reason why this crime is on the rise; it's easier to get away with.

Voluntary euthanasia is legal in Japan and surveys have shown that the majority of Japanese people support it, especially in terminal cases.  But the focus and originality of assistive treatments and therapy available for aged cats and dogs in Japan suggest that Japanese pet owners do not readily accept euthanasia for their furry family members.

Every month more studies are published that demonstrate that if there is to be successful avoidance of, or limitation to, the ravages of Alzheimer's disease, intervention needs to begin as early as possible.  Several suggest that treatments begin before Alzheimer's symptoms appear. One study, published online just yesterday in the Archives of Neurology, shows the benefits of doing such.

Cigarettes, at least through lore, have been regarded as the one luxury of prison life.  Depicted in film, those long drags looked so satisfying when taken by a man behind iron bars.  Prisoners would beg their visitors, not for mama's homemade meatloaf, but for cigarettes.  Cigarettes were money in prison; they could be traded for favors or possessions of other prisoners....

Scientists from the Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have discovered that the drug SAHA shows promise as a potential therapy for familial frontotemporal dementia (FTD).  As yet, there is no treatment for the neurological disease, the second most common non-elderly dementia.