Coming around to cannabis
Dr. Matthew Mintz wasn’t an early proponent of medical uses for cannabis (the scientific name for the plant more commonly known as marijuana). In fact, he said, “I was a little skeptical.” Mintz, a board-certified internist and Washingtonian “Top Doctor,” attended George Washington University medical school and then practiced medicine while serving on GW’s faculty for the... READ MORE
Volunteer for studies of lung health, COPD
Short of breath? Nagging cough? If you’re a former smoker or are suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or another lung illness, Johns Hopkins’ Breathe Center may be able to help. At the same time, you can help others if you enroll in one of the center’s many studies on lung health. The Baltimore Breathe Center, originally known as the Johns Hopkins Center for... READ MORE
Box, dance, sing and repeat
Like many of today’s retirees, Marty Lefstein, a former computer programmer who lives in Parkville with his wife, Gita, leads a busy life. He practices yoga, takes dance and boxing classes, and belongs to a singing group. What’s surprising to many is that Lefstein, 67, has had Parkinson’s disease for the past 24 years. But far from slowing him down, that fact encourages the... READ MORE
Vaccines are more important as we age
Q: I’m over 50. What vaccines do I need? A: The risk of acquiring certain diseases, such as shingles, pneumonia and flu, increases with age. Flu is also a big reason for hospitalizations in patients over 50 years old. Therefore, vaccines for flu and shingles are recommended for everyone aged 50 and older, while vaccines for pneumonia are recommended for those 65 and... READ MORE
Questions, answers on leg pain issues
Q: My legs used to swell occasionally. But now it’s happening every day. Should I be worried? A:It sounds like you have “edema,” swelling in your legs due to fluid in the soft tissues beneath your skin. This usually occurs because the pressure of the fluid inside your veins is high, which forces water out of the blood vessels and into the surrounding tissues. The most common... READ MORE
Enjoy the sweet benefits of watermelon
Experience a classic summer pleasure: take a big bite from a slice of watermelon, let the sweet juices drip down your chin and then spit the seeds as far as you can. Redolent with tangy sweetness, watermelon is refreshing without being filling and is surprisingly good for you. This fruit — 92 percent water, hence the name — is a good source of vitamin C and, when it’s red, the... READ MORE
Dementia risk raised by cancer treatment
Alzheimer’s disease may be a risk for older prostate cancer patients given hormone-blocking treatment, a large, U.S. government-funded analysis found. Previous evidence has been mixed on whether the treatment might be linked with mental decline. But experts say the new results stand out because they’re from a respected national cancer database and the men were tracked for a long time ... READ MORE
Several ways to reduce your food waste
A study examining whether people could reduce how much food they wasted found that providing a flood of information — Use veggie scraps to make stock! Preserve produce before it goes bad! — wasn’t helpful. What did help: targeted, personalized recommendations based on people’s biggest sticking points. Use these scenarios to help identify and reduce your food-waste... READ MORE
Study offers free annual memory checks
Do you forget common words or names? Or are you simply interested in doing your part to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia? Either way, you can contribute to scientific research and also get periodic cognitive checks by enrolling in a new long-term study. Georgetown University’s Memory Disorders Program is conducting a longitudinal study to track changes in cognitive ... READ MORE
Is true recovery from addiction possible?
I am now 11 years into recovery from my battle with opiate addiction, and I have always been fascinated with two related questions: Is there truly such a thing as an “addictive personality,” and do people substitute one addiction for another? The addictive personality myth The writer and television personality Anthony Bourdain, who killed himself last year, was criticized by some... READ MORE
