Health and Living

Having mobility issues can be challenging in many ways, from obtaining a proper wheelchair to navigating your environment. One of the biggest challenges is getting from origin to destination. Whether you have your own vehicle or need to rely on public transportation, you need to do research on what is the most appropriate accommodation.

The newest addition of the DSM-5 manual is scheduled for publication in May 2013. The DSM is used by clinicians to determine whether a client or patient meets or does not meet the criteria for a particular diagnosis.

Lovers of butter, rejoice – eating a high fat diet on a schedule may keep you svelter than eating a low-fat diet at random intervals, according to a researcher at Hebrew University.

Israeli scientific breakthroughs are restoring freedom and ease to the lives of millions of patients throughout the world. The latest: a smartphone to measure your vital signs and help manage chronic diseases, a discovery which may restore speech to the paralyzed and disabled, and a possible cure for severe depression for those with no options left.

As a teenager, I suffered from occasional panic attacks, social anxiety, and more than the usual amount of teenage angst. In today’s drug-obsessed society, I would certainly have been given psych meds; thankfully, back then, it was expected that maturity would bring greater resilience and awareness. And so it was.

Articles in the media are recommending a certain kind of “conversation." In an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2010, Michael Vitez describes in detail how a palliative care team brought a family into a comfortable living room for repeated discussions about their mother who had been hospitalized for confusion and falling. Over and over again, they were offered the choice of discontinuing her “aggressive" medical care, but the family held out. They continued her medical treatment.

Approximately fifteen to twenty million Americans are afflicted annually with the epidemic keratoconjunctivitis, an infection or irritation of the thin, clear membrane, known as the conjunctiva, that lies over the white part of the eye and lines the inside of the eyelid. More commonly known as conjunctivitis or pink eye, because of the uncharacteristic red and possibly swollen appearance the eye takes on during this condition, it is most commonly caused by either or a viral or bacterial infection.

Jews across America, in the privacy of their own computer screens, are scanning the internet for job opportunities which will enable them to make the leap toward life in Israel.

As Rabbi Meyer Waxman discusses elsewhere in this issue, more elderly parents are being forced, by circumstances, to move in with their adult children, as are more young adults who find themselves compelled to move back into their parents’ home. More adults have become part of the sandwich generation, as members of the six million American households today that span three or even four generations.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the influential paper published by a Mount Sinai physician, Dr. Burrill Crohn, and his colleagues that for the first time characterized a disease associated with severe inflammation of the intestine. Patients with what was later named Crohn’s disease develop diarrhea, fever, stomach pain, and often lose weight. Crohn’s is now classified as an autoimmune condition in which the immune system attacks its own healthy tissue in the gastrointestinal tract, causing chronic inflammation. It affects young individuals, and, even though it is not curable, it can be treated and controlled by medications and surgery.

A generation of students at the Mir Yeshiva give thanks for the miraculous recovery of their Rosh Yeshiva from ALS, courtesy Israeli technology.

Earlier this year, the American Cancer Society came out with new guidelines concerning Pap smears, which screen for cervical cancer. Conventional wisdom had long held that women should receive annual Pap smears, but in March, doctors announced the new guidelines suggesting that women receive a Pap smear once every three years.

We hear it all the time: “This is a peanut-free facility, you can’t eat that peanut butter sandwich here!” A person may say, “So what? I am allergic to broccoli, it’s disgusting, keep it far from me.” We all should realize that food and medication allergies are no laughing matter. Reactions can be so severe that they could lead to death.

Israel’s Health Ministry will begin a more concentrated effort to encourage women to breastfeed their babies, instituting new policies in hospitals starting September 1.

Israel’s Health Ministry is mulling a plan to vastly increase government assistance to couples with fertility difficulties to grow larger families, while decreasing the amount of subsidies to women over the age of 43 who have never succeeded in getting pregnant.

Mental health specialists tend to speak about their patients according to a classification referred to as the DSM, which stands for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This classification system was first published in 1952 by the American Psychiatric Association as a method to classify mental disorders and develop a statistical baseline through which disorders can be understood, studied and treated. It is not the only classification system available.

What does an elected official in his fifties have in common with a young Chassidic father, a young mother who works as a freelance copy editor, and a 21-month old infant? All four individuals, from very different backgrounds and walks of life, suffered a stroke which robbed them of some of their previous abilities, and prompted an individualized recovery process which is likely to last for the rest of their lives.

Women who seek the opportunity to do Asanas in an environment which is more Hoshannah than Ganesha – and teach other women to do the same - can now sign up for a special course designed especially for Jewish Yoga aficionadas who want to teach the healing art to others.

A new Health Ministry reports shows that a whopping 25 percent of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)treatments resulted in pregnancies, with 20% of attempts resulting in live births. The number represents the doubling of success in the last decade, partly thanks to Israeli law supporting free IVF for two live babies.

"Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28) says God in his first command to humanity. Thanks to the vision and donations of Rabbi David and Anita Fuld, Shaarei Tzedek is the world leader in helping families who would otherwise never even dream of having healthy children.

Oplon Pure Science, a Rehovot-based developer of anti-bacterial polymer sheets for packaging, has signed an $8 million contract with the Pepsi Corporation to supply...

Chemical components in anti-inflammatory pain relievers, antibiotics, contraceptives and anti-depressants may increase the risk of heart attack or stroke, according to Dr. Ehud Grossman...

Our understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorders has advanced rapidly in recent years. Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a family of neurodevelopmental conditions characterized by unusual patterns in social interaction, communication, and range of interests and activities. While this profile is generally applicable for the entire ASD population, much variation actually exists. No two individuals exhibit the exact same symptoms and as such, ASD is a heterogeneous disorder.

The college of yesteryear is not the college of today. Students with disabilities comprise the most rapidly growing student population on many campuses.

Fundamental and far-reaching changes are coming that will have a profound effect on every individual in New York State who receives services under the current system for caring for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Traveling to Disney World with your kids? If you are a typical Jewish family, there are concerns about the availability of kosher food, events that take place on Shabbos that you may have to schedule around, and the availability of a minyan. Traveling with a special needs child creates an added level of complexity.

The life of a typical adolescent may often combine difficulties and complexities. Adolescents are often faced with issues related to peer pressure, academic stress, and potential family difficulties. Friendships and relationships often serve as outlets for adolescents during times of difficulty and turmoil.

The worldwide diabetes epidemic and its related precursor, obesity, are the fastest growing public health menaces of the 21st century.

Having twins used to be a novelty. Now, if you think that you are seeing double everywhere you go, it is not your imagination. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), under the auspices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published a study last month noting the sharp increase in twin births over the past three decades.

The old debate over who has it ‘harder,’ stay–a- home mothers or working mothers, has never been clearly resolved. Some studies claim that stay-at-home mothers are more satisfied while working mothers are plagued with guilt, while other studies suggest the opposite.