Flu Test Kit Spotlight – OSOM Influenza Testing
Flu Test Kit Spotlight – OSOM Influenza Testing
OSOM Influenza Testing gives quick and accurate results for influenza testing this 2010-2011 flu season.
As patients and medical professionals begin the long process of dealing with the 2010-2011 flu season, it’s important to have an accurate flu testing kit in order to quickly identify in patients whether or not they have the flu. This influenza season, get the best flu testing kit possible: OSOM Influenza A&B Test.
While there are many different influenza test kits to choose from, what makes OSOM arguably the best is the assurance that every result is not simply quick, but completely accurate.
While most flu testing kits come with a maximum of 25 test strips, OSOM comes with 27. Two extra test strips can be used for QC testing.
What is QC testing?
QC testing stands for “Quality Control,” and gives doctors and patients the complete satisfaction of knowing their OSOM flu testing kit is 100% accurate. Using two vials, one which contains an inactive substance and one which contains a partial rendering of the influenza virus, each can be used on the test strips to make sure that the results come out 100% accurate.
By using QC testing, every real test afterwards can be done with complete confidence that OSOM Influenza Testing is the best bet for determining whether or not you or a patient has the influenza virus.
With just a simple nasal swab and three distinct, easy to read lines, results of OSOM Influenza Test are available in only ten minutes or less. With only one minute of actual testing time and ten minutes or less to determine results of the test, OSOM ranks as one of the fastest, most reliable ways to check for the influenza virus.
OSOM Influenza Test detects both …
Cure For a Dry Cough
Cure For a Dry Cough
What’s the cure for a dry cough? First we should define a dry cough. A “dry cough” does not produce sputum, or phlegm coughed up from the chest. Beyond that, a dry cough may be caused by a number of conditions.
Probably the most common cause of a so-called dry cough is a tickle in the throat. Strangely enough, this is often due to drainage of mucus (or phlegm) down the back of the throat in association with a cold or sinus infection. Though there may not be enough drainage to cough it out, drying up the drainage with an antihistamine may be the answer. This is not actually a “cure” but rather a treatment. Over-the-counter antihistamines include loratadine, cetirizine, and diphenhydramine.
If you have had symptoms for over a week, or if you’re getting worse, or if you keep blowing out thick, yellow mucus (snot) from your nose, you may benefit from an antibiotic.
A dry cough can also be a symptom of influenza, other viruses, allergies, asthma, bronchitis, COPD, pleurisy, pneumonia, or acid reflux disease (GERD). If you seem to have a respiratory flu or other viral infection, a cough suppressant containing dextromethorphan may help. If your chest is tight or wheezy from asthma, bronchitis, or COPD a prescription inhaler may help. (You may also benefit from an antibiotic, cough suppressant, or antihistamine.) If you have pneumonia or pleurisy, you should be asking your doctor about your cough.
If you seem to be allergic to trees, grass, weeds, animals, mold, dust, etc., a dry cough may respond to an antihistamine, a nasal inhaler such as cromolyn sodium (OTC) or prescription steroid spray, or montelukast (prescription). If you have acid reflux, an OTC acid reducer such as famotidine, ranitidine, omeprazole, or lansoprazole may help. …
How Water Helps Fight Hypertension
How Water Helps Fight Hypertension
I have known for a long time that if I don’t drink enough water my body will be dehydrated which might result in elevated blood pressure. But I never took the time to find out what exactly was happening inside my body to cause that reaction!
Well, I became more interested in that process after my last checkup when my doctor indicated she was concerned about my blood pressure reading… it was not up just a few points like some other times when that result was ascribed to ‘white coat effect’ something that happens when a person is a little flustered by the whole doctor set-up… the systolic number was 178!
So I started doing some investigating into what possibly causes this kind of change in the human body and here are some facts you might be interested to know about if you need to drop your blood pressure! When we don’t drink enough water our body goes into a state of dehydration… it switches to emergency water-conservation mode. It attempts to reduce loss of water through the skin and lungs… it uses emergency procedures to make sure blood can still deliver oxygen and nutrients to all the tissues in our body.
To achieve those goals our whole vascular system contracts… veins and arteries narrow down and blood pressure goes up to make sure that fresh blood gets delivered everywhere… to tissues that are in constant need of new supplies and waste removal.
High pressure is needed to squirt water through cell walls to keep vital cells filled with the water they need.
During all this the heart is working extra hard to keep pushing blood through the whole system. With less water in the system the blood is thicker… more sluggish and of course …
What to Know About Pain Management Clinics
If you’re considering an inpatient pain management clinic, you might be wondering how to choose the right one. Here are some things you should know about pain management clinics. This information is relevant to anyone suffering from chronic pain. Several pain management options include in-home treatments and prescription and over-the-counter medications. In addition to the clinic’s services, you can also seek treatment online. To make the decision easier, you should look up each option in advance.
Inpatient pain management clinics
Inpatient pain management clinics are available to help patients suffering from chronic pain. Often, a person must attend a minimum of 3 weeks of inpatient care to change their pain behaviors and recover from underlying conditions fully. Several multidisciplinary pain management clinics offer both inpatient and outpatient treatment programs. Outpatient pain rehabilitation services often include group meetings and individual treatment plans. However, inpatient care is generally not necessary if the patient can manage their pain independently.
Inpatient pain management clinics typically provide a working diagnosis after an assessment, with a corresponding treatment plan. Then, the doctor will work with you to develop a plan to manage your pain and improve your daily activities. Patients will attend the clinic for an agreed-upon period and be guided through the program by a team of health care professionals like the pain clinic St. Augustine, FL. They will also be given exercises to practice at home and be monitored by the clinic staff throughout their stay.
Patients should be transitioned from intravenous opioid pain medications as soon as possible, and opioid pain medications must be titrated during the entire stay as patients’ pain tolerances change. Nurses should also maintain close communication with the patients’ primary care physicians. Once they have received the proper care, patients can return to their everyday lives. The pain …
Nasal Swabs to Diagnose Flu Are Unscientific and Meaningless
Nasal Swabs to Diagnose Flu Are Unscientific and Meaningless
During outbreaks of influenza, including the past H1N1 epidemic, it is the Standard of Care for doctors to perform a nasal swab to diagnose the flu. A swab, similar to an everyday cotton swab, is inserted into the nasal cavity for a sample and sent to a laboratory. If the swab comes back positive, then the illness is determined to be influenza and an antiviral medication is often prescribed. The problem with this procedure is that it is absolutely meaningless and has no scientific basis whatsoever in determining if the illness in question really is due to the flu. This is due to several different factors.
Questionable Accuracy
Nasal flu swabs require a degree of skill from the sample collector and quite a bit of cooperation from the ill person to allow a swab to be inserted high into the nasal cavity. This is an uncomfortable procedure at best and even those given thorough instructions will reflexively pull away and reduce the chance of obtaining a proper sample, making the accuracy of the test very suspect. Even the CDC admits that nasal swabs are not highly worthwhile for diagnosing H1N1 infections. Most doctors know this and will often prescribe antiviral medications even when the swab is negative because a patient’s symptoms match the flu to a degree that there is still a high level of suspicion. However, if a doctor is going to give a medication regardless of the outcome of the swab, there is just no justification for collecting and spending money on an uncomfortable test with poor accuracy.
Exposure vs Illness
Even if a swab is positive, it can only determine exposure to the flu; it can in no way determine if the current illness is caused by the …
Hypertension Check – Up is Very Crucial
Hypertension Check – Up is Very Crucial
Every time you pay a visit to your medical doctor, in spite of what the visit is for, ensure you have your blood pressure checked. The hazard with hypertension is that it is a sudden killer and those who always fall victim are not mindful that they are at high risk of stroke, heart disease or other related medical incidences.
If you are suspicious that your blood might be on high side, you are advise to visit your Doctor immediately. Your health really worth guarding jealously. It is currently recommended that checks up be carried out on all patients who are between the age of 30 to 80 regardless of the fact that they have no susceptible symptoms as early diagnosis can really save lives.
Asystolic and diastolic pressure of over 140mm and 90mm respectively will seriously increase the risk of organ damage, heart disease and stroke by four to five fold compared to an individual of the same age sex whose blood pressure fall within the normal limit. It is very crucial to check your blood pressure frequently to keep avoidable health problems at bay.
Immediately a person is declared to be susceptible to high blood pressure, there are many helpful piece of advise to guarantee they remain in the best health. Changing in lifestyle and eating habit can be beneficial to people who detect very early that they are positive for hypertension. People who tested positive are susceptible to obesity, lack of exercise, consumption of oily food, high cholesterol and intake of alcohol in their diet. Engaging in physical exercise and a control diet, reducing the intake of salt can really help in reduce the blood pressure level without adding medications.
In summary, high blood pressure is hazardous because it requires …
Flu Virus Research
Flu Virus Research
The critical part in the research is to understand how influenza virus spread and mutate and is the key to preventing pandemics by discovering preventive, diagnostic and treatment methods.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), influenza viruses that occur in animals can infect humans, and later develop to pandemic strains. Several research areas have been outlined by the WHO relating to the animal/human influenza interface that could have a profound impact on protecting human being.
The Working Group of WHO on Influenza Research at the Animal/Human Interface was setup in 2005 to encourage basic studies into animal influenza viruses, with the aim to find out the cause the viruses can infect people.
ON-GOING STUDIES
Studies are on-going on avian influenza viruses, particularly H5N1. Researchers aim to discover the prevalence of avian influenza viruses in domestic animals and birds, understand the molecular basis of transmission of viruses from animals to people, assess the role of migratory birds in the transmission of the viruses, and evaluate the human immune response to infection with avian influenza viruses.
Studies are also being done on H1N1, a novel strain which is the causative factor of the current influenza A pandemic and researchers succeeded developed a vaccine which approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
PUTTING VACCINES TO THE TEST
The scientists from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) play an important role and work in collaboration with medical research institutions worldwide to find better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat seasonal and pandemic influenzas, including influenza A (H1N1).
The trial is being conducted through the NIAID-funded national network of Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEUs). Safety data will be collected and assessed continuously throughout the trial by an independent safety monitoring committee and investigators.
STUDYING THE …
Safely Lower Your Blood Pressure With These Simple Tips
Safely Lower Your Blood Pressure With These Simple Tips
When you are diagnosed with hypertension or high blood pressure, it can be a little difficult to immediately lower it especially if the blood pressure has been consistently high for a long time.
When a person’s blood pressure you will be given with two numbers, namely the systole and diastole. The normal reading would be 120 over 80. If the systole, reaches above 140 and remains there for a long time, it is considered as high. On the other hand, if the diastolic pressure is above 90, then it is already high.
Those who are experiencing a high BP would be advised to do some ways that will lower their BP. True enough, there are a lot of possible ways on how to decrease the BP; however, not all can be safe. Here are some of the ways to safely lower your BP:
Make an effort to lose weight. One of the major reasons why a person is hypertensive is because he is overweight. If you are overweight and you are hypertensive, the best way is to lose weight. You’ll see that after losing at least 10 pounds, your BP
will also be lower. With an effective weight loss, you will be able to maintain a normal blood pressure.
Have a regular routine exercise. Although you may think that this is a part of weight loss regimen, a regular exercise can also help in relieving hypertension. In addition, with a regular exercise, serious medical conditions such as heart diseases can also be prevented. Exercise facilitates the blood circulation which allows all parts of the body to receive adequate blood supply.
Avoid smoking and alcohol. If you are the type of person that smokes and drinks alcohol too often, then you need …
Hypertension: 6 Effective Home Remedies For Hypertension
Hypertension: 6 Effective Home Remedies For Hypertension
Hypertension is, for many of us, the result of our lifestyle choices. Although there is no magic pill or cure for our condition, that does not mean we cannot take effective action to lower our high blood pressure by managing our condition. Here are six safe home remedies that are very effective if used in combination.
6 Effective home remedies
# 1. Healthy diet
Adopting a healthy balanced diet is the foundation of managing our hypertension. A major contributor to our condition is our poor dietary choices and habits. We may have had these bad habits for decades, but we need to break them. A simple way of doing that is to change our diet from poor food choices to healthy eating over a period of 30 days during which period we can use up the food we have in stock and replace it with fresh fruit and vegetables of all colours, lean white meat, oily and white fish.
# 2. Lose weight
The link between high blood pressure and obesity is well established. Shedding the extra pounds will have a direct positive effect not only on our BP readings, but also on our general health. The aim is to achieve our ideal body weight over a period of time by a combination of healthy eating and exercise.
# 3. Become more active
Exercise has multiple benefits for our health. Through the release of endorphins we feel happier. Physical activity also has an almost immediate beneficial effect on our hypertension. Within half an hour of completing some moderate exercise, our BP readings are lowered and they stay down for almost 24 hours.
The benefits of exercise are cumulative – every bit helps. No special equipment is needed. Walking, cycling, jogging, swimming, house work, …
Vaccines For Influenza Prevention in Schools in Central Texas
Vaccines For Influenza Prevention in Schools in Central Texas
Scott and White Healthcare provides a voluntary research study to help parents and children learn more about flu and flu prevention. You should be on the lookout for Seasonal Flu Vaccination Packets being sent home with your child or via the mail if your child goes to school in this area.
You should read the information contained in these packets carefully and then be sure to sign the Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Permission Form and return it to school if you want your child to get the vaccine. Also be sure you completely fill out all information on the form or it can affect your child’s ability to get the flu vaccine.
The goal of this VIPS research study is to prevent the seasonal flu which can become an epidemic in Central Texas schools. The program attempts to achieve this by improving flu vaccination in both students and staff.
What is VIPS?
VIPS stands for Vaccines for Influenza Prevention in Schools and this is a research study which is jointly developed by Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Scot and White Clinic in Temple, Texas as well in collaboration with school districts of:
· Academy
· Belton
· Bryan
· College Station
· Holland
· Rogers
· Salado
· Temple
· Troy
· Waco
· As well as the Bell County Health Department
The combined efforts of all of these organizations and school districts have a goal to improve season flu by giving vaccination to students and staff. Studies have shown that this can help reduce the number of flu infections in students, their families and the community in general.
The study hopes to find the impact of vaccinating students and teachers and to reduce the amount of children who …