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Leg up in Third World - Columbus doctor spreads simpler fix for fractures
COLUMBUS - Dr. Michelle Foltz faces a conundrum.
NURSE’S NOTES - Robotic mitral surgery less invasive
Technological advancements continue to astonish us in the ability to provide improvements in health care for our friends and family. The da Vinci robotic system is one of those advancements that has come to Montana, and has numerous applications.
Sleep interrupted - Apnea a common disorder that disturbs sufferers’ dozing
WASHINGTON - Sleeping used to be one of my favorite activities - until I got lousy at it.
Nurse’s notes - Increase quality of end-of-life care
End-of-life care can be defined as the health care provided to persons who are very ill, are not expected to improve and will most likely die in the near future.
Dairy case confusion - Today, there’s more to milk than fat content
Patty Sullivan is stumped by the dairy case. One kind of milk promises to make her children smarter. Another claims to come from healthier cows. Unable to sort all that out, she reaches for conventional Costco milk.
NURSE’S NOTES - With cancer diagnosis, cope in healthy ways
“You have cancer.”
Health care’s forgotten - On remote reservations, service doesn’t meet needs
CROW RESERVATION - Ta’shon Rain Little Light, a happy little girl who loved to dance and dress up in traditional American Indian clothes, had stopped eating and walking. She complained constantly to her mother that her stomach hurt.
NURSE’S NOTES - Rare but serious blood disorder
Neutropenia is a blood disorder that occurs when someone has an abnormally low number of white blood cells called neutrophils. The body protects itself against the constant risk of infection by making a lot of neutrophils. They attack and destroy invading bacteria, viruses and fungi. People with neutropenia are at high risk for infections from other people, the environment and their own normal bacteria.
Rehab in Hamilton - Center opens at Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital
HAMILTON - Abby Jessop and her mom had a thing or two to tell the crowd gathered Friday afternoon for grand opening of the Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital Rehabilitation Center.
NURSE’S NOTES - Cause of pelvic pain remains unknown
Pelvic pain, or vulvodynia, can affect any part of the vulva and surrounding area, extending in some cases to the inner thighs. A woman suffering from vulvodynia may experience daily, intermittent or cyclic pain that can negatively affect her in many ways. It is neither sexually transmitted nor indicative of cancer.
HEALTHY START - Watch for children’s milestones
Children grow and develop at different rates. While each child has a different family and environmental experience, most children pass through a specific set of developmental milestones as they grow.
School sense - Teachers turn to rooms to calm or stimulate children
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - In this room, unlike anywhere else in his life, Eric Kercado, who is profoundly deaf and has limited vision, is in control.
Docs, med students embrace smartphones
To his frustration, Steven Schwartz often encounters patients who have no idea what each of the pills they’ve been popping is called.
SKIN DEEP? Exotic - and expensive - creams have little data to back claims
Gold - not just for jewelry! Green tea - not just for a caffeine buzz! Caviar - not just for impressing dinner guests!
NURSE’S NOTES - Incontinence can be treated
For a variety of reasons, it is common for women to experience urinary incontinence at some point in their lives. In fact, as many as 15 million Americans experience incontinence - twice as many women as men.
NURSE’S NOTES - Shaking baby is never OK
A recent Missoulian article provided details about deliberate homicide charges brought against a Missoula man whose 3-month-old son died last year from brain injuries that court records said were related to shaken baby syndrome.
'Walk it off’ - Growing number taking steps to health
PELHAM, N.H. - Brian Bishop was eating and stressing himself to death until a heart attack at age 28 got his attention. Now, after losing more than 100 pounds, he is a poster child - literally - for a national program to walk to a healthier lifestyle.
NURSE’S NOTES - Women have surgery options
Many women have to have gynecologic surgery in their lives, due to conditions such as uterine fibroids, endometriosis, uterine prolapse, excessive bleeding, or cervical or uterine cancer. In fact, hysterectomy procedures are the second most common surgical intervention for women in the United States.
Drink to think - Beverage manufacturers touting L-theanine for mental endurance
Loaded with caffeine and taurine to stimulate the central nervous system, energy drinks have become the go-to solution when you need a quick, energizing pick-me-up.
NURSE’S NOTES - Nurses play crucial role in quality care
There are 2.9 million registered nurses in the United States, including 7,160 in Montana. That’s four times as many RNs as physicians in the U.S. Almost every time a patient visits a hospital or clinic, he or she works with a nurse. It seems logical then, to assume that nursing has an effect on patient outcomes. What are some of these effects and how can we measure them?
HEALTHY START COUNCIL - Benefits of eating meals at home go beyond nutrition
Let’s be honest - it’s tough for parents to find the time to plan, prepare and share family meals while remaining relaxed enough to enjoy them.
Working through flu - Outbreak highlights push for law on paid sick leave
NEW YORK - You wake up one morning and you’re feeling achy and feverish. The directions from health officials battling swine flu are clear: Stay home from work. Don’t risk infecting others. And certainly don’t send a sick kid to school.
Camp aims to keep young athletes injury-free![]()
It almost seems like you could get hurt trying to prevent injuries.
Science of swine flu - Unpredictability marks the most recent strain of disease to spread
Some time in the last few years, as the world’s attention was focused on the bird flu that killed hundreds of people in Asia, another bird flu strain infected pigs.
NURSE’S NOTES - Focus of stroke protocols is quick treatment
It used to be that if you had a stroke, your treatment options were pretty slim. Now, however, emergency care providers say, “Time lost is brain lost.”
Beating diabetes - Association to look at whether control equals 'cure’
JoAnne Zoller Wagner’s diagnosis as prediabetic wasn’t enough to compel her to change her habits and lose 30 pounds. Not even with the knowledge her sister had died because of diabetes.
Nurse’s notes - Climate change, health danger
“Human health is a subsystem of the Earth’s health. You cannot have well humans on a sick planet.”
Nurse’s notes - More to public health than disease control
What do immunizations, maternal-child health, nutrition and communicable disease control have in common? All can be found under one roof at the Missoula City-County Health Departments’ Health Services Division.
Foods we should eat ...foods we shouldn’t - Study gathers best science for a heart-healthy diet
CHICAGO - What we know for sure about diet and what protects the heart is a relatively short list.
NURSE’S NOTES - Have a plan to survive any disaster
Natural disasters occur throughout the world on a daily basis n as we’ve seen recently from the tragic earthquake in Italy.
Obesity a risk factor in swine flu? FDA clears Eli Lilly's blood thinner Effient House Dems want to tax the rich for health care Study: 1 in 3 breast cancer patients overtreated FDA: Dough's E. coli strain differs from illness Monkeys live longer on low-cal diet; would humans? Tests reveal some pet supplements skimp on meds Swine flu shots at school: Bracing for fall return Ebola found in Philippine pigs for first time WHO approves cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix
AP Top Health News At 5:29 p.m. EDT
ATLANTA (AP) -- Some swine flu cases in Michigan are raising questions about obesity's role in why some people with infections become seriously ill....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a highly anticipated blood thinner from Eli Lilly, though the drug must carry the agency's sternest warning because of its bleeding risks....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Key House Democrats decided Friday to raise taxes on the wealthy to help pay for health care legislation, capping an up-and-down week for President Barack Obama's top domestic priority....
LONDON (AP) -- One in three breast cancer patients identified in public screening programs may be treated unnecessarily, a new study says. Karsten Jorgensen and Peter Gotzsche of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen analyzed breast cancer trends at least seven years before and after government-run screening programs for breast cancer started in parts of Australia, Britain, Canada, Norway and Sweden....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday the strain of E. coli found in a sample of raw cookie dough collected at a Nestle USA manufacturing plant does not match the strain that has been linked to a 30-state outbreak, and they aren't sure how the dough was contaminated....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Eat less, live longer? It seems to work for monkeys: A 20-year study found cutting calories by almost a third slowed their aging and fended off death. This is not about a quick diet to shed a few pounds. Scientists have long known they could increase the lifespan of mice and more primitive creatures - worms, flies - with deep, long-term cuts from normal consumption....
Arthritis supplements bought by millions of pet owners for their dogs, cats and horses sometimes skimp on the ingredients the makers claim can help aching paws and aging joints, and some contain high amounts of lead, an independent laboratory found....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. swine flu vaccinations could begin in October with children among the first in line - at their local schools - the Obama administration said Thursday as the president and his Cabinet urged states to figure out now how they'll tackle the virus' all-but-certain resurgence....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A form of ebola virus has been detected in pigs for the first time, raising concerns it could mutate and threaten humans, scientists report....
LONDON (AP) -- The World Health Organization has approved a second cervical cancer vaccine, this one made by GlaxoSmithKline, meaning U.N. agencies and partners can now officially buy millions of doses of the vaccine for poor countries worldwide....



