5 Lifesaving Medical Breakthroughs

From a wireless pacemaker the size of a vitamin pill to a DNA test that can identify life-threatening bacteria in minutes instead of days, these new advances are already transforming patients' lives.

1. A tiny wireless pacemaker that gives heart patients the freedom to dance again

"I used to be so exhausted by dinnertime, I could barely move off the couch," Mary Lou Trejo, 77, remembers. Now the Columbus, Ohio, woman mows the lawn and weeds her garden; she even recently painted her garage door. And it's all thanks to a wireless pacemaker that's the size of a large vitamin pill.

Unlike conventional pacemakers, which are implanted through the chest and have electrical wires that run through a vein to the heart, this tiny version requires minimally invasive surgery, explains cardiologist John Hummel of Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, where he is leading a clinical trial of the device.

Being wireless, it can be threaded through an artery in the groin and then attached directly to the heart muscle. Unlike the traditional dual-chamber model, it is designed to stimulate just one chamber of the heart, so for now it's being used only in people with bradycardia, a slow, irregular heartbeat that can cause fatigue, dizziness, fainting andshortness of breath — all the symptoms that used to plague Trejo. Not anymore. "My daughter says I run rings around her now," she says, laughing.

2. A new immune- boosting 'vaccine' that could revolutionize cancer treatment

Ask 67-year-old Harold Steffen how much better he's feeling since he began an experimental pancreatic cancer treatment, and he'll give you this convincing example: He had the energy to go marathon shopping with his daughter as she hunted for a wedding dress last summer. "She looked at 65 dresses, and I hung in there for the whole thing," he says proudly.

Steffen, a retired computer programmer from Woodinville, Washington, had been undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer for three years. "It was having less of an effect," he says of the treatments. They were also leaving him exhausted both emotionally and physically.

That's when his doctor, Vincent J. Picozzi Jr., a pancreatic cancer specialist with Virginia Mason Hospital and Seattle Medical Center, told him about a new clinical trial testing immunotherapy, in which a patient's immune cells are used to attack the cancer. The two-pronged treatment works like a vaccine in getting the body to identify and attack destructive cells. First, two types of pancreatic cancer cells "teach" the patient'simmune system to "recognize pancreatic cancer cells as bad," says Picozzi. Then a second treatment, an injection of the genetically altered bacteria Listeria monocytogenes, stimulates the immune system to fight those cells.

The treatment, given intravenously every three weeks, "is much milder than chemo," Steffen says. Even better: It has kept his cancer in check.

Next page: A hybrid hearing aid that offers hope. »Read More.

5 simple steps for protecting your home during the holidays

(BPT) - When you think of the holidays, celebrations, presents and friends likely come to mind - not crime. Unfortunately, burglaries increase at this time of year, and your home could be a target. With a few simple safety precautions, you can protect your property, your family and your valuables now and well into the new year.

 "Taking steps to protect your home during the holidays isn't radically different from what most people should be doing the rest of the year," says Thomas Leman, a retired 27-year veteran of the police force and criminal justice professor at Argosy University Online. "The problem is that most people get lured into a false sense of security and tend to let their guard down, thinking that crime won't happen to them."

Take precautions today to protect your home and deter criminals. Consider these five simple steps:

 Step 1: Decorate with care
 When it comes to holiday decorations, modesty is definitely the best policy, says Leman. "While you may love the look of a Christmas tree in your front window, expensive decorations on display can be a signal that there are valuables inside your home worth a criminal's time. Gifts under the tree are the most blatant of these displays and are a welcome invitation for thieves." Leaving gifts tucked away until the last possible minute is a quick and easy safety precaution. If you must display presents, make sure they are out of sight from any windows or doorways.

 Step 2: Lock it up
 Whether you are home, running errands or away on vacation, take care to close and lock all doors and windows. Remember to set alarms, too. "Given that most people have extra valuables and gifts in their homes during this time, it's a good idea to practice home safety whether you're there or not," says Leman. Leman adds that a simple dowel placed in a sliding glass door or window can be an inexpensive way to secure vulnerable entrance points. "Alarms or closed circuit video surveillance systems are a great and inexpensive way to protect your home," he adds.

 Step 3: Light the night
 A well-lit and well-groomed home provides an important measure of safety. "The better the lighting in your home and yard, the fewer places there are for criminals to lurk," says Leman. USAA, a leading provider of banking, insurance and investment services to the military community, recommends the 3 foot/6 foot rule: trim branches to 6 feet off the ground and shrubs down to 3 feet to minimize hiding places for burglars.

 Step 4: Dispose smartly
 It's best not to alert strangers to the new 70-inch flat screen in your home by leaving the box on the curb for refuse pickup. "When it comes to big-ticket items and valuables, boxes on the curb can be an advertisement for the new valuables in your home," cautions Leman. "Take the time to break down boxes and recycle them or put them on the curb over time and inconspicuously," he says.

 Step 5: Be a tricky traveler
 Be proactive about home safety if you have holiday travel plans. Never let mail or newspapers pile up at your home, as it is an instant indicator you are not there. Have a neighbor collect mail and newspapers or have your service stopped by calling the post office and newspaper provider. "Set your lights and television on timers," suggests Leman, who also advises homeowners to have a neighbor park their car in your driveway intermittently to keep up the appearance that someone is coming and going.


For more information about Argosy University, visit argosy.edu. For more information about The Art Institutes, visit artinstitutes.edu.



The Art Institutes is a system of over 50 schools throughout North America. Programs, credential levels, technology, and scheduling options vary by school and are subject to change. Several institutions included in The Art Institutes system are campuses of South University or Argosy University. Administrative office: 210 Sixth Avenue, 33rd Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 ©2014 The Art Institutes International LLC. Our email address is csprogramadmin@edmc.edu.

Argosy University (www.argosy.edu), with 28 campus locations in 13 states and online, is a private, accredited academic institution dedicated to providing undergraduate and graduate degree programs to students. Programs, credential levels, technology, and scheduling options are subject to change. ©2014 Argosy University. Our email address is csprogramadmin@edmc.edu.

Whiplash--Movie Review

by Peter J. O'Connell

Whiplash. Released: Oct. 7, 2014. Running time: 107 mins. Rated: R for strong language, including some sexual references.

One of the most popular of movie genres through the years has been that in which a tough sergeant or coach, through tongue-lashings and various other forms of abuse, whips a group of rookies into winning warriors or champions. Whiplash is such a movie, but it is not set at Parris Island or a football field or basketball court. It is set at a music conservatory, and the “drill sergeant/coach” is the instructor of a jazz band.

As played by J.K. Simmons, the teacher, Fletcher, is a black-clad, homophobic, obscenity-spewing, chair-throwing, face-slapping tyrant who makes the characters played by the likes of John Wayne (The Sands of Iwo Jima), Louis Gossett, Jr. (An Officer and a Gentleman), R.Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket), Clint Eastwood (Heartbreak Ridge) and Gene Hackman (Hoosiers) seem like Mr. Chips.

Simmons, familiar from supporting roles in a number of films and TV series (notably the three long-running Law and Order series) and commercials, is like a force of nature here—tall, lean but surprisingly muscular, totally bald, and with a face as furrowed as an Iowa corn field in spring. He exudes command presence and makes us understand how Fletcher's “whippings” work to mold musicians. Yet Simmons is also able to hint subtly at some of Fletcher's psychological complexities and back story.

Simmons is matched in his skill at character portrayal by a young actor, Miles Teller, who plays Andrew, a shy but ambitious drummer in the jazz group, which by the way, often has to play a composition entitled “Whiplash.” Andrew goes from being completely browbeaten by Fletcher to being his admirer and, ultimately, his challenger. Teller's drumming scenes, when he becomes so caught up that he seems almost like a shaman in a sweat-soaked, bloody-fingered near-religious frenzy of simultaneous agony and ecstasy, are riveting. It's astonishing to learn that Teller did much of his own drumming.

Teller is skillful not just in the drumming scenes or his other interactions with Simmons but also in his scenes with Andrew's family and girlfriend, in which the way that a drive for professional perfection can harm personal relationships is poignantly brought out. Melissa Benvoist as the girlfriend is a lovely presence and gives a delicate performance that adds some quiet notes to the more intense, “jazz-like” feel of the main story, which has some surprising, even shocking, twists and turns.

Whiplash's direction, cinematography and editing (particularly of the complicated musical scenes) are all outstanding. Director Damien Chazelle should take a well-deserved bow for conducting this fine film, which was shot in just the amazingly short time of 19 days. This is a movie that captures an audience's attention like, well—wait for it—the cracking of a whip!

Tooth Loss Linked to Higher Risk for Heart Disease

For adults, losing teeth is bad enough, but tooth loss is also associated with several risk factors for heart disease, a large international study suggests.

These heart disease-related risk factors include diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and smoking.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 16,000 people in 39 countries who provided information about their remaining number of teeth and the frequency of gum bleeds. About 40 percent of the participants had fewer than 15 teeth and 16 percent had no teeth, while 25 percent reported gum bleeds.

For every decrease in the number of teeth, there was an increase in the levels of a harmful enzyme that promotes inflammation and hardening of the arteries. The study authors also noted that along with fewer teeth came increases in other heart disease risk markers, including "bad" LDL cholesterol levels and higher blood sugar, blood pressureand waist size.

People with fewer teeth were also more likely to have diabetes, with the risk increasing 11 percent for every significant decrease in the number of teeth, the investigators found.

Read More.

Medicare: 6 Things to Know about Fall Open Enrollment

Fall Open Enrollment is the time of year when you can change your Medicare coverage. You can do this by joining a new Medicare Advantage plan or by joining a new stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP). You can also return to Original Medicare with or without a stand-alone Part D plan from a Medicare Advantage plan during this time. Listed below are six things to keep in mind while you are deciding on your Medicare coverage.

1. Fall Open Enrollment occurs from October 15 to December 7 of every year. Learn more about Fall Open Enrollment choices here.   

• If you enroll in a plan during Fall Open Enrollment, your coverage starts January 1.

• In most cases, Fall Open Enrollment is the only time you can pick a new Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D plan.

• If you have Medicare Advantage, you can also switch to Original Medicare. To get Medicare drug coverage, you must join a stand-alone Part D plan at this time. A Medigap policy helps pay Original Medicare costs, but you may be limited in your ability to buy a Medigap during the Fall Open Enrollment period, depending on where you live. For more information about purchasing a Medigap please click here.

2. Review your Current Medicare Health and Drug Coverage. 

• If you have Original Medicare, take a look at next year's Medicare & You handbook to know your Medicare costs and benefits for the upcoming year. If you are unsatisfied with your Original Medicare coverage, you can make changes to your coverage during Fall Open Enrollment. Changes made to your coverage will take effect January 1 of the next year.

• If you have a Medicare Advantage plan or a stand-alone Part D plan, you should receive an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) and/or Evidence of Coverage (EOC) from your plan. Review these notices for any changes in the plan's costs, benefits and rules for the upcoming year. If you are disatisfied with any changes, you can make changes to your coverage during Fall Open Enrollment. Changes made to your coverage will take effect January 1 of the next year.

• Even if you are satisfied with your current Medicare coverage, take action and look at other Medicare options in your area that may better suit your individual needs in the upcoming year. For example, even if you are satisfied with your current Medicare Advantage or Part D plan, you should check to see if there is another plan in your area that will offer you better health and/or drug coverage at a more affordable price. Research shows that people with Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D) could lower their costs by shopping among plans each year.  For example, another Part D plan in your area may cover the drugs you take with fewer restrictions and charge you less.

3. Help is out there. 

• If you want to join a stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP) , use the Plan Finder tool onMedicare.gov. The Plan Finder tool compares plans based on the drugs you need, the pharmacy you go to and your drug costs. 
• If you want to join a Medicare Advantage plan, call 800-Medicare to find out what plans are in your area. When you receive the list of plans, check the plan websites to see which best fits your needs. 
• After you have researched a plan online, call the plan itself to confirm what you learned. Make sure the plan includes your doctors and hospitals in its network. Confirm that the plan covers all your drugs, and that your pharmacies are in the preferred network. Write down everything about that conversation. In your notes, record the date of the conversation, whom you spoke with, and the outcome of the call. This information may help protect you in case a plan representative gives you misinformation. 
• Call or visit the website of your State Health Insurance Assistance Program or SHIP. Your state SHIP can help you to understand all of your Medicare coverage options.

4. The best way to enroll in a new plan is to call 800-MEDICARE. 

• Enrolling in a new plan through Medicare is the best way to help protect you if there are problems with enrollment. Write down everything about the conversation when you enroll through Medicare. In your notes, record the date of the conversation, whom you spoke with, and any information you were given during the call.

• Before you enroll with Medicare, confirm all of the details about your new plan with the plan itself.

5. If you are dissatisfied with your Medicare Advantage plan, you can disenroll from that plan and join Original Medicare during the Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period (MADP).  

• The MADP is every year from January 1 to February 14.

6. Understand the difference between the Fall Open Enrollment Period and Open Enrollment for the Health Insurance Marketplaces.

• The Health Insurance Marketplaces (also known as Exchanges) will hold open enrollment for uninsured or underinsured Americans. The Marketplaces are not meant for people with Medicare. People with Medicare should not use this open enrollment period to purchase or change their health care.

• People with Medicare should continue to use the Fall Open Enrollment Period to review and make changes to their health coverage.

For more information visit: http://www.medicareinteractive.org/page2.php?topic=counselor&page=script&script_id=1727

Millions invite identity theft: AARP

They’re just asking for trouble — months or possibly years of it.

Nearly half of Americans have not changed the password of an online account in the past six months or are using the same password on two or more of their accounts.

Those are among the findings of a new AARP survey of American adults called “Identity Theft: Who’s at Risk?”

By not being judicious about online security, millions of Americans 18 and up who conduct transactions online are inviting identity fraud criminals to ruin their lives, says an AARP expert.

“It [identity fraud] is one of the fastest-growing aspects of fraud out there,” says Christopher Widelo, associate state director in government relations and advocacy for the AARP in New York.

One in five Americans 18 and up says he or she has never shared any of their personal financial documents that could be used to steal his or her identity, the survey also found. Read More.

Interstellar--Movie Review

by Peter O'Connell

Interstellar. Released: Nov. 7, 2014. Running time: 169 mins. Rated: PG13 for some intense, perilous action and brief strong language.

Interstellar is an ambitious attempt at fusing a visionary sci-fi epic with an intense family drama. It's directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan, who has helmed some of the biggest blockbusters of recent years, such as Inception (2010) and the Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012). Nolan's interests tend toward convoluted plots and conflicted heroes. Interstellar is no exception. The convolutions here involve astronomical blackholes and wormholes, the space/time continuum, relativity, quantum mechanics, the fifth dimension and other such stuff, presented through dialogue that some may find to be explanatory but others may find to be gobbledygook.

The film is set about 100 years from now (2101 anyone?) in a world where environmental blight has produced conditions akin to those of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Matthew McConaughey is Cooper, a  pilot and engineer who has become a corn (just about the only crop still growing) farmer in order to feed his family. Various circumstances put Cooper to work for a downsized and secretive NASA. His mission is to fly with three other astronauts—one played by Anne Hathaway—into deep space in an attempt to locate a suitable venue for establishing colonies to which earthlings may be transplanted from their dying planet.

The four encounter various vicissitudes in space, but their greatest difficulty may be psychological and emotional--the fact that they have to leave their families behind for the long voyage. The scientific phenomena mentioned above mean that the astronauts will live much longer than a normal lifespan but change little in appearance. Yet their families on earth will live normal lifespans and show the effects of aging. The pain involved in this situation is brought out well by McConaughey, Mackenzie Foy (as his daughter at age 10), the always magnetic Jessica Chastain (as his daughter at around age 30), and Ellen Burstyn as his daughter in old age.

The visual effects on the voyage are engrossing, particularly the almost balletic movement of the spacecraft and their computerized, as it were, coital couplings. In some of its effects, Interstellar makes a bow in the direction of Stanley Kubrick's iconic sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). It also does that in its use of music. Kubrick's score of classical pieces added much to his film. Nolan uses an original score by Hans Zimmer to the same end. However, Nolan's computerized robot thingies (it's hard to describe them in any other way!) are not silent like Kubrick's “sentinel” nor malevolent like his speaking computer HAL. Nolan's thingies speak and are helpful, but they are not humanoid or cute like R2D2 and Threepio in Star Wars. They are, though, unique and quite enjoyable to watch.

How enjoyable is Interstellar to watch? That may depend on whether one feels that the fusion mentioned at the beginning of this review is achieved—or that the film is essentially a clunky combination of space opera and soap opera. 

The Equalizer--Movie Review

by Peter O'Connell

The Equalizer. Running time: 132 mins. Released: Sept. 26. 2014. Rated: R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, including some sexual references

The Equalizer TV series of the 1980s, set in New York City, featured McCall, a suave former intelligence operative (played by British actor Edward Woodward) who helped people who had the odds against them. In this cinematic reworking, McCall (Denzel Washington) at first seems to be simply a quiet widower in Boston, who works at a Home Depot-type store, is a vegetarian, has mild obsessive-compulsive disorder and reads classic novels in all-night diners. His actual past, however, is quite different, as we learn when he decides to avenge the brutalization of a young prostitute (Chloe Grace Moretz) at the hands of the Russian mob, which is allied with corrupt cops in an effort to take over the rackets in part of Boston from Irish-American gangsters.

Like a man on fire, McCall wages war relentlessly on the Russians, whose main boss is played—wonderfully--by Marton Csokas, a Kevin Spacey look-alike. One of Washington's great traits as an actor is a kind of commanding stillness. Csokas, in contrast, continually chews up the scenery. Having the two actors in the same movie is quite entertaining.

McCall doesn't like to use a gun but is very adept at using whatever is at hand, including corkscrews, to even things up, as we see in the amazing scene when McCall first goes into the office of the Russian mob. And in the climactic battle in the Home Depot-type store, McCall finds plenty of things at hand to use! The full “Equalizer” concept, however, doesn't come into play until the very end. We can expect further installments of this franchise as Washington joins Liam Neeson and others in the currently popular ranks of mature action heroes.

The movie is directed by Antoine Fuqua, who helmed Training Day, which brought Washington an Oscar. Film fans also will enjoy the connections between this movie and Washington's earlier turn as an avenger of a young girl in Man on Fire and the similarities of the Chloe Grace Moretz character to the Jodie Foster character in the Martin Scorsese classic Taxi Driver.

                                                   

Gone Girl--Movie Review

by Peter O'Connell

Gone Girl. Running time: 149 mins. Released: Oct. 3, 2014. Rated: R for a scene of bloody violence, some strong sexual content/nudity and language.

Gone Girl is a psychological thriller of almost epic proportions and classic quality, worthy of comparison with masterworks by Hitchcock, Preminger and Wilder. In it Director David Fincher and screenwriter Gillian Flynn—adapting her best-selling novel—brilliantly construct, deconstruct and reconstruct both a marriage and a mystery,

Nick (Ben Affleck) and Amy (Rosamund Pike) are young professionals who romantically meet and happily marry in NYC. Economic setbacks, however, force the couple to move to Nick's Missouri home town. There Nick co-owns a bar with his sister (Carrie Coon) and becomes rather lackadaisical. Amy becomes a stay-at-home wife. But is the marriage still “happy ever after”? Hmm . . . .

One day Amy disappears without a trace but under circumstances suggesting foul play. As the police (Kim Dickens, Patrick Fugit) investigate, a massive search for Amy gets under way. When “clues” of dubious provenance start appearing, suspicion falls on Nick—did he murder his wife?—and a media carnival ensues.

Nick, aided by his sister and a bigtime lawyer (Tyler Perry), begins a desperate effort to unravel the mystery, including the motivations of Amy's former lover/stalker (Neil Patrick Harris), who has become one of the searchers for her.

Many movie mavens feel that David Fincher, whose 22-year career includes such dark and unusual works as Se7en, Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Social Network, now has joined the Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino in a top directorial trinity succeeding the previous film generation's trinity of Kubrick/Coppola/Scorsese.

Certainly, Fincher's casting in Gone Girl is excellent. Ben Affleck is just right as a guy awakened from near lethargy by fear and rage. The beauteous Rosamund Pike is compelling in a complex role. Fincher also elicits strong performances from supporting actors (such as Coon, Dickens, Fugit), who have been around for a while without making much impact before now, and from performers (Harris, Perry) usually associated with comedy.

The Judge--Movie review

by Peter O'Connell

The Judge. 141 mins. Released: Oct. 10, 2014. Rated: R for language, including some sexual references.

Two acting icons of different generations—Robert Downey, Jr., and Robert Duvall—come together in this film to play legal icons of different generations. Downey is Hank Palmer, a hotshot big city defense attorney, and Duvall is his father, a well-respected judge in an Indiana town.

Hank returns—which he has done only rarely-- to that home town for his mother's funeral and becomes 

embroiled once again in longstanding difficulties with his father, whose faculties are starting to fade. Those difficulties, however, pale compared to the ones that emerge when Hank has to defend his father against the charge of having killed a man.

Having a plot with these two dramatic strands—legal and familial—makes for a compelling concept, but things start to drag as director David Dobkin takes his time weaving the strands together. Downey and Duvall are always enjoyable to watch, no matter what they're in, but maybe it's time for Downey to play someone besides a wiseass and for Duvall to play someone besides a grizzled curmudgeon. Yet the two truly throw off sparks in some of their scenes together, particularly one in which the son has to help his woozy father in the bathroom while trying to keep a young girl out. 

Fury--Movie review

by Peter O'Connell

Fury. 134 mins. Released Oct. 17, 2014. Rated: R for strong sequences of war violence, some grisly images, and language throughout.

In the bleak spring of 1945, the diverse five-man crew of a U.S. tank dubbed “Fury” fight their way across Germany. They encounter starving refugees, children drafted into the Wehrmacht for a last stand, women fearing rape, German snipers in American uniforms and fanatical SS battalions. The tank is commanded by a battle-hardened sergeant nicknamed “Wardaddy,” played with what can only be called “commanding” panache by Brad Pitt, who also co-produced the film.

Writer/director David Ayer makes the interaction of the crew members, particularly Wardaddy's efforts to turn a sensitive newbie (Logan Lerman) into a “killing machine,” as compelling as the battle scenes. Those are compelling indeed as the American and German tanks go at each other in open fields like huge, voracious insects. The battles in the open contrast powerfully with the claustrophobic conditions inside the tank. Films in the past have depicted the claustrophobic nature of submarine warfare, but few have addressed tank warfare.

Some of Fury's themes and characterizations have appeared in movies going as far back as the World War II era itself, but the film's intensity makes it all seem fresh. And this realistic movie does not flinch from depicting its American heroes not just as heroic but also as made brutal by war. Like Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998), Fury reminds us of how the “Greatest Generation” got its name. They were no angels, but they passed through hell. Some came home; some didn't.