VOL 20/ Issue: #2 / Spring 2024 View as Webpage

Now wide awake from a once peaceful slumber, you roll over to check the clock and find it’s 3 a.m. That’s the same time you woke up last night. And the night before.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because nocturnal awakenings happen to a lot of people. Waking up several times throughout the night is a natural occurrence often due to sleep architecture, which are the stages of sleep that one cycles through every night.

These awakenings usually only last for anywhere from a few seconds up to a few minutes — if they happen too frequently in one night or there are disruptions to falling back asleep, that could be a problem.

Here’s what experts say could help.

Read more here. . . .

When it comes to lowering blood pressure, studies have typically shown that aerobic or cardio exercises are best.

Recent research suggests another type of physical activity is worth including as an effective tool to prevent and treat hypertension, or high blood pressure.

Exercises that engage muscles without movement — such as wall squats and planks — may be best for lowering blood pressure, according to a large study published July 2023 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

This type of training is known as isometric, or static, exercise, according to the Mayo Clinic. Isometric muscle action happens when muscles contract but do not visibly change length, and the joints involved don’t move, facilitating stability of the body.

Read more here. . . .

Introduction

It is quite likely that in the not-too-distant future, it may be possible to use bodily fluids in patients to noninvasively detect diseases and conditions much earlier than now.

Each day, humans produce approximately 0.5 to 1.5 liters of saliva, a biofluid that is rich in biological constituents. Salivaomics is defined as the integrative study of saliva and its constituents and functions, using omics technologies.

Omics technologies is a new term that has emerged to describe the field of large-scale-data-rich biology such as clinical trial studies. The methodologies enable researchers to identify genes – genomics, proteins – proteomics, and metabolite-based biomarkers via omics study in a specific biological sample - saliva.

Tissues have characteristic proteins for specific diseases that can be studied, and their proteins/proteomics can be identified as specific to one condition.

Saliva and Disease Detection

Biomarkers are biological molecules found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues which demonstrate a sign of a normal or abnormal process, condition, or disease. A biomarker may be used to see how well the body responds to a treatment for a disease or condition. 

Biomarkers can be detected in saliva tests to diagnose HIV, various forms of cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease. Results have shown that there is much more information in saliva than was previously thought.

Read complete article here. . . .

'I drove out to Pennsylvania’s rural Amish country to see a man about a wagon. I was looking to nail down the answer to a question I’ve had since 2015 when I traveled to England on a work trip.

Back when I was motoring through London, very carefully, in a Mini Cooper, I wondered: Why was I driving on the “wrong” side of the road? I’m from the United States, which started as a bunch of former British colonies. We speak the same language, more or less. But we drive on opposite sides, sometimes with hazardous effects.

And the United Kingdom isn’t the only country, of course, to do it the other way. It turns out that about 30% of the world’s countries mandate left-side driving and another 70% or so stay to the right. How it got that way is a winding tale.

In Europe, Napoleon Bonaparte played a central role. In the United States, Henry Ford often gets the credit, but that’s actually wrong. It goes much further back than Ford. Not only does traffic on the right pre-date cars, it pre-dates the establishment of the United States.

That’s how I ended up in a former tobacco drying barn in Conestoga, Pennsylvania, looking at a wagon – only a few days after I test drove a Tesla Cybertruck, its modern electric descendant. John Stehman, whose family has farmed land in the area since 1743, met me.

He’s president of the Conestoga Area Historical Society, and, as I had learned from research on the history of roads and driving, the Conestoga wagon was key to this whole story.'

Read more here. . . .

Whether you choose to discover the Old Town or stay in a high rise like those of Miami Beach you will enjoy Cartagena.

My tourist agent booked me a hotel in the atmospheric Old Town where balconies hang over the streets. Carts are set up each day by the women known as Las Palenqueras selling fruits of all kinds to locals and tourists.

A few women dress in colorful native costume to be photographed with tourists for a small donation and their attention to men is humorously enjoyed. My hotel staff were all very attentive and after seeing me using a cane in the breakfast room they phoned me when the elevator was under repair and insisted on bringing breakfast to my room. And as you see it was a very healthful meal.

Guide books recommend taking a taxi to La Popa hill overlooking all of the city. From there you see the part of Cartagena that resembles Miami.

Once back in the Old Town I wandered thru the interesting streets until finding a bookstore that had a wine bar built into it. I enjoyed a glass and sat by a couple from the Netherlands whose English was perfect as I expected.

And for my last evening in Cartagena the guidebook recommended visiting the walled fortress bistro overlooking the Old Town complete with cannons placed in strategic spots. Buildings were lit up at night including the Cathedral whose bell tower you see in the daytime photo I took.

Access to the wall was by steps or an inclined plane enjoyed by the younger set as they descended. I took the stairs.

'As a urologist, I’ve learned to read the subtle signs in urine that can speak volumes about our well-being.

It’s not just about frequency or urgency; it’s also about understanding the color, clarity and odor of urine to unlock health insights.

• The many colors of urine

• What color is healthy urine?

• How much water should you drink?

• What your urine color is telling you

• What does your urine clarity mean?

• What does your urine odor say?

• A urinary ‘report card’

Read more here. . . .

Hello!

As many of you may have recently noticed, there now is another security feature applied to our patient portal, MyHealthRecord.com. It requires you to verify your email address through a PIN number assigned to your account.

This is a one time only process and then your account will have an additional level of safety to ensure security and be compliant with industry standards. If you have not completed this yet, we encourage you to do so with your next login.

Here are some tips to help make the process go smoothly. CLICK HERE!

**Other helpful tips, if you are having trouble accessing My Health Record, please attempt the following before signing in:

• Clear all cache and cookies for myhealthrecord.com.
• Manually check under browser settings to ensure you are on the latest version of your browser.
• Do not sign into Myhealthrecord.com using Incognito Mode or Private Browsing.

As always, if you need additional support, please contact our office.

Thank you!

Dr. Lakin & Staff

In a decision nearly five years in the making, the US Food and Drug Administration has decided that yogurts can now make a limited claim that the food may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. The decision marks the first-ever qualified health claim the federal agency has issued for yogurt.

Qualified health claims “are supported by scientific evidence, but do not meet the more rigorous ‘significant scientific agreement’ standard required for an authorized health claim,” according to the FDA. “To ensure that these claims are not misleading, they must be accompanied by a disclaimer or other qualifying language to accurately communicate to consumers the level of scientific evidence supporting the claim.”

In the case of yogurt, the claim states that according to limited scientific evidence, “eating yogurt regularly, at least 2 cups (3 servings) per week,” may reduce risk of the disease that affects about 38 million people in the US and roughly 462 million individuals worldwide.

Underpinning the serving size recommendation is the FDA’s conclusion that, based on two prospective cohorts evaluated in high-quality studies, the specific amount is the minimum necessary to achieve the claimed effect.

Read more here. . . .



Ingredients

• 5 ounces spaghetti or your favorite pasta
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 Tbsp. Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Vegan Dressing and Spread

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, adding broccoli florets 3 minutes before pasta will be done. Drain pasta, reserving 1/3 cup pasta cooking water.
2. Heat olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat; add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and toss. Add drained pasta and broccoli and cooking water to skillet and toss.
3. Remove from heat and add Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Vegan Dressing and Spread; toss until coated. Season, if desired, with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Happy Spring!

Paradise Valley Medical Clinic

Douglas M. Lakin, MD

Kaitlin A. Kraemer, PA-C

9977 N 90th Street, Suite 180 Scottsdale, AZ 85258

480.614.5800 (Ph) 480.614.6322 (Fax)

www.doctordoug.com