Walkable neighbourhoods tied to lower diabetes risk (Canada)

People living in communities that lend themselves to walking had a significantly lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those living in the least walkable neighbourhoods in a large new study from Canada. "If you have fewer opportunities for physical activity in your daily life, then you may gain more weight...and you're also more likely to develop diabetes," said Dr. Gillian Booth, the lead author and a researcher at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. Booth said earlier studies have looked at potential links between diabetes and the pedestrian-friendliness of neighbourhoods, and have found similar connections - but that research took only a snapshot in time, making it difficult to determine which came first, the neighbourhood style or the elevated diabetes risk. With the world's population increasingly concentrated in cities, Booth and her colleagues wanted to further tease apart the relationship between urban environment and health. New immigrants from less developed countries to urban areas like Toronto are at particular risk for falling into a sedentary lifestyle and falling prey to Western lifestyle diseases, Booth's team notes in the journal Diabetes Care

CARG Newsletter - October 2012

The CARG Newsletter - October 2012 is now available online

Influenza immunization clinics will begin on October 9, 2012 (Saskatoon)

All ages benefit from annual influenza vaccine but it is important those considered at high risk be immunized

People at high risk of complications or hospitalization:

* People 65 years of age or older (or turn 65 prior to March 31, 2013)
* Pregnant women in all trimesters
* Children 6 months up to and including 59 months of age (younger than 5 years old)
* People who are severely obese
* People of any age who are residents of nursing homes and other chronic care facilities
* Anyone with chronic health conditions

Household and close contacts:

* Of any of the categories listed above
* Of infants less than 6 months of age
* Households expecting a newborn before March 31, 2013

Other groups:

* Healthcare providers, students and registered volunteers
* Physicians and medical office staff
* People providing regular child care to children less than 5 years of age, whether in or out of the home
* People employed in the poultry and hog industry

If you have any questions, contact the Saskatoon Health Region at 655-4620

Men's Cooking Classes – Level 1 - Saskatoon Council on Aging

In the 4 sessions participants will have a hand in making meals for one or two people using time tested recipes combined with new technology and techniques. Included in the cost are 4 meals and a copy of the Living Simply cookbook.
Location: Grace Westminster Church. Times: 4:00‐6:30pm Cost: $50.00 1. October 9, 16, 23, 30 or 2. November 6, 13, 20, 27

Volunteer for the 2013 Heart Month Campaign (Saskatchewan)

Heart disease and stroke take 1 in 3 Canadians before their time and it is the #1 killer of women. This February, more than 85,000 volunteers canvassed door-to-door across the country to help change these statistics. Thank you for your support this Heart Month. We value your commitment to the Foundation. Every dollar you raised helped to give Canadians time for more experiences, more memories and more life. Join us by volunteering in your neighborhood for the 2013 Heart Month Campaign next February. If you register for the 2013 Heart Month Campaign before 11:59pm, October 31st, you'll be automatically entered into a contest to win a 3-in-1 Reversible Griddle/Grill, generously donated by Hamilton Beach. Register online or call H&S at 244-2124

13th Annual Spotlight on Seniors (Saskatoon)

The goal of Spotlight on Seniors is to educate and entertain the Senior Citizens in and around Saskatoon. From pastimes to investing, from career to vacations, from education to retirement, what we do with our lives is incorporated into this showcase. And, as the theme of this showcase is to promote a healthy, vibrant and exciting lifestyle for Seniors, who wouldn't want to be part of this show!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Grand Salon, TCU Place, 35 22nd St. East, Saskatoon
Admission: $5.00

If you would like to become a sponsor for Spotlight on Seniors 2012 download sponsorship package or phone Virginia at 652-2255 for more information

Craving Change(TM) - changing your relationship with food

Craving Change(TM) - changing your relationship with food - presented free of charge by LiveWell Dietitians

Understand why you eat the way you do: Comfort yourself without food - Change your thinking - Change your eating - Most beneficial to attend all 4 sessions

Fall dates for the Field House:
Monday, October 15 and 22, 9:30 - 11:30
Monday, November 5 and 19, 9:30 - 11:30

Please call 655-LIVE or 655-5483 to register
For more information, please call Rochelle at 655-2140

CARG Annual General Meeting 2012

The Annual General Meeting of the Coronary Artery Rehabilitation Group will be held at 9:15 AM on November 14, 2012 in Meeting Room 2, Field House Saskatoon, SK. CARG is your organization; please come to the AGM and participate in it to make the organization like you would like to see it. Agenda:



Date: Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Place: Saskatoon Field House, Meeting Room No. 2
Time: 9:15 AM
1. Call to Order
2. Adoption of Agenda
3. Welcome "In Memoriam"
4. Approval of Minutes of the EGM held on October 29, 2010
5. Business Arising from the Minutes of 2012 EGM
6. Amendments to Bylaw 1 of CARG*
7. Reports
8. Approval of Budget for 2012-2013 financial year
9. Approval of Auditors for 2012-2013 financial year
10. Election of CARG Board of Directors for 2012-2013 year
11. Old Business
12. New Business
13. Adjournment

* The proposed constitution and bylaws will be distributed with the handout material for the AGM. The members will have an opportunity to review the proposed constitution and bylaws and submit amendments to the proposed constitution and bylaws. An Extraordinary General Meeting will be held in February 2013 for considering the revised constitution and bylaws

Stressed at work? Look out for your heart

People who have highly demanding jobs and little freedom to make decisions are 23 per cent more likely to have a heart attack compared with their less stressed out colleagues, according to research recently published. But lighting up a cigarette or remaining chained to your desk rather than getting out to do some exercise is far more damaging for your heart health, researchers said. A study of nearly 200,000 people from seven European countries found around 3.4 per cent of heart attacks can be attributed to job strain - a significant proportion, but far less than the 36 per cent attributable to smoking and 12 per cent put down to lack of exercise. For the study, which was published online in The Lancet medical journal, researchers analysed job strain in employees who had no previous coronary heart disease

Busted: co-author of flawed Stanford organic study has deep ties to big tobacco’s anti-science propaganda

Over the last several days, the mainstream media has fallen for an elaborate scientific hoax that sought to destroy the credibility of organic foods by claiming they are "no healthier" than conventional foods (grown with pesticides and GMOs). NaturalNews and NaturalSociety have learned one of the key co-authors of the study, Dr. Ingram Olkin, has a deep history as an "anti-science" propagandist working for Big Tobacco. Stanford University has also been found to have deep financial ties to Cargill, a powerful proponent of genetically engineered foods and an enemy of GMO labeling Proposition 37. The New York Times, BBC and all the other publications that printed stories based on this Stanford study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine have been victims of an elaborate scientific hoax carried out by corporate propagandists posing as "scientists."

"Stoptober" anti-smoking campaign launched by Government (UK)

Britain's eight million smokers will be encouraged to kick the habit for 28 days from October 1 as part of Stoptober, the Department of Health announced. England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies said it was the first time that the Government had launched a "mass quit attempt". The initiative, backed by Cancer Research UK and British Heart Foundation, will involve television and radio adverts, a daily messaging service and roadshows around the country. Professor Dame Sally Davies said: "Smoking is still the biggest cause of premature death in England, taking more than 100,000 lives in the UK every year. "This is the first time that we have launched a mass quit attempt like Stoptober and would encourage people who want to quit to get involved."

Innovative heart clip improves quality of life (Canada)

A simple clip device to treat mitral regurgitation, a form of heart valve failure, is providing a new option for patients with severe symptoms who thought they were out of treatment options. The mitral valve separates the upper and lower chambers on the left side of the heart and is designed to ensure that blood flows only in one direction from the left ventricle to the rest of the body. When this valve does not close as tightly as it should, a condition known as mitral regurgitation, blood leaks backward from the pumping chamber into the left atrium. As a result, the heart has to work harder to pump blood around the body, leading to fatigue, shortness of breath, irregular pulse and other symptoms. Eventually, if left untreated, severe mitral valve regurgitation can cause irreversible heart failure

Duration of resuscitation efforts and survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest: an observational study

New research suggests that increasing the duration of resuscitation efforts could improve survival in patients who arrest in hospital, challenging the common belief that extending resuscitation in patients who do not respond immediately is often futile. Zachary Goldberger and colleagues have used the American Heart Association's Get with the Guidelines - Resuscitation registry (globally, the largest in-hospital cardiac arrest registry) to assess the duration of resuscitation before termination of efforts in non-survivors as an indicator of the overall tendency of a hospital to attempt resuscitation for longer - The Lancet

Upcoming LiveWell With Chronic Conditions Classes (Saskatoon Health Region)

Health-care costs hit the elderly hard, diminish financial wellbeing (USA)

The protection of the savings of the elderly - one of the primary goals of Medicare - is under threat from a combination of spiraling healthcare costs and increased longevity. As the government attempts to reduce Medicare costs, one suggestion is that the elderly could pay a larger proportion of the costs of their healthcare. But exactly how much would this be and what impact would it have on their finances? A new study by Amy Kelley at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and her colleagues, funded by the National Institute on Aging, aims to identify the portion of wealth Medicare beneficiaries spend on healthcare costs in the last five years of life. Their work appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Medicare provides nearly universal health care coverage to the population over 65. However it does not pay for everything. There are co-payments and deductibles, and more importantly, homecare services and non-rehabilitative nursing home care, which are not covered. If proposals suggest the elderly should make even larger contributions to care, it is important to know more about patients' out-of-pocket spending under the current Medicare program

Crestor tops list for risk of muscle-related side effects

Rosuvastatin (Crestor, AstraZeneca) had a higher risk rate for muscle-related side effects than five other leading statins in an analysis of seven years of FDA adverse case reports. Higher potency agents were associated with elevated relative risk of adverse events, according to researchers, who recommended that physicians consider potency when prescribing statins to manage cholesterol. The results were published online August 22 in PLOS One