Andrea Salzman is a PT working in aquatic therapy in Plymouth, Minnesota. She received her bachelor’s degree in health and sports sciences from the University of Richmond in Virginia, and her master’s in physical therapy at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Andrea is the owner of Aquatic Resources Network (www.aquaticnet.com) and is the Director of Programming at Aquatic Therapy University (www.swimatu.com). She was last featured in NEWS-Line for Physical Therapists & PTAs in 2009.
Featured Posts
Speak Up About Hearing Loss Public Service Announcement Campaign
Speak Up About Hearing Loss is a broadcast public service announcement (PSA) campaign that urges families to break through the silence and openly discuss untreated hearing loss among older family members. The campaign hones in on a particular finding from an AARP/ASHA poll [PDF] that showed nearly 70% of respondents would seek treatment for a [...]
NIH Research Featured in HBO Documentary Series “The Weight of the Nation” (Trailer)
The Weight of the Nation documentary series and public awareness campaign by the cable network HBO, launching this week, features National Institutes of Health research showing how obesity affects the country’s health and how interventions can turn the tide against obesity and its complications. The network, in consultation with NIH and other major health organizations, [...]
Lupus Awareness Month
May is Lupus Awareness Month — a time for everyone to come together to raise awareness of lupus, an unpredictable and sometimes fatal disease, and show support for the estimated 1.5 million Americans and at least five million people worldwide affected by the disease. As part of Lupus Awareness Month activities, World Lupus Day is [...]
Nurses Answer the Call: Expand Access to Care
National Nurses Week, May 6-12, provides an opportunity to recognize the multitude of ways the nursing profession contributes to the health of the nation. Since March 2010, the Affordable Care Act has given nurses and other healthcare professionals a historic opportunity to improve the health of millions of Americans. Through an array of provisions in [...]
NSAIDs and Cardiovascular Risk Explained
After nearly 13 years of study and intense debate, a pair of new papers from the Perelman School of Medicine, at the University of Pennsylvania have confirmed exactly how a once-popular class of anti-inflammatory drugs leads to cardiovascular risk for people taking it. It has been almost eight years since Vioxx® was withdrawn by Merck [...]
Q&A with Andrea Salzman, MS, PT, Director of Programming at Aquatic Therapy University
May 17th, 2012 
John BuckBeth Grivett, PA-C, Author of So You Want to be a Physician Assistant
May 17th, 2012 John Buck
Beth Grivett is a PA specializing in family medicine in Orange County, California. She graduated with a BS in kinesiology from UCLA and received her certificate in physician assistant studies from USC. Beth has been a physician assistant for 17 years, and wrote the book, So You Want to be a Physician Assistant. She works at Premier Physicians Medical Group and recently released the second edition of her book, available at Amazon and Beth’s web site http://www.physicianassistantbooks.com.
Sugar Makes You Stupid: How a High-Fructose Diet Sabotages Learning, Memory
May 17th, 2012 John BuckA new UCLA rat study is the first to show how a diet steadily high in fructose slows the brain, hampering memory and learning — and how omega-3 fatty acids can counteract the disruption. The peer-reviewed Journal of Physiology publishes the findings in its May 15 edition.
“Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a professor of integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science. “Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage.”
While earlier research has revealed how fructose harms the body through its role in diabetes, obesity and fatty liver, this study is the first to uncover how the sweetener influences the brain.
Obese Adolescents Already Have Heart Damage
May 17th, 2012 John BuckThe findings were presented at the Heart Failure Congress 2012, 19-22 May, in Belgrade, Serbia. The Congress is the main annual meeting of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology.
Obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and previous research has shown that obese adults have structural and functional changes to their hearts. The current study (abstract P843)
investigated the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and cardiac function in overweight and obese adolescents with no symptoms of heart disease.
For the study, 97 healthy adolescents had their weight, height, waist circumference and hip circumference measured. BMI and waist/hip ratio were calculated. Blood and biochemistry tests and an echocardiogram were performed. Based on their BMI, patients were divided into three groups: lean (L=32 patients), overweight (Ov=33 patients) and obese (Ob=32 patients).
Several measures of heart size were made using information from the echocardiogram. Interventricular septal and left ventricular posterior wall thickness increased as BMI increased (L: 0.84+0.1 cm, Ov: 0.88+0.1 cm, Ob: 0.96+0.1cm, p=0.001; and L: 0.78+0.1 cm, Ov: 0.8+0.1 cm, Ob: 0.94+0.1cm, p=0.001, respectively).
LWW’s Nursing Drug Handbook Now an App
May 17th, 2012 John BuckWolters Kluwer Health introduced the first mobile application for the Nursing Drug Handbook drug reference for nurses. Available for Apple iPhone, iPad and iTouch and all Android devices, the new application is the first drug reference for nurses to offer weekly updates. Published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), the Nursing Drug Handbook App gives the fastest access to the most current drug information for nurses.
“The Nursing Drug Handbook app improves the quality of care that nurses can give at bedside due to its combination of mobility, speed, and current information,” said Judith McCann, MSN, RN, Chief Nurse, Professional & Education, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. “Because of these benefits and because it is designed specifically for nurses, we believe it will quickly become the top drug app used by nurses.”
The new app provides access to nursing-specific drug information allowing nurses to find drug facts in less than 10 seconds but usually in less than five. Intuitive keyword searching provides fast-access to 965 generic and more than 1,500 brand-name drugs – including new drug information not found in the app’s print counterpart.
The true breakthrough though is the ability to access the most current drug information through weekly updates, which are refreshed automatically via Apple iTunes and Google Play for the full term of a subscription. While most drug reference apps provide at best monthly updates, Nursing Drug Handbook is the first to offer them weekly.
