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Eurythmics Helps Elderly Maintain Balance and Prevent Falls

In a 12-month trial it was shown that when elderly people take classes in eurythmics they actually cut their risk of falling by half.

Eurythmics is an exercise and music program that was originally designed for children, but it has been shown to have great benefit for the elderly.

134 people whose average age was 75 and who were unsteady on their feet were studied for one year after they were randomly assigned to two groups. One group studied eurythmics for one hour a week for a full year, while the other group only took up the program the last 6 months of the study.


Outside of class the two groups were observed to see how often each group was subject to falling. In the first 6 months the full year group had 24 total falls, while the other group had 54 falls. Even after the program ended the participants continued to show improvements in their balance and were able to walk with a more normal gait. They also showed improvements in walking while doing other things at the same time, like talking.

Eurythmics was developed by the Swiss composer Émile Jaques-Dalcroze in the early 20th century. Movement in time to music is taught, whether the music is a Mozart minuet or a jazz improvisation. Walking, turning around and staying in step with varying tempos is practiced, and participants also learn to shift their weight, maintain balance and manipulate objects while walking. Participants are also taught to make exaggerated body movements of the upper part of their torsos also while standing and walking.

Happy Fifteenth Birthday, Toy Story

November 22nd is the 15th anniversary of the release of the animated feature film that re-wrote the book on how these critters are created. When Toy Story was released, back in 1995, it was the first feature-length film entirely rendered with computer graphic technology. But that was not the amazing part that made people stand up and take notice. The fact that it was innovative wasn’t a shocker, although it certainly was innovative. The fact that it was beautiful to watch also didn’t surprise, even though there is no denying that it was a visual feast. What really knocked everyone’s socks off was that not only was it a first, and artistically skillful, but in addition to those things it also was a great story with fantastic voice acting and superb dialogue.

Toy Story set the standard for feature-length animation several notches higher than it had ever been before. And this fun, wonderful film was rewarded for its efforts. It was the highest-grossing U.S. domestic film of 1995. It is also distinguished as being the only Pixar movie with sequels, and one of the very few of any kind of movie whose sequels are at least as good, if not even better, than the original.

Loving Partners Can Cause Death by Kissing

Advising husbands, wives and others who might cause an allergic person to have a reaction through intimate contact like touching, kissing and more, the Food and Drug Administration is warning those partners to also avoid completely those foods and other substances that cause bad reactions in their sensitive loved ones. Short of complete avoidance of those allergic substances, couples should at least refrain from contact within 24 hours of eating the offending foods.

In a surprise discovery researchers have seen that partners of allergic people can trigger an allergic reaction in their sensitive partners by eating the forbidden foods themselves, and brushing teeth and washing hands before contact is not enough. Depending on the degree of sensitivity such contact with people after eating things like peanut butter, or other substances can cause even fatal reactions in their loved ones.


According to Dr. Sami Bahna, the president of the American College of Allergy, recent research points to the fact that small traces of the offending foods remain in the saliva or other body fluids up to 24 hours after ingestion, and brushing teeth and other efforts at cleaning away the food are just not enough.

“People need to know that intimate contact with individuals who’ve eaten or consumed suspect foods or medicines can also cause problems,” said Dr. Clifford W. Bassett, a clinical instructor at New York University’s School of Medicine, New York City, and an attending physician in the allergy and immunology department of Long Island College Hospital. “So, for people with a significant food allergy it’s always better to play it safe by making sure that everyone knows that in all situations these foods are strictly off-limits.”

MRI Screening Helps Save Lives- New Study Says

According to a recent study it appears that women who are considered high risk for breast cancer have a better chance of survival if they combine having an MRI with their routine mammograms.

Because MRIs are better than mammograms at finding tumors experts began recommending MRIs for their higher risk for breast cancer women. Because there are still several types of tumors that mammograms are better at finding than MRIs, both tests are needed. However, until this new study no one knew if combining the test actually saved lives.

The results confirm that having both tests can indeed save women’s lives. After six years of follow-up care 93% of women that carry the breast cancer mutation and who also have cancer were still alive. In earlier studies after five years only 74% of the women were still alive.

“We have always assumed that if you find the cancer early, the patients will do better,” said Dr. Maxine Jochelson, director of imaging at the breast and imaging center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan (she was not involved in the study). “This is the first paper that really has taken a large number of women and shown that if you find disease earlier it does translate into some improved outcomes.”

Infant Therapy May Help Prevent Full-Blown Autism

In an effort to pre-empt the development of autism in children at risk, the MIND Institute at the University of California at Davis is administering intense therapy to children as young as 6 months old who have shown some signs of autistic behaviors during evaluations.

Today there is no concrete diagnosis of autism in children younger than two years old. The problem is that by this age the establishment of the illness is too far along for therapy to make enough of an impact. David Mandell, associate director of the Center for Autism Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia explains how the early intervention might acutally be able to prevent the eventual development of full-blown autism.

“What you ultimately might be doing is preventing a certain proportion of autism from ever emerging. I’m not saying you’re curing these kids, but you may be changing their developmental trajectory enough by intervening early enough that they never go on to meet criteria for the disorder. And you can’t do that if you keep waiting for the full disorder to emerge.”

The infant therapy which MIND utilizes relies upon games and pretend-play which was developed for toddlers. In order to be of use to such young children, the focus is instead on stimulating the normal behaviors which 6 month-old children engage in, such as babbling, and the routine stimulations which take place at bath-time, feeding time, dressing and diaper-changing. Games like peek-a-boo or tickling are emphasized, in the hope of blocking the debilitating behaviors associated with autism.

Start Shopping!

With Halloween behind us and Thanskgiving on the way, that means it’s almost time for Black Friday!

That’s right – the now-traditional, day-after-Thanskgiving sales have actually started earlier this year, as retailers are trying to attract shoppers worried about the still-depressed economy. But for those who don’t start in advance, the real Black Friday will still be the day to begin your holiday shopping.  There is much to say about how best to go about your annual gift-buying spree. But since Black Friday is not just about deals, it is also about dealing with massive crowds, over-stressed shoppers, and over-tired salespeople who are exhausted from dealing with all those over-stressed shoppers. To make the most of the day, you need to strategize. So here, to start with, is my Black Friday Shopping Strategy to help you fight the crowds and get the best buys.

First, bring a friend or family member along. Ask your roommate or study partner to join you in fighting the fray. That way, you’ll have twice as much shopping power, so if you see two great deals in the store simultaneously, you won’t have to miss out on either one.

Next, skip the cart. Or wagon, or trolley, or whatever you call that metal thing on wheels that accompanies you around the store being filled up with your purchases. The crowds on Black Friday can be overwhelming and the cart will just slow you down.


Keep your eyes open. If you see a stack of something, look behind it, or above it, or beneath it. There may be a fresh stack of inventory hiding in plain sight. Most shoppers will just grab from the first stack they see. You can do better.

Bring your equipment. Shopping on Black Friday is a challenge, and you need to be ready. Bring snacks and drinks – you can’t shop with your blood sugar falling. Make sure your cell phone is charged and your credit cards are in your wallet. And keep some cash on hand for quick purchases.

Good Luck & Happy Shopping!