AVASTIN UPDATE ll AAO supports Medicare coverage for off label Avastin use

April 24, 2006, As reported by the OSN Supersite: AAO supports Medicare coverage for off-label Avastin use SAN FRANCISCO — A drug being used off-label for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration should be considered for Medicare coverage, said the American Academy of Ophthalmology . According to an AAO press release, the organization sent a letter to U.S. regulators supporting Medicare reimbursement for the drug. AAO said in its letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that it “supports reimbursement for treating AMD with intravitreal injections of bevacizumab, to meet the medical needs of many patients who have not responded to therapy with ocular photodynamic therapy with verteporfin or intravitreal pegaptanib.” Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech) is approved in the United States for the systemic treatment of colorectal cancer. The intravitreal dosage is being used by “a large number” of retinal specialists who believe it is “reasonable and medically necessary ...
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Yoga for Healthy Aging Book Now Available for Pre Order

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by Nina I'm kind of surprised by this because even though our book won't be officially available until December 12, 2017, it is already available for pre-order on Amazon! Actually I found out about this because one of our readers in Japan shared on Facebook that the book was available for pre-order on the Japanese Amazon site! I have to admit, that blew my mind. So I thought today I'd just let you know all this and share the link to the US site where you can pre-order, which I assume gives you a nice price break: amazon.com/Yoga-Healthy-Aging-Lifelong-Well-Being. And if you do pre-order or even just visit the page, we'd really appreciate it if you put in a few good words for us in the review section.  Subscribe to Yoga for Healthy Aging by Email ° Follow Yoga for Healthy Aging on Facebook ° Join this site with Google Friend Connect
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White Paper The Evolution and Prospects for Laser Refractive Keratoplasty

This White Paper was published by Arthur D. Little in September 1989. IRVING J. ARONS ARTHUR D. LITTLE I. Overview The American public spends more than $16 billion annually for vision care. More than 60 million eye examinations are given annually and nearly 60 million pairs of eyeglasses and 3 to 4 million pairs of contact lenses are dispensed. In addition, more than 1 million surgical procedures are performed to correct vision deficiencies or for therapeutic reasons. The laser has and continues to play an important role in the treatment of eye disease. Soon after the laser's discovery, ophthalmologists were putting this unique tool to use in stopping retinal bleeding and repairing retinal tears. Today, more than 90% of all ophthalmologists own or have access to a laser for performing a myriad of treatments including retinal photocoagulation, retinal reattachment, punching holes through the trabecular network to alleviate glaucomas, clearing vitreous strands and membranes, treating...
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Yoga for the People and Healthy Bones !

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by Shari With the recent passing of BKS Iyengar (the teacher of my teacher Donald Moyer) and the exponential growth of yoga inspired by Mr. Iyengar, I have been thinking a lot about health outcomes and why yoga is such a powerful self-help tool. You see, in my day job as a home health physical therapist, health outcome is measured very differently than it is in a complementary alternative health care model that yoga falls within. My patients too often don't get better. My job in aiding their recovery often feels like I am trying to put a small Band-Aid on a gaping wound. I can’t change the situations that lead to their poor health. They suffer from the chronic life challenges of poverty. Years of poor health management, from an uncaring overworked, depersonalized, underfunded health care delivery system, and the chronic stress from living marginalized lives lead to chronic health issues. To often these patients are living in polluted urban environments, where walking is not done by...
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Free Online Treatment for OCD in Australia

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Macquarie University's Centre for Emotional Health in Australia contacted me about passing on information about a free online course they are offering for dealing with OCD. I checked out their About Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) factsheet, and they advocate for Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy, so if you live in Australia, this could be helpful. Here are some details: The eCentreClinic OCD Course is a 5-lesson cognitive and behavioural treatment package that delivers remote evidence- based treatment. The treatment includes techniques that would normally be delivered in face to face treatment. The main emphasis is on exposure and response prevention however the Course also includes a strong cognitive component. The OCD Course is delivered over 8 weeks and the participant has bi-weekly telephone contact with a Clinical Psychologist who is experienced in the treatment of OCD. The Course is open to individuals with all subtypes of obsessive compulsive disorder (with the...
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6 Strategies for Using Yoga to Help Medical Conditions

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by Nina and Baxter De Jur, Age 57 “So, short of unconsciousness, I feel that there is no condition that yoga could not potentially help with!” In Baxter’s post Health Problems that Yoga Can't Help With, he made the dramatic statement that he felt there is no condition that yoga could not potentially help with. His reasoning was: “Yoga certainly can bring our minds and bodies into better balance, and seems to support many of the healing systems in our own bodies in working more efficiently. And, of course, stress management, pain management, and bolstering the immune system via yoga can always help at some level with just about any conceivable health issue we may face, even if you are dying.” Since then, the two of us have been working on identifying the basic strategies that will provide the help he was describing. These six strategies can be used on their own or in any combination as required by the condition. For example, if you are recovering from cancer, you could work on muscu...
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Friday Q A Is Yoga Bad for Backs

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Q: Once a substitute yoga instructor stated that she didn't do anything every day, and that yoga can be bad for backs. Could you clarify why this opinion might be so? I love doing yoga, and would really like to know what's going on here. A: Yoga isn’t "bad for backs" but not all yoga asanas are appropriate for “bad backs.” As an example, let us look at a very common group of yoga poses, forward bends, which can be thought of as both “good” and “bad” for someone with a back injury. Forward bends can be bad in the sense that if too much force is generated by trying to come into the position at the vulnerable area in the back, this will most likely cause more pain and injury. Not bending from the hips to come forward but using the arms as a lever force to pull into a position is unsafe. However, learning to move from the hip joints and keeping the spine in its neutral curves is a very different way to practice forward bends. This is safe because soft tissue restrictions ...
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Avastin Lucentis Update 10 A Review of the Current Status of These Drugs for Treating AMD

This report is reprinted (with permission of the publisher) from the supplement AMD 2006: Building Hope, Improving Vision , published with the December 2006 issue of Review of Ophthalmology . Treating AMD with Lucentis and Avastin While these drugs have revolutionized the treatment of AMD, choosing between them remains a challenge. Philip J. Rosenfeld, MD, PhD Miami Both Lucentis (ranibizumab, Genentech.) and Avastin (bevacizumab, Genentech) have successfully been used to treat neovascular age-related macular degeneration. While the Avastin experience has been mainly anecdotal and published as retrospective reviews along with small, short-term prospective studies, the Lucentis experience is supported by extensive clinical trial data. Additionally, Lucentis is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of neovascular AMD, while Avastin is used off-label for this indication. On the other hand, Avastin is affordable, while Lucentis’ high price may be out of reach for s...
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A New Approach for Repairing Rejuvenating Damaged Photoreceptors and Other Retinal Tissue for Restoring Vision

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Over the past several years, I have written about new technologies for treating retinal diseases, including the use of drugs (Avastin, Lucentis and Eylea for wet AMD), laser treatment (Ellex’s 2RT - Retinal Regeneration, for dry AMD), and the use of stem cells and gene therapy for a wide range of ophthalmic diseases. Earlier this year, I became aware of a new company, jCyte, who was investigating the use of retinal progenitor cells to replace damaged or destroyed photoreceptors to restore vision to those whose photorecptors had stopped working, especially in those with the latter stages of  retinitis pigmentosa (RP). I was aware that Advanced Cell Technology was also in the early stages of doing research with retinal progenitor cells. I decided the best way of learning about this unique approach to restoring photoreceptor activity (and perhaps, vision) to those afflicted with RP and other retinal degenerative diseases, was to undertake some research and write about it. In doing the...
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