The Patriot Ledger, based in Quincy, Mass., ran a nice piece on the surge of do-it-yourself home medical tests.
The
only home test in the medicine cabinet years ago was a thermometer. Now
there are hundreds, for everything from diabetes and cancer to
analyzing your genes and detecting free radicals.
Earlier
this year, actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes kicked up a controversy
when they bought a home fetal ultrasound monitor to use while she was
pregnant with their first child.
Although medical experts see some value in some self-test kits, they warn against do-it-yourself doctoring.
"Blood
pressure, blood glucose, weight -- those are the trend in home tests
that doctors are looking for," said Virginia Cummings, an geriatrician
at
Milton Hospital.
"What
doctors disparage are tests that claim things like, 'Send us your hair
and nails and we'll analyze your vitamin deficiencies,"' Cummings said.
Dr. Jonathan Russo, a gastroenterologist at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth, agreed. "If a home test for colon cancer gets the patient thinking about it, that's great," Russo said.
Spurred by the Internet, the home medical market is booming, with an estimated 500 products being sold.
Since
the first at-home pregnancy test in 1977, the field has expanded from
monitoring chronic illnesses like diabetes to detecting serious and
sometimes fatal diseases, such as AIDS and hepatitis C.
The
pitches, all over the Internet and television, can be anything but
subtle. "Is your spouse cheating on you?" asks one ad for "DNA
Infidelity Testing."
Take all of the above with a grain of salt, and call your doctor or pharmacist.
The Patriot Ledger consulted a medical board of eight local physicians and the director of an HIV program for their opinions of the trend.
Some
of the home tests are useful, depended on by doctors and patients
alike. They prompt people to be more aware of their health and how they
can help manage their care.
"People who monitor their blood sugar at home usually control their diabetes better," said Dr. Alan Berrick, a Quincy cardiologist. "They make the necessary lifestyle changes. It empowers the patient."
But an anti-oxidant test for free radical activity?
"That's crazy!" said Dr. Richard Mirel, chief of medicine at
South Shore Hospital in Weymouth.
Free radicals are molecules containing oxygen that attack cells damaging the brain and other tissue.
"Free
radicals are important, but no one knows yet what the best levels of
free radicals are. If I have twice as many as you, what does that mean?
My guess is that web site is hooked up with the sale of some kind of
vitamin supplement."
Consumers
are going online to order a variety of self-tests that don't always
have the government approvals that are claimed.
Mondos: The Newest Housing Solution
This was new to me.
The newest thing that developers are suggesting for affordable housing
are "mondos" -- modular condominiums. Here in St. Petersburg,
Fla., where entry-level condos cost $250,000, one developer is proposing $160,000 mondos.
The St. Petersburg Times said:
The benefits of mondos are their low cost and quick assembly. Whole
stories are trucked to the building site and hoisted into place. The
process takes about six days, though preparing the ground, installing
elevators and sheathing condos in siding can take a couple of months.
I have seen similar stories from Canada,
where a 21-story tower was to be built in about six weeks. It makes me
wonder if this is an idea that could also be the answer for housing needs in
disaster areas.
Home Buyers Walking Away
The Washington Post
says that as the housing market cools, builders are reporting that more
people are walking away from contracts -- and from tens of thousands of
dollars' worth of deposits.
ADA
Lawsuits: Are They Valid?
The Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram
looked at the growing business of lawsuits filed to force businesses to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
The paper said that these lawsuits are often aimed at small businesses,
which choose to quickly settle the claims rather than go through an
expensive court fight.
Lawsuit defenders say businesses, big and small,
have had nearly 16 years to come into compliance. Do you have law firms
in your town that file tons of these suits?
Military Spouse Appreciation Day
In 1984, President Reagan proclaimed the Friday before Mother's Day of each year to be Military Spouse Appreciation Day. Read more on the Military Spouse Career Center Web site. Find a military family support center near you.
Also see MilitaryWives.com.
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Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a
compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a
variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When
the information comes directly from another source, it will be
attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is
fact-checked, but depends upon the accuracy and integrity of the
original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.
