Health & Wellness ealthbeai replacement procedure shown live on the Internet Jason E. Lang, an assistant professor e__r_?dic surgery, will perform a computer total knee replacement during a live webc gins at noon, Friday, May 2, from Wake University Baptist Medical Center. William G. Ward, M.D , an orthopaedic who also performs joint replacement!, will t ?nocedure and take questions from Internet Knee replacement surgery is for patients | extreme knee pain and disabilities caused ;nital defects, trauma, osteoarthritis or i arthritis. Cartilage may have worn away ? ' thigh and shin bones nib directly ?s. Knee replacement patients typically tried non-steroidal anti-inflammatory view the webcast live or in the archive, go to ' ' ' casts or to OR-Live.com I IkllJI Andrea Jot it work on social s to a Johnson, an adjunct professor of of sociology and social work at I Agricultural and State University, i presentation. May j the International on Social Stress in Santa Fe, New , a doctoral candi university's Studies program, in sociology . A&T and a degree gy from North Risk Factors , i ataie university. : of the paper is| i Among African ' The paper explores fi es in depression ; of this study show that (exposure and | elf-esteem have an ei I variabKfc ate Tfid^a<0 finds that Y< breast cancer at Wake Forest Univ have shown that restorative form of yoga that can ! 1 or fatigued, can improve t status of women with I ? of the study, "Restorative 1 Cancer: Findings from y," were presented recently! Danhauer, PhD., at I Medicine's annual was awarded the Compk Medicine Investigator of Behavioral in the study were 44 :r. Half were randomly i F were placed on a ' to take yoga classes i in both groups compl life and emotional func again at completion^ 1 to the control group, f ntly higher healtf I of the intervention as ent of Cancer a 28-item self-i ! in cancer patients. The 1 well-being, social/family .sing and functional > reported significantly .... and higher positive emol e and calm than the control j rank e programs at The Univ ittboro - Counselor . - have received lop i S News A World Report. at of Counseling and 1 (CED) ranks fourth i _ slAWR's just-released* ' The Nurse Anesthesia [ i UNCG and two other i University Baptist Medical < School of Nurse AnestJ xteenth ranked CED number four i i Personnel Servioea, up f The University of id first, followed by i I Madison and the Univen sity tied with UNCG r.USN&WR ranked graduate! " j doctoral degrees in t ' , 242 provided the data i BCBSNC Foundation . ups funds for free clinics SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE _ The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) Foundation has announced that it is extending its partnership with the North Carolina Association of Free Clinics (NCAFC) with an additional $10 million invest ment starting in 2009. With the extension, the BCBSNC Foundation is furthering its commitment to increase the impact and expand the reach of North Carolina's free clinic network. "Free clinics do an incredi ble job of help ing to address t h e health care needs of Greczyn North Carolina's underserved and uninsured,!' said Bob Greczyn, chairman of the BCBSNC Foundation. "We are very proud of the success of our initial five-year collabora tion, and we believe strongly in continuing to support the work that they do." In June, BCBSNC Foundation and NCAFC will enter the final year of an initial five-year, $10 million partner ship that began in 2004. Since that time, the number of free clinics and counties served have each grown by 32 per cent. Currently, 74 clinics are providing services to individu als and families in 79 North Carolina counties, an increase of 18 clinics and 19 additional counties. Total patient visits have increased by almost 50 percent since the partnership began. Over the last three years alone, the amount of health care services being pro vided totals $186 million, an increase of nearly two-thifds. This is the first time in the seven-year history of the BCB SNC Foundation that a second grant has been distributed at this level and to the same organization. According to a Wake Forest University study, every dollar invested in a clin ic results in $4.42 in care, which means the return on investment is more than four times the initial grant. * . File Photo Walkers and runners take pari in last year's event. Breast cancer race slated for May 3 Event raised more than $500,000 last year SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE The North Carolina Triad Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure will host its 9th annual Race for the Cure fundraising walk/run on Saturday, May 3, at Salem Academy and College. ? The start line will be at the Old Salem Bypass near the covered bridge and the Old Salem Visitor's Center. ? Last year's event raised over $550,000 and included 8,400 registrants and almost 600 volunteers and spon sors. Seventy-five percent of the net proceeds from the Race will remain in the 10 counties the Triad affiliate serves - Forsyth, Guilford, Davie, Yadkin, Stokes, Davidson, Surry, Randolph, Wilkes and Alamance coun ties. The remaining income supports the Susan G. Komen for the Cure National Research Grant Program, which funds groundbreaking breast cancer research, meritorious awards and educational and scientific programs around the world. "This is our biggest fundraiser of the year and we are expecting approximately 10,000 people to join us on May 3," said Betsey McRae, executive director, NC Triad affiliate. "Although our race takes place on one day, the impact will have an effect throughout the years. Since our first local race in 2000, the triad Komen affil iate has invested more than $2.5 million in local breast health and breast cancer education, screening and treat ment projects." "You may still form a team, join as an individual or simply donate to the cause. There are so many options for folks and they can find all that information on our Web site. If you're just not a morning person and you can't make it on Race Day, consider supporting the race by registering for Sleep In For The Cure," said McRae. While online team registration has ended, individual registrations will be accepted online through April 28. Donations can also be made online at www.komennctriad.org. Treating Heart Disease For the past two weeks we have been discussing what heart disease is and how you can reduce your risk of developing heart disease. As we 'talked about last week, quitting smok ing and getting to a healthy weight are also great steps to treating hyperten sion (high blood pressure), or high cholesterol, and heart disease, but sometimes even those people who do live a healthy lifestyle develop these conditions. Medications and surgical procedures can be needed to control heart disease and its risk factors. Having regular, yearly checkups with your doctor helps monitor your health and allows you and your doctor to determine the right treatment regimen for you. WtefojwtUwfrejMteg* How is Heart Disease Diagnosed? Your doctor may perform several tests, some noninvasive (do not involve inserting instruments or fluids into the body) and some invasive. Examples of noninvasive tests are: resting or non-resting electrocardio gram (ECG or EKG), chest X-ray, I exercise stress test, computed tomog raphy (CT) scan, and magnetic reso nance imaging (MRI). The CT and MRT scans allow the doctor to see a 3 D image of your heart. The most com mon invasive procedure i? a cardiac catheterization, during which a doctor inserts a thin plastic tube (catheter) into an artery or vein in the arm or leg. From there it can be sent into the chambers of the heart or into the coro nary arteries, allowing the doctor to see what areas are blocked or affected by disease. ? Medications There are a variety of heart med Sec Heart on All Study: N.C. turning away from cigarettes SPECIAfc TO THE CHRONICLE Public health leaders and teen tobacco use prevention advocates are applauding the results of a 2007 statewide survey that indicate his toric lows in teen smoking in North Carolina. For the first time since youth, smoking has been assessed in our state, results show that the majority of teens have never tried smoking, not even a puff. The NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund (HWTF) announced the results of the 2007 North Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey last week at C.E. Jordan High School in Durham. vThe Youth Tobacco Survey, administered by the NC Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch, is the definitive study of tobacco use among high school and middle school students in the state. According to survey results, middle school smoking in North Carolina has dropped to 4.5 percent and high school smoking has dropped to 19 percent. From 1999 to 2003, NC had seen only modest improvements in current youth cig arette smoking rates. However, from 2003 to 2007, the time period when HWTF funded its youth pre vention and cessation initiative, significant changes in current ciga rette smoking occurred among both middle and high school students. Since 2003, middle school smoking dropped by 51.8 percent and high school smoking dropped by 30.4 percent. This data trans lates into 34,000 fewer teen smok ers since 2003. Peer influence may be working in a healthier direction since social no>ms around smoking have defi nitely shifted among NC youth: 78.9 percent of middle school stu dents and Sl.l percent of high school students have never tried smoking. This represents a dramatic change from 1999, when, accord ing to studies, only 60.7 percent of NC middle school students and 3 1 .8 percent of NC high school stu dents had never tried smoking. }' More than 7,500 middle and high school students from 191 schools and 74 school districts (plus one charter) participated in the survey. The response rate was one of the highest in the nation. "Our North Carolina teens are making history," said Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue. HWTF chair. "The declin ing rates in youth smoking show us that thousands of teens around the state have made a decision to be smoke-free. These results push us another step closer to reaching our goal of creating the first tobacco free generation in North Carolina. In the long ruii, we're saving " lives." The timing of the announce ment of the survey results coin cides with another reason to cele Photo courtesy of Tobacco .Reality Unfiltere d Campaign TRU ^ cam paign mem bers collect cigarette butts in Durham 's Duke Park as part of an anti-smoking initiative. brate NC youth's commitment to c> staying tobacco-free - the fact that HWTF's youth grassroots recruit ment campaign has reached its goal two months ahead of schedule. The Tobacco.Reality.Unfiltered (TRU) recruitment campaign was launched last September by HWTF in Raleigh with an ambitious goal of having, the end of the current school year, 5,000 NC youth take the pledge to remain tobacco-free. Last week the number of TRU pledges reached the 5,000 mark, and hundreds more have signed on since then.