First Posted: 3/26/2015
College implements memory program
ST. MARYS — Otterbein Senior Lifestyle Choices is implementing the Music and Memory program throughout its locations in the state. As of March 5, all of the Otterbein locations in Perrysburg, Springboro, Lebanon, Cridersville, North Shore, Portage Valley, St. Marys, Maineville, Middletown, New Albany and Monclova, have completed the Music and Memory Certification training and will be introducing the program to their communities in the near future.
Wig boutique receives donation
LIMA — Lima Memorial Health System’s YOUnique Wig Boutique received a generous donation from Laurie Gerdeman, owner and operator of Hair Unlimited in Ottawa. Gerdeman’s donation included wigs, hair pieces, turbans, chemotherapy caps and hats. She hopes her donation will help to provide greater access to cancer patients. The YOUnique Wig Boutique provides cancer patients with free wigs in a wide variety of styles and hair colors. The boutique is 100 percent volunteer operated and relies on cash donations and donated items to continue serving women in need.
College of pharmacy receives grant
ADA — The Community Pharmacy Foundation has awarded the Ohio Northern University Raabe College of Pharmacy a grant to fund a “Pharmacist Provision of Preconception Care Through Medication Therapy Management” study.
The goal of the research is to raise awareness and educate community pharmacists about preconception care, providing preconception care through the program and to pilot a proof-of-concept model demonstrating the impact pharmacists can have in providing elements of preconception care through a potentially sustainable reimbursement model.
YWCA receives funding to increase awareness
TOLEDO — The Avon Breast Health Outreach Program has awarded a $50,000 one-year grant to YWCA of Northwest Ohio to increase awareness of the life-saving benefits of early detection of breast cancer. It is the 21st year that the program has received funding from the Avon Foundation for Women to support its work on this important health issue, and in recognition of the program’s excellence.
The EncorePlus Breast Cancer Awareness and Assistance Program at the YWCA educates Northwest Ohio area women and refers them to low-cost or free mammograms and clinical breast exams in their own communities. The program also provides free transportation to breast health services, sends annual reminders for mammograms and gift incentives to mammogram recipients, and provides intensive case management services to women with abnormal breast symptoms and women diagnosed with breast cancer.
Dogs being used to sniff out cancer diagnoses
LITTLE ROCK (TNS) — A group of Arkansas medical researchers have revealed a new study finding that scent-trained dogs can be used to detect thyroid cancer — with about 90 percent accuracy.
The study, spearheaded by Arny Ferrando, Ph.D. and Dr. Andrew Hinson, both of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, presented their results to the Endocrine Society recently in San Diego. The doctors claim that while similar research has been done into the medicinal uses of a dog’s powerful sense of smell, their study was the first to go this deep.
“What we have done, no one has attempted to do,” Ferrando said in a statement. “We have taken the next step by asking the dog to tell us whether or not cancer exists before the medical diagnostic system does.”
He explained the point of the study was to discover whether doctors can use dogs to help diagnose cancer, specifically in areas where expensive medical testing and technologies aren’t readily available.
The trial saw several dogs presented with urine samples from thyroid cancer patients — a mix of benign and malignant cases — then asked them to indicate whether each still had cancer or not. Based on a series of trained actions, the dogs would indicate their findings to the researchers.
The dogs used in the study were strays who had been trained in scent detection methods.
The pooches were accurate in 30 of 34 cases, or about 88 percent of the time. According to BBC News, the dogs gave two false positives and two erroneous clearances.
“We’ve all looked at it from a skeptical, scientific standpoint, but the data just keeps leading us to the fact that this has remarkable clinical potential,” Ferrando said of the results.
According to BBC News, British cancer researchers said using dogs to detect cancer would be “impractical.”
For Ferrando and Hinson, the research will continue. Ferrando said the method could be used to diagnose other cancers like ovarian, breast and prostate. His team’s next plan is to work with researchers at Auburn University’s Canine Performance Sciences program to test dogs that were bred specifically for scent detection.
