Adjust Pacemaker Before Exercising
If you are one of the more than 1 million Americans with a pacemaker, you may need to have your doctor pick up its pace before beginning an exercise regimen. Most pacemakers are designed for older adults -- persons who typically aren't very active and whose heart rates typically don't exceed 120 beats per minute. Such a low setting can cause rapid fatigue in men who exercise, says UAB cardiologist G. Neal Kay, M.D. A pacemaker's maximum heart rate should be 220 minus your age -- and a doctor can quickly adjust a pacemaker with a wireless remote control-type device.
Call Tracy Bischoff, Media Relations, 205-934-8935, or e-mail [email protected].
February is Heart Month.
Strides in Battling Sickle Cell
In Alabama, sickle cell disease costs Medicaid more money than any childhood diagnosis except ear infection. Newborns inheriting sickle cell face three hospitalizations a year for pain, pneumonia, stroke, transfusions and life-threatening bacterial poisoning. In 1995, UAB set up a network of clinics to reach most sickle cell children and their primary physicians. Now almost all affected newborns are given penicillin to prevent blood poisoning, in contrast to only 50 percent before 1995. Deaths decreased drastically, with none in the last two years. Network co-director Thomas Howard, M.D., of UAB says: "With adequate support, The Children and Youth Sickle Network can make even more strides in treatment, prevention of complications and Medicaid savings."
Call Hank Black, Media Relations, 205-934-8938, or [email protected].
Rethinking Minority Business
A nationwide supplier group that certifies ethnic firms to compete for billions of dollars in contracts recently redefined minority business to include companies with only 30 percent non-white ownership. That was a mistake, says Vickie Cox Edmondson, Ph.D., assistant professor of management at the UAB School of Business. "Changing the definition of what makes up an ethnic business enterprise from 51 percent to 30 percent is too drastic." Ethnic businesses can both compete for minority set-asides and benefit by bringing in white ownership as long as ethnic owners maintain controlling interest, Cox Edmondson said. "If it is 30 percent they should compete just as anyone else."
Call Nick Patterson, Media Relations, 205-975-8858, or email, [email protected].
Nursing Education Goes On Line
The School of Nursing at UAB is offering the first of a series of on-line courses for registered nurses returning to school for their bachelor's degrees. "On-line distance learning is a national trend with all curriculums, but it is particularly appropriate for RNs, since most work full time and must balance school with work and family," says Margaret Findlay, Ph.D., coordinator of UAB's RN Educational Mobility Plan. Course materials, class notes and assignments are posted on the Web. Students have the option of attending seminars offered at least every two weeks at UAB. "It's a better use of the students' time with faculty. Students come to seminars prepared to apply what they've learned on line."
Call Joy Carter, Media Relations, 205 934-1676, or e-mail [email protected].
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