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Pop Quiz! How Serotonin Savvy Are You?

From Mood to Memory, This Chemical Is a Mighty Messenger If you were told that there is a chemical in your body that plays a role in nearly every part of your life, would you believe it? It’s serotonin, and while you may have heard of it in relation to feeling happy, it actually plays…
Bartow Regional Plans $110 Million Expansion

Hospital President Sites Booming Population as Driving Force by PAUL CATALA On June 4, the BayCare Board of Trustees approved a $110 million plan to expand the hospital from 72 to 90 beds and enhance its emergency, catheterization lab and surgical services departments. “I think that’s amazing,” says Bailey Caustic, a Bartow native who was…
Targeting T1D

AdventHealth Initiates Study to Expand Screening in Underserved Populations by RYAN MILEJCZAK Type 1 diabetes, or T1D, is a condition in which the pancreas makes little to no insulin, leading to high levels of blood sugar. If not properly treated, it can have serious implications for a patient’s health. Over the past several years, there…

Skin Cancer Screening a Necessity for Floridians

It should come as no big surprise that simply living in Florida puts you at an increased risk for skin cancer. The reason for this is simple: The biggest cause of skin cancer is exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV light) from the sun. There’s a reason that Florida is called “the Sunshine State,” and while…
Diagnosis and Treatment Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Last month, I explained what an aortic aneurysm is, how it can be detected, its presentation and risk factors. How Is It Diagnosed? An abdominal aortic aneurysm can be diagnosed with the help of an ultrasound, a safe, painless test that does not involve any radiation. If confirmed and found to be larger than…
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

An aneurysm is a “weakening” or “dilatation” in a part of an artery. An estimated 15,000 people die of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) every year in the US. About 200,000 new cases of AAA are diagnosed every year. Most of these are diagnosed by tests that are done for unrelated reasons. The aorta is…