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A Strong Health Team Can Help Detect, Mitigate Birth Defects

by TERESA SCHIFFER Sponsored by Central Florida Health Care January is National Birth Defects Awareness Month, a time for discussions about how different birth defects can affect individuals over the course of their lifespan, and what can be done to minimize the risk of these occurrences. It’s important to understand that the term “birth defect”…
Pop Quiz: Trust Your Gut

How Much Do You Know About Microbiomes and Your Digestive Health? Did you know that some kinds of bacteria are actually beneficial to have in your digestive tract? While it may sound counterintuitive, certain strains of bacteria — like lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria, which make up your gut microbiome — offer a host of benefits for…
Funding the Future of Nursing

AdventHealth to Provide $1.7 Million for Polk State Program story and photos by PAUL CATALA Since 1965, Polk State College has instructed, encouraged, and placed about 21,500 students into successful nursing careers. On average, 430 nurses graduate from the school’s nursing college each year. Now that program will have even more to offer thanks to…

Understanding Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction

Last year, I wrote about heart failure. At that time, I had said that about half the patients admitted with congestive heart failure have normal systolic function. This is true. The most common way to express heart function is by measuring ejection fraction (EF). This is the proportion of the amount of blood in the…
7 Ways to Save Money on Your Glaucoma Drops

Glaucoma is a group of diseases that affect the optic nerve of the eye. It is the cable that carries the information from the eye to the brain. Any damage to this optic nerve due to high pressures can damage it, resulting in lower vision or vision loss. Therefore, it is essential to treat glaucoma…
Stay strong with healthy hips

Expert care can get you there. We all hope to be able to walk, run and dance through life with healthy, natural joints. But when your hips become arthritic and painful, it’s not easy to keep moving like you used to. The good news is that hip replacement has come a long way, with advanced…