Great Charts on the Sequester Cuts

Here is a great set of graphics on how much will come out of which programs and states, put out by ProPublica

What your health bills will be under Medicare

Here is a page from the Medicare.gov Website that tells you what the various programs pay for, and how much they cost in premiums.  I liked it because it is succinct and easy to understand.

Rules for Converting Vitamin D25 measurements

For those of us in USA, we use ng/ml, whereas the rest of the world uses nmol/l to measure Vitamin d25 blood levels. This makes it difficult to understand what researchers are using as cut-off points for "low" or "high" threshold values.
Here is the conversion formula:

• to convert nmol/L to ng/mL, multiply nmol/L by 0.4;

•  to convert ng/mL to nmol/L, multiply ng/mL by 2.5.]

Vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis: more hints of effect

Admittedly, the high-quality evidence linking Vitamin D3 supplemention to moderation in  the course of multiple slcerosis is limited and somewhat conflicting.  Here's a new, very small, randomized clinical trial from Finland, which seems to suggest that D3 supplementation at high doses DOES make a difference.  At least it keeps hope alive until bigger, more definitive studies are reported in the future.  If it were I, I wouldn't wait to find out.

And, this just in, from National Library of Medicine's Medline page, a report of a study that followed a large number of individuals over time, recording their Vitamin D levels.  Those authors found a strong negative association between blood levels of Vitamin D (25OHD) and severity of symptoms.

Vitamin D Thwarts winter colds and flu in children

A study about to come out in Pediatrics (and noted by NIH's Medline web site) shows that giving daily Vitamin D supplements to children with LOW levels of Vitamin D reduces their susceptibility to winter colds and flu.  Conducted by Mass General Hospital researchers, but in Mongolia where there is an ample supply of  non-sunlight in winter.  Also, lots of kids deficient in Vitamin D in the winter.  Perhaps Mongolian milk isn't fortified with Vitamin D. (This last sentence reveals my utter lack of knowledge of modern life in Mongolia.) So, American kids might do better in winter on Vitamin D levels even without supplements.
But, what if your kid doesn't like milk and doesn't drink enough --4 glasses a day at the very least --to keep levels up?  Has your  pediatrician  tested his/her Vitamin D  levels? If not, you might gently suggest at the next visit (especially one in the winter time) that you'd like the doctor to test Vitamin D, or at least ask him or her whether it has been tested in the past (in the winter time).

Quick access to ratings of nursing home quality

Over the years I've had plenty opportunities to observe nursing homes in action, not only for my parents' generation, but also for my own post-surgical rehab.  And, recently I've spent a good amount of time visiting an older friend who spent a lot of time in several nursing facilities in the Maryland suburbs.  This nursing home rating tool, made available through ProPublica, is an excellent summary source of information, and the information you can get by clicking on an individual home's profile dovetails with my own impressions of the various places I've recently seen.
So, I'm entering this post into my "citizen portals" label, recognizing that I (and you) may have plenty of reason to research information on potential nursing homes.  If a friend asks for advice, all you have to do is remember my blog's name:  www.theviewfrombethesda.blogspot.com  and they will be able to get to this applicaiton.

High doses of Vitamin D prevent fractures in oldsters

I know, I know, it's getting boring.  Here's a study, summarized by Medline Plus (Natl Library of Medicine), showing that in older people, doses above 800 IU are necessary to get a reduction in hip fractures.  So, all that conservatism in the IOM study is missing out on the fact that oldsters such as us may need a whole lot more vitamin D than they suggest.