Recertification issued

Recertification issued

YOUNGSTOWN

ValleyCare Health System of Ohio’s Northside Medical Center has been recertified by The Joint Commission for its hip and knee joint replacement programs.

This recertification was awarded for compliance with the Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety in disease-specific care, and means Northside has earned the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for these programs.

Programs that demonstrate compliance in the following areas are awarded certification for a two-year period: Compliance with consensus-based national standards, effective and consistent use of appropriate, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to manage and optimize care, and an organized approach to performance measurement and improvement activities specific to hip and knee replacement.

For information about Northside’s orthopedic services, visit VCOrtho.net.

Awareness Month

AUSTINTOWN

“What’s Your Story?” is the theme for Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month 2016.

The Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities and related organizations invite residents to consider the true meaning of this year’s theme.

Statewide and across the nation, organizations devoted to serving individuals with developmental disabilities are planning special events this month to raise public awareness of the many abilities people have, regardless of disability.

“What’s Your Story” encourages people to get to know someone with a disability to better understand that we are all connected and alike in many ways.

Activities planned for March include: The Food Fight for Second Harvest, participation in the Boardman St. Patrick’s Day Parade, “What’s Your Story” informational posters, Veterans of the Valley Luncheon and the Awareness Month Dance.

For information, call Paul Iden, MCBDD communications and development coordinator, at 330-797-3051.

Testosterone trials

PITTSBURGH

The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health was among a dozen sites nationwide to participate in the first clinical trial to show that testosterone treatment for men 65 and older improves sexual function, walking ability and mood.

Results of The Testosterone Trials (TTrials), led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and funded by the National Institutes of Health, was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Previous testosterone trials in older men yielded equivocal and inconsistent results. The TTrials showed that testosterone improved men’s impression that their sexual function and walking ability had improved, suggesting that these effects are clinically important,” said coauthor and chair of the TTrials recruitment committee, Jane A. Cauley, Dr.P.H., professor in Pitt Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology and principal investigator at the study’s Pittsburgh site.

However, decisions about testosterone treatment will depend on the results of the other four trials – cognitive function, bone, cardiovascular and anemia – and the risks of testosterone treatment, said lead author and principal investigator of the TTrials, Dr. Peter J. Snyder, M.D., a professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Penn.

In 2003, the Institute of Medicine reported that there was insufficient evidence to support any beneficial effect of testosterone in such men. This report was the impetus for the TTrials, which were conducted at 11 additional medical centers.