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UConn Health Center’s Discovery Series January 21 and 28
FARMINGTON, CONN. – The University of Connecticut Health Center’s Discovery Series returns in 2010 with two programs in January.
Parkinson’s Disease and Tremor Disorders
Thursday, January 21, 7 p.m., Keller Auditorium
Tremor disorders and Parkinson’s disease affect millions of individuals often causing uncontrollable shaking of the hands, head and other body parts.
Dr. Adam Simmons, a UConn Health Center neurologist, will address the medical management and treatment of tremor disorders including Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Patrick Senatus, a neurosurgeon in the Health Center’s New England Musculoskeletal Institute, will present information about Deep Brain Stimulation, a new surgical procedure used to treat Parkinson’s disease, dystonia and essential tremor.
The UConn Health Center is the only hospital in the Hartford area that offers DBS, which recently has been approved by the FDA for humanitarian device exemption in the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder, and is being evaluated for the treatment of other conditions such as major depressive disorder, Tourette’s syndrome, and chronic pain.
Is Less Better? The Mammogram and Pap Smear Controversies
Thursday, January 28, 7 p.m., Low Learning Center
Dr. Ursula A. Steadman, an obstetrician and gynecologist, and Dr. Carolyn Runowicz, a nationally prominent expert in gynecologic cancers and women’s health, chair of the National Cancer Advisory Board, and director of the Health Center’s Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center, will provide information about the new guidelines for pap smears and mammograms. There will be ample opportunity for audience members to address their questions to the experts.
Both programs are free and require advance registration. Call 800-535-6232 or register online at http://discoveryseries.uchc.edu.
To get to the UConn Health Center main entrance: Entering the campus from Route 4, at the first stop sign, continue straight. Bear left at the fork and continue up the hill. The main entrance is straight past the next stop sign. Visitor parking is available on the other side of the gate. Directions to the UConn Health Center are available at http://www.uchc.edu/directions/home.html.
The University of Connecticut Health Center includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital. Founded in 1961, the Health Center pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service. More information about the UConn Health Center is available at www.uchc.edu.
Note: News professionals are invited to visit the Office of Communications home page at today.uchc.edu for archived news releases and other information.
So Say Hypertension Experts at the American Heart Association Meetings
FARMINGTON, CONN. – What your blood pressure does while you sleep can be a powerful indicator of future health problems, according to hypertension experts speaking at the recent scientific sessions of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida.
"Elevated systolic blood pressure during sleep is an independent, powerful predictor of future cardiovascular risk," says Dr. William B. White, professor of medicine and hypertension expert in the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center. The systolic blood pressure is the blood pressure when the heart is contracting. It is typically the first value recorded, or the “top number” in a blood pressure reading.
"Nocturnal hypertension is another key reason ambulatory blood pressure monitoring can be helpful," White says. Ambulatory recording involves the wearing of a monitor cuff on the upper arm for a 24-hour period, with a microchip recording blood pressure readings.
Studies conducted during the past decade show that patients with high blood pressure during sleep are prone to excess kidney and heart disease even if the blood pressure during the daytime is relatively normal. New research is evaluating targeted therapy with ambulatory blood pressure recordings to specifically control nocturnal hypertension.
White is the senior author of the American Society of Hypertension’s official position paper on blood pressure measurement, which recommends taking readings both in and outside of the clinical environment.
More information about the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center is available at http://heart.uchc.edu.
The University of Connecticut Health Center includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital. Founded in 1961, the Health Center pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service. More information about the UConn Health Center is available at www.uchc.edu.
Note: News professionals are invited to visit the Office of Communications home page at today.uchc.edu for archived news releases and other information.