MOBILEMedCheckYour partner in health

TUSTIN, CA – September is both Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and Mobile MedCheck, a Tustin, Calif,-based company, is playing a vital role in providing awareness to men and women who may be at risk of contracting these potentially life-threatening conditions.

Mobile MedCheck uses a nationwide network of board-certified physicians, licensed nurses and highly trained technicians to bring state-of-the-art medical technology directly into private homes and offices across the country. That technology includes tests for prostate cancer, which is the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the United States, and ovarian cancer, which is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States.

“Prostate cancer is common in men older than 65, but most men do not know they even have prostate cancer because it usually does not cause symptoms in the early stages,” explained Dr. Hans Park, medical director of Mobile MedCheck. “It typically grows slowly and can take years to grow large enough to cause any problems. But if the cancer is detected with screening tests before that happens and before it spreads to other parts of the body, it is usually treatable in most cases.”

Dr. Park continued, “There are more than 30 different types of ovarian cancer, classified according to the type of cell from which they start. When detected early, through a simple Cancer Antigen-125 blood test, the malignant cells may be identified, and treatment can begin.  Early detection dramatically increases chances for a cure. Too often, late detection enables the cells to spread to other organs.”

Mobile MedCheck’s tests for prostate and ovarian cancer are the same tests that doctors perform, but they can be done without the high cost of doctor visits and insurance premiums and with the complete confidence that they are conducted by medical professionals. The company does not send out in-home test kits that are self-admistered.

Mobile MedCheck’s “house calls,” which harken back to a time gone by, come with a 21st-century twist: everything except the actual house call is handled on the Internet.

Clients who visit MobileMedCheck.com can select from 22 tests administered by Mobile MedCheck’s professionals – including preventive health screenings, pre-life insurance tests, drug tests, STD tests, and other health screening tests – and refer to an online price list that will enable them to know the cost of those tests before ordering them. After placing their online order, clients are then contacted by e-mail or phone to schedule an in-person appointment for blood or urine sample collection. Following that appointment, the tests are performed by a nationally accredited laboratory, and the results are reviewed by a medical doctor before being provided to the client in a comprehensive, easy-to-understand format. Confidential results which can be accessed only by the client are also available online.

The benefits of this service are numerous:

• Prevention. Serious medical conditions such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease can exist without noticeable symptoms for a number of years. Early detection through preventive screening can lead to early treatment, improving survivability and quality of life.
• Doctor-patient interaction. If test results indicate a condition that may require treatment, Mobile MedCheck suggests that clients consult with a physician. Providing those results to the doctor will give him vital information at the very first appointment and allow the patient to make the most of his or her time with their doctor.
• Affordability. Charges for tests are no higher than the rates negotiated by large insurance carriers. The average test costs $121.
• Confidentiality. Only the client has access to the results, and they do not become part of their permanent medical record unless requested.
• Convenience. No time is wasted traveling to a doctor’s office or sitting in a waiting room.

In addition to the uninsured, who seek peace of mind by getting tested for diseases and health issues at very economical costs, Mobile MedCheck’s services can be utilized by people who want to get tested confidentially for such things as drugs, STDs and paternity (DNA), people who are thinking about getting tested for life insurance, people who have insurance with a high deductible and anyone who desires the convenience of getting medical tests in their office or home.

Mobile MedCheck is an outgrowth of MEDXM, the company that was founded in 1990 by Sy Zahedi to provide life insurance companies with health screening services for their clients. Zahedi, who was chairman and CEO of MEDXM, now holds those titles at Mobile MedCheck. Zahedi’s experience with business development in the medical industry spans more than 20 years.

“Knowledge of your blood’s chemistry is your best defense against degenerative disease,” Zahedi explained. “A simple blood test can indicate what is happening long before any symptoms of disease occur. Even a test result that is normal is useful: not only does it help to rule out potential problem areas, it establishes a baseline of normal ranges against which future tests can be monitored. When you understand these tests and the role blood plays in your body, you can keep your test values within normal ranges through diet, exercise, and proper nutrition. And when you visit your physician, a history of laboratory reports that you have kept can often provide the clue to a proper diagnosis and treatment.”

Mobile MedCheck is the nation’s only company that provides in-home and in-office medical testing services. With its nationwide network of medical resources, it is able to dispatch highly licensed health care professionals to any city, big or small, throughout all 50 states. Complete information on Mobile MedCheck is available online at www.MobileMedCheck.com.

NEWS RELEASE

Fran Bangert (714) 335-9646

Bobbi Rubinstein (818) 991-6100

Kidney disease has been shown to be on the rise – as much as a 30% increase in recent years.  It’s estimated that over 20 million adults in the U.S. live with chronic kidney disease.  That’s 1 in 9 adults. Many of these are completely unaware of their condition, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The most common forms of kidney disorders are urinary tract infections, kidney stones, kidney cancer, nephrotic syndrome, polycystic kidney disease and genetic disorders. Left undiagnosed and untreated, these conditions can lead to serious damage, including chronic kidney disease.  If Kidney function is compromised and begins to fail the only treatment options at this stage are kidney dialysis, or transplant. Among the conditions that contribute to kidney disease are Diabetes and High Blood Pressure.  If you are aware, or find you are affected by either of these diseases, monitoring your kidney function with a MOBILEMedCheck test is an ideal way to control your future health.

Common symptoms of kidney abnormalities may include:

• Less than normal urination.
• Swelling from fluid buildup in your tissues, called edema.
• Fatigue and sleepiness.
• Loss of appetite and unexplained weight loss
• Nausea and vomiting
• Trouble sleeping.
• Headaches or trouble thinking clearly.

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are widespread in the United States today. Over ten million men and women are infected each year. Some of these diseases can be spread through any type of sexual activity involving the sex organs or the mouth; the infection can also be spread through contact with blood during sexual activity. Infected people can pass STDs to sexual partners even if they themselves have no symptoms.

Entering into intimacy with someone is an exciting and important step in a relationship.  It can be taken with confidence when you know your own health status, and the status of your partner.

MOBILEMedCheck’s STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) screening gives you the information you need to make this potentially life changing decision.  Once you’ve had contact with an STD, it may be too late to protect yourself or your partner.  Often STD’s do not show immediate symptoms, yet they can become extremely serious, even life threatening to you and your partner.

Screening for STDs enables each of you to make informed decisions. In addition, in relationships where multiple partners may be a factor, having unprotected sex can bring about a deadly surprise.  STD screenings can provide you with important – often lifesaving – information.  MOBILEMedCheck’s complete STD Screening enables you to obtain this information privately and keep it confidential.  It’s also a very convenient way to give yourself peace of mind.

Mobile MedCheck has assembled a nationwide network of board-certified physicians, licensed nurses and technicians who are bringing medical testing technology directly to the homes and offices of Americans from coast to coast.

PRLog (Press Release) – Aug 06, 2009 – TUSTIN, CA – In today’s fast-paced world, there are some services that have been all but forgotten: telegrams, milkmen, doctors’ house calls. While telegrams and home milk deliveries may be nothing more than fading memories, house calls are making a comeback. Mobile MedCheck (http://www.MobileMedCheck.com), a new company headquartered in Tustin, California, has assembled a nationwide network of board-certified physicians, licensed nurses and highly trained technicians who are bringing state-of-the-art medical testing technology directly to the homes and offices of Americans from coast to coast, enabling them to take control of their health without spending an exorbitant amount to accomplish that goal. And in a 21st-century twist, everything except the actual house call is handled on the Internet. It’s all in the interest of giving patients greater control over their own health plus saving them from more costly treatment and potentially life-threatening health problems that may be unknown to them.

“In today’s world, people want to take more responsibility for their health by exercising more and eating better,” said Sy Zahedi, founder, chairman and CEO of Mobile MedCheck. “Our medical resources throughout the country allow us to supplement those efforts by pulling together a stable of highly qualified health care professionals that we can dispatch to any city, big or small, throughout all 50 states.”

Clients who visit MobileMedCheck.com can select from 22 tests administered by Mobile MedCheck’s professionals – including preventive health screenings, pre-life insurance tests, drug tests, STD tests, and other health screening tests – and refer to an online price list that will enable them to know the cost of those tests before ordering them. After placing their online order, clients are then contacted by e-mail or phone to schedule an in-person appointment for blood or urine sample collection. Following that appointment, the tests are performed by a nationally accredited laboratory, and the results are reviewed by a medical doctor before being provided to the client in a comprehensive, easy-to-understand format. Confidential results which can be accessed only by the client are also available online.

The benefits of this service are numerous:

* Prevention. Serious medical conditions such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease can exist without noticeable symptoms for a number of years. Early detection through preventive screening can lead to early treatment, improving survivability and quality of life.

* Doctor-patient interaction. If test results indicate a condition that may require treatment, Mobile MedCheck suggests that clients consult with a physician. Providing those results to the doctor will give him vital information at the very first appointment and allow the patient to make the most of his or her time with their doctor.

* Affordability. Charges for tests are no higher than the rates negotiated by large insurance carriers. The average test costs $121.

* Confidentiality. Only the client has access to the results, and they do not become part of their permanent medical record unless requested.

* Convenience. No time is wasted traveling to a doctor’s office or sitting in a waiting room.

Mobile MedCheck promises to be especially beneficial for the 47 million people in the United States who do not have health insurance. While they are waiting for President Obama and Congress to implement a plan for affordable, accessible health care for all Americans, they can give themselves peace of mind by getting tested for diseases and health issues at very economical costs that are far lower than the premiums on insurance policies with high deductibles. Other prospective clients include people that want to get tested confidentially for such things as drugs, STDs and paternity (DNA), people who are thinking about getting tested for life insurance, people who have insurance with a high deductible and anyone who wants the convenience of getting medical tests in their office or home.

Mobile MedCheck couldn’t come at a better time because research has shown that during periods of economic hardship, large numbers of people forgo preventive care. A recent survey of Californians by the California HealthCare Foundation found that 43% of people under 50 said they had postponed care of a chronic health condition because of cost. And a study published last year in the Annals of Internal Medicine estimated that about 25% of uninsured adults had chronic health conditions, such as diabetes or emphysema, but did not receive regular care to ensure the conditions were well-managed.

Mobile MedCheck is the brainchild of Sy Zahedi and an outgrowth of MEDXM, a company that Zahedi founded in 1990 to provide life insurance companies with health screening services for their clients. Zahedi was chairman and CEO of MEDXM, and his experience with business development in the medical industry spans more than 20 years.

“Knowledge of your blood’s chemistry is your best defense against degenerative disease,” Zahedi explained. “A simple blood test can indicate what is happening long before any symptoms of disease occur. That’s important because you have a thousand wishes when you are well but only one when you are sick, and these tests can prevent you from reaching the point of having only one wish. Even a test result that is normal is useful: not only does it help to rule out potential problem areas, it establishes a baseline of normal ranges against which future tests can be monitored. When you understand these tests and the role blood plays in your body, you can keep your test values within normal ranges through diet, exercise, and proper nutrition. And when you visit your physician, a history of laboratory reports that you have kept can often provide the clue to a proper diagnosis and treatment.”

Mobile MedCheck is the nation’s only company that provides in-home and in-office medical testing services. With its nationwide network of medical resources, it is able to dispatch licensed health care professionals to individuals in any city, big or small, throughout all 50 states. Complete information on Mobile MedCheck is available online at http://www.MobileMedCheck.com.

(the original news, please click here)

(related news link here)

(from DDC).

A New York Times article reports another case of babies who were switched after they were born at the hospital. Kay Rene Qualls and Dee Ann Shafer were born on the same day 56 years ago in Heppner, Oregon and grew up 20 miles from each other. Although each had heard rumors and jokes about being switched at birth, both were unaware of the circumstances regarding their birth, until an 86-year-old woman who was neighbor to Dee Ann’s mother made the startling revelation.

Although hospitals and birthing centers now employ stricter protocols and identification techniques to avoid such situations, these cases still do happen.

A 2005 report on infant security estimates that infant-mother mix-ups occur more than 23,000 times each year.

In light of some of the shortcomings current forms of identification may have, maternity DNA testing a reliable option when doubt arises. Maternity DNA tests compare the genetic information of the mother with the child to identify matches. Because the DNA of a child comes directly from his or her parents, half of the DNA should match the mother’s DNA.

the original link

Newborn screening has become nearly ubiquitous in the US, but many couples want to prevent genetic disorders altogether. For years, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has allowed couples to ensure the health of their child. But a new screening technique called karyomapping is going to improve prenatal diagnosis in basically every way, replacing traditional PGD techniques. Karyomapping will allow doctors to detect both chromosomal abnormalities and single gene defects with a single test, making it a near-universal embryo screening. The technique should go into regular use by the end of the year.

To perform PGD, doctors take oocytes (immature ovum cells) from the mother’s body and fertilize them in vitro, or in test tubes. Once the embryos have developed, each one is biopsied and tested for various genetic disorders. When a healthy embryo has been identified, it can be implanted into the mother and carried to term, disorder-free.

Current PGD techniques can test for about 350 disorders, but doctors must first determine the exact DNA mutation that is common in a family. Once the mutation is identified, a custom test must be developed, which can take weeks or months. Karyomapping can identify any one of the 15,000 genetic conditions we know of, and it can currently take as little as 3 days. The technique currently costs the same as traditional PGD (a few thousand dollars), but the price will likely drop soon, bringing it within reach for more and more families.

Karyomapping compares the embryo’s DNA with genetic samples from family members to determine how inherited disease has passed down the generations. Over 300,000 areas of the genome are analyzed using microarray chip technology. Literally every genetic disorder we know about can be detected, and the test doesn’t have to be patient-specific. That makes it cheaper, quicker, and better than current PGD techniques (and more viable for widespread use).

Normally, separate tests are required to detect gene defects and aneuploidy (an abnormal number of chromosomes). Karyomapping can screen for both, which should speed up the doctor’s visit. Improvements in vitrification methods will allow doctors to freeze embryos at the blastocyst stage, which gives them time to run the screening. This means that fewer embryos will need to be vitrified as compared to traditional methods, which will improve efficiency (and thereby costs).

Besides the regular debates over embryonic ethics, prenatal screening always brings up the whole Gattaca prospect: that soon, every one of your traits will be hand-chosen by your parents, doctor, or government. Previously, we’ve covered the designer baby debates, making the point that the issue is here to stay. Parents have already chosen their child’s gender, and more traits will likely follow. It’s worth mentioning, however, that outside genes aren’t added (just one parent’s genes chosen over another)… sort of like fixing the dice.

Regardless, these technologies will continue to become more widespread, especially as new techniques like karyomapping make it more accessible. If there’s a time to have the ethical debate, it’s certainly now. But it’s important to consider that more and more often, genetic disorders won’t need to be treated; they’ll just be prevented altogether. A future in which genetic disorders have been eradicated altogether is one worth fighting for, and that’s becoming a reality. Pretty cool.

Who’s to say in vitro fertilization won’t become more widespread as it becomes easier and better? Couples could increasingly choose IVF over natural conception to ensure their child’s health. Maybe some day, gambling with old fashioned genetic recombination will be considered child cruelty, an unnecessary risk that carries a social stigma. What if natural conception was actually illegal?

Would you ever consider karyomapping your kids? Why or why not? What if you could be 100% sure they would be free of any and all genetic diseases?

We’ll continue to report on genetic screening (and designer babies, of course) as this young and exciting technology continues to develop.

Written by Drew Halley | singularityhub.com

DNAs are the instruction book of your body. To be healthy, you may exercise regularly, diet, watch your blood sugar, and visit your doctor with lots of questions. Do you really do your homework? study and understand what you are made of? What do we inherit from our biological parents to make us look similarly and even behave similarly?

What is DNA?

Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) is material that governs inheritance of eye color, hair color, bones, and other traits as well as diseases. It carries all of the instruction manual for making you who you are.

DNA is a very thin string, and is found in all living beings. Our body’s cells almost each contain a complete sample of our DNA, such as in skin cells, muscle cells, brain cells, liver cells, sperm cells, hair, teeth, saliva and others.  Basically, every part of the body is made up of these cells and each contains a set of DNA identical to that of every other cell within a given person.

DNA is  double-stranded held together by chemical bonds, and it is composed of four different molecules, which are designated by the four letters (A,T, G and C). These four letters are short nicknames for more complicated building-block chemical names, but actually the letters are used commonly. For example, to refer to a particular piece of DNA:  CATATTGCCTTTTACTGTAAAA.

The sequence of bases (letters) can code for many properties of the body’s cells.  There is very complicated regulation and management mechanism how cells can read this code.  Some DNA sequences encode important information for the cell, called  ”coding DNA.”  Our cells also contain much DNA that doesn’t encode anything, but they have regulationary functions that control gene expressions. Also there are a large number of DNAs we don’t really understand yet.

It is necessary to know the signs of HIV immediately and treatment should be started as early possible to be able to improve the response to HIV of the immune system as well as to lessen the possibility of spreading the virus to other people.

HIV infection is commonly acquired through exposure to infected body fluids or blood, sexual intercourse or transmission from an infected woman to her baby throughout pregnancy, breastfeeding or birth. As a whole, HIV infection is transmitted through direct contact with blood fluids or infected blood and not through casual contact.

People who have history of sexually transmitted diseases and those who are sexual partners of persons with HIV are most likely to have higher risk of acquiring signs of HIV. In addition, victims of sexual assault, people who have unprotected sex with several partners, drug users who share needles are also prone on having HIV.

HIV infection or human immunodeficiency virus is an infection that slowly destroys the cells in the immune system. Signs of HIV infection commonly develop in fifty to ninety percent of infected people. After several days or weeks of exposure to HIV, some individuals can develop an illness that is the same with flu, which lasts for about two weeks. This is called as an acute HIV infection.

This stage of HIV is highly infectious due to the big amount of virus present in the blood as well as other bodily fluids. For instance, a man could infect seven to twenty-four percent of partners through the first two months of the infection. Hence, it is necessary to identify the signs of HIV as soon as possible to help lessen the risk of spreading the virus to other people.

The common signs of HIV are joint and muscle pain, swollen lymph nodes and fever. These signs and symptoms can be caused by other illnesses such as flu so most people cannot easily recognize that they are suffering signs of HIV.

Most patients begin to experience signs of HIV two to four weeks after the exposure to the virus. However, there are cases where the first signs of HIV appear ten months after the exposure.

Signs of HIV have immediate onset that begin with fever and most patients develop advanced set of symptoms in one or two days. On the second week of illness, most patients experience painless swelling of lymph nodes, which include those in the neck and under the arms. Some patients suffer from enlargement of spleen, an abdominal organ that is located on the left part of the stomach. Usually, these signs of HIV last for two weeks but patients may experience lasting listlessness, depression or fatigue, which lasts for several weeks or months.

Signs of HIV can also appear on genitals, skin and mouth. One of the symptoms of acute HIV infection includes ulcers or open sores, which involve the skin and the mucous membrane of some areas of the body. These areas may include the esophagus, throat, mouth, penis or anus. Open sores in the esophagus usually cause pain when swallowing. Moreover, many patients develop reddish inflammation or rash in the skin about two or three days after the fever starts. Usually, the rash affects the neck, face and upper chest. Sometimes, rash may appear in the arms and legs, scalp, soles and palms. Commonly, the inflammation is pink to deep red spots.

1 in 4 people have Signs of HIV today – are you one of them? We can help you identify if you have contracted STDs as well as what you need to do next (the link), in a private way.