Latest news with #Dexa
The Hindu
28-07-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Government multi super speciality hospital rolls out affordable screening for cancer
The Advanced Master Health Check-up centre of Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital (TNGMSSH), Omandurar Estate has launched a screening programme for early detection of cancer. According to a press release, the centre, which was inaugurated on June 8, 2018, offers four types of packages - Gold, Diamond, Platinum and Platinum Plus at a cost of Rs. 1,000, Rs. 2,000, Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 4,000 respectively. Complete blood count, blood sugar, urine analysis, lipid profile, Liver Function Test, Renal Function Test, Thyroid Function Test, bone profile, ECG, ECHO, X-Ray, ultrasound, Dexa scan, eye test, treadmill test and lung function test are being carried out. So far, more than 75,000 persons have been screened at the centre. With the incidence of cancers on the increase, the centre has launched a 'Titanium' package to screen for tumour markers. TNGMSSH's director R. Mani launched the new package on July 23. By conducting a simple blood test, occult tumours can be detected in its early stages before symptoms appear. The package costing Rs. 2,500 can detect more than 10 types of cancers at an early stage. In private laboratories, the tests would cost around Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 25,000, the release said. Titanium cancer screening package includes blood tests for tumour markers such as Prostate Specific Antigen for prostate cancer, CA 125 for cancer of the ovary, CA 19.9 for cancer of the pancreas, Alpha Feto Protein for cancer of the liver, thyroglobulin for cancer of the thyroid along with pap smear for cervical cancer and mammogram for breast cancer. An oral examination and doctor consultation is also included. An ENT specialist has been appointed for oral and laryngeal screening. In case a person requires a follow-up test after a few months, the centre has customised the cancer screening tests in a way that the required test alone can be done, doctors said.
Irish Examiner
11-07-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Osteoporosis: Make no bones about building a stronger body
MORE and more of us are being diagnosed with a silent bone disease. According to the Irish Osteoporosis Society, at least 300,000 people in Ireland have osteoporosis and 50% of women and 25% of men over 50 will break a bone as a result. Typically, there are no signs or symptoms until a bone is fractured. Colette Garvey, a chartered physiotherapist and clinical director of the Imokilly Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic in Midleton, Co Cork Why does osteoporosis result in broken bones? Colette Garvey, a chartered physiotherapist and clinical director of the Imokilly Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic in Midleton, Co Cork, says it's because it's 'a disease that causes bones to become weak and brittle'. Imagine Crunchie bars where the honeycomb represents the internal structure of the bone. 'In healthy bone, this honeycomb is dense and strong,' says Garvey. 'But with osteopenia, the pre-osteoporosis stage where bone density is lower than normal, the holes in the honeycomb start to enlarge and the outer layer starts to thin. With osteoporosis, the holes become significantly larger, compromising the bone's overall density and strength and making it more susceptible to fractures.' Dr Clodagh Toomey. A worrying number of people in Ireland could unknowingly be in that pre-osteoporosis stage. Dr Clodagh Toomey, a physiotherapist and an assistant professor at the School of Allied Health at University of Limerick, cites a 2023 study that looked at the prevalence of low bone mass and osteoporosis in Ireland. 'It's estimated that more than 1m men and women over the age of 50 have low bone mass,' she says. What makes this statistic so concerning is that bone health is crucial to overall longevity. Fractures, particularly hip fractures, are known to cause pain, disability and even increased mortality. Studies, including one published by Irish researchers in 2023, show that more than one in five die within one year of sustaining a hip fracture — many of those who survive never recover their baseline independence or function. The group at highest risk of developing osteoporosis is older women. 'It's because they have smaller, lighter bones than men to start with and because of hormonal changes,' says Toomey. 'Oestrogen is known to be protective against bone loss and many women lose bone more quickly post menopause.' This is what happened to 67-year-old Madeleine Brennan from Carlow. She had her first bone density (Dexa) scan last year. 'I had no signs or symptoms that anything was wrong, apart from occasional backache,' she says. 'But my doctor suggested the scan to rule out any problems.' The scan found cause for concern. 'I was so worried when I was told I had osteoporosis,' says Brennan. 'I'd heard the word before but knew nothing about it. I certainly didn't think it had anything to do with me.' Building bones While osteoporosis is commonly associated with postmenopausal women like Brennan, an American study published earlier this year shows that rates in younger women and men are escalating. Garvey suggests various reasons for this trend. They include our increasingly sedentary lifestyles and common nutritional deficiencies. 'But there are other factors too,' she adds. 'Eating disorders can impact bone density due to malnutrition and hormonal imbalance. The prolonged absence of menstrual periods, often due to excessive exercise or low body weight, leads to oestrogen deficiency and subsequent bone loss. 'Certain medical conditions, like coeliac disease, can interfere with nutrient absorption and hormone regulation, negatively impacting bone health. And some medications, such as corticosteroids, contribute to bone loss too.' Cara O'Loughlin. Cara O'Loughlin, a 43-year-old yoga teacher from Bray, was 24 when she was diagnosed with osteoporosis. She developed disordered eating at 15 and spent the next 14 years either eating too little or too much, and overexercising. Her periods stopped as a result. Doctors warned her she was damaging her bones. 'They told me my bones relied on the oestrogen produced as part of the menstrual cycle and I wasn't menstruating,' she says. 'Then, when I was 24, they told me the damage had been done. I had osteopenia, which eventually became osteoporosis.' However, thinning bones can be strengthened with the right help. 'Bone is a living tissue that undergoes continuous remodelling,' says Garvey. 'This process involves resorption, where old bone tissue is broken down, and formation, where new tissue is made.' As we age, the balance tips in favour of resorption, with more bone being lost than formed. But we can take steps to create the right conditions for renewal, even if our bone health has deteriorated to the extent that we have been diagnosed with osteoporosis. Registered dietitian Sarah Keogh explains how diet can help build bones. It starts with ensuring there are no nutritional deficiencies, particularly in relation to calcium. 'The medication prescribed to treat osteoporosis works by enabling calcium to get back into the bones,' she says. 'You must make sure you have enough calcium in your diet for this to happen.' The HSE states that adults need 700mg of calcium daily and Keogh says the best source is dairy products. 'Not cream or butter so much as milk, yoghurt, and cheese,' she says. 'I'd recommend three daily servings or more if you have osteopenia or osteoporosis. A milky coffee, a yoghurt, and some cheese should do it.' Vegans may struggle to get enough calcium because it's difficult to get an adequate amount from plant sources. 'This could be why vegans have a higher risk of bone fracture than the rest of us,' says Keogh. 'I'd advise them to eat calcium-fortified foods such as soya milk.' Vitamin D is also vital. 'We need it to absorb calcium, and we don't get enough of it in Ireland,' says Keogh. 'I tell my clients to take 15mg or 600iu of vitamin D daily.' The other nutrient we should prioritise is protein. Keogh describes it as 'the scaffolding for our bones'. The right exercises can also boost our bone health, particularly weight-bearing activities and resistance training. 'Both stimulate the cells responsible for laying down new bone tissue,' says Garvey. 'That increases bone density and strength.' Exercise should be prioritised at all stages of life, starting in adolescence. 'The process of accruing peak bone mass predominantly happens then,' says Garvey. 'This represents the maximum amount of bone a person achieves during their lifetime and is a critical determinant of their risk of osteoporosis in later life. A higher peak bone mass provides a bigger bone bank to draw upon as natural bone loss occurs with age.' As we get older, Garvey recommends exercises like brisk walking, jogging, hiking, lifting weights, and body weight exercises like push-ups, squats, lunges, and planks. Yoga and pilates can also help with balance and flexibility, reducing risk of falls. Those who have been diagnosed with osteopenia or osteoporosis should exercise too, but more cautiously and with guidance from a professional. 'Tai chi is highly recommended for improving balance and reducing fall risk,' says Garvey. 'And I've seen significant improvement in the posture, balance, mobility, and functional ability of those attending regular reformer pilates classes.' Dr Mary McCaffrey, a consultant gynaecologist at the Scotia Clinic in Tralee, says it's common for perimenopausal and menopausal women to have poor bone health. 'It's now the norm for most women I see to have osteopenia,' she says. When discussing what to do about it, she highlights how factoring bone health into their diet and exercise regimens will naturally impact their hormone levels and have a knock-on beneficial effect on their bones. Then she discusses HRT. 'Oestrogen reduces bone breakdown and supports bone formation in women,' she says. 'Replacing depleted oestrogen levels through HRT can help prevent bone loss and fracture risk in women with osteopenia and osteoporosis, particularly in women who experience early menopause.' If her clients can't take HRT, she advises them to double down on diet and exercise and refers them to other specialists who may prescribe different medications. Medication and exercise Brennan now takes daily and weekly tablets to treat her osteoporosis, Calcichew calcium supplements and vitamin D. She was advised to include squats in her regimen and has incorporated them into the exercise classes she attends three times a week. 'I also play golf and am a busy, hands-on grandmother,' she says. 'I'm trying to control what I can and focus on the positives. But I can't help but wonder what difference it might have made if I'd had a Dexa scan when I was younger. If we were all scanned at the age of 40 or 50, we'd be better informed about our bone health and in a position to do something about it sooner.' O'Loughlin took HRT for one year at the age of 29 to kickstart her menstrual cycle. It worked and she went on to have three children. O'Loughlin took HRT for one year at the age of 29 to kickstart her menstrual cycle. It worked and she went on to have three children. She also took Eltroxin, Calichew, and vitamin D and modified her diet to make sure she ate calcium-rich foods at every meal. 'But what I think made the most difference was weight-bearing exercise in the form of yoga,' she says. 'I started with a weekly class and built up to a daily practice.' Her scans show that she has reversed her condition. 'The last one showed no osteoporosis and only mild osteopenia,' she says. I couldn't believe it.' While she knows that everyone is different, O'Loughlin believes her story contains an important lesson. 'I took all the supplements and medication I was told to take,' she says. 'I did the weight-bearing exercise. I improved my diet. And look where I am today. There's an awful lot we can do even if we are diagnosed with this condition. And there is hope of recovery.'
Boston Globe
29-01-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Baseball's offseason isn't what it used to be. Meet the company at the center of the transformation.
But now, that view has been widely turned on its head. Advertisement 'Players now view offseasons as a chance to get better as opposed to rest or stay the same,' said Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer. 'The offseasons are focused on developing a new pitch, gaining velocity, whatever it might be. Before, guys didn't come in throwing 2 miles per hour harder or with a whole new pitch. Now it happens all the time.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Enter Email Sign Up That transformation owes in no small part to the rise of independent baseball facilities that challenged traditional approaches to player development and offseason conventions. Of those, one stands out for its reputation and impact: Driveline Baseball. Driveline has emerged, in the words of founder Kyle Boddy, as 'the best data-driven player development system in the world, in any sport.' 'Its influence is pretty profound,' said Pirates general manager Ben Cherington. This offseason, 55 big leaguers and 175 additional professionals (minor leagues, independent leagues, foreign leagues) flocked to one of the company's three facilities — a flagship location in the Pacific Northwest, a second in Phoenix, and a site in Tampa that opened this offseason — to train. Additional players consult with Driveline staff while training remotely. Big leaguers pay between $5,000 and $10,000 to train at Driveline in the offseason, and spend as much as $40,000 for full-season services, while minor leaguers spend $3,000 to $6,000. Advertisement Established stars now regularly train with Driveline. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Clayton Kershaw, Nolan Arenado, Xander Bogaerts, Kenley Jansen, and others are past or present trainees. Meanwhile, teams regularly hire Driveline staffers as coaches and front office members. More than 50 former Driveline staffers have been hired to work in professional baseball. The Red Sox have hired nine people from Driveline — more than any other team — The jerseys of some of the major league players who train at Driveline Baseball are displayed at the Kent, Wash., facility. Jason Redmond for The Boston Globe The Kent, Wash., facility resides somewhat unassumingly next to a cosmetics supply company in an industrial park about 6 miles from the Seattle airport. But in roughly 44,000 square feet of space, it offers a training atmosphere that not merely reflects the state of the art, but defines it. Elements include: ▪ A high-performance strength and conditioning area with a combination of strength tests that Driveline has refined to identify maximum exit velocities or pitch velocities. ▪ A Dexa (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) scan machine to measure bone, fat, muscle, and tissue density for more precise physical assessments. ▪ Numerous cages for hitting and throwing, all outfitted with technology to track exit velocities and launch angles as well as pitch velocities, movement, and locations, including the newly developed 'Intended Zone' product, which uses a touchscreen to identify a pitcher's intended location, then shows actual location on a screen behind the plate, while measuring the distance between the two. 🎯 Intended Zone Projector Bullpens 🎯 90 seconds of very good command for a high school pitcher across three pitch types. What do you think the average miss distance was for this session? 🤔 High school average is about 22", for the record. — Kyle Boddy (@drivelinekyle) ▪ A warehouse area where the company stocks its considerable training equipment, from weighted bats and weighted balls to Pulse monitors to track player workloads and apparel. ▪ Office space for onsite and remote meetings with players as well as Driveline's baseball operations and R&D efforts. Advertisement ▪ Screeching servers and tech stacks to power a baseball Death Star. The Driveline Launchpad is the home of serious motion capture analysis and much more. 🚀 Our Launchpads don't solve a Sports Science problem, they solve a baseball problem. A singular place for pitch design, biomechanical analysis, swing tracking, competitive batted ball… — Kyle Boddy (@drivelinekyle) ▪ And perhaps the signature area of the facility, the 'Launchpad,' which features a mound and batting area with force plates, 28 motion capture cameras (16 aimed at the batter's box, 12 at the mound), eight slow-motion, Edgertronic cameras, as well as HitTrax to measure ball flight from a pitcher and hitter. The entire area is synched with an auto trigger that Boddy designed, with customized software that integrates the visual and statistical data being captured by the technology. 'It's hard to describe everything we're doing unless you see it,' said Boddy. Driveline Baseball's Kent, Wash., facility is roughly 44,000 square feet and offers a training atmosphere that not merely reflects the state of the art, but often defines it. Jason Redmond for The Boston Globe Driveline comes from humble beginnings. Boddy, after coaching Little League and high school baseball, started the company in 2008, when he became frustrated by the lack of evidence-based research on how to help players improve. Puzzled by the absence of discussion about player development in 'Moneyball' and inspired in part by 'The Art and Science of Pitching,' co-written by Boddy discovered peer-reviewed academic research demonstrating that throwing with balls of varying weights improved velocity. He replicated both the studies and results. While his amateur client base could be counted on one hand for his first two years, his research — along with explanations of his program's success on a blog and Twitter — started to garner notice. Struggling professional pitchers began finding their way to Boddy as a beacon. Advertisement 'When you're an outcast yourself as a player, why not choose an outcast facility?' mused Boddy. Two of the first two minor leaguers to do so — Ryan Buchter and Caleb Cotham — broke through and reached the big leagues. Success snowballed. So did Driveline's development programs, which began drawing big leaguers while the company began expanding. Driveline's competitive training environments shook up the monotony of baseball's offseason. Jason Redmond for The Boston Globe Righthander Adam Ottavino, for instance, went to Driveline after struggling to a 5.06 ERA in 2017 (a jump from his 2.84 from 2013-16). He wanted to do pitch-design work using advanced technology near his New York home in the offseason, and spent a week at Driveline to lay a foundation. There, Ottavino received an education in how to use some of his own technologies, and worked to develop a cutter while refining the shape of his sinker and slider. The following year, he was a late-innings monster, with a 2.43 ERA and 36 percent strikeout rate. 'The atmosphere at the time was a little bit hard to explain — loud music, people really getting after it, kind of underground. But you could tell that people were really bought into what was going on,' said Ottavino. 'They were measuring everything. That was the first exposure I really had to that.' Driveline's competitive training environments shook up the monotony of the offseason. Instead of going through the motions, players competed with each other and themselves to post personal records in any number of statistical measures — strength gains, fastball velocity, or running pull-down throws into nets. Advertisement 'Competition is a massive aspect of everything we do,' said Driveline director of hitting Tanner Stokey. 'It's really important for gym culture. It's really important for results.' Driveline Baseball was founded in 2008 when Kyle Boddy became frustrated by the lack of evidence-based research on how to help players improve. Jason Redmond for The Boston Globe Driveline offered not merely technology but a sense of possibility that drastic improvement was within reach. Players are fueled by the ambitions, intellect, and round-the-clock work ethics of employees who were pushed by Boddy to seek new ways to propel player development and to translate data-fueled findings into easily digested information. There have been disappointments and there are skeptics. Boddy and others affiliated with Driveline weren't shy about critiquing conventional development methods and pitting themselves against the establishment. 'We don't try to be [an affront to traditional baseball], but yeah we are. That's just how it is,' said Boddy. 'Progress doesn't start inside the teams. It has to be an external force, because baseball is hard to change. Baseball's greatest strength is its history and its tradition, and its greatest weakness is its tradition and its history.' Such claims weren't well received, and because Driveline became known for velocity development, many blamed it as an accelerant in the game's injury epidemic. Boddy counters that — those who train at Driveline have lower injury rates than those who don't — but doesn't revel in the fact. 'The injury rates of players that train here is significantly lower than the average player. That's no notable goal,' said Boddy. 'That's like dunking on a 6-foot hoop.' Over time, the success stories — backed by reputable and replicable research — began to overtake skepticism, particularly as Driveline pushed forward with new programs and findings that helped dozens and then hundreds of players. The demand for and clientele seeking Driveline grew. Front office members and established big leaguers were drawn to the facility, leading to contracts with teams (notably including the Dodgers), a move to the cavernous facility in Kent in 2020, and new locations in Arizona and Florida. When strength tests in the high-performance area identify gaps between a player's peak fastball or exit velocity, biomechanical reviews — drawn from the Launchpad — identify delivery or swing inefficiencies. Driveline coaches introduce drills or strength programs designed to address those deficiencies. The integration of strength programs, baseball practice, and biomechanical coaching instruction produced results that became too compelling to ignore. Baseball player and former Driveline employee Jairus Richards (right) talks with trainer Eric Kozak during a batting session. Jason Redmond for The Boston Globe Driveline employees were hired around the sport — including a gig for Boddy as a consulting scout for the Astros in 2014, and later a full-time position as the Reds' director of pitching for the 2020 and '21 seasons. Their practices spread. 'Every single thing that they were doing [years ago] has been adopted in one way or another, by major league teams,' said Ottavino. 'They were ahead of their time.' With so many teams embracing many of the methods employed by Driveline, those who had not — including the Red Sox — worried they'd be behind the times if they failed to do the same, particularly as they overhauled player development staff and practices following the 2022 season. 'Were we actually pushing forward as much as we should have been or could have been?' Red Sox farm director Brian Abraham wondered. 'I think the biggest thing for me [about Driveline] was just the willingness to push the boundaries of what has been done and how we do things, and trying to do things better than the year before, better than the day before.' Paul Toboni, who was elevated to Red Sox VP of player development and scouting that offseason, and Abraham sought new voices for the organization to introduce scalable, data-driven, year-round programming. Driveline became a natural recruiting ground. 'I always just thought the best relationship with these facilities — not just Driveline but all facilities — is to try to get in bed with them and learn what they're doing and try and use that to best leverage the development of players,' said Toboni. The Red Sox took the plunge after the 2022 season. Jason Ochart — formerly Driveline's hitting director, who'd just been let go by the Phillies after four years as minor league hitting coordinator — was hired by the Sox as director of hitting development and program development. Related : That first drop became a flood. The Sox followed by bringing aboard another hitting instructor, Jon Soteropulos, from Driveline and hiring David Besky (a Driveline data scientist and pitching trainer) to the player development staff. The Red Sox have been thoroughly Driveline-ified, as reflected by significant shifts in how prospects train in the offseason. What had been an every-player-for-himself diaspora at the end of the year has been replaced by roughly 60 minor leaguers training in Fort Myers, where the team has staffers and support programs (nutrition and housing). 'We view development as a year-round process,' said Abraham. That approach has already seemingly had considerable impact. Kristian Campbell spent the 2023-24 offseason in Fort Myers, where the team conducted Driveline-like training. That contributed to the overhauled swing and training that turned him from a little-known fourth-round draftee into one of the top prospects in the sport. Such a development could be seen by Boddy and others at Driveline as a marker of accomplishment. But those who work there are uninterested in victory laps while continuing their efforts to find the next big thing. 'We don't have a World Series to win. We have to solve baseball. That's what we call it, solving baseball,' said Boddy. Will that happen? 'No, that's the best part,' said Boddy. 'The goal is no good if you can do it, but we'll get closer than anyone else. So that's pretty damn awesome.' Alex Speier can be reached at
