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BEST PRACTICES Supplements Improve Skin Health Claim Your Online Identity The availability of online health information combined with social media channels like Twitter and Facebook has created a new generation of empowered patients. And if doctors don't take steps to de���ne themselves online, patients will. This is the message Kevin Pho, MD, and medical publisher Susan Gay want convey in their new book Establishing, Managing and Protecting Your Online Reputation: A Social Media Guide for Physicians and Medical Practices. The book covers topics such as: ��� Why an online presence is important for doctors ��� How patients use social media to look for physicians and medical practices ��� How practices can brand themselves on the major social media sites and drive Google traf���c through content (a step-by-step guide) ��� Pro���les of major ratings sites, including Vitals, Yelp, Healthgrades, RateMDs. com, Angie's List, ZocDoc and Google+ Local ��� Tips for managing your online reputation ��� How to respond to online reviews For more information, visit Greenbranch Publishing at Greenbranch.com. 6 MARCH/APRIL 2013 | MedEsthetics Yoga Protects the Heart and Improves Vitality Aesthetic patients often look to their providers for more than cosmetic changes. They want to live longer, feel better and look as good as they feel. Many dermatologists recommend yoga as an effective stress-reducing strategy to help control the symptoms of chronic skin diseases, such as rosacea. Now there is more evidence that yoga offers a wide range of health bene���ts, including management of cardiac risks, a reduction in stress-related in���ammation, and improved vitality and mental health. Researchers at the University of Kansas Hospital followed 49 patients with atrial ���brillation who had no physical limitations. During the ���rst three-month control phase, participants were permitted to engage in any type of physical activity they were previously accustomed to doing. This was followed by the study phase where patients participated in 45-minute yoga sessions with a certi���ed professional three times a week for three months. Data showed the yoga intervention signi���cantly reduced the number of episodes of irregular heart beat among atrial ���brillation patients during the study phase compared to the control phase. Yoga also reduced depression and anxiety scores and improved quality of life scores in the areas of physical functioning, general health, vitality, social functioning and mental health. ���These ���ndings are important because many of the current conventional treatment strategies for atrial ���brillation include invasive procedures or medications with undesirable side effects. Success with these therapies varies widely, and they are often only modestly effective in controlling heart rhythm,��� said Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, MD, lead investigator of the study. ���It appears yoga has a signi���cant impact on helping to regulate patients' heart beat and improves their overall quality of life.��� �� THINKSTOCK/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM Ingesting antioxidants improves skin quality and reduces the signs of aging on the skin, according to a new study in Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology (2012:5 159-165). Researchers Daniela Buonocore, et al, of the University of Pavia in Pavia, Italy, performed a placebo-controlled, double blind study of 50 healthy patients between the ages of 35 and 65. Half of the group received a placebo taken once a day for 60 days, the other half received a commercial dietary supplement (Revidox, GMC Pharma) that contains 8mg transresveratrol derived from grape dried fruit extract and 3.75mg procyanidins derived from pomegranate dried fruit extract. After 60 days, the treated group saw a reduction in brown spot intensity, an increase in skin moisturization and skin elasticity and an elevation in skin antioxidant levels.