Health Secrets and Tips From Your Family Practitioners at Dartmouth Medical Center

Coffee and Prostate Cancer

2011-06-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Heavy coffee drinkers may have a reduced risk of prostate cancer, study suggests.
ABC World News (5/17, story 6, 2:10, Sawyer) reported, "Fifty-eight percent of Americans drink coffee every day. But there is word tonight that even as little as one cup of coffee, even decaf coffee, could have powerful health benefits." NBC Nightly News (5/17, story 5, 2:15, Williams) noted, "It comes from the Harvard School of Public Health; and it seems to hold strong evidence that coffee can help prevent prostate cancer." The CBS Evening News (5/17, story 6, 1:05, Couric) reported, "The study involved 47,000 men and it found those who drank a lot of coffee, six or more cups a day, reduced their risk of lethal prostate cancer."
The Washington Post (5/17, Stein) "The Checkup" blog reported that researchers analyzed data from "47,911 US men who participated in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study." As part of the "large, ongoing" examination of men's health issues, participants reported their "coffee consumption every four years between 1986 and 2008." Interestingly, the men who "consumed the most coffee, which was defined as six or more cups every day, were nearly 20 percent less likely to develop any form of prostate cancer," the researchers reported in the May 17 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
According to Bloomberg News (5/18, Ostrow), the study team found that men who consumed "six or more" cups of regular or decaffeinated coffee also had a "60 percent lower risk of developing deadly metastatic prostate cancer," and one to three cups "cut the risk of lethal prostate cancer by 30 percent." The findings suggest "non-caffeine elements in coffee" may provide the benefit. Coffee contains "compounds that can reduce inflammation and regulate insulin"; and previous research linked it to a lower risk of "Parkinson's disease, type 2 diabetes, liver cancer, cirrhosis and gallstone disease," the study authors noted.
According to HealthDay (5/17, Reinberg), lead researcher Kathryn Wilson, PhD, pointed out that coffee is a "major source of antioxidants that might have anti-cancer effects," and it may impact sex-hormone levels as well. Notably, even after accounting for "lifestyle factors, such as age, smoking, obesity and exercise, the decline in the odds for prostate cancer remained."
Meanwhile, WebMD (5/17, Doheny) noted that, according to the American Cancer Society, about "217,730 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed" in the US in 2010 and approximately "32,000 men" died of the disease. The CBS News (5/18, Freeman) website also covers the story.

ACO Options

2011-06-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

Obama Administration unveils new ACO options.
The Washington Post (5/18, Goldstein) reports, "The Obama administration is trying to hasten the spread of new arrangements to coordinate and pay for the health care of older Americans, even as major groups of hospitals and doctors are skeptical of the government's plans." Notably, Administration health officials "announced a program Tuesday under which medical teams and health systems could begin the arrangements, known as 'accountable care organizations,' for Medicare patients by the fall." But just last week, the "American Medical Group Association, an organization of nearly 400 physician groups and health systems" in a letter to CMS Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick, noted that a "survey had found that more than 90 percent of its members would not sign up as an ACO," because the "proposed rules, it said, are 'overly prescriptive'" and "operationally burdensome."
The Hill (5/18, Pecquet) reports in its "Healthwatch" blog that the Administration "announced three new initiatives to encourage physicians and hospitals to" adopt ACOs. These include "a Pioneer ACO Model aimed at organizations that have already started coordinating care for patients," and "an Advanced Payment ACO Initiative that would allow certain participants in the program to get part of their expected savings up front to invest in care coordination." In addition, the Administration is offering "free Accelerated Development Learning Sessions to help providers learn how they can improve care delivery and coordination."
Kaiser Health News (5/18, Gold) reports that Dr. Berwick "said in a news briefing that the complaints from provider groups were 'nothing we didn't anticipate' and showed they were engaged in the ACO discussions. The Pioneer program, he said, is another 'exciting new option.'" Meanwhile, some "health care experts say the new program is intended to get some of the major health systems," such as the American Hospital Association, "back at the ACO table." CQ (5/18, Reichard, Norman, Subscription Publication) also covers the story.

Pap Test Study Results

2011-06-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

Study confirms three-year cervical cancer screening guidelines.
The Wall Street Journal (5/19, Gryta, Subscription Publication) reports that a study, to be detailed at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting next month, established that undergoing cervical cancer screening every three years is safe for most women. The study also showed that that for women at risk for cervical cancer, testing for HPV in combination with a Pap smear is not necessary. The Journal quotes lead study author Hormuzd Katki, PhD, from the National Cancer Institute as saying, "We concluded that a single negative HPV test provided five years of extremely low cancer risk for women, and this risk was not appreciably lowered by also having a normal pap test."
The AP (5/19, Marchione) notes that the study team concluded that screening women "with no symptoms for ovarian cancer with a blood test and an ultrasound exam" does not prevent deaths and leads to "thousands of false alarms, unneeded surgeries and serious complications." The study could be considered a "warning to people who get screening tests that aren't recommended, or who question whether screening can ever hurt. 'The answer is, it could hurt a lot,'" said Dr. Allen Lichter, the CEO of ASCO, which published over 4,000 "studies Wednesday, ahead of its annual meeting next month."
The CNN (5/18, Smith) "The Chart" blog reported that the researchers followed "331,818 women who had Pap tests, HPV tests, or both." After comparing the two tests, the determined that a "positive HPV test was more predictive of cervical cancer than a positive Pap. Same goes for a negative test." Dr. Katki said Pap testing "should only be reserved for HPV-positive women."
MedPage Today (5/18, Smith) noted that the current guidelines from the "American Cancer Society say women over 30 who have had three normal Pap test results in a row can get screened every two to three" years. The new study "provides 'very solid data to make us comfortable' with recommendations for a three-year gap between tests, according to ASCO President George Sledge Jr., MD, of Indiana University in Indianapolis." The study was also covered by HealthDay (5/18, Gardner), and WebMD (5/18, Mann).

Paralyzed Man Stands

2011-06-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

Experimental electrical stimulation treatment allows paralyzed man to stand on his own.
ABC World News (5/19, story 11, 2:00, Muir) reported, "More than a million Americans are living with spinal cord injuries in this country."
The CBS Evening News (5/19, story 2, 2:40, Couric) reported, "Now, for the first time, a patient paralyzed from the waist down, a 25-year-old man, was able to stand up on his own and take a few steps," thanks to "an experimental new treatment."
USA Today (5/20, Marcus, Szabo) reports that, according to research published online May 20 in The Lancet, "scientists from the University of Louisville, UCLA, and the California Institute of Technology" used "electronic stimulation of the spinal cord" to help Rob Summers, who was "struck by a vehicle in a hit-and-run accident" five years ago.
As a result of the treatment, Summers can "move his hips, knees, ankles and toes voluntarily," the Los Angeles Times (5/20, Maugh) reports. What's more, he has "regained some bladder and sexual function after intensive rehabilitation and two years of electrical stimulation to his damaged spinal cord with a device normally used for pain relief."
The New York Times (5/20, A12, Grady, Subscription Publication) reports that "surgeons implanted electrodes in the lower part of his back to stimulate his spinal cord. The electrodes are attached to a pulse generator, similar to a pacemaker, which is also fully implanted and controlled by a remote device outside the body." Next, "the device was switched on for about two hours a day, for therapy sessions." Amazingly, just after three days, Summers was able to support his own body weight briefly, effectively standing on his own after the release of a supporting harness.

New York Smokin Ban

2011-06-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

New York City outdoor smoking ban effective.
The CBS Evening News (5/22, story 9, 2:00, Mitchell) reported, "Smokers considering a visit to New York City should consider themselves warned. The city that has already extinguished most indoor smoking is taking aim now at the great outdoors." CBS (Dow) explained, "New York City is now taking the war against tobacco a step further with a new law that goes into effect tomorrow banning smoking outdoors at beaches, boardwalks, parks, and pedestrian plazas. .. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, a former smoker, pushed for the law that aims to drastically reduce if not eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke."

DASH Diet is Best

2011-06-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

US News & World Report ranks DASH as best diet.
The CNN (6/8, Park) "The Chart" blog reported that although the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet, which was "created by the National Institutes of Health," does not have the "marketing firepower that commercial diets with now-svelte celebrities have," it took the "top stop" in US News and World Reports' best diets rankings.
The New York Daily News (6/9, Glodwert) notes that DASH "adheres to principles that seem simple, yet aren't widely followed during this era of convenience food and expanding obesity: balance, specifically of protein, good carbs, and fats," US News said in a press release. The diet's menus feature "vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy products, as well as whole grains, fish, poultry and nuts. Limited portions of red meats, sweets and sugary beverages are allowed as well." Notably, it has been shown to "help girls keep excessive weight off during their teen years." The Huffington Post (6/8, Pearson) also covered the story.

Chemicals and Cancer Risk

2011-06-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

Updated government carcinogens report links two common chemicals with cancer risk.
On its website, ABC News (6/10, Murray) reported that HHS added "eight more substances to its 'known human carcinogen' or 'reasonably anticipated to be carcinogen' lists today, one week after a World Health Organization study concluded that cell phones may cause cancer."
The Los Angeles Times (6/10, Dennis) "Booster Shots" blog reported that formaldehyde "now officially falls into the 'known to be a human carcinogen' category," and styrene can now "officially be described as 'reasonably anticipated' to be cancer-causing," according to the Department of Health and Human Services' updated " Report on Carcinogens."
In a front-page story, the New York Times (6/13, A1, Harris, Subscription Publication) reports that the federal government on Friday issued warnings about the "two materials used daily by millions of Americans." The report by NIH's National Toxicology Program found evidence that styrene, which is used in "boats, bathtubs, and in disposable foam plastic cups and plates," may increase the risks of "cancer of the pancreas and esophagus," the report found. Consumers can be exposed to styrene from the "fumes of building materials, photocopiers and tobacco smoke." According to the AP (6/11), NIH says the greatest exposure to styrene is "through cigarette smoking."
The Time (6/10, Walsh) "Healthland" explained that the report found that "concerning amounts of formaldehyde could be encountered in plywood and particle boards, as well as in hair salons and in mortuaries," and the exposure is "most intense" among workers in "some manufacturing plants." With formaldehyde and styrene, the government also added captafol, cobalt-tungsten carbide, "certain inhalable glass wool fibers, o-nitrotoluene," and riddelliine to its twelfth report, bringing the total to 240 carcinogens. Notably, studies of mortuary workers "exposed to high levels of formaldehyde have shown increased incidences of certain kinds of rare nasal cancers."
The New York Daily News (6/10) noted that the report also linked formaldehyde to leukemia. The American Cancer Society "said consumers should not worry about cups or food containers, but should shelve personal products with formaldehyde."
The Washington Post (6/11, Stein) noted that most of the cancer risk evidence "came from people exposed to relatively high levels in industrial settings. 'A listing...does not by itself mean that a substance will cause cancer,'" said Dr. John Bucher, associate director of the National Toxicology Program. Moreover, Dr. Bucher said the updated listings "do not trigger any immediate new restrictions on the substances, but other government agencies may use the information in the future as part of their regulatory decisions." He said individuals can use the list to "make personal choices," noting that most people's "routine exposure to the newly listed substances was probably low."

Breast Cancer Advice

2011-06-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

Oncologist: Advice for daughters of women with breast cancer is for all women.
The Wall Street Journal (6/13, Hobson, Subscription Publication) "Health Blog" reported that iCarly co-star Jennette McCurdy has been posting on the Journal's Speakeasy blog about her mother's struggle with advanced breast cancer. Thus, the "Health Blog" asked Dr. Marisa Weiss, a breast cancer oncologist, who survived breast cancer and founded breastcancer.org, how she would advise young women who may be concerned their mother's breast cancer increases their risk of developing the disease. The Journal quotes Weiss, who co-wrote "Taking Care of Your 'Girls': A Breast Health Guide for Girls, Teens and In-Betweens," with her own daughter, as saying that because most breast cancer cases are not hereditary, "all women and girls need to be mindful of how to reduce" breast cancer risk. Weiss' recommendations include maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, minimizing alcoholic drinks, and avoiding smoking.

Dartmouth Medical on Facebook

2011-06-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

Dartmouth Medical Center is now on Facebook.

Take a look at our site to see how our office is developing and for updates on our services.

Alzheimers Risk Diet

2011-06-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

Low-fat, low-glycemic diet may lower risk for Alzheimer's.
HealthDay (6/13, Gardner) reported, "The low-fat, low-glycemic diet often promoted for general health and well-being may lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease if adopted early in life," according to a study published online June 13 in the Archives of Neurology. For the study, "twenty healthy adults and 29 with mild memory problems that could be predictive of Alzheimer's followed either a high-fat, high simple-carbohydrate diet ('HIGH' diet) or a diet lower in fat and simple carbohydrates ('LOW' diet)."
"Healthy people who ate high-fat, high-glycemic-index diets for one month saw increases in spinal fluid levels of beta-amyloid, a fibrous protein that clogs the brains of people who have Alzheimer's disease," WebMD (6/13, Goodman) reported. "Eating a low-fat, low-glycemic-index diet, on the other hand, lowered levels of beta-amyloid in healthy adults and improved other markers of inflammation and damage in both groups." And, "for both groups, the low-fat, low-glycemic-index diet also improved delayed visual memory, which is the ability to remember and recognize complex patterns."

Weight Loss Surgery Risk Factors

2011-06-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

Researchers provide top six weight-loss surgery risk factors.
The Los Angeles Times (6/15, Roan) "Booster Shots" blog reported that although weight-loss surgery is "safe and effective for most people," complications do occur. Researchers reported Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery that they had "devised a list of the top six risk factors." The factors include age, type of operation (gastric bypass or gastric band), surgical technique (open or minimally invasive surgery), patient gender, insurance type, and presence of type 2 diabetes.
Rush to discharge weight-loss surgery patients may raise risks. HealthDay (6/15, Preidt) reported that weight loss surgery "patients who are discharged from the hospital too soon after undergoing gastric bypass have an increased risk of complications and death," according to findings presented at the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery meeting. After analyzing data from "nearly 52,000 gastric bypass" patients, researchers found that those released from the hospital the "day of surgery were 12 times more likely to have serious complications (1.9 percent versus 0.16 percent) and 13 times more likely to die than patients who left the hospital after the US average of a two-day stay."

Abuse Proof Oxycodone

2011-06-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

FDA approves abuse-resistant form of oxycodone.
The AP (6/20) reported, "Pfizer Inc. and Acura Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday the Food and Drug Administration approved a powerful painkiller that is designed to be harder to abuse." The agency "cleared marketing of Oxecta [oxycodone HCl tablets] as an immediate-release treatment for moderate to severe pain. The drug is designed to discourage common methods of abuse like crushing or dissolving, and it contains a compound that irritates the nose if it is snorted."

Foods and Weight Gain

2011-06-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

Certain foods may lead to more weight gain than others.
ABC World News (6/22, story 7, 2:35, Sawyer) reported that "there's some specific food targets that may be the biggest culprits" behind weight gain, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The AP (6/23, Chang) reports that for the study, which received funding from the National Institutes of Health, physicians "analyzed changes in diet and lifestyle habits of 120,877 people from three long-running medical studies. All were health professionals and not obese at the start." Participants' "weight was measured every four years for up to two decades, and they detailed their diet on questionnaires."
USA Today (6/23, Hellmich) reports that participants "gained an average of 3.35 pounds over four-year periods and almost 17 pounds over the two decades."
The Washington Post (6/23, Stein) reports, "Among all the foods studied, potatoes stood out." The researchers "found that even mashed, baked or boiled potatoes were unexpectedly plumping, perhaps because of their effect on the hormone insulin."
CNN /Health.com (6/23, Harding) reports that "eating one serving of potato chips per day was associated with an extra 1.7 pounds every four years, while a daily serving of french fries was associated with an extra 3.4 pounds."
The Los Angeles Times (6/23, Hernandez) reports that the researchers also found that "for each additional sugary soft drink consumed per day, participants in the study gained an average of 1 pound over four years. Extra servings of red meats and processed meats did only slightly less damage." Meanwhile, "consuming an extra alcoholic drink translated into close to half a pound more on the scale every four years."
Bloomberg News (6/23, Ostrow) reports, however, that "yogurt helped people lose about 0.82 pounds, the study found." Meanwhile, "eating nuts...lowered weight by 0.57 pounds." The Wall Street Journal (6/23, Hobson, Subscription Publication) also covers the story.

Reflux and Eating

2011-05-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

Experts say major culprit of acid reflux is eating too much.
In a front-page story, Sacramento Bee (5/12, 1A, Creamer) reported that acid reflux is "on the rise in America, with 25 million people experiencing daily symptoms," up from "15 million only a decade ago," according to the American Gastroenterological Association. Moreover, another 60 million report having heartburn once a month. "Blame stress and an aging population -- and above all, experts say, blame Americans' habit of eating too much," because even modest weight gain can lead to acid reflux. Women with a BMI of "25 to 27, considered only slightly overweight, are more than twice as likely to develop the disease, Boston University researchers have found."

Vitamin D and Psoriasis

2011-05-15T09:21:00.000-07:00

Study explains why vitamin D may benefit patients with psoriasis.
WebMD (5/12, Boyles) reported, "Ultraviolet light therapy and vitamin D creams are widely prescribed treatments for psoriasis, and now a new study may help explain why they work for so many patients." Investigators "say the vitamin D-based treatments increase the binding of a peptide called cathelicidin to DNA, which, in turn, inhibits the inflammatory response that triggers psoriasis." This "finding may one day lead to better treatments for the painful skin condition that specifically target cathelicidin." The study was published in the May 11 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Toddler Sleep Disruption

2011-05-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

Marital instability may have negative impact on toddlers' sleep patterns.
The CNN (5/11, Hagan) "The Chart" blog reported that infants "exposed to their parents' marital discord may be more likely to experience sleep issues during toddlerhood," according to a study published in the journal Child Development. After following 357 families, all of whom had adopted unrelated infants "during the first three months of the child's life," researchers found that marital "instability when an infant was nine months old predicted whether the child would have issues falling asleep and staying asleep at 18 months of age."
The Time (5/11, Rochman) "Healthland" blog reported that the researchers assessed marital instability "via questions that asked mostly middle-class, white, educated husbands and wives individually whether they'd considered consulting an attorney and, more generally, 'has the thought of separating or getting a divorce crossed your mind?'" The higher a couple "scored on marital instability measures, the greater the likelihood of them reporting their children had sleep problems -- falling asleep, staying asleep, or frequent night wakings." Notably, the association between "marital discord and poor infant sleep remained constant even when factoring in birth order, parental anxiety, and infant fussiness." In contrast, HealthDay (5/11, Preidt) noted, the researchers found that infants' "sleep patterns had no effect on parents' relationships."

Bedbug Bacteria

2011-05-15T09:17:00.002-07:00

Bedbugs found carrying two types of drug-resistant bacteria.
The Washington Post (5/12, Sun) reports that "a peer-reviewed study (pdf) published online Wednesday in" the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, a publication of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicates that bedbugs "could play a role in transmitting disease. In a tiny sample of bedbugs, collected from a small number of residents living in crowded conditions in a poor neighborhood in Canada, researchers found the drug-resistant bacterium known as MRSA."
For the study, USA Today (5/12, Weise) reports, "researchers took five bedbugs that patients had brought in and crushed and analyzed them." Not only did investigators find "MRSA on three of them," they also found on the other two bedbugs "VRE â€“ vancomycin-resistant enterococcus faecium, a less dangerous form of antibiotic-resistant bacteria."
The AP (5/12, Stobbe) reports, "Bedbugs have not been known to spread disease, and there's no clear evidence that the five bedbugs found on the patients or their belongings had spread MRSA or a second less dangerous drug-resistant germ." Nevertheless, "bedbugs can cause itching that can lead to excessive scratching. That can cause breaks in the skin that make people more susceptible to these bacteria, noted...one of the study's authors."
According to HealthDay (5/11, Preidt), "These findings suggest that bedbugs may act as a 'hidden environmental reservoir' that promotes the spread of MRSA in overcrowded and impoverished communities, the researchers said in a CDC news release." The researchers concluded, "Further studies are needed to characterize the association between S. aureus and bedbugs."
Also covering the story were the National Journal (5/12, Fox, Subscription Publication), Bloomberg News (5/11, Peterson), the Los Angeles Times (5/11, Cevallos) "Booster Shots" blog, and WebMD (5/11, DeNoon).

Drug Shortage

2011-05-15T09:17:00.001-07:00

Drug shortages cast as "national epidemic."
The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (5/12, Maher) reports on "the growing ranks of Americans affected by a national epidemic of drug shortages" that have made it difficult to find "certain antibiotics, high blood pressure medicine, and muscle relaxants" as well as injectable gold, ADHD medications. "Even more worrisome are shortages of injected drugs used for cancer treatment, anesthesia during surgeries and other life-saving functions." The shortage of generic drugs is "particularly critical to people whose insurance will pay only for generics." The FDA "maintains a website that lists medically necessary products -- used to treat serious illnesses -- that are difficult or impossible to get," and "as of Wednesday there were 192 drugs on the shortage list."

Health Care Costs

2011-05-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

Report: Health costs have more than doubled for some US families over past nine years.
The AP (5/12) reports, "A new study from the consulting firm Milliman says healthcare costs have more than doubled for some American families over the past nine years, and they show few signs of dropping."
CNNMoney (5/12, Kavilanz) reports, "American families who are insured through their jobs average healthcare costs of $19,393 this year, up 7.3%, or $1,319 from last year, according to...Milliman." Perhaps "more significantly, employers are making workers shoulder an even bigger share of total healthcare expenses." Meanwhile, "of the $1,319 annual increase, workers' out-of-pocket costs this year rose 9.2."

Coffee and Breast Cancer

2011-05-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Daily coffee consumption may be associated with reduced breast cancer risk.
HealthDay (5/10, Mozes) reported that women who "drink a substantial amount of coffee each day may lower their risk for developing a particular type of breast cancer," according to a study in Breast Cancer Research. The researchers assessed "5,929 Swedish women, aged 50 to 74," half of whom had breast cancer. Drinking coffee "appeared to spur a 'strong reduction' in risk for ER-negative breast cancer." Women who drank "five cups of coffee a day had a 33 percent to 57 percent lower risk for ER-negative cancer than did those who drank less than one cup a day."
However, WebMD (5/10, Doheny) noted that a "US expert warns that the new finding about reduction in risk for ER-negative breast cancer could be due to chance. The only solid message from this study and previous ones, says Shumin Zhang, MD, ScD, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, is this: 'Drinking coffee doesn't seem to increase the overall risk of breast cancer.'"

Twins and Longer Life

2011-05-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Women who have twins may live longer, study suggests.
The Los Angeles Times (5/10, Stein) "Booster Shots" blog reported, "Women who have twins naturally may live longer and have other child-bearing advantages compared with non-twin-bearing mothers," according to a study published online May 10 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. After examining "statistics on 58,786 women who were born between 1807 and 1899," investigators "discovered that twin-bearing mothers lived longer after menopause."
On its website, KTVX-TV Salt Lake City, UT (5/10), an ABC affiliate, reported, "Ken Smith, a professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah, is the senior author of the study funded by the National Institute on Aging." Smith "says mothers of multiples may not only carry a gene that increases their likelihood of twins, it may be the gene that causes the improved health of that woman." He stated, "The women are healthier to begin with, and it's that initial health status, that allows them to bear twins, and that also allows them to live longer."

Tanning Risk

2011-05-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

Many US tanning salons not warning teens about skin cancer risks.
HealthDay (5/10, Preidt) reported, "Many tanning salons in the United States don't warn teens and young women about the skin cancer risks posed by tanning beds, according to" the results of an online poll conducted by the American Academy of Dermatology. The "poll included more than 3,800 white females aged 14 to 22 from across the country who were asked about their tanning knowledge, attitudes and behavior." Notably, "the survey found that 43 percent of indoor tanners said they had never been warned about the dangers of tanning beds by tanning salon employees, and 30 percent said they hadn't noticed any warning labels on tanning beds."

Home Health Risks

2011-05-15T07:36:00.000-07:00

Florida physicians will be banned from asking patients whether there are guns in the home.
The Los Angeles Times (5/10, Khan) "Booster Shots" blog reported, "Doctors will be banned from asking patients whether there are guns in the home, under legislation expected to be signed into law by Florida Gov. Rick Scott." The blog entry pointed out, "Whether a person has guns in the house may not immediately sound like a medical or health-oriented question -- unless you count not dying as a health issue." For example, physicians may ask their patients if they have a swimming pool to counsel them on related safety issues, particularly if they have youngsters. "According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a third of all unintentional deaths of children between one and four years of age were due to drowning in 2007." Like swimming pools, firearms in the home pose a safety risk, the blog entry observed.

Meditation Prescription

2011-05-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

More physicians referring patients for meditation, other alternative treatments.
ABC World News (5/10, story 7, 2:50, Sawyer) reported, "There is a new report finding 40% of us now are turning to alternative treatments, especially meditation." ABC (Harris) added, "Meditation, once considered supremely flakey, is now being used by the Marines, by corporate executives from General Mills to Target to Google, by students in classrooms all over America and now, according to this new study, by roughly three million patients on the recommendation of their doctors."
The Boston Globe "Daily Dose" blog reported, "A study published yesterday in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that some three percent of Americans, who responded to a government health survey, were practicing some sort of mind-body therapy as a result of a physician referral." That is "far less than the more than 15 percent of respondents surveyed who said they initiated these therapies on their own. But, hey, it's a start, considering how resistant doctors have been to adopting alternative remedies that veer away from mainstream medicine."

Cancer and Insurance Rates

2011-05-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

More patients survive cancer but face battle over insurance costs.
In the Huffington Post (5/10), Cedars-Sinai Department of Medicine Chair Glenn D. Braunstein, MD, writes, "'You have cancer.' Those three words once braced patients for a worst-case scenario." For some, the "bad news is, it still does. But now there's positive news to report": The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute have "released new findings saying that one in every 20 Americans is now a cancer survivor." The data show deceased mortality rates "in both sexes for cancers of the colon, brain, stomach, kidney and lung, as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia." Meanwhile, in their "continued fight for health, cancer survivors also often must battle insurers," and higher insurance "costs for a longer period of time mean a harder-hit pocket book."

Exercise and Colon Polyps

2011-05-15T07:31:00.002-07:00

Even minimal exercise may protect against colon polyps.
HealthDay (5/8, Gardner) reported, "Even a little exercise may ward off polyps in the colon, which are sometimes precursors to cancer," according to findings presented Sunday at Digestive Disease Week in Chicago. In study, half of the nearly 1,000 middle-aged patients of "different ethnic and racial" groups, who were at "no increased risk for colon cancer or polyps" exercised for "at least an hour a week." About "two-thirds" of the participants were overweight. By performing screening colonoscopies, the researchers found that participants who "exercised one or more hours a week had a 25.3 percent risk of polyps, versus 33.2 percent for those who didn't meet this exercise threshold. ... Also, 'individuals who exercised for at least three years had increased protection from colon polyps,'" said study author Dr. Nelson Sanchez from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Childhood Food Allergies

2011-05-15T07:31:00.001-07:00

One in 12 children may suffer from food allergies.
NBC Nightly News (5/8, story 7, 2:15, Holt) reported, "A new study to be published in the Journal of Pediatrics will show a big increase in the number of children who suffer from food allergies," some of which "can be life threatening." NBC (Sanders) explained that a new study "funded by the Food Allergy Initiative...found one in 12 children have food allergies, almost twice as many as initially thought. Forty percent of those with allergies have a life-threatening condition."

Airplane Emergencies

2011-05-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

Physicians urge airlines to develop better in-flight medical-emergency procedures.
HealthDay (5/7, Preidt) reported that the airline industry "needs to standardize procedures and equipment for in-flight medical emergencies," according to a commentary published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Over a "five-year period, European airlines identified 10,000 in-flight medical emergencies, but the issue doesn't get the attention it deserves," said Dr. study authors Melissa Mattison and Dr. Mark Zeidel, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. They also noted that US Federal Aviation Administration "requires flight attendants to be trained in CPR and the use of automated external defibrillators, yet does not require standard curriculum or testing." The authors outlined a "four-step plan to improve the handling of in-flight emergencies."

ER Wait Times

2011-05-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

Redirecting non-urgent visitors may reduce ED wait times.
The Wall Street Journal (5/9, Martin, Subscription Publication) spotlighted some solutions to alleviate increasingly longer emergency-department wait times. For one, urgent-care centers or retail healthcare clinics could accommodate approximately 14% to 27% of all visits that presently take at hospital emergency-departments, according to a study published in the September 2010 issue of Health Affairs. Programs that refer non-urgent ED visitors elsewhere are working as well. For example, in 2006, the Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, started using a program that refers non-urgent ED patients to alternate providers. According to Aurora Sinai's ED Director Dr. Paul Coogan, the program enabled the hospital to reduce its ED visits by roughly 23% annually.

Smokers in Court

2011-05-06T17:37:00.000-07:00

Court rules smokers may sue tobacco industry two years after developing related disease.
The Los Angeles Times (5/6, Dolan) reports, "Smokers may sue the tobacco industry once they develop a disease like lung cancer, even if they suffered different smoking-related ailments years earlier, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday." In the case before the court, "Nikki Pooshs, a former smoker, was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 1989 and a couple of years later with periodontal disease," but she "did not sue the tobacco industry until she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2003." Cigarette makers "argued that her suit should be dismissed because the timetable for suing began when she first discovered that smoking had injured her in 1989."
The San Francisco Chronicle (5/6, Egelko) reports, "A federal judge dismissed the suit, saying Pooshs' two-year clock had started running when she was diagnosed with a noncancerous lung disease in 1989." She had known that "both illnesses were smoking-related," the judge said. Pooshs "appealed to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which then asked the state's high court, the top authority on California law, to interpret the timetables," and on Thursday, the justices "ruled unanimously that someone diagnosed with a new disease, not caused by previous illnesses, has two years to sue from the date of the diagnosis."

Bisphosphonates and Fractures

2011-05-06T17:36:00.000-07:00

Bisphosphonates may increase rare fracture risk.
The Wall Street Journal (5/5, Marcus, Subscription Publication) reports that, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the use of bisphosphonates increase the risk rare fractures of the thigh bone.
HealthDay (5/4, Reinberg) reported that, for the study, Dr. Per Aspenberg, of LinkÃ¶ping University in Sweden, and colleagues, "collected data on 12,777 women, aged 55 and older, who had fractured femurs in 2008. Among these women, they identified 59 with atypical fractures." The researchers "used data from registries to estimate the use of bisphosphonates. In addition, they compared the 59 cases of atypical fractures with 263 women who had typical fractures."
MedPage Today (5/4, Gever) reported, "Whereas the rate of atypical subtrochanteric femoral fractures in the general population of older Swedish women not using bisphosphonates was 0.09 per 10,000 person-years, it was 5.5 per 10,000 person-years among those who did take the drugs (age-adjusted relative risk 47.3, 95% CI 25.6 to 87.3)."
WebMD (5/4, Doheny) reported that duration of use "affected risk." For every "100 days of bisphosphonate use, the risk of the unusual fracture rose by 30%" but the risks "declined quickly after the drug was stopped." The risk was "reduced by 70% per year since the last use of the drug"; and for "one unusual fracture to occur, 2,000 women had to take the bisphosphonate drugs for one year."

Adderall Shortage

2011-05-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

Drug to treat AD/HD in short supply.
The Washington Post (5/4, Stein) "The Checkup" blog reported that "reports are emerging that many parents are having a hard time finding some drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). The biggest problem appears to be shortages of the drug Adderall XR (Amphetamine/Dextroamphetamine) and its two generic versions." According to Shire Pharmaceuticals spokesperson "Matt Cabrey, the problem is due to 'supply and distribution irregularities' that 'are due mainly to the restricted amount of active ingredient' used to make the drugs."

New Diabetes Drug

2011-05-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

FDA approves new type 2 diabetes treatment.
Bloomberg News (5/3, Peterson) reports, "Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH won US approval of a new drug to improve blood glucose control in people with Type 2 diabetes." The medication, Trajenta (linagliptin) was "shown to be safe and effective in eight clinical studies involving about 3,800 patients with Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease," the Food and Drug Administration said in a statement.
The AP (5/3, Perrone) reports that the FDA approved the a DPP-4 inhibitor as a "stand-alone treatment or in combination with older diabetes" medications. Boehringer and Lilly "submitted eight studies of the drug that enrolled more than 3,800 patients. The drug consistently improved blood sugar control when compared to placebo. The most common side effects of the drug were respiratory infection, sore throat, muscle pain and headache."
MedPage Today (5/2, Fiore) noted that unlike the "other approved DPP-4 inhibitors sitagliptin (Januvia) and saxagliptin (Onglyza), linagliptin is not excreted through the kidneys, so it may be especially appropriate for patients who have renal problems." According to Medscape (5/2, Lowes), linagliptin, which "comes in tablet form, boosts the level of hormones that stimulate the release of insulin after a meal by blocking an enzyme called dipeptidyl peptidase-4." HealthDay (5/2) also covered the story.

Children's Hospital Stay

2011-05-06T17:32:00.000-07:00

Children whose parents do not speak English fluently have longer inpatient hospital stays than peers.
MedPage Today (5/2, Smith) reported, "When parents don't speak English well, their children may have longer inpatient stays if they need to be hospitalized," according to a study published online in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. For the nine-year retrospective analysis, Michael Levas, MD, and colleagues from Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Missouri, reviewed medical record of "1,257 children admitted to their hospital from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2008 for infection requiring prolonged antibiotic treatment" and found that "sick children with parents whose English proficiency was limited spent 60% longer in hospital than those whose parents spoke fluently."

Social People and Dementia

2011-05-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

Highly social individuals may have decreased risk of dementia.
The Time (5/3, Szalavitz) "Healthland" blog reports that the most "social seniors had a 70% reduction in the rate of cognitive decline, compared with their least social peers," according to a study in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. Researchers followed "1,138 people" (average age 79) without dementia for five years. They found that each "one-point increase on the social activity score was linked to a 47% drop in the rate of decline in cognitive function." An earlier study of the "same group of elderly participants by the same researchers also found that each one-point increase in sociability reduced the risk of becoming physically disabled by 43%."

Waist Fat Risk

2011-05-06T17:28:00.000-07:00

Fat around waist may increase risk of death in patients with coronary artery disease.
The Los Angeles Times (5/2, Healy) "Booster Shots" blog reported that, "for people with coronary artery disease, including those with a 'normal, healthy' body-mass index (or BMI), having even a little flubber around the middle is a bad omen, increasing the risk of death as much as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day or having very high cholesterol," according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The researchers found that "having a BMI in the 'overweight' or 'obese' category does not, by itself, imply a grim prognosis."
The Wall Street Journal (5/3, Winslow, Subscription Publication) reports that, according to Michael Lauer, director of cardiovascular sciences at the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, "Fat is not created equal and where fat is located makes a difference."
CNN /Health.com (5/3, Harding) reports that "the paradox appears to be explained by the simple fact that BMI is a very flawed measure of heart risk. Waist size provides a far more accurate way to predict a heart patient's chances of dying at an early age from a heart attack or other causes, the study found."
MedPage Today (5/2, Smith) reported that "the findings could have important clinical implications, the researchers argued, because it's generally accepted that if body mass index is normal, 'no further measures of obesity are necessary, and no lifestyle modifications to induce weight loss might be recommended.'"

Concierge Medicine

2011-05-06T17:26:00.000-07:00

More physicians opting for concierge medicine.
In the New York Times (4/30, B6, Subscription Publication) Wealth Matters column, Paul Sullivan wrote about "a growing subset of" healthcare: concierge medicine. "MDVIP, which has 450 concierge doctors in 34 states, charges patients $1,500 to $1,800 a year. Their doctors are each limited to 600 patients, whereas, the company says, most primary care physicians serve at least 2,000 patients." The company "says appointments with doctors 'start on time and last as long as necessary' and can usually be made the same day or the next one."

Infants and Herbs

2011-05-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

FDA researchers find infants being given potentially harmful herbal supplements.
The AP (5/2) reports, "New research suggests many US babies are fed herbal supplements or teas." A study by Food and Drug Administration researchers "was released Monday in the journal Pediatrics and is billed as the first to examine broad use of such products in American infants."
Bloomberg News (5/2, Ostrow) reports that the researchers found that "one in 10 infants are given herbal teas and supplements to ease digestion or fussiness." The investigators found that "gripe water, a formula containing ginger and fennel used for colic and gas, chamomile, an herb used in tea, and teething tablets, which may also contain botanical ingredients, were the most commonly used supplements."
WebMD (5/2, Goodman) reports that "the more weeks a mom breastfed her infant, the more likely she was to give the infant an herbal supplement or tea, the study found."

Armadillos and Leprosy

2011-04-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

Genetic sequencing confirms armadillos can transmit some leprosy strains to humans.
The AP (4/28, Chang) reports, "With some genetic sleuthing, scientists have fingered a likely culprit in the spread of leprosy in the southern US: the nine-banded armadillo." According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, DNA tests "show a match in the leprosy strain between some patients and these prehistoric-looking critters."
Bloomberg News (4/28, Ostrow) reports that the researchers identified the "same strain of leprosy in 28 of 33 wild armadillos and 25 of 39 patients who lived in states where the animals are common." Exposure to "fresh armadillo blood or tissue raises the risk of leprosy infection," the study authors said.
The New York Times (4/28, A7, Harris, Subscription Publication) reports that the cases are concentrated in "Louisiana and Texas, where some people hunt, skin and eat armadillos." Leprosy now joins a "host of other infectious diseases -- including flu, HIV/AIDS and SARS -- that are known to have jumped from animals to humans."
The Los Angeles Times (4/28, Brown) notes that annually, about "100 to 150 people" in the US are "diagnosed with the malady, which is also known as Hansen's disease. ... 'It doesn't mean people need to run away from armadillos the way they do a rattlesnake, but people need to be careful,'" said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, which "helped fund the research."

Autism Screening Test

2011-04-28T17:41:00.000-07:00

New early screening test detects autism in children as young as one year.
USA Today (4/28, Szabo) reports an "early screening test for autism, designed to detect signs of the condition in babies as young as 1 year old, could revolutionize the care of autistic children, experts say, by getting them diagnosed and treated years earlier than usual." The 24-item "checklist takes just five minutes to complete and can be filled out in a pediatrician's waiting room, when parents bring children for their routine 12-month checkup, says a study of more than 10,000 infants," published in the Journal of Pediatrics. The study was funded "by the National Institutes of Health and others."
The San Diego Union-Tribune (4/28, Lavelle) reports researchers at UCSD "say a promising tool in diagnosing autism early and getting treatment for the syndrome could start with asking parents to fill out a simple questionnaire at their baby's one-year checkup." Dr. Karen Pierce, "assistant director of the UC San Diego Autism Center of Excellence, recruited 137 San Diego pediatricians for a study that has screened nearly 10,500 1-year-olds for a possible autism spectrum disorder or developmental delay, using a 24-item questionnaire." The questionnaire "has the potential for identifying children with autism early enough to get treatment while their brains are developing internal connections," Pierce said.
The AP (4/28, Neergaard) reports the research "is a first step in the quest for earlier autism screening." Experts "say early therapy can lessen autism's severity, even if they don't know exactly what types will prove best." Dr. Lisa Gilotty of the National Institute of Mental Health says, "The earlier you start, the better."
The Washington Post (4/28, Stein) reports by "allowing scientists to study children with autism when they are younger, it could also provide crucial new insights into the disease's causes, further dispelling discredited theories about vaccines and other supposed risk factors, as well as leading to better ways to diagnose and treat the disorder." Thomas R. Insel of the National Institute of Mental Health said, "Beyond this exciting proof of concept, such a screening program would answer parents' concerns . . . with more confidence than has ever been done before." The Wall Street Journal (4/28, Wang, Subscription Publication) also reports the study.

Eating Out with Allergies

2011-04-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

Restaurants may be unsafe for people with food allergies.
HealthDay (4/26, Gordon) reported that according to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), as many as "12 million Americans" have food allergies; and the primary culprits are "milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, soy and wheat." Although it is "easy to control your environment," restaurant food may not be safe. A study the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy, which included "managers, waiters and chefs at 90 restaurants," found that although only 33 percent "said they'd had specific" food allergy training, "81 percent said they still felt confident they could provide a safe meal to a customer with food allergies." Moreover, 38 percent erroneously "believed that people with food allergies could drink water to dilute the allergen and lessen" the allergic reaction severity; and another 23 percent mistakenly thought eating only a "small amount of a food allergen" was safe.

Housebound Elderly and Dementia

2011-04-28T17:36:00.000-07:00

Analysis suggests "housebound" elderly may be more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.
HealthDay (4/26, Dotinga) reported that seniors who are "'housebound' seem to have nearly double the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease," according to a study in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. Researchers followed "1,294 seniors from two separate studies of older adults whose health was being tracked over time." Although no seniors "showed signs of dementia" at the beginning of this study, over an average "4.4 years, 180 developed Alzheimer's disease."

Pain Pill Combination

2011-04-28T17:28:00.000-07:00

FDA approves pain-relief treatment that reduces arthritis, ulcer risk.
The Chicago Tribune (4/25, Japsen) reported, "The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a Skokie drug maker's pain-relief pill that reduces the risk of stomach ulcers by combining the pain-relief drug ibuprofen with a high dose of famotidine, the active ingredient in the antacid Pepcid." Horizon Pharma said the agency's "approval of Duexis (ibuprofen/ famotidine), a combination of 800 milligrams of ibuprofen and 26.6 milligrams of famotidine should be available in the second half of this year."

Wine and Sea Salt

2011-04-28T17:27:00.000-07:00

Many Americans may not be well informed about sea salt, red wine.
HealthDay (4/25, Preidt) reported that "most Americans have heard that red wine has health benefits, but many don't understand the need to limit consumption, finds an American Heart Association survey." Most respondents also "mistakenly believe that sea salt is a low-sodium alternative to table salt," the survey found. Among the "1,000 adults polled, 76 percent agreed with the statement that wine can be good for your heart, but only 30 percent knew the AHA's recommended limits for daily wine consumption."

Obese Teen Risk

2011-04-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

Obese teenagers as likely to participate in risky behavior as thinner peers.
The Time (4/25, Melnick) "Healthland" blog reported, "Obese teens tend to be socially outcast, and so researchers had long assumed they were less likely to engage in the kinds of risky social behaviors that mark traditional adolescence: drinking, smoking and hooking up." However, according to a survey published in the May issue of Pediatrics, "obese teens are just as likely to participate in these rites of teenhood as their thinner peers. In some ways, obese teens' behavior is even riskier."
The Los Angeles Times "Booster Shots" blog reported, "Psychologists at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio compared the 'risky' behavior of 410 teens who were extremely obese (body-mass index in the 99th percentile) with 8,669 normal-weight teens (body-mass index within the 5th and 84th percentiles) using the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a national survey of high school students conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The survey asked how often the teenagers used drugs, tobacco or alcohol, had sexual encounters, and experienced suicidal thoughts or attempts."
WebMD (4/25, Goodman) reported researchers found that "extremely obese girls were about twice as likely as slimmer students as to have ever tried cigarettes or to be current smokers. Extremely obese boys were about 50% more likely than their normal-weight counterparts to have ever tried cigarettes or to have started smoking before age 13." The researchers also found that "although heavy girls were about half as likely as their slimmer peers to have ever had sex, when they did have intercourse, they were nearly five times more likely to do so under the influence of alcohol or drugs." CNN (4/25, Caruso) "The Chart" blog and MedPage Today (4/25, Walsh) also covered the story.

NSAID's and SSRI's

2011-04-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

NSAIDs may impair effectiveness of SSRIs.
The Wall Street Journal (4/26, Wang) reports that, according to a mouse and human study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Aleve (naproxen) and Advil (ibuprofen), appear to impair the effectiveness of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, such as Prozac (fluoxetine) and Celexa (citalopram).

"E" Cigarette

2011-04-28T17:22:00.000-07:00

FDA seeks to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products.
In its "Booster Shots" blog, the Los Angeles Times (4/26, Healy) reports the Food and Drug Administration "announced Monday that it will act to ensure the government's right to impose marketing, manufacturing and safety restrictions on 'electronic cigarettes,' a nicotine delivery device widely billed as an alternative to cigarettes for those trying to quit and for smokers who can't light up." In a letter "posted to the FDA's website Monday, Dr. Lawrence R. Deyton, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said the agency will act to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products. To shore up its authority to do so, the agency will propose new regulatory language that would specifically define e-cigarettes as a tobacco product."
The AP (4/26, Felberbaum) reports the FDA said it "won't try to regulate" smokeless electronic cigarettes under "stricter rules for drug-delivery devices." The news is "considered a victory for makers and distributors of the devices, which continue to gain popularity worldwide."

Physician Trends

2011-04-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

Young physicians eschew private practice.
On its front page, the New York Times (4/23, A1, Harris, Subscription Publication) reported on the difficulty that 62-year-old Dr. Ronald Sroka has had trying to sell his family medical practice in Crofton, Maryland. Younger physicians "are refusing to take over these small practices. They want better lifestyles, shorter work days, and weekends free of the beepers, cellphones and patient emergencies that have long defined doctors' lives. Weighed down with debt, they want regular paychecks instead of shopkeeper risks." Furthermore, "even if they wanted such practices, banks - attuned to the growing uncertainties - are far less likely to lend the money needed."

Peppermint News Flash

2011-04-28T17:18:00.001-07:00

Scientists explain how peppermint soothes gastric pain associated with IBS.
HealthDay (4/22, Dotinga) reported that new research "offers insight into how peppermint helps relieve the symptoms" of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In the journal Pain, researchers report that peppermint "contributes to relief of pain from inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. 'Our research shows that peppermint acts through a specific anti-pain channel called TRPM8 to reduce pain-sensing fibers, particularly those activated by mustard and chili,'" said study author Dr. Stuart Brierley from the University of Adelaide in Australia. He noted that there appears to be a "definite link between IBS and a former bout of gastroenteritis, which leaves nerve pain fibers in a heightened state, altering mechanisms in the gut wall and resulting in ongoing pain."

HIV Survival Stats

2011-04-28T17:17:00.000-07:00

Most children born with HIV infection now survive into adulthood.
HealthDay (4/24, Dotinga) reported, "Most children born with HIV infection now survive into adulthood, a markedly different prognosis from the near-certain death that awaited HIV-infected babies years ago," according to a study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. "'About two thirds of these kids, at this point, don't have virus detectable in the blood,' Tulane University infectious diseases expert Dr. Russell Van Dyke said in a university news release. 'While they are still infected and they are not cured, it's surprising how well they're doing, considering what they've been through.'" But, "with longer survival, new issues arise. 'We're not seeing the deaths we used to see due to infections, but we're starting to worry about longer-term complications,'" Dr. Van Dyke added.

Antibiotic Resistance

2011-04-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

Routine antibiotic use at animal farms may be causing resistance in humans.
The Los Angeles Times (4/25, Adams) reports that, according to a study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, Staphylococcus aureus bacteria was found "on 47% of 136 samples of beef, chicken, pork and turkey from 26 grocery stores in five US cities" and that of "those bacteria, 96% were resistant to at least one type of antibiotic and more than half were resistant to at least three." The researchers concluded that the resistant staph was "probably coming from the animals -- and not, say, a worker's unclean hands. This seems to point the finger at antibiotic use in agriculture." Although calls for restrictions on antibiotics "used to combat human infectious disease, have come from a slew of organizations," including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association, "the practice remains."

Healthy Label?

2011-04-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Dieters more likely to be deceived by fattening food labeled "healthy."
The Los Angeles Times (4/22, Cevallos) "Booster Shots" blog reports, "Dieters may be more easily fooled by 'healthy' food labels or descriptions than those who don't worry as much about nutrition facts," according to an article in the Journal of Consumer Research. In one of several similar experiments by researchers from the University of South Carolina, "76 people were randomly approached and offered $5" to rate how "healthful and how nutritious" a menu item appeared to be "(a color photo was included)." Dieters were "more likely" to give the dish, which contained cheese and salami, a "slightly higher healthy grade" if it was labeled as a "salad than if it was called pasta," whereas non-dieters "gave both about the same grade."

Family Violence

2011-04-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

Family violence may increase risk of bullying.
In a front-page story, the Boston Globe (4/22, A1, Lazar) reports that "one-fourth of Massachusetts middle-schoolers and 16 percent of high school students report enduring bullying at school," according to a report released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that puts the "state at the center of the national discussion over the issue." The study found that students who "said they had been involved in bullying, as both a perpetrator and a victim, were five times more likely to report they had been hurt physically by a family member, compared to those who said they were neither a victim nor a bully. And they were substantially more likely to have witnessed violence against other family members."
Bloomberg News (4/22, Vannucci) reports that the study found that "bullies and victims were about three times more likely to witness family violence." Around "44 percent of middle school students and 31 percent of high schoolers are involved in harassment incidents," according to the researchers. "Almost 27 percent of middle school students were bully victims versus 16 percent of high school students"; and about "7.5 percent of the middle school students were bullies, compared with 8.4 percent for the high school students."

Birth Control Pill Warning

2011-04-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

Birth-control pills with drospirenone linked to higher risk of blood clots.
Bloomberg News (4/22, Hallam) reports, "Women who use birth-control pills made with the hormone drospirenone, such as Bayer AG (BAYN)'s Yasmin, are three times more likely to develop blood clots than those who take an older oral contraceptive," according to two studies published in the British Medical Journal.
MedPage Today (4/21, Walsh) reported that, for the first study, researchers "analyzed data from the longitudinal US PharMetrics database, identifying 186 cases of thromboembolism among women using these agents between 2002 and 2008. They compared these cases with 681 controls that were matched for year of birth and index date."
HealthDay (4/21, Gardner) reported, "Those taking the newer pill had a 2.3 times greater risk for a blood clot. The absolute risk, however, was still small -- 30.8 per 100,000 among those taking drospirenone, compared to 12.5 per 100,000 in women taking levonorgestrel." The second study looked at "similarly aged women in the United Kingdom and found a three-fold elevated risk for blood clots among women taking the newer version of the pill. That translated to 23 per 100,000 women in the drospirenone group and 9.1 per 100,000 women in the levonorgestrel group."

New Cervical Cancer Test

2011-04-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

FDA approves cervical cancer viral test.
Bloomberg News (4/20, Doherty) reported the Food and Drug Administration has approved Roche's "test to identify women at high risk of developing cervical cancer." The test can be used to "detect two types of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that account for more than 70 percent of cervical cancer cases," the company said in a statement. The Roche product also "identifies 12 other types that pose an increased risk of causing the disease." WebMD (4/20, DeNoon) reported that the new Roche test "detects precancerous lesions over 90% of the time. But it also gives false-positive results about 30% of the time." Dow Jones Newswire (4/20, Mijuk, Subscription Publication) also covered the story.

Hand Sanitizer Warning

2011-04-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

FDA issues false claims warnings for hand sanitizer to four companies.
The AP (4/21) reports the Food and Drug Administration "issued warnings to four manufacturers of hand sanitizing products for making unsupported claims about the bacteria-fighting benefits of their products." The FDA says the companies "claim their lotions and gels can prevent a variety of infections, including E. coli and bird flu." FDA compliance director Deborah Autor, said in a statement, "The FDA cannot allow companies to mislead consumers by making unproven prevention claims."
Time (4/20) "Healthland" blog reported that the companies claim their products "prevent infection from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus."

TV and Heart Disease

2011-04-23T07:12:00.001-07:00

Too much television may increase future cardiovascular risk for children.
HealthDay (4/20, Doheny) reported, "Young children who spend too much time watching TV or playing computer games have narrower eye arteries than kids who are more physically active," according to a study published online in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association. "Narrower arteries are a marker of future cardiovascular risk, and the narrower the vessels, the higher the risk," according to the researchers.
WebMD (4/20, Boyles) reported that "the study included close to 1,500 6- and 7-year-olds living in Sydney, Australia. The children's parents completed questionnaires designed to assess how much time the kids spent watching TV or using other electronic equipment and how much time they spent engaging in physical pursuits." In addition, "digital photographs were taken in the back of each child's eyes to determine the width of the retinal blood vessels."

Sleep and Work

2011-04-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

Managers urged to address workers' sleep issues.
In a USA Today (4/21, Mednick) forum article, Sara Mednick, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, notes the suspension of the seventh US air traffic controller this year, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's description of the incidents as "absolutely unacceptable." Mednick says, "But truth be told, working 24/7 is what got us into this mess in the first place." America has "been taking sleep for granted far too long," and "although sleep researchers, such as myself, and the news media have been alerting us to the importance of sleep for awhile, it appears the people in charge have been slow make the necessary changes to the way we work during the hours when we are most vulnerable to sleepiness."
In an editorial, the Los Angeles Times (4/21) says in response to the reports of air traffic controllers sleeping on the job, "the FAA has adjusted controllers' schedules and mandated that additional controllers be assigned during sleepy midnight shifts." Of course, "they're not the only workers who get so fatigued that they fall asleep on the job." A sleep study "cited in the New York Times on Sunday says the overwhelming majority of people need eight hours of sleep," and "most of those who get less and think they're operating fine on it turn out to be too sleep-deprived to realize how sleep-deprived they are."

Gut Bacteria Types

2011-04-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

People may be distinguished by one of three gut "enterotypes."
The New York Times (4/21, A17, Zimmer, Subscription Publication) reports that in the "early 1900s, scientists discovered that each person belonged to one of four blood types." Now according to a study in the journal Nature, scientists say there are "just three distinct ecosystems in the guts of people," and each of the types "makes a unique balance of enzymes."
According to the Los Angeles Times (4/21, Brown) "Booster Shots" blog, "Bioinformatics expert Peer Bork of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany," the senior author of the paper, said that finding the three enterotypes "was 'a big surprise...we expected more variation.'" When the researchers took "stool samples from 22 European individuals, extracted the DNA, and then attempted to determine the composition of the DNA," they discovered that the three "distinct microbe combinations appeared throughout the samples."
Bloomberg News (4/21, Vannucci) reports that the three enterotypes "were classified into groups named for the predominant bacteria in the cluster: Bacteroides, Prevotella and Ruminococcus." The researchers "noted some differences in vitamin production among the groups." People in the Bacteroides group had "microbes that produced more vitamin C, B2, B5 and H," whereas the Prevotella group had "more B1 and folic-acid producing bacteria."

Birth Control Pills and Gallstones

2011-04-23T07:04:00.000-07:00

Some oral contraceptives may be linked to gallbladder disease risk.
MedPage Today (4/20, Baron-Faust) reported that "some of the newest and most popular oral contraceptives -- including the drospirenone/ethinyl estradiol combo marketed as Yaz -- have been linked to a small, but significant risk of gallbladder disease, according to a large retrospective cohortstudy " published in the CMAJ. The researchers, who looked at data on "nearly three million women taking ethinyl estradiol combined with one of seven progestins between 1997 and 2009, found a small, but statistically significant risk of having gallstones for drospirenone (adjusted RR 1.20, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.26)." The investigators "also found a similar risk of gallbladder disease...for desogestrel (adjusted RR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.09) and for norethindrone (adjusted RR 1.10, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.14) compared with the older progestin levonorgestrel RR 1.00 (ref)."

Low IQ and Pesticide Exposure

2011-04-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Researchers link pesticide exposure in womb to lower IQs.
USA Today (4/21, Szabo) reports that "children exposed to high pesticide levels in the womb have lower average IQs than other kids, according to three independent studies" published "in Environmental Health Perspectives." The research "involved more than 400 children, followed from before birth through ages 6 to 9, from both urban and rural areas." One "study found that the most heavily exposed children scored an average of 7 points lower on IQ tests compared with children with the lowest pesticide exposures."
CNN (4/21, Gardner) reports that in one of the other studies, investigators "measured levels of the organophosphate chlorpyrifos in" 265 Dominican and black "women's umbilical cord blood." The investigators "found that when the children were 7, the IQs of those with the highest exposure in the womb was roughly three points lower, on average, than those with the lowest prenatal exposure." Meanwhile, "in the third study...researchers found that the association between organophosphate exposure and developmental delays was more pronounced in children whose mothers had a certain genetic variant that influences an enzyme that breaks down organophosphates." MedPage Today (4/21, Neale) also cover the story.

Ex Smokers Live Longer

2011-04-23T06:59:00.001-07:00

Regardless of past smoking habits, healthy living may reduce cancer-, cardiovascular death rates.
HealthDay (4/19, Preidt) reported that a "healthy lifestyle nearly halves nonsmokers' risk of death from cancer, cardiovascular disease and other causes," according to a study in the journal Cancer Biomarkers, Epidemiology, and Prevention. The researchers reviewed "diet and lifestyle questionnaires filled out in 1992 and 1993 by almost 112,000 non-smoking women and men in the Cancer Prevention Study." After 14 years of follow-up, for participants with higher compliance scores, the "risk of cardiovascular-related death was 58 percent lower for women and 48 percent lower for men, and the risk of cancer death was 24 percent lower in women and 30 percent lower in men." Notably, the findings were "similar for both never and former" smokers.

New Alzheimers Guidelines

2011-04-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

NIH releases new guidelines for Alzheimer's diagnosis.
In continuing coverage, the Los Angeles Times (4/20, Cevallos) reports in its "Booster Shots" blog that new guidelines for diagnosing Alzheimer's "recognize the disease as a continuum, not a single stage, according to a release Tuesday by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Assn." The new guidelines "reflect the more modern understanding of the disease: Alzheimer's can start progressing up to 10 years before signs of dementia. And autopsies can reveal a brain riddled with plaques in someone who showed no signs of dementia."
NPR (4/19, Shute) reports the expansion of the definition of Alzheimer's disease "won't change how the vast majority of people are diagnosed" and "doesn't change the very limited treatment choices." The new criteria, "which were developed by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association, are almost guaranteed to prompt confusion, even in people who are thinking quite clearly." The "biomarker tests and PET scans aren't yet accurate enough to reliably diagnose Alzheimer's, and haven't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration."

Drug Supply Shortage

2011-04-23T06:56:00.000-07:00

Drug Supply Shortage: ASHP: 150 "medically necessary" drugs now in short supply. Scripps (4/20, Bowman) reports that according to the American Society of Health System Pharmacists, there are 150 'medically necessary' drugs in short supply, double the number typically reported five years ago. 'It is as bad as it's ever been, definitely a crisis,'" said Bona Benjamin, who directs ASHP's "medication supply monitoring efforts."

Prescription Drug Abuse Monitoring

2011-04-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

FDA unveils plan to curb opioid prescription drug abuse.
The Wall Street Journal (4/20, Gleason, Subscription Publication) reports the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it will require pharmaceutical companies to produce new educational tools about their opioid painkillers in an effort to reduce prescription drug abuse. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Howard Koh said at a briefing, "This growing public-health crisis is suffocating our society."
USA Today (4/20, Ledger) reports, "American Medical Association President Cecil Wilson said his organization supports the intent of the drug abuse prevention plan but is concerned 'that a key element of this strategy that relies on industry to develop educational materials and initiatives to train prescribers could in the future become a mandatory part of the DEA registration process for prescribing controlled substances.'"
Bloomberg News (4/19, Larkin) reported, "Pfizer Inc. (PFE), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. (ENDP) will have to train doctors before they can give patients extended-release painkillers under a US plan aimed at reducing prescription drug abuse." The FDA said on Tuesday that "16 companies that make 25 pain patches and pills must create a program to teach medical professionals when these drugs should be used to combat pain and how to recognize signs that the treatments are being misused."
HealthDay (4/19, Gardner) noted that the "new Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) is part of a larger multi-agency initiative announced Tuesday by the White House to reduce overall prescription drug abuse" in the US. "'This new REMS will provide tools to doctors and other prescribers for appropriate pain management to reduce risks and at the same time preserve access for patients and appropriate management of pain for those suffering from moderate to severe pain,' said Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research" at the FDA. "For now, the initiative will be limited to extended-release and long-acting products, which, Woodcock said, 'have a much greater risk than immediate-release because they contain more medicine.'"
Modern Healthcare (4/20, Daly, Subscription Publication) reports, "President Barack Obama's administration also will push for enactment of as-yet-unintroduced legislation to require physician participation in opioid prescribing training. But, if Congress does not enact a law "requiring mandatory physician participation in such training, the FDA could aim to tighten control on opioid prescribing through restricted formularies."
Meanwhile, The Hill (4/19, Pecquet) "Healthwatch" blog reported that as a "first step, the FDA sent letters to opioid manufacturers on Tuesday requiring that they provide a plan for training prescribers and educating patients about the safe use, storage and disposal of opioids. They have 120 days to respond, setting in place a regulatory process that officials hope to have in place within 12 months." The FDA missive was sent to the producers of Dolophine (methadone); MS Contin, Kadian, Avinza, Embeda, Oramorph (morphines); OxyContin (oxycodone); Exalgo (hydromorphone); Duragesic (transdermal fentanyl); Butrans (buprenorphine); and Opana ER (oxymorphone).
Also covering the story are the AP (4/20), USA Today (4/20, Ledger), NPR (4/19, Hensley) "Shots" blog, PBS NewsHour (4/19, Bowser) "The Rundown" blog, WebMD (4/19, DeNoon), and, on its website, CNN (4/20, Young).

Breast Device Recall

2011-04-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

Axxent FlexiShield Mini recall elevated to class I.
The New York Times (4/15, A17, Subscription Publication) reports that "the recall of a medical device" known as the Axxent FlexiShield Mini, "that left particles of tungsten in women's breasts has been classified as the most serious type of recall, one involving 'situations in which there is a reasonable probability that use of these products will cause serious adverse health consequences or death,' the Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday." The device, used during a particular type of radiation treatment, "left the breast tissue and chest muscles riddled with hundreds of tungsten particles." The Times adds, "That the tungsten shows up on mammograms is what made the recall Class I, the most serious type, said Karen Riley, a spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration."
Medscape (4/14, Hitt) reported that "internal investigations by the manufacturer showed no evidence that the particles are toxic; therefore, permanent damage to body structures or functions is not expected. The product recall was based on the fact that it was difficult to distinguish tungsten particles from suspicious calcifications in breast tissue on follow up X-rays or scans."

MS and Breastfeeding

2011-04-23T06:52:00.000-07:00

Breastfeeding may reduce MS relapses in new mothers.
MedPage Today (4/14, Smith) reported that, "for new mothers with multiple sclerosis (MS), exclusive breastfeeding for several months after delivery appears to protect against relapses," according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers found, "in a prospective cohort study of 72 women" with MS, that "less than one in 10 who breast fed exclusively had a relapse in the first six months after delivery." Conversely, more than "a third of those who did not breast feed exclusively suffered a relapse."

Home Safety Devices

2011-04-23T06:50:00.000-07:00

Installing home safety devices could reduce children's risk for injury up to 70%.
HealthDay (4/14, Preidt) reported that home safety devices "greatly reduce the number of injuries sustained by small children," according to a study in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Researchers looked at "two groups of families with newborns. One set of families had properly installed and maintained safety devices in their homes." After two years of follow-up, children in the homes "with the safety devices had 70-percent fewer home-related injuries that required medical attention than did the children in the other group." Notably, about "2,800 children die from preventable injuries in the home, and millions more are treated in hospital emergency rooms," each year in the US, according to the researchers.

Anxiety Therapy

2011-04-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

CBT combined with psychotropic medication effective for treating anxiety in primary care.
Medscape (4/14, Brauser) reported, "Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) in combination with psychotropic medication is highly effective for treating most anxiety disorders in primary care," according to a study published in the April issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. In a study of "more than 1000 patients, those who underwent the Coordinated Anxiety Learning and Management (CALM) collaborative care program had significantly decreased symptoms of principal generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD), and social anxiety disorder (SAD), and comorbid SAD than did those randomized to receive usual treatment from their primary care physician."

ADD Medication Shortage

2011-04-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

AD/HD, ADD medication shortages have parents scrambling.
On its website, MSNBC (4/14, Aleccia) reported, "Nationwide shortages of popular drugs used to treat ADD and AD/HD are sending parents scrambling." In the past "two weeks, federal Food and Drug Administration officials added the drugs methylphenidate hydrochloride and amphetamine mixed salts, the generic names for Ritalin and Adderall, to an expanding list of national drug shortages." However, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, which "tracks drug supply issues, has listed the products in short supply for nearly a month, and there have been regional reports of spotty shortages even before that." The New York Times (4/14, Belkin) "Motherlode" blog also covered the story.

Do It Yourself DNA

2011-04-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

FDA considering whether to regulate do-it-yourself DNA tests. The Los Angeles Times (4/18, Ogilvie) reports that at-home, "do-it-yourself" genetics tests have stirred controversy among "geneticists, bioethicists," physicians and other healthcare professionals, as well as consumer advocates. Some believe that in "bypassing health professionals, the tests are irresponsible at best and potentially dangerous at worst," whereas others feel that "individuals who want their personal health-risk information should be able to get it." Presently, the Food and Drug Administration is "weighing both sides as it mulls whether to regulate this fast-growing industry."

Alcohol and Energy Drinks

2011-04-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

People who drink alcohol-energy combos may be more likely to take risks. HealthDay (4/15, Salamon) reported that combining the caffeine of energy drinks with "alcohol is riskier than drinking alcohol alone," according to a study published online in advance of the July 2011 print issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. The scientists randomly divided "56 college students between the ages of 21 and 33 into four groups" to receive either an "alcoholic beverage, an energy drink, a mixed drink with both ingredients, or a placebo." Although all of the students who drank alcohol "showed impaired impulse control," those who drank the alcoholic energy drink "perceived themselves to be less impaired" -- a perception, which the study authors said, could "make them more likely to take risks such as driving while intoxicated." The study was also covered by MedPage Today (4/15, Bankhead) and WebMD (4/15, Doheny).

Alcohol Report

2011-04-18T15:30:00.001-07:00

Report: Most US adults with alcohol problems do not recognize their need for treatment. Medscape (4/15, Cassels) reported, "According to a spotlight report (pdf) released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the vast majority of US adults with alcohol problems don't recognize their need for treatment." Based on data on some 67,500 Americans over the age of 12, researchers found that "of 7.4 million adults who met criteria for alcohol abuse, only 87,000 (1.2%) perceived a need for treatment." Likewise, "among 5.6 million who met criteria for alcohol dependence, only 7.8% perceived a need for treatment."

Pacifiers Examined

2011-04-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

Article discusses pros, cons of pacifier use. WebMD (4/16, Fries) reported that it "went to pediatricians, parents, therapists, and dentists to get the pros and cons of baby pacifiers." Some of the reasons to use a pacifier include "protection against SIDS, helping babies pacify themselves," and "easier weaning." Some of the reasons against using a pacifier include mistakenly assuming a child needs to be pacified when it "really needs nutrition-based sucking, such as a breast or bottle," and an increased risk for ear infections. The article also included ten tips for pacifier use and pacifier weaning.

BMI and Health Risks

2011-04-18T15:22:00.002-07:00

Some experts say BMI is imprecise tool for measuring health risks. The Los Angeles Times (4/17, Healy) reported that "sometime later this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will release its latest accounting of the nation's weight problem, as measured by the body mass index, or BMI." However, "a number of experts caution that the BMI is a fairly imprecise tool -- and often wrong -- for helping individual patients appraise their health prospects." A growing "number of researchers cite a major gap in the BMI: its inability to reflect the health effects of an individual's exercise habits."

STD Rate Update

2011-04-18T15:22:00.001-07:00

US seniors' STD rates rose 43% in five years. The Los Angeles Times /Orlando Sentinel (4/16, Jameson) reported, "Across the nation, and especially in the Sunshine State, the free-love generation is continuing to enjoy an active -- if not always healthy -- sex life." But at a "stage in life when many would expect sexually transmitted diseases to be waning, seniors are noticeably ahead of the national curve." Overall in the US, from 2005 to 2009, the number of reported cases of "syphilis and chlamydia among those 55 and older increased 43 percent," according to the Centers for Disease Control. The rise was "even more dramatic" in Central Florida, where syphilis and chlamydia cases "increased 71 percent in that same five-year period."

Sugar May Be a Toxin

2011-04-14T16:48:00.000-07:00

Expert makes case that sugar is a toxin. In a lengthy article, Gary Taubes, a Robert Woods Johnson Foundation independent investigator, discusses in the New York Times (4/17, MM47, Taubes, Subscription Publication) claims made by pediatric hormone disorder specialist and childhood obesity expert Robert Lustig, MD, of the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, who makes a "persuasive case...that sugar is a 'toxin' or a 'poison,'" including high-fructose corn syrup. Should Lustig prove to be right, then Americans' "excessive consumption of sugar is the primary reason that the numbers of obese and diabetic Americans have skyrocketed in the past 30 years," and the sweet substance "is also the likely dietary cause of several other chronic ailments widely considered to be diseases of Western lifestyles -- heart disease, hypertension, and many common cancers among them."

Fatty Liver Update

2011-04-14T16:47:00.000-07:00

Vigorous exercise may reduce risk for fatty liver progression. The Los Angeles Times (4/13, Stein) "Booster Shots" blog reports that walking on a treadmill "may put the brakes on the development of fatty liver disease" (NAFLD) in pre-diabetic, obese people, according to findings presented at the American Physiological Society's Experimental Biology meeting. The researchers followed "15 obese people" with NAFLD as they "walked on a treadmill at a fairly high intensity (85% of their maximum heart rate) for one hour a day for a week." After seven days, the study participants had "increased their polysaturated lipid index by an average 84%, bumped up their adiponectin levels and had better insulin sensitivity. ... 'The participants were burning more fat,' which may in turn reduce damage from fatty liver disease," said lead author Jacob Haus from the Cleveland Clinic. HealthDay (4/13, Preidt) also covered the study.

Apples Fight Fat!

2011-04-13T17:46:00.001-07:00

Eating apples may help reduce LDL cholesterol in postmenopausal women. The Los Angeles Times (4/12, Kaplan) "Booster Shots" blog reported that "an apple a day really can help keep the doctor away, at least for postmenopausal women," according to research presented at Experimental Biology 2011. Researchers found, "in study of 160 women who ate either dried apples or prunes daily for one year," that "the women who ate apples saw their low-density lipoprotein cholesterol...drop by 23% after six months. At the same time, their" HDL cholesterol "rose about 4% over the course of the study." WebMD (4/12, Goodman) reported that "the women in the apple group" also "lost weight -- an average of about 3 pounds over the course of a year." HealthDay (4/12, Gordon) reported that "daily apple consumption also significantly lowered levels of C-reactive protein and lipid hydroperoxide, two substances that may indicate an increased risk of heart disease. What effects, if any, the prunes had on cholesterol levels were not mentioned in the study abstract."

Herpes Update

2011-04-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

Asymptomatic HSV-2 carriers can transmit genital herpes, study finds. The NPR "Shots" blog (4/12) reported, "Researchers at the University of Washington have found just how easily people infected with herpes simplex type 2 virus, which causes genital herpes, can unknowingly pass it on to other people." According to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, participants who tested positive for herpes simplex virus type 2 used a swab to collect 'genital secretions' each for 30 consecutive days and kept symptom diaries. The researchers found that "410 people with symptomatic genital herpes and 88 participants who tested positive for infection," showed no symptoms. The Time (4/12, Melnick) "Healthland" blog noted that on average, the researchers found those "who had had past herpes outbreaks were infectious 20.1% of the time, while the asymptomatic group was found to be able to transmit the virus 10.2% of time." According to the Los Angeles Times (4/12, Roan) "Booster Shots" blog, the analysis, "one of the largest studies to date" of people tested positive for herpes simplex virus type 2, also found that virus presence was detected "at least once in 83.4% of the people with symptomatic infection and in 68.2% of people with asymptomatic herpes." The authors say the study shows that even people with asymptomatic herpes type 2 "can transmit it to a sexual partner."

New Spinal Implants

2011-04-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

FDA clears three new spinal implant devices for market. The AP (4/12) reports, "Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp. said Monday it has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to market three new spinal implant devices." The implant devices are "small hollow spinal implants that are inserted between vertebrae to restore the space between discs, relieving nerve pressure and back pain by maintaining the natural disc space height." The devices have a "graft window to allow natural bone growth to occur through them and form a strong connection that incorporates the implant." Dow Jones Newswire (4/11, Stynes, Subscription Publication) also covered the story.

Macular Degeneration and Vitamin D

2011-04-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

Vitamin D may help protect women against age-related macular degeneration. ABC World News (4/11, story 8, 1:55, Stephanopoulos) reported that vitamin D may help protect women against age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a new study. MedPage Today (4/11, Neale) reported that "looked at data from the Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study (CAREDS), which was conducted under the umbrella of the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study. In CAREDS, age-related macular degeneration status was assessed an average of six years after serum samples were analyzed for 25(OH)D status." The new analysis, published in the Archives of Ophthalmology, "included 1,313 women ages 50 to 79." WebMD (4/11, Hendrick) reported that "in the study, researchers say women under 75 who got the most vitamin D had a 59% decreased risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, compared to women with the lowest vitamin D intake." The "researchers also found that the women who had a blood vitamin D level higher than 38 nmol/L had a 48% decreased risk of early" AMD. "A blood level of 50 nmol/L is considered sufficient, according to the Institute of Medicine."

End of Life Study

2011-04-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

Dartmouth researchers release report on end-of-life care. The New York Times (4/12, A22, Hartocollis, Subscription Publication) reports, "At the end of life, people with chronic diseases like cancer get more aggressive medical care in the New York area than anyplace else in the country, continuing a trend going back decades, according to a report released on Monday by researchers at Dartmouth College." The researchers, who "looked at federal data from 2007, the most recent year available, found that 46 percent of chronically ill patients in the Manhattan hospital region, which also covers most of Brooklyn and Staten Island, were being treated at hospitals when they died, as opposed to dying at home or in hospices or nursing homes. That rate was the highest in the country." Modern Healthcare (4/12, Barr, Subscription Publication) reports that "in the study, the average patient spent 10.9 days in the hospital during the last six months of life in 2007, compared with 11.3 in 2003." The researchers also found that "in 2003, 32.2% of patients in the last six months of their life died in a hospital; by 2007, the rate had dropped to 28.1%." Meanwhile, "the average number of hospice days per patient in the last six months of life increased to 18.3 days from 12.4 days." The St. Paul Pioneer-Press (4/12, Snowbeck) reports that the researchers found that "Medicare beneficiaries in Minnesota are less likely than those in other states to die in a hospital, because doctors and hospitals elsewhere pile on costly -- and perhaps unwanted -- care at the end of life," which is "part of the reason average Medicare spending per beneficiary in Minnesota is significantly below the national average." The Salt Lake Tribune (4/12, Henetz) reports that "Utah residents at the end of their lives spent the fewest number of days in hospitals in the nation -- 6.4 days, compared to a national average of 11.2 days." Just "12 percent of those who died spent time in an ICU, the nation's lowest rate." The researchers also found that "Utahns who died received more days of hospital-related hospice services than any other state except Oklahoma, and close to twice the national average."

Ovarian Cancer Risk

2011-04-13T17:39:00.001-07:00

Talc-based powder use may increase ovarian cancer risk by 30%. MedPage Today (4/7, Bankhead) reported that the "use of talc-based powder significantly increases the risk of invasive ovarian," according to findings presented at the American Association for Cancer Research. The researchers analyzed data from a "case-control study involving more than 2,000 women with ovarian cancer and a similar number of women without the cancer." Talc applications were estimated from "patient-reported frequency and duration of use." After adjusting for "age, parity, oral contraceptive use, tubal ligation," BMI, smoking or alcohol use, and ethnic/racial or familial breast or ovarian cancer history, the study team performed analyses for cases of nonmuscinous-invasive, nonserous-invasive, and serous-invasive cancer. They found that for all analyses, talc use was associated with "an increased prevalence of ovarian cancer; the magnitude of the difference between users and nonusers ranged between 20% and 40%, most often about 30%."

Ecstasy and Brain Damage

2011-04-13T17:38:00.001-07:00

MRI scans show long-term ecstasy users may be at risk for brain damage. HealthDay (4/7, Preidt) reported, "Long-term users of the illegal drug ecstasy" (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) are at risk for "brain damage," according to a study in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. The researchers used MRI scans to measure the "volume of the hippocampus" in 10 men who were long-term ecstasy users and seven men "who had never used the drug." On average, the users had taken an "average of 281 ecstasy tablets" over the previous six years. The scans revealed that compared to non-users, ecstasy users had an average 10.5-percent "less hippocampal volume" and an average "4.6-percent lower overall proportion of grey matter in the brain, which suggests that the effects of ecstasy may not be limited to the hippocampus." According to WebMD (4/7, Hendrick), the study authors said their findings "mirror previous research that has indicated acute swelling and later atrophy of hippocampal tissue in long-term ecstasy users." Notably, the scientists pointed out that hippocampus atrophy "is a hallmark" for progressive cognitive-impairment diseases, such as Alzheimer's. Medscape (4/7, Lowry) noted that the ecstasy users had also "used more amphetamine and cocaine," but there were "no significant differences between the two groups in recreational drug exposure, other than ecstasy. Both groups also drank alcohol regularly." Meanwhile, Jean M. Bidlack, PhD, professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York, who was not involved in the study, said the preliminary trial "needs to be followed up with a larger study that enrolls a greater number of former ecstasy users."

Meditation vs. Morphine

2011-04-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

Meditation may be more effective than morphine. The Chicago Tribune (4/8, Cevallos) reports, "Meditation appears to be a powerful way to take away pain -- just a short session is more potent than even morphine, if we're to believe the headlines." According to "a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, meditation rookies reported feeling less pain after meditation training than they had felt before the training." Notably, the "study, from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, echoes other research that suggests clearing your mind can reduce pain, but it's far too early to recommend that chronic pain sufferers toss out their pain-killers." The participants in the study attended 20-minute classes four times, which focused on breathing and relaxation.

2011-04-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

Daily alcohol drinking may increase risk for certain cancers. The Los Angeles Times (4/11, Cevallos) "Booster Shots" blog reports that cancer risk "increases with every extra daily drink," according to a study in the British Medical Journal. The analysis of "364,000 people in eight countries," found that "44% of cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract" in men and 25% in women "might be linked to alcohol"; liver cancer "(33% in men, 18% in women)"; colorectal cancer "(17% in men, 4% in women)"; and about 5% of "breast cancers in women." The American Cancer Society agrees that alcohol "raises the risk of cancer in the mouth, throat, voice box and esophagus." Alcohol may act as a "solvent," to tissue lining, "allowing harmful chemicals through (especially tobacco from smoking)," ACS explained. Alcohol may also raise drinkers' cirrhosis risk by "further damaging liver cells"; and it may "change estrogen levels," increasing breast cancer risk.

Strawberries and Cancer

2011-04-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

Strawberries may inhibit pre-cancerous esophageal lesion growth, study suggests. The Wall Street Journal (4/6, Dooren, Subscription Publication) reported that eating strawberries may halt the growth of precancerous lesions in the esophagus, according to findings presented Wednesday at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Florida. According to the Los Angeles Times (4/7, Cevallos) "Booster Shots" blog, noting that strawberries have "shown promise for inhibiting throat-tumor growth" in rats, researchers from Ohio State University asked "36 people at high risk for esophageal cancer to eat 60 grams (2 ounces) of freeze-dried strawberries every day for six months." They compared tissue samples from the esophagus "before and after" the six months, and found that in "29 people, precancerous lesions...were downgraded on a cancer scale." The Time (4/6, Park) "Healthland" blog noted that in esophageal cancer cases, about 50% of those with "moderate pre-cancerous" lesions and "25% of those with mild" lesions go on to develop malignant tumors, so "finding ways to halt their march can have a major impact on the incidence of the disease," lead researcher Tong Chen emphasized. She pointed out, however, that "gulping down pints of strawberries isn't the answer to fighting cancer. A larger, more rigorous trial that includes both people at risk of esophageal cancer and healthy, low-risk controls....needs to be conducted." The study was also covered by WebMD (4/6, Doheny).

Welders and Parkinsons Disease

2011-04-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Study finds potential link between welding fumes, Parkinson's disease. HealthDay (4/6, Preidt) reported, "Manganese in welding fumes may affect welders' brains over time," according to a study in the journal Neurology. This patient population included "20 welders with no symptoms of Parkinson's disease, 20 Parkinson's disease patients who were not welders, and 20 healthy people who were not welders." The welders had "average manganese levels" that were "two times the upper limits of normal." The participants underwent "brain PET and MRI scans and motor skills tests, and were examined by a movement disorder specialist." Compared to non-welders, the welders had an "average 11.7 percent reduction in a marker of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the same area of the brain affected by Parkinson's disease." The researchers also found that welders had "mild movement disorders."

Breast Cancer Prevention

2011-04-02T05:04:00.000-07:00

Panel recommends breast cancer treatments as preventatives for women at high-risk. Medscape (3/30, Chustecka) reported, "An international group of breast cancer experts has called for more use of preventive therapy" with selective oestrogen-receptor modulators, such as tamoxifen and raloxifene, in women "who are at high risk for the disease." In a consensus statement in the Lancet Oncology, the "panel of experts recommends that all women whose risk of developing breast cancer over the next 10 years is more than 4% above average should be offered preventive therapy and closer monitoring." This would involve women who have a "family history of breast cancer" or who have dense breast tissue. Notably, women who have "density of more than 75% are at four- to five-times greater risk for breast cancer than women with the least dense breasts," the statement authors emphasized.

More Vitamin D

2011-04-02T05:03:00.001-07:00

One-third of Americans may not be getting enough vitamin D. USA Today (3/31, Marcus) reports, "About one third of Americans are not getting enough vitamin D," according to a National Center for Health Statistics data brief released March 30 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report "parallels what many other studies have suggested in recent years: that a large chunk of the population is at risk for low vitamin D levels." Although approximately "two-thirds had sufficient levels...about a third were in ranges suggesting risk of either inadequate or deficient levels, says report author Anne Looker, a research scientist with the CDC." According to WebMD (3/30, Mann), the study found d that people "who were at the lowest risk for vitamin D deficiency or inadequacy were children, males, non-Hispanic whites, and women who were pregnant or breastfeeding," with the risk of deficiency "lowest in children ages one to eight and increased with age until about age 30." The analysis was based on "data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys that includes about 5,000 Americans each year." The Los Angeles Times (3/30, Roan) "Booster Shots" blog HealthDay (3/30, Preidt) also cover the study.

Infant Tobacco Risk

2011-04-02T04:58:00.000-07:00

Infants sleeping in smoker's rooms may have threefold nicotine-level increase. HealthDay (3/30, Preidt) reported, "Levels of nicotine in the hair of infants who sleep in the same room with parents who smoke are three times higher than in babies who sleep in another room," according to a study in the journal BMC Public Health. For the study, researcher "analyzed hair samples from 252 babies younger than 18 months and interviewed their parents about their smoking habits. Seventy-three percent of the parents said they smoked or allowed smoking in their homes, and 83 percent of the babies' hair samples showed high levels of nicotine."

Hepatitis C Treatment

2011-04-02T04:55:00.000-07:00

Two new treatment combinations show promise for eradicating Hepatitis C. NBC Nightly News (3/30, story 8, 0:35, Williams) reported, "News tonight about Hepatitis C. ... A new drug expected to be available in the next few months doubles the cure rate when given along with two other drugs that are already prescribed." The Detroit Free Press (3/30, Anstett) reported that an estimated "4 million Americans" have hepatitis C virus (HCV), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But two new "drug-treatment options" promise a "possible cure from the liver disease." Both Merck & Co. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals expect to hear within the next two months whether federal regulators will allow them to "distribute the drugs that make up three-drug cocktails shown effective in eradicating" HCV. The combinations add either "Merck's boceprevir or Vertex's telaprevir to interferon and ribavirin." Both companies "already have fast-track status from the Food and Drug Administration." According to the Los Angeles Times (3/30, Maugh) "Booster Shots" blog, positive results of "two clinical trials with boceprevir were reported Wednesday in two papers" in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM); and similar results with telaprevir were "expected to be reported Thursday at a European liver meeting. ... 'What's particularly exciting about these medications is that they address a very big unmet need...of antiviral therapy in African Americans,'" said Dr. Sammy Saab from UCLA's Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Saab, who was not involved in the research, said blacks respond "much more poorly than whites" to existing HCV treatments, but the new drugs "sharply reduce that disparity." WebMD (3/30, Boyles) reported that in one NEJM study, "66% of previously untreated patients treated with the three-drug regimen of boceprevir, peginterferon, and ribavirin cleared the virus for good, compared to 38% of patients treated with peginterferon and ribavirin alone." In the other study in NEJM, 75% of patients treated for "44 weeks achieved sustained viral clearances, compared to 29% of patients who got a second round of peginterferon and ribavirin." The outcomes were "similar to those seen in phase III trials of telaprevir." HealthDay (3/30, Reinberg) noted, "Commenting on the studies, Dr. Donald M. Jensen, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center and author of an accompanying journal editorial, said 'there is a significant improvement in sustained response [with boceprevir], which really relates to cure of hepatitis C.'"

Antibiotics in Children

2011-04-02T04:53:00.000-07:00

Choice, timing of antibiotic may be imperative for young children with pneumonia. HealthDay (3/31) reported, "Correct and rapid antibiotic treatment is crucial for critically ill young children" with pneumonia, according to a study in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. The researchers found that 71 percent of "45 infants and children, median age 17 months, who had severe bacterial pneumonia and required mechanical ventilation" were initially "treated with the correct antibiotic." But for "these patients, and patients whose initial antibiotic was changed after testing, the median time to treatment with the correct antibiotic was about 10 hours, with a range of two to 38 hours." Overall, the analysis showed that children for whom pneumonia was "their only medical problem, waiting longer for correct antibiotic treatment was associated not only with a longer hospital stay, but with more time in the intensive care unit and on a mechanical ventilator."

Faucets and Germs

2011-04-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

Hands-free faucets may harbor more germs than manual types. The Los Angeles Times (3/31, Brown) "Booster Shots" blog reported, "Hands-free electronic faucets can save a lot of water -- and because you don't have to touch them with your grubby fingers to turn them on, have widely been assumed to help fight the spread of germs, too." However, a team at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore has "discovered that at their facility, electronic faucets were more likely to be contaminated with Legionella bacteria than the old-fashioned manual type." According to the Baltimore Sun (3/31, Cohn) "Picture of Health" blog, senior study investigator Dr. Lisa Maragakis said the "new faucets did cut daily water use by more than half." But they also had "Legionella growing in half of the water samples from 20 faucets near patient rooms. That compares with 15 percent of the cultures from 20 of the old faucets in the same patient care areas." The Time (3/31, Park) "Healthland" blog noted that "in a hospital setting, the findings could be cause for alarm" because hospitalized patients are "more likely to have compromised immune systems, whether they are being treated for cancer or undergoing an organ transplant." Additionally, WebMD (3/31, McMillen) noted that because hospital patients "movements are limited, they use the same sinks throughout the day, increasing the number of exposures to bacteria."

Social Media Health Concerns

2011-03-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

Patients using social media for healthcare information raises ethical concerns for physicians. American Medical News (3/28, Dolan) reports, "National Research Corp., a healthcare research company based in Lincoln, Neb., recently surveyed more than 22,000 Americans and found that nearly 16% use social media sites as a source of healthcare information." For physicians, however, using social media may raise ethical concerns. "For example, American Medical Association policy discourages physicians from socially interacting with patients on social media, though professional sites are encouraged. The Association has had policy, even before social media was an issue, that physicians should not practice medicine online with patients when there has been no previous face-to-face relationship."

Back Pain Remedy

2011-03-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

RF effective for low back pain caused by degenerative spondylolisthesis. MedPage Today (3/25, Susman) reported, "Low back pain caused by degenerative spondylolisthesis can be successfully treated by minimally invasive radiofrequency therapy," according to findings presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. In "67 cases of degenerative spondylolisthesis, greater than a 50% reduction in pain was achieved in 64.2% of the patients," according to the retrospective chart review of "1,470 patients who underwent radiofrequency therapy for low back pain over a three-year period, 83 of whom had spondylolisthesis."

Shift Workers and Illness

2011-03-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

Shift workers who compromise sleep may be at risk for diabetes, other chronic conditions. CNN (3/26, Park) reported that people that work at night "are at higher risk for heart disease, diabetes, and other conditions. With biology beckoning their bodies to sleep during the night, shift workers say they struggle to stay awake no matter how many years they've done it." Jeanne Geiger-Brown, an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing who researches shift work and sleep, said that "even when night shift workers try to sleep eight hours during the day to be ready for work, they don't get enough sleep."

Cost and Health Care

2011-03-30T16:49:00.002-07:00

Costs preventing American adults from seeking medical care. American Medical News (3/28, Fiegl) reports, "More working-age Americans are going without health insurance and not seeking physician care for injuries or illness because they can't afford it, according to two new studies released in March." Notably, "a report by the New York-based Commonwealth Fund found that the portion of patients delaying medical treatment in the last year is trending upward." Meanwhile, "Families USA in Washington, DC, conducted a similar study with the Lewin Group, based in Falls Church, Va., and found out-of-pocket costs are rising and becoming a burden for more Americans."

New Melanoma Treatment

2011-03-30T16:49:00.001-07:00

FDA approves metastatic melanoma treatment. The New York Times (3/25, Pollack) reported, "The first drug shown to prolong the lives of people with the skin cancer melanoma won approval from the Food and Drug Administration on Friday." The Los Angeles Times (3/26, Zajac) reported that Yervoy (ipilimumab), "marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. of Princeton, NJ, is the first FDA-approved treatment for metastatic melanoma in 13 years and has triggered particular interest among oncologists because there are indications that, in addition to prolonging some patients' lives, it may cure others." Although patients with "early stages of the disease can usually be treated successfully with surgery," existing treatment options for "late-stage melanoma, including chemotherapy and Proleukin (aldesleukin) -- the last drug approved for the disease -- are effective only in a limited number of patients." According to the AP (3/26, Perrone), study results showed The biotech drug "only worked in a small segment of patients studied, and on average they lived just four months longer than patients given older medications." But experts say the drug is "an important milestone in treating melanoma, which is often unresponsive to therapy." IIpilimumab works by "blocking a molecule linked to melanoma called CTLA-4, which interferes with the protective activity of white blood cells." Medscape (3/25, Mulcahy) reported that in phase 3 randomized clinical trial, "patients receiving ipilimumab plus a peptide vaccine (glycoprotein 100) had a median survival of 10 months, compared with 6.4 months for patients receiving the vaccine alone (P < .001). Patients receiving ipilimumab alone had a nearly identical median survival -- 10.1 months -- in the 3-group clinical trial (P < .003)." HealthDay (3/25, Roberts) note that "about 13 percent of users suffered severe-to-fatal autoimmune reactions. As a result, guides will be distributed with the drug, informing doctors and patients of the medication's potential risks," the agency said.