Welders and Parkinsons Disease

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

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

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

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

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

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

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."