While chewing gum may help you feel better when you're stressed, don't overdo it, advises the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
When you're stressed, you may be prone to chewing more vigorously, which can strain your jaw.
Chewing too hard can cause fatigue and soreness in the jaw. It can also trigger a condition called TMJ, affecting the temporomandibular joint. The condition can causes pain in the head and the neck, and difficulty in opening and closing the jaw.
If you have any of these symptoms, give your jaw a rest and stop chewing gum for a few days. If symptoms don't subside, see a doctor.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Health Tip: While Chewing Gum May Relieve Stress
Health Tip: Before a Colonoscopy
A colonoscopy -- used to detect colon cancer and other potential problems -- involves use of a long, flexible tube with a camera that takes images of the colon. Before having a colonoscopy, you should follow certain do's and don'ts to ensure an accurate procedure. This list is provided by the U.S. National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse:
- Avoid all solid foods and any beverages with food coloring for one to three days before a colonoscopy.
- You may eat fat-free bouillon or broth soups, or gelatin.
- You may drink water, strained fruit juice, plain coffee, plain tea or diet soda (no food coloring).
- As certain medications may affect your results, tell your doctor if you are taking aspirin, arthritis medications, blood thinners, medications for diabetes, or any vitamins containing iron.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Health Tip: Keep Bugs at Bay
Insect bites can itch, cause pain, and be quite uncomfortable. While they can't always be prevented, there are ways to reduce your chances of being bitten. Here are suggestions to help prevent insect bites, courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine:
- Don't poke, pick up or otherwise provoke insects.
- Be cautious around nests and hives, and avoid sudden or rapid movement.
- Avoid heavy perfumes, and clothing that has a floral pattern.
- Wear protective clothing that covers the skin, and apply insect repellent when you're outside.
- Pay attention when eating outside, especially when drinking sugary beverages or sitting near garbage cans.
- People with known allergies to bites or stings should carry an emergency epinephrine kit.
Health Tip: Treating Acne Scars
While there is no perfect treatment to eliminate all acne scars, there are remedies that can significantly reduce their appearance. The Nemours Foundations offers this list of potential options :
- Laser resurfacing, which removes the top layer of damaged skin.
- Dermabrasion, which wears down the skin, fostering a new, smoother layer of skin as it heals.
- Fractional laser therapy, which affects deeper layers of skin without damaging the top layer.
- A chemical peel.
- Injections or surgery.
Health Tip: Why Are My Eyes Red?
Eye redness occurs when blood vessels on the surface of the eye become dilated. Here are some common causes of red eyes, courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine:
- Straining the eyes.
- Persistent or severe coughing.
- An eye infection.
- A cold or allergy.
- Damage to the eye.
- Acute glaucoma.
- Scratches on the cornea, commonly caused by wearing contact lenses too long, or sand or dust in the eyes.
- Bleeding problems, often caused by taking blood-thinning drugs.
Health Care : Antioxidant Supplements May Raise Women's Skin Cancer Risk
Taking antioxidant supplements won't protect against skin cancer and may actually boost the risk, at least in women, according to a new French study. "Taking into consideration our results, we are particularly concerned by the use of long-term supplementation, notably in sun-seekers and people wanting to look tanned [using beta-carotene]," said researcher Dr. Serge Hercberg, professor of nutrition at the Medical University of Paris.
The new findings come on the heels of a study, published in mid-August in the Archives of Internal Medicine, that found that antioxidants don't prevent heart disease risk in high-risk women. In the new French study, published in the September issue of The Journal of Nutrition, Hercberg's team looked at the effects of antioxidant doses on skin cancer. The research was conducted as part of a larger study that looked at the effects of antioxidants on cancer and ischemic heart disease.
Antioxidant nutrients are thought to reduce disease risk by cutting down on the unhealthy effects of "free radical" molecules that damage cells.
The researchers assigned almost 7,900 women and more than 5,100 men to take either an oral daily capsule of antioxidant or a placebo that looked the same. The antioxidants included 120 milligrams of vitamin C, 30 milligrams of vitamin E, 6 milligrams of beta-carotene, 100 milligrams of selenium and 20 milligrams of zinc.
"They are not high doses," Hercberg said. "They are at a level below a lot of pills you can find to buy over the counter."
The men and women were followed for about 7.5 years. In that time, 157 cases of any form of skin cancers were reported, including 25 melanomas, the most deadly form.
The team found that, in women, the incidence of all types of skin cancer combined was actually higher in the antioxidant group, and so was their incidence of melanoma.
But the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers, when evaluated separately, did not differ between the antioxidant and placebo groups in men or women. In men, there was no difference in any form of skin cancer (including melanoma) between the two groups.
In the antioxidant group, 51 women developed skin cancer, while 30 in the placebo group did. Among the men, 43 in the placebo group and 33 in the antioxidant group got skin cancers.
As for melanoma, the incidence did not differ significantly between the men's treatment group -- 6 in the placebo group and 3 in the antioxidant group got it. But 3 women on placebo and 13 on antioxidants got melanoma -- a significant difference, the researchers said.
Antioxidant studies have yielded mixed results, Hercberg stressed. For example, in previous studies, researchers saw a higher risk of lung cancer in heavy smokers who regularly took high doses of beta-carotene.
Studies have suggested that antioxidant supplements might protect against prostate cancer incidence in men with low blood levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA), Hercberg said. But research has also suggested that the nutrients might increase prostate cancer risk in men with a high PSA. PSA levels are a marker for pre-existing prostate cancer risk.
That could also be happening in the women who got more skin cancers after taking antioxidants, he theorized. If their skin cancer had already been developing, taking an antioxidant might not help, Hercberg speculated.
While the study is interesting, further research is needed to confirm it, said Dr. Ariel Ostad, a spokesman for the Skin Cancer Foundation and a New York City dermatologist not involved in the study.
He said the study did have one serious limitation. "It does not take into account sunscreen use," he said. If the participants tended not to use sunscreen, that could have affected the results.
Meanwhile, Ostad added, taking care in the sun is important, and "sunscreens are by far the most powerful" weapon to prevent skin cancers.
source : news.yahoo.com
Cancer survival rate up in Europe
Cancer survival has improved across Europe, with eastern European nations beginning to close the gap with western neighbours, according to a study covering the decade up to 2002, released Tuesday. The study, published in the British journal The Lancet, showed a clear link between high rates of survival and the amount spent on health, but pointed out that Britain lagged well behind other countries with similar national health budgets.
An accompanying editorial in the influential journal called for a "fundamental reassessment" of Britain's cancer policy in light of the fact that survival rates were comparable to eastern European countries that spent two-thirds less. "So has the cancer plan worked? The short answer is seemingly no," it concluded, suggesting that the National Health Service should be "divorced from political control and short-term political gains."
The 23-country study, the largest of its kind, said that the survival rate for the most common cancers -- colorectal, lung, breast and prostate -- and for ovarian cancer was highest in Nordic countries, with the exception of Denmark, and in central Europe.
It was somewhat lower in southern Europe, including Spain and Italy, lower still in Britain and Ireland, and lowest in eastern Europe.
Poland and the Czech Republic, however, showed sharp improvement across most major cancers in the period studied, suggesting that eastern European countries were closing the health gap.
From 1991 to 2002, survival rates in eastern Europe improved from 30.3 to 44.7 percent for colorectal cancer, from 60.0 to 73.9 percent for breast cancer, and from 39.5 to 68.0 percent for prostate cancer.
For patients diagnosed in 2000-2002, survival for patients across Europe with tumours was significantly lower than in the United States: 47.3 percent for men and 55.8 for women, compared to 66.3 and 62.9 percent respectively, the study noted.
The journal called for the development of a "pan-European cancer plan" to promote modern diagnostic and treatment facilities.
It noted in particular that Britain should emphasize earlier diagnosis of the disease.
source : news.yahoo.com
Health Care : Egypt death sparks debate on female circumcision
It was a routine procedure undertaken by thousands of Egyptian girls every year, but something went wrong and Budour Ahmed Shaker died while having her genitals cut in a rite known locally as "purification." The death of the 11-year-old schoolgirl at a private clinic in the Egyptian village Mughagha in June prompted the government to outlaw the custom of female genital mutilation, which is so widespread in Egypt that 95 percent of the country's women are estimated to have undergone the procedure.
But the ban may be hard to enforce and activists fear the practice may go underground as the vast majority of Egyptian families still view circumcision as necessary to protect girls' chastity. Most girls are cut by the time they reach puberty. Even in Mughagha, a village of low rise houses hemming the Nile, many women and girls say they want the procedure to be allowed but under more stringent medical supervision.
"If a girl is not purified, she will just go hook up with men. This protects women's honor. Otherwise it will become just like America here and girls will go with guys," said Asma Said, a 16-year-old secondary school student.
"Those who say it doesn't happen are lying 100 percent. There is not one person here not circumcised, and it will continue."
She like many of the schoolgirls in Maghagha who spoke to Reuters said they supported the practice, even if they were frightened of having it done.
The only girl who spoke against the practice was shouted down by her classmates until she conceded that genital cutting was a necessity.
"No one can get married without it," said the girl.
Another classmate, 15-year-old Nesma Radi, chimed in: "Egypt lives in peace and security because there is circumcision."
Egypt imposed a complete ban on female genital cutting -- also known as female genital mutilation or circumcision -- in June after Shaker died of an excessive dose of anesthesia while being cut at a private clinic in Maghagha.
Egypt's state-appointed Grand Mufti, the government's official arbiter of Islamic law, decreed in June that female genital cutting was forbidden by Islam, in his strongest statement yet against the practice.
In Egypt, the cutting is done on both Muslim and Christian girls and typically involves excising the clitoris and sometimes other female genitalia, often by a doctor. Side effects include hemorrhage, shock and sexual dysfunction.
Outside of Egypt and Sudan to the south, the practice is extremely rare elsewhere in most of the Arab world but is common in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.
More than 95 percent of Egyptian women had been circumcised, with the highest levels in poor families living in rural areas of the Nile valley in southern Egypt, according to an Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2005.
source : news.yahoo.com
Health Tip: Children Who Play Sports
Scholastic sports are a great way for children to get exercise and stay healthy. But young athletes also are at greater risk of injury to their growing bodies. Here are potential risks to keep in mind when your child is playing a sport, courtesy of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons:
- Growing bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons are more susceptible to injury than those of adults.
- Growth plates leave weak areas exposed that can cause long-term damage.
- Children in the same age group may vary greatly in size and ability, which can lead to injuries in contact sports.
- Competitive children may try to push themselves to play longer and harder than their bodies can physically handle.
source : news.yahoo.com Read More..
Health Care : Study finds virus contributes to obesity
In the buffet of reasons for why Americans are getting fatter, researchers are piling more evidence on the plate for one still-controversial cause: a virus. New research announced Monday found that when human stem cells — the blank slate of the cell world — were exposed to a common virus they turned into fat cells. They didn't just change, they stored fat, too.
While this may be a guilt-free explanation for putting on pounds, it doesn't explain all or even most of America's growing obesity problem. But it adds to other recent evidence that blames expanding waistlines on more than just super-sized appetites and underused muscles. For several years, researchers have looked at a possible link between obesity and this common virus, called adenovirus-36, from a family of viruses that cause colds and pinkeye in people. They had already found that a higher percentage of fat people had been infected with the virus than nonfat people. They had exposed animals to the virus and got them to fatten up and even found a a gene in the virus that causes animals to get obese.
But ethical restraints kept researchers from exposing people to the virus to see what happens. So they did what would be considered the next best thing, said Nikhil Dhurandhar, who headed the research at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in the Louisiana State University system.
They took fat tissue from people who had liposuction, removed adult stem cells from the tissue and exposed the cells to the virus in the lab. Adult stem cells can regenerate and turn into different types of specialized cells to help the body heal itself.
More than half the stem cells exposed to the virus turned into fat cells and accumulated fats, while only a small percentage of the non-exposed stem cells did the same, said researcher Dr. Magdalena Pasarica, who presented the results Monday at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in Boston.
"It's the first time we see an effect in human cells," Pasarica said in a phone interview.
If a viral cause of obesity can be confirmed, a vaccine could be developed, maybe within five to 10 years, to prevent the virus from making some people fat, Dhurandhar said. However, it wouldn't help people already obese, he said.
Outside experts are intrigued but worry about people blaming all obesity on viruses, when this may be just one of many causes. It doesn't mean it's OK to overeat, blame a bug or wait for some kind of antivirus medicine, they said.
"The cause for obesity in everyone is the same," said Dr. Samuel Klein, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "You eat more calories than you burn up; You can't get away from that basic law of physics."
But there are many causes that trigger overeating and extra storage of fat in the body, including the virus, Klein said. However, he said he considers the virus only a small factor, easily outweighed by genetics and even childhood eating habits.
Dhurandhar said some of his earlier research found that 30 percent of obese Americans had developed antibodies to the virus, showing they had been exposed to it at some point. But for non-obese people, only 11 percent had antibodies, he said.
That means for some people it is not their fault they are fat, Dhurandhar said.
But Klein said that's not completely right.
"We don't want obese people to feel that it's all their fault because it is not all their fault ... but clearly the buck finally lies with the person," Klein said.
source : news.yahoo.com
Health Care : Too fat? Common virus may be to blame
A common virus caused human adult stem cells to turn into fat cells and could explain why some people become obese, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The research builds on prior studies of adenovirus-36 -- a common cause of respiratory and eye infections -- and it may lead to an obesity vaccine, they said.
"We're not talking about preventing all types of obesity, but if it is caused by this virus in humans, we want a vaccine to prevent this," said Nikhil Dhurandhar, an associate professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University System. The virus adenovirus-36 or Ad-36, caused animals to pack on the pounds in lab experiments. "These animals accumulated a lot of fat," Dhurandhar said in a telephone interview.
Dhurandhar also has shown that obese people were three times more likely to have been infected with Ad-36 than thin people in a large study of humans.
Now, researchers in Dhurandhar's lab have shown that exposure to the virus caused adult human stem cells to turn into fat-storing cells.
Dr. Magdalena Pasarica, who led the study, obtained adult stem cells from fat tissue of people who had undergone liposuction. Stem cells are a type of master cell that exist in an immature form and give rise to more specialized cells.
Half of the stem cells were exposed to the virus Ad-36. After a week, most of the infected stem cells developed into fat cells, while the uninfected cells were unchanged.
Pasarica presented her findings at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston.
"The virus appears to change their commitment to a fat storing cell," Dhurandhar said, adding that Ad-36 is just one of 10 pathogens linked to obesity and that more may be out there.
He acknowledged that some people might find it hard to believe that a virus could be responsible for obesity.
"Certainly overeating has something to do with gaining weight. No doubt about that. But that is not the whole truth," Dhurandhar said. "There are multiple causes of obesity. They range from simple overeating to genes to metabolism and perhaps viruses and infections."
Long term, he said he hoped to develop a vaccine and perhaps treatments for the virus. But first, he and colleagues need to better understand the role of Ad-36 in human obesity, he said.
Globally, around 400 million people are obese, including 20 million children under age 5, according to the World Health Organization.
source : news.yahoo.com
Health Care : Obesity predicts prostate cancer recurrence
Obese men have an increased risk of prostate cancer recurrence and death after they have completed radiation therapy, according to results of a study published in the medical journal BJU International. Obesity is known to predict prostate cancer progression in men who undergo radical prostatectomy, or complete surgical removal of the prostate gland, Dr. David Palma and colleagues from the British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, Canada, pointed out.
The researchers therefore examined whether obesity is associated with outcome for patients who undergo external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Of 706 patients treated with radiation from 1994 through 2000, 195 were normal weight, 358 were overweight, and 153 were obese. There were no significant differences among the three groups in Gleason score (aggressiveness of the tumor); prostate-specific antigen (PSA) score (a prostate tumor marker) before treatment began; or cancer stage (how far the cancer has spread).
Blood levels of the male hormone testosterone were lower in obese men than in overweight and normal-weight men.
There were a total of 292 treatment failures detected by laboratory tests. The average times to relapse for normal-weight, overweight, and obese men were 93 months, 88 months, and 84 months, respectively.
The average times to prostate cancer death were 11.1 years for normal and overweight men, and 10.6 years for obese men, a statistically significant difference. The results of further analysis revealed a trend toward decreased overall survival by weight group.
"A number of explanations have been postulated to account for more aggressive prostate cancer in obese men," Palma and colleagues note. "Possible mechanisms include dietary factors, and alterations in hormonal levels, such as estrogens, androgens, leptin, and IGF-1, although definitive mechanisms have not been elucidated."
source : news.yahoo.com
Monday, August 20, 2007
Health Tips : Tea for tumors.
Research shows one kind of tea can be up to 100 times more potent at blocking growth of cancer cells than another. While all tea (green, oolong or black) contains antioxidant compounds called catechins that protect against cancer (especially of the lung, breast, colon, stomach and skin) by neutralizing free radicals, green tea contains about 7 times more catechins than black tea. Green tea also has unique catechins that block an enzyme involved in breast, prostate and colon cancers. Green tea is 10 to 100 times stronger than black tea in blocking the growth of cancer cells. Catechins also prevent heart disease and stroke, primarily by defending against the harmful effects of artery-clogging LDL cholesterol.
Health Tip: Facts About Febrile Seizures
When a child has a seizure that's related to a fever, it's called a febrile seizure. Here are some facts for parents on febrile seizures, courtesy of the American Academy of Family Physicians:
- While febrile seizures can be very frightening to watch, they are rarely harmful to children.
- Febrile seizures do not cause brain damage, and will not cause your child to swallow his or her tongue.
- Febrile seizures -- even repeated ones -- do not mean your child has epilepsy.
- These seizures typically last only a few minutes (rarely more than 10) and will subside on their own. Contact your doctor if the seizure lasts longer than 10 minutes.
- If your child has had one febrile seizure, the chances of her having another one are between 25 percent and 30 percent. Most children do not have multiple febrile seizures.
- Your child should be checked by your family doctor after a seizure to be sure that a fever was the only cause.
Health Tip: Talking to Your Doctor About How to Lose Weight
It may seem intimidating to approach your doctor for advice about how to lose weight. Here are some pointers to get you started, courtesy of the American Academy of Family Physicians:
- Ask your doctor for any available pamphlets or brochures about weight loss, diet and exercise.
- Have your doctor measure your body mass index and waist circumference, and talk about your results and what they mean to your health.
- Talk to your doctor about your exercise regimen and diet, and what changes you can make to help you to lose weight.
- Consider how much change and effort you are willing to make before you talk to your doctor.
- Ask if there are any specialists who can help you, such as dieticians, nutritionists or physical trainers.
Zero trans fat doesn't always mean zero
Stroll the aisles of any grocery store and you're sure to spot labels declaring "zero grams trans fat" on the front of snack foods, cookies and crackers. But does zero really mean there's NO artery-clogging fat inside?
Maybe, maybe not.
Federal regulations allow food labels to say there's zero grams of trans fat as long as there's less than half a gram per serving. And many packages contain more than what's considered one serving.
"The problem is that often people eat a lot more than one serving," said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of Harvard School of Public Health. "In fact, many people eat two to three servings at a time."
Those small amounts of trans fat can add up, said Michael Jacobson of the consumer advocacy Center for Science in the Public Interest. To find out if there might be some trans fat, he said shoppers can check the list of ingredients to see if partially hydrogenated oil — the primary source of trans fat — is included.
"When it says zero grams, that means something different from no trans fat," said Jacobson. His group has urged the government to bar food producers from using any partially hydrogenated oils at all.
The Food and Drug Administration began forcing food companies to list the amount of trans fat on nutrition labels of packaged foods in January 2006. That led many companies to switch to alternative fats.
Trans fat occurs naturally in some dairy and meat products, but the main source is partially hydrogenated oils, formed when hydrogen is added to liquid vegetable oils to harden them.
Consumer groups and health officials have campaigned to get rid of trans fat because it contributes to heart disease by raising levels of LDL or bad cholesterol while lowering HDL or good cholesterol. Fast-food restaurants are switching to trans fat-free oils and New York City and Philadelphia are forcing restaurants to phase out their use of trans fat.
The American Heart Association recommends that people limit trans fats to less than 2 grams per day.
Julie Moss of the FDA's Office of Nutrition, Labeling and Dietary Supplements, said the half-gram threshold for labeling was adopted because it is difficult to measure trans fat at low levels and the same half-gram limit is used for listing saturated fat. She said the FDA would soon be doing consumer research on trans fat labeling, including whether a footnote such as "Keep your intake of trans fat as low as possible" should be added to food labels.
Robert Earl of the Grocery Manufacturers Association said any trans fat in products labeled zero trans fat is likely to be far less than the half-gram threshold. For example, he said, a little partially hydrogenated oil might be used to help seasoning stick.
"I think the industry has been extremely responsive. Most of them were ahead of the curve to either remove or reduce trans fat in most food products," he said.
Earl said shoppers should be looking at the entire food label.
Jacobson is also concerned that people are focusing too much on the trans fat content alone, and not considering other ingredients such as saturated fat, which also raises the risk of heart disease.
"The bigger problem is foods that have no labels at all," Mozaffarian said, citing food served not only at restaurants, but at bakeries, cafeterias and schools.
New York resident Diana Fiorini said she's just recently started paying attention to labels. Holding a box of microwave popcorn at a Manhattan store, she scanned the label and was happy to see that it listed zero grams trans fat.
"I look at the labels. It's still hard to stop yourself when you know you should," she said.
source : news.yahoo.com
Deer hunting may put men's hearts at risk
Deer hunting could be a dangerous endeavor for men with heart disease or risk factors for it, research findings suggest. In a study of 25 middle-aged male deer hunters, researchers found that the activities inherent to hunting -- like walking over rough terrain, shooting an animal and dragging its carcass -- sent the men's heart rates up significantly.
In some cases, this led to potentially dangerous heart-rhythm disturbances, or diminished oxygen supply to the heart. Of the 25 hunters, 17 had established coronary heart disease, while the rest had risk factors such as being overweight, smoking or having high blood pressure or cholesterol.
The findings suggest that for men like these, hunting could boost the risk of heart attack or cardiac arrest.
Susan Haapaniemi and colleagues at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oaks, Michigan, report the findings in the American Journal of Cardiology.
For the study, the researchers outfitted each man with a portable monitor that continuously recorded his heart's electrical activity during a day of deer hunting. For comparison, the men also had their hearts monitored as they exercised on a treadmill on a separate day.
In general, the researchers found, deer hunting put the men's hearts under more strain than the treadmill did. Ten men exceeded the maximum heart rate they logged on the treadmill, and several showed potentially dangerous heart responses to hunting that they did not show during the treadmill test.
Three men had signs of impeded blood flow to the heart during hunting, but not on the treadmill. Similarly, three of the men with heart disease had heart-rhythm abnormalities while hunting that did not show up on the treadmill test.
The combination of physical exertion, adrenaline rush and the stress of rough terrain and cold weather may explain the "excessive cardiac demands" seen with hunting, according to Haapaniemi's team.
What's more, they point out, most of the men in the study were taking part in an exercise program to treat their heart disease, or were regularly physically active. Hunting could be an even greater strain on the heart in men who are usually sedentary, the researchers note.
source : news.yahoo.com
Breast cancer vaccine looks safe, study shows
A vaccine designed to treat breast cancer appeared to be safe in women with advanced disease and showed signs of actually slowing down tumors, U.S. researchers reported on Friday. Dendreon Corporation, maker of the Provenge prostate cancer vaccine, calls the new vaccine Neuvenge. It targets a type of breast cancer called her2/neu-positive breast cancer, which affects between 20 percent and 30 percent of breast cancer patients.
Like Provenge, Neuvenge is made using immune cells from the cancer patient, so it is a tailor-made vaccine.
Dr. John Park of the University of California, San Francisco and colleagues tested it in 18 women with advanced her2/neu-positive breast cancer, whose cancer had spread despite treatment.
Writing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the researchers said the vaccine did not cause any serious side effects and appeared to help at least one patient.
"We saw a partial response, meaning a reduction in the size of tumor area in one patient that was certainly attributable to the treatment," Park said in a telephone interview.
In three other women, their cancer appeared to stabilize for as long as a year, something that could have been due to treatment, Park said.
Park said the effects justify moving from the Phase 1 safety trial to a Phase 2 trial, which would be designed to show the treatment actually helps patients. But that may not happen for a while, he said.
source : news.yahoo.com
Coloring Compound in Fruits, Veggies May Cut Colon Cancer Risk
Compounds called anthocyanins, which give color to most red, purple and blue fruits and vegetables, may help protect against colon cancer, an Ohio State University study says. In laboratory tests on rats and on human colon cancer cells, the researchers found that anthocyanins can significantly slow the growth of colon cancer cells. The team also found that, in some cases, slightly altering the structure of anthocyanin molecules boosted their anti-cancer properties.
The findings, presented Sunday at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in Boston, may help advance knowledge about what gives fruits and vegetables their cancer-fighting properties which, in turn, could eventually lead to the development of new cancer treatments.
"These foods contain many compounds, and we're just starting to figure out what they are and which ones provide the best health benefits," lead author Monica Giusti, an assistant professor of food science at the university, said in a prepared statement.
She did not recommend certain kinds fruits or vegetables over others, and noted that much more research needs to be conducted on anthocyanins. Currently, she and her colleagues are examining how anthocyanins interact with other compounds in foods to determine if these interactions affect the health benefits of the foods or of anthocyanin itself.
source : news.yahoo.com
Doctor's advice may boost car seat use
While a doctor's advice can encourage people to use car seats for children younger than four, there is less data on the effectiveness of counseling on motor vehicle restraint use for older kids and adults, according to a new study. And there's no evidence that doctors can help prevent alcohol-related car crashes by warning patients about the risks of drunk driving, the study team found.
Motor vehicle accidents are the leading killer of people between 3 and 33 years of age in the US, the researchers note in their study, which was commissioned by the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). In 1996, the USPSTF issued a recommendation urging primary care doctors to counsel their patients about using seatbelts, booster seats and car seats to help prevent car crash injuries.
Dr. Selvi B. Williams of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon and colleagues reviewed all available studies to see whether this counseling had any independent effect on increasing proper restraint use, and also to determine if counseling on the risks of drinking and driving was effective.
Eighty percent of adults use seatbelts, while car seat use is 90 percent and use of booster seats is rising, the USPSTF notes in a statement accompanying the study, but proper use of car seats and booster seats remains low.
In their review, Williams and colleagues found that interventions that included demonstrations of proper restraint use were more effective than counseling alone, as were approaches that included distributing free or reduced-price car safety seats.
Among parents of children younger than 4, counseling did indeed increase correct use of car safety seats in the short term. The researchers found just two studies on the effect of counseling 4- to 8-year-olds on booster seat use, and just three studies of counseling older kids, teens and adults on proper seatbelt use. There were no studies at all on the effectiveness of counseling on alcohol-related driving.
Based on other research on drunk driving, the researchers say, "Screening all patients for alcohol misuse and then intervening with risky and harmful users (instead of counseling all primary care patients about reducing alcohol-related driving) may be the best evidence-based approach that is currently available for primary care clinicians."
In order to ensure widespread and appropriate use of motor vehicle restraints by adults and children, the USPSTF concludes, a multi-pronged approach including legislation, counseling, community-based efforts, and enforcement is necessary.
source : news.yahoo.com
Friday, August 17, 2007
Health Tip: Who's at Greater Risk for Heat-Related Illness
Health Tip
Heat-related illness occurs when the body can't cool itself during extremely hot and humid conditions. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, certain people are at greater risk, including:- Infants and young children up to 4 years of age.
- People aged 65 and older.
- People who are significantly overweight or obese.
- People who overexert themselves or don't drink enough fluids.
- People with high blood pressure, heart disease, and those who take certain medications for depression, insomnia or poor circulation.
Health Tip: Symptoms of Bone Spurs
- "Pins and needles" sensation in the hands or feet.
- Dull pain in the neck or lower back while standing or walking.
- Lack of coordination in a part of the body.
- Muscle weakness, spasms or cramps.
- Numbness.
- Pain that radiates through the thighs, buttocks or shoulders.
- Headaches.
Health Care : Menopause hard on couple's sex lives
Sexual Health Care
When a woman enters menopause, her sex life and that of her partner may suffer, according to a survey in which more than half of the women reported a decrease in sex drive and in the amount of sex they were having since entering menopause. Overall, 46 percent of menopausal women surveyed reported having sex less than once per month and most women felt that this was hurting their relationship."Menopausal women are having less sex and it's impacting our relationships," Karen Giblin noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health. "Frankly, through the Red Hot Mamas menopause education programs, I have heard that a lot of women would rather go shoe shopping than have sex, and that concerns me."
The survey, including more than 1,000 women, 35 years or older, who were just beginning, just ending, or in the middle of menopause, was conducted between June 20 and July 2, 2007.
"We are the baby-boom generation who is now entering menopause; we are the women who lived through the sexual revolution in the 60s and now we are having our own sexual revolution, of a different kind," said Giblin, the founder of the Red Hot Mamas organization (www.redhotmamas.org), which commissioned the Sex and Menopause Survey. The survey was sponsored by Duramed Pharmaceuticals and conducted by Harris Interactive.
Four hundred sixty nine of these women -- about 44 percent -- reported suffering from vaginal symptoms such as vaginal atrophy (vaginal narrowing or shrinkage), which can cause vaginal dryness and painful sex.
Eighty-eight percent of women experiencing vaginal atrophy said it was causing them problems and 47 percent said that they have avoided, made an excuse, or stopped having sex altogether because of physical discomfort during intercourse.
Vaginal dryness, in particular, plagued more than half of menopausal women surveyed and this resulted in two thirds of them having less sex. "Seventy percent of the women did not know that therapies are available to relieve vaginal dryness," Giblin noted.
"There are over-the-counter products to combat dryness and your physician has a treasure chest of prescription medications to relieve vaginal dryness," she added.
Giblin believes men need menopause education just as much as women. "It's not only important that a woman have a thorough understanding of the menopause process." Men should also because the symptoms of menopause "can be very hard on relationships," Giblin said.
"If a partner sees a decrease in sex with their partner, often times the partner becomes resentful and feels that the woman has lost interest and it isn't necessarily true," Giblin said. "It's very critical for women and their significant other to stay really connected during menopause."
source : news.yahoo.com
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Health Care : Obesity Heightens Kidney Disease Risks
Chronic kidney disease patients who are also obese are much more likely than normal-weight patients to have a condition called hyperparathyroidism, which raises their risk of heart problems and death, U.S. researchers say. Hyperparathyroidism involves elevated levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH). Normally, parathyroid hormone plays an important role in maintaining normal bone structure. Elevated levels of the hormone can lead to bone abnormalities and increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death. Decreased kidney function is the main cause of hyperparathyroidism in chronic kidney disease patients.
This study of 496 patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease who were not yet on dialysis showed a significant association between obesity and hyperparathyroidism. As body mass increased, so did PTH levels, the researchers said.
"We knew that in people with normal kidney function obesity leads to impairment in vitamin D metabolism and elevated PTH levels, but this phenomenon was never studied in patients with chronic kidney disease," lead author Dr. Csaba P. Kovesdy, of Salem VA Medical Center in Salem, Va., said in a prepared statement.
"Since both obesity and hyperparathyroidism are very complex problems in chronic kidney disease, establishing an association between the two is important because of potential prognostic and therapeutic implications," Kovesdy said.
The study is published in the September issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
source : news.yahoo.com
Health Care : Obese people tend to pick overweight mates
A new UK study provides additional evidence that heavy people are more likely to choose other overweight individuals as mates. This phenomenon is known as "assortative mating" - when men and women tend to select partners according to nonrandom attributes such as height, religion, age and smoking habits.
Researchers have suggested that assortative mating by obesity could increase the already high prevalence of obesity by helping to pass on genes promoting excess weight to the next generation. To date, all studies investigating assortative mating for obesity have used body mass index or skin fold thickness to measure obesity, and many have not accounted for other potential contributing factors, Dr. John R. Speakman of the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland and colleagues note.
Rowett and his team used a technique called dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to get a more precise picture of levels of body fat in their study participants, which included 42 couples. They used statistical techniques to measure and account for the effects of age, the postal code area where people had grown up, and the amount of time they had been in a relationship.
The researchers found that assortative mating for body composition had indeed occurred, with heavier people winding up with heavier mates. It's not clear why this happens, Speakman and his team note; leaner individuals may choose one another first, they suggest, leaving overweight people a more limited mate pool to pick from.
Aside from the underlying reason, they add, the fact that people are becoming overweight and obese at earlier ages than ever before could be making assortative mating for obesity even more common, because it is "allowing singles in their late teens and early twenties to more easily distinguish partners with obese and lean phenotypes."
source : news.yahoo.com
Health Care : Obesity may not bring on migraine
Obese middle-age and older women appear no more likely to report migraine than their non-obese counterparts, a new study suggests. Some previous studies have suggested that there is a relationship between obesity and migraine, while others have found no connection.
To further investigate, Dr. Peter Mattsson, of the department of Neuroscience and Neurology at University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden enrolled 684 women, age 40 to 74 years, who were attending a mammography screening clinic between November 1997 and October 1998. Mattsson looked for an association between migraine and body mass index, a ratio of height to weight commonly used to determine if an individual is over- or underweight. His findings are reported in the medical journal Cephalalgia.
Overall, 19 percent of the women reported active migraine -- one or more migraine attacks during the previous year. Another 14 percent had inactive migraine -- previous migraine but not within the past year. Just over 19 percent of the study population was obese.
Mattsson found no association between active migraine or inactive migraine and obesity in this population of women. Thirty-two percent of the obese women had active migraine and 38 percent of the non-obese women had active migraine, a difference that was not statistically significant. Similar findings were obtained for inactive migraine.
He also found significant relationship between migraine characteristics -- frequency, intensity, and duration - and obesity in the study participants.
Mattsson notes that one recent population-based study, using interviews conducted by non-medical personnel and self-reports of physical characteristics, found an increased risk of migraine among obese and morbidly obese individuals compared with those of normal weight.
By contrast, Mattsson based his conclusions on data from interviews conducted by neurologists and actual body weight and height measurements. He found "no evidence in this study that obesity affects the prevalence of migraine among middle-aged and older women."
"If there are true associations between obesity and features of migraine such as frequency, these are likely to be small, and cannot be reliably studied in small or moderately sized community samples," Mattsson concludes.
source : news.yahoo.com
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Health Tip: Living With Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder, also called manic-depressive illness, is characterized by extreme mood swings.
The American Academy of Family Physicians offers these suggestions to help you cope with bipolar disorder:
- Find out as much as you can about the disorder -- ask your doctor for good references and resources.
- Maintain a regular routine of sleeping and waking times, mealtimes and exercise.
- Continue to take your medications prescribed by your doctor.
- Avoid caffeine and alcohol, and don't take over-the-counter cold, allergy or cough medicines.
- Try to reduce stress.
- Monitor your moods, and tell your doctor when you start to notice significant changes.
Health Tip: Warning Signs of Dehydration
Dehydration, is meaning lacking of body fluids ( what is functioning assists body organ activity because secretory dilution amounts too many for one entering dilution amounts.Dehydration occurs when the body doesn't have enough fluids, either because it's lost too many fluids, a person hasn't drunk enough fluids, or both.
The U.S. National Library of Medicine lists these common warning signs of significant dehydration:
- Not being able to urinate, or urinating very little.
- Urine that is very concentrated and dark yellow in color.
- Not being able to produce tears.
- Sunken eyes.
- In infants, the soft spot on the head is significantly sunken.
- Lethargy, dizziness or lightheadedness.
Healthy Lifestyle Key To Cancer Prevention
While the number of deaths from cancer have been declining, many malignancies could be prevented by exercising, eating right, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking, a new federal report finds. The President's Cancer Panel issues a report every year that focuses on one aspect of what is happening in the United States in terms of cancer.
This year's effort "centers on lifestyle changes, and two issues that are actually quite different," said panel member Margaret L. Kripke, executive vice president and chief academic officer at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston. One issue is nutrition, exercise and the fight against obesity, and the other is the battle to cut tobacco use, Kripke said.
"We tried to think of what would have the biggest impact on reducing cancer mortality," she said. "If you consider that 15 to 20 percent of cancer deaths are related to obesity and another 30 percent of cancer deaths are due to tobacco use, that's 50 percent of all people with cancer."
And quitting smoking and avoiding obesity are things that people can do themselves, Kripke noted. But, as she and other experts know, it's not easy to get people to make the lifestyle changes they should.
"The most serious lack, in terms of what we know, is what motivates people to live a healthier lifestyle," she said.
The experts call for a move toward a "culture of wellness" in the United States. This culture would embrace healthy living as a goal and promote a healthy lifestyle as a way of achieving wellness.
Despite progress in diagnosis and treatment, cancer continues to account for more than a half million deaths each year in the United States, with almost 1.5 million new cases diagnosed annually. Two-thirds of these deaths, and many thousands of new cases, could be avoided through lifestyle changes, according to the report.
Tobacco is the leading cause of lung cancer, but it's also responsible for most cancers of the larynx, oral cavity and pharynx, esophagus and bladder. In addition, it is a cause of kidney, pancreatic, cervical and stomach cancers, along with acute myeloid leukemia. "We really need to get rid of tobacco," Kripke said.
Obesity has been linked to a variety of cancers, including colon, breast, kidney, ovarian and pancreatic cancer. "There are very definitive studies showing that moderate exercise reduces your risk of breast cancer and colon cancer," Kripke said.
In addition, living a healthy lifestyle lowers a person's risk of cancer recurrence and improves outcomes after cancer, Kripke said.
The causes of the obesity epidemic in the United States are complex, Kripke said. The epidemic started in the 1970s about the time that food makers started using high fructose corn syrup as an additive. In addition, portion sizes in restaurants increased as schools cut back on exercise programs.
The obesity problem has grown steadily over the past 30 years. "I don't think there is going to be a quick fix," she said.
One recommendation the panel made in the report is to have subsidies for corn farmers curtailed. "There doesn't seem to be coordination between agricultural subsidies and public health policy for diet and nutrition," Kripke said.
"Subsidies for corn make corn syrup very cheap and it's not nutritionally what you want in all of your foods," Kripke said. "It might make more sense to make agricultural subsidies for fruits and vegetables that would be more healthy for the population."
Although the White House doesn't usually comment on the report, Kripke hopes that it will spur government officials to develop programs that help people make necessary lifestyle changes.
One expert agreed that societal changes are to blame for ever-heavier Americans.
"Obesity has been brought about by changes in our environment, not by any increase in the number of susceptible people," said Eugenia Calle, director of Analytic Epidemiology at the American Cancer Society.
Calle argues that while once fats and sugars were relatively expensive, they are now cheap. "It used to be impossible to buy a great deal of calories for $2.99, and now it is possible to buy one day's allotment of calories for less than $10," she said. "So now calorie-dense foods are cheap."
In contrast, fruits and vegetables are more expensive than they used to be, Calle said. "So, it becomes economically more difficult to make good food choices, especially if you don't have a lot of income," she said. In addition, people have become more sedentary, she added.
"The best idea in the report is implementing a culture of wellness in the U.S., so that the social and cultural norm is one of health," Calle said.
source : news.yahoo.com
Cancer panel attacks U.S. food subsidies
A new presidential report on cancer takes on not only tobacco companies but the food industry while calling on the federal government to "cease being a purveyor of unhealthy foods" and switch to policies that encourage Americans to eat vegetables and exercise. The report, issued on Thursday, also urged changes in public and private insurance policies to encourage doctors to spend more time counseling patients on how to stay healthy by eating right, exercising and avoiding tobacco.
Federal, state, and local policies have actually made healthful foods more expensive and less available, have limited physical education in schools and created an environment that discourages physical activity, the report said.
"Ineffective policies, in conjunction with limited regulation of sales and marketing in the food and beverage industry, have spawned a culture that struggles to make healthy choices -- a culture in dire need of change," said the report.
Margaret Kripke of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson cancer center, a member of the President's Cancer Panel, said in a telephone interview, "What became clear to me is that we simply don't have the political will to protect the public health."
Several reports have shown that a third of all cancers are caused by tobacco use, and another one-third by obesity and inactivity.
"This country must not ignore its moral obligation to protect the health of all Americans. We can and must empower individuals to make healthy choices through appropriate policy and legislation, and the panel urges you to use the power of your office toward this life-saving goal," the panel, chaired by Howard University's Dr. LaSalle Leffall, wrote in a letter to Bush.
PURVEYOR OF UNHEALTHY FOODS
The report recommended much stricter control of the tobacco industry and urged Congress to authorize the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco.
"The report also supports increasing the federal cigarette tax, which is currently 39 cents per pack," American Cancer Society Chief Executive Officer John Seffrin said in a statement.
"The panel's recommendation runs counter to the president's public opposition to a tobacco tax increase."
The federal government also should "require the elimination of unhealthy foods from school breakfast and lunch programs" and "must cease being a purveyor of unhealthy foods that lead to disease and increased health care costs," the report said.
This includes regulation of food advertising and changing agricultural support policies, it said.
"We heavily subsidize the growth of foods (e.g., corn, soy) that in their processed forms (e.g., high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated corn and soybean oils, grain-fed cattle) are known contributors to obesity and associated chronic diseases, including cancer," the report reads.
"The people who are doing the U.S. agricultural subsidies need to connect their subsidies with the policy on public health and I don't think that has been done," Kripke said.
Yet fresh fruits and vegetables are not subsidized in the same way. "And physical education classes in school have almost disappeared," Kripke said.
source : news.yahoo.com
Indian flooding sparks new worries about polio
India will make "extraordinary efforts" to immunize children against polio in its eastern state of Bihar, fearing disruption by massive flooding may make them more vulnerable to the crippling disease, officials said on Thursday. The country of 1.1 billion people has the world's highest number of polio cases, with 139 being reported in 2007 out of a global total of 345. Defeating the paralyzing disease in India is seen as key in the global war against the virus.
In Bihar, where 20 cases of the virulent Type 1 polio were reported this year, nearly 15 million people -- including millions of children -- have been affected in what officials say are the worst monsoon floods in memory in some areas.
The WHO said with thousands of marooned or homeless children living in crowded makeshift camps in the state of 90 million people -- often in extremely unhygienic conditions -- the transmission of the virus could become easier.
"In flood-hit areas, populations mix in unusual fashion which facilitates transmission of the polio virus," said Hamid Jafari, head of WHO's polio project in India.
"There are operational challenges in reaching children in flood-hit areas and going house-to-house to vaccinate them," he said, adding that campaigns were under way in areas health workers could access.
Officials were planning to deploy boats in some areas where there was no let-up in flooding.
Polio is transmitted through the fecal-oral route in unhygienic conditions. It enters the intestine and multiplies there if food is eaten with unwashed hands.
Impoverished Bihar has the second highest number of polio cases after the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. Most of Bihar's cases were reported from districts hit by flooding.
A spike in cases in 2006 in India -- mostly in these two states -- sparked global concern as the Indian strain of the virus reinfected several other countries.
Indian Health Secretary Naresh Dayal told Reuters that the government planned polio immunization rounds in Bihar in the coming weeks as a major national round had to be cancelled on August 5 in several districts due to widespread inundation.
India says it has beaten back the Type 1 virus in the western parts of Uttar Pradesh -- the world's most affected region -- for the first time, with no cases reported this year.
Officials said they did not want the progress in Uttar Pradesh undermined by gaps in Bihar due to the flooding.
"Diarrhea and intestinal infections that follow flooding compromises the efficacy of the polio vaccine," Jafari said. "We must make extraordinary efforts to plug the gap."
source : news.yahoo.com
Kenya slashes malaria child mortality by 44 percent
Kenya has cut malaria deaths among children under five by 44 percent on 2002 levels thanks largely to the increased use of insecticide treated nets (INTs), the government said Thursday. The health ministry said the distribution of 13.4 million INTs over the past five years among children and pregnant women had helped curtail infections, a key success against a disease threatening 40 percent of the world's population.
"Childhood deaths have been reduced by 44 percent in high-risk districts, in-patient malaria cases and deaths are falling (and) there are reduced cases at the community level," it said in a statement.
"For every 1,000 treated nets used, seven children who might have died of malaria are saved."
Malaria kills 34,000 children under the age of five each year in Kenya, and threatens the lives of more than 25 million of its population of 34 million people, the ministry said.
Children sleeping under ITNs in malaria risk areas are 44 percent less likely to die than those who are not, according to a survey carried out in four districts representing varied transmission patterns.
The government has distributed 12 million doses of artemisinin-based therapy (ACT), the latest surefire anti-malaria drug cocktail to replace the mono-therapies that had developed resistance.
In addition, some 824,600 houses in 16 epidemic-prone districts underwent indoor spraying this year.
Health Minister Charity Ngilu said the government would boost distribution of free treated nets -- a policy backed by the World Health Organisation -- to keep away mosquitoes at night when they are active.
"The impact we have seen and the lessons we have learnt through massively distributing INTs, rather than selectively marketing and selling them, will not only benefit Kenya's children but all Africa's children," she said.
The WHO launched a global programme in 1955 to eradicate the disease that has frustrated attempts to create a vaccine.
Using dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), a powerful insecticide, and the drug chroloquine, it managed to eradicated the disease in the West by the 1960s.
But the programme never got off the ground in the humid and low-lying tropics in sub-Saharan Africa where the disease persisted.
By 1969, the programme collapsed as financing withered in the face of rising poverty, political unheavals and surging opposition to the use of DDT.
Malaria affects more than a billion people worldwide and kills a million -- mainly under age five -- every year, the vast majority in sub-Saharan Africa.
source : news.yahoo.com
Few obese adults get treatment plan from docs
Few obese adults receive a formal weight-management plan from their doctors, despite the proven health benefits of even modest weight loss, a new study suggests. The researchers reviewed the medical records of 9827 patients seen at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, between November 2004 and October 2005. A total of 2543 of these patients were obese.
Principal investigator Dr. Warren G. Thompson, and his colleagues, found that only 505, or about one in five obese patients had their condition formally documented. However, patients who did have a formal diagnosis of obesity were 2.5 times more likely to be given a plan of treatment, such as diet changes and exercise goals.
Obese patients who were older or male were less likely to have their condition documented, whereas patients who were morbidly obese, had diabetes mellitus, or obstructive sleep apnea, were more likely to be formally diagnosed, according to the study published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings journal.
Better management of obesity could have a "huge public health impact," according to Thompson and his group. Even a modest weight loss, they point out, can help control a range of chronic health problems, such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol.
It's possible, Thompson told Reuters Health, that when doctors think about obesity as a medical problem that can be diagnosed, they are apt to discuss ways to manage the problem.
Not surprisingly, he noted, study patients who were severely obese were more likely to have a diagnosis and a treatment plan -- suggesting that doctors need to take a closer look at patients with less severe weight problems.
Thompson also suggests that people who are significantly overweight and have yet to get advice from their doctors should consider broaching the topic themselves.
source : news.yahoo.com
Indian flooding sparks new worries about polio
India will make "extraordinary efforts" to immunize children against polio in its eastern state of Bihar, fearing disruption by massive flooding may make them more vulnerable to the crippling disease, officials said on Thursday. The country of 1.1 billion people has the world's highest number of polio cases, with 139 being reported in 2007 out of a global total of 345. Defeating the paralyzing disease in India is seen as key in the global war against the virus.
In Bihar, where 20 cases of the virulent Type 1 polio were reported this year, nearly 15 million people -- including millions of children -- have been affected in what officials say are the worst monsoon floods in memory in some areas. The WHO said with thousands of marooned or homeless children living in crowded makeshift camps in the state of 90 million people -- often in extremely unhygienic conditions -- the transmission of the virus could become easier.
"In flood-hit areas, populations mix in unusual fashion which facilitates transmission of the polio virus," said Hamid Jafari, head of WHO's polio project in India.
"There are operational challenges in reaching children in flood-hit areas and going house-to-house to vaccinate them," he said, adding that campaigns were under way in areas health workers could access.
Officials were planning to deploy boats in some areas where there was no let-up in flooding.
Polio is transmitted through the fecal-oral route in unhygienic conditions. It enters the intestine and multiplies there if food is eaten with unwashed hands.
Impoverished Bihar has the second highest number of polio cases after the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh. Most of Bihar's cases were reported from districts hit by flooding.
A spike in cases in 2006 in India -- mostly in these two states -- sparked global concern as the Indian strain of the virus reinfected several other countries.
Indian Health Secretary Naresh Dayal told Reuters that the government planned polio immunization rounds in Bihar in the coming weeks as a major national round had to be cancelled on August 5 in several districts due to widespread inundation.
India says it has beaten back the Type 1 virus in the western parts of Uttar Pradesh -- the world's most affected region -- for the first time, with no cases reported this year.
Officials said they did not want the progress in Uttar Pradesh undermined by gaps in Bihar due to the flooding.
"Diarrhea and intestinal infections that follow flooding compromises the efficacy of the polio vaccine," Jafari said. "We must make extraordinary efforts to plug the gap."
source : news.yahoo.com
Nursing Home Residents at Highest Heatstroke Risk
Heatstroke may be most lethal for people who live in nursing homes or take medication to lower their blood pressure, a French study finds. Heatstroke, which results from exposure to high temperatures, is "defined by an elevated core body temperature above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), associated with central nervous system abnormalities," the study authors wrote.
They looked at the survival rates and outcomes of 83 heatstroke patients hospitalized in the city of Lyon during a severe heat wave that struck Europe in 2003. Estimates of the death toll ranged from 22,000 to more than 70,000 people.
Of the 83 patients in the study, 58 percent died within 28 days after being admitted to hospital. The patients who died:
- more often came from an institution for the elderly (24 of 48 who died vs. 7 of 35 survivors);
- were more likely to have used blood-pressure lowering drugs long-term (33 of 48 who died vs. 13 of 35 survivors);
- had a higher average body temperature when they were admitted to hospital (41.3 degrees C/106.3 degrees F compared with 40.7 degrees C/105.3 degrees F among survivors);
- had more respiratory, cardiovascular or kidney dysfunctions than survivors;
- were more likely to be in a coma when they arrived at the hospital (81 percent of those who died vs. 23 percent of survivors), or to have anuria, the inability to form urine (19 of those who died vs. zero of survivors).
The study was published online Aug. 13 in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine and was expected to be published in a later print issue.
A second study, also published by the journal, found that being confined to bed, not leaving home daily, or being unable to care for oneself were associated with death from heatstroke.
For this study, Saudi Arabian researchers analyzed six previous studies that examined a total of 1,065 heat-related deaths.
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Cell Therapeutics to buy cancer drug
Biotech firm Cell Therapeutics Inc. on Thursday will announce plans to pay Biogen Idec Inc. up to $30 million for a lymphoma cancer treatment. Seattle-based Cell Therapeutics will take over sales, marketing and development of Zevalin in the U.S., while Bayer Schering will continue to sell the drug outside the country. Zevalin posted sales of $15.4 million in the U.S. last year as a treatment for patients with relapsed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Cell Therapeutics management hopes to expand the drug's use to serve an initial treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
"We see potential for substantial revenue growth for this product," Cell Therapeutics Chief Executive James Bianco said in a statement.
Upon terms of the agreement, Cell Therapeutics will pay Biogen $10 million in cash and up to $20 million in milestone payments when the product receives approval for an additional use. The company plans to hold a news conference Thursday morning to provide details.
Shares of Cell Therapeutics fell 12 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $3.47 on Wednesday.
source : news.yahoo.com
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Placebo effect seen in kids during allergy testing
A "placebo effect" can cause a diverse array of symptoms in children when undergoing food allergy testing, according to the results of a study published in the current issue of Allergy. One of these effects is that some patients believe they have had an allergic reaction when they have actually received with the placebo. This reaction is sometimes referred to as a "nocebo" effect. The more conventional placebo reaction is an improvement of symptoms after receiving an inactive substance rather than the real medicine.
"To date, the occurrence and diagnostic significance of placebo events have not extensively been documented," Dr. B. J. Vlieg-Boerstra and colleagues from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands point out. To investigate, Vlieg-Boerstra's group conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled food "challenge," in which a patient is exposed a substance that he is likely to be allergic to. A double-blind study is when the doctor and the patients do not know which is the placebo and which is the real medicine.
The researchers examined the occurrence and features of placebo reactions after 132 challenges in 105 children (average age 5.3 years) who were suspected of having an allergy to cow's milk, egg, peanut, hazelnut or soy. Challenges with a placebo or food were performed on different days with at least a 2-week interval in between.
A total of 17 (12.9 percent) false-positive reactions to the placebo occurred in 17 different children, meaning the children developed food allergy symptoms after being exposed to the placebo. Most of these symptoms (65 percent) were objective, such as rash, hives diarrhea and vomiting. The other symptoms were subjective -- reported by the child but couldn't really be verified.
The researchers conclude that doctors should be aware that some reactions to food allergy challenges may be false-positive, and that these sensitivity tests will need to be repeated.
source : news.yahoo.com
Estrogen loss contributes to obesity, high BP
The loss of estrogen that accompanies menopause contributes to the development of obesity and high blood pressure (hypertension), according to studies conducted in female rats. Estrogen is known to protect women against heart disease. When women reach menopause, their estrogen levels drop dramatically and they lose this protection and often put on weight Dr. Lourdes A. Fortepiani of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, reported. The findings were reported by Dr. Fortepiani and her colleague Dr. Huimin Zhang at an American Physiological Society-sponsored meeting held in Austin.
The researchers showed that in older female rats, free of heart disease, estrogen deficiency appears to trigger the development of high blood pressure and obesity.
Rats that had their ovaries removed, thereby depleting their estrogen levels, had significantly higher blood pressure and gained twice as much weight as "control" rats with intact ovaries.
"The increase in blood pressure seems to be related to the increase in body weight," Fortepiani told Reuters Health.
Rats that had their ovaries removed also showed 70-percent higher levels of the fat hormone leptin and 35 percent higher blood sugar levels.
However, treating these "ovariectomized" rats with estrogen abolished these effects. "When you treat with estrogen, the animals don't gain that much weight and their blood pressure goes down," Fortepiani said.
Moreover, female rats without ovaries that receive estrogen replacement therapy do not experience any of these adverse hormonal and metabolic effects, she said.
While acknowledging the controversy surrounding hormone therapy, these findings may open up new therapeutic approaches for postmenopausal hypertension, Fortepiani added.
(source : news.yahoo.com)
Monday, August 13, 2007
Fertility drugs don't raise breast cancer risk
Drugs used to treat female infertility do not appear to be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, according to a new report. Based on these findings and others, "infertile women should not worry about breast cancer," Dr. Allan Jensen from the Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, told Reuters Health.
Jensen and his associates evaluated the effects of different types of fertility drugs on the risk of breast cancer, after taking account of reproductive factors that are known to affect the risk, in a study involving more than 54,000 women with infertility problems. Out of that whole group, 331 women developed breast cancer after an average of 14 years, the investigators report in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention.
After adjustment, the researchers found that clomiphene and four synthetic hormones used to boost fertility did not significantly affect the risk of breast cancer.
The use of progesterone was associated with an increased risk of subsequent breast cancer, the investigators say, but this increased risk was based on only eight cases.
"The progesterone results are limited by a low number of cases," Jensen said. "We will therefore increase the follow-up period in order to collect more cases. Also, as progesterone is mainly used for IVF patients, we will go into more details with this subgroup."
In any case, he added, "we are talking about small increased relative risks, and therefore the absolute risk will still be low."
source : news.yahoo.com
MRI Beats Mammograms at Spotting Early Breast Cancer
MRI appears to be better than mammograms at finding breast cancer before it spreads, German researchers report. However, despite the technology's advantages, its cost and a lack of people skilled at reading breast MRIs means it won't replace mammograms any time soon, experts say.
"MRI is more powerful and accurate for diagnosing pre-invasive breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)," concluded lead research Dr. Christiane Kuhl, from the Department of Radiology at the University of Bonn. Her team published its findings in the Aug. 11 issue of The Lancet.
Most breast cancers arise from cells that build up in the inner lining of the milk duct, Kuhl explained. As long as this cancer is confined to the duct, it is considered benign and does not spread. "If you identify breast cancer at this stage and remove it, the patient is healed -- always," she said. "Avoiding invasive breast cancer is even better than early diagnosis."
In the study, Kuhl and colleagues collected data on more than 7,300 women over five years. In addition to mammograms, the women were also given MRIs. The researchers wanted to see if MRIs could detect DCIS.
They found that among the 167 women who had a DCIS, 92 percent were found by MRI compared with 56 percent found by mammography.
Moreover, of the 89 women diagnosed with "high grade" DCIS -- the ones most likely to develop into cancer -- 98 percent were found by MRI, compared with 52 percent found by mammography. In addition, 48 percent were missed by mammography but found by MRI alone.
High-grade DCIS almost always becomes invasive and does so after a short time, Kuhl explained. "When it becomes invasive, it is biologically aggressive -- that means it kills," she said.
In contrast, low-grade DCIS usually remains within the duct and poses no threat. In fact, women can have low-grade DCIS for a lifetime with no ill effects, Kuhl said.
Also, MRI was not associated with many false positive findings. The positive predictive value of both methods was similar -- 55 percent for mammography and 59 percent for MRI, the researchers reported.
There's one big downside, however: MRI is very expensive compared with mammography. "Also, MRI is more difficult to read, and you have to use different criteria to diagnose DCIS than for invasive breast cancer," Kuhl said.
Since MRI is used less often than mammography "the number of radiologists who are experienced in interpreting breast MRIs is far smaller than the number of radiologists who are able to accurately interpret a mammogram," further limiting its use, the German researcher said.
And more studies that compare MRI with mammography are needed before MRI can be recommended as the best way to diagnose DCIS, she added. "This is the beginning of the death of mammography, but that is going to be a long death," Kuhl predicted.
One expert wasn't surprised by the findings.
"This study shows that MRI is definitely better than mammography for detecting DCIS," said Dr. Kristin Byrne, chief of breast imaging at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "We have known that MRI is better for detecting cancer, but there has been a debate whether MRI was best for detecting DCIS," she said.
The enhanced ability to find DCIS using MRI is due to better quality images and improved ability in reading the MRI, Byrne said. "We are now detecting much more DCIS than what is seen on the mammogram," she said.
The American Cancer Society does recommend that women who are at high risk for breast cancer get an MRI in addition to their yearly mammogram, Byrne noted.
Still, it will take a long time before breast MRI replaces mammograms, she said, for the reasons Kuhl laid out.
Another expert agreed that a larger study is needed before MRI can become the preferred breast cancer screening method.
"We don't know yet how much MRI screening will add and at what price this comes, economically and psychologically, [because of the] emotional burden due to increased absolute amount of unnecessary recalls," said Dutch radiologist Ritse M. Mann, of Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in Nijmegen.
But Mann, the co-author of an accompanying journal editorial, said that "MRI can no longer be regarded as [just] an adjunct to mammography, even though this needs considerable funding."
"MRI screening will detect malignancies more often and earlier and will increase breast cancer survival. Therefore, it is time to start a large multicenter trial on MRI screening for breast cancer in the general population," Mann said.
source : news.yahoo.com
Extreme Heat Hits Elderly Harder
A combination of age-linked factors helps explain why older adults and the elderly are at higher risk on very hot days, experts say. Due to age-related physical changes, older adults can't cool down as well as younger adults, says the American Geriatric Society's Foundation for Health in Aging. Older people may not feel as hot when temperatures are dangerously high, and they are also less likely to feel thirsty, even when they're almost dehydrated, the experts say.
These and other factors mean that extreme heat can lead to serious health problems and increased risk of death for older adults. Each year in the United States, about 200 people die of health problems caused by high heat and humidity. Most of the victims are age 50 or older.
The foundation also noted that heart disease, diabetes and certain other diseases that are common in older adults can make it more difficult to cope with high heat and humidity. The same goes for a number of drugs, including water pills, allergy and sinus medications, and medicines for depression and nerve problems.
When the temperature reaches 90 degrees F, family and caregivers should check on older adults, said the foundation, which also offered hot weather safety tips for older adults:
source : news.yahoo.com
Last Flu Season Was Mild, But Child Deaths Worrying
Although the 2006-07 flu season was comparatively mild in the United States, it still claimed the lives of 68 children, and experts say more must be done to reduce the death toll. They're especially concerned about the steady rise in a potentially lethal combination of infection with flu and drug-resistant staphylococcus, or "staph."
"While waiting to see what this year will bring, we should all plan to roll our sleeves up and get vaccinated and in no way let our guard down," said Dr. David Katz, director of Yale University School of Medicine's Prevention Research Center. In a report released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, experts said the 2006-07 flu season peaked in mid-February. And there were actually fewer pediatric deaths and fewer children hospitalized with influenza than in the past three flu seasons, according to the CDC.
But, among the 68 children whose deaths were associated with flu from Oct. 1, 2006, to May 19, 2007, 21 had influenza plus Stapholococcus aureus ("staph") that was resistant to a leading antibiotic, methicillin, according to the report in the Aug. 10 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
In comparison, only one child died from flu coupled with S. aureus infection in 2004 through 2005, and three died during the 2005-06 season, the CDC said.
"We are looking into the number of deaths of children combined with staff bacterial infection," said Dr. Joe Bresee, CDC's chief of the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch in the Influenza Division. "From our perspective, it looks like it has increased."
Bresee said the CDC isn't sure if the number of deaths is actually rising, or the increase is due to better reporting. "The actual risk to kids from this is not known, but it is concerning," he said.
Bresee thinks that increasing the number of young children who get flu shots is key to reducing the problem. "They would be less likely to get influenza and, therefore, less likely to get co-infections with S. aureus," he said.
Despite the troubling news that such dual infections may be on the rise, the past season's flu statistics were relatively positive, Katz said.
"Data from the last flu season provide mostly good news," he said. "The number of cases was never unusually high. The strains were mostly of the expected varieties, and vaccine composition was just right. The death toll from complications of influenza was a bit lower than average."
The reasons for the milder flu season aren't clear, said Dr. Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine. "It could be increased surveillance and improved care and more awareness of what influenza can do," he said. "It may also be a less virulent strain of the virus."
Katz noted that, even in a good year, the average number of deaths from flu in the United States totals about 30,000, mostly among the elderly.
During the 2006-07 flu season, the influenza A (H1) virus was most common in the United States, but the A (H3) virus was found to be more common late in the season, according to the CDC.
For the 2007-08 vaccine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee has recommended that the trivalent flu vaccine contain A/Solomon Islands/3/2006-like (H1N1), A/Wisconsin/67/2005-like (H3N2), and B/Malaysia/2506/2004-like viruses, the CDC reported.
The influenza A (H3N2) and influenza B components remain the same for the new vaccine. These recommendations were based on antigenic analyses of recently isolated influenza viruses, epidemiologic data, vaccination studies in humans, and the availability of vaccine strains and reagents, the CDC said.
Last season, around the world, influenza A (H1), A (H3), and B viruses were most common. In Africa, small amounts of influenza A and B were seen. In Europe and Asia, influenza A (H3) virus was most common, but low levels of A (H1) were seen. Influenza B viruses were seen at lower levels in Asia and Europe but were most common in some countries, according to the CDC.
The best way to protect yourself from flu is to get vaccinated, experts said. "We had a good flu year. But that was last year," Katz noted.
In terms of the H5N1 bird flu virus, from December 2003 to mid-July 2007, 319 cases of bird flu in humans were reported to the World Health Organization. Among these cases, 60 percent (192) were fatal. To date, no human cases of bird flu have been reported in the United States.
All human cases were reported from Asia (Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam) and Africa (Djibouti, Egypt, and Nigeria).
But, "the threat of an avian flu pandemic still looms," Katz said. "To date, deaths from avian flu have been few, and limited to Asia. But no one knows for sure when that might change."
Siegel, author of Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic, noted that although H5N1 has a high mortality rate, "we see year after year that it is confined to birds. There is no indication that it is about to become a massive human problem. There is no indication that it is on the verge of transforming."
source : news.yahoo.com
Egypt to strengthen penalties against female circumcision
A law to strengthen penalties against female circumcision will be put to parliament when it reconvenes in autumn, a health ministry spokesman said on Sunday, after a teenage girl died during an illegal operation to mutilate her genitalia. Spokesman Abdel Rahmane Shahine told AFP that a group of doctors and parliamentarians are working on the text which will be presented to parliament when it meets again in November.
"The proposed law is aimed at strengthening penalties" for the practice, he said, without elaborating. Those currently in place, he added, are "not proportional to the seriousness of the crime." People found guilty of carrying out female circumcision currently risk up to three years in prison.
The health ministry will also allocate a further one million euros (1.365 million dollars) in the fight to stamp out the practice, Shahine added.
Newspapers on Saturday reported that Karima Rahim Massud, 13, died as the result of problems with the anasthaesia in the Nile Delta village of Gharbiya.
In June, following the death of 12-year-old Bedur Ahmed Shaker, Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali issued a decree banning every doctor and member of the medical profession from performing the procedure.
Female genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision, is a practice that dates back to pharaonic times in Egypt. It is common in a band that stretches from Senegal in West Africa to Somalia on the east coast, and from Egypt in the north to Tanzania in the south.
The practice, which affects both Muslim and Christian women in Egypt, was banned in 1997 but doctors were allowed to operate "in exceptional cases."
Female circumcision can cause death through haemorraging and later complications during childbirth. It also carries risks of infection, urinary tract problems and mental trauma.
Religious leaders, usually silent on taboos relating to female sexuality, have also started to speak out against the practice, which many Egyptians believe is a duty under Islam and Christianity.
After the death of Shaker, chief mufti Ali Gomaa declared female circumcision forbidden under Islam.
Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, the sheikh of Al-Azhar university, the top Sunni Muslim authority, and Coptic Patriarch Chenouda III also declared it had "no foundation in the religious texts" of either Islam or Christianity.
source : news.yahoo.com
Italian town to pay residents to shed flab
Overweight residents of an Italian town will be paid to lose weight, the mayor said on Monday. Men living in the northwestern Italian town of Varallo will receive 50 euros ($70) for losing 4 kg (9 pounds) in a month, Mayor Gianluca Buonanno said. Women will get the same amount for shedding 3 kg (7 pounds).
If they can keep the weight off for 5 months, they will get another 200 euros ($280), he told Reuters. "Lots of people are saying, 'I really need to lose some weight but it's really tough.' So I thought, why don't we go on a group diet?" said Buonanno, who said he was about 6 kg (13 pounds) overweight.
The town of 7,500 people started the campaign on Friday and some residents have already signed up, he said.
Around 35 percent of Italians are overweight or obese, according to European Union figures, with waistlines expanding as the country's healthy Mediterranean diet has given way to processed foods rich in fat, sugar and salt.
source : news.yahoo.com
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