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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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Health Tip: Symptoms of Bone Spurs

Bone spurs are bone growths that build up over time and tend to affect people as they age. While bone spurs are not painful, they can cause pain by impacting areas around them -- including surrounding nerves.Here are some common symptoms of bone spurs, courtesy of the Cedars-Sinai Health System:

• "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.

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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

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