Latest Medical News
2010/08/28
1. Appeals court rejects autism vaccine link (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 8/27/10)
A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that vaccines are not to blame for autism. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a decision last year by a special vaccine court, which concluded there's little if any evidence to support claims of a vaccine-autism link. In its ruling the appeals panel said "we have carefully reviewed the decision of the special master and we find that it is rationally supported by the evidence, well-articulated, and reasonable.”
2. Recall: Tainted chicken feed linked to massive US egg recall (FDA, 8/26/10)
Contaminated chicken feed is likely to blame for a salmonella outbreak at two major US egg producers that has already sickened some 1,700 people. It is not yet known if the feeding ingredients came to the facility contaminated or if the feed got contaminated at the facility. This contamination can come in through numerous routes -- including rodents, shared equipment and workers.
3. Could Drinking Water Before Meals Help You Lose Weight: Water May Be Secret Weapon in Weight Loss (Annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, 8/23/10)
The latest weight-loss trick may be as simple as gulping a couple of glasses of water before you eat. Middle-aged and older adults who drank two cups of water before each meal consumed fewer calories and lost more weight than those who skipped drinking water.
4. FDA commissioner says agency needs more authority (FDA, 8/23/10)
The massive egg recall dramatizes the need for the agency to have greater regulatory authority according to Food and Drug Administration chief Margaret Hamburg. She said Congress should pass pending legislation that would provide her agency with greater enforcement power, including new authority over imported food.
5. Doctors’ religious beliefs can affect end-of-life care (Journal of Medical Ethics, 8/10)
Doctors who are atheist or agnostic are twice as likely to make decisions that could end the lives of their terminally ill patients, compared to doctors who are very religious. Doctors must not allow their religious beliefs to interfere with their treatment of patients.
6. Imported grape candy contains lead: Cocon Grape Gummy (California Department of Public Health, 8/27/10)
California health officials are warning consumers to avoid an imported grape candy because it contains high lead levels. The Department of Public Health says Cocon Grape Gummy 100 percent candy was found to contain up to 0.19 parts per million of lead — nearly twice the state limit. The candy was manufactured in Malaysia and distributed by U-Can Food Trading, a Los Angeles company.
7. Why Does Strasburg Need Tommy John Surgery (Multiple Sources, 8/27/10)
Stephen Strasburg needs Tommy John surgery (TJS). He throws extremely hard, upwards of 100 MPH. Second, Strasburg has brutal pitching mechanics, with a very violent motion. He has a "significant tear" in his ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and it will likely require "Tommy John" reconstructive surgery to replace the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Tommy John surgery, known in medical practice as ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction, is a surgical procedure in which a ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with a tendon from elsewhere in the body (often from the forearm, hamstring, knee, or foot of the patient). Ligaments connect bones to other bones. Tendons connect muscle to bone.
8. Cranberry Juice Fights Urinary Tract Infections Quickly (national meeting of the American Chemical Society, 8/23/10)
Scientists report that within eight hours of drinking cranberry juice, the juice could help prevent bacteria from developing into an infection in the urinary tract.
9. Study Finds Retrovirus in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: New Hope in Fatigue Fight (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 8/23/10)
Researchers say they have identified a family of retroviruses in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, opening up a potentially promising new avenue of treatment for a debilitating disease that afflicts as many as four million Americans and 17 million people world-wide. The finding will likely spur patients with the condition to seek treatment with drugs used to fight HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Although HIV and the newly identified virus group are different, they are both retroviruses. The group of viruses identified in fatigue patients, called murine leukemia virus-related viruses, or MLV, are known to cause cancer and neurological problems in mice, but whether they cause disease in humans isn't known. In the new study, researchers said they found at least one of four different MLV-like viruses in 32 of 37, or 86.5%, of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, compared with just three of 44, or 6.8%, of apparently healthy blood.
10. Scientists use synthetic corneas to restore vision (Science Translational Medicine, 8/10)
Scientists in Canada and Sweden have used laboratory-made biosynthetic corneas to restore vision to patients in a small human trial, and shown for the first time that they can help to repair damaged eye tissue. Their findings offer hope for the millions of people who go blind each year because of a worldwide shortage of corneas for donation. The cornea is a tiny piece of transparent, film-like tissue that covers the surface of our eyes. Made from parallel strands of the protein collagen, it refracts light to focus images on the retina. Although the fragile film is easily destroyed by trauma or infection, replacement human corneas can be used to restore vision, although this depends on a steady supply of donors.
11. Scientists create liver cells from patients' skin (Journal of Clinical Investigation, 8/25/10)
Scientists have created liver cells in a lab for the first time using reprogrammed cells from human skin, paving the way for the potential development of new treatments for liver diseases that kill thousands each year.
12. Foot Tanner Unsafe Says FDA: Tootsie Tanner (FDA, 8/24/10)
Those who use a portable foot tanning device called the Tootsie Tanner risk overexposure to ultraviolet radiation. The product labeling recommends 30 minutes of tanning time, but FDA testing found the maximum time of exposure should not exceed 20 minutes. The device has no warnings advocating the need for protective eye wear. Overexposure from the UV rays may cause immediate and long-term eye and skin injury. The FDA advises the device should be discarded.
13. Recession may have pushed US birth rate to new low (National Center for Health Statistics, 8/28/10)
The U.S. birth rate has fallen to its lowest level in at least a century as many people apparently decided they couldn't afford more mouths to feed. The birth rate dropped for the second year in a row since the recession began in 2007.
14. Bottled vs. Brewed-Study Reveals Healthiest Teas: Many bottled teas contain almost no antioxidants (annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, 8/23/10)
If you're looking for high doses of healthful antioxidants, you might be better off brewing your tea at home than drinking bottled tea beverages. Many of the popular beverages included in the study contain fewer antioxidants than a single cup of home-brewed green or black tea.
15. Hand Cleansers Cut Absenteeism (BMC Infectious Diseases, 8/25/10)
Putting alcohol-based hand cleansers in work places slashed the incidence of several common infections and reduced the number of workdays lost.
16. Breast-Feeding May Lower Women's Risk for Type 2 Diabetes (American Journal of Medicine, 9/10)
Mothers who don't breast-feed their children are at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life compared to those who do breast-feed. Women who opted for the bottle had double the odds for the illness later.
17. Do Spouses Grow Alike as Time Passes? Opposites Don't Attract: People Choose Partners Like Them (Personality and Individual Differences, 11/10)
Husbands and wives don't become more alike over time. Rather than becoming more alike over time, people simply tend to pick mates based on shared personality traits.
18. Diet Sodas May Raise Risk of Preterm Delivery (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 9/10)
Drinking lots of artificially sweetened beverages may be linked with an increased risk of premature births. Women who drank four cans a day were more likely to deliver early.
19. Parents Who Clash More Likely to Spank Kids (Pediatrics, 9/10)
Young children raised in a household where one or both parents are aggressive or violent toward each other are more likely to be spanked.
20. Kudzu extract may treat cocaine addiction (Nature Medicine, 8/10)
An extract of the kudzu vine being developed to treat alcoholism may also help treat cocaine addiction. Tests on rats showed the experimental drug from Gilead Sciences Inc could stop them from giving themselves cocaine. The vine, native to Asia, has spread across much of the U.S. Southeast after being imported to control soil erosion.
21. Berries May Slow Mental Decline From Aging (Annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, 8/23/10)
Compounds found in various berries and possibly in walnuts may slow down natural aging processes in the brain. Compounds in blueberries, strawberries, and acai berries and maybe walnuts activate the brain's natural "housekeeper" mechanism that cleans up and recycles toxic proteins, which have been linked to age-related mental decline and memory loss. Acai is a species of palm tree.
22. Even when prostate cancer returns, most survive (Archives of Internal Medicine, 8/9, 23/10)
Men who show signs that their disease has returned after prostate cancer treatment are still more likely to die of other causes. This study underscores the need to find a better way to identify the minority of men who will die of prostate cancer after disease recurrence.
23. Broccoli, Plantains May Stop Crohn's Disease Relapse (Gut, 8/10)
Fibers from broccoli and plantain plants may block a key stage in the development of Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s is an inflammatory bowel disorder that affects about seven of every 100,000 people in North America. Broccoli and plantain fibers reduced E. coli bacteria movement across cells lining the bowel. Plantains are a member of the banana family. They are a starchy, low in sugar variety that is cooked before serving as it is unsuitable raw.
24. Insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes linked to Alzheimer's (American Academy of Neurology, 8/10)
People with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are at higher risk of developing plaques associated with Alzheimer's.
25. Vitamin D linked to cancer, autoimmune disease genes (Genome Research, 8/24/10)
Scientists have found that vitamin D influences more than 200 genes, including ones related to cancer and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. Vitamin D effects our DNA through something called the vitamin D receptor, which binds to specific locations on the 200 genes that Vitamin D directly influences.
26. Antihistamine use linked to extra pounds (Obesity, 8/12/10)
People who use prescription antihistamines to relieve allergy symptoms may be more likely than non-users to carry excess pounds.
27. Diabetes has an Impact on Sex Life (Diabetes Care, 10/10)
Middle aged and older adults are interested in sexual activity, but diabetes impairs libido and can result in erectile dysfunction.
28. Short-Term Overeating Could Make Long-Term Weight Loss Tougher (Nutrition & Metabolism, 8/10)
Just a month's worth of unhealthy living changes physiology, making piled-on fat even harder to lose.
29. ADHD risk may be tied to pesticide exposure before birth (Environmental Health Perspectives, 8/10)
Children whose mothers were exposed to widely-used pesticides such as malathion during pregnancy may be at increased risk of developing an attention disorder by age 5. Pregnant women should wash all fruits and vegetables carefully.
30. Recall: Recall of Deli Meat Sold at Walmart Stores (Zemco Industries, 8/24/10)
Zemco Industries of Buffalo, N.Y., has voluntarily recalled about 380,000 pounds of deli meat products distributed nationwide to Walmart stores because of possible contamination with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Such bacteria can cause listeriosis, a rare but potentially deadly disease. Symptoms of listeriosis include high fever, severe headache, stiff neck, and nausea. Pregnant women who are exposed to the bacteria can have a miscarriage or stillbirth. Healthy people rarely contract listeriosis. Those most at risk for developing serious infections include people with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV infection or those who are undergoing chemotherapy.
31. Recall: J&J recalls hip replacement systems (J&J, 8/26/10)
Johnson & Johnson's artificial joint business is recalling two hip replacement products. DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. is recalling two hip replacement products because new data show higher-than-expected rates of patients needing a second hip replacement procedure. Within five years, one in eight patients needed a revision surgery. That's required when an artificial joint doesn't fit perfectly, causing pain and difficulty walking. The products are the ASR Hip Resurfacing System and the ASR XL Acetabular System.
