Previous Medical News
2009/05/09
1. Swine Flu Update
There are 1,639 confirmed cases in 42 states and the District of Columbia, including 2 deaths. Most new cases are now caused by person-to-person transmission and not some link to Mexico, as was the case when the outbreak began nearly two weeks ago. About 3.5 percent of cases have been sick enough to be admitted to hospitals. Average age of those hospitalized is 15.
2. Job Loss Can Make You Sick: Heart Disease, Diabetes, Depression (Demography, 5/8/09)
Facing a firing or layoff can increase the risk of developing a new health problem, such as hypertension, heart disease, heart attack, stroke or diabetes. In some cases, the odds of getting sick because of losing a job jump 50 to 80 percent.
3. Blood Pressure Pill Exforge HCT Approved (FDA, 5/5/09)
The FDA has approved Exforge HCT, which combines three blood pressure drugs -- amlodipine, valsartan, and hydrochlorothiazide -- into one pill.
4. Epstein-Barr Virus Linked to MS (Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, 5/4/09)
Infection with Epstein-Barr virus appears to raise the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. People who are not infected with Epstein-Barr virus do not get MS. Epstein-Barr virus most likely works in concert with environmental factors to trigger MS in people who are genetically vulnerable to the disease. One of those factors may be vitamin D deficiency.
5. Doctors Perform First Double Hand Transplant in U.S. (AP, 5/4/09)
Jeff Kepner, 57, had lost his hands and feet a decade ago to sepsis that developed from a strep infection. On 5/4/09, he became the first person to undergo a double hand transplant in the United States.
6. America's Top Allergy Capitals (Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, 5/6/09)
Louisville, Ky., is the most challenging place to live for people with spring allergies, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America's 2009 list of top 100 Spring Allergy Capitals. Other cities in the top 10 are: Knoxville, Tenn.; Charlotte, N.C.; Madison, Wis.; Wichita, Kan.; McAllen, Texas; Greensboro, N.C.; Dayton, Ohio; Little Rock, Ark.; and Augusta, Ga.
7. FDA backs drug that treats diabetes via the brain: Cycloset (VeroScience Inc.) (FDA, 5/6/09)
People with Type 2 diabetes may soon get a very different treatment approach: A drug that helps control blood sugar via the brain. The Food and Drug Administration approved Cycloset, maker VeroScience Inc. It's a new version of an old drug called bromocriptine, used in higher doses to treat Parkinson's disease and a few other conditions. But unlike its older parent, Cycloset is formulated to require a low, quick-acting dose taken just in the morning — no other time of day. That timing provides a bump of activity in a brain chemical that seems to reset a body clock that in turn helps control metabolism in Type 2 diabetes. One morning dose helped lower the usual post-meal blood sugar rise at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cycloset is the first drug to win FDA approval under new guidelines that require better evidence that diabetes treatments are heart-safe. Dopamine plays a role in sensitivity to insulin and bromocriptine mimics dopamine. Side effects include nausea and dizziness, sometimes because of blood pressure dips upon standing. Nursing women shouldn't use it because Bromocriptine inhibits lactation.
8. Drug-Coated Stents: High Marks for Safety (New England Journal of Medicine, 5/7/09)
Heart patients treated with drug-coated stents to open clogged arteries are no more likely to die than patients treated with non-drug-coated stents, and they have a lower risk of having their arteries renarrow. Angioplasty, bare-metal stents, and drug-coated stents are equally effective for saving lives during a heart attack. But drug-coated stents offer advantages to patients who can take blood-thinning drugs to reduce their risk for blood clots. Drug-eluting stents reduce the incidence of renarrowing of the arteries.
9. Botox injections may ease diabetic foot pain (Neurology, 4/28/09)
People with diabetes often suffer from chronic foot pain because of nerve damage, but relief may be at hand. The pain can be reduced substantially by injections of botulinum toxin type A -- better known as Botox -- into the skin on top of the foot.
10. Coffee in pregnancy may up cleft lip risk slightly (American Journal of Epidemiology, 5/15/09)
Coffee consumption in early pregnancy has been linked to a slightly increased risk of having a baby with cleft lip. It is not the caffeine. Women who drank tea actually had a reduced risk.
11. Tongue Exercises May Ease Sleep Apnea (American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 5/15/09)
Doing certain tongue and facial exercises for 30 minutes daily may ease the severity of obstructive sleep apnea. Speech pathologists taught 16 of the patients to do tongue and facial exercises for half an hour daily. Those exercises included brushing the tongue with a toothbrush, putting the tip of the tongue on the soft palate and sliding the tongue backward, pronouncing vowels quickly or continuously, and keeping the tongue in a certain position when eating. Three months later, the patients in the tongue/facial exercise group had reduced their obstructive sleep apnea severity by 39%. Those patients also reported that they were snoring less, sleeping better, and were less sleepy during the daytime than they had been before learning the exercises.
12. Are You at Risk for Gallstones? (American Academy of Family Physicians, 5/6/09)
Gallstones occur when fluids in the gallbladder solidify and turn into stones that can trigger severe pain. In some cases, they can lead to surgical removal of the gallbladder.
Common risk factors for gallstones:
- Being female.
- Being of Mexican or American Indian heritage.
- Being diabetic.
- Being older than age 60.
- Being pregnant.
- Taking birth control pills.
- Being overweight.
- Eating a high-cholesterol diet.
- Having recently lost a lot of weight.
- Having a personal or family history of gallstones.
13. Treat Psoriasis at Home: Ultraviolet Lamps (BMJ, 5/09)
Home treatment of the skin ailment psoriasis with ultraviolet light lamps is at least as safe and effective as conventional phototherapy at hospitals or clinics. Ultraviolet B treatment involves exposing the skin to an artificial UVB light source. People find home therapy less of a burden and are more satisfied with it than in clinical settings.
14. Pump Away Shingles Pain? (American Association of Neurological Surgeons, 5/6/09)
A surgically implanted pump that delivers medication to the spinal fluid helps reduce the persistent pain that can linger in some patients after they recover from shingles called post herpetic neuralgia.
15. Volunteering may increase retirees' lifespan (American Geriatrics Society annual meeting, 5/4/09)
Participating in volunteer activities may add years to an older person's life. Volunteering significantly reduced the chances of dying over a four-year period. Volunteering may improve health outcomes by expanding retirees' social networks, increasing their access to resources and improving their sense of self-worth.
16. Probiotics Cut Belly Fat After Pregnancy (17th European Congress on Obesity in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 5/7/0)
Probiotics -- widely viewed as "friendly" bacteria that improve digestion, gut health and immunity-- may help women keep belly fat under control after pregnancy.
17. Study blames over-eating, not poor exercise for US obesity (European Association for the Study of Obesity, 5/8/09)
Over-eating, not a lack of exercise, is to blame for the American obesity epidemic. Physical activity could not fully compensate for excess calories.
18. Bullying victims have more psychotic symptoms (Archives of General Psychiatry, 5/09)
Being bullied in childhood doubles a young person's likelihood of having psychotic symptoms in early adolescence. With longer-lasting and more severe bullying comes greater risk.
19. More Americans taking drugs for mental illness (Health Affairs, 5/09)
Many more Americans have been using prescription drugs to treat mental illness since 1996, in part because of expanded insurance coverage and greater familiarity with the drugs among primary care doctors. 73 percent more adults and 50 percent more children are using drugs to treat mental illness than in 1996. Among adults over 65, use of so-called psychotropic drugs -- which include antidepressants, antipsychotics and Alzheimer's medicines -- doubled between 1996 and 2006. About 7 percent of Americans with serious mental illness wind up in jail or prison every year.
20. Low Blood Pressure Risky for Heart Patients (Annual Meeting of The American Society of Hypertension, 5/7/09)
In patients with cardiovascular disease, very low blood pressure may actually boost their risk of stroke and heart attack. The "danger" points are 110 or lower for systolic pressure (the top number of the reading) and 60 or lower for diastolic pressure (the bottom number).
21. Kids at risk from testosterone gel (FDA, 5/7/09)
A little testosterone might be good for adults, but it can cause serious harm to children. Adults using prescription testosterone gel must be extra careful not to get any of it on children to avoid causing serious side effects. These include enlargement of the genital organs, aggressive behavior, early aging of the bones, premature growth of pubic hair, and increased sexual drive.
22. Giving less painful shot first best for babies (Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 5/09)
The order in which vaccine injections are given affects infants' pain response. When two vaccines are to be given, the less painful one should be given before the more painful one.
