Previous Medical News
2009/08/01
1. Flu Vaccine Panel Creates Priority List (CDC, 7/29/09)
When the vaccine starts arriving in September, first in line will be pregnant women; the caretakers of infants; children and young adults; older people with chronic illness; and health-care workers.
2. Organic food is no healthier? (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 7/29/09)
Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over ordinary food, according to a controversial systematic review of 162 scientific papers published in the scientific literature over the last 50 years. A small number of differences in nutrient content were found to exist between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs, but the authors felt they are “unlikely to be of any public health relevance.” This is an area that requires further investigation.
3. Jackson doc gave him propofol (Diprivan) before death: MJ's 'Milk of Amnesia'? (AP, 7/28/09)
Propofol is a drug used only by anesthesiologists in the hospital. The drug puts a patient into rapid coma and 30-40% will stop breathing. This drug is never indicated to be used at home and must be carefully and continuously monitored when given to provide heart and lung support as needed.
4. Probiotics May Fight Against Common Cold, Flu (Pediatrics, 8/09)
Probiotics -- good bacteria that can aid immune function -- can have a preventive effect for cold and flu viruses. This study reveals that a six-month course of probiotics was a safe and effective way to ward off flu symptoms and reduce their duration in 3- to 5-year-olds.
5. Tanning beds definitely cause cancer (Lancet Oncology, 7/29/09)
Tanning beds and other sources of ultraviolet radiation are as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas. The risk of skin cancer jumps by 75 percent when people start using tanning beds before age 30. Tanning beds and other sources of ultraviolet radiation are definite causes of cancer, alongside tobacco, the hepatitis B virus and chimney sweeping.
6. Swine flu striking pregnant women hard (CDC, 7/29/09)
Pregnant women infected with the new H1N1 swine flu have a much higher risk of severe illness and death and should receive prompt treatment with antiviral drugs. There is a fourfold increase in hospitalization rates among ill pregnant women compared to the general population.
7. Centrally active ACE inhibitors may help prevent dementia (Archives of Internal Medicine, 7/13/09)
Centrally active angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors reduce cognitive decline by 65% per year of exposure, an effect that is likely due to their ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. Centrally active ACE inhibitors included captopril (Capoten, Bristol-Myers Squibb), fosinopril (Monopril, Bristol-Myers Squibb), lisinopril, perindopril, ramipril (Altace, King Pharmaceuticals), and trandolapril (Mavik, Abbott Laboratories). Non–centrally active ACE inhibitors included benazepril (Lotensin, Novartis Pharmaceuticals), enalapril (Vasotec, Merck), moexipril (Univasc, Schwarz Pharma), and quinapril (Accupril, Pfizer).
8. Tax soda pop to fight fat? (CDC, 7/30/09)
A soda tax would not only help Americans to slim down but could raise revenues that would help to offset the rising sums spent to treat preventable health conditions caused by obesity. Is it appropriate to tax soda pop? What about giving health insurance discounts for healthy living?
9. Why Exercise? Health Trumps Beauty (American Council on Fitness, 7/27/09)
Staying healthy is the reason most fit adults gave for hitting the gym, and they are doing it for the ones they love. Even a belt-tightening economy has not led the active to skimp on their regimens.
10. Lasting marriage linked to better health (Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 6/09)
People who get married and stay married may enjoy better health than the perpetually single, but losing a spouse could take a significant health toll. Remarriage seemed to lessen some of the health effects of divorce or widowhood. However, remarried men and women were still in generally poorer health than those in a lasting marriage
11. Nearly 10 percent of health spending for obesity: Obesity costs U.S. $147 billion a year (Health Affairs, 7/27/09)
Medical spending averages $1,400 more a year for an obese person than for someone who's normal weight. Overall obesity-related health spending reaches $147 billion, double what it was nearly a decade ago.
12. The family pet may alter later allergy risk (Allergy, 8/09)
Being around the family cat or dog at 3 months of age may offer protection against allergies to dust mites and pollen later on, but does not appear to impact the development of asthma by the age of 8 years.
13. U.S. Adults Dying of Preventable Diseases (National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, 7/24/09)
Diseases easily preventable by adult vaccines kill more Americans each year than car wrecks, breast cancer, or AIDS. 50,000 adults die each year of diseases that are potentially vaccine preventable,
- Pneumococcal vaccine is used by 25% of Americans at high risk of severe illness and by 60% of Americans aged 65 and older.
- Hepatitis B vaccinations were completed by 32% of high-risk U.S. adults under age 50 and for 34% of non-high-risk adults under age 50.
- HPV vaccinations have been given to only 10.5% of American women 19-26 -- and only 6% got all three shots.
- Tetanus shots are current for only 60% of U.S. adults under age 65 and only 52% for older adults. Booster is required every 10 years.
- Flu shots are taken by less than two-thirds of adults at high risk of severe flu complications.
- Shingles vaccines are taken by only 7% of U.S. adults 60 and older
14. Higher U.S. speed limit linked to 12,500 more deaths (American Journal of Public Health, 9/09)
Higher speed limits led to about 12,500 more deaths on US roads between 1995 and 2005.
15. Black Tea May Lower Blood Sugar (Journal of Food Science, 6/30/09)
Black tea contains a substance that mimics type 2 diabetes drugs Precose and Glyset. Black tea contains more of the substance, a polysaccharide compound, than either green or oolong tea.
16. Rock Climbing Injuries Going Up (American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 7/09)
More climbing injuries are turning up in American emergency rooms. The most common injuries are fractures, sprains, and strains that occur in the lower extremities -- particularly the foot and ankle.
17. Xtreme and Other Steroid-like Body Building Products Pose Risk (FDA, 7/29/09)
The FDA has issued a public health advisory warning consumers to stop using body-building products that are marketed as containing steroids or steroid-like substances. The FDA has received reports of "serious adverse events" associated with the use of these products, including serious liver injury, stroke, kidney failure and pulmonary embolism (artery blockage in the lung). The agency advises consumers to stop ingesting body-building products -- no matter who is the manufacturer -- that claim to contain steroid-like substances or to enhance or diminish androgen-, estrogen-, or progestin-like effects in the body. The FDA has received five adverse-event reports, including serious liver injury, in men taking products marketed as dietary supplements by American Cellular Laboratories including TREN-Xtreme and MASS Xtreme.
18. FDA concludes mercury in dental fillings not risky (FDA, 7/28/09)
The government has declared that silver dental fillings contain too little mercury to harm the millions who've had cavities filled with them — including young children — and that only people allergic to mercury need to avoid them. The FDA released its review of 200 scientific studies that found no risk to adults or children over 6 from the fillings. Removing the fillings actually releases more mercury vapor, FDA said. People who think they're allergic to a filling ingredient should discuss that with a dentist.
19. Eating seafood while pregnant may boost mood (Epidemiology, 7/09)
Eating omega-3-rich seafood may be a mood-lifter for women who are feeling depressed during pregnancy. Pregnant women should avoid fish high in mercury: swordfish, shark, tile fish, king mackerel and golden snapper.
20. MRI scan safe in ICD patients, provided precautions are taken (Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 8/4/09)
Patients with a non-pacemaker-dependent implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) can safely undergo an MRI scan provided certain precautions are taken.
21. "Good" bacteria may improve vaginosis treatment (Cochrane Library, 7/8/09)
Probiotic supplements may boost the effectiveness of an antibiotic used to treat bacterial vaginosis. Bacterial vaginosis (BV) occurs when the normal balance of bacteria in the vagina is upset, and some beneficial bacteria, such as Lactobacillus, are replaced with an overgrowth of harmful bacteria. The antibiotics clindamycin and metronidazole cleared the majority of BV infections within two to three weeks, adding a month's worth of oral Lactobacillus to women's metronidazole treatment boosted the antibiotic's effectiveness.
22. Many Heart Attack Patients Not Referred to Cardiac Rehab (Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 7/28/09)
Even though cardiac rehabilitation has been shown to guard against future heart trouble once a cardiovascular event has landed someone in the hospital, only 56 percent of these patients are referred for the therapy. Information on 72,817 patients discharged from hospitals after a heart attack, angioplasty or bypass surgery between January 2000 and September 2007 found that only 40,974 (56 percent) of the patients were referred to cardiac rehabilitation when leaving the hospital.
23. Doctors Don't Always Spot Depression (Lancet, 7/30/09)
This study involved a review of 41 previous studies involving more than 50,000 patients in developed nations around the world. General practitioners make frequent mistakes, missing true cases of depression about half the time and incorrectly diagnosing it in 19% of healthy people.
24. Oral Sex Cause of Throat Cancer Rise (American Association for Cancer Research, 7/29/09)
Changing sexual practices have led to a dramatic rise in throat cancer in the United States over the past two decades. Increasing rates of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection, spread through oral sex, is largely driving the rapid rise in oropharyngeal cancers, which include tumors of the throat, tonsils, and base of the tongue.
25. Gain a Spouse, Pack the Pounds (Obesity, 7/09)
In the few short years of marriage, a couple is twice as likely to become obese as are people who are merely dating.
