Previous Medical News
2009/09/12
1. 1 dose of swine flu vaccine works (New England Journal of Medicine, 9/10/09)
One dose of the new swine flu vaccine looks strong enough to protect adults — and can spark protection within 10 days of the shot. Between 75 percent and 96 percent of vaccinated people should be protected with one dose — the same degree of effectiveness as the regular winter flu shot.
2. Swine flu deaths climb: 625 deaths over past week (WHO, 9/4/09)
The World Health Organization says at least 625 people have been reported dead from swine flu in the last week. That's more than 20 percent of the 2,837 known deaths since the novel virus first emerged in Mexico and the United States earlier this year. Most of the deaths are in the Western Hemisphere, though the disease is in full-blown global epidemic mode.
3. 2,000 students at U.S. university report swine flu symptoms (Washington State University, 9/6/09)
Some 2,000 students at Washington State University have reported symptoms of swine flu in one of the largest reported outbreaks of the virus on a US college campus. The university has about 19,000 students.
4. Roche has reports of 13 cases of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu (Roche Holding AG, 9/7/09)
Roche has had reports of 13 cases of swine flu becoming resistant to Tamiflu, which it calls a very low percentage. A good sign is that the people who had the resistant strain have not passed the disease on to other people. The 13 cases were scattered around the world in Europe, the United States and Asia. This is a low rate of resistance: 0.32 percent of adults and 4 percent of children who took the Roche drug developed resistance to it.
However, the CDC this week revealed what may be the first instance of a Tamiflu-resistant swine flu virus spreading from one person to another. It happened in July at a camp in western North Carolina, where two teenage girls — cabin mates — were diagnosed with the same drug-resistant strain of swine flu. Both girls had been given Tamiflu before they got sick — as a preventive measure — after an outbreak of swine flu at the camp. They were among more than 600 campers and camp staff treated. Don’t take Tamiflu before symptoms of flu develop.
5. CDC chief says swine vaccine for my kids, too (CNN's "State of the Union," 9/6/09)
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says his kids are going to get the swine flu vaccine when it's available.
6. Antiviral Drugs Should Be Used Cautiously to Fight Flu (CDC, 9/8/09)
Antiviral medications such as Tamiflu and Relenza, which are effective in treating the H1N1 swine flu, should be taken only by people hospitalized with the flu or those at high risk for complications from the disease. Those at risk include people with underlying health conditions, such as asthma or diabetes, as well as the very young, the elderly, and pregnant. Because the H1N1 swine flu remains mild for the vast majority of people who get it, most people won't need these medications at all. If too many people take antiviral medicines it could increase the risk that the virus would become resistant to these drugs.
7. Insured might pay more under Obama plan (University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, 9/10/09)
If President Barack Obama gets what he wants in his health care plan — covering all Americans and barring insurers from denying coverage — some analysts say individuals could wind up paying higher premiums. The Obama plan would impose new costs on insurance companies, which would probably then raise the prices customers pay for coverage. Employers also would likely pass on some of their higher costs to employees. An individual in a typical plan might have to pay up to $780 more for the same coverage in the first year of Obama's plan, estimates Erik Gordon, a health care analyst and assistant professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.
8. Champion Runner Has Both Female, Male Sexual Characteristics (Australia's Daily Telegraph, 9/10/09)
Gender tests conducted on 18-year-old track sensation Caster Semenya have determined that the South African woman has both male and female sexual characteristics. Semenya has no uterus or ovaries, and she has three times more testosterone than a normal woman. Semenya has internal testes — the male sexual organs that produce testosterone. Intersex, once referred to as hermaphroditism, is a group of conditions where there is a discrepancy between the external genitals and the internal genitals (the testes and ovaries).
9. Virus might be one cause of prostate cancer (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 9/7/09)
A virus known to cause leukemia and tumors in animals can be found in some prostate tumors and might be one cause of prostate cancer. They found xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus or XMRV in 27 percent of the human prostate tumors they looked at, especially aggressive tumors.
10. Second Breast Cancer: 3 Lifestyle Risks (Journal of Clinical Oncology, 9/8/09)
Being obese, drinking seven or more alcoholic beverages per week, and smoking may make a second breast cancer more likely.
11. Busy Roads Boost Blood Pressure (Environmental Health, 9/9/09)
Living next to busy roads may be bad for your blood pressure. People whose homes are in earshot of engines rumbling, horns honking and brakes screeching have an increased risk of high blood pressure.
12. Testing Young Athletes for Heart Defects May Save Lives (BMJ Journals, 9/7/09)
Young athletes should be screened for heart abnormalities with an electrocardiogram to prevent sudden cardiac death triggered by vigorous exercise. Sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of death in young athletes. The researchers screened 371 athletes between the ages of 12 and 35 over two years. They found that EKG produced false positive results for 47 athletes, or 11 percent of the group, which they declared an acceptable rate. EKG found heart problems in 10 athletes, four of whom were restricted from further participation in sports.
13. Schoolyard bullies, victims have problems later on (Archives of General Psychiatry, 9/09)
School children who bully or are victims of bullying may face higher risks of anxiety, depression and other psychological disorders later in life.
14. Liposuction leftovers make easy stem cells (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 9/09)
Fat sucked out of chunky thighs or flabby bellies might provide an easy source of stem cells made using new and promising technology. Immature fat cells in the material removed during liposuction were easy to transform into cells called induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. They were easier to work with than the skin cells usually used to make iPS cells.
15. Yoga Can Ease Lower Back Pain (Spine, 9/09)
Practicing yoga can help ease chronic lower back pain. 90-minute sessions of Iyengar yoga twice a week for six months decreased pain, improved function, and decreased symptoms of depression.
16. Let Orthopedic Surgery Wait Until Morning When Possible (The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 9/09)
Scheduling a prime daytime slot to undergo an orthopedic procedure may lower your risk of an unplanned follow-up surgery later on. Everyone wants to be treated immediately, but it may be in a patient's best interest to wait until morning. The reality is that the on-call night surgical team may not be well rested.
17. Report Cards for Hospitals May Be Misleading (Journal of Neurosurgery, 9/09)
A new study questions the value of hospital report cards and national rankings when it comes to neurology and neurosurgery. A hospital with a lower mortality index may not be a better hospital for patient care, but rather a place where the patient mix has been refined or limited.
18. Advanced Gum Disease May Raise Cancer Risk (Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 9/09)
Gum disease may increase the risk of developing cancer. Male health professionals with a history of gum disease in a long-running study had a 14 percent higher overall risk of developing cancer. There was an increased risk of lung, kidney, pancreatic and hematological (blood) cancers.
19. Recall: Green onions recalled over salmonella fears (USDA, 9/8/09)
Two California produce shippers have recalled thousands of cases of green onions supplied by an onion farm in Mexicali, Mexico, over fears the onions could be contaminated with salmonella. The shippers are: Salinas-based Steinbeck Country Produce and Castroville based shipper Ocean Mist Farms.
