Previous Medical News

2010/07/03

1.  Hospital Visits for Underage Drinking Soar on July 4 Weekend (U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 7/1/10)
The number of hospital emergency department visits associated with underage drinking nearly double over the Fourth of July weekend. And 5,000 deaths of people under age 21 are linked to alcohol each year.

2.  Health overhaul may mean longer ER waits, crowding (American College of Emergency Physicians, 7/2/10)
Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who can't find care elsewhere, may grow even more crowded with longer wait times under the nation's new health law. 32 million more people will covered by health insurance and there is a shortage of primary care physicians. The biggest users of emergency rooms by far are Medicaid recipients. And the new health insurance law will increase their ranks by about 16 million. Medicaid is the state and federal program for low-income families and the disabled. And many family doctors limit the number of Medicaid patients they take because of low government reimbursements. Easing crowding will take more than just access to primary care. It also will take hospitals that run more efficiently, moving patients through the system and getting ER patients upstairs more quickly.

3.  Scientists say test could predict menopause (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, 6/28/10)
A blood test can predict decades in advance when women will go into menopause. Testing the amount of anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) in women tells doctors how many eggs there are left in the ovaries. This a tool to help women decide when they want to have children.

4.  Depressed? Fish oil might help (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 7/10)
Omega-3's might reduce his risk of heart attack, or ease the pain of arthritis. But they may also lubricate his mind. If you're feeling depressed, you might feel better if you take fish oil supplements. Patients with anxiety disorders - such as generalized anxiety, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and panic disorder - did not do better on fish oil.

5.  Mercury's Threat Greater in Ocean Fish Than Freshwater (Nature Geoscience, 7/10)
Seawater itself is the reason why mercury in saltwater fish poses more of a health threat to humans than freshwater fish, even though concentrations of the chemical are much higher in freshwater species. The potentially harmful form of mercury called methylmercury attaches onto dissolved organic matter in freshwater, but latches onto the salt (chloride) in seawater. Methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin that can cause kidney and brain disorders, and even death. The most common ways nature turns methylmercury into a less toxic form is through sunlight. When it is attached to dissolved organic matter, like decayed plants or animal matter, sunlight more readily breaks down the methylmercury. However, in seawater, the methylmercury remains tightly bonded to the chloride, where sunlight does not degrade it as easily.

6.  Veterans at St. Louis Center Are Told of Exposure (Department of Veterans Affairs, 6/30/10)
The Department of Veterans Affairs has sent letters to more than 1,800 veterans, cautioning that they may have been exposed to a host of blood-borne diseases while undergoing dental work at the city’s Cochran V.A. medical center. The letters, which characterize the risk of exposure as low, state that the source of the potential contamination was dental equipment that “may not have been cleaned correctly.” They offer free blood testing for H.I.V., hepatitis B, and hepatitis C to 1,812 veterans treated at the John Cochran Division of the center from Feb. 1, 2009, to March 11, 2010.

7.  Genes Tied to Hair Loss Disorder (Nature, 7/1/10)
Researchers have implicated eight genes in the development of alopecia areata, a disorder that causes hair to thin and fall out. The genes are already associated with other autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes, meaning that drugs may already be in the pipeline that could benefit people with hair loss.

8.  Millions of vaccine doses to be burned (FDA, 7/1/10)
About a quarter of the swine flu vaccine produced for the U.S. public has expired -meaning that a whopping 40 million doses worth about $260 million is being written off as trash and will be incinerated. This is more than twice the usual leftovers. About 30 million more doses will expire later and may go unused. More than 43 percent of the supply for the U.S. public will have gone to waste. But demand never took off, for several reasons:

• Tests of the vaccine soon showed only one dose was enough to protect most people.
• Much of the vaccine was not ready until late 2009, after the largest wave of swine flu illnesses passed.
• Swine flu turned out not to be as deadly as was first feared. About 12,000 deaths have been attributed to it - or roughly a third of the estimated annual deaths from seasonal flu.

9.  Predicting Alzheimer's Risk in Patients With Cognitive Problems (Neurology, 6/30/10)
The combination of a memory test and a brain scan may best predict the likelihood that an individual with mild cognitive problems will go on to develop Alzheimer's disease. Abnormal results on a memory test and PET scan were linked to a 12-fold increase in risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

10.  Sleep problems linked to weight gain in middle-age (International Journal of Obesity, 6/8/10)
Having trouble sleeping means you’re likely to gain weight. Middle-aged and older women who have trouble falling or staying asleep may pack on more pounds than their well-rested contemporaries.

11.  Sugar, not just salt, linked to high blood pressure: Too much fructose could raise your blood pressure (Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 7/1/10)
Eating too much sodium can push your blood pressure into the danger zone. This new study reveals that eating too many sweets--or drinking too much soda--may have a similar effect. People who consume a diet high in fructose, a type of sugar and a key ingredient in high-fructose corn syrup, are more likely to have high blood pressure (hypertension). Drinking 2.5 cans or more of non-diet soda per day--or consuming an equivalent amount of fructose from other foods--increases your risk of hypertension by at least 30 percent.

12.  Heavy women's miscarriage risk higher after IVF (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, 6/28/10)
Overweight women have a much higher risk of a miscarriage after having in-vitro fertilization compared with slim women.

13.  Study finds prostate screening cuts cancer deaths (Lancet, 7/1/10)
Screening men between the ages of 50 and 65 for prostate cancer can cut death rates from the disease by as much as half. However, using PSA screening does raise the potential risk of significant over diagnosis of tumors in men who would not have suffered any harm from their cancer.

14.  Extreme Longevity May Be More Genes Than Lifestyle: Closing in on genes that help people live to 100 (Science, 7/1/10)
How long you live has a lot to do with your environment and lifestyle, but exceptional longevity may have even more to do with your genes. For the first time, researchers have identified a genetic recipe that accurately predicts who may live to 100 and beyond.

15.  Meaty Diets May Increase Men's Diabetes Risk (American Diabetes Association, 6/30/10)
An Atkins-style diet that emphasizes animal protein and red processed meat may actually be linked to higher incidence of type 2 diabetes. Low-carbohydrate eating habits were associated with a 12% elevated risk of new onset diabetes over more than 20 years of follow-up.

16.  Mom's age at puberty may influence kids' size (International Journal of Obesity, 6/15/10)
The earlier a woman reached this milestone of puberty, called menarche, the slightly faster her kids will grow.

17.  Popular Diabetes Drug May Be Banned: Avandia (Journal of the American Medical Association, 6/28/10)
The diabetes drug Avandia has a higher risk of heart problems, strokes and deaths in older adults, and is more dangerous than a rival drug called Actos. As many as 100,000 heart attacks, strokes, deaths and cases of heart failure may be due to Avandia since it came on the market in 1999, according to Dr.David Graham, an FDA scientist who wants the pill banned.

18.  Pill Treats Painful Fibroids: EllaOne (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, 6/30/10)
As many as 80% of all women have uterine fibroids (noncancerous growths in the uterus). Fibroids may cause severe abdominal pain, heavy bleeding, and interfere with fertility in some women. Surgery is often the only way to treat painful, bleeding fibroids, but surgery too can sometimes compromise fertility. EllaOne, a drug used in Europe as emergency contraception may also treat painful uterine fibroids. EllaOne is a member of a new class of drugs called selective progesterone receptor modulators. As of now, EllaOne is used in Europe as a morning-after pill because it blocks the effects of key hormones -- namely progesterone -- involved in ovulation. It is effective for up to five days after unprotected sex. Although EllaOne is not available in the U.S., an FDA advisory panel recently voted that it should be. The hormone progesterone also feeds uterine fibroids, so blocking its effects may help treat painful fibroids. Unlike surgery, EllaOne can reduce fibroid size and bleeding without affecting fertility.

19.  Want to keep the weight off? Get on your bike (Archives of Internal Medicine, 6/28/10)
Two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese and 16 percent of children and adolescents are overweight. Just five minutes of riding a bicycle each day can help a younger woman keep the pounds off. The heaviest women benefited the most. The study followed more than 18,000 premenopausal women between the ages of 25 and 42 for 16 years. During that time, the women gained an average of about 20.5 pounds. Women who started biking for just five minutes a day gained about 1.5 fewer pounds over the course of the study than similar women who didn't take up biking. Women who increased their daily biking by 30 minutes during the study kept even more weight off, gaining about 3.5 fewer pounds than those whose biking habits stayed the same.

20.  Airline Food Preparation is Unsafe, FDA Report Finds (FDA, 6/28/10)
Airline food may be dangerous for your health, according to inspection reports from the Food and Drug Administration. FDA inspectors found kitchens of three major airline caterers were unsanitary and could cause illness for passengers. They found that some kitchens had cockroaches, flies and mice. Many had employees with poor hygiene, used unclean equipment and stored food at improper temperatures.

21.  Group Calls for Ban on Artificial Food Dyes (Center for Science in the Public Interest, 6/29/10)
According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, chemical dyes used for food coloring carry serious health risks and should be banned. In addition, none of the nine artificial food dyes approved for U.S. use have been proven safe. However, human and animal studies suggest that at least several of the chemicals carry health risks. Clinical studies have shown that food dyes can cause behavioral problems (hyperactivity-like behavioral effects) in children. Animal studies suggest that the dyes -- and other chemicals bound to them -- can cause cancer. Natural food colorings, such as beta-carotene or blueberry juice, can be substituted for artificial food dyes.

22.  Testosterone gel linked to heart problems (New England Journal of Medicine, 6/30/10)
Men 65 and older who use testosterone gel for that extra hormone boost may be at increased risk of heart trouble. The participants who received the gel experienced improved mobility and strength, but were also found to be at much greater risk of skin irritation, chest pain and even heart attacks. After 6 months, the study had to be terminated because of the large number of adverse side effects associated with the testosterone gel.

23.  Probiotics may help babies with constipation (The Journal of Pediatrics, 6/14/10)
Some probiotics may help treat chronic constipation in babies.

24.  Alcohol in pregnancy may harm sons' sperm (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, 6/29/10)
Mothers who drink alcohol during pregnancy may be damaging the fertility of their future sons. If mothers drank 4.5 or more drinks a week while pregnant, the sperm concentration of their sons — measured about 20 years later — was a third lower than in men who were not exposed to alcohol while in the womb.

25.  Smoking Moms, Unruly Kids? When Parents Smoke, Kids' Weight, Behavior May Suffer (Pediatrics, 7/10)
There's a connection between parents who smoke and kids who are heavier or misbehave more than other children. This refers to both pregnant moms and dads. At birth the placenta is withered and discolored when parents smoke.

26.  Recall: Chicken of the Sea Tuna Recalled (FDA, 7/1/10)
More than 1,100 cases of Chicken of the Sea brand solid white tuna in water have been recalled in 10 states by Tri-Union Seafoods. The company says it is recalling a limited number of 12-ounce cans of the popular tuna brand because they were not sealed tightly enough. Anyone who purchased the product should call 877-843-6376 for return and refund information.

27.  Recall: Bristol-Myers recalls Coumadin samples (Bristol-MyersSquibb, 6/30/10)
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has recalled some of its samples of Coumadin, a popular blood thinner, because of a variation in an ingredient that stabilizes the active drug. There is a variation in isopropanol, which helps to stabilize the active ingredient in Coumadin.

28.  Recall: Lollipops Recalled by California Company For Lead Content: Flashpop from Kidsmania Inc. (California Department of Public Health, 6/28/10)
A southern California candy company has recalled its line of light-up lollipops because of elevated levels of lead.

29.  Recall: Charm Bracelets Given Out By U.S. Docs, Dentists Recalled: Cadmium (Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), 6/30/10)
About 66,200 charm bracelets and 2,200 rings made in China and given out by doctors and dentists in the U.S., are the subject of a voluntary recall by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) because they contain high levels of cadmium.