Previous Medical News
2010/07/24
1. AIDS breakthrough: Gel helps prevent infection (ScienceExpress, 7/20/10)
For the first time, a vaginal gel has proved capable of blocking the AIDS virus. It cut in half a woman's chances of getting HIV from an infected partner. The results will need to be confirmed in another, larger study before winning FDA approval. The gel, spiked with the AIDS drug tenofovir, cut the risk of HIV infection by 50 percent after one year of use and 39 percent after 2 1/2 years, compared to a gel that contained no medicine.
2. Good cholesterol may mean little for statin users: Low HDL May Not Be So Bad (Lancet, 7/21/10)
People with high levels of the so-called good cholesterol HDL tend to have fewer heart attacks but HDL may offer little protective benefit in people who take statins to lower harmful LDL cholesterol.
3. Can deciphering your doctor's notes improve care? (Annals of Internal Medicine, 7/19/10)
A project called “OpenNotes” is beginning to test if patients fare better when given fast electronic access to more of their medical chart — the detailed notes that doctors record about you during and after every visit.
4. Ringing May Continue After Phone Is Off (Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 7/10)
Cell phone use of four years or greater may be associated with an increased risk of tinnitus.
5. Glenn Beck says he could go blind in a year: macular dystrophy (American Revival tour, 7/17/10)
Macular dystrophy is an uncommon, inherited disorder (autosomal recessive) which causes opacities in the cornea. The cornea is the clear outer coat of the front of the eye. A dystrophy of the cornea is defined as a bilateral noninflammatory clouding of the cornea. There’s an error in the synthesis of keratin sulfate. When recurrent corneal erosions occur with macular dystrophy, they are treated with a bandage contact lens along with antibiotics or with frequent application of an antibiotic ointment. Excessive corneal erosions or a mild visual decrease can be treated with excimer laser PTK. The excimer laser removes superficial corneal opacities, smoothes the corneal surface, and allows the epithelium to re-adhere more tightly. If visual acuity drops and the opacities are deep, lamellar or full-thickness corneal transplantation can be performed. Although the success rate for corneal transplantation is high, macular dystrophy deposits can recur with time.
6. Blond-Haired, Blue-Eyed Girl Born to Parents with Black Skin (Incredible Health, 7/20/10)
A white baby girl born in Britain to black parents is scheduled to undergo full genetic tests. Doctors say baby Nmachi Ihegboro, who has blond hair and blue eyes, is not an albino and attribute her appearance to an unknown genetic mutation.
7. A long ring finger may mean you're a prostate cancer risk (British Journal of Urology, 7/10)
Men with a long ring finger could be three times more likely to develop prostate cancer. The risk increases if the ring finger on the right hand is significantly longer than the index finger next to the thumb.
8. New guidelines aim to reduce repeated C-sections (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 7/21/10)
Most women who've had a C-section, and many who've had two, should be allowed to try labor with their next baby. This is a step toward reversing the "once a cesarean, always a cesarean" policies taking root in many hospitals.
9. Sit More, Die Sooner: The Longer You Sit, the Shorter Your Life Span (American Journal of Epidemiology, 7/22/10)
The things we do every day do have consequences. The more you sit around the shorter your life span. The effect remained even after the researchers factored out obesity or the level of daily physical activity people were engaged in. Women who spent six hours a day sitting had a 37 percent increased risk of dying versus those who spent less than three hours a day on their bottoms. For men the increased risk was 17 percent.
10. Healthy weight, rather than fitness, most important for preventing high blood pressure: fitness vs. fatness (American Heart Journal, 7/10)
Individuals who have a healthy body weight are more likely than those who are physically fit to have lower blood pressure. Achieving normal-weight status should be the primary goal for hypertension prevention, and only modest levels of cardiorespiratory fitness are needed to obtain optimal blood pressure among individuals who are normal weight.
11. Kitchen Spoons Dole Out Dangerous Overdoses (International Journal of Clinical Practice, 8/10)
Teaspoons and tablespoons used to dispense medicine can cause dosing errors. Using kitchen spoons to dispense medicine to children can cause dangerous overdoses. The capacities of the spoons vary widely in your kitchen. Use a calibrated spoon included in many commercially available children’s medicines or calibrated medicine oral syringes to dispense liquid medication to children.
12. Meat lovers may pack on the pounds over time (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 6/30/10)
Eating a little less meat may help you keep slim. People who ate more meat gained more weight over 5 years than those who ate less meat, but the same amount of calories. When the researchers looked at different types of meat separately, they found the strongest association with weight gain for poultry, followed by processed meats and red meat. Meat is "energy-dense" (meaning it packs more calories by weight than veggies or fruits, for example), and could influence appetite control.
13. Why Athletes Should Mix Sports-Training Routines (Nature Neuroscience, 7/10)
The authors compared the performance of people who tried to hone a skill through "constant practice" — that is, the rote repetition of a task, like taking 100 serves across the net — and those who underwent "variable practice," in which you work on a mix of skills during a training session. Variable practice of motor skills lead to better retention. It appears tedium is bad for the brain.
14. Ecstasy May Ease PTSD Symptoms (Journal of Psychopharmacology, 7/19/10)
The street drug ecstasy combined with therapy successfully treats severe Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). 80% of participants had resolution of their PTSD symptoms after the end of the trial. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that occurs after a traumatic event. It is marked by persistent thoughts and fears of the event, flashbacks, and sleeplessness. Some people with PTSD withdraw from society as a result of these debilitating symptoms.
15. Experts identify three culprits for gluten allergy (Science Translational Medicine, 7/22/10)
Researchers have identified three fragments in gluten that appear to trigger a disorder in people who are allergic to the wheat protein. Gluten has 16,000 components and only three were responsible for the allergy. This discovery gives hope for the development of a vaccine.
16. "Gluten-free" foods may be contaminated (Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 6/10)
People with celiac disease and others who avoid gluten should beware that foods that are supposed to be naturally gluten-free are often contaminated. Gluten is a kind of protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. In people with celiac disease - a condition that affects up to about 1 percent of the U.S. population - gluten triggers an immune reaction that causes damage to the small intestine and keeps the body from absorbing nutrients. Grains such as oats, millet, and rice don't have this protein. But in a new survey of grains, seeds, and flours that should be gluten-free, researchers found that some of these products had picked up traces of gluten - probably from being grown or processed near grains that do naturally contain gluten. People with celiac disease are probably better off purchasing grains, seeds, and flours with the gluten-free label.
17. Mom's Alcoholism Especially Tough on Daughter's Mental Health (Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 7/20/10)
The risk that children of an alcoholic parent run of developing a psychiatric illness later in life may depend, in part, on their gender and whether it was their mother or father who was alcohol-dependent. The link appears to be strongest between mothers and daughters.
18. No link seen between coffee, prostate cancer risk (BJU International, 7/10)
Men who enjoy their morning cup of coffee can drink a little easier. A new research review finds that java lovers appear no more likely to develop prostate cancer than other men.
19. Some caffeine okay during pregnancy (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 721/10)
A cup of coffee a day during pregnancy probably won't increase a woman's risk of miscarriage or premature birth. 200 milligrams of caffeine a day, about the amount in a 12-ounce cup of coffee, doesn't significantly contribute to miscarriages or premature births according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
20. Fish eaters show lower risk of age-related eye disease (Ophthalmology, 7/10)
Older adults who eat fatty fish at least once a week may have a lower risk of serious vision loss from age-related macular degeneration.
21. Good Luck Charms Might Just Work (Psychological Science, 7/10)
Having some kind of lucky token appears to increase self-confidence and thus performance.
22. Cleaning Products Linked to Breast Cancer (Environmental Health, 7/20/10)
Frequent use of household cleaning products may boost breast cancer risk. Air fresheners and products to control mold and mildew were particularly linked.
23. Homeopathic Nasal Zinc Linked to Loss of Smell (Archives of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, 7/10)
To try and lessen the effects of the common cold, many people have turned to homeopathic remedies, including products containing zinc. However, a new analysis suggests that nasal gels containing zinc and nasal swabs with zinc have most likely caused a loss of smell in some users. Homeopathic remedies like nasal zinc aren't subject to the same rules and regulations that prescription and over-the-counter medications are. However, in June 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that consumers stop using these products and requested that the manufacturers stop selling them, which they did. Oral zinc products are not associated with this problem and remain on the market.
24. Obesity May Increase Risk of Preterm Birth (BMJ Online First, 7/21/10)
Babies born to women who are overweight or obese are more likely to be delivered prematurely, and the heavier the mother's weight, the greater the risk.
25. Giving Kids Booze, Medicines Can Be Child Abuse (Journal of Pediatrics, 8/10)
The malicious use of alcohol and medicines is an under-recognized and important form of child abuse. Motives for this type of child abuse include punishment, amusement, or a desire for a break from childcare responsibilities.
26. Most Kids With ADHD Take Medication (Consumer Reports Health, 7/10)
More than 80% of children who are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder take prescription medications at some point to treat their symptoms. 67% of parents identify drug therapy as being beneficial, while 45% feel that switching their kids to schools better suited to help ADHD kids helps considerably.
27. Recall: Herbal diet supplement recalled for safety risks: Slim-30 (FDA, 7/18/10)
J&H Besta Corp. is recalling Slim-30 Herb Supplement because it contains weight-loss ingredients that have not been approved for the product. The product was found to contain N-Desmethyl sibutramine and traces of sibutramine, drugs used as an appetite suppressant for weight loss.
28. Recall: Chicken Nuggets Great Value brand sold at Walmart recalled: May contain pieces of plastic (Perdue Farms, 7/20/10)
Bits of blue plastic have shown up in chicken nuggets - and Perdue Farms Inc. has recalled more than 90,000 pounds of frozen chicken nugget products. The affected product is the 1-pound, 13-ounce bag of "GREAT VALUE Fully Cooked Chicken Nuggets." The nuggets are sold in Wal-Mart stores nationwide. Each bag bears the establishment number P-33944 as well as a case code of 89008 A0160. Purdue says consumers who bought the affected nuggets can return them to the store for a refund.
