Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
If you’ve eaten salsa verde in a Mexican restaurant, you’ve eaten tomatillos. Though the name suggests that tomatillos are small green tomatoes, they are not. They’re in the same family as tomatoes but more closely related to the cape gooseberry and surrounded by a similar papery husk. Always look for tomatillos that have filled their husks, as they are not fully mature until they do. Remove the husks, then rinse the tomatillos, which will be sticky, and they’re ready to cook. . . .
Look for tomatillos that are relatively small, about 1 1/2 ounces, or slightly larger than walnuts. According to the Mexican food aficionado Rick Bayless, the big ones, sometimes larger than golf balls, are not as flavorful and can taste bitter. . . .
Tomatillos are a good source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus and copper, as well as dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, niacin, potassium and manganese.
Low-Dose Aspirin Lowers Risk of Colorectal Cancer
Study Shows a Dose as Low as 75 Milligrams a Day May Cut Risk of Colorectal Cancer
Sept. 15, 2010 — Low-dose aspirin may have a protective effect against the development of colorectal cancer if taken on a regular basis, new research indicates.
This is true even it’s taken in the lowest possible dose of 75 milligrams daily, shows a study published online in the journal Gut.
The protective effect begins after just one year — in the general population and not just in those who are considered to be at risk of developing the disease, which kills almost half a million people worldwide each year.
Frequent Flare-Ups a Worse COPD Type?
Even in Milder COPD, Frequent Exacerbations May Mean Worse Disease Type
Sept. 15, 2010 – Frequent COPD flare-ups — even in people with relatively mild disease — may signal a worse form of the disease.
COPD stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It’s a very serious, life-threatening condition that makes it difficult for a person to breathe. The disease tends to get worse over time, although COPD treatment can greatly improve quality of life and increase survival.
Asthma Drug Albuterol May Help Treat MS
Study Shows Albuterol Has Potential to Help MS Patients When Added to Other Treatments
Sept. 13, 2010 — Adding the asthma drug albuterol to a treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) improved walking ability and delayed the time to first relapse among patients in a newly published study.
Patients starting daily injections of the MS drug glatiramer acetate — known by the brand name Copaxone — showed improvement over the course of a year when oral albuterol was added to the treatment regimen.
Those treated with Copaxone and placebo showed slight declines in function after a year of treatment, study researcher Samia J. Khoury, MD, of Harvard Medical School tells WebMD.
Gene therapy appears to help patient with anemia
(Reuters) – A patient with a rare genetic form of anemia is getting by without blood transfusions after experimental gene therapy, French and U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.
The case, reported in the journal Nature, is a rare success for the troubled field of gene therapy, although the researchers and other experts said it still needs fine-tuning.
The patient has beta-thalassemia, a group of conditions caused by genetic defects in the production of hemoglobin. Researchers used gene therapy to fix the faulty gene responsible for the condition in some of the patient’s own bone marrow stem cells, and re-infused them.
Nearly three years later, the patient has been healthy without the need for the usual blood transfusions, the team at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston and University of Paris reported.
FDA approves new drug for tough-to-treat gout
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc’s gout drug in adults who do not respond to other treatments or cannot take alternatives for various reasons.
“About 3 percent of the three million adults who suffer from gout are not helped by conventional therapy,” said Dr. Badrul Chowdhury, director of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Rheumatology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a prepared statement
Mutations seen in 1 in 6 with early-onset Parkinson’s
(Reuters Health) – One in six people who develop Parkinson’s disease early (before age 40 or 50) carry a genetic mutation known to be associated with the neurological disorder, new research suggests.
And people of Jewish or Hispanic ancestry, as well as those who develop the disease very early, are more likely to carry one of these gene mutations, as are people who have a close relative with Parkinson’s disease, the study found.
The findings don’t mean that people should go out and get tested for the mutations if they don’t have Parkinson’s, Dr. Roy N. Alcalay of Columbia University in New York City told Reuters Health; however, he added, genetic counseling could be useful to people with the disease. Right now, the researcher pointed out, there’s really no way to prevent Parkinson’s in individuals at risk.
Many people change docs due to perceived mistakes
(Reuters Health) – So you think your doctor has made a mistake? You’re not alone.
A new survey of primary care practices in North Carolina shows nearly one in six patients believed their physician had made a wrong diagnosis or a treatment error, and about one in seven said they had changed doctor as a result.
“Patients perceive mistakes in all types of outpatient clinics from primary care to specialty care, eye doctors to dentists, and they often change their doctors because of these perceptions,” said Dr. Christine E. Kistler, whose findings are published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
But Kistler, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, added that in some cases it didn’t appear the doctor had done anything wrong.
“It’s possible that the doctor has not explained their plans appropriately and that communication might improve what the patient expects to happen,” she told Reuters Health in an e-mail.
Stem cell therapy promising for leg artery disease
(Reuters) – Pluristem Therapeutics said early clinical trials show its placenta-derived cell therapy is safe and improves quality of life in patients with peripheral artery disease, or PAD.
PAD is an obstruction of blood vessels, usually in the leg, causing pain, difficulty in walking and leading eventually to amputation.
The Phase I trials, conducted at three university hospitals in the United States and one in Berlin, show the cells are effective in treating the end stage of PAD, called critical limb ischemia, the Israel-based biotech company said on Tuesday.
Antibiotics mess up your stomach, U.S. study finds
(Reuters) – Even seemingly gentle antibiotics may severely disrupt the balance of microbes living in the gut, with unforeseen health consequences, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
An intimate study of three women given ciprofloxacin showed the drug suppressed entire populations of beneficial bacteria, and at least one woman took months to recover.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports the common wisdom that antibiotics can damage the “good” germs living in the body.
Dying at home better for cancer patients
(Reuters) – Cancer patients who die at home do so more peacefully — and their caregivers end up doing better emotionally, too, researchers reported on Monday.
At-home hospice care not only saves money but saves physical and emotional pain as well, they reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
“Patients with cancer who died in an intensive care unit or hospital experienced more physical and emotional distress and worse quality of life at the end of life,” Dr. Alexi Wright of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and colleagues wrote.
Less-potent opiates may be safer for long-term use
(Reuters Health) – People taking opioid painkillers for extended periods of time are at greater risk of problems if they have been prescribed more potent forms of these drugs, new research shows.
The study also found that people on long-term opioid therapy were more likely to visit the emergency room or to require medical care for overdose, withdrawal, intoxication or other alcohol- and drug-related reasons if they had been diagnosed with a substance abuse disorder previously, or if they reported having headaches or back pain.
Opioids are increasingly being used to treat chronic pain not related to cancer, Dr. Mark D. Sullivan of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle and his colleagues note in their report in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Opioid abuse and deaths due to overdoses with prescription opiates also are on the rise.
FDA considers label changes for bisphosphonates
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it may require a class of osteoporosis drugs known as bisphosphonates to carry new information related to unusual femur fractures.
The FDA’s statement follows the release of a report from the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), which the agency said provides “important perspectives” on the potential association between long-term treatment with bisphosphonates and a rare but serious type of fracture of the thigh bone, or femur.
The bisphosphonate class includes Fosamax, made by Merck & Co Inc and sold generically under the chemical name alendronate; Roche Holding AG’s Boniva, Novartis AG’s Reclast and Warner Chilcott Plc’s Actonel.
FDA cites concerns with Alkermes addiction drug
(Reuters) – Alkermes Inc’s drug to help wean alcoholics from drinking appears to also help treat people addicted to certain painkillers based on a small, limited study, regulatory staff said in documents released on Tuesday.
But the Food and Drug Administration staff said the data was based on a single study in patients who were somewhat different than the target ones and the agency would ask its panel of outside experts on Thursday whether it was enough to back wider use of the drug called Vivitrol.
U.S. warns Bristol Myers over Puerto Rico plant
(Reuters) – U.S. health regulators have warned Bristol Myers Squibb Co over repeated manufacturing violations at its facility in Puerto Rico and said future drug approvals could be at risk, according to a letter released on Tuesday.
The problems, which include failures to take steps to prevent contamination or investigate subpar drug batches, show inherent weakness with the company’s quality controls, the Food and Drug Administration said in a letter to Bristol Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Cornelius.
Such violations could put any pending new drugs on hold until the problems are corrected, the agency wrote.
CDC Study Shows No Vaccine, Autism Link
Research Focused on Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines
Sept. 13, 2010 — Exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines in infancy or in the womb is not associated with an increased risk for developing autism, according to a new study from the CDC.
Children in the study who developed autism spectrum disorder (ASD) actually had less exposure to vaccines with the mercury-containing preservative than children who developed normally.
The study is the latest of almost 20 studies to find no link between childhood vaccinations and autism.
It comes seven months after the first study that linked vaccines and autism — conducted 12 years ago — was retracted by the journal The Lancet. The U.K. doctor who published the study was banned from practicing medicine.
Hand Washing Catching On in U.S.
In Major Cities, 85% of Adults Are Washing Their Hands After Using Public Facilities, Study Shows
Sept. 14, 2010 — Researchers who observed hand washing in restrooms in major cities say 85% of adults are washing their hands after using public facilities, a new observational study shows.
The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) sent observers into restrooms in six locations in four major cities in 2010 to monitor hand-washing trends after use of facilities.
The observers, who took steps to disguise their jobs, say they saw 85% of restroom users wash their hands, compared to 77% in 2007. It was the highest rate since such studies began in 1996. No such studies were done in 2008 or 2009.
What the CDC Wants You to Know About the 2010-2011 Flu Vaccine
Sept. 13, 2010 — As the 2010-2011 flu season approaches, it’s once again time for flu vaccination.
This year, the CDC advises just about everyone to get the vaccine. That raises questions. So does the inclusion of the H1N1 pandemic swine flu vaccine in the seasonal vaccine.
To answer the questions, WebMD spoke with flu expert William Atkinson, MD, MPH, of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
Popularity can come at a price: getting flu first
(Reuters) – Think you’re popular? Well, name a friend. It turns out that this person is probably more popular than you, a tendency that scientists might be able to use to predict the spread of disease.
But the popular pay a price: they get flu first, on average two weeks sooner than most others, two experts report in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.
“Being at the center of the network tends to make you happy but it also exposes you to disease,” James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.
Vaccine drives face multibillion funding shortfalls
(Reuters) – A push to protect millions of children against preventable diseases has hit financial trouble, with private donations for vaccines falling short, new figures released on Tuesday showed.
In a report launched with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the GAVI Alliance revealed a $4.3 billion shortfall for its programs that are meant to offer immunization to 110 million children by 2015.
“Significant financial gaps pose a threat to maximizing the potential lives which can be saved with vaccination,” said the report, launched ahead of a United Nations summit where the effect of the global downturn on aid will be in focus.
Swine flu can become drug-resistant quickly: study
(Reuters) – A swine flu virus infecting a woman in Singapore mutated into a drug-resistant form virtually overnight, doctors reported in a study that they say shows the limitations of using drugs to treat influenza.
While the woman recovered, the mutation developed within 48 hours, rendering the infection increasingly resistant to the effects of Tamiflu, the main drug used to fight flu and which is known generically as oseltamivir.
“Our data indicate that oseltamivir resistance developed within two days,” Masafumi Inoue of the Agency for Science, Research and Technology in Singapore and colleagues wrote in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal.
Disease risk eases in parts of flooded Pakistan
(Reuters) – The risk of outbreaks of disease has eased in parts of flood-hit Pakistan as water recedes from many areas, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday, but the hard-hit south remains a worry.
The floods that began six weeks ago have inflicted havoc from the northwest to the far south of the country, destroying villages, bridges, roads, damaging millions of acres of cropland and displacing millions of people.
Malaria fight saves 750,000, report finds
(Reuters) – Programs to fight malaria, such as distribution of bed nets and drugs and spraying insecticides, have saved nearly 750,000 lives over the past 10 years, according to a report released on Tuesday.
An additional 3 million children could be saved by 2015 if the world continues to increase investments against malaria, the report projected.
Researchers including Thomas Eisele at Tulane University in Louisiana and teams at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the World Health Organization and the non-profit PATH initiative used a computer model to calculate the effect of malaria programs in 34 of the worst-affected African countries.
Post-pregnancy weight loss tied to incontinence risk
(Reuters Health) – It may not be how much weight a woman gains during pregnancy, but how much she loses afterward, that affects her risk of urinary incontinence after childbirth, a new study suggests.
A number of studies have shown that excess weight, particularly around the abdomen, is associated with an increased risk of urinary incontinence in women. In addition, weight loss in overweight and obese women has been found to curb their risk of incontinence.
Drinking coffee lowers risk of gout in older women
(Reuters Health) – A few cups of java every day over many years cuts the risk of gout in postmenopausal women in half, Boston researchers report.
Characterized by a buildup in the blood of uric acid that forms needlelike crystals, gout is rare in younger women but occurs in about one in 20 postmenopausal women. It comes and goes and in early stages mostly affects the feet.
“The pain is described as one of the most severe pains a human being experiences, like a breaking bone. You can’t walk and even the weight of a bed sheet is not bearable,” lead author, Dr. Hyon Choi of Boston University’s School of Medicine, told Reuters Health.
‘Placebo Effect’ May Help Women’s Sexual Problems
Some Women Report Improvement Even Though They Received ‘Sham’ Treatment
Sept. 16, 2010 — It is said that a woman’s most important erogenous zone is her brain, and now new research lends scientific support to the claim.
The study examined the “placebo effect” in studies of therapies designed to treat female sexual dysfunction.
Researchers analyzed data from 50 women unknowingly randomly assigned to the placebo arm of a 2000 study examining the ED drug Cialis for the treatment of female sexual arousal problems.
Even though none of the women took the active drug, about a third showed clinically meaningful improvement in sexual desire over 12 weeks of treatment. Desire improved for most women within a month of starting the sham drug.
Stem cells restore ovary function in rat study
(Reuters) – Scientists have found that injecting a particular type of stem cells into infertile female rats can restore the function of their ovaries, and say their findings could pave the way for a similar treatment for humans.
The researchers, led by Osama Azmy of the National Research Center in Cairo, Egypt, used a type of embryonic rat stem cells known as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to restore ovary function in experimental rats.
“This is proof of concept, and there is still a long way to go before we can apply this to women,” Azmy said in a report of the findings, which were presented at the World Congress of Fertility and Sterility in Germany on Wednesday.
Obese men less likely to get biopsy after PSA screening
(Reuters Health) – Research has shown that obese men have lower rates of prostate cancer than thinner men, but a new study suggests that this does not reflect an actual lower risk, but a lower rate of early detection through prostate cancer screening.
The findings, researchers say, may help explain two seemingly “inconsistent” patterns: while obese men have a lower rate of prostate cancer than thinner men, they are more likely to have an aggressive form of the disease when they are diagnosed.
Using data from three U.S. government health surveys, researchers found that among men who underwent prostate cancer screening with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test, obese men generally had lower PSA levels than thinner men.
No evidence for routine prostate screening: study
(Reuters Health) – Routine prostate cancer screening does not appear to help men live longer, according to a new study that pooled the best available data on the controversial topic.
U.S. federal experts and several medical associations discourage screening in men 75 years or older, but say the evidence is insufficient to make sweeping recommendations for younger people. Still, many U.S. doctors still test for the disease.
The new analysis, published in the journal BMJ, shows that testing will pick up the disease, detecting 20 cases for every 1,000 men screened. But it didn’t alter overall death rates or the odds that men will die from prostate cancer.
Study: Smoking Degrades Sperm Protein Needed for Fertility, Embryo Survival
Sept. 10, 2010 – Smoking damages sperm, making them less likely to fertilize eggs — and making the embryos they do manage to create less likely to survive.
The finding comes from a study of sperm from 53 heavy smokers and 63 nonsmokers among male partners of couples seeking help for infertility.
Previous studies show that men who smoke are less fertile than men who don’t smoke. Now a research team led by Mohamad Eid Hammadeh, PhD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology a the University of the Saarland, Homburg/Saar, Germany, have learned why.
Kids’ physical activity declines with age
(Reuters Health) – Ten-year-olds spend more time sitting on their rears and less time running around than they did at age nine, according to a new British study.
Kids mostly cut down on their physical activity during weekends, on average about 75 minutes in boys and nearly half an hour in girls.
“The extent of these decreases over 1 year would have significant implications for these children if decreases continued into adulthood,” the researchers write in the journal Pediatrics.
Is high cholesterol linked to mom’s smoking?
(Reuters Health) – The notion that small babies are at an increased risk of developing high cholesterol as adults may only hold true for children of moms who smoked during pregnancy, according to a new study.
Increasing evidence points to a link between being born small-for-gestational-age (SGA) — smaller than the norm for the baby’s sex and the week of pregnancy during which he or she was born — and having high cholesterol in adulthood, Xiaozhong Wen of Harvard Medical School, in Boston, told Reuters Health in an email.
Scottish smoking ban cuts childhood asthma attacks
(Reuters) – A 2006 public smoking ban in Scotland reduced the number of serious childhood asthma attacks by 18 percent per year, researchers reported on Wednesday.
Before the ban imposed in March 2006, the number of hospital admissions for asthma was rising by 5 percent a year among children under 15. The after-ban benefits were seen in both pre-school and school-age children.
Critics had said the ban could force smokers who could not light up in the workplace or in enclosed public spaces to smoke more at home, increasing the risk to children.
Dr. Jill Pell of the University of Glasgow, who worked on the new study, said the findings in the New England Journal of Medicine show that did not happen.
Memory problems not a normal sign of aging: study
(Reuters Life!) – Mild memory problems in older people are often excused as “senior moments,” but a new study has found the same changes in the brain that cause severe dementia may also be responsible for those memory lapses.
The findings contradict a long-held notion that memory loss is a normal part of aging, the U.S. team said on Wednesday.
“We don’t think that just because you are old, a problem in thinking and memory is normal and should be ignored. We think it’s an actual sign of disease,” said Robert Wilson, a researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, whose study appears in the journal Neurology.
Americans still not tolerant of the mentally ill
(Reuters Health) – While more and more Americans regard mental illness as a disease rooted in the brain, that doesn’t mean they are getting more tolerant of those who suffer from it.
That’s according to a new report comparing national surveys from 1996 and 2006.
In recent decades, both the government and the medical community have tried to reduce the social stigma shrouding psychiatric conditions like schizophrenia and depression — in large part by stressing their biological underpinnings.
But those efforts appear to have failed, according to the new findings in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Making own meals may not mean better diet quality
(Reuters Health) – Young adults who have a hand in making their own meals may not eat much better than those who leave dinner to someone else, a new study suggests.
In a study of 2,800 Australians between the ages of 26 and 36, researchers found little evidence that those who typically helped prepare the main meal on a workday had more healthful diets than those who left the cooking to someone else in the household.
In general, women who said they shared the task of meal preparation tended to get more vegetables in their overall diet than women who avoided kitchen duty — but the difference amounted to less than one extra serving.
Similarly, men who had sole responsibility for meal preparation tended to eat more lean meat and meat “alternatives” than their less culinary-minded peers. But again, the average difference was minor.
The findings, reported in the Journal of American Dietetic Association, seem to run counter to the theory that people who have a hand in making their own meals generally eat better.
Family meals’ fat-fighting effects vary by race
(Reuters Health) – Eating family meals may help fight obesity in white children, but it doesn’t seem to benefit black children much, and could even raise Hispanic boys’ obesity risk, new research shows.
The study, in nearly 17,000 U.S. children, didn’t look at what children were eating or how much they consumed. “I think that’s a topic for future research, to figure out just what’s going on at the dinner table,” Brandi Y. Rollins of The Pennsylvania State University in University Park, who helped conduct the research, told Reuters Health.
She and her colleagues report their findings in the September issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Pre-Run Stretch May Hurt Endurance
Runners Who Stretched Expended More Energy, Ran Shorter Distances, Study Finds
Sept. 10, 2010 — Some runners swear by their pre-run stretch as a sure-fire way to run better and stronger and reduce their risk of injury in the process.
But according to a new study, distance runners who stretch before a run may not perform as well and may spend more energy than runners who skip the stretch.
”Overall, I don’t think it’s worth it to stretch before a run,” researcher Jacob M. Wilson, PhD, assistant professor of exercise science and sport studies at the University of Tampa, tells WebMD. “After a run, if someone is trying to work on flexibility, that’s fine.”
Scientists see risks and benefits in nano foods
(Reuters) – In a taste of things to come, food scientists say they have cooked up a way of using nanotechnology to make low-fat or fat-free foods just as appetizing and satisfying as their full-fat fellows.
The implications could be significant in combating the spread of health problems such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
However, experts say nanotechnology’s future in food could be thwarted before it gets started by a reluctance among food manufacturers fearful of the kind of European consumer backlash that greeted genetically modified (GM) food to be open about what they are doing.
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