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. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
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.
CT Scans Can Reduce Lung Cancer Deaths, Study Finds
WASHINGTON – Annual CT scans of current and former heavy smokers reduced their risk of death from lung cancer by 20 percent, a huge government-financed study has found. Even more surprising, the scans seem to reduce the risks of death from other causes as well, suggesting that the scans could be catching other illnesses.
The findings represent an enormous advance in cancer detection that could potentially save thousands of lives annually, although at considerable expense. Lung cancer will claim about 157,000 lives this year, more than the deaths from colorectal, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers combined. Most patients discover their disease too late for treatment, and 85 percent die from it.
No screening method had proved effective at reducing mortality from the disease. Four randomized controlled trials done during the 1970s showed that chest X-rays, while they helped catch cancers at an earlier stage, had no effect on overall death rates. Since then, researchers have suggested that CT scans – which use coordinated X-rays to provide three-dimensional views – could detect lung tumors at an even earlier stage than X-rays.
‘Spiral’ CT scans reduce smoker deaths: U.S. study
(Reuters) – Screening smokers and former smokers for lung tumors using three-dimensional X-rays reduced their risk of dying from lung cancer by 20 percent, researchers said on Thursday.
The study sponsored by the U.S. National Cancer Institute is the first to show that people can be screened for lung cancer, akin to mammograms for breast cancer and tests for colon and prostate cancer.
“Nothing has ever shown a 20 percent decrease in mortality in this disease ever before. This is huge,” said Regina Vidaver, executive director of the National Lung Cancer Partnership.
Retinal Implant Restores Some Sight to Blind
Researchers Say Implanted Microchip Allows 3 Patients to Recognize Some Shapes
Nov. 3, 2010 — Three blind patients treated with an experimental eye implant were able to see shadows and shapes after getting the device, raising hopes that a highly anticipated new approach to treating blindness may be on the horizon.
Eberhart Zrenner, MD, of Germany’s University of Tubingen Eye Hospital, says close to 30 research groups are working on retinal implants designed to restore sight to the blind; Zrenner’s study is one of only two that have been tried in humans.
Chemo Plus Radiation Prevents Bladder Cancer Return
Study Shows Benefits of Adding Chemotherapy to Radiation Therapy Nov. 2, 2010 (San Diego) — The addition of chemotherapy to radiation for the treatment of bladder cancer allowed more people to remain disease free than if they received radiation alone, British researchers report.
“By adding chemotherapy to radiation therapy, 82% of [living] patients were free of invasive bladder cancer — the most worrisome form of the disease — two years after treatment,” Nicholas James, MD, professor of clinical oncology at the University of Birmingham, England, tells WebMD.
Short Course of Radiation Fights Rectal Cancer
Study Shows Five Days of Treatment Cuts Risk of Cancer’s Return
Nov. 2, 2010 (San Diego) — A short, five-day course of radiation therapy followed by surgery more than halves the risk that cancer will come back in some people with rectal cancer, a Dutch study suggests.
End-of-Life Pain Common, Study Finds
Arthritis Is Frequent Cause of Pain at End of Life, Researchers Say
Nov. 1, 2010 — One quarter of all elderly people experience pain during the last two years of their life, and the percentage of people with pain increases to about 50% in the last four months of life.
Arthritis was the No.1 predictor of pain, according to the study, which appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Red meat linked to esophageal, stomach cancer risks
(Reuters Health) – Red-meat lovers may have a greater likelihood of developing certain cancers of the throat and stomach than people who limit their intake of steaks and hamburgers, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that among nearly 500,000 older U.S. adults followed for a decade, only a small number developed cancers of the esophagus or stomach. However, the risks were relatively greater among those who ate a lot of red meat, or certain compounds generated from cooking meat.
Vitamin E linked to risk of certain types of stroke
(Reuters) – People should be cautious about taking vitamin E supplements regularly because doing so can increase the risk of a certain type of stroke, an international team of scientists said on Friday.
Researchers from the United States, France and Germany reviewed existing studies of vitamin E and its effect on stroke and found that taking the vitamin increased the risk of hemorrhagic stroke, where bleeding occurs in the brain, by 22 percent, but cuts the risk of ischaemic stroke by 10 percent.
Smokeless Tobacco Rates on the Rise
Study Shows Many Smokers Are Also Using Smokeless Tobacco
Nov. 4, 2010 — Even after a generation of warnings from public health officials about the dangers of tobacco use, about 20% of Americans still smoke cigarettes, a CDC report says. The report also shows the rate of smokers who also use smokeless tobacco, such as chewing tobacco and snuff, is rising.
Using smokeless tobacco can keep the nicotine habit alive, making it even harder to quit than going cold turkey, Terry Pechacek, PhD, of the CDC, tells WebMD.
More Americans are turning to smokeless tobacco because of laws that prohibit smoking in public places such as bars, restaurants, and airplanes — and also because smokeless forms can be used in offices and on the job, Pechacek says.
The CDC report is published in the Nov. 5 edition of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
UN To Blame For Haiti Cholera? Peacekeeping Troops May Have Caused Infection, Experts Say
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Researchers should determine whether United Nations peacekeepers were the source of a deadly outbreak of cholera in Haiti, two public health experts, including a U.N. official, said Wednesday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the strain of cholera that has killed at least 442 people the past three weeks matches strains found in South Asia. The CDC, World Health Organization and United Nations say it’s not possible to pinpoint the source and investigating further would distract from efforts to fight the disease.
But leading experts on cholera and medicine consulted by The Associated Press challenged that position, saying it is both possible and necessary to track the source to prevent future deaths.
Breast Cancer Recurrence: Younger Women at Higher Risk
Women With DCIS Under 45 Appear at Highest Risk of Having Cancer Return, Study Finds
Nov. 4, 2010 (San Diego) — A study of nearly 600 younger women with a very early stage of breast cancer suggests that women under age 45 are at higher risk of recurrence.
Canadian researchers studied women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who were given the standard treatment of breast-conserving surgery followed by radiation, says study head Iwa Kong, MD, a clinical research fellow in radiation oncology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto.
Pregnancy Does Not Boost Breast Cancer Recurrence
Study Counters Concerns That Pregnancy Increases Odds of Cancer Returning
Nov. 2, 2010 (San Diego) — Despite fears to the contrary, women who get pregnant after receiving radiation treatment for early breast cancer are not at increased risk of having their cancer come back, a new study suggests.
“In fact, the risk of recurrence was lower among women who became pregnant,” says researcher Ahlam Aljizani, MD, of the Ottawa Regional Cancer Center in Canada.
HPV Vaccine: Cost-effective Way to Prevent Anal Cancer
Study Shows Benefits of HPV Vaccine in Men Who Have Sex With Men
Nov. 2, 2010 –The human papillomarvirus (HPV) shot is a cost-effective way to prevent genital warts and anal cancer in men who have sex with men. This is the finding of a new study that appears in The Lancet.
Is your laptop cooking your testicles?
(Reuters Health) – Whoever invented the ‘laptop’ probably didn’t worry too much about male reproductive health.
Turns out, unsurprisingly, that sitting with a computer on your lap will crank up the temperature of your nether regions, which could affect sperm quality.
And there is little you can do about it, according to the authors of a study out today in the journal Fertility and Sterility, short of putting your laptop on a desk.
The researchers hooked thermometers to the scrotums of 29 young men who were balancing a laptop on their knees. They found that even with a lap pad under the computer, the men’s scrotums overheated quickly.
Asthma Attacks From Allergies Send Kids to ICU
Study Shows Allergy-Induced Asthma Attacks Raise Odds of Treatment in Intensive Care Units
Nov. 2, 2010 — Children whose asthma attacks are triggered by allergic reactions are much more likely to wind up being treated in intensive care units for severe symptoms of the lung disease, a new study shows.
Researchers at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center studied data on 188 children who were admitted to the hospital for asthma attacks between July 2008 and July 2009.
Drug Improves Growth for Juvenile Arthritis Kids
Study Shows Etanercept Treats Growth Problems of Children With Juvenile Ideopathic Arthritis
Nov. 4, 2010 — Researchers have found that a drug used to treat autoimmune disorders effectively increased growth rates among children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), a disease that affects children’s joints and can stymie their growth rates.
Researchers led by Edward H. Giannini, MSc, DrPH, of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, compared three types of treatment among 594 children ages 2 to 18 with JIA. The participants received one of three treatments: etanercept, a drug used to treat autoimmune disorders sold under the brand name Enbrel; methotrexate, a drug used to treat inflammatory arthritis that is sold under the brand names Trexall or Rheumatrex; or etanercept plus methotrexate.
Tonsil surgery may not help bed wetting
(Reuters Health) – Bedwetters don’t get drier nights by having their tonsils removed, according to a small study.
Unlikely as it sounds, many doctors say the surgery, when used to help kids who have breathing trouble at night, will also stop them from wetting the bed.
But in the new study, researchers found that although many kids who had their tonsils removed — so-called tonsillectomy — had stopped wetting the bed six months later, so had kids who underwent unrelated surgeries, such as hernia repair.
Given these results, “we don’t recommend tonsillectomy as a treatment for bedwetting,” study author Dr. Carmin Kalorin, a urologist at Capital Urological Associates in North Carolina, told Reuters Health.
Walking Test May Predict Heart Surgery Risks
Study Shows Slow Walking Speed for Elderly May Predict Heart Surgery Complications
Nov. 1, 2010 — A simple walking-speed test may help predict the risk of complications for elderly people about to undergo heart surgery.
A new study shows elderly people who walk slowly, as determined by a simple gait-speed test, are three times as likely to experience complications or death following heart surgery compared to those who walk at a normal pace.
Slow walkers were also more than twice as likely to require a long hospital stay after heart surgery or be discharged to another health care facility.
Researchers say this is the first major study to test the value of gait speed — the time it takes a person to walk 5.5 yards at a comfortable pace — as a predictor of death or complications following heart surgery.
“Our study shows that the gait-speed test — sometimes referred to as a geriatric vital sign — can help clinicians identify vulnerable patients. It’s a tool that can be applied in daily practice with minimal investment,” says researcher Jonathan Afilalo, MD, MSc, of McGill University in Montreal, in a news release.
Exercise unlikely to lift depression long-term
(Reuters Health) – Exercise appears to have little long-term impact on depression, according to a new review of large studies investigating the relationship.
As long as people with depression were taking part in an exercise program, it appeared to have a small effect on their symptoms – but months after the intervention ended, they were just as depressed as people who did not participate in the exercise program.
Mediterranean diet tied to reduced weight gain
(Reuters Health) – People who follow a diet typical of the Mediterranean region might dodge the added pounds that often come with aging, hints a new Spanish study.
However, the researchers can’t be sure if it was the diet itself or related healthy behaviors that were responsible for staving off the weight.
The Mediterranean diet is generally rich in fish, fruits, vegetables, legumes and cereals, while low in red meats and dairy. Previous research has uncovered benefits for its followers, including protection from cardiovascular disease and diabetes, as well as weight loss among those who are already overweight or obese.
Drinking Beet Juice Increases Blood Flow to Brain and May Fight Dementia
Nov. 3, 2010 — Drinking beet juice increases blood flow to the brain in older people, a finding that suggests the dark red vegetable may fight the progression of dementia, a new study shows.
Beet roots contain high concentrations of nitrates, which are converted into nitrites by bacteria in the mouth. And nitrites help open blood vessels in the body, increasing blood flow and oxygen to places lacking in oxygen.
Previous studies have shown that nitrites – also found in high concentrations in celery, cabbage, and other leafy, green vegetables like spinach – widen blood vessels, but researchers say this was the first to find that nitrites also increase blood flow to the brain.
Being Physically Fit May Cut Risk of Colds
Study Shows Physical Activity Can Lead to Fewer Colds During Fall and Winter
Nov. 1, 2010 — People who are physically fit and active catch fewer colds, and the colds they do get are milder.
That’s the takeaway message of a new study by a team of scientists who examined 12 weeks worth of data on 1,002 adults, aged 18 to 85, who reported on their perceived fitness and their lifestyle and dietary habits.
Researchers studied the autumn and winter seasons of 2008. Study participants reported to researchers on how often they engaged in aerobic exercise and rated their fitness levels using a 10-point scoring system.
They also provided information about their diets, any stressful events they had encountered, and other lifestyle issues, all of which can affect a person’s immune system.
Schools Still Keen on Sugary Sodas
Sodas, Sugar-Sweetened Juices, and Higher-Fat Milk Compete With Healthier Options in Schools
Nov. 1, 2010 — Students’ access to sugary sodas and other high-calorie beverages in elementary schools is on the rise, despite national recommendations against them.
A new survey shows that sugary sodas, sugar-sweetened fruit juice, higher-fat milk, and other high-calorie beverages are still widely available in most elementary schools, even though the Institute of Medicine recommends that elementary schools offer only water, 100% juice (4-oz serving), and nonfat or 1% flavored or unflavored milk (8-oz serving).
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