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.
Since this Summer’s Egg/Salmonella scare and past warnings and recalls about E. Coli contaminations, this article has some very helpful tips and advice on food safety on a tight budget.
Vegetarians need not suffer with veggie burgers and tofu hot dogs. Pack vegetables in foil packets, ready to throw on the fire, and accompany them with romesco, the pungent Catalan sauce thickened with nuts.
Blood Clot Risk From Stents Seen in African-Americans
Study Shows African-Americans May Be at Higher Risk for Blood Clots From Drug-Coated Stents
Aug. 31, 2010 — African-Americans may be at an increased risk for developing life-threatening blood clots after receiving drug-coated stents that are meant to keep their arteries open, new research shows.
The study is published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Selenium May Protect Against Bladder Cancer
Boosting Selenium Intake May Lower Bladder Cancer Risk, Particularly in Women
Aug. 31, 2010 — Adding more selenium to your diet may reduce your risk of bladder cancer.
Scientists reporting in the September issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention say that adults with low blood levels of the mineral selenium are more likely to develop bladder cancer. The lower your levels of selenium, the higher your risk.
Selenium is a trace mineral found in soil. Dietary sources of selenium include plant foods and meats from animals that grazed on grain or plants grown in selenium-rich soil. The nutrient is also found in certain nuts. For example, brazil nuts often contain an abundance of selenium.
Low Vitamin D Linked to Heart Failure Deaths
Study Also Shows Higher Risk of Hospitalization for Heart Failure Patients With Low Vitamin D Levels
Aug. 31, 2010 (Stockholm, Sweden) — Low vitamin D levels are associated with a higher risk of death and hospitalization in people with heart failure, researchers report.
The study doesn’t prove that low vitamin D levels place patients at higher risk of dying. Even if the findings are confirmed, low levels of vitamin D may be a marker for some other damaging factor.
The hope is that vitamin D supplements may be able to improve outcomes among people with heart failure, but this still needs to be put to the test.
Seasonal Pattern Is Seen in MS Patients
Study Shows Increase in Brain Lesions in Spring and Summer
Aug. 31, 2010 — Brain lesions associated with increased multiple sclerosis activity appear in patients more often between the months of March and August, a new study shows.
Researchers also say warmer temperatures and solar radiation also seem to be linked to increased activity in MS patients.
First Genetic Link Found for Common Migraine
Aug. 30, 2010 — Scientists have identified the first-ever genetic risk factor for common migraines. People who have a specific change, or variation, in a section of DNA that helps control a brain chemical called glutamate have a significantly greater risk of developing migraines, researchers report
Pill Cuts Risk of Death in Heart Failure Patients
Aug. 30, 2010 (Stockholm) — A pill that slows the heart rate substantially cut the risk of death and hospital stays for patients with severe heart failure, a study of more than 6,500 patients shows. The drug is called Procoralan. It’s already used in Europe to treat the severe chest pain of angina
Marijuana Relieves Chronic Pain, Research Shows
Three Puffs a Day Helped People With Nerve Pain, Study Find
Aug. 30, 2010 — Three puffs a day of cannabis, better known as marijuana, helps people with chronic nerve pain due to injury or surgery feel less pain and sleep better, a Canadian team has found.
”It’s been known anecdotally,” says researcher Mark Ware, MD, assistant professor of anesthesia and family medicine at McGill University in Montreal. “About 10% to 15% of patients attending a chronic pain clinic use cannabis as part of their pain [control] strategy,” he tells WebMD.
But Ware’s study is more scientific — a clinical trial in which his team compared placebo with three different doses of cannabis. The research is published in CMAJ, the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Stem Cells May Help Treat Heart Failure
Study Shows Injection of Bone-Marrow Stem Cells May Extend Lives of Heart Failure Patients
Aug. 30, 2010 (Stockholm, Sweden) — Giving people with chronic heart failure injections of their own bone-marrow stem cells appears to improve their heart function and extend their lives, new research suggests.
The benefits of the stem cell treatment were apparent within three months and persisted for the five years the patients were followed, says researcher Bodo-Eckehard Strauer, MD, of Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf, Germany.
This isn’t the first time doctors have reported that stem cells may help improve the health of people with heart failure or other heart conditions.
But the 391-patient study is one of the biggest tests to date of stem cell therapy for heart disease — and the first to show that the treatment cuts the risk of death in chronic heart failure, Strauer tells WebMD.
Antidepressant patch doesn’t help smokers quit
(Reuters Health) – An antidepressant drug delivered through a patch on the skin is no better than placebo for helping smokers kick the habit, new research shows.
Eldepryl (generic name selegiline) is used to treat Parkinson’s disease, depression, and dementia, in both pill and patch form. Nicotine craving is a major hurdle for smokers trying to abstain, and selegiline can help maintain levels of brain chemicals like dopamine that are reduced in the absence of nicotine.
“That’s why we hoped that selegiline might reduce the cravings and urges associated with quitting and thus help make it easier to quit,” Dr. Joel D. Killen of Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California, one of the researchers who conducted the study, told Reuters Health.
Protein test ups diabetes diagnoses in some races
Reuters Health) – Efforts to adopt a more accurate test for diagnosing diabetes may have hit a snag. Comparing the age-old oral glucose tolerance test to the newer hemoglobin A1c test confirms earlier evidence that race may influence test results, Danish researchers report.
“The prevalence of diabetes differed considerably according to diagnostic method,” they write in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Tight blood pressure curbs little help for kidneys
(Reuters) – Aggressively lowering blood pressure did little to prevent kidney damage in blacks, unless protein in their urine showed evidence of damage in the first place, researchers reported on Wednesday.
Doctors had hoped to show that dropping blood pressures to 130/80 or below would significantly lower rates of kidney problems for African-Americans, who have higher-than-average rates of high blood pressure.
But the updated findings from a long-running study, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that aggressive blood pressure control did little more than standard blood pressure treatment geared toward getting the number down to 140/90.
Diabetes drug may keep lung cancer at bay
(Reuters) – The common diabetes drug metformin may hold promise as a way to keep smokers from developing lung cancer, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
They said metformin prevented lung tumor growth in mice exposed to a cancer-causing agent found in tobacco smoke, and because it is already widely used in people, it may be worth further study.
Metformin has been shown to switch on an enzyme that blocks mTOR — a protein that helps tobacco-induced lung tumors grow.
A team led by Dr. Philip Dennis of the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, studied metformin in mice exposed to a potent, cancer-causing agent in tobacco called nicotine-derived nitrosamine ketone or NNK.
Lupus study suggests blood-thinner drugs may help
(Reuters) – Scientists studying the autoimmmune disease lupus have found that blood platelets are key in its development and say their findings in the lab suggest blood-thinning drugs may offer a new way to treat patients.
The researchers found that lupus patients have an excess of platelets — a type of blood cell that clump together to form clots — and, after tests on mice, suggested that treating them with a drug like Sanofi-Aventis’ and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Plavix could prevent flare-ups of the disease.
“These observations open a possible therapeutic avenue for human inflammatory autoimmune diseases — the long-term utilization of antiplatelet therapy,” the scientists wrote in the Science Translational Medicine Journal on Wednesday.
Antibiotic helped fight common wound infection
(Reuters) – An antibiotic that gets its microbe-fighting power from insect proteins was effective at attacking a common infection that afflicts blast victims in war zones, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
The antimicrobial peptide – a fragment of a larger protein found in certain insects – helped speed wound healing and clear infections in mice infected with Acinetobacter baumannii, the most common systemic infection in soldiers who have burns or blast wounds.
“This is a bacteria to which resistance develops very, very fast. When soldiers get injuries like blast injuries or burns, they are taken to military hospitals. These bugs (the bacteria) are all over these hospitals,” said Laszlo Otvos of Temple University in Philadelphia, whose findings were published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
They Crawl, They Bite, They Baffle Scientists
Don’t be too quick to dismiss the common bedbug as merely a pestiferous six-legged blood-sucker.
Think of it, rather, as Cimex lectularius, international arthropod of mystery.
In comparison to other insects that bite man, or even only walk across man’s food, nibble man’s crops or bite man’s farm animals, very little is known about the creature whose Latin name means – go figure – “bug of the bed.” Only a handful of entomologists specialize in it, and until recently it has been low on the government’s research agenda because it does not transmit disease. Most study grants come from the pesticide industry and ask only one question: What kills it?
But now that it’s The Bug That Ate New York, Not to Mention Other Shocked American Cities, that may change.
This month, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a joint statement on bedbug control. It was not, however, a declaration of war nor a plan of action. It was an acknowledgment that the problem is big, a reminder that federal agencies mostly give advice, plus some advice: try a mix of vacuuming, crevice-sealing, heat and chemicals to kill the things.
Prescription Drug Use on the Rise in U.S.
Study Shows About 48% of Americans Take at Least 1 Prescription Drug
Sept. 2, 2010 — Prescription drug use in the U.S. has been rising steadily in the past decade and the trend shows no signs of slowing, the CDC says in a new report.
The study, published in the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief No. 42, says the percentage of Americans who took at least one prescription drug rose from 43.5% in 1999-2000 to 48.3% in the 2007-2008 period.
The use of two or more drugs increased from 25.4% to 31.2% over the same decade, and the use of five or more prescription medications jumped from 6.3% to 10.7%.
Osteoporosis Drugs May Be Linked to Cancer Risk
Study Shows Some Increased Risk of Esophageal Cancer From Oral Bisphosphonates
Sept. 2, 2010 — The long-term use of oral bisphosphonate osteoporosis drugs such as Actonel, Boniva, and Fosamax may be associated with a doubling in esophageal cancer risk, but the risk to individual users remains small, researchers say.
Compared to people who had never taken the medications, long-term users of the bone-building drugs known as oral bisphosphonates had nearly double the risk for the rare but deadly cancer in a newly published study.
The findings appear to contradict a separate study published early last month, which used the same data of people living in the U.K. That research failed to find a significant increase in esophageal cancer risk in users of the osteoporosis drugs.
Oxford University epidemiologist Jane Green, PhD, who led the latest research, says more study is needed to determine if bisphosphonate use really does increase esophageal cancer risk.
“But the risk, if it does exist, is small in absolute terms and is not something people taking these drugs should worry too much about,” she tells WebMD.
Weight Loss Pill Meridia Raises Heart Attack, Stroke Risks
Study Shows RIsks Increase in People Who Already Have Heart Disease
Sept. 1, 2010 – People who take Abbott’s weight loss pill Meridia have a higher risk of nonfatal heart attack and stroke, a company-sponsored study shows.
The increased risk was seen only in patients with underlying heart disease. When the FDA learned of the study results last January, Meridia use was restricted to patients without known heart problems.
The European regulatory authorities went further. They banned the drug, known generically as sibutramine and in Europe as Reductil.
Later this month, an FDA expert advisory panel will meet to decide whether Meridia should remain on sale in the U.S.
Special Report: Outgunned FDA tries to get tough with drug ads
(Reuters) – It wasn’t what you would call a casual get-together.
In February 2009, a popular New York blogger attended a brunch with fellow “frazzled moms.” They took in tips from a style expert and listened to a nurse extol the virtues of Mirena, a birth control device sold by Bayer Healthcare.
The nurse was on Bayer’s payroll. In a series of events organized with the help of a women’s website, Mom Central, the pharmaceutical company gathered a captive audience of young mothers. It provided the nurse with a script and had the women fill out a survey before they left.
The sessions earned a stern rebuke from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In a letter to Bayer Healthcare made public earlier this year, the agency faulted the drugmaker for telling “busy moms” that using its intrauterine device (IUD) “will result in increased levels of intimacy, romance and, by implication, emotional satisfaction.”
Besides hyping the product, the nurse failed to disclose potential risks. “Here you have a company hiring a third-party to invite people into a home like a Tupperware party,” said Thomas Abrams, whose department oversees pharmaceutical marketing reviews at the FDA. “That was extremely, extremely concerning to us because this product has risks — risk of infection, loss of fertility. Huge risk.”
Under the Obama administration, the FDA has vowed to crack down on increasingly aggressive marketing tactics — both online and off. But even Abrams acknowledges the agency lacks the resources to sharply curtail misleading drug ads.
Experimental Novartis drug shows malaria promise
(Reuters) – An experimental Novartis drug can clear malaria infection in mice with a single dose and scientists say it shows promise as a possible future treatment for one of the world’s major killer diseases.
In a study published in the journal Science on Thursday, an international team of scientists said the drug, called NITD609, is effective against the two most common parasites responsible for malaria — Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax — and also against a range of drug-resistant strains.
In experiments on mice with malaria, the scientists found that NITD609 works in a different way from other antimalarial drugs and that one oral dose was enough to clear the disease.
Factbox: Malaria: the mosquito-borne killer
Monkeypox rising in wake of smallpox eradication
(Reuters Health) – Some thirty years after authorities doled out the last dose of smallpox vaccine, the world faces another multiplying menace: monkeypox.
A new study suggests that the monkeypox virus, which the smallpox vaccine also grants immunity against, is now at least 20 times as common as it was shortly after victory over smallpox had been declared.
“The eradication of smallpox was one of the greatest achievements known to man,” lead researcher Anne Rimoin of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health told Reuters Health. “But a consequence of ceasing smallpox vaccinations is that now the world’s population is vulnerable to other (related viruses) such as monkeypox.”
Women, children most vulnerable in Pakistan crisis
(Reuters) – Pakistan’s displaced flood victims say a lack of clean water and high temperatures are causing illnesses sweeping through relief camps with children most at risk.
Almost five million people are currently without shelter following devastating flooding sparked more than a month ago by heavy monsoon rains.
“They are scared, traumatized,” said Bibi Luqmania, 30, whose four children live with her in a tent donated by the charity Islamic Relief. “And it’s so hot in the tent, they cannot stand it. It becomes like an oven during the day.”
Gene Test, Preventive Surgery Save Women’s Lives
Preventive Surgery Cuts Death Risk for Women With BRCA Cancer Genes
Aug. 31, 2010 — Women who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 cancer genes cut their risk of death, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer by getting preventive surgery.
But to reduce their risk, women must make difficult choices:
* They must decide whether to get tested for the BRCA mutations.
* If BRCA positive, they must decide whether to undergo risk-reducing surgery to remove their ovaries and fallopian tubes.
* If BRCA positive, they must decide whether to undergo risk-reducing surgery to remove their breasts.
C-Section Rates Are High and Getting Higher
Study Shows 1 in 3 U.S. Babies Are Delivered by Cesarean Section
Aug. 30, 2010 — Cesarean section deliveries are at an all-time high in the U.S. and are expected to keep rising, and new government-funded research may help explain the trend.
Nearly one in three babies are now delivered surgically — up from one in five just over a decade ago.
Previously recognized contributors to the rise include delayed childbearing, the rising obesity rate among moms-to-be, and an increase in multiple birth deliveries.
Sex Not on Most New Moms’ Minds
Passions Rekindle for Most in 6 Months, Review Finds
Sept. 1, 2010 — When her ob-gyn said she could start having sex again six weeks after giving birth, writer Heidi Raykeil’s first though was, “Can’t I have another six weeks?”
“I wanted to want sex, but I just didn’t,” she tells WebMD. “I had absolutely no interest.”
More than a year later, when the prepregnancy passion still hadn’t returned, Raykeil began blogging about it. She quickly realized she was not alone.
“I heard from all these women who were feeling the same thing, but nobody was really talking about it,” she says.
Timing of Delivery May Affect Cerebral Palsy Risk
Study Shows Risk May Be Higher for Babies Born at 37 or 38 Weeks — or 42 Weeks or Later
Aug. 31, 2010 — Babies delivered at 37 or 38 weeks — or at 42 weeks or later — are at increased risk for cerebral palsy compared to those born at 40 weeks, a study shows. Still, the absolute risk of developing cerebral palsy is considered extremely low.
The study is published in the Sept. 1 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Men With Insomnia May Have Higher Death Risk
Study Shows 4-Fold Higher Death Rate in Men With Insomnia vs. Normal Sleepers
Sept. 2, 2010 – Men with insomnia have a fourfold higher death rate than normal sleepers who get at least 6 hours sleep a night, a 14-year study finds.
The death risk is even higher — over seven times the normal death rate — for insomniacs with underlying diabetes or with high blood pressure, find Penn State researchers Alexandros. N. Vgontzas, MD, and colleagues.
“Insomnia is a serious disease,” Vgontzas tells WebMD. “We show insomnia is associated with physical problems. That is new, and it makes insomnia a health problem equal to sleep apnea.”
Increased death risk was seen only in self-described insomniacs who, when tested in a sleep lab, slept less than six hours a night. People who said they did not have insomnia but who slept less than six hours a night did not have a significantly increased death risk. Neither did self-described insomniacs who slept more than six hours in the lab.
Prostate biopsy can cause urinary, erectile problems
(Reuters Health) – Biopsies taken to diagnose prostate cancer commonly cause temporary erectile dysfunction and, in some cases, lingering urinary problems, according to a new study.
The findings, reported in the Journal of Urology, highlight the fact that even the tests for diagnosing prostate cancer can have side effects.
And men who are undergoing prostate biopsies — as well as those considering prostate cancer screening — should be aware of those risks, experts say.
Teen Pot Smoking Won’t Lead to Other Drugs as Adults
Study Shows Marijuana Isn’t a ‘Gateway’ to Other Drugs as Teens Turn Into Adults
Sept. 2, 2010 — New research finds little support for the hypothesis that marijuana is a “gateway” drug leading to the use of harder drugs in adulthood.
Teens in the study who smoked marijuana were more likely to go on to use harder illicit drugs, but the gateway effect was lessened by the age of 21, investigators say.
Harder drugs in the study referred to illicit drugs that include analgesics, cocaine, hallucinogens, heroin, inhalants, sedatives, stimulants, and tranquilizers.
The study is published in the September issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
Parents, Schools Should Talk to Kids About Sex
American Academy of Pediatrics Issues New Recommendations on Sex Education
Aug. 30, 2010 — Kids spend more than seven hours a day glued to the TV or online, where they are bombarded with mixed, unrealistic, and confusing messages about sex, sexuality, and contraception. Parents, pediatricians, and educators need to step up efforts to buck these trends, according to a revised policy statement issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The new recommendations appear in the September issue of Pediatrics.
Early day care may promote eczema development
(Reuters Health) – Kids who spend their earliest years in day care may be at higher risk of eczema than kids cared for at home, according to a new study from Germany.
Eczema is a collective term for different skin conditions characterized by a scaly, itchy, reddish rash. From 10 percent to 20 percent of infants and children experience some symptoms of the disease, according to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
Timer may help kids’ bladder control problems
(Reuters Health) – Wearing a programmable wristwatch could help children manage their daytime bladder control problems, a new study suggests.
For children with urinary incontinence, the first approach to treatment is usually behavior modification – sometimes called bladder training or “urotherapy.” Tactics like changing drinking habits and taking scheduled trips to the bathroom can be effective, but often the challenge with children is getting them to stick with a routine.
Marathons Safe for Older Runners’ Hearts
Transient Heart Changes Seen, but No Lasting Heart Damage, Researchers Say
Aug. 31, 2010 (Stockholm, Sweden) — When it comes to your heart heath, don’t let age alone make you reluctant to run a marathon.
So say researchers who found that amateur runners over age 50 — and as old as 72 — experienced some temporary heart changes, but no lasting damage after the 26.2-mile run.
“The results are comforting for older runners,” says study head Fabian Knebel, MD, a cardiologist at the Medical Clinic for Cardiology, Angiology, and Pneumology at the University Medicine Berlin.
Colonoscopy repeats greater with non-specialists
Reuters Health) – Older adults who have a colonoscopy performed by a family doctor, internist or general surgeon are somewhat more likely to need another one within a year compared with those who have the procedure done by a gastroenterologist, a new report finds.
Bad News About Youth Boosts Elders’ Esteem
Study Shows Older People See Rise in Self-Esteem When Reading Negative News on Youth
Sept. 1, 2010 — People over 50 get a self-esteem boost when they read negative news about young adults, a study shows.
Researchers also say young people, when given the choice, would rather read about people their own age and aren’t very interested in stories about their elders, whether the articles are positive or negative.
“Our results reflect that the younger readers did not perceive older people as all that relevant,” study researcher Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, PhD, of Ohio State University, tells WebMD by email. “They’re more concerned with figuring out who they are and where they stand, and those in the same age group appear to provide the relevant comparisons for that.”
Mental ‘exercise’ linked to faster dementia progression
(Reuters Health) – While staying mentally active in old age has been linked to a delayed onset of dementia, seniors who engage in such brain “exercise” may actually have a faster rate of decline once Alzheimer’s is diagnosed, researchers reported Wednesday.
The findings, published online in the journal Neurology, do not mean that a mentally stimulating lifestyle is a bad thing.
Is lower thyroid activity linked to longevity?
(Reuters Health) – A less active thyroid may mean more years added to your life, hints a new Dutch study.
However, the researchers emphasize that the finding, which builds on prior evidence touting the possible link, still does not prove that decreased thyroid function is the fountain of youth — it may just be related to something else that is.
“In an earlier study, we observed that middle-aged children of long-lived siblings have lower thyroid function compared to controls from the general population,” Diana van Heemst of Leiden University Medical Center, in the Netherlands, told Reuters Health in an email.
Physically Unprepared Skiers Face Heart Risk
High Altitudes and Low Temperatures Add to Risk of a Heart Attack on the Slopes
Sept. 1, 2010 (Stockholm, Sweden) — As you start your early planning for this winter’s ski vacation, you should be thinking about more than getting the best possible plane ticket and hotel rates — think about your heart, too.
Many people fail to rev up their exercise regimen before they leave — and the sudden burst of activity on the slopes puts them at risk for sudden cardiac death, researchers say.
“Our study of tourists in the Austrian Alps shows that inadequate preparation for the physical exertion required, combined with the effect of high altitude and cold temperatures, led to an increase in heart attacks, particularly during the first two days of vacation,” says study researcher Gert Klug, MD, of the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria.
Adding Omega-3 to Margarine Doesn’t Help Heart
Aug. 30, 2010 (Stockholm, Sweden) — Margarine fortified with omega-3 fatty acids does not appear to protect older men and women who have survived a heart attack from having another heart attack or other cardiac event. That’s the bottom line of the ALPHA-OMEGA trial of 4,837 heart attack survivors
Coffee May Combat High Blood Pressure
Chemicals in Coffee Appear to Combat Blood Vessel Aging, Researchers Say
Sept.1, 2010 (Stockholm, Sweden) — Older people with high blood pressure who drink one to two cups of coffee a day have more elastic blood vessels than people who drink less or more, Greek researchers report.
As we age, our blood vessels get stiffer, and that’s thought to increase the risk of high blood pressure. The new findings suggest moderate coffee drinking may counteract this process.
Previous research has shown conflicting results as to whether coffee is good or bad for the heart.
The new study involved 485 men and women, aged 65 to 100, who live on a small island called Ikaria, in the Aegean Sea, where more than a third of people live to celebrate their 90th birthday.
“We were aiming to evaluate the secrets of the long-livers of Ikaria,” says study head Christina Chrysohoou, BSc, of the University of Athens.
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