January 2009 Archives

A diet low in saturated fat, high in vegetable protein and low in animal protein, including dairy products, is associated with a "substantial" increase in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) doubling time and an increase in quality of life, according to results of a pilot study.
PSA is used as a biological marker for prostate cancer; the higher this number gets, the greater is the man's risk of prostate cancer or prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate). The PSA "doubling time" is the time it takes for PSA levels to increase by 100 percent. . . .

Reuters - January 29, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50T01020090130?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

U.S. researchers have reversed multiple sclerosis symptoms in early stage patients by using bone marrow stem cell transplants to reset the immune system, they said on Thursday.

Reuters - January 29, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50S7KZ20090130?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Research shows that babies born to obese mothers are at increased risk for dying, particularly in the first weeks of life, compared to babies born to normal-weight mothers.
Given high infant mortality rates in the US as compared to other developed nations, the researchers say, if the results are confirmed, "obesity prevention should be explored as a measure to reduce infant mortality." . . .

Reuters - January 30, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50T5WH20090130?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Pfizer Inc's Zoloft and Forest Laboratories Inc's Lexapro are the most effective and well-tolerated antidepressants among a group of 12 new drugs, according to an analysis published on Thursday.
The findings from a review of 117 studies provide a "gold standard" of reliable information for patients to review before starting treatment, said Sagar Parikh, psychiatrist at the University of Toronto, who was not involved in the study.
"Such findings have enormous implications," he wrote in a commentary in the journal Lancet, which published the review. . . .

Reuters - January 28, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50S00O20090129?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

A U.S. study looking at children born more than three months prematurely provided fresh evidence on Thursday linking pre-term birth and autism.
These children were about two to three times as likely to show signs of autism at age 2 as measured in a standard screening tool compared to other children, the researchers wrote in the Journal of Pediatrics. . . .

Reuters - January 29, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50S0RH20090129?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Reaching for a cigarette to cope with a flashback is all too common among sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder. The nicotine hit may feel good but scientists say its brain action probably makes their PTSD worse in the long run...

Reuters - 1-28-2009

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28859829/

A single concussion early in an athlete's career can take a toll on memory, attention and reaction time 30 years later, Canadian researchers said on Tuesday...

Reuters- 1-27-2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50R0KL20090128?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

A small but growing number of women with cancer in one breast are deciding to have the other one surgically removed to avoid the possibility that a tumor develops there in the future.
Women diagnosed with cancer in one breast are at heightened risk for a tumor in the other breast as well, but doctors have struggled to determine which women are at highest risk of such an outcome.
Based on a study involving 542 women with breast cancer, U.S. researchers on Monday identified three factors that make cancer in the other breast much more likely. . .

Reuters - January 26, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50P0QB20090126?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can cause children to have hallucinations even when taken as directed, U.S. government researchers said on Monday.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration researchers analyzed data from 49 clinical studies conducted by makers of the drugs and found they can cause psychosis and mania in some patients, including some with no obvious risk factors. In some cases, children hallucinated that worms, bugs or snakes were crawling on them. . . .

Reuters - January 26, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50P0QS20090126?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Rates of sudden infant death from suffocation or strangulation have quadrupled in the past 20 years in the United States, most apparently from parents sleeping with their babies, government researchers reported on Monday. . . .

Reuters - January 26, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50P4EM20090126?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

In a research milestone, the federal government will allow the world's first test in people of a therapy derived from human embryonic stem cells. . . .

The New York Times - January 23, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/business/23stem.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

One in seven Americans under age 65 went without prescribed medicines in 2007 as drug costs spiraled upward in the United States, a nonprofit research group said on Thursday.
That figure is up substantially since 2003, when one in 10 people under 65 went without a prescription drug because they couldn't afford it, according to the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington, D.C.
The current figure may be even higher because of the recent economic downturn, said Laurie E. Felland, a senior health researcher at the center and lead author of the study. . . .

The New York Times - January 22, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/health/23drug.html

Reducing air pollution has extended average life expectancy by five months for urban residents in dozens of U.S. cities over the past two decades, researchers found.
A team from Brigham Young and Harvard universities reached that conclusion based on data on changes in air quality and life expectancy between 1980 and 2000 in 51 cities, including Washington. After taking into account the life-extending effects of other factors, including changes in population, income, education, migration, demographics and smoking, they calculated that cleaner air had lengthened urban dwellers' life spans significantly -- the first time researchers have been able to document an effect of improved air quality on longevity.
The researchers found that nationally, urban dwellers' life expectancy rose by an average of 2.72 years from 1980 to 2000, and five months of that increase was attributed to breathing cleaner air. . . .

The Washington Post - January 22, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/21/AR2009012102805.html?referrer=delicious

People caring for family members with dementia commonly abuse them with behavior such as swearing and shouting, researchers said on Friday in a study that shows a more widespread problem than previously thought. . . .

Reuters - January 22, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50M0G420090123?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Giving steroids to children who are wheezing because of viral or other infections does not help, researchers reported on Wednesday.
And an experimental treatment designed to prevent wheezing may be effective, but it seems to pose too many risks to be recommended, according to studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine. . . .

Reuters - January 21, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50K73P20090121?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Children are picking up more stubborn staph infections that don't respond to common antibiotics, and the proportion their of ear, nose and throat infections resistant to standard drug treatment increased dramatically over a six-year period, a new study has found.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, known as MRSA, accounted for 28.1 percent of children's head and neck staph infections in 2006, up from just 11.8 percent in 2001, according to researchers at Emory University in Atlanta. It once was rare for an ear, nose and throat doctor to see MRSA infections, noted Dr. Steven E. Sobol, the paper's senior author and director of pediatric otolaryngology at Emory University School of Medicine. "That was the impetus for the study," he said.
The report was published in this week's issue of Archives of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery. . . .

The New York Times - January 20, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/health/research/21staph.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Within days of taking office, President-elect Barack Obama will rescind a Bush administration policy that has impeded state efforts to provide health insurance to children from low- and middle-income families, aides and advisers said Monday. . . .

The New York Times - January 19, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20health.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Two nonsurgical procedures relieve many symptoms of acid reflux disease including heartburn in people who are not helped by the medications typically used to treat it, U.S. researchers said on Friday. . .

Reuters - January 19, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50I53O20090119?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

First heart attacks are less likely to kill people in the United States than they used to be, helped by better prevention efforts and better treatments, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
"The severity of heart attacks is decreasing," said Dr. Merle Myerson of Columbia University in New York, whose study appears in the journal Circulation. . . .

Reuters - January 19, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50I53H20090119?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Use of prescription sleep aids nearly tripled among young adults between 1998 and 2006, according to a study released on Thursday by the healthcare business arm of Thomson Reuters. . . .

Reuters - January 16, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50E85Y20090116?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

The popular drugs known as atypical antipsychotics, prescribed for an array of conditions, including schizophrenia, autism and dementia, double patients' risk of dying from sudden heart failure, a study has found.
The finding is the latest in a succession of recent reports contradicting the long-held assumption that the new drugs, which include Risperdal, Zyprexa and Seroquel, are safer than the older and much less expensive medications that they replaced. . . .

The New York Times - January 14, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/health/research/15psych.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink 

The checklist, similar to those used by pilots before every flight, also slashed the rate of complications, the World Health Organization team reported. . . .

Reuters - January 14, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50D7X920090114?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

U.S. syphilis rates rose for a seventh year in 2007, driven by gay and bisexual men, while chlamydia reached record numbers and gonorrhea remained at alarming levels -- especially among blacks, health officials said on Tuesday. . . .

Reuters - January 13, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50C5XV20090113?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

The findings stem from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS). Initial results of the WHIMS indicated that treatment with estrogen, with or without progesterone, increased the risk of dementia and overall cognitive decline in women 65 years of age or older. . . .

Reuters - January 12, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50B6V320090112?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines allow manufacturers such as Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co to distribute copies of medical journal articles that describe unapproved uses. The action could help companies expand the markets for medicines and medical devices. . . .

Reuters - January 12, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50B5GK20090112?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

People who got less than seven hours of sleep a night were almost three times more likely than those who slept eight hours or more to get sick after exposure to a cold virus, a new study has found. . . .

The New York Times - January 14, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/health/13sleep.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Antipsychotic drugs prescribed to treat aggression in older Alzheimer's patients appear to significantly raise their risk of dying prematurely, British researchers said Friday. . . .
During their three-year study, men and women given a placebo were 42 percent less likely to die than people who remained on their antipsychotic medication, the study published in the journal Lancet Neurology found. . . .

Reuters - January 8, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50805M20090109?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

In the largest cohort study to date, treatment with a cholesterol-lowering statin drug was found to reduce new cases of Alzheimer's disease, regardless of the specific type of statin used or a person's genetic risk for the disease. . . .

Reuters - January 8, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5076T120090108?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

A nationwide salmonella outbreak that has struck 42 states has put about one in five of its victims in the hospital, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
Nearly 400 people have become ill in the outbreak. . .

The New York Times - January 8, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/01/08/us/AP-MED-Salmonella-Outbreak.html

The common practice of scheduling a Caesarean section a little early to make childbirth more convenient sharply increases the risk that babies will be born with potentially serious complications, according to the first large-scale study to examine the dangers.
The study of more than 24,000 full-term infants found that those delivered at 37 weeks to mothers who had elective repeat C-sections were about twice as likely as newborns delivered at the recommended 39 weeks to experience breathing problems, bloodstream infections and other complications. Babies born at 38 weeks were 50 percent more likely to have problems; the risk was about 20 percent higher just a few days early. . . .

washingtonpost.com - January 8, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/07/AR2009010702919.html?referrer=delicious

More Americans are burdened by chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure, often having more than three at a time, and this has helped fuel a big rise in out-of-pocket medical expenses, a study released on Tuesday showed. . . .
Based on government survey data, 44 percent of Americans in 2005 had at least one chronic medical condition, which could include diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, cancer, arthritis, heart failure and others. That compares to 41 percent in 1996. . . .

Reuters - January 6, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5050S920090106?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

The 6.1 percent rate of growth over 2006 was the lowest since 1998, mostly because growth in spending on drugs slowed, the team at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found. . . .

Reuters - January 6, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5050S020090106?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

They found people with aggressive breast cancers have abnormal genetic alterations in a gene called MTDH, and drugs that block the gene could keep local tumors from metastasizing or spreading, increasing a woman's chances for survival. . . .

Reuters - January 5, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50459S20090105?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

The findings in the New England Journal of Medicine suggest the benefits of administering antibiotics right away, even before an infection develops, outweigh the risks people will develop resistance to them, the researchers said. . . .

Reuters - January 1, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4BU4QU20090101?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

That's the conclusion of Dr. E. Carter Paulson and colleagues, from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who assessed the treatment of 2,386 patients who were diagnosed with esophageal cancer from 1997 to 2002.
Overall, only 34 percent of patients had a surgical procedure for their cancer, the researchers found. Patients that did have surgery survived far longer than those that did not have surgery. Median survival was 620 days in surgery patients versus 381 days in medically-treated patients. . . .

Reuters - January 1, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5001J620090101?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Diane Wysowski of the FDA's division of drug risk asessment said researchers should check into potential links between so called bisphosphonate drugs and cancer. . . .

Reuters - December 31, 2008

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4BU4TX20081231?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews