Food Allergies: Who’s Faking It?
When fast-food vendors begin providing “allergy lists” as part of their nutrition guides you know that food allergies have gone mainstream. However a new UK study of 11-15 year olds concludes that many young people are ‘mistaken’ about their food allergies (emphasis added).
Before we go declaring that we have a generation of hypochondriacs, it’s important to determine exactly what an allergy is. The words allergy, intolerance, and sensitivity mean different things to different people. In this particular study the words Food Hypersensitivity (FHS) are used. HON defines this as “Gastrointestinal disturbances, skin eruptions, or shock due to allergic reactions to allergens in food.”
Diagnosing the Obese
America’s obesity epidemic is doing more than increasing the prevalence of certain diseases - it’s also increasing the likelihood of misdiagnosis. That’s because traditional examination systems can’t accommodate patients of varying shapes and sizes. New technology is addressing the trend.
Many obese Americans are too large for most MRI machines – which are becoming an increasingly important tool for detecting breast cancer and other diseases. New open MRIs combine an opening that’s 70 centimeters wide with high field imaging that provide superior images from which to make a diagnosis. Open MRIs should help large patients and those who are claustrophobic.
MI Mortality Higher for All at Hospitals With High Black-Patient Prevalence
Race aside, acute MI patients are more likely to die within 90 days of the event if they are treated at a hospital that has a disproportionately high number of black patients, researchers here reported today.
The higher death risk was observed among both black and white patients, said Jonathan Skinner, Ph.D., a professor of economics and community and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical Center here.
Paxil seen to curb hot flashes
For women suffering through menopause, treatment with the antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil) reduces both the number and severity of hot flashes, researchers report.
Moreover, according to Dr. Vered Stearns who led the trial, this is the first study to demonstrate that paroxetine also improves sleep in women with hot flashes.
Bowel cancer screening cuts cases 80 percent
Screening for bowel cancer with colonoscopy could reduce cases of the disease by 80 percent in people with a high risk of the illness, researchers said in a study on Tuesday.
It would allow doctors to detect pre-cancerous growths, which could be removed before they developed into cancer.
Snail memory boost seen promising for Alzheimer’s
A cancer drug may stimulate the production of proteins needed for long-term memory, supporting interest in the compound as a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, researchers said on Monday.
Scientists at the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute and the Marine Biological Laboratory report that introducing bryostatin into a marine snail, days before a learning activity, caused a marked improvement in long-term memory.
Children are “invisible face” of AIDS
Every minute of every day a child dies of AIDS but only 5 percent of those infected have access to life-preserving drugs, UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, said on Tuesday in launching a new campaign.
Appealing for more funds for children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, Ann Veneman, executive director of UNICEF, hoped the world would spend $33 billion over the next five years from existing commitments and additional funds.
