Childhood Growth Pattern Linked to Heart Disease Risk
Children who start out skinny and small, but gain weight relatively rapidly after the age of two are at increased risk for coronary heart disease later in life, researchers here reported.
Conversely, rapid weight gain between birth and two years is good, said David Barker, M.D., Ph.D., of the Oregon Health and Science University’s heart research center here.
Enzyme Test for Bladder Cancer May Promote Early Diagnosis
Measuring levels of the enzyme telomerase in urine may be a simple, inexpensive, and accurate way to detect bladder cancer early, according to investigators here.
About 20% of bladder cancer patients die each year, but chances of survival are good when the disease is diagnosed and treated in the early stage, the investigators said.
Kids’ Vaccine Makes Elders Healthier
Give children a pneumococcal vaccine, and their parents and grandparents may be healthier, according to researchers here.
The widespread use of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-7) for children under the age of five has caused a dramatic decline in invasive pneumococcal disease among those 50 and older, according to Catherine Lexau, Ph.D., of the Minnesota Department of Health.
Cardiac regeneration using stem cells may heal hearts even years after heart attacks
Left ventricular function and exercise capacity increased, while the area of heart muscle damage shrank, in 18 patients given infusions of their own bone marrow stem cells up to eight years after a heart attack, according to a new study in the Nov. 1, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
“This new therapy is able to treat until now irreversible heart complaints and function disturbances in patients with chronic coronary artery disease after myocardial infarction, even many years after heart attack. Therefore there is hope for this large amount of patients with previous myocardial infarction and non-treatable complaints,” said Bodo E. Strauer, M.D. from the Heinrich-Heine-University in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Extra Nerve Fibers May Heighten Female Pain Perception
Women appear to have a greater density of nerve receptors than men, suggesting that they are constitutionally more sensitive to pain, researches here reported.
Women averaged double the number of receptors compared with men in a certain area of facial skin, according to a study conducted by Bradon J. Wilhelmi, M.D., and colleagues at the Plastic Surgery Institute of the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.
New AAAAI Guidelines Stress Flexibility in Asthma Therapy
Rather than a rigid treatment regimen determined by an initial assessment of disease severity, asthma therapy should be flexible, responding to changes in symptoms.
So suggest new guidelines from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) that emphasize the dynamic nature of the disease.
China says no human bird flu, French trio tested
A girl with flu-like symptoms has died in a Chinese village where a bird flu outbreak had been reported, a Hong Kong newspaper said on Thursday, but Beijing said it had received no reports of human cases of the virus.
Three people on a French island off Africa were being tested on Wednesday in what appeared to be the first suspected human cases outside Asia of bird flu, which experts fear could mutate to spread easily from human to human and become a pandemic.
Roche withholds Tamiflu in US to stop hoarding
Drug maker Roche Holding AG has temporarily suspended deliveries of its Tamiflu antiviral drug to the United States in order to prevent a run on stocks by consumers fearing a pandemic caused by bird flu.
Roche said it had halted deliveries of the drug to pharmacists in the United States and Canada until the start of the flu season over concerns that consumers could deplete stocks by hoarding the drug at home.
Chronic stress linked to recurrent yeast infection
Women who suffer from frequent vaginal yeast infections show biochemical signs of being under chronic stress, a Swedish study has found.
Dr. Sophia M. Ehrstrom, of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, and colleagues, reporting in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, note that the problem of recurrent yeast infections is on the rise.
Bird flu drugs fly off shelves in flu-fearing HK
Worried residents and companies in Hong Kong are sweeping bird flu drugs off pharmacy shelves as the deadly virus spreads in poultry and wild birds in mainland China and parts of Europe.
The worry in Hong Kong is understandable. The H5N1 virus made its first known jump to humans in the city in 1997, when it killed six people. SARS, which killed nearly 300 people here in 2003, is also fresh in people’s minds.
Survey reveals how kids cope with stress
Of 875 middle school-age children who were polled recently on how they handle stress, one quarter admitted to having hurt themselves on purpose when stressed or upset. The 9- to 13-year-olds who admitted to having hurt themselves when stressed said things like—“I banged my head against the wall on purpose” or “I pinched myself really really hard.”
“What this means to me,” Dr. D’Arcy Lyness told, “is that emotion can be so strong that it is overwhelming and kids don’t know how to handle it and they sometimes blame themselves. Hurting themselves is a way to take it out on them.”
