Kids’ pneumonia jabs cut infant disease too
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Since the introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine in 2000 and its recommendation for all children 2 to 23 months old, rates of pneumonia among young infants have declined, new research suggests.
Previous reports have linked use of the vaccine with a drop in pneumococcal disease among children younger than 2 years of age. However, it was unclear if childhood immunization reduced disease rates among infants who were too young to receive the vaccine themselves—namely, those who were just a few months old.
Heavy periods often plague women with migraine
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Excessive menstrual bleeding, a problem called menorrhagia, is more common in women who suffer migraine headaches than in women who do not get migraines, research suggests.
Women with migraine also seem to have a higher frequency of endometriosis—an often-painful condition in which tissue that normally lines the uterus is found elsewhere in the abdomen.
Review examines the management of radiotherapy induced rectourethal fistula
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Rectourethral fistulas (RUF) are a challenging problem observed by urological and colorectal surgeons.
The etiology of RUF includes previous surgery, trauma, inflammatory processes, congenital defects and radiation to the pelvis. An increase in the number of men presenting with RUF has occurred secondary to the increase in the number of men undergoing brachytherapy or a combination of brachytherapy and external beam radiotherapy for the treatment of prostate cancer. Several approaches to the management of these fistulas have been described but series are small and no consensus regarding management has been achieved.
A recent review by Ken Angermeier and colleagues from the Cleveland Clinic discusses their experience with the management of 22 patients with radiation induced rectourethral fistulas. The review is published in the April 2006 issue of the Journal of Urology.
Moderate drinking may boost cognition in women
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In a multi-ethnic sample of older adults living in upper Manhattan, women who reported a moderate alcohol intake achieved higher cognition scores than those who said they did not drink, New York-based researchers report in the journal Stroke.
“We found,” lead researcher Dr. Clinton B. Wright told Reuters Health, “that women who reported drinking between one drink weekly and two daily, had better performance on a global cognitive measure given at the same time as those that reported being never drinkers.”
Wright and colleagues at Columbia University conducted the study in more than 2200 men and women, ranging in age from 62 to 76. Slightly more than half were black, about a quarter were Hispanic and a similar proportion was white.
Study assesses formularies across Medicare drug plans
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Medicare’s new private stand-alone drug plans vary significantly - in terms of covered drugs, out-of-pocket costs for specific medications, and restrictions placed on the use of certain drugs - according to a new analysis released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
“The drug law was designed to encourage competition among plans, and in that respect, it’s working. But because there are big differences from plan to plan, choice matters,” Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew E. Altman said. “What’s not yet clear is how well people with Medicare can sort through all these differences to make informed decisions.”
Fiber from whole grains may lower diabetes risk
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The type of fiber found in whole grains and many vegetables—called insoluble fiber—may help prevent diabetes by improving the body’s use of the blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin, a small study suggests. The findings, published in Diabetes Care, add to evidence linking cereal fiber to a lower diabetes risk.
Since a decline in insulin sensitivity precedes type 2 diabetes, people may help lower their diabetes risk by getting more insoluble fiber, Dr. Martin Weickert, a researcher at the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Nuthetal who led the study told Reuters Health.
Engineers could aid bird flu vaccine effort
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Avian flu experts appealed on Monday to engineers—a group largely left out of flu preparedness efforts—to come up with potential breakthroughs for speeding vaccine production in case of a deadly pandemic.
The hope is that engineers could use their expertise in areas such as assembly lines and production techniques to help vaccine developers jump hurdles.
The matter has gained urgency as the H5N1 flu strain moves quickly among birds in Asia, Europe and Africa. Experts worry it could change to a form that spreads easily among people and kills millions.
Biofeedback—Mind Over Body
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Mind over body, is it possible? For some people, biofeedback therapy helps them understand and control aspects of their body that are usually beneath their level of consciousness.
In the April issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource, biofeedback uses techniques and computerized instruments to identify information about subtle, involuntary physiological changes within the body—muscle tension, sweating, increased heart rate and shallow breathing—in response to different stressors. Biofeedback professionals believe you can learn to control these responses to promote positive changes in your health, such as fewer headaches or lower blood pressure. Biofeedback is used to treat many health conditions, including backaches, teeth grinding, high blood pressure, anxiety, migraines and asthma.
US FDA says one abortion pill death unrelated
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One of two recent deaths of women taking the abortion pill RU-486 was unrelated to an abortion or use of the drug, but the second case is still under investigation, U.S. regulators said on Monday.
The woman in the second case showed symptoms of infection, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. Both cases were reported in March.
RU-486, also known as Mifeprex or mifepristone, is approved for terminating a pregnancy of 49 days or less. Another drug, misoprostol, is given two days later to complete the abortion.
Facing Facts and Fears About Hearing Loss
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If everyone is mumbling and your partner is complaining about the loud TV volume, perhaps your hearing isn’t what it once was.
Roughly one-third of Americans over age 60 and 40 percent to 50 percent of adults 75 and older have hearing loss.
Even though it’s common, some people are reluctant to deal with their hearing loss because of embarrassment or worry about seeming old. But if you suspect hearing loss, the most important thing you can do is see a doctor or an audiologist, advises the April issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource.
Stroke Patients May Be More Likely to Experience Memory Decline
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A history of stroke may be associated with progressive memory difficulties in patients without dementia or cognitive impairment, according to a study in the April issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Cerebrovascular disease, which includes stroke, is the second leading cause of death and the major cause of long-term disability in Western societies, according to background information in the article. Several studies have shown that risk factors for vascular disease, such as diabetes and hypertension, are associated with stroke, which in turn may increase the risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. However, it remains unclear whether stroke is directly related to cognitive decline - increasing problems with thinking, learning and memory - in patients without dementia or cognitive impairment.
Lack of research forcing elderly to cope with chronic pain
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Annually, over 4,000 studies related to pain are published while only one percent of those look at pain and aging.
There is a clear need for more investigators from many fields to further the efforts of current researchers, according to a recent paper published in the journal Pain Medicine.
Today, chronic pain in the elderly population is viewed by many as normal. It is often communicated with patients that pain is a normal part of aging and frequently not treated. Those practitioners that do try to treat the pain are often unsuccessful because they do not have the right tools. Out of this, the need for more research for pain and aging has risen.
Estrogen therapy may increase the risk of venous thrombosis
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Estrogen therapy may increase the risk of venous thrombosis, the formation of blood clots in the veins, among postmenopausal women who have had their uterus removed, according to a study in the April 10 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Venous thromboembolism (VT), which includes the conditions deep vein thrombosis (a blood clot in a deep vein) and pulmonary embolism (a blood clot that travels to the lungs), affects about one adult per 1,000 years of life, according to background information in the article. Researchers suspect that hormone therapy may increase a woman’s risk of developing VT. The largest study analyzing the relationship between hormone therapy and VT is the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), which included two large clinical trials. One WHI trial examined the effects of estrogen plus progestin and found that this combination of hormones appeared to increase the risk of VT.
Epstein-Barr virus infection linked to multiple sclerosis
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Young adults with high levels of antibodies against the Epstein-Barr virus, the virus that most often causes mononucleosis, may be more likely to develop multiple sclerosis 15 to 20 years later, according to a study in the Archives of Neurology.
Researchers have long suspected that external factors may influence the risk for multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system, according to background information in the article. Some studies have suggested that the Epstein-Barr virus, which affects up to 96 percent of Americans by the time they reach age 35 to 40 years, may play a role.
Gerald N. DeLorenze, Ph.D., Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, Oakland, Calif., and colleagues examined the records of patients who joined a health plan between 1965 and 1974, when they were an average of 32.4 years old.
Removal of a woman’s ovaries raises risk of dementia
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Mayo Clinic researchers have found that ovariectomy, surgical removal of a woman’s ovaries, raises her risk of developing dementia or cognitive impairment. Risk is especially increased if a woman has her ovaries removed at a young age.
The researchers studied 1,209 women who had surgical removal of both ovaries and 1,302 women who had only one removed from 1950 to 1987 in Olmsted County, Minn., home of Mayo Clinic. They compared each of the women who had undergone ovary removal with women who had no ovaries removed and followed them over time to see whether they developed dementia or cognitive impairment. Dementia or cognitive impairment was determined by interviewing a family member who reported a diagnosis of dementia, or by a low score on a telephone cognitive test given to the affected individual.
