‘Burning mouth’ syndrome hard to treat
It’s a burning sensation that gradually spreads across the tongue through the course of the day, and it has a medical name: glossopyrosis, or more commonly, burning mouth syndrome. The condition can be frustrating to treat, but usually some relief can be found, according to the latest issue of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter.
Most often, it seems, multiple factors play a role in producing the symptoms. Disease, medications or nutritional deficiencies can all be involved, but often no single cause can be pinpointed,
The condition is most common in people over 60, and occurs more frequently in women than in men. It can last for weeks or even years. Pain, tingling or numbness may be felt in the throat, lips, gums or palate as well as the tongue, and sensations can involve a metallic taste in the mouth.
All forms of tobacco harmful: study
All forms of tobacco consumption—smoking, chewing and second hand smoke—raise the risk of heart attack by up to three times, according to the results of a new study in Friday’s edition of the Lancet medical journal.
The study, covering a total of 27,000 people in 52 countries, found that tobacco use in any form—including sheesha, popular in the Middle East, and beedie, common in South Asia—were bad for health.
Compared to people who had never smoked, heavy smokers had a tripled risk of heart attack while even light smokers and people who chewed tobacco had a doubled risk.
Obese men fare well after prostate cancer surgery
Although obese men tend to have more aggressive prostate cancer going into surgery, they do just as well as thinner men in the years afterward, a study suggests.
The findings, published in the journal Cancer, suggest that obese men need not fear that their weight will add to their risk of cancer recurrence or death.
“I think this is a reassuring study for obese men,” lead study author Dr. Sameer A. Siddiqui told Reuters Health. “Even with worse cancers, their outcomes were the same.”
Bangladesh worker angry at US AIDS help restrictions
A U.S. “loyalty oath” that aims to curb prostitution and prevent sex trafficking has stymied one group’s efforts to educate sex workers in Bangladesh and left thousands of women without support, a local activist said on Thursday.
Her eyes filling with tears, Hazera Bagum said her group, Durjoy Nari Shangha, had closed drop-in centers for sex workers in the Bangladesh capital in order to win U.S. funding.
“This feeling is like a broken heart, it’s like a broken family,” she said through a translator at a news conference during the 16th International Conference on AIDS in Toronto.
When eating is sport, victory as agonizing as defeat
Jeremiah Jimenez had just wolfed down his 11th bratwurst at an eat-off here earlier this month when he began to experience what is politely known in the competitive eating world as a “reversal in fortune.”
It was a crisis moment and the 29-year-old, who competes on the eating circuit as “El Toro,” decided to try to play through, swallowing hard and reaching for another sausage.
“But when my hand touched the 12th brat,” Jimenez says. “I just gagged. The greasiness just sent a message to my brain to stop ... I was really disappointed. My capacity is double that.”
Glaucoma can worsen during pregnancy
For women with glaucoma, pregnancy usually has no effect on their eye condition, but in some cases it does.
Glaucoma is characterized by increased pressure within the eyeball, which can lead to vision loss or even blindness if it’s left untreated.
A study of what researchers call the largest group of pregnant glaucoma patients ever compiled is reported in the Archives of Ophthalmology. “We found that although many glaucoma patients did quite well during pregnancy, some had a significant worsening of their disease,” senior investigator Dr. Cynthia L. Grosskreutz told Reuters Health.
AIDS 2006 new studies and developments
As part of its expanded coverage of the XVI International AIDS Conference, held through Aug. 18 in Toronto, the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report will feature studies and initiatives released during the conference. Summaries of select publications and initiatives appear below.
Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy using the potassium titnyl phosphate laser in a porcine model
Working with an 80 watt KTP laser delivered in a noncontact mode via a 600 micron fiber, these authors successfully completed 15 laparoscopic partial nephrectomies in pigs. This was done without clamping any renal vessels.
In only one case additional hemostatic maneuvers were needed. The zone of necrotic tissue on the renal remnant was only 1 mm. The procedure consumed only 4-17 minutes of lasing time; however the overall time to accomplish the nephrectomies averaged 42 minutes due to production of field obscuring smoke by the laser.
Herbal sleep aids often of low quality
Many valerian-containing herbal sleep supplements do not contain as much of the key ingredient as needed to be effective or as much as the manufacturer claims, according to a ConsumerLab.com report on the topic. And some tested supplements were contaminated with cadmium or lead.
Valerian, a popular herb used as a sedative and calming agent, “can help people with sleep problems,” Dr. Tod Cooperman, president of ConsumerLab.com said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, many marketed supplements don’t match up to products that have been shown to work,” he added.
Chinese men harming wives by smoking too much
Chinese men are putting their wives at increased risk of long-term illness and early death by smoking, finds a study in this week’s British Medical Journal.
Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (passive smoking) is associated with a 15-35% excess risk of coronary heart disease and lung cancer. Environmental tobacco smoke may also be linked to stroke and other cancers, though evidence is scarce.
The rate of smoking in Chinese men is high, but most Chinese women do not smoke. This provides a good opportunity to evaluate this association in women.
