Dozens die of alcohol poisoning in Russia
|
|
A Russian region has imposed a state of emergency after more than 400 people were taken to hospital and 15 died as a result of drinking tainted alcohol, Russian television reported on Thursday.
The state of emergency was declared in the Pskov region, about 700 km (435 miles) west of Moscow, but other regions across the country also reported mass outbreaks of alcohol poisoning with dozens of deaths.
Public health officials who seized alcohol on sale in the Pskov region found it contained substances usually used in medicines, Channel One television said.
HK scientists identify cancer-blocking protein
|
|
Scientists in Hong Kong have identified a protein that can help suppress the growth of prostate cancer cells, the third most common cancer in men worldwide.
With half a million new cases a year, prostate cancer afflicts 1 in every 6 men in the United States and 1 in 50 males in Hong Kong.
But current therapies for advanced prostate cancer are far from satisfactory and have side effects.
Occupational therapy benefits stroke patients
|
|
Occupational therapy helps stroke patients recover their ability to care for themselves and also keeps them independent longer, according to a new scientific review of the best available data.
“The most important finding is that occupational therapy works,” Dr. Lynn Legg of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in Scotland, the study’s lead author, said in a press release accompanying the study. “Very few interventions have had such an impact.”
Legg’s group points out that more information is needed the answer questions such as which occupational therapy approaches are the most effective, how long therapy should be offered, and how often patients should have it.
Flu vaccine safe for babes and tots
|
|
A new study from the U.S. says it is safe for children as young as 6 months to have the flu vaccine.
Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Clinical Research Unit in Denver Colorado examined data on 45,000 babies and toddlers aged 6 to 23 months throughout the USA, who received almost 70,000 vaccinations between January 1991 and May 2003, and say they found very few cases of side effects that led to medical treatments.
Study leader Dr. Simon J. Hambidge, says as a parent as well as a pediatrician, he was reassured by how few diagnoses there were that were linked to flu shots.
CHEST 2006 Abstract Briefs: Obesity
|
|
Asthma May Be Overdiagnosed in Obese Patients
(Monday, October 23, 2006, 4:30 PM EST)
A new study reveals that, despite lack of evidence, obese patients are often diagnosed with asthma. Researchers at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in New Jersey studied 20 patients, all of whom had a diagnosis of asthma, but none of whom exhibited any spirometric evidence of airway obstruction. The body mass index (BMI) was calculated, and bronchoprovocations tests were performed. In all, 90 percent of patients had an above-normal BMI. Of that, 61 percent were nonreactive to methacholine, suggesting an overdiagnosis of asthma in obese patients. Researchers suggest bronchoprovocation testing should be considered in such patients.
Smoking Cessation Therapy May be Harmful for ICU Patients
|
|
A common smoking cessation therapy used to help reduce adverse events associated with nicotine withdrawal may actually increase the risk of death for smokers admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). In a new study presented at CHEST 2006, the 72nd annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), researchers found that smokers admitted to the ICU who received nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) during their stay had a higher risk of death than smokers who did not receive NRT.
“In some critically ill patients, the development of nicotine withdrawal symptoms can worsen their prognosis. As a result, NRT is given to active smokers in the ICU to prevent nicotine withdrawal symptoms,” said lead researcher Amy Lee, MD, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Minneapolis, MN. “The hemodynamic effects of nicotine may lead to increased heart rate, systemic arterial blood pressure, and constriction of the coronary arteries. Although these potential adverse effects of NRT have not been shown to worsen the prognosis of healthy volunteers and patients with stable coronary artery disease, they may be detrimental in critically ill patients.”
Hostility and stress predict insulin resistance
|
|
Individuals with high stress and high hostility levels have an increased risk of developing insulin resistance, which occurs when the body’s response to insulin begins to slow down and blood sugar levels begin to rise. People with insulin resistance have a high risk of developing diabetes.
Previous research has shown that insulin resistance is associated with stress and certain personality factors, including hostility. However, the association between hostility and insulin resistance has been inconsistent, Dr. Jianping Zhang explained to Reuters Health.
Zhang, of The Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, and colleagues hypothesized that hostility may interact with stress to affect insulin resistance. To investigate, the team studied 643 men, who were an average of 60.6 years old. The findings are published in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.
Anti-smoking messages to appear on some DVDs
|
|
Film industry veterans Bob and Harvey Weinstein will put anti-smoking video messages on DVDs of movies in which people smoke—a move sought by U.S. states to combat teen smoking.
“These messages will fight false film images of healthy and hip smokers with the real hard truth of addiction and disease,” Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a statement on Tuesday announcing the agreement.
Forty-one U.S. states, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C. and two U.S. territories, last month sent free anti-smoking ads to the Weinstein Co. and 12 other movie studios in hopes of persuading them to include the messages.
Grapefruit-sized stone removed from Israeli woman
|
|
Israeli doctors have removed a grapefruit-sized stone from the bladder of an Israeli woman after she left it untreated for years, possibly breaking world records.
The stone, removed in its entirety, had a diameter of 13 centimeters (5.1 inches) and weighed almost 1 kilograms (2.2 lbs), doctors who treated the 48-year-old woman at the Western Galilee Hospital in northern Israel said.
“When I saw the stone, I was stunned,” patient Moneera Khalil said in a statement released by the hospital.
Bronchial thermoplasty reduces asthma attacks
|
|
The removal of muscle tissue in the hyperactive airways of asthma patients by exposing the tissue to heat reduces disease exacerbations and significantly improves the patients’ quality of life, Canadian investigators announced here during CHEST 2006, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.
The Asthma Intervention Research trial involved 108 patients, who were an average of 39.4 years old, with poorly controlled moderate-to-severe asthma. The subjects’ asthma persisted despite optimal drug therapy with corticosteroids and long-acting beta-agonists.
At study entry, the patients had FEV1 levels between 60 and 80 percent of normal. FEV1 (forced expiration volume in 1 second) is a test commonly used to assess lung function.
Nicotine slows healing of rotator cuff repair
|
|
Smokers may have a tougher time recovering from tendon injuries, such as rotator cuff tears and Achilles tendon ruptures, a new study in rats suggests.
Based on the observed effects of nicotine on tendon healing in rats, the study’s authors recommend that people who are about to undergo rotator cuff repair should avoid tobacco products entirely.
While cigarette smoking is known to hamper the healing of bones and skin, the current investigation is the first to show it can slow tendon healing as well, Dr. Leesa Galatz of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, told Reuters Health in an interview.
Teens may resist some effects of drinking
|
|
New animal research suggests that teenagers’ brains may be better at adapting to certain short-term effects of drinking. But that’s not a good thing, researchers say.
In experiments with rats, scientists found that adolescent rodents developed an “acute tolerance” to alcohol, quickly recovering from the immediate effects alcohol had on their social behavior, while their adult counterparts remained impaired for a longer stretch.
For rats, social behavior essentially consists of sniffing and play fighting. In human terms, the animals’ alcohol-induced impairment was akin to being unable to speak with your drinking buddies.
Overweight women more likely to have polycystic ovary syndrome
|
|
Overweight and obese Spanish women appear five times as likely as lean women to have polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition that decreases fertility and contributes to other illnesses, according to an article in the October 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Polycystic ovary syndrome occurs when the ovaries malfunction and levels of the sex hormone androgen are unusually high. Symptoms may include irregular or no menstrual periods, acne and excess hair growth. In addition to its implications for reproductive health, polycystic ovary syndrome is also associated with sleep apnea, poor quality of life and an increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to background information in the article.
Although more than half of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome are obese, the prevalence of the condition in overweight or obese women is unknown.
Anxiety disorders linked to thyroid disease, respiratory disease, arthritis and migraine headaches
|
|
Anxiety disorders appear to be independently associated with several physical conditions, including thyroid disease, respiratory disease, arthritis and migraine headaches, according to a report in the October 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. This co-occurrence of disorders may significantly increase the risk of disability and negatively affect quality of life.
Although depression has long been linked to physical illness, evidence supporting an association between anxiety disorders and physical health problems is more recent, according to background information in the article. Anxiety disorders include panic disorder, agoraphobia (fear of being in a situation where panic or anxiety may occur and escape from the situation might be difficult), social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Studies have found that those with phobic (fearful) anxiety may be more likely to experience sudden cardiac death, and rates of anxiety disorders are higher than expected in patients with thyroid disease, cancer, hypertension and several other conditions.
Moderate drinking reduces men’s heart attack risk
|
|
Even as studies have consistently found an association between moderate alcohol consumption and reduced heart attack risk in men, an important question has persisted: What if the men who drank in moderation were the same individuals who maintained good eating habits, didn’t smoke, exercised and watched their weight - How would you know that their reduced risk of myocardial infarction wasn’t the result of one or more of these other healthy habits?
A new study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) helps answer this question. Reported in the October 23, 2006 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, the findings show for the first time that among men with healthy lifestyles, those who consumed moderate amounts of alcohol - defined as between one-half and two drinks daily - had a 40 to 60 percent reduced risk of heart attack compared with healthy men who didn’t drink at all.
“This latest research speaks to how robust the link is between moderate drinking and heart attack risk,” explains lead author Kenneth Mukamal, MD, MPH, an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “The fact that we found the association [between alcohol consumption and heart attack] to be just as strong in this tightly controlled group of men as we’ve found it to be in more general studies suggests that physicians should not avoid alcohol consumption as a topic for discussion when talking with patients about ways to reduce their risk of myocardial infarction.”
