Planned weight loss won’t weaken older women
Obese, postmenopausal age women who decide to trim down don’t need to worry that they will put themselves in danger of disability by doing so, even if they don’t exercise as recommended, a new study shows.
After losing a substantial amount of weight through diet, but without exercising, 23 obese women in their 50s showed no reduction in muscle strength or fitness, even though they had lost muscle mass, Dr. Jamehl Demons of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Roche aims to make Avastin more affordable in UK
Switzerland’s Roche Holding AG launched blockbuster drug bevacizumab (Avastin) for breast cancer in Britain on Thursday and said it was working on ways to make the costly medicine more affordable.
Avastin was originally developed for colorectal cancer, but it has also proved effective in treating metastatic breast cancer when given alongside chemotherapy.
Atrial fibrillation not a risk factor for dementia
While atrial fibrillation is a significant risk factor for stroke in the very elderly, it does not predict dementia, according to findings published in the medical journal Stroke.
Atrial fibrillation is a heart rhythm disorder (arrhythmia) of the upper chambers of the heart (atria), resulting in disorganized and abnormal contractions, Dr. Tuula Pirttila, of Kuopio University Hospital, Finland, and colleagues report. “Several studies have shown that atrial fibrillation predicts the development of poststroke dementia, whereas others have found no such association.”
