Regular exercise may reduce delirium risk
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Participating in an activity, especially regular physical exercise, appears to protect hospitalized elderly patients from developing delirium, according to study findings published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
“Delirium is a common, life-threatening clinical syndrome that is preventable,” Dr. Frances M. Yang, of Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues write. “Given its high prevalence and incidence and its association with poor outcomes, finding mechanisms to prevent delirium remains a high priority.”
The researchers looked for factors associated with delirium in 779 newly hospitalized patients. The patients were at least 70 years of age and were free of dementia at the beginning of the study.
Study Highlights Successful Physical Activity Programs for Older Adults
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Yes, America, you can take scientific research and make it work in real-world, physical activity programs for aging Baby Boomers and senior citizens who may have health and activity challenges.
Researchers at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health, in collaboration with researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health (HSC), recently looked at data from the Active for Life® program and found that physical activity programs developed and tested in research settings can be successfully implemented and diffused through community organizations.
Active for Life was established in 2003 at the HSC-School of Rural Public Health, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The program goals were to learn how research-based programs need to be adapted for large-scale dissemination, understand factors that affect program adoption by community organizations, broaden the reach of programs, and understand what is needed at the community level to sustain programs. Active for Life specifically addressed physical activity among mature adults. The program used two lifestyle interventions, Active Choices, a telephone coaching program, and Active Living Every Day, a group-based program.
Working environment is 1 cause of rheumatoid arthritis
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It has long been known that environmental factors play a part in the development of rheumatoid arthritis; smoking and drinking alcohol, along with heredity, are particularly instrumental in increasing the risk of the disease. Scientists at Karolinska Institutet have now produced results that suggest that working environment factors can also increase the chances of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
This is especially true of psychosocial workload, in particular what is called “low decision latitude”, according to the results of a study in progress due to be published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. The project is being led by Professor Lars Alfredsson of the Department of Environmental Medicine and Professor Lars Klareskog of the Department of Medicine.
“We’ve uncovered clear correlations between the disease and jobs in which one cannot control one’s own situation,” says Professor Alfredsson.
Cochlear implants in children a safe procedure
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In the six decades since French and American surgeons implanted the first cochlear hearing devices, the procedure in children has become reliable, safe, and relatively free of severe complications, according to research presented during the 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in Chicago, IL.
The study, conducted by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, determined that out of 155 cases of pediatric implantation between 2001 and 2006, the rate of the most common complications in patients was below 3 percent, with only 25 total complications observed during that period. The most common complication was related to local surgical wounds in the ear flap. Furthermore, the rate of device failure, which was cited as the most common complication in previous studies, was very low in this study.
The researchers stress that it is critical that patients undergo a lifetime of continuous follow-up.
Chronic infection most common cause of adult tonsillectomy
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Efforts to fill in holes in data regarding the primary causes of tonsillectomy in adults have determined that chronic infection is the most common reason for the procedure, according to new research presented at the 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in Chicago, IL.
The study, conducted by researchers at Emory University and Johns Hopkins University, reviewed the medical records of 361 adult patients who had tonsillectomies between 2001 and 2007. Among this group, over 50 percent (207 patients) had the surgery to treat chronic infection to the tonsils and throat, while a quarter (98 patients) had procedures done to correct upper airway obstructions. No trends in complications emerged as significantly different from those of the pediatric population.
Tonsillectomy in adults, while significantly less common than that in the pediatric population, still accounts for a third of all tonsillectomies.
Hormone therapy may cut breast cancer risk in some
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Hormone replacement therapy, which raises breast cancer risk for some women, appears to reduce the risk for those with a certain genetic mutation linked to the disease, researchers said on Tuesday.
Dr. Steven Narod of Women’s College Hospital in Toronto and colleagues looked at hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, in post-menopausal women with a BRCA1 gene mutation that greatly increases their chances of developing breast cancer.
Among 472 women from nine countries, those who used HRT were 42 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than those who did not, Narod’s team reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
New Cardiac Arrest Study May Help EMS Crews and ERs
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When someone’s heart suddenly stops beating – a condition called cardiac arrest—there’s a lot that bystanders and ambulance crews can do to get it started again. But if the victim doesn’t respond, when should such efforts stop?
And when should emergency crews rapidly transport a patient to a hospital with lights and sirens on, potentially endangering the lives of paramedics and other motorists and pedestrians — even though the care provided by the emergency crew is the same as what can be provided in the emergency department?
Currently, there’s no one “right” answer to these questions, which arise in the majority of the cardiac arrests that strike 166,000 Americans each year — and kill 93 percent of them. As a result, emergency medical services crews and hospital ER teams spend countless hours and healthcare resources on patients who have no chance of making it home alive – at the expense of other patients who need an ambulance or have spent hours in an ER waiting room.
Racial Disparities Decline for Cancer in Missouri
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Cancer death rates in the United States are highest among African Americans, but a new report shows that in Missouri the disparity in cancer incidence and death between African Americans and whites is declining. As a result, cancer incidence (the rate of newly diagnosed cases) between the races is equal, although the death rate will probably remain higher for African Americans for some time.
The report will be published in an upcoming issue of Missouri Medicine. The lead author is Mario Schootman, Ph.D., co-leader of the Prevention and Control Program at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
“A lot of effort has been made to reduce cancer racial disparity in Missouri,” says Schootman, also chief of the Division of Health Behavior Research and associate professor of epidemiology and medicine. “But there is still work to be done, especially in decreasing cancer mortality. Ideally, cancer will become just another bump in the road — an illness that people will be able to live with for many decades and keep under control.”
Prostate cancer hormone therapy may raise mortality
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In elderly men with early-stage prostate cancer, receiving hormone therapy is associated with an increase in all-cause mortality, according to a study reported Tuesday at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology’s 50th Annual Meeting underway in Boston.
“Our study shows that for men over 70 with early-stage prostate cancer, androgen deprivation therapy as a form of treatment may do more harm than good,” said Dr. Amy M. Dosoretz, a radiation oncology resident at the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program in Boston, who led the study.
The findings of this study are “potentially practice-changing,” said Dr. Louis Harrison of Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, and moderator of a press briefing where the findings were released.
People with Type 2 Diabetes Can Put Fatty Livers on a Diet with Moderate Exercise
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Weekly bouts of moderate aerobic exercise on a bike or treadmill, or a brisk walk, combined with some weightlifting, may cut down levels of fat in the liver by up to 40 percent in people with type 2 diabetes, a study by physical fitness experts at Johns Hopkins shows.
According to researchers, who will present their findings on Sept. 18 at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, in Indianapolis, high liver fat levels are common among people with type 2 diabetes and contribute to heart disease risk.
The study’s lead investigator, exercise physiologist Kerry Stewart, Ed.D., says the rise in the number of people with nonalcoholic fatty liver, mostly due to obesity, signals “a dark trend” because the disease, also called hepatic steatosis, may lead to cirrhosis and subsequent liver failure and transplantation, even cancer, as well as increased risk of diabetes-related heart disease.
Men with Health Risk Behaviors Unaware of PSA Test
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New research of 7,297 men in California, published in The Journal of Urology ®, shows that self-reported prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test awareness was lower in current smokers, physically inactive men and obese men—a population with what researchers called, “health risk behaviors.” This study shows the need for more publicity to raise awareness of prostate cancer screenings. There is no better time than Prostate Health Month to raise awareness about prostate cancer screening.
The AUA and the AUA Foundation are trying to reach out to the public about prostate health. We are pleased to be co-sponsoring a number of events with different community partners to promote prostate health, education and awareness. Please see the attached calendar of events for more information on free Webinars, free prostate cancer screenings and 5K Runs/1 Mile Fun Walks around the nation that raise money to fund prostate cancer research.
The American Urological Association (AUA) and AUA Foundation want men to know that prostate cancer is curable, if found early through prostate cancer screenings. The AUA recommends that both a PSA test and a digital rectal examination (DRE) be offered annually, beginning at age 50 years, to men who have a life expectancy of at least 10 years. Men at high risk (those with a family history of prostate cancer or African American men) should consider beginning testing at an earlier age.
Gastric cancer with 3 pathological features
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Primary carcinoma of the stomach is almost always adenocarcinoma or signet ring cell carcinoma and there are few reports of choriocarcinoma or neuroendocrine cell carcinoma. We report a patient with adenocarcinoma of the stomach combined with choriocarcinoma and neuroendocrine cell carcinoma. This is the first reported case of gastric cancer with these three pathological features.
A case article to be published on 28 May 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this report. The research team led by Prof. Yasumitsu Hirano from Kanazawa University Graduate school of Medical Science described a patient with adenocarcinoma of the stomach combined with choriocarcinoma and neuroendocrine cell carcinoma.
They reported that a 85-year-old man presented to the hospital because of appetite loss. Gastric fiberscopy revealed a large tumor occupying the cardial region and anterior wall of the gastric body. The patient underwent total gastrectomy with lymphnode dissection and partial resection of the liver. In the gastric tumor, choriocarcinoma, small cell carcinoma and tubular adenocarcinoma were existed. The choriocarcinomatous foci contained cells positive for beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (B-hCG) and human placental lactogen mainly in syncytiotrophoblastic cells. The small cell carcinomatous foci contained cells positive for synaptophysin, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and chromogranin A.
Online-mediated syphilis testing shows promise
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The results of a study suggest that online-mediated syphilis testing is helpful in detecting syphilis in gay men.
The Internet has “emerged as a medium where people can find information on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) or any other medical topic,” Rik H. Koekenbier, of GGD Amsterdam, the Netherlands, noted in an interview with Reuters Health. “With interventions like ours, men can take direct action to address their health concerns and in this way participate in their own wellness.”
Between 1998 and 2004, the annual number of infectious syphilis cases in Amsterdam increased from 35 to 240, Koekenbier and colleagues point out in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases. In 2004, most of the new infections (84 percent) were in men who have sex with men.
HIV Status Unknown for Most “Negative” Men Online
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Seventeen percent of HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) and nearly three quarters of MSM who’ve never been tested for HIV say they are HIV negative in their online profiles, according to a study published in the September issue of the Journal of Urban Health.
The popularity of sex and dating websites for MSM ballooned quickly during the past decade and a half. Relatively little research, however, has been published on how MSM use the Internet to find sex partners and how it influences communication and choices about safer sex. To investigate the online communication and behavior of MSM, Keith Horvath, PhD, and his colleagues from the University of Minnesota recruited men through banner advertisements on a popular gay sex and dating website, which was not named in the journal article.
The advertisements attracted 15,425 people, of whom 7,547 were screened for eligibility and 2,716 completed a thorough survey. Sixty-one percent of the respondents were younger than 30 and only 12 percent were 40 or older. Twenty-five percent described themselves as Latino, 15 percent as black, 19 percent as Asian and 27 percent as white. Twenty percent lived in small towns or rural areas, 49 percent in medium-sized cities or suburbs, and 31 percent in urban areas. A quarter of the men said they had only one online profile, 20 percent said they had four or more profiles, and 16 percent said they had no online profiles.
Higher Urinary Levels of Commonly Used Chemical Linked With CVD, Diabetes
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Higher levels of urinary Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical compound commonly used in plastic packaging for food and beverages, is associated with cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities, according to a study in the September 17 issue of JAMA. This study is being released early to coincide with a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hearing on BPA.
BPA is one of the world’s highest production–volume chemicals, with more than two million metric tons produced worldwide in 2003 and annual increase in demand of 6 percent to 10 percent annually, according to background information in the article. It is used in plastics in many consumer products. “Widespread and continuous exposure to BPA, primarily through food but also through drinking water, dental sealants, dermal exposure, and inhalation of household dusts, is evident from the presence of detectable levels of BPA in more than 90 percent of the U.S. population,” the authors write. Evidence of adverse effects in animals has created concern over low-level chronic exposures in humans, but there is little data of sufficient statistical power to detect low-dose effects. This is the first study of associations with BPA levels in a large population, and it explores “normal” levels of BPA exposure.
David Melzer, M.B., Ph.D., of Peninsula Medical School, Exeter, U.K., and colleagues examined associations between urinary BPA concentrations and the health status of adults, using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004. The survey included 1,455 adults, age 18 through 74 years, with measured urinary BPA concentrations.
