Woman in vegetative state plays tennis in her head
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A woman in a vegetative state for five months appeared in brain scans to imagine playing tennis and to respond to commands, researchers reported on Thursday.
They said their study showed the woman was conscious despite her coma-like state, although several experts disagreed.
The researchers stressed that the study was unlikely to shed light on issues such as the controversial case of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who spent 15 years in a persistent vegetative state and was allowed to die in March 2005 after a long court battle.
COPD patients benefit from physical activity
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COPD patients who engage in regular physical activity, even a relatively small amount, may lower their risk not only of being hospitalized but also of dying, a new study shows.
COPD—short for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—is a progressive lung illness caused by smoking that includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. It is characterized by airflow limitation that is not completely reversible.
At present, only oxygen therapy, the use of certain drugs like bronchodilators, and flu shots are thought to be effective in altering the course of COPD.
Infection risk in kids living near landfills
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Living near a hazardous waste site containing persistent pollutants such as dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides, seems to increase the risk of hospitalization for respiratory infections and asthma in children, a study suggests.
Dr. David O. Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment, at the State University of New York at Albany, said these results are consistent with the hypothesis that simply living near a waste site constitutes a risk of exposure to contaminants, presumably by air transport, and that these chemicals can reduce immune system function and lead to more infections.
New York State has nearly 900 identified hazardous waste sites or highly contaminated bodies of water. Carpenter and colleagues examined rates of hospitalization in New York for acute respiratory infections and asthma by area of residence for children ages 0 to 9 years.
Diabetes risk down three times with newer hypertension drugs
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According to researchers patients given a mix of modern blood pressure drugs are one-third less likely to develop diabetes than those on older pills.
The results from Europe’s biggest ever trial of hypertensive patients showed only 8 percent given the newer drugs developed diabetes after five years, compared to 11.4 percent of those on the older drugs.
The trial involved 19,257 participants, 14,120 did not have diabetes at the outset and because the results were so promising it was stopped in November 2004.
Indonesia reports 47th death from bird flu
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A 14-year-old Indonesian girl who died in June was infected with bird flu, health officials said on Thursday.
The case took a long time to identify because it was from blood samples taken during routine surveillance of people with mild influenza symptoms.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said tests on the girl’s blood sample were completed late on Wednesday.
Test predicts chemotherapy benefit for lung cancer
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The presence or absence of a protein in lung cancer cells can help doctors predict whether chemotherapy will help patients live longer after surgery, European researchers reported on Wednesday.
The study published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine could help doctors determine which patients can benefit from a type of chemotherapy before treatment starts.
“The results suggest that we may have a tool that can distinguish between patients who can benefit from platinum-based chemotherapy and those who cannot,” said Eddie Reed of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, in an editorial that accompanies the study.
Older Fathers More Likely to Have Autistic Children
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Children of men age 40 and older have a significantly increased risk of having autism spectrum disorders compared with those whose fathers are younger than 30 years, according to an article in the September issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Autism is characterized by social and language abnormalities and repetitive patterns of behavior, according to background information in the article. Autism and related conditions, known collectively as autism spectrum disorders, have become increasingly common, affecting 50 in every 10,000 children as compared with five in 10,000 two decades ago. This increase is partially due to higher levels of awareness and changes in diagnosis processes, but could also reflect an increase in incidence of autism, according to the authors. Older parental age has previously been linked to abnormalities in the brain development of children; however, few studies have effectively examined the effect of mothers’ and especially fathers’ ages on autism.
Messy nappies may be sign of severe intestinal infection
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Anyone who’s ever cared for an infant or young child knows what it’s like to change the occasional smelly, messy diaper.
While mild bouts of diarrhea aren’t uncommon in young children, moderate to severe diarrhea, lasting several days, could be a sign a dangerous infection in the intestines known as rotavirus gastroenteritis.
So how can parents tell the difference between normal diarrhea and diarrhea caused by rotavirus, and know when to call their child’s health care provider?
Cardiovascular disease prevention program for Chile
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World Congress of Cardiology Report - Fifty-five percent of the Chilean adult population is at risk of a cardiovascular event with a high rate of morbidity and mortality affecting mainly a productive population, between 35 and 74 years of age. This risk is 1.4 times greater for men.
Cardiovascular disease is one of the three most common causes of incapacitation in the adult population in Chile. The average rate of invalidity is 49 years for women and 53 years for men, making it is easy to understand that this is a financial burden to the health care system.
Additionally, cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death in Chile: 29% of all people in the country die from coronary heart disease. Of those 36% are due to coronary heart disease and 36.3% from cerebrovascular disease (stroke).
Vasogen heart therapy cuts risk in 70 pct of patients
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A heart treatment from Canadian biotech firm Vasogen Inc., which failed a key clinical trial hurdle in June, still helped more than 70 percent of patients, researchers said on Sunday.
Vasogen Chief Executive David Elsley told Reuters he was confident the detailed analysis presented at the World Congress of Cardiology meant its Celacade device-based therapy now had a promising commercial future.
If all goes well Celacade could go on sale in Europe in mid-2007. Elseley - who previously said he expected to have to do another study to win U.S. approval - added the firm would now also discuss the results with U.S. and Canadian regulators.
Immunotherapy for heart failure
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World Congress of Cardiology Report - Heart failure (HF) is a complex, progressive clinical syndrome that can result from any structural or functional cardiac disorder, such as coronary artery disease or hypertension (high blood pressure), which impairs the ability of the heart to function properly as a pump.
As a result of this pump dysfunction, a variety of body mechanisms are activated in an attempt to compensate for this defect. Multiple systems within the body, including the neurohormonal system and the immune system, respond to the HF state. Accumulating evidence indicates that inflammatory cytokines (immune response mediators) play a pathogenic role in the progression of HF by impairing the ability of the heart to contract, inducing excessive hypertrophy (enlargement), and promoting cell death or fibrosis (the formation of fibrous tissue). These mechanisms contribute to the destructive cycle of myocardial (heart muscle) remodeling that is characteristic of chronic heart failure.
The primary objective of the ACCLAIM study was to evaluate the effects of Celacade immunotherapy on the composite endpoint of mortality or cardiovascular (CV) hospitalization in patients with chronic HF. ACCLAIM stands for Advanced Chronic Heart Failure Clinical Assessment of Immune Modulation Therapy.
Fruit and vegetable juice may ward off Alzheimer’s
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Drinking fruit and vegetable juices frequently could help stave of Alzheimer’s disease in individuals at risk for developing the disease, research suggests.
There is evidence from both lab and animal studies that high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS)—harmful byproducts of normal metabolism—may be involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
While vitamins and polyphenols contained in plant foods exert antioxidant effects and thus blunt the action of ROS, certain ways of preparing these foods can deplete their nutrient content. Juicing, however, can preserve much of the antioxidant content of fruits and vegetables.
Hungary child hospitals warn funds to run out
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Hungary’s paediatric hospitals will run out of money from October if government spending curbs, which will cut about 20 percent of their budget, are implemented, hospital directors said on Tuesday.
Hungary is under pressure to cut spending to rein in its budget deficit, the biggest in the European Union at 10.1 percent of gross domestic product, and has announced a raft of tax rises and spending cuts for this year and next.
The measures have slashed the popularity of the Socialist government, which won re-election in April, and changes to health are disliked by voters, 70 percent of whom believe the government lied to win the election, according to a recent poll.
Exploitative Internet marketing fuels child obesity
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Self-regulation in food and beverage marketing is being exploited and is failing to curb childhood obesity, research by a global obesity taskforce presented on Tuesday has found.
The International Obesity Taskforce said some Internet sites that attracted children with advertising games were being used to bypass stricter advertising standards in traditional media, the 10th International Congress on Obesity in Sydney heard.
The taskforce found that 85 percent of businesses advertising to children on television also had interactive Web sites for them. It said 12.2 million children had visited commercial Web sites promoting food and beverages over a three-month monitoring period in 2005.
Dodgy heart? Then don’t ride the roller coaster
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People with known heart problems should not take roller-coaster rides and theme parks should consider having defibrillators on hand in case riders are taken ill, German doctors said on Monday.
A study of 55 individuals taking a two-minute roller-coaster ride found they experienced a sharp rise in heart rates, comparable to severe short-term physical exercise, with women’s heart rates increasing more than men’s.
Dr Juergen Kuschyk of Mannheim’s University Hospital and colleagues told the World Congress of Cardiology that the increase in heart rates was big enough to trigger arrhythmia problems in people with heart disease.
