Low-fat diary enhances weight loss in diabetics
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Research results suggest that a diet rich in low-fat dairy calcium boosts weight loss in overweight type 2 diabetics. “Such a diet should be tried in diabetic patients,” researchers conclude, particularly in those individuals who have a tough time sticking to other weight loss diets.
The weight-loss promoting effect of dairy calcium came to light in ancillary analyses of data from a study in which 259 overweight diabetic patients were put on a mixed glycemic index diet, a low-glycemic index diet, or a modified Mediterranean diet.
Childhood obesity triggers early puberty
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Childhood obesity in the United States appears to be causing girls to reach puberty at an earlier age, for reasons that are not clear, a study said on Monday.
The report from the University of Michigan’s Mott Children’s Hospital said a multiyear study following a group of 354 girls found that those who were fatter at age 3 and who gained weight during the next three years reached puberty, as defined by breast development, by age 9.
Ibuprofen best in relieving children’s pain
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Ibuprofen was superior to acetaminophen and codeine in relieving the pain from a broken bone or serious sprain suffered by children brought to the emergency room, Canadian researchers said on Monday.
A single dose of ibuprofen, sold generically and under the brand name Advil by Wyeth, relieved the pain within an hour in 52 of 100 injured children.
New Device Offers Hope to Children with Chest, Spinal Deformities
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Two-year-old Ariana Martin had a rough start to life.
A fraternal twin, she was born without four ribs on her left side, and with several health problems, including severe scoliosis. With an under-developed chest cavity, Ariana faced severe lung disease and difficulty breathing.
Dietary copper may ease heart disease
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Including more copper in your everyday diet could be good for your heart, according to scientists at the University of Louisville Medical Center and the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center. Their studies show that giving copper supplements to mice eased the stress on their over-worked hearts by preventing heart enlargement. The study will be published online on March 5th in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.
Insufficient copper intake is associated with increases in cholesterol levels, clot formation, and heart disease. The new study found that feeding mice copper relieved heart disease and restored proper heart function, even when the animals’ hearts were continually stressed. Stressed mice that were not given copper supplements suffered heart failure. The copper-rich diet increased the production of a protein that promotes the growth of new blood vessels, although exactly how this protein might aid heart recovery is not yet clear.
Neck Pain Treatment Safer Without Significant Risk of Paralysis
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In the largest series of patients to date, recent research shows that the translaminar approach to cervical spinal steroid injections can reduce neck pain in eighty-three percent of those treated. In addition to being an effective treatment, the translaminar approach was found to be safer than an alternative method or surgery, as no major complications were observed. In the alternative approach, steroids are injected in close proximity to nerve bundles and small blood vessels in the spine, which can result in nerve damage or paralysis. The translaminar technique in the study avoids this risk by injecting the steroids into the epidural space in the neck, allowing the drug to spread up and down the spine to reduce the inflammation and subsequently reduce pain. This safer translaminar approach is an outpatient treatment, requiring only a small amount of local anesthesia. Although the injection does not treat the underlying cause of the pain, such as arthritis or herniated disc, it does treat the immediate pain flare-up, allowing patients to get back to their normal routines. The research was presented today at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s 32nd Annual Scientific Meeting in Seattle.
Teenagers with retail, service jobs at risk of injury, robberies, sleep deprivation
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Despite federal regulations intended to protect them, many teenagers in the U.S. use dangerous equipment or work long hours during the school week, according to a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study.
The national study was based on telephone surveys of 928 teenaged workers, 14 to 18 years old. The results show 52 percent of males and 43 percent of females use dangerous equipment such a box crushers and slicers, or serve and sell alcohol where it is consumed, despite federal child labor laws prohibiting these practices.
The results were published in the March 1, 2007 editor of the journal Pediatrics.
Risk of Birth Complications Varies Between Racial Groups
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Babies born to South Asian women are at a higher risk of perinatal mortality (death before, during or shortly after birth) than babies born to black or white women, concludes a study published online by the BMJ today.
The World Health Organisation defines post-term pregnancy as beyond 41 completed weeks from the first day of the last menstrual period. Post-term pregnancy is associated with increased perinatal mortality, and induction of labour at 41 weeks is often used to help avoid this risk.
Study Sheds Light on Risks of Being a Second Twin
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A nine year study published on bmj.com today has concluded that being a second born twin confers a small increased risk of suffering fatal complications during birth.
For twins born preterm (before 36 weeks), there was no difference in overall death rates between the first and second. This is because the background rate of death is already high for both, due to the effects of prematurity.
Health-Care Workers Exposed to HIV on Job Need Preventive Treatment
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A review of existing research confirms that health-care workers should undergo a month of preventive drug treatment if they are exposed to HIV on the job.
Still, the reviewers say that there’s been little research into so-called occupational postexposure prophylaxis, and it’s still not clear what should be done when health-care workers are exposed to patients who are resistant to some drugs.
Prostate Brachytherapy Causes Fewer Side Effects than Surgery
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Men with prostate cancer have a slightly better long-term side effects profile with radiation seed implants than they do with surgery, according to a study released today in the International Journal for Radiation Oncology * Biology * Physics, the official journal of ASTRO.
Doctors in France conducted the first-ever multi-institutional, comparative study of men with early stage prostate cancer to evaluate a man’s quality of life, treatment-related side effects and cost of the treatment based on the type of treatment the patient received: surgery or seed implants, both widely-accepted modes of treatment for early-stage prostate cancer. With prostate surgery, called a radical prostatectomy, a surgeon removes the prostate. During prostate brachytherapy, a radiation oncologist places radioactive seeds, similar to the size of a grain of rice, into the prostate to kill the cancer.
Glaucoma patients at significantly higher risk for falls, motor vehicle accidents
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Persons affected by glaucoma are over three times more likely to have been involved in falls and motor vehicle accidents than persons of the same age without the condition, say researchers from Dalhousie University in Canada. Their findings are published in the March 2007 issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.
The study involved 48 patients 50 years of age or older with glaucoma and 47 age-matched persons without the eye disease. Glaucoma patients were almost three times as likely to have experienced one or more falls in the previous year and over six times as likely to have been involved in one or more motor vehicle accidents in the previous five years. They were also more likely to have been at-fault for motor vehicle accidents in which they were involved. The strongest risk factor for these motor vehicle accidents was impaired useful field of view.
Stress-Related Adult Disease May Originate In Fetal Development
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According to a review in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, evidence is mounting that lifelong stress-related conditions such as depression and chronic pain may be linked to fetal growth and timing of delivery.
“During the past decade, a considerable body of evidence has emerged showing that circumstances during the fetal period may have lifelong programming effects on different body functions with a considerable impact on disease susceptibility,” says review author Eero Kajantie.
Heart attacks can give couples a new lease of life, says study
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A third of people who suffer heart attacks discover new meaning to their lives and reconnect with their partner, but others see it as a threat to their well-ordered existence, according to research published in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.
Researchers from Switzerland and the USA teamed up to explore the in-depth experiences of 24 couples to see whether the experience had changed their lives and their relationships.
