Medical News May 22, 2008
Posted on May 22, 2008
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Study Finds Big Social Factor in Quitting Smoking
For years, smokers have been exhorted to take the initiative and quit: use a nicotine patch, chew nicotine gum, take a prescription medication that can help, call a help line, just say no. But a new study finds that stopping is seldom an individual decision.
Smokers tend to quit in groups, the study finds, which means smoking cessation programs should work best if they focus on groups rather than individuals. It also means that people may help many more than just themselves by quitting: quitting can have a ripple effect prompting an entire social network to break the habit.
FAA bans anti-smoking drug Chantix for pilots, air controllers
The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday banned pilots and air traffic controllers from using a popular anti-smoking drug after a study found that it had apparently contributed to auto accidents and other problems that posed risks to both users and others.
The drug, marketed as Chantix, has been hailed as an innovative treatment to help smokers quit. But a study by a medical safety group — also issued Wednesday — linked it to a variety of unusual and serious side effects, including seizures and loss of consciousness, and prompted the FAA to act, agency spokesman Les Dorr said.
Growing arsenal may serve Kennedy
Until a few years ago, patients stricken with cancerous brain tumors had precious few treatment options. There was surgery and radiation and not much else.
But today, as Senator Edward M. Kennedy and his doctors plot his course of care for a malignant glioma, they confront a richer palette of possibilities - due in no small part to Kennedy’s championing of the war on cancer since its dawn in 1971.
Friends are certain that, secluded in Hyannis Port, Kennedy and his family are working the phones and taking a crash course in cancer care, from standard treatments to novel approaches being tested around the country.
Extensive Study Links Preemies and Birth Defects
One of the nation’s most alarming health crises is the growing number of babies born before week 37 of pregnancy. The increase in these preterm live births is behind federal law PL 109-450, or the PREEMIE Act of 2006, which authorizes research and education into the causes and effects of premature birth. On behalf of this act, an extensive study of almost 7 million live births in the United States has revealed that babies born early are at significantly higher risk of being born with major birth defects than babies born at full term.
Uninsured Immigrant Patients Sent Home for Care Against Their Will
Hundreds of legal and illegal immigrants in Arizona are being sent back to their home countries, sometimes against their will, for medical treatment because they lack insurance.
In some cases, the FBI and police, responding to allegations of kidnapping, have been called in to halt such forcible removals, according to patients’ lawyers. In one recent case, a sick baby who is a U.S. citizen born to an illegal immigrant was being transferred by helicopter to a waiting air ambulance for a flight to a hospital in Mexico when Tucson police intervened and brought the child back to the hospital.
Teen Blood Donors More Prone to Complications
Fainting, bruising could keep this important donor pool from giving again, experts warn.
U.S. blood collection centers face a conundrum: At a time of decreasing blood donations, a new study shows that an important source of current and future donations, 16- and 17-year-olds, are more likely to bruise, faint or experience other complications when they donate.
That means this critical pool of young donors may be less likely to give in the future, experts say.
Teen sex study doubts “technical virginity”
A survey examining sexual practices of U.S. teens has undercut the notion that many engage in oral sex rather than intercourse to stay “technically” virgins, researchers said on Tuesday.
The findings, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, were based on answers by 2,271 females and males age 15 to 19 in 2002 in response to a government survey.
The researchers found about 55 percent of the teens said they had engaged in oral sex but that this practice was far more common among those who also had engaged in vaginal sex.
Medical News May 20th, 2008
Posted on May 20, 2008
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Google Health Service Is Finally Here
The internet search giant Google Inc. has finally launched its long-awaited Google Health (google.com/health), a product that will enable users to upload and store medical records from many sources and get relevant health information.
The announcement, made on Monday, expands upon Google’s initial notice in February, according to which the company had teamed up with the Cleveland Clinic to test the service with about 10,000 patients who already use the hospital’s online health records system.
According to Marissa Mayer, a Google vice president, patients can upload medical records from organizations, enter their own data and create their own profile, search for viable information on health conditions or ask for a second opinion on their diagnosis.
From the very beginning, a key concern of this new product involved privacy over user’s sensitive information. A series of privacy watchdog groups believe that Google already knows too much about the interests and habits of its users as its computers log their request and store their e-mail discussions.
Sleep Apnea Puts People at Risk for Heart Trouble while Flying
People suffering from obstructive sleep apnea are more likely to experience higher psychological stress and therefore heart problems during air travel, new research shows.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses and closes during sleep. Actually, the Greek world “apnea” literally means “without.”
According to the National Institutes of Health, sleep apnea is very common, affecting more than twelve million Americans. Risk factors include being male, overweight and over the age of forty, but sleep apnea can strike anyone at any age, even children. Worrisome is the fact that around 80 percent of men and 93 percent of women with sleep apnea are unaware they have this disorder, despite the fact that it can have significant consequences.
Untreated, sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease, memory problems, weight gain, impotency, and headaches.
Sex problems ‘may be heart alert’
Men with diabetes who are having trouble keeping an erection could be at increased risk of serious heart problems, suggests a study.
Those with erectile dysfunction were twice as likely as other men with diabetes to develop heart disease.
The root cause of both can be blood vessel damage caused by high blood sugar levels, the Chinese University of Hong Kong said.
Experts said men with erectile dysfunction should see their doctor.
The Journal of the American College of Cardiology reported that researchers wanted to see if erectile dysfunction could be a reliable independent warning signal for doctors that further problems were on the way.
San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland ranked third best in women’s heart health
A report released Monday by the American Heart Association indicates that women may be wise to follow in the footsteps of Tony Bennett and leave their hearts in San Francisco.
The study ranked the San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland metropolitan area third best among the largest 38 metropolitan areas for women’s heart health. Rankings were determined by heart-friendly benefits in the city and personal choices of the city’s residents.
According to the study, the Bay Area had lowest body mass index and the best score for healthy eating among large metropolitan areas.
The Bay Area also received some of the best scores for regular exercise, commuting by bicycle or walking, cigarette smoking and diabetes, according to the study.
NIH to study diseases that elude diagnosis
Government researchers plan to study baffling diseases that defy diagnosis as part of a new research program that could give insight into conditions both rare and common, they said on Monday.
The cross-specialty program at the National Institutes of Health will focus on the medical cases have stumped doctors, and will start taking the first patients in July.
“More and more we are seeing new manifestations of diseases, new causes of disease and diseases that are completely not understood at this point,” NIH Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni said in a telephone briefing.
Study finds that shingles runs in families
Shingles tends to run in families, indicating these people may have an increased genetic susceptibility to the viral disease marked by a painful, blistering rash, researchers said on Monday.
The researchers looked at 1,027 people treated at a clinic in Houston between 1992 and 2005, half of whom had shingles and the other half had skin conditions other than shingles.
Those with shingles were about four times as likely as the others to have had a close family member with the disease. In all, 39.3 percent of the shingles patients had such a relative, compared to 10.5 percent of the other patients.
Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is caused by the same varicella-zoster virus responsible for the common childhood illness chicken pox. After a person has had chicken pox, the virus stays dormant in the body, but years later can reactivate in spinal nerves and cause shingles.
It’s West Nile season, and a bird’s got your back
It’s too soon to tell whether Utah’s wet spring will mean an increased number of West Nile virus cases this summer - but the state’s sentinel chickens are soon to be on the lookout.
The chickens, which serve as early indicators of virus activity, were distributed Monday to mosquito abatement departments. About 14 agencies picked up a total of 450 of the birds in Provo, and will place them throughout the state.
The chickens will be tested within the next week to make sure they are free of the virus. They will begin undergoing weekly testing in about five weeks.
The virus is transmitted by infected mosquitoes. If the virus is detected, health officials will notify the public, set up traps to capture mosquitoes and begin spraying insecticide in that area.
Firefighters May Face Higher Risk of Bladder Cancer
Firefighters may be at increased risk for bladder cancer and should be considered for routine annual screening, say University of California, San Francisco, researchers.
The team tested 1,286 active and retired San Francisco firefighters, whose mean age was 45, and found that 93 tested positive for blood in the urine (hematuria), and six tested positive for nuclear matrix protein 22 (NMP-22), which is released by bladder cancer cells. Those 99 patients were referred for upper tract imaging, cystoscopy and urine cytology.
Medical News May 19th, 2008
Posted on May 19, 2008
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Mom’s Stress in Pregnancy May Up Baby’s Asthma and Allergy Risk
If an expectant mother is exposed to high levels of stress, her baby may be more likely to develop asthma or allergies later in life, new research suggests.
Babies born to mothers experiencing high levels of stress had more IgE in their blood at birth than did babies born to less-stressed moms. IgE is an antibody involved in allergic and asthmatic reactions.
“Moms who had elevated levels of stress had children who seemed to be more reactive to allergens, even when exposed to low levels of allergens,” said study co-author Dr. Rosalind Wright, an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
GlaxoSmithKline given OK to sell bird-flu vaccine in Europe
GlaxoSmithKline said Monday that it has received permission to sell its bird-flu vaccine, Prepandrix, across the European Union.
The British drug maker (NYSE: GSK) is the first company to win approval of a European vaccine for the deadly H5N1 virus, it says.
“This vaccine marks a significant step in the world’s ability to cope with an influenza pandemic,” CEO Jean-Pierre Garnier said in a written statement. “It is testament to GSK scientists who have pioneered the approach to pre-pandemic vaccination, demonstrating our commitment to doing everything we can to help prevent the devastating effects of a pandemic and play our part in averting this potential public health crisis.”
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KC fares poorly in report on women’s heart health
When it comes to women’s heart health, Kansas City ranks toward the bottom of the country’s biggest metropolitan areas, a new study from the American Heart Association shows.
Kansas City ranked 28th out of 38 “mega” metros, or metropolitan areas with at least 1.45 million people, according to the report, America’s Most Heart-Friendly Cities for Women, being released today.
The study analyzed factors such as how many women die of heart attack and stroke, women’s eating and exercise habits, smoke-free legislation, and rates of hypertension, high cholesterol and obesity among women.
New Study: Low Vitamin D Levels Dramatically Raise Breast Cancer Risk
(NaturalNews) For years, researchers have suspected that low levels of vitamin D in the body might raise the odds a woman will develop breast cancer, but hard scientific proof has been lacking. Now a new study conducted by scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), collaborating with researchers of the University Hospitals in Hamburg-Eppendorf, provides evidence that women with low blood levels of vitamin D clearly have a substantially increased risk of breast cancer.
Nearly 100 Infected with Hepatitis C at Las Vegas Endoscopy Center.
To date, officials have linked 84 cases of Hepatitis C that have turned up in Las Vegas to the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, where all those infected received treatment. A CDC report released Friday officially confirms the cause of the outbreak and—based on state and federal officials’ observations of patient procedures at the clinic—details a variety of unsanitary practices, including nurses’ and anesthesiologists’ failing to perform basic hand hygiene when administering intravenous medications.
State health officials contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) when two patients treated at the clinic were later diagnosed with Hepatitis C. The clinic recommended that 50,000 of the clinics’ patients be tested, which is when the 84 cases were confirmed.
The Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada routinely reused syringes on multiple patients, a negligent practice which exposed thousands of patients to blood borne diseases, including Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B, and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. All of these diseases are extremely debilitating and can be fatal. The Hepatitis injury lawyers at our firm want to hold the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada accountable for the gross negligence that occurred there. It is our contention that the clinic should be responsible for any medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering caused by this negligence. Our Hepatitis injury lawyers will work hard to ensure victims of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada receive the compensation they deserve.
Minn. Health Dept. Warns: Tick-Borne Illnesses on the Rise
Minnesota health officials announced that bites from blacklegged ticks (also called deer ticks) led to a record number of tick-borne diseases during 2007 such as Lyme disease, human anaplasmosis and babesiosis. These three illnesses can all lead to serious complications.
According to the statistics, bites from blacklegged ticks led to 1,239 cases of Lyme disease (a potentially serious bacterial infection affecting both humans and animals); 322 cases of human anaplasmosis (a bacterial disease less common that Lyme disease) and 24 cases of babesiosis (a protozoan infection from the same black-legged ticks). These numbers exceeded by far those registered in the previous years. For example, there were 1,023 cases of Lyme disease in 2004, 186 of human anaplasmosis in 2005 and 18 cases of babesiosis in 2006.
Symptoms of these illnesses include fever, severe headache, muscle aches, chills and shaking, similar to the symptoms of influenza. Most cases can be successfully treated with a few weeks of antibiotics.
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Health care billing fight is looming
Doctors and hospital officials will square off with health insurers Monday in San Diego over a state plan to ban medical providers from billing emergency room patients for charges not covered by insurance companies.
The proposal, by the Department of Managed Health Care, is the agency’s third attempt in two years to outlaw so-called balance billing, which turns patients into pawns in payment disputes. The earlier proposals were scrubbed after regulators failed to build consensus among various health care parties.
Medical News May 16th, 2008
Posted on May 16, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Low Levels of Vitamin D Spell Trouble for Breast Cancer Patients
Study found women with deficiency were more likely to suffer recurrence, die from disease
Women with breast cancer who have a vitamin D deficiency at the time of diagnosis are more likely to have a recurrence or to die from their disease, a new study shows.
Surprisingly, the researchers also found that only 24 percent of the patients had adequate levels of vitamin D when they were diagnosed.
“This study found that vitamin D deficiency is very common among women with breast cancer, and it suggests that vitamin D deficiency is linked to poorer outcomes in these women,” Dr. Nancy Davidson, director of the breast cancer program at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, said during a May 6 press conference. Davidson is president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Bearing Your Own Twin
Doctors in Greece Thursday removed from the belly of a 9-year-old girl what they believe was her embryonic twin absorbed into her abdomen when they were both in the womb.
Andreas Markou, head of the pediatric department at Larissa General Hospital in Athens, said the 2-inch-long embryo removed from the girl’s belly was a fetus with a head, hair and eyes, but no brain or umbilical cord, according to The Associated Press.
It is phenomenon called “fetus in fetu,” or baby within a baby, said Jay Grosfeld, a professor of pediatric surgery at Indiana University who has written about the “exceptionally rare” condition.
In the first month of pregnancy while developing in the womb, Grosfeld said, one twin “enters into the other through the umbilical cord where it assumes a parasitic position in regard to the host baby. After birth, it presents as an abdominal mass.”
People over 60 Should Get Shingles Vaccine
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended on Thursday that people aged 60 and older get Merck & Co. Inc’s vaccine Zostavax to protect them against shingles.
Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is a skin rash caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox, namely the Varicella zoster virus (VZV). After an individual has chickenpox, this virus lives in the nervous system and is never fully cleared from the body. Under certain circumstances, such as emotional stress, immune deficiency or cancer, the virus reactivates causing shingles.
Anyone who has ever had chickenpox is at risk for shingles, although it occurs most commonly in people over the age of 60.
Health insurers to restore coverage to 1,200 Californians
Nearly 1,200 people who lost their health insurance after they incurred high medical expenses will get their coverage back.
Under a deal reached Thursday with the California Department of Managed Health Care, Kaiser Permanente and Health Net agreed to let the patients purchase new policies regardless of preexisting medical conditions.
The settlement comes a month after the department ordered an independent review of policy cancellations by five of the state’s largest health plans and threatened to order them to reinstate 26 people who had been improperly dropped.
Kaiser agreed to reinstate up to 1,092 people who lost coverage between the time the insurer began canceling coverage, known as rescission, in April 2004 to when it ended the controversial practice in October 2006. Kaiser also agreed to pay a $300,000 fine to the state without admitting wrongdoing.
Prison for Man With H.I.V. Who Spit on a Police Officer
A homeless man who spit in the mouth and eye of a police officer and then taunted him, saying he was H.I.V. positive, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday for harassing a public servant with a deadly weapon: his saliva.
Because of the deadly weapon finding, the man, Willie Campbell, 42, of Dallas, will not be eligible for parole until he has served half his sentence.
In May 2006, a passer-by reported an unconscious man, Mr. Campbell, sprawled outside a downtown Dallas building. Mr. Campbell tried to fight paramedics and kicked the police officer who arrested him for public intoxication, prosecutors said.
Senators describe effects of Alzheimer’s on families
They spoke of heartache and loss, of confusion and pain, of parents struck down by Alzheimer’s disease.
Seven U.S. senators gave a rare glimpse into personal tragedies Wednesday at congressional hearings on the need for a national strategy to deal with this mind-robbing illness. Their openness was inspired in part by a witness who had come to testify: former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, whose husband, John, is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s.
“He’s not in very good shape at present,” O’Connor acknowledged, while appealing for more support for families and more funding for research and clinical trials.
Nerve block cuts hot flashes after breast cancer
Blocking parts of the nervous system that regulate body temperature can reduce hot flashes and improve sleep in survivors of breast cancer, researchers reported on Thursday.
With the experimental nerve blocker therapy, the average number of hot flashes per week fell from about 80 to just 8. Very severe hot flashes were almost totally abolished and a marked drop in nighttime awakenings was also seen, according to a report in the online issue of the Lancet Oncology.
Hot flashes and sleep dysfunction are common in breast cancer survivors, particularly those who use anti-estrogen agents like tamoxifen. Conventional treatments, such as hormone therapy or herbal remedies, have proven either ineffective or have been linked to important side effects.
GAO Faults State Nursing Home Inspections
The woes of nursing homes and, more importantly, those in their care continue. Already facing a major reform bill in Congress that has divided the industry, nursing homes came under fire this afternoon in a new report from the Government Accountability Office.The GAO review of state-level nursing home inspections found that inspectors regularly overlooked major code violations in the care facilities. In reviews conducted from 2002 to 2007, federal inspectors found that their state-level counterparts missed violations of the gravest nature—those that could put a nursing home resident in immediate jeopardy and inflict actual harm—15 percent of the time. The potential for less serious harm was found in 70 percent of the federal reviews.Read More?
Cleveland Clinic joins UCF in offering medical students free tuition
First the University of Central Florida made history by becoming the first new medical school in the United States to give its first crop of future doctors a free ride. Now the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western University in Ohio is offering a tuition-free education to all its students. Both schools want students to avoid the crushing debt — about $150,000 on average — that medical students face at graduation. But the Cleveland Clinic isn’t playing copy-cat.
Cleveland Clinic officials say it’s always been their goal to find a way to pay students’ tuition, which currently costs about $43,000 a year.
For now, the Cleveland Clinic will use money from its endowment and hospital operations to fund its tuition scholarships. Eventually, the non-profit health organization hopes that contributions to its endowment will cover the entire cost.
Therapy Yields Promise for Fatal Neurological Condition
A new gene therapy that involves injecting a harmless virus into the brain shows promise as a safe and effective way to slow Batten disease, a rare neurological disorder that usually becomes fatal between the ages of 8 and 12.
Children with the disease, also known as Late Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis, are born with a mutated CLN2 gene. This causes a deficiency in TTP-1, an enzyme responsible for ridding cells of the central nervous system of waste materials. Parts of the neurons in the brain cell eventually become clogged with toxic material.
“It’s like the garbage man of the cell is not able to do its job,” study author Dr. Ronald Crystal, chairman of the Department of Genetic Medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, said in a prepared statement. “The trash keeps getting backed up inside the cell until the cells can no longer function properly and then eventually die throughout the entire brain.”
Obese blamed for the world’s ills
Obese people are contributing to the world food crisis and climate change, experts say.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine calculated the obese consume 18% more calories than average.
They are also responsible for using more fuel, which has an environmental impact and drives up food prices as transport and agriculture both use oil.
The result is that the poor struggle to afford food and greenhouse gas emissions rise, the Lancet reported.
It comes as the World Health Organization predicts the obese population will double by 2015 to 700m.
China child virus death toll up to 43
The death toll rose to 43 from the hand, foot and mouth disease virus that has sickened tens of thousands of children across China, a report said Friday.
A 22-month-old girl from eastern Jiangxi province died Thursday in a local hospital, health officials told the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
As of Wednesday, the hand, foot and mouth disease virus had sickened more than 24,934 children in seven Chinese provinces plus Beijing, Xinhua reported.
Medical News May 15th, 2008
Posted on May 15, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Study likely spells end for anti-bleeding drug
An anti-bleeding drug probably will stay off the market, experts say, after a rigorous study found patients getting the medication during heart surgery were much more likely to die than patients given other drugs.
Bayer AG, the maker of the drug Trasylol, said it is still deciding what to do and is awaiting details from the Canadian study. Bayer faces dozens of lawsuits claiming Trasylol led to excess deaths and that the company hid evidence of harm.
But experts in Canada and the United States say the study appears to seal the drug’s fate, given that several prior studies linked Trasylol to an elevated risk of death after surgery — and studies that didn’t find a higher risk had many weaknesses.
Physical Activity Linked to Lower Breast Cancer Risk
It has long been known that physical activity has a great impact on our health. Now, new research comes to support that by saying that exercising between the ages of 12 and 35 cuts women’s risk of developing breast cancer.
Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Harvard University in Boston evaluated questionnaires from 64,777 premenopausal women involved in the Nurses Health Study II. The women detailed their physical activity starting from the age 12 to the present.
The study found that the women whose activity equaled 13 walking hours a week or 3.25 running hours per week had a 23 percent lower risk of premenopausal breast cancer compared with the less active women. Within six years of enrolling, 550 women were diagnosed with breast cancer before menopause.
“We don’t have a lot of prevention strategies for premenopausal breast cancer, but our findings clearly show that physical activity during adolescence and young adulthood can pay off in the long run by reducing a woman’s risk of early breast cancer,” said lead researcher Graham Colditz, professor and associate director of prevention and control at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
Dennis Quaid Defends Lawsuit Against Heparin Maker
Actor Dennis Quaid told Congress Wednesday that the near-fatal overdose of Heparin given to his newborn twins last November underscores the need to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable through lawsuits, a remedy that is becoming increasingly problematic for injured consumers.
At issue before the House Reform and Government Oversight Committee is a move by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to step in and defend the pharmaceutical companies against such lawsuits.
Click here for more on the Congressional hearings.
Quaid’s twins were hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles last year for treatment for a staph infection. While under the hospital’s care, they were given an overdose of the blood thinner Heparin.
9-year-old girl’s twin is found inside her stomach
A 9-year-old girl who went to hospital in central Greece suffering from stomach pains was found to be carrying her embryonic twin, doctors said Thursday.
Doctors at Larissa General Hospital examined the girl and surgically removed a growth they later discovered was an embryo more than two inches long.
“They could see on the right side that her belly was swollen, but they couldn’t suspect that this tumor would hide an embryo,” hospital director Iakovos Brouskelis said.
The Republican Health-Care Surrender
Hillary Clinton’s presidential aspirations may have died in North Carolina last week, but her most famous bad idea is alive and well in Washington, D.C. With likely increases in Democrat ranks in the House and Senate, and a Democrat (possibly) in the White House, plan on a big fight in 2009 over who – you or the federal government – will control your family’s health-care decisions.
We won this fight last time around. One of the GOP’s shining moments was our principled opposition to HillaryCare in 1994. The first lady’s overreach helped lay the groundwork for the Republican takeover of Congress that November.
Generics Sharply Curbed ‘07 Drug Spending Growth: Medco
Spending on prescription medicines increased by only 2% last year for clients of the nation’s largest stand-alone pharmacy benefits manager as patients used more generic drugs, according to a report from Medco Health Solutions Inc. (MHS) .
Diabetes treatments replaced cholesterol-lowering drugs as the primary contributor to higher spending on prescription medicines, according to Medco, which also predicted that expenditures on cancer drugs will surge in the next three years.
Diabetes drug accounted for nearly 21% of the increase in drug spending among Medco clients last year, according to the company’s drug-trend report.
Study Supports Popular HIV Drug Regimen
The largest study of its kind supports the use of a popular three-drug regimen for HIV patients and suggests a cocktail of two classes of drugs is a good alternative.
But an older regimen works almost as well, said study lead author Dr. Sharon Riddler, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.
“It’s not like 10 years ago, where there were huge differences between regimens,” Riddler said. “We’re looking at relatively small differences, trying to fine-tune what actually works pretty well.”
The revolution in AIDS/HIV treatment came more than a decade ago, when combinations of drugs known as “cocktails” entered the market. Patients infected with HIV or who had progressed to AIDS typically had to take numerous pills each day.
West Nile virus lookout begins
The Ann Arbor News
Washtenaw County Public Health Department officials say they have begun surveillance activities for the seasonal West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne virus that can cause mild-to-severe illness in humans and other animals.
County residents are urged to take precautions to prevent mosquito bites and to call the Washtenaw County West Nile Virus Hotline at 734-544-6750 to report dead birds or to receive general West Nile virus information.
Medical News May 14th, 2008
Posted on May 14, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Child-killing virus hits Beijing
BEIJING, China (CNN) — The death toll in China’s outbreak of hand-foot-mouth disease has risen to 42 children, with the capital Beijing reporting its first case Wednesday, state media said.
The child died on the way to a hospital Sunday, health authorities told the Xinhua news agency.
Another child died of the virus at a Beijing hospital, but that death was counted in the child’s home province of Hebei, which neighbors Beijing, the news agency said.
So far, the virus has sickened 24,934 children on the Chinese mainland, authorities said. All 42 people who died have been children.
DNA Fingerprinting Could ID Viable Embryos
TUESDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) — Researchers say DNA tests may be able to tell doctors which embryos tabbed for in vitro fertilization (IVF) are most likely to result in the births of healthy babies.
The technique, discussed in a report published online May 14 in Human Reproduction, could also help fertility experts prevent accidental multiple pregnancies in their IVF patients.
A woman’s eggs are fertilized with sperm during IVF and then allowed to develop in the laboratory for about five days until they reach the blastocyst, or very early embryo, stage. Doctors then decide which blastocysts look most likely to develop successfully and how many to put into the woman’s womb.
Is mammogram alone enough for most women?
BREAST CANCER | X-ray plus ultrasound might be best for some
Combining a mammogram with an ultrasound exam is more effective than mammography alone at detecting breast cancer in women at high risk for the disease, according to a study published in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
But there’s also a significant chance of false positives with ultrasounds, researchers found, which could lead to unnecessary biospies. And radiologists say the time and expertise needed to analyze an ultrasound make it an unrealistic choice for many patients.
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Gene Therapy Found to Slow Progression of Fatal Brain Condition
An experimental gene therapy had positive effects in slowing the progression of Batten disease, or Late Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (LINCL), a team of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine Center physician-scientists showed.
LINCL is an autosomal recessive disease caused by mutations in the CLN2 gene resulting in functional defects of the gene product tripeptidyl-peptidase I. This disease is associated with a progressive neurodegenerative course beginning at the age of two years with developmental stagnation, finally leading to a complete loss of motor function, vision and speech by the age of 10 years.
The disease is diagnosed via DNA testing and strikes two to four of every 100,000 babies in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health. Because the disease is fatal early in life, there are only about 200 cases of the disease in the world at a given time.
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Rodent Virus Infected-Kidney Kills Transplant Recipient
Health authorities said a 70-year-old woman died and a 57-year-old man is critically ill in a Boston hospital after each was given a kidney from an infected donor, reports The Boston Globe.
The kidney was infected with a hard-to-detect virus, health officials said, which came from a 49-year-old homeless man who suffered irreversible brain damage and cardiac arrest.
The donor carried a germ called lymphocytic choriomenigitis virus, which is most often transmitted by rodents and usually unnoticed by healthy people who do not suffer anything more than flu-like symptoms, according to the newspaper.
The virus also killed three transplants patients in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 2005.
Organs perish quickly and they are tested for diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis and herpes, but not usually viruses such as lymphocytic choriomenigitis. And, since the demand for organs is so great, recipients will often take the organs of homeless people, the newspaper said.
14 more people implicated in UCLA medical records snooping
Los Angeles (CA) – The California Department of Public Health has issued its findings in the UCLA celebrity medical records snooping case. The department found 14 more people snooped into the records of famous people including Farrah Fawcett, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver. This brings the total to 68 people including physicians, nurses, administrative staff and one volunteer.
At the center of this controversy is former UCLA Medical Center administrative assistant Lawanda Jackson. The DPH says she illegally accessed records for 104 days from July 1 2006 to May 21 2007. She also received a written reprimand back in 2005 for snooping into the medical records of her coworker. Jackson also tried to hide her snooping by using a co-workers login on numerous occasions.
Last month we reported on Jackson’s case. She was indicted for illegally accessing computerized medical records and is due to be arraigned in federal court on June 9th. Jackson faces up to 10 years in prison.
Death Gap Widens Between Educated and Those Not
WEDNESDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) — Being well-educated can lengthen your life span, according to new study.
The research, published in the May 14 issue of PLoS ONE, shows that the gap in overall death rates between Americans with less than a high school education and college graduates increased rapidly from 1993 to 2001.
The widening resulted from significant drops in mortality from all causes among the most educated men (totaling 36 percent in black men and 25 percent in white men over the study period). This came in great part to decreases in their death rates from HIV infection, cancer and heart disease.
In contrast, the all-cause death rate rose among people with less than a high school education. The greatest annual percent increase was among white women who did not complete high school (3.2 percent per year), but it was also notable (0.7 percent per year) in white women who had completed high school.
Cancer Support Still Strong
LIVESTRONG Ohio State.
Hundreds of people packed the Ohio State University Medical Center Plaza in front of Rhodes Hall Tuesday to hear Lance Armstrong, who owns seven Tour de France victories, speak about his latest movement to raise cancer awareness.
Yellow LIVESTRONG bracelets, T -shirts and hats were plentiful at the rally.
May 13th was LIVESTRONG day at Ohio State and around the country. More than 600 events were scheduled to raise cancer awareness and funds to help with cancer research.
Medical News May 13th, 2008
Posted on May 13, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Tell your MP to vote against Bill C-51
from the Natural Health Products Protection Association
Many Canadians rely upon natural health products for their health. These products are endangered and consumers need to act now to save them.
Since 2004 when the Natural Health Product Regulations were introduced, natural health products have been increasingly threatened. The new Regulations were Health Canada’s response to consumer demands for the government to protect their access to natural health products. The Regulations have had the opposite effect.
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Canada seeks to shift safety burden back to drug makers
Pharmaceutical firms operating in Canada could face increasing regulatory pressure if government plans to tighten up consumer protection laws are passed.
The government said that the proposal, Bill C51, is designed to modernize the country’s Food and Drug Act, and “crack down on negligent manufacturers, importers and retailers who knowingly endanger their customers.”
The amendment would enable Canadian health officials to demand that firms selling potentially dangerous pharmaceutical products provide additional evidence of safety to both consumers and regulators.
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Court Hears More Claims Linking Thimesoral in Vaccines to Autism
The parents of two 10-year-old boys who believe that a mercury-based preservative, thimesoral, found in many childhood vaccines, caused their sons to develop autism brought their case to U.S. federal court on Monday.
Autism is a brain development disorder that appears before a child turns three years old; it has a serious impact on social interaction and communication. Medical experts do not know for sure what exactly causes autism, but they do know there is a strong hereditary component.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in every 150 children has autism or a related disorder such as Asperger’s syndrome.
Pollution Boosts Risk of Blood Clots As Well
It has long been known that pollution has noxious repercussions on our health, but no study stated that it might raise the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) until today.
Deep vein thrombosis is a blood clot that forms in vein in the body. Blood clots occur when blood thickens and clumps together. Most deep vein blood clots occur in the lower leg or thigh. They also can occur in other parts of the body. What makes a blood clot dangerous is that it can travel through the bloodstream to different organs of the body. The loose clot is called an embolus. When it travels to the lungs for example, it blocks blood flow causing pulmonary embolism. It can also cause heart attack or stroke.
According to the Society of Interventional Radiology, about 600,000 new patients are diagnosed as having DVT every year and one in 100 of these people dies.
Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Inefficient in Preventing Alzheimer’s
Just one week after researchers from Boston University School of Medicine stated in a study that use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for five years was linked with a 24 percent reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, results of a clinical trial show that neither Celebrex nor naproxen (both belonging to the class of NSAIDs) preserves mental function.
Moreover, naproxen, which goes under the brand names Aleve and Naprosyn may even have a harmful effect on cognitive function it was found.
Childhood Multiple Sclerosis Impairs Cognitive Abilities
Children who develop multiple sclerosis, a disease that usually strikes during childhood, are more likely to have low IQ scores and cognitive problems, new research shows.
An unpredictable disease of the central nervous system, multiple sclerosis can range from relatively benign to somewhat disabling to devastating, as communication between the brain and other parts of the body is disrupted.
Health experts believe MS is an autoimmune disease – one in which the body, through its immune system, launches a defensive attack against its own tissues. In the case of MS, it is the nerve-insulating myelin that comes under assault. The degeneration of myelin affects nerves by lessening their ability to conduct signals. These problems in nerve transmission cause complications in movement, sensation, cognition, vision and other functions.
Drugs Alone Don’t Lower Heart Disease Risks for Overweight Americans
Daily doses of statins and blood pressure medications will not be enough to prevent heart disease among the ever-growing number of Baby Boomers who are overweight or obese, a new study suggests.
The simple truth, experts say, is that pounds must also be shed to keep cardiovascular trouble away.
“There is a debate out there about whether this generation is going to live as long as their parents, and the truth is they probably won’t,” said study author Dr. Gregory L. Burke, director of the division of public health sciences at Wake Forest University School of medicine in Winston-Salem, NC.
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Viagra ‘aids muscular dystrophy’
The anti-impotence drug Viagra may help save people with muscular dystrophy from an early death, a study suggests.
Researchers found the way the drug works to combat impotence may also help ward off heart failure in muscular dystrophy patients.
Tests on mice with a version of the disease showed the drug helped keep their hearts working well.
The Montreal Heart Institute study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Muscular dystrophy is a genetic condition causing wasting of the muscles.
The first signs of muscular weakness appear at roughly age five, leading to a progressive loss in the ability to walk by the age of 13.
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Medical News May12th, 2008
Posted on May 12, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Teen Depression Worsened by Marijuana, Government Says
Today the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy sent out a clear message on teen pot use and depression: They’re a bad combination. Issuing a report that analyzes around a dozen studies about marijuana use and mental health, the policy office warned that teens who use marijuana to “self-medicate” may worsen their underlying depression or other mental health issues. The intention of the report, says John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is to “try to correct two misunderstandings: That teen depression is not a problem and that teen marijuana use is not a problem—marijuana use is not safe.” He advises parents to talk to their kids’ pediatrician if they see signs of depression and suspect drug use.
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Caring career: Nurse need grows acute
Amid an uncertain economy and worrisome unemployment numbers, there’s a well-paying field begging for workers.
Nurses are taking on an increasingly diverse role in health care, opening up new jobs in all kinds of settings, including community health, home care and hospitals. As demand for nurses has risen, so have salaries.
Pay at the beginning of last year among the 23,141 members in the city averaged more than $60,000, according to the New York State Nurses Association. Despite respectable salaries, flexible schedules and work that can be very rewarding, nurses remain in need.
Phila. Race for the Cure draws 45,000
Phyllis Cooperman and her daughter Lisa Kolar jogged arm in arm across the finish line of the Philadelphia Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure yesterday morning with huge smiles on their faces.
“We do it together,” said Cooperman, 63, a 17-year breast-cancer survivor running in her 12th race.
All told, 20 members of the family joined 45,000 others running, jogging and walking the 3.1 mile course on a bright, brisk Mother’s Day morning to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research and treatment.
“We love celebrating her,” said Kolar, 29. “It feels good. Together we are fighting this disease, conquering it.”
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Manufacturers to Boost Number of Flu Vaccines for Next Season
Despite inefficiency of the flu vaccines this year in the U.S., the five companies manufacturing influenza vaccines plan to make a record number of doses for the next flu season. Therefore, they announced at least 143 million doses for the 2008-2009 season, meaning 3 million more doses than the season just ended this month.
It is rather inexplicable, as the request for flu vaccines is very likely to fall after this year’s vaccines were only 44 percent effective against the flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report last month.
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Man Uses Steak Knife To Perform Throat Surgery On Himself
A Man from Omaha used a steak knife to save his own life, performing a tracheotomy on himself.
The man, 55-year old Steve Wilder saved his own life. He stated that he woke up in the middle of the night, completely unable to breathe.
His air passage was so swollen that it was literally shut, and he was suffocating to death.
He stated he got up and panicked, and did not have time to call and wait for help.
He grabbed a steak knife and pushed into his throat, as blood began to come out.
He stated blood was gushing out, but air was gushing in at the same time.
According to reports, Wilder is now doing just fine and felt no pain, he has thanked God for helping him through it.
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HIV Prevention Message Failing
The most common HIV prevention strategies - condoms, HIV testing, STD awareness and abstinence - are having a limited impact on the predominantly heterosexual epidemics occurring in Africa, say experts from the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of California.
In a new policy paper, the researchers argue that two interventions currently getting less attention and resources - male circumcision and reducing multiple sexual partnerships - should become the cornerstone of HIV prevention efforts in the high-HIV-prevalence parts of Africa.
In most countries, HIV transmission remains concentrated among sex workers, men who have sex with men and/or injecting drug users and their sexual partners. In many parts of Africa, however, HIV has jumped outside these high-risk groups, creating generalized epidemics spread mainly among people who are having multiple and concurrent (overlapping) sexual relationships. In nine countries in southern Africa, more than 12 percent of adults are infected with HIV.
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Consumer Group Presses FDA for Birth Control Patch Withdrawn
A consumer advocacy group petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday for the removal of a Johnson and Johnson transdermal birth control patch from the market due to increased risk of dangerous blood clots.
The bird control patch involved, Ortho-Evra, is marketed in the U.S. by Ortho-McNeil, a pharmaceutical manufacturer based in Raritan, New Jersey, and a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. When applied to the skin, the patch releases synthetic estrogen and progestin hormones to prevent pregnancy. The patch is applied (changed) weekly for three weeks in a row, then one week is skipped.
Ortho-Evra became controversial after an AP investigation in 2005 showing that women using it suffer higher rates of life-threatening blood clots than women taking birth-control pills.
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HillaryCare: Why Hillary Clinton’s health-care plan makes sense
You’ve heard a lot - probably too much - about which presidential candidate is best qualified to answer that 3 a.m. phone call in the White House. But if the caller were asking about health-care reform, there’s no doubt which candidate could give the best answers, even in her sleep. That would be Hillary Clinton.
This is no accident, because Clinton has been through this ringer before, in 1993, when she headed her husband’s ill-fated effort to prescribe a cure for the health-insurance crisis. The Clintons bobbled the pill bottle back then, but that brutal political setback taught Hillary Clinton all about one of the most complex public policy issues out there.
Now, 15 years later, the health-insurance system is even sicker, and it’s no surprise that among the three major candidates Clinton has put forward the best, most comprehensive plan to heal it.
Despite what you may have heard, HillaryCare - our name, not hers - is not a single-payer, government-financed health plan. Instead, it retains private insurance companies and competition, but makes a number of major reforms in tax policy and the market. And it does attempt to achieve universal coverage; that is, health insurance for everyone.
77 More Hepatitis C Victims Tied to Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada
Seventy seven more former patients of the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada have tested positive for hepatitis C, and their illnesses are likely the result of the unsanitary methods employed by the now-closed clinic. The 77 cases of hepatitis C combined with those confirmed earlier bring the number of cases linked to clinics run by the same group of doctors to 85.
In February, the Southern Nevada Health District sent letters to 40,000 people treated at the clinic, advising them to get tested for hepatitis B and C, and HIV. The Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada has been under investigation since early January, after health officials learned of three people who had been diagnosed with hepatitis C after being treated there. Ultimately, the Southern Nevada Health District said a total of six people were known to have contracted hepatitis C after being treated at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada. Five of them were treated the same day in late September; the sixth is believed to have been infected in July, the district said. The Southern Nevada Health District investigation revealed that “unsafe injection practices related to the administration of anesthesia medication might have exposed patients to the blood of other patients.” In March, a seventh hepatitis C victim, who had been treated at a clinic owned by the same group that owns the Endoscopy Center, was identified.
Medical News May 8th, 2008
Posted on May 8, 2008
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$271 Million for Research on Stem Cells in California
LOS ANGELES — California has awarded $271 million in grants to build 12 stem cell research centers in the state, even as one of the political rationales for the building program might soon disappear.
The awards, announced here Wednesday, represent the largest chunk of money awarded at one time by California’s taxpayer-backed stem cell program, which is slated to spend about $3 billion over about a decade.
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Medical device group expands
In phase one, he worked on his own in the basement, doing engineering consulting.
Phase two had David Dorner moving the business into its own facility, winning contracts to do project work and growing to more than 30 employees.
As DornerWorks Ltd., an electronics consulting company in Grand Rapids, enters phase three of its business plan, it aims to begin developing its own products, perhaps through alliances with other companies around western Michigan that are involved in the medical sector.
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Quick Benefit to Smoking Halt, With a Caveat, Study Finds
Women who stop smoking can enjoy major health benefits within five years, but it can take decades to correct respiratory damage and shed the added risk of lung cancer, researchers reported on Tuesday.
Those who stopped had a 13 percent reduction in the risk of death from all causes, including heart and vascular problems, within the first five years, the study found. After 20 years, the risk of death from any cause was the same for those who quit as for those who had never smoked.
Mich. high court says gay partners can’t get health benefits
Local governments and state universities in Michigan can’t offer health insurance to the partners of gay workers, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
The court ruled 5-2 that Michigan’s 2004 ban against gay marriage also blocks domestic-partner policies affecting gay employees at the University of Michigan and other public-sector employers.
The decision affirms a February 2007 appeals court ruling.
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Parents’ Mental Disorders Linked to Child’s Autism
Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC), have just released their findings on the association between a parent’s history of mental disorders when the parent also has an autistic child. It seems parents of autistic children are hospitalized for issues of mental distress at double the rate of parents without autistic children.
Breast Cancer Tends to Grow Faster in Younger Women
While the rate at which breast cancer tumors grow varies among patients, that growth tends to be faster among younger women, Norwegian researchers report.
These findings may help in planning and evaluating screening programs, clinical trials and other studies, the researchers say.
Using a new mathematical model, the scientists were also able to estimate the numbers of breast cancers detectable by mammography. This is a new approach to estimating the growth rate of tumors and the ability of mammograms to find them.
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Too much, too little sleep tied to ill health in CDC study
People who sleep fewer than six hours a night _ or more than nine _ are more likely to be obese, according to a new government study that is one of the largest to show a link between irregular sleep and big bellies.
The study also linked light sleepers to higher smoking rates, less physical activity and more alcohol use.
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Meningitis Vaccine Boosts Immune Response
Swiss drug maker Novartis AG said its experimental meningitis vaccine performed well in a large clinical trial and that the company expects to file for regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe this year.
Novartis said the vaccine, called Menveo, helped trigger a strong immune response in a greater percentage of adolescents against several types of meningitis bacteria than did the currently used vaccine, Sanofi-Aventis SA’s Menactra.
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Medical News May 7th, 2008
Posted on May 7, 2008
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Medical lab to boost Indy staff by 125
DCL Medical Laboratories, a full-service medical testing laboratory focusing on women’s health, today announced a major expansion of its Northwestside headquarters that includes hiring 125 people.
DCL employs 150 already and is bringing aboard pathologists, lab professionals, and IT and service experts.
Kaiser Permanente completes rollout of electronic medical records
Kaiser Permanente said Monday that all of its 8.7 million enrollees in nine states and the District of Columbia have access to HealthConnect, an outpatient electronic health record Kaiser says is the world’s largest privately funded EHR.
Outpatient implementation started in Hawaii four years ago and was completed in Northern California this month, according to officials at Oakland-based Kaiser. They said all of Kaiser’s 13,000 physicians nationwide now have electronic access to patients’ medical records in the system’s 421 medical offices and clinics.
Cohera Medical closes on $7.6M financing round
Medical device firm Cohera Medical Inc. said Wednesday that it closed on a financing round that brought in $7.6 million.
Based on Pittsburgh’s North Side, the company’s lead product is TissueGlu, an adhesive designed to improve the wound closure process.
The breakdown of financing was not released by the company, but the lead investor was Kern Whelan Capital LLC.
Giving up smoking has rapid health benefits, says study
People who give up smoking begin to improve their health almost immediately, according to a study of more than 100,000 women carried out between 1980 and 2004. Within five years the risk of death from all causes fell by 13%, it found. By 20 years, people had no extra risk of death because of their past smoking history.
Artes Medical names Michael Green to replace Wulff as CFO
SAN DIEGO -
Wrinkle filler maker Artes Medical Inc. said Wednesday it named Michael K. Green as chief financial officer to replace Peter Wulff, who has resigned to pursue business development and corporate finance for commercial development firms.
Previously, Green served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Orchestra Therapeutics, as ewll as CFO of animal health testing and medical devices maker Synbiotics Corp.
Breakaway Selected by Medical College of Georgia to Develop Game-Based Dental Implant Training Simulation
Simulation Provides Tools for Improved Decision-Making and Clinical Skills Training
BALTIMORE, May 7 –
BreakAway, Ltd., a leading developer of game-based technology solutions for training, experimentation and decision- making analysis has been selected by the Medical College of Georgia to develop the groundbreaking Dental Implant Training Simulation to better teach and train dental students patient assessment and diagnosis protocol, and to practice dental implant procedures in a highly immersive, virtual, three dimensional environment. The Dental Implant Training Simulation is funded through a grant from Nobel Biocare awarded to the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) School of Dentistry.
Medical marijuana ID card fee reduced by Santa Clara County supervisors
SAN JOSE - Santa Clara County supervisors today agreed to lower the cost of obtaining a medical marijuana identification card during a 14-month period.
The cost for a medical marijuana identification card will be reduced to $150 from $294 starting this month until April 2009. At the end of the pilot program term, the public health department will conduct a participation level review to determine if the lowered fee resulted in increased participation.
The county is mandated to provide this service, but carrying the card is voluntary.
Prisoner HIV program leads to continuum of medical care after release
95 percent of participants completed program linking ex-offenders to medical care, housing and addiction services
Providence, R.I. By linking HIV positive prisoners to community-based medical care prior to release through an innovative program called Project Bridge, 95 percent of ex-offenders were retained in health care for a year after being released from incarceration, according to researchers from The Miriam Hospital. Continuity of medical care can reduce costs to the criminal justice systems, improve health outcomes, and may reduce HIV transmission.
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Health commissioner has plan to help stop smoking
NEW YORK STATE — A pack of cigarettes goes up by a $1.25 on June 3rd and New York’s Health Commissioner has a plan to help thousands of people who are going to try to quit when the new tax goes into effect.
Dr. Richard Daines says the state is committed to reaching out to help those who want to quit smoking.
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Lung Cancer Risk reduces by 20% 5 years after Stopping Smoking According to JAMA (Interview with Stacey Kenfield, ScD)
(May 6, 2008 - Insidermedicine) Among women, the excess mortality risk associated with smoking does diminish down to the same levels as never smokers after quitting, but it can take up to 30 years, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Here are some recommendations about advising patients to quit smoking from t he National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence:
• General practitioners, nurses in primary and community care, as well as other health care professionals should take the opportunity to advise all patients who smoke to quit when they attend a consultation. Those who want to stop should be offered a referral to an intensive support service. If they are unwilling or unable to accept this referral they should be offered pharmacotherapy.
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Exhaustion Of HIV-specific T Cells May Be Caused By Chronic Exposure To Virus
ScienceDaily (May 6, 2008) — The “exhaustion” of immune cells that target HIV appears to result from chronic exposure to the virus, specifically exposure to the particular protein segments targeted by the pathogen-killing HIV-specific CD8 T cells. A study from researchers at the Partners AIDS Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (PARC-MGH), appearing in PLoS Medicine, may have answered a key question regarding the immune response to HIV infection: is the functional impairment of HIV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) the cause or the result of unchecked viral replication in chronic progressive HIV-1 infection?
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New Saliva-based HIV Test May Speed Up Detection
ScienceDaily (May 6, 2008) — The usual waiting period for the results of a HIV test can seem like an eternity, especially in emergency situations where results are needed immediately. Also it requires a blood sample, which is invasive and often painful. Recognizing the urgent need for a faster and less invasive diagnostic method, Dr. Nitika Pant Pai, from Marina Klein’s research team at the MUHC has just finished testing a new saliva-based test that gives results in approximately 20 minutes.
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