Experts warn of bird flu risk during haj pilgrimage
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Millions of pilgrims who gather in Mecca for the annual haj pilgrimage risk creating the conditions in which a pandemic strain of flu could emerge, health experts said on Monday.
“It’s the worst case scenario we can have,” said Didier Pittet, director of the Infection Control Programme at Geneva’s University Hospitals.
When Mum’s stressed at work kids feel it too
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Researchers say that children whose mothers do not enjoy their jobs also suffer increased stress.
A research team from the universities of Bath, Kent and Bristol, say they found higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in those children whose mothers found their jobs less rewarding or left them feeling emotionally exhausted, compared to women who reported more enjoyment from their work.
Who gets bird flu vaccine first when there’s not enough to go round?
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According to the top health official in the U.S., it will be three to five years before the United States can produce enough bird flu vaccine to inoculate its population against a potentially deadly outbreak in humans.
Michael Leavitt, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, says that until production capacity is sufficient for the entire population, supplies would have to be rationed in the event of an outbreak.
Viagra improves urinary symptoms in men
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Treatment with Viagra (sildenafil) can improve urinary tract symptoms in men with erectile dysfunction and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a common disease in older men that involves urinary symptoms due to enlargement of the prostate gland, according to study findings presented here Monday at a meeting of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America.
“The improvement in urination with Viagra is dramatic,” lead author Dr. Kevin V. McVary, from Northwestern University in Chicago, told Reuters Health. “The improvement is on par with what we’ve come to expect from some of the medications commonly used to treat BPH symptoms. In fact, better than some of the other medications.”
Tamoxifen reduces the risk of invasive and noninvasive breast cancer
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Data from additional years of follow-up of a large randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial of tamoxifen for the prevention of breast cancer confirm that the drug reduces the risk of invasive and noninvasive breast cancer, according to a report that appears in the current issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (P-1) began in 1992. More than 13,000 women aged 35 years and older who were at high risk for breast cancer were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or tamoxifen for 5 years. In 1998, the study’s independent data monitoring committee recommended that the study be unblinded.
Record new HIV cases in 2005
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Almost 5 million people were infected by HIV globally in 2005—the highest jump since the first reported case in 1981—taking the number living with the virus to a record 40.3 million, the United Nations announced on Monday.
The 4.9 million new infections were fueled by the epidemic’s continuing rampage in sub-Saharan Africa and a spike in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and East Asia, the UNAIDS body said in its annual report.
Evidence Supports First Non-Injectable Insulin as Alternative Treatment for Diabetes
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There is clear evidence from clinical trials that a new inhaled formulation of insulin, Exubera®, is as effective as traditional subcutaneous injections in controlling blood glucose in patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The new formulation, which is likely to be the first non-injectable insulin on the market, was preferred by a majority of patients due to ease of use.
Clinical trials with Exubera are reviewed in the journal Core Evidence, the first international peer-reviewed publication to assess medications by critically evaluating evidence on clinical effectiveness and outcomes.
Spanking children fuels aggression, anxiety
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Children who are spanked when they misbehave are more likely to be anxious and aggressive than children who are disciplined in nonphysical ways, research shows. This is true even if spanking is the “cultural norm.”
Whether parents should spank their children or use other forms of physical discipline is controversial. Some experts argue that children should not be spanked when they act out citing evidence that it leads to more, rather than fewer, behavior problems and it could escalate into physical abuse. There are data to support this argument.
Depressed diabetics have higher mortality risk
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Both minor and major depression are strongly associated with increased mortality in diabetic patients, according to results of a study published in the current issue of Diabetes Care.
Researchers in Seattle examined whether patients with minor or major depression and type 2 diabetes have a higher mortality rate compared with patients with diabetes alone. They surveyed 4,154 diabetic patients in a large health maintenance organization and followed them for up to 3 years.
Viagra may be useful for serious lung disease
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Treatment with Viagra (sildenafil) can improve exercise capacity and functional ability in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a serious disease involving high pressure in the blood vessels that enter the lungs, new research suggests.
The findings, which appear in The New England Journal of Medicine, are based on a study of 278 patients who were randomly selected to receive Viagra, at one of three doses, or inactive “placebo” three times daily for 12 weeks.
Hormone level linked to colorectal cancer risk
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Low levels of a hormone secreted by fat cells, independent of body mass index (BMI)—a measure of obesity—are associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer in men, according to a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Previous reports have linked body fat and insulin resistance with colorectal cancer risk. Since adiponectin, an insulin-related hormone secreted by fat cells, is inversely associated with both these factors, Dr. Esther K. Wei, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues hypothesized that it too would be tied to the risk of this malignancy.
Pregnancy problem linked to heart disease risk
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Women who suffer certain complications during pregnancy are more likely to develop premature cardiovascular disease, according to a study published on Friday.
Scientists at the University of Toronto in Canada said expectant mothers with maternal placental syndrome, which includes pre-eclampsia or high blood pressure during pregnancy, had double the risk of developing early cardiovascular disease.
Exposure to High Levels of Noise Increases Blood Pressure
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A new study by University of Michigan researchers suggests working in loud places can raise blood pressure levels.
Sally Lusk, professor emerita of the University of Michigan School of Nursing who has studied noise’s effects on hearing loss for years, said her latest project gives one more reason for concern.
New Drug Target Identified for Fighting Parkinson’s Disease
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Researchers at Johns Hopkins’ Institute for Cell Engineering (ICE) have discovered a protein that could be the best new target in the fight against Parkinson’s disease since the brain-damaging condition was first tied to loss of the brain chemical dopamine.
Over the past year, the gene for this protein, called LRRK2 (pronounced “lark-2”), had emerged as perhaps the most common genetic cause of both familial and unpredictable cases of Parkinson’s disease. Until now, however, no one knew for sure what the LRRK2 protein did in brain cells or whether interfering with it would be possible.
Malaria may raise mother-child HIV infection rate
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Women who are HIV positive may be more likely to pass the virus to their children during pregnancy if they are also infected with malaria, scientists in Cameroon said on Friday.
Tests carried out in Yaounde showed that malaria, which kills a child in Africa every 30 seconds, boosts production of a substance that could increase HIV replication in the placenta and prevent it fully protecting the fetus from infections.
