Breastfeeding protects babies against lung disease
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Exclusive breastfeeding for at least the first six months of an infant’s life reduces the risk of respiratory tract infections, compared with breastfeeding for shorter durations, according to a new study.
The authors of the report, in the medical journal Pediatrics, point out that the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended a 6-month breastfeeding duration—in part, based on study findings showing protection against gastrointestinal infection. While it had been thought that this practice would also protect against respiratory tract infections, data supporting this was lacking.
Extremely Low-Birth-Weight Infants Reaching Functional Outcomes
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The majority of extremely low-birth-weight infants appear to be attaining similar levels of education, employment and independence as young adults, compared with normal birth-weight infants, according to a study in the February 8 issue of JAMA.
Despite the recent dramatic improvements in survival, extremely low-birth-weight (ELBW, weighing less than 2.2 lbs.) and very low-birth-weight (VLBW, weighing less than 3.3 lbs.) children and adolescents remain disadvantaged on many measures of cognition, academic achievement, behavior, and social adaptation, according to background information in the article. Survivors from the early postneonatal intensive care era have only now reached young adulthood. Although some aspects of longer-term outcomes on VLBW young adults have been reported in a few studies, details of certain functional outcomes of former ELBW infants at young adulthood are unknown.
Polish woman refused abortion goes to Europe court
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A Polish woman who was refused an abortion despite doctors’ warnings that giving birth could damage her eyesight accused Poland on Tuesday of failing to protect her rights under its strict abortion law.
Alicja Tysiac, whose vision worsened after the birth and is now registered as disabled, asked Europe’s human rights court to consider her complaint that she was unable to obtain an abortion on therapeutic or health grounds.
Diet alone of little benefit in preventing ills
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Postmenopausal women see little change in their risk of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease or stroke, after changing their diet to reduce fat content and increase fruit, vegetable, and grain intake, researchers report.
That news comes from three articles in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association8.
Whole grains cut diabetes, heart disease risk - study
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Diets rich in whole grains can lower the risk of diabetes and heart disease, according to a study released on Tuesday.
“Results suggest a lower risk of diabetes and heart disease in persons who consume diets high in whole grains,” said the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
HIV Subtype Predicts Likelihood of Early Death from AIDS
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Johns Hopkins scientists say an infected person’s HIV subtype is a better predictor than viral load for determining rapid death from AIDS. Traditional testing standards help monitor the progression of an HIV infection to AIDS by keeping track of viral load, using a scale in which less than 50 viral particles per cubic milliliter of blood is considered suppressed disease and a viral load of more than 75,000 particles per cubic milliliter of blood means that the disease will progress more rapidly.
In what is believed to be the first analysis of viral subtype as a predictor of death from AIDS, which also takes into account viral load, the Hopkins team found that having viral subtype D made a person with HIV likely to die more rapidly compared to a person with subtype A.
Genetic Factors Important in Development and Timing of Alzheimer’s
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In a large study of twins, Alzheimer’s disease appears to be highly heritable and genetic factors may also influence timing of the disease, according to an article in the February Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Two-thirds of adults aged 65 years and older with dementia have Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and the number of AD cases is predicted to increase with the growing older adult population. Although genetic risk factors for AD have been identified, only a fraction of AD cases can be explained by specific gene mutations. Studies of twins have been helpful in investigating the relative importance of genetic and environmental influences in disease development. For example, if identical (monozygotic) twins do not both have a disease, environmental factors may be implicated for its occurrence.
Nearly Half of People Who Need Cholesterol Treatment Don’t Get It
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Even though treatment for cholesterol disorders can reduce the risk of heart and blood vessel disease by about 30 percent over five years, many at-risk people aren’t getting adequate treatment, according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues reporting in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
“Under-treatment of cholesterol disorders is a major public health challenge,” said lead author David Goff Jr., M.D., Ph.D. “In our study of middle-age and older adults with no symptoms of cardiovascular disease, about a third had cholesterol disorders that would require drug treatment under current guidelines. Yet, only 54 percent of those who needed treatment were getting it.”
UK breast cancer sufferer goes to court for drug
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A woman with early-stage breast cancer went to the High Court on Monday in an attempt to force her local health authority to pay for the potentially life-saving drug Herceptin.
Ann Marie Rogers, 54, was refused the drug after Swindon Primary Care Trust in Wiltshire said it would not fund the treatment, which costs around 20,000 pounds ($36,000) a year.
Most Common Hepatitis C Virus Type Grown in Lab for First Time
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Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) have successfully grown the most common and damaging form of the hepatitis C virus in human liver cell cultures. This achievement - the first laboratory cultivation of a “genotype 1” hepatitis C virus - is expected to significantly assist antiviral drug and vaccine discovery programs.
Such efforts are critically important in devising better methods for managing a disease that chronically infects approximately 200 million people worldwide. The most effective treatment for hepatitis C, interferon-based therapy, eradicates the virus less than 50 percent of the time and causes debilitating side effects.
India plans to take tea out of tea and biscuits
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For the country’s health conscious, the everyday Indian ritual of sweet, milky tea and snacks could be about to lose something—the tea.
Scientists in the world’s largest tea producer are developing “tea biscuits” containing only the life-enhancing qualities of the country’s favorite brew.
Cutting heart risks early could add years to life
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The number of cardiovascular risk factors people have at age 50 can have a dramatic impact on their life expectancy, researchers are reporting.
The findings, based on a large, long-running U.S. study, suggest that 50-year-olds who are free of major risk factors like high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes and high cholesterol are unlikely to suffer coronary heart disease or stroke in their lifetime.
Brazil to distribute 25 mln condoms for Carnival
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The Brazilian government will distribute 25 million free condoms to promote safe sex during the country’s Carnival holidays, the Health Ministry said on Monday.
The condoms, provided under the government’s acclaimed anti-AIDS program, will be given out at health clinics and in sites like public squares and dances.
Researcher identifies key to macular degeneration progression
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Dr. Jayakrishna Ambati UK HealthCare physician and Associate Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, announced a discovery by his research team that will impact how physicians and patients approach treatment for macular degeneration.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of permanent vision loss among the elderly in many industrialized countries, including the United States. Approximately 15 million people in the U.S. have the early “dry” form of macular degeneration. Of those patients, about ten to 20 percent go on to develop the late-stage or “wet” form of the disease. The earliest clinical indicator of macular degeneration is the presence of drusen, or extracellular deposits that accumulate beneath the retinal pigmented epithelium.
Asthma harder to control in heavy individuals
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The findings from a new study indicate that asthma is more difficult to control in overweight individuals than in their leaner counterparts.
The study, reported in the journal Allergy, shows that a person who is overweight, with a body mass index or BMI of 25 or more, is less apt to go from an unacceptable to an acceptable level of asthma control. By contrast, the transition from acceptable to unacceptable control was not influenced by BMI.
