Poverty fuels HIV among black heterosexuals
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Poverty is a key reason why African-American heterosexuals have a far higher rate of infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, than other racial groups, a new study suggests.
Between 1999 and 2002, three-quarters of heterosexually transmitted HIV cases in 29 U.S. states were diagnosed among African Americans. But the reasons for the racial disparity have been “elusive,” according to the authors of the new study, led by Dr. Adaora A. Adimora of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
For their study, published in the Journal of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndromes, the researchers interviewed 206 black HIV-positive men and women living in North Carolina, as well as 226 HIV-negative adults.
Thyroid cancer raises risk of second cancer
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After surviving cancer of the thyroid, the risk of a second different cancer is elevated by about 30 percent, according to results of a new study. Conversely, many cancers are associated with increased risk of subsequent thyroid cancer.
Dr. Mark W. J. Strachan, from Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, UK, and colleagues note that the increased rate and improved prognosis of thyroid cancer, as well as its greater occurrence in children, suggests that other cancers are increasingly likely.
To test this theory, they combined data from 13 population-based cancer registries that have been in operation for at least 25 years in Europe, Canada, Australia, and Singapore. Their findings appear in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Global health gains offset by AIDS, malaria
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Although child mortality has dropped in many regions of the world over the past decade, these gains were offset by increasing number of deaths due to HIV/AIDS and malaria, as well as setbacks in adult mortality in countries of the former Soviet Union, according to results of the 2001 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study.
Dr. Alan D. Lopez, from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and his associates analyzed mortality, incidence, and prevalence for 136 diseases and injuries in seven geographical areas. Their findings appear in the The Lancet this week.
Roughly 56 million people died in 2001. Ischemic heart disease—the type that involves restricted blood flow to the heart—and stroke were the leading causes in all regions, accounting for more than one fifth of all deaths worldwide.
Sedentary arthritis patients risk disability
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Few women with arthritis of the hip may be getting the exercise they need to prevent disability, researchers from Japan report.
Moderate-intensity activity can help ease pain, boost function and stave off disability in people with osteoarthritis, Dr. Soichiro Hirata and colleagues from the Kobe University School of Medicine write. However, a few studies have suggested physical inactivity is common among osteoarthritis sufferers, and may be linked to worse pain, poor health and psychosocial problems.
“Identifying inactive patients is important because they are at risk for disability and are expected to benefit most from increasing their physical activity,” Hirata and his team point out.
Higher-dose statin may benefit some diabetics
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Treating diabetics who have signs of heart disease with a high dose of the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor (80 mg daily), rather than the normal dose of 10 mg daily, can lower the rate of major cardiovascular events by 25 percent, according to a new report.
In the main analysis of data from the study, increasing the dose of Lipitor (also called atorvastatin) was shown to provide significant clinical benefits for patients with heart disease.
In a subanalysis, Dr. James Shepherd of the University of Glasgow and colleagues set out to determin if this benefit applied to patients with heart disease and diabetes as well.
Program ups calcium intake in kids with arthritis
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A behavioral intervention can increase dietary calcium levels and subsequent bone mineral content in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, according to a report in The Journal of Pediatrics.
Children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis may have greater dietary calcium requirements than other children, the authors explain, but rates of long-term compliance with calcium supplement regimens are poor.
Dr. Lori J. Stark from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Ohio and colleagues investigated the impact of a behavioral intervention in 49 children, between 4 and 10 years old, with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and their parents on the maintenance of calcium intake and on bone mass 6 and 12 months after the intervention.
Avoid ADHD drugs, Canada tells heart patients
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Canada’s health ministry on Friday warned individuals with hypertension (high blood pressure), heart disease, clogged arteries (atherosclerosis) or hyperthyroidism not to take drugs used to manage attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Health Canada said that in rare cases, patient with these conditions could suffer “rare heart-related side effects” from these drugs. In a statement, it warned people who are already taking these drugs not to stop before consulting their physician.
“All ADHD drugs stimulate the heart and blood vessels… The effects are usually mild or moderate, but in some patients this stimulation may—in rare cases—result in cardiac arrests, strokes or death,” said Health Canada.
Osteoporosis drug may also normalize heart rate
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Treatment with raloxifene appears to reduce heart rate variability in elderly women with osteoporosis, Turkish researchers report in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
There is some evidence that raloxifene, sold under the trade name Evista, may have a protective effect on women with cardiovascular disease or who have a high risk of developing cardiovascular disease, but the effects are still unclear, Dr. Mert Gol and colleagues at Dokuz Eylul University Hospital, Izmir, note.
The researchers therefore studied 43 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. The women were randomly assigned to raloxifene at 60 mg daily or another drug that prevents or slows down osteoporosis—alendronate (trade name Fosamax) at 10 mg daily.
Virtual coach designed to help smokers quit
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If you’ve tried to give up smoking but don’t have the willpower or are too embarrassed to seek help, Dutch researchers may have the answer.
They are developing a virtual coach to provide smokers with round-the-clock reinforcement to help them kick the habit.
“Shrouded in the anonymity provided by the Internet, smokers can log on to a Web site and type questions and confessions into a chat box,” New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.
Adolescents who live in poverty are more likely to be overweight
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Adolescents aged 15-17 years who live in poverty are more likely to be overweight than those not living in poverty, a difference that has emerged in the past decade, according to a study in the May 24/31 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.
The number of adolescents in the U.S. who are overweight has more than doubled during the past 3 decades. As the prevalence of adolescent overweight continues to increase, so too will its associated consequences, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, poor quality of life, and increased illness and risk of death in adulthood, according to background information in the article. Whether the increasing prevalence of adolescent overweight is characterized by larger, smaller, or unchanged disparities in overweight status across socioeconomic strata has not been known.
Richard A. Miech, Ph.D., M.P.H., of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and colleagues examined trends in the prevalence of overweight among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years by family poverty status. The researchers used data from four cross-sectional, nationally representative surveys (U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys [NHANES] of 1971-1974, 1976-1980, 1988-1994, and 1999-2004).
Muscle training may lessen COPD symptoms
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For people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) such as emphysema, high intensity training of the muscles used for breathing can improve muscle function and reduce dyspnea (difficulty breathing) and fatigue, according to a study.
Still, used alone, such training is unlikely to yield clinically relevant improvements in exercise capacity, which is often a problem for COPD patients, researchers say.
So-called inspiratory muscle training (IMT) “may be of particular benefit to COPD patients who report dyspnea during activities of daily living and/or fatigue, but are unable to effectively participate in whole-body exercise training because of comorbid conditions, such as musculoskeletal impairments,” note Dr. P. R. Eastwood, from the Sir Charles Gairnder Hospital in Nedlands, Western Australia, and colleagues.
U.S. study finds no marijuana link to lung cancer
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Marijuana smoking does not increase a person’s risk of developing lung cancer, according to the findings of a new study at the University of California Los Angeles that surprised even the researchers.
They had expected to find that a history of heavy marijuana use, like cigarette smoking, would increase the risk of cancer.
Instead, the study, which compared the lifestyles of 611 Los Angeles County lung cancer patients and 601 patients with head and neck cancers with those of 1,040 people without cancer, found no elevated cancer risk for even the heaviest pot smokers.
Video games can help cut surgical errors
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A new study suggests that people preparing for surgery ask their doctor: “Have you played your video games today?”
Surgeons who warmed up by playing video games like “Super Monkey Ball” for 20 minutes immediately prior to performing surgical drills were faster and made fewer errors than those who did not, said Dr. James “Butch” Rosser, lead investigator on the study slated for release on Wednesday.
The research involved 303 surgeons participating in a medical training course that included video games and was focused on laparoscopic surgical procedures—which use a tiny video camera and long, slender instruments inserted through small incisions. The study was conducted by Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City in conjunction with the National Institute on Media and the Family.
Identification of molecule that links both sides of the brain
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A Queensland Brain Institute-led team has identified a molecule that plays a key role in establishing the major nerve connections between each side of the adult brain.
QBI neural migration laboratory head Associate Professor Helen Cooper said her group’s research provided new clues regarding development of the corpus callosum, the main connecting nerve tract that shuttles information between the left and right hemispheres of the adult brain.
Using a mouse model, neuroscientists at The University of Queensland - working with Associate Professor Steven Stacker and his team at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Melbourne - have identified a molecule that helps control development of the corpus callosum.
Movement Problems Not the Only Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease
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Many people think that tremors and slow, rigid movements are the only symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, although these are the most noticeable ones, they’re not always the most distressing. In one survey, 88% of PD patients reported troubling non-movement symptoms. If not recognized as part of PD and treated accordingly, these symptoms can have a severe impact on a person’s life, says Harvard Women’s Health Watch.
The newsletter urges people with PD to talk to their neurologists if they experience any of the following:
