Thailand confirms case of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza
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The Ministry of Public Health in Thailand has confirmed a case of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza.
The patient, a 17-year-old man from Thap Khlo district of Phichit province in the north, developed symptoms on 15 July, was hospitalized on 20 July and died on 24 July.
Cosmetic Procedures Women Want and Should Want
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Women make up the largest percentage of patients visiting dermatologists’ offices to seek cosmetic treatments and procedures. Dermatologists can provide a variety of options with immediate results for some of women’s most common skin concerns, and even advise patients about treatments which can optimize skin health and that they may not have yet considered.
Speaking today at ACADEMY ‘06, the American Academy of Dermatology’s (Academy) summer scientific meeting, dermatologist Marian E. Northington, M.D., F.A.A.D., of Birmingham, Ala., discussed the most frequent requests women make in the dermatologist’s office and the procedures dermatologists regularly recommend.
“Women want dermatologic procedures that are safe, effective and create the appearance of youth and vitality,” said Dr. Northington. “Dermatologists can help women achieve these goals by listening to the patient’s specific concerns, evaluating the patient’s skin type and recommending treatments that result in the desired appearance.”
Normal weight gain best for most pregnant teens
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Gaining a lot of weight during pregnancy does not help teens have heavier babies, and may also have the unwanted side effect of increasing a mother’s risk of being overweight or obese in the future, research suggests.
Pregnant African American women and adolescents are more likely to have low birth weight babies, and they are often counseled to strive for weight gains at the upper recommended limit in order to ensure that their infants are born at healthier weights.
But there is growing evidence that this advice may do nothing to improve infant health while putting a mother’s health at risk.
Ice cream illusions: bowls, spoons, and self-served portion sizes
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Picking out the perfect bowls and spoons sounds like a concern solely for brides-to-be, but a new study of eating habits suggests that selecting right-sized serving utensils may help dieters avoid unconscious overeating.
Using willing colleagues as guinea pigs, the researchers threw an ice cream social to test whether oversized bowls and extra-large ice-cream scoops caused partygoers to dish up more dessert.
“Just doubling the size of someone’s bowl increased how much people took by 31 percent,” said lead author Brian Wansink, a consumer researcher who studies the psychology of food choice. “We also saw that giving people a scoop that was a little bit larger increased things by about 14.5 percent,” said Wansink, director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University.
Radiation may offer better way to make vaccines
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Vaccines made with bacteria killed by gamma rays may be more effective than those made using standard heat or chemical inactivation, U.S. government researchers said on Wednesday.
Such vaccines do not have to be kept cold, the team at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine reported in the journal Immunity.
Dr. Sandip Datta and colleagues made a vaccine from Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, a common cause of food poisoning.
Early type 2 diabetes ups death risk in middle age
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People who develop type 2 diabetes before 20 years of age have higher rates of end-stage renal disease, and higher mortality rates, when they reach middle age than those who develop diabetes later in life, new research shows.
Type 2 diabetes has been increasing among children and adolescents in large part because of rising rates of obesity, according to the report in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association. The impact of early-onset type 2 diabetes on disease outcomes in adulthood, however, is unclear.
To investigate, Dr. Meda E. Pavkov, from the National Institutes of Health in Phoenix, Arizona, and colleagues analyzed data from a 37-year study of Pima Indians. This population is very prone to develop type 2 diabetes, in some cases as early as 3 or 4 years of age.
Attempt to prevent asthma in at-risk kids fails
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Efforts to avoid exposure to house dust mites along with dietary changes in the first few years of life do not prevent asthma in children with a family history of the condition, new research shows.
Sensitization to house dust mites, and consumption of diets with low amounts of omega-3 fatty acid (such as found in fish oils) relative to omega-6 fatty acid have been linked to asthma.
In a clinical trial, Dr. Guy B. Marks, from the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research in New South Wales, Australia, and colleagues assessed whether attempts to modify these factors could actually prevent asthma and allergic disease in young children.
Burgess bill important step toward ensuring seniors get needed health care
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Rep. Michael C. Burgess, MD. (R-TX) took an important step toward replacing the flawed Medicare physician payment formula with the introduction of the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Bill and Quality Improvement Act of 2006.
“This bill is a major step toward ensuring health care access for seniors,” said Cecil B. Wilson, MD, American Medical Association (AMA) Board Chair. “The government plans to cut Medicare reimbursements to physicians by 37 percent over the next nine years, forcing physicians to make tough choices about the way they practice medicine.”
“Physicians want to treat seniors, but the flawed Medicare formula that dictates payments that do not keep pace with the rising costs of providing care is making it increasingly difficult to do so,” said Dr. Wilson. “A recent AMA survey found that nearly half, 45 percent, of physicians will decrease or stop taking new Medicare patients if the first projected cut of five percent goes into effect on January 1.”
Nasal rinsing technique eases sinusitis
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Nasal irrigation, a traditional therapy that has been shown to help people with chronic sinus problems, can be easily learned with a 30-minute group training session, a new study shows.
Patients in the study also reported a sense of “empowerment” because they could use and adjust the technique effectively on their own rather than requiring multiple doctor visits and prescriptions, Dr. David Rabago of the University of Wisconsin at Madison and colleagues report.
Used for thousands of years in the Ayurvedic and Yogic traditions, nasal irrigation involves rinsing the nasal cavity with a saline solution to get rid of mucus that may contain allergens or infectious agents.
Annan pushes AIDS drug makers to lower prices
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U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan encouraged executives from nine drug companies on Monday to lower prices of AIDS medicines and step up efforts to develop AIDS drugs and diagnostics for children.
Annan for the first time included generic drug makers in his latest in a series of meetings with top drug makers at U.N. headquarters over the past five years.
The meetings aim to encourage the pharmaceutical firms to broaden access to AIDS drugs, care and support services in low- and middle-income countries.
Most drug OD deaths due to potent painkillers
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The most common drugs involved in fatal overdoses listed on death certificates are prescription opioid painkillers, often obtained illicitly, investigators report.
The worsening abuse of potent opioid drugs, such as oxycodone or fentanyl, coincides with an increase in the prescribing of these drugs by doctors, who have been encouraged to treat chronic pain more effectively, Dr. Leonard J. Paulozzi and associates explain in their article in the journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety.
However, they say the two trends are not necessarily connected, and they recommend that prevention of opioid abuse should not diminish the quality of care for patients with a legitimate need for pain relief.
Australia scientists work on anti-Alzheimer’s pill
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Australian mental health researchers have developed a once-a-day pill they believe might stop or slow the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, with human trials expected within two months.
A 15-month trial on mice showed the drug called PBT2 reduced the amyloid protein, which many scientists believe causes Alzheimer’s, by 60 percent within 24 hours, said researchers at The Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria.
Institute director George Fink said on Monday the drug attacked one of the root causes of Alzheimer’s, a degenerative brain disease and the most common form of dementia, particularly in people over the age of 65.
Walgreen to open more in-store health clinics
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Walgreen Co., the largest U.S. drugstore company in terms of revenue, on Monday said it plans to open more health clinics within its drugstores, marking the latest move by a pharmacy chain to offer health services that go beyond filling prescriptions.
Earlier this month, CVS Corp., the largest chain in terms of the most stores, said it plans to buy MinuteClinic, the biggest operator of retail-based health clinics in the United States, a move that will help it expand offerings for customers at its drugstores.
Walgreen, based in Deerfield, Illinois, opened 10 Health Corner Clinics in the Kansas City market last week and plans to open nine more in the St. Louis area later this summer.
Parents press China for answer to bad, fake drugs
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Cradled in her mother’s arms, tiny Liang Jiayi stares blankly. Foam begins to flow from her mouth and her body suddenly goes into a spasm.
“She’s cramping,” her father Liang Yongli cries out as he and his wife massage the contorted limbs of the five-year-old.
Jiayi used to be lively and mischievous but everything changed when she was given a vaccine shot against Japanese encephalitis B in August 2003 in a government hospital near her home in Jiangmen, in China’s southern Guangdong province.
Athletic trainers tell how to avoid heat illnesses
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As temperatures soar during these summer months, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) advises that athletes, parents, coaches and medical personnel follow their new recommendations for preventing and treating dehydration, heat stroke and other exertional heat illnesses.
“Some of the worst heat problems happen with highly trained athletes in their teens and twenties,” NATA spokesperson, Dr. Douglas Casa, told Reuters Health.
Athletes may be able to participate in various trainings and practices despite the summer heat, but they should not expect to complete a full practice session, with equipment, on the first day, according to Casa, director of athletic training at the University of Connecticut.
