More deaths as killer heat wave nears end in US
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A record-breaking U.S. heat wave that has killed more than 150 people nationwide in the past two weeks claimed two more victims on Thursday just as relief was due.
The heat, which has moved east from California, also prompted record electricity demand and continued to force New York businesses to dim their Times Square billboards as part of a citywide conservation effort.
“We have had more record-breaking heat today, a lot of it in New York state,” National Weather Service meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said.
Foul water put swimmers’ health at risk: group
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Foul water forced U.S. officials to issue health warnings or close beaches for more days than ever last year, an environmental group that is suing the government over water safety standards said on Thursday.
The Natural Resources Defense Council said in a report that ocean, bay and Great Lakes beaches were closed or health advisories issued for a total of more than 20,000 days last year, up 5 percent from 2004.
The group blamed the rise in days that the water was found to be unsafe on heavy rain, better monitoring and more coastal development.
Court seeks Coke, Pepsi reply to petition in India
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Local arms of cola giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo were asked by India’s Supreme Court on Friday to respond to a petition seeking to force them to list all chemicals present in their drinks on bottles.
The move comes two days after a local environmental group, the Centre for Science and Environment, said it had found pesticide residues in the companies’ drinks in excess of international guidelines.
But Friday’s hearing had been scheduled weeks before the findings were released.
Vitamin D often low in seemingly healthy girls
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In a study of healthy adolescent girls, researchers found that insufficient vitamin D levels were a relatively common finding, with non-white girls more severely affected.
According to the UK-based study team, “reduced sunshine exposure rather than diet explained the difference in vitamin D status of white and non-white girls” in the study, reported in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
“Vitamin D deficiency during childhood and adolescence,” warn Dr. M. Zulf Mughal and colleagues, “might impair the acquisition of peak bone mass at the end of skeletal growth and maturation, thereby increasing the risk of osteoporotic fracture later in life.”
Diagnosis and referrals for kidney disease fall well short of need
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Results of a national study of 304 U.S. physicians, in which “mock” patients’ symptoms were presented for diagnosis, suggest that a sizeable percentage of primary care doctors probably fail to properly diagnose and refer patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Their findings, reported in the August issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases, show that of 126 kidney specialists surveyed, 97 percent properly diagnosed CKD and 99 percent would have recommended specialized kidney care for the “patient.” But only 59 percent of the 89 family physicians and 78 percent of 89 general internal medicine physicians fully recognized the signs and symptoms of CKD. And referrals to a nephrologist were made by only 76 percent of the family physicians and only 81 percent of general internists.
“We, as physicians, can certainly do better,” says L. Ebony Boulware, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and lead author of the study.
Longer needles best for infant immunisation
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Infants vaccinated with a long needle experience fewer reactions but get the same protection (immunogenicity) as a shorter needle, finds a study published on bmj.com today.
In the UK, primary care practitioners administer infant immunisations at 2, 3 and 4 months of age. Despite recommendations for use of a wide-long (23G, 25mm) needle, many UK practitioners immunise infants using a narrow-short (25G, 16mm) needle and uncertainty has arisen because of insufficient data to define best practice.
In a previous study, researchers from Oxford found that the wider-longer needle significantly reduced local reactions at 4 months of age. However, they did not know whether this was due to difference in needle length or gauge, or whether needle size affected vaccine immunogenicity.
Research ethics requirements compromising quality of health research
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Current research ethics requirements are compromising the scientific quality of health research, warn senior doctors in this week’s British Medical Journal.
Many ethics committees now insist that researchers approach only people who respond positively to a letter from their doctor informing them about an opportunity to take part in research - that is, people must opt in to being contacted by a researcher.
Poorer countries better at health grant implementation
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Low-income countries with less-developed health systems are more likely to have a higher rate of grant implementation than nations with higher incomes and more developed health systems, according to a study in this week’s Lancet.
This is despite claims that the poorest countries cannot use additional resources effectively, a phenomenon known as a low absorptive capacity.
Dr Chunling Lu and colleagues at the Harvard Initiative for Global Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA analysed of rates of grant implementation from The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The investigators assessed the effects of different factors on grant implementation for 265 grants in 86 middle and low income countries.
Severe sleep apnea raises stroke risk in elderly
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Elderly people who have severe sleep apnea are at more than double the risk of having a stroke, even after accounting for other known risk factors for stroke, according to a new report.
Sleep apnea occurs when breathing is briefly but frequently blocked while someone is sleeping. Loud, abrupt snoring is often a sign that this is happening.
In a number of studies, sleep apnea has shown to be related to stroke, Dr. Roberto Munoz, from Hospital de Navarra in Spain, and colleagues note in the medical journal Stroke. However, elderly subjects have largely been excluded from these studies.
States petition US FDA on generic insulin, hormone
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Four governors, looking to ease drug costs under state programs, petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday to provide guidelines for generic versions of insulin and human growth hormone.
The FDA has been developing regulatory advice for companies who want to make cheaper copycat versions of the injectable drugs since 2001, but recently delayed issuing final guidelines.
In their petition, the governors joined other critics in accusing the agency of dragging its feet.
Different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys than in girls
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Like detectives trying to solve a murder case, researchers searching for the biological cause of autism have come up with some surprising suspects.
They’ve found that different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys than in girls.
In addition, the researchers also have discovered that other genes may play a role in the early onset form of the developmental disorder and in the recently verified regression, or late onset, type of autism, according to a new study published today in the online edition of the journal Molecular Genetics.
Smokers who experience significant pain smoke more
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Smokers who experience significant pain smoke more cigarettes per day than those who are not regularly in pain, according to a study published by researchers at the University of Kentucky.
However, more than half of smokers with pain are at least considering quitting smoking.
“While people with pain smoke more, they are just as interested in quitting as those without pain,” said study author Ellen Hahn, professor, UK College of Nursing.
Smoking interacts with genetic risk factors in the development of rheumatoid arthritis
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Smoking interacts with genetic risk factors in the development of rheumatoid arthritis among older Caucasian women
Smoking increases the chance of developing rheumatoid arthritis in women who otherwise lack genetic risk factors for the disease, reveals research published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory disease in which the patient’s immune system attacks the joint linings. It is the most serious and debilitating form of arthritis.
Interaction between genes and environmental factors is considered to be fundamentally important in complex autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
UK recommendations on the availability of common painkillers are being contravened
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UK recommendations concerning the availability of the common painkiller paracetamol are apparently being contravened, suggests a study in Postgraduate Medical Journal.
In September 1998, UK legislation on pack sizes came into effect in a bid to curb the 200 odd deaths attributable to paracetamol poisoning every year in England and Wales. The drug is highly toxic to the liver if taken in excess amounts.
The legislation restricted the size of paracetamol packs available to a maximum of 32 tablets of 500 mg each in pharmacies and to a maximum of 16 tablets in other outlets, such as petrol stations, supermarkets, and corner shops.
Chemicals in curry, onions may shrink colon polyps
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Compounds found in curry and onions may help prevent colon cancer in those at risk, according to findings from a small study released this week.
In the study, patients with pre-cancerous polyps in the colon who took a pill containing a combination of curcumin, which is found in the curry spice turmeric, and quercetin, an antioxidant found in onions, experienced a marked reduction in both the size and number of polyps.
“We believe this is the first proof of principle that these substances have significant effects in patients with FAP (familial adenomatous polyposis),” Dr. Francis M. Giardiello of The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore said in a statement.
