A More Convenient HIV Treatment Is as Effective as More Complex Regimens
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Regimens to treat HIV infection that are based on a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) are at least as effective as treatment with a protease inhibitor but require patients to take fewer pills each day, according to a new study funded in part by HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
The study, published in the October 28 online issue of the Lancet, found that disease progression was similar for both regimens, but NNRTI-based treatment appeared more effective at decreasing the amount of virus in the blood. The number of patients who stopped treatment because of adverse events was similar for both medications.
The new study is the first to review all published research that directly compares the two classes of antiretroviral drugs used in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). NNRTI-based regimens were found to be up to 60 percent more likely to suppress the amount of virus in patients’ blood than protease inhibitor-based regimens. The percentage of patients who died or experienced disease progression were similar between the two treatments, and the number of patients who stopped taking the medications because of side effects or adverse events was also similar.
Teen girls make better health choices with intervention program
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Teens around the world are becoming more overweight. Findings from a Rutgers University research study indicate a health intervention can help curb this disturbing health trend. The intervention - TEEN ESTEEM™ - is a health and fitness program for adolescent girls attending Trenton Central High School (TCHS), an inner-city school with a mostly African American and Latino population. For two consecutive years, researchers have been examining the effect of an innovative physical fitness and nutrition program on measures of cardiovascular fitness and self-esteem and found the students are making better health choices. Many of those at highest risk successfully lowered their BMI scores. Lipid levels analyzed in year two demonstrated participants’ Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) levels - the unhealthy cholesterol - decreased significantly.
Combination therapy appears more effective than single drug for lower urinary tract symptoms
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Men with overactive bladder and lower urinary tract symptoms who received a combination therapy were more likely to report improvement in symptoms than men who received only one medication, according to a study in the November 15 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on men’s health.
Steven A. Kaplan, M.D., of Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, presented the findings of the study today at a JAMA media briefing on men’s health in New York.
Overactive bladder is a syndrome characterized by urinary urgency, usually with increased urination frequency during the day and night. An estimated 10 million men 40 years or older have symptoms consistent with overactive bladder, according to background information in the article. Lower urinary tract symptoms include urinary hesitancy and intermittency and weak urinary stream. Some men with these symptoms do not respond to treatment with common medications.
Sleep apnea patients at higher risk for deadly heart disease, says new SLU research
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People with sleep apnea could also be at risk for a particular kind of deadly heart arrhythmia, finds Saint Louis University researchers. They presented the findings this week at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions meeting in Chicago.
Researchers looked at 134 patients with coronary heart disease who hadn’t been diagnosed with a sleep disorder. In the patients who had a type of an irregular heartbeat called ventricular premature contraction, more than 40 percent also had severe sleep apnea – and didn’t realize it.
“The real worry is that benign arrhythmia can be a harbinger of a much more serious – and lethal – heart rhythm disorder,” says principal investigator Raj Bhalodia, M.D., of Saint Louis University School of Medicine. “While most people with the mild version of arrhythmia will be just fine, in some people, it’s possible it can worsen during the night and lead to sudden death.”
Radioactive iodine linked to thyroid disease
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The long-term risk of developing a tumor in the thyroid gland or autoimmune thyroiditis, a progressive inflammatory disease of the thyroid, is increased after exposure to radioactive iodine in childhood, according to a re-analysis of data from children exposed to radiation from a nuclear test site in Nevada.
Since 1965, researchers have been studying children exposed to radioactive iodine from nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site from 1951 through 1962.
In 1993, Dr. Joseph L. Lyon, of the University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, and colleagues, reported that among the 2,497 subjects examined, there was an association between radiation exposure from the Nevada Test Site and thyroid tumors.
Flu shot linked to small risk of brain disorder
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The flu vaccine can slightly raise the risk of a potentially disabling neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome, researchers said on Monday, but they stressed the vaccine’s benefits far outweigh its risks.
Canadian researchers, writing in the journal of the Archives of Internal Medicine, estimated that one to two people per million who get the flu vaccine will develop Guillain-Barre syndrome as a result. The ailment normally affects about one of every 100,000 people per year.
Diseased gums raise risk of pancreatic cancer
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Gum disease may increase the risk of developing deadly pancreatic cancer, even among those who have never smoked, according to research reported today in Boston at the American Association for Cancer Research’s Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Meeting.
Two previous studies found positive associations between tooth loss or periodontitis (inflammation of the gums around the teeth) and pancreatic cancer. However, “residual confounding” by smoking and other known risk factors may have accounted for the findings.
To investigate further, Dr. Dominique S. Michaud of Harvard School of Public Health, Boston and colleagues analyzed 16 years of health data on nearly 52,000 male doctors in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. This ongoing study, initiated in 1986, is looking at lifestyle factors related to cancer and other chronic diseases.
Fatigue in women is reduced in stress-related cortisol study
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Focus on healthy women is a first, may apply to many health conditions
Mattie Tops and colleagues are looking at strategies to target a mechanism possibly shared in numerous stress conditions in women.
Click here for more information.
A study of healthy women has harvested results involving fatigue and vigor that eventually may help researchers fine tune efforts to treat a multitude of illnesses and syndromes linked to low levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Lots of sweet food and drink increases risk of pancreatic cancer
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The high consumption of sweetened food and drink increases the risk of developing pancreatic cancer, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet.
A heavy intake of fizzy drinks, creamed fruit and sugar in coffee are three common ways of increasing the risk.
Pancreatic cancer is a very serious form of cancer that is possibly caused when the pancreas produces heightened levels of insulin as a consequence of upset glucose metabolism. A well-known way of increasing insulin production is to eat a lot of sugar. Scientists have now, for the first time, shown that the consumption of sweetened food and drink affects a person’s chances of developing pancreatic cancer.
Chinese bird flu expert will head the WHO
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Dr. Margaret Chan, a Chinese expert on bird flu, is to be the next head of the World Health Organization (WHO).
It is expected that the World Health Assembly will approve the appointment of Dr. Chan as the director-general of WHO, making her the first Chinese person to head a major UN agency.
Dr. Chan will replace South Korea’s Lee Jong-wook who died suddenly last May three years into his five-year term.
Diets and heart health - no difference between low carb and low fat
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A new study has shown that when it comes to diet programs and heart health, there is little to choose between low carbohydrate diets such as the popular Atkins plan and typical low-fat diets.
The researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health say neither is more likely to either cause heart disease, or prevent it.
Cost-effectiveness of lipid screening in Hodgkin’s disease survivors
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Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivors who have lipid screening every five years to detect high cholesterol will live a half year longer than patients who don’t have the screening and the intervention is cost-effective, according to a study presented November 8, 2006, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology’s 48th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
“Although physicians are aware that Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivors are at increased risk of heart disease, it hasn’t been well-established how to best monitor these patients,” said Aileen Chen, M.D., M.P.P, lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston. “Our study shows that lipid screening in Hodgkin’s survivors is cost effective and provides physicians with a guideline on how frequently they should be screening for high cholesterol, an important risk factor for heart disease.”
Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus tricks cells to become tumors
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Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered how the Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) subverts a normal cell process in order to promote tumor growth.
The finding, published in the most recent issue of PLoS Pathogens, offers new potential strategies for treating Kaposi’s sarcoma and other cancers associated with viruses.
“No R movies” rule may curb kids’ smoking, drinking
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Parents may help prevent the early use of cigarettes and alcohol by their preteen kids by outlawing R-rated movies. Many parents don’t, however.
The findings come from a study by Dr. Madeline A. Dalton of Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, New Hampshire and colleagues, who looked at the role of parents in monitoring and limiting children’s exposure to R-rated movies and whether this was associated with a lower risk of teen drinking and smoking.
Evidence suggests, the investigators point out in the medical journal Pediatrics, that portrayals of cigarette smoking and drinking in the movies, particularly R-rated movies, may fuel tobacco and alcohol use among children and adolescents who may see it as okay or cool.
Exercise might lower kids’ hay fever risk
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Regular physical activity might offer children some protection from the sniffs and sneezes of hay fever, a study suggests.
German researchers found that among the 1,700 children they followed for up to 12 years, those who were inactive at the study’s start were 50 percent more likely to develop hay fever, compared with their regularly active peers.
According to the researchers, their findings are unlikely to be a case of “reverse causality,” where hay fever caused some children to avoid outdoor activities. For one, the study followed the children over time, documenting new cases of hay fever. In addition, sedentary children were inactive year-round, not only during pollen season.
