Music may ease symptoms of schizophrenia
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Music therapy many help to ease the depression, anxiety and emotional withdrawal symptoms of schizophrenia, British scientists said on Wednesday.
In a small study in four hospitals, researchers at Imperial College London found that encouraging patients to express themselves through music seemed to improve their symptoms.
“We have known for some time that psychological treatments can help people with schizophrenia, but these have only been used when people are fairly stable,” said Dr. Mike Crawford, the author of the study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Breakthrough in Eye Cancer Treatment
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Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have demonstrated in a mouse model a new, locally applied treatment for the eye cancer retinoblastoma that not only greatly reduces the size of the tumor, but does so without causing the side effects common with standard chemotherapy. The treatment also appears to be suitable for certain forms of breast, lung, prostate and colon cancer, and is simple enough for widespread use even in countries with limited resources.
A report on this work appears in the Nov. 2 issue of the journal Nature.
Retinoblastoma occurs in about 5,000 young children worldwide each year, arising from the immature retina, which is the part of the eye responsible for detecting light and color. The cancer is fatal if left untreated.
Compound in red wine counters effects of a high-calorie diet
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The results of an international study suggests that a compound found in red wine gave mice longer and healthier lives and also countered some of the effects of a high-calorie diet.
The compound resveratrol is found in grapes and other plants and in earlier studies appeared to have life-prolonging qualities.
It seems fish treated with resveratrol lived 60 per cent longer, and fruit flies and worms 30 per cent longer.
The lifetime cost of current HIV care in the United States
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“The Lifetime Cost of Current HIV Care in the United States,” a major study appearing in the November 2006 issue of Medical Care, projects the cost of treatment for HIV-infected adults using current standards of care. The study provides guidance for policy makers so that appropriate funds are allocated for HIV care and prevention.
“Policy makers need accurate and up-to-date predictions of the future expense of HIV treatment if they seek to ensure broad access to high-quality care,” says lead author Dr. Bruce R. Schackman, Chief of the Division of Health Policy in the Department of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College. “If they rely on outdated cost information, treatment programs will be under-funded and the economic value of HIV prevention will be understated.”
Answers (You May Not Know) About Healthier Cooking
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Pass on the salt. Cut back on the sugar. Some easy recipe adjustments may be in order for healthier cooking. The November issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource answers questions about healthier cooking.
Does adding salt to the water when boiling speed up cooking?
Adding salt can increase the temperature at which water boils, but it doesn’t affect cooking times for foods. It adds unneeded sodium, which may contribute to blood pressure concerns. Another reason to pass on the salt: It draws water out of plant cells and can make some vegetables mushy. It can also make beans and peas tough.
New Orleans Doctors Recount Katrina Experiences
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When Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005, New Orleans hospitals were on the front lines of the crisis. In November’s special issue of The American Journal of the Medical Sciences (AJMS), the official journal of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (SSCI), physicians from New Orleans hospitals and medical schools relate their experiences in coping with the destruction and loss of Katrina- as well as their determination to overcome those losses by rebuilding the city’s clinical and educational health care infrastructure.
Several articles in the special issue tell stories of doctors stranded along with patients at New Orleans hospitals - their shock as they realized the extent of the disaster, the heartbreaking scenes of loss and despair they witnessed, and the inspiring responses of dedicated health professionals. Other contributions highlight the arduous process of recovery, from initial efforts to save stranded patients and provide immediate care for evacuees, to ongoing plans for restoring New Orleans’ capacity to provide top-quality care for patients and educational experiences for medical students and residents.
Bone research that grows on you
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Rapid and guided healing of bones has moved a step closer with research by two biomedical engineering students who have found new ways to deliver bone growth enhancers directly to broken or weakened bones.
Major ongoing research at Queensland University of Technology focuses on biodegradable materials that carry bone growth enhancing substances to encourage bones to heal quickly with much less intervention.
The research is ultimately aimed at repairing fractured bones or replacing bone weakened or lost from osteoporosis, cancer or trauma with minimal intervention and without painful and expensive bone grafts or pins and plates.
Drug prescribed for migraines and seizures increases risk of kidney stones
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Topiramate (Topamax), a drug commonly prescribed to treat seizures and migraine headaches, can increase the propensity of calcium phosphate kidney stones, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.
A study - the largest cross-sectional examination of how the long-term use of topiramate affects kidney-stone formation - appears in the October issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.
Several case reports have described an association between topiramate and the development of kidney stones, but this complication had not been well recognized and physicians have not informed patients about the risk, the UT Southwestern researchers said. More important, the mechanism of stone formation was largely unknown previously.
Control Measures Fail to Stop Spread of New H5N1 Virus
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A new variant of the bird flu virus H5N1 emerged in late 2005 and replaced most of the previous variants across a large part of southern China, despite an ongoing program to vaccinate poultry, according to researchers at the University of Hong Kong in collaboration with scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The new virus, called Fujian-like (FL), appears to be responsible for the increased occurrence of H5N1 poultry infections since October 2005, as well as recent human cases in China, the researchers said. FL has now also been transmitted to Hong Kong, Laos, Malaysia, and Thailand, resulting in a new bird flu outbreak wave in Southeast Asia that has caused human infections as well, according to the Hong Kong/St. Jude team.
The investigators also warned that it is possible that this new H5N1 variant will spread further through Asia and into Europe, as it evolves to form other sublineages that vary from place to place. This evolution into different sublineages also occurred during the previous two waves of H5N1 transmission that occurred during the past several years, according to the investigators. A report on these findings appears in the November online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Psychological Approaches Can Help Some Skin Conditions
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If you’ve ever blushed, you know your skin can reflect your feelings. It makes sense, then, that emotional trouble might show up as skin trouble. Although cause and effect can be difficult to pin down, considerable data suggest that in some people, psychological factors can activate or worsen certain skin conditions. Recognizing and treating these psychological issues might help the skin, too, reports the November 2006 issue of Harvard Women’s Health Watch.
Interest in the mind-skin connection has led to a field called psychodermatology. Its aim is not to substitute psychotherapy for medicine, but to recognize emotional issues that may affect the way skin problems respond to medical treatment.
