Many Hispanics with diabetes unaware of potential eye disease, do not receive eye exams
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Hispanic patients with diabetes appear to have less frequent eye examinations than the national average for Hispanic individuals, and many are not aware of the potential ocular complications of diabetes, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
One in five Hispanic individuals older than 40 years currently has diabetes, and almost half have diabetic retinopathy, a related eye disease, according to background information in the article. “The limited use of health care services in minority groups may make them more susceptible to the complications of uncontrolled diabetes,” the authors write. “In addition, a substantial proportion of those with diabetes are unaware of their condition, although already presenting signs of moderate to severe diabetic retinopathy. The importance of appropriate and timely care for diabetic retinopathy or macular edema [swelling in the retina] is paramount, as it is the leading cause of visual loss among working-age Hispanic individuals.”
Beatriz Muñoz, M.Sc., of the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and colleagues interviewed 349 randomly selected Hispanic individuals without diabetes and a group of 204 Hispanic individuals with diabetes. Participants answered questions about demographic information, health care habits and knowledge of diabetes and diabetic retinopathy.
Joint replacement may improve osteoarthritis symptoms in older adults
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Older adults who have hip or knee replacement surgery for severe osteoarthritis may take several weeks to recover but appear to have excellent long-term outcomes, according to a report in the July 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
As the U.S. population ages, the number of older adults with osteoarthritis is increasing, according to background information in the article. The disease causes debilitating pain and often restricts older adults’ mobility. Non-invasive treatments such as medications and physical therapy appear to be of limited value for the advanced stages of osteoarthritis. However, surgery may be associated with risks and discomfort.
Mary Beth Hamel, M.D., M.P.H., and colleagues at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, studied medical decision-making and treatment outcomes in 174 patients age 65 and older (average age 75.2) who had severe osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. Participants’ arthritis symptoms and functional status were assessed at the beginning of the study, between 2001 and 2004, and again 12 months later. Patients who chose to have joint replacement surgery were assessed six weeks, six months and 12 months after the procedure.
Pioneering heart surgeon DeBakey dies at age 99
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Surgeon Michael DeBakey, whose ground-breaking heart transplants and coronary bypass operations made him one of the giants of 20th century medicine, has died at age 99.
The Baylor College of Medicine and Methodist Hospital said DeBakey died on Friday of natural causes. Methodist Hospital in Houston was his primary surgical hospital for many years.
In a career that spanned more than seven decades, DeBakey developed a number of new surgical procedures that now are standard in treating heart ailments and led many to consider him the father of modern cardiovascular surgery.
Heart disease strongly impairs quality of life
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Heart disease can markedly impair a patient’s quality of life with the impact varying by age, gender and racial group, researchers report in the journal Circulation.
The findings indicate that heart disease has the greatest negative effect on the quality of life of people between 18 and 49 years of age, women, and blacks and Hispanics. “Younger people may feel more pressure—especially younger men—in the workplace and may be more threatened by limitations imposed by their disease,” lead author Dr. Jipan Xie said in a statement.
Using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys for 2000 and 2002, Xie, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and associates examined how quality of life differed between people with and those without heart disease in the United States. Of the 37,386 individuals surveyed, 2,091 had heart disease.
Newest fertility treatment may be a diet
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The newest low-tech fertility treatment may be a diet, researchers said on Wednesday after learning that obese men have more abnormal sperm and make less semen.
Their findings, presented at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona, Spain, add to recent research showing that obese women are more likely to be infertile.
“We felt that it was possible that male overweight might contribute to fertility problems, particularly since it is a known risk factor for problems in conceiving among women,” said Dr. Ghiyath Shayeb of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
Special infant formulas cut long-term allergy risk
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Hypoallergenic infant formulas may help lower the long-term risk of allergies in children who are genetically vulnerable to them, a new study suggests.
The products, known as hydrolyzed infant formulas, are designed to lower the likelihood of the allergic responses some infants have to standard formula.
Like standard formula, hydrolyzed products contain cow’s milk proteins; the difference is that the proteins are broken down so that they are less allergenic than the whole proteins in regular formula.
Man says prescription drug caused gambling problem
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A former Wall Street banker who said he lost $3 million from compulsive gambling caused by a popular drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease is suing companies involved with the drug for his losses.
The lawsuit, filed in New York State Court on Tuesday, accuses the privately held German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer and Pharmacia & Upjohn of breach of warranty, negligence and negligent misrepresentation.
Randolph Simens, 55, said that he took the drug, Mirapex, from 2002 to 2007 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and suffering hand tremors.
High failure rate seen after some ACL repairs
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Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using a replacement ligament from a cadaver has a high failure rate in young, active adults, according to a study reported Thursday at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine conference in Orlando, Florida.
The ACL is a key ligament inside the knee that helps keep it stable. Located in the center of the knee joint, it runs from the thigh bone to the shin bone through the center of the knee. Typically, tearing the ACL occurs with a sudden direction change. To repair a torn ACL, a surgeon replaces the damaged ligament with a new one, either from a cadaver or the patient’s own body.
Among 64 patients younger than age 40 with high activity levels who had ACL reconstruction with a cadaver replacement ligament and were followed for a minimum of 2 years, the grafted ligament failed in 15 (23.4 percent). Graft failure was defined as need for repeat ACL reconstruction due to injury or graft failure or poor scores on a combination of orthopaedic outcome measures.
Many people in US lack optimally fluoridated water
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Increased usage of community water fluoridation has been credited with markedly reducing the prevalence and severity of tooth decay in the US in the past 60 years, but new research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that in many states the availability of optimally fluoridated water is lacking.
Overall, the percentage of the US population served by public water systems who received optimally fluoridated water rose from 62.1 percent in 1992 to 65.0 percent in 2000 and to 69.2 percent in 2006. The Healthy People 2010 objective is to increase the percentage to 75 percent.
However, the findings, which appear in Friday’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the CDC, also indicate high variability between states in the percentage of persons receiving optimally fluoridated water.
Eating disorders predict poor function in new moms
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New mothers with a history of an eating disorder appear to have a difficult time adjusting to motherhood, study findings suggest.
Among 44 first-time mothers recruited from prenatal clinics in Stockholm, Sweden, over 90 percent with a history of anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa reported problems adjusting to motherhood in the first 3 months after childbirth, report Dr. Angelica Linden Hirschberg and colleagues from the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm.
The researchers found that 24 of women had a history of anorexia nervosa, an aversion to food and weight gain that can result in life-threatening weight loss. Another 20 had a history of bulimia nervosa, characterized by binge eating, self-induced vomiting, or excessive exercise to prevent weight gain.
Anorexia, ‘bigorexia’ may have same genetic roots
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A new study with twins suggests that for men, the obsession with being too small and undeveloped, known as muscle dysmorphic disorder, may share the same genetic underpinnings as anorexia nervosa.
In five twin pairs, each including one male with anorexia nervosa, Finnish researchers found a “striking familial liability” for traits related to the eating disorder, including major depression, muscle dysmorphic disorder (which is sometimes called ‘bigorexia), and obsessive compulsive disorder. The findings suggest that all of the symptoms have similar genetic roots, the researchers point out.
Anorexia nervosa is rare in men, and the course of the disease is poorly understood, Dr. Anu Raevuori of the University of Helsinki in Finland and colleagues note. To better understand how the illness progresses in men, and to examine the potential familial factors, they identified the five twin pairs from a group of 2,122 male twins born in Finland between 1975 and 1979.
Obesity levels in China rising fast, study finds
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Obesity levels in China are rising fast, with more than a quarter of the population overweight or obese. As people add more meat and dairy products to their diet, serious health problems can develop, a new study says.
Of all the developing countries, only in Mexico is the rate of increase in becoming overweight among adults faster than in China, the study, published in the July/August issue of the journal Health Affairs, says.
“What’s happening in China should be seen as a marker for what is going to hit the rest of the developing world if we fail to act,” said study author Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina.
Breast Asymmetry After Cancer Treatment Affects Quality of Life
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Most women with breast cancer assume that surgery to preserve their breast will be less disfiguring than a mastectomy that removes the entire breast.
But nearly one-third of women reported pronounced asymmetry between their breasts, and that perceived disfigurement greatly affects a woman’s quality of life after treatment, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The researchers found that compared to women with little to no breast asymmetry, women whose affected breast looked significantly different were twice as likely to fear their cancer recurring and to have symptoms of depression. These women were also more likely to perceive themselves as less healthy and to feel stigmatized by their breast cancer treatment.
Novel Approach May Protect Against Heart Attack Injury
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Researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have manipulated cell activity that occurs during the interruption of blood flow to strongly protect heart tissue in animal studies. The finding has the potential to become an emergency treatment for heart attack patients, particularly since already existing drugs might be pressed into service to produce the protective effects.
“Reduced blood flow, or ischemia, is a major problem in many organs, where it can lead to cell death and tissue damage,” said study leader Peter J. Gruber, M.D., Ph.D., a cardiothoracic surgeon at Children’s Hospital and a faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “We decided to look for a global approach to protecting heart tissue by inhibiting enzymes that govern how cells respond to ischemia.”
Gruber’s team published their findings online July 7 in the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). The article will appear in the journal’s October 2008 print issue.
Heart disease and diabetes: Which statins have been well-investigated?
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All of the five different statins that are licensed for use in Germany can lower the cholesterol level in the blood. But the deciding factor for patients is how well the medicine can prevent heart attacks and other coronary artery problems. From this point of view, simvastatin (marketed under various brand names) is the best tested. It has been shown to lengthen life expectancy of people with diabetes and particular heart diseases.
The statins are medicines that might be able to lower the risk of another heart attack among people who have already had one. These five types of statins are licensed for use in Germany: atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, pravastatin and simvastatin. Statins are known as cholesterol-lowering or fat-lowering medicines. This is because they can reduce the levels of cholesterol in the blood.
Many doctors are convinced that this cholesterol-lowering effect is also responsible for lowering the risk of a heart attack. However, it is not known exactly how this might work. Statins have an impact on the blood vessels, and there could also be other, yet unknown effects. Which of these might be responsible for the effectiveness of statins is still unclear.
