African mining may be driving TB epidemic: study
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Poor living and working conditions for miners of gold, diamonds and other precious metals have contributed significantly to tuberculosis (TB) epidemics across Africa, scientists said on Tuesday.
Researchers from Britain and the United States said their study suggested that crowded living and working conditions, dust in mines, and the spread of HIV mean Africa’s mining industry may figure in up to 760,000 new cases of TB each year.
Men travelling from afar to work in mines, such as from Botswana to South Africa, are at the greatest risk of getting TB, the researchers wrote in a study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Exercise During and After Cancer Treatment Now Encouraged
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Cancer patients who’ve been told to rest and avoid exercise can – and should – find ways to be physically active both during and after treatment, according to new national guidelines. Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and a member of the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, will present these guidelines at an educational session at the 2010 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, aimed at making cancer exercise rehabilitation programs as common as those offered to people who have had heart attacks or undergone cardiac surgery. (Exercise Testing and Prescription for Cancer Survivors: Guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine)
Schmitz, whose previous research reversed decades of cautionary exercise advice given to breast cancer patients with the painful arm-swelling condition lymphedema, led a 13-member American College of Sports Medicine expert panel that developed the new recommendations after reviewing and evaluating literature on the safety and efficacy of exercise training during and after cancer therapy.
New Cutting-edge Surgery Provides Relief for People with Foot Drop
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A new surgery that involves an expendable, functioning muscle from the top of the leg and a nerve below the knee can give people with foot drop a new bounce in their step.
“Foot drop is a condition where there is weakness in the muscles that raise the foot up at the ankle,” said Dr. Kevin Varner, an orthopedic surgeon with The Methodist Hospital in Houston. “People with foot drop are unable to clear their foot from the ground when swinging the foot forward. This condition is often very embarrassing and is usually caused by trauma such as a knee dislocation or penetrating injury that damages the nerve.”
People with foot drop can wear a brace that help pick their foot up, but it is often cumbersome. Another treatment is a tendon transfer, which involves moving the tendon from the back of the leg to the front and re-routing tendon function.
