Public Health
Alzheimer’s: Who’s Taking Care of the Caregiver?
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About 300,000 Canadians over 65 suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, and 17% of Canadians have someone with the disease in their family, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada. People who suffer from Alzheimer’s usually receive long-term help and support from caregivers. But who is taking care of these caregivers? Researchers are finding ways to help caregivers stay mentally and physically healthy, overcome their challenges, and better understand the disease.
Several experts from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) are available to comment on different aspects related to the health issues experienced by caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients on January 13.
Experts:
Preventing distress in Alzheimer’s caregivers
International experts weigh-in on harmful algal blooms
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An international group of scientists is linking nutrient pollution in the world’s coastal seas to an increase in the number of harmful algal blooms reported in recent years. When harmful algal blooms (HAB’s) occur, they taint seafood with toxins, cause human respiratory and skin irritations and cause fish or mammal kills in coastal waters.
In the December edition of the journal Harmful Algae, scientists present a compilation of 21 articles outlining the role of nutrient pollution in the increasing frequency of these events.
“Harmful algal blooms can have direct effects on human health and the environmental balance of our coastal waters,” said journal editor and University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science researcher Dr. Patricia Glibert. “By tapping the expertise of many of the world’s leading voices on harmful algal blooms, this series of papers hopes to elevate this issue to the forefront of coastal management issues needing immediate attention.”
Pollution at home often lurks unrecognized
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Many people may be surprised by the number of chemicals they are exposed to through everyday household products, a small study finds, suggesting, researchers say, that consumers need to learn more about sources of indoor pollution.
In interviews with 25 women who’d had their homes and bodies tested for various environmental pollutants, researchers found that most were surprised and perplexed by the number of chemicals to which they’d been exposed.
The women had been part of a larger study conducted by the Silent Spring Institute in which their homes and urine samples were tested for 89 environmental contaminants—including pesticides and chemicals found in plastics, cleaning products and cosmetics.
Hospice rules may deter some African Americans
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African Americans are less likely than whites to seek end-of-life hospice care—and a new study suggests that hospice admission criteria may be partially to blame.
The researchers found that compared with whites African Americans are more likely to want to continue aggressive treatment and expressed a need for more services.
The findings also suggest it might be time to redesign hospice enrollment rules, the investigators suggest.
Nail biters to be treated in a special treatment centre in the Netherlands
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The world’s first treatment centre for nail biters is to open in the Netherlands next month.
Nail biters to be treated in a special treatment centre in the NetherlandsDirector of the new centre in Venlo, Alain-Raymond van Abbe of the Institute for Pathological Onychophagy (IPO) says he and his team have invented an aid to make nail-biting impossible.
“This is the first place ever to tackle this very serious problem,” he explained. “We are expecting clients from all over the world.”
Botulinum Toxin Provides New Treatment Option
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For patients with an uncommon condition causing a swollen appearance of the lower face, treatment with botulinum toxin type A (Botox) provides an effective alternative to plastic surgery, according to a study in the November Journal of Craniofacial Surgery. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry.
Dr. Gianpaolo Tartaro and colleagues of Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Italy, report on the use of botulinum toxin type A to treat patients with masseteric muscle hypertrophy (MMH). Patients with MMH have painless enlargement of the masseter (cheek) muscles, causing a swollen or “square-faced” appearance. The cause of MMH is unknown. In the past, the only treatment option was plastic surgery to remove part of the masseter muscle and/or jawbone.
Botulinum Toxin Provides New Treatment Option
Dr. Tartaro and colleagues used botulinum toxin type A to treat MMH in five patients—three women and two men, aged 46 to 56 years. Known by the brand name Botox, botulinum toxin is commonly used for cosmetic plastic surgery, including treatment of forehead wrinkles. Injected into muscles, the toxin blocks nerve transmission, causing those muscles to relax.
Doctors don’t exercise enough either: survey
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When it comes to exercise, many doctors may need to start practicing what they preach, a survey of young UK physicians suggests.
In fact, researchers found, the 61 junior doctors they surveyed were less likely to get regular, moderate exercise than other Britons their age.
National studies have estimated that about 44 percent of UK adults between the ages of 25 and 34 meet experts’ general recommendations on exercise—at least 30 minutes of moderate activity, like brisk walking, five times per week. In this study, only 21 percent of junior doctors met that goal.
The finding is concerning, in part, because physically active doctors may be more likely to give their patients exercise advice, the researchers report in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
School program helps kids manage asthma
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An asthma education program given in school may help urban, low-income children better manage the lung condition, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that an asthma education program offered at inner-city schools in Oakland, California, was able to improve students’ symptoms and reduce the number of visits to the emergency room for asthma attacks.
Over three years, nearly 1,000 middle school and high school students took part in the program, dubbed “Kickin’ Asthma.” The four-session program, led by a trained nurse, taught asthmatic students how to avoid symptom triggers, catch warning signs of an asthma attack and take their medication properly.
Spider love: Little guys get lots more
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Big males outperform smaller ones in head-to-head mating contests but diminutive males make ten times better lovers because they’re quicker to mature and faster on their feet, a new study of redback spiders reveals.
Published in the current online issue of Journal of Evolutionary Biology, the study shows the importance of maturation in defining mating and paternity success. In field enclosures, researchers simulated two competitive contexts favouring the development of differently sized male redbacks (Latrodectus hasselti). The larger males were more successful at mating with and impregnating females when they competed directly with smaller males. However, when faster maturing smaller males were given a one-day head start, reflecting their earlier maturation in nature, they had a ten-times higher paternity rate than larger males.
Courtship between redbacks lasts an average of 50 minutes when males are competing and 4.5 hours for single, non-competing males. Copulation lasts from 6 to 31 minutes, and males are usually injured or killed during the process.
Many Americans miss exercise goals
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Many Americans are failing to meet the minimum recommendations for exercise, although confusing guidelines are making it difficult to assess, researchers reported on Thursday.
Depending on which federal exercise recommendations are used, either about half or about two-thirds of Americans meet minimum goals, the team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.
“Additional efforts are needed to further increase physical activity,” they concluded in the CDC’s weekly report on death and disease.
Nigeria to launch mass polio immunization drive
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Nigeria will launch a new campaign to vaccinate millions of children against polio Wednesday in an attempt to curb the spread of the disease that has crippled hundreds this year, the World Health Organization said.
Africa’s most populous country, which accounts for more than 50 percent of new polio cases in the world, has struggled to tame the contagious disease since some states in the mainly Muslim north imposed a year-long vaccine ban in mid-2003.
New polio infections in Nigeria have climbed 225 percent to 751 this year from the same period last year because many children in the north missed several rounds of immunization toward the end of 2007, health officials said.
Cancer incidence and mortality drops among American men and women, according to annual report
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The overall incidence of cancer and death due to cancer dropped for the first time in men and women in the United States, according to a report published in the November 25 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Each year the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries provide a report on current cancer trends in the United States. Because smoking accounts for approximately 30 percent of all cancer deaths nationwide, this year’s report includes state-by-state information on lung cancer incidence and mortality, as well as on trends of tobacco use and control.
The overall decline in incidence and mortality is due largely to decreases in the three most common cancers in men (prostate, lung, and colorectal) and in two of the three most common in women (breast and colorectal cancer). Although lung cancer mortality in women has stabilized nationally since 2003, the only state to show a statistically significant decline was California. By contrast, lung cancer incidence or mortality increased in 18 states, most of which are in the Midwest or South.
Health care reform: No revolution in sight
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A new study involving health care systems in 21 countries—and the prospects for change in response to such common pressures as rising costs and aging populations—casts doubt on the possibility of major overhauls of any of these systems because of the history and traditions that created them.
The findings, published on Friday in the online issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, comes as the election of President-elect Barack Obama and his cabinet choices concerning health have increased speculation of substantial changes ahead for the unwieldy U.S. health care system.
“Our findings explain, to the dismay of many who would like to see more radical change in the U.S., why President-elect Obama’s campaign proposal regarding health care reform was pretty much a center proposal, compared to Sen. McCain’s to the right,” said Indiana University sociologist Bernice Pescosolido.
Cancer survival rates impact type of Web communities used by patients
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Online support communities for high survival rate cancers contain a greater amount of emotional support content than online support communities for cancers with low survival rates, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Health System and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.
The researchers also found that support communities for low survival rate cancers contain a greater amount of informational support content than online support communities for high survival rate cancers.
“Online communities have become an important resource for individuals seeking emotional and informational social support related to cancer,” says senior author Caroline Richardson, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Health System.
Thanksgiving food cost up 6 percent: farm group
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U.S. consumers won’t be thankful for low food prices this year, as shoppers will pay 6 percent more for a traditional Thanksgiving meal that includes turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, the largest U.S. farm group said on Thursday.
The American Farm Bureau Federation grocery list of 12 items estimated the average cost of this year’s Thanksgiving feast for a family of 10 will cost $44.61, an increase of $2.35 from last year’s average of $42.26.
“Food prices rode the energy price roller coaster up during the first half of 2008, and as the year winds down, energy prices have moderated somewhat but food prices have not come down,” said Jim Sartwelle, a Farm Bureau economist.
