U.S. blacks lag whites in colorectal cancer progress
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Colorectal cancer diagnoses and deaths have fallen in the United States this decade, but the gap in progress between whites and blacks is widening, the American Cancer Society said on Monday.
Improvement has come about chiefly due to prevention and early detection through colonoscopy and other screening methods recommended starting at age 50, the group said in a report.
Colorectal cancer, which includes cancer of the colon and rectum, ranks third among all types of cancer in the United States both in the number of people who get it and in the number who die, but rates have been falling since the 1980s.
Diabetes may be linked to risk of lymphoma
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More cases of blood cancers classified as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, or NHL, seem to occur among people with diabetes than those without, researchers report.
“Although the relative risk is moderate, given the rapidly increasing incidence and prevalence of diabetes, the number of incident cases of NHL attributed to diabetes can potentially be very high,” Dr. Anastassios G. Pittas and colleagues point out in their report in the medical journal Diabetes Care.
Pittas, at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, and his team found 16 previous studies reporting an association between diabetes and NHL.
Drug for ecoptic pregnancy won’t harm ovaries
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Use of a single dose of the drug methotrexate to treat ectopic pregnancy does not appear to curb a woman’s fertility, according to Spanish researchers.
An ectopic pregnancy occurs when the fertilized egg is implanted outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tubes. These pregnancies can result in bleeding and death if the embryo is not removed, either surgically or with drug therapy.
To see whether methotrexate therapy for ectopic pregnancy impairs future fertility, researchers measured blood levels of a protein called anti-Müllerian hormone or AMH, which is an indicator of “ovarian reserve.”
Joint pain is increased in breast cancer patients
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Joint pain is more common and more severe in women with breast cancer than age-matched women without breast cancer, researchers reported at the 2008 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
The extent and impact of joint pain as a result of treatment for breast cancer should not be underestimated, Dr. Deborah Fenlon, with the University of Southampton, UK, noted, since joint pain may disrupt patients’ lives for years after treatment has stopped.
Fenlon and colleagues analyzed responses to questionnaires completed by 247 women with breast cancer following treatment and 272 women without breast cancer having routine mammograms. The average time since diagnosis in the breast cancer group was 36 months.
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.
ACL repair often unnecessary: study
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Most people who tear the main ligament responsible for stabilizing the knee do not need surgery to rebuild it, according to a study in which researchers compared surgery to physical therapy.
“Our research showed that reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), which is quite common, is not a prerequisite for restoring muscle function,” Dr. Eva Ageberg of Lund University, Sweden, told Reuters Health. She and her colleagues note that about half of Swedish patients who rupture the ligament undergo reconstructive surgery, while 90 percent of US patients do.
People who injure the ACL lose stability in the knee, boosting their risk of developing osteoarthritis. But despite widespread use of ACL reconstructive surgery, there is no evidence that patients who have the operations are any less likely to develop osteoarthritis.
Computer-Aided Mammography Finds More Cancer, More False Positives
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Computer programs designed to help radiologists could identify more cases of breast cancer, but they might also increase the number of false-positive results, which can lead to biopsies in healthy women, according to a recent systematic review.
Using computer-aided detection (CAD) mammography, “you do catch some cases that would have been missed if the mammogram had been read only by a single radiologist,” said review author Meredith Noble, a research analyst at ECRI Institute.
Typically, a radiologist examines a woman’s screening mammogram to check for signs of cancer. When using CAD with mammography, the radiologist still reads the mammogram, but a computer program also evaluates the mammogram and marks suspicious areas for the radiologist to review further.
Obesity gene linked with calorie consumption
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The gene mutation associated with obesity—the FTO gene—does not appear to regulate how calories are burned calories, but may influence the amount and choice of food consumed, according to a UK report published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
FTO gene mutations have shown the strongest association with obesity to date, Dr. Colin N. A. Palmer at the University of Dundee, Scotland, and colleagues point out. Yet, the mechanisms by which FTO mutations promote obesity have been unclear.
In 2,726 Scottish children between 4 and 10 years of age, the researchers tested for the FTO mutation rs9939609. All of the children underwent height and weight measurements. In 97 subjects, the link between the FTO mutation and amount of body fat, calories burned and food consumed was explored.
Sugar can be addictive, at least in rats
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A study of rats offers scientific proof for what many dieters already know: Sugar can be addictive.
“Bingeing on sugar can act on the brain in ways very similar to a drug abuse,” said Bart Hoebel of Princeton University in New Jersey, who presented his findings on Wednesday at a meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in Scottsdale, Arizona.
He said bingeing on sugar water produced behavioral and even neurochemical changes in rats that resembled the changes produced when animals or people take substances of abuse.
“These animals show signs of withdrawal and even long-lasting aftereffects that might resemble craving,” Hoebel told reporters in a telephone briefing.
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.
Fibrate drug does not cut heart risks in diabetics
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Long-term treatment with fenofibrate, a type of fibrate drug often used to lower cholesterol, does not reduce coronary plaques or signs of “atherosclerosis” in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Prior research has suggested that fibrate therapy can have beneficial cardiovascular effects. However, in the main analysis of the Fenofibrate Intervention and Event Lowering in Diabetes (FIELD) study, researchers found that treatment with fenofibrate did not reduce heart attacks in type 2 diabetics.
The focus of this FIELD substudy was to determine if fenofibrate therapy reduced atherosclerosis, a main risk factor for heart attacks, in patients with type 2 diabetes. Included were 170 patients randomly assigned to receive fenofibrate or inactive “placebo” for 5 years.
Sugar can be addictive, Princeton scientist says
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A Princeton University scientist will present new evidence today demonstrating that sugar can be an addictive substance, wielding its power over the brains of lab animals in a manner similar to many drugs of abuse.
Professor Bart Hoebel and his team in the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute have been studying signs of sugar addiction in rats for years. Until now, the rats under study have met two of the three elements of addiction. They have demonstrated a behavioral pattern of increased intake and then showed signs of withdrawal. His current experiments captured craving and relapse to complete the picture.
“If bingeing on sugar is really a form of addiction, there should be long-lasting effects in the brains of sugar addicts,” Hoebel said. “Craving and relapse are critical components of addiction, and we have been able to demonstrate these behaviors in sugar-bingeing rats in a number of ways.”
Selenium, Vitamin E Do Not Prevent Prostate Cancer
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Findings from one of the largest cancer chemoprevention trials ever conducted have concluded that selenium and vitamin E taken alone or in combination for an average of five and a half years did not prevent prostate cancer, according to a team of researchers coordinated by the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) and led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic.
Data and analysis gathered through Oct. 23, 2008, from the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) were published in the Dec. 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by Scott M. Lippman, M.D., professor and chair of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at M. D. Anderson, Eric A. Klein, M.D., of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, and 30 coauthors from the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada.
Funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) with some additional contribution from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the Phase III trial began recruitment in August 2001 and aimed to determine whether selenium, vitamin E, or both could prevent prostate cancer and other diseases in relatively healthy men.
Mediterranean Diet Plus Nuts May Help Manage Metabolic Syndrome
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A traditional Mediterranean diet with an additional daily serving of mixed nuts appears to be useful for managing some metabolic abnormalities in older adults at high risk for heart disease, according to a report in the December 8/22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
The metabolic syndrome is a set of metabolic abnormalities that includes abdominal obesity and high cholesterol, high blood pressure and high blood glucose levels, all of which are risk factors for cardiovascular disease, according to background information in the article. “Development of the metabolic syndrome depends on a complex interaction between still largely unknown genetic determinants and environmental factors, including dietary patterns,” the authors write. A traditional Mediterranean diet—characterized by a high intake of cereals, vegetables, fruits and olive oil, a moderate intake of fish and alcohol and a low intake of dairy, meats and sweets—has been associated with a lower risk for metabolic abnormalities.
Jordi Salas-Salvadó, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Rovira i Virgili, Spain, and colleagues assessed 1,224 participants in the PREDIMED (Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea) study who were age 55 to 80 and at high risk for cardiovascular disease.
Gout may protect against Parkinson’s disease
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Having gout apparently lowers the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease in older individuals, new research hints.
Gout is caused by high levels of uric acid in the blood. Some studies have shown that uric acid exerts beneficial antioxidant effects on neurons. With these antioxidant properties, uric acid has been hypothesized to protect against oxidative stress, a process in which cell-damaging free radical particles are produced, which is a prominent contributor to nerve degeneration seen in Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Dr. Hyon Choi, of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, and colleagues assessed the relationship between gout and the risk of PD in a large group of people aged 65 and older. They compared rates of PD between 11,258 people with gout and 56,199 matched control subjects.
