Clues Help Identify Psychological Seizures
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Up to 30 percent of those diagnosed with epilepsy don’t actually have the disorder. They have psychological nonepileptic seizures, or psychogenic seizures, that are caused by psychological conditions, not by the abnormal electrical activity in the brain that causes epileptic seizures.
Because these nonepileptic seizures are similar to epileptic seizures, they can be difficult to diagnose. Three new studies published in the June 13, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology, may help make that diagnosis easier.
“The need for an accurate diagnosis early on is crucial,” said neurologist Selim Bendadis, MD, of the University of South Florida in Tampa, who wrote an editorial accompanying the studies. “Right now there is an average of seven to nine years from the time someone first has these seizures and when they are correctly diagnosed with psychological nonepileptic seizures. During that time, they are given drugs for epilepsy that do not treat their problem and they undergo repeated testing - they pay a price physically, socially and financially.”
Coffee Drinking Associated with Lower Risk for Alcohol-Related Liver Disease
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Drinking coffee may be related to a reduced risk of developing the liver disease alcoholic cirrhosis, according to a report in the June 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Cirrhosis progressively destroys healthy liver tissue and replaces it with scar tissue. Viruses such as hepatitis C can cause cirrhosis, but long-term, heavy alcohol use is the most common cause of the disease in developed countries, according to background information in the article. Most alcohol drinkers, however, never develop cirrhosis; other factors that may play a role include genetics, diet and nutrition, smoking and the interaction of alcohol with other toxins that damage the liver.
Arthur L. Klatsky, M.D., and colleagues at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, Oakland, Calif., analyzed data from 125,580 individuals (55,247 men and 70,333 women) who did not report liver disease when they had baseline examinations, between 1978 and 1985. Participants filled out a questionnaire to provide information about how much alcohol, coffee and tea they drank per day during the past year. Some of the individuals also had their blood tested for levels of certain liver enzymes; the enzymes are released into the bloodstream when the liver is diseased or damaged.
When it comes to diabetes doctors failing to follow ‘doctors orders’
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According to the latest reports when it comes to diabetes and following doctors orders, doctors are failing their patients.
The results of four completely independent studies presented at the American Diabetes Association’s Annual Scientific meeting, indicate that doctors are failing to prescribe higher dose therapy in people with type 2 diabetes and high blood glucose levels or high blood pressure.
The findings imply that a lack of action on the part of doctors may be an important barrier to effective diabetes management.
Defibrillators can increase heart failure risk
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Implanted cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) can improve the survival rates of carefully selected patients with chronic heart disease by 30 percent to 54 percent. However, investigators have found that ICDs also appear to increase the risk of heart failure.
ICDs are recommended for patients who have had a near-fatal episode of irregular heart rhythm, also referred to as an arrhythmia, and who have a high risk of another episode. The devices are designed to detect arrhythmias, where the heart beats too slowly or too rapidly, and to deliver a shock to restore normal rhythm.
Dr. Ilan Goldenberg, at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, and his associates reviewed the records of 1,197 patients who had an ICD. The investigators analyzed the factors associated with the progression to heart failure.
Family cat unlikely to give baby Johnny asthma
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Exposure during infancy to pets or airborne “allergens,” such as house dust mites and Timothy weed, does not seem to increase the likelihood a child will develop airway hyperresponsiveness—a hallmark of asthma in which the lungs overreact to pollen, dust or other airborne particles by closing up tiny airways.
Dr. Elizabeth C. TePas and colleagues from the Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston report their findings in the current issue of the medical journal CHEST.
The investigators looked for ties between early life factors and airway hyperresponsiveness in a group of 131 children who had at least one parent with a history of asthma or allergies, placing the children at heightened risk for asthma and allergies.
Warfarin seen as treatment of choice to cut stroke risk
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Warfarin, an anti-clotting drug, is the best treatment to prevent stroke in patients with an abnormal heart rhythm despite side effects such as risk of bleeding, researchers said on Friday.
A trial of patients with the disorder known as atrial fibrillation uncovered evidence that warfarin was superior to the combined treatment of the blood-thinner Plavix plus aspirin in reducing strokes.
Plavix, or clopidogrel, is sold by Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb Corp in the United States.
Bortezomib extends lung cancer survival
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Adding the new molecularly targeted agent bortezomib to a standard chemotherapy regimen of gemcitabine and carboplatin prolongs survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, according to results from a phase II trial led by UC Davis Cancer Center.
In the study, patients taking bortezomib plus gemcitabine and carboplatin had a median survival of 11 months, reported Angela Davies, an assistant professor of hematology and oncology at UC Davis Cancer Center and lead author of the study. In comparison, 9 months is the longest median survival seen in past SWOG trials of platinum-based chemotherapy treatments for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
“These survival results are among the best ever reported in patients with NSCLC,” Davies said. “We look forward to further study of bortezomib in combination with chemotherapy as treatment for NSCLC in a larger, phase III trial.” In the study, 114 newly diagnosed stage IV and selected stage IIIB patients received gemcitabine and carboplatin in combination with bortezomib. The median overall survival was 11 months; one-year survival was 46 percent, with a median five-month progression-free survival. Other key findings:
FDA approves Gardasil as a treatment for cervical cancer
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Merck & Co. has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Gardasil as a treatment for cervical cancer, vulvar and vaginal pre-cancers caused by HPV types 16 and 18 and to prevent low-grade and pre-cancerous lesions and genital warts caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18.
In the United States, approximately 10,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year, and an average of 10 women die each day from the disease.
The FDA has approved Gardasil for the prevention of cervical cancer; cervical pre-cancers, adenocarcinoma in situ and vaginal pre-cancers caused by HPV types 16 and 18. Gardasil is also approved for the prevention of genital warts and low-grade cervical lesions caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18. Gardasil is approved for 9- to 26-year-old girls and women.
Autism diagnosis remains through early childhood
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Most children diagnosed with autism at 2 years of age will still have that diagnosis at age 9, investigators report.
In contrast, many young children first diagnosed with less severe conditions—called pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD)—later have their diagnoses changed to autism.
Dr. Catherine Lord, from the University of Michigan Autism and Communication Disorders Center in Ann Arbor, and her associates report that clinicians have been questioning the stability of these diagnoses.
Asthma rates rise as kids get older
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Some children who have asthma at age 7 are asthma-free by the time they reach 12, but the number of kids who go into remission is more than offset by the number who develop the condition during that age period, according to Swedish investigators.
Dr. Eva Ronmark, of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, and colleagues examined the prevalence, incidence, and remission of asthma in children as they aged from 7-8 years to 11-12 years, and assessed the risk factor patterns for asthma during this period.
A total of 3525 children between 7 and 8 years old were invited in 1996 to take part in a study using an expanded International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire, and were re-assessed annually. Skin prick tests for allergies were performed at the beginning and after 4 years.
Respiratory virus cases on rise in western US
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Between January and March of this year, health departments from Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, and Washington State reported an increased incidence of a respiratory viral infection, called human hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS).
Human hantavirus infection follows exposure to the virus in rodent saliva or feces.
Previous experience with early increases in hantavirus infection suggests that the total number of cases will be high throughout 2006, according to a report in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Merck’s cervical cancer vaccine wins US approval
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The first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer won U.S. approval on Thursday when health officials cleared a Merck & Co. Inc. vaccine to block a sexually transmitted infection that causes the deadly disease.
Public health experts called the Gardasil vaccine a major advance against a disease that kills about 300,000 women worldwide annually. Industry analysts said the product also should help revive the fortunes of struggling Merck with annual sales that could top $2 billion.
The vaccine blocks infection with certain types of the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes genital warts and most cervical cancer.
Young adult blacks in US hit hard by HIV infection
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Non-Hispanic blacks between 19 and 24 years of age are 20 times more likely to be infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, than young adults in any other racial or ethnic group in the United States, according to new estimates.
The overall HIV infection rate for young adults is 1 case per 1,000 people. However, the infection rate in this age group among blacks is 4.9 per 1,000, compared to a rate of 0.22 per 1,000 for all other races of similar age, researchers have shown.
The findings, reported in the American Journal of Public Health, are based on a random sample of more than 13,000 19- to 24-year-olds who agreed to be screened for HIV infection as part of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, or Add Health Study.
Monkey trial may show possible way to AIDS vaccine
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A shot that helps keep AIDS-infected monkeys alive may offer the best clues yet about how to make an effective HIV vaccine, researchers reported on Thursday.
The experiment provided important clues about how the AIDS virus destroys the immune system, and how to track the health of infected people, the researchers said.
“A vaccine of this type does not appear to prevent infection,” Dr. Norman Letvin of Harvard Medical School in Boston, who helped lead the study, said in a telephone interview. What the vaccine may do, he said, is help infected people live longer without becoming ill.
Wendy’s cuts most trans fats from fries, chicken
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Wendy’s International Inc. on Thursday said it would significantly cut trans fats from its menu, beating market leader McDonald’s Corp., which still has not made good on its promise to remove the artery-clogging fats from french fries in the United States.
Wendy’s, the No. 3 U.S. burger chain, said its restaurants in the United States and Canada will switch to a new blend of corn and soy oil for french fries and breaded chicken items starting in August.
The move will reduce trans fats in french fries to just zero to 0.5 grams, depending on serving sizes, while all of the breaded chicken products will have zero grams of trans fats.
