National Glaucoma Awareness Month
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Glaucoma is an important public health problem in the United States, affecting at least 2 million people. It is the second leading cause of blindness and the leading cause of blindness among African-Americans. Yet it is estimated that half of those suffering from the disease in this country remain undiagnosed. The Department of Veterans Affairs urges everyone over 40 to seek screening for glaucoma during January which is National Glaucoma Awareness Month. People with a higher risk than others of getting the disease include:
Vertebroplasty Improves Back Pain, Activity Level
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A Mayo Clinic study has found patients report less back pain at rest and while active following vertebroplasty, a procedure in which medical cement is injected into painful compression fractures in the spinal vertebrae due to osteoporosis. Patients also reported improved function in their daily activities, such as walking, housework and getting dressed. The findings are published in the November/December issue of American Journal of Neuroradiology, http://www.ajnr.org.
“These findings give us as good evidence as there is—in a study without a group receiving another or no treatment for comparison—that patients are more functional for up to a year after vertebroplasty than before vertebroplasty,” says David Kallmes, M.D., the Mayo Clinic neuroradiologist who led the study.
Lung disease patients breathe easier with rehab
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Pulmonary rehabilitation produces significant benefits for patients with advanced emphysema and plays an important role in the selection of patients for lung surgery, according to results of the National Emphysema Treatment Trial, or NETT.
“The NETT highlights the important benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation—as practiced in a large number of centers across the country—as a standard of care for patients with advanced chronic lung disease and an important adjunct to lung volume reduction surgery programs,” said Dr. Andrew L. Ries, from the University of California, San Diego.
Letrozole tops tamoxifen for early breast cancer
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As add-on therapy for breast cancer, letrozole appears to be more effective than tamoxifen in reducing the risk of the disease recurring, new research suggests.
Dr. Beat Thurlimann, from the Senology Center of Eastern Switzerland in Kantonsspital, and colleagues compared the outcomes of 8010 women who were randomly assigned to one of four treatment regimens for 5 years: letrozole; letrozole followed by tamoxifen; tamoxifen; or tamoxifen followed by letrozole.
Women often uninformed about breast reconstruction
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Though most women with breast cancer are aware they have the option for breast reconstruction soon after surgery, few may fully understand the details of the procedure, a new study suggests.
This was particularly the case, researchers found, for black women, who were more likely to say they did not know enough about breast reconstruction or to feel that the procedure was not recommended.
Talks between Bulgaria, Libya delayed as emotions run high over HIV children fund
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Five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor, who had been sentenced to death by firing squad, following a conviction of infecting 426 children with HIV in a hospital, have had that conviction quashed and a new trial has been ordered by Libya’s Supreme Court.
The six medics have been in jail since 1999 accused of deliberately infecting the youngsters in a hospital in the Mediterranean port of Benghazi.
University of Michigan Medical School to study the science of obesity and metabolism
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As millions of Americans prepare their New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, eat better or exercise more, the University of Michigan Medical School is launching a new center that may help explain why so many resolutions fail, while others succeed.
The new University of Michigan Metabolomics and Obesity Center will explore the science behind weight gain and loss, through molecular-level research on how the body breaks down and uses food, and how metabolism varies among individuals.
Researchers discover how a gene linked to Parkinson’s disease can keep brain cells alive
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Researchers at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center’s School of Medicine have uncovered how a gene linked to Parkinson’s disease can keep brain cells alive. The results suggest the possibility for new drugs that might regulate the gene and protect Parkinson’s patients from further cell damage. The findings will be published in the Dec. 30 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Parkinson’s disease is a disorder that occurs when dopamine cells in the brain die or are damaged, making it increasingly difficult to relay movement messages from the brain to the body. CU School of Medicine scientists performed a detailed analysis of a gene known to be linked to Parkinson’s disease called DJ-1. The research showed that DJ-1, when functioning properly, can prevent dopamine cell death in the brain. If the DJ-1 gene is abnormal and doesn’t function properly, it can lead to the onset of neurodegeneration, particularly Parkinson’s disease.
Obesity linked to poor colon cancer survival
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People who are obese around the middle and are physically inactive have poor odds of survival after a diagnosis of colorectal cancer, according to a new report.
“We have now shown that modifiable lifestyle factors that were known to reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer can also reduce the mortality in cases diagnosed with the disease,” Dr. Andrew M. M. Haydon told Reuters Health. “This strengthens the argument supporting the public health message of ‘healthy living.’”
Dietary antioxidants cut elderly eye disease risk
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High amounts of beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, and zinc in the diet may help stave off age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness in the elderly, new research suggests.
In a previous study, high-dose supplementation with these antioxidants was shown to slow the progression of AMD, but the effect of regular dietary consumption in preventing this eye disease was unclear, according to the report in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
Education persuades young women to avoid douching
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Education about the possible health risks of douching can convince teenage girls and young women to give up the practice, a new study shows.
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that three quick counseling sessions with young women at their clinic were enough to persuade nearly half to give up douching.
Blood-thinner dose errors can cause bleeding
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Some heart patients are given too large a dose of blood thinner at the hospital, which can lead to excessive bleeding, researchers said on Tuesday.
The dosing errors found in 42 percent of more than 30,000 cases stemmed from factors including physicians using a “one size fits all” dosing criteria, underestimation of the importance of using the right dosage or a lack of information about a patient’s weight or other indicators.
New drug shows promise in fighting Tuberculosis
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Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have determined how a promising drug candidate attacks the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB). Published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the finding may help scientists optimize the drug candidate, PA-824, which targets Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb).
“PA-824, now in early stage clinical trials, holds promise for shortening the TB treatment regimen, which is currently cumbersome and lengthy,” says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. “This new finding will allow a streamlined approach for making improved versions of the drug.”
Blue-green algae shows promise as a natural weapon against Alzheimer’s
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A compound isolated from a cyanobacterium, a type of blue-green algae known as Nostoc, shows promise of becoming a natural drug candidate for fighting Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, according to an in vitro study by researchers in Switzerland. It is believed to be the first time that a potent agent against Alzheimer’s has been isolated from cyanobacteria, commonly known as ‘pond scum.’ The study was published in the Dec. 26 issue of the Journal of Natural Products, a monthly peer-reviewed joint publication of the American Chemical Society and the American Society of Pharmacognosy.
Cyanobacteria and other marine natural products have been increasingly found to be a promising source of drug candidates for fighting a variety of human diseases, including cancer and bacterial infections, but their chemistry has been largely unexplored, experts say.
Post cardiac surgery heart irregularities reduced by medication
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Use of the medication amiodarone is associated with one-half the incidence of atrial tachyarrhythmias (rapid, abnormal heart beat) following cardiac surgery, according to a study in the December 28 issue of JAMA.
Atrial tachyarrhythmias, usually atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter, often occur immediately after cardiac surgery and are the most common postoperative complication, according to background information in the article. The incidence of sustained atrial tachyarrhythmias after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is approximately 30 percent; after valve surgery, approximately 40 percent; and after combined CABG and valve replacement/repair surgery, approximately 50 percent.
