Even light smokers risk disease and death
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A study released today squashes the common belief that light smokers escape the serious health consequences faced by heavier smokers. According to the study in the journal Tobacco Control, smoking just one to four cigarettes per day nearly triples the risk of dying from heart disease or lung cancer.
There is widespread belief among the lay public that “a few cigarettes per day cannot harm me,” said Dr. Kjell Bjartveit of the National Health Screening Service in Oslo, Norway.
Australian firm to start trials of bird flu vaccine
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Australian company CSL Ltd will begin human trials of a bird flu vaccine next month as the government warned travelers on Thursday about an outbreak of the deadly virus in parts of Asia.
CSL is the world’s top maker of human plasma products and spokeswoman Rachel David said the vaccine against the H5N1 strain of avian flu would be tested on 400 human volunteers. Results are expected by the end of the year.
Top bird flu scientist warns against antiviral abuse
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A top scientist warned on Thursday against misusing oseltamivir, the antiviral drug that governments are stockpiling to fight a possible human pandemic caused by the H5N1 bird flu, saying that could lead to resistance.
The warning from microbiologist Yi Guan, from the University of Hong Kong, comes after The Lancet medical journal published two research papers that showed resistance to anti-flu drugs had risen by 12 percent worldwide in the past decade.
Internet helps speed stroke therapy in rural areas
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An internet-based network that allows doctors in rural hospitals to consult a stroke expert in real-time can hasten the delivery of clot-busting drugs to treat stroke patients, new research indicates.
With the network, known as REACH, doctors at eight rural hospitals in Georgia were able to immediately consult a stroke expert at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG). The system, which incorporates a video feed, allows the consultant to examine the patient and view the CT scan and then decide if treatment with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is needed.
Women often opt for mastectomy for breast cancer
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The results of a survey of a large group of women with early-stage breast cancer suggest that many women are involved in the treatment decision-making process, and that greater patient involvement in treatment decisions is associated with a greater likelihood of undergoing mastectomy.
There is general professional consensus that most women with early-stage breast cancer are good candidates for breast-conserving surgery. However, persistently high rates of mastectomy in these women have fueled concerns about over-treatment and failure to engage women in treatment decisions.
New Ways To Ease Liver Disease
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Many patients with liver diseases often encounter difficulties with therapy and ultimately require liver transplant to survive. Since many acute and chronic liver diseases are driven by immune-mediated mechanisms, there is a necessity to find new therapies that can inhibit these immune-based triggers and block liver damage. In a study appearing online on March 3 in advance of publication in the April 1 print edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Christian Trautwein, Christian Klein, and colleagues from Hannover Medical School identify new therapeutic targets in liver diseases.
Obesity Tied To Increased Risk For Dozens Of Conditions
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Highly obese women are 12 times more likely to have diabetes or knee replacement surgery, and five times more likely to have high blood pressure than women who are at a normal weight, says a new study.
Men in the highest weight categories are eight times more likely to have diabetes, and six times more likely to have a knee replaced or have high blood pressure than are their normal-weight peers, say researchers for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
First Link Found Between Obesity, Inflammation And Vascular Disease
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Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston have found that human fat cells produce a protein that is linked to both inflammation and an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
They say the discovery, reported in Journal of the American College of Cardiology, goes a long way to explain why people who are overweight generally have higher levels of the molecule, known as C-reactive protein (CRP), which is now used diagnostically to predict future cardiovascular events.
Drug-resistant flu viruses increasing worldwide
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In the last decade, new research indicates, the proportion of influenza A viruses that are resistant to a primary influenza drug, adamantane, and its derivatives, has increased markedly worldwide—a trend researchers believe is “a cause for concern.”
Researchers in a second study provide another worrisome observation: flu vaccines are only modestly effective in elderly individuals. Both studies are reported in the September 22nd online issue of The Lancet.
L-Carnipure supplements may help reduce diabetes during pregnancy
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Taking supplements of L-Carnipure tartrate during pregnancy can significantly reduce the increased level of plasma free fatty acids that is considered the main cause of insulin resistance in pregnant women, shows a new study.
Insulin resistance during pregnancy can lead to gestational diabetes, which affects about 5-10 per cent of pregnancies. According to the American Diabetes Association, about a third of women who suffered from gestational diabetes during pregnancy develop type 2 diabetes in the following years.
“Dignity” therapy aids dying patients: study
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Helping dying patients to relive and record important memories and thoughts may ease the distress many feel at the end of life, according to a new study.
Researchers found that this “dignity” therapy that they used in a study of 100 Canadian and Australian patients increased most patients’ sense of purpose and meaning in life, and eased some of their suffering and depression.
Report says global warming could spark conflict
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Rising world temperatures could cause a significant increase in disease across Asia and Pacific Island nations, leading to conflict and leaving hundreds of millions of people displaced, a new report said on Thursday.
Global warming by the year 2100 could also lead to more droughts, floods and typhoons, and increase the incidence of malaria, dengue fever and cholera, the report on the health impact of rising temperatures found.
Insulin resistance detectable 20 years before diabetes 2 onset
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A detectable decline in energy production by mitochondria—the organelles that are the cell’s furnace for energy production—seems to be a key problem leading to insulin resistance, and thus to type 2 diabetes, according to studies by Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers.
The research team said that insulin resistance—an impaired response to the presence of insulin—is detectable as early as 20 years before the symptoms of diabetes become evident. In fact, insulin resistance is now seen as the best predictor that type 2 diabetes will eventually develop, said the study’s senior author, Gerald I. Shulman, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the Yale University School of Medicine.
Diet pill peddler fined $600,000
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A WEIGHT-LOSS venture set up in jail by international fraud Peter Foster has been fined a record $1 million for price-fixing and he has been banned from the weight-loss industry.
Chaste Corporation, which charged sales recruits $40,000 to sell a diet pill called TRIMit, was fined $600,000 for misleading and deceptive conduct and price-fixing.
F.D.A. Rejects Pfizer Pain Drug
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Regulators have rejected the application from Pfizer Inc. to market an injectable drug similar to its withdrawn Bextra arthritis pill, the company said yesterday.
The injectable medicine is in the same class of drugs as the Celebrex arthritis and pain pill from Pfizer and the Vioxx arthritis and pain pill from Merck. Vioxx was taken from the market last September after being shown to double the risk of heart attack and stroke after long-term use.
