On-the-job injuries hurt home health care industry
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Training can alleviate some of the pain that occupational injuries bring to the long-term care industry, according to Penn State researchers. The study looked at injuries among home health aides.
Home health aides typically visit patients’ homes to assist with activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing and eating. Many people enrolled in home health care have multiple health challenges, which can result in erratic and sometimes violent behavior. Home health aides also engage in manual labors like lifting patients. These aides are often injured multiple times on the job and these injuries affect more than just the employees. Home-health-care organizations and the long-term-care industry suffer from the effects of these occupational injuries, the researchers report at the 2010 Academy of Management Annual Meeting in Montreal.
“In our research, we saw a cascading effect,” said Deirdre McCaughey, assistant professor of health policy and administration. “Employees who had no training or did not believe their training prepared them well had more injuries. Those employees were also much less likely than non-injured employees to recommend their organization as a place at which to work or seek services.”
Hepatitis B linked to lymphoma in study
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People infected with hepatitis B virus are around twice as likely to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma, researchers reported on Tuesday.
Hepatitis B was already known to cause liver cancer, and some scientists had suspected it might cause lymphoma, too. The study, published in The Lancet Oncology, confirms this. Hepatitis C is also linked to lymphoma.
The blood cancer is not common and widespread vaccination against the viruses is unlikely to affect non-Hodgkin lymphoma rates much, the researchers noted. But it may be possible to treat the virus and help non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients, they said.
Experts roll out malaria map, urge mosquito study
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Nearly 3 billion people, or two-fifths of the world’s population, were at risk of contracting malaria in 2009 and closer study of the mosquito’s life cycle is needed to combat the disease, researchers said in two reports.
In the first study, scientists mapped out the geographical spread of Plasmodium vivax—the most common parasite that causes malaria—using reported cases of malaria and details on temperature and aridity.
“We estimate that the global population at risk of P. vivax malaria in 2009 was 2.85 billion people. Regionally, the great majority of this population (91 percent) resides in central and southeast Asian countries,” wrote Simon Hay, a zoologist at the University of Oxford who co-authored the study.
Researchers find 95 genes affecting cholesterol
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A scan of the full human DNA sequence has turned up 95 genes that affect blood cholesterol, including a few affected by drugs on the market and others that might be the basis of new drugs, researchers said on Wednesday.
Their findings demonstrate that regulating cholesterol levels is even more complex than many people knew but also point to some short-cuts to prevent heart disease.
The variations they found account for between a quarter and a third of the inherited variation in cholesterol levels and triglycerides, the researchers report in the journal Nature. Diet and exercise can also greatly affect cholesterol levels.
Traveling by car increases global temperatures more than by plane, but only in long term
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Driving a car increases global temperatures in the long run more than making the same long-distance journey by air according to a new study. However, in the short run travelling by air has a larger adverse climate impact because airplanes strongly affect short-lived warming processes at high altitudes. The study appears in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-weekly journal.
In the study, Jens Borken-Kleefeld and colleagues compare the impacts on global warming of different means of transport. The researchers use, for the first time, a suite of climate chemistry models to consider the climate effects of all long- and short-lived gases, aerosols and cloud effects, not just carbon dioxide, resulting from transport worldwide.
They concluded that in the long run the global temperature increase from a car trip will be on average higher than from a plane journey of the same distance. However, in the first years after the journey, air travel increases global temperatures four times more than car travel. Passenger trains and buses cause four to five times less impact than automobile travel for every mile a passenger travels. The findings prove robust despite the scientific uncertainties in understanding the earth’s climate system.
Certain meat components may increase bladder cancer risk
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A new study suggests that consuming specific compounds in meat related to processing methods may be associated with an increased risk of developing bladder cancer. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings may be relevant for understanding the role of dietary exposures in cancer risk.
Eating red and processed meats has been linked to an increased risk of developing several different types of cancer. Animal studies have identified a number of compounds in meat that might account for this association. These include heterocyclic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and N-nitroso compounds. Nitrate and nitrite are added to processed meats and are known precursors to N-nitroso compounds.
Amanda J. Cross, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute in Rockville and colleagues conducted one of the first prospective studies – the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study—to assess the relationship between intake of these meat-related compounds and the risk of developing bladder cancer. They used information gathered through questionnaires to assess the types of meat consumed as well as how meat was prepared and cooked to estimate the intake of these meat-related compounds.
Pass child nutrition bill: Michelle Obama
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First Lady Michelle Obama is calling on the Congress to pass legislation to improve nutritional standards and help fight childhood obesity in American schools.
“We owe it to the children who aren’t reaching their potential because they’re not getting the nutrition they need during the day,” she wrote in the Monday edition of the Washington Post.
“And we owe it to our country - because our prosperity depends on the health and vitality of the next generation.”
In Canada, money may matter for cancer survival
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Despite Canada’s universal healthcare system, poorer Canadians with cancer are more likely to die early than their wealthier peers, suggests a new study of almost 100,000 patients from Ontario.
But unlike studies conducted in the United States, most of the difference in survival rates could not be explained by how early doctors caught the cancer.
“It is reassuring that stage of cancer (at diagnosis) does not vary across social groups in Ontario,” Dr. Christopher Booth of the Queen’s University Cancer Research Institute, the study’s lead author, told Reuters Health in an email. But, he continued, “we need to better understand why survival does vary across socioeconomic groups.”
A potential chemotherapeutic drug to treat hepatocellular carcinoma
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, particularly in China. However, HCC remains one of the more difficult cancers to treat. It is important to screen for new anti-cancer drugs. A number of dietary compounds possess anti-cancer properties. These dietary compounds may modify the activity of specific targets that control cell proliferation and apoptosis. Galangin could inhibit the methoxyresorufin O-demethylase activity of CYP1A2, CYP1A1 and P-form phenolsulfotransferase. Galangin induced apoptosis in several cancer cell lines and arrested the cell cycle, modulated the expression of cycline/cdk, and decreased Bcl-2. It was suggested that galangin may be a potential anti-tumor agent. However, the mechanism by which galangin exerts its anti-tumor activity is unknown.
A research article to be published on July 21, 2010 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. This is the first study to report that galangin mediates apoptosis through a mitochondrial pathway.
Their data demonstrated that (1) galangin induces HCC cell apoptosis by triggering Bax translocation to the mitochondria; (2) galangin-treated HCC cells causes the release of AIF and cytochrome c into the cytosol from the mitochondria; and (3) overexpression of Bcl-2 attenuated galangin-induced HepG2 cells apoptosis, while down-regulated Bcl-2 expression enhanced galangin to induce cell apoptosis.
Calcium supplements may raise risk of heart attack
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Calcium supplements, which many people consume hoping to ward off osteoporosis, may increase the risk of heart attack by as much as 30 percent, researchers reported on Friday.
These tiny tablets which carry concentrated doses of calcium were also associated with higher incidences of stroke and death, but they were not statistically significant.
The researchers advised people consuming calcium supplements to seek advice from their doctors, take more calcium-rich foods and try other interventions like exercise, not smoking and keeping a healthy weight to prevent osteoporosis.
Little harm seen from painkiller shots for pro athletes
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When professional athletes in sports like football and rugby are injured, they commonly get injections of pain-numbing anesthetics to help them stay in the game. Now a new study suggests that, while safety concerns remain, most athletes may not suffer any long-term harm from the practice.
Injections of local anesthetics, like bupivacaine and lidocaine, temporarily block sensation in a limited area around the injection site.
While the injections have long been used in some pro sports to keep athletes in the game, the practice has only been “presumed” to be generally safe—with few studies having actually looked at the question, according to the researchers on the new work.
Gender-bending fish on the rise in southern Alberta
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Chemicals present in two rivers in southern Alberta are likely the cause of the feminization of fish say researchers at the University of Calgary who have published results of their study in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
“What is unique about our study is the huge geographical area we covered. We found that chemicals – man-made and naturally occurring – that have the potential to harm fish were present along approximately 600 km of river,” says paper co-author Lee Jackson, executive director of Advancing Canadian Wastewater Assets, a research facility that develops and tests new approaches for treating wastewater which will be located at the City of Calgary’s new Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Centre. “The situation for native fish will likely get worse as the concentration of organic contaminants will become more concentrated as a response to climate change and the increase in human and animal populations,” adds Jackson.
The study focused on two rivers in the South Saskatchewan River Basin: The Red Deer and Oldman rivers, located in southern Alberta, Canada.
Weight issues move up need for walkers, canes, other devices
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Obese older adults are more likely to use walkers, canes and other mobility devices at a younger age, and may run the risk of using them incorrectly, according to new research from Purdue University.
“Baby Boomers are coming of age and obesity is an epidemic for this population as well,” said Karis Pressler, a doctoral student in sociology and gerontology and the project’s lead author. “This research shows that if obesity continues at this rate, we are going to see an increase in the use of assistive devices, which can be costly to individuals and the health-care system. Reliance on assistive devices can affect everyday life in multiple ways, from how you bathe, to how you dress, to how you move.
“If people don’t want to be reliant on these devices in the future, they need to realize how obesity heightens one’s risk of becoming disabled and affects how a person will compensate for that disability.”
New mathematical model could aid studies of cardiac muscle
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Researchers have developed a new mathematical model that may provide a simpler and better way of predicting ventricular function during the cardiac cycle. The new model could help researchers improve treatment options for patients with heart disease. The article appears in the August issue of the Journal of General Physiology (http://www.jgp.org).
Previous mathematical models of striated muscle—including the Huxley scheme developed in 1957, as well as more recent models—have been quite complex and less suitable for routine analysis. Now, Steven Ford and co-workers (Washington State University) present a much simpler model comprising only five parameters, which they recommend for routine use in studies of cardiac muscle. According to Kenneth Campbell (University of Kentucky) in a Commentary accompanying the paper, Ford et al.‘s model may “be the best contractile system yet to integrate into multi-scale models of working hearts.”
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About The Journal of General Physiology
Frustration grows as AIDS science, politics clash
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An international AIDS conference has exposed a gulf between scientists and politicians on how to tackle the deadly HIV pandemic.
Despite promises from governments around the world to pursue evidence-based policies, AIDS experts are frustrated at a refusal to adapt to new ways of looking at HIV and the people most at risk of contracting it.
It is a stance that displays discrimination and criminal negligence, says Julio Montaner, president of the International AIDS Society, who has led a drive at the conference to get politicians to wake up to the evidence.
