Health News articles from August 2007

Health News archives from August 2007

Even light exercise has benefit: resistance training can restore muscle composition and strength at any age.(NUTRITION & FITNESS)
August 1, 2007... It's not quite the fountain of youth, but scientists at the Buck Institute in California and McMaster Medical Center in Hamilton, Canada, found that genetic imprints became "younger" in a group of healthy seniors who participated in a...

Proactive with partners.(FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ...)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... News that can help us live healthier and more active lives floods the information highway. We may feel overwhelmed, but we cannot shut that news out. DukeMedicine HealthNews is committed to condensing and making sense of that flood of news that...

Death and heart failure rates drop.(IN THE NEWS ...)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... More consistent use of evidence-based medications and interventions for heart attack has caused rates of death and heart failure to drop dramatically, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In a study...

The Avandia dilemma: switch or stop?(IN THE NEWS ...)
August 1, 2007... A recent meta-analysis of 42 clinical trials in the new England Journal of Medicine that showed a potentially hazardous link between the diabetes drug rosiglitazone (Avandia) and significantly increased risk of heart attack and cardiovascular...

Advances in diagnostic radiology and RFA aid cancer detection and treatment: recent innovations enable earlier treatment with shorter hospital stays and less post-procedure pain.(CANCER)
August 1, 2007... When patients are diagnosed with cancer, one of the key questions they ask is whether the cancer will reoccur or metastasize. Recent refinements in diagnostic radiology have enabled doctors to become more proficient in identifying which...

Pre-op chemo improves early stage breast cancer outcome.(CANCER NEWSBRIEFS)
August 1, 2007... Researchers recently reviewed 14 studies in which a total of 5,500 women with early stage breast cancer were randomized to receive chemotherapy either before or after surgery. They concluded that both regimens resulted in equal overall and...

Hepatitis C ups risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.(CANCER NEWSBRIEFS)
August 1, 2007... If you are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), a new study suggests you should be screened for early stage cancers characterized by an over-production of white blood cells produced in lymphatic tissue such as lymph nodes, spleen, and...

Statin use may lower risk of advanced prostate cancer.(CANCER NEWSBRIEFS)
August 1, 2007... Men taking statins to reduce cholesterol may reduce their risk of metastatic or fatal cancer says a December Journal of the national Cancer Institute study. Researchers analyzed the relationship between statin use with total and advanced...

Enlarged prostate: BPH could be two diseases, one more severe: diagnostic breakthrough could identify new form of prostate disease sooner, enabling earlier therapy.(INTERNAL MEDICINE)
August 1, 2007... Recent findings shed new light on the prostate condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). In February, Johns Hopkins researchers reported that they had found high levels of a protein made by a gene called JM-27 in men with a more...

Give migraine the one-two punch.(INTERNAL MEDICINE NEWSBRIEFS)
August 1, 2007... When it comes to easing the pain of a migraine, two treatments may be better than one. Researchers at the Nashville neuroscience group in Tennessee, and other institutions conducted two randomized double-blind studies consisting of nearly 3,000...

Vitamin D plus fish could prevent AMD.(INTERNAL MEDICINE NEWSBRIEFS)
August 1, 2007... Both omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D may protect against age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision impairment and blindness in Americans 65 and older, according to two recent studies published in the Archives of...

Chronic pain disrupts memory, concentration: pain can go beyond discomfort to affect important mental functions.(MIND & MEMORY)
August 1, 2007... Most lists of physical and emotional problems observed in older adults would include pain, loss of memory, and difficulty in concentration. Two researchers at the university of Alberta have completed a study that appears to connect the dots...

Meditation may boost attention.(MIND & MEMORY NEWSBRIEFS)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... A new psychological study suggests that attention does not necessarily have a fixed capacity and that it can be improved by mental training. The investigation, by the university of Wisconsin-Madison and published in the May 8, 2007 issue of...

Daily drink may slow dementia progress.(MIND & MEMORY)
August 1, 2007... A study published in the May 22, 2007 issue of neurology found that among people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a daily drink of alcohol may slow the progress of dementia. People with MCI are in a transitional stage between normal memory...

Living with atherosclerosis is more serious than previously thought: outpatients are at significant risk for heart attack and stroke.(CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE)
August 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you have atherosclerosis anywhere in your body, or even serious risk factors for the disease, you are at greatly increased risk (see below) of having a heart attack or stroke or dying from a cardiac event within a...

Steroids found to prevent post-op fibrillation.(CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE NEWSBRIEFS)
August 1, 2007... The day after coronary artery bypass surgery, up to 40 percent of patients experience a type of arrhythmia known as atrial fibrillation (AF). The incidence is even higher after valve surgery or combined valve and bypass operations. Most likely...

Worrying about heart disease can cause a heart attack.(CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE NEWSBRIEFS)
August 1, 2007... If you have been diagnosed with heart disease and are worried sick about it, you might want to find a way to chill out. A study reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that anxious heart disease patients have double...

Rheumatoid arthritis and early death risk: in patients with RA, the mutated HLA-DRB(1)-SE gene is the suspect for higher incidence of heart disease and cancer.(BONES & JOINTS)
August 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] People with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are known to face a risk of early death, mainly due to their increased risk of heart disease, thought to be from the same things that increase risk in people without RA--smoking,...

Tomatoes no help in preventing prostate cancer.(NUTRITION & FITNESS NEWSBRIEFS)
August 1, 2007... You can take tomatoes off the list of foods that may lesson your chances of getting prostate cancer. A study in a recent issue of Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention found that lycopene, an antioxidant found in tomatoes and ketchup,...

Cutting calories more important than exercise to lose weight.(NUTRITION & FITNESS NEWSBRIEFS)
August 1, 2007... Results from a study conducted at the university of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and published in the May 2007 issue of the journal obesity showed that reducing the number of calories in a diet is more important than exercising for maintaining...

QA.
August 1, 2007... Q I have osteoarthritis in my knees. I also have a blood-clotting disorder and have been put on Coumadin, which means I can't take NSAIDs. I take a daily dose of Tylenol, but it doesn't have much effect. What do you suggest? A Taking a...