Health News articles from July 2006

Health News archives from July 2006

FDA approves new hip resurfacing system.(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a new bone-sparing, hip resurfacing procedure that replaces parts of the hip joint while conserving more bone than in traditional hip replacement. To perform the procedure, a surgeon shaves...

Omega-3 fatty acids may prevent sudden cardiac death.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Patients with coronary artery disease who suffer a heart attack are at increased risk for death that occurs when the heart's rhythm suddenly goes berserk. Low doses of omega-3 fatty acids are thought to decrease this risk, but how they work has...

Post-prostate cancer: low PSA scores, not rate of increase, are new measure for least likely recurrence.(prostate specific antigen)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Post-radiation therapy patients with lower PSA scores are significantly less likely to experience a cancer recurrence or a metastasis to other organs, researchers have found. The current standard to determine the likelihood of prostate cancer...

Control your blood pressure--without drugs: take steps now to lower--or prevent--high blood pressure through simple lifestyle changes.
July 1, 2006... Some 65 million Americans, or about one third of all adults, have high blood pressure, or hypertension. Millions more have a condition known as prehypertension, meaning that if they don't take steps to bring their pressure down, they will...

Diabetes: latest studies: four ways to take charge now; three studies show you how.(Clinical report)
July 1, 2006... An estimated 14.6 million people in America, or seven percent of the population, have diabetes, primarily Type 2, reports the American Diabetes Association. Here is a look at three recent study findings that highlight how diabetes care can be...

Shedding light on an enlarged prostate.(obesity may lead to benign prostatic hyperplasia )(Brief article)(Clinical report)
July 1, 2006... Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), an enlargement of the prostate gland, affects more than half of men in their 60s and as many as 90 percent of men in their 70s and 80s, according to the National Institutes of Health. The condition occurs...

Easing the pain of shingles.(usage of antiviral agents )(Brief article)(Clinical report)
July 1, 2006... More than 40 percent of people over 70 who develop shingles suffer from unrelenting pain for months to years after their initial symptoms ease, a condition known as postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). But a new study offers some hope. Researchers at...

The more they serve, the more we eat: limiting portion sizes and changing calorie density in those portions can make a big dietary difference.
July 1, 2006... Portion sizes at restaurants and fast-food chains are out of control. More than 60 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, and a contributing factor to the problem is industrial-size plates, glasses, utensils, and obscene amounts of food...

Daily weigh-in aids weight loss.(research report)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... A study of more than 3,000 subjects by University of Minnesota researchers found that people who either are trying to lose weight or avoid gaining weight do better by weighing themselves daily. The authors say that if people notice their weight...

Walk to live longer.(Brief article)(Clinical report)
July 1, 2006... Older adults who can walk approximately a quarter of a mile (400 meters) can expect to live longer, have fewer cardiovascular events, and be more mobile than those who cannot complete the distance. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh...

Rheumatoid arthritis and the lymphoma link: it's the disease's chronic, serve inflammation, not the treatment, that causes the risk.(Clinical report)
July 1, 2006... It's long been known that people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at an increased risk of certain cancers known as lymphomas, but researchers were unclear whether it was the RA itself or its immune system-modulating treatments that are...

Mobility suffers from obesity + hip and knee OA combo.(osteoarthritis)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
July 1, 2006... Women with osteoarthritis (OA) in their knee or hip are at two-and-a-half times the risk of decreasing mobility and problems performing activities of daily living than women without OA, according to a recent study in Arthritis Care & Research....

Targeted inflammation could delay RA progress.(rheumatoid arthritis )(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... New research homes in on a possible way to deliver steroids-and potentially other arthritis drugs-directly to the site of inflammation, eliminating the side effects that can accompany systemic administration. These new findings appear in a...

Cerebral emboli may hold secret to Alzheimer's disease: detecting these blood clots offers promise of treatment, and possibly prevention, for vascular dementia and AD.(Alzheimer's disease )(Clinical report)
July 1, 2006... Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia account for 80 percent of all dementias. Both types are strikingly similar with regard to clinical symptoms, epidemiology (links with smoking, hypertension, diabetes, and high blood cholesterol...

Mediterranean diet may lower ad risk.(Alzheimer's disease)(Clinical report)
July 1, 2006... A four-year study of 2,258 New York adults, all of whom were in their 70s, has linked a Mediterranean diet with a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). At the start of the study, no subject had dementia (the most common form of...

Ad stigma delays diagnosis.(Alzheimer's disease)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Most diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are delayed more than two years after signs appear, according to a new survey from the Alzheimer's Foundation of American (AFA). The first symptoms, including memory loss and confusion, while noticed,...

Weight-loss surgery improves cardiac risk factors: lowering your blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels can lengthen your life.
July 1, 2006... If you are carrying a substantial load of extra pounds, gastric bypass surgery might be the fastest way to reduce your cardiac risk as well as your waistline. A study presented at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting in early 2006...

Med could reverse arterial blockages.(medicine)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... For years, patients have dreamed about a medicine that could reverse blockages in their coronary arteries. Now there is early evidence that the cholesterol-lowering drug rosuvastatin (Crestor) may actually do the job. In the multinational...

Angiography not ideal for diagnosing heart disease in women.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Angiography may be the "gold standard" test for coronary artery disease in men, but its reputation among women is now tarnished. While angiography is ideal for finding blockages in the main coronary arteries, where plaque tends to accumulate in...

Safer alternative to heparin identified.(cardiovascular agents for heart patients)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
July 1, 2006... Enoxaparin (Lovenox) is a low-molecular-weight heparin often given along with aspirin and Plavix to reduce the risk of heart attack in patients with coronary syndrome, and with coumadin to reduce the risk of blood clots in the legs of patients...

Bladder cancer surgery better sooner, not later: studies show lower survival rate if treatment is delayed more than three months.
July 1, 2006... For patients diagnosed with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, who will require a radical cystectomy to remove the bladder (considered the gold standard treatment), delaying surgery can significantly affect survival. In general, 74 to 81 percent...

Combo pet, CT treatment plan improves accuracy, decreases side-effects.(computed tomography)(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... For patients with early-stage head and neck carcinomas, the current standard of care involves surgery or radiation. Those with locally advanced cancers require more intense treatment consisting of a combination of surgery, radiation and/or...

Better model for predicting breast cancer recurrence.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Researchers from Taiwan and the U.S. recently reported on a new prediction model to identify the likelihood of a local regional recurrence (LRR) of breast cancer that is more accurate than current conventional measures. Based on clinical data...

Melanoma vaccine may be close.(Brief article)
July 1, 2006... Scientists recently described a mutant form of a small peptide called BRaFv600E that is present in 70 percent of specimens taken from melanoma patients. It is found also in the majority of skin moles and cancers of the lung, colon and ovaries....

Questions & answers.
July 1, 2006... Q I recently had an episode of atrial fibrillation. My doctor gave me pills to slow my heart, but I then had to go into the hospital to have my heart shocked back to its normal rhythm. I'm now taking Coumadin to prevent stroke. I feel fine, but...