Health News articles from May 2007

Health News archives from May 2007

The antioxidant controversy: the jury is still out, but food sources probably win over pills.(Clinical report)
May 1, 2007... The controversy surrounding antioxidant supplements has soared to a new level. A review of studies published in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association says that taking certain antioxidants as supplements provides no...

Lung surgery at academic medical institutions results in fewer deaths.(IN THE NEWS ...)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Where you have surgery for lung cancer will greatly influence your survival. In a study of about 51,000 surgeries from 1998-2003, researchers discovered that fewer patients die from surgery if they are treated at academic medical centers (AMC)...

Psoriasis breakthrough.(IN THE NEWS ...)
May 1, 2007... A new study draws on previous research that suggested that cytokines, substances that elicit an immune response, specifically interleukin-12 and interleukin-23, may be effective against psoriasis. Researchers at the university of Utah developed...

Whole grain cereals may lower heart failure risk.(IN THE NEWS ...)
May 1, 2007... Researchers told recent American Heart Association conference participants that people who ate a whole grain cereal seven or more times per week were 28 percent less likely to develop heart failure than those who never ate the cereals. The risk...

Older men and women equally vulnerable to second fractures.(IN THE NEWS ...)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Although it is well known that a history of prior fracture results in an increased risk of subsequent fracture, less than 30 percent of postmenopausal women and less than 10 percent of men with prior fractures are treated to help lower this...

Is bypass surgery better than stenting? Excellent long-term outcomes may make surgery a wiser choice for some patients.(CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE)
May 1, 2007... If you could choose between coronary artery bypass surgery or a minimally invasive option for restoring blood flow to your heart muscle, which would you pick? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you chose the minimally invasive...

Type a patients survive bypass surgery better.(CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... A study has found that stress and impatience appear to be protective after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Cleveland Clinic physicians polled 4,166 CABG patients right after surgery and asked if they would describe themselves as typically...

Air pollution increases risk of cardiac events.(CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... Long-term exposure to fine-particle air pollution is thought to increase risk of atherosclerosis and death from coronary artery disease (CAD), now it appears that short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) also may be deadly for people...

Hi tech in the OR enables better, faster knee-replacement surgeries: computer aids allow exact alignment, speedier recovery.(BONES & JOINTS)
May 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Using a computer to help guide them, orthopaedic surgeons at Duke and elsewhere are now able to to align knee implants with near pinpoint accuracy in people undergoing total knee replacement surgery. While still in...

For RA patients, switching TNF drugs can help.(BONES & JOINTS NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... While the use of anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) agents has revolutionized the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), some patients do not respond to the first one that they try, or simply can't tolerate its side effects. Now a new...

Acupuncture effective for knee and hip OA.(BONES & JOINTS NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... When combined with usual medical care, acupuncture can improve pain and quality of life among people with chronic knee and hip osteoarthritis (OA), according to a German study in Arthritis & Rheumatism. The improvements occurred...

Benign multiple sclerosis diagnosis questioned: the absence of obvious symptoms may not mean that the disease is actually benign.(MIND & MEMORY)
May 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] People with multiple sclerosis (MS) who are told that the status of their condition is benign may be inadvertently misled. A 2007 study published in the journal neurology has found that the term "benign multiple...

Depression linked to heart disease, loneliness to Alzheimer's.(MIND & MEMORY NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... Two recent studies show the association between emotional health and physical illnesses in aging adults. A three-year investigation of 324 men and women with an average age of 60 found a correlation between depression and atherosclerosis...

Loss of sleep may cause memory problems.(MIND & MEMORY NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... A study of the relationship between sleep deprivation and memory loss among young college students may have important implications for the elderly and for older people who suffer from dementia. Harvard researchers, writing in the journal nature...

Antidepressants linked to bone fractures.(MIND & MEMORY NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... People over 50 who take antidepressant drugs may increase their risks of fractures, according to a study published in the January 22, 2007 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers at McGill university in Montreal compared the rate of...

Aspirin is lifesaving for cancer patients with ACS: benefits of aspirin treatment for patients with acute coronary syndrome are immediate.(CANCER)
May 1, 2007... The standard of care for patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS)--unstable angina or an acute heart attack--is aspirin therapy to dissolve or prevent blood clots. These guidelines were developed for patients with a normal platelet count,...

Short-term TRT not prostate-risky.(CANCER NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... Testosterone replacement therapy improves "male menopause" symptoms like depression and sexual dysfunction in older men, but clinicians worry it might also stimulate prostate cancer even in cancer-free men. But in research done at the...

Prayer helps breast cancer patients.(CANCER NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... Distress, depression and anxiety associated with a breast cancer diagnosis can persist for five years or more. To determine if participation in religious expression and prayer through online support groups improved patients' coping skills,...

Gallstones: advances in treatments: more and better choices in the arsenal against the intense pain of a gallbladder attack.(INTERNAL MEDICINE)
May 1, 2007... Most of the time you don't give your gallbladder a second thought as it quietly performs its unglamorous job--storing bile, a green-yellow fluid produced by the liver that contains cholesterol and other fatty substances that help with...

Diet vs. exercise.(INTERNAL MEDICINE NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What really counts? Calories. To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. Researchers divided 35 overweight adults into three groups. One group ate a healthy diet containing enough calories to...

New Crohn's treatment.(INTERNAL MEDICINE NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... Crohn's disease typically is treated with aminosalicylates, a class of anti-inflammatory drugs; corticosteroids, which cause side effects, or immune modifiers. now, two other therapies are available or in the pipeline. Anti-tumor necrosis...

Garlic does not lower cholesterol levels.(NUTRITION & FITNESS NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Contrary to folk medicine beliefs and the results of previous studies, eating garlic or consuming garlic supplements does not appear to lower levels of LDL cholesterol that contributes to heart disease. Researchers...

Strength-training benefits.(NUTRITION & FITNESS NEWSBRIEFS)
May 1, 2007... Women who pump iron--whether free weights or machines--produce more biologically active growth hormone than women who do not strength train, according to a study published in the American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism....

Q & A.
May 1, 2007... Q: I have arthritis in both my thumbs, and my doctor wants to operate. What other options do I have, and what is the surgery's success rate? A Many people with mild symptoms of thumb arthritis improve with a limited period of...