Health News articles from October 2007

Health News archives from October 2007

Two treatments for heart attack: angioplasty or clot-busting drugs: who benefits from which therapy? Time is of the essence in both.(CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE)
October 1, 2007... When someone experiences the symptoms of heart attack (myocardial infarction, or MI), an electrocardiogram (EKG) is taken to look for ST elevation (The peaks and valleys of the EKG have different letter designations. ST elevation is a change in...

Anti-malarial drug Plaquenil may reduce diabetes risk.(IN THE NEWS ...)
October 1, 2007... Long used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) may also help reduce the risk of developing diabetes in people with RA, according to preliminary research published in the Journal of the...

New cervical cancer test is faster, more accurate.(IN THE NEWS ...)
October 1, 2007... A computerized test to screen for cervical cancer to replace the well-known Pap smear is under evaluation in this country. This test reduces the number of women requiring retesting, and could save time--4.7 minutes per slide compared to 10.6...

C gets a D in cold prevention.(IN THE NEWS ...)(Vitmin C)
October 1, 2007... A new review of 30 studies involving over 11,000 people suggests that for most individuals extra vitamin C doesn't reduce the length or severity of the common cold. According to a review published in July in The Cochrane LIbrary, "There seems...

FDA approves patch to treat dementia symptoms.(IN THE NEWS ...)
October 1, 2007... A skin patch called Exelon (rivastigmine) was approved in July by the Food and Drug Administration as a method of delivering the medicine to patients who exhibit symptoms of dementia in mild to moderate cases of Alzheimer's disease. When...

A good walk could save your life: benefits include greater heart health, lower blood pressure and diabetes risk, weight loss--even enhanced mental agility.(INTERNAL MEDICINE)
October 1, 2007... Take a walk! That's the advice of doctors, public health experts and various medical organizations. In fact, experts now urge people to log at least 10,000 steps per day for good health. So, is walking as miraculous an activity as it's made...

Older diabetes drugs are sometimes best.(INTERNAL MEDICINE NEWSBRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... Patients can sometimes be overwhelmed with the multiple drugs now available to treat diabetes A review of new and older oral medications for type 2 diabetes found that older medicines are similar, and in some cases superior to, newer medicines....

New weapons against brain tumors: emerging techniques from multi-national research curb the growth of brain tumors.(CANCER)
October 1, 2007... People with the aggressive brain tumor glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) normally survive just 12 to 18 months because the tumor can quickly metastasize to other areas of the brain. But scientists world-wide are developing new techniques to improve...

No need to exceed "5-a-day.".(CANCER NEWSBRIEFS)(fruit/fiber/vegetable diet for breast cancer)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... More extensive servings of fruits fiber and vegetables than the USDA-recommended "5-A-Day" fruit and vegetable dietary guidelines do not reduce breast cancer recurrence or improve survival, according to findings from a recent study published in...

A man's blood type influences lung cancer risk.(CANCER NEWSBRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... Predictors of lung cancer are "remarkably different among men of different ABO blood groups," according to a recent study which followed 3,387 Danish men (average age 63) for 16 years. Type B/AB males had a significantly lower risk of dying...

Mental decline may be associated with heart disease: help your heart help your brain: keep blood pressure low, control cholesterol, don't smoke, and take statins.(MIND & MEMORY)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Older adults with vascular diseases other than stroke might also be vulnerable to a significant decline in mental function, according to an investigation conducted as part of the long-term Edinburgh Artery Study in...

Counseling benefits arthritis patients.(MIND & MEMORY NEWSBRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... Counseling sessions aimed at giving people with arthritis the tools they need to cope with their pain can help them feel and function better, according to a new report in the journal Health Psychology. The researchers analyzed 27 studies that...

Meditation--unproven therapy.(MIND & MEMORY NEWSBRIEFS)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... There is no compelling evidence that meditation has value in treating conditions such as hypertension, stress, and chronic pain, according to a 2007 report requested and published by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative...

Hang onto your driver's license--and your independence: stretching, walking can enhance flexibility, coordination and speed of movement needed to drive a car.(NUTRITION & FITNESS)
October 1, 2007... Researchers at the Yale University School of Medicine have found that simple, regular, low-impact exercises may help older adults maintain or improve some of the skills needed to drive a car safely. Drivers in the over 70 age group have the...

Diet, regular soft drinks linked to increase in heart disease.(NUTRITION & FITNESS NEWSBRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... Drinking more than one soft drink, regular or diet, is associated with an increase in risk factors for heart disease, according to a study reported in a recent issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. "We were struck by...

Milk trumps calcium supplements for better bone health.(NUTRITION & FITNESS NEWSBRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... New research suggests that getting calcium from food may be better for your bones than taking supplements. The findings, which may end an ongoing debate among nutritionists, appear in the May issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition....

Potential new disease-modifying drug for osteoarthritis: calcitonin may stave off the joint destruction of OA.(BONES & JOINTS)
October 1, 2007... Calcitonin, a drug currently used to treat the brittle bone disease osteoporosis and Paget's disease of the bone, may help slow or perhaps even halt the progression of osteoarthritis (OA), according to a new study reported in the August issue...

Artificial disc revolutionizes neck vertebrae surgery.(BONES & JOINTS NEWSBRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved The Prestige Cervical Disc the first artificial cervical (neck) disc for the treatment of cervical degenerative disc disease, one of the most common causes of neck and arm pain. The...

IBD and as are all in the family.(BONES & JOINTS NEWSBRIEFS)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) seem to run in families, according to a new study in the August 2007 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism. It is the first study to demonstrate a possible hereditary link between the...

Gene associated with coronary artery disease.(CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE NEWSBRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... Medicine can change in a--well, Heartbeat. In a recent issue of DukeMedicine HealthNews, we reported that efforts to identify a gene associated with coronary artery disease had failed. Now a study in the July 18 New England Journal of Medicine...

Connection between pneumonia and acute cardiac events.(CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE NEWSBRIEFS)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... Doctors who admit patients with pneumonia to the hospital would be well advised to examine them for serious heart trouble. A study of 170 patients admitted to a Texas VA hospital with pneumonia found that 20 percent were also experiencing an...

QA.
October 1, 2007... Q How can doctors tell it a patient needs a bypass operation or an angioplasty? A The first most important determination is whether the patient needs any procedure at all. If he has an abnormal stress test or came into the emergency...