Health & Medicine Week articles from February 2001

Health & Medicine Week archives from February 2001

Survey Suggests Many Physicians Don't Include Patients in Decisions.
February 5, 2001... 2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com) -- To screen or not to screen for prostate and breast cancer may be the doctor's choice alone, a study suggests. A survey of primary care physicians at three urban New York hospitals found upwards of one-third of...

Smog a Major Cause of Kids' Sick Days.
February 5, 2001... 2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com) -- When air pollution worsens, more children stay home sick from school due to respiratory illnesses, according to a study by University of Southern California (USC) preventive medicine researchers. School...

Cervical Spine Surgery Triggers Complications.
February 5, 2001... 2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com) -- by Maryclaire Lindgren. staff medical writer -- Surgical techniques involving an anterior approach to the cervical spine frequently cause swallowing and speech dysfunction. How often does this complication...

FDA Publishes Final Rule to Increase Fruit and Vegetable Juice Safety.(U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
February 5, 2001... 2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a final rule designed to improve the safety of fruit and vegetable juice and juice products. Under the rule, juice processors must use Hazard Analysis and...

Action Plan and Oral Steroid Use Cut Related Deaths Dramatically.
February 5, 2001... 2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com) -- The use of oral steroids to control a severe asthma attack reduced the risk of death from the disease by 90% and a written asthma action plan outlining treatment options was associated with a 70% reduction in risk...

Gap in Patient/Physician Communication Hinders Recovery.
February 5, 2001... 2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com) -- More than three quarters of the people being treated for major depression feel their illness isn't under complete control and more than half of those who have ever had side effects stopped using their antidepressant...

Renal Patients Suffer Impaired Salivary Function.
February 5, 2001... 2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com) -- by Maryclaire Lindgren, staff medical writer --End-stage renal disease patients who require hemodialysis have impaired salivary function. C.H. Kao, of the Taichung Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan, and...

Nitric Oxide Is One Culprit.(cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease in patients with sleep apnea)
February 5, 2001... 2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com) -- by Maryclaire Lindgren, staff medical writer-- Nitric oxide is a culprit in the pathophysiological changes leading to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). ...

Eye Damage After Solar Eclipse Not as High as Expected.
February 5, 2001... 2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com) -- Damage to the sight of those who looked directly at the sun during the eclipse of August 1999 may not be as bad as expected. Looking at the sun can cause bums to the retina. The U.K. Department of Health's...

Study Suggests Convenience is Key in Contact Lens Choice.
February 5, 2001... 2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com) -- A study shows that patients who wear contact lenses overwhelmingly prefer disposable extended-wear contacts to disposable daily-wear lenses. Researchers at Ohio State University asked 50 patients to compare the...

Treatment with Bacteria Can Protect Children from Recurrent Ear Infections.
February 5, 2001... 2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com) -- Selected bacteria with the ability to inhibit the growth of common pathogens can be used to protect children who are prone to acute otitis media (ear infection) and could also help reduce antibiotic use....

Biopsy Causes Pain and Anxiety.(prostate )
February 5, 2001... 2001 FEB 5 - (NewsRx.com) -- by Maryclaire Lindgren, staff medical writer -- Transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy causes men intraoperative pain, anxiety, and, sometimes, erectile dysfunction (ED). Amnon Zisman, of Tel Aviv...

Occupational Therapy Helps Seniors.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Occupational therapy can help senior citizens stay healthy and live independently, with lasting results even six months after seniors initially work with a therapist, according to a study from the University of...

Bad Teeth and Gums Might Exacerbate Existing Chronic Respiratory Disease.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Chronic lung-disease patients should be especially fastidious about brushing and flossing their teeth. That is the message delivered in a study conducted by oral biologists from the University at Buffalo,...

Personality's Role in High Blood Pressure Might Not Be So Prominent.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Many researchers have proposed that certain personality types are more likely to develop high blood pressure. But in fact, the relationship between personality and high blood pressure may be less clear-cut than...

U.S. and Japanese Scientists Develop Diagnostic Test.(for male infertility)
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- A team of U.S. and Japanese experts in reproductive medicine has made a major advance in testing for male infertility that could prevent women seeking fertility treatment from taking unnecessary tests or having...

Injury Rates Rising Among Baby Boomers.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12- (NewsRx.com) -- While many baby boomers are exercising more, many end up in hospital emergency rooms suffering from sports-related injuries, according to Yale University orthopedic surgeon, Robert A. Stanton, MD, who wants to raise...

Asthma Drug Zafirlukast Related to Three Cases of Severe Hepatitis.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Sonia Nichols, staff medical writer -- The asthma drug zafirlukast has caused three cases of severe hepatitis, according to a report in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Medical investigators at Albert Einstein...

Bone Gains Fade When Elders Cease Supplements.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Do seniors maintain strong bones after they stop taking calcium and vitamin D supplements? Researchers asked this question after showing that men and women over 65 who took extra calcium and vitamin D daily for...

Socioeconomic Status Weighs Heavily on Health of Married Couples.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12- (NewsRx.com) -- The health of a married person is strongly linked with the health of his or her spouse, and socioeconomic factors like income, education, and insurance coverage are highly associated with the joint occurrence of...

Physical Activity: Age Matters in Hot Climates.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- If you're over 65 and planning a winter vacation in a sunny climate, be aware that a hot environment puts a strain on an older heart, said a Pennsylvania State University specialist in the study of the human body's...

Technology Provides Earliest Detection and Offers Best Opportunity to Save Vision.(GDx Access to diagnose glaucoma)
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- On December 21, 2000, then-president Clinton signed legislation calling for the first glaucoma detection benefit under Medicare in the U.S. This bill - part of a blindness prevention benefit (H.R.4577) - was a...

Grant Awarded for Study of Deafness and Design Better Implants.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- A University of California, Irvine (UCI), College of Medicine research team has been awarded a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study how people become deaf and to design better devices to...

Researchers Use "Fast CT" To See Human Kidney Function.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, have discovered an exciting new application for "Fast CT" scanning technology that enables physicians for the first time to non-invasively see detailed kidney...

You've Got Mail.(women more likely to get mammogram if they received notice about Medicare's biennial mammogram benefits)
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Mammogram use increased significantly in the U.S. when older women received mailed materials informing them about Medicare's subsidized biennial mammogram benefits introduced in 1991. Among minorities who...

Low-Level Office Noise Increases Health Risks and Lowers Task Motivation.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Low-level noise in open-style offices seems to result in higher levels of stress and lower task motivation, according to a study by a Cornell University environmental psychologist. And, surprisingly,...

Gum Disease Not Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- Researchers have speculated that people with inflamed gums or other forms of periodontal disease are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Now a new study suggests that that hypothesis is incorrect, at least...

Teeth Grinding Associated with Other Health Issues.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- The grinding or clenching of teeth during sleep on a weekly basis affects more than 8% of the population and is associated with other disorders such as daytime sleepiness and anxiety, according to a study. The...

Regular Cocaine Use Responsible for Heart Attacks in Young People.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12- (NewsRx.com) -- One-quarter of non-fatal heart attacks among people under the age of 45 in the United States can be attributed to regular cocaine use. This is according to studies done by scientists at the University at...

African-American Light Smokers Need More Help with Quitting.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- The common practice of light smoking among African Americans needs more physician attention than it currently receives since it may be unhealthier for this population than is currently assumed. ...

Researchers Shed Light Post-Surgical Condition.(lateralization of the tympanic membrane )
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- by Maryclaire Lindgren, staff medical writer -- Often presenting years after surgery, lateralization of the tympanic membrane (TM) carries with it significant morbidity. N.M. Sperling and D. Kay, of the State...

Hypnosis Permits Diagnosis.
February 12, 2001... 2001 FEB 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- by Maryclaire Lindgren, staff medical writer-- Hypnosis may be the best method for diagnosis of vocal cord dysfunction (VCD). The paradoxical adduction of vocal cords during inspiration - vocal cord...

Dual Sensor Could Provide More Information and Earlier Warning Signs.
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Diabetics could benefit from data provided by a device that monitors glucose and insulin levels simultaneously, allowing better management of the disease. In the laboratory, researchers created the electronic...

Inhaled Insulin May Be New Treatment Option.
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- People with type 1 diabetes may be able to regulate blood glucose successfully using inhaled insulin. This approach represents a less-invasive treatment option compared with conventional treatment involving the...

Some with Peanut Allergy May Outgrow Condition.
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- People who live in fear of their peanut allergy might be excited to learn that they might outgrow it. Those who have peanut allergies anxiously avoid numerous products, and they worry that accidental exposure...

Expert Tinkers with Evolution to Create Human Built-to-Last.
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 -- (NewsRx.com) -- If humans were designed to live beyond age 100 and remain free of many of the diseases and disorders associated with aging, we might have looked like short, stout elves. This conclusion might be drawn from...

Habilitation Can Be New Approach for Treatment.(Alzheimer's disease )
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- An approach, called habilitation, is needed to treat Alzheimer's disease and improve patients' quality of life, according to an article by Drs. John Zeisel and Paul Raia. Habilitation therapy aims to help...

Gastroesophageal Reflux Aggravates Bronchial Condition.
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- More albuterol, please, and pass the Pepcid[TM]. New study results indicate asthma patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) truly can suffer a double whammy. Researchers in Japan wanted to see...

Grants Awarded to Implement Inner-City Intervention.
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced the awarding of grant funds to 23 sites to improve the health of inner-city children with asthma. These funds will enable community-based...

Booklet Advises Taking Active Role in Health Care Decisions.
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- In connection with National Wise Health Consumer Month, in February 2001, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced the availability of a resource with practical tips on what people can...

Cold Weather Deaths Are Preventable.
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Hypothermia is an under-reported life-threatening condition in the United States. On average, nearly 700 people die each year due to hypothermia. Of all U.S. hypothermiarelated deaths, half occur among persons...

Treatable Condition Might Be Missed in Primary Care.(chronic liver disease )
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Treatable chronic liver disease might be being missed in primary care because abnormal test results for liver function are often not adequately investigated. Researchers from the Queen's Medical Centre in...

Delayed Antibiotic Treatment is Feasible and Acceptable.
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- A "wait and see" approach, compared to immediate prescription of antibiotics for acute otitis media (ear infection) in children, is feasible, acceptable to parents, and should substantially reduce use of...

Imaging Technology Aids Diagnosis and Classification of Maxillary Sinus Hypoplasia.
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Anatomists in Turkey are using computed tomography scans to classify maxillary sinus hypoplasia in sinusitis patients. They say their system can help correctly diagnose and characterize this type of atrophy or...

Weight-Bearing Therapy Helps Injured Man Walk.
February 19, 2001... 2001 FEB 19 - (NewsRx.com) -- Medical science, university research, and human determination have come together in a remarkable achievement: enabling a wheelchair-dependent man to walk. A 43-year-old man, who suffered a spinal cord injury...