Personal Health
Joel P. Rutkowski, Ph.D., Editor
March 20, 2006
- Brain Chemistry May Spur Unhealthy Behaviors
- Alternative medicine common in kids; docs unaware
- Lifting Weights Keeps Overweight at Bay
- Grape Juice Good for Aging Brain
- Diabetes May Roll Back Victories Over Heart Disease
- Health Tip: A Broken Heart Can Make You Sick
- Stress may raise women's BV risk
- Hard Marriages Can Harden Arteries
- Efforts to curb diabetes reduce incontinence rates
- Combat Stress Boosts Heart Disease Risk
- Acupuncture shown to relieve migraines: study
- Noni Juice Might Lower Smokers' Cholesterol
- Yeast treatment may affect warfarin therapy
- Vascular Abnormalities in Brain Linked to Shorter Life Span
- Cognitive decline predicted by brain scans
- Hispanics Benefit from Cholesterol-Lowering Statins
- Breathing training can help heart failure patients
- Pesticide Risk to Babies Underestimated: Study
- Whirlpool baths: enter at your own risk
- Health Tip: Some Pregnant Women at Higher Risk of Gestational Diabetes
- Eat more whole grains to lower diabetes, heart risk
- Lifestyle affects the brain as well as the heart
- Study confirms oral contraceptive-migraine link
- Poverty, not race, lowers prostate cancer survival
- Blood Protein Could Signal Lung Disease Risk
- Study Casts Doubt on Glycemic Index
- Age Influences Visual Perception
- Coma may be self-induced by teens with diabetes
- Health Tip: Valerian as Sleep Aid
- Family docs fine for breast cancer follow-up
- Antibiotic Can Cause Life-Threatening Blood Sugar Problems for Older Patients
- Vitamin D plus calcium curbs falls in older women
- Radiowave Technique Steadies Abnormal Heartbeats
- Childhood depression tied to adult asthma, obesity
- Obese People Might Be More Sensitive to Pain
- Chemotherapy treatment suggested for bird flu patients
- Gingko Biloba May Help Fight Cancer
- Soy benefits heart health in healthy young men
- Health Tip: Prevent Osteoporosis
- Natural painkillers linked to high blood pressure
- Benign Breast Findings Can Still Pose Dangers
- Mild thyroid disease not tied to heart problems
- Strong Immune System May Protect Women From Loneliness-Linked lllness
- Stem cells fail to help heart attack damage: study
- Want to live longer? Think positive thoughts
- Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs Won't Boost Lymphoma Risk
- Cocoa consumers have lower disease risk: study
- Arthritic Knees May Begin With Cartilage Loss
- Infections linked to women's heart bypass deaths
- Eye Damage Might Not Signal Child Abuse
- Breast cancer risk tied to HRT evident across race
- Surgeon's skill affects prostate cancer relapse
- Alternative Remedies Fail Government Tests
- Governors Urge Change in Eating Culture
- Watch Out for Winter Health Woes
Brain Chemistry May Spur Unhealthy Behaviors
HealthDay News
Friday, March 3, 2006
FRIDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Could sluggish brain chemicals cause people to make the poor lifestyle choices that boost their risk for heart disease?
That's the question raised by a new study that looks at links between neurochemistry and human behavior.
Research conducted at the
Serotonin, a chemical that carries messages between neurons in the brain, is believed to play an important role in regulating mood, appetite and blood pressure. This is the first study to suggest an association between the serotonin system and atherosclerosis. The findings could lead to new approaches for preventing heart disease and stroke, the researchers said.
"Many of the known risk factors for heart disease and stroke -- high blood pressure and cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, smoking and lack of exercise -- can, to some extent, be controlled by our lifestyle choices," Dr. Matthew F. Muldoon, an associate professor of medicine, said in a prepared statement.
"Until now, no one had studied the possibility that brain abnormalities could explain why some people make these poor lifestyle choices and have multiple risk factors for heart disease,'" he said.
Muldoon and his colleagues studied 244 people, aged 30 to 55, and found that those with low levels of serotonin system activity were more likely to have thickening of the carotid artery than those with higher levels of serotonin activity.
The findings were presented Friday at the American Psychosomatic Society meeting, in
"If, through further studies, we can establish that risk factors for heart disease and stroke are, in part, controlled by the serotonin systems in the brain, it could open a whole new avenue for preventing heart disease and stroke," Muldoon said.
In previous research, he and his colleagues found that people who are overweight, get little exercise, have high blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol had low serotonin activity levels.
More information
The
Alternative medicine common in kids; docs unaware
Reuters Health
Friday, March 3, 2006
In places as far apart as
In a second study, British researchers found that children with chronic diseases were three times more likely to use
In both studies, reported in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, the researchers found that parents and their children were unlikely to discuss
Although the number of people using complementary or alternative remedies has been increasing with time, there have been no studies of CAM use by youngsters, note Dr. Colin V. E. Powell, from University Hospital of Wales in
To find out more, the team interviewed approximately 500 children and their parents attending a major specialist hospital in
CAM was used by 41 percent of patients in
Powell's group observed that
Only about one third of patients or their parents reported
For the second article, Dr. l. J. McCann from University College London and Dr. S. J. Newell from St. James's University Hospital in Leeds interviewed parents of 25 children with cerebral palsy, 25 with inflammatory bowel disease, 25 with cancer, and 25 healthy "controls" regarding CAM use.
They found that children with chronic illnesses were significantly more likely to use
The investigators also observed that 55 percent of parents whose children were using
McCann and Newell suggest that doctors gain a working knowledge of complementary and alternative medicine, so they can discuss it with their patients.
Editorialist Dr. E. Ernst from the Universities of Exeter & Plymouth, UK, points out that although alternative therapy may be harmless, bad advise from a homeopath or naturopath, such as recommending against immunizations, "would almost inevitably cause serious harm."
Ernst agrees that clinicians need up-to-date knowledge about which CAMs work, which do not and which may be harmful.
Source: Archives of Disease in Childhood, February 2006.
Lifting Weights Keeps Overweight at Bay
HealthDay News
Friday, March 3, 2006
FRIDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Lifting weights twice a week can help women prevent "middle-aged spread" and keep their hearts healthy, a new study shows.
"On average, women in the middle years of their lives gain one to two pounds a year, and most of this is assumed to be fat," study author Kathryn H. Schmitz, an assistant professor at the
"This study shows that strength training can prevent increases in body fat percentage and attenuate increases in the fat depot most closely associated with heart disease. While an annual weight gain of one to two pounds doesn't sound like much, over 10 to 20 years the gain is significant," Schmitz said.
The study included 164 overweight and obese women, aged 24 to 44, divided into two groups. One group took part in a 16-week program of supervised strength training classes, which were followed up with booster sessions four times a year for two years.
The other group of women received a brochure that recommended they get 30 minutes to an hour of exercise most days of the week.
Both groups were told not to change their diets in ways that might lead to weight changes during the study.
By the end of two years, the women in the weight-training group showed an average 3.7 percent decrease in body fat, while the women in the brochure group showed no change in body fat. The study also found that weight training reduced intra-abdominal fat, which is associated with heart disease and metabolic disturbances.
The findings were presented Friday at the American Heart Association's annual conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, in
Schmitz said that weight training is a fairly time-efficient way to prevent these small annual increases in weight that may increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
More information
The
Grape Juice Good for Aging Brain
HealthDay News
Friday, March 3, 2006
FRIDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Antioxidant-rich concord grape juice may help keep aging brains limber, a study with rats suggests.
The study -- partly funded by grape juice maker Welch Foods Inc. -- included mature rats nearing the end of their expected life spans. Researchers put the rodents through a series of tests designed to measure their short-term memory and neuro-motor skills.
"Concord grape juice appeared to enhance the cognitive and some motor skills in the test animals. In many of the tests we saw significant improvements or trends toward improvement," lead researcher James Joseph, chief of the neurosciences laboratory at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, said in a prepared statement.
"As our population ages, we are continually looking for ways to maintain our mental and physical skills," Joseph noted.
"While these laboratory animal studies are certainly preliminary and much more work needs to be done, we know that consuming high levels of natural dietary antioxidants is a good thing from a number of perspectives. And it appears that drinking Concord grape juice has the potential to help retard the mental and physical declines of aging."
The findings appear in the March issue of the journal Nutrition.
More information
The American Heart Association has more about antioxidants.
Diabetes May Roll Back Victories Over Heart Disease
HealthDay News
Friday, March 3, 2006
FRIDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Gains in reducing deaths due to heart disease could be wiped out by the ongoing upsurge in diabetes,
"Over the past 30 years, the
Fang's team analyzed
Over that decade, the percentage of heart attacks among people with diabetes increased from 21 percent to 36 percent. The total number of diabetics who had a heart attack more than doubled -- from 2,951 to 6,048. While there was an overall decline among the general population in days spent in a hospital due to heart attack, diabetics showed an increase of 51 percent.
The findings appear in the February issue of the journal Diabetes.
"Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the
"We expected to see an increase in hospitalizations due to heart attacks among diabetics, but we were surprised by the magnitude of the increase and the sharply rising trend indicated by these findings," Alderman said.
More information
The American Diabetes Association has more about diabetes.
Health Tip: A Broken Heart Can Make You Sick
HealthDay News
Friday, March 3, 2006
(HealthDay News) -- The sudden shock of losing a loved one, a failed romance, even losing a job, can all trigger a series of symptoms that mimic a serious heart attack, researchers at
That's because sudden emotional stress can cause adrenalin to spike and stun the heart, causing severe heart muscle weakness.
Doctors call the condition stress cardiomyopathy, but it's often described to patients as "broken heart syndrome."
The good news? It's usually treatable, and it rarely causes permanent damage.
But check with your doctor immediately if you think you're having a heart attack, just to make sure.
Stress may raise women's BV risk
By Karla Gale
Reuters Health
Friday, March 3, 2006
Increases in psychosocial stress seem to increase a woman's odd of having, or developing, a vaginal infection termed bacterial vaginosis (BV), researchers report.
"Bacterial vaginosis is a common condition that is not well understood in terms of how women get it and what degree of harm it causes, or even how you can prevent whatever harm it may be causing," Dr. Mark A. Klebanoff told Reuters Health.
There is evidence, added the researcher from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in
However, it is hard to eradicate and often recurs.
To gain a better understanding of the disease, Klebanoff and his associates recruited 3614 women, between the ages of 15 to 44, who were not pregnant or on long-term antibiotic therapy and had a normal immune system.
According to the team's report in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the subjects underwent pelvic examinations quarterly for 1 year. The investigators found that the likelihood of having BV was associated with age, race, income, frequency of douching, frequency of vaginal intercourse, number of recent sex partners, and the use of hormonal contraceptives.
The investigators evaluated the subjects' psychosocial stress over the preceding 30 days at each examination using.
They also found that stress was linked to BV, with each 1-point increase on the Perceived Stress Scale (range 1.00 to 5.00) associated with a 1.15-fold greater risk of being positive for BV.
"The magnitude of the effect is relatively small, but one that is large enough to be meaningful," co-researcher Dr. Tonja R. Nansel, also with the NICHHD, told Reuters Health.
Stress may have immune-altering effects that affect the risk of vaginosis, Klebanoff said, adding that "there is plausible speculation that chronic stress is associated with some local immune defects," but further documentation will be required.
He noted that the study is ongoing and the researchers are still collecting a wide range of data, including hygiene habits, sex behaviors, as well smoking, alcohol and drug use, "to get a better handle on what factors are associated with BV, and to see which ones might be amenable to treatment."
Source: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, February 2006.
Hard Marriages Can Harden Arteries
By Meryl Hyman Harris
HealthDay Reporter
HealthDay News
Friday, March 3, 2006
FRIDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Matters of the heart do, in fact, affect the heart.
A new study shows that hardening of the coronary arteries is more likely in wives when their husbands express hostility during marital arguments, and more common in husbands when either he or his spouse acts in a controlling manner.
"Women pay more attention to that friendliness vs. hostility quality, and are more concerned when it's out of line than are men. Men are more interested in issues of control in their lives," explained study author Tim Smith, who is to present the findings Friday at the American Psychosomatic Society meeting in
Some 150 healthy married couples, mostly in their 60s, were recruited through newspaper ads and a polling firm, paid $150 to participate, and received a free CT scan to look for calcification in the arteries that supply the heart muscle.
Each couple was told to pick a topic that was a sore subject in their marriage. They were videotaped sitting in comfortable chairs facing each other as they talked about their problems -- money, in-laws, children and so forth.
Graduate students then coded the conversation indicating the extent to which the conversation was friendly vs. hostile, and submissive vs. dominant.
For example, comments like, "You can be so stupid sometimes," or "You're too negative all the time," were coded as hostile and dominant. A warm, submissive comment would be, "Oh that's a good idea, let's do it."
Even while being taped, the couples engaged in some "quite pointed" arguments, said Smith. "Behaving in this way in this six-minute sample is also associated with couples telling us that this happens a lot for them," he said. Some couples were so hostile researchers suggested they go to counseling.
Two days after their discussion, each couple underwent a CT scan of the chest at the
"We went looking for the fact that different aspects of the marriage might be important to men's and women's heart health, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was so clear," Smith said.
The researchers factored out traditional risks such as weight and cholesterol levels, and personality indicators that are known to trigger disease. The results said "something about the quality of their relationships," Smith said.
The notion that the tenor of a marriage affects one's health did not come as a surprise to Matthew Silvan, a psychoanalyst and director of Psychocutaneous Medicine at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital's department of dermatology in New York City. He specializes in psychology's role in skin diseases.
"The link between the mind and body is something I believe in strongly, and see all the time," he said. While studies such as this one need to be looked at carefully and in general need more supporting data, Silvan said he wasn't surprised men and women react physically to their marriages in different ways.
"For a long time people thought of the mind and body as separate," he said. "And more and more they see they aren't separate. The two mutually influence each other, and the more we study disease the more we have a comprehensive approach to illness."
The idea, said Smith, is to do the smart, healthy things. The most important factors for heart health are diet and exercise, and avoiding tobacco. But, he said, people have to pay attention to their relationships, too.
More information
For more on the impact of stress on health, visit the National Mental Health Association.
Efforts to curb diabetes reduce incontinence rates
Reuters Health
Friday, March 3, 2006
In overweight, pre-diabetic women, intensive lifestyle intervention to prevent diabetes also results in a lower risk of urinary incontinence, a new study shows.
"Less-frequent urinary incontinence may be a powerful motivator for women to choose lifestyle modification to prevent diabetes, " Dr. Jeanette S. Brown and colleagues point out.
Type 2 diabetes increases the risk of urinary incontinence for women by 50 to 70 percent, the team from the Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group at
While weight loss is known to reduce incontinence, the researchers add, there is some evidence that exercise can increase it.
Brown's group investigated the effects of diet and exercise, compared to drug treatment with metformin only or inactive "placebo" treatment, on incontinence risk among 1957 overweight women at high risk for diabetes.
During the trial, which lasted about 3 years, women in the intensive lifestyle group lost an average of 3.4 kilograms, compared with 1.5 kg for those on metformin and a gain of 0.5 kg in the placebo group.
The percentage who developed diabetes in the three groups was 14.9 percent, 23.9 percent, and 30.9 percent, respectively.
At the close of the study, 38.3 percent of the women in the lifestyle intervention group had incontinence, compared to 48.1 percent of women on metformin and 45.7 percent of those on placebo.
Most of the difference in rates of incontinence was attributable to weight loss, the researchers conclude. They recommend that health care providers get out the message that "weight loss and lifestyle intervention may lower the risk of urinary incontinence."
Source: Diabetes Care, February 2006.
Combat Stress Boosts Heart Disease Risk
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter
HealthDay News
Friday, March 3, 2006
FRIDAY, March 3 (HealthDay News) -- Military veterans exposed to combat have a higher long-term risk of heart attacks and strokes than either non-vets or vets not exposed to combat, researchers report.
"Their risk of heart disease is predicted to be higher," said study author Anna Johnson, a doctoral candidate at the
Johnson found that, compared to non-veterans, combat veterans' 10-year risk of heart disease is more than 3 percentage points higher.
She presented the findings Friday at the American Heart Association (AHA) annual conference on Cardiovascular Disease, Epidemiology and Prevention, in
In the study, Johnson and her colleagues followed nearly 5,000 men, including veterans who saw combat, veterans who didn't, and non-veterans who served as controls. "They came in for visits every few years," she said, "with about four visits each since the 1980s."
Researchers looked at measures such as blood pressure, smoking, cholesterol levels and other factors to predict their heart disease risk over the next decade. The men started the study between 1987 and 1989, and the last follow-up questionnaires were conducted in 2001 and 2002.
Johnson's team found that the mean predicted 10-year risk of heart disease risk was 10.2 percent for the non-veterans, 11.5 percent for the veterans not exposed to combat and 13.3 percent for those exposed to combat.
While others have studied veterans and their risk of combat, she said "nobody has looked at predicted risk." And many previous studies did not separate subjects who were in combat from those who were not, she said.
The follow-up time is also longer than in most studies, Johnson noted. "Other studies have looked at shorter-term risk and found limited evidence for a higher risk of cardiovascular events."
"I was surprised there was such marked effects," she said.
Deciphering how combat boosts heart risk is beyond the scope of her study, Johnson said. "Is it behavioral? Are they all smoking and not exercising? Is it psychological? I don't know the underlying mechanisms."
In a previous study, which Johnson presented last year at another AHA conference, she found that veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam who had seen combat were 60 percent more likely to be heavy drinkers than those who had not, and four times as likely to be problem drinkers than those who hadn't been in the armed forces at all.
She also found that combat vets were 20 percent more likely to be heavy smokers than vets who hadn't seen combat, and nearly two times as likely to smoke heavily compared with non-vets.
Joseph Boscarino, a
But he added an interesting observation, based on his research. "We found combat by itself is not significant when you control for PTSD."
PTSD is a psychiatric condition triggered by a life-threatening event such as military combat, disaster or serious accident. People with PTSD often suffer from nightmares, flashbacks and other persistent reminders of a past traumatic event.
In other words, Boscarino said, "combat by itself doesn't make you more at risk for heart disease, it is whether you develop PTSD. It appears that PTSD is a good predictor of heart disease risk."
More information
For more on stress and heart disease, head to the American Heart Association.
Thursday, March 2, 2006
Acupuncture shown to relieve migraines: study
Reuters
Thursday, March 2, 2006
Acupuncture, one of the most popular complementary treatments, works as well as standard drugs for migraines, German researchers said on Thursday.
They compared the effects of real and fake acupuncture with drug treatments for migraine and found all equally effective.
"The main finding is that Chinese acupuncture is as effective as drug treatment for the prophylaxis of migraine," said Hans-Christoph Diener, a neurologist at the University of Duisburg-Essen in
"Secondly, sham acupuncture is as effective as traditional Chinese acupuncture," he told Reuters.
All of the more than 900 patients who had been randomly selected to receive Chinese acupuncture, sham acupuncture or drugs reported similar improvements and reductions in the number of migraine-free days.
"This tells us that Chinese acupuncture is not a very specific treatment," said Diener.
Traditional Chinese acupuncture involves inserting fine needles at specific energy meridians of the body to reduce pain. In the so-called sham procedure the needles were put in places that were not traditional acupuncture points.
The ancient Chinese therapy has been shown to relieve nausea, stress, arthritis pain in the knee and pelvic pain during pregnancy.
"What we showed is that acupuncture is effective but we need more research to find out the biological effect behind it," added Diener, who reported his findings in The Lancet Neurology journal.
Migraine affects about 15 percent of people in
An attack can last up to three days and prevent the sufferer from carrying out normal, everyday activities. Although anyone can get a migraine, it is most common between the ages of 20 and 50 and most sufferers are women.
Over-the-counter and prescription drugs can help to relieve the pain and reduce inflammation. Many patients also try other therapies such as acupressure, homeopathy, osteopathy and physiotherapy.
"The most important result is that all three treatments were effective and that improvement in the number of migraine days was closely similar in all treatment groups," Diener said in the study.
"The decision whether acupuncture should be used in migraine prevention remains with the treating physician," he added.
Noni Juice Might Lower Smokers' Cholesterol
By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter
HealthDay News
Thursday, March 2, 2006
THURSDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Claims that it can ward off any number of ailments have helped boost annual sales of Tahitian noni juice into the billions, and now a new study suggests the drink may, in fact, help lower cholesterol.
But skeptics note that the small study -- like most others looking at the product -- was funded by the maker of the juice, and they are calling for a larger, independent clinical trial.
The findings were to be presented Thursday at the American Heart Association (AHA) annual conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, in
"Are the findings a reason for people to drink noni juice? I don't think that there is an answer to that," said Dr. Stephen Barrett, a retired psychiatrist and founder of Quackwatch, which has investigated the unfounded claims of noni juice distributors in the past.
While not dismissing the idea that the juice, made from the bumpy fruit of the Polynesian noni plant, might have some heart-healthy effects, Barrett added, "You'd want to have someone who's independent, at some point, do the study."
The study's lead researcher, Dr. Mian-Ying Wang of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, defended her team's work. She pointed out that the study was a double-blinded, placebo-controlled effort that met the standards of the college's Institutional Review Board.
Wang drinks noni juice daily. She claims it helps her feel more energized and concentrate better, and has even thickened her hair. "I do recommend it," she said, "and several of my coworkers drink noni juice for their cholesterol -- it controls it very well."
Noni juice does have an ancient history among the peoples of the South Pacific, where Wang said, "it has been used for over 2,000 years as a traditional medicine." She said her previous research has found the juice does contain a very high level of disease-fighting antioxidants.
However, the bitter-tasting beverage has had a more checkered history in the
Morinda owns Tahitian Noni International (TNI), which funded Wang's study. However, according to the company's Web site, the company now claims only that the juice is "rich in antioxidants that promote wellness." They go on to say that "TNI and its distributors do not claim that noni cures cancer or any other ailments." In a statement, TNI said its global sales had reached $3 billion by 2005.
In the
Wang said the study focused on smokers because their cholesterol levels tend to be higher than those of nonsmokers, and they are at higher risk for heart disease.
At the end of the month-long study, noni drinkers saw their total cholesterol drop from an average of 235.2 mg/dL to 190.2 mg/dL, while their triglycerides declined from 242.5 mg/dL to 193.5 mg/dL.
Although the data was not included in the heart association meeting data, Wang said levels of LDL "bad" cholesterol showed a "trend toward decreasing" in noni drinkers, while levels of HDL "good" cholesterol rose 17 percent to 20 percent.
However, not everyone was impressed with the findings. Dr. Jeffrey Galpin is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the
Like Barrett, he said that the remedy "may well have benefits, but somebody -- and not the company -- is going to have to do studies that are well-controlled with no conflict of interest."
He also pointed to one small, independent study that found that overindulgence in the juice could actually be dangerous. "A couple of people used this juice for a few months and drank a ton of it -- one of them ended up needing a liver transplant and the other had some kind of related hepatitis," he said.
He and Barrett also noted that the four-week study says little about the juice's ability to benefit users over the long term.
Then there's the juice's expense.
"If there are antioxidants in noni juice, prove to me that it's worth $35 for 24 ounces -- instead of just eating some [antioxidant-rich] blueberries," Galpin said.
Barrett agreed, noting that drinking three to four ounces of noni juice a day would cost consumers the same as taking a prescription statin medication, "which we know works." Beyond that, Barrett said, "we know that if you simply eat a healthy low-fat diet, your cholesterol level drops really fast."
Galpin also questioned the AHA's decision to promote the small, company-funded study in its press kit for this week's meeting. "That shocked me," he said.
But Dr. Barbara Howard, vice chairwoman of the AHA's Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism Council, defended the association's choice. "There's a huge focus on these kinds of supplements nowadays, and the AHA has made it clear that these are all basically unproven and need a lot more research," she said. "This [choice] doesn't in any way reflect our judgment of the quality of the study."
According to Wang, skeptics may soon get what they wish for, anyway.
"Based on this data," she said, "I'm going to submit a [proposal for a] bigger clinical trial to the AHA, to try and get funding." At the same time, the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is currently recruiting participants for its own federally funded, phase 1 clinical trial focused on the juice's effectiveness against cancer.
More information
For more on herbals and dietary supplements, head to the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine..
Yeast treatment may affect warfarin therapy
Reuters Health
Thursday, March 2, 2006
For women taking warfarin to prevent blood clots, a single dose of fluconazole to treat a vaginal yeast infection can lead to an increased risk of bleeding, findings from a small study suggest.
The time taken for blood to clot -- the so-called prothrombin time -- should therefore be carefully monitored in this scenario, and a change in warfarin dose may be needed, the author advises.
Fluconazole (brand name, Diflucan) is a common treatment for vaginal candidiasis, and is known to interact with a number of drugs, including warfarin -- which can give rise to serious bleeding complications -- according to the report in the medical journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.
While a few studies have looked at the effect of several days of fluconazole therapy on bleeding risk in warfarin users, until now none had looked at the impact of a single dose.
The study involved six women who had been on warfarin therapy for at least 6 months and had no dose changes in the last 4 weeks. Prothrombin time and other blood-clotting measurements were taken at the start of the study and then repeated 2, 5, and 8 days after the participants took one 150-milligram dose of fluconazole.
Prothrombin times increased by 11 percent, 34 percent and 2 percent at each time point, respectively, Dr. Mark A. Turrentine, from the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic in
Following the fluconazole dose, three of the women required a decrease in warfarin dose.
Because the difference between a dangerous dose and an effective dose of warfarin is so narrow, and given the "individual sensitivity demonstrated by a portion of the population, some alteration of the dose of warfarin may be necessary when patients are given even a single dose of fluconazole," Turrentine concludes.
Source: Obstetrics and Gynecology, February 2006.
Vascular Abnormalities in Brain Linked to Shorter Life Span
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter
HealthDay News
Thursday, March 2, 2006
THURSDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Large amounts of white matter in the brain, along with enlarged open areas filled with spinal fluid, appear to be linked to cardiovascular disease and shorter life spans for the elderly.
The findings raise the possibility that controlling blood pressure may need to take a greater role in the fight against cardiovascular disease and early mortality.
"It suggests that very tight control of blood pressure throughout life is a major determinant of longevity," said study author Dr. Lewis Kuller, a professor of epidemiology at the
"We need to be more aggressive about treatment," added Dr. Jesse Weinberger, director of the neurovascular lab at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in
The research was presented Thursday at the American Heart Association's annual conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, in
"White matter" are the nerve fibers that carry messages from neurons, or the brain's nerve cells, to the rest of the body. The fluid-filled open areas in the brain are called ventricles. As a person ages, neurons are lost while ventricles get bigger.
Kuller and his colleagues had earlier shown that blood pressure and vascular disease are associated with dementia. Other researchers have shown that kidney function is a predictor of mortality and of heart attack and stroke. Experts have since been playing with the idea that damage to the small vessels in the kidney and brain as a result of high blood pressure are responsible for these connections.
The new study is part of the Cardiovascular Health Study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, which is looking at the factors relevant to cardiovascular disease.
More than 3,200 people, average age 75 at the time, underwent magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. They were subsequently followed for 12 years, the longest such follow-up ever. Sixty percent of the participants were women and 14.5 percent were black (who have a higher incidence of high blood pressure).
Each brain was given a "white matter grade" (WMG) from one to nine, and a ventricular grade (VG). During the 12 years of follow-up, mortality rose with increasing grades.
Women on the younger end of the spectrum (ages 65 to 74) who had a WMG of less than two had an overall death rate of 12.2 per 1,000, vs. 57.9 per 1,000 for those with a WMG greater than five.
Overall, participants who scored below the average on both scales had a 57 percent lower risk of death, compared to participants who scored above the average.
The white matter and ventricle scores also predicted the presence of cardiovascular disease.
The average survival of a 75-year-old participant with below-average scores and no cardiovascular disease was estimated to be almost 18 years, vs. 11.9 years for those with white matter grades and ventricular grades above the average plus early cardiovascular disease.
"It was an independent predictor of longevity," Kuller said.
While the findings do point to the need for more stringent blood pressure control and possibly for limiting dietary salt intake, more studies need to be done, he added.
"We need focusing on individuals at a younger age to see if we can prevent progression of cardiovascular disease," Kuller said. "We think a lot of disease and disability might be prevented by aggressive treatment of vascular disease. This is potentially preventable."
More information
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more on lowering your blood pressure.
Cognitive decline predicted by brain scans
By David Douglas
Reuters Health
Thursday, March 2, 2006
Among normal, health elderly people, brain imaging can spot changes that suggest an impending decline in cognitive function, California-based researchers report.
This is important, lead investigator Dr. William Jagust told Reuters Health, because effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease might be developed in the relatively near future.
"If such treatments are to be effective," he pointed out, "we will have to apply them to individuals in the earliest possible stage of the disease -- preferably even before symptoms are present -- in order to have maximal benefit, since once symptoms appear the brain has already suffered considerable damage."
Jagust, at the
They were followed for almost 4 years, and about once a year underwent testing to assess global cognition and memory.
Six of the subjects developed dementia or cognitive impairment, according to the team's report published in the Annals of Neurology. Examination of scans showed that areas of lower glucose metabolism in upper and side regions of the brain were strongly linked to a faster decline in mental performance.
The anatomical location of the findings, the researchers conclude, "suggests detection of preclinical Alzheimer's disease pathology."
When and if treatments for Alzheimer's disease become available, Jagust added, "studies like ours, which aim to detect signs of the disease in normal older people, could have clinical applications."
Source: Annals of Neurology, February 8, 2006.
Hispanics Benefit from Cholesterol-Lowering Statins
HealthDay News
Thursday, March 2, 2006
THURSDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Two kinds of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs -- Crestor and Lipitor -- may reduce important heart disease risk factors in Hispanic Americans, new research shows.
The findings were presented Thursday at the American Heart Association's annual conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, in
The study included 635 volunteers, whose blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and LDL "bad" cholesterol were measured before and after treatment. CRP is a marker of inflammation, and high levels of CRP correlate with increased risk of coronary heart disease.
All the volunteers had LDL levels of 130 milligrams per deciliter at the start of the study, which put them at high risk for having a coronary event within the next 10 years.
The volunteers were divided into four groups. One group received 10 milligrams of Lipitor, made by Pfizer Inc., daily for six weeks; a second group received 20 milligrams of Lipitor; the third group received 10 milligrams of Crestor; and the fourth group received 20 milligrams of Crestor.
"LDL levels fell significantly in all four statin-treatment groups after six weeks. Crestor, at both doses, reduced LDL significantly more than Lipitor did at the same dose. Both the drugs had similar effects on the participants' CRP levels," study author Dr. Ramon Luis Lloret, cardiologist and president of the Cardiovascular Center of South Florida, said in a prepared statement.
The average overall CRP level among the participants was 2.5 mg/L at the start of the study. More than half of them had CRP levels higher than 2 mg/L, putting them at much greater risk for coronary disease than people with CRP levels lower than 2 mg/L.
Participants taking 10 milligrams a day of Crestor had an average CRP reduction of 18.8 percent, compared with 16.8 percent for those taking the same dose of Lipitor. In the 20-milligram groups, the average CPR reduction was 26.7 percent for Crestor after six weeks, compared with 23.8 percent for Lipitor.
CRP reductions were greatest among patients who had CPR levels higher than 2mg/L at the start of the study.
The drugs were well-tolerated, and there were no serious side effects such as muscle or kidney problems sometimes seen in patients taking statins, Lloret said.
"Despite Hispanics being the fastest- growing minority in the
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Breathing training can help heart failure patients
Reuters Health
Thursday, March 2, 2006
People with heart failure and difficulty breathing may benefit considerably from using a device to train the muscles involved in breathing, Brazilian researchers report.
The Threshold Inspiratory Muscle Trainer (Healthscan Products, Inc.) applies a load while subjects breathe in, thus training the muscles to become stronger.
Dr. Jorge P. Ribeiro of Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Allegre and colleagues randomly assigned 32 patients to either a 12-week home-based program using the device with an inspiratory load maintained at 30 percent of maximal inspiratory pressure, or to a placebo program in which the participants had no inspiratory load.
Muscle training resulted in a 115 percent improvement in maximal inspiratory pressure, and a 17 percent increase in peak oxygen uptake.
Also in a test measuring how far the subjects were able to walk in 6 minutes, the distance increased from an average of 449 meters to 550 meters, the investigators report in the Journal of the
Active treatment patients also experienced an increase in quality-of-life scores.
The researchers point out that although the training was not continued beyond 12 weeks, part of the effect on maximal inspiratory pressure and on quality of life was still maintained after a year.
"Together with the observations from other small trials," Dr. Ribeiro told Reuters Health, "our data indicate that inspiratory muscle training is a safe intervention that can be considered for the management of patients with chronic heart failure, particularly those with weakness in inspiratory muscles."
Given these findings, the team also concludes that it may be worth screening heart failure patients for breathing muscle weakness.
Source: Journal of the
Pesticide Risk to Babies Underestimated: Study
HealthDay News
Thursday, March 2, 2006
THURSDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Newborns have far greater variability in susceptibility to pesticides than previously believed,
The study "raises the question of whether current standards for safe levels of pesticide exposure are sufficiently protective of a vulnerable population," co-lead author Nina Holland, a
"Based on our study, I feel that more research is urgently needed to establish whether the standards need to be re-evaluated,"
The study appears in the March 2 issue of the journal Pharmacogenetics and Genomics.
Along with researchers at the
Current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines for pesticides require an tenfold extra safety factor to protect children compared with adults if there are gaps in information about the children's susceptibility. The EPA can select a lower safety factor if the agency believes there's enough available information.
"People have this remarkable difference in enzymes that defend their health from pesticide exposure,"
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