Archive for August 2009

Physicians sometimes call ovarian cancer the “silent killer” because it often presents with symptoms that don’t seem to be related to the ovaries. The most common symptoms include abdominal distention, abdominal pain, and increased urinary frequency. Now, British researchers have published in the British Medical Journal the results of a study that demonstrates more symptoms that they say are associated with this disease, some of which can present months prior to a diagnosis is made. Other symptoms include postmenopausal bleeding, loss of appetite, rectal bleeding and abdominal bloating. The take home message of this news is to remind health care practitioners and the general public that seemingly common and benign symptoms – such as bloating – may, in fact, signify a potentially serious diagnosis, especially when taken together with the constellation of symptoms that can be associated with ovarian cancer. [via CBS News]

Share your comments here.

Tweet This Share on Facebook

Whether you know it or not, our nation’s health care system is gearing up for a fight with the H1N1 flu this fall. Health officials estimate that as students return to school, the number of infections could increase by ten-fold every two weeks. This has led authorities to expedite vaccine research and production. Right now, the target date for vaccine distribution is mid-October. However, the vaccine is still under testing. For example, it is as yet unclear what the exact dosage should be. Some experts, including Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, believe that in order to prevent infections from skyrocketing the vaccine should get the go ahead and be used even though full testing is not completed. Just as many experts say we should not risk using the vaccine without full and proper testing. What is agreed upon are who should get the first doses of the vaccine – namely, high risk groups that include pregnant women, health care and emergency personnel, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months, people 6 months to 24 years old, and people age 25 to 64 who are at high risk due to chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems. [via ABC News]

Share your comments here.

Tweet This Share on Facebook

Did you know that it is legal in most states of the union to shackle incarcerated women during childbirth? The American Academy of Obstetrics and Gynecology condemns this practice because they say it unnecessarily risks a woman’s health. Soon, New York will become the sixth state to ban this practice, along with California, Illinois, New Mexico, Texas and Vermont. It’s unclear how many inmates are affected by the practice. The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics said 4% of state inmates and 3% of federal inmates were pregnant in 2008 when they were first incarcerated. There is no data available to indicate how many women delivered babies in prison, or were restrained while doing so. [via The Boston Globe]

Share your comments here.

Tweet This Share on Facebook

A report was released yesterday by the International EMF Collaborative entitled “Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern, Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone.” Interphone was a multinational, government and industry-funded study that began in 1999 to determine whether cellphone usage increases a user’s risk of brain cancer. According to this current report, the Interphone study greatly underestimated brain tumor risk due to design flaws that included the exclusion of children and young adults in the study (the most vulnerable population), exclusion of those who died or were too ill to be interviewed due to their brain cancers, as well as the exclusion of many types of brain cancers. US Scientists that have endorsed this viewpoint, that the Interphone study had serious design flaws, include faculty at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Columbia University, and the University at Albany. This report was sent to government leaders today by the International EMF Collaborative, who is urging all to take a second look at the public health implications of cellphone usage. [via Business Week]

Share your comments here.

Tweet This Share on Facebook

Car safety seats are one of the most effective ways to protect children from injury and death in the first years of life. For the best protection in a crash, car seats require infants to be placed in an upright position. However, this posture can partially compress the chest wall and reduce airway size, resulting in lower levels of oxygen. The study, “A Comparison of Respiratory Patterns in Healthy Term Infants Placed in Car Safety Seats and Beds,” compared oxygen levels in 200 newborns while in a hospital crib, car bed and car seat. The mean oxygen saturation level was significantly lower in the car seat (95.7 percent) and the car bed (96.3 percent) compared to the crib (97.9 percent). Previous studies have found similar effects on premature infants; this study confirms the respiration of full-term infants is also affected by car seats and car beds. The study authors suggest these safety devices should be used only for protection during travel, and not as replacement for cribs. [News release via American Academy of Pediatrics]

Share your comments here.

Tweet This Share on Facebook

According to an analysis released by The Commonwealth Fund this week, private insurance premiums for employer-sponsored coverage will rise by 94% by the year 2020. This is on top of the 119% increase that has already occurred between 1999-2008. These premium increases were greater than four times the rise in family incomes during the same period, even prior to the current recession. And these are only the premiums alone, not including out-of-pocket costs – deductibles, co-pays, and miscellaneous fees – which have also risen. This is why medical bills have become the number one cause in 62% of bankruptcies. Yet, instead of reining in cost and saving us money, private insurance companies will continue to increase their premiums. Regardless of how we end up dealing with our current health care situation, any genuine reform must counter the rising cost of health insurance premiums. [via The Commonwealth Fund]

Share your comments here.

Tweet This Share on Facebook

As the start of another school year is upon us, parents are asking what to do should their children come down with symptoms of influenza. The World Health Organization just released updated guidelines with regards to children and the H1N1 (swine) flu. The current recommendation is prompt treatment for children who show severe or deteriorating illness, and those at risk of more severe or complicated disease. This includes all children under 5 years of age because this age group is at an increased risk of severe H1N1 infection. Children who are otherwise healthy and older than the age of 5 do not need to be given antiviral medication unless their illness persists or worsen. Most patients, including children, who are infected with the pandemic H1N1 virus will experience typical influenza symptoms and fully recover within a week, even without any form of medical treatment. The two antivirals currently used are oseltamivir and zanamivir. They can help to reduce disease severity and reduce the need for hospitalization. [via WHO]

Share your comments here.

Tweet This Share on Facebook

The FDA has released an analysis of electronic cigarettes which shows that they contain a variety of dangerous toxins, some of which are found in real cigarettes. E-Cigarettes are battery-operated devices, some of which are made to look like real cigarettes, complete with glowing red LED lights and simulated puffs of smoke. When turned on, they heat up a solution of nicotine in propylene glycol to deliver a fine mist of nicotine to the smoker. The problem is that many contain nitrosamines (the same carcinogen found in real cigarettes), as well as diethylene glycol, the poisonous ingredient in antifreeze. E-cigarettes are available at thousands of retail stores. Over this past year their sales have grown from about $10 million to $100 million, according to the Electronic Cigarette Association, the industry’s trade group. They come in a variety of flavors, including chocolate, mint and apple, which could make them appealing to children and adolescents. [via the Houston Chronicle]

Share your comments here.

Tweet This Share on Facebook

An essay published by the Stanford Prevention Research Center in the New England Journal of Medicine is arguing that current drug labeling doesn’t adequately allow consumers to effectively compare two drugs used for the same indication. For example, how would a consumer know whether a new drug is better than one that’s been on the market for years? Currently, the FDA doesn’t require pharmaceutical companies to include statements about how their new products compare with existing treatments. All they are required to do is to show that it performs better than placebo – without harmful side effects. Now, imagine picking up a drug with the following label: “Although this drug has been shown to lower blood pressure more effectively than placebo, it has not been shown to be more effective than other members of the same drug class.” After reading this would you prefer to buy this newer (and likely more expensive) brand-name drug or would you opt for the tried and true generic? The authors argue that this type of labeling can curb the appetite of consumers – and doctors – in always wanting the newest medications, which contributes tremendously to our ever-growing health care costs. [via Medical News Today]

Share your comments here.

Tweet This Share on Facebook

The results of a game of historical epidemiology has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The question: What did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart die of? His early death at the age of 35 has intrigued historians around the world, and now researchers from Austria and the UK believe they may have solved the puzzle. According to eyewitnesses, Mozart’s body was very swollen before he died, suggesting he had edema (swelling due to excessive fluid build up in bodily tissues). By looking at historical death records around the time of Mozart’s death, the most common cause of death during that period that would have been associated with edema is streptococcal infection that led to kidney dysfunction, otherwise known in medical speak as acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis. During an infection with strep throat, your immune system can sometimes react in such a way that causes inflammation of the kidneys, leading to kidney failure, edema and even death (if left untreated). [ via Medical News Today]

Share your comments here.

Tweet This Share on Facebook