E-Cigs Tied to Drinking, Other Risky Teen Behaviors

Strong relationship to alcohol use, study finds

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, March 31, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Electronic cigarettes are used by both smoking and nonsmoking teens, and are associated with drinking and other risky behaviors, a new study finds.

"We found that e-cigarette access is strongly related to alcohol use in teenagers," said study author Karen Hughes. She is a professor of behavioral epidemiology at Liverpool John Moores University in England.

"Those who drink are more likely to have accessed e-cigarettes than nondrinkers regardless of whether they smoke normal cigarettes or not, and those who drink frequently, binge drink, drink to get drunk, drink strong alcohol products, and show signs of unsupervised alcohol consumption are most likely to have accessed e-cigarettes," said Hughes in a news release from BMC Public Health.

The study was published in the journal on March 30.

The researchers from the university surveyed more than 16,000 students, aged 14 to 17, in England and found that 20 percent of them had used e-cigarettes.

Of those who had tried e-cigarettes, 16 percent had never smoked, 23 percent had tried smoking but didn't like it, nearly 36 percent were regular smokers, nearly 12 percent only smoked when drinking, and nearly 14 percent were ex-smokers.

Students who drank alcohol were much more likely to use e-cigarettes than nondrinkers, and those who regularly binge drank were four times more likely to use e-cigarettes than those who didn't drink, according to the study.

Among those who drank, e-cigarette use was associated with binge drinking and violence after drinking, regardless of whether they smoked. These findings suggest that teens who use e-cigarettes are at risk for other types of substance use and risk-taking, according to the researchers.

Fellow study author Mark Bellis said, "Our research suggests that we should be very concerned about teenagers accessing e-cigarettes. While debate on e-cigarettes has focused largely on whether or not they act as a gateway to tobacco cigarette use, e-cigarettes themselves contain a highly addictive drug that may have more serious and longer lasting impacts on children because their brains are still developing."

source : E-Cigs Tied to Drinking, Other Risky Teen Behaviors

Read more →

Migraine or Sinus Headache: What's the Difference

Got frequent headache pain? Why you need to know whether it's a migraine or a sinus headache.

By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Feature

Reviewed by Richard Senelick, MD

Headache pain along with a stuffy, runny nose and itchy, watery eyes. Sounds like a sinus headache, right? Think again.

More than 4 out of 5 people who think they have a sinus headache with symptoms like pain in the head, stuffy nose, and watery eyes actually have migraine headaches.

"It's such a widespread misconception," says neurology professor Peter Goadsby, MD, who heads the University of California, San Francisco's headache program. "It's the size of the problem that stuns me."

Here's why it matters: Treating a migraine like a sinus headache, or vice versa, doesn't work.

Differences in Symptoms, Causes

Sinus headache and migraine can have some symptoms in common, including:

Pain in the head, particularly the forehead.

1. Itchy or watery eyes.
2. Pain associated with movement.

But migraines are often also accompanied by other symptoms, including:

1. Nausea or vomiting.
2. Sensitivity to sound or light.
3. Severe throbbing pain on one side of the head.

Migraine is usually to blame in people who have frequent, severe headaches, says neurology professor Stephen Silberstein, MD, of Thomas Jefferson University. He wrote the American Academy of Neurology's guidelines on migraine diagnosis and treatment.

"If you walk into your doctor's office with disabling headache pain that comes and goes, 95% of the time it's migraine," Silberstein says. "People with sinus infections don't complain of headache first. They say they are sick and have a headache."

Sinus headaches are usually caused by an infection and inflammation of the nasal passages. That leads to congestion. And that causes pain and pressure in the forehead and behind the cheekbones.

Different Treatments

For sinus headaches, treatment starts with decongestants, pain relievers, and nasal irrigation to ease sinus pressure and congestion and help drainage.

Antibiotics or nasal steroids are often used as a second line of attack to treat the underlying infection or chronic disease.

A sinus headache caused by an infection should go away soon after starting treatment.

Migraine treatment isn't just about stopping a migraine once it starts. It's also about preventing them and reducing their frequency, severity, and duration.

Drugs called triptans are used during a migraine attack to reduce pain and restore function.

source : Migraine or Sinus Headache: What's the Difference

Read more →

Report Shows Progress in America's War on Cancer

Small, but steady declines in deaths seen over past decade

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- America is making slow but steady progress against cancer, with a continuing decline in cancer deaths, according to a new report.

The overall cancer death rate fell an average 1.5 percent per year between 2002 and 2011, representing improved survival for men, women and children, the report found.

The rate of new cancer cases also declined an average 0.5 percent a year during that period.

Experts say the promising figures reflect success in both treating and heading off cancer in the body's four most vulnerable sites -- the lungs, colon, breasts and prostate.

"These numbers reflect a combination of factors that include prevention, early detection and improved treatment," said report co-author Ahmedin Jemal, vice president of surveillance research for the American Cancer Society.

However, the new report also found that cancer rates are rising for some rarer forms of cancer, including cancer of the liver, mouth and throat, thyroid, and kidneys.

The annual report was published in the March 30 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The report was co-authored by experts from the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, the American Cancer Society, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Combining resources, the four groups concluded that cancer deaths fell 1.8 percent a year among men between 2002 and 2011, 1.4 percent a year for women and just over 2 percent a year for children.

New cancer cases fell slightly for men during that decade, while remaining level for women, according to the report. The incidence rate for new cancers in children 19 and younger increased, but by less than 1 percent a year, the report stated.

Those two trends indicate that cancer is being effectively prevented and, if it occurs, successfully treated, said Recinda Sherman, report co-author and program manager of data use and research for the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.

Advances in lung cancer are tied directly to fewer people smoking, while the decline in colon and breast cancers also are tied to prevention efforts, Sherman said.

source : Report Shows Progress in America's War on Cancer

Read more →

Breast Cancer Is Not One Disease, Experts Say

New focus on tumor subtypes could help patients, according to medical groups

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Breast cancer isn't the same for every woman, even at the cellular level, according to a new statement from four major medical groups focused on the disease.

The report was issued Monday by the American Cancer Society, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. National Cancer Institute, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. They say that classifying breast cancers according to tumor subtypes could help improve treatment of the disease.

The report "assesses breast cancer as four molecularly defined subtypes, not as a single disease," National Cancer Institute director Dr. Harold Varmus said in an institute news release. "This is a welcome step, [resulting from] medically important information that already guides therapeutic strategies for these subtypes," he said.

The four major molecular subtypes are categorized according to their hormone receptor (HR) status, meaning a chemical receptor lying on breast cancer cells that reacts to hormones such as estrogen. Categorization is also dependent on a tumor cell's activity around the HER2 gene. Both factors can affect how a tumor acts and might be treated, experts say.

The four tumor types are: Luminal A (HR+/HER2-), Luminal B (HR+/HER2+), HER2-enriched (HR-/HER2+), and triple negative (HR-/HER2-).

Experts have long known that the four subtypes respond differently to treatment and have different survival rates, according to the report published March 30 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Cancer registries across the United States are now recording these breast cancer subtypes, the groups noted, and this new data will help researchers more accurately rank breast cancer by risk. It should also help patients better understand each subtype's impact on their health, the authors said.

Some differences in breast cancer rates and deaths between racial and ethnic groups are also tied to differences in the rates of different breast cancer subtypes emerging in those groups, the report suggests.

It said there were unique racial/ethnic group patterns by age, poverty level, geography and specific tumor characteristics. For example, rates of HR+/HER2- breast cancer -- the least aggressive subtype -- were highest among white women.

source : Breast Cancer Is Not One Disease, Experts Say

Read more →

U.S. Ebola Patient's Condition Improves

WebMD News from HealthDay

March 30, 2015 -- The condition of an American health worker being treated for Ebola at a National Institutes of Health facility has improved from serious to fair, officials said Monday.

The NIH did not release any more details about the patient, who was one of 17 staff members of the non-profit Partners in Health group evacuated from Sierra Leone earlier this month, NBC News reported.

The other 16 staff members are under a 21-day watch to see if they develop any Ebola symptoms. All 16 are close to clinics where they could begin receiving treatment quickly if necessary.

Ebola has infected more than 25,000 people in West Africa, and more than 10,000 of them have died, NBC News reported.

source : U.S. Ebola Patient's Condition Improves

Read more →

Gestational Diabetes Drug Might Raise Babies' Complication Risk

Study links glyburide to more infant intensive care and respiratory distress

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- When used to treat diabetes that develops during pregnancy (gestational diabetes), the drug glyburide has been linked to a number of complications in the baby, according to a new study.

In fact, infants born to mothers given glyburide (DiaBeta) during pregnancy had a higher risk of respiratory distress, needing intensive care, having low blood sugar, being too large at birth, and birth injury when compared to babies born to mothers treated with insulin.

There has been widespread and rapid uptake in the use of glyburide in mothers with gestational diabetes in the last 10 years, according to the report.

"Doctors and patients need to be aware that although glyburide is easier to use than insulin, not all women may be good candidates for management with this medication," said lead researcher Michele Jonsson Funk, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "We need to better understand which women can be treated effectively with glyburide, considering not only the short-term but also the long-term effects that these treatments may have on the health of their newborns," she said.

It's important to note, however, that while this study found an association between the use of glyburide and an increased risk of complications, the study wasn't designed to show a cause-and-effect relationship.

And Funk added that exactly why the drug is linked with these complications isn't clear.

But these findings are especially concerning since, according to Funk, the number of women who develop gestational diabetes in the United States has more than doubled during the last 20 years.

The report was published March 30 in JAMA Pediatrics.

"Glyburide has been used increasingly in pregnancy over the last 10 years. Although the initial trial data suggested it was safe, large studies including this one have raised concerns about the safety of its use," said Dr. Richard Holt, author of an accompanying editorial in the journal, and a professor of diabetes and endocrinology at the University of Southampton in England.

source : Gestational Diabetes Drug Might Raise Babies' Complication Risk

Read more →

Lots of Leafy Greens Might Shield Aging Brains, Study Finds

Vitamin K thought to slow deterioration

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- A single serving of leafy green vegetables each day may help keep dementia away, new research suggests.

Researchers evaluated the eating habits and mental ability of more than 950 older adults for an average of five years.

Those who consumed one or two servings of foods such as spinach, kale, mustard greens and/or collards daily experienced slower mental deterioration than those who ate no leafy greens at all, the study found.

The brain benefits associated with dark leafy greens likely stem from several key nutrients, particularly vitamin K, said study lead author Martha Clare Morris of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

The researchers "observed a protective benefit from just one serving per day of green leafy vegetables," which are known to be rich in vitamin K, added Morris, a nutritional epidemiologist at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center.

Morris was scheduled to present her team's findings Monday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Boston. Research presented at meetings is usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

The study cannot actually prove that leafy greens preserve clarity of thinking.

But another expert, Dr. Yvette Sheline, said the finding is both "interesting and in some ways surprising."

"It makes sense that leafy green vegetables would have an effect on mental health," said Sheline, a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

"We know generally that what you eat, or don't eat, can affect your risk for high blood pressure and vascular disease, which can both then worsen the course of dementia," she said.

But exactly how leafy greens may alter dementia risk remains a mystery, Sheline said.

"But while it's still being worked out, I'd say go to your local grocery and pick up some kale. There's certainly no harm done," she added.

For the study, funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, researchers focused on 954 men and women enrolled in Rush's Memory and Aging Project. Participants were 81 on average at the start, and three-quarters were women.

source : Lots of Leafy Greens Might Shield Aging Brains, Study Finds

Read more →

Migraine, Carpal Tunnel May Be Linked

Patients with one are more than twice as likely to have the other, study says

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Carpal tunnel syndrome appears to increase risk for migraine headaches, and migraines may make it more likely that you'll also have carpal tunnel syndrome, new research suggests.

The study is the first to find a link between carpal tunnel syndrome and migraine, but the connection is unclear, said Dr. Huay-Zong Law and colleagues of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. The two conditions may share some "common systemic or neurologic risk factor," they wrote.

The researchers analyzed data from nearly 26,000 Americans who took part in a health survey. About 16 percent said they'd suffered a migraine within the past three months, and nearly 4 percent had carpal tunnel syndrome within the past year.

Symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome include hand numbness and weakness, caused by pressure on the median nerve in the wrist, the researchers noted. Migraines are recurring attacks that often involve throbbing headache, sensitivity to light and sound, nausea and vomiting.

Thirty-four percent of people with carpal tunnel syndrome had migraines, compared with 16 percent of those without the nerve disorder. After adjusting for other factors, the researchers concluded that the risk of migraine was 2.6 times higher in people with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Similarly, more than twice as many people with migraines had carpal tunnel syndrome -- 8 percent versus 3 percent of those without migraines. After adjusting for other factors, the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome was 2.7 times higher among migraine sufferers, according to the authors of the study published March 23 in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery -- Global Open.

The research team also found some shared risk factors for migraine and carpal tunnel syndrome, especially obesity, diabetes, smoking and being female.

The findings may help "inform" the debate over the use of nerve decompression surgery to treat migraine, the researchers said.

"Recently ... there is some evidence that migraine headache may be triggered by nerve compression in the head and neck, with some patients responding to nerve decompression by surgical release" of pressure at specific migraine trigger points, the researchers noted.

source : Migraine, Carpal Tunnel May Be Linked

Read more →

GNC to Boost Testing of Herbal Supplements

WebMD News from HealthDay

March 30, 2015 -- Extensive testing procedures for its herbal supplement products are being introduced by GNC, the company announced Monday.

The testing of those products by GNC -- the largest specialty retailer of dietary supplements in the United States -- will far exceed the quality controls required under federal law, The New York Times reported.

The New York State attorney general's office recently accused GNC and three other major retailers -- Walgreens, Walmart and Target -- of selling herbal supplements that were fake or contained unlisted ingredients that could be a threat to consumers' health.

GNC's announcement is an initial but major step forward for the loosely-regulated supplement industry, according to experts.

"This should be a standard across the entire industry," Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School who studies tainted supplements, told The Times. "Today we finally have one first step taken by one retailer, and only after the very aggressive intervention by the New York attorney general's office."

GNC, which has more than 6,500 stores nationwide, said it will use advanced DNA testing to authenticate all of the plants used in its in-store brand herbal supplements. The company will also conduct extensive product tests for common allergens such as wheat, soy and tree nuts, and submit semiannual reports proving that it is complying with the state attorney general's demands, The Times reported.

In a statement, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman urged Walgreens, Walmart and Target "as well as all herbal supplements manufacturers, to join GNC in working with my office to increase transparency and safeguard the wellness of their customers."

source : GNC to Boost Testing of Herbal Supplements

Read more →

Follow detikcom, S. B. Yudhoyono and AGNEZ MO on Twitter!

The Zone Diets, Some people you may know on Twitter.         detikcom @detikcom Official Twitter Account of http://t.co/Ecx3lje4oN. Contact:... Following: 42 · Followers: 9674928 Follow S. B. Yudhoyono @SBYudhoyono Akun Resmi Presiden Ke-6 RI (2004-2014) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.... Following: 152 · Followers: 6826594 Follow AGNEZ MO @agnezmo DREAM BELIEVE & MAKE IT HAPPEN! Instagram: @agnezmo and @myfitnezdiary... Following: 1006 · Followers: 12717410 Follow Connect with others on Twitter. Find more people you may know Forgot your Twitter password? Get instructions on how to reset it. You can also unsubscribe from these emails or change your notification settings. Need help? If you received this message in error and did not sign up for Twitter, click not my account. Twitter, Inc. 1355 Market St., Suite 900 San Francisco, CA 94103

Read more →

Weight-Loss Surgery Might Reduce Serious Asthma Flare-Ups

Emergency visits, hospitalizations for airway disease dropped by half after procedure, study finds

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Nina Flanagan

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- In obese people with asthma, weight-loss surgery has been linked to a significant reduction in serious asthma flare-ups, new research suggests.

"We found that risk of an emergency department visit or hospitalization for asthma exacerbation decreased by half after bariatric [weight-loss] surgery and remained significantly lower for at least 2 years," the study authors wrote in the report.

The study relied on weight-loss surgery as an "instrument of substantial weight loss," according to the study's lead author Dr. Kohei Hasegawa, an attending physician in the emergency department of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. But, the study didn't have any specific information on the patients' weights before and after surgery, according to Hasegawa.

So it's not clear how much weight needs to be lost to make a difference in serious asthma symptoms, or if losing greater amounts of weight was linked to an even greater reduction in asthma flare-ups.

It's also important to note that this study was designed only to find an association between weight-loss surgery and fewer asthma flare-ups; it cannot show that surgery or expected weight loss from the surgery actually caused the reduction in serious asthma symptoms.

Findings from the study were published online recently in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Asthma is a chronic disease caused by inflamed, narrowed airways. Symptoms of the disease include difficulty breathing, wheezing and coughing. About 25 million people in the United States have asthma, according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Weight-loss surgery is generally only recommended for people who are severely obese, according to the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

There are a variety of weight-loss surgeries available. The three most common are: gastric bypass; gastric sleeve; and the lap band. The first two procedures are the most effective, with 70 to 80 percent of extra weight lost; and the lap band reduces excess weight by about 40 percent, according to Dr. John Morton, chief of bariatric and minimally invasive surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine in California.

source : Weight-Loss Surgery Might Reduce Serious Asthma Flare-Ups

Read more →

Connection Between Diabetes, Advanced Breast Cancer Detected in Study

Findings suggest need to modify screening methods

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Women with diabetes may have an increased risk of being diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, a new study from Canada shows.

"Our findings suggest that women with diabetes may be predisposed to more advanced-stage breast cancer, which may be a contributor to their higher cancer mortality," Dr. Lorraine Lipscombe, a scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Women's College Hospital in Toronto, said in a hospital news release.

She and her colleagues said that breast cancer screening and detection methods may need to be modified for women with diabetes in order to reduce their risk of being diagnosed with advanced cancer.

The researchers analyzed data from more than 38,000 women ages 20 to 105 who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 2007 and 2012. Nearly 16 percent of the women had diabetes.

Women with diabetes were 14 percent more likely to have stage II breast cancer, 21 percent more likely to have stage III breast cancer, and 16 percent more likely to be have stage IV breast cancer, compared to having stage I breast cancer, which is the most treatable stage.

Five-year survival for breast cancer patients with diabetes was 15 percent lower than for those without diabetes, according to the study published March 24 in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.

The researchers also found that breast cancer patients with diabetes were more likely to have larger tumors and cancer that had spread, compared to those without diabetes.

The study revealed lower mammogram rates in women with diabetes, which could account for later-stage disease, the researchers said.

Researchers only found an association between diabetes and advanced breast cancer in this study, not a cause-and-effect link.

source : Connection Between Diabetes, Advanced Breast Cancer Detected in Study

Read more →

People May Grow More Trusting With Age, Study Finds

And that could mean more happiness, too, researchers say

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Far from the "grumpy old men" stereotype, people may actually become more trusting -- and happier -- with age, a new study suggests.

"When we think of old age, we often think of decline and loss," study co-author Claudia Haase, an assistant professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University, said in a university news release.

"But a growing body of research shows that some things actually get better as we age," she said. "Our new findings show that trust increases as people get older and, moreover, that people who trust more are also more likely to experience increases in happiness over time."

In the study, Haase and colleagues looked at nearly 200,000 people across 83 countries and found a link between aging and higher levels of trust. The findings held steady for over 30 years, which suggests that this association is not restricted to certain generations, the researchers said.

"For millennials, generation X, and baby boomers alike, levels of trust increase as people get older," said Haase, who is also director of Northwestern's Life-Span Development Lab. "People really seem to be 'growing to trust' as they travel through their adult years."

Focusing on the United States, they then followed more than 1,200 Americans. Again, people tended to become more trusting as they aged, according to the study.

The findings were published online this month in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Why the increase in trust with age?

"We know that older people are more likely to look at the bright side of things," Haase said. "As we age, we may be more likely to see the best in other people and forgive the little letdowns that got us so wary when we were younger."

Of course a rise in trust levels has its bad side, sometimes putting older adults at higher risk for scams and fraud. However, the researchers found no evidence that those negatives detract from the benefits of being more trusting. The positive link between trust and well-being was consistent across a lifetime, the study authors said, suggesting that trust is not usually a liability in old age.

"Our findings suggest that trust may be an important resource for successful development across the life span," Haase concluded.

source : People May Grow More Trusting With Age, Study Finds

Read more →

Painful Knee Arthritis May Be Linked to Premature Death

Connection is likely due to limited mobility, researcher says

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Painful knee arthritis is associated with an increased risk of premature death in women, a new study suggests.

Women with osteoarthritis-related knee pain -- the type associated with normal wear and tear -- were nearly twice as likely to die early from any cause, and more than three times as likely to die from heart problems as those without knee pain from arthritis, the British researchers found.

"These findings suggest that any self-reported knee pain in osteoarthritis, as opposed to hand pain, seems to be a crucial factor leading to early cardiovascular mortality and is likely to be linked with decreased mobility," said lead author Dr. Stefan Kluzek of the Arthritis Research UK Centre of Excellence for Sport, Exercise and Osteoarthritis at the University of Oxford.

There was no increased risk of early death among women with osteoarthritis pain in the hands. Nor did women with X-ray evidence of knee arthritis but no pain have an increased risk of premature death, the study found.

Researchers analyzed data from middle-aged British women who were tracked for an average of 22 years.

The study is scheduled for presentation Friday at the World Congress on Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases in Milan, Italy. Data and conclusions presented at meetings are usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

"More research is needed to understand how people adapt to knee pain, and how this leads to cardiovascular impairment," Kluzek said in a news release from the International Osteoporosis Foundation.

source : Painful Knee Arthritis May Be Linked to Premature Death

Read more →

E-Cigarettes May Pose a Risk in Pregnancy and to Children

Nicotine can harm developing brains, experts say

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Nicotine exposure from e-cigarettes may damage the developing brains of infants in the womb, as well as the brains of children and adolescents, suggests a new review of nicotine's effects.

Animal experiments have shown that exposure to nicotine can harm developing lungs and brains, according to the review's senior author Dr. Tim McAfee, director of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health. The harm in the animal brains occurs in areas involved in thinking and language development, and short- and long-term memory, he said.

McAfee said that manufacturers contend that e-cigarettes are safe because they release harmless water vapor. However, that vapor contains nicotine, which can be inhaled by kids who are near people using these devices. Children can also be exposed to nicotine from surfaces where it has accumulated from the vapor. If children touch those surfaces and then place their hands into their mouths, they can potentially be exposed to nicotine.

However, it should be noted that most of the studies in the review don't look specifically at e-cigarette use. Instead, most looked at the effects of nicotine exposure on animals and humans from other sources, such as cigarettes or chewing tobacco. So, it remains unclear exactly how much nicotine exposure developing babies, children and teens are getting from e-cigarettes, as well as what the potential harms are from that exposure.

The amount of nicotine an e-cigarette delivers depends on the type of e-cigarette, McAfee said. The nicotine dose can range from as little as the equivalent of half a cigarette to as much as a whole cigarette, he said.

McAfee acknowledged that e-cigarettes may help people trying to give up cigarettes.

"Although e-cigarettes have some benefit among adult smokers if they are used as a complete substitute for all tobacco products, e-cigarettes should not be used by youth and adult non-tobacco users because of the harmful effects of nicotine and the risk of progression to other forms of tobacco use," he said.

source : E-Cigarettes May Pose a Risk in Pregnancy and to Children

Read more →

Could a Diet Help Shield You From Alzheimer's?

Scientists say the MIND eating plan significantly reduces risk of the brain disorder

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists say they've developed an anti-Alzheimer's diet.

While it couldn't prove cause-and-effect, the new study found that adults who rigorously followed the so-called MIND diet faced a 53 percent lower risk for Alzheimer's, the most common type of dementia. Those sticking to the diet just "moderately well" saw their Alzheimer's risk drop by roughly 35 percent.

"Often, people who eat healthier also participate in other healthy lifestyle behavior, but the MIND diet afforded protection [against Alzheimer's] whether or not other healthy behaviors or health conditions were present," said study author Martha Clare Morris, a nutritional epidemiologist at the Rush University Medical Center and the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center in Chicago.

The eating plan emphasizes healthy grains, vegetables, beans, poultry and fish while also allowing for a limited amount of less healthy red meat, butter and sweets.

The MIND diet combines aspects of the better-known Mediterranean diet with certain features of the so-called DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, both of which call for high consumption of fruits, vegetables, and fish.

But while the MIND diet stresses the importance of plant-based foods, green leafy vegetables and blueberries, it does not push much consumption of fruit, fish, dairy or potatoes.

One expert said he was intrigued by the findings.

"The protective impact they found is significant and substantial enough to make you do a little bit of a double-take," said Dr. Anton Porsteinsson, director of the Alzheimer's care, research and education program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in New York.

"With a diet like this it seems that it's never too late to start," Porsteinsson said. "And that's a very important message."

Among the non-dietary factors Morris and colleagues accounted for were smoking history, exercise habits, educational background, mentally challenging activities (such as reading or doing crossword puzzles) and a history of obesity, depression, diabetes or heart disease.

The study results -- published in the March issue of Alzheimer's & Dementia -- suggest that the longer one follows the MIND diet, the greater the protection against Alzheimer's disease, Morris said.

source : Could a Diet Help Shield You From Alzheimer's?

Read more →

Hope to Live to 100? Check Your Genes

DNA's role in lifespan rises dramatically in extreme old age, study finds

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Healthy eating and exercise might help most people live to a respectable old age, but making it to 95 or 100 might require help from your DNA, a new study finds.

"Genetic makeup explains an increasingly greater portion of the variation in how old people live to be," especially for people approaching or exceeding the one-century mark, study co-author Dr. Thomas Perls, of Boston University, said in a university news release.

In the study, a team led by professor of biostatistics Paola Sebastiani looked at thousands of sibling groups in New England in which at least one person reached age 90.

For people who lived to age 90, the chances that their siblings also reached 90 was only about 70 percent higher than for the average person born around the same time, the study found.

But genetics began to play a bigger role as the number of birthdays came and went.

For example, for people who lived to age 95, the chances that their siblings also reached 95 was 3.5 times higher than normal, the study found. For people who lived to 100, the chances that their siblings also reached 100 was nine times higher than normal.

And for those few people who lived to 105, the chances of their siblings also reaching 105 was a whopping 35 times higher than normal, the researchers found.

According to Sebastiani's team, reaching the age of 105 is about 1,000 times rarer than making it to age 95.

The study was published online March 26 in the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences.

The findings support the theory that genes play "a stronger and stronger role in living to these more and more extreme ages," the researchers said.

They also believe that the combinations of longevity-linked genes that help people survive to age 95 might be different than those that help people reach age 105.

"For a long time, based upon twins' studies in the 1980s and early '90s, scholars have maintained that [only] 20 to 30 percent of longevity or even life span is due to differences in genes, and that the remainder is due to differences in environment, health-related behaviors or chance events," said Perls, a professor of medicine at the university.

source : Hope to Live to 100? Check Your Genes

Read more →

Kidneys From Dead Older Donors May Help Seniors, Study Finds

Many of these organs would otherwise get thrown away, researcher says

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Older people who need a kidney transplant are better off receiving an available organ from an older deceased donor rather than waiting for one from a younger donor, a new study shows.

While kidneys from older donors can't provide younger patients with a lifetime of kidney function, they are suitable for older people because of their shorter life expectancy, the researchers explained.

Even though more than 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for a kidney transplant, most kidneys from deceased donors 65 and older are discarded, the study authors said. Making greater use of those kidneys could shorten kidney transplant waiting lists.

The researchers analyzed data from Europe and the United States. They found that people aged 60 and older who need a kidney transplant are better off getting a kidney from a deceased older donor right away, rather than waiting for an organ from a younger donor.

The study was published online March 26 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

"Older patients derive a survival benefit from rapid transplantation with an older donor kidney, while younger patients do not derive a benefit from transplantation from an older kidney," study co-leader Dr. John Gill, of the University of British Columbia in Canada, said in a journal news release.

"Ensuring older patients can access older donor kidneys should be a priority in the United States. This may involve increased utilization of older donor kidneys or possibly excluding younger patients from receiving these kidneys," he added.

source : Kidneys From Dead Older Donors May Help Seniors, Study Finds

Read more →

Kitchen Towels Can Make You Sick

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Hand towels are the top contamination hazard in the kitchen, according to a new study.

Cellphones are another potential source of kitchen cross-contamination, the researchers found.

Cross-contamination refers to the accidental transfer of potentially hazardous germs from one surface to another.

Kansas State University researchers asked 123 people to prepare a recipe using either raw ground beef or chicken, along with a ready-to-eat fruit salad. The participants did the food preparation in a kitchen set up on the campus.

A harmless type of bacteria was placed in the raw beef and chicken in order to trace levels of meat-associated contamination spread during meal preparation.

"First, participants were observed frequently handling towels, including paper towels, even when not using them for drying. Towels were determined to be the most contaminated of all the contact surfaces tested," lead researcher and food safety specialist Jeannie Sneed said in a university news release.

Many participants touched towels before washing their hands or used them after inadequate washing of their hands, she said. Even after they washed their hands properly, the participants reused the towels and re-contaminated their hands, according to the study in the journal Food Protection Trends.

Cloth towels can easily become contaminated with germs that can cause foodborne illnesses, the researchers said. They added that previous studies found that bacteria commonly found in raw meat and poultry grows on cloth towels stored overnight, even when they are washed and rinsed in the sink.

Wash cloth towels after using them while preparing a meal, or use paper towels and throw them away after each use, Sneed advised.

Her team found that more than 90 percent of the fruit salads prepared by the participants were contaminated with the tracer bacteria. This shows that if the tracer had been a harmful germ such as salmonella, there was a high risk of foodborne illness.

Four out of five participants also left raw meat contamination on the sink faucet, refrigerator, oven and trash container, the study found.

Moreover, many participants used cellphones during meal preparation and didn't clean them properly.

"We often take our cellphones and tablets into the kitchen," Sneed said, "but what about all the other places we take them? Think of how many times you see someone talking on their cellphone in places like the bathroom, where microorganisms such as norovirus and E. coli are commonly found."

If these devices are used in the kitchen, Sneed recommended wiping their surfaces with a disinfectant.

source : Kitchen Towels Can Make You Sick

Read more →

Obama Unveils Plan to Tackle Antibiotic Resistance

By Brenda Goodman, MA
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Hansa D. Bhargava, MD

March 27, 2015 -- The Obama administration is pledging to end the widespread practice of using antibiotics to boost the growth of animals that are raised for food in the U.S.

“The National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria” also directs the FDA to make meat producers get a veterinarian’s okay in order to buy the drugs for other reasons in animals. 

The FDA had recommended those measures before, but it didn't require livestock producers to comply.

The new report gives the agency a year to set final changes to the labels of “medically important” antibiotics sold for animals being raised for food. The changes will make it illegal to sell these antibiotics without a vet’s prescription.

The plan also includes new proposals intended to stem the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and speed new tests and treatments to people:

• The creation of new DNA databanks of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. These will serve as reference libraries to help disease detectives trace the sources of resistant infections. They'll help scientists develop new treatments, too.
• Changes to the designs of clinical trials, so that new drugs could be tested on patients even when outbreaks of these infections are sporadic and affect relatively small numbers of people.
• New requirements for hospitals to track and report their antibiotic use.
• Prize money to spur the development of tests that could help doctors quickly tell if an infection is caused by bacteria or viruses -- and if it is caused by bacteria, which drugs would work to kill them.

In an interview with WebMD, President Barack Obama called antibiotic resistance a pressing public health issue that is vital to our national security.

“They [antibiotics] save the lives of service members wounded in battle. They prevent infections in one community from spreading far and wide. They’re also a critical defense against bio-terrorism. They are, quite simply, essential to the health of our people and people everywhere,” he said.

He called on Congress to help fund the plan, but said the administration would act where it could to implement parts of it on its own. The plan will nearly double the amount of money spent on fighting antibiotic resistance to more than $1.2 billion.

“We can better protect our children and grandchildren from the reemergence of diseases and infections that the world conquered decades ago,” Obama said.

source : Obama Unveils Plan to Tackle Antibiotic Resistance

Read more →

Multiple Sclerosis: Planning for Your Future

By R. Morgan Griffin
WebMD Feature

Reviewed by Neil Lava, MD

Managing your life with MS isn't just about dealing with the symptoms you have right now. It's about thinking through what could happen in future -- the possible effects on your job, family, and finances -- and preparing for them.

Even if your symptoms are mild, planning can make you feel better and be more confident in your future.

"It's not bad luck to think about what you might do if your symptoms got worse," says Rosalind Kalb, PhD, a clinical psychologist and vice president of clinical care at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. "That's not giving into the disease -- that's taking charge of it in a productive way."

1. Face Your Fears.

When it comes to planning for the unpredictable, where do you begin? "Start where your greatest fears are," Kalb says.

Could MS prevent you from working? Could it disrupt your family? Whatever worries you most about the condition, tackle the fear head on.

"Instead of letting those worries go round in your head, start building a safety net that would deal with that problem," Kalb says.

2. Check Your Insurance

Read your health care insurance policy, says Dorothy Northrop, MSW, vice president of continuum of care initiatives at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Make sure your doctor is covered and that you have access to specialists, such as neurologists. Even if you don’t need other treatments now, like physical or occupational therapy, you might need them in the future, so check what's covered, Northrop says.

You can also get help from MS Navigators at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. They can help you understand your options. To talk to one, call 800-FIGHT-MS.

3. Talk to Your Family

"Most people don't really understand MS," says Kalb. Let them know how MS might affect you and how they can support you.

"A lot of family and friends want to help but don't know what to do," Kalb says. Be specific when you ask for help: a ride to a doctor's office on Tuesday, an after-school pickup next week. That helps them know exactly what you need and want.

source : Multiple Sclerosis: Planning for Your Future

Read more →

In-Patient Rehab Not Always Needed After New Knee

People do just as well with in-home physical therapy, study finds

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Patients who choose at-home physical therapy instead of in-patient rehabilitation after knee replacement surgery do just as well when it comes to complications, long-term pain management and movement recovery, new research indicates.

"Based on these findings, we are encouraging more patients to consider going home so they can receive their aftercare in a home environment instead of at an in-patient rehab facility," said study lead author Dr. Douglas Padgett, chief of the Adult Reconstruction and Joint Replacement Service at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

"Many patients may also feel more comfortable in a familiar home setting during their recovery," he added.

Padgett explained that the study was sparked by a growing tendency to send knee surgery patients directly home from the hospital, rather than to a rehab center.

"With our study, we wanted to make sure this would not affect patient outcomes. If hospitals are telling patients they can have all of their rehab at home, it was important to make sure they would do just as well at home," he said.

To date, only a handful of small studies have explored the issue, Padgett said. He added that the trend has been driven, in part, by a growing reluctance from private insurance companies and Medicare to cover the cost of in-patient rehab expenses.

The findings, presented this week at the American College of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting in Las Vegas, should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Padgett said that standard recovery time for knee replacement surgery can run anywhere from two to four months. Typically, patients assigned for in-patient rehab care stay about two weeks, receiving physical therapy roughly six days per week, sometimes followed by in-home or outpatient care after they return home.

By comparison, those sent directly home are generally visited by a home-care physical therapist three days per week for up to six weeks.

The current comparative analysis involved more than 2,400 patients who'd had knee replacement surgery between 2007 and 2011. Their average age was 66. Almost 90 percent had undergone knee replacement as a result of debilitating osteoarthritis.

source : In-Patient Rehab Not Always Needed After New Knee

Read more →

Kitchen Towels Can Make You Sick

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Hand towels are the top contamination hazard in the kitchen, according to a new study.

Cellphones are another potential source of kitchen cross-contamination, the researchers found.

Cross-contamination refers to the accidental transfer of potentially hazardous germs from one surface to another.

Kansas State University researchers asked 123 people to prepare a recipe using either raw ground beef or chicken, along with a ready-to-eat fruit salad. The participants did the food preparation in a kitchen set up on the campus.

A harmless type of bacteria was placed in the raw beef and chicken in order to trace levels of meat-associated contamination spread during meal preparation.

"First, participants were observed frequently handling towels, including paper towels, even when not using them for drying. Towels were determined to be the most contaminated of all the contact surfaces tested," lead researcher and food safety specialist Jeannie Sneed said in a university news release.

Many participants touched towels before washing their hands or used them after inadequate washing of their hands, she said. Even after they washed their hands properly, the participants reused the towels and re-contaminated their hands, according to the study in the journal Food Protection Trends.

Cloth towels can easily become contaminated with germs that can cause foodborne illnesses, the researchers said. They added that previous studies found that bacteria commonly found in raw meat and poultry grows on cloth towels stored overnight, even when they are washed and rinsed in the sink.

Wash cloth towels after using them while preparing a meal, or use paper towels and throw them away after each use, Sneed advised.

Her team found that more than 90 percent of the fruit salads prepared by the participants were contaminated with the tracer bacteria. This shows that if the tracer had been a harmful germ such as salmonella, there was a high risk of foodborne illness.

Four out of five participants also left raw meat contamination on the sink faucet, refrigerator, oven and trash container, the study found.

Moreover, many participants used cellphones during meal preparation and didn't clean them properly.

"We often take our cellphones and tablets into the kitchen," Sneed said, "but what about all the other places we take them? Think of how many times you see someone talking on their cellphone in places like the bathroom, where microorganisms such as norovirus and E. coli are commonly found."

If these devices are used in the kitchen, Sneed recommended wiping their surfaces with a disinfectant.

source : Kitchen Towels Can Make You Sick

Read more →

New Anthrax Drug Approved by FDA

WebMD News from HealthDay

March 25, 2015 -- A new drug to treat inhalation anthrax has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Anthrasil was approved to be used in combination with appropriate antibacterial drugs. Anthrasil testing was limited to animals, because it was not feasible or ethical to test it in people, the FDA said.

Inhalation anthrax can occur after a person is exposed to infected animals or contaminated animal products, or as the result of the intentional release of anthrax spores in a bioterrorism attack. The anthrax bacteria multiply in the body and produce toxins that can cause extensive and irreversible tissue damage and death.

Anthrasil is made from the plasma of people vaccinated against anthrax. The plasma contains antibodies that neutralize the toxins produced by anthrax bacteria.

"Today's approval provides an important additional treatment to other FDA-approved therapies for inhalational anthrax, a life-threatening disease," Dr. Karen Midthun, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in an agency news release.

"This product will be stored in U.S. Strategic National Stockpile to facilitate its availability in response to an anthrax emergency," she added.

source : New Anthrax Drug Approved by FDA

Read more →

3 Drinks Per Day May Raise Liver Cancer Risk, But Coffee Lowers It

Expert panel looked at data on over 8 million people to come up with risk factors for the disease

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- People who have three or more alcoholic drinks per day could be raising their odds for liver cancer, according to a report from a panel of experts.

But there was good news for java lovers: The report, from the World Cancer Research Fund International, found "strong evidence" that drinking coffee might actually lower a person's odds for liver cancer.

In drawing together the report, researchers tracked data on 8.2 million people who took part in 34 studies worldwide. There were a total of 24,500 liver cancer cases among the participants in the studies.

The objective was to determine how diet, weight and physical activity affect the risk of liver cancer. The studies were gathered and reviewed by a team at Imperial College London in England, and then independently assessed by a panel of international experts.

Along with the increased risk associated with having three or more alcoholic drinks a day, the investigators also found that being overweight or obese boosts the chances of developing liver cancer.

One other major global culprit driving liver cancer: foods contaminated by aflatoxins. Aflatoxins are toxins produced by fungi, often resulting from the improper storage of food. These toxins are generally found in foods from warmer, developing regions of the world, the researchers said.

Foods that may be affected by aflatoxins include cereals, spices, peanuts, pistachios, Brazil nuts, chili peppers, black pepper, dried fruit and figs, according to the report.

The findings about coffee and overweight/obesity are new. The findings about alcoholic drinks and aflatoxins were in a 2007 report.

According to the report's authors, you can reduce your risk of liver cancer by maintaining a healthy weight and by either not drinking or limiting alcohol intake to a maximum of two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women, the new report said.

source : 3 Drinks Per Day May Raise Liver Cancer Risk, But Coffee Lowers It

Read more →