Category Archives: Cancer

Pesticide exposure tied to Parkinson’s disease

Need another good reason to go organic? According to data published in the journal Neurology, exposure to weed killer, solvents and pesticides increases people’s risk for Parkinson’s disease by 33 to 80 percent, Medical Daily reported. Researchers collected data from 104 studies from around the world to analyze how pesticides, insecticides, weed killers, and many other agricultural chemicals influenced an individual’s risk for Parkinson’s disease. Though researchers found links between many chemicals and Parkinson’s, they found no link between Parkinson’s and the chemical dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), which has been banned in the United States for decades, Medical Daily reported. However, people who were exposed to the weed killer paraquat or the fungicides maneb and mancozeb had a two-fold greater risk for contracting the disease. Additionally, researchers showed a direct link between the length of time people were exposed to pesticides and their likelihood of contracting Parkinson’s. The data also indicated that agricultural workers had a 33 percent higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than people who didn’t work in agriculture.  The study did not distinguish between people who came in contact with pesticides through their skin or through breathing the chemicals. Parkinson's disease is a neurological condition, characterized by a decrease of the brain’s ability to produce the neurotransmitter dopamine, which ultimately leads to tremors and a decrease in motor control.  Treatment options for Parkinson’s patients are limited. Click for more from Medical Daily.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/28/pesticide-exposure-tied-to-parkinsons-disease/

5 ways to shed weight for summer

Memorial Day Weekend kicks off bathing suit season – and diet season, too. Tempting as it may be to go on a crash diet to shed some extra pounds, think again. Starving yourself skinny is neither easy nor healthy. And quick fix diets, if they work at all, don’t keep weight off for very long. The truth is, you can eat well, enjoy treats, drink alcohol, and still lose weight. Here’s how: Eat more to lose more Restricting food can actually slow down your metabolism. Why walk around hungry when you can fill up on delicious foods that are satisfying and naturally low in calories? The secret is to eat foods that are high in fiber, such as fruits and vegetables - some have a few as 25 calories per cup.   Sip more water Did you know that dehydration mimics the symptoms of hunger?  For good health and to keep hunger at bay your goal should be to drink eight 8-oz glasses of water a day. It’s easy to do if you keep a full glass on your desk at work and pack a water bottle when you are on the go. Give ordinary water a favor boost with sugar-free powdered flavoring, some fresh fruit wedges, or some cool refreshing cucumber slices. Get moving You don’t have to go for a run to lose weight.  Your best bet is to focus on simple strength training. By building muscle you stoke your body’s calorie-burning machine while giving your body a lean, toned look.  Do this a variety of ways: resistance exercises, hand weights, yoga, or take a Pilates class. Spice it up Spicy foods have metabolism boosting properties. Chili, red pepper, cayenne, cinnamon and ginger all raise the body’s temperature and heart rate, which in turn actually burns more calories.   Banish bloating Salty foods can leave you looking and feeling bloated and you can counter that by eating foods that are rich in potassium such as bananas, papayas, kiwis, strawberries, spinach, cooked beets and broccoli.     For more tips, delicious high fiber meal plans, recipes, and proven ways to lose weight and look great, check out my new book The Miracle Carb Diet: Make Calories and Fat Disappear – with Fiber! Tanya Zuckerbrot MS, RD, is a registered dietitian in New York City and the bestselling author of The Miracle Carb Diet: Make Calories and Fat Disappear – with fiber, and The F-Factor Diet: Discover the Secret to Permanent Weight Loss.  Follow Tanya on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and visit her website Ffactor.comsource : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/28/5-ways-to-shed-weight-for-summer/

Dealing with mean girls — and boys — in the workplace

Though most mean girls and tough boys of middle and high school grow out of their sophomoric behaviors, some cling to them well beyond college and into adulthood. That means you may encounter this behavior in the workplace. Author Meredith Fuller, a psychologist in Australia, interviewed over 200 women about mean girls in the workplace for her book, Working with Bitches. She discovered that certain personality “types” can make the lives of their coworkers miserable just as they did back in school. Grown women may feel some of the similar inhibitions they felt as teenagers when dealing with these difficult personalities in the workplace. Here are some of the most difficult personality types and how to deal with them: The Excluder:  She barely acknowledges you, pretends you don’t exist, fails to include you in important meetings and doesn’t bother giving you important information. How to cope: Most women don’t like to be disliked or excluded from the group, but ask yourself if you really want to be this person’s friend anyway. There’s a good chance you don’t. Her cold shoulder may simply be pushing a button of an earlier school girl experience. But if you flip your perspective and don’t take it personally, you may enjoy not having the burden of having to interact with her. This could be tricky, though, if you need information or input from her, but removing your emotional response will definitely ease these interactions. “Work out alternative ways to gather data or whatever else you need to do your job properly,” writes Fuller. Don’t try to push or goad her into communicating with you. You’ll just get the same treatment in spades. Instead, be civil and respond in a measured, mature way. That will help to diminish her effect on you.   The Screamer:  He yells to intimidate, insult and get a reaction. Like Ari Gold of Entourage, he's tightly wound and barks instructions at full volume. He’s critical and thinks he’s the only one who can get the job done correctly. He wants you to drop everything and race after whatever he's demanding. He’s volatile, impulsive and throws insults around the office. How to cope:  A screamer can’t hear you when he’s in a rage. So wait until he’s done before attempting to respond to his accusations. He probably doesn’t even want a response, because screaming is a one-way conversation. Trying to argue will only escalate it. Once you’ve identified a screamer, you can brace yourself to some degree for his outbursts – though they may still take a toll on you. Look at your own response to screamers, which is often influenced by your own experiences growing up. Do you find it highly distressing? Do you find it amusing, like watching a child have a tantrum? Or can you keep an emotional distance

Novel class of drugs for prostate cancers

In men with advanced prostate cancer, growth of cancer cells depends on androgen receptor signaling, which is driven by androgens, such as testosterone. To thwart tumor growth, most patients with advanced prostate cancer receive drugs that block the production of androgen or block the receptor where the androgen binds. Unfortunately, such treatments invariably fail and patients die of prostate cancer with their androgen receptor signaling still active and still promoting tumor growth. In the new study, available online at Nature Communications, a team of researchers led by Dr. …

France reports first death from new SARS-like coronavirus

The first person to fall ill in France with the new SARS-like coronavirus, a 65-year-old man who had been travelling in Dubai, has died in hospital from the illness, the health ministry said on Tuesday. Health Minister Marisol Touraine sent her condolences to the family of the man, whose death in the northern French city of Lille brings to 23 the number of people killed worldwide by the new virus. The man was diagnosed with the new virus strain, known as nCoV, on May 8, after being admitted to hospital on April 23, shortly after his return from Dubai, with what seemed at first to be a severe stomach bug and breathing problems. A second man, aged 50, is critically ill with the virus in the same hospital. The two men had shared a ward in April at a different hospital. While there is little evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission of the novel virus, which can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia, health experts are concerned about clustering as it has spread from the Gulf to France, Britain and Germany. The nCoV is from the same viral family that triggered the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that swept the world in late 2003 and killed 775 people. French health officials have screened dozens of people who had come into contact with the two carriers in Lille.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/28/france-reports-first-death-from-new-sars-like-coronavirus/

Woman to have ‘dolphin-assisted’ birth

A pregnant woman and her husband have traveled to Hawaii where they plan on having a “dolphin-assisted birth,” a water delivery among dolphins, according to Medical Daily. Heather Barrington, 27, and her husband Adam, 29, of South Carolina, are preparing for the July arrival of their first child through a series of prenatal and postnatal swims with a pod of dolphins at The Sirius Institute in Pohoa, Hawaii. The Sirius Institute describes itself as a “a research consortium with the purpose of 'dolphinizing' the planet.” They recently set up the Dolphin Attended, Water, Natural and Gentle Birth Center (DAWN), due to what they claim is an increasing demand on their web site for people looking to give birth near dolphins. The Sirius Institute claims that giving birth with dolphins is part of an ancient native Hawaiian practice. While dolphin-assisted births are rare, dolphin assisted therapy (DAT) has been used for more than 25 years in patients with mental and physical disabilities and autism, according to Medical Daily. During DAT, patients swim and play with dolphins living in captivity while completing tasks meant to improve skills like hand-eye coordination. However, scientists claim there is little scientific evidence indicating that DAT is therapeutically effective. Water births – without the presence of dolphins –have proven benefits, including more efficient contractions, improved blood circulation for the mother, less pain and more oxygen for the baby, according to the American Pregnancy Association (APA). However, the APA noted that few studies have been done examining the risks associated with water births.       In the event that a “dolphin-assisted” birth cannot occur, the couple has made plans to deliver with a midwife. Experts point out that dolphins are predators and can become aggressive, though dolphin-related injuries among people are relatively rare, Medical Daily reported. “Having that connection with the pod of dolphins anytime – even if the birth doesn’t happen in the water – still brings peace, comfort and strength to the mother and baby during labor,” Heather told the South Charlotte News. Click for more from Medical Daily.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/28/woman-to-have-dolphin-assisted-birth/

Check young kids for motor delays, pediatricians suggest

Doctors should regularly screen babies and young children for delays in motor skill development - including trouble sitting, standing and speaking - at well-child visits, pediatricians said today. In a clinical report, an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) panel said diagnosing and treating those problems early on may ultimately improve kids' outlook and help families gain additional support. “Identifying children with delays and motor abnormalities, theoretically or hopefully would set them on a better trajectory,” said Meghann Lloyd, who studies motor development at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Canada. Lloyd, who was not involved in the new report, called it “a really big step forward for the field.” Dr. Garey Noritz and colleagues on the AAP's neuromotor screening expert panel lay out the skills that a child should have developed by office visits at ages 9, 18, 30 and 48 months. For example, a 9-month-old baby should be able to roll to both sides, sit well without support and grasp objects. At 18 months, that child should be able to walk, sit and stand on its own. Pediatricians should also ask parents open-ended questions about their child's development and watch the child play for signs of delays or loss of motor skills at well-child visits, the panel said. On a general exam, it recommended that doctors measure head size and look at children's muscle tone, reflexes and eye movements. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-backed expert panel, said in 2006 there wasn't enough evidence to recommend for or against screening instruments designed to detect speech and language delays in young kids. The task force does not have screening recommendations for motor delays in general. “The AAP… recognized that we as a profession weren't necessarily doing a good job screening for motor problems,” Noritz, from Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, told Reuters Health. Cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy are two of the most common motor-related diseases and could both be picked up and treated earlier than they typically are now, according to Noritz. He said families often refer to the “diagnostic odyssey” involved in getting a definitive diagnosis for a sick child. “We're hoping that people can get to a specialist more quickly and thus get diagnosed more quickly, but that primary care clinicians at the same time as they're looking for a diagnosis, will refer (kids) to therapy,” he said. Promoting movement There is normal variation in how kids develop, Lloyd said - so if a child is a couple of months late to walk, for example, parents shouldn't be overly concerned. But longer delays, or combinations of multiple motor problems, are a good reason for a visit to the pediatrician, she told Reuters Health. “Other types of movements that don't seem right, like a tremor or a rigidity or some sort of repetitive motor movement would be another red flag for me,” Lloyd added. Typical motor delays that aren't a result of more serious underlying conditions are treated with physical or occupational therapy. Parents can bring their children to an early movement program such as Kindergym to promote development of motor skills, Lloyd said, regardless of other treatments and whether or not they are delayed. Having poor motor skills in general “sets you on a trajectory for low levels of physical activity, which of course is related to obesity,” she said. “The prevention of these delays or the promotion of motor ability can actually impact your health for your lifespan.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/28/check-young-kids-for-motor-delays-pediatricians-suggest/

Patient communication has room to grow, study shows

There's room - and need - for improvement in the discussions between doctor and patient that go into medical decision-making, according to research out on Monday. In four studies and a commentary published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the authors look at various aspects of doctors' dialogue with patients about prognoses, options and treatment preferences and find little consistency. And though not all patients want the responsibility of making treatment decisions, medical organizations have long promoted the idea of patient-centered care through shared decision-making, and the 2010 Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act that goes into effect next year incorporates the idea into law. What's more, “When physicians reach out and communicate to patients that their views are welcome, patients really like that a lot,” said Floyd Fowler, senior scientific advisor for the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation in Boston. But research in the past decade showed that U.S. patients with common medical conditions were not being adequately informed about their treatment options, so Fowler and his colleagues wanted to see if anything had changed recently. They surveyed 2,718 U.S. adults who were over 40 years old in 2011 and had seen a doctor for any of the five most commonly treated medical conditions - high blood pressure and cholesterol, prostate and breast cancer screenings and back and knee problems - during the previous two years. They found that doctors tended to discuss the pros and cons of surgeries, but not of cancer screenings or the choice of medication to treat high blood pressure or cholesterol. “Each decision has its own dynamic, and it's intriguing that the heart risk related discussions weren't very good,” said Fowler, the study's lead author. He added that doctors may view back and knee surgeries as more complicated treatments, which is why they were discussed in more detail. In a separate study of 207 kidney patients from two dialysis centers in Boston, researchers found that doctors rarely discussed very sick patients' prognoses or their eligibility for kidney transplants. Dialysis patients tend to have one- and five-year survival rates comparable to those of many cancer patients, Dr. Melissa Wachterman, a palliative care physician with the VA Boston Healthcare system, and her colleagues point out in their report. “Talking about prognosis is tough, but there are a lot of reasons why there is a benefit for patients to have this information if they want it,” Wachterman said. In their study, Wachterman's team interviewed 60 of the sickest dialysis patients and their doctors about expectations for the patients' survival and to what degree they had been discussed. The researchers found only two patients whose doctors may have discussed their prognosis with them, and that more than half of the doctors said they would refuse to discuss prognoses - even if patients asked. “I think we do a disservice to patients if we don't give them a sense that time could be short, because they have a lot that they want to do with the time they have left,” Wachterman said. In addition, the researchers found that while patients were good judges of whether or not they'd live another year, they tended to overestimate their long-term survival without their doctors' guidance. “I think - in the long term - having this kind of information can actually give people hope and the ability to plan,” Wachterman said. But not everyone may want to play an active role in their care, according to Dr. Mack Lipkin, a professor of medicine at the New York University School of Medicine and the Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City. “There are many people who want to be active participants in their care but there are also many people who prefer not to be so active,” said Lipkin, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new research. That's supported by a study of hospitalized patients, led by Hyo Jung Tak of University of Chicago, which found the vast majority wanted information on their illness and treatment options but more than 70 percent wanted doctors to make their medical decisions. Moreover, Tak's group found that patients who preferred to participate in decision-making were more expensive. They stayed, on average, an extra quarter day in the hospital and racked up $155 to $1,576 more in costs. Still, a study led by Dr. Harlan Krumholz, of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, surveyed 7,000 heart attack patients and found more than two-thirds preferred to play an active role in decision-making. A quarter of the respondents preferred to be the sole decision-maker. At the very least, Krumholz's report concludes, doctors “who aspire to provide patient-centered care” should ask patients about their decision-making preferences directly. Lipkin also said it's best to ask patients their preferences. “We think the first thing to do is ask the patient what they'd like to know, how they'd like to learn it and then tell them,” he said. Fowler added that patients who want to be a part of the decision process shouldn't be afraid to speak up, and he hopes they get used to sharing in the process as the Affordable Care Act emphasizes shared decision-making initiatives. “We're hoping these types of changes that are in the works really happen… and that when we repeat the study three or four years from now we'll start to see a difference. That would be great,” he said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/28/patient-communication-has-room-to-grow-study-shows/

Face transplant patient making good progress, doctors say

WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGERY.  A surgeon who operated on Poland's first face transplant patient says the man is already practicing swallowing and making sounds. The 33-year-old man received a skin-and-bone transplant on May 15, three weeks after losing his nose, upper jaw and cheeks in a workplace accident. Doctors say it was the world's fastest time frame for such an operation. Dr. Maciej Grajek said on Monday the man is practicing to swallow liquids, has gotten out of bed a few times this weekend, communicates through writing and can make sounds when his tracheotomy tube - which helps him breathe - is closed for a moment. Grajek called that “very good progress.” The patient remains in isolation to guard against infections.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/28/face-transplant-patient-making-good-progress-doctors-say/