Tag Archives: health

New possibilities for prostate cancer treatment revealed

Published today in Science Translational Medicine, a study led by Monash University researchers has found prostate cancer cells that survive androgen withdrawal treatment. Previously unidentified, these cells are potential targets for future treatments. As they are present early in disease development, there is the possibility of therapy before the cancer reaches the aggressive, incurable stage. Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men, with around 20,000 new cases diagnosed each year in Australia…

Is there a hidden scandal lurking in ObamaCare?

America, we are in trouble – and we better wake up and act.   Just look at the state of affairs in our country today.  We are seeing scandal after scandal, with the Benghazi controversy, the IRS targeting of conservative groups, and the freedom of the press being challenged by the Department of Justice. The word scandal is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage.”  I think the implementation of ObamaCare fulfills that definition. I remember back in 2010 when then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made her infamous remark about the Affordable Care Act, saying “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it....” Well the bill has been passed, and now we see what’s in it: An utter mess with incomprehensible rules. If we compare the assertions the president made about ObamaCare when it was first introduced to the current bill as it has been passed today, we find that all the president’s guarantees regarding ObamaCare are not there.   The truth of the matter is that we were not fully informed.  For example, President Obama maintained that this bill would lower the cost of health care, especially in regards to insurance premiums.  That is simply not true.  Many different analyses clearly show that in some markets, insurance premiums can increase as high as 30 to 40 percent. One of the main reasons for this increase can be attributed to all the hidden taxes that this bill contains, which the insurance industry will likely pass on to consumers.   Another false guarantee given by the administration was that individuals would be able to keep their doctors and current level of service through ObamaCare.  Again, this is not true. The so-called insurance exchanges being set up in many states by the federal government will most likely create a non-competitive environment, meaning patients who cannot afford other types of insurance will be forced to buy insurance from the government.  And if their current doctors are not willing to participate in that single-payer health care system, these patients will ultimately lose the guarantee of keeping their own doctors. So what does this all mean? It means that if everything goes according to the president’s plan, the health care landscape is going to completely change over the next decade. A potential scenario is that private doctors will be employees of one large health care system. Health standards such as maintaining an ideal weight and eliminating habits like drinking alcohol and soda will be placed on families so that they can qualify for health care.  So in other words, your individual freedom will be targeted. I know many people argue that it’s better if everyone has health insurance and maintains a healthy lifestyle.  Yes it is, but I still believe that an individual’s health care should not be dictated by the government. Instead it should be a choice made by the individual and his or her health provider. Many senior politicians and consultants have found as of late that ObamaCare is a train wreck.  And yet, the person in charge of implementing ObamaCare, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, continues to drive the train forward.  Rather than work with leaders who are suggesting changes ,she has decided to enlist the help of the private sector in getting donations to help fund ObamaCare.   Many have questioned this move, but one thing Secretary Sebelius knows is how to organize her community of followers.  Recently, she has teamed up with Nancy-Ann DeParle, former director of the White House Office of Health Reform, placing her in charge of asking insurance companies to donate $1 million or more to Enroll America, a non-profit organization promoting enrollment in the subsidized insurance markets, according to a report from Politico. You see, folks, ObamaCare is all about politics and control, and to me, that is a formula for disaster.  This is something that should not be taken for granted but rather openly evaluated by the American public.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/29/is-there-hidden-scandal-lurking-in-obamacare/

Diet soda just as harmful to teeth as meth and crack cocaine, study claims

Diet soda may be a popular drink alternative for those looking to cut back on calories, but heavy consumption of these beverages could wreak havoc on a person’s teeth. According to a new study published in the journal General Dentistry, constant exposure to the citric and phosphoric acid in soda – without proper dental hygiene – can be just as damaging to teeth as methamphetamine or crack cocaine, Health Day news reported. “You look at it side-to-side with 'meth mouth' or 'coke mouth,' it is startling to see the intensity and extent of damage more or less the same,” Dr. Mohamed Bassiouny, a professor of restorative dentistry at the Temple University School of Dentistry in Philadelphia, told Health Day News. According to Bassiouny, methamphetamine and crack cocaine are highly acidic, just like diet soda. The study referenced a woman in her 30s who drank 2 liters of diet soda every day for three to five years.   When her teeth were compared to a 29-year-old methamphetamine addict and a 51-year-old crack cocaine user, the levels of tooth rot and decay were very similar.  The woman also admitted she had not seen a dentist in many years. Bassiouny said her teeth had been destroyed by erosion, becoming soft and discolored.  She ultimately had to have all of her teeth removed and replaced with dentures. “None of the teeth affected by erosion were salvageable,” Bassiouny said. Both the meth addict and crack cocaine users had to have all of their teeth removed as well.  According to Health Day News, these drugs also reduce the amount of saliva in the mouth, making it difficult for the acids to wash away. While the results may seem staggering, representatives for the American Beverage Association argue that it’s unlikely soda was the single culprit for the woman’s tooth decay. “The woman referenced in this article did not receive dental health services for more than 20 years -- two-thirds of her life,” the American Beverage Association said in a statement. “To single out diet soda consumption as the unique factor in her tooth decay and erosion -- and to compare it to that from illicit drug use -- is irresponsible.” Click for more from Health Day News.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/29/diet-soda-just-as-harmful-to-teeth-as-meth-and-crack-cocaine-study-claims/

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/

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/

Scientists put bowel cancer under the microscope

Patients with bowel cancer — the third most commonly diagnosed form in the United Kingdom — could enjoy increased survival rates as a result of a new study led by an expert from London’s Kingston University. Professor Helmout Modjtahedi is heading an investigation examining why some tumours are hard to treat and how they can be targeted with the most effective therapies. During the study, specimens from patients with tumours of the colon or rectum, known as colorectal or bowel cancer, will be examined for biomarkers — proteins on the surface of cells. This would help pinpoint which individuals were most likely to benefit from specific therapies, particularly two new antibody-based drugs, Professor Modjtahedi said. …

Errors in cloning study cast doubt on publication process

A headline-making paper last week announcing that scientists had, for the first time, cloned human embryos and harvested stem cells from them contains minor errors, the authors acknowledged on Thursday.  The mistakes raised questions about how well the journal that published the paper vetted it but probably do not undermine the study's central claim. In a statement, the journal, Cell, said “there were some minor errors” in the paper, but “we do not believe these errors impact the scientific findings of the paper.” An anonymous commenter on the website PubPeer, where scientists discuss papers after they have been published, first pointed out problems with the paper, which drew extensive media coverage. Even before the errors were spotted, however, there was concern among experts not involved in the study that Cell had rushed publication. It received the manuscript on April 30, tapped outside scientists to review it in the standard process called peer review, asked the authors to make revisions based on that review and accepted the paper on May 3. When asked about the short turnaround time last week, Cell spokeswoman Mary Beth O'Leary said the paper “underwent a rigorous peer review and editorial process.” Outside experts disagree. A three-day review process “is almost impossibly fast,” said cell biologist Jim Woodgett of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada. “To have a paper like this received, reviewed, revised and accepted so quickly is very, very unusual.” In a statement on Thursday, Cell referred to “the preeminence of the reviewers” (whom it would not identify) and said it has “no reason to doubt the thoroughness or rigor of the review process.” The rapid turnaround was possible because the reviewers “graciously agreed to prioritize” the paper. DOLLY REDUX The paper described how scientists led by biologist Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health & Science University accomplished what others had failed to: “therapeutic cloning” in humans. That procedure begins with a human egg. The Oregon scientists removed its genetic material, or DNA, then took an adult skin cell and fused it with the egg. The DNA in the skin cell took over, causing the egg to begin developing as if it had been fertilized. This “somatic cell nuclear transfer” was used to clone Dolly the sheep in 1996. But in this case, the goal was not a human being; Mitalipov said last week that scientists would not implant the dividing embryo into a womb so that it could develop into a baby. Instead, the aim was a dishful of stem cells, which can morph into any of the 200-plus cells in the human body and might be used therapeutically, such as to replace cells lost to degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's. After a few days, the human embryo contained exactly that: stem cells that the Oregon scientists could use to start cell lines. The errors in the Cell paper involve photographs and data plots, something OHSU spokesman Jim Newman said was “an editing error, not issues with the research or the data itself. “OHSU agrees that there were some minor errors made when preparing the figures for initial submission,” Newman said, adding that the university does not believe the errors “impact the scientific findings of the paper in any way. We also do not believe there was any wrongdoing.” In one case, an image described as a cloned stem-cell colony is reproduced in another image, where it is labeled an embryonic stem-cell line derived from in vitro fertilization (IVF), not cloning. Mitalipov told the journal Nature that the label is wrong, and that another labeling mistake explained other duplicated images. Another error was in images purporting to show that the genes that are turned on in stem cells derived from the cloned embryo (such as genes that make a cell a neuron) are similar to those in stem cells taken from IVF embryos, considered the gold standard for embryonic stem cells. The point was that the stem cells taken from the cloned embryos are true stem cells. The problem, said the anonymous reviewer on PubPeer, is that the two images - genes activated in IVF stem cells and in clone stem cells - are suspiciously identical. Mitalipov said one image used the wrong data, and that he and his team are correcting it. While the mistakes seem innocent, they raised concerns among stem-cell researchers because the field has been struck by fraud in the past. In 2004 scientists led by Woo Suk Hwang of Seoul National University claimed to have produced human embryonic stem cells through the same technique used by the Oregon team. Their paper, published in Science, turned out to contain fabricated data. That came to light when scientists figured out that some of the images in the paper were copied or manipulated. “When I read the Hwang paper, I didn't find any glaring problems” at first, stem-cell biologist George Daley of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute said, explaining how difficult it is to spot fraud. “I am waiting to learn more, but there is a difference between errors in photomicrographs and fraudulent production of cell lines,” he said. So far, most scientists' ire is being directed at Cell more than the Oregon researchers. “To thoroughly evaluate the claims requires delving into the data, and you can't expect people to do that in a day or two,” said Mount Sinai's Woodgett, referring to peer review. “You're forcing them to be superficial.” Science journals compete intensely for “hot” papers, which can translate into headlines, subscriptions and advertising. Cell is published by Elsevier, a division of Reed Elsevier . Six years ago, Nature held up by six months a paper by Mitalipov in which his team used the Dolly method to clone monkey embryos, the journal reported on Wednesday. Scientists sometimes shop around hot papers, seeking a journal that will publish it fastest. Mitalipov told Nature he was in a hurry to get his Cell paper out before a stem cell meeting in June.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/24/errors-in-cloning-study-cast-doubt-on-publication-process/

H7N9 flu study hints at limited human-to-human spread

It's likely that the new H7N9 bird flu virus can spread through the air on a limited basis, according to a new study that looked at how the virus spreads in animals. The study also provides more evidence that the virus can spread between people in close contact. However, it's unlikely the virus could cause a pandemic, unless it undergoes genetic changes that allow it to spread more efficiently between people, experts say. According to the World Health Organization, as of May 17, health officials knew of 131 people in China who had fallen ill with the H7N9 virus , including 36 who died. Most of these cases about 75 percent were people who had direct contact with poultry. In a few cases, people in the same family caught the disease, suggesting that the virus spreads between people in close contact. However, there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, WHO says. Because many factors can influence whether a person falls ill with flu, including their overall health, researchers like to study flu viruses in animals, under controlled conditions, to better understand how they spread, said study researcher Dr. Richard Webby, a bird-flu expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. In the new study, researchers infected six ferrets with the H7N9 virus, all of whom developed flu symptoms. Ferrets are considered a good model to study human flu transmission because efficient spread of the flu in ferrets tends to predict efficient spread in people. Several of the infected ferrets were placed in the same cage as uninfected ferrets. In addition, several uninfected ferrets were placed in cages a short distance away from uninfected ferrets to see if the virus could spread through the air. All of the uninfected ferrets who were in the same cage as the infected ferrets caught the virus, suggesting the virus can spread through direct contact. The flu virus also spread through the air, but less efficiently. Just one of three ferrets caged a short distance from infected ferrets caught the virus. The findings mostly mirror what health officials have seen in people, Webby said. For sustained person-to-person transmission to occur, the virus would likely have to transmit efficiently by both the airborne and direct contact routes, Webby said. Because H7N9 doesn't transmit very well through the air, it “doesn't look like it has the capacity to [cause] a pandemic,” unless the virus changes, Webby said. H7N9 appears to be more infectious than the H5N1 bird flu virus, Webby said. When researchers infect ferrets with H5N1, they usually do not see transmission through airborne or direct contact, Webby said. One bit of good news is that H7N9 does not appear to spread between pigs. In the study, pigs did not catch H7N9 from each other, either through the air or direct contact. Transmission between pigs would be concerning because it would provide more opportunities for the H7N9 virus to evolve and transmit to people that way too, Webby said. Based on the new results, pigs are unlikely to be major players in maintaining of the virus,Webby said. However, Webby noted the study tested just one strain of H7N9, and there are other strains out there that may act differently. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Hong Kong and others, is published May 23 in the journal Science. Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/24/h7n-flu-study-hints-at-how-it-may-spread-in-people/

Sugar water injections may help ease knee pain

Knee pain appears to decrease up to one year after “prolotherapy,” a series of sugar water injections at the site of the pain, according to a new study. Previous research on the therapy that suggested positive effects was plagued by flaws, but the new report may be more reliable, according to Dr. John D. Loeser, a pain specialist and professor emeritus at the University of Washington in Seattle. “This is a well-performed clinical trial that deals with many of the issues that have clouded prior reports of prolotherapy,” Loeser, who was not involved in the study and has spoken out against the practice in the past, told Reuters Health in an email. Knee osteoarthritis is common, especially among people over 65, but no single therapy has proven particularly beneficial. In prolotherapy, which costs $200 to $1000 per session and is not covered by Medicare, small amounts of solution are injected at multiple painful ligament and tendon locations in the knee over several sessions. The hope is that a new minor irritation will stimulate the body to repair both old damage and new. “The idea is to stimulate a local healing reaction,” lead author Dr. David Rabago, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, told Reuters Health. Rabago and his colleagues divided 90 people with knee osteoarthritis and between ages 40 and 76 years old into three groups: one got sugar-water prolotherapy injections, another got salt-water placebo injections, and the third was instructed in at-home exercise and received no injections. The first two groups got injections at least three times, sometimes more if they asked for it, over 17 weeks, and were followed for one year. The sugar water group reported better knee function, improving 16 points on a 100-point scale of osteoarthritis severity, compared to 5 points for saline and 7 points for the exercise group. The sugar water group also reported less frequent and less severe pain, improving 14 points on the same scale, at one year, while the salt water and exercise groups improved 7 points and 9 points, respectively. The study was small but not too small and included the right type of subjects: typical sufferers of knee osteoarthritis, researchers said. One of the things that has held back previous studies of prolotherapy is the difficulty of mimicking the injections for a placebo group without actually injecting them with something - that makes it difficult to tell what's causing the improvements, the sugar water itself or the needle stick, bleeding or stretching the tissue, which can all have effects. “The best one can do is ‘control' for those effects by testing an agent against a similar treatment and varying only one thing, which is what we did,” Rabago said. But since the salt water group and the exercise-only groups had similar results, the benefit was probably not a placebo response, Loeser said. “This study yields results that are more favorable than other carefully controlled studies of prolotherapy in other regions,” Loeser said. But there are a lot of questions to answer before this becomes widely adopted, he cautioned. “Certainly, additional studies are needed before one accepts prolotherapy as standard treatment for knee OA,” Loeser said. Researchers don't yet know how long the pain benefit will persist after one year. But Rabago said, “These results support its use as routine care for knee OA in patients who have not improved with more conservative measures.” Though he doesn't yet know how prolotherapy works, he added that he would recommend the treatment for a member of his own family.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/24/sugar-water-injections-may-help-ease-knee-pain/