Tag Archives: researchers

Facebook helped boost organ donor registration

Raising awareness of organ donation on social media websites can help boost donation rates, according to a new study. Facebook began allowing users to make their status as organ donors visible in their profiles in May 2012, and on the first day of the change, about 13,000 people in the U.S. registered to become organ donors 20 times more than the average number of daily registrations. The effect of the social media initiative on its first day varied across states, ranging from a seven-fold increase in registrations in Michigan, to 100-fold increase in Georgia, the results showed. The findings mean that social media might be an effective tool for encouraging organ donation, as well as tackling other public health problems in which communication and education are essential, the researchers said. Our research speaks to on-going efforts to address the organ availability crisis in the United States. It also suggests that social media and social networks may be valuable tools in re-approaching refractory public health problems, said study researcher Dr. Andrew Cameron, the surgical director of liver transplantation at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Today, more than 118,500 people in the U.S. are on the waiting list for organs, and one name is added to the list every ten minutes, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. On average, 18 people die every day waiting for an organ. Despite countless previous efforts, organ donation rates in the United States have not grown, while need for transplants has risen dramatically. Therefore, new efforts are needed to boost organ donation through public education, the researchers said. The Facebook initiative t let users add their organ-donation status to the timeline for their friends and family to see. It also directed people to the official organ donation registry websites of their states. The results showed high registration rates following the Facebook initiative, compared with usual rates at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The boost may stem from the fact that people are more open to making decisions about sensitive and difficult topics when they are in an environment “amongst friends,” compared with the environment at the DMV, the researchers said. However, after the initial spike, registration rates diminished over the following weeks. The researchers said this shows more work is needed to find ways to sustain the increase. “The next challenge for efforts like the organ donor initiative will be utilization of social media applications like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram more effectively and more durably,” the researchers wrote in the study, which was published today (June 18) in the American Journal of Transplantation. 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/2013/06/18/facebook-helped-boost-organ-donor-registration/

Napping: Helpful or harmful to your sleep?

As kids, we did everything we could to avoid taking a nap. But as adults, some days we would do anything just to get one. We recently received this question from a viewer:                 Dear Dr. Manny, Do afternoon naps help or disturb sleep later on in the night? Thanks, Jamie Your body’s clock creates a feeling of sleepiness between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. – and also a little in the afternoon. The longer you stay awake, the more likely you are to go into deeper stages of sleep when you finally do lay down at night. Scientists think this is caused by a buildup of a neurotransmitter in the brain called adenosine, which increases with each waking hour. Taking a nap causes the brain to get rid of adenosine rapidly, so you may have a harder time falling asleep later on in the night. However, there are some benefits to taking short naps during the day. Studies show that people who took midday naps performed up to 20 percent better in memory exercises than those who didn’t. Researchers believe sleep may help clear out the hippocampus – the part of the brain responsible for short-term memory – to make room for new information. But napping for too long can leave you feeling groggy, so try to keep your cat naps to about 20 minutes or less. Do you have a health question for Dr. Manny? Send it to DrManny@foxnews.com.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/02/do-afternoon-naps-disturb-sleep-later-on-at-night/

Giving birth at home looks safe, study finds

Among women with low-risk pregnancies, those who plan to give birth at home may face less of a risk from dangerous complications than women who plan a hospital birth, a new Dutch study suggests. For women in the study who had a low risk of complications and had given birth at least once previously, 1 in 1,000 home births resulted in severe problems, such as admission to an intensive care unit or requiring heavy blood transfusion. The rate of such complications for planned hospital births was 2.3 in 1,000 births. Home births also had a lower risk of certain less severe complications, such as bleeding after birth, and the need to remove the placenta manually. The rate of bleeding, or postpartum hemorrhage, was 19.6 in 1,000 for a planned home birth, compared with 37.6 in 1,000 for a planned hospital birth. The safety of giving birth at home versus the hospital is a topic of debate. While some worry that in case of an emergency, the time needed to transport a woman or baby from home to a hospital might worsen the problems, others have questioned whether it is wise to routinely recommend hospital births for low-risk women, where they could receive medical interventions they don't need that have potentially harmful effects. The new study sought to compare the rate of serious complications in home and hospital births in a large group of low-risk women in the Netherlands, a country that has one of the highest percentages of home births among Western countries. The researchers identified more than 146,000 low-risk pregnant women. Among these women, 92,333 (63 percent) had planned to give birth at home, and 54,419 (37 percent) were planning a hospital birth. The researchers found that the risk of complications was small in both groups, and there was no evidence that home birth would lead to an increased risk of severe complications.The difference between the groups was significant only in women who had given birth before. The results held when the researchers accounted for factors that can raise the risk of birth complications, such as the mother's age and ethnicity, as well as C-sections and augmentation of labor. The researchers noted that it is possible that women who previously had a relatively difficult birth may have been more likely to plan a hospital birth next time, even if there was no official medical indication. These findings likely only apply to areas where midwives are well trained to help women at home births, and where facilities for transportation in case of emergencies are adequate, the researchers said. The fact that the study did not find higher rates of severe complications among planned home births should not lead to complacency, the researchers said. “Every avoidable adverse maternal outcome is one too many,” they said. 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/2013/06/13/giving-birth-at-home-looks-safe-study-finds/

Major hurdle cleared to diabetes transplants

Efforts to make this treatment possible have been limited by a dearth of insulin-producing beta cells that can be removed from donors after death, and by the stubborn refusal of human beta cells to proliferate in the laboratory after harvesting. The new technique uses a cell conditioning solution originally developed to trigger reproduction of cells from the lining of the intestine. "Until now, there didn’t seem to be a way to reliably make the limited supply of human beta cells proliferate in the laboratory and remain functional," said Michael McDaniel, PhD, professor of pathology and immunology…

Restless legs syndrome linked to higher risk of early death

Men who suffer from restless legs syndrome may not live as long as those without the condition, according to a new study. The study found that men with restless legs syndrome (RLS) were nearly 40 percent more likely to die over the eight-year study, compared to men without RLS. When the researchers excluded from their analysis men with major chronic conditions such as cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure, those with RLS were 92 percent more likely to die over the study period. “The results of this study indicate that men with RLS had a higher overall mortality,” the researchers wrote in their study. However, the study shows an association, not a cause-and-effect link between having RLSand an increased risk of dying, and the researchers said that it is not known how RLS might increase the mortality risk. In the study, deaths among men with RLS were frequently due to respiratory disease, endocrine disease, metabolic disease and immunologic disorders. Further research is needed to understand the relationship between these diseases and RLS, the researchers said. RLS is a bothersome chronic condition that affects 5 to 10 percent of adults. Patients have an irresistible urge to move the legs, and often experience burning and creeping sensations that are described as “an itch you can't scratch,” or “like insects crawling inside the legs.” In the study, researchers looked at 18,425 men, whose average age was 67, including 700 who were diagnosed with RLS. During an eight-year follow-up, 2,765 of the men died. Among the men with RLS, 25 percent died during the study, compared with 15 percent of those who did not have RLS. The researchers also found that men with RLS were more likely to use antidepressant drugs, had more insomnia complaints, and were more likely to have high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and Parkinson's disease. However, controlling for these factors didn't change the results, they said. The link between RLS and higher risk of death was not related to other common risk factors such as smoking, older age, low physical activity and lack of sleep. Moreover, men who had conditions such as high blood pressure, cancer or insomnia, had a further increased risk of death if they had RLS too, according to the study. The study was published online June 12 in the journal Neurology. Some of the researchers who worked on the study have received money from pharmaceutical companies that make drugs used to treat restless legs syndrome. “Increasing awareness of RLS, especially training for health professions, should be encouraged if our findings are confirmed by future studies,” the researchers said. 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/2013/06/12/restless-legs-syndrome-linked-to-higher-risk-early-death/

Vegetable fats tied to less prostate cancer spread

After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, men who eat a diet high in vegetable fats, such as those in nuts and olive oil, may be less likely to have their disease spread, a new study suggests. Researchers found that replacing some carbohydrates with those healthy fats was also tied to a lower risk of dying from any cause during the study. But the opposite was true for saturated and trans fats often found in meat and processed foods. “A lot of doctors will simply say, ‘Cut out fat,'” after a prostate cancer diagnosis, said Dr. Stephen Freedland, a urologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. But this study challenges that advice, said Freedland, who wrote a commentary on the findings. “It actually says, if you eat more fat, albeit the right kind of fat,… you're less likely to die of not only prostate cancer, but really of any cause, which really flies in the face of this ‘low-fat, low-fat, low-fat' mantra that we've been told for decades now,” he said. Researchers tracked 4,577 men who were diagnosed with localized prostate cancer during a large study of health workers beginning in 1986. Those men filled out questionnaires every four years on how often they ate or drank about 130 different types of foods and beverages. Over the next eight to nine years, 315 men developed lethal prostate cancer - cancer that spread to other parts of the body or killed them - and 1,064 died from any cause. Men who reported getting the highest proportion of their daily calories from vegetable fat - more than 21 percent - after their diagnosis were about one-third less likely to die during the study than those who ate the least vegetable fat. And they had a borderline lower risk of developing lethal cancer. On the other hand, men who ate a similar amount of animal fat tended to be more likely to die during follow up, from prostate cancer or anything else, than those who skimped on animal meat. Erin Richman of the University of California, San Francisco, and her colleagues found that switching 10 percent of daily calories from carbohydrates to vegetable fat was linked to a 29 percent lower risk of lethal prostate cancer and a 26 percent lower chance of dying from any cause. But replacing 5 percent of those calories with saturated fat, or just 1 percent with trans fat, was tied to a 25 to 30 percent higher risk of death during the study period, according to findings published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. “The benefit was really when you were replacing refined carbohydrates with (things like) olive oil and nuts,” Richman said. She said vegetable fats contain antioxidants and may reduce inflammation in the body, thereby making it harder for cancer to spread. The American Cancer Society estimates about one in six U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, and one in 36 will die of the disease. Because how animals are fed and how meats are cooked may both affect cancer risks associated with eating animal fats, Freedland said, “It becomes difficult to say, ‘Animals are bad; vegetables are good.' It's not that simple.” He recommends that men with prostate cancer cut out simple sugars and processed foods, as that is one of the easiest ways to get to a healthy weight. But not all fat should go. Richman agreed. “I think there's enough established benefit that you're not going to do any harm by adding nuts or olive oil,” she said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/11/vegetable-fats-tied-to-less-prostate-cancer-spread/

15 ways to cancer-proof your life

We're all grown-ups here—nightmares aren't a big problem anymore. We're calm, we're cool, we're mostly collected...until it comes to the C-word. For adults, cancer is the thing that goes bump in the night; that bump gets louder when family or friends are diagnosed. Whether your risk is monumental or blessedly average, we know you want to protect yourself. So we've combed through research, interrogated experts, and found cutting-edge strategies to help keep you safe. Worship a wee bit of sun People who get the most vitamin D, which lies dormant in skin until ultraviolet rays activate it, may protect themselves from a variety of cancers, including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast, and colon. Ironically, it even improves survival rates of melanoma, the most serious skin cancer. But 10 to 15 minutes a few days a week is all it takes to benefit. If you're out any longer than that, slather on the sunscreen (Are you applying enough? We’ve got the recommended amount for every body part, here.) If you go the supplement route, aim for 400 IU of vitamin D a day. Eat an orange every day It just may zap a strain of the H. pylori bacteria that causes peptic ulcers and can lead to stomach cancer. Researchers in San Francisco found that infected people with high levels of vitamin C in their blood were less likely to test positive for the cancer-causing strain. (Bonus: research shows a scent of citrus can reduce stress.) Listen to Katie Couric Though colonoscopies are about as popular as root canals, if you're 50 or older, get one. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Don't think you're off the hook because you got a digital fecal occult blood test at your last checkup: Research by the Veterans Affairs Cooperative Study found that the test missed 95 percent of the cases. Schedule your first colonoscopy before your 50th if you have a family history of colon cancer. Steam a little green Piles of studies have shown that piles of broccoli help stave off ovarian, stomach, lung, bladder, and colorectal cancers. And steaming it for three to four minutes enhances the power of the cancer-fighting compound sulforaphane, which has been shown to halt the growth of breast cancer cells. (Sorry, microwaving doesn't do the trick; it strips out most antioxidants.) Get more protection by sprinkling a handful of selenium-rich sunflower seeds, nuts, or mushrooms on your greens. Researchers are discovering that sulforaphane is about 13 times more potent when combined with the mineral selenium. Pick a doc with a past Experience—lots of it—is critical when it comes to accurately reading mammograms. A study from the University of California, San Francisco, found that doctors with at least 25 years' experience were more accurate at interpreting images and less likely to give false positives. Ask about your radiologist's track record. If she is freshly minted or doesn't check a high volume of mammograms, get a second read from someone with more mileage. Drink jolt-less java Drink jolt-less java. Downing two or more cups of decaf a day may lower the incidence of rectal cancer by 52 percent, finds a study from two large and long-term research projects—the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study from Harvard University. One theory is that coffee increases bowel movements, which helps to reduce the risk. Why decaf reigns supreme, however, remains a mystery. Drop 10 pounds Being overweight or obese accounts for 20 percent of all cancer deaths among women and 14 percent among men, notes the American Cancer Society. (You're overweight if your body mass index is between 25 and 29.9; you're obese if it's 30 or more.) Plus, losing excess pounds reduces the body's production of female hormones, which may protect against breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers. Even if you're not technically overweight, gaining just 10 pounds after the age of 30 increases your risk of developing breast, pancreatic, and cervical, among other cancers. Make like a monkey Or a bunny. Women who ate four to six antioxidant-laden bananas a week cut their risk of kidney cancer by 54 percent, compared with those who didn't eat them at all, found an analysis of 61,000 women at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Gnawing on root vegetables such as carrots had the same benefit. Get naked with a friend You'll need help examining every inch of your body—including your back, scalp, and other hard-to-see places—for possible changes in the size or color of moles, blemishes, and freckles. These marks could spell skin cancer. Women, take special note of your legs: Melanoma mainly occurs there. For the guys, the trunk, head, and neck are the most diagnosed spots. While you're at it, check your fingernails and toenails, too. Gray-black discoloration or a distorted or elevated nail may indicate the disease. And whether you see changes or not, after age 40, everyone should see a dermatologist yearly. (Find out 7 more things your nails can say about your health.) See into the future Go to Your Disease Risk to assess your chance of developing 12 types of cancer, including ovarian, breast, and colon. After the interactive tool estimates your risk, you'll get personalized tips for prevention. Pay attention to pain If you're experiencing a bloated belly, pelvic pain, and an urgent need to urinate, see your doc. These symptoms may signal ovarian cancer, particularly if they're severe and frequent. Women and physicians often ignore these symptoms, and that's the very reason that this disease can be deadly. When caught early, before cancer has spread outside the ovary, the relative five-year survival rate for ovarian cancer is a jaw-dropping 90 to 95 percent. Get calcium daily Milk's main claim to fame may also help protect your colon. Those who took calcium faithfully for four years had a 36 percent reduction in the development of new pre-cancerous colon polyps five years after the study had ended, revealed Dartmouth Medical School researchers. (They tracked 822 people who took either 1,200 mg of calcium every day or a placebo.) Though the study was not on milk itself, you can get the same amount of calcium in three 8-ounce glasses of fat-free milk, along with an 8-ounce serving of yogurt or a 2- to 3-ounce serving of low-fat cheese daily. Sweat 30 minutes a day One of the best anticancer potions is a half hour of motion at least five days a week. Any kind of physical activity modulates levels of androgens and estrogen, two things that can protect women against estrogen-driven cancers such as ovarian and endometrial, as well as some types of breast cancer. The latest proof comes by way of a Canadian study that found that women who get regular, moderate exercise may lower their risk of ovarian cancer by as much as 30 percent. Bonus: All that moving might speed everything through your colon, which may help stave off colon cancer. (Trouble carving out 30 minutes a day? Be ready for a fitness opportunity at a moment’s notice by keeping a perfectly packed gym bag in your car at all times.) Stamp out smoking—all around you Lung cancer is well known as one of the main hazards of smoking. But everything the smoke passes on its way to the lungs can also turn cancerous: mouth, larynx, and esophagus. The fun doesn't stop there. Smokers are encouraging stomach, liver, prostate, colorectal, cervical, and breast cancers as well. The good news: If you give up the cigs today, within 15 years, your lung cancer risk will drop to almost pre-smoking lows. Share that news with the people who puff around you, because exposure to someone else's smoke can cause lung cancer, and it may boost your chances of cervical cancer by 40 percent. Step away from the white bread If you eat a lot of things with a high glycemic load—a measurement of how quickly food raises your blood sugar—you may run a higher risk of colorectal cancer than women who eat low-glycemic-load foods, finds a Harvard Medical School study involving 38,000 women. The problem eats are mostly white: white bread, pasta, potatoes, and sugary pastries. The low-glycemic-load stuff comes with fiber. Blew through our list already

Early puberty may be caused by gene mutation

When a child enters puberty earlier than expected, doctors are often at a loss to explain why. But now, researchers have discovered a genetic mutation that they say causes some cases of early puberty. In the study, the researchers in Brazil screened the genomes of 32 people with early puberty from 15 families. (Some cases of early puberty run in families.) Mutations in a gene called MKRN3 were found in 15 people from five of the families. In all of these cases, the mutated MKRN3 gene was inherited from the father, the researchers said. Early puberty, also called precocious puberty, is puberty that occurs before age 8 in girls, or age 9 in boys. Some cases are caused by brain tumors or thyroid problems, but in many cases, a cause is not identified. The average age of puberty onset for those with mutations in the MKRN3 gene was about age 6 for girls, and age 8 for boys. It's not clear exactly how MKRN3 plays a role in puberty, but it may be involved in releasing the “brake” that normally prevents puberty from starting, Dr. Ieuan Hughes, of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study. Puberty begins when the brain starts producing higher levels of a hormone called gonadotropin-releasing hormone. Mutations in the MKRN3 gene may trigger an increase in levels of this hormone at an earlier age, the researchers said. To further investigate the role of MKRN3 in puberty, the researchers studied the brains of mice. They found that levels of MKRN3 gene expression were highest when the mice were young, and reached a low point at the start of puberty, which provides more evidence to tie this gene to puberty. The study is published online June 5 in the New England Journal of Medicine. 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/2013/06/06/early-puberty-may-be-caused-by-gene-mutation/

Statins linked to muscle pain, sprains

Cholesterol-lowering drugs could be tied to more muscle problems than researchers previously believed, a new study hints. Researchers compared two groups of similar people enrolled in military health insurance and found those taking a statin were about 10 percent more likely to have muscle pain, sprains or strains. Past studies have tied the popular cholesterol drugs to muscle weakness as well as the rare muscle-wasting disease rhabdomyolysis. The new study expands on those findings and suggests the muscle-related side effects of statins might be broader, researchers said. However, they don't prove statins caused the pain and injuries seen among some patients. “I would strongly recommend that no one should stop taking statins based on this study… simply because statins have been life-saving for many patients,” said the study's lead researcher, Dr. Ishak Mansi. However, he said side effects including muscle injuries are something to think about for people who are discussing with their doctor whether they really need to be on a statin. And they're another reason to try to maintain a healthy lifestyle - including exercising and not smoking - to avoid needing drugs in the first place, he added. Mansi, from the VA North Texas Health Care System in Dallas, and his colleagues compared the health records of two groups of patients who were the same age and had the same types of medical conditions. People in one group had been prescribed a statin in late 2004 and 2005; those in the other group never took statins during the study period. The researchers tracked the medical records of each of those patients - about 14,000 in total - through early 2010 for signs of muscle problems. They found 87 percent of statin users had some type of muscle or joint problem - including arthritis and muscle injuries - compared to 85 percent of people who didn't take a statin. Strains, sprains and dislocations, in particular, were reported for 35 percent of people on a statin, compared to 32.5 percent of those not taking a cholesterol-lowering drug. And medical records showed muscle pain among 73.5 percent of statin users, versus 71.5 percent of non-users, Mansi's team reported in JAMA Internal Medicine. Mansi said those proportions are a bit higher than usual both in the statin and non-statin groups - possibly because his study included military members and veterans, who are more likely to get injured. The researchers calculated that 37 people would have to be treated with statins for one more to have a muscle strain or sprain, and 58 people for one more case of muscle or joint pain. About one-quarter of U.S. adults aged 45 and older take statins to protect against heart attacks and strokes. The drugs are especially recommended for people with diabetes or a history of cardiovascular problems. Dr. Paul Thompson, chief of cardiology at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, said his own research suggests about 5 percent of people will have muscle problems related to statin use. “We think it's a much bigger problem than it's given credit for,” Thompson, who wasn't involved in the new study, said. However, he said, those muscle problems don't seem to be permanent. “I encourage people to not worry about the possibilities of muscle troubles,” he said. “If they get muscle troubles, we'll stop the drug, and it will go away.” Mansi agreed that people “don't need to be excessively worried” about muscle pain or injuries tied to statins, but that they're something to consider. “Patients need to discuss with their doctors the benefit-risk ratio of statins for them specifically,” he said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/05/statins-linked-to-muscle-pain-sprains/

New app helps to boost weight loss by tracking calories

Nutritionists often advise individuals to keep a journal of all the foods they eat, so people can track their calories and boost weight loss.  But “calorie counting” can be a tedious endeavor. Now, there is an app that can do the counting for you.  “My Fitness Pal” is a free app that allows you to note everything you eat throughout the day.  Users can look up popular food brands and dishes from restaurants to calculate their nutritional value.  There is even a section for logging calories burned through exercise. A recent study from Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Ill., found that people who used a mobile app to track eating and activity lost an average of 15 pounds – and kept the weight off for at least a year. However, the study authors noted that technology alone is not enough to ensure weight loss.  Of the 69 overweight and obese adults the researchers examined, all were offered nutrition and exercise classes to help maintain their body weight throughout the rest of the year.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/29/new-app-helps-to-boost-weight-loss-by-tracking-calories/