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High insulin levels may increase prostate cancer risk

August 22, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 22 (ANI): Researchers have found that high insulin levels might increase the risk of developing prostate cancer.

Lead researcher Dr Demetrius Albanes, of the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., examined the relationship of the level of serum insulin and glucose, as well as surrogate indices of insulin resistance, to the development of prostate cancer.

The study showed that elevated insulin levels in the normal range appear to be associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer.

When subjects in the second through fourth quartiles of serum insulin concentration were compared with those in the first or lowest quartile, higher insulin levels within the normal range were associated with statistically significantly increased risk of prostate cancer.

The findings appear in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. (ANI)

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Teen pregnancy ‘a symptom, not cause, of psychological stress’

July 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 28 (ANI): Teenage mothers suffer a lot of psychological stress in their lives, however, a new research has shown that the distress comes before the pregnancy, not because of it.

“Psychological distress does not appear to be caused by teen childbearing, nor does it cause teen childbearing, except apparently among girls from poor households,” said Stefanie Mollborn, Ph.D., an assistant professor of sociology at the Institute of Behavioral Science of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The study has been published in the September issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

To reach the conclusion, researchers used data from two large long-term U.S. surveys that followed thousands of teen girls and women.

Participants responded to items on symptoms associated with depression, such as how often they found things that did not usually bother them to be bothersome, how easily they could shake off feeling blue or whether they had trouble concentrating.

The researchers did not use the term “depression,” which is a clinical diagnosis.

Only the combination of poverty and existing distress was a good predictor of teen pregnancy.

“Psychologically distressed girls are at risk for teen childbearing and vice versa, even if the two things usually do not cause each other,” Mollborn said.

“This could help educators and clinicians identify at-risk adolescents,” Mollborn added.

Looking for symptoms of depression or distress should be part of normal health screening for all teenagers, said Diane Merritt, M.D., director of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

“Talking to teenagers about their sexuality and responsible behavior is key,” she said.
ne of the best ways to prevent teen pregnancy is for teens to have long-term goals and good self-esteem, Merritt added. (ANI)

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Obesity linked to increased risk of rapid cartilage loss

July 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 14 (ANI): A new study has shown that obesity, among other factors, is strongly associated with an increased risk of rapid cartilage loss.

Tibio-femoral cartilage is a flexible connective tissue that covers and protects the bones of the knee. Cartilage damage can occur due to excessive wear and tear, injury, misalignment of the joint or other factors, including osteoarthritis (the most common form of arthritis).

In osteoarthritis, the cartilage breaks down and, in severe cases, can completely wear away, leaving the joint without a cushion. The bones rub together, causing further damage, significant pain and loss of mobility.

The best way to prevent or slow cartilage loss and subsequent disability is to identify risk factors early.

“Osteoarthritis is a slowly progressive disorder, but a minority of patients with hardly any osteoarthritis at first diagnosis exhibit fast disease progression,” said the study’s lead author, Frank W. Roemer, M.D., adjunct associate professor at Boston University and co-director of the Quantitative Imaging Center at the Department of Radiology at Boston University School of Medicine.

“So we set out to identify baseline risk factors that might predict rapid cartilage loss in patients with early knee osteoarthritis or at high risk for the disease,” Dr. Roemer added.

The researchers recruited patients from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis (MOST) Study, a prospective study of 3,026 people, age 50 – 79, at risk for osteoarthritis or with early x-ray evidence of the disease.

Dr. Roemer’s study consisted of 347 knees in 336 patients. The patient group was comprised of 65.2 percent women, mean age 61.2, with a mean BMI of 29.5, which is classified as overweight. Recommended BMI typically ranges from 18.5 to 25. Only knees with minimal or no baseline cartilage damage were included.

Of 347 knees selected for the study, 20.2 percent exhibited slow cartilage loss over the 30-month follow-up period and 5.8 percent showed rapid cartilage loss.

Rapid cartilage loss was defined by a whole organ magnetic imaging score of at least 5, indicating a large full thickness loss of 75 percent in any subregion of the knee during the follow-up period.

The results showed that the top risk factors contributing to rapid cartilage loss were baseline cartilage damage, high BMI, tears or other injury to the meniscus (the cartilage cushion at the knee joint) and severe lesions seen on MRI at the initial exam. Other predictors were synovitis (inflammation of the membrane that lines the joints) and effusion (abnormal build-up of joint fluid).

Excess weight was significantly associated with an increased risk of rapid cartilage loss. No other demographic factors-including age, sex and ethnicity-were associated with rapid cartilage loss.

“As obesity is one of the few established risk factors for osteoarthritis, it is not surprising that obesity may also precede and predict rapid cartilage loss,” Dr. Roemer said.
he study has been published in the August issue of Radiology. (ANI)

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Severe COPD linked to cognitive impairment

July 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 8 (ANI): A new study by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine has shown that severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with lower cognitive function in older adults.

COPD is caused by noxious particles or gas, most commonly from smoking, which trigger an abnormal inflammatory response in the lung.

In the study, researchers compared cognitive performance in over 4,150 adults with and without COPD and found that individuals with severe COPD had significantly lower cognitive function than those without, even after controlling for confounding factors such as comorbidities.

“Our findings should raise awareness that adults with severe COPD are at greater risk for developing cognitive impairment, which may make managing their COPD more challenging, and will likely further worsen their general health and quality of life,” said lead author of the study, William W. Hung, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Patients with COPD may experience periods of hypoxia-low oxygen levels-that might lead to brain abnormalities that could reduce cognitive capacity.

Alternatively, hypoxia may cause or exacerbate diseases that are characterized by cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

The results were published in the July 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. (ANI)

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Worrying about paying bills can make you ‘fat’

July 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 8 (ANI): A new study has found that taking a lot of stress can cause people to pack on pounds.

The study looked at the relationship between weight gain and multiple types of stress-job-related demands, difficulty paying bills, strained family relationships, depression or anxiety disorder-in the U.S. population.

“Today’s economy is stressing people out, and stress has been linked to a number of illnesses -such as heart disease, high blood pressure and increased risk for cancer. This study shows that stress is also linked to weight gain,” according to Jason Block, M.D., M.P.H., who conducted the research as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholar(r) at Harvard University.

Women’s waistlines are affected by more types of stress. In addition to weight gain associated with financial problems or a difficult job, women also added pounds when grappling with strained family relationships and feeling limited by life’s circumstances.

For men, the numbers on the scale did not go up when facing difficult family relationships or feeling constrained by life circumstances. Among men, lack of decision authority at work and lack of skill discretion was associated with greater weight gain. Skill discretion can be defined as the ability to learn new skills on the job and to perform interesting job duties.

Overall, this study found that people who reported increased psychological stress gained more weight if they already had higher body mass indexes (BMI). A similar weight-gain pattern was not found among lower-weight people who were dealing with the same types of stress, according to the study.

When coping with life’s stressful periods, individuals may change their eating behaviours, which can lead to changes in weight. Stress-induced weight gain is influenced by a person’s gender, what types of foods people eat when they change their eating behaviours, and whether the person is already overweight or obese.

These factors may cause some people to gain more weight under stressful circumstances, while others may gain less weight or even lose weight when stressed.

The study appears in the July 15 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. (ANI)

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Component of vegetable protein linked to lower BP

July 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 7 (ANI): A new study has shown that consuming an amino acid commonly found in vegetable protein is associated with lower blood pressure.

The study, conducted by Jeremiah Stamler, M.D., lead author of the study, and colleagues, showed that a 4.72 percent higher dietary intake of the amino acid glutamic acid as a percent of total dietary protein correlated with lower group average systolic blood pressure, lower by 1.5 to 3.0 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Group average diastolic blood pressure was lower by 1.0 to 1.6 mm Hg.

In the study, researchers examined dietary amino acids, the building blocks of protein.

Stamler, professor emeritus of the Department of Preventive Medicine in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, Ill, said that glutamic acid is the most common amino acid and accounts for almost a quarter (23 percent) of the protein in vegetable protein and almost one fifth (18 percent) of animal protein.

In the study, researchers analyzed data from 4,680 middle-age people participating in an international population study on the effects of dietary nutrients on high blood pressure. Participants were from the U.S., U.K., China, and Japan.

The results showed that a nearly 5 percent higher intake of glutamic acid as a percent of total protein in the diet was linked to lower average blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure was lower by an average of 1.5 to 3.0 points and diastolic blood pressure was lower by 1.0 to 1.6 points.

Stamler said that the study might help explain on a molecular level why the Dieatary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet lowers blood pressure.

The DASH eating pattern, developed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, is rich in fruits, vegetables and low-fat and nonfat dairy products as well as whole grains, lean poultry, nuts and beans.

The study has been published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. (ANI)

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Teens who think they’ll die young more likely to engage in risky behaviour

July 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 3 (ANI): One in seven adolescents think they’re going to die young, leading many to drug use, suicide attempts and other unsafe behaviour, a new research has suggested.

University of Minnesota Medical School researcher Iris Borowsky, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues analyzed data collected by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of more than 20,000 youth in grades 7 through 12 during three separate study years. In the first set of interviews, nearly 15 percent of adolescents predicted they had a 50/50 chance or less of living to age 35.

The researchers found that those who engaged in risky behaviours such as illicit drug use, suicide attempts, fighting, or unsafe sexual activity in the first year were more likely in subsequent years to believe they would die at a young age.

Vice versa, those who predicted that they’d die young during the first interview were more likely in later years to begin engaging in these same risky behaviors and have poor health outcomes, the researchers found.

Notably, these teens were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with HIV/AIDS just six years later, regardless of their sexual preference.

“While conventional wisdom says that teens engage in risky behaviours because they feel invulnerable to harm, this study suggests that in some cases, teens take risks because they overestimate their vulnerability, specifically their risk of dying,” Borowsky said.

“These youth may take risks because they feel hopeless and figure that not
much is at stake,” Borowsky added.

Nearly 25 percent of youth living in households that receive public assistance and more than 29 percent of American-Indian, 26 percent of African-American, 21 percent of Hispanic, and 15 percent of Asian youth reported believing they would die young-compared to just 10 percent of their Caucasian peers.

“Our findings reinforce the importance of instilling a sense of hope and optimism in youth.

Strong connections with parents, families, and schools, as well as positive media messages, are likely important factors in developing an optimistic outlook for young people,” Borowsky said.

There was no significant relationship between perceived risk of dying before age 35 and actual death from all causes during the six-year study period.

The study has been published in the July issue of Paediatrics. (ANI)

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Teens who think they’ll die young more likely to engage in unsafe behaviour

June 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 29 (ANI): One in seven adolescents believe think they’re going to die young, leading many to drug use, suicide attempts and other unsafe behaviour, a new research has suggested.

Notably, these teens were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with HIV/AIDS just six years later, regardless of their sexual preference.

“These youth may take risks because they feel hopeless and figure that not
much is at stake,” Borowsky added.

“Our findings reinforce the importance of instilling a sense of hope and optimism in youth. Strong connections with parents, families, and schools, as well as positive media messages, are likely important factors in developing an optimistic outlook for young people,” Borowsky said.

There was no significant relationship between perceived risk of dying before age 35 and actual death from all causes during the six-year study period. (ANI)

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Eating animal fat may raise pancreatic cancer risk

June 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 27 (ANI): A high-fat diet full of red meat and dairy products can increase the risk of pancreatic cancer, says a new study.

The research has been published online June 26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

To reach the cocnlsuion, Rachael Z. Stolzenberg-Solomon, Ph.D., of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues analyzed a cohort of over 500,000 people from the National Institutes of Health – AARP Diet and Health Study.

Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire in 1995 and 1996 and were followed prospectively for an average of 6 years to track a variety of health outcomes, including pancreatic cancer.

Men and women who consumed high amounts of total fats had 53 percent and 23 percent higher relative rates of pancreatic cancer, respectively, compared with men and women who had the lowest fat consumption.

Participants who consumed high amounts of saturated fats had 36 percent higher relative rates of pancreatic cancer compared with those who consumed low amounts.

“[W]e observed positive associations between pancreatic cancer and intakes of total, saturated, and monounsaturated fat overall, particularly from red meat and dairy food sources. We did not observe any consistent association with polyunsaturated or fat from plant food sources,” the authors write.

“Altogether, these results suggest a role for animal fat in pancreatic carcinogenesis,” they added. (ANI)

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Biomarkers to predict brain tumour’s response to therapy identified

June 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 24 (ANI): A research team including an Indian origin scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital has found new biomarkers that may help in identifying patients with recurrent glioblastoma, or brain tumours.

It will help in predicting which patients would respond better to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy, specifically cediranib, which is an investigational, oral agent that is administered once daily.

“We found that results from an advanced MRI scan taken just a day after starting treatment correlated with survival,” said lead researcher A. Gregory Sorensen, M.D., associate professor of radiology and health sciences and technology at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital.

“Combining MRI with blood biomarkers did an even better job of identifying patients who best responded to treatment.

“If this approach is validated in larger studies, we could use these tools to keep patients on therapies that their tumours respond to, and shift non-responders to other therapies much earlier,” Sorensen added.

Using a form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that looked at the mechanism of action of the agent, the researchers were able to determine, even as early as after a single dose of cediranib, those patients who benefited from the agent and those who did not.

“Vascular normalization is an important mechanism of how these drugs work in cancer patients,” said Dr Rakesh K. Jain, Andrew Werk Cook professor of tumor biology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Edwin L. Steele Laboratory for Tumor Biology in the department of radiation oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Centre, Boston.

“This is really a severe disease and being able to determine response at such an early point is helpful to tailor treatment,” he said.

“If we can predict those responding to antiangiogenic therapy early on, we may be able to define where the benefit would be,” he added.

The study appears in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. (ANI)

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Patients lowering “bad” cholesterol double in last 10 years

June 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 23 (ANI): The number of patients who have lowered their “bad” cholesterol to the advised level has nearly doubled over the last decade, according to a multi-national survey.

The research said patients had improved their cholesterol through a combination of medical treatment and lifestyle changes.

In the survey of nearly 10,000 patients (average age 62) from nine countries undergoing cholesterol-lowering and management efforts, researchers found that the number of patients successfully reaching their respective low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels rose from 38 percent to 73 percent over the last 10 years.

Among high-risk patients, 67 percent reached established goal levels. Only 30 percent of very high risk patients – those with existing coronary artery disease and two or more other risk factors such as obesity, diabetes and smoking – successfully reached their LDL target of 70 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) or less.

LDL is known as ‘bad’ cholesterol because it’s associated with increased cardiovascular risk.

“Although there is room for improvement, particularly in very high-risk patients, these results indicate that lipid-lowering therapy is being applied much more successfully than it was a decade ago,” said David D. Waters, M.D., lead author of the study and Emeritus Professor, University of California, San Francisco.

The countries in the study were Brazil, Canada, France, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan and the United States.

The target LDL in the United States depends on how many of a number of risk factors are present in the patient.

For patients without coronary artery disease, diabetes, or other cardiovascular risk favors, the ideal LDL is 160 mg/dL or less.

For people who have neither coronary artery disease nor diabetes but have at least two other risk factors, the ideal LDL is less than 130 mg/dL.

Patients who have cardiovascular diseases or diabetes are advised to have a bad cholesterol level no higher than 100 mg/dL, and should try to maintain a level lower than 70 mg/dL if they have other risk factors, the study said.

The survey results have been reported in Circulation: Journal of he American Heart Association. (ANI)

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Older adults who socialize less ‘experience motor function decline’

June 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 23 (ANI): Less frequent participation in social activity is associated with a more rapid rate of motor function decline in older adults, according to a new study.

Motor function decline in older individuals is linked to negative health outcomes including, disability, dementia and death.

Although decline in motor function is becoming a major public health concern, “little is known about risk factors for motor function decline that could translate into potential public health or clinical interventions.”

Aron S. Buchman, M.D., and colleagues at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, examined whether frequency of social activity in late-life was related to motor function decline in 906 older adults participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project from 1997 to 2008, with an average follow-up of 4.9 years.

Researchers evaluated participants’ motor function by measuring their grip and pinch strength and their ability to stand on one leg and then on their toes, to walk in line in a heel-to-toe manner, place pegs on a board in 30 seconds and tap index fingers for 10 seconds bilaterally.

Participants completed a health survey to assess their physical activities and used a five-point rating scale to measure frequency of social activity participation, with one indicating participation in a particular activity once a year or less; two, several times a year; three, several times a month; four, several times a week and five, every day or almost every day.

Demographic information, education, weight, height and disabilities were also recorded.

The researchers found that “a lower frequency of participation in social activity was associated with a more rapid rate of motor function decline,” with each one-point decrease in a participant’s social activity score associated with an approximate 33 percent more rapid rate of decline.

Additionally, a one-point decrease on the social activity scale was the same as being approximately five years older at baseline.

This amount of change is associated with more than a 40 percent increased risk of death and a 65 percent increased risk of developing disability.

“The association of social activity with the rate of global motor decline did not vary along demographic lines and was unchanged after controlling for potential confounders including late-life physical and cognitive activity, disability, global cognition depressive symptoms, body composition and chronic medical conditions,” they authors said.

“These data raise the possibility that social engagement can slow motor function decline and possibly delay adverse health outcomes from such decline,” the authors said.

The study has bee reported in the June 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. (ANI)

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Obesity ‘reduces gray matter in postmenopausal women’s brains’

June 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 19 (ANI): Obesity reduces volume of gray matter in the brains of postmenopausal women, according to a new study.

“A subset of women from the Pittsburgh Healthy Women Study (HWS) who had been followed for an average of 15 years was invited to participate in brain imaging studies,” said lead author Isabella Soreca, M.D., an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

“We found that those who had gained the most weight had lower gray matter volume,” Soreca added.

In the study, 48 women participants underwent MRIs to determine the volume of both white and gray matter in their brains.

Researchers excluded participants from the study if their white matter showed specific signs of possible decreases in blood supply to the brain.

They also excluded participants if they had high blood pressure, diabetes or other health concerns.

“Women who gain weight tend to have high blood pressure, impaired glucose tolerance and other health concerns that are known to affect the brain,” Soreca said.

“The group we used were overweight, but were otherwise completely healthy. It was surprising that these healthy women still showed reductions in gray matter volume, and this indicates that weight gain by itself may impact the brain,” Soreca added.

The study appears online in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine. (ANI)

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Manipur has an apparel-manufacturing centre

May 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Imphal, May 29 (ANI): A centre for apparel manufacturing has been set up in Imphal in a first of its kind initiative in the northeastern region. It has come as a boon for educated unemployed youth of the State.

Many Manipuri youngsters have joined Skills for Employment in Apparel Manufacturing (or SEAM) centre.

Set up at Nongmeibung in Imphal East District, SEAM is sponsored by Ministry of Rural Development and Department of Education, Government of Manipur with Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL and FS) Cluster Multi Skills Development Centre.

“Definitely it is going to enhance the local economy. First, by providing local people and dropout students with employment opportunities. Secondly, we are trying to start a production unit in Manipur. Once that comes up, they can start working in Manipur itself,” said Manoj Kumar Sinha, Advisor to the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services centre.

“After they finish their training here, they will go to Bangalore and Chennai for three months to work as an apprentice and will get a stipend of 3,000 rupees. After that they can start working on their own,” said Md. Kodus Khan, the Nodal Officer. he training programme would last for a month and after that, arrangement for placement would be made outside the State and in metro cities.

Apart from weaving classes, the trainees also have classes on personality and language development.

The people of the State have responded enthusiastically and have appreciated the government’s effort.

“This is a very good initiative taken by the government for the employed educated youth of the state. We can now get an opportunity to learn and make a living for ourselves,” said Laishram Reena, a trainee.

“I’ve joined with the hope that after I get this training, I will be able to help my parents. I can work and with the salary I get. I can support my family,” said Giya, a trainee.

Unemployed youth, who have studied till grade eight, are eligible to apply for the training programme, which is free of cost.

Unemployment is one of the biggest problems in the Manipur and schemes like SEAM help address it to some extent. By L.C.K.Singh (ANI)

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Higher fitness levels related to lower risk of death, cardiovascular disease

May 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 20 (ANI): Individuals with increased levels of cardiorespiratory fitness have a lower risk of all-cause death and coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease, says a new study.

This is in comparison to people with lower levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, according to an analysis of previous studies appearing in the May 20 issue of JAMA.

Physical fitness is typically expressed as cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and is assessed by exercise tolerance testing; however, it is rare for clinicians to consider CRF when evaluating future risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).

“A major reason for lack of consideration of CRF as a marker of CHD risk may be that the quantitative association of CRF for cardiovascular risk is not well established.

The degree of risk reduction associated with each incremental higher level of CRF, the criteria for low CRF, and the magnitude of risk associated with low CRF have been inconsistent among studies,” the authors write.

To reach the conclusion, Satoru Kodama, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Tsukuba Institute of Clinical Medicine, Ibaraki, Japan, and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis to systematically review the quantitative relationship between CRF and all-cause mortality and CHD or cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in healthy individuals.

The researchers identified 33 studies for inclusion in the analysis, which included: all-cause mortality, 102,980 participants and 6,910 cases; CHD/CVD, 84,323 participants and 4,485 cases.

CRF was estimated as maximal aerobic capacity (MAC) expressed in metabolic equivalent (MET; measured via oxygen consumption) units. Participants were categorized as low CRF (less than 7.9 METs), intermediate CRF (7.9 – 10.8 METs), or high CRF (10.9 METs or greater).

Compared with participants with high CRF, those with low CRF had a 70 percent higher risk for all-cause death and a 56 percent higher risk for CHD/CVD events. Compared with participants with intermediate CRF, those with low CRF had a 40 percent higher risk for all-cause death and a 47 percent increased risk for CHD/CVD events.

“These analyses suggest that a minimal CRF of 7.9 METs may be important for significant prevention of all-cause mortality and CHD/CVD,” the researchers write.

They add that expressed in terms of walking speed, men around 50 years of age must be capable of continuous walking at a speed of 4 m.p.h. and women, 3 m.p.h.

“It is possible that consideration of low CRF as a major coronary risk factor could be put into practical use in the clinical setting through identification of low exercise tolerance by exercise stress testing or in daily life by the speed at which a person can walk before experiencing exhaustion,” the researchers write. (ANI)

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Women more prone to ill effects of smoking

May 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 19 (ANI): Women are more susceptible to smoking’s lung damaging effects than men, says a new study.

Inga-Cecilie Soerheim, M.D., and colleagues from Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and University of Bergen, Norway analyzed data from a Norwegian case-control study including 954 subjects with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 955 controls.

All were current- or ex-smokers, and the COPD subjects had moderate or severe COPD.

“Overall our analysis indicated that women may be more vulnerable to the effects of smoking, which is something previously suspected but not proven,” said Dr. Soerheim.

The study results have been presented at the 105th International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in San Diego.

Examining the total study sample, there were no gender differences with respect to lung function (FEV1) and COPD severity, but the women were on average younger and had smoked significantly less than men.

To explore these differences further, they also analyzed two subgroups of the study sample: COPD subjects under the age of 60 (early onset group) and COPD subjects with less than 20 pack-years of smoking (low exposure group). In both subgroups, women had more severe disease and greater impairment of lung function than men.

“This means that female smokers in our study experienced reduced lung function at a lower level of smoking exposure and at an earlier age than men,” said Dr. Soerheim.

It has long been suspected that the effect of smoking on lung function may be modified by gender. Interaction analysis confirmed that being female represents a higher risk of reduced lung function and severe COPD, but this gender effect was most pronounced when the level of smoking exposure was low.

According to Dr. Soerheim, the reason why women may be more susceptible to the effects of cigarette smoke is still unknown, but there are several possible explanations: “Women have smaller airways; therefore each cigarette may do more harm. Also, there are gender differences in the metabolism of cigarette smoke. Genes and hormones could also be important.” (ANI)

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Program on body, mind and spirit may help women with breast cancer cope

May 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 17 (ANI): A program, called Pathfinders, created to take care of body, mind and spirit, could help women with terminal cancer cope and improve their quality of life, says a new study.

The study led by researchers in the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center revealed that Pathfinders focuses on the seven pillars of personal recovery- hope, balance, inner strengths, self care, support, spirit and life review.

“The program helped improve distress and despair during the initial three months and up to six months after diagnosis among women with metastatic breast cancer and a six month life expectancy,” said Amy Abernethy, M.D., an oncologist at Duke University Medical Center and lead investigator on the study.

She added: “Even though the women were getting sicker and experiencing more symptoms related to their cancer, they reported that they felt less distress and despair as a result of being able to better cope with the cancer.”

The program provides patient navigation, counselling, coping skills training, mind and body techniques and lifestyle advice.

“The goal of the program is to teach patients coping skills for dealing with their cancer. To reach this goal, we have created a common language between patients, nurses, physicians and Pathfinders for communicating coping skills,” said Tina Staley, director of Pathfinders.

To conduct this pilot study, the researchers enrolled 50 adult breast cancer patients with a prognosis of less than six months survival.

The women met with a Pathfinder, a trained social worker, at least monthly, and also consulted via telephone and e-mails.

The social workers helped the women identify inner strength, taught them coping skills and encouraged them to engage in complementary and alternative medical services.

“There is a growing body of data that shows cancer patients have unmet psychosocial needs, and with programs like Pathfinders we are able to care for the whole person. As a result, we found that this group of women reported a higher quality of life three months after being diagnosed than was expected,” said Abernethy.

The findings will be presented on a poster at the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Orlando. (ANI)

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Nerve pain pill found effective in treating hot flashes

May 16, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Washington, May 16 (ANI): A pill used to treat nerve pain has been found effective in treating hot flashes in women, claim Mayo Clinic researchers.

They have found that pregabalin decreased hot flash severity and frequency about 20 percent more than did a placebo.

Pregabalin has been found to offer about the same benefit as gabapentin, an older, related drug, as well as newer classes of antidepressants.

“Hot flashes are a major problem in many women, and for those who opt not to take hormonal therapies or antidepressants, pregabalin appears to be another treatment option,” said the study’s lead author, Charles Loprinzi, M.D., a medical oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

Women who use pregabalin only need to take two pills a day, versus three for gabapentin, he added.

Gabapentin and a variety of antidepressants are commonly prescribed for treatment of hot flashes and pregabalin is a newer version of gabapentin.

Dr. Loprinzi and colleagues set up a 207-participant study conducted by the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG). Patients getting pregabalin started off with lower doses which were increased weekly to the eventual full dose.

The researchers found that for the 163 patients both doses of pregabalin reduced hot flashes to about the same degree, but that toxicities, such as cognitive dysfunction, were increased at the higher dose.

After six weeks of treatment, women receiving pregabalin showed 65 percent decrease in hot flashes compared to 50 percent decrease in those receiving placebo.

“All in all, this study demonstrates that we have another agent to add to the list of medications that offer benefit against hot flashes, even in women using anti-estrogen therapies,” said Dr. Loprinzi .

The findings were presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). (ANI)

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Coaching can reduce hospitalizations of asthmatic kids

May 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 06 (ANI): A new study has shown that working with an asthma coach helps to significantly reduce hospitalizations of low-income, African-American children with asthma.

For the study, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill worked with nearly 200 parents of children between 2-8 years old on Medicaid who had been hospitalized for asthma at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Kids were randomly assigned to an asthma coach or to usual care following discharge from the hospital, which included asthma education, an asthma management plan and a suggested follow-up appointment with the child’s pediatrician within one week of discharge.

“Compliance with asthma care can often be a challenge,” said Robert C. Strunk, M.D., a Washington University asthma specialist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

“The asthma coach provided support for parents dealing with the unrelenting demands of their child’s illness,” he added.

During two years, the coach was available to parents, 35 of the 96 patients (36.5 percent) in the coaching group were hospitalized at least once, compared with 55 of the 93 patients (59 percent) in the usual-care group.

Edwin B. Fisher, Ph.D., professor of health behavior and health education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, co-author of the paper and global director of Peers for Progress, a program to promote peer support in chronic disease, said: “Beyond the good news it provides for asthma care, the asthma coach sets an important model for treating a variety of chronic diseases in children and adults.”

“These kinds of programs help people put into practice in their daily lives the plans they agree to in the doctor’s office. That’s going to be an increasingly important part of health care as more people have problems like asthma and diabetes,” Fisher added.

The study was published in the March 2009 issue of Archives of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. (ANI)

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Women suffer more disability than men during old age

May 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 03 (ANI): Although women live longer than men, they suffer more from disability that stems chiefly from obesity and arthritis, says a new study.

In the study, researchers found that the most prevalent cause of suffering and disability in senior women is arthritis and obesity, leading to two and a half times more suffering compared to men in the same age group.

They also found that higher rates of obesity and arthritis among these women explained up to 48 percent of the gender gap in disability – above all other common chronic health conditions.

“While women tend to live longer than men, this study shows that they are at greater risk of living with disability and much of the excess disability is attributable to higher rates of obesity and arthritis,” said Heather Whitson, M.D., assistant professor of medicine and lead investigator of the study presented today at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Geriatrics Society.

“This is important because it suggests that women’s tendency to pack on extra pounds in their child-bearing and peri-menopausal years translates into loss of independence in their old age,” Whitson added.

Researchers said the study, which included 5,888 people over 65, is the first to isolate the impact of specific chronic health conditions on the difference in disability rates between older men and women. (ANI)

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