NEW YORK -Reuters reported 22,000 patients could’ve been saved if the FDA was quicker to remove a Bayer AG drug used to stem bleeding during open heart surgery, argued a medical researcher interviewed by CBS-TV's 60 Minutes.  Trasylol was withdrawn in November at FDA request after a study linked it to kidney failure requiring dialysis and more death of those patients.  It had been given to as many as 33% of all U.S. heart bypass patients at the height of its use over many years, stated the report.  Dr. Dennis Mangano, the researcher, said 22,000 lives could’ve been saved if Trasylol was taken off the market when he published his study in January 2006, stated the CBS News Web site.  He said in the broadcast Bayer failed to disclose at an FDA advisory panel meeting in September 2006 - at which his negative findings were discussed - that the German drug maker did its own research which confirmed the same dangers in his study.  The panel chairman, Dr. William Hiatt, told 60 Minutes he would’ve voted to remove Trasylol had he been informed about Bayer's study, noted the CBS report.

PUEBLO, CO - The Federal Citizen Information Center at Pueblo (updates@pueblo.gsa.gov) disclosed Sisters Against Cancer seeks women 35-74 with a sister who had breast cancer for the Sister Study (sisterstudy.org/English/index1.htm).  It's a long-term national study to learn how environment and genes affect chances of getting breast cancer and particularly seeks minorities, those with a high school education or less, and women 65-74 to participate.  Sisters of women with breast cancer are twice as likely to develop it themselves as women who don’t have a close relative with the disease.  By looking at cancer-free sisters, the study can collect data on genes and risk factors it can't get from women already afflicted with the illness.  Learning what leads to breast cancer will help more women to avoid it in the future.

COLUMBUS, OH - For type 2 diabetics who need insulin injection, a pre-loaded insulin pen could save money overall, study results noted byReuters Health show.  Those who use the pen versus traditional vials and syringes make fewer doctor or hospital visits, and fewer healthcare uses translates into cost savings, the authors say.  A pen is easier to use, provides greater dose accuracy, and is more satisfactory to patients versus a syringe, Dr. Rajesh Balkrishnan and his team note in Clinical Therapeutics.  To test costs related to initiating use of insulin pens or syringes, Dr. Balkrishnan, at Ohio State University, and colleagues studied data in the North Carolina Medicaid program patient claims database on type 2 diabetics enrolled 2001-2006.  That included 1,162 patients who began with a syringe, and 168 who began with a pen.  They found total annual healthcare costs, excluding meds, averaged roughly $14,900 per patient in the pen group, $32,000 for syringe users.  Even though the initial cost of an insulin pen is greater, cost benefits of using pens outweigh those for syringe use, the team concludes.

COLUMBUS, OH - Chronic stress spouses and children develop caring for Alzheimer’s disease patients may shorten the caregivers’ lives by up to four to eight years, a study suggests.  It provides concrete evidence effects of chronic stress can be seen at the genetic and molecular level in chronic caregivers’ bodies.  Findings by scientists at Ohio State University and the National Institute of Aging in the Journal of Immunology come from a nearly three-decade-long program at Ohio State studying links of psychological stress and a weakened immune status.  In this study, Ronald Glaser, professor of molecular virology, immunology, and medical genetics, and Jan Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychology and psychiatry, teamed with Nan-ping Weng and his group at the National Institute of Aging.  The team wanted to identify the exact cells involved in the changes, plus mechanisms that caused them.  "Caregivers showed the same kind of patterns in the study of mothers of chronically ill kids," Glaser said, saying changes the team saw amounted to a shortened lifespan of four to eight years."

LOS ANGELES - Women who keep silent in marital disputes have a greater risk of dying from heart disease and other ills than women who speak their minds, data noted by the Los Angeles Times shows.  The same can't be said of married men who keep rancor to themselves.  They had the same life expectancy as men who spoke out.  The study spanned from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s and was the latest to show how couples fight affects not only their relationship but also their health.  Lead author Elaine A. Eaker, a Gaithersburg, MD epidemiologist, said the message for women was clear: "When in conflict with your spouse, express yourself."  The study of 3,000 men and women online at Psychosomatic Medicine set out to examine the relationship between marital stress and coronary heart disease or death.  Participants were asked what they fought over and whether job problems carried over at home.  In general, marriage benefits health, particularly that of men.  Married men live seven years longer, and married women two years longer, than single men and women, respectively.

WASHINGTON - Monday Morning in Washington, D.C. highlighted Thinkcollege.net for youth with intellectual disabilities who haven’t had many chances to go to college.  This Web site will provide information and links to anyone interested in knowing more about the possibilities.  ThinkCollege's site is at www.thinkcollege.net.

STOCKHOLM - People who don't finish high school are at higher risk of dementia and Alzheimer's versus those with more education, despite lifestyle and characteristics such as income, job, physical activity, and smoking, a study in Neurology disclosed.  The Finnish study followed 1,388 people into middle age and late life for an average of 21 years.  The group was divided into three: five or fewer years of school (low), six to eight years (medium), and nine or more years (high), the Finnish equal of elementary, middle, and high school.  Results showed that compared with people with a low education, those with a medium level had a 40% lower risk of dementia; those with a high level had an 80% lower risk.  "Generally, people with low education seem to lead unhealthier lifestyles, which could suggest the two work concurrently to contribute to dementia or Alzheimer's, but our results showed a person's education predicted dementia on its own," said study author Dr. Tiia Ngandu, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and University of Kuopio, Finland.

DEARBORN, MI - Over 10 years in the making, Canada’s WalkAide® System is getting international praise in receipt of a 2007 da Vinci Award from General Motors Corp.  Created at the University of Alberta in Edmonton by a team led by Richard Stein, WalkAide® is designed to assist users with foot drop due to stroke, spinal cord injury, MS, or cerebral palsy.  The AA battery-operated device is the size of an IPod and is worn around the leg, just below the knee.  WalkAide uses light electrical stimulation to re-train muscles of the leg and ankle to move properly.  "The way the WalkAide works is that it has built-in electronic stimulation which activates some surface electrodes on the skin, so it doesn't need any implantation or surgery," said Stein, professor emeritus in UA’s department of physiology in the Faculty of Medicine.  "The timing of the stimulation is determined by a tilt censor.  When the leg tilts back, it turns the stimulus on, and when the leg tilts forward, it turns it off."

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) reverses early signs of atherosclerosis, scientists told MedPage Today.  In a, randomized trial, CPAP therapy cut carotid thickness 9% over four months and improved arterial stiffness 10% among men with severe sleep apnea reported in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.  These were "remarkable" changes as great as improvements seen in statin trials over six months to a year, said Dr. Luciano Drager, of the University of São Paulo, and his team.  Findings provide evidence of long-suspected causal link of sleep apnea and atherosclerosis, said Drs. T. Douglas Bradley and Dai Yumino, of the Center for Sleep Medicine and Circadian Biology at the University of Toronto, in an accompanying editorial.  "Because obstructive sleep apnea affects about 10% of the adult population, these results may have important public health implications for prevention of atherosclerotic diseases."

WASHINGTON - The Associated Press reported more than 5 million of us live with Alzheimer's disease, a 10% hike since the last Alzheimer's Association (AA) estimate in 2002 - a count that supports the long-forecast dementia epidemic as the population grays.  Age is the big risk factor, and the report shows the U.S. is on track for skyrocketing Alzheimer's once the baby boomers start turning 65 in 2011.  Already, one in eight people 65 and older have Alzheimer’s, and nearly one in two people over 85.  Unless scientists find a way to delay Alzheimer's brain attack, some 7.7 million people are expected to have it by 2030, the report says.  In fighting heart disease, cancer, and other diseases, "we're keeping people alive so they can live long enough to get Alzheimer's," said AA vice president Steve McConnell.  Figures in 2006 showed dips in U.S. deaths from most leading killers 2000-2004 as Alzheimer's deaths jumped 33%.  The report had a startling finding: 200,000-500,000 people under 65 have either early-onset Alzheimer's or another form of dementia.