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A new year, and maybe added years
January 2009
BOSTON - Prevention magazine asserted: "We all know obvious ways to add years to life: Don't smoke, eat veggies, wear a seat belt (even in the backseat).
There are other, lesser-known habits/attributes that can help reach a ripe old age."
Scientists recently found drinking one or more regular/diet sodas every day doubles your risk of heart disease and diabetes.
Lower-body strength means you have good balance, flexibility, and endurance.
Those attributes reduce your risk of falls, injuries, and hip fractures, all tied to declining health in older folks.
If mom had you under age 25, you're twice as likely to live to 100, say University of Chicago scientists.
Red wine, concord grapes, blueberries (okay, not purple, but close) all get deep rich color from compounds that reduce heart disease risk and may even protect against Alzheimer's disease, new research found.
Snack some grapes, make a blueberry pie, and ponder all years that lie ahead.
CHICAGO - The Associated Press reported "Stayin' Alive" might be more true to its name than the Bee Gees ever could have guessed: At 103 beats per minute, the old disco song has almost the perfect rhythm to help jump-start a stopped heart. John Travolta had perfect rhythm in Saturday Night Fever. University of Illinois medical school doctors and students maintained close to the ideal number of chest compressions doing CPR while listening to the catchy, sung-in-falsetto tune from the 1977 movie. The American Heart Association recommends 100 chest compressions per minute, far more than most people realize, study author Dr. David Matlock, of the school's Peoria, IL campus said. While CPR can triple cardiac arrest survival rates when performed properly, many people hesitate to do it because they're not sure about keeping the proper rhythm, Dr. Matlock said.
NEW YORK - HealthDay News stated that attending a weekly religious service, regardless of faith, may lower your risk of death by 20% versus people who don't attend services. "Religion is always a hot topic, but particularly now, when people are perhaps in fear because of the recession and the threat of terrorism, people are looking for stability; religion is something we find people reach out to for that stability. We see some health benefits here," said the study's lead author, Eliezer Schnall, a clinical assistant professor of psychology at Yeshiva College at Yeshiva University. "Maybe it's the sense of community, or support, or maybe people are less depressed when they join in religious services," he said. Researchers tried to control the data to account for many of these factors, but "we haven’t completely explained it all." The study was in the journal Psychology and Health. Participants came from the Women's Health Initiative observational study, and included nearly 95,000 women from across the U.S. They were all 50-79 at the study’s start.
ZHUNAN, TAIWAN - Bloomberg News reported chronic kidney disease, which influences as many deaths as smoking and obesity, is rarely caught in its early stages because most people are unaware of the condition, Taiwanese doctors said. Only 3.5% of Taiwanese sufferers were aware they had it, researchers said in Lancet. U.S., awareness is 10%; in China, it's 7.9%. The illness, which affects up to 26 million Americans, is treatable if caught early. Most patients with a progressive loss of kidney function die from other disorders linked to renal disease such as diabetes or hypertension before they reach where they need dialysis. About 12% of Taiwanese have the condition, similar to the U.S. "The high prevalence of chronic kidney disease and associated all-cause mortality, especially in people with low socio-economic status, make reduction of this disorder a public health priority," said Chi Pang Wen, of the National Health Research Institutes, in the study.
DURHAM, NC - HealthDay News reported glaucoma doesn't have to end in blindness, two studies suggest. In one, scientists found traditional surgery has better outcomes than drainage devices. The second found even patients with end-stage glaucoma can be treated. Both studies were in the journal Ophthalmology. In the first, scientists studied the number of complications from traditional surgery versus inserting a device that drains fluid from the eye. "We found a higher complication rate for glaucoma drainage devices than for traditional surgery," said lead researcher Frank Sloan, Alexander McMahon Professor of Health Policy and Management at Duke University. "Of course, adverse outcomes for either procedure are rare." In deciding between the procedures, physicians have to balance risks versus benefits, Sloan said. "It's good for ophthalmologists to have outcome rates in mind when they counsel patients." In the second study, Dr. Jason Much, of the Dept. of Ophthalmology at the University of Virginia, and colleagues checked charts of 64 patients with end-stage glaucoma. All patients had trabeculectomy or laser trabeculoplasty, where tissue is removed by laser. Researchers found, despite impaired vision, these patients didn’t become blind.
BETHESDA, MD - HealthDay News disclosed a malfunction in regulation of the brain chemical serotonin may be the root of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), research suggests. In the journal Science, Italian scientists explain how alterations in normal serotonin levels in a mouse model brought sudden death for many mice. Just prior to death, the mice had changed heart rate and temperature similar to changes suspected in SIDS. "This model is important. Causing dysfunction in brainstem serotonin can lead to death in a majority of affected animals," said Marian Willinger, a SIDS expert with the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She said severe cardiac and thermal regulation changes in the mice are similar to risk factors tied to SIDS. She said stomach sleeping is more likely to cause heart rate variability than back sleeping. Over-bundling babies, and overheating them, is a known risk factor for SIDS, she said. Italian scientists were studying the serotonin system and how the body maintains levels of the important neurotransmitter. When many mice died unexpectedly, a scientist who was doing SIDS research noted similarities.
HOUSTON - Reuters Health noted secondhand exposure to cigarette smoke is an asthma trigger in children. A study shows smoking by a primary caregiver and daycare provider are important sources of smoke exposure in children with asthma. In the study, kids with asthma exposed to secondhand smoke "had as much smoke exposure as if their mother smoked," Dr. Harold J. Farber told Reuters Health. Kids with smoke exposure from the daycare provider and primary caregiver had the highest levels of nicotine metabolites in their urine, said Dr. Farber, of Texas Children's Hospital. He and colleagues tested urine samples of 519 children 3-12 with asthma for nicotine metabolites indicative of exposure to secondhand smoke. They asked parents to recall their child's exposure to secondhand smoke in their home and areas where the children spend significant time. More than 75% of kids studied had poorly-controlled asthma, researchers noted in the journal Chest. Tests showed the lowest nicotine metabolite levels among children with no reported exposures to secondhand smoke - about half the study population.
KANSAS CITY, KS - Mild Alzheimer's disease patients with higher physical fitness had larger brains versus mild Alzheimer's patients with lower physical fitness, states a study in the journal Neurology. For the study, 121 people 60 and older underwent fitness tests using a treadmill plus brain scans to measure the white matter, gray matter, and total volume of their brains. Of the group, 57 were in the early stages of Alzheimer's while the rest didn’t have dementia. "People with early Alzheimer's who were less physically fit had four times more brain shrinkage when compared to normal older adults than those who were more physically fit, suggesting less brain shrinkage related to the Alzheimer's process in those with higher fitness levels," said study author Dr. Jeffrey M. Burns, of the University of Kansas School of Medicine and member of the American Academy of Neurology. Results remained the same regardless of age, gender, severity of dementia, physical activityk and frailty. There was no relationship between higher fitness levels and brain changes in the group of people without dementia.
LONDON – Reuters reported blood pressure treatment in the over-80 set was shown to cut risk of heart problems and fatal strokes. "There may be an added benefit in prevention of dementia," said Dr. Ruth Peters, of Imperial College, whose study was in Lancet Neurology. Findings were based on analyzing a study of nearly 4,000 people. It found patients whose high blood pressure was treated with a diuretic, with or without a blood pressure drug ACE inhibitor, had a lower risk of death from stroke and death from any cause. Several studies found a link between high blood pressure and dementia, marked by a loss of memory and other cognitive abilities. The latest analysis looks at whether treatment of high blood pressure helped to stave off dementia. Participants had no clinical diagnosis of dementia at the start of the trial. Their cognitive function was assessed at the start and each year with the mini-mental state exam. The trial was halted early because death and stroke rates fell so much it would’ve been unethical not to offer blood pressure medication to everyone in the study.
BALTIMORE – HealthDay News noted people prone to road rage are more likely to rant and rave watching their kids play sports, a study found. Ego-defensiveness, one trigger of road rage, also causes "sideline rage," said Jay Goldstein, a kinesiology doctoral student at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. He saw parents at youth soccer games near Washington, D.C., and found parents become angry when there's apparent challenge to their ego. "When they perceived something during the game to be directed personally at them or their child, they got angry. That's consistent with findings on road rage," Goldstein stated. He found control-oriented parents were far more likely to explode than autonomy-oriented parents, who take greater responsibility for their own behavior. "In general, control-oriented people are the kind who try to 'keep up with the Joneses.' They have a harder time controlling their reactions. They more quickly become one of 'those' parents than parents able to separate their ego from their kids and events on the field," Goldstein said.
IOWA CITY, IA - The Disability Law & Policy e-Newsletter of the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center at the University of Iowa College of Law noted the visually-impaired in Vermont and four other states could cast their ballot using the Vote-By-Phone system in the 2008 presidential election. The program reflects the 2002 Help America Vote Act to ensure equal voting access for all people. The phone call accesses a computer with verbal prompts leading voters through the ballot, listing candidates for each office. When the voter's choice for each is read, the voter presses No. 5, which has a raised bump in the middle for people working by touch. In the past, such voters had to bring a friend or poll worker into the booth with them to read and fill out paper ballots. The Vote-By-Phone goal is to give voters the same sense of independence and privacy the nondisabled have. Despite its benefits, only 29 people in Vermont used the device this year due to not knowing the system existed, plus availability of absentee voting.
DALLAS - MedPage Today noted that as U.S. temperatures rise due to global warming, prevalence of kidney stones is seen growing, scientists suggest. Assuming a mean temperature gain of 2.38° C, climate change is expected to cause 1.61-2.25 million new cases of nephrolithiasis by 2050, up 7-10.4% from 2000, Dr. Margaret Pearle, of the University of Texas’ Southwestern Medical Center, and her team posted online at Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That would add $947 million-$1.33 billion in annual healthcare costs, by scientists’ calculations. This means a 25% rise from $5.3 billion spent in 2000. Warmer temperatures would expand the so-called "stone belt" of the Southeast, where prevalence of nephrolithiasis is up to 50% higher than in other parts of the U.S. "There is a known variation in stone disease (tied) to regional differences in temperature," Dr. Peale said. "When people relocate from areas of moderate temperature to areas with warmer climates, a rapid increase in stone risk has been observed." Rising temperatures are believed to be tied to a greater risk of kidney stones, perhaps because of more dehydration, scientists said, although the link hasn't been proven.
IOWA CITY, IA - The Disability Law & Policy e-Newsletter of the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center at the University of Iowa College of Law noted Wal-Mart Watch, a non-profit aimed at reform of Wal-Mart's business practices and make Wal-Mart a better corporate citizen and employer, alleges Wal-Mart systematically violates the ADA. In 2001, an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission consent decree forced Wal-Mart to create an internal ADA compliance office; however, it’s alleged the office failed to correct Wal-Mart's practices. Reasonable Accommodation - Denied presents two trends: first, Wal-Mart uses a "leave of absence" requiring disabled employees to take unpaid leave of absence to get rid of its disabled employees; second, Wal-Mart regularly fails to provide ADA-mandated accommodations for disabled employees and job applicants.
CHICAGO - The Associated Press reported "Stayin' Alive" might be more true to its name than the Bee Gees ever could have guessed: At 103 beats per minute, the old disco song has almost the perfect rhythm to help jump-start a stopped heart. John Travolta had perfect rhythm in Saturday Night Fever. University of Illinois medical school doctors and students maintained close to the ideal number of chest compressions doing CPR while listening to the catchy, sung-in-falsetto tune from the 1977 movie. The American Heart Association recommends 100 chest compressions per minute, far more than most people realize, study author Dr. David Matlock, of the school's Peoria, IL campus said. While CPR can triple cardiac arrest survival rates when performed properly, many people hesitate to do it because they're not sure about keeping the proper rhythm, Dr. Matlock said.
NEW YORK - HealthDay News stated that attending a weekly religious service, regardless of faith, may lower your risk of death by 20% versus people who don't attend services. "Religion is always a hot topic, but particularly now, when people are perhaps in fear because of the recession and the threat of terrorism, people are looking for stability; religion is something we find people reach out to for that stability. We see some health benefits here," said the study's lead author, Eliezer Schnall, a clinical assistant professor of psychology at Yeshiva College at Yeshiva University. "Maybe it's the sense of community, or support, or maybe people are less depressed when they join in religious services," he said. Researchers tried to control the data to account for many of these factors, but "we haven’t completely explained it all." The study was in the journal Psychology and Health. Participants came from the Women's Health Initiative observational study, and included nearly 95,000 women from across the U.S. They were all 50-79 at the study’s start.
ZHUNAN, TAIWAN - Bloomberg News reported chronic kidney disease, which influences as many deaths as smoking and obesity, is rarely caught in its early stages because most people are unaware of the condition, Taiwanese doctors said. Only 3.5% of Taiwanese sufferers were aware they had it, researchers said in Lancet. U.S., awareness is 10%; in China, it's 7.9%. The illness, which affects up to 26 million Americans, is treatable if caught early. Most patients with a progressive loss of kidney function die from other disorders linked to renal disease such as diabetes or hypertension before they reach where they need dialysis. About 12% of Taiwanese have the condition, similar to the U.S. "The high prevalence of chronic kidney disease and associated all-cause mortality, especially in people with low socio-economic status, make reduction of this disorder a public health priority," said Chi Pang Wen, of the National Health Research Institutes, in the study.
DURHAM, NC - HealthDay News reported glaucoma doesn't have to end in blindness, two studies suggest. In one, scientists found traditional surgery has better outcomes than drainage devices. The second found even patients with end-stage glaucoma can be treated. Both studies were in the journal Ophthalmology. In the first, scientists studied the number of complications from traditional surgery versus inserting a device that drains fluid from the eye. "We found a higher complication rate for glaucoma drainage devices than for traditional surgery," said lead researcher Frank Sloan, Alexander McMahon Professor of Health Policy and Management at Duke University. "Of course, adverse outcomes for either procedure are rare." In deciding between the procedures, physicians have to balance risks versus benefits, Sloan said. "It's good for ophthalmologists to have outcome rates in mind when they counsel patients." In the second study, Dr. Jason Much, of the Dept. of Ophthalmology at the University of Virginia, and colleagues checked charts of 64 patients with end-stage glaucoma. All patients had trabeculectomy or laser trabeculoplasty, where tissue is removed by laser. Researchers found, despite impaired vision, these patients didn’t become blind.
BETHESDA, MD - HealthDay News disclosed a malfunction in regulation of the brain chemical serotonin may be the root of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), research suggests. In the journal Science, Italian scientists explain how alterations in normal serotonin levels in a mouse model brought sudden death for many mice. Just prior to death, the mice had changed heart rate and temperature similar to changes suspected in SIDS. "This model is important. Causing dysfunction in brainstem serotonin can lead to death in a majority of affected animals," said Marian Willinger, a SIDS expert with the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She said severe cardiac and thermal regulation changes in the mice are similar to risk factors tied to SIDS. She said stomach sleeping is more likely to cause heart rate variability than back sleeping. Over-bundling babies, and overheating them, is a known risk factor for SIDS, she said. Italian scientists were studying the serotonin system and how the body maintains levels of the important neurotransmitter. When many mice died unexpectedly, a scientist who was doing SIDS research noted similarities.
HOUSTON - Reuters Health noted secondhand exposure to cigarette smoke is an asthma trigger in children. A study shows smoking by a primary caregiver and daycare provider are important sources of smoke exposure in children with asthma. In the study, kids with asthma exposed to secondhand smoke "had as much smoke exposure as if their mother smoked," Dr. Harold J. Farber told Reuters Health. Kids with smoke exposure from the daycare provider and primary caregiver had the highest levels of nicotine metabolites in their urine, said Dr. Farber, of Texas Children's Hospital. He and colleagues tested urine samples of 519 children 3-12 with asthma for nicotine metabolites indicative of exposure to secondhand smoke. They asked parents to recall their child's exposure to secondhand smoke in their home and areas where the children spend significant time. More than 75% of kids studied had poorly-controlled asthma, researchers noted in the journal Chest. Tests showed the lowest nicotine metabolite levels among children with no reported exposures to secondhand smoke - about half the study population.
KANSAS CITY, KS - Mild Alzheimer's disease patients with higher physical fitness had larger brains versus mild Alzheimer's patients with lower physical fitness, states a study in the journal Neurology. For the study, 121 people 60 and older underwent fitness tests using a treadmill plus brain scans to measure the white matter, gray matter, and total volume of their brains. Of the group, 57 were in the early stages of Alzheimer's while the rest didn’t have dementia. "People with early Alzheimer's who were less physically fit had four times more brain shrinkage when compared to normal older adults than those who were more physically fit, suggesting less brain shrinkage related to the Alzheimer's process in those with higher fitness levels," said study author Dr. Jeffrey M. Burns, of the University of Kansas School of Medicine and member of the American Academy of Neurology. Results remained the same regardless of age, gender, severity of dementia, physical activityk and frailty. There was no relationship between higher fitness levels and brain changes in the group of people without dementia.
LONDON – Reuters reported blood pressure treatment in the over-80 set was shown to cut risk of heart problems and fatal strokes. "There may be an added benefit in prevention of dementia," said Dr. Ruth Peters, of Imperial College, whose study was in Lancet Neurology. Findings were based on analyzing a study of nearly 4,000 people. It found patients whose high blood pressure was treated with a diuretic, with or without a blood pressure drug ACE inhibitor, had a lower risk of death from stroke and death from any cause. Several studies found a link between high blood pressure and dementia, marked by a loss of memory and other cognitive abilities. The latest analysis looks at whether treatment of high blood pressure helped to stave off dementia. Participants had no clinical diagnosis of dementia at the start of the trial. Their cognitive function was assessed at the start and each year with the mini-mental state exam. The trial was halted early because death and stroke rates fell so much it would’ve been unethical not to offer blood pressure medication to everyone in the study.
BALTIMORE – HealthDay News noted people prone to road rage are more likely to rant and rave watching their kids play sports, a study found. Ego-defensiveness, one trigger of road rage, also causes "sideline rage," said Jay Goldstein, a kinesiology doctoral student at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. He saw parents at youth soccer games near Washington, D.C., and found parents become angry when there's apparent challenge to their ego. "When they perceived something during the game to be directed personally at them or their child, they got angry. That's consistent with findings on road rage," Goldstein stated. He found control-oriented parents were far more likely to explode than autonomy-oriented parents, who take greater responsibility for their own behavior. "In general, control-oriented people are the kind who try to 'keep up with the Joneses.' They have a harder time controlling their reactions. They more quickly become one of 'those' parents than parents able to separate their ego from their kids and events on the field," Goldstein said.
IOWA CITY, IA - The Disability Law & Policy e-Newsletter of the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center at the University of Iowa College of Law noted the visually-impaired in Vermont and four other states could cast their ballot using the Vote-By-Phone system in the 2008 presidential election. The program reflects the 2002 Help America Vote Act to ensure equal voting access for all people. The phone call accesses a computer with verbal prompts leading voters through the ballot, listing candidates for each office. When the voter's choice for each is read, the voter presses No. 5, which has a raised bump in the middle for people working by touch. In the past, such voters had to bring a friend or poll worker into the booth with them to read and fill out paper ballots. The Vote-By-Phone goal is to give voters the same sense of independence and privacy the nondisabled have. Despite its benefits, only 29 people in Vermont used the device this year due to not knowing the system existed, plus availability of absentee voting.
DALLAS - MedPage Today noted that as U.S. temperatures rise due to global warming, prevalence of kidney stones is seen growing, scientists suggest. Assuming a mean temperature gain of 2.38° C, climate change is expected to cause 1.61-2.25 million new cases of nephrolithiasis by 2050, up 7-10.4% from 2000, Dr. Margaret Pearle, of the University of Texas’ Southwestern Medical Center, and her team posted online at Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That would add $947 million-$1.33 billion in annual healthcare costs, by scientists’ calculations. This means a 25% rise from $5.3 billion spent in 2000. Warmer temperatures would expand the so-called "stone belt" of the Southeast, where prevalence of nephrolithiasis is up to 50% higher than in other parts of the U.S. "There is a known variation in stone disease (tied) to regional differences in temperature," Dr. Peale said. "When people relocate from areas of moderate temperature to areas with warmer climates, a rapid increase in stone risk has been observed." Rising temperatures are believed to be tied to a greater risk of kidney stones, perhaps because of more dehydration, scientists said, although the link hasn't been proven.
IOWA CITY, IA - The Disability Law & Policy e-Newsletter of the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center at the University of Iowa College of Law noted Wal-Mart Watch, a non-profit aimed at reform of Wal-Mart's business practices and make Wal-Mart a better corporate citizen and employer, alleges Wal-Mart systematically violates the ADA. In 2001, an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission consent decree forced Wal-Mart to create an internal ADA compliance office; however, it’s alleged the office failed to correct Wal-Mart's practices. Reasonable Accommodation - Denied presents two trends: first, Wal-Mart uses a "leave of absence" requiring disabled employees to take unpaid leave of absence to get rid of its disabled employees; second, Wal-Mart regularly fails to provide ADA-mandated accommodations for disabled employees and job applicants.