Marketing Consultants to the Overlooked Disabled Community
| Home Page |
| About Us |
| We Are Able |
| Clients |
| Did you Know? |
| What's New! |
| Self Test |
| Disorders |
| Hot Links / Sites |
| Contact Us |
|
Mayo team finds Alzheimer’s gender link
February 2009
JACKSONVILLE, FL - Mayo Clinic scientists discovered the first gender-linked susceptibility gene for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
In Nature Genetics, they report their two-stage genome-wide study of patients with Alzheimer’s.
Research showed women who inherited two copies of a PCDH11X gene variant on the X chromosome are at much greater risk of Alzheimer’s.
Women with a variant on one of two X chromosomes had some higher risk, as did men with it on their single X chromosome.
These effects were weaker than inheriting two variants.
Scientists caution more study is needed before assigning definitive degree of risk the gene seems to carry, but say it appears to be a strong risk factor.
"Overall, odds were substantially greater that female patients with the disease did have two copies," says study senior investigator, Dr. Steven Younkin, consultant/researcher at Mayo’s Jacksonville campus and neuroscience professor in the College of Medicine.
The Mayo-led global team’s finding may help explain Parkinson’s and other neurological ills.
Studying just eight families worldwide, the team found the defect that yields profound depression and parkinsonism in what is called Perry syndrome.
This ill is exceedingly rare, but the mechanism implicated in it may help explain origins of disorders, such as Parkinson’s and ALS, and even common depression and sleep disorders that are hallmarks of the disorder, the team said.
HOUSTON - Heart disease is the No. 1 killer for U.S. women. The well-known heart attack symptoms - acute pain, tightness, burning, and a dull ache in the chest - describe what men typically experience. For many women, the signs are completely different and can go unrecognized. Dr. Karla Kurrelmeyer, cardiologist at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, offers this for women: Symptoms - Nausea, shoulder pain and exhaustion can be the only signs a female gets. Heart disease tends to come later than in men, on average 10 years after menopause. Women are more likely to die from attacks. Immediacy - Women go to the hospital on average one full hour later than men after an attack. Delayed treatment cuts chances of full recovery. Treatment - Clot-buster drugs may be given immediately to let blood to get through to the heart. Sometimes, surgery and other procedures are required. Prevention - Maintain low cholesterol levels, exercise, quit smoking. Keep diabetes under control, monitor your blood pressure, and keep it in check. Know your family medical history. If there’s a history of heart disease, start earlier and be even more diligent about prevention. Education - For more data on heart disease, visit www.debakeyheartcenter.com.
WASHINGTON - MedPage Today disclose hospitals, physicians, and other providers will no longer be reimbursed by Medicare for surgeries performed on the wrong patient or wrong body part, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced. Medicare will refuse to pay if a patient scheduled for an invasive procedure is given the wrong one. Claims for ancillary services related to these erroneous procedures will be denied too, CMS noted. CMS stated in December its plan to implement the new rules. The surgical mistakes join 12 categories of errors and preventable complications already on the CMS blacklist, effective Oct. 1, 2008: Objects left in after surgery Air embolisms; Blood incompatibility; Pressure ulcers; Falls in the hospital; Catheter-associated urinary tract infections; Catheter-associated vascular infections; Mediastinitis after CABG; Inadequate glycemic control; Surgical site infections; Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and Drug-induced delirium, For those 12 errors, CMS is denying claims only for hospital inpatient reimbursements.
BETHESDA, MD - HealthDay News noted recruiting is open for a federal study to track tens of thousands of children from before birth to 21. The aim is to understand how genes and environment interact to affect health. The National Children's Study is expected to uncover important health data at virtually every phase of a child's life. Volunteers are being sought in Duplin County, NC, and Queens, NY. Recruitment will expand to cover 105 U.S. locations, providing a broad sample of the U.S. population. "Initially, it will provide major insights into disorders of birth/infancy, such as preterm birth and its health affects. Ultimately, it will lead to a greater understanding of adult disorders, many of which are thought to be influenced heavily by early life exposures and events," Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, stated. Unlike more limited studies, Alexander said, this study should allow scientists to gain insight into many uncommon disorders and to examine the interaction of genetics and the environment, as well.
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ -Johnson & Johnson Co. and Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University are partnering to develop drugs for schizophrenia. The school will receive about $10 million from J&J over the next three years, plus up to an added $100 million if it meets certain research milestones. Vanderbilt will develop drugs to the stage where they’re ready for human testing. Research will be lead by Prof. Jeffrey Conn, who said he and his team have identified hundreds of molecules that show promise of being in a new class of drugs to treat schizophrenia. Reportedly, J&J has struggled to find new psychiatric drugs since Risperdal went off patent in 2008.
NEW HAVEN, CT - The Global Health and Innovation Summit presented annually by Unite for Sight (www.uniteforsight.org/conference) will be held April 18-19 at Yale University. The 200 speakers include keynoters Dr. Susan Blumenthal, Nicholas Kristof, and Drs. Jeffrey Sachs, Sonia Sachs, Al Sommer, and Harold Varmus. There’ll be social sessions by CEOs and directors of Save the Children, HealthStore Foundation, Partners in Health, mothers2mothers, and others. The summit joins 2,500 people from 60+ countries and challenges students, professionals, educators, scientists, lawyers, universities, corporations, nonprofits, doctors, and others to develop innovative solutions to achieve global goals. Dr. Blumenthal, former Assistant Surgeon General and now a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown School of Medicine and Tufts University Medical Center, will discuss "Global Health Challenges and Opportunities." New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof will cover "The Challenges of Development and Making Aid Work."
IOWA CITY, IA - The Disability Law & Policy e-Newsletter of the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center of the University of Iowa’s College of Law disclosed AbilityNet, a London-based charity helping the disabled use information/communication technology, teamed with technology maker Excitim Ltd. to develop toys for children with limited motor skills. The Dream-Racer has a motion-sensing electronic system set in a baseball cap, so users unable to control standard joysticks have an alternative to participate in toy car, boat, and truck racing games. Also, AbilityNet's AccessFun software is a collection of games for those with visual and physical impairments unable to operate multiple switches. The Dream-Mouse allows users with difficulties operating a computer mouse to play computer games by using head and other body movements. For more data, visit www.abilitynet.org.uk/index.php.
BOSTON - "Public Policy & Aging Report" issued by the National Academy on an Aging Society, a policy institute of the Gerontological Society of America, is at: www.aoa.gov. Edited by Dr. Robert B. Hudson, professor and chair of Social Welfare Policy at Boston University’s School of Social Work, the report includes four articles that provide an "updated and informed assessment of where the Older Americans Act and the Aging Network stand in the face of pressing demographic, economic, and healthcare issues." It documents the evolution of the network and the significant transformations underway reflecting state and federal initiatives, including Aging and Disability Resource Centers, Evidence-Based Prevention Programs, Cash and Counseling, and the Nursing Home Diversion Modernization Grant Program.
BETHESDA, MD - The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) states antipsychotic medications can reduce the risk of violence among schizophrenics, but newer atypical antipsychotics are no more effective in doing so than older medications, according to an analysis from the NIMH-funded Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness. The study was in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The study compared the newer atypical medications Seroquel, Zyprexa, Risperdal, and Geodon with the older antipsychotic perphenazine. This analysis examined whether any of the meds specifically reduced frequency of violence, a rare symptom tied to the disorder. Schizophrenia may occur, in part, as brain development goes awry in adolescence and young adulthood, when the brain is cutting some connections between cells as normal maturation, a study online at Molecular Psychiatry suggested. Comparing a group of adolescents and young adults after their first bout of schizophrenia with a group of healthy peers, scientists found this loss of tissue began around the same time and in the same brain areas in both groups. The rate of loss was more pronounced and covered a greater area of the brain's surface in the youth with schizophrenia.
WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Findings from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of East Anglia in the Canadian Medical Association Journal show long-term use of some oral diabetic drugs doubles fracture risk in women with type 2 diabetes. "We knew there was an association between thiazolidinediones and fracture risk; however the magnitude of risk hadn’t been evaluated," said Dr. Sonal Singh, assistant professor of internal medicine and a study co-researcher. "This study shows these agents double the risk of fractures in women with type 2 diabetes, who are already at higher risk before taking the therapy." In absolute terms, Dr. Singh said, if thiazolidinediones (TZDs) are used by elderly, postmenopausal women (around 70 years) with type 2 diabetes for one year, one additional fracture would occur among every 21 women. Among younger women (around 56 years), use of the drugs for one year or longer would result in one additional fracture for every 55 women. TZDs are oral medications given to control diabetes by lowering blood sugar. The two available drugs in this class are marketed as AvandiaTM by GlaxoSmithKline and ActosTM by Takeda Pharmaceuticals.
ROCHESTER, NY - The Associated Press asked: Too noisy to hear! Part of the problem may lie in your brain's dimmer switch for controlling input from your ears. That circuitry appears to falter with age; scientists are getting some clues about why. If you have trouble understanding conversation in a noisy room, you're having what's sometimes called the cocktail party problem - an initial sign of hearing loss that can creep in during middle age and affects 33% of adults 65-75. Scientists are trying to piece together why our hearing goes downhill with age. As to the cocktail party problem, the dimmer switch is a piece of that story. "I think it's a significant player," said Robert Frisina, of the University of Rochester, who is studying it. Scientists know the brain not only gets signals from the ears, but also talks back; when there's too much noise, this dimmer switch brain circuitry tells the ears to reduce their flow of signals to the brain. This helps the sensitive auditory system handle loud sounds that otherwise would overwhelm it and become distorted. (www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/presbycusis.asp).
JACKSONVILLE, FL - HealthDay News noted three Duval County (FL) hospitals and St. Johns County's only hospital were among the best in the U.S. HealthGrades' list of the top 5% of hospitals included Baptist Medical Center, Memorial Hospital, and St. Vincent's Medical Center, all in Jacksonville, and Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine. The firm based its annual analysis on death rates for 17 types of procedures/diagnoses complication rates for nine procedures for 2005-2007. HealthGrades, an independent healthcare ratings firm, analyzed some 5,000 non-federal, non-children's hospitals. Meanwhile, these hospitals had a 27% lower death rate than other hospitals. Researchers checked records of about 41 million Medicare patients treated at the hospitals and focused on 26 common diagnoses/procedures, including heart failure, heart attack, stroke, pneumonia, angioplasty, gastrointestinal surgeries, and sepsis. In 2005-2007, these hospitals lowered in-hospital, risk-adjusted death rates by an average 18% versus 13% for all other hospitals. The study found patients at these hospitals had an 8% lower risk of complications for diagnoses/procedures that include orthopedic and neurosurgery, vascular surgery, prostate surgery, and gall bladder surgery.
HOUSTON - Heart disease is the No. 1 killer for U.S. women. The well-known heart attack symptoms - acute pain, tightness, burning, and a dull ache in the chest - describe what men typically experience. For many women, the signs are completely different and can go unrecognized. Dr. Karla Kurrelmeyer, cardiologist at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, offers this for women: Symptoms - Nausea, shoulder pain and exhaustion can be the only signs a female gets. Heart disease tends to come later than in men, on average 10 years after menopause. Women are more likely to die from attacks. Immediacy - Women go to the hospital on average one full hour later than men after an attack. Delayed treatment cuts chances of full recovery. Treatment - Clot-buster drugs may be given immediately to let blood to get through to the heart. Sometimes, surgery and other procedures are required. Prevention - Maintain low cholesterol levels, exercise, quit smoking. Keep diabetes under control, monitor your blood pressure, and keep it in check. Know your family medical history. If there’s a history of heart disease, start earlier and be even more diligent about prevention. Education - For more data on heart disease, visit www.debakeyheartcenter.com.
WASHINGTON - MedPage Today disclose hospitals, physicians, and other providers will no longer be reimbursed by Medicare for surgeries performed on the wrong patient or wrong body part, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced. Medicare will refuse to pay if a patient scheduled for an invasive procedure is given the wrong one. Claims for ancillary services related to these erroneous procedures will be denied too, CMS noted. CMS stated in December its plan to implement the new rules. The surgical mistakes join 12 categories of errors and preventable complications already on the CMS blacklist, effective Oct. 1, 2008: Objects left in after surgery Air embolisms; Blood incompatibility; Pressure ulcers; Falls in the hospital; Catheter-associated urinary tract infections; Catheter-associated vascular infections; Mediastinitis after CABG; Inadequate glycemic control; Surgical site infections; Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and Drug-induced delirium, For those 12 errors, CMS is denying claims only for hospital inpatient reimbursements.
BETHESDA, MD - HealthDay News noted recruiting is open for a federal study to track tens of thousands of children from before birth to 21. The aim is to understand how genes and environment interact to affect health. The National Children's Study is expected to uncover important health data at virtually every phase of a child's life. Volunteers are being sought in Duplin County, NC, and Queens, NY. Recruitment will expand to cover 105 U.S. locations, providing a broad sample of the U.S. population. "Initially, it will provide major insights into disorders of birth/infancy, such as preterm birth and its health affects. Ultimately, it will lead to a greater understanding of adult disorders, many of which are thought to be influenced heavily by early life exposures and events," Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, stated. Unlike more limited studies, Alexander said, this study should allow scientists to gain insight into many uncommon disorders and to examine the interaction of genetics and the environment, as well.
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ -Johnson & Johnson Co. and Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University are partnering to develop drugs for schizophrenia. The school will receive about $10 million from J&J over the next three years, plus up to an added $100 million if it meets certain research milestones. Vanderbilt will develop drugs to the stage where they’re ready for human testing. Research will be lead by Prof. Jeffrey Conn, who said he and his team have identified hundreds of molecules that show promise of being in a new class of drugs to treat schizophrenia. Reportedly, J&J has struggled to find new psychiatric drugs since Risperdal went off patent in 2008.
NEW HAVEN, CT - The Global Health and Innovation Summit presented annually by Unite for Sight (www.uniteforsight.org/conference) will be held April 18-19 at Yale University. The 200 speakers include keynoters Dr. Susan Blumenthal, Nicholas Kristof, and Drs. Jeffrey Sachs, Sonia Sachs, Al Sommer, and Harold Varmus. There’ll be social sessions by CEOs and directors of Save the Children, HealthStore Foundation, Partners in Health, mothers2mothers, and others. The summit joins 2,500 people from 60+ countries and challenges students, professionals, educators, scientists, lawyers, universities, corporations, nonprofits, doctors, and others to develop innovative solutions to achieve global goals. Dr. Blumenthal, former Assistant Surgeon General and now a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown School of Medicine and Tufts University Medical Center, will discuss "Global Health Challenges and Opportunities." New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof will cover "The Challenges of Development and Making Aid Work."
IOWA CITY, IA - The Disability Law & Policy e-Newsletter of the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center of the University of Iowa’s College of Law disclosed AbilityNet, a London-based charity helping the disabled use information/communication technology, teamed with technology maker Excitim Ltd. to develop toys for children with limited motor skills. The Dream-Racer has a motion-sensing electronic system set in a baseball cap, so users unable to control standard joysticks have an alternative to participate in toy car, boat, and truck racing games. Also, AbilityNet's AccessFun software is a collection of games for those with visual and physical impairments unable to operate multiple switches. The Dream-Mouse allows users with difficulties operating a computer mouse to play computer games by using head and other body movements. For more data, visit www.abilitynet.org.uk/index.php.
BOSTON - "Public Policy & Aging Report" issued by the National Academy on an Aging Society, a policy institute of the Gerontological Society of America, is at: www.aoa.gov. Edited by Dr. Robert B. Hudson, professor and chair of Social Welfare Policy at Boston University’s School of Social Work, the report includes four articles that provide an "updated and informed assessment of where the Older Americans Act and the Aging Network stand in the face of pressing demographic, economic, and healthcare issues." It documents the evolution of the network and the significant transformations underway reflecting state and federal initiatives, including Aging and Disability Resource Centers, Evidence-Based Prevention Programs, Cash and Counseling, and the Nursing Home Diversion Modernization Grant Program.
BETHESDA, MD - The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) states antipsychotic medications can reduce the risk of violence among schizophrenics, but newer atypical antipsychotics are no more effective in doing so than older medications, according to an analysis from the NIMH-funded Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness. The study was in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The study compared the newer atypical medications Seroquel, Zyprexa, Risperdal, and Geodon with the older antipsychotic perphenazine. This analysis examined whether any of the meds specifically reduced frequency of violence, a rare symptom tied to the disorder. Schizophrenia may occur, in part, as brain development goes awry in adolescence and young adulthood, when the brain is cutting some connections between cells as normal maturation, a study online at Molecular Psychiatry suggested. Comparing a group of adolescents and young adults after their first bout of schizophrenia with a group of healthy peers, scientists found this loss of tissue began around the same time and in the same brain areas in both groups. The rate of loss was more pronounced and covered a greater area of the brain's surface in the youth with schizophrenia.
WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Findings from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of East Anglia in the Canadian Medical Association Journal show long-term use of some oral diabetic drugs doubles fracture risk in women with type 2 diabetes. "We knew there was an association between thiazolidinediones and fracture risk; however the magnitude of risk hadn’t been evaluated," said Dr. Sonal Singh, assistant professor of internal medicine and a study co-researcher. "This study shows these agents double the risk of fractures in women with type 2 diabetes, who are already at higher risk before taking the therapy." In absolute terms, Dr. Singh said, if thiazolidinediones (TZDs) are used by elderly, postmenopausal women (around 70 years) with type 2 diabetes for one year, one additional fracture would occur among every 21 women. Among younger women (around 56 years), use of the drugs for one year or longer would result in one additional fracture for every 55 women. TZDs are oral medications given to control diabetes by lowering blood sugar. The two available drugs in this class are marketed as AvandiaTM by GlaxoSmithKline and ActosTM by Takeda Pharmaceuticals.
ROCHESTER, NY - The Associated Press asked: Too noisy to hear! Part of the problem may lie in your brain's dimmer switch for controlling input from your ears. That circuitry appears to falter with age; scientists are getting some clues about why. If you have trouble understanding conversation in a noisy room, you're having what's sometimes called the cocktail party problem - an initial sign of hearing loss that can creep in during middle age and affects 33% of adults 65-75. Scientists are trying to piece together why our hearing goes downhill with age. As to the cocktail party problem, the dimmer switch is a piece of that story. "I think it's a significant player," said Robert Frisina, of the University of Rochester, who is studying it. Scientists know the brain not only gets signals from the ears, but also talks back; when there's too much noise, this dimmer switch brain circuitry tells the ears to reduce their flow of signals to the brain. This helps the sensitive auditory system handle loud sounds that otherwise would overwhelm it and become distorted. (www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/presbycusis.asp).
JACKSONVILLE, FL - HealthDay News noted three Duval County (FL) hospitals and St. Johns County's only hospital were among the best in the U.S. HealthGrades' list of the top 5% of hospitals included Baptist Medical Center, Memorial Hospital, and St. Vincent's Medical Center, all in Jacksonville, and Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine. The firm based its annual analysis on death rates for 17 types of procedures/diagnoses complication rates for nine procedures for 2005-2007. HealthGrades, an independent healthcare ratings firm, analyzed some 5,000 non-federal, non-children's hospitals. Meanwhile, these hospitals had a 27% lower death rate than other hospitals. Researchers checked records of about 41 million Medicare patients treated at the hospitals and focused on 26 common diagnoses/procedures, including heart failure, heart attack, stroke, pneumonia, angioplasty, gastrointestinal surgeries, and sepsis. In 2005-2007, these hospitals lowered in-hospital, risk-adjusted death rates by an average 18% versus 13% for all other hospitals. The study found patients at these hospitals had an 8% lower risk of complications for diagnoses/procedures that include orthopedic and neurosurgery, vascular surgery, prostate surgery, and gall bladder surgery.