Friday, July 29, 2011

Yoga can reduce chronic pain, study finds

A small Canadian study announced July 27 found that practicing yoga twice weekly for eight weeks reduced the symptoms of chronic pain and mental stress in women with fibromyalgia.
The study is the first to look at the effects of yoga on levels of the hormone cortisol in women suffering with fibromyalgia. The condition, which predominantly affects women, is associated with chronic pain and fatigue, and symptoms such as muscle stiffness, sleep disturbances, and depression.
Previous research has found that women with fibromyalgia have lower-than-average cortisol levels, which can contribute to pain, fatigue, and stress sensitivity, according to the researchers. In the new study, participants' saliva revealed enhanced cortisol levels following a program of 75 minutes of hatha yoga twice weekly over the course of eight weeks. Also patients reported significant reductions in their pain levels, as well as a mental boost from the yoga practice.

"Ideally, our cortisol levels peak about 30-40 minutes after we get up in the morning and decline throughout the day until we're ready to go to sleep," said the study's lead author, Kathryn Curtis, a PhD student at York University in Canada. "The secretion of the hormone, cortisol, is dysregulated in women with fibromyalgia."
The study, published in the Journal of Pain Research, and follows another published earlier this year that found that patients with rheumatoid arthritis who practiced yoga showed significant improvements in their symptoms.
Earlier this year, a study was published in the Journal of Neuroscience that found that meditation also delivered powerful pain-relieving effects to the brain with even just 80 minutes' training for a beginner in an exercise called focused attention. In the study, the subjects each took four 20-minute sessions to learn how to control their breathing and put aside their emotions and thoughts.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Getting A Good Night's Sleep

A good night's sleep is something we all value. Scientists tell us, and we know from experience, that it refreshes us, helps us perform better, and contributes significantly to health and happiness, especially in children. And yet, there are millions of us suffering from ongoing shortage of sleep.

According to the World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM), sleep problems add up to a global epidemic that affects 45% of the world's population.

"Insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), restless legs syndrome (RLS), and sleep deprivation significantly impact physical, mental and emotional health, in addition to affecting work performance and personal relationships," they said, on the fourth annual World Sleep Day on Friday 18th March 2011, when health professionals from WASM and other organizations worldwide came together to deliver the message that sleep is a "human privilege that is often compromised by the habits of modern life".

Dr R Michael Seyffert of the New Jersey Neuroscience Institute at JFK Medical Center in Edison, sees two or three teenagers a month with severe night-time cell phone problems, which he defines as spending two or more hours of texting and phoning each night. He says he has seen more of this in the last five years than ever before, and predicts it is only going to get worse.

Few would disagree with him: as we drift on this tide of technology toward a total 24/7, globally connected society, with an increasing number of gadgets to inform, stimulate and entertain us, the traditional boundaries between activity and sleep are being eroded, and we are likely to see a rise in the number of people experiencing health problems from lack of sleep.

How Much Sleep Do We Need?

Expert opinion varies as to the exact number of hours of sleep we need for optimum health, and some suggest it also depends on individual needs and age. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says most adults need about seven to eight hours of sleep a night to feel alert and well rested. The National Sleep Foundation also recommends between 7 and 9 hours.

One recent study suggests it could be as little as 6 hours, but more than 9 hours could be just as bad as not enough. Dr Charles Bae, a neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center in Ohio, and colleagues examined data on 10,654 patients who had competed questionnaires about quality of life, depression and average hours sleep per night.

They were surprised to find that sleeping more than 9 hours a night was linked to a similar reduction in quality of life and increase in symptoms of depression as sleeping less than 6, they said at the SLEEP 2011 conference in Minneapolis.

Children and teenagers need more sleep than adults. Teenagers need at least 9 hours, says the National Sleep Foundation in the US.

Many people do not realize that sleep is far from being a "passive" process where the brain just switches off at night. It is an "active" process involving the whole body and the brain.

Neurotransmitters, chemicals that brain cells use to signal to each other, control whether we are asleep or awake by action on different parts of the brain. In the brainstem, which joins the brain to the spinal cord, brain cells produce serotonin and norepinephrine that keep some parts of the brain active while we are awake, while other brain cells at the base of the brain control signals that lead to sleepiness and falling asleep by "switching off" the ones that keep us awake.

When we sleep we go through several stages of sleep from light to deep sleep, and then the cycle starts over. One of the stages is REM (rapid eye movement), which stimulates the brain regions used in learning. Infants spend much more time in REM sleep than adults. REM is also linked to increased production of proteins and learning of mental skills.

Research also suggests that a chemical called adenosine, which causes drowsiness, gradually accumulates in the bloodstream while we are awake and gradually breaks down during sleep.

Insufficient sleep is linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and depression, and other chronic diseases.

Lack of sleep is also responsible for accidents on roads and involving machinery, causing substantial injury and disability every year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who warn that "drowsy driving can be as dangerous --and preventable -- as driving while intoxicated".

Top Tips for Getting a Good Night's Sleep

Against this backdrop of the encroaching 24/7 technological society eroding our sleep boundaries, we also have the usual stresses and strains of everyday life and work, the responsibilities of running a home, and taking care of family. Add to this financial worries, threat and reality of job loss, relationship problems, and coping with illness, it is no wonder that getting a good night's sleep is even more elusive. One thing we can do is to shift our perception of sleep as a luxury and treat it as necessity for good health, as important as keeping to a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet and taking plenty of exercise: we need to regard sleep as a "vital sign" of good health, say the CDC.

Here are some tips that might help:

Tip 1: Keep a Sleep Journal

A good place to start if you think you are not getting enough hours or quality of sleep at night, is to keep a sleep journal noting things like hours of sleep, ease or difficulty of falling asleep, when you exercise, when you drink alcohol and caffeine, how refreshed you feel, and then look for patterns between quality and length of sleep and what you do during the day and when you go to bed. This is often the first thing that a clinician will ask you to do.

For instance, after two weeks, you might find a pattern between exercise and sleep quality, or between caffeinated drink consumption late at night and the number of times you get up to go to the bathroom or difficulty falling asleep.

Tip 2: Stick to a Routine

Try to go to bed and get up at around the same time every day. Even at the weekend.

Keeping to a routine reinforces the body's sleep-wake cycle and helps you fall asleep more easily at night, say experts at the Mayo Clinic in the US.

If you need an alarm clock to wake you up on time, you should consider going to bed earlier.

Tip 3: Control Napping and Drowsiness

A cat-nap during the day can be a great refresher, especially for older people. But be careful about sleeping during the day: a refreshing nap may be useful occasionally for paying off your sleep debt, and is better than sleeping late because this disrupts your sleep-wake rhythm, but if you have insomnia and nap regularly, consider eliminating the daytime nap.

If you must have a nap, restrict it to 20 minutes and do it early afternoon and not later.

Drowsiness often happens after big meals. Avoid the temptation to let this drift into sleep. Get off the couch and get active: do the dishes, go for a walk, do some chores, or call a friend. The killer is the TV dinner: eat, fall asleep on the couch, wake up hours later, and then you can't get to sleep when you go to bed properly. We've all been there.

Tip 4: Avoid Lots of Drink and Food Before Bedtime

Keep in mind the saying: "breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dine like a pauper". Eating or drinking large amounts before bedtime can result in indigestion, and night-time toilet visits to empty a bursting bladder. Try to eat a light meal at least two hours before bedtime, and if fatty or spicy foods give you heartburn, try to avoid them in your evening meal.

Be careful with coffee and tea, and other caffeinated drinks. Caffeine is a well-known stimulant that lingers in the body and if you drink it in the evening, it will not help you sleep. Try replacing that after-dinner coffee with chamomile tea, a traditional sleep inducing remedy that soothes.

Tip 5: Avoid Alcohol in the Evening

Although it is often thought of as a sedative, alcohol actually disrupts sleep. Even in small doses, it can impair quality of sleep, especially in the second half of the night.

Alcohol disrupts chemical messengers in the brain and the balance between REM sleep and non-REM sleep. The right balance in sleep patterns and brain waves, what scientists call "sleep architecture", helps us feel refreshed in the morning, as Jessica Alexander, of the UK's Sleep Council told the Times newspaper in an interview:

"Alcohol can mean that sleep is no longer refreshing, because the brain can't perform the normal restorative job it does during the night."

Tip 6: Make Your Bedroom Sleep-Friendly

Keep your bedroom dark, cool, quiet and comfortable. This is the ideal environment for sleeping. Consider carefully each item in your bedroom, especially gadgets. If you have to keep them there, then be strict about switching them off, or even put them away in a cupboard. Switch off the cell phone or turn it to silent mode.

Many people watch TV in bed and claim it helps them get to sleep. Try doing without it for two weeks, and see what effect it has on your quality of sleep. It could be that the light from the screen disturbs the natural sleep-wake rhythm, and stimulating content like violence, advertisements, sudden loudness, raises your adrenaline and has the opposite effect from that which eases your body into sleep.

If you can't lessen disturbing noises such as dogs barking, sirens, birds singing in the morning, then consider masking the sound with a fan or white noise generator, or wearing earplugs.

An eye mask that blocks out the light can also help if you wake up easily when a light goes on, or the early sun comes through the curtains.

Tip 7: Exercise in the Morning

Exercise is a great way to help us relax and consolidate sleep. However, when we exercise can affect our quality of sleep.

Researchers say that morning exercise is best, and that exercising too close to bedtime delays the time the body starts to unwind because it increases chemicals that are associated with wakefulness.

In a study published earlier this year, Dr Scott Collier, assistant professor at Appalachian State University, found that aerobic exercise at 7 am was linked to higher improvements in sleep quality than exercising at 1 pm and 7 pm.

Child Mobile Phone Users And Non Users Run Same Brain Cancer Risk

A person aged from 7 to 19 who regularly uses a mobile phone does not have a statistically significantly higher risk of developing brain tumors compared to children of the same age who have no cell phones, researchers from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basle, Switzerland reported in theJournal of the National Cancer Institute.

Over the last few years, the proportion of children who have mobile phones has increased considerably all over the world. Parents, scientists and health care professionals have become increasingly concerned about potentially unknown health risks for kids, such as the risk of developing brain cancer. A child, unlike an adult, has a developing nervous system. As children have smaller heads than adults, there is also concern that radio frequency electromagnetic fields might penetrate further into their brains.

To date, no study has investigated whether mobile phone use among children is linked to brain tumor risk.

Martin Röösli, Ph.D. and team set out to find out whether there might be a relationship between mobile phone usage and brain tumor risk among children and teenagers. They gathered data from the medical records of brain tumor patients aged 7 to 19 years. Details regarding their mobile phone usage were sought during face-to-face interviews. They also collected information from providers of phone networks.

The study participants came from Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, and involved 352 with brain cancer and 646 healthy controls. The likelihood of developing a brain cancer was "not statistically significantly more" among the mobile phone users, compared to those who did not have one.
  • 73% (265) of those with brain cancer reported having used a mobile phone at least 20 times before their diagnosis.
  • 72.1% of the healthy control subjects reported having used a mobile phone least 20 times during the same average period.
  • 55% (194) of those with brain tumors said they were regular mobile phone users.
  • 51% of the healthy control subjects said they were regular mobile phone users.
  • Even among the highest mobile phone users, no association with a greater risk of developing brain cancer could be found.
The authors wrote:
"Because we did not find a clear exposure-response relationship in most of these analyses, the available evidence does not support a causal association between the use of mobile phones and brain tumors."

Even so, the researchers advise careful monitoring - mobile phone usage among this age group has increased significantly over the last few years.

John D Boice, Jr., ScD. and Robert E. Tarone, PhD., of the International Epidemiology Institute in Rockville, Maryland and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee wrote:

"(Röösli and team) . . . "have filled an important gap in knowledge by showing no increased risk of brain tumors among children and adolescents who are regular cell phone users"
Brain cancer rates in the USA and several other industrialized nations have not changed over the last two decades among adults, children or teenagers, the authors explained. This is reassuring, despite a huge increase in mobile phone usage.

They agree with the study researchers that incidence rates should continue to be monitored closely. They point out at that individuals who are concerned about exposure have the option of using the device's speakerphone, or using an earpiece. They add that proven hazards of mobile phone usage should be heeded, such as driving while talking or texting, which is known to raise the risk of having an automobile accident or running a pedestrian over.


Denis Aydin, Maria Feychting, Joachim Schüz, Tore Tynes, Tina Veje Andersen, Lisbeth Samsø Schmidt, Aslak Harbo Poulsen, Christoffer Johansen, Michaela Prochazka, Birgitta Lannering, Lars Klæboe, Tone Eggen, Daniela Jenni, Michael Grotzer, Nicolas Von der Weid, Claudia E. Kuehni and Martin Röösli
J Natl Cancer Inst (2011) doi: 10.1093/jnci/djr244

Written by Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today 

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Researchers Find 3 Genes Linked to Esophagus Disorders

Go to Health.com
TUESDAY, July 26 (HealthDay News) — Mutations in three genes have been found to be more common among people with disorders of the esophagus, including esophageal cancer and Barrett esophagus (a complication of gastroesophageal reflux disease), a new study shows.
The findings could help identify those at greater risk for these conditions and lead to improved treatments, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic said in the report published in the July 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“Finding predisposition genes may improve premorbid risk assessment, genetic counseling and management,” Dr. Charis Eng and colleagues wrote.
The developments are significant because in the United States and Europe, cases of esophageal cancer have surged 350 percent over the past 40 years and Barrett esophagus (which is believed to precede the cancer) affects 10 percent of the population, the authors explained in a journal news release.
In conducting the study, the investigators pinpointed three major genes — known as MSR1, ASCC1 and CTHRC1 — associated with both esophageal cancer and Barrett esophagus.
Out of 116 patients analyzed, mutations in these three genes were found in 13 people. “These three genes together accounted for 11 percent of our cases, reflecting what is normally considered a moderate- to high-penetrance genetic load for a disease,” Eng’s team wrote.
The study authors pointed out, however, that further research is needed to support the findings. They added that larger studies might also be needed to explore how these genes can be used to diagnose or assess patients’ risk for disorders of the esophagus.
The esophagus is the tube that carries food, liquids and saliva from your mouth to the stomach. You may not be aware of your esophagus until you swallow something too large, too hot or too cold. You may also become aware of it when something is wrong.
The most common problem with the esophagus is gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD). It happens when a band of muscle at the end of your esophagus does not close properly. This allows stomach contents to leak back, or reflux into, into the esophagus and irritate it. Over time, GERD can cause damage to the esophagus. Other problems include heartburn and cancer.
Treatment depends on the problem. Some get better with over-the-counter medicines or changes in diet. Others may need prescription medicines or surgery.

Smoking After Heart Attack Raises Risk of Dying

"cigarrette smoking is really dangerous to our health"
MONDAY, July 25 -- People who resume smoking after hospitalization for a heart attack are more likely to die than those who quit for good, a new Italian study confirms.
The findings -- that patients who relapsed were three to five times more likely to die than those who stop -- suggest that doctors and hospitals need to do more to support long-term smoking-cessation efforts after discharge, the researchers said.
For the study, recently published in the American Journal of Cardiology, researchers followed 1,294 smokers hospitalized with symptoms of acute coronary syndrome, characterized by severe chest pain suggestive of a heart blockage or heart attack. The patients had stopped smoking while in the hospital.
The study team, from San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome and La Colletta Hospital in Genoa, wanted to assess the smoking relapse rate and determine to what extent relapse might affect the patient's survival.
Cigarette smoking is a known cause of heart disease. By quitting, people who already have heart disease will reduce their risk of sudden cardiac death or a second heart attack, according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The chemicals in cigarette, cigar and secondhand smoke impede heart function and damage blood vessels.The men and women in the study, whose average age was 59.7, were followed for 12 months after discharge. While in the hospital, all had received some counseling about the effects of smoking and tips for quitting.Within a year, 97 patients died. Eighty-one of those deaths were from cardiovascular disease, the researchers found.
The researchers found that nearly two-thirds (62.8 percent) had resumed smoking, half of them within 19 days. Women and older people were most likely to relapse, the researchers said. Diabetics and patients who had participated in cardiac rehabilitation were the most likely to have quit. "In conclusion, smoking relapse after acute coronary syndromes is associated with increased mortality, and counseling interventions should be integrated into the post-discharge support to reduce the negative effects of smoking resumption," the authors wrote in the study abstract.
Some experts believe a successful stop-smoking strategy should include pharmaceuticals, such as nicotine patches, in addition to behavioral management tools.
Drugs.com - Drug Information and Side Effects Online

Antibiotics Beat Cranberries at Fighting Urinary Tract Infections in Study

Drugs.com - Drug Information and Side Effects Online

MONDAY, July 25 -- Many women swear by cranberry juice or capsules for the treatment and prevention of urinary tract infections, but new Dutch research indicates that antibiotics may be more effective even if they contribute to a greater risk for antibiotic resistance.

"Cranberries are less effective in the prevention, but do not result in resistant microorganisms," said study author Dr. Suzanne Geerlings, an infectious diseases expert at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam. "Women with recurrent UTIs [urinary tract infections] do not like taking antibiotics for a long period because they know [about] the resistance problem. I think that doctors have to discuss the results of this study with the individual patients to make the best choice."
About half of all women will experience a UTI at some point in their lives, and 30 percent of women will develop recurrent UTIs. Escherichia coli is one of the most common causes of UTIs.
In the study, 221 women who had at least three recurrent UTIs in the previous year were randomly selected for a 12-month course of the antibiotic trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) (Bactrim, Bethaprim, Cotrim, Septra), taken once daily with two placebo pills, or one cranberry capsule with 500 milligrams of cranberry extract taken twice a day with one placebo pill.
Women who took cranberry capsules were more likely to develop at least one symptomatic UTI compared with their counterparts who received the antibiotic, 4 versus 1.8, respectively. On average, women in the cranberry group developed a new UTI after four months, while recurrence occurred within eight months among those who received the antibiotic, the study showed.
Rates of antibiotic resistance tripled among women in the antibiotics group, but these did return to baseline three months after they stopped talking the medication.
After one month, antibiotic resistance to E. coli was higher than 85 percent in the antibiotic group and less than 30 percent among women who took the cranberry extract.
"Cranberry has long been touted as a natural preventative for UTIs, and numerous clinical studies using either juice or dry extracts have lent credence to this premise," Bill J. Gurley, of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, wrote in an accompanying editorial.
Exactly how cranberries may prevent or treat UTIs is not fully understood, but cranberries contain fructose (fruit sugar) and type A proanthocyanidins, which can prevent E. coli from sticking to the bladder walls. The cranberry extract may not have been as bioavailable as the antibiotic, which could have skewed the findings in favor of the antibiotic in this study, Gurley wrote.
"We have been using cranberry juice extract and capsules for a long time," said Dr. Carolyn Dean, a naturopathic physician in Maui, Hawaii. "It stops adhesion of bacteria to the bladder wall."
Antibiotics kill bacteria, while the cranberry extract provides more of a mechanical solution, she explained.
Dean said there is still a role for cranberry juice and/or extract in preventing UTIs. "Sexually active women whose bladder feels irritated after sex should take cranberry capsules after intercourse as a preventative," she said. "If you do develop a UTI, you can increase the amount of cranberry extract you are taking or consider antibiotics."

Prostate Cancer Treatment

Cancer Therapy China




Untitled Document
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men. Though the five year survival rate is relatively high, prostate cancer is still the second cause of cancer related death after lung cancer for men in many western countries.
The treatment plan is developed from one’s age, general health condition, stage, and grade of cancer and side effects with treatment. Expectant management or watchful waiting is recommended if the patient is old or has other serious health condition and if the tumor is localized and has no symptoms since prostate cancer often grows very slowly. If the prostate tumor grows more quickly or causes symptoms, active treatments will be suggested.

Traditional Treatments include Surgery, Radiotherapy, Chemotherapy, and Hormone Therapy

Cutting-edge therapies available in Cancer Therapy China (CTC) for prostate cancer may consist some of:
For early stage prostate cancer,
Features:
  • Efficient prevention of recurrence and metastasis
  • Good quality of life
For advanced prostate cancer,
 Features:
  • Low toxicity or side effects to human body.
  • Minimally invasive cryoablation, with little harm to normal function and little pains to patients, small incision and quick recovery.
  • Significantly extends survival time with a good quality of life

Breast Cancer Treatment

Cancer Therapy China

Globally, breast cancer affects one in every eight women during their lifetime, and it is the second most common type of cancer behind lung cancer.
Breast cancer is an abnormal growth of cells; a malignant (cancerous) tumor that is derived from cells of the breast. It occurs mostly in women, although in some rare cases men can develop breast cancer as well.
Usually, the treatments for breast cancer include surgery, Radiotherapy, Chemotherapy, and Hormone therapy.
  • Surgery
  • Radiotherapy
  • Chemotherapy
  • Hormone therapy
In Cancer Thearpy China (CTC), cutting-edge therapies may consist of
For early stage breast cancer: 
For advanced breast cancer and metastatic breast cancer
Features of our cutting-edge therapies:
  • Breast conserved - form and functions of breast are conserved, and psychological harm is minimized.
  • Minimally invasive surgery – small incision and quick recovery.
  • Prevention of metastasis and recurrence – systemic application of hormone therapy, molecular target therapy and cell immunotherapy can remove tiny hidden lesions and eliminate cancerous cells in blood or lymph, thus effectively avoid the possibility of metastasis and recurrence.
  • Life quality improved – cell immunotherapy can enhance the body’s immune system. Combined with chemotherapy, cell immunotherapy helps to restore the immune function and improve the life quality.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

'30 days of hell' for US victim of German E. coli

ATLANTA (AP) — In early May, John Meyer stayed at a lakeside hotel in Hamburg, Germany. He attended a business conference. He went sailing. And he became one of the few U.S. victims in one of the worst food poisoning outbreaks in recent world history.
Meyer went to the hospital a week later with what turned out to be a rare and deadly strain of E. coli bacteria that caused thousands of illnesses, mostly in Germany. He would spend the next month in a Massachusetts hospital, much of the time a delirium, while doctors worked around the clock to save his life.
Meyer is one of six U.S. cases linked to the German outbreak and he's the first to talk about his terrible experience, speaking to The Associated Press by phone from his home in Franklin, Mass.
"It was 30 days of hell," said his wife, Loreen.
Meyer was in Hamburg as that city was emerging as the epicenter of a food poisoning disaster that would be among the deadliest in memory. More than 4,000 people in Germany and other countries became ill since the outbreak was detected in May, including several hundred who developed a serious complication that can lead to kidney failure. At least 53 died.
The outbreak ultimately was traced to a batch of fenugreek seeds from Egypt. The seeds, which taste a bit like burnt sugar, are sometimes used as a spice in cooking. Fenugreek sprouts are used in salads.
Meyer believes he must have eaten fenugreek while attending a business meeting at the Hamburg hotel. He thinks the tainted seeds, or sprouts, could have been in the fresh fruits and vegetables at a breakfast bar. There would be some irony if that was the case: It's hard to find good produce during hurried business trips, and Meyer had welcomed the opportunity to eat healthy. "In this case, it backfired," he said. Meyer's lawyer provided the AP with lab results and government investigation reports into his illness. Massachusetts state health officials also confirmed he was infected with the rare German E. coli strain. Meyer declined to allow his doctor to speak to the AP and he would not agree to be photographed.
Some common forms of food poisoning can cause symptoms within a day of eating tainted food, but Meyer said he felt no ill effects during a six-day European business trip that included two days in Hamburg and a brief stop in France afterward. He returned home on May 13 feeling fine.
However, this unique and dangerous E. coli bug takes a week to announce its presence. Meyer first became aware something was wrong on May 18. He was at his desk at Senior Aerospace that morning when his abdomen began hurting. At 52, he is a cyclist who eats two Greek yogurts each day. He says he's never had food poisoning, but on that day he went home in pain. By midafternoon, he was hit with bloody diarrhea and a dawning sense of alarm. "Whatever it was, it wasn't a minor thing," Meyer said. His wife Loreen, a high school biology teacher, was home by then and worried. She took him to nearby Milford Regional Medical Center. Doctors there saw him quickly but weren't able to diagnose him. They recommended follow-up with a gastroenterologist the next day and sent him home for the night. But when he got home the diarrhea accelerated. "Every hour, and then it started getting even closer," he recalled.
Loreen took him back to the hospital that night and he was admitted.
Though it all happened less than two months ago, Meyer's memory is fuzzy on what happened the next several weeks. He had intense stomach pain and his kidneys stopped working. Doctors put him on fluids to rehydrate him. They treated him with different antibiotics, and cleansed his blood using dialysis and other measures. The infection affected his mind. He recalled staring at a clock in his hospital room and not being able to tell time. "I was thinking, 'Why do they have this strange clock in here, and why is it set up differently?'"
Meyer said he grew paranoid, believing that his doctors had written him off for dead. Doctors had not given up on him, but were perplexed. A test for the most dangerous form of E. coli familiar to Americans came back negative. They sent specimens for additional analysis to lab with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab in Atlanta.
In early June, CDC confirmed it was the German strain.
Around that time, he had begun to recover. His kidneys were improving. His awareness returned. He was moved out of intensive care more than three weeks later, and on June 17 he was sent home.
But he was far from normal. He and his wife said his muscles had atrophied, his red blood cell count was still down, and the lining of his colon had become a layer of dead tissue, unable to absorb nutrients. A man who had been an athletic 6-foot 2 and 185 pounds was down to 162 pounds and able to walk only short distances using a cane. He was hungry, though. Voracious, even, eating two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners each day.
"He had such a huge appetite because he was still not able to absorb as many nutrients," his wife said.
Now he's up to 170 pounds and working part days from home. He's been in physical therapy and regaining his strength, though he's months away from the kind of vigorous exercise he used to do.
Meyer and his wife contacted a local attorney, saying they were worried about possible problems with getting health insurance to pay his hospital bills. That turned out not to be an issue. But the attorney referred the couple to Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer considered the nation's pre-eminent plaintiff's attorney in food poisoning cases.
Marler is looking into the possibility of a lawsuit, with potential targets including the company that owns the Hamburg hotel where Meyer stayed. He called Meyer's suffering "horrific," and echoed Meyer's wife in worrying that he may suffer long-term problems. For his part, Meyer feels lucky to have survived, crediting his doctors for saving his life and his good health and fitness before the illness for helping him get through it.
"Many unfortunate people didn't survive," he said. "It really is a frightening thing."

By MIKE STOBBE - AP Medical Writer


Alzheimer's debate: Test if you can't treat it?

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE - AP Medical Writer 



PARIS (AP) — Picture yourself in Barbara Lesher's shoes: 54 years old and fearing you are developing Alzheimer's disease. "I don't remember if I had a bath," said Lesher, who lives north of Harrisburg, Pa. "It took me two hours to follow a recipe. I drove to my childhood homestead the other week instead of my own home. It's really scary." Doctors are arguing about whether to test patients for signs of the incurable disease and tell them the results. The debate raged this past week at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in France, where research on new methods — easier brain scans, an eye test, a blood test — made it clear there soon may be more such tools available.
Here's why it's an issue: Many people have brain plaques, suggesting they might be developing Alzheimer's even if they don't have any symptoms. This plaque can be seen decades beforehand and does not ensure someone will get the disease. Many also won't live long enough to develop symptoms.
For those who do have Alzheimer's, there are no good treatments. Current drugs ease symptoms — they work for half who try them and for less than a year on average. Most experts think treatment starts too late, but there's no evidence that starting sooner or learning you have brain plaque will help. Experts are divided.
"We have to look for patients or signatures of the disease at earlier stages," urged Dr. Harald Hampel of the University of Frankfurt, Germany. But Dr. Kenneth Rockwood of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, says there is no data "to show that knowing makes any difference in outcomes. Until we do, this is going to be a tough sell." More than 35 million people worldwide have Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia. In the U.S., more than 5 million do — 13 percent of those 65 and over, and 43 percent of those 85 and up, a rapidly growing group.
Still, half of people who meet medical criteria for dementia have not been diagnosed with it, the Alzheimer's Association estimates. And many who are told they have Alzheimer's or are assumed to have it really don't.
Even when researchers use the best cognitive tests to enroll people in clinical trials, about 10 percent ultimately are discovered not to have the disease, said William Thies, the Alzheimer's Association's scientific director.
"The Alzheimer's drugs don't work in these folks, so there's no reason to expose them to those risks," said Thies, long an advocate of early diagnosis.
Misdiagnosis is a lost opportunity to help. A new medication or combination of medications may suddenly make someone appear demented. Brain fog can occur after surgery and abate over time. Sleep problems are common in older people and can cause profound confusion that can be misinterpreted as dementia, according to research presented at the conference by Dr. Kristine Yaffe of the University of California, San Francisco.
"Some of these are treatable" by avoiding naps during the day or treating sleep apnea, in which brief interruptions of breathing cause people to wake during the night, Yaffe said. Snoring is a big sign. Older people with sleep problems are more likely to be put in nursing homes, she said.
Dr. R. Scott Turner, director of the memory disorders program at Georgetown University Medical Center, has seen that all too often.
"I'm certainly in the camp that screening should be done," he said. Many patients are simply declared to have dementia without testing to see if they have another condition.
"Sometimes it's thyroid disease, or depression, or vitamin B-12 deficiency — something that's very treatable," he said.
Testing someone with symptoms is far less controversial than testing people with no symptoms but a lot of fear. Doctors worry that these newer methods, such as an easier type of brain scan that's expected to be available within months, will be directly marketed to the public, prompting expensive and excessive testing based on fear.
"The phrase you often hear is that the 'Big A' (Alzheimer's) has replaced the 'Big C' (cancer)" as a major source of fear, said Dr. Jason Karlawish, a University of Pennsylvania ethicist specializing in dementia issues.
Recent guidelines by the U.S. National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association say these tests should be used only in research until they have been standardized and validated as useful and accurate tools.
A researcher using one of these tests, such as a spinal fluid check for a substance that may predict Alzheimer's risk, has no obligation to disclose the results to a patient until there is a meaningful treatment for the disease, Karlawish argued at the conference.
The more symptoms a patient has, the more justified it is to help understand what is known about possible reasons, he said.
Lynda Hogg of Edinburgh, Scotland, is very glad her doctors diagnosed her Alzheimer's in 2006. She is doing exceptionally well on one of the existing drugs and is in a clinical trial for an experimental one she hopes will help her and help advance knowledge in the field.
At a discussion connected with the conference, she said the early diagnosis helped her get financial and legal matters in order and serve on the Scottish Dementia Working Group and the board of Alzheimer's Disease International.
"I am certain involvement keeps me focused and involved in society," she said.
The Alzheimer's Association says early diagnosis and evaluation can bring the following benefits:
— Treatment of reversible causes of impairment.
— Access to drugs that help treat symptoms.
— Inclusion in clinical trials that give expert care.
— Avoiding drugs that can worsen cognition.
— Letting others know of a need for help managing medicines and daily life.
— Easing anxiety about the cause of symptoms.
— Access to education, training and support services.
— The ability to plan for the future.
Lesher, the woman from Pennsylvania, wishes she had a clearer picture of what lies ahead for her.
"Not being able to get diagnosed is the must frustrating thing in the world," she said.


Breast-feeding for 6 Months or More Protects Against Asthma

HealthDay news :



THURSDAY, July 21 (HealthDay News) -- Babies who are exclusively breast-fed for six months or more are less likely to develop symptoms of asthma in early childhood, new research suggests. Although previous studies have found a link between breast-feeding and a reduced risk for childhood asthma, this study also found the likelihood of developing asthma is also affected by how long a child is breast-fed. For instance, children who are breast-feed for a shorter length of time, or not exclusively, are more likely to experience asthma-related symptoms by the time they are 4. Dutch researchers compiled information on how more than 5,000 children were fed during their first year of life. Specifically, they wanted to know if the children were breast-fed, and if so, for how long. The researchers also recorded if and when any other milk or solids were introduced. The researchers examined the children each year until they turned 4 to check for any asthma-related symptoms. The study, published online in the European Respiratory Journal, found that children who had never been breast-fed had an increased risk of wheezingshortness of breathdry cough and persistent phlegm during the first four years of life, compared to children who were breast-fed for more than six months. In fact, children who were never breast-fed were up to 1.5 times more likely to develop wheezing and persistent phlegm. Meanwhile, the children who were fed other milk or solids in addition to breast milk during the first four months of life were also more likely to experience wheezing, shortness of breath, dry cough and persistent phlegm during the first four years of life than children who were exclusively breast-fed for their first four months. "The link of duration and exclusiveness of breast-feeding with asthma-related symptoms during the first four years was independent of infectious and [allergic diseases associated with an inherited predisposition to them]. These results support current health policy strategies that promote exclusive breast-feeding for six months in industrialized countries," study author Dr Agnes Sonnenschein-van der Voort, a researcher at Generation R, Erasmus Medical Center in The Netherlands, said in a news release from the European Lung Association. the study authors noted that more research in needed to explore the protective effect of breast-feeding on the various types of asthma in later life.
More information
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides more information on the benefits of breastfeeding.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

AIDS: Science has delivered on HIV prevention.

Scientists on Wednesday wrapped up their biggest forum in the 30-year history of AIDS, unveiling stunning weapons to prevent the spread of HIV.But getting these impressive prototypes to the battlefield will take time. Not all may be suitable. And deploying them will need massive funding at a time of AIDS fatigue."Now it's up to the donors and the policymakers, with WHO (World Health Organisation) backup, to grab this epidemic by the horns and finally turn it around," said Eric Goemaere of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).
The four-day conference in Rome will be remembered for these findings:
-- TREATMENT AS PREVENTION: Experts have long suspected that giving antiretroviral drugs to an HIV-infected person not only saves them from the death sentence of AIDS. It also ratchets down the virus to such low levels that the patient becomes a far smaller risk for infecting others with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This hunch has been dazzlingly proved, at least for heterosexual intercourse, in a trial among 1,763 couples where one partner was infected with HIV while the other was HIV-free. When the infected partner was given an early start on HIV drugs, this slashed the risk of infecting the other by 96 percent. "The message going out from scientists to politicians is that treatment as prevention works. The problem now is financial," said France's 2008 Nobel laureate, Francoise Barre-Sinoussi.
-- PRE-EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS: Known by its acronym as PrEP, this means giving antiretrovirals protectively to the non-infected partner, as opposed to the infected partner. The risk of HIV transmission falls by up to 73 percent, according to new trials reported in Rome. But PrEP is likely to remain a niche rather than mainstream strategy, at least for now. It will be more cost-effective to treat someone who is infected -- and there are ethical questions about giving powerful drugs to people who do not have a disease. Around 6.6 million people in poorer countries have now grasped the daily drugs lifeline but another nine million badly-infected people are still in need.
-- CIRCUMCISION: Efforts in Africa to promote male circumcision, which reduces the risk of HIV infection for men by 60 percent, were given a powerful boost by three studies. New cases of HIV among men plunged by 76 percent after a circumcision programme was launched in a South African township. Had no circumcisions been carried out, new infections among the overall population would have been 58 percent greater. "This study is a fantastic result for a simple intervention which costs 40 euros (56 dollars), takes 20 minutes and has to be done only once in a lifetime," said David Lewis of the University of the Witwatersrand.
-- QUEST FOR CURE: This once-unimaginable goal is now firmly on the scientific agenda.The idea is to attack the virus in "reservoirs", where it retreats after being suppressed by drugs. But identifying these lairs, flushing out the virus and devising drugs to kill it is the big task. Even those who believe it attainable say it would be a "functional cure", in the same way that cancer goes into remission and its rebound cannot be ruled out. The boost for prevention, said campaigners, would halt and eventually reverse the tragic rise in new infections. In 2009, more than 33 million people were living with HIV and 2.6 million people became newly infected. But financial help is flagging.
In 2010, resources drifted downwards to $15.9 billion as Western countries tightened their belts.Just to get 15 million badly-infected people on AIDS drugs by 2015, in line with the newly stated goal by UN members, will require between $22 billion and $24 billion annually. Even more will be needed if the WHO's guidelines are revised to recommend immediate treatment rather than wait for infection levels to reach specific thresholds. Emerging giant economies, led by China, which is sitting on $3.2 trillion of foreign reserves, will come under intensifying pressure to become donors to the Global Fund, rather than recipients of it.Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and former director of UNAIDS, said the results at Rome were exhilarating.
But he urged pragmatism.
"Science is running much faster now than we can implement and what we can pay for," he said. "When you look at longer-term perspectives, even under the best-case scenarios there will still be one million new infections (annually) 10, 20 years from now, and also about one million deaths, and that's a very sobering thought. "The Rome conference gathered around 6,000 researchers, pharmacologists, epidemiologists and other experts under the banner of the International AIDS Society (IAS). They presented over 1,100 pieces of work, a record. The IAS stages this science conference every two years; the next will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2013. The forum alternates with the wider International AIDS Conference, which next year takes place in Washington.
:from AFP Relax news "