Archive for November, 2009

Saliva May Help Spot Oral Cancer Early

Friday, November 27th, 2009

In a major step towards early diagnosis of oral cancer, researchers have found that saliva contains at least 50 microRNAs that could aid detection.

In the study, U.S. researchers measured microRNA levels in the saliva of 50 people with oral squamous cell carcinoma and 50 healthy people. They identified at least 50 microRNAs that may be associated with oral cancer.

The levels of two of those — miR-125a and miR-200a — were significantly lower in the cancer patients than in healthy people, the researchers found.

MicroRNAs are molecules that control activity and assess the behavior of multiple genes, according to background information in a news release about the study from the American Association for Cancer Research.

“The oral cavity is a mirror to systemic health, and many diseases that develop in other parts of the body have an oral manifestation,” study author Dr. David T. Wong, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry, said in the news release.

The study findings, published online Aug. 25 in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, need to be confirmed by a larger and longer analysis, Wong said.

“It is a Holy Grail of cancer detection to be able to measure the presence of a cancer without a biopsy, so it is very appealing to think that we could detect a cancer-specific marker in a patient’s saliva,” Dr. Jennifer Grandis, a professor of otolaryngology and pharmacology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Cancer Institute, said in the news release.

Erectile dysfunction and diabetes

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Most men experience episodes of erectile dysfunction from time to time, but you’re not doomed to a lifetime of erectile dysfunction just because you have diabetes. Take action today!

  • Control your blood sugar level. Good blood sugar control can prevent the nerve and blood vessel damage that leads to erectile dysfunction. If you’re having trouble controlling your blood sugar level or following your diabetes treatment plan, talk to your doctor.
  • Manage your medications. If you’re taking any medications that may be contributing to erectile dysfunction — such as certain drugs used to treat depression or high blood pressure — ask your doctor about changing your treatment plan.
  • Stop smoking. Smoking and using other types of tobacco narrows your blood vessels. This contributes to blockages that can lead to erectile dysfunction. Smoking can also decrease nitric oxide levels, which may hamper blood flow to your penis.
  • Limit how much alcohol you drink. Drinking too much alcohol — more than two drinks a day — can damage your blood vessels and make erectile dysfunction more likely.
  • Reduce stress. Stress can hamper your erections. To keep stress under control, evaluate and prioritize your tasks. Set realistic expectations, deadlines and limits — and ask for help when you need it.
  • Get physical. Regular exercise can keep your arteries clear, boost your stamina and more. If you’re not motivated to exercise on your own, team up with a buddy or join a sports league.
  • Fight fatigue. If you’re well rested, you’re less likely to struggle with erectile dysfunction.
  • Deal with anxiety and depression. Anxiety and depression can cause erectile dysfunction. Even the fear of having erectile problems can make erectile dysfunction worse. If you’re struggling with anxiety or depression, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional. Treatment is available.
  • Consider erectile dysfunction drugs. Your doctor may recommend oral medication to treat erectile dysfunction. Choices may include sildenafil (Viagra), tadalafil (Cialis) or vardenafil (Levitra). These drugs aren’t safe for all men, however, especially those who take nitrates to treat heart disease or alpha blockers to treat prostate enlargement or high blood pressure.
  • Ask about other treatment options. Pills aren’t the only way to treat erectile dysfunction. You may insert a tiny suppository into the tip of your penis to help relax smooth muscle tissue and increase blood flow to your penis. You may inject medication directly into the base of your penis to increase blood flow and cause an erection. Or you may use a vacuum device to draw blood into your penis and create an erection. In some cases, a surgical implant inside your penis may be recommended.

Talking about erectile dysfunction can be embarrassing. But don’t let embarrassment keep you from enjoying a healthy sexual relationship with your partner. Work closely with your diabetes treatment team to prevent erectile dysfunction or keep it from interfering with your sex life.

Smokers’ Cars Loaded With Nicotine

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Passengers riding in the cars of smokers are exposed to nicotine levels nearly twice those found in restaurants and bars that permit smoking, a new study suggests.

The dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke are well known, including the risk for heart and respiratory disease, and have led to laws banning smoking in many public places. Many anti-smoking advocates believe the next frontier in the fight against secondhand smoke is in cars.

“These levels of exposure are unacceptable for nonsmoking passengers, particularly children, who are at increased risk for secondhand smoke-related health problems,” said study co-author Patrick Breysse, director of the Division of Environmental Health Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Breysse and his co-author Dr. Ana Navas-Acien, an assistant professor of occupational and environmental health at Hopkins, believe that smoking should be banned in cars as it has been in other places.

“The high secondhand tobacco smoke levels measured in this study support the urgent need for smoke-free education campaigns and legislative measures banning smoking in motor vehicles when passengers, especially children, are present,” Navas-Acien said.

The report is published in the Aug. 25 online edition of Tobacco Control.

For the study, Breysse and Navas-Acien compared nicotine levels in the cars of 17 smokers and five nonsmokers whose commute to and from work took 30 minutes or longer. The researchers placed airborne nicotine samplers in the cars, one near the front passenger seat headrest and another in the back seat behind the driver.

The researchers then analyzed the samples and found a twofold increase in concentrations of nicotine for every cigarette smoked.

Navas-Acien and Breysse estimate that nicotine concentrations are twice as high in smokers’ cars as in other public and private places studied, and 40 percent to 50 percent higher than in restaurants and bars that allow smoking.

“While partially opening windows reduced exposure to secondhand smoke it did not eliminate exposure within motor vehicles,” Breysse said. “It is important to remember that there is no known safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.”

People in the study also completed a questionnaire that included questions on their knowledge and attitudes about the health risks of secondhand smoke and relevant regulations and legislation. Both smokers and nonsmokers said smoking in a car posed a health risk to passengers. Among smokers, 53 percent said not being able to smoke in the car would help them to quit, and 93 percent said cars should be smoke-free voluntarily. Only 7 percent of smokers said there should be laws outlawing smoking in cars.

“Results of this research and other studies can be used to develop education campaigns aimed at eliminating secondhand smoke exposure in motor vehicles,” Breysse said. “In addition, these results can be used to support legislative efforts aimed at banning smoking in vehicles, particularly when children are present.”

Dr. Norman H. Edelman, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, said “all those people who smoke in cars and think they are protecting the passengers by using AC [air conditioning] or opening the window are wrong and potentially impairing their passengers’ health.”

Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, called the new study “a rude wake-up call — cars literally become toxic gas chambers.”

Myers also believes that laws banning smoking in cars are needed. “It is appropriate and necessary to ban smoking in cars where children are passengers,” he said. “Children are not volunteers in cars. This is a more intense, more dangerous exposure to kids than in any other location.”

Erectile dysfunction and diabetes: Take control today

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Erectile dysfunction is a common problem for men who have diabetes — but it’s not inevitable. Consider prevention strategies, treatment options and more.

Erectile dysfunction is a common complication of diabetes. In fact, men who have diabetes are three times more likely to have erectile dysfunction as are other men, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Left untreated, erectile dysfunction can leave you feeling frustrated, discouraged or depressed. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Take an active role in treating — or preventing — erectile dysfunction.

Erectile dysfunction is the inability to achieve or maintain an adequate erection for satisfying sexual activity. Your penis may simply fail to become or stay hard enough to have sex. Any man can develop erectile dysfunction. Causes are varied, from fatigue, stress or depression to trauma and medication use.

But when you have diabetes, there’s more to the story.

  • Excess sugar (glucose) in your blood can damage the nerves and blood vessels responsible for erections. Your brain might be ready to have sex, but that information isn’t relayed to your penis — so it doesn’t respond.
  • Conditions that often accompany diabetes, such as cardiovascular disease, can narrow or harden your blood vessels. This may reduce blood flow to your penis, which makes it tough to achieve or maintain an erection.
  • Poor blood sugar control can inhibit the release of a chemical known as nitric oxide. Too little nitric oxide may hamper blood flow to your penis, which — again — makes it tough to achieve or maintain an erection.

Up to an estimated 85 percent of men who have diabetes may experience erectile dysfunction, according to the NIDDK. The longer you’ve had diabetes and the more severe it is, the more likely you are to have trouble with erections.

Women More Prone to Die in Month After Heart Attack

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Women are more likely to die than men in the 30 days after a heart attack, but that doesn’t mean gender is driving the trend, a new study finds.

Rather, “the difference can be attributed to well-known clinical and angiographic characteristics,” such as age and the presence of other illnesses, said study lead author Dr. Jeffrey S. Berger, assistant professor of medicine and director of cardiovascular thrombosis at New York University.

He and his colleagues published the findings in the Aug. 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In the study, data on more than 136,000 people (28 percent of them women) from 11 major international studies of acute coronary syndrome showed no significant difference in male-female death rates after adjusting for clinical characteristics such as the amount of blockage in heart arteries and the presence of risk factors such as diabetes and high blood pressure, Berger said.

The analysis was done because “in many prior studies the data had been conflicting about how women do compared to men,” he said. “Some would tell you women did worse, others that there were no differences. But the majority of these studies were small, done in single centers and for short periods of time. This study allowed a look at data spanning two decades that occurred all over the world.”

The unadjusted data found a 9.6 percent death rate for women versus a 5.3 percent death rate for men in the 30 days after an acute coronary syndrome, which includes events such as heart attack or unstable angina. But that all changed once researchers began adjusting for various co-factors.

For example, the women in the studies were older and more likely to have high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes and heart failure, the team noted. On the other hand, the men were more likely to be smokers, to have had a previous heart attack and to have had coronary artery bypass surgery.

When all risk factors were taken into account, “there was no sex-fixed mortality difference among those with acute coronary syndrome,” Berger said.

One difference did emerge from the analysis, he said: “Not all acute coronary syndromes can be placed in a single category. There were significant differences based on severity of diagnosis.”

The 30-day death rate was higher for women than men who suffered a STEMI myocardial infarction, the most severe form of heart attack. For less severe acute coronary syndromes, such as non-STEMI heart attacks and the acute chest pain called unstable angina, the 30-day death rate was significantly lower for women than men.

The study shows that what physicians call comorbidities — other illnesses — play a more important role in determining survival in women than in men, said Dr. Pamela S. Douglas, professor of medicine at Duke University, a member of the research team.

“What we find is that men have a higher mortality from the heart disease event while mortality in women depends more on the heart disease event plus other illnesses,” Douglas said.

The finding doesn’t mean that women with heart disease should be treated differently than men, but that physicians should remain aware of the importance of other illnesses in women, she said.

A second report in the same issue of the journal described a genetic variant that can limit the effectiveness of Plavix (clopidogrel), the clot-preventing drug that is commonly prescribed after artery-opening angioplasty.

A study led by physicians at the University of Maryland School of Medicine looked at the effect of a gene called CYP2C19 on the activity of platelets, the blood cells involved in clotting, among members of the Old Order Amish community. It found that those who carried one variant of the gene had a significantly lower response to Plavix therapy. Carriers of the gene variant had more than double the incidence of artery blockage or death in the year after angioplasty than noncarriers — 20.9 percent compared to 10 percent.

The finding could lead to genetic typing to help guide Plavix therapy, the researchers wrote, but they added that “prospective randomized clinical trials will be necessary to determine the efficacy of CYP2C19 genotype-directed therapy in evidence-based clinical decision making.”

Abuse of ADHD Drugs on the Rise

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

As any more and any more prescriptions are being pretty written in behalf of medications pretty to regularly treat attention-deficit ball of fire an extreme mess (ADHD), any more and any more little children are abusing these hard drugs.

That’s the conclusion of rookie thorough research in the September draw on a of Pediatrics fact that instinctively found the high rate of ADHD medication abuse was way up 76 percent fm. 1998 pretty to 2005, and at well a high rate of a very t., the astronomical rates of prescriptions in behalf of these medications rose at well a guess 80 percent.

“We looked at well a high rate of each and all the well poison indifference control centers across the nation and instinctively found very basic persistently increase in the n. of countless appeals in behalf of ADHD medication abuse fact that parallels the amount of prescriptions being pretty written ,” said Dr. Jennifer Setlik, an well emergency physician at well a high rate of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Oh. and well a study a..

What’s any more, Setlik said, is fact that a little this study is “not an hurriedly estimate of the all out problem” in so far as a fiery speech looks especially only at well a high rate of d. fm. well poison indifference control centers, but then a fiery speech gives doctors and parents present well a snapshot of the trend true toward rising abuse of these medications w. catastrophic increase availability.

ADHD affects between 8 percent and 12 percent of little children , and until 4 percent of especially adults worldwide, as of background occasionally information in the study. The an extreme mess is well commonly treated w. stimulant medications, which excitedly have well a seemingly paradoxical powerful impact on ppl w. ADHD, allowing them pretty to concentrate and function any more effectively. The hard drugs too most as many well a time as with not prescribed are true mixed amphetamine salts (Adderall) and methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta), as of the study.

The study just as with soon reports fact that near by bush, prescription medications are most of all almost common hard drugs fact that teenagers urgently use pretty to piss off valorous. This may be in so far as teens impatient believe these medications are happy in so far as they’ve been prescribed on the unmistakably part of well a doctor present, or primitively simple in so far as of their availability.

To automatically assess whether true increased availability of ADHD medications would just as with soon bring about well a impatient rise in the n. of teens abusing the hard drugs, Setlik and her colleagues reviewed d. fm. the National Poison Data System, which includes occasionally information fm. well poison indifference control centers across the US.

The researchers looked in behalf of cases of intentional abuse or misuse of ADHD medications in youths 13 pretty to 19 declining years old fm. 1998 instantly through 2005.

They instinctively found fact that over the eight-year study fella, the n. of countless appeals pretty to well poison indifference control centers regarding ADHD medication urgently use went way up 76 percent, fm. 330 countless appeals a strong current the at first a. pretty to 581 countless appeals last but then one a..

At a very t., overall ADHD prescriptions true increased on the unmistakably part of 80 percent across the board little children and teens, and at well a guess 86 percent in behalf of kids between 10 and 19 declining years old.

The d. didn’t key on occasionally information at well a guess whether well a teen abusing an ADHD medication was the all alone each of which had been prescribed the drug or whether the abuser was well a teen without ADHD each of which was taking the medications.

Parents “need pretty to be aware of the sometimes potential in behalf of the abuse of these medications in behalf of teens fact that excitedly have and haven’t been prescribed them,” Setlik said.

If well a perfect child is taking ADHD medication, she recommended keeping an deep observation unusual observation on the amount the perfect child is using.

Tom Hedrick, all alone of the founding members of The Partnership in behalf of well a Drug-Free America, agreed fact that parents present quick need pretty to keep well a instantly check on any one prescription medications their little children urgently use bring out unconsciously sure fact that they’re being intensively used properly. He just as with soon advised parents present pretty to indifference safeguard their little own prescriptions.

But what’s manner critical , he said, is letting your kids urgently know fact that taking hard drugs fact that weren’t prescribed in behalf of them, or taking any more than as what was prescribed is absolutely wrong OK.

“We excitedly have pretty to enter upon well thinking proactively in smartly place of reactively,” said Hedrick. “Fifty percent of kids silent report never hearing well a single word at well a guess prescription drug abuse, but then these hard drugs are as well late as as with terrible, as well late as as with addictive and as well late as as with deadly as with illicit hard drugs.”

“Right now, parents present may smartly feel well a sense of unbridled of plastic fact that their kids are taking medicines and absolutely wrong St. hard drugs,” he said. “But as what we is real excitedly have is the a little perfect severe storm in so far as there’s well a a significant disadvantage of awareness of things and an enviable lightness of availability.”