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Archive for the ‘Health News’ Category
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-28
Sunday, June 28th, 2009- Living near major traffic roads associated with increased risk of deep vein thrombosis due to higher air pollution http://bit.ly/1arjxA #
- Cardiac rehabilitation lowers mortality by 21-34% in older patients with heart disease http://bit.ly/ayrlr #
- Measuring Copeptin (C-terminal part of vasopressin) with troponin more accurately rules out heart attack in the ER http://bit.ly/1qdXot #
- Lancet Review: Bite-related and septic syndromes caused by cats and dogs http://bit.ly/sbIwk #
- PLOS Medicine: What Is the Optimal Therapy for Patients with H5N1 Influenza? (and application to H1N1 flu) http://bit.ly/16ppeW #swineflu #
- PROSPER trial: inflammatory markers (IL-6, CRP) strongly assoc with risk of fatal vascular events than nonfatal events http://bit.ly/QWstQ #
- Nice graphics on growth of twitter http://bit.ly/zHUaw (via @maniagrawal) #
- Obesity during early adulthood associated with greater risk of pancreatic cancer and younger age of disease onset http://bit.ly/Mp27L #
- Migraine with aura in midlife assoc with late-life prevalence of cerebellar infarct-like lesions on MRI in women http://bit.ly/zbIDh #
- Prolongation of PR interval assoc with increased risk of Afib, pacemaker implantation and all-cause mortality http://bit.ly/WPJ7U #
- WSJ: “What other profession has experienced a reduction in reimbursement over the last 20 years?” http://bit.ly/nUVax (via @AllergyNotes) #
- Google Labs just launched City Tours - Type in a city and it gives a 3 day travel itinerary http://citytours.googlelabs.com/ #
- Alcohol-attributable mortality in Russia causes more than half of all Russian deaths at ages 15—54 years http://bit.ly/170zqv #
- Alcohol-attributable mortality in Russia due to: Accidents/Violence, alcohol poisoning, acute ischemic heart disease http://bit.ly/170zqv #
- In Russia - Significantly higher rates of upper GI cancer, liver cancer, TB, pneumonia, liver disease, pancreatic disease among others #
- An estimated 3·8% of all global deaths and 4·6% of global disability-adjusted life-years is attributable to alcohol http://bit.ly/j4AWV #
- The costs associated with alcohol amount to more than 1% of the gross national product http://bit.ly/j4AWV #
- Making alcohol more expensive and less available with ban alcohol ads are cost-effective strategies to reduce harm http://bit.ly/1227My #
Obesity linked to pancreatic cancer
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of death in United States. Once diagnosed, patients have a very poor prognosis with median survival between 3 to 6 months.
A new study published in the Journal of American Medical Association has found a link between being obese in early adulthood and the risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
Individuals who were overweight (BMI of 25-29.9) from the ages of 14 to 39 years or obese (BMI > 30) from the ages of 20 to 49 years were at about twice the risk of developing pancreatic cancer (OR 1.67 & 2.58 respectively), independent of diabetes status. Also obesity at older age was associated with lower overall survival in patients with this malignancy.
The main drawback of the study is that this is a case control study, therefore the 2 factors studied (viz. pancreatic cancer and obesity) could occur together but not be causally related (although the authors did do adjust for most other risk factors of pancreatic cancer).
Reference: JAMA - Body Mass Index and Risk, Age of Onset, and Survival in Patients With Pancreatic Cancer
Links for more information on pancreatic cancer: Mayo Clinic, National Cancer Institute
Update (6/29/2009): YouTube Video from JAMA
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-21
Sunday, June 21st, 2009- Text of Obama’s Speech on Health Care Reform to the American Medical Association http://bit.ly/u9Nei #
- CSF analysis of Abeta42 and tau protein helpful in diagnosing early cases of Alzheimer’s dementia http://bit.ly/1u8YH #
- 10 Ways to Protect Your Kidneys http://bit.ly/oytP5 #
- American Medical Association’s response to Obama’s speech (http://bit.ly/u9Nei) on health care reform http://bit.ly/a51wz #
- FDA Warns Web Sites against Marketing Fraudulent H1N1 Flu Virus (swine flu) Claims http://bit.ly/ZYSg1 #
- UPSTF: Screen for hepatitis B virus infection in pregnant women at their first prenatal visit (Grade A recommendation) http://bit.ly/cfoQY #
- Being physically active associated with better profile of inflammatory factors and reduced risk of metabolic syndrome http://bit.ly/2BYMRo #
- Alcohol not as healthy as previously thought - (I was always suspicious of this) http://bit.ly/xLQTE #
- No study has proved a causal relationship between moderate drinking and lower risk of death http://bit.ly/xLQTE #
- Moderate drinkers tend to do everything right - exercise, don’t smoke, eat right - so they are healthy http://bit.ly/xLQTE #
- has read Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell - http://bit.ly/wtexi #
- Rosiglitazone increases risk of heart failure but does not increase overall risk of cardiac morbidity or mortality http://bit.ly/GyHmX #
- FDA warns against eating Nestle Toll House prepackaged cookie dough due to risk of contamination with E. coli O157:H7 http://bit.ly/4mjFH #
- High fruit and vegetable consumption must be coupled with less than 15 grams/day of olive oil http://bit.ly/7C3PT #
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-14
Sunday, June 14th, 2009- Hemoglobin A1c assay may be better than glucose measurement for diagnosing type 2 diabetes http://bit.ly/E6Jz5 #
- Mispaged: 14% of all pages were sent to the wrong physician in the hospital - 47% of those were urgent messages http://bit.ly/AvQBB #
- Tadalafil improves exercise capacity and quality of life in patients with pulmonary hypertension http://bit.ly/r5gsa #
- Intra-coronary autologous bone marrow stem transplantation after heart attack improves left ventricular performance http://bit.ly/9YORU #
- High-glycemic meals may enhance cardiovascular risk when compared with meals with low glycemic index http://bit.ly/15ZLAC #
- Aortic root is functionally abnormal and dilated in 32% of first-degree relatives of patients with bicuspid aortic valve http://bit.ly/Twmz9 #
- Google Wave: 30-60 second video clips highlighting its best features http://bit.ly/sMysu #
- USPSTF recommends that all women planning or capable of pregnancy take daily supplements of folic acid (0.4–0.8 mg) http://bit.ly/HbtMK #
- Misdiagnosis of pneumonia for TB and prescribing quinolone does not induce resistance unless multiple courses are given http://bit.ly/3A6Xi0 #
- Rapid weight gain in first 3 months of life associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in early adulthood http://bit.ly/q14hU #
- Antioxidants (Vitamin C & E) prevent health-promoting effects of physical exercise http://www.pnas.org/content/106/21/8665 #
- Metoclopramide used to treat nausea and vomiting during pregnancy is safe for the fetus http://bit.ly/112nLL #
- WHO increases Swine Flu pandemic alert level to Phase 6 - we are officially in the midst of a pandemic http://bit.ly/aKRKs #
- has read The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Hu… by Steven Pinker - http://bit.ly/YGiBj #
