Menopause Affects Women Differently

Menopause Affects Women Differently.
Women bothered by sensual flashes or other belongings of menopause have a number of treatment options - hormonal or not, according to updated guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. It's estimated that anywhere from 50 percent to 82 percent of women thriving through menopause have simmering flashes - sudden feelings of extreme impetuosity in the upper body - and night sweats. For many, the symptoms are frequent and severe enough to cause beauty sleep problems and disrupt their daily lives.

And the duration of the misery can last from a couple years to more than a decade, says the college, the nation's unrivalled group of ob/gyns. "Menopausal symptoms are common, and can be very bothersome to women," said Dr Clarisa Gracia, who helped correspond the new guidelines. "Women should be aware that effective treatments are available to address these symptoms". The guidelines, published in the January problem of Obstetrics andamp; Gynecology, reinforce some longstanding advice: Hormone therapy, with estrogen unassisted or estrogen plus progestin, is the most effective way to cool hot flashes.

But they also offer out the growing evidence that some antidepressants can help an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In studies, unhappy doses of antidepressants such as venlafaxine (Effexor) and fluoxetine (Prozac) have helped rescue hot flashes in some women. And two other drugs - the anti-seizure sedative gabapentin and the blood pressure medication clonidine - can be effective, according to the guidelines.

So far, though, only one non-hormonal deaden is actually approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treating bright flashes: a low-dose version of the antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil). And experts said that while there is witness some hormone alternatives ease hot flashes, none works as well as estrogen and estrogen-progestin. "Unfortunately, many providers are nervous to prescribe hormones.

And a lot of the time, women are fearful," said Dr Patricia Sulak, an ob/gyn at Scott andamp; White Hospital in Temple, Texas, who was not knotty in letters the new guidelines. Years ago, doctors routinely prescribed hormone replacement remedy after menopause to lower women's risk of heart disease, among other things. But in 2002, a big US trial called the Women's Health Initiative found that women given estrogen-progestin pills in point of fact had slightly increased risks of blood clots, heart attack and breast cancer. "Use of hormones plummeted" after that.

Risk Factors For Alzheimer's Disease

Risk Factors For Alzheimer's Disease.
Older adults with respect problems and a days of yore of concussion have more buildup of Alzheimer's disease-associated plaques in the brain than those who also had concussions but don't have celebration problems, according to a new study. "What we think it suggests is, head trauma is associated with Alzheimer's-type dementia - it's a danger factor," said study researcher Michelle Mielke, an colleague professor of epidemiology and neurology at Mayo Clinic Rochester. But it doesn't refer to someone with head trauma is automatically going to develop Alzheimer's. Her over is published online Dec 26, 2013 and in the Jan 7, 2014 print go forth of the journal Neurology.

Previous studies looking at whether head trauma is a risk factor for Alzheimer's have come up with conflicting results. And Mielke stressed that she has found only a connect or association, not a cause-and-effect relationship. In the study, Mielke and her body evaluated 448 residents of Olmsted County, Minn, who had no signs of thought problems.

They also evaluated another 141 residents with memory and thinking problems known as mild cognitive impairment. More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Plaques are deposits of a protein explode known as beta-amyloid that can construct up in between the brain's nerve cells. While most consumers develop some with age, those who develop Alzheimer's generally get many more, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

They also wait on to get them in a predictable pattern, starting in brain areas crucial for memory. In the Mayo study, all participants were old 70 or older. The participants reported if they ever had a brain injury that concerned loss of consciousness or memory. Of the 448 without any memory problems, 17 percent had reported a understanding injury. Of the 141 with memory problems, 18 percent did.

Patients With Cancer Choose Surgery

Patients With Cancer Choose Surgery.
People with hold cancer who suffer surgery before receiving radiation treatment fare better than those who start treatment with chemotherapy, according to a small brand-new study. Many patients may be hesitant to begin their treatment with an invasive procedure, University of Michigan researchers noted. But advanced surgical techniques can benefit patients' chances for survival, the authors well-known in a university news release. The study was published online Dec 26, 2013 in JAMA Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.

Nearly 14000 Americans will be diagnosed with vernacular cancer this year and 2,070 will cash in one's chips from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. "To a unsophisticated person with tongue cancer, chemotherapy may sound like a better option than surgery with extensive reconstruction," investigation author Dr Douglas Chepeha, a professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School, said in the advice release. "But patients with oral opening cancer can't tolerate induction chemotherapy as well as they can handle surgery with follow-up radiation".

And "Our techniques of reconstruction are advanced and make patients better survival and functional outcomes". The reading involved 19 people with advanced oral cavity mouth cancer. All of the participants were given an approve dose of chemotherapy (called "induction" chemotherapy). Patients whose cancer was reduced in enormousness by 50 percent received more chemotherapy as well as radiation therapy.

New Treatments For Asthma

New Treatments For Asthma.
Researchers reply they've discovered why infants who tangible in homes with a dog are less likely to develop asthma and allergies later in childhood. The span conducted experiments with mice and found that exposing them to dust from homes where dogs live triggered changes in the community of microbes that material in the infant's gut and reduced immune system answer to common allergens. The scientists also identified a specific species of gut bacteria that's important in protecting the airways against allergens and viruses that cause respiratory infections, according to the study published online Dec 16, 2013 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

While these findings were made in mice, they're also odds-on to interpret why children who are exposed to dogs from the time they're born are less seemly to have allergies and asthma, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and University of Michigan researchers said. These results also suggest that changes in the sack bacteria community (gut microbiome) can impress immune function elsewhere in the body, said study co-leader Susan Lynch, an accessory professor in the gastroenterology division at UCSF.

Painkillers Tablets To Prevent Cancer

Painkillers Tablets To Prevent Cancer.
The medicament painkiller Celebrex might domestic prevent non-melanoma skin cancers, a small study suggests. But one dab hand was quick to note that the drug, which is most commonly used to counter the pain of arthritis, has been linked in some studies to an extend in the risk for cardiovascular problems. So it isn't yet clear that Celebrex (celecoxib) is an ideal alternative to prevent cancers that could be treated by other means. "We have a lot of different treatments for non-melanoma skin cancers," well-known Dr Doris Day, a dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "I would want more advice regarding the mechanism of action of Celebrex, because of the other risks".

The report, funded by the US National Cancer Institute and Pfizer, the maker of Celebrex, is published in the Nov 29, 2010 online issue and the Dec 15, 2010 lithograph issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Non-melanoma coating cancers are common, comprising "the most prevalent malignancies in the United States with an frequency equivalent to all other cancers combined," according to study lead author Dr Craig A Elmets, a professor of dermatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. These tumors take in basal chamber and squamous cell carcinomas of the skin, which are typically linked to overexposure to UV rays from the Sol or indoor tanning booths.

Currently, there are no US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved agents for the halt of non-melanoma skin cancers, although sunscreens are widely recommended for this purpose. "However, even sunscreens are only modestly operational at preventing non-melanoma skin cancers. The demo that celecoxib can prevent these common malignancies heralds an entirely new approach for the prevention of these banal malignancies".

With Each Passing Day The World Becomes More Obese Kids

With Each Passing Day The World Becomes More Obese Kids.
American kids are chic obese, or nearly so, at an increasingly callow age, with about one-third of them falling into that sphere by the time they're 9 months old, researchers have found. There are some caveats about the research, however. The infants were not conscious recently: They were born about a decade ago. And it's not unblemished how excess weight in babies may affect their health later in their lives.

The survey found no guarantee that a baby who's overweight at 9 months will stay spineless when his or her second birthday rolls around. Still, the study - in the January-February 2011 efflux of the American Journal of Health Promotion - does present a picture of babies and infants who are carrying around a lot of reserve weight.

The findings also suggest that small changes in an infant's diet can make a big difference, said Dr Wendy Slusser, medical head of a children's weight program at Mattel Children's Hospital at the University of California, Los Angeles. For criterion "if you don't give your kid extract and have them eat the fruit instead, suddenly there's 150 calories less a day that can designate a big difference in weight gain over a long term".

The researchers examined federal data about 16400 children in the United States who were born in 2001. After adjusting the statistics so they wouldn't be thrown off by such factors as hilarious numbers of undisputed kinds of kids, the study authors found that 17 percent of 9-month-olds were fleshy and 15 percent were at risk for obesity, for a total of 32 percent.

Frequent Brain Concussion Can Lead To Suicide

Frequent Brain Concussion Can Lead To Suicide.
When ci-devant National Football League big name linebacker Junior Seau killed himself last year, he had a catastrophic mastermind disorder probably brought on by repeated hits to the head, the US National Institutes of Health has concluded. The NIH scientists who conscious Seau's brain constant that he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). They told the Associated Press on Thursday that the cellular changes they dictum were similar to those found in autopsies of people "with exposure to repetitive head injuries".

The fight - characterized by impulsivity, depression and erratic behavior - is only diagnosed after death. Seau, 43, who played pro football for 20 seasons before his retirement in 2009, discharge himself in the strongbox last May 2012. His family donated his brain for research.

Some experts shadowy - but can't prove - that CTE led to Seau's suicide. "Chronic painful encephalopathy is the thing we have typically seen in a lot of the athletes," said Dr Howard Derman, commandant at the Methodist Concussion Center in Houston. "Rather than say 'this caused this,' I dream the observation is that there have been multiple pro football players now who have committed suicide: Dave Duerson, Andre Waters, John Grimsley - although Grimsley was just reported as a gun accident".

Some say that these players became depressed once they were out of the limelight or because of marital or economic difficulties, but Derman thinks the evidence goes beyond that."Yes, all that may be accepted on - but it still remains that the majority of these players who have committed suicide do have changes of chronic disturbing encephalopathy. We feel that that is also playing a role in their mental state".

But, Derman cautioned, "I can't for instance that chronic traumatic encephalopathy causes players to commit suicide". Chronic harmful encephalopathy was first noticed in boxers who suffered blows to the head over many years. In late years, concerns about CTE have led high school and college programs to circumscribe hits to the head, and the National Football League prohibits helmet-to-helmet hits.

Even Easy Brain Concussion Can Lead To Serious Consequences

Even Easy Brain Concussion Can Lead To Serious Consequences.
Soldiers who diminished meek brain injuries from blasts have long-term changes in their brains, a minuscule new study suggests. Diagnosing mild brain injuries caused by explosions can be challenging using principle CT or MRI scans, the researchers said. For their study, they turned to a unique type of MRI called diffusion tensor imaging. The technology was used to assess the brains of 10 American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who had been diagnosed with compassionate upsetting brain injuries and a comparison group of 10 people without brain injuries.

The average adjust since the veterans had suffered their brain injuries was a little more than four years. The researchers found that the veterans and the kinship group had significant differences in the brain's white matter, which consists mostly of signal-carrying nerve fibers. These differences were linked with distinction problems, delayed memory and poorer psychomotor examine scores among the veterans. "Psychomotor" refers to movement and muscle ability associated with mentally ill processes.

Skiing Prolongs Life

Skiing Prolongs Life.
Hitting the slopes soon? A late research suggests that's a good idea, because skiing and snowboarding holidays can boost your overall happiness. Researchers surveyed 279 visitors at three bigger ski resorts in South Korea. Of those people, 126 were skiers, 112 were snowboarders and 41 did both. Participants done in an customary of 4,5 days at a resort, and 90 percent visited ski resorts less than five times a season.

Frequent Consumption Of Energy Drinks May Cause A Failure Of The Heart

Frequent Consumption Of Energy Drinks May Cause A Failure Of The Heart.
Energy drinks rise blood strength and may make the pity more susceptible to electrical short circuits, new research suggests. But it's not clear-cut how much of this effect on blood pressure has to do with caffeine, which also is found in coffee, or whether the effect significantly raises the risk of heart problems. So should you put down your Red Bull or Monster Energy Drink? Not necessarily, experts say. "I have no honest disturb that having an energy drink or two will negatively impact most people's health," said Dr C Michael White, a professor and headman of pharmacy habit at the University of Connecticut.

He has studied energy drinks and is familiar with the new review's findings. However "there is enough gen in this meta-analysis to make me concerned that there may be pockets of the population who may have an increased risk of adverse events, and more pan out needs to be done to see if this is true". In other words, it's possible that some society could be especially vulnerable to the effects of energy drinks.

At issue are the caffeine-laden drinks that have become popular among bodies looking to stay alert, stay awake or get a jolt. Sixteen-ounce cans of drinks counterpart Monster Energy Assault and Rockstar pack in about 160 milligrams of caffeine, compared with violently 100 milligrams in a 6-ounce cup of coffee. Energy drinks also come with other ingredients like sugar and herbs, and medical experts have warned that they can omen trouble.

Industry representatives defend energy drinks, saying they carry about as much caffeine by the ounce as coffeehouse drinks. But people often consume much more of the forcefulness drinks at one time. In the new report, researchers looked at seven studies. Among them, a downright of 93 participants drank energy drinks and had their "QT interval" measured, while another 132 underwent blood persuade measurement.

Scientists Have Discovered A Mutant Gene Causes Cancer Of The Brain

Scientists Have Discovered A Mutant Gene Causes Cancer Of The Brain.
A gene transmutation that is record in one of every four patients with glioblastoma perception cancer has been identified by researchers. The mutation - a gene deletion known as NFKBIA - contributes to tumor development, promotes denial to treatment and significantly worsens the chances of survival of patients with glioblastoma, the most trite and deadly type of adult brain cancer, senior designer Dr Griffith Harsh, a professor of neurosurgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine, said in a Stanford gossip release.

For this study, researchers analyzed several hundred tumor samples serene from glioblastoma patients and found NFKBIA deletions in 25 percent of the samples. The study, which appears online Dec 22, 2010 in the New England Journal of Medicine, is the blue ribbon to relationship the NFKBIA deletion with glioblastoma.

Scientists Oppose The Use Of Antibiotics For Livestock Rearing

Scientists Oppose The Use Of Antibiotics For Livestock Rearing.
As experts go on to unscathed alarm bells about the rising resistance of microbes to antibiotics second-hand by humans, the United States Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday Dec 2013 announced it was curbing the use of the drugs in livestock nationwide. "FDA is issuing a project today, in collaboration with the monster health industry, to phase out the use of medically important for treating human infections antimicrobials in scoff animals for production purposes, such as to enhance growth rates and improve feeding efficiency," Michael Taylor, reserve commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine at the agency, said during a Wednesday forenoon press briefing. Experts have long stressed that the overuse of antibiotics by the meat and poultry activity gives dangerous germs such as Staphylococcus and C difficile a prime breeding ground to unfold mutations around drugs often used by humans.

But for years, millions of doses of antibiotics have been added to the nourish or water of cattle, poultry, hogs and other animals to produce fatter animals while using less feed. To appraise and limit this overuse, the FDA is asking pharmaceutical companies that make antibiotics for the husbandry industry to change the labels on their products to limit the use of these drugs to medical purposes only. At the same time, the intervention will be phasing in broader oversight by veterinarians to insure that the antibiotics are used only to premium and prevent illness in animals and not to enhance growth.

And "What is voluntary is only the participation of animal pharmaceutical companies. Once these labeling changes have been made, these products will only be able to be hand-me-down for therapeutic reasons with veterinary oversight. With these changes, there will be fewer approved uses of these drugs and residual uses will be under tighter control". The most prevalent antibiotics used in feed and also prescribed for humans affected by the supplemental rule include tetracycline, penicillin and the macrolides, according to the FDA.

Two companies, Zoetis (Pfizer's animal-drug subsidiary) and Elanco, have the largest appropriate of the animal antibiotic market. Both have said they will put one's signature on on to the FDA's program. There was some initial praise for FDA's move. "We commend FDA for taking the prime steps since 1977 to broadly reduce antibiotic overuse in livestock," Laura Rogers, who directs the Pew Charitable Trusts' good-natured health and industrial farming campaign, said in a statement.

The Use Of Triple Antiretroviral Drugs During Feeding Protects The Child From HIV

The Use Of Triple Antiretroviral Drugs During Feeding Protects The Child From HIV.
In sub-Saharan Africa, many mothers with HIV are faced with an horrible choice: breast-feed their babies and hazard infecting them or use formula, which is often out of impress because of cost or can fall ill the baby due to a lack of clean drinking water. Now, two new studies win that giving pregnant and nursing women triple antiretroviral drug therapy, or treating breast-fed infants with an antiretroviral medication, can dramatically write transmission rates, enabling moms to both breast-feed and to cover nearly all children from infection.

In one study, a combination antiretroviral drug therapy given to pregnant and breast-feeding women in Botswana kept all but 1 percent of babies from contracting the infection during six months of breast-feeding. Without the upper therapy, about 25 percent of babies would become infected with the AIDS-causing virus, according to researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health.

A back study, led by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, found that giving babies an antiretroviral antidepressant once a light of day during their first six months of being reduced the transmission rate to 1,7 percent. Both studies are published in the June 17 consummation of the New England Journal of Medicine.

In the United States, HIV-positive women are typically given antiretrovirals during pregnancy to leave alone passing HIV to their babies in utero or during labor and delivery. After the pet is born, women are advised to use formula instead of breast-feeding for the same reason, said major study author Dr Charles M van der Horst, a professor of pharmaceutical and infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

That works well in developed nations where prescription is easy to come by and a clean water supply is readily available, van der Horst said. But throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, salt water supplies can be contaminated by bacteria and other pathogens that, especially in the truancy of good medical care, can cause diarrheal illnesses that can be deadly for babies.

Previous experimentation has shown that formula-fed babies in the region die at a high rate from pneumonia or diarrheal disease, leaving women in a Catch-22. "In Africa, tit milk is absolutely essential for the first six months of life," van der Horst said. "Mothers there recollect that. It was a 'between a overwhelm and a hard place' issue for them".

The Canadian Scientists Have Found One More Cause Of Diabetes 2 Types

The Canadian Scientists Have Found One More Cause Of Diabetes 2 Types.
Certain statins - the extremely utilized cholesterol-lowering drugs - may proliferate your chances of developing type 2 diabetes, a new study suggests in May 2013. The hazard was greatest for patients taking atorvastatin (brand name Lipitor), rosuvastatin (Crestor) and simvastatin (Zocor), the bookwork said. Focusing on almost 500000 Ontario residents, researchers in Canada found that the overall chances of developing diabetes were low in patients prescribed statins. Still, population taking Lipitor had a 22 percent higher risk of new-onset diabetes, Crestor users had an 18 percent increased jeopardy and people taking Zocor had a 10 percent increased risk, relevant to those taking pravastatin (Pravachol), which appears to have a favorable effect on diabetes.

Physicians should weigh the risks and benefits when prescribing these medications, the researchers said in the study, which was published online May 23 in the magazine BMJ. This does not, however, have in view that patients should stop taking their statins, the experts said. The weigh also showed only an association between statin use and higher risk of diabetes; it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

And "While this is an momentous study evaluating the relationship between statins and the risk of diabetes, the study has several flaws that fetch it difficult to generalize the results," said Dr Dara Cohen, a professor of c physic in the department of endocrinology, diabetes and bone disease at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. "There was no matter regarding weight, ethnicity and family history - all outstanding risk factors for the development of diabetes".

Cohen added that there was no information on the patients' cholesterol and blood sugar levels, and that higher-risk patients might automatically be prescribed stronger statins such as Lipitor, Crestor and Zocor. Finnish doctors wrote in an accompanying opinion piece that this likely risk should not stop commonalty from taking statins.

A New Therapeutic Vaccine Against Prostate Cancer

A New Therapeutic Vaccine Against Prostate Cancer.
A newly approved beneficial prostate cancer vaccine won the abide Wednesday of a Medicare admonition committee, increasing the chances that Medicare will pay for the drug. Officials from Medicare, the federal guaranty program for the elderly and disabled, will consider the committee's vote when making a final decision on payment. Such a determination is expected in several months, the Wall Street Journal reported. The vaccine, called Provenge and made by the Dendreon Corp, costs $93000 per tireless and extends survival by about four months on average, according to results from clinical trials.

A office published in July in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the vaccine extended the lives of men with metastatic tumors wilful to bar hormonal treatment, compared with no treatment. And the therapy involved less toxicity than chemotherapy.

Provenge is a salutary (not preventive) vaccine made from the patient's own white blood cells. Once removed from the patient, the cells are treated with the panacea and placed back into the patient. These treated cells then trigger an invulnerable response that in turn kills cancer cells, leaving average cells unharmed.

The vaccine is given intravenously in a three-dose schedule delivered in two-week intervals. "The plan of trying to harness the immune system to fight cancer has been something that occupy have tried to attain for many years; this is one such strategy," study lead researcher Dr Philip Kantoff, a professor of remedy at Harvard Medical School and a medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, told HealthDay.

Some Elderly Men Really Suffer From Andropause, But Much Less Frequently Than Previously Thought

Some Elderly Men Really Suffer From Andropause, But Much Less Frequently Than Previously Thought.
In describing a set of substantial symptoms for "male menopause" for the prime time, British researchers have also obstinate that only about 2 percent of men old 40 to 80 suffer from the condition, far less than previously thought. Male menopause, also called "andropause" or late-onset hypogonadism, presumably results from declines in testosterone production that occur later in life, but there has been some wrangle on how real the phenomenon is, the study authors noted. "Some aging men to be sure suffer from male menopause.

It is a genuine syndrome, but much less common than previously assumed," concluded Dr Ilpo Huhtaniemi, ranking author of a study published online June 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine. "This is momentous because it demonstrates that genuine symptomatic androgen deficiencies androgens are masculine hormones is less common than believed, and that only the right patients should get androgen treatment," added Huhtaniemi, a professor of reproductive endocrinology in the worry of surgery and cancer at Imperial College London.

Many men have been taking testosterone supplements to warfare the perceived effects of aging, even though it's not translucent if taking these supplements help or if they're even safe. The result has been mass confusion, not only as to whether male menopause exists but also how to favour it. "A lot of people abuse testosterone who shouldn't and a lot of men who should get it aren't," said Dr Michael Hermans, an affiliated professor of surgery in the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and key of the section of andrology, male sexual dysfunction and manly infertility at Scott & White in Temple, Texas.

Early Diagnostics Of A Colorectal Cancer

Early Diagnostics Of A Colorectal Cancer.
Researchers in South Korea verbalize they've developed a blood probe that spots genetic changes that signal the poise of colon cancer, April 2013. The test accurately spotted 87 percent of colon cancers across all cancer stages, and also correctly identified 95 percent of patients who were cancer-free, the researchers said. Colon cancer remains the patronize prime cancer humdinger in the United States, after lung cancer. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 137000 Americans were diagnosed with the infirmity in 2009; 40 percent of people diagnosed will pay one's debt to nature from the disease.

Right now, invasive colonoscopy remains the "gold standard" for spotting cancer early, although fecal magical blood testing (using stool samples) also is used. What's needed is a authoritatively accurate but noninvasive testing method, experts say. The new blood check-up looks at the "methylation" of genes, a biochemical process that is key to how genes are expressed and function. Investigators from Genomictree Inc and Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul said they spotted a set of genes with patterns of methylation that seems to be restricted to tissues from colon cancer tumors.

Changes in one gene in particular, called SDC2, seemed especially tied to colon cancer wen and spread. As reported in the July 2013 emergence of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, the side tested the gene-based cull in tissues taken from 133 colon cancer patients. As expected, tissues captivated from colon cancer tumors in these patients showed the characteristic gene changes, while samples infatuated from adjacent healthy tissues did not.

More important, the same genetic hallmarks of colon cancer (or their absence) "could be prudent in blood samples from colorectal cancer patients and healthy individuals," the researchers said in a memoir news release. The test was able to detect stage 1 cancer 92 percent of the time, "indicating that SDC2 is acceptable for early detection of colorectal cancer where therapeutical interventions have the greatest likelihood of curing the patient from the disease," study prospect author TaeJeong Oh said in the news release.

Echinacea Has No Effect On Common Colds

Echinacea Has No Effect On Common Colds.
The herbal medicine echinacea, believed by many to heal colds, is no better than a placebo in relieving the symptoms or shortening the duration of illness, a recent study finds. "My advice is, if you are an adult and believe in echinacea, it's shielded and you might get some placebo effect if nothing else," said lead researcher Dr Bruce Barrett, an accessory professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin. "I wouldn't say the results of the trial run should dissuade people who are currently using echinacea and feel that it works for them, but there is no new documentation to suggest that we have found the cure for the common cold".

If echinacea was able to significantly reduce the symptoms and length of colds, this study would have found it. "With this detailed dose of this particular formulation of echinacea there was no large benefit". The boom is published in the Dec 21, 2010 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. In the study, Barrett's line-up randomly assigned 719 people with colds to no treatment, to a pill they knew was echinacea, or to a crank that could either be a placebo or echinacea, but they were not told which. The participants ranged from 12 to 80 years of age.

People in the study, which was funded by the US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (part of the National Institutes of Health), reported their symptoms twice a daytime for about a week. Among those receiving echinacea, symptoms subsided seven to 10 hours sooner than those receiving placebo or no treatment. This represented a "small helpful intent in persons with the everyday cold," according to the study. However, this feeble decrease in the duration of their colds was not statistically significant.

25 Percent Of Infants Suffer From Intestinal Colic

25 Percent Of Infants Suffer From Intestinal Colic.
Colic is a workaday maladjusted for babies, and new research may finally provide clues to its cause: A mignon study found that infants with colic seemed to develop certain intestinal bacteria later than those without the condition. What the researchers aren't unblocked on yet is why this would make some infants go on long crying jags after dark for months. The study authors suspect that without the right balance of intestinal flora, the babies may incident more pain and inflammation.

In particular, the study found differences in two types of bacteria. One is proteobacteria. The other is probiotics, which subsume bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. "Already in the first two weeks of life, clear-cut significant differences between both groups were found. Proteobacteria were increased in infants with colic, with a more-than-doubled related abundance.

These included specific species that are known to produce gas," said work author Carolina de Weerth, an associate professor of developmental psychology at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. "On the other hand, bifidobacteria and lactobacilli were increased in lead infants. These included species that would inveigle anti-inflammatory effects. Moreover, samples from infants with colic were found to hold back fewer bacteria related to butyrate-producing species.

Butyrate is known to reduce pain in adults. These microbial signatures mayhap explain the excessive crying". Results of the study appeared online Jan 14, 2013 and in the February woodcut issue of Pediatrics. Colic affects up to 25 percent of infants, De Weerth said. It is defined as crying for an common of more than three hours a day, in a general way between birth and 3 months of age, according to background gen in the study.

Little is known about what causes colic, and the only definitive cure for colic is time. The disproportionate crying usually stops at around 4 months of age, according to the study. "Newborn crying is relatively variable, and between 2 weeks and 8 or 10 weeks you can expect at least an hour of crying in a day. There may be some who turn on the waterworks less; some who cry more.

But, babies with colic really do weep for three to four hours a day," said Dr Michael Hobaugh, chief of medical truncheon at La Rabida Children's Hospital, in Chicago. In the current study, the researchers tested more than 200 fecal samples from 12 infants with colic and 12 infants with sparse levels of crying (the exercise power group). Colic was determined at 6 weeks of age.

Harm To Consumers From Changes In The Flexibility Of The Expenditure Account

Harm To Consumers From Changes In The Flexibility Of The Expenditure Account.
It's the leisure of year for leave parties, gift shopping and exposed enrollment, when many employees have to make decisions about their employer-sponsored health-care plans. Last year's monument health care reform legislation means changes are in store for 2011. One of the most significant: starting Jan 1, 2011, you'll no longer be able to reward for most over-the-counter medications using a willowy spending account (FSA). That means if you're used to paying for your allergy or heartburn medication using pre-tax dollars, you're out of fluke unless your doctor writes you a prescription.

The exception is insulin, which you can still discharge for using an FSA even without a prescription. Flexible spending accounts, which are offered by some employers, enable employees to set aside simoleons each month to pay for out-of-pocket medical costs such as co-pays and deductibles using pre-tax dollars. "This is basically reverting back to the nature FSAs were used a few years ago," said Paul Fronstin, a superior research associate at the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, DC "It wasn't that want ago that you couldn't use FSAs for over-the-counter medicine".

Popular uses for FSAs cover eyeglasses, dental and orthodontic work, as well as co-pays for prescription drugs, doctor visits and other procedures, explained Richard Jensen, clue research scientist in the department of health protocol at George Washington University in Washington, DC Over-the-counter drugs became FSA "qualified medical expenses" in 2003, according to the Internal Revenue Service. The custom an FSA works is an staff member decides before Jan 1, 2011 (usually during the company's open enrollment period) how much loot to contribute in the year ahead. The employer deducts equal installments from each paycheck throughout the year, although the outright amount must be available at all times during the year.

Typically, FSAs operate under the "use it or lose it" rule. You have to lavish all of the money placed in an FSA by the end of the calendar year or the money is forfeited. Since for the most part speaking, the cost of over-the-counter medications pales in comparison to the cost of co-pays and deductibles, the 2011 substitute shouldn't be too onerous for consumers.