Survey: Most Adults in Idaho Overweight

Tue Jun 28, 8:01 PM ET

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - Most of the adults in Idaho are overweight or obese, according to an annual survey by the Centers for Disease Control, and lawmakers are looking for ways to help the state trim its excess fat.

In 2003, nearly 60 percent of adults were considered overweight by CDC standards, and 22 percent of that group was obese. That's dramatically higher rate than in 1990, when 29.5 percent of Idaho residents were overweight and less than 12 percent were obese.

"You see a lot of different scenery now, more big people," said Tom Tracy, the director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare's Physical Activity and Nutrition program.

At the Governor's Physical Activity and Nutrition Summit last week in Boise, Tracy sketched out a plan to shape up the state. His strategy includes building awareness with education, then changing policies to create environments friendlier to physical activities. Schools should stock vending machines with fruit and other healthy snacks, he says, and employers should change work hours to give employees time to work out at lunch. A complete plan will be released later this year, he said.

"We have a huge bubble of baby boomers aging," Tracy said. "If that group doesn't get more active and make better food choices, health costs will be unbelievable."

The problem is nationwide, with the CDC estimating that 30 percent of the nation's population is obese. Nearby states aren't far behind Idaho's rates_ in 2003 about 59 percent of Washington residents were too heavy, as well as 57 percent of Oregon and Montana residents.

This year the CDC gave between $300,000 and $450,000 each to 23 states to create strategic plans, and five states received $800,000 to $1.5 million each to continue plans already in action.

Washington is building sidewalks and trails in senior communities to promote walking and biking. It also began training child-care providers to teach children the value of physical activities and offered an educational program about the inactivity inspired by television.

"Idaho is not different from other states on this issue," Tracy said. "The plan that develops won't look much different from Washington's or Oregon's or Connecticut's."

Idaho hopes to lower the roughly $852 million in medical costs that the state incurs each year as a direct result of poor eating habits and physical inactivity. Much of the tab is picked up by Medicaid and Medicare.

Last spring, Tracy held regional forums in each district, encouraging health-care providers, educators, businesses and others to come up with ideas to help Idaho lose weight.

Though the problem is simple — residents eat too much and exercise too little — solutions are more difficult.

Participants said families were too busy to exercise, few children are taught about fitness and low-income families believe it costs too much to be physically active. Idaho's long winters limit outdoor activities for much of the year. Eating poorly is cheaper than a healthy diet, participants said, and people look for quick fixes to weight problems.

Bonnie Held with the Panhandle Health District in Coeur d'Alene carries a tote bag filled with fake servings of applesauce, spaghetti and even cereal.

"They're reasonable portions," Held said. "I use these particularly to teach my teen classes how much they really need."

Though changing Idaho's waistlines may take time, Tracy is optimistic.

"When I get negative, I think about smoking," he said. "Frankly, 20 years ago if you'd told me the status quo around tobacco use is what it is today, I would have said you're nuts."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050629/ap_on_he_me/fat_idaho

FDA Orders Warning Label on Viagra

1 hour, 5 minutes ago


WASHINGTON - The government on Friday ordered warnings onto the labels of Viagra and two other impotence drugs that some users have developed a form of blindness — while cautioning that it's impossible to know if the pills are to blame.

The Food and Drug Administration's move comes as the agency is under intense pressure to investigate more aggressively and warn the public about drug side effects.
At issue is sudden vision loss when blood flow to the optic nerve is blocked, a condition called NAION or non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.

NAION is considered one of the most common causes of sudden vision loss in older people, with anywhere from 1,000 to 6,000 cases a year. Moreover, risk factors include diabetes and heart disease, two of the leading causes of impotence.

The FDA has 43 reports of NAION among the impotence drug users: 38 for Viagra, four for Cialis and one for Levitra. They include varying degrees of vision loss, including blindness.

Those are rare numbers, given that Viagra alone has been used by 23 million men worldwide since its approval in 1998, according to maker Pfizer Inc.

"It is not possible to determine whether these oral medicines for erectile dysfunction were the cause," or whether other health conditions triggered NAION in the men, the FDA said in a statement Friday.

In addition to heart disease and diabetes, risk factors include being over age 50, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.

But FDA advised patients to stop taking the pills and call a doctor if they experience sudden or decreased vision loss in one or both eyes — and to tell their doctor if they have ever suffered an episode of sudden vision loss, because such patients are at increased risk of a second episode.

Cialis is marketed by Eli Lilly & Co. and ICOS Corp. Levitra is sold by GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Schering-Plough Corp. in the United States, and by Bayer AG elsewhere.

Shares of Pfizer rose 39 cents, or 1.5 percent, to close at $27.14; shares of Eli Lilly rose $1.04, or 1.9 percent, to $56.25; shares of GlaxoSmithKline rose 2 cents to close at $48.24; and shares of Schering-Plough rose 49 cents, or 2.6 percent, to close at $18.97, all in Friday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of ICOS rose 84 cents, or 3.9 percent, to close at $22.15 on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050708/ap_on_he_me/viagra_blindness

Brain Protein Influences Weight Gain

Tue Aug 16, 7:01 PM ET


TUESDAY, Aug. 16 (HealthDay News) -- A weight control protein called SH2-B that helps the brain monitor body fat may help scientists develop new treatments for obesity and type 2 diabetes, researchers report.


The findings also suggest that certain variants of SH2-B may underlie obesity in humans.


The researchers found that SH2-B keeps the brain sensitive to the fat hormone leptin, which is produced by fat tissue and sends signals to the brain concerning body fat levels. In response to those signals, the brain makes adjustments to appetite and energy expenditure in order to maintain a more normal body weight.


Mice that lacked SH2-B overate and became obese, the study found. These mice also developed a metabolic syndrome featuring high blood concentrations of leptin, insulin and lipids (fats). The mice also developed fatty livers and high blood sugar.


The study appears in the August issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.


"Our findings reveal SH2-B as an important positive regulator of leptin sensitivity inside cells of the brain region known as the hypothalamus," study senior author Liangyou Rui, of the University of Michigan Medical School, explained in a prepared statement. The hypothalamus integrates hormonal, neuronal and nutrient-related signals to maintain body weight.


"Because SH2-B sensitizes both leptin and insulin, action drugs that mimic or enhance SH2-B action may improve insulin and leptin sensitivity and have potential value in treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes," Rui said.


More information


The Harvard School of Public Health has more about healthy weight.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20050816/hl_hsn/brainproteininfluencesweightgain

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/513788/?sc=rsmn

SH2-B is an intracellular signaling molecule that increases the body’s sensitivity to leptin, a hormone which regulates energy balance and body weight in humans and animals,” Rui says. “SH2-B interacts with JAK2 – a key signaling protein that mediates how cells respond to a variety of hormones, including leptin.


http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/513788/?sc=rsmn

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

Mon Sep 5, 4:19 PM ET




WASHINGTON - Could the salt that preserves hot dogs also preserve your health? Scientists at the National Institutes of Health think so. They've begun infusing sodium nitrite into volunteers in hopes that it could prove a cheap but potent treatment for sickle cell anemia, heart attacks, brain aneurysms, even an illness that suffocates babies.

Those ailments have something in common: They hinge on problems with low oxygen, problems the government's research suggests nitrite can ease.

Beyond repairing the reputation of this often maligned meat preservative, the work promises to rewrite scientific dogma about how blood flows, and how the body tries to protect itself when that flow is blocked. Indeed, nitrite seems to guard tissues — in the heart, the lungs, the brain — against cellular death when they become starved of oxygen.

It doesn't mean artery-clogging hot dogs are healthy.

But the NIH researchers have filed for new patents on this old, overlooked chemical and are hunting a major pharmaceutical company to help develop it as a therapy — even as doctors await the enrollment of sick patients into research studies in coming months. The scientists are so convinced of nitrite's promise that lead researcher Dr. Mark T. Gladwin says the government will pursue drug development on its own if necessary.

"We are turning organs into hot dogs," Gladwin jokes. Then he turns serious: "We think we stumbled into an innate protection mechanism."

If it works, "this drug would be pennies to dollars per day," says Dr. Christian Hunter of California's Loma Linda University. By January, Hunter hopes to begin studies of nitrite treatment for babies with an often fatal disease called pulmonary hypertension. "It's so easy to use."

Gladwin and an NIH cardiologist, Dr. Richard Cannon III, discovered nitrite's effect by accident while studying a related compound, nitric oxide, long known to improve blood flow by dilating blood vessels, but difficult to use as a drug.

Gladwin and Cannon injected sodium nitrite into healthy volunteers. Tiny doses almost tripled blood flow. Moreover, when people exercised, nitrite levels plummeted in the muscles being worked — the body was using it.

The researchers were stunned. For 100 years, scientists thought nitrite had little medical relevance.

High doses are an antidote for cyanide poisoning, but they're also toxic. In 1944, 11 New Yorkers literally turned blue, their blood struggling for oxygen, after they accidentally ate the meat preservative instead of table salt.

The low levels that naturally occur in the human body were thought to be inert, unimportant. Not anymore.

"This has led to an avalanche of work," says Gladwin, who this week hosts an NIH meeting where scientists will compare nitrite research.

The work done so far is "sufficiently encouraging to warrant a full-court press," says Dr. Franklin Bunn, a Harvard Medical School professor who has reviewed much of the research.

When oxygen levels drop, the body's natural stores of nitrite convert to nitric oxide, in turn dilating vessels so that more blood — and more oxygen — gets through.

That's Step 1. Then there's tissue preservation.

Consider: Even after doctors clear a blocked artery to end a heart attack, heart muscle continues to die for a while.

Nitrite interrupts that chain reaction, caused when harmful proteins spewed by dying cells in turn take out their neighbors, says David Lefer of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport.

But the heart's nitrite stores are depleted quickly.

"When you have a heart attack, you use it all up in the first few minutes keeping the organ alive," Lefer says. "You need to add some more."

So Lefer bred mice with low nitrite levels, clipped off the rodents' main heart artery for 30 minutes, and infused nitrite before opening the artery back up.

The salt cut by 67 percent the amount of heart muscle that died.

Gladwin says it worked as well in dogs, whose hearts are similar to people's. He hopes a study in people suffering heart attacks could begin next year.

The first human patients to test nitrite have sickle cell disease; another piece of the nitrite puzzle is its connection to hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein that makes blood red.

Doctors have long thought the bouts of crippling pain suffered by sickle cell patients resulted when their abnormally shaped red blood cells clumped together to block blood flow.

But these red cells also dump large amounts of hemogloblin into blood plasma, where it gobbles up nitric oxide, Gladwin found. That constricts blood vessels, causing more pain as sickle-shaped blood cells push through.

At NIH's hospital in Bethesda, Md., Gladwin has infused nitrite into six sickle-cell patients. This first-stage study is designed to test safety, not nitrite's effect on pain, but it is dilating participants' blood vessels, he says.

Other ailments under study:

_Babies with pulmonary hypertension today are treated with inhaled nitric oxide, to lower blood pressure in arteries connecting the heart and lungs. It's difficult, costs more than $1,000 a day and requires complex machines available only at certain large hospitals.

Loma Linda's Hunter mixed nitrite into nebulizers, inexpensive plastic containers that asthma patients often use to breathe in medicine through the mouth. In sheep, this easier nitrite therapy treated pulmonary hypertension better than nitric oxide.

_The few people who survive a burst brain aneurysm face another big hurdle: Within two weeks, their brain arteries spasm and about half suffer a stroke. There's no prevention; doctors merely keep patients in intensive care, poised to treat a stroke as soon as it happens.

NIH neurologist Dr. Edward Oldfield engineered monkeys to mimic a developing spasm, and then infused the animals with either nitrite or salt water for two weeks. None of the monkeys given nitrite had one — but all of the saline-treated monkeys did.

"We were surprised at how complete the protection was, and with no toxicity that we identified," Oldfield says. "The beauty of sodium nitrite is it seems to interact with the hemoglobin in a way that permits it to be released only where it's needed."

Doctors are e-mailing NIH to ask how soon a human study could begin, Gladwin says; one is in planning stages.

It's a surprising revival for a substance once suspected of spurring cancer. But sodium nitrite also is found in leafy green vegetables, Gladwin likes to note — although no one knows if eating it would bring any of the possible pharmaceutical benefit.

"The idea it's bad for you has not played out," he says. "The fact it was linked to hot dogs gave it a bad name."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050905/ap_on_he_me/hot_dog_drug_2

21 million Americans have diabetes
CDC finds Wed Oct 26, 5:15 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 21 million Americans have diabetes, most of them the type-2 variety associated with poor diet, too little exercise and being overweight, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday.

This represents about 7 percent of the population -- and more than 6 million of these people do not know they have the condition, the CDC said.

"Another 41 million people are estimated to have pre-diabetes, a condition that increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes -- the most common form of the disease -- as well as heart disease and stroke," the CDC said in a statement.

Diabetes is a lack of control of glucose, or blood sugar. Type-1 diabetes, or juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune condition in which the body mistakenly destroys the pancreatic cells that make insulin. It affects an estimated 2 million Americans.

Type-2 diabetes once was called adult-onset diabetes but it now affects many children as well. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and can lead to many other diseases.

"Diabetes is a leading cause of adult blindness, lower-limb amputation, kidney disease and nerve damage. Two-thirds of people with diabetes die from a heart attack or stroke," said Dr. Frank Vinicor, director of CDC's diabetes program.

Several genes are known to contribute to diabetes, but it has become more common as the population has become fatter.

The risk of diabetes increases with age. About 21 percent of Americans aged 60 years or older have diabetes, the CDC said.

"Recent studies have shown that people with pre-diabetes can successfully prevent or delay the onset of diabetes by losing 5 percent to 7 percent of their body weight," Vinicor said in a statement.

"This can be accomplished through 30 minutes or more of physical activity most days of the week and by following a low calorie, low fat eating plan, including a diet rich in whole grains and fruits and vegetables," he added.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051026/hl_nm/diabetes_dc

Bill Gates Fights to End Malaria

2 hours, 44 minutes ago

NEW YORK - The world's richest man, Bill Gates, believes it is possible to completely wipe out malaria that kills thousands every day but gets comparatively little attention because it mostly affects poor countries.

"The fact that all these kids are dying, over 2,000 a day. That's terrible. If it was happening in rich countries, we'd act," said the software billionaire — who has acted by pledging $258.3 million recently for the development of new drugs, a vaccine and better protection against mosquitos.

"Biology has improved, so the chance of having new medicines and vaccines are stronger today than ever," Gates said in an interview for ABC's "This Week" to be aired Sunday.

"And yet because the people who need these medicines can't afford them, we haven't put the resources of the world behind us," said the top philanthropist who has provided about $6 billion over the last five years for various causes and projects.

The largest chunk, $107.6 million, of the new funds to battle malaria will go to develop an experimental malaria vaccine and will cover the completion of testing in Africa and the licensing process, should the vaccine prove viable. A study in Mozambique has found the vaccine cut the risk of severe malaria among young children by 58 percent.

A group working to accelerate the development of affordable drugs, the Medicines for Malaria Venture, will get $100 million. The rest will go to developing better pesticides and bed nets against the disease-spreading mosquitos.

In the United States, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation focuses on education and scholarships. But globally "We learned about these health issues, we realized that that's where you can make a huge change," he said.

"With our foundation, with others ... we're getting the brightest scientists to come and work on these problems," Gates added.

But can the stubborn, age-old infection be fully eradicated?

"Absolutely. It's not going to happen overnight, and we should take the tools we have today and get those applied, because we can save half the lives just that way," Gates told George Stephanopoulos, a former White House aide and now an ABC anchor.

"With breakthroughs that will come over the next two decades, yes, we can make malaria in the whole world like it is in the United States today, something that we just don't have to worry about," said Gates.

So will he be remembered more for the work on global health than for Microsoft, Stephanopoulos asked?

"I don't care whether I'm remembered ... empowering people with the Internet and PCs is my lifetime's work. That's my job."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051105/ap_on_he_me/bill_gates_malaria

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Poorer Black Women Going Without Pap Smears


By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
Tue Dec 27, 5:03 PM ET


TUESDAY, Dec. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Black women who live in poor neighborhoods are less likely to be screened for cervical cancer than women living in more affluent areas, researchers find.


The reason for the lower rate of screening isn't clear, and the researchers note that other factors linked to lower screening rates, such as older age or lower education, didn't seem to play a role.


"Even among women who were professionals or who were educated, they, too, had decreased screening if they lived in neighborhoods with high poverty," said study author Geetanjali Dabral Datta, a postgraduate fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.


The report appears in the Feb. 1 issue of Cancer.


In their study, Datta and her colleagues focused on the connection between socioeconomic factors and how they affected cervical cancer screening, most notably the Pap smear. They collected data on more than 40,000 black women from across the United States. These women all participated in the Black Women's Health Study of Boston University and Howard University.


Women living in communities where at least 20 percent of families lived below the poverty level were significantly less likely to be get regular Pap tests, compared with women living in areas where only 5 percent of the population lived below the poverty line.


The reason for the trend remains unclear. "We can speculate that deprived neighborhoods are just that, deprived," Datta said. "It might be that women do not have access to transportation, or perhaps they can't get day care. But all of that is just speculation at this point," she said.


She believes the same phenomenon might be true for other types of screening, such as mammography and cardiovascular testing.


To ensure that women in these communities get Pap tests, there has to be a concentrated effort to reach them, Datta said. "There needs to be a focus on high poverty neighborhoods," she said. "We need to think of people's socioeconomic context when it comes to health behaviors."


One expert thinks that access to medical care may be the reason for these findings, and the reason that more black women die from cervical cancer than white women.


"African-American women have twice the mortality rate from cervical cancer as white women," noted Elizabeth Ward, the director of cancer surveillance at the American Cancer Society. "Researchers need to investigate how those differences are related to socioeconomic status."


"One of the big factors that may account for this finding is access to high-quality medical care," Ward said. "Often communities that have high poverty rates either lack access to good quality care, or people have to travel longer distances to obtain high-quality care."


Another expert said this screening "gap" is costing lives unnecessarily.


"While this finding is not surprising, it is noteworthy just the same," said Dr. David L. Katz, an associate professor of public health and director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine.


"No one should die of cervical cancer, because a simple screening test reliably finds the condition in its earliest stages when cure is almost universally achievable," Katz said. "Yet, several thousand deaths from this cancer occur each year in the U.S."


Identifying disparities and the toll they exact is the easy part, Katz noted. "Eliminating such disparities is the hard part," he said. "But it's a job that must be done, for lives are very clearly on the line."


More information

For more on cervical cancer, head to the American Cancer Society.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20051227/hl_hsn/poorerblackwomengoingwithoutpapsmears

Test Helps You Predict Chances of Dying

By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer
Tue Feb 14, 6:23 PM ET

CHICAGO - It sounds like a perfect parlor game for baby boomers suddenly confronting their own mortality: What are your chances of dying within four years? Researchers have come up with 12 risk factors to try to answer that for people who are 50 and older.

This is one game where you want a low score. Zero to 5 points says your risk of dying in four years is less than 4 percent. With 14 points, your risk rises to 64 percent.

Just being male gives you 2 points. So does having diabetes, being a smoker, and getting pooped trying to walk several blocks.

Points accrue with each four-year increment after age 60.

The test doesn't ask what you eat, but it does ask if you can push a living room chair across the floor.

The quiz is designed "to try to help doctors and families get a firmer sense for what the future may hold," to help plan health care accordingly, says lead author Dr. Sei Lee, a geriatrics researcher at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, who helped develop it.

"We know that patients and families want more prognostic information from doctors," Lee said. "It's a very natural human question of, 'What's going to happen to me?' We also know that doctors are very cautious about giving prognostic information because they don't want to be wrong."

This test is roughly 81 percent accurate and can give older people a reasonable idea of their survival chances, Lee and his colleagues say.

Of course, it isn't foolproof. Other experts note it ignores family history and it's much less meaningful for those at the young end of the spectrum.

The researchers even warn, Don't try this at home, saying a doctor can help you put things into perspective.

"Even if somebody looks at their numbers and finds they have a 60 percent risk of death, there could be other mitigating factors," said co-author and VA researcher Dr. Kenneth Covinsky.

There are things you can do to improve your chances, he notes, such as quitting smoking or taking up exercise.

The test is based on data involving 11,701 Americans over 50 who took part in a national health survey in 1998. Funded by a grant from the National Institute on Aging, the researchers analyzed participants' outcomes during a four-year follow-up. They based their death-risk survey on the health characteristics that seemed to predict death within four years.

Their report appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr. Donald Jurivich, geriatrics chief at the University of Illinois at Chicago, took the test and got a nice low score. Jurivich is 52. He said he'd feel better about his score if both his parents hadn't died prematurely.

He praised the survey for measuring people's ability to function — such as being able to move a piece of furniture or keep track of expenses — signs that can be more telling than other health factors.

Dr. George Lange, a 57-year-old internist at Columbia-St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, faulted the test for not measuring blood pressure or cholesterol. Lange got a healthy low score on the test, too, but he's overweight. He was surprised he didn't get points for that.

In fact, that's one of the most puzzling aspects of the test. People with a body-mass index of less than 25 — which includes normal weight people — get a point while those who are overweight aren't penalized.

Covinsky, one of the test designers, said that BMI measurement includes underweight people — those who have lost weight because of illness, a particularly disturbing sign for the elderly.

As to obesity, Lee noted there are more points for diabetes and for difficulty walking several blocks — both associated with excess weight.

The researchers think their mortality predictor might be a useful tool in the "pay for performance" trend that is part of the nation's health care system. Medicare and other insurers are increasingly basing reimbursement rates on how patients fare, said Covinsky.

"One health plan can look better just by cherry-picking health care patients" and accepting only the most robust patients, Covinsky said. This test could give a more accurate assessment of health plans, he said, so that "you can actually see which ones are taking sicker patients and compare that" when measuring performance.

___

On the Net:

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060214/ap_on_he_me/mortality_test

Study: Watching Calories Takes Commitment

Sat Feb 18, 6:52 AM ET

ST. LOUIS - Losing that extra weight is one thing. Keeping it off requires a lifetime of counting calories. That's the message from a more than two-decade study of monkeys conducted by Barbara Hansen of the University of South Florida, Tampa.

Genetic differences allow some primates to remain thin and others to grow fat when fed an identical diet over the years, the study found.

Other monkeys, when forced to slim down by as much as 25 percent, regained the weight they'd lost once caloric restrictions were lifted — regardless of whether they'd been on a diet for two months or two years, Hansen said.

"The price of leanness is eternal vigilance," said Hansen, who presented her research Friday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Hansen has long studied the effects of calorie restriction in roughly 300 rhesus monkeys.

Cutting calories can pay off when it comes to longevity: Monkeys fed 30 percent less over the long term extended their lifetimes to 30 years from an average of 23 years, Hansen said.

The slimmer monkeys staved off the diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension and other weight-related ailments that typically shortened the lives of their heavier peers, she added.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060218/ap_on_he_me/fit_diet_monkeys

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
2 hours, 39 minutes ago

THURSDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- Capsaicin, the component that gives jalapeno peppers their heat, may also kill prostate cancer cells, a new study suggests.


Initial experiments in cancer cells and mice show that capsaicin causes prostate cancer cells to undergo a kind of suicide. Researchers speculate that, in the future, pills containing capsaicin might be used as therapy to prevent prostate cancer's return.


According to their report, capsaicin caused almost 80 percent of prostate cancer cells in the mice to die. In addition, prostate cancer tumors treated with capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in untreated mice.


"Capsaicin inhibits the growth of human prostate cancer cell in Petri dishes and mice," said lead researcher Dr. H. Phillip Koeffler, director of hematology and oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and a professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. Based on the findings, Koeffler believe the next step is a trial to see if it works in patients with prostate cancer.


The report appears in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research.


Capsaicin probably has several effects, Koeffler said. Most noticeable is its effect in blocking NF-kappa Beta, a molecular mechanism that promotes cancer cell growth, he noted.


In addition, capsaicin also was effective against leukemia, and might be effective in slowing or preventing the growth of other cancers as well, he added.


But it's still too early to reach for the chili sauce, Koeffler said.


"I am not recommending that people increase their consumption of peppers," he said. "Our calculation is that you would have to eat 10 habanera peppers three times a week, which would be equivalent to the amount of capsaicin we gave to the mice."


The researcher believes capsaicin could someday gain a place in adjuvant prostate cancer therapy. For example, it might be used after prostate surgery to kill cancer cells in patients whose blood PSA levels start to rise, indicating the presence of tumors too small to be seen, he said.


The study does highlight the crossover that can occur between conventional and alternative therapies. "We should take note of herbal medicines and then use modern-day techniques to find what the active compounds are and bring them into clinical trials," Koeffler said.


One expert thinks it's too early to know if capsaicin will ever be an effective prostate cancer treatment, however.


"Since large amounts of capsaicin have never been given to people, we don't know what the side effects might be," cautioned Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society. "We don't know about the right dose or anything."


Lichtenfeld believes that any trial should be done in patients who are not responsive to other standard therapies. "We are ways away from a clinical trial," he said. "We need more basic research before we start treating patients."


Another expert concurred.


"This study does not prove that capsaicin will prove effective in the treatment of prostate cancer in humans," said Dr. David L. Katz, an associate professor of public health and director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine. "Nor does it tell us that eating peppers rich in the substance will help prevent such cancer, or forestall its growth. But it provides a compelling argument for clinical study of capsaicin in human prostate cancer to put these questions to the test."


"This paper should serve to remind us that herbal remedies and pharmacotherapy are often of common origins, differing only in our capacity to identify, purify and package the active ingredients," Katz said. "This work suggests that the conventional medical community should turn a discriminating eye, rather than a jaded eye, toward time-honored herbal treatments. Many will doubtless prove ineffective when put to the test of high-quality research. But some will pass that test, and we must meticulously distinguish between them."


More information

For more on prostate cancer, head to the National Cancer Institute.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20060316/hl_hsn/chilisheatkillsprostatecancercells

US reports two more deaths after abortion pill


By Lisa Richwine
2 hours, 43 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two new deaths have been reported after women took the abortion pill known as RU-486 but officials do not know if the fatalities are connected to the drug, U.S. regulators said on Friday.

"At this time we are investigating all circumstances associated with these cases and are not able to confirm the causes of death," the Food and Drug Administration said in an advisory to the public.

Four previously reported deaths were linked to complications from a bacterial infection that developed after the women took the abortion pill, which is sold by privately held Danco Laboratories.

In the two new cases, it is unknown if the women had bacterial infections, and if so, whether they were infected with the same rare bacterium identified in the earlier deaths. The bacterium is called Clostridium sordelli.

RU-486, also known as Mifeprex or mifepristone, is approved for terminating a pregnancy of 49 days or less. Another drug, misoprostol, is given two days later to complete the abortion.

The RU-486 label warns about the possibility of serious or even fatal infections, which also can happen after surgical abortions. In its alert issued Friday, the FDA urged physicians to be aware of the possibility of infection following RU-486 and to consider giving antibiotics if symptoms appear.

The agency also cautioned against use of unapproved dosing regimens. The four earlier deaths occurred after women were given misoprostol vaginally, rather than orally. The approved regimen calls for oral administration of both drugs.

"The safety and effectiveness of other Mifeprex dosing regimens, including use of oral misoprostol tablets intravaginally, has not been established by the FDA," the agency said.

RU-486 was approved in September 2000 over the objections of abortion opponents, who fought for years to keep it out of the United States. Some have called for a halt to sales while risks are further investigated.

The FDA said it learned of the two new deaths from Danco. A Danco spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060317/ts_nm/abortion_pill_dc

Food Industry a Target in Obesity Fight

By J.M. HIRSCH, Associated Press Writer
Sun Mar 19, 12:00 AM ET

It's tempting to blame big food companies for America's big obesity problem. After all, they're the folks who Supersized our fries, family-portioned our potato chips and Big Gulped our sodas. There's also the billions they've spent keeping their products ever on our minds and in our mouths.

Likened by some to the way tobacco companies seduced smokers, such practices have made the food industry the target of lawsuits and legislation seeking to yank junk food from schools and curb advertising to children.

But some experts say neither the problem nor the solution is nearly so simple.

"You don't have the collusion or the cover-up you had in smoking," says James Tillotson, a business and food policy professor at Tufts' Friedman School of Nutrition. "We want to blame somebody, but the thing is, we're all a part of it."

Sure, companies set the stage with cheap, calorie-dense foods.

But government also has propped up agribusiness, the medical community was slow to take on obesity and good nutrition, and consumers seem determined to move less and eat more, says Tillotson, a former food industry executive.

How much of that burden of blame belongs to the food industry can be difficult to answer.

___

Personal responsibility

The food industry emerged at a time when malnutrition was the nation's chief dietary concern. But at some point food became too plentiful, a change that altered the culture of the American diet.

Yale obesity expert Dr. David Katz says that's because companies aggressively peddle food to people who don't need it.

Food industry officials prefer to call it consumer choice.

"We don't think the food industry has done anything particularly wrong in this regard," says Robert Earl of the Food Products Association, a lobbying group that prefers to indict sedentary lifestyles and poor choices.

Companies have tried to help people make better choices, he says, offering healthier products and more nutrition data. But people can't be forced to make the right choice and consumer disinterest doomed many of those products.

He's right. Consumers bear much responsibility for their weight and the fact that two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. It's not the industry's fault that people don't get exercise, or that schools have cut physical education, or that people prefer the taste of Twinkies (500 million sold a year) to tofu (much less).

But critics call Earl's assessment disingenuous. Personal responsibility has limits in the face of a multibillion-dollar marketing whirlwind pushing countless high-calorie treats.

"They (food companies) are putting $36 billion into directing those choices," says Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University and critic of the food industry. "And their methods are very effective."

Meanwhile, efforts to market the healthier products Earl spoke of historically have been lackluster, acknowledges Brock Leach, an executive for new products at PepsiCo Inc.

As for nutrition data, it isn't always helpful. And attempts to standardize or clarify labeling still meet resistance.

Personal responsibility also falters when it comes to children, who are bombarded by junk food ads that undermine parents.

Everything from child-friendly merchandizing of sugary cereals to cartoon ads is designed to give companies more sway over what children eat, says Dr. Susan Lynch, a child obesity doctor and wife of New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch.

Such tactics make it tougher to teach good eating habits to kids who equate food with entertainment, she said.

"It becomes a marketing thing, a fashion thing," says Lynch. "You want to buy the food with the cartoons on the box or the toy."

The industry should have done more to direct the child obesity debate, agrees Pepsi's Leach. Much of the focus has been on getting junk food out of school vending machines, but Leach argues that's just a tiny part of the solution.

He says food companies — including his own, one of the biggest losers in the vending machine fight — should have offered healthier vending options long ago, then redirected attention to other critical issues, such as getting physical education back in schools.

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Science lag

In many ways the food industry is chasing a moving target. For years, food production was a better understood science than nutrition. And so whole grains were abandoned and hydrogenated fats embraced.

The medical community takes much of the blame, says Dr. George Blackburn of Harvard Medical School's nutrition division.

"We didn't even put nutrition in the medical curriculum except in the last 30 or 40 years," he says. "As soon as we got drugs, to hell with nutrition. We're just now getting it to be a professional responsibility to be sensitive to people's healthy eating."

Today, the food industry suffers from nutrition research overload, with tidal waves of new and sometimes contradictory health findings that strain its ability to produce appealing foods that are in sync with the latest science.

Even when companies succeed, they still are susceptible to scientific surprises that can break a business.

When saturated fat was the enemy, companies reformulated their products, says Grocery Manufacturers Association spokeswoman Stephanie Childs. Only later did they learn that the trans fats they had replaced them with were even worse.

But the science lag can't explain the growing ubiquity of food or the ballooning portions of it, from bigger buckets of movie popcorn to McDonald's much vilified — and now defunct — Supersized burgers.

The industry again points to the consumer, saying that starting in the 1970s people demanded convenience and bargains. Smart companies launched family sizes and sold food everywhere from office supply chains to hardware stores.

"It's a tremendous way of getting people to buy more at lower cost to the producer," says Nestle, who notes research has shown that the more food people have, the more they eat. "There's no question that that's an incentive to buy. Everybody loves a bargain."

This has changed how Americans eat. So-called portion distortion has contributed enormously to obesity.

And overeating becomes even easier when food is everywhere, Nestle says. Meal time is all the time when everything from cars to backpacks to grocery carts are redesigned with snack food holders to accommodate constant munching.

But Nestle acknowledges it becomes a chicken-or-egg question. Lifestyles have changed and Americans want to eat big and on the run. Did that lead food companies to change, or did new products change Americans?

___

Engineering obesity?

Despite his criticism of the industry's practices, Yale's Katz acknowledges companies are in a difficult position. Ultimately, they sell food, and staying in business means selling the foods people want. Public health is secondary.

But what if those companies engineered their foods to make you eat more of them? Though he acknowledges that evidence is scarce, Katz believes companies do just that, much the way tobacco companies were accused of tinkering with nicotine.

Research shows that people eat more when faced with a variety of foods, or even a variety of flavors within a single food. For example, you are less likely to overeat plain baked potatoes than those drenched in butter, salt, sour cream and chives.

Sugary cereals, Katz notes, have more salt in them than many potato and corn chips. Katz believes that's one way to make a cereal's flavor more complex and appealing to get people to eat more of it.

Industry officials dispute Katz's theory. Earl, of the Food Products Association, says he knows of no company that has knowingly manipulated ingredients as Katz suggests.

Whatever the food industry's share of the blame, Tillotson, the Tufts professor, thinks obesity lawsuits are inappropriate and Congress is considering a measure to bar them. Food companies were asked to feed a hungry nation; suing now penalizes them for doing so, he believes.

Industry officials contend lawsuits divert resources from efforts to educate consumers and to produce healthier foods. Market demand and a sense of social responsibility are better catalysts for change, they say.

And some companies deserve real credit for living up to that.

• General Mills Inc., the nation's No. 2 cereal maker, now makes all its cereals from whole-grain flour.

• Kraft Foods Inc., the nation's biggest food manufacturer, says it's curbing snack food ads to children and will redesign packaging to flag its healthier products. The company also recently cut the fat in hundreds of products and stopped marketing snacks at schools.

• PepsiCo Inc., which credits healthier products with two-thirds of its revenue growth, has launched various healthy eating education efforts and even has tied executive bonus programs to the development and marketing of healthier items.

• The Coca-Cola Co. now labels some of its sodas with nutrition data for the entire bottle, not just one serving.

But while critics applaud the changes, they say industry goodwill and consumer demand aren't reliable enough. The realities of competition can push goodwill aside and consumers can't be counted on to want what's good for them.

Leach acknowledges it's true that industry will follow consumer demand, and that includes high-fat, high-sugar foods.

That's why Richard Daynard, director of the obesity and law project at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, says lawsuits — some are pending, some were dismissed or settled — still are needed as part of a larger assessment of the obesity epidemic.

"You can't get to a solution until you get a diagnosis. If you don't see the role of the junk food industry in causing the problem and in continuing to maintain the problem, you've missed a big part of the diagnosis," says Daynard, who is leading a soda industry lawsuit.

"Things that dramatically assign blame, like a lawsuit, help people make a diagnosis."

Ellen Van Gelder, an obese 41-year-old health care worker from Concord, N.H., doesn't need a lawsuit to make her diagnosis.

Though she disapproves of many of the food industry's marketing methods and wishes food companies would make it easier to eat healthier, ultimate responsibility for her weight is her own, she says.

"I would love to blame somebody else. The reality is it's each person's responsibility," says Van Gelder, who has battled her weight her entire life. "You put the food on your plate. You choose whether to eat it."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060319/ap_on_he_me/diet_obesity_blame

Study: Pumping Iron Helps Cancer Survivors


By MIKE STOBBE, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 18 minutes ago

ATLANTA - Weightlifting appears to improve breast cancer survivors' outlook on life, suggests one of the first studies to scientifically measure the effects of such exercise.

About 80 percent of women who took up twice-a-week weight-training saw improved scores on a quality-of-life survey, researchers said, in a study to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Cancer.

In contrast, 51 percent of participants in a control group did.

The physical and psychological benefits of exercise are well-documented. But this study is the first to apply scientific methodology to looking at how weight-training helps women who have had breast cancer.

"This may seem like common sense to most folks, but there's really been no literature or science where researchers tried to quantify and verify the effect," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.

Researchers recruited 86 women from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in late 2001 and early 2002. Each of the women had completed successful treatment of breast cancer within the previous three years.

Half the women were assigned to an exercise group. For three months they met twice a week with personal fitness trainers to develop a weightlifting regimen. They were then encouraged to follow it for another three months.

The second group had no such regimen.

Researchers asked women in both groups a series of questions about physical well-being, marital happiness, sexual activity and other aspects of life.

Women in the exercise group had a modest improvement over members of the non-exercising group, Lichtenfeld noted.

However, the women in the exercise group said they felt they had more strength, speed and self-confidence as a result of the workouts. It appears the weightlifting helped them regain a feeling of control of their bodies, researchers said.

The more women improved on bench press, the better they said they felt overall. That may be because breast cancer treatment can reduce the ability to lift and carry things, said Kathryn Schmitz, a University of Pennsylvania researcher who co-authored the study.

The study also tried to observe weight-training's effect on depression. The researchers didn't measure any significant effect, but they said that might be because such a small number of women were deemed to suffer from depression at the outset of the study.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060327/ap_on_he_me/fitness_cancer

Soaring Pollen Counts Spur Worst Allergy Season in Years

By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter
2 hours, 22 minutes ago


THURSDAY, April 27 (HealthDay News) -- April showers bring May flowers, but this year they've also brought a bumper crop of grass, ragweed and early-budding trees that means misery to millions of allergic Americans.

Experts across the country say they are recording the highest pollen counts they've seen in a decade. And while the Southeast usually gets slammed the hardest when it comes to airborne allergens, this season it may be Yankees who are suffering the most.

"I looked at the total pollen counts for this season compared to last, and, at this point, we have already reached 80-90 percent of what we saw for the entire season last year," said
Albany, N.Y.-based allergy specialist Dr. David Shulan, a spokesman for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI).

The culprit: a mild, wet winter and early spring, plus unusually warm days.


"We have seen an early and aggressive allergy season, including seasonal pollens and mold spores," said Dr. Clifford Bassett, a Long Island-based allergist and vice-chairman of AAAAI's Public Education Committee.


Shulan agreed. "The buds have been ready to burst, and when we have these warm days, the pollen counts have been just wild," he said.


According to the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America, which estimates that 50 million Americans are impacted by allergies, the top 10 worst cities to be in right now, in terms of airborne allergens, are:



There are steps the allergic can take to minimize the sneezing, wheezing and itchy eyes that plague them this season. One is obvious: Avoid the great outdoors. That doesn't mean sealing yourself indoors 24/7, experts said, but some common-sense tips might help.


"First off, get someone else to help you with yard chores -- find someone in the family who's not allergic to do the mowing, for example," said Dr. Sandra McMahan, a senior staff physician specializing in pediatric allergy at Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas.


Pollen counts are always highest in the morning, so try and plan outdoor activities for the afternoon or evening whenever possible. Rain tends to drive allergens out of the air, so planning activities for just after a good rain makes sense, too. "The patient will frequently feel better for a day or so after a rainstorm, because there's less pollen blowing around," said McMahan, who is also an assistant professor of internal medicine at the Texas A & M Health Science Center College of Medicine.


All the experts stressed that keeping windows closed and using air conditioning -- even when the weather is pleasant outside -- can cut the misery for allergic individuals while they're at home.


But what about that perennial springtime passion, gardening? Bassett said green-thumbed Americans can still enjoy their hobby, despite allergies, as long as they follow a few simple steps.


First off, he said, wear gloves and a pollen mask while outside, and work on relatively humid, windless days. Keep soils moist and gardens free of flowering weeds. Shower and shampoo after you come back inside. Rinse off glasses after gardening and keep gardening clothing away from the bedroom.


Bassett also advised against planting the following high-allergen species: amaranthus, crocus, elderberry, juniper, peony, poppy and privet. Some low-allergen alternatives include azalea, begonia, bougainvillea, daisy, dahlia, gladiola, iris, irish moss, marigold, orchids, snapdragon, sunflowers, tulips, violets and zinnias.


And don't forget the secret sex lives of plants: "Planting female trees in one's own yard will attract and then trap incoming airborne pollen from male plants," Bassett warned.


The experts also advised that people back up all of these tips with medication.


"Medications are much better now than they were in the past," McMahan said. "We have the nonsedating antihistamines, which are very helpful and much safer to use. One -- loratadine, generic Claritin -- is now available over-the-counter." There's also an antihistamine nasal spray, Astelin, available by prescription, he added


Besides these, there are what Shulan called the "heavy hitters" -- nasal steroids such as Flonase (now available in a cheaper generic form) as well as Rhinocort, Nasacort and Nasonex.

"Remember though, these drugs take time to start working -- it make take up to two weeks for them to take full effect, although you'll notice some relief in a day or two," Shulan said. "With the nasal steroids, you have to use them regularly throughout the season," he added

So, with proper planning and the right pharmaceuticals, most Americans should be able to cope with even this year's tough allergy season.



"Here in Albany, the trees start acting up from late March going into June, then the grass takes over in late May, peaking in June and early July," Shulan said. "That should go right through summer till it tapers off sometime in September."

More information

For much more on seasonal allergies, head to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20060427/hl_hsn/soaringpollencountsspurworstallergyseasoninyears

One-Third of U.S. Adults Diabetic or Pre-Diabetic

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter


Fri May 26, 7:09 PM ET

FRIDAY, May 26 (HealthDay News) -- The number of Americans diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has now topped 19 million, and a new study says a third of adults with the disease don't even know they have it.

The researchers found that another 26 percent of adults had "impaired fasting glucose," a precursor to diabetes.


"So, if you add that together with the 9.3 percent of people with diabetes, that means that fully one-third of the adult population -- 73 million Americans -- have diabetes or they may be on their way to getting it," said lead researcher Catherine Cowie, director of the diabetes epidemiology program at the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.


Her team's report appears in the June issue of Diabetes Care.


The researchers note that about 95 percent of all cases of diabetes in the United States fall under the category of type 2 disease -- a gradual loss of insulin production and sensitivity that's usually linked to overweight and obesity.


According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, survey data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 1988 to 1994 and 1999 to 2002 indicate the incidence of diabetes among people aged 20 and older has gone from about 5.1 percent of the population in the older survey to 6.5 percent by 2002.


"In the 1999 to 2002 survey, participants were interviewed to find out whether they had ever been told that they had diabetes," said Cowie. "In addition, the people had a blood test after they fasted overnight."


Among the 4,761 adults in surveyed, 9.3 percent had type 2 diabetes -- that translated to about 19.3 million people in the entire U.S. population, Cowie said. "In addition, we found that about one-third of the 9.3 percent don't know they have it," she noted.


Diabetes continues to affect blacks and Mexican-Americans about as much as whites, Cowie noted. "In fact, in blacks, diagnosed diabetes rose more significantly between the two surveys than it did for other groups," she said.


"In addition, it rose more significantly in men than in women," Cowie added.


It's even worse among older Americans. About 22 percent of those over 65 have diabetes, Cowie said. "Combine that with 40 percent of those with impaired fasting glucose, [and] it's affecting 62 percent of the adult population in that age group," she said.


There is a huge portion of the population who don't know they have diabetes or who are at risk for diabetes, Cowie said.


"We aren't doing a good enough job of diagnosing these one-in-three people who don't know they have diabetes as well as people who have pre-diabetes," Cowie said. "We really need to be a better job of convincing people that should be adopting healthy behaviors that will prevent these conditions."


One expert thinks that the number of undiagnosed diabetics and pre-diabetics may be underestimated.


"The findings suggest that the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes is stable," said Dr. David L. Katz, an associate professor of public health and director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine. "This might be true, and due to the fact that as diabetes rates are rising, we're at least attentive to it, and usually finding it when it's there. But this finding might also be misleading."


Undiagnosed diabetes may be less likely in people who participate in health surveys than those who do not, Katz said. "I am suspicious that there is more undiagnosed diabetes than these findings suggest," he noted.


"Since type 2 diabetes is often preventable, almost any is too much," Katz said. "Seeing a steady rise in the rates of this serious and potentially debilitating disease we have the wherewithal to prevent is compelling testimony of past failings and future needs," he said.


This is neither the first, nor the last time this message will be delivered in a scientific paper, Katz said.

"My hope is that we will do what needs to be done to make healthful diets and activity patterns more accessible to all, and diabetes a bit less so," he said.

More information

For more on diabetes, head to the U.S. National Diabetes Clearinghouse.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20060526/hl_hsn/onethirdofusadultsdiabeticorprediabetic

Thyroid cancer raises risk of second cancer
Fri May 26, 7:54 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - After surviving cancer of the thyroid, the risk of a second different cancer is elevated by about 30 percent, according to results of a new study. Conversely, many cancers are associated with increased risk of subsequent thyroid cancer.

Dr. Mark W. J. Strachan, from Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, UK, and colleagues note that the increased rate and improved prognosis of thyroid cancer, as well as its greater occurrence in children, suggests that other cancers are increasingly likely.

To test this theory, they combined data from 13 population-based cancer registries that have been in operation for at least 25 years in Europe, Canada, Australia, and Singapore. Their findings appear in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

There were 39,002 people with thyroid cancer, among whom 74 percent were female and 57 percent were younger than 56 years. During several years of follow-up, 2821 other cancers were diagnosed.

Many of the second cancers are diagnosed within the first year, primarily skin, prostate, kidney, adrenal gland, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. For some other cancers, such as those of the small intestine, colon, rectum, and breast, the risk increased with duration of follow-up.

The authors also found that 1990 cases of thyroid cancer were diagnosed after another cancer occurred. In this case, the risk of thyroid cancer was not associated with age, gender or calendar period of diagnosis.

The only cancers not significantly associated with increased risk of thyroid cancer were those of the lips, mouth, pharynx, gallbladder, some female genitals, prostate, and bladder. For most of the cancer types, the risk of thyroid cancer was highest during the 12 months following the diagnosis of the first.

Strachan's group notes that two-way associations between cancers raise the possibility of shared genetic, hormonal or environmental risk factors or the use of potentially cancer-causing therapies for both cancers.

The authors recommend that doctors be on the lookout for other cancers in patients who've been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and vice versa.

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, May 2006.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060526/hl_nm/thyroid_cancer_dc

UNAIDS head: World is losing HIV fight

By MARGIE MASON, AP Medical Writer
1 hour, 57 minutes ago

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The world continues to lose an ugly battle to HIV/ AIDS that shows no sign of letting up after 25 million people have died a quarter-century into the epidemic, the head of the U.N.'s HIV/AIDS joint program said.

"I think we will see a further globalization of the epidemic spreading to every single corner of the planet," UNAIDS head Peter Piot told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Geneva.

UNAIDS on Tuesday was scheduled to launch a 630-page report that takes stock of where the world currently stands with nearly 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS. It documents countries' progress and failures, and projects what must happen to keep some regions from experiencing disaster. The report was set to be released a day ahead of a High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York, a week prior to the 25th anniversary of the first documented AIDS cases on June 5, 1981.

"It won't go away one fine day, and then we wake up and say, 'Oh, AIDS is gone,'" Piot said. "I think we have to start thinking about looking at the next generations. There's an increasing diversity in how the epidemic looks."

Piot said that there is still time to stop it from worsening, but action is needed now on a number of fronts.

"Ultimately, it depends on how the leadership reacts, how the international community will continue to respond and how ready communities are to face the problem," Piot said. "Intervention is very low ... for many critical populations in many countries. We need to really intensify the response to AIDS."

Piot said the picture is not hopeless, with examples of progress in nearly every part of the world. He said Thailand and Uganda were two of the only previous examples where exploding epidemics were curbed, but a handful of other countries, including Kenya and Zimbabwe, are also starting to show promise.

Epidemics are diversifying, Piot said, with some driven by unprotected sex, others by dirty needles and some a combination of the two overlapping each other. Those trends must be identified and targeted.

Currently, about 1.3 million people in poor countries have access to antiretroviral treatment, but about 80 percent still are not receiving drugs.

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the epicenter of the virus, Piot said. The overall percentage of adults infected in some of the hardest-hit countries continues to climb, with several rates reaching double digits.

"In think in Africa, it is only comparable in demographic terms to the slave trade regarding the impact it has had on the population," Piot said. "In southern Africa, HIV prevalence continues to go up, and they're already the world record."

Piot said that the sheer population of Asia, home to most of the world's population, makes it a potential problem because even small gains in overall per capita infections equal huge numbers — especially in countries like China and India, with over 1 billion people each. More than 5 million people are infected in India alone.

The Asia-Pacific region has 8.3 million people living with the virus, the second-highest after sub-Saharan Africa.

Papua New Guinea, which shares an island north of Australia with Indonesia's easternmost Papua province, has one of the region's worst epidemics in a country plagued by political instability, poverty and rampant sexual violence against women. Piot said it's the only place in the region that resembles an Africa-style epidemic.

Piot said Eastern Europe and Central Asia have become a new front where infections have expanded as people have access to more money and started buying injecting drugs — instead of just shipping them through — from countries like Afghanistan.

"Absolute numbers are still low, but when you look at the spread of the disease, we know from experience where that leads," Piot said. "The Middle East is the last part of the world where HIV is not spreading rapidly."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060530/ap_on_he_me/aids_piot

Experimental drug delays breast cancer

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer
2 hours, 5 minutes ago


ATLANTA - A new experimental drug delayed the growth of advanced breast cancer in women who had stopped responding to the drug Herceptin and were out of treatment options, doctors reported Saturday.

The experimental drug, Tykerb, worked so well that an international study of it was stopped early, in April, based on results in 321 women.

Those who received Tykerb plus the chemotherapy drug Xeloda had no growth of their tumors for 8 1/2 months. That compares to 4 1/2 months for those given only Xeloda, said Dr. Charles Geyer Jr. of Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.

He led the study and reported results Saturday at a meeting in Atlanta of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Tykerb's manufacturer, British-based GlaxoSmithKline PLC, said it would expand global access to the drug under compassionate use provisions, and would seek approval to sell it in the United States and elsewhere later this year.

"This is huge," said Dr. Roy Herbst, a cancer specialist at the University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who had no role in the study but has consulted for Glaxo in the past.

"The next step will be to use it in patients instead of Herceptin up front," to see whether it is more effective, he said.

Herceptin and Tykerb are members of a new generation of cancer medicines that more precisely target tumors without killing lots of healthy cells. Herceptin has been an important option for many women with advanced breast cancer, but eventually it stops working and women succumb to the disease.

Tykerb works in a similar yet completely novel way. Like Herceptin, it targets a protein called HER-2/neu, which is made in abnormally large quantities in roughly one-fourth of all breast cancers.

Herceptin blocks the protein on the cell's surface; Tykerb does it inside the cell, and blocks a second abnormal protein, too.

In the study, Tykerb also showed signs of being able to prevent cancer from spreading to the brain. That happened to four of the 161 women given Tykerb and Xeloda, compared to 16 of the 160 women given Xeloda alone.

About 14 percent of women on the Tykerb-Xeloda combination and 11 percent on Xeloda alone stopped treatment because of side effects. Diarrhea and rash were more common in those who received Tykerb.

No patients developed heart failure, but four of the 161 on the drug combination had a modest decrease in pumping power of the main chamber of the heart — side effects that also have been seen with Herceptin.

Tykerb has one big advantage over Herceptin — it's a pill instead of an intravenous drug, which should make it cheaper and easier to use, doctors said.

Studies are in the works to test it in combination with Herceptin as well as other breast cancer drugs.

Breast cancer is the most common major cancer in American women and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women. About 213,000 new cases are expected to occur in the United States this year and more than 1 million worldwide.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060603/ap_on_he_me/breast_cancer

Exercise suggested for menopause symptoms

By CANDICE CHOI, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 8, 1:48 PM ET

ALBANY, N.Y. - Once at the mercy of hourly hot flashes, Margaret Corino has been keeping them at bay with regular trips to the gym.

When the 58-year-old woman skips exercise, the waves of heat "shoot back up again," she says. Corino, who lives in Johnson City, west of Albany, says her workouts have reduced hot flashes to just a couple a day.

Though the research is still thin, many health experts say even moderate exercise can help relieve the problems of menopause in some women, including anxiety, insomnia and night sweats.

Menopause, which typically occurs between the ages of 45 and 55, is when a woman stops menstruating. Symptoms can range from mood swings, to hot flashes, headaches and trouble focusing. The National Institutes of Health is conducting a wide-ranging study of several issues related to menopause, including depression, cognitive and sexual function. NIH-backed research so far only suggests a link between physical activity and decreased symptoms of menopause — no proof exercise is a cure.

For example, women who exercise may report fewer hot flashes simply because they are less preoccupied with such symptoms, said Sheryl Sherman, a doctor with the National Institute on Aging, an arm of NIH. While experiences vary from woman to woman, some say even a little boost in physical activity goes a long way.

Just a week after starting a walking routine, 54-year-old Joan Newman saw a dramatic decline in hot flashes. "After that, every chance I got, I walked around the campus," said Newman, an administrative assistant at Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo.
She says her daily walks reduced hot flashes from hourly to five or six a day.
Dr. Lila Nachtigall, a spokeswoman for the North American Menopause Society, said it is critical for women to get exercise at this time of life despite the lack of conclusive evidence that exercise relieves menopausal symptoms.

As estrogen levels fall, it's easier for women to gain weight, Nachtigall said. Exercise also promotes an overall sense of well-being that helps women handle troublesome symptoms better, she said.
"It certainly can't hurt," she said.
Small studies have also suggested the pluses of exercise.

One by the American College of Sports Medicine showed strength training helped reduce hot flashes and headaches by 50 percent. Another published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing found exercise boosted overall health-related quality of life measures in menopausal women.

And a third in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found exercise slowed the progression of hardening of the arteries, which is linked to lower levels of estrogen in women during menopause.

Exercise can lower the risk for cardiovascular disease in general and strengthen muscle to prevent fractures — another risk factor that grows as estrogen levels decline, said Barbara Bushman, a professor of health and physical education at Missouri State University and author of "Action Plan for Menopause."
At the very least, staying active can temper secondary effects of menopause like insomnia and weight gain, said Cedric Bryant, chief scientist for the American Council on Exercise.

"You may not be able to totally eliminate (the symptoms), but it seems you can certainly alleviate them," Bryant said.
With exercise touted as a magic bullet for boosting everything from mental acuity to mood, it's no surprise that it may help during menopause, said Alysia Mastrangelo, a professor of physical therapy at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
Yet many women now going through that transition may have grown up in a time when a premium wasn't placed on physical activity, Mastrangelo said. "This is a group that historically doesn't exercise."

Experiences vary greatly, however, and some say exercise doesn't seem to curb their hot flashes at all. Marilyn Matrazzo, a 56-year-old resident of Colonie, an Albany suburb, said she's not sure her daily workouts help temper her hot flashes. But she persists to maintain a general sense of well-being.

"It helps everything — I just have more 'oomph' during the day and sleep better," she said.
___
On the Net:
National Institute on Aging, http://www.nia.nih.gov
North American Menopause Society, http://www.menopause.org
American College or Sports Medicine, http://www.acsm.org
American Council on Exercise, http://www.acefitness.org


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060608/ap_on_he_me/fitness_menopause

Proteins Hold Clues to Chronic Pain

54 minutes ago

WEDNESDAY, July 26 (HealthDay News) -- Low blood levels of two anti-inflammatory proteins could be key to chronic pain, researchers report.

Low concentrations of two cytokines, IL-4 and IL-10, were found in patients with chronic widespread pain, according to a German study published in the August issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.


Cytokines are proteins that act as messengers between cells.


The study included 40 patients who'd received intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) as a novel treatment for pain that hadn't responded to standard therapy and another 15 patients who did not receive IVIG. The study also included a control group of 40 healthy people.


Blood samples were collected from all the study volunteers, and the pain patients were asked to rate their pain, fatigue, mood and cognitive function.


Compared with the control group, the 40 pain patients had significantly lower levels of IL-4 and IL-10. The 15 patients in the second group had similar results, although the difference in their levels of IL-10 compared to people in the control group was not statistically significant.


Several factors may be involved in low levels of these cytokines and how they influence pain, the study authors said. They noted that previous studies have shown that IL-10 reduces sensitivity to pain and that IL-4 can also dull pain response.


Genetic variations in different cytokine genes are associated with certain diseases. For example, IL-4 gene variations are associated with asthma, Crohn's disease and chronic polyarthritis, the researchers said.


"The low levels of IL-4 and IL-10 we observed in the patients with chronic widespread pain might therefore also be caused by genetic alterations either in the cytokine genes themselves or in regulatory elements, although other factors may be involved," they explained.


More information


The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about chronic pain.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20060726/hl_hsn/proteinsholdcluestochronicpain

Venom protein may lead to brain cancer cure

By Amanda Beck
Mon Jul 31, 7:34 AM ET



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Doctors seeking treatments for malignant brain tumors have found promise in the venom of scorpions, according to a study released on Friday.

The study showed that a synthetic version of a protein found in the venom of giant yellow Israeli scorpions targeted tumor cells but did not harm the healthy cells of brain cancer patients.

"We're testing a new agent that has a lot of potential for patients who have had no meaningful treatments thus far," said Dr. Adam Mamelak, lead author on an article to appear in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

In the study, 18 patients first had surgery to remove malignant gliomas, a lethal kind of brain tumor. Then doctors injected their brains with a solution of radioactive iodine and TM-601, the synthetic protein.

The solution bound almost exclusively to leftover tumor cells, suggesting that it could be combined with chemotherapy to fight cancer. Furthermore, two study patients were still alive nearly three years after the treatment.

Because life expectancy for the 14,000 annual glioma patients in the United States is typically a matter of months, the results shore up animal research indicating that the venom protein may inhibit tumor growth even without a radioactive component, Mamelak said.

"Does that mean that the drug was miraculous? No," said Mamelak, a neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. "But we have shown that it is safe and that we should at least move forward."

The synthetic scorpion venom was developed by Transmolecular Industries, Inc., a Boston-based company, and is one of several medicines recently derived from animal poisons.

Other researchers are investigating whether a protein in snake venom can stop bleeding and whether Gila monster venom can treat diabetes. They also have developed a painkiller based on the venom of a deadly sea snail.

Work with these proteins and molecules is the natural progression from previous science studying simpler plant extracts that have yielded key medicines, said Michael Egan, president of Transmolecular Industries.

"Evolution has had this stuff for a while, so chances are (animals) have a few things we can take advantage of," Egan said.

Giant yellow Israeli scorpions live in the deserts of the Middle East and grow to about 4 inches long.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060731/hl_nm/cancer_scorpion_dc

Exercise improves life for breast cancer survivors

2 hours, 12 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women getting over breast cancer treatment who engage in aerobic and resistance training exercises may have better physical fitness and better quality-of-life than their more sedentary counterparts, new study findings show.

Previous studies have shown that cancer patients and cancer survivors can increase their physical work capacity and can improve their tolerance to physical fatigue by using treadmills, walking outdoors or otherwise engaging in cardiorespiratory exercise training. Whether strength-building resistance training adds further benefit has been less well studied, however.

Dr. Alejandro Lucia, of the Universidad Europea de Madrid, Spain, and colleagues looked at the combined effect of a training program involving both cardiorespiratory and resistance exercises in women breast cancer survivors.

The investigators randomly assigned 16 women to an exercise training group or a comparison group in which the women continued their usual activity pattern. The training group participated in three 90-minute sessions per week, during which they performed exercises ranging from chest and shoulder presses to stomach crunches and leg and arm curls.

By the end of the eight-week study period, women in the exercise group showed improvements in their quality-of-life, based on their scores on a 30-item questionnaire.

Their cardiorespiratory fitness also improved, as evidenced by their improved oxygen uptake, the researchers report in the International Journal of Sports Medicine. Moreover, the women gained strength and muscle function, in comparison to their performance on tests conducted before the start of the training sessions.

"These findings are of relevance as previous research has shown that long-term fatigue ... with subsequent decreases in quality of life is also a serious problem for cancer survivors, as up to 30% may experience this symptom for years after termination of treatment," the researchers write.

Women in the comparison, non-exercising group did not show improvements in their quality-of-life or their physical functioning, the results indicate.

"Our data, together with those of previous research with cancer patients/survivors emphasize the beneficial effects of exercise programs in this population," Lucia and colleagues conclude.

SOURCE: International Journal of Sports Medicine, July 2006.

treadmills

Metabolism: It's Just Science

Posted by Gabrielle Reece
on Tue, Jul 25, 2006, 11:17 am PDT

Want to boost your metabolism? Be a musclehead. All you ladies out there who don't want to get "too big" lifting weights at the gym, listen up.

The one thing that really does help you lose weight or stay slim is how efficiently your metabolism works. So what does resistance training have to do with your metabolism? Science.

The reason an individual becomes overweight is scientific: They're taking in more calories then they're burning. On the rare occasion, it can be attributed to something else, but usually it's that simple. Crazy, huh? All this talk about losing weight and it really comes down to burning more calories or the same amount of calories you consume in a day. Did the heavens just part for you and the light coming shining down? Why have we gotten so far away from the simple truth of it all?

OK, enough preaching-let's get back to your muscles. If you're doing a cardiovascular activity (running, biking, swimming, walking), you burn calories for the duration of the time you're exercising. Now if you build muscles, your muscles become a calorie-burning machine. So let's say you lift weights for an hour. Your muscles will burn calories all day long.

I read about a study done by Tufts University that stated women who resistance trained for 15 weeks increased their metabolic rate by 15%. That's 1% a week! Walk that one around the block.

Why? By building muscle tissue, the ladies create tissue that burns calories even when they're not exercising. That's why when you go on a starvation diet, the first place your body attacks for calories is not the stored fat, it's the healthy yummy muscle tissue. Good stuff, those muscles.

I'm not talking about becoming Arnold. I'm talking about supplementing your exercise life with some form of resistance training. If you're truly paranoid about getting too big, then lift very light weights and do 12 to 15 reps. If you're not doing any kind of sport performance, then do time under tension training. That's where you do an exercise for a minute or two. Time under tension training isn't good for you if you're trying to be explosive (jumping or sprinting). It's not great for the fast twitch muscles. If you're just working out to look good and stay healthy, then it's wonderful. Any weight you can lift for 2 minutes isn't going to make you big. Trust me. Muscle is your metabolism and butt's friend. Love muscles.

If you want to take care of your metabolism function, then try to get decent sleep and don't skip meals (especially breakfast). You start off your day behind the metabolic eight ball if you skip the first meal of the day. Your body spends the rest of the day playing catch up, and you're not functioning at an optimum level. Once you get this system dialed-eating well, exercising, and adding resistance training to your life-it does become easier. It's like priming the water pump. Yes, you have to work hard in the beginning to get the water out, but once things start flowing, then you just have to tap the handle to get a bucket of water. Look at your calorie burning efficient self the same way.

I will say it one more time before I go-it's just science. Granted, overeating is a tricky emotional topic, but the way to stay a certain weight or get down to a desired number is very straightforward.

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/gabbyguide/311/metabolism-its-just-science

Do You Know Your Brain Foods?

Posted by Cheryl Koch, M.S., R.D.
on Wed, Aug 02, 2006, 11:04 am PDT Post a Comment



Has anyone ever told you that fish is "brain food?" What does this really mean?

It appears there may be some association between the foods we eat and the power of our brain. Just like the rest of our bodies, the brain reacts negatively to a constant intake of high-fat and junk foods and prefers to be nourished by a well-balanced diet.

Studies have documented the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, commonly found in fatty fish, in lessening the damage wrought by dementia. One study showed that eating at least one fish meal per week may significantly lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Fish is not the only food that has been linked to improved brain power. There are also benefits to eating a balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and fiber. Other touted brain foods are the brightest colored fruits and vegetables, such as blueberries, strawberries, prunes, raspberries and blackberries, because antioxidants found in them have been linked to improved memory. In addition, foods containing B vitamins or magnesium are crucial to ensuring normal brain and nerve function. Both of these nutrients are often found in whole grains and in enriched and whole grain products such as bread, rice, pasta and fortified cereals.

Finally, remember that just like the rest of your body, your brain needs energy, which it prefers to get from glucose. This may be one reason why some people who follow a low-carbohydrate diet report feeling sluggish. Just like every other aspect of nutrition, balance and moderation are the keys. Consider using the MyPyramid guidelines to help you eat your way to a healthier brain!

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/weightkoch/6250/do-you-know-your-brain-foods

Study: Exercise OK for mild hypertension


By ALEX DOMINGUEZ, Associated Press Writer
Sun Aug 13, 2:03 PM ET


BALTIMORE - The short-term spike in blood pressure that comes with moderate exercise doesn't harm the hearts of healthy older people with mild hypertension, new research shows.

"There has been some hesitation on the part of individuals when they have high blood pressure to do exercise," said Dr. Kerry Stewart, the study's lead author and director of clinical and research exercise physiology at Johns Hopkins University Heart Institute.

"Among people who are otherwise healthy except for mild hypertension — which represents an awful lot of people — the message is, after a proper screening, participating in an exercise program appears to be beneficial."

Long-term high blood pressure is known to cause enlargement and stiffening of the heart, but the brief rise in blood pressure from regular exercise doesn't have the same effect, researchers found.

The hearts of the most active study participants did increase modestly in size, but it was comparable to that experienced by athletes and was accompanied by improved heart function and not stiffening, Stewart said.

Although the benefits of exercise have long been known, the researchers believe the study is the first to evaluate the effects of exercise on heart function — how much blood fills the heart with each beat and how much it pumps.

For six months, researchers tracked 104 men and women between the ages of 55 and 75 with untreated mild high blood pressure. Half exercised for an hour three times a week while the others maintained their normal routine.

The exercise included an aerobic workout, either on a stationary bicycle or a treadmill, and weightlifting.

Exercisers showed no negative effects in 11 measures of diastolic heart function, the filling of the heart's main chamber between beats. As a whole, the exercise group also showed no increase in eight measures of heart size, although the most active showed a modest increase.

The exercisers' oxygen intake rose and they lost an average of four pounds, with fat loss offset by gains in muscle mass. Abdominal fat, meanwhile, was reduced 20 percent among exercisers, the researchers reported. Non-exercisers had either no improvement, or significantly less improvement.

The research is part of a larger study of the effects of exercise on blood pressure, heart structure and cardiovascular function. Results of the Johns Hopkins findings were published in the July issue of the journal Heart.

Dr. Ares Pasipoularides, a professor emeritus at Duke University who was formerly with Duke's Center for Emerging Cardiovascular Technologies, said it was not clear whether the exercise or the weight loss was responsible for the improved heart function in the most active group.

"When people are lean, among other things, it improves the respiration. When we improve the respiration you improve cardiac function by many different mechanisms," said Pasipoularides, who did not work on the study.

Stewart noted that the volunteers' exercise was equivalent to brisk walking with weight training.

"We're not talking about running a marathon and we're not talking about doing the Tour de France, it was about an hour of what we would call moderate exercise," Stewart said.

For study participant Joanna Kann, 62, that moderate exercise was more than she had ever done.

"They kind of taught us we could do more than we ever thought," said Kann, who still exercises and has kept her blood pressure down. "We all could barely drive home afterward. While we were exhausted it was really an incredible experience."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060813/ap_on_he_me/fitness_blood_pressure

Gates stresses search for HIV vaccine
AP - Sun Aug 13, 11:04 PM ET

TORONTO - Bill and Melinda Gates, whose foundation has contributed $1.9 billion to fight AIDS, said Sunday that the search for HIV prevention drugs that would empower women could be the "next big breakthrough" in combating the disease. The couple joined more than 24,000 scientists, activists, celebrities, HIV-positive people and humanitarians from 132 countries for a conference on how to combat the disease that has killed 25 million people since the first case was reported a quarter of a century ago.

..........................

AP - Sun Aug 13, 9:40 PM ET Bill and Melinda Gates address the opening ceremonies for the AIDS 2006 conference in Toronto,Canada Sunday Aug. 13, 2006. (AP PHOTO/CP, Nathan Denette)