Datasets:

saikat02004

/

criteria_1

like 0

"Women who get routine mammograms can lower their risk of dying from breast cancer by nearly half a new Dutch study suggests. Our study adds further to the evidence that mammography screening unambiguously reduces breast cancer mortality said Dr. Suzie Otto a senior researcher in the department of public health at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam the Netherlands. The routine screening also lowered the chances of being diagnosed with an advanced cancer she said. The study appears online Dec. in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention. Mammography screening including the best schedule and the best age to begin is being hotly debated in the United States and elsewhere. Some experts think women should start getting them at age . Other think women should discuss the pros and cons of the test at decide on an individual basis and start screens routinely at . Ottos study only looked at women aged and older. Otto tracked patients who died from breast cancer from to and another control patients matched by age and other measures. Among the women with breast cancer nearly percent of tumors were found at screening and about percent between screens. Nearly percent of these women had never had a mammogram. Advanced tumors were found in about percent of the patients who had never been screened but in just over percent of those who had mammograms. Women who underwent screening reduced their risk of dying from breast cancer by percent. Women aged to had the greatest risk reduction reducing the risk of dying from breast cancer by percent. The risk reduction in younger women aged to was smaller at percent but still considered substantial. The greater risk reduction in women aged to Otto said is probably a result of the longterm good effects of screening participation in the earlier target age group to before the upper age limit for screening was extended in the Netherlands from to . The study findings add to the body of evidence supporting the fact that mammography matters in improving detection and survival said Dr. Stephanie Bernik chief of surgical oncology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. This study focuses on survival. The study however has some limitations Bernik noted. Its not clear for instance whether the women who died of cancer got less aggressive treatment or refused treatment. That could have affected survival of course. Mammography does lead to overtreatment in some cases Bernik acknowledged. Some cancers that are found on mammography may not have proven to be an issue in a womans lifetime. But there is no way to figure out which cancers will be a problem or not she said. More information To learn more about mammograms visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services http SOURCES Suzie Otto Ph.D. senior researcher department of public health Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam the Netherlands Stephanie Bernik M.D. chief surgical oncology Lenox Hill Hospital New York City Dec. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention online"

"Breastconserving surgery for early stage breast cancers may result in better survival than mastectomy according to a new study. For those with early stage breast cancer lumpectomy is just as effective if not more effective than mastectomy said researcher Dr. Shelley Hwang chief of breast surgery at Duke Cancer Institute in Durham N.C. There are lots of women who think the more treatment they do the better they will do she said. This refutes that. The findings published online Jan. in the journal Cancer are especially strong for women over with hormonesensitive cancers the researchers found. Earlier research had also concluded that the two procedures are similarly effective but Hwangs is a more realworld study. Hwangs team looked at years of data from the California Cancer Registry following more than women with early stage breast cancer stages or between and . Ages ranged from to . More than half percent had lumpectomy and radiation while percent had mastectomy complete breast removal alone. Hwang compared lumpectomy and radiation with mastectomy alone not mastectomy plus radiation. We wanted to look at early stage disease and those patients typically dont get radiation after mastectomy she said. The researchers tracked the womens progress for a median of more than nine years half followed longer half less. During that time more than women died nearly percent of them from breast cancer. The others died of other causes. For the first three years after treatment those who had a mastectomy had a higher risk of dying from heart disease and other ailments than those who had lumpectomy. This may indicate that the women who underwent lumpectomy were generally healthier Hwang said. Over the entire followup those who underwent lumpectomy were more likely to survive the breast cancer. The group that benefited the most who had the biggest difference in breast cancer survival were those women over with estrogenreceptor positive disease Hwang said. This means their cancer depends on estrogen to grow. Among those women the lumpectomy group had a percent lower risk of death from breast cancer and a percent lower risk of death from any cause than those who had a mastectomy. Not all women with early stage breast cancers can have a lumpectomy Hwang said. In this procedure just the tumor and some healthy tissue are removed sparing the rest of the breast. Among the exceptions are those whose cancers are too large or those who have different cancers in the same breast. The percent of women with early breast cancers choosing a mastectomy has risen recently after a dip in previous years. Hwang and others suspect that women told they could safely opt for lumpectomy were still afraid to try it. The new research which was funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute suggests that if a lumpectomy is possible it may actually increase survival Hwang said. The findings may reverse the mastectomy trend said Dr. Laura Kruper codirector of the breast oncology program at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte Calif. who was not involved in the study. The study is scientifically sound in many ways Kruper said. They broke it down by year of diagnosis and by age category she said. They looked at socioeconomic status and they kept it early stage. Dr. Wendy Woodward section chief for breast radiation oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston said that for women with early cancers the study clearly reiterates there is no detriment to cancer control in having a lumpectomy and radiation for breastconserving surgery candidates. But Woodward added I am not sure the study convinces us that lumpectomy and radiation is better for breast cancer survival but it may be. The study was observational Hwang stressed. It found a link or association but could not provide causeandeffect proof that the breastconserving treatment is more effective than mastectomy in early stage breast cancer. Hwang believes the study does arm women with valuable information. However I dont want women who chose mastectomy to think they did the wrong thing Hwang said. At the end of the day personal preference trumps everything else. I fully support the patients options to choose the best treatment for themselves. More information To learn more about lumpectomy visit the American Cancer Society. SOURCES E. Shelley Hwang M.D. M.P.H. chief breast surgery Duke Cancer Institute Durham N.C. Wendy Woodward M.D. Ph.D. section chief for breast radiation oncology and associate professor University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston Laura Kruper M.D. M.P.H. director Cooper Finkel Womens Health Center and codirector breast oncology program City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center Duarte Calif. Cancer Jan."

"The Pap test has already reduced the incidence of cervical cancer by more than httpsreport.nih.govnihfactsheetsviewfactsheet.aspxcsid. Now it may become a key step in the early detection of two other gynecological malignancies ovarian and endometrial cancers that have been notorious killers because theyre typically caught so late. A new study has found that by genetically analyzing the harvest of cells from a Pap smear doctors could identify of endometrial cancers and of ovarian cancers. Some of those cancers were in their earliest stages when theyre more likely to respond to treatment. When the Johns Hopkins University researchers tested an alternative means of collecting cells a longer brush that sweeps cells from the lining of the uterus they positively identified endometrial cancer in of cases and ovarian cancer in of cases. And when they added a blood test to the ovarian cancer screening regimen they were able to detect that deadly cancer in of patients who had it. Having the possibility to detect these cancers earlier is very exciting said Dr. Nickolas Papadopoulos https a coauthor of the study httpstm.sciencemag.orglookupdoi.scitranslmed.aap which was published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Its the latest example of how scientists hope to detect cancer earlier and with greater precision by looking in blood and other easily accessible fluids for cells that bear the telltale genetic mutations of cancer. While such liquid biopsies have not yet made their way into widespread use they hold the promise of revolutionizing cancer screening. In January the same research team presented promising findings http in the journal Science on a blood test called CancerSEEK thats capable of detecting malignancies of the liver stomach pancreas esophagus colon lung and breast. Earlier this week they published findings httpselifesciences.orgarticles in the journal eLife on a urine test to detect cancers of the urothelial tract or urinary bladder. As a screening test for cervical cancer the Pap smear has been a staple of gynecological checkups for more than six decades. Its named for Dr. George Papanicolaou the physician who first showed that cancerous cells of the cervix could be detected by microscopic inspection. The Pap test has dramatically driven down deaths from cervical cancer https which used to be one of the most common cancers in women. However the test does a poor job of detecting endometrial or ovarian cancer which together kills about women in the United States each year. Women thought to be at high risk of those cancers are sometimes screened with a blood test that detects an immune system biomarker called CA or with a transvaginal ultrasound that looks for telltale thickening of the uterus endometrial wall. But those tests fail to detect many cancers and also send up a lot of false alarms. So theyre frequently not used until a woman complains of symptoms. The result is often a diagnosis at an advanced stage when treatments are more invasive and less likely to be successful. Tumor cells from ovarian and endometrial cancers shed and are carried into the uterine cavity and endocervical canal where they can be collected with the Tao brush or the Pap brush. Y. Wang et al. Science Translational Medicine In the new study the researchers measured the accuracy of their PapSeek test on women. They already knew that of the women were free of either cancer and of them had either ovarian or endometrial cancer. Researchers collected cervical fluid samples with a Pap smear brush and a slightly longer tool called a Tao brush which reaches beyond the cervix and into the uterus nearer to where ovarian and endometrial cancers take hold. Then they used the PapSeek test to sequence the samples focusing on genes that tend to develop mutations in those cancers. The test also checked the samples for aneuploidy the presence of abnormal numbers of chromosomes in cells. When the researchers used the longer Tao brush they were able to detect endometrial cancer in all but of the women who had the disease and close to half of the ovarian cancers. Combined with the fact that these tests were performed with a mere swipe of the uterine wall these measures of sensitivity the ability to detect cancers that are actually there represent a major improvement over the screening tests currently available. When they supplemented the analysis of Pap and Tao brush samples with a hunt for mutated cells in the womens blood they were able to detect ovarian cancer in well over half of those who had it. When endometrial and ovarian cancers are especially aggressive and when they have progressed to advanced stages they are easier to find with existing screening methods. But an important measure of a tests usefulness is whether it can detect the most aggressive types of cancer before they have metastasized. By that measure too the PapSeek test looked promising. When it was used to scan the Tao brush samples it identified of the highgrade endometrial cancers in patients while their malignancy was still confined to the endometrium. It was also able to identify of those with highgrade ovarian cancers before they had spread. Just as important the tests were remarkably good at avoiding falsepositive signals which would needlessly alarm women and lead to riskier and moreinvasive tests to confirm a diagnosis. For both types of cancer the PapSeek tests specificity its ability to accurately recognize the absence of disease approached . Papadopoulos said he was surprised and heartened that the Pap test or a close variant of it could be repurposed to look for gynecological cancers that are typically caught way too late. While the team hopes to improve the tests sensitivity he said that even this early version would likely boost womens chances of earlier detection by a considerable margin. It doesnt have to be perfect to help at least some women who might otherwise die of these stealthy cancers Papadopoulos said. Women are already used to having Pap smears and everyone can give a vial of blood. ."

"We all know what aging looks like from the outside wrinkled skin gray hair a growing need to turn up the volume on Jeopardy. But in recent years scientists have made some breakthrough discoveries about how we age on the inside right down to our genes. The science of aging has created a glimmer of hope that we could someday slow the process a dream that has already spread beyond the lab to the marketplace. Antiaging research used to be mainly about finding new ways to get lab mice to take their vitamins. But if you visited a lab today youd be more likely to hear scientists talking excitedly about telomeres protective strands of DNA at the end of chromosomes that seem to play an important some would say crucial role in aging. Whenever a healthy cell divides the telomeres get a little shorter. In fact you could tell a lot about the age of a person simply by looking at the length of his or her telomeres. Studies have found that in people older than short telomeres are one sign that the end may be relatively near Older people with short telomeres seem to be especially vulnerable to disease including heart disease and infections. But telomeres arent as reliable as a clock or even a tree ring. Recent studies suggest that you can help your telomeres stay relatively long and youthful if you get regular exercise eat a healthful diet and avoid stress. At a time when people are willing to spend big bucks to look and feel younger its not surprising that telomeres have become a buzzword in the supplement industry. One expensive option TA supposedly works by stimulating telomerase a natural enzyme that helps restore telomeres after a cell divides. The TA stands for telomerase activator. Created by Geron Corp. a biotech research company TA contains extracts of astragalus an herb often used as an immunitybooster in traditional Chinese medicine. Although TA is legally classified as a dietary supplement TA Sciences the company that bought the licensing rights from Geron makes it available only through select doctors who have paid a fee and have passed a test on telomere biology. Seven doctors offer TA in California including two in Los Angeles according to the company website. When TA was first released in patients spent a year on the supplement and accompanying tests. Now patients spend to for a sixmonth supply depending on the dose. The company recommends taking the supplement for two years. Patients must spend an additional on doctors fees and they have the option of spending several hundred to a couple of thousand dollars more on tests to check the results. Reneuve a supplement sold online supposedly lengthens telomeres by giving users an extralarge dose of telomerase. You wont see telomerase in the list of ingredients but Reneuve does offer select proprietary glandular extracts from pig thymuses that provide enough telomerase enzyme for the cellular infrastructure of one adult. A single milliliter vial of Reneuve purchased through the company website costs . Users are instructed to drink the vial in a single sitting perhaps with some Mountain Dew or Gatorade. The effects are said to last six months. Claims The TA Science website says the company is the first and only in the world to offer TelomeraseActivating products to combat the effects of aging through leadingedge science. Company founder Noel Patton says Our product is not the fountain of youth. You wont miraculously turn into a yearold again. But it is a fountain of youth for certain cells. Specifically Patton says the product will strengthen and rejuvenate the immune system. He points to an unpublished companyrun study that compared an astragalus supplement similar to TA to a placebo in men ages to . The study reportedly found that men who took the supplement for six months developed stronger immune system cells better eyesight improved sexual satisfaction and youngerlooking skin. He also says that tests paid for by patients show that the supplement improves bone density cognitive function cholesterol levels and control of blood sugar. The Reneuve website says the product uses Nobel Prizewinning technology to supply immunesystem enhancing and antiaging enzymes to the body. It also says that thanks to Reneuve aging is now a choice not a fact. Rasjesh Sharma the chief scientific officer of Reneuve declined to be interviewed but said in an email that the supplement helps replace the telomerase that people make naturally until they turn . The bottom line"

"It takes up to years and billion for a new drug to make it through testing and earn approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration FDA. Before researchers try a compound on humans its tested at labs in petri dishes and on animals such as mice and monkeys. More often than not these studies produce mixed data that dont tell researchers much about whether it is safe and effective for humans. For some time scientists have been searching for ways to cut down on the cost and failure rate of drug testing. Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a beautiful solution httpwyss.harvard.eduviewpage OrgansOnChips. The clear and flexible polymer microchips are lined with human cells. Each one represents a different human organ system such as lungs heart and intestines. The institutes goal is to create different organ systems that can be joined together by blood vessel channels to simulate human physiology on a microscale and provide a cheaper more reliable way to test new drugs. The sophisticated architecture of these organsonchipswhich are about the size of a thumb drivehas also earned the Wyss Institute recognition in the art world with a Design of the Year award from the Design Museum and placement in the Museum of Modern Arts permanent collection. The real power of this approach is that you have a window to the inner workings of life says Don Ingber founding director of the Wyss Institute and a professor of Vascular Biology and of Bioengineering at Harvard University. Anything you can ask at the molecular level we could do in our chips. In the team built and tested its first organoid chip to mimic the mechanical function of human lungs. It contains tiny channels separated by a porous membrane to create two distinct hollow passagewaysone lined with human lung cells and the other with capillary blood vessel cells. Air is suctioned through the side channels to emulate breathing. Ingber and his team introduced bacteria into the chips lung channel and white blood cells into the capillary channel. They observed that the white blood cells permeated the membrane and attacked the bacteria in the lung cell channelexactly what would happen in human lungs fighting off an infection. In another experiment the team at Wyss filled a chips lung cell channel with interleukin a chemotherapy drug known to cause pulmonary edema an accumulation of fluid in the lungs. When air entered the lung cell channel the channel filled with fluid and then blood clotsexactly what happens in the lungs of patients who develop this lifethreatening condition. This proved the chips could provide real world information to scientists studying the effects of new drug compounds. The project has received support from the National Institutes of Health and the FDA. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency also recently awarded the institute a million grant to create chips representing nearly all systems in the body. Ingber says some scientists are interested in using the chips to conduct research that would be unethical if performed on people such as studying the effects of gamma radiation on the human body. Of course the chips have limitations. We cant mimic consciousness we cant mimic compression on a joint says Ingber. Danilo Tagle associate director for special initiatives at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences a division of the NIH is spearheading a similar organonchip project. He suspects that in the beginning the chips will be used to complement and supplement animal studies but will eventually become routine practice. The chips will also provide researchers with information on dosing at a much earlier stage in drug studiesparticularly helpful because animals metabolize chemical substances at a different rate than humans. You can go forward with a candidate drug with greater assurance and confidence that it will have the desired effect on humans says Tagle. Biology is very complex. Incorporating the chips into drug testing could save millions of dollars and years of time on research. Some companies are already trying out the concept. Janssen Pharmaceuticals Company a subsidiary of Johnson Johnson is using a version of the chips to understand how blood clots in the lungs. The information is essential to reduce the risk for this side effect of oncology drugs. Though there still arent enough data to prove the chips are reliable enough to put rodents out of a job Ingber says its only a matter of time they hope to have them tested and ready for market in two years. The FDA has been very supportive he says. Theyve told us if they are as good as animals that they would consider accepting data provided by a drug company from one of these models rather than an animal model."

"Offering your baby a special formula when weaning off breastfeeding may offer some protection against the development of the antibodies associated with type diabetes if you have a family history of the disease new research suggests. When Finnish researchers randomly assigned babies at high risk of type diabetes to receive either a regular infant formula or one that was extensively hydrolyzed which means the proteins in the formula are already partially broken down and more readily available for digestion they found that the extensively hydrolyzed formula cut the rate of developing diabeteslinked antibodies in the blood by about half. We observed that early dietary intervention with extensively hydrolyzed formula decreased the frequency of diabetesassociated autoantibodies which are markers of an ongoing disease process by about percent by the age of years said the studys lead author Dr. Michael Knip a professor of pediatrics at the Hospital for Children and Adolescents in Helsinki Finland. The results of the study were published in the Nov. issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Type diabetes is an autoimmune disease which means the bodys immune system mistakenly turns against healthy insulinproducing cells in the pancreas instead of a foreign material such as bacteria. No one knows for sure what causes this process to begin but some research suggests that the initial autoimmunity may begin early in life. Five immune system autoantibodies have been linked to type diabetes. Having one of these antibodies isnt a guarantee that youll develop type diabetes but it does indicate an increased risk for the disease. People who have two or more type antibodies have between a and percent risk of developing type diabetes according to background information in the study. Previous research has suggested that breastfeeding may offer some protection against the development of these antibodies possibly because breastfeeding delays the introduction of infant formula which contains complex proteins. Formula may somehow trigger the development of autoantibodies as these proteins are broken down for digestion. The current study was randomized and doubleblind meaning neither the parents nor the researchers knew who was getting what and compared regular baby formula to one that was made easier for babies to digest because the proteins were broken down extensively hydrolyzed. Babies were offered the formula during the first to months of life any time breastfeeding wasnt available. They were then followed till they were about years old according to the study. After adjusting the data to try to account for the duration of exposure to one of the study formulas the researchers found that the extensively hydrolyzed formula reduced the risk of having one diabetes autoantibody by percent and the risk of having two or more autoantibodies by percent. How the highly hydrolyzed formula might reduce the risk of developing diabetespredictive antibodies is unknown but the researchers speculated that it might contribute to reduced gut permeability or changes in gut microflora among other things. According to Knip the takehome message from the study is that it is possible to reduce considerably the initiation of the diabetes disease process in atrisk children in a simple and safe way weaning to an extensively hydrolyzed formula. He added that based on the current results we think that it is justified to recommend weaning to a highly hydrolyzed formula for babies in families with a member affected by type diabetes. Not everyone agreed with that notion however. The data in this study is not sufficiently strong to support recommending any changes for parents said the author of an accompanying editorial Dr. David Harlan codirector of the Diabetes Center of Excellence at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. I think the authors designed this study to address their hypothesis that proteins present in nonhydrolyzed formula might incite an immune response and by breaking them down you might eliminate the immune response. But there are quite a few steps between that and how the immune system or diabetes are triggered added Harlans editorial coauthor Dr. Mary Lee a professor of pediatrics and cell biology and chief of the pediatric endocrine division at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center. I think this is an important study because we need to understand what causes type diabetes said Harlan who added the caveat In this study while there is an apparent signal there are also some causes for withholding complete faith in the conclusion that the formula caused diabetes. Both Lee and Harlan stressed that there is currently no definitive evidence to suggest that the use of standard cows milk formulas leads to an increased incidence of diabetes compared to breastfeeding. The hydrolyzed formula is also considerably more expensive than standard formula experts point out. More information Learn more about type diabetes from the American Diabetes Association http SOURCES Michael Knip M.D. Ph.D. professor pediatrics the Hospital for Children and Adolescents Helsinki Finland David Harlan M.D. William and Doris Krupp Professor in Medicine and codirector Diabetes Center of Excellence University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center and professor of medicine and pediatrics and Chief Diabetes Division University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester Mass. Mary M. Lee M.D. professor of pediatrics and cell biology and chief pediatric endocrine division University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center Worcester Mass. Nov. New England Journal of Medicine"

"New research finds that a minimally invasive surgical procedure to treat hernias results in less chronic pain and a faster recovery when compared to a traditional approach. One expert however said the older strategy may still be the best option in some cases. Its not onesizefitsall said Dr. L. Michael Brunt a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. One repair isnt appropriate for all circumstances. Hernias occur when part of an internal organ such as the intestines bulges out through muscle. At issue are the surgical approaches that physicians use when a patient suffers from a hernia in the groin. The procedures are designed to reduce the bulge of the hernia and make a patch so it doesnt protrude again. Its as if you had a leak in a tire thats ballooned out Brunt said. Youll patch it to prevent it from continuing to protrude. The study led by researchers at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam the Netherlands examined two procedures. One procedure known as total extraperitoneal inguinal hernioplasty is performed under a general anesthetic and uses a laparoscopic approach through a small opening. It was developed in the s Brunt said. The other approach is older and is performed through a to .inch incision in the groin Brunt said. It can be done under local anesthesia. The study authors didnt examine a third approach known as patch and plug he said. In the study researchers randomly assigned hernia patients to one of the two surgical procedures. Almost all the patients were men and their average age was around . The researchers followed up with percent of the patients after an average period of five years. Hernias recurred in percent of laparoscopic and percent of the traditionalprocedure patients. Recurrences decreased to . percent and percent respectively if the procedures were performed by experienced surgeons. After five years percent of those who had the traditional procedure reported chronic pain compared to percent of the laparoscopic group. The study confirms what a lot of surgeons who do both procedures know already Brunt said. Theres less pain and a bit of a faster recovery from the laparoscopic procedure. Still the vast majority of patients do well regardless of the approach he said. Why use the traditional approach if the laparoscopic technique is better in some ways The traditional approach may be appropriate when its too risky to place patients under general anesthesia Brunt said such as in elderly patients and those with multiple health problems. Brunt said the costs of the two procedures are comparable although the laparoscopic procedure may cost more. The findings appear in the March issue of the Archives of Surgery. More information For more about hernias http try the U.S. National Library of Medicine. SOURCES L. Michael Brunt M.D. professor surgery Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis March Archives of Surgery"

"Eating a Mediterranean diet can slow down cognitive decline. The Mediterranean diet can improve your mind as well your heart shows a study published in the openaccess journal Frontiers in Nutrition httpjournal.frontiersin.orgarticle.fnut..full. By sticking to the Mediterranean diet the study showed that people had slowed rates of cognitive decline reduced conversion to Alzheimers and improved cognitive function. The main foods in the Mediterranean diet MedDiet include plant foods such as leafy greens fresh fruit and vegetables cereals beans seeds nuts and legumes. The MedDiet is also low in dairy has minimal red meat and uses olive oil as its major source of fat. Leading author Roy Hardman from the Centre for Human Psychopharmacology Swinburne University of Technology Melbourne Australia and his colleagues evaluated all the available papers between that investigated if and how a MedDiet may impact cognitive processes over time. In total out of the articles met their strict inclusion criteria. The most surprising result was that the positive effects were found in countries around the whole world. So regardless of being located outside of what is considered the Mediterranean region the positive cognitive effects of a higher adherence to a MedDiet were similar in all evaluated papers he said. Attention memory and language improved. Memory in particular was positively affected by the MedDiet including improvements in delayed recognition longterm and working memory executive function and visual constructs. Why is a higher adherence to the MedDiet related to slowing down the rate of cognitive decline The MedDiet offers the opportunity to change some of the modifiable risk factors he explained. These include reducing inflammatory responses increasing micronutrients improving vitamin and mineral imbalances changing lipid profiles by using olive oils as the main source of dietary fats maintaining weight and potentially reducing obesity improving polyphenols in the blood improving cellular energy metabolism and maybe changing the gut microbiota although this has not been examined to a larger extent yet. Moreover the benefits to cognition afforded by the MedDiet were not exclusive to older individuals. Two of the included studies focused on younger adults and they both found improvements in cognition using computerized assessments. The researchers stress that research in this area is important due to the expected extensive population aging over the next years. They envision that the utilization of a dietary pattern such as the MedDiet will be an essential tool to maintain quality of life and reduce the potential social and economic burdens of manifested cognitive declines like dementia. I would therefore recommend people to try to adhere or switch to a MedDiet even at an older age Hardman added. Like many researchers Hardman takes his research home I follow the diet patterns and do not eat any red meats chicken or pork. I have fish twothree times per week and adhere to a Mediterranean style of eating. SEE ORIGINAL STUDY httpdx.doi.org.fnut.."

"Countless people often men with enlarged prostates need to visit the bathroom during the night. But help could soon be at hand in the form of a nasal spray new research suggests. A spritz of a synthetic hormone already used by bedwetting kids might benefit older people struggling with the problem called nocturia. Nocturia is very common in patients over years old and can cause significant problems by causing loss of sleep and injury due to falls said study lead author Dr. Jed Kaminetsky. The millions of people with nocturia wake up two or more times a night to urinate. Besides an enlarged prostate Kaminetsky said common causes are bladder problems poor circulation and obesity. Kaminetsky is a clinical assistant professor of urology at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. In the United States theres no approved drug to treat the problem the study authors said. The new drug while promising is of concern because of its potential to lower blood sodium levels in the elderly one doctor said. Meanwhile another researcher suggested that exercise might help stave off nocturia. Known as SER the nasal spray contains desmopressin a lowdose synthetic version of the naturally occurring hormone vasopressin. Vasopressin an antidiuretic reduces urine production. SER appears to delay urine production for four to six hours during sleep said Kaminetsky and wears off by morning when patients awaken and start to drink fluids. He is scheduled to present his teams research Sunday in San Diego at a meeting of the American Urological Association. The research was funded by the sprays manufacturer Serenity Pharmaceuticals. Desmopressin is commonly used to treat bedwetting among children ages and up the study authors pointed out. To assess its potential in adults the study team enlisted nearly men and women and older who had a history of nocturia. For three months participants were randomly assigned to use either the desmopressin spray two doses were tried or a nonmedicinal spray a placebo. Patients kept threeday urination diaries and filled out qualityoflife questionnaires. Desmopressin spray prompted a significant decrease in the frequency of nightly bathroom trips compared with the untreated group Kaminetsky said. On average patients reported at least two fewer episodes a night. The treatment group also experienced a significant increase in the length of time they could sleep before awakening to urinate. That uninterrupted sleep period extended to more than four hours Kaminetsky said. The researchers also found that those in the higherdose spray group experienced a significant improvement in overall quality of life compared with the untreated group. Though SER is still considered investigational Kaminetsky said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the findings with a possible decision late this year. Dr. Tomas Griebling a professor of urology at the University of Kansas described the study results as promising but added a note of caution. Other researchers have examined the utility and safety of desmopressin for the treatment of nocturia in the past he said. However there have been concerns about safety particularly in elderly patients. Griebling said the American Geriatrics Society includes desmopressin in the Beers Criteria for potentially inappropriate medications for older adults primarily because of concerns about resulting low blood sodium levels. But the lower doses used in this study . or . mcg may help to improve the overall safety profile particularly for geriatric patients he said. Additional research will be needed to fully answer this question in the future. The study team said two of the higherdose patients developed significantly low blood sodium levels hyponatremia as did one person taking the placebo. Dr. Julien Dagenais a urologist at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston explored nocturia from another angle. He analyzed physical activity data reported by more than men and women aged and older in a U.S. health and nutrition survey conducted between and . People who reported higher levels of exercise were less likely to suffer from nocturia Dagenais found. This suggests that the antiinflammatory impact of routine exercise may minimize nocturia he said. These findings will also be presented at the American Urological Association meeting. Data and conclusions presented at meetings are usually considered preliminary until published in a peerreviewed journal. More information Theres more on nocturia at the National Association for Continence http SOURCES Jed Kaminetsky M.D. clinical assistant professor department of urology NYU Langone Medical Center New York City Tomas L. Griebling M.D. MPH senior associate dean for medical education and professor urology and faculty associate Landon Center on Aging University of Kansas School of Medicine Kansas City American Urological Association meeting San Diego May"

"When it comes to infertility the burden seems to often fall on women. Theyre poked and prodded and scoped in an effort to figure out whats complicating conception. While its just as likely that infertility is related to the male half of the couple only of men in duos struggling to make a baby get a spermcount analysis early on or at all according to data from SpermCheck Fertility http which earlier this month announced the availability of its athome screening test for men. SpermCheck which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration assesses sperm count with accuracy in minutes and does away with the unpleasantness of conjuring up a sperm sample in a doctors office. As SpermChecks website http puts it a trip to a fertility clinic for a semen analysis is not for everyone. These tests can be expensive costing hundreds of dollars and not typically covered by insurance inconvenient and are often embarrassing. MORE Sonicated Sperm Could Ultrasound Be the Next Male Contraceptive httphealthland.time.comsonicspermcouldultrasoundbethenextmalecontraceptive Low sperm count or oligospermia is a main cause of male infertility. By addressing the issue SpermCheck will join a crowded infertility market that includes more than types of femalefertility tests in Walgreen stores alone. For women who are having trouble getting pregnant the test may very well be one they and not their squeamish partners snap up along with overthecounter ovulation kits. In our society the woman carries the burden of trying to determine the issues surrounding infertility Ray Lopez CEO of SpermCheck told Bloomberg News http Men dont say Let me go to the urologist and give a semen sample. That reluctance has created a millionayear market for male fertility tests in the U.S. Lopez says. The test reveals whether sperm count appears normal at million or more sperm per ml lower than that indicates a trip to the doctor is pretty much unavoidable. Stores will begin stocking the . test in April until then men or their partners can find it online at http and http MORE The Sperm Bike Cycling to Drum Up Sperm Donations httphealthland.time.comthespermbikecyclingtodrumupspermdonors It relies on scrutiny of a particular protein found only in the head of mature sperm the protein was discovered by John Herr director of the Center of Cell Biology at the University of Virginia and the chairman of SpermCheck. This athome test was created to meet the needs of couples who are considering and just planning on starting a family those currently having trouble conceiving says Herr and even those men who are just curious about their sperm count. Wouldbe virile men just curious about their sperm count Hard to believe. And yet assuming fertility aids of some sort successfully pave the way to parenthood SpermCheck could also prove of some use at the other end of the spectrum the company also manufactures a doityourself test for postvasectomy screening."

"For years negative reports have surrounded artificial sweeteners claiming evidence of everything from being a carcinogen to causing cardiovascular disease. But now new research suggests a popular sugar substitute could lead to new treatments for some of the most common types of cancers. In findings presented at the National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society ACS a team of researchers from the University of Florida College of Medicine examined how saccharin the artificial sweetener that is the main ingredient in Sweet N Low Sweet Twin and Necta reacted with a protein found in aggressive cancer cells. The protein called carbonic anhydrase IX CA IX regulates pH in and around cancer cells allowing tumors to thrive and potentially metastasize to other parts of the body. It is found in a wide range of aggressive cancers including breast lung liver prostate pancreatic and kidney cancer. If you disrupt this pH balance via blocking CA IX activity you can stop these cancer cells from growing and proliferating study author Brian Mahon a graduate research assistant at the University of Florida told FoxNews.com. Mahon said the research stemmed from a study from the University of Florence in Italy that suggested saccharin would selectively block the activity of CA IX. He said his team led by University of Floridas Dr. Robert McKenna wanted to further investigate saccharins effect in treating cancer. It never ceases to amaze me how a simple molecule such as saccharin something many people put in their coffee every day may have untapped uses including as a possible lead compound to target aggressive cancers McKenna said. CA IX is not normally found in healthy human cells. McKenna said thats why its a prime target for anticancer drugs as they would cause little to no side effects to healthy tissue surrounding the tumor. Previous attempts to find an element that blocks CA IX without damaging other cells have been unsuccessful. Researchers used Xray crystallography to determine how saccharin binds to CA IX and are using that information to develop ways to finetune and improve its anticancer treatment potential. The goal is to develop drugs that could slow the growth of these cancers and potentially make them less resistant to chemo or radiation therapies. Currently saccharins effects are being tested on breast and liver cancer cells. This result opens up the potential to develop a novel anticancer drug that is derived from a common condiment that could have a lasting impact on treating several cancers McKenna said. Researchers warn the findings dont warrant adding large quantities of artificial sweeteners to your diet but they say their findings may offer promise for the development of an anticancer drug derived from an ingredient that ironically was once considered a possible carcinogen."

"A new blood test may be as accurate as a test requiring a painful spinal tap for differentiating Parkinsons disease from similar disorders according to a study httpneurology.orglookupdoi.WNL. published Wednesday in Neurology the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Parkinsons disease is a neurological disorder that can cause tremors stiffness slowness of movement trouble balancing problems walking and difficulty coordinating movement. Less obvious symptoms include depression insomnia anxiety fatigue and constipation. Neurological disorders that mimic the symptoms of Parkinsons disease are called atypical parkinsonism disorders. Many doctors cannot tell whether a patient has Parkinsons disease or atypical parkinsonism. This can be very challenging especially during the early stages of the diseases and if the responsible doctor is not a neurologist specialized in movement disorders said Dr. Oskar Hansson lead author of the new study a neurologist and an associate professor at Lund University in Sweden. Nonspecialists do not really know exactly what questions to ask the patient and the special signs to look for Hansson wrote in an email. Yet patients with atypical disorders usually have a much worse prognosis with faster disease progression with more disabling symptoms than Parkinsons patients so early identification is crucial. The correct diagnosis is also key to treatment since most patients with atypical parkinsonism disorders do not respond well to dopaminetargeting medications that are usually prescribed for Parkinsons patients Hansson said. Validating a new biomarker Hansson and his colleagues developed a blood test that is essentially a variation on an existing test capable of detecting neurofilament light chain protein in spinal fluid. This protein is a component of nerve cells and when these cells die it can be detected in both spinal fluid and blood. Because spinal fluid is not easily obtained by a primary care doctor this diagnostic test is not very useful so Hansson developed a blood test and investigated its accuracy in the new study. When validating a new biomarker for disease one should always analyze at least two different groups of patients and controls to make sure that the results are reproducible said Hansson who added that participants should also include both early and latestage patients established at different clinics. All told a total of people with Parkinsons and healthy volunteers serving as a comparison group participated in Hanssons study along with patients with atypical parkinsonism disorders. Of these patients had multiple system atrophy which impairs the bodys involuntary functions such as heart rate blood pressure and digestion. Seventy patients had progressive supranuclear palsy which affects movement walking balance speech swallowing vision mood and thinking. And patients had corticobasal degeneration which causes decreased movement on one side of the body muscle rigidity tremor and a disconnection between thought and action. Testing these participants the researchers found that nerve protein levels ranged higher in people with atypical parkinsonism and lower in patients with Parkinsons disease as well as the healthy volunteers. However the test cannot distinguish between the different atypical disorders which doctors must rely on symptoms to diagnose. Blood test accuracy is defined based on sensitivity the percentage of positives that are correctly identified and specificity the percentage of negatives that are correctly identified. In Sweden the blood test had a sensitivity of and a specificity of while in the United Kingdom sensitivity was and specificity . For earlystage study participants generally sensitivity was and specificity was . Overall the blood test showed equal accuracy as the spinal fluid test when diagnosing Parkinsons or an atypical parkinsonism disorder in both early and later stages of disease. Hansson imagines that bloodbased tests will be used in the future in the diagnostic workup of patients with parkinsonism by most doctors who are not very specialized with these movement disorders. He also believes the test will be used by specialists for Parkinsons patients who do not exhibit a very typical symptomatology or do not respond as expected to treatment. Misdiagnosis is common The prevalence of Parkinsons in the general population increases from about at age to by age according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention https_view.htm. Atypical parkinsonism disorders are not as common as Parkinsons disease said Dr. Jeff Bronstein a professor of neurology and director of movement disorders at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He was not involved in the new study. Usually patients are first diagnosed with Parkinsons and only later do their doctors discover that they have one of the more rare neurodegenerative atypical parkinsonism disorders which are most likely to affect people in their s and s and represent approximately to of all cases originally diagnosed as Parkinsons httpjournals.plos.orgplosonearticleid.journal.pone.. Though atypical parkinsonism conditions look very similar to Parkinsons at first they have a different underlying molecular cause according to Bronstein and so it is important to recognize them early in order to treat them properly. Diseasespecific therapies are now in trials so accurate diagnosis is essential in determining if these new treatments work he said. According to Dr. Paul Wright chairman of neurology at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset New York and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park New York the importance of this study is that it brings to light that there are new biomarker tests that can delineate between these neurological diseases. A lot of time people come in and say they or a family member has a tremor and they believe its Parkinsons disease said Wright who also was not involved in the study. This early assumption may impede diagnosis of a less recognized atypical parkinsonism condition. Or a patient has horrible blood pressure fluctuations Wright said and no obvious tremor or rigidity symptoms so a doctor suspects a heart condition. Instead the cause is multiple system atrophy a neurodegenerative disease. Though other symptoms will show up eventually and help in diagnosing the patient in the meantime the patient will be receiving the wrong medicines. An accurate blood test then would be good news in these situations. Its a lot more reassuring to a patient to say were just going to take a blood test to check for a few things Wright said. Its much easier and less anxietyprovoking for patients than taking a spinal tap. Up until now many diseases have been diagnosed based on symptoms with patients asking How do you know I have this Meanwhile doctors are not always correct Wright said. This is true even of Parkinsons which is diagnosed based on symptoms a patients history neurological exams a patients response to medicine and in some cases brain imaging tests. Still Wright is hopeful and believes a biomarker test for Parkinsons will be down the line. ... In general researchers are looking for biomarkers of disease. Specialists and subspecialists are available only in big cities Wright said and access to a simple blood test would enable a correct diagnosis in a primary care office. We always assume theres luxury Wright said. But thats not really whats real in most of the country."

"Men whose prostate cancer comes back after surgery are more likely to survive if along with the usual radiation they also take drugs to block male hormones. The finding published Wednesday http in The New England Journal of Medicine comes from a longrunning study that experts say will help clarify treatment for many patients. After surgery to remove the prostate more than percent of men have a recurrence and until now there has not been clear evidence about the best way to stop the disease from killing them. Most are given radiation but prescribing drugs to counter the effects of male hormones has been inconsistent. The study paid for by the National Cancer Institute showed that among men who received radiation and hormonal treatment . percent were still alive after years compared to . percent who had radiation alone. Advertisement At years the men who had both treatments were also much less likely to have died from their prostate cancer . percent versus . percent or to have the cancer spread around their bodies . percent versus percent. This is a big deal said Dr. Ian M. Thompson Jr. of the Christus Santa Rosa Health System in San Antonio who was not part of the study but wrote an editorial accompanying it http There are so many things we do in prostate cancer that we dont know if they make a big difference in survival. This is one of the things where now we can say for sure. He added that he hoped the findings would change medical practice. The medical term for blocking male hormones is chemical castration and the treatments can cause hot flashes sexual problems and other side effects. So to put a man through it said Dr. Anthony L. Zietman an author of the study youd better have some decent justification. Dr. David F. Penson the chairman of urologic surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center said the study gives more credence to the concept that you have to treat the whole patient rather than just irradiating the area where the cancer used to be. Editors Picks https_id He said the idea of blocking hormones in men like those in the study was finding its way into medical practice. About new cases of prostate cancer and deaths https are expected in the United States in according to the American Cancer Society. The average age at diagnosis is . Globally there were . million cases and deaths httpglobocan.iarc.froldFactSheetscancersprostatenew.asp in the most recent data available from the World Health Organization. The study begun in and led by Dr. William U. Shipley a radiation oncologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital had an ambitious goal to follow the patients long enough to find out whether hormoneblocking treatment would affect their survival. Prostate cancer grows slowly so it took well over a decade for answers to emerge. Researchers and patients from sites in North America participated. The patients were men who had their prostates removed for cancer that had not spread but who then had a sign of recurrence a rise in their blood levels of prostatespecific antigen or PSA a protein associated with prostate cancer. The men in the study had PSAs of . to nanograms per milliliter. Thats just like the first wisp of smoke said Dr. Zietman who is a professor of radiation oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Therell be fire someday. The fire might take five or years to break out but Dr. Zietman said Many are in their s or s and will live long enough to get into trouble. Sign up for Science Times Well bring you stories that capture the wonders of the human body nature and the cosmos. Advertisement The traditional practice for a rising PSA after surgery has been to give radiation which targets only the pelvis. The idea of the study was to add hormonal treatment which might stop minute clumps of cancer that had spread to other parts of the body. All the men in the study had radiation for six and a half weeks. For two years half also received a hormoneblocking drug bicalutamide and the other half were given placebos. They were followed on average for about years. This is the first trial thats shown if you follow these patients long enough there is a real difference Dr. Zietman said. More people survive years later. Men who had more aggressive cancers reflected by higher PSA readings after surgery and by the pathology and surgical reports on their tumors had the most to gain from the hormoneblocking treatment. The results do not mean that every man with a rising PSA after surgery should have hormone treatment Dr. Zietman said. Men or older may not need it because they may die from other causes before the cancer can catch up with them. But if theyre younger and with a longer life expectancy treatment is reasonable he said. Bicalutamide causes men to develop breasts and potentially other problems and the high dose given in the study is no longer used in the United States. Advertisement Other hormoneblocking drugs like Lupron have mostly taken its place and may be even more effective Dr. Zietman said. The study proved the concept that hormone blocking increases survival he added so other drugs that do the same thing should also help patients live longer. Another study in progress in Canada and Europe http uses the newer drugs and is trying to determine whether taking them for six months rather than two years might be enough."

"Proove Biosciences Inc. http announces a new study validating the accuracy of precision medicine technology to predict prescription opioid abuse. This study entitled Evaluation of a Predictive Algorithm that Detects Aberrant Use of Opioids in an Addiction Treatment Centre is published in the peerreviewed Journal of Addiction Research and Therapy Impact Factor . https Distinguished Fellow American Society of Addiction Medicine ASAM Diplomate American Board of Addiction Medicine and Fellow American College of Preventive Medicine J. Ramsay Farah MD MPH MRO CPE led a research team that showed Proove Opioid Risk identifies patients at risk for Opioid Use Disorder OUD with nearly accuracy. This study evaluated patients comparing Medicaid patients at an addiction treatment facility with confirmed cases of opioid abuse and healthy patients with no history of opioid use. The receiving operator characteristic ROC curve had an area under the curve AUC of .. Furthermore the sensitivity of the moderate risk cutoff score was while the specificity of the high risk score was . Dr. Farah who serves as the Chief Medical Officer for the Phoenix Health Center in Hagerstown prior NE Regional Medical Director for United Healthcare Clinical Services and Director ASAM explains Based on ASAMs definition of addiction about half of substance abuse is due to genetic factors. This study shows that analyzing genetics with lifestyle and behavioral variables in a predictive algorithm can accurately stratify patient risk. Dr. Ashley Brenton Associate Director of RD for Proove states This validation study builds on the peerreviewed evidence supporting Proove Opioid Risk and its components as an optimal model to predict opioid abuse risk. Study author Gregory A. Smith M.D former Director of Pain Management at Harbor UCLA explains Having used this technology for years this data provides further evidence that clinicians can use Proove Opioid Risk for ruling out patients unlikely to exhibit aberrant behaviors and identifying highrisk patients for alternative therapies. Proove Opioid Risk httpproove.com is a proprietary precision medicine profile consisting of an algorithm which analyzes variables genetic and lifestyle and behavioral factors individually supported by over peerreviewed publications. Peerreviewed clinical studies show that the Proove Opioid Risk profile accurately identifies patient risk for opioid abuse. About Proove Biosciences Proove Biosciences http is the leader in precision medicine for the condition that lies at the nexus of health pain. Proove delivers precision medicine solutions for the nations most prevalent and expensive health condition by investing heavily in research that has won awards from leading medical societies and been published in peerreviewed journals. Discovered by NIHfunded scientists Proove has translated into clinical practice the genetic variants and phenotypic factors contributing to pain sensitivity and chronic pain risk. Prooves medical advisory board is led by those NIHfunded researchers and the company has licensed some of its technology from leading academic centers such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill the University of Utah and other institutions. Positioned as The Healthcare Decision Company Prooves patented technology platform combines genetic clinical environmental and lifestyle information to help clinicians better evaluate pain sensitivity assess risk for opioid use disorder predict therapeutic response to pain medications and assess drug metabolism for the many medications used in chronic pain patients. For more information please visit http or call toll free PROOVEBIO . SOURCE Proove Biosciences Inc. Related Links http"

"A study led by McMaster University researchers has found that contrary to recent reports flu nasal sprays provide similar protection against influenza as standard flu shots. Published today in the scientific journal Annals of Internal Medicine the study shows that the nose spray had a similar effect to the standard flu shot. Previous recommendations from the Centers for Disease Controls Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices ACIP had previously called for nasal sprays or live attenuated influenza vaccine LAIV not be used during the flu season. Dr. Mark Loeb lead author of the study says his teams findings challenge the ACIPs recommendations towards flu shots or inactivated vaccines. Our study is the first blinded randomized controlled trial to compare the direct and indirect effect of the live vaccine versus the inactivated vaccine said Loeb a professor in McMasters Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine. Our results are important because in previous years the live vaccine had first been preferred for children. In fact as late as June the live vaccine was preferred. Then subsequently it was no longer preferred and now not recommended at all. Our trial showed no difference between the two in protecting entire communities. For the study Loebs team conducted a threeyear trial in a Hutterite colony where people live communally and are relatively isolated from cities and towns to determine whether vaccinating children and adolescents with the flu nasal spray provided better direct and community protection than the standard flu shot. The researchers randomly assigned children in Hutterite colonies in Alberta and Saskatchewan Canada to receive either the nasal spray vaccine or the flu shot and also followed community members who did not receive a flu vaccine. Average vaccine coverage among children in the nasal spray group was . per cent versus . per cent in the flu shot group. The original intention of the study was to show that nasal spray vaccines would provide better protection than flu shots but Loeb says the conclusions of the study are now especially important given the ACIPs recommendations. The ACIPs decision was an unprecedented decision in influenza vaccine policymaking for children. Our study challenges previous studies because our results show conclusively that the vaccines show similar protection when both direct and indirect effects are taken into account. Loeb says his team will continue to study herd immunity with different vaccine formulations by vaccinating children. They are also looking at the effect of repeated vaccination of children. This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. A downloadable photo of Dr. Mark Loeb is available here httpadobe.lybhVxEM To book an interview please contact Veronica McGuire"

"From the Jewish schvitz to Mesoamerican houses of heat people all over the world have long associated a good sweat with a wide assortment of health benefits. And some of the latest research seems to support those ideas. One longterm study http of middleaged Finnish men found those who spent time in a sauna days a week enjoyed a drop in their risk for a fatal heart disease or episode. The heart health benefits were even greater for men who sweated it out in a sauna more frequently. Sauna bathing leads to a significant increase in heart rate and reduction in total vascular resistance thereby decreasing blood pressure says Dr. Ernst van der Wall chief of cardiology at the Netherlands Leiden University Medical Centre. In a recent editorial http appearing in the Netherlands Heart Journal van der Wall lays out the research in support of sauna bathing as a safe and salubrious habit for healthy people of all ages. He also says expert concerns about the safety of sauna bathing for those with heart conditions may be overblown. Death in the sauna is a rare event even in Finland where the frequency of sauna bathing is high he writes. Still the big questions surrounding sauna bathings safety have always centered on its occupants and her hearts ability to withstand the heat. Traditional saunas use either wood or electricity to warm the air in a chamber to a temperature of degrees which many people find unendurable for more than a few minutes. Infrared saunas by contrast do not heat the air around you. Using electromagnetic radiation infrared lamps warm your body directly. That may sound freaky or even unsafe but neonatal beds for newborns have long utilized infrared heating elements to ensure babies are kept warm without being stifled. As infrared heat penetrates more deeply than warmed air users develop a more vigorous sweat at a lower temperature than they would in traditional saunas says Dr. Richard Beever a clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the University of British Columbia. While theres not a ton of published research looking specifically at infrared saunas Beever has published a review httptime.cominfraredsaunabenefitshealthyareview of all the existing studies he could turn up on the subject. He says theres evidence to support the use of infrared saunas for high blood pressure congestive heart failure and chronic pain. People who spent minutes a day for two weeks in an infrared sauna enjoyed a significant drop in blood pressure compared to a control group who spend the same amount of time in a roomtemperature space one Japanese study http reported. More research http found time spent in an infrared sauna could help even out irregular heartbeats improve scores on physical fitness tests and boost endothelial function in the hearts vessels. Beevers review also looked at some of the other purported health benefits of infrared saunasincluding pain management. Among chronic pain sufferers those who spent time each day in a sauna for four weeks enjoyed a improvement in sleep quality and were more likely to return to work compared to a nosauna group. Beever makes it clear all of these reports were based on small groups and require further study. Also he found no strong evidence of lost weight improved cholesterol scores or some of the other benefits frequently linked to sauna bathinginfrared or otherwise. But he also points out that no accidents or adverse reactions occurred in any of the studies he reviewed. For men hoping to father children spending time in hot saunas or baths has long been a nono. Healthy sperm and heat dont play well together. Beever says infrared heat may damage sperm as do other forms of heat but at this point theres no data on those risks. So what to think of infrared saunas The existing evidence though scanty suggests spending up to minutes a day in one could benefit your heart and ease symptoms associated with chronic pain. And for now there dont seem to be any significant health risks. Ask your doctor first. But if youre wondering whether an infrared sauna is worth a try the evidence suggests you have little to lose and possibly something to gain by checking one out."

"New research found two weeks of treatment with an antibiotic relieves symptoms for some sufferers of irritable bowel syndrome a poorly understood and painful condition that especially afflicts younger women. In two large studies percent of the patients who took the antibiotic rifaximin said their symptoms substantially improved compared to percent of those who got fake pills. Their relief lasted for up to weeks. Experts want to see if that translates into a longer term benefit. But the fact that relief extended beyond the two weeks of treatment suggests that weve actually touched on the cause of IBS as opposed to just covering up symptoms said Dr. Mark Pimentel of CedarsSinai Medical Center in Los Angeles who led the research in the U.S. and Canada. Irritable bowel syndrome or IBS is a common gastrointestinal ailment affecting as many as in Americans. It is more common in women than men. Main symptoms are abdominal pain bloating and diarrhea or constipation or both. What causes the disorder has been a mystery sensitivity to certain foods or stress are among the theories. Patients are typically told to change their diet reduce stress and take medicines or fiber supplements to ease symptoms. Some scientists think an overgrowth of bacteria in the gut is behind the problem but studies testing that have had mixed results. Pimentel and his colleagues tested rifaximin riFAXimen. Unlike other antibiotics this one is not absorbed very well so it stays in the gut and is less likely to develop resistance. Its also been safely used elsewhere for more than two decades. In the U.S. rifaximin is approved for travelers diarrhea and for a complication of liver disease. Salix Pharmaceuticals which markets rifaximin under the name Xifaxan in the U.S. is seeking to expand its use to IBS. A decision from the Food and Drug Administration is expected in March said William Forbes executive vice president and chief development officer for Salix. The price for IBS treatment hasnt been determined he said. But the price listed at Drugstore.com suggests its not cheap with a twoweek supply of the dosage used in the study costing or about a pill. The two studies reported in Thursdays New England Journal of Medicine involved patients who had mild to moderate irritable bowel syndrome without constipation the most common form. Participants were assigned to take milligrams of rifaximin or dummy pills for two weeks three times a day. For the next four weeks they were asked if their symptoms improved. Overall percent of those on rifaximin reported adequate relief for at least two weeks compared to percent on dummy pills. The benefits lasted for the weeks they were followed. While the response to rifaximin may seem low to outsiders its in the range seen with other effective IBS treatments said Dr. Jan Tack of the University of Leuven in Belgium. Other findings suggest that a larger number of patients may have had some benefit just not to the level of adequate relief that was used in these studies to measure response he said. In this condition where treatment options are really limited anything that works is always welcomed said Tack who wrote an accompanying editorial. Rifaximin does not treat all patients but the results are definitely novel and important. Still until more research is done he said the antibiotic should be restricted to those with confirmed bacterial overgrowth or patients who havent responded to other IBS treatments. The studies were paid for by the Salix based in Raleigh N.C. Some of the researchers were Salix employees and others had received consulting and other fees from the company. CedarsSinai holds a patent on the use of rifaximin for irritable bowel syndrome. Rifaximin worked for Amy McMahon who developed the disorder about four years ago. She tried a variety of treatments changed her diet and saw a number of specialists before Pimentel prescribed the antibiotic about a year later. I felt remarkably better after one treatment said McMahon a parttime actor and residential property developer in Temecula Calif. A few months later she took it again. Since then I feel maybe not percent but to percent of normal which to me is thrilling said McMahon who was not part of a study. She said it was frustrating to have an illness disrupt her life. She turned down social invitations especially going out to eat because food triggered her symptoms and skipped a fly fishing trip. Now I live my life how I used to she said."

"Blood injections especially of plateletrich blood into the affected area help relieve the pain associated with tennis elbow where other treatment methods have failed according to a Greek study. A player returns the ball during the Monte Carlo Masters tennis tournament in Monaco April . REUTERSEric Gaillard Analogous blood injections in which the patients own blood is taken and then injected into a specific area of the body is used to help harness the healing power of blood to treat the degeneration of tendons. Plateletrich plasma PRP is blood that has been spun in a centrifuge to separate the blood cells. There is now a solution for patients suffering from unrelenting tennis elbow said Christos Thanasas from Henry Dunant Hospital Athens who led the study. Whole blood treatment is a god alternative in remote areas or in health systems that do not support financially the use of PRP he told Reuters Health in an email. Thanasas and his colleagues compared the effectiveness of single local injections of PRP under ultrasound guidance with autologous blood injections in patients with tennis elbow formally known as lateral elbow epicondylitis. Visual analog pain scores at weeks after the injections improved by a mean . points or . percent in patients who had the PRP injections compared to the autologous blood group a mean . points or . percent improvement. Both groups experienced more improvement at and months after the injections with no significant in pain scores between the treatments. The findings were published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine. PRP is probably the best treatment for chronic refractory lateral epicondylitis if it is used after classical types of treatment like rest braces nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs cortisone injections or physiotherapy have all failed Thanasas said. The last resort remains surgery. Thanasas added that further studies are needed to see how and when the PRP therapy is most effective adding that he and his colleagues are about to start trials of PRP therapy in which different concentrations of white blood cells are used to see how this affects the regeneration of tendons. Reporting by Will Boggs at Reuters Health editing by Elaine Lies Our StandardsThe Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. httpthomsonreuters.comenaboutustrustprinciples.html"

"Postmenopausal estrogenbased hormone therapy lasting longer than ten years was associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimers disease in a large study carried out at the University of Eastern Finland. The protective effect of hormone therapy may depend on its timing it may have cognitive benefits if initiated at the time of menopause when neurons are still healthy and responsive says Bushra Imtiaz MD MPH who presented the results in her doctoral thesis. The study explored the association between postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy Alzheimers disease dementia and cognition in two nationwide casecontrol studies and two longitudinal cohort studies. The largest study comprised approximately Finnish women and the followup time in different studies was up to years. Menopause may explain womens higher dementia risk Alzheimers disease is the most common cause of dementia and two out of three Alzheimers cases are women. One possible explanation for womens higher dementia risk is the postmenopausal depletion of sex steroid hormones estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen receptors are present throughout the body including brain areas primarily affected in Alzheimers disease. In in vitro and animal studies estrogen has showed neuroprotective effects. However studies on humans have yielded inconsistent results on the association between postmenopausal estrogenbased hormone replacement therapy and dementia risk. Hormonal therapy may protect cognition if started at the onset of menopause In the present study longterm use of hormonal replacement therapy was associated with a better performance in certain cognitive domains global cognition and episodic memory and a lower risk of Alzheimers disease. Shortterm use was not significantly linked to dementia risk but in one cohort dementia risk was higher among shortterm users who had started hormone therapy in the late postmenopausal period. The results were adjusted for various lifestyle socioeconomic and demographic variables. In the light of these findings hormonal replacement therapy may have a beneficial effect on cognition if started early around the time of menopause. The protective effect of hormonal therapy may depend on the health status of neurons at baseline and may be lost if therapy starts years after menopause Dr Imtiaz concludes. The study also showed that the postmenopausal removal of ovaries uterus or both was not significantly linked to the risk of Alzheimers disease irrespective of the indication of surgery or hormone therapy use. The research data was from the MEDALZ Medication use and Alzheimers disease OSTPRE Kuopio Osteoporosis Risk Factor and Prevention Study and CAIDE Cardiovascular Risk Factors Aging and Dementia studies. The newest results were published recently in Neurology and Maturitas and the earlier results in the Journal of Alzheimers disease. Bushra Imtiazs doctoral thesis Hormone therapy and the risk of dementia cognitive decline and Alzheimers disease is available for download at httpepublications.uef.fipuburn_isbn_index_en.html For further information please contact Bushra Imtiaz MD MPH University of Eastern Finland Neurology bushra.imtiazuef.fi mailtobushra.imtiazuef.fi or bushraaligmail.com mailtobushraaligmail.com AnnaMaija Tolppanen Academy Research Fellow Associate Professor University of Eastern Finland School of Pharmacy tel. annamaija.tolppanenuef.fi mailtoannamaija.tolppanenuef.fi Recent publications Postmenopausal hormone therapy and Alzheimers disease a prospective cohort study. Bushra Imtiaz Marjo Tuppurainen Toni Rikkonen Miia Kivipelto Hilkka Soininen Heikki Krger AnnaMaija Tolppanen. Neurology published online February . doi .WNL. Risk of Alzheimers disease among users of postmenopausal hormone therapy a nationwide casecontrol study. Bushra Imtiaz Heidi Taipale Antti Tanskanen Miia Tiihonen Miia Kivipelto AnnaMari Heikkinen Jari Tiihonen Hilkka Soininen Sirpa Hartikainen AnnaMaija Tolppanen. Maturitas published online January . httpdx.doi.org.j.maturitas..."

"MaryAnn Anselmo feared for the worst when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor called a glioblastoma in late . You start doing research on that type of tumor and youre saying Oh my God youre history. Its like a death sentence says Anselmo now . Only for her it wasnt. Anselmos successful treatment shows how precision medicine tailoring therapy to each patients genetic needs is beginning to transform cancer care. At first the outlook seemed grim. Although Anselmos surgeon was able to surgically remove most of her tumor she couldnt tolerate traditional chemotherapy that was the planned second step and had to discontinue it. The chemo failure was the latest in a string of personal setbacks. The year before she was diagnosed with brain cancer shed lost her son to suicide. Weeks after that she was almost killed in a car crash outside a local mall. Her cancer was discovered after she had a dizzy spell and her husband Joseph insisted she return to the hospital to have it checked out. After all that Anselmo and her husband werent ready to give up on her cancer fight. Hed read about advances in targeted therapies drugs that go after cancer cells at the molecular level. The family sent samples of her tumor samples for genetic testing to several leading cancer hospitals. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she was being treated also did its own sequencing. They all found the same thing. Anselmos tumor had a BRAF mutation http common in skin cancer but very unusual for a brain tumor. Her oncologist David Hyman http at Memorial Sloan Kettering enrolled Anselmo into a new kind of drug trial. Called a basket trial http_r the study is designed to include people whose tumors have the same kind of genetic fingerprint regardless of where in the body the tumors are found. Knowing more about the genetic mutations of a tumor enables doctors to find a potentially effective drug much more quickly and accurately. Its like youre in a parking lot Hyman says. And you have a key to one of the cars in the parking lot. And so one option is just to go to each car and try to open the lock. The other is to know that its the third car on the right. What were doing now is were saying OK this key fits that lock. And were only going straight to that car. Today Anselmo is doing well. Shes been in the clinical trial for a year now and continues to take Zelboraf or vemurafenib http generically daily. The pills have kept her cancer from growing. There are side effects of course. Shes lost some peripheral vision though shes been able to compensate. And Zelboraf is expensive though its free to Anselmo because shes taking it as part of a study. Now she can focus again on the things she loves like singing. Anselmo a jazz singer who performed under the stage name Mariel Larsen before her illness is planning a comeback. Shes back in training with her longtime vocal coach. As this kind of genetic sequencing of tumors has become faster and cheaper more patients have access to this technology. More doctors are taking advantage of the information to treat patients with a targeted approach. We took a disease where nothing really works for any length of time and weve given her a year of life and hopefully much more where shes been much better Hyman her oncologist says. Still he cautions that the targeted treatments cant be considered cures. At some point the drug that is keeping Anselmos cancer at bay could stop working. Every patient is different in how long it works he says. We all have patients that have been on these drugs for years. But I dont know I mean I think if I was being honest eventually our expectation would be that it would stop working. Theres no way to predict when. But in the meantime patients like Anselmo are grateful to have time they wouldnt have had otherwise. After all the misfortunes shes been through it would be easy to think Anselmo has been incredibly unlucky. But she doesnt see it that way. No she says after rehearsing for her comeback show Im the luckiest. Our series is produced with member station WNYC and with Ken Burns Presents Cancer The Emperor of All Maladies http which will air on PBS starting March . Check your local listings for broadcast times."

"A therapyanimal trend grips the United States. The San Francisco airport now deploys a pig https to calm frazzled travelers. Universities nationwide bring dogs and a donkey https onto campus to soothe students during finals. Llamas comfort hospital patients http pooches provide succor at disaster sites http_befcfcbfcdbbcf.htmlmodejqm and horses are used https to treat sex addiction. And that duck on a plane https_term.badadc It might be an emotionalsupport animal prescribed by a mental health professional. The trend which has accelerated hugely since its initial stirrings a few decades ago is underpinned by a widespread belief that interaction with animals can reduce distress whether it happens over brief caresses at the airport or in longterm relationships at home. Certainly the groups offering up pets think this as do some mental health professionals. But the popular embrace of pets as furry therapists is causing growing discomfort among some researchers in the field who say it has raced far ahead of scientific evidence. Earlier this year in the Journal of Applied Developmental Science an introduction to a series of articles on animalassisted intervention said research into its efficacy http remains in its infancy. A recent literature review httponlinelibrary.wiley.comdoi.jclp.abstract by Molly Crossman a Yale University doctoral candidate who recently wrapped up one study involving an yearold dog named Pardner cited a murky body of evidence that sometimes has shown positive shortterm effects often found no effect and occasionally identified higher rates of distress. Overall Crossman wrote animals seem to be helpful in a smalltomedium way but its unclear whether the critters deserve the credit or something else is at play. Its a field that has been sort of carried forward by the convictions of practitioners who have seen patients mental health improve after working with or adopting animals said James Serpell director of the Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. That kind of thing has almost driven the field and the research is playing catchup. In other words people are recognizing that anecdote isnt enough. Using animals in mental health settings is nothing new. In the th century a Quakerrun retreat in England encouraged mentally ill patients to interact with animals on its grounds. Sigmund Freud often included one of his dogs in psychoanalysis sessions. Yet the subject did not become a research target until the American child psychologist Boris Levinson began writing in the s about the positive effect his dog Jingles had on patients. But the evidence to date is problematic according to Crossmans review and others before it. Most studies had small sample sizes she wrote and an alarming number did not control for other possible reasons for a changed stress level such as interaction with the animals human handler. Studies also tend to generalize across animals she noted If participants are measurably soothed by one golden retriever that doesnt mean another dog or another species will evoke the same response. Even so media headlines are often about the happiness bounce. Hal Herzog a Western Carolina University psychologist who has long studied humananimal interactions recalls a study on the health benefits for children of having a pet dog. Heres a reason to get a puppy NBC announced. http Kids with pets have less anxiety. Thats actually not what the study concluded. The authors did find that children with dogs had lower anxiety based on screening scores than children without dogs. Still they cautioned that this study does not answer whether pet dogs have direct effects on childrens mental health or whether other factors associated with acquisition of a pet dog benefit their mental health. It was a classic case of conflating correlation and causation which Herzog says is common. Cherrypicked positive results also are a problem as he says happens in promotional materials from the HumanAnimal Bond Research Initiative HABRI. The petindustry backed httpshabri.orgsupporters organization funds research on the topic. The number of papers I see that start out It is now wellestablished that there are health benefits from owning pets that drives me crazy Herzog said. Yes theres literature that supports that. But theres also literature that doesnt find that. Children interact with Gypsy during the miniature horses visit to Nemours Childrens Specialty Care in Jacksonville Fla. Bob MackThe Florida TimesUnion via AP HABRI Executive Director Steven Feldman takes a more positive view of the science while acknowledging that more research needs to be done. Just like getting vegetables and getting exercise I would say having animals in our lives is also an essential element of human wellness he said. To many animal lovers and pet owners the backandforth might sound horribly wonky. Theres something intuitive about the good feelings animals give us. Why overanalyze it Alan Beck does not disagree. Beck who directs the Center of the HumanAnimal Bond at Purdue University cites one common theory for why animals might be therapeutic. Its called the biophilia hypothesis and it argues that humans evolved a builtin need to affiliate with other living beings. Throughout history animals gave us some comfort. So if it works for you and me in a relatively normal environment maybe it has a special role for someone who has a depression and stress disorder that just makes sense he said. The literature does show its not bad. And thats just as important. Focusing too much on scientific support sometimes feels like a form of physics envy httpsen.wikipedia.orgwikiPhysics_envy Beck added where you try to quantify everything without appreciating it. But there are good reasons for rigorous research on animals and mental health. In the Department of Veterans Affairs said it would not cover https costs of service dogs for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder citing a lack of evidence to support a finding of mental health service dog efficacy. The department is now in the midst of a multiyear study on the topic which could lead to government funding for these pooches. Another reason the scientists say is for the animals sake. Crossman pointed to a incident at Washington University in St. Louis as an example of animal therapy gone wrong. A bear cub brought to campus http during finals week nipped some students causing a rabies scare that almost ended with the animal being euthanized. More generally Serpell said the popular idea that pets make you happier is not a harmless distortion. If the public believes that getting an animal is going to be good for them many times an unsuitable person will get an unsuitable animal and it doesnt work out well for either. A facility in Spain uses dogs to help those with intellectual disabilities and mental health conditions. The research is getting stronger in part because funding is growing from HABRI as well as from a publicprivate partnership https between the National Institutes of Health and the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition. Crossmans recent study at the Yale Innovative Interactions Lab httpiilab.yale.edu was among the work being supported. It relied not just on the Labrador retriever Pardner but seven other certified therapy dogs httpiilab.yale.edulabmembersanimals. Several times a month over much of the past year they hung out at the university for minute sessions with children who had just finished two stressful tasks spontaneously crafting stories and telling them to strangers followed by doing math problems. The strangers were the researchers and their mission was to assess whether the kids ages to would find their time with the dogs to be therapeutic. The study was designed to avoid some of the pitfalls that Crossman has seen elsewhere which is why some of the young participants got to play only with a fuzzy blanket because tactile stimulation is known to reduce stress and why others simply waited for the minutes. Without the controls the changes could be due to all kinds of things like the fact that lots of time has passed Crossman said. Kids are actually pretty good at coping. The children completed questionnaires to assess their mood and anxiety before and after spit samples to measure the stress hormone cortisol were taken at three points. At the end all the kids got a junior scientist certificate lots of praise and an open play session with the dogs. Crossman who emphasizes that she is an animal lover declined to reveal the findings before theyre published. But hopefully they will show that dogs can affect childrens stress she said before quickly offering a researchers clarification. I say hopefully not just because I think it works or hope it does but because these programs are used so widely she explained. Kids are already participating in this on a huge scale. Ideally the order goes the other way around We test the idea and then we implement."