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Vaccinating children against flu reduces influenza transmission in the wider community, a study carried out in Hutterite colonies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba found. (Chuck Stoody/Canadian Press)
Vaccinating children against seasonal flu helps protect others in their community, a new Canadian study suggests.
Public health researchers had hoped that immunizing enough young people would pay off in protecting others who are not immunized, a concept known as herd immunity, but it hasn't been demonstrated in a randomized trial until now.
The trial was carried out in 49 Hutterite colonies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba by Dr. Mark Loeb of McMaster University in Hamilton and his colleagues. Children in the communities between the age of three and 15 were randomly assigned to receive standard influenza vaccine or hepatitis A vaccine, which served as a control. Neither the subjects nor the researchers knew who received which vaccine.
Using isolated communities for disease studies may be effective, but is it ethical? Also, I looked up the meaning of the word “Hutterite” out of curiosity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutterite
London: Live kidney donors do not have higher risk of dying later: This Tuesday the US researchers said live kidney donors do not have a higher risk of dying after donation.
Dr Dorry Segev stated “Surgical mortality did not change during the 15-year period (between 1994 and 2009), despite differences in surgical practice and donor selection.”
Kidney donors had higher chances of mortality rate following the first 90 days of their surgery. But recently it is found that donors have less mortality rate compared to non-donors.
It was also found that male donors had higher mortality rate within one year of their surgery than female donors.
That is nice to know, you can donate a kidney without shortening your life, assuming you start out with two healthy ones and don’t die from complications of the surgery.
New York City held a contest to design the wrapper for condoms distributed free in city bars, clinics and gyms
NEW YORK — An electric power button symbol inched past other entries to win New York's condom wrapper design contest, the city said Tuesday.
The winning design shows the familiar "on" symbol found on computers and other electronic devices.
It defeated nearly 600 other hopefuls before coming out on top of the five finalists, which included a top hat, a suggestive train tunnel and even a municipal manhole cover.
"I hope my package design reminds people that they're in control. We all have the power to protect ourselves from sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS and unplanned pregnancies," said winning designer Luis Acosta.
This design winner hopes that his condom design will be a powerful reminder that we are all in control over our own impulses, and if you ever need a condom, I hope one is readily available to you.
Mr. Pringles hands out free snacks in New York City in this Nov. 25, 2009 file photo. Pringles's parent company, Proctor and Gamble, announced Tuesday that two flavors of the popular chip have been recalled due to possible salmonella contamination.
Stuart Ramson/Pringles/PRNewsFoto/File
If you were about to pop the top on a can of taco- or cheeseburger-flavored Pringles, you might want to hold that thought.
The meat-inspired chips are the latest products added to a recall stretching back to Feb. 26. Pringles's parent company Proctor & Gamble announced the voluntary recall Tuesday.
The chips contain hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), a common “flavor-enhancer,” made by Basic Food Flavors, Inc., that has been found to be contaminated with salmonella.
Products from 26 other brands have already been recalled (See here for complete list of products affected). That list could continue to grow, as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is still investigating.
This is a recall list that is bound to grow as more and more products check in, and if anything, should encourage people to eat fresh food whenever possible, and skip the chemicals if you can.
TUESDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- Comparative effectiveness (CE) studies currently are underutilized and should be increased to better guide physicians in the effective everyday use of current therapies, according to a review in the March 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Michael Hochman, M.D., and a colleague from Harvard Medical School in Boston reviewed the six leading general and internal medicine journals during 2008 to 2009 and identified 328 randomized trials, observational studies, and meta-analyses on medications, including 104 (32 percent) CE studies comparing current active treatments, and 224 (68 percent) non-CE studies of novel treatments or with an inactive control design. The reviewers characterized and identified funding of the CE studies and compared them to the non-CE studies.
Years ago, our Forum had an active discussion on CE, and I wondered why it did not continue. Do any doctors wish to take a stand on this issue? Do we have any big fans of CE in the house?
An annual survey released Tuesday by a plastic surgeons' association has revealed that the number of cosmetic-surgery procedures in the U. S. plunged for the second year in a row in 2009.
The figures claim 10 million surgical and nonsurgical procedures last year, outlining a 2% fall from 2008, according to a survey of 928 board-certified physicians by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, a Garden Grove, Calif., group of plastic surgeons specializing in cosmetic surgery.
"People just couldn't go for the big items", said Renato Saltz, the association's president.
It seems only like a small decline, I think looks will always guide some people to the surgeon’s table, but can you see anything wrong with the patient in the photo? Looks pretty darn fit to me.
David Silverman, Getty Images
A new study published in the March 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine found that drinking alcohol in moderation may help women stay thin. Here, an Israeli woman tastes a red wine at an exhibition in Tel Aviv, Israel, last year.
Women around the world are lifting their glasses to the news: Moderate drinking may help keep the pounds off. That finding comes from a new study published in the March 8 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers followed 22,000 women ages 39 or older for 13 years, tracking their weight gain and alcohol consumption. While all of the women chosen for the study were slim to begin with, as they aged, the women who did not drink alcohol were more likely to put on more weight than those who drank light to moderate amounts.
I don’t think a study like this will cause any women to start drinking, but I would like to know why light to moderate drinking should help keep the pounds off—it almost doesn’t seem fair.
A new malaria vaccine has been tested on 100 children in a rural part of the west African country of Mali
JOHANNESBURG — Within five years, the world could shield all newborns from HIV, while making strides in reducing deaths from malaria and tuberculosis, the Global Fund to fight the three diseases said Monday.
But those gains depend on the world continuing to ramp up health spending to maintain the current rate of progress, the Global Fund said in its annual report, released ahead of a funding meeting in the Netherlands later this month.
"A world where no children are born with HIV is truly possible by 2015," said Michel Kazatchkine, head of the Global Fund, launching the group's annual report.
I guess it’s no secret that I look for positive stories, and here’s a story about some positive thinkers who want to wipe out some diseases. What have you heard in the past about the Global Fund? Good outfit?
A doctor is pictured preparing a vaccine. The US Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the parents of a child who suffered serious health problems after being vaccinated can sue a pharmaceutical company for compensation.
AFP - The US Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the parents of a child who suffered serious health problems after being vaccinated can sue a pharmaceutical company for compensation.
The case, which the highest US court will hear in autumn, will serve as a focal point in a years-long debate in the United States over the effectiveness of preventive vaccines and whether they have caused health problems.
It involves Hannah Bruesewitz, who was left developmentally impaired after receiving a diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccination.
We are all so different genetically, it would not surprise me to learn that some children are harmed by some vaccines, just as one aspirin is enough to kill some people. We all share the risk of vaccination, and we all share the many benefits.
Former President Bill Clinton, right, is joined by Dr. Clyde Yancy, president of the American Heart Association, as he holds up a hand held device used by soft drink delivery drivers programmed to only allow orders of products permitted to be sold in schools during a news conference, Monday, March 8, 2010 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
NEW YORK — The U.S. beverage industry has largely stopped delivering sugary drinks to schools and has replaced them with lower-calorie options, the head of the industry's trade association said Monday.
"It's a brand new day in America's schools when it comes to beverages," said Susan Neely, president and CEO of the American Beverage Association, which represents Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc. and other major soft drink companies.
The association released a report showing a a 95 percent decline in sales of full-calorie soft drinks to schools between fall 2004 and fall 2009.
She attributed the decline to voluntary guidelines adopted by the industry in 2006 under an agreement with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a joint initiative of former President Bill Clinton's foundation and the American Heart Association.
Clinton, who hosted a news conference at his Harlem office, said he was "stunned" by the results.
I really believe we have targeted a major cause of diabetes and obesity with sugary soft drinks, I used to drink them all the time and I paid the price for it. Where did we learn to ingest all that sugar?
Stuart Bradford
For decades, advocates have fought to protect women from disfiguring breast cancer surgery, arguing that it was just as effective to remove only the cancerous tissue rather than the whole breast.
But today, a growing number of women with breast cancer are pushing surgeons in a startling new direction. Not only do they want the cancerous breast removed, but they also want the healthy breast cut off.
“I just didn’t want to worry about it,” explained Liliana Holtzman, 50, an art director in Ann Arbor, Mich., who had both breasts removed after a cancer diagnosis five years ago. “It was for my own peace of mind. I wanted to do everything I could.”
We just saw an article that suggested men need more information about prostate cancer, and this article suggests women need more information before having a healthy breast removed—it doesn’t help survival rates. It never gets easier being a doctor, does it?
Metronaps CEO Arshad Chowdhury (R) and another employee demonstrate sleeping "pods" in a darkened room
WASHINGTON — Most African-Americans like to pray just before they do it, white Americans like to do it with their pets, Asians tend to do it best and Hispanics fret about work just beforehand.
It is sleep and the 2010 Sleep in America poll released Monday by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) shows that sleep habits differ depending on what ethnic group you belong to.
African-Americans have the busiest bedtime routine: three-quarters said they watched television in the hour before going to bed, and only slightly fewer - 71 percent - said they prayed.
Only 18 percent of Asians, one third of whites and just under half of Hispanics said they prayed before going to bed.
You may have noticed that I do my writing and posting at night when the world is a more quiet and serene place, and I don’t sleep well under pressure, I would rather stay up than wake up early.
University of Michigan scientists have identified a new reservoir for hidden HIV-infected cells that can serve as a factory for new infections. The findings, which appear online today in Nature Medicine, indicate a new target for curing the disease so those infected with the virus may someday no longer rely on AIDS drugs for a lifetime.
“Antiviral drugs have been effective at keeping the virus at bay. However once the drug therapy is stopped, the virus comes back,” says senior author of the study Kathleen L. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of both internal medicine and microbiology and immunology at the U-M Medical School.
This research may well lead to a permanent cure for AIDS, and many other diseases may also hide out in the bone marrow. Now, the question is how to make an antiviral that works in the marrow.
For almost a decade, Washington, D.C. has had a program that’s given free condoms to men. Now, it’s the ladies’ turn.The District is about to become the first city in the United States to distribute female condoms free as a part of a project that will make 500,000 of them available in beauty salons, convenience stores and high schools in parts of the city with high HIV rates.
City officials said the distribution could begin within the next three weeks in parts of wards 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7, where a study showed that large numbers of African American heterosexuals engage in risky sexual behavior that could easily lead to infection.
This change signals the District’s HIV/AIDS Administration’s shift in taking a more aggressive approach to the city’s steep rate of HIV infection. Officials also said that they are turning to female condoms to give women more power to protect themselves from HIV and sexually transmitted diseases when their partners refuse to use protection.
I felt this photo showed the scale of size better than others available, remembering that most people have never seen one or touched one, that is about to change for a half million people in D.C.
Indulging in chit-chat and gossip can leave one depressed, claim scientists
Those idle chats over the garden fence about the weather, the football or last night's TV may seem perfectly harmless. But don't be so sure.
Indulging in chit chat, gossip and small talk can leave you feeling miserable, scientists claim.
Happiness is more likely to be found among those whose discussions are deep and meaningful.
Scientists believe a person's well-being is directly related to the incidence of profound discussions they have.
This makes sense and validates why those in good relationships are so happy, they are talking on a deeper level, perhaps. So, like the teacher always said, keep the idle chit-chat to a minimum.
A nurse prepares a H1N1 flu vaccine shot at a hospital in Budapest in this November 20, 2009 file photo.
Credit: Reuters/Karoly Arvai
(Reuters) - The Dutch government wants to sell 21 million unused H1N1 flu vaccine doses back to their manufacturers after they proved unnecessary and no other country wanted to buy them, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.
A spokeswoman for the ministry said it had approached manufacturers GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis about buying back the doses.
She added that it was not clear what their total value was. She also declined comment on the status of the talks, saying the ministry would inform parliament of the details at a later date.
At the height of the H1N1 scare, the ministry ordered 34 million doses of pandemic flu vaccine -- enough to give two shots to every person in The Netherlands.
Of the original order, about 11 million doses were administered and another 2.2 million are being kept in reserve for emergencies.
What ever gave them the idea they could return vaccine to sender for a refund? If that is indeed the contract, why is this even new? Somehow, the Dutch government is trying to escape all risk in this matter, and we’ll see how they do.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, left, speaks with various state insurance commissioners and insurance industry executives in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 4, 2010. From left are, Sebelius; Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario; and West Virginia Insurance Commissioner Jane Cline. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
"15,000 people a day lose their insurance, and some of those folks are being actually priced out of the marketplace," said Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius. In fact, major insurers are seeking premium hikes for individual policies - people not covered through work: 56 percent in Michigan, more than 25 percent in California, and 20 percent or more in Oregon, Maine, and Connecticut. And double digit increases are completed or pending in at least eight other states. That's why the president has often co-opted the maddening rate hikes to make the case for health care reform, mentioning them in this weekend's address and in a Super Bowl interview with Katie Couric when he noted that "one of the major insurers in California just announced in the individual market they are increasing their premiums by 39 percent."
I know we have many members of the Forum who do not feel we need any health care insurance reform, but doctors have to buy insurance, too, and as usual, are targeted for this extra expense.
Andy Lambert of Hanger Orthopedic Group in Richland shows used artificial limbs Tuesday Feb. 9, 2010 that local residents have donated for earthquake victims in Haiti. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Tri-City Herald, Bob Brawdy
They are known in Creole as "ko kobe," or "crooked body," those Haitians shamed and shunned for their twisted or missing limbs, eyes that do not see, brains that move too slow.
But since January's earthquake, thousands more have joined this band of the socially outcast disabled, the victims of crush injuries and raging infections that led to the amputation of an arm or leg.
"There are so many amputees, I've never seen so many amputees," says Ed Epp, executive director of Christian Blind Mission Canada, an organization that works to improve the lives of people with all types of disabilities in impoverished countries.
Estimates of the number of children and adults with amputated limbs range from 2,000 to 4,000 and as high as 7,000, he says, quoting Handicapped International and Haitian government figures.
A stunning photo I had to include in the Daily News, most people are not aware of the high cost of an artificial limb, so if you have any connections in this area of medicine, the need is there.
Numerous food products are being recalled due to possible salmonella contamination in a widely used flavor enhancer, hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), the FDA has announced.
HVP, a relative of MSG, enhances savory flavors in processed foods such as soups, hot dogs, chili, stews, dips, salad dressings and other snack foods.
"We don't know precisely how large this recall will get, but we expect this to get larger over the next several days to several weeks," Jeff Farrar, FDA associate commissioner for food protection said at a Thursday press conference.
Diabetics usually become avid readers of ingredients, and I am no exception, but this HVP is in almost every processed food you will find, a very common ingredient to label-readers.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius walks to a microphone stand to speak to reporters following her meeting with health insurance company executives and related industry officials at the White House in Washington, March 4, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
The Obama administration stepped up pressure on health insurance companies on Thursday, calling on some of the top U.S. companies to be more public in explaining "jaw-dropping" rate increases to consumers.
Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, following a White House meeting with several top health insurance executives, said she wants insurers to post information about rate increases online along with financial data to back them up.
"This market doesn't work," Sebelius said in pressing the case for lawmakers to pass a final healthcare bill. "But in the meantime, we want to shine a bright light."
Obama and his team are going to use the greed of these companies as examples of why we need reform in health care insurance, this is what happens when you invite a bright light to shine on an industry—all the cobwebs suddenly show up.
A woman walks by the destroyed Sacre-Coeur Church
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in makeshift shelters and thousands of aid workers providing relief since a powerful quake rocked the country in January are now threatened by malaria, a US report said Thursday.
"Displaced persons living outdoors or in temporary shelters and thousands of emergency responders in Haiti are at substantial risk for malaria," the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its weekly morbidity and mortality report.
Malaria caused by plasmodium falciparum, which is the most deadly and severe form of malaria, is endemic in Haiti, and the mosquito that carries and transmits it "frequently bites outdoors," the report said.
I thought we had a vaccination against malaria—am I wrong? The article mentioned there is a pill one can take to prevent malaria—does it work? Why don’t we give them to the people in Haiti?
Different diets work better for some people than others
A simple DNA test may predict whether someone is more likely to lose weight on a low fat or a low carbohydrate diet, say US researchers.
The results from the small preliminary study of 101 women showed those on the best diet for their genes lost two to three times more weight than the rest.
The results are being presented at an American Heart Association conference.
Experts said the findings tied in with previous studies, but further work should be carried out.
Going on any type of diet can be a slow and frustrating process, this might explain why some diets work so well for some and not so well for others.
Recent studies have shown that glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) has been found to be a better predictor of cardiovascular disease and diabetes than blood glucose.
The A1C test measures the persons’ blood sugar levels over the past two or three months meaning it measures the percentage of hemoglobin that is glycated or glycosylated. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) set the levels at 5.7 - 6.4% is a diagnosis for pre-diabetes and 6.5% and higher is a diagnosis of diabetes.
The lead author of the project, Elizabeth Selvin, said, “Our data show that glycated hemoglobin is a really potent risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. If you have abnormal glycated hemoglobin results, you should be targeted for diabetes and cardiovascular disease interventions.” Selvin is an assistant professor of epidemiology and medicine at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.
Would doctors recommend this test for their patients who have diabetes? I think it is always check on the blood test, but other than that, is this a home test kit, and would you say to buy it?
Recording artist and actor Ludacris appears on Fuse TV Feb. 25. Ludacris is among stars participating in the CDC's campaign to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in the black community, which is disproportionately impacted by the virus. By Bryan Bedder, Getty Images
By Stuart Ramson, AP Jamie Foxx co-produced an HBO film released in 2007 about a mom who overcomes addiction to become an AIDS activist in the black community. Here he stands at the Life Support premiere with cast members Charisse Woodall, left, and Chyna Layne.
Actor Jamie Foxx and recording artist Chris "Ludacris" Bridges today join the ranks of celebrities who have lent their popularity to push HIV prevention as part of a social media effort targeting young African Americans.
The "i know" campaign is sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which aims to draw thousands of young people into a conversation about HIV using Facebook, Twitter, text messages and a website (actagainstaids.org). It launches today with an event at Clark Atlanta University that will be webcast to students nationwide.
It is nice to see young stars of stage and screen try to help prevent AIDS, and as long as the kids listen to them, why not let them spread the message?
Jon Protas for The Wall Street Journal
Claims for POM Wonderful juice drew FDA criticism.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned 16 food and beverage makers against making product claims that don't adhere strictly to federal labeling rules.
The crackdown is a shot across the bow of the food industry. The Obama administration has made a priority of encouraging Americans to eat more healthfully. Regulators are scrutinizing food marketing amid concerns about links between diet, obesity and disease.
A TV yoga trainer once said that if you prepare meals for another person, you are largely responsible for that person’s health. As a diabetic, I need accurate labels on all food. Period. Why so hard to do?
The American Cancer Society is urging doctors to make clearer to men that the test used to screen for prostate cancer has limits and may lead to unnecessary treatments that do more harm than good.
(Photographer's Choice/Getty Images)
Months after experts discounted the importance of routine mammograms and Pap smears for many women, the American Cancer Society is warning more explicitly than ever that regular testing for prostate cancer is of questionable value too, and can do men more harm than good.
The cancer society has not recommended routine screening for most men since the mid-1990s, and that is not changing. But the organization is urging doctors to talk frankly with their patients about the risks and limitations of the PSA blood test when offering it.
Men are not comfortable even talking about prostate cancer, let alone seeking out screening for it—this is another one of those things that doctors need to take control of and dictate what happens. Power to the doctors!
Pfizer Inc. said Wednesday that its Alzheimer's drug candidate Dimebon did not meet its goal in a late stage clinical study, as the drug was no better than a placebo at treating the disease.
(Photodisc/Digital Stock)
Dimebon, a once-promising new Alzheimer's drug from Pfizer Inc., may be no more effective than a placebo at treating the disease, according to late-stage clinical data released by the company Wednesday.
But while this news comes as a shock to many and a disappointment to all in the Alzheimer's community, some experts say the game's not over yet for Dimebon.
"The need for new therapies is huge and we should not be daunted by a single failed trial," says Dr. Pierre Tariot, associate director of the Banner Alzheimer's Institute. "The field…is littered with examples of trials that fail to show benefit even with drugs that work and are FDA approved. From my perspective, the drug needs to be studied further."
This drug may be useful for something altogether different, keep studying it until you find a use for it. Meanwhile, the search goes on for a treatment. People in my family get this disease. Keep trying.
Newly hired census worker Sierra Carter manages an information table in Maryland. Census scams can be avoided with the right knowledge.
TIM SLOAN / STAFF
As the U.S. Census gets underway, the Miami-Dade Consumer Services Department is cautioning consumers to learn how to spot potential scams.
Every U.S. household will receive a short, 10-question form in the mail within the next few months. It requires that you account for everyone living at your address as of April 1 and includes a prepaid envelope so you can mail it back.
Any request for census information will be clearly marked as coming from the U.S. Census Bureau and as OFFICIAL BUSINESS of the United States.
Just a quick reminder that scammers are out there trying to steal information about you, and as a doctor, you are probably used to that situation. As an easy-to-find online guy, I get every scam and strange offer the Internet has going. Haven’t yet seen any census scams, but I’m sure I will.
Warning: Parents who show their babies educational DVDs may actually be harming their word skills
Parents who buy educational DVDs to give their toddlers a head start may be doing more harm than good.
A study of almost 100 boys and girls aged between one and two found that regularly watching a DVD from the Baby Einstein range did nothing to boost their vocabulary.
In fact, the younger the children were when they began to watch the programmes, the worse their word power.
This pretty much seals the deal, young children don’t get much out of watching TV. But as someone raised on TV, I still like it anyway, the colors are so vivid.
Getty
Targeted: This MD was protesting ObamaCare, but docs are already underpaid by Medicare.
One look at my office tells you that I'm still taking Medicare patients: The worn carpet and peeling paint give it away.
Yes, Medicare's payment rates are that bad.
The real threat of a further across-the-board cut of 21 percent only added to the old problems of "routine" Medicare cuts.
The program now pays $53 for a standard office visit; with the cut, that would've been $40. For comparison, Aetna pays $70.
Average Medicare payments to physicians have been relatively stagnant since 2001 (but reimbursements for surgery and procedures have been cut a lot). Meanwhile, average total physicians' costs have risen 20 percent.
Our forum has long discussed this proposed cut in Medicare, and the feeling is that payments are already too low, in fact, doctors may decide by the hundreds that they can live without taking Medicare patients—that would be a disaster to many.
Among the food scares in recent years was a deadly E. coli outbreak tied to spinach. In most cases, it's unknown how or why people get ill from what they eat. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images / September 15, 2006)
A new consumer research report released Wednesday has found that the health-related costs of food-borne illnesses total $152 billion a year, including the costs of medical bills, lost wages and lost productivity. That total is more than four times that of earlier estimates calculated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The findings come as regulatory efforts to patrol the country's food sector are growing amid reports of a string of costly -- and sometimes fatal -- outbreaks of food-borne illness involving peanuts, jalapeno peppers, spinach, beef and other foods. The report, sponsored by the Produce Safety Project at Georgetown University, provides a comprehensive examination of health costs associated with flaws in the nation's food safety system and "demonstrates the burden of food-borne illness," said Sandra Eskin, director of the Pew Charitable Trusts' Food Safety Campaign, a supporter of the study.
This article indicates that food-borne illness is much more expensive than originally thought, and I hope the report will increase funding to research methods of making food safer for all.
In a recent study involving 141 parents whose children died of cancer a year earlier at three different hospitals in Boston and Minnesota, a handful of parents admitted to asking their child’s doctor to hasten their child’s death in order to end the suffering; according to these parents the doctors complied with the parents’ wishes and administered fatal amounts of morphine.
Of the parents interviewed for the study 13 percent admitted to considering asking doctors to end their child’s life and 9 percent said that they had the discussion with their child’s caregiver. Parents of five of the children said they had specifically asked for their children to be put to death in order to stop the pain and three parents said that the doctors actually followed through with the request.
The lead author of the survey as well as several other physicians say that they doubt the doctor actually went through with the request; rather, they think that doctors might have increased morphine doses to ease pain and that the children’s subsequent deaths were only coincidental.
This must be the hardest thing to deal with as a doctor, the death of children, and I hope you will read the comments from readers at the close of the article, and make your own comments here.
Dr. Bernadine Healy
One thing we can all agree on is that Americans spend too much on medical care. When a brief visit to the emergency room can cost several thousand dollars or a course of a new cancer drug runs $100,000, there can be no doubt that costs are out of control. Many people do not think they're footing these bills, because some 85 percent have insurance. But they are, really, by sacrificing income that could be used for other needs like school tuition in exchange for a bloated employer benefit. Putting it starkly, Americans now spend more on healthcare each year than on food.
Here are the opinions of one doctor who thinks we pay too much money for health care in America. Do you agree with her? Where do you think we can save money without hurting the patients or the doctors?
The Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation announced this morning that after months of testing and investigation, they are suing ten fish oil companies.
The Foundation found that all 10 fish oil supplements they tested (there are 100 on the market, they have not yet tested them all) contained Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB compounds). According to the Foundation's Website, www.fishoilsafety.com, PCBs are "man-made industrial chemicals with long track records as some of the worst environmental pollutants and human health threats."
So what can we do as consumers? The Foundation found that some omega-3 fish oils have lower amounts of PCBs than others. Of the ten products they have tested, those that contained the lowest levels of PCBs are (in order): Solgar Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, TwinLab Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, GNC Liquid Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, and TwinLab Emulsified Norwegian Cod Liver Oil. Another option is to take omega-3 supplements that are created from plant oils, instead of fish oil. After testing, it was determined that plant oil supplements do not contain PCBs.
Looks to me like the answer is to go with omega-3 from plant oil, do any of our doctor take such supplements, and what do you think of this lawsuit, do you think they have a valid case?
Photo by mares8 via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr
As warned to the L.A. City Council by advocates during public meetings over the last year, lawsuits would be filed if an ordinance limiting dispensaries was approved. Now that an ordinance has been approved--it is expected to take effect on March 14th--advocates today filed a lawsuit on behalf of two dispensaries, reports the LA Times.
The lawsuit was filed by Americans for Safe Access on behalf of Venice Beach Care Center and the PureLife Alternative Wellness Center. Both were in operation prior to the 2006 moratorium, but the lawsuit states that the ordinance “severely restricts access to medical marijuana by effectively forcing plaintiffs, as well as the vast majority of collectives in the City, to close their doors.”
Now the fighting in court begins, I’m sure it will be tied up for years, and after millions of dollars are wasted in courtroom time, it will probably be fully legalized in California. Enough money has been spent fighting this drug. The fight is all but lost, in my opinion.
A woman gathers salt crystals at a mine on Senegal's coastline near the Gambian border, June 12, 2006. Credit: Reuters/Finbarr O'Reilly
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Working with the food industry to cut salt intake by nearly 10 percent could prevent hundreds of thousands of heart attacks and strokes over several decades and save the U.S. government $32 billion in healthcare costs, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
Eating too much salt is a major cause of high blood pressure, which the Institute of Medicine, one of the National Academies of Sciences, last week declared a "neglected disease" that costs the U.S. health system $73 billion a year.
Several governments including the United States are looking for solutions to curb salt intake as a way to head off future heart attacks and strokes that help drain healthcare systems.
The study by a team at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System in California used a computer model to measure the impact of two different scenarios for reducing salt intake on a population level -- a voluntary collaboration with the U.S. food industry and a national tax on salt.
This is one area of the food chain I could really cut down on, salt. It is in just about everything and all snack food is full of it. I would bet we all eat way too much salt. It’s cheap, too.
This has been a flu season like few others.
Normally at this time of year, influenza is rampant in the U.S., prompting hundreds of thousands of people to stay home in the dead of winter with fever, aches and pains.
Now, after raging through college campuses and communities last summer and fall, cases of the new H1N1 swine flu virus have dwindled to a trickle, and run-of-the-mill seasonal flu has barely made an appearance. Not one state reported widespread flu illness to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the week ended Feb. 20, the latest data available. The percentage of all doctors' visits by patients with influenza-like symptoms has dropped from a high of 7.8% in late October—the largest peak since the agency began surveillance in 1997—to 1.8% in late February, well below the norm for flu season.
I can’t remember seeing a response to the flu like we have seen in the past year, it seems the entire world reacted to the fight against flu this time like never before, there is much confidence in the vaccine.
Proposed rate hikes by Anthem Blue Cross have triggered state and federal investigations. (David McNew / Getty Images / February 9, 2010)
A consumer group sued Anthem Blue Cross on Monday, accusing California's largest for-profit health insurer of violating state law by closing certain policies to new members while illegally offering remaining customers alternative plans with fewer benefits at higher rates. Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog says in its lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, that Anthem closes "blocks of health insurance business" without offering comparable options. It did this last fall, just months before it informed policyholders who stayed put that their rates would rise as much as 39%, the suit says.
Too much greed at the wrong time puts this insurance giant in the courtroom, let’s see how they defend raising premiums at such a sensitive time in the history of health care in America.
If you are confused about what you should or shouldn’t eat to reduce your chances of developing heart disease—you’re not alone. Delving into the hundreds of diet books and websites and interpreting the various and conflicting studies can make even the best nutrition scholar shake their head and give up. But there are people who live for statistics and nutrition research and are willing to dig in and find out what is best for our bodies.
Interesting article about food and the heart, it does seem strange that doctors almost never talk about diet—is that because people lie to them so much, or is there just not enough time?
Thanks to a new federal law, Denise Camp no longer has to pay more to treat her depression than to have her other health-care needs met. (By Susan Biddle For The Washington Post)
Denise Camp was resigned to the double standard that had long applied to her medical bills, forcing her to skimp on other expenses so she could pay for mental health treatment.
While visits to her internist for physical problems required a $20 co-pay, her weekly therapy sessions with a social worker cost $50 and trips to the psychiatrist who prescribed her medication were $75. A similar disparity applied to medicines: Drugs to treat the crippling depression that ended her engineering career cost her twice what she paid for an antibiotic.
This is one small example of why we need health care reform in this country, we are not treating all illness with fair concern, why should a mental illness cost more than a physical one? Crazy?
A jogger runs in Boston, Massachusetts September 21, 2009. Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Several of the nearly 100 young U.S. athletes who die suddenly and unexpectedly during sports every year could be saved through more effective screening for heart problems, US researchers suggested in a new study published Monday. The measures, according to another study, will cost less than $100 per athlete.
Most of the athletes who die are college or high school students who suffer cardiac arrests triggered by heart disease nobody knew about until the accident.
While current guidelines recommend a physical exam and a medical history before participating in college sports, some doctors believe measurements of the heart's electrical activity -- known as an electrocardiogram, or ECG -- should also be required.
Two independent U.S. studies, both published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, now show that this extra measure allows doctors to identify twice as many at-risk athletes in a cost-effective way.
"We spend a lot of money trying to design treatment for people late in life," cardiologist Dr. Aaron Baggish, who worked on one of the studies, told Reuters Health. "This is a chance to make a difference in young people."
I am always saying that health reform should start with the young people, so why not check someone’s heart before they go all out in a sport? Seems to make sense, we need to promote safety in sports.
According to a study of 1,552 parents, most parents follow the advice of their children’s doctor concerning vaccinations. However, this study also showed that one out of every four parents in the United States believe that certain vaccinations could cause autism in otherwise healthy children, although there is no proven correlation between these two things. It is very lucky for the children of these parents that they do not let their fears about vaccinations override the need to have their children vaccinated to protect them from life-threatening illnesses.
Many parents have based their fear that vaccinations can cause autism on a speculative study completed in 1998. This study was recently retracted by a British medical journal after it was determined that the author of the study acted dishonestly and unethically. There have been no other studies that have linked vaccinations and autism.
I think it is wonderful that most parents put away these unfounded fears about vaccinations and go ahead with their children’s shots, but it would be nice to get rid of the fear in the first place.
Studies done at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston show that Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical often found in baby bottles and the lining of aluminum cans, may lead to allergy related asthma. Production of the chemical started about 40 years ago, a timing that scientists note coincides with increasing asthma rates.
Tests on BPA have been done on lab mice. The researchers found the mice born to mothers exposed to 10 micrograms of BPA developed airway problems while mice born to mothers exposed to low or no BPA did not develop the problem. These tests show a significant enough increase in allergy related asthma that some states have begun banning the chemical in containers that could be used by children under the age of four.
Scientist believe that this study is a good example of what could happen to humans, but they admit that mice studies are not always accurate in people.
It seems there would be a great market for baby items certified free of BPA, in fact, I think they banned it in Canada. Do we have any plastics experts that can inform us why BPA is not needed?
Graphic shows how carotid artery stents help prevent strokes (J. Bell - AP)
SAN ANTONIO -- People at risk of a stroke because of narrowed neck arteries can be safely treated with a less drastic option than the surgery done now, the largest study ever done on these treatments concludes.
If Medicare agrees to cover it, hundreds of thousands of Americans a year might be able to have an artery-opening procedure and a stent instead of surgery to remove built-up plaque, doctors say. A stent is a wire-mesh tube that props the blood vessel open.
Stents have long been used to fix heart arteries but are approved for use in the neck only for people too sick for surgery. The new study, in people with less severe disease, suggests stents may find much wider use.
This looks like good news for stent manufacturers, but I am curious about the nature of surgery replaced by these neck stents. Perhaps one of our doctors can fill us in about what the surgery involves.
Deadly allergic reactions caused by eating meat are reported to be much more common than previously thought, a new study finds. Previous studies had reported rare cases of anaphylaxis or severe and potentially life threatening allergic reactions to meat; the new study, however, says the condition to be more common. According to the study presented at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in New Orleans, the production of IgE antibody in response to a carbohydrate in meat known as alpha-galactose is responsible for unexplained allergic reactions reported after eating meat.
This is interesting, I wonder how meat has somehow escaped as a cause for killer allergic reactions, perhaps this study will help doctors identify meat allergies more accurately in the future.
On March 15, the U.S. Census Bureau will mail out questionnaires to 130 million households. The forms should be filled out and mailed back by April 1 — Census Day. For the first time, all households will receive the same 10-question census form. The longer, 50-question form, used in previous censuses has been replaced by the American Community Survey, which has been collecting housing, income, education and employment data on a yearly basis during the past decade. The Census Bureau hopes the shorter form, which should take 10 minutes to complete, will increase the response rate of Americans. In 2000, 67 percent of Americans returned their census questionnaires by April 1. In Florida, the response rate was slightly lower — 63 percent. The Census Bureau contends that it saves $85 million in follow-up costs to non-responding households for every one percent increase in the response rates. The Census, conducted every 10 years, determines the distribution of more than $400 billion a year in federal funds based on population.
I hope all our members will respond to the census and help out the government with the knowledge needed to distribute the mentioned $400 billion a year. Wow, that sounds like a lot of money, eh?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for the treatment of Gaucher Type I Disease. Shire HGT , Inc has been approved to release the drug at a time when the only other manufacturer of a treatment for this disease is having manufacturing problems.
Gaucher Type I disease is an enzyme problem that causes lipid buildup throughout a persons body. The disease can be deadly if not treated. While this is a very rare disorder, people of a specific Jewish descent seem to be the largest affected people to get the disease.
I never heard of this one, can any of our doctors tell us something about Gaucher disease? For instance, how would you know if you had it? Any tell-tale signs? At least there is a treatment now.
Image by AFP/Getty Images via Daylife
As we all know by now, one of the biggest scare tactics that proponents of the health care status quo put forth is that, if health care reform passes, people who feel well-served by the current health care system can kiss their comfort goodby. The cost of insuring poor folks will sit firmly on the backs of the middle-class. Forcing hospitals to control costs means that none of us will get the treatments we badly need. We can expand Medicaid only by decimating Medicare. Oh, yeah, and let’s not forget the death panels.
Even if any of that were true, simple morality and decency would dictate that we have to make some sacrifices to insure that no-one is suffering — or dying — because they simply cannot afford medical care.
But the fact is, it’s not true.
Here’s a nicely-balanced look at the issues involved in the current health care reform debate, of course, written by a woman. Have a heart, America, do you really want to be stepping over the dead bodies of people who couldn’t afford their premiums?
The group Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare held another rally in downtown Louisville Wednesday.
It was one of many demonstrations across the country in response to President Obama’s healthcare summit with lawmakers in Washington.
The demonstrators are opposed to most of the legislation on the table. They favor an expanded Medicare system that would provide single-payer healthcare to all citizens.
Kay Tillow helped organize the event. She says even if healthcare overhaul legislation is passed, her group will still call for more changes.
“We will continue to push because there’s nothing that they are now considering that will solve the problem,” she says.
Opponents of the single-payer plan say it would be too expensive or inefficient. Tillow says high costs and inefficiencies are caused by for-profit insurers.
Notice the low-cost sign the demonstrator is holding? They couldn’t even afford sticks to hold the signs up in the air. These are probably the folks we should listen to, at least they know how to save money on printing!
In this photo released by Wellpoint Inc., the company's CEO Angela Braly is shown. Braly is being called before Congress this week to defend planned rate hikes as high as 39 percent for some customers even as the parent company made billions. (AP Photo/Wellpoint Inc.)
The CEO of WellPoint Inc., the nation's largest health insurer, is being called before Congress this week to defend planned rate hikes of as much as 39 percent for some customers even as the company made billions last year.
The issue bubbled up earlier this month, as notices about rate increases for the individual health insurance business of WellPoint's Anthem Blue Cross subsidiary in California were widely publicized. Similar premium increases are being seen by policyholders in a handful of states.
The Obama administration has seized on the issue to renew its push for an overhaul of the health care system.
At the heart of the debate is the question of what should be a fair profit for health insurers. WellPoint CEO Angela Braly will likely be grilled on the issue when she appears at a Congressional hearing Wednesday. Here are some questions that explore the issue.
As I called it in a previous comment, this is what we call “making hay while the sun shines”, taking every advantage of vulnerable individuals who have have no group power, and just raising the rates.
BRISBANE: Queensland Health will offer free swine flu vaccinations at locations across the southside this weekend amid news a second wave of the deadly virus is likely to hit Australia. Queensland Health community and primary health services executive director Glenn Bradley said vaccinations against the Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 (human swine flu) would be administered to the community at six Brisbane schools. “Queenslanders can protect themselves, their family and their local community by taking advantage of the free immunisation clinics at state high schools,” he said.
This is a country taking swine flu very seriously, as they will for quite some time since we are told the seasonal flu of tomorrow is the swine flu of today. I would like to know more about the health system in Australia.
The Justice Department said Guidant discovered in 2002 that its Ventak Prizm 2 DR was prone to electrical arcing, which could keep the device from responding when the patient suffered irregular heart rhythms. (Bloomberg News file photo)
The U.S. Department of Justice filed charges against Boston Scientific Corp.’s Guidant division Thursday, saying it did not fully disclose problems with its devices to regulators. The charges, filed in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, are part of a previously announced agreement for Boston Scientific Corp. to plead guilty to the two misdemeanor charges. The company, based in Natick, Mass., agreed in November to plead guilty to the two counts, which had not yet been filed, and pay $296 million to resolve the investigation. The investigation concerned three implantable heart devices. The Justice Department said Guidant discovered in 2002 that its Ventak Prizm 2 DR was prone to electrical arcing, which could keep the device from responding when the patient suffered irregular heart rhythms. Guidant changed the design of the device in November of that year, but in August 2003, it told the Food and Drug Administration that the changes did not affect the safety or effectiveness of the device.
Just imagine how you would feel having a pacemaker recalled right out of your body because of arcing. Talk about a sinking feeling, but better to know than to not know about such an important problem.
One of one of Lydia Carranza's silicone implants took the force of the blow, stopping bullet fragments from reaching her vital organs Photo: CORBIS
Lydia Carranza was working in the office of a dentist in Beverly Hills, California when a gunman ran in and opened fire.
He aimed the weapon directly at her heart but one of her silicone implants took the force of the blow, stopping bullet fragments from reaching her vital organs.
The gunman had gone to the dental office looking for his wife, who also worked there. She was shot and killed in the attack. Mrs Carranza was sitting a few feet away when the gunman turned on her.
"She's just one lucky woman," surgeon Dr Ashkan Ghavami told the Los Angeles Times. "The bullet fragments were millimetres from her heart and her vital organs. Had she not had the implant, she might not be alive today."
I have never been a big fan of breast implants—at least I don’t think I have been—but this article indicates they are at least good for something other than amusement. What a horrible thing, to be shot.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — One of the first things Mike Ameroso asked while contemplating robotic surgery for his prostate cancer was how many surgeries his doctors had done with the robot.
He liked the idea of the robot's smaller incision and steady miniature "hands" and the promise of less pain and a quick recovery — but had his doctors put in time at the controls?
After all, "an aircraft is only as good as the pilot who flies it," concurred Thenkurussi Kesavadas as he and Ameroso took part Thursday in the rollout of a new robotic surgery simulator that lets surgeons practice endlessly in a field that's growing by leaps and bounds.
The "RoSS" simulator closely approximates the touch and feel of the widely used da Vinci robotic surgical system. It was developed through a collaboration between the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and University at Buffalo, where Kesavadas heads the Virtual Reality Lab.
This device looks like something out of a science fiction movie. Amazing way for a surgeon to practice an operation over and over until it feels right. This is truly a great training device for surgeons and a stunning-looking piece of equipment.
How to conduct EMR Vendor Demos: Mark Anderson of the AC Group, Inc. offers his advice on how to get the best out of your EMR Vendor Demos. Start with Patient Check-in. Do some sample Patients. More …
7 Costly Mistakes when Purchasing EMR: Mike Uretz introduces one of the Costly Mistakes made when purchasing an EMR; not planning for the worst case scenario. More …
Which add-ons for EMR and EHR: Which add-ons do you really need for your EHR or EMR? Mark Anderson talks about the 30+ Add-ons available for EMR. Are they worth it? More …
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