Since 12-10-05
Health Alert from NewsMax.com
Since 12-10-05
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Big Change in CPR
2. Coffee Boosts Memory
3. Asthma Drug Alert
4. Abortion Pill Dangers
5. Strong Values Fight Stress
6. Statins Delay Alzheimer's
7. Low PSA No Bar Against Cancer
8. Tell Doc About Extra Herbs, Vitamins
9. Deadly Intestinal Illness Spreading
1. Big Change In CPR
In a radical change from the way most people perform CPR, new recommendations
urge many more chest compressions.
The revised guidelines issued Monday by the American Heart Association on
cardiopulmonary resuscitation change the ratio of chest compressions to rescue
breaths from 15 compressions for every two rescue breaths to 30 compressions for
every two rescue breaths.
And while the guidelines advocate a "back to basics" approach for the public,
they recommend that emergency personnel get more high-tech by cooling cardiac
arrest patients for 12 to 24 hours to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
Two significant studies have shown that such cooling resulted in improved
survival and brain function for those who were comatose after initial
resuscitation.
More than 300,000 Americans die each year of cardiac arrest, when the heart
suddenly stops beating. The heart association estimates that more than 95
percent of cardiac arrest victims die before they get to the hospital.
Studies show that the chest compressions create more blood flow through the
heart to the rest of the body, buying time until a defibrillator can be used or
the heart can pump blood on its own.
Studies have also shown that blood circulation increases with each chest
compression and must be built back up after an interruption, the association
says in its online journal Circulation.
"Since the 2000 guidelines, research has strengthened our emphasis on effective
CPR as a critically important step in helping save lives," said Dr. Robert
Hickey, chair of the American Heart Association's Emergency Cardiovascular Care
programs.
2. Coffee Boosts Memory
A cup of coffee is good for the memory, at least the short term memory,
according to new research from Austria.
In a study of 15 healthy men ages 26 to 47, functional magnetic resonance
imaging detected significant activity in the brain's memory centers 20 minutes
after the men consumed 100 mg of caffeine, according an Austrian study reported
at the Radiological Society of North America meeting here.
The activity was significantly greater than in men who were received placebo
coffee, said Dr. Florian Koppelstatter, of the University Hospital Innsbruck. He
said the boosted activity was seen in the anterior cingulate cortex, the brain
area responsible for some short-term memory functions.
The boosted brain activity appears 20 minutes after the coffee was consumed and
diminished about 45 minutes.
Dr. Koppelstatter said the study clearly demonstrates that caffeine has a
definite impact on short-term memory processes. "This effect takes part in the
distinct part of the working memory network that controls attention and
concentration," he said. Dr. Koppelstatter presented his work at a meeting of
the Radiological Society of North America.
3. Asthma Drug Alert
The FDA is alerting asthma patients and their doctors that three long-acting
inhaled asthma medicines "may increase the chance of severe asthma episodes, and
death when those episodes occur."
The three products - Advair Diskus, Foradil Aerolizer, and Serevent Diskus - are
long-acting beta-agonists, or "LABAs," which help relax the muscles around the
lung's airways.
"Even though LABAs decrease the frequency of asthma episodes, these medicines
may make asthma episodes more severe when they occur, says the FDA.
The FDA has ordered the manufacturers to update the products' labels about the
risk. In July, an FDA panel recommended that all three drugs remain
availableremain available.
In 2003, Advair and Serevent got "black box" warnings about the risk. Advair and
Serevent have the same active ingredient (salmeterol). Foradil has a different
active ingredient but is in the same class of drugs.
The FDA's public health advisory highlights recommendations about using LABA
medicines for asthma:
LABAs shouldn't be the first medicine used to treat asthma. They should be added
to the asthma treatment plan only if other medicines do not control asthma,
including the use of low- or medium-dose corticosteroids. Don't stop using your
LABA or other prescribed asthma medicines unless you have discussed it with your
doctor. Don't use your LABA to treat wheezing that is getting worse. Call your
doctor right away if wheezing worsens while using an LABA. Always have a
short-acting bronchodilator medicine (such as Proventil inhaler) with you to
treat sudden wheezing. LABAs do not relieve sudden wheezing. Editor's note:
Vaccinations can kill you, but there are some simple ways to protect yourself.
To find out more
go here now.
4. Abortion Pill Dangers
FDA experts are now saying that mifespristone, the early abortion pill linked to
four U.S. deaths may be 10 times more dangerous than early abortion surgery.
In an article in The New England Journal of Medicine, the FDA's Dr. Marc Fisher,
said recent reports of the four deaths of U.S. abortion pill users due from a
rare bacterial infection suggest that abortions induced by prescription drugs
carry a notable risk, as do surgical abortions.
And Dr. Michael Greene, a former chairman of the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs
Advisory Committee. added that more than 460,000 pregnancy terminations have
involved mifepristone.
He calculates that the mortality risk of this procedure is around 1 in 100,000:
ten times that of surgical abortions performed after fewer than eight weeks'
gestation. Mifepristone is approved for the termination of pregnancies at fewer
than seven weeks' gestation.
5. Strong Values Fight Stress
Keeping your values in the forefront of your mind seems to cut stress and may
fortify you against physical illness.
That's the intriguing finding of a study by UCLA psychologists in the November
issue of the journal Psychological Science. A further point worth pondering: It
doesn't seem to matter whether those values are spiritual or secular. It just
matters that you remind yourself that you hold them.
The study had 80 UCLA undergrads do stressful tasks. One involved making
five-minute speeches about qualifications for an office job in front of people
who were deliberately non-expressive. If they paused, they were "coldly"
reminded of the time remaining and told to continue.
Then things got worse - they had to repeatedly subtract 13 from 2,083 and, if
they got it wrong at any point, start over from the beginning.
Before those tasks, one group of students had been asked to write about values
they previously identified as important.
Those who indicated that religious values were paramount were asked about God,
the Bible and so on. Those for whom secular values mattered most were asked
about the greatness of Abraham Lincoln, the value of community service and
similar topics.
Another group also got questions on values - but values they said were
unimportant to them. The results: Those who reflected in advance on values they
considered meaningful had considerably less cortisol, a hormone released during
stressful events.
"Our study shows that reflection on personal values can buffer people from the
effects of stress, but the implications are broader than that," said Shelley E.
Taylor, a UCLA psychology professor and study author. "Any positive
self-affirmation can act as a buffer against stressful events; that can include
values, personal relationships and qualities that are a source of pride."
"It's remarkable that such a brief, subtle value affirmation has the ability to
mute cortisol responses and serve as a buffer against stress," said David
Creswell, a UCLA psychology grad student and the study's lead author.
"This is the first finding showing that reflecting on one's personal values
reduces cortisol responses to stress. The implication is that value affirmation
may make a stressful experience less so and, over time, this could potentially
benefit one's cognitive functioning and physical health."
Editor's note:
Check out Dr. Blaylock's advice on getting your blood pressure down to a healthy
level without using expensive prescription drugs.
Go here now.
6. Statins May Delay Alzheimer's
Cholesterol-lowering drugs may help delay the progression of Alzheimer's
disease, according to a new French study.
In a three-year study involving 342 Alzheimer's patients, Dr. Florence Pasquier
and colleagues and the University Hospital in Lille, found that the illness did
not develop as quickly in sufferers with high cholesterol levels who were given
statins as in patients not taking the drugs.
The drugs may "slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease and have a
neuroprotective effect," the researchers concluded.
Nearly 130 patients in the study had high cholesterol levels. About half were
given statins while the remainder did not receive any treatment.
The findings, which are reported in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and
Psychiatry, support the results of other human and animal studies which have
suggested that high cholesterol levels may play a role in the progression of
Alzheimer's.
Most of the patients in the study were women. Their average age was 73. The
progression of the disease was rated at 1.5 points a year for the women taking
the drugs, compared to 2.4 for those who were not treated with statins and 2.6
for patients with normal cholesterol levels.
Millions of people around the world are prescribed the drugs. Pfizer's Lipitor,
Merck & Co. Inc's Zocor and AstraZeneca's Crestor are among the leading statins.
The drugs lower cholesterol by inhibiting an enzyme that controls how much is
produced in the body.
Editor's note:
There's another side to statin drugs your doctors may not have told you. To
learn what Dr. Blaylock has to say about them
go here.
7. Low PSA No Bar Against Cancer
Here's some important health news that middle-aged men may not want to hear.
A new study from Louisiana State University shows that having a low number on
the prostate specific antigen (PSA) screening test does not necessarily rule out
prostate cancer - it's still very important to have a digital rectal exam (DRE).
Dr. Caleb B. Bozeman and his colleagues at LSU Health Sciences Center in
Shreveport identified 916 patients with abnormal DRE findings and a PSA level
lower than 4.0 ng/mL.
When the patients had biopsies, the LSU team found that 81, 8.8 percent, had
prostate cancer.
The investigators found that the predictive value of the DRE increased as PSA
levels increased, with cancer detected in 1.8 percent of those with levels
between 0.0 and 0.9 ng/mL, versus 21 percent among those with levels between 3.0
and 3.9 ng/mL.
Age was also a significant predictor, with cancer diagnosed among 5.4 percent of
those younger than 50 years and among 11.3 percent older than 70 years.
The researchers suggest that men with low PSA have a DRE and if it is abnormal,
go ahead with a bioopsy.
However, they added, "one could argue that patients with abnormal DRE findings
and a serum PSA less than 2.0 ng/mL could simply be followed up closely and do
not require a prostate biopsy." The LSU findings are reported in the journal,
Urology.
8. Tell Doc About Extra Herbs, Vitamins
Many heart patients use complementary and alternative medicines but don't tell
their doctors, according to a disturbing new Canadian study.
"In the era of evidence-based medicine, we have more patients who are quite
comfortable with alternative medicine rather than drugs proven to work," said
study author Dr. Beth Abramson, director of the Cardiac Prevention Center at St.
Michael's Hospital in Toronto.
"Unfortunately, many patients believe that if something is natural, then it's
safe. But many of these alternative medicines are not regulated, aren't
necessarily safe, and many have not been proven effective."
The Canadian study of 308 heart patients found that 45 percent used alternative
treatments - mostly herbs, vitamins and minerals. But only 56 percent of their
heart specialists and 75 percent of their family doctors were aware that their
patients were taking the alternative medications.
Abramson urged heart patients to give their doctors a list of any alternative
medicine and vitamins they take.
"Depending on the alternative medication, there can be life-threatening
interactions with prescribed cardiac medications."
Editor's note:
Beat heart disease safely and naturally.
.Go
here to learn more.
9. Deadly Intestinal Illness Spreading
A deadly bacterial illness common to people taking antibiotics appears to be
growing even more common - even in patients not taking such drugs, federal
health officials warned Thursday.
The bacteria are Clostridium difficile, also known as C-diff. The germ is
becoming a regular menace in hospitals and nursing homes, and last year it was
blamed for 100 deaths over 18 months at a hospital in Quebec, Canada.
Recent cases in four states show it is appearing more often in healthy people
who have not been admitted to healthcare facilities or who have even taken
antibiotics, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"What exactly has made C-diff act up right now, we don't know," said Dr. L.
Clifford McDonald, a CDC epidemiologist.
C-diff is found in the colon and can cause diarrhea and a more serious
intestinal condition known as colitis. It is spread by spores in feces. But the
spores are difficult to kill with conventional household cleaners.
C-diff has grown resistant to certain antibiotics that work against other colon
bacteria. The result: When patients take those antibiotics, particularly
clindamycin, competing bacteria die off and C-diff explodes.
The CDC report focused on 33 cases reported since 2003.
Twenty-three cases involved otherwise healthy people in the Philadelphia area
who were not admitted to a hospital within three months of illness. Ten more
were otherwise healthy pregnant women or women who had recently given birth who
had had a brief hospital stays. Those reports came from P.A., Ohio, N.J. and N.H.
Doctors watching for C-diff in hospitals and nursing home patients need to look
for it in other patients as well, McDonald said.
Patients need to be wary too. "If you have severe diarrhea, seek attention from
a physician," he said.
Editor's note:
Dr. Blaylock has some great tips for staying safe when you have to be in the
hospital -
go here now.
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