Health Top Stories
Study Predicts 40 Percent Increase in Blindness in Nigeria by 2020
By 2020, 1.4 million Nigerians over age 40 will lose their sight, and the vast majority of the causes are either preventable or treatable, according to the Nigeria National Blindness and Visual Impairment Study Group. In the September issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, the group shares the second half of the results of the study, which examined almost 15,000 Nigerians over 40 between 2005 and 2007. The goal of the study (Causes of Blindness and Visual Impairment in Nigeria: The Nigeria National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey) was to help Nigeria create a plan for its participation in the World Health Organization?s VISION 2020: The Right to Sight Initiative, which is working globally to eliminate preventable blindness. The first half of the study appeared in Investigative Ophthalmology earlier this year. About 23 percent had some sort of visual impairment, and 4.2 percent were blind. Cataracts were the most common cause of blindness, with glaucoma second. Refractive errors (which cause nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatisms) were frequently the cause of less serious visual impairments. More »
Prevent periodontitis to reduce the risk of head and neck cancer
Chronic periodontitis, a form of gum disease, is an independent risk factor for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. This suggests the need for increased efforts to prevent and treat periodontitis as a possible means to reduce the risk of this form of cancer. ?Prevent periodontitis; if you have it already, get treatment and maintain good oral hygiene,? said Mine Tezal, D.D.S., Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Oral Diagnostic Sciences, School of Dental Medicine, University at Buffalo, and NYS Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences at the University of Buffalo. She is also a research scientist in the Department of Dentistry and Maxillofacial Prosthetics at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, which is where the study was conducted. Results of this study are published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. More »
Children with asthma more vulnerable to H1N1 virus
Nearly a dozen 7th graders with asthma were welcomed along with other classmates back to school today by a special guest who had a message for them about staying healthy - Kathleen Sebelius, 21st Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Secretary Sebelius met with students and their parents at Thurgood Marshall Elementary, one of 16 schools in Philadelphia that partners with the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc. (MCAN) program partners to help students better manage their asthma. She talked about the importance of education and creating healthy habits to avoid missing school. ?Nothing is more important than keeping our children healthy, in school and ready to learn as we start the new school year,? said Dr. Floyd Malveaux, Executive Director of MCAN and former Dean of the College of Medicine at Howard University. ?We applaud Secretary Sebelius for recognizing that staying healthy can be a challenge for students with asthma ? a factor that is even further complicated with the possibility of being exposed to the H1N1 virus, which can increase the severity of asthma symptoms, leading to possible hospitalizations.? During the meeting, Secretary Sebelius highlighted the work of the Philadelphia MCAN project as a model for inner-city childhood asthma management. Launched in 2005, the Philadelphia MCAN project has improved asthma outcomes for children and reduced school absenteeism by using a community-based approach that integrates families, community agencies, schools and health care providers to implement scientifically proven asthma interventions. More »
Vet says owners should exercise with their dogs based on specific needs to prevent obesity
People and their dogs both need physical activity to fight obesity, and there are many exercises that owner and pet can do together that can improve their health and their relationship, according to a Kansas State University expert. Dr. Susan Nelson, K-State veterinarian and assistant professor of clinical sciences, said dogs, like people, reap many benefits from exercise. She said there are physical and mental health advantages for the dog owner and the dog when they exercise together. ?Obesity is a big problem in pets, just as it is with people, and exercising helps keep the dog?s weight down,? Nelson said. ?Dogs also need an outlet to relieve their energy or else they may develop destructive behavior. Your dog is going to be happier and more content if it receives adequate exercise. More »
Glaucoma? That?s no excuse to skip your work out
People who suffer from vision-impairing glaucoma can exercise without fear of making the condition worse, according to a new study. Glaucoma arises from abnormally high fluid pressure within the eyes, a situation that can damage the optic nerve and lead to vision loss. It?s possible that by increasing pressure in the eyes, regular aerobic exercise could contribute to the progression of glaucoma. ?As an increasing number of people are becoming active in aerobic physical exercise such as jogging and bicycling, it would be interesting to identify any limitations or precautions, concerning the effect of exercise on intraocular pressure,? Dr. Irene Asouhidou, of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and colleagues note. More »
Benefits of exercise differ by sex and race
How much health benefit you get from physical exercise might depend on your gender, and your race, new research suggests. The work is based on data from more than 15,000 middle-aged African American and Caucasian men and women who have been participating since the late 1980s in the large Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. According to a report in the Journal of Lipid Research, people who added about an hour of mild exercise per week or half an hour of moderate exercise had increased levels of heart-healthy HDL. More »
Strokes in young blacks drain S. Carolina?s pocket
South Carolina has a lot to gain, for its public health and its economy, by correcting racial disparities in stroke, researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston conclude. In South Carolina, African Americans suffer strokes at younger ages and have worse outcomes than Caucasians, Dr. Wayne Feng and colleagues report in the latest issue of the medical journal Stroke. They point out that in their state, lifetime costs for strokes that occurred in 2006 alone, including lost earnings, are likely to total $1.92 billion. More »
Researchers find 2 more genetic risk factors for Alzheimer?s disease
An international team of scientists has identified two more genetic risk factors for Alzheimer?s disease. The findings are reported in the online edition of the journal Nature Genetics. The group, led by investigators from the School of Medicine at Cardiff in the United Kingdom and including scientists from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, completed the largest genome-wide association study ever involving patients with Alzheimer?s disease. The study pooled DNA samples from more than 19,000 older European and U.S. residents. Seven thousand had Alzheimer?s disease, and the others had no clinical symptoms of the disorder. Prior to this study, only four genes had been definitively associated with Alzheimer?s disease. Three genetic mutations have been identified as causes of rare, inherited forms of early-onset Alzheimer?s. The fourth gene, APOE4, is the only one previously linked to the more common late-onset form of the disease. More »
Smoke no longer found in European hospitals
Tobacco use is prohibited in hospitals in many European countries, although levels of compliance with this regulation differ. A study carried out by researchers from the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) has shown for the first time that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in European hospitals is ?low?, and ?without any notable differences? between them. Europe wants to see smoking in all closed public places banned by 2012. However, to date only 10 European countries ? Spain is not among them ? are applying this regulation comprehensively. Now a research study has described the levels of environmental tobacco smoke in European hospitals and has shown for the first time that exposure is ?low? and ?without any notable differences between them?. The study, carried out in 2001 in 30 hospitals throughout seven European countries (Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Romania and Spain) measured levels of particulates with a diameter of 2.5 micros (known as PM2.5) (?g/m3) or below, which indicate the presence of environmental tobacco smoke, at six standard sites in each hospital. More »
H1N1 has killed 2,837, virus has not mutated: WHO
H1N1 flu has killed at least 2,837 people but is not causing more severe illness than previously and the virus has not mutated, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. The WHO is carefully monitoring the virus to detect any mutation which might signal that it has become more deadly. ?There is no sense that the virus has mutated or changed in any sense,? WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told a news briefing. ?We are continuing to see increased number of deaths because we are seeing many, many more cases.? More »