UAB Experts on H1N1 Swine Flu

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has several experts who can address the spread of the novel H1N1 influenza virus, also called swine flu. PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS, PUBLIC PERSPECTIVE Richard Whitley, M.D. Whitley, UAB?s Director of Pediatric Infectious Disease, has been tapped by U.S. President Barack Obama to serve on the H1N1 influenza working group of the President?s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). A professor of pediatrics, microbiology and neurosurgery, Whitley serves as vice-chair of the Department of Pediatrics and as co-director of UAB?s Center for Emerging Infections and Emergency Preparedness. Whitley is also president-elect of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Expertise: Flu-infection projections, government preparedness, drug stockpiling, common-sense prevention and self-care tips for the public. More »



FDA Grants Delcath Orphan-Drug Designation For Doxorubicin

NEW YORK -- Delcath Systems, Inc., a medical technology company testing its proprietary treatment method for primary and metastatic cancers to the liver, announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration granted Delcath's request for orphan drug designation for doxorubicin for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), also known as primary liver cancer. Clinicians in the U.S. diagnose nearly 20,000 cases of HCC annually. Doxorubicin is a common chemotherapy agent shown to be effective for the treatment of HCC, as well as hematological malignancies, soft tissue sarcomas, and many types of carcinoma. Delcath Systems performed early clinical studies of doxorubicin with its Percutaneous Hepatic Perfusion (PHP(TM)) t... More »


Doubt Cast On Value Of PSA Test: Study Indicates Prostate Cancer Indicator Results In More Harm Than Good

Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the past two decades never needed to know they had the disease, leading many to treatment that can do more harm than good, according to a new study. The findings, published in Monday's Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that since a blood test became the standard way to screen for prostate cancer, an additional 1.3 million men have been diagnosed with the disease. But because many men are diagnosed with cancer that will not cause symptoms and will not kill them, the screening tests save few lives, the authors conclude. The findings have reignited a long-simmering debate in medical circles on the merits of the blood test, known as prostate-specific antigen screening, or PS... More »


Overdiagnosis Since Introduction Of Prostate Cancer Screening

The introduction of prostate-antigen screening, or PSA, has resulted in over 1 million additional men over the last 23 years being diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer-most of whom were likely overdiagnosed, researchers reported in a new study published online August 31 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Overdiagnosis has been associated with early diagnosis in prostate cancer, but there have been no previous national estimates of its magnitude. Using data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program, H. Gilbert Welch, M.D., MPH, of the White River Junction VA and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice., and Peter C. Albertsen, M.D., of the Universit... More »




Minimally-Invasive Treatment Found Effective For Esophageal Cancer

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Researchers have found that early stage cancers of the esophagus can be treated as effectively by less-invasive, organ-sparing endoscopic therapy as compared to more complex surgical removal of the esophagus, according to a Mayo Clinic study published in the September 2009 issue of Gastroenterology. "In 20 percent of esophageal cancer (http://www.mayoclinic.org/esophageal-cancer/) cases in the United States, the cancer is detected in the early stages," says Ganapathy Prasad, M.D. (http://www.mayoclinic.org/bio/12948837.html), gastroenterologist and lead author on the study. "Traditionally, esophageal cancer patients undergo a complicated surgery to remove the esophagus. Our team compared surgery to the use of endoscop... More »


Change In Seasons: Ideal Time To Review Healthy Aging Habits---Omega-3, Antioxidants And Lutein Crucial To Baby Boomers' Health

TORRANCE, Calif. -- As summer winds down, school schedules may not be top-of-mind for empty-nesters. But keeping with the spirit of the back-to-school season, September provides a perfect time to brush up on nutrition lessons, take stock of your medicine cabinet and challenge your daily health routine. "While we can still take advantage of summer's fresh produce, ensuring a consistent supply of whole foods throughout the year can reap benefits for those focused on aging as healthfully as possible," says Michael E. Rosenbaum, M.D. "Chlorella, a super green food sourced from a fresh water algae, contains the widest range of essential nutrients available in any single food source, including potassium, all B vitamins, magne... More »


An Audit Of Analgesia Requirements For High-Dose-Rate Prostate Brachytherapy

High-dose-rate (HDR) prostate brachytherapy, as performed at our institution, requires the insertion of multiple transperineal catheters under anaesthesia (hereafter referred to as the 'intraoperative' period), after which the patient is allowed to recover from anaesthesia and the treatment is planned and carried out with afterloading of the radioactive source in several treatment sessions over the course of two days (hereafter the 'postoperative' period). The catheters are kept in position by a template sutured to the perineum. At the time of introduction of this new therapy at our institution, we assumed the catheters themselves, the template and the urinary catheter, along with potential bladder spasm, would cause at least moderate p... More »


Research Conducted At Northwestern University Has Provided New Information About Lung Cancer

According to recent research from the United States, "We present the treatment rationale and study design of the PointBreak study, a phase III study of pemetrexed/carboplatin/bevacizumab induction followed by pemetrexed/bevacizumab maintenance (arm A) compared with paclitaxel/carboplatin/bevacizumab induction followed by bevacizumab maintenance (arm B) in patients with advanced nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Treatment consists of up to 4 cycles of induction therapy followed by maintenance therapy until disease progression or treatment discontinuation in approximately 900 patients (450 per treatment arm)." "The efficacy objectives of this study are to compare overall survival (OS), response rates, disease control rates, p... More »


Waist-hip Ratio Better than BMI for Gauging Obesity in Elderly

Body mass index (BMI) readings may not be the best gauge of obesity in older adults, according to new research from UCLA endocrinologists and geriatricians. Instead, they say, the ratio of waist size to hip size may be a better indicator when it comes to those over 70. In a new study published online in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Epidemiology, researchers from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA found that the waist-to-hip circumference ratio was a better yardstick for assessing obesity in high-functioning adults between the ages of 70 and 80, presumably because the physical changes that are part of the aging process alter the body proportions on which BMI is based. ?Basically, it isn?t BMI that matters in older adults ? it?s waist size,? said Dr. Preethi Srikanthan, UCLA assistant professor of endocrinology and the study?s lead investigator. ?Other studies have suggested that both waist size and BMI matter in young and middle-aged adults and that BMI may not be useful in older adults; this is one of the first studies to show that relative waist size does matter in older adults, even if BMI does not matter.? More »


Yoga Benefits Back-pain Patients

People with chronic low-back problems who do yoga also do better at overcoming pain and depression than people treated conventionally for back pain, a West Virginia University study funded by the National Institutes of Health shows. The three-year, $400,000 study, published in the September issue of the journal Spine, showed lifted mood, less pain and improved function in the group that did yoga postures compared with a control group who received standard medical therapy. ?The yoga group had less pain, less functional disability and less depression compared with the control group,? said Kimberly Williams, Ph.D., research assistant professor in the Department of Community Medicine. ?These were statistically significant and clinically important changes that were maintained six months after the intervention.? More »



Swine flu gets more active as schools open: CDC

Swine flu is spreading more quickly in the U.S. Southeast, where schools started back earlier than in other areas after the summer break, a U.S. health official said on Wednesday. The pandemic H1N1 influenza virus has been active since March but officials have seen a clear ?uptick? in activity in some areas in recent weeks, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters. ?That little uptick we are seeing is all in the Southeast, in the school age children,? Schuchat said. Health experts say school age children and young adults are more likely than others to be infected with swine flu, and have said they expected the pandemic to become more active as schools started back and children mixed with one another. More »



Hosts National Summit on Latino Childhood Obesity Prevention

U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., will call for greater research and policy action to help prevent obesity among Latino children in a keynote address Sept. 10 at the Scientific Summit of Salud America!, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children, based at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. For its inaugural summit, Salud America! will unite more than 200 researchers and community leaders from across the country to address this critical health issue. Other guests at the summit, set for Sept. 10-11 at the Sheraton Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, include Texas Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr.; Sean Elliott, a former San Antonio Spurs player; and his wife, Claudia Zapata, a San Antonio Express-News health columnist. Champion cyclist Lance Armstrong will deliver a personal video greeting.  More »



Vitamin C deficiency impairs early brain development

Faculty of Life Sciences at University of Copenhagen shows that vitamin C deficiency may impair the mental development of new-born babies. In the latest issue of the well-known scientific journal The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a group of researchers headed by professor Jens Lykkesfeldt shows that guinea pigs subjected to moderate vitamin C deficiency have 30 per cent less hippocampal neurones and markedly worse spatial memory than guinea pigs given a normal diet. Like guinea pigs, human beings are dependent on getting vitamin C through their diet, and Jens Lykkesfeldt therefore speculate that vitamin C deficiency in pregnant and breast-feeding women may also lead to impaired development in foetuses and new-born babies. The brain retains vitamin C Several factors indicate that the neonatal brain, in contrast to other tissue, is particularly vulnerable to even a slight lowering of the vitamin C level. The highest concentration of vitamin C is found in the neurons of the brain and in case of a low intake of vitamin C, the remaining vitamin is retained in the brain to secure this organ. The vitamin thus seems to be quite important to brain activity. Tests have shown that mouse foetuses that were not able to transport vitamin C develop severe brain damage. Brain damage which resembles the ones found in premature babies and which are linked to learning and cognitive disabilities later in life. More »