CHRONIC PAIN
• New Treatment Shows Promise for Crippling
Knee Arthritis: For those who suffer debilitating arthritis in their
knees, researchers report in a small study that just one injection of stem
cells can reduce pain and inflammation. The idea is experimental: Extract stem
cells from a patient's own body fat -- cells known for their ability to
differentiate and perform any number of regenerative functions -- and inject
them directly into the damaged knee joint. STEM CELLS Translational Medicine
•
Giving OD Antidote to Those Using Powerful Painkillers Might Save Lives: A new
study suggests some opioid-related deaths could be prevented by routinely
prescribing an antidote for certain patients who take the medications.
Researchers found that those who received prescriptions for the antidote
naloxone (Evzio) were less likely to return for emergency care related to their
painkiller use. Annals of Internal Medicine
COMPLEMENTARY & ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
• Alternative Medicine Taking Hold AmongAmericans: Americans spend a good chunk of their health care
dollars on alternative medicine, such as acupuncture, yoga, chiropractic care
and natural supplements, a new government report shows. In fact, they paid more
than $30 billion out of pocket in 2012 on chiropractors and other complementary
health practitioners, as well as supplements and other forms of alternative
medicine. National Health Statistics Reports
• Acupressure
Reduce Fatigue in Breast Cancer Patients: Acupressure helped reduce
persistent fatigue in women who had been treated for breast cancer, a new study
finds. Fatigue is one of the most common long-term effects of breast cancer
treatment. About a third of women experience moderate to severe fatigue up to
10 years after their treatment ends. JAMA Oncology
FDA ACTION
• Epclusa Approved
for Chronic Hepatitis C to treat the six major strains of HCV
• Approved
the Roche cobas HPV Test as the first test for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) that
can be used with cervical cells obtained for a Pap test and collected in
SurePath Preservative Fluid.
• Approved the first fully absorbable stent to treat
coronary artery disease. The Absorb GT1 Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold System
(BVS), which releases the drug everolimus to limit the growth of scar tissue,
is gradually absorbed by the body in approximately three years.
• Approved the ExAblate Neuro device to treat
Essential Tremor. The device delivers focused ultrasound to destroy small bits
of brain tissue that are thought to be involved in essential tremor.
• Approves an Increase to the Amount of Vitamin D
for Milk an Milk Alternatives
PREVENTION
• CDC Panel Says FluMist Nasal FluVaccine Ineffective: FluMist, has been largely ineffective
in children in recent years and should not be used in the United States during
the 2016-17 flu season according to the CDC's Advisory Panel on Immunization
Practices (ACIP). U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Healthy
Living Slashes Cancer Risk: A healthy lifestyle that includes
regular exercise and eating nutritiously can lower your risk of developing
cancer by as much as 45 percent, a new evidence review concludes. Cancer
Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention
• Exercise May Help Thwart OvarianCancer: Lack of exercise is associated with an increased risk
of ovarian cancer and of death from the disease, two new studies suggest.
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarker Journal of
Cancer
• Pedal Away Type 2 Diabetes: The study found that people who bike to
work or regularly cycle for fun were less likely to get the illness. That was true even for those who started biking late
in life. PLOS Medicine
• Long Hours May Hurt Your Health: The link between long work hours and
disease ''seems to be present a bit in men but is tremendously more evident in
women." While the study cannot prove cause and effect, he said, the
associations were strong in women. When the researchers compared men who worked
more than 60 hours a week to those who worked 30 to 40, they found those who
worked the longer hours had more than twice the risk of getting osteoarthritis
or rheumatoid arthritis.
But men's risk for other chronic or serious diseases
didn't go up substantially. In fact, those who worked 41 to 50 hours had a
lower risk of heart disease, lung disease and depression, researchers noted. Journal
of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Exercise
May Help Ease Adult ADHD Symptoms: A burst of moderate exercise
may improve motivation and energy in adults with symptoms of attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a small new study suggests. Medicine and Science
in Sports and Exercise
• Mixing Pot and Tobacco IncreasesDependence Risk: People who mix marijuana with tobacco are at greater
risk for dependency and less motivated to find support to quit these drugs,
researchers report. Frontiers in Psychiatry
• Study
Hints at HPV Vaccine’s Cancer Prevention Promise: The
human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine appears to prevent abnormalities that can
lead to cervical cancer, a new study shows. Canadian researchers found that
young women who received the vaccine through a school-based program were less
likely to have such abnormalities when screened for cervical cancer than those
who did not receive the vaccine. The young women were screened less than 10
years after they received their first HPV vaccine. CMAJ
• StudyLinks Severe Head Injury to Parkinson’s Risk: A traumatic brain injury with
loss of consciousness may increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease,
new research suggests. The head injury may not cause Parkinson's, but make it
"more difficult for people who have sustained a head injury to recover,
adjust to or deal with the cascade of events leading to Parkinson disease that
are separate from the head injury itself." JAMA Neurology
• No Association Between Bad Cholesterol and Elderly Deaths: A meta
analysis, involving 68,000 participants over 60 years of age calls
into question the "cholesterol hypothesis," which previously
suggested people with high cholesterol are more at risk of dying and would need
statin drugs to lower their cholesterol. This new analysis found that older
people with high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), live as long, and
often longer, than their peers with low levels of this same cholesterol. the
research team called for a reevaluation of the need for drugs, such as statins,
which are aimed at reducing LDL-C as a step to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
NUTRITION/SUPPLEMENTS/VITAMINS
• Fiber: The RX for Disease Free Aging: Among more than 1,600 Australian adults,
the top fiber consumers were 80 percent more likely to remain fully functional
and disease-free as they aged, the study found. Fiber-rich foods include fruits
and whole grains. Journals of Gerontology
•
Vitamin D May not be the Great Solution to Health Problems: A new
review examines the evidence for 10 common beliefs about vitamin D. The beliefs
range from the ability of vitamin D to reduce falls and fractures, improve
depression and mental well-being, prevent rheumatoid arthritis, treat Multiple
Sclerosis, and lessen incidences of cancer and mortality. The review finds
little evidence though that supplementation with this vitamin has much of an
effect at all. Journal of General Internal Medicine
• Omega 3s Linked to Lower Risk for Fatal Heart Attack: Regularly
eating fish and other foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids may lower your risk of
fatal heart disease, concludes a meta analysis of 19 studies from 16 countries.
Walnuts, flaxseed oil, canola oil and some other seeds and nuts contain the
plant-based omega-3 known as alpha-linolenic acid. JAMA Internal Medicine
ª Now Pasta is Good for your Diet? New research suggests pasta --
specifically noodles in this study -- might actually help you lose weight.
Moderate pasta consumption seems linked to lower chances of general and
abdominal obesity, researchers found after analyzing data on thousands of
Italians. Nutrition and Diabetes
• Fats
That Could Shorten Your Life: Hold the butter, margarine and
high-fat dairy: A new study supports the notion that these
"saturated" fats are bad for you. The study, which followed more than
126,000 people for three decades, found that people who ate higher amounts of
saturated fats and trans fats died earlier than those who stuck to healthier
unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats include plant-based, unprocessed fats such
as those found in olive, canola or soybean oil, the study authors explained.
JAMA Internal Medicine
• Dietary Mineral Could Be One Key to Blood Pressure Control: A meta analysis of 34
clinical trials, involving 2,000 people found that sufficient dietary levels of
the mineral nutrient magnesium might be a boon to good blood pressure.
Magnesium dilates arteries, and in doing so lowers the blood pressure. Foods
high in magnesium include whole grains, beans, nuts and green leafy vegetables.
The study found that taking about 368 mg of magnesium daily for about three
months resulted in overall reductions in systolic blood pressure (the top
number in a reading) of 2 millimeters of mercury (mm/Hg) and diastolic blood
pressure (the bottom number) of 1.78 mm/Hg. Hypertension
• Drink Water, Stay Slimmer: Water might be a secret weapon for
dieters, research involving nearly 10,000 adults suggests. "Those who were
inadequately hydrated had higher body mass indexes (BMIs) than those who were
adequately hydrated.” Recommendations vary, but the Institute of Medicine
suggests 125 ounces of water daily for men and 91 ounces for women, from all
food and beverages combined. Water also can be found in water-laden foods such
as apples, celery, cucumbers, plums and watermelon, to name a few. Annals of
Family Medicine
• Too
Much Red Meat May Harm Kidneys: Eating red meat may boost the risk for
kidney failure, but swapping even one daily serving of red meat for another
protein may reduce the risk, a large study from Singapore suggests. Journal of
the American Society of Nephrology
• Pant Based Diets Tied to Improved InflammatoryProfiles: Plant-based diets are associated with improvement in
obesity-related inflammatory biomarker profiles, including decreases in
C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 levels, according to a review published. Obesity
Reviews
• Some Plant Based Therapies Associated with Modest Improvement in MenopausalSymptoms: An analysis of more than 60 studies suggests that some
plant-based therapies are associated with modest reductions in the frequency of
hot flashes and vaginal dryness but no significant reduction in night sweats,
according to a study. Individual phytoestrogen interventions such as dietary
and supplemental soy isoflavones were associated with improvement in daily hot
flashes and vaginal dryness score. Several herbal remedies, but not Chinese
medicinal herbs, were associated with an overall decrease in the frequency of
vasomotor symptoms. JAMA
TREATMENT
• Just a Little Statins’ Effect Enough to Help Heart: Giving high doses of statins to patients with heart
disease doesn't lower the risk of future heart trouble any more than moderate
doses of the cholesterol-lowering drugs do, a new study finds. "There is,
however, no evidence at present that increasing the intensity of treatment to
lower LDL levels further adds benefit.” JAMA Internal Medicine
• Pre and Post Testing Show Reversal of Memory Loss From Alzheimer’s Disease in 10 Patients: A small trial of 10 patients using a
personalized systems approach to memory disorders shows an unprecedented
reversal of memory loss in those diagnosed with early stage Alzheimers. Pre and
post results are based on quantitative MRI and neuropsychological testing. The
study is based on a protocol dubbed 'metabolic enhancement for
neurodegeneration-a 36-point therapeutic personalized program that involves
comprehensive changes in diet, brain stimulation, exercise, optimization of
sleep, specific pharmaceuticals and vitamins, and multiple additional steps
that affect brain chemistry. Aging
• Old Drug Boosts Brain’s Memory Centers: A long-used drug called methylene
blue may rev up activity in brain regions involved in short-term memory and
attention, a small study suggests. Methylene blue has been used in medicine for
more than a century. Radiology
• 4 in 10 Popular Sunscreens Don’t MeetSun Safety Standards: Nearly half of the most popular
sunscreen products sold in the United States fail to meet basic sun safety
guidelines, new research shows. The finding stems from a look at the sun
protection labels of 65 products that accounted for the top 1 percent of all
sunscreens sold by Amazon.com. Forty percent of those sunscreens lacked the
minimal resistance to water and sweat that the American Academy of Dermatology
(AAD) recommends. The AAD recommends that consumers opt for sunscreens that
provide "broad-spectrum protection" against both UVA "aging"
rays and UVB "burning" rays. Screens should provide an overall
"sun protection factor" (SPF) of 30 or more, AAD experts advise, to
block out 97 percent of the sun's rays. JAMA Dermatology
• Could Zaps to the Brain Help Fight Glaucoma? Electrical pulses to the brain may help restore vision
in some partially blind patients, German researchers report. Glaucoma and other
types of damage to the eye's optic nerve typically cause permanent damage. But,
the new technique appears to kick-start the brain's visual control centers, the
researchers explained. PLOS One
• Cancer Drug Shows Early Promise for Parkinson’s Disease: A drug used to treat leukemia, nilotinib
(Tasigna) has shown initial signs of promise for advanced cases of Parkinson's
disease, researchers are reporting. The researchers found signs that the drug
boosted the brain's production of dopamine, a chemical that helps regulate movement.
It also appeared to reduce certain "toxic proteins" that build up in
the brains of people with Parkinson's. Patients typically showed some
improvement in both physical symptoms and problems with memory and thinking,
the findings showed. Journal of the Parkinson's Disease
• Nerve Zap Eased Rheumatoid arthritis in Small Study: The
study, of 17 adults with the painful autoimmune disease, tested the effects of
vagus nerve stimulation -- a technique long used to control seizures in some
people with epilepsy. It found that over six weeks, most of the patients
showed some improvements in joint swelling and other symptoms. Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences, online
• More Older Americans Cared for at Home: More older Americans with chronic health problems are
opting to live at home, relying on help from family, paid caregivers or
friends, a new study finds.
In 2012, half of seniors with a disability had some
type of home health care, an increase from 42 percent in 1998. While the
majority of seniors would prefer to remain at home, the unintended consequences
is the strain it puts on caregivers. "Research has shown that 40 percent
[of caregivers] spend 20 or more hours a week caring for an older relative --
that's half of a full-time job." Besides lost work and income, this can
lead to depression and other health issues for caregivers. JAMA
OTHER
• Many Could Face Steep Rise in Obamacare Premiums for 2017: Many
buyers of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act need to brace
themselves for sharply higher premiums in 2017, analysts and insurance brokers
say. The rate hikes will mainly affect the millions who pay all of the cost of
health insurance out of their own pockets -- or a sizable chunk of it, they explained.
Buyers with modest incomes, $29,700 to $35,640 for an individual, may qualify
for federal subsidies to help lower their monthly health plan premiums if they
enroll through HealthCare.gov or their state insurance marketplace. But they
don't get as much financial help as low-income earners, and may feel the pinch
of higher rates. Health Day
• Doctors Swamped by E Medicine Demands: Doctors say they're drowning in
electronic paperwork, feeling burned out and dissatisfied with their jobs
thanks to countless hours spent filling out computerized medical forms,
researchers report. Electronic health records are a cornerstone in the effort
to modernize medicine. But, new systems designed to chart a patient's progress
and instruct their future care have proven to be very time-consuming, the study
found. Mayo Clin Proceedings
• Is
There a Cure for High Priced Drugs: The cost of prescription drugs for tens of
millions of Americans rose $2 billion last year, and all signs point to a
continued rise. At stake is nothing less than the ability of Americans to
afford the medicines they need. Can we stop the madness? Consumer Reports
• Doctor Assisted Deaths Didn’t Soar After Legalization: In places where
it's legal, physician-aided death remains rare. It's confined mostly to cancer
patients who are white, wealthy and well-educated, researchers found. If Oregon
and Washington are an indication, most patients choosing to hasten their death
are in hospice or palliative care. (Palliative care is designed to improve the
quality of life of patients with life-threatening disease such as cancer.) The
main motivators? Fear of losing autonomy, no longer enjoying activities, and
other psychological concerns, Pain is usually not the chief driver. JAMA
• US
Cancer Survivors Living Longer: As the American population ages, more
older adults will survive cancer and live with other chronic conditions that
will burden the health care system, U.S. government health officials report.
Cancer Epidemiology
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