Tag Archives: HealthDay

Brush teeth, save brain?

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Researchers may one day add brain health to the list of reasons you should floss and brush regularly. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay


Regular brushing and flossing can save your teeth into old age.


Could it also save your brain?


The bacteria involved in gum disease might play a key role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, new research suggests.


DNA from the bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis is more often found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, said lead researcher Jan Potempa, a professor at the University of Louisville School of Dentistry in Kentucky.


P. gingivalis is one of the causes of periodontitis, the most serious type of gum disease.


“The DNA can be found in the Alzheimer’s brain, but less frequently at a lower level in the brain of people who died at the same age from causes other than Alzheimer’s,” Potempa said.


Alzheimer’s-affected brains also contain higher levels of a toxin secreted by P. gingivalis called gingipain, he said.


Potempa and his colleagues think the bacteria and its toxins might be connected with Alzheimer’s disease, a suspicion supported by their research involving laboratory mice.


Researchers infected the mouths of mice with P. gingivalis and found that the bacteria did spread into the brain. The infection appeared to increase production of amyloid beta, a protein linked to Alzheimer’s, and also caused inflammation in the brain.


The researchers also found that a drug targeting gingipain blocked movement of the bacteria into the brains of the mice.


The experimental drug, known as COR388, reduced the amount of P. gingivalis in mouse brains, with an accompanying decrease in amyloid beta production and brain inflammation, researchers reported.


A phase 1 clinical trial is underway to see if COR388 can prevent Alzheimer’s, researchers said. The company Cortexyme Inc., based in San Francisco, developed the drug and is supporting the research.


There are several routes by which P. gingivalis could get into the brain, Potempa said. It could be carried through the bloodstream, by cell-to-cell infection, or through the nervous system.


“There a lot of nerves going into our mouth which have direct connection to the brain,” he added. “If the bacteria gets into these nerves, it can translocate directly into the brain.”


If this theory of Alzheimer’s disease proves true, then it could be that the amyloid plaques that are thought to disrupt brain function might actually be the brain defending itself against infection, Potempa said.


“Beta amyloid has an antibacterial function,” he said. “It’s not just there to form the plaques. It can kill the bacteria. These beta amyloid plaques may be essential for defending the brain against bacteria.”


About 46% of adults 30 and older have gum disease, with about 9% having very severe disease, Potempa said.


You can avoid gum disease by brushing your teeth twice a day, flossing regularly to remove plaque between teeth and visiting the dentist for regular checkups and cleanings, according to the U.S. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.


This study is part of a growing field of research looking into whether viral or bacterial infections might be associated with Alzheimer’s, said Keith Fargo, director of scientific programs and outreach at the Alzheimer’s Association.


Another well-respected research team is investigating possible links between herpes virus and Alzheimer’s, he said.


“It’s actually receiving a lot of attention over the past couple of years. If you’d have asked me three years ago, I would have said it’s a fairly fringe idea,” Fargo said.


But a direct cause-and-effect relationship has yet to be established between any infectious agent and Alzheimer’s, Fargo said.


He said it’s possible that bacteria like P. gingivalis are found at higher levels in Alzheimer’s brains because those brains are weakened and less able to defend against infection.


“As the brain gets sick with Alzheimer’s disease or with something else, it becomes less able to fight off these things,” Fargo said.


Dr. Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Research Center, agreed that the link between bacterial infection and Alzheimer’s is still “quite speculative.”


“I certainly wouldn’t worry a group of readers that this is the cause of Alzheimer’s, or if you’ve got gum disease you’re more likely to develop dementia later in life,” he said.


Petersen said the mouse evidence is interesting, but still a step removed from Alzheimer’s in humans. Research on animals does not always produce the same results in humans.


“That would argue this is plausible but again, it’s genetically engineered mice and it’s kind of far from human reality at this point,” he said.


Potempa presented his research recently at the 2019 annual meeting of the American Association of Anatomists, in Orlando, Fla. Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Foundations of fitness

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Children are more apt to engage in fitness activities if they’re receiving encouragement and support from parents. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Kids can start becoming couch potatoes as early as age 7, a new study reveals.


A review of 27 studies published between 2004 and 2018 in different countries found high rates of decreasing physical activity among children and teens.


While many teens quit playing sports, overall activity starts to decline during early school years among kids who were once active, said study author Irinja Lounassalo. She’s a doctoral student in sport and health sciences at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland.


So, “being physically active in childhood and adolescence may be of high importance since it can postpone the time of becoming inactive later on,” Lounassalo said.


While the percentage of inactive people increases with age, certain groups actually increase their activity levels in adulthood and old age.


“In the future, special attention should be paid to these individuals who increase their physical activity, because it is important to understand how potential lifelong inactivity could be turned into activity,” Lounassalo said.


Among children and teens, parental support for an active lifestyle helped increase activity. For teens, less time in front of the television was associated with regular activity.


For adults, quitting smoking brought increased activity. And among older adults, regular activity was associated with a lack of chronic illnesses, a lower death rate and good physical functioning.


“Since physical activity behavior stabilizes with age and inactivity is more persistent behavior than activity, interventions should be targeted at children early in life before their habits become stable,” Lounassalo said.


Parents can help by supporting physical activity in the schools and extracurricular sports clubs for kids, she said.


“Building publicly available sport facilities and safe bicycling and walkways might help in increasing opportunities for being active regardless of age, nationality, gender or educational level,” Lounassalo said.


The study was recently published in the journal BMC Public Health.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.



Research links HPV to heart disease

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HPV—one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases—has been linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By American Heart Association, HealthDay


Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the country.


In several studies, it’s also linked to the nation’s leading cause of death—cardiovascular disease.


There are more than 150 strains of HPV, including the ones responsible for cancers of the cervix, penis, anus and the back of the throat.


In a study published earlier this year in Circulation Research, researchers found that Korean women infected with these “high-risk” strains of HPV were 22 percent more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke than women not infected with the virus.


The risk was calculated after adjusting for other common cardiovascular risk factors, including smoking, physical activity and body mass index.


A 2011 study also connected HPV with heart attacks and strokes in women.


“But at this stage, we’re not completely clear on what the link is,” said Dr. Christine Jellis, a cardiologist at The Cleveland Clinic.


Jellis said HPV may encourage chronic inflammation in the body, which can contribute to atherosclerosis, or the hardening of fatty plaque along the lining of arteries.


“But there may be some other social factors that make people both more prone to developing coronary artery disease—atherosclerosis—and also HPV,” she said. “At the moment, we don’t have that information but this … definitely warrants further evaluation.”


The link between HPV and cardiovascular risk is not restricted to women.


A 2017 study of mostly men tied HPV to an increased risk of stroke in people who received radiation therapy for head and neck cancer.


Dr. Tomas Neilan, the lead author of that study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, said the results show HPV infection has consequences beyond the cervical lesions and cervical cancer typically associated with the virus.


“Specifically, and importantly, this also has implications for men beyond transmission” of the virus, said Neilan, director of the cardio-oncology program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.


HPV is such a common virus that an estimated 80 percent of the population will be infected at some point in their life, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 14 million Americans, including teens, become infected with HPV each year. Most infections go away on their own, but those that don’t can lead to certain types of cancer.


That’s where prevention can help, Neilan said.


HPV vaccines, which have been available for females since 2006 and for males since 2009, have proven effective in decreasing HPV incidence and preventing precancerous growths or infections.


The CDC recommends all girls and boys get two doses of the vaccine before they turn 13. Children who start the vaccine series on or after their 15th birthday need a third dose for complete protection.


Jellis hopes to see more research about the HPV connection to cardiovascular disease, as well as other types of studies that look beyond the factors already known to contribute to heart attacks and strokes.


“We certainly see patients who don’t have any of the traditional cardiovascular risks, but they still have atherosclerotic disease,” she said. “So, whether they have additional genetic factors or additional lifestyle factors, for those patients, maybe these other things like a presence of HPV will end up being the reason why they are at higher risk.”


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.



There’s bacteria in that vape

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Electronic cigarette products play host to bacterial toxins and fungi that have unknown effects on the growing number of people who use these items. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Alan Mozes, HealthDay


You might need to worry about inhaling more than just nicotine when you vape: New research warns that many electronic cigarettes appear to be contaminated with fungi and bacteria.


The finding stems from a close look at the contents of 75 popular vaping products.


About half of the e-cigarettes examined were of the single-use cartridge variety, while the other half were refillable products. Both contained liquid laced with nicotine, along with other chemicals. Once a user takes a puff, a battery-powered heating device vaporizes the liquid, turning it into inhalable vapor.


But nicotine was not all that was found in the vapor of many products.


Study author Dr. David Christiani said 23% of the electronic cigarette products they examined contained bacterial toxins, while 81% tested positive for a substance called glucan, which is found on the cellular structures of most fungi.


“The contamination took place in electronic cigarette liquid and in the cartridges,” Christiani said, although the cartridge e-cigarettes contained more than three times more glucan than the refillable liquid e-cigarettes.


Christiani, director of the environmental and occupational medicine and epidemiology program at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, characterized the findings as “surprising.” But when asked if the identified contaminants actually pose a danger to vapors, he suggested the jury is still out on that question.


Potentially, “they are toxic,” Christiani said.


That means that, over time, exposure to high amounts of such contaminants can prompt the onset of progressive lung illnesses such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis and asthma.


But as a practical matter, Christiani noted that the contaminant levels his team found in e-cigarettes was actually “considerably lower” than levels “that have been shown to cause lung disease” in workplace environments where manufacturing chemicals abound.


What’s more, such contaminants are also found in standard cigarettes, where levels “are (also) generally higher than what we measured here,” he added.


The bottom line: “At this time, we do not have scientific evidence that the levels we see in these electronic cigarette products raise health concerns,” Christiani concluded.


Still, he cautioned that “we do not know what the risk is with long-term usage, with increasing cumulative dose and with the interaction between these contaminants and other potentially toxic agents we and others have found in electronic cigarette products, such as flavorants or industrial solvents.”


Christiani’s team noted that the popularity of e-cigarettes has exploded in just a few years, particularly among young users. For example, the authors pointed out that while just 220,000 high school students vaped in 2011, last year that figure hit more than 3 million.


And though many experts take the position that vaping is probably a safer option than smoking standard cigarettes, as its use has grown, so has public health scrutiny.


As to what might cause contamination, the study team said it could happen at any point during the production process. But they also pointed a finger at the cotton fiber wicks found in e-cigarette cartridges, given that such fibers are known to host both bacteria and fungi.


Regardless of whether such contaminants ultimately pose a significant risk, “vaping is potentially harmful to your health, and (it’s best) not to do it,” Christiani said. “More study is needed to determine whether vaping can be made safer by removal of all contaminants and adulterants.”


The study was published online recently in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.


Victoria Stevens is scientific director of epidemiology research with the American Cancer Society. She agreed that “a more complete understanding of what’s in e-cig products and what their users are exposed to would help define some of the potential risk of vaping.”


Stevens pointed out, for example, that the bacterial and fungal property that the study team found in e-cigarettes “are common contaminants and are found in things like household dust.”


So she suggested that until more research clarifies exactly how much exposure vapers face—in terms of both what is found in vaping devices and what users actually inhale—”it is unclear whether this contamination is a cause for concern.”


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.



Sound the asthma alarm

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A possible warning sign that your asthma is out of control: You’re using a quick-relief inhaler more than twice a week. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Summertime can bring asthma sufferers a lot of misery, but lung experts say watching for warning signs of breathing trouble can guard against serious complications.


“As the leading organization working to save lives by improving lung health, we think it’s crucial for people with asthma to know as much as they can about the disease,” said Dr. David Hill, volunteer medical spokesperson at the American Lung Association.


“This includes the fact that changing seasons have a major impact on asthma. Being prepared for the summer and understanding warning signs can help prevent serious complications,” he said in a lung association news release.


Summer can bring increased pollen in the air, hot temperatures and associated ozone and particle pollution—all of which can trigger asthma symptoms.


There is no cure for asthma, but it can be controlled and managed.


Key warning signs that asthma may not be in control include needing to use a quick-relief inhaler more than two times a week, waking at night with asthma symptoms more than two times a month and having to refill a quick-relief inhaler more than two times a year.


If you have any of these warning signs, you should see your health care provider to improve management of asthma symptoms, such as reducing exposure to asthma triggers, the lung association advised.


Asthma affects about one in 13 people in the United States, including more than 6 million children, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


It is the most common childhood disease but can start at any age. The rate of asthma nearly tripled between 1980 and 2010.


Research shows that rising temperatures due to climate change are leading to longer and more intense allergy seasons, according to the news release.


The lung association offers a free, online learning course about asthma triggers, how to identify and reduce them, action plans for flare-ups, how to respond to a breathing emergency, asthma medication education, and an asthma management plan outline.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


Strawberries—the guilt-free treat

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Jams and trifles are an effective way to turn a whole basket of berries into a treat the whole family can enjoy. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Len Canter, HealthDay


Berries are nature’s natural sweetener and they come loaded with benefits. Fiber, vitamins and antioxidants sweeten the deal.


Fresh strawberries are a plentiful spring and summer fruit, so load up on them at the farmer’s market. One cup contains 100 percent of your daily vitamin C needs and has just 46 calories.


Here are two great ways to turn a basket of berries into sweets. The first is a simple, low-sugar refrigerator jam that you can use in many ways, from a tasty topping for toast to a sweetener in smoothies.

Low-sugar strawberry jam

  • 4 tablespoons cold water
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
  • 1 pound strawberries, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon honey

Place two tablespoons of cold water in a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the surface. Do not stir. Set aside to soften.


Meanwhile, place the strawberries in a heavy saucepan, along with the other two tablespoons of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until berries are softened, about five minutes. Stir in the gelatin and the honey. Chill at least one hour before serving.


Yield: About 2 cups

Strawberry trifle

A fresh trifle is a tasty way to showcase seasonal berries, but most traditional recipes are heavy in fat and sugar, mostly from the lemon curd. By lightening up homemade curd and using yogurt instead of cake layers, this dessert is guilt-free.

  • 2 large lemons, zested and juiced
  • 1/4 cup sugar or sugar substitute
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3 tablespoons butter, cut into bits
  • 4 cups assorted berries, stemmed and halved
  • 2 cups plain 2 percent Greek yogurt

Whisk the lemon juice and zest, sugar and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick and clings to the whisk, about six minutes.


Transfer lemon curd to a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the fridge until cold, at least 60 minutes.


When chilled, layer half the curd in the bottom of a glass bowl. Add a third of the berries, then top with 1 cup of the yogurt. Repeat with layers of curd, berries and yogurt and finally top with a layer of berries. Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 60 minutes before serving.


Yield: 8 servings


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


The shadowy side of sunshine

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Patients need to be informed about the risks of unfettered use of vitamin D, researchers warn. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Vitamin D is the healthy “sunshine” vitamin, but it can have a dark side, one Canadian man discovered.


A team of Toronto physicians reported on the case of a 54-year-old man who developed kidney damage after taking extremely high doses of vitamin D.


It’s a cautionary tale for consumers, medical experts say.


“Although vitamin D toxicity is rare owing to a large therapeutic range, its widespread availability in various over-the-counter formulations may pose a substantial risk to uninformed patients,” said study co-author Dr. Bourne Auguste. He’s a clinical fellow in home dialysis at Toronto General Hospital and the University of Toronto.


As reported recently in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the man was seen by doctors after he returned from a holiday in Southeast Asia, where he spent much of his time sunbathing. Vitamin D is naturally synthesized by the skin upon contact with sunlight.


Testing showed that the man had elevated blood levels of creatinine, a marker for kidney damage or malfunction. The patient was then referred to a kidney specialist and underwent further testing.


Doctors learned that the man had been prescribed high doses of vitamin D by a naturopath—even though he did not have vitamin D deficiency and no history of bone loss.


Over 30 months, the man had taken eight to 12 drops of vitamin D—a total of 8,000 to 12,000 International Units, or IUs—per day.


The typical recommended daily allowance of vitamin D is 400 to 1,000 IU, with a higher amount (800 to 2,000 IU) recommended for adults at high-risk of osteoporosis, and for older adults.


The patient far exceeded those dosages, however, and that led to extremely high levels of calcium in his blood. It’s those high blood calcium levels that triggered his kidney damage, Auguste’s team said.


“Patients and clinicians should be better informed about the risks regarding the unfettered use of vitamin D,” the study authors concluded.


Dr. Maria DeVita directs nephrology—kidney medicine—at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Reading over the case report, she said that “overuse of the vitamin, as is true of many supplements, may have dire adverse effects.”


DeVita said, “Vitamin D is necessary for the development and maintenance of strong bones, (but) the take-home message is too much of a good thing is not good.”


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Lore of the snore

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A sleep schedule allowing for fewer than seven hours of sleep each night is likely to lead to serious health problems. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Mistaken beliefs about sleep are common and pose a significant health threat, a new study warns.


Among these myths: some people only need five hours of sleep, snoring is harmless and a drink before bedtime helps you fall asleep.


“Sleep is a vital part of life that affects our productivity, mood and general health and well-being,” lead investigator Rebecca Robbins said. “Dispelling myths about sleep promotes healthier sleep habits which, in turn, promote overall better health.”


Robbins is a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of population health at NYU Langone Health in New York City.


For the study, the researchers reviewed more than 8,000 websites to identify the 20 most common beliefs about sleep.


One of the top myths was the claim of some people who insist they can get by on five hours of sleep a night. The study authors said this poses the most serious health risk due the effects of long-term lack of sleep.


Robbins and her colleagues suggested creating a consistent sleep schedule and getting at least seven hours of shut-eye a night.


And don’t assume your snoring is no big deal—that’s another myth, the study team said. While it can be harmless, snoring can be a sign of sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing stops and starts repeatedly during the night. Left untreated, it can lead to heart problems and other illnesses.


The researchers also dispelled the notion that a drink before bed can help you sleep. Alcohol actually makes it harder to achieve deep sleep, which is crucial for proper daytime functioning, they explained in a news release from NYU Langone.


The study was published online recently in the journal Sleep Health.


Study senior investigator Girardin Jean-Louis, a professor in the departments of population health and psychiatry at NYU Langone, said the public needs to be better informed about the importance of sleep.


“For example, by discussing sleep habits with their patients, doctors can help prevent sleep myths from increasing risks for heart disease, obesity and diabetes,” he said in the news release.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

FDA amps sleeping pill scrutiny

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Sleep pills can produce daytime drowsiness that leads to accidents and other harmful outcomes. This has prompted the FDA to issue new warnings on the drugs. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Many Americans use prescription sleep meds such as Ambien, Lunesta and Sonata to get good shut-eye.


But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has slapped a tough new warning label on this class of drugs, due to dangers from daytime drowsiness the day after their use.


The move was spurred by 66 cases in which patients engaged in what are called “complex sleep behaviors” after taking the insomnia medications.


In 20 cases, behaviors ended up being fatal.


Causes of death ranged from carbon monoxide poisoning, drowning, falls, hypothermia or motor vehicle collisions (with the patient driving), and apparent suicide, the FDA said.


Forty-six other reports involved serious but nonfatal injuries among people who took prescription sleep meds and then engaged in sleepwalking, sleep driving and other activities while not fully awake, the agency said in a statement.


While no one was killed in those reports, injuries included accidental overdoses, falls, burns, near-drowning, exposure to extreme cold temperatures resulting in limb loss or near death, self-injuries such as gunshot wounds and even apparent suicide attempts.


As a result, the FDA is ordering new boxed warnings—the most prominent type of label warning—on eszopiclone (Lunesta), zaleplon (Sonata) and zolpidem (Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar, Intermezzo and Zolpimist).


“This warning is likely to affect a lot of people, as millions take hypnotics—sleep aids—at least occasionally,” said Dr. Steven Feinsilver, who directs the Center for Sleep Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.


Another expert said the warning was needed.


“These type of medications are well-known to trigger these (dangerous) events,” said Dr. Thomas Kilkenny, who directs sleep medicine at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City. “In a susceptible person there could be no control over what happens once the patient goes to sleep.”


In addition to the boxed warning, the FDA is requiring the addition of a “contraindication”—advice to not use these medicines for patients who have displayed complex sleep behaviors after taking them.


“We recognize that millions of Americans suffer from insomnia and rely on these drugs to help them sleep better at night,” FDA Acting Commissioner Dr. Ned Sharpless said in an agency news release.


However, “while these incidents are rare, they are serious and it’s important that patients and health care professionals are aware of the risk,” he added.


“These incidents can occur after the first dose of these sleep medicines or after a longer period of treatment, and can occur in patients without any history of these behaviors and even at the lowest recommended doses,” he said.


The association between this class of drugs and complex sleep behaviors has long been included in the labeling of these medications. The new labeling changes should make the warning even more prominent, however, reflecting the risk of serious injury and death, the FDA said.


For now, patients should stop taking these medicines and contact their health care provider immediately if they have engaged in activities while not fully awake or if they do not remember activities they’ve done while taking the medication.


The FDA offered additional advice to people who take sleep aids:

  • Don’t use the drugs in combination with any other sleep medicine, including non-prescription sleep aids.
  • Avoid alcohol before or while taking these medicines, due to raised odds for side effects.
  • If you still feel drowsy after waking, be aware that any insomnia medicine can lower alertness and interfere with driving or other complex tasks.

For his part, Feinsilver said the effectiveness of prescription sleep aids is “overrated” anyway.


Instead, he said, “most patients with chronic insomnia should be treated behaviorally. There often is no quick fix with sleeping pills.”


In the meantime, Kilkenny believes that with the new warning, “physicians hopefully will take greater care in prescribing these medications to patients and also take more care in following up after the prescriptions are written.”


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


Unraveling Alzheimer’s

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Earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s means patients and families can plan for the future, including safety, care, legal and financial issues. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


Brain scans can improve diagnosis and management of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study claims.


“The good news is that there are no side effects from any of these recommendations,” said Dr. Thoits, the division chief of neurology with Spectrum Health Medical Group.


Researchers assessed the use of PET scans to identify Alzheimer’s-related amyloid plaques in the brain. The study included more than 11,000 Medicare beneficiaries with mild thinking impairment or dementia of uncertain cause.


This scanning technique changed the diagnosis of the cause of mental impairment in more than one-third of the participants in the study.


The brain scan results also changed management—including the use of medications and counseling—in nearly two-thirds of cases, according to the study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association.


“These results present highly credible, large-scale evidence that amyloid PET imaging can be a powerful tool to improve the accuracy of Alzheimer’s diagnosis and lead to better medical management, especially in difficult-to-diagnose cases,” said study co-author Maria Carrillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimer’s Association.


“It is important that amyloid PET imaging be more broadly accessible to those who need it,” she added in an association news release.


Funding for the study came from Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc., General Electric Healthcare and Life Molecular Imaging.


“We are impressed by the magnitude of these results, which make it clear that amyloid PET imaging can have a major impact on how we diagnose and care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of cognitive decline,” said lead author Dr. Gil Rabinovici. He’s a professor of neurology at the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

There is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but early diagnosis means that patients can receive treatment to manage symptoms and be directed to clinical trials for new drugs.


Early diagnosis also means that patients and families can plan for the future, including safety, care, legal and financial issues, and access resources and support programs, the researchers said.


In this study, the PET scans revealed that about one-third of patients previously diagnosed with Alzheimer’s had no significant amyloid buildup and their Alzheimer’s diagnosis was reversed.


But in nearly half of patients not previously diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the PET scans revealed significant amyloid plaque buildup, resulting in a new diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.


One-third of the study participants who had previously been referred to Alzheimer’s clinical trials showed no sign of amyloid buildup based on PET scans. Based on those results, doctors were able to ensure that nearly all (93%) of patients referred to Alzheimer’s trials were amyloid-positive, which is critical to these trials’ success.


“Accurate diagnoses are critical to ensure patients are receiving the most appropriate treatments. In particular, Alzheimer’s medications can worsen cognitive decline in people with other brain diseases,” Rabinovici said.


“But perhaps more fundamentally, people who come into the clinic with concerns about memory problems want answers. An early, definitive diagnosis may allow individuals to be part of planning for the next phase of their lives and to make decisions that otherwise would eventually need to be made by others,” he said.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Eating out? Mind your salt

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The more restaurant meals you eat, the greater your salt intake—and the greater your odds of developing hypertension. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Len Canter, HealthDay


You know that too much salt contributes to high blood pressure, but you might not realize how easily eating out could put you and your kids at risk.


Many entrees at leading restaurants and fast food places contain almost a full day’s allotment of salt, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


Remember, that’s 2,300 milligrams, or about one teaspoon.


With many Americans eating out an average of five times a week, all that salt adds up. And the more salt you eat, the greater the odds for high blood pressure (hypertension), a major contributor to heart disease and stroke.


By some estimates, the average American takes in 50 percent more salt than the daily limit. This excess starts in childhood. Kids between 6 and 10 years of age take in 2,900 mg a day, while teens top out at about 3,700 mg.


Studies done around the world have looked at salt consumption and high blood pressure. A study of 500 people, aged 18 to 40, found that the more restaurant meals people ate every week, the higher their odds of pre-hypertension.


Young people with even a slightly elevated blood pressure level are at very high risk of full-blown hypertension.


About 80 percent of the salt consumed has been added by manufacturers of processed foods or at restaurants. While the salt in hundreds of processed foods has gone down slightly in recent years, a Harvard study reported that it has gone up in many fast food items.


To protect yourself and your family when dining out, ask about the salt content of meals you’re thinking of ordering. Restaurants with 20 or more locations must provide this on request. Many chains post the numbers online. Finally, resist reaching for the salt shaker.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


Growing threat for vets: Heart disease

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Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay


More U.S. veterans are at increased risk for heart disease, a looming public health problem, researchers say.


They analyzed data from more than 153,000 people who took part in the National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.


Vets between the ages of 35 and 70 reported significantly more heart conditions than non-veterans, the data showed.


After age 70, non-veterans reported more, but the study’s author suspects that might be because fewer vets survived into old age due to heart disease.


“I think it’s sort of the first indication of a coming public health crisis for veterans,” said study author Ramon Hinojosa, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Central Florida.


“Because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, we have a relatively large, new younger generation of veterans who are going to survive for 30 or 40 years after their war experience,” he said in a university news release.


The study suggests that what’s known as the “healthy soldier effect” is no longer guaranteed. That’s the tendency for members of the military to be more fit and less overweight than same-age civilians.


Hinojosa said the change could be due the nature of modern warfare, changes in diet, leisure and exercise, more obesity among younger vets and higher rates of drinking, smoking and mental illness.


“It’s concerning to know that the physical benefits of military service seem to be not holding as well for the younger veterans,” he said.


“This suggests the health protective benefits of military service are not what they used to be,” Hinojosa said. “I think that should cause us to really look at what’s going on among the veterans after they leave military service.”


Being aware of this emerging problem can help health care providers offset the likelihood of early onset heart disease, Hinojosa noted.


The study was recently published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Sharpen your supermarket smarts

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By Len Canter, HealthDay


If supermarket circulars influence your grocery shopping, you could be saving money at the expense of your health.


That’s because studies show the offerings are often far from the healthiest food choices.


Researchers looked at a year’s worth of circulars from a small Midwestern grocery chain to see how the nutritional quality of sale items compared to that of the average American diet, which itself scores low.


They found that sales reflected a tendency to eat too much protein and not enough fruits and vegetables.


While 25 percent of sale items were for protein-based foods, only 8 percent were for vegetables and 7 percent for fruits. Worse still, less than 3 percent were for the most healthful dark green, red and orange vegetables.


So it’s important not to let these circulars dictate your eating habits.


Eating healthy doesn’t have to cost as much as you might think. The difference can be as little as $1.50 more per day. Interestingly, some studies have shown that even people who spend the most money on food don’t automatically select healthier choices.


Regardless of budget, the average family spends the biggest chunk of their food budget—about 35 percent—on items like snacks, treats and frozen dinners. That means shifting just some of your shopping dollars may be enough to boost your diet.


Once you’re at the store, carefully shop the perimeter—that’s where fresh foods are displayed—for items that didn’t make the circular.


Buy seasonally to save money, and choose whole foods—like a chicken you cut up yourself—and fruits and vegetables that you wash and slice since precut ones cost more.


Buy in bulk when it makes sense, if for example, canned beans and whole wheat pasta are on sale.


Make a shopping list in advance to avoid impulse buying, but be flexible so you can take advantage of unannounced sales.


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

The sooner you quit smoking, the better

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Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat

 By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay

 

Despite the well-known dangers of smoking, the sizable benefits of quitting may be overlooked, a new study suggests.

 

“These findings underscore the benefits of quitting smoking within five years, which is a 38 percent lower risk of a heart attack, stroke or other forms of cardiovascular disease,” said study author Meredith Duncan, from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

 

“The bottom line is if you smoke, now is a very good time to quit,” Duncan said in an American Heart Association news release.

 

Her team also found that it takes more than 15 years from the time you quit until your cardiovascular disease risk returns to the level of those who never smoked—so the sooner you quit, the better.

 

Cigarette smoking in America is declining and leaving a growing population of former smokers. Earlier studies have hinted that the risk for heart disease lessens within a few years after quitting, but these studies haven’t looked closely at smoking history, including changes in smoking habits.

 

In this study, Duncan and her colleagues analyzed data on the lifetime smoking histories of nearly 8,700 people who took part in the Framingham Heart Study.

 

At the beginning of the study, none of the participants suffered from cardiovascular disease. Over 27 years, researchers compared the risk for heart disease among people who never smoked with those who quit.

 

They found that more than 70 percent of heart disease occurred in current or former smokers who smoked at least 20 pack-years—smoking one pack a day for 20 years.

 

But smokers who quit within the last five years cut their risk for cardiovascular disease by 38 percent, compared with people who continued to smoke. Moreover, it took 16 years after quitting for the risk of cardiovascular disease to return to the level of never smokers, the researchers found.

 

The findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting, in Chicago. Such research is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Contaminated pet food and treats can harm people too

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Tainted pet foods and treats may make more than your dog or cat sick. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

 

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

 

Tainted pet foods and treats may make more than your dog or cat sick, new data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration suggests.

 

Harmful bacteria can also make owners ill if they handle contaminated pet products improperly, and bacteria such as salmonella can spread from pets to people, the agency said.

 

“Ultimately, we’re hoping to learn ways FDA can help minimize the incidence of foodborne illness associated with pet foods and treats,” Renate Reimschuessel, head of the FDA’s Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network, said in an agency news release.

 

To collect the new data, the FDA worked with 11 veterinary labs across the United States to investigate pet infections reported by pet owners. One of the main focuses was salmonella infections.

 

Of almost 3,000 dogs and cats tested so far, fewer than 100 have tested positive for salmonella, the agency found.

 

“Pet owners should know, though, that almost half of the dogs that tested positive for salmonella showed no symptoms,” Reimschuessel said.

 

And a dog with no signs of illness can still be carrying salmonella, which can spread to people, she added.

 

The dogs that have tested positive for salmonella were more likely to have eaten raw pet food, Reimschuessel said. Raw food is not heated or cooked, which might explain why there was a higher likelihood of contamination, officials said.

 

There are a number of things pet owners can do to protect themselves, including checking the FDA’s list of recalled pet products. Other measures include:

  • Feed pets in areas that are easily cleaned and sanitized
  • Wash hands carefully after handling pet foods
  • Earmark specific utensils for use only with pet foods
  • Wash counters and any other surfaces that come into contact with pet foods
  • Keep dry pet foods in a sealed container in a cool, dry place
  • Never buy pet food in dented cans or damaged packaging

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Paws for peacefulness

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There’s an infinite amount of calm and comfort to be had in the company of dogs, cats and birds. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

 

Cats, dogs, birds and other pets can help people manage their mental disorders, a study says.

 

Researchers from the United Kingdom asked more than 50 adults with long-term mental conditions about the role pets play in their social networks.

 

Sixty percent placed pets in the central and most important circle—above family, friends and hobbies. Another 20 percent placed pets in the second circle.

 

Many said the constant presence and close proximity of their pets provide an immediate source of calm. For some, a pet helps distract them from symptoms and upsetting experiences such as hearing voices or suicidal thoughts.

 

“You just want to sink into a pit … the cats force me to sort of still be involved with the world,” one patient said.

 

Another patient said: “I’m not thinking of the voices, I’m just thinking of the birds singing.”

 

The findings were published in the journal BMC Psychiatry.

 

“The people we spoke to through the course of this study felt their pet played a range of positive roles, such as helping them to manage stigma associated with their mental health by providing acceptance without judgment,” said study lead author Helen Brooks, from the University of Manchester.

 

“Pets were also considered particularly useful during times of crisis,” Brooks said in a journal news release.

 

“Pets provided a unique form of validation through unconditional support, which [the patients] were often not receiving from other family or social relationships,” she said.

 

Despite this, pets weren’t considered in the individual care plans for any of the people in the study, Brooks said.

 

The results suggest pets should be considered a main source of support in the management of long-term mental health problems, Brooks and her colleagues concluded.

 

Through open discussion of what works best for individual patients, the mental health community might better involve people in their own mental health care, she said.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Take 10 for mindfulness

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Feeling stressed? Try a little mindfulness for the health of it. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Len Canter, HealthDay

 

Feel yourself being pulled in a million directions and losing track of what’s really important? The meditative practice called mindfulness can help you get centered and re-focus on what’s meaningful to you.

 

And it doesn’t take time that’s already in short supply on your busy schedule. You can reap the benefits in less time than it takes for a coffee break.

 

Mindfulness shows you how to block out distractions and replace stress and other negative emotions with a sense of well-being. You accomplish this by focusing on the here-and-now — your present thoughts and feelings, not past concerns or future worries. You also learn to accept these thoughts and feelings without passing judgment on them, such as labeling them as good or bad, right or wrong.

 

Practicing mindfulness is easier than you might think. At the start of each day, you might take 10 minutes to do a few yoga stretches — yoga incorporates mindfulness because it teaches you to focus on your breathing as you move through poses.

 

Or spend 10 minutes at lunch or anytime during your workday to do a head-to-toe de-stress. Breathe in and out as you zero in on each part of your body, going from toes to the top of your head.

 

To unwind at night, consider more formal “guided” mindfulness, maybe with a podcast you can listen to through your smartphone. The UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center offers free ones, starting at just 3 minutes long.

 

Who doesn’t have time for that?

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Can you literally be scared to death?

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Can the occasional rush from an adrenaline surge be good for you? (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By American Heart Association, HealthDay

 

Can a person literally be scared to death?

 

The answer is a very conditional “Yes.” But, experts say, it’s extraordinarily unlikely to happen.

 

“Those circumstances are extremely rare when that happens,” and pre-existing conditions are typically a factor, said Dr. Mark Estes, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

 

When a person is frightened or perceived to be in danger, the brain triggers a surge of adrenaline, which makes the heart beat faster and pushes the body instantly into “fight-or-flight” mode. It also affects the liver and pancreas, triggers perspiration and pushes blood toward major muscle groups.

 

“It’s measured on how big the scare is,” said Dr. Vincent Bufalino, a cardiologist and president of Advocate Medical Group in Downers Grove, Ill. He said the more dangerous adrenaline surges come from the body’s response to a life-threatening situation or the stress of discovering the deceased body of a loved one.

 

“You can have a sudden cardiac-related event related to an adrenaline surge, but I think it would be a stretch to say you could get that from someone coming in a werewolf costume to your front door,” he said. “This is the kind of thing that you can’t prepare for. If it happens, it happens, and you hope your body doesn’t overreact to that event.”

 

People can typically get an adrenaline rush from skydiving or bungee jumping—even while watching a horror flick from the couch. More dangerous adrenaline surges come from life-or-death moments such as getting out of the way of an oncoming car or fleeing a tornado.

 

“Swings of emotion and roller coasters are OK for people who are young, who have a healthy heart,” Estes said. “But certainly, in people with pre-existing risk factors or pre-existing cardiovascular disease, you want to reduce the environments in which you might be suddenly stressed like this.”

 

People are able to prepare themselves when they get on an amusement park ride, so their risk isn’t the same as when they find themselves in life-threatening danger.

 

“The human mind and the human body do have the ability to prepare themselves for situations that can be anticipated that might be stressful and generally handle them much, much better,” Estes said. “It is the sudden, unexpected things which tend to cause a dramatic increase in heart rate and blood pressure and put people with pre-existing cardiovascular disease at risk.”

 

A possibly dangerous result of sudden stress may come from takotsubo cardiomyopathy, a weakening of the heart’s main pumping chamber that is typically caused by emotional or physical stress. The temporary condition affects women significantly more than men.

 

Also known as broken-heart syndrome, takotsubo cardiomyopathy is different from a heart attack in that arteries are not blocked but blood flow is negatively affected nonetheless.

 

“Adrenaline is a funny thing,” Bufalino said. “We can’t measure it. The precipitating events are diverse. Your response to an event might be different than mine.”

 

Occasional rushes from adrenaline can be good for you, sometimes leading to increased cognitive function. But prolonged stress and an abundance of stress hormones over time can have negative effects, such as high blood pressure or anxiety.

 

“It’s hard for us to be precise in saying, ‘This event led to a certain amount of adrenaline that led to a cardiac event.’ They’re sporadic at best,” Bufalino said.

 

And there’s little that can be done to prevent being frightened to death, he said, but being in good shape may help.

 

“Those folks who are used to dealing with adrenaline with exercise probably have a blunted response” because their higher cardiovascular fitness level may allow their body to better handle an adrenaline surge, Bufalino said. “I would speculate that aerobic exercise might be preventative or at least modify the body’s response (to adrenaline).”

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

A new weapon against ovarian cancer?

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NSAIDs may have a role to play in preventing ovarian tumors. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay

 

One low-dose aspirin a day could help women avoid ovarian cancer or boost their survival should it develop, two new studies suggest.

 

In fact, daily low-dose aspirin—the type many older women already take to help their hearts—was tied to a 10 percent reduction in developing ovarian cancer. It was also tied to as much as a 30 percent improvement in survival for ovarian cancer patients, the researchers said.

 

“Clearly, both these studies offer evidence of the benefit of the use of these anti-inflammatory drugs, and an insight into how to better prevent and treat this deadly disease,” said Dr. Mitchell Kramer. He directs obstetrics and gynecology at Northwell Health’s Huntington Hospital in Huntington, N.Y.

 

Kramer wasn’t involved in the new studies, and said that “more study is certainly warranted.” Still, “recommending a daily low-dose 81 mg (milligram) aspirin might be more than an ounce of prevention, as well as help for those women who have already developed the disease,” he said.

 

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cancer killer of women, largely because it is too often detected too late.

 

According to the researchers, there’s increasing evidence that inflammation plays a role in the development of cancer and can worsen outcomes. Medications, such as aspirin and non-aspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)—including ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) or naproxen (Aleve)—have already been shown to lower the risk of certain types of cancers, most notably colon cancer.

 

But do these drugs have a role to play against ovarian tumors?

 

To find out, researchers from the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., pooled data from 13 studies from around the world. The studies included more than 750,000 women and asked them about their use of aspirin and NSAIDs. The researchers then tracked these women to see who developed ovarian cancer—more than 3,500 women did.

 

According to the report published July 18 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, taking daily aspirin reduced the risk of ovarian cancer by 10 percent.

 

“This study gives us a new perspective on whether aspirin and non-aspirin NSAIDs can impact cancer risk. Not only does it look at ovarian cancer, which hasn’t been studied before, our sample size is three-quarter of a million women who were followed for several decades,” Shelley Tworoger, senior study author and associate center director for population science at the Moffitt Cancer Center, said in a center news release.

 

“The results of the study support that aspirin can reduce ovarian cancer risk, but further studies will need to be performed before a recommendation of daily aspirin can be made,” Tworoger added.

 

In a second study, researchers from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu and the Moffitt Cancer Center used the Nurses’ Health Studies to collect data on nearly 1,000 women already diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

 

The investigators found that women who used aspirin and non-aspirin NSAIDs after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer experienced as much as a 30 percent improvement in survival.

 

The results of the study were published in the journal The Lancet Oncology.

 

“To our knowledge, this study contributes the first comprehensive assessment of use of several types of common analgesic medications, such as aspirin and non-aspirin NSAIDs, after diagnosis in relation to ovarian cancer survival,” said Melissa Merritt, an assistant research professor at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center.

 

“Our work demonstrates the importance of common medication in increasing survival rates of ovarian cancer, and this will encourage more studies to be conducted to confirm the results and broaden the discovery,” she explained in the news release.

 

Both studies relied on retrospective, observational data, so they were unable to confirm a cause-and-effect relationship, only an association.

 

Still, the evidence for an effect does seem to be there, said Dr. Adi Davidov, who directs gynecology at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City.

 

He called the results “intriguing,” and believes that “we can now add an NSAID to further reduce the risk of cancer.”

 

Kramer added that “since aspirin has anti-inflammatory properties and is a relatively well-tolerated medication with few side effects, seeking its benefits for this deadly disease makes a great deal of sense.

HPV vaccine approved for people through age 45

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By Scott Roberts, HealthDay

 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the Gardasil 9 human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has been expanded to include people ages 27 through 45, the agency said in a news release.

 

Gardasil 9, approved in 2014 for people ages 9 through 26, is the follow-up vaccine to the original Gardasil, which was approved in 2006 and is no longer sold in the United States. The updated vaccine is designed to prevent cancers and disease caused by nine HPV types.

 

Some 14 million Americans become infected with HPV each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 12,000 women are diagnosed annually with cervical cancer caused by the virus and 4,000 women die each year from the disease, the CDC reports.

 

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that HPV vaccination prior to becoming infected with the HPV types covered by the vaccine has the potential to prevent more than 90 percent of these cancers, or 31,200 cases every year,” said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

 

Gardasil 9 also is designed to prevent HPV-triggered cases of genital warts in men and women, and vulvar, vaginal and cervical precancerous lesions in women, the FDA says.

 

The most commonly reported side effects of the vaccine include injection-site pain, swelling, redness and headache.

 

Gardasil 9 is produced by a subsidiary of Merck & Co., based in Kenilworth, N.J.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

 

What’s your calorie-burning clock?

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Did you know that irregularity in our schedules of eating and sleeping may make us more likely to gain weight? (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Alan Mozes, HealthDay

 

When it comes to weight gain, what you eat clearly matters.

 

But a small, preliminary study now suggests that when you eat also matters, with people burning off more calories at the end of the day than they do at the beginning.

 

The finding is based on a three-week study that monitored metabolism changes throughout the day among seven men and women. All food intake was carefully controlled, and all participants refrained from calorie-burning activities.

 

“We found that when people are at rest, the amount of energy that they burn varies with the time of day,” explained study author Jeanne Duffy.

 

In fact, “we burn 10 percent more calories in the late afternoon (and) early evening compared with the early morning hours, even when we are doing the exact same thing,” she added.

 

Duffy, a neuroscientist in the division of sleep and circadian disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said it remains unclear why this is so.

 

“We don’t have an answer to that from our study,” she noted. “It could be that it is a way for our body to conserve energy, by requiring less at some times of day.”

 

In the study, Duffy and her team enlisted seven healthy men and women between the ages of 38 and 69. None struggled with insomnia or suffered from any chronic medical condition. No one smoked, drank excessive amounts of coffee, or regularly took any prescribed or over-the-counter medication.

 

All were asked to live in a room that was stripped of all indications of time of day. That meant no clocks, no internet, no phone and no windows.

 

For three weeks, participants were assigned bedtimes and wake times, and every day those times were shifted to start four hours later. The result was as if each had circled the entire planet once a week.

 

Diets were controlled and calorie-burning exercise was not permitted, allowing researchers to analyze metabolism patterns free from the influence of eating, sleeping and activity habits.

 

In the end, the researchers determined that calorie burning at rest was at its lowest in the morning and at its highest in the afternoon and evening.

 

Whether the same calorie-burning patterns would hold true if exercise was thrown into the mix remains an open question, Duffy added.

 

“But the practical implications of our findings are that any irregularity in our schedules of eating and sleeping may make us more likely to gain weight,” she said. “This may help explain why shift workers are likely to gain weight.”

 

As to how this finding might figure into any strategy to prevent weight gain, “keeping a very regular schedule of sleep and wake, as well as eating, is a ‘best practice,’” Duffy advised.

 

“Regularity means going to bed and waking, as well as eating meals, at nearly the same time every day,” she stressed. “That ensures our internal rhythms are primed to respond optimally to the food we eat.”

 

But Lona Sandon, program director of the department of clinical nutrition in the School of Health Professions at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, suggested that the findings are unlikely to help those looking to get their weight under control. She was not involved with the study.

 

“At this time, I do not think there is much of anything particularly practical or useful that we do not already tell people,” Sandon said. “For example, we already tell people to get more of their calories earlier in the day rather than later and aim for more and better sleep.

 

“(And) exercise is good any time of day,” Sandon added, “and you will burn more calories with intentional exercise than what you get with a slight boost in metabolic rate due to natural circadian rhythms.

 

“(So) I am not going to hold my breath for [this] as an effective weight management strategy,” she said.

 

The study was published in the journal Current Biology.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Don’t overlook OTC nasal sprays

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Over-the-counter nasal steroid sprays are generally the most effective type of allergy medicine, experts say. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Serena Gordon, HealthDay

 

Seasonal allergies make life miserable for millions of Americans.

 

So, in a bid to ease some of that discomfort, experts from two leading groups of allergists created a task force that has just issued new practice guidelines on the best ways to quell those bothersome symptoms.

 

The consensus? For most people, nasal steroid sprays are the way to go, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

 

The sprays are easy to get—many are available over-the-counter. And, they’re relatively inexpensive.

 

For the OTC versions, a month of treatment is about $15 to $20. OTC brand names include Nasacort, Nasonex, Flonase and Rhinocort, while prescription brands include Beconase, Qnasl and Veramyst, according to the AAAAI.

 

But the biggest reason the experts are recommending nasal sprays is that they’re generally more effective than other types of allergy medicine for the initial treatment of seasonal allergies, according to the new guidelines.

 

Plus, they have relatively few side effects, according to Dr. Punita Ponda, associate chief of allergy and immunology at Northwell Health in Great Neck, N.Y.

 

Nasal sprays aren’t perfect, however.

 

“They can cause itching of the nose, dryness of the nose and nosebleeds,” Ponda said. But, she added, using the proper spray technique can help lessen these side effects. She suggested asking your doctor to show you how to use these devices.

 

Seasonal allergies are often called hay fever and they span the seasons. The Nemours Foundation reports that people can be allergic to one or more types of pollen or mold, and the type dictates when symptoms strike.

 

For example, in the Middle Atlantic states, tree pollen is the culprit from February through May, followed by grass pollens from May through June, and weed pollens from August through October. Mold spores, meanwhile, typically peak from midsummer through the fall, depending on where you live, according to the foundation.

 

The new guidelines recommend nasal steroid sprays as the initial treatment for people aged 12 and older instead of an oral antihistamine such as Benadryl, Zyrtec, Claritin and Allegra.

 

The task force didn’t find evidence of an improvement in results if oral antihistamines were added to treatment, and these drugs may cause sleepiness.

 

In people 15 and over, the task force recommends starting treatment with a nasal steroid spray instead of a leukotriene receptor antagonist (such as Singulair or Accolate). Again, the nasal spray appears to be more effective. Singulair and Accolate are prescription drugs, so cost depends on your insurance plan.

 

For people with moderate to severe seasonal allergies who are older than 12, the task force suggests adding an intranasal antihistamine to treatment with a nasal steroid inhaler. The additional medication provided additional benefit for those with more severe allergies, the task force said.

 

Ponda noted that the task force didn’t recommend intranasal steroids for kids under 12.

 

“It may be easier to give oral antihistamines than intranasal steroids to children, and there’s concern about possible growth suppression. Oral antihistamines were thought to be useful for this group,” she said.

 

Dr. Luz Fonacier, who directs the allergy training program at NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, N.Y., also pointed out that the medications in “this guideline for initial treatment of mild seasonal (allergies) may be obtained OTC, and therefore may have been tried by the patient.”

 

She said that for people who aren’t helped by nasal steroids, oral antihistamines, nasal antihistamines and leukotriene receptor antagonists may lessen symptoms.

 

Ponda said if nasal steroids and additional drugs don’t control allergy symptoms well, or if someone just gets tired of having to use medications regularly, allergy shots are also an option.

 

“Allergy shots have been shown to be cost-effective compared to medications. Usually, you get one shot a week for six months, and then once a month for three to five years. It’s definitely a commitment, but it’s the only treatment that’s actually disease-modifying. Allergy shots actually make a person less allergic or non-allergic,” Ponda explained.

 

The new guidelines were published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Many talks on end-of-life wishes end in confusion

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By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay

 

You’ve filled out a living will, and designated a surrogate to make medical decisions if you’re incapacitated.

 

But, your end-of-life planning may not be done yet.

 

That’s because, according to a new study, your surrogate may still not have a clear idea about what you really want done in a crisis situation—even after you’ve discussed your wishes with them.

 

In the study, seven out of every 10 surrogates didn’t have an accurate understanding of their loved one’s wishes regarding potentially life-altering medical treatment, even though both believed they had adequately discussed the topic.

 

“There were a lot of surrogates in those pairs where they both said, ‘yes, we’ve had this communication,’ who didn’t have a good understanding of the patient’s goals of care,” said lead researcher Dr. Terri Fried. She is a professor of geriatrics with the Yale School of Medicine.

 

The surrogates couldn’t accurately say whether their loved one would want treatment even if afterward they would have to live in extreme chronic pain or with severe mental or physical impairments, Fried said.

 

“Those are the kinds of things that make people say, ‘Oh, maybe I don’t want to get life-sustaining treatment if that’s the way it’s going to leave me,’” she explained.

 

These results show health-care professionals need to take a more active role in helping patients make end-of-life preparations, and that includes facilitating in-depth conversations between them and their chosen surrogates about their preferences, Fried said.

 

“It’s becoming more a part of the responsibility of primary care to make sure this happens as part of health maintenance, the same as flu shots or cancer screening,” Fried said. “We need to do a more thorough assessment of what patients have done and haven’t done, so we know what they still need to do.”

 

For their study, Fried and her colleagues interviewed 350 veterans, all aged 55 or older. The researchers also separately interviewed their end-of-life surrogates.

 

Just over half of the surrogates were spouses. Another 27 percent were children. The rest had other relationships with the veterans, according to the study.

 

About two of every five veterans hadn’t bothered to complete a living will or officially designate someone as their surrogate (health care proxy), or talked about the quality of life they’d like to maintain near the end, the findings showed.

 

And often, surrogates remained in the dark about the loved one’s wishes even if both agreed that they had discussed the matter.

 

Only 30 percent of surrogates who thought they’d talked it over could display an accurate knowledge of their loved one’s desires regarding quality versus quantity of life, the researchers found.

 

That’s better than the performance of surrogates who hadn’t had the conversation (21 percent) or pairs that disagreed whether they’d discussed the matter (15 percent), Fried noted.

 

But that still leaves a majority of people in a position of thinking that their surrogate knows their wishes when the person really doesn’t, the study authors pointed out.

 

“Part of it is that patients and surrogates don’t really know what the things are that they ought to be talking about,” Fried said.

 

In joint interviews conducted after the main study, many of the pairs said that “after you asked us those questions, we realized these are the things we need to sit down and talk about,” she added.

 

Dr. Timothy Farrell is an associate professor of geriatrics with the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City. He said that “a visit with a physician is often the first time that such a discrepancy may become apparent.”

 

Doctors who treat the elderly should consider end-of-life conversations as “anticipatory guidance,” similar to the guidance provided parents during well-child visits, Farrell said.

 

Either a doctor, a physician assistant, a social worker or some other health-care professional can help lead a facilitated discussion that ensures someone’s wishes have all been communicated to the surrogate, he suggested.

 

“Being proactive is the key, (as is) regularly coming back to this topic before the crisis occurs,” Farrell concluded.

 

The study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Climate change could change the sneezin’ season

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The increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also causes ragweed to produce more pollen, so these plants are becoming more potent. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Serena Gordon, HealthDay

 

If you live in the north and you’ve never experienced hay fever, new research predicts that climate change has an unwelcome surprise in store for you.

 

Warmer temperatures in the northern United States will allow ragweed—the plant that triggers hay fever—to flourish in areas it’s never been before. About 35 years from now, the study predicts, ragweed will be found in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and upstate New York.

 

But the news isn’t all bad. Folks sneezing due to ragweed in the southern United States should get some relief as the temperatures get too warm for ragweed to grow well.

 

Ragweed will decline substantially in central Florida, northeastern Virginia and the southern Appalachian Mountains, according to the researchers.

 

“Ragweed is a major cause of allergies and asthma. Climate change will make some areas worse for ragweed, and some areas may get better,” said Michael Case, of The Nature Conservancy. He co-authored the study when he was a postdoctoral researcher at the school of environmental and forest sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle.

 

Ragweed is a native North American plant. It produces a lot of fine, powdery pollen from August to November. This pollen causes symptoms in people who are allergic to ragweed, including sneezing, watery eyes, itchy throat, runny nose and headaches, the researchers said.

 

Case and his co-author, Kristina Stinson, an assistant professor of plant ecology at UMass Amherst, created a model that included data on hundreds of areas with ragweed today, along with the conditions that allow ragweed to thrive.

 

The researchers then added information from 13 global climate-prediction models. These models were developed using two different pathways of potential greenhouse gas emissions.

 

When all of this information was combined, the new model predicted the northward creep of ragweed.

 

After that—from the 2050s to the 2070s—areas with ragweed may see a slight contraction. The researchers said this is because temperatures and precipitation may become more variable.

 

The study authors pointed out that their model was not designed to know if ragweed could become a problem as far north as Canada or further west in the United States because their model didn’t have information on those areas.

 

Marian Glenn, an emeritus professor in the department of biological sciences at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., reviewed the findings.

 

“This is another example of plants that are migrating north as the climate warms. This is happening with viruses and diseases that are considered tropical, now that the agents that cause those diseases can survive through winter,” she said.

 

“The increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also causes ragweed to produce more pollen, so these plants are becoming more potent,” Glenn explained.

 

And that means climate change will make ragweed season longer and more aggravating for allergy sufferers, she added.

 

Case agreed that ragweed season will probably last longer. And ragweed isn’t the only plant affected.

 

“Climate change is extending the growing season for everything,” he said. However, because ragweed is abundant, it made it possible to study that one particular plant.

 

Case said the study has practical implications. For example, weed control boards should now be aware that they might have to start monitoring for ragweed. And allergy sufferers and their doctors also need to be aware that ragweed may start becoming a problem in areas that haven’t seen it before.

 

The findings were published online recently in the journal PLOS One.

To bathe, or not to bathe?

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It depends on their activity level, but most kids may only need to bathe a few times a week. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Randy Dotinga, HealthDay

 

Here’s welcome news for parents tired of forcing their kids to take a daily bath: Children may not need to bathe every day after all.

 

That’s the word from Dr. Robert Sidbury, an associate professor with the department of pediatrics and division chief of dermatology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis.

 

“Depending on their age and activity level, most children only need a bath a few times a week,” Sidbury said in a news release from the American Academy of Dermatology. “For children, a few germs here and there are healthy, as this is how their bodies learn to fight off bacteria and build stronger immune systems.”

 

Sidbury provides these recommendations about bathing for kids:

  • If a child is aged 6 to 11, only two or three baths a week may be needed, and shampooing is necessary just once or twice a week. Black children or kids of any age with dry or curly hair only need to shampoo once every seven to 10 days.
  • Special circumstances require more bathing: Kids should take a bath and wash their hair when they get dirty, after they’ve been in an ocean or lake, or when they get sweaty or show signs of body odor.
  • When kids hit puberty, they should start taking a shower every day. It’s a good idea for them to shampoo their hair every day or every other day, and to wash their faces twice a day to get rid of dirt and oil. Black children and those with dry or curly hair can continue to shampoo their hair every seven to 10 days after the age of 12.
  • Kids don’t usually need to use conditioners since they’re designed to help dry and damaged hair. But conditioner—applied to the body and ends of hair, not the scalp—can help prevent tangles in kids with long, wavy or curly hair.

“While these guidelines work well for most children, every child is different,” Sidbury said. “If your child continues to have body odor, or if your child’s hair or scalp seem too oily or dry after following these guidelines, see a board-certified dermatologist.”

 

He also cautioned that kids with skin conditions such as eczema should follow the bathing recommendations of their dermatologist.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum HealthBeat.

Gross alert: Your dishwasher is not as sterile as you think

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Keep microbes contained by not opening the dishwasher before it has cooled down following a wash cycle. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Amy Norton, HealthDay

 

Your dishwasher may get those plates spotless, but it is also probably teeming with bacteria and fungus, a new study suggests.

 

Microbes—from bacteria to viruses to fungi—are everywhere, including within and on the human body. So it’s no surprise, the researchers said, that a kitchen appliance would be hosting them.

 

So do people need to worry about getting sick from their dishwashers? No, said Erica Hartmann, an assistant professor at Northwestern University who was not involved with the study.

 

“The risk is probably in the realm of a shark attack,” she said. That is, most people face little to no risk, but there are select groups who may be at higher risk—in this case, people with conditions that weaken their immune defenses.

 

Dishwashers are an interesting case when it comes to microbes because they are actually an “extreme” habitat, Hartmann explained.

 

“People don’t think of them that way. It’s just your dishwasher. But it really is an extreme environment,” said Hartmann, who studies the microbiology of the indoor environment.

 

Dishwashers create constantly fluctuating conditions—wet to dry, high heat to cooler temperatures, low to high acidity. They also harbor mixtures of detergents and dinner scraps. So, only certain microbes will thrive.

 

The new study looked at which bacteria and fungi are actually dwelling there, and what factors seem to influence that microbial makeup.

 

Specifically, the European researchers took samples from the rubber seals of 24 household dishwashers.

 

Overall, they found, the most common bacteria included Pseudomonas, Escherichia and Acinetobacter—all of which have strains that are “opportunistic pathogens.” That means they are normally harmless, but can cause infections in people with a compromised immune system.

 

The most common types of fungus were Candida, Cryptococcus and Rhodotorula—which also include opportunistic pathogens.

 

Nina Gunde-Cimerman, a professor of microbiology at the University of Ljubljana, in Slovenia, worked on the study.

 

She said dishwashers and other microbe-hosting appliances are “generally safe” for healthy people. It’s “sensitive groups,” she said, who may need to be more cautious.

 

Gunde-Cimerman said she and her colleagues suspect dishwashers might play a role in fungal infections called mycoses in certain immune-compromised patients. A fungus commonly found in those patients, she said, is known as Exophiala dermatitidis, or black yeast.

 

And while that fungus is “hardly known in nature,” she said, it’s easy to find in dishwashers.

 

However, Gunde-Cimerman stressed, that’s speculation. No one has yet proven a connection between dishwasher microbes and mycoses infections.

 

How do fungus and bacteria get into dishwashers? The “main entry point” for fungi is the tap water that supplies the appliance, Gunde-Cimerman said. But food, people and pets are other potential sources, she added.

 

As for the bacteria, the source isn’t clear, according to Gunde-Cimerman. “But we speculate that contaminated food is the main entry route,” she said.

 

It is possible for dishwasher microbes to break free from their home: They can get out via waste water, or through the hot air produced at the end of the dishwasher cycle, Gunde-Cimerman said.

 

So one way to keep the microbes contained is to avoid opening the dishwasher before it has cooled down, according to Gunde-Cimerman.

 

“Do not open the dishwasher when it is still hot and humid,” she said, “to prevent the release of aerosols in the kitchen.”

 

Wiping the rubber seal with a dry cloth at the end of a cycle can also limit microbe buildup, Gunde-Cimerman said.

 

Hartmann agreed that people who are concerned can wipe down the dishwasher seal.

 

But she also emphasized the positive aspects of the microbial communities living in all our homes: Scientists have made great discoveries by studying microorganisms.

 

Hartmann pointed to the example of a bacterial enzyme discovered in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park. It was instrumental in developing a breakthrough technique called polymerase chain reaction, which is now used to study DNA in research and clinical labs everywhere.

 

“Your kitchen might not be Yellowstone,” Hartmann noted. But, she added, it may host some “pretty amazing” microbes.

 

So if you are ever presented with the opportunity to have researchers swab your kitchen, Hartmann said, consider it.

 

The study was published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum HealthBeat.

Kid study: Hot soup causes 2 in 10 scald burns

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Kid study: Hot soup causes 2 in 10 scald burns (Courtesy Spectrum HealthBeat)

By Serena Gordon, HealthDay

 

Many kids love a quick bowl of instant soup or tasty noodles, but these fast foods cause almost 10,000 scald burns in children each year in the United States, a new study estimates.

 

What’s more, researchers found that two out of every 10 scald burns that send kids to the ER are caused by microwavable instant soup spills.

 

“We suspect that, in terms of risk, parents may think things coming out of the microwave may be somewhat safer than things coming off the stove,” said study author Dr. Courtney Allen. She is a pediatric emergency medicine fellow at Emory University in Atlanta.

 

But since so many burns are caused by microwavable instant soup and noodles, “any school-age child consuming these products needs to be adequately supervised,” she said.

 

Dr. Michael Cooper, director of Staten Island University Hospital’s burn center in New York City, said the study mirrors what he often sees in practice.

 

“We do see instant soup and noodle burns with kids in this age group,” he said.

 

The good news is that most of the children were treated in the emergency room and then sent home, Cooper noted. Most didn’t have to stay in the hospital and they would likely heal in two weeks or less.

 

“These burns are painful, but most appear to be superficial,” he explained.

 

Cooper said the scenario he often sees is that the parent has heated the prepackaged container of soup and given it to the child. While eating, the child knocks it over and gets burned.

 

A simple solution might be taking the noodles or soup from the original container and transferring them to a bowl the child is accustomed to using, Cooper suggested. A bowl probably isn’t as tall as some of the instant-food containers.

 

For the study, the researchers reviewed data from the U.S. National Electronic Injury Surveillance System from 2006 to 2016. They looked for kids aged 4 to 12 with scald burns caused by microwavable instant soup, instant noodles, cups of soup, or water for making instant soup.

 

Scald burns associated with instant soups and noodles affected more than 9,500 children each year, the findings showed. The average age of a child with such a burn was 7 years old.

 

The most commonly burned site was the child’s torso—about 40 percent of burns occurred here.

 

Allen said the database didn’t specify whether kids had cooked the foods in the microwave themselves, or if parents or another caregiver had done so.

 

She added that injuries may occur when someone grabs a hot container from the microwave and flinches because it’s so hot, spilling it on themselves.

 

Allen also noted that instant noodles absorb the liquid during cooking. So if a child drops a container of noodles, the hot food may stick to the body.

 

Cooper said the study shows a need for more education of parents, grandparents and other caregivers. “People need to be more aware that these burns can happen,” he said.

 

The study is scheduled for presentation at an American Academy of Pediatrics meeting in Orlando. Research presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum HealthBeat.

Many Americans face pain, depression in their final year

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By Amy Norton, HealthDay

 

For a growing number of Americans, the final year of life is marked by pain, depression and other distressing symptoms, a study has found.

 

Experts said the study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, highlights disturbing shortcomings in the U.S. health care system.

 

Researchers found that between 1998 and 2010, the number of Americans who suffered pain in their last year of life rose from 54 percent to 61 percent.

 

Meanwhile, the prevalence of depression rose from 45 percent to 57 percent, while other symptoms — such as breathlessness, confusion, severe fatigue and incontinence — either increased or did not improve.

 

“These findings are troubling,” said senior researcher Dr. Karl Lorenz, of the Pardee RAND Graduate School and the University of California, Los Angeles.

 

The increase in end-of-life symptoms, Lorenz said, has occurred despite national efforts to improve end-of-life care, dating back to the 1990s.

 

Those efforts have made a difference. The number of Americans in hospice care doubled between 2000 and 2009, the study noted. Hospice care focuses on easing symptoms and improving quality of life for people with a terminal illness.

 

But often hospice care isn’t offered until the last few weeks or days of life, Lorenz said.

 

“It’s often ‘tacked on’ to more-intensive care,” he said.

 

However, another expert said the findings are not actually about the typical American’s final year of life — because many people with chronic diseases are suffering these symptoms long-term.

 

“I think the findings are very valid, but the conclusions about what they mean are not,” said Dr. Sean Morrison, who directs the Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute at Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine in New York City.

 

“I think you’d see a high prevalence of these symptoms if you looked at older adults’ last two years of life, or last three, or last five,” Morrison said.

 

The issue, he said, is that more and more Americans are living longer with chronic ills — from heart and lung disease, to painful arthritis, to Alzheimer’s disease. At the same time, the health care system has grown increasingly specialized and “organ-specific,” with less focus on primary care.

 

“We’re doing a very poor job addressing the multiple health conditions so many older Americans have,” Morrison said. “We’re focusing on treating organs, and not on improving people’s quality of life.”

 

Morrison said the health care system — including medical schools — needs to pay much more attention to palliative care.

 

Palliative care refers to therapy that focuses on easing physical or psychological symptoms, rather than curing a disease. Hospice care, which is intended for people with a limited time to live, is one form of palliative care.

 

Other forms, though, can start as soon as a serious medical condition is diagnosed, and given along with treatments aimed at battling the disease. Usually, a team of providers, including nurses, nutritionists and social workers, is involved.

 

But Morrison said that to many people, including doctors, “palliative” is synonymous with dying. So it’s often not offered, even if it’s locally available.

 

“Other research shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not have access to high-quality palliative care,” Morrison said.

 

The current findings are based on a periodic health survey of older Americans. Between 1998 and 2010, slightly more than 7,200 study participants died, and their family members were asked about symptoms their loved one had suffered in the last year of life.

 

Over time, problems like pain, depression, periodic confusion and incontinence grew more common. Other symptoms, such as fatigue and severe weight loss, held fairly stable.

 

Lorenz said part of the increase could be due to awareness. More doctors may be asking family members about those symptoms — which would be a good thing, he said.

 

But the fact that pain and other distressing symptoms are so common is disturbing, he said.

 

Morrison agreed. “This really is an indictment of the health care system,” he said. “And the public should be outraged.”

 

He and Lorenz suggested that older adults ask their doctors about any palliative services available for their symptoms — at any point in the course of a disease.

 

Medicare covers hospice care, and many Medicare Advantage plans pay for other palliative services, Morrison noted.

 

But relatively few research dollars, he added, go into palliative care. “We invest so much in finding disease cures,” Morrison said. “We should also be investing in making life better for the people living with these diseases right now.”

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

Germ bath, anyone?

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Sink, check. Toothbrush, check. Shower head? Yes, add the shower head to your checklist of things to replace or clean in the bathroom. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay

 

You no doubt think that stepping into your shower will wash away dirt and germs, but a new study shows your shower head might instead dump nasty bacteria on you that may cause lung infections.

 

Most people know to keep their bathrooms clean, especially the toilet and sink. But researchers discovered that places in the United States and Europe where germs called mycobacteria are found in abundance in shower heads are the same places where bacterial lung infections are most common. In America, that includes parts of Southern California, Florida and New York.

 

“We live in a world covered in bacteria, and the bacteria in our shower heads follow some interesting geographic trends, and can be altered by our water source and water chemistry,” said study lead author Matthew Gebert.

 

“We’re exposed to microbes constantly in our day-to-day lives, some beneficial, some innocuous and a few potentially harmful,” Gebert explained.

 

He’s a research associate at the University of Colorado’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.

 

Bacteria thrive in shower heads and water distribution systems. Although most of these bacteria are harmless, some can cause lung infections, he said.

 

Still, just because mycobacteria live in your shower head doesn’t mean you’ll get sick or are more likely to get a respiratory infection, Gebert added.

 

In fact, researchers can’t say that a person with a respiratory infection got it through showering, but understanding the sources of mycobacterial exposure is important.

 

“We don’t want people rushing home and throwing away their shower heads or obsessively cleaning them every day, nor should anyone change their showering habits—swallowing the water is OK,” he said.

 

For the study, Gebert and his colleagues analyzed shower heads from homes around the United States and Europe, and found an abundance of bacteria. The kind of germs varied by location, and by the chemistry of the water and where it came from.

 

An interesting finding was that homes whose water was treated with chlorine disinfectants had high concentrations of certain germs, the researchers noted.

 

The study was published recently in the journal mBio.

 

“I don’t think there are necessarily any negative implications from the study,” Gebert said. “But because bacteria that can cause illness live in our shower heads, it’s important to understand how people can be exposed to them.”

 

Dr. Marc Siegel, a professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, noted that bacteria grow in wet places like shower heads.

 

“This is a reminder to clean your shower head, which nobody does,” he said, though “most of us are likely to tolerate mycobacteria and not get sick from it.”

 

Bacteria in shower heads won’t cause an outbreak of lung infections, but people who are run down or who have a compromised immune system or a chronic condition may be vulnerable, Siegel suggested.

 

Bacteria also live on your toothbrush and in your sink—any moist surface, he said.

 

Siegel recommends cleaning your shower head every week or two with a disinfectant that contains ammonia to be sure you kill all the germs nesting there.

 

“Add your shower head to the list of things in the bathroom that need cleaning,” he said.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum HealthBeat.

Study: Women less likely to receive CPR

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Study: Women less likely to receive CPR (Courtesy Spectrum HealthBeat)

By Amy Norton, HealthDay

 

Some bystanders may avoid performing CPR on women because they fear hurting them or even being accused of sexual assault, preliminary research suggests.

 

In two new studies, researchers tried to dig deeper into a puzzling pattern that has been seen in past research: Women are less likely than men to receive bystander CPR if they go into cardiac arrest in a public place.

 

One study confirmed that real-world phenomenon in a controlled setting: It found that even in “virtual reality” simulations, participants were less likely to perform CPR when the virtual victim was female, versus male.

 

People performed CPR on 65 percent of male victims, but only 54 percent of females.

 

A separate study, which surveyed 54 adults, turned up some possible explanations.

 

Respondents said bystanders may worry about hurting a woman while doing CPR chest compressions—or fear being accused of sexual assault. Some said people also might believe women’s breasts get in the way of CPR.

 

The respondents also cited a long-standing misconception: Women are less likely to have heart problems than men.

 

But the reality is that heart disease is the leading killer of U.S. women and men alike, according to government figures.

 

And when cardiac arrest strikes, CPR can be lifesaving, regardless of sex, said Dr. Sarah Perman, who led the survey.

 

People in cardiac arrest need immediate chest compressions, said Perman, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver.

 

“Providing this lifesaving procedure for women should be normalized and not sexualized,” she said.

 

In the United States, more than 356,000 people suffer cardiac arrest outside a hospital each year. Only about 11 percent survive, according to the American Heart Association.

 

Survival is dismal because without emergency treatment, cardiac arrest is fatal within minutes. But quick CPR can double or triple survival odds, the American Heart Association says.

 

Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating and cannot pump blood and oxygen to the body. If a bystander performs CPR, that keeps the victim’s blood circulating, buying time until paramedics arrive. Cardiac arrest is not a heart attack, which is caused by an artery blockage that diminishes blood flow to the heart.

 

“There is still a lot of misunderstanding about cardiac arrest and CPR,” said Dr. Aaron Donoghue, of the American Heart Association and the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Men and women benefit equally from CPR chest compressions, Donoghue said, adding that the notion that it could injure women is “false.”

 

As for fears of being accused of sexual assault, Donoghue noted that chest compressions are performed on the breastbone—also called the sternum, it’s the long flat bone in the center of the chest—not the breasts.

 

“It would be terrible for that fear to deter a would-be rescuer from performing CPR,” said Donoghue, who was not involved in the new studies.

 

“Doing nothing is always worse than doing something,” he added.

 

For its pilot study, Perman’s team surveyed 54 U.S. adults. Participants were asked: “Do you have any ideas on why women may be less likely to receive CPR than men when they collapse in public?”

 

Their answers reflect their personal perceptions, Donoghue pointed out. So, he said, it’s hard to know whether witnesses to cardiac arrest really do act on such beliefs in the real world.

 

Perman agreed, saying more research is needed to understand why women are less likely to receive CPR. She and her colleagues have already conducted a larger survey, she said, but the results have not been published yet.

 

For now, Donoghue suggested people educate themselves about cardiac arrest and CPR. The American Heart Association website is one place to start, he said.

 

Both studies are scheduled for presentation at the upcoming American Heart Association meeting in Chicago. Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum HealthBeat.

Caregiver challenge: Needs double as end of life nears

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By Maureen Salamon, HealthDay

 

Reliance on caregivers doubles as people near death, and half of those caregivers—typically unpaid family members—report having no time for themselves, a new study indicates.

 

The research used a nationally representative sample of about 2,400 older adults in the United States. The study authors found that caregivers provided nearly twice the number of hours of help each week to dying individuals than to those not at the end of life.

 

“We were certainly aware when dealing with end-of-life care that families are mostly involved, but we couldn’t quantify that prior to this [research],” said study author Dr. Katherine Ornstein. She’s an assistant professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

 

More than 34 million Americans provided unpaid care to an adult aged 50 or older in the past 12 months, according to 2015 figures from the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. Most caregivers are female.

 

Ornstein and her team drew from two nationally representative surveys in which caregivers in the United States reported their experiences caring for dying adults over age 65. The researchers contrasted this data with that of other caregivers providing ongoing care.

 

Older adults were classified as being at the end of life if they died within 12 months of the surveys’ completion.

 

The study found that dying adults had an average of 2.5 caregivers assisting them. Those near the end of life received 61 hours of help per week compared to 35 hours of help per week for older adults who weren’t at the end of life.

 

More than one-third of the end-of-life caregivers reported physical difficulty related to their duties. Just over half reported having no time for themselves. These figures were 21 percent and 40 percent, respectively, for other caregivers.

 

Nearly nine in 10 caregivers are unpaid, according to the study. For end-of-life caregivers who were spouses, nearly two-thirds reported receiving no help from family or friends.

 

“What we see now is, on average, there are 2.5 people helping someone at the end of life. You can imagine if they don’t have that, it’s much more difficult,” Ornstein said. “When spouses are serving as caregivers, the majority are reporting doing it alone and have the [most challenging] consequences.”

 

Barbara Coombs Lee is president of Compassion & Choices, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization for patients’ rights and end-of-life issues. She pointed out that the caregivers surveyed in the new study didn’t necessarily know ahead of time that the person they were caring for was at the end of life.

 

This lack of awareness may have increased caregivers’ stress levels, she said.

 

“This told me the caregivers were probably struggling, not knowing this was an end-of-life situation. Our [organization’s] research indicates that uncertainty about decision-making is an inherent and extremely powerful source of stress,” Lee said.

 

“I would guess that many of these people didn’t know they were dying … so they pursued heroic, torturous, futile treatment,” she added. “Often the default decision [to continue treatment] increases the caregiver burden.”

 

Ornstein said she hopes greater awareness of the family burden of caregiving, especially at the end of life, comes from her research.

 

“We need to think about expanding access to palliative care services, which can help facilitate the delivery of supportive services to families earlier,” she added. “And we can see how we need to provide more paid family leave so families can provide the support we’re pretty much expecting them to provide.”

 

Lee agreed with the need for expanded access to hospice and palliative care.

 

“One of the big barriers to access to hospice is [an] information gap,” Lee said. “People don’t understand that hospice is appropriate to them in their journey in their illness. Palliative care utilization would go up if people had more candid conversations and were privy to information that physicians have but aren’t sharing.”

 

The study was published in the journal Health Affairs.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.

More screen time ups kids’ odds for nearsightedness

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Less screen time, more outdoor time. For eye health, it’s good to break away from the screen. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay

 

Kids with summer birthdays, especially those who spend long hours playing on smartphones and tablets, might be at greater risk for vision problems, a new study suggests.

 

Nearsightedness, also called myopia, is on the rise worldwide. It’s what eye doctors call a refractive error, meaning the eyes can’t focus light properly. The result: Close objects look clear; distant ones, fuzzy.

 

It’s most often caused by continuously focusing on close objects while the eyes are still developing—as in reading, for example. But the growing use of electronic devices seems to be making the problem worse, researchers report.

 

“As ever, everything should be done in moderation,” said lead researcher Dr. Christopher Hammond, chairman of ophthalmology at King’s College London in England. He urged parents to limit kids’ use of electronic devices.

 

That appears to be especially important for kids born in the summer, the study suggests. That’s because they start formal schooling at a younger age than kids born in winter so they are exposed to more reading sooner. And that increases myopia risk, the researchers said.

 

The researchers added that, while their study doesn’t prove smartphones, tablets and computer games cause nearsightedness, those devices may lead kids to spend less time outdoors. And less time outdoors also appears to increase myopia risk.

 

“We know that time outdoors is protective, and so kids should spend probably up to two hours a day outside,” Hammond said.

 

Myopia can be corrected with glasses, laser surgery or contact lenses. Later in life, however, sufferers are more likely to develop sight-robbing conditions such as cataracts or glaucoma, the researchers said.

 

Experts predict that by 2050, nearly 5 billion people worldwide will have myopia. That compares to about 2 billion in 2010.

 

Genes have been linked to a person’s risk for the condition, but even if it has a genetic component, that doesn’t account for the dramatic increase, Hammond said.

 

For the study, his team collected data on nearly 2,000 twins born in the United Kingdom between 1994 and 1996.

 

The researchers reviewed results of eye tests, as well as social, economic, educational and behavioral data on the twins between the ages of 2 and 16. They also had questionnaires completed by parents and teachers.

 

On average, children started wearing glasses for myopia at age 11. About 5 percent had amblyopia (“lazy eye”), and about 4.5 percent had a squint. Overall, 26 percent of the twins were nearsighted, the study found.

 

Kids who had college-educated mothers, those who were born in summer months and those who spent more time using electronic devices had a higher likelihood of nearsightedness, the study found.

 

The findings were published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

 

Dr. Tien Wong, medical director of the Singapore National Eye Center, is co-author of an editorial that accompanied the study.

 

“Evidence supports a link between device screen time and myopia, which includes time on phones and tablets,” he said.

 

This is concerning in view of how many young kids have access to these devices, Wong said. Evidence shows 2-year-olds spend up to two hours a day using digital devices.

 

“Managing your child’s device screen time and increasing their outdoor play can help reduce the risk of developing myopia,” Wong said. “We must better monitor our children’s device activities, even during their preschool years.”

 

Surprisingly, the researchers said children born as a result of fertility treatment had a 25 percent to 30 percent lower risk for myopia. They said that may be because many are born premature and have developmental delays, which could account for shorter eye length and less myopia.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum HealthBeat.

Use caution with home health tests

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Before you buy a home health test kit, look for the words “FDA-approved” on the package. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Len Canter, HealthDay

 

Home pregnancy tests are commonplace, but that doesn’t mean that every type of self-test for health issues is reliable.

 

And even if results are accurate, you shouldn’t forgo getting advice from your health care provider, especially if the condition is life-changing and requires very targeted treatment.

 

Some kits that let you test at home are fast and inexpensive. They can uncover problems before symptoms start, allowing for early treatment and lowering the risk of later complications. Others help you monitor your health.

 

Home glucose test—some of the most common—show how well you’re controlling diabetes, but even these everyday tests require input from your doctor. So take precautions when using a home test, and remember that they don’t replace regular health-care visits.

 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers home tests medical devices and, in light of this rapidly growing category, is working to set standards for the tests and establish rules on how to regulate them.

 

Many home tests are reliable, including those for hepatitis C and HIV.

 

But some are more problematic, like DNA tests—genetic testing for your own disease risk and for genes associated with disorders that could be passed on to a child.

 

Before you buy a store kit, look for the words “FDA-approved” on the package. Be sure to read any disclaimers to understand a test’s limitations and heed the advice to get health counseling for positive results.

 

And no matter what type of test you do, always discuss results with your doctor, even if you get a normal finding. Most results should be evaluated along with your medical history and a physical.

 

Also, many DNA home kits do not test for every possible genetic mutation, so you can get false negatives as well as false positives. Take your findings to your doctor and discuss whether more comprehensive testing will help you get more accurate answers.

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum HealthBeat.

Bigger family, lower cancer risk?

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Do siblings lower your cancer risk? New study finds people with big families are less likely to develop the disease. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Robert Preidt, HealthDay

 

If you come from a large family, you may have a lower risk of cancer, a new study suggests.

 

Researchers analyzed data from 178 countries and found that people from larger families were less likely to get cancer than those from smaller families.

 

The link between family size and cancer risk was “independent of income, levels of urbanization and age,” study senior author Maciej Henneberg said in a University of Zurich news release. He’s a guest professor in the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine at the university, in Switzerland.

 

Family size included not just parents and their children, but also members of the extended family in the household.

 

This protective effect of a large family was stronger in men than in women, according to the study published recently in the journal BMC Cancer.

 

It’s important to note, however, that the study only found an association between family size and cancer risk. It did not prove a cause-and-effect connection.

 

Family life can be stressful, but can also provide positive emotional environments that can boost a person’s resistance to diseases, including cancer, the researchers said.

 

Family members supporting one another in following a healthy lifestyle may also provide protection against cancer, the study authors added.

CDC: 1 in 5 high school students vape

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America faces an epidemic of youth e-cigarette use, which threatens to engulf a new generation in nicotine addiction and lung damage. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay

More than 20 percent of high school students use electronic cigarettes, risking nicotine addiction, lung damage and the temptation to try traditional smokes, U.S. health officials reported.

Between 2011 and 2018, the number of high school teens who started vaping, as e-cigarette use is called, increased from 220,000 (1.5 percent) to just over 3 million (20.8 percent), according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“These new data show that America faces an epidemic of youth e-cigarette use, which threatens to engulf a new generation in nicotine addiction,” Alex Azar, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, said in a news release.

Those startling statistics have prompted federal health officials to take action.

On Thursday, U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb announced that his agency was seeking to stop the sale of flavored e-cigarettes other than mint and menthol flavors to minors.

His proposals include having stores that sell vaping products make them available only in age-restricted areas. In addition, Gottlieb called for stricter age verification for e-cigarettes sold online.

“By one measure, the rate of youth e-cigarette use almost doubled in the last year, which confirms the need for FDA’s ongoing policy proposals and enforcement actions. HHS’s work will continue to balance the need to prevent youth use of e-cigarettes with ensuring they are available as an off-ramp for adults who are trying to quit combustible [tobacco] cigarettes,” Azar said.

The findings were reported in the Nov. 16 issue of the CDC publication Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

“The youth use of e-cigarettes is at an epidemic level. It’s truly troubling,” said Erika Sward, assistant vice president for national advocacy at the American Lung Association.

E-cigarettes are a gateway to smoking regular cigarettes, she said. Moreover, chemicals in them can cause lung damage and result in addiction to nicotine.

According to the new report, e-cigarette use among high school students increased 78 percent from 2017 to 2018.

During the same year, the use of flavored e-cigarettes among high school students already using e-cigarettes increased from 61 percent to 68 percent.

In addition, the use of menthol or mint-flavored e-cigarettes rose from 42 percent of all e-cigarette users to 51 percent.

Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat

E-cigarette use also increased among middle school students, from less than 1 percent in 2011 to nearly 5 percent in 2018, researchers found.

“FDA has to act, but we also need state and local government to act as well,” Sward said. “This is too big for everybody not to have a role in reducing the use of e-cigarettes.”

Sward said the lung association is upset that the FDA stopped short of banning mint and menthol e-cigarettes. “FDA’s plan is not going to go far enough,” she noted.

Many teens use mint and menthol e-cigarettes, which Sward believes are specifically marketed to attract minors.

“The tobacco industry knows that mint and menthol help the poison go down,” she said. “And they have been using menthol cigarettes to addict millions of people for decades, and that trend has tragically continued with e-cigarettes.”

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.